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investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call 951-245-3300. If anyone prefers to remain anonymous, the Sheriff's tip line can be reached at 1-800-950-2444. City News Service contributed to this report.Gae Aulenti was one of the few women in 1950s and 1960s Europe to gain notoriety as an architect and designer. One of her most fascinating and recognizable creations is the Tour Table, a glass table that is equal parts useful home object and sensational art piece.
Aulenti’s Tour Table features four rotating bicycle tire casters. The half-inch glass top gives a full view of the unusual base, letting you watch the tires rotate or simply enjoying the graceful shapes.
Designed in 1993, the Tour Table was one of Aulenti’s later works. Perhaps the rolling design represents a commentary on the rushed, always-moving lifestyles we have accepted in the modern world.
Whether it is meant to be seen as a work of art or a functional dining table, the Tour Table is an incredible piece of design. It has earned a place in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and it has earned Gae Aulenti permanent status as an influential and talented designer.Warning! Your browser currently has javascript disabled. Please enable javascript to ensure an admirable experience.
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Find your Favorite Brands and Artists! Whether you're a huge fan of Marvel movies, Hello Kitty® or want to support a great nonprofit, your personal checks can be a reflection of your personality. Learn MoreSeaspan Marine and one of the unions that represents its tugboat crews averted job action by agreeing to enter into binding arbitration, but the company could still face a strike as early as Sunday as talks between the company, the other union and federal Labour Minister Kellie Leitch continued late Tuesday.
Leitch came to Vancouver to intervene in the dispute, which has the potential to disrupt Port Metro Vancouver operations. Both unions had signalled their intention to strike rather than accept terms in a new collective agreement that Seaspan was going to implement unilaterally starting June 9.
As part of its agreement with the Canadian Merchant Service Guild, Seaspan has deferred imposing the new terms while arbitration is underway.
The guild, which represents some 200 captains, mates and engineers on Seaspan tugs, will still hold a strike vote scheduled for this afternoon, said Mike Armstrong, president of the CMSG’s western branch.
“We can’t stop that due to process reasons,” Armstrong said, “but regardless of what the outcome is, we are not going out on strike as long as this (memorandum of agreement) is in place.”
However, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 400, which represents deckhands and cooks on Seaspan tugboat crews, voted unanimously in favour of striking in a Tuesday vote, although local president Terry Engler was hopeful discussions with Leitch and the company would avert job action.
“We’re in a bit of a holding pattern at this point and guardedly optimistic,” Engler told The Sun during a break between the strike vote Tuesday and its next meeting with Leitch and the company.
However, Engler said that if bargaining hasn’t resumed, and Seaspan has not withdrawn the unilateral contract by noon Thursday, Local 400 will serve strike notice to time a walkout for noon Sunday ahead of the company’s deadline to implement the new deal.
Port Metro Vancouver CEO Robin Silvester said Seaspan provides 60 per cent of the tugboats serving its facilities, and some parts of the port would be unable to operate if the company were to suffer a labour disruption.
“It would be negative for the port’s reputation,” Silvester said.
Tugboats help cargo vessels safely dock, including container ships, bulk carriers and oil tankers, and escort tankers as they come in and out of harbour.
With a file from Brian Morton
depenner@vancouversun.com
Follow me: @DerrickPennerNike’s HyperAdapt 1.0 self-lacing sneakers will finally go on sale November 28, according to a tweet sent by the company’s director of public relations.
According to the tweet, the shoes will only be available at select Nike store locations and will require an appointment for both “experience” and purchase.
There’s no confirmation on price, but according to Wired’s report on the development, the shoes will not be cheap.
The shoes were first announced by Nike to great fanfare at its innovation conference in March. Nike CEO Mark Parker later went on CNBC to claim that self-lacing sneakers will be as big as self-driving cars in the future, with both mainstream appeal and application.
The first shoe, the HyperAdapt 1.0, will feature the signature adaptive fit, which senses when the wearer’s foot is in the shoe using a pressure sensor, and automatically tightens the straps until it senses resistance based on an “algorithmic pressure equation,” according to Wired. Buttons near the tongue of the shoe provide customized adjustment if the shoe feels too tight or too loose.
LED lights on the sole will tell you when the shoe is tightening and low on battery charge. The shoes will need to be charged like a gadget to work. It will take 3 hours to achieve a full charge, which will last two weeks.
The technology took 11 years for Nike to research and develop.
“We’re talking about a project that’s maybe the most difficult in the history of footwear," Nike VP Tinker Hatfield told Wired.
Self-lacing sneakers first entered the public consciousness in 1989’s "Back to the Future II,” which featured a futuristic version of self-lacing sneakers called the Nike Mag. Nike produced a few Nike Mag versions for charity, and even sent Michael J. Fox a pair. This is the first time the self-lacing technology will be available in a mass-produced shoe.
HyperAdapt 1.0 will be available in the U.S. at select Nike retail locations. Appointments to experience & purchase begin 11.28.16. pic.twitter.com/t3YVLa8Rsl
NOW WATCH: This 16-year-old entrepreneur is making a fortune selling rare sneakers to celebrities
More From Business InsiderOne teenager recently made a discovery that could help make solar energy far more efficient and affordable for the developing world with little more than two strips of different metals, some clever mechanical engineering, and a few years of persistence. Her $10 device will allow solar panels to track the sun almost anywhere in the world, without the use of electric motors
Eden Full, a student at Princeton, was frustrated that much of the sun’s potential to generate electricity was lost as the sun moved across the sky and away from panels. Electric motors could fix that problem by moving the panels along with the sun–but at a cost of hundreds of dollars each, if electricity was available. That means many poor and remote areas weren’t going to have sun-tracking panels any time soon.
The panels naturally move to maximize efficiency by following the sun.
Instead, Full developed an inexpensive device from everyday materials to move solar panels with the sun, and no electric motors. Her SunSaluter, constructed of cheap and recyclable materials, fits aluminum and steel strips to brackets holding the solar arrays. As the metal heats up, differential expansion rate means the panels naturally move to maximize efficiency by following the sun. The innovation can boost energy output by about 40%, according to Full.
Although young, Full was not an overnight success; she’s been thinking about these problems for some time. “Since I was nine years old, I have been doing solar panel-related research projects that gradually developed my interest and knowledge of renewable energy technologies,” Full said in an interview with GEnV campaigns.
Now Full is one of the 20-under-20 Fellows, sponsored by Facebook investor Peter Thiel’s foundation, which awards $100,000 to 24 young innovators provided they drop out of school for at least two years. Full is running Roseicollis Technologies, a solar energy startup, that will market her technology in developed and emerging markets. It’s currently deployed in two 1,000-person Kenyan villages. When it comes to the future of SunSaluter, Full–and her panels–will be following the sun.
[Hat tip: CleanTechnica.com]by
‘Smug’: adjective – having or showing an excessive pride in oneself or one’s achievements. Eg, “he was feeling smug after his win”.
synonyms: self-satisfied, complacent, self-congratulatory, superior, puffed up, pleased with oneself, self-approving, well pleased, proud of oneself.
Yes, that’s STT: but our sense of self-satisfaction is not gleeful.
STT has been spelling out the wind power fraud, its causes and consequences since December 2012. However, until now, it has been like bashing our heads against a brick wall: relief only comes with cessation. Frustrated and angry at the morally bankrupt idiots that pretend to govern us and, worse still, parade as energy experts without the first clue about electricity grids or electricity markets, STT can only fume at the results playing out in South Australia and beyond.
True it is, that there is nothing like being (repeatedly) proved correct in a public forum, but it would be the height of ill manners, if not a tad malicious, to take any kind of delight in the suffering being meted out upon South Australians.
Before we document (in simple graphical detail) the causes of the latest power supply calamity in SA, aka ‘Australia’s wind power capital’ we’ll pick up a few pieces from the ABC and The Australian.
SA heatwave: Blame game begins as state faces further power cuts
ABC News
8 February 2017 (Updated 9 February at 5:05pm)
As South Australians prepare for possible power cuts this afternoon, a blame game has erupted between the federal and South Australian governments over power generation.
Key points:
SA Premier Jay Weatherill promises to intervene in state’s electricity market
More blackouts expected for the state, Adelaide forecast to reach top of 42C today
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull lays blame entirely at SA State Government
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill promised to “intervene dramatically in the electricity market” but failed to release any details, after thousands of homes and businesses had their power shut off last night due to insufficient generation capacity.
SA Power Networks initially said 40,000 properties had been affected, but have since revised the number to 90,000.
Mr Weatherill’s promise followed comments from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull earlier this morning, placing the blame for South Australia’s blackouts entirely on the State Government.
“It has created a situation where that state has the most expensive and least reliable electricity in Australia,” Mr Turnbull said.
“That is a fact. Of course they want to blame it on everybody else.
“When they have the biggest heatwave there is no wind and when there is no wind, all of their windmills are not generating electricity.
“They haven’t planned for that.”
But Mr Weatherill said South Australians were “not prepared to put up with being ridiculed and have the finger pointed at them by a Federal Government that has abdicated its responsibilities”.
“One option is to completely nationalise the system, that is an extraordinary option,” he said.
“It would involve breaking contracts and exposing us to sovereign risk and the South Australian taxpayers to extraordinary sums of money.
“It is not a preferred option. We are ruling nothing out at this point.”
He said the State Government’s plans were “well advanced” and there would be further meetings this afternoon.
“What we know at the moment is that we have a national electricity market which is all about dollars and cents,” he said.
“It is not about people, it is not about businesses and jobs.
“It is a trading system where people are trying to maximise profit and minimise cost.”
Independent senator Nick Xenophon said South Australia needed to underwrite construction of a new gas-fired generator.
“The impact of that will be immediate, it might take 12 months or so to build but it will send a very clear signal to the market both in terms of energy security and a reduction in prices,” he said.
“It will build in some real competitive tension because right now, I believe we have market failure.”
Not enough time to turn on Pelican Point: AEMO
In a statement, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) forecast “a tightening supply/demand balance across South Australia and New South Wales over the coming days”.
“AEMO understands the frustration from South Australian energy consumers … it is important to note that AEMO instructed load shedding to ease the pressure on the power system, protecting it from potentially impacting more residents, and for a longer period.”
South Australian Treasurer and Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis earlier slammed AEMO for going ahead with a load shed rather than turning on power at Adelaide’s back-up power station Pelican Point.
But AEMO executive general manager of stakeholders Joe Adamo said they did not have enough time to switch on the plant yesterday.
“When we were talking to Pelican Point, it was decided that the lead time for Pelican Point to actually bid into the market was too short a timeframe and as such we had to take the load shedding action,” he said.
The operators of Adelaide’s back up power station at Pelican Point, ENGIE, said in statement it could not provide additional power for South Australia unless directed to do so by AEMO.
More blackouts to come
Load shedding occurs when AEMO directs power companies to start switching off customers’ power supply because the power system is at risk of failing due to too much demand and not enough supply.
There was potential for more load shedding to occur on Thursday but AEMO has since requested to turn on the second unit at Pelican Point, lessening the risk.
Mr Koutsantonis warned other states would also be affected.
“The problem that’s occurring here is coming to a city near you on the eastern seaboard soon,” he said.
Adelaide’s expected top for Thursday is 42C, with Port Augusta, Coober Pedy, Woomera, Marree and Moomba forecast to reach 46C and Tarcoola 47C.
Last night, as many South Australians arrived home from work and turned on their air conditioners, SA Power Networks announced it would start load shedding to cope with demand, plunging some areas into blackouts for half an hour or more, impacting about 90,000 customers.
Thirty minutes after SA Power Networks announced the outages, it tweeted the load shedding had ended.
The reliability of South Australia’s electricity supplies has been in the spotlight after a statewide blackout in stormy weather last September, causing the Federal Coalition to criticise the state’s renewables-heavy power mix.
Another storm in December forced the power distributor to announce compensation payments totalling $20 million to about 75,000 customers after lengthy blackouts.
ABC News
***
Adelaide back in dark ages amid heatwave
The Australian
Meredith Booth
9 February 2017
South Australia was plunged into a new power crisis last night when more than 90,000 homes across Adelaide had their electricity cut in heatwave conditions as distributor SA Power Networks imposed load-shedding on the city.
As the temperature passed 40C, power was cut under orders from the Australian Energy Market Operator “due to lack of available generation supply”, according to SA Power Networks.
Last night’s blackouts were the latest in a series of outages over five months that have cost businesses millions of dollars and infuriated South Australians.
Liberal frontbencher Simon Birmingham, a South Australia senator, said it was further proof that the Weatherill Labor government “can’t keep the lights on” since last September’s statewide blackout.
“It’s a chronic failing that can only hurt investment confidence in the state,” Senator Birmingham told Adelaide’s The Advertiser last night.
“It’s a demonstration that ad-hoc state-based renewable energy targets have gone too far — when reliability can’t be maintained on a day the likes of which South Australia faces numerous times every single summer.”
Live energy production data sources last night showed wind power was negligible in the state, which has shut its coal-fired power station and is aiming to reach 50 per cent renewable energy production by 2025.
Social media was flooded with complaints soon after 7pm (South Australian time), with the power distributor telling customers the forced rolling cuts were ordered by AEMO.
Appearing live on Facebook for a question-and-answer session, Premier Jay Weatherill blamed the National Energy Market for the outages, saying a gas-powered generation plant in South Australia had not been required to come online.
“The rules of the energy market are broken,” he said. “We’ll be asking for changes.”
Mr Weatherill had blamed previous blackouts on storms that hit the state. There were no storms yesterday before the blackouts.
Energy Minister Tom Koutsantonis said 3000MW of thermal generation remained idle in the state due to low availability of gas and higher prices.
The temperature in much of South Australia is expected to soar above 40C until Saturday, raising fears of further blackouts.
Northern areas of the state are well into a second week of the heatwave, with gas production site Moomba enduring heat above 45C for the sixth consecutive day. Ceduna, Port Augusta, Roxby Downs and Woomera topped 46C. Despite the heat, bushfire risk across the state did not reach severe levels, though the risk was elevated in three districts, including the Riverland and the northeast pastoral.
SA Health chief medical officer Paddy Phillips said the state’s public hospitals had put special measures in place to deal with extra heat-related problems, which were likely later in the week:” Generally the stresses that people feel come on after two or three days.”
The Australian (Additional reporting: AAP)
***
Then there’s the small mater of wind ‘powering’ what’s left of SA’s industry.
$20m to keep the lights on for Defence subs build
The Australian
Simon Benson
9 February 2017
South Australia’s energy security crisis has forced the Department of Defence to commission an emergency $20 million supplementary power source to safeguard the federal government’s $90 billion submarine and ship construction.
The back-up power plan was revealed as SA was hit by rolling blackouts again after the Australian Energy Market Operator yesterday ordered load shedding because of “a lack of available generation supply in SA”, where the temperature was over 40C.
Defence officials late last year began developing a contingency plan to build a large-capacity generator in response to concerns the state government could not guarantee reliable power because of SA’s reliance on intermittent renewable energy sources, chiefly wind.
Danish firm Odense Marine Technologies has been commissioned to design a power generator — most likely diesel-fuelled — to ensure power at the Osborne South shipyard, which will employ 5000 people.
It will be designed to operate up to five days a week as an off-the-grid power supply to mitigate statewide failures such as those last September and December. A Defence source said the department was working on a cost estimate of up to $20m, before the running expenses of fuel and fuel storage were factored in.
Defence Industries Minister Christopher Pyne said yesterday the SA power crisis was a threat to the shipbuilding industry and the federal government would have to pay for supplying its own back-up power source.
“So the massive obsession that the Labor Party has with renewable energy … has meant in South Australia, Australian taxpayers are going to have to pay millions of dollars more,” he said. “Power in South Australia is more akin to what you would expect in a backpackers’ hostel in a third world country.”
Defence is believed to have been spooked when the SA government told BHP Billiton to buy its own generator after the December blackout shut down the miner’s Olympic Dam operation.
Supply security was not the department’s only concern, however, with the state’s skyrocketing electricity prices threatening to hike construction costs at Osborne South. Last July, the National Electricity Market spot price for SA surged from averages of about $100 a megawatt hour to more than $14,000/MWh for several hours, leading to a period of average power prices 60 per cent higher than the rest of the country.
Mr Pyne said a design and cost was still to be supplied but he was told it would run into the millions of dollars.
“It is a pressing problem,” Mr Pyne told The Australian, with construction due to begin for nine frigates next year, followed by the offshore patrol vessels, and the contract for delivery of 12 submarines due to start in the early 2020s. “I called the department and asked them if we had a contingency plan for this … what happens to the submarines and frigates if we can’t supply power?”
“And it’s not just the cost of the generator but the cost of the fuel and the cost of storing the fuel on site.
Mr Pyne said the department advised it had begun work on commissioning its own generator from the company contracted to design the new shipyard.
Premier Jay Weatherill has consistently denied the blackouts had anything to do with its renewable energy targets and significant reliance on intermittent power sources.
The Australian
***
So, that’s South Australia’s power supply calamity, which replays over and over again, and which has no immediate solution, except scheduling wind power generation in advance (ie forcing wind power outfits to nominate at least 30 days ahead of time when, how much and over what duration they propose delivering their skittish product) and preventing it from taking precedence over reliable, conventional generation (see our post here).
Now we’ll have a look at what went wrong. The following graphics show what happened to wind power output in SA and the spot price for electricity in SA over the last few days and on just the latest ‘Black Wednesday‘, 8 February 2017:
SA’s 18 wind farms (with a notional capacity of 1,576MW) were belting out a tad over 1,000MW around 8am, but fell in a flabbergasted heap as the day wore on: plummeting to a piddling 70MW by 7pm (or 4% of notional capacity). So much for ‘wonderful, free’ wind energy routinely ‘powering’ the hundreds of thousands of homes claimed as gospel fact by the wind industry, its parasites and spruikers.
Now, let’s see what that utterly predictable collapse in wind power output did to the spot price for power in SA (the heavy blue line on the left shows the actual price paid on 8 February, the dotted line shows the forecast spot price for 9 February):
As wind power output collapsed on 8 February the 30 minute average hit $350 per MWh, while the period from 4pm to 7pm saw the 5 minute interval price twice top $13,000 per MWh [note to Ed, you can get a zippy, brand new Nissan Micra for that kind of money!]
SA suffered a repeat wind power ‘performance’ the next day, 9 February 2017 (proving lightning does strike twice in the same place):
SA’s wind farms struggled to sustain 500MW for more than a fleeting moment, then after 3pm spiralling earthwards to around 170MW as the day warmed up, more load shedding followed and the spot price went ballistic, yet again (the solid blue line on the left shows the actual spot price on 9 February, the dotted line on the right shows the forecast spot price for 10 February):
With wind power output heading south, the spot price for the 5 minute interval topped $9,000 per MWh for something that costs coal-fired plant less than $50 to deliver (at a profit).
We could go on with further examples – such as 10 February, when much the same wind power driven market chaos occurred – but we’ve probably made our point.
For those inclined to do a little of their own detective work, the (occasional and erratic) wind power output of every wind turbine connected to Australia’s Eastern Grid is helpfully collected on a daily basis by the boys over at Aneroid Energy – linked here. And the daily spot price is available, state-by-state, from the AEMO site – on their data dashboard linked here.
All of this was perfectly predictable; and STT predicted it (see our post here).
Over the next few posts, we’ll simply lay out a series of articles run in the mainstream press which prove that, at long last, a few of Australia’s journos are finally catching up, even if our political betters have a long, long way to go.Justice Sotomayor Doesn't Want Cameras In The Supreme Court Because Americans Won't Understand
from the citizen-mushroom,-reporting-for-inactive-non-duty dept
At her confirmation hearings in 2009, she said she was in favor of letting citizens see their government at work. “I have had positive experiences with cameras,” she said. “When I have been asked to join experiments of using cameras in the courtroom, I have participated. I have volunteered.”
She was singing a different tune a couple of weeks ago, telling Charlie Rose that most Americans would not understand what goes on at Supreme Court arguments and that there was little point in letting them try.
“I don’t think most viewers take the time to actually delve into either the briefs or the legal arguments to appreciate what the court is doing,” she said. “They speculate about, oh, the judge favors this point rather than that point. Very few of them understand what the process is, which is to play devil’s advocate.”
At her confirmation hearings in 2010, she said video coverage “would be a great thing for the institution, and more important, I think it would be a great thing for the American people.” Two years later, she said she now had “a few worries, including that people might play to the camera” and that the coverage could be misused.
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, which was formed in 2009, allows camera coverage. Last month, Lord Chief Justice Igor Judge, the head of the judiciary for England and Wales, announced that cameras would be allowed in appeal courts starting in October, after judges receive media training.
Lord Judge agreed with Justice Sotomayor, to a point. “I suspect John and Jane Citizen will find it incredibly dull,” he told a committee of the House of Lords. But that did not seem to him a reason to prevent them from trying to make sense of the proceedings.
Arguments in the Supreme Court of Canada have been broadcast since the mid-1990s, and more recently they have been streamed live on the Internet.
Owen M. Rees, the court’s executive legal officer, said the experience had been positive.
“The filming of the Supreme Court of Canada’s hearings has increased the public’s access to the court and its understanding of the court’s work,” he said. “Of course, each court must make its own evaluation of whether introducing cameras in the courtroom would be appropriate.”
Chief Justice Roberts said he worried about the effect that cameras would have on lawyers and, perhaps more important, on the justices, who may have less self-control than their counterparts abroad.
“We unfortunately fall into grandstanding with a couple of hundred people in the room,” the chief justice said.
This adminstration is having a hard time reaching its goal of being the " transparentest place on earth," what with its executive orders state secrets and a whole lot of "as you were" in reference (deference?) to existing Bush-era policies. To make matters worse, Obama's appointees are proving themselves to be "team players" and blocking out much of the remaining sunlight Justice Sotomayor is pitching in with the "new transparency" (now available in black, charcoal and midnight slate!), reversing field on her previously stated opinions on cameras in the courtroom Apparently, much like the rest of the administration, transparency is a great talking point. In practice, however, it's a very different story.Now, while Sotomayor may be correct that many Americans don't understand the nuances of the Supreme Court, it's rather insulting to believe this ignorance should preclude them from observing the inner workings. After all, many Americans are ignorant of ins and outs of the entire political process, and yet, no one's suggesting (at least not legislatively) that they have their right to vote revoked. Not only that, but C-SPAN offers wall-to-wall coverage of the legislative process, something few people in their right minds would claim to understand in its entirety, but no one seems concerned that viewers drawing the wrong conclusions will somehow harmprocess.In fact, she doesn't really make an argument as tocameras shouldn't be allowed into the courtroom. All she does is claim that the proceedings would fly over the heads of viewers. If she's concerned some of the real-time "devil's advocating" will be misconstrued, her fears are misplaced, to say the least. The public can misconstrue the intentions of the justicesa live feed, thank you very much.And, if it's the public's understanding of the process she's worried about, wouldn't it makesense to make the process easily accessed? It's pretty hard to increase knowledgeobservation. It seems counterintuitive to dismiss the public as ignorant and think you're going to improve this by locking them out.Unfortunately, it's not just Sotomayor making a 180 when actually faced with making a theoretical situation a reality. Justice Elena Kagan has also reversed her stance.Once again, we have fake fears covering for the government's natural tendency to do its "best" work behind closed doors. C-SPAN has seen its share of "playing to the camera," and yet, the American public is still better off having access to this coverage. And, if Kagan's worried the courtroom coverage might be "misused," she's apparently unaware thatcan be misused, whether it's press releases, public statements, speaking engagements, interviews, C-SPAN footage, etc. Worrying about potential "misuse" is an incredibly weak argument for opacity.. But it will also be beneficial to the general public. An open feed shows the whole story, which can then be used to punch holes in the arguments of those who misuse the information.Oddly enough, the home of free speech and democracy is lagging behind countries like Canada and the UK in terms of cameras in these nations' highest courts.So, we've heard the excuses (they're not actually "reasons") presented for keeping cameras out of the Supreme Court, but what's thereason behind this resistance to cameras in the courthouse? According to Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the problem may be with the justices themselves.If true, then the American public is being cut out of the process in order to save the justices from themselves. This is completely backwards, to say the least. If cameras provoke this sort of response from the highest court in the land, then something needs to be fixed within the court itself. Trying to place the blame on the public for a perceived lack of comprehension or tendency to misuse information is wholly disingenuous. Our Supreme Court can, and, follow the lead of Canada and the UK and stop treating US citizens as though they have no (comprehensible) horse in this race.
Filed Under: public, sonia sotomayor, supreme court, videoDo you garden in the rainforest?
Would like to transform your lānai and lawn, or your field and fence into an abundant oasis of edible and multifunctional plants?
If you’re saying, “yes, I want to learn more,” then sign up for “Edible Gardening & Landscaping in the Rainforest” at Volcano Art Center’s Niaulani Campus.
Zach Mermel will teach this two-part workshop on Saturday, March 4, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a break for lunch.
Course fees are $50/$45 for VAC members and plus a $10 materials fee.
Part 1: Edible Gardening in the Rainforest will begin the day from 9 a.m. to noon. This session will cover how to transform your lānai and lawn, your field and fence, into an abundant oasis of edible and multifunctional plants.
Part 2: Landscaping with Native Rainforest Plants is scheduled from 1 to 4 p.m. This session will cover the different habitats and habits of a wide palette of rainforest-adapted native plants with a special focus on the native plants that thrive in your patch of rainforest.
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A handout of practical readings and resources for further learning is included for both sessions.
Attendees will learn the fundamental gardening “dos and don’ts,” and interact with a wide range of useful, easy-to-grow edibles. Participants will get to take home a number of edible plants at the conclusion of the edibles workshop.
Mermel is one part ecologist, one part horticulturist and one part land planner. His work in ecology and design has taken him across the Hawaiian archipelago, the U.S. mainland, and beyond. He is also the founder of Ola Design Group, an ecological land planning and design firm in Hawai‘i.
For more information and to register for the, workshop contact Volcano Art Center at (808) 967- 8222 or visit www.volcanoartcenter.org.
About Volcano Art Center
The Volcano Art Center is a nonprofit educational organization created in 1974 to promote, develop and perpetuate the artistic and cultural heritage of Hawai‘i’s people and environment through activities in the visual, literary, and performing arts. Visit www.volcanoartcenter.org.September 29, 2006
DOMINIQUE STOKES, PLAINTIFF,
v.
LT. HENRY PORRETTO, ET AL., DEFENDANTS.
The opinion of the court was delivered by: Lee H. Rosenthal United States District Judge
MEMORANDUM AND OPINION
Dominique Stokes sued City of Galveston police officers who allegedly beat him at the City jail after he was arrested and took him to a hospital where his stomach was pumped against his wishes. Stokes also sued the doctor at the hospital who performed the medical procedure. Stokes alleges that the four officers and doctor violated and conspired to violate his substantive due process, Fourth Amendment, equal protection, and "equal privileges and immunities" rights by pumping his stomach against his will. Stokes also alleges that the officers used excessive force; that the supervisory officers failed to provide adequate supervision to prevent the constitutional violations; and that the subordinate officers are liable for failing to intervene. (Docket Entry No. 37, ¶ 27).
The police officers and the doctor have moved for summary judgment, asserting qualified immunity. (Docket Entry No. 54, 55, 56). Stokes has responded, (Docket Entry No. 57), and the defendants have replied, (Docket Entries No. 62, 70). The parties have also challenged each other's summary judgment evidence. (Docket Entry Nos. 57, 63). Based on a careful review of the motions and responses, the record, the applicable law, and oral argument from counsel, this court grants in part and denies in part the motions for summary judgment and sets a status conference for October 10, 2006, at 5:00 p.m., to establish a schedule to resolve the issues remaining in the case. The reasons for these rulings are set out below.
I. Background
Stokes alleges that Officer Michael Gray used excessive force on him at the Galveston City jail after his arrest; that Officers Clayton Pope and Michael Gray, with Sergeant Pedro Alcocer and Lieutenant Henry Porretto, used excessive force on Stokes in the emergency room; and that all four officers and Dr. John Luh were involved in pumping Stokes's stomach against his expressed wishes. The allegations and evidence relating to each set of allegations is examined below.
A. Stokes's Arrest and the Events at the Jail
On October 14, 2002, Officer Michael Gray pulled over the car Stokes was driving. Two of Stokes's friends were in the car with him. (Docket Entry No. 56, Ex. B at 8--10, 16; Ex. I, at 2). Gray instructed the two friends to leave and took Stokes into custody on four outstanding municipal arrest warrants. (Docket Entry No. 54, Ex. B at 8--12).
The summary judgment record shows that Stokes was well known to the Galveston Police Department as a drug user and dealer with a long history of arrests and convictions. Officer Gray testified that he believed that Stokes had drugs in his possession when he was arrested. (Docket Entry No. 56, Ex. B at 16, 25--26; Ex. I at 2; Ex. K at 2). Gray searched the car Stokes had been driving when arrested, but found no drugs. At the jail, Gray ordered a strip-search, instructing Stokes to strip to his underwear, pull his boxers down around his thighs, turn away from Gray, and squat.
During this search, Gray testified that he saw Stokes place his hands in the area of his buttocks. When Officer Gray ordered him to stop, Stokes allegedly replied, "I got hemorrhoids, I got hemorrhoids man." Officer Gray repeated his instruction and called out for other officers to help because Stokes refused to comply. (Docket Entry No. 56, Ex. I at 2). Officer Gray testified that while awaiting backup, he saw Stokes remove a handful of what appeared to be crack cocaine rocks from his buttocks and hold the rocks in his hand. Officer Gray attempted to get Stokes to release what he was holding by striking Stokes's hand with a police baton. The blow hit Stoke's forearm and had no effect. Officer Gray saw Stokes place what Gray believed to be crack cocaine rocks into his mouth. Officer Gray forced Stokes to the floor in an effort to prevent him from swallowing the substance. A scuffle resulted, during which Officer Gray attempted to use "open hand control and restraint techniques" to prevent Stokes from swallowing. (Id. at 5). The effort was unsuccessful. Gray believed that Stokes swallowed the cocaine rocks. (Id. at 2; Docket Entry No. 56, Ex. A at 7--8). In 2000, during one of Stokes's previous arrests by Galveston police officers, he had his stomach pumped because he had become ill |
km), and the film tells of how the American pipeline industry became involved in producing the extra amount of HAIS pipe.
The film can be seen in a small heritage museum at Shanklin Chine on the Isle of Wight, one of the Pluto terminals, where there are also a lot of other memorabilia, books and photographs. One of the original pumps used on the Isle of Wight has now been restored to its original position in the fort at Sandown, now a part of the Isle of Wight Zoo, and visitors can get a good 'feel' for what it must have been like to work there. Entrance is inside the zoo. Another pump is preserved in the Bembridge Heritage Centre. Brenzett Museum, Romney Marsh, houses a small permanent display related to Pluto at Dungeness.[12]
A film entitled Operation Pluto, produced by the former Ministry of Fuel and Power, is held in the British Film Institute archives. This film was part of a loop of films that was shown at the East Carlton Park steel heritage centre in Northamptonshire for many years.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]
Tim Whittle: Fuelling the Wars - PLUTO and the Secret Pipeline Network p55 to 87 2017. ISBN 9780992855468
ISBN 9780992855468 Banks, Sir Donald (1946). Flame Over Britain. Sampson Low, Marston and Co.
(2002). "PLUTO: Pipeline under the Ocean", In: After the Battle, 116, pages 2–27. ISSN 0306-154X.
,, pages 2–27. ISSN 0306-154X. Taylor, W. Brian, (2004). "PLUTO — Pipeline under the Ocean", In: Archive: The Quarterly Journal for British Industrial and Transport History, 42, pages 48–64. ISSN 1352-7991.
,, pages 48–64. ISSN 1352-7991. Scott, J.D (1958). "An Essay in the History of Industry", Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
Brooks, C. (1950). The History of Johnson and Phillips: A Romance of Seventy-Five Years, Published privately.
, Published privately. Hartley, A.C.(1947). "Operation Pluto", The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Journal March 1947; and Proceedings 1946,Vol 154, no 4, pp 433–438
, Journal March 1947; and Proceedings 1946,Vol 154, no 4, pp 433–438 D.J.Payton-Smith: Oil - A Study of War-time Policy and Administration. HMSO SBN 11 630074
Coordinates:Every parent knows the drill. Kid loses tooth (usually in a dramatic 3-part episode building up to a bloody, dangling tooth hanging on by a thread before the parent steps in to put the tooth out of its misery). Kid quickly trades tears for excitement over an anticipated visit from the Tooth Fairy. Parent helps kid write a special note to Her Highness O’ Teeth and they place the tooth and note under kid’s pillow. The next morning, kid rejoices at his/her newfound riches, ditches the tooth, and lives happily ever after.
Having a six-year-old means we’re in the thick of the tooth-losing stage. We’ve effortlessly moved through the above steps seven times thus far. But tooth #8 proved to be a bit problematic. In short, Bailey lost her tooth and then actually LOST her tooth, so there was no evidence to leave for the Tooth Fairy. She was very concerned about this anomaly but I, in my infinite wisdom, assured her that a note explaining the situation would suffice and the Tooth Fairy would visit her anyway.
And then the Tooth Fairy, well, didn’t.
I gave her hope and then I, as the resident Cox family Tooth Fairy, forgot to carry through on my promise. Now, I’m not talking an “almost fail,” the kind where you’re bustling around the house in the morning, all of a sudden realize you forgot, and then gingerly tip-toe into the room as you try not to breath while you slide a dollar under the pillow seconds before the child wakes. Nope, I just plain forgot…like left for work when the kids were still sleeping and didn’t think about it until late in the afternoon. By this time, Bailey had long since discovered the untouched note and the absence of cash on her pillow.
The worst part was that it was my mistake alone. Jason didn’t know that I’d convinced Bailey to leave a note even though she did not have the tooth in her possession. I didn’t ask him to help me remember to find some money before we retreated to bed. And I felt terrible.
So what happens when human failure ruins a long-trusted childhood tradition? In Bailey’s case, I was able to save face by acting as stumped as she was and concluding that perhaps you really DO have to leave the actual tooth for the Tooth Fairy to visit. She was content to learn a valuable lesson that day about the way the Tooth Fairy operates. But, I might not have lucked out on the circumstances surrounding the loss and I know this would have prompted questions about why she didn’t come and if she really exists at all.
On the heels of this incident, I started thinking about why we choose to keep up the façade. I know plenty of parents who feel strongly that partaking in myth-based traditions is essentially lying to kids and serves as a fundamental breach of parent/child trust. Additionally, many Christian parents have concerns about Santa and the Easter Bunny overshadowing the true meaning behind the religious holidays or confusing kids about what’s real and what’s not in the “things I can’t see” category. Outside of religious considerations, some feel the story of the Tooth Fairy makes kids feel entitled to monetary gain in exchange for losing a tooth – over which they have absolutely no control – instead of teaching them that rewards come from an investment in hard work. Regardless of the motivation, many families bypass these childhood stories in favor of different traditions that are more relevant to their family mission.
While I can see valid points in each of these arguments, I’ve always felt that these myths are simple and innocent “coming of age” practices. I believe that these stories can co-exist with both Christian beliefs and good solid parenting and feel confident in my ability to talk about myths and magical traditions in a far different way than I talk about aspects of our religious faith. We have the reinforcement of weekly visits to church and daily conversations about the role of God in their lives whereas references to Santa, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny are few and far between if not simply once a year as the holiday approaches.
As for the concern about lying, I’ve never seen this create long-term problems but I don’t doubt this could be the case for some children. I grew up with these traditions and know I found out they weren’t real at some point. I don’t remember how old I was but know for certain I wasn’t angry with my parents nor did I harbor feelings of betrayal. In fact, I remember trying very hard to carry on the tradition with my younger brothers and working in tandem with my mom to keep the magic alive as long as possible. I think we all saw these practices as ways to preserve the simpler aspects of childhood before the all-too-soon day when the cruel world would inevitably take control.
My gut says that it all comes down to age appropriateness. It’s appropriate for a four-year-old to believe in Santa, just as it’s appropriate for a 12-year-old not to. The problem is I know how to enjoy and manage the magic while the kids are in the believing stage, but I’m not entirely prepared to answer the tough questions when they start to realize something is rotten in the state of Denmark. Do I go with the “When you stop believing, they won’t visit anymore.” response to expressed doubts? Do I take the therapeutic approach of “Well, what do YOU think?” when asked point-blank? Or, do I go with complete disclosure about our role all these years?
If I had to predict the future, I’d say that I will probably be up front when asked about what’s real and what’s not. When I look at my beautiful, intelligent daughter experience the wonder of a visit from the tooth fairy (or Santa or the Easter Bunny), I feel confident that these practices do play a significant role in my expectation of what being a kid is all about. I desperately hope she will continue to believe without questioning and without rationalizing for as long as possible. However, given the Tooth Fairy’s recent absent-mindedness, I think I should go ahead and work on my full disclosure speech.
What are your thoughts and experiences and how have you handled these issues with your children?
[kendy]
Comments
commentsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newt Gingrich visited a zoo in Maryland on Tuesday, and admired the howls of endangered red wolves (“Four wolves make quite a noise,” the Republican presidential hopeful noted in a Twitter message).
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich addresses the Alabama Republicans forum at the Alabama Theater in Birmingham, Alabama March 12, 2012. REUTERS/Marvin Gentry
Meanwhile, to some Republicans, his campaign seemed to be going to the dogs.
Hours later came reports that Gingrich had fired his campaign manager and his cash-strapped campaign had laid off a significant portion of its full-time staff.
The official line from Gingrich’s staff is that he is charting a new course: no longer trying to win state primaries, but instead hoping to line up support at the Republican convention in Tampa late this summer, in case front-runner Mitt Romney can’t lock down the nomination.
But for many Republican observers of the campaign — including some who have been associated with the former U.S. House speaker — the moves essentially mark the beginning of the end of Gingrich’s campaign.
In recent weeks, they say, Gingrich’s campaign has seemed less like a vote-getting exercise than an opportunity for him to visit zoos, historic sites and other places that interest him.
A source familiar with the campaign told Reuters that Gingrich and his wife, Callista, are reluctant to quit the race in part because they enjoy its perks: the attention, the platform, the Secret Service protection.
This week, Gingrich dispatched his wife to her native Wisconsin, which holds its primary on Tuesday.
“Great cheese curds at Drugan’s in Holmen, Wisconsin,” she told her 8,200 followers on Twitter.
One former Gingrich associate said he worried that Gingrich’s decision to continue campaigning while running a distant third in the nomination race for convention delegates will harm the former speaker’s reputation.
“My greatest fear for Newt is that a month from now, if he’s not gathering delegates, people are going to ask why the federal government is paying (to protect) his campaign. I say that as his friend,” said Matt Towery, a former Gingrich adviser and political commentator who has known Gingrich for 32 years.
Gingrich aides emphasized that the staff cutbacks, and a plan for Gingrich to reduce his travel, did not amount to giving up.
“It’s not possible for us to get 1,144 delegates before the convention, but it looks like neither will (front-runner Mitt) Romney or (Rick) Santorum,” Gingrich chief of staff Patrick Millsaps told MSNBC.
“If that is the case, we go into the convention, you go through the first vote, and then the nomination is a jump ball.”
In the state-by-state race for the right to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election, Romney leads with an estimated 565 delegates, according to Real Clear Politics. Santorum is next with 256, followed by Gingrich with 141 and Texas Congressman Ron Paul with 66.
SANTORUM MOVES AHEAD
In recent weeks, Santorum has moved solidly ahead of Gingrich in their battle to be the conservative alternative to Romney, who is well-financed and backed by much of the Republican Party establishment.
At Georgetown University in Washington on Wednesday, Gingrich addressed 400 students in what was advertised as a speech on Social Security.
The former history professor hop-scotched a range of topics in American history, touching on Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Wright brothers. At one point, Gingrich assessed his campaign.
“I haven’t done a very good job as a candidate because it’s so difficult to communicate big solutions in this country when the entire structure of the system is so hostile to it,” he said.
A CASH FLOW PROBLEM
Earlier, Gingrich blamed tight campaign finances for his campaign’s downsizing.
“Cash flow is shorter than we’d like it to be so we’re doing the appropriate things to be able to campaign,” Gingrich said on a Washington radio station on Wednesday.
Gingrich’s campaign debts totaled $1.55 million at the end of February, according to campaign finance disclosure forms that said the campaign had $1.54 million in cash on hand.
Stressing the campaign’s empty coffers, Gingrich on Monday began charging $50 for photographs taken with him at events, according to the National Journal.
Gingrich’s efforts also have been boosted by Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, whose family has given $16.5 million to Winning Our Future, an independent “Super PAC,” or political action committee, that supports Gingrich. In all, the PAC has raised $18.9 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
At the end of February, the group had $2.3 million cash on hand, compared with $10.5 million held by Restore Our Future, the Super PAC that backs Romney.
In recent weeks, Adelson has made it clear that he is willing to throw his money behind Romney if the former Massachusetts governor is the Republican nominee.
“Fundraising is more of a challenge now, but you know that’s nothing new,” said Rick Tyler, a longtime Gingrich aide who now runs Winning Our Future.
Gingrich, who briefly was the front-runner in the race after winning the South Carolina primary on January 21, has been battered by TV ads placed by the pro-Romney PAC that have cast Gingrich as a Washington insider with questionable ethics.
Endorsements from two former Republican contenders, Herman Cain and Texas Governor Rick Perry, don’t appear to have helped much.
Even for many of his supporters, Gingrich’s trimmed ambitions do not come as a surprise. They said the campaign’s weak financial standing and its poor showing in recent polls left Gingrich with few options.
“I think that he sees it as his only option,” said Allen Olsen, a Tea Party leader and Gingrich supporter in Columbia, South Carolina. “I do wish he would still continue to campaign in each state.”The spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday criticized the Obama administration following a recent United Nations Security Council resolution to condemn the building of new Israeli settlements in disputed territory.
"It's very disappointing to see this departure from U.S. policy, this abandonment of Israel at the U.N.," spokesman David Keyes said on CNN.
"And the highlighting of what amounts to tangential issues to peace. Peace can be forged when, at long last, the Palestinians recognize our very right to exist and no longer call Tel Aviv a settlement."
Keyes said Netanyahu has been in touch with both the current administration and the incoming one, "as is only natural."
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He said the U.S. administration should be asked if it will "veto any future resolutions against Israel at the United Nations."
"And the answer to that should be an unequivocal yes," he said, echoing language used by the prime minister.
"They should veto it, because friends don't take friends to the Security Council. We can have a disagreement about that, but let us focus on the core issues."
Last week, the Security Council voted 14-0 on a resolution that condemns Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory as a "flagrant violation" of international law and demands a halt to "all Israeli settlement activities," which is "essential for salvaging the two-state solution."
The United States abstained from the vote, breaking with longstanding U.S. policy to shield Israel from U.N. condemnation and allowing the resolution to pass.VERONA, Va., Sept. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- In the wake of President Donald Trump's DACA announcement, Mike Donovan, a longtime champion, and defender of the underserved immigrant community takes a stand against the Trump administration's decision affecting thousands of young adults in the U.S. across all sectors of society.
Mike Donovan, civil rights advocate and CEO of Nexus Services, the leading provider of services to immigrants across the United States including advocacy, legal counsel, and assistance in release from immigration detention, released the following statement this afternoon:
"Nexus Services and Libre by Nexus stands up for the 800,000 plus DACA recipients, most of whom have only known the United States of America as their home.
"The mass deportation of hundreds of thousands of innocent kids and the deprivation of civil and human rights that will result from this action constitute acts that are fundamentally un-American.
"Nexus Services, Inc. and our family of companies, partnering with the law firm we sponsor, Nexus Caridades Attorneys Inc., are working hard and will fight to ensure that all legal and legislative solutions are brought to bear to protect the lives of over 800,000 innocents.
"In times of crisis, history watches us; We are judged by what we do for the meekest among us. Let there be no question that Nexus stands firmly on the front lines of the battle to protect all DACA recipients."
To speak further on the subject Donovan is available for interviews. Please contact Jen Little at 540-255-9492 or jlittle@nexushelps.com with inquiries.
About Nexus Services, Inc.
Nexus Services, Inc. stands on the front lines of a movement to promote peace and justice, with a constant respect for the inherent worth and dignity of all. Nexus Services, Inc. is the parent company of a unique family of companies, both for-profit and charitable, that deliver cutting-edge products and services to meet the needs of their clients and the community. Nexus is a leading provider of services to immigrants across the United States, including advocacy and services designed to assist immigrants in the release from immigration detention.
CONTACT: Nexus Services, Inc.
Jen Little, Director of Public Relations
(540) 255-9492 / jlittle@nexushelps.com
View original content with multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nexus-services-ceo-trumps-repeal-of-daca-is-fundamentally-un-american-300514259.html
SOURCE Nexus Services, Inc.The top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee on Thursday called for the panel to respond legislatively to the recent fatal stabbing in Portland, Oregon. The incident was apparently motivated by anti-Muslim sentiment.
Rep. Bennie Thompson (Miss.), the Homeland Security Committee’s ranking Democrat, called the man who allegedly murdered two last Friday a "domestic terrorist."
He said that the committee has not paid enough attention to attacks like the one in Portland and others since the 2016 election, noting that the incidents are influenced by white nationalist overtones aimed at Muslims and Jewish organizations.
Two men were fatally stabbed last week when they tried to stop a man, Jeremy Christian, from yelling anti-Muslim slurs at two young women, one of whom was wearing a hijab.
A third man who tried to step in and was allegedly also stabbed by Christian survived, and the two women were physically unharmed.
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"You call it terrorism. I call it patriotism," Christian said during his court appearance this week. Thompson noted the comment in a statement.
“These types of terrorist acts can no longer be ignored by this Committee for the sake of those who do not want to acknowledge that all forms of terrorism, no matter the ideology or the inspiration, are a threat to our safety, rights, and our homeland,” Thompson wrote in a letter to House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas).
“Terrorist acts are carried out by individuals with various racial, religious, and political backgrounds, but they all have a common goal — to use violence and intimidation to advance their beliefs,” Thompson added. “It is time for our committee to act.”
A spokeswoman for McCaul didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
The nearly 20 House Homeland Security Committee hearings held so far this year have mostly focused on issues like border security, cybersecurity threats and the Transportation Security Administration.
Thompson had previously asked McCaul in March to schedule a hearing on domestic threats to religious institutions and approve legislation to authorize $30 million in grants the Department of Homeland Security could provide to nonprofits considered at risk of terror threats.
Thompson said Thursday he still hadn’t received a response to his March request.Zoffix Znet wrote the first of the Rakudo Perl 6 Advent posts and hit the Jackpot on Hacker News. Mischief achieved indeed! The Grinch would be so proud! And then there were also some Reddit comments.
Other Rakudo Perl 6 Advent posts so far:
Squashathon
Last weekend saw yet another Squashathon (yes, there is one on every first Saturday of the month). The goal of this squashathon was to go through tickets that were not updated in two or more years (these tickets are automatically labeled with MOLD tag). As a result, 121 out of 224 tickets (more than half) were updated. Most of the updates were simply about reproducing the issue with the current version of Rakudo Perl 6, but some tickets got more attention and received tests and fixes. A fuller overview of all Squashatons is also available. Kudos to Aleks-Daniel Jakimenko-Aleksejev for organizing and everybody else for participating!
Other Blog Posts
Core Developments
Jonathan Worthington enabled inlining on a number of exception related constructs, that were previously barred from being inlined. This resulted in the test-t canary code to run about 12% faster. And it shaved off about 12 seconds off of make spectest for yours truly. I must say this bodes well for future inlinings!
enabled inlining on a number of exception related constructs, that were previously barred from being inlined. This resulted in the canary code to run about 12% faster. And it shaved off about 12 seconds off of for yours truly. I must say this bodes well for future inlinings! Samantha McVey fixed a problem with the Unicode database that showed up in the handling of the character class.
fixed a problem with the Unicode database that showed up in the handling of the character class. Timo Paulssen made the setup of a multi-needle split a lot cheaper for up to 20% speed improvement.
made the setup of a multi-needle a lot cheaper for up to 20% speed improvement. Elizabeth Mattijsen fixed :exists on Telemetry objects, as well as several mouldy old tickets.
fixed on objects, as well as several mouldy old tickets. And some more smaller fixes and improvements.
Meanwhile on FaceBook
Peter Evans :
Since last year we had some issues with WordPress messing up code examples in Perl 6 Advent articles, Zoffix hacked up a little helper tool: You write your Advent article in Markdown, run the tool, and out it spits WordPress-friendly HTML. It does syntax highlights too, which is pretty sweet.
: Andrew Shitov:
The funny thing I learned today is that the atom character can also be italic 😀 (well, probably just slanted, not proper italic)
Meanwhile on Twitter
Meanwhile on StackOverflow
Meanwhile on perl6-users
p6 for w32 by Todd Chester.
Winding Down
Yours truly spent most of the past week on the road, and recovering from a bad cold, and a bumpy overnight ferry. On the plus side, it was good to get out and see new stuff and meet old friends in faraway places. A bit like Rakudo Perl 6 and Pumpking Perl 5 really. See you next week for more Rakudo Perl 6 news!
AdvertisementsScientists at the American College of Physicians found that taking the popular herbal remedy is no better than a placebo at shortening a cold or reducing the severity of its symptoms.
Researchers made their conclusions after studying 719 people between the ages of 12 and 80, who all had early cold symptoms.
Volunteers where randomly assigned either no pill, a pill they knew contained echinacea, or a pill that could have been echinacea or a placebo. They then recorded their symptoms twice a day for about a week.
Those who received echinacae did report slightly shorter colds than the rest.
But the researchers found the difference - between seven and 10 hours - to be statistically insignificant. There was also no significant decrease in severity of symptoms.
Writing in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the researchers concluded: "This study suggests that taking echinacea does not make a difference in the length or severity of the common cold."
The study is at odds with an earlier review of evidence on echinacea, by the highly-respected Cochrane Library, which found it could help.
Of 16 studies it examined, nine found that taking extracts of the plant Echinacea purpurea could reduce cold symptoms in adults, if taken soon enough.
The authors concluded: "It seems that some preparations based on the herb of Echinacea purpurea might be effective for this purpose in adults."
Graham Keen, executive director of the Health Food Manufacturers’ Association, commented: “There is a strong history supporting the health properties of echinacea.
"One large meta-analysis published in the Lancet in 2007 reviewed 14 unique studies and found support of Echinacea's benefit in decreasing the incidence and duration of the common cold. As you can imagine, in light of this significant scientific study,
"I would suggest that this brings into question the results of one relatively small negative study.”
Echinacea is a type of large purple daisy found in north America. It was originally used by Native Americans for a variety f ailments, including colds.I was at Valve last month to interview pretty much everyone I could find, and play one of the most exciting PC games on the horizon: Portal 2. The preview I wrote, and the profile on Valve themselves, is in the new issue of PC Gamer in the UK. But we've also been putting up the interviews here on the site, one a day for the last week.
Today's is the final part, in which I ask Gabe and co the big questions: what's the point of Steamworks? Is piracy a solved problem? And where's Episode Three? I wasn't optimistic that they'd be willing to talk about it, but I couldn't leave without asking. I'm afraid it didn't go any better than I expected, but I've included the transcript so you can read for yourself. What they did tell me was how Steam revived the Russian games market, why Valve's competitors actually help their sales, and how not to do DRM.
PC Gamer: What have you guys gained from people using Steamworks?
Steamworks is Valve's free toolset for developers wanting to make Steam-compatible games - see here for more. Wait, that's not it... here.
Gabe Newell: We're getting much better visibility into what their experience is like, and much better tools for making those experiences better.
PC Gamer: The developer's experiences?
Gabe Newell: Customers, but then developers get that same visibility. Like, the first time that a guy at a developer logs into the Steamworks page and finds out what's really happening, it's like, “Oh my god, I'm not selling any copies in Germany. Why am I not selling any copies in Germany?” And they find that out three months before they would through traditional brick and mortar, waiting for the charts to hit. They find out the German localisation is actually Lithuanian, or, I don't know, what's a real problem that they would have? Oh, that they hate the German localised version so they're buying all of their stuff grey market from France. And that their decision to do some update that blocks the ability for those games to run in Germany might be a bad idea - that kind of thing.
So it gives our partners the same kinds of tools that we've been using. That's super valuable. Just the ability to create value for customers and solve problems for customers is vastly increased. We had one company that shipped a whole bunch of DVDs to their customers that didn't work.
Erik Johnson: They didn't have keys.
Gabe Newell: Yeah, they didn't work. And they're in a position of, because they have Steamworks, their problem magically went away for their customers. And what went from being a potentially incredibly expensive recall that was super frustrating and damaging to their reputation, rightly so, suddenly just went away. And it went away over an 8 hour period, more or less invisibly to customers.
Erik Johnson: It was a hiccup to customers, that something didn't work one morning and then it did.
Gabe Newell: The biggest thing is not just the distribution kind of issues, it's the fact that you understand your customer a lot better, and you understand how your customer is reacting to the stuff you're doing. That's going to help you fundamentally make a better product. I don't actually believe that we ever shipped Half-Life 1, because there's no way you could actually build a product without giving it to customers to find out what you're doing wrong. It would feel completely like you were on a trapeze without a safety net if we didn't have those capabilities built. We can see what our customers are doing, where we've screwed up, see where our mistakes are and fix them so much faster than we've ever been able to before.
PC Gamer: I can see why it's a good thing for developers that use it, but why is it good for Valve?
Doug Lombardi: Well, it's more people on Steam. We've always been pretty up front about that, right? We make it free for developers to use, and the gain to us is that more people are on Steam. I mean, it's very plain.
Gabe Newell: It's one of those things where everybody benefits. I mean, we benefit from having our competitor's products on Steam, and they benefit from our products being on Steam. There's this presumption that our industry is a zero sum game, and it's so not a zero sum game. Nothing is more likely to make a customer less likely to buy other games than a really bad game experience. And nothing makes them buy more games, and want to buy more games, more than having a good gameplay experience.
Doug Lombardi: And the bigger the hype on the game, the more true that is. It's an amplifier.
Erik Johnson: Finishing a really high quality game makes you want to go out and buy another game right at that moment.
Gabe Newell: Call of Duty on Steam takes advantage of Left 4 Dead 2 customers.
Erik Johnson: Batman. Really good game, same thing.
Gabe Newell: We all win by being able to cross sell.
PC Gamer: It seems like that was really borne out by Killing Floor, which came out hot on the heels of Left 4 Dead, and couldn't be more similar without actually being a Left 4 Dead game. And yet it sold really well at the same time.
Doug Lombardi: And we were totally cool about that, and Tripwire's one of the people we talk to the most and are friendliest with out of all the developing community. That was totally a fine thing, they got it and we got it and there was never a moment of like, “Hey you're treading on our stuff!” or vice versa.
Gabe Newell: Torchlight wouldn't exist without Steam and Steamworks. So, yeah. We really do view ourselves as being part of this larger community, and our big competitor is not just another first person action shooter, it's thinking that games aren't worth our time. Games sucking are a much bigger threat to us than good games from other game companies.
PC Gamer: Do you have a good sense of piracy rates with Steam games?
Gabe Newell: They're low enough that we don't really spend any time [on it]. When you look at the things we sit around and talk about, as big picture cross game issues, we're way more concerned about the stability of DirectX drivers or, you know, the erroneous banning of people. That's way more of an issue for us than piracy.
Once you create service value for customers, ongoing service value, piracy seems to disappear, right? It's like “Oh, you're still doing something for me? I don't mind the fact that I paid for this.” Once you actually localise your product in Russia and ship it on the same day that you ship your English language versions, this theoretical hotbed of piracy becomes your second largest- third largest after Germany in continental Europe? Or third after UK?
Erik Johnson: In terms of retail units?
Gabe Newell: In terms of sales of our products, yeah. Overall, Steam plus retail.
Erik Johnson: Probably second. It's a big number.
Gabe Newell: The point is that there's this market that you shouldn't waste your time on, that went from, “You shouldn't waste our time on it, they'll just pirate it,” to “it's actually a really large market for us now,” once you actually do the things that allow your product to be played. And that's why some of the DRM approaches are so bad, because they create negative value, not positive value.
I've had this problem with software, where my machine crashes and I wasn't able to release my license. So I have high-end CAD software that I have for hobbies, and my machine crashes and now I'm screwed because of their DRM solution. And that's bad because it's much harder to justify purchasing software that might just magically disappear and create a huge hassle for you to recover. What you want to do is go the other way, and say, “Anywhere in the world, any time, you can get your software.” It's even better if you can get it to run on more platforms, which is why Steam Play is cool, so I can buy it on a Mac and play it on a PC and vice versa. That's a good thing, that moves customers in the direction of thinking, “Oh, my content is more valuable.”
Erik Johnson: There hasn't been a case where we're making a trade off that could negatively impact a customer's experience to reduce this theoretical piracy rate. Those always seem like awful decisions.
Gabe Newell: You were just saying, you're making this trade off, and it's always the wrong one if any customers can be affected negatively by it.
Erik Johnson: Being able to log into any computer and play our games on Steam was a feature that we thought was interesting in the early days of Steam, but has turned out to be an incredibly high value thing for customers, and that's the kind of thing where a flawed anti piracy strategy would be at odds with that.
Doug Lombardi: The other thing, too, is that gamers are generally good people. If you're making a good game and you've done a good job both from a quality and on the communications standpoint, they're more than happy to give you their money. I mean, we get mail all the time. Gabe gets more mail I think directly from customers but EJ and I get a fair amount. And like, after we ship something that's good, we get mail saying, “I just went out and bought a second copy of it, just because I liked it so much I wanted to pay you guys again.” Or, “I went and bought it from my uncle or brother,” or whatever. So that's my take on a lot of it, just do your job and people are more than happy to pay for it.
Gabe Newell: The other thing that's always funny is how unbelievably smart the gaming community is, and how accurate. You see other people just lying or making up stuff, and it's like, “Oh my God, no. Don't go there.”
PC Gamer: Last time I was at your old office, on the whiteboard there was a pros and cons analysis of another weapon versus the Gravity Gun - something called the Weaponiser. Was that an Episode Three thing?
Gabe Newell: No, it was an internal design experiment that we were doing, which hasn't seen the light of day.
Erik Johnson: That must have been a long time ago, that must have been during our direct to design experiments.
PC Gamer: Is there some sort of big surprise in Episode Three?
Gabe Newell:...
(Long, uncomfortable pause)
Doug Lombardi: Next question! (Laughs)
PC Gamer: When are you going to start talking about it?
Gabe Newell:...
(Long, uncomfortable pause)
Doug Lombardi: Next question!
PC Gamer: Nothing at all? I have to ask.
Gabe Newell: I understand, and I have to not say anything.
PC Gamer: Every now and then you guys give a hint of something.
Gabe Newell: And then he (points at Doug) yells at me!
Doug Lombardi: So I tend to sit in and just cut it all off. (Laughs)
The sheer awkwardness of that exchange made me glad I'd left those questions till last. For the rest of our enormous interviews, everyone at Valve had been remarkably candid, articulate and obliging. You expect Valve to be smart, you don't always expect them to be so accommodating. So while I'm still no wiser about when the Half-Life series will continue, the sheer tonnage of everything else they told me paints an extraordinary picture of what they're up to in the meantime.
We have our own ideas about where Episode Three will go, what will be special about it, and why they're taking so long about it. We'll be putting those up in a special speculation post soon.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy grew faster than initially thought in the second quarter on solid domestic demand, showing fairly strong momentum that could still allow the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates this year.
Gross domestic product expanded at a 3.7 percent annual pace instead of the 2.3 percent rate reported last month, the Commerce Department said on Thursday in its second GDP estimate for the April-June period.
The GDP report, which was released in the wake of a global stock market sell-off, should assure investors and cautious Fed officials that the United States is in good shape to weather the growing strains in the world economy.
“The U.S. economy entered the current market turbulence with momentum, which will help it to shrug off the drag from China and other developing economies,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial in Chicago.
Concerns over slowing economic growth in China sent global equity markets into a tailspin last week, raising doubts that the U.S. central bank would raise its short-term interest rate next month. Markets have since recouped some of the huge losses.
On Wednesday, New York Fed President William Dudley said that prospects of a September lift-off in the central bank’s key lending rate “seems less compelling to me than it was a few weeks ago.”
U.S. stocks rose sharply on the GDP data, a day after posting their biggest one-day gain in four |
found this video of you at [a meeting], and they went to the governor’s office, and they’re just really concerned that you’re too sympathetic and that you might provoke more resistance,” Oxendine Molliver recalled the department official telling her. “You can still go, and we still want you there, but you’re going to be a greeter.”
“I just kind of laughed,” Oxendine Molliver said. “It means Enbridge has the authority to call the governor’s office, who then has the authority to control the permitting process.”
The governor’s office declined to comment on a personnel matter. In a statement, Ross Corson, the director of communications for Minnesota’s Commerce Department, told The Intercept that because Oxendine Molliver “has left state employment, she is not in a position to claim what specific concerns are, or are not, being addressed in the final EIS, which is still being prepared.”
“In this process, the agencies do not advocate for a particular position, but must act as impartial fact-finders for the commission, which also extends to the role of the tribal liaison. Complaints about any possible bias are treated seriously,” Corson added.
Enbridge spokesperson Shannon Gustafson stated, “We’re committed to following the regulatory process for the Line 3 replacement project and only ask that it be a fair and equitable process for everyone involved.”
On Wednesday, Gov. Mark Dayton extended by a week the deadline to publish the final environmental impact statement, to August 17, “in order to provide the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with the best possible information on which to base its decision.” He noted that the EIS included more than 2,860 public comments. Additional hearings will follow its publication, after which the Public Utilities Commission will use the statement to determine whether the pipeline can go forward.
“Don’t pride yourself on being the state that is better than DAPL,” Oxendine Molliver said. The process “is not transparent.”
An Enbridge tank farm in an aerial photograph taken above the Athabasca Oil Sands near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, on June 19, 2014. Photo: Ben Nelms/Bloomberg News/Getty Images
Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline reaches from the center of Canada’s tar sands region in Alberta to Superior, Wisconsin, with most of its 364-mile U.S. portion passing through Minnesota. Line 3 has ruptured multiple times since it was built in the 1960s, resulting in a 1.7-million-gallon spill in 1991 and a 252,000-gallon disaster in 2002, among other accidents. Today, it is corroded and cracked. Given its degraded state, by 2008 the pipeline’s capacity had been reduced. As a penalty for another million-gallon spill in 2010 on a different corroded Enbridge pipeline, the company signed a consent decree with the federal government agreeing to replace Line 3 by December 2017 or undertake additional efforts to prevent ecological harm.
The decree happened to serve Enbridge’s interests, providing a new argument in the company’s efforts to pressure Minnesota’s government to approve a proposal to replace Line 3 and greatly increase its capacity. The new line would expand the 34-inch pipe to 36 inches and increase its current capacity from 390,000 barrels per day to at least 760,000 barrels, closer to what it originally pumped. Meanwhile, the old line would remain in the ground, its combustible material removed and its ends sealed shut.
Five bands of Ojibwe have filed as intervenors in opposition to the Line 3 replacement plan. Affected tribes have expressed concern about leaving the decaying line, which passes through the Fond du Lac and Leech Lake reservations, in the ground. Although the proposed new route does not cross reservation boundaries, it cuts through wild ricing lakes, hunting grounds, and other sacred areas to which indigenous people also have legal rights. And given that tribal members are disproportionately low-income, impacts on their well-being require careful consideration in the environmental review process.
Oxendine Molliver, who previously worked as a tribal liaison in Minnesota’s Human Rights Department, was recruited and loaned to the Commerce Department late in the process to meet with the tribes and ensure their perspectives were included in the draft environmental impact statement. Her hiring was announced on March 28, a month and a half before the draft would be released, on May 15.
With only weeks to meet with 11 tribes and incorporate their concerns, Oxendine Molliver began flying to tribal areas around the state. “I thought better late than never. I came in thinking really optimistically,” she said. “No one’s going to be pro-pipeline, but how can we get it transparent, so their story is told in the document?”
The meeting that led Enbridge to report her to the governor’s office was on May 31, with the Minnesota Chippewa tribe. Oxendine Molliver introduced herself as a member of the Lumbee tribe from North Carolina: “As a working mother and as an activist and as someone who wants to participate, I am honored to see you all make that happen for your families, and I am honored by the gentle way you have pushed the systems in which you have to work.”
“Folks [have] said to me offline, ‘I don’t know how you do it. I don’t know why as a native you even want to discuss the pipeline or be involved at any level on a project like that,’” she said. “You’ve got to infiltrate — you’ve got to be part of the system. We need more leaders, we need more people who are qualified who have the traditional knowledge, who have the sovereign knowledge, who have the language, culture — we need those folks to be in the systems with which we have to operate.”
She told attendees that the draft environmental impact statement did not offer any opinions, only facts that could guide decisions. However, she assured the audience, “I think that there are conclusory comments there if we really listen.” She read aloud a portion of the draft:
Any route, route segment, or system alternative would have a long-term detrimental effect on tribal members and tribal resources. The impacts cannot be categorized by duration (short-term or permanent) or by extent (region of interest, construction work area, permanent right-of-way). It is also not possible to determine which alternative is better when each alternative affects tribal resources, tribal identity, and tribal health.
If Enbridge had had its way, there would be no environmental impact statement at all. The process is not always required for pipelines and is frequently controversial. In 2015, a Minnesota court sided with environmental groups and forced the state to undertake the impact statement process for both Line 3 and another controversial proposed Enbridge pipeline, Sandpiper, which would have transported oil obtained via fracking from North Dakota’s Bakken region. After years of pushback from indigenous and environmental opponents, Enbridge axed the Sandpiper project in fall 2016.
Under the Obama administration, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers launched an environmental impact statement for the Dakota Access Pipeline, at the height of the NoDAPL movement. The process, which would have delayed construction, was effectively canceled by President Donald Trump when he took office in January.
By June, trains loaded with pipes began rolling into Minnesota. A final decision from the state about whether Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement can be built isn’t expected until April 2018. Photo: Provided by Sheila Lamb
After being sidelined, Oxendine Molliver spent meeting after meeting ushering guests to the refreshments, but at a final meeting held just for tribal members, on June 27, she was struck by images presented by Sheila Lamb, who is Ojibwe and Cherokee and has long been involved in environmental activism. They showed long lines of pipe being transported by truck and rail, and stacked inside a fence.
“There are staging areas already,” Lamb said, according to a transcript of the proceedings. “The newest one is between Kettle River and Rice. It is a huge fenced area with barbed wire on top, the whole nine yards, where they’re taking the pipes to. We’re talking trucks running every 10 to 15 minutes carrying in pipes. As of yesterday, there were 35 carloads of pipes just that we could count sitting right in Carlton.”
“Is this already a done deal?” Lamb asked the Commerce Department officials. Her question touched issues that extended beyond the scope of the environmental impact statement. Enbridge has already started construction in the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as on the 12-mile segment in Wisconsin. Minnesota is the last state that hasn’t granted regulatory approval, giving it huge sway in determining the future of the pipeline.
Jamie MacAlister, a project manager for the Commerce Department, replied to Lamb, “[Decision-makers] don’t know that there’s pipes stacked up out here. In fact, I didn’t know there was pipes stacked up out here until I came to this meeting.” She added, “Enbridge does not have any permits. They’re not allowed to do any construction until they receive those permits.”
Indeed, Enbridge lacked any permit to begin building the pipeline. But that didn’t mean the company couldn’t start getting ready. It had received five construction stormwater permits from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency in 2015 for Line 3 storage yards along the proposed routes.
But Oxendine Molliver says the Commerce Department avoided making that clear. A few weeks after the meeting, she arranged a sit-down with Lamb and the department’s commissioner, Mike Rothman, who expressed concern and told Lamb the department would look into the issue, according to Lamb and Oxendine Molliver. Shortly afterward, Oxendine Molliver said she was told by two Commerce Department officials that Enbridge did have permits, but the department was “keeping it on the down-low.”
While construction of the pipeline itself still required the Public Utilities Commission’s approval, Oxendine Molliver said she “was horrified” by the department’s lack of transparency in response to questions from tribal members. She requested that the staging issue be noted in the EIS, but was rebuffed.
As the department began to finalize the text, she noticed other issues that tribal members had raised were missing from the document. In May, the Fond du Lac band of Lake Superior Chippewa contacted the Minnesota Department of Transportation after hearing that highway construction had begun on top of a native cemetery. After halting the project, the agency found human remains at the construction site. The burial site is not far from Enbridge’s preferred pipeline route. Tribal members expressed concern about the adequacy of gravesite databases and the cumulative impact of seeing relatives’ graves desecrated alongside construction of an unwanted pipeline. Oxendine Molliver asked that language be added to the text.
Other issues were described in ways that failed to convey why they were meaningful to communities near the pipeline route. The draft included a section on the history of the Sandy Lake Ojibwe community, for example, describing how in 1850, thousands of Ojibwe were forced to migrate from Wisconsin in order to receive the annual supplies promised to them in treaties; when only three days’ worth of supplies arrived, hundreds of people died. The draft did not mention that the group’s descendants still live in the area, many of them in poverty. And a reader would have to compare maps to understand that the pipeline would pass near Sandy Lake, cutting across the route native community members use to reach another Ojibwe community to the south.
And there were things left undone, Oxendine Molliver said. The June 27 meeting with tribal members had not been transcribed, and she said her communications with Commerce officials suggested comments collected there would not be reviewed or incorporated. Broader questions she raised were dismissed. Would the document address the cost to taxpayers of legal actions taken by environmental and indigenous groups related to the pipeline? Would it note that transporting new tar sands oil into the country conflicts with state initiatives, such as Dayton’s membership in the U.S. Climate Alliance?
In her last days as tribal liaison, Oxendine Molliver began hearing complaints from Commerce Department management. She was asked to cancel a planned trip to visit a reservation. She was pulled into a meeting and told that they weren’t sure it was working out. She saw all this as retaliation. As the final version of the EIS was sent to consultants to be finalized, without many of the changes she’d requested, she submitted her resignation letter.
“My best-case scenario was they were going to do this really awesome environmental impact statement, and the facts would be just so staggering,” Oxendine Molliver said. “I thought if you have this document, and the tribes have intervened, you can’t put your finger over your ears and be like lalalala for too long.”
At the meeting that led Enbridge to complain about Oxendine Molliver, Winona LaDuke, a longtime environmental activist who played a key role in the movement to kill Sandpiper, described her takeaways from the draft environmental impact statement. “When you go all the way through it, it says, we heard you. We heard that your people are hurting. We heard that your people can barely hang on. We heard that this is the only land you have. We heard that this is the only wild rice you have. We heard that your communities are already under a lot of duress. We heard that your communities are already sick from contaminants,” she said. “But mitigation is gonna be good.
“We don’t want to throw down a camp like Standing Rock, but this is not Morton County — you’re not getting another pipeline through here,” she added. “And there are hundreds of Ojibwe people and thousands of other people that are going to stop that line if you approve a permit. So we’d just like to stop it before we get to that.”
Opponents of Enbridge Line 3 publicly launched two camps on Wednesday, one on the White Earth reservation and another near the Fond du Lac reservation.
The final decision on the pipeline isn’t expected until next April.“Revisionist.” If you have ever visited an online Leftist community, chances are you have been called this at one point or another. For those unfamiliar with the term, revisionist is somewhat of a pejorative which is common among the Leftist communities meant to express that the recipient is “not Leftist enough,” “not my comrade,” or perhaps even “a traitor to the revolution.” But why must this be a dirty word? I mean, there are people who identify as Trotskyists for goodness sake. Wisecracks aside for the time being, what is the trouble with revision in regards to established theory? Sure, there are basic universal tenets which distinguish us as Leftists, but should we not revise our opinions when a sound argument is made which we have not considered or when new information comes to light? Is it bad to admit that a previously-held belief is incorrect? Is it worse to have to temporarily confess that we are fallible humans than to take a step back and question how parochial we might be behaving? I claim it is an affront to my quest for knowledge to not admit when I am wrong or ignorant on a subject and then update my opinion according to the information I have gained. That acquisition and subsequent application of knowledge is called learning, after all.
To learn, the prerequisite is that you must not know something. It is not always bad to be ignorant. Sōkrátēs thought that ignorance was evil, but I would argue that only willful ignorance is wicked. In common usage, ignorance is only the absence of knowledge, and I guarantee that the most intelligent people who ever lived were ignorant about a number of topics. However, neither were they born with all the knowledge they gained throughout their lives. Hence, I am sure they were revisionists. I am among comrades here, for a strong tradition of revisionism has always permeated the Left. Lenin and Mao were revisionists of Marx. Hell, even Marx himself revised Hegel, and Hegel revised Kant and Fichte, who revised others before them, and so on. Revisionism is the name of the game when it comes to philosophical rigour and political activity. Learning, updating, acquiring new knowledge—this is all revisionism means, and not only is its negative connotation totally absurd, but I am pleased to bear the title revisionist like a red badge of courage.
There has always been disagreement and disorganisation on the Left. The old joke goes that if three socialists enter a debate, three new ideologues emerge. Unfortunately, the truth of this joke is not a far cry. Leftists, especially on the Internet, are all too ready to disagree about petty issues. For me, the most radical position is to say “despite our differences, you are my comrades because our struggles are intertwined; only a truly unified Left can genuinely emancipate people from millennia of alienation ” This is why I am radically opposed to sectarianism. Condemning potential comrades with whom you disagree about individual topics leads nowhere. Y
However, as I have said elsewhere, Marx did not have all the answers. He did not live in the reality we do, where nuclear winter is a tiny-handed button-press away or a viable socialist movement can be bribed away via capitalist enterprise. Perhaps it is time to come to terms with the fact that maybe everything within the Marxist canon is not enough to deal with the animus before us. We need to explore new avenues of theory. To do this, Leftists should aspire to be students of Marx, for there is a considerable distinction between being an acolyte and a student. Ambitious students have the potential to surpass Marx¹, whereas the acolytes dogmatically adhere to his words—unless those words are in his letter to Arnold Ruge in Letters From the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, wherein he wrote “I am not in favour of raising any dogmatic banner. On the contrary, we must try to help the dogmatists to clarify their propositions for themselves.” The message is clear: Marx realised that holding fast to a belief without proper assessment is a danger; this is why he favoured “ruthless criticism of all that exists.” Marx did not want those who would come after him to perfunctorily obey his propositions; he wanted that prospective communists should instead revise, improve, and go beyond him.
_________________________________________________________
We should not, however, revise to such a degree that our theory no longer resembles or is compatible with the general aims of socialism. Theory should not be revised to fit the coordinates of one’s personal opinions which have not been adequately thought through and are thus at the level of primitive notions.
AdvertisementsGoogle is fearlessly trudging on with its Chromebook push in the education market. The company announced on Friday that there are now 2,000 schools using Chromebooks for Education around the world. Just three months ago, there were 1,000 schools, showing an impressive adoption rate so far.
As part of the milestone, Google offered a list of schools that recently joined the Chromebook camp:
Transylvania County Schools in rural North Carolina deploying 900 devices.
St.Thomas Aquinas High School in Florida going one-to-one with 2,200 devices.
Rocketship Education in the Bay Area of California using 1,100 Chromebooks.
Unfortunately, Google likely chose to list the schools taking on large numbers of Chromebooks, so it’s unfair to say each school is adopting about a thousand devices. For all we know, some may be just rolling out a hundred or even less as a test run.
It would be great if Google could break out actual Chromebook numbers in the education market, but that might be asking for too much. Nevertheless, the company may one day offer up a milestone, say when there’s 1 million devices being used by schools.
The education segment aside, Chrome OS is gaining attention from more and more manufacturers. In 2012, only Samsung and Acer were on board. This year it looks like we’ll see that list rapidly expanding, with two new entrants revealed just last month.
First, Lenovo joined the fray with its education-focused ThinkPad Chromebook, available to schools from February 26. The 11.6-inch device will be powered by an Intel processor, feature an anti-glare display with a 1366 x 768 resolution, offer three USB ports, a webcam, and a 6-cell battery.
At the same time, details of an HP Chromebook also leaked out in January. The device will have a 14-inch display, a 16GB solid-state drive, a 1.1GHz Intel Celeron Processor 847, 2GB of memory, and more than four hours of battery life per charge.
The reason that Chromebooks are gaining attention is really quite simple. While Google likes to tout its browser-as-an-OS strategy, the reality is that the price is the real selling point.
See also – Google and DonorsChoose.org offer schools Samsung Series 5 Chromebooks for $99 each and Google announces 11.6-inch Acer C7 Chromebook with 3.5 hours of battery life, for just $199
Image credit: Ivan Prole
Read next: TNW’s Daily Dose: Path settles with the FTC over user data, Facebook launches a card, and moreKarma is a concept taught by various cultures throughout human history, and is an idea that dates back thousands of years. Despite its proliferance, the idea of karma seems to be generally misunderstood and frequently tossed around without any real understanding of its true meaning.
What is Karma?
In the Bhagavad Gita (one text out of many from multiple cultures that speak of karma), there are constant dialogues about how to attain what’s referred to as “moksha”. Moksha is the release from the cycle of rebirth; a sort of transcendent state or freedom from the world we currently know – a world in which our senses deceive us. It’s a state of bliss that can only be attained when we have freed ourselves from the web of Karma. Once we reach that point our soul is ready to move on to another experience that goes beyond rebirth.
According to Hindu philosophy, the only “higher” activity one can engage in other than performing selfless, fruitful action is the quest and cultivation of spiritual knowledge, contemplation and truth.
Let’s take a look at what karma really means:
“The Principle of Karma requires that the experiences of the individual being, based on his actions during the lifetime, are imprinted in the subtle body, which will therefore have to possess some organized structure of fine matter as mental state within it, and will accordingly be impelled to move to specific locations for rebirth. The principle of Karma is fundamentally based on this very concept that the deeds of today shape the future events for man – the most intelligent of beings is gifted with the discriminating ability in addition to the instinctive habits that all other creatures possess.” – Paramahamsa Tewari (source)
The general idea is that every time we perform an action a cause is created that will have corresponding effects. Again, Karma literally translates to “action” or “deed” and included within that action are your thoughts and intentions. The karma principle makes it clear that the universe will respond to you in this life and/or the next. Actions have “consequences,” and thoughts do as well.
I personally like to leave out “good” and “bad” when it comes to the consequences of our actions. For example, a human being can have what we call a “good” experience or what is perceived as a “bad” experience. The truth of the matter is that they are experiences, regardless of how we perceive them and choose to label them. We can either choose to grow from these experiences and learn from others, untangling ourselves from the web of karma, or we can continue viewing them as “bad” (for example) and prevent ourselves from moving forward.
According to some Indian philosophies, like Jainism, Karmas are invisible particles of matter existing all around us. Our souls attract these karmas through various actions. For example, every time we get angry we attract karmas, just as when we are deceitful or greedy. Likewise, every time we kill or hurt someone we attract karmas. According to Janism these karmas form layers upon layers over our souls and keep us from realizing our true potential and our ability to hear our soul’s voice.
I find it very interesting that the philosophy and concept of karma is discussed in various ways by multiple cultures, religions and philosophers over a period spanning thousands of years.
Karma Yoga
Again, karma is all about action. In Hindu philosophy, it’s believed that purified minds will be the ones to partake in jinana yoga, what is also known as the yoga of knowledge. As mentioned earlier, this quest for truth and contemplation was believed to be a superior act of being as opposed to performing karma yoga (good deeds without care for their rewards or consequences, selfless acts), but both are paths to the same destination.
Performing karma yoga is all about performing acts that can benefit the planet(s), acts that stem from the heart’s intent strictly for the benefit of the world(s) or others. This is important to remember, because many can perform good deeds in order to benefit themselves, reap the rewards, get to a specific destination or to “look good” in the eyes of others. Performing acts from an incorrect place within your heart is not “doing your karma,” but rather, performing a selfish act in the disguise of good deeds – something that might actually cause you to accumulate more karma instead. Karma is all about the place you are coming from within, which brings me to my next point.
The Difference Between Karma and the Mainstream Idea of It
When I refer to the “mainstream idea of karma” I am more so referring to the idea and energy behind the statement “they’ll get what’s coming to them” as well as the idea that performing good deeds will provide you with good rewards.
Although “good” deeds might come full circle and have positive fruition, just as “bad” deeds do, karma has absolutely nothing to do with people “getting what’s coming to them” as a result of their “bad” actions. It’s about learning from your experiences, not about receiving the consequence of your negative action for the sake of receiving it. The focus needs to be on achieving personal growth as a result of your deeds; even if we are not consciously aware of it, there is growth occurring at the soul level. Karma is an opportunity to move forward. If you see somebody hurting another person and then you see that aggressor hurt or suffer afterwards, it’s not your place to point your finger and say “karma,” or “they got what was coming to them.” Karma is accumulated so we can eventually rid ourselves of it, learn what we need to learn from this human experience, and move on. It has nothing to do with the energy of judgement and blame.
Furthermore, if you do good deeds while under the belief that good deeds will be reciprocated, you are completely contradicting the idea of Karma. Why? Because performing karma is all about action that comes from a selfless place within your heart, for no reward, for the good of the world. If you have the idea in your head that you will somehow be rewarded, or you are engaging in acts of good will for others to see, or trying to move forward in your career or other aspects of your life, you might in fact be wrapping yourself up in even more karma. The most important thing to consider is the intent and the reasons behind your actions.
“Actions performed without desire for rewards with spiritual consciousness contribute to the fulfillment of liberation. When fulfillment is achieved one attains the ultimate consciousness and liberation is automatically included. By performing actions in this manner a living being becomes verily a being of non-action. Renunciation is relinquishing the desire for rewards attached to appropriate actions. Performing actions in spiritual consciousness without desire leads to liberation.” (source)
There is a quote I saw that was floating around the internet not long ago that stated:
“Karma, no need for revenge. Just sit back & wait, those who hurt you will eventually screw up themselves & if you’re lucky, God will let you watch.”
The idea that one can take joy in another persons misery is not at all indicative of the theory of karma. Judgement has no place with regards to the theory of karma. It’s all about lessons and opportunities for spiritual growth.
Collective Karma
“The universe that we inhabit and our shared perception of it are the results of a common karma. Likewise, the places that we will experience in future rebirths will be the outcome of the karma that we share with the other beings living there. The actions of each of us, human or nonhuman, have contributed to the world in which we live. We all have a common responsibility for our world and are connected with everything in it.” – The 14th Dalai Lama
Just as we accumulate karma as individuals, we do it on a collective level. Our actions as one giant human race will have consequences, and we’ve seen that time and time again. One of the biggest examples is how we are operating here on planet Earth, as well as our relationship with the environment and other life forms that share the planet with us.
I think it’s important to question what exactly we are doing here – what we are thinking and how we are acting, and to then examine what type of reality we are manifesting as a result of those thoughts and actions. After all, quantum physics is shedding light on just how important human consciousness is, and how factors associated with consciousness are affecting our physical material world. You can read more about that here.
I will leave you with this quote, as it is a completely separate topic yet still related to the idea of karma in some way.
“Broadly speaking, although there are some differences, I think Buddhist philosophy and Quantum Mechanics can shake hands on their view of the world. We can see in these great examples the fruits of human thinking. Regardless of the admiration we feel for these great thinkers, we should not lose sight of the fact that they were human beings just as we are.” – Dalai Lama (source)
**This is a very brief, condensed explanation of Karma according to Hindu Philosophy. Please keep in mind that the idea of Karma is present in various ancient cultures that have roamed the Earth through various stages of human history.International
13. September 2017
DEL-Auswahl beim ALL STAR CUP in Bratislava
Von DEL Redaktion
Eishockey-Legende Erich Kühnhackl als Teamchef / SPORT1 überträgt DEL-Begegnungen live im Free-TV
Die Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) wird beim ALL STAR CUP am 17. Februar 2018 in Bratislava mit einem Team vertreten sein. Dies erklärte DEL-Geschäftsführer Gernot Tripcke im Rahmen der offiziellen Vorstellung des Events in Bratislava.
Teamchef der DEL-Auswahl ist Eishockey-Legende Erich Kühnhackl. Besetzt wird das All Star-Team der DEL mit je einem Spieler aus jedem DEL-Club, davon zwei Torhüter. In der Ondrej Nepala-Arena treten neben der DEL-Auswahl die Teams der österreichischen Erste Bank Eishockey Liga (EBEL) sowie der tschechischen und slowakischen Liga Tipsport extraliga an.
Hier Ticket's sichern
Die vier teilnehmenden Teams bestreiten je drei Partien im Modus „Jeder gegen Jeden“ über zwei mal 15 Minuten mit „Drei gegen Drei“ Spielern. Als TV-Partner wird SPORT1 die drei Begegnungen des DEL-Teams live und exklusiv im deutschen Free-TV übertragen.
„Wir werden Eishockey der Extraklasse in einem völlig neuen, aber sehr attraktiven Format erleben“, erklärte DEL-Geschäftsführer Gernot Tripcke.These are the albino men and women put under police and army protection in a desperate bid to stop the cruel East African black market trade of their body parts.
Police across Malawi have been ordered to shoot anyone caught attacking albinos, while Tanzania's prime minister has urged citizens to kill anyone found with albino body parts.
And in nearby Burundi, albino youngsters from across East Africa are being housed in special accommodation under army protection in a bid to deter attackers.
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Dorothy Mausen, a 22-year-old Malawian albino woman, poses for a photo in the country's Machinga district
Malawian police have been ordered to crack down on those trading in albino body parts, with orders recently given to shoot anyone caught attacking them
The drastic developments come as the United Nations reports at least 15 people with albinism, mostly children, have been killed, wounded, abducted or kidnapped in East Africa in the past six months.
Body parts of those with albinism are prized in black magic and witchcraft, as it is believed spells based on their body parts will bring luck, love and wealth.
Nearby Burundi has also taken steps to safeguard albinos by accommodating them in housing under protection.
The latest order came from Malawi's Inspector General of Police Lexen Kachama who instructed police to shoot any 'dangerous criminals' caught abducting albinos, according to local media reports.
'Shoot every criminal who is violent when caught red-handed abducting people with albinism,' said Kachama, adding that he was ordering police to use weapons in proportion to the crime.
'We cannot just watch while our friends with albinism are being killed like animals every day.
'We do realize that these people are ruthless, have no mercy and therefore they need to be treated just like that.'
His comments came just a month after a Malawian man was arrested for trying to strangle to death a 16-year-old albino boy.
Catherine Amidu, 12, sits in her home Malawian home, in a region where six albinos have been killed since December
Femia Tchulani, 42, lives in constant fear of attackers who target and kill albinos in order to sell their body parts on the black market
Village chief Mariam Witness stands in a graveyard where the grave of an albino person was recently desecrated. Body part traders are known to exhume graves in order to obtain body parts in the cruel trade
A similar remark was made by Tanzania's Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda in 2009 when he urged citizens to kill anyone on the spot if they were found with the limbs or organs of albinos.
Albino rights group have called for greater protection of albinos but said killing suspects was not going to deter criminals offered large sums of money for securing body parts as they were likely to still take the risk for the promised reward.
Witchdoctors will pay as much as $75,000 for a full set of albino body parts, according to a Red Cross report.
Vicky Ntetema, executive director of Under The Same Sun, a Canadian non-profit organization defending albino rights, said campaigners wanted justice for those people kidnapped, mutilated and murdered.
'But we have to remember that all those goons caught red-handed... are small fish - agents and executors of the big sharks out there,' she said.
'Killing them on the spot is not going to help us catch the inducers, those with money to hire these gangs who continue to terrorize innocent people with albinism and their families.'
An albino boy sits between his two parents at their home in Malawi
Ntetema urged police in Tanzania, Malawi and Burundi to quiz suspects to get information about the witchdoctors who use albino body parts and their clients.
'We all need to unite and find the culprits who are hiding behind the killers... Why would people kill albinos if they were not asked to get their organs by someone?' she said.
The plight of people with albinism has worsened in East Africa in recent years, according to U.N. and police figures, with concerns that an election in Tanzania this year will prompt more attacks as politicians seek luck at the ballot box.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Said Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein last month urged African governments to combat impunity for crimes against people with albinism.
Albinism is a congenital disorder which affects about one in 20,000 people worldwide, according to medical authorities. It is more common in sub-Saharan Africa and affects about one Tanzanian in 1,400.
Mainasi Issa, 23, is one of a number of Malawian albino women under police protection in the impoverished African countryAmateur bakers, take heed: In Wisconsin, selling your homemade chocolate chip cookies is a jailable offense.
It may be the Cheese State, but not every dairy delicacy is created equal in Wisconsin, where it’s illegal to sell homemade baked goods without a commercial license. The penalties for doing so can range from up to $1,000 in fines to six months in jail.
While supporters of the law insist that it rightfully protects merchants and small businesses in the baked dessert industry, home bakers say it isn’t fair.
“The state’s home-baked-good ban hurts farmers, homemakers and others who just want to help support their family by selling simple goods from their home oven,” Lisa Kivirist told Wisconsin Watchdog. “Not to mention that the ban prevents customers from buying the fresh and local foods of their choice.”
Taking the matter into her own hands, Ms. Kivirist is now one of three farmers who are suing the state Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection, challenging the constitutionality of the ban as a violation of their equal protection rights and due process. Their attorneys are part of the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit law firm that challenges the “size and scope of government power.”
According to the Institute for Justice website, Kivirist owns a bed and breakfast in Green County, Wis. As a hostess, her muffins and other baked goods are a hit with customers. But despite their requests to buy her sweet treats, she’s sanctioned by law to refrain from selling them.
“If I lived a half hour to the south in Illinois, I could make up to $25,000 a year selling homemade baked goods,” she told Forbes. “But in Wisconsin, our spatulas are tied.”
Under the current law, Kivirist and her cohorts need a license as a “food processing plant” or “retail food establishment,” according to the lawsuit. Both require commercial kitchen facilities, which could cost up to $80,000, in addition to the cost of rent for the extra space each month.
“One of our clients was successfully selling at farmers markets and she was selling out her goods,” said attorney Erica Smith at the Institute for Justice. “When she found out about this law, she had no choice but to stop. She couldn’t risk these fines or possibly going to jail.”
But unlike muffins, cookies, and bread, there are other homemade products exempt from the ban. Amateur producers of honey, popcorn, jelly, and syrup, for instance, are allowed |
by a manual set of 6-bit A/D converters that take the A20's RGB/TTL LCD signals. Officially the EOMA-68 specification limits 5mm height CPU Cards to a maximum of 1280x800. The demo was with a 4:3 aspect ratio monitor so 1024x768 was selected.
Also shown working here is the lower of the two full-speed USB2 outputs (the other will have to wait for a tiny revision to the CPU Card, swapping the D+ and D- USB signals, which have been confirmed working... just not in the Micro-Desktop Board). Ethernet is also confirmed as operational, as is both Micro-SD Card slots, the RS232 / UART, and more.
10 Oct 2014: Revision 2.2 received
The Revision 2.2 boards (with 2Gb of RAM) were received after successful board bring-up confirmed that the CPU, PMIC, USB-OTG, DDR3 and NAND Flash are all operational. These are the major components. To be tested (once the Micro-Desktop boards arrive this week) are the Ethernet, two USB2 interfaces and the HDMI output. Once confirmed 100% the crowdfunding campaign can begin.
7 Oct 2013: All interfaces confirmed working
We've had confirmation for a few weeks that all interfaces are now working. There are a couple of modifications that would be nice to have made: most of these for a 2.5k run can be done with flying leads. We are now waiting for the MEB schematics to be made available so that they can be reviewed.
15 Jul 2013: First Batch (Group photo)
The A20 CPU Card first batch is now ready for shipping. They're to be picked up and then sent out shortly. Thank you to the 20 Free Software developers brave enough to take one of these at this very early phase. The picture below is one from a desk at Wits Tech's offices.
26 May 2013: CPU Cards running Debian 7.0 (Wheezy)
Thanks to help from Henrik Nordstrom who helped out significantly with the u-boot phase and in writing a USB FEX boot loader it is now possible to run Debian 7.0 Wheezy (armhf variant) on the first EOMA-68 CPU Card in the series, based on the A10 processor. Two demonstration videos have been created.
This first demonstration walks through the boot process, and shows how a 5V powered USB Hub has been connected to the EOMA-68 connector, as well as plugging in Micro-HDMI and powering from Micro-USB. Booting is done from a rather cheap and cheerful MicroSD Card from Asda's Supermarket.
This second video shows VLC (compiled with the CedarX modifications) running a full-screen HD Creative Commons video. Works perfectly. no glitches. Compilation was done natively using gcc-4.6.
29 Apr 2013: First sample pictures
Last week Aaron's samples arrived, ahead of schedule. It's taken another week for two more to be shipped, and here they are! Photos below show them in an Amphenol PCMCIA socket, which is planned to be used in the 7in Flying Squirrel Tablet and many other products after that, including the 5in Hand-held Games Console and the Open Hardware Laptop. The A10 CPU Card can also take a Dual-Core ARM Cortex A7 Allwinner A20 processor with no modifications to the PCB.
12 Apr 2013: Working samples
Thanks to Wits-Tech, for sending us confirmation that the 5 samples are working. The next step is to get these out to critical clients as demo units and for testing to get the very first in the product family out the door as well, the 7in Flying Squirrel Tablet. In the mean-time, these can be sold as stand-alone products because they boot and are powered over USB-OTG and have HDMI out.
31 Mar 2013: Images of A10 PCB
Thanks to Wits-Tech, here's a screen-shot of the PCB that went to the factory for printing and component population 10 days ago: it should be back very shortly. We've arranged for 5 samples, one of which will have an A20 CPU. The best word to describe the layout is: beautiful. It's artwork. Mr Xul of Wits-Tech has clearly put considerable effort into ensuring that this PCB is not just properly laid out but tidy, with it.
The A10 CPU itself is to the left of the centre line, bottom. 4 DDR3 RAM ICs line the top, with the RT8021CP Ethernet PHY being in the top right, and the Micro-USB being to its right. It is a strange choice to have the ethernet lines running all the way to the corner and then all the way back to the EOMA68 connector, but this is a small board. AXP209 and other PMICs and discretes are in the bottom right quadrant; Micro-SD and Micro-HDMI are to their left.
Here is a 3D rendering of the PCB, showing the major components.
23 Mar 2013: Litkconn show PCB and Case match up
Litkconn and Wits-Tech very kindly helped to confirm that the PCB size is now correct, and that it's practical to fit the PCB into the case. The plastic of P/N CH-PC-20 has been cut (the end removed) and a new one will need to be made. The current thinking is to create a 1.5mm thick aluminium stamped plate from sheet metal that, as part of the stamping process curls the ends inwards, to clip into the plastic edges left and right. It will also be glued (to the metal tabs) and then just for paranoia a sticky label wrapped around the whole lot, with the Serial Number on it. Clearance above the Micro-SD Card and Micro-HDMI is only 0.7mm: plastic isn't going to cut the mustard.
Other news: as can be seen, a test PCB went to Litkconn last week; following confirmation that the size is correct, samples have now been sent to the factory and will be populated with components within the next 10 days. The PCB design was actually completely re-done, hence it took slightly longer than strictly necessary. This included re-laying-out the Micro-HDMI and Micro-USB parts, and hilariously the PCB designer got them the wrong way round again. However due to the prior experience it was possible to check this before the PCB went out. It really is incredibly difficult to get Mid-Mount parts the right way round, especially on a datasheet that does not have numbering. Amphenol's Micro-HDMI had to be cross-references against a Molex equivalent, which allowed Pin 1 to be identified. Anyone wishing to have a hilarious time double-checking this, please feel free:
14 Dec 2012: First Revision EOMA-68 Sample CPU Card
Many thanks to Wits Tech for sending the sample all the way over from China, it arrived today.
6 Sep 2012: PCB design completed for EOMA-68 CPU Card
Many thanks to Wits Tech for completing the PCB design: the board layout and GERBER files are done. This brings the A10 EOMA-68 CPU Card one step closer to reality. The next stage is to get initial samples made up, the first script.fex created and a first boot completed.
Following on very very quickly from this, and driving a rather fast development schedule, is a commission from a client to convert an existing x86 laptop (1280x800) over to using the new A10 EOMA-68 CPU Card, and to provide 25 working prototypes for a Trade Show. Luckily, as the CPU Card is completely independent of the I/O Board, separate teams can focus on the development tasks.
Other news coverage:
28 Jul 2012: GPIO and Expansion Headers for EOMA-68 CPU Card
A rework of the GPIO and Expansion Headers for the first Qimod EOMA-68 CPU Card has been carried out. Almost all interfaces available of the Allwinner A10 CPU have been made available on the 55x85mm Credit-card-sized CPU Card, including both Transport Streams, SIM Card, PATA, the 24-pin Camera Interface, both 24-pin LCD Interfaces, VGA, Composite Video (CVBS), SPDIF, AC97, I2S, GPS, CAN-Bus, Infrared, and many more. This is in addition to the standard EOMA-68 Interfaces of Ethernet, I2C, SATA, LCD 24-pin RGB/TTL, USB2 and 16 GPIO pins.
The rework involved adding an extra optional 45-pin FPC, which is in addition to the optional 44-pin FPC. The?orders page has been updated to reflect the full pinouts, as well as the finalised selection for the 16 EOMA-68 GPIO pins.
24 Jul 2012: Casework for EOMA-68 CPU Card
Titoma Design is delighted to be involved with the EOMA-68 project and has a preliminary design for the first EOMA-68 CPU Card, using the Allwinner A10 SoC. Titoma Design specialises in casework and full product design, and will be more than happy to assist clients to develop products based around the time and cost saving benefits of the EOMA-68 upgradeable design strategy.
09 Mar 2012: GSoC 2012 Application
Rhombus Tech is primarily an interface between the Free Software Community and factories in China. It makes sense therefore to apply as a GSoC 2012 Organisation. The first idea for a GSoC 2012 Project is quite a strategically important one: porting of OpenEC for use with an Embedded ARM Cortex M3.
OpenEC was used in the OLPC XO-1. The original firmware was proprietary, having been written by the Taiwanese Factory that manufactured the first XO-1s. This firmware had to be replaced under a Free Software License. The implications of that decision are that the Rhombus-Tech Project can use that code to create Embedded Firmware for other products - products which will have a reduced BOM and reduced cost, as a result.
So this is an opportunity for GSoC students to participate in an exciting project that will make quite a significant impact, as well.
18 Jan 2012: Update
Status report: a request for pricing the BOM for mass-volume has gone out to a large fully-automated factory in Shenzen. With Chinese New Year close, most of China is shutting down, with a few exceptional people still going (the owner of the large fully-automated factory being one of them). Progress on the schematics has helped narrow down the BOM. However, that was in KiCAD: the actual design which will need proper simulation especially of the DDR3 timings has to be done in ORCAD. As automated conversion from KiCAD to ORCAD is inconvenient, that will have to be done manually. Fortunately, given that Wits-Tech supplied ORCAD schematics for a basic tablet, this is less work.
Other news: the arm-netbooks mailing list is alive and kicking with further research on alternative processors (being documented in the evaluated cpus page). The challenge is to find a multi-core CPU that is affordable or otherwise desirable (i.e. modern) yet also has the full range of interfaces such as SATA-II, 10/100 Ethernet and RGB/TTL or LVDS. Many of the Cortex A9s examined in the past few days, such as the iMX6 or the A9600, are found to have LVDS and/or MIPI with no indication of whether they have RGB/TTL. The Nusmart 2816, which was announced as nearly available well over a year ago, is unfortunately now beginning to get some competition.
10 Jan 2012: ITWire News Article
Thank you to Sam for publishing an article about Rhombus Tech on ITWire.
8 Jan 2012: Overview Design
Schematics appear to be progressing rapidly - the devil however is always in the details. High-level decisions need to be taken at this point, however, particularly on which of the multiplexed functions are best put onto the 44-pin Expansion Header. It turns out that the Allwinner A10 has two RGB/TTL LCD interfaces, one of which can be multiplexed to dual-channel LVDS, and the other to IDE (PATA).
A deliberate decision has been made to place the PATA-multiplexed LCD interface onto the EOMA-68 connector, so that it is very clear that EOMA-68 is 24-pin RGB/TTL, not LVDS. The last thing that is needed is for motherboard manufacturers to take short-cuts with the standard, forcing all CPU cards to be more expensive by virtue of having to have on-board LVDS.
7 Jan 2012: DDR3 RAM PCB Design
After reviewing half a dozen DDR3 RAM documents, the absolute best one with the crucial advice needed was from Texas Instruments. From this, enough information was available to be able to make a decision to put in two banks (as if there were two DIMMs), one bank on the CS0/CK0/ODT0 lines and one on the CS1/CK1/ODT1 lines, and to place each pair of ICs in each bank onto 16-bit data lines. The DQS and DM lines are then associated with each 16-bit set of data lines (rather than being associated with each bank).
It would also be possible to lay out an 8-chip arrangement by having 8-bit RAM ICs: this is still under consideration in case 8 DDR3 x8 RAM ICs turn out to be lower cost than 4 DDR3 x16 ICs. However: with the chosen arrangement for now, 4 x16 DDR3 RAM ICs have to be chained together, with the DDR3 RAM controller automatically taking into account the different track lengths. In some ways this is fascinating but also a little scarey: DDR3 signals operate on a "fly-by" principle, where the read/write is delayed depending on how long the tracks are, to each IC. Amazing design concept.
2 Jan 2012: Starting PCB Design
Instead of waiting for the factory in China to finish their present client's work, 3 people have agreed to help initiate the development of the PCB Schematics. The process will be shortened by making use of the Evaluation Board Schematics: notes are being taken on its components here. A git repository containing KiCAD PCB libraries, modules and components has been established, called EOMA.
Bari from onelabs.com, and Jon Smirl, both have expertise in ORCAD, which allows for the complex CPU-DDR3 RAM traces to be resolved; Michelle has expertise in KiCAD and is used to doing CPU-DDR3 traces to within 0.020in by hand (!). Luke Leighton is acting as the general dogsbody and sucker for trawling through available resources and datasheets in order to create pinouts and parts.
The Factory in Shenzen is presently closed for the New Year: we will re-establish contact with them as soon as possible, and by then will have something to pass over to them, to help accelerate the development.
3 parts have been completed in KiCAD so far: the Allwinner A10 CPU, the PMIC AXP209 and the Hynix DDR3 RAM 2gb x16 RAM IC H5TQ2G8(6)3BFR(Rev1.8). Pinouts below:
30 Dec 2011: Allwinner to release a $4.99 ARM Cortex A8
A newsreport on micdigi.com has been found, which reports that Allwinner is to release a CPU in the A1x family that will be $4.99 in mass-volume. To achieve such a target, the CPU's packaging has to be very small, and the number of pins reduced from the 400 pins of the A10 down to 300 or even less. It will be very interesting to see what Allwinner come up with.
19 Dec 2011: Factory delighted with preorders
I contacted the factory in China, told them about the preorders page, and they were absolutely delighted, you could tell they were proud and pleased to be involved. James (the Factory Owner) has to focus on a customer order this week: after that he will be full-time on creating the PCMCIA-sized CPU board.
15 Dec 2011: discussion with Factory
A discussion took place today with the factory regarding PCB layout. Of paramount importance to them is to ensure that the resultant PCB will be useful for a number of mass-volume purposes. The unspoken implication is that if that same PCB happens to be EOMA-68-compliant, they would not mind designing it to suit RHT's goals, even though those goals would also benefit the Factory as well!
So, taking the Allwinner Reference Board, a basic reworking was done cut/paste style to prove that all the components needed for a low-cost board would fit into an 85mm x 55mm space. For scale, the 44-pin connector's pins are 2.0mm apart. The result can be seen, here:
The key to independent use for the Factory is the 44-pin connector, on which strategically-picked interfaces can be placed, such as the Camera Interface, TV-out, the spare USB2, the Resistive Touch Controller, extra SD/MMC interfaces and so on. By a happy coincidence, many of these additional interfaces will be of use to Engineers and Software (Libre) Developers as well.
The only unusual ICs which require some explanation are the inclusion of a Power Management IC (the AXP209) and the Ethernet IC, which is an RALink RTL8201CP. The Ethernet IC is required because the EOMA-68 specification requires Ethernet suitable for direct connection to an RJ-45 connector, not MII. Other than that, there is just enough space to fit two DDR3 RAM ICs and two NAND ICs, without having to use the other side of the PCB.
As this is a preliminary layout, it may be possible to squeeze things further, in particular, fitting a second 44-pin connector for further expansion purposes. For example, the A10 has an IDE interface (PATA), the same pins can be switched over to a 2nd LCD RGB/TTL Interface.It’s been 365 days since my last “Like”
Jesse Jones Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 16, 2013
I used to love Facebook. When I first signed up back in 2004, I was all about it. I could find old classmates, quickly share a funny link with my buddies, and generally stay connected in a way I’d never experienced before. It only got better when they rolled out the mobile version. Then something happened. It started to make me slightly depressed. It got strangely political. It started to creep me out. Last year, I deleted my Facebook account. And I’m never going back.
It’s not a privacy or advertising thing for me. If you want your personal info hidden from advertisers then don’t put it on the web or be willing to pay for it. As long as Gmail, Facebook, and Twitter are free, there will be brands trying to sell you their stuff.
I’ve got nothing against social networking. Twitter is the new CNN. Give me #WinterIsComing and #TexasForever all day. I can filter any mundane object in the universe and make it look like art on Instagram. I’m just not that into Facebook anymore.
I had 824 Facebook friends. In real life I have somewhere between 6 and 10.
It’s just not realistic to have that many friends. It started to get a little creepy thinking about all those people just lurking around. The smart people at Facebook attempted to combat this problem by offering different privacy filter settings so you can categorize your “friends” and who can see what. But if someone is my “friend” then why should I try to prevent them from seeing a picture of me? Isn’t that the entire point of a social network in the first place?
I want to be able to brag about my awesome life to everyone but easily filter out anything you had to say about yours. Is that too much to ask?
I wasn’t about to start un-friending people. It is still socially acceptable to un-follow someone on Twitter for over-tweeting but it’s not cool to unfriend someone that went to the same high school as you no matter what they post. Even if you never liked them in the first place.
FOMO is (sort of) a real thing. I’m a 32 year old father. My weekend evenings generally consist of trying to watch enough stuff off my DVR so that I don’t run out of space. But when you have over 800 Facebook friends it’s safe to say that at least 5% of them at any given time are doing something epic and posting about it. That’s over 40 people taking a trip of a lifetime, getting married, partying with ex-Real World cast members, and eating a fancy dinner on a square plate. It’s mathematically impossible for any person to ever compete with that. Accept the fact that if you are on the couch and check Facebook you will see people having more fun than you and it might make you very sad.
Your Grandparents are on Facebook. But you should still call them on the telephone.
One of the best (and worst) things since going Facebook free was I could no longer just mass broadcast information. No more easy way out on sharing birthday wishes or letting people know I was coming to town. I was forced to go back to much more personal forms of communication (group texting). At first it was slightly annoying but it’s helped me keep in touch much better. Sometimes I actually talk on the phone. Last week I had a 45 minute conversation with my Grandma using our land line telephones. There was something beautifully analog about it. More proof that mankind’s best days are behind us.
The “Oh-I-saw-that-on-Facebook” Conversation Killer.
You: I’m so glad we’re finally hanging out. It’s been too long.
Friend: I know! What have you been up to?
You: I went on this amazing trip to Barcelona…
Friend: Oh yeah, saw that on Facebook.
You: I ran into the heavy set Kardashian girl at the White Castle…
Friend: Yup, saw that on Facebook.
You: I chugged a bunch of this green ooze and the next thing I remember I was down in the sewer and this huge ninja rat man was teaching me how to use nunchucks….
Friend: Oh yeah, I saw that on Facebook.
Facebook might make you a crappy friend, parent, spouse, employee, and human.
When you try to delete your account they give you about a dozen different chances to back out of it. Imagine if every time you tried to kick your crack habit you got a 14 day window to reconsider if that was what you really wanted to do. The first 14 days will be tough. After that there is no going back.
Facebook prevents you from living in the present. If it’s not worth sharing, checking in, and documenting then why bother with it in the first place right? I love that musicians have recently started asking people to leave their phones in their pockets at shows. I don’t blame them. Who wants to sing to a bunch of phones? I miss when you just saved a ticket stub from a show. Don’t be those people.
During my Facebook cleanse I’ve found that when you have one less tool at your disposal to instantly share your latest activity with 800 of your closest friends, you feel less compelled to capture it. Your phone magically stays in your pocket and all of the sudden realize you are at an concert with great friends and it’s pretty sweet.
Getting rid of Facebook will make you acutely aware of your usage habits. The second I found myself standing in line at the airport, during commercials, or all those little breaks at work where you really didn’t want to start a new task but had between 6 and 8 minutes to kill. That’s when you reach for your pocket and get your fix. Science couldn’t have designed a better anti-social productivity killer.
I’ve un-scientifically concluded the new favorite pastime of middle class white women between ages 25 to 35 is reading status updates from people they haven’t seen in several years and live at least two states away. When I became a Dad, I kept telling myself I didn’t want to become one of those parents at the park absently checking Facebook while their kid is playing. Getting rid of Facebook helped make this dream a reality. And it didn’t end there, I took it one step further and have determined the two acceptable instances where I can flat out ignore my child’s (and wife’s) every need and focus all my attention on my iPhone.
1) I’m using my phone for work to make money so I can buy baby Air Jordan’s.
2) It’s fantasy football season and my team needs me.
Everyone (even me) breaks the rules. It’s tough to not want to capture every little moment of an adorable little toddler’s life, put a filter on it, and post it on the internet. We should not do that. Kids should have the opportunity to decide what picture of them gets put on the internet just like you did. Every single image in your 100+ photo album of Baby Lakynn’s first 8 hours alive are on being stored in top secret Google warehouses until the end of the world.
You shouldn’t post about politics. I couldn’t end without talking about one of the main factors that led to my ultimate break up with Facebook.
During the last few elections my newsfeed became overwhelmed political chatter. At first it was kind of cool. People should care about this stuff. Back in the day, you had to stick a cardboard sign in your yard. Now every man, woman, and child with an internet connection could throw a powerpoint pie chart or article up and reach the masses. The possibility that every “Like” could swing the election grew and grew. Social media was going to affect the outcome of the election and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Obama will go down in history as the first President to embrace social media. And as the guy that ruined our newsfeed.
I’ve never been one to bite my tongue so I dove right in. Somehow felt like it was my job to educate all 824 of my Facebook about their political candidates so they didn’t botch the election for the rest of us. Facebook turned everyone into their own nightly news anchor and empowered them to attack at the first sign of injustice or un-truthiness.
Don’t be like me. Remember that at least 25% of your friends will feel the exact opposite of whatever you believe. Probably more if you watch TV shows about singing or dancing competitions. Your post will not make anyone change their mind about machine guns, political affiliation, same sex marriage, or the Katy Perry situation. It’s still OK to post about how terrible the BCS is. That needs to stop.
Now that I’m Facebook free, I have to look other places for my news. It’s great. You start going to actual websites, reading actual articles, and like they used to say “surfing the web”. There’s a lot of great stuff out there not getting spread by the masses. I used to foolishly think that if something was worth checking out, I could just wait for the Facebook army to post it for me. But the new trend isn’t about posting stuff because you enjoyed it, it’s about posting content because you are trying to make a statement or inspire some sort of grassroots social change.
Maybe this is what Facebook was always destined to be. Maybe the era of LOL Cats is over forever. Maybe Facebook is just the hot nightclub (remember MySpace?) of the moment and a new bigger better platform will come along. Let’s hope so.
Go ahead and post this on Facebook. I hope you get a lot of “Likes”.
@jessej31Rangers Supporters’ Assembly President Andy Kerr: ‘The Famine did not discriminate on the grounds of gender, age or religion and we think it is absolutely fitting that a memorial remembers those who suffered as a result’
A MEMORIAL in Glasgow to the victims of the ‘Great Irish Famine’ has received the backing of the Rangers Supporters’ Assembly (RSA) who have pledged to help fund the project.
RSA President Andy Kerr said:
“The Irish Famine was a terrible tragedy for the whole of that island and also had an effect in the north of Scotland.
“It did not discriminate on the grounds of gender, age or religion and we think it is absolutely fitting that a memorial remembers those who suffered as a result.”
A decision on where to locate the memorial and exactly what form it will take is to be decided by a working group over the coming weeks.
Glasgow Scottish National Party (SNP) Councillor Feargal Dalton said he was “delighted” that the Rangers Supporters’ Assembly has issued this statement backing “a memorial to this tragedy which knew no national or sectarian boundaries”.
One million people died during the Great Famine which ravaged Ireland between 1845 and 1852. A further million people are believed to have emigrated, many to Scotland. During those years, potato blight destroyed most of the island’s potato crop which millions depended on as a staple food.
The British Government, which controlled all of Ireland at the time, failed to respond to the situation. During the worst years of the Famine, millions of tons of flour, grain, meat, poultry and dairy products were shipped out of Ireland under armed guard by British troops to markets across the globe and far away from the starving millions. As the potato crop failed, peasants unable to pay their rents were evicted and their dwellings burned by British landlords. Many historians and law experts such as Francis Boyle and Peter Duffy have argued that the British response, the exportation of food and the resulting large-scale starvation constitutes a form of “passive genocide” by the British Government against the Irish people.
In June 1997, then British Prime Minister Tony Blair apologised for Britain's role in the Great Famine, saying:
“Those who governed in London at the time failed their people.”China has sent 1,000 additional troops to its border with North Korea following the news of the assassination of Kim Jong Nam, according to a Hong Kong newspaper. File Photo by Stephen Shaver/UPI | License Photo
Feb. 15 (UPI) -- The assassination of Kim Jong Un's older half-brother at an airport in Malaysia has placed China on alert, and Beijing may have deployed more troops at its border with North Korea in case of a contingency.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at a regular press briefing on Wednesday that his government is "paying attention to reports" regarding the slaying of Kim Jong Nam, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.
"We are very interested in the progress of the case," the spokesman said, while adding that he cannot confirm whether Kim's family resides in Macau, a special administrative region of China.
Kim Jong Nam, who was 45, is believed to have had two families in China, according to Seoul's national intelligence service. His first wife and their son live in Beijing, while a second spouse lives with two children, a son and a daughter, in Macau.
China fears instability at its shared border with North Korea.
The news may be behind a Beijing decision to increase the number of troops at the border, according to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, a nongovernmental organization in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong newspaper Oriental Daily News reported China has deployed 1,000 additional troops to the area, and that local residents have confirmed their arrival.
Beijing has not issued a statement on the latest military movements.
Malaysia police arrested a woman with a Vietnamese passport in connection to the assassination, Yonhap reported Wednesday.
A woman captured on airport camera footage was identified as 28-year-old Doan Thi Huong, but police are investigating whether the suspect is a Vietnamese national.
A Malaysia police source told Yonhap local authorities are tracking other suspects, including four men and one other woman who is believed to have been at the scene of the crime.
South Korean networks have reported Kim was fatally poisoned.Surveys from YouGov and Which? point to a growing worry that Brexit will leave the UK poorer
The British public will not accept a Brexit deal that leaves them worse off financially, a new poll suggests. In a sign that a majority of the public would be unwilling to accept an economically damaging hard Brexit, half of those who voted to leave the EU in June, including 62% of Labour voters and 59% of those in the north, would not be willing to lose any money at all as a consequence of Britain’s withdrawal.
Just one in 10 would be willing to lose more than £100 a month. Pollster Peter Kellner, the former president of YouGov, said the results suggested that Theresa May “could have real difficulty in delivering a Brexit that satisfies those who voted for it”.
He added: “This is the first poll to look specifically at whether leave voters are willing to accept any financial loss as a result of Brexit. The answer is that few are prepared to.”
The poll, conducted by YouGov for Open Britain, the successor organisation to Britain Stronger in Europe, also shows that one in five (22%) of voters do not expect Brexit to have any impact on their finances. Just 5% believe they will be better off, while 28% expect to lose money and 45% do not know – despite Vote Leave’s now infamous pledge that quitting Brussels would boost the public purse by £350m a week.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The £350m battle bus – one of the defining images of the EU referendum. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Another poll, by consumer magazine Which?, also indicates that the economic effects of Brexit are a major worry for much of the public. It shows that almost half the population (47%) are worried about Brexit, up eight points since September, with nearly two-thirds concerned about its potential impact on food prices.
Brexit voters in areas where a majority of people backed EU withdrawal are among those most unhappy to be left worse off, according to the study – including 59% in the north and 54% in Wales and the Midlands.
Even among Ukip supporters – whose party has demanded May reject the article 50 process and instead leave the EU immediately by repealing the 1972 European Communities act – a substantial number, 39%, do not want to incur a financial loss because of Brexit.
Campaigners in favour of a soft Brexit believe the findings could convince the government to think again on potential plans to pull out of the single market – and could reignite a contentious debate over whether Brexit voters were aware that their ballots meant leaving the single market.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lib Dem leader Tim Farron has warned that the British public do not want a hard Brexit ‘at any cost’. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
The Liberal Democrat leader, Tim Farron, said: “It’s clear the British public don’t want a hard Brexit at any cost, despite what the Tories might think. They no longer support membership of the single market and have given up on people who don’t wish to sign away a blank cheque Brexit.”
A leaked memo from a meeting between Brexit secretary David Davis and the City of London Corporation last month implied that the EU’s “inflexible” approach to the free movement of people meant it was “unlikely the UK would achieve access”.
Open Britain’s poll also suggests that the prolonged period of uncertainty since the 23 June referendum has chipped away at the pro-Brexit majority. If a rerun of the vote were held tomorrow, remain and leave would be tied at 44% each, with 5% not voting at all and 7% undecided.
YouGov surveyed 1,615 British adults, weighted to reflect a nationally representative sample, online between 5 and 6 December.An economic adviser to President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday that the transition team was working on plans for a tax code overhaul that would be “the biggest tax changes since Reagan.”
Steven Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker who is considered a leading candidate for Treasury secretary in the Trump administration, told reporters at Trump Tower in New York that the team was hard at work on an economic plan.
“We’re working on the economic plan with the transition, making sure we get the biggest tax bill passed, the biggest tax changes since Reagan, so a lot of exciting things in the first 100 days of the Trump presidency,” Mr. Mnuchin said, according to a pool report.
President Ronald Reagan executed one of the largest reductions of tax rates in U.S. history that is credited, in part, with a rapid economic expansion in the 1980s.
During the campaign, Mr. Trump proposed large tax cuts for individuals and businesses that he said would spur economic growth.
Mr. Mnuchin declined to comment on whether he had been offered a job in the administration.
Copyright © 2019 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Sacramento Republic FC announced on Friday it had agreed to a contract with forward Sammy Ochoa for the 2017 USL season, pending league and federation approval. Ochoa was the leading scorer for Tulsa Roughnecks FC in each of the last two seasons.
“Sammy is an experienced, proven goal scorer,” said Republic FC Head Coach and Technical Director Paul Buckle. “He is someone who has demonstrated a willingness and a desire to be with Republic FC, both in training and in our friendly matches to date. I am thrilled to have him and I think our fans will love the fact that when the ball is delivered into the box, nine times out of ten Ochoa will be there. His physical presence will be a valuable addition to our forward line.”
Ochoa has been an attacking force since becoming part of the USL in 2014. Ochoa led Wilmington Hammerheads FC in 2014 in goals and assists, scoring six goals and adding five assists in 25 appearances. Ochoa then moved to Tulsa Roughnecks FC where he led the club in scoring in both 2015 and 2016, scoring a combined 20 goals, adding nine assists."You will have a spasm of violence in this country, an insurrection like you’ve never seen," Roger Stone warned. | Colin Young-Wolff/Invision/AP Roger Stone predicts violent 'insurrection' if Trump is impeached
Roger Stone, a longtime confidant to President Donald Trump, predicted Thursday there would be a "spasm of violence" tantamount to civil war if the president were brought under impeachment charges by Congress.
During an interview with TMZ the former Nixon administration official and old friend of Trump's cast talk of impeaching the president in response to the ongoing government probes on Russian election interference and alleged collusion as merely a distraction from the Democratic Party's 2016 defeat in the presidential election.
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He went on to warn that if impeachment proceedings were furthered in Congress, as some House Democrats have called for, an "ins |
underlying the success/failure step calls toString() on whatever is passed to the fail function, and the resulting string is evaluated against regex criteria in the Method Execution settings of your API method definition.
As a workaround, I experimented with treating a successful outcome as a failure, in order to pass data out. However, when I tried to define a Header Mapping (Location, in my case) it was near impossible to figure out what is supposed to go in the Mapping Value field in order to access the data. No matter what I tried, the console complained about [Invalid mapping expression specified].
What did work is to pass a simple string to the header, which in the case of a 302 means I can send it to a static location. But that is of little use in an OAuth redirect process, since I want to send the user back to their own network settings, which include a network slug in the URL. Anyway, the hostname would need to be dynamic if I ever wanted to test this outside of production.
On a more basic level: I don’t want to mark my Lambda execution as a failure if it wasn’t. It’s the principle!
Indeed, some more digging confirmed that accessing data dynamically from that header mapping value field is simply not supported. According to this AWS forum post, it is currently impossible to access the data returned from the execution of the Lambda. This forum post even more clearly explains that although it is not possible, the AWS team is looking into adding it to a future release. So at least there is some hope on the horizon.
Also while on the subject, I want to mention that this useful general explanation of API Gateway + Lambda helped quite a bit also.
Diversionary tactic, a new function
Discouraged, but not entirely put off, I decided to try my luck with an Ajax endpoint for getting the data I stored on DynamoDB. I started with the blueprint again, but quickly trimmed it down to just a few lines.
It’s worth mentioning that with simple services like this, it’s really easy to use the Lambda console’s built-in test functionality. Click on the Actions drop down and select Configure test event.
The sample event template persists, so after you make any changes you can Save and test to make sure it still works. (I admit that the whole automated testing aspect of this scheme gives me significant pause.)
Private data mangled with …
Back to the Rails codebase. A sprinkling of JQuery code added control over whether to show the Slack button or the settings stored on DynamoDB.
Old-school definition list abuse, ftw! If the data was available in DynamoDB, then my view would show it instead of the Slack button. Like this:
Button replaced with data stored on DynamoDB
Satisfied that I was starting to get a hang of this stuff, but sad about the bigger failure, I decided to call it a night.
The impossibility of redirecting using data from the return of of the Lambda function had dashed my hopes for using the API Gateway + Lambda cocktail as an OAuth callback handler, not without involvement of the browser and Ajax requests anyway. Moreover depressing, the limitation also seriously undermined my aspirations for serverless design. Redirects are vital functionality, no matter what.
A new morning, a new solution
The next morning I woke up in a great mood because overnight I had thought of a suitable workaround, based on a very old JavaScript trick. Granted, I might not be able to dynamically set http response headers at the API Gateway level, but if I could tell the gateway to return the output of the Lambda as HTML, I could accomplish the redirect using <script> tags.
It’s a poor-man’s redirect, and a hack, but it should work for my purposes. I jumped out of bed and put some coffee on, determined to prove my workaround in a matter of minutes.
First, I removed the 302 mapping, and focused my attention on the default 200 response. I would need to specify a Content-Type header, since by default the API Gateway defaults to serving up application/json.
First stop, tell the gateway that you’ll be supplying a ‘Content-Type’ header on the Method Response tab.
Then flip over to Integration Response screen and add a Header Mapping specifying the value of the Content-Type header should be ‘text/html’. This will get the browser to interpret the data it gets as HTML. Next expand the Mapping Templates section, and add a mapping template for text/html type. No need for an actual template, just leave the default Output passthrough set. This tells the gateway to send through whatever was returned by the lambda.
Speaking of which, this is what the relevant part of the Lambda function code looks like.
For the initial test, I hand assembled a URL with the host hardcoded to http://localhost:3000 to test it in development. I remember thinking I’d need to somehow get a hostname from the context. But eager to see it working before getting sidetracked, I went ahead and saved the Lambda change, this time remembering to deploy the new gateway settings.
It works!
I had to also manually delete the DynamoDB settings, so that my UI would show me the button. With no small measure of excitment, I reloaded the page and there was my Slack button. I clicked it and got the familiar OAuth confirmation page from Slack. I confirmed, and the browser cranked away for a second and… It works! There was my integration settings page with fresh new data from Slack indicating that we were now connected.
Granted it is a hack, but it is fun and there is a certain elegance to it if I do say so myself. And anyway, I know I’m rationalizing, but most of the time we’re not going to need to redirect the result of an API call to a browser page. Consider this exercise as simply a proof of concept. Most of what we’re going to do on the backend will be accomplished using XHR requests and JSON payloads, not HTML.
Using Stage Variables to set our hostname
I still had some vital cleanup to do. The hostname was hardcoded to localhost for testing. That’s no good. So I changed the Lambda code to accept a hostname variable in the event object.
Now I navigated over to the stage definition. If you’ve been following along you probably have one stage, the first one created as part of the Lambda blueprint process. My existing one was called prod, so I added another called dev.
Then, within the Stage Variables tab, I set a ‘hostname’ variable to http://localhost:3000. I did the same for prod stage, but set that value to https://dueprops.com my production URL.
Now that the stage variable is set, I needed to get it passed to the Lambda function whenever a request happens. That is accomplished at the Integration Request settings of the flow, specifically in the Mapping Template for application/json. Remember that is where the query parameters are mapped to the event that is passed to Lambda. I added a mapping for hostname.
The API Gateway on-screen documentation for stage variables says to access them via the $context object in your mapping template, but that is either plain wrong or outdated. According to the API Gateway mapping template reference, there’s actually a $stageVariables object available specifically for that purpose.
Wanting to verify it, I clicked on the API Gateway’s built-in test function to verify that the mapping worked.
I was pretty confident in my configuration, but the value of the hostname was missing.
Then I realize that, duh, the built-in test function is stage agnostic, it must not have access to stage variables. We’re going to have to test this in vivo. But then I realize that the DueProps App settings in Slack have a hardcoded URL for the OAuth callback. And that is pointing at my prod stage endpoint. For testing, I want to send the callback to my dev stage, so I go over to my app settings and change the callback accordingly.
Pointing the callback to my dev stage, manually
As with most OAuth implementations, Slack gives you the ability to pass the callback URI in the request, as long as it matches at least part of the URI specified in the app settings. I make a mental note to look into that in the future, so I don’t have to do this manual switching back and forth.
Now that the callback is pointing to my dev stage, I do push the Slack button. It works perfectly, redirecting back to localhost as expected.
Concluding thoughts and future topics
This little adventure provided a dose of drama and excitement for a couple of days over the Thanksgiving break and the fodder for this blog post. Maybe it’s just me, but I think this stuff presages a future where monolithic application server components go away completely.
In future blog posts, I plan to tackle some other important topics related to this serverless future.With significant deficit reduction still to come, households can expect the tax and benefit changes implemented over the next parliament to reduce their incomes, on average. There are large differences between the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats in how they propose to do this. But they share a lack of willingness to be clear about the details, and an inability to resist the urge for piecemeal changes which would make the overall system less efficient and coherent.
The Conservatives propose small net cuts to taxes and large cuts to benefits; Labour propose a rise in taxes and little change to benefits spending; the Liberal Democrats are in both respects somewhere in between.
All these parties seem to have a desire to raise tax revenue in vaguely-defined, opaque and apparently painless ways. In many cases the proposals would lead to unnecessary increases in complexity and inefficiency in the tax system.
Where benefit cuts are proposed, they are largely unspecified (Conservatives), vague (Liberal Democrats) or trivially small relative to the rhetoric being used (Labour).
New research, published today by the IFS and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, analyses the tax and benefit policies of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats. It finds little evidence of any coherent strategy, and numerous proposals that would complicate the tax system.
On income tax proposals we find:
Conservative and Liberal Democrat proposals to increase the personal allowance to £12,500 by the end of the parliament would cost about £4 billion per year in today’s prices. Unlike with the substantial increases over this parliament, most income tax-paying pensioners would benefit. Given that 44% of adults now have incomes too low to pay income tax, and that two earner couples gain twice, further increases are of most value to those in the middle and upper-middle of the income distribution;
Since 2010 the number of higher- and additional-rate income taxpayers has risen from 3.2 million to 4.9 million, in large part because the higher-rate threshold has been cut by the coalition government. Fiscal drag means that failure to increase the threshold by more than inflation could see the number paying higher rates rise to nearly 6.5 million by 2020. Even if the threshold were to rise to £50,000, as the Conservatives promise, numbers of higher- and additional-rate taxpayers would probably grow by about another 300,000 to well over 5 million;
Labour’s proposal to abolish the transferable personal allowance for married couples and use the proceeds to reintroduce a 10% starting rate of income tax would replace one small complication in the system with another. It is hard to think of any economic justification for a 10% starting rate over a small range of income; virtually identical effects could be achieved by simply raising the personal allowance. If, as Labour says, the new band is to be funded only by the abolition of the transferable allowance, it would be worth only 50p a week to most taxpayers;
There is much uncertainty about how much Labour’s proposal to increase the additional rate of income tax to 50% would raise. The most recent evidence we have is from HMRC, signed off as reasonable by the OBR, which suggests it would raise very little – £100 million is the central estimate;
None of the parties is suggesting sorting out real problems in the income tax system. They would extend the reach of the effective 60% income tax rate which currently applies on incomes between £100,000 and £121,200. They do not propose to do anything about the proliferation of thresholds that are by default frozen in nominal terms, and hence eroded by inflation over time.
The Conservatives and the Labour Party both want to raise more money from increasing income tax on pension contributions:
Both want dramatically to reduce the value of pension tax relief for additional rate taxpayers, on top of significant reductions in the value of pension tax relief introduced by the coalition. These may be less visible ways of raising income tax than more straightforward alternatives, but they harm the coherence of our system of pensions’ taxation. Tax relief on contributions makes sense, and it exists because we tax pension income when it is withdrawn;
Both sets of proposals would also significantly complicate the system. They discourage people with incomes around £150,000 from increasing their earnings, with Labour’s proposals introducing a “cliff-edge” into the system – people could become worse off as their income rises above £130,000;
We need stability in the system for taxing pension savings. None of the proposals on the table would improve those parts of the pension tax system which need changing. They look like short-term, ad hoc changes which we will come to regret as what was historically a relatively rational income tax treatment of pension saving crumbles.
A number of proposals would change the taxation of housing:
We do not know for sure how many properties would be affected by Labour and Liberal Democrat proposals for a'mansion tax' on properties worth more than £2 million. Labour appears to be targeting revenue of £1.2 billion. Given the £3,000 tax bill they propose for houses in the £2-3 million bracket this might imply an average tax of over £16,000 a year on properties worth more than £3 million;
Given the structure of council tax – it is regressive in that you pay a lower percentage of property value the more valuable the property, and it is capped – there is a case for reform which would increase the tax on more expensive properties. We also urgently need a revaluation to end the absurd situation in which taxes in England and Scotland are based on relative values in 1991. No party seems to have the courage to propose these rational and long overdue changes. Fixing council tax would be preferable to layering a separate tax on top of it;
The Conservatives want to increase the inheritance tax threshold in respect of primary residences at an estimated cost of £1 billion a year. It is hard to see a good economic or social rationale for such a policy. Owner-occupied housing is already tax-privileged and this policy would help lock older people into bigger and more expensive homes when both they, and those looking to buy, might be better off if they were to 'downsize';
Labour proposals to offer a stamp duty holiday for first-time buyers is likely, at least in part, to increase house prices, thereby shifting some of the benefit to current property owners.
None of these proposals even begins to tackle the huge problems in the current design of council tax and stamp duty land tax. They are irrelevant to the fundamental problem of lack of housing supply.
With respect to changes to the social security system:
There is remarkable cross-party agreement about the desirability of protecting most pensioner benefits. The 'triple lock' on the state pension is set to continue even though it is unsustainable in the long run as it implies state pension spending increasing indefinitely as a share of national income. It means that future pension levels will depend not just on how fast prices grow or how fast earnings grow but on whether the years with high price growth are also the years with high earnings growth;
Despite being used as examples of ‘tough choices’, Labour proposals to remove winter fuel payments from higher-rate taxpaying pensioners and to limit cash increases in child benefit to 1% this year and next would save next to nothing;
More than two years after first announcing a desire to cut £12 billion from the social security budget in 2017–18, the Conservatives have provided details of just a tenth of this. Given that state pensions and universal pensioner benefits are to be protected this will require cuts of 10% on average to other benefits. It is hard to see how such savings could be achieved without sharp reductions in the generosity of, or eligibility to, one or more of child benefit, disability benefits, housing benefit and tax credits.
James Browne, a senior research economist at the IFS and one of the report’s authors, said: “We have seen little coherent reform to the tax system for many years and the parties’ manifestos promise little going forward. Damage has been done, and more is being proposed, to pension taxation, while proposals on the taxation of housing lack coherence. There is a limit to the extent that we can continue to pretend that tax revenues can rise while protecting the vast majority of people. Just because a tax rise hits 'the rich' or is labelled 'anti-avoidance' does not necessarily mean it is harmless.”
Robert Joyce, a senior research economist at the IFS and another author of the report said: “The Conservatives have continued to fail to explain how they would achieve the substantial cuts to social security they say they would deliver in the first half of the coming parliament. These will be neither easy nor painless to deliver. Meanwhile, Labour claims to be taking tough decisions by removing winter fuel payments from a small fraction of pensioners and limiting child benefit increases to 1%. The former will save almost nothing – about one pound in a thousand spent on pensioner benefits. The latter is likely to save literally nothing. The manifestos have not helped us towards a sensible debate on the future generosity or structure of the benefits system.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1. "Taxes and Benefits: The Parties’ Plans" is published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies today. For copies of thereport or other queries, please contact: Jonathan Wood 020 7291 4818/07730 667013, jonathan_w@ifs.org.uk.
2. The Nuffield Foundation is an endowed charitabletrust that aims toimprovesocialwell-being inthewidest sense. It funds researchandinnovationin educationand socialpolicyand alsoworks to build capacityineducation, scienceand socialscienceresearch. The Nuffield Foundationhasfunded this project, but theviews expressed arethose of the authors andnot necessarilythose of the Foundation. Moreinformationisavailableat http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org.NEW DELHI: In a surprise move, CBI director Ranjit Sinha has advocated the dropping of charges against Lalu Prasad Yadav in the three pending cases which are offshoots of the infamous fodder scam in which the RJD leader has been convicted in one of the cases.In recommending that the charges against Yadav be dropped, Sinha differed not only with Director of Prosecution (DOP) OP Verma but also other senior officers of the Patna Branch, including the head of Patna Zone.The matter has now been referred to the solicitor general on the "specific" request of Sinha even though the attorney general is the designated authority in case of difference of opinion between the CBI director and the DOP."(Most of) the evidence in the case and most of the accused persons are common, including the ingredients of charges in the said cases."I am of the view that a person may not be tried for the same offences in another case for which he has already been convicted when the evidence is the same," Sinha said."I disagree with the Branch, HOZ and DOP. Since I do not agree with the DOP, let the matter be referred to the solicitor general for his opinion on the legal issues raised in the petitions in all the three RCs referred to in the comments of DOP," he had said on February 26.Yadav, the former Bihar chief minister, has already been convicted in one of the cases related to the fodder scam.The cases in which Sinha recommended that charges against Yadav be dropped are connected with the alleged illegal withdrawal of Rs 3.13 crore from Dumka Treasury during the period December, 1995 - January, 1996, Rs 84.53 lakh from Deoghar Treasury between 1990-94 and Rs 33.13 crore from Chaibasa Treasury during December, 1992-93.(Image Credit: Getty Images) (Image Credit: Getty Images)
A sample of raw pork products from supermarkets around the United States found that yersinia enterocolitica, a lesser-known food-borne pathogen, was present in 69 percent of the products tested, according to a study released today by Consumer Reports.
The bacteria infects more than 100,000 Americans a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but for every case that is confirmed with a laboratory test, about 120 more cases escape diagnosis. Symptoms can include fever, cramps and bloody diarrhea.
For its sample, Consumer Reports included the same pork products millions of Americans buy every day at their supermarkets. The study included 148 pork chops and 50 ground pork samples from around the United States.
In the samples tested, 69 percent tested positive for yersinia and 11 percent for enterococcus, which can indicate fecal contamination that can lead to urinary-tract infections. Salmonella and listeria, the more well-known bacterium, registered at 4 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
"The results were concerning," Urvashi Rangan, one of the authors of the report, told ABCNews.com. "It's hard to say that there was no problem. It shows that there needs to be better hygiene at animal plants. Yersinia wasn't even being monitored for."
In a written statement, the Pork Producer's Council questioned the methods used by Consumer Reports, saying the number of samples tested, 198, did "not provide a nationally informative estimate of the true prevalence of the cited bacteria on meat."
Despite the findings, Rangan said it's good to know that the bacteria can be killed by cooking the pork properly and by being vigilant about cross-contamination.
Pork cuts should be cooked to 145 degrees, while ground pork needs to reach a temperature of 160 degrees to kill the bacteria.
"Anything that touches raw meat should go into the dishwasher before touching anything else," Rangan said. "Juices from raw meat that touch the counter should be washed with hot soapy water."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the findings "affirm that companies are meeting the established guidelines for protecting the public's health.
"USDA will remain vigilant against emerging and evolving threats to the safety of America's supply of meat, poultry and processed egg products, and we will continue to work with the industry to ensure companies are following food safety procedures in addition to looking for new ways to strengthen the protection of public health," the department said in a statement.
ABC News' Dr. Anita Chu contributed reporting.Two employees of Advanced Micro Devices have revealed in their LinkedIn profiles that they had worked on AMD Radeon R9 380X graphics processing units with vertically-stacked high bandwidth memory (HBM). The engineers at AMD essentially confirmed that the company’s next-generation flagship graphics processor will use HBM memory and will carry the “R9 380X” model number.
Linglan Zhang, a principal member of technical staff at AMD, wrote in his profile at LinkedIn that he was involved in development of the “world’s first 300W 2.5D discrete GPU SOC using stacked die high bandwidth memory and silicon interposer.” The engineer also revealed that the Radeon R9 380X is the “largest in ‘King of the hill’ line of products.” Previously it was believed that this year’s flagship GPU from AMD carries the “R9 390X” model number. The employee of AMD has already deleted the information regarding the next-generation AMD Radeon.
Ilana Shternshain, ASIC physical design engineer from AMD, also revealed in her profile that she was responsible for “taping out state of the art products like Intel Pentium processor with MMX technology and AMD R9 290X and 380X GPUs.”
Previously it was reported that AMD’s next-generation flagship graphics solution would feature HBM DRAM. Back in Q4 2014 SK Hynix even revealed that it would start mass production of HBM memory in the first quarter of this year.
Each HBM IC [integrated circuit] stacks four DRAM dies with two 128-bit channels per die on a base logic die, which results into a memory device with a 1024-bit interface. Each channel is similar to a standard DDR interface, but is completely independent and therefore each channel within one stack and even within one die can operate at different frequency, feature different timings and so on. Each HBM 4Hi stack (4 high stack) package can provide 1GB – 32GB capacity and 128GB/s – 256GB/s memory bandwidth. The high-bandwidth memory chip uses 5mKGSD (molded known good stacked die) packaging that stacks four 2Gb dynamic random access memory dies on one base logic die.
AMD’s next-generation high-end Radeon R9 graphics processing unit is expected to feature 4096 stream processors/64 compute units, 256 texture units as well as 4096-bit memory interface to connect to four SK Hynix HBM devices. The GPU’s memory interface operates at 1.25Gb/s data-rate (1.25GHz effective DDR frequency) and delivers whopping 640GB/s memory bandwidth.
The LinkedIn findings were made by members of Beyond3D forums.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: It is interesting that AMD decided to use “R9 380X” model number for its flagship graphics solution. When AMD introduced its Radeon R9 200-series lineup, it rebranded older products to make the family complete; as a result, the Radeon HD 7970 became the Radeon R9 280X. If the new family’s flagship carries the “R9 380X” model number, then it means that the Radeon R9 290X solution will not be renamed to something like the Radeon R9 380X. Potentially it means that AMD’s new GPU lineup will include a number of all-new chips and will not feature any re-branded products.The Milwaukee Bucks are ready to host a special night at UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, better known as “MECCA.” One person isn’t too happy about it — Kyrie Irving.
Kyrie not thrilled with Mecca throwback court: “It took me 3 steps to realize this is not the same NBA court I'm used to playing on.” pic.twitter.com/UnFjSJDEsA — Chris Forsberg (@ESPNForsberg) October 26, 2017
The one-time special game between the Bucks and Celtics is a nostalgia night and an ode to the team’s home from 1968-88 and features a design from the era. However, it really seems like Kyrie Irving thinks the court he’ll be playing on is actually from 1988:
“I’m all about safety though, so see how it is on my knees, see how it is on everyone’s bodies. I know this is a pretty older court.”
A reporter then tells Kyrie it’s a brand new court, but he still isn’t buying it:
“Yeah... it took me three steps to realize this isn’t the same NBA court I’m used to playing on.”
Outside of it being in a different building and having a new look, the court is precisely the same as any NBA court Kyrie has been playing on. After the game it will be used by Wisconsin’s G-League team, The Herd.
Giannis Antetokounmpo said the court took some getting used to because of its colors, but he never mentioned the court feeling any different:
“It takes a little bit of time to get used to (the court) because it’s kind of bright. That’s why we practiced today here so we can get used to it, but I love it.”
However, Kyrie still isn’t impressed with having to play on an almost 30-year-old court that was really built this year. The weird thing about this is that normally Kyrie doesn’t have any conspiracy or doubt about things that are clearly observable and proved with facts.SAN JOSE — We see a small man sitting in a large, overstuffed chair, and the chair seems to be winning. Often described as elfin, the man is 60 now but still possesses the most totally awesome set of bangs in show business. For an hour, he sits and talks, hardly moving. And yet our perspective of him constantly changes — panning left, panning right, zooming in and out — in a way that is vaguely annoying. We hear an actor’s voice, one we sort of recognize and sort of don’t — maybe F. Murray Abraham, somebody like that.
“My mother died of cancer when I was 11. There wasn’t a moment when I was growing up that I didn’t know she was dying. But it wasn’t until later, when I went to the movies with my father, that I saw him cry for the first time. Movies had an emotional power that allowed him to do that. I decided then and there that I would become a filmmaker. What I wanted was to be Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford or Howard Hawks.”
Who he became, instead, was Ken Burns, the documentary filmmaker acclaimed for such PBS blockbusters as “The Civil War,” “Baseball” and “Jazz.” In town to receive the Steinbeck Award at San Jose State University Friday evening, Burns conducted a master class for students and alums of the school’s Television, Radio, Film and Theater Department — or what department chairman David Kahn described as an “intimate conversation” — on a campus stage at the Hal Todd Studio Theater.
The audience consisted of about 50 people, many of them film students, although not all of them were as familiar with Burns’ 12 Emmys, two Oscar nominations and Peabody Award as you might imagine. “I actually had never heard of him before,” said Chloe Uyehara, a senior film major, “so I had to do some research. But all my professors were talking his work and his Oscars, and I figured I would just come in and be open-minded. I’ll have to check out some of his work now, for sure.”
Burns was quick to point out that, despite the three decades (with pledge breaks) he has spent telling the American story, he never took a U.S. history class in college, and only did so in high school “with a gun to my head.” He took Russian history at Hampshire College in Massachusetts. “I’m not a historian,” Burns said. “I’m a filmmaker.”
But in acknowledging Burns’ role as a Jon Stewart-style popularizer of history’s complex tableau — reducing World War II, for instance, to seven bite-sized episodes — historian Stephen Ambrose said, “More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source.”
Burns prefers to call it “emotional archeology.” His unwillingness to venture beyond America’s borders for stories, he said, stems from being “hopelessly provincial.”
Despite the vast American panorama that has been Burns’ canvas — the Brooklyn Bridge, Thomas Jefferson, the national parks, Mark Twain — the thread that unites them is also the one that nearly unraveled the country: “Race has been the subtext of all my films,” he said, before conceding that the pursuit of that theme led to the greatest disappointment of his career. Burns was convinced that no one was better qualified than he to make the definitive film about the towering figure of the U.S. civil rights movement, Martin Luther King Jr. “I am the person to do this,” he recalled telling himself.
One day, a letter arrived from King’s heirs saying the same thing. He went to Atlanta to discuss his dream project with the family. But after several meetings, Burns realized he wouldn’t have the absolute control over the film’s content that he demands. In addition to demanding that Burns leave out King’s “robust series of extra-marital affairs,” and an incident of plagiarism, he told the class, the family wanted money. “It was like a Third World bribery situation,” he said.
He conceded having a visual style that has become recognizable — most computer slideshows utilize what’s called the “Ken Burns Effect” — and acknowledges it’s a style that involves filming still photographs “energetically.” He said documentary filmmakers bring their biases to their work, and that they shouldn’t be confused with truth.
In terms of bias, he said Michael Moore “is not that different from Leni Riefenstahl,” the Nazi director of “Triumph of the Will.” He added that the prevalence of closed-circuit cameras and smartphones has created “a kind of Big Brother society.”
Speaking quietly, Burns held his audience spellbound as he recounted the many surprising facts he learned while making “The Civil War” — that Mary Todd Lincoln’s brothers fought on the side of the Confederacy; that Abe Lincoln loved the tune “Dixie”; and that when Lincoln was assassinated he had Confederate currency in his pocket. Burns said he is currently editing a “mammoth” history of the Vietnam War that is filled with similar astonishments.
The session was filmed by students and will be presented to Burns, presumably after the director’s static image has been enlivened by adding the Ken Burns Effect.
Contact Bruce Newman at 408-920-5004. Follow him at twitter.com/BruceNewmanTwitWelcome back to Mike of the Mesozoic! In the last post, we discussed issues of palaeontology and accuracy surrounding Giraffatitan, the first dinosaur to appear in Jurassic Park. This time around we’re moving on to the famous scene with the sick Triceratops, as brought to life by the wizards at Stan Winston Studios.
Before I fully get my Nerd Hat on, I’m going to take a minute to talk about the greatness of this sequence. Has there ever been a more convincing dinosaur special effect on screen? It looks so real. It’s a matter of debate, of course, but I’m inclined to feel that no VFX dinosaur could ever appear so believable. It doesn’t look like a robot or a special effect; it looks like a dinosaur. By the way, before anybody suspects me of being some sort of anti-CGI crusader, I adore and am fascinated by modern VFX; I just feel that there are things that computers do very well, and things for which you need practical effects. For this, you need practical effects, and hoo boy, did the Winston crew do a good job with this one.
Anyway, you’re here to see me run this lovely scene through my Nerd Filter and see what shakes out, so let’s get right on with that. The first order of business is probably to ascertain what flavour of Triceratops is under discussion, as there are currently two valid species known to science, T. horridus (the ‘type species’, or the species on which the Triceratops name is based) and T. prorsus. There are a number of differences between the two species, most notably in the brow horns and snout shape.
(Image by Zachi Evenor, nicked from Wikipedia)
Interestingly, there is some evidence that Triceratops horridus may have evolved directly into prorsus over a period of one or two million years, as one species is found only in younger rocks and the other only in older. For the purposes of this post, I’m going to assume that the dinosaur shown in Jurassic Park is a member of the horridus species – it is the better-known dinosaur, so it makes sense to assume that the reference material and advice from Jack Horner, who provided palaeontology consulting on the production, would have related to this species.
So how does this stack up as an attempt at depicting an accurate Triceratops horridus? Well, it’s pretty good! As with the Giraffatitan of the previous article, the movie version of this dinosaur is generally on-model, and all of my comments are going to concern relatively small details. For example, Triceratops is shown here sporting two small examples of what are called ‘jugal horns’ (named for the skull bone from which they project):
To my knowledge there is no evidence for double horns like this in the fossil record. Triceratops did indeed sport keratinous jugal horns, but only one on each side of its face:
But that is hardly a palaeo-catastrophe. More noticeable are the dinosaur’s feet:
The movie shows the animal with rather elephantine extremities, but in life Triceratops would have had more pronounced claws on the innermost three of its five toes, as shown in this skeletal reconstruction by the brilliant (and very nice) Scott Hartman:
I hope Scott can forgive me for scrawling in red ink over his art in order to make a point!
The animal’s nostrils, too, would probably be located a little further forward, based on Lawrence Witmer’s 2001 study of dinosaur noses that I also referenced in the previous blog post. I nearly missed this detail, but fortunately my partner-in-crime, palaeo-artist Alice Turner, was on hand to nudge me in the right direction! It would probably look something more like this:
Now let’s talk about the mini-spikes projecting from around the neck frill, which collectively are known as epoccipitals – or, if you want to get all fancy, epiparietals and episquamosals (depending which particular bone of the frill is the one with which they are associated). It’s hard to get a good look in the movie, but from this behind-the-scenes photograph you can clearly make out nine epoccipitals on the left side of the frill (that is, the animal’s left) and another at the centre line:
It seems safe to assume that the right side bears nine spikes also, giving us a total of 19 epoccipitals. That’s not outside the realms of possibility – I believe some Triceratops have been found to have as many as 26, but it does seem to vary hugely between individuals (I’ve seen another with only 15). So, 19 epoccipitals seems fine, and their appearance is generally consistent with what I’d expect. So, good job, Stan Winston Studios!
I have one more point to make regarding the spiky parts of Triceratops, and it’s to point out that the brow horns should probably be sharper and longer. The animatronic model is essentially consistent with what can be observed from fossil bones, but in life the animal would have keratin covering and extending the horns. Allow me to again refer to the Hartman skeletal:
It’s hard to get a good sense of the animal’s proportions and posture from its awkward position on the floor in Jurassic Park, so I’ll refrain from trying to make any meaningful commentary on that. We can, however, get into scales.
Triceratops skin was not, I think, known at the time of Jurassic Park‘s production, so what you see onscreen was guesswork by Stan Winston’s team (probably using related dinosaurs for reference, as the animatronic’s skin seems to resemble that of Chasmosaurus – image nicked off palaeo-artist Mark Witton’s blog). As it turns out, they weren’t |
antánamo.
At Red Cross headquarters in Washington, D.C., spokeswoman Anna Nelson declined to specify which nations, if any, the organization had approached.
“We are actively exploring different options at this time,” she said in response to a Miami Herald query Tuesday. “The ICRC believes that family visits are very important for both the detainees and their relatives.”
“This is especially relevant when it comes to situations of prolonged detention,” she added, calling family visits “in line with international standards found under international human rights and humanitarian law.”
It was also unclear who would pay for the air bridge.
Many of the captives got to Guantánamo in the first year of the detention center, and most, if not all, of those approved for transfer have been at the prison camps for a decade.
The State Department did not respond to several inquiries from the Herald about any negotiations that might be under way. The war-on-terror prisoners here are from 21 countries — the majority are Yemeni — and family members could require a series of visas and travel permits to reach Guantánamo.
A Pentagon spokesman declined to say which captives might get family reunions.
Guantánamo’s former CIA captives, for example the alleged Sept. 11 conspirators, have been allowed to exchange U.S.-censored, Red Cross messages with relatives, according to war court testimony. But they are forbidden to have Skype chats with families like the majority of captives held in low-value-detainee lockups.
“No decisions have been made regarding family visits,” said Army Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale. “Any discussion about logistics and procedures for such visits is premature.”
The Red Cross recently made the 100th delegation visit to the detention center since the Bush administration first granted the Geneva-based global organization access to Camp X-ray soon after the prison opened in January 2002.
Across those 100 visits, according to the ICRC, they have carried in and out 70,000 pieces of mail. In 2008, after negotiations between the Red Cross and Southcom, the U.S. allowed 3,100 phone or video calls with prison staff listening in.
“But, at the end of the day, nothing can replace face-to-face contact,” Nelson said. “This is why we have long advocated for family visits to become a reality at Guantánamo.”
At Southcom, Julian said the military would not consider letting the captives’ relatives sleep on the base — an accommodation that was made for Australian prisoner David Hicks’ family prior to his 2007 plea deal that paved his way home.
“It’s just a real difficult security effort if you start allowing overnights or anything like that,” the colonel said.
The possibility comes amid a year-old hunger strike by an unknown number of captives protesting their indefinite detention. Over the summer, more than 100 prisoners took part.Lion’s Arch Assessment Survey Results and Interpretation
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Deduction:Business maturity is what startups often need when they ask for an 'adult' to come and manage their company. That was certainly the case with Danish startup Universal Robots as they sought funds and a new CEO in 2008.
Universal Robots
Esben Østergaard (pictured), Kasper Støy and Kristian Kassow, two young PhD's and a civil engineer, all from the University of Southern Denmark (USD) located in Odense, came together in 2005 to make flexible robots. Kassow had a vision of running a robot manufacturing business, Støy and Østergaard, were to focus on the software, engineering and other practicalities. Østergaard also had a vision: he wanted to make robot technology accessible to all by developing small, user-friendly, reasonably priced, flexible industrial robots that were safe to work with and easy to program. Kassow created a business plan and secured their initial seed/startup round of funding from Syddansk Innovation, a state-funded investor and incubator for Danish technology startups. They named their new company Universal Robots A/S (UR).
The startup was located at the USD where Kassow and Østergaard worked and Støy taught. They planned to spend 2005 and 2006 developing and building prototypes which would then be used to demonstrate their proof of concept and help secure a scale-up funding round. After a while Støy opted to teach full time rather than continue to work on the project and, because construction materials were more costly than planned, and the development phase was taking longer than expected, the two remaining founders took on some paid research to sustain their efforts.
Making their robot easy to program was a major focus and they developed an intuitive touch screen and graphical user interface which made it surprisingly simple for users to program. Safety was the other major concern and they enlisted the Danish Technological Institute (DTI) to test their new robot. DTI confirmed that it would function in a safe manner without needing to be caged in; thus enabling an important sales feature for the new robot. But their robot remained unfinished as they worked on accomodating all the uses it could be put to.
In 2008 they installed and customized their first robot on the packaging line of a nearby nursery… and then ran out of money and into serious debt.
A representative of the Danish Growth Fund observed their situation as he met with the two. Nevertheless he became convinced of the viability of the robot as a product, and urged his board to fund the startup — but also to help find an adult to take over and bring some concise direction to the company.
Enrico Krog Iversen
Krog Iversen worked for many years with Denmark's largest company, Moeller/Maersk in Copenhagen and the U.S., secured an MBA from USD, and was a partner and Sales Director at Krog Iversen, the largest manufacturer of heating stoves in Denmark, a business he and his family sold in 2006. He was 10+ years senior in age to the two partners in UR in 2008 when, with funding from The Danish Growth Fund, Krog Iversen, and his family, he joined the company as CEO.
Shortly thereafter he ran up against Kassow's business plan: to help UR customers customize their robots for their particular applications and to create a secondary profit center similar to the Apple App Store for the necessary accessories (grippers, covers, cameras, sensors, stands, etc.) and to provide comprehensive service and repair. Krog Iversen, on the other hand, believed in letting distributors do the hands-on work with the end users and having the company concentrate on the fewest number of products with the fewest, if any, options. Further, he thought it important that UR focus on making their robot arms without grippers or accessories; a formula which made for efficient manufacturing and required a network of integrator-type distributors. Under Krog Iversen's insistence, the partners reluctantly reworked their business plan to reflect those changes, to finalize their first six-axis robot, the UR5, to work on a UR10, and to develop a network of distributor integrators which would market directly to customers. This revised plan by Krog Iversen was a key transition point for UR: to decide to NOT be involved in how their robots would be configured to meet end-user needs and instead focus on the efficient manufacture of only two or three robots which shared components, design and software. This focus on manufacturing efficiencies and product testing carried forward as unit sales increased from hundreds to thousands per year to their present run-rate of approximately 1,500 robots per month!
Krog Iversen cultivated the distributor-integrator scheme while encouraging Kassow to transform the company into an efficient manufacturing operation. 52 robots were sold and produced in 2009 and the distributor network was taking hold and promised a much bigger 2010. But Kassow became disgruntled with the direction of the company and the discipline that Krog Iversen brought to company operations.
Kassow chose to leave at about the same time as the global financial crisis of 2008 was having its effect on UR: although there was excitement about the product, there was resistance to spending money until the economy stabilized. To carry the company through the slowdown, Krog Iversen and the Danish Growth Fund injected an additional $1.5 million of equity funding which was sufficient to weather the storm and carry them through 2010. Late in 2010, after only three rounds of funding, UR became profitable and was self-funded thereafter.
Marketing and PR
Krog Iversen conceived marketing the UR robots as collaborative robots with two primary audiences: end users and distributor/integrators. He understood the need to educate the end user and sell distributors and integrators on the concept that UR co-bots weren't a technology play but rather one that reduced production costs, had a very short return on investment (ROI), augmented workers, and offered a high profit margin on the robots and accessories involved in a typical sale.
Krog Iversen sought out a dynamic marketing manager and ambitious PR partners to help convey both of UR's target audiences. He hired Thomas Visti (pictured) to develop the international distributor network and Malene Grouleff and Mette McCall were contracted to spearhead publicity and PR in Europe and the U.S. respectively.
Krog Iversen brought his discipline to their marketing and PR decisions as well. He encouraged the production and promotion of video use cases that emphasized ROI, efficiency and ease of operation. Safety was implied but ROI, ease of use and productivity were the key selling points. Videos were made and distributed that showed how easy it was to set up and program the robot. And he encouraged an open-door quick-response policy for all types of media while promising to always be available to the media.
Said McCall of some of her experiences on behalf of UR:
My agency helped spread the word of the distributors’ excitement taking on this new line of UR robots and by the Spring of 2013, we were able to produce our first U.S. case study. Traveling around North America telling the stories of the many varied and surprising ways UR robots are being deployed has been the most fun, creative and rewarding assignment. This is where journalism and the “good story” concept is leveraged. The robots lend themselves so well to video storytelling; when a line operator laughingly tells you that they named their new UR robots “Thelma” and “Louise” because they thought they were going to drive them over a cliff and they would all lose their jobs (which they didn’t, they got better jobs after the robot took over their ergonomically unfavorable tasks), or when the first automation engineers started to wheel the robots around between tasks – something unthinkable with traditional industrial robots that stay bolted down in a cage. Enrico always encouraged us to position UR through these case studies and he was always the first to grab a robot arm and give a demo. We had fun doing a press tour in New York taking a UR5 in two cardboard boxes, wheeling it on a hand truck in and out of Manhattan offices presenting the robot directly to the editors – that was the first time they ever had a live demo of an industrial robot right at their desk!
The Collaborative Robot Movement
UR's two PR firms weren't the only groups promoting collaborative robotics. In Europe the SMErobotics Project, funded by the EU, produced some widely viewed videos about how small and medium-sized enterprises (SME's) could benefit from the use of low-cost flexible robots so long as they were safe and easy to program. The SMErobotics Project promoted that it was time to incorporate “smart” and “intuitive” technologies into the robot programming process. The big pitch was that the robot must be plug and play AND easy to program AND safe — the very features that UR was promoting. The concept was that if you empowered shop employees with robotic tools that improved their combined productivity, the SME would become more cost efficient and competitive and therefore not have to move offshore.
In the U.S., Rodney Brooks, an eloquent MIT professor and co-founder of iRobot, was on the road promoting his new startup, Rethink Robotics and their two-armed collaborative robot Baxter. He spoke at every event, everywhere, and described an SME marketplace ripe for collaborative robotics such as his Baxter (and UR's UR robots). He made similar points as the European SME movement but described how, through the use of co-bots such as Baxter, SME workers could become more productive, happier with their jobs, and their increased productivity more cost efficient for their company.
The global SME marketplace is huge – 6 million companies worldwide and almost 70% of the world’s manufacturing. A few low-cost plug and play robotic tools — like the robots sold by Rethink and UR — could easily fit into the manufacturing process of most of these companies which is why most business executives became excited at the prospect of testing them out in their shops and factories. But the Baxter robot didn't live up to those expectations at the time whereas the UR robots did. Brooks' marketing inadvertently helped UR more than it did his own company. Thus UR sales grew throughout Europe and the U.S.
The exit plan
From the initial business plan developed by Krog Iversen in 2008, an exit strategy was included that called for raising market value ten times and growing revenue by at least 60% to 70% each year. When those criteria were reached, then it would be time to consider offers from companies that would benefit from combining URs activities with theirs. As that time became evident, Krog Iversen found that his time was being taken up reviewing and responding to too many offers. Enrico didn't want to go public nor did he want to sell to a private equity fund. Instead, he and the board set up an Exit Committee and hired a UK investment bank to spread the word, handle the offers and cull out and recommend the very best strategic offers. Teradyne was their primary recommendation.
Teradyne had purchased some UR robots and had firsthand knowledge of their value within their factories. And they were willing to pay what Krog Iversen thought as a fair price. A deal was consummated in May of 2015 for $285 million in cash and an additional $65 million if certain performance targets were met through 2018 thereby bringing the overall sales price to $350 million. From Teradyne's point of view, this was a win-win transaction: Teradyne becomes a player in the collaborative robotics space and the inventors and entrepreneurs of Universal got a serious strategic partner, one that could help them with marketing, manufacturing, management and engineering. In Krog Iversen's case, the deal offered the ability to move on to his next big thing. In March, 2016, UR and Teradyne announced that Jürgen von Hollen would become the new CEO while Krog Iversen was beginning his new career as investor.
Further readingThe reveal of the Xbox One X was Microsoft’s big move at this year’s E3, but they made plenty of overtures to us PC gamers as well. It’s all part of a “multi-pronged strategy,” according to director of Xbox marketing Kevin Unangst, to make their Windows 10/Xbox environment the best place to play games on PC. But we’ve heard this sort of talk before – are Microsoft ready to back it up?
Which of these classic PC games would you remaster if you could?
Windows 10
Microsoft are determined to make Windows 10 “the best operating system for gamers,” according to Mike Ybarra, president for Windows and Xbox gaming. “We have 21:9 resolution on some of our first party games, we have SLI and AMD Crossfire support in terms of having multiple graphics and GPUs.”
Ybarra and Unangst point to the changes introduced to the OS with its recent Creators update, chiefly Game Mode, and new features in the game bar to make it easier to record and stream your gameplay.
“If you select [Game Mode], it will give the game all the resources possible,” Ybarra says. “It puts the other things the operating system is doing on a PC in suspense.” And since “more people are watching gaming now,” Microsoft have introduced “built-in broadcasting where you can be playing a game, hit the button and immediately start broadcasting it for audiences to discover.”
It’s worth noting that Dave tested Game Mode when it first launched and didn’t find it too transformative; hopefully Microsoft have improved it since.
PC Remasters
For PC gamers – especially those of us lucky enough to have been gaming in the ‘90s – Microsoft’s real headline at E3 wasn’t the new Xbox, but the announcement that the original Age of Empires is getting a comprehensive remaster.
“We want to treat PC like a first-class citizen,” Adam Isgreen, creative director at Microsoft Studios Publishing and the man in charge of the project, says. “That’s really important to us.” The attention to detail that’s being lavished on the remaster backs his words with action: it’s getting 4K UHD visuals, new zoom levels, rebalanced gameplay (to go with the Xbox Live multiplayer), and a remastered orchestral soundtrack. They’re even fixing historical inaccuracies in the in-game encyclopedia – “there is no such thing as a Nile alligator, but there is a Nile crocodile,” Isgreen says.
It’s very exciting for PC gamers of a certain age, and it’s all ours: “Age of Empires is a PC game. It’s not on console,” Isgreen says. “We’re not planning on putting it on console. It’s something we really want for PC players, and you might see more titles like that in the future from us.”
Indeed, Unangst says this decision is but the first step in a plan to look back at Microsoft’s portfolio and think “‘What are the things we want to play as PC gamers ourselves?’ We can modernise those. We’re going to go from here. Age of Empires is the beginning of all that… making sure the IP we build is for PC gamers.”
What other classic Microsoft titles would you like to see remastered? Some of the MechWarrior games, perhaps? Close Combat? Fury3 or Hellbender? Of course, remasters aren’t the only thing Microsoft can do to leverage its first-party games: maybe we can hope to see Halo: The Master Chief Collection come to PC. Finally.
Play Anywhere
Microsoft’s dominance in PC operating systems and in the console space puts them in a unique position, one which, arguably, they could’ve done more to exploit in the past. However, it’s clear they’re looking to do so now with Play Anywhere, their push to release games across both PC and Xbox, allowing owners of one title to play it on the other platform.
“From a first party standpoint, I think Phil [Spencer] has said that we’re committed to having our franchises on PC and on console,” Ybarra says, and he’s confident that the opportunities of the shared audience will incentivise developers to play ball. “We have 18 Play Anywhere games at the moment, and we have 20 more on the roadmap, so developers are really embracing the fact that Xbox is giving them the widest variety of audience for them to play their games.”
One advantage Ybarra cites is combining the multiplayer pools across the PC and other console communities. Minecraft will be one of the first games to take advantage of that, as we learned in Microsoft’s E3 briefing.
“We can be in the same world, building together,” regardless of platform, Ybarra says. “I think you’re going to see a lot of developers taking advantage of that. Consumers will get the benefit because they’ll have way more people to meet with, socialise with, and build those worlds together with.”
Fragmented inputs present an obstacle for more competitive games – like Halo – but Microsoft are hoping to solve this, too. Phil Spencer told us last yearthat they plan to bring keyboard and mouse support to Xbox, and Ybarra reiterated this commitment:
“In the competitive space, if you’re on keyboard and mouse and I’m on controller, you have an advantage with the precision of that input. We want to give developers the option to support keyboard and mouse, and if they do, the option to say ‘Do you want to play with all keyboard people, or just controller people?’ So that’s something that’s on the roadmap still. We’re not announcing a date, but it’s definitely something we want to do.”
Isgreen says “if we have a Play Anywhere game, it’s on both console and PC, and the PC version will have the features that PC players want in it.” So it sounds like we can expect more than simple ports; we can expect PC games optimised for our platform, with bespoke features.
We’ve heard Microsoft say they’ve not forgotten about PC countless times before, but this year’s announcements are significant enough to match the rhetoric. Of course, they’re pushing the Win10/Xbox environment on a platform that’s dominated by Steam – tellingly, the Age of Empires remaster is on Windows Store only, whereas the Age of Empires II remaster is on Valve’s, where it’s benefitted immensely from mods and other community content.
If you’re sceptical that this conflict will resolve itself without any friction for gamers, I can’t say I blame you. Still, to the extent that Microsoft’s pitch is a better experience in the OS, and more and better games optimised for PC, their contribution is positive.
Can you see yourself spending more time in the Xbox app at the expense of your Steam account, given this strategy? Leave us your thoughts.(AP) NEW YORK - Immigration advocates have filed a lawsuit on behalf of several married gay couples, alleging a federal law violates their constitutional rights by preventing them from sponsoring their spouses for green cards.
The complaint, which challenges the federal Defense of Marriage Act, was filed in federal court in Brooklyn by Immigration Equality, an advocacy group. Each of the five couples named as plaintiffs is struggling to obtain U.S. citizenship for a foreign-born spouse.
The 1996 law, known as DOMA, prevents the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages and denies federal benefits to married gay couples. The federal government does not recognize lesbian and gay couples for immigration purposes, and several of the couples have been denied green cards.
"The families in today's lawsuit meet every qualification for immigration benefits, with the sole exception that they happen to be lesbian or gay," Rachel Tiven, executive director of Immigration Equality, said in a statement.
All of the plaintiffs were married in states that have sanctioned gay marriage. If the couples were heterosexual, the government would recognize the foreign spouse as an immediate relative of the U.S. citizen, paving the way for citizenship, advocates say. The lawsuit claims DOMA violates their constitutional right to equal protection.
The lawsuit was filed Monday against Attorney General Eric Holder; Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano; U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director Alejandro Mayorkas; Robert M. Cowan, director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services National Benefits Center; and Daniel Renaud, director of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Vermont Service Center.
The federal government declined to comment Tuesday.
Plaintiffs Heather Morgan and Maria del Mar Verdugo, who live in New York City and were married last year, said their plans for the future are in limbo as they await the status of their green card application for Verdugo, who is from Madrid. But they know it's unlikely to be approved.
"We love one another without measure," said Morgan, 36, marketing director for a global non-profit organization in New York. "And all we want is the opportunity to be recognized as the family that we are, just like anyone else."
Verdugo, 42, said it's painful not knowing whether they will be able to raise children together in the U.S.
"We would love to have a family," she said. "But at this moment, we can't do it."
The plaintiffs include immigrants from South Africa, Japan, Venezuela and England.
A federal judge in Massachusetts declared a key section of the law unconstitutional in 2010 after state Attorney General Martha Coakley and the legal group Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders sued. The judge found that the law interferes with the right of a state to define marriage and denies married gay couples an array of federal benefits given to heterosexual married couples, including the ability to file joint tax returns.
An appeal by a bipartisan congressional group will be heard Wednesday by the federal appeals court in Boston.
DOMA was enacted when it appeared Hawaii would soon legalize same-sex marriage and opponents worried that other states would be forced to recognize such marriages. Since the national law was passed in 1996, many states have instituted their own bans on gay marriage, while eight states have legalized it: Connecticut, New York, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland and Washington state, as well as the District of Columbia. Maryland and Washington state's laws are not yet in effect and may be subject to referendums.Afghanistan is voting for president. Unfortunately, the outcome, even if a fair result, is unlikely to matter much. The war will continue.
In 2008 President Barack Obama was seen as the anti-war candidate. In fact, his reputation reflected his prescient opposition to the Iraq war, but he said little to suggest that he was out of sync with Washington’s interventionist consensus.
We see his status quo foreign policies with his support for continued NATO expansion as well as maintaining American garrisons around the globe, including in South Korea and Japan. But his escalation in Afghanistan most obviously demonstrates that he is a man of the interventionist left.
He is now making it clear that Afghanistan is his war. Reports Reuters:
President Barack Obama will seek to shore up U.S. public support for the war in Afghanistan on Monday just days before an Afghan presidential election widely seen as a major test of his revamped strategy. Obama will address a military veterans group in Phoenix at a time when U.S. combat deaths are rising amid a troop buildup against a resurgent Taliban, and polls show a softening of public backing for the eight-year-old war. Hoping to reassure Americans, Obama is expected to sketch out why he believes the Afghanistan policy he unveiled earlier this year is working and why the United States must remain committed to stabilizing the war-ravaged country.
The political risks for him are enormous. Anything bad that happens in Iraq can be blamed on George W. Bush. But any failure in America’s nation-building mission in Afghanistan – and failure is the most likely outcome in any nation-building in Afghanistan – will be seen as his responsibility.
And American and other coalition military personnel, as well as the Afghan people, will pay the price.There is an elephant in the room in the cryptocurrency world and it’s called Tether.
The concept of a cryptocurrency that is tied to the world’s reference fiat currency is very interesting indeed. But it has a very expensive requirement: for every unit of this cryptocurrency, there must be an equal unit in the reference fiat currency deposited somewhere.
The big question bein asked about Tether right now is whether there is exactly one U$1 bill deposited somewhere in a bank account for every USDT in circulation.
According to CoinMarketCap.com, there are currently ~ U$ 1 billion USDT coins in circulation. The official Tether website has a transparency section where they publish the following financial data:
If we are to take this data at face value, then there is a little over U$ 1 billion dollars cash deposited in a bank account somewhere. It’d be great if the Tether backers could provide the community with information about the bank branch and account number so that an independent party could confirm its existence.
We must then ask the age old question: what is in it for the investors? Why would any group of people lock up U$ 1 billion cash in order to guarantee a virtual coin with tiny transaction fees being collected in return? How much ROI is actually involved here?
The Curious Case of the Missing Warrant Canary
A recent Twitter discussion sugests that Mr. Chris Ellis, a entrepeneur who works with Bitfinex (who are allegedly the company behind Tether), may have been served some form of government subpoena and thus had to remove two warrant canaries which were earlier posted to this profile:
The field is ripe with speculation as to the reason for these latest developments, but the explanation most people are agreeing upon is that he was ordered by someone to remove those signs from his public profile, most likely due to a court order.
Something else everyone seems to agree on is that, if there is any law enforcement involved here, it must be from the USA. That would likely mean the FBI or, if fiat currency foul play is suspected, then the Secret Service or IRS could be involved in this investigation as well.
Although Mr. Ellis has denied all the speculations in messages published using his profile in chat rooms, these denials are precisely what one would expect if a serious Federal investigation were indeed taking place and he were subject to a gag order. Remember, Feds can see a profile warrant canary too.
So, what now?
We must stick to facts in order to protect ourselves and cryptocurrency investors from any possible consequences of an eventual Tether collapse.
First of all, although we know that most cryptocurrency market cap isn’t real, we can use the same measurement to compare cryptos (if it’s fake for one, it’s fake for the other as well). The total Tether in existence right now (~ $1 billion) is only 0,18% of the total cryptocurrency capitalization (~ $552 billion). This likely means that an eventual Tether collapse would not be catastrophic.
But what does it all really mean?
Well, we can only speculate at this point, but the fact of the matter is there is U$ 1 billion floating out there which can be used to pump and dump several altcoins and Bitcoin itself. A U$ 1 billion volume is enough to drive Bitcoin up several percentage points, and can likely be a tsunami in a low volume altcoin. We’ve seen heavy pumps on many altcoins recently. The chat rooms and Twitter are packed with speculation of Tether being the main tool for these huge recent P&D’s.
ColophonDogs are a natural fit for joining you on your hiking and backpacking adventures. Let’s face it, most dogs love to be outside. The sights, the smells, the sounds... did I mention the smells!? Just like you, your dog will benefit from the exercise and fresh air and can keep you in good company on the trail.
Conditioning - including puppies
It’s best to allow puppies to fully develop their bones and joints prior to starting any long distance hikes. Short day hikes are generally OK but you should avoid high impact activities and long miles. When will they be old enough? Probably sometime around a year old but it really depends on the breed and the best answer is to consult with your vet.
For adult dogs, conditioning is not much different than it is for humans. Start small, build mileage and weight. Your dog’s strength and stamina will build and his paw pads will toughen up. Remember, your dog can’t say when they’re tired and sore. You’ll have to watch for signs:
Licking feet - are his pad’s injured or irritated?
Excessive panting, stopping, lagging behind - is he getting overheated? Find some shade and work on hydration. Cooling products can also help.
A tucked tail - your dog’s tail is always a good indicator of their state. Up and wagging? He’s probably doing well. Tucked between the legs? It might be time for a break.
Permits and regulations
Know the necessary permits and regulations before you head out.
Are dogs allowed? Not in most National Parks but most other Federal Land is fair game. Be sure to check the area and know the rules. Fines can be hefty or your trip cut short.
Do you need a special permit to bring your dog?
What are the leash laws for the area?
Do you need to pack waste out, or can it be buried? Most often, waste can be buried in a cathole just like yours. Know the rules though.
Trail etiquette
The great debate around dogs on the trail is on-leash versus off leash. Nothing will divide a group of outdoor loving dog owners faster. We like the idea of our dogs being able to freely explore the area, smelling and running and having a great time.Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has made it clear retiring is not on his mind just yet and has joked he could play on until he is 65 years old.
The Italy international will be turn 39 in January and has a contract with the Serie A champions until the end of next season.
However, Buffon, who has previously suggested he would call time on his career after the 2018 World Cup, is adamant he still feels young and plans to keep going for the forseeable future.
"I still do not feel like an old guy at the age of 38," Buffon told Tuttosport.
"Will I say farewell to the game in 10 years' time or in 15 years' time? Who knows, I might retire at the age of 65...
"I have not lost an awful lot in my life, but the defeats have taught me more than the victories. Whenever I lose, I focus on the ability of my opponent and on the mistakes I made.
"Not looking for excuses is the right thing to do. I have made a lot of mistakes and I still make mistakes, but I am not ashamed to look for the reasons behind those mistakes.
"I turned down drugs when I was 13. A guy in Parma offered me them to have a bit of fun. I said no and three years later he died of an overdose. I believe in doing the right things, that is my character and personality."11 Arlington Heights businesses punished for serving liquor to minors
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Nearly a dozen Arlington Heights businesses found to have served alcohol to minors this year were reprimanded Monday with punishments ranging from fines to suspensions of their liquor licenses.
Eleven businesses pleaded guilty to serving underage patrons in 2013.
Ten of the violations were the result of an annual "sting" performed by the Arlington Heights Police Department with the help of underage agents who attempt to buy alcohol. The police checked 94 businesses between July 15 and Aug. 20.
Some business representatives said Monday their employees made math mistakes when they calculated a customer's age.
But Village President Tom Hayes pointed out underage IDs are vertical in Illinois.
Some of the violators got their Beverage Alcohol Sellers and Servers Education and Training certification online and will be required to take in-person training.
"We take these liquor licenses and our liquor laws in Arlington Heights very seriously," Hayes said. "Especially when we're talking about the sale to minors."
• Red Rooster Liquors, 827 N. Wilke Road, had its third violation in three years. Its liquor license was suspended for five days, and the business must pay $1,000 in fines. The store owner admitted to not checking an ID before selling a six-pack of beer to a 19-year-old.
• Sun Shui Restaurant, 155 W. Rand Road, will lose its license for one day and pay a $700 fine after having its second violation since 2006.
• Jameson's Charhouse, 1331 W. Dundee Road, was found guilty of a second violation and was fined $800.
• An employee at Liquor Mart, 705 E. Kensington, was on the phone with his girlfriend when he looked at an agent's ID and then served her anyway, said village prosecutor Ernest Blomquist. The business was fined $600.
• King Liquor and Cigar, 807 W. Rand Road, was fined $800 for sale to a minor.
Other decisions: a $500 fine for Chipotle Mexican Grill, 338 E. Rand Road; a $600 fine for Smashburger, 115 W. Rand Road; a $800 fine for Gatsby's Pizza and Pub, 427 E. Rand Road; a $600 fine for Tuscan Market and Wine Shop, 141 W. Wing St.; and a $500 fine for Jinmi Ok, 1918 S. Arlington Heights Road.
One of the hearings came not from the police sting, but from an actual sale to minors.
On Feb. 1, Arlington Liquor and Wine, 401 S. Arlington Heights Road, sold alcohol to a group of 15-year-old girls because the owner said they looked "mature." The girls were subpoenaed to Monday's hearing.
"These people's ability to feed their families is going to be impacted because of your decision to go drinking that night," Blomquist told the girls, "not to mention you put your own safety in danger."
The store's liquor license will be suspended for two days, and it was fined $1,000.After being questioned by the Washington Free Beacon about large donations he made to the Clinton Foundation, George Stephanopoulos of ABC News disclosed to Politico that he had funneled $50,000 to the tax-exempt organization in 2013 and 2014. Stephanopoulos’s secret donations to the Clintons’ non-profit came while he was professionally covering the family for ABC News. And then, after he was busted by the Free Beacon, he decided to leak the news of his secret Clinton cash contributions to Politico in order to deny Free Beacon its scoop. Classy, huh?
It gets even worse, though. It wasn’t just that Stephanopoulos made the contributions while he was supposed to be objectively covering the Clinton family on behalf of a major broadcast news organization. It’s bigger than that. Just last month, Stephanopoulos interviewed Peter Schweizer, the author of Clinton Cash, a blockbuster investigative expose of the Clinton Foundation’s finances. Not once did Stephanopoulos disclose his cash ties to the Clinton Foundation. Stephanopoulos, who we are supposed to believe is an objective journalist, deliberately chose to hide the fact that he was a Clinton Foundation donor.
“It was an honest mistake,” ABC News told Politico, in apparent attempt to suggest to its viewers that not only does ABC News not care about transparency in reporting, |
. In fact, what he says is completely the opposite. I brought along, just in case you think I'm imagining these things, the third edition of his book on this point. At page 485 he states,
A law may be validly enacted in relationship to criminal law although the law itself does not have the characteristics of a criminal law. This would be true, for example, of a law which simply repealed a criminal law. Its most important application, however, is in support of laws aimed at the prevention of crime. For example, binding over a person to keep the peace, controlling the possession of guns or detaining....
I would like to ask you if you are familiar with the cases of, which was on gun control, in the Alberta Court of Appeal, andin the Supreme Court of Canada. Perhaps you are more familiar with the case ofin the B.C. Supreme Court. You may recall that in that case your own organization's vice-president - or maybe former vice-president, I don't know, in light of the conviction of firearms offences - challenged the government's right to make gun control legislation. That case ruled that gun control provisions are, not, of Parliament.
I find it hard to believe you could be unaware of these legal decisions, Mr. Tomlinson.
I would like to know if part of the National Firearms Association finances these court cases and at what level you have ever been successful that has not been overturned at appeal.
Mr. Tomlinson: We do either partially or totally fund some firearms cases; not the cases that you are citing. We are aware of these cases. We are also aware of a number of cases that go in the opposite direction. This is a very tangled area of the law and a very tangled area of jurisdiction.
When the firearms control legislation was first put into the Criminal Code, it was very clear that it was public safety legislation. As public safety legislation, it is clearly intra vires of Parliament.
However, I sat here this morning and listened to the Minister of Justice telling some of the questioners that this legislation was for the administration and regulation of property, that it has nothing to do with criminal law, that he is planning possibly to take criminalization out of it. If it goes outside the criminal powers of the federal Parliament, then what you are saying is that it is regulatory law, and it is regulatory law of property. He stated that explicitly this morning.
My question to you, Madam, is if it is regulatory law -
Mrs. Barnes: Could you just answer my questions, please?
I want to get back to your brief. I find so many statements.... On the second page alone, there are at least four occasions where I see total misrepresentation. It angers me, quite frankly, because I think you have a job to do. I think you have a job to come before this committee and give us good information and not misinformation that instils fear in people - because I know people are concerned about this legislation, and it's our job to fix it where there can be improvements.
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My question will go to your point where you talked about entering private homes, which is in the second paragraph on page 2. If you read clause 101, it very succinctly tells anybody who does read it that you cannot go into a private home without (a) consent or (b) a warrant. Would you agree with that?
Mr. Tomlinson: I agree with you that you have to get the warrant, but in order to get that warrant -
Mrs. Barnes: Okay, that's fine. If you agree with that, sir -
The Chair: Allow the answer, please.
A witness: [Inaudible]
Mrs. Barnes: Well, it should be when you say this misstatement.
Mr. Tomlinson: In order for the man to get that warrant...although it calls in a police officer, notice, from section 98, he may very well not be a police officer. In order to get the warrant, all that is necessary is for him to go to a judge and say that he has a reasonable belief that there is a firearm, ammunition, or a record of a firearm or ammunition in that home and there need not be the slightest hint of any criminal activity whatever.
Mrs. Barnes: To quote your brief, it says:
C-68 vests police and firearms bureaucrats with extremely broad search and seizure powers, authorizing them to enter and search the private home of any Canadian who has a firearm or ammunition, or even a record of a firearm or ammunition, including situations where no crime is known or suspected.
You quote the clauses. That's not what you just relate; not at all.
Mr. Tomlinson: That is what I just related, Madam.
Ms Barnes: No, he didn't.
The Chair: Again, there's a difference of view on the meaning of the legislation.
I go to Ms Meredith, who has five minutes.
Ms Meredith (Surrey - White Rock - South Langley): I would like to deal with a couple of issues that do concern me, mainly about part III of this proposed legislation, and I would like to know how you feel. I take it that you've been in court representing firearms cases.
In this proposed legislation, as I understand it, there is an onus of proof that it is a firearm and under definitions, or under proposed section 84, it states those which are not firearms and it goes through a whole list of things that are not considered to be firearms. One under subparagraph (d)(ii) is ``a shot, bullet or other projectile that is designed or adapted to attain a velocity exceeding 152.4 m per second''.
Does that mean that that's the definition of what a firearm is, that it can send out a projectile at that speed?
Mr. Tomlinson: No, that is not correct. If you will read that in its entirety, you will find that what you have is a definition of ``firearm'' that falls under proposed section 84. Then you have an abridgement and a changing of the definition of ``firearm'' that falls under clause 2. The change makes a narrower definition of the word ``firearm'', but that narrower definition only applies to certain specified sections of the Criminal Code and to all of the Firearms Act. As a result, you have two definitions for the word ``firearm'', a narrow definition and a wide one.
So, for example, you could not be convicted of possession of a paint-ball gun without a licence, because, for the purpose of that section, it is not a firearm. On the other hand, you could be convicted of several other firearms offences for having a paint-ball gun, because, under those sections, it is defined as being a firearm.
Ms Meredith: Are you talking about a clause here that is using ``replica'' or...?
Mr. Tomlinson: No, I'm talking about the word ``firearm''. The word ``firearm'' has two entirely different meanings in this legislation.
Ms Meredith: Okay, then that just adds to my concern, because I noticed in here that there is a different offence for the use of a replica as opposed to the use of a firearm. From talking to crown counsel, my understanding is that so many firearm charges get dropped or don't proceed through the courts because they cannot prove that it was in fact a firearm that was used and therefore it's easier for them just to plea-bargain it down or not take it into court.
What I'm hearing on the street is that people want this government to come up with a piece of legislation that is going to penalize criminals when they use anything that looks like a firearm in the commission of an offence so that people who are going to rob a bank will choose to leave a firearm out of it and you get fewer firearms out there.
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My understanding is that these are two separate offences. Is it going to be possible to carry any kind of charge, either a charge of using a replica or a charge of using a firearm, through the court system with these changes to part III?
Mr. Tomlinson: It's going to be extremely tangled. You have the idea of the replica. You have firearms divided into seven classes by this legislation: unrestricted, restricted and five separate and distinct classes of prohibited firearms, all of which may be bought, sold and traded within individual grandfathered groups that overlap.
You have the replica firearm, which is undefined. I have no idea what the government means by a replica firearm. For example, replica firearms, in common terminology within the recreational firearms community, include black powder cap and ball guns, which are manufactured to look like guns that were used during the American Civil War period and earlier.
Ms Meredith: I don't care what it looks like. I care that it's there at the scene of the crime. I don't care whether it's a water gun that shoots water and not a bullet. Again, the trauma to the bank teller is just as severe whether it's a water pistol or a real gun.
My concern is whether this legislation can carry that kind of offence through the court system successfully, or will it be plea-bargained down or not even carried into the courts because of lack of proof. Have you looked at that aspect of this legislation?
Mr. Tomlinson: We have looked at it and we consider that it would be very difficult. Additionally, we consider that the criminal justice system will reject it, for the same reason as they have rejected section 85. Section 85 has been used in 52 out of 12,287 convictions.
One of the major reasons for that is.... Say you are a police officer, judge or crown prosecutor and you have two cases in front of you. In one case, a man walked into a jewellery store with an unloaded pistol that didn't actually work, held the place up, tipped his hat and went quietly out. In the other case, the man used a baseball bat, knocked several people down, fractured the skull of the proprietor of the grocery store and made off with the contents of the till. To our mind, it is absolutely inexplicable that the law would say that the first man gets an extra penalty and the second man attracts no extra penalty at all although he actually used his weapon.
To our minds, the problem is violence, not firearms.
Look at what they're doing with Bill C-68. It drives the criminal away from the.25 and.32 calibre handguns, which are the feeblest of guns. It drives them away from short-barrelled guns in favour of long-barrelled guns, which are more powerful. It drives them away from replica guns and towards genuine deadly weapons by giving an extra penalty for using something that is completely harmless.
Ms Meredith: I want to correct something that was said. It is not an additional sentence; it is one sentence for committing a serious crime with a firearm. It's a four-year minimum. I don't feel and a lot of people in the community don't feel that's a serious enough sentence. I feel that there should be an addition to it. Do you not agree with that?
Mr. Tomlinson: I agree with you wholeheartedly that the sentences are woefully low, particularly when you consider how early the prisoners are being let out. It isn't at the end of four years.
But also you have to look at the factor that what the public is really upset about is the increasing violence. It is not which particular tool the criminal is using. Therefore, this legislation would be much better if, instead of saying that an extra penalty will be incurred for having a firearm, we say you will receive an extra penalty for using a weapon, and there will be another extra penalty if you actually injure someone with that weapon, and we'll give you a much more severe penalty if you actually kill somebody with that weapon. But to tie it to a particular tool....
When you tie it to something like a replica firearm, which is absolutely harmless, we don't understand the logic.
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If you are a judge, a crown prosecutor or a policeman, and you have these two cases - one where no damage was done and one where intense damage was done - and you have the opportunity of laying the more severe charge of committing the crime with a firearm, will you actually do that? Or will you go with the other charge, which is equally possible, and say this is simply a robbery case?
This is what has been happening with section 85. The criminal justice system refuses to use it because it is illogical.
Mr. Gallaway (Sarnia - Lambton): Ms Thom, you appeared last week on a national news or public affairs program with the Chief of Police of Halifax, I believe.
Ms Thom: Yes.
Mr. Gallaway: I saw it. It was very good.
You made reference at that time to the fact that in your opinion the national registration system would cost somewhere between $250 million and $300 million, as I recall. I don't have the transcript here.
Ms Thom: At the time I said $300 million to $500 million, using the statistics I had at the time.
Mr. Gallaway: Okay, fine.
You are a former Olympic champion, a gold medallist. I assume that gives you a lot of credibility in the community. People are aware of you.
Ms Thom: Yes, they are aware.
Mr. Gallaway: In your opening statement, representing the National Firearms Association, you also talked about this as a bill riddled with false statements.
Ms Thom: Yes.
Mr. Gallaway: Last summer ads such as this appeared in a number of western papers. It appeared in the Saskatoon and Regina newspapers. It is sponsored by a number of groups, of which the National Firearms Association was the sponsor. I assume it paid for the ad. Its name is listed on the ads. Your name is listed here as endorsing this, in any event.
Don't you find it rather strange that you would appear on a show on national TV and talk about a $500-million price-tag for the registry system, yet this advertisement, endorsed by a group for which you speak, talks about a cost of $1.7 billion to $2 billion? Do you not find that false or misleading also?
Ms Thom: I haven't had the opportunity to read that and I haven't had the opportunity to verify those figures.
Mr. Gallaway: Which figures, then, are we going to verify?
Ms Thom: I would go with the figure I have in fact given you today, the $600 million.
Mr. Gallaway: All right, it's the $600 million today.
You are speaking for the National Firearms Association. It participated in an ad that stated it would cost $1.7 billion to $2 billion. Is that not false or misleading?
Ms Thom: As I said, I haven't had the opportunity to see how they based their figures. So I'm sorry, but -
Mr. Gallaway: Well, how do you base your figures on $600 million, then?
Ms Thom: We're basing it on the number of firearms the justice department estimates are out there and the price-tag per firearm to register them.
Mr. Gallaway: Second, in your opening statement you talked about Bill C-68. You'll have to excuse me, because I'm going to paraphrase you. Please correct me if I'm not correct. You said that Bill C-68 is the act of an authoritarian state government. I've made notes and -
Ms Thom: Mentality.
Mr. Gallaway: The mentality, okay.
You also talked about the anecdotes and scare tactics. Do you not think that is a scare tactic?
Ms Thom: I'm sorry, I don't have a copy of it. Mr. Gallaway, if you'd let me have a copy of it, I'd be happy to read it and make a comment on it for you.
Mr. Gallaway: Yes, certainly.
I have to ask why. You are asking why in your presentation.
Ms Thom: Yes.
Mr. Gallaway: I have to ask why that ad would be run.
Ms Thom: Presumably it -
Mr. Gallaway: This was run last summer. Do you have new information, Ms Thom?
Ms Thom: Let me pass that over to Mr. Tomlinson, because he's got notes on it.
Mr. Gallaway: I assume that as a spokesperson for the group you can answer, but I'll defer to Mr. Tomlinson.
Mr. Tomlinson: The figure you're looking at there is the full cost of implementing the system. The $600-million figure is merely the cost of operating system and getting the seven million firearms registered to the new standard. It does not include the capital costs, whereas that figure does include the capital costs of new computers, new software, testing, debugging and all the other expenses inherent in this, plus the fact that the $600-million figure is predicated on the minister's own figures for the total number of firearms to be registered, which we are quite aware is very much lower than the actual number out there.
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Mr. Gallaway: Mr. Tomlinson, you stated you were here this morning. The minister appeared this morning and provided the committee...I'm certain you've seen his estimates now and how he arrived at them. Are you telling us the department is out by a factor of perhaps 800%?
Mr. Tomlinson: I would recommend that you look at our paper number 3, which uses entirely figures supplied by the office of the Department of Justice and the Commissioner of the RCMP, and then you inquire of the minister as to why his figures are so different from ours.
Mr. Gallaway: Well, the minister actually provided these numbers to us.
Mr. Tomlinson: I have not seen those numbers; however, I have seen the numbers that he provided in earlier sessions, and when we assemble those numbers we come up with a rock-bottom minimum cost of $600 million. It costs $82.69, on average, to issue one registration certificate. That figure comes from Mr. Wade's report, which was prepared for the Department of Justice.
Mr. Rock said, and he said it again this morning, there are 7 million firearms in Canada;1.2 million are registered, 5.8 million are not.
The Wade report recommended going over to the Quebec system of registration, which increases the cost of issuing one certificate to $104.02. The Wade report is saying that the cost is away up there. At 5.8 million guns times $100 a piece, which is lower than the Quebec figure and doesn't take into account the extra cost of issuing plastic cards instead of simple paper certificates, it is $580 million.
The Chair: Madam Venne.
[Translation]
Ms Venne: I am through.
[English]
Mr. Thompson: I would like to ask Ms Thom a question. I'm interested in the comment that was said from across the table and I would like to know some information. I certainly would not want anybody to think for a minute that anybody is trivializing the idea of violence against women, and if it comes across that way I think it should be corrected.
I'd like to get your opinion, Ms Thom, on how many women, first of all, are involved in your organization and whether you feel your organization has trivialized the violence against women. Give me some comments. How do you feel about that whole thing?
Ms Thom: I feel very strongly, naturally. I'm part of the sisterhood. I feel very strongly about violence against women; but I also feel it's very important to put it into context. There's an awful lot of violence against men, and in fact, it winds up being more.
The illustration I used of comparing the number of women who died from breast cancer and the number who died by firearms was to give some perspective and some balance to the whole affair. I have found in the past, dealing with this subject, that if you don't have some measuring stick by which to judge a lot of these statistics, then one can wind up feeling that the problem is far larger and far more severe than it actually is, but I would never, ever trivialize even one death by suicide or by terrorizing her in the home. Certainly not. That was not my intention at all.
Mr. Thompson: How many women are in your organization? Do you have a number?
Ms Thom: I don't have a number in my organization. Well, there are two or three organizations here.
The Chair: And that's the National Firearms Association?
Mr. Thompson: The National Firearms Association.
Mr. Tomlinson: We do not separate our membership by male and female.
Mr. Thompson: Good, I'm glad to hear that.
Has your group personally done an analysis of firearm registrations that have already been conducted, particularly the ones that have been established in Canada since 1934, or are you using the reports that have come out from other researchers, such as Mauser out of the Fraser Institute?
Mr. Tomlinson: We are using research that we have done ourselves. The firearms registration errors one and two are our papers 17 and 18 in the package that was given to you.
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We also get material from other sources, such as the Australian and the New Zealand data, in papers 19 and 20. We have a great deal more material than that. We merely included those as representative examples of how useless registration can be.
Mr. Thompson: In your membership, the one thing that has been said constantly is that the Minister of Justice has the support of all the police all across the country and the police commissions.
In my riding, I think there are 17 RCMP detachments and a couple of city police. I've ridden around with a number of city police on ride-alongs. I've talked to sergeants, I've talked to foot soldiers, so to speak. I have not found any that are supporting this legislation. Have you any evidence that the police are behind this legislation or not behind it, and on what do you base that?
The Chair: They're going to appear, by the way, tomorrow afternoon.
Mr. Thompson: I'd be glad to find one tomorrow.
Mr. Tomlinson: I think you have to look at the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police from the aspect of being a police chief. In the event that you come out against registration, then you are also coming out against having the registration office operating within your own department. Therefore you are going to lose staff, you are going to lose budget and you are going to lose some control over firearms in your city.
If you are a member of the running staff of the police...it has been our experience that most of the street cops do not regard firearms registration as being of much use, and that is particularly true of police officers with long service, because they've gone many years and they've never found a case where the registration system has done them any good.
As proof of that, the Wade report says that they do 100 traces a year, most of which are unsuccessful. We don't know whether ``most'' means 90% unsuccessful or 51% unsuccessful, so in our analysis in paper 3 we took it at 51% unsuccessful. If the reason for the registration system is to be able to do traces on firearms, that works out at a cost of $141,000 per successful trace of a firearm. We don't think that's very cost-effective.
Additionally, you have the problem that we don't know from the Wade report what they consider to be a successful trace. We suspect that a successful trace is one that comes up and says this gun was stolen from John Brown eight years ago. We think they would count that as a successful trace, but that's something this committee could possibly ask people who have inside information on it.
Another problem we have is that we do not know how many of those 100 traces are internally generated and are merely the system trying to find out how the system screwed up this time.
The Chair: Once again, I want to bring to the attention of the committee that we'll have both the Canadian Police Association and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police before us. I'm sure they will be able to answer themselves whether or not they support the bill. In other words, they'll speak for themselves just as you are speaking for yourselves.
Mr. Gagnon (Bonaventure - Îles-de-la-Madeleine): I want to make one thing clear to the officials from the NFA - I was going to say NRA. Often you mix the two, since they are so much alike.
Mr. Chairman, I'm from a rural part of Quebec where everybody has a gun, basically. In my own family we have five or six rifles. My grandfather, my father and I are big game hunters.
But I must say that I'm in full favour of Bill C-68, because we've learned today, and we've been hearing about this for some time, that many women are victims of violence and that one women every six days is murdered either by her husband or by whomever with a legally registered weapon in the overwhelming cases that are currently under review.
The Chair: A gun, which is a weapon.
Mr. Gagnon: And a rifle; whatever you want to call it. I'm not going to debate with you on what kind of rifle is best used to hunt down deer or rabbit. I think you and I could have a very interesting discussion.
The Chair: A knife is a weapon.
Mr. Gagnon: Being a Gaspesien and a Magdalen Islander at the same time, I think it would be quite interesting to exchange notes.
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I'm also concerned that you refer to the federal government as the authoritarian federal government. I have a feeling that your association has a deep-seated philosophical difference with this government, with Parliament, and with the notion of peace, order and good government. I think you take a lot of your examples of what's going on in the United States and a lot of these things don't apply.
We look at the murders in Canada versus the United States, and there is no comparison. This is a safe society. I think this is one of the hallmarks of our country and it is something we don't want to let go of easily.
However, I don't want to digress too much. I have very limited time. But I would like to hear you out on what the American government thinks of this piece of legislation. I'm told the U.S. government and its law enforcement agency are in favour of this bill. They think it's a good example.
Also, I would like to hear from you, sir, given the current disarray in American society, on the availability and the proliferation of arms and weapons of all kinds. Don't you think if the American society had anything similar to Bill C-68 or anything we've had in the past, American society would not be going through the trials, tribulations and the virtual anarchy, I should add, given the recent events in that country? I would like to hear you on that.
Mr. Tomlinson: Actually, you're quite wrong about that, and the reason I say you're quite wrong about it is that you're looking at the United States as an enormous monolithic society with all the same problems everywhere; which is not true.
Dr. Cinterwall did a study in the American Journal of Epidemiology in which he compared the states in the United States that touch Canada with the Canadian provinces and territories that are touched by those states as being the closest to one another in basic sociological areas. It was a very interesting comparison, because the highest rates for homicide and aggravated assault were on the Canadian side of the border, in the Yukon territory. The lowest rates for homicide and aggravated assault were on the American side of the border in North Dakota, which has rates for homicide and aggravated assault that are approximately half those of any Canadian province.
As a matter of fact, if you look at the United States, it is an area where firearms legislation is largely local, usually on a state or city basis. In those areas that have restricted versus unrestricted firearms ownership, the violent crime rates are much, much lower.
Mr. Gagnon: That's not on track. On a per capita basis it would save 100,000. Are you trying to tell me that there is less crime and there are fewer murders in the United States of America compared to Canada?
Mr. Tomlinson: In North Dakota, definitely.
Mr. Gagnon: Now, that's the state of North Dakota, which has a state population of about1 million or 1.5 million - I'm not too sure.
Mr. Tomlinson: We're talking figures...
Mr. Gagnon: But I'm talking about the overall picture here. I mean statistics that are widely referred to throughout the world, if you compare the United States with Canada, with Europe, with Asia, etc.
Can you actually claim today that the United States is a safer society, that Detroit is safer than Toronto, that Washington is safer than Montreal, that there's no problem with arms of any kind in the United States, when people have access to weapons of kinds we don't have here in Canada? Can you substantiate what you say?
Mr. Tomlinson: What I can tell you is that this is a local problem. You have extremely high crime rates in areas of the United States where you have very bad socio-economic situations, such as in the ghettos of the large cities.
But in terms of looking at this picture, you have to look at it in more detail. For example, Washington, D.C., has firearms control laws that make Canada's look petty by comparison, yet it has the highest homicide rate in the United States. It has a violent crime rate of 2,500 per 100,000. If you ask the people of Washington, D.C., why their firearms control laws don't work and don't protect them, they say, well, just across the bridge in Alexandria, West Virginia, you can buy guns with virtually no controls.
The problem with that explanation is that the violent crime rates and homicide rates in Alexandria, West Virginia, are approximately one-tenth of what they are in Washington.
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This is not a simple problem. Exercises comparing Canada with the United States on an overall basis are so simplistic and so ridiculous that they shouldn't even be considered.
Mr. Ramsay: Ms Thom, I was surprised when you indicated you didn't feel firearms were necessary for self-protection in terms of animals. Mr. Thompson, Ms Torsney and I were in Kamloops and we were at a firearms information meeting. A lady stood in the meeting and told us of a young boy who was mauled to death by a bear that had come into the yard while the parents were frantically trying to get their firearms out of their locked-up cabinet.
I think if you go into the northern part of Canada, particularly in the territories, where whole families go out on trapping and hunting expeditions, particularly at this time of the year, when the bears are coming out, you'll find it is quite necessary to have a firearm for self-protection. I just thought I would put that on the record.
I would like to ask Mr. Tomlinson this. I received some information about the cost of processing an FAC. I mentioned that when the justice minister was here. The figures I have haven't been validated to my satisfaction, but they come from a source I consider to be quite reliable. They indicated the cost to process a single FAC in 1994 for the city of Toronto was $185 and some cents. Another source indicated that from the best of their estimation with the facts they had, it was approximately $150.
Now, when I look at what a chief firearms officer is going to have to do just to issue a licence before any gun is registered under subclause 5(2), where they have to do the background check in the area of criminality, take a look to see if they've ever been treated for mental illness, take a look at the history of behaviour, which I think includes probably a neighbourhood check to see if the individual has a history of violence or threatened or attempted violence, I see that an awful lot of work has to go on before a licence can be issued, let alone a gun registered.
So I would ask you, from your knowledge, do you have any estimation of what it costs today to process a firearms acquisition certificate?
Mr. Tomlinson: The figures you're quoting of $150 to $185 I would say are reasonable figures, from things I have seen. However, what it will cost in the future is completely unpredictable, because in addition to the things you say the chief firearms officer has to do, you also have the problem that he has to do anything else that is prescribed by Order in Council by any future minister.
Now, the meaning of that is that you have a nest of bureaucrats in the minister's office and these officials have interests of their own. They always want to improve and tweak up the system. Every time they do that, of course, there's an increase in cost, there's an increase in staff, there's an increase in budget, and therefore there's an increase in power of the chief official within that office.
Mr. Ramsay: Can I ask you this, then? Knowing the process to obtain an FAC or to process an FAC, and looking at clause 5, as you probably have, do you see any intensity in the demand upon the chief firearms officer in comparison with the FAC as compared with the duties and obligations under subclause 5(2) of this bill? Do you see any increase, or is it pretty well the same?
Mr. Tomlinson: I would say it depends on how it is interpreted. As with all this legislation, the terminology tends to be hopelessly vague. You get into it, and one man will look at it and say, well, I have to go and do this, I have to go and do that, I have to go and do the other. The next man, in the same job, says I won't bother doing any of that; I will assume everything is correct.
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This was something the Wade report pointed out quite clearly. The variation in how things were handled was so severe that the Wade report was completely unable to say what was the right way to do it. There were just too many different ways being run. As he said, it varies from province to province and even within the province.
The Chair: Before I go to Ms Torsney, Mr. Tomlinson, in your exchange with Mr. Gagnon you referred to a report that was done in some journal in which they compared the border American states with Canadian provinces. I'm wondering if, at the end of the meeting, you would give the clerk the exact reference on that report. We would like to get a copy and consult it. Is that all right?
Mr. Tomlinson: Yes. I think I have a copy of it in my briefcase, sir.
The Chair: If you don't, as long as we have the reference to it, we could get it ourselves.
Ms Torsney (Burlington): Actually I have a copy of it myself. It's quite an interesting document, because of course it speaks to the need for national standards and not provincial, as you might be advocating, or state standards. Certainly in New York state they have ten times as many firearm homicides as we do in Canada. In Washington state, they have two times as many. In Michigan state, they have seven and a half times as many firearm deaths. Certainly there are some problems in some of those American states that they need to deal with.
I have a couple of wrap-up questions for you, a couple of unlinked ones. First of all, I wanted to know if Mr. Martinoff is still a member of your executive.
Mr. Tomlinson: Not of the executive. He's still a member of the association.
Ms Torsney: How many members are actually in the association, individual members, not members who are members of another association who are members of your association?
Mr. Tomlinson: At the moment I couldn't give you a good figure on that. We're experiencing explosive growth and we haven't had time to sit down and find out where we are.
Ms Torsney: What was your latest mailing list, Mr. Tomlinson?
Mr. Tomlinson: Our latest mailing list was about 7,000.
Ms Torsney: So you have 7,000 members. You also had some numbers that were interesting earlier about the participation rate in politics, Canada versus the U.S. amongst gun owners, or was that just members of the NRA?
Mr. Tomlinson: I'm sorry, I don't understand the question.
Ms Torsney: You talked about the political participation rates of Canadians versus Americans who are gun owners, how the American members of the NRA.... I believe that's what you were discussing.
Mr. Tomlinson: No. That was overall of the population. In the United States, 38% of voters are members of a political party. In Canada, less than 3% of voters are members of a political party. So we recommend to our members that they become active inside political parties, because we think the figure is far too low.
Ms Torsney: Let's hope we certainly don't lead to the kind of distortions in American politics that they have there.
One of the documents I have a copy of as well is something called Gunproofing Your Child, and I think you may have written this article.
Mr. Tomlinson: Yes, I did.
Ms Torsney: Mr. Tomlinson, at what age do you think we should start showing our kids how to shoot guns?
Mr. Tomlinson: At the age where the child is endangered by firearms. Today that is the age where your child is in someone else's home and outside your control.
Ms Torsney: That would be because many people put their children in child care facilities at about six months old or even younger. So you think then we can start teaching children how to use guns?
Mr. Tomlinson: No. I'm saying when your child is going visiting his friends, because when your child is in a friend's home, you have no control over what is going on with firearms in that home. If the friend's child brings out a gun, your child should know what to do.
Ms Torsney: If I have children, I need to actually have guns and shoot into soap bars and everything else to get that message home to them. I can't just talk to them about it? I actually have to pull out the guns and start shooting with them?
Mr. Tomlinson: No. What you have to do is combat television. Television, by the time your child is six, has taught your child to load and fire a revolver, an automatic pistol, a rifle and a shotgun. If you're satisfied with the training television gave your child, then that's where you're at.
Ms Torsney: Ms Thom, do you agree with that as well?
Ms Thom: About the statistics?
Ms Torsney: No, about gunproofing children in this way.
Ms Thom: I was taught to shoot at the age of eight. My father stressed safety, safety and safety. He supervised us until such time as he felt we could shoot safely on our own. We were shooting |
a reputation for the worldly, acerbic wit that often defined her characters. In her one-woman show “Elaine Stritch at Liberty,” Stritch talked candidly about battling the bottle and her colorful, albeit destructive, love life. Her role as the drunk yet lucid Claire in “A Delicate Balance” earned her a 1996 Tony nomination for best actress. Roles in “Bus Stop,” “Sail Away” and “Company” snagged her three other noms while “Elaine Stritch at Liberty” won her the 2002 award for special theatrical event.
SEE ALSO: Elaine Stritch’s Career in Pictures
On television, Stritch was memorable late in her career for her recurring role on NBC’s “30 Rock” as the crusty, goofy mother to Alec Baldwin’s character, drawing five nominations for the role and winning in 2007. She was also impressive as a fierce but notably ethical defense attorney on two episodes of “Law & Order,” winning an Emmy for the role in 1993. A P.A. Pennebaker documentary of her “At Liberty” stage show won several Emmys in 2004, including for her the award for outstanding individual performance in a variety program.
Related Betty Gilpin on Playing a Pro Wrestler in Netflix's 'GLOW': 'It's Like Couples Therapy' 'Everybody Rise!': Broadway Remembers Legend Elaine Stritch
Stritch did not restrict her candor to the stage, once telling Variety’s Army Archerd that she “flipped over Rock Hudson — and we all know what a bum decision that turned out to be,” referring to her failed romance with the closeted actor. These gritty, honest revelations contributed to the unique style Stritch brought to her work.
SEE ALSO: Hollywood Reacts to Elaine Stritch’s Death on Twitter
Born in Detroit, Stritch ironically attended finishing school before landing the abrasive, tough-as-nails roles for which she became known. She studied acting at the New School’s Dramatic Workshop with Marlon Brando and once said of performing: “There are a lot of things I do that I don’t want to, but I have to. It’s truly an emotional need for me to perform.” This necessity was reflected in her career, which spanned several decades and two oceans, leading her to stages in London’s West End and dozens of appearances on the small and silver screen.
On TV, she racked up credits in the episodic anthologies of the 1950s, appeared on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” starred in a TV series version of “My Sister Eileen” in 1960-61, starred in the U.K. sitcom “Two’s Company” in the late ’70s and had a role on “The Ellen Burstyn Show” in 1986-87; she also recurred on “The Cosby Show.”
SEE ALSO: Elaine Stritch’s Last Interview with Variety
Film credits include the 1957 film adaptation of Ernest Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms,” Woody Allen’s 1987 film “September,” the Robin Williams comedy “Cadillac Man,” Allen’s “Small Time Crooks” and romancer “Autumn in New York.”
Stritch made her stage debut at New York’s New School in 1944. The actress understudied Ethel Merman for “Call Me Madam” while simultaneously appearing in the 1952 revival of “Pal Joey”; later she starred in the national tour of “Call Me Madam.”
Her professional relationship with Sondheim lasted decades. She made famous Sondheim’s sneeringly witty tune “The Ladies Who Lunch” in 1970’s “Company,” sang his enduring “I’m Still Here” in her 2002 solo show and performed in a 2010 revue of his tunes called “At Home at the Carlyle: Elaine Stritch Singin’ Sondheim…One Song at a Time.” The actress appeared in Garth Drabinsky’s smash hit “Show Boat” in 1994 and in Edward Albee’s play “A Delicate Balance” in 1996.
In 2010 Stritch replaced Angela Lansbury as Madame Armfeldt in “A Little Night Music” on Broadway.
The actress was profiled in the 2013 feature documentary “Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me” (photo above), directed by Chiemi Karasawa.It's Minimum Wage Gone Wild in America, folks.
After years of stagnant pay for the United States' bottom-of-the-barrel workers, including the likes of employees in fast-food, retail and hospitality, there's a movement afoot to have their billion-dollar-plus corporate employers give them just a little more.
Gov. Jerry Brown last year signed a bill that will increase California's $8 minimum wage to $9 on July 1, then to $10 on Jan. 1, 2016. And President Obama recently declared that federal contract workers will have to see at least $10.10 an hour. Now California state Sen. Mark Leno is trying to outdo them all:
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Leno this week announced that he's proposed a law, SB 935, that will take minimum wage from $9 to $11 in 2015 then to $12 in 2016 and $13 in 2017.
But, wait, there's more:
Starting in 2018 the rate would automatically go up each year in parallel with the rate of inflation. (Lately it has been about 1.5 percent in the United States, so that would mean a 1.5 percent increase in the minimum wage. For today's minimum wage of $8 we would see a 12-cent increase).
Corporations and some on the political right have argued that raising the minimum wage would stifle hiring and stunt economic growth.
Proponents of raising the income of entry-level workers say minimum wage, which has not kept up with inflation or the cost of living, particularly in places like L.A., constitutes poverty pay. While fast food jobs were never meant to cover rent or support families, today they are.
Even so, 1968's minimum wage adjusted for inflation would be $10.77 now, Leno's office says. That's 22 percent more than California's entry-level workers earn today.
While some would have us believe that the profits of corporations and billionaires are tied directly to the health of our economy, those profits have reached record highs during and after the Great Recession with little trickle-down job creation.
Opponents of raising the minimum also argue that those stuck in low-paying jobs need to get an education because college degrees increase your income by a lot, which is true.
But remember, the United States was not always a nation of degree holders - not until after World War II and its (decidedly "Big Government") G.I. Bill - and it still isn't. (About one-third of Americans ages 25 to 29 have college degrees).
The website COLLEGEdata says attending college in-state costs an average of $22,826 a year; private school will run about $44,750.
The annual income of full-time minimum-wage earners in California is $15,360. How are they supposed to pay for that college, sell organs on the black market?
The greatest factor in economic growth is, by far, consumer spending. A nation of minimum-wage earners employed by an increasingly small percentage of people taking home an increasingly larger slice of the economic pie isn't going to cut it.
If millionaires and billionaires keep stuffing their cash in offshore accounts (a la Mitt Romney) while minimum-wage earners have zero disposable income, the economy will stagnate.
What's more, critics of the current minimum wage say some big companies like McDonald's and Walmart surreptitiously rely on public safety nets, including emergency rooms and food stamps, to help support their underpaid workers.
Leno had this to say:
Low, stagnant wages have forced many hard-working California families to get by with paychecks that leave them below the poverty level. It is time to accelerate our efforts to increase the minimum wage and reduce income inequality within the state's communities. In doing so, we will reward and respect hard work, reduce turnover, stimulate economic growth and give low-income workers a fighting chance to end their dependence on public assistance.
Send feedback and tips to the author. Follow Dennis Romero on Twitter at @dennisjromero. Follow LA Weekly News on Twitter at @laweeklynews.Recently, feminist blogger Meghan Murphy wrote a piece on sex, consent and libertarianism. Her post comes in response to accusations against well-known photographer Terry Richardson, who is currently accused of sexually harassing and assaulting young models. Whether he is guilty or not is not for me to say, but I do want to address one particular issue. Her problems with libertarianism are the same ideals I firmly believe in — that people should have choices. The concern of Murphy’s that I will focus on is whether or not making a choice is giving consent.
Murphy says:
The reason for this is that if we make individual freedom the epitome of liberation, we cannot and will not address the systemic oppression of entire groups of people. Because under libertarianism my choice trumps all. Even if said choice might marginalize, oppress, or otherwise negatively impact another. You can forget about ideas like affirmative action, universal daycare, and affordable housing if you want to roll with the libertarians and the situation of women and other minorities simply will not change without addressing systemic inequalities. The hard work and personal choices of individuals will not create an equitable society, as evidenced by America.”
Emphasis is her own.
She brings up an interesting and valid point concerning systemic oppression. By not seeing how something might disproportionately effect some people, you miss the wider picture. I don’t think either approach is inherently wrong — sure, how we “fix” the problem may be different, but I’ll concede that it’s important to discuss systemic oppression (if it exists), even within libertarianism. This doesn’t make libertarianism incompatible with feminism — if anything, they both can bring something to the table.
It’s also why I want to distinguish between three types of women who work in the sex industry: women who actively choose to do such work, women who may not have many options and thus merely consent such work, and women who are forced to do such work.
I am not against sex work itself, as there shouldn’t be any problems with women choosing to actively engage in sex work. Those, like Belle Knox and others, are being active participants. They want to do it. Here, I don’t see any problems with their choices. These type of choices — women being in control of what they do and how they do it — is something libertarians and feminists should celebrate. Women are free to engage in sex work if it is of their own choosing, and they are free to determine who they engage with.
But, earlier in her article, Murphy says:
Lots of people agree to things for a variety of reasons — women who are poor sometimes “agree” to perform sexual acts on men because they have no other choice/need the money — is that an “ethical” situation because she “consented?”
A woman’s choice to engage in sexual acts for money is still ethical because I don’t assign a negative or positive value to consensual sex work. It is a different, less pleasant, choice than not having one at all. And I agree with TOL writer Erin Whiting, when she says sex work shouldn’t be seen as degrading because, “no choice a person makes to support themselves or their families without harming others is degrading.” There are other situations we face where we don’t have many choices but we consent to do them because we must. And honestly, I’m not sure if that’s what’s at play in the situations with models. When I think of poor women who have limited choices, I don’t think modeling is the first choice to be thought of here — especially when said models work with a well-known celebrity photographer.
However, I am all for finding ways to give women more options — or power to make better choices — than the ones they have. Libertarians may not agree with some feminists on how to get there, but that doesn’t mean we don’t care to do anything. In fact, there is nothing wrong with discussing women and sex, sexuality, pornography or prostitution in order to find ways to improve the situations of those specific women who straddle the line of having to make a difficult choice.One of the biggest moments in cinematic history, the release of Star Wars into movie theaters, happened 39 years ago. George Lucas’s sprawling space opera took the world by storm and changed movies, the film industry, and fandom forever. But did you know that there was a time, in the mid-1970s, that the fate of Star Wars hung in the balance? And if Lucas had listened to Francis Ford Coppola, Star Wars would never have made it into theaters on May 25, 1977? It’s true… all of it.
In 1973, George Lucas had made his first commercially successful film, American Graffiti, and began mulling what to do next — he and American Zoetrope pal Francis Ford Coppola had multiple scripts in their development hopper. Lucas had been noodling on a “Flash Gordon-y” adventure for years — he’d even tried (and failed) to work it into his American Graffiti development deal at Universal in ’71.
“Star Wars,” in these early years, primarily existed in Lucas’s mind, though he’d sketched out a short summary called “The Journal of the Whills.” After filming Graffiti, Lucas fleshed out the story into a 13-page treatment called “The Star Wars” (dated April 17, 1973), drawing heavily on themes in Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress.
Still, Lucas was frustrated, knowing that fully realizing the concept would take countless hours of research and development. And although he would continue work on the story for “The Star Wars,” for his next film, Lucas decided to go in another direction.
Coppola, fresh off his Oscar for The Godfather, was preparing to put a Vietnam war script titled Apocalypse Now into production. Zoetrope had intended to make the film as part of an earlier deal at Warner Bros., but that partnership ended after the studio’s negative reaction to Lucas’s THX 1138. Now, Coppola and Lucas had the successes of The Godfather and American Graffiti under their belts, earning them the clout, and the money, to make the movies they wanted.
Lucas, not yet willing to commit to getting his Star Wars concept into shape, told Coppola that he wanted to make Apocalypse. He signed a development deal with Columbia Pictures, and began working with John Milius on a screenplay, while producer Gary Kurtz scouted locations in the Philippines. But it was not to be.
Call it fate, the power of the Force, whatever… But no sooner had Lucas committed to Apocalypse Now than he began having second thoughts. Lucas had found the experience of making a positive film like American Graffiti exhilarating, and the gritty subject matter of Apocalypse was bringing him down. “You can learn a lot from cynicism, but you can’t build on it,” he told the Los Angeles Times in 1973. And Lucas went back to developing “The Star Wars.”
By 1974, Lucas had expanded the story treatment into a rough draft screenplay, with now-familiar elements like the Sith, the Death Star, and a hero named Annikin Starkiller. The concept had come together, but Coppola pressed Lucas. He wanted to have Apocalypse Now in theaters by 1976 — the American Bicentennial. And while Lucas insisted that he still wanted to make the war picture, his mind was made up: Star Wars would be his next film.
Coppola took the reins of Apocalypse Now. But Lucas, who had invested years of his life in the project, bristled at the notion that Coppola could ignore his personal investment and make the movie without him. The pair’s friendship became strained, though Coppola granted Lucas a share of the profits when Apocalypse Now finally debuted in 1979.
What if Coppola had succeeded in pinning Lucas down on Apocalypse Now? Maybe he would’ve made Star Wars his next project. It’s more likely, however, that the experience of directing Apocalypse, which proved particularly disastrous for Coppola, would’ve been detrimental to Lucas’s psyche, altering his drive and creative vision. Who knows if he’d ever have made it? And even if he had, it’d look nothing like 1977’s A New Hope.
The story, which was ever-changing, would have further evolved. And there’s little chance that Lucas would’ve ended up with the same main cast of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford, whose charisma are a huge part of what made Star Wars lightning in a bottle. The film’s groundbreaking special effects would look completely different — maybe not-so-groundbreaking if they’d been developed for another film by the time Lucas got around to making it.
So, as we mark the anniversary of the release of Star Wars, let’s consider how it all could’ve happened differently. We could’ve had a world without Star Wars, or at least a very different interpretation of the galaxy far, far away.
Both Apocalypse Now and Star Wars have stood the test of time, but George Lucas’s choice to make Star Wars instead of the Vietnam drama changed the world for the better, and it’ll continue to have a positive impact on generations to come. Thank the Maker for that.
Article sources: George Lucas Close Up by Chris Salewicz, Empire Building by Garry Jenkins, George Lucas Interviews by Sally Kline.
[This article was originally published on May 25, 2016]An Oklahoma man was arrested by the FBI this Saturday on charges that he tried to detonate what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb, acting "out of a hatred for the U.S. government" and an admiration for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, according to court papers. Jerry Drake Varnell, of Sayre, Oklahoma, was arrested shortly after an early Saturday morning attempt to detonate a fake bomb packed into what he believed was a stolen cargo van outside a bank in Oklahoma City, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court the Washington Post reports. Varnell was charged with attempted destruction of a building by means of an explosive.
"This arrest is the culmination of a long-term domestic terrorism investigation involving an undercover operation, during which Varnell had been monitored closely for months as the alleged bomb plot developed," federal prosecutors said in a statement. "The device was actually inert, and the public was not in danger.
Prosecutors said that during the investigation an undercover agent had posed as a co-conspirator and agreed to help Varnell build what he believed was a 1,000-pound (454 kg) explosive.
What is notable is that Varnell, 23, discussed a number of potential targets, including the Marriner Eccles building also known as the home of Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., an IRS building in Maryland and a Bank of America data center in Texas.
Eventually, he settled on attacking a BancFirst building in Oklahoma City which is located a few blocks from where the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building stood. A truck loaded with explosives was detonated in front of the Murrah building in 1995 in what was called an act of domestic terrorism.
The complaint filed in the federal court in Oklahoma City said that at the onset of the investigation, Varnell said he wanted to build a team to conduct a bombing. "I'm out for blood,'" the complaint quoted Varnell as saying. "'When militias start getting formed I'm going after government officials when I have a team.'"
The FBI alleges that over the course of a months-long undercover investigation by the FBI, Varnell made repeated statements about the extent of his hatred of the federal government. The complaint alleges that in one conversation he said he believed in the “Three Percenter” ideology, a form of anti-government activism that pledges resistance against the United States government on the belief it has infringed on the Constitution, according to court papers. As the WaPo explains, "those who subscribe to the ideology incorrectly believe that only 3% of the colonial population participated in the American Revolution, and they see themselves as their heirs."
According to the complaint, and perhaps taking a hint from a popular 1999 movie, Varnell expressed a desire "to blow up buildings", but in a way that would minimize deaths or casualties, possibly by detonating the device at night when offices would be mostly empty. Still, he was prepared to take other peoples' lives:
On June 26, Varnell discussed the possibility that people could be killed, and said, “You got to break a couple of eggs to make an omelet,’’ according to the complaint. “That’s why people don’t do this s--- because, you know, you got to be able to overcome that little reality there,” he said, according to the compaint. As part of that conversation, Varnell said he wanted to do something that would “somehow cripple the government. Something that sends a message that says, ‘You are a target.’ ” Two weeks later, however, Varnell indicated he wanted to detonate the bomb after work hours to prevent casualties, saying, “I’m down for whatever. Safety is number one.”
The FBI said Varnell watched the construction of the fake bomb around 6:30 p.m. Friday. He then drove the vehicle containing the device to an alley adjacent to the bank building and parked it there. After midnight, he twice attempted to detonate the bomb remotely, and shortly after those attempts was arrested.
U.S. prosecutors said Varnell had prepared a social media message to be posted after the explosion, and helped make and load a device into a stolen van. If convicted, Varnell could serve 20 years in prison.While Nashville police have yet to release details of a sex crimes investigation that led to the dismissal of four Vanderbilt football players, allegations are starting to emerge through other channels. Former Volunteers quarterback Erik Ainge disclosed some of those details this morning on his Tennessee Sports Radio program, and they're ugly.
Ainge opted not to reveal any names, saying only that four players were involved and that after a night of drinking one player "allowed" the other three to rape his girlfriend. "They were out," Ainge said, "they were drinking, boyfriend Vandy football player had sex with his girlfriend, then allowed his three teammates with him to also have sex with his girlfriend, and she did not want that to be the case."
The case is being taken seriously enough by authorities, certainly; the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is involved and testing evidence in its crime lab.
Ainge's version jibes with a tip we received last week from someone who apparently had seen search-warrant affidavits. The tipster suggested—vaguely—that these were the accusations. We couldn't get any more details out of the tipster, though. If you have any information, we're always listening at tips@deadspin.com. Here's the relevant audio from today's program:
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Photo: Doug Pensinger/Getty ImagesMark is a 45-year old white male with a stocky build and a beard. His head is shaved. He responded to my ad to be interviewed for this article wearing only leather pants, leather boots and a leather vest. I could see that both of his nipples were pierced with large-gauge silver rings.--------------------------------------------------------Questioner: I hope you won?t be offended if I ask you to prove to me that you?re a nullo. Just so that our readers will know that this isn?t a fake.Mark: Sure, no problem. (stands and unbuckles pants and drops them to his ankles, revealing a smooth, shaven crotch with only a thin scar to show where his genitals once were).Q: Thank you. That?s a remarkable sight.(laughs and pulls pants back up). Most people think so.Q: What made you decide to become a nullo?(pauses). Well, it really wasn?t entirely my decision.Q: Excuse me?The idea wasn?t mine. It was my lover?s idea.Q: Please explain what you mean.Okay, it?s a long story. You have to understand my relationship with Scott before you?ll know what happened.Q: We have plenty of time. Please go on.Both of us were into the leather lifestyle when we met through a personal ad. Scott?s ad was very specific: he was looking for someone to completely dominate and modify to his pleasure. In other word, a slave.The ad intrigued me. I had been in a number of B&D scenes and also some S&M, but I found them unsatisfying because they were all temporary. After the fun was over, everybody went on with life as usual.I was looking for a complete life change. I wanted to meet someone who would be part of my life forever. Someone who would control me and change me at his whim.Q: In other words, you?re a true masochist.Oh yes, no doubt about that. I?ve always been totally passive in my sexual relationships.Anyway, we met and there was instant chemistry. Scott is a few years older than me and very good looking. Our personalities meshed totally. He?s very dominant.I went back to his place after drinks and had the best sex of my life. That?s when I knew I was going to be with Scott for a long, long time.Q: What sort of things did you two do?It was very heavy right away. He restrained me and whipped me for quite awhile. He put clamps on my nipples and a ball gag in my mouth. And he hung a ball bag on my sack with some very heavy weights. That bag really bounced around when Scott ****ed me from behind.Q: Ouch.(laughs) Yeah, no kidding. At first I didn?t think I could take the pain, but Scott worked me through it and after awhile I was flying. I was sorry when it was over.Scott enjoyed it as much as I did. Afterwards he talked about what kind of a commitment I?d have to make if I wanted to stay with him.Q: What did he say exactly?Well, besides agreeing to be his slave in every way, I?d have to be ready to be modified. To have my body modified.Q: Did he explain what he meant by that?Not specifically, but I got the general idea. I guessed that something like castration might be part of it.Q: How did that make you feel?(laughs) I think it would make any guy a little hesitant.Q: But it didn?t stop you from agreeing to Scott?s terms?No it didn?t. I was totally hooked on this man. I knew that I was willing to pay any price to be with him.Anyway, a few days later I moved in with Scott. He gave me the rules right away: I?d have to be naked at all times while we were indoors, except for a leather dog collar that I could never take off. I had to keep my head shaved. And I had to wear a butt plug except when I needed to take a **** or when we were having sex.I had to sleep on the floor next to his bed. I ate all my food on the floor, too.The next day he took me to a piercing parlor where he had my nipples done, and a Prince Albert put into the head of my cock.Q: Heavy stuff.Yeah, and it got heavier. He used me as a toilet, pissing in my mouth. I had to lick his ******* clean after he took a ****, too. It was all part of a process to break down any sense of individuality I had. After awhile, I wouldn?t hesitate to do anything he asked.Q: Did the sex get rougher?Oh God, yeah. He started fisting me every time we had sex. But he really started concentrating on my cock and balls, working them over for hours at a time.He put pins into the head of my cock and into my sack. He attached clothespins up and down my cock and around my sack. The pain was pretty bad. He had to gag me to keep me from screaming.Q: When did the idea of nullification come up?Well, it wasn?t nullification at first. He started talking about how I needed to make a greater commitment to him, to do something to show that I was dedicated to him for life.When I asked him what he meant, he said that he wanted to take my balls.Q: How did you respond?Not very well at first. I told him that I liked being a man and didn?t want to become a eunuch. But he kept at me, and wore me down. He reminded me that I agreed to be modified according to his wishes, and this is what he wanted for me. Anything less would show that I wasn?t really committed to the relationship. And besides, I was a total bottom and didn?t really need my balls.It took about a week before I agreed to be castrated. But I wasn?t happy about it, believe me.Q: How did he castrate you?Scott had a friend who was into the eunuch scene. One night he came over with his bag of toys, and Scott told me that this was it. I was gonna lose my nuts then and there.Q: Did you think of resisting?I did for a minute, but deep down I knew there was no way. I just didn?t want to lose Scott. I?d rather lose my balls.Scott?s friend restrained me on the living room floor while Scott videotaped us. He used an elastrator to put a band around my sack.Q: That must have really hurt.Hell yeah. It?s liked getting kicked in the balls over and over again. I screamed for him to cut the band off, but he just kept on going, putting more bands on me. I had four bands around my sack when he finished.I was rolling around on the floor screaming, while Scott just videotaped me. Eventually, my sack got numb and the pain subsided. I looked between my legs and could see my sack was a dark purple. I knew my balls were dying inside.Scott and his friend left the room and turned out the light. I lay there for hours, crying because I was turning into a eunuch and there wasn?t anything I could do about it.Q: What happened then?Eventually I fell asleep from exhaustion. Then the light switched on and I could see Scott?s friend kneeling between my legs, touching my sack. I heard him tell Scott that my balls were dead.Q: How did Scott react?Very pleased. He bent down and felt around my sack. He said that it felt cold.Scott?s friend told me that I needed to keep the bands on. He said that eventually my balls and sack would dry up and fall off. I just nodded. What else could I do at that point?Q: Did it happen just like Scott?s friend said?Yeah, a week or so later my package just fell off. Scott put it in a jar of alcohol to preserve it. It?s on the table next to his bed.Q: How did things go after that?Scott was really loving to me. He kept saying how proud he was of me, how grateful that I had made the commitment to him. He even let me sleep in his bed.Q: What about the sex?We waited awhile after my castration, and then took it easy until I was completely healed. At first I was able to get hard, but as the weeks went by my erections began to disappear.That pleased Scott. He liked ****ing me and feeling my limp cock. It made his dominance over me even greater.Q: When did he start talking about making you a nullo?A couple of months after he took my nuts. Our sex had gotten to be just as rough as before the castration. He really got off on torturing my cock. Then he started saying stuff like,?Why do you even need this anymore??That freaked me out. I always thought that he might someday take my balls, but I never imagined that he?d go all the way. I told him that I wanted to keep my dick.Q: How did he react to that?At first he didn?t say much. But he kept pushing. Scott said I would look so nice being smooth between my legs. He said my dick was small and never got hard anymore, so what was the point of having it.But I still resisted. I wanted to keep my cock. I felt like I wouldn?t be a man anymore without it.Q: So how did he get you to agree?He didn?t. He took it against my will.In light of a recent Master Chief Collection Content Update, the MCC team over at 343 Industries has introduced a new limited time experience for Master Chief Collection multiplayer – a Combat Evolved 4v4 Playlist!
The Combat Evolved 4v4 playlist features a mixture of Slayer and Objective game types on small scale maps. Here is a list of the maps available to play:
Battle Creek
Damnation
Rat Race
Prisoner
Hang ‘Em High
Chill Out
Derelict
Wizard
Longest
Boarding Action
Infection was also removed in this update to make way for the new 4v4 Combat Evolved playlist. As always, population will decide if these playlists be around for a short time or a long time. If you want them to stick around, keep playing them!
Will you be jumping into the new Combat Evolved playlist in Halo: The Master Chief Collection? Discuss MCC on our forums now!Today the Bush Administration released a letter threatening to veto the upcoming FISA legislation if it included the Bingaman Amendment, which puts both telecom immunity and the court cases on hold until after the Inspector General reports about the warrantless wiretapping program. If given the choice between new surveillance powers without immunity for telcos on the one hand, or surveillance under the existing law on the other, the Bush Administration said its choice was clear: keep with the existing law.
Even though the White House "strongly support[s]" the FISA bill, and contends it is necessary to provide "our intelligence professionals the tools they need to keep our Nation safe," and urges the Senate "to act as soon as it returns from its recess," the Bush Administration is willing to veto the legislation and forgo these tools unless the telecom immunity is given effect immediately.
The Administration has said "[t]hat the failure to enact long-term FISA modernization legislation is costly and dangerous is beyond any serious dispute," contending that "[i]t's vital that our intelligence community has the ability to learn who the terrorists are talking to, what they're saying, and what they are planning."
However, according to today's veto threat, none of this is as important as immediate immunity for the telecommunications carriers. Even if the President gets an unprecedented expansion of government surveillance power, and the bill merely delays telecom immunity until Congress has more information, this, Bush contends, is not better than continued surveillance under the current version of FISA.
Assuming that the President would not put the financial interests of large corporations ahead of the safety of the American people, today's veto threat puts the lie to the dire warnings put forth by the Bush Administration. Alternatively, if the government is being honest about the need for immediate legislation, today's veto threat shows a callous indifference to that purported danger, favoring special interests over security.
Senator Kennedy addressed this issue in his floor statement back in December:
Think about what we’ve been hearing from the White House in this debate. The President has said that American lives will be sacrificed if Congress does not change FISA. But he has also said that he will veto any FISA bill that does not grant retroactive immunity. No immunity, no new FISA bill. So if we take the President at his word, he is willing to let Americans die to protect the phone companies. The President’s insistence on immunity as a precondition for any FISA reform is yet another example of his disrespect for honest dialogue and for the rule of law. It’s painfully clear what the President’s request for retroactive immunity is really about. It’s a self-serving attempt to avoid legal and political accountability and keep the American public in the dark about this whole shameful episode.
The Senate is set to vote on the FISA bill and the Bingaman Amendment this week. Please call your Senators and ask them to call the President's bluff by supporting the Bingaman Amendment and to vote against the unconstitutional FISA bill.[There was a video here]
According to video obtained by the New York Daily News, a nearly naked Brooklyn woman was dragged from her apartment and handcuffed by 12 NYPD officers. The officers were reportedly responding to a domestic disturbance call from a different apartment in her building.
The New York Daily News reports that police demanded entry to 48-year-old Denise Stewart's apartment at 11:45 p.m. on July 13. Stewart cracked open the door wearing only a towel and told the officers that they had the wrong apartment, at which point they pulled her into the hallway and attempted to handcuff her. She lost her towel in the struggle, leaving her wearing only underwear.
Video footage of the chaos shows multiple officers holding the half naked Stewart against the wall, attempting to cuff her, while a crowd gathers around them. Stewart, who is reportedly asthmatic, can be heard saying "oxygen, get my oxygen," before she faints and falls to the floor. Members of the crowd can be heard shouting "Her asthma! Her asthma!"
The NYPD got a 911 call to the apartment building's address, but didn't have an apartment number—so when they heard shouting coming from Stewart's apartment, they knocked and attempted to enter. Once inside, they noticed that Stewart's 12-year-old daughter had "visible injuries" on her face and, when asked, the 12-year-old allegedly said her mother and older sister beat her with a belt.
The 12-year-old refused to be removed from the apartment, kicking the door of the police car and kicking out one of its windows, the broken glass from which injured one of the cops, according to the NYPD.
Stewart, who allegedly bit an officer's finger during the struggle, was left nearly naked in the hallway for approximately two minutes and 20 seconds. After cops entered her apartment and arrested Stewart's two sons and two daughters, a female cop draped a towel over her exposed body.
The family reports that Stewart's 4-year-old grandson was pepper sprayed during the struggle.
Stewart's lawyer told to the New York Daily News that police entered Stewart's apartment by mistake:
Stewart's lawyer, Amy Rameau, said she was told by a Legal Aid attorney also assigned to the case that the 911 call came from a different apartment on an upper floor — and cops went to Stewart's door by mistake.
Rameau told the Daily News that the Administration for Children's Services was called to investigate, but found no evidence of neglect.
Denise Stewart was charged with assaulting a police officer, and she and her 20-year-old daughter Diamond Stewart were charged with resisting arrest, criminal possession of a weapon, and acting in a manner injurious to a child.
Stewart's 24-year-old son Kirkland Stewart was also charged with resisting arrest, and her 12-year-old daughter was charged with assaulting a police officer, criminal mischief, and criminal possession of a weapon.
The Daily |
phyxiated” the government, diplomatically or economically.
“I, for one, don’t see this dictatorship leaving because it lost an election,” she said.
But it’s unclear what comes next for the beleaguered opposition.
Earlier this month, Venezuela’s opposition coalition, known as the MUD, fractured over whether it should participate in gubernatorial elections in October. In addition, massive anti-government street protests that began in April have largely disbanded — in part over disappointment with the opposition.
SHARE COPY LINK Police and protesters clashed in the streets of Caracas on Saturday, July 29, 2017, ahead of Sunday's controversial vote.
Arellano acknowledged the coalition’s recent missteps, but she also believes that President Nicolás Maduro and the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) are on borrowed time.
“The dictatorship is incredibly weak,” she said. “It’s only being propped up by the military, which has lost its legitimacy, and the errors of the political class — myself included — that opposes it.”
Just 32 years old, Arellano has spent her entire adult life living under “21st Century Socialism” — the idea conjured by the late President Hugo Chávez. A student activist since 2009, Arellano caught national attention in 2014 when she helped organize widespread anti-government demonstrations for the Voluntad Popular party. During those protests, which paralyzed swaths of the country and led to violent confrontations, Arellano was charged with conspiracy. The party’s leader, Leopoldo López, was jailed on charges of inciting violence and is now serving a 13-year sentence.
She got her big political break in December 2015, when she was swept into congress on the back of anti-government sentiment. As the opposition took control of the body for the first time in a decade, hopes were running high that it might be able to rein in Maduro.
Instead, the Supreme Court immediately began undercutting the legislature — barring deputies from taking their seats and depriving opposition lawmakers of their salaries.
SHARE COPY LINK Venezuelan police set fire to motorbikes belonging to the press, after police were targeted with an explosive device on Sunday, July 30, 2017. A group of around 50 journalists was reporting on the clashes between the national guards and anti-government protesters when the pro-government forces targeted their motorbikes at a corner of the Plaza Francia de Altamira, in the capital.
On March 30, 2017, the court tried to dissolve congress, only to backtrack amid an international outcry. But the attempted power grab triggered four months of anti-government protests that left more than 120 dead on both sides of the political divide.
“We had the dictatorship cornered,” Arellano said of the demonstrations. “And the opposition said it was going to stay on the streets until we had general elections.”
In the middle of the bloodshed and mass detentions, though, Maduro called for a National Constituent Assembly (ANC) to draft a new constitution — superseding all other branches of government.
“It became clear that they were going to impose the [ANC] whether they had one vote or 100, whether there was one person dead or 1,000,” she said.
The opposition boycotted the election of the members of the assembly — depriving itself of representation — and held a symbolic referendum on July 16 in hopes of derailing the ANC altogether. What it didn’t plan for, Arellano said, was how to confront the assembly once it was functioning.
Opposition women, from left, student leader Gaby Arellano, wife of jailed opposition leader Lilian Tintori, Congresswoman Maria Corina Machado, mother of jailed opposition leader Antonieta Mendoza, and two unidentified people hold a minute of silence under large images of protesters who died in recent weeks of anti-government demonstrations in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, March 4, 2014. Fernando Llano AP
“We put all our energy into the July 16 [referendum], but didn’t consider what might happen July 17,” she said.
Predictably, the ANC has quickly set about amassing power, and it stripped congress of most of its remaining powers on Aug. 18.
Even as Venezuela has quit seething with daily protests, Arellano says they’re lurking just beneath the surface, waiting for a new outrage to fan them back to life. She predicted the next “detonator” might come when the administration realizes it will lose October’s regional elections and postpones them or cancels them altogether.
“The street protests in Venezuela are a product of hunger,” she explained. “Regardless of what the opposition does, or the dictatorship does, these protests are a product of the people’s needs.”
Arellano isn’t running for one of the governor’s posts, but she said she will be pushing people to vote in the Sept. 10 opposition primary and on Election Day, sometime in October.
“I’m convinced that we’ll be free someday,” she said, but she also worries that the nation still has to face some tragedies.
“With all these political processes, the end is always the worst,” she said. “The barbarity is at the end, the worst is at the end, the most shocking is at the end.”(APN) DECATUR — DeKalb County Commissioner Nancy Jester (District 1) has called for the resignation of Interim CEO Lee May, in the wake of the Bowers-Hyde corruption report released at the end of September 2015.
http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/10/10/DeKalb-county-report-finds-widespread-corruption-seeks-mays-resignation/
During a press conference today, Tuesday, October 13, 2015, Jester stated there is no other way to regain public confidence.
“Corruption and ineffective management in DeKalb County can no longer be thought of as a rare instance,” Jester said during the press conference.
“The reality is DeKalb County faces a crisis with the possibility of simultaneously wiping out our financial reserves and killing future jobs and economic development for decades to come,” Jester said.
“There is one way by which this crisis can be resolved. That act is for Lee May to resign as DeKalb Interim CEO,” Jester said.
Additionally, she called for the dissolution of the CEO position by the Georgia Legislature, with DeKalb County instead being run by “an appointed, professional manager” alongside the Board of Commissioners.
As previously reported by APN, DeKalb County is in hot water over the issues of questionable spending and ethics concerns raised by the Bowers-Hyde report.
Jester also released a statement today from former U.S. Bob Barr (R-GA), former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
“I share the concerns of this Report’s authors, and support their call for further investigation and action, in order to correct what appears to be a long-festering pattern of spending of taxpayer monies by officials in DeKalb with little or no regard for ethics or for the letter and the intent of Georgia law,” Barr states in the press release.
“[M]any officials in the County consider the monies entrusted to them by the taxpayers to be nothing more than their personal piggy bank, to be used for whatever purposes they wish, regardless of whether those expenditures bear any relationship to the authorities and responsibilities of the office they hold,” Barr said.
“Rather than be dismissed out-of-hand as Mr. May has done, the Report should serve as the foundation for a far more extensive and detailed investigation by appropriate officials at the state and perhaps the federal level as well,” Barr said.
May launched a series of community meetings after the report came out “for residents to discuss issues important to them… including the county budget, government operations, and other topics of community concern,” a press release stated.
Tonight will be the first of these community meeting May attends, after he rescheduled the first meeting the day it was to occur.
Instead, Jester held that meeting without him, and reported that it went well, with over one hundred residents attending.
When asked what might happen at tonight’s meeting, Jester said, “I hope he listens.”
The Up Close and Personal meetings with Interim CEO Lee May are as follows:
Tuesday, October 13, 6:30-8 p.m.
Lou Walker Senior Center
2538 Panola Road
Lithonia, GA 30058
Thursday, October 15, 6:30-8 p.m.
Tucker – Reid Cofer Library
5234 LaVista Road
Tucker, GA 30084
Tuesday, October 20, 6:30-8 p.m.
Derwin Brown Memorial South Precinct
2842 H.F. Shepherd Drive
Decatur, GA 30032
Thursday, October 22, 6:30-8 p.m.
Welcome Friend Baptist Church
3198 Bouldercrest Road
Ellenwood, GA 30294
REVISED: Monday, October 26, 6:30-8 p.m.
Maloof Auditorium
1300 Commerce Drive
Decatur, GA 30030
Commissioner Jester also pushed for an additional meeting in her district, which Interim CEO May added: Town Hall in Dunwoody for Tuesday, October 27, 6:30-8 p.m, at Dunwoody City Hall 41 Perimeter Center Dunwoody, GA 30346.
(END/2015)Nancy Cameron ‘threatened to go on hunger strike’ unless Jeremy Clarkson is restored as Top Gear host, her father joked yesterday.
David Cameron said his 11-year-old daughter was campaigning against the BBC’s decision to suspend the presenter over a ‘fracas’ with a producer.
Mr Clarkson is an Oxfordshire neighbour and family friend of the Camerons.
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David Cameron's daughter Nancy, 11, ‘threatened to go on hunger strike’ unless Jeremy Clarkson is restored as Top Gear host
Despite the 'threat', which her parents have joked about, Nancy appeared to be enjoying dinner with her family
The PM told the BBC: ‘Nancy has threatened to go on hunger strike unless Jeremy Clarkson is restored.
‘I’ve told her this is not necessarily a useful intervention. It’s not exactly Gandhi, we had a discussion about this this morning.’
Samantha Cameron chipped in: ‘Nancy’s hunger strike this morning lasted approximately five minutes’.
The Prime Minister quipped: ‘It’s between lunch and tea is the way it works.’
During the interview, Mr Cameron and BBC Political Editor James Landale went to a local butcher near his constituency home in Witney, Oxfordshire.
They then went back to Mr Cameron’s home where the PM was interviewed while preparing food in his kitchen.
Clarkson was suspended two weeks ago following allegations of 'a fracas' with Top Gear producer Oisin Tymon (right), prompting the top-rating show to be pulled off air
Nancy's siblings Florence (left) and Elwen tuck into a dinner of cold meats and a healthy salad, prepared by Mr Cameron
Mr Cameron was seen visiting a butchers shop in his Witney constituency, and joking about 'juicy thighs'
In the shop, Mr Cameron chose some chicken, saying: ‘I like the thighs because they’re very juicy.’
He also denied being the shop’s most famous customer, pointing out ‘Mr Clarkson pops in from time to time doesn’t he?’.
Mr Cameron said it was very important to him that his children ‘feel very rooted and grounded’ in Oxfordshire.
One of his children, he said, calls 10 Downing Street ‘the pretend home’.
The interview appeared to show Mr Cameron’s kitchen contains a red chopping board emblazoned with ‘Calm Down Dear’
The PM was accused of sexism in 2011 after using that slogan, taken from a TV advert, against Labour front bencher Angela Eagle.
Mr Cameron has previously said his children would be ‘heartbroken’ if Top Gear was taken off air. When details of the incident emerged, he backed calls for Mr Clarkson to be reinstated.Over the past couple of years, more than a handful of college football coaches have taken to banning players from Twitter in an attempt to keep them from tripping over their own keystrokes and portraying the university in a “negative light.”
After several months of ever-increasing notoriety, the most recognizable name in the game has decided to slap himself with a similar social media limitation.
Reigning Heisman winner Johnny Manziel explained to ESPN.com‘s Mark Schlabach Tuesday that, as of Monday, he has gone on a self-imposed sabbatical from Twitter (JManziel2). For how long remains to be seen as Manziel explained that the social media service is “fun to have, but it can get to be distracting at points.”
Manziel, who has over 330,000 followers as of this posting, added that he “thought [the attention] would die off and slow down a little bit, but it really hasn’t.”
No, it hasn’t. If anything, it’s gotten worse of late for the Texas A&M quarterback.
Since winning the Heisman last December, Manziel’s name has been in the news on a seemingly weekly basis. The sudden explosion of fame and attention prompted A&M’s athletic director to have a sit-down with the player and his parents in January regarding the “tremendous responsibility” of being a Heisman winner.
The hits, though, kept on coming. For example, and for whatever reason, an imbroglio erupted in mid-March after photographs surfaced of Manziel sporting a Texas Longhorn “tattoo” — it was a temporary tat — while on spring break in Cabo.
“It was just a fun deal,” Manziel said of tat-gate. “Somebody dared me to do it, and we thought it would be funny.”
Just this week, Manziel found himself at the center of another “controversy” as he got into a heated “discussion” with an A&M grad assistant when the latter got a little too in-your-face exuberant after the former tossed the third of three interceptions during a scrimmage over the weekend. Head coach Kevin Sumlin subsequently downplayed the incident, although that did little to slow down even more negative press.
Poetically enough, Manziel’s final two tweets, at least for now, involved him shooting down rumors that he had badmouthed Ohio State basketball player Aaron Craft.
Add it all up, and it equals Manziel taking what may or may not be a temporary vacation from Twitter. That, though, could bode well for the player securing another couple of Heismans, right Mike Stoops?
Provided he stays out of jail or remains eligible, of course.High school football players are notorious for being bullies, not guardian angels. That's why it's so surprising to hear what one entire football team did for a special young man named Zachary. They changed his life forever, but not because they were tormenting him.
[/caption] They made him feel so special for one day and it might have changed everything in Zachary's life. This is from a Facebook status his mother posted: In light of all the bad news circulating around about teachers abusing special needs kids and teens and bullying going around in schools, I wanted to share my story of hope and inclusion. My 13 year old Autistic son Zachary has played football since he was 8 with almost the same group of boys, he has never been a great player but has always made up for it in excitement, never give up attitude, and determination to do everything all the other boys are doing. On Thursday of last week (10/17) it was their last game of the season. In the fourth quarter, they put Zachary in. I sat watching as usual when I saw him walk to a different position... not thinking anything of it, I continued watching. Amazement and shock set in as I saw him handed the ball and then he began running for a touchdown with his teammates closely guarding him. He scored a touchdown, his first ever, and I could see the huge smile on his face even in the stands. I was in tears as I watched the whole team surround him and celebrate with him. They presented him with the game ball afterwards, he accepted and just hung his head in amazement, still grinning ear to ear. They had arranged with the opposing team to give my son what to them seemed like five minutes of glory and a chance he might never have had. To my son it was a shining moment he is still talking about. It has been three days and he is still sleeping with his game ball tucked in beside him and carrying it with him everywhere. The Hamilton Wildcats teachers, players, coaches and parents are number one in my book for their outstanding inclusion, acceptance and, well, for giving my son one the best memories if not the best memory of his young life. I just wanted to share his story as I was told by many a doctor he would never be able to play organized sports among other things, and hopefully give some hope to others.. thank you for taking the time to read this. One proud momma, Tonya Moyer You're not cool if you're a bully. You're cool if you're compassionate.Pakistani journalist Mehr Tarar, who was involved in a spat with Sunanda Pushkar just a day before the latter's death, has been questioned by the Delhi Police. Since Tarar is a Pakistani citizen, she could not be sent summons, and so the Delhi Police asked her to join the probe and cooperate, which she is said to have done in February this year.
It may be worth reiterating that Pushkar, the thrid wife of Thiruvananthapuram MP and Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, was found dead in the room of a five-star hotel in Delhi on Jan. 17, 2014, a day after she had sparred with Tarar on Twitter over the Pakistani jounralist's apparent proximity with Tharoor.
Delhi Police sources told the Indian Express that Tarar was initially told about the allegations levelled by Pushkar's friend and journalist Nalini Singh. Singh had claimed Pushkar had told her hours before her death that Tharoor had spent three days in Dubai with Tarar sometime in mid-2013. Singh had also said Sunanda had claimed she had proof of this.
However, Tarar denied all such allegations, especially those saying she was close to Tharoor. However, she did say she had met Tharoor in 2013, but in a book exhibition. Her statement was recorded, which means the Delhi Police have now recorded the statements of all the parties believed to be involved in Pushkar's death.
However, they are still far from being able to determine exactly what killed Pushkar, let alone who did the killing. While it was initially suspected that she had died of a medical drug overdose, subsequent tests by the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, that she had been killed by poison, whose presence was detected in her body.
Samples of her viscera were later sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for testing, and they concurred with the AIIMS report, adding that the substance was "dangerous."Mr McCain has been an outspoken critic of Russia
The Russian mission to the UN in New York says it has turned down a request from John McCain to help fund his presidential campaign.
Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin and others received standard mail-outs asking them to help "stop the Democrats from seizing control of Washington".
Spokesmen for the McCain campaign and the mission accepted the letters were "a computer error".
Mr McCain has been a strong opponent of Russia on human rights and Georgia.
Brian Rogers, a spokesman for the McCain campaign, told the BBC the campaign had not itself received any complaints from the mission and that "it sounds like they're having a little fun at our expense".
"It's just an error," he said.
US presidential candidates are legally barred from accepting foreign donations.
Funding denial
The letter to Mr Churkin has a return form which carries the words: "I am proud to stand with our Republican candidates as the Obama Democrats and their wealthy liberal backers focus their attacks squarely on defeating Republicans and gaining control of our government.
"I want to do all I can to help stop the Democrats from seizing control of Washington and implementing their radically liberal policy for our nation."
The form then has a space for a signature over the typed name, Vitaly Churkin.
On the copy the Russians released, the space is unsigned.
Ruslan Bakhtin, a spokesman for Russia's UN mission, said: "It's evident that [the letter] was a mistake. It happens."
But he also stressed: "Russian authorities are in no way engaged in funding political campaigns or political activities abroad."
Mr McCain has opposed Moscow on a number of measures.
To evade Russia's veto in the UN Security Council he has proposed setting up an alternative body: the League of Democracies.
During the Russia-Georgia conflict this summer, he said: "We are all Georgians now."
He has also proposed throwing Russia out of the G8 over its human rights record.c.1978/79 | age 10/11 (Autographed by Paul ‘Greedo’ Blake—Apr 2011) “Give me the money. ‘Greedo’. And… Proof, from the Biros of Babes. Here it is: the truth! Han shot first!
He did. And on the opening day of ‘The Force Awakens’ no less! Straight to you, right now, from 1978! —via the ball-point plastic pen of a 9 year old! There’s no denying this George.
Even if “the Special Edition will become the only version that exists” once all of the original copies have degraded (fat chance) there’ll still be this piece of evidence. Tucked away, in the bottom-left corner, as if it’d never, some day, become controversial:
‘SOLO FIRES THE FIRST SHOT” —Star Wars age 9, 1978
“DEG WOOLIE KUNDUGGER!”
Yes, it’s one of the most exciting scenes in the film – but reduced to 1 page! How often must school kids have re-enacted this one? But it’s the most controversially altered scene of the Special Edition version.
I always loved this scene—especially the way Harrison Ford reaches back and picks idly at the wall behind him, feigning indifference toward Greedo. Ford made such an entertaining debut in these cantina scenes. Can you imagine what the film would have been like without him? Even my dad—of all people—once remarked “Oh yeah! —that Han Solo fella was great in it, wasn’t he?” I can tell you now, that that is high praise indeed! Yep, those Cantina scenes defined Solo’s character in just a few minutes—seconds even.
“Negola dewaghi wool dugger?”
(Said one the Cantina bullies) —1977 Novelisation
Ford might never have been in the film at all. During auditions he’d been around the studios – building a wooden architrave around Francis Ford Coppolla’s office door – and someone suggested to George that Ford sit in and read lines to the actors who were actually auditioning. Later, Gary Kurtz—or someone—asked George: “Why don’t you cast Harrison?”
And so, a character in this little film would become legend. An iconic and favourite character of moviegoers. And now he’s back, in The Force Awakens: Star Wars Episode 7!
I have him throwing a nut into his mouth. This was a trick that deeply impressed me as a child. My dad’s quite good at it, and now my young son is too (which makes me nervous).
Once more with feeling: Han fecking-well Shot First!
This 9 or 10 year old was adamant that SOLO SHOT FIRST. Did you see that George? Bottom left panel. We all saw it didn’t we? How many of you, like me, saw it when you were young? Even in the cinema in ’77? On a great big screen? I did. I was only 9. I got scared watching Hammer Horror films for God’s sake. But was that same 9 year old, horrified? —traumatised? —disillusioned by Han Solo’s action? Was I confused because Solo wasn’t entirely heroic throughout the film? No. The scene was incredibly exciting and memorable, and my Marvel Comic Who’s Who page, described him as a Devil May Care Smuggler. He was also often described as mercenary and even as a Space Pirate (not sure why…) Did that then, simplistically place him in the ‘baddie’ camp of the characters? No, he was complex – and interesting. With the potential to redeem himself.
Do you know, in the Radio Drama there’s an interesting scene in which Ben tells Luke that for all of Solo’s posturing he’s not the bad person than he’d have people believe.
But we don’t even need that to know that he has potential for good. And even then, aren’t the most sanctimonious of us capable of waiting for the next 60 or so minutes of the film to discover that potential? He returns–risking life and limb—to do the right thing by Luke, the Rebels, the Galaxy and ultimately: himself?
But Now, the Scene No Longer Works
Let’s face it. At a basic level, the tampered-with scene no longer works. It’s confusing, lacks flow or excitement. It also just looks crap. The way Han’s head is pushed to one side. Fans should have boycotted the SE versions for this one shot alone.
Art Notes
So was the 9 year old shocked and traumatised? Look at the gleeful use of red marker (bottom right) and you have your answer. Once again, this must have been done without even the comic to refer to. Exibit A: my version of Greedo!
In the Marvel version—which I still mustn’t have seen, judging by my take on it here—Solo shoots over the table. So he was fighting a bit cleaner—but still shoots offensively, not defensively.
Narrative Notes
My version, as usual, is weirdly structured. Greedo cuts to the chase, straight off:
“SO I’VE FOUNN YOU SOLO THEN IT IS MY DUTY TO KILL YOU!”
Solo knocks over a glass—I don’t know why—and with a sideways glance, spots a Stormtrooper who’s still admiring Kenobi’s handiwork. I think that’s one of the dead bodies slumped over a chair, but it’s a bit hard to tell!
So what does he do? Stormtrooper in the room? —searching for suspicious characters. Does he try to be low-key? —keep the situation with Greedo quiet and under control? Nope. He creates just about the biggest attention-grabbing spectacle you can think of. BLAM!
There it is: Han – shot – first.
Oh, and afterwards, the Trooper is gone. Stormtroopers, pfft… useless.
P.S. Blue Milk Special Webcomic’s Funny Take on it
I love this. It’s so funny and clever. Rod and Leanne of Blue Milk Special had the genius idea when they started the webcomic many years ago to have a young and an old George, sometimes co-existing. Go take a look!
So what’s your opinion readers? You can start the discussion below.
...
↓ Transcript PANEL 1
------------
(After)
We see a close-up image of Greedo the alien bounty hunter's face. "So I've found you Solo. Then it is my duty to kill you!" he shouts.
PANEL 2
------------
In a wide two-shot of Greedo and Solo, Solo blurts "What..." (for some reason) and he knocks a glass off the Cantina table (for some reason—because he's been startled?).
Greedo cuts him off with, "Deg woolie kundugger" pointing a gun at Solo.
PANEL 3
------------
Another wide shot of the cantina, over Solo's shoulder. Solo's face is just inside shot. He looks nervously sideways at a Stormtrooper who appears to be looking at the customer who was killed by Ben Kenobi, earlier. "Oh oh" says Solo.
PANEL 4
------------
Over-shoulder shot of Greedo now, and we see Solo nonchalantly leaning back and throwing a nut into his mouth. He says, "I'll pay you Greedo, because it's my pleasure."
"Jabba would like you ship, I think." replies Greedo.
PANEL 5
------------
A small panel show Solo reaching for the gun in his holster
(Solo fires the first shot...)
PANEL 6
------------
(...successfully!)
We see a blinding explosion of blaster fire.
PANEL 7
------------
In an over-shoulder shot of Greedo once more, we see Greedo now dead, face forward on the table in a big pool of dripping blood. Solo has walked up the steps toward the Cantina exit, and pauses briefly to flip a coin to Wuher the bartender. "Here bartender, take this for the mess" and adds "I always was a bad host!"
Please help this Webcomic--by Sharing
TweetUN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon endorsed President Barack Obama's speech on the Middle East Friday, calling for the recognition of the region's people's right to freedom, dignity and a better life.
The UN chief said that the future of the Middle East is in the hands of its people, adding that the United Nations will support them in their aspirations to improve their fate.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon AP
Ban also discussed the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, and Obama's call for a return to pre-1967 borders, a statement that Prime Minister Netanyahu has rejected as "indefensible borders".
The UN chief said that Obama offered important ideas that could propel peace talks forward, saying that his stance was in line with that of the international community.
He called on Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas to respond to the U.S. president's speech as "statesmen and peacemakers", saying the two leaders should seize this window of opportunity to bring about a two state solution for the Palestinian and Israeli people.
In a statement issued Thursday night, Ban's spokesperson said that the secretary general "continues to call on the leaders throughout the region to reject the use of force, violence and repression, and to choose the path of comprehensive reform and inclusive dialogue.
The Quartet of Middle East peace negotiators -- the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- also stood behind the U.S. president's speech Friday, voicing "strong support" for U.S. Obama's vision of Israeli-Palestinian peace.
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"The Quartet agrees that moving forward on the basis of territory and security provides a foundation for Israelis and Palestinians to reach a final resolution of the conflict through serious and substantive negotiations and mutual agreement on all core issues," the group said in a statement.
The statement added that "the members of the Quartet are in full agreement about the urgent need to resolve the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians".
Scheduled meetings of the Quartet in March and April were postponed at the request of the United States, which said the time was not right, UN diplomats have said.
"The Quartet reiterates its strong appeal to the parties to overcome the current obstacles and resume direct bilateral negotiations without delay or preconditions," the Quartet said.CLOSE House Republicans have unveiled their replacement plan for the Affordable Care Act. The plan differs from Obamacare in various ways. Time
For many Americans, there will be no noticeable difference between the Affordable Care Act and the new American Health Care Act.
House Speaker Paul Ryan with Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. and Greg Walden, R-Ore on March 7, 2017. (Photo11: Susan Walsh, AP)
Letter to the editor:
House Speaker Paul Ryan made the case in his op-ed, “Our health care plan for America,” that Obamacare is a “collapsing law (that) is driving up health care costs and driving out choices for American families.” He is correct. Unfortunately, the alternative he unveiled this week accepts the flawed progressive ideas of Obamacare. And, in some cases, expands upon them.
It is true that the American Health Care Act repeals significant portions of Obamacare. The proposal also creates a new subsidy that health care experts note would be available to those at 850% of the federal poverty level. By comparison, Obamacare’s subsidies were only available to those at 400% of the federal poverty level.
Why would Ryan and his colleagues embrace this approach? Because the proposed plan leaves many of Obamacare’s burdensome insurance regulations in place. These mandates drive up costs, making insurance unaffordable and health care inaccessible. For many Americans on the individual market, there will be no noticeable difference between the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) and the new American Health Care Act.
That is bad politics and, more important, bad policy.
This is not the bill Americans were waiting for or the policy we deserve.
Michael A. Needham, Heritage Action for America; Washington, D.C.
Letter to the editor:
Let’s see, the Republicans’ health care plan seems to keep all the aspects they liked about Obamacare, such as admittance to plans with pre-existing conditions and child coverage, but removed the aspects they didn’t like, such as: individual mandate, penalties and tax increases that actually paid for those benefits they do like. Can’t wait to see what the Congressional Budget Office figures will show as to what the costs of this plan will be. Not to mention how many people will lose coverage under this plan. Texas Rep. Kevin Brady said, “There is nothing left there” of Obamcare. That’s just another example of “alternative facts” that seem to permeate Washington.
Tom Horgan; Milwaukee
We asked our followers their thoughts on the Republicans’ health care plan. Tweets are edited for clarity and grammar:
It’s House Speaker Paul Ryan proving that even after years, he can’t come up with something better than Obamacare.
— @audlaq
Thank you, Ryan. We’ve been waiting for this replacement a long time. Now, if we can just get it through Congress.
— @LindaLHoyt1
This is a giveaway to insurance companies and the rich, while jeopardizing the health of the majority of the people.
— @PWelu
Ryan has a vastly higher intellect than President Obama. I think he should make quick work of Obamacare and give us something great.
— @BigTisha11
I would’ve preferred no replacement plan, but this is a step in the right direction. The major issues were repealed, for the most part.
— @FistedWizard
For more, follow @USATOpinion and #tellusatoday.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2mHnNbeRural America is facing an existential crisis. As cities continue to grow and prosper, small towns are shrinking. That fundamental divide played itself out in the recent presidential election.
[...] The trend is clear: Rural America is literally fading away. It shouldn't come as a surprise, therefore, that the opioid overdose epidemic has hit rural states, like Kentucky and West Virginia, especially hard. And the latest research from the CDC also shouldn't come as a surprise: Suicides in rural America (labeled as non-core) have increased over 40% in 16 years.
From 1999 to 2015, suicide rates increased everywhere in America. On average, across the U.S., suicides increased from 12.2 per 100,000 to 15.7 per 100,0001, an increase of just under 30%. However, in rural America, the suicide rate surged over 40%2, from just over 15 per 100,000 to roughly 22 per 100,000. Similarly, the suicide rate in micropolitan areas (defined as having a population between 10,000-49,999) went from 14 per 100,000 to 19 per 100,000, an increase of around 35%.
On the flip side, major cities saw much smaller increases in suicide rates, on the order of 10%. The graph depicts a clear pattern: Suicide rates are highest in the most rural parts of the country, and they slowly decrease as urbanization increases. As of 2015, the suicide rate in rural areas (22 per 100,000) is about 40% higher than in the nation as a whole (15.7 per 100,000) and 83% higher than in large cities (12 per 100,000).MGE progenitors are efficiently induced from hESCs by SHH
hESCs can be differentiated in vitro by around day 8–15 to primitive neuroepithelial cells14, which predominantly generate cerebral neurons in the absence of exogenous morphogens15. We hypothesized that treatment with SHH, a ventralizing morphogen, would pattern the primitive neuroepithelia to MGE progenitors that would subsequently give rise to BFCNs and GABA interneurons. First, we differentiated hESCs (lines H9 and H1) to PAX6+ neuroepithelial cells in a chemically defined medium, as previously described13,27. Application of SHH for a week starting on either day 10, 13 or 17 after hESC differentiation (Supplementary Fig. 1a) indicated that treatment beginning on day 10 resulted in the most efficient induction of NKX2.1+ ventral telencephalic progenitors at day 25 (Supplementary Fig. 1b).
We next determined the most effective dosage of SHH by applying 0 ng ml−1, 100 ng ml−1, 200 ng ml−1, 500 ng ml−1 or 1,000 ng ml−1 SHH to the cultures at day 10 and assessing gene expression using qRT-PCR at day 17 and immunocytochemistry at day 25 (Fig. 1a). NKX2-1 mRNA levels (n = 3 cultures, two from different passages of H9 and one from H1) increased in response to SHH in a dose-dependent manner (Fig. 1b). Expression of ISL1, OLIG2 and ASCL1, all of which are expressed in both lateral ganglionic eminence (LGE) and MGE cells in vivo28, also increased, although to a lesser extent at the highest SHH concentration (1,000 ng ml−1; Fig. 1b). In contrast, expression of the dorsal telencephalic transcription factor genes PAX6 and EMX1 decreased (Fig. 1b). |
of Divyavadana is considered by scholars[18] as being of doubtful value as a historical record. Moriz Winternitz, for example, stated, "these legends [in the Divyāvadāna] scarcely contain anything of much historical value".[18]
Medieval India [ edit ]
Historical records of religious violence are extensive for medieval India, in the form of corpus written by Muslim historians. According to Will Durant, Hindus historically experienced persecution during Islamic rule of the Indian subcontinent.[19] There are also numerous recorded instances of temple desecration, by Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist kingdoms, desecrating Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples.[20][21][22]
Historian K. S. Lal in his book Theory and Practice of Muslim State in India claims that between the years 1000 AD and 1500 AD, the population of the Indian subcontinent decreased from 200 to 170 million.[23] He stated that his estimates were tentative and did not claim any finality.[24] [25][26] These population estimates, however, have been questioned by Simon Digby[27] and Irfan Habib.[28] Will Durant calls the Muslim conquest of India "probably the bloodiest story in history".[29] During this period, Buddhism declined rapidly while Hinduism faced military-led and Sultanates-sponsored religious violence.[29] Even those Hindus who converted to Islam were not immune from persecution, which was illustrated by the Muslim Caste System in India as established by Ziauddin al-Barani in the Fatawa-i Jahandari.[30] While Alain Danielou writes that, "From the time Muslims started arriving in 632 A.D., the history of India becomes a long monotonous series of murders, massacres, spoliations, destructions."[31]
Sociologist G. S. Ghurye writes that religious violence between Hindus and Muslims in medieval India may be presumed to have begun soon after Muslims began settling there.[32] Recurrent clashes appear in the historical record during the Delhi Sultanate. They continued through the Mughal Empire, and then in the British colonial period.[33]
During the British period, religious affiliation became an issue... Religious communities tended to become political constituencies. This was particularly true of the Muslim League created in 1905, which catered exclusively for the interests of the Muslims... Purely Hindu organizations also appeared such as the Hindu Sabha (later Mahasabha) founded in 1915. In the meantime Hindu-Muslim riots became more frequent; but they were not a novelty: they are attested since the Delhi sultanate and were already a regular feature of the Mughal Empire... When in 1947 he [Muhammad Ali Jinnah] became the first Governor General of Pakistan and the new border was demarcated, gigantic riots broke out between Hindus and Muslims. Marc Gaborieau, Anthropology Today[33]
Religious violence was also witnessed during the Portuguese rule of Goa that began in 1560.[34]
Hindu, Buddhist and Jain kingdoms (642–1520) [ edit ]
In early medieval India, there were numerous recorded instances of temple desecration by Indian kings against rival Indian kingdoms, involving conflict between devotees of different Hindu deities, as well as between Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.[20][21][22] In 642, the Pallava king Narasimhavarman I looted a Ganesha temple in the Chalukyan capital of Vatapi. Circa 692, Chalukya armies invaded northern India where they looted temples of Ganga and Yamuna. In the 8th century, Bengali troops from the Buddhist Pala Empire desecrated temples of Vishnu Vaikuntha, the state deity of Lalitaditya's kingdom in Kashmir. In the early 9th century, Indian Hindu kings from Kanchipuram and the Pandyan king Srimara Srivallabha looted Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka. In the early 10th century, the Pratihara king Herambapala looted an image from a temple in the Sahi kingdom of Kangra, which in the 10th century was looted by the Pratihara king Yasovarman.[20][21][22]
In the early 11th century, the Chola king Rajendra I looted from temples in a number of neighbouring kingdoms, including Durga and Ganesha temples in the Chalukya Kingdom; Bhairava, Bhairavi and Kali temples in the Kalinga kingdom; a Nandi temple in the Eastern Chalukya kingdom; and a Siva temple in Pala Bengal. In the mid-11th century, the Chola king Rajadhiraja plundered a temple in Kalyani. In the late 11th century, the Hindu king Harsha of Kashmir plundered temples as an institutionalised activity. In the late 12th to early 13th centuries, the Paramara dynasty attacked and plundered Jain temples in Gujarat.[20][21][22] In the 1460s, Suryavamshi Gajapati dynasty founder Kapilendra sacked the Saiva and Vaishnava temples in the Cauvery delta in the course of wars of conquest in the Tamil country. Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya looted a Balakrishna temple in Udayagiri in 1514, and he looted a Vittala temple in Pandharpur in 1520.[20][21][22]
Muhammad bin Qasim (early 8th century) [ edit ]
[35][36] The 8th century Hindu Martand Sun Temple in Kashmir was considered an infidel's place of worship and destroyed by Delhi Sultanate's Muslim armies.
In the 8th century, Muslim armies attacked Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms in the northwest parts of Indian subcontinent, now modern Pakistan and parts of Indian states of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab in the early 8th century. Muhammad bin Qasim and his army, assaulted numerous towns, plundered them for wealth, enslaved Buddhists and Hindus, and destroyed temples and monasteries.[37] In some cases, they built mosques and minarets over the remains of the original temples, such as at Debal and later in towns of Nerun and Sadusan (Sehwan).[38] After each battle all captured men were executed and their wives and children enslaved. One-fifth of the booty and slaves were dispatched back as khums tax to Hajjaj and the Caliph.[39]
Minor dynasties (late 8th through 10th century) [ edit ]
The conflict between Hindus and Muslims in the Indian subcontinent may have begun with the Umayyad Caliphate in Sindh in 711. The state of Hindus during the Islamic expansion in India during the medieval period was characterised by destruction of temples, often illustrated by historians by the repeated destruction of the Hindu Temple at Somnath[40][41] and the anti-Hindu practices of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.[42] As the third fitna, fourth fitna and other civil wars raged in Arab and Persian regions, and Sunni and Shia sects attempted to consolidate their positions, the religious violence in the western and northwest parts of Indian subcontinent against Hindus and Buddhists was limited to sporadic raids and attacks. In the late 8th century, the army of Abu Jafar al Mansur attacked Hindu kingdoms in Barada and Kashmir, and took many children and women as slaves.[43] Shia Muslims and sympathizers were expelled by Sunni armies after these raids. Similarly, adherents of Ali expelled Umayyad sympathizers and appointees.
About 986 AD, the raids and violence from Muslim army of Sultan Yaminud Mahmud and Amir Sabuktigin reached Punjabi Hindus.[44] After several battles, the Hindu king Jaipal sent a message to the Sultan that the war be avoided. The Sultan replied with the message that his aim is to "obtain a complete victory suited to his zeal for the honor of Islam and Musulmans". King Jaipal then sent a new message to the Sultan and his Amir, stating "You have seen the impetuosity of the Hindus and their indifference to death. If you insist on war in the hope of obtaining plunder, tribute, elephants and slaves, then you leave us no alternative but to destroy our property, take the eyes out of our elephants, cast our families in fire, and commit mass suicide, so that all that will be left to you to conquer and seize is stones and dirt, dead bodies, and scattered bones."[45] Amir Sabuktigin then promised peace in exchange for a large ransom. King Jaipal, after receiving this peace offer, assumed that peace is likely and ordered his army to withdraw from a confrontation. According to 17th century Persian historian Firishta, Jaipal refused to pay the ransom, angering Sabuktigin. An alternate account of an 11th-century historian states, instead of waiting for the ransom tribute, Amir Sabuktigin and his army then attacked the kingdom of infidel Hindus. Both historians then describe the religious violence included burning the Hindu villages and towns, massacre of people in numbers that Muslim historian Al Utbi in Tarikh Yamini called "beyond number", demolishing of idol-temples, and the plundering of the wealth of the Hindu homes and king's treasure by Amir's friends and soldiers.[45]
Mahmud of Ghazni (11th century) [ edit ]
Mahmud of Ghazni was a Sultan who invaded the Indian subcontinent from present-day Afghanistan during the early 11th century. His campaigns included plundering and destruction of Hindu temples such as those at Mathura, Dwarka, and others. In 1024 AD, Mahmud of Ghazni attacked and destroyed the third Somnath temple killing over 50,000 and personally destroying the Shiva lingam after stripping it of its gold.[46][47] The historian Al Utbi narrated the violence as,
That infidel remained where he was, avoiding the action for a long time... The Sultan would not allow him to postpone the conflict, and the friends of God commenced the action, setting upon the enemy with sword, arrow and spear,—plundering, seizing and destroying... The Hindus... began... to fight... Swords flashed like lightning amid the blackness of clouds, and fountains of blood flowed like the fall of setting stars... Noon had not arrived when the Musulmans had wrecked their vengeance on the infidel enemies of God, killing 15,000 of them, spreading them like a carpet over the ground, and making them food for beasts and birds of prey... God also bestowed upon his [the Sultan's] friends such an amount of booty as was beyond all bounds and all calculation, including five hundred thousand slaves, beautiful men and women. The Sultan returned... to his camp, having plundered immensely, by God's aid... This... took place on... 27th November 1001. Abu Nasr Muhammad ibn Muhammad al Jabbaru-l 'Utbi (al-Utbi), Táríkh Yamini[48]
Mahmud of Ghazni made at least 17 raids into India,[49] against Hindus. Each campaign witnessed religious violence, killing of thousands of people, plunder and Mahmud returning with Hindu slaves and loot. The lives of numerous Muslims and Hindus were lost. For his sixth raid of 1008 AD, the Hindu kingdoms of Ujjain, Gwaliar, Kalinjar, Kanauj, Delhi and Ajmer formed a coalition to resist the attack by Muslim army of Ghazni. Hindu females sold their jewelry and put labor into providing war supplies. The sixth war erupted in the fields of Punjab, where Ghazni troops had entered through Afghanistan. Thousands of Turk-Afghan Muslim soldiers were killed within the first hour. In the chaos of the battles, armies fled in different directions, and thousands of Hindus were hacked to death by the retreating army.[50] In the 16th campaign, Mahmud raided Gujarat and Sindh region of South Asia, and destroyed Somnath temple.
Mohammed Ghori (1173–1206) [ edit ]
Mohammed Ghori raided north India and the Hindu pilgrimage site Varanasi at the end of the 12th century and he continued the destruction of Hindu temples and idols that had begun during the first attack in 1194.[51]
Delhi Sultanate [ edit ]
The Delhi Sultanate, which extended over 320 years (1206–1526 AD), began with raids and invasion by Muhammad of Ghor.
Qutb-ud-din Aibak (1206–1210) [ edit ]
Historical records compiled by Muslim historian Maulana Hakim Saiyid Abdul Hai attest to the religious violence during Mamluk dynasty ruler Qutb-ud-din Aybak. The first mosque built in Delhi, the "Quwwat al-Islam" was built with demolished parts of 20 Hindu and Jain temples.[52][53][54] This pattern of iconoclasm was common during his reign.[55]
Alauddin Khalji (1296–1316) [ edit ]
[35] Construction of new Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples, as well as the repairs of desecrated temples was forbidden during Delhi Sultanate.[56] Somnath Temple in Gujarat witnessed repeated destruction by Muslim armies in medieval India, followed by repeated reconstruction by Hindus.Construction of new Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples, as well as the repairs of desecrated temples was forbidden during Delhi Sultanate.
There was religious violence in India during the reign of Alauddin Khalji, of the Khalji dynasty.[57][58] His army commanders such as Ulugh Khan, Nusrat Khan, Khusro Khan and Malik Kafur attacked, killed, looted and enslaved non-Muslim people from West, Central and South India.[59][60] The Khalji dynasty's court historian wrote (abridged),
The [Muslim] army left Delhi... [in] Nov. 1310... After crossing those rivers, hills and many depths,... elephants [were sent],... in order that the inhabitants of Ma'bar might be aware that the day of resurrection had arrived amongst them; and that all the burnt Hindus would be despatched by the sword to their brothers in hell, so that fire, the improper object of their worship, might mete out proper punishment to them. The sea-resembling army moved swiftly, like a hurricane, to Ghurganw. Everywhere,... the people who were destroyed were like trunks carried along in the torrent of the Jihun, or like straw tossed up and down in a whirlwind. Amir Khusrow, Táríkh-i 'Aláí[61]
Riots and mutinies by Hindus erupted in various parts of the Sultanate, ranging from modern Punjab to Gujarat to Madhya Pradesh to Uttar Pradesh. These riots were crushed with mass executions, where all men and even boys above the age of 8 were seized and killed.[62] Nusrat Khan, a general of Alauddin Khalji, retaliated against mutineers by seizing all women and children of the affected area and placing them in prison. In another act, he had the wives of suspects arrested, dishonored and publicly exposed to humiliation. The children were cut into pieces on the heads of their mothers, on the orders of Nusrat Khan.[62]
The campaign of violence, abasement and humiliation was not merely the works of Muslim army, the kazis, muftis and court officials of Alauddin recommended it on religious grounds.[63] Kazi Mughisuddin of Bayánah advised Alauddin to "keep Hindus in subjection, in abasement, as a religious duty, because they are the most inveterate enemies of the Prophet, and because the Prophet has commanded us to slay them, plunder them, and make them captive; saying—convert them to Islam or kill them, enslave them and spoil their wealth and property."[63]
The Muslim army led by Malik Kafur, another general of Alauddin Khalji, pursued two violent campaigns into south India, between 1309 and 1311, against three Hindu kingdoms of Deogiri (Maharashtra), Warangal (Telangana) and Madurai (Tamil Nadu). Thousands were slaughtered. Halebid temple was destroyed. The temples, cities and villages were plundered. The loot from south India was so large, that historians of that era state a thousand camels had to be deployed to carry it to Delhi.[64] In the booty from Warangal was the Koh-i-Noor diamond.[65]
In 1311, Malik Kafur entered the Srirangam temple, massacred the Brahmin priests of the temple who resisted the invasion for three days, plundered the temple treasury and the storehouse and desecrated and destroyed numerous religious icons.[66][67]
Tughlaq Dynasty (1321–1394) [ edit ]
After Khalji dynasty, Tughlaq dynasty assumed power and religious violence continued in its reign. In 1323 Ulugh Khan began new invasions of the Hindu kingdoms of South India. At Srirangam, the invading army desecrated the shrine and killed 12,000 unarmed ascetics. The illustrious Vaishnava philosopher Sri Vedanta Desika, hid himself amongst the corpses together with the sole manuscript of the Srutaprakasika, the magnum opus of Sri Sudarsana Suri whose eyes were put out, and also the latter's two sons.[66][68][69][70]
Firuz Shah Tughluq was the third ruler of the Tughlaq dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. The "Tarikh-i-Firuz Shah" is a historical record written during his reign that attests to the systematic persecution of Hindus under his rule.[71] Capture and enslavement was widespread; when Sultan Firuz Shah died, slaves in his service were killed en masse and piled up in a heap.[72] Victims of religious violence included Hindu Brahmin priests who refused to convert to Islam:
An order was accordingly given that the Brahman, with his tablet, should be brought into the presence of the Sultan... The true faith was declared to the Brahman and the right course pointed out. but he refused to accept it... The Brahman was tied hand and foot and cast into it [a pile of brushwood]; the tablet was thrown on the top and the pile was lighted... The tablet of the Brahman was lighted in two places, at his head and at his feet... The fire first reached his feet, and drew from him a cry, but the flames quickly enveloped his head and consumed him. Behold the Sultan's strict adherence to law and rectitude. Ziauddin Barani, Tarikh-i Firoz Shahi[73]
Under his rule, Hindus who were forced to pay the mandatory Jizya tax were recorded as infidels and their communities monitored. Hindus who erected a deity or built a temple and those who practised their religion in public such as near a kund (water tank) were arrested, brought to the palace and executed.[71][74] Firuz Shah Tughlaq wrote in his autobiography,
Some Hindus had erected a new idol-temple in the village of Kohana, and the idolaters used to assemble there and perform their idolatrous rites. These people were seized and brought before me. I ordered that the perverse conduct of the leaders of this wickedness be publicly proclaimed and they should be put to death before the gate of the palace. I also ordered that the infidel books, the idols, and the vessels used in their worship should all be publicly burnt. The others were restrained by threats and punishments, as a warning to all men, that no zimmi could follow such wicked practices in a Musulman country. Firuz Shah Tughluq, Futuhat-i Firoz Shahi[75]
Timur's massacre of Delhi (1398) [ edit ]
The Muslim Turko-Mongol ruler Timur's invasion of Delhi was marked by systematic slaughter and other atrocities on a large scale, inflicted mainly on the Hindu population,[76] which was massacred or enslaved.[77] He also massacred the Indian Muslim population,[78] to punish the Delhi Sultanate for its religious tolerance towards Hindus.[79] One hundred thousand prisoners, mainly Hindus as well as many Muslims, were killed before he attacked Delhi.[78] Many more were killed when he reached Delhi.[80][79]
[Timur's] soldiers grew more eager for plunder and destruction... On that Friday night there were about 15,000 men in the city who were engaged from early eve till morning in plundering and burning the houses. In many places the impure infidel gabrs [of Delhi] made resistance... On that Sunday, the 17th of the month, the whole place was pillaged, and several places in Jahan-panah and Siri were destroyed. On the 18th the like plundering went on. Every soldier obtained more than twenty persons as slaves, and some brought as many as fifty or a hundred men, women and children as slaves out of the city. The other plunder and spoils were immense, gems and jewels of all sorts, rubies, diamonds, stuffs and fabrics of all kinds, vases and vessels of gold and silver... On the 19th of the month Old Delhi was thought of, for many infidel Hindus had fled thither... Amir Shah Malik and Ali Sultan Tawachi, with 500 trusty men, proceeded against them, and falling upon them with the sword despatched them to hell. Sharafuddin Yazdi, Zafarnama[81]
Sikandar the Iconoclast (1399–1416) [ edit ]
After Timur left, different Muslim Sultans enforced their power in what used to be Delhi Sultanate. In Kashmir, Sultan Sikandar began expanding, and unleashed religious violence that earned him the name but-shikan or idol-breaker.[82] He earned this sobriquet because of the sheer scale of desecration and destruction of Hindu and Buddhist temples, shrines, ashrams, hermitages and other holy places in what is now known as Kashmir and its neighboring territories. He destroyed vast majority of Hindu and Buddhist temples in his reach in Kashmir region (north and northwest India).[83][84] Encouraged by Islamic theologian, Muhammad Hamadani, Sikandar Butshikan also destroyed ancient Hindu and Buddhist books and banned followers of dharmic religions from prayers, dance, music, consumption of wine and observation of their religious festivals.[85][86] To escape the religious violence during his reign, many Hindus converted to Islam and many left Kashmir. Many were also killed.[85]
Sayyid dynasty (1414–1451) [ edit ]
After the massacres of Timur, the people and lands within Delhi Sultanate were left in a state of anarchy, chaos and pestilence.[87] Sayyid dynasty followed, but few historical records on religious violence, or anything else for that matter, have been found. Those found, including Tarikh-i Mubarak-Shahi describe continued religious violence. From 1414–1423, according to the Muslim historian Yahya bin Ahmad, the Islamic commanders "chastised and plundered the infidels" of Ahar, Khur, Kampila, Gwalior, Seori, Chandawar, Etawa, Sirhind, Bail, Katehr and Rahtors.[88] The violence was not one sided. The Hindus retaliated by forming their own armed groups, and attacking forts seized by Muslims. In 1431, Jalandhar for example, was retaken by Hindus and all Muslims inside the fort were placed in prison. Yahya bin Ahmad, the historian remarked on the arrest of Muslims by Hindus, "the unclean ruthless infidels had no respect for the Musulman religion".[89] The cycle of violence between Hindus and Muslims, in numerous parts of India, continued throughout the Sayyid dynasty according to Yahya bin Ahmad.
Lodi dynasty (1451–1526) [ edit ]
Religious violence and persecution continued during the reign of the two significant Lodi dynasty rulers, Bahlul Khan Lodi and Sikandar Lodi. Delhi Sultanate whose reach had shrunk to northern and eastern India, witnessed burning and killing of Hindus for their religion, in Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.[90] In 1499, a Brahmin of Bengal was arrested because he had attracted a large following among both Muslims and Hindus, with his teachings, "the Mohammedan and Hindu religions were both true, and were but different paths by which God might be approached." Sikandar, with his governor of Bihar Azam Humayun, asked Islamic scholars and sharia experts of their time whether such pluralism and peaceful messages were permissible within the Islamic Sultanate.[91] The scholars advised that it is not, and that the Brahmin should be given the option to either embrace and convert to Islam, or killed. Sikandar accepted the counsel and gave the Brahmin an ultimatum. The Hindu refused to change his view, and was killed.[91]
Elsewhere in Uttar Pradesh, a historian of Lodi dynasty times, described the state sponsored religious violence as follows,[92]
“ He (Lodi) was so zealous of a Musulman that he utterly destroyed diverse places of worship of the infidels. He entirely ruined the shrines of Mathura, the minefield of heathenism. Their stone images were given to the butchers to use them as meat weights,[93] and all the Hindus in Mathura were strictly prohibited from shaving their heads and beards, and performing ablutions. He stopped the idolatrous rites of the infidels there. Every city thus conformed as he desired to the customs of Islam. – Táríkh-i Dáúdí[94] ”
Mughal Empire [ edit ]
Babur, Humayun, Suri dynasty (1526–1556)
Babur defeated and killed Ibrahim Lodi, the last Sultan of the Lodi dynasty, in 1526. Babur ruled for 4 years and was succeeded by his son Humayun whose reign was temporarily usurped by Suri dynasty. During their 30-year rule, religious violence continued in India. Records of the violence and trauma, from Sikh-Muslim perspective, include those recorded in Sikh literature of the 16th century.[95] The violence of Babur, the father of Humayun, in the 1520s, was witnessed by Guru Nanak, who commented upon them in four hymns. Historians suggest the early Mughal era period of religious violence contributed to introspection and then transformation from pacifism to militancy for self-defense in Sikhism.[95] According to autobiographical historical record of Emperor Babur, Tuzak-i Babari, Babur's campaign in northwest India targeted Hindu and Sikh pagans as well as apostates (non-Sunni sects of Islam), and immense number of infidels were killed, with Muslim camps building "towers of skulls of the infidels" on hillocks.[96] Baburnama, similarly records massacre of Hindu villages and towns by Babur's Muslim army, in addition to numerous deaths of both Hindu and Muslim soldiers in the battlefields.[97]
In 1545, Sher Shah Suri led a campaign of religious violence across western and eastern provinces of the Empire in India. As with theologians and court officials of Delhi Sultanate, his advisors counseled in favor of religious violence. Shaikh Nizam, for example, counseled, "There is nothing equal to a religious war against the infidels. If you be slain you become a martyr, if you live you become a ghazi."[98] Sher Shah's Mughal army then attacked the Hindu fort of Kalinjar, captured it, killing every Hindu infidel inside that fort.[98]
Akbar (1556–1605)
Akbar is known for his religious tolerance. However, in early years of his reign, religious violence included the massacre of Hindus of Garha in 1560 AD, under the command of Mughal Viceroy Asaf Khan.[99][100] Other campaigns targeted Chitor and Rantambhor. Maulana Ahmad, the historian of that era, wrote of the battle at Chitor fort,
“ They (Hindus) committed jauhar (...). In the night, the (Muslim) assailants forced their way into the fortress in several places, and fell to slaughtering and plundering. At early dawn the Emperor went in mounted on an elephant, attended by his nobles and chiefs on foot. The order was given for a general massacre of the infidels as a punishment. The number exceeded 8,000 (Abu-l Fazl states there were 40,000 peasants with 8,000 Rajputs forming the garrison). Those who escaped the sword, men and women, were made prisoners and their property came into the hands of the Musulmans.
– Maulana Ahmad, Tarikh-i Alfi[101] ”
Another historian Nizamuddin Ahmad recorded the violence during the conquest of Nagarkot (modern Himachal Pradesh), as follows,
“ The fortress of Bhun, which is an idol temple of Mahámáí, was taken by valor of the (Muslim) assailants. A party of Rajputs, who had resolved to die, fought till they were all cut down. A number of Brahmins, who for many years had served the temple, never gave one thought to flight, and were killed. Nearly 200 black cows belonging to the Hindus, during the struggle, had crowded together for shelter in the temple. Some savage Turks, while the arrows and bullets were falling like rain, killed these cows one by one. They then took off their boots and filled them with the blood, and cast it upon the roof and walls of the temple.
– Nizamuddin Ahmad, Tabakat-i Akbari[101] ”
Jahangir (1605–1627)
Nur-ud-din Mohammad Salim (Jahangir) was the fourth Mughal Emperor under whose reign religious violence was targeted at Hindus, Jains and Sikhs. A companion of Jahangir, and Muslim historian, described the religious violence as,[102]
“ One day at Ahmedabad, it was reported that many of the infidel and superstitious sect of the Seoras (Jains) of Gujarat has made several very great and splendid temples, and having placed in them their false gods, had managed to secure a large degree of respect for themselves. Emperor Jahangir ordered them to be banished from the country, and their temples to be demolished. Their idol was thrown down on the uppermost step of the mosque, that it might be trodden upon by those who came to say their daily prayers there. By this order of the Emperor, the infidels were exceedingly disgraced, and Islam exalted.
– Intikháb-i Jahangir-Shahi[102] ”
Jahangir's orders to torture and execute Guru Arjun, in 1606, is considered by scholars[103] to be a turning point in Sikh history, after which Sikhs considered militancy and religious violence against the Mughal Empire as necessary to protect their faith and loved ones. Violence against the Mughal Empire was thereafter viewed by the Sikhs as the only practical form of protest against religious persecution and Islamic orthodoxy.[104][105] The religious violence between Sikhs and Muslims increased thereafter, and ultimately led to the formal inauguration of khalsa (military brotherhood) in 1699 by the tenth Sikh guru, Gobind Singh.[106]
Shah Jahan (1628–1658)
During Shah Jahan's reign, his soldiers attacked seven temples and "violently seized and appropriated them for their own use in Punjab".[citation needed]
Aurangzeb (1658–1707)
[107] The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb's reign saw a scale of religious violence in India that lists as 23rd in 100 deadliest episodes of atrocities in human history.
Aurangzeb assumed power after arresting his father Shah Jahan, as well as eldest brother Dara Shikoh for his secular beliefs, and other blood relatives. Aurangzeb was a devout Sunni Muslim, and regarded his blood brother as a "pestilent infidel".[108] Aurangzeb put his brother on trial, found him guilty of apostasy, and executed him. He next arrested the children of Shikoh and poisoned them to death.[109] The reign of Aurangzeb that followed, witnessed one of the strongest campaigns of religious violence in Mughal Empire's history.[107] Aurangzeb re-introduced jizya (tax) on non-Muslims,[110] He led numerous campaigns of attacks against non-Muslims, destroyed Hindu temples,[111] arrested and executed the ninth Sikh guru Tegh Bahadur.[106][112]
Aurangzeb issued orders in 1669, to all his governors of provinces to "destroy with a willing hand the schools and temples of the infidels, and that they were strictly enjoined to put an entire stop to the teaching and practice of idolatrous forms of worship".[113] These orders and his own initiative in implementing them led to the destruction of numerous temples,[114] estimated between dozens to thousands,[115][116][117] though he also built many temples.[118] Some temples were destroyed entirely; in other cases mosques were built on their foundations, sometimes using the same stones. Idols were smashed, and the city of Mathura was temporarily renamed as Islamabad in local official documents.[113] Among the temples Aurangzeb destroyed included major Hindu pilgrimage sites in Varanasi, Mathura and Somnath temple in Gujarat.[119] In both cases, he had large mosques built on the sites.[112][119] On some destroyed sites such as Kesava Deva Temple in Mathura, Aurangzeb ordered the construction of mosque as replacement.[119][120]
Towns and provinces became depopulated from religious violence,[110] and Aurangzeb on his death bed lamented in writing that he had "greatly sinned" and "it should not happen that Muslims be killed and the blame for their death rest upon him".[121] Aurangzeb's Deccan campaign saw one of the largest death tolls in South Asian history, with an estimated 4.6 million Hindus dead.[107] An estimated of 2.5 million of Aurangzeb's army were killed during the Mughal–Maratha Wars (100,000 annually during a quarter-century), while 2 million civilians in war-torn lands died due to drought, plague and famine.[122][107]
In Aurangzeb's time, there were also political leaders who destroyed temples, allied with Aurangzeb.[123]
Maratha Empire [ edit ]
Atrocities in Bengal (1741–1751)
During the Maratha invasions of Bengal against Nawab of Bengal, the Marathas occupied Bihar[124] and western Bengal up to the Hooghly River.[125] During that time, the Maratha invaders, called "Bargi" in Bengali, perpetrated atrocities against the local population.[125] The Marathas reportedly plundered and burned villages, murdered pregnant women and infants, and gang-raped women.[126] An estimated 400,000 people were killed.[127][124]
During the invasion, the Marathas targeted Bengali Muslims, many of whom fled to take shelter in East Bengal, fearing for their lives in the wake of the Maratha attacks.[128] Many Bengali Hindus initially supported the Marathas, seeing them as liberators, but the Marathas also perpetrated many atrocities against Bengali Hindus,[129] who ended up opposing the Marathas and supporting the Muslim Nawab of Bengal.[124]
Sikh Empire [ edit ]
After seizing control of Kashmir, Maharaja Ranjit Singh's Sikh governors in Kashmir followed anti-Muslim policies, including the closure of the Jama Masjid of Srinagar.[130] In 1837, Raja Gulab Singh suppressed the revolt of the Yousafzai Tribe. Thousands of Muslim Pashtun tribe members were killed. Few hundred of captured women were sold as slaves in Jammu.[131]
After acquiring Jammu and Kashmir the Dogra Maharaja Ranbir Singh led a major invasion of the frontier areas of Yasin and Hunza to punish Muslim rebels in 1863. General Hooshiara Singh with 3,000 troops attacked the frontier with predominantly Muslim population. Thousands were killed during the invasion.[132][133][134]
Colonial Era [ edit ]
Goa Inquisition (1560–1774) [ edit ]
The first inquisitors, Aleixo Dias Falcão and Francisco Marques, established themselves in what was formerly the king of Goa's palace, forcing the Portuguese viceroy to relocate to a smaller residence. The inquisitor's first act was forbidding Hindus from the public practice of their faith through fear of death. Sephardic Jews living in Goa, many of whom had fled the Iberian Peninsula to escape the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition to begin with, were also persecuted. During the Goa Inquisition, described as "contrary to humanity" by Voltaire,[135] conversions to Catholicism occurred by force and tens of thousands of Goan Hindus were massacred by the Portuguese between 1561 and 1774.[136][137]
The adverse effects of the inquisition forced hundreds of thousands of Hindus to escape Portuguese hegemony by migrating to other parts of the subcontinent.[138] Though officially repressed in 1774, it was reinstated by Queen Maria I in 1778. The vestiges of the Goa Inquisition were swept away when the British occupied the city in 1812.
Tipu Sultan (1782–1799) [ edit ]
The Jamalabad fort route. Mangalorean Catholics had travelled through this route on their way to Srirangapatanam
The ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, Tipu Sultan, was known to be anti-Hindu and anti-Christian,[139][140][141][142] pointing to the captivity of Hindus and Mangalorean Catholics at Seringapatam, which began on 24 February 1784 and ended on 4 May 1799, which remains a reminder of religious violence and persecution against that community.[143]
The Bakur Manuscript reports Tipu Sultan as having said: "All Musalmans should unite together, and considering the annihilation of infidels as a sacred duty, labor to the utmost of their power, to accomplish that subject."[144] Soon after the Treaty of Mangalore in 1784, Tipu gained control of Canara.[145] He is also said to have issued orders to seize the Christians in Canara, |
said Bristol resident Suzanne Boyle, who enthusiastically supported his push for universal health care.
The wild-haired, filled-with-outrage Sanders has long had a rock-star status in Vermont that is envy of fellow politicians. And it follows him to the polls. He won 71 percent of the vote in 2012, his most recent election. That’s better than President Barack Obama fared in the state.
In 2006, his first election to the Senate after 16 years in the House, Sanders won every county in the state despite facing off against a self-financed millionaire Republican. He did better than the incumbent governor that year.
The self-described democratic socialist polls well in relatively populous, left-leaning Burlington, where he got his political start as mayor in 1981. But he also does surprisingly well in the so-called Northeast Kingdom, one of the most rural and conservative corners of the state. He’s big with liberals but also with seniors and veterans, farmers and postal workers.
During four decades of politics in Vermont, Sanders has managed to win over a wide array of voters with his unique style. If the presidential campaign he is kicking off Tuesday in Burlington is to gain traction, he will likely have to do it the same way.
“Bernie has really been able to speak for the underdog,” says Garrison Nelson, a political science professor at the University of Vermont who has followed Sanders’ entire career. “They see Bernie as a person who can be their champion.”
Though Sanders was headlining a Democratic campaign rally last fall in Bristol, he has never been elected to office as a Democrat. Congress’ longest-serving independent caucuses in Washington with Democrats, runs in Democratic primaries and campaigns with Vermont Democrats, but he is not one of them.
That showed clearly last week, as Gov. Peter Shumlin, a three-term incumbent Democrat, announced he’s supporting Hillary Clinton in the presidential race. Shumlin joins a long list of the state’s top Democrats to do so: former Govs. Howard Dean and Madeleine Kunin, Sen. Patrick Leahy and Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger. Only the state’s sole at-large congressman, Democrat Peter Welch, has remained uncommitted.
“Bernie and I are great friends,” Shumlin said last week. “But my belief is that the most qualified candidate running for president who’s going to fight for the middle class and who understands the challenge of foreign policy is Hillary Clinton.”
Sanders is used to being the outsider. Other than a few early unsuccessful elections in which he was part of the liberal, anti-war Liberty Union Party, Sanders has always run his own party. He’s become a master at hosting town hall-style meetings, where his staff serves up a free brunch, lunch or dinner and he adds a heaping spoonful of political theater.
He wins over voters, but not with charm. The gruff 73-year-old, who has never lost his blustery Brooklyn accent, is not the sort of politician who remembers your name, or your kids’ names. He does not linger for idle chatter. He seems far too busy with weighty matters.
Instead, he leaves voters believing they can count on him to bully their bullies, whoever they might be. He stands up for almost everybody but the rich.(Reuters) - Pinnacle Foods Inc PF.N said it would buy plant-based protein food maker Garden Protein International Inc for C$175 million ($154 million) from founder Yves Potvin and private equity firm TSG Consumer Partners LLC.
Pinnacle Foods Inc. CEO Bob Gamgort, (L) watches his company trade, following its IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, March 28, 2013. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Vancouver-based Garden sells its products under the ‘Gardein’ brand, founded by Potvin in 2009. The brand is expected to generate net sales of about C$65 million in 2014, Pinnacle said.
The brand’s frozen plant-based foods serve as alternatives for traditional animal-based products such as chicken strips and tenders, ground beef and fish fillets.
The brand is available in over 22,000 retail stores in North America, including those of Kroger Co (KR.N) and Target Corp (TGT.N).
Pinnacle, which sells Birds Eye branded frozen vegetables, said it will fund the buyout with cash in hand.
The company said it would invest significantly on the brand in 2015, and expected “a minimal, if any, positive impact on its earnings” next year.
The deal, including a manufacturing plant and nearly 250 employees, is expected to close on Friday.
“We believe that plant-based protein is at the tipping point of becoming mainstream,” Pinnacle Foods Chief Executive Bob Gamgort said.
Hillshire Brands Co HSH.N in June withdrew its recommendation to its shareholders to vote for a $6.6 billion acquisition of Pinnacle Foods, following Tyson Foods Inc’s (TSN.N) offer to buy Hillshire.
Perella Weinberg Partners is serving as financial advisor to Pinnacle Foods, while Houlihan Lokey Inc is serving as financial advisor to Garden Protein.
($1 = 1.1375 Canadian dollars)This happened last year, but seems unlikely to happen this year. (Gerald Herbert/Associated Press)
If you’re a calm, orderly person, you might want Florida and LSU to solve their tangled riddle and play their unplayed game from last Saturday. If you’re a thrill-seeker who likes your life churning around a blender with fine doses of chaos, you might hope the quo keeps its status and the impasse stays impassable.
You might hope the heads stay hard, and the game stays unplayed, and the Southeastern Conference standings stay unbalanced, and the howling stays unbridled.
Wouldn’t that be something?
Fiendishly, you might even root for the doomsday scenario, for Florida and LSU to keep winning, for Florida (4-1, 2-1 SEC) to raise its total-offense ranking above No. 73, for LSU (3-2, 2-1) to raise its passing-offense ranking above No. 112, where it sits tucked between Rice and Boston College.
Go, Gators.
Geaux, Tigers.
Do defy the odds.
[The Other College Football Top 25: Ranking the best story lines of the week]
Imagine how the fall could “evolve” if Florida could get past Missouri at home, Georgia at neutral, Arkansas at Arkansas and South Carolina at home, to stand 6-1 in an SEC that plays eight conference games, while LSU could get past Ole Miss at home, Alabama at home, Arkansas at Arkansas and Texas A&M at Texas A&M, to stand 6-1 in that same loud league.
Imagine a Tennessee at 6-2, with a win over SEC East brother Florida (6-1), or an Alabama at 7-1, with a loss to SEC West brother LSU (6-1). Imagine all the class envy, the bad vibes, the comments sections, the conspiracy theories and the woe-ridden radio — still, even in the 21st century, the woe-ridden radio.
Already the case has borne many of those delicious fruits, plus another peek at the humorous seriousness of football and its money, money and money. It has led LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva to state, rationally, that maybe the league ought to change the rules on the fly for SEC championship game qualification, and go by division records only instead of its current tiebreaker, overall conference winning percentage.
To start it all, Florida spotted a map of Category 4 Hurricane Matthew last week, couldn’t know for sure where it might go next and postponed the game last Thursday. Then critics assailed Athletic Director Jeremy Foley when deadly Matthew didn’t attack Gainesville, with some of the same critics maybe the same ones who would have assailed Foley had he wound up staging the game on Saturday or Sunday amid danger or lingering hardship.
Then, solutions that have sufficed in the past — South Carolina playing a home game at LSU in 2015 after flooding, South Carolina playing this past Sunday against Georgia — didn’t suffice for Florida for various reasons. That gave the impression that Florida deems itself to have more at stake than South Carolina, a lingering curiosity in a decade in which South Carolina stands 54-30 and Florida 51-31.
Soon enough, Florida Coach Jim McElwain was responding to the bubbling theories of conspiracy about game-dodging.
He shook his head in wonder at least twice and praised utility workers once.
“Nineteen deaths. Two-point-five million devastated without power. Families in dire needs,” he said, referring to other parts of Florida. “Obviously they don’t know me. They don’t know the Florida Gators. They don’t know our players. Dodging a game? Wow. Obviously those people, man, I obviously, growing up in Montana, have never been through a hurricane. Okay? But I think a lot of people around here have, and have seen the devastation. And, you know, certainly how anybody could even think that way is beyond me.”
For now, everyone fumbles for a solution, with a great one unavailable, a good one unavailable and a so-so one also unavailable. “I just get back to what I said,” LSU Athletic Director Joe Alleva said Monday in his 4 minutes 3 seconds of remarks and answers in Baton Rouge. “I think it’s going to be very difficult to reschedule this game.”
A small buffet of suggestions has materialized.
There’s the Oct. 29 suggestion, in which Florida and LSU play on Oct. 29 because Florida switches to play Georgia on Oct. 22, its open date. That would entail complex reshuffling at the Jacksonville site of the Florida-Georgia game, but also a larger thorn. When Alleva announced that LSU does not want to play Alabama on Nov. 5 with Oct. 29 as an open date for Alabama but not LSU, he applied a standard widely believed to appear in the Bible, which is that one should not play Alabama after Alabama’s open week without an open week oneself.
There’s the Dec. 3 suggestion, in which Florida and LSU play then and the SEC would move its championship game in Atlanta back to Dec. 10. That one would disrupt merely the entire country, not least the boardroom near the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where the College Football Playoff selection committee fixes to issue its final rankings on Sunday morning, Dec. 4.
Seemingly the most-favored suggestion is the Nov. 19 suggestion, for which Florida gets out of its home game with Presbyterian, LSU gets out of its home game with South Alabama, and LSU goes to Florida seven days after going to Arkansas and five days before going to Texas A&M (or seven, if it changed).
“One thing that we’re going to hold very firm on is, that we have a home game November 19th, and we’re going to have a home game on November 19th,” Alleva said, then paused, then said, “We are going to have a home game on November 19th,” occasionally putting space between words for emphasis.
Schedules, after all, are crafted so delicately.
Continuing: “We are not going to change that situation. Other than that, I really don’t have much to report to you other than to tell you it’s a tough situation.”
That all left Alleva so little leeway that if something changes courtesy of the league office or whatnot, you might even feel sorry for him. Otherwise, the season moves on with a little ball-and-chain attached to its southeast. If we wind up listening to the abundant voices that might bark, we might think of it as an experiment in what American football does to people.
In a seemingly unrelated story, Arkansas assistant professor Lawton Lanier Nalley apologized on Monday. Having witnessed Arkansas’ 49-24 home loss to Alabama, Nalley, who teaches in the Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness department, had hollered some rank expletives at Arkansas Coach Bret Bielema, and had wound up arrested in the stadium for public intoxication and disorderly conduct.
[Campus Cleanup: In praise of Alabama and Navy]
It’s a case of bizarre piled upon bizarre, beginning with the idea that anybody could get that mad after losing to Alabama. What’s more, Nalley, with his degrees from Ohio State, Mississippi State and Kansas State, also has done important research at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in Mexico City, and in Ghana, “surveying women’s cooperatives in regard to micro financing loans,” according to his bio.
All that perspective, and still, football got him. Imagine imbalanced SEC standings in early December, then imagine voices that have never been to Mexico City, don’t even know there’s a Ghana, and never gave a moment’s thought to the essentialness of seeds.North Queensland Toyota Cowboys prop Scott Bolton will join front-row teammate Matt Scott as a career Cowboy after agreeing to a two-year contract extension.
The 30-year-old Innisfail product has re-signed until the end of the 2019 season as his decade-plus stint at the club continues.
“I’m really pleased to be able to continue on with this great club,” Bolton said.
“I’ve been fortunate to have played my whole career in my home region, and I’ve loved sharing in the success we’ve had with my teammates and our members and fans.
“To be able to do what you love while sharing it with family and friends week-in, week-out is truly special.”
Currently in his 11th season at the club, Bolton has played 190 National Rugby League games after debuting as a 19-year-old in 2007.
Since then, he has been a mainstay of the Cowboys forward pack, playing as a back-rower early in his career before partnering with Matt Scott in the front row.
This year has seen the quietly-spoken North Queenslander take more of an on-field leadership role as Matt Scott overcomes a knee injury.
“Scott typifies what the Cowboys are about,” said General Manager – Football Peter Parr.
“Aside from being a very good footballer, he is a true team man and is someone our younger forwards turn to for advice and guidance.
“He was huge for us in our premiership year in 2015 and is this season playing what I believe is some of his best football.”
Earlier this year, Bolton’s fellow prop Matt Scott also signed a two-year extension, while the club’s forward stocks have been further shored up with Jason Taumalolo, John Asiata and Gavin Cooper all extending their time.A Houston pianist and cancer researcher is speaking out after she was kicked off a Spirit Airlines flight along with her 2-year-old son and elderly parents, CBS affiliate KHOU reports.
Mei Rui said she was flying to New York on Friday to participate in a cancer research study. She filmed the incident, and said before the cabin door was closed, she started breastfeeding. Flight attendants told her to stop and put the child into his seat, but Mei said she asked for a few minutes to finish to prevent her son from waking up.
Cellphone footage shows her son in his seat crying when another flight attendant instructs them to leave the plane. "You just don't have to treat people that way. He was making very loud noises, but that's not criminal," Mei said.
In a statement, Spirit Airlines stood by its flight attendants' decision to remove the family from the flight.
"Our records indicate a passenger was removed from Flight 712 after refusing to comply with crew instructions several times during taxi to runway and safety briefing," the statement said. "To protect the safety of our guests and crew, FAA regulations and airline policies require all passengers to stay seated and buckled during takeoff and landing."
Mei received a full refund but told KHOU that she won't be flying with Spirit Airlines again.
"It was humiliating to be chased off a plane in front of hundreds of people. We had never been through anything close to this," Mei said. "We're not lawbreakers or trouble seekers. We're the elderly, a baby and his mother, why did they have to treat us this way?"Congressman condemns “bold, arrogant, dangerous” move to intern Americans without trial
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Top tier presidential candidate Ron Paul has decried the ‘indefinite detention’ provision of the National Defense Authorization Act, warning that it represents an arrogant, bold and dangerous attempt to establish martial law in America.
Speaking with the Alex Jones Show today, Congressman Paul went on the offensive against the bill, which is set to be signed into law by President Obama later this week.
Section 1031 of the NDAA bill, which itself defines the entirety of the United States as a “battlefield,” allows American citizens to be snatched from the streets, carted off to a foreign detention camp and held indefinitely without trial. The bill states that “any person who has committed a belligerent act” faces indefinite detention, but no trial or evidence has to be presented, the White House merely needs to make the accusation.
Paul said he saw significance in “the announcement and the arrogance of it all,” making reference to the Obama administration’s claim that it can now assassinate American citizens anywhere in the world and noting that the passage of the NDAA bill is an effort to codify the policy into law.
“This is a giant step – this should be the biggest news going right now – literally legalizing martial law,” said Paul, noting that the subject did not come up at all in any of the Republican debates.
The Congressman also decried the “arrogance” of an attempt to push through via a voice vote an amendment that would have still authorized indefinite detention even if a detainee was found innocent after a trial. The amendment was narrowly defeated by his son, Senator Rand Paul.
“This is big,” emphasized Paul, adding “This step where they can literally arrest American citizens and put them away without trial….is arrogant and bold and dangerous.”
Despite speculation that the Obama administration would veto the bill, it emerged yesterday that it was the White House itself which worked to remove language from the bill that would have protected American citizens from indefinite detention under Section 1031.
The administration has been working with lawmakers to alter a separate provision, Section 1032, which pertains to the military being required to take custody of individuals.
With the administration’s concerns over Section 1032 now largely resolved, a revised and final version of the bill could be signed into law before the end of the week.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
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“The conferees said they plan to bring the bill to the House floor for a vote as soon as Wednesday afternoon and to the Senate soon thereafter,” reports Politico.
Despite the revisions, the bill still contains language that allows Americans to be detained without trial at a detention center anywhere in the world.
Republican Congressman Justin Amash has again warned that lawmakers are attempting to mislead the American people by claiming U.S. citizens are exempt from the most dangerous provisions of the bill.
“Pres. Obama and many Members of Congress believe the President ALREADY has the authority the bill grants him. Legally, of course, he does not. This language was inserted to keep proponents and opponents of the bill appeased, while permitting the President to assert that the improper power he has claimed all along is now in statute,” writes Amash.
“They will say that American citizens are specifically exempted under the following language in Sec. 1032: “The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United States. Don’t be fooled. All this says is that the President is not REQUIRED to indefinitely detain American citizens without charge or trial. It still PERMITS him to do so,” warns the Congressman.
Amash is encouraging Americans to contact their representatives and sign a petition expressing their opposition to the NDAA bill, calling it “one of the most anti-liberty pieces of legislation of our lifetime.”
Click here to listen to the interview with Ron Paul in full.
*********************
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a regular fill-in host for The Alex Jones Show.The fuzz showed up at Wayne Robillard’s new joint exactly when he was rolling it out to reporters Monday.
Two polite cops walked into BuzzOn at 29 Montreal Rd. to collect information about the pot smoking “lounge” in Vanier.
Robillard put it all on the table for police and the press: Yes, it’s a place for people to bring their weed and smoke it.
When police left, Robillard inflated a vapour bag stretched tight with pot smoke and sucked it back for photographers.
Robillard, 51, doesn’t fear the law and he doesn’t have a medical marijuana licence. He quietly opened BuzzOn with two business partners on April 20 — 4/20, the equivalent of Super Bowl day for potheads — and plans to ramp up to a full opening this weekend.
It’s not just for medical marijuana licence holders, Robillard said. Anyone 19 years old or older with weed is welcome to come in and smoke it for a daily “membership” fee.
There are no marijuana sales at BuzzOn. And no mooching off others is allowed.
In fact, not much is sold at all. There is a bar, but no alcohol.
There’s a PlayStation 3 in front of a couch and the rest of the place is filled with regular tables and chairs. The business has installed one exhaust system and plans to install more.
Robillard hopes police and City Hall don’t shut it down. He says he negotiated with the landlord to break the lease if after 60 days the city steps in.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen with Mayor Watson and the police. They could sic them on us very easily,” he said. “I don’t anticipate we’re going to shut down, but we’re planning for it, just in case.”
Watson’s office e-mailed a statement: “Mayor Watson expects businesses in Ottawa to comply with all applicable laws and bylaws. As this business is one which the Ottawa police and its drug unit are looking into, Mayor Watson has no further comment at this time.”
Rideau-Vanier Coun. Mathieu Fleury said although marijuana is a “tough issue,” the city needs to make sure its regulations are followed when it comes to public health, zoning and bylaw.
“It’s a first,” Fleury said. “We have to look at what the implications are.”
Fleury noted that the city and BIA has been trying to improve Montreal Rd.
Chief Charles Bordeleau said police are trying to learn more about what BuzzOn is all about.
“We’ve gone in, we’re monitoring exactly to see what they’re doing,” Bordeleau said. “Having marijuana for medical purposes is legal, so we want to make sure we’re doing the right thing to deal with those issues.”
Q&A With Wayne Robillard, Business partner of BuzzOn
Why did you open BuzzOn?
I went into a couple of (cannabis vapour business) in Toronto and thought they should be everywhere. It’s taken me a few years but we finally got one up and running here in Ottawa and we’ll see what happens, I guess.
How is this legal?
It’s actually not legal. It’s still illegal in Canada to consume marijuana, unless you have a licence, and even if you have a licence they can give you a hard time. So really what we’re doing is an open form of protest. What we’re saying is we don’t agree with Canada’s cannabis laws and we don’t feel it should be a priority for the police or municipal governments to deal with.
So what you’re doing is illegal?
To be quite honest with you, I don’t express it exactly that way, but if a customer comes in and says how is this legal, my response is always to say it doesn’t matter where you smoke marijuana, it’s still illegal in Canada, so whether you’re smoking it in a lounge or out on the street, you can very easily be charged with possession. The difference is, our lounge is somewhat of a safe haven.
Are you open to anyone, not just medical marijuana licence holders?
We don’t ask them for licences because they have no legal obligation to show it to me or present it to me. I have no authority to ask them for medical records, so we just don’t ask.
What does a customer get for the entry fee?
You can use the vaporizers. We’ll supply you with papers if you need them. And you just get to relax. There’s a variety of board games and sudoku and crossword puzzles and things like that. People tend to come in and play cards, they play games, they chill for about an hour, and they leave.
Why pay to come to BuzzOn when you can hang out and smoke dope at home?
It’s a totally different social atmosphere. We’ll also have entertainment available on weekends and certain nights will be talent nights, that sort of thing. The whole social atmosphere is to just be around people who smoke. It’s a very comfortable setting.
Why open on Montreal Rd. in Vanier?
There’s a recovery centre across the street, so there are much more heavier eyes going over there. We’re right across the bridge from the downtown core which should make us a great target on the weekend, we’re hoping. We wanted to blend in in a nondescript neighbourhood. We’ve got a head shop just down the road. There’s a lot of restaurants and a hooka place next to us, a tattoo shop, so we thought it was a good area to blend in.
NEIGHBOURS DOOBIE-OUS
BuzzOn might need to drum up grassroots support, or face the threat of being choked off by the community.
Several residents and business owners stopped in front of the storefront Monday to read the makeshift signs for the pot “lounge.”
Some people chuckled at the idea and shook their heads. Others voiced concern.
Ralph Mefleh, who co-owns a web design company on Montreal Rd., was surprised to learn a weed-smoking business moved onto the strip.
“I don’t think it’s good for the area,” Mefleh said. “Vanier is going through a gentrification process right now.”
Vanier resident Francois Pharand said he’s not offended by the business, but shoppers at neighbouring stores might be. Pharand just doesn’t understand the business model.
“I don’t know why you need a place to smoke,” Pharand said.
Pierre Alain, who also lives in the area, worries that allowing pot could open the door to other drug use.
“Heavy drugs. That’s my concern,” Alain said. “When you talk about crack or something, forget it.”
DRUG UNIT INVESTIGATING
BuzzOn’s Wayne Robillard concedes that smoking pot inside his business is illegal because marijuana possession is illegal if you don’t have a licence.
There could be other regulatory pitfalls, too.
Robillard said he doesn’t have a municipal business licence because he couldn’t find a category of licence that fits.
He said BuzzOn doesn’t allow blunts — marijuana rolled in cigar paper, which has tobacco — since the law doesn’t allow tobacco products to be smoked in businesses.
It’s hard to say if BuzzOn fits within city bylaws. The city referred all questions to police, which said the drug unit is investigating.
Twitter: @JonathanWillingTrend sparks fears among low-paid workers that they will be hit twice: by having earnings cut and paying more for healthcare
Avita Samuels has worked at the Mall of America in Minneapolis for the last four years, juggling a sales job with her studies in political science and law at the University of Minnesota. The 24-year-old has been the top sales associate for the last three years and works between 29 and 35 hours a week. But over the past few months, she said, she has watched as friends working in stores around her have their hours and benefits slashed – and she's worried that she will be next.
Forever 21, the clothing store, told staff last month in a memo leaked to the press that it planned to cut hours and reclassify some full-time workers as part- time. The move, which the company denied had anything to do with President Barack Obama's health reforms, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), will nevertheless help it avoid a mandate under the legislation requiring companies with 50 or more employees to offer those working 30 hours a week or more health insurance. Earlier this month, Seaworld, which operates 11 entertainment parks across the US, capped hours for part time workers at 28, down from 32, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Other retailers, such as Trader Joe's and Home Depot have said they will no longer provide medical coverage for part-time employees, and will shift them instead to the public healthcare exchanges which open Tuesday, 1 October. Some employers have said their health costs will rise as a result of various provisions of the ACA, which takes full effect in 2015, when larger companies have to provide health benefits to full time workers or pay a $2,000 per-person fine.
The trend has caused fears among low-paid workers living on the breadline that they will be hit twice – by having their hours and thus earnings cut and by having to pay more for healthcare. Based on what she said is happening in the stores around her, Samuels is concerned she too will have her hours cut and with it her eligibility for company healthcare under the ACA.
"It's a really scary situation," said Samuels, who earns $9.25 an hour and is trying to reduce a student loan debt of close to $50,000. She currently receives subsidised healthcare through her university, but it runs out next year, when she had hoped her employer healthcare would kick in.
"Technically, I should be eligible," she said. "But at least 20 stores around me have cut hours. I live paycheck to paycheck. I have credit card debts. It's a balancing act. I'm afraid I won't be able to afford healthcare."
As one of the nation's lowest-paid workers, with little job security, Samuels is not alone in her fears that she may be worse off when the ACA takes full effect.
Following a callout to hourly workers who had experienced recent changes in hours or health benefits, the Guardian was contacted by employees and their families. Two of them said they were so concerned about additional costs of healthcare, they were considering not buying insurance at all.
Typing Samuel's average earnings of $15,000 a year and her state into the subsidy calculator on the Kaiser Family Foundation website, reveals that, if her employer did not offer healthcare and she were to enter a healthcare exchange, she would be eligible for government subsidy and would pay $300 a year towards the $1,449 cost of a plan. Samuels, who is already struggling financially, said this will represent a massive additional burden should her hours be cut by her employer.
A survey by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans published last month, found that 15% of large employers (50 or more employees) and 20% of smaller employers had plans to adjust hours so that fewer employees qualify for full-time medical insurance under the ACA.
Kavita Patel, a fellow in economic studies at the Brooking Institution who worked on healthcare reform in the White House, said: "The big question everyone is asking is: 'Will it increase the premiums?' If you are being dropped by your employer and you are going into the exchanges, it depends on how much much money you are making. In New York, for instance, the rate in the exchange is cheaper than the group markets."
The Kaiser Family Foundation published a report earlier this month which worked out the cost of premiums in 17 states plus DC.
To hourly workers, many of whom are living below the poverty line, a small increase in healthcare costs can represent the final straw for their already stretched family budgets.
The wife of a Trader Joe's part-time worker who contacted the Guardian in response to a callout said her husband was so concerned about potential cost increases, he was considering not buying healthcare insurance at all.
The mother of two, who did not want her name published, said: "My husband is debating getting insurance which scares me as the job is physical so there is always a risk of on site injuries that require medical attention. We are expecting to pay more out of pocket. We are working on putting aside some now so we can afford coverage next year.
"I am worried there will be months when we will have to choose paying health insurance or paying a bill. Neither is a good option with two children to think of."
People without health coverage in 2014 may have to pay a fine of up to $95 per person and 100% of their healthcare costs.
She told the Guardian that she and her children had been covered by her husband's company, Trader Joe's, until he was informed in August that, as a part-time worker of 30 hours or less, his healthcare benefits would no longer be paid when the ACA comes into effect. An internal memo by Trader Joe's announced that each affected employee would be given $500 and said it hoped that "many of you should be able to obtain healthcare coverage at very little if any net cost to you".
A college student, she said her research had shown that the cost of an alternative plan would be greater than the $500 they will receive. Her husband previously paid $99 for coverage, she said.
She said she felt let down. "Finding out that we were losing health benefits seems (coupled with the previous reduction in contributions to retirement) like the company has reached a size/level will it no longer makes sense to put employees first. This makes me very sad."
Unions and worker's organisation say that, at a time of growing concerns over the level of minimum wage earned by the nation's lowest paid workers, it is the same workers who are being worst hit by the changes, ahead of the ACA.
David Wehde, organising director of Working America, an affiliate of AFL-CIO with three and a half million members, said: "What we are hearing from our workers is a lot of frustration, particularly lower wage workers in retail or service jobs."
However, Wahde said there is "huge scepticism" of the claims made by some employers that they had been forced to make changes in benefits because of the costs of the ACA.
"Our workers are frustrated, saying that their employers don't have to do it this way, but they are just using the ACA as an excuse" said Wehde. "It is not winning workers' trust."
Janna Pea, the deputy communications director of the Retail Wholesale and Department Stores Union, said the shift some employers were taking towards part time workers was an unfortunate side effect of the ACA.
Pea said: "We are hearing from our members who are concerned about what is happening with their companies. Not only are they looking at having their healthcare coverage cut they are also looking at less hours."
"You have a trend where employers are saying they have no obligation to do anything for anybody who works less than 30 hours a week. Part of the act created incentives for employers to take away benefits from employees. It is an unfortunate side effect. The act ignores part time workers."By Jonathan Amos
Science reporter, BBC News
The Giove-B demonstrator was launched earlier this year Eleven industrial groups will compete for the contracts to build Europe's much-delayed satellite-navigation system, Galileo. They were chosen from an initial list of 21 that had indicated an interest in participating in the project. Galileo will rival but also complement the US GPS network. The European Commission has set aside more than two billion euros to build 26 satellites, buy launch rockets and set up the ground control centres. The Commission's partner, the European Space Agency (Esa), is running the procurement contest with the aim of having Galileo fully operational by 2013. GALILEO UNDER CONSTRUCTION A European Commission and European Space Agency project 30 satellites to be launched in batches by end of 2013 Will work alongside US GPS and Russian Glonass systems Promises real-time positioning down to less than a metre Guaranteed under all but most extreme circumstances Suitable for safety-critical roles where lives depend on service
Q&A: Europe's Galileo project As anticipated, the shortlist contains many of Europe's top aerospace, telecom and IT concerns. They will now have to convince the Commission and Esa that they can deliver the right technical solutions at a competitive price. Galileo is expected to improve substantially the availability and accuracy of timing signals delivered from space. Users should get quicker, more reliable fixes and be able to locate their positions with an error of one metre compared with the current GPS error of several metres. But the project has been hit by delays and cost overruns. The original procurement plan involving a partnership between the public and private sectors collapsed; and the Commission was forced to start again, turning Galileo into an initiative that will be wholly financed from the public purse. Nonetheless, many of the companies that were included in the original partnership are present in the shortlist of competing groups now hoping to win construction contracts. The 11 pre-selected candidates are: System Support (to bring all the elements of the project together): ThalesAleniaSpace (Italy); Logica (The Netherlands) Ground Mission System (to look after the timing and navigation data): ThalesAleniaSpace (France); Logica (UK) Ground Control System (to monitor the satellite constellation): Astrium (UK); G-Nav grouping represented by Lockheed Martin IS&S (UK) Space segment (to build the satellites themselves): Astrium (Germany); OHB (Germany) Launch Services (the rockets that will loft the network): Arianespace (France) Operations (the day-to-day running of Galileo): Nav-up grouping represented by Inmarsat (UK); DLR (Germany) and Telespazio (Italy) Some work on Galileo is already under way - four operational satellites and some ground control systems are in the process of being built. The "six work packages" now open to competition have strict rules governing how much work can go to each company and how much of that work must then be sub-contracted to partners. This means a lot of the work will be spread around Europe; and if work segments are split to ensure speed, the spread could be wider still. This is quite likely to happen for the preparation of the satellites, for example. In any event, it looks now as though the spacecraft will be a team effort between Germany and the UK, with the satellite payloads (their electronic brains) being prepared in Britain and the chassis construction and final integration being done in Germany. This comes about through any division of the space segment - because Astrium Germany will use UK colleagues on the payload; and OHB will use its UK partner, SSTL in Guildford, for the same job. "This is really great for UK industry," said Phil Davies from SSTL. "It gives us a key role far into the future." Timescales are tight. The first four constellation spacecraft are expected to be launched in 2010, with the remaining 26 put in orbit by the end of 2013. In April this year, a test satellite dubbed Giove-B was launched from Baikonur in |
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Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not the day after, but soon. “To put it simply,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R- Va.) said last spring, “less government spending means more private-sector jobs.” But that’s not exactly a rigorous study. So here’s a rigorous study.
In a new paper for the International Monetary Fund, Laurence Ball, Daniel Leigh and Prakash Loungani look at 173 episodes of fiscal austerity over the past 30 years—with the average deficit cut amounting to 1 percent of GDP. Their verdict? Austerity “lowers incomes in the short term, with wage-earners taking more of a hit than others; it also raises unemployment, particularly long-term unemployment.”
There’s also a class dimension here: A deficit cut of that size tends to cause real wage income, where lower-income folks get their money, to shrink by 0.9 percent, whereas rents and profits, which higher-income folks depend on, decline by just 0.3 percent. And, as the chart on the right shows, profits tend to bounce back faster than wages.
Some austerity programs can be harsher than others. The IMF study notes that plans to reduce the deficit can be particularly brutal if central banks “do not or cannot blunt some of the pain through a monetary policy stimulus.” (In 1992, Italy and Finland took steps to rein in their deficits but mitigated the discomfort by depreciating their currencies and boosting exports.) Meanwhile, if multiple countries are all carrying out austerity at the same time, the overall pain is likely to be greater. This sums up the current debt crisis in the euro zone: Individual euro member states can’t depreciate their own currencies because they’re all on the euro; the European Central Bank isn’t providing much monetary stimulus; and the economically ailing countries are all dragging one another other down.
Now, this doesn’t mean fiscal consolidation is never worth pursuing. Some countries do run up against unmanageable debt levels. And the IMF cites a number of ancillary benefits that come from reducing deficits, such as lightening the burden from interest payments. But the historical record is clear: Austerity does ugly, ugly things to a country’s economy in the short term, which is why the IMF now recommends passing deficit-reduction plans that kick in only “when the recovery is more robust.”Mel Evans/Associated Press
In 2002, at the height of the outcry over the sexual abuse of minors by Roman Catholic priests, the Archbishop of New York, Edward M. Egan, issued a letter to be read at Mass. In it, he offered an apology about the church’s handling of sex-abuse cases in New York and in Bridgeport, Conn., where he was previously posted.
“It is clear that today we have a much better understanding of this problem,” he wrote. “If in hindsight we also discover that mistakes may have been made as regards prompt removal of priests and assistance to victims, I am deeply sorry.”
Now, 10 years later and in retirement, Cardinal Egan has taken back his apology.
In a interview with Connecticut magazine published on the magazine’s Web site last week, a surprisingly frank Cardinal Egan said of the apology, “I never should have said that,” and added, “I don’t think we did anything wrong.”
He said many more things in the interview, some of them seemingly at odds with the facts. He repeatedly denied that any sex abuse had occurred on his watch in Bridgeport. He said that even now, the church in Connecticut had no obligation to report sexual abuse accusations to the authorities. (A law on the books since the 1970s says otherwise.) And he described the Bridgeport diocese’s handling of sex-abuse cases as “incredibly good.”
All of which has Cardinal Egan, now 79 and living in Manhattan, drawing fire from advocates who say he has reopened old wounds.
“To many victims,” said Paul Mones, a lawyer who represented several victims of sexual abuse in New York, “an apology was critical to their being made whole, to feeling that, yes, the church knows that I was wronged and that this was a problem that was going on for decades. So if the statements are true, for him to come out and say he was wrong for the apology is more than tragic.”
During then-Bishop Egan’s reign in Bridgeport, from 1988 to 2000, dozens of people came forward with claims of sex abuse by priests, some of it having occurred recently. One priest checked himself out of a psychiatric center and continued to receive a stipend from the diocese after he had been accused by a dozen parishioners of abuses involving anal sex and beatings.
In the magazine, Cardinal Egan said, “I never had one of these sex abuse cases.” He added, “If you have another bishop in the United States who has the record I have, I’d be happy to know who he is.”
On Tuesday, as criticism mounted, Cardinal Egan, who retired in 2009, released a statement, reiterating that there had never been “even one known case” of sexual abuse of a minor by a priest in his tenure in Bridgeport or New York. “The suffering and the damage to innocent children and their loved ones that the sexual abuse of minors causes are horrendous beyond all expression,” he wrote.
Cindy L. Robinson, a lawyer whose firm represented more than 90 Bridgeport abuse victims, including ones who said they were abused as minors by priests during Cardinal Egan’s tenure, said she read the cardinal’s comments “with utter disbelief.”
David Clohessy of SNAP, the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, urged Cardinal Egan’s successors in New York and Bridgeport, Timothy M. Dolan and William E. Lori, to denounce the cardinal’s “extraordinarily hurtful” statements in the magazine.
Archbishop Dolan declined to comment on Cardinal Egan’s comments, but said the cardinal had always “responded appropriately and with rigor” to sex-abuse cases. The Diocese of Bridgeport did not return a call seeking comment.I am a seventh-grader in the Portland Public Schools. One of the many life lessons we have been taught in school is to accept people for who they are, no matter what they look like on the outside.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent display at Merrill Auditorium, where he implied that Somali refugees are potential terrorists, completely contradicted that teaching. All my life, I’ve gone to school, played with and lived among Somali refugees and can personally tell you that they are some of the most humanitarian and loving people I have ever met.
Before being a student at East End Community School, I too was unfamiliar with other cultures. I refused to interact with those of other cultures. That was when I was 5 years old. After spending years getting to know other cultures, I began to celebrate diversity. From other cultures, I learned more than I ever could from a textbook – just like the rest of America should.
The world has so much to offer, if only people could learn to accept it. Somalis and other refugees don’t come to America to cause problems – they come to start better lives for themselves and their children, just like anyone else. They come to escape war, only to face ridicule by xenophobic people like Donald Trump.
If I could learn to appreciate and accept other cultures before the age of 10, why can’t Trump and his supporters? I hope for future children to be able to have the same experience I did with diversity.
We are the children. We are the future. History shows that intolerance has dire consequences, and if there is one thing I learned in my social studies classes, it is that history repeats itself.
Devyn Shaughnessy
Portland
ShareLenses are a great way to deal with functional references, but there are two common issues that arise from their use.
There is a long-standing folklore position that lenses do not support polymorphic updates. This has actually caused a fair bit of embarrassment for the folks who'd like to incorporate lenses in any Haskell record system improvement. Access control. It'd be nice to have read-only or write-only properties -- "one-way" or "mirrored" lenses, as it were. Moreover, lenses are commonly viewed as an all or nothing proposition, in that it is hard to mix them with arbitrary user functions. Finally there is a bit of a cult around trying to generalize lenses by smashing a monad in the middle of them somewhere, it would be nice to be able to get into a list and work with each individual element in it without worrying about someone mucking up our lens laws, and perhaps avoid the whole generalized lens issue entirely.
We'll take a whack at each of these concerns in turn today.
{-# LANGUAGE Rank2Types #-} -- we'll relax this later import Data.Complex -- for complex examples
First, let us consider the type of van Laarhoven lenses:
type Lens a b = forall f. Functor f => (b -> f b) -> a -> f a
with a couple of examples:
realLens :: RealFloat a => Lens ( Complex a ) a realLens f ( r :+ i ) = fmap ( :+ i ) ( f r ) imagLens :: RealFloat a => Lens ( Complex a ) a imagLens f ( r :+ i ) = fmap ( r :+ ) ( f i )
These lenses have some very nice properties that we're going to exploit. By far their nicest property is that you can compose them using just (.) and id from the Prelude rather than having to go off and write a Category.
Lens Families
Russell O'Connor recently noted that these lenses permit polymorphic update if you simply generalize their type signature to
type LensFamily a b c d = forall f. Functor f => ( c -> f d ) -> a -> f b
I'd like to note that you can't just let these 4 arguments vary with complete impunity, so I'll be referring to these as "lens families" rather than polymorphic lenses, a point that I'll address further below. In short, we want the original lens laws to still hold in spite of the generalized type signature, and this forces some of these types to be related.
As an aside, each of the other lens types admit this same generalization! For instance the Lens type in data-lens can be generalized using an indexed store comonad:
data Store c d b = Store ( d -> b ) c instance Functor ( Store c d ) where fmap f ( Store g c ) = Store ( f. g ) c newtype DataLensFamily a b c d = DataLensFamily ( a -> Store c d b )
and we can freely convert back and forth to van Laarhoven lens families:
dlens :: LensFamily a b c d -> DataLensFamily a b c d dlens l = DataLensFamily ( l ( Store id ) ) plens :: DataLensFamily a b c d -> LensFamily a b c d plens ( DataLensFamily l ) f a = case l a of Store g c -> fmap g ( f c )
I leave it as an exercise to the reader to generalize the other lens types, but we'll stick to van Laarhoven lens families almost exclusively below.
As Russell noted, we can define functions to get, modify and set the target of a lens very easily. I'll create local names for Identity and Const, mostly to help give nicer error messages later.
We can read from a lens family:
infixl 8 ^. newtype Getting b a = Getting { got :: b } instance Functor ( Getting b ) where fmap _ ( Getting b ) = Getting b ( ^. ) :: a -> ( ( c -> Getting c d ) -> a -> Getting c b ) -> c x ^. l = got ( l Getting x )
We can modify the target of the lens:
newtype Setting a = Setting { unsetting :: a } instance Functor Setting where fmap f ( Setting a ) = Setting ( f a ) infixr 4 %= ( %= ) :: ( ( c -> Setting d ) -> a -> Setting b ) -> ( c -> d ) -> a -> b l %= f = unsetting. l ( Setting. f )
We can set the target of the lens with impunity:
infixr 4 ^= ( ^= ) :: ( ( c -> Setting d ) -> a -> Setting b ) -> d -> a -> b l ^= v = l %= const v
We can build a lens family from a getter/setter pair
lens :: ( a -> c ) -> ( a -> d -> b ) -> LensFamily a b c d lens f g h a = fmap ( g a ) ( h ( f a ) )
or from a family of isomorphisms:
iso :: ( a -> c ) -> ( d -> b ) -> LensFamily a b c d iso f g h a = fmap g ( h ( f a ) )
With these combinators in hand, we need some actual lens families to play with. Fortunately they are just as easy to construct as simple lenses. The only thing that changes is the type signature.
fstLens :: LensFamily ( a,c ) ( b,c ) a b fstLens f ( a,b ) = fmap ( \x -> ( x,b ) ) ( f |
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That proposal has already caused concern, but today a coalition including a cross-party group of MPs and peers - as well as figures from the business world and entertainment industry - said that short circuiting the democratic process could have disastrous side effects.
In an open letter the group suggests that the controversial nature of the legislation - which it says "threatens to severely infringe fundamental human rights" and could introduce "website blocking" measure that impede free speech - must face the full scrutiny of parliament before it becomes law.
Among the signatories are musician Billy Bragg, human rights activist Peter Tatchell and writer Graham Linehan, who helped create comedy series including Father Ted and The IT Crowd. They are joined by a number of activists and campaigners, as well as politicians drawn from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party.
"Our worry today is that none of this will be properly debated by parliament," says the letter. "Last week Harriet Harman failed to give the Commons any reassurances that this important, complex and controversial bill will be properly scrutinised by our elected MPs."
"Democracy and accountability will be sidestepped if this bill is rushed through and amended without debate during the so-called 'wash-up' process. The thousands of people we know to be contacting their MPs with concerns will find their faith in politicians even further undermined."
The plans, which first became public last autumn, have caused controversy at almost every turn.
As well as the three strikes rule and measures to take down websites accused of infringing copyright - which could potentially result in the closure of major web destinations such as YouTube - Lord Mandelson has also sought the power to alter copyright law without the assent of parliament.
In addition, it has also been suggested that the bill's measures to prosecute the owners of internet connections used for illegal file sharing could hit anybody who provides web access - such as universities, libraries and cafes, as well as those individuals who leave their home Wi-Fi connections open.
While the made it through three readings in the House of Lords, it was not without serious objections. Lord Puttnam, the film producer, said he had faced "an extraordinary degree of lobbying" over the proposals, while others questioned the revelation that an amendment used language British music industry body the BPI.
Earlier this week BPI chief Geoff Taylor said that it was imperative that the legislation is passed before the election.
"It is vital for the future of the UK's creative sector that the digital economy bill becomes law before the dissolution of parliament," he said.
However, the open letter suggests that the bill's most controversial elements must receive proper debate or be removed from the bill entirely and left until after the forthcoming election.Get the biggest daily news 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
An entire Gloucestershire village has been put on lockdown, with all businesses forced to closed on what should be one of the busiest days of the year.
Police have descended on Parkend, in the Forest of Dean, due to a large incident allegedly involving people staying in the village.
Force bosses have said it follows reports of violence and intimidation by a group of around 40 people staying in the area, and business owners have voiced their dismay, Gloucestershire Live reports.
A teenager has been arrested and is in custody, police confirmed.
In a post on Facebook the landlord of the Fountain Inn - which had a night of live music planned - said: "Absolutely gutted to announce that, on police advice, we've had to cancel our live music tomorrow (Boxing Day) and will be closed completely in the evening.
"It's not a decision we've taken lightly, as we know so many of you were really looking forward to it. Several establishments have had trouble with a large group staying locally and police attended seven times last night.
"Thankfully we didn't have any problems here, but we'd like it to stay that way. Merry Christmas one and all, and apologies once again for letting you all down."
A later post revealed that Boxing Day is normally one of the busiest days of the year, but meal bookings had to be cancelled.
(Image: Google)
It is believed the incident centred on Whitemead Forest Park, a holiday park made up of lodges which sits just outside the village.
The park posted on Facebook this morning: "It is with regret that our facilities including Restaurant, Bars, Shop and Swimming Pool will be closed today. We are so sorry for any inconvenience."
One person posted on Twitter: "Such a shame about parkend! Families being forced to close their establishments on one of the busiest days of the year!! Some people have no care!"
Following the Fountain Inn's decision, customers posted their sympathy.
Debbie J Howard wrote: "Such a shame that a few people can spoil other people's special day. It must have not been any easy decision for all the proprietors to make"
And Sue Warren wrote: "Totally gutted for u all... is the pub trade wasn't hard enough."
The nearby Woodman Inn confirmed it is closed today 'due to unforeseen circumstances'.
A statement from police to Gloucester Live said: "Officers are currently working with staff at Whitemead Caravan Park in the Forest of Dean to manage the anti-social behaviour of a group of around 40 men, women and children who booked into the site on 23 December.
"There have been reports of intimidating behaviour, foul and abusive language to others and violence within the group, causing disruption and distress to guests, staff at the site and the wider community.
"Officers attended and made it clear to the group the level of behaviour that is expected but further incidents have been reported and police last night reattended to a report of violent disorder.
"A 16-year-old boy from Leicester was arrested on suspicion of affray and assaulting a police officer and remains in custody at this time.
"The group are due to leave the site tomorrow but the park has called in further security officers and police are in the area to offer reassurance and monitor the situation."Andrew B. just tipped us off to huge stash of cars in southern Indiana. Over 25 cars are listed and although many have already sold, there are still a few gems in there. Take this bright orange Boss 302 for example. The seller claims it is complete even though it looks otherwise in the photo. The price does seem a tad optimistic, but it might be worth a look if you are in the market for a 302. Take a look at the ad here on craigslist and then let us know which ones you want. Thanks for sharing Andrew!
Full listing from craigslist:
70 SS Camaro roller very solid $8500
68 Dodge Charger 440 A/T runs and drives $8500 (SOLD)
69 SS Chevelle 396 4spd. $8500
2001 Lamborghini Diablo Kit car set up for SBC $9500
66 SS Chevelle #match 396 4spd (SOLD)
66 & 67 GTO,s From $3500 to $18,000
66 AC Cobra Show Car $25,000 (SOLD)
59 Impala #match 348 W engine Manual trans. $5500 (SOLD)
64 SS Impala # match 327 -w- air very solid $5000 (SOLD)
64 Ford Falcon Back halfed Drag car needs finished $1500
53 chevy bel air convt. $8500
55,56 and 57 chevys From $3500 to $6500
70 Fastback Mustang has fresh 302 runs very little rust $5000
70 Mustang BOSS 302 complete $28000
67 RS Camaro $4500 67 Galaxie 390 convertible $3500 (SOLD)
65 Catalina convt. 389 4spd $4500
67 chevy C10 truck turn key $4000
68 chevy c10 (SOLD)
88 Camaro pro street fresh 358 stroker ready to go (SOLD)
40 Chevy sadan delivery Full Custom must see $26,000Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
April 18, 2017, 1:39 PM GMT / Updated April 18, 2017, 1:39 PM GMT By Robert Windrem
It was a (red) star-studded affair, the December 2015 dinner celebrating the 10th birthday of Russian TV network RT. At a luxe Moscow hotel, President Vladimir Putin and a host of Russian luminaries toasted a state-backed news channel that U.S. intelligence calls a Kremlin mouthpiece.
And next to Putin at the head table, in the seat of honor, was an American. Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, who would later become Donald Trump's national security adviser, was already advising Trump's presidential campaign when he was paid $45,000 to speak at the gala.
"It is not coincidence that Flynn was placed next to President Putin," said Michael McFaul, U.S. ambassador in Moscow from 2012 to 2014 and now an NBC News analyst. "Flynn was considered a close Trump adviser. Why else would they want him there?"
Flynn's Moscow jaunt, like his oddly timed phone chats with the Russian ambassador, has been well reported. But who else came to dinner on Dec. 10, 2015? An NBC News review of video and photos from the RT gala shows a healthy serving of ex-spies, cronies and oligarchs, with a side of friendly journalists and another American.
Flynn was one of 10 people at the head table, including the Kremlin's top leadership. Three of the Russians, including Putin, were under U.S. sanctions at the time for their role in Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Sergey Ivanov (right), then Putin's chief of staff, sat directly across the table from Flynn at the gala. To his left, is Putin's nominal spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, who U.S. officials say is really the Russian president's de facto national security adviser. RT
Sergey Ivanov, then Putin's chief of staff, sat directly across the table from Flynn. A former KGB general who at one point ran KGB operations in Africa, he has also served as Russian defense minister and deputy prime minister. Ivanov had been under U.S. and European sanctions for a year and a half by the date of the dinner.
Next to Ivanov was Dmitry Peskov, nominally Putin's spokesman, but more importantly his de facto national security adviser, say U.S. officials. Like almost everyone at the head table that night, he speaks perfect English.
Flanking Putin on his right, two seats from Flynn, sat Alexey Gromov, Putin's deputy chief of staff. U.S. intelligence considers Gromov to be Putin's head propagandist. According to the January 6 Intelligence Community report on Russian interference in the U.S. election, "Gromov oversees political coverage on TV, and he has periodic meetings with media managers where he shares classified information and discusses their coverage plans."
He's also been accused by U.S. intelligence of "ordering media attacks on opposition figures." He has worked directly for the Russian president, first in the Press Office, then as press attache and, since 2008, as deputy chief of staff. He too was on U.S. and European sanctions the day of the dinner.
Margarita Simonyan is a personal friend of Putin, and worked in one of his presidential campaigns before being chosen to head RT. She took Putin's seat next to Flynn when Putin went to the stage to speak. RT
After Putin got up to make his speech, his place at Flynn's side was taken by Margarita Simonyan, RT's editor-in-chief. She is also editor-in-chief of Rossiya Segodnya, a state-owned and operated Russian news agency created by Putin. A personal friend of Putin, she worked in one of his presidential campaigns before being chosen by Gromov to head RT. The U.S. intelligence assessment of RT paints Simonyan as the lead person, along with Gromov, engaging in "information warfare" against U.S. policies. She is described as "closely tied to, controlled by the Kremlin."
In his dinner speech, Putin praised RT for its objectivity, disclaiming any influence on its coverage.
Next to Simonyan was the night's biggest global cultural celebrity, acclaimed director Emir Kusturica, who has twice won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Born a Muslim in Bosnia, he converted to Orthodox Christianity and is a Putin booster. Putin awarded him the Russian Order of Friendship in 2016. Of Putin, Kusturica once said, "If I was English, I would be very much against him. I was an American, I would even fight with him. But if I was Russian, I would vote for him."
Kusturica's wife, seated next to him, was the only spouse at the head table.
Also at the head table were three western politicians. Willy Wimmer, a former member of the German Bundestag who is often critical of U.S. foreign policy; Cyril Svoboda, former deputy prime minister, minister of foreign affairs, and interior minister of the Czech Republic, and two-time U.S. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, the only American besides Flynn at the head table.
Willy Wimmer, left, is a former member of the German Bundestag who is often critical of U.S. foreign policy. Two-time U.S. Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein was the only American besides Flynn at the head table. RT
Stein's 2016 campaign was heavily promoted by RT. She hasn't spoken much about the RT dinner, but in an interview with NBC News last fall, she deflected questions about her appearance, instead chastising the U.S. media for not paying attention to her campaign while RT gave it a lot more attention.
"And my own connection to RT, you know ironically, it takes a Russian television station to actually be open to independent candidates in this country and that is a shame. A shameful commentary on our own media," she told NBC's Alex Seitz-Wald.
(Stein did well enough to help Russia achieve its aims. Her vote totals in the crucial states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan were all greater than Clinton's margin of defeat, and arguably denied Clinton an Electoral College victory.)
Beyond the head table, Russia's oligarchs filled many of the seats.
Seated at a corner table was Mikhail Prokhorov, the owner of the Brooklyn Nets who ran against Putin as the designated liberal candidate in 2012 (and whose offices were raided by Russian security last April). Prokhorov is now on the outs with Putin. Next to him was Viktor Vekselberg, whose billions are in oil and aluminum and who is a business partner of Trump's Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and the owner of the world's largest collection of Faberge eggs.
Mikhail Prokhorov, owner of the Brooklyn Nets, ran against against Vladimir Putin as the designated liberal candidate in 2012. To the right of Prokhorov is fellow billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, an oil and aluminum magnate who is a business partner of Trump's Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. RT
At the table behind Putin's was Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Communist Party ruler of the Soviet Union, along with Artur Chilingarov, polar explorer and federal senator. Nearby, there was Arkady Mamontov, a famous TV host who said that a massive meteor strike that injured nearly 1,500 people in 2013 was God's vengeance on Russia's gay rights movement.
There was Tina Kandelaki, a socialite and award-winning TV host who's appeared on the covers of the Russian versions of Playboy, InStyle, and Maxim — and ran an international marketing operation for the AK-47, calling it an instrument of peace.
Unable to attend in person was WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who formerly hosted his own show on RT. Instead, he appeared via satellite as host of one of the 10th anniversary event's seminars, where he lamented the end of privacy.
Tina Kandelaki has appeared on the covers of the Russian versions of Playboy, InStyle, and Maxim and ran an international marketing operation for the AK-47, calling the gun an instrument of peace. RT
'A Great Learning Opportunity'
Flynn had already been a frequent guest on RT in the months prior to the dinner.
In an interview with Dana Priest of the Washington Post in August 2016, Flynn talked about why he accepted such a starring role. He said he didn't ask for it, that the Russians sat him next to Putin.
"I was one of the guests there.... Some interesting characters. I found it a great learning opportunity. One of the things I learned was that Putin has no respect for the United States leadership. Not for the United States, but the leadership."
When Putin finished his speech that night, Flynn was among the first to leap to his feet and offer a standing ovation.
In the year following the dinner, RT was part of the Putin government's overt attempt to influence the U.S. election, according to the U.S. Intelligence Community. In the January 2017 report on Russian interference, the IC discussed the network's role at length.
Mikhail Gorbachev sat a table behind Putin's. RT
"RT's criticism of the U.S. election," said the report, "was the latest facet of its broader and longer-standing anti-U.S. messaging likely aimed at undermining viewers' trust in U.S. democratic procedures and undercutting U.S. criticism of Russia's political system. RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan recently declared that the United States itself lacks democracy and that it has 'no moral right to teach the rest of the world.'"
Jill Stein declined an NBC News request for comment.“But how are you going to get jobs for them?” Bill O’Reilly asked Donald Trump about African Americans. | Getty O'Reilly: Many African-Americans 'are ill-educated and have tattoos on their foreheads'
Bill O’Reilly interrupted Donald Trump’s claims about how he would create jobs for African-Americans on Monday night to make a louder point: That many of them are “ill-educated and have tattoos on their foreheads.”
Grilling the Republican front-runner on Fox News’ the O'Reilly Factor, the conservative talk show host asked Trump how he would win over minorities like African Americans.
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“I’m telling you, it’s an economic message,” Trump said. “If you look at President Obama, he’s been a president for almost 8 years, it will be 8 years, you have with black youth, with African American youth, you have a 59 percent unemployment."
“But how are you going to get jobs for them?” O’Reilly interjected. “Many of them are ill-educated and have tattoos on their foreheads, and I hate to be generalized about it, but it's true. If you look at all the educational statistics, how are you going to get jobs for people who aren't qualified for jobs?”
“We’re going to bring jobs back,” Trump responded. “We’re going to have Apple computers made in this country, not just…”
O’Reilly pushed back: “But you have to have skills to make Apple computers.”
“It’s more challenging for a poor child in Harlem without parental guidance in a school that’s falling apart than it is for some white kid out in Garden City," he continued. "You say you can bring jobs back, but if the kid isn’t qualified to do the job and can’t do the work – I mean – you’ve got to get into the infrastructure of the African-American community."
“Well it is true. It’s about education, but it’s also about spirit,” Trump said. “A lot of people don’t have spirit. Not only African-Americans, but we don’t have spirit in our country.”The Times obituary of former Senator Mark Hatfield notes his liberal stances and rejection of the rightward tilt of his party over his career—stances that also put him at odds with Democrats, notably his opposition to the Vietnam war. At the end of the piece, citing an interview Hatfield did with Sojourners magazine in 1996, the piece notes he found the religious right an “embarrassment” to his party, as well as his concern about its influence on Christianity, rather than politics.
In fact, Hatfield was prescient several decades earlier about the impact of the religious right. In the foreward to John Redekop’s The American Far Right: A Case Study of Billy James Hargis and the Christian Crusade, written in 1967, Hatfield blasted the anti-communist Christian crusaders of that decade:
Far right crusaders would deny that a man is Christian if he does not share their political beliefs. Their “either/or” philosphy extends into the realm of religion, and they counsel that you can accept either the welfare state or Christ—but not both. Far Righters often equate Communism with the devil and America with God. And God, to the Far Righters, is a personification of a white, Protestant, anti-Communist American. They have turned the scriptural tables and created God in their image. This unholy marriage of religion and politics has produced a perverted Christianity based not on love but hate, not on charity but persecution. The Far Righters are definitely not practicing religious fundamentalism, as they claim, but are actually practicing a form of paganism. They worship at the idol of “country” and have substituted the gospel of anti-Communism for the gospel of Christ.
How many Republicans serving in Congress today would reach Hatfield’s final conclusion? “The long-term consequences of political extremism must be anticipated, and responsible Americans must be determined that political discussion and action be conducted on a rational, informed basis.”Two months ago I decided, like countless expats before me, that it was time to leave China. Well, after spending two months home in America, I’ve decided to come right back.
Now I know what you’re thinking: Didn’t I just go to this guy’s going-away party? How the hell did he get his old job back? Didn’t he just sell me his bookcase?
I don’t have time to explain all that right now, but whoever bought my bookcase: I’m going to need that back.
Since arriving back here, I’ve had many people ask me, “I thought you were sick of China. What convinced you to come back?”
First of all, I never said I was sick of China.
Second of all, I’m even more sick of the United States.
So why did I do it? Why did I come back after leaving with such fanfare?
This is going to sound crazy but I missed not having to use coins. Buying a pack of gum and getting three pounds of change back is just crazy. Plus they make your jeans sag.
Another reason is that I couldn’t find a job worthy of my extensive resume. Most employers didn’t give a lick how much China experience I had, and those who did were surprised that I didn’t pick up Mandarin in the five years I spent in Beijing. As if a language made up of squiggles is that easy to learn. In the end, I couldn’t even get a job teaching English in the States, because apparently you need like a Ph.D or something.
Honestly, I thought I’d feel more at home back home, but let’s just say that home wasn’t exactly where the heart is. In fact, being home is downright unbearable when your parents are constantly nagging you. When are you going to get a job? When are you going to move out of the basement? Did you take $40 from the cash drawer?
If I’m being perfectly frank, I also missed not being the center of attention just because I was foreign. I hadn’t counted on the fact that going back to my home country meant that I was not going to be a foreigner at all.
I hadn’t anticipated the reverse culture shock of going back either. Cars stopping for me at crosswalks made me feel self-conscious. I’d talk shit about people in English, forgetting they could understand the language. More than once I was thrown out of Abercrombie & Fitch for haggling and insisting that their clothes were knock-offs. And the prices. $2 for a bottled water? $20 for an ironic T-shirt? $7.95 plus tax for Kung Pao Chicken, not including rice?! Financial crisis my ass.
Then one day, after my mom made me clean the basement, I delved deep and asked myself: Sure, you can get ice water everywhere, but what good is that when you can’t hire an ayi to clean your room for you?
So I told my manager at Starbucks to shove it, took $40 from my parents’ cash drawer, and bought a one-way ticket back to the only place that could handle a pimp like me.
And what can I say? It’s nice to be back. It’s nice to not tip and not be harangued by the waiter or chased out of the restaurant by the maître d’.It’s nice to illegally download movies and not have Comcast cut off your Internet. It’s nice to not have to use coins.
Go ahead, call me a Loser Back Home. Just know that this LBH makes 300 kuai an hour tutoring rich people’s kids. I wouldn’t trade that for all the YouTube and Facebook in the world.
If this trip home has taught me anything, it’s that the country you live in is like a wife. Sometimes, when you’ve been in one place too long, you start to wonder what else is out there. So you flirt with other countries and realize that, holy shit, they are all crazy or super high-maintenance.
What I’m trying to say, China, is that those other countries didn’t mean a thing.It’s obvious we still need each other. No more running around, I promise. No sir – this time, I’m here to stay.
This article originally appeared on page 92 of the December issue of the Beijinger.
Click here to see the December issue of the Beijinger in full.
Photo: bridgeschoolchina.comfourdadsoftheapocalypse.blogspot.com – A blog about Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy by four Dads
Following on from our previous (and inaugural) Star Dad interview, today we bring you another interview with another Star Dad, Graham McNeill. We know him as the author of Vengeful Spirit, Fulgrim and my personal favourite, Angel Exterminatus, among many other titles, but here he is in his own words as a hobbying dad. We know you principally as an author of literature based in and around the worlds of Warhammer 40k and the Horus Heresy. Did you play these games before you started writing about them?GM: I certainly did. I’ve been a gamer for as long as I can remember, making up board games based on characters from the pages of 2000AD. I made a Rogue Trooper board game using Cluedo-type mechanics, where you had to find clues to where the Traitor General would be and then go in to assassinate him. Then I made a Robo Hunter card game that was all about figuring out what kind of robot you were up against, finding its weakness and then bringing it in for a bounty - while the other players were doing the same thing. All great, creative fun and it indulged my nascent hobby itch by trying to find figures that closely matched the characters (remember this was back in the early 80s!) and making a board, drawing art for it, making counters and new dice - and then writing the rules for them. I was also halfway through rules for a Judge Dredd role-playing system when GW went and made some...sigh.My route into wargaming was via the Fighting Fantasy books, which I adored (and am now playing with my son, Evan) and which developed into actual role-playing games - principally AD&D and WFRP. I’ve always been a GM more than a player, so when the campaigns I ran got grander in scope, I wanted to have the player characters involved in large scale battles, but, of course, most RPG systems aren’t built for that. So I got the AD&D Battlesystem and used that for a while before I eventually bought the 3rd Edition Warhammer rules - the orange hardback - and fell in love with the Old World, the rules, the miniatures, etc. I became a regular at the Glasgow GW store, so immediately picked up Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader when it came out. And that was pretty much every weekend sorted until 2000, when I joined the Design Studio as one of the Staff Writers...Did you spend a lot of time hobbying before you had kids?GM: I certainly did, yeah. Way too much time, according to my parents, but I think by now they might just permit me a last laugh on that one. I played RPGs every Friday, wargamed on a Saturday and wrote rules for new games, new stories and continuations of the story for our ongoing tabletop gaming campaign on Sunday. Ah, the heady days where your weekends were your own. Over the years as various distractions of girls, the pub and university intruded into this hobby nirvana, the consistency in my gaming schedule dropped off some, though with being in the Design Studio it was still easy to get some toy soldier action on the go. And since 2000 I’ve had a regular RPG group going that met every Wednesday without fail, and which I only ceased playing with when I left the country to come to the US.What have been the biggest changes to your hobby time since they came along?GM: For the first few years, it didn’t affect it too much. Since leaving the Design Studio in 2006, my tabletop gaming had waned somewhat, but the Wednesday gamers were still going strong. We played every week, 90% of the time it was Cthulhu, AD&D, WFRP or Serenity we played, and the other 10% was boardames if enough of the regular crew couldn’t make it. It was hard to muster the energy to paint and do hobby stuff when I was so tired - as the disrupted sleep and so on took its toll on both of us. When the kids started getting a bit older (they’re now 5 and 7) I started taking them to Warhammer World in Nottingham on the weekends, and they loved it. So that brought a bit of hobby back as I explained what things were and what these people were doing gathered around the gaming tables.How do you find the time to do the day job, look after the family and still get a bit of hobby time in?GM: When I still lived in the UK, it wasn’t too bad. I worked freelance, so I was always able to take the kids to school and nursery, and be home at a sensible time to spend the evening with them before they went to bed. Routine is king when it comes to kids, and also adults who work freelance, it turns out. I found that if I rigorously timetabled my days then it became much easier to find the spaces where I could hobby without sacrificing time with my wife and family. Nowadays, it’s a bit harder, given that my regular gaming group live on a different continent, but given that I work for a video games company, there’s plenty of like-minded folk here and the opportunities for gaming are multiplying.Do your kids get involved with the hobby? Did you encourage them to? If so, what’s the best thing about their involvement from your point of view?GM: I encouraged it only by opening the door and showing them what lay within. I let them choose whether to step through or not. But when you’re five years old and you see a live size Lurtz and Space Marine, models of dragons and monsters and feel the shared joy and enthusiasm everyone in the hall has for the hobby, the people and the games, it’s hard not to be won over. Evan and I have played many games here and there (stripped down affairs where everything’s a win on 4+ and you move as many ‘units’ forward as the dice show etc.) and he really enjoyed it. It was hard not to get all rulesly on him (same with watching the dog’s dinner of his first paint jobs…) but I wanted to instil the love of the hobby and its imagery without crushing him with how he that wasn’t in the rules or how he wasn’t applying the colors in the correct Codex-approved pattern. It’s great to see how much they love the models and are into the background, as both my son and daughter, Amber, ask all sorts of interesting questions about the lore and how and why things work. So it’s great to feel like I’m doing my bit to keep the hobby going into the next generation. Seeing their imaginations expand into realms beyond talking cars and diggers is an amazing thing to watch.Why do you think we and our kids still love traditional wargames and board games, considering the ever increasing popularity of electronic games? It’s not like 40k is ‘pick up and play’ when you have to buy, assemble and paint the miniatures before you can even play a game…GM: I think the things you mention as barriers are the things that, to me, are what make such games the long-lasting love affairs they are. Having decided what army you want, reading the codex/army book, buying the models and then painting them, you’re already heavily invested in the process. There’s a tactile feeling you get from moving a piece around a board or across a table that no video game yet has been able to replicate. And there’s the social aspect of gaming that video games - no matter how much they tout their multiplayer aspect - can’t match. You’re sitting across a table from your fellow player(s), you’re talking to them, laughing with them, arguing the toss with them over a rule interpretation or model positioning, and celebrating after with a pint. Each game gets you stories and memories that will live forever. I have tales from every kind of gaming that still make me chuckle or rage at; memories I can share and know are remembered by my fellow players. I haven’t had a single incident playing any kind of multiplayer game on a console that’s even come close to that.Have you ever been in a funny situation having to explain something from a sci-fi universe to your kids? (for example my two-year old asked me what every single tiny thing was on an imperial orbital array tower at Warhammer World the other week, and I just found myself making up all sorts of descriptions... I thought it was funny anyway).GM: Mostly it’s been trying to explain Slaaneshi daemons to a six year old without getting red in the face. I’ve not had any incidents that are too strange, though there’s been moments when I’ve started explaining one thing and then realised that, for it to make sense, I need to go back and explain something else. I’ve always just explained things enough to get them on board with the idea of good guy/bad guy, the nuances will come out when they’re older.As part of the Horus Heresy series you have written about a number of different legions and their Primarchs. We are currently running a Primarch Deathmatch on twitter. If such a thing was to actually happen, who do you think would win and why?GM: Ah, the old ‘my dad’s bigger than your dad’ fight. That’s a tough one, as the person I’d want to win, isn’t necessarily the person I think would win. In a straight fight, I reckon it’d be Perturabo who’d come out on top, as he can take anything you can throw at him. He’d just let you pummel him until your fists were broken, your arms were leaden and you had nothing left to give. Then he’d smash you down with an iron fist. Game over.If there was something you could go back in time and tell your pre-parent self, what would it be?GM: Make the most of your hobby time and make sure to make time for it. Some folk need the pub, knitting, the gym or whatever is that’s their thing. Doesn’t matter what it is, if it’s your thing then you need it to maintain your mental equilibrium. So my advice to me back then would be to not think that putting hobby time aside is you being more ‘adult’, it’s just denying you a part of what make you who you are. Playing games and nerding out over SF/Fantasy/Horror and hobby is what makes me me, so I’d tell my old self to not listen to anyone who asks me if I think I’m too old to be playing games. I’m not and I never will be.Many thanks to Graham for taking the time to share his experiences.Current (170.47) and Upcoming (171.0) Patch Notes (ETA: Today, June 5, EST)
Upcoming Version:
171.00
* Added a "Difficulty" slider for Local/Custom Servers that scales the levels of the creatures encountered, along with the quality of loot (but not quite linearly with each other, so you can expect a tougher challenge overall as that slider goes up!).
* Added the capability to choose respawn region upon each player respawn. Set 12 spawn regions, rather than 4.
* Added code now for flyers to not follow you into water, and land creatures to have a depth limit they're willing to follow you to :)
* Adjusted various Quality Group graphics settings to increase performance on each tier.
* You can now properly apply the ARK Founders' Parasaur Saddle Skin, to the Parasaur Saddle :)
* Increased the length of time for dead player bodies/inventories to decompose, to 20 minutes
* You can now whitelist specific SteamID's that will always be granted access to your server, even when it's full (typically used for admins to get in).
* Console key can now be rebinded through the Options Menu
* All Host Game options are now visible in the in-game launch menu (which also affects singleplayer), as well as saved in INI for easy access
* Fixed an issue where sometimes no servers would return
* Server Player counts should finally be fixed in-game
* Downloading ARK Data Characters into other Servers will no longer lose them
* You can now rebind the Arrow Keys properly (strafe, turn, whatever you want)
* On your server, you can now use 'cheat' or 'admincheat' to cheat after logging in as and admin. "cheat broadcast MessageString" will now let you broadcast a server message to everyone on your server (which also force displays the chat). Note that you can also set a Message-Of-The-Day here:
[MessageOfTheDay]
Message=Hello and welcome to my ARK Server! :-D
* Added an option to hide the Server Name from your Pause Menu, so that streamers don't have to give away what server they're playing on.
* Your last server filter settings now save and restore
* Argentavis now has a very limited (60 |
submit your own insults on the developer’s Github page.
I personally found that the abusive notifications were not too intrusive – only 1 message per day for each day you missed the gym. The notifications are rather humorous, and after checking out the settings I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could even set the level of “Abuse” that I received each day I forgot to workout. Of course, I set it to the most abusive level because if you are going to abuse someone to go workout – I say do it properly. When I thought about this feature in some detail, I recognized that it’s rather cleverly implemented. If, for example, you have kids who are old enough to read, you don’t want your phone displaying a string of profanity as long as your mother’s arm to ruin their innocence.
The settings for the level of abusiveness are as follows:
Passive Aggressive
Abusive
Abusive (Mature)
Pipit, the developer of this application, has a great sense of humor as when you set the application to its most abusive level the screen text changes to match the new “Mature” mode as shown below:
You can also customize when you get the notification which nicely coincides with when you were supposed to go the gym – you know for that ‘kick ’em while they are down’ affect. On a more practical note though, not everyone goes to the gym at the same time so having the message pop up in the morning when you usually go the gym in the evening wouldn’t make sense, but the settings are there so if you want some abuse in the morning to motivate your afternoon or evening gym sessions then Abusive Gym Reminders has got your back.
Hard to Take Seriously
There are a few usability issues that I had with “Abusive Gym Reminder” application though. For instance, you can edit gym data for the current day and specify if it was a gym day or not – however it isn’t immediately obvious how to do so. I accidentally discovered that you need to tap on the circle day icons on the main screen. When you do so, up pops a little box that allows you to change values, however on my test device (the Nexus 6P) – the text is quite small and you have to tap just right to get the values to change. I also noticed that no matter what day I tapped on – be it Wednesday or Thursday – only Friday’s box would show. At the time of writing it was a Friday, which makes sense but was a little confusing at first.
Overall, I enjoyed using this application – but sadly for the wrong reasons. I started missing the gym on purpose and setting up “Fake” gyms in countries that I would not be visiting just so I could see what the next message would say. It was a laugh to see your phone giving you some abusive message and I thoroughly enjoyed it. In a weird way, it made my phone feel like one of those old grandpa characters on television – yelling at the kids to get off the lawn. I ended up setting the application to send the messages before I was supposed to go to the gym, so it kinda worked as a kick in the butt to get myself down to the gym that day, rather than its intended purpose which is to berate me for already missing my workout. But hey, at least it gets you to the gym, right?
I’ll wrap this XDA Spotlight up by saying you should definitely check this application out if you are a serial gym procrastinator. It does indeed give you a little extra push to get yourself to the gym, at least in my experience. If you are big into fitness and you regularly go to the gym already, then this application will probably only serve to give you a chuckle each day. It doesn’t store enough detailed information about your gym visits to be any value to gym rats, but for us mortals who have trouble just getting out of bed on a wet cold day, it could give us just the right amount of motivation to make it to the gym.Ex-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan: Bitcoin What Fiat “Used to Be”
As the Chairman of the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades (1987-2006), Alan Greenspan’s been an infamous leading player in global finance in contemporary times.
And in a new interview on Fox Business, Greenspan surprised many by using his reputational capital – or notoriety, depending on your viewpoint – to once more enter his opinion into the Bitcoin debate.
Greenspan turned to history to frame his comments on BTC, suggesting the cryptocoin behaved somewhat similarly to the unbacked currencies of the 18th century:
“I would use the analogy of Continental currency. Continental currency in 1775 was issued with no backing and it sold at par in the marketplace for quite a while until they started to build up more and more printing of continentals.” “Human nature is such that if you get something such as Bitcoin, you think there is some value there whether there is or there isn’t. But that’s the same thing as a Continental, greenbacks in the Civil War, all of these currencies which didn’t have any backing.”
Alan Greenspan: “You have to really stretch your imagination to infer what intrinsic value of #bitcoin is. I haven’t been able to do it.” pic.twitter.com/bH9795GhKa — Eli Dror (@edrormba) June 28, 2017
Greenspan refers to “whether there is or isn’t” inherent value to Bitcoin, acknowledging the debates on the subject that are raging between traditional and progressive economists today.
For his part, though, Greenspan’s previously and unsurprisingly acknowledged that he camps with the former, remarking back in 2013 that:
“You have to really stretch your imagination to infer what the intrinsic value of bitcoin is. I haven’t been able to do it. Maybe somebody else can.”
But the interesting part about his new comments is the practicality they reference. Even in saying Continental currency had no backing, it worked and functioned in the economic order of its day.
So, too, does Bitcoin have the opportunity to do that in the here and now.
Except instead of just working and functioning, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies like it bear within them the promise to revolutionize civilization’s financial order for centuries to come.
TLDR: In new comments, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan curiously noted that Bitcoin is what fiat “used to be.” Even still, the ex-Chairman isn’t all-in on BTC.
Like this: Like Loading...In the satellite town of Keflavík, a forty-minute drive from the center of the Icelandic capital of Reykjavík, sits a 200,000-square-foot data facility containing 400,000 servers. Poking up above the snow-covered hills, the whitewashed exterior of the complex resembles a military barracks. Inside, winding, sterile corridors are flooded with the hard light of fluorescent ceiling bulbs.
The place feels dystopian — like the wrong side of a quarantine fence — but it isn’t. Not at all. Owned by a company called Verne Global, the world’s first zero-carbon data center represents both the future of big business (BMW keeps ones and zeroes here) and a national ambition. Data centers are sprouting up from Iceland’s cold soil as the country races to build out a data infrastructure sufficient to make it a global “Data Capital.”
Innovation in data infrastructure, both physical and legislative, is an Icelandic speciality. In 2010, the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI) was passed unanimously by the oldest standing parliament in the world. This legislative framework was designed to transform the country and its capital city into safe havens for information by providing strong legal protections, unrivaled by any other country on Earth.
A naturally cooled data center outside Reykjavik.
“Icelanders are gadget freaks. We live on this tiny island with 330,000 people. It’s a very long winter, so we’re like a completely indoor culture,” says Birgitta Jónsdóttir, the parliamentarian who co-founded the Icelandic Pirate Party and appears poised to become the country’s next prime minister.
Iceland’s journey towards data haven status began on the streets of Reykjavik in 2008, when the global financial crisis hit and Iceland’s economy imploded. Unlike the rest of the world, the island nation didn’t freeze. The Icelanders made moves: They jailed the bankers responsible for the crash, crowdsourced a new constitution and got behind the Pirate Party — the once fringe political movement that’s expected to win a majority in next month’s parliamentary elections.
Jónsdóttir’s work has been instrumental in drafting, championing and implementing the IMMI legislation that underlies Reykjavik’s metamorphosis into the forward operating base for the digital rights movement. “95% of Icelanders are on the Internet and almost as many are on Facebook. We are not a technology-afraid nation and that really changes what is possible,” she explains.
There’s also a lot of local expertise. Having homed NATO bases for the US nuclear early-warning system during the Cold War, Iceland has been a key data hub since the inception of the internet. Data sent back and forth between Europe and North America is bounced along submarine data cables that plug directly into Iceland’s internet infrastructure.
More impressive still, Reykjavik’s energy grid is powered entirely by geothermal and hydroelectric sources. Iceland’s volcanoes and glacial rivers provide virtually unlimited sustainable energy for data centers, and at dirt cheap prices too. When the servers get too hot, smart ventilation systems open up and allow the sub-arctic winds to cool the systems at near-zero cost.
Because of its unique natural assets and its population’s determination to leverage them, Reykjavik, which has the same population as Evansville, Indiana, could become a global leader for all things digital. Two-thirds of Iceland’s population live in the metropolitan area, which is poised to become to data what Zurich is to finance.
Data data data. Data data data.
With the rise of self-driving cars, the Internet of Things, and other futuristic technologies, data is becoming increasingly big business globally. As this happens, leading tech companies find themselves in need of exactly the kind of services Reykjavik is making a name for itself by offering. The most prominent examples of this are laws explicitly forbidding the disclosure of information to national intelligence agencies — something of enormous value to companies like Apple and Google after high-profile FBI attempts to backdoor their software. So could this result in a series of tech companies flocking to Iceland’s capital over the coming years?
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“As a nation, we are making legislative changes that will help make us a data haven. Combined with our ideal environment and infrastructure, we hope this will have a positive impact for business in Reykjavik, and yes, attract technology companies,” says Mörður Ingólfsson, a civil rights and free software enthusiast, and CEO of 1984 Hosting, Iceland’s biggest ISP.
Modern Icelandic professionals go to work.
“We hope also that people in general appreciate this kind of environment, and that other countries will adopt our approach and move the rights that we take for granted in the real world into the cyber world,” he adds.
Silicon Valley may be home to the world’s most innovative tech companies, and cities like Zurich and London may be global financial hubs, but it seems like nobody can compete with Reykjavik as a global data capital. The Icelandic economy may have suffered its biggest crisis in history in the years following the 2008 crash, but the future of its capital city looks bright and prosperous.The ringleader in a series of unusual hair- and beard-cutting attacks on fellow Amish religious followers in the U.S. was sentenced Friday to 15 years in prison.
Before his sentencing, Samuel Mullet Sr. told the judge that he had been blamed for running a cult and was ready to take the punishment. The judge also sentenced 15 other members of the deeply traditional group to prison terms ranging from one to seven years.
Amish believe the Bible instructs women to let their hair grow long and men to grow beards once they marry. Cutting it would be offensive to the group.
However, Mullet’s followers broke into homes, restrained men and women and sheared their victims, sometimes with tools used to clip horse manes.
The government said the attacks were retaliation against Amish who had defied or denounced Mullet’s authoritarian style.
The court heard Mullet, an Amish bishop, presided over a settlement of about 18 families near the town of Bergholz, Ohio.
The case unveiled a tiny sect in thrall to its leader, who in the name of purity abolished Sunday church services and punished men for ogling non-Amish women by confining them to chicken coops. Testimony also detailed how Mullet pressured married female followers, including a daughter-in-law, to have sex with him.
The defendants were charged with a hate crime because prosecutors believe religious differences brought about the attacks.
“The victims were terrorized and traumatized,” U.S. District Court Judge Dan Aaron Polster said. He added that the defendants had violated the constitutional rights protecting religious practice that had benefited them as Amish.
The 10 men and six women were convicted last year in five attacks in Amish communities in 2011.
The 67-year-old Mullet, his ankles in chains and a white beard down to mid-chest, said if his community was seen as a cult, “Then I’m going to take the punishment for everybody.”
Defence attorneys have indicated that appeals were likely. Defence lawyers claimed the government was blowing out of proportion personal vendettas Mullet harbored against former followers and other critics, and that the hair and beard-cutting was humiliating but not physically injurious, and thus did not deserve a lengthy sentence.
The government had asked for a life sentence for Mullet.
In a rare interview last week, Mullet’s unmarried 19-year-old grandson, Edward Mast, discussed the family’s attitude. He said they were steadfast in the belief that the attacks didn’t rise to the level of a hate crime.
“The beard, what it stands for me, what I know about it, once you’re married, you just grow a beard. That’s just the way the Amish is,” Mr. Mast said. As for the victims, he added, “They got their beard back again, so what’s the big deal about it?”
Arlene Miller, 48, whose husband, an Amish bishop, was among the victims, said Mullet deserved a tough sentence and the others should get less time if they got cult deprogramming counselling.
“It’s a cult,” she said. “Their minds were programmed in the wrong way by Sam Mullet, so we feel like these people are very deceived and they are actually victims of Sam Mullet.”
She said there were no winners in the ordeal.
“There’s no happy ending to this,” she said.
The Associated PressBuy Photo Wisconsin quarterback Alex Hornibrook warms up before a November game against Purdue in West Lafayette, Ind. UW coach Paul Chryst made it clear after the team’s first spring practice that the No. 1 job belongs to Hornibrook (Photo: Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)Buy Photo
Madison — Wisconsin should have its top two quarterbacks available for the Big Ten Conference championship game.
Redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook, who suffered an apparent concussion in the regular-season finale against Minnesota, practiced Tuesday.
UW coach Paul Chryst was not available for comment Tuesday but said Sunday that Hornibrook felt fine after going through an aerobic workout.
Hornibrook has started all nine Big Ten games for UW (10-2, 7-2), which plays Penn State (10-2, 8-1) at 7:17 p.m. Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
He has completed 58.1% of his passes for 113.0 yards per game, with eight touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Senior Bart Houston started the first three games, did not play in the first three Big Ten games but has come off the bench in the last six.
Houston has completed 63.9% of his passes for 101.3 yards per game, with five touchdowns and three interceptions.
POLL: How concerned are you about UW’s quarterback situation for the Big Ten title game?
“I’ve got to tip my hat to both of them for the job they’ve done,” redshirt senior tight end Eric Steffes said after practice Tuesday. “It is tough enough having to start as a redshirt freshman and then getting into the situation where they split time.
“Mentally, I think that would be a tough thing. But I think they’ve both done a great job embracing it and saying: ‘Hey, when I’m in, I’m the guy doing everything I can to help the team.’
“They both do that and I think it has worked out well.”
Michael Deiter — who started 13 games as a redshirt freshman last season, seven at left guard and six at center — understands the difficulty of being asked to start early.
“What is impressive about him is that through all those phases he hasn’t changed,” Deiter said of Hornibrook. “I know it is something I didn’t do. I got nervous and there were highs and lows.
“With Alex, he has been level-headed. He has been steady through good times and bad times. Because we’ve had some good games and we’ve had some bad games.
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“He has stayed confident in himself, which is impressive for a young player, especially at that position.
“You have a bad game as a quarterback and it seems to me it would be easy to be hard on yourself because so much is riding on your performance. But he has stayed confident.”
Hornibrook, listed Monday on the team's injury report as questionable, was not available for interviews Tuesday.
Houston told reporters he is prepared to play as little or a much as necessary.
"I've been doing that ever since LSU, the first game of the season," he said. "Your prepare like you're going to play every snap."Number of the Week 122%
122%: U.S. household debt as a share of annual disposable income
U.S. consumers are paring down their debts faster than many economists had expected. To understand what that means, though, it helps to know how they’re doing it.
As of the end of March, the average U.S. household’s total mortgage, credit-card and other debt stood at 122% of annual disposable income, meaning it would take a bit more than 14 months to pay it all off if everyone stopped spending money on anything else. That sounds like a lot, but it’s better than it was before: At its peak in the first quarter of 2008, the debt-to-income ratio stood at 131%. Economists tend to see 100% as a reasonable level, so we’re almost a third of the way there.
The falling debt burden conjures up images of a nation seeking to repent after a decade of profligacy, conscientiously paying down mortgages and credit-card balances. That may be true in some cases, but it’s not the norm. In fact, people are making much more progress in shedding their debts by defaulting on mortgages and reneging on credit cards.
Since household debt hit its peak in early 2008, banks have charged off a total of about $210 billion in mortgage and consumer loans, including credit cards. If one assumes that investors suffered at least that much in losses on similar loans that banks packaged and sold as securities (a very conservative assumption), then the total — that is, the amount of debt consumers shed through defaults — comes to much more than $400 billion.
Problem is, that’s more than the concurrent decrease in household debts, which amounts to only $372 billion, according to the Federal Reserve. That means consumers, on average, aren’t paying down their debts at all. Rather, the defaulters account for the whole decline, while the rest have actually been building up more debt straight through the worst financial crisis and recession in decades.
In a sense, people who default on onerous debts — including the “strategic defaulters” who still have jobs and could pay — are doing the economy a favor. They’re freeing up cash to spend on other things, which can boost demand and give companies the confidence they need to start hiring again. If everybody just hunkered down and tried to pay their insurmountable debts, we might never have gotten out of the recession. Defaults are bad for the banks, but taxpayers already covered the cost of the losses through federal bailouts.
The bigger question, though, is what we as a society will learn from the experience. The lesson seems to be that the way to get ahead in the world is to take huge risks — buy a house you can’t afford with no money down, or invest huge amounts of borrowed money in risky loans — but let somebody else pick up the bill if things go wrong. As the growing U.S. federal debt demonstrates, that’s not a sustainable way to run an economy.Bryce Harper (34) and relief pitcher Jonathan Papelbon (58) fight in the dugout on Sept. 27. (Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post)
When Dusty Baker is introduced as the new manager of the Washington Nationals on Thursday, he may have one fewer problem to worry about than most assume. Since the end of the season, Bryce Harper has reached out to Jonathan Papelbon to make sure their relationship as teammates is functional next season.
“Papelbon and Harper are fine together,” one person inside the Nationals said, referring to Harper’s phone call. “Harp just wants to win. All he cares about is that we have a 45-save relief pitcher who’s going to help us.”
Only time will tell to what degree Harper’s off-season olive branch improves the relationship between the two after their dugout fight in September, when Papelbon cursed Harper as he returned to the dugout. After a much-provoked Harper responded “Let’s go,” Papelbon jumped at the slugger and ended up with his hand around Harper’s throat.
As the aggrieved party in the fight between the two, Harper’s no-hard-feelings stance could be seen as a sign of emerging leadership skills from a 23-year-old. Of course, if they’re trying to suffocate each other with saw dust in a sliding pit during spring training, then maybe not.
Or it could be part eye-wash to facilitate a Papelbon trade. However, on a team that now has bristly Mike Rizzo as GM and Baker as manager, the Nats’ operating philosophy likely will be: Work-it-out-or-punch-it-out, but produce on the field.
Ironically, in Baker, the Nats hired a manager who in San Francisco successfully handled one of MLB’s legendarily bad relationships between two arrogant superstars: Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds. Of the pair it was said that “they’ve turned their lives around. They used to be abrasive and obnoxious. Now they’re obnoxious and abrasive.” And Baker had ’em both for six years together.
“Dusty was the manager when they had a fight in the Giants’ dugout,” Nats General Manager Mike Rizzo said this week.
1 of 23 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Nationals hire Dusty Baker as manager View Photos Out of baseball for two seasons, Baker has 20 years of experience as a Major League skipper. Caption Out of baseball for two seasons, Baker has 20 years of experience as a Major League skipper. Nov. 5, 2015 Dusty Baker, left, models a jersey during his introduction as the Washington Nationals new manager as general manager Mike Rizzo looks on at Nationals Stadium. John McDonnell/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
Actually, Baker was in the middle of the screaming and shoving, breaking it up. Baker pulled away Kent and was overheard yelling in Kent’s face, “Don’t you ever talk that way to me.” The Giants trainer dragged Bonds away from the fracas.
Under Baker, a span during which they often batted in tandem, Kent won a Most Valuable Player award and drove in 115 runs a year while Bonds, in 10 years under Baker, won three MVPs and set the single-season homer record of 73.
What if Harper and Papelbon keep fussing or, perhaps, even lay hands on one another again? How might Baker respond? One possibility is that he’ll barely care.
“Add this [fight] to the half-dozen times we’ve done it before,” said Kent after their dugout dispute in June of ’02 — a time when they’d been back-to-back MVPs.
Ten minutes after their caught-on-camera F-bomb explosion, Bonds hit a three-run homer and Kent gave him a high-five at home plate — fitting, perhaps, because Baker and L.A. teammate Glenn Burke are credited with inventing the high-five.
“It ain’t a problem,” Baker said, after the umpteenth Bonds-Kent ruckus. “I went through the same thing in L.A. with a couple of guys. Now we see each other, and we’re partners. Usually this happens on good teams.
“Bad teams always get along.”
In a related note, Nats people also say the team’s current plan is to have both Papelbon and Drew Storen in the end back of their bullpen again next year with the expectation that they will work out a way to “play nice together.”
If they don’t, the old-school Baker, who’s not averse to running a ballclub that has an occasional brouhaha with opposing teams, too, can always hand out the boxing gloves in the bullpen and separate ‘em in the clinches.A “robot boat” beauty parade is being held to help the Royal Navy decide which drone technologies it could use in the future.
The event on April 16 and 17 will bring the latest unmanned maritime systems together for evaluation and to see which ones could be used in huge “Joint Warrior” military exercise off Scotland in 2016.
The event - a cross between Dragons’ Den and Robot Wars - will see technology groups show off their maritime autonomous systems (MAS) with the hope of them being taken on and developed.
Drone technology is part of the Navy’s vision of the future, with the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir George Zambellas, having said he sees it replacing sailors doing “dull and dirty” missions.
“The Royal Navy will lead – and win – through the innovative and robust exploitation of MAS. They open up a new world of possibilities,” he said.
Previous Joint Warrior exercises have tested the Royal Navy's capabilities
As well as giants of the defence world, the event - being staged by defence technology group QinetiQ at its Gosport testing centre - is also attracting British SMEs and micro-businesses.
Boats made by Chichester-based micro-business Autonaut are among those being evaluated. Autonaut’s vessels convert wave motion into propulsion, giving them potentially unlimited endurance. They are also fitted with solar panels and a methanol fuel cell to power their electronics.
David Maclean, managing director, said: “Our vessels have an endurance of three months at the moment, but in two years will be crossing the Atlantic on missions lasting up to 12 months."
“At three to five metres long and moving at two to four knots, Autonauts are small, slow, but very, very persistent,” added Mr Maclean, a former Royal Navy engineer. The company’s products can be used for oceanographic surveys or gathering data from other sensors.
“The next stage could see them with more sophisticated sensors potentially hunting for mines, listening for submarines or used for surveillance,” he said. “They are little boats that are very hard to spot.”
Blue Bear is another company due to showcase its systems. The Bedfordshire-based firm, which has 40 staff, is in its 16th year of developing unmanned systems and control technology, making it one of the most experienced companies in the sector.
“Our technology allows drones go away and do something on their own,” said Yoge Patel, chief executive. “The UK is absolutely at the forefront of drone technology - just look at our heritage. We have led the way in seafaring and engineering.”
Blue Bear has developed small surface vessels capable of collision detection and avoidance and the company sees itself providing the equipment for smaller vessels deployed off Navy ships for duties including reconnaissance.
“We’re looking at systems deployed despatched main vessels to scout ahead or act as a communications array,” said Ms Patel. “At the moment the Navy uses helicopters which are expensive and most ships can only carry one of them.”
As well as extending defensive perimeter around manned ships, Blue Bear believes MAS could in the future be used for dangerous work such as mine-clearing or laying.
The unmanned maritime industry has been estimated as being worth £1.4bn between 2010 and 2019, with the sector expected to grow further.
ASV has developed unmanned maritime systems for use in roles including surveillance
Based in Portchester is Autonomous Surface Vehicles (ASV), which has delivered over 60 MAS in roles including mine countermeasures, target drones, long endurance survey catamarans, oil field services vehicles and station-keeping buoys.
Over the past four years the company's team of more than 40 engineers and naval architects have supplied customers including the Royal Navy, RAF, QinetiQ and missile manufacturer MBDA.
The company has also worked with French defence group Thales's UK business to develop anti-mine unmanned vessels called "Halcyon". A derivative of this is now being put forward for an Anglo-French programme, with the vessel designed to support maritime operations.
The vessel, which is more than 30ft in length, is capable of almost 30 knots, can carry a payload of 2.5 tons and has a range of sensors allowing it to send back information from the frontlines.
“Halcyon has been designed for flexible operations in manned, remote and semi-autonomous modes to provide real-time command and control and situation awareness for the USV and its payloads,” a spokesman for ASV said.Ret. Army Gen. Jack Keane Says He Declined Offer To Be Defense Secretary
Enlarge this image toggle caption Drew Angerer/Getty Images Drew Angerer/Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump asked him to serve as secretary of defense, retired four-star Army Gen. Jack Keane tells NPR's Rachel Martin — but Keane declined the offer, citing personal reasons. Keane says he recommended retired generals James Mattis and David Petraeus for the job.
"I was asked to serve, but I'm not able to," Keane told Rachel. "I have some personal issues surrounding the death of my wife recently, and I explained all that to Mr. Trump, and he was very gracious and understanding, and quite supportive."
Keane's wife, Theresa, died in late June after a fight with Parkinson's Disease. The couple were married for 51 years and raised two sons.
Ret. Army Gen. Jack Keane Says He Declined Offer To Be Defense Secretary Listen · 5:45 5:45
After saying no to the Defense job, Keane says that Trump asked him who else would be a good fit for the post, he says, and he named retired Marine Corps Gen. Mattis and former CIA Director Petraeus as candidates to lead the Defense Department — and in light of recent reports that portrayed Mattis and Keane as Trump's top choices, Mattis would now seem to be the top pick.
Mattis is one of several possible Cabinet office-holders visiting Trump at his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J., this weekend; Keane visited Trump Tower in New York on Thursday. On Sunday morning, Trump said Mattis "was very impressive yesterday. A true General's General!"
Trump's other visitors Saturday included Mitt Romney — who is rumored to be in the running for secretary of state — and two possible candidates to lead the Department of Education: former Washington, D.C., schools chief Michelle Rhee and former Michigan GOP chairwoman Betsy DeVos.
Today, the incoming president is meeting with more potential appointees and advisers. The list includes: conservative writer John Gray; Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach; investor (and rumored Commerce candidate) Wilbur Ross; Gov. Chris Christie; Rudy Giuliani; BET founder Robert Johnson; and investment firm executive David McCormick.
On Friday, Trump named his choices to three key jobs in his new administration: Sen. Jeff Sessions for attorney general, Michael Flynn for national security adviser, and Rep. Mike Pompeo for CIA director.High court's sex offender ruling endorses federal authority
In a case that may affect the healthcare overhaul, the justices vote 7 to 2 to give Congress 'broad authority' to enact all laws that are 'necessary and proper' to carrying out its constitutional power.
The ruling arose from a constitutional challenge not to the healthcare mandate, but to the federal authority to hold sex criminals after they have completed their prison terms. Fifteen years ago, the court upheld similar state laws, so this case involved only the reach of federal power.
The "choice of means" for carrying out its aims is left "primarily … to the judgment of Congress," said Justice Stephen G. Breyer in U.S. vs. Comstock.
The Constitution not only gives Congress the power to regulate interstate commerce, the justices said, but the authority to enact all laws that are "necessary and proper" to carrying out this authority.
The Supreme Court set a potential blueprint Monday for upholding the recently enacted healthcare law and its mandate that all Americans have insurance, saying Congress has a "broad authority" to pass laws that are "rationally related" to its constitutional aims.
Last year, a federal appeals court in Virginia struck down the law that authorized federal prisons to hold sex criminals who are deemed dangerous. Its judge said Congress "had exceeded its authority" in passing this part of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.
The case was the first clear test of federal authority to come before the high court in five years, and was argued just as Congress neared final passage of the broad healthcare law. In January, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, now President Obama's nominee to the court, appeared before it to defend a broad reading of congressional power in the Comstock case.
At the same time, conservative "tea party" activists, among others, were insisting that the Constitution tightly limits the power of Congress. They contend that the health insurance mandate should be struck down because it exceeds the power given to Congress.
For its part, the Obama administration said it planned to defend the mandate as a necessary means of regulating the cost of health insurance nationwide.
In the sex offender case, the court upheld by a 7-2 vote Congress' power to authorize holding sex criminals beyond their sentences. Breyer's opinion, which spoke for five of the justices, said Congress can do what it deems necessary to carry out its constitutional authority.
Although the Constitution does not say that Congress can establish crimes or prisons, Breyer said, Congress can regulate interstate commerce — and most federal crimes, such as drug trafficking, have a clear interstate link. So if Congress can send criminals to prison, it can also require that they be held indefinitely if they are deemed dangerous, he said.
Quoting 19th century Chief Justice John Marshall, Breyer said Congress may use "all means which are appropriate" to carry out its constitutional powers.
Breyer also rejected the notion that such prison terms invade the sovereign terrain of the states, a complaint voiced in this case and in the debate over healthcare. It is true the 10th Amendment limits "powers not delegated to the United States," Breyer said. If Congress has a delegated power, such as over interstate commerce, it may regulate it in a way that infringes on the state's authority, he said.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor joined Breyer's opinion.
Justices Anthony M. Kennedy and Samuel A. Alito Jr. agreed with the outcome, but took issue with parts of Breyer's broad statement of congressional powers.
Roger Pilon, vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute and a critic of the healthcare law, called Breyer's opinion "a breathtaking expansion of federal power. It could pave the way for the court to find that Congress has the power, with Obamacare, to order individuals to buy healthcare from private vendors."President Trump on the South Lawn of the White House. (Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency)
Fox News has come under some scrutiny for its generous treatment of President Trump. The most recent example was a series of tweets Saturday — Trump’s 100th day in office — purporting to compare his economic performance with that of other recent presidents. Setting aside the assertion that there’s a link between what the government does and job creation (which employees of the network reject or embrace depending on the president and the jobs under consideration), this bit of data obviously and immediately doesn’t tell the story that the network apparently intends to tell.
Jobless rate after first 3 months: Trump vs. Obama vs. Bush vs. Clinton. pic.twitter.com/EUTEseJyTj — Fox News (@FoxNews) April 29, 2017
Why is the unemployment rate 4.5 percent 100 days into Trump’s administration compared with the 9 percent under Barack Obama? Because it fell more than 4 percent over the other 2,800 days of Obama’s two terms, which began at the tail end of the recession. Trump had nothing to do with it.
That tweet (and another, looking at jobs added in the first 100 days of the Trump presidency) gained Fox a lot of unfavorable attention. Lamentably, this clip from an interview that aired Friday did not.
That is Fox’s Martha MacCallum, interviewing the president on a range of issues. During the conversation, Trump hailed his election win, said he “couldn’t care less about golf” and casually mentioned making Congress more pliable. The segment above, though, stands out as a remarkable abrogation of the network’s responsibility when talking to this highly unorthodox president.
Here’s the transcript. It’s long, but necessary.
TRUMP: I have two guys — I mean, I have the president of Goldman Sachs, Gary Cohn, I have Steve Mnuchin, one of the most successful guys — never made a bad deal. These are very smart guys. But I said, fellas, you keep forgetting to mention — because I’m the one that set the numbers, I’m the one that did this to a large extent — you keep forgetting to say that the biggest beneficiaries are the middle-class people who have been absolutely hurt. MACCALLUM: But your critics are going to say, well, real estate companies like |
season have also become increasingly ambitious.
Chelsea, for example, headed to the US to play Manchester City as soon as their marathon season finished and will head to Thailand, Malaysia, India and back to America before the start of the 2013-14 season. Manchester United will go to Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and Hong Kong. It is in that context that Fox International executives have drawn up their plan, but they will have to convince club owners it represents a better bet than forging their own path.
The Guinness International Cup, featuring eight clubs including Milan, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Juventus and LA Galaxy would appear to be a dry run for the more ambitious scheme. Games will be played mostly in the US, with the finals in Miami in August.
The thinking may also be influenced by the fact that Fox has lost the rights to live Premier League football in the US to NBC for the next three seasons. In what is expected to be a watershed moment for the appeal of football in the US, NBC will show every match live including 20 on its main network.
Murdoch has made several attempts to shake up sports – in the 1990s News Corp set up its own rugby Super League in Australia, forcing the sport's national governing body to partner to create the National Rugby League competition. Earlier this year it emerged that BSkyB and News Corp were interested in creating a new world series of cycling – while in 2011 Murdoch's media group made an unsuccessful attempt to take control of Formula One.
Plans for a European Super League have been proposed with various degrees of seriousness several times in the past decade. There was a detailed plan doing the rounds in 2009 and again in 2011, but the Uefa president, Michel Platini, has been alive to the threat and sealed a deal in 2012 with the European Clubs Association, representing 137 of the biggest clubs, that will hold until 2018 and should keep them within the Uefa fold.
With the idea of playing regular season games abroad torpedoed in the short term by the negative reaction to the Premier League's unusually half-baked "39th game" plan in 2008, attention has turned to the close season.
News Corp and BSkyB declined to comment.
Drawing up ambitious plans for a close season tournament would allow the clubs involved to avoid clashing with their domestic leagues and the existing European club competitions, although Fifa and Uefa may have concerns over what is becoming an increasingly cluttered summer football calendar. The fixture list has become a battleground for the ongoing political battles between the clubs, leagues and governing bodies jostling for control of the calendar.
• This article was amended on 17 June 2013. An earlier version said the early rounds of the Guinness International Champions Cup would be played in Europe. Most games will be played in the US, and only one in Europe.Hernandez has worked at Hyatt's Andaz hotel in West Hollywood for 15 years. On March 19, she was suspended — meaning she could be about to lose her job. The reason the hotel gave had something to do with improper room cleaning procedure, but she says she did nothing wrong. Her version of events: That day, I noticed the carpet in the room was dirty, so I requested a shampoo – a procedure that requires another employee and extra time. I then went into the bathroom and noticed the guest had been sick because he left quite a mess in the toilet. I sprayed down the toilet, and while the cleaner penetrated, I went on to start cleaning the next room. I marked the room as “unfinished” in the hotel’s electronic tracking system. Her statement is a reminder of the unpleasant things hotel workers have to deal with — but did the Andaz really suspend her for improper handling of vomit? Or did they object to her activism?
Hernandez (left) leafletting in front of the Andaz.
Leigh Shelton, a representative for hotel workers' union UNITE HERE Local 11, says Hernandez has long been a top leader for workers' rights. She's spoken to community groups and women's groups on behalf of the union, and met with clergy and elected officials. She's testified before the National Labor Relations Board, and she participated in a weeklong strike last fall protesting excessive housekeeper workloads. Then, on March 8, she was active in several protests in honor of International Women's Day. UNITE HERE Community Coordinator Annemarie Strassel told me that especially since Dominique Strauss-Kahn's alleged assault of hotel worker Nafissatou Diallo last year, the union has been highlighting the ways in which hotel workers' issues are also women's issues. Yesterday, the union participated in a tweetchat against sexual assault and domestic violence, tweeting this plea from a worker: “Guests should treat us, the housekeepers, the same way they treat their mothers or sisters or any woman they value.” So given Hernandez's previous activism, a protest on International Women's Day was a natural fit. She passed out leaflets in front of the Andaz in support of Marta and Lorena Reyes, two sisters who were fired from the Hyatt in Santa Clara, CA after complaining about sexual harassment.
And she was photographed that same day protesting against working conditions — a photo that was prominently displayed on UNITE HERE Local 11's Facebook page.
Hernandez protesting on International Women's Day.For the most part, I don’t live or die on the number of readers of this blog. I’m not making money off this, so extra readers don’t have a direct effect. Of course, I am gratified that people want to read this: since one of my goals is to make operations research more famous, it helps if there is a readership! And I greatly enjoy it when people comment on my posts (something that is happening much more often): that can’t happen without a readership.
Determining the readership of a blog is kinda tricky. Some people wander by through the web, or have the page bookmarked, or search on a term that occurs in a blog post, or otherwise access the blog as a web page. Somewhere around 150 or so people a day see the blog that way. Of course a number of people are searching for “sex market” or some such, and hit a post from my past entries that includes those words. In fact, now that I have included that phrase here, they may end up on this page. If so, then welcome: this probably isn’t what you were looking for, but there are some fascinating posts, so browse around for a while!
Another group subscribes to the blog through RSS readers, like google reader. They may not hit my website directly at all, but read the postings through their reader. Feedburner tells me I have about 700 subscribers that way. This number is an estimate, but presumably all of these subscribers are actually interested in operations research. This is the way I access blogs: I subscribe to all of the operations research blogs listed in the right hand column of my front page, and I subscribe to an additional twenty-five blogs that are not operations research but have caught my interest. I also subscribe to about dozen blogs on operations research that appear to be inactive: if a post comes through on one of those, then I can move it over to the active list.
Putting things all together, I put my readership at about 1000 people truly interested in operations research, which is a gratifying number. I certainly have not given a technical talk in front of 1000 people (the recent EURO conference was perhaps the largest, but it was not 1000 people).
Once in a while I get a spike, due to an entry on other sites. I have never had a successful entry on Digg or Slashdot, which is probably just as well, since my poor server probably couldn’t stand the strain. But my recent posting on “P=NP (or not)” did get some play on Reddit (thanks cavedave for the shoutout), which resulted in a spike in usage (up by a factor of five or so). It was great to see the spike, but it will be even better if this results in more permanent subscribers and more interest in operations research.æpps Update: December 7
æternity Blocked Unblock Follow Following Dec 7, 2017
At æternity we continue to pursue the goal of delivering a vibrant ecosystem of decentralized æpps. An important part of this goal is having production-ready æpps for our mainnet launch. Here is what the æpps team has been up to in order to get us there.
æpps Portal
We have created a new home for the æpps that will be published in the upcoming months.
The portal will be the place, where you, the user, can preview/test æpps. You will be able to see each new æpp as soon it is published, learn more about it, and test it yourself.
Wall æpp
We created and published our Wall æpp. It works with the Ethereum Kovan testnet at the moment, but we plan to port it to our testnet in the upcoming months. The Wall allows anyone to post a message. Any user can send AE tokens to a message posted on the Wall. This enables users to support content which they like by rewarding the person who created it.
Identity Manager Improvements
The Identity Manager æpp can now launch and run multiple æpps. We have created the UI to toggle between these æpps.Edinburgh Rugby prop Willem ‘WP’ Nel will lead the team out as the club’s 24th centurion against Leinster at BT Murrayfield tomorrow night (kick-off 7.35pm) – live on BBC ALBA.
The 15-times capped Scotland tighthead, who signed for the capital outfit ahead of the 2012/13 season, has started 83 of his 99 appearances to date, scoring 75 points through 15 tries.
Tomorrow Nel lines up in a settled Edinburgh side with Head Coach Alan Solomons making three changes – two personnel and one positional – from the team that defeated Scarlets 20-9 last weekend.
Tongan internationalist Viliami Fihaki will make his competitive debut for the club at number 8 in place of the rested Jamie Ritchie, prompting a switch to the blindside for young back-row Magnus Bradbury.
Hamish Watson replaces fellow openside John Hardie who continues his graduated return-to-play protocol following a head knock sustained against the Welshmen.
Glenn Bryce continues at full-back with last week’s try-scorer Michael Allen and Tom Brown remaining on the wings.
Sasa Tofilau makes his third competitive start for the club at outside-centre with Phil Burleigh keeping a hold of the number 12 shirt.
Last week’s Guinness Man of the Match Duncan Weir and Nathan Fowles continue to build their half-back partnership as they make their third consecutive start together.
Centurion Nel, Ross Ford and Rory Sutherland form the front-row with captain Grant Gilchrist and Ben Toolis starting once again at lock.
Solomons said: “It was good to get the win under our belt last week.
“We know we need to build on that, but appreciate that we will have to be at our best against a powerful Leinster outfit.”
Players not available due to injury: Alasdair Dickinson (hamstring), Simon Berghan (foot), Anton Bresler (groin), Jack Cosgrove (knee), John Hardie (concussion), Nasi Manu (ribs), Jason Tovey (wrist), Will Helu (hamstring), Damien Hoyland (groin).
Edinburgh Rugby team to play Leinster in the Guinness PRO12 at BT Murrayfield tomorrow (Friday 16 September, kick-off 7.35pm) – live on BBC ALBA
15. Glenn Bryce
14. Michael Allen
13. Sasa Tofilau
12. Phil Burleigh
11. Tom Brown
10. Duncan Weir
9. Nathan Fowles
1. Rory Sutherland
2. Ross Ford
3. WP Nel
4. Ben Toolis
5. Grant Gilchrist CAPTAIN
6. Magnus Bradbury
7. Hamish Watson
8. Viliami Fihaki
Substitutes:
16. Stuart McInally
17. Allan Dell
18. Kevin Bryce
19. Fraser McKenzie
20. Cornell Du Preez
21. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
22. Solomoni Rasolea
23. Blair KinghornAs part of our ongoing series looking at the Games Media, we recently talked via e‐mail with co‐founder and General Manager of The Escapist Magazine and Senior Vice President of Defy Media, Alexander Macris, about the business side of games journalism and the state of online media in general. Part of this interview, and his previous comments on social media on this subject, were included in “The Death of Games Journalism – Part 2: Business 101.” It’s worth noting that these are his personal opinions and do not reflect those of Defy Media and their outlets.
I guess as a starter I would ask: Do you feel the economic realities of games writing/content have shifted since you made these comments in September?
The economic reality continues to be a case of too much supply relative to demand. There is far more content being created today than any audience is capable of consuming. In a typical industry, this would not occur, because the suppliers would be unable to make a profit and would leave the industry. But supplying content is no longer, strictly speaking, being done for profit. Many people create content without expecting to make money from it. They may do so to contribute to a gift economy, or to promote themselves, or to share with friends, or as a means of self‐expression, or out of boredom, narcissism, or other motives. But their actions, regardless of motive, impacts those who are creating content for profit by increasing the supply of content. If a consumer is using his time to read a great blog written for free by a college professor, then the consumer is not using that time to read the content written by the editors of the NY Times. From the point of view of the NY Times as a business, the college professor is a now its competitor.
Now, in any industry, under highly competitive conditions, prices for its goods will tend to fall towards their marginal cost. The marginal cost of web content is virtually zero – the cost of serving a piece of content to 100K people and 10M people is trivial (relatively speaking). And so we see constant downward pressure on the “price” of content, whether that price be expressed as a subscription fee (or lack thereof) or as a price to advertise around the content.
The trick, of course, is to escape that trap by finding a way to make YOUR content not just be generic “content” but something special, unique, must‐have.
You spoke in your TedX talk about “intellectual nourishment,” do you think that the internet is intellectually malnourished?
The internet is not intellectually malnourished. It’s not a mind. That’s like saying that a candy bar is malnourished. The internet is a tool. It can be used in ways that are intellectually nourishing or malnourished. Many people – myself included – use it in ways that are malnourished, a lot of the time.
There’s an old adage that if you want to lose weight, you should get rid of the junk food in your house. Likewise, if you want to quit smoking, you throw out the cigarettes, and if you want to quit drinking, you get rid of the wet bar. That’s because all of us are more likely to succumb to vice when we have ready, easy opportunity to do so. The internet is like a grocery store that offers unlimited junk food, smokes, and booze, all the time. Sure it also has organic leafy green vegetables but few of us can resist the beer and pretzels.
Do you think it is unrealistic or naive for consumers to expect gaming publications to adhere to lofty standards of practice?
I think it is unrealistic to expect business models or standards or procedures created in one time and place for one specific medium to apply to another. Many of the standards of journalistic practice were developed during the heyday of mass media. We no longer live in the mass media era – we live in the social media era. We would be better suited to think about the sort of standards that should apply to social media. There are all sorts of problems and issues developing that our society isn’t even close to figuring out. (Consider: Is it good for society that all of us are one bad viral tweet from utter social shame and career destruction? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but it’s worth thinking about.)
In the face of services like YouTube growing, is the decline of written media inevitable or are there newer ways to secure revenue?
To thrive, media companies have to deliver content in a format that the audience wants to consume. If audiences prefer video to text, then text will continue to decline in audience share. It is consumer‐driven. I personally much prefer reading to watching videos. I can read and digest an entire page of text in seconds, whereas watching the text presented on screen will take ten times as long. But clearly most consumers today feel the opposite. They’d rather watch a 15 minute video than, e.g., read a 5,000 word article. Therefore, video is gaining market share and text is losing market share.
The larger question is: Why are audiences more favorable to video than text today? Many educators are beginning to talk about the post‐literate society. Perhaps I’m a Luddite in this regard, but what others laud as a bright digital future sounds to me like a deterioration into an unlearned dark age. My TEDx talk has more on this.
Do you think the future of mass‐market written content lays with ‘Advertorial’?
Maybe. Ultimately if we are going to continue to have professionally created content, then content creators will need to get paid. In the Renaissance, that payment came from patrons. In the 20th century, that payment came from advertisers and subscribers. I’m not sure where it will come from in the 21st century. More and more physical products are being digitized. (Consider: Music was once a physical product you bought. Movies were once a physical product you bought. PC games were once a physical product you bought. Now all three are just digital. With 3D printing this will soon be true of, e.g., collectible miniatures, tableware, tools.) Digital products tend towards zero marginal cost and hence over time towards being free (and, when not free, get pirated). Thus creators of free goods are sustained, at present, by advertising. But if everything becomes digital, who are the advertisers? At a certain point, the vast majority of all economic activity in our society is going to be in the creation and exchange of digital goods. If, by then, consumers still don’t think digital goods are worth paying for, we’re going to be in an awkward situation.
What do you think of the idea, posited recently by David Auerback and others, that emotionally driven ‘clickbait’ is on the decline?
David Auerbach is one of the smartest journalists on the planet. When he tweets, I take notes.
Do you think there is enough political plurality within mainstream games journalism?
Enough according to who? There is no regulatory agency overseeing political plurality in the media, nor should there be. The media is a business. If there is a market for X type of media that speaks to X type of audience, then eventually that audience will be served by an entrepreneur who sees the opportunity. Anyone who doesn’t think mainstream games journalism is serving the audience has the right to create some game journalism they think is better. If they are right, they’ll find an audience and profit. Just ask Rupert Murdoch.
Do you think serious Games Journalism is “Dead”?
No. I think that it has fragmented, just as games have fragmented. It’s not a bad thing. There are more intelligent people writing about games than ever. What Erik Kain writes about games and what Leigh Alexander writes about games might be very different, but they are both literate, intelligent people who are serious about their craft.
Are crowdfunding services like Pateron a viable long term solution for delivering content profitably?
I think they are a part of the solution. I think we will ultimately move to a system of diversified revenue streams, where content creators have patrons and subscribers who support them on an ongoing basis, come together to get project‐based crowdfunding, receive distribution fees from media companies, endorsements from advertisers, etc. The music industry has been the most dramatically effected of any entertainment industry by the digital age, so look at the variety that is flourishing there.
How accountable should gaming sites be to their readers? How do you strike a balance between populism and closing down feedback?
There is no “should”. It’s not a normative issue. Some gaming sites will be very engaged with their readers and serve their needs closely. Others will take a magisterial stance and cover what they see fit. Readers will decide to which they want to give patronage. Either strategy can work – it depends on your personnel and your editorial philosophy. Are your editors visionaries who intuitively know what the audience wants, or analysts who engage with the data to find out what the audience does? I’ve had both types work for me.
Sometimes a brilliant businessperson can be utterly scornful of feedback from consumers because the businessperson knows the consumers better than the consumers know themselves – look at Steve Jobs as an example. Other businesses succeed by turning consumer engagement and accountability into metrics that they can measure and build on. Proctor & Gamble makes money every year by delivering consumer products that are precisely perfectly tweaked to be just what the consumer will buy – but you can’t name a brilliant Proctor & Gamble executive who is behind it all.
Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts.
And thank you to Alexander for sharing his thoughts. You can find him on Twitter @archon, have a gander at his Escapist Profile or watch his TedX talk below.Awkward moments & Humiliations
Available Interactions
Note: The sims around the target sim will react to the events that happens to the target sim
This mod adds new Interactions option called "Inside it you will find new interactions.Watch the mod's Video Here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyzSrYYgI8A the mod is about creating Awkward, Embarrassing and Humiliating actions and events to your sims after hitting an interaction.The mod contains new animations & in-game animations______________________They may point and laugh, Gasp, or freak out *Depends on their traits*I made sure not to use any references from any expansion packs so everyone can access the mod, so you only need, so Yes it works with nraas mods and my Disaster's and Blessings mod.I hope you enjoy this mod.We’ve already touched upon the Star Wars universe in Disney 3.0 with Twilight of the Republic, but Disney isn’t happy with giving fans just one playset. The second one in the works entitled Rise Against The Empire focuses on the events from chapter IV and onwards, which means that any diehard fan of the franchise will instantly recognize many locations, characters, and even the way the story unfolds.
There are several features in Rise Against The Empire that fans will love – the first thing we squealed at was being able to mount and ride a massive Bantha around our base (and even attempt to jump off a roof while still mounted). Your base is great for interacting with various characters and missions, but can also be upgraded with various structures that you can build by purchasing a blueprint and then using your character to ‘drop’ the building at a particular location, thus fortifying your base.
You’re also not restricted to staying grounded at all – jump in one of the many ships at your disposal and fly off into the deepest reaches of space on various missions. Flight here isn’t just used to travel – it actively involves and cycles through various modes to keep things interesting. For example in one section you’re tasked with either destroying enemy ships or defending one of your own, or evading enemy fire by flying around the screen while also dodging debris. Some of these flying sections are on rails, but otherwise you’re free to poke around in space for as far and as long as you wish. And should a second player jump in, the action pans out instead of switching to split-screen, making for a much more seamless gameplay experience. The co-op experience continues to the various racing challenges you’ll also encounter, and the game actively encourages co-op so that both parents and kids can simultaneously enjoy playing.
But the most enjoyable moment came during the final battle on Hoth, where massive AT-ATs were lumbering across the planet and it was your job to take them down. Of course Star Wars fans will recall how in the films these giant mechanical beasts were brought down using a simple towline, and true to form you can utilize this method to take them down in the game. But Disney wanted to add variety to the game, and so there are a few other ways that you can take down an AT-AT for example. One method involves scaling the beast itself and triggering a trap door to open, revealing a massive battery which you can damage and eventually pop out. After removing all four batteries, a red button appears at the top of the AT-AT, which when pressed, will detonate it. Alternatively, you can tap the other red button that appears near the front, which ejects the pilot and puts you in control of the AT-AT using a gigantic remote control. It’s Disney’s way of tying back to the fact that you’re playing with toys, and so elements in the game will be designed to remind players of just that. In later levels you'll be able to explore open world planets like Tatooine on foot or on a Bantha, out-maneuver stormtroopers on a speeder bike on Endor, and partake in epic space battles in an X-wing starfighter to destroy the Death Star.
There’s certainly a lot more to explore in this and upcoming playsets for Disney Infinity 3.0, and this certainly won’t be the only two playsets we’ll see from the Star Wars universe. We’ll be checking out the game again at E3 later this month, so make sure you stay tuned for all the details.0 SHARES Facebook Twitter
We just detected (via our scanner) that the Nagios community site (community.nagios.org) has been hacked and is redirecting to a Viagra site. The results vary depending on the page request.
If you try to visit any page and add a “order=X” in the query you will be redirected. Example:
$ lynx –head –dump http://community.nagios.org/?order=1
HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Date: Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:54:37 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS)
X-Powered-By: PHP/5.1.6
Location: http://the pharmacy discount.com/item.php?id=1095&said=m111
See the 302 redirection to “pharmacy discount.com” site? Google already started to index some of the pages:
It looks like a.htaccess redirection, but it might be something else. They are using an old version of WordPress, which may explain the compromise. We recommend people stay way from the site until it gets fixed.This weekend, seven people were killed in Chicago.
It also marked three years since the death of Marissa Boyd-Stingley. Her case is sadly one of many murder cases in Chicago that remain unsolved.
Chicago police say this year's clearance rate for homicide is at only 34.5 percent.
Brandis Friedman has this look at one of the factors making it difficult to close such cases: a code of silence.
TRANSCRIPT
Brandis Friedman: Nineteen-year-old Marissa Boyd-Stingley was a college student and a big sister who loved the story of how caterpillars turned into butterflies.
Nortasha Stingley: She had got a tattoo with some butterflies, her name. I was really really upset, but she was 18.
Friedman: Upset with the tattoo then, Marissa’s mother, Nortasha Stingley, now uses those butterflies to remember her daughter.
Stingley: Energetic, loving, always willing to help. She always did. Peacemaker, had a lot of goals and dreams.
Friedman: Marissa was one of five people in a car at the corner of 73rd Street and King Drive the night she was shot and killed.
Stingley: From my understanding, this man got in a vehicle and followed them. And when they got to the light, he said a few words, ‘Oh yeah? You remember me?’
Friedman: That was June 25, 2013. Still no one has been charged in her death.
Stingley: I pray every day for all of them that God will soften their heart and touch their minds so that they will come forward and help. You've got to think about this thing: five people in a car, everybody in this car gets shot and my daughter dies, and you allow this man to keep walking the streets?
Friedman: The other passengers and driver in the car that night survived their injuries. Stingley believes they could identify the man who killed her daughter.
Marissa’s case highlights a chronic problem: Getting witnesses to cooperate with police.
Eddie Bocanegra: My first reaction is, I’m not surprised. This whole notion around code of silence in the streets, or snitches get stitches, or even how people are being labeled as tricks or informants, this is the reality for a lot of kids, the people in the community that we tend to, for us, the Y to be working in.
Friedman: Eddie Bocanegra runs the youth safety and violence prevention initiative for the YMCA of metro Chicago.
He believes witnesses’ unwillingness to tell police what they know is more about their distrust of their neighbors than of police.
Bocanegra: Perception means a lot. So, even when an officer, after a homicide or shooting, they do what they do – which is door knocking – to try to get as much information from the neighbors, like who heard what? Did they see anything? A lot of times, if a neighbor, if their door's open for too long, it's interpreted as that person's collaborating, right? That person's sharing some information they're not supposed to.
Friedman: Saint Sabina Church in Auburn-Gresham contributed $5,000 toward the $15,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Marissa’s killer.
Michael Pfleger: There's always somebody that knows. Somebody that's been out there that day, or somebody who was told afterwards. But there's always people that know.
Friedman: Church pastor Father Michael Pfleger believes a broken relationship between the police and the community is also to blame.
Pfleger: We've gotta rebuild the relationship. We may not be able to build it with the whole police department right away, but in that beat cop, in that district, people should be working in every district, in every beat, how do we – this is not Eddie Johnson's job, this is the cop on the street in that beat, it's his or her job to build those relations.
Friedman: He knows another factor is fear of retaliation.
Pfleger: If 20 people come forward, there is no target, so we gotta create a climate where everybody's gonna talk.
It's not gonna get better by not saying anything, it's gonna get worse.
Friedman: Part of Bocanegra’s work involves getting the young men he works with to think about when they would call police.
Related: CPD: Fear of Retaliation Drives Community Code of Silence
Bocanegra: Unanimously, all of our kids will be like, 'Hell naw, I'm never gonna call the police.' So our veterans and even our staff will often push our youth: ‘Well, if you wouldn't call a police officer when you see a shooting or stabbing, then when will you? Would you do it when an older lady maybe fell and she |
Plup, Axe, Kels, and Drunk Sloth. Most well known are his three set losses to Chu Dat. While his consistency has been in question, his skill is certainly not. Royal Flush gave viewers the Mango that fans adore. For Smash ‘N’ Splash, it’s all a question of which Mango will attend. Will it be the unflappable champion of old, or the Mango that just can’t seem to get his head in the game?
The last two with the best chances are Juan “Hungrybox” Debiedma and William “Leffen” Hjelte. Both have had solid 2017 placings, and have continued to dog Armada with potential wins. Hungrybox in particular has shown just how solid his second place ranking is. While he has had trouble with Wizzrobe, SFAT, and Mango, he has had little trouble keeping himself ahead of the pack. While not the most popular among viewers, you would find it hard to not find any player who does not respect his skill. Leffen, on the other hand, is a bit of a wildcard. He has secured himself as part of the top five, but has shown that his mood and playstyle can vary. Top 8 should be no problem for him, but the question is his placement as a top three for this tournament. With the proper setting, there is no reason he can’t make it through. Yet, it is hard to predict if we will get A-game Leffen, or B-game Leffen.
Other notable entrants: Plup, SFAT, Axe, Wizzrobe, Shroomed, Westballz, Duck, Ice, Lucky, PewPewU, n0ne
Project M
Returning for the second year is the Project M Championship Circuit, with Smash ‘N’ Splash returning as one of the major qualifiers. The PMCC saw a successful 2016 run, and 2017 has started out strong with two high profile events under its belt. 2016 was also the formation of the PMRank, which featured the fifty best players with the Project M competitive scene. Smash ‘N’ Splash features 12 ranked players, with a good number of regional bosses right behind them. With the Project M meta still developing around the standard 3.6 build, there is huge potential for high-level play at Smash ‘N’ Splash. As such, there is not one favored player to win. Rather, the seat of winner is a highly contested throne.
The highest ranked player in attendance is Zachary “Lunchables” Sain. Having been part of the PM development team, and integral to the development of high-level meta, Lunchables’ story is deeply entwined with PM. Yet, during the 2016 PMCC, Lunchables gave the unfortunate news that he was retiring from Project M. Since then, he has been to several Project M tournaments, and has shown that he is not to be underestimated. Whether this negates his retirement statement or not, there is no doubt we will see a strong showing from him at Smash ‘N’ Splash.
If there is any player to keep an eye on, it is the champion of the 2016 PMCC, Arjun “Junebug” Rao. His results are not the most consistent of the bunch. Yet, he has developed his Diddy Kong into a true threat for any player. In fact, many point to Junebug as the biggest reason that Diddy was pushed to the top of the Project M 3.6 Tier List. While his victory is not guaranteed, there is no doubt that Junebug is one of the biggest threats in attendance.
With one 2017 PMCC victory under his belt, Kyle “Switch” Carlon is looking to secure his place as a multi-tournament winner. He had a strong showing in 2016, but had issues pushing his way into the top. This year, he has come out swinging, and there is no doubt that he will try to recreate it again. He has a chance to show that the victory was no fluke, and Smash ‘N’ Splash has a great lineup for him to try and take down.
Other notable entrants: Hyperflame, Professor Pro, Dirtboy, LloD, Hungrybox, Phresh, Sothe, Sorta
Conclusion
Smash ‘N’ Splash 3 will be a tournament experience for players and spectators alike. With strong brackets in Melee and Project M, as well as Smash 4 and Smash 64, it is set to be a weekend for Smash enthusiasts of any kind. If there is any tournament to kick off the summer of Smash, then the Waterpark Tournament is the one to do it.
Tournament InfoUnity is a well known desktop environment developed by Canonical for Ubuntu specifically. It is well known for features like simplicity, power and integration for both users and app developers. The unity project was started in 2010 by Canonical and was aimed for notebook users but it has spawned a great deal for desktop and mobile devices as well. It offers a consistent and elegant desktop environment for ubuntu desktop and notebook users. The most recent under development version for Unity is 8, we will be reviewing its prominent features and installation process in the article.
Salient Features of Unity 8
Unity, under constant development, is being equipped with many features and bug fixes. The upcoming latest release can be considered as a mile stone as it introduces new techniques to overcome the issues and enhance this desktop environment’s usability and integration. Here are some of the noteworthy features of release 8:
It will be using Mir Display technology, which aims at replacing the traditional X system.
Improved full shell rotation
Multi Monitor Support for desktop systems
Welcome Wizard and Notification system improvements
Desktop zoom similar to Mac OS X
updated ppa/CFT
Dynamic input platform and integrating libinput functionality
Automatic Driver probing
We hope to see a lot more once the development for this is completed and we can experience stability and maturity in offered features at that point.
Installing Unity 8
Installing Unity 8 on Ubuntu 15.04 is pretty straight forward. First of all launch your terminal (Applications >> Terminal) and run APT package manager updates. Good news is that it is part of Ubuntu 15.04 package manager part. If you are using old versions of Ubuntu, you will need to include PPA for Unity separately to accomplish this. Ubuntu 15.04 users should run:
sudo apt-get updates
Once updates process finishes, run following command to initiate the install of the Unity 8.
sudo apt-get install unity8-lxc
Reply with “Y” when prompted for confirmation of download.
That’s all, It will take a sweet amount of time to download and install all required components.
Launching Unity 8
Once the installation process is complete, you can launch Unity 8 dekstop from your login menu. Reboot your system or Logout your current session and on your login window, you should be able to see Unity 8 Desktop environment in the drop down menu. Login and Enjoy!
Uninstalling Unity 8
Unity is not resource hungry, but if you need to remove it for any reason, the uninstall process is simple as well, run following command to remove it.
sudo apt-get uninstall unity8-lxc
You need to reboot your system or logout your current session to erase the traces of this desktop environment.
Conclusion
Unity is a feature rich, evolving desktop environment, most Linux distros are planning to have it as as a part of native desktop environments. Currently Unity has some limitations too with respect to graphics drivers, but we can hope to see lot of fixes in upcoming releases.At a town hall Wednesday night in Oakland, California, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) announced that she will co-sponsor Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) Medicare for All legislation, which is reportedly set to be introduced mid-September.
"Thank you Kamala Harris for your support. Let's make healthcare a right, not a privilege."
—Sen. Bernie Sanders"I'll break some news: I intend to co-sponsor the Medicare for All bill because it's just the right thing to do," Harris, the first Senate Democrat to publicly endorse Sanders's legislation, told an audience of around 700 people at the Beebe Memorial Cathedral church.
Harris added in an interview with the Sacramento Bee that "there's certainly momentum and energy around" single payer.
The crowd reportedly "roared and cheered in applause" as Harris—who is viewed as a likely 2020 presidential candidate—made the announcement.
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Support for Medicare for All among the American public has soared since the Republicans began their effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. A recent AP/NORC poll found that 62 percent of the public believes it is "the federal government's responsibility to make sure that all Americans have healthcare coverage."
In the face of this grassroots enthusiasm and pressure, "the Democratic Party has moved swiftly to the left on healthcare," notes Vox's Jeff Stein. "Most key 2020 contenders—including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.J.), and Corey Booker (D-N.J.)—have said they support the idea of single payer without necessarily backing Sanders' bill or an existing bill. More than half of House Democrats now support Rep. John Conyers' (D-Mich.) single-payer bill—a historic high."
In Harris's home state of California, the executive board of the Democratic Party voted unanimously earlier this week to endorse SB 562, the Healthy California Act.
"Thank you Kamala Harris for your support," Sanders wrote on Twitter as news of Harris's announcement broke. "Let's make healthcare a right, not a privilege."Unintended consequences of blunt policy tools are highlighted in Anthea Jeffrey’s brilliant assessment of the newest threat to South African employment. Delusional labour minister Mildred Oliphant is determined to club businesses into Employment Equity submission by imposing hefty fines on those whose staff demographics don’t meet her flawed targets.
Oliphant clearly has no grasp of how jobs are actually created. Entrepreneurs work with scarce resources, so are continuously calculating the best way to allocate them. Eventually, even the most settled will start to seek different geographies if the playing field becomes too heavily weighted against them.
Oliphant’s thought processes are a reminder of the command and control approach which drove the Soviet Union to economic destruction. Punitive legislation kills jobs. Period. What South Africa desperately needs, as Jeffery articulates here, is precisely the opposite to the labour minister’s edict. And as the IRR’s latest research show, the people know it too. – Alec Hogg
By Anthea Jeffery
Labour minister Mildred Oliphant is itching to have companies fined R1.5m or 2% of turnover (whichever is the higher amount) for allegedly failing to meet their racial quotas under the amended Employment Equity Act (the EE Act) of 1998. Instead, she should start listening to ordinary black South Africans, only 7% of whom endorse the EE Act and its emphasis on demographic representivity.
When the Commission for Employment Equity released its 16th report last week, the minister was quick to warn that ‘a grace period of about six months’ would be allowed before her department started to ‘crack down hard on non-compliance’ by private sector employers with the EE Act.
In issuing this threat, Ms Oliphant seems to assume that she has solid popular support. However, as a recent field survey carried out for the IRR (Institute of Race Relations) has shown, a mere 7% of black South Africans agree that ‘only black people should be appointed until those in employment are demographically representative’. Since this is essentially what the EE Act demands, it is striking that so few people support this requirement.
Support for the EE Act among black South Africans has also dropped sharply over the past 20 years. This is evident when the results of the IRR survey are compared with those from field surveys carried out for the Helen Suzman Foundation (HSF) in 1996 and 2000. (The IRR’s question here was modelled on the HSF one, so as to make it possible to track trends over time.)
Read also: Papenfus: Oliphant stomping SMMEs: conscious murder or collateral damage?
In the HSF’s 1996 survey, 19% of blacks agreed that ‘only black people should be appointed until those in employment are demographically representative’. This percentage was already low; but, in the HSF’s 2000 survey, support for this perspective among blacks dropped even further, from 19% to 13%. As the IRR survey now shows, black support for this requirement has since declined still more and currently stands at a mere 7%.
These results go completely against the Government’s script. However, they are not in fact surprising. Like all affirmative action measures all around the world, the EE Act benefits only a relatively small elite. It offers nothing to poorly schooled black people lacking the experience and qualifications for management posts.
The IRR field survey confirms this assessment, for only 17% of black respondents agreed that affirmative action in employment had helped them personally. By contrast, 83% of blacks disagreed.
South Africa cannot hope to expand opportunities for the disadvantaged without much faster economic growth, millions of new jobs, and schools that are effective in imparting essential knowledge and skills.
Read also: Anthea Jeffery: Ratcheting up the BEE rules, yet again
Ordinary South Africans are well aware of this too. Asked in the IRR field survey how people’s lives could best be improved, 78% said the solution lay in ‘more jobs and better education’. A mere 4.6% urged ‘more BEE or affirmative action in employment’.
However, Ms Oliphant shows little interest in what ordinary people think. Nor does she show much interest in why businesses are battling to fulfil the racial targets the EE Act requires.
In fact, the supposed ‘norm’ of demographic representivity, on which these targets are based, is deeply flawed because it ignores the age and skills profile of the population.
The EE Act assumes that, because black South Africans make up 77% of the economically active population (EAP), they should make up 77% of senior managers too. But the EAP includes all those between the ages of 15 and 64 who either work or wish to be employed.
Given the youthfulness of the black population – more than half of black people are under the age of 25 – the EAP includes many black teenagers who have never obtained a matric or worked at any job at all.
Read also: Papenfus: To Labour Minister Oliphant, what must we do about these Whites?
By contrast, senior managers can be drawn solely from people with appropriate experience and skills. In 2015, only 40% of blacks fell within the 35-64 age cohort that might be considered eligible for senior management posts. In addition, though degrees or diplomas are often necessary or advisable for such jobs, only 5% of the black population then held any kind of tertiary qualification.
This means that the pool of black people from which senior managers can realistically be drawn is far smaller than the EE Act assumes.
The public service has overlooked these practical constraints in raising the level of black representation at senior management level to 60% at national government level, 73% at provincial level, and 64% at local government level. But this also helps explain why the World Economic Forum now ranks ‘an inefficient government bureaucracy’ as the second most important obstacle to doing business in South Africa.
Instead of threatening struggling businesses with crippling fines for failing to fill unrealistic racial targets, Ms Oliphant should focus on the real elephants in the room. These include the shortage of suitable skills, the labour laws that price the unskilled out of work, and a sluggish economy that will never be able to generate the millions of jobs required while government policy remain so hostile to the private sector.
• By Dr Anthea Jeffery, Head of Policy Research, IRR. Jeffery is the author, among other books, of BEE: Helping or Hurting?
* For more in-depth business news, visit biznews.com or simply sign up for the daily newsletter.Speaking to a packed auditorium at InnovFest unBound (Singapore’s annual tech conference) yesterday, the Singaporean foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan said: “If any one of you has an idea, or a product, or a service, which makes life better for citizens: come to Singapore. Prove it, test it, prototype it, upscale it. […] If your solution works, we will buy it from you.”
“That, in my view, is a better approach than simply giving money and grants on the supply side, instead focusing on the demand side of the model.”
Vivian Balakrishnan
The minister highlighted a few key issues the city state is facing: “traffic congestion is an issue, green energy is an issue, security of transactions are an issue.” Balakrishnan spoke specifically about becoming a hub for fintech, autonomous vehicles and medical technology (medtech), with the city state’s ageing population a priority issue.
To facilitate this, the national research foundation is setting aside $40 million Singapore dollars for a scheme that will incentivise large local enterprises (LLEs) to partner with promising startups.
Balakrishnan says he wants Singapore’s big corporations “to go and scan the horizon, identify small startups that may have novel, potentially transformative ideas in your industry. Eat their dog food, test it out and if it works, you gain.”
Fintech
The same goes for fintech. “We believe that Singapore’s future is reliant on being a global financial city,” says Balakrishnan. To encourage fintech startups, the government has set up a regulatory sandbox for fintech, allowing entrepreneurs to grow an idea without having to worry about financial licenses or permits.
It has since been announced that the UK and Singapore have established a “bridge” between fintech companies in either country “which included the signing of a Regulatory Cooperation Agreement between the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).”
The minister explained: “If any of you have an idea, a product or a service in the financial industry, you can start up, you don’t need approval from MAS, you can do anything, as long as you don’t cheat anyone. You will not be smothered by regulations until you become big enough to actually be a threat to the financial system.”
Balakrishnan and his prime minister appear to disagree on the much-hyped distributed ledger technology blockchain though. Balakrishnan said: “I strongly suspect blockchain technology is something profound, but my prime minister has told me: ‘I suspect that this is a solution looking for a problem.’ Meaning we don’t know yet what will work and what doesn’t work.”
Read next: Why banks are betting on the blockchain - not bitcoin - to transform the financial sector
AI, robots and VR
The minister also spoke broadly about the technological revolution, identifying three pillars: artificial intelligence, robotics and virtual reality.
Balakrishnan told a story about how he watched Mark Zuckerberg present Facebook’s Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets in New York a few months ago.
His review was: “It’s pretty good, they have improved it so you don’t get sea sick anymore and the gameplay has improved, but I told Mark, actually, the real killer app for augmented reality is not games, it is actually virtual sex.”
“If you can successfully master virtual sex in augmented reality you will have devised the ultimate UX, user experience. The point is that this is another area that is exploding,” said Balakrishnan, without a hint of irony.
Read next: What is virtual reality? How does virtual reality work? What is augmented reality? How does augmented reality work?
And when it comes to AI, Balakrishnan thinks we are at a tipping point, saying: “Artificial intelligence is improving and I think that, unlike the early promise thirty years ago, that this time, it’s for real.”
Balakrishnan concluded: “So just add these three things: AI, robotics and AR. There is something huge going on in our world right now. They build upon a platform of a couple of key areas: cheap computing power, pervasive connectivity, access to a tsunami of data.”
Key strategies
The minister then laid out the government’s digital strategy in five steps, to allow Singaporeans access to the technology to build on ideas:
1. Connectivity
The Singaporean government is extending fibre broadband to every home, “to make sure that bandwidth will never be a limitation in Singapore,” says Balakrishnan.
“This connectivity is not just for you to surf and to look at porn sites, even though we know that the bulk of internet traffic is video, but again there is a more serious objective behind this.”
2. Security
“One key challenge is security and a major subject for security is our identity. How do you prove you are who you say you are? One way is by improving our SingPass system. It has improved with two factor identification but that is only the begging and I believe we need some form of public key infrastructure (PKI) built into our SingPass to give non-repudiation and security end-to-end in order to build trust, so that transactions can take place,” says Balakrishnan.
3. Education
“The ministry of education will be offering computing as an O Level subject in 19 secondary schools next year,” says Balakrishnan, “and we will roll this out across the board".
“Not that every single person needs to able to code, but at least understand computational thinking, what the possibilities are and how best to become masters and creators of the future artificial intelligence and robots, rather than the losing competitors.”
Read next: 9 ways to teach kids how to code: What are the best resources to inspire a new generation of UK developers?
Balakrishnan also announced that the National University of Singapore (NUS) is launching a platform called Tech SG. “This is a platform that will connect founders, investors, incubators and technology sources to create a platform where ideas, info and smart learning connect to take ideas out of academia quickly and into the marketplace and accelerate options and opportunities to connect you into the larger ecosystem,” says Balakrishnan.
4. R&D
Balakrishnan spoke about Singapore’s world class reputation for research and development (R&D) and the importance of bringing that research out of academia. He said: “The research innovation and enterprise 2020 plan sets aside $19 billion Singapore dollars on translating research into applications in real life. The national robotics programme has been beefed up and we have set aside $420 million to help the industry adopt potentially transformative automation and robotics.”
5. Policy and regulation
“Finally, we need to get rules. They used to say Singapore is a ‘fine’ city. We have a lot of rules, you transgress them, we come after you. What we need to do is have a revolution in our policy and regulation frameworks.”
Balakrishnan spoke about the regulatory challenge around driverless vehicles and the need for government policy, regulation and insurers to all be on the same page.
Conclusion
Despite making the sort of comments a UK politician would never broach, the Singaporean minister made some good points about building a viable tech strategy.
The city state certainly has some great advantages, with cheap infrastructure, access to funding, talent and solid government support to become a tech hub for Southeast Asia. Now it needs a selection of startups and entrepreneurs to inspire the rest of the nation to take on the government’s challenge.The snark surrounding the relative unpopularity of Google+ makes it easy to dismiss the service as an also-ran – another failed attempt by Google to catch the social wave it tried to ride too late.
But the company's rollout of a slew of new Google+ features yesterday shows it has hardly given up. Instead, Google seems to think it can leverage its engineering and design brilliance to suck you into Google+ even if you don't really bother to use it as a social network at all. The approach seems to be that if Google can load Google+ with enough great features – live broadcasting, photo, and video this time around – the company can get you to turn over at least a part of yourself to its data-hungry hive mind. And once you're there, Google will figure out some way to monetize you.
One of the new features announced was that live-streaming service Google Hangouts will operate more like broadcast television. Users will be able to schedule live streams in advance and promote them through a page dedicated to the stream.
At the moment, none of the live streaming services — not Google Hangouts on Air, not Ustream, and not the more restrictive YouTube Live — are having more than a marginal impact on broadcast news, concerts, or the live events business generally. But 15 years of digital media history show that marginal online phenomena can quickly turn into big business, whether it’s MP3s on the open internet, custom online radio stations, paid movie streams on Netflix, or recorded amateur video on YouTube.
Google's latest move takes what has been a popular video-chat system for small groups and turns it into a much better vehicle for building an audience. The broadcast version of Google Hangouts, known as Google Hangouts on Air, launched two years ago, and has been widely available since May 2012. But until now the system wasn’t designed to handle scheduled shows of the sort that encourage repeat viewers.
The new and improved version of Hangouts on Air takes Google deeper into the field of live online video streaming, which has been dominated by dedicated players like Ustream, and which has become increasingly competitive with broadcast news and as an alternative to visiting live events like concerts.
The changes to the photo and video features of Google+, meanwhile, are all about enticements. Make your photos look better. Share them more easily. Find the good stuff more easily. All of these additions are meant to attract more users and more active use of Google+.
If Google+ offers the best photo experience, maybe you'll dump more of your pictures there instead of Facebook. And the more of your life you turn over to Google, the more valuable you become to Google's customers – that is, advertisers. As Google's understanding of you, your habits, preferences, social life, and consumption patterns becomes ever-more fine-grained, the ads Google shows you can become ever-more fine-tuned.
One impressive new feature Google announced yesterday is the ability to use text searches to find images in your photos. Search for "waterfall" or "sunset," Google senior vice president of engineering Vic Gundotra said, and Google's pattern recognition engine is smart enough to find your pictures of waterfalls and sunsets.
It's an amazing feat of computing, but it also reveals how much Google can potentially know about its users based on the photos they upload. Most Gmail users, if they think about it at all, have resigned themselves to Google scanning the contents of otherwise private emails to serve up targeted ads. Though there's no indication Google is doing the same with photos, its ability to know what's in those photos shows the company could probably just as easily try to sell you dog treats if you have lots of pictures of dogs or, who knows, show you a coupon based on the brand of beer you're holding in a picture.
Such algorithmic sophistication is what makes Google Google. But its aggressive foray into photos also calls to mind another social network that has figured out a much simpler way to extract value from images.
Last week, Pinterest confirmed a $225 million funding round that valued the company at nearly $4 billion. The big numbers led to talk of froth and bubbles because Pinterest isn't trying too hard to make money yet. But Pinterest does have one thing of great value that Google wants. At Google, the world's smartest engineers try to figure out how to divine from your online behavior what it is you want to buy. On Pinterest, figuring that out is a lot easier: People just post nice pictures of the things they want.The 542-page report, which was commissioned by the board of directors of the American Psychological Association, says that some medical personnel at the C.I.A. became concerned about the torture program, which was run by Bruce Jessen and James Mitchell, two contractors who were former Air Force psychologists. The critics at the agency expressed concerns about the effectiveness of the interrogation tactics and questioned whether they were in line with the ethics guidelines of the psychologists association.
Image Psychologists were paid to give the Central Intelligence Agency's torture program a veneer of legitimacy. Here, a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2009. Credit John Moore/Getty Images
The association assembled a task force in 2005 to study the concerns. The task force was dominated by “national security insiders,” Mr. Risen reported. They concluded that psychologists could resume assisting in brutal interrogations.
On Friday, Physicians for Human Rights justifiably called on the Department of Justice to begin a criminal investigation into the psychologists association’s role in the Bush administration’s torture program.
“As mental health professionals, our first obligation must be to our patients,” said Dr. Kerry Sulkowicz, a psychiatrist and the vice chairman of the board of Physicians for Human Rights, in a statement. “The A.P.A.’s collusion with the government’s national security apparatus is one of the greatest scandals in U.S. medical history.”
The Obama administration has so far refused to prosecute the torturers. As more evidence about this program comes to light, that position becomes increasingly indefensible.
Correction: July 11, 2015
An earlier version of this editorial in one instance referred incorrectly to psychiatrists when the reference should have been to psychologists. It also misidentified Dr. Kerry Sulkowicz. He is the vice chairman of the board of Physicians for Human Rights, not the vice chairwoman."It was thanks to him that Ukraine was able to substantiate its position in The Hague on Russia's involvement in armed aggression, and before that, it provided all such documented facts through diplomatic channels and through channels for the exchange of intelligence with the allies' intelligence agencies," a source in law enforcement agencies told LB.ua.
According to the source, Shapoval not only planned reconnaissance raids into the deep rear of the occupied areas in Donbas, but directly participated in them.
Read alsoMilitary intelligence officer killed in car blast in Kyiv (Photo)"The unique feature of the intelligence operations was that they used means to document the [action of] Russian occupation forces, their relocation, the availability of modern models of electronic warfare systems and weapons of destruction, doing this in such a way that it could serve as unconditional proof of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine, especially regarding the use of the regular battalion task force and the latest weapon systems that are produced in Russia only," he said.
In addition, individual reconnaissance operations concerned timely alerts about the deployment of Russian artillery, including long-range systems, which greatly reduced the loss of Ukrainian troops and civilians.
"The enemy eliminated Maksym for everyone to see, including as an element of intimidation and as an element of information warfare against the most devoted sons of Ukraine," the source told LB.ua.
As was reported, a car with a military intelligence officer was blown up in Kyiv on the morning of June 27. The incident was qualified as a "terrorist attack."Gary Rowett was denied victory in his first game in charge of Derby County as Nottingham Forest struck a late equaliser to salvage a draw from a hotly contested East Midlands derby clash.
Zach Clough broke the deadlock with an early strike, but, with the Rams rejuvenated after the interval, Matěj Vydra and David Nugent netted inside a devastating five-minute spell to edge the visitors in front at the City Ground.
The Reds were indebted to their goalkeeper, Jordan Smith, who kept the hosts in the game after that – all before Daniel Pinillos powered a header into the back of the net to nick a point.
That prevented the Rams from, albeit temporarily, closing the gap on the play-off positions to seven points, whilst, possibly more importantly, it kept Mark Warburton’s Nottingham Forest outside of the relegation zone.
Early goals have been a regular theme of these encounters at the City Ground and although this was a new dawn for both sides, the early goal sequence was one that continued once more.
Clough is a name enriched in the histories of both Nottingham Forest and Derby County, but in the modern era, the hosts appear to have a name sake on their books to laud.
Zach is a bustling attacking midfielder who forged a promising reputation on the books of Bolton Wanderers and whilst it may take years for him to earn the legendary status Brian did at the City Ground, his goal in the early stages of this meeting ensured his popularity only heightened.
It came after the Rams had started brightly, but once Forest established control of the ball, they looked strong in possession and after good period of play, Pinillos whipped a dangerous ball into the box that was tapped in by Clough, before the onrushing Scott Carson could get a hand to it.
It was a far from ideal start to Rowett’s time as manager and with the rain pouring, the next 10 minutes were about Derby weathering the storm.
Ben Osborn was next to try his luck minutes later, bending a shot over after a quick exchange with Britt Assombalonga on the edge of the area, whilst the same man repeated the trick later on, this time with his right foot, after a half clearance dropped in his path.
A youthful Forest continued to dictate proceedings as the clock ticked towards 20 minutes.
Assombalonga dug out a cross from a tight angle on the left that hit the woodwork and with the ball bouncing around, Ben Brereton followed up, but was denied at the near post by a crucial block from Craig Bryson.
The Rams survived the onslaught, steadying the ship in the process and they should have got themselves back on level terms after that.
Bradley Johnson had a goal chalked off on 27 minutes after Smith, the Forest ‘keeper, was adjudged to have been fouled from a corner and no more than a minute later, good pressing from Nugent set up a chance for Tom Ince on the edge of the area, but he fired over.
Ince continued to be thwarted. He had two further efforts before the interval, seeing one beaten away by Smith and another fly over the crossbar as the Reds headed into the break a goal ahead.
That aside, Derby had grown stronger as the first half wore on and with Rowett’s words ringing in their ears, the Rams built on their showing and took their performance to another level in the second 45 minutes.
The effect, in fact, was devastating – so much so that the visitors struck twice in a deadly five-minute spell to turn the game on its head as they edged in front.
Vydra struck first, converting Russell’s cross from close range to send the away supporters into raptures, but it got better moments later, as Nugent bagged his second Derby goal minutes later, rising highest to head in Bradley Johnson’s cross, via the help of the far post.
They had their chances to add to the scoreline as a clearly rattled Forest struggled to contend with Rowett’s rejuvenated side.
Ince clipped the crossbar with a free kick from the edge of the area, Johnson saw an effort saved and Alex Pearce had a header also saved on the goalline as the Rams laid siege on the Forest goal in an attempt to get the all-important third goal.
Ince had a fifth effort as the clock ticked past the 70-minute mark, but fired wide after cutting past Pinillos, whilst Jacob Butterfield, off the substitutes bench, was also denied by the busy Smith, who had kept the hosts alive and kicking in the contest.
The Reds, though, should have been dead and buried, but Derby couldn’t find a way through and the door was left ajar, giving Forest a glimmer of hope.
With nothing more to lose, Warburton’s side switched the pressure and aimed all their efforts at Carson’s goal and it looked as though the Rams had got away with it after Apostolos Vellios cracked the post with a fierce strike from range.
There was also a strong penalty appeal from the furious Forest players, but from a corner soon after, they rescued a point as Pinillos rose highest to power a header into the back of the net – a crucial goal that prevented the hosts from falling into the Championship’s relegation zone.
Nottingham Forest: Smith, Pinillos, Mancienne, Cohen (Cash, 71), Assombalonga (Vellios, 79), Osborn, Fox, Clough (McCormack, 63), Vaughan, Worrall, Brereton
Substitutes not used: Evtimov, Pereira, Kasami, Lam
Derby County: Carson, Baird, Keogh (C), Pearce, Olsson; Bryson, Johnson; Ince, Russell, Vydra (Butterfield, 73); Nugent (Bennett, 82)
Substitutes not used: Mitchell, Christie, Anya, Hughes, Camara
Attendance: 26,665 (1,951 away supporters)Blindness, Mad Cow Disease and Canola Oil
By John Thomas excerpt from:
Young again: How to Reverse the Aging Process
Millions of people have suffered the loss of their vision from glaucoma, a disease involving atrophy (deterioration) of the optic nerve. For years, "experts" have been telling us that glaucoma results from fluid-pressure buildup in the eye that causes the optic nerve to deteriorate. This theory was based on an incorrect medical model: They were wrong! Now, the experts have admitted that this is not true and have given birth to a new theory. According to it, glaucoma is instead caused by a deficiency of oxygen and blood flow. Finally they are on the right trail. In the end, they will discover that glaucoma is the result of insufficient blood flow due to agglutination (clumping together) of the red blood cells and waste buildup in the cells and intercellular fluids.
These blood-corpuscle clusters cannot squeeze through the extremely tiny capillaries in the posterior of the eye, so cannot deliver oxygen to the mitochondria.1 This is what the problem has been all along, and if people continue to eat soy and canola oils, a lot more of them are going to experience vision irregularities - like retinas and macula lutea degeneration.
Death of the mitochondria in the cells in the posterior of the eye is due to oxygen starvation, sodium toxicity and waste accumulation. When the mitochondria die, the cells die and the posterior eye tissues atrophy. In this respect, glaucoma has much in common with hair loss, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy and hearing problems.
There are several things a person can do to reverse these debilitating conditions. Biologically friendly water is basic to all rejuvenation, as is fresh, viable food. Detoxification of the tissues and body fluids is accomplished with yucca extract, Kombucha tea, PACs and colon therapy.
Degradation of Vision
Loss of vision is a known, characteristic |
breaking through three tackles to race in from 20 metres, although Wigan hit back almost immediately when Farrell easily finished off a neat move.
As the clock ticked down, an uncharacteristic mistake from Warrington full-back Hodgson let Wigan in.
Smith dropped a goal from 20 metres to put the Warriors a point ahead and on course for their first league win over Warrington since February 2010.
But Briers had other ideas, the former Wales international keeping his nerve to force a draw and ensure the north-west neighbours would share the spoils.
VIEW FROM THE DRESSING ROOM
Wigan coach Shaun Wane:
"It was a good effort from our players. To have to defend so many sets on our line, we showed some great character.
"I'm a little frustrated because I thought we could have done better but the courage and guts we showed in our defence was outstanding.
"We were nowhere near our best - we put ourselves under pressure with the penalty count - but overall I'm fairly pleased with that.
"It was a really big game and in the past we've not been performing in big games. It will send a signal out to other teams. The pleasing thing for me is that it's a quiet dressing room. They're all disappointed with the result."
Warrington coach Tony Smith:
"There's such long way to go - I'm not going to go home and kick the dog.
"There are mixed emotions. We're not punching the air but it was pleasing that we found a way not to lose it once we went behind.
"I don't think we controlled the game as much as we needed to. They were better than us in the first half. They out-enthused us but, in the second half, we showed a bit more control for patches of the game.
"The skill level was not particularly high but it was tense and the crowd played a part in that."
FRIDAY'S LINE-UPS
Wigan: S Tomkins; Charnley, Goulding, Thornley, Richards; Green, Smith; Dudson, McIlorum, Mossop, Hughes, Farrell, O'Loughlin.
Replacements: Flower, Taylor, Powell, Burke.
Warrington: Hodgson; Riley, Evans, Atkins, J Monaghan; Briers, Myler; Morley, M Monaghan, Hill, Waterhouse, Westwood, Grix.
Replacements: Carvell, Cooper, Higham, Ratchford.
Attendance: 20,050.
Referee: Phil Bentham (Warrington).Fancy bears. It sounds like a new range of jelly sweets, or a Victorian circus act. Thanks to some Fancy Bears leaking confidential therapeutic use exemption (TUE) information online, these have been dark days for cycling. Suspicion has been thrown over the achievements of several British athletes – not least Sir Bradley Wiggins, the first ever British winner of the Tour de France, and his use of triamcinolone acetonide – a powerful cortisone that David Millar described as the “most potent” drug he used in his career.
Sky broke no rules, apparently, though they have not so much butted up against their own thin blue line as fully stress tested its elasticity. For now, questions remain unanswered. Sky have promised to release details of further TUEs, with riders’ consent – this is confidential medical information, after all – a move that WADA has been quick to condemn.
The system, it seems, is broken and it needs fixing. In 2009, WADA removed the need for a TUE for Salbutamol, the most common asthma treatment drug, and application numbers tumbled. Salbutamol is not a one-size-fits-all solution for asthma – where Wiggins had a number of TUEs for Salbutamol before 2009, fellow sufferer Chris Froome did not – but Wiggins’ use of a different treatment before his three major assaults on Grand Tours can’t help but raise eyebrows. Not least because it is the same substance for which Lance Armstrong infamously tested positive in the 1999 Tour.
In 2011 L’Équipe released the UCI’s leaked “Index of Suspicion” for the previous year’s Tour de France, detailing their view of every rider in the event. The list was widely ridiculed for presenting the information out of context, but what went unremarked was an accompanying column by Gerard Guillaume, team doctor at the Francaise des Jeux team. Cycling, he said, was now running not at deux vitesses but three – PEDs, pan y agua and cortisone.
Cortisone use – and abuse – in cycling isn’t new. Cortisone was first isolated in the 1930s, then synthesised in 1949 at the Mayo Clinic in the US as an exceptionally effective treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. In 1950, the Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Philip Hench, Edward Kendall and Tadeus Reichstein for “discoveries relating to the hormones of the adrenal cortex, their structure and biological effects.”
A naturally occurring hormone released by the body’s adrenal glands to combat stress, cortisone – and other corticosteroids such as prednisone – suppress inflammation and release energy necessary for the “fight or flight” reflex, and are widely used in the treatment of asthma and injury. Cortisone injections are not uncommon in other sports – Andy Murray has openly discussed having an injection in his arm before a match against Rafa Nadal, and Steven Gerrard and John Terry were both prescribed the treatment to get them on to the pitch.
But cycling is different. Cycling has been the test bed for unlicensed products and therapies, the early adopter of anything that might give a rider an edge since Maurice Garin and his confrères lined up outside the Reveil-Matin in 1903 for the first Tour de France. By 1960, only 10 years after Hench et al were shaking hands in Oslo, Tour de France race doctor Robert Boncour was warning that cortisone presented “appalling dangers threatening the life of the champion-guinea pig turned into the champion-suicide.” In 1969, Dr Lucien Maigre was singing the same tune, declaring that numerous riders were routinely using cortisone in their preparation for the Tour. Just two years after Tom Simpson’s amphetamine-fuelled death on Mont Ventoux, the peloton had already moved on to the next big thing.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Eddy Merckx and Bernard Thévenet racing at the Tour de France in 1975. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
When Bernard Thévenet was rushed to hospital in 1977, after winning the Tour de France for a second time, he was suffering from a catastrophic failure of the renal glands. A year later, the Peugeot rider revealed that he had been using cortisone since 1975 – the year he comprehensively thrashed Eddy Merckx at the Tour. His team-mate, Jean-Pierre Danguillaume, later told cycling journalist Pierre Chany: “Bernard found himself alone in hospital and he was scared. That’s what drove him to speak out.”
François Bellocq, the Peugeot team doctor from 1974 until 1979, was infamous for dishing out prescriptions even though he was not a qualified doctor – he used his father’s stationery and was thrown off the FFC medical commission for his pains – and for the development of hormone rebalancing therapy. In his 1991 book Sport et Dopage, Bellocq expanded on his theories. He likened riders to car engines running on water, oil and gas: “The human body needs an electrolyte balance, metabolic and hormonal, to run at its best.”
Over the course of a race, a rider’s levels of hormones will naturally fall. Bellocq advocated rebalancing those levels. If the body couldn’t replace what was lost quick enough, he thought it was permissible to top that level up to its natural state. Hormone rebalancing therapy would replenish the reserves that the demands of professional sport had depleted.
Was it doping? Bellocq was emphatic: “Doping brings to a body what it does not have in its natural state, or that he has naturally but in doses that pass all understanding.” The use of cortisone, which had brought Thévenet so low he said he was in no fit state to even get on a bike, was merely to delay fatigue in riders who were already putting their health at risk by facing the demands of a Grand Tour.
Cortisone sits at that uncomfortable intersection between recovery and doping to win, situated on the graph somewhere between unethical and not quite illegal. But the question remains: should a doctor administer drugs to a healthy individual? And does a line exist between helping riders recover from the demands of bike racing (even in the modern era) and using drugs to create a super-athlete who can deal with the rigours of the sport?
Should cortisone be seen as treatment or a licence to cheat? It’s the thinnest of lines, as Joe Harris and Steve Maxwell point out in an opinion piece for the Outerline: “Pro cycling has tended to focus on what is best for its economics rather than what is best for the affected or ill individual,” they argue. “And this in turn tends to push TUEs in the direction of sanctioned doping.”
When the UCI first made concerted efforts to control EPO abuse with the introduction of the 50% hematocrit rule in 1997, which required riders whose hematocrit was above that level to take an eight-day “rest” or have a sound medical explanation for why it was that high. In the new guidance on TUEs, a similar rest period has been proposed. The MPCC (Mouvement Pour un Cyclisme Credible) introduced an eight-day “health break” for use of intra-articular corticoids as part of their platform of anti-doping measures when they formed in 2007. They’ve subsequently added cortisol testing to their armoury, requiring riders from MPCC teams to pull out of competition if their levels fall too low – Chris Horner fell foul of the cortisol test in 2014 and was forced to withdraw from the Vuelta, and the opportunity to defend his crown. If a rider is ill enough to require emergency corticoid therapy, runs the argument, then they are too ill to race.
As Sky’s critics are quick to point out, the British team who championed “zero tolerance” and marginal gains have never sought membership of the MPCC. As MPCC doctor Armand Mégret said in a recent interview, had Sky been a member of the MPCC, Wiggins would never have started the Tour de France. The eight-day rest period is an attempt to eliminate the grey areas associated with TUEs.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bradley Wiggins stands on the podium with Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali after his victory in the 2012 Tour de France. Photograph: Jerome Prevost/AP
After Thévenet’s revelations in 1978, a string of riders also revealed they had used cortisone. Roger Pingeon, winner of the ill-fated 1967 Tour, told L’Équipe: “We take products that dope the surrenal glands and we feel great and we can push a big gear, and we forget that the surrenal glands no longer work properly and the secondary effects are terrible.” Jacques Anquetil, the man who said “everybody takes dope” and that he’d had so many injections “my arse looks like a sieve”, declared he had tried cortisone twice. Luis Ocaña, whose one positive test in 1977 was for the stimulant pemoline, declared that cortisone abuse was “very serious”, saying: “It was 10 times better, a thousand times better to take amphetamines. It was infinitely less dangerous”.
Despite the warnings, cortisone refused to go away. In 1984, Dr Freddy Safar told Medicale magazine “I have 16-year-old kids who inject cortisone before a local race, all that to win a salad bowl.” Its use was alleged across a raft of sports – in gymnastics to hold back growth, in alpine skiing to combat fatigue and in athletics to speed healing. After a red-eyed, hyper-muscular Ben Johnson decimated the world record at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and then tested positive for anabolic steroids, it was revealed he had also used cortisone to heal an old leg injury.
But while athletes were prepared to play fast and loose with their long-term health – the known side effects of prolonged cortisone use include osteoporosis, cataracts, muscle weakness, mood swings and psychosis, diabetes, high blood pressure, ulcers, necrosis of the hip and thinning of the skin – cortisone use was not formally proscribed for competition until 1987, when it appeared on the IOC banned list under “substances subject to certain conditions”.
Before WADA became the umbrella organisation for anti-doping in 1999 and published their code and banned list, cycling had dealt with cortisone in its own way. The French “loi Herzog” of 1966 – a law that Tour de France doctor Pierre Dumas had been so instrumental in achieving after a string of doping near misses at the race – classified oral corticoids as “toxic” and banned their use in competition outright. But enforcement of the law – the first real attempt at anti-doping legislation in France – was negligible at best.
In 1968, the UCI placed “hormones and hormonoids” on the B list: to be used only with a doctor’s certificate. By 1970, the category was dropped – only detectable products would face a ban. In 1978, the UCI recognised corticosteroids as a distinct category and restricted their use for Olympic competition. The IOC did not agree, citing the impossibility of distinguishing between naturally produced and artificially introduced cortisone in laboratory testing.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lance Armstrong wearing the yellow jersey in 1999. Photograph: Joel Saget/EPA
All that changed in 1999. At the start of the 86th Tour de France at the Puy de Fou, that extraordinary historical theme park in the west, Hein Verbruggen – who was head of the UCI at the time – announced at a press conference: “This year, the National Laboratory for the Detection of Doping will give the results of its research concerning the detection of natural and synthetic corticoids.”
Testers were now able to employ the technique of mass spectrometry on a rider’s urine sample and better analyse its chemical make-up. Armstrong was unlucky – caught out by the new test, he returned a positive for triamcinolone acetonide and then produced a hastily backdated doctor’s note to explain its presence. It was a cream for saddle sores, he argued, and the UCI, still smarting from the Festina affair, were happy to agree. In fact, Armstrong returned four positives in the race – but thanks to the opaque rules regarding cortisone use in force at the time, he avoided further sanction.
And there’s the rub. Since 1999, the use of glucocorticoids by oral, intravenous, intramuscular or rectal routes has been prohibited by the UCI, IOC and under French anti-doping law, prohibitions written into the WADA code. But the test cannot distinguish between administration routes, it simply knows that the substance is there. According to Dr Conor McGrane, fellow of the faculty of sports and exercise medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons, it is hard to differentiate synthetic corticoids from natural ones, “also cortisone levels fluctuate throughout the day as well – they’re lowest in the morning - so depending on what time you test you will get a different level.” This, McGrane believes, is one of the reasons that cortisone use has never been banned outright.
To regulate the way corticoids are administered, the simple doctor’s note has morphed into the Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE). In the UCI’s anti-doping regulations for 2012, articles 46.4 and 47 bear examination. Between them they state that, when a TUE is granted, there should be “no reasonable therapeutic alternative” to the proposed therapy and that it should not “produce enhancement of performance” beyond a “return to a state of normal health”.
Dr McGrane points out that the British Association of Allergy and Clinical Immunology say injections should only be used as a last resort and even then the side effects may outweigh any benefits. NICE guidelines for rhinitis treatment do not mention intramuscular corticoid therapy at all, instead advocating the use of orally or nasally administered cortisone.
The evidence on performance enhancement is anecdotal – a chorus of convicted dopers from Millar to Jorg Jaksche to Michael Rasmussen have all raised doubts about using such a powerful drug – but for clarity, it should be stated that triamcinolone, which was prescribed to Wiggins before three major competitions, is a performance-enhancing drug and sits on WADA’s banned list. Besides its therapeutic usage, it causes rapid weight loss with no loss of power, a sense of euphoria and effectively deadens pain. This is why its use is only acceptable, therapeutically, with a TUE. Yet the regulations seem purposely vague, allowing for considerable wiggle room and unscientific value judgements. Who can honestly say what is one rider’s “state of normal health” and another’s “enhancement of performance”? We have no way of evaluating either.
More troubling is whether the UCI followed its own rules concerning approval by the TUEC – the three-person committee who are charged with signing off TUE applications. When I contacted the UCI in the wake of the controversy surrounding the approval of an emergency TUE for Chris Froome at the 2014 Tour of Romandie, I was told by a UCI spokesperson that “it was common practice that, for straightforward cases such as asthma, allergic reactions, post-infectious coughs, sinusitis, the UCI’s doctor was making the decision.” That doctor was Mario Zorzoli.
Followers of the darker back alleys of the sport will recognise Zorzoli’s name from the UCI-commissioned CIRC report, which contained quotes from Rasmussen in which he alleged that Zorzoli and Leinders had colluded to ensure that the Rabobank team would sidestep all doping-related issues. Leinders was banned for life in 2015 but, after the UCI investigated Zorzoli and found no evidence to support the claims against him, he was reinstated to his position.
As for mismatching dates on Wiggins’ leaked TUEs, his biographer William Fotheringham offers an interesting explanation, presenting a picture of a Team Sky greatly at odds with the methodical, micro-managed unit familiar from team PR. It raises some interesting questions about Sir David Brailsford – is he the meticulous Blofeld of international cycling as his detractors paint him, or a somewhat naive cycling aficionado so in love with the sport he is blind to its faults, unaware of Thévenet’s story and the long, murky past of cortisone abuse?
Dave Smith, the former Olympic coach who trained the French star Pascal Lino at the end of his career, is forthright in his condemnation of the current TUE system, calling the controversy around Wiggins “an embarrassing shit-show for Sky.” He questions whether Brailsford, who raced for a French amateur team in the 1980s and has lived through the Armstrong era, “is fit for the position he finds himself in if he lacks such insight.”
Bradley Wiggins operated within doping rules – but rules may be wrong | Richard Williams Read more
The answer may be moot, with news that UKAD are investigating Team Sky for receiving medical products at the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné – the same race where Dr Richard Freeman picked up the phone and was granted an emergency TUE for Rigoberto Uran by Dr Zorzoli. There is a sense of panic and disarray around the Death Star, with the usually slick PR operation in crisis after being caught out in some fundamental mistruths, particularly their Brailsford mistakenly suggested that Simon Cope had travelled to La Toussuire to meet Emma Pooley, who had been hundreds of miles away racing in Spain. She called his claim “silly and careless”, though one wonders how her reputation might have suffered had she not had a cast-iron alibi.
Meanwhile, UCI president Brian Cookson, the man who oversaw the development of Team Sky as the head of British Cycling, has absolved the team of any wrongdoing. The UCI have promised a full review of the TUE process but, while the ethical grey area remains and the Venn diagram of cheat and treat remains unresolved, the TUE process will continue to be seen in the same light as the old 50% haematocrit level – as a licence to cheat by those who are happy to cross the line.
• This article is from 100 Tours 100 Tales
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Consider two planets that are exactly alike in every way except an additional butterfly lives on one planet. Over time, the chaotic weather patterns start to differ because of that single butterfly.
This phenomena only begins to describes some of the research physics professor Bruce Miller choses to dive into.
Miller is a prominent researcher known for his work in the Chaos Theory, an interdiscplinary line of science involving what many people know as the “butterfly effect.”
The theory studies the behaviors and results of systems that are dramatically altered with small variables. In many naturally occuring systems, there is a sensitive dependence on initial conditions.
In the 1980s, Miller created a mathematical model known as the “wedge-billiard theory” in a DOS system, a theory that turned the Chaos Theory upside down. That was 30 years ago, he said, but even today, scientists still use his model to understand a constantly-developing science.
While away on sabbatical at the Institute of Physical Science and Technology at the University of Maryland, Miller derived the equations necessary for the wedge-billiard theory.
The wedge-billiard model consists of a ball bouncing back and forth between an angled, flat surface and a perpendicular barrier. It was one of the first two-dimensional models with a purely chaotic system and, after changing an angle, a purely stable one, he said.
He sent the equations to a graduate student at TCU because the University of Maryland had a small number of computers and the mainframe did not have graphics capabilities.
After he put the equations into the computer, they saw that the theory proved true.
“We found out what the chaos was in one phone call. It was rather exciting,” he said. “That’s what convinced me that computers were really cool. Until I could see this, nobody would really know what was happening.”
In high school, Miller was never satisfied with just learning other things that people had told him, but would instead work it out his own way.
At his high school in New York City, he learned to be very independent, which he said contributes to his research and teaching.
Miller lived in New York City from birth until he finished college.
He attended Stuyvesant High School, a “premier school for science, mathematics and technology,” according to its website.
Miller made an hour-long commute via subway from Queens, where he lived, to Manhattan every morning in order to get to his high school, and he often did his homework on the noisy subway.
“I had to learn how to think independently when I was quite young,” he said. “When I went to Stuyvesant High School and so forth, people didn’t hold your hand.”
When Miller attended, Stuyvesant was one of three high schools in New York City that required an entrance exam to get in.
Next, he went to Columbia University for his bachelor’s and received his master’s in physics at the University of Chicago.
“Physics and math are both something that I seemed to have a natural affinity for,” he said.
Miller also grew up in a Jewish family with parents who were fluent in Yiddish, and still thinks of himself as a New Yorker in many ways.
“I have this split persona: in Fort Worth I can say ‘Hi, y’all’ but when I get off the plane in New York I revert to that New York guy,” he said.
Miller plays the violin with the Fort Worth Civic Orchestra and enjoys classical music, going to the gym and hiking in the mountains. Still, he said, his wife thinks that his major hobby is theoretical physics.
Along with teaching multiple classes at the university, Miller is also working on several research projects with graduate students and other professors, including a friend who lives in France.
No matter where he is, Miller knows he is still part of the chaos.San Antonio. Texas. 1994. Two young girls, ages 7 and 9, sleep over at the house of their beloved aunt Elizabeth Ramirez, who takes care of them regularly. They spend the night with aunt Elizabeth and her three friends Kristie Mayhugh, Anna Vasquez and Cassandra Rivera, all of whom were 19 and 20 years old at the time.
Weeks later, Elizabeth and her three friends were accused by the young girls of gang raping them. The state of Texas offered the women deferred adjudication, meaning they wouldn't serve prison time but would be put on probation for 10 years. The four women, convinced that the justice system would protect them, rejected the offer. They insisted on their innocence and thought they had nothing to fear.
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They were mistaken.
In 1997 and 1998 the four women were convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child. Elizabeth Ramirez was sentenced to 37.5 years in prison, and her three friends got 15 years each. They were barely in their early twenties, but faced sentences that would keep them behind bars for most of their adult lives.
Pediatrician Nancy Kellogg, the expert witness who examined the girls, and whose testimony sealed the women's fate, said she found healed scarring in their vaginas, which she examined two months after the alleged attacks happened, that could possibly connote molestation. She also testified in a deposition that she had jotted down that there appeared to be “signs of satanic-related sexual abuse”. According to journalist Michelle Mondo, who wrote an article about the case in 2010, Kellogg said she based her notes on her “research and experience in this area,” and published studies she could not name.
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At the time, the United States was emerging from a bizarre period of mass hysteria in which many daycare workers, babysitters, and family caregivers all over the country were accused of performing satanic ritual abuse on their young charges. A cottage industry of child psychologists and "experts" surfaced, coaxing children to testify in courts that they had been abused.
The story of the so-called "San Antonio Four" is the subject of a harrowing new documentary, Southwest of Salem, which opens in New York, San Antonio and Austin on Sept. 16, and in Los Angeles on Sept. 30. The film, by Deborah S. Esquenazi, follows the four women during their trials, their conviction, their parole, and their ongoing fight for exoneration.
The four women were never directly accused of ritual abuse, but compelled by Dr. Kellogg's testimony, the prosecutors depicted the working-class Latinas as living sordid lives of debauchery. The filmmakers and the women conclude they were accused and convicted of sexual child abuse, and suspected of being in a satanic cult for one simple reason: They were lesbians.
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The film portrays the deeply ingrained cultural and systemic prejudices that resulted in the convictions of these Mexican-American women. They were from Texas, a very conservative state, and didn't have recourse to expensive attorneys. They were vulnerable to racial and homophobic prejudice by the authorities. Being accused of child abuse by two young girls was tantamount to being guilty until proven innocent.
Ellen DeGeneres had yet to come out to the world on her TV show, and the idea of marriage equality was not even considered feasible by the majority of Americans. At the time, there was a prevalent misconception that gay people were predisposed to sexually abusing children.
The perverse, fantastical notions that four lesbians were prone to pedophilia because of their sexual orientation, fueled a prosecution that spun sordid tales about the lifestyle of the four women, tales that some said seemed reminiscent of male pornographic fantasies.
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The women were also born into a deeply homophobic Latino, Catholic culture. They had to fight these ingrained prejudices in their own homes.
During the time of the allegations, and unbeknownst to the public or the court, Anna and Cassie were partners, and they were raising Cassie's two young children together. They used to spend time at Liz’s house because they had been kicked out of their own homes by their mothers upon learning that they were lesbians. It was this deep cultural prejudice and intolerance that allowed people to think the worst of them.
So who did it? Most likely, nobody.
On the witness stand, Elizabeth testified that the children might have lied because Javier Limon, who was married to Elizabeth's sister, and was the father of the two girls, had harbored a crush on her ever since she was a teenager. Wounded by Liz's rejection and possibly even more so by her queerness, Elizabeth said Limon exacted revenge by forcing his two young daughters to repeat his concocted accusations of abuse to the police, and later on, the courts. Other witnesses also claimed Limon had made advances to Liz starting as early as her teen years. In his opening statement, Liz's defense attorney spoke about Limon’s alleged love letters to her. Javier denies it all — that he forced his daughters to lie, and that he wrote those letters.
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In 2010, 15 years into the women's nightmare, Stephanie Limon, one of the accusers, by then a young mother of 25, recanted her testimony in front of Esquenazi's cameras and two lawyers from The Innocence Project of Texas. Stephanie’s lawyer, Casie Gotro, suspects that her father, Javier Limon called Child Protective Services on her and accused her of mistreatment of her child but the case was dismissed in court for lack of evidence. Again, Limon denied involvement.
Stephanie's sister, the second girl who accused the women, refused to recant or be interviewed for the film.
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Anna Vazquez was granted parole in 2012 based in the recantation and on her polygraph tests, which were consistent with her claim of innocence. She immediately set to try to seek justice for her incarcerated friends, who were released on bond in 2013. Dr. Kellogg also disavowed her flawed forensic testimony on the basis of Stephanie’s recantation. It became the first case in Texas to get reopened on the grounds of SB 344, the "junk science" statute, a bill unique to Texas that permits defendants to bring a writ of habeas corpus on the basis of new or changed scientific evidence. According to the bill, courts must grant relief in cases where new scientific evidence has come to light, or where scientific evidence used to convict was shown to be inaccurate, false, or misleading.
Child protection experts like Dr. Kellogg used to claim that certain marks on little girls’ genitalia were proof they’d been sexually abused, while later research showed that non-abused girls have the same marks.
The women's fight for total exoneration continues. In April of last year, all four women went back to court for an exoneration trial before their original judge, Pat Priest, who ruled that they are entitled to new trials, but he did not recommend them for exoneration. Priest claimed that their “assertion of proof for ‘actual innocence’ falls short of the mark.”
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The case now lies in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. Mike Ware, lawyer for the Texas Innocence Project, who has helped the women file their appeal, anticipates that the San Antonio Four will be vindicated and all the charges dismissed. Still, he worries that there are two other possible outcomes: the court may find there is not enough evidence for actual innocence, and order a new trial, or they will be denied and have to return to prison to serve the remainder of their sentences.
Today, the women are focused on clearing their names. They are fighting for a full exoneration and for all charges to be expunged from their records. According to Esquenazi, the legal term is 'actually innocent', in which sentences are totally vacated and the women receive restitution for time served. This is important to them because, besides the restoration of their good name, child sexual assault is still on their records and they cannot move freely within the country.
No charges have been filed against Limon for his alleged conspiracy to make false accusations. The women are still dealing with the same homophobia and prejudices that they've been battling their whole lives.
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Elizabeth, who now works in a manufacturing company, says the men she works with still don't get it.
"When they find out that I'm gay, they say: you need a man in your life," she says. "We believe in being independent and taking care of our families and our children, and this is against what they believe, and they are intimidated by it, so when they see women like us, they are aggressive about it."
Yehudit Mam writes about film on her blog I've Had It With Hollywood. Her work has appeared in magazines and newspapers in the US and Mexico. She is the co-founder of dada.nyc, an online platform for visual artists.This must be a sign of the times: The two men who ran Australia’s two dirtiest brown coal generators, and who were one-time trenchant critics of climate and renewable energy policies, have switched sides. They have now thrown in their lot with the solar industry and other disruptive technologies.
Tony Concannon is the former Australian boss of GDF Suez, now Engie, which operates the Hazelwood brown coal generator, among other assets. He has now re-emerged as the chief executive of Reach Solar, which is looking at solar projects and battery storage across Australia, including a 200MW solar PV facility located near Port Augusta airport.
Richard McIndoe is the former head of Energy Australia, which owns the Yallourn power station, and has since emerged as the executive chairman of a new company called Edge Electrons, which developing new technology, such as voltage control, that is helping businesses and households save on electricity bills.
Solar, battery storage and energy efficiency are the new big ticket items in the transition of global energy systems to low-carbon technologies. All three technologies attack the very basis of the business model built up for half a century around brown coal, which revolved around “base-load” generation and ever increasing demand.
In their previous roles, Concannon and McIndoe’s companies had fought ferociously against any policy changes that might have given assistance to solar and energy efficiency, which take away demand from brown coal generators and undercut their earnings.
Both companies argued forcefully against the various emissions trading schemes, against the renewable energy target, and against energy efficiency incentives. At times, they took this argument to extremes: McIndoe even warned that the “lights would go out” if carbon was priced. Concannon also warned of supply shortages, and in one speech warned that the renewable energy target would jack up wholesale prices “25-fold.”
Instead, the opposite has happened and Australia now has too much capacity; although, ironically, it is now proving almost impossible to dislodge brown coal from the system, particularly the big Latrobe Valley generators that these men ran.
Engie last week did suggest that “closure” of Hazelwood was a possibility, but this has more to do with the global reputation of Engie, and its biggest shareholder, the French government, than energy economics.
One brown coal generator that could no longer compete in the modern market – thanks to the enormous wind and solar capacity in its local grid – was the Northern plant in Port Augusta, South Australia.
Concannon’s new venture, Reach Solar, is proposing a big solar plant to at least partially replace that capacity. In February, Concannon and other executives made a presentation to the Port Augusta council, outlining plans for a 30MW solar PV plant near the Port Augusta airport, which could grow into a 200MW facility.
In its presentation, which can be viewed here, Concannon’s team said Port Augusta was a great location for solar, thanks to its excellent solar radiation, available land and high voltage transmission lines.
They also said Reach Solar had a number of agreements with battery storage developers, including Tesla Energy. They said storage was important, for providing firm capacity on cloudy days, and for mitigating against peak demand charges.
The $320 million solar project is not the only one being proposed in the area. As RenewEconomy revealed last week, Indian energy group Adani, which is trying to develop the controversial Carmichael mega coal mine in Queensland’s Galilee Basin, is also proposing 400MW of rooftop solar projects in the region.
DP Energy is proposing a big 375MW wind-solar hybrid project, while US company SolarReserve is proposing a 110MW solar storage and molten salt storage facility, which would be the first of its type in Australia.
McIndoe, last September, announced the creation of a new start-up called Edge Electrons that he promised would “shake-up the energy industry and help customers save money.”Neil Sloane is considered by some to be one of the most influential mathematicians of our time.
That’s not because of any particular theorem the 75-year-old Welsh native has proved, though over the course of a more than 40-year research career at Bell Labs (later AT&T Labs) he won numerous awards for papers in the fields of combinatorics, coding theory, optics and statistics. Rather, it’s because of the creation for which he’s most famous: the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS), often simply called “Sloane” by its users.
This giant repository, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, contains more than a quarter of a million different sequences of numbers that arise in different mathematical contexts, such as the prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7, 11 … ) or the Fibonacci sequence (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13 … ). What’s the greatest number of cake slices that can be made with n cuts? Look up sequence A000125 in the OEIS. How many chess positions can be created in n moves? That’s sequence A048987. The number of ways to arrange n circles in a plane, with only two crossing at any given point, is A250001. That sequence just joined the collection a few months ago. So far, only its first four terms are known; if you can figure out the fifth, Sloane will want to hear from you.
A mathematician whose research generates |
Brad Stevens declined to reveal who will start Game 1 against the Washington Wizards, leaving it a surprise whether he will stick with the small lineup that changed the course of the first round.
The Celtics will almost certainly stay with their usual four: Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder and Al Horford. Stevens' decision for the fifth spot will presumably come down to Amir Johnson, who started most of the regular season, or Gerald Green, who helped swing the first-round series while replacing Johnson over the final four games. It's possible, though unlikely, Stevens has something else planned for Washington; starting Green was a stunner, but the move helped shove the Celtics past the Chicago Bulls in Round 1.
"I don't know that I've ever been a part of a series that's flipped -- or anything that's flipped like that where a team has really played well against you and you just kind of find something that works and it works for four straight games pretty well," Stevens said Saturday afternoon. "So we were fortunate but I thought we created a sense of belief that, no matter the odds, we're going to tackle it."
But that series has been tackled. The Wizards will bring new challenges, like the elite backcourt of John Wall and Bradley Beal. Against the frontcourt of Otto Porter, Markieff Morris and Marcin Gortat, it's not clear yet who Stevens will tab as the fifth starter.
"I don't know if I anticipate lineup changes," the coach said Saturday afternoon, smiling slyly.
With a short turnaround before Game 1 tips off at 1 p.m. Sunday, Stevens said the Celtics staff has been working on getting everyone up to speed.
"We knew that there would probably be a quick turnaround or at least it was a higher likelihood of a quick turnaround than not," he said. "We have a staff full of people, some are working on the current opponent, some are working on the next. They've done a great job of bringing the rest of us up to speed ASAP. You play 82 games and they're all back-to-back or one day apart or whatever, you get used to preparing for the next one quickly."
"It's a lot of layers," added Stevens. "I watched two or three Washington-Atlanta games as well, so, I think you kind of, in any of your downtime that you're in this, you try to think about what possibly could happen so that you're as prepared as you can be. Washington's playing really well, they played great last night. We know they're a handful, they're a good team."Mammal Gallery needs your help!
We are a DIY artist's space located in the heart of downtown Atlanta that provides a safe space for creative minds. Through a wide variety of events we are gradually bringing life and vibrance back to South Broad Street.
Historical South Broad Street has some of the oldest and most beautiful buildings in Atlanta. Our building, 91 Broad Street, was originally built in 1925 and was recently bought by hometown hero Richard Miller, owner of Miller's Rexall. Richard and the Atlanta Downtown Neighborhood Association were looking to move in businesses to the street to bring more positive foot traffic to the area.
The ground level of the building is a work of art, literally. During the two months prior to us moving into the building Dashboard Co op (http://www.dashboardcoop.org) along with artists Henry Detweiler and Ben Coleman painted the walls for "No Vacancy: A Necessary Void." The result of which is an inescapable ocular experience from the moment you walk into the door in the key of pink and peach chevrons. The room, the stage, the pink pool table, everything was perfect.
Our job was to bring the noise. We installed a professional level sound system that can cater to events ranging from concerts, movie screenings, performance art, banquet dinners and everything in between. The more the merrier.
The upstairs is currently rented out to 8 artists that share a communal work environment each renting out their own locker. We constructed two 8x10 walls that float on castor wheels. The walls give us the ability to show work in a dynamic space.
So far the support from the community has been absolutely inspiring.
But, although the building is functional, there is still a lot of work to be done to make Mammal Gallery a venue capable of accommodating large crowds downstairs as well as improving artist work facilities upstairs.
That is why we need your help.
Downstairs:
The floor needs to be refinished because the wood is rotting and slowly creating holes in the floor that are potentially dangerous. This is a major expense but necessary for us to stay open.
The plumbing needs to be replaced behind the bar and in the bathrooms. Right now we only have one working toilet for the entire downstairs space that holds over 300 people. The plumbing in the other bathrooms needs a major overhaul before they are functional.
For deep cleaning we need to install a hot water heater.
We need to install adequate lighting for the stage.
Upstairs:
One of the first things we are going to do is patch our leaky roof. During rain storms the roof leaks so badly that it is a danger to artwork and a discomfort to anyone working.
The second thing that we are going to do is get central heating and air conditioning fixed. Right now we have to cuddle around space heaters to keep warm, which definitely slows down any artistic practice.
We are going to build community racks and storage space for the artists who work here.
Only about half of the upstairs has been fully activated so far, but because of its set up, has great potential. We want to turn the old kitchen into a darkroom for photo and film. There is also a large room in the back that we want to turn into a print lab with an etching press and screen printing materials.
More wall space. Although the upstairs is huge, the amount of wall space suitable for showing work is limited. With the necessary resources we will extend the amount of useable wall space.
Beyond:
There are many more renovations that we would like see done to the building, and there is no limit what is possible as long as we are able to take care of the core issues listed above.
Thank-you for your consideration and support. See you soon!Vermont became the 17th state to eliminate criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana. (Photo11: AFP/Getty Images) Story Highlights Vermont joins 16 other states in eliminating such penalties
Civil fines will replace criminal penalties
ESSEX JUNCTION, Vt. (AP) — Vermont has become the 17th state to get rid of criminal penalties for the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
Gov. Peter Shumlin signed a measure into law Thursday.
The law replaces criminal penalties with civil fines similar to a traffic ticket for possession of up to an ounce of marijuana or five grams of hashish.
STUDY: Marijuana use increases risk of academic problems
The law also treats possession of such amounts of marijuana by people under age 21 the same as underage possession of alcohol, including referral to court diversion for a first offense, potential civil penalties and/or license suspension, and criminal penalties for a third violation.
Previously, possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana was punishable by a six- to 24-month jail term. Vermont legalized the use of medical marijuana in 2004.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/14F6y6nIt isn’t surprising that courts aren’t necessarily state of the art when it comes to electronic documents, but it’s gotten worse.
First, some background. Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) is a database that was developed by the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts (AO) in the early 2000s to store electronic copies of documents from federal appellate, district, and bankruptcy courts. PACER is, to put it kindly, outdated. (Or, if you’re being less kind, “is a deeply dated system that already does too little and charges too much for online access to things like judicial orders and court briefs,” writes David Kravets of ArsTechnica.)
Another common complaint is that PACER charges for what are essentially public records: 10 cents per page, including per page of search records and per page of docket filings. In other words, if you don’t phrase your search query carefully, your wallet can end up in a world of hurt.
PACER has always had its share of critics; it’s the legal document system people love to hate. But on August 10—when PACER mentioned on its website that the records from the US Courts of Appeals for the 2nd, 7th, 11th, and Federal Circuits, as well as the Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California, would no longer be stored in the database—those critics got especially cranky. People didn’t want access to documents to go away.
For example, the Federal Circuit has now lost electronic access to all US Court of Appeals cases filed before March 1, 2012. Those cases include patent appeals and veteran’s claims. A number of significant cases were deleted, according to the BBC, the records of which would now be available only to people who traipse to the appropriate courthouse to pick them up in person.
Why the change? The judiciary’s electronic case file system was being updated, and the legacy files were no longer compatible with the new system, so out they went.
Some people took exception to this, suggesting that even if the records couldn’t be made compatible with the new system, the AO should have given prior notice so that people could have come up with a plan B for making the documents available electronically.
In fact, ideas for making PACER records freely available were already underway. In one case, the Government Printing Office experimented with providing free PACER access to 17 courts across the U.S. Then Internet hacktivist Aaron Swartz used one of those courts in Chicago to systematically download what he estimated to be 4TB of data. This would have cost $1.5 million if the system wasn’t free—and that realization caused the GPO to shut down the experiment. The data Swartz collected also became the basis for RECAP (PACER backwards, get it?), a joint project of the Center for Information Technology Policy at Princeton University and the Free Law Project. This involved putting a small Firefox application on a computer, so that any PACER records downloaded on that computer were copied to the Internet Archive, where they are available to anyone for free using a browser.
Were Swartz’ actions and the creation of RECAP legal? It’s hard to say. The PACER system FAQ explicitly reads, “The information gathered from the PACER system is a matter of public record and may be reproduced without permission,” though the Privacy and Security screen of the PACER system also reads, “Any attempt to collect data from PACER in a manner which avoids billing is strictly prohibited and may result in criminal prosecution or civil action.” On the other hand, notes the Washington Post, “Technically, the data isn't being collected from PACER but by RECAP users.”
At first the courts themselves suggested that attorneys shouldn’t depend on RECAP files, saying there were various security concerns, but later said that RECAP was permissible. Even RECAP supporters admit, though, that it has only a fraction of the documents in PACER.
Critics also note that PACER’s set up is inefficient. These days we’re accustomed to having giant cloud databases that everyone shares, but PACER actually consists of some 200 separate databases, each individually maintained by its courts. That is inefficient and expensive, critics point out, adding that storage standards aren’t consistent across those individual databases.
Even if you agree that PACER should charge for its services—and not everyone does—critics also complain that PACER raises far more money than it costs to run, with the rest of the money being used as a technology slush fund by the courts.
What’s going to happen now? Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, wrote to Judge Bates, the Administrative Officer of the Courts urging him to put the documents back online. In response, the AO said it will convert the appellate court records to PDFs—although it’s unclear whether the PDFs will be image only or searchable text—and that the records should be back online by the end of October. As for the bankruptcy court in California, they’re “working on it,” David Sellers, assistant director for public affairs at the AO, told the Washington Post. Of course, none of this does anything to address PACER’s systemic problems, notes the technology news and analysis web site GigaOm.
Assuming the AO makes the end of October deadline, and finds a solution for the bankruptcy court, critics are calling this a missed opportunity. A number of organizations—such as the Free Law Project and Public.Resource.Org—have already offered to host the documents for free, and they presumably could be incorporated into the existing RECAP system—which might already contain backups of at least some of the files. Since the PACER system no longer included them, the excuse of competition would no longer apply, writes the Electronic Frontier Foundation. “The restoration of access to these records through PACER is therefore coming at a significant lost opportunity cost,” the organization writes on its website. “The AO once again has a fee-driven excuse to obstruct free access, and no incentive to facilitate free access.”Voting machines are malfunctioning in some parts of Ohio, New York, Texas and other states, according to local media reports.
About six hours after polls opened on Tuesday, voters have reported malfunctioning machines in multiple locations, a common occurrence on Election Day that can lead to longer wait times.
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Most reports have come from New York, Illinois, North Carolina, Kentucky, Texas and Ohio, according to Electionland, a nonprofit project in partnership with ProPublica.
Experts say that broken machines should not affect an area’s ability to record or count votes. In most cases when machines are broken, voters use a paper ballot that will be manually tallied.
Electionland reported that every location citing problems Tuesday was still able to collect votes.
Machines had also shut down in at least two Connecticut towns, according to NBC Connecticut. Chris Calvert, who tried to vote in Philadelphia, also tweeted that both voting machines were broken at his location, according to USA Today.
"No one can vote in our district today. Hundreds of angry voters," he wrote on Twitter.
Polling experts say some machines across the country are out of date and that most are only expected to have a lifespan of about 10 years.SINGAPORE - A man was seen dangerously cutting off a public bus while riding on an electric scooter in Mandai.
A video posted on Stomp on Thursday (Sept 22) shows the e-scooter user, who appears to be wearing a helmet and gloves, hugging the kerb before catching up to an SMRT bus service 171 along Mandai Road.
The scooter rider then cuts across the lane to enter the middle lane, before overtaking the bus and swinging back out to the kerb.
The incident, which took place around 8am on Thursday, was filmed from a car following closely behind at 70kmh.
The Government's Active Mobility Advisory Panel (AMAP) guidelines, which were proposed earlier this year and are set to become law, state that personal mobility devices (PMDs) - a category of motorised devices that includes e-scooters - should not be used on roads.
They are allowed on footpaths, cycling paths and shared paths.
These guidelines were reiterated by the police and Land Transport Authority (LTA) when The Straits Times sought more information on the incident.
Related Story Woman still unconscious after e-scooter accident
AMAP member Denis Koh, who runs the Big Wheel Scooters Singapore interest group, said that he was very angry to learn of the matter.
"In the first place, it's not allowed on the roads," he said.
Mr Koh also said that members of his interest group would be reminded not to glamorise speeding or advertise e-scooter modifications that enhance the speed of their device.
AMAP guidelines state that PMDs should not be capable of travelling faster than 25kmh, although illegal modifications pose a headache for the authorities.
The LTA maintains a list of non-compliant devices on its website.
Despite the current lack of laws that specifically govern e-scooters, the authorities said that errant scooter users can still be charged for offences such as committing a rash act.
On Sept 17, a 53-year-old housewife was reportedly hit by an e-scooter and remains unconscious in hospital. The 17-year-old rider has been arrested.Press release
13 October 2014
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2014 to
Jean Tirole
Toulouse 1 Capitole University, France
“for his analysis of market power and regulation”.
Jean Tirole is one of the most influential economists of our time. He has made important theoretical research contributions in a number of areas, but most of all he has clarified how to understand and regulate industries with a few powerful firms.
Many industries are dominated by a small number of large firms or a single monopoly. Left unregulated, such markets often produce socially undesirable results – prices higher than those motivated by costs, or unproductive firms that survive by blocking the entry of new and more productive ones.
From the mid-1980s and onwards, Jean Tirole has breathed new life into research on such market failures. His analysis of firms with market power provides a unified theory with a strong bearing on central policy questions: how should the government deal with mergers or cartels, and how should it regulate monopolies?
Before Tirole, researchers and policymakers sought general principles for all industries. They advocated simple policy rules, such as capping prices for monopolists and prohibiting cooperation between competitors, while permitting cooperation between firms with different positions in the value chain. Tirole showed theoretically that such rules may work well in certain conditions, but do more harm than good in others. Price caps can provide dominant firms with strong motives to reduce costs – a good thing for society – but may also permit excessive profits – a bad thing for society. Cooperation on price setting within a market is usually harmful, but cooperation regarding patent pools can benefit everyone. The merger of a firm and its supplier may encourage innovation, but may also distort competition.
The best regulation or competition policy should therefore be carefully adapted to every industry’s specific conditions. In a series of articles and books, Jean Tirole has presented a general framework for designing such policies and applied it to a number of industries, ranging from telecommunications to banking. Drawing on these new insights, governments can better encourage powerful firms to become more productive and, at the same time, prevent them from harming competitors and customers.
Read more about this year’s prize Information for the Public
Pdf 229 kb Scientific Background
Pdf 606 kb
Images:
Illustration (pdf 583 kB)
Jean Tirole, French citizen. Born 1953 in Troyes, France. Ph.D. 1981 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. Scientific Director at Institut d’ Économie Industrielle, Toulouse School of Economics, Toulouse 1 Capitole University, France.
www.idei.fr/vitae.php?i=3
The Prize amount: SEK 8 million.
Contacts: Jessica Balksjö Nannini, Press Officer, +46 8 673 95 44, +46 70 673 96 50, jessica.balksjo@kva.se
Tore Ellingsen, Chairman of The Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, +46 8 736 92 60, tore.ellingsen@hhs.se
This year marks the 275th anniversary of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Academy was founded in 1739 and is an independent organization whose overall objective is to promote the sciences and strengthen their influence in society. The Academy takes special responsibility for the natural sciences and mathematics, but endeavours to promote the exchange of ideas between various disciplines.
To cite this section
MLA style: Press release. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Media AB 2019. Wed. 27 Feb 2019. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2014/press-release/>The mother of Dallas Cowboys rookie safety J.J. Wilcox has passed away. Marshell Wilcox was suffering from lupus and died Tuesday.
Wilcox, one of the Cowboys’ two third-round picks in the 2013 draft, left training camp Sunday to be with his family and has been excused all week.
"It’s tough for anybody," coach Jason Garrett said. "A young person, an adult, obviously a very difficult time. We have complete respect for what's going on in his life right now and want to give him all the opportunity to make sure he takes care of that the way he wants to. All the support systems are available to him. I think it's just a very difficult thing in life."
Wilcox had an interception and a team-high six tackles -- all in one drive -- in last week's preseason game against Oakland but will not play Saturday for the Cowboys in Arizona.
Despite playing safety for only one season at Georgia Southern, Wilcox has brought a physical presence to the secondary and has been among the team's most impressive young players.
After the draft, Wilcox spoke about how much it meant to him that his mother got to see him selected by the Cowboys.
ESPNDallas.com's Todd Archer contributed to this report.Luck
Khadar has lived in Dubai since 1978 and currently works as a fleet administrator with a car dealer group.
'Luck and lightning sometimes do strike the same spot twice. A Malayali, who was on board the EK521 Emirates flight that crash-landed in Dubai last week without suffering any casualties, has one more reason to count himself as lucky. He’s just won $1 million (Dh3.67 million)!'
Gulf News reports that 62-year-old Mohammad Basheer Abdul Khadar, an Indian national, had purchased the lottery ticket on Eid day when he was on his way to Thirvananthapuram, Kerala, for a vacation with his family. On Tuesday, a few days after he'd survived the flight misadventure and returned to Dubai, he got the news that his ticket number 0845 was drawn in the Dubai Duty Free Millennium Millionaire at Concourse A at Dubai International Airport.
“Escaping that fire unhurt was a miracle and I thanked God and the airline crew profusely that day. Then to discover that I won a lottery was frankly unbelievable in the beginning. I thought someone was playing a prank. But they told me patiently that it was no prank,” Khadar told The News Minute.
Like most Malayali success stories in the Gulf, Khadar’s too is one that has had many twists and turns. He has lived in Dubai since 1978 and currently works as a fleet administrator with a car dealer group. Though he now earns Dh8000 a month, Khadar remembers days when things were not so easy.
His son, who is now 21, suffered a fall just 13 days after his birth and became paralyzed. Khadar had to spend a lot of money for his medical treatment, even taking a loan of Rs.1.8 million (Dh99,043) for a major surgery that he later managed to pay back.
“I have no great plans about how to spend the money. But I know what dignity of labour is all about, so once I retire from Dubai, I would like to go back to Kerala and start a small agricultural unit. I have seen what my son went through and would like to help children with medical issues,” he said.
This was Khadar’s 17th lottery. “I never once thought I would win and my wife would keep asking me why I was wasting the money,” he says.
If you thought Khadar’s story of serendipity was unique, wait until you hear Frane Selak’s! Frane Selak is a Croatian music teacher who has escaped near death seven times, including a plane crash. In 2003, two days after his 73rd birthday, Selak won €800,000 (US$1,110,000) in the lottery. Selak is often called the ‘world’s luckiest man’ though Khadar probably doesn’t envy him for his adventures!Since Imran Awan's arrest in late July, the Daily Caller has published roughly two dozen follow-up stories on various aspects of the scandal involving the longtime rogue Democrat IT staffer and his inexplicably enriched family members.
The Associated Press and the New York Times have, from all appearances, published nothing since July 28.
At APNews.com, the site which has replaced the wire service's old "Big Story" site but which also theoretically includes important coverage from other AP-subscribing sources, the last story on Awan, the IT staffer for former Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, was on July 26, the day the Congresswoman officially fired him.
The AP's main national news site, hosted.ap.org, which usually but with some notable exceptions contains stories going back about two weeks, has no relevant story.
A search at the the New York Times indicates that the paper hasn't done a story on Awan since July 28 — and that story's fake-news headline ("Trump Fuels Intrigue Surrounding a Former I.T. Worker’s Arrest"), as I noted at the time, made it appear that President Donald Trump was the person having problems with rogue IT staffers.
Meanwhile, here are ten of the many items the Daily Caller has published in the past month during the AP's and Times's self-imposed silence. Much of the substance of those on the list which follows will be explained for readers who haven't fully kept up with the scandal's multi-faceted and outrageous developments:
August 1 — "GOP Rep: House IT Scandal Among ‘All-Time Congressional Scandals’ Of Last 30 Years." That time frame would take things back to before the infamous House Bank scandal, which ended the careers of dozens of Congresspersons who routinely wrote checks despite having insufficient funds in their House Bank accounts to cover them. Of the 22 congresspersons singled out for particularly egregious abuse in this scandal (and although, to be clear, many other congresspersons engaged in the practice), 18 were Democrats.
That time frame would take things back to before the infamous House Bank scandal, which ended the careers of dozens of Congresspersons who routinely wrote checks despite having insufficient funds in their House Bank accounts to cover them. Of the 22 congresspersons singled out for particularly egregious abuse in this scandal (and although, to be clear, many other congresspersons engaged in the practice), 18 were Democrats. August 3 — "Florida Congressman Pays Girlfriend’s Family, Money Launderer For Unexplained Work." If it involves Florida and political corruption, you almost have to know that the name of Congressman Alcee Hastings, who was one a federal judge until he was impeached and convicted by the House and Senate, respectively, in 1989, will come up. In this instance, Hastings allegedly "used his taxpayer-funded office to pay high salaries to a convicted money launderer, as well as Hastings’s girlfriend and her daughter, and the Florida politician won’t say what kind of work the convicted money launder(er) does." This is potentially relevant to the Imran Awan case because it "raise(s) questions about how common it is for members of Congress to place 'ghost employees' on the payroll" — an allegation which potentially applies to Awan's vastly overpaid relatives.
If it involves Florida and political corruption, you almost have to know that the name of Congressman Alcee Hastings, who was one a federal judge until he was impeached and convicted by the House and Senate, respectively, in 1989, will come up. In this instance, Hastings allegedly "used his taxpayer-funded office to pay high salaries to a convicted money launderer, as well as Hastings’s girlfriend and her daughter, and the Florida politician won’t say what kind of work the convicted money launder(er) does." This is potentially relevant to the Imran Awan case because it "raise(s) questions about how common it is for members of Congress to place 'ghost employees' on the payroll" — an allegation which potentially applies to Awan's vastly overpaid relatives. August 4 — "DWS: Imran Awan Is The Kindest, Bravest, Warmest, Most Wonderful Human Being I’ve Ever Known In My Life." This item by Jim Treacher, whose penetrating sarcasm is a national treasure, isn't newsworthy by itself, but it does link to a Broward County (FL) Sun Sentinel item where Wasserman Schultz ridicules the notion that Awan was trying to flee the U.S. when he was arrested at Dulles Airport after having transferred about $300,000 to an account or accounts in Pakistan. If a Republican congressman made such a claim about an aide in a similar situation, the late-night leftist activists posing as comedians would be all over it.
This item by Jim Treacher, whose penetrating sarcasm is a national treasure, isn't newsworthy by itself, but it does link to a Broward County (FL) Sun Sentinel item where Wasserman Schultz ridicules the notion that Awan was trying to flee the U.S. when he was arrested at Dulles Airport after having transferred about $300,000 to an account or accounts in Pakistan. If a Republican congressman made such a claim about an aide in a similar situation, the late-night leftist activists posing as comedians would be all over it. August 4 — " Wasserman Schultz Says Laptop She Sought To Keep From Police Was Awan's, Not Hers." Imagine that: After resisting police efforts to seize the laptop based on issues relating to whether it belongs to a "member" (of Congress), Wasserman Schultz has now totally changed her tune, claiming that, in reporter Luke Rosiak's words, "it was Imran’s laptop but purchased using taxpayer funds from her office," and that, in her words, "This was not my laptop. I have never seen that laptop. I don’t know what’s on the laptop."
August 4 — " Imagine that: After resisting police efforts to seize the laptop based on issues relating to whether it belongs to a "member" (of Congress), Wasserman Schultz has now totally changed her tune, claiming that, in reporter Luke Rosiak's words, "it was Imran’s laptop but purchased using taxpayer funds from her office," and that, in her words, "This was not my laptop. I have never seen that laptop. I don’t know what’s on the laptop." August 5 — "Jeb Bush Just RIPPED Debbie Wasserman Schultz Over The House IT Scandal." What Bush said or didn't say isn't nearly as important as the should-be-obvious point that if someone like Chuck Schumer or Andrew Cuomo was "ripping" a Republican involved in a scandal like this, you'd have to rent a major hotel meeting room to accommodate the establishment media horde which would be hanging on their every word instead of ignoring the successful governor of one of the nation's largest states.
What Bush said or didn't say isn't nearly as important as the should-be-obvious point that if someone like Chuck Schumer or Andrew Cuomo was "ripping" a Republican involved in a scandal like this, you'd have to rent a major hotel meeting room to accommodate the establishment media horde which would be hanging on their every word instead of ignoring the successful governor of one of the nation's largest states. August 8 — "Grassley Seeks Immigration Files For Pakistani Suspects In House IT Probe." Yes, "suspects" is plural: "the immigration files were requested for... (Imran Awan's) wife, Hina Alvi, his brothers Abid and Jamal, sister-in-law Natalia Sova and friend Rao Rabbas. All are suspects in the criminal investigation, which became public in February."
Yes, "suspects" is plural: "the immigration files were requested for... (Imran Awan's) wife, Hina Alvi, his brothers Abid and Jamal, sister-in-law Natalia Sova and friend Rao Rabbas. All are suspects in the criminal investigation, which became public in February." August 17 — "Two Former Wasserman Schultz IT Aides Indicted For Conspiracy Against US."
August 18 — "Media Ignores Indictment Of Wassermann Schultz IT Aide." How often does the actual indictment of criminal arrested on serious charges while potentially facing far more serious charges relating to a congressional scandal get totally ignored by the establishment press? I'm sorry, I meant to ask how often that happens if the person involved is or is associated with a Republican or conservative. Answer: almost never.
How often does the actual indictment of criminal arrested on serious charges while potentially facing far more serious charges relating to a congressional scandal get totally ignored by the establishment press? I'm sorry, I meant to ask how often that happens if the person involved is or is associated with a Republican or conservative. Answer: almost never. August 22 — "Dem Rep Dodges Questions On Arrested House IT Staffer." New York Congresswoman Yvette Clarke "agreed last year to sign away $120,000 of missing computer equipment for the two former IT aides who authorities now believe stole the gear from Congress," and "refused to answer questions" from a reporter about Awan.
New York Congresswoman and "refused to answer questions" from a reporter about Awan. August 24 — "DWS 'Islamophobia' Claim Prompts Angered Marine To Go Public On Awans." Yes, Wasserman Schultz and Awan's Bill Clinton-connected lawyer are claiming that the matter is of no substance, and that it's really about "Islamophobia." It's really hard to blame the Marine involved for getting extremely angry over this when he sees someone who has sworn to uphold the Constitution and protect this country's interest so obviously demonstrate that she cares about neither.
That's more than enough examples to make the point.
Anyone who really believes that none of these Daily Caller stories are of national interest is either completely incompetent, works for the national establishment press as a de facto Democratic Party operative with a byline, or both.
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Meanwhile, we must recall that in the single story the New York Times has deigned to write about the Awan situation, reporter Nicholas Fandos, in addition to employing the fundamentally dishonest Trump-related headline cited earlier, tried to claim that "Many here (in Washington) are finding it hard to say" whether "the (Awan) family’s story (is) the stuff of a spy novel, ripe for sleuthing and criminal prosecution, or simply an overblown... story, typical of midsummer."
If this were a story about Republicans and conservatives, it would be a national establishment press obsession.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.Unplug From The Fantasy Of Romantic Love
Love isn’t what you think it is
Bryan Ye Blocked Unblock Follow Following Jan 6, 2017
It began as soon as I was born.
I was taught that one day I’m going to meet somebody that’s going to love me as much as my mother did. Even as a little boy, imagining that feeling of warmth was intoxicating.
This social conditioning was imprinted into me not just by my parents, but by popular culture too — it was everywhere I looked. The ideology of ‘true love’ was everywhere, and it still is.
It’s in our media, music, literature, movies — everything.
It still appears everywhere today. Just recently, I watched the movie Kimi no na wa (Your Name) and expectedly, experienced a film driven by the notion of soul-mates.
It truly is a beautiful and exciting fantasy.
That one day we’re going to meet someone and despite all of our flaws and insecurities, this person is going to be our perfect match and we’re going to live ‘happily ever after’.
And this fantasy sells. Just take a look at the older Disney movies. Snow White, Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast are a few examples of exciting, daring narratives encompassing the soul-mate myth.
The Fairy-tale of ‘True Love’
Just ask all the divorced or widowed people who have remarried after their soul-mate has passed.
True love is a very recent phenomenon too. We live in a society which has more-or-less just recently developed the idea of Romanticism.
Romanticism was a cultural movement which preferred intuition and emotion over rationalisation which began in the late 18th Century, which is relatively recent on an evolutionary scale.
Before Romanticism, people were matched and married not based on feelings, but as a ceremony to merge families together. They were matched based on social status, health and other utilitarian factors.
While Romanticism did positively shape artistic endeavours into what they are today (among many other benefits), it murdered love.
We learned from Romanticism that despite all our insecurities, depression and in general fuck-ups, this person is going to save us from it all — like two puzzle pieces perfectly fitting together.
It taught us to follow our instincts. That when we meet someone who is a match for us, we’re going to know it.
But what if our instincts are fucked up?
You Can’t Blindly Trust Your Feelings
It’s not uncommon to find that we go on a date with someone, and while they’re checking off every point on our mental checklist (educated, healthy, funny, etc.), we don’t ‘feel’ it.
It’s not that this person isn’t good for us, but that they don’t make us suffer the way we want to.
We seek the love we first experience.
We’d like to think of ourselves as completely rational beings, but we don’t seek the love that is good for us — we want what is familiar. Emotional triggers are formed in childhood, and every time we meet someone that treats us in a similar way that our caregivers did, we feel the rush of emotion.
This is what we call ‘chemistry’.
And our caregivers aren’t perfect. Pardon my language, but no matter who you are, you’re carrying a bag of shit passed on to you by your caregivers. Some people might have bigger bags of shit, but we all have a bag of shit nonetheless.
And we look for people who fill our bag of shit.
This is why we have the cultural meme of the ‘girl with daddy issues’ experiencing Stockholm Syndrome for her neglectful boyfriend. It’s why the abandoned child only feels that love is real when their partner displays signs of leaving them and why the spoiled kid experiences love when their partner gives them whatever they want (and feels unloved when their partner can’t offer it).
A Critique on Instinct
Worst of all, Romanticism’s education on ‘instinct’ as a form of love has destroyed rationalisation in relationships. Talking is seen as a sign of not being able to understand each other.
If we’re having a fight with |
, used on former Michigan State offensive tackle Jack Conklin, and No. 45 overall, used on former Alabama running back Derrick Henry—should immediately help protect and serve Mariota, who was taken second overall last April.
Nation's top rushers, 2015 Back School Yards TD 1. Derrick Henry Alabama 2219 28 2. Christian McCaffrey Stanford 2019 8 3. Leonard Fournette LSU 1953 22 4. Royce Freeman Oregon 1838 17 5. Ezekiel Elliott Ohio State 1821 23 Sports-Reference.com
You expect to get a high-end talent like Conklin in the top 10, though, which is why the Titans should be most excited about the fact they landed an equally talented prospect in that No. 45 spot.
Because Henry is special.
The reigning Heisman Trophy winner is a 247-pound smashmouth back coming off a 2,219-yard, 28-touchdown season in college football's toughest conference. He punishes defenders with his brutish style, which is what makes him such a perfect addition to the Tennessee offense.
The Titans are developing one of the meanest offenses in football, which could enable them to intimidate opposing defenses just enough to keep Mariota healthy and on the right track.
All three players—Henry, Conklin and Lewan—are nasty.
Headlines via The Tennessean, ESPN and Sporting News
And Henry could quickly become the leader of that fiery pack. The 21-year-old will have to share the workload early with free-agent acquisition DeMarco Murray, but it's only a matter of time before a guy who led the nation in rushing last year by a 200-yard margin gets a chance to start running over linebackers. ESPN's Darren Rovell noted the significance of Henry's draft comparison compared to other Heisman Trophy-winning RBs:
Henry doesn't present much risk in the middle of the second round, especially with Tennessee adding three other players ahead of him. He stood out in flashes as a freshman and a sophomore in 2013 and 2014, but 2015 was his only big college campaign. If by chance his remarkable 2015 season was an anomaly—which is unlikely considering he was also a nationally recognized terror in high school—the Titans will take that strike and move on without incurring much damage.
Fact is, Henry was widely considered the second-best back in this draft, and he'll immediately become the largest regular running back in professional football.
The man dwarfs over so-called big, bruising backs like Eddie Lacy, LeGarrette Blount, Jonathan Stewart and Le'Veon Bell, and yet only three backs at the NFL Scouting Combine ran the 60-yard shuttle faster than he did. The man ran a 4.54-second 40-yard dash. That's barely possible when you're pushing 250 pounds.
Henry might always have his limitations at that size, but on paper and on tape, it's clear he possesses the ability to become a long-term bell cow behind Mariota. Considering his experience in the SEC, that could come quickly. The team's official Twitter account shared Robinson's thoughts regarding Henry:
And if it does, the Titans might be able to take the next step toward becoming a contender. Because one thing Mariota needs is balance within an offense that ranked in the bottom 10 in terms of rushing yards per game last season. Take Mariota's 34 scrambles and designed runs out of the equation, and their 2015 yards-per-attempt total drops from 4.0 to 3.7, which would rank in the bottom five.
The team's leading rusher in 2015, Antonio Andrews, averaged just 3.6 yards per carry, ranking 37th among 44 qualified backs in terms of DYAR (defense-adjusted yards above replacement) at Football Outsiders.
They've got the quarterback, and they've given him a talented young receiver and two elite young tackles. And now they've got the right pieces in place for the running game to blossom.
Once that happens, Mariota should take off, as should the Titans. Derrick Henry alone won't resurrect a franchise that hasn't won a playoff game since 2003, but don't be surprised if he's the catalyst.
Brad Gagnon has covered the NFL for Bleacher Report since 2012.
Follow @Brad_GagnonYep, the 33c3 talk is over. It came, punched Ninty in the face for 1 hour and went like it came. It was brilliant. This year 33c3 Talk was presented by Derrek, Naehrwert and Nedwill and did I mention it was great?
This years talk was started with everyones favorite the WiiU. After getting talked through how they achieved code execution with ioctlvhax for kernel execution and mqhax for IOSU Exectution they began elaborating on boot0 and boot1 which are still left to be hacked. As Information Boot0 loads Boot1 and then locks out Boot0 and Boot1 at early Boot. Since they didn’t find any bugs in boot1 or boot0 they said “Hey, If there are no bugs let’s create some” so they began with fault injection which helped them get to their goal of dumping Boot1key. This was done by glitching the Boot1 Size Check at early boot which then allowed them to dump the Key.
So now you may be wondering “Hey I don’t care about the WiiU, It has no games anyway” you won’t be dissappointed as shortly after this announcement the 3DS Talk began with nedwill. We were introduced to Soundhax which gives us Arm11 Usermode Access on latest Firmware but since that isn’t enough he also introduced Fasthax which gives us Arm11 Kernel Access on latest FW ^^. The real Bombshell dropped though when nedwill gave the word back to derrek who then began talking about the 3DS Bootroms. Some Facts about the 3DS Bootroms:
– Two bootroms. One for Arm9 and one for Arm11.
– Consists of 32kb unprotected Bootrom and Protected Bootrom locked at early Boot.
– Unprotected Bootrom has Hardcoded ARM Exception Vendors
The Fact that the Unprotected Bootrom has Hardcoded Exception Vectors and the cute Fact that RAM doesn’t get cleared at a MCU triggered Reboot allowed them to Set-Up custom Exception Vectors which where then jumped to by the Bootrom Vectors and allowed them to DUMP THE 3DS ARM9 BOOTROM 😀
Yes, Ladys and Gentleman the 3DS Bootrom is finally compromised. We have all the Keys and can sign our own Firmwares
And now to quote derrek: “For the sake of completeness let’s also dump the Arm11 Bootrom even though it probably won’t be of much use”
So what now? Well…. Nothing for the 3DS. We are at the end. It is fully blown open and to make it even funnier derrek mentioned that they already cracked the Bootrom in Summer 2015 xD
There’s just one thing left which would be the forgotten console called WiiU which still needs the Boot0 Key. But we can already happily buy the Nintendo Switch and await the Greatness that derrek, naehrwert smealum and nedwill will bring to the Switch 😀
Source: 33c3 TalkDavid Begg, general secretary Irish Congress of Trade Unions, and folk singer Christy Moore at the Dublin Post Office, November 27, 2010.
November 29, 2010 -- Irish Republican News and other sources -- Up to 100,000 people took part in a march and rally organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) in Dublin on November 27 in protest at the government's planned program of austerity. At the main rally at the GPO in O'Connell Street, the site of the 1916 Easter Rising, speakers strongly criticised the government's four-year plan for economic recovery and the loss of sovereignty as a result of the European Union-International Monetary Fund bailout.
The general secretary of the ICTU, David Begg, said the country could not afford to pay the terms of the 85 billion euro loan. "Our gallant allies in Europe have arrived 95 years too late and uninvited, and instead of guns to help the revolution they have brought economic weapons of mass destruction. Does anybody in this country or in Dáil Éireann [parliament] think that we can as a people afford to pay 6.7 per cent on money that we did not ask for in the first place and that is being forced upon us to bail out the banking system in Europe which is in hock to this country for 509 billion? We can't pay that money and we won't pay that money."
Columnist Fintan O'Toole, who was the master of ceremonies at the rally, led the crowd in a minute's chant of "Out, Out, Out" to the government.
ICTU president Jack O'Connor said the aim of the rally was to object to the insistence of a government with no mandate "to draw up a plan and sign an agreement in our name which will decide the future of one or two generations of our people".
While speaking on the platform, Siobhan O'Donoghue of the Community Platform tore up a copy of the Government's four-year plan.
During their addresses, O'Connor and Begg were heckled and booed by sections of the crowd.
At around 2.15pm, just as crowds began to disperse from the rally on O'Connell Street, a number of left-wing groups began their own addresses from a stage at the O'Connell monument. Speakers, including Joe Higgins MEP (member of the European Parliament) of the Socialist Party and councillor Louise Minihan of Eirigi, criticised union leaders and called for a series of national strikes.
Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins said it was time the trade union movement was reclaimed. "The leadership is not leading a serious fightback in opposition to this disaster. The union leaders are simply saying bring down the debt over a longer period of time."
A small group of left-wing and republican protesters later held a protest outside the Dublin parliament.
National anger of `bailout'
The Dublin government triggered a torrent of national anger when it handed over economic sovereignty to EU and IMF administrators for an 85 billion euro loan. The bailout package for the 26-county state has been vehemently condemned by the opposition parties, who are now all expected to vote against Dublin's annual budget plan on December 7.
An average annual interest rate of 5.8% will apply to the loans -- a rate lower than the 6.7% that had been rumoured, but still significantly higher than that required of Greece in a similar bailout plan earlier this year. The repayment costs alone over the next four years approximate the 15 billion euro in austerity budget cuts and taxes which were outlined last week.
Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams said the government had negotiated "a terrible deal". "The 5.8% interest rate is unaffordable", he said. "The decision to force the state to take 17.5 billion euro out of the Pensions Reserve Fund to pour into black hole that is our banking system is a disaster.
"Sinn Fein had proposed 7 billion euro be taken from the Pension Reserve Fund for a jobs stimulus program. The government refused to do this. But now they are prepared to rob the pension fund to give a digout to the bankers.
"The decision to protect bondholders is disgraceful. The banks are getting another 15 billion euro while simultaneously 15 billion euro is being taken out the economy -- out of people's pockets. The costs of this deal to ordinary people will be deep and will result in hugely damaging cuts to public services, social welfare and wages."
Meanwhile, the government has denied that, under the constitution, the agreement must be approved by the Dublin parliament in a vote -- a position which is likely to lead to a court action.
The Labour Party sharply criticised the deal as a "national sell-out" that would leave Irish citizens saddled with a crippling debt for many years. The party was particulalry scathing at the decision to leave the majority of international bondholders -- mainly international and sovereign wealth funds -- unscathed.
"The Fianna Fail government has shown no backbone, no negotiating ability and no authority, said party leader Eamon Gilmore. The EU and the IMF have had a walk-over in negotiations with a broken and demoralised Government, that is serving out its notice and which has neither the political mandate nor the moral authority to conclude such a deal."
Gilmore's colleague Pat Rabbitte said the deal would "pauperise" the country. "Now we are going to bend the knee and do as we are told by our European masters." He said the raiding of the pension reserve fund would leave the cupboard bare. We have nothing to fall back on... The European Central Bank has us where they want us", he said.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement called on the Irish people to "take back their sovereignty" through protest actions. In a statement, it called "on all republican organisations and the labour movement to unite and organise the shutting down of the state. This is not a time for righteous rhetoric or for tinkering with the status quo. It is a time to reach out and effect fundamental change for our people."
Socialist Democracy: Trade union anti-austerity rally brings tens of thousands onto streets of Dublin
By J.M. Thorn
November 29, 2010 -- Socialist Democracy -- Up to 100,000 people took part in an anti-austerity march and rally in Dublin on November 27. Organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) its stated purpose was to protest at the Dublin government’s planned budget. However, given the events of preceding weeks, in which the Irish state had been forced into accepting an EU bailout for its banks, the focus of the event was more generalised. It became an outlet for people’s anger and disgust at the political and business classes that had brought about such a debacle.
There had been speculation in the media that such a gathering could have the potential for major disturbances. On the day it passed off largely without incident. That it did is in large part down to ICTU doing everything in its power to limit any potential flashpoints. This was reflected in the choice of route for the march, from Wood Quay to the GPO, which avoided any potential targets for prospects such as government buildings and bank headquarters. The route of the march was so short that the front of the march had reached the GPO before people at the back had even left the starting point. The clear impression was that the ICTU wanted to get the whole thing over with as quickly as possible. However, it wasn’t just psychical restraints that put limits on the rally, it was the political positions being put forward by the trade union leadership which imposed the severest limits.
These were clear in the speeches from the platform at the GPO. Even before a word was spoken the sight of tricolours and people dressed as 1916 volunteers gave a strong indication of what their content would be. The tone was set by Irish Times columnist Fintan O’Toole, who compered the event and also gave the opening address. He declared that despite the bailout debacle Irish people knew who they were, that there were citizens of a republican democracy. He pointed to the statue of Jim Larkin and the GPO building as symbols of how the Irish people had struggled for dignity and independence. They were again gathering outside the GPO to reclaim a sense of citizenship. O’Toole said that as the fate of Ireland was being decided in negotiations between government and EU officials, it was a case of “mind over matter”. The officials don’t mind, and the people didn’t matter. He said that the rulers of Ireland had no shame, and believed that the people have no voice. However, they were mistaken. "We are not subjects, we are citizens, and we want our Republic back", he declared.
O’Toole went on to criticise the four year, saying it was plan to save the “Irish elite”. He spoke of the "savage assault" on the minimum wage by the government and he said that cuts in social welfare would further impoverish people who were struggling to survive. In his concluding remarks O’Toole claimed that working people in Ireland did not mind making sacrifices. He said that they made sacrifices every day for their children, for their families and for their communities. However, they did not want to be the sacrifice. He ended his speech by declaring that the citizens of Ireland wanted their republic back. Keeping with the theme set by O’Toole, there then followed a series of readings from the Declaration of Independence and the program of the First Dail.
The next speaker was Jack O’Connor of SIPTU. He said that the aim of the rally was to object to the insistence of a government with no mandate “to draw up a plan and sign an agreement in our name which will decide the future of one or two generations of our people”. He said that people had turned out to assert their rights as citizens to decide the future of their country. He noted reports that the IMF was on a rescue mission to Ireland, but according to him it was not a rescue mission for the Irish people but for those at the top of the banks in France and Germany. O'Connor said that it appeared the government did not intend to go away and they had brought in an old-fashioned, right-wing, four-year plan devoid of imagination. He noted that it contained no mention of the contribution wealthy tax exiles could make. Instead, the government was trying to fix the problem by cutting the national minimum wage of the most vulnerable in the country.
After his lashing of the government, O’Connor concluded by saying that Ireland’s recovery from the financial crisis wouldn’t be easy, but the trade union movement would insist on a fairer plan. This was the typical bluster from O’Connor, but what was notable this time was the hostility towards him of a large section of the crowd. Throughout his speech O’Connor was heckled and booed. As he spoke of the politicians' failings, cries of "You've sold out" and "You're in bed with them" could be heard from angry protesters.
O’Connor was followed by Marie Doyle of the Retired Workers Committee. She said that many pensioners were living on the edge of poverty and were fearful of the extra taxes and charges that would be in December 7 budget. She said that pensioners resented being told they were a burden on the state; they had paid for their pension and were not parasites. Marie concluded by saying that the purse was empty, and that people couldn’t pay. She was followed by a young unemployed worker who spoke about the lack of job opportunities in Ireland and the pressure to emigrate.
Next up was Siobhán O’Donoghue of the Community Platform, who began her address by tearing up a copy of the government’s four-year plan. She said that the plan should be rejected and called for an immediate general election. She urged trade unions and community groups to stand together. Siobhán was followed by one of women involved in the Laura Ashley dispute.
After this Fintan O’Toole led the crowd in a one minute chant of “Out, Out, Out” directed at the government.
The final speaker was David Begg of ICTU. He said that the march sent a powerful message to Dail Eireann. He claimed that the IMF had come to Ireland bearing weapons of mass destruction. Begg said that the country could not afford to pay the terms of the proposed €85 billion EU-IMF bailout package. He said that the Irish people could not afford to pay 6.7 per cent on money that they not ask for in the first place and that was being forced upon them to bail out the banking system in Europe. Begg warned the government that they should not under any circumstances “accede to the terms of this Versailles Treaty".
On the end of the same type of heckling as O’Connor Begg noticeably cut his speech short. The rally ended with a couple of songs from Christy Moore, one of which ("An Ordinary Man") was dedicated to trucker Joe McNamara -- the man who drove a cement lorry up to the gates of Leinster House with the words "Anglo" and "toxic bank" on its side.
Overall, the rally was disappointing. It showed that the ICTU still retains the ability to mobilise tens of thousands of workers, and that despite the booing of Begg and O’Connor, most workers continue to adhere to the leadership line that there is a better fairer way. There was also a strong nationalistic tone to the proceedings, which ranged from Fintan O’Toole’s appeal to republican ideals to more chauvinistic sentiments that in a period of austerity could find an outlet in racism. Much of the patriotic posturing, particularly from trade union leaders, is also completely phoney. It is notable that most of their attacks were directed at the IMF rather then the EU, even though it is the junior partner in the rescue package. Despite the draconian terms being laid down by the EU, trade union leaders remains fully committed to the European project.
There was also an effort to promote a change of government and political reform has some sort of panacea to Ireland’s economic woes. This is mistaken; a change of government will not fundamentally alter the situation. All the main parties, as well as the trade unions, are committed to the program of austerity. The only questions they pose are over how the cuts should be implemented, or how the terms of the bailout can be made slightly less draconian. It doesn’t address the fundamental point that the Irish people cannot and should not pay the debts of the banks; there is no better fairer way. It is only from this position that a more favourable path for Irish workers out of this crisis can be charted. This is the position that socialist and trade union activists have to fight for.
* * *
Resist IMF occupation! Build a workers resistance network!
[The following leaflet was distributed by Socialist Democracy at the trade union organised anti-austerity rally in Dublin on November 27, 2010.]
Within living memory of 1916 the partial political independence won by Ireland has shrunk to a shadow. We are again a colony, ruled by the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, with Britain throwing in a few billion to protect its interests.
The rump government will meet to plan savage cuts -- but the final package will be decided by our new masters.
The Dail will meet to discuss the measures. They will be wasting their breath. Soon we will be able to vote. Our votes will count for nothing. We will elect TDs to a new Dail. The Dail will remain under the control of the banks.
This new situation represents the purest form of class war, with the lifeblood being sucked from working people and transferred directly to the coffers of capitalism. Fianna Fail said they were saving Ireland as they struggled to save the banks and their cronies in the golden circle. Now the ECB say they are saving Ireland. The end result will be the salvation of the European banks, with almost a hundred billion of extra debt for ourselves and our children.
In the fight for political independence the Irish followed a simple formula: don't recognise the occupation, organise an alternative and build a resistance movement.
That's what we should do today. We must utterly repudiate this debt. It’s not ours and we won't pay a cent. NAMA and the dud banks should close down immediately and the bondholders get nothing. We must organize everywhere where the ECB and IMF try to take the money out of our hides -- occupy to stop closures and sackings, close down any quisling institutions, up to and including the Dail.
Our alternative is a workers' bank. Grab hold of the remaining assets of the speculators and build a bank based on the real economy, protecting jobs, small farms and businesses and people's homes. Right away this would be a beacon across Europe, where Greek and French worker have already shown their willingness to resist.
In 1916 Connolly warned us of the limits of capitalist "independence" and of the need for workers to fight for their own program. Today we need a new resistance movement. All the major parties, the trade union leadership in partnership with them, they all say we should pay the bankers bills. A network of workers resistance, organised in our own interests across the island, can give them the lie and defeat this new IMF occupation.
Repudiate the debt
Fight against the new occupation
Build a workers' resistance network
32 County Sovereignty Committee: `Time to act'
A statement by the 32 County Sovereignty Committee
After usurping the Declaration of Independence the architects of the Twenty Six County State invoked a sovereign legitimacy to use British guns on fellow Irish people. It continued to invoke this legitimacy to strap Irishmen to landmines, to execute Irish prisoners, to allow Irishmen die on hunger strike and to employ an English hangman to eradicate those who believed that Irish sovereignty does not stop at the border and that our national ethos should be modelled on the Proclamation.
Invoking a sovereign legitimacy it set about rewriting the terms of its own existence, not in accordance with those who defended it as a preamble to national reunification, but as a prologue for establishing a partitionist power base serving sectional interests. When it introduced its constitution in 1937 it predicated that document on a definition of sovereignty as one which encompassed the whole island and its peoples. It spent the next sixty one years failing to restore that sovereignty culminating in its abandonment in 1998. It abandoned their fellow Irish people in the Six Counties, standing idly by whilst a sectarian gerrymander was allowed to masquerade as democracy.
Invoking a sovereign legitimacy it raised an army and called it Oglaigh Na hEireann. It placed this army on the border to reinforce its view that the Twenty Six County State had a sovereign right to exist. It sent this army into the world as a symbol of its sovereignty and generously referenced their peace keeping efforts, and their deaths, as a glowing tribute to this sovereignty.
Invoking a sovereign legitimacy it raised its own tax and allowed its governments to utilise these funds for party political interests. It allowed its ministers to feather their own nests and encouraged a political ethos which was solely concerned with satisfying the local constituency. In pursuit of power it placed the Catholic Church and financial speculators at the heart of its policy making with disastrous consequences. Those that opposed such economics were adjured to commit suicide and those who argued for complete church-state separation were marginalised and stigmatised.
And now it stares into the abyss created by its own abject failure to understand what Irish sovereignty actually represents. It has now surrendered the fate of its citizens to an institution whose sole concern is the making of money no matter the social cost. As a state it can neither look back nor look forward to redeem itself. Only its citizens retain the ability to rise above the penury the state has forced them into.
The 32 County Sovereignty Movement calls on all the Irish people to take back their sovereignty. We call on all republican organisations and the labour movement to unite and organise the shutting down of the state. This is not a time for righteous rhetoric or for tinkering with the status quo. It is a time to reach out and effect fundamental change for our people. Partition has failed on both sides of the border. The restoration of our national sovereignty is an essential prerequisite to achieving this change. It is time to act.
éirígí: Join the fightback!
By éirígí
November 27, 2010 -- http://www.eirigi.org/ -- For close to four years now the population of the Twenty Six Counties have been drip-fed a seemingly endless stream of ever-worsening news stories about the state of the economy. And with each new revelation has come the bleating of a Dublin government minister attempting to portray disaster as normality.
Back in 2006 as the property bubble began to burst the Dublin government and the self-promoted economic experts confidently predicted a "soft landing" for property prices. In 2008 when the Dublin government decided to issue a blank cheque to the entire private banking sector they assured people that the "fundamentals" of the banks were sound; that it was merely an issue of "liquidity" that would soon pass.
And now in 2010, with the IMF and the EU effectively in control of the state the same halfwits are telling the population that they are working with their "partners" in the IMF and Europe. Pinocchio himself would have been embarrassed by the scale of the lies emanating from the Dublin government in recent weeks. Those with even the most basic knowledge of the IMF know that they are much a "partner" of the Irish people as the wolf is the "partner" of the sheep.
It is now time for straight talking and truth. The facts may be unpalatable, but they are facts nevertheless. The Twenty Six County economy has failed. The Twenty Six County state is bankrupt. All of the political parties in Leinster House failed to spot the economic crisis coming and failed to provide leadership or solutions once it had arrived. And now the sovereignty of that state, as limited as it was, has been surrendered to the arch vultures of capitalism in the IMF and the EU. In the Six Counties the Stormont Assembly has failed miserably to protect public services from Tory cutbacks. And across Ireland the leadership of the trade union movement has failed to protect workers jobs, wages and terms of employment.
In the face of these many failures the people have but one choice -- to stand up and fight back and to replace the failures of the past with the successes of the future. All is far from lost. The people of Ireland are sovereign, something that the political establishment, the IMF and the EU would do well to remember.
Many commentators in Ireland and beyond have asked why the Irish people have not taken to the streets. They have surmised that the Irish are not like the French or the Greeks; that the Irish will just accept whatever is thrown at them. But those commentators would do well to study the history of Ireland a little more closely. For eight centuries the history of Ireland has been defined by resistance and rebellion. And for more than two centuries that resistance has been intertwined with the cause of revolutionary Irish republicanism. The people of Ireland have proven themselves to be well capable of organising effective resistance when they are left no other choice. And this generation will be no different.
Brian Cowen, Olli Rehn, Ajai Chopra and company would do well to remember the history of Ireland as they conspire to destroy its future. They may think that the people of Ireland are beaten but the resistance to their neoliberal agenda is growing. All across Ireland the people are beginning to stir. Ever greater numbers of people are coming to realise that what is needed is not a change of government but a change of system. Over the coming weeks there will be many opportunities for people to publicly demonstrate their opposition to the austerity measures of the Dublin government and the IMF/EU. Below are the details of just two such protests.
On November 30, exactly one week before the 2011 Blood Budget is due to be announced, éirígí is organising a protest outside of the Department of Finance on Upper Merrion Street in Dublin. The protest will give people an opportunity to publicly register their opposition to the cutback agenda of the Dublin government, the IMF and the EU in advance of the budget. The protest will begin at 6.30 pm and last till
8 pm. All are welcome. Bigi linn.
On December 7, on the night of the 2011 Blood Budget, éirígí will be joining with its partner organisations in the 1% Network to protest at the gates of Leinster House. The assembly point for this protest is the Wolfe Tone Monument on Stephen's Green where people will gather at 5.30 pm before marching to Leinster House. All are welcome. Bigi linn.
Socialist Party: `One demo is not enough'
Start a campaign of industrial action with a one day general strike before the budget
November 28, 2010 -- Socialist Party (CWI Ireland) -- Another €15 billion in cuts and tax increases will just make this disaster even worse. The ICTU says the “National Recovery Programme” will cause another 90,000 job losses. A deflationary program of nearly €30 billion cuts/tax hikes over six years will guarantee mass unemployment and mass emigration for years to come.
Capitalism has failed – Austerity will fail!
The IMF and the EU are here to help their friends in the current government (and the next) impose a cruel austerity program to bail out not just the Irish banks but also the German banks, the British banks and all of the other billionaire bondholders.
The “markets” have targeted Ireland’s economy, pushing interest rates up higher and higher to levels they knew could not be paid in order to force the country into accepting a bailout. Democracy in Ireland and across the EU is exposed as a sham by these events.
€85 billion more in loans imposed onto the backs of ordinary people just so the billionaire bondholders are guaranteed to get paid. The national debt is set to reach €200 billion. This debt will be an albatross around the neck of generations to come.
The Irish working class are being sacrificed to save the euro and the failed market system and now these vultures are moving on to Portugal.
No future for youth
There is nothing to create a future for young people in this “plan”. A €40 a week cut in the minimum wage, student fees up 33%, no job creation, 25,000 less jobs in the public sector. Even if you do get a job in the public service the starting pay is now 25% less than two years ago – €21,000 a year for a clerical officer – a poverty wage!
Rich protected – no justice
A collective sigh of relief was heard from the super-rich. While the poorest in society and the low paid are savagely attacked they got off scot-free. The multinationals and their billion euro profits will not be touched as corporation tax remains at 12.5%. Yet the lowest paid are too pay more tax AND have their pay cut by a whopping 11.5%. There is no justice in this society!
Who can defeat the markets?
Not Labour. The Labour Party have said they will not reverse the €6 billion cuts and new taxes due in the Budget. Labour and Fine Gael have told the IMF/EU-crats that they are committed to implementing austerity to meet the 3% GDP/debt ratio target by 2014.
However the “markets” and their henchmen in the IMF/EU, willingly assisted by Fianna Fail and the soon to be government of Labour and Fine Gael can be defeated.
People power – For a one day general strike
The people of this country have the collective ability to stand up to and stop the austerity attacks. The trade unions are potentially the most powerful social force in this society. Today’s demonstration is just a climpse of what can be achieved. But one demonstration is not enough. The most powerful weapon the working class have is the ability to withdraw their labour – to strike.
This is an unprecedented crisis and the people need to take radical action to protect their living standards, their public services and their children’s future
The ICTU should name the date for a one day general strike as the first step in a determined campaign of national strikes and mass demonstrations with the goal of bringing down the government and stopping the four year austerity plan.
A mass movement of working-class people could get rid of this lame duck government and send a powerful message to Labour and Fine Gael that another version of the same austerity plan will not be tolerated.
Socialism
Yes there is another better way to end the economic crisis. A way that can actually work. Run the economy so the needs of the working class and middle class people first and so the vast wealth in this society is used for the benefit of the majority, replacing the failed market system. That better way is called socialism. Read our 10-point socialist program here.
Join the fight back – Join the Socialist Party
Get in contact with us today to find out more about the socialist alternative to the failed capitalist system and how you can join in the fight back.
The Socialist Party calls for:
A one day general strike as the start of a campaign of escalating industrial action to defeat the austerity plan.
Don’t pay the debts of the Celtic Tiger profiteers; don’t pay the bondholders.
Tax the super rich and big business, for an emergency programme of socially useful public works that could provide hundreds of thousands of jobs.
For the nationalisation of the banks under the democratic control and management of working people, and the introduction of capital controls to prevent a flight of capital.
No reliance on investment from the markets to revive the economy. Immediately take the key wealth and resources into democratic public ownership.
For the launching of a new mass party for the working class and a genuine left/workers government, committed to socialist policies.
A message from Joe Higgins MEP, Socialist Party
“The government’s four-year plan is an open declaration of war on working people, the unemployed and youth they are being asked to pay for this crisis.
"Through regressive tax increases like the home tax, water charges and VAT hikes, cuts in pay, the minimum wage, pensions as well as slashing public sector employment the life will be kicked out of the economy.
"Today’s national protest must be the opening salvo of a sustained fight back. The day for a one day general strike must be named and further escalations thereafter until this government are forced out of office and the IMF/EU backed austerity programme is defeated.”Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal recently posed 16 questions to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. We decided to do a fact check on some of these questions raised by Kejriwal on the Gujarat model of economic development.
Agricultural Growth
Q: How do you claim 11% agriculture growth rate when statistics released by your Government for 2012/13 indicate that it has fallen to 1.18%?
It seems that Kejriwal has confused the national figureof 1.8% growth of agriculture with the state growth of the agriculture sector. In fact, agriculture sector growth in Gujarat was actually 11% in 2012-13.
According to Gujarat Govt. stats, agricultural output has fallen from Rs 27,815 crore in 2006/07 to Rs 25,908 crore in 2012/13 As far as agricultural output is concerned, during the period 2004-05 to 2011-12(Q), GSDP for agriculture sector, including animal husbandry, has increased from Rs 26,746 crore to Rs 45,085 crore at 2004-05 (constant ) prices.The following graph shows the number of deaths in Gujarat from the 2010 to 2012:Data from National Crime Records Bureau ( NCRB ) shows that farmer suicides have been increasing over the years.It can be seen that the number of suicides was 523 in 2010, and it increased to 578 |
the first paragraph, the most distinctive cause of death isn’t the most frequent cause of death. What it actually represents is the cause of death for which a state ranks highest compared to the rest of the country. So, in essence, it means your state excels in a certain specific way of dying, when compared to the nation at large. In Nevada’s case, summary executions by police happen at almost three times the rate of the rest of the United States. Interestingly enough, these stats for deaths that are preceded by the arrival of a cop don’t actually include executions involving a judge and jury. I don’t doubt that brought Texas’ ranking down in a big way. (You saw what I did there.)
As far as those CDC researchers not being able to identify the reason why coming into contact with a cop is especially dangerous in Nevada, they should come with me some time and talk to some of the people living in Las Vegas, especially those in poor and/or minority neighborhoods. The heavy-handed and violent tactics of the police, along with their shoot first mentalities, utter lack of accountability, and retaliatory practices toward anyone that tries to hold them accountable all play a part in the “distinctive” level of danger interacting with Las Vegas area cops represents. In fact, in a city that not only encourages, but often glorifies unhealthy habits, such as smoking and excess drinking, it takes a lot to distinguish yourself as an accomplished killer. As people here are all too familiar though, the LVMPD has a long history of striving to be the most distinctive in that regard.
“Las Vegas Police (and Security, BLM) Brutality Compilation via Jason Nellis at “The World as seen by Jazoof.”
Posts Related to LVMPD Police Brutality
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$695.0Let’s get down to brass tacks. Solidity seems to be inspired by Go and Javascript and ends up as the sandboxed child of both, with few of the best qualities and some new terrible ones. A marginally complex sample of Solidity code will end up looking something like this (borrowed, with minor edits, from Solidity documentation):
pragma solidity ^0.4.11;
contract SimpleAuction {
address public beneficiary;
uint public auctionStart;
uint public biddingTime;
address public highestBidder;
uint public highestBid;
mapping(address => uint) pendingReturns;
bool ended;
// Events that will be fired on changes.
event HighestBidIncreased(address bidder, uint amount);
event AuctionEnded(address winner, uint amount);
function SimpleAuction(
uint _biddingTime,
address _beneficiary
) {
beneficiary = _beneficiary;
auctionStart = now;
biddingTime = _biddingTime;
}
function bid() payable {
require(now <= (auctionStart + biddingTime));
require(msg.value > highestBid);
if (highestBidder!= 0) {
pendingReturns[highestBidder] += highestBid;
}
highestBidder = msg.sender;
highestBid = msg.value;
HighestBidIncreased(msg.sender, msg.value);
}
function withdraw() returns (bool) {
uint amount = pendingReturns[msg.sender];
if (amount > 0) {
pendingReturns[msg.sender] = 0;
if (!msg.sender.send(amount)) {
pendingReturns[msg.sender] = amount;
return false;
}
}
return true;
}
function auctionEnd() {
require(now >= (auctionStart + biddingTime));
require(!ended);
ended = true;
AuctionEnded(highestBidder, highestBid);
beneficiary.transfer(highestBid);
}
}
One of the statements commonly made about Solidity is that it feels similar to Javascript. Look, if you’re one of the people saying this, I’m not trying to claim that the syntax is totally foreign, but saying that it’s like Javascript is such a bizarre statement to make. Yes, there are your normal function and if and your friendly braces, and no, there aren’t those funny := operators.
The one reliable way to anger a Javascript developer
But then we get into the fact that semicolons aren’t optional, return and declaration types are explicit, the literal 0 is a byte (not an int), and pretty soon you’ll realise that almost any other general-purpose language (syntax, style, and use) makes for a better comparison. And thank goodness for that, considering that the static typing helps tremendously with deciphering author intent.
So what are we actually borrowing from Javascript? Certainly not any of the functional core. I imagine we’ve just gained some comfort in knowing that by talking about Javascript, we have made Solidity somehow more accessible.
And perhaps herein lies the problem: by trying to make smart contract writing as superficially accessible as possible, we’ve unwittingly assigned the critical task of designing once-deployable, unfamiliarly-patterned financial software to full stack devs who are used to building things that have completely incomparable degrees of adverse effects from failure.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Treasury Department on Thursday defended its issuance of special licenses for American companies to do business with Iran and other blacklisted nations, in response to a New York Times report on deals made despite sanctions and trade embargoes.
Iran's supporters shout during the FIVB Men's Volleyball World Championship first round match between Iran and Italy in Milan September 27, 2010. REUTERS/Alessandro Garofalo
An examination by the newspaper found the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has made nearly 10,000 exceptions to U.S. sanctions rules over the past decade.
A Treasury official said the majority of the cases examined by The Times were approved under a law requiring the Treasury to license exports of agricultural and medical humanitarian aid to Iran and Sudan.
“These are not discretionary exceptions to U.S. sanctions made by Treasury,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Because the U.S. has the toughest and most comprehensive sanctions against Iran, allowing for the exportation of food, medicine and medical devices is consistent with our objective of not hurting the Iranian people.”
The Times said the 10-year-old law was so broadly written that allowable humanitarian aid has included cigarettes, chewing gum, weight-loss remedies, Louisiana hot sauce and sports rehabilitation equipment sold to the institute that trains Iran’s Olympic athletes.
The paper said it found hundreds of licenses were approved because they were deemed to serve U.S. foreign policy goals. But the examination also found cases in which the foreign policy benefits were not clear, the article said.
It cited one instance in which a U.S. company was permitted to bid on a pipeline job that would have helped Iran sell natural gas to Europe.
The U.S. government has long banned American companies from investing in Iran’s energy sector. After the United Nations imposed tougher energy and financial sanctions against Iran to curb its nuclear development program over the summer, similar bans have been imposed by Europe, Japan and South Korea.
Treasury officials have said the tougher sanctions — which have effectively forced many financial services firms to choose between doing business with Iran or with the United States — has imposed financial hardship on Iran’s government.
The Treasury official said that in most of the decisions to allow U.S. firms to do business in a sanctioned country, the licenses were approved to allow them to wind down operations, extricate themselves from existing contracts or export educational material.
“All of these licensing decisions advance our national security and foreign policy goals,” the official said. “In none of these cases were licenses issued to provide commercial benefit to designated entities.”
The Treasury official also said that allowing U.S. companies to make food, agricultural products and medicine available to Iran is not diminishing the effect of the anti-nuclear sanctions.The microprocessor is dead. Long live the master cylinder! Rumours emerged [these are no longer rumours – Rotor has confirmed the groupset – update below] recently of a hydraulic groupset from Rotor and after a bit of digging, we found the patent documents, plus a few other interesting items from Campagnolo.
The Rotor hydraulic groupset is rather fascinating, as it differs quite dramatically from the prototype we saw from Acros a few years ago. The Acros system used two hydraulic lines and the indexing was done in the shifters, like conventional mechanical groupsets. In the Rotor patent files, you can see there is only one hydraulic line and the indexing takes place at the derailleur, which means you can use multiple shifters on one derailleur (such as on TT bikes).
The Rotor shifter bears a striking resemblance to a SRAM unit (Rotor actually mention it in the application) and operates in a similar fashion. The derailleurs as you can see house all the gubbins to sort the indexing.
UPDATE
Rotor has officially annouced its hydraulic groupset as the Uno. Rotor has partnered with Magura on the brakes and the UNO will be available with hydraulic rim and disc brake options. Little else is known about the groupset at the moment, although we've got some time booked with Rotor at Eurobike next week so we'll bring you an update then. In the meantime, here are a few photos of the finished units.
The Campagnolo items are allusions to the much rumoured hydraulic disc brake options. With the testing period in full swing, we think Campagnolo is going to have to show its hand fairly soon. The first patent drawing is for the integration of a hydraulic master cylinder in an EPS shifter.
There is nothing of the actual brake unit itself although we’ve heard rumours that it’s being produced by Brembo (it patented a bicycle disc brake about 10 years ago).
Campagnolo also filed a patent for a handlebar with hydraulic controls built into it. The idea being that the much larger space available in the handlebar means you can install much larger master cyclinders which offers more braking power than would be available from the tiny hydraulic systems fitted inside shifters.
Best start stocking up on your DOT fluid.As with many revolutions that redefine landscapes, it started with the stroke of a pen and a firm handshake rather than a rumble of bulldozers or the stomping of troops on the ground.
Nor did it come to pass in a major metropolis. There was no grand setting – Paris, Madrid or Berlin – for this rotation of the guard, no commandeering of Versailles for a photo opportunity.
Rather, it happened in a tiny dot on the map of one of the continent’s smallest entities – a place far removed from the great offices of state.
It was 20 years ago today that the Schengen Agreement came into force – on March 26 1995 – and almost 30 since the pact was signed into existence (on June 14 1985) by five members of what was then the European Economic Community (EEC).
Officials from those states – Belgium, West Germany, France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg – came together to rubber-stamp an area of unrestricted travel within their borders, an enclave where citizens could move without need for passports or queues at crossing points.
The presence of the latter duchy in the quintet was significant. It was Schengen – a town in the south-east of Luxembourg, near to the pivotal spot where its frontier meets both France and Germany – which witnessed the event. It was a place whose name was unfamiliar in 1985.
It is rather better known now.
Although it would take a decade for the arrangement to become reality, it would radically reconfigure the flow of people across the European landmass. As of 2015, the Schengen Area covers most of western – and a sizeable portion of eastern – Europe.
It encompasses 22 of the 28 current member states of the European Union, the outsiders being (relatively) recent arrivals at the party Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Cyprus, plus the two refuseniks, Ireland and the UK.
The Schengen Area
In addition, it effectively embraces the microstates of Monaco, the Vatican City and San Marino, and opens its arms to non-EU countries which are affiliated to the organisation by trade relations – Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
It is an enormous expanse – some 1.6 million square miles of terrain, ranging from the frosted upper edge of Scandinavia to the sunny shores of the Mediterranean.
In theory, you can drive between the North Cape of Norway and the small Spanish town of Tarifa (from where Morocco is clearly visible, 12 miles across the Strait of Gibraltar) – a road trip of some 3,524 miles, assuming you take the Oresund Bridge between Sweden and Denmark – without having to produce your passport once.
All change: Border controls between Austria and Germany are removed in 1998 (Photo: EPA)
This is perhaps the most obvious way in which Schengen has reshaped Europe. While there are, of course, other issues at the heart of the matter – notably the impact that the agreement, along with the wider structure of the EU, has had on migration patterns and labour markets – it is the smashing of the shackles on journeys across the Continent which has most affected the traveller.
To return to the example of that hypothetical road trip from Nordkapp to Andalusia, which apparently takes 57 hours if you stick to every speed limit, and don’t pause for sleep – had you attempted such an odyssey prior to 1995, you would have needed to negotiate seven international border control points (eight if you fancied a detour into Portugal, which lies close to the fastest route), each with its own layers of bureaucracy and box-ticking, its tailbacks and traffic jams, its vulnerability to summer strikes and surges in numbers. Certainly, 57 hours would have been a fantasy.
No stopping: Traffic passes through the open border between Germany and Denmark (Photo: Getty)
Is this a good thing? In terms of the functioning of a cross-frontier community in the 21st century, the idea has its advantages (hugely simpler motion, by road and rail at least) and its disadvantages (if tourists have freedom of movement, so do criminals). But in terms of the sheer romance of travel, I cannot help thinking that something has been lost. If we are to use Robert Louis Stevenson’s ever-quotable statement from his 1881 essay El Dorado as a yardstick, then we have swapped the “better thing” of “to travel hopefully” for the basic procedure of “to arrive”. The convenience of the journey has replaced the character.
What do I mean? Well, I am old enough that I have – tucked away in a draw – a first passport which is littered with stamps from holidays in Europe. Not fearless expeditions across the torso of the Balkans, but (very) mildly adventurous mid-Eighties family breaks which – in an epoch before budget airlines – involved an estate car stuffed with sleeping bags and an occasionally fraught search (“Are we nearly there yet?”) for campsites in the sunshine.
So the nine-year-old me gathered inky markers which said he had been to Italy, France, Austria, Spain and Belgium. The passport for my teenage years collected similar souvenirs from Portugal, Malta and Greece. Both are documents of early experiences – and they cannot be obtained now. Here in 2015, you all but have to cross an ocean to pick up a blue smudge of transit. To be exact, if you are flying from London, your nearest passport stamp is courtesy of a Serbian immigration officer 1,300 miles away in Belgrade.
Perhaps I am guilty of rose-tinting the past. Perhaps, in reality, all European border crossings were as dull and frustrating as the inevitable hour you spend at JFK airport in New York, waiting to be processed along with the new arrivals on the seven other flights which have landed at the same time.
Or perhaps not. Eight years ago, I passed through an international checkpoint fraught with tension – the road gateway between the Israeli resort of Eilat and its Egyptian counterparts in Taba. It was a lengthy affair – bags were checked, questions were asked, bags were checked again, previous passport stamps were perused. There were X-rays and pattings down; there were crowds of scowling staff, standing around and staring. But I was in no rush, and at the end of it all, I felt like I had leapt between continents. Which, in effect, I had – and I have two muscular imprints on two separate pages of a former passport as evidence; a meaty travel tale to dine on. You don’t find as much on a dash down the E29 highway between Germany and Luxembourg.
It happened here: A small monument in Schengen marks the agreement (Photo: Alamy)
You can, however, find something else. For those keen to learn more about the Schengen Agreement, the town offers further detail. You cannot visit the precise location of the signing – this was a boat, the Princess-Marie-Astrid, on the River Moselle – but you can head to the European Museum (00352 26 665 810; schengen-tourist.lu; daily 10am-5pm; free) for an explanation of how the Schengen Agreement was born, and its ramifications.
In contrast, for those who hanker after a lost age, the following European borders still require a conversation with a serious man in uniform – and, maybe, a sense of nostalgia.
Four European borders with proper passport controls
Finland/Russia
The frontier between Finland and its far larger neighbour falls some 115 miles to the east of Helsinki. A road trip between the Finnish capital and St Petersburg is certainly possible – it is a journey of a mere 241 miles along the E18 highway, a short skip in Russian terms – but you have to clear the border checkpoint at Vaalimaa to do so. The biggest barrier, however, is likely to be car-hire terms and conditions. If you have your own vehicle, an International Driving Permit (postoffice.co.uk/international-driving-permit; £5.50) – and a Russian tourist visa (ru.vfsglobal.co.uk; £38.40) – the city of the Tsars should beckon.
Tense: Delays at the Gibraltar-Spain border in 2013 (Photo: AP)
Gibraltar/Spain
The UK sits outside the Schengen zone, so Gibraltar – as a British Overseas Territory – is also roped off from the freedom-of-movement club. Not that this border – which runs for three quarters of a mile below the Spanish town of La Linea de la Concepcion – is ever less than a controversial issue. Spain closed it to road traffic in 1969, and again in 1970 – and it remained in this semi-frozen position until 1985. Fresh tensions between London and Madrid in 2013 also saw Spanish officials impose extra checks on vehicles leaving The Rock – resulting in snaking standstills and furious exchanges under the baking sun.
Bulgaria/Turkey
The point where Bulgaria rubs its shoulder against Turkey is a significant international line in the sand. It currently delineates the south-eastern edge of the European Union, to the extent that two thirds of this 150-mile frontier is now (or is about to be) blocked off by metal fencing and barbed wire – a bid to shore up the EU’s soft underbelly against the troubles in Syria. There is, though, a gateway between the Bulgarian village of Kapitan Andreevo and its Turkish counterpart Kapikule – a location where the two countries also meet Greece (though you cannot enter the latter here). A road trip (750 miles) between Istanbul and the (hugely underrated) Bulgarian capital of Sofia would feasibly come this way. You need a driving licence with photo to be allowed behind the wheel in Turkey.
Cyprus
Can you cross a border which does not officially exist? Only Turkey recognises the Republic of Northern Cyprus. However, the frontier which cuts off the upper portion of the Mediterranean’s third largest island – annexed in the Turkish invasion of 1974 – from the Greek-Cypriot south is very real. It was a locked gate until 2003, and even now, there are only six crossings along its 112-mile length. Only one of these, at Astromeritis, in the north-west, is open to road vehicles (and hire cars are not permitted). More accessible is the Ledra Palace Crossing in Nicosia, where you can walk through with an EU passport.The canines (LM 1-3) were wider and carnassial were little longer and placed posterior (LM 4).
Therefore, we are in the presence of a group of forms that are characterised by: significantly larger dimensions than Hecubides euryodon; lower carnassial relatively short with a vertical paraconid and strong hypoconid (Figs.
It is amazing the amount of shearing force dogs can generate between the carnassial pair of teeth.
University of Oregon student Traci Lemon, 22, clicked together a cougar skull to show children how its carnassial teeth can shear through meat and bone.
These include the canine teeth (the long, fang-like teeth at the front of the mouth), the upper incisors (in front of the canines) and the carnassial teeth (rear teeth used for tearing), Dr.
Dogs' teeth can leave behind similar markings, so Dr Hemmings also examined the bones to look for markings made by the carnassial teeth - used for cutting flesh.
The trenchant heel, a specialized cutting blade on the lower carnassial molar, represents an adaptation to increasing carnivory (Van Valkenburgh 1990) and is present in all social canines except Canis lupus Linnaeus 1758.
Coyotes have forward-facing eyes for binocular vision, canines for puncturing flesh, and heavy carnassial teeth for crushing bones.
6; Upper carnassial crown length 16; Length of mandible 154.
Canines and carnassial teeth are large, therefore their roots occupy a large volume of space within the mandible and maxilla.The world of 2017 without the humble transistor would be unrecognisable. Virtually every electrical appliance more complex than a lightbulb uses them - they are absolutely ubiquitous.
The computer, tablet or smartphone you're using to read this is packing hundreds of millions of transistors in its processor. The lovely stereo amplifier you bought (with the benefit of our advice) features much larger transistors - they need to be, to cope with those high currents. They might even be getting on for the size of a postage stamp.
Computers didn't used to be so compact
By the time John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley were preparing to turn the electrical world on its head (they'd been experimenting with gold point contacts applied to crystals of germanium since November 1947), valves had ruled the roost for decades.
They were in most electrical products, from televisions and radios to early computers. But their size precluded most portable applications, and there were also issues around fragility and power consumption. The earliest computers used hundreds of these warm, glowing tubes, and (as shown above) even the simplest would take up an awful lot of space.
The arrival of the transistor opened the door to a new world of products and applications.
What does a transistor do?
Fundamentally, it's an amplifier. In fact, the original patent name for the transistor was Semiconductor Amplifier - at first, it used gold foil in contact with a germanium base but as it developed it utilised silicon instead.
A transistor takes a signal and makes a larger copy of it (if given a suitable power source to get it working). Configured differently, a transistor can also act as a switch. These two functions may not seem all-encompassing, but in a suitably designed circuit they make all the electrical activity we both depend on and take for granted possible.
1954's Regency TR-1, the first commercially manufactured transistor radio
It took a little while for people to recognise the transistor's vast potential. At first, applications centred around the military - but after the first transistor radios showcased the technology's light weight, robustness and portability (if not, at first, the quality of the sound it produced), domestic applications became numerous.
From there, these components went on to overhaul valves almost entirely, with only specialist uses (such as high-end amplifiers or products with very high power requirements) retaining the elderly technology. The rest of us have taken the transistor entirely for granted. So, on the technology's 70th birthday, it's worth considering (if only for a moment) what your life would be like without it.This story originally aired in January of 2016. The next affordable housing lottery in San Francisco will take place on January 18, 2018. It’s for 28 units in the Alice Griffith Apartments. There's an information session for Wednesday, December 13. For more information, click here.
About a hundred people are seated in the basement auditorium at the San Francisco Main Library, waiting for an affordable housing lottery to begin.
Up on the stage, Brooke Barber from the Mayor’s Office of Housing and Community Development stands behind a clear plastic box with a handle on it, kind of like what you’d use to play bingo.
The box is full of white slips of paper with numbers printed on them. There are about 2,500 slips — each representing a person trying to find an affordable place to live in San Francisco.
According to federal standards, an individual shouldn’t spend more than 30 percent of his or her income on housing. A 2015 report by the real estate database Zillow found that most renters in San Francisco spend about half their paycheck on rent.
Ninety-one affordable units are up for grabs today — a mix of studios and one- and two-bedrooms. They’re part of the city’s BMR, or below-market rent program, where for-profit developers set aside some lower-rent units in an otherwise market-rate building. To qualify for one of these apartments, an applicant can make up to 55 percent of San Francisco’s Area Median Income — $37,350 for an individual.
They also have to pass a credit check and have a clean housing record — no evictions for cause in the past seven years. And then, certain people get their numbers thrown in the box first.
The first order of preference goes to people displaced from Western Addition or Bayview-Hunters Point in the '60s and '70s, when almost 6,000 people were forced to leave their homes for redevelopment. Some of them are still looking for an affordable place to live.
“We have 10 folks who applied to that preference,” Barber says from the stage.
The next order of preference is for people evicted under the Ellis Act. And the last preference goes to people who already live or work in San Francisco. There are so many of those tickets, Barber has to regulate how much she turns the box.
“So I’m not gonna turn this every two to three tickets that I pull. I will turn them at least once every ten tickets and then I will turn the box,” she says.
And then, with little ceremony, the lottery begins.
Barber calls the first number: 6960458.
A lone woman toward the back of the room — Niambi Campbell — cheers and claps. Some people turn around in their seats and flash a quick smile. Campbell hops up and runs out into the hallway to make a phone call to her mom.
Campbell’s parents were part of that group displaced from Hunters Point. They ended up finding a new house, where she’s been living, but the lottery’s special preference program also applies to children of the displaced. So now Campbell can move into her own place in San Francisco.
“So this is home and it's where I need to be,” Campbell says. “Jobs, schools – this is where I should be.”
Back in the auditorium, the lottery proceeds at a hypnotic pace. A woman pats a fussy baby on the back. A man takes his toddler daughter for a walk up and down the aisle. People shift in their seats. And yet, each seven-digit number wields tremendous power.
Even though there are only 91 apartments available, they’ll call a thousand numbers today. That’s in case people at the top of the list don’t actually qualify for some reason. So, even though Shawanna Smith gets picked 107th, she still feels pretty good.
“I'm extremely happy right now,” Smith says.
Smith is here with her baby girl. Right now they’re both living with Smith’s fiancee in Fairfield, almost 50 miles from his job in San Francisco. They’ve been trying to move to the city.
“It’s really out of our price range,” Smith says. “A studio right now is like $1,300 and we don't have $1,300 to spend on rent.”
A studio in the lottery building goes for $941 per month.
As the lottery creeps further into the hundreds, Shawanna Smith seems like the last person in a good mood.
Ty Edwards paces the back of the auditorium, rustling a brochure about the apartment building between his fingers.
“I've been trying for three years now and this is the first time they've had a lottery of this size,” he whispers. “So I'm just hoping that my number gets called this time.”
Edwards stays in a homeless shelter in San Francisco. He used to work for the city, but got laid off.
“I’m just a veteran that's down on his luck, that's all,” Edwards says.
Nearby, Gloria Mendoza is losing her patience. She had to step out and now she doesn’t know if her number’s been called.
“The guy right here in the front said that they don't go backwards on the numbers, so I'm not sure,” she explains. “I had to go move my daughter’s car so I'm still like, backed up now.”
Mendoza says she often sleeps in that car. Or at her daughter’s studio in the Tenderloin, but she’s only allowed nine overnight guests per month. Mendoza lost her Section 8 apartment in September. Her landlord decided to stop accepting vouchers for the federal subsidized rent program — it’s voluntary.
“She didn’t want to participate in the program anymore. She was a very very nice landlady,” Mendoza says. “And I've never had an issue with like, paying rent or anything. It's just what happened to me. It could happen to anyone.”
Mendoza can keep looking for landlords that will accept her voucher. In that way, she’s lucky. The waitlist for Section 8 is closed. So is the one for San Francisco public housing — a separate federally-funded program for low-income families. There’s just too much demand and not enough supply.
And you could say the same thing for all housing in San Francisco. Last year about 370 affordable units came available through the lottery program. That’s not even enough to house all the people who applied for today’s lottery.
Mayor Ed Lee has pledged to create or rehabilitate a total of 30 thousand new housing units — with a third of those designated affordable, by the year 2020. But for those who won’t end up a winner in the lottery, that’s not nearly soon enough.Frustrated that no sexual assault survivors spoke during a debate over an Ohio bill that would ban abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detectable, a representative revealed on the statehouse floor Wednesday that she had an abortion after being raped, the Toledo Blade newspaper reported.
“You don’t respect my reason, my rape, my abortion,” State Rep. Teresa Fedor (D) said during the debate over Ohio House Bill 69, which would ban abortion at as early as six weeks. “I guarantee you there are other women who should stand up with me and be courageous enough to speak.”
She went on to describe the bill as “fundamentally inhuman” and “unconstitutional.”
“I dare every one of you to judge me, because there’s only one judge I’m going to face,” she said. “I understand your story, but you don’t understand mine.”
Fedor had never publicly discussed the incidents — which occurred years ago while she served in the military — and kept them secret even from family members, the newspaper reported.
The Ohio House passed the bill 55-40, but the state Senate does not seem likely to take up the bill, according to the newspaper.
Watch below via the Toledo Blade:Showtime’s Homeland came out of nowhere to have one of the best first seasons for a TV series in recent memory. The twisty thriller looked at first blush like a typical season of 24, centered as it was on a CIA agent who suspected a U.S. Marine who’d been held in captivity by terrorists for eight years had been turned and was actively working against the United States. But the story earned its many plot twists by keeping an almost ruthless focus on character, from tortured CIA agent Carrie Mathison to conflicted P.O.W. returned home Nicholas Brody, from Carrie’s soft-spoken mentor Saul Berenson to Brody’s earthy, sensual wife, Jessica, who strayed while he was gone. The series hails from two 24 producers—Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa—who previously worked together as a writing team, in particular on the first two seasons of The X-Files. Gansa recently sat down with The A.V. Club to talk about the course of the series’ first 12 episodes.
This section covers episodes one through three, beginning with the pilot and concluding with “Clean Skin.”
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“Pilot” (Oct. 2, 2011)
Troubled CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) reacts with horror when Marine Sgt. Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) is rescued in Afghanistan, because one of her Middle East sources told her that a U.S. Marine had been turned in captivity.
The A.V. Club: Here’s the obvious question: How much of what was going to happen going forward did you know when you did the pilot?
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Alex Gansa: Well, when we first started writing the pilot, and actually read the Israeli series [Prisoners Of War, the rough template for Homeland —ed.], we had no idea where we were going to go. You know how these things work when you’re trying to sell a series: You’re completely and utterly focused on trying to produce 60-odd pages of work that is going to set up characters, tell a great story, and convince people that you actually have a series idea here, so that was our primary focus. Once we could finish the pilot and got some good response on it, that’s when we began to sit down and really start discussing where a first or second season might go.
AVC: What had you decided at this point, especially about Brody’s true allegiances?
AG: Well there was a lot of argument at the beginning between Howard and me, frankly, about—first of all, whether you could be ambiguous about Brody’s allegiance at all, whether you had to know from the very beginning whether he had been turned in captivity or not. We had a lot of discussion about, if you decided not to reveal his allegiance at that point and keep the question open, how long can you sustain that over a series? So that kind of became the real big point of argument between us at the beginning of the show. As we discussed and talked our way through that, it became clear that at a certain point—midway, three-quarters of the way, a quarter of the way—through the season, we would have to come down one way or another. That’s how we made the compromise. My feeling was that you could keep the ambiguity going for a lot longer. Howard, schooled in 24 and in a very black-and-white universe, felt that we had to reveal in the pilot that he had been turned in captivity. And so, the compromise really came that we were going to keep it going as long as we felt it was feasible dramatically, and then reveal in a series of turns and twists where he stood exactly.
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AVC: You also keep quite a few secrets about Carrie. She’s much more clear to us than Brody, but at the same time, we don’t entirely know the nature of her mental illness. How did you decide what to keep mysterious about her?
AG: She was a work in progress as well. When the series was originally conceived, although we always wanted to take it to paid cable, we had some masters to serve first. So we did write the thing on spec. [In television terms, a pilot written on spec is a script written without a guaranteed sale. —ed.] It was always done on spec for 20th Century Fox television. So, we had to shop it around to the networks first, and especially we had to shop it around to Fox first.
We knew that if we did it for a network, there was no way we’d be able to have two ambiguous protagonists. There’s no way we’d be able to have an unreliable Carrie Mathison, and there’s very little chance that we would have been able to have a gray Nick Brody. So, in the first incarnation of this, Carrie was more or less a straight-ahead intelligence officer. It was only when Fox decided that a serialized show was not what they wanted to do, and we were able to take it to Showtime, that’s when we started to get a lot more interesting with the characters. Carrie’s mental instability, her condition, her illness, however you want to put it, that’s when we really started to discuss and explore that part of her character. We did always know that at some point in the season she was going to suffer a manic breakdown. It’s funny because every episode, we said it. After the pilot, we said, “You know, she should have her manic breakdown in episode two,” but after episode two we said “episode three.” [Laughs.] And we kept putting it off and putting it off because it didn’t feel right. Of course, the more we backed it into the last couple of episodes, the more charged it became.
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AVC: What were the primary takeaways from the Israeli series?
AG: [Prisoners Of War] is different tonally. It’s different in terms of the characters, it’s different in terms of the thriller aspect and the psychological-thriller aspect. But we share some similarities. I mean obviously, the returned POWs, the sort of seminal family dynamics. In the Israeli series, two prisoners of war come back, and one is left behind. In ours, obviously only one prisoner of war comes back because we had to make room for a Carrie Mathison character who doesn’t really exist in the Israeli show. The Israeli show is much more of a family drama about the reintegration of the Israeli soldiers back into their lives. There is some question about whether or not they gave up information, but it’s information |
most valuable crop in the state," Brown said.Acclaimed graphic novelist — and the current writer of one of DC’s flagship Superman series — Gene Luen Yang was awarded a prestigious MacArthur “Genius” Grant this week.
“Yang is leading the way in bringing diverse characters to children’s and young adult literature and confirming comics’ place as an important creative and imaginative force within literature and art,” the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation said of their latest honoree.
The 43-year-old is best known for his 2006 graphic novel American Born Chinese, which follows a young Chinese boy as he attempts to assimilate in the U.S. and come to terms with his two cultures. Yang also wrote and illustrated Boxers and Saints, which tells the tale of China’s Boxer Rebellion at the turn of the 20th Century. Those two works earned Yang an ambassadorship to the Library of Congress and widespread critical acclaim.
Yang is currently writing the ongoing DC comic New Super-Man, about a Shanghai teenager who is granted the powers of the Man of Steel and joins China’s equivalent of the Justice League. One of the main themes of the series is exploring what, exactly, truth, justice, and the American way mean in modern China.
Initially, Yang was reluctant to accept DC’s offer for him to write their first Chinese Superman story, fearing that as a California-born Asian-American, he wouldn’t be able to authentically write about the native Chinese experience. Eventually, though, he agreed, largely because he couldn’t pass up an opportunity to diversify comics with a story starring an Asian lead. “Stories are a way of saying, ‘This experience is important,’” he told Inverse’s Eric Francisco in an interview earlier this week. “When you grow up not seeing your life reflected, you have a fear that what you’re experiencing is unimportant.”
Yang’s take on Superman is, in addition to being a fun superhero romp, a nuanced and unflinching look at modern China, albeit through a somewhat fantastical lens.
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“In the very first issue, I dropped the D-word, “Democracy” just to see what would happen,” Yang said, noting that DC Comics approved of his direction.
In his interview with Inverse, he compared China’s state-sanctioned version of the Justice League to the country’s real-life handling of religion. When the communists came to power, they realized that banning Catholicism, for instance, would just drive worship underground, so the state set up an “official” church, though a thriving underground church still persists to this day.
“At first the government’s response was to suppress them, and they realized they can’t,” Yang said. “What they’re doing is creating state-approved superheroes. That’s the Chinese Justice League.”
Yang's 'New Super-Man' follows the exploits of the Chinese equivalent of Superman.
Yang was one of 23 fellows from varying backgrounds who were honored with “Genius” grants this year. The artists, writers, scientists, and nonprofit leaders who receive the grant are awarded $625,000, distributed over five years, to better the world as they see fit.
Read Inverse’s full interview with Yang here.In HateSong, we ask our favorite musicians, writers, comedians, actors, and so forth to expound on the one song they hate most in the world.
The hater: For about 15 years now, Max Bemis has been the face of Say Anything, the pop-punk band conceived and launched out of Bemis’ Sarah Lawrence College dorm room. Though the band’s gone through a whole slew of members, it’s still going somewhat strong and recently released its latest and most experimental record, Hebrews, via Equal Vision Records. Containing absolutely no guitars, Hebrews was inspired by Bemis’ struggles with mental illness, as well as by the birth of his daughter, Lucy.
The hated: Nirvana, “Rape Me” (1993)
The A.V. Club: So, why did you pick “Rape Me”?
Max Bemis: There’s two facets to why I picked that song. One is that it’s my least favorite Nirvana song. I also just straight-up don’t like it as a song.
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The backstory is that Nirvana is one of my favorite bands, as one might imagine. I mean, they’re everybody’s favorite band. I think it would be very rare to find someone who wouldn’t say Nirvana’s an incredible band. But “Rape Me” is my least favorite Nirvana song and also my least favorite song of that era. It’s my least favorite grunge song—it’s my least favorite of many, many different genres and subsets of music. And the structure, the lyrics, the production, everything—I don’t like. I just don’t like it. Nevermind came out and changed my life. And when this came out off In Utero, I was really disappointed.
Sonically and musically, this song annoys me. Lyrically, it’s vapid. And then on another level, it annoys me because, as someone who makes music and someone who admires Kurt Cobain as one of the greater songwriters and musicians of our time—to me, it’s the prime example of a musician feeding into or just being overly influenced by success, even if his knee-jerk reaction is to write a song like “Rape Me,” where it’s railing against his success. He probably wouldn’t have written the song if it wasn’t for becoming this unlikely icon. And so, clearly, he wrote the song to be a punk rock song about, like, “Fuck the fact that I’m a celebrity and screw the fact that the man has co-opted Nirvana.”
AVC: But it was written before Nevermind even came out.
MB: Is that true?!
AVC: That’s what it says in Michael Azerrad’s book about Nirvana, Come As You Are. It’s also supposedly written from the perspective of a woman who’s been abused, and it’s just like, “Fuck you, you can’t do anything to me.”
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MB: That makes me like it more. Well, actually, it doesn’t even make me like it more because it’s not like the song is a clever way of saying, “Don’t rape me. You never get to rape me again.” The song is “Rape me, rape me, rape me again,” so even if it’s a postmodern take on rape and a feminist perspective on it, it’s still ironic, you know? It’s still saying that the person can rape them again. And that was something that I didn’t like about it in the first place. I know it’s ironic for him to be encouraging the rape to continue to happen. But it’s still encouraging the rape to continue to happen.
You know, since I had heard it after Nevermind, I took it as this kind of veiled thing about their success. But if you take it that way, he’s just inviting the rape.
AVC: It’s supposed to be, like, “Go ahead and do this, but know I’ll get you back.”
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MB: But it’s still like he’s still getting raped in the process of that.
AVC: Okay…
MB: Or she, if he’s writing about a woman. Indeed, she still is taking it rather than being like, “Whoa! Hey! Don’t rape me, I’m going to call the cops!” Rape isn’t allowed.
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I don’t have many favorite bands; I’m one of those types of people who still listens compulsively to all the music that I grew up listening to. I don’t really outgrow things. I still listen to Oasis and Weezer from that era, stuff like that—Green Day—things that were big for me at that time. The Foo Fighters were huge for me, still. There’s a radio station called KROQ in L.A., and they were kind of a blessing and a curse for me growing up because they would expose me to a bunch of new bands, but literally, since Nirvana broke through and became popular, they have played Nirvana with the same regularity, never stopping. So, Sublime, The Offspring, Nirvana, and a few other bands literally have been in rotation since the songs came out, at the same regularity. So I am slightly sick of Nirvana. I don’t listen to Nirvana that much because of that radio station and because of growing up—having it hammered into my head.
I’d love to hear something new and different, but instead it’s “Rape Me.” And it’s my least favorite Nirvana song, so it’s even more like, “Oh, my God. I can’t believe I’m having to hear this again.” I associate the song with disappointment because it wasn’t as good as Nevermind, and it seems like a shallow retread of “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” musically. There’s the soft-loud dynamic—you know, it’s basically like [Mimics the music.]—that’s exactly like “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” It’s the worst.
So I associate it with the disappointment—and then having to hear it over and over again, and slowly accepting that I hated it. Because you’re not allowed to dislike Nirvana. You’re allowed to dislike the Foo Fighters, but you’re not allowed to dislike Nirvana. Even if the song is bad. And I think if it were a Soundgarden song, people would just not like “Rape Me.”
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AVC: You said that you didn’t like the song because you thought he was saying “fuck you” to the media and “fuck you” to people for being so popular. Can you expound on that a little bit?
MB: I get it, and maybe it was pertinent at the time because so many things that Nirvana did were pertinent at the time. But, to me—as someone who was kind of young and then it was cool to hear about that stuff, later in life—they seemed like grunge stereotypes. They were just contrived acts of rebellion. Like, for instance, playing “Rape Me” on Saturday Night Live. And it was a big deal. Because we were like, “What is this?!”
Whether he wrote it before Nevermind or not, I think there was a calculated action in making it. It was one of the first songs they debuted from In Utero. And I think that’s an amazing record, by the way. I don’t like it as much as Nevermind, but I think it’s an amazing record. I think the production is amazing on most of the songs.
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But it’s really sad, because if you look at Kurt as a person—at least from our understanding of him—so much of what he did was reactionary and compensating because he couldn’t see himself as a pop star, he couldn’t see himself as a rock star, and ultimately—this is getting a little deep and depressing—he couldn’t see himself as a success story. He hated himself. I guess that’s sort of punk rock, but to me it’s more grunge than punk rock. Because with punk rock, there’s this sort of—“You can’t stop me, I’m above you,” but with grunge there’s an, “Okay, I’m just going to become a junkie and hate life.” And so what happened with him was a self-defeating thing and glorifying that. And I always felt that was really sad and tragic. But I think, in our day and age, people maybe would have encouraged him to not just self-destruct like that. It was glorified in the media—their image of a slacker, that it’s cool to be self-destructive.
AVC: You’re really just guessing. We can’t entirely know why Kurt Cobain or Nirvana did anything they did.
MB: Not at all. Not at all. That’s just how it came across to me. It’s the sort of baseline assumptions that one can make. It’s sort of like Miley—I’m going to get a lot of shit for this—but it’s just like what Miley Cyrus is doing right now. We don’t really know what’s in her head or why she’s doing this. But we can assume she’s trying to grow up and expand her image and no longer be a teeny-bopper icon, and she’s trying to be dangerous and sexy and hip. So that’s our assumption that may be miles from whatever she’s actually thinking about.
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So in this instance, with Nirvana, Kurt was an intelligent, brilliant guy, so we don’t really know why he released “Rape Me” at the time he did or wrote the song or whatever. But from our perspective, from the general perspective, it certainly seemed that it was some kind of reaction against their success with Nevermind.
I also just straight up don’t think it’s that good of a song.
AVC: You just don’t like the instrumentation?
MB: I love Nirvana. I do. But I’m not obsessed with Nirvana to the point where I think they can do no wrong. It’s a lot harder for me to say that a Beatles song is bad. Though they did have some bad songs as well. But Nirvana isn’t this golden, untouchable thing for me. And there are actually other grunge bands that I prefer to Nirvana, even though I think Nirvana is more important, that their legacy is more influential and important. But, “Rape Me”—the lyrics, the repetition, the extreme similarity to “Smells Like Teen Spirit” with the quiet-loud dynamic.
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It’s just like, in general, because of things like that radio station. I can’t even put on Nevermind. I’m sick of Kurt’s voice. And it’s sad. I can’t even listen to it. I can’t even listen to their first record because it also reminds me of the thousands of terrible bands that they influenced. Maybe I’ll grow out of that eventually. I think of Nickleback when I hear Kurt’s voice sometimes. At least with the Foo Fighters, Dave Grohl didn’t have that Pearl Jam-y, Nirvana, Soundgarden-y inflexion like, [Sings.] “yeah.” Kurt was the father of “yeah” rock. And so even though he did it better than anyone else—and, obviously, he’s the godfather of it—I still think of bad Pearl Jam songs and bad Puddle Of Mudd. It takes me there. So, despite them being one of my favorite bands ever, I listen to less Nirvana then probably any of my other favorite bands. And “Rape Me” is the worst.Under international law, piracy prosecutions traditionally required that the alleged pirates were seeking private gains. The Harvard Draft Convention on Piracy from 1932 noted that, “If an attack by a ship manned by insurgents is inspired by a motive of private plunder, it may be piracy under the definitions of the draft convention.” Under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, piracy requires the use of violence against a ship when it is “committed for private ends.” The requirement fits with the traditional definition of a pirate as a businessman seeking to enrich himself and his crew. In the 1820 case of United States v. Smith, the U.S. Supreme Court defined piracy as “robbery on the high seas.”
But now that’s changing: Nations have begun to accept the idea that piracy can include politically motivated attacks on ships, even by environmentalists.
Greenpeace, in fact, has seen this change from up close. In 1986, the organization was at the center of a major court case that shifted the definition of piracy away from plunder and towards attacks motivated by an ideological commitment. That year, Greenpeace attacked two Dutch ships that were preparing to discharge waste in the ocean. The activists made a sophisticated assault on the Dutch crew; they attached cables to the ship, placed paint on the command post, threatened the sailors with a knife, and tried to place the anchor down. The Belgian Court of Cassation classified the attacks as an instance of piracy because, even though the attack wasn’t designed for financial profit, the Greenpeace crew was taking violent action based on their personal beliefs.
More recently, U.S. Courts have adopted this view in upholding an injunction against the Sea Shepherd for attacking Japanese whaling boats. The Sea Shepherd was started by Paul Watson in 1977 after he split off from Greenpeace because he found their tactics too passive. Watson has been criticized by Greenpeace for dangerous tactics: He has said that his goal is not to protest Japanese whaling: “We are here to stop them.” After years of clashes, a Japanese whaling group called the Ceatacean filed an injunction in U.S. Court seeking to halt the attacks on their research ships. Originally, Judge Richard Jones, a former lawyer for the port authority of Seattle, refused to recognize the Sea Shepherd’s actions as piracy. But his opinion was overturned by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Alex Kozinski noted that “you don't need a peg leg or an eye patch” to be a pirate. Kozinski concluded that when you “ram ships; hurl containers of acid; drag metal-reinforced ropes in the water to damage propellers and rudders; launch smoke bombs and flares with hooks; and point high-powered lasers at other ships, you are, without a doubt, a pirate, no matter how high-minded you believe your purpose to be." Though the Sea Shepherd didn’t have financial gains to seek from the attacks, U.S. Courts considered this piracy because it was motivated by a personal belief and included drastic instances of violence.
The reality is that when groups engage in violence on the high seas they often will come with both personal motives and financial interests. “The Irish pirates of prior centuries attacked British ships for gain, but also for politics. Similarly, British pirates against the Spanish in the early 1700s stole—and had political motives,” notes Northwestern University Law Professor Eugene Kontorvitch. Similarly, Somali pirates today are the out-growth of militia groups founded to protect Somali fishermen in the 1990s. Regardless of their motivations, committing violence on the high seas is piracy.Medicare Pays For A Kidney Transplant, But Not The Drugs To Keep It Viable
The federal government will pay more than $100,000 to give someone a kidney transplant, but after three years, the government will often stop paying for the drugs needed to keep that transplanted kidney alive.
Constance Creasey is one of the thousands of people who find themselves caught up by this peculiar feature of the federal kidney program.
Creasey started kidney dialysis about 12 years ago after her kidneys failed. That meant going to a dialysis center three times a week, for three hours per session. (A typical patient undergoes three to five hours of dialysis per session).
"The first three years of dialysis was hard. I walked around with this dark cloud. I didn't want to live, I really didn't," she says.
Being dependent on these blood-cleansing machines was physically and emotionally draining. But she stuck it out for 11 years. Medicare pays for dialysis, even for people under the age of 65. It also pays for kidney transplants for people with end-stage renal disease.
"Finally, a year and a half ago, transplant came. I was a little apprehensive but I said OK. And I call her Sleeping Beauty, that's my kidney's name."
Creasey, a 60-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., no longer needs to spend her days at a dialysis center. She has enough energy for a part-time job at a home furnishing store and time to enjoy life's simple pleasures.
"I was able to do my favorite thing — go to the pool — and I was just loving it because it's like I had no restrictions now," she says.
But there is still a dark cloud on Creasey's horizon. Medicare's kidney program currently pays for a large share of the expensive drugs she needs to take twice a day to prevent her body from rejecting the transplanted kidney. But under federal rules, that coverage will disappear three years after the date of her transplant.
"I have a year and a half to prepare, or save," she says. "How am I going to do this?"
She's already paying copays, premiums and past medical bills. She says she sleeps on the floor because she considers buying a bed a luxury she can't afford.
She has no idea what kind of insurance she'll be able to get after her Medicare coverage runs out. And she was shocked to discover how big the bills could be. One day she went into the pharmacy to pick up her drugs, and the Medicare payment hadn't been applied.
The pharmacist told her she'd need to pay a $600 copay for the one-month supply. "And I'm like are you kidding me? Six hundred? What am I going to do? I can't pay that!"
A social worker at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., where Creasey got her transplant, sorted that out. But it's not a permanent solution.
The three-year cutoff for Medicare payments is a common problem, says Dr. Matthew Cooper, who runs the kidney transplant program at the hospital. That's especially so since many people with serious kidney disease have low incomes in the first place.
"It's probably about 30 percent of people who find themselves in a troublesome spot at this 36-month mark," he says.
Some people end up trying to stretch out their drug supplies by not taking them as often as they need to, he says. "We see that a lot."
But this isn't like skipping a pain pill and bearing the consequences. People lose their transplanted kidneys through organ rejection if they don't take their medicine religiously.
Rita Alloway, a clinical pharmacist at the University of Cincinnati, says she also encounters this false economy. "If we were telling them to take four pills twice a day, they may start taking three pills twice a day without telling us, to extend their coverage that they had for the prescriptions they had," she says.
If people tell her that they can't afford it, she can help them get the medications for free, Alloway says. But sometimes people are too proud to admit their financial distress, she said.
And instead of spending $15,000 a year on these anti-rejection drugs, people go back onto dialysis, which costs $90,000 a year or more. And that's taxpayers' money, provided with no time limit.
Kevin Longino, CEO of the National Kidney Foundation, says it's not just affecting the people who have transplants, but those who are on the long list waiting their turn for an organ to become available.
"The tragedy is you have so many people on the wait list already, and to have someone unnecessarily have rejection because they can't afford the drugs and to have to go back into the system — it's just a difficult thing to explain, why we're allowing that to happen."
Longino says insurance companies are making the problem even worse. Some have reclassified anti-rejection drugs as "specialty drugs," and they now require patients to pay for a percentage of the cost, rather than a more traditional fixed copayment.
Longino encountered that himself after he had a kidney transplant about a dozen years ago. He says his costs went from $150 a month to $950 a month when his insurance company made that cost-sharing shift.
He, Alloway and Cooper have been trying to persuade Congress to pass a bill to fix this problem. Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, and Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis., have introduced bills more than once, but they have not moved through Congress. Burgess' office says they plan to try again next year.
Lawmakers are concerned about the costs. Severe kidney disease already costs Medicare a staggering $30 billion a year, and there's no official cost-benefit analysis showing whether covering transplant drugs for everybody would save money overall.
"The Medicare [savings] in maintaining this drug coverage is better than putting people on dialysis," Cooper says. "To me this is a no-brainer. I just cannot understand why we haven't got to the point where we say Medicare coverage for life for immunosuppressive drugs because people will benefit and money will be saved."
For Constance Creasey, this is not an abstract conversation.
"Those pills are my life right now," she says. "I'm trying not to worry, but it's hard."During the Chiefs' destruction of the Patriots, Husain Abdullah picked off Tom Brady and scored, the second touchdown of his career. After scoring, he was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct, specifically excessive celebration.
This is the unsportsmanlike conduct/excessive celebration he was penalized for:
Abdullah, if you're unfamiliar, is a practicing Muslim. He fasts during Ramadan, even during NFL training camp, and missed the 2012 NFL season so he and his brother, former Broncos/Cardinals safety Hamza, could visit Mecca during the Hajj in October. Although we don't know exactly what was going through his head at that moment in time, this appears to be a moment of prayer.
The exact words from the referee were "unsportsmanlike conduct, going to the ground:"
And yes, that is a rule on the books. But the execution here seems off. Last year, former ref and NFL rules expert Mike Pereira pointed out last year that the intent of this rule was not to penalize this type of behavior:
you're not penalized for going to the ground to give praise after a TD — Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) November 25, 2013
After all, it's not like he's wildly celebrating on the ground -- like Pereira says, he's just taking a second to give praise.
What Husain Abdullah did was not "unsportsmanlike." It was a brief, personal moment between himself and the higher power he believes in.Ed Fries
When Bill Gates announced Microsoft's plans to build a games console back in 2000, there were plenty who believed it could never be done -- that the powers of Sony, Nintendo and Sega were too powerful to compete with. Tens of millions of console sales later, however, the Xbox franchise has become a dominant force in gaming.
One man on the front lines of the console war in the Xbox's early days was former Microsoft VP of game publishing Ed Fries. A major figure in the games industry, Fries took some time to answer CNET's questions on "Halo", wooing developers and the Xbox One console today.
"Nintendo and Sony had a reputation for being difficult to deal with."
With the Xbox, Microsoft took a unique approach to console construction, building it using many off-the-shelf PC components, and own-brand software. This wasn't how games machines were traditionally built but, Fries explains, it was a hit with those who knew their way around Windows.
"All the PC developers we knew were excited about it," Fries says. "Nintendo and Sony had a reputation for being difficult to deal with at the time, so I think the developers appreciated having another choice."
Now playing: Watch this: Xbox: How Microsoft cracked gaming
Fries was present at the genesis of the Xbox project. Four members of Microsoft's DirectX team built a prototype console -- dubbed the "DirectX box", later shortened to "Xbox" -- and pitched it to Fries, who recalls that the timing was opportune.
"I was thinking about how to get my PC games group into the console business when they approached me, so it was natural for me to support their effort," Fries said. "It would be the easiest way for us to get in the business. The next step was for us to convince our bosses to give us a billion dollars or two to give it a try."
Combat evolved
Hardware is one thing, but games consoles need games to survive. Space-shooter "Halo" would prove key to the success of Microsoft's first console, shifting 1 million units in just four months, and going on to become an iconic, much-loved franchise. Despite this, Fries says, the media's early response to the game was somewhat tepid.
Bungie
"We were all excited about 'Halo', but we were PC gaming guys," Fries remembers. "The press was very hard on it when we showed it to them before launch. They said it looked like a PC game, not a console game, so we really weren't sure what to expect going into launch."
Xbox One future
Fast-forward to the present day, and the Xbox One is locked in a bitter battle with Sony's PlayStation 4. Stats suggest that Microsoft's machine is trailing in terms of sales -- despite the launch of mech-mangling shooter "Titanfall" -- but when asked about the status of Microsoft today, Fries is optimistic.
"I think the Xbox One hardware is just fine," Fries commented. "I like the fact that both Sony and Microsoft have gone back to a more PC like architecture like we did with the original Xbox. I also like that every Xbox One is the same, which is important for developers. On 360, for example, you couldn't count on there being a hard disk."
"Xbox Live is still the best."
"So far there aren't enough games for the system though," Fries says. "If Microsoft can bring the best first- and third-party games to the platform then they will be tough to beat. I got to play the 'Titanfall' beta the other day [our interview was conducted before the game's general release] and I think the release of that will be a huge boost to Microsoft's platform.
"Microsoft has always been ahead in system software as well," Fries noted. "Xbox Live is still the best and the new system is even better than before."
Even if Microsoft has a fight on its hands, it's remarkable to note how far the company's console has come since its debut. The original Xbox accomplished what nobody thought possible -- establishing a foothold on the mighty mountain of gaming, from which Microsoft could go on to battle Nintendo and Sony at the summit.
"I feel really lucky to have had a chance to work on games and Xbox at Microsoft," Fries said. "I'm very proud of what we accomplished and hope it continues to be successful."
For more on the original Xbox, check out our special video feature on the console's exciting origins, and let us know your Xbox memories in the comments below.Published in the January 2011 "Meaning of Life" issue
I never asked for anything except a purple light saber. George said, "Well, light sabers are either red or green." I said, "Yeah, but I would like a purple one."
I was raised to be cautious. I went to work with my grandfather, who cleaned office buildings and furnaces, and there would be twenty-year-old guys callin' him Ed, and he called 'em Mister. My grandfather was this old guy, very dignified, but he never looked 'em in the eye. He'd look at me like, "Turn your head down! Don't look the white men in the eye 'cause they'll think you being uppity or arrogant." Now the name of my production company is Uppity.
I was the crackhead in Jungle Fever. I was two weeks out of rehab. I'd been smoking cocaine for a year and a half, two years, and I understood the nature of the disease. I had done the research. So when I started talking to Spike about it, I said, "You don't see him high that much. You always see him when he needs something. He's on a mission to get some shit. That's what I wanna do." And that was my breakthrough. That got me into Hollywood. It was the perfect marriage of experience and opportunity.
I don't understand how people live without creating. You know? I don't know how you do one picture a year.
When they killed Kennedy, black people were thinking, Oh, my God, white people are gonna come down and kill us all today! All the rights that Kennedy gave us are going away! So they sent us home from school and said, "Stay in the house."
I wasn't one of those people that was gonna walk around and get spit on and get slapped and not fight back. We were doing some kind of crazy things, like stealing people's credit cards and buying guns with 'em. And because of that, some FBI people showed up at my mom's house in Tennessee and told her she needed to get me out of the South or I was either gonna be locked up or killed. So she came to Atlanta and took me to the airport and put me on a plane for L. A.
When I came to New York, it was bubbling. We watched each other, we encouraged each other, we went to auditions together, we rode trains together, and every Monday we had great parties. But it was also a time of, you know, drugs.
All of a sudden, Morgan's gone. Boom. Then Denzel's gone. The opportunities were there, but I was just never prepared because I was a little bit off, you know? And then when I finally got it together — boom! It just happened.
I always wanted to do a big pirate picture.
I haven't had a drug dream in ten or twelve years. All of a sudden, I had one, like, two weeks ago. Even in the dream, you're hiding shit from people! People that you know pop up in the dream and you got this big-ass ball of cocaine in your hand and you stick it behind your back and go, "Yeah, I'm all right." And then you wake up and you feel as bad as if you'd actually done it.
I went to the movies a lot when I was a kid. That was my joy. Saturday mornings, my mom kicked me out of the house, I went to the movies at nine in the morning and watched cartoons and serials and the double-feature horror picture, and then I would meet her later for the adult stuff. So I love movies that way. So I'll do a movie like Snakes on a Plane, and I'll do a film that's very serious. And I'll do a comedy, because it's there.
I've never been to jail. I've never been arrested. I've never been locked up. I'm a good son, a good father, a good husband--I've been married to the same woman for thirty years. I'm a good friend. I finished college, I have my education, I believe in education, I donate money anonymously. So when people criticize the kind of characters that I play onscreen, I go, "You know, that's part of a story."
I wanna be a scratch golfer for at least one month in my golf career. That's all I want.
My dad was an absentee dad, so it was always important to me that I was part of my daughter's life, and she deserved two parents, which is part of what informs us staying married for thirty years. 'Cause everybody has a chance to say, "Fuck it," and walk away, you know? But you also have a chance to say, "Okay, fuck it, I'm sorry." Even if you're not.
I haven't done a western yet.Photos courtesy of HarperCollins
Richard Hell is central to discussions about the early punk scene in Lower Manhattan, though he’s also transcended that space. In 1972, he founded the Neon Boys with childhood friend Tom Verlaine. They went on to expand the band and rename it Television in 1973 and, along with Patti Smith, were one of the first acts from the scene to play CBGB. After Hell quit Television over creative differences in 1975, he formed the Heartbreakers with Jerry Nolan and Johnny Thunders, shortly after the two had left the New York Dolls. Hell was a handsome, magnetic figure and, a year later, he formed his own band, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, releasing a couple of Lester Bangs-approved records that included two certifiable punk classics, “Blank Generation” and “Love Comes in Spurts”.
Hell was never an especially technical musician, but he had a great aesthetic sense and smarts: Outside of his bass playing, arranging, and singing, his legacy includes the spiked hair, ripped t-shirts, and safety pins Malcolm McLaren spotted while managing the Dolls-- and eventually brought back to England for his protegees, the Sex Pistols.
Unlike a lot of musicians from the scene surrounding CBGB, Hell hasn’t continued playing. In fact, besides the Dim Stars, his project with Thurston Moore, Steve Shelley, and Don Fleming that lasted a month in 1992, he retired from music in 1984. The move was a way to separate himself from the lifestyle that got him into drugs, but also offered him a chance to focus entirely on writing. When Hell and Verlaine originally ditched boarding school and relocated to New York City in 1966, they wanted to be poets; it’s just that their music took off first. (Between 1971 and 1973, the two collaborated on the gender-bending Theresa Stern project, where they published poems as the Jewish/Puerto Rican prostitute, accompanied by a photo of their overlapping faces, complete with makeup and wig.)
Photo from the poster for the first Television show, circa 1974
Hell-- a devoted fan of Rimbaud, the French Symbolists, the New York School of Ted Berrigan and Frank O’Hara, and others-- had a regular column in the East Village Eye called “Slum Journals” and ran the literary journal/press, Cuz, where he published his own work along with that of Dennis Cooper, Eileen Myles, René Ricard, Nick Tosches, NY School poet Ron Padgett, and more. Raymond Foye’s Hanuman Books imprint published Artifact: Notebooks from Hell 1974-1980 in 1992, and Hell's novella, The Voidoid, was released in 1993. Hot and Cold, a collection of writings, drawings, and ephemera came out in 2001. Really, it’s felt like Hell never took a break from scribbling: In 2006, when I published an anthology of downtown NYC literature from 1973-1992, his name and work popped up most frequently.
In 1996, long after the old downtown was dead, Hell published his first novel, Go Now. People mistook it for memoir. His second novel, 2005’s Godlike, riffed on the affair between Paul Verlaine and Rimbaud, among other things-- and people mistook that for memoir, too. I wrote a review of Godlike for The Village Voice at the time, saying “the text's a literary treatise... an attempt to locate a geometry verifying love's reality... and proof again that Hell would have carved a smashing oeuvre even if he'd opted to remain plain old Richard Meyers.” I also |
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First is the fact that independent analysts have concluded that this bill would add roughly $1.4 trillion to the deficit, according to estimates made by the Congressional Budget Office. In the Republican party as recently as 2010, that would have been considered an absolute non-starter. Pre-Trump, lowering the deficit by curtailing government spending was a central, unwavering principle of conservatism.
In 2013, now-Speaker Paul Ryan warned that the country's burgeoning deficit would "weigh the country down like an anchor," adding: "We are on the verge of a debt crisis." So committed were Republicans to reducing the deficit, they mandated automatic budget cuts -- known as sequestration -- to force the bureaucracy's hand.
What changed? To hear Republicans tell it, increasing the deficit to cut taxes isn't like increasing the deficit to spend on other government programs. Why? Because providing tax cuts will spur the economy to previously unforeseen levels of growth that will wipe out our deficit -- including the more than $1 trillion this bill will add to it.
The problem with that logic is that the Joint Committee on Taxation, i n a report on the Senate bill, suggests it's decidedly pie in the sky. On Thursday, just 36 hours before the Senate passed the bill, the JCT predicted that the gross domestic product would increase by only.8% over 10 years as a result of the tax legislation. That's well short of the 3-5% GDP growth predicted by the most optimistic conservatives and means, in simple terms, that the tax plan would not pay for itself -- or even come close.
The second warning sign for Republicans on this tax bill is that the public doesn't like it much. A majority (52%) in a Quinnipiac University poll conducted in the middle of November disapproved of the plan, while just 25% approved. More than six in 10 surveyed said that wealthy people would benefit most from the tax plan while less than one in five (16%) said it will reduce their taxes. Other polls on the tax legislation show similar results.
There is an argument to be made -- and it will be made by Republicans -- that people don't really know what's in this bill, and once they find out, they will change their minds. Possible. But not probable. That same argument was put forward by the Obama White House and Congressional Democrats about the ACA; the legislation caused huge Democratic losses in the House and Senate in 2010 and 2014 before it finally began to grow more popular this year, when Republicans tried to get rid of it. That's a stiff price to pay.
What Republicans passed in the wee hours of Saturday morning then was this: An unpopular bill that will add to the deficit and not pay for itself.
On its face, that looks like a political loser. And it might be! But Republicans, backed into a corner by their own inability to get on the same page on other conservative agenda items, felt as though they had no choice in the matter. They needed to pass something to appease their base and this tax plan was the last, best option. (Worth noting: six in 10 Republicans in that Quinnipiac poll approved of the GOP tax plan.)
Any Republican strategist worth their title has to understand just how much of a risky gamble approving this tax plan represents. Any time public opinion runs two to one against something you just voted for, that's a dicey political proposition -- to say the least.
In passing this bill, Republicans are living the words of renowned political philosopher Janis Joplin: "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."CLOSE Adam Pally has found himself in trouble with the law. USA TODAY
Adam Pally was arrested in New York City Tuesday night for drug possession. (Photo: Nicholas Hunt, Getty Images)
Adam Pally had a run-in with police Tuesday night, People and Variety have reported. TMZ was first to report the news.
A little before 11 p.m. ET, the Happy Endings actor was arrested after police saw him smoking marijuana out of an e-cigarette on West 48th Street in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. When officers searched Pally, they found he also had a small amount of cocaine on him. Pally has been charged with possession of marijuana and cocaine.
Pally, 35, is also known for his role on The Mindy Project and new show Making History. In a recent interview with USA TODAY about the Fox comedy, Pally joked that growing up he was a "weed buff" — as opposed to a history one.
USA TODAY has reached out to Pally's representatives for comment.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/2nBKcq7A train's brakes caught fire at the Arlington Cemetery Metro station Saturday, causing major delays for riders on Memorial Day weekend. News4's Darcy Spencer reports. (Published Saturday, May 28, 2016)
A fire at the Arlington Cemetery Metro station caused major delays on the Blue Line Saturday as thousands visited the Washington, D.C. area for Memorial Day weekend.
The Arlington County Fire Department said just before 5 p.m. a train's brakes were on fire at the Arlington Cemetery station.
A spokesperson for Metro said the "small" fire was extinguished and it was caused by extremely hot brakes.
There were not passengers on the train at the time, Metro said. The train off-loaded at the Capitol South station.
Blue Line service was restored about 7:10 p.m. and Metro said riders should expect residual delays.
Trains were single-tracking between Pentagon City and Arlington Cemetery for about an hour after service was suspended for a time between the Rosslyn and Pentagon City stations.
The Silver Line also experienced delays in both directions because of the issue.
Arlington County fire officals said one injury was reported, but later said that injury was not related to the fire.The Uncharted series of video games have been some of the most highly-touted and highly-reviewed of all time, but haven't been particularly well-supported in the action figure or collectibles world. That is until now, thanks to an adventurous new 12-inch take on the series' protagonist.
Few games have ever captured the adventurous spirit of the Indiana Jones films, but Uncharted manages to do it time and time again. The game's lovable hero and cinematic presence create a great combination for the action figure world, and Sideshow is finally giving us all the Nathan Drake figure that we deserve. Read all about the beautiful new piece straight from Sideshow, then marvel at the incredible photos below.
Nathan Drake Sixth Scale Figure by Sideshow Collectibles “Greatness from Small Beginnings”
Sideshow is proud to celebrate the two year anniversary and hero of Naughty Dog’s award winning action-adventure game, Uncharted III: Drake’s Deception, with the Nathan Drake Sixth Scale Figure.
Capturing Drake’s intense yet cool demeanor, the globetrotting treasure hunter comes to life with a hand crafted portrait, full range of articulation and ability to recreate the many dangerous encounters and absurd predicaments he’s most often found in.
Ready to set out for the fabled Atlantis of the Sands, the self-proclaimed descendant of explorer Sir Francis Drake has all of the clues he needs from an ancient map and the treasured heirloom ring he ‘kind of inherited’ around his neck. Sporting his famously half-tucked Henley shirt, wide cuff wristwatch, cargo pants, and belt with lucky horseshoe buckle, Nate is fully equipped for adventure in desert terrain with a hand-tailored shemagh tactical scarf, bandolier, and cross halter shoulder rig. Danger lurks around every corner, and while the rugged hero is capable of winning any brawl with just his fists, packing his trusty 9mm pistol and assault rifle guarantees that nothing can stop the thief with honor... not even spiders.
I can't imagine a much better take on the character. Everything has been executed well, from the stern face sculpt to the absurd costume details, even down to the ridiculously perfect-to-scale tiny necklace bearing the ring around his neck. You wouldn't even know this wasn't a statue if not for the bare wrist articulation on his right arm. Every other hint of a joint is well hidden by a watch, clothes, or his scarf. All together, the figure has a wonderful silhouette and just looks cool in so many different poses.
The action shots and dioramas that Sideshow set up for the above photos certainly help, but it's not hard to see that this figure will look good on almost any shelf. I think lots of collectors and gamers could find a good home for him atop an old, now-forgotten, Playstation 3 for instance. You can visit the Sideshow Collectibles website to preorder the figure right now, or keep an eye out on the DASH Marketplace for him in the future. I just wouldn't wait too long to secure this treasure."This performance conflicts with community expectations," the report said. Logging in the Orbost Forest District in East Gippsland in 2010. Commissioned by an unknown business entity, the report found every native forestry job requires $5,041,000 worth of investment in machinery, equipment and infrastructure such as roads – about 12 times more than the average for other industries. "From a regional development or employment perspective, the higher level of investment required to create one (full-time job) suggests that supporting native forestry would be less beneficial than supporting other industries, as it generates lower employment per dollar spent," it said.
The report, which was completed earlier this month and is now being seriously considered by the Andrews government, comes as negotiations between the industry, unions and environment groups to create a new national park in the Central Highlands remain on a knife edge. The PwC report suggested that continuing with native forestry could be an uneconomic exercise, with support for other industries, including plantation forestry, potentially generating greater returns. It estimated that every $1 of investment in native forestry delivered 3 cents in direct and 11 cents in indirect benefits to the state economy, or 14 cents in total. That compares to $1.63 for the forestry sector as a whole, and $2.65 for the manufacturing sector. But VicForests general manager of planning Nathan Trushell said the analysis appeared to ignore $500 million dollars in revenue generated by the processing of native timber in Victoria, as well as the thousands of associated jobs.
"VicForests has remained profitable over the long term while providing social, economic and environmental benefits to the state," Mr Trushell said in a statement. "The PwC report was drafted relying only on publicly available information and no further detail was sought from VicForests." An alternative report by Deloitte Access Economics, commissioned by VicForests, concluded the native timber industry in the Central Highlands added $357 million to the state economy in 2013-14, and resulted in the equivalent of 2117 full-time jobs, including 281 employed directly by VicForests.
Behind the scenes, the issue has caused major divisions on both sides of politics. Those opposed question the wisdom of supporting an industry that many claim is imposing significant hidden costs on the state's water supply, regional tourism and agriculture. But others, including the CFMEU, have spruiked the native logging industry as crucial for jobs, particularly at businesses like Australian Paper, which is one of the largest employers in the Latrobe Valley. A senior Liberal said it was becoming increasingly clear that the high level of government support provided to native forestry was "totally irrational" from a financial point of view. "The private sector wouldn't touch this with a 10-foot pole. Why are we investing taxpayers' money when there is a perfectly good alternative in private sector plantation timber." Labor has spent weeks debating the idea of creating the national park as part of its policy review process before the November 2014 state election. The idea was thought to be a vote winner in marginals such as Monbulk and Eltham and more broadly an antidote to the Greens in the inner city. But it eventually shelved the idea after an intervention by the CFMEU, instead setting up a taskforce of environment groups, the industry and the union in an attempt to reach a consensus. The idea of a creating a Great Forest National Park stretching from Kinglake to Mt Baw Baw and north-east up to Eildon was given added prominence just weeks before the 2014 state election after being strongly backed by naturalist and wildlife documentary maker Sir David Attenborough to protect the endangered Leadbeater possum.Mahershala Ali made history at Sunday night’s Oscars, becoming the first Muslim actor to win an Academy Award.
He won the first award of the night, best supporting actor, for “Moonlight.” It was one of the more uneasy races in the major categories. While Ali had been the critics’ champ and won the Screen Actors Guild prize, he lost the Golden Globe (Aaron Taylor-Johnson in “Nocturnal Animals”) and the British Academy prize (Dev Patel in “Lion”) to other contenders. In the end, the “Moonlight” star pulled it out.
During an emotional speech, Ali thanked his “wonderful teachers and professors,” and shared with the audience some advice he received from them: “It’s not about you, it’s about these characters. You are a servant. You’re in service to these stories and these characters.”
He also thanked his wife, who just gave birth a few days ago. “I just want to thank her for being a soldier through it all and carrying me through this process,” he said of awards season.
The milestone comes after President Donald Trump imposed a ban denying travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries entry into the U.S. The controversial executive order has sparked protests across the country.
While Ali did not bring this up during his speech Sunday night, after he won a SAG Award earlier this year, he proudly declared, “I’m a Muslim.” “Moonlight” is up for several more awards Sunday night, including best picture.Editor's note: Jeffrey A. Miron is senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University. A libertarian, he was one of 166 academic economists who signed a letter to congressional leaders opposing the government bailout plan.
Economist Jeffrey Miron says the government bailouts of banks will hide problems and spread inefficiency.
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (CNN) -- Ten days after passage of its $700 billion bailout of the financial sector, the U.S. Treasury has announced that it will implement this program, in part, by giving banks $250 billion in return for shares of their stock.
In other words, the U.S. government will acquire a significant ownership stake in the banking sector.
The goal of this stock purchase is to "inject liquidity." This will, in principle, improve bank solvency and increase bank lending, thereby minimizing the chance of a recession.
This approach appears to be favored by the Treasury over the previously announced strategy of buying "troubled assets" from banks. The Treasury is also planning to guarantee new bank debt and expand insurance of bank deposits.
Alas, the new approach is no better than the first. Here's why.
If banks were fundamentally sound but temporarily in need of cash, they could sell stock on their own to private investors. Few investors now want bank stock, however, because they cannot tell which banks are merely illiquid -- short of cash for new loans because their assets are temporarily sellable only at fire-sale prices -- and which are fundamentally insolvent -- short of cash and holding assets whose fundamental values are less than the bank's liabilities.
This lack of transparency is a crucial impediment to new investment, and therefore to new lending.
Government injection of cash, however, does little to improve transparency. A bank with complicated, depreciated assets is in much the same position after the government gives it cash as it was before, since outside investors will still have limited information about the solvency of any individual bank.
Perhaps the new cash will spur the sale of bad assets, or nudge banks to reveal their balance sheets, but that is far from obvious. Banks, moreover, might remain cautious even with this increased liquidity simply because of uncertainty about the economy. Thus it is hard to know whether cash injections will actually spur bank lending.
In any event, government ownership of banks has frightening long-term implications, whether or not it alleviates the credit crunch.
Government ownership means that political forces will determine who wins and who loses in the banking sector. The government, for example, will push banks to aid borrowers with poor credit histories, to subsidize politically connected industries, and to lend in the districts of powerful members of Congress. All of this is horrible for economic efficiency.
Government pressure will be difficult for banks to resist, since the government can both threaten to withdraw its ownership stake or promise further injections whenever it wants to modify bank behavior. Banks will respond by accommodating government objectives in exchange for continued financial support. This is crony capitalism, pure and simple. iReport.com: What do you think about the bailout?
Government ownership of banks will not be a temporary expedient. Politicians can swear they will unwind the government's position once "economic conditions improve," but no one can enforce this promise. The temptation to use banks as a political tool will be permanent, not temporary, so government ownership will continue for decades, or forever.
Worse yet, government ownership of banks sets a precedent for ownership in every industry that suffers economic hardship. Some might argue that banking is "essential," but many industries -- autos, steel, computers or agriculture -- will make similar claims when it is their turn to demand a bailout. Thus banking will be only the first victim in an enormous expansion of the government's role. This again will have disastrous consequences for economic efficiency.
Last but not least, a government "injection of liquidity" is still a bailout in all but name.
The injection means that banks get cash, and they get it now. This benefits current stockholders and bondholders, which is why stocks have jumped on news of the injections. iReport.com: Check out a cartoonist's take on the Wall Street crisis
The government, however, gets stock that might end up being worthless, since some banks will fail anyway. The government gets stock that may never trade in a market or have its value determined by fundamentals. The government gets stock that it cannot sell for years, if ever, without generating turbulence in asset markets as investors interpret the government's decisions or position themselves to profit from them.
Government purchase of bank stock, therefore, is a transfer from taxpayers to people who took huge risks and lost. The United States, and the world, got into the current mess by trying to insure away risk, which everyone should have known was a fool's errand. Thus bailing out risk-taking -- or providing new guarantees for loans and deposits -- will generate even greater problems down the line.
It is time for the government to do the one thing it does well: nothing at all. This might mean serious economic pain in the short term, as more banks fail and the economy suffers through a recession. As for a cancer patient who has a tumor removed, however, the long-term benefit will more than compensate.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the writer.
All About Financial Markets • National EconomyMichael Dodge / Getty Images
A national survey of thousands of LGBTI people across Australia has backed up the widespread reports of anguish, worry, and discrimination experienced during the same-sex marriage vote, with four in five respondents saying they had been adversely affected by the process.
The survey, which was conducted prior to the result announcement, also found that over half of respondents thought the process wasn't worthwhile even if the "yes" vote was successful, with 25% saying "definitely not" and 30% "probably not". Two thirds reported the survey was worse than they thought it would be.
The figures come as Australia takes in the overwhelming 61.6% vote in favour of same-sex marriage, announced on Wednesday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The announcement unleashed a wave of celebrations across the country, and prompted the introduction of a bill to the parliament, that prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has suggested will pass before Christmas. But the euphoria has also been met with LGBTI people pointing out how harmful the national vote on their rights has been.
Lisa Maree Williams / Getty Images
The self-selecting survey canvassed 3,300 LGBTI people across Australia from November 8-15. It was auspiced by advocacy groups PFLAG and just.equal, and designed by social scientist Dr Sharon Dane, who has previously published a study on the impacts of the Irish marriage referendum on the LGBTI community. "The experience in Australia very much mirrors [Ireland]," she told BuzzFeed News. "The big issue is when you find out people who are close to you are not supportive. Even those people who felt they were fairly hardy weren’t prepared for how it was going to impact them when people started verbalising their opposition." Dane added that the closing of the survey one hour prior to the result was deliberate.
"When we did the research in Ireland, it was a full year after the 'yes'," she said. "When you get a 'yes', there’s a temporary euphoria... if you do a survey at that time, it'll bias in the other direction." An Essential poll from November 14 found 45% of people thought the non-binding same-sex marriage survey was a bad process that should not be repeated, 27% a good process that should be used again, and 19% a good process that should, nevertheless, not be repeated.
Several mental health groups and charities have also raised concerns over the wellbeing of the LGBTI community over the course of the marriage vote. Mental health service ReachOut had a 40% increase in requests from young LGBTI people asking for help, while Jo Ball, the CEO of Switchboard Victoria, told BuzzFeed News the LGBTI support service had experienced an increase of up to 35% in requests for support during the survey. In response, Greens leader Richard Di Natale has called for the $20 million saved by the ABS going under its $122 million budget to be spent on mental health and counselling services.
With the marriage equality postal survey coming in $20m under budget, the government should give this money to the… https://t.co/TXm7T5wo9XAtheist Says He'll 'Turn Christian' if Evil Is Explained During Major Debate
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Atheist philosopher Dr. Alex Rosenberg told Christian theologian Dr. William Lane Craig, and those attending a debate on the existence of God, both at Purdue University and online during a live webcast Friday evening, that he would "turn Christian" if Craig could explain why God would allow evil.
"In all honesty, if Dr. Craig could provide me with any kind of a logical, coherent account that could reconcile the evident fact of the horrors of human and infer human life on this planet over the last 3.5 billion years with the existence of a benevolent, omnipotent agent then I will turn Christian," Rosenberg said at the conclusion of his first allotted rebuttal.
Rosenberg prefaced his promise by saying that evil and suffering "needs to be desperately explained." He asked why a benevolent, omnipotent God would allow such human tragedies as the Holocaust, World War I, and the bubonic plague. He said he found the question perplexing.
"Nobody has been able to provide a satisfactory explanation," Rosenberg said.
Craig opened his next timed debate rebuttal by saying, "I'm really excited about that last statement that Dr. Rosenberg made." To which a seemingly large part of the audience responded with loud applause.
"The problem here is that we are assuming that God's purpose is just to make us happy in this life, but on the Christian view that's false," Craig went on to say. "The purpose of life is not worldly happiness as such, but rather the knowledge of God. There may be many evils that occur in this lifetime that are utterly pointless with respect to producing worldly happiness, but they may not be pointless with respect to producing the knowledge of God and salvation and eternal life.
"It's possible that only in a world that is suffused with natural and moral evil that the optimal number of people would come to know God freely, find salvation, and eternal life," he continued. "So, the atheist would have to prove that there is another possible world that has this much knowledge of God and His salvation in it, but which is produced with less evils. How could He possibly prove that? It's pure conjecture. It's impossible to prove those things."
The debate between the two scholars titled, "Is Faith in God Reasonable?", was hosted and sponsored by Symposia Christi at Purdue University, Biola University, and Craig's apologetics ministry group called Reasonable Faith. During the live 90-minute debate, followed by a question and answer period, streamed online from the East Coast, and then replayed shortly after for the West Coast, #GODdebate trended at the top on Twitter for more than a few hours.
The formal debate panel at the event awarded Craig a 4-2 victory. In a vote by those in attendance, Craig also won with 1,390 votes to 303 votes for Rosenberg. Craig was victoriouis online as well, garnering 734 votes to 59.
Renowned author and apologist Lee Strobel told The Christian Post via email after the debate that he viewed Craig as the clear winner.
"By any fair assessment, Bill Craig decisively won this debate – and he did so with characteristic gentleness and respect, as First Peter 3:15 instructs. The result wasn't even close," Strobel stated. "Alex Rosenberg had only shallow and unconvincing responses to Craig's eight affirmative points, and Craig was able to effectively defuse the argument from pain and suffering that Rosenberg raised.
"Once again, this debate reminded me that Christians have an unfair advantage in the marketplace of ideas – we have truth on our side. I'm thankful for scholars like Bill Craig who responsibly and powerfully wield the evidence that shows persuasively that God exists and that Christianity is true."
Strobel, who himself is a former atheist whose research about the life of Jesus for his book, The Case for Christ, led to his acceptance of Jesus as his savior, added, "I'm praying that Dr. Rosenberg will ultimately realize the bankruptcy of atheism and embrace the God who loves him deeply. Debates like this illustrate why so many atheists like myself have turned to Christ."
Apologist Mark Mittelberg was also asked for a response to the debate. He said it was one of amazement.
"Not that I was surprised that William Lane Craig won. Rather, I was amazed that after so many years of Dr. Craig doing so many high profile debates with atheists – including his first major U.S. event that I had the honor of hosting in Chicago twenty years ago – that there aren't stronger challenges coming from the skeptical community," Mittelberg wrote in an email to CP. "It reminded me of what I thought after that first one; when it comes to debates, truth is a great advantage!"
He added, "It really did seem obvious tonight that Dr. Craig was forthrightly presenting and defending truth, and that his opponent was attempting, as the apostle Paul puts it in Romans 1:18, to'suppress the truth.'"
Mittelberg was also happy to see that the majority of the debate panel and viewers had a similar reaction, based on the votes that came in afterwards.
"My sincere hope is that many who voted will now go beyond merely acknowledging who won the debate, to personally acknowledging the One who the debate was all about," he stated.
On-demand rebroadcasts of the debate can be found online at http://live.biola.edu/.2016 College Football Awards sizzle reel
2016 ESPN Images
Awards Ceremony to Air Live on ESPN on Thursday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. ET
Show Originates from the College Football Hall of Fame and Chick-fil-A Experience in Atlanta
The Home Depot College Football Awards Red Carpet Special presented by Daltile on ESPNU
Twenty-seven finalists have been named for nine National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) honors to be handed out at The Home Depot College Football Awards presented by GILDAN live from the College Football Hall of Fame in Atlanta on Thursday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN. Hosted by Lee Corso, Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard, Tom Rinaldi and Maria Taylor, the annual awards show recognizes the accomplishments of college football student-athletes during the 2017 season. The nominees will be featured in The Home Depot College Football Awards Nomination Special on Tuesday, Nov. 21, at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU. In addition, Rinaldi and Taylor will host The Home Depot College Football Awards Red Carpet Special presented by Daltile on Dec. 7, at 6 p.m. on ESPNU.
MEDIA NOTE: Media interested in attending the media availability with nominees on Wednesday, Dec. 6, and/or covering the live telecast on Thursday, Dec. 7, can email [email protected] through Monday, Dec. 4.
The Home Depot College Football Awards presented by GILDAN Finalists
NCFAA awards announced during The Home Depot College Football Awards:
Other honors recognized during The Home Depot College Football Awards:
The Home Depot Coach of the Year Award Winner will be announced on Wednesday, Dec. 6 NCFAA Contributions to College Football Award Winner to be announced Thursday, Nov. 30 Disney Spirit Award The University of Iowa Football Program William V. Campbell Trophy
Premier Scholar-Athlete The 12 finalists for the Campbell Trophy were announced on Wednesday, Nov. 1. The Allstate AFCA Good Works Team Team Captain will be announced on Monday, Dec. 4 The Walter Camp Player of the Year Winner will be announced on SportsCenter on Thursday, Dec. 7th.
Awards to be recognized during The Home Depot College Football Awards Red Carpet Special presented by Daltile at 6 p.m. on ESPNU:
John Mackey Award
Outstanding Tight End Mark Andrews, Oklahoma (Jr.)
Troy Fumagalli, Wisconsin (Sr.)
Mike Gesicki, Penn State (Sr.) Rimington Award
Outstanding Center Finalists announced Monday, Dec. 4. Wuerffel Trophy
Community Service Blaise Taylor, Arkansas State (Sr.)
Courtney Love, Kentucky (Sr.)
Drue Tranquill, Notre Dame (Sr.)
National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA)
The NCFAA encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 21 awards boast 678 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit www.NCFAA.org to learn more about our story.
-30-Charter and its new subsidiary Time Warner Cable (TWC) have been overcharging customers at least $7.2 million per year for equipment and service, a US Senate investigation has found.
Time Warner Cable over-billed customers nationwide an estimated $639,948 between January and April of this year, which projects to a yearly total of $1,919,844. Charter, meanwhile, "informed the [Senate's investigative] Subcommittee that it over-billed customers by at least $442,691 per month," the report said. That works out to overcharges of at least $5,312,292 per year. When added to Time Warner Cable's overcharges, that's $7.2 million that customers paid in erroneous charges over and above the already high prices of cable TV.
The report was released today as senators grilled cable company executives from Charter, Time Warner Cable, Comcast, AT&T-owned DirecTV, and Dish on customer service and billing problems. The Senate report, as well as video of the hearing and transcripts of cable executive testimony, is available here.
The Charter/Time Warner Cable billing problems are particularly severe because neither company had been issuing automatic refunds or credits to overcharged customers, the Senate report said. During the six-and-a-half-year time period examined by the subcommittee, "Time Warner Cable and Charter made no effort to trace equipment overcharges to their origin unless customers specifically asked them to and did not provide notice or refunds to customers," the report said. "Time Warner Cable and Charter did not automatically refund or credit customers for equipment overcharges they discovered. By contrast, Comcast and DirecTV provided full refunds to overcharged customers, and Dish’s sophisticated billing system is designed to prevent these types of issues from occurring in the first instance."
We all know that Comcast has overcharged many customers, but this Senate report indicates that Comcast does a much better job of issuing refunds than Charter, which is now the second biggest cable company due to its acquisition of TWC. Comcast told the subcommittee that it has a billing error rate of 0.3 percent.
Estimated overcharges were determined by comparing billing records with records showing what equipment and service customers actually receive. The Senate investigation found that "customer billing records do not always match customer equipment and service records, meaning that some customers are billed for items they have not ordered while others erroneously escape being charged for services or equipment they use."
Charter and Time Warner Cable have agreed to changes as a result of the Senate investigation, but while these changes could fix the problems going forward, they don't cover all the erroneous charges customers have paid over the years. From now on, TWC is performing monthly audits to find overcharges and providing automatic one-month credits to customers who paid too much for equipment or service.
However, "Time Warner [Cable] will not investigate when it began overcharging those customers unless customers bring specific concerns to the company’s attention," the report said. "Nor will the company automatically provide a full refund dating to when the overcharge began. But the company’s new policy will at least provide customers with notice that they have been overcharged, making it easier for overcharged customers to determine whether they should request a larger credit or refund."
Charter has promised to give customers a one-year credit for any equipment overcharges, the Senate report said. "In addition, Charter has implemented systemic controls that it claims will prevent equipment overcharges in the future. Although neither Time Warner Cable nor Charter’s new policies represent complete solutions to the problems highlighted during the Subcommittee’s investigation, they are a first step toward ensuring that they credit or refund customer overcharges."
Today's hearing was led by US Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.).
"Mistakes happen and we understand that," Portman said. "What matters in life is how you own up to your mistakes and make them right. What we discovered is some cable and satellite companies are better at doing that than others." The best solution would be to boost competition in pay-TV providers so that customers can switch, he said.
McCaskill related her own experience with her cable provider, saying that two years ago she learned that she was paying $10 a month for a service that was included in the basic package.
"I said, 'well, were you going to tell me this?' They said, 'no you have to call in and ask,'" McCaskill said. "If I hadn't called in and asked, that $10 could still be on my bill today based on the billing practices of the companies represented at this hearing."
Comcast Cable Senior VP of Customer Service Tom Karinshak pledged to improve the company's customer service today—just as Comcast Executive VP David Cohen did in front of a Senate hearing more than two years ago.
Not all senators were enthusiastic about grilling TV providers. Congress has an even worse customer service record than cable companies and thus may not have much wisdom to impart to them, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said. Congress also uses bills that are hundreds or thousands of pages long, that are filled with confusing jargon, and that members vote on without reading, he said. "Unfortunately, you can't change your legislative provider," Paul said.
McCaskill countered Paul's view, saying that Congress' own poor performance "doesn't change our obligation to address things our constituents really care about."
In a recent Temkin Group report, ISPs and pay-TV providers tied with health plans for the lowest customer service rankings of any measured industry. Comcast was rated worst of all in its industry.
Disclosure: The Advance/Newhouse Partnership, which owns about 13 percent of Charter, is part of Advance Publications. Advance Publications owns Condé Nast, which owns Ars Technica.The state superintendent's office says the new financial-education standards are the first to ever be adopted here.
Wages. Insurance premiums. Roth IRAs.
Financial education hasn’t always been a priority in Washington schools. But under new standards adopted this year, students will learn about financial subjects like spending and saving — and why they’ll need to know about wages, insurance premiums and Roth IRAs when they’re adults.
The standards are the first of their kind in Washington, according to the state superintendent’s office. Superintendent Randy Dorn presided over a ceremonial adoption last week.
Dorn noted that if more people understood what banks were doing with home loans, the financial crisis may not have hit the country as hard as it did in 2008 and 2009.
“Students need to understand financial terms,” he said. “They need to know what interest is, how to calculate taxes, when to begin investing. Giving them those tools may help us avert the next financial crisis.”
Along with spending and saving, the standards cover five other topics: credit and debt, employment and income, investing, risk management and insurance, and financial decision-making.
The standards will be integrated into classroom activities, likely in math or social studies classes, said Nate Olson, spokesman for the state superintendent’s office. In the second grade, for example, students will compare different types of savings methods, like piggy banks or banks, based on risk of loss. By the 12th grade, students will develop a personal financial plan or budget with goals, net worth statement and estate plan.
A planning group is still figuring out how schools will put the new financial standards into practice, Olson said.
In 2004, the Legislature established the Financial Literacy Public-Private Partnership, which was recommissioned as the Financial Education Public-Private Partnership five years later. A bill in the 2015 Legislature directed the partnership to write the new financial standards, which are based on national standards from the Jump$tart Coalition and the Council for Economic Education.Donald Trump, the celebrity billionaire whose bid for the Republican presidential nomination has been a source of mild to major annoyance for, well, most people, is hardly overseeing his first bid to educate the American public. To say so would be to forget Trump University, the virtual, for-profit “college” he started in 2005.
Speaking to the times, the endeavor relied on the sale (at hundreds of dollars a pop) of CDs and DVDs while relieving students of burdensome higher-ed staples such as tests and degrees. This being The Donald, the rhetoric was strong. One DVD set promised that, with it, “you cannot fail to transform your future.”
Things got off to a rough start. Mr. Trump’s first lecture, delivered digitally to more than 2,000 people (who had paid $249 to see it), was delayed 45 minutes after the company’s computer services crashed. (And he said what about healthcare.gov?)
The “college,” which neither sought nor received accreditation, provoked predictable |
given to tackles when lined up for pass protection). Also, there must be one receiver (usually one tight end and one wide receiver) lined up on the line on either side of the offensive linemen (it does not matter how close they are to the tackles, as long as they are on the line), with a total of no fewer than seven players on the line, five of which must be numbered between 50-79. A numbering exception exists if the offense is in a scrimmage kick formation which allows a player whose number is 1-49 or 80-99 to take the place of a lineman numbered 50-79. A receiver who is on the line may not go in motion. forward pass A pass that touches a person, object, or the ground closer to the opponent's end line than where it was released from, or is accidentally lost during a forward throwing motion. forward progress The location to which a ball carrier's forward momentum carries him before they are tackled. At the end of a play, the football is spotted at the point where the ball carrier's forward progress is stopped, even if they are pushed backward by the defenders. fourth down The final of a set of four downs. Unless a first down is achieved or a penalty forces a replay of the down, the team will lose control of the ball after this play. If a team does not think they can get a first down, they often punt on fourth down or attempt a field goal if they are close enough to do so. fourth down conversion The act of using a fourth down play to make a first down (also known as "going for it" [on fourth down]). These are comparatively uncommon. If a team is close enough to the goal posts, they will generally attempt a field goal on fourth down. Otherwise, they will usually punt. However, the coach may elect to try to get a new first down. This is more likely if the amount of yardage needed for the conversion is small (typically a yard or less), if the team is trailing by a significant amount (likelihood of such a try increasing as it gets later in the game), if a team is in a position on the field where a punt would likely result in a touchback but a field goal attempt is unlikely to succeed (usually between the opponent's 35- and 45-yard lines at the NFL level) or during overtime where the team must score on that possession. four-point stance down lineman's stance with four points on the ground, in other words, two feet and two hands; often a technique used in short yardage or goal line situations. free kick A kick made to put the ball in play as a kickoff or following a safety (the score; "safety touch" in Canadian football) or fair catch. free safety ( FS ) A player position on defense. Free safeties typically play deep, or "center field", and often have the pass defense responsibility of assisting other defensive backs in deep coverage (compared to strong safeties, who usually have an assigned receiver and run support responsibilities). front seven The defensive linemen and linebackers. The most common configurations of a front seven are 4-3 (four down linemen, three linebackers) and the 3-4 (three linemen and four linebackers). fullback ( FB ) A player position on offense. Originally, lined up deep behind the quarterback in the T formation. In modern formations this position may be varied, and this player has more blocking responsibilities in comparison to the halfback or tailback. fumble A ball that a player accidentally lost possession of; in Canadian football the term includes muffs. fumblerooski A trick play where the quarterback deliberately places the ball on the ground, technically fumbling so that another player (usually a lineman) can pick up the ball and advance it. This type of play is now banned by most football sanctioning groups.
G [ edit ]
game manager A type of quarterback, loosely defined, who makes a minimum number of mistakes for a team that relies on its defense and rushing offense to win games. goal A surface in space marked by a structure of two upright posts 18 feet 6 inches apart extending above a horizontal crossbar the top edge of which is 10 feet off the ground. The goal is the surface above the bar and between the lines of the inner edges of the posts, extending infinitely upward, centered above each end line in American, and each goal line in Canadian football. goal area Alternate term for end zone, used primarily in Canadian football goal line The front of the end zone goal line stand When a team's defense stops another team's offense from scoring a touchdown when the opposition's offense is near the goal line gridiron 1. The field of play; a football field 2. A generalized term for American, Canadian, arena, and other related forms of football, especially in contrast with rugby football (rugby union, rugby league) and association football (soccer). See also gridiron football The word derives from the same root as griddle, meaning a "lattice." The original field was marked in a grid of crisscrossed lines; the ball would be snapped in the grid in which it was downed on the previous play. In modern usage, a gridiron—whether in cooking or football—is considered a surface with parallel lines. American and related codes of football have lines spaced every five yards (as compared to 10-12 metres in rugby), giving the field a unique look among football codes. guard ( OG ) Two of the five offensive line positions. See lineman gunslinger Term for a quarterback who plays in an aggressive and decisive manner by throwing deep, risky passes. These quarterbacks usually possess the strong arm needed to throw deep effectively. gunner The widest player on the line in a punting formation. The gunner is often one of the fastest players on the team, usually a cornerback or wide receiver.
H [ edit ]
handoff A move in which a player transfers the ball to another player, and the receiving player takes possession of the ball before it leaves the hands of the giver (thus the ball is never in flight). A handoff can occur in any direction. Sometimes called a "switch" in touch football. Alternately spelled "handoff". hands team A group of players, mostly wide receivers, that are responsible for recovering an onside kick. They line up as close as possible to the ten-yard neutral zone and their goal is to recover the ball immediately after, but only if, the ball crosses out of the neutral zone. hard count A strategy commonly used by offenses to convert on fourth down and less than five yards to go. An offense will take the full time on the play clock with the quarterback utilizing an irregular, accented (thus, the term "hard") cadence for the snap count in the hope that the defense will jump offside, giving the offense the five yards needed to convert the first down. However, if the defense does not go offside, the offense will take a five-yard penalty for delay of game or a timeout. hash marks Lines between which the ball begins each play. The lines are parallel to and a distance in from the side lines and marked as broken lines. If a play is blown dead while the ball is between the hash marks, the ball is spotted where it is blown dead for the following play. If the play ends outside the hash marks, the ball is spotted at the nearer hash mark. H-back A player listed in a roster or depth chart as a fullback but with better athletic or pass-catching abilities and playing as a hybrid of a fullback and a tight end hidden yardage Yards based on the difference in starting field position between the teams and penalty yardage. These yards do not show up in the statistics as yards gained by an offense, hence, hidden. This sometimes explains how a team with a significant advantage in yards gained loses the game since starting possessions deeper in a team's own territory on a regular basis means more yards need to be gained in order to score points and that teams that tend to commit many penalties will force the offense to gain more yards to score points or give the opposing offense free yards allowing them to score points with fewer yards needed. hike Synonym of "snap" – the handoff or pass from the center that begins a play from scrimmage holder A player who holds the ball upright for a place kick. Often backup quarterbacks are used for their superior ball-handling ability and in the event of a bad snap requiring a pass play, or punters for their ability to catch long snaps. holding There are two kinds of holding: Offensive holding, illegally blocking a player from the opposing team by grabbing and holding their uniform or body
Defensive holding, called against defensive players who hold offensive players, but who are not actively making an attempt to catch the ball (if the defensive player were to impede an offensive player in the act of catching the ball, that would be the more severe foul of pass interference) hook and lateral or hook and ladder A trick play in which a receiver (usually a wide receiver) runs a hook pattern (i.e., moving toward the line of scrimmage to make a catch), and then laterals the ball to a second player (generally another receiver or a running back) going in a different direction. horse-collar A horse-collar is a type of tackle made by grabbing the back-inside of an opponent's shoulder pads or jersey. This type of tackle was banned in the NFL in 2005 and in college football in 2008. hot read When a quarterback sees a blitz coming and quickly passes to a receiver running a short route. This involves the quarterback adjusting their target and the "hot receiver" adjusting their route (for instance, breaking off a deeper route in favor of a slant or hitch).[10] If a quarterback at the line of scrimmage reads the defense and identifies a blitz coming, they may call an audible to designate a receiver as a hot read or hot receiver.[11] huddle An on-field meeting of team members to communicate instructions for the upcoming play hurry-up offense An offensive strategy designed to gain yardage while running as little time off the clock as possible. Often involves making plays without a huddle. This technique can also be used to keep the defensive team off-balance. Hut A loud, repeated command by quarterbacks for the other players to move ("Hut! Hut! Hut!"). The command replaced "hike!" in the second half of the 20th century, probably as a result of players returning from World War II military service adapting the drill language they were familiar with (as in "Atten-hut!", "Hut, two, three, four!").[12]
I [ edit ]
I formation A formation that includes a fullback and tailback lined up directly behind the quarterback while the quarterback is under center. By definition, the fullback lines up in front of the tailback. Several variations on this backfield formation exist, including the "offset I" (in which the fullback lines up out of line to the left or right of the quarterback and halfback; also known as the "strong" or "weak I" depending on which direction the fullback is positioned), the "Maryland I" and "power I" (in which an additional fullback is added to the backfield, either next to in the power I or in front of in the Maryland I, the fullback). icing the kicker When a team calls time out just before the kicker has the ball snapped. A team is limited to calling one time-out on any given play (thus a team cannot repeatedly call all of its time-outs to prevent the game from continuing, or else a delay of game penalty or, more rarely, a palpably unfair act penalty is imposed). It is thought that kickers tend to miss after being iced due to nervousness, so icing the kicker usually happens at the end of the game before a walk-off field goal. There is evidence that this tactic does not work.[13] illegal formation On offense, there must be exactly seven players lined up on the line of scrimmage for at least one count before the ball is snapped. If not, then it is an illegal formation. illegal motion On offense, a player may be in motion but cannot be going forward at the time of the snap (except in arena and Canadian football where one player is allowed to do so), and a lineman must be set for one second before the snap. Otherwise, it is an illegal motion. illegal shift On offense, only one person is allowed to be in pre-snap motion after the formation is set. A second person may go in motion after the first has come to a set position for one second. If these conditions are not met when sending people into motion, an illegal shift has occurred. incomplete pass A forward pass of the ball which no player caught inbounds lines The hash marks indirect snap A play in which the ball is handed to the quarterback rather than thrown directly to the ball carrier by the center as in a direct snap play. So named because the quarterback acts as an intermediary in relaying the ball to the ball carrier. Also used to refer to formations that use such a snap, as most modern formations do. Indirect snap formations exploded in popularity after World War II. ineligible receiver Certain players on the offense are not allowed to catch passes. For example, in most situations offensive interior linemen cannot be receivers and they may cause their team to be penalized if they catch the ball. An exception is if the ball has already been tipped by a different player. In six-man football all players are eligible receivers. inside of a player's path Relatively close (in reference to the sides of the field) to where the ball was snapped from. Thus, a ball carrier's path in crossing the neutral zone may be said to be "inside" of an opponent, or an "inside run" in general, and a rushing defensive player may be said to put on an "inside move" or "inside rush". inside of the movement of the ball between players Directed toward a player who cuts between a player in the backfield who throws or hands the ball and the place from which it was snapped. Thus, an "inside pass" or "inside handoff". An "inside reverse" (sometimes called a scissors play) is a reverse play via an inside handoff. intentional grounding A type of illegal forward pass; thrown without an intended receiver and no chance of completion to any offensive player, for the sole purpose of conserving time or avoiding loss of yardage. This foul costs the offense a loss of down and 10 yards. If it occurs 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage, then the 10 yards is taken from the spot of the foul. If the foul is committed in the end zone the penalty is a safety. Intentional grounding is not called in the case of a spike after a hand to hand snap or if under NFL or NCAA rules, the quarterback was outside the tackle box, (the area between each tackle) at the time of the pass, provided that the ball travels at least to the line of scrimmage. The tackle box is also known as the "pocket". nfl rules interception The legal catching of a forward pass thrown by an opposing player interference An older term not to be confused with pass interference; to lead block for a player with the ball, usually in the open field.
interior offensive line
Refers to the center and guards.[14]
J [ edit ]
Jack Interior linebacker (ILB) of the 3-4 formation, that plays in the weak side of the formation. Also known as "Mo". jumbo An offensive package which includes two tight ends, a full back and a half back. Similar to heavy jumbo, in which either the half back or the fullback is replaced by another tight end. In a goal line formation, Miami package, often one or more of the tight ends is actually a linebacker or an offensive lineman. In the NFL, such a player must report in as an eligible receiver because a lineman or linebacker would not generally wear an eligible number. To evade a tackler by deceptive moves, and thus without need of a stiff arm.
K [ edit ]
kick A punt, place kick, or drop kick kicker or placekicker (K) Player who specializes in placekicking (i.e. field goals and kick offs). In rare cases, the placekicker solely handles field goals while a kickoff specialist handles kickoffs. kickoff A free kick which starts each half, or restarts the game following a touchdown or field goal. The kickoff may be a place kick in American or Canadian football, or a drop kick in American football. kick returner A player on the receiving team who specializes in fielding kicks and running them back. kick six A field goal kick that is blocked and returned for a touchdown. Popularly used in reference to the 2013 Iron Bowl game.[15][16][17] kneel A low risk play in which the player in possession of the ball kneels down after receiving the snap, ending the play while keeping the clock running. This is done to end the game sooner without needing to run a riskier play. The player kneeling is said to "take a knee", and thus is "taking a knee" or "taking the knee". The quarterback of the team in the lead will often take a knee on the first snap following the two-minute warning. Though long frowned upon – because it was not in accordance with the game's doctrine of "toughness" – taking a knee became an accepted way to run out the clock after the events of the Miracle at the Meadowlands. To this end, players will sometimes forgo scoring a touchdown and instead choose to run out the clock by kneeling short of reaching the end zone. This is usually done when the team with possession of the ball is in the lead, but not always.[18]
L [ edit ]
lateral See backward pass leg whip An illegal block or tackle using the legs to trip the opponent line of scrimmage/ scrimmage line One of two vertical planes parallel to the goal line when the ball is to be put in play by scrimmage. For each team in American football, the line of scrimmage is through the point of the ball closest to their end line. The two lines of scrimmage are called the offensive line of scrimmage and defensive line of scrimmage, often shortened to "line". In Canadian football, the line of scrimmage of the defensive team is one yard their side of the ball. line to gain A line parallel to the goal lines, such that having the ball dead beyond it entitles the offense to a new series of downs, i.e. a new first down. The line is 10 yards in advance of where the ball was to be snapped for the previous first down (or is the goal line, if it is not farther than 10 yards away). linebacker ( LB ) A player position on defense. The linebackers typically play one to six yards behind the defensive linesmen (DLs) and are the most versatile players on defense because they can defend both run and pass plays or be called to blitz. There are two types of LBs: middle linebacker (MLB) and outside linebacker (OLB). In a 3-4 formation, OLB may be designated as a "rush linebacker", rushing the passer on almost every play. lineman A defensive or offensive position on the line of scrimmage. On offense, the player snapping the ball is the center. The players to their sides are the guards, and the players to the outside of the guards are the tackles. The players on the end of the line are the ends. This may be varied in an unbalanced line. On defense, the outside linemen are ends and those inside are tackles. If there are five or six linemen, the innermost linemen are known as guards. This is rare in professional football except for goal-line defenses, but is sometimes seen in high school and college. live ball Any ball that is in play, whether it is in a player's possession or not. The ball is live during plays from scrimmage and free kicks, including kickoffs. live ball foul A foul given for various infractions such as changing numbers during a game long snapper A center who specializes in the long, accurate snaps required for punts and field goal attempts. Most teams employ a specialist long snapper instead of requiring the normal center to perform this duty.
M [ edit ]
man coverage Man-to-man coverage man in motion A player on offense who is moving backwards or parallel to the line of scrimmage at the snap. In American football, only one offensive player can be in motion at a time, cannot be moving toward the line of scrimmage at the snap, and may not be a player who is on the line of scrimmage. In Canadian football, more than one back can be in motion, and may move in any direction as long as they are behind the line of scrimmage at the snap. man-to-man coverage A defense in which all players in pass coverage, typically linebackers and defensive backs, cover a specific player. Pure man coverage is very rare; defenses typically mix man and zone coverages. Marty ball A conservative gameplan which involves an offense based around the use of running backs with use of the passing game only to advance the running game, and a great emphasis on defense. Popular term for Marty Schottenheimer's approach to coaching. Maryland-I An I formation with three running backs aligned behind the quarterback in a straight line max protect A modification used on pass plays (usually combined with a shotgun formation) which keeps the tight end and both backs in behind the line of scrimmage to pass protect rather than run a pass route. This is used in obvious blitzing situations to give the quarterback "maximum protection" in the pocket. Although good for holding off a blitz, it leaves the quarterback with only two receivers to throw to (and therefore only two players for the secondary to defend).[19][20] mike ( MLB ) The middle linebacker in a 4-3 formation. In the 3-4 formation, the mike is the interior linebacker that plays on the strong side of the formation. The mike has the responsibility to defend the interior gaps and the curl zone. The mike is the leader of the defense and has to be as bright as a quarterback because often they call the audibles on defense. Mo (ILB) Also known as "jack", the interior linebacker, 3-4 formation, that plays on the weak side of the formation. monster man A player position on the defensive team, the monster is a strong safety in a four-deep secondary with the ability to cover deep zones, defend against runs and, on occasion, play on the line of scrimmage.[21] See strong safety motion The ordered movement of eligible receivers prior to the snap. Motion can be used to cause mismatches. Another use for motion is to enhance the pre-snap read of the defensive coverage. Generally, if the coverage is man, the receiver's defender will follow them across the formation and if it is zone coverage the defenders will exchange responsibilities by shifting or bumping over. muffed punt Occurs when there is an "uncontrolled touch" of the football after it is punted. May be recovered but not advanced by the kicking team.
N [ edit ]
O [ edit ]
offensive team The team with possession of the ball offside An infraction of the rule that requires both teams to be on their own side of their restraining line as or before the ball is put in play. Offside is normally called on the defensive team during a scrimmage down and on the kicking team during free kick downs. In Canadian football, at the time a ball is kicked by a teammate, being ahead of the ball, or being the person who held the ball for the place kick one back formation A formation where the offensive team has one running back in the backfield with the quarterback. Other eligible receivers are near the line of scrimmage. onside conversion A play unique to the Alliance of American Football, a minor professional league that has eliminated kickoffs, in which the scoring team opts to attempt a fourth-down conversion from its own 28-yard line, and maintains possession if the play is successful. The same play is also available to a team that has surrendered a safety, with the line of scrimmage being that team's 18-yard line.[22][23] onside kick A play in which the kicking team tries to recover the kicked ball option offense An offense heavily relying upon the option run and variations thereof option run or option Usually, a type of play in which the quarterback has the option of handing off, keeping, or laterally passing to one or more backs. Often described by a type of formation or play action, such as "triple option", "veer option", or "counter option". Teams running option plays often specialize in them. Less often, a play in which a running back may either pass or run.
P [ edit ]
Q [ edit ]
quarter One of four periods of play in a standard American football game. A quarter lasts for fifteen game clock minutes in most adaptations of American football but may take longer in elapsed time, since the clock does not run continuously. A tie at the end of four quarters results in overtime. quarterback ( QB ) An offensive player who lines up behind the center, and takes the snap. quarterback rating See passer rating quarterback scramble See scramble quarterback sneak A play most commonly used in very short yardage or goal line situations. The quarterback quickly takes the snap and runs right behind or beside the center. quarter defense A defensive formation with seven defensive backs, three down linemen and one linebacker. quick kick An unexpected punt
R [ edit ]
reception When a player catches (receives) the ball past the line of scrimmage. If a reception is made behind the line of scrimmage, it is a lateral. red flag A weighted red marker thrown onto the field by a coach to tell the officials that they want a certain play reviewed; sometimes referred to as a "challenge flag". red shirt A college player who is forgoing a season to retain a year of eligibility. Student athletes have five years to play four after they enroll. A sixth year is occasionally granted to a player to play his or her four years under extenuating circumstances. red zone The area between the 20-yard line and the goal of the defensive team. The area is not literally colored red and the term is used mainly for statistical purposes; a team that has a high "red zone percentage" (number of touchdowns scored from within the red zone divided by number of drives in which the team enters the red zone) is capable of finishing drives with touchdowns on a regular basis. referee (R) The official who directs the other officials on the field: one of seven officials. regular season In college football, it is the portion of the season that is scheduled ahead-of-time by the schools. It excludes any bowl game, conference championship, or playoff games. In NFL football, the regular season is defined as weeks 1–17, excluding the preseason or postseason. regulation The length of time of a game, excluding any overtime; this is 60 minutes at the college and professional levels and 48 minutes in high school. (A game that is in the fourth quarter with a realistic chance of the score being tied at the end of the quarter is said to have whatever time is on the clock "left in regulation.") restraining line 1. A team's respective line of scrimmage 2. On a free kick, the line the ball is to be kicked from (for the kicking team), or a line 10 yards (five yards in the NFL, beginning 2011) in advance of that (for the receiving team) return The act of progressing the ball down the field after a change of possession, such as a kick or interception return yards Yards gained advancing the ball during play after a change of possession such as a punt or a kickoff or a turnover such as a fumble or an interception reverse An offensive play in which a running back carries the ball toward one side of the field but hands or tosses the ball to a teammate (almost exclusively a wide receiver) who is running in the opposite direction. This is slightly different from an end around, in which the ball is handed off directly to a wide receiver (usually the man in motion), so the direction of the play never reverses. RPO Run-pass option rover A hybrid safety that has dual responsibilities as a defensive back and a linebacker. This is more commonly seen in college football than in NFL, CFL, or AFL football. An example of this in use is in West Virginia's and Air Force's 3-3-5 schemes. run and shoot An offensive philosophy in football designed to force the defense to show its hand prior to the snap of the ball by splitting up receivers and sending them in motion. Receivers run patterns based on the play of the defenders, rather than a predetermined plan. Also known as "run and gun". run out of the gun Running the ball out of the shotgun formation, which is primarily a pass formation. run-pass option Plays where the quarterback has the option to run or pass running back ( RB ) A player position on offense. Although the term usually refers to a halfback or tailback, fullbacks are also considered running backs. running out the clock A game strategy that involves repeatedly executing simple plays that allow the game clock to continue running in an effort to bring the game to a quicker end. This strategy is almost always employed by the leading team at the end of the game, and may involve one or more kneels. running play A play where the offense attempts to advance the ball without a forward pass. running up the score A generally discouraged practice in which a team, despite leading by several touchdowns (to the point that it is obvious that the team is going to win), continues to score as many points as possible in an effort to create as wide of a margin of victory as possible. rush 1. An attempt to tackle or hurry a player before they can throw a pass or make a kick 2. A running play rushing average or yards per carry average The quotient of a player's total rushing yards divided by the number of rushing attempts.
S [ edit ]
sack Tackling a ball carrier who intends to throw a forward pass. A sack is also awarded if a player forces a fumble of the ball, or the ball carrier goes out of bounds, behind the line of scrimmage on an apparent intended forward pass play. The term gained currency circa 1970. safety 1. A player position on defense. See free safety and strong safety. 2. A method of scoring (worth two points) by downing an opposing ball carrier in his own end zone, forcing the opposing ball carrier out of his own end zone and out of bounds, or forcing the offensive team to fumble the ball so that it exits the end zone. A safety is also awarded if the offensive team commits a foul within its own end zone. After a safety, the team that was scored upon must kick the ball to the scoring team from its own 20-yard line.
In the unusual event of a safety occurring during a try for extra point or two points after a touchdown, this scores only 1 point and is followed by a kickoff as after any other try. (In some codes, the rules allow the defense in addition to the offense to score in this fashion.) safety valve A receiver whose job it is to get open for a short pass in case all other receivers are covered. Sam The strong side outside linebacker scatback A running back that is generally very fast, and good at juking and making defenders miss as opposed to running them over on purpose like a 'power' back. scoop and score A fumble recovered by the defense that results in a touchdown. scout team During practices, the portion of the team that attempts to emulate the play style of the upcoming opponent based on scouting reports, so the rest of the team can anticipate the opponent's play calls and defense. Often includes players on the team's practice squad. scramble or quarterback scramble On a called passing play, when the quarterback runs from the pocket in an attempt to avoid being sacked, giving the receivers more time to get open or attempting to gain positive yards by running. screen pass A short forward pass to a receiver who has blockers in front. The receiver in this play is usually a running back, although wide receiver and tight end screens are also used. Although they are both called screen passes, the wide receiver screen and the running back screen are used for very different reasons. In the case of a running back screen, the play is designed to allow the pass rushers by the offensive linemen, leaving the defender out of position to make a play. The play is usually employed to defuse the pass rush in the case of a running back screen. The wide receiver screen is a much faster developing play, designed to catch the defense off guard. scrimmage 1. An informal practice matchup, either between two teams or between different units of the same team. Usually score is not kept; often, each team will get 10 plays from the same yard line. Sometimes played "seven on seven", with a full backfield and an abbreviated offensive line. 2. Play from scrimmage 3. Line of scrimmage secondary Refers to the defensive "backfield", specifically the safeties and cornerbacks. Primarily responsible for pass coverage defense. series A sequence of downs, beginning with a first down and including all subsequent downs until a new first down, score, or change of possession. A typical drive consists of multiple series. shield punt When seven players line up on the line of scrimmage and immediately start to cover the punt while three offensive players stay to guard the punter. shift When two or more offensive players move at the same time before the snap. All players who move in a shift must come to a complete stop prior to the snap. shooting The action of a linebacker or defensive back to blitz shotgun formation Formation in which offensive team may line up at the start of a play. In this formation, the quarterback receives the snap 5-8 yards behind the center. sideline 1. One of the lines marking each side of the field 2. As an adjective: on the field near a sideline side zone The area between a hash mark and a sideline simulating the (snap) count When the defensive team calls out an imitation of the snap count in order to disrupt the offensive team by causing some of them to act early. This is illegal but difficult to police during most of the game due to position of the game officials away from the line of scrimmage where they may be unable to accurately determine the source of calls or to even hear them. single wing A diverse set of formations, now out of fashion but highly popular between 1906 and World War II, that typically used an unbalanced line, direct snap, and one wingback. single wing(ed)-T A formation with one wingback and an adjoining tight end in which the center hands the ball to the quarterback, who holds their hands between the legs of the center. slant A receiver route. In the slant route, a receiver runs straight upfield a few yards, plants their outside foot hard while in full stride, and turns 45 degrees towards the quarterback. A staple of the West Coast offense (WCO) and the player may go as little as two yards or as many as six yards before moving inside for the pass. Variations include the quick slant in which the player plants and turns at the snap instead of running ahead first and the slow or zone route, in which the receiver runs 10 to 15 yards downfield to get behind the linebackers before turning. slot The area between a split end and the rest of the offensive line. A pass receiver lined up in the slot at the snap of the ball may be called a slotback or slot receiver. smashmouth offense An offensive strategy that relies on a strong running game, where most of the offensive plays are handoffs to the fullback or the tailback. It is a more traditional style of offense that often results in a higher time of possession by running the ball heavily. Even though the offense is run-oriented, passing opportunities can develop as defenses play close to the line of scrimmage. Play-action is often very effective for a run-oriented team. snap The handoff or pass from the center that begins a play from scrimmage. snap count The "hut" sound the quarterback will use to signal for the snap to be made. sneak An offensive play in which the quarterback, immediately on receiving the snap dives forward with the ball. The play is used when a team needs a very short gain to reach either the goal line or the line to gain. special teams The units that handle kickoffs, punts, free kicks and field goal attempts. Often manned by second and third team players. spike A play in which the quarterback throws the ball at the ground immediately after the snap. Technically an incomplete pass, it stops the clock. A spike is not considered intentional grounding if it is done with the quarterback under center and immediately after the snap; the only "penalty" is that one down is sacrificed. Running a spike play presumes there will be at least one play by the same team immediately afterward, so it would not be done on fourth down or if it would run the clock out (the clock is probably running while the teams are lining up for the play). If for either reason, a spike cannot be run, a quarterback whose first choice was to spike the ball would have to run a regular play instead. spiral The continuous lateral rotation of the football following its release from the hand of a passer or punter. split-T T formation in which the gaps between offensive guards and tackles are nearly twice as large as the gaps between the center and the guards. splits The distance between the feet of adjacent offensive linemen. Said to be wide, if there is a large gap between players, or narrow, if the gap is small. split end A player position on offense. A receiver who lines up on the line of scrimmage, several yards outside the interior offensive linemen. The term is now rarely used in American football, having been long since replaced by the wide receiver or wideout, with no distinction between whether the receiver is on the line or not. spot The location determined by the official where the ball was downed or blown dead Spread offense An offensive scheme that is used at every level of American and Canadian football, including professional (NFL, CFL), college, (NCAA, NAIA, U Sports), and high school programs across the U.S. and Canada. Spread offenses typically place the quarterback in the shotgun formation, and "spread" the defense horizontally using three-, four-, and even five-receiver sets. Many spread offenses utilize the read option running play to put pressure on both sides of the defense. Spread offenses also leverage vertical (down field) passing routes to spread the defense vertically, thereby opening up multiple vertical seams for both the running and passing game. A form of football in which all players must be below the weight of the average college student; the game is played at a select few colleges. Weight limits are also present in most youth football leagues. squib kick A type of kickoff in which the ball is intentionally kicked low to the ground, typically bouncing on the ground a few times before being picked up. This is done in the hopes of preventing a long return, as the ball is often picked up by one of the upmen as opposed to the designated kickoff returner. starter A player who is the first to play their position within a given game or season. Depending on the position and the game situation, this player may be replaced or share time with one or more players later in the game. As an example, a quarterback may start the game but be replaced by a backup quarterback if the game becomes one-sided. A running-back may start the game but share time with another running back in specific situations or to provide the opportunity for rest during the game. The pole attached to the end of the 10-yard chain that is used by the chain crew to measure for a new series of downs |
is a cross-platform PowerShell module used to design beautiful dashboards from any available dataset. Visit GitHub to see some example dashboards.</div> <div class='card-action'><a href='https://www.github.com/adamdriscoll/poshprotools'>GitHub</a></div> </div> " } New-UDColumn -Size 3 { New-UDMonitor -Title "Users per second" -Type Line -DataPointHistory 20 -RefreshInterval 15 -ChartBackgroundColor '#5955FF90' -ChartBorderColor '#FF55FF90' @Colors -Endpoint { Get-Random -Minimum 0 -Maximum 100 | Out-UDMonitorData }
With that removed, the cell vanishes.
I took a look at the Components page on the PowerShell Universal Dashboard, and really liked the way the Counter design looked, so I decided to copy the example for Total Bytes Downloaded and use that in-place of the old introduction. I added these lines:
New-UDColumn -Size 4 { New-UDCounter -Title "Total Bytes Saved" -AutoRefresh -RefreshInterval 3 -Format "0.00b" -Icon cloud_download @Colors -Endpoint { get-content c:\temp\picSpace.txt } } New-UDColumn -Size 3 {
I also created a new text file at C:\temp\picSpace.txt and added the value 1234 to it. With those changes completed, I hit F5.
Now, to actually populate this value when my code runs. Editing Move-FilesOlderThan.ps1 (note: I’m very sorry about this name, I wrote the script when my daughter was not sleeping through the night yet…not clue why I choose that name), the function of that code is to accept a cut-off date, then search for files older than that date in a folder. If it finds files that are too many days old, they get moved elsewhere. Here’s the relevant snippet:
$MoveFilesOlderThanAge = "-18" ####End user params $cutoverDate = ((get-date).AddDays($MoveFilesOlderThanAge)) write-host "Moving files older than $cutoverDate, of which there are `n`t`t`t`t" -nonewline $backupFiles = new-object System.Collections.ArrayList $filesToMove = Get-ChildItem $cameraFolder | Where-Object LastWriteTime -le $cutoverDate $itemCount = $filesToMove | Measure-Object | select -ExpandProperty Count $FileSize = $filesToMove | Measure-Object -Sum Length
In order to sum the file space saved every day, I only had to add these lines. I also decided to add a tracking log of how many files are moved over time. I decided to simply use a text file to track this.
[int](gc c:\temp\picSpace.txt) + [int]$FileSize.Sum | Set-content c:\temp\picSpace.txt [int](gc c:\temp\totalmoved.txt) + [int]$itemCount | set-content c:\temp\totalmoved.txt
Now, after running the script a few times to move files, the card actually keeps track of how many files are moved!
Further Customizations
Now, to go really crazy customizing it!
Hook up the File Counter
I decided to also add a counter for how many files have been moved. This was super easy, and included in the code up above. I simply modified the Move-FilesOlderThan.ps1 script as depicted up above to pull the amount of files migrated from a file, and add today’s number of files to it. Easy peasey (though at first I did a string concatenation, and instead of seeing the number 14 after two days of moving 7 files, I saw 77. Whoops!)
To hook up the counter, I added this code right after the Byte Counter card.
New-UDColumn -Size 4 { New-UDCounter -Title "Total Files Moved" -Icon file @colors -Endpoint { get-content C:\temp\totalmoved.txt } }
Modify the table to display my values
Next up, I want to reuse the table we start with in the corner. I wanted to tweak it to show some of the info about the files which were just moved. This actually wasn’t too hard either.
Going back to Move-FilesOlderThan.ps1 I added one line to output a.csv file of the files moved that day, excerpted below:
$backupFiles | select BaseName,Extension,@{Name=‘FileSize‘;Expression={"$([math]::Round($_.Length / 1MB)) MB"}},Length,Directory | export-csv -NoTypeInformation "G:\Backups\FileList__$((Get-Date -UFormat "%Y-%m-%d"))_Log.csv"
This results in a super simple CSV file that looks like this
Day,Files,Jpg,MP4 0,15,13,2 1,77,70,7 2,23,20,3 3,13,10,3 4,8,7,1
Next, to hook it up to the dashboard itself. Adam gave us a really nice example of how to add a table, so I just modified that to match my file types.
New-UDGrid -Title "$((import-csv C:\temp\movelog.csv)[-1].Files) Files Moved Today" @Colors -Headers @("BaseName", "Directory", "Extension", "FileSize") -Properties @("BaseName", "Directory", "Extension", "FileSize") -AutoRefresh -RefreshInterval 20 -Endpoint { dir g:\backups\file*.csv | sort LastWriteTime -Descending | select -First 1 -ExpandProperty FullName | import-csv | Out-UDGridData }
And a quick F5 later…
Add a graph
The final thing to really make this pop, I want to add a beautiful line graph like these that Adam provides on the Components site.
This was daunting at first, but the flow isn’t too bad in hindsight.
Create an array of one or more Chart Datasets, using New-UDChartDataSet, the -DataProperty defines which property you want to chart, while the -Label property let’s you define the name of propery in the Legend
, the defines which property you want to chart, while the property let’s you define the name of propery in the Legend Pass your input data files as the -Data property to the New-UDChart cmdlet. and define a -Title for the chart as well as the chart type, of either Area, Line, or Pie.
Here’s the code sample of what my finished chart looked like:
New-UDChart -Title "Files moved by Day" -Type Line -AutoRefresh -RefreshInterval 7 @Colors -Endpoint { import-csv C:\temp\movelog.csv | Out-UDChartData -LabelProperty "Day" -DataProperty "Files" -Dataset @( New-UDChartDataset -DataProperty "Jpg" -Label "Photos" -BackgroundColor "rgb(134,342,122)" New-UDChartDataset -DataProperty "MP4" -Label "Movies" -BackgroundColor "rgb(234,33,43)" ) }
And the result:
Satisfy my Ego and add branding
Now, the most important feature, branding this bad boy.
Up on line 14, change the -Title property to match what you’d like to name your dashboard.
New-UDDashboard -NavbarLinks $NavBarLinks -Title "FoxDeploy Space Management Dashboard - Photos"
You can also add an image file with a single card. In my experience, this image needs to already live on the web somewhere. You could spin up a quick Node http-server to serve up the files, leverage another online host, or use a standalone server like Abyss. I always have an install of both Abyss and Node on my machines, so I tossed the file up and linked it.
New-UDImage -Url http://localhost/Foxdeploy_DEPLOY_large.png
Finally, to clean up all of the extra cards I didn’t use, and fix some layout issues.
Finished Product
See, wasn’t that easy?
And it only took me ~100 tabs to finish it.
If you want to use my example and modify it, feel free to do so (and please share if you create something cool!) Here are some ideas:
Server Health Dashboard
SCCM Dashboard
SCOM Dashboard
Active Directory monitoring dashboard
Source Files
The script that actually creates a dashboard and opens it, Create-BlogDashboard.ps1, followed by the updated Dropbox backup script, then a sample input file.
Download here
Afterword
I realized my preaching about paying for software, and yet this whole thing was spawned from my desire to cheaply get away with using Dropbox but not wanting to pay for it. Ok….I’ve cracked. I’ve actually now paid for Dropbox as well! Time for me to practice what I preach too!
AdvertisementsWe are having technical problems with our previous live blog, so we have started this one in its place.
Rebekah Brooks has begun her evidence to MPs on the culture, media and sport committee now.
Here is a reading list for this hearing.
• Nick Davies's list of the questions that Rebekah Brooks has to answer.
• The Observer's list of the questions that Brooks has to answer.
• The Guardian's Janine Gibson on where Brooks went wrong.
• A profile of Brooks in the Daily Mail.
Brooks began with an apology to the victims of phone hacking.
Read coverage of the hearing featuring Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch, Sir Paul Stephenson and John Yates here.
In brief, here was Andrew Sparrow's view of the Murdochs:
Rupert Murdoch
"Most humble day of my career" was the soundbite he gave us, but humility wasn't really what anyone will remember. It will be the short, gruff answers, delivered as if he was not entirely clear what had been going on. Was it because he's 80 and he can't hear very well any more, or was it because he didn't really want to engage? Probably a mixture of the two. But he did seem unflappable when the "foam hacker" struck. Tough bugger.
James Murdoch
Evasive, but in a way that was smooth and articulate. He kept telling the MPs how good their questions were and launching into long answers that weren't always particularly illuminating.
And here were his key points from the Murdoch hearing:
That was meant to last an hour. It lasted three. Here are the main points.
• Rupert Murdoch has had a plate of shaving foam thrust in his face by a protester. The attacker has been arrested. Labour's Chris Bryant said that attack was "despicable" and a contempt of parliament.
• Rupert Murdoch said that giving evidence to the committee was "the most humble day of my career".
• The Murdochs confirmed that News International carried on paying some of Glenn Mulcaire's legal fees after his conviction for phone hacking in 2007. One MP suggested that this could be interpreted as News International funding a cover-up (because Mulcaire has been fighting demands that he should disclose full details of his phone-hacking activities). James Murdoch said that he was "surprised and shocked" when he heard about these payments. Rupert Murdoch said that he would stop future payments, as long as there were no contractual reasons why he should not do so.
• Murdoch said that he did not feel that he was personally responsible for what went wrong at the company.
• The Murdochs said they had "no plans" to set up a Sunday title. They conceded that they had discussed this, but they said it was not priority.
• James Murdoch said that he agreed to the £700,000 payment to Gordon Taylor because he thought it was a hangover from the original court case.
• Rupert Murdoch said he did not find out about the Taylor payment - which has been perceived as hush money - until it was publicised in the Guardian.
• Rupert Murdoch said that he thought that the phone-hacking matter had been settled after 2007. "The police ended their investigations and I was told that News International conducted an internal review," he said. (Interestingly, Murdoch is blaming the police for not investigating the matter more thoroughly in 2006. But last week Peter Clarke, the officer in charge of that investigation, said he could not carry it out properly because News International did not co-operate.)
• Rupert Murdoch played down his influence on his British newspaper editors. He did not even phone the editor of the News of the World every week, he says. Of all his papers, he pays most attention to the Wall Street Journal, he said.
• Rupert Murdoch said in his opening statement: "I hope our contribution to Britain will one day... be recognised."
• Rupert Murdoch said Downing Street asked to him to use the back door when he visited David Cameron at No 10 after the general election.
• Rupert Murdoch said that he hoped to repair his relationship with Gordon Brown.
Full coverage of all the day's previous events here
Brooks says that until evidence emerged during the course of civil litigation, she did not realise the extent of phone hacking.
Part of the problem is that News International do not have all the paperwork. The police have it, she says.
Tom Watson is asking questions now. He says the scope of his questions will be limited because he does not want to prejudice any legal proceedings.
Q: Why did you sack Tom Crone?
Brooks says Crone mainly worked for the News of the World. That has closed.
Q: But there are still News of the World legal cases to deal with?
Brooks says Crone was the day-to-day legal manager. But the paper closed.
Q: As a journalist how extensively did you deal with private detectives?
Brooks says the information commissioner looked into this. He found that Take a Break magazine used private detectives more than the Sun. The Observer was one of the top four papers using detectives.
Paul Farrelly interrupts. He says he used to work for the Observer. It was not in the top four.
Brooks says it may have been in the top six.
The BBC are just breaking the news that the Conservative party has announced that Neil Wallis, the former News of the World deputy editor, provided informal advice to the party before the general election.
If you hit refresh, you can follow the hearing live with our video stream at the top of the page.
Back to the committee, Watson is asking about Glenn Mulcaire.
Brooks says she did not know Mulcaire worked for the NoW when she was editor. She did not hear his name until 2006.
Q: Did you ever receive information for the paper from him?
Brooks says, now that she knows what she knows, she realises that he was involved with the paper from the late 1990s. At his trial the judge said he did legitimate work for the paper.
Q: Did you have any contact with Jonathan Rees?
Brooks says she knows a lot about Jonathan Rees now. He rejoined the NoW in 2005 or 2006.
Q: Is it odd that, having been jailed for a serious offence, he was rehired?
Brooks says this is extraordinary.
Q: Who hired him?
Brooks says she does not know.
Q: Who signed his contract?
She does not know.
Q: Why haven't you investigated this?
Brooks says the internal investigation has focused on phone hacking. Brooks worked for other people, including Panorama.
She does not know what he did for the NoW.
Q: Isn't it incredible that, as chief executive, you did not know?
It may be incredible. But it is the truth.
Watson is still asking questions.
Q: Do you have any regrets?
Of course, says Brooks. What happened to Milly Dowler's family was "abhorrent".
Louse Mensch, the Tory MP, is asking questions now.
Q: Piers Morgan in his book, the Insider, writes about using phone hacking. He says this was behind the Mirror's scoop of the year. (For more on this, read Guido Fawkes.) Isn't it the case that everyone was using hacking?
Brooks says after Operation Motorman all papers had to accept that they had gone to far in using private detectives.
Q: Were payments to the police widespread across Fleet Street?
Brooks says in her evidence to the culture committee in 2003, she was going to explain what she meant about paying the police. But the session was terminated.
She has clarified her point herself.
She has never paid a police officer herself. She has never knowingly sanctioned a payment to a police officer.
In her experience, the information to papers from the police comes "free of charge".
Q: If you thought these practices were endemic in the industry, why did you not think they were going on at the NoW?
Brooks says, after the What Price Privacy? report, there was a culture change in Fleet Street.
Outside the hearing, following evidence from Sir Paul Stephenson, the outgoing Metropolitan police commissioner to the home affairs committee earlier, the Met has released more details about the number of people in its press office who have worked for News International. Here's its statement.
In the Directorate of Public Affairs (DPA) there are 45 press officers as well as a number of non-press office roles. There are a total of 68 staff roles. Of this total number ten people have previously worked or taken work experience at News International newspapers. Of these ten half had also worked at other non News International owned national or London newspapers. In addition four other members of DPA have previously worked or taken work experience from non News International owned national or London newspapers. Only four people have worked for national or London newspapers within the last five years. The majority of all the work undertaken at the papers was on a freelance casual shift basis and did not overlap with their current employment.
Back in the committee, Jim Sheridan is asking questions.
Q: What did Brooks mean when she told journalists at the NoW that in a year's time they would understand why the company needed to close the paper?
Brooks says she has no "visibility" in relation to the documents in the possession of the police. After a year or more people will get to the bottom of what happened.
Q: During the Tommy Sheridan perjury case the court was told that News International emails had got lost?
Brooks says the emails were not lost.
Q: Why haven't the retrieved emails been given to Sheridan's defence team?
Brooks says there was a problem with suppliers in India.
Damian Collins, the Conservative MP, is asking the questions now.
Q: In 2003, when you gave evidence to the committee, you cited the Milly Dowler case as an example of a story where the police worked well with the NoW.
Brooks says in 2003 she did not know what she knows now. In the light of that, her comments may sound ridiculous. But she thought the press had "tried to respect the privacy of the families". Fleet Street had come together to respect the privacy of the families.
The new allegations, "if true", contradict what she said then.
Q: When did you hear about the Milly Dowler allegations?
When the Guardian published its story, she says.
Her instant reaction "was one of shock and disgust".
When she heard the story, she send the Dowler family an "unreserved apology".
She also wrote to Surrey police to say that if they had any information to support these allegations, they should share them with the police and News International's own internal investigation.
She recently received a reply. She was told the police could not give her information because it was part of a criminal investigation.
Paul Farrelly is asking questions now.
Q: Are there any legal ways of converting mobile numbers into addresses? When you used an investigator to do this, did you have a public interest defence?
Brooks says that when she used private detectives, it was in relation to Sarah's Law. That was a public interest matter.
Q: Was the phone number you tried to obtain related to a suspect paedophile?
Brooks says she cannot remember the details. But she was using private detectives at the time to trace paedophiles. The Observer (where Farrelly worked before 2001) also used private detectives.
Q: After the arrest of Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire, two myths were peddled by News International; that Goodman was a rogue reporter, and the Mulcaire was not really active. The Milly Dowler story demolished that.
Brooks says Farrelly is saying these are myths now. But they that was not what people thought at the time.
Outside the hearing, the Tories have now issued a statement about the "informal advice" that Neil Wallis provided to the party before the general election. This is from a party spokesman.
There have been some questions about whether the Conservative Party employed Neil Wallis. We have double-checked our records and are able to confirm that neither Neil Wallis nor his company has ever been contracted by the Conservative Party, nor has the Conservative Party made payments to either of them. It has been drawn to our attention that he may have provided Andy Coulson with some informal advice on a voluntary basis before the election. We are currently finding out the exact nature of any advice. We can confirm that apart from Andy Coulson, neither David Cameron nor any senior member of the campaign team were aware of this until this week.
And this is what Labour's Ivan Lewis is saying about the revelation.
This revelation raises further serious concerns about David Cameron's judgement in appointing Andy Coulson. He must now come clean about Neil Wallis' role and activities in supporting Andy Coulson, both in his capacity as director of communications for the Tory Party, and then the Prime Minister.
Paul Farrelly is asking about Jon Chapman, the legal adviser who recently left the company. Did Chapman asks Harbottle & Lewis to sit on the evidence suggesting wrong-doing.
Brooks says Harbottle & Lewis are a respected legal firm. Chapman was a respected lawyer. He would not have done that.
Q: Chapman seems to be the fall guy? Did he act alone?
Brooks says Chapman would say, if asked, that when they looked at the file, they would have felt that the Harbottle & Lewis letter saying there was no evidence of wrongdoing was correct.
Q: Did you ask other editors in 2009 not to give the phone hacking story much play?
Brooks says she would have discussed industry matters with people like Paul Dacre. But she does not recall specifically phoning him up to discuss this.
(That seems to be a reference to this story.)
Q: Did you ever tell Boris Johnson that this would not be over until Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian editor, was on his knees?
"Absolutely not," says Brooks.
I'm finishing now. My colleague Ben Quinn will be taking over for the rest of the hearing.
Good evening. This is Ben Quinn taking over the blog from Andy.
You can follow me on twitter at BenQuinn75
"I don't think you will find any editor on Fleet St that didn't feel that some headlines they had published had mistakes and I am no differnt to that," says Brooks in response to a question about whether she had any regrets about headlines that were published under her reign.
Brooks would talk to Rupert Murdoch, on average, every other day, says Brooks in response to a question about how often she would have talked to her boss.
She said that her office "is" (was?) next to that of James Murdoch.
Paul Farrelly of Labour is now questioning Brooks by the way.
"I can only hope that, from the evidence you have heard from us today, that we have really stepped up our investigation," says Brooks, in response to a question about whether she had read a previous report by the committee that criticised News International.
"Rupert and James Murdoch have been here today and were very open and honest with you. I was very willing to come despite the fact that there were some legal issues around what I could say."
Q. How often would she meet various Prime Ministers?
"Gosh," starts Brooks, who goes on to suggested that she is not sure if it was the case that she had met Cameron 26 times.
She added that she had never been to Downing Street while Cameron was in the job but regularly went there when Brown and Blair were in office.
She says that she went to see Brown "maybe 6 times a year" when he was chancellor and PM. The same applied to Blair, she maintained.
"Strangely" she adds, it was under Labour prime ministers that she was a more regular visitor to Downing Street.
Q. Did Newspapers like the Sun and the News of the World start becoming part of the establishment - rather than being anti-establishment?
She says that there were "very difficult conversations about issues such as military spending".
Q. Was she ever asked not to run a story?
As long as a story was true and accurate, then "no", says Brooks.
Was there a wider strategy on the part of News Corps in relation to the bid to take over BskyB? Was she encouraged to get closer to prime ministers?
Brooks denies this. She says she has read about her "extensive horse riding" with the prime minister on a regular basis. She says she has never been riding with him.
In the current climate, she says there is "a lot out there" that is not true.
The truth is that David Cameron is a neighbour and that her relationship with him is wholly appropriate, she adds.
Q. Did you approve the subsidising of Andy Coulson's salary after he left the News of the World?
She denies this, saying that reports of this were incorrect.
The last questions were from Adrian Sanders by the way. Paul Farrelly is back on again.
Q. There has been a lot of concern about the closeness of police and politicians with the press. What is your view on that?
I see that the News of the World has been singled out for that closeness, she says.
If you are going to address it, it is wholly unfair in the context of discussing the relationship between the police, press and politicians, to single out the News of the World.
Brooks is asked if she has anything to add.
She wants to make a request to the committee that, when she is free from the legal constraints that she says she is under today, they will invite her back to answer "in a more fulsome way".
The answer from committee chairman John Whittingdale is yes. Her appearance in front of the committee is over now.
Quite a lot to digest there. Here is a summary of developments today:
• David Cameron's chief of staff, Ed Llewellyn, stopped Scotland Yard briefing the prime minister on the phone-hacking scandal in September 2010, a senior police officer told MPs today.
John Yates, the Met assistant commissioner who was in charge of the controversial review of evidence into phone hacking in 2009 and who quit on Monday, told the Home Affairs Select Committee that Cameron's chief of staff told him it was not appropriate for him to brief the prime minister on the hacking investigation, adding: "And I'd be grateful if it wasn't raised".
• The government was further embroiled in the fall-out from the phone hacking scandal after the BBC reported that Neil Wallis, a former News of the World executive who was arrested last month, was an informal advisor to Andy Coulson while the former News of the World editor worked for David Cameron.
The Conservative Party said Wallis, who was arrested as part of the police investigation into phone hacking, "may have provided Andy Coulson with some informal advice on a voluntary basis before the election."
• Rupert Murdoch told MPs on the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee that he never considered resigning over the phone hacking scandal.
Appearing alongside his son and deputy, James, the media mogul called the parliamentary inquisition "the most humble day of my career" but refused to take personal blame for the crisis.
His son told the committee that News International made payments to phone hackers Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire after they were convicted of the crime.
Goodman, former royal editor at the News of the World, and private investigator Mulcaire, were both jailed in 2007 over royal phone taps.
• Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive who resigned from the post last week, told MPs after the Murdochs' appearance that she had never knowingly sanctioned payments to police.
In her evidence to the culture committee in 2003, she had said: "We have paid police for information".
During an appearance in which she attempted to portray the use of private investigators as a Fleet Street-wide practice, she said that her hiring of them as editor of the News of the World was "purely legitimate" and was for the pursuit of the addresses of convicted paedophiles.
• News Corporation shares rallied today amid reports it may bring forward plans to split Rupert Murdoch's chairman and chief executive role in the wake of the phone hacking scandal.
The Press Association reported that some News Corp board members want to promote chief operating officer Chase Carey to the chief executive role to succeed Mr Murdoch, leaving the 80-year-old as chairman.
Hertfordshire Police have sent my colleague Paul Lewis the results of the post mortem on the body of Sean Hoare, the News of the World whistle-blower:
There is no evidence of third party involvement and the death is non suspicious. Further toxicology results are now awaited and there is an on-going examination of health problems identified at the post mortem
The legal firm Harbottle & Lewis has said that News International will not allow it to breach client confidentiality so it can "respond to any inaccurate statements or contentions".
James Murdoch had told MPs earlier that a letter the firm wrote made News International believe phone hacking was a "matter of the past".
Harbottle & Lewis was hired by the media company to defend a claim by News of the World royal editor Clive Goodman for unfair dismissal against his former employer.
Giving evidence to the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee today, Rupert Murdoch, said the law firm trawled through a large number of emails from the accounts of six figures at the newspaper including Goodman - who was jailed over phone hacking in 2007 - and the tabloid's former editor Andy Coulson.
It then wrote to News International to tell the company that nothing had come to light that contradicted the theory that the hacking had been restricted to a rogue reporter working with private investigator Glenn Mulcaire.
Harbottle & Lewis said in a statement issued this evening:
News International representatives referred to our advice in their statements today before the Parliamentary Select Committee, both as a result of questioning and on their own account. We asked News International to release us from our professional duties of confidentiality in order that we could respond to any inaccurate statements or contentions and to explain events in 2007. News International declined that request, and so we are still unable to respond in any detail as to our advice or the scope of our instructions in 2007, which is a matter of great regret.
My colleague Paul Lewis says that Hertfordshire Police have now clarified the meaning of their statement about the Sean Hoare postmortem.
They said the results of the autopsy were "inconclusive", but detectives could not rule out suicide until they received the results of the toxicology tests, which could take weeks.
A police source said: "There was no suicide note found at the scene. We cannot categorically say one way or another whether this was suicide, as we have not got the toxicology results back yet."
However, Paul says he is led to understand that the reference in the statement to "health problems" is an indication that police do not presently believe suicide to be a likely cause of death. That said, the picture remains confused.
Owen Bowcott, the Guardian's Legal Affairs correspondent was monitoring an appearance earlier before the Home Affairs select committee by Lord Macdonald, who was called in by lawyers acting for News Corps to scrutinise News of the World emails, and has filed a very strong story. Here's a preview:
"Blindingly obvious" evidence of corrupt payments to police officers were found by the former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, when he inspected News of the World emails, the Home Affairs select committee was told yesterday. Explaining how he had been called in by solicitors acting for Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation board, Lord Macdonald said that when he inspected the messages it took him between "three to five minutes" to decide that the material had to be passed to the detectives. "The material I saw was so blindingly obvious that trying to argue that it should not be given to the police would have been a hard task. It was evidence of serious criminal offences. He first showed it to the News Corp board in June this year. "There was no dissent," he recalled. "They were stunned. They were shocked. I said it was my unequivocal advice that it should be handed to the police. They accepted that." That board meeting, the former DPP said, was chaired by Rupert Murdoch. Lord Macdonald shortly afterwards gave the material to Assistant Commissioner Cressida Dick at the Metropolitan Police. The nine or ten emails passed over led to the launch of Operation Elveden, the police investigation into corrupt payments to officers for information.
I'll start bringing you some more reaction now to the appearances by the Murdochs and Brooks today. In the meantime, here is an earlier tweet from Ed Miliband, the Labour Leader:
Dramatic Day.Now David Cameron has a duty to uphold dignity of the PMs Office by answering fully the Qs he faces about this scandal #hacking
The Guardian's Dominic Rushe has filed on a development in the US that indicates growing tensions at News Corps:
The independent directors of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp have appointed their own legal team as the company faces shareholder law suits and an investigation by the US authorities. News Corp's nine illustrious independent directors include Rod Eddington, the former chief executive of British Airways, John Thornton, former president of Goldman Sachs and Jose Maria Aznar, the former prime minister of Spain. Another board member, billionaire investor Tom Perkins, has told The Wall Street Journal the directors have appointed law firm Debevoise & Plimpton, to advise them on the handling of the escalating phone-hacking crisis. Perkins said: "The board honestly thinks Rupert is a genius and we need him and the company needs him. Our worry is the shareholders at this point," he said. "The British police will take care of the hacking victims." "The next step is not to let the company go down the drain on this thing because we're focused on events in London that are a small percentage of our business overall," he said. But the move clearly signals growing tension at News Corp, which already faces one law suit from shareholders who have seen the value of their investment plummet following the revelation of the scandal which has had a profound impact on the Murdochs' reputation and the company's share price, wiping close to $6 billion off its value in the last 10 days. Leading shareholder adviser Manifest has called for Rupert Murdoch to step down following his performance at the parliament inquiry into phone hacking. The move came as shares in News Corp rose on rumours that Chase Carey, chief operating officer, was set to succeed Murdoch as chief executive of the company. Rupert Murdoch is News Corp's chairman as well as CEO and it's largest shareholder. Murdoch would remain chairman under the plan, which was first reported by Bloomberg. But Murdoch ruled out any plans to step down at the hearing saying he was "the best person to clear this up."
Some more reaction and analysis now. The human rights lawyer, Geoffrey Robertson QC, has told the BBC that Tom Watson was the only MP among those who questioned the Murdochs who had carried out his homework.
However, he believed that Paul Farrelly was the only MP who "landed a killer punch" when he asked the father and son if News International had been continuing to pay the legal bills of Glenn Mulcaire in any way.
The revelation of an enduring link between the private investigator and the company was "sensational" said Robertson, and one that showed up the company's apology to the family of Milly Dowler, the murdered teenager whose phone was hacked by Mulcaire, as "utterly insincere.
Lance Price, the former New Labour spindoctor, said the appearance signified how Rupert Murdoch's "grip" on MPs had been broken.
"For some MPs this was like getting an ageing war criminal in front of their tribunal. It did not matter as long as they got him there in the end," he added.
Peter Collett, an expert in body language, has been deciphering the Murdochs' appearance in front of MPs. He writes:
Rupert Murdoch retained much the same posture throughout the proceedings, leaning forward with one hand folded neatly over the other. The intent here was clear – to show that he was fully involved, even if there were extended periods when he lowered his eyes and appeared to be fast asleep. When questions were directed at him, Murdoch Sr frequently responded with an unnervingly long pause, followed by a curt "yes", "no" or "absolutely". These are the reactions of a dominant individual – someone who's not prepared to be unduly hurried or to provide lengthy explanations, unless of course it's on his own terms. Equally revealing were his emphatic gestures. Whenever Rupert Murdoch wanted to get his point across he would tap or in some cases slap the surface of the table in front of him – a sure sign that he's used to giving commands. By contrast, James Murdoch came across as a model of courtesy. Instead of fixing his eyes on the person asking the question, he made a point of switching his gaze back and forth among the committee members, making sure that they all felt included. For long periods of time James was definitely in the driver's seat, and this showed in his relaxed muscle tonus and his easy manner of speaking. He was consistently polite, although there were moments when his irritation became apparent. At least five members of the committee managed to rub him up the wrong way – evidenced by the fact that, while looking at each of them, he surreptitiously and briefly pushed out his tongue. This is an infantile gesture of rejection, which owes its origins to the baby's habit of protruding the tongue in order to expel the mother's breast from its mouth. James Murdoch wasn't aware that he was rejecting the committee members in this way, and nor were they.
Paul Lewis and Shiv Malik have filed a profile of Jonathan May-Bowles, aka standup comic and UK Uncut activist Jonnie Marbles, the man who was arrested after attacking Rupert Murdoch with a plate of foam:
He was quickly identified by friends in the UK Uncut network of activists. Although the activist group quickly distanced themselves from the protester, he is known to have been a key figure in their campaign. "This was a lone-wolf, solitary action," said a key organiser in UK Uncut, a tax-avoidance campaigner group. "None of us knew anything about this. This has got nothing to do with UK Uncut." However, May-Bowles is known to be among the small, close-knit group that founded UK Uncut last year. Remarkably, the activist, who also uses the name "Jonnie Marbles", appears to have live-tweeted his |
injuries ended Moore's career and left him suffering from concussion symptoms over the following seven years.[41][42] Despite the loss of Bertuzzi, the Canucks won the Northwest Division. In the opening round Vancouver faced their division rival Calgary Flames.[43] In the series Vancouver fell behind three games to two. They took a 4–0 lead in game six before the Flames came back to tie the game and send it to overtime. The game remained tied into the third overtime when Morrison scored at the 2:28 mark to force game seven.[44] In game seven the Canucks were again trailing late into the third period in the closing seconds Naslund went around Flames defenceman Jordan Leopold drove the net and put a shot on goal. Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, made the save but Cooke scored on the rebound with just 5.7 seconds remain to force overtime.[45] The Canucks failed to capitalize on the change in momentum as the Flames' Martin Gelinas scored 1:25 into overtime eliminating Vancouver.[46] Naslund recorded nine points in the seven game series while Morrison chipped in five.[4][19] During the off-season Naslund received the last of his individual NHL honors being named a First Team NHL All-Star once again.[4]
Following the cancellation of the 2004–05 season due to a labor dispute, Bertuzzi was reinstated for the 2005–06 season.[47] With the return of all three line mate and new rules designed to increase offensive chances the Canucks entered the year with high hopes.[48] Despite this, Naslund and Morrison's point production again decreased from their last NHL season.[4][19] Bertuzzi point total increased, however, he played in 13 more games than his previous season.[17] The Canucks missed the playoffs for the first time in four years and the only time during the West Coast Express' tenure.[1] During the off season, the line was officially dismantled when Bertuzzi was traded to the Florida Panthers, along with goaltender Alex Auld and defenceman Bryan Allen, in exchange for goaltender Roberto Luongo, defenceman Lukáš Krajíček and a sixth-round selection in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft (Sergei Shirokov).[49] Both Naslund and Morrison played two more years with the Canucks, often together (but not always), before signing as free agents with the New York Rangers and the Anaheim Ducks respectively in the summer of 2008.[4][50][51]
Legacy [ edit ]
During its time, the West Coast Express was widely considered one of the most dominant line combinations in the league.[11][52][53][54][55] The mid-nineties witnessed the increased popularity of defensive schemes like the neutral zone trap which slowed the game, limiting scoring and offensive chances.[56][57] The emphasis on defensive has been blamed for diminishing fan interest.[58][59][60] When Naslund was traded to Vancouver in 1996 the Canucks often played in a half empty arena and there were rumors about the franchise moving.[61] The line's offense first style helped to popularize the franchise. They began to sell out home games on a regular basis and started to have a following on the road.[57][61] In the 2002–03 season the Canucks 264 goals was the highest total for the franchise in nine years. It remained unsurpassed by another Canucks team until the 2009–10 team, which featured the NHL's leading scorer, Henrik Sedin.[1][62] The franchise record for points they set that same season stood for only two seasons until it was surpassed in 2006–07 season. During which Roberto Luongo set a franchise record for goaltender wins with 47, a single season win total that is also tied for second most all-time in NHL history.[63][64]
Career statistics [ edit ]
Regular season [ edit ]
Markus Naslund Brendan Morrison Todd Bertuzzi Combined Totals Season GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2001–02 81 40 50 90 50 82 23 44 67 26 72 36 49 85 110 235 99 143 242 186 2002–03 82 48 56 104 52 82 25 46 71 36 82 46 51 97 144 246 119 153 272 230 2003–04 78 35 49 84 58 82 22 38 60 50 69 17 43 60 122 229 74 130 204 240 2005–06 81 32 47 79 66 82 19 37 56 84 82 25 46 71 120 245 76 130 206 270 Totals 322 155 202 357 226 328 89 167 254 196 305 124 189 313 496 955 368 558 926 926
Playoffs [ edit ]
Markus Naslund Brendan Morrison Todd Bertuzzi Combined Totals Season GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM 2001–02 6 1 1 2 2 6 0 2 2 6 6 2 2 4 14 18 3 5 8 22 2002–03 14 5 9 14 18 14 4 7 11 18 14 2 4 6 60 42 11 20 31 96 2003–04 7 2 7 9 2 7 2 3 5 8 – – – – – 14 4 10 14 10 Totals 27 8 17 25 22 27 6 12 18 32 20 4 6 10 74 74 18 35 53 128
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ]Story highlights Felipe Fernandez-Armesto: For all its sound, fury, 2011 was a year in which little changed
He says bin Laden was a has-been who had ceased to influence history
No real progress on reform of economy or global political system, he says
Author: Opportunities were missed to make 2011 a pivotal year
Until 2011, we were in a Rip Van Winkle-world. Events unfolded so fast that every morning, we seemed to wake up in circumstances unrecognizably transformed from those of the previous night. Yet this year has broken the mold. Nothing happened: certainly, nothing worthy of record by an historian like me.
You can imagine the almanac-writers' dilemma as they prepare copy for New Year's Eve, struggling to make the year seem memorable. They'll headline Osama bin Laden's death, but he was a has-been who had ceased to influence history and whose death can make no difference to our world except by adding one more item to anti-Americans' already tedious list of grievances.
Newspapers will parade pictures of the Arab Spring, which dethroned Tweedle-dum in favor of Tweedle-dee. Recycled photo montages will revive the embarrassment of an expensive wedding in London, in which a prince of feeble attainments played a bit part in a show dominated by trash celebrities. The death of Kim Jong Il will get little coverage -- partly because few good pictures will be available, partly because it really doesn't matter. The Durban talks on climate change hardly merit a mention: They confirmed not only that environmental change is now out of human control but also that no one is prepared to make real, urgent effort to try to do anything about it.
The U.S. "drawdown" from Iraq may get some deserved applause, but it has come too late to make much difference to the long-term misfortunes of a war that was worse than a crime, because it was also a mistake. Pundits will reissue dire pronouncements about the European debt crisis, but it already looks as if I was right, when the crisis broke, to predict in British and Spanish media that the euro will emerge barely scathed, with the EU, if anything, marginally strengthened.
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
Politicians have supplied some real-life comic opera to enliven the generally cheerless, pointless record. Silvio Berlusconi added "bumpa-bumpa" to the world's lexicon. Nicolas Sarkozy entertained us with his impersonation of the gait and patience of a Gallic cockerel. Jacques Chirac devised amusing excuses to escape jail.
Politicians' posturings reached new heights of self-ridicule when Hugo Chávez, a noisy mountebank, whose gestures always seem to have the impact of a feebly flung custard pie, called President Obama a clown. The U.S. congressional impasse did only modest harm to America but made the country a world-wide laughing-stock.
The inane antics of Republican presidential candidates brought smiles to the faces of U.S. recession victims. Rick Perry couldn't remember which departments he wanted to abolish. Herman Cain revealed unexpected depths in the sex life of a pizza guy. Even Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich became funny in a desperate sort of way when Republican voters turned to the unelectable twins in revulsion from all the other options. But the candidates' parade seemed mainly to show the poverty of democracy and the shallowness of voters' morals. Members of the debate audiences bayed for the blood of death-row inmates and uninsured hospital patients. State legislatures courted the votes of the hateful and resentful by victimizing poor immigrants and their innocent children.
2011 ought to have been a great year. Legislation could have unlocked the bank vaults and reversed recession. But nothing much happened. Punishment could have made an example of the guilty men of the global economic crisis, but the fat cats have gone on gorging.
Action could have gutted corruption out of the U.S. political system -- but the 2012 election will be like all the others, bought by millions of dollars, abandoned by millions of voters. Iran could have rejoined civilization, but, instead, the irrational alienation of Iranians has continued. Imaginative initiatives could have helped to reverse the clash of civilizations, but inter-communal violence has gone on accumulating. I relish unmemorable years: They make it easier for me to update my textbook on the history of the world. They absolve me from further work. But, on the scale of those of 2011, missed opportunities are bad for all of us.
The year's non-events have, at least, taught us two truths. First, the global political system is sclerotic. The inertia of the U.S. government, with decision-making deadlocked and almost every program frozen -- the promising and menacing alike -- seems representative of a world baffled into pusillanimity by the scale of its problems, while the feebleness of the EU's response to the financial crisis has shown the same sort of freeze-framing, in a system too clogged with complexity to function.
Second, 2011, like other unremarkable years, has confirmed the already dominant features of the history of our day: intractable economic stagnation, moral and intellectual torpor, tacky culture, environmental degradation. We can congratulate ourselves, as we head into 2012, only on escaping the infamous old Chinese curse: We do not live in interesting times.Image copyright Emma Lynch/BBC
From deep-level air raid shelters to the colossal Crossrail construction, beneath London lies a labyrinth of tunnels. BBC News delved underground to visit some of the capital's rarely seen subterranean spots.
Walking past the gastro pubs and swanky new apartments of south London's rapidly gentrifying Balham Hill, it would be easy not to notice a small black door.
Behind it is a 178-step dusty spiral staircase. It's the only way to get down below. The lift is out of service.
We are led down by a dim mobile phone light until we reach about 30m (100ft) below the Northern Line.
A light is switched on and we find ourselves in a dusty low-ceilinged tunnel. There's a chalky, musty smell and a chill in the air. You can hear the Tube trains rumbling above.
Image copyright Emma Lynch/BBC
Image copyright Emma Lynch/BBC
Clapham South's deep-level shelter was originally built as part of a new railway line planned to run between north and south London.
"It was the Crossrail of yesteryear," London Underground (LU) operations director Nigel Holness says. "But our forefathers didn't have the foresight or the funding for the railway to be completed."
We enter another tunnel within the complex where small rigid-springed bunk beds line the walls.
The tunnels were dug by hand during World War Two and were used as an air-raid shelter.
More London subterranean spaces
Ghost Tube stations - There are more than 20 abandoned stations on the London Underground network
- There are more than 20 abandoned stations on the London Underground network London Post Office Railway - 23 miles (37km) of track remains under London with plans afoot to develop them into a tourist attraction
- 23 miles (37km) of track remains under London with plans afoot to develop them into a tourist attraction Lost rivers - Dozens of rivers including the Fleet and Walbrook were buried beneath London's streets more than a century ago
- Dozens of rivers including the Fleet and Walbrook were buried beneath London's streets more than a century ago Camden catacombs - Beneath Camden lies a network of catacombs used as stables in the 19th century
- Beneath Camden lies a network of catacombs used as stables in the 19th century Pindar - A bunker beneath the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall, where Henry VIII's wine cellar can be found
The shelter could hold up to 8,000 people with facilities including toilets, a nursing point and a canteen, where jam sandwiches were served. But it was never used to its full capacity.
"A big concern of the government was of a troglodyte society forming if people got used to living underground," says LU's Philip Aish. "Cowering in holes in the ground wasn't seen as the British thing to do in the Blitz spirit."
Image copyright Emma Lynch/BBC
Image copyright Emma Lynch/BBC
In 1948, when the Empire Windrush arrived in the UK, with more than 400 Jamaican passengers onboard, the tunnels were once again put to use.
The Great Britain they found may not have been quite what they had expected. When they docked at Tilbury, the new arrivals were put on buses, taken to the shelter, and spent up to six months living deep underground until they found other accommodation.
"One of the reasons there is such a large African-Caribbean community near is because the work exchange was in nearby Brixton, so a lot of them ended up there," says Mr Aish.
Now the shelter is up for lease and LU is "open to innovative ideas" on how it could be used, says Mr Holness.
Seven other similar London shelters have been rented out for storage purposes and, in one instance, an underground farm, supported by celebrity chef Michel Roux Jr.
Image copyright Emma Lynch/BBC
Image copyright Emma Lynch/BBC
Next on our subterranean trip, we visit a narrow, dimly lit, leaf-clad staircase leading down to an empty platform in central London. It's only about 20 steps below ground, then only one more small step from the platform to the track.
This doesn't sound like where you would expect a tour of Europe's largest construction project - Crossrail - to begin. But the disused Kingsway Tram Tunnel plays a vital role in the scheme.
The tunnel once took passengers from Holborn to Waterloo Bridge. But for the past 60 years it has been mostly neglected, occasionally being used as a film set.
Posters peeling from the tiled walls display mock-up London Underground signs for a fictional Union Street station.
But now the tunnel has proven invaluable to Crossrail. From here engineers pump grout through shafts deep into the ground to allow nearby buildings to be protected from any potential movement from tunnelling.
"London is very busy, day and night, and having these spaces is very important," says site manager Pawel Czajkowsk. "Without them, Crossrail would have been impossible to construct."
With more than 10,000 workers, 40 construction sites and 26 miles (42km) of tunnels being bored beneath London's streets, the numbers reflect the immensity of the project.
At Finsbury Circus, in the City of London, where the new Liverpool Street station is being built, you get a true feel for the scale.
A temporary 42m (137ft) deep shaft provides access to the tunnelling where 250m (820ft) platforms are being constructed.
From 2018, up to 24 trains an hour will pass through the station, linking the City with Canary Wharf, the West End and Heathrow.
Image copyright Emma Lynch/BBC
Image copyright Emma Lynch/BBC
Giant diggers are at work as concrete is mixed on site and a technique called sprayed concrete lining (SCL) is used to seal the tunnel walls.
Site manager John Rodgers describes the complexity of the project thus far, given the amount of subterranean networks already in place.
"There is 2ft between us and the Hammersmith and City Line. We are under the Post Office Railway tunnel. It's 1ft between us and that," he says. "Then there's the second largest sewer in London - the Goswell Sewer. We had to go under that."
But regardless of the number of tunnels that already exist beneath Londoners' feet, urban planners are showing little sign of relenting in their ambitions.
With boring of the 15-mile (25km) Thames Tideway "super sewer" tunnel scheduled to begin in 2016 and a Crossrail 2 on the cards, the capital's subterranean schemes look set to continue for decades to come.FRIDAY MEDIA COLUMN
Viewers of WTVJ-NBC 6 might not notice yet, but slowly and sadly, we’re witnessing the deterioration of a sports department that for decades set the standard for excellence in local television sports coverage.
In the past three months, we’ve seen NBC-6:
### Buy out one of its most popular personalities, Joe Rose, with a year left on his contract. (Adam Kuperstein is expected to move back to sports to replace him.)
### Eliminate its 6 p.m. weeknight sportscast, becoming the market’s first station to do that, less than a year after it slashed the length of its 11 p.m. weeknight sportscast in half, from three minutes to 1:30.
### Cancel Sports Final, its signature Sunday night sports show for more than a quarter century, effective later this month. The final program airs Dec. 28.
“Taking the best local sports station in South Florida, by far, and just depleting it is very, very sad,” said Bernie Rosen, who guided or assisted, behind-the-scenes, on WTVJ’s sports coverage for more than half a century, until he retired for health reasons 18 months ago.
It’s even sadder when you consider the department’s rich, trail-blazing history. WTVJ was the nation’s first local station to hire a woman sportscaster, Jane Chastain, in 1967.
Under Rosen’s leadership, WTVJ always went the extra mile. Rosen remembers the day in 1959 when he took a flight to Gainesville, scurried to Florida Field to shoot video of the first half of a UF-LSU football game, raced back to the airport, flew home, rushed frantically back to the station and edited the tape for airing on the 6 p.m. news.
From Roy Firestone to Chris Myers to longtime former sports and news anchor Tony Segreto, WTVJ consistently hired quality talent. Several later moved on to network jobs: Firestone, Myers, Hank Goldberg, Karie Ross, Suzy Kolber, Kristina Pink and sports executives Ed Goren and Mike Pearl.
Rosen, 87, believes that Rose “has the best personality of anyone at NBC 6 and is the best sports personality in South Florida. I’m very, very surprised at the decision to buy him out, but they want to cut salary. And Joe said that once his contract was up, he would not keep doing television because of his radio show.”
But the station will be paying Rose not to work in 2015, which seems ridiculous. His last day at NBC 6 is Dec. 21, a week before the Dolphins’ regular-season finale.
WPLG-10 and WFOR-CBS 4 also have slashed the lengths of their 11 p.m. sportscasts over the years, but NBC 6 doing it was especially damaging because it curtailed a lot of coverage of UM and high school sports --- two areas where the station distinguished itself.
“I’ve heard the story from management so often that it’s not funny: ‘People aren’t interested in sports,’” Rosen said. “Now what they say is if people want sports they will get it from ESPN. That’s the biggest bunch of crap I’ve ever heard.
“If you are going to use that thinking, then why not do away with weather since they have a weather channel? News departments are very negative toward sports.
“It’s been like that for years. If I didn’t fight for Tony Segreto every single day, he would probably have been a shipping clerk. I was able to fight it [when Rosen ran the department from 1960 to 1985]. WTVJ’s GM at the time, Bill Brazzil, and the owner, Mitchell Wolfson, were always on my side.
“That does not exist today. You have a news director at the station [Migdalia Figueroa] that doesn’t like sports. And for whatever reason, the GM [Larry Olevitch] has allowed the news director to make all these decisions.”
Figueroa and Olevitch declined interview requests.
Firestone, the former ESPN personality, was so troubled by the station’s de-emphasis of sports that he wrote a letter to Olevitch telling him that “to withdraw coverage is an abandonment of the responsibility a local station has to its community.
“Clearly your station doesn't think it matters. It does Larry, maybe more than your station executives realize. The Dolphins, Marlins and Heat [and] the University of Miami have all won multiple championships and helped put South Florida on the map. Your map will not include [as much] coverage of these iconic symbols to the community. I find it sad and a dereliction of duty.”
Talent is not the issue at NBC 6. Kuperstein and new backup Stefano Fusaro are highly capable. But Rose --- who has declined to comment on the matter --- didn’t deserve to be bought out, and the station’s decision to dramatically diminish the time it allocates to sports is troubling.
GOLDEN COVERAGE
What is it about covering Al Golden that leads to so much inaccurate reporting? (Can’t blame Golden for this.)
In January, three media members (Gary Ferman, Andy Slater and Atlanta-based Marc James) incorrectly reported Penn State was set to hire Golden.
This week, WQAM-560’s Marc Hochman said on-air that a “UM confidant” told him Golden might be “gone” that night and that a Trustees meeting was being held later that day. Neither part of that report was accurate.
Hochman said, on air, that he’s not at fault because he told listeners that he’s not a journalist and was merely reporting what someone told him.
But fashioning yourself as an entertainer, not a journalist, doesn’t eliminate accountability for reporting misinformation. Hochman should have investigated the tip (at least call UM for a comment, as several writers did) and determined the accuracy before sharing it.
### UM isn’t happy with WQAM, not only because of Hochman’s false alarm but also because of Kuperstein’s report Thursday that claimed Golden sent an email to his staff giving them the weekend off and citing “compliance” and “Raising Canes” videos as reasons UM struggled against Pittsburgh.
Kuperstein said UM's compliance office allowed seniors to speak to agents before the Pittsburgh game and that his source believes that is what Golden was referencing.
UM called Kuperstein’s report “patently false,” adding that Golden never said anything of the kind and that coaches don’t have the weekend off. (Golden did send a text to UM players giving them the weekend off.) Kuperstein, who has broken several UM stories including Kevin Olsen’s suspension, responded to UM’s denial by saying his source is “good.”
Kuperstein also said the purported email to coaches included a reference to UM having a grueling schedule "with nine night games." Some UM fans have mocked Golden for mentioning UM having a lot of night games --- which was offered as an innocuous comment, not an excuse for losing six games --- but college coaches typically prefer earlier games so they get a jump-start on the next week. There are assuredly reasons for criticizing Golden, but this isn't one of the better ones.
Golden, in giving his players the weekend off, mentioned the nine night games in his text to them, but only in the context of it having been a long year, according to someone briefed on the text.
WQAM general manager Joe Bell declined to comment on the Hochman or Kuperstein reports, but UM has been in contact with the station to express concern.
The bigger question raised by the Kuperstein story is whether someone on Golden’s staff is trying to sabotage him.
What was leaked to Kuperstein leaves Golden open to ridicule from a fan base that's largely looking for any ammunition to criticize him. And Kuperstein's source assuredly knows that. So all of this makes you wonder whether someone at UM is trying to undermine Golden or make him appear as if he's reaching for excuses.
### CBS is sending Dolphins-Ravens to only 11 percent of the country: part of Florida, parts of the mid-Atlantic and pockets of New England, plus a small portion of Alabama and Georgia. See 506sports.com for a map.
The game, which carries great significance, is going to a limited audience for three reasons: It’s a single-header week for CBS; the network is juggling six games; and CBS deemed Cincinnati-Pittsburgh its more attractive 1 p.m. game....
Fox is taking Browns-Colts from CBS on Sunday to balance the schedules…. Andrew Catalon, Steve Bueurlein and Steve Tasker -- CBS' No. 6 announcing team ---- call the Dolphins game….
There will be two Saturday NFL games this season, both on Dec. 20. The league announced this week that NFL Net will air Redskins-Eagles at 4:30 and CBS will carry Chargers-49ers at 8 p.m. that day.
Twitter: @flasportsbuzzEbola virus disease was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1976, and by 2013 had caused about 20 recorded outbreaks across East and Central Africa. These had been restricted to rural areas and confined to small clusters of villages. In each case containment was achieved within a few months and after fewer than 500 confirmed cases. The world assumed that Ebola was too efficient at killing its hosts, doomed to quickly burn out wherever it arose.
The 2014 West African outbreak has changed everything. It was the “Black Swan” – the inevitable consequence we did not foresee. As we head into mid-January 2015, there have been more than 21,000 reported cases spread across nearly every region in three adjacent countries, and more than 8,000 people are known to have died.
Cases have cropped up in the US, Mali, Senegal and Nigeria. Patients have been treated across Western Europe. Until early November 2014, there was no sign of a reduction in transmission and case numbers were rising exponentially. As we wrote in the journal Tropical Doctor, though numbers are now slowing in Guinea and Liberia, there is still an increase in cases in Sierra Leone where 500 healthcare workers have died. There is no certainty the other affected countries will not again see an upsurge in new cases.
Estimates of how many people could be affected have varied widely and included projections of up to 1.4m, or up to 25,000 cases per day by mid-January 2015. This was a dramatic increase since the World Health Organisation (WHO) projected a maximum of 20,000 cases in August 2014, highlighting how difficult it is to predict the future epidemic direction, though organisations such as Médecins Sans Frontières highlighted their concern as early as March 2014.
Current expert opinion suggests that an overall decline will be likely in the next few months, however the “tail” of the epidemic curve will be protracted and punctuated by many smaller, localised outbreaks.
Mathematical modelling is challenging and cannot easily account for conflict, mass movement of people, or breakdown of civil society, but though the very high case numbers may not be reached, one thing is certain: this will be a terrifyingly large outbreak, something never before faced on a global scale.
Same but more virulent virus
Given Ebola’s appearance in a setting thought solely home to Lassa Fever, there was initial speculation that this was a different virus than had been seen before. The same – but different: more virulent, more transmissible.
Modelling now firmly places the current outbreak strain as belonging to the Zaire strain (EBOV), with entry into the West African animal population around the mid-2000s from central Africa. One discrete contact with one infected animal is responsible for all the disease seen.
Early analysis of some 80 samples from Sierra Leone shows that in one month, 400 mutations were identified. It is unclear if those mutations carry any fitness advantage, or whether this epidemic will evolve differently than those seen before. Currently, Zaire Ebola in West Africa is not behaving differently to what has previously been seen. There is no change in route of transmission, no suggestion of aerosolised spread, no gross differences in disease presentation.
Therefore we know the measures required to control this outbreak: contact tracing, adequate testing and isolation, onward referral for treatment, communications with communities, improved logistics to support a fragile health system. These are the stalwarts of public health control across the last decades.
Why did the situation get so bad?
We cannot attribute the failure of early containment on differences in virulence or transmission of the virus. The reasons for lack of control are complex, multi-factorial and open to debate. Emergence was in Guéckédou, a remote and difficult-to-access area in West Africa, with porous borders across the three post-conflict nations most affected: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.
As with much of Africa, these boundaries were European-drawn and do not correlate with different community identities or languages. Radio messages were initially in official languages only. Spread between countries was likely.
In this region, where availability of mainstream healthcare was already severely limited, the care of unwell individuals is vastly different to that available in the West. Sick relatives are nursed at home by family members, and further care is often sought from traditional healers, unofficial providers and private pharmacies rather than government health facilities.
Peripheral health units are only equipped to diagnose and treat malaria, pregnancy and a few other key conditions, and if patients do go to hospital, in many settings there is a lack of basic equipment such as gloves, aprons, running water and soap. The number of trained healthcare professionals of all cadres is very low.
Additionally, there is huge stigma associated with Ebola, similar to those seen in the early years of HIV care. The present Ebola outbreak began very close to where civil war erupted in Sierra Leone in 1991, and trust in the government in this region is low. Although acceptance of Ebola is rapidly increasing, there was initially disbelief about its existence, and conspiracy theories about population control were prominent and sometimes roused by media.
This constellation of palpable fear and deep mistrust inhibited early engagement and sound communication about the threat of Ebola. It was understandable, therefore, that families were reluctant to hand over their relatives to treatment centre staff wearing masks and suits. This is particularly true when there was a high likelihood of never seeing their loved ones or their bodies again.
These factors have all increased the risk of transmission of Ebola, both in the community and within hospitals, and lead to a delayed and disjointed response both in-country and internationally. By keeping family members at home to die, burial practices involving body preparation and touching by mourners further facilitated spread.
Early in the outbreak, families also buried their own dead due to insufficient staff to bury bodies safely. Given that many of these factors are present in the settings of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, where previous outbreaks have centred, the emergence of a disease thousands of miles from where it had been seen previously also contributed to spread. Lassa Fever is endemic and may have led to a false sense of security among healthcare workers regarding the transmissibility and mortality associated with viral haemhorragic fevers. Furthermore, wearing full personnel protective equipment in a humid environment comes with considerable difficulties, with differing opinions on which option is best to use. Safely incinerating waste in the rainy season brings its own challenges.
There is general agreement that a sufficient early international response, when traditional control strategies of case isolation, contact tracing and geographical containment were feasible, were not forthcoming. The WHO were slow to deploy experts, not appreciating the potential seriousness from the outset. Approaches used in smaller outbreaks were followed, and institutions were slow to adapt to new models of care. There was an initial dearth of organisations willing to deploy clinical staff to the field and many traditional health non-governmental organisations withdrew their in-country staff. Fear led to delays as they adapted to the disease. And unlike Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), major travel routes with potential spread into the West were not affected. The world watched but did not engage.
New therapies
Novel therapeutics are on the horizon. TKM-Ebola, ZMapp, Favipiravir, Brincidofovir and other novel agents are being fast-tracked by regulatory authorities and rolled out for testing in clinical settings.
Convalescent plasma (using blood plasma from Ebola survivors) – long thought useful in a variety of viral illnesses including SARS, influenza, Crimea-Congo haemhorragic fever – offers a potential treatment option that can be delivered locally using modified existing transfusion services. Any reduction in circulating and replicating the virus may allow the body vital time to produce immunity; however this has not proved effective for Lassa Fever and needs to be evaluated formally.
There are three major vaccine developments underway, entering Phase I and II trials, likely eligible for roll-out by early 2015. However, though these offer hope for the future, they are unlikely to shape the control efforts of this outbreak. Earlier trial intervention was hampered by a lack of ability to conduct research given the burden of treatment needs, so we’re still waiting for evidence of their effectiveness from the field. Simple treatment interventions such as aggressive electrolyte replacement and treatment using anti-diarrhoea agents remain untested.
What can be done now?
The only human-to-human transmission of Ebola occurs via direct contact with body fluids of an infected individual. Importantly, the chance of transmission is greatly increased in the advanced stages of the disease, when diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding can occur and viral load is high. Disease control is therefore aimed at interrupting this transmission and consists of early case identification and testing, effective isolation and contact tracing. None of these were reliably being achieved early in the outbreak: cases were identified in the late stages when substantial exposure had occurred; testing suspects took several days to perform; treatment centres were at capacity; and contact tracing was disorganised.
What was needed in West Africa was a multifaceted international response, integrating different agencies and spanning all affected countries, with the cornerstones of disease control at its heart. As case numbers grew, and more regions were affected, achieving a coordinated response became increasingly difficult. Each new case exponentially increased the workload for clinical and public health staff; hence every case and every day compounded and threatened to overwhelm any response, especially where a fragmented health service was already present.
Hope is on the horizon. We are seeing a redoubling of efforts along with disease spread – international agencies and regional funders have ramped up their response, there are money and material human resources being deployed daily. Governments are stepping up to the challenge. As well as financial commitment, logistical assistance is paramount. Armed forces, who have the responsiveness and capacity to stage a meaningful intervention, are being deployed to deliver infrastructure, logistics and engineering support. In Sierra Leone, holding and treatment centres are being built apace, staffed by local workers with technical support and oversight from international agencies. Most importantly, this response is happening now.
We’re building a robust model of care at King’s Sierra Leone Partnership, which aims to help build Sierra Leone’s health system by strengthening training, clinical services, policy and research. One way we’re doing this is by building units in existing healthcare facilities for testing and holding, allowing these centres to stay open for care of other health needs: paediatric vaccination, maternal care, HIV management. Onward referral to dedicated treatment centres keeps the existing infrastructure and prevents fragmentation of care.
In addition to tried-and-tested control methods, the seriousness of this outbreak represents an opportunity for using new approaches if potential harms and benefits are properly considered. For example, the employment of Ebola survivors as “patient champions” has been proposed, both in advocacy and clinical work within communities and hospitals.
Once numbers begin to fall, complacency must not set in. Control efforts must be maintained until every case has been treated.
Looking to the future
In the event that Ebola is brought under control in West Africa over the coming months, it is paramount to remember how badly damaged the remaining health infrastructure will be. As is the case with humanitarian disasters, there has been a crippling effect on other programmes for communicable and non-communicable diseases alike.
In Sierra Leone we recently observed a reversal of steps to improve health since the civil war ended 12 years ago. Other activity essential to a functioning democracy such as food supply, security, industry (particularly mining) and trade sectors are facing significant challenges. A response that strengthens these institutions in addition to control efforts is needed.
Ever since its discovery, it has been appreciated that Ebola poses a serious risk to global public health. Infectious diseases represent a global threat, not just to those within the country or region of emergence. With the current increase in the movement of people (rural to urban, within countries and across borders), this risk will inevitably increase. While the current priority should be to contain the present outbreak, there is a great need to plan for prevention of future events. The development |
is on the move.
Added hot keys for hull / turret alignments, turret lock, and gun lock on azimuth.
Changing round type loading delay added.
Added military icons for Command Map.
Provided NVG gain.
New compass orientation options.
Signal flare options.
Added tracer effect to armor piercing rounds.
Flaming Cliffs 3 (FC3) New Su-27 campaign.
Added new multiplayer missions.
Dual engagement, Track While Scan (TWS) for the MiG-29S.
Bug Fixes and Adjustments:
DCS World
Network code improved for greater stability.
Note: Although many improvements and optimizations have been made, we still highly recommend 16 player limit when hosting complex missions. Depending on the exact composition of the mission, the bandwidth and number of players that a host may accommodate will vary. As always though, clients must be aware of their ping times (often influenced by connection distance to host) as this can cause warping and other connection issues.
Fixed multiplayer data link for Russian aircraft.
Fixed Force Feedback joystick trim problems.
Tuned aircraft gun smoke.
Fixed Set Path to Column formation.
Fixed Georgian soldier animation.
Fixed long range radar break-lock for Russian aircraft.
AIM-120 and R-77 maximum load factor increased to 40g.
R-77 data adjust. Thrust, lift and drag.
AIM-120 data adjusted. Lift and drag.
AIM-9M maximum load factor increased to 35g.
AIM-9M thrust changed 12000 N.
Adjusted AIM-9P drag.
AIM-7M thrust and drag adjustments were made.
Increased load factor to R-27 family to 24g.
Increased R-27ER initial delay to 1.5 sec.
AIM-54 data adjustment. Thrust, drag, lift, initial delay of guidance.
R-33 data adjusted. Thrust, drag and lift, initial delay of guidance.
R-60 data adjusted.
R-73 data adjusted.
Multi-channel missile guidance is fixed.
Decreased the damage value of modern AA missiles warheads from directional to enhanced. Earlier AIM-120 and R-77 had a warheads with large multiplier factor termed "directional". These missiles were very lethal, more so than even an S-300. It was not realistic and we decided replace "directional" warhead with the less power "enhanced" warhead.
Number of simultaneously guided AIM-120s is 4 for F-15, F-16 and F-18.
Number of simultaneously guided AIM-54 is 4 for F-14.
Fixed AI planes unable to engage SA-8 with Anti-Radiation Missiles.
Fixed situation where AI sometimes launch AGM-65 Mavericks from too far away; AGM-65 would self-destructs before reaching target.
Added S-8TsM and S-8OFP2 rockets to inventory of MiG-29A/G/S and Su-33.
Renamed S-8KOM to S-8TsM in the one AFAC Su-25 payloads.
The F-15C and Su-27 will now use their RWR systems when the Mission Editor RADAR USING option is not applied.
Adjustments to the air combat maneuvering of all aircraft.
"Transmit Message" command parameters indication is now in the action list
Fixed infantry not moving when route is changed.
Fixed client crash in MP.
Fixed pilot models with K36 ejection seat.
Debris of a killed soldier has been removed.
Adjusted AWACS action time.
Fixed switch waypoint triggered action.
Changed setting of mission start time (day, month).
Default damage parameters tuned for old aircraft models.
Fixed Mission Editor error when trying to change aircraft country.
Fixed Mission Editor that pressing File\Create in the drop menu did nothing.
Aircraft will reset landing airdrome each time landing procedures is initiated.
Changed color of missile flame and smoke from blue to yellow.
"REACTION ON THREAT" option will now affect active ECM systems.
Problem with random uncontrollable rotation of the tower in some circumstances has been resolved.
Night vision staying switch to on after exit from the previous server has been fixed.
Incoming missiles warning messages has been corrected.
Helicopters will better maneuver against anti AAA when in the threat area.
Fixed scrollbar in debriefing.
Any hidden aircraft, helicopter, static object, and ships no longer break Fog of War.
Helicopters no longer sink when they takeoff from aircraft carrier.
Fixed some missions freezing every five seconds.
Fixed multiple problems in JTAC code.
Resource Manager message grammar adjusted.
Payload localization is now displayed.
A destroyed / burning aircraft burning can no longer auto lock other aircraft.
Fixed the AI formations after switching waypoints.
Wingmen will try to maintain absolute position in formation, they will maintain altitude when the leader turns.
HAWK SAM would not attack Su-25T if kh-25MPU attacks HAWK.
Fixed view problems for unarmed vehicles, infantry and fortifications.
Fixed crash changing wallpapers in Options dialog.
Fixed taking control of an AI aircraft that took off from the ground resulting in crashing into ground.
Corrected AI rolling during a dogfight.
DCS Modules A-10C. A-10C TGP IR operation is fixed.
A-10C. Wingman will now engage target at Player's SPI if A.I. is not aware of/in range of the target.
FC3. SPO not reacting to launch of an I-HAWK or S300 is partially resolved.
FC3. Fixed F-15C ADI operation reversed.
FC3. Fixed A-10A ADI operation reversed.
FC3. F-15C/A-10A. Fixed autopilot not allowing refueling during tanker orbit.
FC3. Corrected and adjusted Russian A-10 campaign by Dzen.
FC3. Fixed some errors in F-15C campaign.
FC3. The MiG-29 HUD diamond on the target will now only appear when it is locked by radar.
FC3. Updated SEAD payloads and air defense deployments in some missions.
FC3. Missiles DLZ has been partially corrected.
FC3. Stations display on Su-27 and MiG-29 HUDs was made more realistic - just an 'underscore' is displayed if a weapon present, and station number is additionally displayed if weapon is ready to launch.
1) Fixed stations display on Russian HUD - only stations for currently selected weapon are displayed.
2) Implemented MiG-29S style of stations display on HUD.
FC3. Fixed the IRRAD mark for the Russian aircraft. This would overlap with range tape.
FC3 - Wingmen will now turn off radar when commanded to.
FC3. Fixed data link for clients in multiplayer - MiG-29S and Su-27/33.
FC3. Simulator hang after ALT J jumping into an Su-27.
FC3. Fixed Su-33 sinking to the Kuznetsov deck near the superstructure.
FC3. Fixed simulator hang after ALT J jumping into an Su-33.
Combined Arms. Instant fire on ammunition switching has been fixed.
Combined Arms. Switched the reverse gear after the vehicle has stopped.
Combined Arms: Transition to alarm state GREEN for ground units has been fixed.
Combined Arms. Unarmed vehicles will use their sensors when acting as a JTAC.
Combined Arms. Corrected weapon aiming range grid for Russian and NATO tanks.
Combined Arms. Fixed the properties of the 2A46M-125 AP shell.
Combined Arms. Edit textures ground unit HUD when in zoomed in view. Today we are happy to make available version 1.2.3 of DCS World and updates to several DCS modules.Download installer files here: http://www.digitalcombatsimulator.co...roduct&lang=en - or -Use Auto Updater. To force an auto update, from the Start menu, select Eagle Dynamics - DCS World - Update DCS world
Youtube:
Twitch: wagmatt
System: __________________Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/wagmatt Twitch: wagmattSystem: https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.p...44#post3729544 Last edited by Wags; 03-02-2013 at 05:28 PM.Survey: Americans Who Travel Abroad Are Much Less Likely to Approve of Donald Trump’s Presidency
We surveyed 1,014 English-speaking Americans to determine whether travel to foreign countries was related to approval of Donald Trump’s presidency. We asked, 1) “How many foreign (non-US) countries have you visited in the last 5 years?”, and 2) “Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president?” The results were strong, and unexpected for several reasons.
Summary of Findings
Approval of President Trump decreased among Americans who have traveled to more foreign countries.
This holds true across all age groups.
Additional Findings
Only 21% of Americans who do the most traveling (4+ countries) approve of the Trump presidency. 51.2% of the most-traveled group strongly disapprove, compared with 33.1% of those who haven’t left the country recently. (n = 127, 559)
Those who haven’t left the country in the last 5 years were most likely to approve of Donald Trump’s presidency at 31.3%. (n = 559)
Readers surveyed while reading online news were much less likely to approve of Donald Trump than the average population: 28.7% approving vs. the 39.2% national average. (n = 832, compared to the RealClearPolitics average) Younger people are more likely to read news online, but this finding holds equally true even after adjusting for age.
Results showed 28.2% approving, 54.3% disapproving, and 17.5% neither approving nor disapproving. (n = 1014) The surprisingly low approval rate is likely a result of more-connected online audiences and not strongly related to age, gender, or location.
Methodology
Respondents were given five options regarding approval: “strongly approve”, “approve”, “disapprove”, “strongly disapprove”, and “neither approve nor disapprove”. Generally surveys randomize answer order to prevent bias, but we believed that randomizing response order in this case could be confusing, as there is a spectrum that could land in a non-intuitive order. Instead we ran two surveys with 50% of respondents in each: one starting with “strongly disapprove” and moving upward in the spectrum of approval, and the other starting with “strongly approve.” The undecided “neither approve nor disapprove” was always given last. There was no significant difference based on the order of the answers, indicating respondents were clear on the intent of the question.
Because online audiences are often younger, it is sometimes necessary to adjust for age. Our survey was conducted with Google, which accounts for audience discrepancy by by providing a weight for each respondent. By applying the weight for each user, one should theoretically get an audience that looks like the average US demographic. Not surprisingly, weighted results showed a slight bias towards younger respondents. This had little impact, however, in the overall approval rate. Raw approval was 28.2% overall, and the weighted approval rate was an even-lower 26.1%. This was not overly surprising because weighting emphasized older respondents and females while deemphasizing the US south. Rather than attempting to weigh results for an audience that would still differ from the average US demographic (based on other quality surveys by polling organizations) we accept that our surveyed audience is different and present the results as received.
Note that there was an option for 8 or more countries visited, but the sample size was insufficient to draw results, with only a few responses in the 18-24 and 65+ groups.
Conclusions
Those who read online news and those who travel most disapprove of Trump much more than the average US population. We must also include an obligatory note on causation vs. correlation that applies to almost all surveys. These results should not be taken as proof that traveling and reading news cause people to disapprove of Trump. This conclusion may be true, false, or partly true. It’s likely, for example, that there’s a correlation between disapproval and income or socioeconomics. Those who have the most money are most likely to travel, and the demographic that reads online news may be different from the US population even after adjusting for age. In short, we haven’t proven that traveling will make someone less likely to approve of the current administration, but we have shown that travelers are less likely to approve of Donald Trump’s job so far.
All results, graphs, etc. related to the survey may be used and modified for free in any publication with a citation; online publications must use a linked citation.Man makes explosives from things purchased in post-security-check airport stores
Matthew says: " Evan Booth builds weapons with materials purchased in an airport terminal, past the security screening. Here's a frag grenade built with a coffee mug, batteries, and a condom."
National Counterterrorism Center is ascared of urban explorers People who explore the urban ruins of cities are terrorist dupes! Wired: “Urban Explorers (UE) — hobbyists who seek illicit access to transportation and industrial facilities in urban areas — frequently post photographs, video footage, and diagrams on line [sic] that could be used by terrorists to remotely identify and surveil potential targets,” warns the […] READ THE REST
Investor Jeremy Grantham: "We're Headed For A Disaster Of Biblical Proportions" Enjoy these 14 depressing slides from a Business Insider article about investor Jeremy Grantham’s report on exploding commodity prices. “The ever-increasing-yield per acre, by the way, is the result of heavy fertilizer use. And most fertilizers are commodities, too (potassium, for example). So there’s no infinite supply of fertilizers, either.” The other 13 graphs in […] READ THE REST
Get certified online in machine learning and data science As big companies wrangle an ever-increasing amount of data, the applications for deep learning grow – and so do the job opportunities. If you’ve got a working knowledge of Python, all you need are the tools to start making data work for you. Get up to speed on the science and code behind the field […] READ THE REST
Listen to vinyl anywhere with this extremely portable record player Anyone who really listens to vinyl knows the medium is far from dead. But convincing others of its appeal can be an uphill battle. For one thing, there’s the gear: A quality record player takes up a lot more space than, say, a smartphone packed with thousands of streaming songs at the ready. But here’s […] READ THE RESTThere are now 65.3 million people displaced from their homes worldwide, the United Nations reports. It’s an all-time high: likely the largest population of refugees and asylum seekers in human history.
Think about that number: 65.3 million. Can you even imagine it? Like, really imagine it. When we see one life, we can imagine their hopes and pain. But 65 million? You can’t. That’s just an abstraction. There’s a hard limit to human compassion, and it’s one of the most powerful psychological forces shaping human events.
I often report on political psychology. And in my conversations with scientists, I’ll often ask: “What research helps you understand what’s going on in the world?” The answer — whether it’s pegged to the refugee crisis abroad or the health care debate at home — very often involves Paul Slovic.
Slovic is a psychologist at the University of Oregon, and for decades he’s been asking the question: Why does the world often ignore mass atrocities, mass suffering?
Slovic’s work has shown that the human mind is not very good at thinking about, and empathizing with, millions or billions of individuals.
“The value of a person's life declines precipitously with number. Is that what we want?”
That’s why it’s not surprising six out of 10 Americans support a travel ban that, in part, bars refugees from entering America. That many lawmakers aren’t horrified by the possibility of booting tens of millions from health insurance. That the world looked on as millions died in war and genocide in Darfur. That we haven’t really grappled as a nation with the opioid epidemic, which killed 33,000 in 2015.
It’s not surprising why political leaders often turn a blind eye toward refugees, or grow a callous heart when it comes to the hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children.
When numbers simply can’t convey the costs, there’s an infuriating paradox at play. Slovic calls it “psychic numbing.” As the number of victims in a tragedy increases, our empathy, our willingness to help, reliably decreases. This happens even when the number of victims increases from one to two.
Slovic’s research explains why the world often fails to respond to large-scale human suffering, but it also can inform how journalists or advocates communicate problems. Recently, I spoke to Slovic by phone. We talked about why it’s so easy for politicians to neglect the masses, the power of a single image to inspire change, and whether we can build machines more moral than we are.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
“There is no constant value for a human life”
Brian Resnick
Where did this research begin?
Paul Slovic
I've been doing research on risk for close to 60 years now. [In the 1970s] I was struck with Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky’s work on prospect theory. It had something called a value function in it, which indicated how people value things as the amounts increased. Changes at small levels had a big impact, and then as the magnitudes got larger, it took more and more of a difference to be noticeable.
The difference between, say, $0 and $100 feels greater than the difference between $100 and $200. If you're talking about $5,800 or $5,900 — [both] seem the same, even though it's still $100 difference.
I talked with Tversky about that, and [wondered] if that applied to lives. We both figured it would — and that this is really a pretty scary kind of thing.
It means that there is no constant value for a human life, that the value of a single life diminishes against the backdrop of a larger tragedy.
Brian Resnick
Is this what you call psychic numbing? The larger number of people, the more apathy.
Paul Slovic
Yes. And the opposite side of that is something we call the singularity effect, which is an individual life is very valued. We all go to great lengths to protect a single individual or to rescue someone in distress, but then as the numbers increase, we don't respond proportionally to that.
People care about individuals. We see it over and over again: There's a child who needs an operation, his parents can't afford to pay for this operation, and there's a story in the newspaper. An outpouring of money donations and support is often tremendous. We do care a lot about individuals. We don't scale that up, even when we're capable.
We’re compelled to help individuals. But the world’s problems are too large to be solved one person at a time.
Brian Resnick
So there’s a paradox here in the research that bothers me. We’re numb to huge numbers of people. The solution is that we’re receptive to individual stories.
But here’s the thing: Problems on Earth are too large to solve one individual at a time.
Paul Slovic
Individual stories and individual photographs can be effective for a while. They capture our attention — they get us to see the reality, to glimpse the reality at a scale we can understand and connect to emotionally. But then there has to be somewhere to go with it.
We did a study not too long ago; it was in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, about Aylan [Kurdi], the little [drowned Syrian] boy on the beach. We analyzed the reaction to that photograph. Since 2011, the... death toll in Syria was relentlessly climbing to hundreds of thousands. Suddenly we see this little boy washed up on the beach, and it woke people up.
People suddenly started to care about the Syrian war and the refugees, in ways that the statistics of hundreds of thousands of deaths had not led them to pay attention to. Then we were able to track that, and that lasted roughly a month.
There were things people could do. In Sweden, where they had taken in 160,000 Syrian refugees, the Swedish Red Cross had created a fund to get money to help take care of this mass influx. The day after that photograph appeared, donations went from $8,000 to $430,000 — because of the photograph. Then we could see over time how... it stayed elevated for about a month or so, and then it went back [down].
These dramatic stories of individuals or photographs give us a window of opportunity where we're suddenly awake and not numbed, and we want to do something. If there's something we can do, like donate to the Red Cross, people will do it. But then if there's nothing else they can do, then over time that gets turned off again.
These [individual] stories are important, and they can be very effective. But [only] if there's an action that can be taken, then, while you're engaged.
Psychic numbing begins when the number of victims increases from one to two
Brian Resnick
I’ve read about some of your experiments and they are troubling — and enlightening. Like in this 2014 PLOS One paper, you see a decrease in empathy and donations to children when you go from one victim to two. Why does this happen?
Paul Slovic
One has to do with attention.
We recently did an experiment (it's not published yet) asking people to think about an amount of money equivalent to $1, and to visualize an amount of American money amounting to $1.
We gave them a list of things: They could be visualizing 100 pennies, 10 dimes, four quarters, a silver dollar, or a dollar bill. We asked them, "What were you thinking? What were you visualizing?”
Overwhelmingly, what they were visualizing was a [single] dollar bill. They weren't even visualizing a multiple, four quarters, or anything like that; it was the one.
The single object is easier to visualize and to connect to.
You have to attend to the person or the group of people to make an emotional connection with them. And you just can't attend as closely to two people as to one. It's harder to think about the many.
Brian Resnick
So we’re confused by large numbers?
Paul Slovic
This is really more of a gut-level reaction. Because if you were thinking carefully, you might say, "Well, a life is a life. It shouldn't diminish in a bigger problem."
The feeling system doesn't really add; it can't multiply, it doesn't handle numbers very well. It's maximized at the number one: "Protect myself. Protect the person in front of me." People who are like us, near us, near in time, things like that, we get a strong, emotional response when they're in danger.
Three factors keep people and politicians from intervening in humanitarian crises
Brian Resnick
Is psychic numbing the whole story? Why else do publicized tragedies fail to rally action?
Paul Slovic
We found three psychological obstacles that inhibit response to major crises.
The first is the numbing response — the loss of sensitivity with the large numbers.
The second is a false sense of inefficacy.
That’s [the feeling] what you're doing just won't matter. That is influenced by the fact that you're only helping a portion of the problem. There are many people that you're not helping, and that sends bad feelings. The warm glow you get from helping gets hijacked by the negative elements in the picture.
We have an experiment of helping a starving child. A certain percentage of people help [by donating money to the kid]. Then we have another condition with a different group, same child, same situation, except we put the numbers of the statistics of starvation next to her picture, and the donations dropped in half.
We call it pseudo-inefficacy because it happens to people who actually can make a difference. They don't act because it doesn't feel worthwhile, or they don't think it's worthwhile.
The third is a more analytic problem that we believe [affects] decision-making. We call it the “prominence effect.”
Brian Resnick
What’s the “prominence effect”?
Paul Slovic
It stems from work I did a long time ago; actually the first data was collected in 1961. When people are making a decision between two courses of action... people often used a simple rule to choose.
One example was a gift for a friend: It's a bundle of cash and a coupon.
Gift [bundle] A has more cash and less of a coupon value. But [bundle] B has a much larger coupon and less cash. The gifts overall were equal. But now you have to choose.
People don't flip a coin in those situations. They choose systematically. Close to 85 percent or 90 percent of the people would resolve that tough choice by going with the gift that had more cash.
There's a bias in decision-making toward the intrinsically more defensible. If you have to defend your choice, you can't go wrong choosing a gift that has more cash. If you do it with the coupon, you say, "Well, are they really going to get the money’s worth?"
You can think of reasons why it's not as defensible.
Brian Resnick
Is that what happens when politicians turn a blind eye to refugees or humanitarian crises around the world? That it just seems more defensible to ban them?
Paul Slovic
Our leaders, they see what's happening. They get the vivid pictures, the individual stories. They know this is horrible, and yet they still often choose not to act.
We see that, for example, with the refugee situation.
Last fall before the administration shifted, I remember some quotes from Mike Pence, who was governor of Indiana, and Dan Coats [who was then a U.S. senator]. They basically said, "We're not going to let any refugees at all into Indiana unless we can be 100 percent sure that they are not going to cause us harm." They can get away with it because everyone says, "Yeah, of course we don't want to let terrorists into our communities."
Even though you say it's important to attend to the humanitarian catastrophes, when it comes down to choice, the choice to protect the homeland is more defensible.
We might be able to build machines more moral than humans
Brian Resnick
Should we not blame people for apathy, if it’s in human nature?
Paul Slovic
Partly. We shouldn't be surprised.
That doesn't mean we should accept it. That doesn't mean it's right. It means we need not to rely on our feelings, which don't get it, but we need to think in a more reasoned, careful, deliberate way about the realities beneath the data that we're getting. Then we need to design laws and institutions and procedures that are based on the deliberative thinking, not based on our feelings.
Brian Resnick
How so?
Paul Slovic
It's like the income tax system, we don't leave it to individuals’ feelings of how much they think they should pay to the government for the services they receive. We have an analytic procedure that is thought through to a great extent and very detailed, which specifies to the penny how much you owe the state. It's backed up by the force of law.
For better or for worse, it's an analytic system. We don't leave it to people's feelings of loyalty and obligation; we couldn't. I think it's the same thing with these moral crises — when you think carefully and you realize the scale, you have to create laws and institutions that are not sensitive to the feelings of the moment.
Brian Resnick
I can imagine a future — this is getting more sci-fi — where we automate compassion. When we have a moment of slow thinking, we can program a machine to direct the response to horrible things.
Paul Slovic
A lot of people would be repulsed by the thought of turning over morality to machines, but if you think of the fact that, in many ways, our moral intuitions really lead us to do the wrong thing, maybe [artificial] morality might not always be that bad.
What should be the value of a life? If we find that humans are inappropriately devaluing life, maybe these program values would be better.
Brian Resnick
That's such an interesting idea. If we can program some machine to be moral, it could be more moral than we are.
Paul Slovic
Yeah, because we're not as moral as we'd like to be.
“Even partial solutions save whole lives”
Brian Resnick
How can this research inform how journalists or advocates work?
Paul Slovic
It's not enough to break through the numbing. You have to give people somewhere to go. You have to then have some action options that they can take.
The second is [to] fight against this false inefficacy feeling. Even partial solutions can save whole lives. Sure, it doesn't feel as good. Don't be misled by the fact that you can't do it all.
In one of our experiments, we showed that people were less likely to do something that would save 4,500 lives in a refugee camp if that camp had 250,000 people than if it had 11,000 people. It didn't feel as good to save those lives, 4,500 out of 250,000. That’s where you say, "Well, wait a minute. Even partial solutions save whole lives.”
Another thing is we're looking toward education of young people. You teach kids not just to write, read, and write bigger and bigger numbers. You get them to try to think about the reality that these numbers represent.
We're taught as kids to read and write big numbers, but we're not taught to think about the reality beneath the surface of those numbers.
Brian Resnick
Can the problem of psychic numbing really be solved? Are you pessimistic on that question?
Paul Slovic
Look at the problems we have in this world. The scale of various kinds of problems is so vast. Now we have 60 million refugees we're creating. And we have outbreaks of violence, atrocities being committed on innocent people all over the world. After the Holocaust, we vowed never again would we let this happen. And while the Holocaust hasn't been repeated in that form, we have dozens and dozens and dozens of continuing mass atrocities that we underreact to.
We're not reacting to [the threat of climate change]. And there's so many different problems of large scale that we need to be working harder to combat. I think that is pessimistic.
I used to think that every time I did a study that demonstrated one of these depressing flaws of the human mind, I had to then solve the problem in the discussion section. My son said, "Dad, the first step, you don't have to solve every problem that you point to; the first step is to create a wider awareness of the problem, to get more people to recognize that we have to be on guard against numbing and all those feelings of inefficacy and so forth."
If I can't solve it, I should try to get more people involved [in] trying to solve it.
Correction: This article originally stated Dan Coats was attorney general of Indiana, serving under Gov. Mike Pence. In fact, Coats was a US senator during the Pence administration.Though perhaps unknown to Western audiences, the character Doraemon is widely loved in his native Japan, where he has been the star of several comics, cartoons and even films since his debut in 1970. Doraemon is depicted as a blue, cat-like robot sent from the 22nd century to help a young boy named Nobita-kun. Together they have all sorts of adventures aided by the strange gadgets Doraemon has in his possession.
Unfortunately those adventures may soon come an end as it was recently announced that Oyama Nobuyo, the voice actress behind Doraemon, is suffering from dementia and can no longer continue acting.
On hearing the terrible news, netizens offered their sympathies and talked fondly about how much Doraemon had meant to them.
From Nikkan Sports:
Doraemon`s Oyama Nobuyo Struggling With Dementia
It has been learned that Oyama Nobuyo (age 78), the voice actress responsible for Doraemon, is currently battling dementia.
Oyama’s husband actor Sagawa Keisuke made the announcement during an appearance on TBS Radio`s “Ozawa Yuri`s Yuu Yuu Waido” program.
According to Sagawa, the symptoms had emerged not too long ago and that there were times when they’d come and gone. He said that Oyama had suffered a stroke in 2008 but that “she thought it was just the after-effects of the stroke and didn’t notice”.
Oyama is currently living at home while Sagawa, Oyama’s manager and household staff work together to take care of her. She is doing well physically but sometimes forgets things she just said, is unable to make her special dishes, and cannot bathe herself.
According to an affiliated office, Oyama is determined to continue work and gathers up her strength for when she goes out in public. However, she has recently become aware of her own illness and occasionally expresses feelings of hopelessness.
Comments from 2ch:
ストマッククロー(禿)＠＼(^o^)／:
No way!
ブラディサンデー(庭)＠＼(^o^)／:
What?! This is a huge shock.
I wonder if she’s already completely forgotten about Doraemon.
32文ロケット砲(庭)＠＼(^o^)／:
Maybe she’s just playing dumb because she wants to quit working?
セントーン(庭)＠＼(^o^)／:
I’m sure if you make her act as Doraemon again she’ll be good as new.
ミッドナイトエクスプレス(東京都)＠＼(^o^)／ :
Looks like Danganronpa is finished.[Note: In this game, Oyama provides the voice for a teddy bear character named Monokuma]
垂直落下式DDT(家)＠＼(^o^)／:
I was just listening to the radio. I was shocked.
ヒップアタック(東京都)＠＼(^o^)／ :
It’s amazing that she still has the desire to continue voice acting.
When most people contract dementia they become withdrawn and depressed.
腕ひしぎ十字固め(滋賀県)＠＼(^o^)／:
This is tragic.
メンマ(茸)＠＼(^o^)／:
Maybe she’s started to think she’s Doraemon.
アイアンクロー(大阪府)＠＼(^o^)／:
Before long she’ll be saying, “I wonder what this is?” even when she sees Doraemon.
ランサルセ(空)＠＼(^o^)／:
The shock is going to take a while to wear off.
I can’t bear to hear that voice anymore.
ナガタロックII(庭)＠＼(^o^)／:
Fixing the damage is impossible with 21st century technology [Note: In the original storyline, the character of Doraemon time travels from the 22nd century to present day]
垂直落下式DDT(庭)＠＼(^o^)／:
Do something, Doraemon!
ダイビングヘッドバット(愛知県)＠＼(^o^)／:
Hurry up and make a sequel to Danganronpa
She’s not going to make it.
ハイキック(空)＠＼(^o^)／:
Make a Vocaloid version of Oyama
There’s still time.
メンマ(青森県)＠＼(^o^)／:
To have dementia but still be able to partially remember things…it must be quite hard for her.
ミラノ作 どどんスズスロウン(やわらか銀行)＠＼(^o^)／:
I really hope she recovers.
フォーク攻撃(チベット自治区)＠＼(^o^)／:
Of course they shouldn’t deprive her of her job
It’s best to let her work until she dies.
フォーク攻撃(静岡県)＠＼(^o^)／ :In the Android community, Lollipop 5.0 is known for a lot of things. Unfortunately, among those things is a pretty severe memory leak that has plagued users with app crashes and launcher redraws, as device memory filled and failed to clear.
When Android 5.1 was announced, many hoped the issue would finally be resolved. After all, Google did mark the memory leak (which climbed to the 34th highest position in the issue tracker's history) as "future release" back in December.
As it turns out though, Lollipop 5.1 is not without its own memory leak, at least for some users over at the issue tracker. But Google has some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the 5.1 memory leak has been "fixed internally." The bad news? "We do not currently have a timeline for public release."
Project Member #35 [email protected]
This has been fixed internally. We do not currently have a timeline for public release.
Status: FutureRelease
Labels: Restrict-AddIssueComment-Commit
The status change appeared 39 hours ago (at the time of writing) on an issue created March 12th, which you can check out for yourself below. Here's hoping the fix doesn't take too long to appear publicly, whatever the version number.You may be a bad worker, bully colleagues and even watch porn at work, but if you have a job with the US federal government you won't be fired. The civil service protection program helps errant employees keep their jobs at taxpayers’ expense.
According to a CBS report, while sloppy workers in the private sector would likely be fired for poor performance, bureaucracy in federal government is so powerful, employers are simply unable to sack staff who are lacking.
A high-ranking employee at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been accused of watching porn for up to six hours a day at work, since 2010. Although investigators discovered 7,000 pornographic files on his computer, the EPA still cannot fire the man, currently on paid leave.
"I actually have to work through the administrative process, as you know," EPA administrator Gina McCarthy said at a Congressional hearing, in a bid to explain why she hadn't fired the employee.
The administrative process, designed to rule out politically motivated sackings, is the civil servant protection system. Employees have a right to appeal a termination, with the process dragging on for years. On average, up to 6, |
police were criticized for responding to protests with military-grade equipment, including armored vehicles and riot gear. Dozens of protesters and several journalists were detained by police, prompting the Department of Justice to launch a civil rights review into the law enforcement agency.You’re as likely to catch one out the corner of your eye as you are to stub your toe on the blighter.
Mostly bronze, often cheeky, and each about a foot tall, these are Wroclaw’s dwarves (or krasnale in Polish), and there are 163 of them dotted about the city in various guises (this is the official figure, though some sources claim there are as many as 350).
Two firefighting dwarves working together in the Polish city Credit: Alamy
It may sound like a contrived tourist gimmick that besieges a small Polish city with miniature cartoonish characters, but it only takes a few hours stroll around the Old Town and a couple of chance meetings with the fellows to convince otherwise. They are charming, remarkably imaginative and each represents a part of the city's daily life or history.
On a visit to the city last month, a bus from the airport dropped me off at the south-west corner of the Old Town, placing me by the Radio3 footbridge to cross the moat towards my hotel. The bridge was given its name in 2015 after Polish radio station Trójka, and the broadcaster is also commemorated with its own dwarf. Trójka, with headphones looped over his soft, pointed hat and a mic in hand, was the first of the 163 I spotted. He had recently been furnished with a now damp, blue chequered scarf, presumably to prepare for the winter ahead, and on a dreary, drizzly day he drew a smile.
A photo posted by Hugh Morris (@horatiomo) on Nov 20, 2016 at 1:41am PST
Why are they in Wroclaw?
The first dwarf to call Wroclaw home was “Papa Dwarf”, placed on Świdnicka Street in 2001. This father of the dwarves is slightly larger than the others, with a different style of construction, precedes his brethren by a few years, and carries a graver history and meaning.
Papa was placed on this main street into the city as it was here that the Orange Alternative, an anti-communist underground movement that claimed the dwarf as its symbol, used to meet in the Eighties to protest against the authoritarianism of Poland’s Soviet masters.
Wroclaw is perhaps best-known for its colourful square Credit: Fotolia/AP
By adopting the imagery of the dwarf, often in graffiti over government slogans, while maintaining a non-violent stance, the group brought a lightness and hope to the struggle against communism.
One guards the city’s dwarf museum - only open to those who can squeeze through a shin-high and foot-wide door
And so, in 2001, a decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, of which Poland was a puppet state, Papa Dwarf took his place at the crossroads with Kazimierza Wielkiego.
In 2003 another dwarf was added to guard the city’s dwarf museum - only open to those who can squeeze through a shin-high and foot-wide door - before five more, among them a fencer and a butcher, were commissioned in 2005.
Telegraph Travel tracked down Tomasz Moczek, the local artist tasked with designing those five dwarves in 2005. What inspired him?
"From memory, from conversations, from literature, from the memory, from the childhood, from everything," he said. "I worked the day and the night, I thought only of it."
Tomasz says he is glad of the success of the dwarves and still creating new ones today.
The best dwarves
Telegraph Travel's personal favourites - not pictured but highly commended: the one in jail, the one tucked up in bed, and the veteran.
The boozehounds
Credit: Hugh Morris
The Sisyphean pair
A photo posted by ○ r s o l y a (@otthonbutik) on Oct 10, 2016 at 9:50am PDT
The gardeners
A photo posted by Ola (@decocode_pl) on Aug 28, 2016 at 1:32pm PDT
The "working from home"
A photo posted by Magdalena Halicz (@maghal5) on Aug 11, 2016 at 12:00am PDT
The dandy
Credit: Hugh Morris
The gaucho
Credit: Hugh Morris
The scholar
A photo posted by Telegraph Travel (@telegraphtravel) on Nov 21, 2016 at 3:56am PST
Where to find them
The city's tourist board has created a map, below, of the 52 available to see in the Old Town. As far as advice goes: keep your eyes peeled, more often that not, on the ground, in corners and beneath window ledges - but, watch where you're going. We, nor the dwarves, want to be responsbile for a sprained ankle on the cobbled streets.
The rest are found outside the Old Town, while there are six at the LG plant in Biskupice Podgórne, just outside the city.
Happy hunting.Image caption Manchester United has a huge global fanbase
Manchester United has said it plans to raise as much as $330m (£210m) in a share listing in New York.
In documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the football club said it would sell 16.7 million shares at between $16 and $20 each.
But it also revealed that revenue had fallen in the last year as they were knocked out of the Champions League.
Manchester United was recently called the most valuable club in sport, worth $2.23bn, according to Forbes magazine.
The club has been controlled since 2005 by billionaire US sports investors the Glazer family, who also own the Tampa Bay Buccaneers American football team.
The Glazers' Class B shares will have 10 times the voting power of the Class A shares sold to the public.
United has said it plans to use the proceeds to repay debt.
The club currently has £437m of debt and £70m in cash.
Revenues down
Analysis Manchester United is considered one of the world's most valuable sports clubs. It is also loaded with debt. The 134-year-old team is controlled by the the Glazer family, who, when they bought the club, borrowed lots of money to fund the purchase. Half of the proceeds from the share sale will go towards paying that debt off. The club itself is selling half of the total 16.7 million shares. The other half comes from the Glazer family. With 659 million followers, the club hopes its popularity will carry over into the financial markets.
In the regulatory filing, the club said its total revenue for the year to June was between £315m and £320m, down as much as 5% from last year.
That was mainly due to a 11-13% drop in broadcasting revenues - to £102m to £104m - after the team failed to make it past the group stages of Europe's premier club football competiton.
Man Utd said profit for the year from continuing operations will be as much as £23m, an increase of as much as 77% from the previous year due to tax credits.
The team spent a net £50m on players.
The company was incorporated in the Cayman Islands on 30 April.
On Monday, Manchester United also said it signed a new deal to have its shirts sponsored by US car brand Chevrolet.
Image caption Chevrolet will soon be the new shirt sponsor of Manchester United
The deal for an "undisclosed amount" is for seven years and begins from the 2014-2015 season, the club said.
Chevrolet, which is made by General Motors, takes over from current sponsor Aon.
The Glazers borrowed large sums of money to buy the club and the interest payments on this debt are onerous.
In 2010, the owners converted these loans into a bond in order to reduce the interest, but analysts say the share sale demonstrates how the club remains weighed down by its heavy debts, despite its huge global fan base and promotional and marketing efforts.
The Premier League giant, who came second last season and have won a record 19 titles, is listing on the New York Stock Exchange.Nintendo announced a brand new Zelda game at their Digital Event this year titled Tri Force Heroes, a multiplayer-focused game for the Nintendo 3DS. At first glance, Tri Force Heroes seems to be very similar to the competitive Four Swords games, but the similarities end with the multiplayer experience. Tri Force Heroes is not a competitive game, but rather a three-player co-op experience that requires coordination and teamwork in order to solve puzzles and advance through dungeons. Another twist that Nintendo has added is that the entire team shares the same health bar, which makes communication even more pertinent because stages can become incredibly hectic.
When the demo starts and each player is connected, it immediately takes you to the stage selection screen. The stages in the demo go in order from easiest to hardest, and I was fortunate enough to play all four of them! The game also allows you to choose from six different outfits, including a frilly Princess Zelda get-up. Each outfit also has its own attributes. In one of my playthroughs, I went with the Kokiri Clothes, which allowed me to shoot three arrows at a time, similar to the weapon upgrade found in A Link Between Worlds.
Which stage should I choose?
In the beginning of each stage, each player has one item to select. For instance, on The Forest, there are simply three Bows to select from, while on The Volcano, there is the Gust Jar, Bow, and the Boomerang. Each character selects one weapon, although you have to choose quickly — if you snooze, you have to pick last!
Tri Force Heroes is definitely a puzzle-oriented game, with many of the puzzles focusing on the brand new Totem mechanic. This really excites me as puzzles are my favorite aspect of the Zelda franchise. The Totem mechanic allows the players to stack on top of one another by way of lifting the other players onto your shoulders. For instance, there may be a switch that is too high up and is inaccessible due to Link’s short stature. To reach it, you can Totem with either one or two additional players to solve the puzzle. It can be tricky, though, because if an item is required to solve the puzzle, you need to figure out how to get that player with the specific item at the top of the Totem.
The Volcano — this level was hard!
There are also some incredibly clever standard puzzles. On the Volcano stage, there was a puzzle where all three players had to go across the lava onto a platform. It took a while to figure it out and coordinate, but we figured out that the Gust Jar would push both of the other players across the ledge to the other side, while the Boomerang would retrieve the third player who had the Bow. It may seem simple once you discover how to do it, but it stumped quite a few players.
The game uses the same graphical style and control scheme as A Link Between Worlds, as well as the game’s vertical nature and depth of field effect. Playing the game in 3D really helps to distinguish whether or not you’ll need one additional person or all three players for a Totem. This is pivotal when playing the game because of the vertical nature of the puzzles, and almost all puzzles rely on this formation. It can be very difficult playing in 2D and recognizing whether or not a switch or a ledge requires everyone to Totem, but in 3D it becomes fairly obvious. This goes for bosses as well. I loved A Link Between Worlds and played the entire game in 3D, and I plan to do the same for Tri Force Heroes.
The kiosk where we played the game, with directions!
Team cooperation is also a huge part of Tri Force Heroes. If your team is even slightly out of sync, it can be incredibly difficult to get through any given area. At E3, with so much noise, it was hard to clearly communicate with my teammates and figure out who was who in order to solve these puzzles. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to play with some competent players my first three go-arounds, and we managed to finish each stage except for the most difficult dungeon, The Volcano, which was incredibly challenging. Playing with an inexperienced Zelda player during my last playthrough really taught me how integral communication is with other players while playing the newest 3DS Zelda title.
My last playthrough really taught me how integral communication is with other players
Bosses, like puzzles scattered throughout each dungeon, require players to use the Totem mechanic for the most part (I believe the boss in The Fortress did not require this). In each boss battle, there is a point where you have to Totem with just one additional player, and when the boss becomes weaker, you are required to Totem with all three players in order to hit the boss, using either the sword or various weapons that are assigned to each player. Again, it can be hard to tell whether or not you have to Totem with one other player or Totem with everyone, but the 3D effect really helps distinguish this.
In line for Tri Force Heroes!
It will be very interesting to see how online play works out, because there is no voice chat (Nintendo found in play tests that implementing voice chat would cause more-experienced players to boss less-experienced players around), but playing amongst your friends will be a complete blast and the Nintendo representative I spoke with told me that there will in fact be a single-player mode.
I don’t know about you, but I am extremely excited for Tri Force Heroes! Having so much hands-on time with the game, I think it will be a fantastic addition to the franchise that the Zelda community will embrace with open arms, despite the fact that it’s not the much-anticipated Zelda Wii U. The game is simply that much fun!A meeting between Iraqi President Fuad Masum and his Kurdish counterpart, Masud Barzani, was held in Sulaymaniyah after a deadline set by the Iraqi government for peshmerga fighters to surrender expired on Sunday, Iraqi media reported.
After meeting with Iraqi officials on Sunday, Barzani said his government had rejected Baghdad's demand to cancel the outcome of an independence vote and pledged to defend the autonomous region in case of an attack.
Kurdish leaders, however, renewed their offer to resolve the crisis peacefully with Baghdad, Barzani's aide Hemin Hawrami said on Twitter.
"There will not be any unilateral negotiation with Baghdad by either PUK or KDP. If there be any negotiation with Baghdad it will be a joint delegation representing all Kurdistan parties. KDP/PUK reject any demands to nullify the referendum results. Refuse preconditions," Hawrami said.
Iran's mediation efforts
According to a Kurdish official, Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of foreign operations for Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, also arrived in Iraq's Kurdistan region to defuse tensions between Kurdish authorities and Baghdad following the Kurdish independence referendum.
Iran's Tasnim news agency, without quoting a source, said Sunday that Iran closed its border gates with northern Iraq "considering the development in Iraq's Kurdistan."
Iran's Foreign Ministry later denied reports about the border closure.
"As we announced earlier, we blocked our airspace to the Kurdish region on a request from the central government of Iraq, and as far as I know, nothing new has happened in this area," the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi as saying.
Kurdish fighters have reportedly rejected the Iraqi warning to withdraw from Kirkuk
Escalating crisis
The Kurdish forces were given a deadline of 2 a.m. local time Sunday (2300 GMT Saturday) to surrender their positions and return to their pre-June 2014 positions. Unconfirmed local media reports say the deadline has been extended for another 24 hours.
At the scene, a photographer with Agence France-Presse reported seeing armored vehicles bearing the Iraqi national flag on the banks of a river on the southern outskirts of the city of Kirkuk.
"Our forces are not moving and are now waiting for orders from the general staff," an Iraqi army officer told AFP.
Facing the Iraqi forces on the opposite bank of the river were Kurdish peshmerga fighters.
On Friday, Kurdish authorities said they had sent thousands more troops to Kirkuk to confront Iraqi "threats."
Reuters news agency said Sunday Kurdish peshmerga forces had rejected the Iraqi warning to withdraw from a strategic junction south of Kirkuk.
Tensions soar after 'illegal' referendum
Tensions between the two allies in the war against the "Islamic State" (IS) have been escalating since a Kurdish independence referendum last month that Baghdad has called "anti-constitutional."
The Kurds overwhelmingly voted for an independent state in the September 25 referendum.
Read more: Opinion: Kurds find few friends in independence referendum
Abadi has repeatedly denied any plans to attack the Kurds
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi demanded that Kurdish leaders annul the referendum vote and called for a dialogue within the framework of the constitution.
After the referendum, the Iraqi parliament asked the prime minister to use armed force to retake control of oil-rich Kirkuk, claimed by both Iraqi Kurdistan and the Iraqi central government in Baghdad.
The Kurdish peshmerga prevented the province's oil fields from falling into the hands of IS jihadis in 2014.
The Kurdish regional government included the disputed oil-rich province in the independence referendum, reflecting the Kurds' historical claim to the area. Baghdad had controlled Kirkuk before IS pushed out the Iraqi army three years ago.
Read more: What is the Iraqi Kurdish independence referendum?
'No plans for a military operation'
Abadi has repeatedly denied any plans to attack the Kurds, insisting Thursday that he was "not going... to make war on our Kurdish citizens."
But thousands of heavily armed troops and members of the Popular Mobilization paramilitary force, formed mainly by Iranian-trained Shiite groups, have taken position around Kirkuk.
Kurdish peshmerga fighters also rejected a 2100 GMT deadline from the paramilitary force to withdraw from a strategic junction south of Kirkuk city, Reuters news agency reported, citing a Kurdish security official. The strategic position north of the Maktab Khalid junction controls access to an air base and some of the oil fields located in the region.
shs, ap/sms (AFP, Reuters)Ukraine’s newly appointed defense minister was so fast to sign his oath of allegiance that even the capped pen in his hand failed to slow him down.
The candidacy of Lieutenant-General Valery Geletey, which was proposed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, received support from the majority of the MPs in the country’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, on Thursday.
He got 260 votes from the deputies, above the minimum of 226 votes required to be accepted for the job.
Geletey came up on stage and read out the text of the oath of allegiance as the new defense minister.
He then signed the document with one swift flourish, accompanied by applause from the parliamentarians.
The video footage showed nothing suspicious as Geletey’s hands were hidden by the rostrum.
However, photos made by correspondents from another angle revealed that the pen he used was capped.
After the oath, Geletey addressed the parliament with a speech promising to “ensure peace and order” and “restore the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Ukraine.
“I’m confident that Ukraine will prevail and, believe me, there’ll be a victory parade in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol,” he declared.
This March, the city of Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea cut ties with Ukraine and reunited with Russia.
Before becoming defense minister, Geletey occupied the position of head of the State Guard of Ukraine, to which he was appointed in March by the Maidan government.
The Ukrainian military is currently involved in a self-styled “anti-terrorist operation” in the southeastern regions of the country, which have refused to live under the new Kiev authorities.
At least 200 people have been killed and another 600 injured in military action in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Lugansk regions. The number of Ukrainian refugees who are fleeing to Russia from the violence has reached 110,000 people, while 54,400 others have been internally displaced, the UN’s refugee agency has said.A National Security Agency whistleblower named Thomas Drake was indicted several years ago for providing information to the press on waste, fraud and bureaucratic dysfunction in the agency’s counterterrorism programs. The U.S. Department of Justice indicted Drake, an NSA senior executive, under the Espionage Act of 1917 for retaining allegedly classified information. Eventually, the felony charges against Drake were dropped, and he pled guilty to a misdemeanor, exceeding authorized use of a computer. Still, the DOJ’s strategy in that case may provide some clues as to what’s in store for Edward Snowden, a government contractor who exposed himself last weekend as the source for a widespread domestic communications story first reported by The Guardian. Drake spoke with Scientific American to shed some light on whistleblower prosecutions and the science behind surveillance. An edited transcript of the conversation follows:
Director of National Intelligence James Clapper has said it's not realistic nor would he want to listen to everyone's communications, so what can be done with all these phone records that the NSA is collecting?
The distinction here is metadata versus content. It’s like when you get physical snail mail, it has a certain shape, weight and type of envelope, and an address and a return address and a stamp and usually a date and routing numbers. And it’s going to a particular mailbox at a particular address—that’s all metadata. The content is what it’s inside the envelope. In a digital space the metadata is always associated with content. The content would be the actual phone call—the conversation. The fact is the metadata is far more valuable to them because it gives them an index of everything. If they want to, the data is available and the capability exists to store it, then later they can access the content as well with a warrant. You can learn a tremendous amount about people by looking at the metadata…phone records include location information. At that level you can track them as well and know who they speak with, the time of day and all of that. By definition a phone number is always associated with somebody or some business—believe me, subscribers all have names. Think of the White Pages; the White Pages equal metadata. If I store that, that gives the government a phenomenal power in secret to track all kinds of information about a person without going to content.
With all that data, it would take tremendous resources to scour that information even before we get to content. So how do you know what to look for?
Patterns. Signatures. Profiling. That’s where it gets pernicious in secret; that’s when they may decide to look at content as well. But metadata even without content already tells you a lot of information. Metadata gives meaning to content. What does NSA need with a 100 million phone records? We are losing the foundation of innocence until proven guilt. The assumption of innocence no longer exists in a surveillance state…we are all foreigners now. To me that’s crossing over into a form of governance that is a clear violation of the Fourth Amendment. We are eroding a foundational part of this country. The important distinction is the law that exists right now allows the government with some [limitations—] at least on paper—to collect all meta-data without any particularized suspicion on someone without getting a warrant for someone. To get content you would need a warrant. The technology is such that the distinction between metadata and content is largely losing its distinction simply because all digital content by definition has metadata associated with it. You can strip off the metadata to do the analysis...but then when you want to, because you already have the data, even if you didn’t have probable cause to do it,you can get into the content.
Based on your experience, talk to me about Snowden’s decision to turn himself in. Would it have been possible for Snowden to hide out?
He exposed himself, which is one of the unique things here. Once you are flagged though, even if he hadn’t turned himself in…the system is so vast in terms of your digital footprint it wouldn’t have taken long to find him…Could he totally go off the grid and disappear? The system itself would have been alerted. He would have had less time to hide out if he had not gone overseas even if he had not exposed himself. He clearly made a preemptive decision…if he went overseas as a U.S. citizen they can’t grab you off the street the next day though he has indicated in interviews he is concerned about rendition. Leaving creating another barrier. It buys him time to make other arrangements in terms of seeking asylum.
Could cyber hackers have obtained the information that these programs existed through data-mining efforts?
Probably not. Those systems are extraordinarily well-protected. It’s very difficult to hack in, especially to the top secret ones. That’s why you have never seen a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court order in public. This is the first one to my knowledge. The classification system is so high it has special protections. It takes someone with access and knowledge to make that fateful decision that it’s in the best interests of the public to have access to that type of information and free it.
From your experience, how do you think the NSA will come after Snowden?
With everything they’ve got.
So do you think they will use the same playbook they used with you—charging Snowden under the Espionage Act?
Yes. It will probably be very similar, there’s no question. I was never actually charged with leaking or disclosing. I was actually charged for retention of unauthorized documents.
What could someone like Snowden do—for a career—after this kind of security breach?
He will have to have an attorney shield him and protect him as best as he can. The government always has a choice in the matter; they can open a case and never prosecute. I suspect they will throw everything they had after him. He will have a heck of a time as I did…I found part-time work but I made far less than before; you are blacklisted. Your clearance is no longer valid so you can’t work in government and people think you can’t be trusted. It will probably be a whole different line of work for him at least in the near or mid-term as it certainly was for me. For a long time I had no income. He knew that there would serious consequences when he made the fateful decision to turn this information over to the press.
If I may ask, what do you do now?
I work full-time at an Apple retail store.
In an environment where Wikileaks is currently in the headlines, and now this, do you think this will change the way Americans approach security questions?
Just since my criminal case ended with one year of probation and community service, this is the most media attention I’ve had by far. I can’t even get to all my emails right now; it’s extraordinarily overwhelming. That tells me that for now this story has legs and people are discussing what are civil liberties versus surveillance and questioning how far they can erode our liberties for the sake of surveillance. The question is do Americans care enough and it looks like we’re having that debate now and I hope that it sustains itself, that’s certainly my wish.Good news for car drivers looking to go electric. In a handful of years, these zero-emission vehicles will be cheaper than traditional gas guzzlers, according to a new report from investment bankers Cowen & Co.
The analysis, compiled by Cowen managing director and senior research analyst Jeffrey Osborne, determined that electric vehicles will cost less than gasoline-powered cars by the early- to mid-2020s due to falling battery prices as well as the costs that traditional carmakers will incur as they comply to new fuel-efficiency standards.
These factors, Osbourne notes, will spur EV adoption from 1 percent of all global sales this year to 3 percent in 2020 and 7.5 percent in 2025.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance reported similar findings in May.
"Falling battery costs will mean electric vehicles will also be cheaper to buy in the U.S. and Europe as soon as 2025," the report said. "Batteries currently account for about half the cost of EVs, and their prices will fall by about 77 percent between 2016 and 2030."
Osbourne pointed out that a number of major car brands are hopping onto the electric bandwagon to compete in a space carved out by industry disrupter, Tesla.
"We see the competitive tides shifting in 2019 and beyond as European [car makers] roiled by the diesel scandal and loss of share to Tesla in the high margin luxury segment step on the gas and accelerate the pace of EV introductions," he wrote.
Volvo Cars announced in July that every car it launches from 2019 will have an electric motor, marking a "historic end" to the internal combustion engine.
And earlier this month, Volkswagen Group, the world's biggest automaker, announced plans to offer an electric version across the company's 300 models by 2030 and will be rolling out 80 new electric cars under its multiple brands by 2025. The German company, which is trying to rebound after its emissions-cheating scandal, is investing more than 20 billion euros ($24 billion) in zero-emission vehicles to challenge Tesla.
Not only that, the Cowen report comes as an increasing number of countries such as China, Scotland, France and India announced intentions to ban diesel and gasoline cars in order to cut fossil fuel emissions.For the first summer ever, Max Cacciatore doesn't want to play soccer like his dad.
After watching some of his idols on the Toronto Blue Jays win the American League East championship last year, the five-year-old picked up a bat and glove hoping to be the next Marcus Stroman.
"Ever since last October, he's been going nuts, he's been wanting to play," said Tony Cacciatore, a recreational soccer player who never expected his son would take up baseball. "He's excited because he's number six and Stroman wears six, so it's a big year."
But other would-be softball and baseball players who have been working on their swings are benched on wait lists instead of playing. Why? The city doesn't have enough baseball diamonds to play on.
Max Cacciatore, left, plays catch with his father Tony. (CBC)
"The Jays have such a powerful influence," says David Black, president of the Toronto Baseball Association. "Back in the 90s when they won the World Series, our numbers were the greatest ever and everyone talks about those as halcyon days, but this year we've had about a 24 per cent increase in Toronto and our challenge now is we're starting to run into constraints with fields."
A lack of baseball diamond space throughout the city has had a big impact on leagues like the High Park Baseball League. According to Black, that league has seen a big jump in the number of kids who want to play, but it can only accommodate two thirds of that increase because its games are confined to areas within High Park.
The Blue Jays are doing extremely well and when they do well, we do well. - Doug Hawley
Teams like the West Hill Orioles, one of eight teams that play T-Ball on Tuesday and Thursday nights in Scarborough, are forced to get creative to accommodate all the youngsters who want to play.
"We haven't had to turn anyone away because of a lack of space," says Doug Hawley, T-Ball convener at the West Hill Baseball League, one of the largest leagues in Toronto. "That's one of the things we believe in here, we'll find space."
Doug Hawley is the T-Ball convener with the West Hill Baseball League, one of the largest leagues in Toronto. (CBC)
For Colton Sinopoli's mother, Tammy Robinson, having her son play T-Ball on with the West Hill Orioles is integral to his growth. "It's an opportunity for Colton to be around other kids with different skills, different strengths, and to sort of learn from them," she says.
"The Blue Jays are doing extremely well and when they do well, we do well, Hawley said
But to keep up with the demand, the West Hill Baseball League now uses diamonds at Charlottetown Junior Public School, adjacent to Charlottetown Park's diamond, which is maintained by the city.
"Most of our parks are city parks, which are in excellent condition," said Hawley. "Some of the parks are school parks which are not as in good condition."
Today, despite the league's efforts to assist with maintenance they are using some fields without permission to meet demand.
"We're using every park and every school yard we can find, but we're pretty maxed out," said Howard Birnie, president of Leaside Baseball Association, who had to turn away a small percentage of players this year because of field shortages.
This is a feeling echoed across Toronto's baseball leagues. "We are running into constraints with fields. We just don't have enough," said Black.by
A Look at Fran Barton’s Job At Aemetis Inc
Aemetis Inc is a renowned industrial biotechnology company that deals with the production of fuels and renewable chemicals with the usage of patented procedures and microbes. Mr. Fran Barton was appointed as the Board Of Directors in Aemetis Inc in the year 2012 and continues to serve this position till date. It was in August 2012, Mr. Fran Barton was appointed at the position of the Chairman of the Audit Committee of the Board. His job responsibilities include acting as a member of governance for the Compensation and Nominating Committee of the organization.
What All Does Mr. Fran Barton Brought To Aemetis Inc
Apart from an unsurpassed knowledge and an incomparable skill set, Mr. Fran Barton brought in a rich lineage of achievers when he was appointed in Aemetis Inc. Fran Barton has been in the past handling the duties of a Chief Financial Officer in several organizations and this has indeed given him a broader exposure to all the areas pertaining to finances and financial sustainability. With already served a company earning a revenue of around $3 billion( UTStarcom), questions were not in picture when he was appointed at such an important position in Aemetis Inc.
Fran Barton stepped into this financial planning and management arena when he was merely 21 and with the passage of time he has learnt all that is required for him to operate and perform for the success of the organization he is serving and so is applied to Aemetis Inc too. His diverse experience and an eye for growth have made him serve some of the most typical industries including telecom, semiconductors, and digital units. Now that he has stepped into the chemical zone, the expectations are sky high and Fran Barton is sure to live up to al these. Another impressive traits or qualifications that make Mr. Fran Barton an excellent employee are his competence, his awareness in the areas of governance and audit, and his skills to govern people and get out the deliverables out of them.
There are no doubts to the fact that employment of Fran Barton in Aemetis is such a decision that is going to carve history. He is going to act as a contributor and with the present actions that he is being actively a part of chance is bright that he will be named in one of the memorable successors of Aemetis Inc. The present goal of Aemetis Inc at present is to develop new technologies and in this particular area Mr. Fran Barton is continuing to be of great help. Mr. Francis Barton dreams and desires to expand the operations of Aemetis Inc beyond certain areas and it can be surely said that he is going to succeed in all these endeavors.
The chemicals and fuels industry is a demanding one and the decisions taken by Fran Barton in the past few months of employment in Aemetis Inc have proved that he knows the right track. The experience that he has and the caliber that he enjoys are going to help him make Aemetis Inc reach to that dreamt position within a short span of time. With so many responsibilities on his shoulder, Mr. Fran Barton is standing sturdy and confident that he will be able to bring in all those results that the company has been longing for years.
Aemetis Inc is proud to have Mr. Fran Barton as a Director and same applies to Fran as he is equally enjoying the responsibilities and the trust bestowed on him. With a rich expertise in his kitty, Fran Barton will prove to be a value addition to Aemetis Inc.Image caption Leanna Shuttleworth faced horrific sights during her climb
A 19-year-old has become the youngest British woman to summit Mount Everest.
Leanna Shuttleworth, originally from Buckinghamshire, has described the harrowing ascent when she passed bodies of climbers.
Many climbers turned back and extreme weather has been linked to the deaths of at least four people on the mountain in the past week.
Experienced mountaineer Alan Hinkes said people needed to be more aware of the risks of climbing Everest.
Ms Shuttleworth said: "There were casualties from the day before, which was tragic and horrendous.
"There were quite a few bodies attached to the fixed lines and we had to walk round them.
"There were a couple who were still alive.
Seven summits
"Our Sherpa helped one of the people but a couple were so far gone they didn't even know we were there. It was the most horrendous thing to see."
Ms Shuttleworth, who reached the summit with her father Mark Shuttleworth, had planned to attempt a world record, to become the first woman to climb two 8,000-metre mountains - Mt Everest and Mt Lhotse - in 24 hours.
But she said the weather had made it impossible.
On reaching the top of Everest she became the youngest British woman to have completed the Seven Summits Challenge (SSC), her spokeswoman said.
The SSC requires that climbers summit the highest mountain on each of the world's continents: Mt Kilimanjaro, Mt Elbrus, Mt Denali, Mt Aconcagua, Mt Kosciuszko, Mt Vinson Massif and Mt Everest, she said.
Image caption Alan Hinkes OBE has climbed the 14 highest mountains in the world
Ms Shuttleworth said she now planned to take a rest.
She has a place at Nottingham University to study veterinary science, although she plans to continue climbing.
Mr Hinkes, who was the first Briton to climb the world's 14 highest mountains (with peaks above 8,000m), said: "There have been bodies I have stepped over myself. A lot of them do get removed or moved off the mountain.
"You have got to keep moving or die at this extreme altitude. If someone has died, there is not much to do about it."
He said that if Ms Shuttleworth had stayed with the dying people on the slope she might have "died with them".
Mr Hinkes said the guides, who assisted one of the injured people, would know what help could be provided.
"There was nothing realistically that she could have done," he said.
Mr Hinkes said responsible firms helping people climb Everest warned people of the risks |
, it seems you need to have some other public voice," Chupp said.
Commissioner Tim Hagan, a driving force behind the project, recently defended his close relationship with MMPI President Chris Kennedy. Commissioner Jimmy Dimora is a target of a federal investigation into county corruption.
Hagan and Dimora voted to raise the sales tax a quarter of a cent, to 7.75 percent, in 2007 to pay for the project. Jones, the third commissioner, voted against it. The hike, expected to generate about $40 million annually, expires in October 2027. The 20-year life of the tax increase is the basis for the county's payments to MMPI, even though that money, by law, cannot pay off bonds issued for economic development. Instead, the county will pay for the project using money from other accounts, and replenish those funds with the sales tax money.
The county will borrow money next year for construction. Proceeds from the loan -- up to $425 million -- will be transferred to MMPI. The county will pay MMPI $40 million a year for each year until 2027. MMPI will use $36 million of that money to pay back the loan. The company can use the remaining $4 million each year for its own purposes.
The county will make "supplemental" payments to MMPI each year to subsidize day-to-day operations of the convention center. That payment starts at $6 million a year and could escalate to $7.8 million a year. The county has not determined where that money will come from.
Before construction begins, MMPI is required to sign up 10 makers of medical equipment to lease space in the medical mart for at least three years. MMPI also must arrange for five medically themed trade shows within the first year of operation.
Still to come are operating, lease and financing agreements.
The deal does not mention meeting city of Cleveland goals for hiring local businesses, as well as those owned by minorities and women.'He saved my life!': Lady Gaga reveals jazz legend Tony Bennett rescued her career and even advised her to delay starting a family
Her most recent album Artpop failed to reach the financial and critical success of her previous records.
And according to Lady Gaga the effects of the backlash left her feeling 'dead' and contemplating giving up singing altogether.
But in a new interview with Parade, the 28-year-old reveals how collaborating with Tony Bennett'saved my life,' reinvigorated her musical passion and causing her to want to 'take a lot more time before I have kids and settle down.'
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Role model: In a new interview, Gaga revealed how collaborating with Bennett'saved my life' and caused her to want to 'take a lot more time before I have kids and settle down'
Sporting a voluminous brown curly wig, the Born This Way singer wraps her arms around the 88-year-old jazz great on the cover of the new edition of the magazine.
In the issue she discusses being in a dark place following the relative low sales and media scrutiny of her album, released in November 2013.
'Six months ago I didn't even want to sing anymore,' the Applause singer told the publication.
The backlash: The 28-year-old discussed being in a dark place following the relative low sales and media scrutiny of her album ArtPop, pictured at New York Fashion Week on Sept. 5
'Tony said, "I’ve never once in my career not wanted to do this." It stung. Six months ago I didn’t feel that way.
'I tell Tony every day that he saved my life. I was so sad. I couldn’t sleep. I felt dead. And then I spent a lot of time with Tony. He wanted nothing but my friendship and my voice.'
Gaga began to collaborate with the crooner and the duo are now set to release their upcoming jazz album, Cheek To Cheek, on September 23.
But just prior to becoming fast friends and working together, the pop diva was contemplating quitting the business, settling down and having her own little monsters.
Dynamic duo: She and the 88-year-old jazz legend will release their new album Cheek To Cheek on Sept. 23
'I thought I did [want kids immediately], because I was feeling kind of finished with all of the chaos of my life,' she told Parade.
'But then I started to spend a lot more time with Tony, and everything just became simpler, more pure, and more perfect.
'Now I think I’m going to take a lot more time before I have kids and settle down. I just want to sing.'
And that may or may not be good news for her longtime boyfriend, Taylor Kinney.
Right-hand man: Not seen with Lady Gaga were her two loves - French Bulldog Asia and her boyfriend of three years, Taylor Kinney, who returns on NBC's Chicago Fire this Tuesday (pictured September 5)
While the couple has never publicly revealed if they have plans to walk down the aisle in the future, she and the handsome Chicago Fire star have been together for three years.
And with her singing career now back on track, Gaga is back on the road and currently in Dubai for her first ever performance in the Middle East.
The star debuted her artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball Tour concert at the Meydan Racecourse on Wednesday night.
Back on tour: The blonde beauty debuted her artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball Tour concert in Dubai on Wednesday night.The body of two-year-old Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette was found on Tuesday near the Crowsnest Pass town where she was taken and a 22-year-old local man remains in custody, according to RCMP.
The shaken community of Blairmore learned that events had taken a turn for the worse Tuesday evening when an RCMP officer stepped forward during a candlelight vigil and told gathered residents of the small mountain town that the Amber Alert for Hailey had been cancelled and a body had been found.
Standing in a park where the two-year-old once played, members of Hailey's family cried as they were surrounded by people in their community overcome with emotion.
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"This is going to devastate our community. This is going to take a long time to heal from this," said a visibly shaken Crowsnest Pass Mayor Blair Painter. "This is heartbreaking, devastating news."
RCMP Superintendent Tony Hamori confirmed the news responsible for the community's grief an hour later at 10 p.m. MT. "It is my very sad duty tonight to inform you that we have found the body of two-year-old Hailey Dunbar-Blanchette in a rural location near Blairmore," he said. "This is a sad day for the citizens of Blairmore and all Canadians who have held this little girl in their thoughts and prayers."
Hailey's body was found during a search based on information received by investigators. Supt. Hamori declined to take questions, saying more information would be released Wednesday morning. He said officers were at the scene where Hailey had been found and were processing evidence.
The girl's death ends a difficult week for the Crowsnest Pass. Since Monday, everyone in Blairmore had been talking about Hailey and wondering what had happened to her. The girl with a wide smile and light-brown bangs falling on her forehead, was taken from her home and disappeared into a speeding white van Monday morning, leaving behind her father's body, a crime scene and a town on edge.
On Tuesday, the RCMP arrested a suspect, a 22-year-old man from the town, in connection with the killing of Terry Blanchette and the abduction of his daughter. The suspect remains in custody.
The Calgary Sun reported, citing unnamed sources, that the man's name is Derek Saretsky and that he was in a relationship with Cheyenne Dunbar, Hailey's mother. The Calgary Herald said several police cruisers were seen parked throughout the day and evening in the alley behind a dry cleaner in Blairmore where Mr. Saretsky worked. The Herald quoted a neighbour saying that Mr. Saretsky had once dated Ms. Dunbar.
The RCMP say, however, no one has yet been charged and therefore they cannot identify a suspect.
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For many in this picturesque town, nestled in Alberta's Crowsnest Pass, there was a deep sadness on Tuesday even before Hailey's body was found. In less than a week, there have been two killings.
Locals had said that front doors would be locked and porch lights left on for the second night in a row. Before Hailey's disappearance Monday, many doors had gone unlocked for decades.
"I'm just scared. I've lived here for 20 years and my neighbour is dead. I'm finding myself checking my backyard and locking my door. I've just never heard of something like this here," Donna Dauphinee said.
Her neighbour, Hannah Meketech, 69, was killed in nearby Coleman, Alta., last Wednesday. The RCMP have said that they believe there is no connection between the killings, but many have been shaken by the events.
Jeff Sangwin's girlfriend pushed the couple's freezer in front of their back door – the lock is broken and she was worried for the safety of their one-year-old.
"It's pretty extreme, but it's heart-wrenching to think about what happened," he said.
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Throughout the day, RCMP officers with search dogs combed culverts and ditches beside local roads. Along with the arrest on Tuesday, officers found a white van that could match the description of the vehicle used to abduct Hailey. As of Tuesday night, police say they no longer need the public's assistance in locating the vehicle used in the crime.
"There's a discomfort in the community, that's sure," Jessica Sant said.
After the Amber Alert was announced Monday afternoon, news quickly spread. Before Tuesday evening's events, reminders of the Amber Alert flashed on digital billboards across Alberta.
"We have the parallel aspect of the father's homicide, as well. This is the toughest kind of thing for police officers to deal with, when you are dealing with a missing child in circumstances like this," Supt. Hamori said earlier Tuesday.
With a constellation of small towns along the Crowsnest Highway linking Alberta with B.C., this coal-mining area has dealt with tragedy in the past. At one end of the Crowsnest Pass, known locally only as The Pass, is a daily reminder of disaster. In 1903, the side of a mountain fell and buried the town of Frank, killing at least 70. The main highway now cuts through a field of boulders the size of homes, many have remained undisturbed for more than a century.
A short walk from the site of the so-called Frank Slide is the Pure Country Bar and Grill where Mr. Blanchette worked as a chef. The restaurant's owner, Tammy Tracey, said Mr. Blanchette would often bring Hailey in to visit.
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When the staff heard on Monday that he had been killed, the owner and her employees closed the restaurant, then sat together and cried.
"We all stayed and had a few drinks," Ms. Tracey said. "There were a lot of tears … he was a good dad."
Court records indicated that Mr. Blanchette had a number of troubles with the law from 2010 to 2012, although he appears to have turned his life around when Hailey was born.
Mr. Blanchette's earliest conviction was for failing to appear in court in Lethbridge in 2010, for which he was fined $300. In February, 2012, he pleaded guilty and was fined $750 for failing to stop his vehicle and evading police. The following month, he stole beef jerky from a Dollarama store and assaulted a man. He pleaded guilty and was fined $500.
Ms. Tracey acknowledged that Mr. Blanchette had some problems when he was younger.
"Nothing serious, just the story of stuff that kids get into. When he had Hailey, he really became a good dad."
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With reports from Allan Maki and The Canadian PressIn this Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, photo, Kourt Frame, a transgender sophomore who was named Homecoming prince of his sophomore class waves outside of Grand Blanc High School during the homecoming parade in Grand Blanc, Mich. (Photo: Jake May, Associated Press)
GRAND BLANC, Mich. — A transgender student in Grand Blanc has been chosen as homecoming prince.
Grand Blanc High School sophomore Kourt Frame tells MLive that he decided to campaign for homecoming prince to empower people to be who they are and raise awareness about acceptance.
► Related: We 'just want to learn,' transgender youths say
Kourt says his peers have been supportive and that he hasn't heard any negativity.
Kourt said he told people was transgender in 9th grade, two years after he discovered the term that he says described how he felt since he was a child. He says he was afraid his friends would reject him, but instead he felt acceptance and love.
Kourt's mother, Sherri Frame, says her son's nomination was a great moment for Grand Blanc.
Read or Share this story: http://on.freep.com/2e531dKSysadmin blog As sysadmins, we have to test before we deploy. We need to test before even upgrading a driver. We should test absolutely everything before a major deployment. It seems obvious. It is obvious.
You should certainly need to test everything before doing what I did: throwing ten times the normal I/O and processing load at your systems in a massive network upgrade.
But I am a systems administrator who did not have the resources to build a comprehensive test network. So this week I'll tell you the insights I gained from learning what not to do, and learning it the hard way.
Any systems administrator can tell you that major IT projects leave us with plenty of frustration to discuss: so welcome to the complete systems overhaul that I will call my Doomsday Weekend.
My IBM Model M keyboard has come to represent, for me, a happier time. It was manufactured five months before I was born. It has seen continuous usage since it was purchased; for well over two decades, ten hours a day almost every day. Every year I put it in the dishwasher and it emerges ready to go for another year. It's a metaphor for what I want to do: build technology, especially computer systems, with some semblance of permanence.
Most of the equipment I have to work with these days isn’t up to that level. My Wyse thin clients may outlive me, but they are a rare example of modern technology that isn’t designed to self-destruct the day after the manufacturer’s warranty is up. The built-in obsolescence of modern technology is really getting to me. During Doomsday Weekend, it nearly ruined everything.
The Doomsday Weekend has taught me many things. Some interesting technologies I hadn't explored, combined with punishing lessons of what not to do. None of those lessons has struck home quite as deeply as that of never, ever trusting a vendor 100 per cent. The number of hardware failures that we experienced during Doomsday Weekend was saddening.
An example is a five disk La Cie NAS that consistently tipped over after you put 2TB worth of data through it. A reboot solved the problem, but that is zero help when you are performing a network overhaul over a weekend, and the device won’t have available wetware to reboot it until the weekend is over.
Similarly, I have a smouldering hatred for pretty much everything ASUS has made in the last two years. I think the quality of its equipment has dropped, and the results have affected me directly. I don’t know from where ASUS sources fans, but I wish something bad would happen to whoever negotiated that contract.
Somewhere, there is a special hell reserved for DIMM manufacturers. DIMM failure rates are becoming ridiculous, and it doesn’t seem to matter which vendor of DIMM or motherboard we use. I’ve thrown everything I can think of at conditioning and testing the power into the systems, and I can’t find a problem that would affect anything. With six hundred DIMMs active in production servers, I see a DIMM die every two months. That’s nuts.
I could go on; I certainly would like to, but I am sure you get the idea. I am sure you all have your own horror stories.
The point I learned is: vendors can’t always be trusted. ®United Airlines might have another public relations nightmare on its hands, after allegedly bumping a 77-year-old woman who travels in a wheelchair off her flight to London, according to her son.
Steven Williams said he dropped off his mother at Ronald Regan National Airport in Arlington, Va., trusting the airline to make sure she arrived at her proper destination, WUSA-TV reported. She was scheduled to fly to Newark, N.J., before catching a connecting flight to London.
“They assist people in wheelchairs and get someone to wheel them through and basically take responsibility for that person until they arrive at their destination,” Williams told the station.
Despite being reassured “three or four times she was on that flight” to London, Williams said he later learned from the driver who was hired to pick her up that she never arrived.
Williams said he found out hours later that his mother had landed in New Jersey, but was kicked off her next flight to London.
“Basically, she was left at the gate for 12 hours. They offered her a hotel that was miles away,” Williams said. “She had to get there on her own steam. There’s no way my mom could have pushed a wheelchair at her age, so she sat there.”
"There’s no way my mom could have pushed a wheelchair at her age, so she sat there." — Steven Williams, describing 77-year-old mother's air travel ordeal
However, a United spokesperson said she “was not kicked off,” but rather “she didn't make it in time for her flight to London,” which contradicts Williams’ story.
In a statement to Fox News, the airline said it offered to take the woman to a hotel, but she "declined." The incident is under review, and United said it has since apologized to the customer's family.
"While we offered our customer a hotel and to take her there, she declined our offer of assistance. We checked on her throughout the evening. We have since spoken with our customer's family to express our sincere apologies. We are working with our team at Newark to review what happened and to ensure we learn from this incident," United said.
The airline offered a $1,000 voucher to the mother, Williams said.This is just a question. I am in no way judging anyone. As a christian, what do you do if you feel you are more than ready for sex, but have zero interest in a longterm relationship with a man? Im in my 30's and just don't want a relationship. I haven't been hurt in the past or anything. The men I've dated have been perfectly sweet and are definitely attractive. I think about doing things with them all the time, but I don't. I just don't really have any interest in going deeper than sex. I like living alone and not having kids. I like never having a second set of emotions to worry about, too. Being in a relationship just turned into a chore and the guys never felt like I cared for them (that was usually why things ended anyway).
I'd personally like to just skip the love part. I don't think it's for me. I can't really find anything in the bible that addresses this. Everything is supposed to lead to marriage, but what if I dont want that? I've 'handled my own business'...Thousands of supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi battled for control of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the recent revolution. Over one hundred protesters are reported injured in the violence.
Supporters and opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi fought for control of Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the recent revolution.
Protesters hurled rocks and bottles at each other, fists flew and gunshots were heard during the melee in downtown Cairo on Friday. The ongoing conflict is the first major street fight between liberals and Islamists since Morsi's election in June.
Bel Trew, a Cairo-based journalist, told RT about the chaotic scene unfolding on Tahrir, saying she had “personally witnessed rock throwing, several very heavy head injuries, Molotov [cocktail] throwing; we have heard gunshots, though I can’t confirm that myself as I wasn’t able to see.”
She also said there were small fires by a museum adjacent to the square caused by petrol bombs and fireworks. Trew believes the violence is unlikely to end soon, as “there has been no police presence whatsoever, even though in Morsi’s 100-day plan, he did say that he would up security in the country and reassure people that they wouldn’t see scenes like this.”
The Health Ministry said 110 people had sustained light to moderate injuries, state media reported.
Mounira Public Hospital chief Muhammad Shawky said earlier in the afternoon that his hospital had received at least ten injured protesters, the Egypt Independent reports. One man was hospitalized after receiving a serious eye injury, while nine others were treated for minor wounds and later released. Since then, the number reported injured has continued to increase without any signs of abating.
Eyewitnesses said many of the injured had been pelted with rocks.
Egyptian protesters hold a national flag as they walk past a burning bus during clashes in Cairo on October 12, 2012 (AFP Photo / Str)
Some 2,000 people poured onto the square on Friday after tensions erupted between pro- and anti-Morsi forces when a court acquitted Mubarak-era officials accused of ordering camels to charge against protesters during last year’s uprising.
The February 2011 incident, known as the "Camel Battle," left nearly a dozen people dead. It was one of the bloodiest incidents in the 2011 revolution that toppled the Mubarak regime.
The so-called "Judgement Day” protest on the square had originally been organized by left-leaning activists hoping to draw attention to their disaffection with President Morsi and the Constituent Assembly. Islamists arrived to protest the contentious "Camel Battle" ruling, which saw 25 figures in the Mubarak regime set free.
While all sides to the conflict were united in their opposition to the acquittal, long simmering tensions between the rival parties quickly spilled over.
The coalition of liberals and secular-minded groups was particularly concerned with Islamist control of the body drafting the country's new constitution.
Fighting commenced after Muslim Brotherhood supporters tore down a podium belonging to a group chanting anti-Morsi slogans, AFP reported.
“Down, down with rule by the guide,” Morsi's detractors chanted in reference to Mohammed Badie, the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. Morsi officially resigned from the Brotherhood upon assuming office, but his opponents believe that he maintains control over the president.
Egyptians inspect a burnt bus which was set on fire during clashes on Tahrir square in Cairo on October 12, 2012 (AFP Photo / Khaled Desouki)
On Friday Morsi was in Egypt's second largest city, Alexandria, where he vowed that the former regime's figures would be held accountable in spite of Wednesday's ruling.
Morsi moved to dismiss the country's prosecutor general – a Mubarak appointee – following the controversial verdict. The prosecutor, Abdel-Maguid Mahmoud refused to resign and accept an offer to be Egypt's envoy to the Vatican.
Following Friday's altercations on Tahrir Square, the April 6 movement, which played a key role in ousting Mubarak from power, said its supporters would march on the prosecutor's office.
Egyptian opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohamed Morsi (top) confront government supporters in Tahrir square in Cairo on October 12, 2012 (AFP Photo / Khaled Desouki)
Egyptians evacuate a wounded man during clashes between government supporters and opponent of the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohamed Morsi in Tahrir square in Cairo on October 12, 2012 (AFP Photo / Khaled Desouki)
Egypt on the road to Islamization?
Fears that Egypt's controversial new draft constitution will lead to the establishment of an Islamist state were expressed by Trew, who argued that a "massive Islamization of the constitution" is underway.
“Key articles in the constitution, like Article 2 and Article 36 relating to the Egyptian penal code and also relating to women’s’ rights, are really seeing a lot of Islamization, in which people are saying Egyptian law should not only derive from Islamic Sharia, but actually follow Islamic Sharia. This is one of the ongoing battles in the Constituent Assembly," she said.
Trew also said that many fear that draft Article 36 will put women directly under the thumb of "Islamic jurisprudence."
"In addition, they have to reconcile their domestic responsibilities with the other sides of their life. Basically implying that [for] women, the home comes first," she continued.
But Barah Mikail, a senior researcher on Middle Eastern issues at the FRIDE think tank, told RT that talks of Egypt becoming an Islamist country were premature.
“I wouldn’t talk about any danger when it comes to Egypt’s global reorganization of social and political aspects. We haven’t got a clear picture of what could occur in the future. What we know [is that] whenever the constitution is definitely drafted, it will also be submitted to a vote. This is why I think there is no real threat on the future of Egypt when it comes to [talking] about its [return] to an authoritarian regime or a dictatorship,” he said.
“At the same time, whatever result we receive with the constitution, we will still have growing frustrations among the Egyptian population.”
Jerusalem Post journalist Yaakov Lappin was less optimistic about Egypt's constitution, telling RT that many of the current draft laws being debated were disconcerting "for anyone who would like to see Egypt remain a secular, democratic state."
"There was a draft clause that would make Al-Azhar – the foremost Sunni Islamic learning institution – some sort of body that would be able to decide whether new laws are compatible or incompatible with Islamic law. These are the basic steps that one would take if one wanted to set up an Islamist state," he said.
"As long as a majority of people who are setting up the new constitution are Islamists, they will naturally seek to create an Islamist state, and at this stage I don’t see how that could be avoided."
Egyptians help to evacuate a wounded man during clashes of opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohamed Morsi with government supporters in Tahrir square in Cairo on October 12, 2012 (AFP Photo / Khaled Desouki)
Egyptian opponents of the Muslim Brotherhood and President Mohamed Morsi confront government supporters (top) in Tahrir square in Cairo on October 12, 2012 (AFP Photo / Khaled Desouki)
Anti-Muslim Brotherhood demonstrators tackle a Muslim Brotherhood member and supporter of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi at Tahrir Square, the focal point of the Egyptian uprising, in Cairo October 12, 2012 (Reuters / Mohamed Abd El Ghany)Out of prison and living at home under house arrest for the remainder of a suspended prison sentence, former CIA operative John Kiriakou, convicted and sent to jail for blowing the whistle on agency torture under the Bush administration, has been speaking to major medi outlets this week about the brutal tactics and depraved abuse administered by the U.S. government in the name fighting terrorism as well as his prosecution and conviction under the Espionage Act for speaking out against such crimes.
In a two-part interview aired over as many nights this week, Kiriakou spoke with MSNBC's Chris Hayes at length about his case and its implications on national security, the ongoing and so-called 'war on terror,' and what it means to be a government whistleblower in the post-9/11 age.
Part 1:
Part 2:
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Earlier this week, Kiriakou had a conversation, via Skype, with HuffPost Live anchor Alyona Minkovski during which he said that though the government has been very willing to target CIA whistleblowers like himself and the more recently-convicted Jeffrey Sterling who expose government ineptitude or criminality, the Obama adminstration has prove totally cowardly when it comes to prosecuting those who committed war crimes or authorized tortured.
"I don't think our government, no matter who is president, would ever have the guts to charge someone at the level of a Dick Cheney or of a CIA director... with crimes against humanity," Kiriakou told Minkovski.
Watch the entire HuffPost Live interview:A Winnipeg-born football player who is a member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders is facing trial for alleged drug trafficking.
Defensive lineman Jordan Reaves is free on bail after being ordered earlier this year to stand trial in November on one count of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking.
The 27-year-old player and a second man were arrested by Winnipeg police during a traffic stop in late 2015, according to Reaves' lawyer Mike Cook.
"Immediately upon his arrest he told the Winnipeg Police Service officers he had absolutely no involvement with the matter," Cook stated in an email to CBC News.
"We are vehemently denying any involvement in this allegation."
The Riders said they were not aware of any charges until Thursday.
"We were disappointed to learn of the legal situation concerning Jordan Reaves," the club said in an emailed statement.
"Since the club was informed of the matter yesterday, Jordan has been open and co-operative with our inquiries. He absolutely maintains his innocence."
The club declined to comment further while the legal process was still underway.Straight Outta Compton starts out in 1986, but one of its accessories is from 1991.
In one of the film's early scenes, Eazy-E (played by Jason Mitchell) sports a black Chicago White Sox hat with a white logo. However, some sports history buffs immediately realized something — that logo didn't even exist in 1986.
#161: Straight Outta Compton - MovieCount 2015. Great movie! Except Easy-E's 1991 White Sox hat in 1986. #anachronism pic.twitter.com/jETH1sxAbC — Mike Provine (@mjprovine) August 18, 2015
The white logo was created in 1990 and officially rolled out in 1991. Prior to that, the Sox logo went through a few other incarnations.
The different logos over the years. Image: White Sox official website
Even though it was placed in the wrong year, the film wasn't wrong to show E wearing the cap. That Sox logo was particularly popular with the hip-hop set in the '90s, with Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and 50 Cent donning it at one time or another.The governors of Yamanashi and Shizuoka prefectures have warned they might start charging an admission fee to visit Mount Fuji in a bid to finance environmental efforts on the iconic mountain.
Yamanashi Gov. Shomei Yokouchi said the two prefectures, whose borders are straddled by Japan’s highest mountain, will jointly determine how much to charge and when to commence a fee-based system. An admission fee might be introduced on a trial basis at an early date, he added.
“It’s likely we’ll ask climbers to share certain burdens,” Yokouchi told reporters Saturday, although Shizuoka Gov. Heita Kawakatsu said it’s possible the prefectures will “start by collecting contributions rather than a compulsory charge.”
The move comes at a time when Japan is hoping to have Mount Fuji listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site.
The two prefectures have discussed the introduction of an admission charge for the last 15 years due to the degradation of Mount Fuji’s environment from the volume of visitors and climbers. However, concerns that the plan could cause visitor numbers to tumble have hindered its implementation.
Yokouchi and Kawakatsu were attending an event in Tokyo organized to promote the mountain’s bid for a World Heritage listing.A majority of Canadians who have attended youth hockey games report having witnessed adult spectators hurling curse words and abuse at referees and players, according to a new poll by Angus Reid Institute.
“We hear the horror stories, but as far as we knew nobody had yet gone out to measure the prevalence of this,” said Shachi Kurl, senior vice-president of Angus Reid.
The survey targeted 686 adults who had attended a youth hockey game within the past year. Of those, 59% reported witnessing “inappropriate language and/or berating” directed against a referee, and 49% saw the behaviour directed at “the kids playing hockey.”
“And they think it’s serious; they think it’s hurting the game,” Ms. Kurl said.
Among survey respondents, 42% called rink abuse a “very serious issue that is hurting the game,” while another 45% called it a “very serious issue, but more or less under control.”
While aggressive spectators have long been a well-known phenomenon at Canadian youth hockey games, efforts to combat “rink rage” have increasingly been pushed into the spotlight.
In 2010, Calgary minor hockey organizers began requiring parents to complete etiquette training before enrolling their children.
Earlier this year, B.C.’s Vancouver Island Amateur Hockey Association warned parents that they would ban spectators from games if parents continued to express “vindictiveness” to the league’s teenaged referees.
And just last month, a junior hockey game in Penticton, B.C. required police involvement after a parent pursued a referee into the rink parking lot and punched the official’s car.
According to the Angus Reid survey, the likelihood of witnessing abuse went up sharply among regular attendees of youth hockey.
Among adults who had attended 11 games in the past two years, an incredible 73% reported having witnessed verbal abuse against referees, and 63% reported seeing an incident of verbal abuse directed at a player.
While Canada’s signature winter sport is the most visible host to spectator rage, it appears to be a problem across the spectrum.
In 2010, an Ipsos Reid poll found that 53% of Canadians attending a youth sporting event had witnessed parents being either physically or verbally abusive to game officials.
The same poll found that Canada ranked fifth in the world for abusive sports parents, behind Argentina, Australia, India and the United States.
National Post
• Email: thopper@nationalpost.com | Twitter: TristinHopperApril 12, 2016
Salk scientists find “secret sauce” for personalized, functional insulin-producing cells
Researchers uncover molecular switch to make effective sugar-responsive, insulin-releasing cells in a dish, offering hope for diabetes therapy
April 12, 2016
LA JOLLA—Salk scientists have solved a longstanding problem in the effort to create replacement cells for diabetic patients. The team uncovered a hidden energy switch that, when flipped, powers up pancreatic cells to respond to glucose, a step that eluded previous research. The result is the production of hundreds of millions of lab-produced human beta cells—able to relieve diabetes in mice.
For more than a decade, scientists across the globe strived to replace failing pancreatic beta cells linked to immune destruction in children (type 1 diabetes) or obesity-associated diabetes in adults (type 2 diabetes). Although cells made in a dish were able to produce insulin, they were sluggish or simply unable to respond to glucose.
“We found the missing energy switch needed to produce robust and functional human beta cells, potentially turning this discovery into a viable treatment for human diabetes,” says Ronald Evans, co-senior author and director of the Gene Expression Laboratory at Salk. The new work was published in Cell Metabolism on April 12, 2016.
The Salk technology begins with induced pluripotent cells (iPSC), a stem cell technique where tissue from a patient—such as skin—is reprogrammed into other types of cells, such as from the pancreas. This step yields the pre-beta cells, which produce insulin but are not yet functional. While several research groups reached this juncture, the road forward to functional cells was not clear.
“Pancreatic beta cells must be able to do two things to work effectively: respond to glucose and produce insulin,” says Evans, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator and the March of Dimes Chair in Molecular and Developmental Biology. “No one had been able to figure out how to make pancreatic cells from human patients that can do both until now.”
The Salk team closely studied the basic biology of a beta cell and uncovered several molecular switches, called transcription factors, that were switched off but might control the transition to a fully functional state. The ‘secret sauce,’ the Salk team found, was one particular switch the Evans lab had studied for years for its role in cell signaling. This protein switch, called ERR-gamma, turned out to be crucial to awaken silent beta-like cells that could now respond to glucose and release insulin accordingly.
“This advance will result in a better controlled insulin response than currently available treatments,” says Michael Downes, co-senior author and a Salk senior staff scientist. “Previously there was nothing known about the maturation process in beta cells. We peeked into that black box and now we know what’s going on.” He adds that the team’s technique is an easy, fast and inexpensive way to make transplantable human pancreatic beta cells in a dish that genetically match patients.
“When we added ERR-gamma to pre-diabetic beta cells in a dish, we successfully created a glucose-responsive, beta-like cell,” says Eiji Yoshihara, first author of the paper and a Salk research associate. “And when we remove ERR-gamma from animals, the glucose response is eliminated, proving that the factor is the master regulator of maturation for the beta cell.”
But can these beta cells successfully treat diabetes? The Salk researchers found that, indeed, when the matured beta cells were transplanted into type 1 diabetic mice, the procedure quickly rescued their diabetes. “Hopefully, this mirrors what would happen in the clinic—after someone is diagnosed with diabetes they could potentially get this treatment,” says Evans. “It’s exciting because it suggests that cells in a dish are ready to go.”
The researchers hope to move to human trials within the next few years.
Other authors on the paper were Zong Wei, Chun Shi Lin, Sungsoon Fang, Maryam Ahmadian, Yasuyuki Kida, Tiffany Tseng, Yang Dai, Ruth T. Yu and Annette R. Atkins of the Salk Institute; and Christopher Liddle of the University of Sydney.
The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research, the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, Ipsen/Biomeasure, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), The Ellison Medical Foundation, and by gifts from Steven Kirsch and Steven and Lisa Altman.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a pancreatic beta cell?
These are cells created by the pancreas to detect blood sugar levels and produce insulin, |
aligns properly to not only our local sun, but extends all the way out to our Galactic Central Sun as well, thereby connecting you to the Oneness of All and your right/proper place within Creation itself.
So the solar plexus should be one's starting focal point in traveling multi-dimensionally. (And this is why so much clearing and letting go work, not to mention self-love/empowerment was required of you prior to reaching this stage.) Next your heart chakra and your intentions contained therein guide you to your appropriate level of experience/information, and the visuals/insights of course then naturally flow into your third-eye and crown region, while various other chakras are also utilized in processing and assimilating the experience as well, but you see how the starting point or PORTAL/DOORWAY to the great mysteries that lie beyond is actually your own inner central sun region?
Again I cannot stress enough the importance of you exercising your WILL to go deep within your center (solar plexus) and create your own personal connections to us, to your Selves, to Home, through YOUR inner spiral of time/space and by doing so, you begin to pull us through in a sense – and magnetize/pull the worlds together so that true “contact” can be made and the “event” or “unveiling” may finally commence.
It is up to you, those on the front lines, of the first order, to now finish what you've started so that others can soon follow in your footsteps, thereby renewing all Soul/Star family streams/lineages back into the experience of Earth. You have finally finished creating the inner vehicle, all of your hard work is about to pay off, all is perfect and ready – now is the time to use it! It is time for you to step into conscious mastery and to really work at this on a daily basis by utilizing this new vehicle. At this level of empowerment, movement, and connection, it will not take long at all to see the culmination of such efforts dramatically manifest right before your very eyes.
For it is the information, the memory, the codings and the love in which you come into contact with and bring through you to the physical plane which will stimulate first the outer collapse of illusion and then the healing, growth and rejuvenation necessary on a mass level once the truth is revealed.
This is when the outer transformation of your world truly begins. We are here, we are waiting, we are eager to fully reconnect with you, as is sweet Gaia, all are here to help you to REMEMBER and to give you the “keys” needed to open all doors, breakdown all veils/barriers, and to restore that which has become distorted. And ALL of it will be birthed THROUGH you and through the many others whose vessels have also been readied to serve in this way. You are ALL now more than ready to contain IT and even reference those various otherworldly storehouses at WILL – the knowledge, the memory, the truth, the codes, the worlds themselves – filling you full in large measure, and then integrating and releasing these energetic light codings into the ethers and ley-lines of Earth. You are learning a new form of “breath” appropriate to your newly expanded vessel and becoming/embodying your divine, powerful and luminous self in the process!!
Soon, your proficiency in utilizing your new vehicle to serve as a nexus point of worlds, experience and information will blossom, and you, I and all that is contained within YOU will truly become ONE. Balance on Earth/Gaia and all connected realms will again be restored, and you will once again find yourself HOME and COMPLETE. And you'll realize...the idea was never to really "go" anywhere at all in the first place. Instead, you'll simply "unpack" all that beauty and richness right here.
That's only the NEAR future! Many more choices then appear on the horizon for you and for ALL.Despite BDS calls to boycott goods produced in the West Bank, a recent report has revealed that West Bank goods are more in demand than ever before.
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At the Shahak industrial park being built in the northern West Bank, over 100 dunams have been sold to developers. The Barkan industrial park outside of Ariel - which already has 160 factories and companies – has registered a further 60 companies who want to relocate to the area.
Due to this huge increase in demand, another industrial park is set to open. Called the Nahal Rabah – Gates of Shomron Industrial Park, it will be located next to Sha’ar Tikvah and Oranit, putting it within a 20 minute drive of Petah Tikvah.
Palestinian workers at a factory in the Barkan Industrian Park (Photo: AFP)
The industrial park will include both manufacturing and hi-tech companies, and will be owned by the Shomron Regional Council in conjunction with the Oranit and Elkana local councils.
Head of the Shomron Regional Council Yossi Dagan was one of the drivers behind the opening of the new industrial park. He said “on the one hand, international companies don’t really comply with EU decisions. On the other hand, Israeli companies aren’t ready to give up on the advantages (of operating in these areas), and are marketing their products to places other than Europe, such as Africa, India, and China.”Guest Post: Breaking The Low Mood Cycle
Hello friends! It’s Elodie Under Glass here with a guest post on Low Moods.
I particularly want to thank Quisty, Kellis Amberlee and TheOtherAlice for their kindly help in reading and editing this piece. It would not have existed without their care, support, compassion, and wonderful editorial abilities. They are truly remarkable humans! (edited: And thanks to the radiant and patient NessieMonster, who let me come to her city and follow her around, burbling insensibly about this post, for far longer than most people would have.)
So recently, I went on a Stress and Mood Management course, and I thought that you all might enjoy sharing what I’ve learned.
This post is something of a correction/update to Adulthood is a Scary Horse, a post for the Captain which I was never quite satisfied with. It really crystallized for me on this course, in our discussion of the Low Mood Cycle. It’s a concept described in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and I thought it would be useful to share.
I am not a mental health professional (more caveats on that at the end). But I felt that if these resources had been usefully presented for free on the Internet – especially during times where taking a train and a bus and a taxi to get to a day-long course seemed like organizing a picnic on Venus – it could have helped me that little bit sooner. Maybe it will help others.
What is this Low Mood?
Moods are curious things. We instinctively know what they are (“I’m in a bad mood! I’m in a good mood!”) and how they affect our behavior (“I should never respond to Internet comments unless I’m in a good mood.”) We recognize that we really don’t like to be in Bad Moods or Sad Moods, while much of our free time is spent in pursuing Good Moods. We know intuitively that odd things seem to affect our mood, sometimes apparently out of all proportion – “A bus driver was mean to me, and while I know that it’s not really significant, it’s ruined my whole day.”
We can spend weeks or months or years in a poor mood, which doesn’t seem quite bad enough for us to call it a mental health problem, or a reason to seek professional help. It’s a funny thing – we don’t really trust our moods as valid emotional states – and really, something as transient and odd as a “mood” doesn’t seem like something that can be treated or cured.
But remember how terrible you feel when you’re in a Low Mood? If we’re creative people, we may explain away the apparent drought in our creativity by saying “I’m just not in the mood to write/paint/draw,” while secretly panicking because what if we’ve lost our creativity? If we’re performative people – people who work in food service, retail, performance art, or another field where you need to project happiness and serenity to do your job – then expressing a Happy Mood when you’re in a Low Mood can feel like operating the most exhausting puppet show ever. It’s really hard to “just do you” when you just don’t feel like it.
Everyone feels like this – it is a natural thing, with underlying logic to it. Here is a diagram of a Mood Cycle, a self-perpetuating hamster wheel which literally every human deals with:
Thoughts influence behavior, which influences outcome, which in turn feeds back into your thoughts.
If you’re in a bad place, this is one way that the cycle of badness continues to percolate in your head. And we’ve all been there – we’ve all seen how Low Mood affects your health, productivity, relationships, creative output, and mental outlook. Which is to say: A good deal of your life.
or if you’re me, it’s a bit more like
If you’re in situations that encourage the Low Mood Cycle – certain types of relationships, jobs and living situations are basically designed to put you into this Cycle and keep you there – it becomes almost impossible to see beyond your current mood. It becomes hard to remember those times where you were really bright and motivated and funny, and you wanted to see your friends and go places and do new things, and you were completing all kinds of projects and doing good exercise and engaging with your life. And remembering those times can be kind of worse, because you’re like “I was that person? How?”
Here’s how one facet of the creative process can look when it’s fed into the Low Mood Cycle:
Which is pretty familiar to everyone. Thought feeds into Behavior which feeds into Outcome, creating a pattern that strangles your creative attempts in the womb.
Much Behavior! Such Motivate!
So how do we stop the Low Mood Cycle? We push on any part of it we can, but it’s quite effective to push on Behavior. Specifically, it’s called “behavioral activation” – go forth and complete a task.
If you are stuck in a small and transient Low Mood Cycle and your dirty environment is feeding into that, you break the cycle by getting up and washing the dishes. Of course you don’t want to. Of course this is the last thing you want to do when you’re in a Low Mood. But completing a specific task breaks the cycle.
For extra points, you can break down the Stuff You Do into three categories:
routine stuff (getting up, grooming, eating, taking anti-baby pills)
necessary stuff (paying bills, doing chores, completing work tasks)
pleasurable stuff.
If you aren’t doing enough of one behavioral category, completing tasks in another category will prove refreshing and motivating. If you’re so bogged down in work, stress and lethargy that you’ve neglected your beauty routine, then set yourself the task of cleaning up your eyebrows.
At this point in the course, the therapists who were teaching it looked at each other sadly and Mentioned The Housework. When you get home, and you’ve been drained and picked at and worked hard, and your mood is Low, and there is the Housework, the last fucking thing you want to do on this earth is the Housework, because obviously the thing you need to pick you up is Pudding. And it is not Housework Time: it is time to eat pudding. But – the therapists stressed this carefully, aware that they were blowing our minds – if you do the Housework first, then you can still eat the pudding. And it will be the Pudding of Getting Shit Done. And you’ll feel better! They promised this, while the entire room of people looked at them with deep suspicion.
“Motivation comes after action,” the course leaders said a few times, so that we really got it. The idea is to get yourself into a nice cycle of self-esteem and self-reinforcement, starting with small things:
Many people find that doing things for others cheers them up – giving a flower to a strange child, complimenting someone in the market, or making people laugh give them those good, accomplished, connected feelings.
Many people find that they already do too much stuff for others. These people may get more benefit from doing stuff for themselves – breaking a low mood induced by spending all their energy on others by practicing self-care.
Some activation tasks, which may or may not work for you:
Unfuck a very small portion of your habitat
Write the email to the loved one
Make the to-do list and admire it
SEND the email to the loved one
pick out the new shoes you need online and buy them
wash out the bowls that the pets eat from or live in
wash out the bowls that you eat from or live in?!
wash the thing you’ve been meaning to wash
take everything out of your Sock Collection and give all the lonely socks some sock friends and fold them up together like “heck yeah, I’m shipping these two socks. NOW KISS”
open the envelope that doesn’t look like a good envelope
argh ARGH it’s a bill why is mail
pAY THE BILL YES GOOD JOB
Then a nice thing to do might be to head over to the Friends of Captain Awkward Forum, go to the forum marked “Success Stories,” and share your winningness with the community. If you don’t want to make a whole post, the generous Rose Fox started a thread called “How Were You Awesome Today?” that would greatly benefit from your contributions! Because you are great and the things you do are great.
Do Only Doable Things
For 100% best effects, it’s recommended that you pick small, realistic things to do, with a starting point and an ending point, that don’t cost much money or sustained physical effort. If you decide to break out of the Low Mood Cycle with some vague and worthy goal – like “Today I will no longer be sad! I will write a novel and run five miles!” then that’s probably not going to happen, and then you’ll be more sad. If you are a person whose resting energy levels are quite low, then don’t say “I will cheer myself up by CLEANING THE WHOLE HOUSE FOREVER.” It just trips a switch back into feeling bad:
Here is how the brilliant, lovely and eternally helpful Quisty put it:
A useful exercise to employ can be to ask yourself, “on a scale from 1-10 where 1 is impossible and 10 is ‘it’s more automatic than breathing’ how sure am I can do this thing? Once you hit on something that scores you 8 or higher, do that. How useful this is depends on how amenable you are to scales. Also don’t be afraid to adjust your scale if it turns out that your Low Mood has yours all fucked up. They need calibrating sometimes.
Don’t write a novel. Write 500 words of crap in your journal. Don’t renovate the house. Do a nice thing for the fish.
The clever and compassionate Kellis also reminded me that many of us, particularly those socialized as ladyfolk, feel pressure to take on Huge Projects while pretending that it’s No Big Thing. Kellis reminds us:
when in doubt, pick a smaller thing.
Say No to People Who Contribute Fruit Flies
What if you’re pretty confident in your own self, but you find that there are certain people in your life who slap down or minimize your achievements?
If you’re in a situation where people deliberately foster and perpetuate the Low Mood Cycle on you, the solution is:
get the hell out
get the hell out
hi-ho-the-dairy-oh
get the hell out of there
And if you can’t do that because of REASONS (and of course there are REASONS, I recognize that):
think of some solutions
there are definitely some solutions
hi-ho-the-dairy-oh
get the hell out of there
Because that is a thing that abusive people do for REASONS of their own: shutting off the part of your brain that deals in motivations, solutions, action plans and goals is a great way to keep you dependent on them. The Low Mood Cycle basically flicks that reward-switch off, making you a smaller person. It’s hard to program yourself out of it. But it’s even harder if you’re trying to round up and trap and defeat and kill all of those little fruit-fly voices in your head, while your partner or your mother or your boss is moving placidly around the kitchen of your brain, planting rotten bananas.
I’m Basically Okay, It’s Just That There’s So Many Assholes
THIS IS A COMMON PROBLEM.
What about when small things – like the mean bus driver, or the microaggressions, or even a friend on the street who appears to not acknowledge you – affect your mood? Obviously there are Reasons for you to be affected by this; nobody is denying the Reasons. But how are we going to feel about that? Note, of course, that you can feel whatever feelings you like, however you want to feel them.
A good way to regain your place at the center of your personal universe is to acknowledge why this is affecting your mood, and to reason with yourself about it.
In the case of the friend apparently cutting you dead – it is a very reasonable thing in my book to assume that this is because they have always secretly hated you. This could bring you down a lot, making you irritable and occupying your thoughts for the rest of the day. It could even affect your relationship with that friend, as you begin to resent them for not noticing you. But stop. Think about it. What are some more practical reasons why your friend might not see you on the street?
They didn’t see you.
They had headphones/sunglasses on and didn’t notice you.
They didn’t recognize you.
Their thoughts were occupied with something else.
You know them from a specific circumstance that they don’t want acknowledged in public.
They are trying to avoid someone you were with.
They had a migraine and were trying to avoid everything.
It wasn’t your friend at all, just someone who resembled them.
These are much better thoughts to work with than immediately jumping to the conclusion that you are no longer friends. What are some things you could do to feel even better about it?
Stop and call out the name of the friend, seeing if they respond.
Call or text the friend – ask them if they’re all right.
Decide to move on.
Re-aligning your Thoughts is an important part of fixing your Mood. It’s smaller than Behavior, but sometimes harder. Your negative, self-hating, gloomily triumphant thoughts are really invested in being in your head – like weeds or viruses. To fulfill their evolutionary prerogative, they want to breed and infect most of your mental landscape. But they generally aren’t correct, and don’t come from a complete picture of reality.
The key thing to remember here is that you, yourself, are indeed Basically Okay. It’s just these uncontrollable other assholes that are the problem.
If you find yourself particularly affected by anxiety about other people’s perceptions of you, one thing that may help is keeping a Folder of Excellence. Keep nice things that other people have said about you there. Keep photos of yourself that you like. Keep your love letters, and records of texts you’ve gotten from cuties, and nice things people have said about your work, and silly birthday cards from your best-beloved ones. I am frequently totally convinced that I am unlikeable, untalented, useless, and hated by all who know me; nothing silences my panic spirals like Evidence Against Them.
And if you’d like a few more nice things said about you to add to your Folder, we can arrange that too.
But I Can’t Because of Thing
At this point in the course, the other attendees were getting restless and needed to Explain. They had some problems with all of this and wanted to be excused. As we were quite a diverse group, there was a great diversity of Reasons, as predictable as if they had been reading from a script. Women in real jewelry shrilled and men with dirty shirts snarled, and the woman who’d said she led a Christian choir rang out like a great bell. “I can’t do this because I’m in a wheelchair.” “I can’t do this because I have no time.” “I can’t do this because I’m too tired.” “I can’t because I’m too poor.” “And my father won’t let me leave the house.”
“Okay,” the ladies teaching the course said peaceably.
Everyone waited expectantly for the Magic Solution, for the acknowledgement of the justifications, for the big Doctor’s Note excusing them from this assignment. The ladies looked serene and wrote all the Reasons on their big flip pad.
“I mean,” said the beautiful brown lady in the sharp suit who was writing the Reasons down. “It’s not like we’re assigning you homework.”
“It’s not like you’re supposed to impress us,” said the beautiful fat white lady in the vintage tea dress, who was flipping the pages. “Or anybody else.”
“You said that we could break the Low Mood Cycle by getting a haircut!” said the lady with no hair in a tone of great betrayal. “I have no hair!”
“Okay,” said the lady in the suit, as if she had stepped down from a stained glass window.
“Don’t get a haircut,” said the lady in the tea dress kindly.
The lady with no hair said “But what should I do?” She dropped her question like a stone, like a trump card, like a heavy weight, a challenge: who dared to pick her burden up again? Her need was alarming. Everyone thought Oh goodness, what am I doing here, when this lady is here who has no hair? Is it because she is dying? If she is dying, what good will any of this do? How can I come here wanting help, with my little anxieties and crying jags, and sit next to the Lady Who Has No Hair? Her pure, raw need sucked all of the noise from the little room, and people stilled and stared at one another, until the young woman whose hot-pink nails matched her hot-pink hijab and hot-pink Converse rolled her eyes and called across the room “Do your nails.”
“Oh!” said the lady with no hair, and looked at her nails with some surprise. Then she looked at the young woman’s hot pink nails, which appeared to glow, with the gleam of growing greed.
“You could play games on your computer,” said the woman with a voice like a bell.
“Oh?” said the lady with no hair doubtfully.
“They’re not like they used to be, with all that shootin, tellin boys to steal cars,” said the woman with a voice like a bell. “There are nice games now – gardenin games.”
The ladies who ran the course wrote this down too. They wrote everything down, and then stared at it lovingly, so that we stared at it too, as if it had suddenly been transmuted into truth because it was written down.
Because breaking the Low Mood Cycle? Here’s what it’s NOT about:
productivity
making money
being a good role model
impressing others
“improving” yourself (where the benchmarks for “improvement” are placed by society to make 99% of people feel bad)
acquiring skills or moods to function better in a capitalist environment
doing stuff to appeal to others
making yourself easier to be around for others
Here’s what it’s supposed to be about:
doing you
getting good at doing you
remembering what it feels like to be good at doing you
reclaiming yourself and the things that you love
feeling proud of yourself, not disappointed by yourself
recovering your mood
getting rid of a hollow feeling
recovering that lost-feeling Thing that you need and love about yourself
The Caveats
I’m not an expert. Captain Awkwarddotcom generally recommends professional therapy. This is not a cure for deep depression, or indeed for anything at all – this is just some diagrams and metaphors that explain the Low Mood Cycle, how it can sap your creativity and motivation, and how to go about ending it.
Think Yourself Happy/Cook Yourself Happy/Unfuck Your Habitat for Emotional Fulfillment suggestions are just not going to fucking cut it in a lot of situations, and that’s okay too! We’re just talking about that state that we all get into of wanting to be the Life of the Party but having only enough energy to be the Housepet of the Party.
And Then The Lights Like Stars
So long story short: none of this helped with my current habit of ragefainting during driving lessons, which was what I had originally gone to the doctor for. Knowing about the Low Mood Cycle and battling your fruit-fly thoughts can only take you so far. But here’s where it took me.
The lights shone in my face and the invisible audience behind the glare were clapping and laughing and sending back these golden sparks of we like you, we think you are a funny lady. And there was the high, that high of being imperfect, but doing okay stuff, putting it out there, seeing it well-received.
Sometimes when you do you, people like it. And you’re like yes, wait a minute, that’s true – that’s who I am. I’m not a particularly sad person. I just have sad parts.
That’s worth breaking out of any Low Mood Cycle for.
We are all grey sometimes, but under the lights, we are really bright and great – and we are inherently, wonderfully worthy.
Go forth, Awkward Army, and know that you have inherently beautiful souls that other people like an awful lot.An Orthodox Catechism
Fr. Josiah
An Orthodox Catechism is a two part series developed by Fr. Josiah to provide a broad introduction to Orthodox Christianity. The sixteen lectures in this series have been utilized in parish practice over the course of almost two decades to prepare more than 300 catechumens for reception into the Orthodox Church as well as enrich Orthodox individuals who wished to learn more about the basic tenets of their faith. Not having an official Orthodox Catechism in the English language, many parishes and pastors scramble to put together a basic catechism that will adequately expose the inquirer and catechumen to the contours of Orthodox faith and life. It is hoped that this series will aid priests and parishes in preparing catechumens to be received into the Church, as well as edify Orthodox individuals seeking a better understanding of their faith. For those seeking to become Orthodox, Catechism is a process of full-orbed Christian formation in which the Orthodox Christian life is inculcated in the learner through participation in divine services, prayer, study, community assimilation, and practice. At the heart of the catechetical process are the catechetical lectures delivered to the catechumens by the priest or the catechist. It is toward this goal of providing a usable introduction to Holy Orthodoxy that the sixteen lectures entitled An Orthodox Catechism have been developed by Fr. Josiah. These sixteen lectures are presented to catechumens in two parts. Part One: God, Man, Church are eight lectures traditionally delivered during the Nativity Fast. Part Two: The Holy Mysteries are eight lectures delivered during the Great Lent as catechumens are being prepared for reception into the Church on Great and Holy Saturday. Lectures included in Part One: God, Man, Church: The True God (free download below) The Human Being Sin Jesus Christ, the Son of God Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World Repentence and Faith The Holy Spirit The Church and the Mother of God Lectures included in Part Two: The Holy Mysteries: The Mystery of Holy Baptism (free download below) The Mystery of Holy Chrismation The Mystery of the Holy Eucharist The Mystery of Holy Confession The Mystery of the Holy Priesthood The Mystery of Holy Matrimony The Mystery of Holy Unction The Mystery of Death & the Funeral Purchase Part One and Part Two together for $35 Purchase Part One or Part Two individually for $25 each All Lectures - both Part 1 and Part 2: $35.00 Add to cart All Lectures - Part 1 only: $25.00 Add to cart Part 1 / Lecture 1: The True God: $0.00 Download Part 1 / Lecture 2: The Human Being: $3.00 Add to cart Part 1 / Lecture 3: Sin: $3.00 Add to cart Part 1 / Lecture 4: Jesus Christ, the Son of God: $3.00 Add to cart Part 1 / Lecture 5: Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World: $3.00 Add to cart Part 1 / Lecture 6: Repentence and Faith: $3.00 Add to cart Part 1 / Lecture 7: The Holy Spirit: $3.00 Add to cart Part 1 / Lecture 8: The Church and the Mother of God: $3.00 Add to cart All Lectures - Part 2 only: $25.00 Add to cart Part 2 / Lecture 1: The Mystery of Holy Baptism: $0.00 Download Part 2 / Lecture 2: The Mystery of Holy Chrismation: $3.00 Add to cart Part 2 / Lecture 3: The Mystery of the Holy Eucharist: $3.00 Add to cart Part 2 / Lecture 4: The Mystery of Holy Confession: $3.00 Add to cart Part 2 / Lecture 5: The Mystery of the Holy Priesthood: $3.00 Add to cart Part 2 / Lecture 6: The Mystery of Holy Matrimony: $3.00 Add to cart Part 2 / Lecture 7: The Mystery of Holy Unction: $3.00 Add to cart Part 2 / Lecture 8: The Mystery of Death & the Funeral: $3.00 Add to cart Add to wish listResearchers used 10 years of pedestrian fatality data and census figures to make their calculations relative to the amount of walking in a given area. Using that scale, New York City-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, home to the highest number of people who walk to work, is considered one of the safest cities for pedestrians. Anyone walking across Queens Boulevard may beg to differ.
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Most of the metropolitan areas that fared poorly in the survey were in the South and Southwest, although California’s Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario section was fifth on the danger index.
Hispanic and black residents — people who are the least likely to own cars — suffered the highest pedestrian fatality rates, according to the report, published in late May and titled “Dangerous by Design.” Bus riders are particularly vulnerable, mostly because bus stops are often between intersections on long, wide roads and are far from stoplights. People race across to get to the other side, rather than walk (in steamy weather or after a long day’s work) a quarter- or half-mile to a stoplight.
This is what Cindy Berdeguez did here the other day. Lugging plastic bags and a backpack, she frantically dashed across Semoran Boulevard, a six-lane state road where some cars and trucks whiz by at 60 miles per hour (the speed limit is 45). She paused briefly at the median and raced again. She and a friend had just left the food pantry at Catholic Charities, which sits squarely across the wide road from the bus stop.
“You’ve got to walk fast, you can’t talk and you keep your eye on the road,” she said, sweat pouring down her face. “There are no lights, no crosswalks and the bus stop is in the middle here.”
The nearest stoplight was far in the distance, too far for her to walk in the heat. So she gambled. Overhead there were no streetlights, a big problem in the evening. “Oh my God, the traffic here,” Ms. Berdeguez said. “People have no courtesy, no patience for human beings, no respect.”
At that moment, a mother grabbed her two teenage daughters and ran across the same spot. “Every day I do this,” said Nancy Tejeda, 38, shielding herself from the sun with a black umbrella. “Of course, I’m afraid. We all link arms and cross as quickly as possible. Drivers see you coming here and they speed up.”
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Just down the street, the same scene played out repeatedly, only pedestrians raced across the road (where there was no median) to a neighborhood supermarket. One group included a child in a stroller. The road, like so many others, was built for cars and not people.
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“Most accidents occur on the second half of the crossing,” said Brad Kuhn, the director of Bike/Walk Central Florida, a nonprofit group that supports safety for pedestrians and cyclists. “People bolt too soon. They misjudge.”
The problem is especially acute for children and the elderly, who have greater difficult judging distances and speed. Orlando city officials say that the data is somewhat skewed by the number of tourists who visit the state, which inflates traffic. So far, though, tourists remain largely untouched by pedestrian fatalities. All too often, pedestrians get blamed for reckless behavior when it is the outdated design of roads and the location of bus stops that are at fault, Mr. Goldberg said.
In Atlanta, a young mother, Raquel Nelson, was sentenced to probation after her son was killed in 2010 when the family got off a bus after a long day out and walked across an intersection rather than to a stoplight, a common shortcut. The 4-year-old ran across the road by himself and was hit by a car. Ms. Nelson was convicted of homicide by vehicle, among other things. She has accepted a judge’s offer for a new trial. The driver served six months in jail for hit and run.
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The case galvanized pedestrian safety groups and the local chapter of the N.A.A.C.P.
“This blame-the-victim mentality is common,” Mr. Goldberg said. “We don’t stop and examine how highway planning and land-use planning can contribute to this.”
The Orlando region, which also ranked first in the previous pedestrian fatality survey, issued in 2009, has taken the reports seriously, advocates say. The city is building miles of sidewalks and setting up audible pedestrian signals. It has also increased the number of traffic-slowing measures. One of its newest neighborhoods, Baldwin Park, was built as a walking and biking community, with shops and schools easily accessible, narrow roads that encourage slow driving, and bike trails.
The city also works to modify bus stops, create overpasses and improve lighting, when possible. The state’s road warrior culture will be slower to change, but nonprofits are starting education (or etiquette) campaigns here to modify behavior. But roads tend to stretch beyond local government. Semoran Boulevard is a state road, which involves a separate department and a denser bureaucracy. Kissimmee has its own local government. And rural areas fall into their own category. Uniformity is difficult.
“We are trying to change the culture and this thinking that is car-centric,” said Frank Consoli, Orlando’s traffic operations engineer. “Any death is too many. We don’t want to see that. We don’t want Orlando also to get a reputation that we have problems here. We want to make it as safe as possible.”Hello! Here are some football games that are going to happen, ranked by their likely importance. Let's discuss in the comments!
1. (tie!) SEC: Alabama at LSU, Nov. 5
ACC: Clemson at Florida State, Oct. 29
Basically the same game. Both have become season-defining rivalries over the last decade, and Bama-LSU has the edge over any other game there.
Any of these teams could be No. 1 at the time, with winnable early schedules that include big-name out-of-conference opponents. All four have Playoff talent and have played for championships in the last five years. Pencil these in as GameDay games with a pencil that is especially difficult to erase.
3. Big Ten: Michigan at Ohio State, Nov. 26
If a reloading Ohio State wins at Oklahoma in September, this immediately shoots to the No. 1 group, because Michigan has a very good chance to be undefeated in November anyway. If both OSU and Michigan have Playoff hopes, there would be nothing bigger.
4. Big 12: Oklahoma's first eight days in October
Who are the Big 12 favorites? OU and who else? I'd say TCU, at the moment (Bill Connelly probably would too, and he's smarter than me). The Sooners travel to Fort Worth on Oct. 1, then play in the Team Quality Doesn't Matter At All Alternate Dimension that is the Red River Shootout, which also carries the conference's biggest subplot: Charlie Strong's hot seat.
Around this time, OU also plays the year's biggest out-of-conference game and the year's biggest game involving a non-power (see below). As we discussed on this week's Shutdown Fullcast, Bob Stoops will either be elected governor or banished to Wichita by mid-October.
5. Pac-12: Stanford at Washington, Sept. 30
No one knows what to make of the Pac-12, as is custom. Stanford seems like the consensus favorite. I'm among those picking Washington. You can find people taking Oregon, UCLA or USC and probably others. Throw a dart board at the helmet schedule and call that the biggest game.
This is early, but if Stanford's 3-0, it'll have beaten Kansas State and USC and won at UCLA. UW's got a much easier road to showing up undefeated.
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6. American: Houston vs. Oklahoma, Sept. 3
Not a conference game, but the conference's most important game... ever?
If UH wins, it's in the Playoff until it loses. An undefeated season in a decent conference with wins over OU and Louisville would be a no-doubt Playoff résumé, but 11-1 is probably not gonna do it. Expectations for the Cougars are towering, and the likeliest scenario might be a disappointing-but-shouldn't-be 10-2 or so, but this game could reset |
Asian Nations (ASEAN) to recognize the communist government as the rightful ruler of China. But the Malaysian government may be reassessing how far Beijing will go in pursuing its South China Sea claims. In January, as Chinese naval vessels conducted exercises off the Malaysian part of Borneo, Kuala Lumpur discreetly reached out to other Southeast Asian claimants at odds with Beijing over the South China Sea. Last year, Malaysia announced intentions to build a base near an underwater reef around which Chinese warships have cruised.
Economics are weighted in Beijing’s favor across Southeast Asia. Malaysia, for instance, counts China as its biggest trading partner, yet Malaysia is only China’s third largest in Asia. In the wake of the MH 370 tragedy, Chinese tourism to Malaysia has taken a hit, precisely at a time when Kuala Lumpur was selling a “Visit Malaysia Year.”
Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that in 2013 more foreign-direct investment headed to Southeast Asia as a whole than did to China. Last year, as U.S. President Barack Obama canceled a second Asia trip because of domestic troubles, China’s Xi swooped in, arriving in Kuala Lumpur with promises of a special trading relationship. The Chinese President’s largesse was welcomed. But another diplomatic charm offensive was launched last year as well. Japan, under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has pushed into Southeast Asia, vowing trade and military expertise to offset China’s influence. In fact, since coming to power in December 2012, the Japanese PM has visited every single one of the ASEAN states.
Contact us at editors@time.com.The San Francisco 49ers are now a week removed from the 2017 NFL draft, and the 90-man roster is just about settled. Over the past two weeks, the team added 10 draft picks, 18 undrafted free agents, two veteran free agents, and a running back acquired via trade.
Rookie minicamp is underway, and the team will continue with phase 2 of the offseason workout program this coming week. We’ll be starting our annual 90-in-90 roster series on Monday. There are plenty of questions surrounding the roster and what the fall will bring. I thought I’d pull out five of the more notable.
How much of a workload will Joe Williams get?
Carlos Hyde entered the offseason as the clear starter. My guess is he remains the starter, but it will be fascinating to see if Williams becomes the next day three pick to succeed under running backs coach Bobby Turner. Hyde is entering his final season, so at the very least, Williams could very well be starting by 2018.
How will the defensive front seven look?
There is a lot of talk about the Earl Thomas role and the press work of the cornerbacks as the 49ers transition to a Seattle Seahawks style defense. However, one reason for the Seahawks defensive success has been the incredible depth they have. They rotate guys into the defensive front regularly. The 49ers have three straight first round picks in Arik Armstead, DeForest Buckner, and Solomon Thomas, to go along with Earl Mitchell, Aaron Lynch, Quinton Dial, Ronald Blair, and Chris Jones. They have NaVorro Bowman, Malcolm Smith, and Ahmad Brooks for the linebacker roles, but also Reuben Foster, Eli Harold, and Ray-Ray Armstrong, among others. What will we see from this broad mix of players?
Who will emerge behind Pierre Garçon?
The 49ers signed Garçon, Marquise Goodwin, and Aldrick Robinson, while also extending Jeremy Kerley and drafting Trent Taylor. Add in notable UDFA K.D. Cannon and there is a lot of competition. Who will be the most prominent receiver after Garçon?
How will the offensive line shake out?
The team entered the offseason with all five starting linemen returning. However, they have since signed Tim Barnes, Brandon Fusco, and Garry Gilliam, and acquired Jeremy Zuttah via trade. Joe Staley might very well be the only safe player right now. I would guess Joshua Garnett would be safe as well, but with all the veterans, the 49ers coaching staff would seemingly look to push him in training camp.
Who will be getting what playing time at tight end?
John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan both acknowledged trying to trade Vance McDonald this offseason. Will he make it to training camp? If he does, will he make the 53-man roster? The 49ers have been heavy on two tight end sets in the past, and Kyle Shanahan liked using his tight ends frequently in Atlanta, even when it did not involve them catching passes. George Kittle is going to get some opportunities, but he also will likely rotate in some h-back type work. The 49ers have plenty of tight ends, but who will end up topping the depth chart by the time September arrives is a big question.
What are some of your questions? The quarterback position is not settled for the long-term, but for the fall, we know how the team is hoping things shake out. But other than that, what are the questions that will guide your training camp outlook?Running Time: 52:59
Description:This week we meet the man who knew the secrets of the CIA’s Dark Alliance. From the jungles of Nicaragua to the mean streets of south-central LA, Gary Webb’s groundbreaking journalism uncovered a scandal so huge that the story could not be allowed to continue. Help us honour the memory of this intrepid reporter by exploring the suspicious death and passing on the life’s work of Gary Webb.
Documentation
Documentation – Zero Point Radio Time Reference: 01:37 Description: Explore quality programming from around the world, streaming live across the net. Link To: Zero Point Radio
Documentation – Cascadia Public Radio Time Reference: 01:49 Description: If you have limited bandwidth or are on dialup, use the Cascadia Public Radio archive to download small, low bitrate versions of The Corbett Report and many other quality podcasts and radio shows. Link To: Cascadia Public Radio
Documentation – Archive.org Time Reference: 01:57 Description: If you ever have trouble accessing The Corbett Report server, you can find back episodes hosted on this server. Currently, all of the Episodes from Episode 070 on are up on their servers. Link To: Archive.org
Documentation – Truth Frequency Time Reference: 02:16 Description: I will be appearing on the Feb 18th edition of the program, so tune in and/or subscribe. Link To: TruthFrequency.com
Documentation – Five O’clock Train Radio program Time Reference: 02:48 Description: Home page of the Five O’Clock Radio Program, where you may be able to download an interview of James Corbett by program host Denis Rancourt. Link To: Train Radio
Documentation – Chip In for hosting for CorbettReport.com Time Reference: 03:25 Description: Please consider contributing to our ChipIn if you would like to help insure that The Corbett Report can stay up for another year. Link To: ChipIn.com
Documentation – Sunday Update Time Reference: 04:00 Description: Naked Lies, Blame the Banksters, No More NAIS Link To: YouTube
Documentation – Gary Webb biographical details Time Reference: 11:58 Description: Information on Webb’s early life. Link To: Wikipedia
Documentation – Gary Webb In His Own Words Time Reference: 13:05 Description: Gary Webb talks about his groundbreaking report Dark Alliance that began in the San Jose Mercury News in 2006. Link To: Archive.org
Documentation – Dark Alliance website Time Reference: 14:54 Description: NarcoNews has resurrected the original (and groundbreaking) website for the Dark Alliance series that was originally set up by the San Jose Mercury News to promote the story. At one point, the site was receiving over 1,000,000 visitors a day and was Link To: NarcoNews
Documentation – Dateline: CIA and the Crack Epidemic Time Reference: 15:23 Description: Mainstream corporate media hit piece trying to convince people that Gary Webb was wrong. Link To: YouTube
Documentation – CBS Report on CIA drug running Time Reference: 22:48 Description: Includes comments from DEA whistleblower Celerino Castillo. From Jonathan Elinoff’s invaluable news archive. Link To: YouTube
Documentation – Statement of CIA Inspector General to The House Committee On Intelligence – March 16, 1998 Time Reference: 25:33 Description: The first of two explosive CIA internal investigations detailing how the Reagan-Bush administration did know about and condone contra drug running and actively protected the dealers. Link To: Wikisource
Documentation – The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations Time Reference: 26:00 Description: GWU archive of official documents backing up the Dark Alliance series. Link To: GWU.edu
Documentation – San Jose Editor Admits to Crack Series Deficiencies Time Reference: 27:46 Description: The newspaper abandons the story. Link To: LA Times
Documentation – Attack on Dark Alliance Time Reference: 28:10 Description: Includes information about how the Dark Alliance series was abandoned by the San Jose Mercury News and how they even took Webb off his own story. Link To: Albion Monitor
Documentation – Kevin Booth tells Ricky Ross about Gary Webb’s death Time Reference: 32:33 Description: Recorded phone call between Kevin and Ricky Ross who was in jail at the time. Link To: PrisonPlanet.com
Documentation – Was Gary Webb ‘Suicided’ To Kill New Book? Time Reference: 37:39 Description: Good question. Link To: Rense.com
Documentation – Evidence Begins To Indicate Gary Webb Was Murdered Time Reference: 40:29 Description: Credible sources who were close to Gary Webb have stated that he was receiving death threats, being regularly followed, and that he was concerned about strange individuals who were seen on multiple occasions breaking into and leaving his house before Link To: PrisonPlanet.com
Documentation – Only In Arkansas: Webb ‘Double Gunshot Wounds’ Explanation Defies Belief Time Reference: 42:30 Description: How on earth can somebody have two different gunshot wounds and their cause of death still be passed off as suicide? Link To: PrisonPlanet.com
Documentation – The Truth in Dark Alliance Time Reference: 46:23 Description: Too little, too late. Link To: LA Times
Filed in: Episodes • PodcastsWhether it’s because you’re traveling, your local gym is packed with people, or you’re just looking for a break from riding a trainer or running on a treadmill, a rowing ergometer can be a great option for a cyclist, triathlete, or runner.
The rowing movement activates over 90% of the body’s musculature and promotes the strengthening of the smaller stabilizing muscles throughout the abdomen, back, and hips. Strength and stability in these areas helps athletes maintain proper cycling, running, and swimming form, which can be a factor in maintaining higher paces and power outputs for longer periods of time.
For endurance athletes however, the cardiovascular component of rowing may be more important and beneficial than the opportunity for muscular development. While many people look at rowing as a power sport, the muscle fiber typing in trained oarsmen resembles those of a distance runner, and elite collegiate rowers can attain VO2 max values between 75-85 ml/(kg/min).
If you’re also looking to drop a few pounds, rowing delivers great bang for your buck in terms of energy expenditure. Since rowing involves muscles throughout the body, caloric expenditure rises quickly. During maximal 6-minute efforts, athletes have recorded caloric expenditures of 36 kcal/min. While this may be achievable in other sports, cyclists should keep in mind that the the full-body nature of rowing means you’re burning more calories at any given effort level compared to cycling.
For those athletes who are not familiar with rowing, here’s a primer on the terminology and basic techniques.
Catch: defined as the beginning position of the rowing stroke.
Head up and chest up
Lower legs perpendicular to the ground
Straight relaxed arms and loose grip
Forward bend occurs in hips, not back
Strong back
Position should be comfortable. You should be able to stay in this position for a prolonged period of time.
The Drive: defined as the primary work phase of the rowing stroke.
The only thing that should be happening is leg extension
Maintain forward bend of upper body from the hips
Head and chest up
Straight arms and relaxed grip
Relaxed shoulders
Finish: defined as the end of the rowing stroke and is an extension of the drive phase.
Once legs are completely extended, extend back into a reclined position
Chest and head up
Once back is extended you pull with arms into chest
Flat wrists with elbows pointed behind and slightly away from you
Recovery: defined as the motion of returning to the catch position
Recovery occurs in the opposite order from drive phase
Once at finish, you extend your arms, rotate your back forward from hips, and begin to move up the slide bending your knees until you reach the catch position
Stroke Rate: defined by the number of complete strokes that are taken within one minute
Usually seen as S/m, strokes per minute
Located on the upper right hand corner of the Concept 2 rowing ergometer (most common rowing ergometer)
Split: defines the pace you are rowing by the time it would take you at that moment to row 500 meters. Example: 1:45/500m
On a Concept 2, this number appears as the large number in the middle of the screen
Flywheel Damper
Controls the rate at which the flywheel within the ergometer slows down. Essentially you will interpret this as the resistance you feel from stroke to stroke.
Ranges from 1 being the easiest to 10 being the hardest
The damper is set based off the specific purpose for training with an ergometer For our purposes the damper should be set low, between 1-3. This decreases the likelihood of injuries occurring to the lower back since you’ll use less force per stroke. This setting also encourages the use of high stroke rates, increasing the cardiovascular demand. Collegiate and national team rowers will train mostly on a damper between 4-6. This setting most closely resembles the resistance they feel while rowing on the water during competition. Anything above 6 is very difficult and promotes more muscular strength over cardiovascular ability. You will see a lot of CrossFit athletes at these damper settings because they specifically train to build muscular strength, and they use ergometers for very short periods of time during competition.
Your Workout: Progressive Pyramid
The Progressive Pyramid workout is a good starting point because it helps you practice the technique of rowing and get a feel for different intensity levels and stroke rates. Later on, one set of the pyramid can be used as a great warm-up for a more specific workout.
Intensities and Warm-up
4 minutes at 25% pressure—stroke rate of 16-18
3 minutes at 50% pressure—stroke rate of 18-19
2 minutes at 75% pressure—stroke rate of 20
1 minute at 90-100% pressure—stroke rate of 22
Do a total of 10 minutes. This is a great way to focus on technique. These are at a low rate and allow time for you to think about every movement of the rowing stroke, while getting the body progressively warmed up by increasing intensity.
This warm up can also be adapted into a great workout. You can repeat the cycle to match any specific time requirements you have for your workout that day. For example:
4 minutes at 25% pressure—stroke rate of 16-18
3 minutes at 50% pressure—stroke rate of 18-19
2 minutes at 75% pressure—stroke rate of 20
1 minute at 90-100% pressure—stroke rate of 22
2 minutes at 75% pressure—stroke rate of 20
3 minutes at 50% pressure—stroke rate of 18-19
4 minutes at 25% pressure—stroke rate of 16-18
Total time of 19 minutes. This may be repeated as necessary to reach desired total time.
Full Workout Example: Progressive Pyramid Intervals
Once you are comfortable on the ergometer and with the technique, the following workout is a great way to increase strength and cardiovascular efficiency. For simplicity’s sake we will refer to these iterations of the workout as Progressive Pyramid Intervals.
Intensity of this workout is between 6-8 RPE (threshold workout).
4 minutes at a stroke rate of 16
3 minutes at a stroke rate of 18
2 minutes at a stroke rate of 20
1 minute at a stroke rate of 22
2 minutes at a stroke rate of 20
3 minutes at a stroke rate of 18
4 minutes at a stroke rate of 16
3 minutes of rest
1 minute at a stroke rate of 16
2 minutes at a stroke rate of 18
3 minutes at a stroke rate of 20
4 minutes at a stroke rate of 22
3 minutes at a stroke rate of 20
2 minutes at a stroke rate of 18
1 minute at a stroke rate of 16
3 minutes of rest
1 minute at a stroke rate of 22
2 minutes at a stroke rate of 20
3 minutes at a stroke rate of 18
4 minutes at a stroke rate of 16
3 minutes at a stroke rate of 18
2 minutes at a stroke rate of 20
1 minute at a stroke rate of 22
The rowing machine can be a very effective tool in your training. In less than an hour of work you can build your aerobic system and increase strength at the same time. So the next time the treadmills are filled or you’re on the road, look to the rowing machine to keep you on track.1. It’s extremely dangerous.The Arctic environment is one of the harshest in the world, and everything you do there is more complicated than anywhere else.
2. Our climate can’t afford it. As the impacts of climate change become more visible and the danger becomes greater, drilling for and burning more fossil fuels is pretty much the last thing we should be doing, especially in somewhere as fragile and untouched as the Arctic.
3. Relief wells are harder to drill. In the case of a blow-out – like happened with Deepwater Horizon – a relief well must be drilled, but the arrival of winter ice cuts the drilling season short. This means oil could be left gushing unstopped for up to two years.
4. Oil recovery is near impossible in ice. Standard spill technologies like booms become useless in thick ice. According to a senior official at a Canadian firm specializing in oil spill response, “there is really no solution or method today that we’re aware of that can actually recover [spilt] oil from the Arctic.”
5. There isn’t nearly enough oil spill response capacity. The Arctic is remote — it has a small population, and few facilities available. About 6,000 ships were used to skim oil in the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Cairn Energy had a mere 14 ships available in the Baffin Bay in Greenland; Shell has named only nine in their oil spill response plan for the Chukchi Sea.
6. Nature is even less capable of absorbing oil there than in lower latitudes. Lack of sunlight in winter and cold weather means that oil will take more time to break down. Oil will stay locked under the sea ice. More than 20 years after the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska, oil can still be found in the environment of Prince William Sound.
7. The local wildlife is very vulnerable to oil. Many bird species migrate to the Arctic in summer, as well as whales and seals. Polar bears and Arctic foxes, which rely heavily on marine and coastal resources to live, will be directly impacted by industrialization.
8. It’s hugely expensive – because of the extreme nature of operating on the frontiers of the world’s last great wilderness, looking for Arctic oil is incredibly expensive. In the last two years Cairn Energy has spent over a billion dollars to drill a handful of wells – and still found no oil.
9. A three year fix – the US Geological Survey estimates the Arctic could hold up to 90 billion barrels of oil. This sounds a lot, but that would only satisfy three years of the world’s oil demand. These giant, rusting rigs with their inadequate oil spill response plans are risking the future of the Arctic for three years worth of oil. Surely it’s not worth taking such a risk?
10. We don’t really need to. Carmakers are perfectly capable of making only fuel-efficient vehicles. If companies like Volkswagen stopped blocking key efficiency laws, fuel-efficient vehicles would become the norm. This way, we would reduce our need for oil, help the planet, and save consumers some gas money.
>> Help us draw a line in the ice by adding your name to our Arctic scroll.
>> Read more about Arctic drilling.In late 1998, the now defunct Dynamix Software released Starsiege Tribes to an unsuspecting gaming public. The game had not gotten a lot of hype beforehand but the reaction to fans was immediate. This was a multiplayer oriented sci-fi game that had huge outdoor levels, jetpacks, vehicles, base defenses like turrets that were powered by generators and lots of cool weapons. It helped a lot that the game allowed players to combat each other online even with a 56k modem in the days where most people didn’t have a fast broadband connection. The result was that Starsiege Tribes became a cult hit and served as a huge inspiration for other games.
Sadly the other PC games in the series didn’t fare quite as well as the original. Tribes 2, released in 2001 got hit with a lot of post release bugs. The end result was that Tribes 2 didn’t sell as well and Dynamix shut down later that year. Irrational Games attempted to create a single player oriented game in Tribes Vengeance back in 2004 but even though the game got good reviews Tribes loyalists felt the game was dumbed down to appeal to a bigger audience.
It seemed like the Tribes franchise was dead until Global Agenda developer Hi-Rez Studios announced in 2010 that it had acquired the IP and planned to release a first person shooter MMO called Tribes Universe. In 2011 Hi-Rez announced plans to release a more traditional multiplayer shooter game, Tribes Ascend, ahead of Tribes Universe. At QuakeCon 2011 this week the game was shown for the first time in public and we got a chance to sit in on a multiplayer match.
Fans of the original Tribes will be pleased to learn that in terms of the art style, Tribes Ascend certainly looks like a Tribes game. The armor, the vehicles, the base designs and the levels all look and feel like this is a graphical update of the original game. Playing the game itself also feels like coming home in a way. The levels in the two maps that Hi-Res brought to QuakeCon are massive and will take even a quick moving Tribes character a couple of minutes to go through. They also have some interesting new visual features. One of the maps shows both small and massive ships flying around up in the sky. They were just there for effect but it made the gameplay world feel more alive than having just the player characters flying around.
The game we played was Capture the Flag and the minute we started the match we felt like we were back in familiar territory, and that’s a good thing. We were soon jetpacking into battle and skiing down sloops with great speed. We were dealing with flying vehicles and defensive turrets and blowing up generators inside enemy bases. In short, this is the Tribes game that we have been waiting 13 years to play.
There are two big changes in this version of Tribes. One of them is the fact that instead of armor classes, Tribes Ascend will have players pick from pre-generated armor and weapons load-outs. Hi-Rez compares picking loadouts to picking which Champion you want to play in League of Legends. We don’t feel the comparison quite works; we would prefer to have at least a little more freedom in at least picking out weapons. However there seems to be enough variety in the pre-created loadouts that most players should find one that matches their gameplay style. There are fast moving but lightly armored characters along with slow moving but heavily armed and armored characters to choose from along with middle of the road loadouts.
The other big change is that when Tribes Ascend comes out later this year for the PC it will be free to play. So how will Hi-Res get money? It will sell some of its pre-created loadouts for players to use while also offering others for free on a rotating basis. We are unsure if this business model will work. Quite frankly we wouldn’t mind paying $15 up front to get all of the game’s features but that’s just us.
Our brief time in Tribes Ascend shows that Hi-Rez Studios are fans of the original and are doing their best to make the gameplay at least comparable to the first Starsiege Tribes title. It remains to be seen if fans will gravitate to the new game’s pre-created character loadouts but it’s hard to complain about being able to play a new versions of Tribes totally for free if you wanted to. We will learn more about Tribes Ascend before its released later this year.This week, thousands posted comments on the FCC’s website in response to a proposed rollback of net neutrality internet protections, weighing in on whether and how to defend the open internet. John Oliver encouraged viewers to post to a public comment thread with support for strong regulation, and a massive number of people did so. But many others appeared to have a different point of view.
Comment accuses Obama administration of “smothering innovation”
“The unprecedented regulatory power the Obama Administration imposed on the internet is smothering innovation, damaging the American economy and obstructing job creation,” read thousands of identical comments posted this week, seemingly by different concerned individuals. The comment goes on to give a vigorous defense of deregulation, calling the rules a “power grab” and saying the rollback represents “a positive step forward.” By midday Tuesday, the thread was inundated with versions of the comment. A search of the duplicated text found more than 58,000 results as of press time, with 17,000 of those posted in the last 24 hours alone.
The comments seem to be posted by different, real people, with addresses attached. But people contacted by The Verge said they did not write the comments and have no idea where the posts came from.
“That doesn’t even sound like verbiage I would use,” says Nancy Colombo of Connecticut, whose name and address appeared alongside the comment.
“I have no idea where that came from,” says Lynn Vesely, whose Indiana address also appeared, and who was surprised to hear about the comment.
“I have no idea where that came from.”
The people said they have no special link to FCC activism or the telecommunications industry, and could not think of any time they had knowingly entered their information for a similar campaign. “This is definitely not my style,” Colombo says. “This sounds like a hacker or an outsider.” Others contacted by ZDNet also denied posting the comments.
Groups on both sides of the net neutrality debate have long tried to organize grassroots campaigns, and some have turned to forms of automation, using techniques such as asking people to fill out an auto-generated form, or suggesting a specific message to send to the FCC. After Oliver’s call to action, several people posted variations of Oliver’s suggested language, and some used obviously fake identities to do so.
Versions of a different anti-net neutrality comment were also appearing on the thread two weeks ago, but the fact that real identities are being used without permission is a strange twist. The FCC declined to comment on whether it was aware of the comments or whether it has dealt with similar issues in the past.
It’s unclear who may have orchestrated the comments. A line of the language used in the comment, specifically about the “unprecedented regulatory power [of] the Obama Administration,” has some resemblance to a 2010 press release from the Center for Individual Freedom, a conservative, anti-net neutrality group.
We contacted the group to ask whether it had organized a campaign to send this message. “Yes, the Center for Individual Freedom is asking our supporters and other activists across the nation to submit comments,” a spokesperson said. “It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the wording [of the email] is similar to the wording CFIF used in 2010 as our messaging on this general issue has been consistent for nearly a decade.”
The spokesperson said that CFIF had sent emails to supporters and posted a form with the text on “digital media platforms across the internet,” allowing people to sign their names and addresses. They also provided a screenshot of the form, posted here. This doesn’t mean the CFIF is behind this spamming campaign. But it’s plausible that whoever sent the bogus comments used this form (or at least the message from it) to do so. “Your question about the possibility of someone corrupting the effort is something we need to look into,” said the spokesperson.
The FCC declined to comment
Meanwhile, the FCC comment thread has been a source of controversy for other reasons. After Oliver’s plea, the comment system became intermittently inaccessible. For a time, it was widely believed that traffic directed by Oliver had overwhelmed the FCC’s system. But the agency later said it was hit by denial-of-service attacks that rendered the system inoperable.
It’s unclear how, or if, traffic from Oliver — as well as the apparently automated comments — may have played a role, but two senators and some activist groups have requested more information on the DDoS incident. Comments on the net neutrality thread will be accepted until mid-August.
Update 1PM ET: Added comments and screenshot from the Center for Individual Freedom.After the Central Intelligence Agency lost its role as the coordinator of the entire Intelligence Community (IC), special coordinating structures were created by each president to fit his administrative style and the perceived level of threat from terrorists during his term.
The US has a different counter-terrorist structure than many of its close allies such as Australia, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom. Each has a structure that fits its particular legal system and culture. A contentious issue is whether there needs to be a domestic intelligence service separate from the FBI, which has had difficulty in breaking away from its law enforcement roots and cooperating with other intelligence services.[1]
The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is no longer in the CIA proper, but is in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI). NCTC, however, contains personnel from the CIA, FBI, Department of Justice, and from other members of the IC. A counterterrorism center did exist in the CIA before the NCTC was established.
Given the restrictions of the National Security Act of 1947, which created the CIA but strictly forbade it from having any domestic police authority, the role of the CIA still has multiple dimensions. The National Clandestine Service (NCS) of the CIA can infiltrate or otherwise gain human intelligence (HUMINT) from terrorist organizations, their supporters, or from friendly foreign intelligence services. The NCS has a covert operations capability that, possibly in combination with military units from the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), may take direct military action against terrorist groups outside the United States.
The key CIA counter-terror partner is the FBI, which has the domestic operational responsibility for counter-terrorism, which includes both domestic intelligence collection and domestic police work. In the highly decentralized police system of the United States, the FBI also provides liaison and operates cooperatively with state and local police agencies, as well as with relevant federal units, e.g., the United States Coast Guard, which has an important role in preventing terrorist infiltration by sea. Military units have a specialized Counterintelligence Force Protection Source Operations capability to protect their personnel and operations.
Intelligence Community view of terrorism [ edit ]
The United States Intelligence Community had dealt with terrorism long before the September 11, 2001 attacks, including support of guerrillas against the Soviets in Southeast Asia, and other places where the guerrillas' methods may have included terror. In Asia, Latin America, and Africa, the US worked with various foreign governments to suppress terrorism. While government research suggests personality traits that may be common to a substantial number of terrorists, terrorism has few other constants. It has taken place on every continent except Antarctica.
In all these cases, intelligence support from the CIA was required. In some of them, clandestine intelligence collection and covert action by CIA personnel, or those they sponsored, dealt with terrorists and performed counter-terrorist roles.
Many studies of the analysis of, and countermeasures to, terrorism remain classified. Declassified CIA documents on terrorism date back to the late 1970s. According to a 1979 report Western Europe often had opposing terrorist groups in the same conflict at that time, such as nationalists and separatists in Northern Ireland, Spanish nationalists and Basque separatists in Spain and others like them in Turkey.[2] Transnational terrorism was still unusual, although the report noted that the Basque group ETA was active in France as well as Spain.
There are relevant observations from government reports by researchers who have various levels of access into the IC, including the Federal Research Division (FRD) and Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress. A 1999 FRD study examined some changes from terrorists of the past, especially the emergence of terrorist acts carried out by individuals and members of small, ad hoc groups largely unknown to security organizations.[3] Tactics, as well as sources, had changed, with the greater use of suicide attacks and attacks by women and children.
A very significant concern has been the possible use by terrorists of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Tactics [ edit ]
Suicide attacks [ edit ]
Weapons of mass destruction [ edit ]
Terrorists have already made multiple attacks using WMD, such as chemical attacks by Aum Shinrikyo.[further explanation needed] A 1996 CIA presentation reviewed the history to date, including Iraq's (now defunct) programs.[4]
Researchers for a 1999 General Accounting Office study had classified access, and concluded that terrorists could use some chemicals like chlorine with relative ease for an attack, while other agents, chemical and biological, would require greater sophistication. [5]
Collection approach [ edit ]
HUMINT [ edit ]
One of the biggest challenges in dealing with relatively small terrorist groups is that the members are usually known to one another, or at least there is a chain of individuals that can vouch for a recruit. These social bonds have led to the refinement of the clandestine cell system in such groups. The combination of familiarity and compartmentalization make it extremely difficult to introduce human agents to the groups; it is more likely that human intelligence can be gained by subverting someone who is already a member, or perhaps is indirectly associated (e.g., a banker or arms dealer).
Efforts to use HUMINT operations with non-official cover, especially in the areas outside the groups' staging areas, have been disappointing.[6] Stepped-up efforts to use non-official cover, especially in Europe, began by creating covers in investment banks and consulting firms. Only several years later was it realized that terrorists would have little to do with such organizations. Another realization was that, even with excellent cover, HUMINT successes would be unlikely to recruit people deep inside the terrorist cells.
Where HUMINT had more potential, and where the cover organizations needed to change to help find appropriate targets, was on the fringes of the terrorist organizations, either groups from which the group would need goods or services, or from people with awareness of the groups but not supporting them. For example, there are reports that 15 cargo ships are linked to al-Qaeda,[7] whose activities at port might draw the attention of security officials, or even low-level dockworkers or craftsmen.[8]
Another potential target could be moderate Muslims that do not want to take up an overt role against jihadists, but could supply information. The cover for approaching such persons could be any of a wide range of businesses and institutions.[vague]
Foreign specialists in explosives, WMD, and other warfare methods might be noticed by the CIA in their countries of origin. By tracking their movements, the specialists-for-hire might lead to trusted persons within the groups. Once a member is identified, other intelligence collection methods could be directed at his communications, surveillance of his home and place of work, etc.
There has been significant controversy, without there being classified Congressional views, over the use of black sites for interrogating suspects, as well as the Guantanamo base. A separate role is played by regional Counterterrorist Intelligence Centers.
SIGINT [ edit ]
Signals intelligence, or SIGINT, is a common tool in espionage, although it has been hard to apply to anti-terrorism activities. The National Security Agency (NSA), the organization formally responsible for SIGINT within the United States intelligence community, was used to targeting conventional military communications systems, while terrorists lacked dedicated communications systems, confronting the NSA with the prospect of "picking out the needles of terrorist transmissions in the haystack".[9] While some information has been gained, SIGINT is only effective against cells if the group is unaware they are being monitored. Once known communication methods have been compromised, terrorists switch to other means.[10] Terrorists may employ various countersurveillance techniques, including the use of non-electronic messengers to avoid interception, employ encrypted message systems, or exploit public Internet connections such as Internet cafes.[11]
The actual interception of messages is probably not done by the CIA, but by NSA or possibly Service Cryptologic Elements (SCE): tactical SIGINT detachments attached to military tactical units. Important communications intercepts have been achieved, with the results clearly available to the CIA. There are cases, however, where a joint CIA-NSA organization places clandestine intercept equipment.[12] The National Security Archive commented, "In 1987, Deputy Director for Science and Technology Evan Hineman established... a new Office for Special Projects. Concerned not with satellites, but with emplaced sensors – sensors that could be placed in a fixed location to collect signals intelligence or measurement and signature intelligence (MASINT) about a specific target. Such sensors had been used to monitor Chinese missile tests, Soviet laser activity, military movements, and foreign nuclear programs. The office was established to bring together scientists from the DS&T's Office of SIGINT Operations, who designed such systems, with operators from the Directorate of Operations, who were responsible for transporting the devices to their clandestine locations and installing them."[13]
While communications intercepts are usually highly classified, they have come up in US Congressional testimony on terrorism. For example, an FBI official testified with regard to the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, which took place so closely in time that the terrorist teams can reasonably be assumed to have coordinated their operations in near real-time.[14]
There was independent proof of the involvement of Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda and EIJ Egyptian Islamic Jihad in the bombings. First, the would-be suicide bomber, al-Owhali, ran away from the bomb truck at the last minute and survived. However, he had no money or passport or plan by which to escape Kenya. Days later, he called a telephone number in Yemen and thus arranged to have money transferred to him in Kenya |
on Oct. 4 from 12-7 p.m.
The Village at Shirlington
4001 Campbell Avenue
Arlington, VA 22206
This annual Oktoberfest has live music and performances, food, children’s games and inflatables, exhibits by local crafters, artists and businesses, roaming entertainment, and the Germantown Oktoberfest Biergarten — featuring traditional food and beverage and a dance floor to show off waltz and polka skills. The event is capped off with a display of fireworks.
The festival is on Oct. 5 from noon to 7:30 p.m.
23730 Frederick Road
Clarksburg, MD 20871
This festival boasts live music, food, contests including “Best Beer Belly” and “Miss Oktoberfest,” and “all you care to taste” beer sampling from a souvenir tasting glass you’ll receive upon entry.
Tickets cost between $25 and $59.
The event will be held Oct. 11 between 2 and 6 p.m. (between noon and 6 p.m. for VIP ticket holders).
M&T Bank Stadium Parking Lot
1101 Russell Street
Baltimore, MD
This festival features autumn brews with traditional Oktoberfest fare from area restaurants. Enjoy food, wine, beer, live entertainment, and a carnival.
Tickets cost $20.
The event is on Oct. 11-12 from 12-11 p.m. on Oct. 11 and 12-8 p.m. on Oct. 12.
Reston Town Center
11900 Market Street
Reston, VA 20190
This family-friendly Oktoberfest features Bavarian music, dance, food, crafts, pony rides, moonbounces, pumpkin decorating, face painting and more.
Admission and parking are free.
The event is on Oct. 12 from 12-5 p.m.
Kentlands Market Square
821 Center Point Way
Gaithersburg, MD 20878Wireless companies say they’ve been told their signals may be jammed during the G8 and G20 summits, but aren’t being given any more information about how thousands of cellphone users could be affected. While the G8 summit is in Ontario cottage country, the G20 is in the heart of downtown Toronto, and widespread shutdown of cellphone networks could wreak havoc on businesses already preparing to take a hit from security precautions in place for the meetings. But the technology is expected to be used only to create a moving bubble of electronic silence around motorcades. “No one will be informed of locations and times for security reasons,” said one wireless industry source. The Integrated Security Unit responsible for the summits wouldn’t comment on security plans.
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“We use a lot of different techniques in ensuring security to deal with possible threats and we never share those techniques, we don’t make them public,” said Sgt. Leo Monbourquette, a spokesman for the ISU. In order to jam the signals, the RCMP must apply for an exemption from the Radiocommunications Act, which generally forbids interfering with the airwaves. It’s unknown whether they’ve applied for one for the summits, as approvals are only published after the fact. But the first RCMP exemption was for the 2002 G8 Summit in Kananaskis, Alta.
Often, the wireless industry itself receives no advance notice at all, said Marc Choma, director of communications for the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. But what interference there may be rarely lasts long, he said. “The thing with jamming technologies, because a lot of law enforcement themselves, their communications, are wireless as well, you’d have to try and specify what kind of frequencies that you were trying to jam,” he said. “The jamming is not precise, you can’t say I only want it to go one metre and three centimetres, so it could be going farther than you think. There is possibility it would interfere with other types of communications.”
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With cellphones and remote controls often tools of choice for setting off bombs, jammers have become a regular security tool at major national and international events. A search of orders-in-council shows the RCMP most recently received an exemption from the act for the visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of May. They were also granted an OK for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C. A spokesperson for the RCMP-led Integrated Security Unit which oversaw the Games wouldn’t say whether the technology was actually used for the Olympics. An exemption is often applied for just in case the power is needed, said Dawn Roberts. But even if it had been deployed, cellphone users may never have noticed, she said. “It may appear as a dropped call,” she said. “A lot of the cellphone action is very site-to-site directional. Walking past a high rise building could have the same the effect. It’s not as if a big bubble goes out and we have a cone or dome that’s widespread.”The ever popular CyanogenMod 11 ROM is now available for the first batch of Android One smartphones. The Android One program already delivers a stock-Android experience, but CyanogenMod offers a few tweaks and improvements to the barebones Android OS.
Varun.chitre15, an India-based XDA forum member who already rooted these smartphones, has managed to port the ROM over to each of the three Android One handsets, aided by their similar hardware configurations. The ROM is universal and therefore doesn’t require a unique ROM version for each phone.
The port of CyanogenMod 11 is still in early development but it’s apparently stable and working well, for the most part. The only bugs spotted so far are that the second SIM-card slot remains undetected and that data and WiFi currently aren’t working. These will hopefully be patched up soon to make the ROM more suitable for everyday use.
If you want to try out CM11 on your Spice Dream Uno, Karbonn Sparkle V or Micromax Canvas A1, you will first need to unlock the bootloader and install a custom recovery, and then proceed to install the CM11.zip file, and GAPPS if you want them.
It’s great to see the development community taking to the entry-level Android One program, and there will undoubtedly be plenty more ROMs to choose from in the future.Virginia junior guard Justin Anderson scored nine of his 11 first-half points from long range Tuesday night against Clemson at John Paul Jones Arena. But when junior guard Malcolm Brogdon found him on the baseline with an open lane to the hoop shortly after the break, the ACC’s leading 3-point shooter soared in for a monster two-handed jam.
Anderson’s dunk with 17:56 to play extended Virginia’s once-narrow lead to 11 points at 30-19, and the No. 2 Cavaliers (16-0, 4-0 ACC) kept rolling from there, scoring a 65-42 win with former Virginia great Ralph Sampson in the stands. The Cavaliers led the Tigers (9-7, 1-3 ACC) by six at halftime, but they shot a scalding 62.5 percent from the field thereafter to finish the game with as many makes as misses.
“We got the ball rotated and just got different kinds of looks — shots at the elbows, obviously guys knocked down some shots [and] some defensive plays led to offense,” coach Tony Bennett said. “[It was] a real good, physical second half for us because Clemson makes you play that way.”
Anderson got the scoring started on the game’s first possession when sophomore point guard London Perrantes drove and dished to set him up with a rhythm 3-pointer 17 seconds in. Just more than two minutes later, junior forward Anthony Gill tip-slammed Brogdon’s missed reverse layup with both hands for a 7-4 Virginia lead.
But the Cavaliers struggled to pull away, and Clemson — which led No. 6 Louisville by four points at halftime Jan. 7 — took the lead at 13-12 on leading scorer and sophomore forward Jaron Blossomgame’s runner with 11:06 to play in the half.
Virginia responded with a 7-0 run highlighted by Perrantes’ step-back 3-pointer with the shot-clock running down, but the Tigers closed the gap to two when junior center Landry Nnoko got a tip-in to go on a wild bounce 2:48 before the horn.
After halftime, the Cavaliers dominated.
Brogdon resumed the scoring with a face-up 3-pointer from the wing after Blossomgame missed two tries from beyond the arc on the other end, and Clemson did not score until the 15:01 mark, when senior guard Damarcus Harrison ended Virginia’s 12-0 run with a basket inside.
The Cavaliers kept their collective foot on the gas, with the lead ballooning to 26 when freshman forward Isaiah Wilkins hit the first 3-pointer of his collegiate career — on his first long-range attempt.
“When we can make shots [and] we can get stops, there’s not many teams in the country, I think, that can really compete at a high level for a full 40 minutes like we can,” Brogdon said.
Wilkins — whose playing time had fallen off before Saturday’s win at No. 12 Notre Dame — finished with five points, two rebounds and an assist in 11 minutes of play. Bennett said he looked to the Lilburn, Georgia native in Virginia’s last two games because of his quickness at the power forward position.
“He’s such an active player,” Bennett said. “He’s just a relentless worker.”
After Atkins put back his own miss while taking a foul and converted the free throw for an and-one with 4:40 to play, Virginia led by 30. At the 1:10 mark, Bennett subbed in his “green-machine” group: walk-ons senior guards Rob Vozenilek and Maleek Frazier, junior forward Caid Kirven and sophomore forward Jeff Jones.
Brogdon finished with a team-high 16 points on 6-9 shooting while sinking all three of his 3-point attempts. Anderson — the Cavaliers’ leading scorer to date — was right behind him with 15 and three long-range makes of his own. Blossomgame grabbed 10 rebounds for Clemson, but his nine points fell 4.7 short of his season average.
Bennett praised Brodgon’s performance in the second half, when he shot 5-5 and scored 13 points in addition to handing out three assists with no turnovers.
“He really got it going,” Bennett said. “He was running the show and doing a good job.”
With the Cavaliers behind only top-ranked Kentucky in the national rankings, Anderson said it has become increasing difficult to mute the noise surrounding the team. Still, he said Virginia is not extrinsically motivated.
“We’re pillar guys,” Anderson said. “We’re thankful for the situation, but we just want to make sure we stay humble and just keep focused on the prize in front of us. And that’s what’s going to ultimately help us win the championship, and that’s what it’s all about.”
Virginia next plays Boston College Saturday at Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.Hackers with Anonymous — who last week leaked a seemingly legitimate secret document on cyber-security at Canada’s spy agency — threatened Wednesday to release decrypted text messages from former Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird allegedly showing the “real reason” why he abruptly left politics.
The warning was made in social media from an account the National Post confirms is one that has been operated by activists responsible for the CSIS leak.
No evidence was presented by the hacktivists to support the claim.
When reached by the
National Post, Baird declined to comment on the warning. Requests for comment to the Department of Foreign Affairs went unanswered.
Baird, who was one of the highest-profile members of Stephen Harper’s cabinet, quit suddenly in February to join the private sector.
Announcing his resignation with optimism for “the next chapter in my life,” his friends suggested he was heading to Bay Street and he found himself in demand.
The month after leaving he was hired as an international advisor to Barrick Gold Corp and nominated to the board of directors of Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. In May he joined law firm Bennett Jones LLP as a senior adviser among others. At the time, when opposition critics questioned his quick moves, he said he consulted the Ethics Commissioner before accepting his new roles and “got the green light.”
The Twitter account @OpAnonDown — named in honour of its claimed mission of seeking justice for an Anonymous protester shot and killed by the RCMP during a confrontation in Dawson Creek, B.C. — said text messages and a video are pending for release on this subject.
No timeline was given for any such release.
“#Breaking: we’ve decrypted text messages w/ real reason @Baird quit #cdnpoli abruptly. Video too. Stay tuned. #CCLeaks #AnonDown #OpAnonDown,” the tweet reads.
The hackers behind that account earlier leaked a document marked with a security classification of secret purporting to be from the Treasury Board of Canada and revealing previously unknown details of the foreign stations of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).
The government has not debunked the CSIS information as bogus. The National Post has not been able to independently verify it is a legitimate document.
“We do not comment on leaked documents and we continue to monitor this situation closely,” Jeremy Laurin, a spokesman for the Public Safety Minister Steve Blaney, said Monday evening about the earlier leak.
Secrets about the foreign activities of Canada’s spy agency — including the size of its network of foreign stations, the volume of sensitive communications they handle and their deeply antiquated system of information sharing — are revealed in what is purported to be a sensitive government document hacked by Anonymous and released Monday in a vendetta against Canadian authorities.
“We are now privy to many of Stephen Harper’s most cherished secrets,” said a spokesman for the Anonymous hacktivists involved in the leak operation. “We will be releasing stunning secrets at irregular intervals.”
At an event in Taylor, B.C., Wednesday, Tony Clement, president of the Treasury Board of Canada, was asked by the Alaska Highway News about the leaks.
“I don’t comment on the veracity of leaked documents,” the newspaper quotes him saying. “Let me just say this… we treat any and all breaches very seriously. While this Anonymous group has kind of a clownish way of going about its advocacy and business, these are very serious issues.”
In response, a spokesperson for the hackers told the Post: “We are filled with all kinds of pleasures that Tony Clement blocked us on Twitter then called us ‘clownish.’
“Court jesters, clowns and political comedians have always been able to tell truths where others cannot.”
The CBC reported that the leak is now subject to a criminal probe by the RCMP and an investigation by the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSE).
Neither agency would confirm this.
It would be inappropriate for the RCMP to comment on documents that are leaked and/or that do not originate from our organization
“Only in the event that an investigation results in the laying of criminal charges, would the RCMP confirm its investigation,” said Sgt. Harold Pfleiderer, a spokesman for the RCMP’s national headquarters.
“Also, it would be inappropriate for the RCMP to comment on documents that are leaked and/or that do not originate from our organization.”
The CSE referred calls to Public Safety, which in turn had no information it would impart.
The Post has been in contact with a spokesperson for the Anonymous team claiming responsibility for the hacks and leak, who demanded anonymity, unsurprisingly.
Baird had a successful political life spanning two decades where he became known for his tremendous energy, partisanship and quick tongue as he defended his government. He was foreign minister for more than three years prior to his resignation.
National PostUrbex Central have been exploring somewhere in the South Island, probably around Lake Benmore.
An abandoned film set has been uncovered by a group of radical urban explorers.
The set, which is likely to be one of the South Island locations for a mothballed movie about the life of Jesus, was photographed by the Urbex Central group.
Sets for the movie Kingdom Come were built in several locations but the $180 million project hit financial trouble and collapsed in 2009.
Urbex Central Urban explorers have uncovered abandoned buildings in the South Island.
A Wellington set was demolished but other sets in the South Island were left to the elements.
READ MORE:
* Second coming for abandoned Jesus movie?
* Movie set dismantled
* Urbex checks into derelict hotel
* Prison turns into hostel
The film's collapse led to a court case and 275 creditors out of pocket by $5.8 million.
But a set still stands waiting, perhaps, for the day when the film crew returns.
Urbex Central posted on the group's website:
Urbex Central The set is likely to be from an abandoned biblical epic that hit financial difficulty.
"Exploring this abandoned movie set in the middle of rural New Zealand countryside was quite the experience, as we wandered through the film set, which was designed to look more like Jerusalem than New Zealand it felt like we were entering some kind of cartoon world.
"Everywhere we ventured was artificial and built by film set designers, from the walls and floors to the odd props and building materials that were left lying around and never used."
The movie set appears to be at the Falstone Camping Ground at Lake Benmore, near Twizel, built in 2008.
Urbex Central The overgrown set in the South Island.
Sets were dismantled elsewhere but the Lake Benmore site was retained and the company, after the initial collapse, signalled its intention to finish the film.
Kingdom Come was planned as an exploration of the life of Jesus Christ, with Lake Benmore standing in for the Sea of Galilee. The big-budget blockbuster was slated for filming around Wellington and in the South Island but was hit by the fallout from the global financial crisis.
Locations included Central Otago, Oamaru, Motueka and Wellington.
Urbex Central Photographs show a large, overgrown set, designed to resemble an ancient town.
A casting call went out in 2008 seeking swarthy men and women.
Its director was Dean Wright, the visual effects supervisor who worked on The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and, recently, Creed.
After the movie was mothballed, it was reported that campers were using the set to store boats.
Falstone Creek camp manager Ben Aubrey, in 2011, said campers had mixed views about the set.
Some liked it for the shelter it provided but others detested it because it divided the camp and restricted access to the lake, he said.
"Some of them think it is great... but others just cannot wait to get rid of it," he said.
The Waitaki District Council, in 2013, said the consents were still live.
Urbex Central unveiled photographs in 2015 of an abandoned film set overlooking Queenstown.
The North Korean prison set atop Deer Park Heights, which no longer offers public access, was built for the 1988 movie The Rescue, about a group of teenagers who infiltrate a prison to rescue their fathers.
Urban exploration gained public exposure here when the group sneaked into the earthquake-damaged Christchurch Cathedral and other red-zoned areas of Christchurch.
No-one was available from Urbex, but the group say they are a loose affiliation of Kiwi explorers.
"Essentially, we go wherever we please throughout New Zealand and overseas, and document our adventures in still and moving images and in words.
"From subterranean tunnels up to the tops of towers and roofs, from abandoned sites through to active sites, we each have our particular haunts.
"We are artists, and it is hard to codify artistic inspiration."What do you want to be when you grow up? What’s your favorite food? These are questions every person has answers to.
To celebrate World Down Syndrome Day, siblings Lauren and Paul Costabile produced the short video below, called “More Alike Than Different.” In it, they asked kids with Down syndrome, as well as typically developing kids, some simple questions and recorded their answers.
The Costabiles, who made the video in collaboration with a number of Down syndrome organizations, are also the producers and creators of “Bailey’s World,” a TV show in development featuring a main character with Down Syndrome.
The message of the video above is clear — we all deserve to be loved, included and accepted in our society.
Check out the hashtag #MoreAlikeThanDifferent for more information.Ya know, I always thought that the Sierra events six years ago [were] the 'end' of that trial. Maybe that was preparing us for something bigger.
They say that lightning doesn't strike twice, but for the Bingham family, it has struck three times. Three children out of the five born to Oregon residents Jason and Stacy Bingham have already experienced serious heart problems, and the other two are showing markers, according to the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford.
The Latter-day Saint family's heart journey began in 2006, when their oldest daughter, Sierra, then 6, was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy. As her condition quickly worsened, she was placed on the transplant list and soon after received a new heart. While checkups, biopsies and tests have to be a regular part of life from now on, the Binghams felt relief at the time.
Jason and Stacy Bingham started a blog in 2007, where they write about their children and show photos of family outings and birthday parties. They also talk about their doctor's appointments, update family and friends on biopsy and echocardiogram results, and share their journey.
It was just six years after Sierra's diagnosis that the Binghams posted on their blog about their third child, Lindsey: "She was showing signs of congestive heart failure. We took her into the ER on May 20, 2012, where they took a chest X-ray and diagnosed her with dilated cardiomyopathy. She has been placed on the transplant list and the wait is currently 2-4 months," her father wrote on June 16, 2012.
Lindsey was diagnosed with the same disease as her older sister. And the Binghams found themselves in the same hospital, going through a similar experience. Having gone through this before, Sierra offered her sister some advice.
"Be brave. Hold the nurse's hand and ask what are they going to do next," Jason and Stacy Bingham wrote on their blog.
Throughout the procedures, tests, waiting and wondering, the Binghams remained hopeful.
"She was given a blessing that Sunday and headed off on her adventure on May 21st. The Lord blessed Sierra with a miracle, he can do it agin," her father wrote.
Lindsey, too, was finally able to get a transplant after waiting seven painful months, but just like her sister, there is always the possibility that their bodies will reject their new hearts. At the time Lindsey was getting her new heart, Sierra's body was rejecting her transplant. After trying different treatment methods, doctors were able to get Sierra's body to stop attacking the new heart, according to "Today."
Because finding a donor took longer for Lindsey, she had to be hooked up to a Berlin Heart. On June 30, 2012, while the mechanical support kept Lindsey alive, her youngest brother, Gage, 3, was checked in, just down the hall, with a complete heart block. Gage's enlarged heart would eventually require a pacemaker to help regulate his heartbeat.
Jason Bingham wrote on the family blog, "Basically, he has major heart problems that are probably caused by his cardimyopathy. In my opinion, we are going down the same route as Sierra and Lindsey, mark my words. What a nightmare."
Jason later said in his post, "Ya know, I always thought that the Sierra events six years ago [were] the 'end' of that trial. Maybe that was preparing us for something bigger."
With all their family's medical costs, and without the Binghams asking, friends and family have reached out to help wherever they can. One friend, Kevin Bradford, created and maintains a site where donations can be made to the family to help with their constantly growing treatment costs.
Although the Binghams tend to be private, their story has spread and even caught the attention of "Dateline." For a year, cameras followed the family's experiences. On June 5, Keith Morrison of "Dateline" told the Binghams' story in his segment "Against All Odds."Top U.S. Atheist Group, Freedom From Religion, Started Because of Abortion Rights
Contact: Underground Apologetics, 608-469-7956
MADISON, Wisc., Dec. 21 / Christian Newswire / -- According to the December 2009 edition of the Isthmus, the Freedom From Religion Foundation began in Madison in 1976 after the founders saw Christians opposing abortion at legislative meetings at the Wisconsin State Capitol.
The founders, Annie Laurie Gaylor and mother Anne Gaylor, believed women were being treated unequally by being denied abortion rights. They then set out to destroy Christian freedoms.
They have become one of the top atheist groups in the world with 14,000 members. School age children are one of the primary targets, trying to stop the mention of God in schools.
They take legal action against city councils for saying a prayer before their meetings. They distribute posters and billboards throughout the United States that mock Christians and offer anti-God rhetoric.
They recently lost a lawsuit trying to stop "In God We Trust" at the U.S. Capitol visitor center in Washington, D.C.
Currently, they are working on lawsuits against the National Day of Prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and they are trying to stop tax deductions for clergy housing.
Gaylor's husband, Dan Barker, who claims to have been a believer before becoming an atheist, says in the Isthmus article, "What's wrong with stirring things up? Isn't that the point of free dialogue and free speech? We want to be a part of the quilt that makes America America."
This atheist group tries to look as if they are tolerant of others' beliefs, but they use doublespeak. They say they are tolerant, but they try to take away the free speech rights of Christians.
Ironically, atheists are able to freely speak because the U.S. founding fathers created documents that were based on a person's freedom under God.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation and Underground Apologetics are both located in Madison, Wisconsin. Both organizations use the same post office near the Wisconsin State Capitol.
However, the organizations are promoting opposite causes. The Freedom From Religion Foundation is anti-God and Underground Apologetics is trying to help others discover God's promises.
Underground Apologetics, which operates UndergroundNews.us, is growing every day. Steve McConkey, Underground President, says, "We need to pray and not react in anger. God is still in control. History teaches us that wherever religious freedoms are taken away, dictators reign as in Cuba, China, Hitler's Germany, and the ex-Soviet Union. There is still hope, even for atheists."
Conclusion: Keep saying Merry Christmas!Posted by
Aaron Nielsen,
January 9, 2015 Email
Aaron Nielsen
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This time of year women's soccer is mostly under the radar, but hopefully as we come closer to the 2015 World Cup in Canada this June the tournament will get the world coverage it deserves compared to what we will see in Canadian press and regularly on RedNation Online. I follow the women's game on a fairly regular basis, mostly because of the development of new Professional and Semi-Professional leagues around the world. Originally it with the United States professional league (WUSA), which was played from 2001-2003, and the Women's version of the German Bundesliga. I collect information and statistics as I currently do for men's, both professional and developmental leagues.
Countries such as Germany, Sweden, Norway, Japan and Finland have had women’s top level soccer for a number of years. They play a traditional pyramid development system with a first division of independent female clubs and clubs connected to local sporting club, including the Men's soccer team. The goal of these leagues is not to generate money but to provide playing and development opportunities for players. However, with the growth of women's soccer, in general these leagues have also grown and become more professional.
This growth has also seen new leagues develop across Europe, again with a combination of independent female academies and teams connected to more prominent men’s teams. In England's WAFSL, traditionally Arsenal has been the strongest team, although clubs such as Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Birmingham City have been challenging the female Gunners for top spot. Barcelona’s club dominates the league in Spain. While in France Juvisy, an independent women's team with great success, is now being challenged by Lyon and Paris St-Germain.
Lyon has also become a powerhouse in in the Women's version of the European's Champions League, which follows a similar format to the Men's and provides further competitions for the participating teams. This is where a team like 2013-2014 German Champions and European Champions League winners VFL Wolfsburg played 40 games at a high level this past season. This is one of the reasons, in my opinion, it's important for Americans and Canadians to support Women's league soccer. Despite the college system being a great developer, it’s the continual competition in high level games that will improve the overall quality of the players.
The NWSL has provided some options for American, Canadian and Mexican players in preparation for the World Cup next summer and I predict that like the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the 2015 Women's World Cup will be a tournament that CONCACAF can shine at, including Canada who were given a very favorable draw as hosts. Based on my awareness of women players around the world and recent World Cup 2015 draw, below is what I'm calling the earliest prediction.
I will allow myself to self-edit as we come closer to the tournament, although I don't think I'll make many changes from this prediction.
Group A Prediction: 1st. Canada, 2nd. China, 3rd. Netherlands, 4th. New Zealand
This is not the easiest group Canada could have been given but one Canada should be favorites in and should win. China are state run team, meaning that the players play together for much of the year although they haven't had a ability to play pro soccer elsewhere and also don't have the resources they once did when they hosted the tournament in 2007. Netherlands are a rising country and are led by one of the top prospects in Women's Soccer in Vivianne Miedema, who is a player to watch. New Zealand made the tournament by beating countries such as Tonga 16-0 and Cook Islands 11-0, with experience in US College, European professional soccer and Australia Women's League, this should make them a competitive team
Group B Prediction: 1st. Germany, 2nd. Norway, 3rd. Cote D'Ivoire, 4th. Thailand
An easy group to predict in my opinion, with Cote D'Ivoire and Thailand being two of the weakest countries in the tournament. Norway’s players are mostly local, although their top players Caroline Hanson and Nora Berge do play in Germany, while 19 year old Ada Hegerberg plays with Lyon in France. Germany has a number of stars in the Women's game including captain Celia Sasic and Wolfsburg player Alexandra Popp. They have lost some key veterans to retirement in Inka Griggs and Brigit Prinz, but should still be a tournament favorite.
Group C Prediction: 1st. Japan, 2nd. Switzerland, 3rd. Cameroon, 4th. Ecuador
Cameroon and Ecuador are developing countries in the Women's game and shouldn't trouble Japan or Switzerland. Many of the Swiss players play in Germany, while veteran and orchestrator of much of the their offense Lara Dickenmann plays with Lyon. FC Basel are also following the men's side and developing a strong local team. Japan has a league, although many of the top national players also play elsewhere. The national team will be the most experienced team in the tournament including most players who won the 2011 tournament in Germany.
Group D Prediction: 1st. United States, 2nd. Sweden, 3rd. Australia, 4th. Nigeria
This is the group of death for the 2015 World Cup and you feel sorry for such a tough draw for both Australia, who have developed their own league in connection to the Austrialan A-League, and Nigeria who are by far the strongest country in Africa. To me the game between USA and Sweden will be the game of the group stage, with the traditional league development of Sweden vs US struggle in developing a pro league.
Group E Prediction: 1st. Brazil, 2nd. Spain, 3rd. South Korea, 4th. Costa Rica
I expect both Brazil and Spain to advance from this group, although the game between the two countries will be very interesting with Brazil losing some of their momentum in the Women's game while Spain is on its way up. The Spanish women's league has been improving yearly, although their top players Losada and Sonia played in the NWSL, while the club captain Verónica Boquete plays in Germany. All of Brazil’s players now play in Brazil so they are a bit of an unknown, although forward Cristiane could be an outside pick for the World Cup 2015 top goal scorer.
Group F Prediction: 1st. France, 2nd. Mexico, 3rd. England, 4th. Colombia
As mentioned, there are now three very competitive club teams in France, which means all of the French players play in that league and they are also led by five players: Laura Georges, Élodie Thomis, Louisa Nécib, Élise Bussaglia and Gaëtane Thiney, with over 100 international games so they could be a darkhorse to win the whole tournament. Mexico, with its connection to American soccer, has drastically improved, while despite the launch of FAWSL, England are an outsider to me with Kelly Smith as the only star and she is 36 years old.
Round of 16 Winners: China, United States, Germany, France, Sweden, Japan, Mexico, Canada
I expect most of the favorites to win the first round of the knockout group with the only real surprise Mexico beating Norway. The game of the group will be Brazil vs Sweden and interesting the knockout groupings is set up similar to the 2002 U19 World Cup which saw Brazil, Germany, United States and Canada make the final four.
Round of 8: United States over China, Germany over France, Japan over Sweden, Canada over Mexico
By the draw Canada gets the easiest game, which shows the importance of winning their group because finishing second means they will play United States in this round. The other four countries have the three European nations with the strongest leagues in the World and 2011 World Cup winners Japan.
Semifinals: United States over Germany, Canada over Japan
I have the right to go with my heart here and think momentum will take Canada into the finals in an inspiring Olympic-esque performance by Christine Sinclair. To be honest, my head says the final should be Japan and Germany, although I think being hosts and having huge support in Edmonton for Canada and in Montreal for United States will make these games a coin toss.
Finals: United States over Canada
My final pick would be Germany over Japan based purely on quality of players, although United States and Canada would have plenty of stories and determination to take the finals and create a great ending for the tournament. It is hard for me to honestly think that Canada would have the quality to get by both Japan and then Germany or United States in the finals. For this article I'll pick USA as my 2015 World Cup winners, although by this point sitting in my seat at Olympic Stadium my heart and pride will certainly be with the Red and White.Impact Hub Trentino
Hack.Developers – Sede di TRENTO
48 ore di hackathon distribuito in tutta Italia: i developer italiani si riuniscono per la trasformazione digitale
Nel week-end del 7 e 8 ottobre 2017 tutte le tech community italiane e gli sviluppatori potranno partecipare alla maratona di programmazione organizzata in contemporanea in oltre 20 città su tutto il territorio nazionale!
Hack.Developers, promosso dal Team per la Trasformazione Digitale in collaborazione con Codemotion, sarà il più grande hackathon mai realizzato in Italia!
È rivolto agli sviluppatori software ed esperti informatici su tutto il territorio italiano e ha l’importante obiettivo di accelerare lo sviluppo dei progetti presenti sul portale Developers.Italia, la nuova community di sviluppatori dei servizi pubblici digitali lanciata a marzo proprio dal Team Digitale.
L’evento di Trento è organizzato da Speck&Tech, community di startupper, studenti e giovani professionisti che vivono in Trentino e sono affascinati dalla tecnologia; Impact Hub Trentino, spazio di innovazione sociale che fa parte di un network internazionale; UniTin, il network degli studenti dell’Università di Trento; e HIT, Hub Innovazione Trentino.Kemal Ördek, one of the founders of Red Umbrella Sexual Health and Human Rights Association (Kırmızı Şemsiye Derneği) was raped and robbed at his home in Ankara. A police officer in station complained “Enough with the people of Prophet Lot!”
Three days passed after the incident. At the police station, perpetrators kept threating Ördek “We know where you live now. They’ll release us anyway and you’ll have to deal with the consequences.” The perpetrators are free and they continue to harass Ördek by phone.
Kemal Ördek’s lawyer told bianet that the prosecutor who was subjected to the police station released the perpetrators without a trial. At the moment, the case is in the hands of the public prosecutor. Four lawyers try to collect evidence.
They took Ördek to ATM to withdraw cash
Kemal Ördek is an activist who has been working for LGBTI and sex workers’ rights for years. On Sunday night, two men came to the house of Ördek.
Two men appeared at their door on Sunday night. One of them raped Ördek and they confiscated Ördek’s cell phone. Then, they called one of their relatives and gave them Ördek’s address.
Perpetrators wanted money from Ördek. When they found out that the did not have any cash at home, they took Ördek to ATM. Ördek spotted a police car near the ATM and then ran |
.S. Justice Department launched an investigation into the Chun family’s wealth in the United States and subsequently seized $1.2 million of the family’s U.S. assets in the United States. The money was returned to South Korea. Despite that, Chun’s family members have retained their residency status.
Chun’s relatives obtained their permanent residency by investing in an EB-5 project managed by the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, a nonprofit company. The PIDC pooled Chun’s $500,000 with money from 200 other foreign investors to finance an expansion of the Pennsylvania Convention Center in downtown Philadelphia.
The same project in Philadelphia also helped to secure permanent residency for Qiao Jianjun, a Chinese government official accused of embezzling more than $40 million from a state-owned grain storehouse, according to reports in the People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s newspaper. Qiao had divorced his wife, Shilan Zhao, in China in 2001, a fact he did not disclose to U.S. immigration authorities. When Zhao applied for an EB-5 visa, Qiao qualified for U.S. permanent residency as an applicant’s spouse.
The Justice Department launched an investigation only when it was tipped off by Chinese authorities. In January 2014, a federal grand jury indicted Zhao and her ex-husband, Qiao, for immigration fraud, money laundering and internationally transporting stolen funds. Zhao was arrested and released on bail. Federal authorities are pursuing Qiao, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
A trial has been set for February 2017. U.S. government attorneys have filed asset forfeiture cases to recover real estate linked to Qiao and Zhao in Flushing, New York, and Monterey Park, California.
In April 2015, Qiao appeared onthe Chinese government’s list of 100 “most wanted” officials who fled abroad after being accused of crimes such as bribery and corruption. He and 39 other government officials and state-owned enterprise leaders on the list allegedly fled to the United States.
The list, called “Operation Skynet,” is part of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, which has vowed to take down what Chinese officials describe as corrupt “tigers” and “flies” within the country’s ruling Communist Party.
Fengxian Hu was another fugitive on China’s list. A former army singer and radio broadcaster, Hu headed the state-owned broadcasting company that had a joint venture with Pepsi to distribute soft drinks in Sichuan province. In 2002, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal reported that Pepsi had accused Hu of looting the joint venture and using company funds to buy fancy cars and go on European tours.
The same year, in a widely publicized move, Pepsi filed a case with international arbitrators in Stockholm, asking that the joint venture be dissolved. Despite this, Hu was given a visa that allowed him to fly regularly to Las Vegas, where he was a VIP client at the MGM casino.
In January 2010, Chinese authorities investigated Hu for corruption. But the month before, Hu had entered the United States on a B1 visitor visa, joining his wife, a U.S. citizen living in New York.
Hu tried to obtain a green card through his wife, but the petition was rejected by U.S. immigration authorities. He applied for asylum instead.
Meanwhile, he had gotten into trouble in the United States for losing millions in a Las Vegas casino and failing to pay a $12 million gambling debt. In 2012, he was indicted in a Nevada court on two counts of theft and one count of intentionally passing a check without sufficient funds.
Hu pled not guilty to the charges; his lawyers claimed that his checks bounced because his bank account had been closed by Chinese authorities. The charges against him in the U.S. were considered an aggravated felony, which is a common basis for deportation. Hu, however, had a pending asylum case and so could not be deported.
In August 2015, a New York immigration judge denied the asylum claim. But Hu’s lawyers argued that he would be tortured if he returned to China and invoked the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which says that an alien may not be sent to a country where he is likely to be tortured. In the end, the immigration court suspended Hu’s removal order, allowing him to remain in the United States and work here indefinitely. He will not, however, be given permanent residency or be allowed to travel outside the country.
The absence of an extradition treaty — coupled with a high standard of living — makes the United States a favored destination for Chinese officials and businessmen fleeing corruption charges.
In April 2015, Jeh Johnson, the Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, made a 48-hour trip to Beijing. The visit was intended to pave the way for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s U.S. visit in September 2015, according to a memorandum Johnson wrote, which was obtained through a request under the Freedom of Information Act.
In the memo, Johnson said the Chinese government is seeking 132 people it said have fled to the United States to avoid prosecution. This represents a greater number of fugitives than Chinese authorities have publicly acknowledged.
“I’m told that in prior discussions, the Chinese have been frustrated by the lack of any information from us about the 132 fugitives,” Johnson wrote.
The Chinese request for assistance posed a dilemma for the United States. American officials are concerned about a lack of fairness in China’s criminal justice system. Human rights groups say that China continues to use torture to extract false confessions from suspected criminals. Torture has also been documented to be part of shuanggui — a secretive discipline process reserved for members of the Chinese Communist Party.
Some analysts see the crackdown on corrupt officials as part of a purge aimed at the current regime’s political rivals and ideological enemies. U.S. officials say this makes returning corrupt officials to China a delicate issue for the United States.
In 2003, headlines around the world reported widespread street protests in Bolivia that led to security forces killing 58 people, most of them members of indigenous groups. Not long afterward, as protesters massed up on the streets of La Paz demanding his resignation, Bolivian President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada resigned and fled his country along with his defense minister, Jose Carlos Sanchez Berzain.
The two men flew to the United States, where they continue to reside. In 2006, Berzain applied for political asylum, which he was granted in 2007. On his application, when the form asked, “Have you or your family members ever been accused, charged, arrested, detained, interrogated, convicted and sentenced, or imprisoned in any country other than the United States?” Berzain checked the box “no,” even though by then he and de Lozada had been formally accused of genocide by Bolivia’s attorney general. The indictment was approved by Bolivia’s Supreme Court in 2007. Berzain also stated on his application that the State Department had arranged for his travel to the United States.
The de Lozada administration was vocally pro-American. Before it was ousted, officials had announced they would facilitate gas exports to the United States.
After their departure, Bolivia’s attorney general publicly stated that the administration had embezzled millions from government coffers, but did not formally file charges. He said de Lozada had taken some $22 million from the country’s reserve funds before fleeing.
De Lozada and members of his administration have dismissed the allegations as part of a politically motivated smear campaign, but there is evidence to suggest irregularities may have occurred in the handling of the reserve funds. The former president signed a decree shortly before leaving office authorizing the interior and finance ministers to withdraw money from Bolivia’s reserve funds without going through the normal approval process. De Lozada’s former interior minister pleaded guilty in 2004 to embezzlement after $270,000 in cash was found in an associate’s home.
De Lozada, a mining mogul before he became president, moved to Chevy Chase, Maryland, an upscale suburb of Washington, D.C. He now lives in a two-story brick house bought for $1.4 million by Macalester Limited, a limited liability company that was formed in the British Virgin Islands and lists a post office box in the Bahamas as its principal address.
De Lozada’s immigration status is unclear. He said in a sworn deposition in 2015 that he was not a U.S. citizen. His son-in-law, who spoke to ProPublica on his behalf, would not say whether de Lozada had applied for asylum.
Berzain, meanwhile, settled in South Florida. Records show that he and his brother-in-law personally own or are listed as officers or members of business entities that together control around $9 million worth of Miami real estate.
Some of the purchases were made in the names of entities that appear to list different variations of Berzain’s name in business records.
In addition, in the purchase of two properties, Berzain’s name was added to business records only after the deal had gone through. Berzain’s brother-in-law incorporated a company called Warren USA Corp in October 2010, for example, and the company purchased a $1.4 million residential property the following month. Three weeks after Warren USA Corp became the owner of an elegant Spanish-style villa in Key Biscayne, Berzain was added as the company’s secretary.
The following year, in May 2011, Berzain’s brother-in-law created Galen KB Corp and registered as the company’s president. A month later, Galen KB Corp purchased a $250,000 condo. In August, Berzain replaced his brother-in-law as the company’s president, according to business records. Berzain is no longer listed as a company officer in either company.
During an interview in January, Berzain told ProPublica “I don’t have any companies.” When asked about several of the companies associated with his name or address in public records, the former defense minister said he had a consulting firm that helped clients set up companies and that he was sometimes added to the board of directors. Efforts to reach Berzain’s brother-in-law, a wealthy businessman and the owner of a bus company in Bolivia, were unsuccessful. Berzain’s brother-in-law has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
The practice of purchasing real estate in the name of a business entity like a limited liability company, or LLC, is a common and legal practice in high-end real-estate markets, and one that enables celebrities and other wealthy individuals to protect their privacy.
But the practice also allows foreign officials to hide ill-gotten gains. U.S. regulations allow individuals to form business entities like LLCs without disclosing the beneficial owner. The LLCs can be registered in the names of lawyers, accountants or other associates — or even anonymously in some states — and used to purchase real estate, making it nearly impossible to determine the actual owner of a property.
Government investigators and lawmakers have pointed out persistent gaps in U.S. policy that have enabled corrupt officials to evade justice and hide their assets in this country. But little has changed.
Last year, a U.S. Government Accountability Office investigation said it can be “difficult” for immigration officials to identify the true source of an immigrant investor’s funds. Immigration officials told the government auditors that EB-5 applicants with ties to corruption, the drug trade, human trafficking and other criminal activities have a strong incentive to omit key details about their financial histories or lie on their applications.
“It’s very easy to get lost in the noise if you’re a bad person,” said Seto Bagdoyan, the accountability office’s director of forensic audits, who co-authored the GAO report.
Immigration officials, he added, have an “almost nonexistent” ability to thoroughly evaluate investors’ backgrounds and trace their assets.
Despite such weaknesses, Congress has continually extended the EB-5 program with minor changes. The program is backed by real-estate lobbyists who argue that it is a crucial source of financing for luxury condos and hotels. The program is expected to thrive in a Trump presidency because the president-elect is a developer and his son-in-law Jared Kushner received $50 million in EB-5 funds to build a Trump-branded tower in New Jersey.
In 2010, a Senate report described how powerful foreign officials and their relatives moved millions of dollars in suspect funds into the United States. The report said investors bypassed anti-money laundering regulations with help from U.S. lawyers, real-estate agents, and banking institutions. Last year, ABC News reported that lobbyists for real estate and other business groups spent $30 million in 2015 in an effort to protect the EB-5 program.
Senate investigators proposed legislation that would require companies to disclose their beneficial owners and make it easier for authorities to restrict entry, deny visas and deport corrupt foreign officials.
A few of the proposals have been adopted, but they have not made much difference. Banks have stepped up their efforts to identify corrupt officials and monitor their accounts. Professional groups such as the American Bar Association have issued non-binding guidelines for their members on compliance with anti-money-laundering controls. The U.S. government has also worked with the Financial Action Task Force, an international body set up to fight money laundering, to bring its anti-corruption controls in accordance with the body’s guidelines.
In May, the Treasury Department enacted a new rule that will take full effect in 2018 and will require financial institutions to identify the beneficial owners of shell companies. Some advocates see the rule as a step backward. The new rule allows shell companies to designate the manager of the account as the beneficial owner, concealing the identity of the person ultimately exercising control.
The State Department declined to say what progress, if any, it has made on the Senate subcommittee’s recommendation to more aggressively deny visas through Proclamation 7750. “The Department takes seriously congressional recommendations and devotes resources to addressing corruption worldwide,” a State Department official wrote in response to questions.
In 2010, then-Attorney General Eric Holder launched the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. The small unit, which has grown to include 16 attorneys, aims to recover assets in the United States that are tied to foreign corruption and return the money to the looted countries.
Over the past six years, the unit has filed around two dozen civil asset forfeiture cases in an attempt to seize money, real estate and other assets tied to government officials from 16 countries. Assets have ranged from a lone diamond-encrusted glove worn by Michael Jackson that was purchased by Equatorial Guinea’s Vice President, Teodoro Obiang, to a $1 billion fund tied to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
Yet most of the money the Department of Justice has pursued remains in limbo. The case involving Chun, the former president of South Korea, is one of only two instances in which corrupt gains have been returned to the home country through the Justice Department’s efforts. The other arose when Justice Department officials returned $1.5 million to Taiwan from property bought with bribes paid to the family of Chun Shui Bian, the former president of Taiwan.
The agency faces myriad challenges when attempting to seize and return assets acquired by corrupt foreign officials, including a lack of witnesses, said Kendall Day, head of the Department of Justice’s Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section. These officials often shield their transactions through shell companies, offshore companies or a network of associates.
“The mission of the Kleptocracy Initiative is really to target what we call grand foreign corruption that impacts the U.S. financial system,” Day said, citing the Chun case as an example.
The 2012 Magnitsky Act gives the government power to deny visas and freeze the assets of Russian nationals accused of corruption or human rights violations. The Global Magnitsky Act would extend the same sanctions to the rest of the world, but it has yet to be passed by Congress. Unlike Proclamation 7750, the Magnitsky laws require the government to publish a list of foreign government officials who are barred from the United States.
In addition, the Treasury Department imposed regulations this year that aim to crack down on the use of shell companies to purchase real estate in places like Miami and Manhattan. Title insurance companies are now required to identify the real owners of companies purchasing high-end real estate without a mortgage. These regulations, however, are temporary.(KUTV) One-year-old Leo Sanchez ; he, on which a staff member was sitting.
Now, nearly three months later, the state has “cited” the facility with three “findings,” but the center has not lost its license.
“We feel like putting them on a conditional license, and putting a very close watch on the center on a monthly basis, is the right course of action,” said Tom Hudachko, spokesman for the Utah Department of Health, which oversees child care licensing in the state. “This means they will undergo more frequent inspections, and those inspections will be unannounced.”
After reviewing surveillance video on the day little Leo passed away, the state determined the center “did not take all reasonable measures to protect the safety of children... did not meet the ratios for a mixed age group... and the child who died was out of sight of any caregiver for over 20 minutes.”
“And that’s when the death occurred,” said Hudachko, adding Leo might have been underneath the bean bag for the entire time.
Why didn't the state did not yank the license altogether?
Hudachko said the number one priority for the state is child safety, but the state also has a role in creating that safe environment, and making sure the services are available.£19.99
**REPRESS NOW IN STOCK!**
For our fourth release in partnership with SEGA, we are proud to present the soundtrack to one of the defining arcade games of the 1980s: SUPER HANG-ON. Using audio sourced directly from the original 1987 arcade machine sound board, this carefully restored and remastered edition presents the unforgettable soundtrack to SEGA and Yu Suzuki’s classic racer on vinyl for the first time outside of Japan.
Housed in a meticulously designed custom die-cut sleeve, on 425gsm matt finish cardstock, with 300gsm printed inner sleeve and a traditional OBI strip. 180g vinyl cut at 45rpm for maximum driving power!
Music by Koichi Namiki, Katsuhiro Hayashi and Shigeru Ohwada.
Released in the following editions:
180g clear with blue, white and red tri-colour splatter (limited edition)
180g opaque red (2018 repress)
180g classic black
A1. Opening
A2. Outride a Crisis
A3. Sprinter
--------------------------
B1. Winning Run
B2. Hard Road
B3. Goal
B4. Name Entry
PLEASE NOTE: Some copies are shipped in shrink wrap, others in resealable polypropylene sleeves. Please allow up to 1 week for your order to ship.Electronic Arts has laid off what it's calling a "small number" of employees at its Vancouver branch as part of a restructuring effort to focus more on its digital content.With the move, EA said it hopes to better align its Vancouver branch with the company's current focus on digital, online, and free to play games, reports Industry Gamers While technically located just outside of Vancouver in Burnaby, British Colombia, this branch is home to the teams behind the incredibly popularfranchise, theanddeveloper EA Black Box, and more -- EA has not confirmed which of these teams were affected by the recent layoffs.Addressing the reorganization, an EA spokesperson said, "EA in Vancouver is transforming its studio to align with EA's transformation to high-growth digital formats, including online, social gaming and free-to-play.""� As the BC studio makes this transformation, a small number of employees are being impacted while most others are being retrained, redeployed and rolling-on to new projects."During its recent quarterly earnings report, EA reported that it brought in $1 billion in revenue from its digital initiatives in 2011, driven in part by the success ofand the launch of the Origin distribution platform.In January, EA also restructured and dissolved its EA Interactive branch following the departure of division head Barry Cottle.Gamasutra has contacted EA for further comment but has not heard back as of this writing.by
Photo by SpokaneFocus | CC BY 2.0
The Trump regime has defended its plan to cut the “Meals on Wheels” program by saying it “doesn’t show any results.” What kind of “results” are they talking about? The program delivers meals to shut-ins; the shut-ins eat the meal; they don’t starve to death. That is the result, and it happens all day every day. It is one of the most “resultful” programs in existence. But notice that the Trumpists aren’t saying we can’t afford the program; they are clearly saying it’s not delivering the results they want to see. And what are the only “results” produced by not delivering meals to the sick and shut-in who can’t provide for themselves? THEY WILL DIE.
Therefore, we can only conclude that the “result” Donald Trump and his ideological Svengali, Stephen Banon, are looking for is a higher death count for the sick and elderly. We know that throughout his public life, Trump has often expressed his belief in genetic superiority, that the right genes, the right blood are responsible for success in life. (Particularly his succes!) The flipside, of course, is that those who haven’t “succeeded” according to his lights, the people who are “weak” and “losers” (to quote two of his favorite epithets), are therefore genetically inferior. We know this is his belief from his own statements.
Bannon too pushes the idea of “nationhood” as a kind of ethnic purity, something beyond political, legal or economic factors. As Mother Jones pointed out this week, Bannon is a fan of French philosopher Charles Maurras, a rabid anti-Semite and Nazi collaborator. The story notes: “Bannon approvingly cited Maurras’ distinction between what the French philosopher called the ‘real country’ of the people and the ‘legal country’ led by government officials.” (MJ also notes that Maurras referred to the Third Republic as “the Jew State, the Masonic State, the immigrant State.” Anyone who has taken even a cursory look at the fever-swamps of the alt-right – of which Bannon claims proud godfathership – will instantly recognize this language.)
Maurras’s distinction of the “real county” and the “legal country” is precisely what Bannon was referring to in his recent CPAC appearance, where he declared that the goal of the Trump regime is the “deconstruction of the administrative state.” It is clear that he and Trump aim to destroy the “legal country”– the country of laws, institutions, constitutional citizenship, etc. – and replace it with the “real country” of a more ethnically pure state: a land of blood and soil, under the hand of authoritarian leaders who act according to mystical dictates of “race wisdom,” not the “alien” system of democracy and laws which apply to all citizens equally.
Trump ally King also made this crystal clear this week, explicitly saying you can’t “restore civilization” with “other people’s babies” and openly longing for that “homogenous” society of people who “look like each other.”
So by their own words, Trump and his allies believe in a biologically based “nation” led by “genetically superior leaders.” By their own words, that is what they are seeking to create. But how can you make a nation “great again” with so much “inferior” material out there? Why, you cull the herd, you cut off the “weak” and the “losers” and let them wither away and die.
I don’t think it can be denied any longer that this attitude — this aim – is an intrinsic element in the policies of the Trump regime and the Congressional extremists. The weak, the sick, the different, the “impure” and the “inferior” are to be made to disappear: by deportation, by bans, by walls – and by dying. For the moment, it doesn’t look like actual systematic mass extermination is on the cards; so perhaps we can call their present approach the “Semi-Final Solution.” But who knows what wonders await us down the line. As the late, great Leonard Cohen said: “I’ve seen the future, brother: it is murder.”A Vilnius resident has been awarded over 50,000 euros by the Strasbourg court in compensation of damages caused by inadequate decisions made by Lithuanian state institutions in his attempts to recover the land in central Vilnius nationalized during the Soviet rule, informs LETA/BNS.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that the state should pay the market price for the nine acres of land that used to belong to the applicant's father before World War II, however, the land was unlawfully sold to another person in 2001. However, the court did not put the state under the obligation of paying the market price for all of the land the property rights are yet to be restored to.
After Lithuania regained its independence in 1990, Alfonsas Vytautas Paukstis, 78, turned to state institutions for recovery of nearly 2 hectares of land purchased by his father in 1930s and nationalized in 1960s.
Regardless of the man's requests, the Vilnius county sold the 9 are plot of the land at issue to another person, a move later described as unlawful by the Seimas ombudsman, the National Land Service and prosecutors.
The Strasbourg court ruled it could not “turn a blind eye to the fact” that the 2003 market value of the plot was 46,900 euros, while the Vilnius man was offered merely 5,200 euros for the entire plot under then methodology.
The court dismissed this as "plainly incommensurable," ruling that Lithuania had violated the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights on protection of property and ordering the state to pay 46,900 euros in pecuniary damages, 6,500 in respect of non-pecuniary damage and 575 euros in court expenses.
The court did not satisfy the claim to get a compensation of market value for the remaining land.
According to the ruling, the convention does not automatically guarantee the right to property restitution and does not create a general obligation to "restore rights to property which had been expropriated before they ratified the Convention."Andrew Lansley, the leader of the House of Commons, has claimed £6000 in expenses for nights in London hotels despite owning a flat just a mile from Parliament.
The former Conservative Health Secretary owns a £1 million Georgian apartment in Pimlico, central London but has claimed back the cost of dozens of overnight stays in London hotels.
Parliamentary records show that Mr Lansley has not rented out his London house. According to his spokesman a family member is currently staying there, but the flat is thought to have more than one bedroom.
Despite buying the property in 2000 for £270,000 the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has revealed Mr Lansley claimed £4,978 on hotel stays between April 2012 and March this year and £972 so far in this financial year.
MPs are able to claim £150 per night for hotels in London and £120 elsewhere in the country according to IPSA rules. Breakfast is covered if the costs of the hotel room are within these capped limits.
In 2009 the Daily Telegraph revealed that the then shadow health secretary claimed £4,000 from the tax-payer for the renovation of a Tudor country cottage that he sold shortly afterwards. He then ‘flipped’ his expenses claims to the Georgian flat in London where he claimed thousands of pounds for furnishings including a £750 Laura Ashley sofa.
A spokesman from Mr Lansley's said: “On the point about the London flat, I can confirm that this does not appear on the Register because it is occupied by Mr Lansley's family and thus he does not derive any net income from this."Democrats flipped two more Republican-held state legislature seats on Tuesday with special election wins in New Hampshire and Florida.
The two races bring the total number of GOP seats won by the Democratic Party to eight this election cycle ― all of them in special races. The results suggest that the party is on track to make even more significant gains in statewide legislative races in Virginia and New Jersey this November.
The victory in New Hampshire was especially notable, since the party pulled it off in a heavily Republican state House of Representatives district where voters overwhelmingly preferred Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton in November’s presidential election. In the race to represent House District Rockingham-4, Democrat Kari Lerner defeated Republican James Headd 51 to 48 percent ― a margin of just 39 votes.
By contrast, Trump beat Clinton in the district 59 to 36 percent.
“Representative-elect Lerner’s victory tonight exemplifies state Democrats’ building momentum and Republicans should be worried,” Jessica Post, executive director of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said in a statement.
Lerner, a longtime realtor, campaigned on opposing state Republicans’ proposed tax cuts “for big business and the wealthy,” which she argued would overburden localities and erode essential services, according to her campaign website. At the same time, on Lerner’s website, she described herself as “pro-business,” citing her bachelor’s degree in business administration.
Lerner’s win is the third Democratic pickup in New Hampshire this cycle.
The election does little to change the balance of power in the state’s House of Representatives, however, where Republicans have a sizable majority. The state’s governor is currently a Republican and the GOP controls the New Hampshire Senate as well.
Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images Democrat Annette Taddeo won a special election to represent Florida's 40th state Senate district.
Democrats also celebrated a win in Florida’s state Senate earlier in the evening.
Democrat Annette Taddeo defeated Republican Jose Felix “Pepi” Diaz 51 to 47 percent in a race to represent Florida’s 40th state Senate district in Southwest Miami-Dade County. Christian “He-Man” Schlaerth, an independent, came in third place with 1.8 percent of the vote.
The seat opened up in April when state Sen. Frank Artiles (R) resigned following a drunken rant in which he used a racial slur to describe several black Senate colleagues.
Clinton beat Trump in the 40th district 58 to 40 percent in November.
But voters in the district have typically opted for Republicans at the state and congressional level.
Republicans continue to maintain a modest majority in the Florida state Senate. The GOP controls Florida’s governorship and state House of Representatives as well.
Taddeo, a 50-year-old businesswoman, ran on a platform of restoring funding for public schools and “ending high-stakes testing,” as well as fighting to increase wages and ensure access to affordable health care.
The victory is also a coup for Taddeo personally, following a failed congressional bid in 2016 and failed run for lieutenant governor in 2014. In 2016, suspected Russian-backed actors hacked her campaign and leaked sensitive materials, contributing both to her loss in the primary and the eventual Democratic nominee’s loss in the general election.
She got a last-minute boost in her race thanks to an endorsement from former Vice President Joe Biden, who recorded a robocall for her.Several times over my 29 years in Congress I have wondered whether there are any fiscal conservatives at the Pentagon.It seems that the Defense Department is just like every other gigantic bureaucracy. When it comes to money, the refrain is always “more, more, more.”On November 14, the House passed what one Capitol Hill paper described as a “$700 billion compromise defense bill.”
It was $80 billion over the budget caps and many billions more than even President Trump had requested.I opposed almost all the major initiatives of the Obama administration. But it was false to say that the Defense Department was “depleted” or “eviscerated” during those years, or that now we must “rebuild the military.”In fact, public relations experts in future years should conduct studies about how the Defense Department has been able to convince the public it has been cut when it is getting more money than ever.Defense Department appropriations have more than doubled since 2000. In addition, the Department has gotten extra billions in several supplemental or emergency appropriation bills.The military construction bill is a separate bill that has added another $109.5 billion over the last 10 years. It would be hard to find any U.S. military base any place in the world that has not had several new buildings constructed over the last few years.In fiscal year 2016, we spent over $177 billion on new equipment, guns, tanks, etc. We have spent similar amounts for many years. Most of this equipment does not wear out or have to be replaced after just one year.It is ironic that the only President in the last 60 or 70 years who has tried to rein in defense spending is the only President in that period who spent most of his career in the military.In Evan Thomas’ book, Ike's Bluff, when told by his top staffer that he could not reduce defense spending, President Eisenhower said if he gave another star to every general who cut his budget, there would be “such a rush to cut costs you’ll have to get out of the way.”The book also quotes Eisenhower as saying “Heaven help us if we ever have a President who doesn’t know as much about the military as I do.”Therein lies an explanation for a big part of what has caused much excessive and/or wasteful defense spending and, the willingness, even at times eagerness, to go to war and support permanent, never-ending wars.Only 18% of the current Congress has ever served in any branch of our military. Members are afraid if they do not vote for an increase in defense spending, or if they question waste by the military, some demagogue will accuse them of “not supporting the troops.”It would be a huge understatement to say that I usually do not agree with New York Times editorials.But the Times Editorial Board on Oct. 22 published an editorial entitled “America’s Forever Wars,” pointing out that the U.S. “has been at war continuously since the attacks of 9/11” and now has troops in “at least 172 countries.”The Board wrote that so far the American people have “seemed to accept” all this militarism, but “it’s a very real question whether, in addition to endorsing
these commitments, which have cost trillions of dollars and many lives over 16 years, they will embrace new entanglements…”The Times added that the Congress “has spent little time considering such issues in a comprehensive way or debating why all these deployments are needed.”Backing these words up was a cartoon in the Oct. 25 issue of Politico, a Capitol Hill newspaper. The cartoon showed six senators sitting at a hearing.The first senator, reading a newspaper, says “Who knew we had troops in Niger?!” The second says: “Heck, we don’t even know how the military budget gets spent.”Finally, the cartoon shows a senator who looks like Sen. Ted Cruz, saying “War is hell. I say we just give the Pentagon an extra $80 billion and call it a day.”Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen, himself a veteran, wrote on Oct. 23: “But there is something else at work here: the slavish veneration now accorded the military. You can see it every time someone in uniform testifies before Congress.”Since now less than one percent of the people serve in the military, it may be that many people who never served feel, perhaps even subconsciously, that they must bend over backwards to show their patriotism.However, it is not unpatriotic to oppose wasteful defense spending or very unnecessary permanent, forever wars.President Reagan once said “our troops should be committed to combat abroad only as a last resort, when no other choice is available.”We have far too many leaders today who seem to want to be new Winston Churchills and who are far too eager to send people to war.No true fiscal conservative could ever justify spending many billions more than even President Trump requested.Our national debt recently went over the $20 trillion level. A few days ago, it was reported that the deficit for fiscal 2017 was $666 billion. This fiscal year, it may be even higher.Conservatives used to be against huge deficit spending. They also used to be against massive foreign aid. Much of what we have been doing in both Iraq and Afghanistan, training police and farmers, repairing electrical and water systems, even making small business loans, etc., is pure foreign aid.Many of our foreign interventions have been done under the auspices or authority of the United Nations. Conservatives used to be the biggest critics of the U.N. and world government. Most of our so-called “coalitions” have been funded almost entirely by American taxpayers.Most interventionists at some point resort to a slur referring to their opponents as isolationists. This is so false. Traditional conservatives support trade and tourism and cultural and educational exchanges with other countries and they agree with helping during humanitarian crises.They just don’t believe in dragging war out forever, primarily so defense contractors, think tanks, and military bureaucrats can get more money.One last point: We have far too many officers. In Scott Berg’s biography on Woodrow Wilson, it says during World War I, we had one officer for every 30 enlisted men. Eisenhower once said we had too many officers when there were nine enlisted for every officer. Now we have one officer for only four and a half to five and a half enlisted (varies by branch).This is very expensive, both for active duty and retirement, but it also makes it much more likely that we will get involved in every little conflict around the world and/or continue basing troops in almost every country.We simply do not have enough money to pay for defense of so many countries other than our own nor the authority under our Constitution to try to run the whole world.Congressman Duncan served honorably in both the U.S. Army Reserve and the Army National Guard, starting as an enlisted man and rising to the rank of captain.Editor’s note: It’s time to reveal the fields for some of college basketball’s biggest early-season tournaments. Follow along as we break down each bracket. All previews can be found here.
When and where: Dec. 22, 23 and 25 at the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu
Teams involved: Colorado, DePaul, George Washington, Hawaii, Loyola Marymount, Nebraska, Ohio, Wichita State
Initial thoughts: For starters, I kind of love the Diamond Head Classic. It tends to get slightly less buzz (OK, way less buzz) than its Maui brethren, and for understandable reasons. (First of all, the Diamond Head field is rarely as good.) But you know what? There's lots of downtime at Christmas. My family does our share of traditional holiday activities, but between those activities -- in that early-evening stretch when you're exhausted from eating, talking and watching "It's a Wonderful Life" but it's too early to nap and you'd just really love a good basketball game to watch -- the Diamond Head has you covered. It's great!
Those are my initial thoughts on the Diamond Head Classic. What's that? You don't care about my holiday tradition? You just want to hear about the basketball? Right!
The 2014 Diamond Head Classic has the kind of |
Louis Vuitton collaboration in the works. But in 2016, new and old fans alike greeted the release of partnerships with Black Sabbath and Nobuyoshi Araki, as well as reprisals of long-term partnerships with The North Face and Nike.
Thomas Welch/Highsnobiety
Gold – adidas
It’s not such a huge surprise that adidas took first place in the “Most Relevant Brand” category. Garnering more than twice the votes of the second place winner, and shockingly nearly seven times more votes than its biggest competitor, Nike (slightly more of a surprise), adidas had a big year no matter how you slice it. Thanks to key collaborations with the likes of Palace Skateboards and Kanye West, as well as a maturation of the Originals division, adidas diversified its fashion portfolio more than ever before. The Herzogenaurach-based brand also introduced a number of new and exciting sneaker initiatives, including the ever-poplar NMD and several tech-forward styles that arrived under the Futurecraft banner.
Liu Song
Editor’s Choice – Vetements
Although Vetements was voted into fourth place, just a handful of votes away from cracking the top three, the Paris-based fashion brand was our sure pick for the Editor’s Choice award, a decision that came after we couldn’t deny the fact that Vetements was likely the most-debated brand at our Berlin headquarters, whether over the label’s oversized Snoop Dogg T-shirt to its SS17 collection with 18 collaborations, to its grinder necklace. Largely, if there’s one brand name to remember the 2016 fashion landscape by, many would agree in saying Vetements.
The Best Sneaker of 2016
Solebox
Bronze – Solebox x adidas Consortium Ultra Boost Uncaged
Unveiled in January, Solebox’s take on the Ultra Boost was the first official Uncaged version to hit shelves, and still the best. Worshippers of the standard Ultra Boost agreeable received the Berlin shop’s version, which featured a neutral beige upper paired with subtle hits of red on the outsole and lace-tips. The sneaker was one of the highest-reselling kicks of the year, prefacing Solebox’s recent European expansion into Vienna, Amsterdam and beyond.
Dominik Schulte/Highsnobiety
Silver – ACRONYM x NikeLab Air Presto Mid
Separated from first place by several hundred reader votes, the ACRONYM Presto Mid was a refreshing departure from the running-inspired sneakers that were so popular in 2016. The militaristic Presto once again highlighted Errolson Hugh’s utilitarian design sense, arriving in a trio of well-appointed colorways. Without incorporating any Nike buzzwords or materials like Lunarlon or Flyknit, this unique Presto iteration was announced alongside a set of illustrations drawn by Boston-based graphic artist Kostas Seremetis, nicely rounding out the release.
Livestock
Gold – adidas Originals YEEZY 350 Boost V2
Kanye West’s second generation 350 silhouette was the most popular YEEZY sneaker of the year. Issued up in a total of five colorways over the past 12 months, the V2 eclipsed its predecessor as the must-have YEEZY sneaker. Industry insiders reported December’s “Black/White” colorway – affectionately referred to as the “Oreo” 350 V2 – was the most accessible sneaker release from adidas Originals and Kanye West, being produced in more numbers than previous drops.
Edward Chiu / Highsnobiety
Editor’s Choice – ACRONYM x NikeLab Air Presto Mid
For the second year running, the editors at Highsnobiety award our pick of the year to ACRONYM and Nike.
Although the anticipation lasted for months, which surely worked in the favour of this particular sneaker drop, Errolson Hugh’s take on the Presto Mid would have been a highlight of the year even if landed with zero warning, but there was ample time to anticipate the shoe. Nike’s Beaverton camp gave Hugh lease to inject the Presto silhouette with his signature technical toolings, across a range of two militaristic colorways, and a third, more vibrant iteration, that nicely adopted Nike’s luminescent Volt shade.
The Most Influential Person of 2016
Eva Al Desnudo
Bronze – Jerry Lorenzo
Fear of God frontman Jerry Lorenzo took things up a notch in 2016, working with established retailer PacSun to introduce Fear of God diffusion line F.O.G., and aligning with Justin Bieber to provide wardrobe and on-stage styling for Justin’s Purpose tour.
Lorenzo was also the backbone of the vintage metal T-shirt revival, releasing a Chapel of God range featuring a curated selection of rare deadstock T-shirts in partnership with vintage authority Chapel NYC, and a Maxfield LA pop-up that offered yet another range of customized band T-shirts with vintage concert shirt maker Never Gonna Turn Down Again.
Kenneth Cappello/Highsnobiety
Silver – A$AP Rocky
Maintaining a foothold in the world of fashion, Rocky remained one of the most stylish names in hip-hop, landing a spot as one of four faces for French fashion house Dior, collaboration with GUESS, and also creating a co-branded collection with British designer JW Anderson, titled “JWA AWGE.”
Rounding out a strong year, Rocky also became the creative director of MTV, and if there’s one person that might have a chance at rejuvenating the antiquated TV network. Rocky had a massive year, and he didn’t even have to release an album to do so.
Thomas Welch/Highsnobiety
Gold – Kanye West
Far and away the winning nominee for “Most Influential Person” of 2016 was Kanye West. Clocking in with more than four-and-a-half votes more than silver medalist A$AP Rocky, Kanye remains to be the most influential person in the Highsnobiety world, bottom line. His pursuits in music and fashion ripple through the news cycle on a daily basis, making Kanye West the top name that Highsnobiety readers love to hate, or hate to love.
Thomas Welch/Highsnobiety
Editor’s Choice – Kanye West
Giving this award to anyone else just wouldn’t be real.
Even by Kanye’s standards, 2016 was a huge year, with the tandem release of YEEZY Season 3 and The Life of Pablo at Madison Square Garden, followed by the Saint Pablo tour, and a grip of successful sneaker releases alongside adidas Originals.
Kanye’s outspoken behavior and ability to polarize opinions between the naysayers and the Yeezus disciples maintains a constant conversation that surrounds his every unpredictable move, whether he’s meeting with Donald Trump after being released from hospital, posting a stream of vintage fashion lookbooks on Instagram, or teasing new gear from his ongoing adidas collaboration. All that’s left to do is see how things progress into 2017.
Lifetime Achievement Award 2016 – Tinker Hatfield
Thomas Welch/Highsnobiety
There are plenty of big figures at Nike that are deserving of this particular award. Of course there’s Michael Jordan, a basketball legend and part-time internet meme. And Mark Parker, the CEO who has helped usher in the era of Nike being the most recognizable brand on the planet. Then there’s Phil Knight, the outgoing founder of the company who documents its scrappy start in his recently published autobiography, Shoe Dog. But when it comes to what’s really contributed to Nike’s transformation from humble Onitsuka Tiger importer to global sportswear juggernaut, one only needs to remember what Mars Blackmon said in a series of memorable adverts: “It’s gotta be the shoes.”
Michael Jordan’s success story at Nike is buttressed by the rise of Tinker Hatfield. Sure, Peter Moore’s Air Jordan 1 is a certified classic (and saw a slew of re-releases this year), and Air Force 1 designer Bruce Kilgore is the man behind Jordan’s Air Ship (the shoe he played in before the Jordan 1) and the 1’s successor, the luxurious, Italian-manufactured Air Jordan 2—but Hatfield’s Air Jordan 3 is the sneaker that kept Jordan onboard at Nike at a time when he was free to pursue other opportunities. A trained architect, Hatfield’s design experience draws from the same creative wells as modern wünderkinds like Virgil Abloh. It turns out, a mutual appreciation for clean lines and structural integrity is a great starting point for innovative kicks that look good and perform exceptionally well.
The footwear he designed for the Jordan line remain some of the most anticipated retros, signifying a true synergy between style and sportswear—a time before basketball shoes began to resemble complicated foot machines and possessed a subtle, “gotta have them” appeal that drew customers in. Sure, having Jordan, Spike Lee, and Bugs Bunny as spokespersons may have helped, but the shoes were already seductive in and of themselves.
Tinker Hatfield’s legacy has been integral to keeping Nike at the forefront of form and function. From the Pompidou-inspired Air Max 1 that turned the concept of “walking on Air” to a literal sneaker with a window, the Mexican footwear-inspired Huarache, the streetball inspired Air Raid, and the desert-trekking Mowabb that birthed the outdoorsy All Conditions Gear line, he’s created many of the bedrocks of Nike’s oeuvre, things that keep getting revisited and gussied up with the Swoosh’s ever-evolving array of technological advancements—jacquard, Flyknit, Lunarlon soles, the list goes on.
The HTM line—a three-letter abbreviation for “Hiroshi, Tinker, Mark” that functions as a footwear incubator for concepts spawned by the superteam of Hatfield, Hiroshi Fujiwara, and Mark Parker—has arguably produced some of the most influential and important sneakers of the modern era. The Flyknit Racer and Trainer have already achieved “instant classic” status.
In his 1963 book Inventing the Future, Nobel prize-winning physicist Dennis Gabor writes: “The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented. It was man’s ability to invent which has made human society what it is.” And 26 years later, Hatfield was doing that on the silver screen. Featured prominently in Back to the Future II, his Air Mag concept of self-lacing shoes of the future incited an overwhelming sense of desire in budding sneakerheads the world over. And that creation has not only become a sought after, auction-only release, but his science fictional self-lacing technology has become a reality: the groundbreaking Nike HyperAdapt.
Hatfield’s own ties to Oregon symbolize a closed loop of sorts for Nike. Founder Phil Knight started the brand with a vision of being an Oregon-based company that keeps the state’s pioneer spirit alive, and Hatfield, a former Duck runner himself, took that notion into the future solely (pun not intended) through the strength of his footwear designs.
To see the full list of Crowns nominations, head here.
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Words by Chris Danforth Footwear Editor Vancouver-born, Berlin-based writer, photographer and editor with a steady hand on the keyboard.A day after Alberta Parks officials warned hikers to be wary while on some trails and pathways, a bear warning has been issued for all of Kananaskis Country.
"Due to an excellent berry crop this year we are seeing significant bear activity throughout Kananaskis Country and extra caution is advised as the possibility of encountering bears on a trail or in facility areas has substantially increased," reads the warning posted online.
"Please respect all closures and observe bear smart techniques when visiting Kananaskis."
2 recent attacks
Two people were attacked by bears in two separate incidents last week.
A woman suffered serious injuries when she was mauled by a grizzly bear protecting her cubs on Tuesday in the Waiparous area.
A bear closure remains in effect along the TransAlta Road west of Highway 40 near the Ghost River and between Don Getty Wildland Provincial Park and Highway 40 because of that incident.
The next day, a woman cycling in the Canmore area was attacked by a black bear.
She was taken to Canmore hospital with stable, non-life-threatening injuries
John Paczkowski, an ecologist with the province, says bears have been drawn down to lower elevations recently because ripe berries are so plentiful.The Warlock class will become available in Blade & Soul on March 2 with the Unchained update. We’re dedicating this week to previewing the Warlock, and have a new class page where we’ve revealed techniques from the Hongmoon Secret Tome, wallpapers, and a class video.
Be sure to join us on the official Blade & Soul Twitch channel February 25 at 10am PST to watch our dedicated Warlock stream; and check out Twitch streamers Bajheera & WarcraftJen, SattelizerGames, Silkwood, VirusBNS, MrHappy1227 & Mel, and KimvoSlice on Friday February 26 from 1pm-5pm PST as the Warlock is explored from a different perspective.
The Warlock Overview
The Warlock is Blade & Soul’s second dedicated ranged class with great power but considerable fragility. Many of their powerful abilities have significant casting times and long cooldowns, requiring one of two strategies to be employed: keep enemies at bay or incapacitated long enough to be able to cast the high damage abilities again, or reduce cooldown times through expert timing of other abilities.
The most iconic aspect of a Warlock is their ability to summon a Thrall as an ally on the field. This Thrall lasts for only a short period of time, but can be useful in engaging an opponent while the Warlock is busy setting up the scene for their next big performance.
The Warlock in Play
The Warlock needs to eliminate opponents quickly and efficiently, or risk being overwhelmed and easily defeated. As such, their combos need to be set up on either reducing or resetting the cooldowns of their primary damage-dealing abilities—Dragoncall and Wingstorm—or triggering instant-cast scenarios.
In keeping with the shamanistic theme, Warlocks can apply certain afflictions on their enemies. A Brand on an enemy will increase the damage dealt by some spells, whereas a Target on an enemy will allow the Warlock to instant-cast spells and direct the Thrall’s attention.
For party play, the Warlock provides an incredible support buff. Their time-winding abilities can extend out to their party members by triggering Soulburn, which resets the cooldown of everyone’s skills, and gives them the Awakened state. When active, specific abilities for each class will also become Awakened, and receive a big power boost on top of the general buff.
In Arena PvP, the Warlock has a pretty substantive set of defensive skills to accompany their powerful offensive skills, but still suffers from a glass cannon status that could be easily exploited. The Thrall should be used tactically as their cooldown cannot be reset and their presence alerts the opponent for the potential for highly powered abilities activating upon the Thrall’s sacrifice. Prioritizing instant-cast abilities, fast casting speed, and skills that pierce defenses over high-damaging abilities can all help to ensure the Warlock can hold their own competitively against the other classes.
Common Combos
1. Soul Shackle (2)
2. Leech (F)
3. Dragoncall (4)
4. Wingstorm (V) Tier 3 Stage 1
5. Tether Blade (X)
1. Soul Shackle (2)
2. Leech (F)
3. Wingstorm (V)
4. Dimensional Volley (RMB) Tier 3 Stage 4
5. Dimensional Charge (RMB) Tier 3 Stage 4
6. Dragon Helix (4) Tier 2 Stage 3
7. Rupture (F)
1. Imprison (3)
2. Summon (Tab)
3. Obliterate (Tab)
4. Soul Shackle (2)
5. Leech (F)
6. Dragoncall (4)
7. Wingstorm (V)
8. Dimonsional Volley (RMB) Tier 3 Stage 4
9. Dimensional Charge (RMB) Tier 3 Stage 4
10. Dimensional Salvo (RMB) Tier 3 Stage 4
11. Awakened Rupture (F)
PvP Combo
1. Soul Shackle (2) Tier 3 Stage 1
2. Summon (Tab)
3. Fall In (E)
4. Leech (F) Tier 3 Stage 3
5. Dragoncall (4) Tier 5 Stage 1
6. Time Distortion (Tab) Tier 3 Stage 3
7. Wingstorm (V) Tier 3 Stage 1
8. Dragoncall (4)
9. Tether Blade (X) Tier 3 Stage 1
10. Dragoncall (4)
11. Dragoncall (4)
12. Dragoncall (4)
13. Dragoncall (4)
14. Bombardment (RMB) Tier 3 Stage 1
15. Bombardment (RMB)
16. Bombardment (RMB)
17. Imprison (3) Tier 4 Stage 1The first final version of Hibernate OGM is out and we’ve recovered a bit from the release frenzy. So we thought it’d be a good idea to begin the new year with a tutorial-style blog series, which shows how to get started with Hibernate OGM and what it can do for you. Just in case you missed the news, Hibernate OGM is the newest project under the Hibernate umbrella and allows you to persist entity models in different NoSQL stores via the well-known JPA.
We’ll cover these topics in the following weeks:
Persisting your first entities (this instalment)
Querying for your data
Running on WildFly
Running with CDI on Java SE
Store data into two different stores in the same application
If you’d like us to discuss any other topics, please let us know. Just add a comment below or tweet your suggestions to us.
In this first part of the series we are going to set up a Java project with the required dependencies, create some simple entities and write/read them to and from the store. We’ll start with the Neo4j graph database and then we’ll switch to the MongoDB document store with only a small configuration change.
Let’s first create a new Java project with the required dependencies. We’re going to use Maven as a build tool in the following, but of course Gradle or others would work equally well.
Add this to the dependencyManagement block of your pom.xml:
... <dependencyManagement> <dependencies>... <dependency> <groupId> org.hibernate.ogm </groupId> <artifactId> hibernate-ogm-bom </artifactId> <type> pom </type> <version> 4.1.1.Final </version> <scope> import </scope> </dependency>... </dependencies> </dependencyManagement>...
This will make sure that you are using matching versions of the Hibernate OGM modules and their dependencies. Then add the following to the dependencies block:
... <dependencies>... <dependency> <groupId> org.hibernate.ogm </groupId> <artifactId> hibernate-ogm-neo4j </artifactId> </dependency> <dependency> <groupId> org.jboss.jbossts </groupId> <artifactId> jbossjta </artifactId> </dependency>... </dependencies>...
The dependencies are:
The Hibernate OGM module for working with an embedded Neo4j database; This will pull in all other required modules such as Hibernate OGM core and the Neo4j driver. When using MongoDB, you’d swap that with hibernate-ogm-mongodb.
. JBoss' implementation of the Java Transaction API (JTA), which is needed when not running within a Java EE container such as WildFly
Our example domain model is made up of three classes: Hike, HikeSection and Person.
There is a composition relationship between Hike and HikeSection, i.e. a hike comprises several sections whose life cycle is fully dependent on the Hike. The list of hike sections is ordered; This order needs to be maintained when persisting a hike and its sections.
The association between Hike and Person (acting as hike organizer) is a bi-directional many-to-one/one-to-many relationship: One person can organize zero ore more hikes, whereas one hike has exactly one person acting as its organizer.
Now let’s map the domain model by creating the entity classes and annotating them with the required meta-data. Let’s start with the Person class:
@Entity public class Person { @Id @GeneratedValue (generator = " uuid " ) @GenericGenerator (name = " uuid ", strategy = " uuid2 " ) private long id; private String firstName; private String lastName; @OneToMany (mappedBy = " organizer ", cascade = CascadeType.PERSIST) private Set <Hike> organizedHikes = new HashSet <>(); }
The entity type is marked as such using the @Entity annotation, while the property representing the identifier is annotated with @Id.
Instead of assigning ids manually, Hibernate OGM can take care of this, offering several id generation strategies such as (emulated) sequences, UUIDs and more. Using a UUID generator is usually a good choice as it ensures portability across different NoSQL datastores and makes id generation fast and scalable. But depending on the store you work with, you also could use specific id types such as object ids in the case of MongoDB (see the reference guide for the details).
Finally, @OneToMany marks the organizedHikes property as an association between entities. As it is a bi-directional entity, the mappedBy attribute is required for specifying the side of the association which is in charge of managing it. Specifying the cascade type PERSIST ensures that persisting a person will automatically cause its associated hikes to be persisted, too.
Next is the Hike class:
@Entity public class Hike { @Id @GeneratedValue (generator = " uuid " ) @GenericGenerator (name = " uuid ", strategy = " uuid2 " ) private String id; private String description; private Date date; private BigDecimal difficulty; @ManyToOne private Person organizer; @ElementCollection @OrderColumn (name = " sectionNo " ) private List <HikeSection> sections; }
Here the @ManyToOne annotation marks the other side of the bi-directional association between Hike and Organizer. As HikeSection is supposed to be dependent on Hike, the sections list is mapped via @ElementCollection. To ensure the order of sections is maintained in the datastore, @OrderColumn is used. This will add one extra "column" to the persisted records which holds the order number of each section.
Finally, the HikeSection class:
@Embeddable public class HikeSection { private String start; private String end; }
Unlike Person and Hike, it is not mapped via @Entity but using @Embeddable. This means it is always part of another entity ( Hike in this case) and as such also has no identity on its own. Therefore it doesn’t declare any @Id property.
Note that these mappings looked exactly the same, had you been using Hibernate ORM with a relational datastore. And indeed that’s one of the promises of Hibernate OGM: Make the migration between the relational and the NoSQL paradigms as easy as possible!
With the entity classes in place, one more thing is missing, JPA's persistence.xml descriptor. Create it under src/main/resources/META-INF/persistence.xml:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <persistence xmlns = " http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence " xmlns:xsi = " http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance " xsi:schemaLocation = " http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence http://java.sun.com/xml/ns/persistence/persistence_2_0.xsd " version = " 2.0 " > <persistence-unit name = " hikePu " transaction-type = " RESOURCE_LOCAL " > <provider> org.hibernate.ogm.jpa.HibernateOgmPersistence </provider> <properties> <property name = " hibernate.ogm.datastore.provider " value = " neo4j_embedded " /> <property name = " hibernate.ogm.datastore.database " value = " HikeDB " /> <property name = " hibernate.ogm.neo4j.database_path " value = " target/test_data_dir " /> </properties> </persistence-unit> </persistence>
If you have worked with JPA before, this persistence unit definition should look very familiar to you. The main difference to using the classic Hibernate ORM on top of a relational database is the specific provider class we need to specify for Hibernate OGM: org.hibernate.ogm.jpa.HibernateOgmPersistence.
In addition, some properties specific to Hibernate OGM and the chosen back end are defined to set:
the back end to use (an embedded Neo4j graph database in this case)
the name of the Neo4j database
the directory for storing the Neo4j database files
Depending on your usage and the back end, other properties might be required, e.g. for setting a host, user name, password etc. You can find all available properties in a class named <BACK END>Properties, e.g. Neo4jProperties, MongoDBProperties and so on.
With all these bits in place its time to persist (and load) some entities. Create a simple JUnit test shell for doing so:
public class HikeTest { private static EntityManagerFactory entityManagerFactory; @BeforeClass public static void setUpEntityManagerFactory() { entityManagerFactory = Persistence.createEntityManagerFactory( " hikePu " ); } @AfterClass public static void closeEntityManagerFactory() { entityManagerFactory.close(); } }
The two methods manage an entity manager factory for the persistence unit defined in persistence.xml. It is kept in a field so it can be used for several test methods (remember, entity manager factories are rather expensive to create, so they should be initialized once and be kept around for re-use).
Then create a test method persisting and loading some data:
@Test public void canPersistAndLoadPersonAndHikes() { EntityManager entityManager = entityManagerFactory.createEntityManager(); entityManager.getTransaction().begin(); Person bob = new Person( " Bob ", " McRobb " ); Hike cornwall = new Hike( " Visiting Land's End ", new Date (), new BigDecimal ( " 5.5 " ), new HikeSection( " Penzance ", " Mousehole " ), new HikeSection( " Mousehole ", " St. Levan " ), new HikeSection( " St. Levan ", " Land's End " ) ); Hike isleOfWight = new Hike( " Exploring Carisbrooke Castle ", new Date (), new BigDecimal ( " 7.5 " ), new HikeSection( " Freshwater ", " Calbourne " ), new HikeSection( " Calbourne ", " Carisbrooke Castle " ) ); cornwall.setOrganizer( bob ); bob.getOrganizedHikes().add( cornwall ); isleOfWight.setOrganizer( bob ); bob.getOrganizedHikes().add( isleOfWight ); entityManager.persist( bob ); entityManager.getTransaction().commit(); entityManager.close(); entityManager = entityManagerFactory.createEntityManager(); entityManager.getTransaction().begin(); Person loadedPerson = entityManager.find( Person.class, bob.getId() ); assertThat( loadedPerson ).isNotNull(); assertThat( loadedPerson.getFirstName() ).isEqualTo( " Bob " ); assertThat( loadedPerson.getOrganizedHikes() ).onProperty( " description " ).containsOnly( " Visiting Land's End ", " Exploring Carisbrooke Castle " ); entityManager.getTransaction().commit(); entityManager.close(); }
Note how both actions happen within a transaction. Neo4j is a fully transactional datastore which can be controlled nicely via JPA’s transaction API. Within an actual application one would probably work with a less verbose approach for transaction control. Depending on the chosen back end and the kind of environment your application runs in (e.g. a Java EE container such as WildFly), you could take advantage of declarative transaction management via CDI or EJB. But let’s save that for another time.
Having persisted some data, you can examine it, using the nice web console coming with Neo4j. The following shows the entities persisted by the test:
Hibernate OGM aims for the most natural mapping possible for the datastore you are targeting. In the case of Neo4j as a graph datastore this means that any entity will be mapped to a corresponding node.
The entity properties are mapped as node properties (see the black box describing one of the Hike nodes). Any not natively supported property types will be converted as required. E.g. that’s the case for the date property which is persisted as an ISO-formatted String. Additionally, each entity node has the label ENTITY (to distinguish it from nodes of other types) and a label specifying its entity type (Hike in this case).
Associations are mapped as relationships between nodes, with the association role being mapped to the relationship type.
Note that Neo4j does not have the notion of embedded objects. Therefore, the HikeSection objects are mapped as nodes with the label EMBEDDED, linked with the owning Hike nodes. The order of sections is persisted via a property on the relationship.
One of Hibernate OGM's promises is to allow using the same API - namely, JPA - to work with different NoSQL stores. So let’s see how that holds and make use of MongoDB which, unlike Neo4j, is a document datastore and persists data in a JSON-like representation. To do so, first replace the Neo4j back end with the following one:
... <dependency> <groupId> org.hibernate.ogm </groupId> <artifactId> hibernate-ogm-mongodb </artifactId> </dependency>...
Then update the configuration in persistence.xml to work with MongoDB as the back end, using the properties accessible through MongoDBProperties to give host name and credentials matching your environment (if you don’t have MongoDB installed yet, you can download it here):
... <properties> <property name = " hibernate.ogm.datastore.provider " value = " mongodb " /> <property name = " hibernate.ogm.datastore.database " value = " HikeDB " /> <property name = " hibernate.ogm.datastore.host " value = " mongodb.mycompany.com " /> <property name = " hibernate.ogm.datastore.username " value = " db_user " /> <property name = " hibernate.ogm.datastore.password " value = " top_secret! " /> </properties>...
And that’s all you need to do to persist your entities in MongoDB rather than Neo4j. If you now run the test again, you’ll find the following BSON documents in your datastore:
# Collection "Person" { "_id" : "50b62f9b-874f-4513-85aa-c2f59015a9d0", "firstName" : "Bob", "lastName" : "McRobb", "organizedHikes" : [ "a78d731f-eff0-41f5-88d6-951f0206ee67", "32384eb4-717a-43dc-8c58-9aa4c4e505d1" ] }
# Collection Hike { "_id" : "a78d731f-eff0-41f5-88d6-951f0206ee67", "date" : ISODate("2015-01-16T11:59:48.928Z"), "description" : "Visiting Land's End", "difficulty" : "5.5", "organizer_id" : "50b62f9b-874f-4513-85aa-c2f59015a9d0", "sections" : [ { "sectionNo" : 0, "start" : "Penzance", "end" : "Mousehole" }, { "sectionNo" : 1, "start" : "Mousehole", "end" : "St. Levan" }, { "sectionNo" : 2, "start" : "St. Levan", "end" : "Land's End" } ] } { "_id" : "32384eb4-717a-43dc-8c58-9aa4c4e505d1", "date" : ISODate("2015-01-16T11:59:48.928Z"), "description" : "Exploring Carisbrooke Castle", "difficulty" : "7.5", "organizer_id" : "50b62f9b-874f-4513-85aa-c2f59015a9d0", "sections" : [ { "sectionNo" : 1, "start" : "Calbourne", "end" : "Carisbrooke Castle" }, { "sectionNo" : 0, "start" : "Freshwater", "end" : "Calbourne" } ] }
Again, the mapping is very natural and just as you’d expect it when working with a document store like MongoDB. The bi-directional one-to-many/many-to-one association between Person and Hike is mapped by storing the referenced id(s) on either side. When loading back the data, Hibernate OGM will resolve the ids and allow to navigate the association from one object to the other.
Element collections are mapped using MongoDB's capabilities for storing hierarchical structures. Here the sections of a hike are mapped to an array within the document of the owning hike, with an additional field sectionNo to maintain the collection order. This allows to load an entity and its embedded elements very efficiently via a single round-trip to the datastore.
In this first instalment of NoSQL with Hibernate OGM 101 you’ve learned how to set up a project with the required dependencies, map some entities and associations and persist them in Neo4j and MongoDB. All this happens via the well-known JPA API. So if you have worked with Hibernate ORM and JPA in the past on top of relational databases, it never was easier to dive into the world of NoSQL.
At the same time, each store is geared towards certain use cases and thus provides specific features and configuration options. Naturally, those cannot be exposed through a generic API such as JPA. Therefore Hibernate OGM lets you make usage of native NoSQL queries and allows to configure store-specific settings via its flexible option system.
You can find the complete example code of this blog post on GitHub. Just fork it and play with it as you like.
Of course storing entities and getting them back via their id is only the beginning. In any real application you’d want to run queries against your data and you’d likely also want to take advantage of some specific features and settings of your chosen NoSQL store. We’ll come to that in the next parts of this series, so stay tuned!The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent the official views of the Baha'i Faith.
Mystics know mysteries. They discover secrets. Mystics disclose those secrets in code. You can read what they say. But do they say what they mean?
Decoding mystic writings is an art in itself. Mystics veil their truths in metaphors, symbols and allegories. Did you know that Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, was a mystic? Here’s an excerpt from the opening of Baha’u’llah’s most celebrated mystical work, The Seven Valleys:
By My life, O friend, wert thou to taste of these fruits, from the green garden of these blossoms which grow in the lands of knowledge, beside the orient lights of the Essence in the mirrors of names and attributes—yearning would seize the reins of patience and reserve from out thy hand, and make thy soul to shake with the flashing light, and draw thee from the earthly homeland to the first, heavenly abode in the Center of Realities, and lift thee to a plane wherein thou wouldst soar in the air even as thou walkest upon the earth, and move over the water as thou runnest on the land. – Baha’u’llah, The Seven Valleys, pp. 3-4.
Did your soul ever “shake with the flashing light”? Did you ever “soar in the air” while walking, or “move over the water” while running?
These mystical allusions, symbols and metaphors ask us to think about our spiritual experiences in a completely different way, by opening a whole world of new meanings and concepts to us. They attempt to describe the indescribable and plumb the depths of unfathomable realms. They introduce us to our own inner mysteries, while they also introduce us to the spiritual world we all long to attain.
Mysticism, wrote Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, lies at the very heart of spirituality and religious faith:
For the core of religious faith is that mystic feeling which unites Man with God. This state of spiritual communion can be brought about and maintained by means of meditation and prayer. And this is the reason why Baha’u’llah has so much stressed the importance of worship. It is not sufficient for a believer merely to accept and observe the teachings. He should, in addition, cultivate the sense of spirituality which he can acquire chiefly by means of prayer. The Baha’i Faith, like all other Divine Religions, is thus fundamentally mystic in character. Its chief goal is the development of the individual and society, through the acquisition of spiritual virtues and powers. It is the soul of man which has first to be fed. And this spiritual nourishment prayer can best provide. Laws and institutions, as viewed by Baha’u’llah, can become really effective only when our inner spiritual life has been perfected and transformed. … For prayer is absolutely indispensable to their inner spiritual development, and this … is the very foundation and purpose of the religion of God. – Directives from the Guardian, pp. 86–87.
Every religious tradition contains mystical writings about quests for profound experiences, and how to progress along the mystic path. In most mystical literature the goal is union with God. A mystic’s “peak experience” is typically achieved through “beatific vision”—seeing God—or “divine audition,” hearing God.
The Baha’i teachings, however, say this cannot be done directly. Union with God, in Baha’i terms, becomes possible only through our knowledge of the prophet of God, that powerful individual God sends to humanity every few centuries or millennia to reveal divine teachings and manifest divine qualities:
… man can never hope to attain unto the knowledge of the All-Glorious, can never quaff from the stream of divine knowledge and wisdom, can never enter the abode of immortality, nor partake of the cup of divine nearness and favour, unless and until he ceases to regard the words and deeds of mortal men as a standard for the |
Hawker Hurricane production line -
the steel space frame barely visible, wrapped in streamlining wooden stringers. Most of this aircraft was covered in fabric, more like WW1 aircraft than what you would expect
for WW2 aircraft.
Urgency and scarce resources pushed wood to the forefront again mid-war. New adhesives allowed better and more consistent wood structures in the form of plywood, and urgency pressed thousands of furniture makers into producing aircraft quickly. While the Russians already made extensive use of wood as previously mentioned, the resource strapped British and Germans also developed remarkable structures. The Mosquito was an ingenious design of two layers of wood veneers shaped into inner and outer fuselage halves, the space between the layers filled with balsa wood! It was in effect built like a giant model airplane with a structure quite similar to modern home-built composite aircraft. Material shortages forced Germany to use wood in the fastest aircraft on earth at the time. The Ho 229 and Me 163 used wood in their wings, the latter regarded as the fastest aircraft of WW2, while the He 162 was almost entirely wooden!
Building the best is not always the best choice. While an excellent fighter, the Spitfire took too long to build, let alone being very expensive and needing highly skilled workers. With war imminent, RAF command decided numbers were more important than performance. Although the Hurricane was effectively obsolete, the construction techniques were well-known with plentiful tooling and a good supply of trained workers available. A steel space frame fuselage with rolled steel wing spars made it exceptionally strong; judicious and simple aluminum skin from the cowling to just behind the cockpit improved aerodynamics with a wooden stringer frame behind, all covered in strong fabric, making the Hurricane far easier and faster to build at a fraction of the cost of the Spitfire, and produced in quantity just in time for the epic Battle of Britain.
Author: Joe “Pony51” Kudrna
If you would like to read more interesting facts like this, be sure to check our War Thunder Wiki!Straight Out Of Flint: Girl Boxer Aims For Olympics
Hide caption Aspiring Olympic boxer Claressa Shields, 16, waits in front of an abandoned house for the morning school bus in her hometown of Flint, Mich. Previous Next Sue Jaye Johnson for The New York Times
Hide caption "Everyone knows I box," Claressa says of her Northwestern High School classmates. "Once I came to school with a black eye and everyone was like, 'Wow!' " Previous Next Sue Jaye Johnson for The New York Times
Hide caption An honors student, Claressa says, "I really do put an effort into my classes. You have to stay focused. It only takes one time to slip and do anything crazy. Like you want to go out and drink and stuff. That's why I stay in the gym 24-7." Previous Next Sue Jaye Johnson for The New York Times
Hide caption Looking for more structure in her life, Claressa moved in with her aunt and now shares a room with her three younger cousins and her brother. Previous Next Sue Jaye Johnson for The New York Times
Hide caption "They have to look at me like their sister," Claressa says of the boxers she trains with. "No dating or you get put out of the gym. You don't want to mix biz with pleasure." Previous Next Sue Jaye Johnson for The New York Times
Hide caption Claressa prepares for her first fight against top-ranked middleweight Franchon Crews during the first-ever U.S. Olympic team trials for women's boxing, held in Spokane, Wash., earlier this month. Previous Next Sue Jaye Johnson for The New York Times
Hide caption "When I get in the ring, it's like I am getting in there with myself. I don't think I've figured out how to beat myself yet, because I keep getting better," says Claressa (left). She won all her fights in Spokane and was named "Most Outstanding Boxer." She must place in the top eight at the May Women's World Boxing Championship to make the Olympic team. Previous Next Sue Jaye Johnson for The New York Times 1 of 7 i View slideshow
Sixteen-year-old Claressa Shields has a dream. She's in London, at the Olympic finals for women's boxing, when the announcer calls out, "The first woman Olympian at 165 pounds — Claressa Shields!"
Claressa, a high school student and middleweight boxer from Flint, Mich., is the youngest fighter competing for a place on the U.S. Olympic women's boxing team.
Boxing has been an Olympic sport since the ancient Greeks, but this year, for the first time in history, female boxers will step into the ring to compete at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Earlier this month, Claressa joined 23 of the country's best amateur female boxers at the Olympic team trials in Spokane, Wash., to compete for three spots on the inaugural team.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Sue Jaye Johnson Sue Jaye Johnson
Claressa is undefeated — she has a 19-0 record — but in Spokane, at the biggest matches of her life, she faced women almost a decade older and much more experienced. But Claressa Shields has beaten the odds before.
'Proving People Wrong'
Claressa attributes her start in boxing to her father, Clarence Shields, an amateur underground boxer who was nicknamed "Cannonball" because of his fast, hard punches. Clarence went to prison when Claressa was 2 and didn't come out until she was 9, but Claressa clearly remembers the stories her father shared from his fighting days.
When Claressa first asked Clarence if she could box, he told her that boxing was a man's sport. "That made me so mad," Claressa recalls. But she wouldn't give up on the idea, and when she was 11 years old, her father finally brought her to the gym.
"I'm going to be honest, my first thought was you would get beat up and quit," her father tells her. But Claressa proved him wrong.
"I'm still proving people wrong," she says.
'Once-In-A-Lifetime Thing'
For Claressa, the gym is a beautiful place. As soon as she walks through the door, she says the stress of the outside world melts away. "If they would let me live there, I would."
Stepping inside the ring, meanwhile, is like entering a different dimension. "It's like everything outside the ring's black," she says. "Can't nobody else get in there and help you. Your coach, he can't get in the ring and fight with you. You don't have your dad, your mom. When you get in the ring, you don't have anybody but yourself."
Claressa's coach, Jason Crutchfield, says he first noticed her determination and aggressive, fast punches a week after she came to his gym. "A coach always wants a champion; that's why we coach," Crutchfield says. "I just never thought it was going to be a girl."
Claressa and Crutchfield have an almost father-daughter relationship. Sure, Claressa is a fierce competitor, confident and determined; but she's also a teenager. When a phone call from an admiring boy interrupts practice, Crutchfield is quick to remind her to stay focused. "You got all your life for boys," he says. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing right here."
It's a once-in-a-lifetime thing for Claressa and for Flint, a town infamous for poverty, staggering unemployment and violent crime. Crutchfield says he sees Claressa's success as a chance for Flint to turn that reputation around and boost morale. "This will show them that, through all that, something good came out of Flint: Claressa Shields."
On The Road To London
Claressa Shields did show them. At the Spokane Olympic trials, the "16-Year-Old Sensation" fought a week of tournaments in which she bested each of her opponents. In the Feb. 18 finals, she faced two-time national champion Tika Hemingway. At stake was a spot on the first-ever U.S. Olympic women's boxing team. After four punishing rounds, Claressa defeated Hemingway by a score of 23 to 18.
Claressa will move on to the Women's World Boxing Championship in China, where the best female boxers in the world will fight for the top eight spots — and a chance to make history at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Produced by Joe Richman, Sue Jaye Johnson and Samara Freemark of Radio Diaries and edited by Deborah George and Ben Shapiro. This story is a collaboration with WNYC's Women Box project.
See more of Sue Jaye Johnson's work on female boxers in The New York Times Magazine.Note from Stephen: Hey, Kotaku, Gearbox Software boss Randy Pitchford was sitting next to me in the Spike TV green room this afternoon, so I asked him to write a guest Kotaku post. He hesitated for maybe 15 seconds. Here's Randy...
Hey - You're letting me do a live post? Crazy, Stephen... Ok - what's topical for us... Oh! Loot Chest! I'm not sure how many of the Kotaku readers are pissed off at us about this, but I want to apologize for us radically underestimating demand of the limited editions of Borderlands 2. I'm told that the Ultimate Loot Chest Edition of Borderlands 2 has sold out after just a few days.
We're seeing unprecedented demand and I've been communicating with our awesome publishing partners, 2K Games, to see if there's anything we can do. It doesn't seem likely that there can be more loot chests manufactured by launch, but please keep in mind I'm not the sales guy, not the manufacturing or distribution guy - just a guy who wants to entertain and have happy customers. So if we can make something happen here, we'll report it on our website.It’s going to be an emotional season for the cast of Gold Rush … in more ways than one.
In an exclusive sneak peek at season 7 of Discovery’s hit show, fans see the painful aftermath of family patriarch John Schnabel’s passing. The late miner died in March at the age of 96.
In the super tease, Parker grimly attends the funeral for his grandfather alongside his dad Roger.
“I lost a dad and you lost a grandpa,” Roger tells his son, “all at the same time.”
“I don’t know what it’s going to be like without him,” Parker says.
This season, Parker’s emotions and leadership will be tested, according to the press release.
“[Parker] makes the biggest investment in the history of his operation by ordering a customized $600,000 washplant. But will it be enough to beat out his archrival Todd Hoffman? With a new girlfriend from Australia, Ashley Yule, joining him in the Klondike, it will be a season like no other for Parker. His gold mining plan is to go lean and mean in an attempt to make his biggest profit yet.”
Also within the teaser, Todd Hoofman (The King of the Klondike) isn’t happy with his circumstances and also sees his fair share of stress this season after moving his entire operation to Oregon.
Not only does a fight break out on his site, he winds up admitting to losing “several hundred thousand dollars,” experiences equipment issues after a machine flips over, and one worker says, “Enough is enough. I’m finished.”
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John Schnabel (left) with grandson Parker Schnabel Courtesy Discover
At the time of John’s passing, the Schnabel family told PEOPLE that they “appreciate all of the support” fans have shown them.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better father, grandfather and overall family man,” the Schnabel family said. “He was a true legend and we appreciate all of your love and support as we celebrate his wonderful life.”
The two-hour Gold Rush season premiere airs Friday, Oct. 14, at 9 p.m. ET on Discovery.It’s been 16 years since the first South Park video game arrived on the Nintendo 64, an experience South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone do not remember fondly. “We thought that’s how you do it,” recalls Parker. “A company comes to you and says, ‘We’re gonna make you a video game,’ and you say, “Great, here’s our license, go make us a sweet video game!”
Unfortunately, the result was an overpixelated calamity. “We got really mad,” says Stone, “We said, ‘We’re never going to do that again.'” But Parker and Stone changed their mind, and were much more involved in the process of creating 2014’s South Park: The Stick of Truth, released by Ubisoft to big sales and decent reviews. This year, they’re back at E3 showing off The Fractured But Whole, which continues the quote-unquote saga from Stick of Truth by genre-phasing into a superhero story. EW caught up with Parker and Stone to talk about how their work on the video games connects to their continuing work on the TV show, and how adding a playable female lead character changes the game.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: I really enjoyed the last South Park game, The Stick of Truth. But that was a game where there was a lot of public frustrations about the pushed release date, and more frustrations after the game came out about glitches. You guys have won a Peabody and a Tony, so what made you want to work on another video game?
TREY PARKER: I can tell you the best answer, and it’s 80 percent true. Matt and I talked a lot about what we were going to do next. We’ve learned: We do South Park, and we’ll do one other thing. Between having kids and all that, if we want any quality control, we can’t dabble. We know we’ve gotta be completely involved.
Ubisoft said, “Let’s make another one.” We were like, “No, no. We should make a movie.” And we started talking: “If we did a game, what would it be? We have all this superhero sh–. It could be the next day.” If we did it, what would it be? What would we call it? We came up with the title The Fractured But Whole. And we were like: “That’s such a sweet title, dude. We’ve gotta make this game. For nothing else than that we could walk around E3 and see The Fractured But Whole in huge flashing letters. Millions of dollars in The Fractured But Whole.
RELATED: South Park: Matt Stone and Trey Parker Name Their 15 Best Episodes (and 53 Worst)
How does it compare doing the work on a game like this versus a season of South Park?
PARKER: It’s harder. It’s different. Whether it’s a show or this, it’s the same thing. It’s super fun at first when you’re just slinging sh–. Then you get to, finally, “we’ve got to make all the gears work,” and it stops being fun. Now we’re in the not-so-fun part.
MATT STONE: The show still is the center. We’ve got to create the characters there. It still is where we have the most control. You can tackle dicey, edgy material, easier than in a video game. The interactivity changes the morality.
One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about the last couple seasons of South Park was the sense that things were really changing in town, and for the characters. With the first game, it felt like it allowed you guys to dive deep into the history of the show. Is that a different creative outlet?
PARKER: What really surprised us, and what we really learned from The Stick of Truth, was how, for many people around the world, that was their first exposure to South Park. All these young kids, going “I love that video game! I think there’s a show, too?”
STONE: What do they think this thing is?
PARKER: It ends up having this Monty Python effect, “What the f— are they talking about?” Which makes it funnier! But we also knew that with this, we want to make something that stands on its own, and isn’t just this big reflection of the show.
How has the gameplay changed in the new game?
STONE: The thing that needed to be updated was the combat. It was pretty simple turn-based on the last game. So there’s a whole new combat system that’s gonna be pretty fun. There’s a lot of ways to use it, instead of just two-on-two facing each other. It still looks like you’re in an episode of South Park. Sometimes you don’t need a whole lot of technical stuff. It can just be a menu joke. When you die, it should be funny. When you get hurt, it should be funny.
When “The Coon” first aired in 2009, we thought we were at Peak Superhero. It turns out we weren’t even close.
PARKER: That first “Coon” was really just kind of making fun of Batman. We didn’t know what we were in store for.
STONE: It gives the boys fodder to fight for their franchise, which is so ridiculous. But it is two levels going on in the game. The main level is: You’re a kid in South Park. They’re playing Superheroes, so we can have fun with all that stuff. But sometimes we have to be reminded: They’re kids
PARKER: People aren’t playing this game to pretend they’re a superhero. This is not the superhero experience. People are playing it going, “I want that Earthbound feel. I want to remember what it was like to be in fourth grade, and go play in some kid’s back yard.”
You’re saying that there’s a fear of making it too much of a professional superhero-video game experience?
PARKER: We need to dial it back. Make it not “What’s the coolest superhero thing” but “What’s the coolest thing that they’re trying to make cool, but it’s a ridiculous way to do it.” It’s just like the show. You’ve got to figure out the overall tone. You can easily take it too far one way, and all the charm goes away.
STONE: The best moments in the game is when the kids are talking about something they actually care about, and then they’re dressing up as superheroes to solve that problem.
Were you comic book fans when you were kids?
PARKER: We’re fans. We go to the superhero movies. On the one hand, it is funny to take the piss out. But it’s also awesome that, [with] people like [acclaimed comic book writer] Ed Brubaker, people are seeing his work finally. There’s great. Great writers that wrote this stuff. That’s why it’s so successful, I think. There’s this backlog of amazing stories that are finally able to be told. I think they’re gonna finally do all the good ones, and then they’re gonna get through it, and they think it’s going to keep going. But it’s not. [laughs]
STONE: You saw from the trailer, we had that joke in there about the black guy. What I really like is some superhero stuff is starting to feel like real stuff. And some of the Marvel stuff, you can tell they stay away from anything too edgy or political. We’ve had this issue. In other video games, you can choose to be black, you can choose to be a girl. In our game, we’re finally gonna do that. You can be a girl. Very revolutionary. Very 2016 of us.
But it’s weird, because… on one end, it doesn’t matter to the superhero part of the game. Superhero franchises have that luxury: “We have a very open casting policy, women superheroes, black superheroes.” Doing all this inclusive stuff – which is great! But they don’t have to deal with racism and sexism. They’re dealing with these fantastical ideas.
You’re saying that, once those characters are in the world of a superhero franchise, they’re hermetically sealed off from real-world issue.
STONE: I think John Boyega’s a great actor, and the cast in the new Star Wars movies are f—ing great. But there’s not really racism. I just don’t know how much racism there is on Hoth.
In Stick of Truth we got halfway through the game, and we had narratively come up with the big Girls’ Quest halfway through it. [The Girls] were a faction in the fantasy world. And then someone’s like, “What if you want to be a girl?” Narratively, it didn’t work. We’d have to sh– can the whole game. So we just left it the way it was. This time, we obviously wanted to add that.
But the boys are little boys, because it’s really a story about little boys running around. So they don’t care about [your character being a girl]? That seems weird. They always seemed to care about it in the show. Are they dumb about it, and they don’t know? So you’re in hiding? Or do they totally care about that, and totally treat you differently? So we ended up doing those things differently for different characters.
It actually turned out to be quite a bit more work. I’m also playing The Division — I’m not just saying that because it’s Ubisoft. I made the character look like my wife, just because I thought that was funny, running around New York shooting people looking like my wife. But the game doesn’t treat you that differently. The guys still shoot you. The game doesn’t really react that much differently. That’s cool for that kind of game. It’s been a funny journey to go through, introducing something that we thought would just be a cool feature. You’re a girl! But now they’re going to treat you different.
I tend to play as a female character, if that’s an option.
Stone: I do that too, now. We figured everyone‘s gonna pick it.
You’re saying a lot of people came to this series through the last game. Are video games a major part of your vision of South Park?
PARKER: It’s not something we can ignore. We’re gamers, and gaming is such a big part of South Park. That’s why we treat this seriously. We treat this like a movie. We could have done a movie, instead of this, but we chose to do it as a game instead.
When you say, “We could have”…
PARKER: I don’t know if we would’ve made a superhero movie, necessarily. Just time-wise, if we were going to do another big thing, we could’ve said, “Let’s make that other big thing a South Park movie.”
The Fractured But Whole will come out right after the end of South Park eason 20. Not many creators work on a project for over two decades. But you both still seem really motivated by your work on South Park.
PARKER: it’s such an open-world. It’s still such a sandbox. What we did last season was just so different. It felt so fresh and new. It’s one of the best times I ever had doing the show.
STONE: To follow storylines through? We couldn’t do that when we started. We were from a different era of TV, when you had to do the sitcom-style reset every week. That’s why a lot of shows — you see it in The Simpsons and us, too — they have dumbest last one minute of a show, because we have to go back to normal for next week. We don’t have to do that anymore.
PARKER: It is nice to realize you don’t have to tie up everything.
Between the new storytelling style and the video games, is this the start of a new phase? A few years ago, with “You’re Getting Old,” people thought that was the end of South Park.
PARKER: We kind of did too, for a little bit.
STONE: I think we’ll probably do semi-serialization for the rest of it. Cat’s out of the bag. We can’t go back. If it’s the right thing for the end of the story, we let some things hang.
PARKER: We also know that this [he points at the video game] might be the future of South Park. This might be where things are going.
STONE: I think in 20 years, 10 years, people will be playing more. That convergence of entertainment, whether it’s VR or a more immersive thing. The more you get in it, the more you watch Pew Die Pie, and people watch Pew Die Pie play, and you watch E-sports. You watch young people, and the way they engage with something — sh–, maybe that is the future of South Park.
South Park VR in 2018?
STONE: You’ll take your South Park pill.QR Code Link to This Post
Now even though I'm old and fairly roughed up by father time I know when to let my other head, whom I call Dick, take over and do the talking.Dick replied sheepishly to this inquiry with a " why no I don't, how did you know?"To which this stranger said to me, " because your ear hairs look like cat tufts." and she reached over and gave them a tug and a stroke.At this point I said to Dick, if you ask her a single question using the word 'pussy' in it you will blow this one right out of the water so be careful my friend. Smooth is the key here.Dick, having been around the block a few times over the last 50+ years agreed and did the only thing he could do that would cinch the deal. He purred.Well that was the ticket my friends. The next thing I knew I was being tossed around on her bed like a mid day salad.The funny thing is, my ear hairs never got trimmed.H.S. Student Charged With Identity Theft For Setting Up Phony Twitter Account In Name Of Schools Boss Share
Tweet
A high school student is facing an identity theft charge for allegedly opening a Twitter account in the name of the director of a Tennessee county’s public school system, cops report.
The Twitter account bearing the name and photo of Dr. Jubal Yennie, director of the Sullivan County school district, was opened by Ira Trey Quesenberry III, an 18-year-old student at Sullivan Central High School.
The bogus account, which has been deleted, was apparently an attempt at humor by Quesenberry, who is pictured in the above mug shot. The tweets sent in Yennie’s name were embarrassing and clearly not appropriate for a school administrator, according to the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office.
Yennie contacted sheriff’s deputies last Friday to report the phony Twitter account. After investigators linked Quesenberry to the account, the teen reportedly confessed to opening it. Quesenberry was booked today by sheriff’s deputies, and is due to appear tomorrow in General Sessions court.
In his own Twitter account (@treyq), Quesenberry posted negative comments about Yennie last Thursday, apparently after the school district opted to keep schools open in the face of severe weather. “Jubal…you’re a cock,” he wrote in one tweet, adding later, “There's a special place in hell for you right now Yennie... Fix yoself.”
In a subsequent tweet, Quesenberry wondered why he was getting “asked by everyone and their mom” if he was behind the Yennie account. “Why does everyone think it's me??” he wrote. Quesenberry’s Twitter account describes him as “A man of mystery and power, whose power is exceeded only by his mystery.”Francisco Suárez (5 January 1548 – 25 September 1617) was a Spanish Jesuit priest, philosopher and theologian, one of the leading figures of the School of Salamanca movement, and generally regarded among the greatest scholastics after Thomas Aquinas. His work is considered a turning point in the history of second scholasticism, marking the transition from its Renaissance to its Baroque phases. According to Christopher Shields and Daniel Schwartz, "figures as distinct from one another in place, time, and philosophical orientation as Leibniz, Grotius, Pufendorf, Schopenhauer, and Heidegger, all found reason to cite him as a source of inspiration and influence."[2]
Life and career [ edit ]
Of Jewish (converso) origins,[3][4] Francisco Suárez was born in Granada, Andalusia (southern Spain), on 5 January 1548.
After 3 years of preliminary studies from age 10 onwards, in 1561 Suárez matriculated at the University of Salamanca, and studied Law. In 1564, at age sixteen, Suárez entered the Society of Jesus in Salamanca and went through the two years of intense spiritual training under the guidance of Fr Alonso Rodriguez. In August 1566, Suárez took his first vows as a Jesuit; he then began in October 1566 to study Theology at Salamanca. It seems he was not a promising student at first; in fact, he nearly gave up his matters of study after failing the entrance exam twice. After passing the exam at third attempt, though, things changed.
Monument in Granada, Spain, where he was born
In 1570, with the completion of his course, Suárez began to teach Philosophy, first at Salamanca as a Scholastic tutor, and then as a professor in the Jesuit college at Segovia. He was ordained in March 1572 in Segovia. He continued to teach Philosophy in Segovia until, in September 1574, he moved to the Jesuit College in Valladolid to teach Theology, a subject he would then teach for the rest of his life. He taught in a succession of different places: Avila (1575), Segovia (1575), Valladolid (1576) Rome (1580–85), Alcalá (1585–92) and Salamanca (1592–97). In 1597, he moved to Coimbra, some years after the accession of the Spanish (elder line) House of Habsburg to the Portuguese Throne, to take up the principal chair of Theology at the University of Coimbra. He remained there, aside from a brief time teaching at Rome, until his death in 1617.
He wrote on a wide variety of subjects, producing a vast amount of work (his complete works in Latin amount to twenty-six volumes). Suárez's writings include treatises on law, the relationship between Church and State, metaphysics, and theology. He is considered the godfather of International Law. His Disputationes metaphysicae (Metaphysical Disputations) were widely read in Europe during the 17th century and are considered by some scholars to be his most profound work.
Suárez was regarded during his lifetime as being the greatest living philosopher and theologian, and given the nickname Doctor Eximius et Pius ("Exceptional and Pious Doctor"); Pope Gregory XIII attended his first lecture in Rome. Pope Paul V invited him to refute the arguments of James I of England, and wished to retain him near his person, to profit by his knowledge. Philip II of Spain sent him to the University of Coimbra in order to give it prestige, and when Suárez visited the University of Barcelona, the doctors of the university went out to meet him wearing the insignia of their faculties.
After his death in Portugal (in either Lisbon or Coimbra) his reputation grew still greater, and he had a direct influence on such leading philosophers as Hugo Grotius, René Descartes, John Norris, and Gottfried Leibniz.
In 1679 Pope Innocent XI publicly condemned sixty-five casuist propositions, taken chiefly from the writings of Escobar, Suárez and others, mostly Jesuit, theologians as propositiones laxorum moralistarum and forbade anyone to teach them under penalty of excommunication.[5]
Philosophical thought [ edit ]
His most important philosophical achievements were in metaphysics and the philosophy of law. Suárez may be considered the last eminent representative of scholasticism. He adhered to a moderate form of Thomism and developed metaphysics as a systematic enquiry.
Metaphysics [ edit ]
Commentariorum ac disputationum in tertiam partem divi Thomae (1590). (1590).
Operis de religione (1625). (1625).
De incarnatione, pars prima (1745). (1745).
De incarnatione, pars secunda (1746). (1746).
For Suárez, metaphysics was the science of real essences (and existence); it was mostly concerned with real being rather than conceptual being, and with immaterial rather than with material being. He held (along with earlier scholastics) that essence and existence are the same in the case of God (see ontological argument), but disagreed with Aquinas and others that the essence and existence of finite beings are really distinct. He argued that in fact they are merely conceptually distinct: rather than being really separable, they can only logically be conceived as separate.
On the vexed subject of universals, he endeavored to steer a middle course between the realism of Duns Scotus and the nominalism of William of Occam. His position is a little bit closer to nominalism than that of Thomas Aquinas.[6] Sometimes he is classified as a moderate nominalist, but his admitting of objective precision (praecisio obiectiva) ranks him with moderate realists. The only veritable and real unity in the world of existences is the individual; to assert that the universal exists separately ex parte rei would be to reduce individuals to mere accidents of one indivisible form. Suárez maintains that, though the humanity of Socrates does not differ from that of Plato, yet they do not constitute realiter one and the same humanity; there are as many "formal unities" (in this case, humanities) as there are individuals, and these individuals do not constitute a factual, but only an essential or ideal unity ("In such a way, that many individuals, which are said to be of the same nature, are so: only through the operation of the intellect, not through a substance or essence of things which unites them").[7] The formal unity, however, is not an arbitrary creation of the mind, but exists "in the nature of the thing, prior [ontologically] to any operation of the intellect".[8]
His metaphysical work, giving a remarkable effort of systematisation, is a real history of medieval thought, combining the three schools available at that time: Thomism, Scotism and Nominalism. He is also a deep commentator of Arabic or high medieval works. He enjoyed the reputation of being the greatest metaphysician of his time. He thus founded a school of his own, Suarism or Suarezianism, the chief characteristic principles of which are:
the principle of individuation by the proper concrete entity of beings
the rejection of pure potentiality of matter
the singular as the object of direct intellectual cognition
a distinctio rationis ratiocinatae between the essence and the existence of created beings
between the essence and the existence of created beings the possibility of spiritual substance only numerically distinct from one another
ambition for the hypostatic union as the sin of the fallen angels
the Incarnation of the Word, even if Adam had not sinned
the solemnity of the vow only in ecclesiastical law
the system of Congruism that modifies Molinism by the introduction of subjective circumstances, as well as of place and of time, propitious to the action of efficacious grace, and with predestination ante praevisa merita
the possibility of holding one and the same truth by both science and faith
the belief in Divine authority contained in an act of faith
the production of the body and blood of Christ by transubstantiation as constituting the Eucharistic sacrifice
the final grace of the Blessed Virgin Mary superior to that of the angels and saints combined.[9]
Suárez made an important investigation of being, its properties and division in Disputationes Metaphysicae (1597), which influenced the further development of theology within Catholicism. In the second part of the book, disputations 28-53, Suárez fixes the distinction between ens infinitum (God) and ens finitum (created beings). The first division of being is that between ens infinitum and ens finitum. Instead of dividing being into infinite and finite, it can also be divided into ens a se and ens ab alio, i.e., being that is from itself and being that is from another. A second distinction corresponding to this one:ens necessarium and ens contingens, i.e., necessary being and contingent being. Still another formulation of the distinction is between ens per essentiam and ens per participationem, i.e., being that exists by reason of its essence and being that exists only by participation in a being that exists on its own (eigentlich). A further distinction is between ens increatum and ens creatum, i.e., uncreated being and created, or creaturely, being. A final distinction is between being as actus purus and being as ens potentiale, i.e., being as pure actuality and being as potential being. Suárez decided in favor of the first classification of the being into ens infinitum and ens finitum as the most fundamental, in connection with which he accords the other classifications their due. In the last disputation 54 Suárez deals with entia rationis (beings of reason), which are impossible intentional objects, i.e. objects that are created by our minds but cannot exist in actual reality.[10]
Theology [ edit ]
In theology, Suárez attached himself to the doctrine of Luis Molina, the celebrated Jesuit professor of Évora. Molina tried to reconcile the doctrine of predestination with the freedom of the human will and the predestinarian teachings of the Dominicans by saying that the predestination is consequent upon God's foreknowledge of the free determination of man's will, which is therefore in no way affected by the fact of such predestination. Suárez endeavoured to reconcile this view with the more orthodox doctrines of the efficacy of grace and special election, maintaining that, though all share in an absolutely sufficient grace, there is granted to the elect a grace which is so adapted to their peculiar dispositions and circumstances that they infallibly, though at the same time quite freely, yield themselves to its influence. This mediatizing system was known by the name of "congruism."
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of the United States than to be Speaker of the House."
What about Joe Biden?
Pelosi's answer to Mitchell: "Joe Biden is a magnificent leader in our country. There is absolutely no question he would be a great president. He made that point when he ran for president himself... So we are very blessed to have many excellent choices and not just limited to those two."Google has just announced in an email notification that the LG Nexus 4 will be available for sale from Google Play starting today at noon PST, only in the US. Customers were faced with what appeared to be a frenzy of ordering back on November 13th, when the Play store grew sluggish and Nexus 4 models sold out quickly. The new phones were expected to ship on November 15th, but some customers experienced delays "due to overwhelming demand," putting the device on backorder for up to three weeks. Google's supply seems to have caught up, and if you're in the market for a new flagship Android device, head on over to Google Play this afternoon.
Update: Google's Play Store is again experiencing the same problems we saw when the Nexus 4 originally went on sale, but if you've had no luck so far, keep at it. A message on the Play website now says, "Google Play is currently experiencing very high traffic. Nexus 4 is not sold out and will still be available for purchase. Please try again shortly. Thank you for your patience." For anyone that isn't keen on honoring Google's request to have some patience, your best option is hitting the refresh button. Many times.Glenn Thrush is senior staff writer at Politico Magazine.
Steven Chu is a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, a brilliant innovator whose research fills several all-but-incomprehensible paragraphs of a Wikipedia entry that spans his achievements in single-molecule physics, the slowing of atoms through the use of lasers and the invention of something called an “ optical tweezer.” President Barack Obama even credits Chu with solving the 2010 Gulf oil spill, claiming that Chu strolled into BP’s office and “essentially designed the cap that ultimately worked.” With rare exception, Chu is the smartest guy in the room, and that includes the Cabinet Room, which he occupied uneasily as secretary of energy from 2009 to the spring of 2013.
But the president’s aides didn’t quite see Chu that way. He might have been the only Obama administration official with a Nobel other than the president himself, but inside the West Wing of the White House Chu was considered a smart guy who said lots of stupid things, a genius with an appallingly low political IQ—“clueless,” as deputy chief of staff Jim Messina would tell colleagues at the time.
Story Continued Below
In April 2009, Chu joined Obama’s entourage for one of the administration’s first overseas trips, to Trinidad and Tobago for a Summit of the Americas focused on economic development. Chu was not scheduled to address the media, but reporters kept bugging Josh Earnest, a young staffer, who sheepishly approached his boss, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, with the ask. “No way,” Gibbs told him.
“Come on,” Earnest said. “The guy came all the way down here. Why don’t we just have him talk about all the stuff he’s doing?”
Gibbs reluctantly assented. Then Chu took the podium to tell the tiny island nation that it might soon, sorry to say, be underwater—which not only insulted the good people of Trinidad and Tobago but also raised the climate issue at a time when the White House wanted the economy, and the economy only, on the front burner. “I think the Caribbean countries face rising oceans, and they face increase in the severity of hurricanes,” Chu said. “This is something that is very, very scary to all of us. … The island states … some of them will disappear.”
Earnest slunk backstage. “OK, we’ll never do that again,” he said as Gibbs glared. A phone rang. It was White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel calling Messina to snarl, “If you don’t kill [Chu], I’m going to.”
As Air Force One headed back to Washington, Messina found Chu—who has “no recollection” of this exchange, a person close to him says—sitting at the long table in the plane’s conference room. “What did you say?” Messina demanded, according to a witness. “What were you thinking?” he yelled. “And how, exactly, was this fucking on message?”
***
Sixteen years ago, president Bill Clinton’s secretary of labor, Robert Reich, summed up the frustrations of adjusting to life in the Cabinet, where even a close personal relationship with the president, dating to their Oxford days, didn’t spare him from being bossed around by arrogant West Wing nobodies. “From the view of the White House staff, cabinet officials are provincial governors presiding over alien, primitive territories,” Reich wrote in a classic of the pissed-off-secretary genre, Locked in the Cabinet. “Anything of any importance occurs in the national palace.”
Sept. 10, 2009: Obama reflects during a meeting with his full Cabinet in the White House.
Pete Souza/White House. All photos filtered through Instagram.
Two presidents later, the Cabinet is a swarm of 23 people that includes 15 secretaries and eight other Cabinet-rank officers. And yet never has the job of Cabinet secretary seemed smaller. The staffers who rule Obama’s West Wing often treat his Cabinet as a nuisance: At the top of the pecking order are the celebrity power players, like former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, to be warily managed; at the bottom, what they see as a bunch of well-intentioned political naifs only a lip-slip away from derailing the president’s agenda. Chu might have been the first Obama Cabinet secretary to earn the disdain of White House aides, but he was hardly the last.
“We are completely marginalized … until the shit hits the fan,” says one former Cabinet deputy secretary, summing up the view of many officials I interviewed. “If your question is: Did the president rely a lot on his Cabinet as a group of advisers? No, he didn’t,” says former Obama Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Little wonder, then, that Obama has called the group together only rarely, for what by most accounts are not much more than ritualistic team-building exercises: According to CBS News White House reporter Mark Knoller, the Cabinet met 19 times in Obama’s first term and four times in the first 10 months of his second term. That’s once every three months or so—about as long as you can drive around before you’re supposed to change your oil.
For any modern president, the advantages of hoarding power in the White House at the expense of the Cabinet are obvious—from more efficient internal communication and better control of external messaging to avoiding messy confirmation battles and protecting against pesky congressional subpoenas. But over the course of his five years in office, Obama has taken this White House tendency to an extreme, according to more than 50 interviews with current and former secretaries, White House staffers and executive branch officials, who described his Cabinet as a restless nest of ambition, fits-and-starts achievement and power-jockeying under a shadow of unfulfilled promise.
That’s a far cry from the vision Obama sketched out in the months leading up to his 2008 election. Back then, he waxed expansive about the Cabinet, promising to rejuvenate the institution as a venue for serious innovation and genuine decision making. “I don’t want to have people who just agree with me,” he told Time magazine, after reading Doris Kearns Goodwin’s classic account of President Abraham Lincoln and his advisers, Team of Rivals. “I want people who are continually pushing me out of my comfort zone.”
Obama, many of his associates now concede, never really intended to be pushed out of his comfort zone. While he personally recruited stars such as Clinton, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, most other picks for his first Cabinet were made by his staff, with less involvement from the president. “[Bill] Clinton spent almost all of his time picking the Cabinet at the expense of the White House staff; Obama made the opposite mistake,” says a person close to both presidents.
Five years on, Obama’s White House still reflects those priorities. At the top is a stripped-down command cluster modeled on his campaign, ruled by ferocious gatekeepers such as first-term chief of staff Emanuel and the more disciplined man who currently holds the position, Denis McDonough. But Obama also created in the White House an intellectual cloister where he could spitball ideas with academics like Larry Summers or take a few hours, as he did in the middle of the 2012 campaign, to discuss issues like civility in social media with a group of tech titans. The Cabinet, in many cases, fell between the cracks. And Obama, who has a pronounced disdain for traditional Washington institutions, didn’t much care.
Who’s to say he was wrong? The people closest to the president point out that his approach has won him two elections and helped him cope with a succession of major crises—all while he signed major pieces of legislation into law, including the biggest economic stimulus in American history, financial reform and the health care act that’s so associated with his name. “We were drinking out of a fire hose, but all things considered I think we struck the right balance,” says Gibbs, his first press secretary.
Yet Obama’s unwillingness to empower his Cabinet has not been without consequences. To many I spoke with, it is both a reflection and a cause of the administration’s lurching, improvisational character. The decision to muzzle the Cabinet for all these years means the president now has fewer seasoned surrogates to make his case in public. Putting a premium on political savvy over creativity has made it harder to generate new proposals. Limiting the number of new voices in Obama’s inner circle has given a cramped, predictable feeling to his White House and increased the pressure on a diminishing cast of indispensable staffers, who are now burning out and breaking down. Never have the strains been more apparent than during the troubled, ill-coordinated rollout of Obamacare this fall.
Reich’s friends who have served in Obama’s government often whisper about how much more locked up things are today, how Obama chooses “efficiency” over a more collaborative process. “Under Clinton, I fucked up royally and repeatedly, and I was still allowed out there,” Reich says. “That wouldn’t happen now. The environment is too hostile.”The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that a "general and indiscriminate retention" of data is against EU law and can only be done under certain conditions and "solely for the purpose of fighting serious crime".
The ruling declares that countries are not allowed to impose laws requiring internet service providers to retain all their customers’ data, restricting the practice to specific cases of a "serious crime".
The European Court of Justice already declared the European Directive 2006/24/EC for data retention as invalid in 2014. At that time the court argued that a general surveillance of the public would violate fundamental rights.
A win for our right to privacy
This week the ECJ once more states that our right to privacy is a basic human right. A general surveillance of all citizens is against European law. The court dealt a significant blow to governments and organizations who have recently been pushing for stronger surveillance and more data collection.
The Court's ruling calls into question several European laws such as the UK Snooper's Charter, which allows authorities to hack devices and services en masse and requires ISPs to retain 12 months of website access logs on all users.
The ruling also undermines a recently passed data retention law in Germany. In this law politicians explicitly excluded email to convince courts - such as the German Federal Constitutional Court, which is known for protecting people's privacy - that the new law would not infringe our right to privacy. The recent European ruling shows that this calculation of German politicians will very likely not add up.
German retention law will be declared unconstitutional
The European ruling reassures us that the German data retention law will be declared as unconstitutional as well. While we as a secure email provider are happy that email is not included in the German surveillance law, we reject any data retention law as it undermines our right to privacy.
The European high court stated in its ruling "that EU law precludes national legislation that prescribes general and indiscriminate retention of data. The interference by national legislation that provides for the retention of traffic data and location data with that right must therefore be considered to be particularly serious. The fact that the data is retained without the users of electronic communications services being informed of the fact is likely to cause the persons concerned to feel that their private lives are the subject of constant surveillance. Consequently, only the objective of fighting serious crime is capable of justifying such interference.”
This ruling reassures us that everyone has the right to live their personal lives without being spied on. This truly is a victory for privacy.Power Play - Critics of the country's spy agencies are hopeful a review of the agencies will lead to change.
They are particularly pleased that the review will look at whether the definition of 'private communication' in the legislation governing the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) is satisfactory.
Photo: SUPPLIED
Under the current definition, communications are not deemed private if people have an expectation their personal communications might be monitored.
Ironically, after the disclosures by American whistleblower Edward Snowden, most people might now expect their electronic communications are intercepted. Under the definition in the law, critics argue that opens the way for the GCSB to do exactly what people expect it is doing.
This is despite denials it is engaging in mass surveillance.
But again there is no clear definition of what mass surveillance means, and Prime Minister John Key has always been careful to say he is advised the GCSB acts within the law.
Acting within the law then goes back to the definition of private communication, and a debate over whether it leaves room for the bureau to lawfully monitor what most people would reasonably deem private communications.
Photo: Supplied
The review, to be conducted by former Deputy Prime Minister Sir Michael Cullen, and lawyer and company director Dame Patsy Reddy, will presumably clarify that point.
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Cheryl Gwyn, who is conducting her own inquiry into the activities of the GCSB, is also looking at the definition of 'private communication' and whether that can be used to enable the the bureau to spy on private citizens' communications.
As well, the review will consider whether the Countering Foreign Terrorist Fighters legislation, which is due to expire on 31 March 2017, should be extended or modified.
That law, which was rushed through Parliament, gave the SIS greater powers of surveillance.
United Future leader Peter Dunne said the review was timely, given the legislation, and given that the US House of Representatives had voted to outlaw the mass collection of private telephone data by the National Security Agency (NSA).
Mr Dunne said he also hoped the review would look at New Zealand's relationship with its Five Eyes partners - the US, Canada, Australia and Britain - and whether the rights and privacy of New Zealanders were compromised by how the alliance operated.
Importantly, he hoped the review considers the definition and protection of metadata.
He said he reached an agreement with the Prime Minister in 2013 that it be reviewed, but so far nothing had happened.
Photo: RNZ / Diego Opatowski
Meanwhile, Ms Gwyn has just announced another inquiry, this time into allegations the GCSB had helped Trade Minister Tim Groser's bid to head the World Trade Organisation in 2013.
In March, journalist Nicky Hager said he had seen documents showing the bureau was snooping on candidates who were competing against Mr Groser.
Ms Gwyn said she was unlikely to publicly confirm whether that had happened or not, but would look at the way the GCSB considered undertaking foreign intelligence activities.
She is already investigating other claims about the GCSB spying on the South Pacific and gathering electronic data of New Zealanders.
Photo: RNZ
So the country's spy agencies are under increasing scrutiny.
The question now is: Will the review and other inquiries help placate public concern about the conduct of the country's spy agencies?
Mr Key has consistently defended their operations and argued they obeyed the law.
But critics have continued to argue persuasively that the GCSB has been gathering private communications of New Zealand citizens by exploiting what they say is a loophole in the law around the definition of private communications.
Those worries have been largely fueled by Mr Snowden's disclosures that Five Eyes security agencies engage in mass surveillance.
Mr Key has repeatedly attacked Mr Snowden's credibility, saying he is wrong or that his information is out-of-date.
But the Prime Minister has repeatedly failed to produce any evidence to support his denunciation of Mr Snowden.
What is most needed from the review is a clear summary of how the intelligence agencies can best work to protect New Zealanders' safety and interests while not compromising their privacy and freedoms.
Most people accept there is a need for spy agencies.
The challenge is to ensure they are able to do their job without trampling on the rights of the citizens they are meant to protect.
If Sir Michael and Dame Patsy can achieve that they will do much to improve public confidence in the country's intelligence agencies and ensure those agencies have the appropriate powers to keep the country safe.
In the meantime, too, the investigations by Ms Gwyn might also reassure the public.
Mr Key will argue, with some justification, that this is all evidence that under his government the country's spy agencies face greater, not less, accountability.
But the critics will wait for the review and inquiries to report back before deciding whether he is right.Like most people of my generation, the FA Cup was a huge part of growing up, in a way that younger people perhaps might not grasp now. There was hardly any live football in those days, but every year on TV there was the FA Cup final.
It was something you looked forward to every year; you’d get up really early in the morning to watch the enormous build-up, and it was just really special. Growing up it was always an ambition to be able to play in an FA Cup final and win one, which thankfully I managed to do... at the second attempt.
Obviously it’s not the only circus in town anymore, so perhaps doesn’t carry the weight it once did, but it still has real significance as a domestic trophy and is something every player wants to get their hands on at some point in their careers.
1991 FA Cup Final: Nottingham Forest vs Tottenham Hotspur
May 18, 1991 • Wembley Stadium
To get here, Tottenham had overcome Arsenal in the first ever north London derby at Wembley, opening the scoring with a stonking Paul Gascoigne free-kick before Lineker added a brace that voided Alan Smith’s reply for Arsenal on the stroke of half-time.
I’d been here before with Everton in 1986. We’d got the lead at half-time and had dominated the game for an hour as much the better side. One mistake, though, and it turned on a sixpence.
It wasn’t just desperately disappointing to lose a cup final, it was doing so to your nearest rivals in Liverpool too. They ended up doing the Double, which we were so close to doing ourselves. And then we had to share a bus ride with them, which kind of rubbed salt in the wounds.
The 1991 final kicks off at Wembley. Within two minutes, Gascoigne miraculously escapes punishment for a studs-up challenge on Garry Parker. Less than 15 minutes later he follows up with a similarly appalling tackle on Gary Charles, again somehow escaping a booking but giving away a free-kick and injuring himself in the process. He would be sidelined for the entire 1991/92 season with torn knee ligaments.
You'll find both Gazza challenges in here...
Embedded video for Gary Lineker on Spurs' 1991 FA Cup Final, in his own words: "It was pure relief..."
When Gazza went in for that first challenge I thought: 'What the f**k’s he doing?!' He will admit it himself – he was just a bit overhyped, as he could get before big games. It meant so much to him, and he started the game… well, it was just manic.
He was in a similar mode against Arsenal in the semi-final, but I think scoring that free-kick so early took away some of that pent-up emotion away. In the cup final he got rid of it in a different manner, which was a shame because it had a massive impact on the rest of his career with the gravity of those future injuries.
I spent much of my two years at Tottenham trying to calm him down, but he was never one to do that really. Gazza was a great player, but it was just one of those things with him getting carried away. Sadly he just paid a massive price for it.
We all went to see him in hospital after the game, which I think was probably a collective decision. I imagine it cheered him up a fraction, but he missed out on a great day and I know that was difficult for him.
In the 16th minute, Stuart Pearce thunders the resulting free-kick into Erik Thorstvedt’s top corner from 20 yards. Ten minutes later, Lineker has a goal wrongly chalked off for offside, but has the chance to rectify the situation soon after when Forest goalkeeper Mark Crossley brings him down in the box...
Embedded video for Gary Lineker on Spurs' 1991 FA Cup Final, in his own words: "It was pure relief..."
If you take penalties you know you’re occasionally going to miss one. I always practised them, and I hit it really sweet, but Mark guessed and got it right. It was probably a good height for him, but I was genuinely quite pleased when I hit it – I thought I’d scored.
I played against him again in the following season’s League Cup semi-finals, and because he’d done that before I just chipped one down the middle. So I kind of got a little bit of revenge there.
Tottenham are 1-0 down at half-time, but come out of the traps in the second half as Paul Stewart nabs the equaliser on 55 minutes.
We’d had chances, a goal disallowed, a missed penalty – so at this point you were just hoping it wasn’t going to be one of those days
We were pretty confident anyway because we’d played well in the first half. There'd been a debate about their goal, concern that someone had knocked someone out of the wall for Stuart Pearce’s free-kick.
We’d had chances, a goal disallowed, a missed penalty – so at this point you were just hoping it wasn’t going to be one of those days. But we thought we’d just keep playing the same way and would get back into it. Thankfully we did.
(Lino, you've had an absolute'mare here)
Spurs went one better than that. The game went to extra-time, where Des Walker diverted a corner past his own goalkeeper in the 94th minute.
We had a bit of luck with that winning goal, but you do need that to win a cup final. At Everton we’d had none of it in 1986 against Liverpool, when we were clearly the better side for most of the game, but these things happen.
The only negative for me was that a good mate in the England team, Des Walker, scored the own goal. It would obviously have been much better if I’d notched it! Sadly it just went over my head.
It was just a massive mixture of emotions, having lost one cup final, and then this one was near the end of my career as well so there was an element of pure relief.
Embedded video for Gary Lineker on Spurs' 1991 FA Cup Final, in his own words: "It was pure relief..."
This was Lineker’s first – and only – major trophy in England, having missed out on the Double with Everton in 1986, then joining Barcelona after the World Cup.
I was definitely worried about missing out on it. Obviously at Everton we’d lost out on the title and the FA Cup in ‘86 and then I went abroad to Barcelona, so it was massive for me to do it in 1991. I didn’t win that many honours – although at Barça I managed to win the Copa del Rey and Cup Winners’ Cup – even though I did a lot in my career.
I was a late developer at Leicester and only had one season at Everton; when I was at Barcelona, Real Madrid were very strong. Then I came back to Tottenham who suddenly had financial problems and were two or three players short of being a title-winning side. But thankfully we did manage the FA Cup.
I’d say it was probably the highlight of my career. On a personal level I’ve won a few things, but it’s a team game and I think this was the biggest trophy I won. It felt a lot less tiring to walk up the steps to get the trophy than five years before, I can tell you that. It’s a wonderful feeling, but difficult to describe.
It’s something that every player of my generation dreamed about doing, and I’m just so thankful that it did end up happening to me.
New features you'd love on FourFourTwo.comSan Franciscans Get Taken For a Ride — a price comparison of bike shares from around the world.
Ben Blocked Unblock Follow Following Aug 16, 2017
Over the past few months I’ve read article after article debating the expansion of the Ford GoBikes in San Francisco. Each article discusses the pros and cons of using the system without comparing the cost of similar systems currently operating in other cities around the world. I decided to do a little bit of research regarding the cost per user as many citizens feel the prices are a bit more expensive than they should be. Here are some of my unscientific findings… Not interested in the wall of text? Skip to the charts.
Ford GoBike in San Francisco.
First we will start off with the Ford GoBike in San Francisco. Ford GoBike is operated by Motivate in conjunction with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. In 2017, the bike share was re-branded after an investment from the Ford Motor Company.
Single trips start at $3, day passes $9.95 and a yearly membership with a promotional price of $124/year.
A Single Ride on a GoBike starts at $3 dollars, the first 30-minutes are free and then it’s an extra $3 dollars for each additional 15-minute block. As an example, a 35-minute single ride rental will cost the user $6 and a 47-minute single rental would cost the user $9 dollars. An important note- single ride rentals are ONLY available through the Ford GoBike application on your smart phone and on the site it’s listed as a “promotion ending on 9/30”… I’ll talk more about this in a bit.*
The Day Pass starts at $9.95 and is good for 24-hours from the time of the first rental. The first 30-minutes are free and each additional 15-minute block costs still costs $3 dollars. The same two rides as above, one 35-minute ride and another 47-minute ride will cost a total of $18.95. In my opinion, the Day Pass is clearly for a tourist or someone running a lot of errands and who will be using the bikes 4 or 5 times in a single 24 hour period but not more than a 10-times per year.
The last option is the Annual Membership for $150 dollars per year and entitles the member to unlimited 45-minute rides with each additional 15-minute block still costing $3 dollars. Excluding the cost of the annual membership, the 35-minute ride would be free and the 47-minute ride would be $3 dollars. If you plan on using the Ford GoBikes more than 10 times per year this is clearly the most economical plan for you.
But my question is… how does the Ford GoBike rental plans costs compare to other successful bike shares from around the world?
YouBike in Taipei.
YouBike is a popular bike share throughout Taiwan. I’ve personally used YouBike in Taipei many many times and it’s by far the most affordable and effective bike share I’ve seen. YouBike is a private/public partnership between the City of Taipei, Taipei Metro and Giant Bicycles. There are hundreds of stations outside pretty much every single school, public building, park and MRT station. Since launching in 2012, YouBike has exceeded 85,000,000 trips. Although the cost of living in Taipei is significantly cheaper it’s a great example of a public/private partnership so I’ve decided to include it.
$100NT = $3.30usd, $10NT = $0.33
With YouBike there are no daily, weekly, monthly or yearly access fees. You simply rent a bike by 30 minute blocks. A Single Rental is completed by swiping your credit card at the Kiosk, a $2,000NT deposit is applied to the credit card and once the bike is returned you will be refunded the difference. If you register your EasyCard (equivalent of a Clipper Card) and a local phone number you become a member. The benefit of becoming a member is the first 30 minutes of rentals originating in New Taipei City are free and rentals originating in Taipei are credited with a $5NT government subsidy.
Let’s go back to the two rides I’ve previously used as an example. Assuming one rental is in Taipei City and the other starts in New Taipei City the total cost for one 35-minute ride and another 47-minute ride would be $25NT or $.82 US cents.
Santander Bikes in London.
Santander Bikes, also known as the “Boris Bikes”, is London's bike share program regulated by the Transport for London (TfL); the local government body responsible transportation infrastructure in Greater London.
£1 is $1.29usd
The Daily Pass access fee is £2 ($2.57 US dollars). Once the access fee is paid, the first 30-minutes for each rental are free and each additional 30-minutes is £2. Using the Daily Pass, our 35-minute and 47-minute ride would cost a total of £6 or $7.72 US dollars.
The Yearly Pass costs £90 ($115.79 US dollars) and includes the first 30-minutes free and each additional 30-minute block still costs £2. Not including the yearly cost, one 35-minute bike ride and an additional 47-minute rental would cost a total of £4 or $5.15 US Dollars.
Vélib’ in Paris.
Vélib is the largest bike sharing program by numbers outside of China. As of July 2013, Velib also has one of the highest market penetration rates with 1 bike per 97 inhabitants. The system is owned by the City of Paris and work is contracted out to JCDecaux.
1€ = $1.17 US Dollars
1€ = $1.17 US Dollars
Velib requires each user either purchase a short-term subscription or a long-term subscription. A Single Day Ticket which gives you access to the entire system for 24-hours costs 1.70€ ($2 US Dollars). The first 30-minutes are free, the first additional half hour is 1€ ($1.17 US Dollars) and after each additional half hour the price continues to scale up. Using the Single Day Ticket, the total cost for a 35-minute and 47-minute ride would be 3.70€ or $4.34 US Dollars.
Velib also offers two different yearly subscription plans. The first is Velib Classic which costs 29€ ($34.03 US Dollars) and the second plan is the Velib Passion 29€ ($45.78 US Dollars). The Classic includes the first 30-minutes free while the Passion includes the first 45-minutes free. Not including the yearly cost and assuming we went with the more expensive plan, one 35-minute ride and another 47-minute ride would cost users 1€ or $1.70 US Dollars.
BIXI in Montréal
Launched in 2009, Bixi was North American’s first large-scale bike sharing system. The system is currently owned by the City of Montreal.
1 Canadian Dollar = $0.78 US Dollar
Bixi requires users purchase either a long or short term subscription.
A 24-Hour Subscription costs $5 CAD ($3.92 US Dollars), which includes the first 30 minutes free. The first additional 15-minutes cost an extra 1.75 CAD ($1.37 US Dollars) while each additional 15-minutes after that is $3 CAD ($2.35 US Dollars). Using the 24 Hour Subscription, our 35-minute and 47-minute bike rental would cost a total of 11.50 CAD or $9.01 US Dollars.
The One-year Membership costs $89 CAD ($69.77 US Dollars) and includes the first 45-minutes. Like the daily subscription, the first additional 15-minutes cost an extra $1.75 CAD while each additional 15-minutes after that cost $3 CAD. Not including the yearly subscription cost, our 35 and 47-minute ride would cost us $1.75 CAD or $1.37 US Dollars.
So how does San Francisco stack up?
In my opinion, as planned our bike share system in San Francisco is significantly more expensive than pretty much every other bike share system in the world*.
Put into perspective:
The cost of a daily pass for each city I looked into.
The cost of the first additional 15-minutes after the included minutes are used up. For comparison purposes if the bike share charges by 30-minute blocks I cut the cost in half.
Utilizing a daily pass, this chart shows the price increase for a single ride by the hour.
The daily rental example cost includes the daily rental fee and what would be the additional cost associated with taking one 35-minute rental ride and another 47-minute rental ride within 24 hours.
The yearly membership costs
The number of free minutes included with a yearly membership.
San Franciscans are rolling their eyes… but it’s something you might have to worry about. Note: In Paris the replacement fee for a lost bike is actually only 150€ but the user is also required to pay another additional 150€ to reactivate his/her account.
When it comes to accessibility San Francisco’s youth does not have access to the Ford GoBike system. This is a stark contrast to Taipei where every single school has a huge rack of YouBikes for rental. Paris offers various discounts for youth, young adults and students.
But but but… “Bike Share for All”!
The Bike Share for All program literally ignores the problem with the current system and creates a two-tier product. An affordable bike share system should be a public good equally available to all those who live in The City. Furthermore, to qualify for the Bike Share for All incentive a user must make under $24,120 per year — somebody working more than 32-hours per week for minimum wage in San Francisco does not qualify. If we must, I think a step in the right direction would be lowering the age requirements and offering a student and youth discount.
Okay, but the bikes must be better!
You call that a basket??!
And now my next complaint with our system in San Francisco... the bikes aren’t nearly as well equipped as some of the other bike share systems. For example, the YouBike in Taipei comes with a usable basket so you can carry food, milk tea (my favorite) or a backpack and not have to worry about losing it via the flimsy strap. The YouBike also includes an easy to use lock so you can run into the store and grab something without losing your bike if need be.
THAT MY FRIENDS, is a basket.
A Tale of Two Cities?*
During my Googling I found one other city that was actually more expensive than San Francisco. Yup, you’ve guessed it… Citi Bikes in New York City. Coincidentally both San Francisco’s Ford GoBike and New York City’s Citi Bike are operated by Motivate.
One of the other interesting things I’ve noticed with Citi Bike is the option to rent a bike for a “single ride” isn’t there. I’m assuming once the “promotional period” ends on 9/31 San Francisco might lose the single ride rental option too. Another interesting thing I noticed is the Annual Membership for Citi Bike is currently priced at $163 per year. According to Wikipedia, the original yearly price at launch was $95 dollars, it jumped to $149 in 2014 and again to $163 in 2017. Should we also be expecting a price increase every 2–3 years in San Francisco as well?
The Cost of Living…
The only real excuse we have for the high bike share costs in San Francisco might be attributed to the high cost of living and government bureaucracy. But seriously, it shouldn’t be four times more expensive to rent a bike in San Francisco over London. In San Francisco the price difference between renting a bike or calling a Lyft/Uber is very insignificant. We won’t be encouraging anyone to turn in their vehicles with these current rental rates… it’s cheaper to pay the parking meter.
Some Final Thoughts…
The environmental, social, health and economical advantages to a proper bike share system in a city are well documented. However, I do feel that our system in San Francisco has fallen a bit short. An innovative city like San Francisco should have been able to hash together a plan that works for everyone. Personally, I’d rather see The City fund it’s own bike share program and run it as a non-profit (even if it’s at a loss) so we aren’t stuck paying these exorbitant fees… For the bike share to truly be successful it needs to be cheaper than the cost of a Lyft Line/Uber Pool or paying the parking meter.
We should all ask ourselves and our government officials - what is the ultimate point of a bike share? I think we should aim to create a bike share network with equally affordable access for all citizens, to reduce traffic congestion, pollution and compliment our current public transit infrastructure.Associated Press
The deadline for underclassmen to enter the NFL draft is one week away—January 15—and already the 2015 class is shaping up to be a good one. With each passing day, more information and more analysis comes in. That's what the Scouting Notebook is here for, to update you on all things NFL draft each Friday.
This week's article is jam-packed with news on seniors and underclassmen, a look at one hit and one miss from my evaluations, a two-round mock draft and 10 players moving up and down on my draft board this month.
Ready? Let's go.
The Scout's Report
— TCU linebacker Paul Dawson is shooting up my board the more I watch him, |
rookie.
The only real concern from the data pulled is that the Bruins typically start strong through American Thanksgiving, and then plateau. With their inevitable dip somewhere between January 15th and February 20th, the Bruins' season-long point percentage has finished lower than it was after 20 games in four of the last six seasons. One of the exceptions being last year, when the top two lines were wagons, and they got a nice consolation prize in a President's Trophy.
But the lull may have already passed. Krejci has been in and out of the lineup. Krug is still not 100% yet. Miller is close but not quite, McQuaid is out with an undisclosed injury, Chara is still a couple weeks away, and a handful of rookies are still getting acclimated to the NHL speed and style. Come December, health and experience could return to the team, and the Bruins could thrive while many hockey squads are trudging through the dog days of winter.
So is it as bad as it has seemed? No. History shows it. And that goal differential that does seem out of sorts? The Bruins and Montreal have nearly identical GF and GA numbers, and their Differential is the same. The B's are just one win behind Tampa. Look for water to seek its level when Z shows up.
Ultimately, the Bruins need to be one of the best three teams in the Atlantic come April. And even though the Bolts and Canadiens have started out strong, Boston is still a better team than Detroit, Toronto and Ottawa. Unless the team suffers a major setback in the coming few months, step away from the panic button. Because they've won as many games in the first 20 as they did the year they hoisted Lord Stanley.NRA Criticized For Not Saying More About Philando Castile's Death
Critics say the group should comment more on the police shooting in Minnesota of licensed gun owner Philando Castile. Steve Inskeep talks to an NRA News commentator who goes by the name Colion Noir.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
We have a defense of the National Rifle Association. The NRA is criticized when it speaks out against gun control. Last week, it was also criticized for a muted response to Philando Castile. He was a black man, a licensed gun owner, shot by a police officer in Minnesota.
COLION NOIR: The criticisms began literally within less than 24 hours, lobbing accusations that, you know, the NRA doesn't care about black people.
INSKEEP: That's Colion Noir, a commentator on the NRA News web channel. His given name is Collins Idehen. He's an attorney in Dallas. And he says he's been talking a lot about the shootings last week.
NOIR: As a young black man who's 32 years old, has a concealed carry license, has been pulled over several times, it was something that I immediately could relate to. I'm not naive as to deny what some people's experience in this country is considering their race. So for me, it hit home because I was like that could have easily been me.
INSKEEP: What precautions do you take to make sure you don't end up in an awkward situation?
NOIR: I don't do anything now that I wouldn't have done before when I didn't carry a firearm. I have to be more cognizant of my surroundings. If I'm out somewhere - let's say I'm in a place where there may be a fight going on. And I'm going to have nothing to do with the fight. I need to remove myself from that place immediately. So it's a kind of heightened state of awareness that tends to happen when you start to carry a firearm. And it's a responsibility that I take a lot of pride in.
INSKEEP: I'm sure you've heard that the attorney for the officer involved in the Minnesota case - he has argued that this has nothing to do with race and everything to do with the presence of a gun. It does occur to me, listening to you - if you're carrying a gun, does that actually increase the chances that you could end up being shot yourself?
NOIR: I can't speak to that because every situation and circumstance is different. I was pulled over two weeks ago, almost under the exact same conditions, except I was speeding. I immediately handed over my concealed carry license and my ID along with my registration. And he asked me - where's the firearm? I told him one in the trunk, one on my side and one in my bag. And he was like - OK, good to know. And that was that.
So we've got to understand that a lot of these situations are very individualized. Sometimes, the X-factor may be - the cop may be just a bad cop. No matter what you do, you're going to be in a bad situation. Or you have a cop who's a good cop or impartial cop. Whatever the case may be, you may have a subject who got pulled over who's acting abrasive, who's putting himself in the position to escalate the tensions in a situation.
INSKEEP: What did you think when you learned about the shootings on Thursday night in Dallas?
NOIR: It crushed me the same way it crushed me when I saw the video of Philando because one of my best friends is a cop. And he looks just like me. He's my age. So I have an ability to kind of empathize both ways with respect to officers and people of the community.
INSKEEP: It raises an interesting argument about gun laws because one NRA defense of gun ownership, as you know, is that when there is a shooter - when there's a crowd of people, NRA supporters have argued many times if people in that crowd had guns, they would save lives. Here is an instance where every single officer had a gun, and a number of people, even demonstrators in the crowd, had guns. And it made no difference. What does that do to the NRA's classic argument?
NOIR: It does nothing. It does nothing. We had individuals who were in the crowd openly carrying firearms. Right? If those individuals had taken off their gun the moment the shooting started and started firing off randomly - because nobody knew where the shots were coming from - then what would be the talking points?
INSKEEP: Oh, I would agree with you. Firing randomly into a crowd is a terrible idea.
NOIR: Absolutely. So those individuals did the responsible thing and put themselves in a position where they could find cover and not be shot. And then the officers who did have guns then went forward and tried to figure out a way to resolve the issue. The idea of a gun being present doesn't necessarily mean that it has to be fired in order to do its job. We have five cops who were killed. How many cops would have been killed if none of those officers had guns?
INSKEEP: So you find vindication for your point of view even though they weren't able to stop this killer before five people were killed?
NOIR: But they stopped him. He had to fall back into a position because cops were returning fire. So imagine how many people would have died.
INSKEEP: What did you think when the mayor of your city indicated that the police job might have been complicated by the fact that there were people who were law-abiding citizens openly carrying weapons in the crowd? And so the police, in that frantic situation, couldn't tell who was a danger and who was not.
NOIR: I mean, that's part of reality. I mean, there are a number of situations where things are always complicated by a myriad of circumstances. So I understand the idea that it made it harder to identify who the actual shooter was. Yes, I agree with that. I'm no fool. But to what extent? Should we then ban people's right to own a firearm because of it?
INSKEEP: Well, Colion Noir, thank you very much for taking the time.
NOIR: Absolutely. Thank you.
INSKEEP: He's with the NRA News web channel.
Copyright © 2016 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.I remember a few years ago (when I started blogging) home survey companies started popping up – or maybe I just started noticing them. Either way, I decided to try one called CashCrate which offered a bunch of semi-legit surveys and I made about $10 in 30 minutes.
That wasn’t too bad I thought, but the downside was that apparently I failed to read some small print somewhere on one of the surveys and got signed up for something and that was a bit of an annoyance (my full CashCrate Review).
Since that point I have shied away from survey sites, but I have been hearing more and more about them, so I figured I would ask you guys if you have some favorite legitimate home survey companies that you use?
Legit Survey Sites
These are some of the survey sites that I have either heard good things about from readers or have some reason to believe that they are legit. I have only personally tried a few of these, so as with all things, proceed with caution. From my research on these sites I believe all of them are free to join, which not all survey sites out there are. Having to pay to work seems like a little bit of a red flag to me.
Also, I have included the minimum payout as some survey sites make you wait a while before you can get paid. And you can also see the minimum age to join as well – some allow high-schoolers, but not all do.
If you try (or have tried) any of these survey companies, I would love to hear your experience in the comments below. Also if you have some other survey sites that you use and love let us know about them as well.By Steve Shutt, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@DemonDeacons)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest University announced today the introduction of the Top Hat Tavern, a new addition to the game day experience at BB&T Field. Located behind the video board and Deacon Hill on the South side of the stadium, the Top Hat Tavern will make beer and wine available to the general public at football games.
The Top Hat Tavern joins Deacon Tower and Bridger Field House as the third area within BB&T Field to offer beer and wine sales to patrons. Soft drinks and water will also be available within the Tavern.
The consumption of beverages will be limited to the Top Hat Tavern area. There will be a limit of three drinks per person and all patrons will have their ID checked by Wake Forest and Winston-Salem police officers. Patrons will be given a wristband to verify eligibility to enter the area and also to note the number of beverages purchased.
"We are always looking to enhance the game day experience for all of our fans," said Director of Athletics Ron Wellman. "We feel we have a service model that will be controlled and responsible."
The Top Hat Tavern will open 90 minutes prior to kickoff and will close at the end of the third quarter of each home game.
Wake Forest is part of a growing trend nationally with over 30 Football Bowl Subdivision teams now offering alcohol sales to its football fans.
Tickets for Saturday night's game with Gardner-Webb are available at the Ticket Office or online at WakeForestSports.com. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at BB&T Field.FiveThirtyEight is looking for three fall interns, one for our visual journalism team, one for our political team, and one to help with our podcast and video production. The positions are paid, and we can accommodate part-time interns who are enrolled in school.
The visual journalism intern will design, edit and produce static graphics to accompany stories on the site, assist with reporting and research, create original stories (which can be primarily or entirely visual, or mostly written), and — depending on the intern’s skill set and level of interest — contribute to bigger interactive projects. This fall is going to be huge at FiveThirtyEight: In addition to our 2016 election coverage, we have really ambitious plans for forecasting professional sports and pushing the boundaries of what data journalism can be when applied to culture, science and economics. The ideal candidate will have experience making data graphics using design tools such as Illustrator or programming languages such as JavaScript, Python and R. Other journalism-related programming experience — such as Web-scraping or news app development — is a plus. General comfort with numbers is essential, as is experience with spreadsheet software such as Excel.
The politics intern will conduct research and work closely with our politics writers. You’ll help us keep track of new polls and feed them into our forecast of the presidential election. And you’ll have the opportunity to pitch and write stories like this one. You should be detail-oriented and have some reporting and research experience. You should also be familiar with electoral politics. If you can name every vice presidential candidate for the last few decades, you should apply.
The podcast and video intern will work in both audio and video production. FiveThirtyEight currently produces three weekly podcasts, and has plans to evolve and expand its coverage this fall and winter. We also have a robust video team, making original content and video to accompany stories on the site. The intern will help with topic research, setting up the studio, editing both audio and video, and packaging online and for social media. We’re looking for someone with basic audio and video editing skills, but more than that, we’re interested in applicants who are curious and eager to take on new challenges.
All our interns are encouraged to pitch stories, collaborate on bigger projects and participate in the daily editorial process.
Our internship program runs from approximately Sept. 12 to Nov. 18. Interns should be enrolled in a U.S. college or university and taking at least one class at the time of application. Candidates with graduation dates of May or June of 2016 are also eligible. More details about eligibility can be found on the application page.
Interns may work up to 40 hours per week (with some flexibility in schedule to accommodate classes as needed).
For more details, and to apply, follow these links:
Applicants must apply online; email applications will not be looked at. The positions are filled on a rolling basis.In a clear attempt to spark unrest, a slaughtered pig was found inside a mosque in Delhi's Okhla area. This incident took place even as areas like Trilokpuri and Bawana remain tense over communal clashes.
While there was outrage about the incident in the mosque located in the JJ cluster, the Muslim community acted with restraint, choosing to file a police complaint along with the Hindus in the area.
The Times of India quoted Okhla resident Amanatullah as saying, "What happened in Trilokpuri was very unfortunate and then there was the mahapanchayat at Bawana. It seems the riots were engineered and it is easy to spark a riot in a sensitive area like Okhla."
This incident should be taken as a good example as it shows that a little restraint on the part of all communities helps in the long run. A huge clash was avoided.
Muslims of the area also earned praise from the Hindus at a time when the police are also having a hard time maintaining peace and law and order in the city.
The Times of India quoted Karan Bidhuri of Madanpur Khadar as saying, "Both Hindus and Muslims are living in peace, and to maintain harmony it is important to constitute an aman committee for the Okhla area. The way communal passions are being stirred in Delhi, such committees will be needed in every part of the city."
However the police have been asked to keep a strict vigil on religious places in the area.
This comes close on the heels of a mahapanchayat in Bawana that was led by local BJP MLA Gugan Singh and Congress councillor Devender Kumar alias Poni. Around 700 villagers on Sunday convened and attended a Mahapanchayat, to protest against the traditional route of the taziya procession in the area.
Communally charged sloganeering, hate-filled speeches and religious symbolism marked the day-long event. Speakers repeatedly and aggressively cautioned the ‘other community’ of dire consequences in case of ‘unruly behaviour’.
Even though their taziya procession was over without any major incident on Tuesday frightened residents of the Muslim-majority JJ Colony in Bawana area of north-west Delhi spent sleepless nights, reported Firstpost's Tarique Anwar.
Meanwhile, the Aman Committee in Trilokpuri - a group of 40 Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian members - have been working round the clock to maintain peace and harmony. Over 30 Hindu volunteers along with the members of Aman Committee headed a peaceful Muharram procession in the presence of over 1,200 policemen, including paramilitary forces on Tuesday.
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.On November 1st, 2016 the Tampa Bay Lightning stomped to a 6-1 victory over the New York Islanders at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The win moved them to 7-4 on the season and things were looking pretty good for a team that many had picked to return to the Stanley Cup Finals.
Leading the charge were Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov. Kucherov, broke out of a bit of a goal-scoring rut as he picked up his second and third goals of the season in the first period. Stamkos added his seventh goal of the season later in the same period.
Following Kucherov’s first goal, a 5-3 power play goal, Getty’s Bruce Bennett snapped this photo of a supremely confident pair of scorers.
Watch the goal (starts at 15 seconds)
The Lightning are on a 5-on-3 power play so there is plenty of open ice. The Islander defenders are rightfully concerned with Stamkos having the puck in a dangerous position, yet they aren’t that out of position.
Stamkos fires a pass that has a chance to be deflected by all three New York players’ sticks. Travis Harmonic (#3) isn’t looking in the right direction, but his stick is still in the passing lane. Brock Nelson (#29) just misses the puck and Stamkos’ stick. Dennis Seidenberg (#4) reads the play but just can’t get to the puck in time.
Seidenberg probably would have been better off just letting the pass go and focusing on Kucherov, because once he reaches for the pass, there is no way for him to recover in time to prevent the shot into the open net. A net left open because Jaroslav Halak was completely sold on Stamkos shooting the puck.
Kucherov does a great job of controlling the pass and flinging it into the net, but the pass was the sign of a confident player. In all honestly, that pass probably shouldn’t have been made. With the Islanders collapsing on defense, the one area of the ice that they should be able to guard was the front of the net - right where Stamkos passed it.
If the Lightning are struggling, he probably doesn’t make that pass. The thought of it getting knocked away is most likely in the back of his head and he either takes a shot or dumps it up to Victor Hedman at the point (neither one bad options). Yet, a player on a scoring roll takes those chances and sometimes they pay off.
That’s the threat that a healthy Stamkos and a fully-engaged Kucherov bring to the ice. If they’re on the ice at the same time, especially on the power play, defenses have to be prepared for one-timers from either end of the ice. Teams can no longer flood Stamkos’ side of the ice to cut off his shot. If they leave Kucherov open, he’ll burn them with a one-timer as seen in the goal above. Spreading out the defense usually leads to better chances.
The Lightning potentially have two 40-goal scorers for the upcoming season. That has never happened in franchise history. In fact, no team in the league has sported two 40-goal scorers since the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin scored 50 and James Neal had 40 in 2011-12.
For that to happen Kucherov does need to overcome his tendency to defer to other players on the ice. Whether it’s just his nature or a product of growing up in a Russian system that values teamwork and puck possession, he does need to be a tad more selfish when it comes to taking shots.
Coach Cooper loves mixing and matching his lines at seemingly random, but if he can resist the urge to break up the Stamkos and Kucherov chemistry Lightning fans should be prepared to see many, many more celebration photos.Reading on mobile? Click here to listen
In last week's interview with the Guardian, anthemic Scottish folkers Frightened Rabbit talked about the disparity between their success in the US and their relative obscurity in the UK.
In America, the Selkirk five-piece play to thousands of people and have appeared on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon … but closer to home they're so under the radar that people at their own record company have never heard of them.
They'll hope that Pedestrian Verse – so named because it forced singer Scott Hutchinson to raise his game – changes all that, taking them overground while cementing their status on the US tour circuit. Their fourth album certainly sounds grand enough – Hutchinson's love of a big chorus shining through, while his lyrics return to the "painful honesty" that has won fans over.
"We were never able to put a barrier up [between our fans and the audience] because the material breaks the barrier down on both sides," says Hutchinson. "Our manager is always going on about getting a mystique, but it's not an option for us."
Have a listen using the SoundCloud player above and let us know your thoughts in the comments below.Tim Howard signed for Manchester United in 2003 and made 77 appearances for the club. Matthew Peters/Getty Images
The following is an excerpt from Tony Coton's autobiography, "There To Be Shot At." Taken from the chapter entitled "Tim Coward," Coton discusses his relationship with Manchester United's U.S. international goalkeeper from the summer of 2004 onward.
Yet it was clear when Howard returned for preseason training that he was a changed man -- and not for the better. He suddenly started playing 'bigger' when he was between the sticks, moving forward so that his only option to make a save was to block the ball, rather than staying that little bit deeper so that he had the option to make a catch or tip it away. Basically, he was so traumatised by the thought of making another mistake that he was playing it safe. It was a worrying development that had to be addressed. It might look like a minor change in technique to the layman, but every member of United's backroom team recognised it as a telltale sign that Tim wasn't in a good place mentally. A top sportsman -- whether it's a golfer, tennis player or footballer -- doesn't deliberately redesign his technique unless it has broken down completely. Howard had made one mistake. Yes, it was a biggie, but we all make them and there was a process of coming to terms with the disappointment, learning and then putting it behind you.
My first thought was that Howard had unconsciously changed his technique, so I called in our tech team to help me compile a DVD to illustrate clearly to him what he was doing wrong. I split the screen. On one side was Tim making a save the previous season; on the other was the method he was employing to make exactly the same type of save. The differences were clear, but Howard didn't take my intervention well. 'What's this, analyse to paralyse?' he demanded, before storming out in a huff. He didn't even bother to look at what I was trying to show him. He was living in denial -- always a worrying sign for a coach because players should be open to using all the technology and sports science at their disposal to improve, even when they feel at the top of their game.
It became clear to me that Tim now wanted to take all the decision-making out of his game just in case he chose the wrong option again. That's not how world-class goalkeepers perform. We spent the next twelve months trying to find a cure for Howard's neurosis, but it was a painful and unsuccessful process. Tim didn't feel he needed help, but the fact that he spent the entire 2004/05 season sharing goalkeeping duties with Roy Carroll should have given him an idea that the manager was coming to the conclusion that he just wasn't good enough. When we reached the FA Cup final again, it was Carroll who got the nod. Arsenal fluked the trophy, somehow holding out for a goalless draw after being outplayed for every single one of the 120 minutes and then winning on penalties. Howard eventually left for Everton in the summer of 2006, initially on loan and then in a permanent deal which enabled United to recoup their initial £3 million investment. He went on to become a stalwart for both club and country -- largely, I suspect, because playing for both Everton and the United States carried none of the pressure or expectation that comes when you are defending the Stretford End.Image copyright AFP Image caption Customs and Border Protection, within the Department of Homeland Security, would like to ask travellers for their social media details
Travellers seeking visa waiver entry to the US may soon be asked to list their social media profiles - if a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) proposal is enacted.
An update to application forms would ask users to identify what social networks they use and their "social media identifier" such as a username.
However, revealing this information would be "optional".
The changes would affect Esta and Form I-94W applications.
The proposal was added to the Federal Register by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), part of the DHS, last Thursday.
Any data travellers choose to share will be used "for vetting purposes, as well as applicant contact information", the proposal states.
Public comment - which must be submitted by post - will be sought for 60 days before the CBP considers it further.
Profiles, please
"It's very hard to see travellers not filling out this item - even though it's optional - as they may fear not getting entry into the country," commented Joseph Lorenzo Hall, chief technologist at the Centre for Democracy and Technology.
Mr Hall, who spotted the notice last week, added that he feels the measure could make it harder for people to enter the US.
"Democracy in general requires having spaces free from government scrutiny and increasingly social life happens online," he told the BBC.
"We would have a poor society if people were chilled from participating in social activity online so I really hope they rethink this."
Image caption Mr Hall spotted the update to the Federal Register last week
A spokesman for the Association of British Travel Agents pointed out that the proposal was not guaranteed to go ahead.
"Just as with any change in entry requirements, the DHS will need to balance security issues against the need to encourage people to visit their country," he added.
Last year, MSNBC published a memo in which it appeared that officials dropped a plan to vet visa - not visa waiver - applicants' social media activity.
Recently, the United States updated its policy on visa waiver programs regarding visitors who had a second citizenship in Iran, Iraq, Syria and Sudan - or who had visited those countries within the last five years.
Such individuals must now apply for a visa instead.anyuser Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2008 Posts: 3,908 Likes: 15 (11 Posts)
People using Dogecoins than Any other Ecurrency/Bi
Note that that's quantity of trades, not quality. All the bitcoins in the world are worth $10.1 billion, according to stats provided at Bitinfo. Dogecoin, which takes its name from the already-kinda-old doge meme, is worth a relatively paltry $9.2 million.
Likely because of that, dogecoin owners are exchanging left and right, avoiding the familiar Bitcoin trap where many users simply purchase some amount of the currency to sit on it and hope it appreciates. Nearly twice as many Dogecoin users (98,808) have made trades in the past 24 hours as Bitcoin users (55,352), and that number dwarfs any other cryptocurrency.
That's made all the more remarkable when you consider Bitcoin is constantly upping its real-world applications. You can order deliveries from Overstock.com, for example, or in thousands of physical locations, but Dogecoin doesn't have anything close that kind of use.
That's due in no small part to enthusiasts' readiness to tip each other in Dogecoin. Reddit even has a custom-programmed tip bot that any redditor can use, and it often handles hundreds of transactions an hour.
In fact, so many dogecoins have been traded and then quickly traded again that the number of dogecoins in transit over the past day, 33,767,101,030, outnumbers the number of dogecoins in existence.
http://www.dailydot.com/news/more-pe...ryptocurrency/ Make fun of it all you like, but people are using Dogecoin way more than any other kind of cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin.Note that that's quantity of trades, not quality. All the bitcoins in the world are worth $10.1 billion, according to stats provided at Bitinfo. Dogecoin, which takes its name from the already-kinda-old doge meme, is worth a relatively paltry $9.2 million.Likely because of that, dogecoin owners are exchanging left and right, avoiding the familiar Bitcoin trap where many users simply purchase some amount of the currency to sit on it and hope it appreciates. Nearly twice as many Dogecoin users (98,808) have made trades in the past 24 hours as Bitcoin users (55,352), and that number dwarfs any other cryptocurrency.That's made all the more remarkable when you consider Bitcoin is constantly upping its real-world applications. You can order deliveries from Overstock.com, for example, or in thousands of physical locations, but Dogecoin doesn't have anything close that kind of use.That's due in no small part to enthusiasts' readiness to tip each other in Dogecoin. Reddit even has a custom-programmed tip bot that any redditor can use, and it often handles hundreds of transactions an hour.In fact, so many dogecoins have been traded and then quickly traded again that the number of dogecoins in transit over the past day, 33,767,101,030, outnumbers the number of dogecoins in existence. Last edited by anyuser; 15-01-2014 at 06:18 AM. Reason: added a Doge CoinA new resident has made its home among the cheeseheads, and it is not welcome. The invasive jumping worm (Amynthas sp.) now inhabits five of Wisconsin’s counties, and the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is looking to the public for help in stemming its spread, as Breann Schossow reports for Wisconsin Public Radio.
Wisconsin is home to many non-native earthworms, which arrived with the state’s first settlers, but the jumping worm has become a unique case for a few reasons. Originally from East Asia, the worms cause problems in how they digest leaf litter and poop out soil. Most earthworms eat soil, so what’s the big deal with this one? As Bernie Williams, an invasive species specialist with the Wisconsin DNR, told Schossow, jumping worms are total overachievers:
"This particular worm seems to change the soil so it almost just becomes granular. It doesn't hold any moisture any longer, and you do see declines, anecdotally, in some of the plants that are in the surrounding areas where this earthworm has invaded."
Like many successful invasive species, the jumping worm is also really good at making more jumping worms. It grows quickly and munches through soil fast.
Named for their unique wriggling behavior when disturbed, the worms were first discovered in Wisconsin in October 2013. Williams was leading a routine field class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Arboretum, showing students how to identify insects, when she stumbled upon a jumping worm, as Sheila Eldred reported back in 2014 for Discovery News. That was the first confirmed sighting in the state.
Ecologists had hoped that a winter freeze might kill off the invasive population, but they stuck around. There is some evidence that their cocoons might be susceptible to a controlled burn, as Lee Bergquist writes for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. DNR officials told Bergquist that the worm could be in up to 14 counties, though it’s only been confirmed in five.
Though the worms are only just making their way to the Midwest, some jumping worm species came to North America as early as the 1800s. They’ve since caused problems in other areas of the U.S. as well — notably some Northeastern States and the Great Smoky Mountains. Bergquist explains, the worms likely hitch a ride from state to state in transported soil.This article is over 1 year old
Firefighters discovered collection of weapons when they were called to tackle blaze at Paul Bushell’s home
Man aged 74 jailed after 160 guns are found at his home in Kent
A pensioner has been jailed for five years after 160 guns were found at his home.
Paul Bushell was sentenced on Wednesday morning after pleading guilty to seven charges of possessing a prohibited weapon and six counts of possessing ammunition for a firearm without a certificate, Kent police said.
Firefighters discovered the collection of weapons when they were called to tackle a blaze at the 74-year-old’s house in Gillingham at about 2pm on 7 May.
Kent fire and rescue service called in police after extinguishing the flames caused by an electrical fault in an upstairs study.
Officers spent four days searching the property, finding 160 guns in the study, loft and basement.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Paul Bushell. Photograph: Kent police/PA
Many of the guns were loaded and ready to fire. The hoard included machine guns, rifles such as an AKM47, revolvers, semi-automatic pistols, shotguns, replicas and antique guns, some of which were stored in drawers.
Police also found 126 rounds of ammunition and part-built firearms.
Bushell said he was interested in history, particularly the world wars, and claimed he thought it was legal to keep antique guns, police said.
He told officers he did not plan to sell the guns.
Judge Philip Statman, sentencing at Maidstone crown court, ordered that the weapons and ammunition be destroyed.
The senior investigating officer DI Susan Smith said: “Bushell had a staggering collection of guns which if they were to get into the wrong hands could have been catastrophic.
“While our investigation led us to be satisfied that the guns were for his own use and not to sell on to criminals, it was still not only illegal but very dangerous.”
Sarah Dineley, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said the dangers of keeping unlocked guns in a house regularly visited by children were obvious and serious.
She added: “Had the property been burgled, they could have easily fallen into the hands of criminals.
“They also posed a serious risk to the firefighters who attended the home, given the weapons were recovered from inside the fire-damaged room.”
A gun amnesty is running in Kent until 5pm on Sunday 26 November.
Those who surrender firearms to police stations during this period will not face prosecution for illegal possession and can remain anonymous.Video of 2016-17 Winter Season Recap
After 60 feet of cumulative snowfall, 10 Atmospheric Rivers, the snowiest month on record (#januBURIED), and 200 days of winter operations during this incredible 2016-17 season, Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows is officially closed for skiing and riding until the fall.
With unseasonably warm temperatures in the region, the snowpack has seen a rapid rate of melt, primarily in the key areas of lift loading and unloading zones. While teams have been working around the clock to maintain the snow surface, there is not sufficient snowpack for a safe, consistent slope, forcing Squaw Valley to conclude winter operations.
While it's always bittersweet to pack away our boards and boots for the summer, we're stoked to know we hung in there as long as we could! Our amazing staff kept lifts spinning into summer and on July 15, our latest closing date EVER. From deep powder and dramatic winter weather to summer shredding in our bathing suits, the 2016-17 season was one we'll never forget. Let's take a look back as we count down our top memories from this historic season:
Top Memories & Milestones from the 2016-17 season
11. Snowy Opening Day
Opening Day at Alpine Meadows. November 23, 2016. Photo: Ben Arnst
The 2016-17 season kicked off on November 23 the best way possible - with new snow! The stoke was high as we took our first laps of the season on 4" of fresh snow that continued throughout the day. Skiers and riders were fired up, taking the snowy weather as a sign of an amazing season ahead...
10. Christmas Powder
Conditions at Alpine Meadows on December 25, 2016. Photo: Jeff Engerbretson
Santa delivered the month's first BIG storm in time for the holidays! We woke up to 14" of fresh powder on December 24, and a bluebird powder day with a 21" storm total on Christmas Day.
9. January 2017: Snowiest Month on Record
Snow piled high along the Alpine Meadows Road on January 23, 2017. Photo: Ben Arnst
Who could forget January? It snowed 16 out of 31 days and the monthly total reached 282 inches. That's over 23 FEET, making January 2017 the snowiest month at Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows on record!
8. February 2017: Snowiest February on RecordIn March 1989, Tim Berners-Lee, a 33-year-old software engineer at Europe’s largest Physics Laboratory (CERN), was frustrated with how the Internet would only enable sharing of information between clients and a single server. Doing anything more required establishing a new connection. To get around this, Berners-Lee had a creative idea—use a hypertext system that would elegantly connect machines and servers across a ‘world wide Web.’
Like any researcher, Berners-Lee had to find support to work on his idea. He wrote up a 14-page proposal and sent it to his boss at CERN, Mike Sendall, who famously scribbled the following on the front-page: “Vague, but exciting….”
We are all very |
an element of policing. The introduction of air power combined specific spatial transformations within a global nomos with changes in the technology of weaponry. Schmitt saw with prescient clarity that air war would not only create an “intensification of the technical means of destruction” and the “disorientation of space,” but also intensify the problem of unequal sides, and allow the dominant side to re-label enemies as criminals. Schmitt understood that air power would create a world in which those who command the sky could police and punish those who do not. For Schmitt, this widening gap is both the cause and result of a juridification of war, a shift towards conceptualizing war as a policing activity of criminals:
Both sides have a specific relation to the types of weapon. If the weapons are conspicuously unequal, then the mutual concept of war conceived of in terms of an equal plane is lacking. To war on both sides belongs a certain chance of victory. Once that ceases to be the case, the opponent becomes nothing more than an object of violent measures. Then the antithesis between the warring parties is increased exponentially. From the distinction between power and law, the vanquished are displaced into a bellum intestinum (internal war). The victors consider their superiority in weaponry to be an indication of their justa causa and declare the enemy to be a criminal because it no longer is possible to realize the concept of justus hostis.
Aerial bombing of those who have no chance to retaliate is not a war but an unequal exchange, which by its very nature accelerates the process through which war becomes a policing action and the adversary becomes a criminal or a mere object of violent reprisal. Policing action both begins and ends with the criminalization of the enemy. The overhead shot, coeval with air power itself, both produces and solidifies asymmetry and criminalization, which in turn produces a moral and legal justification of the violence.
• • •
The public availability of the drone’s footage deserves as much attention as its diegetic world. What is the video of supposedly classified strikes doing on YouTube? Who put it up? These clips are released by the Department of Defense through its Defense Video and Imagery Distribution System (DVIDS) Web site. With over ten million hits online, the clips are consumed voraciously, and attract a community of viewers (judging from the comment profiles, mostly men) who comment on what they portray and inform each other of new postings. Given the distinct action in these clips and the obsessive interest in them, some commentators have called the phenomenon “drone porn." This offensive moniker does not so much equate the subject matter with that of a snuff film as offer a clue to the structure of the videos. Just as pornography caters to masculine desire, and the so-called money shot or male orgasm structures the film and retrospectively casts the action leading up to it as anticipation, so the experience of watching the drone strike footage is characterized by anticipation of the coming explosion, the moment of the strike. But while discussions of drone strikes in the United States focus on the precision of impact, the experience of drone strikes from the ground cannot be understood as a singular moment but as a structuring reality. And it is to that reality that I now turn.
What The Camera Can’t See
If drone operators can see but not hear the world below them, the exact oppositeis true for people on the ground. Because drones are able to hover at or above 30 thousand feet, they are mostly invisible to the people below them. But they can be heard. Many people from the tribal areas of Pakistan (FATA) describe the sound as a low-grade, perpetual buzzing, a signal that a strike could occur at any time. The locals call the drones machar, mosquitos. Because the drone can surveil the area for hours at a time, and because each round of surveillance may or may not result in a strike, the fear and anxiety among civilians is diffuse and chronic.
While drone strike footage has entered our culture as fantasy, drones have entered these regions as psychological trauma. In interviews, humanitarian workers, doctors and psychologists all attest to widespread occurrence of PTSD and anticipatory anxiety. Recent studies go beyond the disputation of casualty counts to a more thorough examination of life under the constant threat of drone strikes, offering ample evidence of a severely traumatized population, living under constant fear of the next strike. “Living Under Drones,” the comprehensive Stanford/NYU study of the impact of drone strikes in the tribal areas of Pakistan, includes first-hand interviews with many witnesses and survivors of the strikes. The words of one interviewee reveal an almost textbook definition of anticipatory trauma: “God knows whether they’ll strike again or not. But they’re always surveying us, they’re always over us, and you never know when they’re going to strike and attack.” While in law, the term “imminent” is frequently used for justification, here “imminent" takes on an altogether different and terrifying meaning, one distinguished by sound: “one man described the reaction to the sound of the drones as ‘a wave of terror’ coming over the community.” In another testimony, Hisham Abrar states, “when children hear the drones, they get really scared, and they can hear them all the time.”
The same is true in the other countries subject to repeated strikes. The resulting consequences have been devastating: parents refusing to risk sending their children to school, tribal councils wary of meeting, and shops shuttered into bankruptcy. In April of 2011, a young Yemeni author who spent time as an exchange student in the United States testified before the Senate, described his first-hand experience of a drone strike: “They [the locals] were moving erratically and frantically pointing toward the sky. Based on their past experiences with drone strikes, they told us that the thing hovering above us—out of sight and making a strange humming noise—was an American drone. My heart sank. I was helpless.”
Emphasizing the diffuse but chronic deterioration of life offers a thicker definition of civilian harm, and dismantles the visual regime of the drone, its will to omniscience and precision.
Sight on one side and sound on the other. Focus on one side and diffusion on the other. It is precisely this distribution of senses that produces the assertion of pinpoint accuracy and the disavowal of widespread harm. As I suggested earlier, the visual regime of the drone’s camera extends well beyond the video it produces, structuring larger discussions of legitimacy and efficacy. For instance, in testimony before the U.S. Senate reported by the Times, Retired Colonel Martha McSully insists “drones offered more oversight and precision because they could hover over a target, with the ability to abort a strike until the last second, and with the chain of command and lawyers watching.” The same prolonged hovering that produces the terrifying buzzing here adds oversight to sight, combining surveillance with legal scrutiny. But the layers of supervision effectively evacuate the world of sound and the interpersonal reality that sound produces; to argue about how precise or imprecise, focused or unfocused, such strikes are is to remain within a visual economy. These arguments, preoccupied with casualty figures, tend to dominate critical commentary in the West. While outlandish claims by the administration that there hasn’t been “a single collateral death” in Pakistan from the August 2010 to July 2011 have been repudiated by various organizations, disputes over the exact number of civilian deaths remain. Emphasizing instead the diffuse but chronic deterioration of life offers a thicker definition of civilian harm, and dismantles, in part, the visual regime of the drone, its will to omniscience and precision. It also begins to dispel the fantasy of air power in general.
• • •
But another major contributor to the dominance of air power in general is the idea that such power provides a neat alternative to the messiness of ground forces: either because aircraft can operate in areas where, for whatever reason, it is not possible to send troops, or because air power provides an alternative in areas where, for financial and strategic reasons, the United States wishes to scale back its presence (for instance, in the debate over the troop surge in Afghanistan during the summer of 2010, the Biden plan called for strategic air strikes throughout the country in lieu of additional troops). In this vision, as with previous hopes for air power, selective drone attacks are seen as the substitute for ground troops from the horn of Africa to the mountains of central Asia.
In reality, drone strikes often entail an increase in the infrastructure of ground support, in terms of personnel, the need for landing strips and bases, and an intelligence network for locating targets. Indeed, the fact that the actual drone is unmanned is misleading. The drones themselves do not have pilots (they are officially called Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), but it takes between 180 to 200 personnel to support a single combat air patrol. Moreover, even though drones may be operated from bases thousands of miles away, drones still need to take off and land somewhere near the theater of active conflict. U.S. Air Force drones that take off from the base at Kandahar are operated from Creech Air Force Base in Southern Nevada, and CIA drones are operated from Langley, Virginia, but it is only once the drones are airborne that the controls handed over to operators at Creech or Langley. This in turn, demands a new network of bases and airstrips around the world.
Consider the 2002 strike against Al-Harethi in Yemen. In that case, the drone took off from the state of Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa, where U.S. presence dramatically increased following the events of 9/11. By 2002, a thousand soldiers were stationed at Camp Lemonier, once occupied by the French Foreign Legion, and in a visit in December of 2002, Donald Rumsfeld predicted that the facilities would still be running for years to come. Since 2002, the camp has grown, renewing its leases and planning more permanent housing and facilities. Not coincidentally, the increasing military presence has been accompanied by the need to police the waters off the Horn of Africa against pirates. In addition to the base in Djibouti, there is a counter-piracy base in Bahrain, and surveillance drones are stationed in the Republic of Seychelles. As with the Al-Harethi targeted killing, personnel in all these locations are suspected of being involved in the targeted killing of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, south of Mogadishu in September of 2009.
And this vast “constellation of secret drone bases,” as the Washington Post put it, is developing quickly. The debate over the government’s decision to kill an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, in 2011, failed to note that the strike involved a new drone base in an undisclosed Middle East location, designed to make Yemeni drone strikes easier.
All of this comes at a financial and political cost. In 2004, Chalmers Johnson wrote about the unintended consequences of U.S. global militarism: “this vast network of American bases in every continent except Antar c tica actually constitutes a new form of empire—an empire of bases with its own geography not likely to be taught in any high school geography class.” And as Ian Shaw notes, “the Droneworld is the evolution of the Baseworld.” Now instead of large garrison bases, there are more small facilities to house drones and their local operators. To those, such as political scientist Andrew Bacevich, who argue that U.S. national security requires a much smaller global military footprint, drones are no real alternative. Like so many earlier dreams of air power, they are no more than a flight of fancy; to civilians traumatized by their very sound, they are the transport of terror.
Photograph: flickr/Official U.S. Navy ImageryFrom Texas Instruments Wiki
Overview
A TI Powered Custom Driver's Station for 2014's game, Arial Assist
The TI MSP-EXP430F5529LP (F5529 LaunchPad) is capable of serving as a fully compliant USB device which means it can be used to make custom operator interfaces. Texas Instruments has developed a software example so that it will enumerate as a USB HID gamepad when the application is loaded into the MCU’s flash memory. With this example application, the LaunchPad looks and acts like any generic USB game controller or joystick. Without any special drivers or APIs, the FRC Driver Station is able to utilize the LaunchPad as if it were a game controller. Data from the LaunchPad is accessed by the robot just as any other joystick.
In addition to serving as a normal gamepad, TI has worked with NI to fully utilize the HID protocol, and add indicator outputs from the LaunchPad that are controlled by the Driver Station software. This allows custom driver feedback which could be as simple as a few LED indicators, or special patterns based on robot state.
The gamepad example applications have three different default configurations to enable a variety of potential control schemas. These define the number of digital inputs and indicator outputs: 11/11 inputs and outputs, 16/6 inputs and outputs, or 20/2 inputs and outputs. All three options include an additional eight analog inputs.
Note The Stellaris based LaunchPad introduced in the 2013-2014 season had similar functionality as described. The implementations are very similar, but not compatible. This guide only applies to the F5529 LaunchPad included in the 2015 Kit of Parts.
Getting Started
This section outlines how to setup your LaunchPad hardware as a gamepad for the first time.
Hardware Needed
Below is a list of the hardware components needed to get started.
MSP430F5529 LaunchPad Included in all 2015 KoPs Order through Ti.com/store Order through Mouser.com Order through Digikey.com
Analog and Digital inputs See Example OI Panels for ideas
USB Micro-B to USB-A plug cable Included with the Launchpad
Software Needed
The National Instruments website provides two downloads for teams. One contains the LabVIEW development environment, for LabVIEW teams only. The second contains the FRC update, used for all teams and contains all the software needed to download the gamepad firmware including the necessary driver.
After installing the FRC Update you can find the Gamepad Tool by default in the following location: C:\Program Files (x86)\FRC Gamepad Tool\Gamepad Tool.exe. For LabVIEW teams you can also find a link to the tool on the Utilities tab of the LabVIEW Getting Started page.
Loading Firmware
TI GamePad Tool
To load the gamepad firmware, plug the LaunchPad device into a machine that has the FRC update installed and load the “FRC Gamepad Tool” that is packaged with the FRC update. This tool will automatically scan for a connected LaunchPad and display the COM port associated with it.
The FRC Gamepad Tool includes three firmware options. Browse different firmware options to view their properties, and select the one most appropriate for your application. Once you have the correct firmware option selected, click Program Device to program the LaunchPad.
Once you press the Program Device button, you should see the LEDs on the LaunchPad flash. The first time you update the firmware it may take up to two minutes. During this time the FRC Gamepad Tool is updating both the gamepad firmware and the firmware for the debugger chip on board. After that the tool will program the device much more quickly as it only needs to update the main MSP430 chip.
When the tool finishes updating the firmware, Windows will automatically detect the gamepad on your system. Your computer will now show both the gamepad and the COM port used to load the firmware.
Calibrating Inputs
The default gamepad firmware includes eight analog inputs, which need to be calibrated before use. Input calibration allows Windows to recognize the minimum, maximum and center values for your control board. It is recommended that you calibrate each input you plan to use based on your final control board configuration. By calibrating each input in the final configuration, Windows can detect if you are not using the full input range and translate inputs to the driver station properly.
To calibrate the analog inputs:
First, connect your LaunchPad / Custom OI Pannel to an open USB port Go to Start and search for Set up USB game controllers in the search bar Select MSP430-USB Gamepad from the list and click Properties Go to the Settings tab and press Calibrate… Follow the instructions to calibrate your control board Open the USB Devices tab in the driver station and verify that all inputs are working correctly
CAUTION If you do not connect the spare analog inputs to a voltage during calibration (so called ‘floating’ inputs), the input will behave erratically. We recommend that you connect each unused analog input to ground and avoid using these in your code.
Connecting to the Driver Station
Once the MSP430F529 LaunchPad board has been programmed, it will automatically be detected by Windows as a joystick. When you load the driver station and go to the USB Devices tab you will see the device enumerate as MSP430-USB Gamepad. You can now access the data from the LaunchPad in your code as you would with any other joystick.
Using the Launchpad as an HID GamePad
Once the gamepad firmware is loaded on to the LaunchPad, you can connect a variety of switches, buttons, and analog sensors to the input headers.
CAUTION Before making any connections to the BoosterPack, make sure the LaunchPad is disconnected from the computer and is no longer powered.
The header pins on the Launchpad will map to different functions in the gamepad that it enumerates as on your PC. When you flash the Launchpad with the GamePad tool, you will see a full mapping of the inputs.
Materials
You will need the following materials to start creating a basic custom human interface:
Various buttons, switches, or potentiometers Male jumper wires, or alternative method to connect to the LaunchPad headers Wiring tools such as strippers and soldering iron
Input Mappings
Digital Buttons
Button Schematic Drawing
Included in all three configurations are a number of Digital Button inputs. There are numbered in the mappings in how they will appear in the USB HID report, or the Drivers Station software. Each of these will use a General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) pin on the LaunchPad Microcontroller. These GPIOs are set by the firmware as digital inputs with internal pull-down resistors enabled. A button is registered as "pressed" when the digital input goes High (3.3V). The pull-down resistors pull the inputs LOW (0V) internally, so by default the inputs will all be LOW (released) until pulled HIGH externally. Therefore, to add a switch or button that triggers a "pressed", all you need to do is wire the switch so that it completes the circuit between the input and VCC (3.3V). See the figure to the right for a schematic drawing.
Analog Inputs
Potentiometer Schematic Drawing
Each input has eight analog axes that are accessible via the headers on the LaunchPad, and are labeled in the maps as AX-1, AY-2, AZ-3, AR-4, BX-5, BY-6, BZ-7, and BR-8. These inputs will accept an analog input from 0V to 3.3V, which will correlate to 0% to 100% on the input to the Drivers Station. This scale can also be calibrated to match your input range as described in “Calibrating Inputs.” There are many different types of analog signal generators available, but the easiest to use will be potentiometers. Since the system will have to comply with the 500mA limit of USB, it’s recommended to use pots valued from 5kOhm to 100kOhm in order to reduce system power consumption.
The ADC on the MCU is capable of measuring a 0 - +3.3V range at a resolution of 12 bits. The gamepad firmware takes the 12-bit measurements and sends them directly to the PC. The voltage resolution can easily be calculated:
Voltage Resolution = (ADC Voltage Range)/(2^(ADC Bits) - 1) Voltage Resolution = (3.3 V)/(2^12 - 1) = 805nV
Knowing the voltage resolution is useful if you are connecting a sensor that may not span the entire ADC input range, or if the sensors resolution is higher than the ADC. When using a linear taper pot that is wired the same as in the Potentiometer Schematic Drawing, you can simply determine the angular resolution by dividing the pot's degrees by the ADC resolution. For example, a pot with 300° of motion will have an angular resolution of:
Angular Resolution = (Total Degrees)/(2^(ADC Bits) - 1) Angular Resolution = (300°)/(2^12 - 1) = 0.073°
The gamepad firmware takes the 12 bit measurement and converts it into a signed number between 0 and 4095 before sending it through the gamepad data structure. The diagram to the right shows how the measured voltage and data values are mapped to the gamepad axes. Note that the Driver Station will convert the gamepad data into a signed number between -1.0 and +1.0.
Example OI Panels
To help kickstart some ideas for your team’s own control panel, we have built several examples to showcase ways to use the various inputs. Each of these will have a full bill of materials, including vendors that are typical for FRC. Each item is fairly standard, and it should be easy to find functional equivalents out of your own vendor list if need be.
Have a solution of your own that you would like to share? Email us some pictures and documentation at FRCSupport@list.ti.com and we'll include it in our showcase below.
Mixed Input Design
A typical addition to a normal driver input could combine various inputs as described above. To this end, we created an operator interface will 10 digital inputs, 10 digital indicators, and five analog axes. When designing an OI board, it’s important to make it easy to use for anyone, especially during the intensity of an FRC match. The hand pattern and discrete analog layout in this example lets the second driver use the panel easily without looking at it, keeping their eyes on the robot and match.
Mixed Signal Operator Interface Example
Our preferred method of connecting IO to the LaunchPad is by using 20 wire ribbon cable with a 2x10 header on one end. The cable is then split, and routed to each appropriate input. It’s important to note that the pinout of these connectors has alternates from row to row, as show in this IDE cable example. The same is true of the cable connecting the digital side car to the CRio in the pre 2014 control system.
IDE Interface Cable Pinout
The buttons used are Cherry MX style key switches that are found in many high end keyboards, and then color coded caps were added to help distinguish them. Since we are using VCC as a HIGH signal, a single conductor was routed between all of the switches, and then connected to VCC on the LaunchPad. The other side of each switch connects via its own conductor. The color coding of the ribbon cable helps simplify this immensely. Be sure to double check your conductor with the pinout map for the LaunchPad configuration.
CherryMX Keyswitches for digital input
The digital indicators are also active high, but as outputs. This means that the pin output will be 3.3V when set. We connect the indicator LEDs like any other LED to a system able to power one. For this setup, the LED anodes (+) were individually connected to the conductors on the ribbon cable, and the cathodes (-) to their driving resistor (more information on calculating LED resistors here). The drive resistors are on the ground side, so there were all connected together and then to ground to complete the circuit. Remember to use heat shrink to add additional mechanical support, and prevent potential shorts.
Each pin has been set to enable a drive strength of 15mA, but the total device current output is limited to 100mA. If this value is exceeded in your design, it could damage the LaunchPad. If this is the case, you can use an external transistor to drive the LED beyond the LaunchPad’s ability (example: MSP430_LaunchPad_Drive_LED).
Common grounding with resistors on a group of indicator LEDs
The linear and rotary potentiometers are all three pin devices, as described in the analog input section. One side of the pot is connected to ground, and the other to VCC from the LaunchPad. This lets the input signal swing from gnd to vcc when the slider or knob is actuated.
Analog input connections
The rotary encoder was also used as an analog input. By connecting all the encoder terminals together, we can essentially create a potentiometer with discrete steps, letting the encoder be used on a single input, rather than several discrete digital inputs.
Associated Files
High count digital input
Another valuable use case for a custom operator interface is to have many digital inputs for various robot functions. Using option three, we made a panel with 20 inputs, and zero outputs. We chose some lighted pushbuttons from NKK due to their high tactile feedback, and very bright LED. This makes sure that each button press is properly registered, and the user knows exactly when it occurs.
Digital Input Option Example
Digital Input Option Example
Much like the previous example, it’s useful to connect the VCC lines together to make wiring easier. Since these buttons have high power LEDs inside them, and we don’t want that power coming from or to the LaunchPad pins we also connected all the ground pins to provide a return current path.
Buss Lines for VCC and GND
The LED in each button has its own dedicated pins in addition to the switch. Since we are only using passive feedback from the button press and not driving the LED from the LaunchPad, a simple scheme was developed to connect the LED and the signal line to the same button press.
Schematic for Passive LED Indicators in Switches
Since we didn't know what the game was going to be when we made this operator interface, we decided to just use a variety of button labels. The laser cutter files have these as text and can be modified in your preferred software if you choose to reuse this panel.
Button Function Label Example
Button Function Label Example
Associated Files
1:1 Analog Control
Being able to create custom interfaces lets you have more than just buttons and knobs. It takes a bit more design effort, but it’s possible to create small analogues of your robot, or its manipulator, in order to create a 1:1 interface. For this one, we made a small robotic arm with potentiometers at each joint that can be read as analog inputs.
Analog Position Sensing for 1:1 Control
[1:1 demo video]
Associated Files
Community Examples
Coming soon!
Modifying the LaunchPad Firmware
All of the code for the gamepad firmware is available for free and is open source under the BSD license. The code is hosted on a Github page here.
If you wish to modify this firmware we recommend forking this repository on your team’s Github page. If your team does not have one, you can get a free private organization account. This will allow the community to see and fork your changes, though you can keep your repository private during build season if you so choose. We also want to see what types of things the community can do with the LaunchPad!
FAQ & Troubleshooting
We want to hear from you! If you have any questions or comments that are not addressed below, or if you want to show off your solution with the LaunchPad (we love to see these!), feel free to email FRCSupport@list.ti.com and we will provide support. Please note that the TI employees behind this email are all passionate FIRST mentors for our own local teams, which means we will try to provide useful feedback in a timely manner, but the closer to bag & tag or competition it is, the longer it may take to hear back from us. We also frequent the forums at Chief Delphi and can answer questions there as well.
Q. When I try to download a program I encounter an error: Error 5000 Gamepad Tool.vi <ERR> Programmer didn't succeed. Check log file for details. Where can I find this log file?
A. Anytime the programmer is run, a file is generated with a time stamp at [Gamepad Tool]\Tools\mspdebug\Logs\ where [Gamepad Tool] is the tool installation directory. For 64 bit Windows this is C:\Program Files (x86)\FRC Gamepad Tool. In some cases the log files are not generated due to file permission error, to fix this, rerun the tool as administrator and a log file will appear.
Q. The FRC Gamepad Tool does not detect my LaunchPad board
A. Verify that the driver is installed and that your system recognizes the device. To do this go to your Device Manager and you should see MSP Debug Interface under the Ports tab. If you do not you will need to install the LaunchPad Driver. The FRC update package from NI should automatically install the driver for the LaunchPad, but if this install failed you can download the driver package here. If this still does not work, try the next answer.
Q. Help! While trying to program my LaunchPad something went wrong and the tool no longer finds it!
A. To recover your LaunchPad, follow the instructions from this Chief Delphi post.
Q. When I try to use an analog input the driver station shows the scaling/analog range/etc is incorrect or not working
A. Try running the joystick calibration routine again and verify at this window that your analog input is working as expected.
Q. The analog input is noisy and jumps around a lot, even if I don’t change the voltage
A. The most likely cause for noise issues is loose cables or poor soldering. It is strongly recommended that you use a sturdy connection on the LaunchPad and all input devices.
Q. Can I use the LaunchPad as something other than a gamepad, say on the robot for LED control or data logging, or maybe for other demos?
A. Yes, the MSP430F5529 device is a generic microprocessor and can be used in many applications. The MSP430 also has a large community and sample code for things like LED control and others.
Q. Can I use something other than Code Composer Studio to code the LaunchPad?
A. Yes, there are several third party programs and compilers available. If you are more familiar with the Arduino environment, the LaunchPad has an equivalent environment called Energia, however the libraries in Energia do not currently have support for USB HID devices, so you cannot modify the Gamepad firmware in Energia.
Q. What is Energia, and what is the difference between Energia and the Arduino environment?
A. Energia is a fork of the open source Arduino environment for programming the LaunchPad and includes the following features:Bleacher Report
My quest to introduce Americans to the hottest—and yet most mysterious—NBA draft prospect in the world, Dante Exum, started with a bit of time zone confusion that could well have ended my pursuit in its tracks.
Luckily, it was nothing out of the ordinary for Dante's father, Cecil.
I had been looking to get ahold of Cecil toward the end of 2013, hoping to lay the groundwork for a trip to Australia to learn more about a player who had emerged as a possible top-five pick in this year's draft.
Unlike players in the United States of the same status—notably one-and-dones Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Julius Randle this year—Dante hadn't yet been on highlight shows to the point of overexposure. His preparations to make the NBA leap were happening a world away from this country's college basketball meccas.
It was on Sept. 20, during a run in Central Park, that I received Cecil's cell phone number from John Spencer, a former star player from North Carolina—they had grown up down the street from each other, playing in some of the same local tournaments. Excited, I called Cecil without hesitation, at about 1:30 p.m.
Make that 5:30 a.m. the following day in Australia.
After a few rings, Cecil picked up and said, with a sleepy voice, "Hello?" After introducing myself and explaining why I called, he said something to the effect of, "I usually don't pick up my phone at this time. I get a lot of unlisted calls late at night and just so happened to answer yours. Could you e-mail me?"
He didn't hold it against me. I hadn't been the only one calling at odd hours. As I found out later when I met him in Australia, it's all part of the oddity of being so far away from the center of curiosity about his son.
"It’s been pretty crazy," said Cecil, noting most of the interest had come from college coaches and agents. "The communication because of the time zone difference between the states and Australia is another thing in itself. Our late nights are your early mornings, and vice versa, and so a lot of times I’m returning calls or text messaging back and forth. It’s been hectic, but it’s also been good."
***
While American basketball insiders were bombarding the Exum family from more than 7,400 miles away, Dante was basically a no-name to the average person living in Australia, where basketball pales in comparison to sports like Aussie rules football, soccer, cricket and rugby. My goal was to see him in his natural element.
After months of planning with Cecil, who was enthusiastic and helpful, a video producer, Eric Newman, and I arrived in Australia in late November. We were planning to spend time in Canberra, where Dante attended the Australian Institute of Sport, and Melbourne, where his family lives.
Besides Cecil, who played with Michael Jordan at the University of North Carolina, the family includes his twin sister, Tierra, his older brother, Jamaar, and his mother, Desiree. Desiree, whose job at IBM has her based in Singapore, has taken a backseat to Cecil on the basketball front, but she's planning to be with Dante soon in Los Angeles, where he arrived Tuesday to begin U.S.-based preparations for the draft.
Courtesy of Dante Exum
For all the attention Dante and his family had been getting in America, they were no big thing in Australia. Of the locals we spoke with while Down Under, about one in eight had heard of Dante.
That lack of attention might have something to do with Dante's personality. He is a polite, friendly, well-spoken 18-year old who also happens to be arguably the most versatile point guard entering the draft, a player who—at 6'6"—has the skill set of Michael Carter-Williams, transition speed like Russell Westbrook and a finesse game like Penny Hardaway.
In Melbourne, basketball-related signage didn't exist, except in rare corners like the sneaker and hoops gear shop Kickz101. It's so popular for the small contingent of local hoopheads that there was a line down the block and around the corner when Kyrie Irving, who was born in Melbourne, made a scheduled appearance last summer.
The store's owner, Matt Hammond, a diehard NBA junkie who attended All-Star Weekend in New Orleans, called Dante a “skinny Dwyane Wade” and said he could have a big impact in expanding interest in basketball in the country.
“The talk of (Dante) going high in the draft has had the media in a buzz here,” he said. “The thing about Dante is, all our other Australian players in the NBA have been big men or small guards, where he is a 6’6” guard in the mold of Wade and Penny (Hardaway). It’s something we never had before.
“He’s the type of player that kids follow at the moment, so he can definitely change the basketball landscape here. And with Ben Simmons on the rise—he committed to LSU for next year—the future is very bright for Oz."
But for the most part, Dante was still as much a mystery in his own country as he was here. While I was paying the bill for one of our car rides together, the driver asked me if he had just driven around a professional basketball player. I said, "Do you know who that is? That's Dante Exum." He had no idea who he was—the country's best current baller and a soon-to-be NBA player.
I'll always remember his stunned look as he exclaimed, "And he was in my car?!? I should've given him my business card!"
Bleacher Report
The driver couldn't believe that the player he had just driven was only months away from potentially earning much more money than any top Aussie rules football player (the highest-paid athletes in the country).
Our visit to Australia came before Dante announced his decision to enter the NBA draft, but when he thought about it in December, he relished being a potential difference-maker in his country.
"I definitely want to do something in Australia that would get the fans involved (with basketball)," he said. "I want to reach out over here because Australia is kind of hidden from the NBA, like definitely getting preseason games here. Just promoting the game here is something I’d want to do.”
Closer to the basketball court, Dante's anonymity quickly disappeared. After we attended a Melbourne Tigers-Sydney Kings basketball game—Cecil played for the Tigers years ago, and the matchup is the biggest hoops rivalry in the country—Dante, joined by Cecil and Jamaar, came upstairs to a private lounge area to hang out with some of the Tigers players who he had done some training with outside of AIS.
Within minutes, the room turned into a makeshift autograph and photograph session for Dante, surprising him a bit, as about 30 kids and youth basketball players—who were part of a school trip—came up to greet him. They all waited their turn respectfully and were courteous with Dante, who was just the same.
At one point, we made eye contact, and Dante smiled and shook his head. I joked with him, while he had a pen in his hand preparing for another signature, saying, “You should do some wrist exercises.”
"A couple years ago, I didn't think I could get this much exposure, and so to be put in this situation is definitely surreal," he said. "School groups come (to AIS) and are like, 'That's Dante!' But I'm just a normal guy; I'm just doing what I love. I'm starting to get used to it, but it's still surprising to me—people calling out my name."
Bleacher Report
During the Melbourne-Sydney game, I met an amateur basketball player, Olivia Howman, who knew of Dante. But she couldn't believe I had flown all that way from the U.S. to do a story on him. She didn’t realize Dante was that big of a deal (not the only person I met to express such disbelief).
So what happened next? She wanted to know the rest of our schedule with Dante, and the next morning, she showed up, along with her friend and fellow player, Kate Bluzer, to one of his games in the Australian Schools Championships in the Melbourne area. Dante, even with some minor knee tendinitis, was |
through that massive amount of data, let alone do so in real-time, he noted.
And for all the work that would come from such a measure, there are relatively easy workarounds that would-be terrorists could resort to.
For example, as many Canadians will remember, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau, who staged the brazen shooting on Parliament Hill three years ago, purchased a second-hand car for his attack.
READ MORE: Michael Zehaf-Bibeau followed British Islam preacher convicted of inviting support for IS
Terrorists deterred by security checks at rental vehicle companies could easily snatch a cheap ride on sites like Kijiji, said Gurski.
“Are you going to police Kijiji?”In case you missed it, Anupam Sinha (Creator of Super Commando Dhruva) had a great AMA on reddit yesterday, answering questions from fans. We’ve gathered some of our favorite answers below; to read the full AMA, Click Here: http://ow.ly/TSn4300tMZp
For the uninitiated “AMA” stands for “ask me anything,” and it’s a chance for celebrities (whether stars of screen, captains of industry, or leading scientists) to converse with the increasingly large reddit community.
There were a lot of interesting discussions happened during Anupam Sinha’s reddit AMA. Here are some of our favorite ones.
Do you feel Bollywood might someday pick up the comic book scene in India and make it a thousand crore business like Marvel and DC are doing right now?
The day they realize that Specialists and experts should do their job. Every person in Bollywood is creative and this feeling is yet to sink in.
There are almost no decent tv shows in hindi and there is a trend for web series now. Would you like your comics be adapted to a web/tv series like motu patlu? since almost no child reads those comics now(thanks to ipad and internet).
Every thing has a cycle. Comics have a very solid ground. it is AV ruling right now, but things can change fast. Yes, we’d like to have web series too. Trying for TV serials too. But far as I heard, negotiations are tough and take lot of time.
Who inspired or Which Incident inspired in creating Super Commando Dhruv and Nagraj characters.
A thought that we are not good enough to create fantasy. I did not like living just off my huge crushes Phantom, Mandrake and Flash Gordon alone! Wanted a thing of our own!
What is the greatest lessons life has taught you and what life lessons would you pass onto someone in their early 20s?
There are no demigods in this world, you can’t compete with! But leave attitude and overconfidence behind. Self praise, from others too, is a stone tied to legs!
Comics in India are considered a ‘children’ thing. Unfortunately, the sight of a married Indian male/female reading a comics, and that too in Hindi is frowned upon. How do you see the Indian comics scene targeting a wider audience & breaking this misconception? I was a big fan of Dhruv & Nagaraj, until I drifted away due to these so called ‘pressures’.
I think most of our current readers are 25+. Also the artwork is now more compact and suited to please even grown up minds. Some of our action scenes can put even Hollywood to shame. Try it out. Comics now cater to a much wider range of readers.
What do you remember from your early days when you were working in Kanpur with Deewana Tej? Also, do you remember Tauji and Jadu ka danda?
Yes, every block, every panel, the scent of Ink with hot lamp and late nights! Vividly and passionately. Writing the script, doing calligraphy, penciling, inking, taking out photocopies, coloring that with photo-colors. One man doing all!! To get one comic out to readers!!
How do you see the future of hindi comics in current time where everyone feels cool about talking Batman/Spider-Man but feels shy to admit their love for indian comics characters like SCD, Nagraj.
We’d talk in the same language, Movies!! and soon, this mental bar will disappear too!
What’s your opinion on Chota Bheem?
Very popular. Fit for Indian kids. It is cartoon character so lil different from what I do.
I’ve been reading your comics for the last 15 years. Everything’s original and wonderful but when it comes to Dhruv’s origin (circus, parents, and looks), it’s directly inspired from Robin from Batman comics. Why is that so? That’s the only thing which I don’t like about him.
Totally untrue. Dhruv is not a sidekick, he is a family man and he never dons a secret Identity. Circus was taken as BG, because I thought that was the place where many skill exist concurrently. Robin can never be a Dhruv.
I’m a fan of your books and characters even though I haven’t read a lot of them, and a lot of my knowledge about them comes from Wikipedia and the few comics I’ve read in english. I admire the fact that you’re characters are all original and well-written. Would you be okay with your comics adapted to a cartoon series, given the current state of Indian animation industry? I’m of the opinion that Raj Comics has an incompetent marketing team. I never once heard the name ‘Raj Comics’ in the first 17 years of my life, and it is nowhere near Marvel or DC in terms of popularity. What is your opinion on this matter? Why did you choose to publish your comics in Hindi? Publishing in English and Hindi simultaneously would have probably given you a larger readership, and it would help fans like me whose hindi-reading skills aren’t the best.
There could be some shortcomings as our Comic are primarily in Hindi. So it gets restricted to hindi belt. Also, I’ve seen reluctancy on part of Mags and papers, as if if they write about us, they’d be advertising. So they go for, neutral content, i.e. western heroes. Our endeavour has always been to create a Superhero universe in India and that could be done only through Hindi. And we succeeded, yes!
What advice would you give to our budding artists here?
Money is important, don’t ignore, but remember, dreams are not traded. Have confidence and doubt in you at the same time!!
Japan has an awesome manga (comics) market. when could this translate to indian scene. you see they launched anime just to get more traction. sir, your stories are awesome, inspirational, imfactful. is there any way a kickstarter campaign, indiegogo campaign can work for organising an anime arc to get the comics out there? i will happily contribute for something like that as would a lot others if we get the word out.
Kickstarter idea is picking pace. Will certainly give it a thought sometime.
0Bruno Kosak, a Pole of German descent, refers to himself as "more German than Germany itself." Full of yearning for the "Deutsche Heimat" (German homeland), the 78-year-old insists on staying up to date with current affairs. "I read up on everything that Chancellor Merkel gets up to," he says. "I even shook her hand once during a visit to Berlin."
But for all his interest in German politics, Kosak has never been able to vote -- until now. A decision last year by Germany's Constitutional Court means that Germans who reside outside of the country, even if they have never actually lived in Germany, can take part in the election via absentee ballot.
For the German minority in Poland, the change was a watershed moment. "Finally, we felt that we were being acknowledged in Berlin," says Kosak, whose forefathers settled in Poland centuries ago. "We've always been in a kind of limbo state, and the ability to vote means that we are officially part of the German political landscape."
Close Ties
Previous governments in Berlin have argued that those who have never resided in Germany are not connected to the country -- and thus shouldn't be allowed to cast ballots. Previously, German expats had to have lived in Germany for a minimum of three months in order to qualify.
But one year ago, Germany's Constitutional Court struck down the provision, agreeing with two plaintiffs who argued that their rights as German citizens had been infringed upon. They had been born in 1982 in Belgium but never lived in Germany, and were not allowed to vote in the 2009 election as a result.
The new status is unprecedented in Europe, where most citizens lose their right to vote in their home country after approximately 15 years of living abroad. But the specific historical circumstances that led to the settlement of Germans in present-day Poland -- which dates back to the early medieval period -- make it difficult to compare the German minority to other expat groups.
After the flight and expulsions of Germans from Poland after World War II, as many as one million ethnic Germans living in Poland were naturalized and granted Polish citizenship. Today, the vast majority of ethnic Germans live in the southwestern Polish region of Silesia, where the German language is still spoken. Even the region's street signs are bilingual.
Of the estimated 300,000 ethnic Germans still living in Poland, many have strong links to Germany such as relatives, property, pensions and bank accounts. Kosak, a long-time activist for German minority rights in Poland, encouraged his four children to emigrate soon after the collapse of Communism in 1989. "Of course I care about the outcome of the German election. It's going to have a direct impact on my children's children," he says.
Symbolic Value
In an effort to get as many ethnic Germans as possible to apply for absentee ballots, Lukasz Bily, of the Union of German Socio-Cultural Communities in Poland, has launched a multimedia campaign. Flyers and posters have been distributed, informational websites have been launched and Bily gave a series of seminars to show people how to fill out the paperwork. Now all he can do is wait.
"The deadline for absentee ballot applications is September 1," he says. "So if people want to act, they have to act fast."
Despite the effort, it remains to be seen how many ethnic Germans in Poland will actually end up voting in the election. Nearly 70 years after the end of World War II, tensions can still flare up between ethnic Germans and their Polish neighbors. Many in the community would rather keep their heritage under wraps -- one reason, it is suspected, why the number of people declaring German ancestry in Poland's 2011 national census was extremely low.
According to a spokesperson for the German embassy in Warsaw, many chose to categorize themselves simply as "Silesian" to avoid revealing their German roots. For this reason, pointing to a precise number of Germans living in Poland is extremely difficult. Even Germany's Office of Foreign Affairs was not able to shed light on the demographic, confirming only that German consulates in Poland issued a total of 16,800 passports in 2011 and 2012. Given that most German passports are valid for 10 years, one could calculate a not-very-reliable estimate based on those issuances.
"As you can imagine, the number of people who will vote is even harder to estimate," says a spokesperson.
Bily maintains that even if turnout is lower than expected, the change to the voting law remains hugely important on a symbolic level. "People are beginning to understand the relevance of the change," he says. "It's an important time for the community to come together, and to acknowledge its heritage. We're sending a clear message to Berlin -- we're here, we're interested and we can make a difference."A "brave" policeman stripped off his uniform and plunged into the sea in Essex to rescue a 13-year-old boy who was struggling in the water.
The boy, from Middlesex, who has not been named, was on a day out with his step-mother in Southend when he got into trouble swimming.
PC Martin Knights, 46, and a colleague were on a routine patrol nearby when the boy was seen thrashing about.
The officer swam 200m (650ft) to rescue the teenager.
His actions were captured by CCTV operators at Southend Borough Council.
Image caption PC Knights swam about 200m (650ft) to rescue the boy
'Quick thinking'
Describing what happened on 1 August, PC Knights said: "I was on patrol with a special constable colleague when we saw the boy waving around in the water.
"I quickly stripped off, ran down the beach and into the water.
"The boy's stepmum was really grateful when I brought him back to shore.
"She hugged me afterwards. It's nice when we, the police, are appreciated for our work."
Sgt Ash Holland said: "I watched the whole incident on CCTV and have no doubt that, if it were not for the quick thinking and brave actions of Martin, then the boy may not be alive today.
"The force will look to formally recognise Martin's actions."Imperial Tobacco (NASDAQOTH:IMBBY) controls around 5% of the global tobacco market and, like all major tobacco companies, was slow to realize the disruptive potential of the e-cigarette. However, as soon as Imperial's management realized the opportunity that e-cigs offered, it made an acquisition that has turned out to be one of the smartest moves in the industry.
The acquisition
Imperial Tobacco's e-cig division is called Fontem Ventures and around the end of last year, Fontem acquired Dragonite International's e-cig unit for $75 million. Dragonite was founded by Hon Lik, who has remained executive director of the company. What's more, Mr. Lik is also credited with the invention of the e-cig and many of the technologies associated with it. As a result, Dragonite and Lik hold the rights and ownership over an "extensive portfolio" of global patents and pending patents covering e-cig technologies -- of course, Imperial Tobacco and Fontem Ventures now own these rights.
As it turns out, many e-cig start-ups and even tobacco industry giant Lorillard (UNKNOWN:LO.DL) have infringed on these patents, possibly due to their rush getting e-cig products to market. So, six months on from closing the deal with Dragonite, Fontem Ventures, backed by Imperial Tobacco, has filed nine lawsuits in a federal court, asking the court to rule that the patents infringed were valid, and the defendants should pay as-of-yet unspecified damages. The companies Imperial is taking to court are Lorillard, NJOY, Vapor Corp., VMR Products LLC, Ballantyne Brands LLC, CB Distributors, Spark Industries LLC, Logic Technology Development LLC, FIN Branding Group LLC, Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corp. (NASDAQOTH:ECIGD), and DR Distributors LLC. So, it would seem as if Imperial is intending to kill off the majority of its competition before many of them can even get much of a foothold in the market.
The fighting continues
This sheath of lawsuits from Imperial is yet another chapter in what is becoming an aggressive war between tobacco companies to dominate the electronic cigarette market. However, it's not just the tobacco companies that are using underhanded tactics. GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) is also employing dirty tricks in an attempt to stop the rise of e-cigs as they are a threat to its business.
Glaxo is the leading marketer of nicotine-replacement therapy products within the United States. NRT includes such items as nicotine gum, lozenges, and patches. Obviously, if smokers who are in the process of quitting turn to e-cigs rather than NRT, Glaxo will lose revenue.
To help try to disrupt the potential of e-cigs, it would appear as if Glaxo is seeking help from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration -- in particular, the head of the FDA's tobacco enforcement division, Mitch Zeller, a former anti-tobacco lobbyist who was appointed head of the FDA's center for tobacco products earlier this year.
Now, Zeller should not be taking sides in this argument, but according to an article published in The Wall Street Journal back in 2009, Zeller disclosed that he "provides consulting support to GlaxoSmithKline consumer health through Pinney Associates on an exclusive basis on issues related to tobacco dependence treatment."
This pharmaceutical consultancy has regulatory authority over competing products, including e-cigs. I must stress that I'm only speculating a link between these two entities.
Foolish summary
Overall, if you've been following the rise of e-cigs, this move by Imperial will be no surprise as tobacco companies all try to outdo each other in an attempt to control the potentially huge juvenile e-cig market. For the likes of Lorillard, Imperial's request for unspecified damages is unlikely to close the company down; damages are unlikely to exceed Lorillard's e-cig sales, which only make up a faction of its overall revenue. However, smaller companies are likely to feel the pinch from these suits, which could reshape the market.The Commercial Energy Conservation Guide for commercial property shows how to save money by cutting energy use.
CMI Insulation, the leading provider of insulation for pre-engineered metal buildings, today announced the release of “The Commercial Energy Conservation Guide.” The guide gives innovative ways to help building owners cut their operating expenses using proven methods that have fast payback times.
“Since the ‘going green’ craze started to take off about 5 years ago, we have come across a wide range of people who want to be more energy conscious,” said Devon Swenson, director of marketing at CMI Insulation. “Some want to be ‘green’ because its trendy, and others just want to cut overhead expenses associated with running a business. At CMI, our goal is to help building owners save money.”
Find out about insulation for metal buildings and ways to save energy and money with “The Commercial Energy Conservation Guide” at https://cmi-insulation.com/commercial-energy-guide
CMI Insulation notes that annual energy costs for US commercial and industrial facilities is over $2 billion. There is opportunity to cut back on those costs, especially since 30% of energy in buildings is used inefficiently or unnecessarily. Improving energy efficiency by just 10% could save $20 billion. By implementing a plan, facility owners to save significantly on their energy bill and lessen their impact on the environment.
“We pride ourselves in coming up with innovative ways to help building owners cut operating expenses. For the past 35 years we’ve stuck with the basics of saving energy utilizing proven methods that have fast payback times. We hope this concise guide on conserving energy will be a starting point to help building owners take bigger steps towards becoming more lean, mean, and green!”
Making changes suggested in the guide will significantly lower costs during the more expensive winter months when heating bills are higher. Using tax breaks combined with the savings, insulating can pay for itself in only a few short years. In addition, the building will stay more comfortable all year round — warmer in the winter months and cooler in the summer.
Original release found at PRWeb.comPaul BuchheitCEans,We are addicted to Gmail. We eat, drink & sleep Gmail. So we began our hunt for the engineer who created it. We found out that theWe seached more and found out that the creator of Gmail & Adsense is also the man who gave Google its world famous tagline. We digged deeper and found out that the man behind Gmail, Adsense, 'Don't Be Evil' is also the man behind FriendFeed! We requested him for a Small Talk and he agreed. We jumped with joy.We are extremely proud and happy to have the engineer who changed the world forever -Check out our Small Talk with Mr. Paul Buchheit:-It's a lot of fun. For me, work is much more enjoyable if I know that it matters to other people and that it's somehow improving their life. This is also one of the reasons that I like the "launch fast and iterate" approach to development that has become popular on the web -- it enables me to get my work out to the world in a matter of hours and very quickly get feedback.I never finished the project so I never completely settled on a name. My college (CWRU) had a campus wide high speed network, and it quickly became obvious to me that all of my information should be "online" so that it could be accessed from anywhere, not trapped on a single computer. Email includes some of the most interesting and timely information, so I thought it would be nice to have a web-based email client. That way I would be able to access my email from any computer that was connected to the web.At the time, I was working at Intel, which is very much a big company, and I'm not really a "big company" person, and also I was interested in startups. I looked around for interesting startups in the area, and happened to apply to Google. I was skeptical of their business (there were many competitors who were much larger than Google and had more resources and users), but the people seemed smart, so I thought that it would be a good learning experience if nothing else.Google's "mission" is to organize and make useful all of the world's information, and they recognized that much of the useful information is inside of email, so they asked me to build something that would improve email. I started out by taking the code from the Google Groups Usenet search (which was my previous project) and loading it up with all of my own email. That was version zero, and it only took a few hours to build. From that point, I simply continued iteratively adding features and refining the product.Somebody asked for a feature that couldn't be implemented in plain HTML. I didn't really know any Javascript at the time, but I spent a little while learning enough to implement the feature. Over time we did more and more of that, and eventually realized that we should simple rewrite the whole interface using Javascript.It has to be kept fast, efficient, and manageable. We used Gmail internally and all had a lot of email, so we never even considered designs that wouldn't allow for a lot of mail. The fact that we were making it free meant that we also needed to keep costs low, so that eliminated the possibility of using expensive storage systems. We also wanted to have many millions of users, so that meant that the system was going to have to be very highly automated -- we can't afford to have an army of sysadmins managing the systems, so the systems have to manage themselves to a large extent.Keep it simple. A lot of times people think that hard problems demand complex solutions, but we've found that the opposite is often the case, because complex things quickly become unmanageable and incomprehensible. If the system is simple, then it's generally easier to understand and easier to scale. It's also important to know where all of the time is going -- if something is slow, you should know why. Fortunately, this is easy -- just add timers to your code and log everything that takes more than a few milliseconds.We needed a way for Gmail to make money. The idea of targeting ads to content instead of keywords had been around for quite a while, but was believed to be impractical. We decided to do a little experiment to test anyway. I wrote more about this story here: https://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2009/01/communicating-with-code.html It was at a meeting on "corporate values". I don't really have any great tips though. I just wanted something that was different and memorable and that would make people a little uncomfortable.We're building a tool to make sharing and discussing things with friends very easy and enjoyable. Our development model and product planning is very iterative, so what we do will depend a lot on user feedback and simply watching which things work well and which don't.Build more stuff. I think empirical and experimental methods tend to work the best because the world is simply too complex to predict what will happen in advance. Therefore, we should make an effort to find easy and low cost methods of testing new ideas.________________________________________CrazyEngineers is thankful to Mr. Paul Buchheit for sparing his time for the Small Talk. Visit Paul Buchheit's Blog.Discuss this Small Talk on CE Forums with thousands of engineers in following thread: Small Talk with Paul BuchheitLong before the terms "global warming" and "climate change" became part of the national dialogue, Alaska's indigenous people noticed that things were going askew in the natural world.
"Ice cellars were sweating because we were losing the permafrost," said Patricia Cochran, an Inupiaq from Nome who is the executive director of the Alaska Native Science Commission. Berries were ripening two to three weeks earlier than normal, and beavers, once unknown in the treeless tundra regions, began showing up in rivers and streams as woody plants sprouted farther north, she said.
Elders in North Slope whaling communities also called attention to strange things happening at sea, said Edward Itta, a Barrow whaling captain and former mayor of the North Slope Borough.
"They had noticed 30, 35 years ago that the multiyear ice was getting different, and they didn't see the huge ivus anymore," said Itta, using the Inupiaq term for jumbled ice piles pushed to shore by currents or winds. "Sure enough, here I am, 35 years later, seeing now that these guys were way ahead of us. They knew things were changing, which is not surprising because they were masters of observation."
Winter 6.3 degrees warmer
The mainstream scientific community that once relegated such traditional knowledge to anecdotal footnotes now has data confirming the indigenous reports.
Since the mid-20th century, Alaska and the Arctic have been warming about twice as fast as the global rate.
Over the past five decades, average Alaska temperatures have increased by 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit, with the increases most pronounced in winter at 6.3 degrees.
That warming can have drastic consequences here: open water rather than solid ice at sea or on rivers traditionally used for travel, or soft and collapsing soil instead of hard-frozen ground, or rain instead of snow.
It also means that warming creates more warming and explains the phenomenon known as "Arctic Amplification" — the self-reinforcing process that warms the Arctic and subarctic far faster than the rest of the world.
"As ice melts, you have less white ice to reflect heat and more dark ground to absorb heat, and that makes ice melt faster," said Nancy Fresco, a research professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks' International Arctic Research Center. Quicker melt of sea ice, land ice and snow cover lead to yet more melt. Heat-stoked, lightning-sparked wildfires char the ground and also can feed into the cycle. Clouds created from water vapor released from seas no longer covered by ice help trap atmospheric warmth. Permafrost thaw releases carbon, some of it thousands of years old, that also feeds the warming cycle.
With the Arctic crucial to the Earth's climate and much of its wildlife, and with new evidence coming in that links the rapid Arctic warming to extreme weather events in highly populated latitudes far south, the rest of the world should pay attention to the changes first noticed by Alaska's indigenous residents, scientists say.
"The Arctic is not like Vegas. What happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic," Howard Epstein, an environmental scientist at the University of Virginia, said when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a 2013 Arctic Report Card showing profound changes.
Weather changes, weather extremes
Alaska in the past few years has been posting some of its warmest temperatures on record, with new marks in various places for all-time highs, daily highs, high daily lows and lack of snow.
It can be difficult to parse out the differences between the chaos of daily weather from medium-term cycles from long-term climate change, experts say.
"Weather is what clothing you put on in the morning, and climate is what clothing you have in your closet," Fresco said. "Weather is still a day-to-day thing that can vary enormously."
Beyond the day-to-day and year-to-year fluctuations, some long-term trends have emerged.
The Arctic as a whole has gotten warmer and wetter since the start of the 21st century, a change attributed to sea-ice reduction. Other forces like reduced snow cover — which this year hit a near-record June low in the Northern Hemisphere — and cloud formation amplify the warming. Records show that Alaska's North Slope has warmed dramatically, most so in autumn, the time of minimal ice when more summer heat absorbed by the ocean is emitted into the atmosphere, thanks to ever-bigger areas of open water in that season.
Lack of sea ice means fall storms are more destructive. On the Bering Sea coast, storms are sending seawater far inland, as much as 20 miles in southwestern Alaska's Yukon-Kuskokwim region, the U.S. Geological Survey reports.
For Alaska, history is being used to make predictions about what appears to be a vastly different future. UAF's Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning, led by Fresco, gives community-by-community predictions for higher temperatures and shifts to rain rather than snow.
Melt and thaw glaciers and permafrost
Alaska's glaciers pale in comparison to the Greenland ice sheet and Antarctica, but they have become major contributors to sea level rise, scientists say.
Mountain glaciers hold only 1 percent of the world's glacial ice, but they are contributing 30 percent of the water that is increasing sea levels, said Shad O'Neel of the USGS. Alaska holds 11 percent of the world's mountain glaciers but contributes about a quarter of the world's mountain glacier meltwater, O'Neel said. "We're the most disproportionate region," he said.
In all, Alaska's glaciers are losing 75 billion tons of ice a year, and almost all of that comes from the glaciers on land rather than those spilling into tidewater. The alpine glaciers in western Alaska's Ahklun Mountains, already shrunken, are expected to disappear entirely by the end of the century.
Glacial melt affects more than sea levels. The increasing amount of fresh water pouring off them changes marine salinity and currents and, ultimately, circulation in the Arctic Ocean, O'Neel said.
Permafrost is dwindling in its southern range in Alaska and Canada and warming even in its northern range, where the frozen layer is thickest. At Prudhoe Bay, temperatures last year edged to just a few degrees below thaw, compared to a temperature of 17.6 degrees Fahrenheit in the 1980s, according to UAF's Vladimir Romanovsky, one of the world's top permafrost experts.
Forests, fires and plants
Wildfires are a natural part of the forest ecosystem, but the increased frequency of large fires and expanded duration of the Alaska fire season is not. There were twice as many large Alaska wildfires in the 2000s as in the 1950s and 1960s, and the state is winding up what has turned out to be the second-biggest fire season on record, with nearly 5.2 million acres burned. Coupled with vast and fierce wildfires in neighboring parts of Canada, this year's fires are part of a broad upheaval of the northern boreal forest.
In the short term, that means property damage costs and health and safety hazards from smoke. In the long term, it means a transformation of what has been a spruce-dominated forest into something else.
It is not yet clear what that future landscape will be, said Epstein, who researches northern forests and tundra vegetation. As spruce trees wither and burn, deciduous birch, aspsen and willows seem to be taking their place, he said. Grasslands are another future possibility.
Farther north, tall, woody shrubs are expanding northward into the tundra, and vegetation that already existed there is growing more vigorously, Epstein said.
Could that new plant life become a carbon sink offsetting atmospheric emissions? No, Epstein says. The carbon dioxide consumption is "really minor" compared to other effects, such as darkening of the land surface.
"I don't think that anybody believes that increased vegetation in the Arctic is going to be a savior in terms of carbon dioxide uptake," he said.
Wildlife on thin ice
The ice-dwelling polar bear, the first animal granted Endangered Species Act protections because of climate change, has been the icon of global warming. But it is not the only animal species that faces an uncertain future as the summer and fall sea ice disappears, federal biologists say.
Bearded and ringed seals, also dependent on the diminishing summer and fall sea ice and the snow atop it, are listed as threatened. Pacific walruses, which have in recent years crowded the Chukchi Sea shoreline because they can't find floating sea ice in late summer and fall, are also candidates for Endangered Species Act protections.
Land animals have their own problems with the ecosystem changes.
The northward expansion of shrubs is bad for caribou, musk oxen and other animals that depend on tundra habitat, Epstein said. Caribou herds across North America have declined, and some biologists point to winter rain events that coat forage food with hard ice as a persistent problem. Earlier springs are causing timing problems for some migrating birds. If they arrive in Alaska too late, they will miss the most nutritious vegetation growth.
But not all animals are losing out. There are some climate change winners, like North Slope black brant, geese that are thriving as they feed on salt-tolerant plants growing in the place of upland vegetation that dies as permafrost sags, shorelines erode and saltwater seeps in.
Erosion, villages and culture
Much of the world has seen photographs of homes slumping into the sea in the Inupiat village of Shishmaref in Northwest Alaska. But Shishmaref is just one of several Alaska villages struggling as thawing permafrost and stronger waves eat away at its coasts.
Two others — Newtok and Kivalina — are working on relocations, with the move already started in the former. In all, 26 communities have erosion problems that are bad enough to warrant major and immediate response, ranging from aggressive shore bolstering projects to total relocation, according to a 2009 report by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Some of the fastest erosion is on Alaska's North Slope, where an average 4.6 feet has been lost each year since the mid-20th century, according to a U.S. Geological Survey report. That puts oil field infrastructure at risk, along with the villages.
Food security, health and safety
Years ago, said Aleut leader Larry Merculieff, elders pointed to lesions appearing on salmon skins and predicted hard times ahead for the fish that is a staple of traditional diets and rural household incomes.
It turns out that there is a climate explanation, Merculieff said. Faster and earlier snowmelt has changed hydrology patterns, flushing rivers and streams early but leaving water levels lower than they would be if snowmelt were gradual, he said. Low water means salmon have little space to swim, and the lesions came from "salmon going against rock and not water," he said.
Warmer conditions, changing weather patterns and extreme weather events have myriad effects on Alaskans who depend on wild foods for their nutrition and income.
Rivers that were once dependably frozen for winter travel are treacherous when ice is thin. Lack of snow strands rural travelers.
Warmer waters also mean a northward movement of disease-carrying pathogens.
Warming also allows contaminants to be released into the food system. Thawing permafrost and eroding soils free sequestered elemental mercury that adds to pollution carried in the atmosphere and oceans from faraway industrial and coal burning operations. Persistent organic pollutants like pesticides and PCBs that were once trapped in sea ice are being released into the water column as the ice thaws.
Ocean acidification pronounced in Alaska waters
Nearly a third of the carbon released into the atmosphere winds up absorbed by the oceans, according to NOAA. That process slows the greenhouse effect and the resulting climate warming, but it comes at a cost — changes to the oceans' chemistry makes their waters more acidic. More acidic waters degrade the calcium that is needed by a variety of shell-building organisms — from tiny pteropods that form much of the base of the ocean food web to big king crabs that fetch premium prices in seafood markets.
Globally, the oceans have become 30 percent more acidic since the start of the Industrial Age, according to NOAA. For Alaska, the characteristics that make the marine waters rich with fish and wildlife — and a major global seafood harvesting center — put it at enhanced risk for acidification.
Cold waters that benefit salmon and other fish hold more carbon dioxide. Alaska's marine waters, underlain by a broad continental shelf, are relatively shallow, allowing absorbed carbon to concentrate in the water column. The rich supply of sea life emits yet more carbon through processes of decay. And ocean currents carry carbon from around the world to waters off Alaska
Come winter, the Bering Strait holds the world's most acidic ocean waters, partly because of natural characteristics and partly because of ongoing changes. Changes have been particularly rapid in the Beaufort Sea, where waters have already become so altered that they hold, on average through the year, too little calcium to support shell-building organisms. Waters in the Chukchi and Bering seas, for now buffered a bit by plentiful carbon-consuming phytoplankton blooms, are expected to reach similar milestones in the future.
Accelerated glacier melt contributes to the changes. The outpouring of freshwater into the ocean dilutes natural calcium, and the glacial melt carries carbon that contributes to the load in the water.
Cold Rush
When Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius theorized more than a century ago that carbon emissions from fossil-fuel burning would warm the Earth significantly, he believed that would be a good thing. The "hothouse effect," he hypothesized, would stimulate plant growth and usher in a global agricultural boom.
Some Alaskans are also embracing what they see as the upside of northern climate warming.
They look forward to the thousands of jobs and billions of barrels of new oil that might be produced if Royal Dutch Shell, drilling this summer in the Chukchi Sea, is successful in its Arctic offshore exploration program. They hope that Northwest Alaska, and possibly the hub city of Nome, could emerge as a thriving port, providing much-needed maritime assistance while generating jobs and income in a region that has struggled with poverty. Members of the Alaska Legislature are touting sea ice melt as an opportunity to open up more northern mines, including those extracting coal, considered the most polluting of fossil fuels.
But new economic development carries its own complications. Increased ship traffic and oil drilling means increased likelihood of spills in a remote region where emergency response is difficult and where the U.S. Coast Guard takes extraordinary measures to maintain a seasonal presence. It means:
• Air pollution and industrial noise that can harm sea life;
• Expected Arctic shipping routes that overlap precisely with the well-used seabird migratory routes there;
• The specter of black carbon from ship exhaust darkening |
meant to apply to the exact situation described, but if so, I admit I'm not sure I think it's consistent - why would the planet revert to neutral if the defending GFs are destroyed, but not if the defending GFs left on their own volition?
Also, lets say the GFs leave the planet, leaving the Mercenary alone, and the planet stays under control. If an enemy invades the planet, but all the enemy invaders survive, the FAQ ruling would indicate that NOW the planet would revert to neutral.
Again, I apologize for seemingly bringing these things up a lot, I'm sure you're tired of hearing it Maybe it's just my left-brained thinking in terms of rules, I just want to make sure the contradictions are addressed. There was a ruling posted recently from you that seems contradictory to the rules, and I just wanted to verify that the ruling was intended to change the rules/FAQ as written, or if it may have been an accidental oversight?The ruling was regarding Mercenaries on planets, asking whether a Mercenary left alone on a planet would cause it to become neutral, or would the player retain control. You were quoted as saying:"If you voluntarily lift ground forces off a planet, you can always establish control on it with a control marker. You may do this even if there is a mercenary remaining on the planet."This seems to contradict the rulebook and the FAQ.The rulebook on page 12 says:"Mercenaries may not claim planets nor are they considered Ground Forces. If a Mercenary is the only unit on a planet, that planet reverts to neutral."The second sentence seems to say that if a Mercenary is left alone on a planet, that it would no longer be controlled by the player, as it would "revert" to neutral.The FAQ on page 13 has this question:"Q: If a Mercenary is part of a defending force on a planet and the Ground Forces belonging to units on both sides are destroyed, leaving only the Mercenary, does that playerâ?Ts planet now revert to neutral?A: Yes. Anytime a mercenary is alone on a planet without another unit, that planet reverts to neutral."While the question is referring to the defending GFs being destroyed, the answer seems to be a more general confirmation of the rulebook, that anytime a Mercenary is alone, the planet reverts to neutral. IE, between the FAQ and the rulebook, it seems that the intent (as I read it anyway) is that Mercenaries cannot control planets alone, and would in fact revert the planet to neutral if left alone.It's possible the FAQ ruling was indeed only meant to apply to the exact situation described, but if so, I admit I'm not sure I think it's consistent - why would the planet revert to neutral if the defending GFs are destroyed, but not if the defending GFs left on their own volition?Also, lets say the GFs leave the planet, leaving the Mercenary alone, and the planet stays under control. If an enemy invades the planet, but all the enemy invaders survive, the FAQ ruling would indicate that NOW the planet would revert to neutral.Again, I apologize for seemingly bringing these things up a lot, I'm sure you're tired of hearing itMaybe it's just my left-brained thinking in terms of rules, I just want to make sure the contradictions are addressed.
Corey K wrote:
Scott,
I honestly think that the Rulebook/FAQ is incorrect. The whole idea of a planet reverting to neutral if you have only a mercenary there is odd, especially if you can voluntarily retreat all ground forces from a planet and still retain control of it. I really think that players should be able to establish control of the planet instead of it reverting to neutral.
Now I have not had time to update the FAQ yet, and this may have unseen ramifications, but this is a new ruling that I intending to make.
I can't find the thread that this was being discussed, but awhile ago I emailed Corey about some questions, and got a response (and then got busy and forgot to post them). So here is what I got. Sounds like there may be a potential FAQ entry to errata stuff. This may make Mercenaries at least a little less convoluted.I got this back in December, and it hasn't made the FAQ yet, but I do think it would clean up a lot of the weirdness that Mercenary invasions could bring.Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has encouraged those from “minority and new communities” to apply for hundreds of new Garda jobs being offered under a fresh round of recruitment.
“In particular, I urge members of minority and new communities to consider applying so that the membership of An Garda Síochána will reflect the diverse communities that it serves,” she said.
Since Garda recruitment resumed in recent years after being halted under the public sector recruitment moratorium, the level of applicants from ethnic minority groups has been lower than 3 per cent; a steep decline over a decade.
Of the 18,435 applicants who took the first stage of tests during two years to join the Garda under the first wave of recommenced recruitment, only 418 - about 2.3 per cent - said they were from an ethnic minority background, according to the Public Appointments Service.
By contrast, 4,926 people took the initial exams in 2005 and 734 were non-Irish - almost 15 per cent. For both years, about 20 per cent did not give their backgrounds.
Announcing the opening of the latest round of recruitment this morning, Ms Fitzgerald said for the Government to meet its pledge to increase the number of gardaí to 15,000 by 2020, some 3,200 recruits needed to be hired.
The strength of the force fell below 13,000 for a period; a development senior Garda officers said diminished the standard of policing offered in the Republic.
And while recent recruitment has brought numbers back over 13,000, retirements mean approximately 3,200 new gardaí will be required to hit the 15,000 target.
The number of recruits set to be taken on each year during the four-year period has not been set out. It was expected to rise incrementally as the economy recovers.
The recruitment campaign is beginning at a time when the biggest staff organisation in the force, the Garda Representative Association, is balloting its members on the possibility of industrial action.
The association, which represents more than 10,000 rank and file gardai, is dissatisfied with the pay and conditions.
Specifically the association is unhappy at the withholding of increments from its members because it had not signed up for the Lansdowne Rd Agreement.
The recruitment drive announced on Thursday, which was expected and is part of the Government’s previously announced long term plans, comes exactly two years after the Garda College, Templemore, Co Tipperary, was reopened.
Since then 534 recruits have been trained and attested and are serving in the communities and a further 150 are due to graduate later this year.
Those who were successful in the last recruitment campaign which began last November will continue to be called to take up their places in Templemore as part of new intakes of recruits into the college until the middle of next year.
And next summer the first batch of successful candidates from the campaign launched this morning will take up their places in Templemore.
There is a long lead-in time from a recruitment campaign being launched and the successful candidates entering the college because the recruitment process involves a number of elements including, interviews and aptitude testing.
Ms Fitzgerald said the Garda force was working hard to ensure there was no “diminution in the quality of its training programme” while recruitment was being ramped up.
“I welcome the detailed planning process that the Commissioner and her team have in place to ensure the delivery of increased numbers of gardaí without any compromise on the quality of those recruited or the training programme,” she said.Get the biggest daily 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
Two police officers have crashed in a high-powered sports car after it was confiscated from its driver.
The pair climbed into the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution in Hale while waiting for a recovery truck.
But the officers ended up ploughing the turbo-charged, four-wheel drive car into the gardens of two luxury homes, rolling it on to its side.
The officers were found inside the 54-registered car early this morning. One suffered minor injuries and the other was left severely shaken. No-one else was hurt.
The smash is now being investigated by officers from Greater Manchester Police's professional standards unit. The car was removed from the scene this morning (see picture gallery above, right).
Below is a reader's video - be advised that the sound on it contains swearing...
A spokesman for the force said both officers, who are police constables from the Trafford division, have been suspended from driving duties 'with immediate effect'.
Chief Supt Mark Roberts, divisional commander for Trafford, said: “I can assure the local community that this incident will be rigorously investigated.
“Thankfully, no members of the public were injured. I would like to apologise to residents if this incident has caused any problems or inconvenience.”
It is understood the officers stopped the yellow Mitsubishi Evo VIII in Hale Road, Trafford, at 2.15am today after seeing it being driven erratically.
They suspected the driver, 23, of drink-driving and contacted traffic officers who then arrived and arrested him.
He was taken into custody and the car was authorised for recovery, but the officers then got into it and began heading along Hale Road.
They crashed into two gardens at the junction of Hale Road and Rydal Drive. The car had hit a wall and flipped on to its side. It is thought one of the officers was taken to hospital as a precaution. Local residents called police after hearing the car crash.
Pensioner Russell Lomas, 82, of Hale Road, was awoken in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Mr Lomas said: "I was in bed with my wife when we heard a violent noise. It sounded like an airplane crash.
"I looked out my front window only to see my front garden wrecked and the car lying on its side in the garden next door.
"As a pensioner I could do without this. I am angry as I have only just done up my garden and within a few weeks of doing it this happens.
"We are both delighted that they are not seriously injured. They could have both been easily killed.
"We’ve been living here for 40 years and nothing like this has ever happened before."
A spokeswoman for the North West Ambulance Service said an ambulance was called to the scene by the police at 3.09am.
She said a patient was taken to Wythenshawe hospital with minor injuries.
A police spokesman said: “Following the arrest of the driver, officers drove the vehicle from the scene. The car then collided with two front gardens.”
He added: “The collision is now being investigated by officers from GMP’s professional standards unit. Both officers have been suspended from driving duties with immediate effect.”
The Mitsubishi's 23-year-old driver remains in custody for questioning.
The 270bhp Evo VIII can do 0 to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds and is electronically limited to 156mph.Please enable Javascript to watch this video
(Memphis) Memphis Wrestling fans are mourning the loss of host and sportscaster Corey Maclin.
He died in a car crash late Tuesday night.
We’re told it was a one-car rollover that happened around 10:30 p.m. on south Interstate 55 near Sardis, Miss.
For decades, Maclin was one of the icons of Memphis wrestling. He was a wrestler, announcer and promoter for a sport he was passionate about.
Reggie B. Fine jumped into the ring taking on some of the biggest names in wrestling and he knew Maclin for more than 20 years.
"First of all, he was a cool friend. When we first met each other it was like, bam! He loved wrestling, man. If he could get into the ring himself, other than announcing, he loved that sport, man," Fine said.
Maclin co-promoted events with WWE Hall of Famer Jerry 'The King' Lawler.
The two friends later became involved in a trademark lawsuit over the name 'Memphis Wrestling.'
Lawler was out of town today, but told us by phone what Maclin meant to him and to Memphis Wrestling.
"Corey was such a vibrant personality and a fun-loving guy and always a pleasure to be around. He worked so hard in the wrestling business from commentating to putting on shows on Saturday morning, that sort of stuff," Lawler said.
Maclin wasn't just a promoter, he was also an on-air personality.
He recently worked as a TV sports anchor on Channel 24 and made an unsuccessful run for Shelby County Court Clerk in 2010.
Maclin was a friend of the man known as the King of Beale Street, noted musician Preston Shannon.
"He was such a hard worker, intelligent gentleman. He was a big word as far as commentating, as a wrestler himself. He had fans. I was one of his fans. He will definitely be missed," Shannon said.
But friends says Maclin's biggest fans were his wife and six children.
They say the only thing Maclin loved more than wrestling was the family he leaves behind, and their passion for the sport.
"He would bring those boys to the wrestling. They want to wrestle, too. It's been a couple of years since I've seen C-Mack, but I'm sure going to miss him," Fine said.
Corey Maclin was 43.Review: LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V (21309)
I’ve always had an affinity for Space and NASA but got into the LEGO collecting a little bit late and missed out on some of the iconic sets like LEGO Space Shuttle Expedition (10231) or even LEGO Moon Lander (10029) so the LEGO Ideas NASA Apollo Saturn V (21309) would mark my first ever NASA inspired LEGO set!
The “Apollo NASA” logo next to the LEGO Ideas one is the official logo of the Apollo program which ran manned missions to the moon from 1961 to 1972.
The front and back of the box contains some facts like how each sections of the rocket is deployed and at which stage.
Build Impression
The set consists of 1969 pieces and there is a really cool reason for that. It is actually the year which the Saturn V rocket landed Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on the moon! This would also be the largest LEGO Ideas set ever released.
The instruction booklet comes in its own packet and has some notable insights into the creation process of this LEGO Ideas set.
The pieces is divided up into twelve individual bags which makes for a much more structured building experience. I’m always in favour for more bags as it allows me to adjust my build schedule better and it is a lot easier to find the parts as opposed to have thirteen bags for each section like some other build I did recently.
I would not say that this was a difficult build overall but it was challenging in some parts. The structure of the rocket has two layers, an internal one that is made up of the curved panels and then the outer layer is dressed around it to give it a cylindrical look.
To achieve this, inverted 1×2 / 2×2 brackets are placed at a 45 degree angle at the corners so that when you plate it up afterwards, the cylindrical shape is maintained.
I’m also happy to announce that there are no stickers for this set which means that all the images on the LEGO elements are printed! Not a single adhesive to be found!
One of my favourite part to build was the engine thrusters which used the 4×4 dark bluish grey buckets for the thrust chamber.
My first impression after finishing the completed model is actually how solid it feels when holding it although I would not recommend running around the house playing with it.
New Elements
As I mentioned earlier that there are absolutely no stickers in this set. Every image on a LEGO element is printed which actually means that there are quite a bunch of ‘unique’ elements in this set.
There are several printed white 3×2 curved slopes like the USA flag and the ones with the letters U, S, A which was used in the S-IC stage engine section.
Slightly further up, there are 1×6 white tiles with the words “United” and “States” printed on them which is used in the S-II Stage section.
There is one element that I have not encountered before which is the Light Bluish Grey flower stud. I could be wrong but I don’t recall the flower studs to be available in that colour before this.
This set’s crowning achievement for new elements has to be the microfigure astronauts. They are fully printed white microfigures which is similar to the Marvel Microfigures that was available on the Helicarrier and Ant Man microfigure in the Superhero Airport Battle (76051).
And that is not all, the front face of the Lunar Lander is a printed 2×2 Boat stud and the command module is also a printed 4×4 dark bluish grey cone with a center axle hole.
I’m quite pleasantly piqued as how they maintained a flag of the USA in microfigure scale which they achieved by printing the image on a 1×2 transparent tile.
Design
The original LEGO Ideas project for the Saturn V was conceived by Felix Stiessen and Valérie Roche which already envisioned it as a 1:110 scale model of the rocket. This meant that the LEGO model would have to be at least 1 meter tall.
“The most challenging part was the Lunar Landing module. I (Felix) tried building it as small as possible (I wanted it to fit in the half-cone parts as seen in the model) while still looking good and accurate. After that, we began building the rocket around it. We tried to make the rocket as sound as possible, so Valerie included pillars and beams inside for structural integrity” ~ Felix Stiessen
That mandate for structural integrity carried over into the final model by LEGO Designers Mike Psiaki, Carl Thomas Meeriam and Austin William Carlson. (Kind of feels like the astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins from the Apollo 11 mission eh?)
The rocket is sturdy enough when assembled fully but it is also able to be separated into its individual sections without bricks falling off. This can be attributed to the dual wall design of building an internal “pipe” out of curve panels and layering whatever surface they needed around it.
The lunar lander module is perfect for its scale and the design team was also able to retain the feature where it fits into the half cone at the top.
“We were amazed by how big the actual model was and how it was able to separate into all of the different stages and components. This was very difficult to implement in our final design, since we needed to make sure that the rocket was strong enough when connected together but also easy to separate.” – LEGO Saturn V Design Team
The build utilises some alternative techniques like attaching a 1×1 brick with side stud to a 1×2 plate with hook just to achieve the right amount of offset distance.
Price Point
The Recommended Retail Price for this set has been announced as SGD$199.90 and that puts it around the SGD$0.10 per piece region which is quite decent.
Compared to the recent LEGO Star Wars Jedi Starfighter I just reviewed which was pegged at the same SGD$199.90, the LEGO Ideas Saturn V rocket is much more palatable.
And if you are a builder, the variety of parts you get from this is really worth it with all the curved panels, slope bricks, tiles and not to mention the printed elements as well.
The prices in the other regions are as follows USD 119.99 / EURO 119.99 / GBP 109.99.
Conclusion
A very well constructed set with a palatable price point that makes it a definite must-have for space fans. If there is one word to describe this LEGO set, it would be “huge”. It stands a full meter tall which would tower over any other model in your LEGO Space collection or any other collection for that matter.
Pros:
Solid design
Sturdy build
Attractive price point
Value for money
Cons:
Some of the build techniques can be tricky
The set will be available in all LEGO Brand Stores from June 1st onwards. Do check with your local LEGO Store on when their shipments will arrive as it is different for other regions. Happy Bricking everyone!
A sincere thank you to LEGO AFOL Relations & Programs (ARP) team and LEGO Ideas for sending me this set to review. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in this review do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the LEGO Group. Review sets sent in does not guarantee a positive review.
Also a big thank you to fan designers Felix Stiessen and Valérie Roche, LEGO Designers Mike Psiaki, Carl Thomas Meeriam and Austin William Carlson for their work on this amazing set.By Catherine J. Frompovich
Has the ante just been upped on organically-grown food? Why would I ask such a ‘silly’ question, you may be wondering? Well, Jeff Bezos, the owner of The Washington Post, Amazon.com and a host of other entrepreneurial endeavors just bought the natural foods grocery store chain Whole Foods for close to $14 Billion!
Even though Whole Foods, in my opinion, has not been a pristine purveyor of what I’d call non-GMO and chemically-free foods, as I and others would have liked, it did a respectable job considering all things involved while also making a handsome bottom line for itself over the years, but now finds itself losing ground to the organically-grown foods revolution taking place and which Amazon obviously wants to become a key player and corner a large segment of that lucrative market. Consumers have become food conscious and want safe, clean and better tasting food!
However, as a Whole Foods customer, who used to purchase my groceries during the 1980s in the grocery chain WF bought out, Fresh Fields, I’d like to offer my thoughts and some unsolicited advice to Mr. Bezos and his entourage of foodies, who will be running the show in the Amazon version of Whole Foods, if Mr. Bezos elects to keep the brand name.
First and foremost, please do a better job of making certain the current GMO-free, organically-grown brands of all food stocks customers rely upon at Whole Foods are continued and stock shelves, freezers, cold cases and produce isles. If that does not happen, I can assure you, you will find you may have bought a ‘pig-in-a-poke’, as loyal customers will flee to Giant, Trader Joe’s, The Fresh Market, Wegmans, co-ops and other independent markets selling certified organically-grown, verified Non-GMO Project foods.
There’s talk Mr. Bezos is more than friendly with Bill Gates, who apparently believes in better living through genetic modification of just about everything. Will their association carry over to marketing strategies for Mr. Bezos? I hope not! Consumers will become wary of what’s being sold in the newly acquired Whole Foods, if Mr. Bezos does not make a public commitment to organically-grown, non-GMO food. Mr. Gates’ Foundation’s $23-Million investment in Monsanto shouldn’t be buoyed up by Whole Foods selling GMO ‘phood’ or Roundup® contaminated grains, processed foods, or fresh produce. Organically-grown foods are an agricultural and culinary treasure, which should not and cannot be contaminated; ‘watered down’ with the addition of GRAS chemicals; or any other newfangled merchandising approach.
Why do I make such remarks? Well, I’ve interviewed a former manager of an organic farm in California who would like to tell you some of the ins and outs of organic farming from her viewpoint of having “been there, done that,” and why organic food deserves to become the staple and mainstay of agriculture globally.
I interviewed Kristi Nicole Lopez, who recently moved from California to Pennsylvania and now works for Whole Foods in the produce department.
Kristi, I understand you worked on organic farms in California.
I worked on one organic farm that was certified through CCOF for both agriculture and livestock. I was the farm manager and coordinator.
How long were you involved in such work and in what capacities?
I started working with only the agriculture portion of the farm in 2011. At the time, I was maintaining and harvesting two acres of various vegetables, as well as keeping the necessary logs for organic certification. In 2012 I became the garden coordinator and planned with our restaurant chef what to grow for the following year, acquire appropriate seed, plant, sustain and harvest when ready. I did this along with writing the curriculum for our children’s farm camp program and teaching the camp from 2012-2015. In 2015 our farm manager changed careers and I was able to fill his position. This led me to be responsible for the herb farm (20 acres of lavender, rosemary, and tea tree), olive trees, olive oil and essential oil production and storage, as well as over 200 head of livestock. The entire operation was certified organic, even the land not being used for active farming.
If you want to ensure your entire property is certified, you may choose to pay for acreage to be listed as “wild crops”, which we opted to do for the 2300 acres of land the farm resided on.
What type of background or education did you have that allowed you to work an organic farm?
I started hobby gardening at age 16 as a remedy for my first broken heart. Later, I ended up at Temple University majoring in Biology, and then switching to Horticulture for the last two years of my schooling. The farm position I acquired was not intentional. I had applied for a job working the front desk of the farm’s historic resort and was asked to take over the farm a few months later after the resort president found out my background. Most of what I had learned in school was not helpful on the job. I learned the most from talking with other local farmers about what worked for them and utilizing a little creative trial and error.
Once I took over the livestock portion, I was slightly terrified. I had been working around the livestock for years doing the farm camp program, but I wasn’t responsible for their lives. I bought several books about each of the different animals the farm had and read them all at once. Then I called other farms whenever I had a question that the books didn’t answer. YouTube videos sitting out in the middle of the pasture taught me how to assist an ewe with a difficult birth, and when to intervene versus letting nature take its course. I used to laugh often, calling myself the 15 day farmer. That was how many days of training I had before the old manager left and I took over.
Since California probably was one of the first agricultural states to understand the value of organic farming, why do you think it took so long to “catch on”?
If I understand this question correctly, it’s an issue with educating the public. I think people don’t understand why organic foods cost more. Groceries are a huge portion of a family budget and if the importance of organic farming and consumption is not understood, then no one is going to pay the higher price tag. I think, unfortunately, most of us don’t consider organic to be of importance until we are faced with a health problem or a loved one is ill and we are forced in that direction. This was certainly true for me. I didn’t fully get it until my son was diagnosed with autism and I began to look a bit deeper.
I understand to get a farm certified as “organic” much time and labor is involved. Can you please explain what would be a normal time frame from start to completion of the organic certification process?
The last I knew, it took 3 years. You have to be actively paying for inspections and doing all of the right things for three years before you are able to legally label your products as organic. Until then, you are considered a transition farm. This is for produce only.
Livestock, once given ANY non-approved substance, be it an antibiotic, pain reliever, food supplement, etc. can never become organic. If you have a farm with a herd of non-organic female livestock, once switched to a certified organic life, livestock can give birth to certified organic offspring upon the second generation after their lifestyle change. It’s hard for me to explain, so I hope it makes sense. The mother, in the case of our first ewes we ever had, were not raised organic from birth so they can never be certified organic, however, because we fed them organic feed, and withheld vaccines and non-approved medications, once they had their second lamb after we had changed their diet to organic, the second lambing and any subsequent births would be able to be certified organic livestock. The time frame for certifying a livestock operation is highly variable because it becomes pretty complex since it depends entirely on whether or not your starting “crop” of livestock is certified organic or not.
The Farming Costs Involved in Growing Organic Food
Is there a fee or cost involved for that certification process, and how much is it?
Is there a yearly ‘license-type’ fee the farms must pay to keep their organic certification?
There are a lot of fees involved in organic farming and that is one of the reasons it costs more for the consumer. Not only are losses higher in many cases because only natural pesticides are available and sometimes at a very high cost, but maintaining certification is difficult. It is labor intensive with logs and paperwork. The inspection is billed by time required to complete, so if you are very involved, have a large property, or didn’t organize your paperwork and logs well, it all costs you. For our 2,300 acres it was usually $5,000 to $7,000 for just the inspection. We also had to pay fees any time we needed to submit a new product label for approval plus pay a yearly fee for the certificate we had that said we are organic. In addition to paying for certification, we also have to pay the USDA to use the USDA organic logo, and this varies depending on the number of times you use the logo. Additionally, since we had chickens we collected eggs from, we had to report how many eggs we collected in a year and pay a fee for that as well. With the USDA logo, they are very specific about its use and how it is displayed on a label. Often we had spools of labels that we had to throw away and get reprinted because the requirements for label placement changed and we had to order new ones to stay within guidelines.
When starting out with a brand new farm, I am unsure if the fees are extensive during the transition phase. A phone call to CCOF may answer that question. They have always been friendly with me.
A farm has to become certified organic through a third party like CCOF or Oregon Tilth. Once the farm goes through the required three years as a transition farm, they may begin selling produce with the certified by label and also apply for use of the USDA organic label (this I think is required, but I am unsure because our controller handled the USDA payments). All soil amendments used on the certified area of the property have to be approved for organic use and listed as approved or the farm can request approval of an unapproved substance for a specific use. The requests can be approved or denied and it takes about a month unless the farm pays a fee to expedite the decision. We had to do this once to get an herbal mixture approved for sheep that were ill with a heavy parasite load. It’s a few hundred dollars for each item you expedite approval of. Farms are inspected once per year with CCOF. The inspector schedules an appointment and then shows up expecting a detailed tour of the farm including all buildings and storage areas. They ask a lot of questions and then sit down to go over the folders of documentation farms have to keep and discuss your plans for the future. Any changes you’d like to make for the following year have to be pre-approved. Once the inspection is over, you have 30 days to correct any errors found and then you receive your bill. The inspection is billed by the hour and the certificate also has a separate fee. I am sure the price varies tremendously, but for our farm it was close to $8,000 in total for the 2016 certification. We were considered a small farm.
Did the organic farm you worked bring in outside bees to pollinate crops? If so, can you tell me how that works?
We did not bring in outside bees because the practice of beekeeping is popular in the area already and it wasn’t necessary. We have a few honey companies and several orange groves nearby that attracted them. Because the farm grew 20 acres of lavender, several beekeepers kept their hives on our property by request to have them produce lavender honey. True lavender honey is light and very sweet, quite a delicacy.
Out of care for the preservation of bees, we also had a few hives of our own that our company president learned how to keep naturally. We used the hives to talk to kids in our farm camp program about the importance of bees to our food crops and why they are declining.
Pest Management
Can you please explain how pest management works on an organic farm?
There is the typical approach, which is planting mono crops and spraying approved pesticides as needed.
IPM or integrated pest management, which involves things like utilizing a pest’s natural predators, nematodes added to soil to control soil dwelling pests, and co-planting crops that benefit one another or ward off insects.
Then there is biodynamic farming, which I honestly don’t understand entirely and maybe it’s what we were already doing, but didn’t use the term.
Lastly there is the option of hydroponic farming, which is quickly growing in popularity. In hydroponics, the startup costs are a dead end for most. They can run into a million dollars for a large system, but the crop loss is minimal, nutrient control can be perfected, hydroponics can be employed almost anywhere, not just farmland, and when done right, everything grows quickly and is nearly pest and disease free. Nothing is perfect, but hydroponics is a great way to go for farms with unique or challenging needs and locations.
The “Certified” Classification
How much of a farm has to be set aside as organic in order to get the certification?
The entire property does not need to be certified. The farm I worked with chose to pay for the entire property to be certified organic because of personal convictions, but only the growing area and a buffer zone need to be certified from what I understand.
Do you think many farms use organic growing methods but do not apply for certification because of the costs involved?
I do. I have met quite a few farms who claim “no chemicals used” or “natural” which are unregulated terms that can easily be abused. For myself and my family, if you talk to the actual farmer, not just a middle person and they seem like they honestly have the same beliefs about the importance of organic, they are usually being honest. Most farms feel pressured to apply for certification because we have a doubting public and if the label isn’t on the produce, people question. I can’t blame the public though; we have plenty of reason to be nervous.
If that be the case as mentioned above, then how could farms classify their produce?
I’ve seen farmers’ signs with “no chemicals used,” “locally grown,” “biologically grown”.
Locally grown doesn’t mean much for chemical use, it just means less environmental pollution was produced in its transport and it’s probably a little bit fresher than grocery store produce. A farm saying “No chemicals” is fine, as long as the farmer understands what that means and also doesn’t use chemical fertilizers. It’s important to ask questions. I am not a big fan of using the term biologically grown. I think it’s confusing and there is still plenty of room for contamination. Is the farm in a place where soil may be polluted? Is the water filtered? Our public water supply is full of chemicals, trace amounts of medications, and hormones. There are also no regulations on what can be put into organic compost—anything goes as long as the pile reaches proper temperature. Even non-organic manure, produce and yard scraps can go into an organic compost pile. It’s an unfortunate loophole and majorly misunderstood that composting doesn’t get rid of the contamination from chemicals previously used. So once again, I say ask a few questions.
Are there any dangerous aspects to organic farming? If so, what are they?
It’s a dangerous financial gamble.
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Otherwise, some of the pesticides, though naturally based, could still harm you over time or if handled without gloves. With the livestock, there are some issues. Livestock are susceptible to worms because they eat off the ground, obviously deworming agents cannot be used so there is a danger involved as far as human health. The danger is not to the consumer, just those around the farm. Additionally, many of the parasites animals can have are not transmittable to humans. I don’t honestly think that a non-organic farm would be any safer.
Do you know how organic farming crop yields compare with conventional farming, especially from your experience with the farm crops you were involved with in growing?
Yield depends entirely on what the farm is growing and whether or not it is suited to the environment it’s growing in. For example, growing lettuce in southern California means a very short season in late winter, whereas a farm in the northeast could grow lettuce for a much longer period. However, because of the limitations on strong pest control, studies, as well as my own experience indicate that organic farms have a much higher crop loss. At times, up to one-third of the crop may be lost to pests or disease.
With livestock there are also additional losses for similar reasons. When an animal falls ill or has, say complications from giving birth, antibiotics cannot be given unless the animal is removed from the farm or the farm is operating both conventional and organic separately, and the animal can be transferred to the conventional farm. Unfortunately, aside from attempting natural treatments and/or only administering pain killers (aspirin is organically legal to administer), the decision to euthanize the animal more often has to be made. Even though I wholeheartedly support organic, there were times I felt that organic raising of livestock was inhumane for the very reason that we had very few options when they fell ill.
Organic Food Prices
Why is organic produce priced differently, or higher, than conventionally-grown produce?
I think there is a misconception that organic farms charge more just because they can or because organic is hip, but that is not at all the case. As I mentioned previously, organic farms can experience up to a one-third crop loss any given year and that is considered normal, and organic farms are expected to plan for this in their finances. The natural herbicides and pesticides that are approved for use are largely patented and very expensive compared to conventional controls. When it comes to fertilization and |
about energy abundance, and then the same concepts are translating over to water, do we have Peak Water?
Well really, no, water is different. Water is a closed hydrologic cycle. We really never get rid of the water, we just move it around. But the moving around has consequences, because we move it to locations that are further away or we move it to a form or quality that’s less acceptable or less convenient. And the consequence is energy. We have to spend energy to move it closer in quality or closer in location to what we need it for. And so our water shifts have this energy implication that we have to be ready for. And because energy is available in a different way maybe the water will be as well, and maybe there’s an analogy in the energy world for water. Where, for many decades, we had this degraded energy resource beneath our feet, shale, and we didn’t think it was economically feasible, or technically feasible, or environmentally responsible to get, and now we’re finding that it actually is economically feasible, it is technically feasible, and in some ways it is an environmentally preferred solution if that cleaner gas displaces dirtier coal.
So maybe there’s the same lesson with the ocean under our feet of all that dirty brackish water we have in Texas. It’s not the kind we want to drink, but it’s abundant, it’s there, and it’s not technically feasible or economically feasible to extract. But if we integrate wind power or solar power in West Texas with all the brackish water, maybe we can get that brackish water cleaned in a cheap way and an environmentally responsible way to change the story. So who knows? Maybe our brackish water resource today is just what shale was a decade ago.
Q: It seems like there’s a lot of decisions to be made here at the larger policy level. But what about the individual? How could they reduce their role in the energy-water nexus?
A: There’s a lot individuals can do to conserve energy and conserve water. We have more power over this than we think. There’s 315 million stakeholders in America making decisions about energy and water, and there are a couple easy options we can do.
First of all, the most energy-intensive water is the treated, clean, drinking water that we heat in our home. So if you want to save a lot of energy, save the heated water. Shorter hot showers, more efficient dishwashers, more efficient washers, that kind of thing. And surprisingly, saving that heated water is a pathway to saving energy.
That’s one of the good news bits about the energy-water nexus: saving water saves energy, saving energy saves water. In fact, the irony is if you want to save water, saving energy is a cheaper, faster, way to do it, and if you want to save energy, saving water is a cheaper, faster, way to do it.
In our homes, we spend an incredible amount of energy heating our water and that’s sort of ironic given that we have so many photons and so much sunshine that will heat the water for us for free. And so an easy option for those homes that have rooftops that are not shaded is to get solar water heaters installed. My household had its solar water heater installed in the ‘80s, and it’s still working great and it saves us a ton of money and it helps reduce our energy consumption overall. It works great. So that’s an easy solution, an easy option for a lot of people.
We can also reduce how much water we use on our lawns. Especially how much treated drinking water we use on our lawns. Lawns are particularly thirsty — well over half our water usage is for irrigation, generally. And so getting different strains of grass, less grass, watering it with something like rainwater we collect or reclaimed water instead of fresh, treated drinking water is a way to save a lot of energy and water.
Then if we turn off our lights and things in our homes, we can save water at the power plants. We use more water through our light switches than our faucets, and that’s a surprise for many people. So just turning off your light switches and reducing your energy consumption in the home will be a pathway to saving water as well.
In Texas, we care a lot about energy and water. We make a lot of money from energy and we feel like we don’t have enough water all the time. And these water issues in particular become interesting in times of drought or heat wave, and if we think we’ll never have a drought or heat wave again we probably can quit worrying about it. But in Texas, we tend to have these a lot.
Michael Marks provided transcription. This interview was edited for clarity and content.One of the features that PlayStation owners have asking about for years is the ability to expand their console storage with an external USB drive. Now, with the upcoming System Software 4.5, that feature has finally become a reality.
It’s been stated that the external drive can be up to 8TB, so we ordered the cheapest drive that we could find, the cheapest that “felt comfortable” for this use that is. At $209, the Dollar per Gigabyte is quite affordable and it’s externally powered as well which keeps from drawing power from your PS4.
Here are the 4 and 8 Terabyte versions of the drive that we recommend, and for this test we obviously had to take it to the limit, so we’re testing the 8TB drive.
Recommended 8TB Drive
Recommended 4TB Drive
The tests were performed on a PlayStation 4 Pro with a 2TB drive installed internally. The toughest part of this whole process was actually finding which menu had the option to set the drive up for use. Once I found it, the entire process took all of five minutes.
– In the PS4 Settings menu, go to “Devices” and then to “USB Storage Devices”
– You’ll see the new drive listed, so select it. On the next screen, click on “Format as Extended Storage”
– Select “Next”
– Select “Format” *For the 8TB drive, formatting took less than five minutes*
– Click “OK”
– Tada!
Here’s what I’ve learned so far about what you can and can’t do with this additional storage:Record high CO2 emissions delay global peak
2
2
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In 2017, CO 2 emissions from fossil fuels and industry are projected to grow by 2% (0.8% to 3%). This follows three years of nearly no growth (2014-2016). (GDP to rise 3.6% according to IMF figures).
emissions from fossil fuels and industry are projected to grow by 2% (0.8% to 3%). This follows three years of nearly no growth (2014-2016). (GDP to rise 3.6% according to IMF figures). Global CO 2 emissions from all human activities are set to reach 41 billion tonnes (41 Gt CO 2 ) by the end of 2017. Meanwhile emissions from fossil fuels are set to reach 37 Gt CO 2 - a record high.
emissions from all human activities are set to reach 41 billion tonnes (41 Gt CO ) by the end of 2017. Meanwhile emissions from fossil fuels are set to reach 37 Gt CO - a record high. China's emissions are projected to grow by 3.5% (0.7% to 5.4%), driven by a rise in coal consumption (GDP up 6.8%).
India's emissions are projected to grow by just 2 % (0.2% to 3.8%) - down from over 6% per year during the last decade (GDP up 6.7%).
US emissions are projected to decline by -0.4%(-2.7% to +1.9%), with coal consumption projected to rise slightly (GDP up 2.2%).
EU emissions are tentatively projected to decline -0.2% (-2% to +1.6%), a smaller decline than the previous decade (GDP up 2.3%).
CO 2 emissions decreased in the presence of growing economic activity in 22 countries representing 20 per cent of global emissions.
emissions decreased in the presence of growing economic activity in 22 countries representing 20 per cent of global emissions. Renewable energy has increased rapidly at 14% per year over the last five years - albeit from a very low base.
Atmospheric CO 2 concentration reached 403 parts per million in 2016, and is expected to increase by 2.5 ppm in 2017.
-end-
Related Climate Change Reading:
Global carbon emissions are on the rise again in 2017 after three years of little-to-no growth, according to researchers at the University of East Anglia and the Global Carbon Project.It was previously hoped that emissions might soon reach their peak after three stable years, so the new projection for 2017 is an unwelcome message for policy makers and delegates at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 23) in Bonn this week.The research, published today simultaneously in the journals, Earth System Science Data Discussions and Environmental Research Letters, reveals that global emissions from all human activities will reach 41 billion tonnes in 2017, following a projected 2% rise in burning fossil fuels.The figures point to China as the main cause of the renewed growth in fossil emissions - with a projected growth of 3.5%.COemissions are expected to decline by 0.4% in the US and 0.2% in the EU, smaller declines than during the previous decade.Increases in coal use in China and the US are expected this year, reversing their decreases since 2013.Lead researcher Prof Corinne Le Quéré, director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at UEA, said: "Global COemissions appear to be going up strongly once again after a three year stable period. This is very disappointing."With global COemissions from human activities estimated at 41 billion tonnes for 2017, time is running out on our ability to keep warming well below 2ºC let alone 1.5ºC."This year we have seen how climate change can amplify the impacts of hurricanes with more intense rainfall, higher sea levels and warmer ocean conditions favouring more powerful storms. This is a window into the future. We need to reach a peak in global emissions in the next few years and drive emissions down rapidly afterwards to address climate change and limit its impacts."Key findings:Dr Glen Peters of the CICERO Center for International Climate Research in Oslo who led one of the studies said: "The return to growth in global emissions in 2017 is largely due to growth in Chinese emissions, projected to grow by 3.5% in 2017 after two years with declining emissions. The use of coal, the main fuel source in China, may rise by 3% due to stronger growth in industrial production and lower hydro-power generation due to less rainfall.""The growth in 2017 emissions is unwelcome news, but it is too early to say whether it is a one-off event on a way to a global peak in emissions, or the start of a new period with upward pressure on global emissions growth."The team flags that persistent uncertainties exist in our ability to estimate recent changes in emissions, particularly when there are unexpected changes as in the last few years."Even though we may detect a change in emission trend early, it may take as much as 10 years to confidently and independently verify a sustained change in emissions using measurements of atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide," said Dr Peters."Policy makers in Bonn are preparing for the Global Stocktake under the Paris Agreement, that will start in 2018 and occur every five years, and this puts immense pressure on the scientific community to develop methods and perform measurements that can truly verify changes in emissions within this five-yearly cycle," said Prof Le Quéré.University of East AngliaCustomers Can Keep The Tip — Which Might Please Restaurant Workers
Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of Packhouse Meats Courtesy of Packhouse Meats
Imagine there's no tipping. By getting rid of gratuities, a few restaurants believe they'll make life easier for customers, while providing a more stable income to servers.
"It eliminates the pressure on the guest to worry about paying our staff," says Brian Oliveira, chef at Girard, a French-style restaurant opening in Philadelphia in a few weeks that intends to offer its staff up to $13 an hour in salary, plus health benefits, but with no tips.
Successful ideas in the restaurant business always get copied. Oliveira said he and his partners were inspired by no-tipping experiments happening at a handful of restaurants in California, Texas and New York.
Those restaurants say employees are more satisfied and that service has actually improved. Moving away from tipping may never spread industrywide, but it's a model that may help answer some complaints about poor salaries.
Packhouse, a no-tip meat emporium that opened in Newport, Ky., in January, pays servers $10 an hour and gives them the chance to earn 20 percent of their total sales per shift if they hit certain targets — whichever is higher. Servers bring home the bigger amount most days.
"If it's dead all day, they don't walk out making nine bucks," says Kurt Stephens, Packhouse's general manager.
Not all servers will be better off under this type of arrangement, but lack of tipping makes for easier accounting for customers and the business itself.
Menu prices might read a bit higher, but diners will know what they'll end up paying at meal's end — probably no more than they would have at an equivalent place where they'd tip.
And lack of tips simplifies compliance for restaurateurs obligated to make up the difference between servers' base pay and the standard minimum wage, if they don't make enough in tips. Currently, the federal minimum wage for tipped workers is $2.13 an hour, although that baseline is higher in a majority of states.
Tipping creates winners and losers. The people who bring you your steaks at high-end restaurants are probably doing quite well off tips, but many restaurant workers can't count on bringing home big bucks, especially after slow shifts on off days. A recent study from the labor-backed Economic Policy Institute found that 17 percent of restaurant workers live in poverty.
"I'm very aware that at some establishments, people would do far better under the existing tipping model," says Bill Perry, who is about to open Public Option, a no-tipping pub in Washington, D.C. "In our category, which is much more neighborhood-oriented, we're concerned that the variability of tips may not produce a good income."
This is an idea still very much in the making. Girard and Public Option aren't even open yet. With only a few other restaurants around the country having made the move away from tipping, it's not at all clear this will be a successful alternative.
But the increasing pressure on restaurants to pay their employees more — from fast-food workers to waiters hustling for tips — is one reason outlets should consider the tip-free approach, says Dennis Lombardi, a restaurant consultant based in Columbus, Ohio.
Wage increases are bound to translate into higher menu prices. "By going to nontipping, they can pay that living wage," Lombardi says, "without having the additional cost of tipping that will determine whether the customer comes back to the restaurant."
It works in Europe. But tipping has long been a part of the American way of dining out, a tool for diners to reward good service — and, less often, to punish those who fail to satisfy. The desire to earn good tips is part of what prompts people to give good service and "promotes the spirit of hospitality," says Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of research at the National Restaurant Association.
"Along with flexible work schedules, tipping is part of what makes [being] a restaurant server an attractive profession for millions of Americans," he says.
Even a labor advocate such as Saru Jayaraman, who directs the food labor research center at the University of California, Berkeley and calls the no-tip approach "a fabulous model," worries that it won't pay off for all workers. An increased base wage is a step in the right direction, she says, but she worries that salaries of $10 or $13 an hour won't be enough.
"Restaurant workers are professionals and in other countries are paid like professionals — $18 or $20 an hour," Jayaraman says.
But many restaurant workers in the U.S. don't make anything near those amounts, she concedes. So the prospect of a guaranteed income will be enticing for many who have come home with hardly anything to show after a quiet Tuesday afternoon lunch shift, suggests Perry, the D.C. restaurateur.
"Some of the folks we spoke to really cited the variability — that they never know what to expect," Perry says. "They can't wait to actually try [the no-tipping model] out."
Restaurant workers have traditionally experienced either feast or famine when it comes to their own pay packets. Some workers might be content just knowing the exact amount of take-home pay they can count on — at least, that's what the number of applicants at the new no-tipping establishments would suggest.
"We're kind of taking the risk off the server and putting it back on the business," says Stephens, the Packhouse general manager. "There's hardly any turnover, and everybody's making money."
A former NPR staffer, Alan Greenblatt is a journalist based in St. Louis.Flooding from Hurricane Joaquin will impact areas from South Carolina to Massachusetts regardless of whether it makes landfall or if the center stays out to sea.
People should not let their guard down due to a shifting track of the hurricane as the risk to lives and property in this complex situation remains high.
A copious amount of moisture will unload very heavy rainfall along parts of the Atlantic Seaboard and the Appalachians into early next week. Strong winds, coastal flooding and beach erosion will occur and could be very damaging even in the absence of a landfall.
Hurricane Joaquin strengthened rapidly Wednesday into Thursday. Joaquin reached Category 3 status late Wednesday evening and Category 4 status on Thursday afternoon.
JUMP TO: Joaquin Track Scenarios | Inland Flooding | Coastal Flooding, Strong Winds
The storm will bring pounding surf, dangerous seas, strong winds, drenching squalls and flash flooding to the central Bahamas. Wind gusts could reach between 75 and 100 mph on some of the islands.
As a result, Joaquin will threaten lives and property in the Bahamas into Friday. Bahamasair has canceled flights for Thursday in parts of the islands.
Joaquin will turn to the north this weekend.
Governors in Virginia, New Jersey and North Carolina have issued a State of Emergency. Other states may follow suit.
Joaquin Track Scenarios
Joaquin has strengthened significantly and continues to hover near the Bahamas on Thursday. This delay has altered the forecast track. Other weather systems impacting Joaquin will be in slightly different positions as a result.
Joaquin will move northward much of this weekend, roughly paralleling the East coast. There is nearly equal possibility the storm will make landfall along the mid-Atlantic coast, the New England coast or veer out to sea.
Due to the potential close proximity of the hurricane to the coast, people from the Carolinas to Massachusetts will need to closely monitor the track and strength of Joaquin for high wind and coastal flooding concerns.
Should Joaquin make landfall, areas near and north of the center would face the worst coastal flooding and strong winds.
If the storm were to make landfall in North Carolina, then it would be on Sunday. If the storm were to turn into Virginia, then it would be on Sunday night. From the Delmarva Peninsula to New Jersey, a landfall would not occur until Monday.
If Joaquin fails to make landfall in the mid-Atlantic and does not escape out to sea, then New England could face the brunt of the storm with deteriorating conditions early next week.
Inland Flooding
In some areas, heavy rain will fall on top of what has already fallen earlier this week. Flooding rainfall will occur well ahead of Joaquin's arrival and even if Joaquin stays at sea.
According to AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Elliot Abrams, a large arm of heavy rain from the Atlantic will pivot westward and southward into the weekend.
"The worst flooding will be where it rains the longest or the near the pivot point," Abrams said. "That point is likely to be centered on the Carolinas and Virginia this weekend."
For this reason, people should not focus on only the projected path of Joaquin but also on the projected heavy rainfall hundreds of miles away from the storm's center.
Power outages could occur in addition to flooding as substations get flooded and waterlogged trees topple over.
Through Sunday, the rounds of heavy rain will likely be of shorter duration in the northern mid-Atlantic and could be very brief in New England.
If the area from Maryland to Massachusetts gets long-lasting rain from Joaquin, it is most likely to be early next week. Any inland flooding prior to this time will be limited to urban areas and along small streams.
Farther south from Virginia to the Carolinas, the threat for widespread flash flooding will increase, along with the potential for river flooding.
Rivers that bear close watching for flooding include the New, Tar, Meherrin, Savannah, Shenandoah and James.
Coastal Flooding, Strong Winds
Like flash and urban flooding, coastal flooding and beach erosion will occur well away from the storm center and ahead of the storm, even if the storm remains at sea.
Onshore winds from the east and northeast will push the Atlantic Ocean water toward the coast, causing it to pile up around the barrier islands and bays. This is known as coastal flooding.
Winds, seas and tide levels will continue to build from the Carolinas to Massachusetts through the weekend.
East to northeast gusts may frequent 40 mph well ahead of Joaquin's approach.
The onshore winds alone, in absence of Joaquin reaching the coast, could cause water levels to rise to an average of 2-3 feet above normal tides. These conditions are likely to occur hundreds of miles to the north of the storm's center.
Winds could become strong enough to down trees and power lines and cause minor property damage.
Much more severe winds, waves and coastal flooding would occur if landfall occurs, near and north of the center.
Those in the projected path of the storm should be preparing for the potential rain and wind from Joaquin. Residents in coastal areas should be ready to evacuate if orders are given.
From AccuWeather.com (find the original story here); reprinted with permission.Emperor Konoe (近衛天皇, Konoe-tennō, June 16, 1139 – August 22, 1155) was the 76th emperor of Japan,[1] according to the traditional order of succession.[2]
Konoe's reign spanned the years from 1142 through 1155.[3]
Genealogy [ edit ]
Before his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne, his personal name (his imina)[4] was Narihito-shinnō (体仁親王).[5] He was also known as Tosihito-shinnō.[6]
Emperor Konoe was the eighth son of Emperor Toba.[6] His mother was Fujiwara no Nariko (1117–1160), the wife of Emperor Toba. [7]
Chūgū: Fujiwara no Shimeko (藤原呈子) later Kujō-in (九条院), Fujiwara no Koremichi’s daughter and Fujiwara no Tadamichi’s adopted daughter.
Events of Konoe's life [ edit ]
Konoe was named heir shortly after he was born in 1139; and he was proclaimed emperor at the age of 3.
Eiji 1, in the 3rd month (1141): The former emperor Toba accepted the tonsure and became a Buddhist monk at the age of 39 years. [8]
, in the 3rd month (1141): The former emperor Toba accepted the tonsure and became a Buddhist monk at the age of 39 years. Eiji 1, on the 7th day of the 12th month (永治元年; 1141): In the 18th year of Sutoku-tennō's reign (崇徳天皇十八年), the emperor abdicated; and the succession (senso) was received by a younger brother, the 8th son of former Emperor Toba. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Konoe is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).[9]
At that time, the Kampaku Fujiwara-no Tadamichi became Sesshō or regent. The Cloistered Emperor Toba continued to direct all the affairs of government, while the retired Emperor Sutoku had no powers. This conflict resulted in many controversies during Konoe's reign.[6]
Kōji 2, in the 1st month (1143): Cloistered Emperor Toba-in, now known by the title Daijō Hōō or Hōō (太上法皇), visited his mother. [6]
, in the 1st month (1143): Cloistered Emperor Toba-in, now known by the title or (太上法皇), visited his mother. Kōji 2, in the 5th month (1143): Konoe passed his days praying at Tōdai-ji and also at the temples on Mount Hiei. [6]
, in the 5th month (1143): Konoe passed his days praying at Tōdai-ji and also at the temples on Mount Hiei. Ten'yō gannen or Ten'yō 1, in the 7th month (1145): A comet was sighted in the sky; and for this reason, the name of the nengō was changed to Kyūan. [6]
or, in the 7th month (1145): A comet was sighted in the sky; and for this reason, the name of the was changed to. Kyūan 1, in the 8th month (1145): The mother of former Emperor Sutoku (also known as "Taikenmon-In" ) died. [6]
, in the 8th month (1145): The mother of former Emperor Sutoku (also known as ) died. Kyūan 2, in the 2nd month (1146), Konoe visited Toba-no -Hōō. [6]
, in the 2nd month (1146), Konoe visited Toba-no. Kyūan 2, in the 12th month (1146), Konoe joined in a celebration honoring Sesshō Fujiwara no Tadamichi (the regent) on his 58th birthday. [6] This event was important because, in each sexagenary cycle, the first and the fifty-eighth years were considered to be auspicious according to Chinese astrological principles.
, in the 12th month (1146), Konoe joined in a celebration honoring Fujiwara no Tadamichi (the regent) on his 58th birthday. This event was important because, in each sexagenary cycle, the first and the fifty-eighth years were considered to be auspicious according to Chinese astrological principles. Kyūan 4, in the 6th month (1148: The imperial palace was consumed by flames. [10]
, in the 6th month (1148: The imperial palace was consumed by flames. Kyūan 6, in the 1st month (1150): Konoe assumed the role of a mature adult; and he married Fujiwara-no Tokoku, who had been raised by Sadaijin Yorinaga. Tokoku was the daughter of Dainagon Taira-no Kiyomori. This bride became Kōkōgō (皇皇后) or first empress. [10]
, in the 1st month (1150): Konoe assumed the role of a mature adult; and he married Fujiwara-no Tokoku, who had been raised by Yorinaga. Tokoku was the daughter of Taira-no Kiyomori. This bride became (皇皇后) or first empress. Kyūan 6, in the 3rd month (1150): Konoe married again, this time to "Feï-si," who had been raised by Sesshō Fujiwara-no Tadamichi. She was the daughter of Dainagon Fujiwara-no Koremichi. This bride became Chūgū (中宮) or second empress. Konoe was so very much enamoured of this second wife that he neglected his first wife, which caused discord in the kugyō, especially between Tadamichi and Yorinaga. [10]
, in the 3rd month (1150): Konoe married again, this time to "Feï-si," who had been raised by Fujiwara-no Tadamichi. She was the daughter of Fujiwara-no Koremichi. This bride became (中宮) or second empress. Konoe was so very much enamoured of this second wife that he neglected his first wife, which caused discord in the especially between Tadamichi and Yorinaga. Kyūan 6, in the 12th month (1150): Sesshō Minamoto-no Tadamichi, resigns his position and is named Daijō Daijin. In this same month, Minamoto-no Yoshikane became head of the Ashikaga clan in Shimotsuke Province. [10]
, in the 12th month (1150): Minamoto-no Tadamichi, resigns his position and is named. In this same month, Minamoto-no Yoshikane became head of the Ashikaga clan in Shimotsuke Province. Ninpei 1, in the 1st month (1151): Sadaijin Yorinaga was given additional power as "Naï-ken," which gave him the duty and opportunity of reading formal written requests before they should be presented to the emperor. This had been amongst the powers of the Sesshō or the Kampaku. Factions in the court who favored Yorinaga tended to dislike Tadamichi, and they employed any means possible to help elevate Yorinaga's position. However, Yorinaga was himself generally disliked because of his capricious character. his tactics and strategy for enhancing his own prestige were focused primarily on diminishing Tadamichi's role in the court. [11]
, in the 1st month (1151): Yorinaga was given additional power as which gave him the duty and opportunity of reading formal written requests before they should be presented to the emperor. This had been amongst the powers of the or the Factions in the court who favored Yorinaga tended to dislike Tadamichi, and they employed any means possible to help elevate Yorinaga's position. However, Yorinaga was himself generally disliked because of his capricious character. his tactics and strategy for enhancing his own prestige were focused primarily on diminishing Tadamichi's role in the court. Ninpei 2, on the 7th day of the 3rd month (1152): Konoe visited the home of Toba-no -Hōō to celebrate his father's 50th birthday; and the emperor stayed until the next day, amusing himself with dances and with listening to musical performances. [12]
, on the 7th day of the 3rd month (1152): Konoe visited the home of Toba-no to celebrate his father's 50th birthday; and the emperor stayed until the next day, amusing himself with dances and with listening to musical performances. Ninpei 3, on the 2nd day of the 1st month (1153): Konoe visited his father's home; and in the same month Taira-no Tadamori, the head of the criminal tribunal, died; and this position was soon filed by his son, Taira-no Kiyomori. [12]
, on the 2nd day of the 1st month (1153): Konoe visited his father's home; and in the same month Taira-no Tadamori, the head of the criminal tribunal, died; and this position was soon filed by his son, Taira-no Kiyomori. Kyūju gannen or Kyūju 1, in the 5th month (1154): Udaijin Minamoto-no Masasada retired from public life to become a priest at age 61. He died several years later. [12]
or, in the 5th month (1154): Minamoto-no Masasada retired from public life to become a priest at age 61. He died several years later. Kyūju gannen or Kyūju 1, in the 8th month (1154): Fujiwara-no Saneyoshi, Grand General of the Right, was elevated to the role of Grand General of the Left; and the former Dainagon Fujiwara-no Kanenaga (aged 17) was elevated to take on the newly vacated role of Grand General of the Right. [12]
or, in the 8th month (1154): Fujiwara-no Saneyoshi, Grand General of the Right, was elevated to the role of Grand General of the Left; and the former Fujiwara-no Kanenaga (aged 17) was elevated to take on the newly vacated role of Grand General of the Right. Kyūju 2, on the 23rd day of the 7th month (1155): Emperor Konoe died at the age of 17 years without leaving any heirs. [13]
, on the 23rd day of the 7th month (1155): Emperor Konoe died at the age of 17 years without leaving any heirs. Kyūju 2, on the 24th day of the 7th month (大同元年; 1155): In the 14th year of Konoe-tennō's reign (近衛天皇14年), the emperor died; and despite an ensuring dispute over who should follow him as sovereign, contemporary scholars then construed that the succession (enso) was received by a younger brother, the 14th son of former-Emperor Toba. Shortly thereafter, Emperor Go-Shirakawa is said to have acceded to the throne (sokui).[14]
During Konoe's reign, the Enshō (Superiority of Duration) Temple. After this, successive emperors no longer build Imperial-prayer temples.[15]
Emperor Konoe's reign lasted for 13 years: 2 years in the nengō Kōji, 1 year in Ten'yō, 6 years in Kyūan, 3 years in Ninpei, and 2 years in Kyūju.[12]
Kugyō [ edit ]
Kugyō (公卿) is a collective term for the very few most powerful men attached to the court of the Emperor of Japan in pre-Meiji eras.
In general, this elite group included only three to four men at a time. These were hereditary courtiers whose experience and background would have brought them to the pinnacle of a life's career. During Konoe's reign, this apex of the Daijō-kan included:
Eras of Konoe's reign [ edit ]
The years of Konoe's reign are more specifically identified by more than one era name or nengō.[17]
Ancestry [ edit ]
[18]
See also [ edit ]
Notes [ edit ]Abstract
Objectives. To determine the spectrum of personality and psychopathology features of patients with primary SS (pSS) and explore whether they are linked to disease characteristics as well as the presence of autoantibodies (autoAbs) against neuropeptides. Methods. Personality and psychopathological variables were determined in 103 pSS patients and 110 healthy controls (HCs). AutoAbs against hypothalamic and pituitary neuropeptides were measured by ELISA in 25 pSS patients and 25 HCs. Data analysis was performed by univariate and multivariate logistic regression models and by comparison with regression models. Results. A higher number of pSS patients reported distinct personality traits (neuroticism, psychoticism and obsessiveness) and psychological distress compared with HCs. After adjustment for personality characteristics and demographics, only hypochondriasis was the main psychopathology feature associated with pSS, suggesting that psychopathological manifestations in the setting of pSS are primarily dependent on premorbid personality characteristics. Although no differences were detected between serum levels of neuropeptide autoAbs in pSS cases and controls, levels of autoAbs against α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) correlated with anxiety scores in both groups examined but with higher intercept in pSS subjects. Significant correlations between anxiety score and autoAbs directed against oxytocin and vasopressin were also detected in the pSS patients. Conclusions. pSS patients exhibit a distinct pattern of personality traits and high levels of psychological distress compared with HCs, which seems to be determined by premorbid personality characteristics. Correlations between anxiety and α-MSH autoAbs suggest their potential involvement in anxiety development in both pSS and HCs.
Introduction
SS is a chronic autoimmune disorder characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of salivary and lacrimal glands, leading to oral and ocular dryness. SS can occur either alone [primary SS (pSS)] or in the context of an underlying CTD (secondary SS). Although the exact pathogenesis of the disease remains largely unknown, genetic, viral, hormonal and environmental factors have been so far implicated. SS is characterized either by local (glandular) or systemic involvement manifested among others with pulmonary, renal and neuropsychiatric features [1].
Psychiatric involvement in pSS is well recognized. Atypical depression, anxiety disorders and psychotic features have been previously reported [2–10]. The chronic nature of the disorder as well as the risk of lymphoma development in a subset of these patients [11] might represent important risk factors for psychopathological complications. Our previous work has demonstrated a dysfunctional stress-coping style in pSS patients, as well as a possible implication of stressful life events as a trigger for disease onset [12].
The current approach for a thorough psychiatric evaluation is based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (DSM) IV [13] and includes the evaluation of a patient on a five-axis system. Axis I refers to current psychiatric symptoms, Axis II to personality disturbances, Axis III to comorbid conditions, Axis IV to psychosocial and environmental contributors and Axis V to overall functioning. Although there is a strong association of Axis I psychopathology and the substrate personality traits of Axis II, no |
certain kinds of stories, telling those authors that unless their stories fit a certain kind of mold, their stories are less-than, or worse, they themselves are sell outs. The rejection of my Nigerian MC and her magical adventure on the basis of not fitting a very mainstream (in the publishing world) conception of what kinds of stories African girls can inhabit and how, only reinforces that there are boundaries and limitations placed upon me as a writer. If I am a Nigerian writer writing fantasy, to be ‘authentic’ (real, celebrated etc.), my work must delve into my ethnic heritage in ways that shape, structure and permeate the characters, plot, world building of the story. As a black author, I can’t write a Twilight or a Cinder. Even having written the Effigies series, I’ve been told by some critics that if a black author includes non-white characters in her story, she must make their non-whiteness the point of the characters, and allow their non-whiteness to guide every aspect of the narrative.
But what I think the point of celebrating diverse stories from diverse authors is that more marginalized authors should be allowed to tell the stories they wish to tell based on what they love and who they are. Or at least, that should be the point. Restricting marginalized authors by telling them, “yes, we want to publish your stories, but these are the only type of stories we want from you” and shaming them when they don’t live up to those Diversity Guidelines flies in the face of what the project is supposed to be about and reinforces further the division between, for example, white authors and non-white authors in terms of the kind of hoops they must jump through before their work is considered worth something. Ironically, it repeats the same divisive tactics colonists have been doing for centuries: it creates standards for normality and then punishes those who don’t fit into it.
Again, I’m not speaking of the idea of marginalized representation; it’s sorely needed. I’m more exploring and perhaps exposing the often restrictive ways in which Diversity may have been taken up by some in mainstream publishing. I have a lot of ideas in my head. Some are Afrocentric and some aren’t so much. Some star black characters, mixed characters, African characters – and some may not. I have no aims, really, to restrict myself in the kinds of worlds I want to imagine. And yet, while earlier on in my writing career, I was terrified as to what might happen if I don’t write a white main character in a white story, now the fear seems to have swung to the other side of the scale and that hurts just as much. That kind of fear doesn’t come from nowhere. It comes from the publishing world implicitly drawing the lines in the sand, a perfect square all around a marginalized author that traps them and warns them not to dare step outside that box, or else.
#OwnVoices can only be own voices if it allows authors to own their voice. So let them.
AdvertisementsAn examination of medical articles about rofecoxib (a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) and court documents from litigation related to this product indicates that company employees or other unacknowledged authors were frequently involved in writing clinical trial articles and review articles, but that primary authorship was often attributed to academically affiliated investigators who may have had little to do with the study, or who did not always disclose financial support from the sponsor of the study, according to an article in the April 16 issue of JAMA.
Authorship in biomedical publication provides recognition while establishing accountability and responsibility. Guest authorship has been defined as the designation of an individual who does not meet authorship criteria, according to background information in the article. Ghostwriting has been defined as the failure to designate an individual (as an author) who has made a substantial contribution to the research or writing of a manuscript.
"Recent litigation related to rofecoxib provided a unique opportunity to examine guest authorship and ghostwriting, practices that have been suspected in biomedical publication but for which there is little documentation," the authors write.
Joseph S. Ross, M.D., M.H.S., of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, and colleagues conducted a case-study review of court documents, in combination with a review of the relevant medical literature, to describe the practice of guest authorship and ghostwriting related to rofecoxib. The researchers used court documents, created predominantly between 1996 and 2004, originally obtained during litigation related to rofecoxib against Merck & Co. Inc. In addition, publicly available articles related to rofecoxib were identified via MEDLINE. Approximately 250 documents were relevant for the review.
When publishing their own clinical trials (designed, conducted, and sponsored by Merck), documents were found describing Merck scientists often working to prepare manuscripts and subsequently recruiting external, academically affiliated investigators to collaborate on the manuscript as guest authors. "Recruited authors were frequently placed in the first and second positions of the authorship list. For the publication of scientific review papers, documents were found describing Merck marketing employees developing plans for manuscripts, contracting with medical publishing companies to ghostwrite manuscripts, and recruiting external, academically affiliated investigators to be authors," the researchers write. Documents indicated that medical publishing companies provided near complete drafts of review manuscripts to authors for editing, in addition to managing submissions and revisions.
Documents were also found describing Merck compensating investigators with honorarium for agreeing to serve as authors on review manuscripts ghostwritten on their behalf by medical publishing companies. "Among 96 relevant published articles, we found that 92 percent (22 of 24) of clinical trial articles published a disclosure of Merck's financial support, but only 50 percent (36 of 72) of review articles published either a disclosure of Merck sponsorship or a disclosure of whether the author had received any financial compensation from the company."
"This case-study review of industry documents related to rofecoxib demonstrates that Merck used a systematic strategy to facilitate the publication of guest authored and ghost written medical literature," the authors write. "We are hopeful that our findings encourage discussion of ways in which to improve the integrity of research. The medical profession and the pharmaceutical industry should agree that collaborations must be conducted with the highest standards. We suggest that academic researchers consistently provide to the journals the author contributions for all manuscripts, including original research, meta-analyses, reviews, and commentaries, and disclose relationships and support from all industry sources, regardless of the journal's requirements."
"Authors who'sign-off' on or 'edit' original manuscripts or reviews written explicitly by pharmaceutical industry employees or by medical publishing companies should offer full authorship disclosure, such as, 'drafting of the manuscript was done by representatives from XYZ, Inc.; the authors were responsible for critical revisions of the manuscript for important intellectual content.' A coordinated oversight strategy involving academic physicians, journal editors, and industry representatives is necessary to discourage both guest authorship and ghostwriting and improve the integrity of the biomedical authorship system," the authors conclude.
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(JAMA. 2008;299[15]:1800-1812. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org)
Editor's Note: All of the authors have been compensated for their work as consultants at the request of plaintiffs in litigation against Merck & Co. Inc. related to rofecoxib. Co-author Dr. Krumholz reported serving on the advisory boards of Amgen and UnitedHealthcare and being a subject expert for VHA Inc. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.Many who study archaeology of ask how could the ancient Sumerian culture arisen so quickly? It seems like, Wham!, 5,000 years ago, they suddenly developed writing and agriculture within the blink of an eye. How did this happen?
There is now evidence of proto-Sumerian pictographs on the north shore of the Black Sea near Odessa in the Ukraine. This script is 22,000 years old and is associated with burial mounds found there. Tibetan monks make pilgrimages there because they recognize that area as their cultural birthplace. Vedic texts written in Sanskrit speak of Aratta. Even the Sumerian legends speak of it. Oddly enough Aratta is the birthplace of the Swastika and Yin-Yang symbols. This area is home to numerous large prehistoric cities of more than 10,000 people.
It seems Aratta was largely wiped out by the flooding of the Black Sea some 7,600 years ago when the Mediterranean sea broke through the Bosphorus Straits. After the cataclysmic collapse events of 12,800 and 11,600 years ago, this must have felt like the final straw. Although Aratta’s culture was largely matriarchal, they did perform child sacrifices for their burial mounds. They also recognized a bio-geological harmonic energy not recognized in the west, but generally accepted by Russian physicists.
AdvertisementsEnergy is emerging as one of the defining issues ahead of the US presidential and congressional elections on November 6. At a time when drought is reducing ethanol output, the two main presidential candidates have sharply different strategies for reconciling energy with climate protection and low-carbon growth.
Barack Obama (Democrat) is promoting an ‘all of the above’ strategy to boost renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as mobilise domestic oil and gas. By contrast, Mitt Romney (Republican) wants to remove EPA regulation of carbon dioxide, drop incentives for wind and focus almost exclusively on expanding exploitation of coal, oil and gas reserves. This stand-off is strikingly different from the 2008 Presidential race when both candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain (Republican), recognised climate change as a strategic threat and backed the introduction of ‘cap and trade’ to drive low-carbon growth. Four years on, cap and trade is a distant prospect (see Tables 1 and 2, below). We believe three factors explain this shift:
The shale revolution: The rapid growth in shale gas and oil production has temporarily broken the link between energy security and climate action. Henry Hub gas prices peaked in July 2008, just before the last Presidential election, and have fallen c80 per cent since, in sharp contrast to prices in the UK (Chart 1). With abundant shale, the energy imperative to deploy renewables and efficiency has been reduced.
The economic downturn: The economy continues to deliver subpar growth. This has relegated climate in the public mind, and focused attention on jobs. Mr Obama is positioning clean energy as a source of jobs and innovation, while Mr Romney points to the potential of shale and offshore drilling.
Cultural polarisation: The scientific consensus on the reality of global warming has deepened significantly over the past year, highlighted by the recent results of the Berkeley Earth project which concluded that the earth’s surface temperature had risen and that human activities are “almost entirely the cause.” But polarisation in American society on climate change remains profound. Indeed, behavioural research suggests that “public divisions over climate change stem not from the public’s incomprehension of science but from a distinctive conflict of interest,” with attitudes driven more by an individual’s world view than scientific evidence. This makes it hard to build the cross-party compromises required for long-term action on climate and clean tech.
Emissions falling, but climate concern also down
Taken together, economic slowdown, along with more shale gas, renewables and efficiency, means that US greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are 8.6 per cent below 2005 levels – potentially on track for the Obama Administration’s objective of a 17 per cent cut by 2020. But with the failure to pass comprehensive climate and clean energy policy in 2010, there is no guarantee that this objective will be met – and this in itself is far below the international benchmark goal for industrialised countries of 25-40 per cent GHG cuts from 1990 levels by 2020.
Furthermore, according to the most recent opinion survey from Yale University taken in March this year, the proportion of Americans ‘alarmed’ or ‘concerned’ about global warming stands at 40 per cent, well below the peak of 51 per cent in late 2008, with 45 per cent stating that it was ‘not an important issue’ in deciding how to vote in the Presidential elections’. This poll does not take account of the record summer temperatures and drought conditions prevailing across 63 per cent of the ‘Lower 48’ states, but it’s unclear what connections voters would make with climate change.
Yet this erosion of climate concern should not be confused with a lack of support for action to promote ‘green growth:’ the same survey found that a full 58 per cent of those polled believed that action to protect the environment “improves economic growth and provides new jobs” compared with only 17 per cent against. With America’s fiscal situation one of the top political issues, 60 per cent said that they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who reduced federal income tax and made up the revenue via fossil fuel taxes.
Crunch issues and wild cards
Critically, the Presidential election is just one of three federal polls on November 6: the entire House of Representatives is also up for election along with a third of the Senate. This is important as key policy proposals need filibuster proof support in both Houses as well as Presidential backing. We believe the climate and clean tech dimension of the elections will turn on three key issues, with one wild card after the vote.
– Tax credits for wind power: The Production Tax Credit for wind will expire at the end of the year. We estimate that failure to extend the PTC would reduce the wind market from 10.5GW this year to 3GW in 2013. On August 2, the Senate Finance Committee – consisting of both Democrats and Republicans – approved a bill that would extend the wind PTC and renewable energy Investment Tax Credit by one year until December 13 2013 as part of a package of tax extenders. The proposal also recommends changing the eligibility criteria for offshore wind so that projects receive the PTC as long as they have begun construction by the end of 2013; currently projects must be completed by year-end to qualify. We believe that an extension is unlikely ahead of the November election, but the PTC remains a rare example where bipartisan support can be achieved and so approval either in the lame duck period or early in 2013 looks reasonable, in our view. However, if this just a one-year extension then it would provide insufficient regulatory visibility to stimulate many new projects.
– Ethanol mandates and corn: With the US drought driving corn prices up c28 per cent since 15 June, the Obama Administration is under pressure from home and abroad to suspend its renewable fuel standard (RFS). The RFS mandates 13.2 billion gallons of ethanol this year; last year, ethanol consumed 40 per cent of US corn. Ethanol production has already responded to high corn prices and has fallen to a two-year low since early June, reducing corn consumption by c12 per cent. Flexibility built into the RFS also lowers the economic impacts of reduced corn output. Nevertheless, one study has estimated that a RFS waiver would cut corn prices by 7.4 per cent. The electoral importance of ethanol in key farming states makes it unlikely that either candidate would support RFS suspension ahead of the November vote. Thereafter, the recent repetition of food price spikes could accelerate US efforts to reduce the ethanol share in biofuel production.
– Carbon regulation & the EPA: Ending the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate GHGs is a key Republican priority in energy policy. In the absence of cap and trade, this would remove a major remaining tool for low-carbon action. In April 2011, an attempt to pass similar legislation won 50 votes, but failed to gain the 60 votes need to avoid a filibuster; President Obama had also pledged to veto the legislation. Given the high hurdle to pass the Senate, we believe that this measure to end the EPA’s authority is also unlikely to succeed after the 2012 elections.
– Carbon pricing & fiscal reform: One ‘wild card’ idea that is gaining traction in bipartisan efforts to close the US fiscal gap is the use of a carbon tax to raise revenues. A carbon tax has been supported by a range of think-tanks across the political spectrum including the American Enterprise Institute, the Centre for American Progress, and the Economic Policy Institute.5 A new study from Brookings finds that a tax set at $US15 per tonne would raise $US80 billion pa at the outset; if it rose by 4 per cent a year, it would raise $US310 billion by 2050, cutting GHGs by 34 per cent. Introducing a carbon tax would clearly face substantial obstacles – but if placed in the context of overall fiscal rebalancing could win favour in our view.
This is an edited extract of HSBC Global Research’s “US election preview,” published August 16, 2012. Reproduced with permission.EXCLUSIVE! Lisa Vanderpump Explains Why She Teamed Up With Sharon Osbourne To Take A Stand Against The Yulin Dog Festival — Watch Their Haunting PSA HERE!
Lisa Vanderpump and Sharon Osbourne are taking action against the horrific Yulin Dog Festival.
The two animal enthusiasts teamed up to produce a PSA about the terrible event in China that celebrates the brutalization and slaughter of defenseless dogs so they can be eaten for pleasure.
Disgusting.
In the announcement, the Real Housewives star calls viewers to action, inviting them to participate in a march to the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles on World Animal Day — October 4.
Video: EXCLUSIVE! Lisa Spills The Tea & Catches Us Up To Speed On RHOBH!
We’ve learned EXCLUSIVELY that Lisa filmed the haunting video (above) in her home on the day before her birthday. She also included the Osbourne matriarch because they’ve been friends for a really long time, and Sharon shares Lisa’s passion for their furry friends.
Miz Vanderpump has opened up to us in the past about the horrible holiday, but now she’s explaining why she decided to organize the march:
“When I saw the horrific images of dogs being tortured and slaughtered for their meat my heart got heavy. Right then and there I said to myself, I’m going to do everything I can to put an end to this so called ‘festival.’ This is what I want on my epitaph. I want it to say this woman was instrumental in ending the barbaric torture of these poor creatures.”
We’re really proud of Lisa and Sharon for standing up against this terrible tradition, and we really hope they are able to make a difference.
If you’re in the area on October 4, head to MacArthur Park at 10 a.m. to join the movement.Harry Hamburg/AP Photo
The chief of staff to Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., was arrested on child pornography charges today by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, a Justice Department spokesman said.
Law enforcement agents searched the home of Ryan Loskarn, 35, this morning and he was taken into custody based on "probable cause for possession and distribution of child pornography," authorities said.
Loskarn will remain in custody until his court appearance, which is expected to be Thursday.
Alexander fired and replaced Loskarn this afternoon.
"The courts will judge Mr. Loskarn's guilt or innocence, but under these circumstances, he cannot continue to fulfill his duties as chief of staff of this office," Alexander said in a statement. "Therefore, as of today, I have removed him from the payroll."
Earlier today, Sen. Alexander placed Loskarn, who was the chief of staff in Alexander's Washington, D.C. office, on administrative leave without pay when he became aware of the investigation, the senator said in a statement.
"I am stunned, surprised and disappointed by what I have learned," Alexander said. "The office is fully cooperating with the investigation."
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is the lead investigative agency in this case, said Lori McCallister, the U.S. Postal Inspector.
"All documents related to this law enforcement action are currently under seal, therefore no additional information will be provided at this time," McCallister said in an e-mail.
Loskarn has worked on Capitol Hill for years, previously working in the offices of former Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., and Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn.
Alexander has named a new chief of staff, David Cleary, who has served as his legislative director since 2011.
Loskarn did not immediately respond to a request by ABC News for comment.
ABC News' Jack Cloherty contributed to this report.English Championship – facts and figures
EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second tier of league competition in English football. Last season was the first of the EFL Championship under the current Sky Bet’s name, and the twenty-fifth season under its current league structure. It is known as the wealthiest non top flight football league in the world and the seventh richest division in Europe.
It can boast with the second average match attendance among the second division European leagues, leaving the place only to Bundesliga 2. We are still waiting for the beginning of the new season, therefore it is a good moment for summing up the last one, predicting the outcomes for the next one, showing a bit of the league’s history and analyse the statistics.
The history of the league
Basically the league exist from 1892, functioning as Division Two. In 1992, it was the subject of change into Division One. From 2004, it is the EFL (or now Sky Bet) Championship. The winners of the Championship receive the Football League Championship trophy, the same trophy as the old First Division champions were handed prior to the Premier League's inception in 1992. Ipswich Town are the leagues veterans, having the longest tenure in the Championship, last being out of the division in the 2001–02 season, when they were relegated from the Premier League.
Among the teams with the biggest amount of titles, we have Manchester City and Leicester City, who both won the league 7 times in their history. Behind the Citizens and the Foxes, come the Blues from Birmingham as well as Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday, which all earned 5 titles. Sunderland will have a chance to improve this record, being relegated from the Premier League last season.
Sky Bet’s last season
Season 2016/17 saw a fierce rivalry until the last round between Newcastle United (relegated a season before from Premier League) and last season’s revelation – Brighton & Hove Albion. Finally, the title went to Newcastle, as the Magpies ended the season with 94 points, only a point ahead of Brighton. Brighton actually lost their Champioship in the last round, having only drawn with Aston Villa (1-1), while Newcastle firmly beaten Barnsley 3 to 0. It was for sure an unimaginable loss for Brighton, as they were on the run throughout the whole season. On the other side, Rafael Benitez, the manager of Newcastle proved that he didn’t give empty promises, when announcing his immediate return to Premier League plans.
Traditionally, there was a big fight for the play-off places (from 3 to 6). The regular season ended with Reading (led by great Dutch former player – Jaap Stam) earning the 3rd place, 4 points before the fourth Sheffield Wednesday and 5th Huddersfield Town. The last team, which qualified for the play-offs was Fulham, having big ambitions, adverting to their rich Premier League’s history. All in all, it was Huddersfield Town, who earn the promotion, dramatically winning against Reading in the promotion final.
On the other side of the England Championship table we can find 3 relegated teams, finishing the season respectively on places from 22nd to 24th. These were Blackburn Rovers, which did not manage to come back to Premier League after their relegation in 2012. Also Wigan Athletic and Rotterham did not manage to maintain in the league for the next season.
Chris Wood, a New-Zealander from Leeds United scored the biggest amount of goals -25. Newcastle United managed to earn the biggest away victory (0:6 against QPR), as well as to maintain the longest winning streak – 8 matches. The runners-up from Brighton had the longest unbeaten run, which last for 18 games. Rotterham United noted the longest winless run, lasting for 17 matches.
A close look on the Champions
The current champions from Newcastle managed to build a strong team upon the players who stayed after the relegation. Ayoze Perez, Aleksandar Mitrovic, Jack Colback or Chancel Mbemba were among the most significant names, who shown their loyalty and considerably helped the team in their way back to Premier League. Apart from them, the team managed to sign Matt Ritchie or Dwight Gayle, who turned out to be a bull’s eye (both scoring many goals and having lots of assists) as well as Christian Atsu or Mohamed Diame.
That is why nobody cried after Papiss Cisse or Fabrizio Coloccini. The team managed to score 85 goals, conceding only 40 and having the goal difference of 45 goals (the best in the league). Their striker, Dwight Gayle had a decent impact on their attacking form, as he scored 26 goals. Also Matty Ritchie contributed highly to the final success, scoring 17 goals, as well as the other striker – Ayoze Perez, who ended the season with 15 strikes. Due to all of these, Newcastle United managed to bring Premier League back on St. James Park.
Incoming season’s prediction
It is no surprise that the teams relegated last year from Premier League will be among the candidates for the title this season. That is why Hull City, Middlesbrough and Sunderland have a big chance for the win. If only they would maintain the cores of their squads, it is highly probable to see them on top. Other teams, which may go off for the fight are Reading and Sheff Wed, which were really near the promotion last season, as well as Watford, Fulham or the sleeping giants from Aston Villa.
On the other hand, Nottingham Forest has very fortunately managed to maintain their Championship’s tenure for the next season, ending last one with the same amount of points as relegated Blackburn, having only a better goal difference balance (2 goals more). Unless they improve their form, this season might be also very difficult from them. Also the newly promoted Bolton, Sheffield United and Milwall will struggle for their maintenance in the tier.
Transfers
Although there are many weeks of transfer window ahead, we have already seen many interesting moves. Hull City, relegated last year, have lost Harry Maguire or Tom Huddlestone, who respectively moved to Leicester City or Derby County. They were also involved in an interesting exchange with Liverpool – Andrew Robertson moved to Liverpool, while Kevin Stewart has strengthen Hull’s squad.
Middlesbrough lost two or three important players, like the left winger Victor Fischer, who went to Mainz, Jordan Rhodes, who went to Sheff Wed or the goalkeeper, however they managed to find equally good replacements. Darren Randolph from West Ham for the goalkeeper position, Britt Assombalonga for 17,10 Mill. € for the attack and Martin Braithwaite from Toulouse for the wings. Sunderland looks as for now as the weakest from the relegated teams, having sold two solid goalkeepers – Vito Mannone to Reading and the amazing youngster goalie – Jordan Pickford for an astonishing amount of 28,50 Mill. € to Everton.
They managed to sign however Irish international – Aiden McGeady (also from Everton) and a goalkeeper Jason Steele from Blackburn.
Among other interesting moves, we have Urby Emanuelson from Sheff Wed to FC Utrecht, Tomas Kalas loaned from Chelsea to Fulham, Mateusz Klich from FC Twente to Leeds, Vurnon Anita from Newcastle also to Leeds.
Derby County bought Andre Wisdom and Tom Huddlestone (respectively from Liverpool and Hull City), however they sold their two big talents – Tom Ince (to Huddersfield Town) and Will Hughes (Watford). Brentford FC bought a very interesting player, known from Eredivisie pitches - Kamohelo Mokotjo from FC Twente.
And the best for the final – John Terry has signed a contract with Aston Villa. The legendary Chelsea captain got convinced by Villans president to sign a 2-year deal with them. They also bought a solid, experienced defender – Cherno Samba.
Bunch of team statistics
If you are one of those, who like to have the access to all the data, analyses, comparisons, then this section shall particularly appeal to you. It will let you conduct a better, more thorough analysis of the current situation, the form of each team, predictions for the following fixtures, as well as follow the latest news about each team or player.
English Championship table
Among all data, the most important, is always the league table. Last season ended with a slight Newcastle’s win, gathering only one point more than Brighton. They won 29 matches, which was the highest number among all teams. Similarly to Brighton, the conceded 40 goals, however with 84 goals scored, they managed to have the highest goal difference. Fulham and Norwich (respectively 6th and 8th in the English Championship table) scored the highest amount of goals- 85. While on the other hand, Rotterham lost 98 goals, significantly lagging behind the rest of the league. Rotterham has also collected the lowest number of points – 23, having won only 5 matches, drawing 8 and losing 33.
Other relevant statistics
As it was already said, Fulham and Norwich distinguish themselves with the highest number of scored goals – 85. On the other hand, Norwich and Newcastle has the highest average of goals per game – 1.85. Rotterham has its place on the other end of this ranking – having the highest average of conceded goals per match - 2.13. Newcastle and Fulham have also a distinguishable average of shots per game – 13.30. Newcastle has the highest number of shots on goal -5.28 per match, while Fulham is a bit worse, having 4.93. Norwich and Brentford have also a significant average of shots on goal per game, respectively 5.26 and 5.24 threating the opposite goalie.
Fulham and Huddersfield and Reading, so three from the play-off places, can be proud of their ball possession throughout the season, leaving behind the rest of the teams. Fulham has an incredible ball possession stats, reaching almost 60% (59.96%). Under the current coach they love to play an attractive, dominating style of football. The second Hudderfsfield town reached 58.04%, while the third Reading 57.13%. The champion from Newcastle, is fourth in this ranking, reaching 52.65%. On the other side, we have i.e. Rotterham or Cardiff, which undoubtedly loved to play counterattacks, having an average ball possession at the level of 39.76% and 41.50% of time respectively.
QPR was the most aggressively playing team, committing a total number of 618.0 fouls during the season, which gives an average of 13.43 fouls per game. On the other side, we have gentlemen from Fulham, who can be distinguished by a very clean style of play, committing 429.0 fouls throughout the season (9.33 per game). We have also the ranking of the team with the highest numbers of cards – Nottingham Forest earned the biggest of them, over 2 yellow cards per game (2.20) and one red card each 5 games (0.20).
Individual statistics
English Championship top scorers
First place in this ranking is deservedly earned by Chris Wood from Leeds, who scored 27 goals. It is almost a half of the team goals in general (61). He scored 0.7 goals per match on average. Then we three players with the same amount of 23 goals. Glenn Murray from Brighton, who considerably helped his team earn the promotion with his 23 goals, giving him an average of 0.5 goals per game. Next one is Tammy Abraham – Swansea’s youngster, loaned to Bristol City with an average of 0.6 goals per game and Dwight Gayle from Newcastle, having also an average of 0.5 goals per match. The experienced 35 years old Frenchman, Yann Kermorgant from Reading, scored 19 goals, which gave him the 5th position in this ranking.
Top assistants
Here we have one player, who significantly left behind all other ones. Conor Hurrihane from Aston Villa ended the season with 14 goals, which gave him the 1st position in the top assistans ranking. Then we have 4 players, who have the same number of last passes – 10. These are Tom Cairney, Sone Aluko (both from Fulham) Wes Hoolahan (Norwich) and Albert Adonah (Aston Villa). As you can see, 24 goals of the 47 Villans’ goals come from the great play of this important duo.
Most brutal players
David Davis (Birmingham) and Lewis Dunk (Brighton) are among the most brutally playing ones, collecting respectively 15 and 14 yellow cards and one red. Just right after them, we have Pontus Jansson (from Leeds) and Preston’s Ben Pearson, with 14 yellow cards, but no red ones. Kevin McDonald from Fulham has also earned 14 cards - 13 yellows and one red.
English Championship Summary
To sum up, English Championship is one of the most exciting and exhausting leagues. Featuring 24 teams, it gives a total amount of 46 matches in regular season phase. As for the fans, it is undoubtedly a good fact, giving them a lot of possibilities to watch high-quality football. Next season will be very exciting, with lot of teams interested in promotion. The league starts at the 4th of August with the match Sunderland – Derby. Don’t forget to follow the matches of your favourite teams and players.A restaurant featured on Gordon Ramsay’s Fox reality show Kitchen Nightmares is living a real-life nightmare—on its Facebook and Yelp pages. Viewers, appalled at what they saw on the show—the owners of Amy’s Baking Company were shown pocketing the staff’s tips; it was revealed by Ramsay that the raviolis, like the restaurant’s famed baked goods, weren’t made on site—took to social media to complain.
Customers weighed in on Yelp: one reader called the owner “a psychopath,” another said, “This place makes Subway or MacD seem like fine dining,” and another described Amy’s as an “Awesome restaurant if you're a masochist! I've been insulted, humiliated and put down so many times in an evening that I got my fill for a year.“
In the episode, the two owners of the Scottsdale, Arizona, restaurant, Amy and Samy Bouzaglo, are depicted as being abusive to customers, unable to take criticism, and disorganized and rude. At the top of the show, Amy said of running a restaurant: “It’s not all daisies, ponies, and unicorns.”
That’s putting it lightly.
Amy is quoted saying: “The customer is not always right,” and Samy said: “If anyone tells me my wife’s food is no good, I tell them not to come back.”
That turned out to be an understatement. At one point, he is shown screaming at a customer who is upset that he’s been waiting for an hour for a pizza, pointing his finger in the customer’s face and physically threatening him: “Fuck you! Out! Get out of here!”
Later, Amy calls a waitress who was double-checking an order, “a poisonous little viper.” The young waitress who looks all of 16 years old, bursts into tears as she quits.
Viewers were upset over the treatment of the staff, most notably the pocketing of tips by the owners. A waitress on the show told Ramsay that she was paid by the hour, and didn’t receive any of the tips that customers left on their bills.
The couple was so difficult that even the typically hardened Ramsay decided he couldn’t help them and shut the show down before beginning the rehab phase.
After hundreds of outraged customers and viewers besieged the restaurants’ Facebook and Yelp pages, the couple fought back in a series of ALL CAPS LOCK postings on Facebook, many of which have since been deleted.
One post read, “WE ARE NOT FREAKING OUT. WE DO NOT CARE ABOUT A "WITCH HUNT" I AM NOT A WITCH. I AM GODS CHILD. PISS OFF ALL OF YOU. FUCK REDDITS, FUCK YELP AND FUCK ALL OF YOU. BRING IT. WE WILL FIGHT BACK.”
Read another, from Samy: “To all of the Yelpers and Reddits: Bring it on. you are just pussies. come to arizona. you are weaker than my wife, and weaker than me. come to my business. say it to my face. man to man. my wife is a jewel in the desert. you are just trash. reddits and yelpers just working together to bring us down. Pathetic.”
And another: “This is Samy. I am keeping note of all names here. We will be pursuing action against you legaly, and against reddit and yelp, for this plot you have come together on. you are all just punks.”
Even prior to Sunday’s show, the couple told Ramsay they were no strangers to fighting online backlash: “These reviewers and bloggers decided to make up lies and say that the food was disgusting. We lost a tremendous amount of business because they’re just fucking haters,” Amy said.
She told a stunned-looking Ramsay: “We stand strong together. We have to because there are a lot of online bullies and haters and bloggers. We stand up to them, and I think we are the only ones I think who ever have as restaurant owners. They say horrible things that are not true.”
At one point, Ramsay is shown crowing over one of their desserts. “This is beautiful,” he says. Later, readers posted evidence on the Facebook page that showed that the desserts are made elsewhere.
Indeed, in the entire episode, Amy is never shown making a single dessert.
After the episode aired, it appeared that Amy took to the Facebook page to defend the policy of reselling desserts made at another restaurants. “I AM NOT STUPID ALL OF YOU ARE. YOU JUST DO NOT KNOW GOOD FOOD. IT IS NOT UNCOMMON TO RESELL THINGS WALMART DOES NOT MAKE THEIR ELECTRONICS OR TOYS SO LAY OFF!!!!”
They also claimed they did not in fact take the tips from their servers, posting on the Facebook page: “We do not, nor have we ever stolen or taken any of our servers, waitresses, or waiters tips at Amy’s Baking Company. We pay our staff members anywhere between |
’ve got a great team bond.”
Coming through for them when the Pistons needed it badly can only strengthen it. Johnson is out for at least the next two games – Saturday at Milwaukee, Sunday vs. Toronto – and possibly another week or so after that. Bullock can’t guarantee his shot will always fall with the regularity it did Wednesday, but he’ll be ready to provide everything else under his control.
“(Van Gundy) believed in me, gave me another opportunity with Stanley going down,” he said. “I’m not happy that he went down as a teammate, but it’s an opportunity for me to be able to show what I’m capable of doing. I just have to be consistent on it for the rest of the games that he’s not here.”When I was little, my father told me all I needed to be successful was to earn a university degree.
That piece of paper, he told me, would allow me to "write my own ticket." With it, I would have a high-paying career of my choice, live in a nice house, be able to take care of my future children, travel and do basically whatever I wanted. Willy Wonka's Golden Ticket couldn't have been more precious.
My father came of age during the tail end of the Second World War, when young men in university were able to do just that: get a degree and go on to a lucrative professional career of their choosing. My dad didn't have any reason to doubt that his children should chart the same course. It seemed a logical outcome: get a good education, get rewarded.
Flash forward 20 years or so, to my graduation from university with a bachelor of arts. On that sunny May morning, I graduated with more than 800 other bright young things, presumably also thinking that they had just won the prize that would assure their future fiscal security.
It wasn't until that day, sweating in my cap and gown, that I started to doubt my dad's convictions.
I looked around that massive auditorium and wondered how all of us were going to get jobs. And what exactly had my English major and psychology minor trained me to do, for pity's sake?
By then it was a little late to start second-guessing my father's advice. I was thousands of dollars in debt for student loans and there was nothing left (I thought) but to get a job and start paying the government back.
Hard lesson
I took the first job I could find, as a low-paying office clerk at a company in downtown Winnipeg. I made just enough to pay for a tiny one-bedroom apartment, buy groceries and a bus pass and repay $200 a month on my student loans.
Needless to say, I didn't feel like I had the ability to "write my own ticket." It was a hard lesson to learn, and certainly didn't leave me with much faith in the power of a university degree.
Flash forward another 25 years: my eldest son is in his first year of university at my alma mater.
He has listened ad nauseum to his father's and my rants about a university degree not being the be-all and end-all. He knows that both his parents had a hard row to hoe when it came to finding jobs that would pay well and offer long-term stability, despite being university graduates.
We've always told him that if he wanted to go to university, he had to be crystal clear on what he wanted to get out of the process. As such, he has a definite plan to become an accountant.
Few stick to 1 job
Nowadays, people are more likely to have a number of different jobs and careers in their working lifetime. The stereotype of the worker who starts with a company straight out of university and stays there until retirement is increasingly rare.
I do have friends who went to university to learn their chosen profession and are 20-odd years into a career with the same company, but they're few and far between. I'm more likely to hear of those who have gone back to school after their degree in order to make themselves more marketable in a different field, or who have started their own business.
Back in the day, skilled trades were a "second-class" option to a spiffy university degree. Nowadays, a community college education or apprenticeship looks a lot more sensible, especially when you take into account the uncertainty of today's job market.
I would be just as happy if my two younger sons decided to go into a trade, since the skills they would learn will likely be in far greater demand for the foreseeable future.
Set goals
The main thing I've learned from my experience is that it is crucial to decide exactly what your goals are before enrolling in any post-secondary institution, rather than assuming education will give you a pass to the good life.
For me, an unfocussed, shy procrastinator, university turned out to be the world's most expensive finishing school. I met my future husband there, made some lifelong friends, learned how to hold my liquor, but beyond that, it was a horrendous waste of time.
The only way to "write your own ticket" nowadays is to take a long, hard look at your skills and interests and be as clear as possible about what your goals are in terms of a career. University is an option, but only one of many, and it's certainly not for everybody.
Unlike death, taxes and the likelihood of Donald Trump offending someone in the next five minutes, it's not a sure thing. Choose wisely.
Jo Davies is a Winnipeg writer.Would covert operatives whose work involves subverting democratic governments abroad—including violent coups such as the one that brought down Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973—hesitate when ordered to participate in comparable activities at home?
We’re constantly told that no such thing could happen in the good ole USA (certainly not in the deaths of JFK, RFK, MLK, for example), if for no other reason than that it is impossible to keep such plots secret.
Or, in the common parlance: “Someone would have talked.”
The logic goes: since no one has come forward to describe their role in such plots, therefore no plot has existed.
In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. People are coming forward all the time to provide, if not the whole story, crucial bits and pieces that together would lead us to awareness of a variety of covert doings, some clearly nefarious. For example, scores, perhaps hundreds of credible eyewitnesses have cast doubt on the official “lone kook” scenario that is a staple of every domestic assassination.
But these whistleblowers are quickly discredited, suppressed, or worse. From time to time people even come out of the national security establishment to testify to such wrongdoing, but they almost always pay a heavy price –which of course discourages others from bearing witness.
How many remember the story of Philip Agee? Phil was a loyal American who served in the Central Intelligence Agency abroad. Eventually, he could no longer stomach the ugly work he and colleagues were doing to subvert the affairs of other countries, and he became a critic and a fugitive. You can read about his hair-raising adventures as the might of the US government came down upon him wherever he went, in his book On the Run.
The Waterboard Whisperer
In the years since, there have been numerous other examples of “someone” who did talk, only to suffer a variety of unpleasant circumstances. The most recent case is that of former CIA officer John Kiriakou, who faces up to 45 years in prison for statements he has made.
Kiriakou first attracted the Agency’s ire when, in 2007, the ex-agent told ABC News that while he believed that waterboarding could be effective, it was morally the wrong thing to do. He was quickly ousted from his job as a security risk analyst for the accounting firm Deloitte.
He later, the government charges, spoke to journalists who were seeking confirmation of the identity of agency personnel involved with the controversial interrogation program that used methods tantamount to torture. Kiriakou faces four counts related to leaking classified information, each carrying a penalty of ten years imprisonment.
He is also accused of having told the CIA that material in a book he was writing would “fictionalize” a high-tech CIA scanning device known as a “magic box” while in fact he went ahead to describe it accurately. The charge of making false statements could earn him an additional five years imprisonment.
The bottom line here is that public servants can go to jail for trying to inform the public about the truth of what their government does—and, bizarrely, for lying to the government by falsely promising to lie about government secrets while actually telling the truth about what they had seen from the inside.
As for “someone would have talked”……baloney. Almost nobody talks. And for good reason. Just ask John Kiriakou.
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Our Comment Policy Keep it civilized, keep it relevant, keep it clear, keep it short. Please do not post links or promotional material. We reserve the right to edit and to delete comments where necessary. Related printIt's hard to call this a wallpaper really, the colours don't really give it that subtle quality a wallpaper should have. Oh screw the rules.The hardest process in making this was deciding who to include, but I managed to get the major, minor and BG characters we know and love. (Almost forgot the Diamond dogs - whoops.)>mfw seeing this as a header for an EQD post.Many thanks to all these vector artists, for providing high quality cutie mark vectors. So in no particular order...From left to right:Row 1: Allie Way, Braeburn, Discord, Canterlot Guard, Daisy, Mjolnir (Thor Pony - BG), Chief Thunderhooves, Rainbow Dash, Pipsqueak, Iron Will, French Waiter Pony (S01E03).Row 2: Jet Set & Upper Crust, Berry Punch, Hoity Toity, Octavia, Trixie, Caramel, Filthy Rich, Lyra, Applejack, Fleur de Lis, Doctor Pony (S02E10)Row 3: Mr Breezy (S01E18), Doctor Whooves, Prince Blueblood, Twilight Sparkle, Vinyl Scratch, Lauren Faust, Bon Bon, Spike, Granny Smith, Aloe & Lotus (Spa twins), Sapphire Shores (S01E19).Row 4: Screwball, Snips & Snails, Princess Luna, Flim Flam Brothers, Carrot Top, Princess Celestia, Nurse Redheart, Pierce (BG)Row 5: Apple Cobbler (BG), Daring Do, Diamond Tiara & Silver Spoon, Zecora, Rarity, Bronies, Colgate, Mayor Mare, Wonderbolts, Derpy, AceRow 6: Lily, Roseluck, Photo Finish, Cheerilee, Mr. & Mrs. Cake, Big Mac, Twist, Fancy Pants, Cherry Jubilee, Pinkie Pie, Davenport (Quills and Sofas)Row 7: Caesar, Cloudsdale bullies, Fluttershy, Cranky Doodle, Steven Magnet, Parasprite, CMC, Sheriff Silverstar, Mare Do Well, Gilda, Diamond DogsMLPFiM © HasbroThe decision by Barack Obama to restrict lobbyists from working on the same subject in his administration for two years was greeted with nearly unanimous acclaim among the pundits in Washington D.C. If there is one thing that unites congressmen and good-government groups it is support -- at least rhetorical support -- for limiting special interests.
But not everyone was overcome with joy over the Executive Order. For Democratic operatives who have the word "lobbyist" on their resume, Obama's move was a dagger to their dreams of administration jobs.
"All Appointees Entering Government," the new rule reads, "will not for a period of 2 years from the date of [their] appointment participate in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to [their] former employer or former clients, including regulations and contracts."
The issue, ironically, may not matter as much for the most senior of prospective administration officials. Obama maintains the right to skirt the restrictions. For instance, his deputy defense secretary will be William Lynn, who has previously served as a representative for the defense contractor Raytheon. Rather, the individuals squeezed most tightly by the restrictions could end up being those lower on the political totem pole.
"Today, I received the news that I won't be working for an Obama administration," said a Democratic friend of mine, who was part of a briefing team for the president's transition efforts but happens to be a registered lobbyist.
By instituting the most transparent and open ethics policy of any presidential administration, Obama was bound to step on some toes. And he may have disadvantaged himself in certain ways. A high-ranking party operative told the Huffington Post back in December that he disagreed somewhat with the transition team's decision to restrict lobbyists from working on their areas of focus. He'd rather have the experts on staff.
"I understand not having a lobbyist for the NRA working for Obama," the went. "But I want someone who has spent their careers lobbying for stronger gun control laws formulating gun policy in the next White House."
For good government groups, this is a faulty hypothetical. The administration not only needed to make a clean break from special interests, they argue, but can easily fill its ranks with qualified individuals from outside the beltway.
"I think that stance assumes that lobbyists are the only free thinkers and knowledgeable thinkers in Washington that can help the government run better," said Scott Amey of the non-partisan public interest group, the Project On Government Oversight. "The ethics pledge that President Obama put out yesterday was only limiting lobbyists. And the one thing you have to remember is that lobbyists are representing clients that have financial interests at stake... The Obama team has the waiver provision in there. If it determines that it is in the public interest, a lobbyist can still come and work for the administration. And there are certain times when those waivers may be more appropriate and reasonable than other cases."
POGO, in the end, did not think that such an exception should apply to Lynn, who has become the current face of Obama hypocrisy for the Republican National Committee.
Other watchdogs agreed.
"It appears to be a black-and-white case. I am unaware of what makes it so gray in the mind of President Obama," a former congressional budget staffer now with the Center for Defense Information told ABC News. "It certainly does not bode well for his effectiveness in the job," added Lawrence Korb, a military expert with the Center for American Progress.
But Gibbs justified the move in during Thursday's presser, making sure to reaffirm that the President is, at this point, setting a gold standard for White House ethics policy.
"We have experts who have studied the issue of transparency and ethics who have applauded the steps that the president took yesterday," he said, during his first press briefing. "That exceeds what any administration has previously done in this country. That's what the president pledged during the campaign and that is exactly what he did yesterday in signing these executive orders."After a wave of complaints from customers, Microsoft has dropped a controversial online ad for its Internet Explorer web browser that featured a vomiting woman.
The spot, which hit the internet earlier this week, had received a mixed reception from web users.
In the minute-long advert, Dean Cain - the actor best known for playing Superman in the 1990s TV series - fronts a spoof public information film highlighting the features of the new software.
The scene shows a woman who discovers an offensive website on her husband's browser, the contents of which cause her to vomit three times. Cain suggests Internet Explorer's privacy options mean that users will never have to suffer from what he calls OMGIGP - "Oh My God, I'm Gonna Puke" syndrome - ever again.
But after widespread disgust at the graphic nature of the ad, Microsoft has pulled the advertisement.
In a statement, the US software corporation called the spot "tongue-in-cheek", but said that it had decided to drop it after complaints from those who found it offensive.
"While much of the feedback to this particular piece of creative was positive, some of our customers found it offensive, so we have removed it," the company said. "We make a point of listening to our customers".
It is a blow for Microsoft, which has been trying to reposition itself with an advertising blitz, and for the American agency which created the series, Bradley & Montgomery. However, the edgy nature of the ads appears to have been part of the appeal for Microsoft: last month director Bobcat Goldthwait - a veteran of the Police Academy movies - told BrandWeek that some of the adverts in the series were "more nutty in tone".
Although the ad has now been pulled from Microsoft's website, it is still available on YouTube (warning: obviously this features material that some might find offensive):On September 27, 2010, an interview article in Spin quoted MGMT as saying that they would have less freedom on this album, claiming that Columbia Records was not happy with the reception of the band's second album Congratulations. MGMT later denied these statements in an email to Pitchfork, who cited the article on their own site as a side note to a different story, stating that they were not "even close to starting the process of making a new album," that "label-relations are currently quite friendly," and finally telling readers "Don't believe everything that you read (even on Pitchfork.com)."[3]
In an interview with American Songwriter published on November 8, 2010, VanWyngarden and Goldwasser said their third album will be self-titled, and that "usually if we say something and it gets published, we stick to it. That's what happened with Congratulations." Regarding the content of the album, Goldwasser said "Something that'd be fun to do is have a decent number of songs on the album that can easily be extended or have sections that could turn into a really trance-y, repetitive thing live."[4]
When in Argentina to perform on January 22, 2011,[5][6] they told Rocktails they have worked on some sounds but that there are no clear ideas yet.[7]
On February 28, 2011, they told Coup de Main magazine that they will be on tour until April, when they will begin work on demos for the third album.[8] On January 26, 2012 MGMT confirmed in an interview with Gibby Haynes of Butthole Surfers in the inaugural issue of Intercourse Magazine that they had started work on the album. VanWyngarden stated that he has written five songs, inspired by R.E.M..[9] On February 27, the band began recording the album at Tarbox Road Studios with producer Dave Fridmann.[10]
On March 1, Andrew VanWyngarden revealed in an interview that they will perform new songs on their upcoming shows in Argentina, Chile, México, Colombia, Brazil and Puerto Rico.[11] On March 30, the band premiered a new song, "Alien Days", at a show in Bogotá, Colombia.[12] at the Festival Estereo Picnic. The song was also played at the following shows in Latin America. On August 3, Andrew VanWyngarden told "The Morning Call" that their new album was "too good not to talk about". He said he was enjoying it, it sounds close to Congratulations, and they're "making good songs".[13]
On January 29, 2013, the band told Rolling Stone that they "are not trying to make music that everyone understands the first time they hear it." They also confirmed that a song entitled "Mystery Disease" and a cover of Faine Jade's 1968 track "Introspection" will be included on the album.[14] On March 4, 2013 MGMT released information about their 2013 tour that started April 26 and ended on May 18.[15] On March 6, 2013 MGMT's producer Dave Fridmann stated on his website that the album was about to be finished.[16]
On June 9, the band confirmed on their official Twitter account that they were going to finish the album cover later that day.[17] On June 10, Dave Fridmann updated his website with the news that the album could be out sometime in August.[18] On June 25, MGMT revealed via their website that the album is due for release on September 17, 2013.[19] The band confirmed via Twitter that their new video for "Your Life Is a Lie" will come out on August 5, and it's accompanied with an interactive kaleidoscopic video embedded on their official website.[20] MGMT released their full album "MGMT" prematurely via Twitter on September 9 saying they had a "surprise". Days before its official release, was made pre-release of the album in the service Rdio on September 9, 2013.[21]NEW DELHI: “We had confirmed the involvement of the Sunil Joshi group in the Samjhauta explosion and the fact that no one from SIMI was involved,” was the categorical response of then Special Investigation Team chief, Vikash Narain Rai, an upright police officer who had been entrusted with the enquiry of the train explosion in 2007.
In an exclusive interview to The Citizen Rai ---former Director General of Police (Law and Order), Haryana---spoke of the painstaking investigation, the non cooperation of agencies, and the fact that he and his team had zeroed in on Joshi and his group for planting the explosive that set the Samjhauta on fire. Joshi was a RSS pracharak and was killed in the winter of 2007 after the blasts by two men who are still absconding.
Rai who was contacted by News X for his views yesterday found that a 25 minute interview where he had stated the facts was not telecast by the channel that instead as clearly part of its official policy, targeted another police officer on the show (more on this tomorrow in Part 2 of this report) to take forward the claim that Muslim and not Hindu groups were involved in this case. “It was totally insane, unbelievable,” he said.
“I have been a police officer for 35 years,” said Rai still surprised at the levels to which the media has sunk now, “ and this decision to black out my interview was clearly manipulated, either for money or under political pressure.” Or, although he did not say it, perhaps for both.
Rai speaks of a meticulous, step by step investigation. The explosives that had been put together to ensure that the fire would expand in a moving train, and not subside with the one burst, were planted in suitcases. All of these had been destroyed but as Rai recalls, “we were very lucky to find one such suitcase intact.”
The make of the suitcase took the investigators to Indore, to a Raghunandan attache shop.
Rai pointed out that Indore immediately run bells of SiMI terror as this was a strong base for the Muslim group, but by then reports of Hindu extremist groups operating out of the city were also known. The shop was owned by a Bora Muslim and had two young employees, a Hindu and a Muslim.
The two boys were questioned intensively and recalled that two young men had come to their store to purchase the suitcase. And that they had returned later in the day to take away the suitcase in a loose cloth cover as they did not want to be seen with it. Rai said that the investigating team found that all the components that went into the explosives were also purchased in the radius of one kilometre from this shop.
He said that the first alarm bells went off for him when the two shop employees, interrogated separately, said that the two men appeared to be Hindus, spoke in a local Indori accent, and were clearly from the city itself.
Various names started surfacing during the course of the investigation but a major lead, Rai said, came from the murder of a local businessman Sunil Joshi. He was reported to be close to Pragya Thakur. He was killed by two men who have still not been traced. Rai said it could not be confirmed at the time whether the two men, identified at the time, had been killed as well or had fled the country to Nepal or elsewhere. The name of Swami Aseemanand also emerged in the course of the investigation.
The investigating team had by this time established two facts as Rai put it: one, the Samjhauta case involved Sunil Joshi and his men; and two, there was no SIMI or Pakistan hand in this.
The investigation was unable to proceed further, Rai said, by complete non-cooperation from Madhya Pradesh and more specifically from Indore. He said that at one point he stationed himself for several days in Indore but was unable to get the police to cooperate. He said that several policemen told him privately that while he was on the right track there was little they would or could do to help.
Rai said that in meetings held by the Ministry of Home Affairs at the time the Investigating Officers of Malegaon, Ajmer and other such terror attacks would exchange notes pointing towards the involvement of Hindu groups. In Mecca Masjid, several Muslim youth were falsely accused by the invesitgators of that case, and were subsequently acquitted by the courts. Rai confirms this with, "The investigators of Mecca masjid case had arrested wrong people even though the signatures of their case were exactly the same as Samjhauta case. We did not believe them and subsequently the NIA got those arrested persons discharged/released."
Interestingly Rai recalls a long conversation he had with the then Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare. He said that Karkare, investigating the Malegaon blasts, also said that he had considerable evidence that the Hindu extremists were involved in this case as well. He told Rai that he was putting the evidence together and would get back to him with more details as soon as he had stitched the loose ends. Rai said that this did not happen as Karkare was murdered soon after in the Mumbai terror attack.
The lack of cooperation from the Madhya Pradesh government brought Rai’s investigation to a “dead end” and later it was passed on to the newly set up NiA along with some of the other cases. Even here he recalls, this was done not immediately and only after the second NIA chief had taken over.
The NIA had chargesheeted RSS pracharak Sunil Joshi with the samjhauta Express train blast. He was considered an important link to the alleged acts of Hindu terror across the country at the time. He was shot dead on December 29,2007 when he was walking back to his hideout in Chuna Khadan locality in Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. As Rai now said, the two assailants identified at the time are still absconding.
Instead the Sunil Joshi murder case that is was at the heart of the Samjhauta Express and other investigations, has been quietly shifted back to Madhya Pradesh with the NIA under the current government claiming it has found no evidence of a terror angle.
(Read part 2 here).'Houston Strong' Together: An open letter to the Houston Astros from your fans You helped lift us up after Harvey. Now it's our turn to lift you up.
In their first home baseball game after Hurricane Harvey left more than 75 dead across Texas and destroyed thousands of homes, the Houston Astros debuted a "Houston Strong" uniform patch which they have continued to wear through the remainder of the 2017 season. REMINDER: This is what 'Houston Strong' really looks like... less In their first home baseball game after Hurricane Harvey left more than 75 dead across Texas and destroyed thousands of homes, the Houston Astros debuted a "Houston Strong" uniform patch which they have... more Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle Photo: Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 37 Caption Close 'Houston Strong' Together: An open letter to the Houston Astros from your fans 1 / 37 Back to Gallery
In desperate times, we take strength from anywhere we can find it.
So perhaps more than we should have, many in Houston found a small bit of strength when our Astros – a group of men who, in many cases, have few other ties to our city than an apartment to keep their belongings – returned home for the first time after Hurricane Harvey with the words "Houston Strong" on their chests.
From that day until this day, you've worn those words over your hearts like a badge.
But for those in Houston still rebuilding our lives one moment and one piece of drywall at a time, "Houston Strong" isn't just a slogan or a rallying cry.
"Houston Strong" is our burden.
Houston is strong not because it comes easy, but because it is who we have to be.
True strength is often revealed in our worst and weakest moments. Harvey showed us that about our Houston.
When the floods rose above our doorsteps, the strong gathered those who mattered to them and waded out into the water - not because they knew what was ahead, but because they knew it was the only direction forward.
When a needful hand reached out, the strong grabbed hold and carried it, not because they knew they could save it, but because the strong understood that lifting each other up was the only way to keep us all from being pulled down.
And when the strong returned home to see all they had built had been destroyed, the strong saw beyond what was lost to what could be rewon.
Now is your time to be Houston Strong, Astros – not because it will come easy, but because it is who you are because that is who you have to be.
Wade forward into the waters.
You'll find your city reaching out to lift you up.
You'll find that all you have lost can also be rewon.
Astros in seven.
- Your fans.
Houston Chronicle senior producer for audience John Boyd unapologetically bleeds orange at @JohnnyNewsroom on Twitter.France's borrowing costs have continued to rise as latest figures revealed the manufacturing sector underperformed even Greece.
The ten-year bond yield climbed as much as 4.5 basis points on Wednesday as a gauge of activity in its manufacturing sector slipped to a seven month low, to the lowest of the eurozone's major economies.
The bond yield increase has since eased to a 0.7 basis point rise but the stubborn increase underlines a "worrying" increase in the spread between France's borrowing costs and those of Germany, the bar against which other eurozone economies are measured.
The spread between German and French bond yields, at 0.61 basis points, is now at its highest since August. This is in sharp contrast with the spread between Spanish and German and Italian and German yields, which have continued to narrow and are at their lowest levels since 2011.
Kathleen Brooks, research director at currency trader Forex.com warned that although the French – German spread is only 0.61 basis points compared with 200 + basis points for Spain and Italy, "it is the pace of the increase in the spread that is worrying and the fact that the French – German spread is widening while the peripheral- German spreads are narrowing."
France's manufacturing PMI slipped to 47, lower than the flash estimate of 47.1, and below the 50 mark which separates expansion from contraction. That marks the 22nd consecutive month of contraction for factory activity in the eurozone's second largest economy.
France, along with Greece, were the only nations to report lower levels of new export business, despite the overall level for the eurozone rising for the sixth consecutive month and at a pace close to November's two-and-a-half year peak.
"France remains a concern. While Germany, Italy and Spain are seeing the strongest output growth since early 2011, buoyed to varying degrees by improved export sales, France is seeing a steepening downturn, in part the result of widening export losses," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, the author of the survey.
"This suggests that competitiveness is a key issue which the French manufacturing sector needs to address to catch up with its peers."
With the level of new orders dropping, France also saw a faster decline in its workforce.
But overall, the picture for the whole of the eurozone was much brighter, as the PMI manufacturing survey hit a 31-month high of 52.7.
Greece had a particularly strong finish to the year, with its PMI hitting a 52-month high of 49.6. While that still indicates a contraction, it is the closest the debt-laden country has been to the 50 stabilisation point in more than four years.
Spain moved back into expansion territory, hitting 50.8, while Germany, the eurozone's largest economy, beat its flash estimate of 54.2, to record growth of 54.3.
But it was the Netherlands which saw the fastest rate of expansion to hit a 32-month high of 57.
"A strengthening upturn in the manufacturing sector is helping the euro area recovery become firmly established," Mr Williamson said.
"It’s also encouraging to see prices rising slightly, suggesting firms are seeing some improvement in pricing power."
The strong finish to the year in the eurozone meant the sector was on track to notch up growth of 1pc in the final quarter of 2013, he added.If you needed any further evidence that Washington State head coach Mike Leach is on the outside looking in at the college football establishment, the University of Tennessee delivered.
Athletic director John Currie flew to Los Angeles on the last day of November to meet with Leach. Tennessee didn't offer Leach a job, didn't ask to meet with him again, didn't thank him publicly and move on to another candidate. Instead, Tennessee fired Currie after he spoke with Leach.
To review: Currie had inquired about or talked to Chip Kelly, Dan Mullen, Matt Campbell, Greg Schiano, David Cutcliffe, Mike Gundy, Dave Doeren and Kevin Sumlin -- basically, every coach short of the late Gen. Neyland -- and no one squawked. But once Currie spoke to Leach, Currie didn't last another 24 hours. That sets some sort of record.
That doesn't preclude Leach from a high-profile job -- Oregon could be a possibility -- but it does bring up questions that have been percolating in my head over the second half of the season. Will Mike Leach ever be offered and accept a high-profile job? Is he destined to carve a career out of coaching have-nots?
Mike Leach has won 60 percent of his games at Washington State and Texas Tech, but never has won a conference title. James Snook/USA TODAY Sports
Since Leach took over at Texas Tech in 2000, his mixture of offensive wizardry, offbeat intellect and deadpan sense of humor has given him a profile larger than his record has earned. He has coached 16 seasons at two FBS outposts: Texas Tech, literally on the outskirts of the Big 12; and, for the past six seasons in Pullman, which makes Lubbock look cosmopolitan. Leach has done pretty well at those two perennial ne'er-do-wells. He has won three of every five games (122-80,.604). He has nurtured a healthy coaching tree, with branches spreading from West Virginia (Dana Holgorsen) to UCF (Josh Heupel) to North Texas (Seth Littrell) to Texas Tech (Kliff Kingsbury) to the College Football Playoff (Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma).
Which means that Riley has gone where Leach has not. Forget the playoff -- what he hasn't done in those 16 seasons is win a conference championship.
"We're getting in there," Leach said of falling one game short. "We're getting closer and closer. You just worry about doing the best you can.... I don't think anybody in America would have bet that Washington State is in the middle of it the last three years."
Technically, Leach's 2008 Red Raiders tied for the Big 12 South with Texas and Oklahoma. But when the undefeated, No. 2 Red Raiders played the No. 5 Sooners, with the division and a front-runner's spot in the BCS race at stake, Oklahoma won 65-21, and it wasn't that close.
In the past two seasons, Washington State has come within a victory over archrival Washington of winning the Pac-12 North. Last year, at home, the No. 23 Cougars lost to the No. 6 Huskies 45-17. Last month, the No. 13 Cougars lost to the No. 17 Huskies 41-14.
That's three late-season games, everything on the line, and Leach's teams have lost by 44, 28 and 27 points. When the moments got big, his teams did not.
After the Apple Cup last month, Leach referred to his team as "anxious," "geeked-up" and "frantic." When Leach says that, he is doing what he is known for, speaking aloud what others only think. But what Leach is describing is a team that choked.
"I thought our entire team played poorly," Leach said. "Somehow as coaches we weren't able to get the anxiety out of their head and get the best performance out of them."
Leach also said Washington had better players, which gets back to Washington State being an outpost. You can make a compelling argument that Leach is doing more with less, that the talent he can attract to a Texas Tech or a Washington State will never equal the talent signing with the bell-cow state schools.
In 16 seasons, Leach has coached two first-round draft choices (Red Raiders wide receiver Michael Crabtree and Cougars defensive back Deone Bucannon), and he may have a third this season in senior defensive tackle Hercules Mata'afa. Three, in 16 years. Urban Meyer had eight first-round draft choices in the past two years.
After the Apple Cup, a senior guard named B.J. Salmonson came into the interview room. Salmonson is a fifth-year player who started all 12 games this season. That brought his career total of starts to 13. Seemed like a nice guy. He was appropriately disconsolate. But if Salmonson is the 6-foot-4, 310 pounds, at which he is listed on the depth chart, then I am engaged to Meghan Markle.
Former Texas Tech quarterback Kliff Kingsbury celebrated with Mike Leach after the Red Raiders' win over Clemson in the 2002 Mazda Tangerine Bowl. AP Photo/Scott Audette
Maybe it's a chicken-and-egg question. Has Leach failed to win a championship because he has taken jobs at schools that don't have the resources to win championships? Is he more comfortable at those schools without championship expectations? Are those schools the only ones who will hire a guy this unconventional?
Hasn't he at |
xarray by converting the pandas DataFrame into xarray DataArrays:
In what totally seems like a round-about manner of doing things, we now convert this xarray Dataset back into a pandas DataFrame (there are better ways of doing this, of course, but this overly verbose method works as well) and drop any rows that have invalid data:
A quick sanity check (in the form of a joint hexbin plot) shows the ensemble mean matches up nicely with the observed data, which is pretty damn good for a maximum temperature forecast seven days out:
Because we are interested in whether the forecast is above 85℉ (29.44℃), we create two columns that represent whether the forecast is above or below our threshold:
Finally: The Modeling!
At last, we get to calibrate the data! The very first thing we want to do (because we are good scientists) is to split the dataset into separate training and testing data sets. If we conveniently ignore that stations which are close to one another are almost certainly correlated and not independent samples and the day-to-day correlation of temperature forecasts/observations (mainly for simplicity, tbqh¯\_(ツ)_/¯), we can simply split our data based on the year the observation/forecast pair falls within: we will train on data from 1985–2005, and test on data from 2006–2016:
Now, we need create a baseline forecast: we will use the fraction of uncalibrated ensemble members above our temperature threshold to test against our other methods. Let’s say that in our time as President-For-Life of this grocery chain, we’ve heard of and are planning on using accuracy as our evaluation metric. Evaluating forecasts where the majority of ensemble members are forecasting >=85℉ temperatures are considered a “yes” and otherwise a “no”, we’re presented with a surprise:
Wow, 81% accuracy! As it turns out, this is a very misleading accuracy statistic (mostly because accuracy is a terrible metric to use, but we haven’t had much time in our grocery-centric world to look up the caveats of accuracy scores), and brings home an important point about interpreting results. It is easy to predict whether it’ll hit 85℉ in months where it is rare for that to occur. Measuring the accuracy subset by month provides a different story, with the uncalibrated forecasts performing amazing in March-May, and not so great otherwise:
Let’s see if we can improve upon this by focusing specifically on the months that perform poorly (June-September). We will first test a logistic regression method. Our features include the ensemble mean, ensemble standard deviation, fraction of ensemble members above our temperature threshold, and the fractional day of the year. While you’ll want to calibrate hyperparameters in an actual machine learning project, for demonstration purposes we’ll do something simple:
from sklearn.linear_model import LogisticRegression as LR
lr_clf = LR(n_jobs=-1, C=0.01)
lr_clf.fit(month_subset_train[features].values,
month_subset_train[target].values)
The results are a little better, but not by much:
What if we try Random Forests? These usually work well out of the box, and we’re looking at doing something basic anyway, so again for the sake of simplicity and demonstration, we’ll give it a whirl:
from sklearn.ensemble import RandomForestClassifier as RFC
rf_clf = RFC(n_estimators=1000, max_features='auto', max_depth=4,
n_jobs=-1, verbose=0)
rf_clf.fit(month_subset_train[features].values,
month_subset_train[target].values)
Also not much better, and in fact sometimes worse than logistic regression:
Ok, well our accuracy may not be getting better, but are our probabilistic forecasts getting more reliable at least? Looking at a reliability diagram (top panel, which shows how often an event occurs when a probability of the event occurring is forecast), we see that our calibrated methods are in fact more reliable than our uncalibrated ensemble forecast. We also see that the forecasts from our calibrated models aren’t as sharp as the uncalibrated ensemble forecasts (that is, the ensemble forecasts tend to give probabilities near 0% or 100%, whereas our ML methods do not):
So, what’s wrong?
There are several issues that we may be running in to:
We combined all of the weather stations together into one large data set, but there is almost certainly different biases at individual stations (maybe due to, say, nearby topography). It may make more sense to fit models and predict at individual stations instead of pooling the data together, or group stations with similar characteristics together. Accuracy is not the metric to use when evaluating predictions. You’re better off using things like precision, recall, and F1 scores. The GEFS reforecast data is quite coarse, at 1.0 degree horizontal resolution. It’s possible we are using only a handful of grid points to correct for all of the stations. There are ways to get the data on a finer Gaussian spatial grid, so that may be worth looking in to. We didn’t really optimize our hyperparameters, though I suspect this would not have given us much of a benefit. Forecasting the weather is really tough, especially seven days out! We didn’t even get into more difficult problems like forecasting precipitation.
Sure, but what’s awesome?
So much! Having never used BigQuery before this, or much of Google’s Cloud Computing platform, it was awesome to play around with.
BigQuery is legit. It had been a while since I dusted off my SQL chops, so getting to play around with Google’s SQL-like syntax and functions was a lot of fun. Plus, it runs really fast, much faster than a wget command or something similar to get the data from NCDC’s servers. I can only hope Google is able to put more weather data up on their cloud services. DataLab is also great! It took a bit of time to figure out (though I’ll chalk that up to my limited knowledge of Docker containers), and it’s in Beta at the moment so there are some quirks to work out, but I love it! The fact that it can hook up to an instance on Google’s Cloud Compute Engine is a wonderful plus. Spinning up virtual instances is super easy! While I never had issues with AWS, I found spinning/setting up VMs a bit easier on GCP. There’s plenty of fun stuff one can do with GHCN data! I’m looking forward to playing with the data a lot more, and possibly testing out new ideas combining weather with machine learning.
Part two of this post will address these issues in our quest to have well-calibrated temperature forecasts. Stay tuned!Dennis Rodman thought long and hard about taking his own life back in 1993, and in the past, he hasn’t shied away from talking about it. He wrote about his suicidal thoughts in his 1996 book, Bad As I Wanna Be, and during an interview on In Depth with Graham Bensinger in 2011, he spoke openly about why he contemplated suicide:
But there’s one detail about Rodman's suicide story that hasn’t been discussed much in the past: Craig Sager’s role in Rodman rethinking his decision. Sager appears on the latest cover of Sports Illustrated, and for his cover story, he spoke at length with SI reporter Lee Jenkins about a variety of things, including his history with the NBA, his relationships with various players and coaches, and his recent health issues. It is, as always, good to hear Sager talk about, well, everything.
At one point, Sager talked briefly about how he helped talk Rodman out of committing suicide in 1993. According to Sager, he tracked Rodman down one night at a strip club in Detroit and told him that he would be “stupid” to go through with what he was planning.
“The Landing Strip,” Sager remembers. “He had the gun. He was going to do it. I told him how stupid that would be.”
POST CONTINUES BELOW
Later in the piece, Jenkins points out that Sager and Rodman are still very close. Sager gets so many calls from different pro athletes these days that he has to write their names down so that he can keep track of them. But according to Jenkins, “Rodman calls all the time.”
You can read Sager’s whole SI story here. It’ll give you a real appreciation for what he’s doing right now in spite of his poor health and teach you a little bit more about all that he has accomplished throughout his career.
Send all complaints, compliments, and tips to sportstips@complex.com.by
Bernie Sanders says he’s taking the Democratic presidential nomination contest all the way to the party’s national convention in Philadelphia at the end of July. Believe it.
With increasing intensity after each primary or caucus he loses — and for that matter after each primary or caucus he wins — party big-wigs call on him to concede the race and get out of Hillary Clinton’s way. Politico‘s informal April survey of anonymous Democratic “insiders” has nearly 90% wanting Sanders out no later than the DC primary in mid-June and only 10% urging him to hold out to the bitter end.
Why isn’t he listening to the 90%? As a Florida Democrat told Politico, “[t]here is no path, and there is no math.” Actually there are at least four paths.
Path #1: Clinton’s health fails in a very big and very public way. She’s had multiple public fainting spells since 2005, including one resulting in a broken elbow in 2009. In 2012, she suffered a concussion and was hospitalized with cerebral venous thrombosis, a life-threatening blood clot condition. Her campaign health statement acknowledges these problems and throws in hypothyroidism to boot, although characterizing the 67-year-old as enjoying “excellent” health.
Path #2: Clinton is indicted in, or otherwise dragged down over, the “Servergate” affair, in which she appears to have illegally mishandled classified information while Secretary of State.
Path #3: Clinton comes to big legal or political grief over apparent connections between large donations to her family’s foundation on one hand and her actions as Secretary of State on the other. For example, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia donated $10 million to the Clinton Foundation and Boeing donated $900,000. Later, Secretary Clinton cleared a $29 billion arms deal involving the two parties. You can see how that kind of thing looks. There may be some “there” there.
Path #4: The texts of Clinton’s Wall Street speeches, for which she received millions of dollars in honoraria, are leaked. Clinton’s refusal to release those texts tells us that their release would be politically damaging. Everything comes to light sooner or later. If it’s sooner — that is, before July — we may find out how just how damaging.
Any of these four scenarios might result in Hillary Clinton’s ignominious withdrawal from the presidential race and release of her delegates, followed by the party’s scramble for an alternative nominee. If Bernie Sanders doesn’t quit, he becomes the odds-on favorite for the job.So this was my first exchange and I was super stoked to see my package waiting for me when I got home. I opened it only to find it was filled with spiders!...well the plastic ring variety at least :P
My Santa went above and beyond with all of the awesome gifts. I got a box of Count Chocula with a Ghost Hunters picture attached (which made me laugh a lot). Sour Skittles are the best thing ever so this was also very nice along with all the other sweets!
The best and most unexpected gift though was a hardcover copy of Stephen King's new novel, Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining! I've been wanting to read this for so long but never got around to actually grabbing a copy. I'm so excited to start it!
Thanks again Santa :DI have always loved snakes. Love includes fear—for everyone, I think, but in the religious mind these emotions are married like grace and necessity, abundance and destitution. Sanctify the LORD of hosts himself, cries wise wild old Isaiah, and let him be your dread.
Recently I mentioned my lifelong fascination with snakes in the presence of my mother, who has perhaps the most—how to describe it exactly?—saturated, unmediated, sorrowful, solitary, and relentlessly religious mind that I know. Her faith has survived her own parents’ violent deaths, which she witnessed as a child; and the violent rot of the one real romantic love she would ever know; and the inexplicable and inaccessible lives of her children, who have been homeless, and in prison, and drug addicts, and art addicts, and otherwise enamored of serpents. She flinched and objected as if I’d proclaimed a latent Satanism.
In childhood I would seek them out in the empty lots across from the apartment complex in Mesquite, or back of the train tracks in Brenham, or in the scrub that filled the gulch behind our house in Snyder, or in any of the other half-dozen Texas towns where we lived and that exist in me now as little more than random flashes and failures of memory. All these homeplaces, dreamplaces, doomplaces we carry around in our heads, as if the room were never quite right for the holy loneliness for which we seek both animation and ease.
The deepest being being a longing
to satisfy a longing for a solitude of two.
—Lawrence Joseph
Why does one create? Two reasons: an overabundance of life and a deficiency of it; a sense that reality has called out in such a way that only your own soul can answer (“I create in return,” said Robert Duncan) and a simultaneous sense that in that word soul is a hole that no creation of your own can ever quite fill. That long response that Job finally draws out of God, that blast of Arctic rhetoric—Have you gone down to the springs of the sea / or walked in the unfathomable deep?—what is this but the first form and final fruition, ratification and sharp rebuke, of all the poetry of loneliness? If there is consolation here, it is a cold one, a solidarity of starlight.
Kill the creature. That’s practically the law where I grew up. Love has its sterner permutations, its “austere and lonely offices,” an almost linguistic embeddedness in particular existence that precludes translation into another. I love you, the Father says to humanity as he assents again to humanity’s endless need to annihilate him. I love you, I said to my father 30 years ago with a fist to the side of his face. He—my father, I mean, or think I mean—is demented now and has just escaped again from another icy facility, each time by pretending to be the doctor that he in fact once was. Cunning man, deciding even the terms of his own dementia, carrying himself from place to place like a bag of stolen bones.
At an oil field construction job I had one summer, we worked for a month at a defunct refinery and every day laid out the day’s take like a line of Italian eels for sale. Rattlesnakes, garter snakes, blacksnakes, rat snakes, water snakes, lots of king snakes, thick and garish but completely harmless, helpful even, as they savor vermin. I remember two men tossing one of those whipping red-black serpents back and forth in the air like a live electric cord to see who was man enough to catch it. To calm it—as only one man could, gentling the creature to the point where it wrapped around his arm and practically licked his whiskers—until with a deft flick and flash its head spurted away from his sudden switchblade. (I also saw him do this—not the throwing part—with a rattlesnake that was coiled to strike.)
Then one morning I looked closely at one of the dull, dead king snakes and saw a band of yellow between the black and red, and when I pointed it out, the foreman knew not the name but the rhyme that was meant to keep people away from it: Red and yellow kill a fellow. It turned out to be a coral snake, the bite of which—because we were far from any hospital, and because coral snakes are extremely rare in West Texas and, unlike the other poisonous snakes around, require a very specific type of antivenom—would almost certainly have been fatal. I felt an excitement akin to sexual arousal, an almost spiritual joy. Was I realizing that this was part of my life now, this strange and vaguely dangerous story (though it seems pretty much impossible that those men played catch with this snake—probably it was severed by one of the big machines)? Or did the excitement come from the realization that my life was a story, that I had some control over what seemed to me—my father vanishing, my mother wracked with rage and faith, my siblings sinking into drugs and alcohol, my own mind burning at night like an oil fire on water—complete chaos? Selves are nothing but memories of selves, and memories but the wispy entities that time and mind have conspired to keep. It’s a wonder we don’t walk through each other like ghosts.
The term kenosis refers to the kind of self-emptying that God performed in both the incarnation and the crucifixion. It is not a “sacrifice” but a complete erasure for the sake of something greater. It is not reality but relationship that is greater. That is to say, it is not reality as we now know it, but the one we intuit at times by means of relationship—both with matter and with other minds. When God entered contingency, when the miracle of existence—that Being should be at all—became the bare, implacable fact of matter, there was no going back: either the incarnation is absolute, or it simply didn’t happen. Either God is gone, or he never was.
In traditional Judeo-Christian religion—certainly the one I grew up in—the woman gets blamed for biting that apple of ultimate knowledge and bringing sin and death into the world. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? The misery this has engendered for women, the lives lost to the misunderstandings and manipulations of myth and how it means—in some sense a whole religion was wrecked on the shoals of a certain kind of mythological and poetic illiteracy that has only increased as we have matured in other ways:
Woman is more guilty than man, because she was seduced by Satan, and so diverted her husband from obedience to God that she was an instrument of death leading to all perdition. It is necessary that woman recognize this, and that she learn to what she is subjected; and not only against her husband. This is reason enough why today she is placed below and that she bears within her ignominy and shame.
Thus John Calvin in the midst of the Protestant Reformation, which is what made the modern mind—its rationalism and individualism, its vital and lethal skepticism—possible. Thus the whole phalanx of unconsciously priapic preachers inveighing against the sweet disease that was gradually filling my adolescent body to bursting: woman. Just one taste and—Bam!—the end of Eden.
Which, at 15, was all I wanted. Even as the preachers poured down their fire on my head, all I could think of was the sweaty sex that first bite, because it was shared, must surely have led to, the momentary but absolute release of it, how lewd and illicit and finally fucking free it must have been, how almost worth it, really, like the “free bloody birds” I would immediately recognize in Philip Larkin years later:
When I see a couple of kids
And guess he’s fucking her and she’s
Taking pills or wearing a diaphragm,
I know this is paradise Everyone old has dreamed of all their lives—
Bonds and gestures pushed to one side
Like an outdated combine harvester,
And everyone young going down the long slide To happiness, endlessly. I wonder if
Anyone looked at me, forty years back,
And thought, That’ll be the life;
No God any more, or sweating in the dark About hell and that, or having to hide
What you think of the priest. He
And his lot will all go down the long slide
Like free bloody birds. And immediately Rather than words comes the thought of high windows:
The sun-comprehending glass,
And beyond it, the deep blue air, that shows
Nothing, and is nowhere, and is endless.
Larkin’s poem is ironic, of course: we all dream some freedom we were ourselves denied. Or does this even happen anymore? I can’t imagine teenagers these days are any more sexually active or inventive than they were among the eternal afternoons and tutorial goats of Snyder, Texas. Even Larkin’s poem concedes this, though metaphysically rather than physically: Larkin’s times did change, though the meanings, or the meaninglessness—the ending image is inexhaustibly provocative—did not. And what that image points back to is Genesis itself: the Lord’s face moving on the face of the deep, glass that could comprehend the sun (that is, no separation between mind and matter, e.g., scientific materialism, most modern poetry, all mysticism), some sheer clarity of existence that both saves and rives you.
But, as I say, this all lay in wait for me. I didn’t, couldn’t imagine the loneliness that must have come between Adam and Eve, the selves they suddenly were—and thus forever weren’t, quite. For that’s what Eve brought into the world, consciousness, or perhaps more accurately the sin of separating consciousness from God. The loneliness no human love can ever quite answer. And if you are not lonely under this dividing and indifferent blue, if you do not feel, even amid your moments of happiness, some absolute inwardness that is absolute otherness, then friend, you are either preternaturally enlightened or completely unconscious.
But would you have it otherwise? Eve ought to get some credit for bringing consciousness into existence, for the music and art and poetry that have arisen from that rift; and for better—speculating here, but it seems likely—sex; and then too the intricacies of atoms, the impossibly immense cosmos, microbes and multiverses and all that falls under the name of human knowledge, all the wonders wasted on atheists who must have their line in the sand, wasted on believers who do not have within them the hard unerring eye of the atheist that enables them to see that line in the sand—all this, too, we owe to a woman. Paradise is the purity no one ever wanted.
And anyway, Paradise was poisoned from the start. “Let me tell you something,” says God to the first murderer in Howard Nemerov’s poem “Cain”: “I was the snake in the garden.” “I can believe that,” Cain says without pause or surprise,
but nobody else will.
I see it so well, that You are the master of the will
That works two ways at once, whose action
Is its own punishment, the cause
That is its own result. It will be pain to me
To reject You, but I do it, in Your own world,
Where everything that is will speak of You,
And I will be deaf.
As it happens, it’s God who goes deaf in the poem, at least to the cries of Cain—which is to say, deaf to the cries of all of us. And it is Cain whose hearing grows only more excruciatingly acute:
But He is gone, I feel His absence.
As, after the storm’s black accent,
The light grows wide and distinct again,
So he is gone. Of all He said to me,
Only one thing remains. I send you away,
He said: Cain, I send you away.
But where is Away?
Precisely. Home and homelessness, election and rejection, autonomy and determinism, humanity and divinity: it’s all one screaming weave. If I had not come and spoken to them, says God himself in one of the most disturbing and enlightening passages in the Bible (John 15:22), they would not have sin. The outraged objection here is obvious—God is a sadistic puppetmaster—and pointless. Some people can think their way to theories in which contingency and certainty are compatible terms (modern physicists, for example); a rarer few—mystics and artists, mostly—can on occasion actually feel it. (“Time’s violence rends the soul,” says Simone Weil. “By the rent eternity enters.”) But in both instances the insight is partial and fugitive, disabling as well as enabling, because the flash of insight reveals a vastness no human insight will ever reach, and painful precisely because of how intimate that distance suddenly seemed. That intimate distance is God, in whom we move and live and have our being. Until we don’t. We’re all hunger artists of one sort or another, eating ourselves (our “selves”) inward, trying to slake a hunger we usually can’t even—or perhaps just won’t dare to—name.
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered; “But I like it
“Because it is bitter,
“And because it is my heart.”
—Stephen Crane
According to Weil, we must try to annihilate the self, which is what separates us from God:
We possess nothing in the world—a mere chance can strip us of everything—except the power to say “I.” That is what we have to give to God—in other words, to destroy. There is absolutely no other free act which it is given us to accomplish—only the destruction of the “I.”
There is a real truth here, but it is in a strange way distorted by the very clarity and austerity with which it is presented. Christianity teaches that we are to put others first, are to efface ourselves and our own needs. But to efface is not to erase, not completely; complete kenosis is possible only for God. In the end it is never quite clear to me what Weil means by the “self” unless it’s simply every single thing that makes us human—or perhaps more accurately, every single thing that makes us individually human. “The reality of the world,” Weil writes, “is the result of our attachment. It is the reality of the self which we transfer into things. It has nothing to do with independent reality. That is only perceptible through total detachment. Should one thread remain, there is still attachment.”
No way. If there is a reality distinct from our perception of it, there is no way we can reach it. This does not mean that we are all there is, each a king of infinite—and infinitely lonely—space. What it means is that reality is catalyzed by engagement, not detachment. In 1818, John Keats intuited this, when he identified some aspects of reality that seemed to require a “greeting of the Spirit to make them wholly exist.” In the 200 years since, this bit of poetic intuition has come to a kind of physical fruition in science.
In the famous two-slit experiment of quantum physics, electrons are seen to behave as particles or waves depending upon whether someone is watching them. The physicist John Wheeler wondered what would happen if he observed the electrons after the fact of their having passed through a barrier, if the register were placed not in front of the barrier but on the other side. As John Horgan writes in The End of Science,
The electrons seem to know in advance how the physicist will choose to observe them. … The electron … is neither a wave nor a particle. It is in some sense unreal; it exists in an indeterminant limbo. “Not until you start asking a question do you get something,” Wheeler said. “The situation cannot declare itself until you’ve asked your question. But the asking of one question prevents and excludes the asking of another.”
Where is an incarnate “God” in this scenario? What is the “self” and how does it stand in relation to God? “The word ‘God’ becomes necessary,” writes Robert Duncan, “where there is an intense feeling of presence and oneness in opposites, an awe that cannot let go of contradictory elements, of an otherness in which I am more truly ‘I.’ ”
NATIVE At sixteen,
sixteen miles from Abilene
(Trent, to be exact),
hellbent on being not
this, not that, I drove
a steamroller smack-dab over
a fat black snake. Up surged a cheer
from men so cheerless
cheers were grunts, squints,
whisker twitches it would take
a lunatic acuity to see.
I saw the fat black snake
smashed flat as the asphalt
flattening under all ten tons
of me, flat as the landscape
I could see no end of,
flat as the affect of distant killing
vigilance it would take a native
to know was love.
To attend is to atone. There is no looking at reality “straight up,” so to speak. “The mathematical descriptions of the physical world given to us by quantum theory presuppose the existence of observers who lie outside those mathematical descriptions,” writes the physicist Stephen Barr. In other words, there is nowhere to stand in order to be outside of what you are examining, for the object of observation is changed by the act of observation. Every gesture toward absolute human knowledge reaches right back to and with that first hand grabbing the apple. Even our equations implicate us.
This is not news, I realize. It is thought to be a discovery of the modern era, from Nietzsche’s famous “There are no facts, only interpretations” right on through the confirmations of this statement from modern physics. But as usual, science has simply confirmed what poets and proper theologians always—“knew,” I was going to say, but that would be wrong, unless knowing is always alert to the ultimate truth that it cannot know any ultimate truth, including the one this sentence is attempting to articulate. This is the ouroboros, the snake with its tail in its mouth. There is nowhere to stand and see, nowhere to escape the stink of being human. To attend is to atone.
what the eye flies after trans-
luces; what
you want, doesn’t want: it vanishes …
you’re only yours, mutter and
muscles, as you enter it, its vanishing.
Gustaf Sobin (1935–2005), who wrote these lines, was a little-known American poet who spent most of his adult life in an abandoned silk cocoonery in Provence trying to respond to a call that he could neither identify nor escape. It’s a common dilemma for modern artists. (“What could I call what was calling me?” writes Fanny Howe. “A vocation that has no name.”) Sobin, who adhered to no particular religion, believed that divinity had “undergone eclipse” and thought of a line of poetry as a “traced erasure.” Contrary to modern psychology, articulating a dilemma does not always ease the anguish, as Sobin writes:
What hasn’t vanished, however, is the need—call it psychic imperative—that such an address exists. Long after the addressee has vanished, after the omniscient mirror has dissolved and its transcendent dimension has been dismantled, demystified, deconstructed, there remains—I insist—that psychic imperative deeply inscribed within the innermost regions of our being. We can’t do, it would seem, without something that isn’t.
Indeed we can’t. Nor could Meister Eckhart, a Christian mystic who died nearly 700 years before Sobin: “Only the hand that erases can write the true thing.” Nor could Saint Paul, who was a contemporary of Jesus himself:
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are …
The italics are mine, but the existential anguish—and the faith that makes that anguish not simply bearable but even joyful—is all Paul. We can’t do without something that isn’t.
Another summer, another job, we drained a tank, and my task, because I was a miserable menial high school student, was to trudge through the bottom muck in thigh-high waders, spearing the spirited creatures that thrashed and slithered as if the earth itself were acquiring primordial form and violent volition. I remember this, but can it be true? What snakes would have been down there? Water snakes, cottonmouths—I suppose, but such an infernal tangle? It seems unlikely from this distance. What stands out as incontrovertible fact is the sudden, massive, mud-covered reptile sliced in half by a backhoe, writhing its red stub of blood in the air like a giant’s arm severed at the shoulder.
My father lost half of his foot to an adolescent rattler coiled in the bushes under his window in the ranch house where he lived outside Fort Worth. He was drunk and had locked himself outside. Thus the window. He was wearing only gym shorts and a T-shirt and had simply wanted to sit out on his porch while the sun went down. He had no phone, no wallet, no hidden spare key.
My father is a man in whom life thrives as a form of death. There is a cancerous élan to him, a mind of maggots that have learned to eat with just such modest ferocity as will keep their host alive. About a year ago though, he began “failing to thrive,” a term I thought existed only for infants until the hospice workers, who will take over only when a person’s end is imminent, told me otherwise. He withered to a hundred pounds (he is six feet tall), never left his bed, and eventually refrained from all speech excepting sudden floods of psychotic invective and rage. No medical reason could explain the catastrophe taking place inside this 69-year-old man. It seemed, like everything else about him, willful. Failure to thrive had it exactly backwards.
It’s a matter of days, they said, as his organs began to shut down. It can’t be long now, as they removed the feeding tube and discontinued all treatments that were not palliative in nature. I was there for a 24-hour period, and he never moved a muscle, never opened an eye. Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not believe. One morning he stood up. One morning while everyone waited for his last breath, he got out of bed completely naked, tore the tubes out of his arm, and told everyone to get the fuck out of his house.
He sucked the venom from his foot the best he could, fashioned a tourniquet out of his T-shirt (both actions only exacerbated the problem), and made his way about 200 yards to the highway. But because he was barefoot and thus subject to glass and stickers and what have you, and because the venom was rapidly making its way through his bloodstream, he was soon crawling and increasingly delirious. It is preferable to be bitten by an enormous old rattlesnake rather than a small young one, for the old snake has learned something of miraculous chance and venomous contingency, and it usually will not discharge its entire hoard. A young snake simply lets fly.
Just think how very old Satan must have been, even in Eden—though I suppose if we think of time beginning with the creation of the cosmos, and if we allow the myth to speak of that moment, then he was in his way every bit as young and even innocent as Eve. Are we then—humanity, I mean—suffering from a judicious dose to which the right antidote may yet be found, or has it all been one long strangling cry of dying?
A moment occurs in the life of a writer when one ceases to care about the truth, as if there were any sort of abstract objective word or occurrence that could warrant that name. I don’t mean one loses fidelity to the facts. I believe one should hew to the facts as one remembers them, even as it seems scientifically incontrovertible that memory is mostly an act of imagination. The ouroboros again.
No, what I mean has to do with meanings, or the lack thereof. It’s not that I don’t believe in them anymore, it’s that I believe they are ultimately unknowable, even the most intimate aspects of our existence, including the mutilations that made us what we are.
One follows the sounds. One follows them obsessively, religiously, if religion can be understood as having no sponsor, no ultima Thule, no final ground of meaning, which is not to say no God. (“Only the hand that erases can write the true thing.”) One wants only the cadences to continue as if there were something in the words themselves that sought meaning—sought concretion, even—out there in the world, or something out there in the world that corresponded so intimately and utterly to the sounds of the words that the intensity and gravity of one particular existence—or even one moment within that existence—might catalyze the tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and every evil thing.
Including the mutilations that made us what we are. It’s a direct quote from the American philosopher Richard Rorty, and it’s from a footnote to a little dialogue he had with the Italian theologian Gianni Vattimo called The Future of Religion. Rorty, an American pragmatist who did not believe in God (he died in 2007), and Vattimo, an Italian Catholic who believes that all essential questions about God are unanswerable and therefore irrelevant, discover much common ground. If you find yourself hungering for something more than the “social cooperation” that, according to Rorty, the combination of modern science and common sense can offer, “then a religion that has been taken out of the epistemic arena, a religion that finds the question of theism versus atheism uninteresting, may be just what suits your solitude.”
Patronizing? Perhaps just a bit, but Vattimo serenely, if insidiously, agrees: “Things appear to us in the world,” he writes, “only because we are in their midst and always already oriented toward seeking a specific meaning for them.” (Keats!) Then Vattimo carries this logic to its natural conclusion: “Can we really argue, as I believe we must, that postmodern nihilism constitutes the actual truth of Christianity?” I have mentioned this quote to some religious people I know, and every time their faces fall, but I can’t tell you |
Calif.) are both expected to deliver speeches during the GOP convention. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (La.), Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry (N.C.) and Rep. Greg Walden (Ore.), the chairman of House Republicans’ campaign arm, plan to be in Cleveland as well.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers Cathy McMorris RodgersHillicon Valley: Republicans demand answers from mobile carriers on data practices | Top carriers to stop selling location data | DOJ probing Huawei | T-Mobile execs stayed at Trump hotel as merger awaited approval House Republicans question mobile carriers on data practices Washington governor announces killer whale recovery plan MORE (Wash.) will not attend the convention, however. McMorris Rodgers endorsed Trump after he became the presumptive nominee but expressed concerns about his inflammatory comments regarding women and people with disabilities.
Most of the more than two dozen Republican incumbents in competitive reelection races offered nearly identical answers when asked if they would go to the convention.
“Rep. Hurd will spend next week in the district meeting with constituents,” said Rep. Will Hurd’s (Texas) spokeswoman.
“Rep. Knight has several important commitments in the district that week and will not be attending,” Rep. Steve Knight’s (Calif.) office said in an email.
“He will be working hard in his own Congressional District, touring businesses and meeting with voters throughout the Central Valley,” Rep. David Valadao’s (Calif.) spokeswoman said.
Rep. David Jolly (Fla.) also said he plans to work in his district, which is currently rated as leaning Democratic, instead of going to the convention. He told The Hill that he offered his convention credentials to local party officials, but so far there haven’t been any takers.
“Apparently it’s a buyer’s market right now, if you will,” Jolly said. “At this point, mine will go unused.”
Jolly remains undecided on Trump and isn’t sure if he’ll endorse him at any point. He took to the House floor late last year to call on Trump to drop out of the Republican primary race for proposing to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S.
“I don’t know if I’ll get there,” Jolly said with a sigh. “I really don’t.”
Other Republican lawmakers who aren’t necessarily in tough reelection races but have trouble stomaching Trump have other plans this week as well.
Rep. Charlie Dent (Pa.), a centrist who originally endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said he only planned to go if the convention was contested. But with Trump seemingly a done deal, he says Republicans are better off concentrating on their individual races.
“We have two candidates who have wildly high unfavorability image ratings, and so it’s better that we focus on our own races,” Dent said.
Libertarian Rep. Justin Amash Justin AmashHouse to push back at Trump on border Ex-GOP lawmakers urge Republicans to block Trump's emergency declaration This week: Congress, Trump set for showdown on emergency declaration MORE (Mich.) said he’s not going to the convention, either, and plans on finding another candidate to support instead of Trump in November.
In addition to Ryan and McCarthy, at least five other prominent House Republicans are expected to speak at the convention: Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (Texas) and Reps. Chris Collins (N.Y.), Ryan Zinke (Mont.), Sean Duffy Sean Patrick DuffyHouse to push back at Trump on border On The Money: Shutdown Day 27 | Trump fires back at Pelosi by canceling her foreign travel | Dems blast 'petty' move | Trump also cancels delegation to Davos | House votes to disapprove of Trump lifting Russia sanction Rare bipartisanship in lame duck Congress battling the ‘WTO’ of insurance regulation MORE (Wis.) and Marsha Blackburn Marsha BlackburnTrump’s new Syria timetable raises concern among key anti-ISIS allies Dem lawmaker invites Parkland survivor to attend State of the Union Bipartisan senators press Trump for strategy to protect Syrian Kurds MORE (Tenn.).
A handful of House Republicans who are top targets of Democrats this year will be in Cleveland.
New York Republican Reps. Lee Zeldin and Tom Reed are among the few incumbent lawmakers representing swing districts to embrace Trump, and both plan to attend. Longtime GOP Rep. John Mica (Fla.), who’s considered more vulnerable this year, also expects to be at the convention.
Yet the list of targeted GOP incumbent no-shows is far longer: In addition to Hurd, Knight, Valadao and Jolly, it extends to Reps. Mia Love (Utah), Bruce Poliquin (Maine), David Young (Iowa), Bob Dold (Ill.), Carlos Curbelo (Fla.), Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), Erik Paulsen (Minn.), Frank Guinta (N.H.), Tim Walberg (Mich.), John Katko (N.Y.), Cresent Hardy (Nev.), Barbara Comstock (Va.) and Scott Tipton (Colo.).
Offices for other members in tough races, including Reps. Rod Blum (Iowa) and Mike Coffman (Colo.), wouldn’t say if they were going to the convention.
Some lawmakers will be emphasizing physical distance from the convention this week. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz Jason ChaffetzTop Utah paper knocks Chaffetz as he mulls run for governor: ‘His political career should be over’ Boehner working on memoir: report Former GOP lawmaker on death of 7-year-old migrant girl: Message should be ‘don't make this journey, it will kill you' MORE (Utah) will be leading a congressional delegation abroad as other Republicans gather in Cleveland. Chaffetz’s office declined to specify where the delegation is headed, citing security concerns.
Most Republicans opting against the convention cited other work commitments during the week. But at least one frequent Trump critic offered a perhaps more flimsy excuse: Sen. Jeff Flake Jeffrey (Jeff) Lane FlakeBrexit and exit: A transatlantic comparison Poll: 33% of Kentucky voters approve of McConnell Trump suggests Heller lost reelection bid because he was 'hostile' during 2016 presidential campaign MORE (Ariz.) said he had to mow his lawn.
“He must have a really big lawn,” Zeldin joked.October 30, 2014
REMEMBER WAY back in 2009, when Avatar was topping the box office, Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" was all over the radio, and Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize? Seems like a long time ago, right? That golden age of illusion didn't last very long.
Within months of the announcement of the award, Obama had ordered a surge of tens of thousands of troops into Afghanistan. Then, over the next several years, he built up a monstrous secret security state and unleashed a global drone war that has killed several thousand people, including hundreds of children, from Pakistan to Yemen to Somalia.
And now, the U.S. is bombing Iraq once again, preparing for what may well be the third American ground invasion since 1991--there are already Special Forces crawling all over the place.
Of course, given that the other two sitting presidents who received the Nobel Peace Prize were Theodore "San Juan Hill" Roosevelt and Woodrow "War to End All Wars" Wilson, Obama's 2009 nomination should have provoked more foreboding than celebration among antiwar activists.
Soldiers in the First World War (above) and the U.S. war on Afghanistan (below)
As we slide back into war in the Middle East--one that we never really left, truth be told--many people feel that Obama has "betrayed" his ideals, or at least the ideals they had hoped he had.
Certainly, you can identify cowardice, duplicity and megalomania in the Obama administration, just as you could in any presidency. But the global system of militarism and imperialism can't be reduced to personal weakness or political conspiracy.
Take the case of Iraq. Every president since Ronald Reagan has intervened in that country militarily, one way or the other. Bush Senior and Junior rightly deserve all the condemnation you can muster--they are directly responsible for the shock-and-awe bombardments in 1991 and 2003 that brought death from the skies for hundreds of thousands of people.
But Bill Clinton's administration was no better, encircling, sanctioning and starving the people of Iraq. Incredible as it may seem, when asked directly by 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl about reports that economic sanctions imposed by the Clinton administration had killed 500,000 children, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright looked into the camera and said, "We think the price is worth it."
So Iraq goes to show, if nothing else, that imperial policies are grimly bipartisan.
BUT WHY? Why are both Democrats and Republicans so committed to maintaining the Super-Sized Pentagon?
Throughout U.S. history, various rationales have served to mobilize and justify intervention and military conquest: The Monroe Doctrine (we own the Western Hemisphere), Manifest Destiny (exterminate the Indigenous people from sea to shining sea), the Carter Doctrine (it's our oil under all their land) and the Reagan Doctrine (better dead than red), not to mention the war-on-terror-axis-of-evil Rumsfeldian doublespeak of the Bush Junior years.
Obama's preferred language--which he lifted from none other than Madeleine Albright--is as monotonous as it is boastful: "[N]ever bet against the United States of America...[because] the United States has been, and will always be, the one indispensable nation in world affairs."
The U.S. ruling class has spent the last 200 years investing in whatever sort of military it believed necessary to achieve and defend its aims, while a parade of ideological alchemists has demonstrated how easy it is to transform working-class soldiers' lifeblood into Exxon's oil profits.
Since the Second World War, the U.S. military has outpaced all its rivals--and today, America spends more on defense than the next dozen countries combined. In other words, if the U.S. is the "indispensable nation," that's only because we have the military might to constantly stick our nose into the rest of the world's business--or else, as Bush Junior said to "The General" (a.k.a. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf) after 9/11, we'll bomb you "back to the stone age" if you don't do as we say.
In 2003, when millions of people around the world marched against the drive to war in Iraq, one chant went: "War and occupation will never bring liberation, that's bullshit, get off it, this war is for profit!" Never were truer words shouted until we were hoarse.
But people can differ over how they understand common words, as we learned from Bill Clinton about the word "is." And in fact, this antiwar slogan can have very different connotations depending on exactly what the word "for" represents.
Many liberal antiwar activists believe that the war was for the profits of Big Oil or the military-industrial complex, or to satisfy the Bush administration's thirst for power. There's a measure of truth to each of these understandings, but they don't explain why, for example, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama followed Bush Jr. and Sr.'s aims so closely.
Revolutionary socialists argue that Team Bush did want war, but in more general terms, war is for the profit system as a whole. In other words, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Nike, Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Facebook and even Ben and Jerry's rely as much on the U.S. state's military capacity as Exxon, if not in exactly the same way.
The imperial state doesn't just defend extractive industries overseas. It defends the rules of competitive capitalism worldwide--the so-called "free market."
WHICH LEADS us back in history to a bitter debate between the Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin and German socialist Karl Kautsky about the causes of the First World War.
When the First World War broke out, there were large socialist movements in all the countries that were major protagonists: Germany, France, Russia, Italy, Britain and the U.S. These socialists had stated again and again that they would oppose imperialist war because they were committed to the famous slogan in the Communist Manifesto: "Workers of the world, unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains!"
Instead, most of the leaders of the socialist parties in all these countries ended up backing their own bourgeoisie's war efforts--and millions of workers, farmers and poor died for profit, in the second sense I just explained.
When the Social Democratic Party of Germany--the biggest socialist party in any country--failed to oppose the war, Lenin at first didn't believe the newspaper reports. His own organization, the Bolsheviks in Russia, to their great credit, opposed the war, as did minorities of socialists among the other parties.
For his part, Karl Kautsky personally opposed both the First World War and capitalism. But he argued that the two weren't necessarily linked in any direct way. Even after millions of people had died in the trenches, Kautsky kept repeating that "imperialism is just a question of power, not an economic necessity."
To be more specific, Kautsky presented the war as a power grab by a self-serving group of arms dealers, financial manipulators and politicians. Their course of action could be reversed if opposed by a united working class, together with a section of the capitalist class. A return to peace might even give rise to a period of "ultra-imperialism," Kautsky believed--where the dominant sections of capital would realize how damaging wars had become, so they would strive to compete with one another more peacefully.
The Polish-born revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg mocked this dream of peaceful capitalism. For Kautsky, Luxemburg wrote, imperialism was a bad, destructive way of achieving what is "necessary in itself, but can be achieved'much better' through other methods, namely, 'democracy.'"
Lenin agreed with Luxemburg and argued that Kautsky's very influential belief--that capitalism might lead to imperialist war, but then again, it might not--was one of the drugs that had lulled the socialist movement to sleep.
BOILING WITH anger, he wrote a short book in 1916 that he called Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism. His aim was to show that the First World War wasn't an "accident" or the product of the obsessions of a few power-hungry politicians or some rogue elements within the ruling class. (Sound familiar?)
Rather, according to Lenin, the war was the necessary consequence of capitalism's global development. He wrote, "For the first time, the world is completely divided up, so that in the future only re-division is possible, i.e., territories can only pass from one 'owner' to another, instead of passing as ownerless territory to an owner."
Hammering home his point, Lenin charged that "Kautsky detaches the politics of imperialism from its economics, speaks of annexations as being a policy 'preferred' by finance capital, and opposes to it another bourgeois policy which, he alleges, is possible on this very same basis of finance capital."
According to Lenin's view, specific wars and conflicts may be hard to predict, but generalized war and conflict are permanent conditions of capitalism.
This is a critical understanding for socialists. After all, capitalists proudly proclaim that their system is based on a competitive struggle and that only the strongest can survive. So in an era of global competition, having a massive military standing behind your multinational company to protect its interests is vital.
Woodrow Wilson (remember him) laid all this out very clearly in 1913:
Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must be battered down. Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused.
Though he uses different language, Obama regularly gives the same speech today.
WHILE THE U.S. government has had the run of the planet for the last couple decades, other big powers are starting to flex their muscles in the interest of projecting and protecting their own national capitalist interests.
Russia's annexation of Crimea and intervention in eastern Ukraine demonstrate that Vladimir Putin is following Woodrow Wilson's logic as best he can. Meanwhile, China is investing massively in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. In the years before 2005, China invested an annual average of just $3 billion overseas. In five year's time, overseas investment hit $60 billion. By the end of 2011, China's cumulative overseas direct investment totaled $365 billion.
That's a lot of cash to leave lying around unprotected. Consequently, Chinese military spending has jumped dramatically, toping $132 billion in 2014. That's still a far cry from the nearly $1 trillion that the U.S. government spends every single year, but trends are pointing toward a new global arms race over the next generation.
For the foreseeable future, the U.S. reigns over what International Socialist Review contributor Ashley Smith has popularized as an "asymmetric multipolar world order"--a system of states with a still uneven distribution of economic and military power, but one that is no longer overwhelmingly dominated by one or two superpowers.
The U.S. will continue to throw its weight around, attacking weak states and trying to boss around its major competitors--be they technically friends or foes. The Obama administration's strategy for a so-called "pivot to Asia" basically means encircling China with military bases--peacefully...for the time being.
Some of the interventions that the U.S. engages in around the world may succeed in some limited imperialist sense, but they are just as likely to provoke blowback and hostility toward the world's "indispensable nation"--all while prodding other big powers to consider what they have to do to take down the top dog.
Throw in global climate change and its associated forced relocation of hundreds of millions of people in the coming decades, along with the opening of the Arctic and Antarctic regions for drilling, and you have a recipe for imperialist conflict of all shapes and sizes.
The one hope we have is to build an international movement of working people that can challenge these imperial outrages as they are committed by the "ruling gangsters"--wherever they might strike, from Iraq to the Ukraine to Hong Kong. In so doing, that movement can work toward a way to dismantle the capitalist system and replace it with socialism.
Say it with me: "War and occupation will never bring liberation, that's bullshit, get off it, this war is for profit!"She was 22, a sheltered, dark-haired Bronx beauty said to look like Elizabeth Taylor.
He was a decade older, a suave lawyer who courted her with flowers, rides in his powder-blue Cadillac and trips to glittering Manhattan nightclubs. He was married, though not to her.
Before long, tiring of his unfulfilled promises to divorce his wife, she ended their affair. He hired three men, who threw lye in her face, blinding her, and went to prison for more than a decade.
Afterward, she married him.
Linda Riss Pugach, whose blinding by her lover, Burton N. Pugach, in 1959 became a news media sensation, and whose marriage to Mr. Pugach in 1974 became an equally sensational sequel, died at Forest Hills Hospital in Queens on Tuesday at 75.
The cause was heart failure, said Mr. Pugach, her husband of more than 38 years and her only immediate survivor.Follows thirteen per cent increase in Arctic ice cover as climate change cult increasingly discredited by evidence of big chill
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Friday, October 17, 2008
Plans to implement a worldwide carbon tax in the name of saving the planet from global warming have taken another blow after it was revealed that Alaskan glaciers have grown for the first time in 250 years after an abnormally cool summer.
Temperatures 3 degrees below average caused winter snow to remain for longer, prompting the increase in glacial mass, reports the Daily Tech.
“Since 1946, the USGS has maintained a research project measuring the state of Alaskan glaciers. This year saw records broken for most snow buildup. It was also the first time since any records began being that the glaciers did not shrink during the summer months,” according to the report.
The biggest shrinkage witnessed in the region occurred between 1741 and 1900, during which the glaciers lost about 15 per cent of their total mass as the earth began to exit the climatological period coined the Little Ice Age.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Correct me if I’m wrong, but CO2 spewing cars and jumbo jets were not too prevalent in the 18th and 19th centuries.
And now that the planet has naturally exited a warming trend and is heading towards a new “big chill,” as evidenced by the near complete halt in sunspot activity, the glaciers are expanding once again.
Years more growth in the Alaskan glaciers “might mark the beginning of another Little Ice Age,” notes the report.
The expansion of the glaciers follows a similar occurrence in the Arctic, which has undergone an ice cover growth twice the size of Germany in the past year, a gain of about thirteen percent following a colder than usual year.
Man-made global warming adherents have attempted to downplay such instances as aberrations that defy a wider warming trend, but in reality no global warming has been observed since at least 1999 or even 1995, as University of Finland professor Jarl R. Ahlbeck maintains.
Evidence that the planet is tip-toeing towards the onset of a new mini ice age continues to present itself following unprecedented ice storms in Kenya as well as Sydney experiencing its coldest August for 60 years.
The cold snap arrives on the back of the Sun reaching a milestone not observed in nearly 100 years – the entire month of August passed without a single sunspot being noted.
Lack of solar activity in 2008 has coincided with evidence of a cooling trend across the world.
Earlier this year, China experienced its coldest winter in 100 years while northeast America was hit by record snow levels and Britain suffered its coldest Easter in decades as late-blooming daffodils were pounded with hail and snow on an almost daily basis. The British summer also left many yearning for global warming, with temperatures in June and July rarely struggling to get over 16 degrees and on one occasion even dropping as low as 9 degrees in the middle of the afternoon.
Many parts of the U.S. suffered their coldest April on record. Canada had its third coldest April since 1970.
“Summer heat continues in short supply, continuing a trend that has dominated much of the 21st Century’s opening decade,” reports the Chicago Tribune. “There have been only 162 days 90 degrees or warmer at Midway Airport over the period from 2000 to 2008. That’s by far the fewest 90-degree temperatures in the opening nine years of any decade on record here since 1930.”
According to an Associated Press report, The Farmers Almanac is now also predicting “below-average temperatures for most of the U.S.” The publication boasts of an 85 per cent accuracy rate for its forecasts which are given two years in advance.
According to a report from the World Meteorological Organization last month, the first half of 2008 was the coolest for at least five years, adding that it may actually be the coolest since 2000.
Man-made advocates have been losing credibility in recent months on the back of bizarre proposals to fight climate change that include blocking out the sun with spaceships as well as eviscerating pristine old growth forests, despite wider evidence of a cooling trend that is just beginning to manifest itself.
This article was posted: Friday, October 17, 2008 at 4:57 am
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Comment on this articleHome-grown automaker Tata Motors recently showcased the country's first Bio CNG (compressed natural gas) a.k.a. bio-Methane bus in India. The company has designed and developed bio-Methane engines for LCV, ICV, and MCV buses and the powertrain options include - 5.7 SGI and 3.8 SGI. The new bio-methane engines were introduced at the Bio-energy programme, called 'Urja Utsav,' and the Tata LPO 1613 bus, which features the top-spec 5.7 SGI NA BS-IV IOBD-II engine that makes 123 bhp and develops 405 Nm of peak torque, was also showcased at the event.
Tata Motors believes that moving towards bio-Methane will not only contribute majorly towards decreasing emissions for a cleaner environment but also help promote the Government of India's Smart City initiative. Interestingly, the bio-methane powered Tata LPO 1613 showcased at the event is already in operation by PMPML (Pune Mahanagar Parivahan Mahamandal Limited) in Pune city.
Now, the difference between a regular CNG-powered engine and a bio CNG-powered is not very vast. While in CNG, the Methane gas co-exists with other heavier hydrocarbons (for which the end application Stoichiometry - air fuel ratio is not adjusted), Bio CNG has only Methane in it and thus it is also called as bio-Methane. Furthermore, this makes Bio CNG more application friendly and efficient than regular CNG.
Talking about the new Bio-methane engines and their development, Rajendra Petkar, Head- Power System, Engineering, Tata Motors, said, "The showcase of the Bio-Methane bus is a step towards developing environment-friendly vehicles. Bio-Methane is produced out of bio-degradable materials like kitchen waste. This gas, which gets produced out of natural degradation process, escapes into the atmosphere unused. However, if this is trapped and used in engines, it reduces the net impact on the environment and at the same time produces useful power."
For over two decades now, Tata Motors has been working with CNG technology for its vehicles has introduced several technologies in CNG engines related to vehicle performance and safety including sequential gas injection technology, skip fire, plug type coils, long life spark plugs and longer oil drain intervals. Talking about the company's future plans, Girish Wagh, Head, Commercial Vehicles Business, Tata Motors, said, "Tata Motors has been at the fore front in pioneering latest technologies and providing smart city solutions in the commercial vehicle industry. We are delighted to present yet another product with innovation in alternate fuel technologies, to cater to the need for a greener country. The use of Bio-CNG will contribute in a positive manner to the Smart Cities proposition of keeping them clean and is a good option for wet garbage management."
For the latest auto news and reviews, follow CarAndBike on Twitter, Facebook, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.In nine months of US and coalition airstrikes against ISIS targets in Syria, thousands of people have been killed, including hundreds of civilians. They’ve destroyed granaries and private oil platforms, and had multiple incidents of large civilian tolls.
These reports are coming out across myriad sources, including independent monitors, but are repeatedly denied by Pentagon officials. They deny not only the numbers, but any deaths at all, and in the whole war have copped to just two civilian deaths, last week, from an incident way back in November.
The Pentagon has been remarkably successful in forwarding the myth of “restraint” in their bombings of Syrian cities among major US outlets, and have even gotten to the point where they’re presenting themselves as restrained to a fault, and trying to blame the failing war effort on the lack of bigger civilian death tolls.
It’s a convenient excuse, and ignores the reality of the situation, which is that the US has killed a large number of civilians in Syria irrespective of how badly the war is going.
Claims that the US didn’t bomb what it thinks is ISIS headquarters in Raqqa for fear of civilian deaths and backlast don’t add up, as they cheerfully blew up significant portions of the regional food supply and killed civilians simply on the mistaken assumption that a granary was an ISIS base.
The big danger is that the Pentagon, simultaneously successful in covering up the already sizable death toll and advancing an expectation for more deaths will enable them to be even more reckless with strikes in the future, knowing they can either sell the increased toll as normalizing restraint or just cover it up like they have in the past.
Last 5 posts by Jason DitzThe proposed legislation faces hurdles to becoming a law, including privacy concerns. But Félix W. Ortiz, a Democratic assemblyman who was a sponsor of the bipartisan Textalyzer bill, said it would not give the police access to the contents of any emails or texts. It would simply give them a way to catch multitasking drivers, he said.
“We need something on the books where people’s behavior can change,” said Mr. Ortiz, who pushed for the state’s 2001 ban on hand-held devices by drivers. If the Textalyzer bill becomes law, he said, “people are going to be more afraid to put their hands on the cellphone.”
If it were to pass in New York, the first state to propose such an idea, it could well spread in the same way that the hands-free rules did after New York adopted them.
Ms. Lightner said the intensifying efforts around distracted driving “are the equivalent of the early ’80s” in drunken driving, when pressure led to tougher laws and campaigns emphasizing corporate responsibility.
Distracted driving “is not being treated as seriously as drunk driving, and it needs to be,” she said.
“It’s dangerous, devastating, crippling, and it’s a killer, and still socially acceptable,” she added.
The safety administration plans to release the final fatality numbers as early as Thursday but previously announced that the numbers appeared to be up sharply.This article is about the man who resembles Poochie. For judge with the same name, see Roy Snyder.
Roy is a college aged cool guy who stays at the Simpsons home temporarily. He resembles Poochie, a cartoon dog from The Itchy & Scratchy Show. After a while of living with the Simpsons, he leaves to move in with "two sexy ladies."
He took part in the world's tallest human pyramid record attempt.
He is seen in a pixeled form doing a "pistol hand" signal to Bart, next to Chief Wiggum, in the opening sequence of "My Fare Lady".
Contents show]
Non-canon
When the Planet Express crew were transported to the Simpson's world with memory loss, Leela wandered off towards Springfield Elementary School, where Roy made a pass at her, she then stole his sunglasses and wore them to hide her single eye.
Behind the Laughter
He was proposed to appear in one of the alternate realities in the "Treehouse of Horror V" segment Time and Punishment where he would have been Homer's son.
He was put into the show as a mocking reference to a Fox executive's suggestion that a new character be created to live with the Simpsons so as to "spice up the show".
As well as intentionally resembling Poochie, Roy is also based on Fonzie from the sitcom Happy Days.
AppearancesTaxi driver smiles when asked about the retake exam for all driver's license renewal application.
Taxi driver smiles when asked about the retake exam for all driver’s license renewal application.
QUEZON CITY, Philippines — One source of traffic congestion is the lack of discipline among motorists.
This is what the government and lawmakers want to solve through a law that will give a mandatory exam to all driver’s license card holder all over the country.
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) will start the retesting in January 2018 to ensure that a motorist deserves to own a license card.
RELATED: LTO plans to accelerate application process for driver’s license
Committee on Transportation Chairman Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, “Magkakaroon ng retesting, libre, walang bayad, sasaluhin ng ating gobyerno. And then, kung halimbawa kung inaaplayan mo ay motorsiklo, motorsiklo ka lang hindi yang may lisensya ka ng non-pro o pro yung mga ten wheeler nagagamit nyo.”
(We will have a retesting; the government will give it for free. If you are applying for a motorcycle license card, you will only get what you applied for, not a pro or non-pro license that allows you to drive even a ten-wheeler truck.)
New requirements like TESDA certification will also be needed for professional driver’slicense and new set of exams for first-timers.
The transportation department supports the proposed law.
RELATED: Application for non-professional driver’s license
DOTC USec. Raoul Creencia, “Ang pagkakaroon ng driver’s license ay sang pribelehiyo, kina kailangan na maipakita natin na karapatdapat pa rin tayong tumangan at gumamit ng driver’s license.”
(Owning a driver’s license is a privilege.We need to show that we are worthy to use and possess a license card.)
Taxi driver Ronald Ando comments, “Kung ganun, pwede naman, bakit hindi? Kasi ako sigurado ako, sa tagal ko naman na driver, papasa ako.”
(If that’s the case, sure, why not? I’m sure I will pass because I have been driving for a long time.)
While jeepney driver Patricio Galicia said, “Sa akin na professional, sana hindi na exam kasi renewal nalang, isang renew na lang.”
( I already have professional [license]. I am not in favor of the exam, a renewal will do.)
The LTO admits that a lot of motorists in the country lack proper education in driving.
Mon Jocson / UNTV News and Rescue
The post All driver’s license card holder to retake exams in 2018 appeared first on UNTV News.Council President Andrew Ginther took the chamber podium with Mayor Michael Coleman at his side Thursday morning. Ginther laid out a three point plan to toughen ethics rules for city leaders and lobbyists.
First, lobbyists will have to disclose more about who they do business with inside city hall. Second, city leaders will have to file two more reports disclosing where they get their money for campaigns. Third, Ginther explained how elected officials will need to disclose gifts they receive.
"What we have in mind is an actual description of what that gift is. That would exceed the requirements put forth in state law," said Ginther.
Ginther said his ideas come after two years of review and action beginning with the Charter Review Commission.
"It has nothing to do with Redflex. This is again, part of our history and what we've done for over a decade now," added Ginther.
Thursday’s announcement was technically not a campaign event.
However, Ginther's opponent for Columbus Mayor, Franklin County Sheriff Zach Scott, responded, "The ethics standards he came up with are basically just watered down old standards where he can still basically maintain gifts from lobbyists."
"We're not going to be taking anything from lobbyists- nobody that regulates anything with the city of Columbus. No gifts,” added Scott.In 2016, white women voted for Trump. In 2012, they voted for Romney. In 2008, they voted for McCain and George W. Bush in 2004. Last night, they broke for Roy Moore, a man who in his thirties was banned from the Gadsden mall for hassling teenage girls for dates. And yet, white women still voted for him, as though they’d forgotten they were ever teenage girls.
White men did the same thing each time, but harder.
Democrat Doug Jones’ shocking victory in the Alabama Senate race Tuesday was made possible by a host of factors, and despite others. He won both because of and despite women. He won despite white men.
Moore, a malevolent Bible-thumping racist cowpoke who had a track record of caring more about the bodily autonomy of statues than he did of teenage girls, certainly didn’t help his own cause. He is married to a woman named Kayla, who publicly advocated for her husband in the waning days of the campaign by dismissing claims the couple is anti-Semitic, pointing out that “one of [their] lawyers is a Jew.”
Jones’ own record of public service, of securing convictions for the men responsible for killing four little girls in an act of racist terrorism half a century ago, certainly helped. And his vanilla decency in the face of the tacky, backward extremism on the other side made him a safe choice.
There was the quiet and impressive ground-level get-out-the-vote campaign designed to get black voters to the polls. And, acting out of both a righteous disdain for Moore and trust of Jones, they showed up, casting 30 percent of the votes. Black women in particular supported Jones over Roy Moore, with exit polling indicating that 99 percent of them voted for the Democrat. And 96 percent of black men voted for Jones. That helped Jones, a lot.
Jones won despite white women choosing Moore over Jones. However, according to exit polling data, 35 percent of white women voted for the Democratic candidate—more than double the percentage who supported Barack Obama in 2012. This echos recent stirrings among pollsters that indicate that white female Trump voters might be experiencing some buyer’s remorse and peeling off to join the Democrats. That helped Jones, a little.
Unless you count Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who received 19,000 write-in votes, nearly enough to close the gap between Jones and Moore, white men hardly helped Doug Jones at all. Most white men’s votes were effectively canceled out by the votes of black men and women.
Exit polling implies that the older and whiter an Alabaman was, the more likely they were to vote for Moore. Add maleness and Moore—who has said in the past that lots of problems came with the constitutional amendments that granted women and black people the right to vote—was a near-lock. But only 10 or so percentage points separated white men and women’s voting patterns.
All this despite the fact that Jones ran on Moore’s history of sexual creepiness toward underage girls. One might think that Jones’ line of attack would have had more impact on women’s votes overall than it did, or more impact on the votes of white men who have, at some point in their lives, known or cared about a human woman. But the Alabama vote was split down racial instead of gender lines. White voters either didn’t believe that Moore had molested a 14-year-old, or that he had a history of jaw-dropping racism and sexism, or they didn’t care.
After every election, there’s a new round of hand-wringing over the white woman vote. What is wrong with white women? Why do they keep doing this? With |
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CHARLOTTESVILLE -- In a venue whose official capacity is 61,500, fans are not likely to fill Scott Stadium this fall. UVa's football team is coming off its second straight losing season, and fifth in six years, and ticket sales were expected to be sluggish in 2014.
That's been the case. Virginia kicks off the season Saturday at noon against No. 7 UCLA at Scott Stadium. As the opener approaches, UVa's season ticket total is approximately 23,500. This season will mark the first time since 1995 that fewer than 25,000 season tickets are purchased.
"We understand our performance on the field needs to improve and our record over the last several seasons has turned some fans away," Virginia Director of Athletics Craig Littlepage said. "We're thankful for the thousands of fans that have made their commitment to Virginia football. Everyone's support is important to the success of the program, from recruiting to providing a home field advantage for our team."
Not since Sept. 12, 1998, when a crowd of 42,800 saw the Cavaliers defeat Maryland 31-19 at Scott Stadium -- whose official capacity then was 40,000 -- has a UVa home opener drawn fewer than 50,000.
That streak is likely to end this year, too. Athletics department officials are expecting a crowd in the mid-40,000s for the game against UCLA, based on single-game ticket sales and student attendance, which is generally highest for the first home game of the season.
The 2008 season-opener against Southern California, by comparison, drew an overflow crowd of 64,947, a Scott Stadium record.
In 2013, Virginia averaged 46,279 at its eight home games, which included visits from four opponents whose fans traveled well: BYU, Oregon, Clemson, and Virginia Tech. In 2005, by comparison, the Wahoos averaged 60,973 at their home games.
Since '05, average attendance at Scott Stadium has dropped each year from the previous season, with only two exceptions, in 2007 and in 2011. The figures are listed below.
* 60,973 in 2005 (7-5 record; six home games)
* 57,732 in 2006 (5-7 record; six home games)
* 59,824 in 2007 (9-4 record; six home games)
* 53,815 in 2008 (5-7 record; seven home games)
* 47,986 in 2009 (3-9 record; seven home games)
* 45,459 in 2010 (4-8 record; seven home games)
* 47,940 in 2011 (8-5 record; seven home games)
* 46,650 in 2012 (4-8 record; seven home games)
* 46,279 in 2013 (2-10 record; eight home games)
With single-game tickets on sale for every home game, momentum in ticket sales could be gained throughout the fall. In 2012, with a schedule similar to this year's, Virginia sold approximately 25,000 single-game tickets from Aug. 21 through the end of the season.
"I'm excited to see the 2014 team in action," Littlepage said. "I know they've worked extremely hard over the past eight months to improve. I hope Cavalier fans will come together, get behind this team, and play a role in their success."Of the hundreds or thousands of Overwatch 3D prints out there, Zarya is a hero that just doesn’t get that much love.
Luckily user “JohnMion” has come to this rescue with this miniature of the hero that stands at 12 centimetres tall.
When we spoke to JohnMion they told us that this print was made as a present for their daughter, and the process started with a rip of the character’s model from Heroes of the Storm.
From here it was imported into Blender so the pose could be fixed, as well as to separate Zarya herself from the Particle Cannon, as this would make printing and painting a lot easier.
After a failed test print highlighted some problems with the model, the pose was readjusted in Blender before going to Meshmixer and TinkerCad to make it more printer friendly.
This process was very similar to how this Azmodan print was done, which makes sense as it was the last project JohnMion worked on before this.
Once printed and the multiple supports were removed, it was painted with this range of paints and washes.
If you’d like your own miniature Zarya for your Overwatch collection, the files are free to download from Thingiverse.(CNN) The manhunt for hundreds of Indonesian prisoners continues after more than 400 inmates escaped from an overcrowded jail in Sumatra island.
Scores of inmates fled the Sialang Bungkuk prison in Pekanbaru, the capital of the Riau province, Friday following clashes with prison guards, authorities said.
At least 442 inmates broke through a prison gate, overwhelming guards as some tried to set fire to buildings inside the prison.
Police have captured 219 prisoners so far, but hundreds remain at a large.
Overcrowding issues and prison guards demanding illegal levies may have led to the mass prison escape, Indonesian authorities said.
Prison guards allegedly asked for money during family visits and for payment if inmates wanted "a more convenient room at the prison house," state media reported.
The region's office of Law and Human Rights Service said they are investigating the claims.
"We will look into it seriously," said Ferdinan Siagian, the head of the regional office of Indonesia's Law and Human Right Service.
Indonesian authorities also ordered the firing of the prison's head and the reshuffle of more prison officials.
In 2013, more than 200 inmates broke free from a maximum-security facility in Medan, the capital of the province of North Sumatra. Five people were killed in a riot that began after the water supply was cut off because of a power outage, officials said.(Reuters) - Consumers in the United States and Canada have sued Research in Motion for a days-long service outage on BlackBerry devices that rippled across the world earlier this month.
Blackberry smartphones are pictured in this illustration photo taken in Berlin October 13, 2011. REUTERS/Michael Dalder
The system-wide failure of the service had left tens of millions of frustrated BlackBerry users on five continents without email, instant messaging and browsing.
Research In Motion’s co-CEOs had apologized to millions of BlackBerry customers for the four-day outage that tarnished the company’s image and set back its drive to catch up with Apple and other smartphone rivals.
The U.S. lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in federal court in Santa Ana, California, was brought on behalf of all U.S. BlackBerry owners with an active service agreement at the time of the email, internet and messaging interruptions.
It accuses Research in Motion of breach of contract, negligence and unjust enrichment.
The Canadian lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in Quebec Superior Court, was brought on behalf of all Canadian BlackBerry owners with an active service agreement.
Research in Motion failed to compensate BlackBerry users with refunds for loss of service and must “take full responsibility for these damages,” it said.
Messages left with Research in Motion seeking comment were not immediately returned.
The U.S. lawsuit was brought by Sherman Oaks, California, resident Eric Mitchell. While Mitchell did not sign a service contract directly with Research in Motion, he paid the company fees for BlackBerry device through a mobile carrier Sprint, the complaint said.
He therefore had an “implied contract” with Research in Motion, it said.
Because of the global service outage that began on October 11 and continued until October 14, Mitchell was unable to use emails and other communications “in real-time, without delay, reducing and interfering with his productivity and causing him damage and loss of money,” the lawsuit said.
Mitchell “paid for a service he did not receive,” it said.
U.S. plaintiffs are seeking damages including cash compensation for service fees along with attorneys’ fees and legal expenses.
The U.S. complaint estimates that Research in Motion earns at least $3.4 million per day in service revenue, collected from customers through carrier networks including Sprint and Verizon. “Plaintiff and the Class ultimately paid these fees,” it said.
The size of the potential class of U.S. consumers would include 2.4 million California residents alone, the lawsuit said.
The case is Eric Mitchell, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated vs. Research In Motion LTD, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, case no. CV11-8872Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
No matter whether embattled Rep. Michael Grimm or his Democratic challenger Domenic Recchia wins New York’s 11th district race in six days' time, Staten Islanders can be sure that their new member of Congress won't be a big reader.
Both of the candidates at last night's debate failed to answer a lightning round question that debate moderator Errol Louis said wasn't actually even supposed to be one of the "stumpers." The question? "What was the last book that you read?"
"Wow. It’s been a while. I haven't had time to read. I think it was a Tom Clancy book. I don’t remember the name,” said Grimm. Weirdly, that was a way better answer than what Recchia came up with. "We're on the campaign trail," Recchia said. "We’re talking to the people." So, um, on the book thing?
Here's the clip so you can enjoy it yourself.
In a debate on Tuesday, Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) and his Democratic opponent Domenic Recchia struggled to name that last book they read. (NY1/Time Warner)
This is the sort of question that, ideally, gives candidates an opportunity to say something about what they're like beyond their political convictions. "Inevitably a reporter will ask you to name your favorite book or a book you're currently reading, hoping to uncover a truth about your inner self," Dave Weigel wrote at Slate during the 2008 elections. (Editor's note: I am currently reading "All That Is Solid Melts Into Air." Draw your own deep conclusions.)
For a candidate, being able to name a good, safe book when asking about reading habits should be as knee-jerk as enjoying a small-town slice of apple pie. Or kissing a baby. Or being in an ad with puppies prominently featured.Unravel and Need for Speed enter the EA Access Vault next week; Battlefield 1 trial coming in Oct. EA Access is getting some big additions this Summer and early Fall.
Electronic Arts has announced it’s making some big additions to EA Access this Summer, which includes Need for Speed, Unravel, and Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2.
Xbox One owners will be able to play both Need for Speed and Unravel starting on July 12 via the EA Access Vault. Hopefully those two inclusions will last you for the majority of your Summer as the next game being added to the Vault is EA Sports Madden 17 Play First Trial on August 18, then Plants vs. Zombies Garden Warfare 2 on August 30.
Hockey and soccer fans will want to keep an eye on the Vault in September as Play First Trial versions of NHL 17 and FIFA 17 will be available on September 8 and September 22, respectively.
Lastly, EA will release the Battlefield 1 Play First Trials on both Xbox One and PC on October 13, which will give players a chance to play the upcoming shooter prior to its worldwide release on October 21.BOSTON (CBS) – Former New England Patriots star Aaron Hernandez has been found not guilty of murder and several other charges related to the 2012 killing of two men.
Hernandez was acquitted of all charges with the exception of possession of a firearm without a license.
He was on trial for two counts of first-degree murder in the shootings of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado in Boston’s South End on July 16, 2012.
READ: Aaron Hernandez Defense Team Praises ‘Fair And Just Verdict’
For the gun possession charge, Hernandez received 4-5 years in prison. He is already serving a life sentence for the 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd.
Hernandez wiped tears from his eyes as the verdict was read.
Jurors did not take questions but read a brief statement in the courtroom.
“We the jury heard from over 70 witnesses and over 380 exhibits over five weeks. We deliberated for six days. We base our decision based on the evidence presented and the law. We have no further comment,” said foreman Lindsey Stringer.
Hernandez’s lead defense attorney Jose Baez, who was not in court due to medical issues, weighed in on the verdict on TMZ. His client, he argued, was only guilty of hanging with a tough crowd.
“Aaron’s not a killer,” Baez told TMZ. “Like I said during opening statement. You lie down with crap you’re going to come up stinking.”
Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley said he was “clearly disappointed” by the verdict. Conley said he met with de Abreu and Furtado’s family members after the verdict was read.
“It goes without saying they are devastated after this verdict,” he said.
During a press conference of his own, defense attorney Ronald Sullivan called it “the only fair and just verdict that was available,” calling Hernandez a “beautiful young man and a happy-go-lucky young man.”
READ: Legal Expert Says Acquittal Will Not Affect Appeal In Lloyd Case
“Hopefully the public will see that just because one is a celebrity, just because one is a New England Patriot, they deserve the same treatment under the law as everybody else,” said Sullivan after the verdict was read. “I think it was clear in Bristol (County) that Mr. Hernandez was treated differently, that his celebrity worked adverse to his interest. And to the extent that that becomes an issue in his appeal or post-conviction, then it may be relevant.”
Hernandez’s fiancée, Shayanna Jenkins-Hernandez, shed tears in the courtroom as the jury’s decision was announced.
Jurors deliberated for nearly six days and about 36 hours before reaching the verdict Friday just before 3 p.m.
Family members of both victims sobbed in court as the decision was read.
Hernandez was acquitted on three counts of armed assault with intent to murder for allegedly shooting at three survivors; one count of assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon and one count of witness intimidation.
Defense attorneys suggested that it was the prosecution’s star witness, Alexander Bradley, who committed the murders.
Conley, meanwhile, maintained that the prosecution still believes “the evidence points inescapably to Aaron Hernandez.”
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans was also disappointed with the verdict.
“I have the utmost respect for the Jury and thank them for their service but simply disagree with the verdict reached,” Evans said. “The evidence in this case all points to Aaron Hernandez as the sole person responsible for the tragic and untimely deaths of Daniel de Abreu and Safiro Furtado.”
When Hernandez was convicted in Lloyd’s, jurors deliberated for 36 hours over seven days.
The former tight end is charged with shooting Bradley in the face. Prosecutors say it was an attempt to silence Bradley, who claimed in testimony last month to have seen Hernandez shoot the victims.
Hernandez also has a civil case pending against him, with the wrongful death lawsuit filed by Odin Lloyd’s mother Ursula Ward, who is trying to get any money the former Patriot may have left.
Ward’s attorney in the civil case says she is looking forward to her day in court.
“She is very grateful therefore that the upcoming trial in the Aaron Hernandez case, will not be about Aaron Hernandez, but will be about Odin Lloyd,” attorney Douglas Sheff said.
Sheff expects the civil case to go to trial sometime late this spring or early this summer.Commanders,
Are you up for some serious damage dealing and causing a couple of tragedies of Shakespearean proportions on the battlefield this weekend? In that case, ready your armoured dogs of war and, from Saturday 4 October at 07:10 until Tuesday 7 October at 07:00 CEST (UTC +2), enjoy the following in-game bonuses:
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Commanders! Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war!WASHINGTON — A fire continued to smolder at a plastics warehouse in Parkersburg, West Virginia, on Thursday evening, nearly six days after it erupted. Local officials have yet to pinpoint what types of chemicals and materials went up in the flames.
The 420,000-square-foot facility, formerly the Ames Tool Plant, is owned by Intercontinental Export Import Inc. and was being used to store various plastics and other items, according to state officials. The building caught fire early Saturday morning, and firefighters have been working to put it out ever since.
The state’s Department of Environmental Protection on Thursday ordered the owner of the facility to “immediately” provide a detailed inventory of all materials that had been stored there, as well as at its other facilities.
The 27-page order details numerous violations at the warehouse in recent years. In 2008, two volunteer firefighters warned in a report about the potential for a fire at the facility, saying they had “extreme concerns,” the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported Thursday.
State officials say air samples have detected pollutants “at levels comparable to or lower than what is typically seen in urban areas.”
“We have done multiple, multiple, multiple testings of the air and all. So far, the multiple testings are OK,” Republican Gov. Jim Justice said at a news conference Tuesday.
Local residents, however, are concerned about potential threats to their health.
David Wright told HuffPost that “the smell of burnt plastic comes and goes with the wind.” And like his neighbors, he’s worried about what may have made it into the air.
“Now that it’s died down a little bit,” he said of the blaze, “I wonder who is going to pay for all the firefighting efforts.”
Jessica Scritchfield Wooten, a medical field employee who had a baby in Parkersburg while the warehouse was burning, said the stench was “awful.”
“The air was so bad we had to open our door to ventilate the smell out of our [hospital] room,” she wrote via Facebook.
On Monday, Justice declared a state of emergency in response to the inferno. And at a news conference the following day, he said he was concerned about potential long-term pollution.
“We need all the king’s horses and all the king’s men — the experts from the federal government,” in case they might know something that state officials have missed, he said.
It is unclear what role, if any, the federal Environmental Protection Agency has had in the response. As of Thursday evening, the agency had not put out a public statement on the situation. According to state officials, however, the EPA is involved in ongoing air quality monitoring.
The EPA and Intercontinental Export Import did not respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment Thursday.
Eric Engle, who lives just north of town and is chairman of Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action, said area schools have been closed all week. State workers have been told to stay home. And residents of Parkersburg and the surrounding counties are anxiously awaiting answers, he said.
“The majority of the people I know have left town,” many to stay with family and friends away from the smoke, he said.
On Thursday, the Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department warned people to “avoid contact with the smoke and remain indoors if possible with windows and doors closed until the smell is no longer detectable.”
Parkersburg, whose population is about 31,000, is no stranger to industrial pollution. The town was the focus of a lengthy 2015 piece in HuffPost Highline.A Palestinian 15-year-old boy who was said to have been killed in the Gaza Strip this week returned to his home safe and sound, it was reported Saturday.
Palestinian medical elements initially reported that Mohammed al-Farmawi was killed by IDF fire near Rafah. According to the report, the teen approached the border fence near the Badhania airport and apparently tried to cross over into Israeli territory.
The IDF denied the report and said that dozens of Palestinians held protests in several locations near the border fence area in the Strip. During one such protest soldiers fired towards several protestors' legs after they refused to leave the site, but without causing casualties.
The teen returned home on Friday after apparently trying to cross over into Egypt via a smuggling tunnel, where he was kept for several days. The Ma'an news agency reported that his family was overwhelmed with happiness at the news.
Palestinian sources said that the boy's alleged death might have been related to "internal affairs."
A source from the Palestinian Health Ministry said that they had received false reports from the field and had later declared that no body was found.PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — As his fellow pitchers played catch Tuesday morning, during the first official week of spring training, Zack Wheeler watched off to the side with his glove off. He had felt tenderness in his right arm after a recent bullpen session, so he was resting.
Dan Warthen, the Mets’ longtime pitching coach, maintained on Wednesday that it was not a setback for Wheeler, who has not pitched for the Mets for two years because of physical problems, but every twinge Wheeler feels has to make the Mets at least a little bit nervous.
So it was not surprising that Warthen went on to say that Wheeler, who had Tommy John surgery in 2015, will be treated “with kid gloves” this spring. A physical examination this week revealed no new problems, and the tenderness Wheeler felt could have been related to scar tissue in his arm. The Mets hope he can throw this week.
Still, the Wheeler development, as minor as it might have been, was one more reminder of the persistent and evolving issue the Mets will be dealing with all season: how to keep their precious — and often injury-depleted — pitching rotation in one piece.Hazrat Abu Muhammad Muhiyuddin Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) (also spelled Jeelani, Gilani, Gillani, Al-Gilani) was a Sufi Sheikh and the founder of the Qadiri Sufi order (Silsila). He was born in the month of Ramadan in 470 AH (1077-78 AD) in the Persian province of Jilan (Iran), south of the Caspian Sea. His contribution to Sufism and Sharia was so immense that he became known as the spiritual pole of his time, al-Ghawth al-A'zam.
Family & Lineage
One of his many titles is ‘al-Hasani wal Husseini’ because he was blessed with direct lineage to the Holy Prophet ﷺ through his father Sheikh Abu Saleh Moosa (ra) who was a direct descendant of Imam Hassan. He was a very pious and humble person as well as a master in the tactics of Jihad and it was due to this that he was given the title of “Jangi Dost”. Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) was also blessed with direct lineage to the Holy Prophet ﷺ through his mother Sayyida Bibi Ummul Khair Fatima (ra) who was a direct descendant of Imam Hussein. She was also a very pious person. The circumstances surrounding the blessed marriage of Hazrat Abu Saleh Moosa (ra) and Hazrat Bibi Ummul Khair (ra) were quite miraculous to say the least.
Sayyidi Abdullah Sauma’ee was the maternal grandfather of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra). He was a very patient, humble, kind and sincere person. Sayyida Aisha Zaahida (ra) was the paternal aunt of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra). She was a very kind and pious woman. Her entire life was spent in the remembrance of Almighty Allah.
Predictions of his Birth
Sheikh-ul-Mashaa’ikh, Sayyiduna Junaid Al-Baghdadi (ra): He lived two hundred years before Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) and foretold his coming in the following manner. Once, while Sheikh Junaid al-Baghdadi (ra) was in a state of spiritual ecstasy, he stated: “His foot is on my shoulders; his foot is on my shoulders.” After he had come out of this spiritual condition, his disciples questioned him concerning these words. He said, “I have been informed that a great Saint will be born towards the end of the fifth century. His name shall be Abdul Qadir and his title will be Muhiyuddin. He will be born in Jilan and he will reside in Baghdad. One day, on the Command of Allah, he will say, ‘My foot is on the shoulders of all the Awliya Allah’. While in my spiritual condition, I saw his excellence and these words were uttered by me without my control.”
Imam Hassan Askari (ra): Sheikh Abu Muhammad (ra) states that before his demise, Imam Hassan Askari (ra) handed over his Jubba (Cloak) to Sayyiduna Imam Ma’roof Karki (ra) and asked him to pass it over to Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra). Sheikh Imam Ma’roof Karki (ra) passed over this cloak to Sayyiduna Junaid al-Baghdadi (ra), who in turn passed it over to Sheikh Danoori (ra). From here it was then passed down until it reached Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) in the year 497 A.H. (Makhzanul Qaaderiah)
Sheikh Abu Bakr Bin Haw’waar (ra): He lived before the time of al-Ghawth al-A’zam (ra) and was amongst the distinguished Mashaa’ikh of Baghdad. Once, while he was sitting in his majlis, he said, “There are seven Aqtaab (High-Ranking Awliya) of Iraq:
Sheikh Ma’roof Karki (ra) Sheikh Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal (ra) Sheikh Bishr Haafi (ra) Sheikh Mansoor bin Amaar (ra) Sayyiduna Junaid al-Baghdadi (ra) Sheikh Sahl bin Abdullah Tastari (ra) Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra)
When he heard this, Sayyidi Abu Muhammad (ra), who was a mureed of Sheikh Abu Bakr (ra) asked, “We have heard and know six of these names, but the seventh, we have not heard of. O Sheikh! Who is Abdul Qadir Jilani?” Sheikh Abu Bakr (ra) replied by saying: “Abdul Qadir (ra) will be a non-Arab (and a) pious man. He will be born towards the end of the fifth century Hijri and he will reside in Baghdad.” (Bahjatul Asraar)
Sheikh Khaleel Balkhi (ra): He was a great Wali-Allah and had passed away before the time of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra). Once while he was seated with his disciples, he said: “A pure servant of Allah will become apparent in Iraq towards the end of the fifth century. The world will gain brightness from his presence. He will be the Ghaus of his time. The creation of Allah will be obedient to him, and he will be the Leader of the Awliya Allah.” (Azkaarul Abraar)
Imam Muhammad Bin Sa’eed Zanjani (ra): He stated as follows in his distinguished work, “Nuzhatul Khawatir”: “From the era of Sheikh Abi Ali Hassan Yasaarajuwi (ra) up to the era of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra), every Wali that passed this earth, foretold the coming and the excellence of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra).” (Nuzhatul Khawatir)
Birth
According to authentic narrations, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) was born in a place called Neef, which is situated in Jilan (Persia). According to Imam Yaaqoot Hamwi (ra), Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) was born in a place called Bashteer. Most historians agree that Neef and Bashteer were different names for the same place. Since he was born in Jilan, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) is known as al-Jilani. Concerning his birth, he personally states the following in his “Qasida-e-Ghausia”: “I am Al Jilani, my name is Muhiyuddin, and my banners fly on mountain tops.”
There are two narrations concerning the date of birth of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra). The first narration is that he was born on the 1st of Ramadan 470 AH. The second narration is that he was born on the eve of the 2nd of Ramadan 470 AH. The second narration seems to be the one more favoured amongst the scholars. His birth was a great blessing for the Ummah. It was the arrival of the Sultan al-Awliya (King of the Awliya), which had been foretold for centuries before his birth.
Miracles Surrounding his Birth
At the time of his birth his mother was nearly 60 years old, an age when women are usually unable to have children.
On the night of the Mi'raaj (Ascension), the Prophet Muhammad's ﷺ blessed foot stepped on the neck of Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) to mount al-Buraq. When he was born, the impression of the footprint of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was present on Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra). This alone was proof of his Sainthood.
On the eve of his birth, approximately eleven hundred males were born in Jilan and every one of them became a Wali of Allah.
Hazrat Abu Saleh Moosa (ra), Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra)'s father, had a dream in which he saw our Beloved Prophet ﷺ, who said to him:
“ O my son Abu Saleh, Allah, Most High has given you a child who is my beloved son and also the beloved of Allah. His ranking among the Awliya is akin to my rank among the Prophets. ”
Almighty Allah gave glad tidings to his parents in their dream that their son would be the Sultan al-Awliya and those who oppose him would be Gumrah (misled).
During Ramadan, news had spread that the infant refused to take milk from dawn until sunset, thereby implying that the newborn child was observing the fast. During the following year, when the moon could not be sighted due to heavy clouds, the people decided to observe Ramadan on the basis of whether Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) had accepted milk during the day or not.
Early Life
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) was not like other children who spent their time in play and amusement. From a tender age he spent his time in the remembrance of Almighty Allah. If he at any time ever intended to join the other children, then a Voice from the Unseen would be heard to say, “Come towards Me, O blessed one.” At first, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) would become afraid when he heard this voice. He would go to his mother and sit on her lap. As time passed, he became accustomed to this voice. Instead of going to his mother, he would abandon the thought of playing and occupy himself in the remembrance of Almighty Allah.
Passing on of Sheikh Abu Saleh Moosa (ra)
After the passing on of his father, his grandfather, Sheikh Abdullah Sauma’ee (ra) took care of him. It was his grandfather that was responsible for the marriage of the parents of the great Saint. He moulded Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) from childhood into the personality that he was to be. He blessed Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) with gems of spiritualism. He nurtured him with gentleness and showered him with words of wisdom.
Commencement of Academic Studies
When Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) was four and a half years old, and according to certain narrations, five years old, his mother enrolled him into a local Madrassa in Jilan. He studied at this Madrassa until the age of ten. During this period, a certain amazing event occurred. Whenever Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) would enter the Madrassa he would see bright figures walking ahead of him saying, “Give way to the Friend of Allah.” His son, Sayyidi Abdur Razzaq (ra), reports that once Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) was asked when he first came to know of his Wilayah the great Ghaus (ra) replied: “When I was ten years old, I found Angels walking beside me on my way to the Madrassa. When we reached the Madrassa I would hear them say, ‘Give way to the Wali Allah, Give way to the Wali Allah.’ It was when this continued that I knew that I had been blessed with Wilayah”.
Passing on of Sheikh Abdullah Sauma’ee (ra)
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) was still a student at the Madrassa in Baghdad when his grandfather, Sheikh Abdullah Sauma’ee (ra) passed away. After the demise of his grandfather, the responsibility for his education fell upon his mother. She fulfilled this responsibility with great patience, sincerity and dedication. Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) was about 18 years old when this incident took place.
Extraordinary Incident
One day, he left his home for a walk. As he walked along the streets of Jilan he saw an ox in front of him. He walked behind it for some time. The ox then turned around and spoke to him in the language of humans. It said: “You have not been created for this and you have not been commanded to do this.” He immediately returned home and explained this incident to his mother. He requested permission from his mother to journey to Baghdad in order to complete his academic studies and seek more spiritual knowledge. His mother, who was now 78 years old, acceded to this noble request without a second thought.
Mother’s Advice
It was such a time where parents in their old age usually depend on their children for moral and financial support, but this pious and pure servant of Allah only wanted the pleasure of Almighty Allah and His Rasool ﷺ. Whilst she was very attached to Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra), she did not let her personal feelings come before the pleasure of Allah. She wanted her son to be a man of knowledge and wisdom. In those days, people used to travel either by foot or by camel or another animal. The roads passed through dense forests and jungles and there was always the danger of travellers being robbed and killed by bandits. Sayyida Ummul Khair Fatima (ra) knew of the dangers but still supported her son’s. She wished him well with her Du’as. She said: “O my dear son! I have now become very old and I do not think I will ever get to see you again, but my Du’as will always be with you. May Almighty Allah grant you success in your quest for academic and spiritual knowledge.”
She then said: “Your deceased father left eighty Dinars from which I am giving you forty Dinars for your journey and forty Dinars I will keep for your younger brother, Sayyid Abu Ahmad Abdullah.” She took the forty Dinars and sewed them under the arm of his coat. She once again made Du’a for him. On bidding him farewell, she gave him the following advice: “O’ my beloved son! Let this advice, which I am about to give you be an important part of your life. Always speak the truth! Do not even think of lies.” The young Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra) said, “My dear mother! I promise from my heart that I will always act upon your advice.” Sayyida Fatima (ra) then embraced the apple of her eye with love and motherly gentleness for the last time, and with the words, “Go! May Allah be with you. It is He who is your Helper and Protector”. The journey to Baghdad began.
A famous incident which illustrates his obedience to his mother occurred shortly after him leaving for Baghdad when his caravan (Qafila) was attacked by a sixty man band of highwaymen.
Arrival in Baghdad & Education
Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (ra), arrived in Baghdad during the reign of the Abbasid Caliphate in 488 AH (1095 AD) at a time where there was chaos and disunity in the Islamic world. The Muslim rulers had lost all sense of duty and paid no heed to Islamic teachings.
When he arrived in Baghdad, Sheikh Abdul Q |
inaugural season.
• This 1970s Baltimore Colts winter knit ski cap also comes with their 1976 season yearbook/media guide. Bert Jones on the cover!
See you next week. Send any eBay finds here, and follow me on Twitter.
• • • • •
T-Shirt launch: As I mentioned last week, our latest limited-edition T-shirt in the Uni Watch Artist’s Series is by the great Larry Torrez (aka Eltee of DC). In the spirit of his Meatscots caricature series, he’s imagined a fictitious Japanese baseball team called the Kyoto Yakitori, whose mascot is a baseball-playing samurai with a sword that serves as a baseball bat and as a yakitori kebab skewer (click to enlarge):
It’s available in three different black short-sleeve options (two of which come in sizes up to 5XL) and one long-sleeve option (up to 5XL). Plus I’ve also made the design available as a sticker. Haven’t done that before with any of out T-shirt designs — let’s see how that goes.
Based on feedback from you folks last week, we made two adjustments to the design. First, some of you thought the samurai was supposed to be me — which, in fact, was indeed Larry’s intent (although I didn’t even realize that because I didn’t think the face looked like me at all). I agree that there’s no reason to imply that this character is me, so we’ve removed the glasses. Now he looks even less like me.
Second, we changed the meat on the sword, which had been red, to look more like chicken. It turns out that cubed chicken is a surprisingly difficult thing to capture visually (much more so than, say, a steak or a ham), but I think Larry did a very good job of it.
Some of you have also asked why I’m okay with this design if I have issues with Native American-based sports designs. That’s a perfectly valid question, and I’ve created a separate page to address it. Look here.
The shirt is available here through next Thursday, April 6.
• • • • •
The Ticker
By Mike Chamernik
Baseball News : A video game leak has given us a peek at what may be this year’s All-Star Game BP caps and jerseys. … The Cubs will use these World Series-stamped baseballs for the home opener and the ring ceremony games on April 10 and 12 (from Kyle Yackley). … The Akron RubberDucks will wear baby blue jerseys in June for the 60th anniversary of the West Akron Baseball League (from Eric Furniss). … This Phillies 1993 World Champions T-shirt was found for sale on a street corner in Taiwan (from Dennis Abrams). … David Murphy attended an open house at the Braves’ new ballpark and snapped a bunch of photos. The park has a Braves uniform history display, an “A” logo made of bottle caps, and some cool game action paintings. … Does Rawlings make MLB jerseys, or is this some sort of mistake? Nope, the apparel maker outfits the AZL Indians of the Gulf Coast League (from Joesph Giordano). … Erik Bogh recently dug up an old Homer Hanky from the 1987 Twins season. … Just what the world needed: MLB-branded diapers. Presumably, you’d want to buy diapers with your rival’s logo, right? … Kansas softball will wear digi camo jerseys on Sunday (from Bill Stevens). … The A’s revealed a big new mural in downtown Oakland. … Here’s your chance to help name the Binghamton Rumble Ponies’ mascot.
NFL News : Here’s some video of the Brooklyn Dodgers, in red, playing the Detroit Lions, in blue, in a color-vs.-color game back in 1939. Note that the officials wore all-white outfits. “The color and quality of the video are truly outstanding,” says Bill Moss. … In the early 1990s, Marvel produced a football-themed comic book series called NFL SuperPro. Not surprisingly, it was pretty awful. Ray Hund found an issue at a local antique store.
Hockey News : Blues goalie Jake Allen has a new blue angels mask he’ll wear on Boeing Night (from Erik Spoonmore). … A few notes from Seth Horowitz, who attended the NCAA East Hockey Regional in Providence over the weekend: The Providence Civic Center has a few displays for the Providence Reds, a minor league team from 1926 to 1977. Reds goalie Gil Mayer was the first AHL goalie to wear a mask. As for the game, Harvard’s Lewis Zerter-Gossage has a 13-letter NOB with a hyphen, so his nameplate was stretched out to the shoulders. Harvard goalie Sihak Lee is Korean and has elements of both the ROK and USA flags on the backplate of his mask.wikiHow's This article was co-authored by our trained team of editors and researchers who validated it for accuracy and comprehensiveness. Together, they cited information from 27 references wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article meets our high quality standards. Learn more...
In this Article:Setting up the BeddingChanging the SheetsChanging the Remaining LinensCommunity Q&A27 References
Ideally, you should change bed sheets when a bed is empty. However, if a person is on bed rest and is either not supposed to or is unable to get out of bed, you’ll need to change the sheets while the bed is occupied. This process can be strenuous for the person occupying the bed, so make sure your supplies are ready beforehand to streamline the process as much as possible. For patients experiencing pain, give a prescribed PRN analgesic thirty to sixty minutes before you change the bed linens. An occupied bed is usually changed after a bed bath.[1]May 20, 2008
WASHINGTON, D.C.--Twenty-four Indian guest workers launched a hunger strike outside the White House May 14, protesting the slave-like conditions they endured working at the Signal International shipyards in Pascagoula, Miss.
The workers each paid $20,000 to a recruiting agency for work in the U.S., often selling their homes in India and taking out loans on the promise of substantial returns from the "American dream." But on the Gulf Coast, they found a nightmare.
The workers were crammed into a trailer and locked in at night, released only for work and for sporadic trips to Wal-Mart for necessities. They were each charged $1,050 for these atrocious living arrangements.
The workers are on hunger strike not only to put pressure on Signal to end its involvement in labor trafficking, but to protest efforts to deport them.
"After all this, we are the ones who are being treated like criminals," the hunger strikers said in a statement. "We are told we must turn ourselves in for deportation procedures before we can participate in an investigation into our case. We know this is what Signal wants--for us to disappear back to our homeland to drown in an ocean of debt. But they cannot silence us so easily."
Indian guest workers begin a hunger strike across from the White House (Chris Yarrison | SW)
On day three of their hunger strike, under a blue tarp outside the White House, they were hopeful, but worried. They're concerned about their families in India, who will be saddled with paying back loans if no action is taken against the predators who took advantage of them.
But they workers are also optimistic because local and national advocacy groups have rallied around their cause.
D.C. Jobs with Justice (JwJ), the Southern Poverty Law Center and the AFL-CIO are all helping this struggle with petitions, legal advice and solidarity actions planned throughout the course of the hunger strike. JwJ, for instance, is attempting to link the Indian guest-workers' struggle with that of the city's day laborers.
For their part, the guest workers understand that Signal is using easily exploited foreign workers in place of native residents, and they've offered job training to Gulf Coast residents who are still displaced and impoverished by Hurricane Katrina.
About 30 more Signal workers are scheduled to join the hunger strike in two waves on May 21 and May 28.
What you can do For more information on the Signal workers' struggle and how you can support them, visit the New Orleans Workers' Center for Racial Justice Web site.
"We are conducting this hunger strike for one thing: the chance to help justice be served," the hunger strikers said in their statement. "We know that if we remain silent the way Signal wants, our brothers and nephews and neighbors will be next. We have sacrificed everything we had, so now we are laying down our lives."The Gradework Android app is a tool to manage homework, grades, and GPA in high-school or college. It supports adding reoccurring homework items such as weekly reminders to turn in problem sets. It also allows quick access to all upcoming homework items from all classes enrolled. Additionally, the user can change the predicted grades of his or her classes to see how it would directly affect his or her GPA.
I made this Android app purely out of necessity. My courses were becoming very involved and I needed a way to organize myself, so I decided to make an app to solve just that problem.
The code is open sourced on GitHub.
I experimented with many UI elements throughout the application. Below is a list of significant examples.
Quick Edits
To be efficient with screen real-estate and minimize dialog boxes I used a ‘pencil’ icon to signify an edit action in a list-view.
When pressed the text instantly changes to an edit box as seen below:
The original ‘pencil’ button turns into a ‘plus’ sign signifying an add/save.
Packed List Item
I played around with list-views further by packing as much information as I possibly could in one list item:
In the above image, one list item contains information about homework priority, homework title, homework due-date, whether it’s completed, and what day of the week it’s due.
Gallery as Chooser
I hacked around with the Gallery spinner in Android, which is typically used for displaying photos. I used the Gallery as an item picker, more specifically as a grade chooser.
By swiping left or right on the yellow, the letters change. The square in the middle is an overlapping semi-transparent image that stays in the same spot to guide item chosen.
These are just some of the hacks and features. Download the app for yourself to see more.
March 9, 2012With a lot of skepticism and not much excitement about the soon-to-be released Apple Watch, Google is reportedly already preparing to venture into the tough world of iOS users and release the Android Wear app for iPhone and iPad users. A French technology website is citing sources close to the tech giant, saying this is not a too far-out possibility as they are trying to expand their wearable market, even beyond the already large Android-using market.
Presently, the wearables running on Android Wear are only compatible with smartphones that are on the Android platform, and only with those running on versions 4.3 and above. But according to French tech website 01net, Google might be exploring the possibility of allowing even iPhone and iPad users to use Android Wear smartwatches by pairing it with their gadgets through the app. There was a video released last month showing an iPhone paired with an Android Wear smartwatch, and it got over 300,000 views. Now as to whether those people would really want that is another thing.
The rumor also states that this new product might be unveiled during Google’s I/O conference this coming May. But then again, they might hold off on an announcement, depending on how well (or how bad) the Apple Watch will perform when it’s released this coming April.
Aside from 01net, no other source has corroborated this rumor. But then again, Google has always been open with cross-platform compatibility, so it’s not really that much of a distinct possibility. Let’s wait a few more days to see if this news will actually have legs.
VIA: Mac Rumorsrs21 members report from yesterday’s protest, which aimed to stop the EDL marching in Walthamstow, north east London
On 9 May the nazi English Defence League (EDL) returned to Walthamstow, the scene of one of their biggest humiliations in 2012. Three years ago, over 4,000 people, overwhelmingly local, rallied and marched against the nazis, occupying both the route of their march and their rally point. It was a great victory for anti-racists, and a massive humiliation for both them and the police, who simply didn’t have the numbers to stop us.
This time it was different. There were up to a thousand anti-fascists mobilised on the day, again overwhelmingly local, but not in one place, and not well organised enough to try to stop them. And the police were everywhere, in huge numbers – more of them than there were of us. They had learned from 2012, and were determined to control the day, which they did. To borrow a Scottish expression, Waltham Forest was hoachin’ wi’ polis, in what was effectively an occupation.
Unite Against Fascism/We are Waltham Forest called a static protest at Waltham Forest Town Hall, where the EDL were planning their rally. There were some 500 people at this at its height. The police handed out Section 12 notices under the Public Order Act (which allow them to tell demonstrators what to do, and to arrest anyone who doesn’t do as they are told), and got very heavy handed in pushing protesters back – there were as number of arrests, most made after some stone-throwing gave the police an excuse to charge the crowd.
The police were much more accomodating with the EDL – at least one bottle was thrown from their ranks, and several people had ball-bearings thrown at them.
London Antifascists had called for a mobilisation at Blackhorse Road tube station, where the EDL were assembling. This was much smaller, and most of the antifa got kettled, but it was also where the most significant confrontation took place. As the EDL set off, over a hundred people took to the road ahead of and to the side of them, an overwhelmingly local crowd, black and white, male and female, with a small number of anti-fascists among them.
The chanting reflected the mix, with “Black and white, unite and fight”, and “Racist scum, off our streets” alternating with “You’re not English any more” and the football chant “Oo are yer?” Our numbers grew as the march went on, although the overwhelming police numbers meant that we could do no more than harass them, and briefly stop them once or twice. And the police had enough numbers to kettle off several groups of antifascists along the route.
By the time the EDL got to their meeting point there were large groups of antifascists kettled behind at least four police lines, so they were left in no doubt about local opposition, but the sad truth is that they achieved their aim. Completing their route was a victory for them, and their mood showed that as they marched back to Blackhorse Road. But it was a bigger victory for the police.
In the conversations we had with angry young Muslim residents as we “escorted” the EDL back to Blackhorse Road, they were saying things like “we showed them that they can’t get an easy ride in Walthamstow”, “let them come back after dark when the police have gone” and “we gave them an East London welcome”. They understood that it was the massive police presence that allowed the EDL to march, and in general didn’t seem that demoralised by it. We were outnumbered by the police, but not defeated. This video gives a good sense of that.
A number of activists have been critical of UAF for simply sticking to the static rally, and not getting people to directly confront the EDL, and it could have been possible to use the back streets to get out of the kettle – as a handful of UAF activists did. Successful anti-fascism has always relied on a combination of community mobilisation and direct confrontation, and unfortunately different forces supplied different parts of the combination. And to UAF’s credit, they did excellent work in supporting the arrested anti-fascists in the face of very real threats of violence on Saturday night.
The real problem was our numbers, and the police’s. The local turnout was much smaller than last time for a number of reasons: only a month’s notice; many campaigners spending that month engaged in the election campaign; and the police ban on UAF marching forcing a last-minute change of assembly point.
There were also two other significant events in London the same day: several thousand people demonstrated against the new government in central London, and there were numbers of campaigners out in Tower Hamlets to kick off Rabina Khan’s mayoral campaign.
And while our numbers were down, the police’s were way, way up. We humiliated them in 2012, and they were determined that this would not be a repeat. One of the Nazis most persistent chants was “We’re the famous EDL, we go where we want”, but the truth is it took something like ten police for every one of them to force the march through a very unwelcoming area. The EDL came and they saw, but they did not conquer. Walthamstow’s streets are still our streets, not theirs.A couple years ago, Khan Academy and Pixar teamed up for Pixar in a Box, a series of courses meant to show off how Pixar gets things done. They’ve expanded their initial offering quite a bit since launch, and now they’ve added a storytelling section.
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As you’d expect, the first course is an introduction, running through some basic concepts of drafting stories, plotting, and world building. Next up will be a closer look at characters. This joins the already robust set of free classes in Pixar in a Box, including courses on 3D character modeling, virtual cameras, and color science. Of course, while Pixar has always been great from a technical point of view, it’s their stories that often set them apart from the rest, so this new course is a welcome sight. You can check it out for free over at Khan Academy.
The Art of Storytelling | Khan AcademyBy Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – –
The Riyadh conference of the Syrian opposition this week included political groups but also nine armed bands. One of the nine, the Free Men of Syria or Ahrar al-Sham, has a formal alliance with al-Qaeda in Syria, the Nusra Front. I don’t think the US and the Saudis, who sponsored this meeting, should have let Ahrar attend unless it renounced that formal alliance (it isn’t just tactical). I don’t buy the attempt to whitewash Ahrar as moderate. If you’re in bed with al-Qaeda, you aren’t moderate. Ahrar also hates the leftist Syrian Kurds and won’t cooperate with them. Imagine what they’d do to the Alawite Shiites if they took Latakia. It would create millions more Syrian refugees.
After the conference, Saudi Arabia came out and demanded al-Assad step down before the negotiations. This is a sign it is not serious about negotiations.
I think this mistake gave Bashar al-Assad an opening to attempt to shoot down the negotiations entirely.. Al-Assad says he considers everyone with a gun in the opposition a terrorist. That is ridiculous, though maybe it is a reasonable request that he negotiate with civilian representatives of the opposition (Sinn Fein rather than the IRA by analogy.)
Al-Assad said that from the beginning of the uprising against him, the US had supported terrorist groups in Syria, and that the so-called ‘war on terror’ was always a myth.
Al-Assad in general can’t be taken seriously on such matters — he had 10,000 helpless prisoners tortured to death and deployed snipers and artillery against peaceful crowds.
But the Nusra-led Army of Conquest of which Ahrar al-Sham is member is a fatal weak link in the stance of the US. We are allied with the allies of al-Qaeda, as in Afghanistan in the 1980s – a horrible error that is shocking given everything that has happened since.
Syed Farook, the San Bernardino shooter, when he was looking for a terrorist group to join, is said reached out to the Nusra Front, i.e. alQaeda in Syria. Its direct ally just sat with our Saudi friends in Riyadh to forge a negotiating position with regard to the Syrian government.
It isn’t surprising that is unscceptable to al-Assad.
What is shocking is that it is acceptable to us.WASHINGTON -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s presidential campaign has been propped up by the $4.6 million he helped two supposedly independent outside groups raise in the first half of 2015. The majority of the funds raised by these groups comes from people and companies that have benefited from Jindal’s administration or continue to lobby his office.
In total, a handful of donors with influence in Baton Rouge combined to contribute $2.5 million to Believe Again, a super PAC, and American Future Project, a 527 group.
The contributions from companies and executives with clear business interests before the governor or who have already received plum assignments provides yet another example of how the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United decision expanded opportunities for those looking to benefit from government decisions.
Twelve donors who combined to give $725,000 were previously appointed to important board positions by the governor to oversee things ranging from Louisiana State University to the state airport authority and a panel overseeing the construction of a new hospital. (Some of these donors were corporations whose officers received appointments from the Jindal administration.)
"USAA provides financial support to candidates and organizations that embrace policies that help us serve military families," USAA spokesman Roger Wildermuth said in a statement.
The Jindal campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Spencer Platt via Getty Images
Other companies and executives employ lobbyists in the state capital. The California auto auction company Copart and its top executive Willis Johnson gave $200,000 to Believe Again while employing lobbyists in Baton Rouge. Richard Zuschlag, the head of another company employing lobbyists aiming to influence Louisiana government decisions, Louisiana-based ambulance service provider Acadian Companies, gave $25,000.
The already powerful Louisiana nursing home industry has gained from Jindal's administration and also battled him to a standstill over related Medicaid reimbursement policies and his privatization agenda.
One of the state’s largest industry lobbies, with millions in campaign donations made every year, the nursing home industry takes advantage of policies the state has enacted and maintained to fund beds with Medicaid funds -- even when they are empty.
An investigation by WVUE New Orleans revealed that the funding of nursing home beds, including empty ones, was maintained at the same levels even as the Jindal administration and the Republican legislature pursued austerity policies to slash other health care and education spending.
Now, thanks to Citizens United, the nursing home industry is able to bundle more than it previously could to help Jindal’s presidential campaign tread water.
A total of 78 nursing and rehabilitation homes operating in Louisiana contributed a combined $357,879 to American Future Project or Believe Again.
Nearly all of the nursing home contributions to both American Future Project and Believe Again were made on April 13, meaning they were collected at a fundraiser attended by Jindal. The governor did not announce his presidential bid until June 24, and with the lack of enforcement from the Federal Election Commission, was able to raise unlimited sums for supposedly independent outside groups.
One nursing home operator, Teddy Rae Price, donated $150,004 through 22 separate entities. This included a $50,000 contribution from Price’s Central Management Company to the super PAC Believe Again.
This year the industry lobbied against the Jindal administration’s push to privatize the management of long-term care services provided under Medicaid. Nursing homes fear that management companies will divert funds from them toward home and community services, including home health aides and other services that allow seniors to stay in their own homes. Jindal's administration punted on the privatization of elder care, stating that the next governor, elected in 2015, will have to deal with the decision.
Another beneficiary of Jindal’s health care policies is MCNA Healthcare. In 2014, the Florida company won a bid to be the operator of Louisiana’s dental plans under Medicaid and CHIP, which Jindal privatized. MCNA Healthcare won the bid to run the plans in 2014. In 2015, the company contributed $100,000 to Jindal’s Believe Again super PAC.
Billionaire ship builder Gary Chouest, a longtime supporter of Louisiana Republicans and Jindal, gave $1 million to Believe Again. In 2008, when Jindal took office the very first state contract for economic development went to Chouest’s Edison Chouest to expand a shipbuilding facility. The contract was initially negotiated with Jindal’s predecessor, Democrat Kathleen Blanco, but was requested and approved by Jindal’s administration and the legislature.
Tom Benson, owner of the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans, contributed $25,000 to Jindal’s super PAC in April. In 2009, the state entered into an agreement with Benson’s Saints to spend $85 million on renovations to the Superdome that would expand profits for the franchise. If the team did not meet the total increase in revenue expected by the renovations, the state would pay out up to $6 million to cover the shortfall.Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption George Osborne: We share responsibility for what is happening in Syria
George Osborne has told MPs that they share some responsibility for the terrible events happening in Syria.
The ex-chancellor said the unfolding tragedy in Aleppo had not "come out of a vacuum" but was due to "a vacuum of Western and British leadership".
Parliament had helped enable a "terrorist state" to emerge by voting against military intervention against the Assad regime in 2013, he said.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Assad had been left "to do his worst".
Speaking in an emergency debate about the conflict in Aleppo, Mr Johnson said it would not be safe for the UK to try and drop aid into the city because air space was controlled by the Syrian government, its ally Russia and other combatants.
But he said the government was keeping up the diplomatic pressure on President Assad and Russia by pushing for tougher economic sanctions and "gathering the information necessary" for the prosecution of war crimes by combatants in Syria.
The UN has warned that Syrian pro-government forces have been entering homes in eastern Aleppo and killing those inside, including women and children, as they seize control of that part of the city after months of bitter fighting.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has written to Theresa May calling for a concerted effort to achieve a UN-led ceasefire and UN-brokered humanitarian corridors in Syria.
Mr Osborne - in one of his first Commons interventions since losing office - said Parliament must reflect on its own actions with regard to the five-year civil war in Syria.
'Worst decision'
In August 2013, Parliament rejected the government's case for possible intervention in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons by Syrian regime forces.
MPs voted 285-272 against the UK joining President Barack Obama's plan for US air strikes - which never came to pass because of political opposition in the US.
Mr Osborne recalled speaking from the backbenches ahead of the 2003 Iraq War and said he feared now that "it is impossible to intervene anywhere".
Image copyright AFP Image caption The United Nations says there have been atrocities in Aleppo
"The Syrian civil war has been waging since 2011 and therefore it is something that we could have foreseen and done something about," he said.
"I think we are deceiving ourselves in this Parliament if we believe that we have no responsibility for what has happened in Syria.
"The tragedy in Aleppo did not come out of a vacuum, it was created by a vacuum, a vacuum of Western leadership, of American leadership, British leadership."
But he said he had "some hope out of this terrible tragedy in Syria" that "we are beginning" to learn the "price of not intervening".
The price was that tens of thousands of people had been killed, millions of people had been forced from their homes and "we have allowed a terrorist state to emerge".
'Decisive player'
He added that key allies such as Lebanon and Jordan had been destabilised while the refugee crisis had allowed fascism to rise in Eastern Europe and created extremist parties in Western Europe and "for the first time since Henry Kissinger kicked them out of the Middle East in the 1970s, Russia is back as the decisive player in that region".
He added: "Let's be clear now, if you don't shape the world, you will be shaped by it."
Image copyright House of Commons Image caption Boris Johnson said any victory in Aleppo would be a pyrrhic one for the regime
Mr Osborne has previously described the decision not to intervene in 2013 as one of the worst decisions ever taken by Parliament.
In 2015, the Commons did sanction air strikes against militants from the so-called Islamic State group in Syria.
But SNP MP Tommy Shepherd said they had palpably failed in their stated objective of "cutting off the head [of IS], providing air support for 70,000 ground forces and being part of a co-ordinated military action which would enhance a military solution".
'What are you doing?'
Speaking in Tuesday's debate, former Cabinet minister Andrew Mitchell said the UK had been among nations ten years ago to sign up to the "responsibility to protect" doctrine to prevent humanitarian catastrophes of the like seen in Srebrenica and Rwanda.
"This responsibility to protect was signed up to at great fanfare and embraced by all the international community, great and small," he said.
"Yet here we are today witnessing, complicit, in what is happening to tens of thousands of Syrians in Aleppo."
Labour MP Ben Bradshaw likened Mr Johnson to Conservative foreign secretaries of the early 1990s who he said had refused to intervene in the Balkans to combat Serbian aggression and the "genocide" that resulted, asking him "what are you doing?"
Mr Johnson rejected the comparison and said there was only so much the UK could do in Syria after ruling out military engagement in 2013.
"Ever since that vote, our ability to influence events in Syria or to protect civilians or compel the delivery of aid has been severely limited," he said.
"The dictator was allowed to do his worst, along with his allies Russia and Iran."Eight different players played for the Heat in the fourth quarter of its 90-87 loss to Indiana on Friday.
Luol Deng was not one of them.
That's the first time that has happened this season, but probably won't be the last.
Not with the increasing role of Justise Winslow.
Winslow played 10 minutes, with seven points, one rebound, one assist, two fouls and a late inbounds pass that could have gone better -- it appeared that the play was designed for Chris Bosh as the primary option to try a game-tying three but, by the time Bosh came around a second pick, Winslow had already entered the ball to a struggling, off-balance Dwyane Wade.
The rookie swingman is one of just four Heat players, along with Wade, Bosh and Hassan Whiteside, to play in all six fourth quarters this season.
And he's played the most fourth quarter minutes, with 51.
He's tied for third on the team in scoring with 21, fourth in rebounds with eight, and has made nine of his 16 shots (56.3 percent) overall. He's a plus-30, which is second to Tyler Johnson, who is plus-34.
Oh, and he has just one turnover.
Deng has played just 21 fourth quarter minutes, and has eight points (3 of 5) and one assist. He's a minus-2.
There will certainly be situations when Deng will be summoned by Erik Spoelstra for his savvy.
But it looks like a teen, who is mature before his time, will likely be taking a lot of that court time.The U.S. Army's top officer is planning to more than double the number of required annual training days for some National Guard units to reinforce the service's shrinking active force.
The service's current strategy of reducing the active force from 490,000 to 450,000 by 2018 is forcing leaders to depend on the National Guard to assist with potential future contingency missions, according to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley.
"I am going to lean heavily on the Guard," Milley told an audience at a Dec. 14 National Security Forum sponsored by the Center for a New American Security.
In November, Milley asked Army Lt. Gen. Timothy Kadavy, the director for the Army National Guard, to assess readiness needs of the Guard.
"We are one Army, so what I need to do is not only maintain the readiness of the regular Army... but I have got to increase the readiness of the National Guard," he said.
Currently, Guard units are required to train 39 days per year, Milley said.
"Maybe we need to look at changing that... maybe I should take some of the Guard and significantly increase the number of training days they train in a given year -- maybe 60 to 100 days a year to reduce the response time on the back end when they get alerted and mobilized," Milley said.
In addition to downsizing, the active force has 50,000 solders that are non-deployable for medical, legal, or other administrative reasons, Sgt. Maj. of the Army Daniel Dailey said in November.
This means that the active force could become over-burdened rather quickly if the U.S. commits to a contingency mission such as a ground campaign against a threat like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, Milley said.
"We have to lean on the Guard, but that means that I have to get their readiness levels up to a level that is combat capable in the shortest amount of time post mobilization," Milley said. "Right now, if I was to call on a Guard unit, you are looking at 120 days before in conscience I can look myself in the eye and say, ‘They are ready to go to war.'"
Sending unprepared units into combat could result in death, Milley said.
"The only way I know how to ensure their readiness and reduce the response time is to increase the amount of training days for the National Guard on the front end, he said. "We owe it to the president, and we owe it to the American people to have forces sufficient in capacity and capability to respond quickly."
--Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.The Brazilian superstar has reaffirmed his desire to play the Club World Cup with Santos despite rumors about a move to Spain.
Santos star Neymar has committed himself to the Copa Libertadores champion amidst rumors Real Madrid has initiated procedures to sign him."I want to stay at Santos. I am focused on the national team. I do not know anything about what is happening in Brazil or outside here," said Neymar, who is away on international duty with the Brazilian national team at Copa America.Neymar's agent revealed that Real Madrid was intent on signing the striker during the summer transfter window, but the player still insists he's not going to Europe anytime soon."I have not talked to my father or my agent," Neymar said. "They are handling things, but I do not know anything. My wish is to play the Club World Cup for Santos."Neymar will next be in action for Brazil when it takes on Paraguay in the Copa America on Saturday.
Follow MIKE SLANE onThe Storm Is Coming
Politicians and climate scientists know what needs to be done to save Boston from impending doom. If only they would do it.
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The water came slowly at first, just a dark film sliding over the seawall. Half an hour later, it was 10 inches higher. Miniature waves from the Atlantic pulsed over the sidewalk, passed under benches, and jumped the curb, soaking the grass on the other side. Another hour, and the water was 2 feet higher. The pulses turned into violent overland surf. From Manhattan’s Battery Park—and other points along the coast—the water spread inland, filling city streets, crashing through storefront windows, and pouring into basements. This was New York on October 29, 2012, the night Superstorm Sandy slammed into the city.
Beginning as a mutant storm when a hurricane collided with a nor’easter and formed a hybrid more powerful than either alone, Sandy was pushing the ocean onto the shore. This kind of event is called a storm surge. Caused by breakneck winds and low air pressure, it makes the ocean temporarily rise to exceptionally high levels.
As the water continued to rise—another foot and a half over the next 90 minutes—it poured down subway stairwells and overpowered makeshift plywood dams. Inside the subway’s uptown control center, screens monitoring movement on the rails had been blank for hours. Now they flickered to life as water raced over the tracks.
Meanwhile, half of Manhattan was dark: The utility company partially shut down the grid before the storm hit, and the water took care of the rest, flooding nearly every electric facility operating downtown. In spectacular fashion, a generator at the East 13th Street substation shorted out, creating a high-voltage arc that lit up the sky and produced an ear-shattering boom that shook buildings for blocks in every direction.
As bad as it was, the destruction in Manhattan—nestled in the apex of New York Harbor—was only the half of it. Farther out, the water hit with even more force. In Breezy Point, a seaside community in Queens, 10-foot waves rolled off the open ocean and flooded the entire peninsula. Then came the fires. Sparked by contact between saltwater and live wires, flames engulfed more than 120 houses in mere hours. Meanwhile, the storm surge pulled off feats of impossible strength typically reserved for Hollywood special effects: It swept away cars, dropped a fishing yacht on top of a seafood restaurant, and piled up sailboats like a stack of children’s bath toys. It also killed—drowning, crushing, and sweeping people away.
By the time the water level peaked, the tide was 9 feet higher than usual. The storm surge had claimed 43 lives, destroyed thousands of homes, crippled New York’s public transit system, and cut off power to two million residents. The damage would cost at least $70 billion to fix.
Lastly, the storm set off a panic in local governments up and down the East Coast. New York was caught unprepared, but it wasn’t alone in its failure to brace for the inevitability of an extreme flood. From Atlanta to Portland, few cities were ready for an assault like Sandy. Now, four years later, scientists and city officials are still asking the same white-knuckled question: Are we ready for when |
Syria. Moscow is a key ally of the Syrian government, supporting it militarily, politically and financially.
[U.N. accuses Syrian government of April sarin attack]
A U.N. investigative body is due to release a report Thursday attributing blame for an April 4 chemical attack on the northern town of Khan Sheikhoun.
More than 80 people were killed, and hundreds were injured in the daybreak assault, in which the Syrian government is alleged to have used the banned nerve agent sarin.
Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, had tried unsuccessfully to have Tuesday's Security Council vote postponed until the contents of the report were released.
President Trump ordered retaliatory missile strikes days after the Khan Sheikhoun assault, targeting the Syrian government air base from which the warplanes that carried out the chemical attack were thought to have departed.
[Analysis: A chemical weapons attack in Syria exposes Trump’s Assad problem]
A separate U.N. inquiry also has accused Syria of responsibility for the Khan Sheikhoun assault, saying it was one of more than 20 government attacks involving chemical weapons since March 2013, most of them targeting families with no role in the conflict. This investigation, formally known as the U.N. Commission of Inquiry on Syria, is tasked with probing war-crimes allegations and has no mandate to prosecute any party.
The mandate of the ongoing U.N.-backed inquiry into chemical weapons attacks in Syria, known as the Joint Investigative Mechanism, or JIM, expires Nov. 17. It also has several other attacks to investigate.
The U.S.-drafted resolution put to a Security Council vote on Tuesday would have extended the JIM's mandate, raising the prospect of accountability for a chapter of human rights abuses that has drawn unparalleled international condemnation.
Amnesty International described the Russian veto as the equivalent of "a green light for war crimes."
"By preventing the mandate extension of the gas attacks probe they helped set up, Russia has dealt a huge blow [to] justice in Syria and shown once again their callous disregard for all those who have been killed and injured in these attacks," said Sherine Tadros, head of Amnesty International's U.N. office in New York.
[Chemical weapons activity monitored at Syrian air base, U.S. officials say]
It was unclear Tuesday whether the United States and allies on the Security Council would try for a second vote to continue the JIM's work.
"It is not every day that this council considers an issue that is so horrific, so shocking to the conscience as the use of chemical weapons against civilians," said Michele J. Sison, the deputy U.S. representative to the United Nations, addressing the chamber. "We want to know the truth about these attacks regardless of where it takes us."
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Michele J. Sison's name.
Read more
United Nations accuses Syrian government of April sarin attack
For Trump, sarin in Syria prompted a different response to other chemical weapons
Using chemical weapons is risky. So why did Syria use sarin?
Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Like Washington Post World on Facebook and stay updated on foreign newsAfter comedian is taken to court for insulting Egypt's president, we ask if Morsi is making a mockery of press freedom.
Although it has been more than two years since the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s revolution is still very much in motion.
The rise of Mohamed Morsi has given the Muslim Brotherhood the voice it was denied for decades but there are those who see the president edging towards authoritarianism and who fear the creeping Islamisation of Egyptian politics and society.
As the president’s power has grown, so has the volume of critical voices in the media. One of those voices is that of Bassem Youssef whose wildly popular show satirising Egyptian politics has won comparisons with US presenter Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show.
Headline writers in Egypt have been focussing on Youssef's case after he was taken to court for insulting the president, denigrating Islam and undermining security. But the larger story is not about the Morsi government’s definition of what is funny or not; it is about freedom of the media in the post-revolutionary era.
Youssef's satirical programme is back on the air after the judge threw the case out of court. However a message was sent to Egyptian journalists, many of whom say they were already working under siege conditions.
Brotherhood supporters do not see the funny side of such satire. And their outrage at media figures has spilled into the streets. Last month Morsi supporters descended on a media complex in Cairo, trying to control what is said on the airwaves by stopping journalists from getting to their offices and studios. And the president did not appear to have a problem with that.
Two years after the heady days of Tahrir Square, the Egyptian media space has changed drastically from what it was under Mubarak. But the question is: Is the journalism any better, any more free?
Joining us to discuss the media under fire in Egypt for this week’s News Divide: Journalist Hani Shukrallah, who says the Muslim Brotherhood forced him out of the top job at the state-run Ahram Online news website; Nader Omran, Spokesman for Egypt’s Freedom & Justice Party which Mohamed Morsi once led; Reem Abou-El-Fadl from Oxford University; Ashraf Khalil, the author of Liberation Square; and Al Jazeera English correspondent Sherine Tadros.
Our Newsbytes this week: Russian journalist Mikhail Beketov, who was severely beaten in 2007 after alleging corruption, has died at the age of 55; in Bangladesh, a top editor has been arrested and his newspaper raided; the Associated Press news agency draws fire from US conservatives after dropping the term "illegal immigrant" from its stylebook; and Sudan’s press council takes a stand against President Omar al-Bashir over media interference.
Our feature this week takes us to Pakistan: What role do journalists play in a society plagued by deep-rooted problems and riven with divisions? And how do they face the dangers posed by those who answer freedom of expression with the bullet and the bomb? To find out, we focused our cameras on top Geo TV presenter Hamid Mir who himself has been the target of attempts on his life.
Finally, our Video of the Week comes from the Brazilian comedy channel Porta Dos Fundos. It’s a witty critique of journalism of a distinctly yellow tint – a lesson for the rich and famous of why it is best to keep journalists at arm’s length.
Listening Post can be seen each week at the following times GMT: Saturday: 0830, 1930; Sunday: 1430; Monday: 0430.
Click here for more Listening Post.
Source: Al Jazeera‘The Night Of’ star Riz Ahmed talks to Ashok Kondabolu about cricket jerseys, patriotism, acting while brown, and race in the UK.
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I met Riz Ahmed three years ago when he invited me to the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, in which he stars. Afterward, we hung out at a hotel bar I can’t remember and his co-star Kate Hudson talked about her son learning to play drums and Kiefer Sutherland mumbled a couple of things I couldn’t understand while smiling. I was into it.
Riz, who is also a rapper and released a new mixtape, Englistan, this summer, was recently in town to promote The Night Of, the HBO hit mini-series which wraps up with it’s eighth and final episode this Sunday. I met up with him at the Soho Grand less than two hours before his flight back to the UK to talk about film, music, cricket teams, and a handful of other things while drinking lemon-ginger tea.
Ashok Kondabolu: I’m in Soho with Riz Ahmed on Mother’s Day.
Riz Ahmed: American Mother’s Day.
American Mother’s Day.
The British celebrate their mothers on a different day.
And South Asian Mother’s Day is constant. So what are you doing on this trip to New York?
I was here for the screening of that HBO show, The Night Of that was shooting when I came and linked up with you and your brother a couple of years ago. The show had a screening at the Tribeca Film Festival of its first episode, which will air officially in July in the United States. So I was here for that and then I stayed out to do a shoot for a new Netflix show.
What’s the Netflix show about?
It’s called The OA, but I’m not really allowed to say anything other than that. It’s really unique, I have to say. I think it’s really imaginative, and there’s a great team behind it: Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij and Plan B (the production company with Netflix).
I know The Night Of has been in development for a while and there have been a bunch of changes. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Yeah, I mean, initially the project was a British project that was made by the BBC and then when the head of BBC drama at that time moved over to BBC America, she thought maybe we can make an American version of the show with HBO. James Gandolfini was on board initially to play one of the leading roles, but after we showed the pilot sadly he passed away, which means the whole project went into a kind of no man’s land. No one was really sure what was going to happen with it. And then eventually we developed it. It took years, though. We showed the pilot in the fall of 2012. It feels like a big part of my life.
I always felt, with my living experience, that South Asians in the UK might have less of the identity crisis that South Asians in the United States have because of the long history of colonialism and geographical proximity. Have you found that to be true?
I’m fascinated with how different societies deal with multiculturalism. I was in Brazil where you’ve got a massive Japanese and Lebanese community there. But Japanese people there were still calling me ‘gringo.’ [laughs] So it’s crazy, it’s really interesting. But I kind of feel like it’s quite a different experience because generally speaking, and obviously this is a massive generalization, the South Asian experience in the United States is slightly more middle-class than the experience in the UK. I think the position of Latinos is maybe more a parallel with the position of South Asians in the UK, both in terms of socioeconomic position, and not being as middle-class, and also in terms of how much their culture has been instrumental in shaping the “host” societies and cultures. I think the same could be said about South Asians in the UK.
I feel like in the United States, ultimately everyone is like, ‘I’m American,’ because everyone is from somewhere else. So in a way I feel like that’s slightly less of an identity crisis. The idea of American and American-ness is a very elastic one—it is by definition porous and built on migrants and migration, whereas in the UK it’s more like the idea of Europe was founded on the idea of not being the Arabs, not being the people in the global South. So that presents more of a challenge, theoretically, like how do you square the idea that I am British, that I am European? And I am. I’m not agreeing with that perspective, I’m just saying that the foundational myth of Europe is one of not being ‘those’ dudes, not being us dudes. Whereas in America, even the last guy who turns up off the boat is American. Growing up it took me a long time to say I was British. It took until the 2012 Olympics. That was the moment when I thought, yeah I want to stretch this flag and so it’s big enough for me and people like me, rather than viewing it in the way I had my whole life, which was as a symbol of xenophobia and racism, because that flag had been co-opted by racists. That’s kind of how I see it—but I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. On the flip side, in the UK, we’ve got proper multiculturalism unlike the assimilationist imperative in America. In London, you can feel like you’re in a different country from one neighborhood to the next.
I’ve only ever worn or interacted with the American flag either disdainfully or usually in an ironic way. Like I’m wearing a hat with a screaming bald eagle on top of an American flag which I can’t imagine has meaning for anybody, but I think that might just be a New York thing.
You’d be surprised, I recently did a road trip through the Navajo nation in Arizona and it was wild because their relationship to American-ness is intense, man. On one hand they’re like yeah, we’re the original Americans and this country’s great now, and on the other hand “fuck America” because people just don’t have running water or electricity out there and have to go through 10 different permits just to build a two story structure or to start a business. It’s a very strange kind of paternalistic relationship they’ve got with the American government. I talked to this one kid whose grandfather was one of the Navajo code talkers. They were recruited by the marines and were instrumental in winning World War II when the United States was fighting the Japanese in the Pacific. The Japanese did not have access to any people who could translate Navajo. And the Navajo are proud of that. But the American flag is loaded with some kind of emotional reaction for everyone in the world right now. It means lots of things to everyone. No one doesn’t have an opinion on that symbol.
Is auditioning for roles as a South Asian in the US different from in the UK in terms of roles and what’s expected of you?
I think that it has slowly changed everywhere. I also think this stuff works in stages—at the first stage you’ve got stereotypes—cab driver, terrorist, or whatever. Stage 2 takes place on ethnicized terrain but is challenging those stereotypes. When I started out you had Road to Guantanamo, which is about guys who are in Guantanamo Bay and it’s about the War on Terror, but from their perspective and how they were innocent. Four Lions takes place on that terrain, but it’s a satirical comedy about terrorism that humanizes the people that we usually demonize. So we kind of flip the script but still on that terrain. In stage 3, you’re just a dude. You could be called Rajid, you could be called Bob, you could be called David, and that’s kind of exciting. I don’t mean to say that the Holy Grail is one where I’m deracinated and my name is just Tom. But you look at Woody Allen and so many of his films are about New York Jews, but no one thinks about them as marginal stories. You think, ‘That’s a story that deserves to be center stage.’ I guess that’s what we’re working toward.
What is the Englistan mixtape about?
I’ve got to be honest, I recorded that mixtape about two years and I didn’t put it out for a variety of reasons, partly just because of management paralysis and labor fuckeries of the industry; it was a weird one because I’ve recorded it and well, it was political. So I basically had to sit and wait and think about it, and I can’t sit still so I just recorded another album. And now suddenly it’s even more confusing ’cause now there are two fuckin’ albums. And then I started recording the Sweatshop Boys album, and now we’re sitting on three. I think part of the reason why I put it out is what we were talking about. You internalize this notion that your story is a marginal one, and that if you really explore the specificities of your experience, what you create won’t be universal. And I just thought man, ‘I’m just gonna put it out, whoever connects with it does.’ The stuff that you think is really specific to you is the stuff that really transcends and becomes you, and it’s wild because I had kids hitting me up from the Brown diaspora, Middle Eastern kids, but also White working class kids. Even a British soldier hit me up the other day thanking me for putting it out. And to answer, directly, your question: the Englistan mixtape is about stretching the flag. It’s about celebrating our hybrid identity. We all have some kind of hybrid identity in this globalized world, and I think we should celebrate this identity without apologizing for it, without censoring it.
You’re wearing—are those soccer or cricket jerseys?
They’re a mixture actually, so I had this shirt made, it’s a cricket jersey from the Pakistan 1992 World Cup-winning cricket team, led by Imran Khan. It’s mixed with the England Euro-96 cricket shirt. In my lifetime those were the high points for those two teams.
You said in a Guardian interview, “If you are an artist of color sometimes America represents more opportunities. I think film in the UK has a little catching up to do.” Can you clarify that a little bit?
I think that is the case. Ultimately the UK has played quite a conservative game in exporting tried and tested material, and that tried and tested material which the UK has unique access to and which sells well overseas is period drama. Like historical drama, people in bonnets and wigs, running around lawns. That’s great and there’s a place for that. The double irony is that Blacks and South Asians have been in the UK for hundreds of years, so we should be able to be in those films too, but that’s not what sells, that’s not the package. It’s a big problem, and has hampered the inclusivity of our creative industries for a long time.
I feel like the US is a lot more segregated—a lot of US cities I find are quite segregated in terms of the way housing is planned. I tend to see fewer interracial relationships than I see in the UK. But American sells a myth of itself that is the flip of that, a myth that the country is a total melting plot, whereas in the UK Sadiq Khan getting elected as mayor of London is like meh, that’s not even a thing. I know that took a long time to happen because of the political system, but people aren’t like oh shit! Brand new world! People are like ‘Yeah, that’s about time.’
I saw someone tweet angrily imagining a Christian mayor ruling a Muslim city, and I was like dude, history of the world.
Yeah, exactly, give them a history book. I guess the image that America projects is more inclusive and more progressive so I have to kind of commend that. I don’t know why the British fantasy is one where people like me don’t exist. Maybe I should just take the hint and bounce and come and live here. [Laughs] I guess a lot of people do. You see a lot of artists of color moved out here for that reason and I think it’s also because there’s a creative class of people of color that doesn’t exist in the same way in the UK.
Do you think that, when you were younger, you would constantly look to the US for inspiration musically? Has that reversed or is that no longer true?
Well, I always grew up thinking that UK hip hop has got habits taken from our unique history, which is of electronic music and soundsystem culture. When garage rhyme came about I was really excited by that. But I never felt like I was part of the grime scene. I never really belonged to any scene; I kind of pride myself in that perversely although it doesn’t really help in terms of moving your career forward if you’re just this free-flowing outlier. But yeah, I’ve done rap battles, I’ve done garage raves and jungle raves, and hip hop nights, and spoken word. I’ve done a bit of everything, so I’d never say that I’m part of the grime scene, but of course it influenced me.
To be honest I was MCing before grime came about, so my name is a really old-fashioned one—like Riz MC, that’s what MCs were called in the early 90s, that’s when I named myself and I just hold onto that and hold onto that history. Being from the UK we’re not rappers, we’re MCs. It’s interesting to see grime blow up here, I think it’s partly because EDM has blown up here. I think we needed to introduce Americans to raves first.
I remember when I was a kid I went to maybe two raves ever very early on in high school.
I’m not saying that people never raved in the US, but maybe it doesn’t have as much of a center stage in the culture the way it does in Europe.
Can you tell me about Daytimer, the film you wrote and directed?
We were talking about code switching, and that working class background, and the White aspirational private school thing, and the Asian street culture thing, and just kind of pinballing between those trying to find where your center is. That’s a theme that’s defined a lot in my life up until my mid to late 20s. I just wanted to explore that and embrace the specificity of that experience.
I think it’s weird in a way because being brown, being South Asian in America has not been thought of as cool traditionally because it’s predominantly a middle class experience, or you’re the math geek, or all that shit. In the UK there’s more awareness that you can meet some goons that are on that tip. It’s potentially seen as having street cred attached to it. But because America sets the agenda globally, being Brown has never been seen as being potentially cool.
Do you plan on directing one of the features? This is a generic question.
Yeah, for sure, I am. I’m writing a TV series now that I hope to direct on similar themes. So we’ll see how that goes.
You’re involved in two iterations of now classic franchises—the Bourne Series and Star Wars. Does that come with a lot of burden or expectation on yourself?
If I was playing Jason Bourne maybe I’d feel that, but as I’m not it just feels cool to be involved. I’m working with good people and learning a lot as well. I’ve basically just done indie films the whole 10 years of my career, and I’ve been really lucky that some of them have been standing the test of time. Doing these bigger films are a new experience for me, the way you have to manage your energy differently. For a small film you’re in four days every week, and you find a rhythm, you start running, you sprint, you do it. Whereas with these bigger films it’s like a triathlon—there are stops and switchovers and they bounce you out for two weeks, then you come back for a week, you leave for a month, and you come back for a week, and you leave for five weeks. Finding a rhythm and managing your energy is a whole different thing. It’s a learning experience rather than burdensome.
How is TV shooting? What’s the vibe of that?
TV is like a war of atrition, man, it’s like an endurance test. You’ll be doing something for seven or eight months. The HBO show we did was an intense show on an intense subject, it was one of the most difficult experiences of my professional life for that reason. TV is now on par with film in terms of quality, but you’re making a 13-hour movie instead a one and a half hour movie. And instead of getting the five to six weeks you get to make a one and a half hour movie, you get 3 weeks. So it’s longer and more intense. We have to make a 13-hour film in six months. So things really develop in terms of inhabiting the character, and the storylines are longer so there’s more space for that character to develop over that period of time. That’s something that I really enjoyed.
For the Bourne movie and Star Wars, did you have to learn martial arts? My girl insisted that I ask you.
[laughs] You know, I can’t even talk about what I do or don’t do in the Bourne movie, but I will say that it’s an interesting film because it takes place in the post-Snowden era.
Finally, if some celestial being came down and said you can only make film or only make music for the rest of your life, what would you do?
I would write and direct films where I write the theme tune and sing the theme tune and pour all of my genes into the films.
Wow, you had that answer at the ready, that was great. Hell yeah, thank you.
Photo courtesy Ashok KondaboluOn Wednesday, a philosophy professor who was a teaching assistant at San Francisco State University between 2013 and 2015 and also taught philosophy and ethics classes at Diablo Valley College in 2015, was arrested on suspicion of using a metal bike lock to assault supporters of President Trump at a Patriot Day rally in Berkeley in April.
Videos of the incident surfaced, allowing investigators to identify Eric Clanton, 28, hooded and masked while allegedly smashing at least three Trump supporters in the head according to police, who attested that the assaults caused “significant injuries.”
Clanton is charged with three counts of suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon that isn’t a firearm and assault causing bodily injury. On Thursday, he was booked in Berkeley Jail in lieu of $200,000 bail; he was scheduled for arraignment Friday morning in Oakland.
The 4Chan website identified Clanton, according to Berkeleyside, which interviewed Berkeley Police Capt. Ed Spiller. Spiller said Clanton had been under investigation before his arrest. According to KPIX, police said catching the bike-lock attacker was such a priority that they put homicide detectives on the job. Berkeley Police Lt. Kevin Schofield said, “You’re swinging a small metal object that can absolutely cause traumatic injuries.”
Clanton’s Diablo Valley faculty page entry read, “His work in political philosophy also centers on mass incarceration and the prison system. He is currently exploring restorative justice from an anti-authoritarian perspective.” A Diablo Valley spokesman told KPIX that one of the the philosophy classes Clanton taught was “Introduction to Ethics.”
Diablo Valley spokesman Tim Leong said, “We especially at Diablo Valley College received, in fact, hundreds of calls and emails concerning the hiring, that we have someone like this in front of our class, in front of our students, potentially dangerous.”
Clanton received his M.A. in Philosophy from San Francisco State University and his B.A. in Philosophy from California State University, Bakersfield.
Video of one attack below:Strike Pokegold! Calculate the impact of Pokemon Go upon your home or rental units
James P. Cobb Blocked Unblock Follow Following Oct 14, 2016
In real estate, the age-old maxim is there are three things that matter: location, location, and location. That may or may not be true, according to real estate professionals. What is true, however, is Pokemon Go remains a huge worldwide phenomena. Signs point to its continual evolution and being popular for years to come.
In late July 2016, there were 40 million weekly active users. By August 18, the number had decreased to 28 million. Mid August coincides with the start of the traditional school year which surely accounts for some of the decline. Since that August decline until mid October, app metrics have remained markedly consistent, according to Survey Monkey Intelligence.
Twenty-eight million engaged users is still a whole lot of users.
In trying to assess the financial impact of a virtual world upon the real world, you’re covering new ground. This is the first augumented reality game that has ever been a full-fledged phenomena. Traditionally, real estate appraisers use “comps” to appraise value. When gaugeing the impact of Pokemon Go, all of this is missing at this point in time.
Yet real estate agents and brokers anecdotally discuss this as being a factor in home showings and rentals. Yelp.com includes it as a screening criteria for restaurant listings. As time goes by, the attractiveness of being near a Pokestop or regular spawining location will become easier to assess.
Data shows players play, on average, eight days per month. Other audience factors are as follows:
53 percent female; 47 percent male
43 percent of players are 18-29; 30 percent are 30-49.
In the United States, the average user is a 25-year-old female with a high-school diploma and a $76,000 average household income.
The average player plays 3.22 sessions per day for a 4.88 minutes session each.
Game features with a real-world real estate impact include Pokestops, gyms, universal spawning points and (relatively rare) hives.
Pokestops are locations players visit in order to get Pokeballs which they use in the game to capture Pokemon, the little creatures at the focus of the game.
When you build up experience as a trainer and your collection of Pokemon build up combat power, you can head to a gym to battle other trainers’ Pokemon. Trainers belong to one of three teams (yellow, red and blue). When your Pokemon defeat all of the other Pokemon at the particular gym (called “lowering the prestige” of the gym in the game), you can hold the gym until you and your group is deposed by one of the other teams.
Being located near or at a gym could be a benefit for a business, especially the right kind of restaurant where players could buy a drink or meal and try to take over the gym.
The impact of proximity to a gym upon a home’s price would be harder to gauge. In order to succeed at gym battles, you need a combination of strong Pokemon, trainer level and items procured from Pokestops. A nearby gym location would give you no intrinsic advantage in the game the way proximity to a Pokestop or spawning point would.
This man lived in a building that was listed as a Pokemon gym. He hated it.
Pertaining to home property values universal spawning points and nests (or hives) are easily the most desirable for a player and therefore residential real estate value. One can visit a succession of Pokestops in many areas and accumulate a day’s worth of Pokeballs in minutes. Living near a Pokestop would allow you to get a few Pokeballs, potions and revives every once in awhile, sparing you the need to do runs like that, but a nearby generation point would allow you to capture Pokemon that are more rare for your area on a regular basis.
Nests are generation points that generate one type of Pokemon. They’re relatively rare. Not every town has one, though, presumably, every town has many generation points.
Maps on the internet point out locations of nests. Players have published screen shots showing repeated capturing of one type of Pokemon, but the variety would generally be more desirable. It’s presumable the occassional tourist may come to the area to seek out the nest. That might be valuable for the right kind of business but not necessarily for the homeowner, unless they rent their home on Airbnb.com or Vbro.com when it would be a definite novelty for many players and thereby lead to a premium rental price for the property.
Some spawning points are definitely more prolific than others, too. Regular area players who travel around would know which are the most prolific in a given town simply by repeated experience. It’s important to note spawning points aren’t noted in any way except by noting a frequent collection of Pokemon in a particular area that appear and change out about every 15 minutes. The areas seem to be assigned randomly and not generated by cellphone traffic, as suggested by some writers. Some of the most prolific spawning points are located in the middle of residential areas. Residents near these universal spawning points merely have to turn their app on and note what’s likely to be at the generation point by looking at the small figures in the finder in the lower right hand corner.
There still is still an element of challenge for the residents. One can’t know exactly when something in the lower right corner appears — the vibration of the phone only happens when a Pokemon appears in the immediate vicinity. The resident near the spawning point still has to walk to the area. The Pokemon will have wandered off in one direction or another. Yet the ease of capturing a wide variety of Pokemon is much greater than if you lived, say, several blocks from a spawning point.
Game items can be purchased with real money. Niantic, Inc. does an admirable business in selling them. Among items for sale in the game include lure modules and incense. Since some generation points are more prolific than others, an experienced player must judge the productivity of a spawing point as compared to the usual lure module or incense.
Unlike insense, and like a lure module, a spawning point has an area affect. Every player in the area can see and capture the Pokemon. However, the experience is different. When a lure module is activated, the player knows to keep looking for Pokemon to appear. In living near a Pokemon generation point, the player needs to check his or her screen periodically to see if there are any Pokemon of interest. Players who do live near a generation point can be see coming out of their house in pajamas and other various states of casual dress to find and capture Pokemon who’ve appeared on their game screen. Oftentimes the virtual creatures will wander into the middle of their living rooms, hallways and bedrooms meaning that they don’t even have to go outside to hunt but part of the attraction of the game is to find and obtain the rarer creatures. So outside they go.
Here’s how one might go about figuring the value of the being near a universal spawning point.
1. Eight lure modules retail for 680 Pokecoins in the game store, which means the price per module is 85 Pokecoins. A lure module, when deployed, lasts for 30 minutes. One can figure that a given person has about three hours of free time per day at home when they might be eating dinner, working on a project, watching TV or doing whatever they do at home and can play Pokemon on a sporadic basis as a “lifestyle enhancement.” Admittedly there is no actual data on this. The app data comes from a broad population who aren’t located optimal locations where behavior, convenience and personality converge.
The equivalent usage, therefore is assumed to be the equivalent of six lure modules per day, or 2,190 lure modules per year.
2,190 lure modules x 85 Pokecoins = an annual cost of 186,150 Pokecoins.
Bought in bulk, the cost of a Pokecoin comes out to 0.007 cents each.
Therefore, to have the effect of a lure module (even though there is no way to do so in the game without having a Pokestop) the annual cost would be $1,303.05.
This, presumably, would be the maximum worth of being near a fully functioning universal spawning point.
Other points influencing its value include:
Convenience (actual distance from the point, also noting that the lure module can only be deployed at a Pokestop, having the spawing point at your home is, presumably, more comfortable and therefore, presumably more in demand).
Productivity of the point (as judged by an experienced player from the local area).
Discount (no individual I’ve met sits a Pokestop for three hours a day putting in lure module after lure module. A few restaurants I’ve been to in tourist areas do, however, because it’s a low-cost lure for customers who catch Pokemon while they dine. Having an unlimited lure module would be less attractive to an individual than a restaurant.)
Taking that all into account, here’s the calculation of what might be added to the worth of a house a couple of doors down from a universal spawning point.
Full value = $1,303.05
Convenience = (we’ll figure it’s a little less convenient than being right at the spawning point and figure it’s at 80 percent of the value) $1,042.44
Productivity of the Point = (our experienced player in this example proclaims it’s just as productive as lure module; no discount) 1,042.44
Discount = (target buyers and renters in the area are moderately interested in Pokemon Go. It’s presumed a fair discount would be 70 percent.) $729.71
The spawning point, in this case, produces $729.71 in value per year.
How much does this contribute to property worth?
If you wanted to invest to produce income worth $729.71, how much would you have to invest? Would that investment be as safe an secure as a banking account (probably not)? Would that investment be more speculative in nature? (probably)
The more speculative the investment is, the less valuable it is.
At this stage in the existance of the game, Pokemon Go could be considered to be more speculative and therefore worth less. Maybe a good benchmark would be credit card interest rates. How much would one have to invest at 18 percent interest to get an annual payout of $729.71?
The answer is about $4,050.
That’s what being near a Pokemon spawning point under those assumptions could be worth.
However, it could be worth more. If the consensus is that Pokemon is more of a guaranteed attractor, it’s more of a secure investment. Say it would be the equivalent to an investment that one would only need to pay 8 percent for in order to attract investors. Being located near the spawning point would add $9,021.38 to the price of the home in this case.
The worth of being near a Pokestop
If you’re near a Pokestop, especially if you don’t have to leave your home to spin the token, you’re unlikely to ever run out of Pokeballs, revives or potions — the things you need to play the game.
The real-world worth of this is less disputable, too. One readily sees the location of Pokestops as compared to spawing points.
Living near one and playing actively, one could accumulate about 50 Pokeballs per day. This comes out to a cost of 200 Pokecoins per day in the store.
200 x 0.007 = $1.40 per day.
$1.40 per day x 365 days per year = $511.00 in value per year.
As with the spawning point, the actual value must be adjusted for convenience and local interest. Productivity of the Pokestop isn’t a factor as if there is a difference between various stops, it isn’t as apparent.
So let’s say that it’s 80 percent as convenient as living right there.
Local interest among target markets for the property is moderate, judged to be at, say 25 percent.
So, therefore ($511.00 x.8 = $408.08)
Then: $408.08 x.25 = $102.20
As before, figuring out how much one would have to invest in order to get $102.20 per year depends on the prospects of likelihood of widespread interest in Pokemon Go.
If it’s doubtful, one would have to figure it at a higher rate; if it’s more stable, then it would be at a lower rate.
So let’s assume the 8 percent return is reasonable, which means it’s not equivalent to the safety |
saw my video and thought it was interesting and then told me to start drawing. They took me into the office, presented me a drawing, and asked me to draw it. So I drew it, and later they featured it in a magazine so as a result I accidentally debuted as a professional illustrator at that moment.
NR: So you started out as an illustrator before going into animation?
Koyama: Yeah, but there’s another story behind that as well. As I was drawing character, I didn’t really feel attached to them. In order to become attached to them, I felt that there needed to be a story behind them. Of course to write a story, you draw manga. So I tried my hands on drawing manga and later thought “You know what, I can’t do stories”. At this point, I was like “Shoot, I can’t do anything!” It was quite a dilemma. Later, I got a call from Yoshiyuki Sadamoto personally to go help on the development of Diebuster (Aim for the Top 2!). I saw Sadamoto as a mentor and my influence as well as wanting to work with Tsurumaki-san who was the director for Diebuster. So if I can’t do illustrations and I can’t do manga, what else is left? Animation!
NR: Heroman was collaboration between Stan Lee and Studio BONES, which you had a role in, how did it feel to work with the man himself?
Koyama: We hit it off pretty well. At the start, Heroman was planned by Stan Lee and Minami-san (President of Studio BONES). So the first thing you do when you planned a new series is find a director, however in Heroman’s case, Minami-san wanted to work on the visual conception first. That’s when Minami contacted me while we were working on the first Eureka.
NR: Wow, so Heroman was in development a long time before its debut.
Koyama: It took about four years before it aired I believe. This was a project that Minami-san really wanted to do. Numerous storyboards were created for this project, he really pooled together a lot of resources.
NR: Well it turned out very well!
Koyama: Thank you very much.
NR: Do you have any other artists that you like or look up to?
Koyama: Japanese or Overseas?
NR: Anyone is fine.
Koyama: There’s too many to list! (laugh)
NR: Okay, let me ask another question: Would you like to work in American comics or animation?
Koyama: If there’s a chance I liked to.
NR: Any established franchises?
Koyama: Probably Marvel or DC.
NR: Speaking of Marvel, Did you watch the Avengers yet?
Koyama: No I haven’t. Since it’s not out in Japan yet, I’d like to watch it here if we have time before I go back.
NR: Please do! Especially since the US version has the extra scenes.
Koyama: Really?! Now I really have to go now.
NR: Back to the interview, did you have any difficult moments during conception or designing in any of your works?
Koyama: During my first project (Diebuster), because I had no design experience at the time, it was difficult to design the mechs and trying to learn the process at the same time. Recently, the test plugsuit for Asuka in the Evangelion movie was difficult. Because Evangelion is such a special series to a lot of people, the plugsuits are an iconic aspect of the series to both the fans and industry alike. They’re familiar with its function and design. There was a lot of pressure, time, and effort involved to deliver a revamped design.
NR: Moving on to Panty and Stocking, it was a project by Gainax that was greatly influenced by Western animation and design. Was it difficult for the studio to adapt to a different style and process as opposed to Japanese Animation?
Koyama: Regarding Panty and Stocking, I was actually there when Imaishi-san and the main staff were doing the location planning. You could tell that they all love western cartoons. So it wasn’t particular hard for them, but what was hard was outside of them, the other staff wasn’t familiar with western cartoons much less western animation. There are rules of Japanese Animation that they had to break and so it was hard for them to adjust.
NR: Were you particularly targeting a Western Audience with Panty and Stocking?
Koyama: We weren’t aiming to specifically appeal to a western audience, I mean it would be nice if Western audiences would like it, but we wanted to make it because there wasn’t anything like Panty and Stocking in Japan. Especially the black humor in the show, which Japan doesn’t really have. Since Japanese anime are often very detailed, we decided to throw a wrench into that and break all the rules.
NR: With that said, are you currently following any shows at the moment?
Koyama: This may be a weird answer, but it’s really hard to watch other animes while I’m working on one because I tend to be swayed by them. Like I need to do better than this. That being said, after I finished Star Driver, there was a period of time where I wasn’t working on anything so I watched THE [email protected], which my good friend Atsushi Nishigori worked on, and Nichijou. Since last year though, I haven’t followed any since then.
NR: Lastly, do you have any parting words to your fans in America?
Koyama: What I like about American fans is that their love for anime works spans a wide spectrum, they love all the past works up to the latest stuff. I would like them all to continue supporting older works and of course support the current works as well.
NR: Thank you for your time today. It was a pleasure.
Koyama: Thank you!
(I would like to thank Ms. Yamashita for interpreting and Fanime Staff for setting up the appointment.)
You can watch Eureka Seven AO, his current work, at FUNimation’s website here.
I would like to thank Ms. Yamashita for interpreting and Fanime Staff for setting up the appointment.K-9 officers salute Titus, a Little Rock police dog who died earlier this month, during a memorial service at Immanuel Baptist church on Monday, July 27, 2015. - Photo by Sara Janak
Arkansas law enforcement and community members gathered Monday to honor a Little Rock police dog who died earlier this month after chasing and subduing a burglary suspect.
Titus, who had been a member of the department for three years, died July 15 of heat-related illnesses after a lengthy foot chase.
After the chase, Titus exhibited signs of heat-related distress and was taken to Briarwood Animal Hospital where he failed to respond to treatment.
Titus, a 5-year-old German Shepherd, was Officer Jason Farmer’s partner since July 22, 2012.
“We’re here today because Titus was a partner, and those outside our circle do not understand that," Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner said.
Buckner, speaking Monday during a memorial service at Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, paused for several minutes while he wiped away tears during his remarks.
Police dogs share a special bond with their partners, he said. They aren't pets, and officers paired with them aren't handlers — they're partners.
So far this year, 15 dogs working for police departments in the United States have died in the line of duty, Little Rock Police Department spokesman Lt. Steven McClanahan said.
Titus was brought to the U.S. from Slovakia in 2010 and certified in 2012 by the National Narcotic Detector Dog Association, Buckner said.
Titus was first assigned to the violent crimes apprehension unit, and then to the downtown patrol division, where he worked until his death.
During his career with the Little Rock Police Department, Titus was deployed 122 times. He was involved in 52 narcotics sniffs, leading to 39 people being charged with narcotics offenses. Titus apprehended 19 suspects and seized 19 guns, according to the department.
“His primary role was to assist in the apprehension of wanted individuals,” Buckner said.
"We have K-9 officers from all over the county sending well wishes. We have people from all over the community sending well wishes for a dog — but to us, he's a partner."
Photo by Sara Janak
Little Rock Police Chief Kenton Buckner speaks at Immanuel Baptist Church during a memorial service for Titus, a police dog who died earlier this month, on Monday, July 27, 2015.Late last night, the nation’s top quarterback prospect for the 2017 class, Tate Martell, committed to Ohio State. This comes roughly a month after Martell decommitted from Texas A&M. Martell officially made the announcement after Aggies assistant coach, Aaron Moorehead, tweeted about how recruits have no loyalty now when choosing a school.
Moorehead’s outburst cost the team two prospects from the 2017 class. After Martell officially decommitted, Nicholas Starkel, another Texas A&M quarterback from the class of 2017, posted a private conversation of Martell being extremely confident in his chances of being a true freshman starter.
Now that Martell has committed to OSU and the Twitter drama storm has calmed, it would seem reasonable for Ohio State fans to be excited for having the best dual-threat quarterback according to scout.com committed to the Buckeyes. However, here is why Martell’s commitment will mean nothing to the Scarlet and Gray by the time the 2018 season rolls around.
Tate Martell’s Commitment to Ohio State Means Nothing
Misplaced Arrogance
While it is not uncommon for high school athletes to be arrogant, it typically does not transfer well into college. The players are bigger, stronger, and have more of a reason to play to the best of their abilities to increase their draft stock. By the time the 2017 season rolls around, as of now, Ohio State will have six quarterbacks: Stephen Collier, Joe Burrow, Dwayne Haskins and of course Martell.
While he may have thought that he could easily beat out Starkel for the starting job, becoming a true freshman starter at Ohio State will not be nearly as easy. All quarterbacks listed will be able to learn from J.T Barrett who has had no problem at the helm of the Ohio State offense over the year and has had 45 touchdowns to only 14 interceptions.
All the quarterbacks above also are much taller than Martell and will have an easier time in the pocket in a conference where short quarterbacks have not had success lately. Out of all of the 2015 starting quarterbacks and the projected quarterbacks for 2016, no quarterback started who stands under 6’0″ and most were not shorter than 6’3″. This is mainly because of the success stories out of the Big Ten lately in terms of defense.
Stars like J.J. Watt, Chris Borland, Joey Bosa, and Ryan Kerrigan have all come from the Big Ten and have helped continue an era for elite defenses in the conference. Smaller quarterbacks like Martell will have a very hard time even being relevant in the Big Ten, let alone starting as a true freshman.
Tim Beck
If you participate in discussion boards about Ohio State or college football in general, you have likely noticed a particular hatred towards Tim Beck. Beck called the plays for the majority of the 2015 season for Ohio State. Because of a combination of lackluster play throughout the year and a loss to Michigan State, killing all hopes of a National Championship repeat, he eventually got stripped of full control over play-calling duties. Ed Warriner ended up getting sent to the box to help Beck call plays.
The offense has a clearly visible change in tempo and the team began to look like the 2014 champions that shocked the country with Cardale Jones and Ezekiel Elliott. This sudden change proved that it was not fully the players who were to blame for the poor performances and that part of the blame has to be put on Beck. This blame may shake up Urban Meyer’s confidence in Beck’s decision-making in the future.
So why does this matter? In a list that included a majority of schools on the west coast, there is a reason why Ohio State made the cut as long as they did, and eventually got the five-star recruit to commit. Tim Beck is why. Beck has visited Las Vegas to meet and see Martell in action and has been vocal about wanting him on Ohio State’s roster. While one poor season of play-calling does not discredit his entire career of scouting, it may leave a little doubt in the mind of Meyer who will have a tough decision in a few years. This doubt may be enough to give the spot to someone like Collier or Haskins who Meyer has made comments about how highly he thinks of them.
For someone who thinks so highly of themselves, it may be a tough pill to swallow being redshirted as a freshman when you can easily start at almost any school who is not a consistent Top 25 team like Colorado, Cal, or Miami, all of which were in Martell’s Top 7 list.
While this article may have come across as Martell just being another arrogant quarterback that thinks he is on top of the world, I still believe Martell will have a great collegiate career. He is a talented dual threat quarterback who can excel in a fast paced offense. However, Ohio State may not be the best choice for Martell if he wants to be a true freshman starter given his circumstance. That is why his commitment should not be taken to heart by Ohio State fans because he’s already de-committed once, and there are still 14 months until he can take his first collegiate snap.My dear brothers and sisters throughout the world, I’m very grateful to the First Presidency for inviting me to share my humble testimony this Sabbath day. The words of a favorite Latter-day Saint hymn describe my current feelings:
I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me, Confused at the grace that so fully he proffers me. … I marvel that he would descend from his throne divine To rescue a soul so rebellious and proud as mine, That he should extend his great love unto such as I, Sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify. … Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!1
A few days ago I had the great privilege to meet with the First Presidency and receive this call from our dear prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. I want to witness to all of you of the strength and love President Monson had as he said to me, “This call comes from the Lord Jesus Christ.”
I am overwhelmed and shaken to my very core to consider the import and significance of those words so tenderly spoken by our loving prophet. President Monson, President Eyring, President Uchtdorf, I love you and will serve the Lord and you with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength.
Oh, how I have loved President Boyd K. Packer and Elders L. Tom Perry and Richard G. Scott. I dearly miss them. I am blessed to have been trained and taught at the feet of these dear Brethren. Not in the smallest part am I able to walk in their shoes, yet I am honored to stand tall on their shoulders and carry on in the Lord’s ministry.
When I think of those who have helped make me who I am, I think first of my sweet and selfless eternal companion, Melanie. Through the years, she has helped mold me like potter’s clay into a more polished disciple of Jesus Christ. Her love and support, and that of our 5 children, their spouses, and our 24 grandchildren, sustain me. To my dear family, I love you.
Like Nephi of old, I was born of goodly parents in the gospel and they of goodly parents back six generations. My earliest ancestors who joined the Church were from England and Denmark. These early pioneers gave their all to the gospel of Jesus Christ and leave a legacy for their posterity to follow. I am so grateful for a multigenerational Latter-day Saint family, and I know this is a worthy goal for all of us to strive for.
Many others have contributed to preparing my life for this new call. They include my childhood friends and family, early leaders, teachers, and lifelong mentors. I must include those from my early mission to the eastern states and our beloved missionaries from the New York New York North Mission. For the many who have influenced and shaped my life, I am most grateful.
I have cherished serving with my Brethren of the Seventy. For 15 years I have been in one of the greatest quorums and loving brotherhoods of the Church. Thank you, my dear fellow servants. Now I look forward to belonging to a new quorum. President Russell M. Nelson, my love is deep for you and each member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Sister Rasband and I have been blessed to visit members during many assignments in congregations and missions around the world. We love the Latter-day Saints everywhere! Your faith has increased our faith; your testimonies have added to our testimony.
Now, if I could leave one small message with you today, it would be this: the Lord has said, “Love one another; as I have loved you.”2 I’m confident that there is no choice, sin, or mistake that you or anyone else can make that will change His love for you or for them. That does not mean He excuses or condones sinful conduct—I’m sure He does not—but it does mean we are to reach out to our fellowman in love to invite, persuade, serve, and rescue. Jesus Christ looked past people’s ethnicity, rank, and circumstances in order to teach them this profound truth.
I have been asked many times when I received my testimony.
I can’t remember not believing in Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I have loved Them since I learned of Them at the knees of my angel mother, reading scripture and gospel stories. That early belief has now grown into a knowledge and a witness of a loving Heavenly Father, who hears and answers our prayers. My testimony of Jesus Christ has been built from many special experiences in which I have come to know His great love for each one of us.
I’m grateful for our Savior’s Atonement and wish like Alma to shout it with the trump of God.3 I know that Joseph Smith is God’s prophet of the Restoration and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God. And I know that President Thomas S. Monson is God’s true servant and prophet on the earth today.
As we follow our prophet, I pray that we may have charity in our hearts toward others and that we will become a living witness and indeed “stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers [us].” Oh, may it be “wonderful, wonderful to [you and to] me.” In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.Using the same formula as above, the result would be one.
Take this same file and compress it using Rar:
Entropy = 5.0592468625650353
Take the same message (half zeros and half ones) and encrypt it with PGP and you get this:
Entropy = 7.8347915272089166
Encrypt a blank volume in TrueCrypt and you get this:
Entropy = 7.9999997904861599
The closer you get towards truly random data, the closer the entropy value will be to the maximum value of eight, meaning there is no pattern or probability to guess what the next value might be. Encrypt a blank volume in TrueCrypt and you get this:Entropy = 7.9999997904861599The closer you get towards truly random data, the closer the entropy value will be to the maximum value of eight, meaning there is no pattern or probability to guess what the next value might be.
How is this useful:
Entropy can be used is many different way, but quite commonly to detect encryption and compression, since truly random data is not common in typical user data. This is especially true with executables that have purposely been encrypted with a real-time decryption routine. This prevents an AV engine from seeing "inside" the executable as it sits on the disk in order to detect strings or patterns. It is also very helpful in identifying files that have a high-amount of randomness (as illustrated above), which could indicate an encrypted container/volume that may go otherwise unnoticed.
In the original post, there was some discussion on a forensic message board about using entropy to detect the use of a wiping tool against unallocated space. In that example, you would be looking for repeating patterns that occur over a large area of unallocated. Again, the higher the entropy value, the more random the data, vs. the smaller value which indicates more uniformity of the data.
Reference: "File Entropy", McCreight, ShawnNelson Mandela is dead, at age 95. I’m not bothering to cite any sources, as this dominated most news the last half of Wednesday, both US and UK. As part of this, Liberty-tree.CA had the following quotes this morning:
“I always knew that deep down in every human heart, there is mercy and generosity. No one is born hating another person because of the color of his kin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than the opposite.”
— Nelson Mandela
“I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.”
— Nelson Mandela
“Once a person is determined to help themselves, there is nothing that can stop them.”
— Nelson Mandela
Liberty-Tree.CA’s quote blog described Mandela as: (1918-2013) South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, imprisoned for 27 years, President of South Africa (1994-1999). You can find these and more at: http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Nelson.Mandela.Quote.AFA9
These are some good quotes. They are like so many quotes we can see from “great men” like Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, and even the likes of Bill Clinton and Woodrow Wilson. They do NOT accurately reflect the attitudes, opinions, and actions of the men who spoke them. Indeed, they are often a sharp contrast to the real people. They are often the words of hypocrites. They are used to elevate those men to immortality, to make them MORE than human. It has happened not just with Americans, but with men of many lands: Cyrus of Media, Alexander of Macedon, Julius Caesar of Rome, Augustus (Octavian) of Rome, Alfred the Great of England, Mao Tse Tong of China, Adolf Hitler of Germany, and many many more. They are or were made demigods.
Mandela was born about the same time my grandfather was reporting for duty with the US Army to go to France to fight in what we now call the First World War. He was an adult during the Second World War, and a terrorist when my father was on duty during the Korean War. He is NOT ancient history. But he has been and is being treated like those ancient “great men.”
The demigod worship is well underway, but on hearing of Mandela’s death, my wife and my first response was “finally.” May his evil die with him.
Despite the way he has been idolized and glorified, even by self-governors and libertarians, Nelson Mandela was an evil man. He was a Communist (in both name and fact), he was a murderer, involved in killing not just his political opponents and enemy soldiers, but even supposed comrades-in-arms, and especially innocent people: civilians, many of his own race. He was a terrorist in the 1950s, and helped found a terrorist organization back in the 1960s (before the magnificent “Global War on Terrorism”). He didn’t serve 27 years in prison as a political prisoner, but because he confessed to more than 100 acts of terrorism: bombings and killings, including targets like sports venues and theatres and parks. The attacks and killing were for political purposes, but they were still murders: killing of innocent people. He was also a racist, as proven by recordings of him singing songs about killing white people and other documentation.
I am not saying that he did not change, but I question whether he really repented of all these things: rather than admitting his actions and saying that he renounced and rejected them, that they were wrong, he seems to have simply tried to sweep them under the rug. This is not repentance, this is the typical behavior of a politician. And his term as president of South Africa and his support of the evil actions of his wife certainly do not demonstrate (at that time) any change in heart, any repentance, any regret for what was done in the past. The legacy of corruption and authoritarianism and crony government and capitalism left in South Africa since 1999 are NOT the legacy of “another Gandhi,” or “an international icon of peace and reconciliation” though he shares many of the characteristics of another Communist, Martin Luther King, Jr.
The point is, once more the Tranzis – the progressives, the left, the socialists and their kind – are twisting and rewriting history. We are told he really wasn’t racist, because among other things one of his close allies in his terrorist days was a white man. How many white racists have still been condemned even when they have pointed out that they have black friends? He was not a terrorist, we are told, because he condemned violence – yet he was an ally of both the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Stasi! He was not a Communist, it is said, because he said that the ANC was not a Communist organization; but there is documentation that he was, indeed, a card-carrying Communist for many years, and on very good terms with many more Communists than just a few Stasi agents.
Mandela was a “great man,” but so was Stalin and Lenin and Hitler and Churchill and Giap and all the rest: as were Augustus and Alexander and Xerxes and Ramses II. But great men are generally NOT good men, and until we recognize and teach that, there will always be another man on a white horse (or not) coming and enslaving and stealing and killing (directly or indirectly) and fighting AGAINST liberty (even while proclaiming loudly how much he loves liberty).
I do wish that we could honor Mandela (and others) as lovers of liberty who had been and done evil things in their youth and then repented and became good men, fighting for liberty as well as freedom, working to treat everyone as they themselves wanted to be treated. But that is not the case.
Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013. Finally. Let the dead bury the dead; the rest of us want real liberty, not the Mandela-Tranzi kind. Mandela, at last, is answering to God.Spearfishing techniques
Discover Details And Secrets
Several different kinds of hunting represent the spearfishing techniques, each of them adjusted to specific species of fish.
The spearfishing techniques are adapted to the configuration of the shore, weather conditions and also the type of sea.
A few basic parameters are enumerated that influence the species of fish that is to be hunted, and which tecnique will be used for that purpose. The spearhunter must first learn which factors have the greatest influence on the fish behaviour and which factors further influence the choice of individual spearfishing technique.
Differences and characteristics of the following techniques will be described here:
1. Shallow water hunt while stalking the fish; we will describe how to move silently, dive silently, how to distribute weights correctly; the behaviour of fish upon encounter with a hunter, how to use the camouflage to your advantage and other details.
2. Bottom hunt; we will describe the correct breathing technique before apnea, weighting of the hunter while bottom hunting, the choice of the right terrain, the length of the speargun and details about waiting for or luring the fish.
3. Blue water hunt; we will describe how to choose the right location, provide some advice on the best directions from which to approach by boat, the hunting techniques and waiting for the fish in blue water, and the basic differences with the equipment for blue water hunt.
4. Spearfishing under rocks; we will describe how to find fish in caves and under rocks, the type of spearguns to be used, we will provide some advice on the choice of the right terrain and basic characteristics of fish species hunted in this technique.
5. A combination of hunting techniques; we will describe the circumstances in which two or three underwater hunting techniques can be used simultaneously.
I am confident you will find plenty of interesting information in this text, which will be interesting also for professional hunters.
While searching for ideas, you will surely find some bits of information pearls that can add their share to the mosaic of underwater hunting.My brothers and sisters and friends, how happy we are to see you here at this conference, the leaders and the members. We hope that you will be inspired by proceedings of this conference.
In press conferences which we attend, we are frequently asked: “Well, what is the condition of the Church?” We answer, “The Church is well and growing and is strong and healthy. Thank you.”
As we approach the conference, we have 661 stakes. There were but 148 when I came to the headquarters of the Church in 1943. There were no stakes abroad, and we were to wait for many years before the Church began to cross the oceans and the great land masses. Already, since President Romney organized the Auckland, New Zealand, Stake in May 1958—there are 86 stakes overseas. We now have 112 missions, plus the 661 stake missions, and we now have approximately 18,000 missionaries, whereas in 1943 there was a very small group, relatively. We are happy with the growth, which is consistent and continues to be stable.
And when we are asked why we are such a happy people, our answer is: “Because we have everything—life with all its opportunities, death without fear, eternal life with endless growth and development.”
With 3.3 million members of many races and numerous lands in the north, the south, east, and west, we will soon close another year of development and growth.
The people are attending their meetings and looking after their personal responsibilities. The temples are increasing in numbers, and the work at the temples indicates great spirituality. The educational program is pleasing, with the university and the colleges, the institutes and seminaries, and the ecclesiastical organizations of the Church all teaching. And knowledge is expanding and testimonies are deepening.
The construction program continues to expand throughout the land so that whereas many church buildings throughout the world are turned into bars or are boarded up and abandoned, we are building almost daily new chapels throughout the world, and they are filled with happy, faithful people.
We are not satisfied or boastful, but keep in mind constantly what the Savior has said to us:
“If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
“And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31–32.)
We must remember the Lord’s great prayer:
“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
“Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” (John 17:15–17.)
Now, brothers and sisters, we have launched a cleanup campaign. We are a throw-away people. Trash piles grow faster than population by far. Now we ask you to clean up your homes and your farms. “Man is the keeper of the land, and not its possessor.”
Broken fences should be mended or removed. Unused barns should be repaired, roofed, painted, or removed. Sheds and corrals should be repaired and painted, or removed. Weedy ditch banks should be cleared. Abandoned homes could probably be razed. We look forward to the day when, in all of our communities, urban and rural, there would be a universal, continued movement to clean and repair and paint barns and sheds, build sidewalks, clean ditch banks, and make our properties a thing of beauty to behold.
We have asked leaders of youth groups, auxiliary organizations, and priesthood quorums to give power to this concentrated action for beautification.
The Lord said:
“The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof.” (Ps. 24:1.)
“And I the Lord God, took the man [Adam], and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress it, and to keep it.” (Moses 3:15.)
Therefore, we urge each of you to dress and keep in a beautiful state the property that is in your hands.
Again we are approaching an election. This is most important to us. We urge you to study the platforms and acquaint yourself with the candidates. Then pray to the Lord for guidance, and go to the polls and vote.
We warn you against the so-called polygamy cults which would lead you astray. Remember the Lord brought an end to this program many decades ago through a prophet who proclaimed the revelation to the world. People are abroad who will deceive you and bring you much sorrow and remorse. Have nothing to do with those who would lead you astray. It is wrong and sinful to ignore the Lord when he speaks. He has spoken—strongly and conclusively.
We urge you to teach your children honor and integrity and honesty. Is it possible that some of our children do not know how sinful it is to steal? It is unbelievable—the extent of vandalism, thievery, robbery, stealing. Protect your family against it by proper teaching.
Brothers and sisters, we teach all of our people to be loyal. “We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.” (A of F 1:12.) Be loyal and true.
Perhaps one of the most distinguishing features of the Church is the fact that its people abstain from liquor, tea, coffee, and tobacco. Of course, there are some who apparently have not the courage nor the testimony to follow this program, but numerous thousands observe it strictly.
One of the many revelations of God through a living prophet was the 89th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, giving what is known as the Word of Wisdom. For 141 years now we have been practicing this great truth embodied in that revelation that we would abstain from wine and strong drinks, that tea and coffee are not for the body, and that we should not use tobacco in any form, that it is good only for bruises and all sick cattle. (See D&C 89:8.)
We noted recently of a community in Minnesota which set up a “D-Day” in which, through all their agencies, they persuaded people to give up smoking. In their January 7 “D-Day,” they reported 271 smokers who gave up that habit. We commend such an awake community and its leaders.
Now after all these years, we find that many of the medical profession and others agree that numerous diseases are the result of the use of these things. I remember standing by a hospital bed of a good friend of mine, and I watched him die of cancer. His physicians said it was caused by the use of tobacco. I have helped bury people who have been killed by the demon alcohol, and many other innocent people died because someone was driving who had been drinking.
The use of liquor has brought much sorrow, pain, suffering, death to innocent bystanders. Some social drinkers claim they will never become alcoholic, but how sure can they be?
Those who break the Word of Wisdom have strange and spurious excuses for the using of these obnoxious things. How can anyone ignore the revelations given through a living prophet? The Lord reiterated it through another prophet and made it a definite commandment.
We deplore the practice of many business and professional firms and others who serve liquor as a part of the entertainment in their special parties. We are especially concerned that at Christmas time many celebrate this holy birth of Jesus Christ our Lord with a so-called social hour which surely must be an affront to him. Is it not a sad reflection upon people to have to drink to have a good time, or to take a stimulant to give them energy or self-assurance?
We hope our people will eliminate from their lives all kinds of drugs so far as possible. Too many depend upon drugs as tranquilizers and sleep helps, which is not always necessary.
Certainly numerous young people have been damaged or destroyed by the use of marijuana and other deadly drugs. We deplore such.
We call attention also to the habit in which many buy their commodities on the Sabbath. Many employed people would be released for rest and worship on the Sabbath if we did not shop on that day. Numerous excuses and rationalizations are presented to justify the Sunday buying. We call upon all of you to keep the Sabbath holy and make no Sunday purchases.
We hope faithful Latter-day Saints will not use the playing cards which are used for gambling, either with or without the gambling. As for the gambling, in connection with horse racing or games or sports, we firmly discourage such things.
In the welfare meeting tomorrow morning much will be said regarding that program. We regret that there are so many people who are shifting the responsibilities of parents to institutions.
Some have become casual about keeping up their year’s supply of commodities. We hope that there may be sufficient funds and commodities in the Church program to take care of the people for their emergency necessities, and we urge the people to do something constructive by way of reciprocating for that which they receive. We urge our bishops to be wise in their providing help, neither stingy nor overgenerous, and that the people who need the temporary assistance will be honest and fair and wise.
Should evil times come, many might wish they had filled all their fruit bottles and cultivated a garden in their backyards and planted a few fruit trees and berry bushes and provided for their own commodity needs.
The Lord planned that we would be independent of every creature, but we note even many farmers buy their milk from dairies and home owners buy their garden vegetables from the store. And should the trucks fail to fill the shelves of the stores, many would go hungry.
We believe in work. We remember the fourth of the Ten Commandments says, “Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work |
unk sneakers, lol. (btw, when I asked google translate about how are sneakers in english it also said "rubber-soled sports shoes" and that for some reason made me laugh for a few minutes)EDIT:I knew, I just KNEW that the comments about three hooves will immidately pop out. Geeezz, is this fourth one really so not visible?Other Steampunk Ponies:The Inventor - Twilight Sparkle [link] The Timid - Fluttershy [link] The Lady - Rarity [link] The Mechanic - Applejack [link] The Pilot - Rainbow Dash [link] The Random - Pinkie Pie [link] ---The Princesses - Celestia and Nightmare Moon [link] The Dentist - Colgate [link] The Flyers - Spitfire and Soarin' [link] The Smuggler - Carrot Top [link] The Messenger - Derpy Hooves [link] The Professor - Cheerilee [link] The Virtuoso - Octavia [link] The Evil Queen - Chrysalis [link] The DJ - Vinyl Scratch [link] The Soldier - Big Macintosh [link] The Illusionist - Trixie [link]Right now, you can find 1,520 TED Talks compiled into a neat online spreadsheet. That's a lot of TED Talks. And the most popular one (in case you're wondering) was delivered by Sir Ken Robinson in 2006. If you regularly visit our site, then chances are you're among the 20 million people who have viewed Robinson's talk on why Schools Kill Creativity. There's also a good chance that you'll want to watch his newly-released TED Talk, How to Escape Education's Death Valley. Filmed just last month, this talk takes aim at America's test-centric educational system, a system that increasingly treats education as an industrial process and bleeds creativity and curiosity out of our classrooms. You get that problem when you put technocrats and politicians, not teachers, in charge of things. And you're only going to get more of it (sorry to say) as computer scientists start putting their stamp on America's educational future.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus and share intelligent media with your friends! They’ll thank you for it.In Broward County, if you make the decision to partake in illegal activities please proceed with caution as local law enforcement is unforgiving. I have seen many cases for the 25+ years I have been in working in Broward County. If you are arrested for possession call me at 954.760.7600, I would be more than happy to discuss your case and options to help get you get the best possible outcome.
If you are caught with an illegal narcotic you can face different penalties, depending on your current situation. if you have prior arrests or are on probation you will have a harder time dropping charges and may face harsher penalties. All cases differ so please discuss your individual situation with me.
If you are a first time offender I can often get the case diverted so it doesn't even get entered into the system. This is the case for many first time offenders. Without the proper legal representation you could get deported if you are here illegally. Also, you could lose your drivers license for up to 2 years.
Possession of Marijuana
If you are found with 19 grams or less of marijuana in Broward County you are looking at a first degree misdemeanor. At worst cast scenario that can be a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. If you are a first time offender I can get you cleared with the cost of community service and 6 months to a year probation.Experience a delicious new way to watch “World of Color” — the perfect way to end a magical day at Disney California Adventure park. Beginning March 17, 2016, Paradise Park will host nightly sparkling dessert parties with reserved seating and a spectacular view of “World of Color – Celebrate!”
Relax at seated high-top tables while you enjoy a sweet and savory selection of desserts, elegantly plated on china. Desserts include a Dulce de Leche-filled cookie, Mickey Coconut Macaroon, a selection of fruit and artisanal cheese, just to name a few. Adults can indulge in sparkling wine, and sparkling cider will be available for guests under 21 years of age.
Cost is $79 per person, tax and gratuity included. Reservations are highly recommended, and are now open for dates beginning March 17. Make yours by visiting Disneyland.com/dine or calling 714-781-DINE.I think I got maybe an hour of sleep the night before Game 7 of the World Series. Right before I went to bed, I was so confident. So foolishly confident. I really thought I was going to lie down and sleep like a baby.
Yeah … no.
I remember lying down in bed next to my girlfriend, pulling the covers up and staring up at the ceiling. And as soon as I closed my eyes, hundreds of scenarios started running through my head. Some good … most of them bad.
What if I let a ball go through my legs?
What if I strike out with the game on the line?
What if I drop the ball on the last out of the World Series?
The self-doubt naturally creeps in a little bit more before big moments. I wrestled with it most of the night. I just couldn’t get my mind to shut up and rest.
The next morning, I wanted to go straight to the field. But I couldn’t. Because if I learned anything from our 2015 postseason run, it was the importance of routine. Treat every game like it’s just another game.
Even if it’s Game 7 of the World Series.
Rob Tringali/MLB Photos/Getty Images
One of the questions I’ve been asked most this off-season is whether or not I was nervous before or during Game 7. I don’t think I was really nervous. I think a lot of things were slightly different, or even amplified a little — like how much I thought about the game the night before.
We knew the Indians were going to have an incredible pitcher on the mound, but it didn’t matter to us. In the clubhouse before the game, we kept saying to one another, “It doesn’t matter if he’s the best. We’ll be better than him tonight.”
It was like.…
“Bro, Kluber’s nasty.”
“Yeah. We’re nastier.”
We were confident. It wasn’t about 108 years. It was about nine innings. We came out and it seemed like everything was going right. For eight innings, it was perfect.
Then Rajai Davis stepped up to the plate in the bottom of the eighth. You know the story. Rajai crushed a two-run homer to tie the game. Normally, if that would have happened in any other game I would have thought, O.K. Tie game. We need to shut them down now and go back to work with the bats in the ninth.
But when that ball left the yard, I was more like….
No way.
I mean, we were four outs away from winning the World Series. Four outs. I couldn’t react like it was just another two-run homer. It had been a back-and-forth game, and that was such a huge momentum swing for them.
But the way our team reacted on the field was exactly how we would have in any other game. We didn’t let it faze us. Aroldis Chapman bounced back and got us out of the inning, and then we shut the Indians down in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to extras.
Then came the rain delay.
That was another “Were you nervous?” moment.
The funny thing about that was that normally, when there’s a rain delay, guys will check out. They’ll go into the clubhouse and unwind, and then try to turn it back on when, or if, play resumes.
We didn’t know if the delay was going to last 10 minutes or two hours. But I don’t think any of us checked out. I know I didn’t. I went in and hit the stationary bike. I wanted to stay ready. And after 17 minutes, when they pulled the tarp off the field and Jason Heyward came into the weight room and gave his now-famous pep talk, we were ready to go.
We didn’t have to turn it back on.
We had never turned it off.
Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
The ultimate moment, though, was catching the final out at first base.
And no, I wasn’t nervous — even though the night before, lying in bed, I had literally thought, What if I drop the ball on the last out of the World Series?
Everybody asks me what I was thinking at that moment. And the truth is: I wasn’t really thinking anything. It was pure emotion and happiness. My exact thinking when the ball hit my mitt was just kind of jumbled nonsense.
Oh, my God.
Then.…
Oh, my God.
Then.…
We just won.
We just won the World Series?
Oh, my God. Put the ball in your pocket.
Game 7. World Series. Cubs. Curse. 108. We won.
Oh, my God!
Then I ran to my guys.
I remember that one thing Rossy had talked about all season long was the bond he had with the guys from the 2013 championship team in Boston. He talked about it a lot, and he said that it was the reason he really wanted to win one with us — because if we won a World Series together, then we’d be connected forever. We all bought into that. So as the season went on, and we got closer and closer to winning it all, it started to feel almost like we were a Little League team. You know, where you’re out there just trying to win for your buddies. It never felt like we had the city of Chicago on our backs. Or that we were up against history. It wasn’t about droughts or curses. It was just about the guys in that dugout.
It didn’t matter how we won. It didn’t matter who the hero was. All that mattered was that we won, and that we played for each other along the way.
That all came together when I put that ball in my pocket, jumped into KB’s arms and started celebrating.
I still don’t think the magnitude of the whole thing has really set in. I don’t know that it ever will. I think as time goes on, it will start to feel bigger and bigger. It feels bigger every time I meet a Cubs fan who tells me a story about their parents, grandparents or great-grandparents — the previous generations of Cubs fans — and how they wished they were here to experience this with them.
The ultimate was when we visited the White House and Michelle Obama told us a story about how when she would come home from school in the afternoon, she’d often find her father watching a Cubs game, and she’d sit on his lap and watch with him. She talked about how the Cubs were an important part of her connection with her father, and how she wishes he had still been alive to see his Cubs finally win the World Series.
The First Lady of the United States thanked us for what we had done.
Moments like those … that’s when the magnitude of it all really hits me.
Tyson
The questions that I have answered all winter have changed a little now that it’s the spring and we’re back on the field. Fewer people ask about the World Series and the off-season, and more ask me about 2017. Things like how you replace a guy like Rossy.
The short answer to that one is: You don’t.
Guys like Rossy are one in a million. The way you compensate for losing a guy like him is that you remember everything he taught you — about the game and about being a professional. And that doesn’t fall just on me or any one guy. It falls on every guy in our clubhouse.
And Grandpa Rossy is still going to be around, anyway. When he’s not off being a reality TV star or shopping for a new walking cane, he’ll be in Chicago working in the front office. And he promised me last year that he was going to come to some games and sit on the first base line and heckle me. So something tells me we’re stuck with him.
I know the questions are going to keep coming — about Rossy, about history, about everything. But at the end of the day, I think there’s only one question that really matters, and it’s not one that we can answer in an interview. It’s a question that we can only answer on the field:
Can we do it again?
It’s a new season. A clean slate. Last year is history — literally. The only thing we’re focused on now is avoiding the hangover and figuring out how we can go win it all again.
And we believe we can.Romelu Lukaku is Antonio Conte’s first choice, according to reports. (Getty Images)
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has decided to make Romelu Lukaku his priority target over Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata, according to reports in Spain.
Marca claim that the Premier League champions have opted to sign the Everton striker due to his Premier League experience, plus the Belgian would boost their homegrown quota.
Miguel Almiron's agent reveals why he turned down shock Arsenal approach in January
Lukaku, who has two years remaining on his contract with Everton, has just finished another impressive campaign in the Premier League, scoring 25 goals in 36 appearances.
And now the Italian’s decision to prioritise Lukaku has put Manchester United in the driving seat to sign Morata.
Morata is Mourinho’s priority at United, according to Marca. (Getty Images)
Marca claim that the Spain striker is Mourinho’s first choice and could be used in Madrid’s deal to sign David De Gea.
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The United boss has told Madrid’s hierarchy to include the striker, plus €25m (£21.7m), in order to get Spanish goalkeeper out of Old Trafford.
Conte had attempted to sign Morata for Chelsea last summer but Madrid blocked the transfer.
In April, Morata admitted he felt ‘indebted’ to Conte, despite having never worked with him, and claimed he would work with the Chelsea manager ‘sooner or later’.
MORE: What Jose Mourinho told Ajax star Justin Kluivert after Man Utd’s Europa League final
MORE: David Luiz reveals conversation with Antonio Conte on day he returned to ChelseaAdministrator Scott Pruitt, in choosing not to renew nine members’ terms, has ‘eviscerated’ board of scientific counselors, says chair
The Environmental Protection Agency has “eviscerated” a key scientific review board by removing half its members and seeking to replace them with industry-aligned figures, according to the board’s chair.
Worried world urges Trump not to pull out of Paris climate agreement Read more
Scott Pruitt, the EPA administrator, has chosen not to renew the terms of nine of the 18-member board of scientific counselors, which advises the EPA on the quality and accuracy of the science it produces. The group, largely made up of academics, is set to be replaced by representatives from industries that the EPA regulates.
Deborah Swackhamer, chair of the board, said that with other planned departures, the panel was left with five members, including her, in the midst of an EPA hiring freeze.
“The committee has been eviscerated,” she told the Guardian. “We assumed these people would be renewed and there was no reason or indication they wouldn’t be. These people aren’t Obama appointees, they are scientific appointees. To have a political decision to get rid of them was a shock.”
The nine departing members – who worked on matters including toxic water pollution, climate change and chemical safety – all completed three-year terms. The decision to not renew those terms has opened the way for the Trump administration to refashion the scientific board in line with its industry-friendly agenda that has sought to strip away various pollution rules in the name of “regulatory certainty”.
A spokesman for the agency told the New York Times: “The administrator believes we should have people on this board who understand the impact of regulations on the regulated community.”
There would be a morality issue if the committee is turned into a political pawn of a certain viewpoint Deborah Swackhamer
This could lead to multiple instances of conflicts of interest, Swackhamer said, despite clear EPA ethics rules.
“If you have industry hand-picked people,” she said, “the concern would be that they would have a frequent conflict because we discuss areas that touch upon big industry.
“This administration has made statements not terribly favourable to science. There would be a morality issue if the committee is turned into a political pawn of a certain viewpoint. Our credibility would be destroyed. We would be seen within the scientific community as tainted.”
Courtney Flint, a board member and professor of natural resource sociology at Utah State University, said she was told on Friday her term would not be renewed.
“This came as a surprise as I had been told that the appointment would be renewed,” she told the Guardian, adding that the board “has been careful to avoid partisanship in our scientific recommendations”.
“I am hopeful that this advisory work can continue to be done by objective scientific experts that represent a cross-section of societal voices to inform policy.”
Pruitt, a former Oklahoma attorney general who sued the EPA multiple times over its pollution rules, has criticized the science produced by the agency to support its regulations.
In March, Pruitt reversed a move to ban chlorpyrifos, a widely used pesticide, despite the advice of EPA scientists that it could be harmful to children and farm workers. Pruitt said: “We are returning to using sound science in decision-making, rather than predetermined results.”
John O’Grady, president of a union that represents more than 9,000 EPA employees, said he was concerned that the agency would now be “repopulated with scientists who operate within the realm of opinion, rather than fact”.
'Like a slow death': families fear pesticide poisoning after Trump reverses ban Read more
“We are already aware of the opinion of this administration and Mr Pruitt with respect to climate change,” he said. “However, opinions are neither fact nor theory and do not belong to the realm of science.
“Without independence and sound peer review of the science conducted by the agency, it will be impossible to distinguish between good science and bad science at the US EPA.”
Republicans have complained about the EPA’s scientific advisory board, claiming that it is too heavily weighted in favour of academics who support regulation.
In February, Lamar Smith, chairman of the House science committee, said: “The EPA routinely stacks this board with friendly scientists who receive millions of dollars in grants from the federal government. The conflict of interest here is clear.”
Members of the board, however, deny that they are politically motivated, pointing to the ethics training and vetting they receive, similar to that undergone by career public servants.
Swackhamer said: “We have spirited conversations about the science – we don’t just rubber-stamp what the EPA wants to do. These people are valuable, highly qualified and highly vetted. It’s troubling that political considerations have come into this.”
In a statement to the Guardian, an EPA spokesman said: “EPA received hundreds of nominations to serve on the board, and we want to ensure fair consideration of all the nominees – including those nominated who may have previously served on the panel – and carry out a competitive nomination process.”LEARNER: Cameron Presland, 20, who crashed an illegally modified car at high speed, killing a pair of siblings, was on a learner's licence.
The driver of a modified car that killed a brother and sister when it crashed at high speed on a Dunedin motorway was on a learner's licence.
Cameron Presland, 20, was driving his illegally turbocharged Honda Integra about 180kmh at 3am on Sunday when it spun on a bend, hitting a lamp-post, then a tree.
Police today confirmed Presland was on a learner licence. Learner drivers must have a supervisor, sitting in the front passenger seat. The supervisor is responsible for everyone in the car.
Facebook TRAGIC LOSS: Danielle Ngametua Kiriau, 17, was believed to be in a relationship with the driver of the Honda Integra.
He had bought the car days earlier.
Two friends Presland was driving home from a party, Shannon Kiriau, 22, and Danielle Kiriau,17, died. Danielle was Presland's girlfriend.
Caitlin Adams, 16, and Courtney Donald, 17, were seriously injured.
Facebook CRASH VICTIM: Shannon James Kiriau, 22, died at the scene, police said.
Shannon, who had told his mother "I love you" as he walked out the door on Saturday night, was in the front passenger seat.
His sister was in the back with the other girls, none of whom wore seat belts. She was thrown from the car.
Adams was discharged from Dunedin Hospital, where Donald remained on the serious list. Presland, who suffered internal injuries, was still in hospital.
Inspector Jason Guthrie confirmed the driver was not fully licensed.
"Yes, the person who was driving was on a learner licence," he said.
Those on learner licences may not be fully aware of some of the dangers driving a vehicle could create, Guthrie said.
"People driving on a learning licence are 'learning to drive' and are therefore less experienced drivers, and for this reason they should be under correct supervision to learn to drive in a safe manner."
Speed, alcohol, and failure to wear seat belts were factors in the fatal crash, police have said.
Close friends said they would support Presland, who they say ended up behind the wheel because the others were too intoxicated.
Caleb Tamatea believed even though his friend had been drinking, he was not drunk. Now all fingers were pointing at Presland, he said.
"Every single person in that car was my friend. I lost my best friends. But I'll always be there for the driver. He's scarred for life. He killed his missus. I'll always be there for him."
Acting southern district road policing manager Senior Sergeant Steve Larking said no charges had been laid so far.
"Obviously there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes. There's a full investigation and that decision will be reached further down the track."
Presland had been spoken to by police, he said.
The state of the Honda, which was illegally modified and had not been warranted since 2012, and a possible prosecution of its previous owner, were "all part of the police investigation".
He said earlier the issue was not that the car was turbo-charged, but the way it was being driven.
"Yes, it can make a car go faster but at the end of the day a car may not be turbo-charged but if a person driving it makes the wrong decisions, drives too fast, you can get the same tragic consequences."
The five young people in the Honda were headed for Mosgiel after attending a party at a friend's Three Mile Hill home.
Police wrongly told Danielle's parents their daughter had survived a double-fatality crash when she was dead.
Guthrie apologised ''unreservedly'' for the botch-up, in which officers incorrectly identified her body as being that of the badly-injured Donald.
Police passed on incorrect information to both families.It was 3 a.m. in Bradley, Calif., in the middle of a dusty dry lake bed, and Carl Weiseth, 33, was shoeless, shirtless and regaling a gathering crowd about last night’s escapade. “I didn’t make it back from the dance floor until the sun was starting to rise,” he told his audience, adding that he “passed out to the gentle vibrations of thumping electronic music for three to four hours.”
A 1960s Volkswagen van was painted with the words “Give Peace a Chance,” surrounded by fresh-faced bohemians sporting flower crowns, acid-washed jean shorts, seapunk teal-dyed hair and psychedelic leggings. “It’s the feather-and-leather crew,” one festivalgoer said.
To the casual observer, this post-New Age convergence of monumental art, all-night dancing and “Kumbaya” spirituality could be mistaken for Burning Man, the weeklong arts festival in the Nevada desert. But unlike Burning Man, which marked its 28th year last month, this festival called Lightning in a Bottle offers paid lecturers, headlining music acts like Moby, and V.I.P. packages with deluxe tents and fresh linens for $2,500.
“L.I.B. is one of the pinnacle festivals of West Coast conscious culture,” said Mr. Weiseth, using shorthand for Lightning in a Bottle, among a new type of gathering called “transformational festivals.” They could be described as the slightly smaller, psychedelic-art-and-electronic-dance-music-centered, commercialized progeny of Burning Man.0 Shares
Women’s wrestling in the WWE has grown significantly over the past year or so. We have seen Sasha Banks and Bayley headline an NXT PPV. We have seen women gain more time on RAW and Smackdown each week for their matches. Becky Lynch, Charlotte and Sasha Banks performed at Wrestlemania 32 in a match that was highly regarded. What is the next step?
In a recent interview with Gorilla Position, Becky Lynch talks about women possibly being in the main event of Wrestlemania 33:
“I don’t see a reason why we all couldn’t main event WrestleMania next year. That’s the next step. Once you’ve reached one goal you’re onto the next and we’ve got to keep working hard to achieve that. I never really stop to celebrate each step, because I’m always looking to what’s next, but it’s one thing to get to a certain level but we have to also maintain that. But you never know what will happen, it would be an amazing moment for all of us for sure” (Source: Talk Sport).
I am not sure if we will see a women’s main event of Wrestlemania 33 this year. I do think we will see two awesome Women’s matches on the main card of Wrestlemania, which will still be a huge step. The RAW Women’s Championship and the Smackdown Women’s Championship both being defended on the main card would be pretty awesome.
If the women were put in the place to headline the show? Give me Becky Lynch vs Bayley vs Charlotte vs Sasha Banks and they would put on a show!
[irp posts=”15797″ name=”Becky Lynch Talks Winning The Smackdown Women’s Title And The Pressure Moving Forward”]
Let us know what you think in the comment section below.We’ve found some narwhal-related merchandise before such as Narwhal Finger Puppets and Narwhal Horn Mints, and several unicorn things like Unicorn Chopsticks and Corn Cob Holders. But never before in GeekAlerts history have the two single-horned creatures been combined into one. What was thought to be impossible has been pulled off in reality in this fantastical Narwhalicorn Bendable Figure.
Half unicorn and half narwhal, this magical creature feasts only on the sea grass found in enchanted underwater meadows and soft pink cotton-candy clouds. Legend has it, the Narwhalicorn is the guardian of the mystical Rainbow Caves. She is a friend to every creature with a pure and noble heart.
4″ tall
The Narwhalicorn is just as much a skilled swimmer as it is an agile galloper. Many of us can relate to the creature, because the narwhalicorn tends to be an outcast due to its peculiar looks and abilities; neither accepted into any group of unicorns nor schools of narwhals. However, it has learned how to embrace what makes it so special and unique. During its free time the narwhalicorn invents new contortionist moves, hoping to one day make it into Le Cirque du Soleil. Good thing there’s always the circus.
Give this to the person who has everything. You can safely bet that he or she doesn’t own a Narwhalicorn Bendable Figure. You can buy this mystical, rainbowy friend at Hot Topic for $6.50 each and at Amazon.com for $7.99.
Related Deals: Amazon CouponsOn Sunday afternoon there may well be a subdued atmosphere at Old Trafford. It is, as the joke goes, a matchday after all. Yet the ground may be even more muted than usual during the match against Swansea. If Papiss Cissé adds to his Le Tissier-esque portfolio of goals and Newcastle avoid defeat against Manchester City earlier in the day, Old Trafford will have the collective wide-eyed glee usually reserved for those who have been given a second chance at life. If City win, however, the title will almost certainly be gone.
A sombre final home match may be an appropriate end to a season in which United have shown rare vulnerability and insecurity on their own patch. Ostensibly a record of 10 points dropped in 18 league games is fine, but it does not compare favourably to United's record last season (two points dropped from 19 games) or City's this (two dropped from 18 games). The manner and timing of United losing points has been especially damaging, culminating in the surreal and possibly decisive 4-4 draw with Everton a fortnight ago.
The addition of European and domestic cup games shines a harsher statistical light on United's home form. Last season their record was P29 W26 D3 L0; this year it has been P24 W15 D4 L5. The number of goals they have conceded both in the league (19) and all competitions (31) is the highest since the 1970s.
The season started with two delirious eviscerations of Spurs and Arsenal; since then even the big victories (5-0 against Wigan, 4-0 over Villa) have been peculiarly joyless, even boring. Yet overall, purely in terms of results and efficiency, this has been one of United's proudest seasons. The ability to challenge for the title despite Glazernomics, Manchester City's clout and probably the most debilitating injury list at Old Trafford since 1997-98, attest to Sir Alex Ferguson's staggering capacity to manipulate resources. Yet when United have been bad, particularly at home, there has been a frequent need to delve into the record books and the memory bank.
The 6-1 defeat to Manchester City was their worst home defeat since 1955, an already seismic result that will become even more significant should the title be decided on goal difference. Had United lost that game 2-1, they would be above City on goals scored. Even City did not outplay United quite like Athletic Bilbao – their Europa League win was probably the biggest chasing United have received at home since they somehow beat a majestic Red Star Belgrade side 1-0 in 1991-92. And if Blackburn go down, they will be the first relegated side to have won at Old Trafford since 1976-77.
After the 6-1 defeat, Ferguson said United "just have to forget it as though it never happened". The apparently freakish nature of so many home games this season – the defeats and also the high-scoring draws with Everton and Basel – offer a certain solace. But too many one-offs suggest something fundamental is off.
In this case, it's the defence. United will rightly point to the extended absence of Nemanja Vidic, probably the world's best defender. He missed all five home defeats this season. If suggestions he was omitted from the 6-1 for disciplinary reasons are true, it was a costly assertion of authority.
Yet there are times when even Vidic would have struggled, such has been the chasm in front of United's defence. The absence of Darren Fletcher has been of obvious significance, as has that of Michael Carrick in certain games. Carrick missed four of the five losses; in the fifth, against Blackburn, he was an emergency centre-half rather than a screen in front of the back four.
Ferguson's decision to favour two forwards has sometimes contributed to the midfield vulnerability. The team have not had much help from the stands either. The atmosphere at Old Trafford occasionally feels like a scientific project to see if 70,000 people can immaculately observe a period of 90 minutes' silence. A number of supporters seem to have confused the theatre with Theatre of Dreams, and a nadir was reached against Blackburn, when the crowd only really summoned any enthusiasm to sing Happy Birthday to Ferguson. United's decision to introduce a singing section suggests a recognition of the problem, if not much of a clue how to resolve it.
Most relevant of all, perhaps, some opposing teams have started to scrutinise the emperor's attire more closely. Many still roll over and accept their fate, or accept their fate after Ashley Young has rolled over, but others are less defensive than was once the case. To see a side as intrepid as Bilbao go for it was not surprising; to see a similar approach from Everton, usually so compliant at Old Trafford, certainly was. "We came here to try and win the game," said David Moyes. "We really did."
In the past, to attack United on their turf was to raise hell. When a vibrant West Ham side had the temerity to take an early lead in 1999-2000, they were destroyed 7-1. Three seasons ago Spurs were 2-0 up at half time and lost 5-2. This season United have gone behind in eight games at Old Trafford. They have won none of them.The quota system may be flawed, but so is our idea of social reality
Nothing brings out the tiger in the mousiest of people like the subject of quotas and reservations. The most affable of individuals, whom you never imagined had an opinionated bone in their body, can become vociferously argumentative, and sometimes abusive, if you oppose their views on the subject of reservations.
To me, this is proof of how deeply people care about their class/caste positions and the privileges that come with it. Reams and reams have been written on the subject of reservations. But the debate by and large has been so polarised that the real issue at hand gets completely sidelined - a social and economic disability caused by the most
monstrous form of discrimination ever invented by human beings.
My understanding of the issue is as follows: First of all, any person who opens his mouth on the subject of reservations should start by stating his class, caste, and the educational opportunities that he has enjoyed. This is important, because, more than in any other debate, in this one, who you are nearly always determines what your position would be.
I think it can safely be generalised that in circles dominated by the upper castes, such as medical colleges, IIT/IIMs, and the English language media, the consensus is that reservations are bad because they harm merit. And outside these circles of privilege, the arguments you hear are very different, and more diverse.
I recently had an opportunity to interact with a Dalit activist and came away stunned by my own upper caste biases, which were clinically dismantled by him.
The first myth to get demolished was one of merit vis-à-vis reservations. "If you think
reservations are bad, why don't you travel in the general compartment in trains?" he asked. "Why are reservations good the moment you can buy them?" Is being able to afford a second class ticket when millions can't, a matter of merit?
Come to think of it, money-based reservation - operated overtly and covertly - is the biggest quota system there is. You don't see upper caste students taking to the streets in protest against the so-called management quota, which is nothing but reservation for the wealthy. And how can we even talk of merit so long as quality education - the primary conduit to prosperity - is not accessible to all?
The very notion of merit, he argued, is only possible when all the contenders begin at the same level and enjoy equal advantages. If you pit Roger Federer against Rafael Nadal, you can find out which one merits the Wimbledon crown more. But if you enter one-legged men in the tournament, merit becomes meaningless. Economic deprivation is a serious disability.
So is social discrimination and oppression perpetrated across centuries, and which is very much alive even today. To take just one example, the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), New Delhi, recently did a survey on the social profile of the country's 315 top editorial decision-makers in English and Hindi dailies, and TV channels. Can you guess how many of them belonged to the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes? 40? 20? 5?
The answer is zero. There is a media explosion happening in our country. And not one Dalit editor-in-chief. "Twice born Hindus ('dwijas' comprising Brahmins, Kayasthas, Rajputs, Vaishyas and Khatris) account for about 16 per cent of India's population, but they are about 86 per cent among the key media decision-makers.
Brahmins alone constitute 49 per cent of the key media personnel," he says, reading out from the survey. And this is a study of just one sector - the media. We can guess how it might be in the others. Now, do we want to believe that this is purely because of merit? That upper caste Hindus are somehow more intelligent, more gifted, than the rest of the
country's population? That's what racist whites believe vis-à-vis blacks.
Seeing me silent, my friend laughs. He quotes BR Ambedkar, who once observed that the meritorious upper castes could not even manage to write the two Hindu epics: Ramayana and Mahabharat. They were written by Valmiki and Vyasa- two Dalits.
Again, if we really are so fanatical about merit, why is it that we upper caste Hindus visit temples where the priests are not chosen on merit? In every other religion - Christianity, Islam, Buddhism - anybody can become a priest, provided they fulfill certain requirements. Not so in Hinduism. Will the upper caste advocates of merit please care to explain why a Dalit should be barred - on non-meritorious grounds - from what is by all accounts a lucrative profession? And it is these same panjandrums who peddle nightmares of how the Indian bureaucracy and our healthcare system will collapse if they are 'overrun' by Dalit civil servants and Dalit doctors who might come in through a quota.
My own view of reservation is that it is an extremely flawed system. Something in me rebels against the idea that my destiny should be determined by my caste. But I also believe that as a privileged upper caste, it is simply not tenable for me to oppose the one powerful tool the Dalits happen to possess at the moment, to fight their battle.
Yes, let us think of a better route to social equity by all means. But till we find it, let us not block whatever path exists. It is true that in many villages in India, it is the Brahmins who are the most deprived, |
is start at the almost molecular level of an understanding of the economy—the building blocks of the market, the building blocks of capitalism. And if you follow the logic, the logic leads inevitably to a guaranteed minimum income.
Q: You talk about how 70 percent of Harvard grads are now applying for Wall Street jobs. It seems there has been a tremendous drain of social support for a more modest life that allows for more equality.
Reich: Yes, but it’s a chicken-and-egg problem. Because as inequality increases, the rewards of being at the very top become almost unimaginably greater than they were before, so it’s very hard to resist, if you are a kid who can go to Harvard Business School and then to Wall Street or a management consulting outfit or a top law firm.
If you’re passing up a job that pays, let’s say, $100,000 a year, that’s one thing. But if you are passing up a job that pays $5 million a year, or even $1 billion a year—that’s a different universe. I’ve seen significant numbers of young people—not from Berkeley, thank goodness, because it’s very difficult to get into that bubble from Berkeley—but certainly from Harvard and from Princeton, from the Ivy League, succumb to this socialization process in which they become the new American aristocracy.
Q: And is that part of what happens in Washington, too?
Reich: Absolutely. It’s seductive. You have investment bankers who are filling the Treasury Department and big donors who are staying in the Lincoln Bedroom and countless fundraisers. You befriend these people and you golf with them and they introduce you to their friends and you summer at their estates and you gradually, almost unwittingly, become seduced into their world. And that is terribly dangerous.
You begin to see the rest of the world through their eyes. And you lose touch with where most people are, as they become more and more desperate. It’s not just that work is not paying as much for most people, it’s also that there’s less economic security. People are scared. Two-thirds of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. The idea of full employment is disappearing.
Q: How was it for you to be in that environment in Washington?
Reich: It’s a very hard question for me to answer. I just remember that I spent so much of my time feeling angry. That’s not good for anybody. I felt alone. That so-called welfare reform bill of 1996—I thought it was a travesty. It’s one of the reasons almost one out of five of the nation’s kids is in poverty now.
I remember leaving the White House knowing full well Clinton was going to sign that Republican bill, and being surprised that there wasn’t anyone demonstrating. It was well known that he was making the decision that day. But as I walked back to my office down Pennsylvania Avenue, there was no one. Now, if there’s nobody, then pretty bad things can happen. No matter how good the people are who have been elected or appointed to positions in Washington, the moneyed interests will prevail.
Q: In the current race for President, do you think labor unions have been foolish to jump to endorse so early?
Reich: Every election season, the union presidents jump over themselves to try to be the first in line to endorse the establishment Democrat, without having gotten anything in return. Bill Clinton promised labor law reform, but he wasn’t at all interested. He gave them NAFTA. The union presidents were furious. I arranged a meeting in the White House where the union presidents could vent their anger, and good old Bill Clinton charmed the pants off everyone. It goes back to the seduction process. It can be very hard to resist, even for a union president, to be on the inside, and to attend galas at the White House.
Same thing with the Obama Administration. Obama promised the employee free choice act. It never happened. Remember both Clinton and Obama had Democrats in control of Congress at the beginning. Unions need to withhold their support until they get very concrete assurance that, by a date certain, this is what I as President will commit to do.
Q: What gives you reason to be optimistic?
Reich: I’ve gone around the country for the last year, talking to groups of people: small business people in Kansas City, who are very concerned about the big box retailers and Amazon; small farmers in Missouri who are organizing against big agriculture and the factory farms; the Fight for $15 people, who are making great headway. I even talked to some of the last regional bankers who are trying to hold on, notwithstanding the extraordinary resources of Wall Street. All you have to do is connect some of these people up and you have the beginnings of something quite significant.
It’s not something we might want or wish for. It’s inevitable. Because the current path we’re on is unsustainable. It’s not sustainable economically, because the poor and middle class don’t have enough purchasing power to keep the economy going. It’s not sustainable politically, because you either are getting a leftwing anti-establishment candidate, or a rightwing anti-establishment backlash. The Republican Party is in a civil war.
Hillary and Bernie Sanders won’t be in that kind of a civil war, but the forces behind Bernie are not going to go away.
Republicans, I think, are desperately holding on. That’s why they’re doing so much gerrymandering and voter suppression. There is a kind of desperation about the Republican Party right now, given the demographic shifts in the electorate, and the fact that the old white swing vote is no longer determinative.
It’s going to be very interesting to see.
Ruth Conniff is Editor-in-Chief of The Progressive.Thank you for checking out MPP's first annual "Top 50 Most Influential Marijuana Users" list. In order to come up with the final ranking, we asked our supporters to choose from nearly 200 influential people to help us narrow down the list to the final 50 you see here. We took the 37 individuals who received the most votes from our supporters and added them to MPP's top 13 automatic qualifiers (including people like Clarence Thomas). Then all 50 were ranked using the criteria below.In order to have qualified for the list, each individual must (1) have tried marijuana at least once, (2) be alive, and (3) be living in the U.S. or be a U.S. citizen. We also asked our supporters to adhere to the definition for the "Power 50" list that's used by "Out" magazine, which employs the following criteria: "the power to influence cultural and social attitudes, political clout, individual wealth, and a person's media profile."In sum, we're not concerned with an individual's popularity, or even whether he or she supports marijuana policy reform. Rather, the 2012 "Top 50 Most Influential Marijuana Users" list is meant to identify people who have used marijuana and achieved high levels of success or influence.We hope you enjoy this list. We're excited to see how the most influential marijuana users change from year to year. (Prediction: Newt Gingrich will drop off the list.)Source: mpp.orgAuthor: mpp.orgContact: Contact Us Website: 2012 Top 50 Most Influential Marijuana UsersCity + Theme
The protagonist of HomeMake has always been the city. The game began by trying to represent a continuously changing city that adapts and morphs to each unique user. The design of the city has been in our minds since we were children; a city that is fantastical with a cyberpunk edge. We want it be as sublime as possible, mixing nostalgic suburban landscapes with futuristic urban boroughs.
The city is situated on an inverted sphere, providing an endless playing field without the traditional environmental tropes that stall one’s exploration. Traditional mapping is impossible as the city is always reforming, the only way to unlock the secrets of the city is start an adventure and explore.
City + Location
Cities change every day. In HomeMake the environment will constantly change at an unnoticeable rate. The concept of progression works on multiple scales. The overall scope of the game is one of progression, as the player evolves their understanding of the world and narrative, the city morphs and adapts, creating an ever changing cityscape. The totality of the system is never fully understood as a constant state of progression is maintained.The game will be set in Galaxy SEED (Stellar Earth Evolution Designer) Sumimoto. The main character lives on the inside of Sumimoto in the suburbs of the city sprawled around the inner surface. An inverted planet, the player travels along the interior surface of the sphere, providing a continuous playing field with no obvious boundaries.
The existence of the urban fabric as an inverted planet creates a variety of unique moments. Although the city development and types of spaces vary widely throughout, the constant factor acting on all structures is the gravity. Radiating from the center, buildings must thrust inward. Available air volume decreases as buildings grow. Negotiations and tensions arise and create architectural problems as buildings begin to bump into each other. The nature of the street, and the views of the city above are in constant dialogue with the battle happening between buildings as they clash in the sky.
The complexity of the views coupled with the sublime understanding of motion and relativity caused by the centralized gravity results in challenging platforming elements as players travel across the city hunting new goals.
City + Identity
Our desires to explore such a city lead to the mind transfer game mechanic. We wanted to understand what it felt like to inhabit our city but not just from our own point of view. Every resident of a city has a unique take on the environment, with their own personal biases and experiences coloring their understanding, a wholly unique version of the same city lives inside everyone’s heads. In exploring our city, we often found ourselves changing our characters attributes to gain a different perspective of our city through a new method of interaction. We want our game to explore these subjective understandings of space and how they related to the individual character.
As a result, Sumimoto is littered with multiple avatars, each with distinctive abilities, desires and biases. This causes multiple body swaps as one traverses the shifting cityscape. This piqued our imagination as we began to speculate on the possibility of multiple perspectives; our city is experienced a lot differently between different avatars. Playing as either a robot, a plant, or a hippo, not only will the city change to match your characters unique abilities, but perceptually the city will be represented in a new way, reflecting each character’s take on the environment.
City + Desire Gameplay revolves around perceptual based puzzles that require body swapping to unlock the secrets of the city. Different bodies provide different platforming advantages. Some run faster. Some see sound. Some talk smooth. The changing urban fabric encourages the player to swap bodies in order to address the immediate landscape around them. Regarding to the platforming elements, the constant changing of the city creates an ever expanding series of challenges that arise as geometry shifts and varies. It is at the player’s own discretion that they determine the best character and exploration technique required to advance through the city. City + Sound Our music making experience is rooted in DJing. We want to add this experience of nonstop DJ mixing to the game, providing a continuous soundtrack to compliment the endless environment. As indicated by our opting for an essential mixtape, there will be no set OST for the game, instead different musical parts will blend into an endless tapestry based on environment and gameplay. The musical pieces move through genre from blues to jazz to funk to hip-hop to glitch, creating a hybrid sense of nostalgia and future. Our music making experience is rooted in DJing. We want to add this experience of nonstop DJ mixing to the game, providing a continuous soundtrack to compliment the endless environment. As indicated by our opting for an essential mixtape, there will be no set OST for the game, instead different musical parts will blend into an endless tapestry based on environment and gameplay. The musical pieces move through genre from blues to jazz to funk to hip-hop to glitch, creating a hybrid sense of nostalgia and future.A married mother of four from Florida ditched her family to become part of the raggedy mob in Zuccotti Park — keeping the park clean by day and keeping herself warm at night with the help of a young waiter from Brooklyn.
“I’m not planning on going home,” an unapologetic Stacey Hessler, 38, told The Post yesterday.
“I have no idea what the future holds, but I’m here indefinitely. Forever,” said Hessler, whose home in DeLand sits 911 miles from the tarp she’s been sleeping under.
Hessler — who ironically is married to a banker — arrived 12 days ago and planned to stay for a week, but changed her plans after cozying up to some like-minded radicals, including Rami Shamir, 30, a waiter at a French bistro in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.
She swears she’s not romantically involved with her new friend.
VIDEO: FLORIDA MOM JOINS PROTEST IN NYC
ZUCCOTTI NEIGHBORS: STOP DUMPING ON US
Yesterday was a typical day for the pair, who woke up at 8 a.m. on their little patch of paving stone near the communal kitchen and dashed off to Trinity Church to wash up.
Hessler emerged an hour later, her brown hair in dreadlocks, wearing a T-shirt depicting Han Solo and Princess Leia kissing, and bearing the slogan “Make Love Not War.”
She got coffee and a granola bar from the protest kitchen before sorting laundry for two hours.
The unemployed Long Island native compared her decision to abandon her family to Americans serving in the armed forces.
“Military people leave their families all the time, so why should I feel bad?” a defiant Hessler said. “I’m fighting for a better world.”
She said she had been following the movement on Facebook, and the more she learned, the more obsessed she became with joining the demonstrators.
At around 11 a.m. yesterday, Hessler moved from laundry duty to park cleanup — a four-hour detail from which she broke just once to give a troubled protester a hug at the “empathy table.” She also found time for a meditation session later in the day.
Hessler has spoken with her family — husband Curtiss, 42; son Peyton, 17; and daughters Kennedy 15, Sullivan, 13, and Veda, 7 — just three times since leaving them. “Friends are taking care of them,” she said.
Not everyone has supported her decision. “My mother told me I was being very selfish,” she admitted.
And her husband, a former Bank of America financial adviser who now works at a local Florida bank, is perplexed. “He says he’s working for ‘the Man,’ and I’m fighting against him,” she said.
After finishing her morning routine and afternoon chores yesterday, Hessler spent the evening attending organizer meetings and helping fellow protesters find sleeping spots.
Hessler herself bedded down on an air mattress at 12:28 a.m., ready to do it all over again today.
Additional reporting by Gillian KleinmanQUEBEC CITY—Montreal police have confirmed they opened a criminal investigation into the devastating hit that placed Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty in the hospital with a cracked verterbra. Police say they are acting on a complaint about the shot delivered by Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara earlier this week.
Canadiens coach Jacques Martin said Max Pacioretty has a severe concussion and fractured the fourth cervical vertebra, which is not displaced. ( PAUL CHIASSON / THE CANADIAN PRESS )
Meanwhile, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman refused to comment on the incident this morning on his way into a U.S. congressional briefing in Washington, D.C. Bettman’s previously scheduled briefing focuses on the state of hockey in America and the relationship between hockey and education and physical rehabilitation. Montreal police say they opened the investigation after a request by Quebec’s director of criminal and penal prosecutions, Louis Dionne.
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A spokeswoman for Dionne said he initiated the process after seeing television footage of the incident. He issued a recommendation to the provincial Public Security department that an investigation be opened; the department then forwarded the file to police. “The police investigation will be held. Like all police investigations, evidence will be gathered and an investigation report will be submitted (to the DCPP),” said spokeswoman Martine Berube. “(The DCPP) will then evaluate to see whether there’s grounds for prosecution.” Asked what kind of punishment could be assessed in a case like Chara’s, she replied: “It’s too early to say. That would depend on what charges are laid. That’s a little difficult to predict at this point.”
The move came amid a burst of outrage after the National Hockey League declined to suspend Chara. Earlier Wednesday, Dionne’s own office downplayed talk of a criminal investigation but hardened its tone hours later when the league announced no sanctions would be taken.
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Later in the day, a major league sponsor and even the federal government were demanding action. Air Canada waded into the debate on hockey headshots, sending a letter late Wednesday to the NHL. In the letter, the airline threatened to withdraw its sponsorship unless the NHL moves to impose sanctions to reduce potential serious injuries. The debate over headshots and concussions has been constant this season, with superstar Sidney Crosby topping the injury list. Pacioretty, a left-winger from New Canaan, Conn., who had established himself this season as a regular top-line player, suffered a severe concussion and a non-displaced fracture to the fourth cervical vertebra in his neck. With both racing for the puck near the player benches, the six-foot-nine Chara checked Pacioretty into the boards and the young Hab slammed into a stanchion supporting the glass. The hit drew criticism from Gary Lunn, the minister of state for sports, and others outside the league. Lunn called it unacceptable. But the league deemed it “a hockey play that resulted in an injury because of the player colliding with the stanchion and then the ice surface.” Chara, who said he had no intent to hurt Pacioretty, was given a major penalty for interference and a game misconduct on the play. The big Bruin is not known to be a dirty player and has never been suspended in his 13-year career. Pacioretty told TSN he was “upset and disgusted” that the league had not suspended Chara. “I’m not mad for myself, I’m mad because if other players see a hit like that and think it’s OK, they won’t be suspended, then other players will get hurt like I got hurt.”Since Stripe's earliest days, we've believed the world needs simpler and more open protocols for moving money. We launched our Bitcoin beta four months ago, and we recently published some of our thoughts around cryptocurrencies. Today, we're excited to see the launch of Stellar, a new open-source project and nonprofit organization to which we've provided seed funding.
Stellar is (like Bitcoin) a decentralized payment network; unlike Bitcoin, it supports transactions in arbitrary currencies—you can use dollars, Euros, bitcoins, or anything else. Stellar implements something very close to the idealized "IP layer for money" idea that we described last week. You can find more details (and obtain your first "stellars", the network's native currency) by reading their launch post.
Development is led by Jed McCaleb and Professor David Mazières in collaboration with a small team of others. (The technology is based on the open-source Ripple project, originally created by Jed a few years ago.)
Stripe's role
Stellar's goal is to build a great transport layer for transmitting monetary value. Figuring out how to efficiently move money is something we support very strongly: Stripe spends a lot of effort integrating different banking and finance protocols in various countries (17 at last count). We've always considered it unlikely that these systems would be just as fragmented in twenty years. Bitcoin has already changed the world by drawing attention to the value of open, distributed protocols that enable the transmission and storage of money. Stellar aims to advance this success by providing a way to transact in one's currency of choice, whether that currency is fiat or digital.
We're very bullish on the cryptocurrency space in general, and expect that multiple systems will prosper. When the opportunity arose to help Stellar, we enthusiastically agreed. A couple of months ago, Stripe contributed $3M to help get the project going. In return, we received 2% of the stellars. However, the project is not run by Stripe. We just believe that a system with properties like Stellar's should exist in the world, and we heartily encourage anyone interested to participate in its development. We're going to auction a majority of our stellars to other interested companies, with any net profits being returned to the Stellar Foundation—please get in touch if your company might be interested.
Stellar is highly experimental, but we think it's important to invest effort in basic infrastructure when the opportunity arises. Jed and David are the perfect people to tackle something like this. If they and their team pull it off, Stellar could become a much better substrate for a lot of the world's financial systems.
Read more at Stellar.orgYou may be alone in a tree in your backyard, but there is help all around you. From books and magazines to the Internet and a country full of consultants who've answered every question imaginable, there's no reason not to reach out if you find yourself stuck between a trunk and a hard place.
"I'm very handy and love working with wood, but I asked for advice from someone who builds decks when I got to that part," says DIY treehouse builder Jonathan Tucker, who owns a landscaping company in Marietta, Georgia. "I've also had some family members hold boards along the way."
"The design and construction of a treehouse is similar to a house on the ground, so you have a lot of resources to draw upon," Carberry says, adding that DIY builders should take every precaution possible for their safety and the safety of those who will enjoy the treehouse for years to come. Use roofer's scaffolding. Use safety harnesses. Pay close attention while you work and don't rush the process; injuries often happen when builders are in a hurry.
"You're a bit higher than most DIY folks are used to being, and the structure you're perched on will move underneath you from time to time—and not always at the moment or in the direction you anticipate," Carberry says. "But the upside is, it's one heck of a view."My new favorite political image is of Hillary Clinton sighing, in a speech at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds. And I don’t mean sighing like you or I might when letting go of a long audible breath to express sadness or relief. But actually reading the word “sigh” off her teleprompter.
Now when people ask me if Clinton can blow this election, I have a new story to illustrate my case that, yes, she definitely can. She’s more wooden than a Charlie McCarthy doll.
Here’s another bit of information I like to share: As the Brexit campaign was getting underway last fall, the Remain camp was ahead of Leave, 51-37 percent. On the day that Britons were voting, the Dow closed up 230 points, and the British pound was near its year-to-date high, so confident was the feeling that the United Kingdom would never leave the European Union.
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That’s something to keep in mind as Democrats celebrate early polls that show Clinton leading Donald Trump.
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Trump is in better shape at this stage of the race than Vice President George H.W. Bush in 1988, when former governor Michael Dukakis led by 15 points in the polls. Overconfident Dukakis aides spent that summer checking out real estate in Maryland and Virginia, only to see their candidate’s lead evaporate into an eight-point loss on Election Day.
Trump’s problems are well known. Voters don’t think he’s qualified. They don’t trust him with his finger on the button. He lacks the right temperament.
Since wrapping up the nomination, Trump’s campaign has been monstrously inept. Clinton is burying him in fund-raising, with $42 million cash on hand compared to Trump’s $1.3 million at the end of May. The campaign manager position remains vacant following the sacking of Corey Lewandowski. Trump jetted off to Scotland last week to visit one of his golf courses instead of spending time in key battleground states. That he survived an alleged assassination attempt has been a hostile media’s only positive coverage, and that was scarcely mentioned at all.
And yet, the good news for Republicans is that Clinton’s not getting any more popular. Her negatives have never been higher. Sift through recent polling and you find that voters generally believe Trump is a stronger leader, that he’s more honest and trustworthy, that he can handle ISIS better, and that he would be more effective at bringing change to Washington.
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Clinton seems paralyzed by the populist forces that gave rise to Trump and Bernie Sanders. When Brexit passed, her instinct was to mock Trump. Trump responded with a speech attacking bad trade deals agreed to by “a leadership class that worships globalism over Americanism.”
This week’s NBC/Wall Street Journal poll showed Trump trailing Clinton, 46-41 percent, a drop of just two points since May. When third-party candidates are included, Trump and Clinton are essentially tied. As pollster Bill McInturff noted, “Donald Trump has had the worst month one can imagine, but Clinton’s negatives are so high the net impact on the ballot is almost invisible.”
Adding to Clinton’s woes is the newly released House report on Benghazi that found she failed, as secretary of state, to act on security risks ahead of the 2012 terror attack that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans in Libya. Still to come are the results of the FBI investigation into the mishandling of classified information related to her unsecure e-mail server.
Is it any wonder that Sanders still refuses to concede?
As unpopular as Trump is, the Democrats are on the verge of nominating someone nearly as unpopular, and that’s the only reason this campaign remains suspenseful at all.
Eric Fehrnstrom is a Republican political analyst and media strategist, and was a senior adviser to Governor Mitt Romney.In 2015, President Barack Obama was invited to be the guest of honour at India’s Republic Day parade. One thing kept his team up all night in the days leading up to the event. The members of his staff conducted hours of research, tried different alternatives and – once an option was finalised – painstakingly coached Obama through it.
What was the issue disturbing them? Deciding which Bollywood line the President should quote in his speech.
It was no laughing matter. His Indian counterpart, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, had set a high bar when, a few months earlier, he had brought the house down at Madison Square Garden in New York by bidding the audience goodbye with “May the Force be with you.” That Modi delivered a Star Wars line while X-Men star Hugh Jackman stood next to him on stage, trying to be a sport, made the line even funnier.
This one moment was what thousands of emigrant Indians had been dying to see
That Obama’s team ultimately went with a quote from Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jaayenge (The Braveheart Will Take the Bride, but widely known in India as DDLJ, for short) reveals much about the legacy of this 1994 romance starring Shah Rukh Khan and Kajol, arguably Bollywood’s most successful on-screen pairing.
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In the opening scene of DDLJ, Baldev Singh, the stifling patriarch played by Amrish Puri (the Thuggee villain in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom), is standing in London’s Trafalgar Square, feeding pigeons as the grey skies loom over him. In his mind, he is standing in his village back in Punjab, with its green and yellow fields as music swells up in the background.
With that one scene, director Aditya Chopra laid out what DDLJ was about – and what thousands of emigrant Indians around the world had been desperate to see.
Going global
For decades, Indians had been migrating to countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Malaysia and South Africa; many of them wrestled with the dichotomy of trying to retain their ‘Indian values’ while integrating into a different society.
Meanwhile, back in India, people looked at these former-neighbours-turned-outsiders with a mix of curiosity and scepticism. How Indian could they still be once they had left for foreign shores and become members of those notoriously loose Western societies?
The film is so popular it’s been playing nonstop at a Mumbai cinema for 20 years
In mainstream Bollywood cinema, non-resident Indians (NRIs) had mostly been depicted as caricatures or villains – people who had lost connection to their roots. DDLJ’s decision to portray them as sympathetic protagonists was novel and massively influential. It sets out to be an ego-boosting crowd-pleaser for both the NRIs heading to their neighbourhood theatre in ‘Little India’ and to the audience back home in India.
For the emigrants, DDLJ argues that ‘Indianness’ is not a geographic label as much as it is a portable set of values that one only need carry in their soul. The film’s love-struck protagonists, first-generation British Indians Raj and Simran, are always concerned with upholding Indian traditions of chastity, parental respect and selflessness. For Indians back home, DDLJ was sufficient proof that no matter where one went, they would always crave the mores, colour and happiness of India.
As of today, DDLJ is not just one of the most successful Indian films of all time but also among the longest-running films in history. The film is still screening at the Maratha Mandir cinema in Mumbai 20 years after its release. It spawned a generation of imitators. Their geographical setting and subject matter may have differed; but they almost always wrestled with, thematically, the definition of ‘Indianness’ and, financially, the need to placate foreign and domestic audiences.
From the US with love?
While the UK dominated Indian diaspora stories for a while (as in Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham… from 2001), it quickly ceded ground to the US, which has become the preferred ground for Indian emigration over the last few decades. Films such as Pardes (1997) dealt explicitly with the corrupting influence of American society, manifested in the antagonist’s proclivity towards cigarettes, alcohol, unfaithfulness and disregard for others. Meanwhile, the protagonist, again played by Shah Rukh Khan, successfully holds on to his Indian values and thus will not go against the family’s elders or besmirch the honour of any woman. Not to put too fine a point on it, but at one point the US-residing, India-loving patriarch – again played by Amrish Puri – literally breaks out into a song called I Love My India.
What in Indian cinema is at best an expression of an acute emotion of longing can, in its worst form, turn into a kind of cultural jingoism. In 2017, more than two decades after DDLJ, Aditya Chopra directed Befikre (Carefree), a brash romance about two Indian-ethnicity ‘global citizens’ who meet in Paris and have a no-strings-attached fling that – shocker – turns into something more. The reason Paris is still fair game in this essay about the UK and US is that for mainstream Bollywood, Western locations are often indistinguishable from each other. Apart from swapping the Statue of Liberty for the Eiffel Tower in the backdrop of a musical number, the approach taken to France is the same taken towards the US in films such as Kal Ho Naa Ho (Tomorrow May Never Come).
Nostalgia for the colour and vivacity of India turns into a snobbish belief that ‘Indian culture’ is inherently more fun and cheerful than the drab and lifeless world in France, the US, or the UK. The rule-conforming nature of Western society is seen as antithetical to ‘living it up’, which our exuberant protagonists are wont to do. Western weddings cannot match up to Indian ones; nor is Western food anywhere as tasty as Indian food. People residing in Western societies are just not as street-smart as our Indian protagonists. It’s also troubling how these societies are almost always white; black people are rarely used as anything except offensive window-dressing, including being played by Indian actors in blackface. As the culture writer Isha Aran notes, “In the rare instances when actual black people portray black characters, they still fulfill astoundingly harmful stereotypes… In the 2014 film Fashion, for example, starring Priyanka Chopra, the main character realises she’s hit rock bottom when she has an alcohol-fueled one-night stand with a black man.”
While the perspective of DDLJ may have been okay for the 90s, the myopia of many mainstream Bollywood films is becoming more of a shortcoming as the Indian diaspora everywhere matures and undergoes its own generational cycles. A patriarch’s melancholic yearning for India appealed to the original migrating adults. The young protagonists’ desire to maintain their Indian roots satisfied Indian audiences back home. But the Indian-Americans or British Indians who were born and brought up in these foreign lands haven’t been finding their lived experiences reflected on screens populated by Shah Rukh Khan or Akshay Kumar. They would be right in finding it bizarre that the characters of these Bollywood films speak mainly in Hindi, that their English is laced with heavy Indian accents, and that their friend groups are not reflective of an equivalent Indian-American at all. Neither Hollywood’s predominantly-white nor Bollywood’s far-too-often regressive output have catered to them.
This is why the success of films such as The Big Sick, The Namesake and Meet the Patels is so important. These films highlight an experience that is devoid of sentimental jingoism or rose-tinted nostalgia. They bring to the fore dilemmas that Bollywood is presently unconcerned with addressing. They give a face to a group that for long hasn’t had one.
If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Culture, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.
And if you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital and Travel, delivered to your inbox every Friday.For anyone who has ever patronized the Imperial 400 Motel in State College, what I’m about to tell you probably won’t come as much of a surprise. The oft-chided $39.95/night motel, located in the shadows of The Graduate apartment building, is the kind of place ambitious townies take their prom date if they can’t afford The Atherton Hotel across the street.
And so it was yesterday afternoon, the Centre County Drug Task Force obtained a search warrant and came knocking at Room 202 of the Imperial 400 Motel along with agents from the Attorney General’s Office. In the room, they found 75 bags of heroin with a street value of $1875.00, approximately 12 grams of synthetic marijuana with a street value of $200.00, cell phones, and $915.00 in cash.
Also in the room were Nathan Banks, of Williamsport, and Daniel Dade, of Duryea, who both were arrested on multiple counts and arraigned with $50,000 bail. Both have previous arrests for drug distribution.
Both individuals appear to have been in the area solely for the distribution of controlled substances, according to the State College police release. The release also notes a “disturbing trend” in Centre County in the increased use of heroin.
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About the Author
Kevin Horne Kevin Horne was the editor of Onward State from 2012-2014 and currently holds the position of Managing Editor Emeritus, which is a fake title he made up. He graduated from Penn State with degrees journalism and political science in 2014 and is currently seeking his J.D. at the Penn State Dickinson School of Law. A third generation Penn Stater from Williamsport, Pa., Kevin is also the president of the graduate student government. Email: [email protected]
East Renovation Continues With Approval For Sproul, Geary Halls Penn State’s Board of Trustees approved the next phase of East Halls renovations at its meeting Friday, setting the stage for construction to begin on Sproul and Geary Halls.The NYPD is asking for the public’s help in locating the missing child of “Gotham” star Donal Logue.
Arlo Logue, 16, is transgender and goes by Jade. She was last seen leaving her home Monday afternoon on her way to Barclays Center in Brooklyn to meet a friend.
Several celebrities, including Olivia Wilde, have tweeted about the disappearance.
Hey Brooklyn, if you've seen Jade, please let his father know. https://t.co/ZoweZ2tu1H — olivia wilde (@oliviawilde) June 27, 2017
A tweet issued by the missing teen’s father has since been removed.
Police say she is is 6’1″, 189 pounds, and last seen wearing a green hoodie with a military style jacket, blue jeans and a grey baseball cap.
Anyone with information in regards to this missing person is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS or for Spanish 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website or texting their tips to 274637(CRIMES) then enter TIP577."The Chase" mobile demo circa 2013 developed by Unity Technologies. Official site: https://unity3d.com/pages/the-chase DISCLAIMER: USE ON YOUR OWN RISK! Project is very old, undocumented, requires Unity 4.5 and relies on two commercial Asset Store packages which had to be removed from this repository: 1) SuperSplinePro 2) Marmoset (was only used for prototyping, but final might have some tiny accidental dependancy) This project will NOT BE MAINTAINED. Most likely it will NOT even COMPILE. You have been warned! PURPOSE: Use only for learning or to scavenge assets. Might have some interest for code archeologists too :) LICENSE: The MIT License (MIT). See LICENSE.TXT. Based on https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT CREDITS: (alphabetically sorted, includes external contractors and ANY additional work) Borislav Slavov Christian Björklund Damien Simper Erland K |
of a suggestion for a course of action. It is just a calculation to show the potential of asteroids, and a survey of some of the ideas that various people have suggested. Hopefully it might stimulate some lively discussion.
Resources are as easy to find in space as on a planetary surface
This may be your first surprise. We tend to think that the place to look for resources for colonization must be the surfaces of planets. But there are abundant resources in space too. The most important thing for making habitats is water. Liquid water is scarce in our solar system. Ice however is abundant, and many asteroids have significant quantities.
Some of the interesting types of asteroid are:
C-type carbonaceous - minerals with water and carbon content. Some may have a high percentage of water. The most common type of asteroid.
minerals with. Some may have a high percentage of water. The most common type of asteroid. S type (stony) - metallic iron mixed with iron- and magnesium-silicates (common in inner solar system)
- metallic (common in inner solar system) M type (metallic) - good source of iron, nickel and other metals including platinum
- good source of D type asteroids - organic rich, possibly water ice inside Rare in the inner solar system.
inside Rare in the inner solar system. Comets and extinct comets - source for water and organics.
Nitrogen may be hard to find in space and indeed also on Mars or the Moon. But some carbonaceous meteorites are rich in nitrogen. So it may be possible to find enough in space for habitats to use.
Once you have water, you can extract oxygen to create a breathable atmosphere (using plants or electrolysis etc). It's also easy to find carbon compounds in space too, in asteroids. Metals are easy to find in space, indeed one of the first uses of metal on Earth was probably meteoritic iron.
For orbits around Earth, the Moon, or other orbits close to the Earth, Near Earth Asteroids may have almost all the materials you need you need to set up a colony. For orbits around Mars or close to Mars, then the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos are a natural choice. The composition of the Martian Moons is not too well understood. Deimos seems either C or D type. Either way it might have water beneath the surface. It has a low density which might suggest water ice. David Kuck in 1997 suggested starting up a Deimos Water Company to supply Earth orbit with water from Deimos. The Kuck mosquitoes are small unmanned craft that drill into Deimos and extract water from below the surface, use part of it as fuel to transport the rest back to Earth.
However if you take the long term view, if you are building a large colony that will take maybe decades to complete, then you don't need to worry too much about where to get the materials from.
Cargo Transport On The Interplanetary Super Highway
If just using cargo transport, no worry about transfer times, you can transport anything from almost anywhere in the solar system to almost anywhere else at almost zero cost in fuel using the "Interplanetary Transport Network" (aka Interplanetary Super Highway). In a future time when building a new colony is a multiple decade project, maybe it grows gradually over centuries, using materials from as far afield as the Oort cloud.
You can also use Mars cyclers to cycle materials between Earth orbit and Mars orbit.
For asteroids, the artist Hop David suggested the idea of Asteroid Cyclers to work in the same way as a Mars cycler, to cycle materials between Earth orbit and "railroad towns" colonies in the asteroid belt where the mining goes on.
These are large spacecraft. Have enough of these and you can have a "carrier service" of spacecraft between Earth and other destinations in the solar system. They require almost no fuel. Once you load the materials on board, the spacecraft simply follows the free fall trajectory and eventually reaches its destination. This saves the need to accelerate the rocket itself, you just have to accelerate the materials you want to put aboard it.
There is also more space to expand, as colonies can be built almost anywhere, in orbit around Earth or Mars, or the Moon, or in independent orbits around the sun. Your main limit is the availability of resources to make the habitats. On the surface of a planet, you are limited to the surface area of the planet (unless of course you want to start living as troglodytes below the surface).
Isn't it easier to build on Mars or the Moon?
This may be another surprise, you may think that it must be easier to work on a planetary surface. But remember on the surface of Mars, and on the Moon, it's not like Earth, you have to work in clumsy space suits, just as you do in space. Tearing the space suit or smashing the visor is as dangerous on these surfaces as in space. You are working in a laboratory vacuum.
The surface gravity on the Moon or Mars will help in some ways, but in other ways, it is an advantage not to have gravity. In space you can move huge weights around with the lightest of touches, little use of energy.
Once you have at least one habitat built and spun up to provide gravity, then you can use it to build components for other habitats, with working conditions similar to that on Earth. So any disadvantages involved in working in weightless conditions only really apply to the first habitats built.
Then, to start with, many of the components for any habitats whether in space or on the Moon or Mars, will have to be transported all the way form Earth to your new habitat. So, surely the most economically viable habitats, for some time, will be those that are most easily accessible from the Earth.
In the distant future space hab construction will probably get so automated that humans hardly have to do anything except supervise the machinery occasionally to make sure no major mistakes are made.
They will surely also make extensive use of telerobots and semi-autonomous robots for any construction and repair tasks that are difficult or dangerous to do in spacesuits.
What type of habitat would we build?
We would surely start with small habitats, not much larger than the ISS. Some interesting ideas likely to be used in the near future include inflatable habitats (one of them has already flown), habitats with centrifuge sleeping quarters, and habitats that use a tether system to artificial gravity.
Science fiction lovers probably think immediately about big habitats with an atmosphere as thick as the Earth's, like the alien spaceships in Arthur C. Clarke's Rama series. Sadly, these are probably impractical for us in the near future, nice though they are to dream about. But smaller habitats are much more practical.
Here is a video exploration in 3D of a RAMA type habitat
It's by Eric Bruneton,who did this as a doctoral project
For huge habitats like this, the weight of the atmosphere itself might become the most important part of the habitat by weight. The atmospheric pressure on Earth is about ten tons per square meter.
The habitat walls would also need to be extremely strong to contain all that weight. Gerard O'Niel calculated that his twelve miles across spherical habitat could be made with titanium. Perhaps carbon nanotubes or other advanced materials could be used to build huge habs like this in the far future.
You could deal with the weight problems in another way, by having numerous crisscrossing stays across the centre of the habitat like a suspension bridge, but that would ruin much of its appeal :).
Space habs we could build with present day technology
Our space habitats for quite some time will be smaller. They could vary in size from small ones, not much larger than the ISS, with a centrifuge for sleeping quarters and the rest of the habitat in zero g, all the way up to huge Stanford Torus type habitats with interiors large enough for cities, lakes, forests and hills.
NASA artwork from the 1970s for the Stanford Torus design
This was something we could build already with 1970s technology. The idea was to use it to make solar power satellites to beam energy back to Earth (as microwaves). The projected cost was over $200 billion in 1975 US dollars to build, so about 20 times cost of the Apollo program. After 28 years (so by now) they thought it would be paying for its annual costs by sale of clean electricity to the Earth, though it would be 70 years before it paid back its initial costs. By reducing costs of electricity, it would benefit poor people and poorer nations more than the wealthy, as they spend a higher proportion of their earnings on power. (Details in chapter 6 of their study).
Video fly through of a Stanford Torus style space habitat by Uzi Bento
Sunlight is usually brought to the habitat via mirrors in these designs e.g. here is how it's done for the Stanford Torus.
This is a modern update of the design, Habitat 2, with a big 2 km across mirror (aluminised Mylar) - the animation leaves out the cosmic radiation shielding for artistic reasons:
Video of Habitat 2 and mirror
Sunlight gets reflected around the cosmic radiation shielding into the habitat. UV light can be absorbed on the way. Cosmic radiation, as highly energetic particles, goes right through the mirror.
Cosmic radiation shielding is an engineering design issue. In the Stanford torus design then the habitat rotates inside static shielding. The smaller Kalpana one is a more recent idea. It is for 3000 people, and the radiation shielding rotates with the habitat (unlike the Stanford torus). It has multiple levels inside, with different sizes of cylinder one inside the other, plants grow in an inner low g cylinder and has a zero g habitat right at the centre.
I'll talk about this shielding issue some more below.
Video of Kalpana One
Another recent idea is the Vademecum, which introduces the novel idea of a truncated ellipse cross section for smaller habitats. This has a flat floor, which gives you uniform gravity in a small habitat, and also needs less atmosphere. Artist's impression here along with other space settlement designs. It won the NASA - NSS Space Settlement Contest, for ages up to 18, in 2006. It was designed by a 16 year old Belgian schoolchild.
Here is a 1989 design for a Bola Mars habitat.
Smaller designs may consist of a spacecraft joined to its spent rocket motor, in a rigid structure that rotates end on end to generate artificial gravity. The smallest ones might just have a centrifugal sleeping quarters like the Nautilus X.
For all these smaller habitats, the air pressure is maintained by pressurizing the habitat, just as for the ISS. So normally the atmosphere is not a significant design constraint for the habitat.
This is their 1970s design: Space Settlements: A Design Study - with details of the Stanford Torus Design in Chapter 4.
You might also like: Theodore Hall's doctoral thesis about architectural design considerations for artificial gravity, designs to help humans orientate themselves to the novel gravitational situations.
Shielding issues
You might be concerned about meteorite or comet impact. However, bodies like that could be diverted.Yes, it is hard to divert a comet or large meteorite to avoid the Earth if it is on a collision course, it wouldn't be hard at all to divert it enough to avoid a small habitat a few kilometers across, given enough advance warning. Smaller ones could simply be destroyed before they get to the habitat, and micro-meteorite shielding isn't hard to arrange.
The main reason for shielding is to deal with cosmic radiation. This is much harder to deal with and needs a fair amount of material.
With the larger habitats, the mass of the shielding is a significant issue. However, the mass might not be such a design constraint as you think, as the radiation shielding doesn't have to rotate with the habitat. It's probably much easier to keep the radiation shielding as a separate structure kept away from the inner habitat with a gap between the two.
In the Stanford Torus design that means that the inner habitat is moving at around 200 mph relative to the shielding, but they thought that would not be a significant engineering issue. It would need a lot of attention to failure modes, but we do have plenty of experience on Earth of high speed trains and such like moving at such speeds.
Suggestion - 1/100 g to simplify the engineering - for plants
Another idea though, this is my own idea which I haven't seen anywhere else yet, but it seems reasonable and feasible. There is no reason for the entire habitat to rotate to generate artificial g for the humans inside. Especially if it is meant to be self suffiicent in food and most of the interior space is set aside for growing crops.
Plants particularly can do well in zero g, as has been shown in experiments on the ISS. Before these experiments, it was generally assumed that plants need gravity to have a sense of direction so that their roots grow downwards and their leaves and stems upwards. But apparently not, they can do just fine without gravity (see also What happens to plant growth when you remove gravity?).
In a self contained biosphere perhaps a lot of the land area will be used for plants. So, why not rotate the whole habitat at a much gentler rate? It could rotate, say, fast enough for a hundredth g (just to give a sense of direction and help humans working on the surface, and to help any plants that need a sense of "which way is up", and insects).
When you first build the habitat, you just build it for plants and associated micro-organisms and pollinators.
Heavy shielding is no longer an issue if you rotate the habitat at such a gentle rate. Instead of 4.45 metric tons per square meter, you have, at a hundredth g, effectively only 44.5 kilograms per square meter by weight to deal with. It's much easier to engineer to hold 44.5 kilograms per square meter of weight.
So the shielding rotates with the habitat, at a hundredth of the speed, only 2 mph instead of the 200 mph for the Stanford torus design. Then, if updated to a hundredth of g force, it would also be easy to go outside the outer hull, with little danger of falling off and easy to recover someone who does, as they drift away at walking speed - and it is also reasonably easy for a spaceship to dock directly with the outer hull of the habitat, not just to the hub.
Then as colonization proceeds, the colonists would build individual houses inside the habitat. These could have centrifuge sleeping quarters. Then as larger houses and hamlets are built, they could rotate slowly, maybe in raised spinning "observation decks" with a tower in the center to get down to ground level.
So for instance a spinning hamlet 200 meters across could rotate at a relatively gentle 2 revolutions per minute (2.11 rpm), with the outer rim going around at about 70 miles per hour to generate a g force of 1 g. Inhabitants could sleep there, exercise there, and then go out to the low g environment for recreation and gardening etc.
If it turns out that humans can tolerate lower gs long term such as lunar g, if a tenth of 1 g is okay for human health, then your 100 meter diameter hamlet could rotate once per minute (0.95 rpm), with the perimeter going at a sedate 22 miles per hour (perhaps with an inner centrifuge at a faster rate for sleeping quarters). When you want to travel somewhere else in your sky cycle, you probably just launch it directly from the outer rim of your hamlet :).
Or you could have spinning sleeping chambers, or spinning rooms for eating. Or, if humans do need the very low spin rates and high g of a Stanford Torus 24/7, well, you could have a smaller tube inside the larger one, like a maglev train, continually running at 200 mph to generate artificial gravity.
You can do the calculations yourself with Theodore Hall's handy Spin Calc artificial-gravity calculator
This all depends on human tolerances for spins in space. Which we don't know as there are many differences between spins in space and on the ground, for instance, all experiments on Earth involve hyper gravity, involve additional gravity along the spin axis, typically stimulate a different part of the vestibular system (horizontal rather than vertical canals) and the coriolos effect is horizontal rather than vertical in most Earth experiments.
For more on this see my quora answer to What is the longest time an astronaut can spend in space before it is too hard to re-acclimatize to Earth?
So we can't really do a final design for any of this. For instance all the spinning habitats are based on the premiss that humans need full gravity for health 24/7. If we don't, then depending on the gravity prescription, all of this may need to be redesigned.
How much material is needed for space habitats with surface area same as the land area on earth?
This is an easy calculation, and one that I think you might find rather surprising. It doesn't matter much how big your habitat is, unless you want to build one of the really huge RAMA type habitats, or really small ones. Most of the weight is needed for radiation shielding. For the same total habitable area you need roughly the same amount of radiation shielding (perhaps within a factor of two or so). So I'll use the design for the Stanford Torus (doughnut shaped habitat) as a basis since it was worked out in some detail.
Before I get down to the details, maybe you'd like to try a quick guess?
The diameter of the Earth is 12,742 km. The diameter of the largest asteroid, Ceres is 950 km. The diameter of the moon is 3474.8 km.
How big do you think the asteroid needs to be, approximately, to get enough material to cover the entire land area of the Earth?
10 km
50 km
100 km
500 km
1000 km (similar to Ceres)
3000 km (similar to Moon)
This is for the habitats themselves and also for radiation shielding to protect the inhabitants from solar flares.
Or if you prefer, what size is needed for habitats large enough to match the surface area of Mars? By coincidence, Mars has almost exactly the same land area as the Earth, so its the same question.
I'm about to do the calculation, so if you want to guess, now is your last chance before I reveal the answer.
...
...
The radiation shielding is the biggest contribution to the mass. The Stanford torus (doughnut shaped) design uses 4.5 metric tons per square meter. A more recent NASA calculation comes up with 4.41 metric tons per meter squared using lunar dust. Other materials can shield with less material, but common materials like water are similar. You can reduce the mass with Graded Z shielding, used for satellites, or with active shielding (e.g. using magnetic shields), but let's stick with the simple mass shielding, perhaps it's the most likely to be used for large colonies with plenty of mass available to use.
The radiation shielding contributes 99% of the mass. In the Stanford Torus design, they use lightweight structures for everything else. They found that the torus was the best of the designs they tried, with 10 million tons of material for a habitat of 0.68 square kilometers.
So that's a little under 15 metric tons per square meter of living area. It is more than the 4.5 metric tons because you need to shield the torus all the way around (sides and roof as well as floor). Ceres has a density of 2.077 metric tons per cubic meter. So you end up with about 7.5 cubic meters total for shielding for one square meter of living area.
So let's see what volume we need. The land area of the Earth in square kilometers: 148,300,000 sq km (Mars is 144,798,500 km²) 7.5 meters is 0.0075 km so we need 1,112,250 km3 of material.
Now we just need to solve for the radius. (google calc: (1,112,250/(4i/3)*p)^(1/3) )
It turns out, you need an asteroid 64 km in radius, or 128 km in diameter. If you guessed 100 km give yourself a big gold star :).
The density of Ceres is twice that of water. Asteroids vary a lot in density. An iron / nickel asteroid of the same weight could be smaller and a C-type asteroid would be larger.
Asteroids such as Ceres could supply materials for hundreds of times the land area of Earth
There are dozens of asteroids in the asteroid belt larger than 128 km in diameter. Any of these could, on their own, supply material for habitats with total living area more than the Earth.
The largest, Ceres at 952 km diameter has a mass of 9.43 * 1017 metric tons.
The Earth's 148,300,000 square kilometers at 15 tons per square meter needs 2.2245 * 1015 metric tons.
So Ceres has enough material for Stanford Tori for over 400 times the surface area of the Earth.
Ceres bottom left, with Earth and the Moon for scale. (Cropped from this image on wikipedia)
So, if you can mine Ceres, there is enough material for space habitats large enough to replicate the tropical rain forests, deserts, Antarctica, Siberia, Himalayas etc etc. as well as all our cities teaming with humans, and do all of that over four hundred times over
The next largest asteroid is Vesta, a rocky asteroid about 525 km in diameter,almost a dwarf planet, differentiated, probably with an iron-nickel core over 200 km in diameter. It has a mass of 2.59076×1017 metric tons. At eight metric tons per square meter, that's enough for a habitable area of over 100 times the surface area of Earth.
The entire asteroid belt has a mass about three times that of Ceres, so enough for about 1200 times the surface area of Earth.
Most of this mass is the shielding. You can build multi-story houses, in the larger Stanford Torus type space habitats just as for Earth. Obviously the earlier habitats will be small but later on they will surely be large.
One thing we can't reproduce in this way are the Earth's oceans, as they are so deep that the amount of water is vast. The total volume of the oceans on Earth is, astonishingly, over 1.3 billion cubic kilometers, you would need to spread your net further than Ceres to supply that much water ice, perhaps to the Kuiper belt. So probably our near future colonies won't have so much by way of deep habitats for whales, giant squids etc.
Deep sea habitats also are a problem structurally, because a 100 meter deep sea will weigh 100 tons per square meter, quite an engineering challenge. You would probably need numerous stays like a suspension bridge. But maybe fish and whales don't need to live in full g? If they can manage with much lower g forces, perhaps dedicated few kms across water-world type habitats could perhaps be feasible in the not so distant future, spinning habitats that a whale could swim around in endlessly without ever finding an edge?
Everything else is there in abundance, as far as we can tell. This is enough material for several trillion colonists with similarly spacious living conditions to those we enjoy on the Earth.
What about resources immediately accessible from Earth or Mars orbit?
If you look at the resources available for Mars orbit - then the moons of Mars, and the Near Earth Orbit asteroids (easily accessible to mining companies on Earth) are the obvious resources to start with.
Deimos the tiny outermost moon of Mars has a mass of 1.48 * 10^12 metric tons, which at 15 metric tons per square meter is enough to make Stanford Tori with about 100,000 square kilometers of living area.
That's roughly the size of Iceland, larger than Scotland, or Norway, more than twice the size of Switzerland, which could be useful for Mars orbital colonies.
In terms of US states, that's about the size of Oregon or Colorado
So it is clear we aren't going to run out of resources for making space habs in orbit around Mars any time soon :)
As for Near Earth Asteroids, the largest is 1036 Ganymede at about 34 km across. It's an S type asteroid. So probably good for construction, but not much by way of water. If this was used to make space habitats It goes on a big looping orbit and though it counts as a Near Earth Asteroid, it spends much of its time nearly as far away as Mars.
Objects easily accessible from Earth for the very near future, are rather smaller. There's a list here at the NASA Near Earth Object Program. A few may be as large as 100 meters across or larger. Nereus, pictured to the right, is 300 meters across, and easier to get to from Earth than the Moon.
Nereus is irregular in shape, but has a volume of 0.019 cubic kilometers approximately. Assuming similar density to Ceres, with our thickness of 7.5 meters, or 0.0075 km, that's enough for 2.53 square kilometers of surface living area.
Just using these NEAs that are easiest to get to, we still have enough materials available for some pretty huge starter habitats. We aren't going to run out of materials for those any time soon.
Planetary Resources is one company with plans to mine NEAs for their resources possibly in the near future. They have a neat idea to use 3D printing in space to create components for their spacecraft in the future. With the rapid advances in 3D printing technology, perhaps ideas like this could transform space colonization.
Space habs can provide far more land area for colonization than planetary surfaces in our solar system
It is pretty clear that in the future, given time, free orbiting space habs or habs orbiting planets will house a far larger population than the surface of any planet, so long as humans continue to colonize the solar system.
Eventually we could potentially have tens or hundreds of trillions of people living in space habitats, especially when you take account of the materials in the Kuiper belt, Oort clouds etc.
We don't even need to live in the Kuiper belt etc (though I'm sure some will once fusion power is practical with mini suns powering the habitats)
Via the "Interplanetary Transport Network" you can simply move all the material you need to wherever in the solar system you want to put it, over time especially with an automated robotic spacecraft controlled transport network.
That is, if we chose to do that. It might be that we decide not to expand so much and keep our total population lower. There is no moral imperative to expand and fill the galaxy, and since the sky is not already full of colonizing ETs, perhaps most ETs decide to stop expanding when they get to a certain stage. If so we might do the same. But as far as materials are concerned, the materials are there to colonize our solar system with trillions, and indeed our galaxy as well eventually.
Innovative ways to supply materials from Earth
For some time many materials may be easiest supplied from Earth for the first colonies, before asteroid and NEO mining is well established. For lightweight electronic components this isn't a major issue. But heavy materials might be more of an issue.
There are however several innovative solutions suggested that could make supply of the colonies from Earth cost much less than you would expect. The other way around, return of materials from the colonies to Earth is relatively easy because of aero-braking in the thick Earth atmosphere. Energy can be exported directly to Earth using micro-wave transmission to receivers in remote locations on Earth.
Slingatron - a spinning wheel with a spiral pattern engraved into it which by rotating at high speeds could send small rockets into orbit with supplies. They would be small and strong, like "smart projectiles". There are several other mechanical or chemical ways to "fire materials into orbit" from Earth.
- a spinning wheel with a spiral pattern engraved into it which by rotating at high speeds could send small rockets into orbit with supplies. They would be small and strong, like "smart projectiles". There are several other mechanical or chemical ways to "fire materials into orbit" from Earth. Air breathing space planes like Skylon - these could fly from reinforced runways on the surface of Earth straight to orbit, like a conventional plane
- these could fly from reinforced runways on the surface of Earth straight to orbit, like a conventional plane JP Aerospace's Orbital Airship. An airship can't fly straight to orbit because if strong enough to survive the winds at low altitudes, it would be too heavy to fly to orbit. But if you put a floating staging post at about 30 to 43 kilometers above the ground, you can then have airships designed to fly in the upper atmosphere that could float at higher levels and simply accelerate slowly, until they reach orbital velocity. Passengers fly up to the orbital platform in conventional airships, then transfer to the orbital ships. These are in between a spaceship and an airship in design, and would be the largest vessels ever constructed, 2 km long (compared with 380 meters for the largest current supertankers). However, they can be amazingly light and don't need much strength, because they don't need to withstand strong winds or indeed much air at all. They would remain permanently at high altitudes.
. An airship can't fly straight to orbit because if strong enough to survive the winds at low altitudes, it would be too heavy to fly to orbit. But if you put a floating staging post at about 30 to 43 kilometers above the ground, you can then have airships designed to fly in the upper atmosphere that could float at higher levels and simply accelerate slowly, until they reach orbital velocity. Passengers fly up to the orbital platform in conventional airships, then transfer to the orbital ships. These are in between a spaceship and an airship in design, and would be the largest vessels ever constructed, 2 km long (compared with 380 meters for the largest current supertankers). However, they can be amazingly light and don't need much strength, because they don't need to withstand strong winds or indeed much air at all. They would remain permanently at high altitudes. Space fountain and space loops. This uses a similar idea to the way you can balance a golf ball on a jet of water, to keep structures at high altitudes, to make literally a bridge into space. It uses less energy than you would think because most of the energy gets recovered when the matter returns back to Earth, it then bounces back and keeps it going as an active structure. Vehicles then can travel along that road, accelerating all the time, you literally drive faster and faster until you reach orbital speeds. It seems a zany crazy idea but when you look at it more carefully, perhaps it might work, it's no more crazy than some other ideas that we now take for granted. It is much easier to construct than the Space Elevator which requires materials we don't yet have.
. This uses a similar idea to the way you can balance a golf ball on a jet of water, to keep structures at high altitudes, to make literally a bridge into space. It uses less energy than you would think because most of the energy gets recovered when the matter returns back to Earth, it then bounces back and keeps it going as an active structure. Vehicles then can travel along that road, accelerating all the time, you literally drive faster and faster until you reach orbital speeds. It seems a zany crazy idea but when you look at it more carefully, perhaps it might work, it's no more crazy than some other ideas that we now take for granted. It is much easier to construct than the Space Elevator which requires materials we don't yet have. Many other ideas see the wikipedia article: Non rocket spacelaunch.
It is hard to tell which of these will actually be adopted. Most are ideas, gleams in the inventor's eye, yet some like Skylon are at reasonably advanced stage of development, with many of the practical issues addressed. With so many ideas to explore, seems not too unlikely that one or the other will be feasible in the not too distant future.
So trade between the colonies and Earth seems like it might well be feasible in the reasonably near future. We could start almost right away, with small habitats and high value materials (such as platinum, and beaming energy back to Earth) plus earnings from space tourism. Eventually it seems possible you could have extensive trade of just about anything.
No practical need for surface of Mars for colonization
Mars is no des. res, not at present anyway. It's got an atmosphere, yes, but the atmosphere is so thin it would count as a laboratory vacuum on Earth. Its nights are bitterly cold; even at the equator they go well below the lowest temperatures ever recorded in Antarctica. From time to time it gets covered in global dust storms so you can't see the sun.
The photos from Mars make it look like much more habitable than it is. That's because they are coloured adjusted to simulate Earth lighting conditions to help geologists to identify rocks on Mars. The surface to human eyes would seem a dull muddy red brown with hardly any variation in the colour, unless you use enhanced vision of course.
Peaks of eternal light
The poles of the Moon seem to have some possibilities for colonization, because they have water ice almost certainly frozen within crater floors, in the coldest places known in the solar system (colder than the surface of Pluto). Close to those, are the so called "peaks of eternal light" where the sun almost never sets (except during solar eclipses). The ones identified so far are small, just a few hundred meters across, in an ocean of eternal darkness. There are some spots at the North pole of the Moon that may be 100% illuminated. Some near the South pole may be illuminated nearly all the time.
There is enough light to keep the temperatures constant at about -50 C, and to give almost constant power from solar energy greatly simplifying construction of a lunar habitat. Small though they are, you could have small colonies that live on the peaks of (almost) eternal light and use water ice from the surrounding ocean of eternal darkness.
These probably need to be kept pristine in the very near future for scientific study, but after that, once we know what is there and understand it, maybe they can be colonized and the water used for habitats.
These may be the most easily habitable spots for humans outside of Earth in the solar system.
Away from these lunar poles, the Moon is more of a challenge because of its two week long night. This is a long period to last without solar energy.
Here are some ideas to play around with, the first two are my own:
Could giant mirrors, perhaps in the L1 position, supply this light to a colony during the lunar light?
, perhaps in the L1 position, supply this light to a colony during the lunar light? What about slowly rotating giant habitats, like a huge roundabout, to create artificial gravity on the Moon, so that at least within the habitats you can enjoy Earth normal gravity? (It's the same idea as the rotating hamlets inside a slowly rotating Stanford Torus above). This might also help with health problems from low G, if there are any (nobody seems to know yet).
, like a huge roundabout, to create artificial gravity on the Moon, so that at least within the habitats you can enjoy Earth normal gravity? (It's the same idea as the rotating hamlets inside a slowly rotating Stanford Torus above). This might also help with health problems from low G, if there are any (nobody seems to know yet). What about generating a thin atmosphere? This is an idea suggested by Mithridates. The idea isn't to terraform the Moon, but rather to create a thin atmosphere similar to that of Triton. The thin atmosphere would be enough to reduce the danger from the smallest micro-meteorites. It would also create a basic weather system that would help to equalize the atmosphere, and might be a natural product of colonization.
Orbital Mars colonies, an exciting location for a habitat
Colonies in orbit around Earth or the Moon would be the easiest to construct, but the most exciting location in the near future could be Mars orbit. It's population can explore the surface of Mars, driving vehicles and operating robots on the surface via telepresence.
All our rovers on Mars to date have been slow moving, taking months to travel kilometers. That's mainly because of the light speed delays. There is just no point in making a faster rover because we couldn't control it from Earth, not over the rough terrain on Mars. Rovers operated from orbit around Mars wouldn't have those issues.
Some of the advantages of an orbital colony over surface colonization of Mars are:
Telerobots can be sterilized, humans can't be. Human explorers on the surface might not be able to keep Mars free of Earth life.
, humans can't be. Human explorers on the surface might not be able to keep Mars free of Earth life. Any spot over half of the surface is accessible directly via telepresence, so rovers and telerobots at multiple locations can be accessed by the same operator
, so rovers and telerobots at multiple locations can be accessed by the same operator No need to get into a spacesuit to explore Mars
to explore Mars Enhanced vision, and shared streaming of all video streams easy to do.
, and shared streaming of all video streams easy to do. Super-human powers possible - the telerobots on the surface can be made stronger, smaller, larger, more agile, than a human.
possible - the telerobots on the surface can be made stronger, smaller, larger, more agile, than a human. No dust storms to block out sunlight.
to block out sunlight. Steady temperature, avoiding the extreme cold of the Martian night.
For more about this see Can Human Explorers Keep Mars Clean of Microbes, For Science?
Eventually colonists in similar habitats could use telerobots to explore Jupiter's atmosphere, Titan, Triton, the surface of Venus, Europa's oceans, and other locations that are impractical for humans to explore directly because of:
Gravity is too high (Jupiter)
Too hot (Venus)
High levels of radiation (surface of Io for instance)
Too cold, humans would melt the surface just by walking around (Triton, Titan, Pluto)
Danger of contamination with Earth life (Mars, Europa, Encladus, possibly Triton and Titan if they have cryovolcanoes too)
Far future possibilities
In this way we can explore anywhere in our solar system almost without limits at all.
The Moon is a possible location for paraterraforming - where you cover an entire planetary or moon surface with greenhouses and habitats and live in those, if you can overcome the issues of the long dark nights. The entire surface of the Moon might one day be covered in habitats. Lunar soil has been shown to be good for plants, if you can supply water, though nitrogen would need to be imported to get it started.
Further in the future, who knows, maybe it |
savvy adult womanhood, one with both years of media experience and an intimate sense of her readers. But with xojane, Sassy had soured into the self-proclaimed place “where women go when they are being selfish, and where their selfishness is applauded.” The cool big sister who relished sharing her expertise had grown up into a woman who feuded with salon receptionists she overheard calling her old. Fearless honesty was hard to applaud when it yielded headlines like “I Obsessively Monitor My Husband’s Lube Bottle.”
“Ladyblog horrorcore!” was one Hairpin commenter’s verdict on the new site. This appeared to be the general consensus. Thenceforth, the internet noticed xojane only when it perpetrated something really egregious, like an inaccuracy-filled column by “health critic” Cat Marnell about contraception. “Ranting Lady Blogger Hates Birth Control, Only Uses Plan B,” wrote Gawker of the “bizarre 1000-word treatise.” Faced with more high-minded criticism—that the site was spreading misinformation to impressionable youth—xojane posted “An Open Letter to ‘Teenage Girls’” telling them to get off the site and “leave us at xojane to our lentil soup and our crafts and our footie pajamas and our ’90s nostalgia.” Apparently this was a no-kids-allowed slumber party.
But Pratt had a protégée, one who shared her reverence for Sassy but remained in the original Sassy demographic: Tavi Gevinson, the 15-year-old Illinois style blogger who had become a sprite-like mascot of the fashion industry. Gevinson had written on her blog that she “like many, would like another Sassy,” and Pratt got in touch with her. “We’re going to start a magazine for an audience of teenage girls,” Gevinson wrote afterward. “(I am trying so hard to be cool and professional right now.)”
Despite that initial excitement, the partnership dissolved—no hard feelings, Gevinson said, she just wanted full creative control. A few months after xojane’s appearance, she introduced Rookie, “an online publication for teenage girls.” Pratt was credited on the staff page as the site’s “fairy godmother,” while The Awl’s editors and Gevinson’s dad were “guardian angels.” Instead of Pratt’s Say Media, Tavi was working with New York parent company New York Media.
When Rookie made its debut in September 2011, it was met with the same delight as Jezebel and The Hairpin before it, the same perennial surprise that a women’s site could casually combine serious matters and style. The theme for its first month was “Beginnings,” which allowed Gevinson to approach her audience in a way that was weirdly, persistently general: she assumed that teenage girls were mostly interested in the fact of being a teenage girl. Posts addressed this topic in broad and direct terms. Here is a post about teen girl characters in movies and on TV. Here is a post about another type of teen girl characters in movies and on TV. Here are ways that you, as a teenage girl, can dress up like the idea of a teenage girl, in short pleated skirts and knee socks. Here is a post that begins “I am a 23-year-old heterosexual male, but I often feel like a 16-year-old girl.” The author goes on to explain what he believes this involves.
But, if I recall correctly, as a teenage girl, one spends a lot of time imagining what life will be like when one is no longer a teenage girl. That rapt anxiety of anticipation is constant: adulthood is so close you can smell it and yet the transformation of you, teenager, into you, adult, seems fundamentally impossible. How will it happen? When? The idea of being an adult is totally fascinating to teenagers. The idea of being a teenager is interesting primarily to preadolescents and adults.
Gevinson repeatedly mentions The Virgin Suicides (both the book and movie) as an inspiration. But The Virgin Suicides is not an empowering document of teen girlhood. It’s a book about men’s mythmaking fixation on boyhood fantasies. Its fractured nostalgia is an odd way for a teen to think about being a teen—but it’s a perfectly reasonable way for an adult to think about being a teen, and adults are some of Gevinson’s biggest fans. Her vocabulary, which includes My So-Called Life, Daria, Clueless, and of course Sassy, belongs to an adult cohort that came of age in the nineties. For these women, ostensibly wised-up to pop culture’s fixation on youth, a precocious adolescent made an awkward media savant. Gevinson has a right to her tastes, but the eagerness of adult women to share them was disconcerting. “I am 30 years old and still very proud to be a sticker collector,” a reader commented on a post about stickers. “STICKERS 4 EVER WOO.”
The appeal of women’s magazines was that they could tell you how you ought to behave—how you should look and whom you should date and what you should buy. How to be a woman is a notoriously slippery, mysterious business, and the women’s magazines offered to pin it down, to make it manageable. All you had to do was buy a skirt, take a quiz, learn six confidence boosters and seventy-five sex tricks. For the most part, the search function has usurped this role (no contemporary eighth grader thinks Cosmo is the best place to learn about sex). But with regard to the subtler sensibilities of adult life, women’s magazines—or more accurately their successors, the blogs—still have an important purpose: they tell us how to be by showing us how we, as women, should talk.
Behold the ladyblogosphere, for these are not women’s blogs but ladyblogs, and “lady” is their endemic verbal tic. Here genitals are ladyparts or lady business (or worse, ladyflowers); here there are single ladies, of course, but also fancy ladies and lady squatters, lady politicians as well as lady doctors and lady writers. “Lady Eats 183 Chicken Wings,” says one Jezebel headline. Here’s another: “For the Lady Who Has Everything, How About Some Blinged-Out Pepper Spray?” The Hairpin has “Ask a Lady” and also a “League of Ordinary Ladies” comic, about going to the movies and eating cookies and taking up needlepoint. “Jane Austen published Sense and Sensibility as ‘A Lady,’” reads one post on The Hairpin, “because she predicted this website.” Lady: a child’s categorical noun for non-mother adults.
My own mother went to college in the early ‘70s. She started a women’s resource center with a newsletter; it was called The Bimonthly Period. She retains a second-wave feminist’s fondness for the very deliberate use of the word “woman.” She is a doctor, though, and occasionally she says “lady” when discussing gynecological matters. (“Sometimes ladies need a few stitches after labor.”) The word allows a certain decorous remove from discomfort–it is a polite way to acknowledge the listener’s presumed squeamishness or embarrassment about anything particular to her sex.
On the ladyblogs, adult womanhood is a source of discomfort, and so when we write posts or comments, we tend to call ourselves ladies. We also might be tempted, at slightly braver moments, to call ourselves feminists. Indeed, each ladyblog’s approach appears intended to counter a particular brand of easy misogyny. Women are not mindless consumers, declares Jezebel; women are funny, proclaims The Hairpin.
But the ladyblogs are not feminist simply by virtue of offering women an alternative to traditional female media—feminist blogs are of a different genre, with a specific and explicitly political project. The ladyblogs are fundamentally mainstream general interest outlets, even if a façade of superiority to the mainstream (edginess, quirkiness, knowingness) constitutes part of their appeal. Neither Jezebel nor the Hairpin concerns itself with the harder to articulate, more insidious expectations about women’s behavior. Neither knows how to write for and about women without almost embarrassing itself in its eagerness to please. Jezebel is too painstakingly inoffensive to hurt anyone’s feelings. The Hairpin is too charmingly self-effacing to take itself seriously, too tirelessly entertaining to ever bore a visitor. They bake pies with low-hanging fruit: they are helpful, agreeable, relatable, and above all likable.
Surely one can’t, and shouldn’t, strive to like and be liked all the time. But how else can one be? This is not a likable enough question for the ladyblogs to entertain. In the end, they tell us less about how to be than about how to belong, and they are better at this than Sassy ever was, because no place is better for performing inclusion than the internet. Readers write to The Hairpin’s advice columns in painful imitations of the house style. (“SO MANY FEELINGS.”) Commenters squeal over plans for real-life meet-ups in bars. (“I registered just so I could RSVP YES to this!”) The internet, it turned out, was a place to make people like you: the world’s biggest slumber party, and the best place to trade tokens of slumber party intimacy—makeup tips, girl crushes, endless inside jokes. The notion that women might share some fundamental experience and interests, a notion on which women’s websites would seem to depend—“sisterhood,” let’s call it—has curdled into BFF-ship.
If you like this article, please subscribe to n+1.The International Game Developers Association is working with the FBI and bullying experts to help game developers deal with what they see as an increase in online harassment, Kate Edwards, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, told Polygon.
The association plans to create an online resource on its official site in the coming months to outline what developers can do to minimize harassment and how best to deal with it when it happens.
Edwards said she was approached by the FBI in July during a visit to San Diego for Comic-Con to discuss the harassment of developers online.
"I had a meeting with the FBI in July regarding harassment," she said. "They noted a rise in activity. They themselves monitor this activity, but they're focused more on cybercrime issues like hacking and very malicious harassment."
A spokeswoman with the San Diego office of the FBI told Polygon that the July discussion was a proactive meeting.
Must Read Plague of game dev harassment erodes industry, spurs support groups
"We wanted to let Ms. Edwards know the FBI's capability," FBI spokeswoman Emily Yeh said.
Yeh said all 56 field offices of the FBI help investigate a variety of cybercrimes, including harassment, adding that those who feel like they are being threatened should either contact their local police department or the FBI.
"Whichever they feel more comfortable with," she said.
Yeh was unable to verify Edward's comment that the July meeting was driven by an increase in online harassment of developers, saying only that she didn't know why the meeting occurred when it did.
Online harassment of game developers has been a rising topic of conversation since last summer, when a number of high-profile incidents brought attention to the issue. Those incidents included threats against people like former BioWare writer Jennifer Hepler and former Microsoft developer Adam Orth. The topic made international news again last month when developer Zoe Quinn and critic Anita Sarkeesian said they each received death threats that drove them from their homes, and a Twitter bomb threat diverted a plane carrying Sony Online Entertainment president John Smedley to San Diego.
Last week, the board of directors for the International Game Developers Association condemned the harassment of developers in a public statement on their website.
"Over the last several weeks, game developers and affiliates have been the subject of harassment and 'doxxing' attacks, including threats and posting of home addresses," the statement read. "While we support diverse viewpoints and healthy debate on the issues within our industry, we condemn personal attacks such as these which are not only morally reprehensible, but also illegal in many countries. We call on the entire game community to stand together against this abhorrent behavior."
Earlier in the month, prior to this latest spate of attacks, Edwards told Polygon that anecdotal evidence indicated that harassment of developers remains an issue but that the organization hadn't "seen a marked increase, or decrease, in the behavior."
Must Read Game dev harassment remains as bad as it was a year ago
At the time, she said that the association was in the process of creating a Mental Health Special Interest Group that would encompass issues around harassment.
This week Edwards told Polygon that the association "remains resolute with our plan."
"If we see that an issue is getting worse or that there is a greater need then we will serve that purpose," she said. "Obviously, given the recent events, that may be the case.
"We are actually setting up an online resource on our IGDA site and we hope to have it up pretty soon."
Edwards said the association is also still working to create the special interest group, which will not just be about harassment but "all kinds of issues that affect the mental well-being of game developers."
The creation of a resource to help harassed developers was sparked by a request by members of the association, Edwards said.
"We have had our own membership approach us," she said. "But it hasn't been an avalanche of people screaming, 'Hey, we need help.'
"It's certainly been over the last week or so, with people saying that we need something in place. We were working already on it, but we totally agree."
In creating the resource, association members and special interest groups are talking to external organizations who specialize in online harassment and bullying. They are also, Edwards said, continuing to stay in touch with the FBI.
"What [the FBI] wanted from me was an interface for developers so they can share preventative measures they want to get out to us," she said. "We met, discussed the issue and said, 'Let's collaborate.'"
The FBI, Edwards said, seemed mostly concerned with the security of video game companies, its IP and the developers.
"They said if you have an online presence as a game developer you need to think about security issues," Edwards said. "That was the basis of the meeting."Show Collaboration Pictures
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And here is the huge Toonami pic me and have been working on since May. Took a LOOONG time to do.Loved Toonami ever since me and saw it back in Moltar era. I can almost link everything I do now in life back to what I saw on Toonami. TOM 4 wasn't the best, but I was still sad to see him go and ever since then nothing has been in my life so much as Toonami was.After the April Fools this year, I became obsessed about it's revival and joined www.neotoonami.com as an artist because I had been reminded what Toonami was for me. Then, the announcement of the official return was such a amazing victory for the Toonami Faithful of the world, I knew I had to draw something to show my appreciation for this revival.So I thank Cartoon Network, anime producers everywhere, Funimation,, and last but not least Mike Lazzo for bringing it back and Jason DeMarco for doing on the paper thin budget that he has.From Left to Right:Spike Speigel ; Cowboy Bebop © Shinichirō Watanabe, SunriseMotoko Kusanagi ; Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig © Masamune Shirow, Production I.G.Ichigo Kurosaki ; Bleach © Tite Kubo, Shonen JumpCasshern ; Casshern Sins © TatsunokoGanta Igurashi ; Deadman Wonderland © Kazuma KondouEdward Elric ; Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood © Hiromu ArakawaAlphonse Elric ; Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood © Hiromu Arakawaand of course,Toonami © Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Williams Street, Jason DeMarco, etcValiant’s relaunch has been an incredible success, but what’s been most interesting is that the company have been able to balance commercial success with creative success. If you look at reviews for any of their titles, you’ll find that the reaction to every single one has been positive. And that goes for their newest launch, Unity, from Matt Kindt, Doug Braithwaite, and Brian Reber.
Taking the name from an event storyline in the previous iteration of Valiant’s Universe, Unity is pitched as being the big event book. The first arc has seen a collection of Valiant characters, led by Harada from Harbinger, lead a mission to stop X O Manowar from invading European soil. As written by Kindt, the story has been excellent – high action with a strong sense of personality and exceptional pacing. Which is why I leapt at the chance to talk to him about the series.
We spoke about the first arc of Unity, as well as what comes next – and Valiant have also provided artwork from the second arc’s artist, CAFU. We also talk a little on his Dark Horse series Mind MGMT, which unexpectedly crossed over with the Valiant Universe recently, as well as his creative process.
Steve: Unity feels like a Matt Kindt story using Valiant characters rather than a Valiant story written by Matt Kindt, if that makes sense. How much freedom have Valiant given you in the creative process?
Matt: Well, I’m glad it comes off the way you’ve described it. My interaction with Valiant, and Warren [Simons, Valiant Executive Editor] specifically has been fantastic. They’re really super-accommodating.
Issue #1 of Unity specifically was a situation where there was so much that needed to be packed into the story that it was just hard to do it right within the 22 pages. I was going to jam it all in there but then they just gave me an extra eight pages to make it absolutely right. So that extra eight pages makes that first issue really work. You get that opening story with the journalist that grounds the entire thing that there just wasn’t room for in a 22 page first issue.
That’s the kind of thing that Valiant always touts in their marketing – the idea of story first, etc…but I can honestly say that it’s not just a marketing ploy. You know, everyone in that office comes from a story-first point of view and it makes it a very easy place to come up with fun stories.
Pages from Unity #5, by CAFU
Steve: This first arc has seen them working to take down X-O Manowar – and what I thought was interesting was how the team are all agreed with that central mission. How did you choose the team for the series, and how do you view their dynamic?
Matt: It was tough choosing the team. You know, the Valiant U. has a lot of history and a lot of great characters. I’ve got pages and pages of back-story that I wrote for some new characters that I’d thought about introducing and lots of tangents and paths not taken. But ultimately I really wanted X-O, Ninjak and Eternal Warrior on the team or I didn’t think it’d work. You gotta have the big guns on a book like this – plus, selfishly, Rob [Venditti]’s never going to give up X-O so this was the only way I’d get my hands on that character!
The fourth character to me simply presented itself. Livewire is an interesting character and the highest profile female character that Valiant’s got (not including all the great Harbinger girls.) But you can’t just have a team of dudes flying around punching stuff. To me that’d be kind of boring to write. And I’ve always liked writing strong female leads – not for any political reason, but honestly, because it’s harder for me to write. It’s the opposite of everything I’m used to, you know? So when I write a female character it is just more of a fun challenge to me rather than writing somebody like Ninjak or somebody I can channel pretty easily as my 15 –year-old self all grown up.
As far as their dynamic goes, I really want them all to NOT get along. It makes it more interesting to write and read I think. So no matter what enemy their fighting, they’re always going to be fighting themselves as well. I really always thought the Unity logo should have been in quotes – you know – an ironic title.
Steve: You’ve written a few team books now, for various publishers. What do you view as the difficulties of a team series, where several characters are fighting for attention? What do you think is the key to handling an ensemble?
Matt: I think the key is just balance. Giving each character a chance to have their voice heard. And maybe you can’t do it with every individual issue but over the course of two or three, you’ll get to spend some time with each one to the point that you feel like you know them all pretty well.
The team books are the easiest to write in some ways. There’s definitely no room for filler or double-page spreads. It’s like a tightly wound clock where everything has to be in the right spot ticking away to make it work. I guess that makes it sound hard. I don’t know. I honestly never thought differently about a team book vs. something else.
I mean, even something like X-O is a team book…but the team takes the form of supporting characters that all sort of harmonize together to paint a picture of the lead character. In a team book – all of the characters work and harmonize together to paint a picture of something less concrete – a family or a dysfunctional family dynamic.
Steve: The first arc has been huge in scope. How do you balance Unity, story by story? Is it difficult to keep a momentum up when the first story is so big?
Matt: I don’t know. I think the idea of momentum is impossible to keep going. I get really bored during action movies and even within action scenes…because at some point you just become numb to the entire thing. A bigger explosion followed by an even bigger one isn’t really building tension or ramping up the excitement.
To me it’s sort of that punk rock idea of music – the quiet/loud/quiet pattern of storytelling. The big moments are only as good as, and only matter because of those quiet bits that come before. I think it was important for Unity to come out swinging and big a big bombastic adventure…and then arc 2 starts out a little smaller but then builds up again.
Steve: There feels to be several themes weaving out of this first story – one of which is of authority, who has it, and who should be wielding it (this seems to be a theme of the Valiant Universe as a whole, actually). Was this an idea you wanted readers to come away thinking about?
Matt: I honestly don’t think about the themes at all. Everything that’s in that story is really just character driven. If you think about themes too much then you start putting messages into your work and that’s something I really don’t intentionally do.
I do have a set of core beliefs and ideas about the world and people and that informs everything I do but when I’m writing a character like Harada, I’m just imagining what it would be like to be him. What would motivate him to do what he does? How would he really react? How does the world react to him? I think the key for me is to just be able to have this intense empathy with each character as I’m writing them so they come off as real human beings. It ends up creating a lot of grey area and muddies the waters between who’s good and bad, but to me there’s more truth in that rather than having a villain to just despise outright.
So short answer – there are recurring themes in all of my work but I don’t talk about ‘em and most of the time I don’t know what that theme is until it’s 90% finished.
Steve: You’ve said in interviews that this is the first project where you feel there is no set ending already planned out. How do you approach Unity? Are you going to plan it out one arc at a time, and see where each one leads?
Matt: Yeah – I’m gradually working further and further ahead. I LOVE seeding ideas early and paying them off later so I’ve already done that a little bit with some small things here and there in the first arc. I have a lot of great ideas for the food-writer that shows up in issue #1. I’m basically two story-arcs ahead with a vague idea of what the third one will be…but eventually I’d like to work it out even further. I think the trick with an ongoing is to work out a big master plan but leave room for new ideas along the way so you don’t get bored.
Steve: Speaking of – the second arc will set the team up against Dr Silk and Webnet, which would seem to put Ninjak in the spotlight. How does Dr Silk come into the sights of the Unity team?
Matt: That’d totally spoil it, but Silk will take up a big chunk of the next arc – we’ll get a glimpse of his entire back story – which is heart-breaking and horrible at the same time and we’ll see how he has been tied into the Valiant U. for a long, long time…and maybe get a hint at some earlier incarnations of Unity…or something. Ha! I don’t want to spoil anything!
Clayton Crain’s cover for Unity 6
Steve: The first arc put the team up against a threat which had to be addressed, forcing them to assemble. Now they are together, how will they operate as a unit?
Matt: Horribly. At least that’s the idea. To me, it’s like trying to get a bunch of Type-A guys together on a football team. They aren’t going to function very well as a team until they figure out who’s who, and who can do what and actually train together…but there’s no time to really train and practice. They don’t have a danger room – their Danger Room is the real world and they’re just getting thrown into it.
Steve: After working with Doug Braithwaite for the first arc, CAFU will be coming on for this second arc. What does he bring to the storyline? When you have arc-driven stories with rotating artists, do you find you start to hone in on their strengths and interests and start to write towards them, at all?
Matt: Yeah – it’s always hard on that first issue – having not worked together, but once the pages come in I can kind of get an idea of what each artist likes to draw and then throw in the kinds of stuff I like to see them draw and it gets better. My first script for a new artist always has a lot of stage direction but after I see how they react to that and how they handle the layouts, the rest of the scripts get easier for me and them…that’s the fun of collaborating really.
I love describing a scene in detail and then see it come in as something slightly different but even cooler. These guys are professional artists for a reason, so it’s fun to let them run with it.
Steve: At the end of issue #2, Valiant characters including Bloodshot appear in a one-page advertisement you created for your own series, Mind MGMT. How did that come about? Whose idea was it? I don’t think I’ve seen something like this before!
Matt: Warren Simons at Valiant proposed doing an ad swap…Valiant has been super-supportive of creator owned books in general – and definitely me specifically. MIND MGMT is the reason they asked me to do some work for them. So when he asked, I wasn’t sure.
I like having MIND MGMT be ad-free but the idea of doing some subversive sort of real ad was exciting to me and they loved the idea – Dark Horse of course, is so supportive as well – they give me free reign really so I had a TON of fun. I came up with the idea and then ran it by Valiant and Dark Horse and they both loved it.
I’d actually had the idea of doing a weird ad swap a while ago…I’d been talking to Brian Hurtt (Sixth Gun) about doing one with them but we never got around to it. And I’d thought about putting a Star Wars ad into MIND MGMT as well but I think the approval process on something like that would have been a little more stringent. So this was perfect.
Spent way more time on those ads than I probably should have, but it was worth it to do something a little different. It’s like Spider-Man selling a fruit-pie kind of ad…it makes no sense but it’s super funny to me.
Steve: This month sees a new arc of Mind MGMT come out, in fact, with a story about Ella the Animal Kid. What can we expect from the series over the next few issues?
Matt: This next arc is kind of challenging honestly. For me and probably for readers as well. I’m trying out a lot of narrative and story-telling ideas I’ve wanted to do for a while and I’m not sure how easy these issues will be to read…! Hopefully they’ll be fun and readers will dig them. I’m really just trying to do some things with the format and the story that I’ve never seen done before…stuff that is dictated by story but also just kind of out there.
Issue #21 is my “silent issue” homage to G.I. Joe #21. I was inspired by Sixth Gun doing that with their issue #21 and it just turned out that my issue #21 would work perfectly with that concept – but my idea was to do a silent issue jammed full of thought balloons! No one uses thought balloons anymore and I liked the idea of having the most text-heavy issue of MIND MGMT ever being my silent issue where no one talks…so there’s that…!
And after this arc I’m really in the home stretch. Everything has been building to this last year of MIND MGMT – issues 24-36 are basically the end…everything’s been building to that so I’m really excited. It’s like building a big rocket for two years and then getting to light the fuse and let it go off.
Steve: Do you think writing company-owned books like Valiant has affected the way you write your creator-owned work, at all? Or vice versa?
Matt: I’m not sure. I think I approach every story the same way. Who’s the voice of the story? What’s something interesting we can do with format or storytelling to mix things up? Those are the things I’m always working on. I think it’s definitely less work doing company-owned books simply because I don’t have to draw it.
Creator-owned stuff I am constantly questioning the format, the page count, the color, the design. With the other books that is set in stone. I don’t have to worry about paper stock or page count or marketing. It’s kind of a nice vacation in a way where I can just worry about pure storytelling and nothing else.
Steve: What else do you have coming up over the next few months? Where can people find you online?
Matt: I’m doing a 4-issue Star Wars: Heist limited series for Dark Horse that’s coming out this spring and another big #1 book that Valiant’s going to announce any day now…!
I’m also finishing up a kids graphic novel with my friend Brian Hurtt (Sixth Gun) called Poppy! That Dark Horse is publishing in 2015. You can reach me at: www.mattkindt.com
–
Many thanks to Matt for his time! And thank you to Hunter Gorinson for arranging the interview. Unity #4 is out on February 19th, and the second arc will start with issue #5, out on March 12th. You can also find Matt on Twitter right here, and Mind MGMT #19 will be out February 26th.
And you can find me – I’m Steve Morris! – on twitter here, and writing on t’Vanguard
Talking bunny, Little Mix enthusiast and co-publisher of The MNT, which you can find here.
Like this: Like Loading...How to invest in a Roth IRA When You Make Too Much Money
If you are considering investing in a Roth IRA, it is a great way to save money for retirement. Because, you and I know that a 401k, 457, 403, 227 isn’t enough! Wait that last one isn’t a retirement plan, but you get my point. However, there will be a problem if you want to contribute directly to the Roth IRA if you have an income that’s too high. The good news is, there is a backdoor….
Backdoor Roth IRA for High Income Earners
If you would like to contribute to a Roth IRA but, do not meet the income guidelines, the best thing to do is to go through a tiny loophole left by congress. This means you will need to open a non-deductible traditional IRA account. When you have successfully done so, the next thing you need to do is convert the account into a Roth IRA.
Is It Worth It?
If you were already able to convert your traditional IRA plan into a Roth IRA, the usual question is to ask is ‘is it worth it?’ Well, as long as you have the money for it, then it will be well worth it. What do I mean by “If you have the money for it?” Well, you will have to pay taxes on the converted money! So, if you can afford to take a tax hit now (at your current tax rate) to avoid paying taxes later (at your possible higher tax rate) it may be worth it it.
Here is a good example of it being worth it!
Why Go Through So Much Trouble for the Roth IRA Plan?
While there is the option to get the traditional IRA, you can always depend on the Roth IRA to be a better choice. This is because this option is an amazing deal, especially if you are looking for a long-term deal where you can enjoy higher tax rates in the future. Even if you start taking money out from the account, you can still gain from it because everything is income-tax-free.
On the other hand, a traditional IRA will grow you tax-deferred earnings. At the same time, you will have to start taking the necessary mandatory distributions the year after you have turned 70. During this time, your distributions will already start counting as an income. With the Roth IRA option, you can maintain your tax bite down in retirement.
If you have a high income and you will use the traditional IRA option, you will lose your benefits to the high marginal tax rates during your retirement; especially with the forced RMDs (Required Minimum Distribution). This is why higher earners are being prevented or limited from using the Roth IRA option so they can dodge this event.
So if you wish to invest in an IRA, and thought you were limited by your high income you should consider your options. If you have decided to go with the Roth IRA after reading this post, you will have to make sure that you understand everything necessary to make the conversion process a smooth one!
Conversion Steps…CTV Vancouver
Do you think you would be more productive if you only had to go to the office for five hours?
A B.C. tech company is hoping that by switching to shortened "core" hours it will boost performance – and attract new talent in the process.
Digital marketing firm RingPartner, based in Victoria, requires employees to work in the office from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with any remaining work to be done where and when they choose.
Mother of four Katie Hoffmann, the company's risk manager, says the shorter hours and later start time have been a "gift."
With children aged between one and seven, getting ready for work at an early hour used to be super hectic.
“(Before) I had two minutes to get dressed, grab my lunch if I remembered it and then I would get to work and brush my teeth,” Hoffmann said.
Company CEO Mike Williams said the perk of working core hours has not only brought in attractive job candidates, it's also shown value because people are working harder.
“It’s really about the value and the results that they can drive rather than the time that you put into the office,” said Williams.
Companies in B.C.'s booming tech sector are having to get creative as demand for workers soars.
By 2021, the B.C. Tech Association estimates there could be close to 30,000 unfilled positions.
With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Bhinder SajanThe bruised not broken and brooding Mockingjay Pt. 2 suffers from the destructive greed its series protests.
From the beginning I was unsure about the Hunger Games movies. With no big name crew talent attached to handle something on such a large-scale, it seemed like leading up to the release of the cultural zenith that was The Hunger Games first installment, the producers were making it up as they went along sticking to solid character actor casting and a by-the-book adaptation process. The Hunger Games trilogy of novels the third of which is notoriously the weakest, (rumour has it Suzanne Collins did not want for a 3rd Mockingjay tale) always were better suited for the cinematic scope anyways and I’m pleased to say the final installment for the film series lives up to the potential of its source material, rather than down to it. And although the movie lacks a strong Harry Potter like send-off due to a number of small problems previously unmarred by the series, Katniss and company don’t blow it.
The commitment and readied intensity of the actors should be a virtue of any final installment, however Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson seem to outgrow a series first B-script. Shackled to weak source material they come off as good but occasional over actors. James Newton Howard’s score is unmemorable, and it is difficult unless you’re a hardcore “Tribute” not to roll your eyes at some of the cheese-filled dialogue. [Note: Writing meaningful dialogue in action films can be difficult.] The sensitive line delivery mixed with scores of action wreak havoc on the film’s pacing. Where the measured aspect of Part 1 offered the writers room to have a conversation, here throwing the action and politics together is something the series proves it was never fully able to completely pull off. We get great action scenes with our heroes navigating a city-wide minefield of booby traps, yet the whiplash and wait between those sequences and laborious wordplay had me wondering what time it was for the first time in the franchise. And for what its worth for a finale it actually looked and felt at times cheap. This may fall on returning helmer Francis Lawrence who after directing two previous solid entries either fails to reign in his actors growing celebrity matching up them up with their performances or caving into studio indifference. These faults could have more easily been managed by doing a trilogy.
Overacting is indeed one of the films biggest |
end of the 2013–14 school year and their students scattered to inferior neighborhood schools across the city. In March, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) officials decided to revoke AIMS’s charters, claiming that its former director, Ben Chavis, had “repeatedly broken the law, engaging in financial mismanagement, and violated the terms of its charter.” What’s more, the district said, “when provided numerous opportunities to reform its practices, AIMS’s [new management] failed to make changes that would address these issues and protect public funds.” Despite a new state law requiring district officials to make students’ academic performance and improvement the “paramount consideration” in deciding whether to revoke school charters, the district claimed that AIMS’s sins were simply too severe—and that Chavis’s influence remained too great—for it to remain open. On June 24, the Alameda County Board of Education voted to uphold the OUSD decision. (An Alameda County superior court judge ruled on July 8 that the schools may remain open while their appeal to the state is pending.)
The district alleges that Chavis and his wife, Marsha, personally profited from AIMS to the tune of $3.8 million through various real-estate deals, lease agreements, and consulting contracts. Chavis readily admits to almost everything but insists that it was all fully disclosed and aboveboard. Did his construction company do remodeling work on the schools’ bathrooms? Yes—it was the lowest bidder on the project. Did Chavis’s wife perform accounting services for the schools? Yes—and for several other Oakland charter schools as well. Did Chavis lease property to the schools? “I did,” he told the Alameda County board. “I leased them for $1.09 [per square foot]. The market is $2 per square foot. My mortgage was eighty-some thousand a month. I leased for $70,000. How did I benefit?” Further, Chavis points out that all his financial transactions were approved by his board and listed in the schools’ IRS 990 forms and that the schools were subject to annual audits as a condition of at least one foundation’s grants.
Chavis does deny categorically the charge that he wrote checks to himself. He provides images of numerous checks with two signatures, showing that he had board approval for everything. “If I stole,” he asks, “how come the D.A. hasn’t done anything?” In fact, OUSD last year referred its findings to the Alameda County District Attorney, who decided not to act.
Ultimately, Oakland’s case for revoking AIMS’s charter hinged on the claim that Chavis had violated California’s Political Reform Act of 1974, which regulates conflicts of interest among public officials. The law requires a public official, elected or otherwise, to disclose any conflicts of interest and recuse himself from any decisions that might involve improper influence and lead to undue financial gain. Usually, the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission would oversee enforcement of the PRA. The commission would make a determination of wrongdoing and levy fines on violators, and life would go on. But the commission isn’t involved in this case. And neither Oakland Unified nor Alameda County education officials would entertain AIMS’s arguments that it had replaced all the old board members connected with Chavis, or that it had put new financial controls in place, or that it had hired two new interim directors, or that Chavis himself was completely out of the picture. (He stepped down as the schools’ executive director in June 2012, forced out by his board of directors in the wake of the OUSD audit that led to the decision to revoke the charter.)
The county board of education did discount several of Oakland Unified’s more explosive claims, including one alleging that Chavis had misused the schools’ credit card. In fact, the culprit was Sophat May, the woman who sat in Chavis’s chair between his first retirement in 2007 and his short-lived return, which started in 2011. Alameda also dismissed, for lack of evidence, claims that Chavis had lost $30,000 of school money on a real-estate deal and let a teacher forge signatures on student attendance. But Alameda nonetheless concluded: “It is irrelevant that the contracts were reviewed by the Board, or that Dr. Chavis gave AIMS a favorable rental rate, or that AIMS has separated itself from Dr. Chavis, or that Dr. Chavis has not been criminally prosecuted for his actions.”
On the contrary, it’s most relevant to the more than 1,200 families whose children will need to find new schools if the local and county board rulings hold up. It’s relevant, too, because other charter schools have remained open even as their administrators have faced prosecution and prison time for similar allegations of corruption. This past April, for example, a jury in Los Angeles convicted Eugene Selivanov and his wife, Tatyana Berkovich, of embezzling $220,000 from Ivy Academia, the San Fernando Valley charter school that they founded in 2004. Selivanov faces up to 19 years in state prison, and his wife could spend about seven years behind bars for (among other things) misusing the school’s credit card and checking account. Yet more than two years after Selivanov’s and Berkovich’s misdeeds came to light, Ivy Academia’s four campuses remain open to 1,100 students.
Chavis’s accusers are themselves no strangers to financial mismanagement. Oakland Unified spent six years in state receivership. When the state took over the district in 2004, nobody could say for certain where the red ink ended; estimates of its budget deficits ranged from $35 million to $100 million. OUSD emerged from receivership in 2010 still $89 million in debt and remains under state oversight today. In May, the state controller’s office announced the results of its audit of OUSD for the 2010–11 fiscal year, finding the district “noncompliant.” Chavis believes that the district’s ongoing financial woes played a part in its targeting him. “They’re losing $20 million a year to us,” he explains, since the schools’ funding depends partly on their average daily attendance.
In the spring, Chavis, a member of the Lumbee tribe, also claimed that the district was out to destroy him personally. He has certainly made plenty of enemies in the education establishment since taking charge of the failing American Indian Public Charter School in 2000—when OUSD was on the verge of revoking the school’s charter for similar reasons of fiscal mismanagement. He can be brusque, profane, and politically incorrect. What’s more, he doesn’t subscribe to the prevailing progressive notions of education. Under his “American Indian Model,” students remain with the same teacher for the duration of their time in elementary school; the same goes for middle school and high school. The schools heavily emphasize language and math. AIMS has a longer school year than the district does, along with extended hours and a strict code of conduct. Late to class? Detention. Didn’t finish your homework? Detention. Disrupting class? You’d better believe that’s detention. All of which led one of Chavis’s local critics to denounce his methods as “close to child endangerment.” In the real world, though, parents don’t beat down a school’s doors to subject their children to “endangerment.” Even under the cloud of scandal, AIMS’s enrollment grew by 450 students last year.
District officials seem intent on killing Chavis’s model even as they discredit the man. Nobody—not even Oakland Unified—seriously disputes AIMS’s phenomenal success, though a few observers have ascribed it to the fact that the schools’ Asian population has grown significantly in the past decade as their American Indian, black, and Latino populations have declined. “The students’ success is not really connected to the actions of the director,” said OUSD spokesman Troy Flint. “And personally, I don’t want to discount their achievements. There is no evidence their achievements were done illegitimately. We don’t want to take that from the kids.” Yet Oakland is poised to do exactly that.Heatwave Update! – Patch 2.67
Welcome to the Summer Heatwave! In this update we’re introducing a load of cool summer items to celebrate the hottest days of the year. So grab your sandals, beach chairs, any nearby weapons, and join the fun! We are introducing a new camera in features we’d love to get your feedback on. Balance improvements hot off The Forge are coming in this patch, along with the normal slew of improvements, adjustments, and fixes. Thanks for playing Brawlhalla and we’ll see you at the Beach Brawl!
Heatwave Summer Event!
Heatwave Colors are back in the store for 1500 Gold each!
Ice Kor-eam Avatar for 6000 Gold!
Atlantean Orion – “Fierce protector of deep sea mysteries.”
Dog Days Mordex – “Every dog has its day…at the beach!”
Wipeout Nix – “Sharks aren’t the most dangerous thing in the water anymore.”
Endless Heat Wave Avatar – “Catch a wave and cruise through the heat!”
Heatwave 2017 Podium – “Celebrate the Summer Heatwave with this Tiki Tower!”
Hot Lava KO Effect – “Melt your opponents with this hot KO!”
Brawl of the Week
Beach Brawl!
3v3
2 Minutes
New Test Feature: Action Camera
We’ve been experimenting internally with improvements to the in-game camera and we think we’re onto something! The new camera changes zoom closer on the action, keeps more focus on the players, and helps the art on Legends and signatures shine.
We don’t think it’s 100% ready yet, but with your help we’re hoping to improve the way the in-game camera makes Brawlhalla players look their best! We’re looking for your feedback on it, along with replays, GIFs, and other things listed below.
The camera in test features has the following differences from live:
The new camera can zoom in much closer to the characters.
After being zoomed out, the new camera will spend less time before zooming in again.
The speed at which the camera will zoom in is slightly slower to make up for how frequently it will zoom, and how close it will get.
It will make sure that at least one platform or wall is always visible since it now can zoom close enough that it would be possible for no platforms to be visible.
Feedback we’re looking for:
Does it feel good while you’re playing?
How does the new camera feel if you have an opponent with a poor connection?
Were there any weird pops or jitters or did the camera feel smooth for you?
Additional feedback is good!
If you’ve taken video / GIF recordings you want to share hit up the Brawlhalla Twitter or email them to [email protected]
User Interface
The Clan chat box will no longer eat Enter key presses when trying to enter the Keybinds screen.
Removed foreground clouds in the character select to make room for the modified podium information.
Improved keyboard navigation of the Keybinds screen. It will now wrap around both vertically and horizontally, and moving the bottom row will now default to the Apply Changes button instead of the Close button if you’ve made any changes.
Revised character select UI information to better suit customizable podiums.
Redesigned the post match scoreboard to make nameplates more cohesive with podiums. The UI now contains a new item asset for the scoreboard to improve integration with nameplates and the combat broadcast plate.
Performance Improvements
Reworked the internal animation system to have fewer frame spikes by spreading out the load better.
Generally improved performance of the animation system.
Reduced runtime allocations in animation system.
Lowered size of animation files by ~10%.
MultiKeyboard
In -multikeyboard, removing a keyboard while it is rebinding keys will now gracefully exit the Keybinds screen instead of getting stuck or crashing.
In -multikeyboard, other keyboards can no longer enter a new keybind while one of them is rebinding a key.
Balance Changes
This week we have a large number of Legend adjustments directly from your feedback in the Forge! All of you have been participating in the Signatures channel and compiling a detailed list, and here is the first round of those requests. It is worth noting that a number of the rehitboxing passes on Signatures have a fairly large effect on their balance, which is why they are included in this section and will be accompanied by a brief overview of what those changes alter in gameplay. We also have included a few weapon changes from the Forge, as the community has requested a bit more time to adapt to the recent changes.
Axe
Axe users have requested pushing Side Light towards having more varied followups at different health ranges, following the direction from the previous balance pass. We have altered both the Variable Force and its angle to create a transition point around orange damage that favors Neutral Air followups over Down Light followups.
Axe Side Light: Redirected angle of knockback to be more vertical; Increased Force from 16 Variable/54 Fixed to 20 Variable/54 Fixed.
Spear
As an anti-air attack, we have decreased the Recover time on miss for Spear Down Light significantly to add more power against airborne opponents, increasing utility to be in line with other similar powers such as Axe Down Light and Bow Neutral Light.
Spear Down Light: Decreased Recover time on miss from 25 Variable/7 Fixed to 25 Variable/4 Fixed.
Rocket Lance
In its rehitboxing, the Lance Neutral Light lost a significant amount of coverage near the user, pushing its use further from that of the Down Light. We have shifted some of this power within the Neutral Light by reducing the amount of time between the initial two hits for a quicker overall attack duration.
Rocket Lance Neutral Light: Rehitboxed to better match animation, resulting in less coverage near the user; Decreased time between the first two hits from 15 to 14.
Gauntlets
Ground Pound is a core attack within the Gauntlets kit, given the steering allowed during the attack and the weapon’s general off-stage prowess. Typically, the proper escape from Gauntlets edge-guarding pressure is to delay your jumps and move around the back end of the Ground Pound, as immediate panic jumps can be heavily punished. We have leaned into this counter-play by significantly reducing the backwards steering available during this attack.
Gauntlets Ground Pound: Decreased steering in the backwards direction by an additional 15%.
Hattori
Hattori has received a shift in power within her Sword kit, with the Neutral Sword losing some horizontal coverage via decreased travel speed after the teleport. In compensation, the Down Sword has received faster Time to Hit for more responsive use, although those frames have been added to the end of the attack as Recover time. This should make the Down Sword both easier to hit when used properly, but more punishable when used improperly. The Down Spear has received a significant increase in minimum Stun time to prevent being punished for hitting an opponent, as Hattori was at a disadvantage in certain cases when the opponent was left at close range after being struck.
Hattori Neutral Sword: Decreased horizontal travel distance during the sword swing.
Hattori Down Sword: Decreased Minimum Charge time from 21 to 18; Increased Recover time from 18 to 21.
Hattori Down Spear: Increased Stun from 13 to 22.
Barraza
Barraza has received a quality of life improvement for his Neutral Blasters. Previously, the backward roll from his final shot resulted in a rather large descent when used as a Gravity Cancel, or done with his back towards an edge. We have adjusted how this ending behaves resulting in less of a vertical drop, leaving Barraza in a better position for easier recovery back to the stage.
Barraza Neutral Blasters: Decreased vertical drop after mid-air hits, such as Gravity Cancels.
Cassidy
We have shifted some power from Cassidy’s Side Hammer into her Down Hammer. The Side Hammer is a very fast attack so we have decreased the knockout potential as requested. To compensate, we have decreased the Time to Hit for the Down Hammer, making that attack more responsive in combat.
Cassidy Side Hammer: Decreased Force from 54 Variable/75 Fixed to 51 Variable/75 Fixed.
Cassidy Down Hammer: Decreased Minimum Charge time from 19 to 17.
Azoth
Azoth’s Neutral Axe has received increased power as one of his primary anti-air attacks. Given this Signature’s diagonal direction of force that can hinder knockouts, we have increased both the damage and variable force for more meaningful use and both low and high health values.
Azoth Neutral Axe: Increased Damage from 24 to 26; Increased Force from 54 Variable/71 Fixed to 56 Variable/71 Fixed.
Gnash
Gnash has received rehitboxing on his Neutral and Down Spear, resulting in notable changes for both attacks. The Neutral Spear will find slightly less stacked coverage, while increasing its maximum range and overhead coverage. The Down Spear also ends up with a reduction in stacked coverage but an increase in vertical coverage.
Gnash Neutral Spear: Rehitboxed to better match the animation.
Gnash Down Spear: Rehitboxed to better match the animation.
Jhala
Jhala’s Down Sword is generally underused, due to its fairly low vertical and horizontal range. With a moderate recover time already built into the animation, we have slightly decreased the Recover time value for this Signature to shift the risk/reward more in its favor.
Jhala Down Sword: Decreased Recover time from 6 to 4.
Koji
Koji’s Down Sword comes with a fairly long Time to Hit and generally low reward. Although slightly offset by its healthy range, this Signature has felt a bit underwhelming in reward and ease of use. We have made it slightly faster with a moderate increase in damage to reward those with a practiced hand.
Koji Down Sword: Decreased Minimum Charge time from 12 to 11; Increased Damage from 24 to 26.
Queen Nai
Queen Nai sees a great deal of changes, both in hitboxing and in traditional balance values. The Side Spear and Side Katars have both been rehitboxed, generally resulting in increased coverage near the user. The Neutral Spear has excellent utility and great application when Gravity Canceled, particularly after a Down Light, so we have shifted some of its power to bolster reward for the underused Down Spear.
Queen Nai Side Spear: Rehitboxed to better match the animation (resulting in greater coverage along the spear).
Queen Nai Neutral Spear: Decreased Force from 52 Variable/65 Fixed to 50 Variable/65 Fixed.
Queen Nai Down Spear: Increased Force from 48 Variable/50 Fixed to 50 Variable/50 Fixed.
Queen Nai Side Katars: Rehitboxed to better match the animation.
Ragnir
Ragnir’s Down Axe can be difficult to use, with a generally higher risk than reward. As requested, we have reduced the risk to be more in line with its straightforward coverage and niche use.
Ragnir Down Axe: Decreased Recover time on miss from 22 to 18.
Scarlet
Scarlet’s Down Lance is no longer able to move during its Recover time, as players could have an overly difficult time approaching against this Signature. Scarlet’s Neutral Lance rehitboxing sees a moderate decrease in horizontal coverage, although a minor increase in vertical coverage.
Scarlet Down Lance: Can no longer move during Recover time.
Scarlet Neutral Lance: Rehitboxed to better match the animation.
Teros
Teros’ Down Hammer has received a slightly slower Time to Hit to compensate for both its coverage and damage. This increase in startup also opens a moderate dodge window when used after a Hammer Down Light.
Teros Down Hammer: Increased Minimum Charge from 6 to 8.
New Legend Rotation
This week’s new Legend Rotation features Ada, Bodvar, Ember, Jhala, Mordex and Ulgrim!
Bug Fixes
Fixed bug causing victor podiums in the scoreboard to float above the cloud line when five or more players are present at a time
Fixed a bug where the option to ban gadgets in a ranked queue would be hidden instead of locked when a player hadn’t completed a game in that queue that season yet.
PS4 Note: We’ve got a patch coming out this week that is a minor hotfix/bugfix patch. We are submitting a much larger content patch that will include Artemis and other content, but we’re not sure how long that process will take. We’ll keep you updated! Thanks again to all our PlayStation Beta Testers!Former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio told a group of conservatives Saturday night that he’s “back in action” because he wants to see President Donald Trump — the man who pardoned him three weeks ago — win re-election.
The controversial former sheriff from Maricopa County, Ariz., announced his political re-emergence in Las Vegas while receiving a “Courage Under Fire Award” from Citizen Outreach Foundation, a nonprofit run by Nevada conservative activists.
Arpaio insisted the recent presidential action, which spared him from prison time for his criminal contempt of court conviction, had nothing to do with the decision. Instead, the 85-year-old spent the bulk of his acceptance speech lobbing praise at the billionaire businessman-turned-president.
“It took me 85 years to finally find out I had a hero, and that was the president today,” Arpaio said. “It had nothing to do with pardons. I didn’t ask for any pardon. I was with him from day one.”
Arpaio gained national notoriety during his 24-year run as sheriff for unconventional tactics, such as making inmates wear pink underwear and live in tents during sweltering Arizona summers, that were part of his “tough on crime” crusade. But Arpaio also took an uncompromising stance on illegal immigration and stoked the “birther” controversy about whether former President Barack Obama was actually born in the United States.
The former sheriff was convicted July 31 of ignoring a judge’s order to stop detaining people whom he merely suspected were in the country illegally. Less than a month later, Trump pardoned him, igniting criticism from both Democrats and Republicans.
But the pair’s bonds run deeper than their stances on immigration. They share a birthdate — July 14 — and a tendency to speak their minds.
Arpaio was an early supporter of Trump’s bid for the presidency, saying he had a gut feeling the political outsider would energize the “silent majority” and win the race.
“President Trump will go down in history as one of the greatest presidents we ever had,” Arpaio said Saturday. “And don’t forget: I predicted he would be president in 2015, so you wait and see what history will show.”
Arpaio called on fellow conservatives to throw their support behind Trump or move aside, and he chastised those who have criticized the president for his recent dealmaking with Democrats.
“What’s wrong with that?” he said. “I don’t care who goes with to make deals, as long as the people of this country win.”
Arpaio’s speech capped an end to the two-day Conservative Leadership Conference organized by the Citizen Outreach Foundation. Conference activities took place at the Tropicana Las Vegas on the Strip, but concerns about security and protesters prompted organizers to move the awards dinner to a location that wasn’t revealed to attendees until Saturday afternoon.
The chosen venue for the awards dinner: the Las Vegas Country Club, which sits just east of the casino-lined Strip. About 150 people attended the dinner, including Nevada GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, State Controller Ron Knecht, Las Vegas Councilwoman Michele Fiore, Assemblyman John Ellison and former state Sen. Sue Lowden.
Veteran GOP strategist Roger Stone, who will testify before a House intelligence committee later this month regarding its investigation into Russia’s alleged interference with the 2016 presidential election, also spoke Saturday afternoon at the conference.
Stone cut right to the chase and blasted U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who earlier this year recused himself from the Justice Department’s Russia investigation.
“Let’s be as clear as we possibly can. It’s time for Jeff Sessions to go,” Stone said. “… We need someone who is committed to the president’s agenda. Sadly, that is not Jeff Sessions.”
Perhaps because he was speaking in Las Vegas — a mere 80 miles from the site of the infamous Bunkerville standoff in 2014 — Stone threw in a mention of rancher Cliven Bundy during his tirade against Sessions. Stone has said the president should pardon Bundy.
“What can you say about an attorney general who comes to Nevada and praises the prosecution as they denied the due process rights of the Bundy ranchers and their supporters?” he said.
Sessions visited Las Vegas in mid-July.Josh Kennett's beekeeper suit for his dog trained to sniff out the bee disease American foulbrood. Read more.
Working dogs have always been a revered part of life in rural Australia.
Australia's 'winery dogs' have several volumes of books documenting their role in the vineyards.
But to date, little has been said for the apiary dog.
More than likely, that's because dogs can't get near a hive of bees without being aggressively chased away.
This was the problem beekeeper Josh Kennett encountered when he began training a black Labrador named Bazz to sniff out the nasty bee disease American foulbrood.
The beekeeper, from Tintinara in South Australia's south-east, says that while there are dogs doing similar work in the United States, the cold temperatures there negate the need for protection.
"Their winters are far colder than ours, with snow over the top of beehives. We don't have that situation here in South Australia.
"So I've tried to develop a suit the dog can wear and hopefully avoid being stung."
Mr Kennett says after a long process of trial and error, he's finally got a working prototype.
The process of training his dog and developing the suit has been an attempt to find a better way of controlling American foulbrood.
The disease devastates beehives, and to date there's no cure for it, so good control and quarantine are essential in apiaries across Australia.
After a lengthy training regime, and with a suit ready to go, Mr Kennett's dog is ready for action.
"We've now proven the concept, he can find the infected hives.
"The only challenge now is getting the dog comfortable with the suit. It's hard to change a dog's habits overnight.
"To fully cover a dog up and expect it to do the same thing, it takes time to change how he behaves and to get used to that suit."Maria Ridulph was "lovely, lovely, lovely," says Jack McCullough. Photo: Chicago Tribune/MCT/LANDOV
John Tessier left his parents' house in Sycamore, Illinois, for good on December 11, 1957 — eight days after Maria Ridulph disappeared.
He says he didn't often think about what happened to the little girl who lived around the corner. He remembers talking with her just once. But he never forgot her.
More than half a century later, police and prosecutors would find it disturbing how Tessier's voice softened every time he spoke of her beauty and those big brown eyes. He'd smile and his own pale blue eyes would get an odd, faraway look as he told people she was "lovely, lovely, lovely" and "like a little Barbie doll."
John Tessier is Jack McCullough now. He is 73 years old and recently met with CNN at a state prison in southern Illinois. He told the story of how he protected Maria that one time they met.
He was about 13, he said, and she was tiny, about 3, when he found her wandering alone at the corner of busy Center Cross Street, the very spot from which she would disappear four years later. He said he told her to go home and stood in the middle of the street and watched for cars as she trotted up her driveway and got safely inside.
"You gotta understand," he said, "we boys protected all of the children in the neighborhood. When Maria was taken, it was an affront. Our lives would never be the same after that. Our neighborhood wasn't the same anymore."
Sycamore was changed forever by the Maria Ridulph case – one of the few indisputable facts in the oldest cold case to go to trial in the United States. The case was controversial from the start: It was built on circumstantial evidence, the time of the kidnapping is in dispute and an alibi the defense calls "ironclad" was never presented in court.
Five decades after Maria was kidnapped and killed, cops would call the crime "Sycamore's 9/11." It shook the place that hard. But while the town of 7,000 struggled with its loss of innocence, John Tessier spent most of his life elsewhere.
He joined the Air Force, and then the Army. He attended officer training school and served in battle in Vietnam as a lieutenant, twice winning the Bronze Star. He'd always felt destined to be a soldier, he told CNN. After all, John's grandfather served in Britain, and his mother was in the Royal Air Force, one of the first female searchlight operators during World War II.
In one of his earliest memories, he is being carried up a flight of dark, narrow stairs in London on the back of a soldier. He believes it was his father, killed in the war, giving him a piggyback ride.
With both parents in the military, he spent his youth in the English countryside, in the care of an elderly couple and isolated from other children as war ravaged London.
When he was about 7 and his mother brought him to Sycamore, Tessier seemed an odd duck. He didn't know how to act around other children. He walked the streets wearing camouflage pants and waving a wooden sword — "Commando," the neighborhood kids called him. He loved the popular Civil War song "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." He identified with it.
"My name was Johnny and that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to come home the hero," he told CNN. "My DNA is protector."
That statement reveals an alarming disconnect between how he views himself and how others who crossed his path describe him.
Some say he was a screw-up. To others, he was a masterful manipulator. To some women, especially the younger ones, he was a lecher and worse, a menacing sexual predator. Later in life, he did settle down with a woman who, with her daughter, came to view him as he always viewed himself — as a mentor and protector.
The FBI showed an interest in John Tessier during the early days of the Maria Ridulph investigation in Sycamore. But 50 years would pass before authorities would look for him again. The four-year investigation took agents with the Illinois State Police from Sycamore to Seattle.
When it was over, Johnny came shuffling home in shackles.Sky sources understand Tottenham are in discussions with Crystal Palace over the signing of Wilfried Zaha for a fee in the region of £15m Sky sources understand Tottenham are in discussions with Crystal Palace over the signing of Wilfried Zaha for a fee in the region of £15m
Tottenham are in talks with Crystal Palace over the transfer of winger Wilfried Zaha, according to Sky sources.
Sky Sports News HQ understands Zaha has met with Palace manager Alan Pardew and told him he wants to leave.
Zaha made his name at Palace, breaking into the first team from their academy in 2010, and a fee for him to move to White Hart Lane is likely to be in the region of £15m.
In January 2013, Zaha left Palace for Manchester United for £10m, but remained on loan at the Eagles until the end of the season, helping them return to the Premier League.
Wilfried Zaha could be on his way to Spurs
He returned to Palace in August 2014 on a season-long loan, before rejoining the club on a permanent basis in February 2015. He made 43 appearances for the Eagles in all competitions last season, scoring five goals and contributing seven assists.
Spurs have been reportedly pursuing Marseille winger Georges-Kevin N'Koudou for much of the summer and have also been linked with a move for Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of Spurs' clash with Liverpool, live on Sky Sports 1HD on Saturday, Pochettino said: "I'm very happy with my squad. Whatever happens in the next few days is welcome.
Spurs have been frustrated in their attempts to clinch a deal for George-Kevin N’Koudou
"I hope we can add a good player to the squad to help us, I think it's another situation where we need to confirm whether we can add some players or not."
Palace brought in goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, defender James Tomkins and attacking midfielder Andros Townsend earlier this summer.
They sold winger Yannick Bolasie to Everton last week but have since completed the club-record signing of striker Christian Benteke from Liverpool.Rhetoric, bluff and bluster have their limits. At some point of time, the law of diminishing returns will apply, and the truth will be revealed.
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A year after demonetisation, every justification trotted out for that decision has been rebutted and ridiculed. Let me begin with the justification that was disarmingly simple and had gained considerable traction: ending the counterfeiting of currency.
No more fake notes?
One year later we are told that out of the Rs 15,28,000 crore (by value, of demonetised currency notes) that was returned to the RBI, there was only Rs 41 crore, by value, of fake currency! That represented 0.0027 per cent of the value of the demonetised notes. Before you express shock at the paltry amount, read this too: ‘The counterfeit versions have improved from easily identifiable in the beginning to highest quality in recent times’, according to officials who track fake Indian currency notes (FICN).
Between August and October 2017, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized high-quality FICN of face value of Rs 35 lakh in the two new denominations (Rs 2,000 and the new Rs 500) in three separate cases in Mumbai, Pune and Bengaluru. On November 8, FICN of Rs 4 lakh in Rs 2,000 notes was seized in Mumbai. The Indian Express quoted a senior DRI official who said, “Currency seized just after demonetisation was of low-quality, visible to the naked eye, but the quality of the notes recently seized has improved and a common man now cannot immediately distinguish whether it is fake or genuine.”
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To those familiar with the challenge of FICN, this is not a surprise at all. If one human being can harness technology to print currency notes, after some time, another human bring can also harness technology to imitate the genuine currency notes. Hence, demonetisation was not the answer to FICN. If it were, every country would take that route but, in the last 50 years, no major economy has done so. That simple lesson was lost on the Indian government in November 2016.
Corruption, black money thrive
The same could be said about the other two objectives declared by the Prime Minister on November 8, 2016: ending corruption and eliminating black money. Despite demonetisation, corruption thrives. Bribe givers and bribe takers are being caught regularly, often red-handed. Public servants are being arrested and prosecuted for corruption. There is no evidence that petty corruption, that is so widespread that it is taken as the ‘normal’ in citizen-government interface, has been eliminated, or even inhibited, by demonetisation.
As far as black money is concerned, income that is taxable is generated every day, a portion of that income escapes tax and is used for various purposes — such as giving bribes, funding elections, paying capitation fees, betting, hiring casual labour etc. Unaccounted money continues to be used in sectors such as wholesale trade, construction and jewellery. Needless to say, unaccounted money is the money that drives illegal activities like prostitution, drug trafficking, gold smuggling and arms manufacture.
Demonetisation was not the weapon to combat FICN or corruption or black money. Yet, the government wielded that weapon. It was a thoughtless and rash decision that turned out to be a colossal mistake and imposed a huge cost in terms of denting economic growth and heaping misery on millions of ordinary people.
The ethical issue
Adding insult to injury, the Finance Minister has claimed that demonetisation was “ethical and moral”. I am ready to join the debate and ask a few questions:
1. Was it ethical to heap misery on millions of people, especially 15 crore daily wage earners? That number represents one-third of the working population and includes farm labour, craftsmen, street-vendors and casual workers. They lost wages (or income) for several weeks, were forced to borrow, and many of them are in deep debt.
2. Was it ethical to destroy 15,40,000 regular jobs during January-April 2017? The latest data released by the CMIE says that another 4,20,000 jobs were lost during May-August 2017. Many of those who lost their jobs remain unemployed (unless the jobless have miraculously turned into job-creators as claimed by Mr Piyush Goyal).
3. Was it ethical to force thousands of micro and small businesses to close down? This is no longer a speculative theory. It is a fact. On the anniversary of demonetisation, true stories of closed businesses filled the pages of newspapers. Example: There were 1,500 units near the Tirupur Old Bus Stand working as ancillary units for larger merchants and traders; fewer than 500 are still doing regular business, others are either shut or waiting for an order for several months. There are similar true stories from Agra, Jalandhar, Surat, Bhiwandi and many other vibrant industrial hub towns.
4. Was it ethical to provide an easy way for converting black money into white as now discovered by the government? The government has admitted that demonetisation and the note-exchange window actually facilitated conversion of black money into white money. The government has promised to track the offenders and punish them, something that is easier said than done. How many cases can the Income Tax Department investigate and decide in a year? When will the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal dispose of the 94,000 cases that were pending before it at the end of August 2017? Hence the charge will stick: money launderers got an easy route to wash their black money and many of them may never be caught.
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I recall Kural 551, which describes a king who does harm to his people. No elected government in a democracy has the right to inflict unbearable hardship and misery upon the people. In one of his works, Hippocrates said, “Do no harm”.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani declared the end of the so-called Islamic State militant group Tuesday |
price tracks with the contracting supply of cash, not with the growing earnings. Consequently, the PE ratio falls dramatically–from 20 down to 1.25.
Supply Manipulations in a Live Experiment
Everything that we’ve presented so far is theoretical. We don’t have a buy-sell probability function for real buyers and sellers that we could use to determine the prices that their behaviors will produce in a market with a growing supply of cash and fluctuating earnings. Even if we could come up with such a function, it would not be useful for making actual price predictions, as it would contain far too many fuzzy and hard-to-measure variables, and would always be changing in unpredictable ways.
At the same time, the modeling that we’re doing here is useful in that it allows us to think more clearly about the way that supply factors interact with buying and selling probability factors to determine price. When confronted with questions about the impact of supply factors in specific market circumstances, the best approach to evaluating these questions is to explore the kinds of buying and selling probabilities that those circumstances will lend themselves to–that is, the kind of buy-sell probability functions the circumstances will tend to produce.
If the circumstances will tend to produce significant price and value sensitivity–that is, sharply negatively-sloping buying probabilities and sharply positively-sloping selling probabilities, as a function of price–then supply will not turn out to be a very important or powerful factor in determining price. As supply differences lead to price changes, the number of people that want to buy and sell at the given price will quickly adjust, arresting the price changes and stabilizing the price.
But if the circumstances will tend to lend themselves to price and valuation insensitivity–that is, flatly-sloping buying and selling probabilities, or worse, reflexive buying and selling probabilities, buying probabilities that rise with rising prices, and selling probabilities that rise with falling prices–then supply as a factor will prove to be very important and very powerful. As supply differences emerge and cause price changes, the number of people that want to buy and sell at the given price will not adjust as needed, causing the price to continue to move, the momentum to continue to carry.
With this in mind, let’s qualitatively examine a famous genre of experiments that economists have performed to test the impact of supply on price. In these experiments, a large closed group of market participants are endowed with a portfolio of cash or stock, and are then left to trade the cash and stock with each other.
The shares of stock pay out a set quantity of dividends on a scheduled periodicity throughout the scenario, or at the end, and then they expire worthless. Each dividend payment equals some constant value, plus a small offset that is randomly computed in each payment period.
At any time, it’s easy to calculate what the intrinsic value of a share is. It’s the sum of the expected future dividend payments up to maturity, which is just the number of dividend payments that are still left to be paid, times the value of each payment. The offset to the payments is random, it acts in both directions, therefore it effectively drops out of the analysis. Granted, the offsets insert an “uncertainty” into the value of the shares, the undesirability of which investors might choose to discount. But the uncertainty is small, and the participants aren’t that sophisticated.
Before the experiment begins, the experimenters teach the participants how to calculate the intrinsic value of a share. The experimenters then open the market, and allow the participants to trade the assets with each other (through a computer). Crucially, whatever amount of money the participants end up with at the end of the experiment, they get to keep. So there is a financial incentive to trade and invest intelligently, not be stupid.
The experiment has been run over and over again by independent experimenters, incorporating a number of different individual “tweaks.” It’s been run on large groups, small groups, financially-trained individuals, non-financially-trained individuals, over short time periods, long time periods, with margin-buying, without margin-buying, with short-selling, without short-selling, and so on.
The experiments consistently produce results that defy fundamentals, results in which prices deviate sharply from fair value, when in theory they shouldn’t. Shown below is a particularly egregious example of the deviation, taken from an experiment run on 304 economic students at Indiana University consisting of a 15 round trading period that lasted 8 weeks:
As you can see, the price deviates sharply from intrinsic value. In the early phases, the buyers lack courage to step up and buy, so the price opens below fair value. As the price rises, the buyers gain confidence, and more and more try to jump on board. This process doesn’t stop when the limits of fair value are reached; it keeps going. Buyers throw caution to the wind, and push the market into a bubble. The bubble then bursts. As the maturity nears, the price gravitates back towards intrinsic value.
If we think about the experiment, it’s understandable that this outcome would occur, at least in certain circumstances. “As long as the music is playing, you have to get up and dance.” Right? Valuation is important only to the extent that it impacts price on the time horizons that investors are focused on. In the beginning of the experiment, the investors are not thinking about what will happen at the end of the experiment, which is many months away. They are thinking about what price they will be able to sell the security for in the near term. They want to make money in the near-term, do what the other successful people in the game seem to be doing. As they watch the price travel upward, above fair value, they start to doubt whether valuation is something that they should be focusing on. They conclude that valuation doesn’t “work”, that it’s a red herring, that focusing on it isn’t the way you’re supposed to play the game. So they set it aside, and focus on trying to profit from the continued momentum instead. In this way, they contribute to the growing excesses, and help create the eventual bubble.
As the security gets closer to its maturity, more and more participants start worrying about valuation. It can’t be ignored forever, after all, for the bill’s eventually going to come due. And so as the experiment draws to a close, the price falls back to fair value.
Now, the question that we want to ask is, if we change the aggregate supply of cash in this experiment relative to the supply of shares, what will happen? Of course, we already know the answer. The valuation excesses will grow, multiply, inflate. The buyers, after all, have demonstrated that they are not value sensitive–if they were, they wouldn’t let the price leave the fair value range. As the price rises in response to the supply imbalances, the buyers aren’t going to pull back, and the sellers aren’t going to come forward–therefore, the imbalances aren’t going get relieved. The price will keep rising until something happens to shift the psychology.
Interestingly, one practical finding from the experiment is that the most effective way to arrest the excess is to reduce the supply of cash relative to the supply of shares. When you reduce the supply of cash, the bubbles have a much more difficult time forming and gaining traction. Sometimes, they don’t form at all. Central Banks of the world, take note!
Now, some have objected to the results of the experiments, arguing that the participants often don’t understand how the maturity process works–that they often don’t recognize, until late in the game, that the security is going to expire worthless. Put differently, the participants wrongly envision the dividends as investment returns on a perpetual security, rather than as returns of capital on a decaying security. For our purposes, this potential flaw in the experiment doesn’t really matter, for even if the value of the security is misunderstood, that alone shouldn’t cause supply changes to appreciably impact prices. Supply should only appreciably impact prices if investors are not paying attention to value. Evidently, they aren’t.
A potentially more robust version of the experiment is one where there are no interim dividends, but only a single final payment, a single return of capital, paid to whoever owns the shares at the end. In this version of the experiment, it’s painfully obvious what the security is worth, there is no room for confusion. The security is worth the expected value of the final payment.
Professor Gunduz Caginalp of the University of Pittsburgh ran the experiment under this configuration, allowing groups of participants to trade cash and shares that pay an expected value of $3.60 at maturity (the actual value has a 25% chance of being $2.60, a 25% chance of being $4.60, and a 50% of being $3.60). In one version, he kept the supply of cash roughly equal to the supply of shares, in another version, he roughly doubled the supply of cash. He then ran each version of the experiment multiple times on different groups of participants to see whether the different versions of the experiment produced different prices. The following chart shows the average price evolution for each version:
As you can see, the version in which the supply of cash is twice the supply of shares (blue line) produces prices that are persistently higher than the version in which the supply of cash equals the supply of shares. This is especially true in the early trading rounds of the experiment–as the experiment draws to an end, valuation sensitivity increases, and the average prices of the two versions converge.
Interestingly, in the later rounds, the market in the high cash scenario seems to have an easier time moving the price to fair value than in the low cash scenario. In the low cash scenario, a meaningful discount to fair value remains right up until the last few rounds, a discount that defies fundamental justification (why should the price be roughly $2.75 in round 12 when there is a 75% change of the price being substantially higher, and essentially a 0% chance of the price being lower, at maturity?). This peculiarity illustrates the previous point that even when valuation is the dominant consideration for market participants, even when the market in aggregate is trying to move the price to fair value, supply still matters–it can nudge the market in the right or wrong direction.
It turns out that the only consistently reliable way to prevent an outcome in which individuals push prices in the experiment out of the range of fair value is to run the experiment on the same subjects multiple times–then, the investors learn their lessons. They start paying attention to valuation.
Evidently, the perceived connection between valuation and investment returns–the connection that leads investors to care about value, and to use it in their investment processes–is learned through experience, at least partially. To reliably respect valuation, investors often need to go through the experience of not respecting it, buying too high, and then getting burned. They need to lose money. Then, valuation will become important, something to worry about. Either that, or investors need to go through the experience of buying at attractive prices and doing well, making money, being rewarded. In response to the supportive feedback, investors will grow hungry for more value, more rewards.
As with all rules that investors end up following, when it comes to the rule “though shalt respect value”, the reinforcement of punishment and reward, in actual lived or observed experience, cements the rule in the mind, and conditions investors to obey it.Mozilla has sent a cease-and-desist letter to a company that sells spyware allegedly disguised as the Firefox browser to governments. The action follows a report by Citizen Lab, which identifies 36 countries (including the US) hosting command and control servers for FinFisher, a type of surveillance software. Also known as FinSpy, the software is sold by UK-based Gamma International to governments, which use it in criminal investigations and allegedly for spying on dissidents.
Mozilla revealed yesterday in its blog that it has sent the cease and desist letter to Gamma "demanding that these illegal practices stop immediately." Gamma's software is "designed to trick people into thinking it's Mozilla Firefox," Mozilla noted. (Mozilla declined to provide a copy of the cease and desist letter to Ars.)
The spyware doesn't infect Firefox itself, so a victim's browser isn't at risk. But the spyware "uses our brand and trademarks to lie and mislead as one of its methods for avoiding detection and deletion" and is "used by Gamma’s customers to violate citizens’ human rights and online privacy," Mozilla said. Mozilla continues:
Through the work of the Citizen Lab research team, we believe Gamma’s spyware tries to give users the false impression that, as a program installed on their computer or mobile device, it’s related to Mozilla and Firefox, and is thus trustworthy both technically and in its content. This is accomplished in two ways: 1. When a user examines the installed spyware on his/her machine by viewing its properties, Gamma misrepresents its program as “Firefox.exe” and includes the properties associated with Firefox along with a version number and copyright and trademark claims attributed to “Firefox and Mozilla Developers.” 2. For an expert user who examines the underlying code of the installed spyware, Gamma includes verbatim the assembly manifest from Firefox software. The Citizen Lab research team has provided us with samples from the following three instances that demonstrate how this misuse of our brand, trademarks and public trust is a designed feature of Gamma’s spyware products and not unique to a single customer’s deployment: A spyware attack in Bahrain aimed at pro-democracy activists;
The recent discovery of Gamma’s spyware apparently in use amidst Malaysia’s upcoming General Elections; and
A promotional demo produced by Gamma. Each sample demonstrates the exact same pattern of falsely designating the installed spyware as originating from Mozilla. Gamma’s own brochures and promotional videos tout one of the essential features of its surveillance software is that it can be covertly deployed on the person’s system and remain undetected.
The Citizen Lab report provides pictorial evidence of the impersonation:
FinFisher doesn't just masquerade as Firefox. The Citizen Lab report says it has also been used to target Malay language speakers by "masquerading as a document discussing Malaysia’s upcoming 2013 General Elections."
The countries where Citizen Lab identified FinFisher command-and-control servers are Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ethiopia, Germany, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, and Vietnam.
We've asked Gamma if the company has a response to Mozilla's cease and desist letter but haven't heard back yet.Updated 3:21 p.m.
An AP brief from anonymous sources suggests that what many observers expected -- that former Delaware Republican senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's campaign finances were sufficiently unusually constructed they'd eventually attract legal scrutiny -- has come to pass.
They report:
A person with knowledge of the investigation says federal authorities have opened a criminal probe of Delaware Republican Christine O'Donnell to determine if the former Senate candidate broke the law by using campaign money to pay personal expenses.
A former O'Donnell aide alleged last fall that she had been living off of campaign donations for years. And complaints against her were lodged during the campaign that seemed certain to eventually require a federal response of some kind. Salon reported on the allegations last September:
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington... filed complaints with the U.S. Attorney's office in Delaware and the Federal Election Commission against Christine O'Donnell, the Tea Party-backed Republican Senate nominee in Delaware. The group alleges that O'Donnell, a perennial candidate who waged two losing (and little-noticed) Senate campaigns before this year, has been breaking the law for years by using campaign contributions for personal use, paying for gas, rent, even bowling.
O'Donnell's campaign spokesman told ABC the AP story was the first he'd heard of the probe:
O'Donnell campaign spokesman Matt Moran said the wire report was the first he had heard of an alleged investigation and he could not confirm its accuracy. "The anonymous source seems politically-motivated and may well be tied to the ultra-liberal, George Soros-financed, former Sen. Biden staffer-run CREW [Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington] complaint," Moran said.... "These charges are already being addressed with the FEC," he said. "We are confident that they will be resolved in the New Year, and put an end to the frivolous sensationalism regarding this matter."
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.Well, duh, obviously tastes change. Most of the bestselling authors from forty or fifty years ago have already been forgotten, since they and their core audiences have grown elderly or died. But what about classic genre writers?
Consider the case of Robert Heinlein. For forty years, he was the science fiction writer, a hugely influential, dominant, and generally beloved figure who shaped or created entire subgenres of fantastic literature, from urban fantasy to military space opera. He was controversial, but almost universally admired, and tremendously popular, becoming the first SF writer to reach the New York Times Bestseller List with Stranger in a Strange Land in 1961. But since his death in 1988, his popularity and significance have dwindled. According to Jonathan Strahan, one of the major editors in the SF field, very few young writers in their twenties and thirties have read Heinlein or are familiar with his work, beyond maybe seeing Verhoeven's Starship Troopers movie. It's not likely that Heinlein is going to go out of print any time soon, but it's harder to find a lot of his stuff in bookstores, besides bestsellers like Stranger and Troopers. It's not like when I was a teenager in the '80s, and even mall stores would have, say, Glory Road or Door Into Summer on the shelves.
As a counterexample, look at H.P. Lovecraft. He was never popular or even respected in his time, and his work wasn't even collected in book form until several years after his death. Even when he did become popular in the '60s and '70s, he was still considered a pulpy hack writer by many critics and a lot of fans. But today, he's more popular and respected than ever. Cthulhu is a recognizable pop culture figure (even Autocorrect knows he's legit!), and you can buy nice annotated editions of Lovecraft's work from Penguin Classics and Library of America. Not bad for a guy who died in total poverty and obscurity almost eighty years ago.
Maybe you could argue that these are simply reflections of larger trends. One argument goes that after Vietnam and Watergate, folks stopped looking to the stars in hope and began to look upon Space Age technology with dread and anxiety. But as far as I can tell, people still read Heinlein's contemporaries like Asimov and Bradbury. And while Lovecraft is bigger than ever, horror literature's popularity cratered in the early '90s and has never recovered the sales it enjoyed during the '70s and '80s. So there's something more complex going on beyond demographics or changes in social attitudes.Americans are increasingly consuming marijuana but also seeking treatment for problems caused by their use of the drug, according to a new report.
The World Drug Report was released Thursday against the backdrop of a country whose states are increasingly liberalizing legal access to marijuana for both recreational and medical purposes. The report suggests that as laws have relaxed toward the herb, more people have begun to use it — from 2008 to 2012, marijuana use among “people 12 years and older” increased almost 2 percentage points, from 10.3 to 12.1.
Washington State and Colorado recently legalized pot for recreational use, numerous states allow it for medical use, and residents in other states — New York, Alaska and Kentucky, among others — are working to legalize various forms of marijuana use, and legalization has become a staple in youth discourse and liberal politics.
The report cautions that the relationship between legalization and use remains a correlation only, not necessarily a cause, particularly since the information included in the study only extends through 2012, which is when the recreational legalizations were just taking hold in Washington and Colorado. “It will take years of careful monitoring to understand the broader effects of those novel regulatory frameworks in order to inform future policy decisions,” the report states.
Experts cited in the report predict that legalization and retail integration of marijuana will reduce production costs, thereby boosting consumption. For each 10% drop in price — the average price of marijuana fell 12% between 2009 and 2012 — there will be an estimated 3% increase in users.
There may also be an insidious side to the flowering embrace of marijuana as extracurricular pleasure. The study suggests that lower prices, greater availability and a shift in perception on how dangerous the drug can be may lead to addiction issues. Data shows a significant uptick in marijuana-related emergency-room visits over the past several years — up 59% between 2006 and 2012 — along with a 14% increase in “cannabis-related treatment admissions.”
Globally, however, marijuana use has fallen. Though Uruguay became the first country to legalize growing, selling and using marijuana in December, the worldwide decline reflects lower estimates that were reported by several countries in Western and Central Europe.
Contact us at editors@time.com.India yesterday boasted it is to launch a record-breaking space mission – as Britain continues to pour millions of pounds of aid money into the country.
The nation has also revealed ambitious plans to explore Jupiter and Venus.
A rocket carrying 103 satellites will blast off next month from southern India – putting the nation at the forefront of the space race.
A rocket carrying 103 satellites will blast off next month from southern India – putting the nation at the forefront of the space race (stock image)
Many of the record-breaking number of satellites on the rocket belong to other countries and India will earn lucrative fees for putting them into orbit
Many of the record-breaking number of satellites on the rocket belong to other countries and India will earn lucrative fees for putting them into orbit.
However, more than £185million from Britain’s controversial overseas aid budget was lavished on India in 2015.
And, despite a pledge to stop handing money to the world’s fastest-growing economy, some £70million from the UK’s bloated foreign aid budget continued to flow to it through other channels. This includes money to pay for assisting India on how to use its own cash.
The rocket will blast off from the southern spaceport of Sriharikota carrying three Indian satellites and 100 from countries including the US, France and Germany. If the launch succeeds, India will become the country to launch the most satellites in one go, leaving behind Russia, which launched 39 in June 2014.
Daily Mail campaign The £70million a year that continues to be handed to India out of Britain’s aid budget could pay for more than 18.4million hot meals for the elderly. Meals on Wheels, at the average cost of £3.80 each, are delivered to the most vulnerable pensioners, providing a lifeline to those who are housebound. Nearly half of councils – 45 per cent – have cut the scheme since 2010 due to Government funding restrictions. Some 63 out of 140 local authorities that replied to a Freedom of Information request about the service said they had scrapped it. Others increased the fees by an average of 20 per cent. Just a tenth of Britain’s generous £12billion annual aid budget could fund 315million meals on wheels for the elderly.
Indian Space Research Organisation associate director M Nageswara Rao said yesterday: ‘We are looking at other planets that we can explore... two of them are Jupiter and Venus.’
Last night Tory MP Andrew Rosindell said: ‘If India has the money to spend on rockets then one has to question whether it is sensible for us to continue handing them money.’
Tory MP Peter Bone added: ‘I don’t want to see any more money given to India, given their status in the world.’
Last June, India successfully launched a rocket carrying 20. In May, it launched its first mini space shuttle.
Four years ago then-international development minister Andrew Mitchell announced the end of the main aid programme, saying: ‘We are walking the last mile with them, we won’t be there forever.’
But the Department for International Development, or DfID continues to fund projects that boost India’s economy.
Last year the watchdog, the Independent Commission for Aid Impact, found countries which DfID had pledged to stop giving cash to were still receiving money through other means.
A total of £30million was handed to India for assistance in how to use their own money to help alleviate poverty for 2016-17. A further £40million was earmarked for ‘development capital investments’, delivered in the form of loans or equity investments to Indian firms and financial institutions. A DfID spokesman said: ‘No UK aid money is spent on helping developing countries to put people into space. As set out four years ago, we have now ended traditional financial aid to India and moved towards a more strategic relationship which focuses on sharing skills and expertise.’
■ Britain is one of just six countries which spends 0.7 per cent of its national income on foreign aid, it was confirmed last night.There are a couple of ways to contextualize these numbers.
Observers have noted the fact that American police officers kill orders of magnitude more people than their counterparts in other western democracies. Now, the number of U.S. cops arrested for killings in the last five months exceeds the total number of people shot and killed by cops in England going back five years. This is particularly extraordinary given how reluctant many U.S. prosecutors are to file charges against police, and how much deference police reports are given in the absence of video or forensic evidence, like a bullet in the back, that blatantly contradicts their story.
Are U.S. police now being charged at a higher rate than before? Maybe. Over a seven-year period ending in 2011, “41 officers in the U.S. were charged with either murder or manslaughter in connection with on-duty shootings,” The Wall Street Journal reported in 2014, citing research by Philip Stinson, an assistant professor of criminal justice at Bowling Green State University. That figure works out to an average of 5.8 officers charged per year, but excludes officers charged in non-shooting deaths.
In a phone interview on Tuesday, Professor Stinson told me that in a period stretching from May 2005 to April 2015, 54 officers were charged for on-duty killings where they shot someone, working out to 5.4 officers charged per year. But that figure excludes non-shooting incidents, like when cops kill someone with a Taser or car.
Stinson also has data in which cases are the unit of measure.
Over that same seven-year period stretching from 2005 to 2011, there were 46 cases of cops being charged for on-duty killings of any kind––6.5 cases per year on average. The 14 officers charged over the past five months works out to an annualized rate of 33.6 cases per year, or more than five times the usual rate.
(The number of cases for on-duty and off-duty killings was much higher: 127 cases in that same time period, which works out to 18.1 cases per year.)
If prosecutors and grand juries are to be trusted, cops murder or unlawfully slaughter an extraordinary number of people. And while it may be that the five-month period we’re in now will look like just an unusual cluster, if the rate at which cops are indicted for killings continues at this pace, then we’re witnessing a sharp disjuncture with the recent past.
In yet another case, “a judge in Cleveland said that he believes there is probable cause to charge a police officer with murder for the death of Tamir Rice, the 12-year-old boy fatally shot while playing with a toy gun last year,” The Washington Post reported in June, but the ruling, “does not amount to formal charges being filed against the officers involved.” Regardless of how many officers are charged in coming months, the year-end number of cops charged will be scandalous, even though it almost certainly undercounts the number of unjust killings. Defenders of the status quo in policing should wake up to the need for reforms.It's been three years since the Google Street View camera made its way through the streets of the Blue Hills neighborhood between Prospect Avenue and Paseo Boulevard, and 47th and 63rd Streets.
In that time, as the community has tried to shake the stigma of being filled with blighted homes, the community has seen a lot of visible changes. (See how Blue Hills has been trying to change its reputation.)
One major change is the building of Blue Hills Community Services' new home — it's a modern facility built with green technology on Prospect Avenue that can be seen from 71 Highway. As a business incubator, it provides area contractors with office space and resources and serves as a community meeting space.
Below you can see that the building replaced a building that had been sitting vacant for years:
In addition to office spaces, the new facility includes a community garden space and orchard. What used to be an overgrown lot is now a garden available for community members to rent space:
The Blue Hills neighborhood is inching its way back to its pre-recession numbers. Of the 3600 residential properties in the neighborhood, 55 percent of the residents own their home and values are rising. The house below was rehabbed by Blue Hills Community Services and is now on the market. The organization has assisted in 225 home repairs, 15 rehabs, and have even built new homes on once vacant lots.
The neighborhood is seeing a shift since the housing crisis and the high rate of foreclosures that resulted from it. What once were boarded up houses are now occupied by mostly young people who are moving in and fixing them up.
This look at Kansas City's east side is part of KCUR's months-long examination of how geographic borders affect our daily lives in Kansas City. KCUR will go Beyond Our Borders and spark a community conversation through social outreach and innovative journalism.
We will share the history of these lines, how the borders affect the current Kansas City experience and what's being done to bridge or dissolve them. Be a source for Beyond Our Borders: Share your perspective and experiences east of Troost with KCUR.Though the organizer of Sunday’s far-right rally in Berkeley has called off the event, attendees seem unlikely to heed her request — and counter-protesters are certainly not scrapping their plans.
After sending out a letter Friday evening asking others to avoid Civic Center Park, organizer Amber Cummings took a step further and canceled the “No to Marxism in America” event listing on Facebook, where hundreds had said they planned to come to the park, from 1-5 p.m. Associated organizer Ansen Hatcher suggested people go “observe” Cummings hold a one-person “rally” at the park instead.
Want to share with us what you experience this weekend? Tag @Berkeleyside
Thousands of people had been planning to gather in different parts of Berkeley to protest the far-right rally, and most seem undeterred by reports of the cancellation. Some say they believe right-wing and white nationalist views will still be on full display, and others say they want to send a message regardless.
But what is the most powerful message to send? In Berkeley, views have long diverged significantly on the best way to respond to the rally. Fight back? Ignore the protests? Hold peaceful counter-demonstrations nearby? Put a poster up in the window and stay as far away as possible?
Some planned reactions are a bit more creative, from setting up an “empathy tent,” to decorating the park, to encircling the space and singing.
The city of Berkeley decided a good way to declare opposition to the right-wing rally was to print 20,000 “Berkeley stands united against hate” posters, and distribute them among different sites so residents could pick them up and hang them at home.
By Friday afternoon, most locations were completely out or “down to scraps,” according to Jacquelyn McCormick, the mayor’s senior advisor.
Resident Margy Wilkinson stood outside the entrance to Ashby BART on Friday evening to hand out the posters. She said the reaction was stronger than she expected.
“Oh my god!” Wilkinson wrote in an email to McCormick. “Tony and I distributed all we had (over 100) at the Ashby BART station between 5:00 & 6:00 today. We could not hand them out fast enough.… It was just exhilarating.”
Friday evening, Yvette Felarca — a Berkeley middle school teacher and a national organizer for By Any Means Necessary who is facing criminal charges related to her opposition to a neo-Nazi rally in Sacramento last year — called a press conference to announce that her group still plans to mobilize this weekend against “the alt-right and the Nazis.” She called on her supporters and others to show up in Berkeley’s Martin Luther King Jr. Civic Center Park at 10 a.m. Sunday to “shut them down.” Other anti-fascist, or antifa, groups, along with other community members, have said they plan to march to the site of the rally from Ohlone Park on Sunday morning.
Numerous citizen, union and educational groups have their own plans about how to speak out against the racism and hatred they say is central to the rally organizers’ message.
“No one messes with a party that has a bouncy castle”
Roberto Santiago, creator of the popular Facebook group “Your Mom is so Berkeley,” known for its affectionate parodies of Berkeleyans, had the idea of trying to obtain a permit for an event in the same Civic Center Park location, effectively preventing the far-right protest. When he had the thought in mid-August, no one had requested a permit. Comments made by Mayor Jesse Arreguín about the lack of a permit applications made Santiago suspect the mayor was nudging counter-groups to put plans in motion, Santiago said.
On Aug. 15, Santiago wrote on his group’s Facebook page: “SERIOUS QUESTION: The mayor says no permit has been requested for Civic Center Park on 8/27. The permit costs around $550 including deposit. Is anyone interested in getting a permit and not allowing the Nazis to use the space? I am soliciting money here. I can’t afford it on my own.”
A number of people expressed enthusiasm about his idea and put forth colorful suggestions for the event, such as setting up a bounce house since “no one messes with a party that has a bouncy castle.” Another suggested filling the whole park with water balloons. Others suggested speakers, music and arts and crafts.
“We called it the ‘Berkeley Moms Day of Peace in Action,'” wrote Santiago. “The goal was to ignore the invaders right to their faces. If you have a permit for an event, other groups can’t come and disrupt your permitted event. Sure, anyone can attend because it’s at the park, but they can’t cause trouble… If you rent a picnic area at Tilden, people can’t come through with [swastika] flags knocking over your condiments.”
But Santiago’s permit was denied, as were those of Cummings and one other. All three were denied for failure to follow city protocol, in part by submitting applications fewer than 10 business days before the events.
The Berkeley City Council recently gave the city manager’s office the authority to issue temporary rules for large public events, but only if the organizers do not hold permits. The city released the rules, including prohibitions on a number of items that could be used as weapons, Friday evening.
Police are restricting bricks, rocks, axes, mace, knives, firearms, dynamite and torches in a defined area of Berkeley bounded by Martin Luther King Jr. Way to the west, Oxford Street to the east, Bancroft Way and Channing Way to the south, and University Avenue to the north, according to a police Nixle alert.
“Additionally, in Civic Center Park on Sunday, August 27, signs and flags must be held by hand, and may not be affixed to any pole or stick,” the Nixle alert stated.”Wearing of a mask, scarf, bandana or any other accessory or item that covers or partially covers the face and shields the wearer’s face from view, or partially from view, is prohibited in Civic Center Park on August 27, except for coverings worn due to religious beliefs, practices or observances.”
Santiago said he was disappointed he was not notified sooner that his application had been denied so he could appeal the decision. Regardless, Santiago and his group are pressing forward.
In a new post Thursday, he wrote, “If you are interested in decorating the park (lawn chalk, sidewalk chalk, etc) the day/night before (8/26), let’s start planning that.”
On Saturday morning, Santiago said he was skeptical that no one on the right will show up to protest in the park.
The group tweeted, “Your Mom is So Berkeley…she doesn’t believe anything is ‘cancelled’ and she’s still showing up the next couple days.”
While one of the most inventive, “Your Mom is So Berkeley” is hardly the only group organizing a counter-event in reaction to Sunday’s rally.
The response by Berkeleyans this month has been much larger and more diverse than in the past, in large part because a white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, early this month culminated with the killing of a counter-protester.
The largest counter-event scheduled is the Bay Area Rally Against Hate, planned for Crescent lawn on Oxford Street from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. As of Saturday, 3,100 people were listed as attending on the Facebook event page, with another 7,000 showing interest.
Cathy Campbell, president of the Berkeley Federation of Teachers, one of the many labor and socialist groups organizing the Rally Against Hate, said the event is not meant to be a “warm-up” for Civic Center Park. “It is specifically available as an alternative space for families, students and teachers,” she said.
Although there was some skepticism at first, more people have embraced the counter-rally after observing a massive peaceful counter-demonstration that confronted a right-wing rally Boston, she said. About 150 people showed up to a safety training held by the organizers, and they will work as medics and safety marshals at Crescent lawn, Campbell said.
On Saturday, Campbell said, “Nothing has changed with our event except that we expect even more people to attend.”
Additionally, another group, Showing up for Racial Justice, plans to hold a march, along with others, to Civic Center Park where Amber Cummings said she will hold a one-woman rally.
University of California police sent a “stay away advisory” Saturday morning recommending that people avoid the gathering on the West Crescent lawn.
“For the security and well-being of our campus community, UCPD is advising our students, staff, faculty and community members to avoid this area if possible, due to the potential for conflict and unlawful activity,” said UCPD.
Berkeley |
16. Evolution of controversy measure with number of edits of Anarchism and Barack Obama. is normalized to the final value. There is no consensus even for a short period and editorial wars continue nonstop. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038869.g016
To see the impact of controversiality on burstiness we calculated for different groups of articles separately: Disputed articles, Listed articles coming from the List of controversial articles in WP [51], Randomly selected articles, and Featured articles (assumed to be least controversial given WPs stringent selection criteria for featuring an article). The histograms in Figure 8(A) show the PDF of in these four classes. As can be seen, the peaks are shifted to the right (higher ) for more controversial articles, but not strongly enough to base the detection of controversy on burstiness of editorial activity alone. Reverting is a useful tool to restore vandalized articles, but it is also a popular weapon in heated debates. Figure 8(B) shows the distribution of calculated not for all edits, but for reverts alone: the shift is now more marked. Finally, we considered an even stronger form of warfare: mutual reverts. It is evident that the temporal pattern of mutual reverts provides a better characterization of controversiality than that of all edits or all reverts, and the very visible shift observed in Figure 8(C) constitutes another, albeit less direct, justification of our decision to make mutual reverts the central element in our measure of controversiality.
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 17. Relative share of each category at different M Relative share of each category at different M Blue: category (a), consensus. Red: category (b), multi-consensus. Yellow: Category (c), never-ending war. For the precise definition of each category see the main text. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038869.g017
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 18. Length distribution of articles and talk pages with log-normals fits. The distribution of articles length is better described by a log-normal distribution compared to the talk length distribution, which tends to be more like a power-law. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038869.g018
To gain a better understanding of the microdynamics of edit wars, we selected two samples of 20 articles each, extracted from a pool of articles with average successive edit time intervals of 10 hours. One sample contains the most controversial articles in the pool with, whereas the other one contains the most peaceful articles with. The probability distribution of time between edits for these samples is shown in Figure 9. Both samples have a rather fat-tailed distribution with a shoulder in the distribution (as observed both in the empirical data and the model calculation), indicating that a characteristic time, seconds (one day), is present in the system. However, only the sample consisting of controversial articles displays a clear power-law distribution,,with. All exponents were calculated by applying the Gnuplot implementation [52] of the nonlinear least-squares Marquardt-Levenberg algorithm [53] on the log-binned data with an upper cut-off to avoid system size effects.
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 19. Scatter plot of talk page vs. article length. Color coding is according to logarithm of the density of points. The correlation between the length of the article and the corresponding talk page is weak,. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038869.g019
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 20. Scatter plot of talk page length vs.. Color coding is according to logarithm of the density of points. There is a rather clear correlation, between the length of the talk page and the controversality of the article. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038869.g020
To fit the data depicted in Figure 9, we used a model based on a queuing mechanism introduced in [50] and further developed in [54]. Here we briefly explain its basis and how we use it to model our empirical findings. Let us assume that there is a list of articles and there is only one editor (mean-field approximation) who edits at each step once. With probability, the editor selects the article to edit from the list randomly and with no preference among choices. With probability the articles will be selected according to a priority which is assigned randomly to the article after each edit on it. The key parameters are and the real time associated to the model time step. Controversial articles are fitted well by close to 1 and small. Uncontroversial articles fit with large and smaller, in nice agreement with the real situation, where editors tend to edit a few controversial articles more intentionally and many peaceful articles in a more or less uncorrelated manner with no bias and memory. To check the validity of the model, we calculated the ratio of the number of controversial articles (with ) to the rest of the articles ( ) to be, which is in nice agreement with the fitting model parameters, 20/500 = 0.04.
Another important characteristic quantity is the autocorrelation function. To calculate it, first we produce a binary series of 0/1 similar to the one in Figure 4. Then is computed simply as (4)
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 21. Network representation of editors’ interactions in the discussion page of Safavid dynasty. Each circle is an editor, red arrows represent comments opposing the target editor, T-end green lines represent positive comments (agreeing with the other editor), and yellow lines with round end represent neutral comments. Line thickness is proportional to the number of times that the same interaction occurs. Data based entirely on subjective assessments (manual review). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038869.g021
where stands for the time average over the whole series. for the same samples of controversial and peaceful articles are shown in Figure 10. We calculate the same quantity for a shuffled sequence of events as a reference. The shuffled sequence has the same time interval distribution as the original sequence, but with a randomized order in the occurrence of events. In both cases, a power-law of describes very well. Usually it is assumed that slow (power law) decay of the autocorrelation function is an indicator for long time memory processes. However, if independent random intervals taken from a power law distribution separate the events, the resulting autocorrelation will also show power law time dependence [55], [56]. Assuming that the exponent of the independent inter-event time distribution is and the exponent of the decay of the correlation function is, we have the relationship. Deviations from this scaling law reflect intrinsic correlations in the events.
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Figure 22. Average Average, color coded for different M’s and n’s. For a wide range of articles and in a long time of their lives, the relative contribution of the top 5 most reverting pair of editors, is very close to 1, making clear the important role of the top 5 pairs of fighting editors. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038869.g022
There is another measure which indicates long time correlations between the events even more sensitively. Take a period to be bursty if the time interval between each pair of successive edits is not larger than, and define as the number of events in the bursty periods. If events in the time series are independent and there is no memory in the system (i.e. in a Poisson process), one can easily show that should have an exponential decay, whereas in the presence of long range memory, the decay is in the form of [56]. In Figure 11, is shown for samples of highly controversial and peaceful articles. In the high controversy sample a well defined slope of -2.83 is observed, while in the low controversy sample edits are more independent and is very close to the one obtained for the shuffled sequence. Note that by shuffling the sequence of time intervals, all the correlations are eliminated and the resulting sequence should mimic the features of an uncorrelated occurrence of the intervals.
The same measurements are performed for a sample of users, see Figure S1 in Supporting Information. In Table.1, a summary of the scaling exponents for the both article samples and users is reported.
The simplest explanation of these results is to say that conflicts induce correlations in the editing history of articles. This can already be seen in Figure 10, where shuffling influences the decay of the autocorrelation functions much more for high- articles than for low- ones. For the more sensitive measure the original and the shuffled data are again quite close to each other for the low- case, while a power-law type decay can be observed in the empirical data for high- articles.Canadian authorities boasted Monday afternoon that, working in concert with the FBI and other US national security agencies, they had broken up a terrorist conspiracy involving an Iranian-based al-Qaeda cell. The announcement, made at a Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) press conference, came just as the House of Commons was set to debate new anti-terrorism legislation that would give the state draconian new powers.
Two men, 30 year-old Chiheb Esseghaier, and 35 year-old, Raed Jaser, have since been charged with grave terrorist offences—charges that they vehemently deny. Yet the RCMP and Stephen Harper’s Conservative government have provided virtually no information about the alleged plot, beyond saying that the men carried out surveillance of Toronto’s railway network with a view to bombing or derailing a New York-bound passenger train.
The little that has been revealed leaves no doubt that the timing of the arrests was a calculated political decision, made in close consultation with the highest levels of the US government, and with the aim of stampeding the public on both sides of the border into accepting police-state measures.
At Monday’s press conference, the RCMP conceded that there had never been an imminent threat of a terrorist attack or even a definite plan for an attack, and that Esseghaier and Jaser have long been in the police’s sights.
It was subsequently revealed that the two alleged terrorist plotters have been under heavy state surveillance since last August—that is, for the past eight months—and that their alleged crimes date back to last year.
The charges presented by the Crown in court on Tuesday state that all but one of the offenses the two men allegedly committed—including conspiracy to commit murder—occurred in 2012 and most of them between April and September of last year. The lone exception is a charge against Esseghaier of participating in a terrorist group.
Neither the police nor government have given any reason as to why, after allowing the accused to remain at large for months, they were suddenly arrested Monday afternoon and in a very high-profile manner. Esseghaier was apprehended while eating at a McDonald’s outlet in Montreal’s main train station; scores of police armed with rifles and accompanied by search-dogs descended on Jaser’s workplace in the Toronto borough of North York.
Speaking Tuesday after Jaser’s arraignment in a Toronto court, his lawyer, John Norris, drew attention to the timing of the police-government announcement that they had uncovered Canada’s first “al-Qaeda-sponsored” terror plot. Said Norris, “The timing of the arrest is a bit of a mystery and certainly I would like to hear the RCMP’s explanation for that. They have been very clear that there is no risk of public safety and it is surprising to say the least that this arrest would be made now, close on the heels of what happened in Boston and timed perfectly with what was happening in the House of Commons yesterday.”
On Friday, the Conservative government announced that it was changing the House of Commons’ agenda, scheduling third and final reading of its “Combating Terrorism Act” (Bill S-7) to begin Monday and conclude this week. Bill S-7 gives the state vast new powers. These include: the right to hold terrorism suspects for 72 hours without charge, to convene “investigative hearings” at which those believed to have information about an imminent terrorist attack are stripped of their right to remain silent, and the power to place restrictions for up to a year on the movements and rights of persons deemed by the state to be terrorist suspects but against whom they have insufficient evidence to lay charges.
The Conservative government’s decision to change the House of Commons agenda and rush through passage of its anti-terrorism legislation came the same day that US authorities had placed Boston under “lock down,” that is effective martial law, under the pretext of a manhunt for one 19-year-old suspect.
US authorities have been quick to trumpet the Canadian claims of a thwarted terrorist attack—claims that boost their own efforts to portray North America as under siege from terrorists and justify a vast expansion of the national-security apparatus and coercive powers of the state. The US ambassador to Canada, David Jacobson, issued a statement Monday saying the arrests of Esseghaier and Jaser “were the result of extensive cross-border cooperation” and had underscored “that we face serious and real threats.”
As for the Canadian authorities’ claims about the substance of the alleged Toronto railway terror plot, they should be treated with the utmost caution and skepticism.
In Canada, as in the US, the “war on terror’ has been used by Liberal and Conservative governments alike as a pretext to justify imperialist intervention and erect the scaffolding of a police state.
In 2006, the RCMP staged the dramatic arrest of 18 people, almost all of them young people and some not even 18, whom they accused of preparing extensive terrorist attacks, including blowing up the parliament buildings. It subsequently emerged that the two most incriminating actions of the “Toronto 18” had been facilitated by police provocateurs. One police agent had provided the arms instruction at a “terrorist training camp,” while another had provided phony bomb-making ingredients. Nevertheless, eleven of the eighteen were convicted and most of these given lengthy prison terms.
Both Esseghaier and Jaser have protested their innocence.
At a court appearance in Montreal Tuesday, Esseghaier, a Tunisian-born Ph.D. student with expertise in nanotechnology, said in response to the charges, “These conclusions are being reached based on facts that are nothing but words and appearances.” Judge Pierre Labelle promptly ordered him to say no more, then shut down the hearing.
According to Jaser’s lawyer, Norris, “My client is in a state of shock and disbelief that this happening to him. He intends to defend himself vigorously.”
Norris added that, “the public should wait for the evidence, not [base its judgments on] a press conference.” He also took exception to the police’s attempt to present his client as a non-Canadian, noting that the Palestinian refugee has lived with his family in Canada for the past twenty years.
At Monday’s press conference, the RCMP asserted that Esseghaier and Jaser had acted under the “direction and guidance” of “al-Qaeda elements located in Iran.”
The RCMP said that they had no evidence of Iranian government involvement. However, in the past Washington has accused the Iranian government—notwithstanding its long history of bitter enmity with the Sunni fundamentalist al-Qaeda—of allowing al-Qaeda to use Iran as a conduit for money and operatives. Ottawa and Washington may now attempt to revive these dubious allegations and use them as part of their longstanding campaign to bully Iran and to whip up popular support for military aggression against the Iranian people.
The Harper Conservative government, which has declared itself Israel’s strongest ally and has expanded Canada’s decades’ old military-strategic alliance with Washington, broke off diplomatic relations with Teheran last summer. In justifying this action, Conservative Foreign Minister John Baird labeled Iran “the most significant threat to global peace and security in the world today.”
Iran, for its part, has angrily rejected the claims of an Iranian connection to the reputed terrorist plot in Canada. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran opposes “terrorist and violent action that would jeopardize lives of innocent people” and emphasized that al-Qaeda has “no compatibility with Iran in political and ideological fields.”
Mehmanparast also pointed to the hypocrisy and cynicism of Canada’s government which routinely attacks Iran as supporter of terrorism, while backing the US-orchestrated campaign to overthrow the Syrian government—a campaign in which Islamacist forces, some of them openly aligned with al-Qaeda, are serving as shock troops. “The same current,” said Mehmanparast, “is killing people in Syria while enjoying Canada’s support.”
Workers and young people should oppose all attempts on the part of Canada’s elite to use the purported Toronto terror plot to attack democratic rights—beginning with Bill S-7—or to justify imperialist aggression.Blow across the home of the bureaucrats, the lobbyists and the cops
by Clinton Tyree
While the Tampa police and several media outlets obsess about whether or not some bricks and pipes on top of a building were intended to be launched at their heads during the RNC next week, the potential for much more substantial projectiles is brewing off the coast.
According to a recent report, Hurricane Isaac Threatens to Swamp Republican Convention, the Mayor says he’s ready to call it all off. So far the storm, already as big as Texas, has succeeded in hitting the empire where it hurts, causing hundreds to evacuate to the US military base in Guantanamo Bay.
This lovely report reminds us, “The last Hurricane to hit Florida, Wilma, was a Catagory 1 but did billions in damage.”
The prospect that forces of nature could call off a gathering of arguably the most elite politicians in the world is almost enough to make ya wanna get to church and give thanks to lord Jesus for such karmic retribution. Or not.
Regardless, the Everglades Earth First! crew is still inviting you to join us out in the streets, celebrating one of the only elements on the planet that the status quo seems to respond to. As Mama Nature once whispered into the ear of a crusty ol’ bearded Russian anarchist, the urge to destroy is a creative urge (as in, “I want to create some smashed glass from that McDonald’s window over there.”)
AdvertisementsThe man is charged with a total of 346 counts of participating in rapes or sexual assaults of minors. The Dane allegedly ordered the abuse of Filipino children from his home and had it streamed to his computer.
Flemming Kjærside of the Danish National Police's Cyber Crime Center said the case is of historic proportions.
“As far as I know we've never had a case in the whole world in which one person is charged with so many assaults,” he told news agency Ritzau.
The children involved were as young as three years old and were forced to perform sexual acts on each other. In some instances, the children's own parents carried out the abuse.
The charges against the 70-year-old are laid out in a 119-page indictment that details the depravity of his alleged acts. In once instance, a four-year-old girl was sexually abused by her own mother after the man paid her $35 dollars, or about 250 kroner. In another, a three-year-old girl was forced to perform oral sex on a five-year-old girl.
The man was arrested in February 2016 after Copenhagen Vestegn Police received a tip-off from a foreign law enforcement agency.
Prosecutors will push for indefinite detention when the man's trial begins on February 28th in Glostrup. A verdict is expected in June.Below is a list of all full service restaurants, quick service restaurants, buffets, food carts, bars, lounges, and other dining venues at Walt Disney World, along with all the menus, including pricing, for these locations. Many restaurants have several menu variations (breakfast, lunch, dinner, children, bar/lounge, etc.), so make sure that you’re using the version for the type of meal you want.
You can browse restaurants by location (park, hotel, Disney Springs, etc.) or use our search tool to locate where you can find specific foods at Walt Disney World. Example searches might be "steak" or "green beans;" however, bear in mind that you might miss a few items with even a broad search. For example, a search for "pizza" with the "Magic Kingdom" location finds several options, but does not list many of the pizzas offered at the Magic Kingdom’s Pinocchio Village Haus because Disney uses the term "flatbread" rather than "pizza" at this location. Similarly, if you’re looking for fried poultry, try searching "chicken fingers" and "chicken strips" as well as "chicken nuggets."
If you’re traveling with guests with food allergies or sensitivities, keep an eye out for the restaurants which list allergy-friendly or allergy-friendly kids’ menus. Another tool for guests with allergy issues is to search phrases like "egg allergy" or "soy allergy" to create a list of locations and menu items that meet your needs.
Note: Disney menus are subject to change.
Search for Menu Items
Location:
All Locations Magic Kingdom Epcot Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney's Animal Kingdom Typhoon Lagoon Blizzard Beach All On-site Hotels B Resort & Spa - Disney Springs Resort Area Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort Best Western Lake Buena Vista – Disney Springs Area Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge Copper Creek Villas & Cabins at Disney's Wilderness Lodge Disney's All-Star Movies Resort Disney's All-Star Music Resort Disney's All-Star Sports Resort Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village Disney's Art of Animation Resort Disney's Beach Club Resort Disney's Beach Club Villas Disney's BoardWalk Inn Disney's BoardWalk Villas Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort Disney's Contemporary Resort Disney's Coronado Springs Resort Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa Disney's Old Key West Resort Disney's Polynesian Village Resort Disney's Polynesian Villas & Bungalows Disney's Pop Century Resort Disney's Port Orleans Resort - French Quarter Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside Disney's Riviera Resort Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa Disney's Wilderness Lodge Disney's Yacht Club Resort Dolphin at Walt Disney World DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Orlando – Disney Springs Area Four Seasons Resort Orlando at Walt Disney World Resort Hilton Orlando Buena Vista Palace – Disney Springs Area Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista - Disney Springs Area Holiday Inn Orlando - Disney Springs Area Reflections - A Disney Lakeside Lodge Shades of Green at Walt Disney World Swan at Walt Disney World The Cabins at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort The Villas at Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa Treehouse Villas at Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista Disney Springs Resort Area Other (Disney Springs, ESPN WWoS, etc.) Restaurant Type:
All Categories Bar or Lounge Quick Service Food Stand or Cart Market Room Service Table Service Table and Counter Service Show DDP-eligible
snacks only
Magic Kingdom
Epcot
Disney's Hollywood Studios
Disney's Animal Kingdom
Typhoon Lagoon
Blizzard Beach
Bay Lake Tower at Disney's Contemporary Resort
Disney's All-Star Movies Resort
Disney's All-Star Music Resort
Disney's All-Star Sports Resort
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge - Jambo House
Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge - Kidani Village
Disney's Art of Animation Resort
Disney's Beach Club Resort
Disney's BoardWalk Inn
Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort
Disney's Contemporary Resort
Disney's Coronado Springs Resort
Disney's Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Disney's Old Key West Resort
Disney's Polynesian Village Resort
Disney's Pop Century Resort
Disney's Port Orleans Resort - French Quarter
Disney's Port Orleans Resort - Riverside
Disney's Riviera Resort
Disney's Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
Disney's Wilderness Lodge
Disney's Yacht Club Resort
Dolphin at Walt Disney World
Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista - Disney Springs Area
Swan at Walt Disney World
The Cabins at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort
Wyndham Garden Lake Buena Vista Disney Springs Resort Area
Other (Disney Springs, ESPN WWoS, etc.)KUWAIT'S lower court has sentenced an opposition youth activist to five years in jail "with immediate effect" for insulting the emir on Twitter, a rights group said.
"The court passed the maximum jail term against Mohammad Eid al-Ajmi for insulting the emir on Twitter," the director of the Kuwait Society for Human Rights, Mohammad al-Humaidi, said.
The ruling is not final as it will be appealed, but Ajmi will begin serving the sentence immediately, Mr Humaidi said.
Ajmi is the third opposition youth activist to be convicted for insulting the emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, on Twitter. Last month the same court sentenced two tweeters to two years each in jail each on the same charge.
Ayyad al-Harbi and Rashed al-Enezi are both in prison as they await appeals court rulings on their cases.
Mr Humaidi said a large number of youth activists are on trial on similar charges, with verdicts expected in the coming weeks.
The criminal court is also scheduled to issue its verdict on Tuesday against three former opposition MPs for criticising the emir at a public rally on October 10.
Criticising the emir is illegal in Kuwait and is considered a state security charge. Those convicted of the offence face up to five years in jail.
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said last month Washington had already raised with Kuwait its concern about such sentences.
The opposition has been staging regular demonstrations in protest at an amendment of the electoral law and the subsequent holding of a parliamentary election on December 1 on the basis of the amended legislation.
The opposition held a public rally late Saturday to express solidarity with Twitter users and former MPs on trial for expressing their opinion.September 30, 2015
There are few topics more divisive among language learners than the question of translation. Is translating a bad habit? Should learners stop as soon as possible? Whatever your opinion, Readlang can now help.
From today, you can disable translations and access monolingual definitions.
Translations On (default)
This is the way Readlang is typically used - unobtrusive translations are provided in the text itself, with the option of extra translations in the sidebar dictionary.
Translations Off (monolingual option for advanced learners)
To turn off translations and go monolingual, click on the little arrow so that it turns to a cross. The box representing your first language will be greyed out and the sidebar dictionary will show definitions in the language you are learning:
In the background, Readlang will still translate these words in order to prepare flashcards for you to review later.
Customizing your monolingual dictionaries
You can now define two different custom dictionaries for each language that you are studying, a monolingual one and a bilingual one. Many of the languages have pre-defined dictionaries, for other suggestions see a guide to online dictionaries on Fluent in 3 Months.
Add your own favorite monolingual or bilingual dictionary from the settings page:
Web Reader
The monolingual mode works within the Web Reader just the same way - click the little arrow in the Web Reader toolbar to toggle between translation and monolingual mode. The monolingual definitions will be displayed in an external pop-up window. (On some browsers the pop-up may not appear at first, in this case, click Menu -> Open Dictionary to see it, it will then update on each subsequent lookup.)
Give it a try
The translation mode is still the main attraction of Readlang, with the new monolingual mode as an alternative when you feel like more of a challenge. So which is more effective - to translate or not to translate? Try both ways and decide for yourself.
Please leave feedback in the comments below.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
DisqusFirst of three parts
The day began with a drive across the desert, checking the snares he had placed in the sagebrush to catch coyotes.
Gary Strader, an employee of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, stepped out of his truck near a ravine in Nevada and found something he hadn't intended to kill.
There, strangled in a neck snare, was one of the most majestic birds in America, a federally protected golden eagle.
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"I called my supervisor and said, 'I just caught a golden eagle and it's dead,' " said Strader. "He said, 'Did anybody see it?' I said, 'Geez, I don't think so.'
"He said, 'If you think nobody saw it, go get a shovel and bury it and don't say nothing to anybody.' "
"That bothered me," said Strader, whose job was terminated in 2009. "It wasn't right."
Strader's employer, a branch of the federal Department of Agriculture called Wildlife Services, has long specialized in killing animals that are deemed a threat to agriculture, the public and – more recently – the environment.
Since 2000, its employees have killed nearly a million coyotes, mostly in the West. They have destroyed millions of birds, from nonnative starlings to migratory shorebirds, along with a colorful menagerie of more than 300 other species, including black bears, beavers, porcupines, river otters, mountain lions and wolves.
And in most cases, they have officially revealed little or no detail about where the creatures were killed, or why. But a Bee investigation has found the agency's practices to be indiscriminate, at odds with science, inhumane and sometimes illegal.
The Bee's findings include:
With steel traps, wire snares and poison, agency employees have accidentally killed more than 50,000 animals since 2000 that were not problems, including federally protected golden and bald eagles; more than 1,100 dogs, including family pets; and several species considered rare or imperiled by wildlife biologists.
Since 1987, at least 18 employees and several members of the public have been exposed to cyanide when they triggered spring-loaded cartridges laced with poison meant to kill coyotes. They survived – but 10 people have died and many others have been injured in crashes during agency aerial gunning operations since 1979.
A growing body of science has found the agency's war against predators, waged to protect livestock and big game, is altering ecosystems in ways that diminish biodiversity, degrade habitat and invite disease.
Sometimes wild animals must be destroyed – from bears that ransack mountain cabins to geese swirling over an airport runway. But because lethal control stirs strong emotions, Wildlife Services prefers to operate in the shadows.
"We pride ourselves on our ability to go in and get the job done quietly without many people knowing about it," said Dennis Orthmeyer, acting state director of Wildlife Services in California.
Basic facts are tightly guarded. "This information is Not intended for indiscriminate distribution!!!" wrote one Wildlife Services manager in an email to a municipal worker in Elk Grove about the number of beavers killed there.
And while even the military allows the media into the field, Wildlife Services does not. "If we accommodated your request, we would have to accommodate all requests," wrote Mark Jensen, director of Wildlife Services in Nevada, turning down a request by The Bee to observe its hunters and trappers in action.
"The public has every right to scrutinize what's going on," said Carter Niemeyer, a former Wildlife Services district manager who worked for the agency for 26 years and now believes much of the bloodletting is excessive, scientifically unsound and a waste of tax dollars.
"If you read the brochures, go on their website, they play down the lethal control, which they are heavily involved in, and show you this benign side," Niemeyer said. "It's smoke and mirrors. It's a killing business. And it ain't pretty.
"If the public knows this and they don't care, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it," Niemeyer said. "But they are entitled to know."
Agency officials say the criticism is misleading. "If we can use nonlethal control first, we usually do it," said William Clay, deputy administrator of Wildlife Services. "The problem is, generally when we get a call, it's because farmers and ranchers are having livestock killed immediately. They are being killed daily. Our first response is to try to stop the killing and then implement nonlethal methods."
In March, two congressmen – Reps. John Campbell, R-Irvine, and Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. – introduced a bill that would ban one of Wildlife Services' most controversial killing tools: spring-loaded sodium cyanide cartridges that have killed tens of thousands of animals in recent years, along with Compound 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate), a less-commonly used poison.
"This is an ineffective, wasteful program that is largely unaccountable, lacks transparency and continues to rely on cruel and indiscriminate methods," said Camilla Fox, executive director of Project Coyote, a Bay Area nonprofit.
"If people knew how many animals are being killed at taxpayer expense – often on public lands – they would be shocked and horrified," Fox said.
The program's origins
Wildlife Services' roots reach back to 1915, when Congress – hoping to increase beef production for World War I – allocated $125,000 to exterminate wolves, starting in Nevada.
Popular among ranchers, the effort was expanded in 1931 when President Herbert Hoover signed a law authorizing the creation of a government agency – later named the Branch of Predator and Rodent Control – "to promulgate the best methods of eradication, suppression or bringing under control" a wide range of wildlife from mountain lions to prairie dogs.
Federal trappers pursued that mission with zeal. They dropped strychnine out of airplanes, shot eagles from helicopters, laced carcasses of dead animals with Compound 1080 – notorious for killing non-target species – and slaughtered coyotes, wolves, mountain lions and grizzly bears across the West.
Their efforts drew protest and calls for reform.
"The program of animal control has become an end in itself and no longer is a balanced component of an overall scheme of wildlife husbandry and management," a panel of scientists wrote in a 1964 report to the U.S. secretary of Interior.
The report was followed by hearings, another critical federal review in 1971, unflattering press and an executive order by President Richard Nixon banning poison for federal predator control. "The time has come for man to make his peace with nature," Nixon said in a statement at the time.
President Gerald Ford later amended the order to allow the continued use of sodium cyanide.
The killing has continued on a broad scale. In 1999, the American Society of Mammalogists passed a resolution calling on the agency, renamed Wildlife Services in 1997, "to cease indiscriminate, pre-emptive lethal control programs on federal, state and private lands." Today, the society is considering drafting a new resolution.
"It makes no sense to spend tens of millions of dollars to kill predators, especially in the way that it's done, to the extent that it's done, when it can have cascading effects through the ecosystem, unintended consequences and nontarget consequences," said Bradley Bergstrom, a professor of wildlife biology at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga., and chairman of the society's conservation committee.
Clay, though, said his agency is more science-based and environmentally sensitive than ever. "We've increased the professionalism 100 percent," he said. "We've also emphasized research to more specifically take target animals. And we work very closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and state wildlife agencies."
Elizabeth Copper, a Southern California biologist who has worked with Wildlife Services, agreed. She applauded the agency's work to protect the endangered California least tern from predators in the San Diego area.
"I know the reputation Wildlife Services has and it is particularly inappropriate for the people involved with this program," said Copper. "They work really hard with a focus for something that is in big trouble. And they've made a huge difference."
Unreported killings
But elsewhere, the agency's actions have stirred anger and concern from private citizens, scientists and state and federal fish and game officials.
In 2003, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources received a tip that a golden eagle – one of the largest birds of prey in North America and a species protected by three federal laws, including the Migratory Bird Treaty Act – was struggling to free itself from a leg-hold trap in the remote Henry Mountains.
Roger Kerstetter – an investigator with the state wildlife division – found the trap, but no eagle. Nearby, though, he spotted feathers poking out of the sand.
"They turn out to be the neck feathers of a golden eagle. And one of them comes out with a.22 bullet attached to it," Kerstetter recalled.
On the trap was another clue. It was stamped: Property of the U.S. Government.
"At that point, we started doing our homework," he said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service also joined the investigation. In federal court two years later, a Wildlife Services trapper pleaded guilty to killing the eagle and paid a $2,000 fine.
"We never did find the bird," Kerstetter said. "He claimed he just buried it."
Nor did a record of the incident turn up in the agency's files.
"They are required to report the animals they take accidentally," Kerstetter said. "This eagle was never reported."
Strader, the former agency trapper who said he snared and buried an eagle in Nevada, is not surprised.
"That was not the only eagle I snared while working for Wildlife Services," he said. "I will not say how many. But the one (my supervisor) told me to bury was the first one, and I figured that was what was supposed to be done all the time, so that is what I did."
Overall, agency records show that 12 golden and bald eagles have been killed by mistake by agency traps, snares and cyanide poison since 2000 – a figure Strader believes is low.
"I would bet my house against a year-old doughnut there were more than 12 eagles taken, way more," said Strader. "You cannot set a trap, snare or (cyanide poison bait) in habitat occupied by eagles and not catch them on occasion."
Agency policy instructs trappers "to accurately and completely report all control activities." But Niemeyer, the retired Wildlife Services manager, said the policy is often ignored.
"Trappers felt that catching non-targets was a quick way to lose the tools of the trade and put Wildlife Services in a bad light," Niemeyer said.
Asked about the allegations, Deputy Administrator Clay said: "I certainly hope that is not the case. We track those things so we know what kind of impact we are having on populations and the environment."
In all, more than 150 species have been killed by mistake |
they struggled to find additional bidders.
The fate of the Hall of Fame has been in jeopardy since problems with the integrity of the grandstand left chaos at the YMCA Short Course National Championships a few years ago, and led to subsequent editions making rare appearances outside of Ft. Lauderdale.NEW DELHI: The housing ministry has identified 305 cities and towns across nine states to start building houses for the poor in urban areas. The government has set the target to provide houses to two crore families belonging to the economically weaker section EWS ) in urban areas by 2022.The states that are likely to gain are Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, J&K, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Telangana. Moreover, six other states — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Uttarakhand — have agreed to implement six key reforms relating to clearances and approval for housing projects to accelerate their construction.The Housing for All Pradhan Mantri Aawas Yojna ) was launched on June 25. “Getting states to agree to the condition and signing of agreements with the Centre are also encouraging indications. Fifteen states have signed the agreement,” a housing ministry spokesperson said.The mandatory reforms that form part of the MoAs including the doing away with the requirement of separate non-agricultural permission in case land falls in the residential zone earmarked in any city master plan and amending plans earmarking land for affordable housing. Another major reform is to do away with approvals below certain built up area or plot size for EWS and low income groups.Under the urban housing mission, Centre will provide assistance in the range of Rs one lakh and Rs 2.30 lakh per house under different components including in-situ redevelopment of slums using land as resource, credit linked subsidy scheme, affordable housing in partnership and beneficiary led individual construction/ improvement.Officials said the announcement of list of cities and towns under Smart City Mission, AMRUT and Housing for All shows how there is a “clear convergence” of implementation of the three schemes. The nine states that have identified 305 cities, also account for 26 smart cities and 136 AMRUT cities.Union housing minister M Venkaiah Naidu said, “This convergence of urban schemes helps in better utilization of resources resulting in visible improvement in urban areas. I am glad that state governments are resorting to convergence based approach.”Disclaimer: The below review is my opinion, which I will try to provide as many examples for and as much evidence as possible to support. Readers can learn more about how I conduct my reviews, my methodology, etc – here. More information on review badges here.
This review’s roll was #29 (at the time of the roll, Doublehop)
Updated Jun 1, 2018
Signing up for the service: When going to Doublehop’s website, the first thing I noticed, was that, while it had some basic marketing, it wasn’t the typical, “100% SECURE, BEST VPN EVAR” BS). Signing up for service was easy as there was an obvious link front and center on the main page. When signing up, you are asked to provide one form of contact info – email or a “Telegram” number. Kind of unusual, but it gets the job done I suppose. Doublehop only had two plans – 1 month or 1 year. Again, simplicity was the name of the game here. Where plans are concerned, however, that’s not always ideal. There are much better options if you want more flexibility with regard to duration.
In any case, I selected 1 month of service and went on to pay. Note that Doublehop ONLY accepts Bitcoin – which is a nice option when a company will include it – but scary and maybe even inconvenient for users who want to pay using another method. (On a side note, Bitcoin fees are getting silly these days, so that jacks the price up even more with no alternative). Regardless, I went ahead and paid for the month’s service using Bitcoin.
Once sending funds, the user must then wait for it to post, and then manually press a “Process Order” button. This is pretty clunky in my opinion. I received a welcome email (in my spam folder) which said I would be contacted within a week… (“sometimes sooner!”) because Doublehop is a side project and the team that runs it is small… I was never redirected to a user portal or login or anything after submitting payment. After a few minutes of studying the “payment complete” page (which looks almost exactly like the “please submit payment” page), I saw that there was an added “ID” field, which supposedly indicated an assigned User ID. They could definitely have been more descriptive here. Even after locating the ID, I still had no idea what to do with it, as the website has no clear “login” or “client area” button. I reached out to support for assistance, see below for the detailed results of this exchange.
While I initially appreciated the simplicity of Doublehop’s site, functionality and clarity are more important – and Doublehop’s site did not have this where it counted. This left me confused as to what my options even were. It seemed like I had sacrificed my Bitcoin to the abyss.
Configuring the service: (I was never able to get the service working, as no support representative replied – see below).
Speed & Stability tests: (I was never able to get the service working, as no support representative replied – see below).
Getting support: As mentioned above, I sent an email to Doublehop support asking how I might log on to actually use the service once I subscribed. After two days of waiting for a response, none came.
Getting a refund: As it says in Doublehop’s terms of service, they do not give refunds – and, I suppose I can say, based on not receiving any response from the company, they are true to their word.
Concerns in Terms & Conditions / Privacy Policy: At first glance, Doublehop’s terms and privacy policy looked relatively short and organized. Upon further viewing, it appeared that what they had done is written some (very) fine print, and above that, paraphrased them in a “hip” and “with it” way – for example, at the start of their terms, it says:
“This is exciting stuff. Exciting like, inviting bosoms and a smoke show of a keister. Ok not quite, sorry; it’s all legalese. Following tradition, we’ve even made the font really tiny. Grab a coffee? :)”
When it comes to a company’s terms of service, there’s an understanding that there will be a little legalese, and attempts to make it a little less dry are always welcome, but this was all throughout and felt really forced. Often, the “fun” version of the term was longer than the legalese version. If that’s the case, why are they even bothering? Buried beneath the “totally rad” term explanations, there were some land mines buried in the fine print.
Doublehop is providing this service on an “as is, as available” basis without representation or warranty of any kind. Doublehop does not guarantee as to the continuous availability of the service or of any specific feature(s) of the service.
I know companies provide this “catch-all” clause in their terms pretty typically, but it ALWAYS strikes me as lazy. I would prefer a statement explaining that reasonable measures are taken to ensure service uptime, and then possibly a link to some of the specifics if I were interested in reading more. Almost anything seems better than just saying “we make no promises – now please give us money!”
You agree that Doublehop, in its sole discretion, for any or no reason, and without penalty, may terminate or suspend your use of the Service at any time. Doublehop may also in its sole discretion and at any time discontinue the Services in their entirety, or any part thereof, with or without notice.
…but try not to think about that when your cursor is hovering over the “pay” button.
Doublehop does not offer refunds or reimbursement for any reason.
Buyer beware – no refunds.
Doublehop makes no representation, warranty, or guarantee as to the reliability, timeliness, quality, suitability, availability, accuracy or completeness of the Services. Doublehop does not represent or warrant that (a) the use of the Services will be secure, timely, uninterrupted or error-free or operate in combination with any other hardware, software, system or data, or (b) the Service will meet your requirements or expectations.
Seriously. Buyer. Beware.
You hereby expressly and irrevocably release and forever discharge Doublehop, including the company’s directors, employees, agents, representatives, independent and dependent contractors, licensees, successors and assigns of and from any and all actions, causes of action, suits, proceedings, liability, debts, judgments, claims and demands whatsoever in law or equity which you ever had, now have, or hereafter can, shall or may have, for or by reason of, or arising directly or indirectly out of your use of the Services. You hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless Doublehop, including the company’s directors, officers, employees, agents, representatives, independent and dependent contractors, licensees, successors and assigns from and against all claims, losses, expenses, damages and costs (including, but not limited to, direct, incidental, consequential, exemplary and indirect damages), and reasonable attorneys’ fees, resulting from or arising out of (i) a breach of this Agreement, (ii) the use of the Services, by You or any person using your account, or (iii) any violation of any rights of a third party.
I almost didn’t include this whole paragraph. You probably get the point after a sentence or two – but I thought it started to sound like a parody of itself, and goes to prove my point, so, here it is.
No traffic logging
No DNS request logging
No timestamps logging
No bandwidth logging
No IP address logging
The one bright spot of their terms is putting their finger on exactly what ISN’T logged.
As you can tell, Doublehop goes to great lengths to craft a set of terms and policies that will shield themselves from any and all claims and liability. If only they spent as much effort building a clear website with useful instructions for new users. Since Bitcoin is the only payment option, you won’t even have a fall-back to dispute the transaction through a credit card company, Paypal, or anything.
Final thoughts: I was actually a very disappointed by Doublehop. In the past, they had actively reached out to me asking how they could improve their site, and appeared to be somewhat receptive (for instance, their no logging terms were made more clear at my suggestion sometime last year). Despite that reception, Doublehop shows that their priorities are in the wrong places. Where they spend time coming up with (supposedly) witty term paraphrasing, they could have revamped their sign-up process. Instead of making mindless videos to explain aspects of the service, they could have added a bit more functionality to the site to make it possible to use. Their support was nowhere to be found, nor any perceived way to actually use the service once paid for – and I am not waiting for a week to get information virtually every other VPN company in existence can provide immediately after paying. I honestly don’t know what happened here, Doublehop doesn’t even feel like an actual, professional service – but a self-admitted “side-project” – and unless I hear back with some valid explanations or clarifications, and soon, I won’t be keeping it on the comparison chart much longer.
Update (4-9-2017): Doublehop has reached out a couple of times after this review. The first time was almost a week after it was published (Mar 21st), to provide an excuse as to why I hadn’t heard back. Tell me if this sounds like a good excuse: The people who run it were at a music festival, the weather was bad, and their original tweet – that was sent much earlier, didn’t go through for some reason. They also listed some concerns (or gave a sob story, depending on how jaded you are at this point) about not being able to support journalist/media accounts without donations – in light of getting a bad review and people being turned away as a result. The review had been published for days at this point. I had no comment and didn’t respond.
Today I received another PM on Twitter to see if I would be publishing an update to the review, since “[My] review suggests that [they] never got back to [me] or provided certificates, which isn’t the case.” So, I’m writing this update. Over 2 weeks after I PUBLISHED, (not STARTED) the review, my Doublehop account was hypothetically usable and I had finally received my welcome email. This happened, fittingly, on April 1st – as this experience was from beginning to end, a joke.
As a result of the overall experience, I have removed Doublehop from the comparison chart. I don’t relish having to do so, but it is not fair to potential customers to list them alongside real services who are set up to handle things like customers.
Update (6-1-2018): Doublehop has since reached out, notifying me of several changes they have since made to their site and service. I have re-added them to the charts.
If you like the project and find my work useful, please consider donating – your generous contributions help pay for the hosting, tools, and time I need to do my research and keep the data fresh.Updated 3pm
MORE THAN 200 gardaí investigating marriages of convenience conducted 42 raids on premises across the country today, arresting 11 people.
Operation Vantage kicked off on 10 August this year after authorities noticed an increasing trend of men from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh marrying women from EU countries, particularly Portugal and eastern Europe.
According to gardaí, the investigation has uncovered a number of criminal networks in the UK and Ireland which provide false information and documentation to marriage registrars.
“These criminal elements are gleaning huge profits by organising residency status for non-EU nationals through these marriages of convenience,” a garda spokesperson said.
Searches were carried out in Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Longford, Louth, Limerick, Mayo and Cork as gardaí tracked down evidence of fraud with the help of teams from the Criminal Assets Bureau, immigration services, Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social Protection.
The 11 people arrested are being held at stations at Henry Street, Finglas and Ballyhaunis. A large number of computers, memory devices, phones and false identity documents including driving licences and marriage certificates were confiscated during the searches.
A stun gun and about €30,000 in cash were also retrieved.
Gardaí believe that non-EU nationals are being charged up to €20,000 by these facilitators to arrange marriages. For this fee, they manage all aspects of the marriage from the recruitment and transport of an EU national spouse, the production of false documents, assistance in the procurement of PPS numbers, the notification and registration of the marriage and the subsequent application for EU residency.
There is also some concern that the women from eastern Europe and Portugal are particularly vulnerable and are being brought to Ireland under false pretences.
“Gardaí are working with State Agencies and NGOs in trying to assist vulnerable females affected or exploited in these types of incidents,” the garda spokesperson said.
Successful new laws
The operation comes after new laws gave powers to marriage registrars to consider whether a marriage is one of convenience. Since 18 August, 55 formal objections to pending marriages have been made and 22 people arrested and charged as a result.
A further 30 marriages failed to go ahead after gardaí made initial inquiries.
A “significant number” of marriages that did go ahead are still under suspicion and could result in people losing their residency status.
According to the update on the operation from gardaí today, two convicted non-EU national sex offenders also attempted to register to marry in Ireland. Both of these have since been arrested.
The statement also noted that this operation is not connected to the current refugee and migrant crisis sweeping Europe.
“This operation today is specifically targeting those who are abusing the immigration system through marriages of convenience and is not reflective of any of the genuine asylum applications being received from current conflict areas around the world,” it said.
Unequivocal message
Speaking this afternoon, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald said the operation sends an “unequivocal message” to those who abuse immigration laws that their actions will not be tolerated.
“All necessary enforcement measures will be taken against such persons. They can expect to face the full force of our criminal and immigration laws,” she said, adding that today’s raids are “not a once-off intervention”.On the night of the 18th of March 1996 hundreds of youthful party-goers saw their lives cut short by a tragedy. Of the estimated 350 patrons merrymaking at the Ozone Disco Nightclub in Quezon City that night, 160 of them would never see their respective families again. The fire that sparked just before midnight razed the building to the ground, taking with it the future of so many youths.
Sometimes tragedies are borne out of freak accidents, completely unintentional and would be pinned on horrible luck. Other times however, a clear culprit can be traced to explain the numerous fatalities. In the case of the Ozone Disco tragedy, the establishment not meeting required safety standards was pointed out as the reason why so many perished in the fire.
The building capacity itself was already problematic, the club was intended to accommodate only 100 persons at most. There were more than 300 patrons plus the in-house staff of 40 employees, that level of overcapacity was a recipe for disaster in the event of an emergency. It was also discovered that only one doorway existed that was used both as an entrance and an exit, even worse was that this doorway swung open inwards. This explains why so many of the people inside struggled to escape: they could barely open the door. The business owners later disclosed during their trial that the design was intentional as it was “good feng shui”.
The court proceedings revealed more irregularities in the building’s architecture, and officials from the local City Engineer’s Office were held accountable for issuing a building permit to an obviously problematic design. Seven Quezon City local government officials were found guilty in 2014 of graft and corruption, it was revealed that they had connived with the business owners to issue the permit. Two board members of the parent company that owned Ozone Disco were also found guilty. All were handed 6-10 year jail sentences, while the ex-public officials were also perpetually barred from government positions.
The verdict was handed down in 2014, 18 years after that fateful night in March. No matter the pace, one could say that justice was achieved in the end. Sadly however, many more “Ozones” have occurred since March of 1996. These are incidences where human lives were lost due to a disregard of proper building codes and legally-mandated work safety standards.
In 2001, 75 perished in a hotel fire also in Quezon City after many of the occupants got trapped inside because of iron grills installed on windows meant to prevent burglaries. These contraptions were clear violations of the National Building Code, which brought back harrowing memories of the Ozone tragedy. In 2015, 72 people were killed in a fire at a footwear factory in Valenzuela City – again blamed on poor safety standards being employed by the owners. The survivors decried working under “sweatshop” conditions, with a cramped work area while receiving no fire evacuation training.
There are many more cases similar to Ozone and the two other tragedies mentioned. Such occurrences should be expected in a country where there is a culture of negligence for individual safety. All developed countries have strict workplace safety procedures and building regulations that are rigorously imposed on private businesses, there are regular site inspections conducted and penalties are imposed swiftly if violations are found.
The problem in the Philippines is that human safety takes a back seat over monetary gain, safety procedures are overlooked if it means maximizing profits. This habit needs to be foregone or else mourning over tragedies like Ozone will be part of our culture too.
AdvertisementsOttawa's transit provider is looking into a reported incident in which a driver left a bus full of passengers and walked off the job after a dispute with a customer.
Henry McCambridge, who lives at a seniors' residence on Montfort Street, said the Monday dispute began when he boarded the No. 5 bus, which he said was 40 minutes late.
When he pointed this out to the driver, McCambridge said the driver told him he would not be talking to him. McCambridge then started talking to the other passengers and told them to complain to their local councillor.
He said the driver then got out of the bus while it was still running, telling the passengers to get on the next bus.
About five minutes later the passengers realized the driver was not coming back, McCambridge said. Four passengers had to help a person in a wheelchair get off the bus, he said.
A supervisor arrived about 10 minutes later, and then the driver returned. After a discussion on the bus, the driver left on the empty bus by himself, said McCambridge. He said the supervisor told him the driver had been relieved of his duties.
OC Transpo said its customer relations people have contacted "the customer regarding his experience."
"We apologize to all customers who were on the bus when this incident happened," the transit authority said in a statement.
"We appreciate when customers contact us directly on their service experience and OC Customer Service will communicate with the customer to better respond to their needs."
The incident occurred on the same day another OC Transpo driver was fired after video of him swearing and threatening a passenger was posted on YouTube last week.
McCambridge told CBC News Tuesday night there was no excuse for the bus driver's decision.
"I understand bus drivers are stressed out. But he abandoned us, and that's inexcusable," he said.Depending upon your agility and income you may be able to see them before they’re gone.
Gone where?
Gone, as in disappeared.
Due to humanities impact upon the planet some of the coolest natural wonders may soon be history.
1. Great Barrier Reef
Coordinates · 18°34′4″S 148°33′19″E
worlds largest coral reef system
located off the coast of Queensland Australia
CNN calls it one of the seven natural wonders of the world
The Great Barrier Reef is the worlds largest single structure made of and by living creatures. And since 1985 it’s lost over half of its coral cover. Experts estimate that the reef and the multi billion dollar tourism industry that it supports could be gone by 2050.
What can you do there?
snorkel and skin diving
sail – either your own vessel or charter
accommodations from 5 star to budget backpacker
2. Belize Barrier Reef
Coordinates, 17°18′56″N 87°32′4″W
UNESCO World Heritage Site
one of the most diverse ecosystems in the world
960 sq kilometers of protected barrier reef – world’s second largest
Even though it is situated in Latin America, the official language of Belize is English.
It is estimated that only 10% of the species inhabiting the barrier reef have been classified. Belize is among the top eco tourism destinations in the Americas. Their government has committed to preserving their natural resources and developing eco friendly tourism.
What can you do there?
sail – your own or charter
diving and underwater photography
explore ancient Mayan civilization
3.The Everglades
Coordinates · 25°50’49.03″ N 81°23’06.85″ W
last substantial tropical wetlands in the United States
located in southern Florida
home to 300 species of animals and 350 species of birds
The Florida Everglades are a vast, shallow wetland characterised by sawgrass, cypress swamps and Florida Bay. About 50% of which has been urbanized or developed for agriculture.
Everglades National Park currently preserves the southern 20% of the original ecosystem.
What can you do there?
hike through the Big Cypress National Preserve
sail Florida Bay – either chartered or your own vessel
snorkel or skin dive in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park
4. Kilimanjaro Glacier
Coordinates · 03°04′33″S 37°21′12″E
tallest freestanding mountain in the world
located in Africa
ice cap could be gone in 20 years
One of the primary attractions of Mt Kilimanjaro is the difficulty in climbing it. About 25,000 people try it every year. Only about 16,000 are successful.
Many different kinds of ecosystems are found on the mountain including cultivated land, rain forest, alpine desert and arctic summit.
What can you do there?
climb it of course – costs between $1000 to $5000
lower altitude hiking tours
trek and photograph the wildlife
5. Glacier National Park
Coordinates, 48°41′48″N 113°43′6″W
25 names glaciers – all shrinking in size
vast number of different species of plants, birds and animals
protected land encompassing 16,000 square miles (41,000 km2)
Of the nearly 150 glacier present in 1850 only 25 remain and they’re melting fast. Faster than scientist had estimated in 2003.
Glaciers of the size encountered in the park are excellent barometers of the impact that global warming is having in North America. How their disappearance will impact the ecosystem is still anyones guess.
What can you do there?
guided horseback trips
backpack deep within the wilderness interior
wildlife photography
6. Indonesian Archipelago
Jakarta Coordinates: 6°12′S 106°48′E
1,500 islands could be gone by 2050
world’s largest archipelago / largest rainforest in Asia
home to over 238 million people
The Indonesian Archipelago is comprised of about 18,000 islands. About 6,000 are permanently inhabited. With continued climate change the area can expect increasingly severe meteorological event, rising sea levels and loss of approximately 30% of their coral reefs.
What persons who are displaced will do can only be guessed. Increased aircraft hijacking, boat refugees and increased political instability can be expected. If you want to visit this unique natural heritage, there is no better time than now.
What can you do there?
skin, scuba diving and underwater photography
surfing
hiking, trekking and eco tours
7. The Tahuamanu Rainforest
Lima Coordinates 12°02′35″ S/77°01′41″ W
has the last of the old growth mahogany in South America
largely untouched by tourism
habitat of over 750 different species of birds
Located in the northern reaches of Madre de Dios, this province borders Brazil to the north and Bolivia to the east. It is characterized by virgin rainforests, thick bamboo groves, and just 7,000 inhabitants.
Tahuamanu province is the least populated territory of Peru made up of 19.7 million acres of dense forests. This rainforest has begun to draw those who would plunder her natural resources.
Intensive logging is causing environmental concerns.
What can you do there?
limited ecotourism available
explore old growth rainforest
wildlife (especially bird) photography
8. The Dead Sea
Ein Gedi Coordinates: 31°27′0″N 35°23′0″E
located in the Middle East between Jordan and Israel
water level dropping 1 meter per year
app 430 meters below sea level
The Dead Sea is one of the planet’s saltiest body of water. Human demand for water and minerals are consuming the water 90% faster than nature can replace it.
Historically, the water from the Dead Sea has had healing properties attributed to it. Some scientific validation exists.
What can you do there?
camel tours
explore the beginnings of Christianity
rock climbing
9. The Maldives
Male coordinates 4°10′N 73°30′E
the smallest Asian country
the planets lowest country (1.4 meters above sea level)
pledged to become carbon neutral by 2019
The Maldives archipelago is spread out over an area of approximately 90,000 square kilometers. They have perhaps the greatest concern for the effects of climate change. The current government is allocating funds generated from tourism to purchase land in other countries as an evacuation contingency.
The waters around the Maldives host several different ecosystems. Their coral reefs are home to over a thousand different species of fish as well as other unique marine life.
The Maldive government has been criticized for its civil and human rights policies. Those thinking of traveling to the archipelago should acquaint themselves with their culture and laws.
What can you do there?
snorkeling, skin diving and underwater photography
seaplane photo flights
surfing and other water sports
10. Sundarbans Mangroves
Coordinates, 21°56′59″N 89°10′59.988″E
world’s largest mangrove ecosystem
UNESCO World Heritage Site
situated on the delta formed by the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers.
The Sundarbans National Park is one of Asia’s largest reserves for the Bengal tiger. A recent UNESCO study found that as much as 75% of Sundarban mangrove could be destroyed as a result of climate change by the year 2100. As of this writing 2 island have slipped below the surface of the sea and another is half way there.
The conservation status of this ecosystem was recently upgraded to ‘endangered’ due to human exploitation of the region. Additionally, exploitation and deforestation of the Himalayan Mountains is inundating the area with silt.
Foreigners need official permits to visit the park.
What can you do there?
complete tour packages available (hint – hassle free)
wildlife photography
bird watching
Who knows just how fast or drastic the effects of climate change will make themselves known. Or if. We, as a species, could decide to take care of the planet. Regardless, why wait?
So, get your passport renewed and start making plans. The snow’s still melting and the water’s still rising.
Bon voyageJake Tapper (CNN)
CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday decimated Donald Trump’s 100-day performance, issuing impressive takedown of the president’s many, many, many broken promises.
“With historically low approval ratings and zero pieces of major legislation signed into law, President Trump has had a disappointing first 100 days,” Tapper began during a special primetime edition of “The Lead,” noting “perhaps that’s the reason [Trump] recently tweeted about the ‘ridiculous’ standard of the first 100 days.”
“The only reason I bring up the 100 days conceit is because you know who was one of the biggest boosters of the 100-day standard?” Tapper asked, before rolling several clips of Trump rattling off promises during campaign rallies last year.
“Now the president says it’s a ridiculous standard,” Tapper reminded viewers, “He changed his tune on this marker—this very conceit that he promoted with his 100-day action plan. Which is not really a surprise, because President Trump often heralds his flexibility.”
The CNN host contrasted Trump’s campaign-era declaration that “NATO is obsolete” with his assertion “on day 83 as commander-in-chief, standing next to the head of NATO” that the organization is “no longer obsolete.”
“Magic,” Tapper said dryly. He then showed Trump exposing similar polar opposite opinions on everything from whether unemployment numbers matter to whether anyone knew “healthcare could be so complicated.”
“None of this is to say President Trump has not been busy, he has been,” Tapper conceded. “Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch is Justice Gorsuch. There was the military strike against [Syrian president Bashar al-]Assad. Two immigration bans, both of which have been stopped by the Courts.”
Watch the takedown below, via CNN:Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
We believed this could be the tool for people to enjoy bicycling at a whole new experience. The prospect of bicycling has become so much more to share with our family, peers and neighbourhood. It is not only a transportation tool. It is a bridge to let you craft out your creativity and exercise your innovation.
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Build It Yourself (BIY) Bike Kit! With this kit, you'll not only gain a whole new cycling experience, and also a very strong sense of achievement.
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Assembly of Bamboobee BIY Bike Kit Video
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Do you have the right size for me?
How much is the delivery cost?
What do you need to prepare before starting work on your kit?
Epoxy near you can be found here
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More inhouse technologies here
*Updated on 25th October 2014
*The above photo was taken in Kyrgyzstan when I was touring Central Asia on my bicycle made of bamboo.
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Driving past the Burger King and 7-11 on Rainier Ave, it is easy to pass Imperial Lanes day after day on your commute from the International District to Beacon Hill. Sadly, Imperial Lanes is closing on May 31.
Imperial Lanes and Lounge opened in Seattle’s Rainier Valley in 1959 and was run by Fred Takagi for 30 years.
As a result, many young Japanese Americans chose Imperial Lanes as their hangout. Imperial Lanes was sold to AMC in 1992. Louise Ono, daughter of Fred Takagi, said “Imperial Lanes was the hub of the Japanese and Chinese community. After the war, everyone needed a place to go and socialize. This is the end of an era.” Louise still bowls in the Nisei League, which will be moving to Skyway Park and Bowl.
Even though I did not go to Imperial Lanes often. I do remember my mom suggesting the entire family to go on Mother’s day three years ago. We had a great time. I had to experience Imperial Lanes one last time. There were around 30 people there last Monday. It was actually $1 Mondays after 8p.m. Had I had known that, I would have gone many more times since I live in the proximity. I played two games and finished my last frame with a strike – the perfect way to say goodbye.
I asked some former patrons to tell me their fondest memories of Imperial Lanes.
“In our younger days Imperial Lanes was a second home to Ernie. He worked there on Saturday nights, bowled in pot games till the wee hours of the night, and bowled in several leagues. Although he spent more time at Imperial than with me, we made many friends and bowled with many old friends. It is sad that Imperial will be gone but we still have many fond memories.”
— Ernie and Sunnie Nagai “Imperial Lanes opened their doors when Frank and I were in high school and it quickly became our “hangout.” One incident I vividly recall took place not inside Imperial Lanes but outside in their parking lot where I threw the “going steady” ring that Frank gave me out of the car window…..(obviously mad over something or another). But by the end of the day, the issue was resolved, we found the ring AND NOW Frank and I have been married for 48 years! Good bye Imperial Lanes…thanks for the memories. You will be missed, but never forgotten.”
— Frank and Penny Fukui “In the 60’s when you said bowling alley, you meant Imperial Lanes. I even bowled in a handicap league (the only way I could get in since I rarely broke 100). After bowling we’d go out for a bite to eat and drink (in those days you couldn’t drink alcohol on Sunday, so the lights would go on in the Four Seas bar announcing ten minutes to closing). One Friday night I was out and my date said let’s go to the bowling alley and see what’s going on (evidently I wasn’t good date night company).”
— Kiku Hayashi “Imperial Lanes was the Beacon Haller. It was the place to go to if you live on Beacon Hill. It’s the thing to go to if you go to Franklin High School, bowl and play video games. I was a member of the women’s league. People went there to meet people.”
— Lisa NojiAlice in Wonderland is a 2010 American dark fantasy adventure film directed by Tim Burton from a screenplay written by Linda Woolverton. The film stars Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, and Mia Wasikowska, and features the voices of Alan Rickman, Stephen Fry, Michael Sheen, and Timothy Spall. Loosely inspired by Lewis Carroll's fantasy novels, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, the film tells the story of a nineteen-year-old Alice Kingsleigh, who is told that she can restore the White Queen to her throne, with the help of the Mad Hatter. She is the only one who can slay the Jabberwock, a dragon-like creature that is controlled by the Red Queen and terrorizes Underland's inhabitants.
The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and shot in the United Kingdom and the United States. The film premiered in London at the Odeon Leicester Square on February 25, 2010, and was released in Australia on March 4, 2010, and the following day in the United Kingdom and the United States through the Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, and IMAX 3D formats as well as in conventional theaters. It is also the second-highest-grossing film of 2010.
Alice in Wonderland received mixed reviews upon release; although praised for its visual style and special effects, the film was criticized for its lack of narrative coherence and overuse of computer-generated imagery (CGI). The film received three nominations at the 68th Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. At the 83rd Academy Awards, Alice in Wonderland won Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design, and was also nominated for Best Visual Effects. The film generated over $1 billion in ticket sales and became the fifth-highest-grossing film of all time during its theatrical run.[6]
The film started a trend of live-action fairy tale and fantasy films being green-lit |
, at a much smaller scale. Chief Engineer Gavin Zakt carries a multi-function blowtorch, a wrench and screwdriver, a head-mounted flashlight and antenna, and short-range jetpacks for performing maintenance in elevated areas. His assistant, Lieutenant Devi Murin, carries a saw, a small laser, and a phaser. It's his job to follow the chief's orders, and offer protection in emergency situations.The warp core is modeled after The Next Generation's warp core, at a much smaller scale.
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I made it Jordan Ross Quoting Max Walpole Bio trek? Truly you have reached new levels of awesomeness. Hah, thanks! I'd like to build a whole crew, but that's on hold for a little while since I sent most of my Technic stuff to Brickfair. Hah, thanks! I'd like to build a whole crew, but that's on hold for a little while since I sent most of my Technic stuff to Brickfair. I like it Max Walpole Bio trek? Truly you have reached new levels of awesomeness.Although it is often overlooked by investors more eager to focus on Bitcoin and Ethereum, Ripple has several factors in its favor in comparison with the rest of the cryptocurrency field. The currency, now sporting the third-largest market capitalization in the industry, is designed for seamless transactions which can be settled by banks in real time. The result is that transaction fees can be kept down for both banks and individual customers. Considering that long transaction settlement times and unstable fees have been two of the largest barriers to cryptocurrencies generally breaking into the broader financial world, Ripple seems poised to become a favorite among financial institutions. Now, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi has announced its adoption of the Ripple protocol for some of its transactions. Will this be the impetus that Ripple needs to garner more attention around the world?
National Bank of Abu Dhabi to Use Ripple for Cross-Border Transactions
Late last week, the National Bank of Abu Dhabi announced plans to adopt the Ripple protocol for all cross-border transactions. According to Live Bitcoin News, the National Bank has indicated a particular interest in enhancing the experience of its customers, and bank leaders seem to have agreed that blockchain technology can be a useful way of doing this. When it comes to selecting from different blockchain technologies, Ripple has won out, and perhaps for good reason. Ripple is focused on facilitating cross-border transactions and may be used to complete transfers across multiple distributed ledgers.
The National Bank of Abu Dhabi will reportedly integrate the Ripple protocol into its existing infrastructure. The result is that regional customers of the bank will have the ability to transfer funds to beneficiary accounts instantly. All of their transactions will take place in real time. That the United Arab Emirates, the home of the bank in question, is one of the top remittance-sending countries in the world, suggests that the Ripple technology will be put into broad use through this partnership.
Ripple Continues to Gain AttentionFor weeks, Republican presidential candidate John McCain had been hammered for supporting the Air Force's February decision to award a $40 billion contract for refueling tankers to Northrop Grumman and its European partner. Democrats, labor unions and others blamed the senator for a deal they say could move tens of thousands of jobs abroad.
McCain's advisers wanted to strike back against key Democratic critics. But they did not mount an expensive advertising campaign to defend the candidate's position. They called a tax-exempt nonprofit closely aligned with the senator from Arizona, seeking information and help.
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) partnered with Northrop and one of its consultants to produce a vitriolic advertising campaign defending the tanker deal.
"Rep. Jack Murtha, Mr. Porker himself, has threatened to hold up funding," CAGW said, referring to the Pennsylvania Democrat, in an e-mail soliciting support. "Plus, there is great outcry from some in the media claiming we are turning over the Air Force to the French and giving Europe a gazillion jobs too. Nothing could be further from the truth."
Although the campaign and the group deny any cooperation, CAGW's willingness to jump into the tanker controversy illustrates what some experts describe as potentially improper political activity by nonprofits, an issue that is gaining attention as the presidential contest heats up.
This week, two key McCain supporters in the Senate, Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), backed out of their advisory roles with another nonprofit, Vets for Freedom, after the group ran ads online attacking Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), the likely Democratic presidential nominee.
CAGW's advertising campaign falls into a murkier space. The group's work on the Northrop deal offered indirect support of McCain on a highly controversial issue while costing his campaign nothing. It never explicitly mentioned McCain's name.
"This is the public relations equivalent of air cover: You saturate debate with your rhetoric so people start talking about your message and stop talking about McCain.... It's a classic third-party technique," said Sheldon Rampton, research director for the Center for Media and Democracy, a liberal organization that tracks the use of public relations by corporations and politicians.
Because of their tax-exempt status, nonprofits, or 501(c)3s, are not supposed to engage in political activity. They are allowed, however, to set up a separate political arm -- known as a 501(c)4 -- that may donate money to candidates and lobby on policy issues as long as political activity is not its primary purpose. The Internal Revenue Service is charged with enforcing the rules.
"The question is: What is lobbying and what is campaign intervention?" said Frances R. Hill, a University of Miami law professor who specializes in charitable organizations. "The difficult issue that arises with these kinds of relationships, especially in election years, is whether a candidate for public office is benefiting improperly from an organization's activity."
Formed in 1984, CAGW has long promoted McCain's image as a taxpayer advocate. Since 2006, the nonprofit's board of directors has included Orson Swindle, who also works on veterans issues as a volunteer for the McCain campaign.
CAGW has a lobbying arm, the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, that has twice supported McCain for president. Its PAC has donated $11,000 in cash to McCain or a PAC under his control since 2004 -- 20 times as much cash as it has given any other candidate, records show.DT 990 Pros are awesome
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Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: NewPolice have arrested a 17-year-old student after a stabbing at St. Edmund Campion Catholic Secondary School in Brampton, Ont. on Friday.
The victim, a 16-year-old boy, was taken to hospital with multiple, non-life-threatening injuries, Brampton paramedics said.
Student Nathan Albis said he saw the victim coming out of a washroom.
"He was screaming 'Ouch, I'm bleeding. Help me,'" Albis told CBC News. "It looked like the wounds were in his lower body, his torso I guess."
Police said the biggest challenge was making sure everyone was safe while they searched for suspects. Nearly 2,000 students attend St. Edmund Campion.
The suspect and victim both attend the school and, according to students, know each other.
"I'm pretty sure they had some sort of beef going on," said one student. "I'm really surprised it led to this … it shouldn't have happened inside the school."
Peel Regional Police say there could be more suspects and are reviewing surveillance footage.
The school went into lockdown following the incident and neighbouring schools followed in a hold and secure.
It is the GTA's second stabbing at a school in two months, after Hamid Aminzada was killed at North Albion Collegiate.
Earlier this month two students were shot to death near Don Bosco in Etobicoke.A pipeline that would move heavy bitumen to the northern British Columbia coast from Alberta's oilsands carries unacceptable risks, Canadian and American environmental groups say.
The proposed route for Enbridge Inc.'s $5.5-billion pipeline passes through rivers and sensitive habitat, and a spill of heavy bitumen of the type it would carry would be devastating to the region, groups including Canada's Pembina Institute and the Natural Resources Defence Council in the United States say in a new report.
The report, titled Pipeline and Tanker Trouble, cites the engineering challenges of the project, which would link Bruderheim, Alta., near Edmonton, with Kitimat, B.C., aboriginal objections and the potential for massive environmental damage from super-tanker spills along the treacherous northern B.C. coast or pipeline spills along the route.
The report cites the example of the July 2010 Enbridge pipeline spill that eventually dumped three million litres of bitumen into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. The cleanup, which had been expected to take two months, is now expected to stretch well into 2012, Susan Casey-Lefkowitz of the NRDC told CBC News.
"The [U.S.] Environmental Protection Agency is still cleaning that up and, basically, keep encountering problems and difficulties with the cleanup that they had not anticipated because, in part, they weren't prepared for the differences that cleaning up oilsands oil brings,"Casey-Lefkowitz said.
Because bitumen is much heavier than conventional oil, it can sink when it spills into water and mix with dirt along the bottom, which makes dredging much more difficult and time-consuming, the report says.
The groups claim Canadian pipeline regulations haven't been updated to account for the transport of bitumen. They also claim federal regulations would allow millions of litres of oil to be spilled before it could be detected.
Paul Stanway, communications manager for Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines, panned the report, which he said merely repeated criticism that has already been levelled against the pipeline project.
While the company is doing everything possible to mitigate potential problems, no energy project of this scale is without risk, Stanway told CBC News.
"You have to figure out where you are going to set the bar," Stanway said. "Are you prepared to take some minimal risk to provide energy around North America and, indeed, to markets around the world? Or are you prepared to take zero risk and not transport energy anywhere."Turnbull government expected to announce 15,000 new visa places under changes in next week’s budget
Aged parents of migrants to get access to five-year Australian visas for $10,000
Aged parents of migrants will get access to 15,000 five-year temporary visas at $10,000 each under changes expected to be announced in next week’s budget.
Parents will need to hold private health insurance and have financial support through a bond from their children before the visa would be approved, SBS reports.
The Turnbull government promised the aged parent visas on the eve of the 2016 election following a Labor announcement to provide parents of Australian permanent residents and citizens with a three-year visitor visa if they held private health insurance, paid a $5,000 bond and were sponsored by their children.
International students could be left marooned by 457 visa abolition Read more
The Turnbull government released a discussion paper in September last year, which set out the terms of the parent visas. At that time the assistant immigration minister, Alex Hawke, said the program would be in place by July 2017.
Currently, the non-contributory aged parent visa has a processing time of 30 years. In 2015-16, according to the discussion paper, 1,500 places were available with at a fee of $5,935 for the main applicant and $4000 for their spouse or de facto partner.
The contributory aged parent visa is processed within two years for a much higher fee of $47,295 for the main applicant and $44,845 for their spouse or de facto partner. There were 7,175 places in 2015-16 in this category.
At the time of the election announcement, the immigration minister, Peter Dutton, said the government wanted to help families reunite without adding extra cost to the health system.
“The Coalition recognises that many Australians, including our growing south Asian and Chinese communities, face particular pressures through the separation of children from parents and grandchildren from grandparents,” Dutton said. “We want to help families reunite and spend time together, while ensuring that we do so in a way that does not burden Australia’s healthcare system.”
The migration changes come after both the Coalition and the Labor party announced crackdowns on the temporary worker visa system.
The Business Council of Australia’s chief executive, Jennifer Westacott, told Guardian Australia the recent “fear-mongering” on 457 visas did not match the evidence.
Playing politics with migration will doom Turnbull's hapless government | Peter Lewis Read more
Malcolm Turnbull replaced the 457 temporary worker visa and cutting the number of eligible categories.
On Wednesday, Bill Shorten promised to triple the cost of temporary work visas to encourage employers to look locally as well as establish a “Smart visa” to ensure highly skilled migrants still consider Australia.
Westacott said data showed 457 visa holders represent about 0.8% of the total employees and just over 1% of all 457 visa sponsors engaged in serious non-compliance per year – a consistent figure over the past decade.
She said Australian businesses prefer to hire Australians wherever possible because it was easier, cheaper and workers have valuable local knowledge and skills.
Westacott warned while the recent debates provide an opportunity to ensure the visa scheme had integrity and public confidence, Australia’s skills base would be jeopardised by political posturing.
“But if this becomes driven by political posturing rather than evidence, we risk jeopardising the skills base we need to power our changing and globally oriented economy,” Westacott said. “Fear-mongering around foreign workers allegedly taking Australian jobs is simply not matched by the data, which shows the number of primary 457 visa holders was 81,300 in December, down 5.4% from a year earlier.
“If we’re serious about getting Australians into skilled jobs, we need to revitalise our neglected vocational education and training system so that it’s no longer treated like the poor cousin of the universities.”A government-driven revitalisation project is turning public housing – including the waterfront Sirius building with its 90-year-old hold-out resident – into private developments. It is seen by some as ‘aggressive social cleansing’
It is one of the last few weeks in the slow emptying of Sydney’s Sirius building, and Myra Demetriou is keen to talk about spoons. Sitting in her waterfront apartment, the 90-year-old ex-church deaconess has relocation on her mind, and in a cabinet above her couch, enamelled souvenir spoons keep track of every city she’s ever visited.
Demetriou lives alone by the harbour in the suburb of Millers Point. Her building, an architecturally adored icon of Sydney public housing, has found itself on land too valuable for its own good. In 2014, the New South Wales government told the suburb’s 400 residents their government housing would be sold to private developers.
Demetriou has clung on and is one of the building’s last two residents. But every week she is forced to test alternative accommodation, despite having, by her own admission, knees that don’t work, no sight in one eye and less than 5% in the other.
“Someone told me that in other states, in social housing, once you’re over 65 they can’t move you out,” she says. “Not here.”
In the nearby suburbs of Waterloo and Redfern, 4,000 social housing residents are facing a similar prospect. The Central to Eveleigh project is a $550m (£330m) revitalisation plan to turn rail yards into high-rises and public housing into part-private development. Its centrepiece is a new train station on land currently used by the government housing of the Waterloo estate.
Land values in Sydney have been growing at a faster rate than anywhere in Australia – the median house price has doubled since 2009, from $550,000 to $1.1m, and a report in January ranked Sydney the second least affordable housing market in the world.
This has sparked a government strategy affecting Millers Point and Waterloo: trade valuable inner-city social housing – never quite as dense as it could be, occasionally in disrepair – for newer, cheaper, more numerous housing elsewhere, easing the state’s 60,000 person-strong waiting list.
According to the state government, the sale of Millers Point alone will raise $500m and fund 1,500 new social housing dwellings in the city’s outer western suburbs. But to many, surging rents and the public eradication of the city’s few high-profile housing estates give the impression that inner Sydney is no longer a place where poorer people can live.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Sirius building overlooking The Rocks in Sydney, is being sold off to private developers. Photograph: Katherine Lu/Save Our Sirius
Richard Weeks, a retired teacher and president of the Waterloo Public Housing Action Group, describes it as “one of the most aggressive social cleansing programmes by any government in the southern hemisphere”.
“What’s happening at Millers Point is government-driven gentrification,” adds Shaun Carter, the NSW President of the Australian Institute of Architects.
For Demetriou, it’s evidence of how the government has mismanaged these places for years. “Every big city in the world has got at least 20% social housing. And we’re a rich country. Why are we different?”
“There’s a big stock of social housing in the city, but it’s declining,” says Philip Thalis, a city councillor and former public architect with 30 years’ experience. “The City of Sydney has a target of 7.5% affordable housing, and that target is currently being exceeded. But as there is intense redevelopment with virtually no new public housing being built, that percentage is dropping just through the arithmetics of it.”
Revealed: how developers exploit flawed planning system to minimise affordable housing Read more
In government parlance, “social housing” is an umbrella term that covers both public housing (fully government-owned) and “affordable” or community housing, run by third-party NGOs, charities or corporations, sometimes with government subsidies.
“In England it’s quite common to have an affordable housing target of 30%, but here at the new Green Square development it’s only 3%, which is a tragically low figure,” says Thalis.
Currently, Central to Eveleigh features only 88 affordable dwellings, built by community housing provider City West Housing in 2015. There are no plans for any more. “It’s crazy. We thought, and everyone thought, there was going to be a lot more,” says Janelle Goulding, City West’s CEO.
New South Wales has the largest social housing system in Australia, with 150,000 dwellings and 290,000 individuals. One in three tenants are children or young adults, and the state’s Indigenous population is notably overrepresented.
In Redfern, Indigenous elder Jenny Munro has seen the steady loss of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander residents from a suburb known for its working-class, Indigenous history. She sees Central to Eveleigh and other government development as the next frontier.
“If we can’t stop it, we will be moved,” she says. “We will be expunged from here. You won’t see any black people around.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hundreds of people rallied at the Sirius building last year, demanding the NSW government heritage list the 30 year old building. Photograph: Tom Rabe/AAP
Life in Sirius
For Shaun Carter, the brutalist, critically feted Sirius is the blueprint for how to mix public and private housing in the inner city. “Sirius does all the urban design things right. It’s purpose-built housing for people that need housing. It puts people from the community back into the community.”
From its completion in 1980, the Sirius building – visible from the Sydney Harbour Bridge – aimed to reflect the kind of social mix you’d expect of a well-integrated city, with homes for singles, older people and large low-income working families. Designed by Danish architect Tao Gofers, the building has an impressive quality of what architects call “human scale”.
“You can walk in without feeling intimidated by it,” Claire McCaughan, former director of the Sydney Architecture Festival, told the Australian Financial Review. It’s a kind of modular living, reminiscent of Japanese capsules or stacked concrete boxes. Natural light, large windows and sea reflection give off a sort of aquarium feel, as if fishbowls were made pleasant for humans.
For Demetriou, clinically blind and immobile, it is the most accessible building she has ever lived in. There isn’t a single raised step between the street and her front door. She knows where everything is and can find her postbox by touch.
Demetriou has lived in Millers Point since 1972, and in the Sirius building since 2008. “At the time [in the 1970s], this was working wharves,” she says. “It’s always been a very close community. I immediately became friends with my neighbours, and you were never short of someone to talk to or ring up.
“But now, because so many people have moved away, they’re frightened they’re going to close the school down. There’s hardly any kids in the area. It’s very sad.”
According to the NSW government, the Millers Point sales will fund public housing in a range of outer suburbs – the closest, Peakhurst, is 20km from the Sydney central business district; the furthest, Warilla and Mount Warrigal, lie 130km away, past the coastal city of Wollongong.
Pru Goward, the new minister for Family and Community Services, may consider it a simple matter of arithmetic for the public interest. She told the Guardian in 2014 that she could not “look the 57,000 people on the waiting list in the eye when we preside over such an unfair distribution of subsidies”.
But Carter disagrees: “You’re taking people who are already vulnerable and putting them out in the margins. When you put them out west in these areas which are poorly serviced by public transport, and 50km away from jobs in the CBD, you’re entrenching vulnerability.
“They could have allowed people to age in place and gradually move those properties on, but the government is aggressive. It’s seeking to create an enclave of the haves by removing the have-nots.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Myra Demetriou has been asked to move to an inner-city suburb. Photograph: Mike Bowers for the Guardian
The Waterloo estate is home to 4,000 residents and six spindly, Soviet-style towers named for Maori words (Matavai, Turanga) and colonial botanists (Banks, Daniel Solander). Unlike Millers Point and its genteel social mix, the Waterloo estate has a rougher reputation; residents are open about past issues with drugs and crime.
The nearby McKell estate, further into the neighbouring suburb of Redfern, made headlines in August 2014 when Harriet Wran, the daughter of a former state premier, was arrested for her role in the murder of a local drug dealer, Daniel McNulty.
But the market doesn’t mind. In December, a renovated terraced house opposite the towers – airy, bright, three bedrooms – sold for $1.2m. Over two years its value had increased by $300,000.
From mid-2018, Waterloo estate will be replaced by a new development: three times as dense and 70% privately owned. The low-income housing that remains will be further sliced into public housing and non-government affordable housing.
City councillors are calling the new plan “the densest residential development in urban Australia”. It is twice the density of London’s Battersea Power Station estate, and is matched only by parts of urban Hong Kong – although the state government contests the precise projections.
Nevertheless, Sydney’s directly elected lord mayor, Clover Moore, described it as “wholesale carnage” that would “condemn people living in the area to substandard living conditions”.
Gentrified Sydney
Karen Brown, 54, worked as a cleaner for 15 years and has lived on the Waterloo estate since 1991. “The demographics of the private housing have changed,” she says. “It used to be a pretty undesirable area – sharehouses with students and young people who didn’t have lots of money. Now they’re getting bought and renovated by professionals on high incomes, and they’re just out of the price range.”
“I think people aren’t moving out of public housing like they used to because they can’t afford to go anywhere else,” says Paul, a 59-year-old resident of the estate’s Matavai tower who spoke on the condition of a pseudonym.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Sirius building overlooking The Rocks in Sydney, Australia. Photograph: Barton Taylor/Save Our Sirius
Sydney-wide, the median rent for a three bedroom dwelling is currently $1,000 a week, up from $780 in 2010, while exit rates from social housing dropped from 8.8% to 6.9% between 2007 and 2013.
Aelwyn Richards, 64, has lived on the estate for 25 years. “With gentrification, it’s usually an almost natural process. But what they want to do here is almost instantly move all these richer people in and reduce the number of povvos,” she says.
If they dilute poverty it doesn’t make it go away, it just hides it
The government is adamant the increased density of this new development will allow the estate’s residents to return once work is complete. “There will be no loss of social housing, including in the Central to Eveleigh corridor,” a spokesperson said.
But residents fear a change in the community. “Right now there are services being provided to lower socioeconomic groups,” says Karen. “If all these people move in here, it’ll change the whole socioeconomic mix and the average income, so then, do those services go because we no longer qualify?
“Do they no longer want a drug counselling service running out of your courthouse? Or do you want a gym in there? If they dilute poverty it doesn’t make it go away, it just hides it.”
Jenny Munro has lived in Redfern since 1972 and her daughter lives on the Waterloo estate. She has fought gentrification in the area with a grim, physical determination – in 2014, she and other Indigenous protesters formed a tent embassy on land slated for redevelopment, demanding a guarantee of low-income housing.
“Redfern was always a beacon for a lot of our people,” she says. “In the 70s this was recognised Australia-wide as the heartbeat of the black political movement. This was a vibrant community, with in excess of 40,000 Aboriginal people living here.”
A 2011 census put the Indigenous inhabitants at only 300 – in the very suburb where the first Aboriginal legal service and Aboriginal medical service were founded.
‘Neither sustainable nor fair’
By the government’s own admission, Sydney’s social housing system is failing. A 2014 report described is as “neither sustainable nor fair”.
The NSW government’s solution is a plan known as Future Directions. Over the next 10 years, it intends to hand over a third of public housing to independent community housing providers like those planned for Waterloo.
‘We are building our way to hell’: tales of gentrification around the world Read more
Janelle Goulding of City West Housing backs the plan, though residents fear it is a slow kind of privatisation. “This government has made it very clear they do not want to be involved in housing. Something drastic needs to happen,” she says. “Community housing has been around for 30 years, and if that’s what privatisation is, then that’s fine.”
But tenants like Paul want to live in public-owned housing: “This is not just for us, this is for the next three or four generations. It’s a safety net for anybody who could need public housing in the future.
“But we have to be a little bit careful,” he adds, “because if we come across as arrogant or not grateful, it’s like what Dickens said: we’ve not only got to be poor, we’ve got to appear and be deserving.”
A week before Christmas, state housing told Demetriou it had a flat for her in Pyrmont, an inner-city suburb roughly 2km away. She was then asked to prove to the department that the steps in the Pyrmont would be too difficult for her.
“There was one step and they didn’t believe I couldn’t climb it, so they made me go up and down until I could hardly use my legs,” she recalls. “I mean, if there’s not a ramp when I cross the road, I can’t even climb up a footpath.”
Demetriou says she doesn’t feel like she’d be able to negotiate a suburb like Pyrmont – she’s still recovering from a fall in 2014 while shopping, when she broke her arm in four places. The department generally only offers tenants two formal choices for moving on, and Myra has already rejected one.
“I’ve got one chance left and then they’ll throw me out on the street,” she says. “They’re trying to offer me something in Alexandria, but it’s only a three-year lease. They’re hoping I’ll drop dead by then.”
She laughs: “It’s not really long-term housing, you see. It’s better to stay somewhere you know.”
Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter and Facebook to join the discussion, and explore our archive hereCoastal.com Discount Tips
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This year's 'Trends and Projections in Europe' package includes an assessment of progress towards the EU's climate targets, preliminary EU greenhouse gas emissions for the year 2016, and a specific analysis of trends and projections in the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). The final part of the package, assessing progress on energy targets will be published later this month.
The reports are drafted yearly by the EEA to take stock of the EU's and Member States' progress in meeting their climate and energy targets, which includes reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 % compared to 1990 levels by 2020.
"The EU is firmly on track to meet its 2020 emissions targets. This evolution illustrates the positive effects of innovation and investments in the low carbon economy of the future. However, it is clear we all need to considerably intensify our efforts if we are to meet our Paris agreement commitments and the more ambitious longer term goals for 2030 and 2050 in creating a low-carbon economy", said Hans Bruyninckx, EEA Executive Director.
Progress on 2020 climate targets
According to preliminary estimates, emissions for 2016 in the EU decreased by 0.7% from 2015. The slight drop corresponds to a 23% decrease in emissions between 1990 and 2016. The decrease in 2016 was mainly due to a rising share of renewable energy and a switch from coal to gas in the EU's fuel mix for power generation, despite an increase in energy consumption and growth in emissions in the residential and transport sectors. These factors are reflected in the changes in emissions under the EU ETS and under the Effort Sharing Decision.
In the EU ETS, which covers large industrial facilities and intra-EU flights, emissions declined by 2.6 % between 2015 and 2016. This reduction was mostly driven by emission cuts in large power plants, which reflects factors including the phasing out of coal use in several Member States. Emissions from airline operators, which account for 3 % of the total emissions covered by the EU ETS, increased compared with the previous year (up 7.6 %), as the number of passengers continued to grow. Altogether, emissions from industrial installations under the EU ETS stand now 26 % below 2005 levels.
In the other sectors (such as transport, buildings, agriculture and waste), for which Member States have annual emissions targets at national level under the Effort Sharing Decision, preliminary estimates indicate that emissions aggregated at EU level increased by 0.9 % in 2016. A higher demand for heating (because of weather conditions) and a higher transport demand in 2016 help explain the increase. Emissions from these sectors are now 11% below 2005 levels.
Most Member States meeting their targets
Latest projections from Member States show that, while emissions from the EU as a whole will remain below the 2020 target, the situation differs between Member States. Twenty-one EU Member States expect to keep or reduce their emissions below their national targets by 2020. However, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta need to enhance their efforts immediately to meet their 2020 targets.
EU progress on 2030, longer term climate objectives
Updated projections also show that current efforts need to be stepped up to achieve more ambitious longer term objectives. As already stated in previous assessments, the pace of reductions in emissions beyond 2020 is expected to slow down under current policies, falling short of the 40% reduction target for 2030. Discussions are ongoing in the EU to adopt a new package of legislation on climate and energy to achieve this goal, together with those set out under the Energy Union.
Similarly, efforts to meet longer-term 2050 objectives on decarbonisation will also require a considerable intensification of efforts, and include a major transformation of Europe's energy, food and mobility sectors.
Greenhouse gas emission trends, projections and targets in the EU, 1990-2050
Source: 'Trends and projections in Europe 2017', EEA.
Additional information on the EU's contribution to international climate action can be found in the European Commission's progress report 'Two years after Paris – Progress towards meeting the EU's climate commitments'.A nurse later told the girl’s parents that Dr. Karabus had failed to give the patient a transfusion of platelets and that this had contributed to her death from the brain hemorrhage, his family said. The nurse claimed that Dr. Karabus had falsified the medical records to indicate that she had been given platelets. Based on this evidence, Dr. Karabus was convicted of manslaughter and forgery in absentia. His family says it received no notice of the conviction.
Dr. Karabus, who used temporary jobs like the one in Abu Dhabi to supplement his government pension, might never have had to face the issue had he not stopped in Dubai on Aug. 18, 2012. He was traveling with his wife; his daughter, Sarah, who is also a pediatrician; and her husband and two children. Because of a long layover, the airline had booked rooms for the family in a hotel, the daughter said.
Leaving the airport required a day visa, and the other family members received theirs quickly at the airport. But Dr. Karabus’s visa took longer for some reason, so he urged his daughter and her family to go ahead to the hotel. Once he got his visa, Dr. Karabus went to the immigration desk to enter Dubai, but he was arrested instead.
“They said to him, ‘You are a murderer; you are wanted by Interpol,’ ” his daughter said.
When the rest of the family returned to the airport to find Dr. Karabus’s distraught wife, they tried to stay in the country to find out what had happened to him. But Emirati officials ordered them to board their scheduled flight to Cape Town and leave Dr. Karabus behind.
“I said, ‘We’ve got to stay; we can’t leave him here,’ ” his daughter said. “The authorities said they wouldn’t renew our visa and we had to leave.”
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to which the media weren’t even invited.
Another was a news conference with Notley and Prime Minister Trudeau, which was closed to non-MSM writers by order, it seems, of the PMO. Progressive blogger David Climenhaga, who sums up this whole imbroglio very well, notes that he would have been barred as well.
But almost to a man and woman, the mainstream media commentators leapt to The Rebel's defence -- rather like a College of Physicians and Surgeons demanding that faith healers be licensed. Who is the gummint, they demanded to know, to say who is or is not a journalist? They seem to be arguing that anyone who shows up at a news conference is automatically in the club. And yet, as the accreditation procedure in the Parliamentary Press Gallery indicates, journalists at other times consider themselves to be a professional elite. This all seems oddly inconsistent.
Anyway, let's take another look at that injured martyr for "free speech" who has set their tongues a-wagging. A few months ago, after Notley had won the Alberta election, Levant called an "Emergency Public Meeting," billed as "an independent, non-partisan meeting, open to the public for free."
But that wasn't true, as it turns out. Citizen journalist and frequent Levant critic Alheli Picazo showed up to cover the event -- and she was immediately thrown out by Ezra's goons. They even called the police, who showed up, scratched their heads and went away again. Read all about it here.
Where was the MSM outrage then? I suspect the lack of it was largely due to Picazo's classy, soft-spoken personality. She simply told her story to Canadaland and went on living her life. She didn't run off to the media to snivel, shriek and threaten a lawsuit. Not her style.
Now, however, her story has immediate relevance. The commentators who have been wagging fingers at Notley might want to take a look -- not that I expect they will, having already shaped the narrative. But it would be good to take that hypocritical bloviator down a peg, n'est-ce pas?
Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.Pin 82 87 Shares
Moto Jacket gifted by Michael Stars | Sequined Dress gifted by Dolly and Molly | Strappy Heels from BCBG Max Azria
How To Wear Sequin Dresses
Fall and sequins don’t normally go together but sequins and holidays do! Therefore, fall sequins are surprisingly perfect.
Meet this season’s sequins: shiny, sparkly, dazzling and festive. I received this dress back in August during Magic Market Week but I was waiting for the perfect time to wear it which is now – during the fall and the start of the holiday season! The fall colors in this outfit are bright as can be – this dress has the perfect color combination and has the right amount of festive charm.
Cocktail dresses are big during this time of year, with so many holiday parties and get-togethers you need the perfect eye catching, show stopping, head turning dress and this one definitely takes the cake. With its distinctive pattern and gorgeous sequined color combinations there is no need for accessories, this dress is enough. Since this sequin cocktail dress didn’t need much, I paired it with my current favorite leather moto jacket and a pair of sexy strappy heels.
What do you think? Let me know in the comments: have you found your perfect holiday sparkly dress?
Stay Stylish,
-V
Photos: @peterlangSen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mark Levin will headline the inaugural Breitbart News Saturday show, on Sirius XM Patriot Channel 125, that will debut on March 1 from 10 AM EST to 1 PM EST.
Hosted by Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon and a rotation of Breitbart News editors and contributors, Breitbart News Saturday will continue and expand on the format of the Breitbart News Sunday franchise that features stories and narratives that drive the upcoming week’s news cycle from the pages of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Saturday will supplement commentary and analysis from the contributors and editors of the Breitbart News Network with some of the biggest newsmakers in the political and cultural landscape the world over.
“Since joining the SiriusXM Patriot lineup, Breitbart News Sunday has set the table for each week’s conservative political conversation,” said Dave Gorab, Vice President & General Manager, Talk Programming, SiriusXM. “We are pleased to continue our commitment to live, interactive weekend programming with the addition of Breitbart News Saturday – where Stephen K. Bannon and team will deliver ‘week in review’ analysis and additional discussions with high-level conservative leaders and newsmakers.”
The inaugural program will be a tribute to Andrew Breitbart on the second anniversary of his death in 2012. Breitbart CEO/President Larry Solov said that “the continued growth of the Breitbart News Network is a testament to the vision of Andrew, and we work hard to extend his legacy of the democratization of news into every area of news delivery.”
Bannon and Solov will co-host the inaugural show which will feature exclusive interviews with “The Great One” Mark Levin; Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT); Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Steve King (R-IA), Mark Meadows (R-NC), Tim Huelskamp (R-KS); Heritage Foundation’s Stephen Moore; True the Vote’s Anita MonCrief; and Breitbart contributor Sonnie Johnson. There will also be a special segment of the show with Sirius XM host and Breitbart contributor David Webb.
Bannon said that since Breitbart News Sunday debuted last April the program has “experienced tremendous growth,” and that is why a Saturday program is being added.
“We are incredibly proud of the quality and caliber of our guests, and are excited to expand our coverage. We will continue to deliver thought-provoking dialog and discussion with both our guests and audience,” Bannon said. “SiriusXM has been a tremendous partner, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them and growing what we believe to be the smartest and savviest audience in radio.”
Breitbart News Saturday will feature stories and commentary from: Joel Pollak, Alex Marlow, Ben Shapiro, Peter Schweizer, Wynton Hall, John Nolte, Matt Boyle, Kerry Picket, Mike Flynn, Tony Lee, Brandon Darby, Lee Stranahan, Liz Sheld, John Sexton, Sonnie Johnson, Jonathan Strong, Jarrett Stepman, Dan Flynn, Raheem Kassam, Breitbart Texas, Breitbart London, as well as other Breitbart News contributors and upcoming verticals.
Breitbart News Saturday can be heard every Saturday from 10 AM to 1 PM EST on Sirius XM Patriot Channel 125. Breitbart News Sunday can be heard on Sundays from 7 PM EST to 10 PM EST on the same channel.The German Frame-semantic Online Lexicon (G-FOL) is a prototype of a new kind of pedagogical dictionary. The goal is to help students learn how words are used in modern-day German. This online resource is different from traditional dictionaries and textbooks because it is based on the German FrameNet at the University of Texas at Austin, a digital archive of how German words are used in real life contexts. As such, students can easily access up-to-date information about the syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic contexts in which a German word appears. In addition, each lexical entry provides information about a word’s register, frequency, and related meanings. Thanks to G-FOL’s web-based architecture, the lexicon easily links to other pedagogical resources in digital format and can be updated with new words or new usages of existing words.As we all know, racism, homophobia and anti-Semitism are very bad and should be condemned. Not only do I condemn all of those things, I'd encourage you to share this quiz to all of your liberal friends so they can wag their fingers right in the faces of the awful people who said all of these terrible things.
1) Who said, "We taught philosophy and astrology and mathematics before Socrates and them Greek homos ever got around to it."
A) Rush Limbaugh
B) Mark Levin
C) Laura Ingraham
D) Al Sharpton
2) Who said, "That’s just how white folks will do you. It wasn’t merely the cruelty involved; I was learning that black people could be mean and then some. It was a particular brand of arrogance, an obtuseness in otherwise sane people that brought forth our bitter laughter. It was as if whites didn’t know that they were being cruel in the first place. Or at least thought you deserving of their scorn."
A) Thomas Sowell
B) Herman Cain
C) Ben Carson
D) Barack Obama
3) Who made these conspiratorial, anti-Semitic comments? "The Israeli puppeteer travels to Washington and meets with the puppet in the White House. He then goes down Pennsylvania Avenue and meets with the puppets in Congress. The Israeli leader then ‘brings back millions of dollars’ in aid to Israel."
A) Rick Warren
B) Glenn Beck
C) Antonin Scalia
D) Ralph Nader
4) Who said this about a prominent black political figure? He's "a nice person, very articulate this is what’s been used against him, but he couldn’t sell watermelons if you gave him the state troopers to flag down the traffic.”
A) Brit Hume
B) Megyn Kelly
C) Michelle Malkin
D) Dan Rather
5) Which member of Congress tried to compliment a black politician by saying he had "no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one?"
A) John Boehner
B) Mitch McConnell
C) Eric Cantor
D) Harry Reid
6) Who referred to New York as "hymietown?"
A) Mike Lee
B) Franklin Graham
C) Rand Paul
D) Jesse Jackson
7) Who said this about a black man running for President? "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
A) Newt Gingrich
B) Mitt Romney
C) Rick Santorum
D) Joe Biden
8) Who tweeted this to gay reporter George Stark, "I'm gonna find you George Stark, you toxic little queen, and I'm gonna f*** you... up. If put my foot up your f*****g a**, George Stark, but I'm sure you'd dig it too much."
A) Bill O'Reilly
B) Greg Gutfeld
C) Kevin Sorbo
D) Alec Baldwin
9) Who said this? "We got to do something about these Asians coming in and opening up businesses and dirty shops. They ought to go."
A) Scott Walker
B) Rick Perry
C) Ted Cruz
D) Marion Barry
10) Who had this to say about Jews? "Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and it’s been used cheaply. He’s the product of a series of actions. It’s cause and effect. Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, [there is a greater focus on the Holocaust than on Russian suffering because of] the Jewish domination of the media. There’s a major lobby in the United States. They are hard workers. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f***** up U.S. foreign policy for years."
A) Michele Bachmann
B) Trey Gowdy
C) Sarah Palin
D) Oliver Stone
* The answer to all questions is "D."Disney and AMC Theatres invite you to be their guest, see the light, make a man out of yourself, and more.
Beginning Sept. 15, AMC Theatres is partnering with Disney to bring five beloved Disney princess films back to select theaters as part of the “Dream Big, Princess” marathon.
Dust off your tiara for some nostalgic movie-viewing: The five films are the animated Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, Tangled, The Princess and the Frog, and Brave. Each film will screen multiple times over the course of a week (14 showtimes per week at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. every day), concluding with Brave on Oct. 19.
Everett Collection (3)
Special screenings will also take place at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, with a special encore screening of Moana included in the marathon lineup.
Tickets are available beginning Aug. 4.GOVERNOR’S STATEMENT: Statement on TMT Newsroom, Press Releases Posted on Jun 24, 2015 in Latest News
By Chief of Staff Mike McCartney on behalf of Governor David Ige
It is our belief that there will be mutual respect and aloha on Wednesday and in the days ahead as TMT restarts construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope.
TMT has the approvals needed to proceed with construction. We respect those who oppose the project and their right to peaceably assemble and to protest in an orderly and civil manner.
The State of Hawai‘i’s primary concern is the health and safety of its people. The state and Hawai‘i County are working together to uphold the law and ensure safety on roadways and on Mauna Kea, while allowing the people their right to peacefully and lawfully protest.
###
Media Contacts:
Jodi Leong
Deputy Communications Director/Press Secretary
Office: 808-586-0043
Mobile: 808-798-3929
Cindy McMillan
Communications Director
Office: 808-586-0012Oakland schools to reinstate curriculum about Mumia Abu-Jamal
Oakland school officials, under pressure from supporters of Mumia Abu-Jamal, have agreed to reinstate a controversial curriculum that includes a lesson comparing the convicted cop killer to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
The optional curriculum, which the school district hasn’t sanctioned since 2004, was removed from an old district website in April after Fox News reported on it. The widow of slain Philadelphia police Officer Daniel Faulkner, whom Abu-Jamal was convicted of killing in 1981, told the conservative TV network the comparison to King was a disgrace. Abu-Jamal’s supporters believe he was framed by Philadelphia police and politicians.
Superintendent Antwan Wilson ordered a review of the curriculum after teachers and others, including the activist group Educators for Mumia Abu-Jamal, protested the decision to remove the material.
The review found the lessons sound, noting they “do not impress upon students that they must adhere to one perspective or another,” Wilson said in a statement released to The Chronicle on Tuesday.
“The Urban Dreams curricular materials provide students an opportunity to read texts that provoke debate,” Wilson said. “When used as intended, the material will allow students to dissect issues for diverse perspectives and arrive at their own unique conclusions.”
Wilson planned to announce the reinstatement of the optional curriculum at Wednesday night’s school board meeting. The Urban Dreams curriculum should be re-posted to the district’s website in the next week or so, district spokesman Troy Flint said.
The high school lessons were created by Oakland teachers with support from a federal grant nearly 15 years ago and include 27 lesson plans on a range of topics that include genocide, capitalism’s compatibility with democracy, awareness of mental disorders and analysis of social-justice literature, among others. It’s unclear how many teachers continued using it after the grant expired in 2004.
There has been no assessment, support or oversight of the material in the years since, Flint said.
“There wasn’t enough structure around it,” he said. “We want to reintroduce it, but with those supports in place.”
The part of the curriculum that includes Abu-Jamal, written by an Oakland teacher, is in the “additional activities” section of a larger set of lesson plans on King.
The section asks students to “critically examine a possible parallel between Martin Luther King Jr., and someone else many believe is currently targeted by the U.S. government, Mumia Abu-Jamal.”
The lesson suggests students “consider the claim by Abu-Jamal’s supporters that the government sees him as enough of a threat to want to kill him. Do students agree that this is a possibility?”Abstract Objective To characterize trends in meat consumption, and verify the percentage of excessive red and processed meat consumption in the last decade in São Paulo, Brazil. Design Cross-sectional weighted data from the Health Survey for São Paulo, conducted in São Paulo, Brazil among people aged 12 years and older. Setting Diet was assessed by two 24-hour recalls in each survey. Usual meat consumption was estimated by Multiple Source Method. Wald tests were used to compare means across survey years. Data were collected from adolescents, adults, and elderly using a representative, complex, multistage probability-based survey in 2003 and in 2008 in São Paulo, southeast of Brazil. Subjects 2631 Brazilians were studied in 2003 and 1662 in 2008. Results Daily mean of red and processed meat consumption was 100 g/day in 2003, and 113 g/day in 2008. Excessive red and processed meat consumption was observed in almost 75% of the subjects, especially among adolescents in both surveys. Beef represented the largest proportion of meat consumed, followed by poultry, pork and fish in both surveys. Conclusions Daily red and processed meat consumption was higher in 2008 than in 2003, and almost the entire population consumed more than what is recommended by World Cancer Research Fund. Public health strategies are needed, in order to reduce red and processed meat consumption to the recommended amounts, for a healthy diet.
Citation: de Carvalho AM, César CLG, Fisberg RM, Marchioni DM (2014) Meat Consumption in Sao Paulo – Brazil: Trend in the Last Decade. PLoS ONE 9(5): e96667. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096667 Editor: Suminori Akiba, Kagoshima University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Japan Received: November 4, 2013; Accepted: April 10, 2014; Published: May 2, 2014 Copyright: © 2014 de Carvalho 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. Funding: This work had financial support from: São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP - procedural 2007/51488-2 and 2009/15831-0) and National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development for (CNPq - procedural 502948/2003-5 and 481176/2008-0). 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 Meat is an important food item for human nutrition because it contains protein, minerals and vitamins [1], and also unsaturated and conjugated fatty acids that help prevent cardiovascular diseases [2]. Nevertheless, excessive meat consumption has been linked to chronic diseases. Some studies show the relationship between processed meat intake and cardiovascular diseases and diabetes [3], and other studies show the relationship between red and processed meat intake and colorectal cancer [4]–[8], weight gain [9] and high death risk [10]–[12]. Potential carcinogenic substances such as heterocyclic amines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (formed during the cooking process), high saturated fat, and cholesterol content can increase the risks for the diseases mentioned above. The addition of sodium and nitrite in processed meats also increase these risks [4]–[6]. Currently, the Brazilian Ministry of Health recommends one daily serving of meat (190 kcal) as part of a healthy diet [1]. The World Cancer Research Fund recommends a limited intake of up to 500 g of red or processed meat per week as a measure for cancer prevention [4]. However, many developed countries present over-consumption of meat [2], [13]. In Brazil, there are few representative studies about meat consumption and its health impacts. However, Brazil is the world’s second largest beef producer and the world’s largest beef exporter [14]. So, it is important to monitor the Brazilian population to promote healthy eating policies. The present study characterizes the trends in meat consumption and the percentage of excessive red and processed meat consumption in the last decade in São Paulo, Brazil.
Materials and Methods Study population and data collection The School of Public Health of the University of São Paulo Ethics Committee approved the project. Data was derived from two independent cross-sectional representative, complex, multistage probability-based surveys titled Health Survey for São Paulo, conducted in São Paulo, Brazil in 2003 and in 2008 (ISA – Capital 2003 and ISA – Capital 2008). These surveys collected information on health, food intake, and life conditions of the population of São Paulo. A two-stage cluster sampling was used: census tracts and household, in both surveys. In ISA – Capital 2003, in the first stage, the census tracts were drawn using probability proportional to the number of households in the PNAD 2002 (National Household Sample Survey 2002). In ISA- Capital 2008, in the first stage, the census tracts were drawn using probability proportional to the number of households in the PNAD 2005 (National Household Sample Survey 2005). In the second stage, the households were drawn using inverse probability of the number of households in each PNAD. The draw was systematic, and the census tracts were stratified according to the percentage of heads of family with academic degrees into three categories (less than 5%; 5 to 25%; more than 25%). Six study domains were defined in ISA – Capital 2003 and ISA – Capital 2008 by age groups and gender: women and men aged 13 to 19 years old (adolescents), women and men aged 20 to 59 years old (adults) and women and men aged 60 years old or over (elderly). In 2003, it was estimated a minimum sample size of 420 interviews for each of the six domains based on a prevalence of 0.5 with a standard error of 0.06 at a 5% significance level and a design effect of 1.5. In ISA – Capital 2003, a total of 2515 individuals were selected, however the final sample comprised 2361 subjects (both males and females), 805 adolescents, 743 adults and 813 elderly. Of all selected participants, 6% (n = 153) refused to participate or could not be found at home, even after three visits made at different times (during weekdays and weekends). In 2008, a new two-stage cluster sampling was used based on PNAD 2005, and the minimum of 300 interviews for each of the same six domains enabled estimation of a prevalence of 0.5 with a standard error of 0.07 at a 5% significance level and a design effect of 1.5. In ISA – Capital 2008, a total of 2691 individuals were selected, however the final sample comprised 1662 subjects (both males and females), 560 adolescents, 585 adults and 517 elderly. Of all selected participants, 38% (n = 1029) refused to participate or changed their address/telephone and could not be located or found at home, even after three visits made at different times (during weekdays and weekends). Even the loss was randomized among census tracts and socio demographic features, sampling weights were recalculated for each individual considering the sample design, the adjustment for non-response, and post-stratification adjustment for gender and age group, in order to equalize the socio demographic features of the sample. Other details on sampling are available elsewhere [15], [16]. Information on health and life condition was collected by a structured questionnaire administered during a household interview in 2003 and another in 2008. The questionnaires were structured for collecting demographic (age and gender) and socioeconomic (family income) data, and were administered by trained interviewers. Assessment of dietary intake The dietary assessment consisted of two 24-hour dietary recalls (24HR) for each survey; they were collected over one year covering all weekdays, weekends and seasons [17]. In ISA – Capital 2003, the participation rate of two 24-hour recalls was 35%, and both 24HR was administered at households using Multiple Pass Method [18]. In ISA – Capital 2008, the participation rate of two 24-hour recalls was 50%, and the first 24HR was administered at households using Multiple Pass Method [18] and the second 24HR was administered by telephone using Automated Multiple Pass Method [19]. The telephone calls were made to the participants home or their mobile phone. These methods are structured in five steps: 1) quick list, that participants list all the foods and beverages consumed uninterruptedly; 2) forgotten list, that participants are asked about commonly forgotten foods consumed, such as candies, coffees and sodas; 3) time and location of food and beverage intake; 4) detailing cycle, that the way of preparation and amounts consumed are described; and 5) final review, that verifies whether a certain food consumed during the day was not previously recorded [18], [19]. The household measures reported in 24HR were converted into grams and milliliters according standard Brazilian references, that measure many foods in precision balance [20], [21]. Recipes were broken down into ingredients to estimate the amount of meat in each preparation. Data from the 24HR were entered into the Nutrition Data System for Research – NDSR (version 5.0, 2007, Nutrition Coordinating Center at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA) [22] and were converted into energy and nutrients. We compared the American database for the nutrition facts (energy, protein, carbohydrate and lipid) from the NDSR with the Brazilian nutrition facts database. We only considered the foods from the NDSR that were similar (between 0.8 until 1.2 times) to Brazilian nutrition facts in terms of energy and macronutrients. The meats of the diet were classified according to origin: beef, pork, poultry and fish; and processing: processed meat (cured, salted, smoked or containing chemical preservatives); no processed red meat (beef and pork), no processed white meat (poultry and fish). The World Cancer Research Fund [4] maximum recommendation intake of 500 g of red and processed meat per week (corresponding to mean of 71.4 g red and processed meat per day) was the cut-off point to estimate excessive red and processed meat consumption. Statistical Analysis In both surveys, the second 24HR was used to remove within-person variation that would otherwise inflate the distribution thereby distorting the percentiles [23]. This adjustment was made by the Multiple Source Method (MSM), which requires that at least one participant provides both 24HR. However, a high participation rate of two 24HR (around 40%) leads more precise estimates [24]. The MSM is a statistical modeling technique which calculates usual dietary intake in three steps [25], [26]. In the first, the probability of eating the food on a random day for each individual was estimated by a logistic regression model. Secondly, the usual amount of food intake is estimated by a linear regression model. Finally, the resulting numbers from step one and two are multiplied by each other to estimate the usual daily intake for each individual. The models were performed separately by gender, furthermore age group and date of interview were included as model covariates in logistic and linear regressions to estimate probability of eating the meat and usual amount of meat. All participants were considered meat consumers in MSM, because the technique could modify the first percentiles of distribution and it does not modify mean of usual intake of meat [27]. Mean values and standard errors were calculated considering the predicted usual intake distribution by MSM. The normality was verified by skewness and kurtosis normality test. Differences between means were analyzed using the Wald test, which calculates point estimates using F-statistics and considers the weights from complex samples. The analyses were conducted using weighting variables (primary sampling unit, stratum and sampling weight) to account for the complex survey design. Data were analyzed separately by gender, per capita family income and age group. For all analyses, STATA statistical software package version 10 [28] was used and a p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results The unweighted sample comprised a total of 4023 people from both data collection, 49% were male in 2003 and 44% were male in 2008; mean age was 41±24 years in 2003 and 37±26 years in 2008; mean per capita family income was U$$167 in 2003 and U$$383 in 2008. The proportions of men and women were the same in each age group and in each tertile of per capita income in both surveys. The population in the study showed an increase in consumption of the different types of meat from 2003 to 2008. Women, elderly and low-income groups were the only ones who did not show higher red meat consumption in 2008 than in 2003. There was an increase in white and processed meat intake for the entire population (Table 1). Adolescents and men also showed an increase in beef intake, while the elderly showed a decrease. Fish consumption rose for all groups but for the elderly and individuals with intermediary income. Intake of pork did not increase among the elderly and individuals with low and intermediary income. Poultry consumption increased for the entire population (Table 2). PPT PowerPoint slide
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Table 1. Dietary intake of total meat, red meat, processed and white meat (g/day) according to age, gender, per capita family income and year studied. São Paulo. 2013. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096667.t001 PPT PowerPoint slide
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larger image TIFF original image Download: Table 2. Beef, pork, poultry and fish intake (g/day) according to age group, gender, per capita family income and year studied. São Paulo. 2013. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096667.t002 There was a 20% increase in average meat consumption, with a greater increase in white meat intake (35%) and lower increase in red meat intake (11%). Processed meat intake also increased during the periods studied (20%), especially among adolescents (29%). As for the origin of the meat, the increase in consumption was greater for fish (46%), followed by poultry (30%), pork (30%) and beef (1%). Among the most frequently consumed processed meats by the citizens of São Paulo, sausages and frankfurter represented 60% of the processed meat intake in both the periods studied, and were followed by ham, industrialized breaded chicken and mortadella (data not shown). In 2003, 72% of residents of the city of São Paulo exceeded red and processed meat intake recommendations from the WCRF, and in 2008, this number was 74% (a non significant variation). The proportion of individuals from the different age groups and genders that exceeded red and processed meat intake recommendations was the same in both studies (data not shown).
Discussion We observed a significant increase in meat consumption in the city of São Paulo from 2003 to 2008, especially in total meat, poultry, white and processed meat intakes that increased regardless of gender and per capita family income. It is known that there is an increasing tendency of poultry production in Brazil, and this might be a good factor once poultry has leaner meat and therefore can improve diet quality [1], [29]. However, there is also an increased tendency in producing processed meats that have higher fat contents, apart from having potentially carcinogenic substances such as nitrites and nitrates, and sodium [1], [4]. These increasing intake tendencies shown in this study can be explained due to the low prices of poultry and processed meats [30], the increasing poultry and processed meat production, the Brazil economic stability over the past few years, what increased the population purchasing power [31], and also because meat is a typical food within Brazilian eating habits and desired by most of the population. We observed that red meat and beef did not show a significant consumption increase in any of the analyzed categories, but were the most consumed in both periods. Fish, on the contrary, was the least consumed by the city's residents. We found similar data to the tendency observed in São Paulo in the last Brazilian Household Budget Survey (1987–1988; 1995–1996; 2002–2003; 2008–2009). Beef had the greatest energy contribution in the Brazilian population diet in the periods studied, but underwent a decline over the last years. Meanwhile, poultry consumption showed a progressive increase throughout the whole period (150%). Fish intake had low and constant contribution, less than 1% [32], [33]. In regards to meat consumption around the world, available data from the Food and Agriculture Organization show an increasing number in daily total meat intake in developed countries such as the US [13] and the European Nations [2]. We also noticed an increase in white meat intake (from 25 g to 55 g/day) and decrease in red meat intake (from 105 g to 85 g/day) in the US from 1999 to 2007 [13]. Total meat and red meat intake in São Paulo proved to be higher or similar than those found in developed countries such as the US [13], Germany, Ireland, Spain and the Netherlands [2]. That is, the citizens of São Paulo consumed more red meat than those in developed countries. For processed meat, the intake was the same as that of the US [13] and greater than that of Ireland, Greece and Italy [4]. Meat provides an important source of protein and micronutrients for humans, however excessive red and processed meat consumption is known to be associated to an increase in risk of colon and rectal cancer [4]. It is known that the intake of 50 g of processed meat a day increases the risk of CVD by 42%, and of diabetes by 19% in the US [3]. In our study, we noticed that almost 75% of the population showed excessive red and processed meat intake, what may increase the prevalence of these diseases in the city of São Paulo. Red and processed meat intake among adolescents was also high, what may contribute to increased risk of cancer later in life. An American cohort study showed that processed meat intake during adolescence increased the risk of colon and rectal cancer [34] in 25% among adolescents with high consumption. Cancer incidence has been increasing significantly for the past decades and was one of the main causes of death from 1980 to 2010, in the city of São Paulo. Colon and rectal cancer is the third most frequent type of cancer among men and women. From 1997 to 2008 almost 17.0 thousand new cases were diagnosed in men; and at the same time there were 18.5 thousand new cases among women. The incidence of this type of cancer increased in 24% and 39% among men and women, respectively, from 2003 to 2008 [35]. It is well known that diet has an important role in preventing and causing this type of cancer and there is convincing evidence of the relationship among red and processed meats increase in risks of colon and rectal cancer [4]. Limitation The ISA – Capital is a cross-sectional study in which we cannot determine causality of events, but by using a probability sample and being a population-based study, results can be extrapolated to the total population of São Paulo, the biggest city of Brazil. The loss of subjects in ISA – Capital 2008 was high, however sampling weights were recalculated for each individual, in order to equalize the socio demographic features of the sample and to produce validated results.
Conclusions Data from the present study allowed us to conclude that red and processed meat intake was excessive in almost the entire population studied, and there was a higher consumption of meats, particularly poultry and processed meats, in 2008 than in 2003. Therefore, developing public health actions is critical for health promotion and health food choices.
Author Contributions Conceived and designed the experiments: CLGC RMF DMM. Performed the experiments: AMdC DMM. Analyzed the data: AMdC DMM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CLGC RMF DMM. Wrote the paper: AMdC CLGC RMF DMM.The emails and social media posts blast out daily, fueled by Democrats eager to take down Orange County’s Republican members of Congress.
“Darrell Issa … serves as nothing more than a lapdog for this administration,” reads one.
“Mimi Walters (is) continually giving her rubber stamp to Trump’s radical policies,” says another.
Over and over, in a dozen or more variations, the four GOP Congress members are framed as surrogates for President Donald Trump.
The strategy is clear: All four districts voted for Hillary Clinton last year and Democrats think they can win the congressional seats next year if they tap into the distaste for the controversial commander in chief.
“In terms of getting Democrats to the polls, it’s a winner,” said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of CSU Los Angeles’ Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs. “But in terms of building a campaign around it, it may not work.”
That’s because each of the four Republicans — Issa, Walters, Ed Royce and Dana Rohrabacher — has served in elected office for at least 16 years, making them familiar names in their districts with political identities apart from Trump. While its advantage is shrinking, the GOP still has the edge in voter registration in each district. And voters last year showed that they made a distinction between the GOP incumbents, whom they reelected, and the Republican nominee, whom they rejected.
Democrats are undeterred.
Trump’s election has inspired an opposition groundswell of local activism, with weekly rallies targeting Congress members in each of the four districts. Of the 11 Democrats to declare candidacies in those districts so far, eight have said it was Trump’s win that motivated them to run.
“Trump is making Democrats even more motivated by the day and I don’t see that ending,” said Dan Schnur, a former Republican strategist who teaches political science at USC. “In most cases, this kind of energy peters out after a while unless they’re provided with fresh outrages — and Donald Trump provides plenty of fresh outrages.”
While three of the Republican incumbents cruised to victory by more than 14 percentage points last year, Issa — who faced the most formidable opponent — won |
a glimpse into the future. Canon EOS 300D (2003) The first digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera that cost less than 1000 euros (£830). At the time amateurs, and many professionals too, could only afford digital compact cameras or what were called "bridge cameras" - models with long range zooms that couldn't come off the body. This marked the beginning of the fall in the price of proper digital cameras. Nikon D90 (2008) The first digital SLR camera to feature video recording. While compact cameras could make movies for some time, the quality was poor and the lenses not very good. In the D90, amateurs could make professional quality films. Nikon D3 (2007) One of the biggest problems with digital cameras was that pictures taken in dim lighting were filled with millions of tiny coloured speckled dots - noise. The D3 introduced the ability to shoot in almost completely dark conditions with almost no visible noise. Apple iPhone (2007) It doesn't have the best camera of any mobile phone but it is certainly the most popular. Picture sharing websites, Facebook and Twitter are dominated by pictures taken and shared via the iPhone.
Now, according to Samsung, 2.5 billion people around the globe have a digital camera.
The advent of digital has changed the traditional camera, but its most revolutionary aspect has been the advent of the camera phone.
In 2011 big breaking news stories - from the capture and killing of Colonel Gaddafi to outbreaks of serious looting in England's summer riots - were captured on camera phones.
But when the camera was first put together with a phone, they were seen as strange bedfellows.
"I remember Sony Ericsson in 2001 showed off a phone with a clip-on camera," says Jonathan Margolis, a technology writer for the Financial Times. "Along with everyone else, I thought 'why would you want a phone with a camera?'"
Although standalone digital cameras were widely popular by 2005, it was the mobile phone, and especially the smartphone that brought digital photography to the masses.
The impact on professional photographers has been dramatic. Once upon a time a photographer wouldn't dare waste a shot unless they were virtually certain it would work.
Margolis recalls the story of a photographer working in Berlin in 1939. The man had eight photographic plates - eight pictures - to use in six weeks of work. "He'd be covering Nazi rallies and would go the week before to plan it like a film shot, making sure he got the right angles. In the end, out of the eight plates he got four award-winning photos."
Even when rolls of film were at their most popular, photography could be an expensive hobby for the amateur.
But now in the digital age there is almost no consequence or cost to taking pictures, beyond charging the phone or dedicated camera.
The most popular camera used on photo-sharing website Flickr is actually an iPhone, says Nate Lanxon editor of technology site wired.co.uk. The rise of the camera phone means that compact digital cameras are on the way out, with only the larger digital SLR cameras - used by keen amateurs and professionals - doing good business.
Now the iPhone 4S has a resolution of eight megapixels, not far off that of the bottom end of 10 megapixels carried by most cheap cameras.
But how have digital cameras changed us?
Image caption The image is illustrative and was not taken with two cameras with different numbers of megapixels
"I was there"
People's behaviour in public has changed thanks to digital cameras.
Image caption Fans now want endless photos or shaky videos to prove their attendance at a gig or sporting event
Nowadays diners in restaurants might greet the arrival of their food with a few excited clicks of their phone to capture that sushi or pizza for posterity. Go back a couple of decades and the idea of showing a friend a picture of a dinner you'd been served earlier would raise eyebrows.
One of the most pronounced changes is at concerts and sporting events. Go to see a stadium gig and you'll be confronted by a forest of arms holding cameras aloft. At a football match thousands of little camera flashes speckle the crowd at kick-off and after goals.
Steven Colburn is a PhD student at Sussex University, working on a doctoral thesis on people who film concerts and post the footage on YouTube.
"They accept that in filming the concert they're withdrawing from the live experience but they are also taking away those memories. And then they're uploading it onto YouTube, demonstrating their attendance at the event."
Effectively they are showing the rest of the "fan community" that "I was there". They are also offering the first record of the event, beating the traditional media.
The amateur filmers and snappers are aware that not everyone at the concert appreciates what they do. Concerts are dark places and a camera provides a distracting light source. And then there are the arms in people's line of sight.
It can result in disputes, Colburn says, adding that a man from Texas told him he even elbows people out of the way to get the footage he wants.
We're taking more snaps
Image caption Perhaps your first digital camera looked like this?
The main impact of digital is the sheer number of photographs being taken. If an uncle went to his niece's first birthday in 1985 he might have considered shooting off a single 24 exposure-roll of film a rather generous photographic record. Today, with a digital camera, he would think nothing of taking 100 or 200 photos.
In the week of the royal wedding,a survey projectedthat some 327 million pictures relating to the event were likely to be taken on digital cameras.
"Photography used to be a bit elitist when I was a kid," says Margolis. "It was very expensive, Dad would have the camera and take the photos. The idea of photography being free is amazing."
Today photography is cheap and almost effortless. "It means more and more people and things being photographed. And it all boils down to sharing," says Lanxon.
People are better photographers
Image caption 2007's Nikon D3 tackled the problem of low light
Sheer weight of numbers now means you can have better photos. If you're aiming to have five good pictures at an event and you take 240 instead of 24, your chances are better.
And the fact that each image can be checked immediately after taking - on the LCD screen - allows users to have another go. Some photographers refer to this as "chimping", but for posed shots, in particular, it has changed things.
Once upon a time every photographer was required set the film speed, compose the photo, manually focus, set the aperture, choose the shutter speed and then hit the trigger.
But the digital camera has automated the whole procedure which, alongside developments in autofocus technology, makes it harder but not impossible to take a technically problematic picture.
"Without being demeaning, it has given a huge amount of power to not very good photographers," says Margolis. There are grids to help compose the shot and photo editing software apps to improve the result.
"It's allowed pictures to be printed at home on an inkjet printer with no mess and no special darkroom to do it in," says Damien Demolder, editor of Amateur Photographer. "Now anyone can load their pictures to a printing website and create a hardback book of their holiday or of a family wedding."
Citizen journalism
It's not just the fall of a dictator or widespread looting that the man or woman on the street can catch on a smartphone.
Image caption Bungee jumps are routinely filmed - but this one over the Zambezi River was unusually dramatic
Ubiquitous digital cameras turn events that in themselves would be a small story into a worldwide phenomenon. Without the camera phone, internet sensations like thebungee jumper who survived her fall into the Zambezi, orFenton the deer-chasing dog, would have been less likely to have been captured.
Video cameras could always be found at events where it was known in advance that something interesting was likely to happen. But the rise of the phone camera changed the possible arena of subjects.
The "happy slapping" craze of incidents being filmed on phones and distributed online was much discussed in 2005. But serious crimes still result in ugly voyeurism. After a man was stabbed in Glasgow in September last year, it emerged thatonlookers had stood around filmingthe attack rather than going to the man's aid.
We're all archivists
Some may query whether the profusion of digital photographs taken in the last decade will survive to become useful documents about life in the early 21st Century.
It's not about kit Ultimately it is the photograph that matters. Is it simply a recorded shot of an event or does the photographer have something to say? Where once a photo was something to be valued, something you could hold, today thousands bombard our senses. Anyone under the age of 10 will inherit thousands of pictures documenting their developmental years - how, in these vast archives, will they locate those special moments? The notion of a few dozen Kodachromes documenting a life is long since gone. Professionals too now work in compressed timescales. Last year photographers covering the royal wedding were able to get their pictures to news desks across the globe in minutes. Just as importantly, the digitisation of the production process has meant the erosion of some aspects of professional work, with part-timers stepping in to some markets. But this is not a recent development, and many of the current generation of professional photographers have never used film. But don't write film off yet. Many leading photographers (and some amateurs for that matter) remain committed to the medium, especially those working on long-term documentary projects. Breaking through the sheer volume of pictures can be tough, but there are many remarkable photographers out there with plenty to say. As the late Eve Arnold put it: "If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument."
But Lanxon says most are likely to survive. The greater threat is the best ones will be lost amid the large amount of dross.
"I know so many people who take 500 photos on holiday, don't curate them and put them all up on Facebook. In 20 years they'll have 50,000 and won't be able to find the ones they want."
Another aspect is how technology firms have introduced technology that effectively means our pictures now sit in their software with programmes like Facebook's Timeline or Apple's iPhoto. "It's beginning to feel like Google and Facebook own our photos more than us," suggests Lanxon.
But Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture, says the digital camera has destroyed the craft of photography.
"Everyone now is a photographer. Everyone now likes to record everything endlessly." There is a huge contrast, he suggests, between that and the distinguished female photographer he's friends with who takes very few photographs but with huge care.
"Photography has become so easy meaning that people don't really think a photo has any intrinsic value. And what concerns me most is that photographers as a profession are being decimated by online theft."
Of course, it's easy to counter that this is more about the internet than digital cameras and is hardly restricted to photography.
But there are some who wonder whether the ease of recording vast amounts of visual imagery might have changed fundamentally the way we experience things.
Could the digital camera be replacing human memory? Lanxon is not convinced. "It's more about augmenting memory with something that's more vivid."The steak and eggs had just been served at Davie’s Chuck Wagon Diner, in the suburbs of Denver, when the discussion turned to conspiracy.
“They’re gonna steal the election,” said Charlene Hardcastle, a nurse in a “Colorado Women for Trump” T-shirt. “I think we’ve all seen that on the internet.”
There were nods and murmurs of agreement from the assembled Republican activists.
This was not so much a campaign to elect Donald Trump – it was an effort, in Hardcastle’s words, to “shake the foundations of democracy” should Hillary Clinton be declared the winner.
“We can get out the vote as much as we want, but if they recalibrate that voting machine, it’s like – forget it,” she said.
That was three months ago, the first of dozens of times I would hear similar complaints as I traveled the country with my colleague Tom Silverstone filming the Guardian’s Anywhere But Washington series, a 4,500-mile trip to eight mostly battleground states.
Trump has fueled talk of a rigged election in the final weeks of the campaign, but the loss of faith in America’s political system has been brewing for years and bestrides both sides of the political system.
Recently a Bernie Sanders supporter cornered me in a cafe in Tucson, Arizona, to explain how she believed voting machines controlled by Dick Cheney awarded Clinton an additional 3 million votes in the Democratic primary.
If there’s a single theme to emerge from my encounters in states as varied as Maine, Wisconsin and Nevada, it is abject disillusionment: a feeling everywhere that the country has been deprived of a serious election.
Instead of a conventional campaign, voters feel they have witnessed a Netflix political drama, an outlandish plot consisting of a Republican who is a former reality TV host, and unmasked as a sexual predator, and a Democrat who, courtesy of an aide’s husband’s sexting habit, cannot shake the shadow of an FBI investigation.
This is not politics – it is entertainment. The tragedy is that while America has been binge-watching this made-for-TV spectacle, many have failed to notice how this election has shifted the ground beneath their feet.
Inequality meets unrealistic promises
There are few places where the political landscape is turning to quicksand as quickly as McDowell, the poorest county in West Virginia.
A forlorn place dotted with shuttered coalmines and abandoned homes, McDowell was once a Democratic heartland but is quickly shifting allegiance – Barack Obama won there in 2008, but Mitt Romney took it by a wide margin in 2012.
This year, it was the county in which Trump won his highest percentage of primary votes. There are more than 3,000 counties in the US – none voted for Trump as overwhelmingly as McDowell, where he secured 91.5% of the vote.
How can it be that a tax-avoiding billionaire who flies around in a gold-plated private jet is most popular in a place where more than half the population lives off donations from a food bank?
One reason is that there is hope in his promise – dismissed by energy experts as unrealistic – to revive a coalmining industry that is no longer profitable. “We’re going to put the miners back to work,” he promised 12,000 people at a rally in West Virginia days before the state’s primary. “We’re going to get those mines open.”
But the roots of Trump’s popularity in places such as this precede his candidacy; indeed, they have been decades in the making.
Democrats in McDowell have lost faith in their party, which has run the local government their entire lives and controlled the White House for most of the past quarter-century.
“It’s our own fault,” said Martin West, the local sheriff, a Democrat who will vote for Trump. “You keep voting for people that never come to assist you.”
It’s our own fault. You keep voting for people that never come to assist you Martin West, sheriff in McDowell, West Virginia
The combined presidencies of Bill Clinton and Obama have done little to arrest soaring inequality in America, and some would argue both presidents accelerated it.
The situation in McDowell, by almost every measure, has gotten progressively worse throughout that period.
Life expectancy – the starkest gauge of all – has declined continually since 1981. The high rate of suicide and the impact of the opioid epidemic have combined to put McDowell’s rates of mortality on par with Ethiopia.
“None of us are that blind to think that Trump is going to save all of us,” said Brian Harrison, a coalminer who switched from Democrat to Republican eight years ago. “But at least there’s some hope.”
He added of Trump: “I think he’s more for the working person than Hillary is.”
Industrial decline hits the heartlands
There is evidence of blue-collar Democrats fleeing to Trump this election in other pockets of the industrial rust belt, including battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and New Hampshire.
Clinton still looks poised to win those states, all of which Obama won in 2008 and 2012. But even if Trump loses these places, his candidacy has peeled back the bandage to reveal Democratic heartlands reeling from industrial decline.
Democrats might reassure themselves that Trump’s populist candidacy will not be easily repeated – that no conventional Republican will abandon free-market principles, as the real estate mogul has done, to embrace protectionist trade policy.
But Trump’s appeal in parts of the country where manufacturing jobs have been outsourced overseas is not always connected to his specific opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership or denunciation of China’s currency manipulation.
Many voters just seem to appreciate his acknowledgment that towns and cities that were once booming are now in decay.
“People don’t understand trade policies,” said José Arroyo, who has been working with the United Steelworkers to stem the exodus of Democratic voters around Youngstown, an Ohio city surrounded by abandoned, crumbling factories.
“What they do understand is that they used to work at a place that paid them $80,000 a year, and now they’re working two jobs to make $30,000 a year.”
Ohio is one of the Obama states that Trump does look likely to win, in part through his appeal in places such as Youngstown to white, working-class voters without a college degree who previously identified as Democrats.
“I used to call myself and others robot voters,” said Leo Conway, a union worker and Democrat voting Republican for the first time in his life. “It’s the definition of insanity,” he said of his previous party loyalty. “You keep putting the same people in the same job and expect a different outcome.”
I met Conway at a Republican picnic in Ohio’s Mahoning County, known as ground zero for these crossover voters. But he was not drawn to Trump’s economic message so much as his muscular military rhetoric and his anti-establishment appeal. In fact, barely anyone mentioned the area’s industrial decline, which was most acute in the 1980s.
Instead, I heard people complain that illegal immigration is out of control, law and order is unraveling in the inner cities and government assistance is creating a lazy, welfare-dependent underclass.
There is often a racial connotation to all of these grievances, one that Trump has exploited, sometimes explicitly, but more often than not through an ugly brand of dog-whistle politics that has stoked racial tensions.
Those surfaced during my interview with Trump’s local campaign chair, Kathy Miller, who was forced to resign when we broadcast her comments.
“If you’re black and you haven’t been successful in the last 50 years, it’s your own fault,” Miller said. “You had all the advantages and didn’t take advantage of it. It’s not our fault, certainly.”
“I don’t think there was any racism until Obama got elected,” she added. “We never had problems like this.”
How backlash could affect the ballot
Eight years after the election of the first black president, some have framed Trump’s rise as some sort of “backlash” by a silent majority of mostly white men who resent their fading political power.
There could be some merit to that analysis, but there seems to me an equal if not greater counterweight from the many people who feel offended and even threatened by the Republican nominee.
Most of America is not in decay, and its increasingly diverse population creates a built-in advantage to any Democrat seeking the White House.
The challenge for Clinton was always going to be reconvening the broad coalition of millennials, college-educated voters and minorities that twice helped elect Obama.
Clinton, hamstrung by controversy, especially over her use of a private email server for government business, has struggled to articulate a positive vision of the future that could inspire these voters.
The conversations I have had in supermarkets, churches and county fairs have made plain that while many voters see Trump as an almost comical liability, their concerns with Clinton take a more somber tone.
She has frequently been described to me as untrustworthy, corrupt and uncaring, the epitome of a rotten political establishment.
I’ve seen neighborhoods across America, from the affluent suburbs of Waukesha, Wisconsin, to Denver’s sprawling suburbs, where well-kept lawns are dotted with “Hillary for Prison” yard signs.
“That’s where she belongs,” said Bob Howe, who had one such sign outside his hunting lodge in Maine. “Frigging lying, cheating, thieving.”
In the face of such distrust, Clinton’s greatest asset has turned out to be her opponent, the only major presidential candidate in modern history who has been more unpopular than her.
Trump’s extraordinary campaign has scrambled the electorate, winning unusual allies while giving many of the people I met a reason to vote.
There was the woman in an Ohio restaurant who showed me a picture of her two-year-old son who is partially deaf and has cerebral palsy.
Her voice shook and her eyes welled with tears as she recounted the rage she felt watching Trump mocking a disabled person on TV. “I’m not a violent person,” she said. “But I just felt like strangling him.”
There was the barber in Milwaukee, a city reeling from a succession of police shootings of black men, offended by Trump’s claim African Americans like him have “nothing to lose”. “We have a lot more to lose,” he said, shaking his head. “Our lives.”
And there are the many people like Carmela Perez, a Mexican American who has raised seven children in a mobile home on the outskirts of Las Vegas and has dedicated the past four months to electing Clinton.
If the polls are correct, it is people like her – Latinos and women – who are poised to support the Democratic nominee in record numbers this election.
Perez took a leave of absence from her job washing dishes at the MGM casino to join Clinton’s army of ground operatives in Nevada after she heard the Republican nominee insult Mexicans.
She said Trump’s comments about women steeled her determination, canvassing for Clinton six days a week in the desert heat. By election day, she will have knocked on 5,000 doors.
“For me, this is personal,” Perez said. “I feel very offended, wounded. He stabbed me in my guts.”The month of October seems to have a very normal and smooth dynamic when the personal planets Mercury, Venus and Mars change signs, while just one social planet Jupiter does the same. There is also a Full Moon and a New Moon as it happens every month. Also, we also have two outer planets retrograde the entire month of October: Uranus and Neptune. However, the month seems to be personalized by certain aspects, especially by specific ones that I will go over in the second part of this article.
First of all, on October 5th there is a Full Moon in Aries (12˚ 43”). Aries is fire, a cardinal sign that usually stimulates us to lead, to act and to initiate actions. A Full Moon usually emphasizes a situation that is already consumed. Also, it usually brings intense emotion, a strong wish to finalize things based on feelings and impulse. However, this Aries Full Moon is not that sensitive, is more likely to activate our ambition and impulse of competition. On the other hand, this Full Moon may push some of us to conclude a particular situation that could consume our energy for the past 28th days. In some cases this Aries Full Moon could direct some of us to a very high level of courage, abilities to fight, abilities to lead and ultimately to initiate a new way of emotional expression.
For instance, if the Full Moon will fall in your 7th house it may reveal either a culmination of relationship or the impossibility to go on with a relationship. Then, if this Fall Moon will fall in your 11th house, you may come to a conclusion regarding your common projects, social implications or friends from across the globe that you have trusted over time. Additionally, during this day you could act based of your mood, impulse and ambition rather than feelings, emotions and affections. Hence, all of us will experience in some particular way this full moon, but it will be more intense for those who have planets between 11˚ -14˚Aries, or even between 11˚-14˚in opposite sign Libra.
Then, on October 10th or 11th (depending where in the world you live), Jupiter enters in Scorpio. Jupiter is peregrine planet in Scorpio sign, symbolically known as being independent, functioning on it own without any particular relationship to any other planets or signs. On the other hand, Jupiter in transit indicates de area of life in which we are trying to grow and the way we are doing this. It shows the area where we need to expand ourselves, where we need to comprehend our reality, where we need to educate ourselves in order to become knowledgeable.
So, check out your natal chart and see what house Jupiter is transiting at this moment. That will be a very important zone of growing in the next approximately 12 months. (Jupiter will stay in Scorpio until Nov 9th 2018). On other hands, according to well known astrologer Rob Hand, Jupiter has a strong social dimension; it is concerned with the social “glue” that holds everything together.
However, Jupiter in Scorpion it may require some type of human transformation, regeneration, in order to access our deep sense of wisdom, to expand our worldwide vision. Nevertheless, Jupiter is known as a great benefic, and it’s associated with benefits and happiness. But how can you access your benefits, how can you recognize your opportunities if you are not opened up yet your feelings? So, any situation that you may experience during the next approximately 12 months (in a close connection to the house where Jupiter is transiting at this moment), it may bring you a large amount of benefits in the end.
Going forward on October 14th Venus enters in Libra, in one of its own sign. Venus may bring into our attention the balance we need to learn in order to have harmony in our relationships and to have a good cooperation with others. It may determine us to prefer peace rather than disturbance, to appreciate the valuable things around and to see kindness in others. For instance, if Venus will transit your 1st house it means you could have a personal charisma, charm, and refinement. Doesn’t matter what door you may open, you will have the opportunity to affirm yourself, to shine, to show your elegance, your inner beauty and your kindness.
Then, on October 17th – Mercury enters in Scorpio, allowing our mind to explore everything that seems mysterious and profound. We could have more passion towards finding out the truth. We could have a deep drive or passion to research and investigate what was hidden from us. On the other hand, some of us could have some fixed ideas that may be not that easy to adjust or change.
Going forward on October 19th there is a New Moon in Libra sign (26˚ 35”). Libra is all about balance, about having continuity, refinement and diplomacy. So, naturally we could set our intention for the next 28 days based of these qualities. This New Moon could bring new beginnings for those people, which have natural planets around 26˚ Libra or even at 26˚Aries (the opposite sign); (+1 or -1 degree).
October 23rd / 22nd (depending of your location) – Sun enters in the deeper sign – Scorpio. Somehow it will conduct our energy, our ideas through a higher level, where our feeling could be intense and we could become powerful, determinate to research and, eventually to rebirth some old ideas.
On October 23rd / 22nd (depending of your location) – Mars enters in Libra
Mars in Libra may require that diplomacy and patience needs to be cultivated. People in general may rather defend themselves, or may take actions on their own behalf and on the behalf of others when injustices have been done.
In terms of aspects, all of them require a great amount of attention, especially if you like to comprehend the whole picture of October, or if you like to analyze them in a close connection to your natal chart. However, generally I consider significant several major aspects from October that could bring a great amount of irritation, inconvenience, frustration, limits, conflict and stress.
October 9th, 11th, 15th and 19th could challenge us in terms of long time projects, time lessons, structuring ideas of business, reevaluation of self, controlling ideas and thoughts, boundaries, inner transformation and changes in connection to future plans.
On October 9th we have two major aspects that may either bring into our attention vital ideas that need to be considered or it may amplify the thoughts we have in terms of personal transformation. Pluto will be in a perfect square with both Sun and Mercury.
On October 11th Mars will perfectly square Saturn (22˚54”) a time when we could be tempted to accelerate things, especially long-standing ones. The situation we may encounter may require patience, solid knowledge or experience in order to succeed. So it may be not a good idea to rush or end prematurely project or some of your attributes.
On October 15th Mercury will opposite Uranus and Mars will opposite Chiron. This day could bring us unexpected news that could contribute to our life changes. On the other hand, our activities, especially the ones that will be determined (dictated) by our ego, could affect us physically and spiritually. In some cases, it may complicate the process of healing some personal wounds. Hence, even if the day may surprise us, it may still require delicate and careful actions.
On October 19th Sun will be in a perfect opposition with Uranus retrograde (26˚32”). We have some focus and balance navigating through life, but this day may awake us in some way. I consider this aspect the most important aspect of the month, because it will highlight something in connection with our identity in world, individuality, plans, and rhythm in a strong connection with the society, our freedom and our uniqueness. It could bring for some of us major changes that will slowly redirect our higher mind and our daily routine to something else. Hence, a very important element could be activated during or around this day, or a very important step could be taken into consideration, one that may contribute to a major change, especially for those people who have been affected by the August Solar Eclipse.
To conclude, in the first part of October we can find a lot of flexibility and convenience to initiate actions that can satisfy and stabilize our needs. (A lot of planets are in a cardinal and mutable signs, while the fix modality is not emphasized at all).
In the second part of October we could show not that much availability to generate ideas and thought towards future change, and we could have difficulty to visualize or see things from other perspectives. Therefore some of us could slow the individual process of progress or could reject the idea of improvement. Also, some of us could be reserved towards things or situations that could be beneficial.
Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous month!Everybody likes to complain about the art world, even as we participate in it to some degree or another. I’m talking of course about the art world of ludicrous prices, and bespoke museums, and unintentionally funny music videos shot in art galleries, and celebrities trying to make art.
The art world as we’ve understood it for over a century—where artists make work in their studios which then gets sold in galleries and collected by museums—that world has mushroomed into its own branch of pop culture, and it has very little to do with art anymore. That world is about shopping and status, investment and tax evasion, celebrity and decoration. It’s about huge commissions, and massive editions whose production is paid for by dealers. For the successful artists, it’s a hamster wheel. And the objects they make that are horse-traded so ferociously are not art anymore, mostly. At best they’re just well-crafted, high-end décor, with a light dusting of an idea if you’re lucky.
This means that really interesting art is harder to find today, or even recognize. The best art, when you can spot it, is made by people who are resourceful by necessity (as artists always have been), using the tools at hand, be they social media and video, or advances in science, or buildings abandoned by economic ruin. Truly interesting work is out there, beyond the desiccated conceptual shows in kunsthalles and the safe retreads of 40-year-old ideas in galleries and the flatulent playground installations at museums. You want great art? Get out of the art world.
Which leads me to Meow Wolf.
Meow Wolf is a collective based in Santa Fe. Their massive new permanent installation House of Eternal Return is housed in a former bowling alley in a nondescript, slightly shabby, middle-class part of town that’s neither in the “serious” art enclave around Site Santa Fe, nor the 8th circle of tourist gallery hell on Canyon Road. Meow Wolf has been getting a lot of press since House of Eternal Return opened in March. The installation has been variously described as “a high-tech storytelling gameworld;” “part haunted house and part jungle gym;” and, in the tepidly enthusiastic phrase of the writer Ben Davis, simply “Big Fun Art.” It’s wonderful, in the sense that it is literally full of wonder.
And while I’m not sure whether House of Eternal Return falls under any conventional definition of art, it is nonetheless a delightful, vast, immersive fun house created by real artists. It involves, without too many spoilers, a Victorian house that has experienced what appears to be a rift in the time-space continuum and opened portals into multiple fantastical dimensions. There’s an elaborate narrative about the family that lived there, and a mystery to solve. Clues are everywhere. When you buy your ticket, you’re told to plan on spending at least two hours inside. “Touch everything,” they say. This art installation isn’t meant to be passively experienced. It’s meant to be played.
House of Eternal Return is at once both massive and incredibly detailed. Two leisurely visits of a couple of hours each, and I was still discovering new spaces, each crafted by an artist or a team of artists and technicians. Taken individually, many of those moments were created by people whose artworks probably haven’t made it very far. But that’s kind of the point. In an interview with the LA Times, Nick Toll, one of the Meow Wolf artists, says “I was getting kind of bored with the old dynamics of the art world. This is kind of exciting because there is a whole other set of rules.”
And freedom from the art world is the name of the game. House of Eternal Return doesn’t feel like recognizable art any more than its visitors feel like recognizable art world people. The people I saw there were tattooed, working class parents out with their kids, teenagers on dates, grandparents peering tentatively into the narrow crawlspaces. The usual black-clad disciples of the high art church? Their hushed reverence is absent from House of Eternal Return. Meow Wolf has deliberately broken all those rules.
And while I don’t think House of Eternal Return is an unequivocal success (I wasn’t interested in solving the mystery at the core of its Aleister Crowley-ish narrative, and its environments are not uniformly cool), it is the first really ambitious project I’ve seen by a large group of Millennial artists that didn’t feel like a bad trip to the desert, although it does have a whiff of Burning Man.
In his thoughtful article on Artnet, Ben Davis frets that Meow Wolf is the result of decades of emphasis on attendance numbers at museums, and a death knell for the individual practice. But House of Eternal Return could also be viewed as a positive outcome of the Millennial passion for teamwork and cooperation. Meow Wolf describes its goal as “many artists [collaborating] on a cohesive art piece while retaining individual creative goals and visions.” In House of Eternal Return, each artist staked out their eight-foot-square moment and went to town on it. While individualism within a collective may not appeal to your average middle-aged GenXer (and it certainly doesn’t jive with the Modernist notion of the heroic artist slaving away all tortured in his drafty studio and producing one-off masterpieces), it’s one way of doing things on a huge scale without selling your soul to Larry Gagosian.
Because we all know what that Faustian bargain looks like: artists who want to succeed in the art world today must carefully plot out a career, ticking off the right residencies and MFA programs, knowing the right curators, getting picked up by the right galleries. They must have the skills and aesthetic know-how to make the kind of fashionable work that will appeal to buyers.
What I admire most about Meow Wolf is that they explicitly want out of that world. They want their freedom, and they figured out how to get it.
Of course, they still need money. And more than anything, House of Eternal Return is interesting as a model of post-art-world art. Crucially, it’s a for-profit business. It’s main benefactor, the Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin, is not on ArtNews’s list of the top 100 art collectors. He made an investment in Meow Wolf, not a donation. Sold on the artists’ vision of a sci-fi wonderland, he purchased the derelict bowling alley for them, leased it back for 10 years, and invested an additional $2.5 million in the project. How generous his rate of return is is anybody’s guess—presumably it’s better than what you can make on the bond market these days—and it’s easy to imagine that he has cut the artists a generous deal. But it’s not a gift. Meow Wolf is not a non-profit. It’s a blueprint for a future of art-making where artists can free themselves from the limitations of art world patronage, so long as they’re willing to be entrepreneurs.
I like this clarity and quid pro quo aspect of Meow Wolf: you pay for this, and you get this. Tickets to House of Eternal Return cost $18 for out-of-state residents. That’s the same as a ticket to the Yayoi Kusama infinity room at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, and it’s a hundred times better than the Kusama. (You also get to spend a hundred times as many minutes in it as you do in the Kusama.) Meow Wolf has created something that is as honest and unpretentious as a circus: you enter House of Eternal Return and you know you’re going into pretendworld. There’s no fakery to the fakery. Whereas Kusama and the MFAH would have us buy into the smoke and mirrors and believe that it’s something transcendent, even when our own eyes tell us otherwise.
The artists of Meow Wolf, living out in weird old New Mexico, were never going to succeed in the art world as we know it, even in the little slice of it that exists in Santa Fe. So they’ve gone out and made |
, and 'A' Train in Antelope.
Alumni was played for the graduating seniors in attendance. YEM contained a brief Can't Turn You Loose tease from Page.
During the pause in Letter to Jimmy Page, Trey dedicated the song to everybody who was graduating. Trey acknowledged having played there for a long time and thanked the students for always inviting the band. The first set of this show was played outdoors and was halted due to rain. The second set was subsequently played indoors. The setlist for the second set may be incomplete. Bowie contained Contact teases in the intro, multiple "Elvis" quotes and a "Red Red Wine" quote. The soundcheck's Adeline contained a Marley quote from Fish. Some recordings that circulate with this date are mislabeled “The Front.”
Trey dedicated Uncle Pen to the death metal band Possessed, calling them "one of the greatest living rock and roll bands" and prompting banter from Fish. Mike teased What I Am before Uncle Pen. Tweezer contained a Woody Woodpecker theme tease from Trey and Possum included teases of Norwegian Wood. La Grange was introduced by Mike as a song by David "The Truth" Grippo.
Other than Alumni Blues, which was inferred from Mike's notes (and may have occurred during either set), the setlist is unknown. The source of this setlist is Phish.com.
The opening act was Widespread Panic. Trey teased Johnny B. Goode in Possum and Happy Birthday in Ya Mar. During Love You, Trey introduced Fish as Friar Tuck.
Whipping Post featured Fish on vocals.
The songs listed here were from Mike's notes and may be from either set. The rest of the setlist is unknown. The source of this setlist is Phish.com.
This setlist is incomplete and the second set is unknown.
Reba was dedicated to Widespread Panic. After Trey thanked Widespread Panic, the band played a brief jam with a Spanish-style feel (for about 30 seconds) before Jägermeister. The management stopped the band in the middle of YEM, so there was no vocal jam. During the tramps jam in YEM, Trey jumped off the stage. The opening act was Widespread Panic.
Phish headlined "Haverfest '90" on this date. No recording circulates and the setlist is unknown.
After Whipping Post, Trey welcomed the crowd to the second set and apologized for taking such a long break. The comments were in reference to their last show in the Keene area (2/22/90), at which heavy smoking and/or a fire alarm resulted in the show being aborted after the first set. Possum ended with a Sailor's Hornpipe tease from Trey. This show marked the first and only known performance of Metal Bagel Death, which was a dedication to some friends who had recently opened Keene Bagel Works across the street. YEM contained a Flash Light tease from Mike. Trey briefly reprised Caravan after If I Only Had a Brain and teased Simple Gifts in the intro to Contact.
Fluffhead was a birthday dedication to "Sarah." Walk Away featured Trey and Mike on the trampolines. HYHU was played for the first time since March 1, 1989 (166 shows).
Weekapaug contained The Lion Sleeps Tonight teases from Mike. A tease of I Know a Little preceded Highway to Hell.
Trey teased Stairway to Heaven in YEM. Mike's Song contained Heartbreaker teases from Mike.
According to one source, Fee and Tweezer may have been performed at this show. According to another source, this show never took place, and the November 10, 1990, show was Phish's first time playing Earlham. No recording is known to exist.
This was a free outdoor show, performed on Earth Day. The short break after Suzy was necessary to correct audio problems. Possum contained a Rhapsody in Blue tease from Page. I Didn't Know featured Fish on trombone and vacuum. Cavern contained a tease of Another One Bites the Dust from Mike. YEM also contained teases of Another One Bites the Dust and the vocal jam included a quote of the Sabre Dance. Mike used How High the Moon to change his broken bass string. The second set opened with Bouncing teases and a request for Caleb Snyder to retrieve his license, which was awaiting its retrieval on Page’s keyboard. Hood contained an O-o-h Child tease from Trey.
This show marked the Phish debut of How High the Moon. No Dogs Allowed was played for "Erik the Viking." Suzy contained How High the Moon, Stairway to Heaven, and Walk This Way teases. St. Thomas was teased prior to Antelope, which contained How High the Moon and Entrance of the Gladiators teases from Trey.
'A' Train contained a brief Sailor's Hornpipe tease from Trey, Possum included a Rhapsody in Blue tease from Page, and Caravan contained an Entrance of the Gladiators tease from Trey. Ya Mar contained "Napkin Pa" lyrics.
This setlist is incomplete. The opening act was The Circle.
This show featured the debut of Jägermeister Song. Trey teased Long Tall Glasses in Possum. The beginning of Bowie included a return to the Lawn Boy melody, a tribute to Chris Kuroda and his abilities at the light board, and a tribute to Jägermeister.
Ride Captain Ride was played for the first time since May 28, 1989 (116 shows).
There was no show on this date. The March/April 1990 Phish Update listed "The Moon" in Telluride for shows 4/11/90 and 4/12/90. Those Fly Me To The Moon shows occurred on 4/8 and 4/9. Phish played at The Inferno from 4/12 to 4/14.
Bowie contained Walk This Way, Runaway Jim, and Heartbreaker teases and Tweezer contained a DEG jam.
You Enjoy Myself contained Oriental Riff teases from Mike. Trey teased Third Stone From the Sun in Suzy Greenberg, Stairway to Heaven in Slave to the Traffic Light, and Jean Pierre in Weekapaug Groove.
BBFCFM included a jam based on the Brady Bunch theme. Prior to Bike, Trey introduced Fish as "Phil Collins" and joked that Fish would perform an ancient unknown version of "Suss-Sussudio."
Alumni contained additional lyrics.
Ya Mar and Bowie included teases of the Bonanza theme. Bowie also contained Wipe Out teases from Mike. Page teased Higher Ground prior to Oh Kee Pa and the theme to The Twilight Zone before If I Only Had a Brain. YEM contained Flash Light teases from Mike and Tweezer contained a DEG tease from Trey. Jesus featured guest Dan Mosebee on harmonica.
YEM contained a Sailor's Hornpipe tease, 'A' Train included a Woody Woodpecker theme tease, 'A' Train was teased in Possum, and Wilson was teased in the Rhombus Narration. I Didn't Know was dedicated to "George" and the second verse of Contact was dedicated to "Eli" for his birthday.
It's unknown whether this show occurred. The March/April 1990 Phish Update says “call hotline” and Trey’s notes said “off”. If a show occurred this day, the setlist is unknown. The source of this information is phish.com.
This one set show was an opener for BOP(harvey). This information is from phish.com.
JIM was the opening act. There is no known setlist for this show outside of the Bowie encore which featured members of JIM joining in on vocals and various instruments.
This show marked the first known performances of Tweezer, Cavern, and Runaway Jim as well as the first known Phish performances of Sweet Adeline and Uncle Pen. Contact contained a Sailor's Hornpipe tease from Trey and If I Only Had a Brain featured Fish on trombone. A cover of James Bracken’s Steppin’ Out (which appears on Live Cream Volume II) may have been performed as the first encore tune, but this is unconfirmed.
This show featured the first known performance of Killer Joe. Lizards had lyrics changed to "He got a pint of Guinness and proceeded to get really drunk."
Possum contained Purple Haze teases from Trey and Cantaloupe contained Jean Pierre and Theme from Bonanza teases from Trey. Harpua included a Purple Haze tease and Foxy Lady and Fire quotes. Roll Like a Cantaloupe was played for the first time since July 12, 1988 (202 shows).
AC/DC Bag contained Hot Blooded teases from Trey. Trey dedicated Hood to "our lightman, Chris." The setlist for the second set is incomplete.
Caravan, Ya Mar, Donna Lee, Antelope, Slave, Highway to Hell, YEM, La Grange, and BBFCFM all featured Dave Grippo on alto saxophone. Caravan and Reba contained Manteca teases. Antelope also included a tease of the Odd Couple theme. YEM had a Frankenstein tease and Sunshine of Your Love was teased in the song and vocal jam. BBFCFM contained a Fishin' Hole (aka The Andy Griffith Show theme) tease from Trey. Whipping Post featured Fish on vocals and guitar.
Suzy contained a Purple Haze tease and Antelope contained a Fishin' Hole (aka The Andy Griffith Show theme) tease. During I Didn't Know, Trey introduced Fish as Marco Esquandolas.
Possum contained a Sailor's Hornpipe tease from Trey and Caravan contained a Rhapsody in Blue tease from Page. The Bowie intro contained crew introductions as well as "Charge!" teases from Mike. Bowie subsequently included a Blue Monk tease.
It is unknown if YEM was performed in the first or second set. This setlist is from phish.com and is incomplete.
My Sweet One and Funky Bitch featured John Popper on harmonica. The YEM vocal jam contained a Surfin' Bird quote.
Suzy included a Purple Haze tease.
Weekapaug included a tease of the theme from Bonanza.
Bowie included an extended Tweezer jam. This show included the first known version of the original Rift. Reba was preceded by teases of the theme from Jeopardy! and contained a Brady Bunch theme tease from Trey. McGrupp and Fluffhead contained Sailor's Hornpipe teases from Trey. Foxy Lady was teased and quoted before Lizards. Fluffhead was dedicated to Paul Languedoc's head (specifically his new haircut) and was introduced as "Lunkhead."
After YEM, Fish noted apologetically that they didn't have a chance to do a soundcheck, but once they got it together, "we promise to kill ya." During I Didn't Know, Trey introduced Fish as "Phil Collins." 'A' Train contained teases of the Flintstones theme, Sailor's Hornpipe, and the Brady Bunch theme. Trey introduced Tom Marshall before Lawn Boy, encouraging the audience to "think of him as the fifth member." Contact featured Fish crying in the background during the "I woke up one morning..." section. Exit Only was the opening act.
YEM included Camel Walk teases. Page teased Tequila in Bathtub Gin. Suzy featured a Purple Haze tease from Trey and a full-band Low Rider jam. Weekapaug contained a Woody Woodpecker theme tease from Trey. During I Didn't Know, Fish was introduced as Vinnie Barbarino.
Caravan contained several Manteca teases and an Entrance of the Gladiators tease. Bowie included a Mike’s Song tease, heavy DEG teasing, and references to Marley. There was no second set, as someone pulled the fire alarm and prematurely ended the show.
The opening acts were Widespread Panic and Gene Matthews. The Ocean (Led Zeppelin) was teased in the YEM vocal jam. Mike's Song started as David Bowie.
Possum was dedicated by Fish to Stacey Stienmetz and included a Fishin' Hole tease from Trey. The opening act was Widespread Panic.
The second set listing may be incomplete. The opening act was Widespread Panic.
Happy Birthday was sung by “Rocco” to Trey’s sister, Kristy. Possum included Fishin' Hole (aka The Andy Griffith Show theme) teases. The band asked the audience several times if anyone could give them a ride back to Burlington, as their van broke down on the road to Philadelphia. As with the encore the night before, Trey introduced Fish as “The King of Prussia.”
Wilson was performed in a heavy metal style. 'A' Train contained teases of the Brazil theme, Alumni contained a Rhapsody in Blue tease from Page, and Bowie contained Wipe Out teases from Mike and Trey. During the encore, Trey introduced Fish as "The King of Prussia" (an allusion to the real-life location King of Prussia, not far away from Lancaster).
This setlist is incomplete and the songs may have been spread across two sets.
This setlist may be incomplete. Melt contained an Entrance of the Gladiators tease from Trey.
The source of this setlist is Phish.com. It is unconfirmed and incomplete. Phish opened for Widespread Panic.
Phish opened for Widespread Panic.
Caravan contained an Entrance of the Gladiators tease from Trey. Phish opened for Widespread Panic.
Phish opened for Widespread Panic.
This setlist is incomplete. Harpua included a Purple Haze jam.
It must have been a hot night at The Front, as references were made to a large fan cooling off the crowd. The band even encouraged the audience to take their shirts off; Trey went as far as to promise that Fish would get naked if the audience did! Wilson was performed in a heavy metal style. Trey teased Sailor's Hornpipe in Hydrogen. BBFCFM contained teases of Auld Lang Syne and the Bonanza theme from Trey.
Wilson was performed in a heavy metal style.
This setlist is incomplete.
Although the January/February 1990 Phish Update listed the venue as U. of Maine at Orono and some sources placed this show at other venues (or even dated it a year earlier on 1/25/89), a flyer for the show, and tapes, confirm this date and Penny Post as the venue. A recording of the Fluffhead does not circulate, but early fan reports of the show confirm that it was performed. This setlist may be incomplete, and some songs may be out of order. This show featured the first known Phish performance of Communication Breakdown. Trey teased Purple Haze in Suzy.
This show included the debut of Bouncing, the first known performance of Coil, and the first known Phish performances of Caravan and Carolina. Page teased Tequila in Bathtub Gin. Suzy Greenberg contained a Purple Haze tease from Trey and Hood contained an Odd Couple theme tease from Page.
The venue and setlist for this UNH show are unknown.There’s nothing new about fears of technological unemployment. The idea goes back to the Luddites in 18th-century England and John Maynard Keynes in the 1930s. Union bosses have long railed against factory automation, and governments have even resisted technology to maintain higher job levels. Yet predictions that machines would put humans out of work on a significant societal scale have never quite materialized.
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Write sports articles: Computers can now write sentences like, “Things looked bleak for the Angels when they trailed by two runs in the ninth inning, but Los Angeles recovered thanks to a key single from Vladimir Guerrero to pull out a 7-6 victory over the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on Sunday.” Which sounds a lot like a newspaper account of a baseball game written by a non-robot. Momentum Machines Flickr user Steve Jurvetson Flip burgers: A company called Momentum Machines is developing a machine that shapes burgers from ground meat, grills them, then toasts a bun and adds chopped tomatoes, onions and pickles. Co-founder says Alexandros Vardakostas says the device isn’t meant to make workers’ lives easier. “It’s meant to completely obviate them.” Perform complex office tasks: WorkFusion makes software that automatically assesses a project to see what parts can be fully automated, which parts can be crowdsourced to a freelance network like Elance, and what still needs to be handled by humans. All the while, it analyzes performance, for instance by asking freelancers questions it already knows the answers to, so that it can test their capabilities. The platform reduces the need for in-house staff by making use of freelancers, but then it looks to do away with them as well. “Even as the freelancers work under the direction of the system, they are simultaneously generating the training data that will gradually lead to their replacement,” Ford writes. London Symphony Orchestra Flickr user MITO SettembreMusica Write music: In 2012, the London Symphony Orchestra performed Transits–Into an Abyss, a composition created entirely by Iamus, a system designed at the University of Malaga. One reviewer called it “artistic and delightful.” Replace Wall Street: At the turn of the century, Wall Street employed 150,000 people. Today, that number is less than 100,000, even though transaction volumes and profits have continued to grow. Trading algorithms are now making many of the financial decisions that used to be made by humans. Diagnose cancer: The BD FocalPoint GS Imaging System scans slides for more than 100 signs of disease. And, according to Ford, it does a “significantly better job” of finding cancers than humans do (though doctors do still make the final decision–for now).
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Flickr user Kārlis Dambrāns Ford thinks some of the biggest disruptions will take place in industries that are currently bloated and expensive for consumers–industries like higher education and health care. For instance, he forecasts that MOOCs (online courses), automated grading algorithms (which mark essays as well as multiple choice tests) and adaptive learning systems offer a path away from unsustainable college costs. But, again, these technologies may be bad for employment rates in the sector. Of course, those people doing the automating may stand to do well financially–but perhaps not for long. Ultimately, Ford argues, complete automation will be bad for the economy because machines don’t consume goods and services the way human beings do. The “powerful symbiosis between rising incomes and robust, broad-based consumer demand is now in the process of unwinding,” he says. “It’s possible that at some future point, rapid technological innovations might shift the expectations of consumers about the likelihood and duration of unemployment, causing them to aggressively cut their spending,” he adds. “If such an event occurred, it’s easy to see how that could precipitate a downward economic spiral that would impact even those workers whose jobs are not directly susceptible.” The standard response to automation among economists has been to call for more education, so low-paid workers can move up the food chain. But Ford doesn’t think that will help ultimately. Many people are already over-educated for what they do–just look at all the college graduates serving coffee in Starbucks. Ford says cramming everyone into jobs requiring more skills is “analogous to believing that, in the wake of the mechanization of agriculture, the majority of displaced farm workers would be able to find jobs driving tractors.” Nor, can we hope to stop the automation wave, he says. There’s an inevitability to these technologies, and it’s inevitable that businesses will take advantage. Whatever employers might say publicly, they don’t really want to hire more people than they need. This leads Ford to make the case for a basic income guarantee–a government payment to all citizens so they can live to a reasonable level. His version would be tied to educational accomplishment. People who get at least a high school diploma would get slightly more money, on the thinking that not having at least a diploma in the future economy will make people even less employable than they are today. He suggests $10,000 per person (which is lower than many other proposals), which would cost about $1 trillion overall, provided the payment was means-tested at the top-end.
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This might become an economic necessity, he says, if work is no longer an option for large numbers of people. “If we look into the future and assume that machines will eventually replace human labor to a substantial degree, then I think some form of direct redistribution of purchasing power becomes essential if economic growth is to continue.”Republicans’ bizarre visions of healthcare
Karen Tumulty notes that Rudy Giuliani — who not only received free, taxpayer-financed healthcare when diagnosed with cancer, but also “recently turned around his chartered jet to seek emergency medical treatment” — was asked why Republican presidential hopefuls aren’t talking about healthcare in their campaigns.
“I suspect that our Democratic colleagues would get that question more often in a Democratic audience than we get in a Republican audience,” he said. “Maybe more Democrats are concerned about their health care than Republicans, maybe because Republicans have health care or maybe Republicans generally like the idea of private solutions.”
It’s a reminder that when it comes to Giuliani’s capacity to sound like a buffoon, there are no limits.
But more importantly, it’s also a reminder of why Republican candidates really aren’t talking about healthcare in their campaigns: they know their plans don’t help people.
Workers like [Dena Roach, who can barely afford her employer-subsidized premiums] want insurance that stays affordable, and the Republican presidential candidates say the best way is to give individuals tax breaks to help pay for coverage. Critics, including Democrats who advocate a broader government role, say these plans won’t hold down rising costs, much less put a dent in the 47 million uninsured Americans. “As laid out, the candidates’ proposals don’t fully address the problems of affordability, access to coverage and cost,” Roberton Williams, principal research associate at the Washington-based Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, said in a Dec. 24 interview.
So, when it comes to GOP healthcare plans, if you overlook the fact that the uninsured will stay that way, and those with insurance will still struggle with exorbitant costs, and the fact that tax credits won’t stop insurers from raising rates, then sure, the Republicans are offering great policies.
What’s more, it’s worth remembering this LAT piece from a month ago in which we learned that Giuliani, McCain, and Fred Thompson could be denied healthcare insurance under their own healthcare plans.
All three have offered proposals with the stated aim of helping the 47 million people in the U.S. who have no health insurance, including those with preexisting medical conditions. But under the plans all three have put forward, cancer survivors such as themselves could not be sure of getting coverage — especially if they were not already covered by a government or job-related plan and had to seek insurance as individuals. “Unless it’s in a state that has very strong consumer protections, they would likely be denied coverage,” said economist Paul Fronstin of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, who has reviewed the candidates’ proposals. “People with preexisting conditions would not be able to get coverage or would not be able to afford it.”
It offers a helpful contrast between the downsides of the two parties’ approaches to healthcare. The problem with the Dems’ plans is that they’re expensive. The problem with the Republicans’ policies is that sick people of modest means can’t get health insurance.
The Republican presidential hopefuls seem to realize that their plans leave millions of vulnerable Americans behind, but also realize that the alternative is government regulation — specifically, telling insurers that they can’t exclude people with pre-existing conditions, and can’t price these people out of coverage. Given a choice between a large gap of uninsured and government-imposed safeguards for Americans, the GOP candidates prefer the prior.
I have to assume that any voter who cares about healthcare and backs Republican candidates just isn’t paying attention.MARIN COUNTY (KRON) -- Police arrested a man Sunday for several offenses after he allegedly bit his ex-girlfriend during an altercation in Novato, according to Novato police.
Officers responded to the McDonald's at 5600 Nave Dr. after receiving reports that a male and female were fighting, police said.
By the time officers arrived, 30-year-old Oscar DeLeon-Aguilar of San Rafael had fled the scene. The female victim identified DeLeon-Aguilar as her ex-boyfriend.
During the heated argument, DeLeon-Aguilar allegedly bit his ex-girlfriend's face above her eye. The injury resulted in the loss of facial tissue, and the victim had to be treated at a local hospital, police said. She has since been released.
Novato police found DeLeon-Aguilar in San Rafael and arrested him.
He was booked into the Marin County Jail on suspicion of several offenses, including mayhem, police said.
Police did not identify the victim, or release her age.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact the Novato Police Department at (415) 897-4361.Local media has confirmed that a gay police officer was among those shot and wounded Thursday night when a sniper opened fire during a protest in Dallas.
Jesus Retana, a Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) officer for the past 10 years, is recovering at home with his husband, Andrew Moss, a former DART officer who was instrumental in instituting same-sex partner benefits in the department.
The couple has stated they prefer not to do interviews out of fear for their safety.
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Tragically five officers were killed in the attack by Micah Xavier Johnson, a U.S. Army Reserve veteran who said he was angry over police violence against minorities.
The officers have been identified as Brent Thompson, Patrick Zamarripa, Michael Kroll, Michael Smith and Lorne Ahrens.
h/t: The New Civil Rights MovementConvertBinary.com offers a set of free online tools for binary conversion: in this page you can translate any text to binary code.
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01001000 01100001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01000110 01110101 01101110 00101100 00100000 01001100 01101001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01101111 01101110 00100000 01000110 01100001 01100011 01100101 01100010 01101111 01101111 01101011 00101100 00100000 01000011 01101100 01101001 01100011 01101011 00100000 00101011 00110001 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00101110 00101110 00101110 00001010 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00110000 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110001 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110001 00100000 00110000 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110001 00110000 00110000 00110001 00001010 00101000 01110100 01110010 01100001 01101110 01110011 01101100 01100001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01100001 01100111 01100001 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00100000 01100011 01101111 01100100 01100101 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110110 01100101 00101001You’re a twentysomething looking forward to your friend’s birthday at a popular nightclub. You walk up to your car, the door opens and you drive to the club. Speed is limited to 70mph in this mode but that’s fine, there’s no rush. You arrive to the spot where you’re meeting your friends, so you tell your car to go and find a parking space and charge up, at one of the automatic bays around town. You step out and the car sails off. Several hours later you realise you have found your limit; although tomorrow is a Sunday, you don’t want it to be one of those nights again. While in the queue to get your coat you tell your car to circle the block, and stumbling out of the club you jump in the back seat, take off at top speed and wake up at home.
If this sounds like mundane science fiction you’re right. But it was the image in my head after discovering that both Google and Tesla are working, possibly together, on developing a fully self-driving car.
The idea of a self driving vehicle exists as far back as the legend of the Magic carpet, where fantasy and human imagination went what technology could never have thought to achieve.
A future with the norm being automatic control of personal motor vehicles, like in 2004’s I, Robot, or arguably in concept with the magic carpet, isn’t the first time science fiction started manifesting itself in reality. The idea of webcam chatting was explored here in 1968’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, 45 years ago.
This idea was shown in film as far back as the visionary silent film Metropolis, in 1927. Talking wordlessly to the dead has existed in many ancient and tribal cultures throughout history in legends and religion. And today, science fiction and other fantasy storytelling serves as a kind of ‘idea porn’, where creators map out possible realities, indirectly helping us to percieve and help plan for possible futures. Imagining something and making it are linked; many other stories have ended up being dreams of our material future.
On a side note, there is often something incomplete about some of these myths: the idea of exclusivity. Like with Aladdin’s Magic Lamp, the story usually highlights one magical object that only the protagonist can rightly possess. Perhaps this represent our longing to feel special, but this feeling that comes from within, therefore it can’t be a realistic goal to manifest that part. Maybe Syndrome was right - The evolution of technology to fulfill our dreams in fact shows a breaking away from that part of the fantasy, a figurative democratisation of magic.Now that Newark is a no-go, Nigel Farage will be turning his thoughts to where he will stand as an MP. He said this week that returning its first MP will be a huge breakthrough for Ukip, so choosing a seat that he can win is vital. After declining to stand in the 15 by-elections that Ukip have contested since 2010, it looks as if Farage will wait until 2015 to run for Parliament.
Coffee House understands that, ideally, Farage would like the seat to fit three criteria. Firstly, it needs to be a marginal seat. Secondly, he wants to have some local connection — he feels his lack of any roots in Buckingham caused him problems when he stood there in 2010. And thirdly, there would be no incumbent MP, lessening the challenge among the local community. Here are seven seats that either fit, or come close to fitting, Farage’s criteria:
South Thanet
Marginal: Yes — Tories took seat in 2010 with 7 per cent swing
Local connection: Yes — Farage lives in Kent
No incumbent: Yes — Laura Sandys (Con) is standing down
Electoral Calculus prediction: 66 per cent chance of CON hold
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Is South Thanet the perfect choice? Once held by Jonathan Aitken (now a Ukip supporter), this seat ticks all of the boxes for Nigel Farage. It’s a two-way split between Labour and the Tories; the latter party took the seat at the last election for the first time since 1997. Ukip managed to poll 5.5 per cent in 2010, well above the party’s national vote of 3.1 per cent. As a Kent man, Farage knows the area well.
Dover
Marginal: Yes — Tories took the seat from Labour with a 5k majority
Local connection: Yes — Farage is a Kent man and an MEP for the region
No incumbent: No
Electoral Calculus prediction: None – 50% LAB gain/50% CON hold
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Dover is the most marginal seat in Kent, and as the Electoral Calculus prediction shows, it could go either away at the next election. Like South Thanet, Farage has strong links to the area. However, there is an incumbent MP — Conservative Charlie Elphicke. Although he has yet to be reselected, there are no signs Elphicke will stand down.
Cannock Chase
Marginal: Yes — Tories took the seat from Labour with a 3k majority
Local connection: Unknown
No incumbent: Yes — Aidan Burley (Con) is standing down
Electoral Calculus prediction: 58 per cent chance of LAB gain
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The outgoing Tory MP Aidan Burley caused his party significant headaches over a Nazi-stag party he attended. The constituency ticks many boxes for Farage: an MP leaving in inauspicious circumstances, it is a marginal and he’s a frequent visitor to Staffordshire — he was there two weeks ago canvassing the anti-HS2 vote. However, it’s unknown whether he has any stronger links to Cannock Chase.
South Ribble
Marginal: Yes – Tories took the seat from Labour with a 5k majority in 2010
Local connection: Unknown
No incumbent: Yes, Lorraine Fullbrook (Con) is standing down
Electoral Calculus prediction: None – 51% CON hold/49% LAB gain
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The Conservatives took South Ribble from Labour at the last election, who had held it since 1997. Ukip managed to just out perform their national vote, gaining 3.7 per cent in 2010. The incumbent Tory Lorraine Fullbrook cited personal reasons for standing down after just one term. It’s very marginal — Electoral Calculus currently aren’t calling it either way. Although Farage visited the seat in January, it’s unknown again whether he has any particular connection to the area.
South Cambridgeshire
Marginal: No
No incumbent: Possibly — Andrew Lansley (Con) may stand down
Local connection: Unknown
Electoral Calculus prediction: 89 per cent chance of CON hold
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Although Andrew Lansley has yet to make his intentions clear, he is the bookies’ favourite to be the next EU commissioner. If he steps down, it’s one of the seats that Boris Johnson apparently has his eye on. It also works well for Farage: no incumbent, the previous MP is heading off to Europe and Ukip already have a strong presence in Cambridgeshire — Farage gave a speech in the market town of St Ives just two weeks ago. The Electoral Data blog suggests that Cambridgeshire South is one of the seat that has a favourable demographic for Ukip. Although South Cambridgeshire is Tory through and through, it’s worth noting that the Lib Dems took 34 per cent of the vote in 2010. If their vote drops significantly, it might be of interest of Farage.
Thirsk and Malton
Marginal: No
Local connection: Unknown
No incumbent: Yes — Anne McIntosh (Con) has been deselected
Electoral Calculus prediction: 93 per cent chance of CON hold
Chart
The incumbent MP Anne McIntosh has fallen out with her local party, who refused to reselect her. It’s unknown whether she will stand as an independent candidate, which could split the Tory vote. Electoral Data believe Thirsk and Malton has the second most favourable demographic for Ukip in the country. In 2010, they polled 6.6 per cent — more than double their national vote. Although it doesn’t meet Farage’s criteria, there is a lot of local anger. As one resident told the York Press, ‘If Ms McIntosh stands as an independent it will be wide open, and a mix of blue and red could well see someone wearing purple prevail.’
South Suffolk
Marginal: No
Local connection: Unknowm
No Incumbent: Yes — Tim Yeo (Con) deselected
Electoral Calculus prediction: 89 per cent chance of CON hold
Chart
With all the fuss over Tim Yeo’s deselction, Ukip could benefit from the anti-politics sentiment in the area. Farage addressed a packed-out crowd in South Suffolk last year – so look out if he returns to the area again. His party polled seven per cent here in the 2010 general election and Patrick O’Flynn, the party’s prominent head of communications, is standing in the county as an MEP.The crazy liberal nut jobs are after us Republicans again! They’re now saying that the religious right and Muslim religious extremists are mirror images of one another. How dare they!? We all know it’s liberals like Barack Hussein Obama who are in the Muslim brotherhood!
So, to prove how different conservative Christians are from conservative Muslims, just take the following quiz. The results will speak for themselves!
1. It is illegal to base laws on science
This is a Fatwa This is a Tea Party Law CORRECT!WRONG!
In 2012 |
from properties held by things that aren’t theories by any estimation, then this picture of science, while not false, is misleading. There can be no singular method, because there is no singular destination for scientific ideas (see Magnus’ paper for a good discussion about what count as scientific ideas). And as famously expressed by Feyerabend:
It is clear, then, that the idea of a fixed method, or of a fixed theory of rationality, rests on too naive a view of man and his social surroundings. To those who look at the rich material provided by history, and who are not intent on impoverishing it in order to please their lower instincts, their craving for intellectual security in the form of clarity, precision, ‘objectivity’, ‘truth’, it will become clear that there is only one principle that can be defended under all circumstances and in all stages of human development. It is the principle: anything goes. [Against Method pp27-28]
If there are no essential features for theories, then there are no essential methods for attaining them. On the other hand, I think that the simple view that anything is or can be science is equally mistaken. Feyerabend did not actually argue that anything goes, but instead that there is no fixed method; this is a reductio. He knew perfectly well that disciplines have canon of reasoning and methods, and that some methods are inadequate or unfruitful (no aid and comfort to creationists in this argument, at any rate).
Domain specificity
One assumption often made about science is that it is divided into fields of inquiry that are themselves more or less natural. We think, for example, of biology as a natural subset of natural processes where we do not think of medicine that way (because medicine uses techniques and ideas that also apply to veterinary science). One standard view about domains in science is that they are effectively defined by the best attested theory of the phenomena in the domain. As theories develop, and as some parts of a domain are explained by theories in other domains, the scope of the domain is refined and revised (consider how much biology has been relegated to organic chemistry, or psychology to neurobiology).
If, however, we find that there are no such privileged conceptual constructs as theories, what does this mean for domains? How do we anchor domains (like biology) in natural ways? We can always give institutional arguments for domains, like saying that there is a Biology faculty in universities, or a course of educational requirements in schools. Or we can argue that it is easier to teach techniques when bundled together (microscopy, field observation, etc.) but it may just as easily have turned out a different way. Arguments about “what is “life”, for example, presuppose the naturalness of that domain (as do the NASA attempts to locate evidence of “life” elsewhere than earth), but if there is nothing that ties life together but human practical considerations and a collection of theories that are not entirely connected or commensurate, why bother? Why not just further divide the domains into groupings that are natural? Why, for example, does biology consider both evolution by natural selection and biochemistry, the Krebs cycle and ecology, behaviour and biogeography?
Attempts to formulate ontologies of domains also typically derive from the theoretical commitments of the domain (atoms are part of the domain of physics, while pain sensations aren’t); so if the theoretical commitments are sui generis to the domain because the nature of “theory” in that domain is unique also, we have a problem of ontological relativity, which may or may not be a problem, depending on how you think ontologies should be handled.
This is, in effect, an argument for a descriptive pluralism. Pluralisms are often thought of as some kind of failure or postmodern relativism, but I see them rather differently. We start our investigations of things based on the phenomena that present themselves to our inspection. Since we have prior sensory, social and conceptual commitments which may or may not be reliable guides to the structure of the world, we very often have to revise our concepts to fit what we learn by investigation. So, “fish” no longer means any thing that lives in water and moves of its own accord, and humans are now apes. Pluralism is a necessary aspect of discovering that the world wasn’t structured the way we naively thought it was. It is a recognition that words matter less than the world they describe.
But this indicates something about science that is so obvious as to almost not need saying: evidence – observation, measurement and experiment – takes priority over theory. That is perhaps a dumb thing to say, or perhaps it is so dangerous as to be obviously false, depending on what you think about our ways of knowing and explaining (theoretical constructionists would take the latter tack). But I think that theories, and domains demarcated by theories, are definable solely in terms of their being something other than evidence. In short, a theory is what evidence isn’t. That leads naturally to the next point.
Theory dependence of observation revisited
I have previously discussed the “theory-dependence of observation thesis (TDOT)” in detail, so I will be brief. If theory itself is not a natural kind, the claim that observation relies upon it falters. Of course our conceptual furniture affects how we observe – this follows from the mere existence of trained observers – but the nonexistence of Theory (that is, as a natural kind) means that the sting of the TDOT is largely removed. It resolves down to the view that we observe things that we have learned to observe. This is not, I think, so deep as the TDOT5 claim defended by Kuhnians at one time. It certainly does not license the sorts of claims that are sometimes made that science is a self-contained hermeneutic bubble just like any other world view.
Conclusion
I think this is significant in part because it helps up to understand how science really proceeds. The notion of “law” in science has been deprecated recently amongst philosophers (e.g., Cartwright et al. 2005); it is time to deprecate “theory” also.
It also means that what we call a theory and how we talk about the notion of theory is not unlike the Knight’s song. We often refer to philosophical accounts of representation, explanation and formalisation when we discuss “theory” (excluding the terminological arguments amongst other philosophical traditions, like Marxist or phenomenological schools) when we should be talking about the ways scientists use the terms, and then, and only then, consider the philosophical implications. And if “theory” lacks the sort of reality it is sometimes held to have, if it simply is whatever in science is not evidentiary or probative, then we should be more empiricist in our philosophy.
I take this line, of course, to defend the claim that one thing science often does is, independently of theory, classify the world as a way to investigate it. If theory is not a natural kind, then it becomes clear that we can do this, only what we rely upon, our conceptual commitments that make a trained observer a better systematist, is more complex than “theory” suggests it would be.
Cartwright, Nancy, Anna Alexandrova, and Sophia Efstathiou. 2005. Laws. In The Oxford Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy, edited by F. Jackson. New York: Oxford Univ Press:792-818.
Feyerabend, PK. 1975. Against Method. New York: Verso Editions.
Magnus, P. D. Unpublished. What SPECIES can teach us about THEORY.
McEwan, Micheal. Unpublished. The Semantic View of Theories:Models and Misconceptions.Messi is the best striker, but in overall terms he comes sixth
After analysing football league players over nine seasons, from 2000 to 2009, Spanish researchers have come up with a mathematical method for estimating the goal-scoring performance of each player. According to their ranking, the most able strikers are Messi, Ronaldo Nazário, Makkay, Villa and Etoo.
SINC | May 28 2013 10:00
Leo Messi, F.C. Barcelona player, is the best striker. / Christopher Johnson
Over nine seasons, researchers from the faculties of Economic and Business Sciences at the Universities of Granada and Jaén analysed the performance of football players in the Spanish league from 2000/2001 to 2008/2009, with the aim of creating a mathematical model to evaluate their goal-scoring potential.
Their paper, published in the ‘European Journal of Sport Science’, presents a model based on Bayesian statistics, which they say enables them to predict the number of goals each player will score based on their own individual qualities.
As the researchers explain, whether a player scores or not depends on easily quantifiable extrinsic factors, such as the number of minutes or matches played, the position on the pitch – defender, midfielder or striker – and the team quality (measured by their position in the league table). But this is not everything.
“Other factors that are harder to measure can also influence performance, such as the individual characteristics of the player that make him different from all the rest,” explains to SINC José María Pérez Sánchez, professor at the institution in Granada and co-author of the study.
Extrinsic factors aside, the model can quantify an additional individual factor that influences the qualities of each footballer as a goal-scorer. “With this, we can rank Spanish league players according to this factor of individual ability,” the authors assert.
The best players
The model enables a player’s goal-scoring performance over the nine seasons analysed to be evaluated, by comparing the number of goals scored by the player with the number that would be expected of a footballer playing at the same time, in the same position and on the same team.
The results reveal that the five best defenders in the seasons studied were, in descending order, Ezequiel Garay, Roberto Carlos, Campano, Cristian Álvarez and Larrazábal.
According to the classification resulting from the model, the best midfielders were Rivaldo, Robert, Luis Cembranos, Mark González and Mostovoi; and the most able strikers were Messi, Ronaldo Nazário, Makkay, Villa and Etoo.
The most able strikers were Messi, Ronaldo Nazário, Makkay, Villa and Etoo
In terms of the overall assessment of all the players in the football league over the nine seasons studied, the best was Rivaldo, followed by Robert, Ezequiel Garay, Luis Cembranos and Roberto Carlos.
“It is remarkable that the strikers do not rank very highly in terms of overall performance,” Pérez Sánchez continues. “In fact, apart from Messi, who ranks sixth, the rest all rank below 15th place.”
The authors suggest that the reason might lie in the fact that the model takes into account that they are strikers and assesses them more harshly in relation to the expected number of goals. Furthermore, the ranking particularly values goals scored by defenders and midfielders, since this is not their primary objective on the pitch.
The Messi paradox
Lastly, the study analyses in depth the careers of several emblematic football players to assess their goal-scoring performance over this period, drawing attention to cases such as that of Leo Messi.
“Messi’s development is interesting,” the researchers highlight. “Although his performance is high in early seasons, in 2007/2008 (the penultimate season of the study) his productivity decreases significantly.”
The experts point out that this must be due to his change of position on the pitch, because he had previously been considered a midfielder but became a striker, demanding higher goal-scoring ability.
“If the latest seasons, in which the player’s goal-scoring success has increased considerably, were included in the study, this effect would surely be offset, and Messi would clearly rank many places higher in the overall assessment,” concludes Pérez Sánchez.This blog series is an excuse to keep track of all the random tidbits we uncover in our day-to-day life as students, guides, teachers, and just generally interested and curious people. I know it is not everyone’s prerogative to find out exactly how renaissance babies were swaddled, what 16th century widows wore, or what famous members of the Medici family did with their free time, just to better understand a work of art. So I will spare you our endless Early Modern machinations and just give you the good stuff.
The Colossus (of Rome, Rhodes, and New York):
We’re heading down to Rome tomorrow for a whirlwind tour of the sites and doing some requisite brushing up on our notes. While discussing the Flavian Amphitheater, aka the Colosseum, and the origins of this now ubiquitous nickname, I realized there were some holes in my knowledge that needed plugging up. One question lead to the next and suddenly I had gone from a colossus in Rome to images of a lost colossus in Rhodes, back home to New York to a colossus I too often forget.
Let’s begin in Rome. The Falvian Amphiteahter (Amphitheatrum Flavium), so named after the dynasty that erected it, was constructed (in record speed) between the years 72-80AD.
Shortly before they began this awe-inspiring structure, and just down the road, Emperor Nero (the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty) was making a 30 meter (100 foot, 107 roman feet) bronze statue of himself that would come to be called The Colossus Neronis. When it was finished in 68AD it was erected in a large atrium of Nero’s Domus Aurea, his imperial villa complex, essentially dividing his private home from the city outside.
Left: The Colossus of Nero statue erected next to the Colosseum in Rome; Right: Coin of Emperor Gordian III (238-244 AD), the reverse of which depicts the Flavian amphitheater with the colossus of Nero.
Shortly after Nero’s death in that same year, the Emperor Vespasian added a crown decorated with rays of sunlight and renamed it the Colossus Solis, after the Roman sun god Helios (Sol). Later succeeding emperors would place their own heads atop the colossus just in time to have their successor take it down to make room for their own. Around 128AD, Emperor Hadrian had the statue moved from its original location outside Nero’s Villa to the northwest corner of the Falvian Amphitheater (at this time, this was its only name…though we may speculate people called it the “flav” or something catchy like that). Moving this massive statue required the use of no less than 24 elephants and, no doubt, innumerable slaves.
It was from this Colossus Nero/Helios/your-typical-narcissistic-emperor, that the Flavian Amphitheater got its (initially, nick-) name the Colosseum. The name referred simply to the building’s close proximity to the colossus statue. It’s unclear when the sculpture was destroyed, but it was late enough that most people had forgotten the origin of the nickname. The word “Colosseum” (colosseo in Italian) now refers specifically to this amphitheater in downtown ancient Rome. Our latest literary source of the now practically forgotten colossus statue is this 8th century epigram attributed to the Venerable Bede: Quamdiu stat Colisæus, stat et Roma; quando cadet colisæus, cadet et Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus (“as long as the Colossus stands, so shall Rome; when the Colossus falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, so falls the world”). While Rome did fall and so did the Colossus, the world went on (albeit it had a killer hangover to deal with). However, the Colossus Nero was only one piece in a very old and interesting theme in history.
Left: Colossus of Rhodes by Martin Heemskerck; Right: Artist impression of Colossus of Rhodes, illustrated in the Grolier Society’s 1911 Book of Knowledge.
Flashback to ancient Rhodes where, in the 3rd century BC, another colossus loomed over the city’s harbor. The statue of Nero, who gave its name to the Colosseum, was inspired by and possible named after this earlier colossus of the Greek god Helios (making it basically the Colosseum’s granddad). Considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, this colossus is described in the words of the great Roman authors Philo and Pliny who saw it first hand and later printed and painted in the highly imaginative minds of the of the artists of middle ages and the Renaissance.
The colossus was erected in the city of Rhodes on the Greek island of Rhodes between 292 and 280 BC. Supposedly by the artist Chares of Lindos, student of the great Lysippos, the colossus stood over 30 meters (100 feet) high, making it one of the tallest statues of the ancient world and requiring twelve years for its completion. Dedicated to Rhodes’ patron god, Helios (God of the Sun), the statue was built to celebrate Rhodes’ victory over the ruler of Cyprus in 305 BC. The money to build the massive monument was obtained through the sale of the deserted equipment left by their vanquished enemy. The statue stood for 56 years until Rhodes suffered a devastating earthquake in 226BC.
It seems that the Rhodian Colossus may have cheated, just a wee bit, in the height department. The Colossus stood on 15 meter (50 foot) high white marble pedestals, giving the statue a total of height of 45 meters (150 feet). The monument’s exact location is still debated, but was likely somewhere near the harbor entrance or else in the harbor itself. The supposed dedication text speaks of the “bronze statue reaching to Olympus,” in its height and to whom “belongs dominion over sea and land.” Maerten van Heemskerck, Self-Portrait in Rome with the Colosseum 1553, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
From this poetic reference to the Colossus “over sea and land” came the later, completely invented, standing position of the statue literally over the harbor entrance. Images of him straddling the harbor with vessels below, for example in a 16th-century engraving by Martin Heemskerck, were proliferated throughout the Renaissance. Aside from this design likely being too difficult to construct with ancient engineering technology, a statue of this kind would have buckled under its own weight well before it reached this stage of completion. Heemskerck’s image was part of series of the Seven Wonders of the World, which, interestingly, included an additional eighth wonder, the Colosseum in Rome. Unlike the rest of his imagined wonders, Heemskerck showed the Colosseum as it looked in his day, in ruins.
Once the Colossus of Rhodes had fallen in the earthquake in 226, its ruins were left to act as a tourist trap of their own for another 800 years. They are even described by Strabo and Pliny the Elder, the latter remarking that someone standing next to the fallen hands could not even wrap their arms around the circumference of the thumb and that each of its individual fingers were larger than most statues.
Left: The Colossus of Rhodes depicted in 1880; Right: Statue of Liberty
Fast forward to late 19th Century, New York City, where the Statue of Liberty is being installed on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. Looking at the above image, a reconstruction of the Colossus of Rhodes by 19th century engineers (using their understanding of building technology in 3rd Century BC), we can see that, perhaps, Lady Liberty’s design and pose were based on modern historical imagination. We know the artist, Frédéric Bartholdi, had the Colossus of Rhodes in mind for other earlier projects, in particular one in which the form of an ancient Egyptian female acted as a lighthouse just as the Greek god in Rhodes had stood at a harbor with a light to guide ships. Similarly Lady Liberty guides those lost souls into her harbor with her torch. The most direct reference to this ancient inspiration is, of course, her diadem. This detail, which breaks from other iconography used for the goddess Liberty, shows the Lady crowned like Helios with the rays of sunlight that were found on both the Colossus of Rhodes and later the Colossus of Nero. Looking at the Statue of Liberty, we might easily reference a section from the original dedication of the Colossus at Rhodes: “Not only over the seas but also on land did they kindle the lovely torch of freedom and independence.”
From Rhodes, to Rome, to New York, each colossus would come to represent the identity of a city, spreading ideas of victory, decadence, and freedom.
In Rhodes, there has been talk of actually attempting to rebuild the Colossus. I can’t say I wouldn’t be a wee bit curious and, of course, tourism is a big reason behind the idea. However, the hefty sum it would cost has put the breaks on this plan for many years. In as late as November 2008, it was announced that funding had finally been procured to rebuild one of the seven wonders of the world. Though not quite as the original builders had done 2300 years ago. First of all, this new sculpture will be at least twice as large, ranging from 60- 100 meters and big enough for people to actually walk inside. Second, instead of construction consisting mostly of mud and bronze, this will be a “light sculpture” or, essentially, a light installation. Of course, twice the size means twice the cost and it is estimated the final bill will come in at roughly €200m, a sum that will be fronted by several international donors including a German artist named Gert Hof.
Whether it happens or not (I have not been able to find any further or later information on the progress of the project), I think the third deviation from the original was my favorite part of the concept. Unlike the original, which was built using the money sold from weapons, this colossus will be built using the weapons themselves. Referring to the ancient version’s symbolic message of peace, this colossus will me made using the metal of melted-down weapons from around the world.Microsoft Australia has reached out-of-court settlements with three resellers accused of peddling unauthorised products and infringing copyright.
Software Oz, PC-Tek and Bytestech all agreed to settle with the vendor before escalation into formal court proceedings, Microsoft announced Thursday morning.
Victorian business Software Oz, formally registered as Easy Peas Pty Ltd, has agreed to pay $300,000 in damages to Microsoft for selling unauthorised copies of software and product keys.
The vendor labelled the case a "landmark settlement" with the damages amount "one of the largest to date of its kind".
"Easy Peas was identified by Microsoft’s anti-piracy investigators as selling unauthorised Microsoft products during investigation sweeps carried out in 2015-2016," stated Microsoft Australia. "As part of the settlement, Easy Peas has undertaken not to manufacture, import, supply or distribute in infringing Microsoft programs in the future."
The products involved in Software Oz's illegal acts include Microsoft Visio Professional 2013 and Microsoft Project Professional 2013.
Software Oz ran the websites softwareoz.com.au and softwarededpot.co.uk, neither of which are operational as of Thursday morning.
PC-Tek, formally registered as XXIT Pty Ltd, settled for a $25,000 damages payout to Microsoft. The company admitted to pirating Windows 7 Professional by peeling off authenticity stickers from second-hand PCs, putting them onto new computers, then activating the unauthorised software for resale.
"Microsoft's investigators purchased a new computer system from XXIT which had a Multinational Account Original Equipment Manufacturer Certificate of Authenticity attached, and an unauthorised copy of Windows 7 Professional installed," the vendor announced.
The business, based in Clayton in eastern Melbourne, has prior form - a similar settlement was made back in 2013.
PC-Tek runs a physical store and a website. CRN has contacted the reseller for comment.
Microsoft Australia legal counsel Clayton Noble, also the chair of vendor industry group BSA The Software Alliance, said that such settlements are critical to protect customers from security risks in pirated software.
"We are also intent on creating an even playing field for those partners and resellers that are doing the right thing. We encourage all consumers to purchase their software from reputable retailers they can trust. The risks of deploying software of unknown origin or pirated software are serious, ranging from system crashes, malware and data loss to identity theft," he said.
The third settlement was with Sydney reseller Bytestech, formally registered as Jian Ping Wang, who was accused of illegally copying Windows 10 and Office Professional Plus 2013 onto hard drives.
The reseller, located on the northern beaches of Sydney, operates the website bytestech.com.au. Microsoft did not disclose any further details on the settlement.
CRN has contacted Bytestech for comment.Summary
The animal movement is doing important work to show people the importance of reducing the suffering of dogs, chickens, and lobsters at the hands of humans. However, many animal advocates also strongly defend wildlife, in spite of the immense amounts of animal suffering it contains. Some animal supporters are environmentalists because they think ecological preservation best advances animal welfare, while others hold an additional moral view that nature is intrinsically valuable. It's troubling that spreading the animal movement risks creating more defenders of wildlife who may cause more animal suffering than they prevent. Plausibly the animal movement is still net positive, especially if future wisdom helps to correct its present oversights, but I think it's safest if we push explicitly on the cause of reducing wild-animal suffering—both among animal activists and others who are open-minded.
Epigraphs
As a longtime wildlife biologist, in my estimation the most important source of wild animal suffering is habitat destruction.
--Brian Czech
Wasserman echoed that perspective. It’s useless to extend human rights to animals, he told me, because that’s inevitably going to be based on a hierarchy model of intelligence. Instead, we should be giving animals animal rights — starting with the right to a wild habitat. The biggest threat to any species is habitat destruction, he said. So he suggested we start there, and give each species the right to its native place to live, instead of trying to attach human rights to something that is not human.
--Koerth-Baker (2018)
Introduction
Many people in the animal-rights and animal-welfare movement want to preserve wilderness. Animal activists from Marc Bekoff to Anthony Marr explicitly defend wilderness preservation for the sake of wild animals. Several of the campaigns by Humane Society International center around saving wildlife, and many animal groups include wilderness conservation as one component or other of their work. Veg groups almost always highlight environmental benefits as one strong reason to give up meat.
This comment argues in favor of donating to animal charities, such as "an organization that buys land so that land can never be developed into an industrial, business or residential complex, which in return preserves animal habitat in a world of ever-decreasing habitat".
Humane moralism or deep ecology?
There are two main explanations for why animal advocates may care about wilderness.
They believe wilderness is most conducive to the wellbeing of animals who live there and that environmental destruction tends to cause net suffering. This rationale falls within what J. Baird Callicott called "humane moralism," i.e., caring about the happiness and suffering of individual animals. Jonathan Balcombe's Pleasurable Kingdom is sometimes cited in defense of this view, even though this argument ignores the massive premature death caused by r-selective reproduction and the fleetingly short adult lifespans of small animals. Sometimes the animal advocates are also deep ecologists, i.e., they care intrinsically about non-sentient biotic processes for their own sakes. This is also fairly common, because deep environmentalism and concern for animals are closely linked in a shared memeplex. Demographic attributes like young, female, white, liberal, educated, and middle/upper class come to mind for both.
How concerning is this association?
For some humane moralists who support wilderness, I'm not too worried. I expect that as these people learn more and realize just how much suffering nature contains, they'll come to see that their naive endorsement of flourishing wildlife was misguided. Indeed, this is what happened to me in 2005-2006.
For other humane moralists I'm more concerned, because their perspective may be resilient against caring about welfare per se and has more to do with rights or presumed preferences. For instance, it's sometimes claimed that "Nature is good because animals in nature value their own lives, as we can see by the fact that they struggle to survive." I've discussed elsewhere why this inference is invalid. As a simple example of this point, would we say that the "Hunger Games" are a good thing because the participants clearly value their lives by struggling to survive?
Finally, the deep-ecological motivation is particularly troubling, because it not only supports wilderness preservation but opposes even less destructive interventions in nature to relieve animal suffering.
Examples of animal advocates who support wilderness
In The Case for Animal Rights, Tom Regan wrote:
[T]he goal of wildlife management should be to defend wild animals in the possession of their rights, providing them with the opportunity to live their own life, by their own lights, as best they can [...]. If, in reply, we are told that respecting the rights of animals in the wild in the way the rights view requires does not guarantee that we will minimize the total amount of suffering wild animals will suffer over time, our reply should be that this cannot be the overarching goal of wildlife management, once we take the rights of animals seriously. The total amount of suffering animals cause one another in the wild is not the concern of morally enlightened wildlife management. Being neither the accountants nor managers of felicity in nature, wildlife managers should be principally concerned with letting animals be, keeping human predators out of their affairs, allowing these "other nations"4 to carve out their own destiny.
In general:
The animal protection movement as a whole has long drawn an ethical distinction between animals killed by people versus those killed by animal predators.20 Tom Regan is no exception. As he writes, “in claiming that we have a prima facie duty to assist those animals whose rights are violated, therefore, we are not claiming that we have a duty to assist the sheep against the attack of the wolf.”21 [...] The mere fact that the mouse is harmed by a non-human animal is enough, according to Regan’s philosophy, to make it morally unobjectionable.
From a discussion (2008) of wild-animal suffering at the Vegan Society Austria (translated using Google):
[Heavy Heavy Low Low, p. 1:] I think animals are in the wilderness pretty well. You can provide for themselves or a family, have an enormous amount of space to move and they die at some point. The fact that they are not always made great must simply accept, as people in affluent societies, which have sufficient food and shelter often beyond problems. [The Andi, p. 1:] but the few animals are still wild eg: on an island, does not need our help, because the suffering or death keeps everything in balance. [leather, p. 2:] For me, this is just nature and wilderness: The life enjoy, with all its vagaries and dangers [...] I've also someday read a quote from someone: A world without suffering is a dead world! So somehow related to the natural sorrow which is not avoidable has this quote already in my opinion. [spaghetti, p. 2:] when Veganism is not yet a matter of principle, suffering-free world to create (yes this is absolutely not in the range of our options), but only a question of our behavior to be corrected, so that we are sentient beings do not expect further suffering and cruel treated, just because we are stronger than they are. in their nature but we have already sufficient interfered - I personally think that the wildlife rather want us to leave, instead of us even in their affairs.
From a VeggieBoards thread (2009):
[Semicharmed, p. 1:] I may be in the minority...
But I think any human-driven endeavor (aside from the Butt the Heck Out mindset) that attempted to "fix" suffering in nature (even if some portion of it was a result of us introducing certain foreign species to new habitats, etc.) would be a SHINING example of one thing:
Hubris. [Eugene, p. 1:] it should be noted that the suffering per animal created in modern animal agriculture far exceeds almost anything in the predator/prey relations in nature. And when you multiply the suffering per animal by the number of animals (billions per year in animal agriculture), I would argue that the total amount of suffering created by factory farming and slaughterhouses far exceeds the total amount of suffering in nature of all wild animals combined. [Brian says: This simply cannot be true due to the numerical contrast between farmed vs. wild animals. In addition, it's not even obvious that wild animals on the whole have vastly better lives per capita than farmed ones.]
From another animal forum (2010):
[Veganomante, in starting the thread:] I realize serious animal right activists do take environmentalism as a logical consequence of their veganism/anti-speciesism. All of us here on the forum do, actually, I think. [KRITTER:] We need to leev nature to its bizness as much as we can.Its not always prity.But nature knos best.The only species we shood sterlize is our own.
Another thread (2010), from veganforum.com:
[RubyDuby:] Nature does not need our help. Nature balances itself. It seems like you're placing human thinking, feeling and emotions into animals in nature. They have their own point of view. [patientia:] Humans should just leave other animals alone. Just that. [Mollfie:] Nature isn't cruel, it's nature, it has no concept of cruel. Cruelty is a man-made concept. Nature is life, and that's just how life is. [xrodolfox:] What I care about isn't just plain suffering, but rather suffering which I as a human participate in. Just as with Human Rights, I do not concern myself with situations in which people suffer because they choose crappy situations; I care about when crappy situations are imposed on others. I guess my real concern is freedom, not just happiness. Same with animals. Animals in the wild are wild. My concern is not to project what I feel they would like (freedom from predation, access to sex, etc.) but rather that animals are free from HUMAN exploitation. My concern isn't that all animals get warm beds, but rather that animals aren't HUMAN property. [rxseeeyse:] I can understand it would be nice for all suffering to stop, but I think it is wrong to interfere even more into nature and wild animals lives. [VeganLu:] Animals in nature are doing just fine. They are meant to live in the wild. Besides, us humans face danger everyday too. We get diseases, die in car crashes and airplane crashes, get killed by people with guns or knives, get mugged, fall and brake our bones, die in wars, etc. [Festered:] I won't say I don't think nature is cruel, it is in that a lot of animals suffer. Nature is cruel as life is and I don't like to think about a lot of the stuff that happens naturally in the world. I don't think about it because I am vegan by nature and it upsets me. However, I don't get angry if animals suffer, unless they suffer due to human actions. If we started interfering with nature on a large scale in order to 'help' animals (we never will in my opinion, no one gives a toss about the animals that do need their care enough, to care for wild ones!) we would cause a humongous problem. I want nature to win.
In a Philosophy Forums discussion about veg*ism (2012), a veg*an with user name Wosret says:
[Veg*ism] isn't about preventing all suffering, policing, and foam patting the world, it is about not being the cause of it, unnecessarily.
[...]
So, domesticate the whole of the wild, and make sure they all play nice, policing the animal kingdom is the logical conclusion of vegetarianism, and animal rights? Not only do I find that absurd, but wouldn't starting with yourself first, even if this was your desire make the most sense?
[...]
[I would not support reducing wild-animal suffering] if it means exhibiting absolute control over their lives, enslaving them all in order to save them all from themselves, and one another. That seems to be a cure that is far far worse than the disease. What would you yourself prefer, the risks, and dangers of living freely, or the protection, and absolute influence over your life of big brother to keep you safe? I advocate not committing harm, and not causing suffering. I do not advocate playing God, and ruling the universe benevolently, attempting to prevent all harm.
In reply to a Quora question, "Why don't animal rights activists care more about wild animal suffering?" (2013):
When a predator hunts for prey, they are hunting for sustenance and often go days without food. It is instinctual and necessary for them to survive. Other species have been observed to cause intentional distress towards another, however they are limited to their environment and curiosity. You will find that activists do in fact care, as I do, however there is nothing we can do about it. It's a fundamental part of nature and we move on. Whilst humans are still nature, we have exploited other species of animal for either entertainment/companionship and a food source. This is wrong because it upsets the balance of ecosystems and is unnecessary.
Here's from a thread (2013) on an animal-rights Facebook group:
[Person A:] Species such as lions require the flesh of other individuals in order to stay alive. I don't think that depriving an individual of his life (possible starvation) should be classed as a "vegan victory". Lions and other obligate carnivores require the flesh of other animals in order to survive. It is not the responsibility of the human species to alter the biology of those species whose actions make us humans uncomfortable.
I wonder, if we were to be serious about this "obligate carnivores should all be eliminated" theory, how we would deal with the individuals who live in the oceans. Almost all individuals who live in the oceans kill other individuals who live in the oceans in order to survive. Should we kill the oceans in order to make ourselves more comfortable, thereby killing the planet, or is that too difficult to contemplate? [...] [ |
similar strides on offense, where the three-point stroke he displayed over his final two seasons in college is beginning to come around. As a rookie, the big man’s efficiency on jump shots (20.5 percent on 83 attempts) and his 18.2 percent mark from downtown left much to be desired, albeit in a limited sample size. With floor-spacing big men becoming more en vogue in recent years—and Noel and Okafor combining for just eight three-point attempts during the 2015-16 campaign—Holmes’ chances of carving out a consistent role largely depended on whether he could become more consistent from beyond the arc.
[newsbox style=”nb1″ display=”tag” tag=”76ers” title=”More Philadelphia 76ers articles” number_of_posts=”2″ show_more=”no” nb_excerpt=”0″]
This season, Holmes is shooting 21-of-61 on three-point attempts (34.4 percent) and has knocked down 35.9 percent of his 156 jump shots. Okafor isn’t much worse in the jump-shooting department—he went 74-of-212 on the year before right knee soreness ended his season prematurely—but he didn’t attempt a single three-pointer. Holmes is by no means a Ray Allen-esque long-range sniper, but his willingness to pull the trigger from deep catches opposing bigs off-guard and out of position on occasion.
The Bowling Green product isn’t solely a spot-up shooter, though. He’s quickly emerging as one of the league’s top pick-and-roll threats, as evidenced by the 1.30 points per possession he’s averaging as a roll man. Among players with at least 50 such possessions this season, the second-year big man ranks ninth league-wide in efficiency, ahead of Noel, Karl-Anthony Towns and Hassan Whiteside, among others.
With a 7’1.5″ wingspan and impressive bounce, Holmes can explode at a moment’s notice for a poster-worthy dunk, as Al Horford can attest.
Since the All-Star break, Holmes is averaging 13.3 points on 60.0 percent shooting, 6.6 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.2 blocks, 1.0 steals and 0.6 triples in just 25.7 minutes across 21 games. The Noel trade remains a sore spot for many Philadelphia fans—particularly the relatively paltry return—but the beneficial side effect of opening more minutes for Holmes cannot be ignored.
His teammates have taken notice of his eye-opening play as of late.
“He’s a beast,” Justin Anderson said in mid-March, per CSNPhilly.com’s Jessica Camerato. “I’ve [seen] that for a while. I remember watching him in summer league. He plays extremely hard, and then now he’s shooting the three, his ability to just dunk on people. He’s really good. He’s a really good player.”
Holmes is also an underrated screener, having racked up a team-high 85 screen assists in his 1,034 minutes on the court this season. Setting tough screens or boxing out opponents correctly aren’t SportsCenter Top 10-worthy plays, but those small fundamentals make a difference over time, particularly for a player who must fight to maintain his spot in the rotation. Continually doing things that won’t show up on a traditional box score will also endear him to the Sixers’ coaching staff, who routinely track hustle plays.
Holmes isn’t a finished product on either end of the floor by any means. Offensively, he’ll need to continue honing his consistency from beyond the arc and further develop his playmaking skills. The former MAC Defensive Player of the Year also needs to work on his perimeter defense, as opponents are shooting 2.5 percentage points above their average against him when firing away from 15 feet or further. On the bright side, he’s proving to be a somewhat effective deterrent around the rim, holding foes to 6.0 percentage points below their average within six feet of the hoop.
With Embiid’s long-term health still a giant 7’2″ question mark, having Holmes locked up through 2018-19 at a paltry $1 million per season is a godsend for the Sixers. They can allocate their copious amount of cap space elsewhere—such as extensions for Embiid and Robert Covington or free agents to help round out their backcourt depth—while banking on Holmes to serve as Embiid’s primary backup.
Though Holmes doesn’t yet profile as an everyday NBA starting center, his head coach is quickly developing faith in his ability to fill an energy role off the bench.
“I think a lot of the good teams have those lightning-in-the-bottle players that can just change a game,” Brett Brown said recently, per Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “You know, initially, you are wondering can he be one of those. Is he a duration player? I think since he’s come into the starting five, you are recognizing that there’s more durability.”
The Noel trade may remain a sore spot among the Philadelphia faithful for years to come, particularly if Embiid’s body continues to betray him. Having Holmes around for the next two seasons should help dull some of that pain, though.
Unless otherwise noted, all statistics via NBA.com or Basketball-Reference.com and are current through games played on Monday, April 3.
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[newsbox style=”nb1″ display=”tag” tag=”Bryan” title=”More from Bryan Toporek” number_of_posts=”2″ show_more=”no” nb_excerpt=”0″]The White House may need to redouble its sales job to get the party on board. Hill Dems pick apart Obama jobs plan
President Barack Obama’s new jobs plan is hitting some unexpected turbulence in the halls of Congress: lawmakers from his own party.
As he demands Congress quickly approve his ambitious proposal aimed at reviving the sagging economy, many Democrats on Capitol Hill appear far from sold that the president has the right antidote to spur major job growth and turn around their party’s political fortunes.
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“Terrible,” Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.) told POLITICO when asked about the president’s ideas for how to pay for the $450 billion price tag. “We shouldn’t increase taxes on ordinary income. … There are other ways to get there.”
“That offset is not going to fly, and he should know that,” said Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu from the energy-producing Louisiana, referring to Obama’s elimination of oil and gas subsidies. “Maybe it’s just for his election, which I hope isn’t the case.”
“I think the best jobs bill that can be passed is a comprehensive long-term deficit-reduction plan,” said Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), discussing proposals to slash the debt by $4 trillion by overhauling entitlement programs and raising revenue through tax reforms. “That’s better than everything else the president is talking about — combined.”
And those are just the moderates in the party. Some liberals also have concerns.
“There is serious discomfort with potentially setting up Social Security as a fall guy because you’re taking this contribution out,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, referring to Obama’s proposal to further slash payroll taxes.
Democrats in large numbers will still back the president’s overall jobs package, and when the plan heads for House and Senate consideration, some of these same skeptics will very likely vote to advance the measure. But as details of the plan began to be vetted on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, it was clear that the White House needed to redouble its sales job — or tweak its plan — to force Democrats to fall in line at a pivotal point in Obama’s presidency.
White House officials aren’t ruling out making changes to the bill or compromising with Republicans on pieces of the agenda, and they plan to brief Senate Democrats on Thursday. But following his joint address to Congress last week, Obama, in a feisty speech Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio, again ratcheted up pressure to “pass this bill.”
“Tell them that if you want to create jobs right now — pass this bill,” Obama said. “If you want construction workers renovating schools like this one — pass this bill. If you want to put teachers back in the classroom — pass this bill. If you want tax cuts for middle-class families and small-business owners, then what do you do? Pass this bill.”
The audience shouted back, “Pass this bill!”
But in the halls of Congress, “this bill” was already expected to be modified, pared back significantly or overtaken by the powerful new deficit-slashing supercommittee.
“It’s hard to have an opinion on something you don’t think is going to be the final product,” said Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, a conservative Democrat who faces a tough reelection next year. “I’ve made it clear I’m looking for [tax] cuts, so I’m very hopeful there will be cuts.”Nevada GOP presidential caucus officials will report the results of Tuesday night’s contests using pictures snapped on their smartphones — a marked contrast to the Microsoft-built app that was used to deliver results in Iowa.
The Wall Street Journal reported that GOP officials are hoping to avoid a repeat of the 2012, when final results in Nevada were not officially reported until days after the caucuses, long after news organizations had called the race for Mitt Romney.
In 2012, press reports noted that the hand counts in some counties were not finished more than a day after the polls closed because of discrepancies. The Las Vegas Sun said at the time that the process was marked by “disorganization, bickering and bumbling at nearly every turn.”
While those setbacks did not cause much turmoil because of Romney’s large margin of victory, the GOP results are expected to be much closer this year.
The Journal also reported that the combination of a competitive contest, an underfunded state party and a decentralized process have officials bracing for some confusion on Tuesday.
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There will be 130 caucus locations set up across the state to deal with the 1,700 precincts. According to the party, officials at each caucus location will tally the results and send them off to the county and state headquarters “via telephone and photo confirmation.” The Associated Press also has been tasked with delivering the results from Nevada to the public and flagging any “data issues” with the numbers.
“A smartphone picture of the tally sheet will be sent to the party,” a fact sheet provided by the party reads. “Results will be compiled and reviewed by the party, and shared with AP. As the news organization inserts the results into its election system, it will share any data issues with the party.”
The state party will officially then certify the totals “upon physical receipt” of all tallies.
The set-up in Nevada is a contrast to the Iowa caucuses, which were reported using a Microsoft-built app and backed up by its cloud technology. The app amounted to little more than a password-protected interface into which caucus officials could enter their results. Back ups were designed to flag anomalies and double check inputs.
The tech giant donated its time in Iowa but did not partner with any other state parties this election cycle. Microsoft said its reporting app worked flawlessly in the Hawkeye State, despite concerns about allowing a major corporation to help with the process.A New York City man was arrested at JFK Airport Wednesday night and accused of trying to fly to the Middle East to join the Islamic State terror group, law enforcement officials announced.
Saddam Mohamed Raishani, also known as Adam Raishani, was charged with one count of attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Raishani's court appearance with Magistrate Judge James L. Cott at Manhattan federal court lasted five minutes and he is expected to attend a preliminary hearing scheduled for July 6th. He wore a red checked shirt and jeans and waved hello to a man, believed to be his father, sitting in the courtroom seats.
His plans to travel to Syria were thwarted after he unknowingly contacted a person who posed as a fellow ISIS wannabe, investigators said. Instead, that person was a confidential source working at the direction of law enforcement.
"Having already helped another man make that trip to ISIS's heartland, Raishani allegedly acted on his own desire to wage violent jihad, planning to leave his family and life in New York City for the battlefields of the Middle East," Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said in a statement.
ISIS URGES ATTACKS ON ISLAM'S HOLIEST DAY
Kim praised the efforts of the FBI and the NYPD in halting the suspect's efforts to support ISIS.
"As we have seen many times before, allegedly attempting to join a designated terrorist organization usually has one outcome: arrest," said NYPD Commissioner James P. O'Neill in a statement.
It was unclear who will represent Raishani at an initial appearance in Manhattan federal court.
Fox News' Shira Bush and The Associated Press contributed to this report.First Look At The Nike SFAF-1, The Special Field Air Force 1
4.55 / 5 146 VOTES This post contains references to products from one or more of our advertisers. We may receive compensation when you click on links to those products. The opinions and information provided on this site are original editorial content of Sneaker News.
Previously on display at the Nike SNKRS Out The Box exhibit at this past weekend’s Yo’Hood show in Shanghai, the Nike SFAF-1, or the Special Field Air Force 1, adapts military-grade materials and aesthetic to the classic Kilgore silhouette, with an SFB-infused upper built with premium leather and extra-durable ballistic nylon. The paracord ankle strap also doubles as a handle for a matching bag that comes accompanied with the NikeLab release of the shoes. Designed by Nike Sportswear footwear designer Ben Kirschner, the Nike Special Field Air Force 1 is set for a release in November with an MSRP of $180. Detailed photos are just ahead.Download raw source
Delivered-To: john.podesta@gmail.com Received: by 10.229.226.67 with SMTP id iv3cs27893qcb; Tue, 2 Nov 2010 06:50:32 -0700 (PDT) Received: by 10.151.40.6 with SMTP id s6mr10710009ybj.445.1288705831414; Tue, 02 Nov 2010 06:50:31 -0700 (PDT) Return-Path: <CgdXWAJtXwUGBQUHA1xVBAdcBgNVAw@bounce.bluestatedigital.com> Received: from mta-inap9.bluestatedigital.com (mta-inap9.bluestatedigital.com [69.25.74.167]) by mx.google.com with ESMTP id j32si17599820ybe.19.2010.11.02.06.50.29; Tue, 02 Nov 2010 06:50:31 -0700 (PDT) Received-SPF: pass (google.com: domain of CgdXWAJtXwUGBQUHA1xVBAdcBgNVAw@bounce.bluestatedigital.com designates 69.25.74.167 as permitted sender) client-ip=69.25.74.167; Authentication-Results: mx.google.com; spf=pass (google.com: domain of CgdXWAJtXwUGBQUHA1xVBAdcBgNVAw@bounce.bluestatedigital.com designates 69.25.74.167 as permitted sender) smtp.mail=CgdXWAJtXwUGBQUHA1xVBAdcBgNVAw@bounce.bluestatedigital.com Received: by mta-inap9.bluestatedigital.com (Postfix, from userid 1010) id F0290EAE2C59F; Tue, 2 Nov 2010 09:50:27 -0400 (EDT) Received: from maillist-o by bounce.bluestatedigital.com with local (PHPMailer); Tue, 2 Nov 2010 09:50:27 -0400 Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2010 09:50:27 -0400 To: John Podesta <john.podesta@gmail.com> From: Barack Obama <info@barackobama.com> Reply-to: info@barackobama.com Subject: Election Day Message-ID: <febac38151b45beea2c7a913551905ad@bounce.bluestatedigital.com> X-Priority: 3 X-Mailer: PHPMailer [version 1.71-blue_mailer] X-maillist-id: 91c65229fede61a4 X-maillist-guid: CgdXWAJtXwUGBQUHA1xVBAdcBgNVAw List-Unsubscribe: <http://my.barackobama.com/unsubscribe?email=john.podesta@gmail.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="b1_febac38151b45beea2c7a913551905ad" --b1_febac38151b45beea2c7a913551905ad Content-Type: text/plain; charset = "iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable John -- This movement has never been about me. It has always been about you. Three years ago, when we launched this campaign on a cold day in = Springfield, Illinois, much of the political establishment wrote us off. But you made a commitment to work for a future that you would shape, and = we defied all the odds and expectations. From that very first moment, the success we've achieved -- and the = promises we fulfilled -- have always come about because of you. For almost a century, presidents and lawmakers had recognized the need for = a better health insurance system. It was a goal that defied them all. But health insurance reform is exactly what you delivered.=20 No longer will a child with a pre-existing condition go uncovered. No = longer will a mother have to choose between cancer treatment and a = mortgage payment -- because of you. Because of you, we reined in Wall Street. Because of you, the economy is = growing again. Because of you, there are 100,000 brave young men and women = who have come back from Iraq. This movement was never just about one election. It was about building a = movement for change that endures. It's about understanding that, in = America, anything is possible if we are willing to work for it and fight = for it -- and most of all, believe in it. Our work in the past weeks and months has been focused on that fight, and = today, the country will make a choice about the direction we take in the = years ahead. I need you to make sure your voice is heard. Figure out when you will vote = and how you will get there. Find your polling location here: http://www.RaiseYourVote.com And once you've voted, pass this message along to others across the = country. Tomorrow, we will wake up ready to focus on the business of keeping this = country moving forward. That is a calling which requires patience and = humility. Democrats are ready for this job -- and for the good of the = country, we hope the Republicans join us. As we recommit to this work, this movement will be the vanguard of all we = do. Thank you for all that you have done. Thank you for all you continue to = do.=20 =20 President Barack Obama --------------------------------------------------------------------- Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National = Committee -- 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. This = communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to: john.podesta@gmail.com To change your email address, go to: http://my.barackobama.com/page/conten= t/change_email?cons_id=3D6877436&email1=3Djohn.podesta@gmail.com To unsubscribe, go to: http://my.barackobama.com/unsubscription --b1_febac38151b45beea2c7a913551905ad Content-Type: text/html; charset = "iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <html> <head><title>Obama for America</title></head> <body> <table width=3D"100%" cellpadding=3D"0" cellspacing=3D"0"> <tr><td width=3D"90%" style=3D"padding:10px;font-size:12px; = font-family:Verdana, Helvetica sans-serif;"><font face=3D"Verdana, = Helvetica, sans-serif">John --<BR><BR> This movement has never been about me. It has always been about = you.<br><br> Three years ago, when we launched this campaign on a cold day in = Springfield, Illinois, much of the political establishment wrote us = off.<br><br> But you made a commitment to work for a future that you would shape, and = we defied all the odds and expectations.<br><br> From that very first moment, the success we've achieved -- and the = promises we fulfilled -- have always come about because of you.<br><br> For almost a century, presidents and lawmakers had recognized the need for = a better health insurance system. It was a goal that defied them all. But health insurance reform is exactly what you delivered.<br><br> No longer will a child with a pre-existing condition go uncovered. No = longer will a mother have to choose between cancer treatment and a = mortgage payment -- because of you.<br><br> Because of you, we reined in Wall Street. Because of you, the economy is = growing again. Because of you, there are 100,000 brave young men and women = who have come back from Iraq.<br><br> This movement was never just about one election. It was about building a = movement for change that endures. It's about understanding that, in = America, anything is possible if we are willing to work for it and fight = for it -- and most of all, believe in it.<br><br> Our work in the past weeks and months has been focused on that fight, and = today, the country will make a choice about the direction we take in the = years ahead.<br><br> I need you to make sure your voice is heard. Figure out when you will vote = and how you will get there. Find your polling location here:<br><br> <strong><a href=3D"http://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c112ca/502f3f76/1592= 3b7b2/11881ba2/4177348044/VEsH/">http://www.RaiseYourVote.com/</a></strong= ><br><br> And once you've voted, pass this message along to others across the = country.<br><br> Tomorrow, we will wake up ready to focus on the business of keeping this = country moving forward. That is a calling which requires patience and = humility. Democrats are ready for this job -- and for the good of the = country, we hope the Republicans join us.<br><br> As we recommit to this work, this movement will be the vanguard of all we = do.<br><br> Thank you for all that you have done. Thank you for all you continue to = do.<br><br> =20 President Barack Obama<BR><BR></td></tr> <tr><td align=3D"center"> <br /><br /><div style=3D"border-top:1px solid = #919194;width:580px"></div><br /> <div style=3D"border:1px solid #333333;width:200px;font-size:10px">Paid = for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National = Committee -- 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003. This = communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's = committee.</div> <p style=3D"font-size:10px">This email was sent to: = john.podesta@gmail.com</p> <p style=3D"font-size:10px"><a href=3D"http://my.barackobama.com/page/cont= ent/change_email?cons_id=3D6877436&email1=3Djohn.podesta@gmail.com">Change = Email Address</a> | <a href=3D"http://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c112ca/5= 02f3f76/15923b7b2/11881b12/4177348044/VEsE/">Unsubscribe</a></p> </td></tr> <tr><td><img = src=3D"http://www.barackobama.com/images/email/obama08_footer.jpg" = alt=3D"" border=3D"0" /></td></tr> </table> </div> </body> </html><img src=3D"http://my.barackobama.com/page/o/55c112ca/502f3f76/1592= 3b7b2/11881b0d/4177348044/open.gif" width=3D"22" height=3D"1" /> --b1_febac38151b45beea2c7a913551905ad--Building Redis keys
I was having a discussion with somebody the other day and wanted to link them to an article on how you can use compound names as effective keys in key value stores like Redis. Weirdly I couldn’t find a good article on it. Perhaps my google-fu (actually duck-duck-go-fu now) isn’t as strong as I thought or perhaps there isn’t an article. In either case this is now going to be an article on how to build keys for KV stores.
KV-stores are one of the famed NOSQL databases. There are quite a few options for key value storesthese days, I like Redis and I’ve also made use of Azure’s blob storage which is basically a key value store. KV-stores are interesting in that they are highly optimized for looking things up by a known key. Unlike relational databases you can’t easily query against the values. This means that there is no doing
select * from users where name like ‘John%’
to find all the users with a first name of John. This isn’t the sort of operation for which key value stores are good. You can list keys in Redis by using the KEYS command but it is generally not encouraged as it isn’t performant. You really need to know the key for which you’re looking.
The KV key can be stored in another storage system like a relational database. Perhaps you might store several indexes of keys in the relational database, filter and retrieve sets of them and then pull the records from the KV-store. So say you have a list of trees you want to store. In the relational database you can create a table of tree types (coniferous, deciduous, carnivorous) and the Redis keys. You also store the maximum heights and keys in the relational database. The details of the trees go into Redis for rapid retrieval. First query against the relational database then against the KV store.
Sounds unnecessarily complicated? Yeah, I think so too. The better approach is to use a key which can be constructed without need to query another data store explicitly. If we had a database of historical values of temperatures in all of North America then we could build our keys to make them match our data access pattern. The users for this database are most interested in looking up values for their hometown on specific days. Thus we’ve constructed our keys to look like
:<state/province>: : : :
This allows us to build up a key programmatically from the user’s query
GET US:NewYork:Albany:1986:01:15 -> -8
We can be even smarter and build keys like
:<state/province>: : : : :Max :<state/province>: : : : :Min
For more detailed information. They take away here is that you can build large and complex keys based on hierarchical data to make your lookups run in O(1) time, which is also known as O(jolly quick) which is a good place to be. Creating effective keys requires that you know about your access patterns ahead of time but that’s true of most databases, even in a relational database you have to pick your indexes based on access patterns.For about a year, the frail 4-year-old boy was kept in a back room with the family’s bicycles and the putrid smell of his own urine, prosecutors said in court on Thursday.
His screams of “Let me out” were either ignored or met with a beating, witnesses told police.
When Manuel died, his body allegedly was placed in a playroom, then dumped inside the trunk of a car, and finally, days later, discarded in the basement of a nearby abandoned building, where it was wrapped in a blanket and set on fire Tuesday night.
“Based on their initial observations of the body of the 4-year-old, investigators believed that they had found the body of an infant that was approximately nine months of age,” Cook County assistant state’s attorney Jamie Santini told Cook County Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil on Thursday.
The boy’s mother, 27-year-old Alyssa Garcia, along with a 17-year-old boy and another friend of the mother, have been charged with concealing the boy's death.
Garcia’s head hung low at a court hearing Thursday afternoon at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. The judge ordered her held in lieu of $2 million bail. Bail was set at $1 million for the 19-year-old friend Christian Camarena. The 17-year-old is being charged as a juvenile.
The state Department of Children and Family Services had prior contact with Garcia, who recently gave birth to premature twins. In 2012, she was sentenced to 18 months supervision for endangering the life of a child.
A young child was found dead inside an abandoned house Tuesday night in Englewood after a fire was extinguished. Aug. 3, 2016. (CBS Chicago) A young child was found dead inside an abandoned house Tuesday night in Englewood after a fire was extinguished. Aug. 3, 2016. (CBS Chicago) SEE MORE VIDEOS
Chicago police said they responded to a call of arson at an abandoned building in Englewood late Tuesday. A witness at the scene said that three people had gone into the building with a container of lighter fluid. Police said they took Garcia and the two teens into custody after they saw them running away from the back of the abandoned building.
Firefighters were called to put out the fire in the basement, where they found Manuel’s body in a smoldering blanket and a container of lighter fluid near his body. The cause of death is still under investigation.
Santini spoke in court of the horrific abuse Manuel allegedly endured before his death. He was beaten with a shoe, given a black eye and was “so skinny that his ribs were showing,” Santini said. Witnesses told police they would rarely see him eat, and there were days when he was not fed, Santini said.
Manuel often would hide his feces in the room in fear of Garcia beating him, Santini said. The boy would have to knock on the door to be allowed to go to the bathroom and was often completely naked because he would urinate on himself, Santini said.
“Witness stated that Manny didn’t like being in the back room, and he would scream, ‘let me out,’” Santini said.
DCFS had previously opened two separate investigations into Garcia, at one point taking protective custody of her four children.
Prosecutors said when Garcia saw that her son wasn’t breathing on July 29, she didn’t seek medical attention for him because she feared DCFS would take her kids away again.
One of his siblings checked for a heartbeat and pulse and determined that he had died, Santini said.
Garcia then allegedly called the 17-year-old into the room, and together they washed Manuel’s body, put clothes on him and wrapped him in a blue towel. Then, prosecutors allege, they put him in the playroom and told the other children not to enter.
When they later moved the body to the trunk of the car, Garcia tried to cover up the fetid smell with air fresheners, Santini said.
Investigators said that Garcia admitted to a witness that she planned to burn the body because she didn’t want the other children taken by DCFS. She dropped off her other children with relatives before she, Camarena and the 17-year-old drove about a mile and a half away from her home to the abandoned building and set Manuel’s body on fire, Santini said.
“She stated that she didn’t call the police after finding the four-year-old body in the back room where he was kept because she didn’t want DCFS involved,” Santini said.
Candice Perez, who is the mother of Camarena and a neighbor of Garcia’s, said she and her son tried to help the children.
“We have brought those kids to our house, we have fed them, we were there for them,” Perez said. “Just because they weren’t our kids and just because they weren’t related to us, we treated them the same way we would any of our other kids. Even the little boy.”
Perez said she took pictures of Manuel’s legs and body and wishes that she had called DCFS earlier.
“We’re just as guilty as anybody else because had I called DCFS, would this be happening right now? Probably not,” she said. “But I was thinking about the kids and didn’t want them all to be taken. But I should have. I should have made a selfish decision and said, ‘you know what? They all got to go,’ because ultimately, would this be happening?”
DCFS, which is investigating the boy's death, was in contact with Garcia as recently as February when it investigated an allegation of abuse of an older child, DCFS spokeswoman Veronica Resa said in a statement. That allegation was determined to be unfounded.
A 2012 allegation of neglect was indicated, Resa said. At that time, DCFS took protective custody of the mother’s four children, including Manuel. The children were placed in foster care while Garcia worked with DCFS and completed parenting classes. DCFS released the four children back into Garcia’s care last year after she “complied with all DCFS requests and terms,” Resa said.
After Manuel’s death this week, DCFS took custody of his five siblings, including the twins, who remain in the hospital for monitoring, officials said. The children, who range in age from 10 to newborns, are all reported to be in good condition, Resa said.
Garcia, Camarena and the 17-year-old also were charged with attempted residential arson. Police said other charges could be filed after the Cook County medical examiner's office determines how the boy died.The following article by Councillor Lesley Macinnes was published in the Edinburgh Evening News on 27 September 2017:
Last week Edinburgh’s councillors approved the Outline Business Case for taking the tram to Newhaven, signalling a desire to move towards a transformed vision for transport in the Capital.
As the fastest growing city in Scotland with a burgeoning jobs market and annual steady stream of tourists, it’s obvious that we need to reassess the way we manage the flow of people moving around.
It is now more important than ever that we provide a first-class, fully-integrated transport system. For many decades, our award-winning Lothian Buses service has carried so many people who work, visit and live here and we’re, quite rightly, extremely proud of it.
Since launching in 2014, Edinburgh Trams has worked to complement this and both services have seen a continued rise in patronage, alongside near perfect customer satisfaction ratings.
A tram to Newhaven would not only provide a direct link for the people of Leith to the city centre and out to the Airport, but would connect a series of key employment and travel hubs along the route. By completing the original vision for the first phase of the Edinburgh Tram network we would be tapping into a large swathe of the city for housing development and employment opportunities.
Increased reliance on trams will also help us to reduce air pollution by providing efficient, sustainable transport solutions. It’s in this spirit that we’ve committed to investment in pedestrian and cycling infrastructure, as well as public transport. Just last week, two of our active travel projects were awarded millions in Sustrans Scotland funding, enabling us to create attractive and convenient cycling and walking routes.
This is very much the theme of our proposed plans for the Picardy Place junction, which (if approved by the Transport Committee next week) would see a far fairer share of road space devoted to cyclists, pedestrians – and trams. Feedback so far is that the proposals offer a clear improvement on the current lay-out. But we do acknowledge the views of some groups who feel we haven’t gone far enough and will look at ways to incorporate their suggestions as far as possible.
These projects, in addition to an expanding network of protected cycle routes, the roll-out of 20mph limits to create safer, more welcoming streets and public realm improvements across the city, are about opening up people-friendly transport links for individuals and communities from all walks of life, proving that all road users are equal.
Now it’s time to look to the future of transport in Edinburgh. We are acutely aware that there is still a great deal of work to be done before we see the tram line progress beyond York Place. Last week’s decision was not taken lightly, and followed months of preparation and analysis, and our journey forward will continue to be measured and steady, rather than a race to the finishing line.
We fully understand the implications of taking this forward, and the apprehension some people will feel but we have learned lessons from the previous project. We’re taking our time to build and maintain two-way relationships with local residents and businesses so we can understand and tackle head-on any issues which might arise along the way, as well as working closely with stakeholders to properly test traffic management plans for the works.
We want to provide a service that will benefit communities both along the route and across the city. These next 12 months will be crucial, as we build and hone our business case, allowing us to make a confident, fully-informed decision next autumn.After 600 years, Ark Hyperion will conclude its long journey from the Milky Way to Andromeda to find humanity a new home. As you make your final calibrations in preparation for your arrival in Andromeda, here’s everything you need to know about the different ways you can play Mass Effect™: And |
today’s Great Malaise, likewise, we can expect long-term unemployment from 10% to 15%, and utilization of industrial capacity in the 60% range, with a simultaneous upward creeping of part-time work and underemployment, and the concealment of real unemployment levels as more people stop looking for work and drop from the unemployment rolls.
Joshua Cooper Ramo notes that employment has fallen much more rapidly in the Great Recession than Okun’s Law (which states the normal ratio of GDP decline to job losses) would have predicted. Instead of the 8.5% unemployment predicted by Okun’s Law, we’re at almost 10%….
To put things in perspective, the employment-to-population ratio—since its peak of 64.7% in 2000—has fallen to 58.8%. That means the total share of the population which is employed has fallen by about a tenth over the past nine years…. Another statistic, the hours-worked index, has also displayed a record decline (8.6% from the prerecession peak, compared to only 5.8% in the 1980-82 recession). [Ibid.]
A much larger portion of total unemployed in this recession are long-term unemployed…. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced in January 2010 that the rate of long-term unemployment was the highest since 1948, when it began measuring it; those who had been out of work for six months or longer comprised 40% of all unemployed….
Charles Hugh Smith expects “a decades-long period of structural unemployment in which there will not be enough jobs for tens of millions of citizens”….Noting that U.S. college costs have gone up 500% since 1985, the Washington Post recommends seven countries where U.S. students can go to college for free without bothering to learn the language of the natives or anything so primitive.
These are nations with less wealth than the United States has, but which make college free or nearly free, both for citizens and for dangerous illegals visiting their Homelands.
How do they do it?
Three of them have a higher top tax rate than the United States has, but four of them don’t.
What does the United States spend its money on that these other countries do not? What is the largest public program in the United States? What makes up over 50% of federal discretionary spending in the United States?
If you said “war,” it’s possible you were educated in a fine foreign country.
A comprehensive calculation of U.S. military spending puts it at over $1 trillion a year. The International Institute for Strategic Studies puts it at $645.7 billion in 2012. Using that smaller number, let’s compare the seven nations where Americans can find their human right to an education respected:
France $48.1 billion or 7.4% of U.S.
Germany $40.4 billion or 6.3% of U.S.
Brazil $35.3 billion or 5.5% of U.S.
Norway $6.9 billion or 1.1% of U.S.
Sweden $5.8 billion or 0.9% of U.S.
Finland $3.6 billion or 0.6% of U.S.
Slovenia $0.6 billion or 0.1% of U.S.
Oh, but those are smaller countries. Well, let’s compare military spending per capita:
United States $2,057
Norway $1,455 or 71% of U.S.
France $733 or 35% of U.S.
Finland $683 or 33% of U.S.
Sweden $636 or 31% of U.S.
Germany $496 or 24% of U.S.
Slovenia $284 or 14% of U.S.
Brazil $177 or 9% of U.S.
It’s worth noting that in wealth per capita, Norway is wealthier than the United States. It still spends significantly less per capita on war preparations. The others all spend between 9% and 35%.
Now, you may be a believer in militarism, and you may be shouting right about now: “The United States provides these other nations’ warmaking needs for them. When Germany or France has to destroy Iraq or Afghanistan or Libya, who does the heavy lifting?”
Or you may be an opponent of militarism, and you may be thinking about its many additional costs. Not only does the United States pay the most in dollars, but it generates the most hatred, kills the most people, does the most damage to the natural environment, and loses the most freedoms in the process.
Either way, the point is that these other countries have chosen education, while the United States has chosen a project that perhaps a well-educated populace would support, but we don’t have any way to test that theory, and it doesn’t look like we’re going to any time soon.
We have a choice before us: free college or more war?Metrolinx knew before launching Toronto's train to the airport last summer that prices in the $10 to $15 range were popular and would attract more riders, according to internal data, but pressure to recoup costs helped push the prices much higher.
The decision to set the cash fare for the Union Pearson Express at $27.50 has turned into a serious black eye for both the regional transit agency and the provincial government, which is keen to get the train breaking even quickly.
The gambit backfired. In spite of discounts, relatively few people were willing to pay the higher ticket price. The train was bleeding money. With the number of passengers falling short of expectations, officials eventually accepted that the fare structure would not achieve what they wanted.
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Under increasing pressure from Queen's Park, Metrolinx is cutting fares by more than half, effective March 9. The new price of $12 – or $9 with a Presto fare card, and less for riding only part of the distance – brings the cost into line with figures identified in the research done before the train launched. The new fares also jibe with the results of focus groups the agency did in January.
With the new ticket prices, though, the goal of having a train that breaks even – a key government requirement that contributed to the high initial fares – has become mathematically almost impossible unless costs can be reined in somehow.
After disclosing selected, and previously private, findings from several internal reports to The Globe and Mail late Friday, Metrolinx offered no further comment on the weekend. In a statement late Sunday, though, the agency added that "the pricing was intended to optimize ridership and revenue to move towards the recovery of costs on the operating side of the budget." The statement noted that setting the fares lower would have meant a "significantly longer" time for the UPX to reach break even.
"We went with our best judgment," Metrolinx chair Rob Prichard said last week after a special board meeting to approve sharply lower ticket prices. "The first [fare] was a judgment, the [new] one's a judgment. We're confident this will increase ridership … but at the end of the day, there's no magic formula that turns it out. It's a matter of judgment."
The new information provides insight into the conflicting pressures that were on the transit agency as it sought to find the right fare for the UPX.
According to the materials released by Metrolinx, an Environics survey in 2014 found that half of respondents thought $12 would be a good value for the train. A redacted portion of a report done in 2013 by the consulting firm Steer Davies Gleave showed that more people would ride the train if it cost $10 to $15 than at a higher price. But the lower costs mentioned in the latter report would have led to another problem. Agency spokeswoman Anne Marie Aikins explained in an e-mail on Friday that the lower fares would mean "longer periods to achieve cost recovery."
Setting fares for transit can appear deceptively simple, with researchers producing models that show how many people will ride at different prices. But it quickly gets complicated, forcing policy or political decisions about how to balance ridership and cost. Metrolinx is currently tackling the thorny issue in its attempt at regional transit fare integration.
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While agencies such as the Toronto Transit Commission have the straightforward goal of carrying as many people as possible, Metrolinx found itself with a more complicated calculus trying to price the UPX.
Metrolinx wanted a price lower than a limousine, and were taking into account as well the cost of other such trains and the highway coach then running to the airport. Aware that the provincial government had given them the project with the expectation that it would recover its costs within a reasonable time, the agency also wanted to maximize fare-box revenues. And it did not want the trains to get too crowded.
The new fare structure is expected to boost the number of riders, although it remains to be seen if passenger levels will climb enough to produce as much fare-revenue at the reduced price as at the unpopular old one.
"We want to attract as much ridership as possible," Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig said on Tuesday evening after the special meeting of the board.
"Our hope is we're going to be attracting more and more riders to the service. … The trains are more and more full as people start to use the system, become familiar with the service, become more and more loyal to the service. That's really what this is all about, is how can we build the ridership?"Florida pitchers A.J. Puk and Kirby Snead have had felony charges for trespassing at a construction site on Florida's campus reduced to misdemeanor charges, reports Robbie Andreu of The Gainesville Sun.
The charge against UF pitchers A.J. Puk and Kirby Snead has been reduced to misdemeanor trespassing from third-degree criminal trespassing. — Robbie Andreu (@RobbieAndreu) April 15, 2015
With the new misdemeanor charge, Puk and Snead are being offered a deferred prosecution agreement by the State Attorney's Office. — Robbie Andreu (@RobbieAndreu) April 15, 2015
Andreu goes on to point out that deferred prosecution — carrying penalties of community service and fines — would keep both players' records clean.
Deferred prosecution agreements are increasingly common punishments for first-time misdemeanor offenses in Florida. Jameis Winston, notably, received the same for his petty theft charge in 2014 — and after community service and restitution to Publix, rejoined the Seminoles' baseball team.
One would think Puk and Snead are likely to make similarly swift returns from suspension.A Southern California attorney’s “shoot the gays” initiative is apparently headed for circulation. While some of its would-be targets have asked the State Bar to take action against the author, a local writer, politician and TV commentator is suggesting a more in-your-face expression of disapproval: the “Intolerant Jackass Act.”
Charlotte Laws said she mailed her proposed ballot initiative to the state attorney general’s office on Monday with the same $200 fee that attorney Matt McLaughlin paid last month to submit his initiative, which he titled the “Sodomite Suppression Act.” Warning of “God’s just wrath” for “tolerating wickedness in our midst,” McLaughlin’s measure would require that anyone who touches a person of the same gender for sexual gratification be put to death “by bullets to the head or by any other convenient method.” It would also make advocacy of gay rights, to an audience that includes minors, a crime punishable by 10 years in prison and permanent expulsion from California.
Laws’ initiative, which invokes the “love of liberty and tolerance,” would label the author of any ballot measure calling for the killing of gays and lesbians an “intolerant jackass.” Such a person would have to attend at least three hours a month of sensitivity training for a year and contribute $5,000 to a pro-gay or pro-lesbian organization.
It was “just a way to speak back to this intolerant individual lawyer in Orange County,” Laws told The Chronicle on Tuesday, a day after her counter-stroke was first reported by Slate.com. “I felt that ridiculing him was the best way to take away his power. … It basically gives our state a bad name.”
Laws is an activist against revenge porn and has been a neighborhood council member and a city commissioner in Los Angeles.
She said she doesn’t intend to actually circulate the initiative for the November 2016 ballot, but has submitted it to Attorney General Kamala Harris’ office for an official title and summary, just like McLaughlin. Legal analysts have generally agreed that Harris is required by law to issue a title and summary to anyone who pays the filing fee, thus clearing the measure for circulation — even if, like a proposal to murder one’s fellow citizens, it’s obviously unconstitutional. Harris is scheduled to clear McLaughlin’s measure in early May.
McLaughlin, who practices law in Huntington Beach, has been an attorney since 1998. In 2004 he proposed another initiative that would have distributed the King James bible as literature to students in California public schools. He hasn’t given interviews on his current initiative proposal.
An initiative needs 365,000 valid signatures to make the ballot. Even if McLaughlin could collect that many signatures, the state Supreme Court has the power to remove measures from the ballot on constitutional grounds.Off to the best start in the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens have hit a big bump in the road.
Goalie Carey Price suffered a lower-body injury during a loss Thursday in Edmonton, prompting the recall of Dustin Tokarski from AHL St. John's, the club announced Sunday.
According to head coach Michel Therrien, Price will miss one week of action, meaning goaltending duties will fall upon Mike Condon and Tokarksi for the next four games, beginning Sunday against Winnipeg.
"It happened on Thursday, but it’s nothing major. He underwent treatment, and let us know on Friday morning that he was still feeling a bit of pain," Therrien said. "We didn’t want to take any chances, and our medical staff recommended yesterday that he takes a week off."
Price, the reigning league MVP and Vezina Trophy winner, was in his usual fine form through the month of October, posting a 7-2-0 record with a 2.01 goals-against average and a.936 save percentage. He did, however, allow nine goals over his last two starts.
Condon has played well for the Canadiens to date, winning all three starts with a save percentage of.944.PSY further proves how he can bring in YouTube viewers like no other -- especially in America -- with the King of viral videos racking up big numbers just hours after releasing his latest visuals.
According to YouTube, PSY's "Daddy" video featuring CL was the top-viewed K-pop video in the U.S. last month as the video was released within hours before November ended in the territory. Those initial numbers though weren't enough for him to top global list where EXID's "Hot Pink" lands at No. 1 and "Daddy" is in the runner-up position.
EXID's much-anticipated vid proved to be a must-watch around the world as the group seems to solidify their place as a must-watch act on YouTube. "Hot Pink" tops the international ranking and charts at No. 4 on the American list, and notably is the only entry from a female act on the month's Top 10 most-viewed K-pop video lists minus Brown Eyed Girls slipping in at No. 10 on the global list. "Hot Pink" follows "Up & Down" and "Ah Yeah," both with more than 30 million views on YouTube.
A slew of boy bands make their way onto the November list too, led by a pair of videos from rookie act iKON, "Apology" and "Anthem," both ranking in the Top 5 on both the U.S. and global list. "Chained Up" by VIXX, who have visited the U.S. at least once every year since their 2012 debut, chart high on the American list at No. 3, but a little further down the international list at No. 7. GOT7, B.A.P and BTS -- acts who all have No. 1s on Billboard's World Albums chart -- also see their latest bow on the list, mostly notably BTS makes the ranking despite being released so late into November ("Run" hit YouTube on Nov. 29).
K-Pop Group Oh My Girl Denied Entry Into U.S., Claims to Be Mistaken for Sex Workers
With data provided by YouTube, check out November 2015's charts below with a playlist that you can click through to watch each video, only here on Billboard:
Most Viewed K-Pop Videos in America - November 2015:
1. PSY featuring CL of 2NE1, "Daddy"
2. iKON, "Apology"
3. VIXX, "Chained Up"
4. EXID, "Hot Pink"
5. iKON, "Anthem"
6. GOT7, "Confession Song"
7. PSY, "Napal Baji"
8. B.A.P, "Young, Wild & Free"
9. BTS, "Run"
10. Zico featuring Babylon, "Boys and Girls"
Most Viewed K-Pop Around the World - November 2015:
1. EXID, "Hot Pink"
2. PSY featuring CL of 2NE1, "Daddy"
3. iKON, "Apology"
4. iKON, "Anthem"
5. ZICO featuring Babylon, "Boys and Girls"
6. GOT7, "Confession Song"
7. VIXX, "Chained Up"
8. B.A.P - "Young, Wild & Free"
9. BTS, "Run"
10. Brown Eyed Girls, "Brave New World"More than two generations ago, the venture capital community — VCs, business angels, incubators, and others — convinced the entrepreneurial world that writing business plans and raising venture capital constituted the twin centerpieces of entrepreneurial endeavor. They did so for good reasons: the sometimes astonishing returns they’ve delivered and the incredibly large and valuable companies that their ecosystem has created.
But the vast majority of successful entrepreneurs never take any venture capital.
Take Claus Moseholm, co-founder of GoViral, a Danish company created in 2005 to harness the then-emerging power of the Internet to deliver advertisers’ video content in viral fashion. Funding his company’s steady growth with the proceeds of one successful viral video campaign after another, Moseholm and his partners built GoViral into Europe’s leading platform to host and distribute such content. In 2011, GoViral was sold for $97 million, having never taken a single krone or dollar of investment capital. The business had been funded and grown entirely by its customers’ cash.
In fact, venture capital financing may even be detrimental to your start-up’s health. As venture capital investor Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures puts it, “The fact is that the amount of money start-ups raise in their seed and Series A rounds is inversely correlated with success. Yes, I mean that. Less money raised leads to more success. That is the data I stare at all the time.”
Wilson’s observation reflects the fact that there are a number of serious drawbacks entailed in raising capital too early, drawbacks that have profound implications at all stages of the investment cycle:
1. Pandering to VCs is a distraction. Trying to get a fledgling venture off the ground is a full time job, and then some. But so is raising capital, which demands a lot of time and energy on its own. It will distract the entrepreneur from doing the more important work of getting the venture onto a productive path. As Connect Ventures founder Bill Earner argues, “Finding the right customers and getting them to fund your business [constitute] a great step-by-step guide to raising venture capital — build the business first and the investments will follow.”
Why spend your time trying to convince investors to invest, when you could spend the same time convincing prospective customers to buy — or perhaps learning why they won’t — before you burn somebody else’s money! Besides, as customer-funded entrepreneur and investor Erick Mueller recalls, “It’s a lot more fun dealing with customer needs than pandering to investors.”
2. Term sheets and shareholders’ agreements can burden you. Investors don’t like risk any better than you do. If you’re raising money before traction is in hand, so-called “market risk” is higher than if demand has already been proven. To protect their downside, investors will require what are often seen by entrepreneurs as onerous terms. And when the concise prose of the term sheet is fleshed out into the fine print of the shareholders’ agreement, the terms get even worse.
3. The advice VCs give isn’t always that good. According to an analysis of venture fund returns by Harvard Business School’s Josh Lerner, more than half of all VC funds delivered no better than low single-digit returns on investment. Worse, only 20 per cent of funds achieved 20 per cent returns (or better), a figure that they might be expected to deliver. Incredibly, nearly one in five funds actually delivered below-zero returns. Given this performance, you would be forgiven if you wondered just how helpful most VCs’ support or “value-add” is likely to be! Unfortunately, you will very likely to be obliged to follow their sage “advice.”
4. The stake you keep is small — and tends to get smaller. When you raise angel or venture capital early, as Jobs did to fund Apple, you start giving away a portion the company — often a substantial portion — in exchange for the capital you are given. And that portion grows over time, as additional rounds of capital are raised. Dell, on the other hand, used his customers’ pre-payments for their PCs to fund his start-up and its early growth. Claus Moseholm and his partners, who managed to go the distance at GoViral without ever raising outside investment, retained their stakes in the business (bar one co-founder, who sold his stake to a growth capital investor) until they eventually sold.
But the best news is this. If you raise money at a somewhat later stage of your entrepreneurial journey, you’ll find that many of the drawbacks have largely disappeared. Why? Because with customer traction in hand, you’ll be in the driver’s seat, and the queue of investors outside your door will have to compete for your deal.
5. The odds are against you. Even worse, perhaps, than the difficult terms, the questionable advice you may get, and the dilution you will incur if you raise capital too early, are the difficult odds faced by companies that do win VC backing. In the typical successful fund, on average only 1 or 2 in 10 of the portfolio companies — the Googles, Facebooks, and Twitters of the world — will actually have delivered attractive, and occasionally stunning, returns. Facebook alone accounted for more than 35 per cent of the total VC exit value in the United States in 2012. A few more portfolio companies may have paid back the capital that was invested in them, but most of the rest are wipeouts. In the VC game the very few winners pay for the losers, so most VCs are playing a high-stakes all-or-nothing game. Are these the kind of odds with which you’d like to put your new venture into play?Many people would consider the Swedish Elite League — or, wait, it’s called just the “Swedish Hockey League” now -- the second-best hockey league in the world. Better than the KHL. Better than the AHL.
Smart people can disagree, but the point is that it’s a really good league.
And Flyers prospect Oskar Lindblom was just named the SHL’s best forward for the 2016-17 season. I will note that he is only 20 years old. Here’s the terrible Google translation of this:
After the recently concluded season 2016/2017 has been voted and Oskar Lindblom, Brynäs IF have been awarded Forward. In the vote that preceded this, Oskar been totally superior and in a class by itself, says Hockey Journalists President Hasse Andersson. Oskar have also done a fantastic season. The soon to be 21-year-old striker scored in the 61 tournament matches (all Brynäs played, 52 of the regular season, 14 in the playoffs), a total of 26 goals and played until 35, then a total of 61 points.... His career has been marked out and Oskar Lindblom has constantly evolved in the right direction. His style of play is ground covering, pungent and technical. He has a good shot and is also a great challenge players.
Lindblom ranked No. 6 in our February 2017 ranking of the Flyers Top 25 Under 25. That was a six-spot jump from his September 2016 ranking of No. 12.
If you’re good enough to be the best forward in one of the best hockey leagues in the world, you’re probably good enough to crack the 2017-18 Philadelphia Flyers lineup out of training camp. Just saying.MARIO SUÁREZ COMMITMENT TO KEEP FIGHTING FOR ALL "Our strength is the team" "Our strength is the team" Atletico midfielder spoke after the inauguration of the football field that bears his name in Alcobendas. Happy with team´s dynamics, advocates to carry on doing their best to end the season in the best possible way.
Mario Suarez, accompanied by Enrique Cerezo, president of the club, at the official presentation of the stadium 'Mario Suarez' was satisfied and happy after inaugurating the field that bears his name in his home town of Alcobendas. "I'm very happy, very proud of my city bearing with me and than the people have seen me like that and I feel very lucky".
Regarding the results of the team, Mario said, "the team is fine. We would have signed earlier in the season to be where we are now and we want to continue to be. We have a tough match against Betis, because they are playing for remaining on the competition, but hopefully, we will get the three points". In addition, the midfielder acknowledged that they only think about themselves, and what happens in the Real Madrid -Barcelona match doesn´t worried in the locker room. "If we don´t win is worth nothing, we have to win on Sunday at 17:00 no matter what. The important thing is to think in us, work and get the three points in Seville", he said.
We are at the end of the season and we still want to finish better than we are
The season gets into the end and Mario Suarez confirmed that the team wants to get away even "better than it is doing" today. "The team is good. We lost three-matches. They thought we did not have anything to do and we have shown that we are well, winning tough matches and making great ones. We are at the end of the season and we still want to finish better than we are. We will see in which position we end”, he said.
On Friday we will know our rival with in the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League. Mario Suárez explained, "all teams are tough and we have no preferences. We will fight against anyone because it will be very difficult to us and also for them". The youth, finally, made clear that "I bet for Atletico always, especially to win on Sunday. We trust in the team, the coaching staff and ourselves. Our strength is the team because we are a very strong", he said.When writer Ronni Lundy was growing up in Louisville, Kentucky in the 1950s and ‘60s, the culinary map was pretty plain and simple. Young people like herself; well, they hung out at one of three Frisch’s Big Boy establishments, where they flirted with boys while chomping on tartar-sauce-covered hamburgers and rye-bread-bunned Brawny Lads. If Lundy was shopping for school clothes with her parents, she would likely end up at Stewart’s; a long-gone department store with a restaurant that served benedictine sandwiches and made their own mayonnaise. But if she was going into town for something fancy—say to buy nice clothes for a wedding, or to celebrate a family milestone—that’s when she would find herself at the Georgian Revival landmark known as the Brown Hotel. And when she was there, she did exactly what she was supposed to do. She ordered the hot brown.
“The hot brown always had a sense of attainment about it. If you had a hot brown, you weren’t just eating—you were dining.”
As far as legendary dishes go, the history of the hot brown is surprisingly straightforward. The open-face sandwich was the bluegrass-born brainchild of chef Fred Schmidt, who helmed the kitchen at the Brown in the 1920s. It's composed of two slices of Texas toast (crust removed) cut into triangles and placed on the bottom of large baking dish along with hunky slices of tomato, which lend the rich dish some much-needed acidity. The bread is covered with fresh, hand-sliced turkey breast, and slathered in a mornay sauce made with both heavy cream and pecorino romano cheese. It’s then topped with four slices of thick-cut bacon, more pecorino, and baked until bubbly. No, it’s not what one would call a refined dish—especially for a high-falutin' hotel like the Brown. But that’s exactly why people here in Louisville think it’s so special. As Lundy puts it, “the hot brown always had a sense of attainment about it. If you had a hot brown, you weren’t just eating—you were dining.” As many a bourbon-loving local will tell you, the hot brown is also among the most perfect hangover foods ever invented—and that's exactly what chef Schmidt intended. Back in his day, the Brown was known as the gathering place for the elite—everyone from thoroughbred owners and bourbon barons, to celebrities and politicians. In its grand ballroom, hundreds patrons would gather regularly for dancing—lots of dancing: fox trots and Charlestons; tangoes and Lindy Hops. After a long night of revelry, guests would retire to the hotel’s dining room, looking for something to sponge up all the alcohol. While most settled for a helping of ham and eggs, on one particular night in 1926, Schmidt upped his game by tossing together that magical meat and mornay medley of his making. The rest, as they say, was hot brown history. Not that there weren't some bumps along the way. Watch: How to Make a Hot Brown
Just like its namesake hotel, which closed in 1971, and spent some time as headquarters to the city’s Board of Education, before reopening in the 1980s, the hot brown has had its ups and downs. As Louisville dining migrated outward toward the chain restaurants of the suburbs, so too did the hot brown, often with mixed results. On one hand, Lundy recalls a tasty variation that used country ham instead of turkey, and replaced the bacon with a grilled peach. But other versions fell flat. “I feel like we reached the pit of despair when one restaurant started dumping a can of creamed mushroom soup on some bread and meat, and topped it off with cheese and bacon,” Lundy recalls. The resurrection of the hot brown is hard to pinpoint, but Lundy attributes its return to the late Louisville chef Timothy Barnes, who opened a restaurant called J. Timothy’s in the 1980s. “He served a classic hot brown there,” Lundy says. “It was very important to him. And it made people remember, “Oh yeah that is what it was all about. Up until that period, there were only bowdlerized versions of it. And they were so much less than what it had been.” Barnes’ traditional version started what Lundy refers to as a bit of a hot-brown renaissance. And not just in area restaurants. Home cooks rediscovered the pleasures of the hot brown, especially around Thanksgiving, when there’s plenty of leftover turkey to be had.
Thanks in part to America’s continuing obsession with regional cuisines, the hot brown is now more popular than ever.It’s toast.
Its success was based upon eliminating free. But that positively non-techie entity known as the government put the kibosh on that. Now the labels and Apple are too scared to enact their plan of eliminating freemium. So while the techies leap ahead, creating solutions to problems we didn’t even know we had, those in the music business stay mired in the past, believing backroom dealings and brawn will get them what they want. But it won’t in the new world.
Apple Music provides nothing new other than a live radio service, which is mildly interesting, but never forget that iTunes Radio didn’t put a dent in Pandora. And sure, Beats 1 will make it worldwide before Pandora ever does, but is that what the world is clamoring for, a global radio service? I don’t think so.
But the heart and soul of Apple Music is its streaming service. And it broke the number one rule of technology. That in order to succeed you’ve got to deliver something better, bring in those who were disinterested or scared to participate previously, and there’s nothing in Apple Music that isn’t widely available elsewhere, including its social network and playlists. Is that what we need, a new place to display musicians’ thoughts and wares? You can’t compete with Facebook just like you can’t compete with Google. Innovation can kill them, but there’s nothing innovative about Connect other than it’s located on Apple’s platform.
As for playlists… The internet is inundated with them. And if hand-curated playlists were the key to success, the original Beats Music would have triumphed. But to call it an also-ran would be generous. Turns out to win, or at least play the game in a meaningful way, you’ve got to have a freemium offering. And Apple Music does not.
It could change. It should change. Three months free is a good start, but there’s no incentive to keep up your subscription. And those already desirous of paying for streaming already do, and getting someone to switch is difficult, especially to a company that evidences such hubris.
That’s right, there’s a huge backlash to Monday’s presentation. Primarily in the press, because the public doesn’t care. But you can’t find anybody saying anything good, from Iovine to Cue. Furthermore, there’s the story of the indie act having previous ties to Iovine and being fake. Those who care are aghast, even if most people don’t give a crap. But the truth is Iovine is tone-deaf. He’s way out of his league. He comes from a land where relationships and intimidation mean everything. You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours and we’ll make it on the image of propped-up stars. But the truth is in the modern era the winners are faceless techies who go their own way, whether they be Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Evan Spiegel of Snapchat or Nick Woodman of GoPro. They’re giant slayers who think different, something Apple used to have a hold on.
I’m mortified by my experience with the Apple Watch. Jony Ive may be a great designer, but when it comes to what’s under the sheen, he’s brain dead. You’re selling me a watch that doesn’t tell time, that doesn’t perform the basic functions of a wristwatch? And you’re selling it as a luxury good? This is all wrong and does not portend a good future, especially when Angela Ahrendts is hired to promote it. I used to believe in Apple, but my faith is flagging.
And I need something and someone to believe in.
Daniel Ek’s story is more interesting than Iovine’s. Ek slayed piracy, Iovine sold crappy headphones as fashion items. I still listen to my old Sennheisers, will anyone listen to their old Beats? We want people who suffered, who are in it with us, providing us something we can’t get elsewhere, whereas Apple Music seems constructed to save the major labels, artists and Apple…AND WE DON’T CARE!
That’s right, Apple Music is hermetically sealed. The public does not need to pay to save the music industry, the music industry must innovate its way out of the hole. Assuming there’s a hole to begin with! All the new tools have allowed acts to find their audience, interact with them and super-serve them. So, recordings are a smaller piece of the pie, but listening to Lucian Grainge rant against freemium is like listening to a manufacturing plant owner rail against China. We don’t want to overpay for music and we don’t want to pay $3000 for a flat screen. Welcome to today.
Of course Apple Music won’t fail completely. But it will not eviscerate YouTube, it will not get everybody to pay, it probably won’t even dominate the streaming sphere.
Because you’ve got to live in the real world.
And the world we live in, especially online, is one in which you must respect your customer, and hew to reality.
The reality is right now music is primarily a freemium product. And you won’t get everyone to pay by either closing down YouTube or offering this imitative service. You will only win by providing what the customer wants, by having people play in to your web. And the customer doesn’t want Apple Music, doesn’t need Apple Music, and the hardest problem facing musicians is getting people to listen to their tunes at all, not getting paid.
But don’t expect anybody in the music-industrial complex to acknowledge this.
P.S. It doesn’t matter whether the government nails the labels or Apple for past behavior, it prevents them from heinous activity in the future. Believe me, the last thing the music industry wants is government scrutiny, it’s got more skeletons in its closet than a graveyard.Dutch advertising watchdog’s ruling prompts company to change line to ‘least polluting fossil fuel’ as campaigners welcome action over ‘misleading’ ad
The Dutch advertising watchdog will on Tuesday censure Shell and Exxon for claiming that natural gas was “the cleanest of all fossil fuels” in an advert earlier this year.
It will be the second time this summer that the Netherlands advertising standards board has ruled against the fossil fuels industry, after it slapped down Statoil in June for calling gas a “clean energy” and “low emissions fuel”.
In a bid to pre-empt the latest ruling, online versions of the advert were changed a few weeks ago to redefine gas as “the least polluting fossil fuel”.
The Dutch watchdog waived punitive action against the NAM company, which is part-owned by Shell and Exxon, in that light.
Paul de Clerk of Friends of the Earth Europe, which co-filed the complaint |
28 28.364 3.091 Chiefs 29 29 29 31 30 30 30 29 26 27 29 29.000 -4.727 Titans 30 26 30 32 31 31 29 30 31 31 31 30.182 -4.364 Jaguars 32 32 32 28 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 31.636 -1.272
Observations:
Patriots are finally the unanimous top pick.
Packers defense got burned by Philip Rivers on Sunday, better drop them down a spot or two.
Bengals on the rise and threatening to overthrow the Packers.
Take a look at the top 5. There are currently 5 undefeated teams in the NFL, all five of those teams are in the top 5 of this board. This should highlight that many pundits look at little else than current record.
Amusing that the Cowboys didn't move at all this week, with every other team moving this week.
Subjective Standard Deviation
Put simply, Standard Deviation is a tool in statistics to measure how much variance there is in a set of numbers. To put more simply: I use it to look at who's ranked the most- and least-consistently. In Standard Deviation, the lower the number, the more consistent the values in the set.
For our purposes, this means the lower the Standard Deviation, the more consistent the rankings. The opposite is true too: the higher the number, the less consistent the rankings.
This table is sorted by most-consistently ranked to least-consistently ranked.
Subjective ESPN Fox CBS USA SI PFT NFL SN SBN Reddit AP STD DEV Change in Value Patriots 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.000 -0.288 Packers 2 3 3 2 2 3 2 2 3 2 2 0.481 0.055 Panthers 6 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 0.617 -0.236 Broncos 3 5 4 5 6 5 5 5 5 5 5 0.716 -0.066 Bengals 5 2 2 3 3 2 3 3 2 3 3 0.833 0.165 Eagles 9 12 12 12 11 12 11 10 11 12 12 0.962 -1.460 Jets 8 6 6 9 5 6 7 7 7 8 6 1.113 -0.192 Jaguars 32 32 32 28 32 32 32 32 32 32 32 1.150 -0.461 Falcons 7 8 7 7 10 8 6 6 8 6 9 1.233 0.333 Steelers 10 7 10 6 7 7 8 8 6 9 8 1.336 -0.384 Chiefs 29 29 29 31 30 30 30 29 26 27 29 1.348 -1.385 Titans 30 26 30 32 31 31 29 30 31 31 31 1.527 -1.130 Cardinals 4 10 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 7 7 1.537 0.461 Giants 14 17 17 14 15 14 14 11 14 14 13 1.601 0.451 Vikings 15 9 9 11 9 10 10 13 10 10 10 1.777 -0.562 Bills 17 15 15 15 16 17 12 14 12 11 14 1.920 0.547 Ravens 28 31 31 24 28 28 28 28 29 26 30 1.958 -0.291 Seahawks 12 19 14 13 13 16 16 15 18 15 15 2.021 -0.286 Lions 24 28 27 25 29 29 31 31 30 30 28 2.186 1.530 49ers 19 18 22 20 21 26 23 24 20 23 23 2.260 0.564 Colts 11 13 11 10 12 19 13 12 13 13 11 2.271 0.541 Texans 26 25 20 23 25 27 25 27 27 29 24 2.300 1.346 Buccaneers 31 27 25 27 27 25 26 21 28 28 27 2.350 0.983 Raiders 23 24 24 19 23 18 18 18 22 20 19 2.378 0.374 Chargers 13 20 13 16 18 21 17 20 16 17 17 2.503 0.627 Redskins 22 23 28 26 20 22 19 22 23 21 25 2.516 0.875 Rams 18 11 18 17 14 11 15 19 15 16 16 2.536 0.764 Saints 20 22 21 18 26 23 27 25 19 24 21 2.772 0.735 Bears 25 30 19 30 24 24 24 26 25 25 26 2.863 0.806 Browns 27 21 26 22 17 20 20 23 17 19 22 3.078 1.107 Cowboys 16 16 16 21 22 13 21 16 24 18 18 3.165 0.399 Dolphins 21 14 23 29 19 15 22 17 21 22 20 3.933 0.786
Observations:
ESPN a little bit of an outlier on the Eagles.
Dolphins all over the board (14th to 29th).
PFT doesn't like the Colts compared to everyone else.
Consensus on the Chargers is getting worse
Objective Average
I call these rankings the "Objective" rankings because unlike the rankings above, these are rankings based on statistical models of some sort. I use the term "Objective" loosely here because there is still some inherent bias in how the various models are constructed. Each ranking site has their own criteria in what they feel is success in the NFL.
All that said, these rankings are more objective as they remove perception and bias and produce rankings based on how well teams actually play, not how they're perceived to play.
Objective FO TR SAG BG Aikman PFR CHFF Massey ARGH 538 FPI Average Change in Value Patriots 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.182 0.182 Packers 3 2 2 6 5 8 2 2 2 2 4 3.455 -0.728 Bengals 4 5 4 8 4 6 4 3 3 4 7 4.727 0.546 Cardinals 2 6 5 16 3 2 3 9 5 8 2 5.546 -1.000 Steelers 6 7 6 7 7 4 6 6 7 6 5 6.091 0.909 Jets 5 9 9 5 1 3 7 7 9 14 6 6.818 1.909 Broncos 10 3 3 12 8 11 14 4 4 3 12 7.636 -0.909 Eagles 7 8 8 4 10 5 11 10 10 9 3 7.727 4.182 Panthers 11 10 11 15 6 14 5 5 6 7 13 9.364 1.909 Falcons 15 18 10 1 9 7 9 8 8 11 9 9.546 -2.182 Seahawks 8 4 7 18 17 12 12 11 12 5 8 10.364 -1.455 Bills 9 16 12 10 14 10 8 13 13 15 10 11.818 -1.454 Giants 12 21 14 9 13 9 13 16 14 17 20 14.364 -2.637 Vikings 25 11 13 19 12 17 10 12 11 13 19 14.727 1.455 Cowboys 23 19 15 3 25 16 15 14 15 12 15 15.636 0.637 Colts 17 12 17 20 23 23 27 15 18 10 11 17.546 -0.637 Chargers 19 17 19 21 16 19 22 18 16 20 18 18.636 0.455 Ravens 13 13 16 32 19 18 23 20 22 16 14 18.727 -2.000 Dolphins 22 15 18 11 22 20 19 22 19 23 16 18.818 8.182 Rams 14 20 21 14 20 15 29 17 17 24 22 19.364 -1.546 Chiefs 16 14 20 25 29 25 20 25 20 19 17 20.909 -0.636 Redskins 20 27 23 13 15 13 26 28 25 29 26 22.273 -3.727 Saints 24 23 22 31 24 21 21 21 21 21 21 22.727 2.909 Raiders 18 28 26 24 11 24 18 24 24 27 29 23.000 -0.454 Browns 21 25 25 26 27 22 16 23 26 26 23 23.636 0.182 49ers 32 26 27 17 32 26 28 19 23 18 28 25.091 1.364 Texans 30 24 28 27 21 29 25 27 28 22 25 26.000 1.273 Lions 27 22 24 22 28 28 32 29 29 25 24 26.364 0.363 Titans 26 30 30 29 18 27 17 31 31 31 27 27.000 -4.091 Bears 31 29 29 23 26 30 30 26 27 28 30 28.091 -1.727 Buccaneers 29 31 31 28 30 32 24 30 30 30 32 29.727 0.000 Jaguars 28 32 32 30 31 31 31 32 32 32 31 31.091 -1.273
Observations:
Patriots on top of the Objective board, though it's not unanimous.
Football Outsiders has the Broncos at 10th. Per DVOA, the Broncos has have the best Defense in the league, but the worst (!) offense. Their Defense is better than their Offense is bad, and they have a decent Special Teams, so it all adds up to a top-10 team still.
Chargers, despite the loss, still rose a little in the rankings.
Objective Standard Deviation
Objective FO TR SAG BG Aikman PFR CHFF Massey ARGH 538 FPI STD DEV Change in Value Patriots 1 1 1 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 0.386 -0.095 Steelers 6 7 6 7 7 4 6 6 7 6 5 0.900 -0.145 Jaguars 28 32 32 30 31 31 31 32 32 32 31 1.164 -1.458 Bengals 4 5 4 8 4 6 4 3 3 4 7 1.543 0.123 Chargers 19 17 19 21 16 19 22 18 16 20 18 1.823 0.444 Packers 3 2 2 6 5 8 2 2 2 2 4 1.971 0.919 Buccaneers 29 31 31 28 30 32 24 30 30 30 32 2.136 -0.461 Bears 31 29 29 23 26 30 30 26 27 28 30 2.275 -1.821 Bills 9 16 12 10 14 10 8 13 13 15 10 2.480 0.986 Eagles 7 8 8 4 10 5 11 10 10 9 3 2.562 -1.017 Texans 30 24 28 27 21 29 25 27 28 22 25 2.730 0.240 Saints 24 23 22 31 24 21 21 21 21 21 21 2.863 0.556 Browns 21 25 25 26 27 22 16 23 26 26 23 3.023 0.899 Lions 27 22 24 22 28 28 32 29 29 25 24 3.053 -0.054 Jets 5 9 9 5 1 3 7 7 9 14 6 3.325 -0.562 Dolphins 22 15 18 11 22 20 19 22 19 23 16 3.486 -0.056 Panthers 11 10 11 15 6 14 5 5 6 7 13 3.549 -0.543 Giants 12 21 14 9 13 9 13 16 14 17 20 3.724 0.337 Cardinals 2 6 5 16 3 2 3 9 5 8 2 4.031 0.557 Broncos 10 3 3 12 8 11 14 4 4 3 12 4.118 0.678 Falcons 15 18 10 1 9 7 9 8 8 11 9 4.142 0.369 Seahawks 8 4 7 18 17 12 12 11 12 5 8 4.291 -0.291 Chiefs 16 14 20 25 29 25 20 25 20 19 17 4.358 0.135 Rams 14 20 21 14 20 15 29 17 17 24 22 4.396 0.808 Vikings 25 11 13 19 12 17 10 12 11 13 19 4.454 1.902 Titans 26 30 30 29 18 27 17 31 31 31 27 4.786 -1.545 49ers 32 26 27 17 32 26 28 19 23 18 28 4.999 0.770 Raiders 18 28 26 24 11 24 18 24 24 27 29 5.081 0.501 Colts 17 12 17 20 23 23 27 15 18 10 11 5.159 -0.359 Ravens 13 13 16 32 19 18 23 20 22 16 14 5.310 1.843 Cowboys 23 19 15 3 25 16 15 14 15 12 15 5.482 0.526 Redskins 20 27 23 13 15 13 26 28 25 29 26 5.770 -1.084
Observations:
Good luck trying to figure out Washington or Dallas. What's wrong with the Ravens this year? Nobody knows!
Aikman's ratings sure does like the Raiders.
Overall Average
Now let's compare the two sets of data. We'll start with the "Overall Average" chart. This takes the Subjective Average and the Objective Average, and then averages those two numbers. This way it gives equal weight to both averages so that even though Subjective Average has a larger sample size, it doesn't drown out the Objective Average.
Subj vs Obj Subj Avg Obj Avg Average Change in Value Patriots 1.000 1.182 1.091 0.136 Packers 2.364 3.455 2.909 -0.545 Bengals 2.818 4.727 3.773 0.409 Broncos 4.818 7.636 6.227 -0.591 Cardinals 8.000 5.546 6.773 -1.773 Jets 6.818 6.818 6.818 1.773 Panthers 4.273 9.364 6.818 2.318 Steelers 7.818 6.091 6.955 1.863 Falcons 7.455 9.546 8.500 -2.273 Eagles 11.273 7.727 9.500 5.273 Vikings 10.546 14.727 12.636 1.819 Seahawks 15.091 10.364 12.727 -2.954 Bills 14.364 11.818 13.091 -2.136 Giants 14.273 14.364 14.318 -3.136 Colts 12.546 17.546 15.046 -0.137 Cowboys 18.273 15.636 16.955 0.318 Rams 15.455 19.364 17.409 -0.682 Chargers 17.091 18.636 17.864 -0.091 Dolphins 20.273 18.818 19.545 7.410 Raiders 20.727 23.000 21.864 -0.455 Browns 21.273 23.636 22.455 -0.319 Saints 22.364 22.727 22.545 4.182 Redskins 22.818 22.273 22.545 -3.681 49ers 21.727 25.091 23.409 3.409 Ravens 28.273 18.727 23.500 -3.545 Chiefs 29.000 20.909 24.955 -2.682 Texans 25.273 26.000 25.636 3.000 Bears 25.273 28.091 26.682 -2.682 Lions 28.364 26.364 27.364 1.727 Buccaneers 26.546 29.727 28.136 -0.454 Titans 30.182 27.000 28.591 -4.227 Jaguars 31.636 31.091 31.364 -1.273
Observations:
Patriots getting better, Packers getting worse.
Jets went up just as much as Cardinals went down this week.
Chargers are firmly in the middle of the pack.
Eagles crack the upper-echelon.
Overall Standard Deviation
The Overall Standard Deviation does not average anything out, it just takes the Standard Deviation across all the rankings. Yes this will even things out slightly, but it goes to show which teams have consensus across the board.
Subj vs Obj Subj Avg Obj Avg STD DEV Change in Value Patriots 1.000 1.182 0.288 -0.131 Jaguars 31.636 31.091 1.189 -1.004 Steelers 7.818 6.091 1.430 -0.879 Packers 2.364 3.455 1.535 0.654 Bengals 2.818 4.727 1.565 0.009 Chargers 17.091 18.636 2.322 0.213 Jets 6.818 6.818 2.480 -0.422 Texans 25.273 26.000 2.550 0.223 Bills 14.364 11.818 2.557 1.005 Eagles 11.273 7.727 2.624 -1.564 Buccaneers 26.546 29.727 2.752 -0.162 Saints 22.364 22.727 2.824 0.390 Lions 28.364 26.364 2.837 -0.423 Giants 14.273 14.364 2.867 0.280 Bears 25.273 28.091 2.945 -1.066 Falcons 7.455 9.546 3.230 0.261 Browns 21.273 23.636 3.272 0.621 Broncos 4.818 7.636 3.274 0.551 Cardinals 8.000 5.546 3.288 0.677 Panthers 4.273 9.364 3.601 -0.046 Dolphins 20.273 18.818 3.787 0.437 Titans 30.182 27.000 3.892 -1.176 Vikings 10.546 14.727 3.983 0.987 Rams 15.455 19.364 4.086 1.053 Seahawks 15.091 10.364 4.103 0.374 Raiders 20.727 23.000 4.126 0.413 49ers 21.727 25.091 4.228 0.986 Redskins 22.818 22.273 4.459 -0.535 Cowboys 18.273 15.636 4.666 0.530 Colts 12.546 17.546 4.705 0.153 Chiefs 29.000 20.909 5.174 1.093 Ravens 28.273 18.727 6.229 1.876
Difference in Averages
This compares the Subjective average ranking with the Objective average ranking. This tells us just how far off people are from the formulas. A positive number means people think they will be or are better than the stats indicate, a negative number means the math thinks they're better than what people think. The closer to 0 this number is, the more in agreement the Subjective and Objective rankings are.
Generally speaking, the Subjective Rankings tend to be more reactionary to a team's performance than the mathematical models are. You'll often end up with major peaks and valleys for a team in the Subjective rankings, where the Objective rankings are more steady.
Subj vs Obj Subj Avg Obj Avg Diff. in Avg Change in Value Panthers 4.273 9.364 5.091 0.818 Colts 12.546 17.546 5.000 1.000 Vikings 10.546 14.727 4.182 0.727 Rams 15.455 19.364 3.909 1.727 49ers 21.727 25.091 3.364 4.091 Buccaneers 26.546 29.727 3.182 -0.909 Broncos 4.818 7.636 2.818 0.636 Bears 25.273 28.091 2.818 -1.909 Browns 21.273 23.636 2.364 -1.000 Raiders 20.727 23.000 2.273 0.000 Falcons 7.455 9.546 2.091 -0.182 Bengals 2.818 4.727 1.909 -0.273 Chargers 17.091 18.636 1.546 -1.090 Packers 2.364 3.455 1.091 0.364 Texans 25.273 26.000 0.727 3.454 Saints 22.364 22.727 0.364 2.546 Patriots 1.000 1.182 0.182 -0.091 Giants 14.273 14.364 0.091 -1.000 Jets 6.818 6.818 0.000 -0.273 Redskins 22.818 22.273 -0.546 0.090 Jaguars 31.636 31.091 -0.546 -0.001 Dolphins 20.273 18.818 -1.455 -1.546 Steelers 7.818 6.091 -1.727 1.909 Lions 28.364 26.364 -2.000 2.727 Cardinals 8.000 5.546 -2.455 -1.546 Bills 14.364 11.818 -2.545 -1.363 Cowboys 18.273 15.636 -2.636 -0.636 Titans 30.182 27.000 -3.182 -0.273 Eagles 11.273 7.727 -3.545 2.182 Seahawks 15.091 10.364 -4.727 -3.000 Chiefs 29.000 20.909 -8.091 -4.091 Ravens 28.273 18.727 -9.545 -3.090
Observations:
I know they're undefeated and all, but the Panthers may not be as good as we want to believe just yet.
Is there a pro Colts bias? You better believe it.
The Ravens haven't looked good, no, but they've been playing better than their record would let you believe.
Chiefs, I think, are rightly "under ranked" now because they looked terrible in their first game without Jamaal Charles. This is one of those instances of the pundits reacting faster than the statistics.
Expectations were high in Seattle this year, and while disappointing, the Seahawks are still playing good football.
Eagles still under-ranked, but not criminally so anymore.
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Updated on 12-19-2014 by Andy Boxall: Added in details of the ZenWatch’s UK launch.
November 9 U.S. release
If you want to get your hands on the ZenWatch, Asus announced it will launch on November 9 at Best Buy. The Android Wear-powered smartwatch has also made its way to the Google Play Store, but regardless of where you buy it, the watch will cost you $200. There’s no word on whether other retailers, such as Amazon, will sell the ZenWatch, though its price point puts it on par with other Android Wear smartwatches.
December 23 release in the UK
The Asus ZenWatch will go on sale in the UK on December 23 for £200, or about $310, making it considerably more expensive than in America. According to Pocket-lint.com, the watch will be an exclusive to high street electronics retailers Currys and PC World. Online retailer Clove Technology has a holding page for the watch, suggesting it may not be exclusive for all that long.
Asus’ smartwatch was originally slated to arrive in stores sometime between late summer and the end of 2014, so it’s arguably still on target. A rumor circulated at the beginning of October warned us the ZenWatch may be in very limited supply at first.
Curved screen, smart looks
The screen made from 2.5D curved glass and looks slightly oval in shape with its rounded edges. The AMOLED panel measures 1.63-inches and features a resolution of 320 x 320 pixels. Asus created many customizable watch faces for you to choose from, amounting to more than 100 combinations.
The ZenWatch comes with a 1.2GHz Snapdragon 400 processor and 512MB of RAM. The watch has 4GB of internal storage, a 1.4Wh battery, Bluetooth 4.0, and is waterproof with an IP55 rating. The ZenWatch is, of course, powered by Android Wear and features what Asus calls “What’s Next” smart notifications. What’s Next is really just Google Now, but with a few added features.
Asus added several cool functions to make the ZenWatch easier to use, including “Tap Tap,” a feature that asks your phone to ring so you can find it. All you have to do is tap twice on the screen. You can also cover the face of the ZenWatch when you need to mute phone calls. Like most smartwatches, the ZenWatch tracks your heart rate, steps, and other fitness metrics. You can use it to control presentations, unlock your phone without swiping, and remotely control your phone’s camera.
Asus has come up with what looks like a winning design for the ZenWatch, but it faces some stiff competition, not only from LG and the G Watch R, but also from the Moto 360, and the Apple Watch when it launches early in 2015.
Updates:
Updated on 11-07-2014 by Williams Pelegrin: Added U.S. launch date and price for the ZenWatch.
Updated on 10-28-2014 by Andy Boxall: Added in information on the ZenWatch’s possible launch date.
Updated on 09-03-2014 by Malarie Gokey: Added more specs and availability for the ZenWatch.
Article originally published 09-03-2014RTA and Dubai Police are discussing the possibility of reducing speed limits on Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road and Emirates Road.
Mattar Al Tayer, Director General and Chairman of the Board of Executive Directors of the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), on Wednesday held a coordinative meeting with Major General Abdullah Khalifa Al Marri, Commander-in-Chief of Dubai Police.
The meeting discussed the needs of the Dubai Police in the Enterprise Command & Control Center (EC3), and the extension of the Dubai Metro Red Line to the site of Expo Project (Route 2020). Topics discussed also included safety issues of Dubai Tram, management of traffic accidents and the possibility of reducing the speed limits on the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road and Emirates Road.
"The RTA and Dubai Police are mega government entities in the Government of Dubai and share a portfolio of roles and responsibilities that serve the strategic objectives and goals of the Dubai government highlighted by secure, safe and smooth transport that adds to people happiness. These regular coordinative meetings offer an important communication channel for discussing new developments especially those relating to enhanced safety of roads & mass transit means for the benefit of citizens and residents of Dubai," said Al Tayer.
He commended the strategic partnership between the RTA and Dubai Police and the huge cooperation and support accorded by Dubai Police to the RTA citing their coordination in the traffic management and law enforcement as an example.
Al Marri welcomed RTA's delegation and hailed the high-level cooperation between the two parties and expressed hope for yet better coordination that paves the way for integrated services provided by the two departments for the benefit of people in Dubai.
"These coordinative meetings of the RTA and Dubai Police are of huge benefit to the emirate and the joint business. They enable realizing the common objectives of providing security, tranquility and happiness to citizens & residents," said Al Marri.
The meeting discussed the Enterprise Command & Control Center Project currently undertaken by the RTA with the aim of linking various control centers of RTA's operational agencies. Namely, it will bring together the Control Centers of the Dubai Metro, Dubai Tram, Public Transport, Taxi and Traffic Systems to form a consolidated central control unit connecting all RTA agencies. Discussions covered the needs of the Dubai Police regarding office space and the training of police personnel deployed in the EC3.
Discussions also touched on the management of traffic accidents in Dubai with the aim of reducing the time taken in managing traffic accidents and restoring the traffic movement back to normal as quick as possible.
Under this project, the RTA will provide logistical support needed by the Police in managing traffic accidents through opening alternative roads, introducing traffic diversions.etc. The two parties discussed lowering the speed limit on the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Road and Emirates Road given the recurrent traffic and run-over accidents on the two roads. The two parties discussed the possibility of reducing the speed limit from 120 km/h to 110 km/h and resetting the radar at 131 km/h, and intensify law enforcement measures to fend off jaywalking. Discussions touched on the parking of heavy vehicles in residential areas, where it was agreed to run joint awareness & enforcement campaigns to intensify the monitoring of trucks and reporting violators.
The Dubai Police delegation reviewed the details of Route 2020 Project involving the extension of the Dubai Metro Red Line 15 km from Nakheel Harbour and Tower Station to the site of Expo. Accordingly, the Dubai Police, represented by Transport Security Department, will specify the security requirements of the project to ensure an appropriate working environment for the security personnel in the light of lessons learnt in the metro and tram projects. The meeting also discussed restoring the Dubai Tram service following any incident and the need to take all measures to help reduce the service disruption time in collaboration with RTA concerned parties.
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ERROR: Macro /ads/dfp-ad-article-new is missing!Not lovin' it: U.S. chicken McNuggets 'contain SILLY PUTTY chemical'
Chicken nuggets sold in U.S. branches of McDonald's contain a chemical used in Silly Putty.
'McNuggets' sold to American fast food lovers contain dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent used in Silly Putty.
They also have more calories and fat than those sold in the chain's British restaurants, according to a CNN study.
Four American McNuggets total 190 calories, 12 grams of fat and two grams of saturated fat. The equivalent portion in Britain clocks in at 170 calories, nine grams of fat and one gram of saturated fat.
Transatlantic tastes: McDonald's Chicken McNuggets contain more calories, fat and chemicals than their British counterparts
U.S. McNuggets also contain a petrol-based chemical called tertiary butylhydroquinone (tBHQ) as well as dimethylpolysiloxane. British McNuggets contain neither.
A spokeswoman for McDonald's put the transatlantic differences down to the local methods of food preparation.
Lisa McComb, McDonald's global media relations manager, said that in the U.S. McNuggets are coated and then cooked, while in Britain they are cooked and then coated.
The result, she explained, is that British McNuggets absorb less oil and have less fat.
Labeling also plays a part in giving nuggets sold in Britain the appearance of being healthier than those sold in the U.S., she said, as ground celery and pepper are listed on the American packaging as simply'spices'.
'You would find that if you looked at any of our core food items, you'd see little, regional differences,' she said. 'We do taste testing of all our food items on an ongoing basis.'
Ms McComb added that dimethylpolysiloxane is used for safety reasons to prevent the oil from foaming.
Marion Nestle, a New York University professor and author of What To Eat, told CNN that tertiary butylhydroquinone and dimethylpolysiloxane in the McNuggets probably pose no health risk to consumers.HOUSTON, December 29, 2015 – Sentai Filmworks is proud to announce its latest acquisition, Norn9, as part of the winter 2016 anime season lineup. Based on the visual novel of the same name, the story follows a 12-year-old boy named Sorata Suzuhara who finds himself transported to an alternate time, and possibly a different world. Aboard the Norn, a giant spherical ship that acts as a miniature city, Sorata joins three girls and nine young men on a journey toward an unknown destination...
The series will be directed by Takao Abo and produced by Mitsutoshi Ogura, with series composition by Natsuko Takahashi. Character designs will be provided by Yukari Takeuchi, who will also serve as director of animation along with Tomoko Sato. Production will be handled by Kinema Citrus.
Norn9 is scheduled for a January 2016 broadcast in Japan. It will soon be available through select digital outlets, with a home video release to follow.
For Sentai Filmworks’ latest announcements regarding this and other great titles, be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
About Sentai Filmworks, LLC
Sentai Filmworks is one of the largest licensors and distributors of anime and genre programming in North America, offering thousands of hours of content across traditional and digital media platforms. With hit series that include Parasyte –the maxim–, Log Horizon, High School of the Dead, Persona 4: The Animation, and Akame ga Kill!, Sentai’s catalog continues to grow with new favorites like Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls and iconic anime series such as Legend of the Galactic Heroes. For more information, visit www.sentaifilmworks.com.That’s what it comes down to — it’s right there in the title.
When I had to make my free-agency decision |
was subbed off, it was clear Liverpool had started to become increasingly leggy and fatigued – which was logical given this was their third game in 8 days. Interestingly, when Clasie was eventually replaced, Koeman made a full-blown attacking reshuffle by introducing a second forward (Juanmi) to play around Pelle, with Ward-Prowse coming deeper next to Wanyama. It was as though Koeman, seeing Liverpool becoming more and more pedestrian, seized the opportunity and decided to use his side’s freshness to push on and try to nick victory in the final 15 or so minutes.
But a minute later came Benteke’s goal, and Koeman’s admirable bravery could be said to have backfired, but also came in handy as now his side had to chase an equaliser. But as in the opening 10 minutes, despite taking a gamble and being attack-minded, the away team just couldn’t make the most of having so many attack-minded players on the pitch (in the 80th minute Ramirez replaced Davis, with Southampton going with a proper 4-2-4 formation).
Part of this was because of Klopp’s decision to go defensive and switch to a 4-5-1ish formation in the 83rd minute. Ibe replaced Coutinho, with he and Milner now going down the flanks and Firmino slotting deeper next to Lucas and Can. Liverpool defended well in open play and if it wasn’t for their series of individual sloppiness defending Southampton’s free-kick, they may well have won the game.
Post-match thoughts
Although this was far from a vintage Liverpool, let alone something resembling a peak Klopp team, the game showed signs of improvement. The Reds defended as well as in the previous games in open play but here, their attacking play was a few steps ahead of what they produced in Klopp’s first two games in charge.
The first half’s structure and how well the players’ roles were identified within it, taking into account what suits each player, was the biggest shining light. That the team failed to convert it into a series of goal-scoring chances shouldn’t be a worry, especially as the failure was due to individual malfunctions rather than anything tactically related (as was too often the case in the past 18 months at least). However, the second half represented more chaotic tactical thinking with Klopp trying out new things, when arguably it could’ve been better if he stayed on course and looking to simply improve on the first-half display (going 4-diamond-2 and retaining Origi was an option too).
As a whole this was a game best characterised with the plenty of ‘nearly’ moments produced by both teams. As such a draw was a fair and fitting way for it to end.Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) affect about one percent of the world’s population. In the United States alone, about 1 in 68 children are on the spectrum, and between 40 and 60 percent of them are also diagnosed with some degree of intellectual disability.
The annual cost associated with ASD in the United States is high - presently estimated to be US$236-$262 billion. If diagnoses continue to grow at the current pace, it will exceed $460 billion by 2025, more than the total cost of diabetes.
Scientists still aren’t sure what causes ASD, but evidence suggests it’s probably the result of complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors that affect brain development. So far hundreds of genes whose mutations are associated with ASD have been identified. Many of them are known or predicted to play critical roles in the cells that make up the building blocks of the brain.
Learning more about these genes – and their mutations – might help us understand some of the root causes of ASD, and perhaps find ways to lower the risk that a child will have it.
We decided to take a closer look at mutations in one of these genes, called TMLHE, which is required for a critical chemical reaction that lets cells burn fat molecules to produce energy. We wanted to understand how a TMLHE mutation could increase autism risk and whether we could counteract the effect of the mutation.
Neural stem cells and the developing brain
When we examined the effect of TMLHE mutations in mice, we found these mutations specifically affect neural stem cells during early stages of brain development.
Neural stem cells create all of the specialized cells that make up the brain. When they divide to create two “daughter” cells, one typically becomes a specialized brain cell, such as a neuron, and the other remains a neural stem cell.
This means that the population of neural stem cells is maintained, and the brain building work can continue. Although this process occurs throughout one’s lifetime, it is the most active during embryonic brain development.
If the neural stem cell population is not maintained at the proper level when the brain is developing, there won’t be enough stem cells left to produce the right number and right kind of specialized brain cells. The result is an abnormally wired brain.
We find this to be precisely the problem that TMLHE mutations created in mice. Too often, neural stem cell division created two specialized cells, instead of one specialized cell and one neural stem cell.
What does a TMLHE mutation do to neural stem cells?
TMLHE mutations make it difficult for neural stem cells to produce energy, or to maintain a correctly oxidized environment, which is why they often don’t divide properly.
Cells produce energy by processing fat molecules. For this to happen, fat molecules need to get to the mitochondria, the powerhouses of the cell, to be broken down. A nutrient called carnitine helps transport fat to these parts of the cell.
This is where TMLHE comes in. While we can get carnitine from food – milk and meat, for instance – our bodies can also produce it. But the TMLHE gene is required for carnitine synthesis, so a mutation in this gene can lead to carnitine deficiency. This affects energy production in cells and can also result in a cellular environment that is too oxidized for the cell to function properly, which makes problems for the neural stem cell when it divides.
But we also found that this neural stem cell defect is corrected when carnitine is added to TMLHE-deficient cells. This restores their ability to burn fat into energy and to maintain a proper environment within mitochondria, and restores proper cell division behavior to TMLHE-deficient neural stem cells.
TMLHE mutations are surprisingly common
Two recent studies have found that the prevalence of TMLHE mutations in human populations may range from about 1 in 350 to about 1 in 900. In most cases, these people would be unaware that they carry a copy of the defective gene.
Our research raises the possibility that the increased autism risk associated with TMLHE mutations might be effectively managed by making sure the embryo has enough carnitine during critical stages for brain development. It also seems that sufficient carnitine is required at very early stages of pregnancy – far earlier than previously suspected.
Either parent can pass on a defective TMLHE gene. Girls have two copies of the gene, inheriting one from each parent. Boys, however, have only one copy of the gene, which they inherit from the mother. If a male fetus inherits the mutant TMLHE gene, it will be unable to produce its own carnitine and will rely on the mother for its carnitine supply.
Hypothetically, a woman who carries a TMLHE mutation could take supplemental dietary carnitine during pregnancy to try to minimize the associated ASD risk – particularly for male babies.
Carnitine deficiency may be an underestimated ASD risk
While hundreds of genes are associated with ASD risk, the surprisingly high incidence of TMLHE mutations in human beings suggests the impact of carnitine deficiency on ASD risk may be badly underestimated. This is a particularly interesting possibility given that diet might be a significant contributing factor to ASD risk associated with TMLHE mutations.
Results from our mouse study, and a recent study in which an autistic child with a TMLHE mutation was treated with carnitine supplementation, suggest that prenatal carnitine supplementation might well be worth considering. However, more research, particularly clinical trials on human populations, will be needed to further establish the role of carnitine in autism prevention.One of things that can't really be done yet in a decentralized manner is search. In an Ethereum smart contract it is possible to maintain some elementary lookup tables, but more advanced features such as full text search are generally not possible due to excessive processing and storage requirements on-chain. Eventually it may be possible to use Ethereum to coordinate a network of search oracles that would profit financially if the network determines them to be operating correctly, but I am not currently aware of any such project. This sort of solution would be analogous to how Swarm is being proposed to work.
For example, imagine there was a dapp that was essentially a Yelp or TripAdvisor clone. Businesses could upload their information and customers could leave comments. Because it would be autonomous and transparent, it would avoid a lot of the criticisms levelled at these sites. Being able to search this information would be really important. Ideally the search would also be autonomous and transparent, but this is not yet possible.
In the mean time, there are some very mature centralized search daemons. Elasticsearch is generally regarded as the best. Elastic Ethereum is a Node program that I have created that waits for events on Ethereum contracts and then populates an Elasticsearch index accordingly. A dapp could connect to an external Elasticsearch daemon to provide (albeit centralized) search functionality. Potentially Mist (the Ethereum browser) could even have Elasticsearch bundled with it to provide indexing locally.
Elastic Ethereum could also be used for private analysis of contracts, although depending on your use-case a different database system might be more appropriate.
Additionally, Elastic Ethereum can extend contract objects returned by web3 with custom methods that utilize the index.
The README.md details how to configure it.
I created a contract to test the indexing: public-message.sol.
My production.json looks like this:
{
"ethereum": {
"provider": "http://localhost:8545"
},
"elasticsearch": {
"host": "localhost:9200"
},
"contracts" : {
"public-messages": {
"address": "0x05a74ade0dcb9c8ca8140273e66a9f455be51294",
"index": "public-messages"
}
}
}
And my public-messages.callbacks.js looks like this:
var onInit = function() {
}
var onCreate = function() {
}
var getDeletes = function(log) {
return {}
}
var getDocuments = function(log) {
var hash = log.data;
var message = contract.getMessage(hash);
var document = {};
document[hash] = {body: message[2]};
return {
message: document
};
}
module.exports = {
onInit: onInit,
onCreate: onCreate,
getDeletes: getDeletes,
getDocuments: getDocuments
};
The daemon is invoked like this:
node elastic-ethereum.js public-messages
Every time someone executes the saveMessage() function Elastic Ethereum indexes the message.
Discuss on reddit
I am a freelance Ethereum consultant. If you would like to hire me, don't hesitate to get in touch.Noah Syndergaard's fastball is towards the extreme high end of fastball velocity, obviously. It sits around 97.8 mph, which is ridiculous. The spin rate, though, is more mundane, and actually below average. The average spin rate is 2220 rpm, and Syndergaard's is instead 2174. Not terrible, but not otherworldly by any stretch of the imagination. It is somewhat odd, though, as fastball velocity generally correlates with spin rate, with the highest velocity fastballs generally having the highest spin rates. Generally, not always. But preferably.
Before I said Syndergaard's fastball is nestled up against the Cape of Good Cheese. I mean that, you want to live on that Cape, it is the home of the best fastballs in the game. Syndergaard is tantalizingly close, but not quite there. He can jump on the southern tip by picking up a few miles per hour on his fastball, which is something he apparently feels inclined to do. More realistically, and also much more valuably, he could add spin rate. Adding 200rpm could increase his expected swinging strike rate by 50%, perhaps even 100%. That would put him in the same camp as Aroldis Chapman (100.6mph, 2508 rpm, 19.2% SwStrk%), Dellin Betances (98mph, 2448 rpm, 12.5% SwStrk%), and Craig Kimbrel (97.7mph, 2458 rpm, 12.5% SwStrk%).
Finally, in case you're curious, here are all of Syndergaard's pitches mapped on this chart.What worry me are the problems that we will bequeath to our children.
Long before I was born, Franklin D. Roosevelt established a compact among the generations. Families had long cared for their elderly members, but Roosevelt federalized that responsibility in the form of the Social Security system. Social Security is sometimes viewed as a pension plan, but it is mostly pay-as-you-go. The working-age population taxes itself to support its parents, in the hope and expectation that its children will do the same. On the day of my birth in 1958, the payroll tax to pay for this program, including both the employer and employee shares, was 4.5 percent.
Around the time I started grade school, Lyndon B. Johnson expanded the generational compact to include health care for the elderly. The Medicare system increased the payroll tax, but only modestly at first. Health care technology was far more primitive back then and, as a result, less expensive. By 1968, when, like my younger son today, I was in third grade, the payroll tax for both programs had risen to 8.8 percent.
Today, the payroll tax for these programs is 15.3 percent, far higher than the programs’ creators ever imagined. More worrisome is that this 15.3 percent is nowhere near enough to maintain solvency in the future. When my generation of baby boomers retires in large numbers and starts claiming benefits, spending on these programs will far outstrip revenue at the current tax rate.
Photo
Two problems are working in concert. The first is demographic. Because people are having fewer children and living longer than past generations, the number of working-age people supporting each elderly person has fallen and will continue to fall. (But I am doing my part to fix this: I have three children.)
The second problem is that the cost of health care has risen significantly and is expected to continue rising.
From one perspective, these problems are really blessings. Life expectancy in the United States has risen by about eight years over my lifetime — a fact that I appreciate more with every passing year. Part of this improvement is attributable to technological advances in medicine, which sadly do not come cheap. But they are worth it nonetheless. I doubt that many people would give up modern health care at today’s prices in exchange for 1958 health care at 1958 prices.
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THE big question for the green-eyeshade crowd is how to pay for these blessings. It is an issue that no presidential candidate has taken up in earnest.
Republican candidates are fond of saying we should cut tax rates because doing so would incentivize more rapid economic growth (true) and raise tax revenue (wishful thinking). But unless we figure out a politically acceptable way to reduce the benefits now promised to future retirees, taxes are going up in the coming decades. The national debate will have to shift from which tax cuts do the most good to which tax increases do the least harm.
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Democratic candidates like to talk about expanding the social safety net with universal health insurance. But they blithely ignore the fact that the safety net we already have was bought on credit and that the bill is almost due.
The Democrats claim fiscal responsibility by advocating taxes on the rich, but the numbers don’t back up the rhetoric.
The campaign of Hillary Rodham Clinton, for example, wants to raise income taxes for those making more than $200,000 a year. Even by the campaign’s own reckoning, however, this tax increase would bring in only $52 billion a year — a mere one-third of 1 percent of G.D.P. And if higher taxes on society’s most productive members discourage economic growth, even this tiny number is an overestimate.
Inside the Beltway, meanwhile, in a rare outbreak of election-year bipartisanship, checks are being prepared to send to voters nationwide. If all goes as planned, a few months before the November elections, a typical family of four will get a windfall of $1,800. Whether the economy needs a short-run fiscal stimulus is debatable. But there’s no doubt the stimulus will add to the national debt we are passing on to future generations of taxpayers.
My birthday wish is for all of us to stop asking what the government can do for us today. Instead, we should focus on what we can do together to prepare the economy for our children and grandchildren. That means getting ready to care more for ourselves in old age, perhaps by retiring later, perhaps by saving more. I hope that when I celebrate my 100th birthday in 2058, my descendants won’t look upon Grandpa and his generation as the biggest economic problem of their time.This exchange with Greek journalist Tassos Tsakiroglou was conducted in advance of the conference on “150 Years of War Marx’s Capital: Reflections for the Twenty-First Century,” held in Athens in January 2017. The interview first appeared in the Greek newspaper Efmerida ton Syntakton; what follows is a revised and updated version of an English translation published in the online socialist journal Links.
Tassos Tsakiroglou: You are coming to Greece for a conference on the actuality of Marx’s theoretical system. In the midst of a severe international financial crisis, what lessons can we draw from Marx’s critique of political economy?
Marta Harnecker: I believe it is incredible how Marx anticipated what would happen in the world in regard to the development of the capitalist mode of production. To name only a few things: he announced the tendency to concentrate more and more in less hands (look at multinationals today), the conscious technical application of science to the process of production in general and especially to the exploitation of soil (look at robotic and transgenic agriculture), the entanglement of all peoples in the net of the world market, and, with this, the growth of the international character of the capitalist regime (look at globalization), and so on. He could foresee all this because he was capable of discovering the logic of capital and, in doing so, he was looking to provide workers with the theoretical instruments for their liberation.
We must then be able to distinguish between the study of the capitalist mode of production as a theoretical abstract object, and the concrete historical study of a social formation and the class struggles within it. Not keeping in mind these different levels of abstraction and applying Marx’s concepts mechanically, as if reality hasn’t changed during these 150 years, led many Latin American Marxist intellectuals and activists to try to insert our reality into the classic concepts, thereby preventing them from understanding the new phenomena that were happening in our region outside those parameters. My talk at the event about Karl Marx’s Capital will explore those new phenomena and try to carry out some reflections of what has happened in our region in the last decades, showing how it approaches and how it differs from what Marx outlined in Capital.
One of the things that has really changed from Marx’s time to now is the situation of the industrial working class in the world, and in Latin America especially. We don’t find big concentrations of workers in big working-class neighborhoods. This is due in great measure to the implementation of neoliberal economic measures such as precarious labor conditions and subcontracting, and its strategy of social fragmentation that has divided the working class internally.
The critical emphasis placed on the industrial working class led Latin American parties to pay no attention to the specific characteristics of that continent’s revolutionary social subject. During many years we were not able to perceive the role that indigenous people and Christians can play in revolutions in Latin America.
TT: The present split between the 99 percent and the 1 percent and the widening inequality revives the notion of class struggle, which for many decades was supposed to be dead and buried. However, what we see is the inability of the left to take advantage of this reality and to elaborate a realistic and convincing alternative to capitalism.
MH: Was the notion of class struggle dead, or was it that those who share that opinion did not understand that historical processes develop in waves? There exist periods of calm, where it seems that class struggle has disappeared, but then there comes other periods where many oppressed social sectors begin to move into action, building up to the massive expressions of rejection that we have seen in the last decades in different parts of the world. You see the inability of the left to take advantage of this reality. I think you are generalizing too much, at least in the case of Latin American left. Neoliberalism and its horror—the extension of hunger and misery, increasingly unequal distribution of wealth, destruction of nature, increasing loss of sovereignty—created a situation where people reacted, resisting at first and then going on the offensive to make possible the election of left-wing presidential candidate with anti-neoliberal programs.
A new correlation of forces was established in our region that made it more difficult for the United States to achieve its objectives in the region. But as could be expected, the United States never ceased in its intentions to stop the advance of our process, a counterrevolutionary goal in which it has achieved some important temporary successes in this last year, taking advantage of the big economic difficulties arising from the world crisis of capitalism and especially the drop in prices of raw materials. Ultra-neoliberal rulers had been installed in Argentina and Brazil, and they are trying to block the advances of the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela.
But although today there are some setbacks in the region, nobody can deny that there is a huge difference between the Latin America that former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez inherited and the Latin America he left us. An objective view should recognize that there have been very important advances in some of our more progressive countries that have had “to invent in order to not commit errors” as Simón Rodríguez said. I will speak about this topic in my talk. And from the economic point of view, there are countries governed by the left that have been successful economically in the midst of this world economic crisis. For example, Bolivia’s achievements in this respect are remarkable, thanks to the intervention of the state in the economy, and the use of surplus to solve the problems of the poorest sectors.
TT: In many of your writings, you examine the trajectories of several progressive Latin American governments as they worked to develop alternative models to capitalism. What’s your estimation of this course of action, especially after the developments in Brazil and Venezuela?
MH: First of all, we have to distinguish between what has happened in Brazil with Lula and Dilma’s governments and what has happened in Venezuela. Even if both have in common the struggles for social equality, political democratization, national sovereignty, and regional integration, the correlation of forces in Brazil didn’t allow for a change in the institutional rules of the game as occurred in Venezuela, where a progressive constitution was established. We could say that in Brazil the Workers Party (PT) governments have emphasized social issues, but they couldn’t break the neoliberal agenda. In Venezuela, Chávez government’s orientation was to build a new society, an alternative to capitalism—twenty-first century socialism. To do so he had to start from the inherited state, therefore the first step he took was to change the institutional rules of the game: a new constitution was born in which popular protagonism was essential.
The need for popular protagonism was an element that distinguished his proposals for democratic socialism from other socialist experiences where the state was responsible for solving problems and the people simply received the benefits. This is what has happened in Brazil with the plan Bolsa Familia. Millions of poor Brazilians families passively received a gift from the state. Once their basic needs were resolved, new needs appeared that couldn’t be satisfied because of the drop in oil prices. The opposition took advantage of that situation to organize mobilization against the government and ultimately unified the forces in parliament that made possible the institutional coup d’état that took place.
The orientation of Chávez’s government was completely different. He was convinced that socialism could not be decreed from above, that it had to be built by the people. That’s why he promoted different ways of organizing the people—spaces where they can discuss their needs and plan how to resolve them with the help of the state, such as communal councils, worker councils, and communes. In this process, the beggars of the past are transformed into people who achieve solutions by themselves. And these are the popular sectors that have supported Chávez, and now Maduro as his successor.
Without a doubt, what Chávez sowed has marked many people from the popular sectors and it has made them mature, as I could testify in person during the years I lived in Venezuela. I believe that all those people who were given the opportunity to study, to think, to participate, to build, and to make decisions, who grew enormously in their self-esteem and richer as human beings, will defend the process that made this possible. The process may have committed errors and there may have many weaknesses, but nobody can deny that a new revolutionary subject has been created in Venezuela.
TT: But how can you explain the chaotic economic situation in Venezuela?
MH: Taking advantage of the huge leadership vacuum left by Chávez’s death, the attacks against the Bolivarian revolutionary process have escalated, both inside and outside the country. As it would be very difficult to attempt another coup against Maduro—who has tried to be consistent with Chávez’s legacy—the opposition has intensified the economic war initiated during the preceding period: the Venezuelan government has faced in just over three years the equivalent number of attacks that Chávez did throughout fourteen years. One of its objectives has been to affect the system for accessing basic foodstuffs at subsidized prices, promoted since 2003 through Mission Mercal, with significant results in guaranteeing the right to food.
What is occurring is very similar to what happened in Chile to destabilize the government of Salvador Allende: black marketeering on the dollar; the paralysis of certain industries; the deliberate attempt to create fear amongst foreign investors and local business people; international popularization of the image of a country in bankruptcy.
According to Venezuelan economist Pasqualina Curcio, two main strategies have been applied in Venezuela to create discontent amongst the population: induced inflation and orchestrated shortages. This is achieved, on the one hand, through the manipulation of the exchange rate on the parallel and illegal market, which symptomatically increases exponentially in the months prior to elections, and on the other hand, through the manipulation of the mechanisms for the distribution of essential goods (hoarding, smuggling over the border) to create artificial shortages.
Import monopolies and bankers that do not produce goods but simply make extraordinary profit through the price difference between what they buy abroad and what they sell inside the country, set the prices of the goods they import (basic necessities, among them food and necessary items for production and transport) in an oligopolistic manner, using the parallel exchange rate, which is much higher (14.5 times) than the real value of the goods calculated in national currency.
This increase in the prices of necessary goods does harm to the Venezuelan people, but it also works against sectors of the bourgeoisie that produce goods for everyday use. However, to increase popular dissatisfaction they create artificial shortages by not putting these items on shop shelves in a regular and opportune way and in sufficient quantities.
These attacks are being carried out on fertile ground not only due to the drastic fall in oil prices, but also because of the weaknesses of the economic policies adopted by the government, which failed to foresee this fall in oil prices. This is in addition to the exchange rate policy and a massive pro-importation policy that discouraged national production and placed the country in a situation where it is increasingly dependent on imports.
But nobody can deny that a sector of the Venezuelan bourgeoisie and the corrupt state bureaucracy are taking advantage of this objective situation to deepen the actual crisis and create the conditions to overthrow Maduro’s government. In any case, I do not think that the actual economic crisis in Venezuela is proof of the failure of Chávez’s intent to build a new alternative to capitalism, much as nobody can blame a recipe for a flan that burnt when the oven was turned up too high. What we must seriously analyze is what the government did not do well, and what it should not repeat.
The latest news seems to be positive. Recently, the government achieved an important success: a broad international agreement to push up the price of oil. It is also promoting national production, summoning all the industrial private sectors willing to collaborate with the country to participate in this national effort. Finally, it seems there is a decision to take severe measures against the corrupt bureaucracy.
TT: Aren’t you too optimistic? Don’t you think conservative forces are winning each day more terrain?
MH: I am optimistic because I think that the historical time is against the conservative forces: they deceive the people with promises that they fail to accomplish, but this deceit cannot be eternal because reality will collide with their claims. The historical time is in our favor. What helps us in this fight against the conservative forces is that the kind of society we propose and are beginning to build responds objectively to the interests of the immense majority of the population, in contrast to what the conservative forces propose that only benefits the elites.
The great question is then: why, if we have a project that favors the immense majority, does this not translate into an equivalent social and electoral support? The explanation we often give is that conservative forces use the media to disseminate a deformed vision of our project. But we also at fault for this misunderstanding. We have not been able to explain to the people the real dimensions of our project in terms they can understand. And worst of all, our lives have not been coherent with our project. We preach democracy but we act in an authoritarian way; we want to build a solidarian society but we are selfish; we advocate for the defense of nature but we are consumerists. If we want to convince, we need to change ourselves as well.Another year, another round of quarterbacks terrorized by Jonathan Allen. He became the first Alabama player under Nick Saban to reach double digit sacks in twice in his career, let alone two years in a row. He also became the first since Courtney Upshaw in 2010 and 2011 to lead the team in sacks two years in a row.
Since Allen had so many sacks, I’ve broken it up into two parts. Here’s his first five.
USC
2nd and 8: Allen is the right defensive end in Bama’s four man front. USC has an empty backfield with two tight ends to the right. Allen gets a great jump, but he could’ve had concrete blocks around his feet and still gotten to Browne on this play. To say there was a miscommunication here is an understatement, as the left tackle makes no attempt to block (I mean, who can really blame him for that, though?); and Allen has an unobstructed path to the quarterback.
The Trojans keep seven in to block, and Alabama is only rushing four. Allen isn’t blocked; and, to make matters worse for USC, Dalvin Tomlinson slices between two blockers. Browne sees Allen and takes off, but he has nowhere to go. Allen brings him to the ground for a five yard loss.
2nd and 7: Allen is on the right of Alabama’s line again, and USC has a tight end on that side to try and help the left tackle out. Browne fakes the handoff and looks deep as Alabama only rushes four again. Da’Ron Payne beats the left guard and really blows this play up. Browne has to scramble and move to his left. Right into Allen, who has beaten his double team. Browne crumples to the ground, and Allen gets credited with the sack.
Western Kentucky
3rd and 4: Allen is on the right. The left tackle does a fine job against Allen; but QB Tyler Ferguson’s first read - the receiver on a fly route down the left sideline, a play they use often - is covered by Anthony Averett. Ferguson panics; and, instead of stepping up into the pocket, he retreats backwards. Ryan Anderson is coming around having beaten the right tackle, and Allen is right in Ferguson’s face now. He pumps, but Allen throws his hands up. Anderson crashes into Ferguson from behind, and Allen joins in for the half sack.
4th and 2: Allen is lined up inside as the 3 tech. Dakota Ball is the defensive end to his left, and Da’Ron Payne is the tackle to his right. Western Kentucky has a tight formation, but everybody goes out for pass. Allen gets double-teamed, and his attempted swim move is countered. With good coverage from the secondary, Tyler Ferguson has nowhere to go with the ball and rolls to his right. Ball and Allen follow suit and end up with a free lane to Ferguson. Ball reaches him first, and Allen comes in right behind to finish the sack up.
Kentucky
3rd and 10: Allen is one of the two down linemen, and he’s lined up at the 3 tech spot here. Allen moves to the outside and slides past the left tackle, who doesn’t even attempt to block him. This leaves Allen one-on-one against a running back coming from the QB Stephen Johnson’s blindside. Boom Williams tries a cut block, but Allen steps around it and leaps. Johnson never stood a chance.
Tennessee
3rd and 17: Allen rushes from the right side of the line as Bama only brings three. The Vols triple team Tomlinson, and the tackles have to fend for themselves against Allen and Williams. Allen gets in the chest of the left tackle and drives him back while Williams dips under the right tackle. QB Josh Dobbs narrowly avoids Williams, but Allen is right there to finish it up.
PART TWO coming on Friday.Hackers reportedly infiltrated the computer systems used by multiple Trump properties in a several-month time span recently, exposing patrons’ credit card information.
Personal data taken from the credit cards include full name, card number and expiration date. In some cases, other information was stolen, like email, phone number and address, according to the Trump Hotels’ press release.
Cybercriminals didn’t directly hack the Trump Hotels’ systems, but rather the reservation scheduling service it employs.
Several guests at 14 different locations, like the relatively new Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., could be affected by the breach. While the exact amount is not known, a spokesman for Sabre Hospitality Solutions, the reservation booking company, told The Washington Post Tuesday that less than 15 percent of daily bookings on the reservation system were compromised.
The timeline for each location affected vary, with most occurring around November of 2016.
Some properties, like Trump Soho in New York, list the relevant booking dates as from July 5, 2016 to Nov. 20, 2016. The Washington, D.C. and Las Vegas lodging resorts were reportedly infiltrated until March, 2017. Despite the Soho listing, Trump Hotels and Sabre assert that the first breach was August 10, 2016, and the last was March 9, 2017.
“We are working with Sabre to address this issue,” Trump Hotels wrote in a press release. “We understand that Sabre engaged a leading cybersecurity firm to support its investigation. Sabre indicated that they also notified law enforcement and the payment card brands about this incident.”
Trump Hotels also provides instructions in the press release for what a person should do if they believe they were harmed by the breach. (RELATED: Democratic Rep. Calls For Official Probe Into Trump’s Unsecured Phone)
The larger hospitality conglomerate may need to bolster its cybersecurity capabilities. Even though the hack didn’t occur directly on their own systems, President Donald Trump’s properties have been hacked before.
An investigative report conducted by the nonprofit ProPublica and tech publication Gizmodo, published in May, allegedly revealed that the Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida is really vulnerable to hackers. The journalists proved their point by sailing a “17 foot motor boat” around 800 feet away from the resort with an antenna in tow.
Hotels in general appear to be a popular target for evildoers on the internet.
Twenty facilities part of HEI Hotels & Resorts — the hospitality chain that owns well-known hotels like Marriott, Hyatt, and Intercontinental — were unknowingly hacked for months.
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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.State Sen. Linda Scheid said recently that she never intended to "march to my own beat." All she wanted, she said, "was to reach out."
Scheid, 68, who lost her six-year battle with ovarian cancer on Wednesday, was an advocate for vulnerable adults, read to children nestled in her lap at Brooklyn Park rec centers and, last month, helped cut through partisan gridlock to help pass the Surly Beer bill she authored.
"For the most part, what I did was rewarding, certainly more rewarding than not," Scheid, DFL-Brooklyn Park, said this month from her home, where she was in hospice care.
"I'd like to see the [legislative] process improve, my goodness, yes. But when I think of some of the things we accomplished the last 30 years, all I can say is 'wow.'"
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who called Scheid "a mentor," recalled how she helped lead Klobuchar's first campaign for Hennepin County attorney.
"She clearly has this spiritual way of looking at things," Klobuchar said from Washington, D.C.
"She came into politics when very few women held office, represented an area with all kinds of people in it and was able to reach everyone, regardless of politics."
Scheid avoided the glare of the limelight, specializing in complex financial regulation and consumer protection law.
When word of Scheid entering hospice care was released this month, legislators and staff members at the Capitol were thunderstruck. Many immediately posted to her CaringBridge website, men and women, DFLers and Republicans alike.
Scheid's legislative career began in 1976 when she was elected to the Minnesota House, representing Brooklyn Center; she moved on to the Senate 10 |
, Poland, Scotland and England as part of this year's package. Season tickets start at just €138 for adults and €54 for kids. See www.fai.ie/st for details.Written By: Jon Barron
And now we are ready to conclude our series on the intestinal tract. Several months ago, we began at the top of the tract, in the mouth. We followed our meal step-by-step as it moved on down the esophagus into the stomach where initial digestion began. We then moved into the duodenum and the small intestine where digestion was completed and absorption took place. Now, in this newsletter, we turn to the large intestine, or colon, which absorbs any remaining water in the feces and transfers them to the rectum for excretion. As part of our exploration, we will also explore the various reflexes that move feces into and through the colon. And finally, we will conclude by examining the complicated anal sphincter muscle that controls passage through the anus and then discussing the physiology of defecation. Along the way, we will also explore those things that can go wrong in the colon -- from colon cancer to diverticular disease -- and the options you have to correct them.
Let's begin by looking at the anatomy of the colon, rectum, and anus.
The colon, rectum, and anus
The large intestine (aka the colon or large bowel) is the last part of the digestive system and has two primary functions:
It extracts water and salt from solid wastes before they are eliminated from the body. It should be noted that by the time chyme enters the large intestine, 90% of its water has already been absorbed in the small intestine. On the other hand, as we saw earlier, absorbing that final ten percent is essential for maintaining proper hydration in the body. If the secretion and absorption of water doesn't balance, we become either bloated or dehydrated. It's also essential for firming up the stools and preventing diarrhea. (The large intestine does not play a major role in the absorption of nutrients in the body.)
It uses bacteria that reside in the colon to ferment and break down any unabsorbed food material that passed through the small intestine unabsorbed. These materials consist largely of amylose (forms of starch), undigested protein, and "indigestible" carbohydrates. The bacteria break down some of these materials for their own nourishment and create acetate, propionate, and butyrate as waste products, which in turn are used by the cell lining of the colon for nourishment. Fermentation by bacteria also produces methane gas, hydrogen gas, and assists in the breakdown of bile salts. Note: intestinal gas is primarily swallowed air. Only 20% consists of the methane and hydrogen produced from fermentation by bacteria.
Anatomically, the large intestine begins with an area called the cecum (caecum), which extends on up through the ascending colon, across the body through the transverse colon, then down towards the anus through the descending colon. It ends in an s-shaped "trap" area called the sigmoid colon, which leads to the rectum, and then on out through the anus. In total, it is about five feet (1.5 meters) in length. On average, it is about 2.5 inches wide, but generally starts much wider in the ascending colon and narrows by the time it reaches the sigmoid colon. The pH in the colon varies between 5.5 and 7 (slightly acidic to neutral).
Structurally, the walls of the colon are similar to the small intestine. All of the underlying layers are virtually identical. The serosa (outside covering), muscularis (layer of muscles that control peristalsis), and submucosa (connective tissue), are all the same. The mucosa, the actual surface on the inside of the large intestine, however, is different. Since nutrient absorption is not a factor, there are no villi. Instead, we find a smooth velvety surface with pits dropping deep into the mucosa. The pits are for absorbing water. Note: mucous is secreted by the mucosa to lubricate the colon, but enzymes are not secreted.
The ileocecal valve
The ileocecal valve is actually a fold of muscle controlled mucosa located in the cecum between the small and large intestine that serves as the inlet valve of the colon. It acts as a one way valve to allow food wastes to flow from the small intestines into the first part of the colon, the cecum, but prevents waste in the colon from leaking back into the small intestine. It is the distension of the cecum, caused by the chyme entering from the small intestine that actually triggers the closing of the ileocecal valve. The ileocecal valve also has a second related function -- to prevent the contents of the ileum from passing into the cecum prematurely. Note: once chyme (food mixed with digestive juices) passes through the ileocecal valve and enters the cecum, it picks up a new name. It is now designated as fecal matter, and it is still fecal matter if it backs up through a malfunctioning ileocecal valve and reenters the small intestine.
The proper function of the ileocecal valve is to open and close upon demand. When this muscle sticks in the open position, it allows fecal matter back into the small intestine. Not healthy! When the muscle is stuck in the closed position, it causes constipation. The main causes of these two conditions are improper diet and stress; and either condition can seriously affect the body. Alcohol in particular can cause the valve to stick in the open position, resulting in the toxic feeling associated with hangovers.
The cecum
Shaped like a pouch, the cecum (also spelled caecum) is where the colon begins. It sits on the right side of your body (left when viewed from the front as seen from an anatomy POV) and, as already mentioned, is connected to the small intestines through the ileocecal valve. Its sole function is to receive waste from the small intestine as it pours through the ileocecal valve.
Appendix
Located below the ileocecal valve are the vermiform and retrocecal appendixes. The retrocecal appendix is located inside the cecum and rarely causes a problem. The vermiform ("wormlike add-on") is the familiar appendix that dangles from the cecum and can frequently become inflamed or infected and require surgery. Like the gallbladder, the medical community considers the appendix to be vestigial -- an evolutionary holdover primarily used by ruminants for hard to digest foods, particularly woody foods. The thinking is that in people, it's become less and less important over time -- shriveling to a wormlike vestigial organ that gets infected. However, thanks to surgeons who now save anyone with appendicitis, there's no evolutionary imperative for the appendix to disappear, so it continues. At least that's the medical thinking.
But as with the gallbladder, that thinking may be a misapprehension, and the vermiform appendix may not be as vestigial as is medically assumed. There is now evidence that the appendix may be of significant importance -- that it plays a powerful role in the functioning of the immune system and that it serves as a storage area for beneficial bacteria.
According to a paper published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, the appendix serves a dual function. First, it makes, trains, and directs white blood cells. Second, it serves as a type of warehouse or storage compartment for "good bacteria" that boost the immune system when help is required. According to the research, the appendix holds on to reserves of "good bacteria" so that when bad bacteria flourish or a nasty case of diarrhea reduces the colonies of good bacteria, the appendix can send in reinforcements. These bacteria may also influence white blood cells to clear up any infections in the gut. The studies cited in the paper clearly indicate that the appendix does indeed influence white cell function. So once again, it appears medical science may have "vestigialized" an important functioning organ.
The traffic junction
The three organs just discussed, the cecum, the ileocecal valve, and the appendix form what can be described as a traffic junction designed to control the flow of waste into the large intestine. Ideally, they should be cleared of waste on a continual basis -- daily at the very least.
This can most easily be achieved by using the squatting position when evacuating your bowels. (If you are not presently visiting a rural village in India where the toilet is a hole in the ground, you can always use a toilet footstool.)
In the squatting position, the left thigh supports the descending and sigmoid colons so as to minimize straining and help squeeze fecal matter on into the rectum for imminent evacuation. In addition, the squatting position helps relax the rectal muscles to facilitate evacuation. Meanwhile, the right thigh presses against the lower abdomen on the right side of the body, thereby "squeezing" the cecum to force waste upwards into the ascending colon and away from the appendix, ileocecal valve, and small intestines.
As a result of waste being pushed up out of the cecum, the appendix is kept free of waste and is unlikely to ever get infected. In addition, pressure from the right thigh also helps the ileocecal valve stay securely closed to guard against any leakage of waste into the small intestine. Finally, as the result of the reduced pressure required for evacuation, the squatting position is a highly effective treatment/preventative for hemorrhoids.
The large intestine
Once fecal matter arrives in the cecum, it begins its journey through the rest of the large intestine and on out of the body. The ascending colon, on the right side of the abdomen, is about 25 cm (10 inches) long in humans. It extends from the cecum straight up the right side of your abdominal cavity to just under the liver, where it makes a sharp right angle bend to the left (in what is known as the hepatic flexure) and becomes the transverse colon. The ascending colon receives fecal material as a liquid. The muscles of the colon then move the watery waste material forward and slowly begin the absorption of all excess water.
The transverse colon runs straight across the body from right to left, from the hepatic flexure to what is called the splenic flexure (the right angle bend on the left side of the body just below the spleen). As you may remember from our last newsletter, the transverse colon hangs off the stomach, attached to it by the greater omentum. It is about 18 inches long.
The transverse colon is unique among the other parts of the large intestine in one important way: it is mobile. The ascending, descending, and sigmoid colons are pretty much locked into place and do not move noticeably. Not so for the transverse colon. This becomes particularly important later in the newsletter when we talk about prolapsed colons. It should also be noted that colon cancer starts to become more frequent as we enter the transverse colon, with its incidence steadily increasing as we move further along the bowel, peaking when we reach the sigmoid colon and the rectum. One other note on the transverse colon: in some people who are not evacuating their bowels properly, it can become a major storage area for fecal matter. Again, this will be a factor when we talk about prolapsed colons.
The descending colon runs from the end of the transverse colon on the left side of the body, from the splenic flexure to the beginning of the sigmoid colon and is about 12 inches in length. The function of the descending colon in the digestive system is to store food that will be emptied into the rectum. It is also in the descending colon that stools start to become semi solid as they move on to the sigmoid colon.
The sigmoid colon is about 18 inches long and is S-shaped. In fact, sigmoid means S-shaped. It begins just after the descending colon and ends just before the rectum. Stools more or less complete their solidification in the sigmoid colon. Additionally, the walls of the sigmoid colon are muscular and contract to forcefully "move" stools into the rectum.
The rectum begins at the end of the sigmoid colon and is about four to six inches in length. It is defined by its powerful muscles and by the fact that it sits outside the peritoneal lining (the lining of the abdominal cavity). Essentially, the rectum serves as a holding area for fecal matter. Internally, the rectum contains little transverse folds that serve to keep the stool in place until you're ready to go to the bathroom. When you're ready, the stool enters the lower rectum, moves into the anal canal, and then passes through the anus on its way out. Stimulus of the rectum (giving you the urge to go to the bathroom) occurs both internally (which is an involuntary stimulus) and externally (which occurs when you voluntarily squeeze the muscles. Note: by the time they reach the rectum, feces are composed of water salts, desquamated (peeled off or shed) epithelial cells, bacterial decay products, and undigested food (fiber, etc.). Also, the rectum is an excellent absorber. It can be used to instill (insufflate) water, salts, medication, and/or herbs rapidly -- almost as fast as if administered intravenously.
The anus is the end of the trail. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces. The flow of fecal matter through the anus is controlled by the anal sphincter muscle.
Physiology of defecation
The feces end up in the rectum via mass peristalsis. Receptors signal distension of the rectum to the brain. This is a conscious perception. The defecation reflex is initiated when parasympathetic (involuntary) stimulation from the spinal cord contracts the longitudinal rectal muscles. This causes pressure to increase in the rectum. Pressure is added to the rectum by voluntary contraction of the abdominal muscles. Parasympathetic stimulation (again involuntary) relaxes the internal sphincter of the anus. This increases the urge to defecate. Finally, the external sphincter is opened by voluntary relaxation, which allows the feces to pass out of the body. This can be postponed by voluntary contraction. This is useful since it allows us to wait for an appropriate time/place to go to the bathroom. However, continually postponing defecation begins to dull the evacuation response over time -- leading to chronic constipation. Then again, voluntary postponement can be overwhelmed by conditions such as diarrhea or long term weakening of the muscles. And finally, sphincter muscles weakened by age, disease, or trauma can cause incontinence (inability to hold feces in). Note: bulky, indigestible fiber acts like a "colonic broom" to move feces through the system more quickly, carrying fat, cholesterol, and carcinogens with it.
Things that can go wrong
According to medical doctors, digestion time (from entering your mouth to passing through your anus) varies depending on the individual. For healthy adults, according to the Mayo Clinic, "It's usually between 24 and 72 hours. After you eat, it takes about six to eight hours for food to pass through your stomach and small intestine. Food then enters your large intestine (colon) for further digestion and absorption of water. Elimination of undigested food residue through the large intestine usually begins after 24 hours. Complete elimination from the body may take several days." That means that, medically speaking, constipation is defined as anything fewer than three bowel movements per week. Or conversely, that normal could be defined as slightly less than one bowel movement every other day.
Quite simply, that's nonsense. It's merely the average elimination time that most doctors see in their patients. But keep in mind, 99% of those patients are eating the standard, fast food, highly processed, low fiber, modern diet. That's neither healthy nor "normal." It's merely what most people do, and most people are unhealthy -- or rapidly moving in that direction. In fact, normal digestion/elimination time is about 24 hours. You literally should have one major bowel movement for every meal you had the day before. You should be passing the waste from yesterday's breakfast when you get up in the morning, or shortly after today's breakfast. Yesterday's lunch should pass around lunchtime and dinner around dinner time. Holding waste in the colon for longer periods of time is one of the single biggest factors in the onset on many major diseases -- not just the colon specific diseases we will discuss below.
Colon cleansing
Other than eating a healthy, high fiber, largely raw food diet, the single best thing you can do for your overall health and the health of your colon is a semi-annual colon cleanse. Any program designed to improve our health or to eliminate disease from our bodies must begin with intestinal cleansing and detoxification. It is the "sine qua non" of health (literally, "without which, there is not").
Look for a program that addresses all of the following aspects of intestinal health:
Remove all old fecal matter and waste from the colon (to clear the drain, if you will).
Remove all old fecal matter and waste from the colon (to clear the drain, if you will). Help remove all the heavy metals and drug residues that have accumulated in the body as a result of having your drain plugged.
Strengthen the colon muscle so that it works again.
Repair any damage, such as herniations and inflammations of the colon and small intestine.
Eliminate the presence of polyps and other abnormal growths that have been allowed to flourish because of an unhealthy intestinal environment.
Rebuild and replenish the various "friendly" bacteria cultures that ideally should line virtually every square inch of the tube -- again, from mouth to anus.
Surgical terminology
A minor digression before we continue! It probably would make sense to define a handful of surgical terms that you are likely to hear from your doctor if you ever have to visit her for any of the conditions below.
‘tome -- to cut
‘ectomy -- to cut out, as in appendectomy and cholecystectomy
‘otomy -- to cut open and then close again, as in colotomy
‘ostomy -- to cut open and make (semi) permanent, as in colostomy
Colon cancer
The most obvious place we see problems associated with not regularly evacuating the bowels is when it comes to colon cancer. Feces remain in the colon for a long time, and carcinogens in feces (which are concentrated to their maximum degree at that point) are currently assumed to explain the prevalence of colon cancer -- second only to lung cancer in the number of deaths it causes each year in the US.
Fecal matter maintains contact with the wall of the large intestine wall for many hours (sometimes for many days if not effectively clearing your bowels on a daily basis). The longer the contact, the greater the problem. The more severe the constipation, the greater the problem. If this fecal matter contains carcinogens ingested with the diet, those carcinogens (some of which are found in grilled meat) have an excellent chance of affecting the wall of the colon -- particularly at places of the longest contact. Not surprisingly, the longest contact and the highest incidence of colon cancer occur in the sigmoid colon, just above the rectum and in the rectum itself.
Societies that eat high fiber, unprocessed diets (that move through the colon more quickly) have far lower incidences of colon cancer, diverticulitis, appendicitis, and coronary artery disease. That said, high fiber diets and proper elimination are not the only factors involved in colon cancer. You can still get colorectal cancer even if you do everything right. Genetics may play a role in up to 10% of colon cancers, for example. Exposure to toxins may also play a factor. Rancid fats in the diet (vegetarian included), too many Omega-6 fatty acids as found in most vegetable oils, and of course, a weakened immune system can all contribute to a higher risk of colon cancer. As always with issues of health, it's a question of odds…not guarantees.
Polyps
A polyp is a projecting mass of overgrown tissue. It looks a lot like an inflated balloon, with the part you tie off attached to wherever it's growing from. Although it is not cancerous itself, virtually all colorectal cancer develops from polyps. When identified during a colonoscopy, polyps are snipped out on the spot thereby eliminating the risk of cancer…from that particular polyp. The same things that cause colon cancer are the things that cause polyps.
Prolapsed colon (Ptosis)
Ptosis is defined as the abnormal descent (prolapse) of the transverse colon in the abdominal cavity. It is usually associated with the downward displacement of other viscera. It is actually quite common, although the degree to which the transverse colon may prolapse can vary wildly -- from very mild to a full V shape, with the middle of the colon actually dropping down all the way to the pelvis. It also should be noted that it is rare for the transverse colon to prolapse by itself without being accompanied by the prolapse of other abdominal organs. In fact, the term now most commonly used to refer to the condition is enteroptosis (entero referring to the entire intestinal area), which reflects this multi-organ reality. The condition will place pressure on all of the organs under it -- uterus, ovaries, prostate, gonads, and bladder. It will exacerbate any tendency towards constipation and will decrease circulation to all of the organs in the lower half of the abdominal cavity. Also, the more pronounced the condition is, the more likely it is to produce a lower "belly bulge" that won't go away no matter how much weight you lose or scrawny the rest of your body becomes.
The condition is more common in women than men and, in fact, frequent pregnancy is sometimes hypothesized as a contributing factor. But the truth is that although many causes (congenital anomalies, weakness of abdominal muscles from lack of exercise, heavy lifting, etc.) are all suspected, no definitive cause has been found. But there can be no doubt that storing undefecated fecal matter in the transverse colon while awaiting the slow evacuation of the bowels cannot help. In some people, pounds of old fecal matter can be found in the transverse colon waiting a chance to exit the body. And considering that constipation is far more common in women than in men, this would also account for the prevalence of ptosis in women.
How do you treat a prolapsed colon? Actually, medical science has little to offer in the way of help. Surgery is problematic and only rarely helpful. Instead, you need to rebuild your intestinal foundation so as to once again fully support the transverse colon. It is difficult to "fully" reverse a prolapsed colon once it has occurred, but it is possible to "mostly" reverse it -- at least to the point it is no longer visible and no longer noticeably impacts your overall health. Protocol includes:
An intestinal cleanse to remove any accumulated fecal matter in the transverse colon, thereby decreasing the weight of the organ, and therefore its tendency to prolapse.
Use a toilet footstool to get your feet up to a squatting position to optimize your posture for more effective evacuation.
Start exercising your abdominal muscles -- all of them. This means not just things like sits up, but more yoga based exercises such as uddiyana bhanda that actually lift the internal organs.
Incorporate inverted postures such as a yoga shoulder stand or an inversion machine to hang upside down and let gravity do the work. Or just use a slant board to get your feet and lower body higher than your head.
Walk.
And deep massage that incorporates intestinal work can also help.
Crohn's, IBS, Ulcerative Colitis
More Americans are hospitalized for digestive diseases than for any other type of illness. In fact, digestive diseases cost the United States alone an estimated $91 billion annually in health care costs, lost work days and premature deaths. And the bottom line is that virtually every single American will suffer from some form of chronic digestive disorder if they live long enough -- and the rest of the world is following close behind.
Four years ago, I wrote a newsletter on Crohn's disease, IBS, and ulcerative colitis. The information and recommendations still apply today.
Diverticular disease
Diverticular disease represents one of the great conflicts between the alternative health community and the medical community. For several decades from the early 1900's to the 1940's, the alternative health community vehemently argued that the "modern" diet was creating outpouchings or herniations of the colon. The medical community's equally vehement response was that this was utter nonsense. After all, they argued, "We perform numerous autopsies and never see any evidence of it." And they called alternative health practitioners quacks. Nevertheless, starting in the 50's, they began to take possession of the problem and named it diverticulosis. And as is typical, they gave no acknowledgement to the members of the alternative health community such as John Harvey Kellogg, M.D., who identified the disease almost a half century before they did. Nor was there any acknowledgement that they had missed identifying the condition throughout almost a half century of autopsies -- something worth keeping in mind the next time you hear the medical community say that today's autopsies never provide any evidence of people retaining large amounts of old fecal matter in their colons.
Bragging rights aside, it is now understood by all concerned that many people have small pouches in the lining of their colon that bulge outward through weak spots. Each pouch is called a diverticulum. Multiple pouches are called diverticula. The condition of having diverticula is called diverticulosis. About 10 percent of Americans older than 40 have diverticulosis. About half of all people older than 60 have diverticulosis. The incidence of diverticulosis has increased dramatically from just 10 percent of the adult population over the age of 45 who had this disease in 1952 to an astounding "every person will have many" diverticula, if they live long enough, according to the 1992 edition of the Merck Manual. We've certainly come a long way since the medical community's denial of the first half century.
Comparison of digestive tract length
Back in September when we started this series on the digestive tract, I announced that as we proceeded, we would be comparing the digestive systems of humans to other animals to see what conclusions could be drawn as to what diet we should eat. And we have done that. We've compared teeth and seen that human teeth are nothing like the teeth of carnivores. We've compared stomachs and seen that once again, the human stomach is very different from that of carnivores and omnivores. In fact, when it comes to teeth and stomachs, humans most closely resemble animals that eat a diet that is mostly comprised of fresh fruit, vegetables, and nuts -- with, in some instances, a bit of raw meat thrown in for good measure.
Is this important?
Yes! The medical community bases its assumptions concerning the human digestive system on the "fact" that it is essentially designed as an omnivore system. But as I discussed in detail in Lessons from the Miracle Doctors (and so far in this series on the digestive tract), this is simply not supported by the evidence at hand. This distinction is not subtle…and not insignificant. Yes, the human body has an amazing ability to adapt to any diet we throw at it -- but not without consequences. And, in fact, many of the diseases we face today are the direct result of not understanding what our systems are designed to handle and the consequences we face as a result.
So, in this newsletter, we reach the last point of comparison: the length of the alimentary canal compared to the length of the body.
An examination of the carnivore intestinal tract reveals a short (relative to the length of their body) tract for fast transit of waste out of the body. The actual length of the carnivore bowel (small and large combined) is approximately 3--5 times the length of the body -- measured from mouth to anus -- a ratio less than half that found in humans. Fast transit of waste for carnivores is essential for two reasons. The faster the transit, the less opportunity for parasites to take hold. Also, meat tends to putrefy in the intestinal tract, so fast transit limits exposure to the byproducts of putrefaction.
As for the herbivore (cows, sheep, etc.) bowel, at 20--28 times the length of the body (from mouth to anus), it usually runs almost eight times longer than a carnivore's, since plant matter (unlike meat) is not prone to putrefaction, thus rendering quick elimination moot. Again, not much like us.
As for the bowel of the frugivore (gorilla, orangutan, chimpanzee, etc.), it runs about 10--12 times the length of the body from mouth to anus.
So which intestinal tract does the human alimentary canal most closely resemble? As we discussed in our Digestive System Overview, the entire system runs about 30 feet in length from mouth to the anus.
Let's total up the lengths we've identified so far:
Esophagus equals one foot
Small intestine equals 23 feet
Bowel equals five feet (as cited above)
That's 29 feet. Add in the mouth, stomach, and rectum and you have a total length of approximately 30 feet. Now compare that to the length of the body (mouth to anus). Why mouth to anus and not head to toe? Because when calculating the body length of four legged animals, we don't stretch out the legs and add them in. We measure from mouth to tail, and so, for a valid comparison, we need to do the same with humans. In any case, mouth to anus is about 2.5 to 3 feet. That gives you a ratio of 10-12 to one. Bingo! It's an absolute match to the frugivore intestinal tract.
What should we eat?
So, are we restricted to fruits and nuts? No. In fact, the frugivores we most closely resemble, the wild chimpanzees, periodically eat live insects and raw meat. Among the great apes (the gorilla, the orangutan, the bonobo, and the chimpanzee) and ourselves, only humans and chimpanzees hunt and eat meat on a frequent basis. Nevertheless, chimpanzees are largely fruit eaters, and meat comprises only about 3 percent of their diet -- far less than is found in the typical Western diet.
Is a vegetarian diet automatically healthier? Not necessarily. Some people actually do better when they include small amounts of meat in their diet -- although, to be sure, a balanced vegetarian diet appears to offer some protection against cancer and heart disease. Other factors in our diet, however, affect our health to a much greater degree than whether or not we eat meat. The bottom line is that, ethical questions aside, eating small amounts of meat, chicken, or fish probably comes down mostly to a personal choice. If you choose to, you can include meat in your diet without any significant health problems -- with the following provisos:
Keep the amount small, three ounces a day or less.
If you're going to eat meat, eat organic. Eat grass fed beef, free range chicken and eggs, wild caught fish.
Avoid or minimize dairy. And if you must have it, have it raw -- or at the very least free of growth hormones. Remember, heat (pasteurization) denatures proteins, specifically making several dairy proteins relatively indigestible and highly allergenic.
Include lots of water soluble fiber in your diet to keep the unabsorbed proteins moving through the digestive tract. If nothing else, incorporate a tablespoon of psyllium as part of your daily regimen.
Conclusion
We've covered the intestinal tract from mouth to anus over the last five plus months. Specifically, we've explored how we get food into the digestive tract, which organs support digestion, how nutrients are absorbed, and how we process and eliminate waste.
So what useful things have we learned?
And that's it. We've covered the anatomy and physiology of everything from your teeth to your bowel, plus the organs of digestion including the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas. And even more importantly, along the way, we've explored the nature of diseases of the digestive tract (everything from hiatal hernia to acid reflux, from peptic ulcers to irritable bowel syndrome) and how to treat them naturally by working with your body, not against it.
For those of you who would like to review the previous parts of this series, check out:By Rob Moseley
Editor, GoDucks.com
Not quite three months since playing for the first College Football Playoff National Championship, the Oregon Ducks kick off spring practices Tuesday morning.
A new era begins for the program, with Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota preparing for the NFL draft. Junior Jeff Lockie leads the crop of returning quarterbacks, who will compete for reps in April and await the anticipated arrival of transfer Vernon Adams later this year.
Also in the mix at quarterback is the newest freshman to arrive on campus, Travis Jonsen, who joins five classmates who enrolled over the winter. (The freshman QB, who went by Travis Waller in high school, will use his mother's maiden name going forward.) Jonsen has been assigned No. 11, defensive back Ugo Amadi will wear No. 14, running back Taj Griffin will wear No. 5, defensive lineman Canton Kaumatule will wear No. 99, receiver Alex Ofodile will wear No. 4 and offensive lineman Zach Okun will wear No. 75.
It’s a time of transition for veterans, too. Receiver Bralon Addison and offensive tackle Tyler Johnstone will continue working their way back from injuries that sidelined them in 2014. Addison will do so in a new number, No. 2. Other vets who have changed numbers include Devon Allen, back to No. 13, Kani Benoit to No. 29, Darren Carrington to No. 7, Ty Griffin to No. 10, Johnny Ragin III to No. 28 and Tyree Robinson to No. 3.
And speaking of transition, sophomore Charles Nelson will be listed as a defensive back to open the spring. He was an electric all-purpose runner as a freshman, but the Ducks have a need at defensive back, where Nelson took practice reps a few times over the course of last season.
The practice schedule includes three workouts a week for the next five weeks. The Ducks go Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday the first week, Monday-Wednesday-Friday the following three weeks and Monday, Wednesday and Saturday the last week, with that final Saturday practice the spring game on May 2 in Autzen Stadium (11 a.m. PT, Pac-12 Networks).
Here’s a quick review of each position group entering the spring, with players listed alphabetically.
QUARTERBACK
In the mix: Taylor Alie, So.; Ty Griffin, So.; Travis Jonsen, Fr.; Jeff Lockie, Jr.; Morgan Mahalak, RFr.
2014 in review: Click here
Summary: The lone guy with significant experience is Lockie, who backed up Mariota the last two seasons. Now he gets a chance to prove himself in a bigger role, though not without being pushed by the younger guys.
RUNNING BACK
In the mix: Kani Benoit, So.; Royce Freeman, So.; Taj Griffin, Fr.; Tony James, RFr.; J.J. Jones, Jr.; Jarret LaCoste, Sr.; Lane Roseberry, Jr.; Thomas Tyner, Jr.
2014 in review: Click here
Summary: A position of strength gets even stronger. To the one-two punch of Freeman and Tyner, the Ducks add one of last year’s MVPs on the scout team, James, and a dynamic newcomer in Griffin.
RECEIVER/TIGHT END
In the mix: Bralon Addison, Jr.; Devon Allen, So.; Evan Baylis, Jr.; Jeff Bieber, RFr.; Jalen Brown, RFr.; Pharaoh Brown, Sr.; Darren Carrington, So.; Austin Daich, Jr.; Casey Eugenio, RFr.; Will Genske, RFr.; Koa Ka'ai, Sr.; Chayce Maday, RFr.; Byron Marshall, Sr.; Jake McCreath, Jr.; Johnny Mundt, Jr.; Alex Ofodile, So.; Zac Schuller, Sr.; Dwayne Stanford, Jr.; Taylor Stinson, RFr.; Chris Tewhill, Jr.
2014 in review: Click here
Summary: Another position with a wealth of talent gets a boost. Not only is Addison working his way back, but redshirt freshman Jalen Brown and newcomer Ofodile are big, athletic young targets. Add them to the likes of Marshall, Stanford and Carrington, and that’s serious depth.
OFFENSIVE LINE
In the mix: Stetzon Bair, Sr.; Doug Brenner, So.; Tyrell Crosby, So.; Tanner Davies, RFr.; Braden Eggert, RFr.; Elijah George, So.; Cameron Hunt, Jr.; Tyler Johnstone, RSr.; Haniteli Lousi, Sr.; Matt McFadden, Jr.; Davis Miyashiro-Saipaia, RFr.; Zach Okun, Fr.; Matt Pierson, Sr.; Jake Pisarcik, So.; Evan Voeller, So.
2014 in review: Click here
Summary: Opportunity abounds in the absence of Hroniss Grasu, Hamani Stevens and Jake Fisher, with senior Andre Yruretagoyena also having departed. Johnstone, Hunt, Crosby, Brenner and Pisarcik all boast starting experience, though. And as elsewhere, there’s some intriguing young talent in Eggert, George and Okun.
DEFENSIVE LINE
In the mix: Alex Balducci, Sr.; DeForest Buckner, Sr.; T.J. Daniel, Jr.; Jalen Jelks, RFr.; Canton Kaumatule, Fr.; Austin Maloata, So.; Henry Mondeaux, So.; Jason Sloan, So.; Spencer Stark, RFr.; Tui Talia, Sr.
2014 in review: Click here
Summary: Buckner’s decision to stay in school gives this group a huge boost. With Balducci also back, the Ducks should be solid up front. Newcomer Kaumatule joins the likes of Daniel, Jelks, Maloata, Mondeaux and Talia as candidates to play in the regular rotation.
LINEBACKER
In the mix: Cody Carriger, So.; Tyson Coleman, Sr.; Ivan Faulhaber, So.; Christian French, Sr.; Rodney Hardrick, Sr.; Eddie Heard, RSo.; Justin Hollins, So.; Danny Mattingly, So.; Torrodney Prevot, Jr.; Johnny Ragin III, Jr.; |
://wiremock.org
You can read the next post in this series following here:
World-Class Testing Development Pipeline for Android - Part 41. Gandhi before Mahatma
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photo of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in South Africa,
In 1891 Gandhi passed the law examination successfully, but was assailed by doubts and anxieties, he applied and was turned down for a part time job as a teacher in a Bombay high school with the modest salary of seventy rupees (£5 1/2) a month. It was with some relief that he discovered that he had a flair for drafting memorials and petitions. He wound up his little establishment in Bombay and returned to Rajkot where petition- writing brought him an income of three hundred rupees a month. He might have settled down as a barrister scribe if he had not incurred the displeasure of the British Political Agent in Rajkot in whose court most of his work lay. So, when an offer of a job came to him from South Africa, he gladly accepted it. The contract was for a year in connection with a civil suit; the remuneration was £105, a first-class return fare and actual expenses. The fee was modest and it was not quite clear whether he was engaged as counsel or as a clerk, but he was in no position to pick and choose. He could hardly have imagined the new vistas of maturity and public service which the South African adventure was to open to him.
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2. Rabindra Nath Tagore (Youthful Bravado)
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photo of Tagore during his first stay in England, 1879
His father wanted him to become a barrister and he was sent to England. After spending Christmas of 1878 with his family, Tagore was escorted by a friend of his elder brother to London; there, Tagore’s relatives hoped that he would focus more on his studies. He enrolled at University College London. However, he never completed his degree, leaving England after staying just over a year. This exposure to English culture and language would later percolate into his earlier acquaintance with Bengali musical tradition, allowing him to create new modes of music, poetry, and drama. However, Tagore neither fully embraced English strictures nor his family’s traditionally strict Hindu religious observances either in his life or his art, choosing instead to pick the best from both realms of experienceHowever, his father forced him to return to India in 1880.
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3. Sonia Gandhi in her younger years
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Sonia gandhi in an undated photo
4. Indira Gandhi – The Prime Minister in making
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Indira Gandhi in 1956
Daughter of Indian PM Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, during visit w. her father to US and Canada was clicked by photographer Carl Mydans
5. Madhubala; the biggest star in the world- and she wasn’t in Beverly Hills
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A day with Madhubala, 1951
these images were taken by James Burke
6. Two Film Making Colossi
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Satyajit Ray and Akira Kurosawa
two great film directors at the 1982 Venice film festival, Italy
7. The Prince and The Prime Minister
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Britain’s Prince Charles Chats with India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi During a Banquet – 1980.
8. Flying High at 20
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June Argent,1940
JUNE ARGENT, 20, served in Women’s Auxiliary Corps (India) during the war. The hostess uniform she wears was designed by American TWA hostess. She was youngest of the crew. Air India was known as Tata Airlines till 1940
9. Ford Repair Shop Back Alley 1920
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10. Begum Para
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Begum Para, photgraph by James Burke 1951
Sister in law of Dilip Kumar, her last role was in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s saawariyan.
CommentsOn August 9, 2007, the French Bank BNP Paribus halted redemptions to three investment funds active in US mortgage markets due to severe liquidity problems, an event that many mark as the beginning of the financial crisis. Now, just over seven years later, economists still can’t agree on what caused the crisis, why it was so severe, and why the recovery has been so slow. We can’t even agree on the extent to which modern macroeconomic models failed, or if they failed at all.
The lack of a consensus within the profession on the economics of the Great Recession, one of the most significant economic events in recent memory, provides a window into the state of macroeconomics as a science.
Related: The Next Financial Crisis Is Brewing Now, and Regulators Are Missing It
First, on the disagreements. If you ask macroeconomists what caused the crisis, you will get different answers. Some will argue it was lack of regulation of the financial sector, others will cite the buildup up of household debt driven by stagnating middle class incomes. Still others will argue the Fed was at fault for holding interest rates too low for too long and fueling the housing bubble. You will also hear that it was a case of financial innovation gone awry – it failed to deliver on a promise of reduced and dispersed risk for mortgage based financial products.
Even stories that have been thoroughly debunked are still cited by some, for example the argument that it was all caused by government’s attempt to increase homeownership among lower income households. Some of these causes are cited together, e.g. low interest rates could help to encourage household debt accumulation, and it’s possible that more than one factor was at work, but there is quite a bit of disagreement among economists about the primary, most important cause(s) of our troubles.
Economists also disagree about why the crisis was so severe. Is it because of the tremendous loss of wealth that households experienced when the housing market crashed, or is it because of the meltdown in the financial sector, particularly what happened after Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail?
Related: FDIC Says ‘Too Big to Fail’ Bank Bailouts Could Happen Again
One group of economists argues that the crisis would have been just as bad even if the financial sector hadn’t had such severe problems, the loss of household wealth is the key to understanding why this was a “Great” as opposed to an “ordinary” recession. Others, however, cite problems in the financial sector as essential to understanding why the economy had such severe difficulties.
And when it comes to explaining why the recovery has been so slow, there is also – surprise – little agreement. Some economists argue that recovery from financial crisis always takes a long time. These are “balance sheet” recessions, and it takes time for households to replace what was lost when housing equity disappears and financial markets crash. In the meantime, consumption, and hence aggregate demand, is reduced.
Others argue the slow recovery is due to government regulation standing in the way of business, uncertainty over future monetary and fiscal policy, or the existence of social programs that encourage people to stay unemployed for extended periods of time. In addition, fiscal policy that worked against the recovery is also cited. You will even here that the recovery is not actually so slow if you consider that we are climbing out of a very deep hole.
The considerable lack of agreement on these issues is of concern for three reasons. First, it makes it difficult to design regulatory policies that will avoid similar problems in the future. If we don’t know for sure what caused the crisis, how do we insulate against it? We can take a broad-spectrum approach and close every possible way a crisis could occur, but that risks imposing unnecessary constraints on economic behavior.
Related: Why the Rich Should Call for Income Redistribution
Second, it makes it harder to know what types of monetary and fiscal policies work best to fix these types of problems. If we can’t agree on the cause of our problems, and how it worked its way through the economy, we won’t be able to figure out what types of policies are most effective.
As it stands, there are economists who believe that both monetary and fiscal policy should be used to fight deep recessions, others who think only monetary policy should be used, and still others who think government should simply get out of the way as much as possible and do nothing. And within each group there is quite a bit of difference as well, e.g. whether to use government spending or taxes, or, as another example, the type of target the Fed should pursue.
Third, and this gets at the state of macroeconomics as a science, we won’t be able to determine what types of theoretical models work best. How do we sort one model from the other if we cannot agree on what the evidence says?
Related: U.S. Job Growth Cools, Unemployment Rate Rises
Why can’t we agree? How is it possible that there are so many different views among economists about the type of shock we experienced, how it was transmitted through the economy, and why it’s been so hard to recover? One reason is that most of the time our macro econometric models do not give answers that are clear enough to settle questions – the non-experimental nature of the data we are forced to use in carrying out tests makes the search for precise answers very difficult.
Even when the econometric models do give clear answers, those answers are often ignored in the public debate over these issues. This is due, in large part, to economists who are willing to ignore clear empirical evidence in order to sow confusion and promote ideological goals, and the culture within the profession that does little to penalize such behavior.
If we don’t have the ability to settle debates decisively with empirical evidence, then each side will retain its beliefs and preconceptions. Perhaps “big data” and digital technology will help, but it’s hard to foresee these problems going away anytime soon. What we can do is change the professional culture that allows some economists to create confusion for political reasons through distortions and misrepresentations of the evidence that does exist.
For example, many of the explanations of the crisis listed above are based upon ideological underpinnings as much as actual evidence, or ignore the evidence altogether. We can’t stop the charlatans and cranks from speaking out, but we can do a much better job of labeling them as such when they do.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:Live competitive TF2, is so expensive to produce.
Do not take this as “this event is cancelled because this staff member is depressed”. No events upcoming are being cancelled as far as I know. This is a rant, this is a ramble - an opinion piece, my thoughts, my fears, my weaknesses.
LANs are very important in terms of community spirit, not just a true test of player skill. They also require a lot of production:
there’s cameramen, whether those who take photographs with theirs or those who fly out to focus on a player’s POV during the live game
there’s organizers and administrators, who work their asses off only to stand around and make sure everything’s going okay, trying to troubleshoot everything that will obey Murphy’s Law
there’s equipment: cables upon cables. MicroUSB, USB, adapter, HDMI, all these things I’m not sure I’m even familiar with
there’s external programs: the NodeCG programmer. The Cheat Feed relay.
there’s casters whose voices dry out during their cast because they forgot to drink water.
Every year or every era of competitive 6v6 TF2 from either Europe or North America, I watch a man - usually a figurehead in the scene during the time - blow at least four American digits to make a live TF2 event happen. I watch them lose all faith as community feedback, love and appreciation reaches deaf ears as they realize how deep in debt these events sent them in.
I watch as these men denounce competitive TF2 in their bitterness. I fear the people who will lash back at them, saying they didn’t ask to have quad digits invested into competitive TF2 and it’s their own fault - and yet, they fail to realize that the reason the high quality as well as the LAN itself exists is because of how much was invested from personal pockets. I fear for the other future frontmen or the ones who help them, their own anxieties about whether or not we’ll survive threatening to consume them whole.
I witness fundraisers - the solution, surely for a community-surviving tiny eSport - created to send production people from a continent over to another, only to barely make enough and it only is able to send one person. I watch the community react to heavy backlash at players who ask for some money to be sent over to a LAN, and I watch it bleed over into determining why X should go over Y, and what Y has done that X hasn’t that can benefit production more, breaking our unity.
I look at a stickybomb on somebody’s stream as they play the Matchmaking Beta, lag ever so slowly, 12 frames per second, as it descends towards the ground. I hear we’re not sure what’s going on with that anymore except those who might be in contact with Jill - who is probably swamped and stressed out just as much. I get excited when I see the official announcement in-servers for the Grand Finals - only to realize that while this might help our viewership, it doesn’t help us in a financial rut.
Sometimes, I hear of risky experiences with border patrol in terms of getting expensive streaming equipment through the country’s airport. I’ve been stopped once with a friend who was producing. They didn’t believe we were doing a TF2 Charity event. We had to go through 3 levels of border security before they let us through.
Other times, I watch organizers tear their hair out at people not signing up for something they spent hours investing advertising in, and the sponsors drop them. Sometimes I watch organizers waiting anxiously to see if the sponsors they spent weeks trying to pick up will call back - while other small sponsors drop TF2 or focus less on their TF2 teams in favour of CS:GO or LoL teams.
I watch other games that compare themselves to TF2 pop up, immediately with catering towards everything that the 6v6 crowd wanted, and players leave or disband their LAN teams to go play that game instead. Not by that rivalring company’s fault or that game’s fault, but because it shows more promise financially or personally more than the TF2 they want does. And when I hear “this game is going to kill TF2″ as a result of this, I’m tempted to re-correct them with the pessimistic: “no. Valve is going to kill TF2″.
I’ve used the candle analogy since the departure of one of the most positive faces for competitive TF2. I’ve watched so many candles that helped me light my own - albeit not one that leads the way as much as the frontmen right now - burn out so swiftly. I watch now as our current frontman struggles to keep his flame lit - find a reason to keep that flame lit - as a wind snuffs out one of his crewmembers’ flames. It was a crucial crewmember, not as in the front as the past frontmen but they did their part and spent their four digits.
My scene is labelled, dismissed often, as people who are trying to hard. Desperate nerds who are trying to make a non-competitive game something it’s not, despite how TF2 at its core is a competitive game (two teams, one objective). An ignorance to how much this game means to these players, or how much it makes our players. An ignorance to how costly it all is. It’s hard sometimes, for both the non-competitive and competitive players. I know that the players from the scene I care about most are sometimes volatile. Sometimes, “it’s far worse in CS:GO/DOTA” just isn’t a good excuse. Sometimes, they say “I hope this scene dies and I hope these people who are involved in it get what they deserve”.
I am not the saviour of competitive TF2, nor will I ever be. I am not the frontman I wanted to be. There are people who have done more than I could ever do, spent more than I can ever make. They are the frontmen I have worked with, who I have looked up to. Whom I’ve watched suffer or fail to be noticed for whatever reason somebody may hold.
The community has been warm, kind. Cruel, cold. I look at people cheer. I look at players try their hardest. I look at the community who smiles upon us when we do good. Who frowns upon us when we make a mistake. Who rolls their eyes at us when it seems like we take ourselves too seriously. Who pray that people who are struggling with real life to still focus on donating money to video games and hope their kind words will be enough.
Competitive TF2 is a labour of love; a volunteer effort. I have watched literal blood, sweat and tears go into producing not just online but live events for it. My mother, a practical person and an immigrant to Canada, teaches me very traditional roles in terms of money and spousal partnership. “Money cannot buy love - but love will not pay your bills.” And now I watch money, the root of all evil, stay the root of all evil. I watch money make the world go round, and I watch as we don’t have enough money to send people around that round world. CS:GO, LoL, DOTA or SC2 players can. Small eSports - Rocket League, TF2?
To me, your thanks and your appreciation - it means the world to me. To my peers, I’m sure they appreciate yours too - but they’ve burnt out. Sure, new frontmen will come. They’ll also go, and I fear they’ll go just as bitterly as everybody else seems to be: realizing they can no longer overextend for greatness - keep live TF2 events going for players to compete in - because it’s not worth it.
All I know for sure is that we hope Valve appreciates it as much as you guys do, because now the ball is in their hands once again. As anything with Valve and their infamous radio silence - we just hope they throw it back to us. For now - your kind words help for what they can do. Your candles are still lit. Keep it that way. Do not let me, or anybody else, put it out if you feel as strongly as you do for us, for the players, for the scene. Just understand this:
Live competitive TF2, is so expensive to produce.Bush hails Israelis as ‘chosen people’ but ignores Palestinians on ‘catastrophe’ day
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
Friday, 16 May 2008
© 2008 Independent News and Media Limited
President George Bush lavished anniversary praise on Israel yesterday, as Palestinians commemorated the “Nakba” or “catastrophe” when 700,000 were forced from or fled their homes 60 years ago.In a special address to the Israeli Knesset, Mr Bush declared that the US was proud to be the “closest ally and best friend in the world” of a nation that was a “homeland for the chosen people” and had “worked tirelessly for peace and… fought valiantly for freedom.”
And in a speech that linked together Hamas, Hizbollah and al-Qa’ida, the President likened those ““ including “good and decent” people ““ who urged negotiations with “terrorists and radicals”, with supporters of appeasing the Nazis before the Second World War.
On Iran, Mr Bush said that permitting “the world’s leading sponsor of terror” to possess “the world’s deadliest weapon” would be “an unforgivable betrayal of future generations”.
Mr Bush’s speech was notable for only one reference to Palestinian aspirations for a state. He did not allude to the current negotiations between the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, and the Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, on the outlines of two-state solution that he himself helped to kick-start at the Annapolis conference last year.
Instead, his only mention was in a passage envisaging Israel’s 120th anniversary ““ 60 years hence ““ in which Palestinians would have “the homeland they have long dreamed of and deserved ““ a democratic state that is governed by law.” By that time, he prophesied, the Middle East would consist of “free and independent societies”, and Hamas, Hizbollah and al-Qa’ida would have been defeated “as Muslims across the region recognize the emptiness of the terrorists’ vision and the injustice of their cause”.
Nor did Mr Bush make even an oblique reference to the fact that he was delivering his speech on the day that Palestinians annually commemorate the “Nakba” in the 1948 war that left a victorious Israel in control of 78 per cent of mandatory Palestine.
As sirens sounded and thousands of black balloons were released across the West Bank, several thousand Palestinians gathered in Ramallah’ s main Manara Square to hear a taped address by Mr Abbas urging reconciliation and an end to Israeli settlement building in the West Bank to facilitate negotiations on a future state. “Sixty years have passed,” he said. “It’s time to end the Nakba for the Palestinian people.”
But a Nakba day message from Hamas, which controls Gaza, called on Palestinians to continue “resistance” and urged the Palestinian President to “abandon the illusion of negotiations.”
At least one Palestinian youth was injured in Gaza after several dozen teenagers broke away at the end of a Hamas-organised protest near the northern Erez crossing. As youths threw stones, Israeli forces fired live rounds and tear gas.
Three Arab Knesset members were led away before the President’s speech by security guards after unfurling a banner saying “We shall overcome.”
Mr Bush repeated the symbolic oath traditionally uttered by Israeli soldiers at Masada, the fortress where 960 Jews in the first century rebellion against Roman rule committed suicide rather than surrender, and which he had visited yesterday: “Masada shall never fall again”. He added to a standing ovation: “And America will be at your side.”
But his speech did not mention the occupation of Palestinian territory since the 1967 war or restate US and international stances critical of Israel ““ such as demands for settlement outposts to be removed or for expansion of settlements to be halted. Nor did he mention that those calling for some engagement with Hamas include some former Israeli military and intelligence figures.
Mr Olmert told parliamentarians that he was confident that a peace agreement would “be approved in the Knesset by a large majority and… supported by the vast majority of the Israeli public”.
Reuters news agency renewed its demand yesterday for a prompt explanation of why the Israeli military in Gaza fired on one of its cameramen, Fadel Shana, who was killed a month ago today.Any transition comes at the most crucial time in the 35-year history of the Islamic Republic due to unprecedented domestic political shifts underway and, more importantly, due to international events.
Pragmatic conservative President Hassan Rouhani's election in June 2013 elections led to a social, political and economic reform program facing considerable resistance from within the hard-right factions within the clerical and security establishments. The biggest issue between the presidential camp and its opponents is the ongoing process of negotiations with the United States over the Iranian nuclear program.
Nuclear Talks and Syria
After an unprecedented breakthrough in November 2013 that saw an interim agreement, the negotiation process has hit a major snag, with a final agreement not reached by a July 20, 2014, deadline, though the deadline for negotiations was extended to Nov. 24, 2014. Some form of partial agreement had been expected, with talks kicking into high gear ahead of the opening session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York on Sept. 18.
A mood of pessimism in Tehran has since been reported, however, with senior Foreign Ministry officials prepping the media for the eventuality that the talks might fail. The risk of failure comes from the fact that Rouhani can only go so far in accepting caps on Iran's ability to pursue a civilian nuclear program before his hawkish opponents will gain the upper hand in Iran's domestic political struggle. Stratfor sources say Rouhani did not want to attend this year's General Assembly, but Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif reportedly convinced the president that his visit might help the negotiating process.
As if the negotiation itself was not enough of a problem for Rouhani, the U.S. move to support rebel forces in Syria that would fight both the Islamic State and Iran's ally, the Assad regime, is a major problem for Tehran. U.S. and Iranian interests overlapped with regard to the IS threat in Iraq. But in Syria, the United States must rely on anti-Iranian actors to fight IS and the Obama administration seeks to topple the Assad regime. Accordingly, less than a year after the two sides embarked upon a rapprochement, tensions seem to be returning.
A New Supreme Leader
On top of this stressor, uncertainties surrounding Khamenei's health have shifted Iran's priorities to the search for a new supreme leader. The unusual manner in which Tehran continues to telegraph Khamenei's hospitalization to show that all is well — while at the same time psychologically preparing the country and the outside world for the inevitable change — coupled with the (albeit unverified) 2010 release by WikiLeaks of a U.S. diplomatic cable reporting that the supreme leader was suffering from terminal cancer suggests the political establishment in Tehran is preparing for a succession. Khamenei himself would want to prepare a succession before he can no longer carry out his official responsibilities.
Before Khamenei was elected supreme leader in 1989, the idea of a collective clerical body was in vogue among many clerics. The country's second-most influential cleric, Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, on several occasions has proposed a "jurisprudential council" consisting of several top clerics as an alternative to the supreme leader's post. His proposal has not gained much traction, but with succession imminent, it might seem more attractive as a compromise should the competing factions prove unable to reach a consensus.
Constitutionally, an interim leadership council takes over should the incumbent supreme leader no longer be able to carry out his duties until the Assembly of Experts elects a successor. Considering the factionalized nature of the Iranian political elite, it is only normal to assume that the process to replace Khamenei will be marred by a major struggle between the various camps that make up the conservative establishment. After all, this is an extremely rare opportunity for those seeking change and for those seeking continuity to shape the future of the republic.
For the hardliners, already deeply unnerved by what they see as an extremely troubling moderate path adopted by Rouhani, it is imperative that the next supreme leader not be sympathetic to the president. From their point of view, Khamenei has given the government far too much leeway. For his part, Rouhani knows that if his opponents get their way in the transition, his troubles promoting his domestic and foreign policy agenda could increase exponentially.
Possible Successors
The country's elite ideological military force, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, will no doubt play a key role in who gets to be supreme leader. Likewise, the religious establishment in Qom will definitely have a say in the matter. The revolutionary-era clerics who have long dominated the political establishment are a dying breed, and the Assembly of Experts would not want to appoint someone of advanced age, since this would quickly lead to another succession.
Stratfor has learned that potential replacements for Khamenei include former judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, a cleric close to Khamenei and known for his relative moderate stances. They also include Hassan Khomeini, the oldest grandson of the founder of the republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He is close to the president's pragmatic conservative camp and the reformists, but pedigree may not compensate for his relatively left-wing leanings and his relatively young age of 42. Finally, they include current judiciary chief Mohammed-Sadegh Larijani, the younger brother of Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani who some believe is the preferred candidate of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
The key problem that has surrounded the post of the supreme leader since the death of the founder of the republic is the very small pool of potential candidates to choose a replacement from: Most clerics either lack political skills, while those that do have political savvy lack requisite religious credentials. Khamenei was a lesser cleric to the status of ayatollah shortly before assuming the role of supreme leader, though he has demonstrated great political acumen since then. Khomeini was unique in that he had solid credentials as a noted religious scholar, but also had solid political credentials given his longtime leadership of the movement that culminated in the overthrow of shah in 1979. Since Khomeini fell out with his designated successor, Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, in 1987, no one has had both qualities. Whoever takes over from Khamenei will be no exception to this, even though he will need to be able to manage factional rivalries at one of the most critical junctures in the evolution of the Islamic Republic.Manager Scott Servais said Segura -- who was hitting.341 when he suffered a high right ankle sprain while sliding into second base on June 1 -- will likely go out on a Minor League rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma on Monday and Tuesday and could be back with the Mariners after that if all goes well.
ARLINGTON -- Jean Segura put his injured right ankle through an extensive workout running the bases and taking ground balls on Saturday afternoon at Globe Life Park, as the standout shortstop continued getting closer to rejoining the Mariners at some point next week.
ARLINGTON -- Jean Segura put his injured right ankle through an extensive workout running the bases and taking ground balls on Saturday afternoon at Globe Life Park, as the standout shortstop continued getting closer to rejoining the Mariners at some point next week.
Manager Scott Servais said Segura -- who was hitting.341 when he suffered a high right ankle sprain while sliding into second base on June 1 -- will likely go out on a Minor League rehab assignment with Triple-A Tacoma on Monday and Tuesday and could be back with the Mariners after that if all goes well.
View Full Game Coverage
"I was very bullish in my statements that we could try to get him on the field here in Texas," Servais said prior to Saturday's game with the Rangers. "We did get him on the field, just not in a game. We're probably looking at a day or two rehab, DH and play some short, get him a couple at-bats and hopefully activate him after that if things keep going well. I'm happy he's recovered as quickly as he has. It could have been a lot worse."
Segura said he initially thought he broke the ankle when he slid awkwardly in the game against the Rockies at Safeco Field. He still feels soreness in the joint, but is eager to get back into action.
"I'm pretty close," Segura said. "I'm moving well. I'm moving enough. I'm not 100 percent yet, but I'm moving well. By Monday, it should be even better because day by day it's feeling more comfortable and less sore."
When Segura does return, Servais will slide him back into the leadoff role despite the fact left fielder Ben Gamel is hitting.347 and has been extremely effective in that spot the past two weeks.
"We're going to leave Segura and [Mitch] Haniger at the top," Servais said "Gamel will fit nicely at seven or whatever hole it is. There'll be times to mix it up and move it around a little, but he's been really, really good. I don't see any reason you don't put Jean Segura anywhere else. He's leading the league in hitting and Gamel is right there with him. We'll leave it where it was at and see where it goes from there."
Worth noting
• Pat Light, a 26-year-old left-handed reliever, was claimed off waivers from the Pirates and assigned to Triple-A Tacoma on Saturday. Light was 3-0 with a 3.76 ERA and four saves in 22 games for Triple-A Indianapolis before being designated for assignment last Saturday.
Light pitched 17 games in the Major Leagues last season -- 15 with the Twins and two with the Red Sox -- and was 0-1 with an 11.34 ERA in 16 2/3 innings. He was a first-round Draft pick of the Red Sox in 2012 out of Monmouth University.
• Right-hander Ryne Harper had his contract outrighted to Tacoma after clearing waivers for the Mariners to open a spot on the 40-man roster for Light. The 28-year-old is 2-0 with three saves and a 1.89 ERA in 19 innings with Tacoma. He was called up by the Mariners on May 28, but optioned back to Tacoma two days later without appearing in a game.The Living Arabic Project is the first multi-dialect, online Arabic dictionary, improving how people learn the Arabic language by changing how we perceive and interact with it. But for readers who are unfamiliar with Arabic, the question that you’re probably asking is, why is that important? And for those who have studied Arabic, how do you know this will actually work?
The Problem
Let’s start with the basics. Arabic is one of the most difficult languages to learn for non-native speakers. The US State Department rates it as one of the most challenging languages for native English speakers, on par with Mandarin, Japanese, and Korean.
The complex grammar, multitude of dialects, and lack of good learning resources are the most commonly cited problems. Even students who graduate with a bachelor’s in Arabic studies often don’t have a basic working proficiency in Arabic. However, all these challenges to learning Arabic stem from what linguists call diglossia, which means there are essentially two languages operating in parallel.
Students of Arabic, therefore, have to learn at least two distinct languages that are used side-by-side everyday. They must learn so-called Classical Arabic (CA) or Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and at least one dialect. MSA has become standard across the Arab countries and is based on the dialect spoken 1400 years ago in what is now western Saudi Arabia. It is generally used in writing, media, and formal situations such as political and academic speeches. However, in everyday interactions like when interacting with friends and family and in online chat forums, the local dialect is used, which varies by region.
Arabic is broken up into dialects and MSA.
Dialects have a grammatical structure, pronunciation, and vocabulary distinct from MSA. In Egypt, the local dialect draws from Coptic, Syriac, Italian, French, as well as MSA. Just imagine speaking one language at home and in day-to-day interactions, but using a different language when engaging in media, writing, and formal situations. An Arabic student focusing on Egypt needs to learn both MSA and the Egyptian dialect to be able to operate. Diglossia is even tied to increased illiteracy rates in Arab countries.
There have been a number of efforts to “overcome” diglossia, such as new textbooks, archaic linguistic texts explaining dialectology, and an array of dictionaries. While these help, the academic and two-dimensional organizational structure of printed text fails to address the challenge of diglossia across the Arab world. Arabs themselves have proposed modernizing the language by simplifying the grammar or doing away with either the dialects or MSA. None of these are practical--or even possible--to implement across the Arab countries.
To make learning Arabic effective requires more than just a new textbook; you don’t need to change the language to do it. It needs a tool that changes how people perceive Arabic.
There are shelves of books on Arabic dialects, but nothing standardized.
The Solution
This is where the Living Arabic Project comes in. It utilizes Arabic’s root-word structure to link together multiple dialect dictionaries with MSA. Instead of seeing diglossia simply as a challenge to be overcome or obstacle to be done away with, it uses diglossia to show the richness inherent in the Arabic language.
The core product is a unique online Arabic dictionary. Three features differentiate this dictionary from other online Arabic dictionaries:
It is the only online Arabic dictionary that has multiple dialect dictionaries available to users, and is the first and only Arabic dictionary that cross references different dialects. No matter what Arab country they are in, users can find the data they need. Few resources for Arabic dialects exist online (usually just short word lists that are pasted into an online forum). The Living Arabic Project, on the other hand, let users translate colloquial poetry and music, online chat forums and social media, local movies and TV shows, and other areas where dialects are preferred.
All the data is entered by hand and is based on practical usages of the language. The database utilizes transcribed movies and TV shows, translated poems and songs in colloquial, and recorded phrases from conversations, all to show real usages of the language. It also draws from textbooks, other dictionaries, and academic resources to gather additional examples. Notes on usage, synonyms and antonyms, and comparisons between words, help users understand when one word is more appropriate than another. New word or phrases are regularly added to the dictionary, creating a rich and practical data set.
It has three search features: users can search by Arabic word, Arabic root, or English word. The Arabic root search allows users to contextualize words in relation to others derived from the same root. The multiple search features help users become producers of the language, giving them the ability to speak and write in Arabic, instead of just consumers who can only read and listen.
Comparing this to other resources is illustrative. Most online resources for Arabic, such as Ejtaal’s Arabic Almanac, Aratools, and Almaany.com, are excellent resources for MSA--but only for MSA. Many online resources rely on pre-made data sets and algorithms, making it hard for users to discern the proper context for the definition found. Google Translate, for instance, only works with MSA and its translation algorithm draws predominantly from United Nations documents, making it hard for Google to understand things outside of the UN style; it can’t even touch dialects. The results of a 2011 study scored Google’s Arabic-English translation at 34/100. Printed texts could never cover a multi-dialect dictionary; it would be like searching through two dictionaries at the same time, with the hope that they line up. The Living Arabic Project’s unique data structure ensures accessibility.
Why is Funding Needed?
There's a lot of work to be done.
The funding ask is $5, |
16 Major League seasons with the Marlins, Reds, Cubs, Rangers and Red Sox, Dempster earned more than $89MM, according to B-Ref. We at MLBTR wish Dempster the best of luck in his post-playing days.Largest case of gas pump fraud in Louisiana history uncovered in Iberville Parish Copyright by KLFY - All rights reserved The Iberville Parish Sheriff's Office displays numerous credit cards confiscated on February 9, 2017. (Photo Courtesy: WVLA Local 33) [ + - ] Video
IBERVILLE PARISH, La. (KLFY) - A father and son from Miami, Fla. have been arrested in what Iberville Parish sheriff's deputies are calling the largest case of gas pump skimming in Louisiana's history.
The case, involving an estimated $2 million in stolen money, is so large that deputies called the U.S. Secret Service to assist in the investigation across multiple states.
Authorities arrested 54-year-old Serafin Fuentes and his son 28-year-old Juan Fuentes during a traffic stop around 3:00 a.m. Thursday.
Copyright by KLFY - All rights reserved Serafin Fuentes
Copyright by KLFY - All rights reserved Serafin Fuentes
Copyright by KLFY - All rights reserved Juan Fuentes
Copyright by KLFY - All rights reserved Juan Fuentes
Both were charged with monetary instrument abuse and access device fraud.
Deputies seized numerous credit cards, computers, and multiple card reading devices that were used for identity theft and credit card fraud.
Lou Velez, resident agent in charge of the U.S. Secret Service, said authorities recovered five skimmers, which in turn can hold between 800-1000 credit card numbers.
The credit card numbers that were stolen had an industry standard average of $500 per card.
It's believed the two suspects stole around $2 million with the card reading devices.
Velez said gas skimmers connected to the suspects were removed from gas stations in Iberville Parish, East Baton Rouge Parish, Bunkie, Ville Platte, and Lafayette.
The Secret Service spokesperson said a skimmer was found in use while officials were releasing information on the arrests.
Copyright by KLFY - All rights reserved Confiscated card skimmers
Copyright by KLFY - All rights reserved Confiscated card skimmers
The federal law enforcement agency has removed 33 skimmers throughout Louisiana since 2015.
Officials advise using your card as a credit card when paying at the gas pump.
Limits on credit card purchase can help curb the damage a criminal can do with a stolen card number.
Check your bank and credit card accounts every week to be on the lookout for fraudulent use.The current events in Egypt leave me very uncomfortable. Not the pro-democracy demonstrations -- I support that in soul, mind and action -- but the fact that the repressive regime is using surveillance technology developed by Western companies, mandated by Western authorities.
I’m a Cold War kid. I remember the 1980s and grew up in a different world from today. Above all, international policy and everyday life alike was colored by the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union.
The threat of a nuclear war was present. Present in your daily life, present always. You weren’t entirely sure when you went to sleep if there would still be a world tomorrow. It’s hard to imagine if you haven’t experienced it, but let me illustrate with a song most people have heard, ‘Forever Young’ by Alphaville. A wonderful ballad which would make people dance cheek to cheek and then go home with one another. How many have taken the time to listen to what it’s really about? It’s enough to glance at the first four lines:
Let’s dance in style, let’s dance for a while,
Heaven can wait, we’re only watching the skies,
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst:
Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?
The worldwide governmental assault on civil liberties and privacy right now is motivated by the claim that the world has become a more dangerous place since the 80s. Whoever suggests that is lying through their teeth. The worst thing that can happen today is that some nutjob blows himself to pieces on a bus on the other side of the continent.
Now, while this would obviously be very bad, it doesn’t nearly play in the same league as the entire world ceasing to exist. The scare of this was present everywhere in the 80s, all the time, for some war hawk or some human mistake or misunderstanding to trigger the quite literal end of the world with just a 30-minute warning.
Can you imagine when this race is won?
Turn our golden faces into the sun…
Do you really wanna live forever?
Forever young.
Don’t try to scare me into giving up my rights by yapping “terrorism”. The world hasn’t become more dangerous at all!
The people who were young in the 80s were dancing cheek to cheek to ballads about nuclear war and total annihilation. That’s how present the scare was. It is something of a coincidence that Forever Young was published in 1984 of all years.
For in the middle of this, there was also a strong polarization. I grew up in Sweden, part of the West. And the entire identity of the West was “we are not them”. And “them”, that was the Eastern Bloc, the Soviet Union, the Red Superpower. “Them” were the ones that spied on their own citizens and denied them basic civil liberties and privacy. The ones who tapped their citizens’ phones, who steamed open their letters.
“We” were the ones who, no matter what, would stand up for people’s rights against their government. Of course, this might have been a delusion, but it was still our identity.
I’m told that the East German government had guest books in every apartment complex. Anybody visiting somebody else had to write it into the guest books, so the government could keep tabs on who had been in touch with whom. It was horrible. The government owned the guest books.
Currently, states in Europe and agencies in the United States are implementing telecommunications data retention, so that governments can keep tabs on who has been in touch with whom, when, for how long, and even from where.
Where is the difference? Where is the difference?
I’m looking at this over and over again, and chills go down my spine as I don’t see any.
This technology is being used against citizens of Egypt today. Egypt is using off-the-shelf equipment built here in the West with built-in surveillance capability. The surveillance used in Egypt has been mandated by Western governments for use against Western citizens.
We were not them. We all knew that. How did we become them? When did we become them?
Have we forgotten how horrified we were?
Have we forgotten that people could choose between the unsafe West Germany with its real terrorists and rampaging unemployment in the 80s, and the safe and watched East Germany where everybody was guaranteed a job and crime was virtually nonexistent, and how people risked their very lives to run west when the chance came? And that, unfortunately, they were too often killed trying? It was something people were even ready to die for, preferring a society with very real terrorists over a society that had eliminated them.
We were defending liberties across the world. We were the shining beacon of people’s right to privacy. We were the opposite of Big Brother. And today, we are seeing surveillance in use in Egypt that our governments have mandated for use against ourselves. What’s used against the people of Egypt can and will be used against us.
When did we become the ones we weren’t?
—
Rick Falkvinge is a regular columnist on TorrentFreak, sharing his thoughts every other Friday. He is the founder of the Swedish Pirate Party, a whisky aficionado, and a low-altitude motorcycle pilot. His blog at http://falkvinge.net focuses on information policy.At the Moto G announcement event, Motorola said it plans to launch the phone in the US in early 2014. Well, it seems the company has completed the preparations a little early and has made the smartphone available for purchase now.
The unlocked Motorola Moto G sells for $179 or $199 for the 8GB and 16GB models, respectively. Motorola will start the actual shipping on December 2. The phone has already launched in Brazil and parts of Europe and will also be getting a dual-SIM variant later on. Motorola plans to launch the phone in a total of 30 countries on 60 different carriers by the beginning of 2014.
The Moto G is built around a 4.5" 720p edge-to-edge display that's covered in Gorilla Glass 3 for extra protection against scratches and drops. Under the hood of the Motorola Moto G ticks a Snapdragon 400 chipset with a quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 processor, Adreno 305 GPU and 1GB of RAM.
The Moto G runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean out of box and it will be getting the Android 4.4 KitKat treatment in January 2014.
CDMA users will have to wait until January to get their hands on the Moto G, though.
Source | ViaThe government has promised that the Public Services Card would not be mandatory. But now the government has put forward an ‘eGovernment strategy’ that will force every citizen, young or old, rich or poor to have this card. You will not be able to travel abroad, claim a benefit or open a savings account without it. It is a compulsory ID card by the back door and there has been no consultation about this.
The Public Services Card is actually much bigger than the card itself. It is a plan that will result in the linking up of private, intimate details of Irish citizens’ lives across all sections of government, including the education system, Gardai and the Health Service. There is no legal framework to provide for this to be done in a fair, safe and legal manner. The Department of Public Enterprise’s draft ‘Data Sharing and Governance Bill’ would provide some basis for this, but it is only in the earliest stages of development.
There are also real concerns about safety and security. How will this unified data be protected? Tens of thousands of public servants and contractors could have access to parts of this national data sets and there is no plan for how this access would be controlled. Only last week, a member of an Garda Siochana was convicted of illegally accessing private data about individuals from the Garda PULSE system. And this is certainly not the only case. There have been hundreds of breaches of privacy at the Department of Social Protection, which lies at the heart of the whole PSC initiative. As sensitive data about vulnerable children is collected, what assurance will parents have that only suitably screened persons have access to that data?
And there are also external threats. Sweden is reeling from a scandal where data stored in the ‘Cloud’ as part of a unified national system has resulted in a major nationwide data breach and a government-level scandal.
All the signs are that the government are taking these issues very lightly. The rights of ordinary people to privacy and protection from their government need to be at the heart, not in the footnotes.George Foreman. (Getty)
George Foreman, the two-time world heavyweight champion who shared a ring with Muhammad Ali, has weighed in on the national anthem controversy – and he’s on the opposite side of Ali-esque political protests.
Speaking to the “Offended America” podcast, Foreman—who admitted he doesn’t “pay much attention to what kids do”—indicated that he believed the anthem protests were merely a cry for attention: “’I got all this money, but nobody knows me,’” he said, speaking as if he were a protesting athlete, “‘so let me say something like Muhammad Ali and maybe I’ll be different.’ That’s all that is.”
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Foreman, seven years younger than Ali, lost to Ali in one of the greatest fights in boxing history, the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle. Foreman then shocked the world two decades later by winning the heavyweight championship once again at age 45.
The concept of patriotism among athletes came up, and Foreman, who represented the United States in the 1968 Olympics, proudly noted, “I still love this country. The greatest day of my life was when I put on the colors red, white and blue.” He suggested that athletes who protest may not have been brought up in patriotic homes, and deemed athletes who declined to visit the White House “sore losers.”
Foreman suggested that simply speaking out like Ali wasn’t enough to make one equivalent to Ali. “The shame part of it, all of us, including Joe Frazier and myself, we became the heavyweight champion of the world,” Foreman said. “We didn’t realize that just because you’re champ, you don’t become Muhammad Ali.”
Story continues
One wonders what Ali—who died beloved but endured far worse criticism for his political stands than Kaepernick has ever received—would say about the protests, which began just weeks after his death.
____
Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports and the author of EARNHARDT NATION, on sale now at Amazon or wherever books are sold. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.
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• Mayweather goes ‘insane’ over Bieber social media act
• Browns stage largest anthem protest yetE-Mail updates do not include updates from affiliate institutions or branches. For receiving updates from a particular branch or affiliate institution, kindly subscribe to E-Mail updates from the respective branch' or affiliate institution' page.
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Upadesha Lahari is a growing compendium of speeches and discourses of the Jagadgurus of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham. Archives
Following is the Anugraha Bhashanam delivered in Kannada by Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Sri Sri Vidhushekhara Bharati Sannidhanam on May 29, 2016, on the occasion of the valedictory function of the Sri Adi Shankaracharya Ashtottara Shatanama Parayana Yajna.
Sri Jagadguru Vani is a collection of the nectarine sayings of the Jagadgurus of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham, Sri Adi Shankaracharya and Bhagavan Sri Krishna.
Tendencies develop, regardless of the characteristic of the action performed. Hence, he who wishes to lead a proper life will do well to avoid evil deeds and to repeatedly perform virtuous deeds.
A person who hears about the condemnation of another incurs sin. What need be said about the sin incurred by a man who actually engages in nit picking?
The Self (Atma) is never born nor does It ever die; neither does It cease to exist after having once existed nor does the Self come into existence, like the body, having not existed before. Unborn, eternal, It undergoes no change whatsoever and is primeval; It is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.
The Lord himself has given us his commands in the eternal Vedas. We should not disobey our scriptures. They are his breath and the fountain-head of all right knowledge.
It is a great blunder not to make proper use of the body and mind that has been given to us by God.
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Sri Sharadamba – The divinity of Knowledge Welcome to the website of Jagadguru Shankaracharya Mahasamsthanam, Dakshinamnaya Sri Sharada Peetham, Sringeri. The Peetham is the first and foremost of the four Peethams established by the renowned 8th century philosopher saint Sri Adi Shankara, the principal exponent of Advaita (non-dualism). The Divinity of Knowledge, Goddess Sharada, installed at Sringeri by Sri Adi Shankara, graces the Peetham as the presiding deity. Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahaswamigal, the 36th in the illustrious and unbroken lineage of Acharyas presently adorns the throne of transcendental wisdom – the Vyakhyana Simhasana, the title associated with the Pontifical Seat of the Peetham. The Jagadguru upholds the activities of the Peetham towards the propagation and sustenance of Sanatana Dharma while pervading the lives of many thousands of disciples as their spiritual guide. Location Located amongst the lush green mountain ranges of the Sahyadri, Sringeri is located in the modern day district of Chickmagalur in the state of Karnataka in India. Sringeri is located at 13.42°N 75.25°E. Click to view Sringeri on a map. Click to watch an introductory video
February 2019 programme of Jagadguru Sri Sannidhanam’s Vijaya Yatra Updated tour Programme of Jagadguru Sri Sannidhanam for February 2019 in the states of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka (upto return to Sringeri) can be downloaded from the link given herewith. Updated tour Programme of Jagadguru Sri Sannidhanam (until return to Sringeri on February 27, 2019)
January 2019 programme of Jagadguru Sri Sannidhanam’s Vijaya Yatra Updated tour Programme of Jagadguru Sri Sannidhanam for January 2019 in the state of Maharashtra can be downloaded from the link given herewith. Updated tour Programme of Jagadguru Sri Sannidhanam (until Feb 1, 2019)
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Download illustrated life and teachings of the 35th Jagadguru 05th November 2018 This illustrated story book, conceived of and published to benefit people of all age groups, narrates snippets from the enthralling story of an extraordinary sage of the 20th century, Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji, the 35th Jagadguru Shankaracharya (1954-1989 CE) of the Sringeri Sharada Peetham. An easy and interesting read, the 32-page comic-styled book is packed with telling events from the Acharya’s life. It contains excerpts from His interesting and ever-relevant teachings that are easy to comprehend for child and adult alike. The true-to-life illustrations in comic style, bring to life the many events described. A unique sage of the modern world, His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji led an extraordinary life. The book is packed with incidents from His life about the lofty values He held dear, His fascinating spiritual journey, the tremendous power of His grace, His down-to-earth nature, His ever-cheerful disposition, His capacity for friendliness with all manners of people, His multifaceted abilities, His extensive travels and teachings, His enormous compassion for all beings, His love of nature, and many more. The book is available in four languages: English, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi. The printed book in all its four avatars was released on October 18, 2017 (the birth centenary of the Mahaswamiji) by Jagadguru Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahasannidhanam. All four books are now available as e-books for free download, to mark the 101st Jayanti of the 35th Jagadguru. Download the books here
Free Download of E-book ‘Yoga, Sakshatkara mattu Jivanmukti’ (Kannada) 05th November 2018 Sri Vidyatheertha Foundation is pleased to offer the e-book, ‘Yoga, Sakshatkara mattu Jivanmukti’ of His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji, for free download, on the occasion of the 101st Jayanti of the Jagadguru. This book was released during the Centenary Celebrations of His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji in 2017 at Sringeri by His Holiness Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahasannidhanam. The e-book, ‘Yoga, Sakshatkara mattu Jivanmukti’ (a Kannada rendering of the book ‘Yoga, Enlightenment and Perfection’), contains a wealth of information on Self-enquiry and meditative practices leading to enlightenment; this book also covers many other facets of spiritual sadhana – Karma yoga, Kundalini Yoga, Nada Anusandhana and the like – while it walks us through the spiritual journey of a great Yogi, an unmatched Vedantin and a Jivanmukta par excellence of the 20th century, His Holiness Jagadguru Sri Abhinava Vidyatirtha Mahaswamiji. Free Download details for the book ‘Yoga, Sakshatkara mattu Jivanmukti’ (Kannada) PDF format, EPUB format Free Download details for the book ‘Yoga, Enlightenment & Perfection’ (English) PDF format, EPUB format
Advaita Sharada Project Second Release 02nd February 2017 Jagadguru Shankaracharya Sri Sri Bharati Tirtha Mahasannidhanam released the second version of the Advaita Sharada Project of the Sringeri Math on February 2, 2017 as part of the ongoing Sharadalaya Swarna Shikhara Kumbhabhisheka Celebrations. The project being undertaken by the Sri Shankara Advaita Research Centre of the Math in association with M/s Sriranga Digital Software Technologies, Mysore, was originally made live on the internet during the Shankara Jayanti 2014 Celebrations and contained the Prasthana-traya Bhashyam-s of Sri Adi Shankara Bhagavatpada as searchable and hyperlinked text. Being executed under the guidance and direction of Sri Mahasannidhanam and Sri Sannidhanam, the Advaita Sharada Project has now introduced for the first-ever time an elegant interface for featuring sub-commentaries or Vyakhyana-s. The revamped second release features Vyakhyana-s (Ratnaprabha and Sri Padmapadacharya’s Panchapadika) to the Brahma Sutra Bhashyam and to the Gita Bhashyam. Sri Sureshwaracharya’s Vartikas on the Taittireeya Upanishad Bhashyam are also part of this release. Other texts include the 14th century work pertaining to the Brahma Sutras namely “Vaiyasika Nyaya Mala” of the 11th Acharya of the Peetham (Jagadguru Sri Bharati Tirtha I), Sri Totakacharya’s Shruti-Saara-Samuddharanam and Sri Hastamalakacharya’s Hastamalakeeyam (along with the commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya). A sub-commentary on Panchapadika titled Vaktavya Kashika, written by Sri Uttamajna Yati, a Sannyasi disciple of Jagadguru Sri Jnanottamacharya, the 5th Acharya of the Peetham has also been included. Prakaranas of Bhagavatpada such as Vivekachoodamani, Sarva-Vedanta-Siddhanta-Saara-Sangraha and Shatashloki are also featured. More texts, sub-commentaries and features will be added in the subsequent months. The contents may be accessed at the Project’s website that has been blessed with the Srimukham of Sri Mahasannidhanam. http://www.advaitasharada.sringeri.net Gallery (Click to Enlarge)
Latest UpdatesNovember 27, 2012
by Compassion Over Killing Staff
Brr! With winter almost here, it’s starting to get cold outside. As temperatures drop, one of the most delicious ways to warm up is by making hearty, comforting vegan soups.
There are several options for creating a soup base including store-bought vegetable stocks, vegetable bouillon cubes, miso or homemade broth created by simmering veggies with spices and straining afterwards. Just remember that a key to bringing out the most flavor in soup is simmering it on low for several hours.
Now that you’ve planned out the broth, what’s next? For ideas, check out VegRecipes.org’s variety of soup recipes or be creative and try out your own combinations!
If you’re in the mood for comforting soups, we suggest Cheesy Broccoli Soup, Hearty Vegetable Soup or Champion Chili.
One of our favorite winter soups is the potato leek onion soup (pictured above). The recipe is fairly simple and takes less than an hour. Give it a try, and you’ll be warmed up in no time!
Potato Leek Onion Soup
Serves 8
2 medium onions, chopped
3 medium leeks (white part only), chopped
1 clove garlic
2 to 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
5 cups water
6 medium potatoes*, cut into small or medium pieces
4 celery stalks, sliced
1 stalk fresh lemongrass (or dried) to taste
cayenne, salt, and dill or marjoram, to taste
1 cup soy or rice milk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
* For variety, use 3 russet or Idaho potatoes and 3 sweet potatoesAs recently as June 10, London-based J.P. Morgan analyst Fred Lucas told clients that BP (NYSE: BP) is a screaming buy. But current "back of napkins" estimates employed by JPM and others to determine the scale and cost of the disaster are far too low, in my opinion.
Given what we've learned in the last month, I suspect that even current "high-end" estimates will look optimistic in hindsight. My own estimates are much higher than everything else I've seen. Of course, my numbers are really just guesses, like everyone elses. Naturally, I think my numbers are more accurate. With that out of the way, here is my analysis of the worst-case scenario for BP and the Gulf of Mexico.
J.P. Morgan's BP analyst is one of the few to venture a guess as to how much oil (total) will be leaked into the Gulf. So I applaud Mr. Lucas for putting the opinion out there, even though I disagree with his current conclusion.
The WSJ reports that the Mr. Lucas' "worse-case" estimate is 1.9 million barrels leaked into the Gulf, all told. (So does "worse-case" mean worse than the current estimates, or a worst-possible scenario? Could be a typo, could be legalese.)
With official barrel-per-day (BPD) rising from 0 bpd initially, to 1,000, to 5,000, to 12,000, to 19,000, to 30,000, all the way to the latest official estimate of 35,000 to 60,000 barrels per day, it seems unwise to assume the trend of increasing estimates will end at any given time (it should be noted that quotes from the JPM buy rec are from a June 10 interview in the WSJ).
My current worst-case scenario: 20 million barrels leaked into the Gulf, and $560 billion in damages. Let me explain how I arrived at that number.
Update: As I was writing this piece, the official FRTG estimate jumped from 20,000-40,000 to 35,000-60,000.
The group in charge of official estimates, the Flow Rate Technical Group or FRTG, has been hesitant to give exact numbers and opinions of all scientists involved. (update above). I spoke with NOAA officials yesterday, and they would not comment on whether the previous 20k to 40k range was actually the low end of a broader range, rather than a median or consensus estimate. They did mention a new official estimate was out soon, but referred all questions on flow rates to the USGS and FRTG.
0 to 60,000 BPD, Will It Stop Here?
As far back as May 21st, a NYT editorial by independent experts said 100,000 bpd is certainly not out of the question. So it seems logical to include those numbers in a worst-case analysis.
Let's run a few scenarios using different inputs for barrels/day (BPD) and number of days until the leak stops. Note: 35,000 represents the low range of the latest official estimate. Total barrels leaked will depend on future revisions of how much oil has leaked out over time, as the flow varies.
BPD Days Total Barrels Leaked
35,000 56 (today) 1.96 million 35,000 100 3.5 million
60,000 200 12 million 100,000 200 20 million
Worst-Case Cost Estimates for BP, Based on Valdez Costs
Keep in mind that the Exxon Valdez tanker spilled a relatively small 250,000 barrels of oil into Prince William Sound. That disaster cost Exxon around $7 billion, adjusted for inflation.
The Gulf disaster could end up being 10-80x larger than Valdez in terms of barrels spilled, based on the scenarios outlined in the table above. That would mean 2.5-20 millon barrels spilled close to the Mississipi Delta. It's an area which is arguably more important, by an order of magnitude, than Prince William Sound, where the Exxon Valdez ran aground. Thinking about the long-term environmental damage is overwhelming.
To summarize: My total economic damage estimate range, based on the Exxon Valdez model multiplied by how much larger this spill/leak, is $70-$560 billion.
Relief Wells
The original effort to stop the main wellhead gusher appears to have been abandoned. The focus is now on capturing as much of the leak as possible until a "bottom kill" using relief wells can be attemped.
In his analysis, J.P. Morgan's Mr. Lucas also assumes that relief wells will succeed by July 4th. Everyone wants these wells to work, but it seems reckless to use July 4 as the base assumption for analysis, especially when you call it worse-case.
Most analysts do not expect relief wells to succeed until August at earliest, with Business Week reporting that efforts could take until Christmas.
We have no idea how much oil is leaking into the Gulf right now. Even after the recent revisions, those estimates could go higher. One big reason for this uncertainty is that current estimates are all based on flow rate from the main leak(s).
Oil Leaking from the Seafloor?
Some evidence is emerging that oil is now leaking directly from the seafloor, not just from the broken wellhead. Consider this video shot from an ROV on the seafloor, reportedly shot from one of two ROVs from the Viking Poseidon.
Keith Olbermann of MSNBC reported on the possibility of oil leaking from the sea floor on his show, which aired June 8th.
It's not a happy situation. I don't want the Gulf to suffer or BP to go under. I bought BP shares on May 4th, stopping out for an 8% loss a few days later. So I understand the temptation to value-shop. But facts have emerged over the last month that dramatically change the situation, as I explained here on June 1st.
Unless we start preparing for a true worst case scenario, we will not be ready for the economic, environmental, and financial impacts it could bring.
Note: I am currently short BP and own puts, so please assume this analysis is biased. I do not think it is, but welcome refutations and/or corrections. One might consider the possibility that Wall Street firms who count BP as a client may be unintentionally biased, as well. Do your own research, this is not investment advice. It is the solely the opinion of the author.
Adam Sharp
Guest Editor, EnergyandCapital.comI’m relieved that the weather is unseasonably warm on the day I meet Cat Marnell, because it means I can wear my vintage fake-leopard jacket and not my North Face Brooklyn Mom sleeping-bag coat. From reading her new memoir, How to Murder Your Life, with its Bret Easton Ellis–style litanies of labels, I know that Marnell notices the details of other people’s hair and skin and clothing, down to the perfume they’re wearing. But as soon as she greets me on the stairs of her apartment building (wearing bleach-stained black leggings that hang loosely on her sticklike legs), I stop worrying what she’ll think of me and try to figure out what’s going on with her. She’s talking quickly, loping around her living room, offering explanations and covering about ten of the topics I’ve planned to ask about before I can even take off my sensible shoes. She’s barefoot, wearing a white headscarf with what look like clip-in extensions hanging down her back, her eyeliner is uneven, and she is still undeniably beautiful.
Marnell’s beauty — undiminished by years of disordered eating, cigarettes, and an erratic sleep schedule — is of a particular doll-like kind that somehow brings out the worst in men and women alike. She is tiny, with gaunt limbs, perfect lips, and those giant cartoon eyes. She looks like a cross between Elizabeth Wurtzel and Tara Reid, like a doll you’d be tempted to bend into weird shapes and give a buzz cut.
Book Excerpt How to Murder Your Life
A housekeeper is leaving just as I arrive, but even though the place is now pristine and smells like cleaning products, there’s a lingering sense that a big ongoing mess is just barely being contained. Hundreds of books and magazines, organized by color, frame a spectacular Manhattan Bridge view; the first title that catches my eye is Exploiting Chaos. A curtain of sparkly, probably expensive dresses are hanging off the shower rod in the translucent-paned cubicle bathroom that divides bedroom from living room/kitchen. More gowns dangle from a closet door and line the garment racks that surround the bed. “You know that line in Trainwreck where Amy Schumer gets invited to a gala last minute and jokes she’ll find something to wear in her ‘gown closet’? I only have a gown closet,” Marnell says. It turns out the dresses are waiting to be packed up and put into storage by a media-studies major who’s working as her part-time assistant; the goal is to make the contents of the apartment unappealing to a former friend turned stalker who has robbed Marnell before. “I want him to come in here and see only, like, a Hanes sweatshirt,” she explains. We walk past a pink shoe rack adorned with a collection of multicolored hospital bracelets and curl up cross-legged on the couch, me with a glass of water I’ve poured myself from the spotless sink, Marnell with a cup of Dunkin’ coffee that she reheats periodically in the microwave.
There’s a grubby pink totebag on the sofa between us, and I immediately imagine Marnell reaching into it and scrabbling around for a pill bottle. An hour or so later, when she finally does, neither of us even bothers to mention it. “There’s a bottle of Adderall right next to me as I sit writing this. It has always been my ‘mostly companion,’ as Eloise would say,” she writes in her book’s afterword. Most addiction memoirs end with the end of the addiction. Cat Marnell, however, remains what she’s best known for being: a pillhead, a doctor-shopper, and a beauty expert whose own stunning looks are under constant assault by her lifestyle, which even at its least druggy is basically nonstop self-harm.
In conversation, Marnell’s light, gushy voice is similar to the Eloise-y tone that makes her book so companionably charming; her laugh is always on the verge of bubbling out, and light flashes behind her marble-size irises as she speaks. Her daffiness belies a knack for offhand brilliance; even her glancing observations are writerly and insightful: “He’s so serious in such an endearing way,” “He has the craziest eyes, second to the National Geographic cover lady.” It’s fucked up to admit, but even though I’d read a lot of her writing, I didn’t expect her to be as smart as she is. She works what she calls the “wolf in bimbo’s clothing” angle, though it’s not entirely clear why a wolf would want to adopt that particular disguise. Part of it might be that she never really had a choice: she was born blonde and pretty to rich, dysfunctional parents. Worse still, one was a psychotherapist and the other a psychiatrist; a teenage Cat’s father wrote her first prescription for ADHD medication.
She first rose to prominence, at least in the insular New York media world, around 2011, when she was hired by Jane Pratt to help run xoJane. (This was Pratt’s ambitious website launch and third headline-grabbing media moment, after Jane and Sassy.) Marnell, who’d resigned from her previous job as an associate beauty editor at Lucky after her meteoric rise there culminated with stints in rehab and a mental hospital, had responded to a tweet from an editor looking for an “unhealthy health writer.” She wound up writing a column that reliably generated news, much of it from other websites that questioned her employers’ role in enabling her. She also garnered fans who read her to be entertained and also, maybe, reassured that they had their own shit comparatively together. When I told my friends I was interviewing her, they were quick to cite their favorite Marnell posts, but their curiosity about her (“Is she terrible?”) was mingled with a kind of guilty concern. “I don’t want to look sometimes,” a friend who follows her on Instagram told me.
There’s always a fine line between appreciating the art that someone’s making out of her fucked-up life and feeling like your attention makes you complicit in her self-destruction. With the |
would. Every business has sensitive or mission critical data and ultimately it would come down to a business decision if that was under threat,” he said.
There is a lot at stake for firms. More than 40 per cent cited brand and reputation damage as a key risk of an attack and 55 per cent were concerned about data loss.
IT defences
The ongoing threats have prompted companies to invest more in security, with 80 per cent of those surveyed saying they had upgraded their IT defences in the past year and 5 per cent expecting to shell out more this year on security than they did in 2015.
Despite this, only 10 per cent of companies had absolute confidence in their IT security measures.
“The fact that 80 per cent of businesses are upgrading and changing their security infrastructure is reassuring but it begs the question: what are the other 20 per cent doing? Cybercriminals are forever changing their approach and businesses need to constantly adapt to keep up,” Mr O’Hara said.
It is not just ransomware that is popping up on the radar though. DDoS attacks, such as those that hit Government websites in recent months, social engineering and data destruction were all on the list of worries for Irish firms.
Companies were also underestimating the risk from the supply chain. Despite almost half of those surveyed claiming to be concerned about attacks through this channel, 23 per cent do not have specific requirements for information security in the contracts of third-party suppliers. Data Solutions said the figure was rising.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that police, under certain circumstances, can initiate an interrogation of a suspect without the defendant’s lawyer being present.
Camden police department officers search suspects in a night raid in Camden, New Jersey March 24, 2005. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
By a 5-4 vote, the conservative majority overruled a 23-year-old Supreme Court decision that barred the police from initiating questioning after a defendant asserted the right to an attorney at an arraignment or similar proceeding.
The 1986 decision held that once a defendant invoked the right to counsel, only the suspect, and not the police, can initiate the contact.
The ruling was the latest in a recent string by conservative justices expanding the power of police to question suspects, but it does not change the landmark 1966 ruling barring the police from questioning a suspect who invoked the right to remain silent or have a lawyer present.
The decision was a defeat for Jesse Jay Montejo, a Louisiana death row inmate. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of a dry-cleaning operator during a robbery in 2002.
He initially waived his right to a lawyer and was questioned by the police. He told several conflicting stories. Several days later, he appeared in court for a preliminary hearing and a local judge appointed a lawyer to represent Montejo, who could not afford an attorney.
Later that day, police investigators approached Montejo in prison and he again waived his right to a lawyer.
But Montejo later claimed the police had violated his constitutional right to counsel by interrogating him without his lawyer being present and pressuring him to write a letter confessing and apologizing to the victim’s wife. That letter was later introduced as evidence against him at his trial.
The Louisiana Supreme Court and then the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Montejo’s appeal.
Writing for the court majority, Justice Antonin Scalia said there was little if any chance a defendant will be badgered into waiving the right to have counsel present during police-initiated questioning.
In overruling the 1986 decision, Scalia said, “The considerable adverse effect of this rule upon society’s ability to solve crimes and bring criminals to justice far outweighs its capacity to prevent a genuinely coerced agreement to speak without counsel present.”
Liberal Justice John Paul Stevens, the author of the 1986 decision, disagreed.
In dissent, Stevens said the dubious benefits of overruling the decision are far outweighed by damage to the rule of law and the integrity of the constitutional right to an attorney.Conservatives are desperate for summer recess but MPs believe plotting to replace PM will resume after break – despite her calls to end infighting
Theresa May is expected to face an effort by some Tory MPs to oust her in the autumn, despite her attempt to regain authority over her cabinet by ordering them to stop leaking details of their infighting over Brexit.
With a letter of no confidence already in circulation but only a small number of signatures so far, several MPs said on Monday that May was safe until summer – with colleagues desperate to get to the parliamentary recess and have a break.
But they believed plotting against her would continue after the summer break, with some determined to have her replaced by David Davis, Boris Johnson, Philip Hammond or another senior figure by Christmas.
One week after the heavily leaked cabinet meeting which brought tensions out into public view, the prime minister will remind her ministers of their responsibilities and the need to “get on with delivering Brexit” when they meet on Tuesday.
But her position is far from secure. One senior Tory MP said the success of the effort to topple the prime minister would depend on whether colleagues could be persuaded there is a better candidate.
He said Conservative MPs divided into categories ranging from: “she made her bed and should lie in it”; “she is our prisoner and is serving at the leisure of the party”; and others who want her gone by Christmas. But he questioned whether there would be enough dissent for almost 50 MPs to send letters to the chair of the 1922 backbench committee, Graham Brady, as would be needed to trigger a contest.
Another senior figure claimed that while there was some desire for a leadership contest, there was “unanimous” resistance to anything that could mean a general election, as Tories fear Jeremy Corbyn would be heading to Downing Street.
May told backbench MPs at a summer event that their choice was her or Corbyn as prime minister as she urged them to stop the “backbiting”. One politician at the event said the mood among backbench MPs was a desire for Cabinet ministers to stop causing trouble. One said that briefings against the prime minister were coming from a “few embittered ultras” rather than a broader groundswell.
No 10 is not planning a formal investigation into the leaks but May’s spokesman said the prime minister would use Tuesday morning’s weekly cabinet meeting to insist they stop.
“What I would say is of course cabinet must be able to hold discussions on government policy in private and the prime minister will be reminding her colleagues of that at the cabinet meeting tomorrow,” he said.
“She’ll just be reminding them of their responsibilities and making the point that ministers across government need to be focused on getting on with delivering for the British public.”
Brexit supporting MPs, meanwhile, who have formed the European Research Group, have been discussing their desire to ensure that nothing takes place that could destabilise Britain’s departure from the EU.
The frenzy of anonymous briefings and counter-briefing by allies of cabinet ministers over the weekend suggests they are already squaring up for a possible leadership contest and battle over the future of Brexit.
Allies of Davis appear to be furthest down the road in talking of a leadership bid but, like Hammond, he is viewed with suspicion by some proponents of Brexit, even though he campaigned to leave.
Hammond was the main target of leaks from other ministers about his supposed comments in cabinet, one saying he called public sector workers “overpaid”, the other claiming he said driving modern trains was so easy “even a woman can do it”.
Tory efforts to downplay cabinet rifts insult intelligence of voters Read more
On Monday, the Telegraph then cited an anonymous cabinet colleague as saying Hammond and the Treasury “want to frustrate Brexit” and that the chancellor viewed Brexiters as “pirates”.
In a counter-briefing, an unnamed ally of Hammond told the Sun that the environment secretary, Michael Gove, was the source of some of the leaks from last week’s cabinet meeting. But this was denied by friends of Gove as “simply untrue”. A senior Tory also claimed that Gove and Boris Johnson were behind the briefings against Hammond, saying they were “so obsessed with a hard Brexit that they’re prepared to run the economy off a cliff”.
May attempted to relaunch her faltering leadership last week with a speech saying she wanted to carry out a bold domestic policy agenda as well as Brexit, while challenging Labour and other opposition parties to come up with constructive ideas.
However, it does not appear to have won over some Tory MPs. One pro-Brexit MP said he had been approached to sign a letter of no confidence but had not done so yet only because of doubts about the possible successors, and the threat of a remainer winning the contest.
“If there was someone credible to take over I’d probably back them. But I’m not convinced that where we are now is tenable. There is not a winning situation at the moment,” he said, adding that Davis was probably the best option at the moment.
It comes at a time of intense speculation over May’s leadership and the future of Brexit, with Hammond, Johnson and Davis all potentially vying for supremacy.
Michael Heseltine, the former deputy prime minister, said May’s government was enfeebled and deeply divided. He guessed that the person responsible for the cabinet leak was a leading Brexiter because that was “where the self-interest lies”. But he argued that that person cannot be sacked because the prime minister has no authority.
Lord Heseltine told the World at One: “So you have an enfeebled government. Everybody knows this. I don’t like saying it, but I’m not telling you anything that every journalist is not writing every day... The Europeans have worked it all out. This is a government without authority. This is a deeply divided government and what they know, what the Europeans know, and what our national press knows is every day there’s a more depressing headline.”Israel's Clean-Tech Boom Draws A New Green Line
toggle caption David Buimovitch/AFP/Getty Images
Israelis often explain the policy choices they make by saying they live in a difficult neighborhood, and this is no exception. Israel wants to be at the forefront of innovation in alternative energy, and it's investing hundreds of millions of dollars to do it.
That money is raining down on the southernmost part of Israel -- one of the most inhospitable places on the planet. It gets 1 inch of rainfall per year, with soaring temperatures that bake its sandy, mountainous landscape. Now, when Noam Ilan looks at the arid Arava region, he sees opportunity.
Ilan is an executive at Capital Nature, a research and development center in the region that is pushing renewable energy -- or "clean tech," as it's becoming known. He says the government's investment in the burgeoning clean-tech sector is motivated by more than just being green.
"The dependency on oil is a huge threat to Israel, because that makes the enemies of Israel much stronger," he says. "The European countries and the U.S., if this dependency on oil increases, will start rethinking their support of Israel."
The thinking goes that if the world can be weaned off oil, then that will make oil-producing countries, like Israel's archenemy Iran, weaker.
Last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a $500 million investment plan supporting research and development in alternative energy, with the intention of, as he put it, "Israel becoming the leader -- the catalyst -- in research activity."
Fueling Clean-Tech Initiatives
In the south, a new alternative energy hub is being built with the help of government funds. A host of companies dealing with projects devoted to all kinds of alternative energy is moving to the area, lured by incentives.
Huge mirrors point toward the sun in a dusty field located at the back of one kibbutz. There is one thing this part of Israel has a lot of, and that is sun.
"This is the highest amount of radiation you'll find on the planet -- the best environmental conditions," William Weisinger says. He's a project manager from AORA Solar, a new Israeli company pushing solar hybrid technology.
"We are bringing in pilot projects, we are bringing in academia, we are bringing in engineers -- that is where we are headed, to make the Silicon Valley of Israel," he says.
It's a lofty goal and one that Israel isn't even close to achieving yet.
Israel already has a booming high-tech industry -- it has more companies on the technology-focused NASDAQ exchange than any place outside North America -- but it's been slow to get on the alternative energy bandwagon.
Competing On The Cutting Edge
At the moment, less than 2 percent of Israel's energy needs are serviced by alternative energy -- solar and thermal power. The goal is to get that to 20 percent in the next 10 years. That's a long way off, according to David Lehrer with the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies.
"Israel is far, far away," he says. "Part of the reason is because the regulation system within Israel was not in place in order to encourage renewable energy. And therefore, many Israeli entrepreneurs went abroad. And Israel was, in a sense, was left behind."
Jack Levy, a partner in Israel Cleantech Ventures, says Israel can't compete with huge countries like the U.S. and China, which invest billions of dollars in clean tech. But he says Israel can succeed by focusing on being an incubator of cutting-edge technology.
"What you're seeing here is the opportunity for Israel to be the laboratory," Levy says. "What we have are the abilities and the technologists and the intellectual property and the know-how to help that happen."
Leher says companies, entrepreneurs and scientists are already moving back.
"Israel has every reason to want to utilize its natural resource of sun and to wean itself and the rest of the world off fossil fuels," he says. "Therefore, we should not be the ones following everybody else, but we should take the lead."Command Tank-Building Plant named DolphinFox after much debate and controversy has been decided to start mass production of super-heavy tanks of TOG-2 "Flatrion-Self-propelled" to increase the firepower of the forces of "Good and Light". The crew of the first tank are: Cloudchaser and Flitter.This tank is one of the most dangerous tanks at its level, although many consider it an easy target. This is partly true, because the mobility of the tank is very bad and very large size. However, a very dangerous weapon tank and the biggest margin of safety, well-planned tactics and strategy, as well as the support of allies to crush the enemy's defense or to reflect the attack.Had to work hard to set up your tank with caterpillar. I just chose not the best view of the tankUsed Vectors:Flitter [link] by SVG-file: [link] My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic © HasbroCloudchaser and Flitter © Lauren Faust**Updated**1.1 - Technical update: bitmap image Flitter replaced to vector image. I had to remove an image Snowflake, since he does not have a vector image1.2 - Fixed small errors1.3 - Fixed bug with tracksOne has to wonder what Karl Marx would make of news from Abebooks that it has scored a coup with the sale of a volume of Das Kapital for $40,000, its second-highest cyber-trade of the year so far.
Abe's blog celebration links the sale to the current, rather spectacular heights of the stock market: "On the day that the Dow Jones index closed at an all-time high of 17,068 points, [we] sold a first edition of Karl Marx's Das Kapital for $40,000." Yet investment in fetish-vessels of cash in the form of fine art, memorabilia, and antiques is very often the resort of rich capitalists anxious about falling markets. If equities are zooming up, rich folks generally leave their money "working for them".
Marx himself was not immune to the seduction of speculation: Francis Wheen's terrific biography of the great communist recounts that, in 1864, he claimed to have made more than £400 from the English stocks "springing up like mushrooms this year".
Marx might perhaps consider that the rare book is a special case of surplus value, not that he saw much return on his own labours – relying instead on handouts from Friedrich Engels' earnings at his family's Victoria Mill in Salford.
At the post-Marxist Frankfurt School and in his journalism and life, Walter Benjamin certainly saw book-collecting as more than a simple market fetish. In his essay Unpacking My Library, he sets out his own attachment to rare books and describes "a very mysterious relationship to ownership … a relationship to objects which does not emphasise their functional utilitarian value – that is, their usefulness – but studies and loves them as the scene, the stage, of their fate … The period, the region, the craftsmanship, the former ownership – for a true collector, the whole background of an item adds up to a magic encyclopedia whose quintessence is the fate of his object."
In his 1936 essay The Work of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction, Benjamin reflects on the emancipatory potential of artefacts made available in repro form, a potential that should be increasing exponentially in our digital economy. But he also mourns the loss of an object's "aura", the added spiritual value that comes when it exists in one place only.
I can remember the days, only a couple of decades back, when Bookmarks, the socialist bookshop, had a branch on Charing Cross Road, among the secondhand and antiquarian trade spotting the district as far away as Bloomsbury and Marx's London office, the British Library. Its austere shelves included Soviet-produced English translations of much of Marx's work, as well as Trotsky's. These were fragile and rare objects themselves, as the Rizla-thin pages would begin to fall apart as soon as you removed one from the shelf. The shop is closed now, but in the later years of this decade this whole area will be overlooked by Amazon's new offices in Holborn, currently under construction.
Given the ironical nostalgia attached to the eastern bloc – its overcoats, badges and statues – the books would probably do quite well on the Soviet kitsch market. But Benjamin certainly wouldn't have bought in.
The simple ironies of the Das Kapital sale only accumulate when one thinks about where the vendor's profits go. Antiquarian booksellers have come to rely on Abebooks to extend their individual niche markets around the world, but many complain that the site's dominance is slowly killing their trade, making books that once seemed hard to come by readily available on its gigantic virtual shelves. We are certainly seeing more and more of the charming 3D shops closing.
And there is a more familiar kind of commodity fetishism attached to the first edition of Kapital Buch I. Since 2008 Abebooks has been owned by Amazon, the company accused this week by Germany's economic minister Sigmar Gabriel of practising "brutal information capitalism" alongside Apple, Facebook and Google. In an editorial for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, he said: "It is the future of democracy in the digital age, and nothing less, that is at stake here, and with it the freedom, emancipation, participation and and self-determination of 500 million people in Europe."
We have come a long way from precious, unique artefacts. Amazon's approximately 10% take of the sale, plus an unfathomably high handling charge, make this first edition of Das Kapital into a digital exchange-value counter in the demented e-economy. Pulsing through a distant server somewhere, Marx is giving Jeff Bezos's swelling empire an infinitesimal fillip, a little ouija tap from the spectre of communism.Can diet explain the higher blood pressure levels seen in African Americans compared with non-Hispanic whites in the US?
By studying metabolites in urine samples from 1559 US citizens, researchers identified differences between the two groups. As well as giving urine samples, the participants were asked questions about their diet and had their blood pressure measured four times over three weeks. The researchers then sought links between the metabolites, the foods the participants said they ate and their blood pressure.
They found that diet could explain between a third and a half of the blood pressure difference seen between men in the two groups, and a quarter in women. Most of this is down to different food choices.
Compared with whites, African Americans consumed less of a number of key nutrients that could potentially lower blood pressure, including vegetable protein, iron, potassium and calcium. African Americans also consumed more of some substances known to raise blood pressure, including cholesterol and glycine, an amino acid found at higher levels in meats.
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Co-author Jeremy Nicholson of Imperial College London says a genetic mechanism may be amplifying the effects of bad diet. “Microscopic variations in the genome, none of which are significant in their own right, change the risk of populations when they have risky behaviours [such as eating unhealthy food],” he says.
Journal reference: Hypertension, DOI: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.113.01810This post was made with an older stylesheet
Even if in WoGue we love to love Gnome, that doesn’t mean we won’t discuss its weaknesses and accuse its deficiencies.Who would believe some years later that in a default Gnome installation you wouldn’t be able to change your icons? Who could imagine that wallpaper would be the only customization option in Gnome?
On the other hand, Gnome developers gave community some cool tools (CSS, JS) to customize Gnome and community acted fast building awesome stuffs.In the end of the day, my only complain goes to “why Gnome doesn’t merge gnome-tweak-tools (Advanced Settings) to the gnome-control-center (System Settings).
Enough said, lets see how you can theme Gnome:
Window Theme: This is the top bar with the controls (minimize, maximize, close).
GTK+ Theme: This is the rest of the GTK windows. You have to note that even if you are using Gnome 3, many applications like Firefox and Chrome (and many others) still using GTK2, that is why most themes include GTK2 and GTK3 configurations files. Also note that some themes require extra gtk rendering engines like unico and murrine.
Gnome-Shell Theme: You know what is this, right? Just be cautious when you download themes because they don’t work in all Gnome-Shell versions. Their authors always are clear about the version of the Shell the theme is for, so just read it :)
Icons, Cursors, Fonts: You know what these are, right?
Prerequisites
First off you need gnome-tweak-tool and gnome-shell-extension-user-theme so if your distribution doesn’t have them, install by:
sudo yum install gnome-tweak-tool
sudo yum install gnome-shell-extension-user-theme #OR sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell-extension-user-theme #OR Something else depending your package manager
Downloads
For our example we will use Zukitwo GTK, Window and Shell themes, Faience Icons, Ubuntu Fonts and Ecliz Mouse Theme. For using Faienza you need also the Faenza theme.
Get Eliz Cursor Get Zukitwo GTK/Shell Get Faenza Icon Theme Get Faience Icon Theme
Ubuntu Fonts
Installation
Icons: Unzip Icons in ~/.icons folder
GTK/Shell Theme: Unzip GTK and Shell themes in ~/.themes folder
Cursor: Unzip Cursor themes in ~/.icons folder
Fonts: Unzip Fonts in ~/.fonts folder
Notes1: “~/” symbol stands for your home folder and “.” symbol frond of a file/folder defines it as hidden. You can see/hide hidden folder by pressing “Ctrl+H”.
Notes2: You also need to enable user-theme extensions from Tweak Tool in order to can switch Shell Themes and do not forget to install the GTK engines that Zukitwo author recommends.
Use
That’s all, all you need to do now is just use them. Open gnome-tweak-tool and pick them!
Before
After
Notes: In some occasions you need to restart Shell for changes to take effect. Press “Alt+F2” enter “r” and hit Enter.
This is a quick guide and there are more things that you can customize, but we will open a permanent page for it.
Get Themes at:
gnome-look.org and deviantart.comReuters reported this week that President Obama has endorsed a plan to “rescue” the Postal Service, including by reducing service one day a week.
Bloomberg reports: “A measure that may put the U.S. Postal Service under a control board, end to-the-door mail delivery and close post offices using the same process as military-base shutdowns was approved by a U.S. House panel. The bill, sponsored by Representatives Darrell Issa, a California Republican, and Dennis Ross, a Florida Republican, was approved today with Republican support and Democratic opposition.”
RALPH NADER, via Jeff Musto, info at csrl.org
In a letter to Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Rep. Darrell Issa, Nader writes: “The deep hole of debt that is currently facing the U.S. Postal Service is entirely due to the burdensome prepayments for future retiree health care benefits imposed by Congress in the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006. By June 2011, the USPS saw a total net deficit of $19.5 billion … [this] deficit almost exactly matches the $20.95 billion the USPS made in prepayments to the fund for future retiree health care benefits by June 2011. If the prepayments required under PAEA were never enacted into law, the USPS would not have a net deficiency of nearly $20 billion, but instead be in the black by at least $1.5 billion.” Nader stresses that, in terms of retirees’ health benefits, the Postal Service is required to do things that “no other government or private corporation is required to do and is an incredibly unreasonable burden.”
PDF of Nader’s full letter.
Nader wrote the forward to the book Preserving the People’s Post OfficeMicrosoft is expected to unveil its next-gen Xbox console at June's E3 gaming conference. But screen shots of the new device's development kit have emerged online, suggesting that Redmond will be embracing the always-on, always-connected approach with the new Xbox.
VGLeaks.com posted several screen shots of the SDK for the new system, codenamed Durango. Most interesting is the "Durango Hardware Overview" shot, which provides a glimpse of what users will experience on the new Xbox, referred to by some as Xbox 720.
"Durango will implement different power states so that it can always be powered on, but will draw minimal electricity when not in use," it reads. "The console will be ready instantly when users want to play, and will always maintain a network connection so that software console and games are always current. With this 'Always On, Always Connected' design, users will quickly and easily enjoy their connected entertainment experiences, with no waiting for the console to restart or install updates."
Microsoft recently tackled superfast startup times with Windows 8.
The document also said each new Xbox will come with a "high-fidelity Kinect sensor, which will be required for the system to operate."
The new "Durango" controller, meanwhile, "will make the best-in-class Xbox 360 controller even better," according to the screenshot. "It will have low-latency wireless connectivity to the console, and improved ergonomics. System interactions that use the controller will be simplified to make them easier for noncore gamers."
Durango has a Blu-ray optical drive, but when it comes to games, they will not tap into that optical drive. "An installation system is being designed that will allow gamers to begin playing while the game is being installed on the hard drive rather than waiting until installation is complete," the document says.
The document cautions, however, that the information is preliminary and subject to change. We'll likely find out more at E3.
Sony recently announced its PlayStation 4 console, which is expected by the holiday season. We haven't actually seen the new PS4, but there are a number of games on tap. Nintendo's Wii U was released in November.Platinum
Obtain all trophies
1.0%
Ultra Rare 2.51%
Ultra Rare
Isaac's Tears
Kill Isaac with Isaac
13.0%
Very Rare 13.75%
Rare
Mom's Knife
Kill Satan with Isaac
14.2%
Very Rare 14.78%
Rare
Isaac's Heart
Kill Isaac with The Lost
2.7%
Ultra Rare 4.24%
Ultra Rare
The Mind
Kill Satan with The Lost
2.3%
Ultra Rare 3.96%
Ultra Rare
Magdalene
Have 7 or more max red hearts at one time
38.4%
Rare 40.41%
Uncommon
The Relic
Kill Isaac with Maggy
8.3%
Very Rare 10.05%
Rare
Guardian Angel
Kill Satan with Maggy
8.0%
Very Rare 9.99%
Very Rare
Cain
Hold 55 or more pennies at one time
36.4%
Rare 38.01%
Uncommon
The Coin Bag
Kill Isaac with Cain
9.2%
Very Rare 10.77%
Rare
The Bomb Bag
Kill Satan with Cain
9.3%
Very Rare 10.96%
Rare
Judas
Kill Satan
22.3%
Rare 22.93%
Uncommon
The Guillotine
Kill Isaac with Judas
9.7%
Very Rare 11.05%
Rare
Judas' Tongue
Kill Satan with Judas
9.8%
Very Rare 11.17%
Rare
Eve
Beat 2 levels in a row without picking up any hearts
37.1%
Rare 39.69%
Uncommon
Eve's Bird Foot
Kill Isaac with Eve
7.4%
Very Rare 9.06%
Very Rare
The Razor
Kill Satan with Eve
7.0%
Very Rare 8.79%
Very Rare
Samson
Beat 2 levels in a row without taking damage
27.8%
Rare 29.98%
Uncommon
Bloody Lust
Kill Isaac with Samson
9.0%
Very Rare 10.40%
Rare
Blood Rights
Kill Satan with Samson
8.8%
Very Rare 10.32%
Rare
Azazel
Make 3 deals with the devil in one run
40.4%
Rare 42.02%
Uncommon
The Satanic Bible
Kill Isaac with Azazel
14.6%
Very Rare 15.91%
Rare
Daemon's Tail
Kill Satan with Azazel
17.4%
Rare 18.54%
Rare
Lazarus
Have 4 or more soul hearts at one time
49.9%
Rare 51.88%
Common
Lazarus' Rags
Kill Isaac with Lazarus
7.5%
Very Rare 9.16%
Very Rare
Broken Ankh
Kill Satan with Lazarus
7.3%
Very Rare 9.05%
Very Rare
Eden
Beat the Womb for the first time
31.3%
Rare 32.62%
Uncommon
A Blank Card
Kill Isaac with Eden
9.7%
Very Rare 10.85%
Rare
The Book Of Secrets
Kill Satan with Eden
9.0%
Very Rare 10.26%
Rare
Something from the future
Beat the Basement 40 times
23.2%
Rare 23.37%
Uncommon
Something Cute
Beat the Caves 30 times
18.1%
Rare 18.72%
Rare
Something sticky
Beat the Depths 20 times
18.0%
Rare 18.84%
Rare
Basement Boy
Beat the Basement/Cellar without taking damage
30.3%
Rare 34.24%
Uncommon
Spelunker Boy
Beat the Caves/Catacombs without taking damage
12.7%
Very Rare 15.77%
Rare
Dark Boy
Beat the Depths/Necropolis without taking damage
10.2%
Very Rare 12.46%
Rare
Mama's Boy
Beat the Womb/Utero without taking damage
11.6%
Very Rare 13.25%
Rare
Dead Boy
Beat the Chest or Dark Room without taking damage
6.9%
Very Rare 7.69%
Very Rare
Challenges
Beat all 20 Challenges
2.6%
Ultra Rare 4.64%
Ultra Rare
Boss Rush
Beat the Boss Rush
22.6%
Rare 23.92%
Uncommon
Dark Room
Beat the Dark Room
11.5%
Very Rare 12.32%
Rare
The Chest
Beat the Chest
12.3%
Very Rare 13.04%
Rare
Lost Poster
Beat the Dark Room with Isaac
8.5%
Very Rare 9.39%
Very Rare
Little Baggy
Collect 2 of either Roid Rage, The Virus, Growth Hormones, Experimental Treatment, or Speed Ball
34.6%
Rare 36.18%
Uncommon
The Womb
Kill Mom
43.5%
Rare 46.08%
Uncommon
The Halo
Kill Mom using the Bible
16.5%
Rare 18.94%
Rare
Transcendence
Kill Mom's Heart 3 times
24.7%
Rare 25.64%
Uncommon
Everything Is Terrible
Kill Mom's Heart 5 times
21.5%
Rare 22.44%
Uncommon
A Quarter
Kill Mom's Heart 8 times
18.6%
Rare 19.50%
Rare
A Fetus In A Jar
Kill Mom's Heart 9 times
17.9%
Rare 18.86%
Rare
Blue Baby
Kill Mom's Heart 10 times
17.3%
Rare 18.28%
Rare
It Lives
Kill Mom's Heart 11 times
16.9%
Rare 17.76%
Rare
Forget Me Now
Kill Satan with???
6.0%
Very Rare 7.72%
Very Rare
The Book Of Sin
Kill all 7 sins
33.4%
Rare 34.37%
Uncommon
The Polaroid
Beat Cathedral 5 times
12.8%
Very Rare 13.57%
Rare
The Negative
Beat Sheol 5 times
12.7%
Very Rare 13.36%
Rare
Golden God
You are the best!
10.1%
Very Rare 11.21%
Rare
Platinum God
Collect all items and unlock all secrets and endings
1.2%
Ultra Rare 2.65%
Ultra Rare
The Lost
Finish the game's final secret
4.8%
Ultra Rare 6.59%
Very RareThis article is over 10 years old
• Change of tactic increases expectation of ground invasion • Airstrike on crowded mosque in northerh Gaza kills at least 10 • Gordon Brown renews calls for immediate ceasefire
Israel unleashed an artillery bombardment on Gaza today for the first time in its week-long offensive, prompting increased speculation that a ground invasion is about to begin.
Palestinian medical officials also said that an Israeli airstrike on a Gaza mosque had killed 10 people and wounded dozens more. Al Jazeera quoted witnesses as saying there were at least 200 people at prayer inside the Ibrahim al-Maqadna mosque in northern Gaza when the missile struck.
The Israeli TV station Channel 10 said the entire length of the Gaza Strip was under attack. Palestinian witnesses told Reuters the shelling had caused a large explosion in Gaza City and there were a series of blasts close to the frontier with Israel. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Israeli TV commentators said shelling could be used to clear Hamas-laid minefields ahead of a possible ground invasion. Israeli troops are massed on the border waiting for orders to go in.
Speaking from Syria, the exiled Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal, warned that any ground assault would lead Israel to "a black destiny of dead and wounded".
Sustained artillery fire is likely to significantly increase the number of civilian casualties, according to a report on the website of the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz.
Israel's first artillery use came shortly after Gordon Brown telephoned his Israeli counterpart, Ehud Olmert, urging him to stop the attacks.
"The prime minister has spoken again today to Prime Minister Olmert, and is pressing hard for an immediate ceasefire," a Downing Street spokesman said. "We are working urgently with international partners to address the underlying causes of the conflict, including trafficking of arms into Gaza... Moderation must prevail."
Earlier today,Israeli aircraft and gunboats continued attacking targets in Gaza. The Israelis struck the homes of two Hamas operatives, saying the buildings were used to store weapons and plan attacks. Hamas said one of its military leaders, Abu Zakari al-Jamal, was killed in an air raid last night.
More than 400 Palestinians and at least four Israelis have been killed since Israel launched its offensive last Saturday. The UN estimated yesterday that a quarter of the Palestinians killed were civilians.
George Bush today blamed the continuing violence on Hamas terrorism and offered no criticism of Israel in his first comments since the offensive began a week ago.
The US president condemned Hamas's campaign of rocket attacks on Israel as an "act of terror" and said no peace deal would be acceptable unless the flow of smuggled weapons to terrorist groups was monitored and stopped.
"This recent outburst of violence was instigated by Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group supported by Iran and Syria that calls for Israel's destruction," he said.
The White House will not comment on whether it views the Israeli response as proportionate.
In his weekly radio address, Bush said Washington was "leading diplomatic efforts to achieve a meaningful ceasefire that is fully respected".
He said he would keep the president-elect, Barack Obama, updated on the negotiations. Obama has refused to comment on the crisis while Bush remains in office.
The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon last night urged world leaders to intensify efforts to achieve an immediate ceasefire.
Israel has said it will accept a ceasefire only if it is enforced by international monitors.
Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets into southern Israel today. There were no injuries, though one rocket hit a house in the southern city of Ashkelon, police said.A woman holds a photo as several hundred people attend a community vigil to remember Rehtaeh Parsons at Victoria Park in Halifax on Thursday, April 11, 2013. The girl's family says she ended her own life following months of bullying after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by four boys and a photo of the incident was distributed. Andrew Vaughan / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Rehtaeh Parson's father Glen Canning and his wife Krista, at left, and Rehtaeh's mother Leah Parsons and her partner Jason Barnes, at right, in Ottawa on Tuesday., Sean Kilpatrick / THE CANADIAN PRESS
Nova Scotia's justice minister is considering a review of an RCMP investigation that concluded there were no |
caps put in place in 2011.”
— Washington Post, “House Republicans say no to allowing federal studies of medical marijuana,” by Aaron C. Davis: “A rare bipartisan pot proposal died a quiet death in the House that would have reclassified marijuana so that national laboratories could conduct ‘credible research on its safety and efficacy as a medical treatment.’ The amendment to a bill scheduled for debate Thursday on the House floor would have encouraged the National Institutes of Health and the Drug Enforcement Administration to work together to allow studies of the benefits and risks of marijuana to treat cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma and post-traumatic stress disorder, among other conditions.”
— Politico, “Bipartisan marijuana banking bill introduced in the Senate,” by Burgess Everett: “Reflecting growing public support for changing the nation’s drug laws, a bipartisan group of senators on Thursday introduced the chamber’s first bill that would legalize banking for recreational marijuana companies. Introduced by the Senate delegations from Oregon and Colorado, two of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, the bill would prohibit the federal government from penalizing banks that work with marijuana businesses.”
HOT ON THE LEFT
Trump-mentum not stopping yet: the Donald leads GOP pack in new poll. From Talking Points Memo: Donald Trump has set himself apart from the crowded Republican presidential field by refusing to back off from his derogatory comments about Mexican immigrants – and a new poll shows that strategy could be working with voters. Trump leads the GOP pack in this week’s Economist/YouGov poll, with 15 percent of registered Republican voters calling the billionaire-reality TV star their first-choice candidate for 2016.
HOT ON THE RIGHT
If Hillary makes it to the White House, so will Huma Abedin. From the New York Post: “If the phone rings at 3 a.m. in the Hillary Clinton White House, the person answering reportedly will be Huma Abedin, her ‘body woman.’ … ‘Huma’s influence is so pervasive, and Hillary’s dependence on her so total, that it is expected she will have her own bedroom upstairs in the White House,’ a Clinton associate told OrbMagazine’s Richard Turley. ‘After 20 years as Hillary’s gatekeeper, no one else could screen the calls and decide who gets access as ably as she does.’”
DAYBOOK:
–What’s happening today on the campaign trail: Ben Carson, Rick Perry, Marco Rubio, and Rick Santorum will speak at the National Right to Life Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana. Marco Rubio will speak at Freedomfest in Las Vegas. Rand Paul will campaign in Highland Park, Mich. Lindsey Graham will attend meet and greets in Manchester and Goffstown, N.H.
–On the Hill: The House will meet at 9 a.m. to consider the 21st Century Cures Act.
–At the White House: President Obama has no public events scheduled. Press Secretary Josh Earnest will brief the media at 12:30 p.m.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “You know, there are three branches of our government. You have the Supreme Court, the legislative branch and the people – the people and their ability to vote.” – Gov. Mary Fallin (R) gaffes as she defends her refusal to comply with an Oklahoma Supreme Court order that she remove the 10 Commandments from the state Capitol grounds
NEWS YOU CAN USE IF YOU LIVE IN D.C.:
— We’ll have less rain and humidity this weekend than the past couple of days. “We’ve got a chance to get some drying in, with limited risks for showers in the coming days,” the Capital Weather Gang forecasts. “Typical July 80s and 90s are on tap, but with it being our average hottest and muggiest time of the year, any small break from humidity and storms is appreciated. Also, triple-digit temperatures remain off the table for now!”
— The streetcar line increasingly feels like D.C.’s Big Dig: “The District failed to install underground heaters at key points along its beleaguered streetcar line, allowing snow and ice to freeze up critical switches that are supposed to guide the 35-ton vehicles from one piece of track to another, according to a review by a panel of outside experts,” Michael Laris reports. “The decision, made during construction of the system years ago, has broad implications for the reliability of the 2.2-mile line running east of Union Station along H Street and Benning Road NE. During months of test runs last winter, the city’s red-and-gray streetcars were sometimes essentially left frozen in their tracks; workers had to dig out blockages by hand so the vehicles could pass.”
— Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett is proposing $50 million in funding cuts that — among other things — would reduce library hours and delay the arrival of police body cameras. Council President George Leventhal (D-At Large) tells my colleagues that lawmakers are likely to make substantial changes.
— Serena Williams crushed Russian Maria Sharapova in the semifinals at Wimbledon yesterday, continuing a great week for American female athletes.
— The Nationals are playing the Orioles in Baltimore tonight, tomorrow and Sunday.
VIDEO OF THE DAY:
Can you name the white guy running for president? (BuzzFeedVideo)
–An earlier version of this post misstated Rep. Marcia Fudge’s Instagram handle. It is repmarciafudge, not repmarthafudge.In her diary, Godelieva De Troyer classified her moods by color. She felt “dark gray” when she made a mistake while sewing or cooking. When her boyfriend talked too much, she moved between “very black” and “black!” She was afflicted with the worst kind of “black spot” when she visited her parents at their farm in northern Belgium. In their presence, she felt aggressive and dangerous. She worried that she had two selves, one “empathetic, charming, sensible” and the other cruel. She felt “light gray” when she went to the hairdresser or rode her bicycle through the woods in Hasselt, a small city in the Flemish region of Belgium, where she lived. At these moments, she wrote, she tried to remind herself of all the things she could do to feel happy: “demand respect from others”; “be physically attractive”; “take a reserved stance”; “live in harmony with nature.” She imagined a life in which she was intellectually appreciated, socially engaged, fluent in English (she was taking a class), and had a “cleaning lady with whom I get along very well.” Godelieva, who taught anatomy to nurses, had been in therapy since she was nineteen. With each new doctor, she embraced the therapeutic process anew, adopting her doctor’s philosophy and rewriting her life story so that it fit his theory of the mind. She continually dissected the source of her distress. “I am confronted almost daily with the consequences of my childhood,” she wrote to her mother. She’d wanted to be a historian, but her father, domineering and cold, had pressured her to be a doctor. Her mother, who was unhappy in her marriage, reminded her of a “slave.” “New insight,” she wrote in her diary. “Do not want to always nod yes like her and be self-effacing.” Godelieva was preoccupied with the idea that she would replicate her parents’ mistakes with her own children. She married when she was twenty-three, and had two children. But the marriage was tumultuous and ended in divorce, in 1979, when her son was three and her daughter was seven. Two years later, their father, Hendrik Mortier, a radiologist, committed suicide. As a single parent, Godelieva was overwhelmed. In a diary entry from 1990, when her children were teen-agers, she instructed herself to “let my children be themselves, respect them in their individuality.” But she found herself fighting with her daughter, who was independent and emotionally distant, and depending on her son, Tom, a “victim of my instability,” she wrote. She worried, she told her psychologist, that her children were “now paying for all that has happened generations earlier.” The happiest time in Godelieva’s life began when she was in her early fifties and had a new boyfriend. She felt as if she had finally moved beyond the dramas of her childhood, an achievement for which she credited her new psychiatrist. “He opens the wound completely, cleans it thoroughly and closes it so it can heal,” she wrote to a friend. Godelieva, who had blond hair and a wistful smile, made many friends during these years. “She was the most beautiful woman,” Tom told me. “People would say to me, ‘Oh, I could fall in love with your mother.’ ” Christiane Geuens, a close friend, said, “People always wanted to know her. When she walked into a room, everyone knew.” Godelieva was delighted when Tom and his wife had a child, in 2005. She promised that she would make up for her failures as a mother by being an attentive grandmother. In photographs, she is physically affectionate with Tom’s daughter, holding her as she brushes her teeth, or sitting on the bed with her, braiding her hair. Then, in 2010, her boyfriend broke up with her, and she felt black again. She stopped wearing makeup and doing her hair, and she cancelled dates with friends, she said, because she felt ugly and old. She felt that she had lost her levensperspectief, a Dutch word that refers to the sense that there is something to live for. Tom was only thirty minutes away, but she no longer had the energy to drive to his house. She accused Tom of being insufficiently sympathetic, and Tom, who had just had a second child, blamed her for abandoning him and his family. After several months of fights, they stopped speaking. In her diary, she wrote, “I don’t think there can be fruitful contact with the children with all his aggression toward me.” Tom’s sister, a lawyer who does human-rights work in Africa, also avoided her; she found it too painful to be sucked back into her mother’s depression, which had dominated her childhood. (She has asked not to be named.) Godelieva felt as if her emotional progress had been an illusion. She had seen the same psychiatrist for more than ten years and had consulted him on every decision, even those involving financial investments and home renovations, but she had now lost faith in his judgment. She complained to friends, “I give him ninety euros, he gives me a prescription, and after ten minutes it’s over.” Her psychiatrist acknowledged that there was no cure for her condition; the best he could do, he said, was listen to her and prescribe antidepressants, as he had been doing for years. In the summer of 2011, when she was sixty-three, Godelieva met a new doctor. She attended a lecture by Wim Distelmans, an oncologist and a professor of palliative medicine at the Free University of Brussels. Distelmans was one of the leading proponents of a 2002 law in Belgium that permits euthanasia for patients who have an incurable illness that causes them unbearable physical or mental suffering. Since then, he has euthanized more than a hundred patients. Distelmans, who wears leather coats and boots and artfully tossed scarves, has become a celebrity in Belgium for promoting a dignified death as a human right, a “tremendous liberation,” and he gives talks at cultural centers, hospitals, and schools around the country. In September, 2011, Godelieva saw Distelmans at his clinic. Four months later, she sent an e-mail to her children: “I have filed a euthanasia request with Prof. Distelmans based on psychological distress. I have gone through the entire procedure and am now waiting for the result.” “Hey—you can actually hear the ocean better if you put the shell down.”
Tom and his wife had just had their third child. They both taught chemistry at Leuven University College, part of the oldest university in Belgium. When Tom received his mother’s e-mail, he showed it to his supervisor, Lies Verdonck, a doctor who was familiar with Distelmans’s work, and asked her what to do. She said there was no way that Distelmans would approve the euthanasia request without first speaking with the patient’s family. “Stay focussed on your job and your children,” she urged Tom. At the time, Tom was in the process of searching for a nursing home for Godelieva’s mother, from whom Godelieva was estranged. He was angry that the task had fallen to him, and felt that his mother was being manipulative. She had expressed suicidal thoughts before, and they’d passed, so he decided not to respond to the e-mail. His sister, who was in Africa, replied that she would respect her mother’s decision, but that it hurt her. On April 20, 2012, three months after Godelieva sent the e-mail, Tom received a short letter from his mother that was written in the past tense. She reported that her euthanasia had been carried out on April 19th, at the university hospital of the Free University of Brussels. “I donated my body to science,” she wrote. On the back of the letter, she’d left the phone number of a friend who had the keys to her house. Tom immediately drove to the house of the friend, who offered him a drink and then explained that she and her husband had driven Godelieva to the hospital. Tom accused the couple of coöperating with a suicide. They were defensive: they said that it was Godelieva’s choice, and they didn’t want her to have to take a taxi to the hospital alone. Later, they admitted to Tom that in the car Godelieva was chatting and laughing, and they had begun to wonder if they knew her as well as they’d thought. Tom felt his mind shutting down. He drove to his mother’s house, which he hadn’t visited in more than a year. She had just completed an addition to the first floor: before they separated, she and her ex-boyfriend had wanted to grow old in the house without worrying about stairs. The interior of the house was decorated with framed photographs of her grandchildren. Large drawings of Tom and his sister hung on the living-room wall. In the drawer of Godelieva’s bedroom desk, Tom found drafts of several farewell letters that she had written to friends, her neighborhood association, and a chorus that she sang in, as well as a master list with an “X” by each name, as if she were composing thank-you notes after a party. She thanked her friends for their companionship, apologized for causing them pain, and explained that “the loneliness, no chance of a cure after forty years of therapy, nothing to look forward to—all this has led me to see that the only thing remaining is a dignified end of life.” There was also a draft of a long letter to her children, which was far more emotional than the one she had sent. “I have not been able to handle the rift with you, Tom,” she wrote. “I have loved you very much but you have not seen it as such.” She then addressed her three grandchildren: “I have missed you very much.” She also wrote, before crossing it out, “I will not see my grandchildren grow up and that causes me pain.” In his mother’s living room, Tom found an article about Distelmans in De Morgen, a leading Flemish newspaper, which featured a large photograph of him sitting on a bed, wearing jeans, a patterned shirt, and a silver bangle bracelet. The reporter described Distelmans as a doctor who “cannot stand injustice.” Distelmans spoke about his disdain for doctors who assume that they know what their patients need, and told the reporter that the “euthanasia law has such a symbolic value. People have a voice.” Tom also discovered a booklet, produced by LEIF (Life End Information Forum), an organization founded by Distelmans, that outlined the medical and legal options available to people who are dying or want to die. On the final page, the authors introduced an excerpt from “Utopia,” by Thomas More, who describes a world in which “officially sanctioned euthanasia is regarded as an honorable death.” In More’s ideal society, government officials and priests visit suffering invalids and say, “Why don’t you break out and escape to a better world?”
In Belgium, euthanasia is embraced as an emblem of enlightenment and progress, a sign that the country has extricated itself from its Catholic, patriarchal roots. Distelmans, who was brought up as a Catholic and then rejected the Church, told me that his work is inspired by an aversion to all forms of paternalism. “Who am I to convince patients that they have to suffer longer than they want?” he said. Belgium was the second country in the world, after the Netherlands, to decriminalize euthanasia; it was followed by Luxembourg, in 2009, and, this year, by Canada and Colombia. Switzerland has allowed assisted suicide since 1942. The United States Supreme Court has recognized that citizens have legitimate concerns about prolonged deaths in institutional settings, but in 1997 it ruled that death is not a constitutionally protected right, leaving questions about assisted suicide to be resolved by each state. Within months of the ruling, Oregon passed a law that allows doctors to prescribe lethal drugs for patients who have less than six months to live. In 2008, Washington adopted a similar law; Montana decriminalized assisted suicide the year after; and Vermont legalized it in 2013. “You boys who have to take your medications with food, now’s the time.” The right-to-die movement has gained momentum at a time of anxiety about the graying of the population; people who are older than sixty-five represent the fastest-growing demographic in the United States, Canada, and much of Europe. But the laws seem to be motivated less by the desires of the elderly than by the concerns of a younger generation, whose members derive comfort from the knowledge that they can control the end of their lives. Diane Meier, a professor of geriatrics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, in New York, and one of the leading palliative-care physicians in the country, told me that “the movement to legalize assisted suicide is driven by the ‘worried well,’ by people who are terrified of the unknown and want to take back control.” She added, “That is not to say that the medical profession doesn’t do a horrible job of protecting people from preventable suffering.” Like most doctors who specialize in palliative care, a field focussed on quality of life for patients with severe and terminal illnesses, she thinks legalizing assisted suicide is unnecessary. “The notion that if people don’t kill themselves they’re going to die on a ventilator in the hospital would be humorous if it weren’t so serious,” she said. She believes that the angst propelling the movement would be diminished if patients had greater access to palliative care and if doctors were more attentive to their patients’ psychological suffering. In Oregon and Switzerland, studies have shown that people who request death are less motivated by physical pain than by the desire to remain autonomous. This pattern of reasoning was exemplified by Brittany Maynard, a twenty-nine-year-old newlywed who moved to Oregon last year so that she could die on her own terms rather than allowing her brain cancer to take its course. Her story appeared on the cover of People, which described her as having the “soul of an adventurer and the heart of a warrior.” She became the poster child for assisted death—a far more palatable one than Jack Kevorkian, who had previously filled that role. Unlike the patients whom Kevorkian attended to with his makeshift “suicide machine,” Maynard appeared neither passive nor vulnerable. Since her death, seven months ago, lawmakers in twenty-three U.S. states have introduced bills that would make it legal for doctors to help people die. Opponents have warned for years that legalization will lead to a “slippery slope,” but in Oregon fewer than nine hundred people have used lethal prescriptions since the law was passed, and they represent the demographic that is least likely to be coerced: they are overwhelmingly white, educated, and well-off. In Belgium and in the Netherlands, where patients can be euthanized even if they do not have a terminal illness, the laws seem to have permeated the medical establishment more deeply than elsewhere, perhaps because of the central role granted to doctors: in the majority of cases, it is the doctor, not the patient, who commits the final act. In the past five years, the number of euthanasia and assisted-suicide deaths in the Netherlands has doubled, and in Belgium it has increased by more than a hundred and fifty per cent. Although most of the Belgian patients had cancer, people have also been euthanized because they had autism, anorexia, borderline personality disorder, chronic-fatigue syndrome, partial paralysis, blindness coupled with deafness, and manic depression. In 2013, Wim Distelmans euthanized a forty-four-year-old transgender man, Nathan Verhelst, because Verhelst was devastated by the failure of his sex-change surgeries; he said that he felt like a monster when he looked in the mirror. “Farewell, everybody,” Verhelst said from his hospital bed, seconds before receiving a lethal injection. The laws seem to have created a new conception of suicide as a medical treatment, stripped of its tragic dimensions. Patrick Wyffels, a Belgian family doctor, told me that the process of performing euthanasia, which he does eight to ten times a year, is “very magical.” But he sometimes worries about how his own values might influence a patient’s decision to die or to live. “Depending on communication techniques, I might lead a patient one way or the other,” he said. In the days before and after the procedure, he finds it difficult to sleep. “You spend seven years studying to be a doctor, and all they do is teach you how to get people well—and then you do the opposite,” he told me. “I am afraid of the power that I have in that moment.”
Although doctors in Belgium had been covertly performing euthanasia before it was legalized, the majority of them opposed the euthanasia law, according to a survey conducted at the time. The chairman of Belgium’s largest medical association cautioned against making “the exception the rule.” But the political composition of the Belgian government had recently shifted; for the first time since the Second World War, secular politicians (liberals, socialists, and the Green Party) had more power than Christian Democrats, who resisted legalization. Peter Backx, the former editor of Belgium’s largest medical journal, said that the law seemed like a “bit of political revenge.” At the Senate hearings on the law, the phrase “self-determination” was repeated ninety-seven times. The right to a dignified death is viewed as an accomplishment of secular humanism, one of seven belief systems that are officially recognized by the government. Belgian humanism, which was deeply influenced by the nineteenth-century Freemasonry movement, offered an outlet for those who felt oppressed by the Church, but it has increasingly come to resemble the kind of institution that it once defined itself against. Since 1981, the Belgian government has paid for “humanist counsellors,” the secular equivalent of clergy, to provide moral guidance in hospitals, prisons, and the armed forces. Humanist values are also taught in state schools, in a course called non-confessional ethics, which is taken by secular children from first through twelfth grade, while religious students pursue theological studies. The course emphasizes autonomy, free inquiry, democracy, and an ethics based on reason and science, not on revelation. Jan Bernheim, an emeritus professor of medicine at the Free University of Brussels, who studies ethics and quality of life, told me that euthanasia is “part of a philosophy of taking control of one’s own existence and improving the objective conditions for happiness. There is an arrow of evolution that goes toward ever more reducing of suffering and maximizing of enjoyment.” The Belgian Council of Ministers appointed Wim Distelmans to serve as the chairman of the Federal Control and Evaluation Commission, which reviews euthanasia deaths to insure that doctors have complied with the law. In terminal cases, two doctors need to confirm that the patient’s suffering stems from an incurable illness. For non-terminal cases, three doctors must agree. But doctors have adopted increasingly loose interpretations of disease. Distelmans told me, “We at the commission are confronted more and more with patients who are tired of dealing with a sum of small ailments—they are what we call ‘tired of life.’ ” Although their suffering derives from social concerns as well as from medical ones, Distelmans said that he still considers their pain to be incurable. “If you ask for euthanasia because you are alone, and you are alone because you don’t have family to take care of you, we cannot create family,” he said. “Now what?” Last year, thirteen per cent of the Belgians who were euthanized did not have a terminal condition, and roughly three per cent suffered from psychiatric disorders. In Flanders, where the dominant language is Dutch, euthanasia accounts for nearly five per cent of all deaths. (The percentage is lower in the southern, French-speaking parts of Belgium.) The Flemish media have adopted a mostly uncritical approach to euthanasia, running numerous articles about the courage of people who have chosen to die. Last year, De Standaard, a prominent Flemish newspaper, published a long tribute to a depressed mother who was euthanized after being abandoned by her boyfriend and becoming disillusioned by her psychiatric care. “I am forever grateful to her that she handled this so well,” her twenty-four-year-old son told the paper. “I am so glad we were able to say goodbye in a beautiful way.” The suicide rate in Belgium (excluding cases of euthanasia) is the second-highest in Western Europe, a phenomenon often attributed to the Flemish personality type known as “binnenvetter,” a person who holds emotions inside. Joris Vandenberghe, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Leuven and a member of the Belgian Advisory Committee on Bioethics, said that he finds euthanasia requests therapeutically useful, because they prompt patients who would not otherwise seek medical help to consult with doctors about their feelings of hopelessness. He said that most of his patients, even those who are approved for euthanasia, end up deciding that they want to live. But he rejects the idea that suicide is always an indication of pathology. “There’s a whole philosophical history of looking at suicide as a rational choice,” he said. “We, as humans, have the possibility to weigh our own life and decide to end it.”
Tom believes that everyone is suicidal in at least some small way. In his early twenties, the impulse was strong. “There was a red light constantly flickering above me,” he said. He undertook what he called “aggressive reading”: Dostoyevsky, Antonin Artaud, Freud, Sándor Ferenczi, Tolstoy, Carl Jung. He found himself drawn to theories of suffering. He wanted to know what it was that made one person survive and another give up. When Tom was twenty-two, he enrolled in graduate school, for chemistry, but instead of studying he researched his father’s suicide. He often took the train to Ghent, where his father had worked, and interviewed his colleagues and friends. Godelieva, following the advice of her psychiatrist at the time, hadn’t told her children how their father died; she said only that he suffered from headaches. Tom and his sister quickly figured it out. Tom began to see his father as a kind of Dorian Gray figure: he had lived extravagantly, seeking pleasure, success, and distraction. He drove a new Mercedes while he owed millions of Belgian francs and was under the threat of legal action. “He could not see himself as he really was,” Tom recalled. He left a suicide note on his bathroom mirror that said, “I am a victim of the shit that exists in the world today.” In her diary, Godelieva wrote that she couldn’t comprehend why her husband would kill himself. But at other times she felt that she understood perfectly—“I am just like him,” she wrote—but she said that, for the sake of the children, she could never do the same. Neither Tom nor his sister thought that she would have killed herself on her own. She was passive, dependent, and averse to risk. She didn’t like to make a mess. Most of all, she trusted her doctors’ authority. Distelmans was the last in a series of charismatic and accomplished doctors whose theories she had revered. After finding strength in their guidance, she eventually became disillusioned by each treatment. “I can still hardly believe how many amateurs are walking around in this medical field,” she wrote to a friend in the late nineties, after giving up on another therapist. When Tom read his mother’s daily planner, he saw that she had met with Distelmans at least six times in the past eight months. Seven weeks before her death, she donated twenty-five hundred euros to LEIF, the organization that Distelmans had founded. On the bank-transfer form she had written, “Thanks to the staff at LEIF.” Until Godelieva’s death, Tom had never given much thought to euthanasia, though he was vaguely in favor of it. “Distelmans was just a voice I heard on the radio from time to time,” he told me. Tom was brought up as an atheist, and in school he had studied non-confessional ethics. When the euthanasia law was passed, he and his wife, who were in the same graduate program, had recently fallen in love. They assumed that the law was for old people who were already dying. Now it seemed to Tom that there were few people reflecting critically on the law. Three days after his mother’s death, the leading Belgian humanist association named Distelmans one of ten “heroes of self-determination” in the past fifty years, at a celebration for Flemish Heritage Day. When Tom complained to the ombudsman at the hospital of the Free University of Brussels, the ombudsman replied that everything had proceeded according to his mother’s “free will.” Even Godelieva’s friends reserved judgment; few had realized that she suffered from clinical depression. At her memorial service, people skirted the issue. They told one another that you never know how someone is feeling inside, and that “every house has its own cross,” an attitude that Tom described as typically Flemish. Tom likes to joke that he must have some secret French roots, because he finds it nearly impossible to contain his feelings. Godelieva’s friend Christiane Geuens told me that she knew that Godelieva was upset about her breakup, but she never imagined that she was considering euthanasia. Less than two weeks before she died, Godelieva had spent all day at Geuens’s home. Godelieva lit a fire and then sat on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, and told stories. The only indication that something was off was the movie she decided to watch. She wanted to see “Sophie’s Choice.” She had already seen the movie and read the book, and afterward she went on about her identification with Sophie, who was so burdened by her past that she committed suicide. Geuens didn’t see how their situations were comparable, but Godelieva said that they were the same.
A week after his mother’s death, Tom e-mailed a psychiatrist named Lieve Thienpont, whose name he had seen several times in his mother’s daily planner. “May I ask why you approved active euthanasia for my mother and why I was never involved in that decision?” he wrote. Thienpont invited him to meet with her and Distelmans, both of whom are founding members of Ulteam, a clinic for patients who have questions about ending their lives. In the past three years, nine hundred patients have come to Ulteam, half of whom complained that they were suffering psychologically, not physically. On May 15, 2012, Tom went to Distelmans’s clinic, a small brick modernist building in a residential suburb on the outskirts of Brussels. He brought his colleague Steven Bieseman along for moral support. “I was there to help Tom control his emotions, because he can be quite hot-tempered,” Bieseman, a doctor, told me. “Keep your eyes peeled for a place to charge our phones, men.” They sat at a conference table, and Distelmans explained that he never rushes his decisions. He said that he had urged Godelieva to contact her children, but that she had not wanted to inform them. He asked Tom why he had scheduled the meeting. “Because you killed my mother,” Tom replied. Distelmans responded calmly that it was Godelieva’s “absolute wish” to die. Tom said that his mother’s “absolute wish” was also to be a good grandmother. He had brought some of her papers and letters, and he began reading from the draft of her suicide letter to him and his sister. “I feel frustration and sadness because I have not been able to build a connection,” he read. Then he showed them an apology letter that he had written to his mother when he was twenty, after one of many fights. “Forgive me,” he read. “You have dealt with the worst.... You care about me. I am not living up to your expectations. That hurts. I don’t know how to deal with that.” Distelmans was silent. “He was very cool, very distant,” Bieseman said. “He didn’t seem to be touched.” When Tom saw that his reading had elicited no response, he pushed his chair back from the table and stood up. Bieseman recalled, “He was screaming, ‘You went along with the madness of my mother! You went along with her tunnel vision, her defeatism. You’ve just taken away the suffering of one person and transposed it to another!’ ” Distelmans repeated that he was certain that Godelieva had wanted to die, and that this was her right. Then he said that it seemed there was nothing left to discuss. They all stood up and shook hands, and Tom and Bieseman left the clinic.
Distelmans told me that he had no doubts about the way he handled Godelieva’s case. He explained that she was “a very nice person, a very warm person,” and that she had “wanted to do one decent thing in her life, and that is to die in a decent way, because the rest of her life was such a horrible mess.” When I asked if he worried about transference—perhaps she had idolized him or depended too much on his opinion—he laughed and said, “I’ve never met a patient who is willing to die to please someone else.” Thienpont, whose practice is mostly devoted to issues surrounding euthanasia, was similarly confident about the decision to end Godelieva’s life. Since Ulteam opened, in 2011, Thienpont said it has been “overrun by psychiatric patients”—a phenomenon that she attributes to the poor quality of psychiatric care in the country. In Belgium, it is not uncommon for patients to live in psychiatric institutions for years. Outpatient care is minimal, poorly funded, and fragmented, as it is in most countries. In a new book, called “Libera Me,” Thienpont urges doctors to accept the limits of psychiatry, and argues that some patients live with so much pain, their thoughts unceasingly directed toward death, that their mental illnesses should be considered “terminal.” Before approving a euthanasia request, she does not require patients to try procedures that they think are invasive. Godelieva had never had electroconvulsive therapy, though it is effective for about half of patients with depression. “Sometimes it really is too late,” Thienpont told me. “If the patient’s energy is gone, then it is not humane to say, ‘Well, maybe if you go to a hospital that specializes in your problem for two more years it will help.’ I think we have to respect when people say, ‘No—that is enough.’ ” Euthanasia for psychiatric patients was rare in the early years of the law, but patients complained that they were being unfairly stigmatized: psychic suffering, they argued, was just as unbearable as physical pain. Like cancer patients, they were subjected to futile treatments that diminished their quality of life. Dirk De Wachter, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Leuven and the president of the ethics commission for the university’s psychiatric center, said that he reconsidered his opposition to euthanasia after a patient whose request he had rejected committed suicide. In 2004, she set up a camera in front of a newspaper office in Antwerp and set herself on fire. De Wachter believes that the country’s approach to suicide reflects a crisis of nihilism created by the rapid secularization of Flemish culture in the past thirty years. Euthanasia became a humanist solution to a humanist dilemma. “What is life worth when there is no God?” he said. “What is life worth when I am not successful?” He said that he has repeatedly been confronted by patients who tell him, “I am an autonomous decision-maker. I can decide how long I live. When I think my life is not worth living anymore, I must decide.” He recently approved the euthanasia of a twenty-five-year-old woman with borderline personality disorder who did not “suffer from depression in the psychiatric sense of the word,” he said. “It was more existential; it was impossible for her to have a goal in this life.” He said that her parents “came to my office, got on their knees, and begged me, ‘Please, help our daughter to die.’ ” De Wachter told me, “I don’t want to kill people—I don’t think psychiatrists should kill people—but when the suffering is so extreme we cannot look the other way.” When he gives lectures, he tries to appeal to Christian audiences by saying, “If Jesus were here, I think he would help these people.” René Stockman, the director of a Catholic organization, Brothers of Charity, which says that it runs a third of the psychiatric institutions in Belgium, told me, “They are using our Christian vocabulary in a new context. They say they are ‘saving’ people from their bad lives, through ‘mercy’ and ‘compassion.’ I cannot accept that.” He sees euthanasia as a failure of both psychiatry and medical education. “Any questions about ethics—they say, ‘Oh, we need a specialist for that.’ They are not learning to reflect morally on what they are doing.” “That was Swanson, sir. He wasn’t on the list, but I’ll add him.”
In the months after his mother’s death, Tom searched online for criticism of the Belgian approach to euthanasia, but it seemed to take only two forms: objections from |
MISREADING RELIGION
15:52 Different systems of thought, different purposes
16:00 More than one basic assumption is possible
17:13 ENTER: DOMINANCE HIERARCHIES
17:19 What's real is what's persistent across time
17:33 Dominance hierarchies and lobsters
17:58 We're evolutionarily adapted to hierarchies
18:14 HIERARCHIES, RELIGIOUS THINKING, AND SUBJECTIVITY
18:42 "Being" as not reducible to material reality
19:12 The road to nihilism and authoritarianism
19:57 DETERMINING THE TRUTH OF A THEORY
20:07 Newton or Darwin? Choose one. You can't have both.
20:20 Nietzsche's "Truth serves life" is a Darwinian idea
20:38 No idea if our knowledge will help us survive over deep time
20:50 Answer to: "But look what we've built with it"
21:20 Crossing Ebola and Smallpox: some science is clearly insane
22:30 Check your assumptions about reality
23:45 Darwinism: truth is what enables survival within chaos, period.
25:03 Dawkins is a Newtonian not a Darwinian
26:09 Reductionism leaves things out. This has consequences.
27:27 The pragmatic problem: truth for what?
28:09 DEEP DARWINISM & RELIGION
28:15 Religion as evolved knowledge about action
29:40 American Pragmatist philosophers: the true Darwinians
30:17 Godel, the stock market and reality
31:02 TRUTH AS ACTION
31:44 Truth from the bottom up: lobsters, wolves, humans
34:27 Ethics: evolved patterns in dominance hierarchies
39:23 Dogs, chimps, and humans: hierarchy navigators
44:45 From dominance hierarchies to archetypes: ancient Egypt
52:36 The soul
55:50 Jung on Christianity, truth and speech
59:07 Truth versus the lie
1:00:52 THE INTELLECT
1:00:52 The totalitarian intellect
1:02:43 Have you made thinking your God?
1:03:38 Attention trumps thinking
1:04:11 EVOLUTIONARY ROOTS OF WESTERN RELIGION
1:04:33 Christ as a metahero
1:04:43 The deep roots of myth
1:07:00 Chaos monsters
1:08:55 Myth as behavioural truth
1:09:37 "Darwin trumps Newton"
1:10:02 "Dawkins is a rationalist...not a darwinian"
1:10:07 Darwinian time, Darwinian truth
1:13:57 Mesopotamian myth as successful behaviour blueprint
1:17:36 FROM NATURE TO HERO MYTHOLOGY
1:19:33 Religious stories model being as a field for action
1:21:13 Our religious task
1:21:47 Religion as hero mythology
1:22:30 "You...don't know that you know the story."
1:23:58 PIAGET AND PRE-RATIONAL MORALITY
1:25:16 We learn to act before we learn the rules
1:26:18 Moses the Judge: observer of emergent moral patterns
1:27:54 "Opiate of the masses" as naive industrial era thinking
1:28:43 METAPHORICAL THOUGHT
1:29:11 Hyperactive agency detection module: it goes deeper
1:31:00 The brain as archetype detection organ
1:32:08 Women are nature
1:33:48 Metaphor, myth and science
1:36:00 SCIENCE AND MORAL TRUTH
1:37:52 Are all scientists devoted to the truth?
1:39:44 How do we judge if science is ethical?
1:42:57 Evil as archetypically real
1:44:06 The reality of good and evil
1:45:09 Science and mythology: which is embedded in which?
1:48:17 EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY AND DEEP TIME
1:49:13 RELIGIOUS METAPHYSICS: OPTIONAL?
1:49:20 Is God an old man with a beard in the sky?
1:51:12 Hurricane Katrina, corruption, and poverty
1:52:12 The significance of the bible
1:53:43 The genius of the sacrifice
1:55:50 INTERLUDE: TRIANGULATING MEANING
1:58:02 END OF RELIGION?
1:58:02 On new atheists' claims of a secular rational future
1:58:29 On new age spirituality
1:58:49 New atheist rationalist optimism so absurd it must be motivated
1:59:18 REDUCING RELIGION VS. EXPANDING EVOLUTION
1:59:40 "[The Jungian alternative]...is terrifying [for people]"
1:59:57 "[Jung's work]...puts enlightenment thinkers to shame"
2:00:17 "Which ideas have you?... We're like playthings of the gods
2:01:09 JUNG: STUDYING INFORMATION, NOT MATTER
2:02:23 "If you study religion properly, it'll demolish your personality"
2:08:16 METAPHOR VS REALITY: NOT OBVIOUS
2:10:11 Ancients: phenomenologists, not scientists
2:12:24 Religion as spatial
2:13:24 HUMANS: EFFICIENT COMPLEXITY MANAGERS
2:13:48 Reality in terms of resolution
2:15:52 There's lots worse than death
2:16:46 On Becker's "The Denial of Death": smart but mistaken
2:19:40 Death's not the problem, it's complexity
2:21:06 THE MULTICULTURAL DIMENSION
2:27:35 FROM THEORY TO ACTION
2:28:40 Fixing what bugs you
2:29:30 Overcoming the lie
2:31:54 Peterson's experience with truth
2:34:45 The most powerful thing we can doImage: Figure8/Wikipedia
I have a love-hate relationship with my couch, as perhaps you do too. I enjoy nothing more than stretching out on my lumpy 70s relic of a sofa when it's time to chill. When I actually have something to do, however, things can take a dark turn. I just can't quit you, couch.
The "hate" side of this delicately balanced relationship with my couch just got a little weight added to it. New research by scientists at the Silent Spring Institute, published today in Environmental Science and Technology, found that the chemicals used in flame retardant compounds can make their way from a couch's fibres to a person's bloodstream in notably high concentrations via dust particles. This is pretty bad because they can cause cancer.
"Once in dust, people, especially children who put a lot of things in their mouth and crawl on the floor, ingest [it]. Some of these chemicals are more volatile and may also escape into the indoor air and be inhaled," Robin Dodson, one of the researchers, wrote me in an email.
"Exposure to these chemicals has been associated with cancer, neurotoxicity and reproductive harm," she continued.
The flame retardant compounds found in couches are generally additive in the manufacturing process, as opposed to chemically bound. Because of this, they can easily make their way off of furniture and into the air.
In the process of excreting these compounds, the body produces metabolites that can be detected in urine. The presence of these metabolites is what the Silent Spring researchers tested for in their study. According to their results, high concentrations of dangerous chemicals—including one that was removed from kid's pajamas in the 70s—were found in the subjects, which correlated with high levels of the compounds in dust in their homes.
The use of flame retardant chemicals in furniture has become a contentious issue as of late for two main reasons. The first is that studies have found that they don't really work, mostly because most furniture doesn't contain enough of the stuff to actually be effective. The second is that the chemicals can eventually prove harmful. In response to these findings, California passed legislation in 2013 to phase flame retardants out of furniture.
According to Dodson, buying furniture without flame retardant chemicals in it is your best bet to avoid ingesting dust containing carcinogens. But that's not the only solution available to consumers.
"People can also try to keep dust levels low in their homes since this is a major route of exposure," Dodson wrote. "For example, vacuuming frequently with a vacuum fitted with a HEPA filter and using damp mops and cloths. Also, especially for children, hand washing has shown to reduce exposures to chemicals found in house dust."
And here we arrive back at the original dilemma facing people as in love with their couch as I am: to dust away the chemicals emanating from my comfy-ass sofa, I have to get off of it first.Dale Ewins, 35, and his girlfriend Zita Sukys, 37, were shot by police while dressed as comic book characters The Joker and Harley Quinn.
Two revelers at a swingers’ costume party who were shot by police while engaged in an “intimate act” are speaking out about the ordeal for the first time, the Herald Sun reports.
Dale Ewins, 35, was dressed as comic book villain The Joker while his date, Zita Sukys, 37, was dressed as Suicide Squad character Harley Quinn when they were shot by police in Victoria, Australia in July. Ten officers dressed in tactical gear stormed the nightclub and opened fire 32 seconds later.
“They blew my leg apart,” said Ms Sukys. “I am mentally paralysed. I can’t do anything.”
Sukys was shot in her knee and thigh; Ewins was shot twice in the back. Victoria Police are claiming the shooting was “lawful self-defense.”
Martha Tsamis, the owner of the nightclub, said her security staff knew the patron had a plastic toy gun, told authorities he was not a threat and then was ignored by police.
“We are both parents. This isn’t what we expected for a night out,” Ewin explained.
Court documents say Ewins was performing oral sex on Sukys in the back corner of the nightclub, and was unaware of police presence before being shot in the back. He claims police tasered him multiple times after they shot him, handcuffed him, and stood on his hands.
“It’s alarming to learn that the people responsible for protecting the community and upholding the law will lie and hide the truth rather than accept responsibility for recklessly shooting and nearly killing two innocent people,” the couple told the Herald Sun.
Both victims are claiming ongoing impacts from their injuries and are suing the State of Victoria.
“I can’t even lift a shopping bag. We both have children and mortgages … I have no capacity to work,” Ewin said. “It’s taken away our quality of life.”
“My scars are horrible. I’m disgusted. When people ask how I got them, they are shocked,” Sukys said. “Before the shooting, I was a good organizer, but now I struggle with everyday tasks.”On two other vital questions, also, the English used to be unusually proof against the more paranoid versions of anti-Semitism. For one thing, they had their own biblical concept of themselves as “a chosen people.” Oliver Cromwell—who first allowed the Jews back to England after earlier monarchical expulsions—expressed a view of his countrymen as “God’s elect” that is echoed in literature from Blake to Burke, which often makes explicit comparisons to the children of Israel. Second, when the English of the 19th and early 20th centuries heard tales of a worldwide financial empire that gave a single people the anointed right to rule, they were fairly sure that there was indeed such a thing, and no bad thing either, since it was they who were running it. Few other countries or cultures had such a stolid sense of security.
However, if we examine the single grandest exception to this, which is the self-evident anti-Semitism of that lofty patrician Arthur James Balfour, then we find both of our authors becoming somewhat vague and defensive. There cannot be any doubt that the British debate over the so-called Aliens Act in 1905 was heavily infected with the racial prejudice of a Conservative Party once led by Benjamin Disraeli, yet Wistrich guardedly reports this by saying that “even” Balfour (the actual leader of that party) supported the anti-Jewish agitation. He compounds this by saying that, “ironically enough,” the main opponent of the Balfour Declaration 12 years later was the British Cabinet’s only Jew, Sir Edwin Montagu. It is as if one was forbidden “even” to think that an anti-Semite could favor a separate state for Jews (a phenomenon manifested again by the Christian right in America) or that a British Jew could have a non-“ironic” reason for resenting being told that he belonged in Palestine. Julius gives a fairer and larger account of this wrenching historical episode, but rather shrinks from exploring its implications. A single anecdote that he tells, about the weird press coverage he himself received for being the sharp divorce lawyer for Princess Diana, is enough to persuade one that anti-Jewish caricatures among the English are now both widespread and weak.
I began by saying that anti-Semitism is protean and contradictory, but then, so are Judaism and Zionism. Is there such a thing as “chosenness”? Is there a special “covenant”? Does the state of Israel have the right to speak for all diaspora Jews? Is Israel not in fact a part of the diaspora? Will the Messiah come? Does he take an interest in certain territories and not others? Who is a Jew, anyway? Rabbinical authorities and Israeli spokesmen have proved themselves unable and unqualified to decide these matters, and meanwhile vast numbers of Jews have secularized themselves and become big friends of a smaller Israel. This implied self-criticism of the faith and the project is not self-hatred, nor does it owe anything traceable to the disgusting slanders anatomized by Wistrich and Julius. The chief impetus of anti-Semitism remains theocratic, and in our epoch anti-Semitism has shifted from Christian to Muslim: a more searching inquiry into its origins and nature might begin by asking if faith is not the problem to begin with. This would also entail the related and essential question of whether the toxin of anti-Semitism is a threat only to Jews.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.A diretoria do Palmeiras não esperou muito tempo, ao final da derrota por 2 a 1 para o Nacional, do Uruguai, nesta quarta-feira. No vestiário, Marcelo Oliveira foi comunicado de que não é mais técnico do time. A demissão foi anunciada pelo diretor de futebol, Alexandre Mattos, na saída da arena.
– O time não vinha jogando bem desde o ano passado, está claro para todo o mundo. As coisas não estão acontecendo da maneira que o Palmeiras precisa. Precisamos evoluir em uma nova etapa – disse Mattos.
Marcelo Oliveira não é mais técnico do Palmeiras
(Foto: Marcos Ribolli)
Até a contratação de um substituto, quem assume o trabalho interinamente é o auxiliar técnico Alberto Valentim. O nome de Cuca é o mais forte, mas Mattos não confirma.
– Ainda não tem nome. A partir de amanhã vamos trabalhar.
Nesta quarta, Marcelo não esteve no banco. Expulso contra o Rosario Central, quarta-feira passada, ele acompanhou a partida em um camarote. O auxiliar Cleocir Marcos dos Santos, o Tico, ficou à beira do campo. Ele também está fora do clube. Além de Marcelo e Tico, deixam o clube o preparador físico Juvenílson de Souza e o também auxiliar técnico Ageu Gonçalves de Siqueira.
Segundo Mattos, a conversa com Marcelo foi rápida e cordial. O dirigente diz que o próprio treinador concordou que a mudança era boa para os dois lados.
– Foi uma conversa tranquila porque, pelo pensamento do Marcelo, (a mudança) também (era necessária). Desde o ano passado, o time não vinha jogando bem no coletivo. Tivemos algumas partidas boas. O Palmeiras não pode viver de partidas.Nos últimos três anos, é o treinador mais vitorioso, mas as coisas não estavam acontecendo. Isso está claro para todo mundo, inclusive para o Marcelo.
Contratado em junho de 2015, Marcelo Oliveira já não era unanimidade dentro da diretoria desde o final do ano passado. Mas, com a conquista da Copa do Brasil, em dezembro, virou a temporada no comando da equipe.
Depois de uma série de maus resultados no Campeonato Paulista, ele voltou a ser pressionado e só não foi demitido já na semana passada porque venceu o Rosario Central, da Argentina, pela Taça Libertadores. Uma sobrevida que, como se vê, durou pouquíssimo tempo.
NÚMEROS
Contratado em junho do ano passado, Marcelo Oliveira dirigiu o Palmeiras em 53 partidas. No total foram 24 vitórias, 11 empates e 18 derrotas (aproveitamento de 55%). Mesmo com o título da Copa do Brasil conquistado em dezembro, o trabalho do treinador vinha sendo alvo de grande pressão desde o ano passado.
A campanha no Brasileirão de 2015, quando o Verdão, mesmo com um grande investimento, terminou na nona colocação, foi motivo de muita cobrança interna. A irregularidade da equipe, o estilo de jogo pouco criativo no ataque e as diversas falhas defensivas vinham pesando na conta do treinador, que não conseguia dar uma sequência positiva ao time.Share. Prices apply to all Live members, Gold and Silver. Prices apply to all Live members, Gold and Silver.
Xbox Live's annual Ultimate Game Sale, which discounts big games for a limited time on Xbox 360, continues. Today, instead of spending $60 on something new, you could grab all of these:
July 3, 2013:
Lego Lord of the Rings, $15
Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, $10
Hasbro Family Game Night 3, $10
Monopoly Streets, $10
Kinect Sports 2, $10
Rockstar Table Tennis, $3
Exit Theatre Mode
These four are only available at this price today. For the rest of this week's discounts, which run through July 8, check out the full list below.
July 2-8, 2013
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, $5
Far Cry Instincts: Predator, $5
Crysis, $5
Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3, $5
WWE 13, $15
Mass Effect, $5
Prey, $3
Bulletstorm, $5
Perfect Dark Zero, $3
Dragon Age Origins, $5
Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga, $5
We'll update this article with each new update to the Ultimate Game Sale.
Mitch Dyer is an Associate Editor at IGN. He’s also quite Canadian. Read his ramblings on Twitter and follow him on IGN.Apple’s iMac might have tempted me a few years ago with its pretty looks and the chance to get familiar with macOS, but like a lot of people I simply don’t need an all-in-one desktop PC. That’s not stopping me from considering a Surface Studio. It’s a different type of desktop PC that transforms into a giant tablet for drawing. Although I’m not your typical creative, I’ve been testing the $3,000 PC for the past week, and I can’t stop tinkering with it. It’s clearly designed for creatives that would typically buy a Wacom Cintiq, but I still really want its monitor.
The last desktop PC I owned was a 2009 iMac. I now use a laptop every day for work, connected up to two monitors and a keyboard and mouse. Desktop computing hasn’t really changed for nearly 40 years of boring beige or black PCs, but Microsoft’s new Surface Studio is trying to shake things up in a surprising new way.
The heart of the Surface Studio is its 28-inch PixelSense display. It’s stunning to look at and it’s truly one of the best desktop monitors I’ve ever used. It makes things feel oddly lifelike because you can’t see the pixels — text, videos, and pictures just look great on this thing. You can even hold a piece of paper up to the screen and the Word documents shown on-screen will be the same size. The only way you could improve this monitor is if it was OLED like Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Yoga.
The Studio uses a 4500 x 3000 (192 dpi) resolution, primarily because it actually has a 3:2 aspect ratio. That’s really unusual for desktop monitors, but it matches the same ratio used on the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book devices. I love extra vertical space for reading and writing, even if it takes a little getting used to on a display of this size. The display is glossy and reflective, but I didn't find that too troublesome in my own office space.
The Studio also doubles as a giant tablet
This beautiful display also doubles as a giant tablet — sort of. The entire display is incredibly thin at just under 13mm, and supports touch and the same pressure-sensitive Surface Pens found on the Surface tablets. Microsoft is using what it calls a zero-gravity hinge to prop the display up, and you can push on the top of it with a single finger to move the display into various angles.
Even though it’s easy to adjust, you can still touch or draw at any angle as it has some resistance to being pushed back. I found myself bizarrely pulling the entire display toward me and angling it underneath me to read articles online or even when I was writing because the display is just great to have up close.
The real party trick of the Surface Studio is its drawing board mode, and it’s also its biggest selling point. You can push the display all the way down to get really up close to it and start drawing. It won’t sit flat on a desk, though, as the minimum angle is the drawing board mode’s 20 degrees. Microsoft explained to me that it didn’t want people placing their coffee cups on the display and spilling them on a $3,000 PC while they’re drawing.
The Dial feels really natural to use
To help with the drawing process, Microsoft is also releasing a new accessory: the Surface Dial ($99). It’s a little puck-like device that’s powered by two (AAA) batteries, and it’s designed to be another form of input. You don’t even need a Surface Studio to use the Dial, as it works on any Windows 10 machine with Bluetooth, but it’s paired best with Microsoft’s new PC. Oddly, it's only bundled in the box with Surface Studio preorders, but Microsoft plans to sell it separately otherwise.
I’ve been using the Dial in my left hand while I draw with my right, and it feels totally natural to use. You can tap on the top, crank the dial around, or tap and hold to access menus and controls. Most of the controls are radial menus that appear when you interact with the Dial. If you place it on top of the Surface Studio then it creates those menus directly under the Dial on the display, and they’ll follow the device wherever you place it.
I have spent hours drawing with the Surface Studio display and the Dial. As a kid I used to love drawing, but as I got obsessed with building PCs as a teenager, I dropped my pencils in favor of gadgets. The Surface Studio has unexpectedly reignited my interest in drawing, and I’ve sat at my desk doodling away instead of watching TV for entertainment over the past week. As much fun as it’s been, I’m not going to spend $3,000 on a Surface Studio just to doodle in my free time. This device is really designed to go head-to-head with Wacom’s Cintiq displays, so I invited a real artist over to get a better idea of the Surface Studio’s capabilities.
"The Surface Studio is certainly the strongest contender so far."
Lawrence Mann is a freelance illustrator who typically uses a four-year-old MacBook Pro and Wacom’s 27-inch Cintiq display to create his art at home, and a Surface Book on the go. Mann drew parts of two pieces for The Verge over a few hours with the Surface Studio, and came away generally impressed with the Studio.
"What astounds me is how close Microsoft have got their experience to what I have already carefully crafted with pieces from three different companies," says Mann, referring to his Cintiq, MacBook Pro, and Surface Book combination. Mann thought the accuracy and pen lag seemed comparable to Wacom’s Cintiq, but to be fully satisfied with the Studio he'd like to see some improvements elsewhere. He would like to have the ability to rotate the display, along with a more ergonomic stylus, and some extra buttons on the Dial for more than the basic controls.
"Because of the different technologies in use between Wacom and Surface, the Surface Studio does not suffer from the same cursor-to-stylus offset parallax that affects the Wacom Cintiq range," explains Mann. "It’s something that has never been of major importance to me, but I know many others might find it important when they next open their wallet. The Studio’s offset parallax was virtually nothing."
Mann says the Studio has left him with a "lot to think about" in terms of opening his own wallet. "I can safely say as a professional digital artist looking to upgrade my main device, the Surface Studio is certainly the strongest contender so far."
Apps like Sketchable are where the Surface Dial and Surface Pen really come to life. You can use the Dial to alter brush sizes, paint colors, or spin the canvas around without having to dig through menus and find the option you need. It’s a really quick way to adjust without having to use keyboard shortcuts or navigating away from your work with the pen. I prefer to use the Dial on top of the Surface Studio itself, but I did notice it doesn’t stick to the display very well. Even at the near-flat 20-degree drawing angle, the Dial gradually slipped down the display (perhaps because of oil marks left from using the touchscreen). I noticed it out of the corner of my eye when the radial menus kept bouncing down to keep up with the slipping dial, and it’s distracting and annoying.
The other disappointing aspect of the Dial is the lack of app support. There are nearly 20 apps on Microsoft’s official list, but even many of those just have basic zoom or scroll controls, or just the ability to adjust the system volume. Impressive Dial support can be found in Sketchable, Drawboard, or Mental Canvas, but I’m disappointed that apps like Photoshop don’t have full Dial support. Mann is equally surprised: "I find it remarkable that Adobe haven’t already had all of their applications updated ready for this." Microsoft is going up against accessories like Wacom's Express Key Remote ($99), so it needs to prove it's building an app ecosystem around the Dial here. It’s a slow start, but given Microsoft’s push with the Dial I’m quietly confident that most of the apps you’d want to use with it will include support soon.
Aside from the Studio’s creative assets, it’s a PC at heart. At the base of the display is where all the components are housed, in a box that looks like a miniature computer. On the model I was testing there’s a sixth-generation quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 32GB of RAM, 2TB Rapid Hybrid Drive, and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M graphics card inside. That’s actually some old tech for such a futuristic-looking PC. Microsoft has opted for last year's Intel and Nvidia chips, and its storage isn't all solid state. This is especially tough to swallow on the GPU front, because Nvidia's 2016 Pascal architecture is miles ahead of its predecessors. Intel and Nvidia's latest chips simply weren’t ready in time for the Surface Studio, and the storage uses a mix of 128GB SSD with a 2TB hard disk drive. That's disappointing, because even a GTX 1060 would have pushed the Studio into VR gaming, something Microsoft is starting to support directly in Windows 10.
This isn't a gaming PC, but it copes fairly well with games
Despite these qualms, the Studio is still very capable. This isn’t designed as a gaming PC, but I found it coped well with games like Gears of War 4 or Forza Horizon 3. You’re not going to be able to play either on the top settings, but they’re perfectly playable on the Studio if you don’t care about maxing out all the detail. Microsoft has even built in Xbox Wireless support — so you can use any Xbox One controller for games — and a Windows Hello-compatible 1080p camera so you can log into Windows 10 with just your face.
Apps like Photoshop are still super responsive, even if you’re working on files stored on the HDD. The 32GB of RAM will help with multitasking or when working on huge files that demand a lot of memory. And although my workload is relatively light, I wasn't able to overwhelm the Surface Studio at all even with games and multiple apps running side-by-side. Almost similar to most conventional PCs, you also get 4 USB 3.0 ports in total. Microsoft is still steering clear of USB-Type C, for now. Alongside the USB ports there's an SD card reader, headphone jack, and Mini DisplayPort for connecting up a second monitor. You can’t use this DisplayPort to use the Surface Studio as a monitor itself, though.
As this is an all-in-one PC, there are still some compromises with the Surface Studio. All of the ports are at the rear, which makes it hard to access them if you have the Studio placed against a wall. This isn’t a silent machine either, and the fan constantly hums away, with the volume depending on how much you’re doing with it. If you’re trying to run some games or process video then you’re going to start hearing it. It’s distracting if you’re used to silence, but it blends into the background otherwise.
Most of the PC aspects of the Surface Studio are exactly what you’d expect from an all-in-one, and there’s very little to fault here. My main questions are around its price and uses cases. At a starting price of $2,999, it’s up there with Wacom’s 27-inch Cintiq ($2,799), but for that extra $200 you’re getting a full PC and not just a monitor. For creatives, that’s a seriously tempting offer, but you’re really buying the Surface Studio because of its display. It’s stunning, and there’s nothing quite like it on the market right now that has this 3:2 aspect ratio, touch capabilities, and the Surface Pen support, all while being almost pixel perfect and super thin.
It’s an engineering marvel of a monitor, but I really wish Microsoft sold it separately. I want to dock my Surface Book to it, or transform any laptop into a full Surface Studio. If I’m investing in a desktop PC at this kind of price then I also really want to be able to upgrade it and use it for gaming and more powerful work. I can’t do either of those things with the Surface Studio. If this was a monitor with a powerful GPU in it designed to complement Microsoft’s existing Surface devices and "upgrade" them, I’d probably be throwing my wallet at my screen right now. It’s hard to do so knowing that I’m not getting the latest and greatest specs for that $2,999, and that’s before you even consider the top model I’ve been testing is $4,199.
Microsoft is doing what Apple refuses to do
That doesn’t discount what Microsoft has attempted to do here. It’s truly something unique and a hint of real innovation we haven’t seen for some years with PCs. Others have tried to experiment, like HP's Sprout, but it's rare to see something more than just an all-in-one. Microsoft’s exciting Surface Studio unveil has been compared to Apple’s disappointing MacBook Pro launch, and with good reason. Many creatives I’ve spoken to about the Surface Studio have said the same thing: why isn’t Apple doing this? Apple seems to be forcing creatives to choose an iPad Pro for touch and pen, but the powerful and professional apps just aren’t there yet on iOS, and it’s not clear if companies like Adobe are willing to rewrite their software to be just as useful on an iPad Pro. Microsoft has realized the potential in the market to reach out to creatives who feel abandoned by Apple, and it’s an influential crowd that could be swayed over by devices like the Surface Studio.
It’s still a small part of the overall PC market, though. Creatives will have to weigh up whether this beautiful set of floating pixels is worth the price. If you're already in that price range and considering Wacom's Cintiq — and you don't need a really powerful machine — then the Surface Studio is a no-brainer. For many, the switch from macOS to Windows 10 could be the daunting part, and for others it will be the question of how many apps truly support this new way of working with the Dial.
The fact that Microsoft is even being considered an alternative to Apple’s line of machines for creatives is not something anyone, not even Microsoft, was expecting for the Surface devices. The Surface Studio won't take over Mac-focused design houses just yet, but that it’s even a possibility is remarkable. The Studio is special because it knows exactly what it is and who it’s for — and it’s largely spot on. If Microsoft keeps developing its strengths here, some of Apple's most loyal customers might well be tempted to switch camps.
Photography by James Bareham.
Video by Max Jeffrey and Phil Esposito.
Edited by Dieter Bohn and Vlad Savov.A near-Earth object (NEO) is any small Solar System body whose orbit brings it to proximity with Earth. By convention, a Solar System body is a NEO if its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) is less than 1.3 astronomical units (AU).[2] If a NEO's orbit crosses the Earth's and the object is larger than 140 meters (460 ft) across, it is considered a potentially hazardous object (PHO).[3] Most known PHOs and NEOs are asteroids, but a small fraction are comets.[1]
There are over 19,000 known near-Earth asteroids (NEAs), over a hundred short-period near-Earth comets (NECs),[1] and a number of solar-orbiting spacecraft and meteoroids large enough to be tracked in space before striking the Earth. It is now widely accepted that collisions in the past have had a significant role in shaping the geological and biological history of the Earth.[4] NEOs have become of increased interest since the 1980s because of greater awareness of the potential danger some of the asteroids or comets pose. When impacting the Earth, asteroids as small as 20 m cause sufficiently strong shock waves and heat to damage the local environment and populations.[5] Larger asteroids penetrate the atmosphere to the surface of the Earth, producing craters if they hit ground and tsunamis if water bodies are hit. It is in principle possible to deflect asteroids, and methods of mitigation are being researched.[6]
Based on the orbit calculations of identified NEOs, their risk of future impact is assessed on two scales, the Torino scale and the more complex Palermo scale, both of which rate a risk of any significance with values above 0. Some NEOs have had temporarily positive Torino or Palermo scale ratings after their discovery, but as of March 2018, more precise calculations based on subsequent observations led to a reduction of the rating to or below 0 in all cases.[7]
Since 1998, the United States, the European Union, and other nations are scanning for NEOs in an effort called Spaceguard.[8] The initial US Congress mandate to NASA of cataloging at least 90% of NEOs that are at least 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) in diameter, which would cause a global catastrophe in case of an impact with Earth, had been met by 2011.[9] In later years, the survey effort has been expanded[10] to objects as small as about 140 m (460 ft) across,[11] which still have the potential for large-scale, though not global, damage.
Due to their Earth-like orbits and low surface gravity, NEOs are easy targets for spacecraft.[12][13] As of August 2018, five near-Earth comets[14][15][16] and three near-Earth asteroids have been visited by spacecraft,[17][18][19] and probes are en route to two more NEAs.[20][21] Plans to mine NEAs commercially have been drafted by private companies.
Definitions [ edit ]
× 10 ^ 6 km) of Earth's orbit) as of early 2013 ( Plot of orbits of known potentially hazardous asteroids (size over 460 feet (140 m) and passing within 4.7 million miles (7.6km) of Earth's orbit) as of early 2013 ( alternate image
The major technical astronomical definition for Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are small Solar System bodies with orbits around the Sun that by definition lie partly between 0.983 (perihelion) and 1.3 (aphelion) astronomical units (AU; Sun–Earth distance) away from the Sun.[22][23] Thus, NEOs are not necessarily currently near the Earth, but they can potentially approach the Earth relatively closely. However, the term is also used more flexibly sometimes, for example for objects in orbit around the Earth or for quasi-satellites,[24] which have a more complex orbital relationship with the Earth.
When a NEO is detected, like all other small Solar System bodies, it is submitted to the |
”. Answering some of the following questions will help you ground your trap into the reality of your game, making it more logically consistent so that your players can begin to spot patterns.
Ask yourself:
Who made it?
Who was it made to stop?
What kind of trap best suits this location?
How do the traps creators avoid triggering it?
Has the trap been triggered before?
Why use this trap at this location?
Step 2: Design trap components and solutions
By thinking about the mechanics of a trap, we are making them more fair, less based on luck, less based on single dice rolls, adding multiple parts, and offering players more decisions for solving the puzzle all in one step.
What triggers this trap?
What does the trap do when triggered?
How is the trigger connected to the mechanism?
What is needed to hide this trap?
What magic is used for this trap? (if arcane)
What are some likely ways to “solve” this trap? (avoid, disarm, safely trigger)
After completing this step you will stop having “poison trapped chests”, and start understanding the mechanics of how these traps actually work. A “poison trapped chest” could be anything from a needle, to a glass vile that breaks when opened. If you don’t know which mechanism the trap is, how can you know what happens when one of the players kicks the chest really hard? Does that set off the trap? It would have no affect on the needle, but might shatter the vile. Having a “poison trap” is equivalent to having the PCs fight “a big monster”. If you don’t know what the monster is, how can the players effectively fight it? If you don’t know what the trap is, how can your players effectively disarm it?
Step 3: Identify starting clues
DM: you walk into a long, rectangular room and see a large statue sitting on the other end of the room 100 feet away.
Player: I want to look around the room but not go near the statue yet.
DM: you step into the room onto a large tile with a dragon carved on it. The tile sinks down and fire shoots out of it, engulfing you in flame.
Player: you didn’t tell me there was a massive tile with a dragon carved in it.
DM: that would have given it away. You didn’t roll a perception check.
As a DM it’s important to remember your players can only see what you explicitly tell them. While it might be more realistic to have “gotcha!:” traps hidden away, players cant search your head for clues. This is what causes players to roll hundreds of needless perception checks and stalls out the game as the characters literally crawl through the dungeon searching every square for clues.
The way to solve this is by building trust with our players. Whenever there are traps, I will provide my players with a clue that the trap is there. This way, even if they do trigger the trap, they can put together the clues and realize their mistake, while still trusting the DM to give them more clues before the next trap. As a DM I want my players to know they don’t need to search every square inch of every room in the five miles of tunnels. I will provide them with at least some indication that will narrow it down to a smaller area for them.
Here are seven types of clues you can give to alert your players of traps:
sensory cue
Use one or more of the five senses to alert the players to possible danger: sight, touch, smell, sound, or taste. Pre-triggered
Show a trap that has already been triggered to allow the party to extrapolate clues to look for when they encounter a live trap. Emerging pattern
Show a series of trap types, trap placements, or other trap clues that build a pattern for the party to recognize. For example the smell of sulfur near any fire based trap in a dungeon builds up their sense of fear and awareness whenever they smell it. Common trope
The secret door into the thieves guild, a gold chest on an alter, a scroll case found on an assassins body… these my be areas where you don’t have to give as many clues because fantasy culture has built into our heads that these things are always trapped. If the party doesn’t check a chest on the altar for traps, they will feel stupid rather than confused when the trap goes off. 6th sense
This can be any other sensory cue a character in a fantasy setting might have. A wizard might sense magic or a dwarf might get a gut feeling something is off about the stone structure. Told or shown trap location
A trapped room might be marked on a map or the characters might be warned of a trap by an NPC. Show one trap component
Showing the party half of a trap, like a ceiling full of spikes, leaves the party wondering where the trigger is. Showing the party a trip wire leaves them wondering what it triggers. Both provide exciting interactions as the party investigates to find the rest of the trap.
Step 4: Identify skill checks
After shifting some of the responsibility of finding and solving traps to the players by not making them rely only on perception checks and thieves tools checks, we have to make sure that the rogue still feels rewarded for the skills he has chosen.
Come up with a list of skills that can be used to get information about the trap and how it functions. This process becomes part of the puzzle. Using skill checks to figure out information about the trap, how it functions, and how to disarm it is a major part of the engagement in solving traps.
Step 5: Increase difficulty
Instead of thinking of each trap as an individual, stand alone puzzle, you can think of every trap in an entire dungeon as one giant puzzle with multiple parts. This mindset allows you to give away a few traps to provide clues and build foreshadowing and suspense for future traps. If you have ten traps in a dungeon, you might have the first two be already triggered by previous adventurers so that your party can get some clues and learn a bit about how the trap functions. Then you can increase the difficulty of the traps throughout the dungeon, hopefully building in a gradual difficulty progression. Here area few ways to make traps more difficult:
Remove a clue (keep a minimum of one)
Take away a sense (darkness prevents them from seeing the trap for example)
Prevent the most obvious solution (a pit trap too long to jump over)
Add a time limit (room filling with water)
Add an additional problem or distraction (combat)
To recap. The steps to designing a quality trap are:
Give the trap a purpose Design the trap components and solutions Identify your starting clues Identify skill checks Increase difficulty
Running quality traps
By now you have a well planned out trap complete with a purpose for being there, multiple parts, and some planned skill checks to help them solve it. Now you have to insert the trap into the game and run it.
Step 1: Give starting clues.
For the trap to be an encounter, players have to have at least one of the clues to start with. Thy have to have some idea that this is a place that might be trapped. Many GMs skip this step because they didn’t give their traps any parts or complexity, so they are afraid that giving clues will instantly ruin the trap. Once you’ve followed the steps above though, you can give multiple clues without ruining the fun of your trap.
Step 2: Find other ways to interact with traps.
Since the approach of clues means that some traps will be triggered less often (thought this isn’t necessarily true if you plan them well) or that some traps will be triggered before the party gets there, we can now use them in different ways in the game. Luckily, the design of our traps makes them more exciting even when the characters don’t blunder into them. Here are a few ideas of ways to interact with traps even after the players have figured out how they work.
An enemy can trigger the trap
Players can reset or re-purpose the trap
Players can attempt to disable the trap
Distractions can cause the players to not be able to disarm a trap even when they know how it works
Step 3: Adjust difficulty.
The last step is to adjust the difficulty of the traps in your game. If your players are still blundering into every trap, make sure you are giving enough starting clues and perhaps make them more obvious. If the party is skilled at finding and disarming all of your traps then you might bump up the difficulty by doing the opposite.
In the next article I’ll give examples of how to use this process to turn several “gotcha” traps from published adventures into encounter traps that feel more fair. Then we will build an entire trap from scratch.
Here’s the link to the last article in this series.
Trap examplesA few weeks ago, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave clear hints of a Windows-branded product that will be deployed in the cloud. At 8:55 am PDT Monday, Ozzie christened this service Windows Azure.
As expected, Microsoft Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie began his first day keynote speech at PDC 2008 (he'll be back for Day 2) by staking his company's new claim to software as services. "The Web has become a key demand generation mechanism," he said in his characteristic high-flying style, "becoming Web services' front door."
IT developers are finding themselves now needing to work more closely together, Ozzie said, preaching to the choir. Companies are finding themselves adding spare capacity to their main infrastructure, including adding spare data centers, in an obvious lead-up to the need for consolidation. He spoke of the problem that IT workshops find themselves facing, where their core applications are intensely "inwardly-facing."
"Is this cloud thing materially different than things we have known in the past?" Ozzie asked rhetorically. "The answer is, emphatically, yes."
Unlike his counterparts who have fronted PDC in the past, Ray Ozzie speaks using teleprompters. There are four situated at the front of the stage, which enable him to pace back and forth, looking at the audience in 60-degree angles -- looking stage left, stage right, stage left again, but rarely straightforward. Straight ahead has rarely been Ozzie's best side, and close to 15 minutes into the speech, he was still leading up -- not yet having revealed just what it is that he's talking about.
Twenty minutes in, Ozzie introduced "Windows Azure," which he did describe using the phrase "Windows in the Cloud." But is it an operating system? Maybe not, at least not in the sense we think about Windows; rather, it's a service that enables businesses to deploy Windows applications in the cloud. So for them, it may as well be Windows, because it becomes an alternative for deploying Windows Server on machines they own or in physical space that they lease.
"Today, for those of you in this audience, Windows Azure comes to life. It is not software that you run on your own servers, but it's a service that...runs on Microsoft data centers. It's being released today as a Community Technology Preview," pronounced Ozzie.
10:00 am PT: Verifying some suspicion, Microsoft said it will gradually be moving all of its enterprise-class software as optional cloud-deployed applications, under the Microsoft Online Services banner.
What has not been discussed yet is price.
9:28am PT: Here's the basic concept: Using Windows Azure, businesses will be able to model and develop distributed applications using existing.NET languages. A component called.NET Services extends the.NET platform to this large-scale deployment scenario. Then admins will be able to maintain these applications using a front-end platform that, at least at first, seems to have been inspired by what we've seen in Windows Home Server. However, there's a lot of XML editing involved in that latter process, which Microsoft's Steve Marx promises will be replaced with more intuitive UI features.
9:12am PT: Later in the Monday keynote, Microsoft's Amitabh Srivastava made it clear that Windows Azure was not an operating system, but rather a complete cloud-based hosting management service that, in his words, separates distributed applications from the underlying operating system. Importantly, Srivastava did not use the term "Windows" in conjunction with that phrase "underlying operating -system."
The Azure platform will consist in part of a concept called.NET Services, which will be a system for deploying.NET-based applications in the cloud. There will be no need to deploy.NET applications in the cloud first just for testing purposes, Srivastava said. Instead, new apps can be tested within a kind of sandbox using new editions of Visual Studio. That makes it clear that VS 2010, even in its beta form, will be getting a lot of use over the next few years.Artwork Contest 2012
Joy - the new artwork theme of Debian GNU/Linux 7, by Adrien Aubourg
Dear artists,
the artwork contest has been decided on June, 21st 2012. See this mail to learn more. Congratulations go to Adrien Aubourg whose excellent artwork "Joy" has been chosen to be the official theme in Debian GNU/Linux 7!
Thanks for all your contributions. As Paul Tagliamonte, responsible for the desktop-base package put it:
"I've picked the "Joy" theme by Adrien Aubourg as the default for Debian 7.0, which features a tasteful, understated and classic look, something that both identifies as Debian while still maintaining an air of professionalism. Congrats, and thank you Adrien! I'd like to thank everyone who submited artwork, and express how impressed I am with the artistic talent we have in Debian."
At the moment some of us are working on "Debian Theme Packages" to make it possible to easily get additional artwork themes into Debian. So the work of the other artists may still be of practical use for our community and our users. Please look here to see a first prototype. If you like to be included in one of these future packages, please mail to the Debian Desktop list.
Thanks again!
Call for proposals
Wheezy, the code name of the next Debian release, is a character from the film "Toy Story" (Wheezy)
For the next Debian release, version 7.0, the Debian Project is calling for graphics and other artwork to be submitted as proposals for the look and feel of the operating system.
As with everything else in Debian, collecting artwork is a collaborative effort which Debian shares with its community. That means that you can be the one preparing the Wheezy Artwork!
This wiki page collects proposals and submissions from the Debian community and you're encouraged to add here your own proposal.
Submit your proposal
Read the requirements. Create a wiki page with your proposal/artwork: http://wiki.debian.org/DebianArt/Themes. When done, add your proposal/artwork to this page For meetings and exchanging ideas and concepts there is the #debian-desktop channel on irc.oftc.net and the http://lists.debian.org/debian-desktop mailing list. The more the interaction, the better! There will be a voting process for designs submitted so it is highly recommended that you keep up with the mailing list and IRC channel discussions to monitor if your proposal gets selected.
Submitted proposals
Proposals for Debian GNU/Linux 7 ("Wheezy")If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you; that is the principal difference between a dog and a man. - Mark Twain
How does your Dog Food Brand compare? Are you concerned about the dry food your dog is eating? Looking for detailed information about certain food ingredients? Confused about inconsistent information about dogfood from pet food manufacturers? Need help comparing dog food brands and finding a better one? Then you are exactly where I was when I first heard about the disgusting materials some pet food manufacturers put into their products. I picked up a bag of Science Diet and consciously looked at the ingredient list for the first time. Even without any previous knowledge I could see that it did not include any real meat and was preserved with the same chemicals I avoid in human food products. I never bought another bag of Science Diet and started researching and comparing products. One of the things I learned was that any commercial sources are best avoided if you want hard facts, not biased "infomercial" style sales pitches trying to sell you one product or another. Hopefully you will find this site helpful, make up your own mind about different food brands and their quality, choose a better food and who knows - maybe even save some money. Questions? Feel free to send me an email!A short blog post today to tease a little bit about our future theme changes that are going to land in Ubuntu Artful as we are transforming our default session. For more background on this, you can refer back to our decisions regarding our default session experience as discussed in my blog post.
Day 8: Fit and Finish sprint (early) report
As I’m in the Eurostar heading back home from the Fit and Finish Sprint, let me quickly write up how excellent this session has been!
Once we got over some physical dimmed screen display issue and Will encouraging me to fix this using manual and antic technology, we fought over some cables dilemma to display our default GNOME Shell theme. We then have been able to project it and incrementing all together over it.
We thus made great progress on theming: from the GDM user log in, to the lock screen UI and in the main Shell theme as well, debating which options are the best to match our ubuntu values and default theme.
Here is a little teaser:
Note we are not totally decided on it yet, as there is a counter proposal while we were iterate from a certain Alan P. who prefers to remain anonymous:
Those themes are only compatible for Ambiance right now, and are based on GNOME Shell 3.24. We will rebase it on 2.26 once uploaded to the distribution (probably on 3.25.91).
We also got a bunch of other bug fixes around the GTK theme itself and many design discussions around various Shell desired behaviors. As you can see, the list was quite large!
You will notice that for once, not all those changes are available right away in artful. Indeed, the initial preparation work is done. However, we’ll need a little bit more time to make a sanitized and maintainable over time across Shell versions support. Also, some rest after this recently very busy time (as you probably have followed over the course of those past weeks via those blog posts) is definitively needed! Consequently, please don’t expect the change to show up before a good week, probably on the following Monday. That let as well other desktop team members to update most components to the new shiny 3.25.91 version of GNOME, continuing our polishing work, so you are not alone and will have many changes to test and play with in current Ubuntu Artful. ;)The Mercedes-Benz SLK-Class is a compact luxury roadster, produced by Mercedes-Benz. It was released in 1996 and has since been built at the Mercedes plant in Bremen, Germany.
The former name "SLK" was derived from sportlich (sporty), leicht (light), and kurz (short).[1] With the release of the facelift R172 in 2016, the SLK-Class was renamed to SLC-Class in accordance with the revised nomenclature adopted by Mercedes. Under this scheme, roadsters use the base name "SL", followed by the model's placement in Mercedes-Benz hierarchy, the letter "C", being the roadster equivalent to the C-Class.[2][3]
First generation (R170; 1996–2004) [ edit ]
R170 SLK-Class
The R170 Mercedes SLK was the first generation compact roadster produced by Mercedes-Benz, from 1996 to 2004.[4] It was designed from late 1991 under Bruno Sacco, with a final design being completed in early 1993 and approved by the board, with a German design patent filed on September 30, 1993.[5] The production SLK-Class was introduced at the Turin Motor Show on 22 April 1996, appearing as a modern incarnation of the 1950s Mercedes-Benz 190SL, by returning to four cylinders and with an identical 94-inch (2,400 mm) wheelbase.[6] A facelift was introduced to all models in 2000, featuring an updated design and updated engines.[7]
Second generation (R171; 2004–2010) [ edit ]
R171 SLK-Class
The R171 SLK was unveiled at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show. It features increased use of high-strength steel,[8] and improvements to the car's torsional strength and aerodynamic efficiency.[8] Models feature a more compact, revised roof mechanism that is operated in 22 seconds (previously 25 seconds), resulting in an increase in boot capacity by 63 liters (2.2 cu ft).[8] The R171 also introduced the Airscarf system that integrates neck-level heating system into the headrests of the car.[8] The front-end design of the car was inspired by the noses found in Formula One cars.[8] It was facelifted in 2008 and featured new engines and minor exterior design changes.[9]
Third generation (R172; 2011–present) [ edit ]
R172 SLK-Class
The R172 SLK was released in 2011.[10] It is available with a range of inline-four, V6, and V8, diesel and petrol engines, and introduced an electronically operated window tint shade for the sunroof, called Magic Sky Control. The facelift was released for vehicles produced from March 2016, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the SLK-Class.[11] The model range was also renamed to SLC-Class to conform to the new Mercedes nomenclature, and introduced new engines and a revised design.
Sales figures [ edit ]
The following are the sales figures for the SLK-Class since 2001:[12]
Year EU sales US sales 2001 27,734 11,268[13] 2002 19,039 7,784 2003 14,629 6,023[14] 2004 38,417 7,360 2005 36,823 11,278[15] 2006 27,128 10,410 2007 20,834 7,270[16] 2008 18,529 4,941 2009 10,805 2,566[17] 2010 8,779 1,980 2011 17,729 3,220[18] 2012 17,731 4,595[18] 2013 12,594 4,757[19] 2014 11,114 4,737[19] 2015 10,369 4,182 2016 8,909 3,397 2017 8,421 2,860FRANK Lampard will not be coming to Melbourne City.
New York City FC confirmed the worst kept secret in world football overnight when the Major League Soccer club revealed the Chelsea legend would join as one of its star signings for next season.
But where pundits worldwide have linked the 106-time England international with a short-term move to brother club Melbourne City - just like the one Spanish legend David Villa will embark upon in October - the Herald Sun can reveal no move to Australia is forthcoming.
Asked for comment about the speculation linking Lampard with the club a Melbourne City spokesman said: “There are no plans in place for Frank to come to Melbourne.”
media_camera Frank Lampard at his formal unveiling as a New York City FC player.
With Slovenian international Robert Koren set to sign on as the club’s international marquee - as revealed exclusively this week - the writing was on the wall.
There is almost no more room at the inn for what will be Melbourne City’s first season since being rebranded from Melbourne Heart.
A-League teams can sign up to five foreign players and City now officially has three on its books - Damien Duff, Rob Wielaert and Jonatan Germano - and most likely a fourth on the way in Koren.
It’s unclear whether or not the club intends to fill the fifth visa spot, but if it does so that player will be paid inside the league’s $2.55m salary cap.
It also appears increasingly likely that Villa - uncategorised by Melbourne at this point - will become a guest player after all, which will permit him to play 10 games before returning to New York around Christmas time for that club’s inaugural pre-season campaign.
media_camera Frank Lampard participates in a clinic with young players after he was introduced as a member of the MLS expansion club New York City FC.
A-League teams are able to bring in one guest player - who represents a high promotional value to the league - per season.
His wages are not included in the salary cap, nor does he take up a foreign player spot.
The City Group announced in May last year it was behind the formation of New York City FC, before rocking the Australian football landscape with its $11m takeover of Melbourne Heart in January.
Lampard, 36, has signed a two-year deal to become New York’s second of three “designated players” - essentially the American league’s version of A-League marquees.
But just what he will do between now and the start of New York City’s pre-season in January remains unclear.
media_camera Frank Lampard participates in a clinic with young players after he was introduced as a member of the MLS expansion club New York City FC.
Speaking in the United States on Thursday (US time), New York City FC sporting director Claudio Reyna simply said the club is “exploring a few options”.
Lampard - Chelsea’s all-time leading scorer with 211 goals in 13 years at Stamford Bridge - said the move across the Atlantic made sense for he and his family.
“Why not choose New York City,” he said.
“It’s a very exciting challenge for me in life terms. I’ve seen a real long-term plan and I wanted to be part of that. I want to test myself, I want to carry on challenging myself.
“I had a fantastic 13 years with Chelsea that I can look back with pride upon. It was a good time for myself and Chelsea that I moved on.”Margay Edwards, 27, of Los Osos, California, was last seen alive on Sept. 13 in Pahrump. Her decomposed body was discovered Thursday, Sept. 25, 2014, in the desert along Hafen Ranch Road in Pahrump. Authorities say the rental car she was driving, seen above, is missing. It is a 2014 metallic blue Hyundai Accent with license plate California 7ESZ966. (Special to the Pahrump Valley Times)
The body of Margay Edwards, 27, of Los Osos, California, was found Sept. 25 in the desert near Pahrump. Her father said she had travel to Pahrump to visit friends. (Special to the Pahrump Valley Times)
Margay Edwards’ father, Jeff, said his daughter, right, and his wife, Insong, were extremely close and inseparable, often going on trips together. Margay Edwards' body was found Sept. 25 in the desert near Pahrump. (Special to the Pahrump Valley Times)
Margay Edwards, pictured here with her brother Jack, traveled to Pahrump in September to visit friends. Her body was found Sept. 25 on the outskirts of Pahrump. (Special to the Pahrump Valley Times)
PAHRUMP — The father of a Southern California woman found dead on the far south end of the valley said Thursday that his daughter traveled to Pahrump to visit two friends.
Jeff Edwards said his wife last saw their daughter Margay Edwards, 27, on the evening of Sept. 12 in Baywood, Calif., a community near Los Osos. She was found dead by a man riding an ATV on Sept. 25.
Edwards said he believes the people his daughter was visiting in Pahrump might hold the answer to her disappearance and death.
“She knew some people in Pahrump, a man and a woman,” Edwards said. “The man was the last person to see her alive on Sunday the 14th. I’m not sure if they were close friends or just casual acquaintances. She met the couple late last year and spent some time at their home in Pahrump for several weeks.”
Edwards’ comments come as Nye County Sheriff’s Office is declining to publicly discuss specifics of the case, such as cause of death or if there are any suspects, only classifying the case as a criminal investigation.
Edwards said the family last heard from their daughter Sept. 14, just after 8:30 a.m., when she called her parents from Pahrump. Later the same day she was spotted in her car by two local residents, according to the Nye County Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives are still looking for the missing rental car Edwards was driving at the time of her death, described as a 2014 metallic blue Hyundai Accent, license plate number 7ESZ966.
The car was rented from an Avis agency in Carlsbad, California, but did not have a GPS tracking system, which can locate a car if it’s been stolen. A rental agent on Thursday said the devices do not come standard on the rentals, but they can be rented.
In April of this year, Edwards said his daughter returned to California to prepare for college at San Diego State University where she was enrolled for the fall semester in August.
“Obviously she wasn’t in school because she was in Pahrump,” he said.
On Wednesday, sheriff’s Detective Joe McGill said shortly after her arrival in Pahrump, a Nye County deputy responded to a call involving Edwards.
“It was a basic traffic stop and a very inconsequential contact,” McGill said. “If it was anything more than that, I would not speak of it. It was really nothing.”
McGill also said it is uncertain whether Edwards traveled alone to Pahrump, while noting that the woman was spotted by two local residents after arriving in town.
“There has been conflicting information on that,” McGill said. “I’ve been told she was alone and I’ve also been told she was with someone else.”
According to the Associated Press, Sheriff Tony DeMeo said she had been staying in a hotel in Las Vegas.
The location where Edwards’ body was discovered is a remote area bordering on Bureau of Land Management land. McGill said he wouldn’t speculate on whether Edwards was killed at the scene or somewhere else and brought to the desert about a quarter mile from the roadway.
He noted that the missing vehicle might provide valuable information.
Edwards, meanwhile, described his daughter as a trusting person who had many friends. He suggested that her outgoing personality may have made her a target.
“She made friends very easily and perhaps she was a little too trusting of people in some ways,” Edwards said. “She loved her little 6-year-old brother, Jack, and more than anything, she loved her mother. They were extremely close and did a lot of things together, they traveled together. They were just an incredible daughter-mother combination.”
Edwards also said he believes that the couple his daughter visited know what happened to her. He stopped just short of calling them suspects.
“One way or another they know what happened, or they had something to do with it,” Edwards said.
Aside from the missing vehicle, her cellphone was not found at the crime scene, Edwards said.
The news of Edwards’ death is making news across the country as major television networks and cable news channels are reporting on it this week. Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo appeared on CNN’s Nancy Grace broadcast on Thursday.
Anyone with information on Edwards’ death or the missing vehicle is urged to call the Nye County Sheriff’s Office at 775-751-7000.
Contact Selwyn Harris at sharris@pvtimes.com.Two days of battles between Malian army forces and Tuareg rebels left 45 rebels and two soldiers dead, the defence ministry said Thursday. Tuaregs want independence for their vast desert region, stretching from the west to the north of Mali.
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AFP - Two days of fierce clashes between the Malian army and Tuareg rebels killed 47 people -- 45 rebels and two soldiers, the west African nation's defence ministry said in a statement published Thursday.
"The attackers suffered heavy losses," the statement said of fighting on Tuesday and Wednesday in three northern towns, adding that several others were injured including 10 soldiers.
The ministry said several vehicles were destroyed and added that the towns of Menaka, Aguelhoc and Tessalit were under the army's control.
The Tuareg rebels had launched an offensive to seize several towns in the desert region where the nomadic tribe seeks autonomy.
Mali's government said the attackers are members of the Azawad National Liberation Movement (MNLA) formed in late 2011, and boosted by the return of heavily armed Tuareg rebels from Libya's conflict.
The Tuareg are demanding independence for their vast desert region, the Azawad, which stretches from the west to the north of Mali.
A nomadic community of some 1.5 million people, Tuareg of various tribes are scattered between Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Niger and Mali.
Mali and Niger experienced uprisings as the Tuareg fought for recognition of their identity and an independent state in the 1960s, 1990s and early 2000 with a resurgence between 2006 and 2009.
After these rebellions many fighters left for Libya, where they were integrated into Kadhafi's security forces. After his fall they returned to northern Mali, particularly the Azawad region between Timbuktu and Kidal.New Delhi: Congress continued to evade persistent queries from the media about the long absence of Rahul Gandhi, who is on a sabbatical, and his whereabouts asking why was same question posed daily.
A volley of questions were asked on the issue at the AICC briefing today with party spokesman R P N Singh telling reporters that they were unnecessarily exercised over the issue.
A reporter asked whether the Congress Vice President was still "not reachable" and "outside the network".
"You are asking the same question daily... As already said he has gone for introspection on recent events with an aim to strengthen the organisation. Whenever we will get intimation, you will be informed...," Singh remarked.
At the outset, he said that senior party leaders A K Antony and Digvijay Singh have already spoken on the issue. Singh had said two days ago that Rahul would be participating in the farmers rally being organised by the party at the Ramlila grounds here on April 19, a day before the second phase of Budget session of Parliament starts.
Senior leader Jairam Ramesh, who also addressed the briefing, dismissed a suggestion that the party has 'completely given up' on Rahul with Sonia Gandhi herself leading the agitation against the land acquisition bill.
"Everyone in the party including the party Vice President are involved...," he remarked.INERT TUBE 1977 The M72-series LAW is a lightweight, self-contained, antiarmor weapon consisting of a rocket packed in a launcher (Figure 2-1). It is man-portable, may be fired from either shoulder, and is issued as a round of ammunition. It requires little from the user only a visual inspection and some operator maintenance. The launcher, which consists of two tubes, one inside the other, serves as a watertight packing container for the rocket and houses a percussion-type firing mechanism that activates the rocket.
. Outer Tube. The trigger housing assembly (which contains the trigger assembly) is on the upper surface of the outer tube. So are the trigger arming handle, front and rear sight assemblies, and the launcher's rear cover.
b. Inner Tube. The inner tube telescopes outward toward the rear, guided by a channel assembly that rides in an alignment slot in the outer tube's trigger housing assembly. The channel assembly also houses the firing pin rod assembly, which includes a detent lever assembly. The detent lever assembly moves under the trigger assembly in the outer tube, locking the inner tube in the extended position and cocking the weapon. All this must occur before the weapon can be fired.
c. Rocket. The rocket is a percussion-ignited, fin-stabilized, fixed munition. The rocket is attached by the igniter to the inside of the launcher. The rocket consists of a 66-mm HEAT warhead, a point-initiating, base-detonating fuze, and a rocket motor. Six spring-loaded fins are attached to the rear of the rocket motor. These fins are folded forward along the motor when the rocket is in the launcher. When ignited, the propellant in the rocket motor burns completely, producing gasses about 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit (760 degrees Centigrade). The gas pressure pushes the rocket toward the target and exits to the rear of the launcher as the backblast.
2-2. TECHNICAL DATA
The following data apply to the M72A2 and M72A3 LAWs:
a. Launcher.
Length (Extended) Less than 1 meter (34.67 inches)
Length (Closed).0.67 meter (24.8 inches)
Weight (Complete M72A2) 2.3 kg (5.1 pounds)
Weight (Complete M72A3) 2.5 kg (5.5 pounds)
Firing Mechanism Percussion
Front Sight Reticle graduated in 25-meter range increments
Rear Sight Peep sight adjusts automatically to temperature change
b. Rocket.
Caliber 66 mm
Length 50.8 cm (20 inches)
Weight 1.8 kg (2.2 pounds)
Muzzle Velocity 144.8 mps (475 fps)
Minimum Range (Combat) 10 meters (33 feet)
Minimum Arming Range 10 meters (33 feet)
Maximum Range 1,000 meters (3,300 feet)
Maximum Effective Ranges:
Stationary Target
200 meters (660 feet) Moving Target
165 meters (541 feet) (Beyond these ranges, there is less than a fifty percent chance of hitting the target.)
AMMUNITION
The M72-series LAW is issued as a round of ammunition. It contains a nonadjustable propelling charge and a rocket. Every M72-series LAW has an integral high-explosive antitank (HEAT) warhead. The warhead is in the rocket's head (or body) section. The fuze and booster are in the rocket's closure section. The propellant, its igniter, and the fin assembly are in the rocket's motor. No inert versions are available (Figure 2-2). Appendix B provides information about appropriate gunnery training devices and ammunition. Although the M72-series LAW is mainly used as an antiarmor weapon, it may be used with limited success against secondary targets such as gun emplacements, pillboxes, buildings, or light vehicles.
. Description. The 66-mm HEAT rocket warhead consists of a tapered, thin-gauge steel body |
photonic integration are lacking8. Here, we demonstrate laser-based fabrication of complex 3D structures deep inside silicon using 1-µm-sized dots and rod-like structures of adjustable length as basic building blocks. The laser-modified Si has an optical index different to that in unmodified parts, enabling the creation of numerous photonic devices. Optionally, these parts can be chemically etched to produce desired 3D shapes. We exemplify a plethora of subsurface—that is, ‘in-chip’—microstructures for microfluidic cooling of chips, vias, micro-electro-mechanical systems, photovoltaic applications and photonic devices that match or surpass corresponding state-of-the-art device performances.
Efforts to modify silicon below the surface using a pulsed laser go back more than a decade9, albeit with limited success (for a review see Supplementary Section 1). We begin by discussing point-like modification of Si at the laser focus, based on an approach we have demonstrated previously10. We use a custom-developed nanosecond-pulsed fibre laser11 operating at a central wavelength of 1.55 µm, where Si is transparent. Using a ×40 objective to focus the beam tightly, we trigger a set of light–matter interaction mechanisms simultaneously (Supplementary Section 2), leading to well-controlled and repeatable beam collapse (Fig. 1a). When only a single pulse is applied, this results in permanent modification of the crystal structure (Supplementary Section 3) within a roughly 1-µm-wide spherical region (Fig. 1b). By repositioning the beam and sending a single pulse to each new position, any desired 3D structure, like the 1-µm-thick, 1-mm-long helix in Fig. 1c, can be created, point by point. However, like all 3D fabrication methods, there is an inherent trade-off between resolution, speed and processing volume12. We provide numerous examples of structures and devices in Figs. 3 and 4, which occupy volumes ranging between 0.1 and 10 mm3. Point-by-point processing of such macroscopic volumes with 1 µm resolution requires approximately 108–1010 beam-positioning steps, which leads to prohibitively long processing times, limited by the speed of modern beam-positioning equipment. We circumvent this problem by augmenting point-by-point processing with the creation of self-organized rod-like structures forming along the beam propagation direction. This works well in practice, because most 3D structures of interest can be broken down into rods of various lengths (rods grow in length with the number of incident pulses). If the structure requires finer features, these can be created by additional point-by-point processing. In this way, the fabrication time is reduced from thousands of hours to mere minutes. Fig. 1: Creation of 3D index modification inside Si. a, Schematic showing laser pulses incident on a Si chip. The pulse collapses and modifies the local Si crystal structure, which constitutes a building block for more complex structures. Consecutive laser pulses focus to shifted positions, axially elongating the structured region. Inset: scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of a rod-like structure in Si. b, Infrared image of an array of 1-µm-sized voxels, each created by a single laser pulse. c, Infrared image of a 1-µm-thick, 1-mm-long helix, exemplifying point-by-point fabrication of an in-chip 3D structure. d, Various 3D structures can be formed using rod-like structures as building blocks. These 1-µm-wide structures can range from 20 µm to hundreds of micrometres in length along the laser propagation direction (z axis). SEM (top surface and cross-section) and infrared transmission microscope (subsurface) images correspond to colour-labelled planar sections in the 3D schematic. The subsurface mesh is directly revealed in the infrared image, whereas the top (shown) and bottom (not shown) surfaces remain unscathed. In all figures, the z axis is the optical axis. Full size image
To trigger the self-organized pulse-to-pulse growth of the rod-like structures, we invoke nonlinear feedback mechanisms13,14,15,16 arising from the interaction of infrared laser pulses inside Si: (1) competing thermal nonlinearity- and free-carrier-induced (FCI) refractive index changes due to counter-propagating laser beams, and (2) a self-limiting, non-local feedback loop arising from permanent local modification of Si at the beam focus, which, in turn, iteratively shifts the focal position of the beam, resulting in rod-like structures whose lengths are controlled by the number of incident pulses. The beam, focused by a lens, passes through the Si chip. About a third of it returns from the back surface of the chip due to Fresnel reflection, and counter-propagates with respect to the incident beam (Fig. 1a). Near its focal point, positioned at a desired point inside the chip, the beam collapses due to nonlinear effects and modifies the Si. When additional pulses are sent, their focal points iteratively shift along the optical (z) axis as each pulse further modifies the material, changing the optical path of the next pulse (Fig. 1a). The beam width is unaltered, so the structured region progressively gets longer without increasing in width, and its aspect ratio can reach far beyond the diffraction limit. By repositioning the beam and sending a controlled number of pulses, we create elongated structures of controllable length (Fig. 2c) at desired locations within the chip, which are combined to construct complex structures (Fig. 1c,d). After this single-step procedure, the Si chip has only internal refractive index modification, which is used to demonstrate a variety of optical elements, such as lenses, holograms and waveguides. As an optional second step, we can selectively remove the modified regions by chemical etching to enable full 3D sculpting of the entire chip. For instance, the fabrication of ‘Penrose stairs’17 is illustrated in Fig. 2a. Fig. 2: Selective chemical etching and theoretical modelling. a, Illustration summarizing single-step selective chemical etching for removal of the laser-processed volumes. The SEM image shows the experimental realization of ‘Penrose stairs’17. b, Simulation results show a self-induced refractive index change, composed of thermal nonlinearity- (positive Δn thermal ) and free-carrier-induced refractive index change (negative Δn FCI ) for a single pulse (green curve). The red curve shows the self-induced refractive index change for a single beam focused in Si. The blue curve shows the index change for the two counter-propagating beams. Thermal nonlinearity is dominant in the latter, enabling beam collapse and modification in Si. c, Comparison of the prediction of our analytical model for structure elongation with each pulse, with experimental results. Data points represented by red circles were created using a lens with numerical aperture (NA) of 0.55 and the isolated data point (blue diamond) was created using an objective with NA of 0.75. In all figures, the z axis is the optical axis. Full size image
We explain the self-organization physics governing the creation of the structures by using a toy model (see Supplementary Section 4 for details) to qualitatively illustrate the basic formation mechanism. Wave propagation is governed by the nonlinear paraxial equation and the heat equation. This equation system is mathematically equivalent to the Newton–Schrödinger system18. Two competing diffractive effects dominate beam propagation, a thermally induced change of the index of refraction (Δn therm ) and a free-carrier-induced (FCI) refractive index change (Δn FCI ), which are similar to concatenated converging and diverging lenses with focal lengths f therm and f FCI, respectively. Modification of Si occurs if the beam self-focuses and collapses (the first feedback mechanism), which requires the thermal lensing to be stronger than diffraction due to the FCI effect (f therm < |f FCI |). The incident and reflected beams are individually too weak to modify the material (f therm > |f FCI |), but when overlapped, they cooperate to modify the crystal structure permanently (Fig. 2b). This scenario was verified by numerical solutions of beam propagation based on the split-step Fourier method (Supplementary Section 2), which show that shielding due to negative Δn FCI precludes subsurface modification for a single beam, consistent with experiments. In contrast, thermal lensing is enhanced when the beams are coupled (Figs. 1a and 2b) and the beam collapses to induce permanent refractive index changes in the Si. When more than one pulse is incident, the second feedback mechanism is activated. Each pulse locally modifies the Si, and the resulting change in refractive index shifts the focal point for the next pulse, in a manner similar to the moving focus model of self-focusing19. The focal position of the second pulse, l 2, is given by $$\frac{1}{{l}_{2}}=\frac{1}{{f}_{{\rm{FCI}}}}+\frac{1}{{f}_{{\rm{therm}}}}+\frac{1}{{l}_{1}}$$ where l 1 is the focal position of the first pulse. The location of the modification caused by the nth pulse (n > 1), l n, is found from $$\frac{1}{{l}_{n}}=(n-1)(\frac{1}{{f}_{{\rm{FCI}}}}+\frac{1}{{f}_{{\rm{therm}}}})+\frac{1}{{l}_{1}}$$ The total length is then $${l}_{total}={l}_{1}-{l}_{n}=\frac{{l}_{1}}{1+\xi /(n-1)}$$ where $$\xi =\frac{{f}_{{\rm{FCI}}}{f}_{{\rm{therm}}}}{{l}_{1}({f}_{{\rm{FCI}}}+{f}_{{\rm{therm}}})}$$ is a constant. This result reveals that elongation of the structures is self-limiting, stopping before reaching the chip surface (Fig. 2c).
We now discuss the features and limitations of creating general 3D structures out of the rod-like building blocks. First, we verify that continuous, wall-like structures can be created by translating the beam in a plane perpendicular to the beam propagation direction (z axis) (Fig. 1d and Supplementary Video 1). Cross-sectional microscope images show that the lengths of the structures range from the Rayleigh length (~20 µm, Fig. 2c) to ~1 mm (limited by the thickness of the chip), while always retaining a width of ~1 µm (Fig. 1d). The corresponding aspect ratio approaches 1,000, which is only possible due to the iterative formation mechanism, where previously formed structures are likely to be seeding the process of their elongation. Next, we verify that the structures can cross over each other without distortion, as evidenced by the mesh structure shown in Fig. 1d. We also confirm that curvilinear structures can be formed (note the spiral in Supplementary Fig. 14). None of these features were obvious, a priori, due to the self-organized nature of the formation mechanism. There is no fundamental limit to the area over which the structures can be created. Similarly, doping of Si is not a limitation; we can create structures in both intrinsic and doped Si. A complete set of experiments is provided in Supplementary Section 5 for n- and p-doped Si chips, where the effects of polarization, scanning angle and direction are analysed. Furthermore, we do not observe any asymmetry resulting from the scanning direction or polarization of the beam, which is not surprising given that Si is a centrosymmetric material20.
We first discuss demonstrations based on purely internal index modification of the Si chip, followed by those where the chip is selectively etched to reveal a desired 3D architecture. There is much interest in using Si as a material for mid-infrared applications4. The capability to locally modify the index of refraction in a well-controlled manner affords unprecedented spatial phase control over optical beams. As an example, we demonstrate the first in-chip Fresnel zone plate (FZP) lens (Fig. 3a). The focal length f is determined by \({R}_{k}=\sqrt{kf\lambda +{(k\lambda /2)}^{2}}\), where R k is the radius of the kth zone and λ is the wavelength. An FZP is designed with R 20 = 1.5 mm, f = 7.2 cm at 1.55 µm. The performance is evaluated to give f = 7.3 cm, M 2 = 1.46 (Fig. 3a) with 15% diffraction efficiency, which exceeds that of single-layer FZP lenses created in glass. Fig. 3: Functional in-chip optical elements and information storage. a, Top: composite infrared transmission microscope image of a subsurface FZP lens. Inset: close-up view. Bottom: theoretical and experimental beam profiles during focusing. b, Simulation of a binary image with high-frequency spatial components, from a hologram of 600 × 600 pixels (i), and experimental reconstruction of the hologram written in Si (ii). c, Simulation of a grey-scale image of Mona Lisa, from a hologram of 600 × 600 pixels (i), and experimental reconstruction of the hologram written in Si (ii). d, 3D holography of a rotating rectangle at four consecutive planes (top). The Fresnel-type hologram in Si is composed of 800 × 600 pixels. Experimentally reconstructed images of the projected rectangles are shown below. All holograms have 10-µm-sized square pixels. e, Measured far-field intensity profiles corresponding to the beam traversing a region without a waveguide (control) and a laser-written waveguide. f, Illustration of multilevel information storage and measured images in Si. The level 1 barcode spells UFO and the level 2 barcode spells LAB. Full size image
Additional applications of creating a refractive index distribution inside Si include wavefront structuring21,22,23, flat optics24, adaptive optics25, Si photonics1 and better electronic–photonic integration26. We showcase this capability through the creation of 2D Fourier computer-generated holograms (CGHs) for binary (Fig. 3b) and greyscale (Fig. 3c) images and Fresnel (Fig. 3d) CGHs for 3D images, all designed using a customized adaptive-additive iterative Fourier transform algorithm (Supplementary Section 6). The experimentally reconstructed binary hologram, composed of 600 × 600, 10 µm pixels, is shown in Fig. 3b. Reproduction of high-frequency spatial components in holography is notoriously difficult26. The fact that they are reproduced in Si with high quality is a confirmation of the good control we have over index modifications (Fig. 3b). Greyscale images require even more advanced wavefront structuring, which we demonstrate through a 600 × 600, 10 µm pixel hologram (Fig. 3c). The pixel count and image reconstruction quality of our in-chip holograms are comparable to those of state-of-the-art nanophotonic phase arrays22 and metamaterial phase holograms23,26. We also note that Si is CMOS-compatible and lossless over a broad spectral range, including telecommunication wavelengths and much of the mid-infrared27. Finally, we demonstrate holography of a 3D image using a Fresnel hologram (800 × 600, 10 µm pixels), which projects rotating rectangles at consecutive planes (Fig. 3d and Supplementary Video 2). This is achieved by first combining a stack of Fourier holograms, each generating a 2D slice of an intended 3D object and then superimposing them with FZPs, which shift each image to its corresponding focal plane (Supplementary Section 6). This construction itself is novel, where the phase-type Fresnel hologram can be generated without directly using the Fresnel equation. To assess the hologram efficiency28 R, gratings were written in Si, with $$R=\frac{4Fsi{n}^{2}(\Delta \varphi )}{{{\rm{\pi }}}^{2}(1-F+Fco{s}^{2}(\Delta \varphi ))}$$ where Δϕ is the phase modulation and F is the filling factor. The measured first-to-zero-order ratio, R ~ 150%, corresponds to Δϕ = 0.69π ± 0.04π, which compares well with the directly measured Δϕ = 0.69π ± 0.01π.
As final applications of the purely optical modification of Si, we demonstrate the formation of an optical waveguide (Fig. 3e) and in-chip information storage (Fig. 3f). For the former, we created a 2.5-mm-long tubular waveguide structure (the laser-processed regions have a depressed index of refraction). The radius of the core region is 10 µm. The far-field intensity profile of the beam obtained at the exit of the Si chip is shown in Fig. 3e, where an identical measurement of the beam traversing a region without a waveguide is also provided as control. For the latter, we created multi-level (more than 500 levels are theoretically possible assuming a 1-mm-thick chip, but, as proof of principle, 25 were written, 7 of which can be directly seen in Supplementary Video 3) buried structures arranged in a dot or barcode format. Next, we created a two-level barcode, where the levels spell ‘UFO’ and ‘LAB’ (Fig. 3f). We limited ourselves to two levels for ease of readout, which was achieved by optical coherence tomography. Furthermore, laser-written structures could be erased following exposure to high temperatures (1,100 °C) in an oven for 2 h. Afterwards, the same digital readout protocol that correctly detected 96% of the written dots false-detected only 3% of erased dots (Supplementary Section 5), highlighting the prospects for erasable and rewritable information storage and holography. This process could probably be simplified and rendered spatially selective by using continuous-wave laser heating instead of an oven.
The second class of applications is based on selective chemical etching of the optically processed chip for truly 3D sculpting (Fig. 4). Thanks to the vastly higher etching rates for modified parts of Si compared to unmodified parts, we are able to create extremely regular arrays of sharp-edged and high-aspect-ratio (20 µm × 30 µm × 500 µm) pillars within minutes (Fig. 4a and Supplementary Section 7). Among the numerous possible applications, there is the possibility to create buried microfluidic channels (Fig. 4b). Pumping coolants directly through microfluidic channels written inside chips is being considered as a possible remedy to the overheating of microprocessor chips29, which is a main limitation to increasing clock rates30. As a proof-of-principle experiment, we passed cold water through a Si chip, which decreased the surface temperature by 4 °C within a few seconds (Fig. 4c and Supplementary Video 4). As another potential application of 3D sculpting to electronics, we demonstrate through-Si vias31 of controllable depth, including those that cut across the entire chip (Fig. 4d). Furthermore, in Fig. 4e we present 3D cantilever-like structures that could find use in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) applications. We also show controlled slicing of a chip into ~30-µm-thick plates (Fig. 4f). To this end, planar sections inside the chip are raster-scanned with laser pulses, followed by chemical etching, resulting in mechanical separation of the chip along the processed planes. The sliced plates can be used for photovoltaic cell fabrication, for example, reducing the required amount of Si material by an order of magnitude, with potential for major cost reductions. As a final illustration of the potential for 3D sculpturing, we created a microscale Si city, Siliconopolis, with representations of buildings, trees, a beach and a sea (Fig. 4g). Fig. 4: Sculpting of 3D arbitrary micro-architectures. a, SEM image of large-area-covering, high-aspect-ratio micropillars revealed after chemical etching. Inset: close-up view of the etched micropillar array. The pillars have 20 × 30 µm top surfaces and their heights extend ~500 µm along the laser propagation direction. b, SEM image of a sidewall of a Si chip, showing embedded microchannels. Inset: laser scanning microscopy of the channels, which penetrate hundreds of micrometres into the chip. c, Illustration of an 8-mm-long microfluidic channel carrying cooling water into a chip. Thermal camera images before (i) and after (ii) passing the water show that the surface temperature of the chip decreases by 4 °C within a few seconds. d, SEM images of the entrances of through-Si vias that cut across the entire chip. e, SEM image of 3D cantilever-like structures. f, SEM image of controlled slicing of a chip into ~30-µm-thick plates. g, An artificially coloured view of a micro-cityscape created out of Si. Full size image
We have outlined a general methodology and the various examples demonstrated here are far from constituting an exhaustive list. Additional possibilities include the creation of in-chip microlens arrays, microresonators, modulators for multi-level electronic–photonic integration and rewritable holograms or information storage.
Methods Experimental set-up We used optical pulses with a central wavelength of 1.55 µm, duration of 5 ns and repetition rate of 150 kHz (Supplementary Section 8). The laser system was coupled to a processing station with precise alignment, power and polarization control. For single-point modification, a ×40 objective with NA of 0.75 was used. For rod-like structures, the laser was focused to ~3 µm (f = 4.5 mm, NA = 0.55) after the back surface of a Si sample, which produced the counter-propagating beam. The samples were translated with a three-axis high-resolution computer-controlled stage (Aerotech, ANT130-XY, ANT95-L-Z). The pulse energy was controlled by a half-wave plate between two polarising beamsplitters (PBSs) operating as an attenuator, while the polarization was linear after the PBS and in the plane of the sample surface. A second half-wave plate was used to control the polarization angle. Pulse energies were in the range of 2–8 µJ and 15–20 µJ for single-point and rod-like structures, respectively. The modification threshold was estimated to be 5–15 GW cm–2. Experiments were performed at room temperature and in an ambient atmosphere. We anticipate that the multi-beam-, multi-pulse-based rod-like structures can also be realized in other geometries, such as crossed-laser beams. We used the current architecture for its practical value and simplicity. Optical coherence tomography and infrared microscopy To validate the 3D information encoding/decoding capabilities in Si, we used a second-generation optical coherence tomography system called optical frequency-domain imaging (OFDI). The OFDI system uses a polygon filter-based wavelength-swept laser source operating at an axial scan rate of 50 kHz. The sweeping range was over 120 nm at a centre wavelength of 1.3 µm, providing 6 µm axial resolution in air (~1.8 µm in Si). The optical interference signals were digitalized and directly transferred to a hard-drive storage array by a two-channel 100 MS s–1 data acquisition board (Signatec). Approximately 10% of the acquired data were employed and processed on the CPU for real-time structural image feedback. We used a homemade scanner microscope comprising a two-axis galvanometer mirror system (GVS112, Thorlabs) and a ×10 scan lens (LSM02, Thorlabs) for barcode decoding. The barcodes use international symbology UPC, code 128. A homemade infrared microscope was used to evaluate the subsurface structures. This incorporated a broad-spectrum halogen lamp as the light source and an electron-multiplying charge-coupled device camera (Andor, Luca S) as the detector. The infrared microscope was operated in transmission mode with a ×20 objective (Nikon, 0.45 NA ×20). Laser-written samples were studied with a reflection-mode optical microscope (Nikon, 0.6 NA, ×40) and also with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging, confirming that there were no photo-induced modifications on either side of the wafer. In addition, the etching results provided additional confirmation of undamaged surfaces after laser writing. Sample preparation, positioning and scanning Double-side-polished, 〈100〉-cut, p-type Si samples (boron-doped, 1 Ω cm and 15 kΩ cm) and n-type (phosphorus-doped, 1 Ω cm) samples were used (Siegert Wafer). Wafers (500 µm–1.3 mm thick) were diced into 15 mm × 30 mm dimensions. Piranha solution was applied to the samples (2 min), then they were cleaned in acetone (5 min), ethanol (5 min) and deionized water (5 min) and finally dried with nitrogen. The Si samples were held in position with neodymium magnets. Precise sample alignment with respect to the laser was found to be crucial. This alignment was accomplished by using the interference of multiple reflections from the sample’s polished surfaces, which was monitored with an infrared-sensitive camera. The scheme allowed alignment within a few micrometres throughout the scanning range and also operated as a proxy for in situ imaging. The scans were performed in a plane perpendicular to the laser propagation direction at speeds in the 0.2–7 mm s–1 range. Chemical etching procedure Chemical etching was applied to optically processed Si samples after the following preparation steps. The samples were first lapped down 150–250 µm from the surface (Allied High MultiPrep). Consecutive lapping steps were applied with progressively smaller diamond-particle decorated films (with sizes of 35 µm, 9 µm, 6 µm and 0.5 µm). Further polishing was then performed using an alumina suspension (particle size of 50 nm) until a mirror-like surface was obtained. To prevent contamination, the polished surface was cleaned with the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) clean procedure (RCA-1 and RCA-2 steps). The samples were then exposed to the etching solution for a few minutes, with molar concentrations of the components, Cu(NO 3 ) 2, HF, HNO 3 and CH 3 COOH, of 0.05 M, 10 M, 4 M and 3.5 M, respectively (Supplementary Section 7). Finally, the samples were rinsed with deionized water and dried with nitrogen flow. All chemicals were supplied by Merck Chemical Company. The average surface roughness of the top surfaces of the etched structures was measured to be ~20 nm using atomic force microscopy. Although the side surfaces could not be measured directly, we estimated the roughness to be better than ~1 µm. These values are comparable to or smaller than our smallest feature size of 1 µm and the infrared wavelengths for which Si is highly transparent (from ~1 µm to ~9 µm). Data availability The data that support the plots within this paper and other findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements This work was supported partially by a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant ERC-617521 NLL, EU Marie Curie Fellowship 660769 SMILE and TÜBITAK under project 113M930. The authors acknowledge support from the Structural Characterization Facilities at IBC of the HZDR. The authors thank H. Volkan Hünerli for discussions of the chemical procedure.
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About this article Publication history Received 26 January 2017 Accepted 25 July 2017 Published 29 September 2017 DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-017-0004-4WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- While it's difficult to predict, next year's U.S. federal deficit could reach a trillion dollars, White House spokesman Tony Fratto said Monday.
"It's going to be large," Fratto, the deputy press secretary, said at a White House news briefing.
The deficit will reflect the economic slump, a drop in federal revenue and the "large increase in spending over the short term to deal with the financial crisis," Fratto said, noting passage of a second stimulus bill rests with Congress and the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama.
Sunday, Vice President-elect Joseph Biden said a second stimulus package is needed because the Obama administration is likely to inherit the largest deficit in U.S. history -- probably exceeding a trillion dollars.
Biden said a deficit of a trillion-plus would dictate the need for a second stimulus package in the range of $600 billion to $700 billion.Alicia Keys made the right decision to scrap her idea of drastically changing the lyrics to the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. But Keys still can't win. Now she is being roundly criticized for sitting down at a piano while singing the National Anthem. She should have known better, say historians who prefer singers to stand upright and proud while singing the Star Spangled Banner.
“It was disrespectful. They had enough time and manpower to think of this before the performance. They could have had her stand at her piano keyboard and sing. To me and a lot of my friends, she sounded great but the visual was wrong," One morning show producer told The Huffington Post.
The Inquisitor reports that Keys' publicist rushed to control the damage to Keys' reputation.
“Alicia is a proud American and was honored to perform at the event. Her slow version of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was her own arrangement, accompanying herself on the piano, adding ‘living in the home of the brave’ at the end of the song. It’s silly to see how that was being disrespectful.”
There was one positive outcome: USA Today reports that the Alicia Keys anthem rendition set the record for the longest version ever at 156.4 seconds. The previous record was held by Natalie Cole at 154 seconds in 1994.
Yes, people really do care about stuff like that.
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Kandahar.
So-called “green-on-blue” insider attacks by Afghan troops on international service members have occurred periodically over the years but have become much less frequent as a result of improved security measures.
The attack came as NATO commander General John Nicholson reviews plans to cut the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan by next year almost in half, a move that officials say would see the training mission severely reduced.
However, a statement from the NATO-led international coalition in Afghanistan said the shooting would not threaten its training and advisory mission with Afghan forces.
“We continue to train, advise and assist the ANDSF, and do not view this incident as representative of the positive relationship between our forces,” it said.
Romania contributes almost 600 soldiers to the nearly 12,500-strong Resolute Support mission in Afghanistan.
Samim Khpalwak, a spokesman for the Kandahar provincial governor, confirmed the shooting and said one Afghan policeman had been arrested and was being questioned.
Under current plans, U.S troop numbers are due to drop to from 9,800 to 5,500 by the start of 2017 but there has been growing speculation that Nicholson could recommend delaying the drawdown in order to keep the training mission going.Photo: Seiko Epson
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Often equipped with two arms, strange hands, and even stranger-looking heads, a new breed of jack-of-all-trades industrial robot could change the face of automation. And the place to see the latest examples of these dual-arm manufacturing machines was the International Robot Exhibition (IREX) in Tokyo earlier this month.
We're putting together an in-depth article and video on the dual-arm, adaptable industrial robots we saw at IREX. But today we're going to focus on one of them, because that's a new robot we've never covered before.
It's a new prototype from Japanese electronics company Seiko Epson. The robot doesn't have a name yet (the company calls it simply "autonomous dual-arm robot"), but we can't help noticing that it looks like E.T. Epson plans to market it by early 2016.
Epson is no stranger to industrial manufacturing robots, boasting the lion's share of global SCARA robot sales (one model pictured below). However, specialized industrial robots aren't easily assigned new jobs, since they're often carefully integrated into permanent positions in the production line. In the past, the main solution has been manual labor. The new generation of adaptable robots could change that with a combination of sensing, delicate manipulation, and the ability to learn new tasks more easily.
"In the future, a commercial version of this autonomous dual-arm robot will make it possible to easily automate a wide range of tasks that previously had to be performed by hand," said Hideo Hirao, chief operating officer of Epson's industrial solutions division. The robot could be moved from one end of a production line, where it assembles goods, to the other end where it picks up and places objects into packages, he added.
Epson provides some more details in a press release:
"Epson's autonomous dual-arm robot is able to accurately recognize the position and orientation of objects in three-dimensional space. The two robot arms are equipped with newly developed force sensors that give the robot human-like control over the force exerted by the arms, enabling the robots to transport and assemble objects without damaging them. A multipurpose end effector can grasp, clamp, and insert objects of various shapes and sizes. The robot can be made to perform a wide range of tasks simply by teaching it objects and task scenarios."
If all that sounds like what we've heard about other robots like Rethink Robotics' Baxter, ABB's Frida, or Kawada Industries' Nextage, it's no coincidence. That's definitely one of the hottest trends in industrial robotics. However, there remains the rather important issue of price, which Epson is not yet ready to disclose. If the company's dual-arm robot has a competitive price, Epson—already a big player in the SCARA market—is in a strong position to enter this new era of manufacturing automation.At E3 this week, Microsoft dropped a bomb by announcing that backwards compatibility with Xbox 360 games is coming to the Xbox One, and is currently available to preview members. Now, the company has confirmed that Xbox 360 games will be able to take advantage of Xbox One to Windows 10 game streaming as well.
In a private demo of the Xbox One's revamped interface, the company confirmed to Engadget that users will have access to its streaming functionality when the new features roll out this holiday season. (If you're a member of the Preview Program, though, you should be able to play 360 games on a Win 10 machine already.)
In a followup, Engadget was also able to confirm that this applies to the Oculus Rift as well, which, as was recently revealed, will fully support game streaming in Windows 10. Overall, this is some very interesting news. While streaming Xbox One games to Windows 10 was already a pretty big feature, it's great to see that the newly-announced backwards compatibility will extend this feature to older games as well.
Source: Engadget (1, 2) Thanks for the tip, Lawrence!Canadian coffee chain giant Tim Hortons seems to be much more comfortable serving double-doubles than navigating the tricky world of pipeline politics.
Facing pressure from some anti-pipeline customers, Tim Hortons has announced it will no longer be running advertisements for Enbridge.
The spots had been airing for close to three weeks on screens at more than 1,500 Tim Hortons locations between British Columbia and Ontario on Tims TV.
An online petition from a group called SumOfUs urged Tim Hortons to yank the ads, accusing the company of "shilling" for the oilsands shipper.
Tim Hortons responded to several Twitter users by saying it values the feedback and the ads will no longer be airing on Tims TV. The campaign was supposed to run for another week.
The SumOfUs group claimed victory after the ads were pulled.
"Enbridge was using the trusted brand of Tim Hortons to sell a skeptical public on a project," said Emma Pullman, a campaigner with SumOfUs in Vancouver. "Enbridge is going to have to do more than glossy ads to get social licence to build this project."
Enbridge downplayed the abrupt end to its ad campaign
"We enjoyed working with Tims and respect its decision," said Enbridge spokesman Graham White in a statement.
Alberta backlash
The move by Tim Hortons is not going over well in oil-friendly Alberta. Customers are pledging their own boycott. Politicians, including Defence Minister Jason Kenney, took to Twitter to voice their support for Enbridge.
"I'm proud to represent thousands of constituents who work for Enbridge & other CDN energy companies," wrote Kenney, who represents the riding of Calgary Southeast.
Marketing experts question whether Tim Hortons over-reacted to the online petition.
"Enbridge, of course, is not just pipelines and oilsands; they are a whole range of products including heating people's homes," said Alan Middleton of York University. "Tims should have thought about that."
Tim Hortons did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Enbridge's $7.9-billion Northern Gateway pipeline, which would ship oilsands bitumen from Alberta to the west coast, is a controversial project.
While approved by the federal government, the pipeline must clear several hurdles:The rain was teeming down in Bern and Hungary were about to win the World Cup. Ferenc Puskas had put the Mighty Magyars ahead after six minutes and Zoltan Czibor had doubled the advantage after eight. They were 2-0 up inside 10 minutes and they had not lost in four years. They were 2-0 up inside 10 minutes against a team that they had beaten 8-3 barely a fortnight earlier. They were 2-0 up inside 10 minutes against a side who, four years earlier, did not even exist.
What unfolded over the next 80 minutes, if you subscribe to the more romantic interpretations, created one country and fanned the flames of a revolution in another. Even the most mundane reading of events would still need to use the phrase “greatest comeback ever seen in a World Cup final”. Hungary were 2-0 up inside 10 minutes but it was West Germany who were about to win the World Cup.
West Germany’s road to Switzerland
In the inter-war period, German football had been among the strongest in Europe. In 1934 the Mannschaft had finished third at the World Cup, beating the Austrian Wunderteam in the third-place play-off. Three years later Sepp Herberger’s Breslau Elf – monikered after the side who defeated Denmark 8-0 in Breslau – went 11 games undefeated (winning 10) but by 1938 the Anschluss had created a “united” German side that was anything but and the World Cup campaign that year ended at the first hurdle with defeat to the Swiss.
Then came war. Football became propaganda. The continuing league system was held up by the Nazi regime as “proof of morale”. Throughout the conflict Herberger, who had been in sole charge of the national side since 1936, would do his best to keep his charges out of harm’s way. When passes back from the front became available only to those decorated in service, the national team manager would falsify documents in order to get his players. And he would do what he could to install members of his squad in positions away from the fronts. Several, Herberger’s golden boy Fritz Walter among them, were wangled comparatively safe jobs at an airforce base, which also just happened to have one of the best football sides in the country.
West Germany players line up before the start of the final in Bern.
But Herberger’s best efforts were not enough amid the carnage. For example Adolf Urban, Schalke’s star striker who had made his debut for the interntional side in 1935 aged only 21 and was a member of the Breslau Elf, helped his club side to a league triumph in 1942, then played in their cup final defeat to 1860 Munich. It was his last ever game – after the final he was posted to Stalingrad and, like almost 2,000,000 others on both sides, never returned home.
World Cup stunning moments: Roy Keane walks out on Ireland | Barry Glendenning Read more
International matches had finally ceased in February 1943 on the orders of Joseph Goebbels and his plans for “total war”. Club football ground to a halt in August 1944. In the immediate aftermath of the war, with Germany quartered among the victors, old sporting clubs were banned, and large assemblies of people were outlawed. The ability of footballers to play depended on which zone they found themselves in. Gradually, though, teams reformed or formed anew, with the bigger ones travelling the country taking on smaller sides in exchange for fuel or food. A nascent league system was quickly back in place but it was July 1949 before the German FA, the DFB, came back into being. In February 1950 a West German national side was reformed under the auspices of Herberger, who survived the post-war process of denazificartion despite having been a member of the party since 1933, once more. In September the country was admitted to Fifa and in November West Germany played their first post-war international against Switzerland in Stuttgart. Herberger’s side won 1-0.
That result did not exactly herald the birth of a new footballing superpower. Defeats against Turkey and Ireland put Herberger under pressure and they began the qualifying campaign for the 1954 World Cup with a 1-1 draw in Oslo against Norway. The crunch game came in Saarbrucken against the newly independent Saarland and a 3-1 win was enough to take Herberger and his side to the finals.
Hungary’s road to Switzerland
“For the first half of the 20th century, both from a footballing and a political point of view, Hungary had existed in the shadow of Austria,” writes Jonathan Wilson in Inverting the Pyramid. “Their thinking had, inevitably, been influenced by Hugo Meisl and the Danubian Whirl, but the crucial point was that it was thinking. In Budapest, as in Vienna, football was a matter for intellectual debate.”
Like Germany, Hungary had been a powerful pre-war footballing presence. They won Olympic gold in 1912 and were beaten finalists at the 1938 World Cup. Like Germany, international football had continued during the second world war until the end of 1943 and in the four years after VE Day, a golden generation emerged.
The teams line up at the start of the match as above the crowded stand a railway train passes.
“The Hungarian game has always been built on or round outstanding individuals,” wrote Willy Meisl in 1956, and by the 1954 World Cup Hungary had an entire team of them. The half-dozen players at the core of the Aranycsapat – the Golden Squad – were all in the side by 1949: Ferenc Puskas and Nandor Hidegkuti made their international bows in 1945, the goalkeeper Gyula Grosics and defender Jozsef Bozsik in 1947, Sandor Kocsis in 1948 and Zoltan Czibor in 1949. Gusztav Sebes, who took sole control of the national side in the same year, had five of that six under his charge at Honved, with only Hidegkuti playing his club football elsewhere.
But even with that group in the side, Hungary were by no means on course for World Cup glory. A defeat in Prague against Czechoslovakia in 1949 proved the final straw. “After that game the issue could no longer be avoided,” wrote Puskas in his autobiography. “Hungary had to evolve an entirely new method of play if we were to make any headway in international football.” And that they did, producing a remarkably fluid structure. “Players... constantly changed position according to a prearranged plan,” wrote Puskas. “The result was that our opponents could not guess our plans and found themselves in difficulties which would not have been experienced had we followed the usual English method of play.”
World Cup stunning moments: Clive Thomas denies Zico and Brazil Read more
The abandonment of “the usual English method of play” meant Hungary played without the traditional battering ram No9 and instead had first Peter Palotas and, from 1952, Hidegkuti wearing No9 but playing as a trequartista. The results were extraordinary. Between June 1950 and the start of the 1954 World Cup the Mighty Magyars played 30 times without defeat, claiming a second Olympic gold medal in the process. The train that carried the side on the final leg of their journey back to Budapest after glory in Helsinki was stopped at every station by ecstatic crowds and in the capital 400,000 people lined the streets to greet them.
And while Germany laboured against Norway and Saarland, Hungary qualified for the 1954 tournament without playing a game, Poland withdrawing from their two-team qualifying group without a ball being kicked.
Then on 25 November 1953, Hungary’s Golden Squad visited Wembley to face England. The visitors won 6-3 becoming the first overseas team to win at the national stadium and changing forever English football’s perception of itself. Just for good measure they hammered Walter Winterbottom’s side 7-1 in Budapest in their final warm-up match before the 1954 tournament. Hungary were ready to take on the world. And the world expected to lose.
Round one
Group Two saw Hungary and West Germany pitted against Turkey (who had qualified for the tournament courtesy of a drawing of lots following a play-off draw against Spain) and a fairly dismal South Korea team who had reached Switzerland by virtue of a win and a draw against Japan in their two-team qualifying group. In typically bonkers Fifa style, odd rules meant that the two seeded teams – Hungary and Turkey (the seedings, again with the rational thinking we’ve come to expect from football’s governing body, having already been set before Turkey’s play-off with Spain) – would not face each other, but play only against the two unseeded sides with the top two sides reaching the knockout stages. If second and third ended level on points would – regardless of goal difference – then play each other in a play-off.
Confused? It sounds a muddle, and it was, but Herberger saw the road ahead with clarity. Defeat against Hungary was a certainty, he figured, as was a Turkish victory over the Koreans. His side would, then, need to beat Turkey in their opening game and then again in a play-off if they were to reach the knockout stages.
World Cup stunning moments: Haiti shock Dino Zoff's Italy | Simon Burnton Read more
The plan worked perfectly, despite a shaky start. Turkey took a second-minute lead in the Wankdorf Stadium in the opening game but Hans Schäfer equalised and three second-half goals gave Herberger’s side the result they needed. Meanwhile in Zurich, Hungary dispatched the hapless Koreans 9-0, with Kocsis grabbing a hat-trick. “It was more than inexplicable how the Korean team had been admitted,” wrote Puskas. “They were very weak and had had no training.”
Turkey would have similarly little trouble and beat South Korea 7-0 in Geneva, while West Germany and Hungary were taking part in one of the most extraordinary and controversial group games in any World Cup. Herberger, with one eye on the play-off and the other, perhaps, on keeping the true strength of his side under wraps, named only four of the side who had played in the opening game. Hungary battered them, Kocsis scoring four in an 8-3 win. But the most significant incident in the game befell Puskas.
The inside-left was enjoying himself immensely against the reshuffled German side. “I could feel the ball as a violinist feels his instrument,” he writes. Jupp Posipal could not get near him, so he switched positions with Werner Liebrich. “But even against him I played like a bird on the wing.” Liebrich, though, would finally clip those wings, a crunching tackle (with the score at 5-1) causing a hairline fracture of Puskas’s ankle.
Hungary would have to cope without the Galloping Major in their quarter-final against Brazil, but West Germany were still to get there. Back to full strength, though, they had little trouble in their play-off against Turkey – a 7-3 win set up a last-eight tie against Yugoslavia.
The Miracle of Bern
Hungary reached the semis thanks to a 4-2 win in a bruising encounter with Brazil – “They behaved like violent enemies without respect for our physical safety,” reckoned Puskas from his vantage point in the stands – while Germany squeezed past 1952 Olympic silver medallists Yugoslavia 2-0. In the last four, Hungary, again without Puskas, led the reigning champions Uruguay 2-0 with 15 minutes to go only to be pegged back to 2-2 before winning 4-2 in extra time. There was no such drama for Herberger and his side, a 6-1 thrashing of Austria, who had beaten the host nation 7-5 in the quarters, taking West Germany into the final.
Nandor Hidegkuti scores against Uruguay in the semi-finals.
For the German captain it would be only the second most important game he had ever played against Hungary. Back in 1945 as Germany collapsed to defeat, Fritz Walter and his airforce base surrendered to the Americans. But they were then handed over to the Russian army and shipped to Siberia, where awaited almost certain death, a journey made by 40,000 German prisoners of war. On the way, Walter’s convoy stopped at a Ukrainian detention centre. The camp police were playing a match. Walter watched from the sidelines, flicked a stray ball back into play and was soon brought into the game. One of the guards recognised him from a friendly Germany had played in Budapest in 1942. The next day Walter’s name was removed from the list of those heading east and he was permitted to return to his home in Kaiserslautern.
Nine years later he led his team out for the World Cup final as the rain came down in Bern. The weather, and the boggy pitch, would play into his team’s hands. The German side were wearing a revolutionary new piece of kit – boots with screw-in studs that could be altered depending on the conditions.
The Big Feature - The story behind The Mirace of Berne Read more
But those boots were little help in the opening exchanges. After six minutes Liebrich made a certain amount of amends for his tackle in the group game, giving the ball straight to Bozsik 40 yards from goal. He fed Kocsis, whose shot cannoned of a German defender and fell to Puskas who poked the ball home from close range. Two minutes later, Werner Kohlmeyer, under pressure from Kocsis, and his goalkeeper Toni Turek got themselves into an almighty tangle in the box. Czibor scooted away and popped the ball into the empty net – 2-0. Another 8-3 was on the cards.
And cue miracle. On 10 minutes Helmut Rahn found space on the left and slung in a low cross. Jozsef Zakarias could only get a toe to the ball and Max Morlock slid the ball home. 2-1. Eight minutes later Fritz Walter slung in a corner, Grosics flapped, and Rahn, thundering in at the back post, slammed in West Germany’s second. 2-2. Hidegkuti hit the post. Kocsis hit the bat. Turek made save after save
And finally, with six minutes left, a cross slung into the box was nodded away only as far as Rahn on the edge of the box. He checked on to his left and sent a shot arrowing into the bottom corner. 3-2.
While the players were making themselves legends on the pitch, Herbert Zimmerman was doing likewise in the commentary box. His words as Rahn scores the winner are now part of German football folklore. “Tor! Tor! Tor! Tor! Tor fur Deutschland!” And then, unable to take it in: “Drei zu zwei fuhrt Deutschland! Halten Sie mich fur verruckt! Halten Sie mich fur ubergeschnappt!” – “3-2 to Germany. Call me mad! Call me crazy!” There was still time for Puskas to have a goal controversially ruled out for offside and for Czibor to be denied brilliantly by Turek. But Hungary could not find an equaliser. It was over. Or, as Zimmerman put it: “Aus! Aus! Aus! Aus! Das spiel ist aus!” West Germany were world champions.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ferenc Puskas is denied by the offside flag. Photograph: AP
The aftermath
The Miracle of Bern is a Sliding Doors moment. Budapest went into uproar, with demonstrations in the streets. In 1952 the Golden Squad had returned to a 400,000-strong party. In 1954 they waited for days in the town of Tata until the worst of the trouble had ended in the capital. There are those who feel that the seeds of the 1956 revolution were sown in those days after the final. As far as football was concerned,Hungary at first continued where they had left off in the semi-final, going another 18 matches unbeaten to take their record to one defeat in 49 games between June 1950 and November 1955. But the run petered out and Sebes was replaced early in 1956, his team and the coaching structures around it dismantled. The heights of the early 50s would never again be reached. Of the Miracle of Bern Tibor Nyilasi, who played up front for the national side in the late 70s and early 80s, told Jonathan Wilson in his book Beyond the Curtain: “It is as though Hungarian football is frozen at that moment, as though we have never quite moved on from then.”
While the Hungarians hung out in Tata, the German side had their own train troubles. The locomotive bringing Walter, Herberger and the Jules Rimet Trophy back to West Germany was stopped time and time again, not by leaves on the line or the wrong kind of snow, but by fans pouring out of their houses and on to the tracks in order to get a glimpse of the world champions and show their gratitude.
Not just the football team but the country moved from strength to strength. Academic studies have been written on the effect of the victory in 1954 on the collective German psyche. The writer Friedrich Christian Delius felt “a guilt-ridden, inhibited nation was suddenly reborn”. National pride, absent from the country after the horrors of 1933-45, could begin to return in some form. “Suddenly Germany was somebody again,” said Franz Beckenbauer. “For anybody who grew up in the misery of the post-war years, Bern was an extraordinary inspiration. The entire country regained its self-esteem.” West Germany had existed as an entity since 1949, but the historian Joachim Fest reckoned the day of the game marked the “true birth of the country”.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest West Germany players – from left: Max Morlock, Hans Schaefer, Jupp Posipal, and Hans Bauer – hold the World Cup trophy during a stop of the train in Singen, Germany a day after the final. Photograph: Richard Kroll/AP
“Gerd Müller’s winner against Holland in 1974 is basically just a goal, as is Andreas Brehme’s penalty against Argentina in 1990,” writes Uli Hesse in Tor! “But Rahn’s left-footed shot on that rainy summer day in Switzerland is something else entirely.”
This piece is hugley indebted to Uli Hesse’s superlative Tor! The Story of German Football.Background
I've never been a market hawk.
I don't read or watch time-sensitive news. It's more likely to make me confident but wrong than informed.
(Unless there's a natural disaster. If it's going to flood, please text me.)
My savings are primarily in broad-index mutual funds. I'm a Benjamin Graham man, not a Jim Cramer devotee.
This is a verbose, haughty way of saying I try to think for the long-term, not focus on short-term fluctuations in public opinion.
Yet here I am, running a company where people ask me to do the opposite every single day:
@LBRYio Did you purposely plan to get everyone REKT who have/had faith in you?... — Jamie (@JTKDGB) October 31, 2016 @LBRYio The first question is why the price of LBRY coins fall several times in the past. — shuai sun (@shuaisun54) November 1, 2016
So I've written this post as a canonical answer to questions about the price of LBC, as well as to give some insight into the way we think about things here at LBRY.
Why Price So Low?
The first-order answer to this question is trivial: there are more sellers than buyers.
The second-order answer is only slightly less trivial: there is no reason to buy.
LBRY launched in July 2016. It launched as the barest, minimum proof-of-concept possible. It supported streaming a few videos we had published ourselves, and that was it. When we started, the publishing process was hand-typing JSON into the command line.
That release showed that it was possible to provide a completely decentralized protocol that facilitates the discovery, access, and purchase of content.
It showed that we don't have to accept government or corporate censorship of what we want to watch, read, or listen to.
What it didn't show is that people are ready to change their habits immediately and we didn't expect it to.
However, proving that the dream of LBRY is possible helped us raise a $500,000 seed round led by Pillar and joined by some other great people like the CEOs of Dyn and Backupify.
While that money isn't quite enough for long-term thinking, it's enough that we don't have to think for tomorrow or next week.
When Price Go High?
Let me start by talking about when the price won't go up.
It won't go up because we're spending our time optimizing for the thirty-second attention span of the blockchain news cycle.
It won't go up because we've courted investors to back LBC or made any purchases or orders ourselves.
It won't go up because we're focusing on generating PR, hype, or the absurd marketing claims that seem to permeate the industry.
LBC will go up when we've built a product that is compelling enough to change people's habits. A product that causes people to use it instead of YouTube, Gumroad, Amazon, or Streamable.
LBRY is currently funded until approximately July 2017. We'll be focusing all of our efforts entirely on creating a product that people will love and getting that product in front of the people that will love it.
Some Promises
To make a few points extraordinarily clear:
We never have, and never will engage in market manipulation. Neither through direct purchases or orders nor through the generation of news that is intended to affect the price rather than communicate substance.
We have not participated in the market for LBC directly (i.e. buying or selling LBC).
We will not participate in the market for LBC directly for at least one year, and most likely much longer than this.
We will not speculate about the price of LBC. If you ask us, we'll probably link you here.
We will focus exclusively on how we can generate real value for our users by creating a service that improves their lives.
These statements go for both LBRY, Inc. and its employees' independent actions.
What To Do With Your LBC
If you bought LBC in an attempt to make a quick buck, you might be disappointed. We're not in the game of moving markets, and we never will be. On our current trajectory, buy-side demand is unlikely to exceed mining generation for months.
If you bought LBC because you believe of the idea of a world of content sharing without censorship or intermediaries, hold onto it (or spend it to buy some of the great content being added every day!). We've got an incredible team of bright, talented people that are pouring an incredible amount of time in to actualize it.
And if you're interested in participating in creating that world, come hang out with us! Join us on Discord chat, GitHub, or Twitter.Donate
Ankara has changed its rhetoric on Aleppo and refused to support the US and the ‘opposition allies’ in the city.
In the past, an opportunity to criticize Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has never been missed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who called the Syrian leader “a brutal dictator, who kills his own people.” However, today, the Turkish President has significantly reduced its criticism of al-Assad, while most of the international community strongly condemns the operation of the Syrian Army in Aleppo. It is not difficult to understand the true reason for the change of Ankara’s position regarding the Syrian government – Moscow is also involved in operation in the Syrian city of Aleppo and Turkey does not want to spoil relations with Russia.
In latter days, Erdogan practically does not touch on the situation in Aleppo and instead of this prefers to talk at length about the Turkish military’s operation in northern Syria. Evidently, the Turkish leader just does not want to endanger Ankara’s recent reconciliation with Moscow.
The sharp deterioration in relations between the two countries, followed the incident with a Russian fighter jet, downed by Turkey in November 2015, resulted in heavy losses for Ankara in trade and tourism revenues and contracts. In addition, Turkish jets could not fly into Syrian airspace because of risk of a retaliatory strike from Russia, and Moscow began to openly support the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Not being able to continue to bear such sacrifices, in June, Erdogan was forced to apologize to Putin over the incident with the warplane. In addition, pro-government circles have even started to claim that the pilot, who downed the Russian jet, belonged to the Gulenist movement, which is accused of masterminding July’s failed coup attempt. The pilot allegedly acted on instructions, aimed at destabilizing of the Turkish-Russian relations.
Currently, Moscow and Ankara are engaged in a high-level military dialogue, as well as Turkey is trying to break the ice in order to start a “new era in economic ties” with Russia. The renewed contacts allow the country not only to recoup some of its economic losses, but also to regain the military advantages.
As a journalist and political commentator for the Hurriyet newspaper, Fikret Bila, told the Al-Monitor information website, “the reconciliation allowed Turkish forces to enter Syria and to operate in the region from Jarablus to Azaz in the west, and south toward al-Bab, without any objections from Moscow; Turkey in return agreed not to help rebel forces in Aleppo.”
The expert also noted that Turkey’s priorities in Syria have changed. The most important thing for Ankara now is “to secure the region along its borders, and move south toward al-Bab.” For this reason, the Turkish government and media are relatively silent on Assad and events in Aleppo.
Retired Major General Armagan Kuloglu also pointed out that the incident with the Russian fighter jet harmed Turkey’s security interests and allowed the PYD “to gain ground in Syria, after Turkish forces were prevented by Russia from intervening in the region.”
“We say that we support Syria’s territorial integrity in order to prevent threats to our security, but who will secure this? Of course, the Syrian regime. We should not have been so opposed to this regime,” Kuloglu told Al-Monitor.
He also noted that cooperating with Damascus would allow Ankara to get rid of both the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group and the PYD.
DonateIt's Finally done!! This is the completed Torva Armor, from RuneScape.
Made from 16g steel, and some 22g (helmet and boots), some machine screws, a few pieces of tie-down strap, some chainmail, and about 12 cheap cat/dog collars for the buckles.
Took about 3-4 months to complete.
Final cost for materials... $548.00
Final weight...
Helm - 3 lb.
Body - 22.5 lb.
Legs - 19.5 lb.
Boots - 7 lb.
Chainmail - 31 lb.
Total (by itself, w/chainmail shirt) - 83 lb.
Total (without chainmail shirt) - 65.5 lb.
Total (worn, without chainmail shirt) - 192 lb.
(I rarely use the chainmail shirt, as it is very heavy, and hard to move with it on.)
EDIT: I totally forgot, but an enormous thanks goes out to Brio Wolf on RuneScape for posing in full Torva for me. I wouldn't have been able to see anything but the front otherwise, and the armor would not look as good as it does if not for him.Edit: Note that my blog (including this post) has moved to http://www.nirfriedman.com. Feel free to visit there instead for a cleaner look and the latest content!
Sometimes in C++, an object has something that we want. We don’t want to be honest citizens and put in the hard work of copying. Instead we want to steal the something away from the object, and let the object deal. The mechanism we use for this is move semantics. Let’s look at a motivating example:
using namespace std; class SetStringer { public: void insert(double x) { m_set.insert(x); m_cached = false; } const string & str() { if (m_cached) { return m_string; } m_string.clear(); for (const auto & x : m_set) { m_string += to_string(x) + "
"; } m_cached = true; return m_string; } private: set<double> m_set; string m_string; bool m_cached = false; };
This class seems reasonably written, right? Arguably the str method should be marked const, but then we’d need to mark m_cached and m_string as mutable. Since this isn’t relevant to our discussion, I’m going to leave this alone. Also, those of you that are attentive and maybe even read my last post about resource management and special functions may notice something that could go wrong in the copy/move semantics of this class. I’ll leave this as an exercise to the reader and post the solution next time.
SetStringer foo; //... add stuff to foo string s = move(foo.str()); // Stealing fails!
We tried to steal the string to do something useful with it later, but weren’t successful. The reason is that str() returns a const reference; even after the move casts it to a const rvalue reference, it still won’t bind to string’s move constructor. So we ended up paying for a full construction of string, instead of a move. For our second attempt, we’ll just remove the const from the signature of str.
SetStringer foo; //... add stuff to foo string s = move(foo.str()); // Stealing succeeds! cerr << foo.str(); // this probably prints empty foo.insert(5.0); cerr << foo.str(); // err, what?
The problem now is that foo did not behave in a sensible way. The content of m_string was stolen, which is fine, but the m_cached bool remained with a value of true, which isn’t. This means that the first cerr << printed nothing, but mysteriously after we insert one element, a whole bunch are printed. More broadly, it’s not safe to allow the outside world to directly mutate a member variable that is a part of the class’s invariants; in this case the invariant is that when m_cached is true, m_string’s value follows directly from m_set’s. By stealing the string, we put foo in an invalid state, and it’s generally a bad idea to allow objects to get into invalid states.
What do we do?
A Civilized Solution
Consider this code:
class SetStringer { // as before except where noted const string & str() & { // implemented as before } string && str() && { this->str(); m_cached = false; m_set.clear(); return move(m_string); } };
The first str method is unchanged except for one little &; this means that this is an overload for when the object is an lvalue. The newly implemented str function on the other hand, has the && after the parentheses which indicates it’s an overload for when the object is an rvalue.
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blind point", or punctum caecum in medical literature, is the place in the visual field that corresponds to the lack of light-detecting photoreceptor cells on the optic disc of the retina where the optic nerve passes through the optic disc.[2] Because there are no cells to detect light on the optic disc, the corresponding part of the field of vision is invisible. Some process in our brains interpolates the blind spot based on surrounding detail and information from the other eye, so we do not normally perceive the blind spot.
Although all vertebrates have this blind spot, cephalopod eyes, which are only superficially similar, do not. In them, the optic nerve approaches the receptors from behind, so it does not create a break in the retina.
The first documented observation of the phenomenon was in the 1660s by Edme Mariotte in France. At the time it was generally thought that the point at which the optic nerve entered the eye should actually be the most sensitive portion of the retina; however, Mariotte's discovery disproved this theory.
The blind spot is located about 12–15° temporally and 1.5° below the horizontal and is roughly 7.5° high and 5.5° wide.[3]
Blind spot test [ edit ]
Demonstration of the blind spot R L Instructions: Close one eye and focus the other on the appropriate letter (R for right or L for left). Place your eye a distance from the screen approximately equal to 3× the distance between the R and the L. Move your eye towards or away from the screen until you notice the other letter disappear. For example, close your right eye, look at the "L" with your left eye, and the "R" will disappear.
See also [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
==
==Federal Judge, Get This, Blocks Enforcement of Democratically-Passed Texas Sanctuary City Bill
The Optimates have decided the public is no longer permitted to pass laws of their own devising.
U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia blocked portions of Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) requiring local law enforcement departments to comply with federal requests to hold unauthorized immigrants in custody. Also blocked: a provision that stopped local departments from implementing policies that would "materially limit" enforcement of immigration laws, the Dallas News reported.
Note that the state law imposes duties on state law enforcement. Specifically, it demands they comply with the federal law.
This judge -- Orlando Garcia -- decided that a state law demanding that state actors comply with federal law runs afoul of federal law.
An aspect of the law permitting police officers to ask about immigration status was not blocked, but the ruling did limit the actions officers would be allowed to take after learning that a person was undocumented officers could only report the persons immigration status to federal authorities.
Why? Why can't a state law instruct state law enforcement officers what their duties are?
Here's his "reasoning:"
In a 94-page ruling, Garcia wrote that there "is overwhelming evidence by local officials, including local law enforcement, that SB 4 will erode public trust and make many communities and neighborhoods less safe" and that "localities will suffer adverse economic consequences which, in turn, will harm the state of Texas."
In other words, illegal non-citizens don't like this so citizens are no longer permitted to pass laws that citizens prefer.
"The Court cannot and does not second guess the Legislature," he continued. "However, I'm a-gonna do it anyway. YOLO, bitches."
I made up the last sentence, but pretty much that's the spirit of it.Book Excerpt: How Minecraft Creator Markus Persson Almost Took a Job at Valve
In September 2010, Minecraft was just over a year past its initial, unfinished release. A “full” version wouldn’t come out for 14 more months. If not for one single meeting that month, the indie game phenomenon could’ve gone down a very different path. This chapter from “Minecraft: The Unlikely Tale of Markus ‘Notch’ Persson and the Game that Changed Everything,” excerpted with permission of the authors, tells the tale. It finds Persson, the game’s original creator, coming to terms with Minecraft’s burgeoning success, as his former coworker Jakob Porsér considers taking a management job at Midasplayer, a.k.a. King, pre-Candy Crush Saga. The chapter also touches on Persson’s sister Anna and father Birger’s attempts to overcome drug addiction, which are fleshed out more in other parts of the book.
“Yes, You Should Play this Game.”
July 2010. it was morning as Markus logged onto his computer at home, as part of the morning routine he had developed and rather enjoyed. Every time someone bought a copy of Minecraft, he received an e-mail. Since most customers were in the United States, most of those e-mails came in while Markus was asleep in Sweden and when he woke up, the purchase confirmations would be waiting for him in droves. Not only had clicking through them become second nature, it put him in a great mood. To Markus, those e-mails symbolized the acknowledgement of all his hard work and bore the fruits of his labors. And so many people willing to pay for Minecraft was a pretty good indication that things were going pretty well.
On this particular morning, four hundred e-mails were waiting in Markus’s inbox. Four hundred people had bought Minecraft in the past twenty-four hours. Markus leaned back in his chair. He did some quick mental math. And he concluded that about $5,800 had found its way into his bank account since yesterday morning. A new record.
It had been a little over a year since the spring day when Markus first introduced Minecraft to the gaming world. A little over a year ago he hadn’t, not in his wildest dreams, imagined that the game would make any money to speak of. For one thing, it wasn’t exactly easy to get hold of. Minecraft wasn’t available on Steam, Xbox Live Arcade, or in any of the other established online outlets. Those who wanted to try it had to somehow find their way to Minecraft.net, a simple website Markus built, then laboriously enter their credit card numbers, download the game, and install it on their own machine. Not exactly user-friendly and hardly optimal from a marketing standpoint.
But it worked anyway. As the days passed, word spread of the odd little game. The first to discover it were the already somewhat obsessed — devoted gamers and programmers looking for inspiration and the next big thing. And then word reached beyond the usual indie circles. Within a couple of months, game blogs and discussion forums started teeming with accounts from enraptured gamers showing off their creations. The more they wrote, the more eyes turned toward Markus’s game. While all Markus did was continue programming and documenting his progress online.
Total sales of Minecraft passed twenty thousand that summer, and it was with a dizzying feeling in the pit of his stomach that Markus realized he was well on his way to becoming a rich man. He remembers to this day the happy visit to the ATM that produced the bank statement that verified he had over $150,000 (SEK 1 million) in his account. He and Elin framed the bank statement and hung it on their apartment wall. “They say that the first million is the hardest,” Markus told his girlfriend with a satisfied grin.
Soon Minecraft caught the attention of Markus’s own heroes. Brandon Reinhart, a programmer who worked on Markus’s favorite game, Team Fortress 2, wrote on the game’s blog that the next version of the game would probably be late. The development team had developed a deep and serious Minecraft addiction, he explained. “Yes, you should play this game,” he wrote, adding a link to Markus’s website. Sales more than doubled overnight.
It wasn’t long before Markus was making more money from Minecraft than from his day job at Jalbum. He stayed on, but gradually cut back on his hours, and spent the other days at home fine-tuning Minecraft. Markus still believed the success was temporary. It will be over soon, he thought.
But sales kept climbing.
Sales were not the only thing on the up-and-up. So was Anna. After being homeless and a drug addict, after giving Markus many empty promises about cleaning up her act, Markus’s sister was finally getting her life back on track. Going to rehab had led her to staying sober for several years, as did continuing to go to support groups. Now she had a new partner and a new baby daughter; a new life. For the first time since they were kids, Anna and Markus’s relationship did not revolve around her dependency and did not entail her asking him for cash. And while Anna still felt guilty about their past, Markus had already put it behind them.
Even their father had been staying clean for longer stretches, and in that time Markus began to mend their relationship. He would sometimes visit Birger out at his cabin in the country, and the two of them would spend the weekend cooking, swimming, sitting together on the porch and admiring the landscape, and talking about anything and everything. Things between them were better than they’d been in years, and while his father’s drug-free period would turn out to be short-lived, to say that Markus enjoyed this time of his life would be an understatement.
Markus had promised himself — even before Minecraft’s breakthrough — that he would, as soon as his finances allowed, dedicate himself entirely to his own gaming endeavors. He and Jakob had already invested innumerable hours in daydreaming about the game studio they hoped to create together; they already knew where the money from Minecraft would go: into developing Scrolls. Also, Markus was tired of coding alone. He needed someone to bounce ideas off of and hang out with during the day.
Giving notice at his day job was no small decision, and Markus found, to his surprise, it was more difficult to do than he’d expected. He still didn’t believe his success was going to last. Sure, the money was rolling in right now. But in six months? A year? Add to that the fact that Markus had left behind his messy apartment in Sollentuna and had moved into a place with Elin in Kärrtorp. It was more important than ever to be able to count on a stable financial situation.
Jakob was facing a similarly tough decision. Unlike Markus, he had stayed on at Midasplayer, and the company continued to earn serious money. He’d been asked to step up and manage the company’s game developers. For a father with a toddler at home, it was a very attractive offer. A management job with a great salary, at a company with a promising future. Jakob and Markus found themselves at the same crossroads that most people with entrepreneurial dreams encounter at some point in their lives.
On the one hand: a secure work life, with a permanent job and a monthly salary. On the other hand: a rare opportunity to realize a dream. With Minecraft in their back pocket, they couldn’t ask for better circumstances. But daring to take the next step … they would need a little shove.
That little shove came in early August 2010 in the form of a phone call to Markus’s cell phone. He answered and a polite American voice sounded on the other end. The voice introduced himself as a representative of Valve Software, congratulated Markus on Minecraft’s success, and wondered if the Swede might be interested in visiting Valve’s head office in Washington State for a cup of coffee.
To understand why Markus still gets excited when that phone call comes up, you have to appreciate the special status Valve enjoys in the gaming world. The company elicits approximately the same type of response from gamers as does Apple from gadget lovers. Valve’s first hit game, Half-Life (from 1998) is still praised as one of gaming history’s most revolutionary titles. The same goes for its sequel, Half-Life 2.
Valve is known mainly for two things. First and foremost, the studio’s uncompromising focus on quality rather than on quantity — in its almost fifteen years of existence, Valve has only released a handful of games. There’s also an unbelievably long time span between releases; Half-Life 2 came out almost six years after part one in the series (but to be fair, honed to perfection). Valve’s inordinately long gestation period has given rise to the expression “Valve time” — meaning the difference between the time that Valve promises a project will be finished and when it actually is. The next sequel in the Half-Life story should have been released for sales on Christmas Eve 2007. Fans are still waiting for it, patiently.
Second, Valve is an independent company, with its founder, Gabe Newell, still at the helm as CEO. Thanks to megahits like Half-Life, Valve has the revenue to be able to invest in untried ideas. So for many indie developers, Valve represents the “good” side of large-scale game development: nearly inexhaustible resources to put into exactly and solely the games they choose without the influence of “the suits.” Take Portal for example. The game was born from one developed by students at the DigiPen Institute of Technology. Valve employees caught sight of the game (Narbacular Drop, then) at a Careers Day at the institute. They liked it so much they offered the students jobs to develop it, and the result was one of the most talked-about and highly acclaimed game series of the first decade of the new millennium.
Markus surmised that the person on the phone was probably not interested in just a cup of coffee. He intuited two possibilities behind the polite invitation: Valve was either interested in buying Minecraft, or Valve was going to offer Markus a job. It’s not unheard of for established game developers to take on successful indie projects, and it was possible that Valve had decided to now try to do with Minecraft what they’d done with Portal a few years earlier. But the American wouldn’t say more than that Valve was impressed by Minecraft and would like to meet Markus and get to know him. If they could agree on the time, the American would arrange both airline tickets and hotel. Despite the elusiveness, Markus didn’t need to think twice before answering yes. Job offer or no, meeting the Valve people, maybe shaking hands with Gabe Newell, that was every game developer’s dream.
“Okay then,” Markus agreed — he hesitated a second, then decided to go for it — “but I want first-class tickets!” First-class tickets it was. The voice at the other end of the phone line thanked him and promised to make the arrangements as soon as possible. Markus would go visit Valve’s head office the first week in September.
With the trip on the horizon, Markus and Jakob knew it would soon be time for a decision. There was no way Markus was not going. Yes, their plan to start their own studio in the fall was still the same, he told Jakob, but he still wanted to keep a foot in the door. You don’t just wave off a potential job offer at Valve without some consideration. “What would you say about moving to the United States?” he asked Elin a couple of days later.
In the time between the phone call and the ensuing Valve visit, interest in Minecraft grew at an astonishing rate. Markus watched in awe as the sales stats climbed to levels he’d never imagined. During one twenty-four-hour period, more than 23,000 copies sold. Almost one game every three seconds.
One day Markus received a grim e-mail from PayPal. The e-mail explained that his account had been temporarily blocked because clearly, he must be involved in some kind of criminal activity to have so much money flowing in so fast. At that time, Markus had almost $860,000 in his PayPal account. Swedish and international media outlets alike began to contact him, asking for interviews. Within a couple of months, from being one of thousands of anonymous amateur programmers, Markus had risen to the status of international gaming celebrity.
It was around this time that the signature hat debuted in Markus’s life. He says he got the idea from Jakob, who showed up one day to a meeting wearing one just like it. Looks sharp, thought Markus, and went to find one for himself. After trying out several different styles, he chose a black fedora. A similar hat graces the head of Indiana Jones. Michael Jackson often wore one, too.
Markus says it’s mostly coincidence that the hat is ever-present in his ensemble. But it can also be read as a symbol of his sudden fame. While it’s not uncommon for programmers to work under an alias, few have created so definitive an alter ego as has Markus. Notch is as outspoken and boisterous as Markus is shy and taciturn. Markus likes few things less than speaking in front of a group of people, but on Twitter and his blog Notch will make X-rated puns and biting remarks to other game developers in front of an audience of hundreds of thousands. Markus seldom uploads photographs of himself on the Internet; instead he goes with the picture of Notch, a hand-drawn caricature, with a big, lavish beard and the trademark hat. Markus isn’t in any way secretive about his true identity, but it’s obvious that — consciously or not — he nurtures two radically different sides of his personality. One is private, withdrawn, and has thinning hair. The other is public, likes attention, and always has the hat pressed down over his ears.
Valve booked Markus at the Westin, the luxury skyscraper hotel in central Bellevue. He had a room near the top. Through the window, he could see far to the west, past the well-kept suburbs by Lake Washington to the city of Seattle beyond. Markus noted that all the luxury homes by the lakeside had pools. You could live a good life here if, if that’s what you wanted. Close to the water, lots of room, for both him and Elin. It had to be expensive, but a programmer at Valve, just a short drive away, could probably afford it.
Meanwhile, things were still going undeniably well with Minecraft. A couple of weeks before his trip to the United States, Markus had asked on his blog if there might be some Minecraft players in the Seattle area who were interested in meeting up with him while he was in town. He was free all day Tuesday. Maybe they could organize something?
“It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, perhaps a café somewhere. And I figured we could call it MinecraftCon 2010 even if it’s just three people sitting around in uncomfortable silence for twenty minutes,” he wrote.
When Markus walked into the little park in Bellevue at the appointed time, more than fifty people had found their way there. Several streamed the gathering live on the Internet via their cell phones. Some were dressed as Minecraft characters. One young man is seen in photos from the meet wearing a full-length Creeper costume built out of green-painted cardboard. For several hours, Markus answered questions about Minecraft and shared his thoughts on the future of the game and his plans for the company he was thinking of starting with Jakob. The sky was overcast when the meeting came to an end, but Markus walked away smiling ear to ear.
The evening before his meeting at Valve, Jakob and Markus chatted on Skype. Jakob asked Markus what he would say if the question of employment came up, but he didn’t get a straight answer.
“I want to find out what they want,” was all Markus said.
Markus understood, just as his friend in Stockholm did, that there was a lot riding on the next day’s meeting, for both of them. If Markus decided to stay in Seattle, their common venture would never be. If not, they vowed to make it happen.
“I’ll get back to you in twenty-four hours,” Markus promised.
Once the conversation had ended all Jakob could do was wait. In the back of his mind, he realized that the next day would decide his fate. He would either accept the management position at Midasplayer, which would mean more meetings, more responsibility, and less time for coding and game development, or he and his best friend would launch their dream project. The decision was entirely Markus’s.
Markus remembers his visit at Valve’s headquarters as a jumble of impressions. Before he was allowed into the office, he had to sign a nondisclosure agreement, promising not to tell anyone about the half-finished productions he would see in there. He met Robin Walker, the man who wrote the original Team Fortress and was employed by Valve to lead development of the sequel. Brandon Reinhart, who’d written the post on the Team Fortress 2 blog that made Minecraft sales soar, showed Markus around. Markus did indeed get to shake hands with Gabe Newell. The Valve boss was very busy, Markus recalls, but the fact that he seemed to know of both him and Minecraft felt like an honor.
Afterward, Markus was shown into a conference room with a man from Valve’s Human Resources department. The man spoke candidly about the corporate culture at Valve and what it was like to work for the company. Markus told him a little about himself and his plans for Minecraft before realizing that he was in the middle of a job interview. Valve had prepared a programming exercise. The man from the HR office — Markus doesn’t remember his name — asked Markus how he would go about programming an elevator. Markus thought for a while, then answered in as much detail as he could. The Valve representative listened, nodded his head, and fired some additional questions at Markus where appropriate.
When the exercise was over, papers were put aside. The assessment: you are a gifted programmer, but you’re not used to working in a group. We can help you with that. Markus listened intently when the opportunities at Valve were described to him. It was perhaps the most sought-after place of employment in the business. A chance to make a difference and to be a part of the absolute cutting edge of game development. We would like to work with you, he was told. Are you interested in working for us?
This is where the story could have taken a different turn. Markus could have said yes and moved to Seattle. Maybe he and Elin would have lived in one of the luxury homes by Lake Washington, with both a pool and a view of the lake. Maybe Minecraft would have become a downloadable game in Valve’s Steam shop. Maybe Markus would have simply left Minecraft behind to work with a couple hundred other Valve programmers on the next installment in the Half-Life series.
But that didn’t happen. Markus describes it as one of the hardest decisions of his life, but when the HR person asked him that question, Markus answered politely but firmly. No.
“Somehow, I felt that Minecraft was maybe my chance to create a Valve, rather than work at Valve,” he says today. On the other side of the Atlantic, Jakob sat at home in Stockholm, his cell phone in hand. It beeped. A new text message from Markus: “You can quit your job.” The next morning, Jakob did just that.Alcohol and its effects have been present in societies throughout history. Drinking is documented in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles, in the Qur'an, in art history, in Greek and Roman literature as old as Homer and in Confucius's Analects.
Although alcoholic beverages and social attitudes toward drinking vary around the world, nearly every civilization has independently discovered the processes of brewing beer, fermenting wine and distilling spirits.
"Social drinking", also commonly referred to as "responsible drinking", refers to casual drinking of alcoholic beverages in a social setting without an intent to become intoxicated. In Western cultures, good news is often celebrated by a group of people having a few alcoholic drinks. For example, alcoholic drinks may be served to "wet the baby's head" in the celebration of a birth. Buying someone an alcoholic drink is often considered a gesture of goodwill. It may be an expression of gratitude, or it may mark the resolution of a dispute.
Drinking etiquette Edit
Reunion of gentlemen around a table in an interior, by, by Jacob van Schuppen
For the purposes of buying rounds of alcoholic drinks in English public houses, William Greaves, a retired London journalist, devised a set of etiquette guidelines as a Saturday morning essay in the defunct Today newspaper. Known as Greaves' Rules, the guidelines were based upon his long experience of pubs and rounds.[1] The rules were later recommissioned by the Daily Telegraph and published in that newspaper on November 20, 1993. Copies of the rules soon appeared in many bars throughout the United Kingdom.
When an individual arrives at a pub, common practice invites the newcomer to unilaterally offer an alcoholic drink to a companion, with the unspoken understanding that when the drink has been nearly consumed, his/her companion will reciprocate. Trust and fair play are the root of the rules, though there are occasions (such as a requirement of one of the drinkers to need to carry out more important jobs, if any can be conceived of) where the rules can be broken, and were itemised by Greaves in his article.
Kate Fox, a social anthropologist, came up with a similar idea in her book Watching the English, but concluded their rationale was the need to minimise the possibility of violence between drinking companions.[2]
When taking alcohol to a BYOB (bring your own bottle/booze/beer) party, it is proper for a guest to leave any unconsumed alcohol behind when leaving the party. It shows appreciation to the host and shows responsibility on the guest's part. It is considered rude to take any alcohol back when departing.
Drinking at early times of the day is frowned upon in some cultures.[citation needed]
Noon (12pm) is often seen as earliest appropriate time of day to consume alcohol, although there are some special exceptions such as drinking Buck's Fizzes on Christmas Day morning.[3]
Free drinks Edit
Various cultures and traditions feature the social practice of providing free alcoholic drinks for others. For example, during a wedding reception or a bar mitzvah, free alcoholic drinks are often served to guests, a practice that is known as "an open bar". Free alcoholic drinks may also be offered to increase attendance at a social or business function. They are commonly offered to casino patrons to entice them to continue gambling.
A further example is the "ladies drink free" policy of some bars, which is intended to attract more paying customers (i.e., men).
Large corporations (especially in Japan) may have a favored bar at which they hold private functions that offer free alcoholic drinks to attendees.
Session drinking Edit
Session drinking is a chiefly British and Irish term that refers to drinking a large quantity of beer during a "session" (i.e. a specific period of time) without becoming too heavily intoxicated.[4] A session is generally a social occasion.
A "session beer", such as a session bitter, is a beer that has a moderate or relatively low alcohol content.
In the United States, a recent session beer definition has been proposed by beer writer Lew Bryson. His Session Beer Project blog includes a definition of 4.5% ABV or less for session beer. Followers of this definition include Notch Brewing, a session only beer brand. The Brewer Association has adopted a new category within their Great American Beer Fest competition which states a "session beer" must not exceed 4.1% ABW (5.1% ABV).[5]
In British vernacular, "session" is commonly referred to as "sesh".
In Ireland, the term "pub session" refers to playing music in a pub.Three months ago, The Washington Post reported that even as Donald Trump ran for president, he pursued plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. The next day, The New York Times published excerpts from emails between Felix Sater, a felon with ties to Russian organized crime, and Michael Cohen, one of Donald Trump’s lawyers and Sater’s childhood friend, about the project. Sater was apparently an intermediary between Trump and Russia, and in a Nov. 3, 2015, email to Cohen, he made the strange argument that a successful deal would lead to Trump’s becoming president. Boasting that he was close enough to Vladimir Putin to let Ivanka Trump sit in the Russian president’s desk chair, Sater wrote, “I will get Putin on this program and we will get Donald elected.”
These stories were, at the time, bombshells. At a minimum, they showed that Trump was lying when he said, repeatedly, that he had “nothing to do with Russia.” Further, Sater’s logic — that Putin’s buy-in on a real estate deal would result in Trump’s election — was bizarre, suggesting that some part of the proposed collaboration was left unsaid.
But three months feels like three decades in Trump years, and I mostly forgot about these reports until I read Luke Harding’s new book, “Collusion: Secret Meetings, Dirty Money, and How Russia Helped Donald Trump Win.” One uncanny aspect of the investigations into Trump’s Russia connections is that instead of too little evidence there’s too much. It’s impossible to keep it straight without the kind of chaotic wall charts that Carrie Mathison of “Homeland” assembled during her manic episodes. Incidents that would be major scandals in a normal administration — like the mere fact of Trump’s connection to Sater — become minor subplots in this one.
That’s why “Collusion” is so essential, and why I wish everyone who is skeptical that Russia has leverage over Trump would read it. This country — at least the parts not wholly under the sway of right-wing propaganda — needs to come to terms with substantial evidence that the president is in thrall to a foreign power.I haven’t even thought about, let alone done, my Christmas shopping yet. Perhaps I’ll get some ideas from The World’s Most Expensive Presents (Channel 4). Well, it has been a reasonably good year. I’ve floated a couple of little interests, moved some stuff offshore, I won’t go into details … know what I mean?
So, how about an adult colouring book (as in for adults, not DIY pornography) with 10 bespoke illustrations by a renowned artist and a leather cover with gold lettering. That’s £23,900, VAT included; colouring pencils not. But it goes way beyond a colouring book, says Marcel, the man whose idea it was. “It’s a tapestry of emotions, it’s memory after memory after memory. It’s an heirloom.”
How he can say it’s an heirloom when it hasn’t even been owned by anyone yet? And it’s very clearly not a tapestry. They do talk a lot of guff, these people. Marcel has also developed a shoe with secret compartments for miniature mobile phones and penknives. They’re just two grand a pair … good luck at airport security, though.
In Dubai, a man called Laban has a business that turns things gold. Phones, tablets, roses, cigars, cars … anything. Using electricity and his special magic solution, Laban will plate them in gold. He’s an actual 21st-century alchemist. He would probably do your genitals if you paid him enough. (I’m thinking about the in-laws; if not for Christmas then perhaps for the golden wedding anniversary.)
Right now, he has a gold bicycle – yours for £250,000. “It’s a piece of art, but it’s also a practical bike that can be ridden and you can use it to go to your local shop and pick up some eggs.”
But is it though, Laban? Art? Or practical for an egg run?
In Essex, Elliot, who specialises in luxury games, is making a poker set that comes in a case made out of dead alligators and whose chips are covered in stingray skin. That one’s £60,000, but Elliot won’t say who it’s for – I’m thinking Paul Hogan, perhaps.
In Brighton, a woman called Rachel has spent 900 hours using six metres of silk and 40,000 crystals to make a ballgown for a dog. Forty grand for that. And somewhere else, Debbie says: “I’m kind of known for creating a platform to give something in an edible formation.”
Whatever can you mean, Debbie? Oh, I see (sort of). She makes cakes in the shape of things – favourite handbags, shoes, trainers, money etc … It’s art, she says. You can make something into art just by turning it gold, putting crystals on it or making a cake look like something else; I wonder if our art critic Jonathan Jones would agree.
Art or not, it’s not only pointless and immoral, it’s all really horrid. There’s not a single thing here I would want to be given so I won’t be giving any of it to anyone else. I’ll be Christmas shopping at Argos this year, as usual.
What will Giles Coren’s wife make of his film Passions: I Hate Jane Austen (Sky Arts)? He explains to the Jane Austen Society of Pakistan how he and Mrs C ended up together: “I just had lots of girlfriends and then eventually [looks at watch], I was getting on a bit … do you want to marry me, yeah alright, and we’ll have a kid …”
The point he’s making is a good one: things were different 200 years ago. But still, it might be a bit harsh for Mrs C to learn from the telly that she wasn’t so much the One as the One Who Happened to Be Around at the Time Giles Decided to Procreate.
Still, this is the man who fat-shamed his own son in print; it’s hardly surprising he’s prepared to un-One his wife on the telly. Were there lots and lots of girlfriends, Giles?
The worst thing about this programme for me was that I found myself agreeing with him. I hate Jane Austen, too, for exactly the same reason Giles does: her petty concerns, lack of modern relevance, narrow worldview, the fact they’re all the same … and now I hate myself, for agreeing with Giles, who I hate, too, obviously.
Anyway, Giles goes to see a lot of brainy people who explain that he is quite wrong. And why: the craft, the dialogue, the jokes, the understanding of what it means to be human, the role Austen played in the development of the novel and so on.
Joanna Trollope is especially withering. “Do you know what sensibility is?” she asks Giles. Oh, go on, wallop him.Donald Trump has been whining about being bombarded with “gotcha questions” about the Middle East on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show.
I thought Hewitt was fairly gentle and respectful in the interview—see the transcript—and that Trump did a fine job of embarrassing himself with his ignorance of the players and issues in the region. But Trump’s natural response, whenever he does a face plant, is to blame someone else. In this case, he dismissed Hewitt as a “third-rate radio show announcer.”
Hewitt is such an insignificant third-rater that Trump has appeared on his show five times before. But this merely confirms what a lot of us have been thinking about Trump’s bluster: that it’s overcompensation for a profound insecurity, for a delicate ego that needs stroking.
@NoahCRothman @Tracinski His supporters say he can’t be bought, but he must continually be flattered and have his ego stroked. Just as bad. — Joseph Zucofski (@jwzgames2u) September 4, 2015
I know Donald Trump is new to politics, so let me offer him a pro tip: you don’t get to claim exemption from difficult or even hostile questions. You’re going to get a lot more of them, from here to Super Tuesday, and—if he makes it that far—from here to next November. And for the whole of his presidency. So buck up, sissypants.
Sorry about that, but macho posturing and insults are so much a part of Trump’s signature style that I can’t resist throwing it back at him when he decides to get all sensitive and delicate.
But the Hewitt interview reveals something that’s worse than not knowing the names of major Mideast players. What’s worse is his insistence that he doesn’t need to know them. His immediate excuse for this is that “by the time we get to office, they’ll all be changed…. The names you just mentioned, they probably won’t even be there in six months or a year.”
Oh, really? Hassan Nasrallah has been head of Hezbollah since 1992. Qasem Soleimani has been commander of the Quds Force since 1998. Ayman al-Zawahiri has been al-Qaeda’s Number 2 man since 1998 and has been running it since Bin Laden’s death in 2011 and probably a few years earlier. If Donald Trump has information that allows him to confidently assert that these people are going to be pushed out of power—in dictatorial systems where no one ever leaves office voluntarily—then I’m sure there are a lot of Middle East experts who would like to know about it.
What this highlights is not just Trump’s ignorance of the Middle East. It’s his contemptuous indifference to knowledge. It’s the fact that he feels confident making a sweeping assertion about the Middle East—that all of the big players are likely to change in the next year and a half—without even knowing what an absurd assertion this is.
The problem isn’t that Trump doesn’t know, it’s that he doesn’t care.
He asserts that he will know “when it’s appropriate.” And he offers us this doozy of blustering over-confidence: “first day in office, or before then, right at the day after the election, I’ll know more about it than you will ever know. That I can tell you.”
You know when it is “appropriate” to know basic information about the Middle East? It’s appropriate to know it now, while we’re still deciding whether we want him as our president. If it’s so easy for him to become an instant expert on all of this, to know it all better than anyone else in the world within 24 hours—well, how about he takes a weekend to do that, and then he can go back on the radio shows?
But this highlights the problem. Donald Trump is too accustomed to being the boss who hires and fires other people—not the guy sitting down for a job interview. So he acts like he’s running to be our boss, when in fact he’s running to be our employee. Or maybe this analogy is better: he’s running to be the manager we entrust with our most precious investments, with our safety and our economic future. And if we’re going to hire someone |
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Vortex Coral (S/M/L) (20/35/50 Pearls)
Onion Coral (S/M/L) (20/35/50 Pearls)
Feather Coral (S/M/L) (20/35/50 Pearls)
Pipe Coral (S/M/L) (20/35/50 Pearls)
Jar Anemone (S/M/L) (20/35/50 Pearls)
Elkhorn Coral (S/M/L) (25/50/75 Clams)
Sun Coral (S/M/L) (20/35/50 Crabs)
NewYear LionDog Statue (New Year’s Event)
Maneki Dumbo Coral (New Year’s Event)
Structures
Holy crap they figured out how percentages work. This is the only menu in AbyssRium where percentages are listed accurately! Note these work differently and you can only buy one of each structure; you buy upgrades instead of extras, which increase the vitality multiplier but do not result in any visual changes.
Structures appear to have a maximum level of 20. Note Structures don’t have to be placed on the map to work; stored Craters and Sand Castles work just as well.
Sand Castles
I’m not sure sand castles work underwater. But these boost your Coral vitality. I’d recommend getting and upgrading the Craters first,but if you want to buy one for visual variety 30 pearls isn’t a huge loss.
Sand Castle (S) Buff: +10% Coral Vitality per level Cost: 30 Pearls + 3 per level Max: level 20, +200% Coral Vitality
Sand Castle (M) Requires: Level 10 Sand Castle (S) (435 Pearls) Buff: +20% Coral Vitality per level Cost: 60 Pearls + 6 per level Max: level 20, +400% Coral Vitality, 2340 Pearls
Sand Castle (L) Requires: Level 20 Sand Castle (M) (2340 Pearls!!) Buff: +50% Coral Vitality per level Cost: 150 Pearls, +15 per level Max: level 20, +1,000% Coral Vitality
Craters
Like baby Coralites or tiny hydrothermal vents, these come with a permanent Coralite vitality production bonus making them very valuable as later on your Vitality production is almost completely dependant on Delicious Food and thus tap vitality.
Crater (S) Buff: +10% Tap Vitality per level Cost: 30 Pearls + 3 per level Max: level 20, +200 Coral Vitality
Crater (M) Requires: Level 10 Crater (S) (435 Pearls) Buff: +20% Tap Vitality per level Cost: 60 Pearls + 6 per level Max: Level 20, +400% Tap Vitality, 2340 Pearls
Crater (L) Requires: Level 20 Crater (M) (2340 Pearls!) Buff: +50% Tap Vitality per level Cost: 150 Pearls, +15 per level Max: level 20, +1,000% Tap Vitality
The math is pretty simple, an (M) sized structure will always be worth buying before an (S) unless it is twice as expensive. An L sized structure will always be worth buying over the (S) until it is five times as expensive, or two and a half times as expensive as the (M). Though you may want to only upgrade the (M) until unlocking the (L) for completeness’ sake.
Vitality Sources
Tap
Simple enough, this is the vitality you get per-tap. Vitality earned by skills is directly proportional to Tap vitality and includes no other factors. Tap vitality is generally your most important source due to skills.
Tap vitality is increased by Coralite level and doubles every 25 levels. There is effectively no maximum level of Coralite or Coral, so don’t look to “complete” them, Abyssrium is effectively an endless game.
3D Touch (iOS Only)
On iOS devices only, you can do a 3D touch (press a bit harder) to produce a shrimp, which will give 10x vitality once eaten by a fish. Before skills and the like are unlocked, this might be a bit faster way to gain vitality early on.
There’s a trick that some people can trigger where they hold with one finger and tap rapidly with another and many shrimp will appear at once. If you can get this to work it makes 3D touch much better than normal taps.
Coral
You earn your Coral vitality bonus each second, and you can only store up to 2 hours worth of per-second Vitality while the app is closed. Coral vitality also acts as a multiplier for the Quest/Magic vitality amounts.
Buying a new Coral species also boosts your maximum fish count by 5 fish per coral, and is the only free way to do so (you can also pay an absurd $100 for a paltry 10 more fish’s worth of space in the Store but, yeah).
Coral follow a complex curve where generally speaking, the newest coral available will provide the most cost effective boost in vitality after an initial “too expensive” period. This trend is broken for the new coral starting with Blue Table Coral which are much more expensive and much less effective, making the Star Horn Coral and the few coral above it the most effective to upgrade.
If you play Abyssrium very passively Coral might seem attractive, but Skills are still the preferable method once they’re obtained. Coral will only be significant fairly early on in your first few days of play Once Song of the Moon is obtained, your 2 hours worth of stored vitality is very little compared to what you can earn actively, with Delicious Food & Song of the Moon often instantly earning more than your two hours’ worth many times over. Coral are mostly important for reaching the next Coral of Life milestone which boosts all vitality production.
Trey Felton in the comments made this Coral Cost Calculator if you want to see what a specific upgrade will cost.
Interestingly/annoyingly, Coral cost more if you use the buy in bulk option, by about a 7% “convenience” tax. If you’re upgrading coral by the hundreds it’s not really worth going one by one, but it’s interesting to be aware of. Thanks to mickss on Reddit for working out the numbers.
Fish
Fish don’t directly add to vitality, instead passively doubling all Coral and Tap vitality permanently for each fish you buy with Vitality (event fish, luck shell fish, and the first free fish you get with a Premium Package do not add vitality multipliers).
Fish get about 3.5 times as expensive each fish you buy. This means you’ll often want to rotate between upgrading the Coralite and buying a Fish, whichever is cheaper. All else being equal, a Fish is always preferable.
Magic/Spending Gems
You can buy Vitality with gems. Don’t. At no point in AbyssRium are these bonuses worth it relative to their real world cost: gems should always first be used to upgrade your permanent skills. By paying you can jump forward in vitality in an instant, but a few minutes of active play or hours of passive play will usually overtake the vitality you could spend $5 worth of gems on. It’s a bad deal. It looks particularly good early on (when progress is fast) but it will very quickly be clearly worthless once Song of the Moon is unlocked. You’ll often find 800 gems worth of Vitality is less than a single Coralite upgrade level!
Thanks to GH Gihma in the comments, this is the exact formula for the Magic vitality rewards. The x is equivalent to approximately 1117.7 times your coral vitality production:
Free Vitality (Ad): 1x
Friendship Gift (Facebook): 5x
Gift of the Ocean: 10x
Gift of an Angel: 40x
Gift from the Gods: 100x
Fish’s Vitality
Tapping Fish’s hearts simply gives you (Tap + Coral Per Second) vitality per-tap. It’s not that great except very, very early on, however tapping fish vitality is required for some achievements. Fish vitality is replaced with seasonal Candies for all events, which makes them much more worth tapping.
Photo Quest
Photo Quests give 200 times your current Coral vitality per second. (Thanks, Patrick in the comments!) If you let your Coral level flounder, these rewards may not even be worth the button presses..
Taking a “bad” shot gives you only 50% of the vitality. The sensing for this is very wonky, but generally a shot from the rear or an obscured fish gets the penalty. Sometimes an awful shot gives 100% and sometimes a fine shot is oddly penalized.
Note you can double your reward by “sharing” the image. As always, you can cancel before you actually post, and get the reward for free. The second reward is not affected by whether or not you screw up the photo.
Chest/Magic Vitality
This seems to be mostly governed by your Coral vitality level. The chest rewards are absolutely never worth watching an ad for.
Facebook Present
In the “friends” icon at the top of the screen you can visit friends’ aquariums once a day and tap 10 fish for “present” points, unlocking a vitality present every 50 points (5 friends visited).
The reward for this is pretty minimal assuming you have all skills unlocked and powered up, so while you’re free to do it if the amount seems significant to you, in my opinion it’s hardly worth pursuing just like the free vitality for watching an ad bonus.
Skills & Magic Items
/u/idlestate has a great chart on which skills are most efficient to spend gems on.
However due to the Bowmouth Guitarfish, I would recommend that you spend all gems upgrading Song of the Moon, Delicious Food and Volcanic Eruption to level 11 ASAP. After that you can spend them more freely. Here’s a chart on free gems vs the Bowmouth unlock.
Also note that maxing all skills is not a practical goal: Even spending several hundred dollars on In App Purchases isn’t enough! Your skills will never be maxed, and that’s just how it is. Don’t worry about it, the game is designed to be bad.
Skills (Active Items)
For the first 10 levels, skill upgrades cost the same amount of gems. Starting with level 11 (10 for Artifacts), upgrading skills/artifacts costs 100 gems more per level, so if level 10 was 200 gems, level 11 is 300 gems and level 14 is 600 gems etc. This means it’ll be a lot more cost effective to buy cheaper upgrades for lower level skills and giving an exact recommendation at any given point is more complicated.
Volcanic Eruption
Effect: Auto tap 10 times per second for 5 minutes
Max: Level 21, 20 taps per second for 15 minutes
Cost: 200 gems per level until level 12, then increasing 100 gems per level
Unlocked: Coralite level 100
Your most basic clicker game power up, it’s really not significant in the grand scheme of things until you get Song of the Moon, but it’ll feel impressive at the start.
The first ten levels act differently from the last 10, first a minute is added each level, then after level 11 it adds one tap per second. The first 10 levels are of extremely low value beyond unlocking a hidden fish.
Aaron Ford in the comments worked out that Eruption is generally worth more vitality though it doesn’t take into account Song of the Moon:
“Pretend you have A vitality.
Max Volcanic E = 10 tps (taps per second) for 15 mins. 10tps × 60s (1minute) = 600tpm (taps per minute). 600 tpm x 15m = 9.0A per 15 minute period.
Max Nautilius = 120tpm. 120 tpm × 15m = 1.8A per 15 minute period.”
Delicious Food
Effect: Produces 5,000 times vitality production per tap immediately
Max: Level 21, produces 25,000 times vitality per tap immediately
Cost: 300 gems per level until level 12, then increasing 100 gems per level
Unlocked: Coralite level 300
Once getting one of each of the magic items below for fun, this is a solid contender for your top priority. It’s usually the most vitality-per-gem, trading places occasionally with Song of the Moon.
Song of the Moon
Effect: Increases vitality production by 500% for 5 minutes
Max: Level 21, 2,500% vitality production
Cost: 500 gems per level until level 12, then increasing 100 gems per level
Unlocked: Coralite level 500
The most important skill in AbyssRium, the other skills are barely even worth using without this effect. With this, a couple casts of Delicious Food will almost always give you so many rewards you can instantly level your Coralite or buy a new fish or so on. At least until level BA and beyond where it feels like the devs forgot to actually design the game.
Song of the Moon also benefits the Candy production of seasonal events like Halloween and Christmas, so I recommend simply putting all your gems toward Song of the Moon first. It just makes your life so much easier and stacks with almost everything.
Once Song of the Moon is sufficiently upgraded, you’ll start to notice how piddly many of the non-skill Vitality bonuses really are too. The Facebook Present, Treasure Chest (vitality bonus) and Get Free Vitality (magic tab) will feel pretty pointless as Song of the Moon doesn’t improve them. Photo Quest is buffed (for all it’s worth) but only if the quest pops up while SotM is active.
Midas Tap
Don’t buy this.
Magic Items (Passive Items)
These are your passive skills, mostly not as good as the active ones. But buy at least one level of each for looks then come back and upgrade them later on as your skills start to get expensive.
Remains of a Nautilus
Effect: Auto-tap 30 times per minute
Max: Level 20, auto tap 220 times per minute
Cost: 300 gems per level until level 11, then increasing 100 gems per level
Some people confuse this for being the same as Volcanic Eruption, but note it’s per minute, far slower. It’s an okay passive gain since it saves you from tapping, but it’s only really worth one level. Like all auto taps, these only register if the app is open, greatly limiting its effect.
Since the taps still occur under Song of the Moon, upgrading this might actually be better than upgrading Volcanic Eruption assuming Song of the Moon is maxed. I haven’t run the numbers myself.
Mystic Shell
Effect: 1.1x increase of vitality production per tap
Max: level 20, 3x increase of vitality per tap
Cost: 300 Gems per level until level 11, then increasing 100 gems per level
This is actually a 10% increase in vitality, not a 110% increase as the ingame description says. Subtract 100 from most ingame percents to get what they actually mean; they’re multipliers not increases.
Buy one level because it’s pretty, then ignore it until you have some gems to burn. It’s not strictly bad as it buffs Delicious Food, but it’s less important than Song of the Moon, Delicious Food and even Glowing Conch. I’d rate it as the fourth best skill.
Glowing Conch
Effect: Shortens skill cooldown by 5% per level.
Max: level 10, 50% skill cooldown reduction
Cost: 500 gems per level
The reduction in time is very significant on Song of the Moon, the best skill. Buy one level because it looks nice and move on to the skills first, then come back once skills start getting expensive past level 11.
If you have enough gems to max Delicious Food and Song of the Moon, this is probably the third best option. At max level of the Conch skills will come twice as fast and you can reuse the “recharge” option only two and a half minutes after Song of the Moon runs out. However, you really do need to max it out to feel the most of the effect and that’s 5,000 gems total.
Gem Sources
Daily Attendance System
With the attendance system, you’ll get 20 gems the first 6 days, then a new fish, then 30 gems the next week, then 50 gems a day. Every 7th day you’ll unlock a new fish until there are no new fish, then the rewards stop entirely. This is a great early injection of gems, but don’t spend them foolishly; focus on skills, mostly Song of the Moon.
The Attendance System is online-only and cannot be cheated by messing with the clock/airplane mode.
Note that if a new tier of rewards is added you’ll just start on the first day of the new reward tier regardless of how many days have past since you actually started AbyssRium, rather than getting all those rewards at once.
Achievements
Your best, ad-free source of gems, these will be given like candy at first, and later levels give some very significant gem rewards. See the Achievements Section for the exact details and rewards.
Unfortunately, several achievements are far beyond sane, such as tapping the screen manually 2,000,000 times. After about a week or so of intense play and once you’ve hit Z vitality, the achievement gems have probably dried up, but you’ll get just enough to buy one of each Magic Item and level a few skills, which is really all you “need”.
Chest
Don’t bother with the chest, you basically watch ads to get absolute garbage at random.
AbyssRium Achievements & Rewards
Achievements are a very important part of AbyssRium and you should check the Trophy menu any time you see a red (!) badge on it, as they’ll earn you large amounts of gems or a vitality multiplier that’s critical to proceeding quickly.
Vitality Achievements
These achievements are critical for reaching the “endgame” of AbyssRium, and if the game feels like it’s slowing down, it’s probably because one of these hasn’t been met yet. There’s only so much you can do to earn these intentionally, but keep an eye on them.
Vitality Achievements have 4 “tiers” of achievements instead of 4, and are more like boosts to keep you going (as Vitality production slowly reduces in speed relative to Coralite/Fish cost without them) more so than a specific goal to target.
Mysterious Stone
Reach a certain level for the Lonely Coralite.
Increases per-tap vitality by ten times per level for the first 5 star levels, then all vitality production by two times for Crown levels, except the last Crown level in a set of 5, which is 500%.
Star Levels: 200, 350, 500, 1000, 1500
Crown Levels: 2500, 4000, 6000, 8,000, 10,000
Tier 3 Levels: 12,000, 14,000, 16,000, 18,000, 20,000
Tier 4 Levels: 22,000, 24,000,26,000, 28,000, 30,000
Surging Vitality
Reach a certain vitality “letter”.
Increases all vitality production by 10 times per level for each Star level and 200% for each Crown level except the 5th crown level, which is 500%. Extremely vital, but unless you’re on the vitality level just below it, you can’t deliberately earn this. Just keep an eye out.
Star Levels: G, L, P, S, W
Crown Levels: Z, AE, AJ, AP, AX
Tier 3 Levels: CD, CZ, DO, ED, ES
Tier 4 levels: FH, FW, GL, HD, HP
Coral of Life
Reach a total coral level equal to this number.
Increases all vitality production by ten times per Star level, two times per Crown level, or 5 times for the last Crown level in a set of 5. If you’re only a few hundred away from a level, see if you can reach it.
Star Levels: 3000, 7000, 10,000, 15,000, 18,000
Crown Levels: 30,000, 50,000, 80,000, 100,000, 150,000
Tier 3 levels: 180,000, 210,000, 240,000, 270,000, 300,000
Tier 4 levels: 330,000, 360,000, 390,000, 420,000, 450,000
Gem Achievements
These give gems, which are nice, but not required. Not all of these are worth obtaining based on their rewards alone.
Gems are given in order of 30/50/70/100/150 for the first 5 levels (stars), then 50/50/70/100/150 for level 6-10 (crowns).
Collector
Collect X unique types of fish, counts only Normal Fish and Fusion Fish.
Star Levels: 3, 10, 20, 40, 70
Crown Levels: 80, 100, 110, 130, 150
Play with fish
Tap the heart (vitality) over a fish X times.
The later levels of this one are pretty unreasonable. I don’t recommend going for it deliberately. Thanks to GK Ghima in the comments for some of these.
Star Levels: 100, 500, 1,000, 3,000, 10,000
Crown Levels: 15,000, 20,000, 30,000, 40,000, 50,000
Hard Worker!
Tap the screen X times. Does not count auto taps from skills or “Magic Items”, only physical taps.
This achievement rapidly becomes unobtainable so don’t worry about it. It’s the best reason to not care about 100% in this game.
Note the Google Play version of Hard Worker is bugged, and the 500k achievement will only unlock after the 1 million taps one.
Star Levels: 5,000, 50,000, 200,000, 500,000, 1,000,000
Crown Levels: 2,000,000, 3,000,000, 5,000,000, 7,000,000, 10,000,000
Ready! Action!
Use skills X times.
No real way to speed this up significantly.
Star Levels: 20, 100, 300, 500, 1000
Crown Levels: 3000, 5000, 7000, 10,000, 20,000
Commercial Break!
Watch video ads X times. Don’t do this.
Star Levels: 10, 30, 50, 100, 200
Crown Levels: 250, 300, 400, 500, 600
Check Attendance!
Play Abyssrium on X different days. Not directly related to the new attendance reward system, which goes by server time instead of phone time. This does not require consecutive logins!
Cheating the clock will glitch this out, it does count a new day if you advance your clock, but if you set your time to two months ahead, then back to normal time, it won’t start accounting for new days until either 2 months pass or you cheat forward two months and a day again (if you’re lucky, I had a heck of a time getting it to start counting again!).
Star Levels: 3, 10, 20, 25, 50
Crown Levels: 75, 100, 150, 200
Say Cheese!
Take a picture X times. You don’t have to save or share the image.
The easiest achievement to farm for early gems. Just take pictures and discard them and immediately retake. Position your fingers right and you can spam this action quickly. Otherwise you’ll slowly earn it anyway if you do photo quests or just like taking pictures.
Star Levels: 10, 30, 50, 100, 200
Crown Levels: 300, 400, 500, 750, 1,000
A special moment!
Share a picture X times.
You can press the share button, cancel the draft and still get this. Almost as easily farmed as Say Cheese for this reason.
Star Levels: 3, 10, 20, 50, 100
Crown Levels: 150, 200, 300, 400, 500
With Friends!
Have X Facebook friends that play Tap Tap Fish AbyssRium.
Both you and your friends must be connected to Facebook in Abyssrium in order to count for this.
Star Levels: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25
Crown Levels: 30, 35, 40, 45, 50
External Achievements
These achievements show in Google Play (and I assume Game Center achievements are the same) but do not show up in the ingame menu and thus have no gem/vitality rewards; they’re just for fun. These do not have “levels” like the ingame achievements. Note getting all of Abyssrium’s achievements will take many weeks.
These generally won’t trigger until you open the ingame Achievements menu (the trophy icon). Note that in-game achievements and Google Play achievements have slightly different requirements likely due to oversight.
I am not alone Create first fish.
Ruler of the alley Create ten fish. Unlike the Collector achievements, these do not have to be unique fish.
Popular in Town Collect 30 kinds of fish.
Celebrity Create 60 Fish.
Fish Vending Machine Own 100 Fish.
Make stone up Unlock 7 corals.
Fashionista Collect all Corals. Will come naturally through play.
I got angry Unlock the Volcanic Eruption skill.
Have a lot Unlock Delicious Food skill.
Rendezvous with the moon Unlock Song of the Moon skill.
Eruption of lives Volcano skill level 11. (2,000 gems total) These skills all require a lot of gems, you’re unlikely to earn more than one (or zero) through a “normal” amount of play (a couple of weeks of fairly intensive play). Even the paid “beginner package” doesn’t have enough gems to max out most skills!
Nutritious Food Delicious Food level 11. (3,000 gems)
Dance with the moon Song of the Moon level 11. (5,000 gems)
There’s also repeats of many of the Vitality/Gem achievements which are omitted here due to being duplicates.
Collection
Collection is a new series of long-term Achievements that reward you with pearls for completing lists of fish. As a long-term goal, Collection should largely be ignored until you’re finished progressing through the Normal Fish list (and unlocking your Blue Whale), though a few lists will be completed through normal play, so claim your pearls!
When a Collection is complete a red (!) will appear over the Trophy icon just like when a new Achievement or Daily Mission task is complete. You can check the list at any time from the Trophy menu (it’s rather unlikely to complete many of the later lists without deliberately following the lists).
Collection has a two-tiered setup, where within each Collection Level there are five Oceans. For completing an Ocean you get pearls, and for completing all five Oceans on a Level you get an even larger set of pearls. Each Collection Level gets significantly more difficult, so higher Levels should be ignored until earlier ones are finished. In addition, Oceans tend to require new fish in an additive manner, so Ocean 1 requires 3 fish, Ocean 2 requires all fish from Ocean 1 plus 2 fish, and so on.
A full list of Collection requirements/rewards can be found here.
Note that every level of Collection will report “Bronze collection complete!”, even level 4. There is no second set of Collections after finishing level 4, or any special bonus of any kind other than the pearls.
Collection Level 1
Level 1 is extremely easy, requiring only one of each fish and almost no hidden fish. You’ll unlock these simply by playing AbyssRium normally and acquiring one of each fish as you should.
Collection Level 2
Collection Level 2 is much harder than it appears as it requires 6 of the Peppermint Angel, which in turn requires 30 Angelfish, a vastly steeper requirement than anything else in this tier. It also requires the Coelacanth, thus 28 days of playing. Don’t worry about this tier much until you’ve gotten your Blue Whale, or you’ll be sick of Angelfish forever. The stretch after Z vitality is a decent time to spawn tons of Angelfish for this requirement.
Collection Level 3
Collection Level 3 is where things get serious, requiring five of each fish in each list and requiring the Striped Marlin to clear even one ocean. Did anyone else just hear a loud scream? Hm.
Collection Level 4
Level 4 is neigh-unreachable for all but the most seasoned veterans, requiring the Dwarf Whale (and thus, DL vitality and the Giant Green Kelp) before you can even unlock any oceans. However, there are quite a few requirements you can mop up long before then, so it can pay to keep ahead of things.
Luck Shell
Luck Shell is Gachapon, a digital slot game so insidious Japan has tried to ban it multiple times but current versions sit just far enough outside of the legal definition of ‘gambling’ to get a pass from the authorities. As a result, it’s one of the most poisonous and money-grubbing aspects of many mobile games today.
Gachapon is so problematic that China of all countries passed a law requiring companies to officially state the probability of boxes after players were found spending thousands of dollars trying to unlock single, extremely rare, items.
Luck Shell’s exact(ish) payout odds can be found ingame in version 1.4.6, or in this imgur album if you don’t have it yet.
My disgust for the practice aside, Luck Shell is AbyssRium’s flavor of the practice, and it’s not quite the worst implementation I’ve seen.
Basically, you spin a slot machine by either watching an add or paying Pearls (the new SUPER premium currency, on top of the existing premium currency), and the machine can give you either Vitality, Gems, Pearls, or past Event Fish. Obviously, the main draw is the Event Fish.
A word of warning though, there’s no way to “work toward” specific fish or anything. You’ll get a completely random fish and there does not appear to be any attempt to bias the odds towards fish you don’t have (much less fish you want); it’s all dumb luck. If you really, really want a single item…you’re basically SOL unless the pure dumb luck coincides with what you want.
Basically, don’t waste too much time, effort, or most importantly money here. You can’t even meaningfully buy your way to victory, so just play the free once for the free junk, eh? Gacha is basically paying for the privilege of looking for the Striped Marlin, to put it in relevant perspective.
But hey, if you like throwing money around, I have a Patreon you could contribute to too, wink wink. /s
What Fish Can You Get?
Luck Shell’s main purpose is to give past event fish, so predictably, almost every single fish it’s been seen to give is an Event Fish. It does not appear to give Premium/Package event fish, like the Scuba Bunny. It’s been witnessed in one case to actually give the 10,000 Year Old Blue Whale, though no other hidden fish have been observed.
The icons of fish indicate rarity of fish, not species, so “whale” icon fish in the wheel are rare/expensive fish, if not necessarily an actual whale, while turtles are uncommon fish, and the fish icon is usually some of the cheapest event fish like Angelfish.
Like I said above, it doesn’t seem to be biased toward giving you fish you don’t have. It’s a monetization strategy for Cheetah Mobile, not a fix for all your ills.
Luck Shell also seems to have a bias towards the most recent event; for months it had a nearly 50% bias towards Spring Event fish. It’s current bias is unknown, but know that fish are not distributed evenly among events.
Getting a fish in Luck Shell does not entitle you to produce more of that fish (since their event is expired anyway). The only way to get a second would be to randomly win it from the luck shell again.
Note that you may have to go into the Manage menu (the button is on every main menu right next to fish count) to put your earned fish into the pond.
Excluded Fish
The following fish do NOT appear in the Luck Shell no matter how much you pay:
Premium Event Fish Ghost Whale Heart Sun Fish Scuba Rabbit Congratulating Corgi etc. You can get the Snowflake Whale because it was not a premium-exclusive fish
Prized Walking Fish
Legendary Sun Fish
Normal Fish The 10,000 Year Old Blue Whale is the only “normal” fish that does appear on the list
Daily Mission
Daily Missions give 15 gems for each individual mission and 25 pearls (as of the Freshwater update) for completing all of them. Tap the trophy icon to see your progress on the missions, they’re all very simple.
Tasks:
Tap 2500 times
Upgrade coral 25 levels Note Coral caps at 3000 in Freshwater, so don’t upgrade coral more than 25 levels a day after unlocking all Coral
Use skills 5 times
Tap 25 fish’s hearts/bubbles
Play for 20 minutes
Daily missions are always the same every day. I’d recommend always making sure to do them when you can as they’re necessary for Pearls which only accrue very slowly.
Note the rewards have to be manually claimed, including the pearl rewards. The Pearl reward button won’t work until the other rewards are claimed even if all five missions have been completed.
AbyssRium FAQ, Tips & Troubleshooting
Coral Price Keeps Increasing
A lot of people think their price for the Blue Table Coral, White Swing Anemone, Orange Blade Coral, Pink Tree Coral, or Giant Kelp is “increasing”.
What’s actually happening is the UI is poorly designed. The value on the left that keeps increasing is the amount of vitality the coral will produce once purchased; this constantly increases due to your vitality boosts (fish). The actual cost is displayed on the purchase button to the right and is always the same.
Cloud Save Information
Turns out there are THREE ways to cloud save, listed in order of priority:
Facebook: If you’re logged into Facebook your Facebook save will overwrite all others. This can be dangerous as if you share FB accounts it may try to auto-load the save someone else uploads to the same account. Facebook saves are also the only ones that transfer across OS (iOS <-> Android)
iCloud/Google Play: This is the standard and recommended way to save: when signed in your save (and User Tag) are uploaded to your cloud account so if you log in on another device with this account you can retrieve your save. The Google Play Games logo shows if you’re signed in on Android, I assume iOS has similar? Can anyone confirm?
User Tag: Turns out Tap Tap Fish AbyssRium also saves even without icloud/Google Play, and if you disconnect from your device account, you may revert to a User Tag, hence the save discrepancies.
If you’re unsure, I’d double check that your device is signed in. Don’t worry about “creating an account”, if you have a functional Android or iOS device you already have a Google Play Games or iCloud account basically. There might be a brief “create your nickname” thing but you already have an account so just log in.
Basically there should be no worries as long as you’re signed in to either Facebook or iCloud/Google and you’re the only person on your account. If you’re NOT signed in, your save data might be saved but not in a way you can recover on a different device (or if the app is deleted.)
The app auto saves on any kind of account, and auto-loads if it detects the server’s save is more recent than the local one (even if it has less “progress”!).
Tips
Gameplay Efficiency
Adding a new fish is almost always the most effective method of using your money once you have enough, but if your earnings are slow it might be best to upgrade smaller amounts elsewhere.
Storing your fish has no negative effects; you keep the vitality bonuses and they still count towards hidden fish unlocks. The only gameplay features displayed fish affect are the photo quest and the Fish’s Vitality hearts to tap, since those spawn overhead of a specific fish.
Whether Lonely Coralite or Coral, I always upgrade 25 levels at a time to get the doubling bonus. The per-level upgrade is inconsequential.
I generally don’t upgrade Coral until the next level is less than what I earn either per tap or per second. Not a hard rule, but easy to remember and should never waste too much vitality.
Time your skill uses well. If you can buy a fish before using your skills, always do so.
You don’t have to actually post when AbyssRium prompts you to share. You still get the Vitality bonus if you exit out of twitter/etc and delete the draft. Do this every time you get a Quest to take a photo of a fish to double your Vitality rewards. This trick works in almost any game that rewards you for sharing by the way, at least on Android.
Once Song of the Moon and Delicious Food are leveled up even a bit, your coral earnings, Free Vitality (from ads), Facebook Skill, and Photo Quests will be permanently worthless
Technical
You can connect to Facebook to cloud save Tap Tap Fish AbyssRium (in addition to Google Play and iCloud), this will allow you to transfer a save from an iPhone to an Android (and vice versa). Always log in to Facebook from your old phone with the most progreSAN DIEGO (CNS) - Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Thursday issued a five-point national security plan during her campaign's first visit to San Diego, and said electing presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would be a "historic mistake."
"I believe he will take our country down a truly dangerous path," Clinton said in a 35-minute speech in Balboa Park, just five days before California's primary election. Among other things, she said Trump picks fights with allies while praising dictators, and claims to |
than 80 mission chiefs, he ranked last for interpersonal relations, next to last on managerial skill and attention to morale, and third to last on overall scores, according to the audit.
Compared to these issues, the email problem played a minor role, according to Ronald Neumann, who served as an American ambassador three times, most recently in Afghanistan from 2005-07.
"It could be an important issue, but when you screw up as many things as this guy did, it’s hard to get through to that one," Neumann told PunditFact.
The admonishment
Paul’s claim, however, is more tempered, and thus more accurate. That audit did indeed "admonish" Gration for his email habits. The fourth bullet point on the report’s summary reads:
"The Ambassador’s greatest weakness is his reluctance to accept clear-cut U.S. Government decisions. He made clear his disagreement with Washington policy decisions and directives concerning the safe-havening in Nairobi of families of Department employees who volunteered to serve in extreme hardship posts; the creation of a freestanding Somalia Unit; and the nonuse of commercial email for official government business, including Sensitive But Unclassified information. Notwithstanding his talk about the importance of mission staff doing the right thing, the Ambassador by deed or word has encouraged it to do the opposite."
The report describes Gration’s actions in detail starting on page 43: He deliberately defied the State Department’s rule on communication by installing a commercial Internet connection in his embassy office bathroom and authorizing his embassy staff to use personal emails.
"He has willfully disregarded Department regulations on the use of commercial email for official government business," the report says.
Ars Technica, a technology news site, put it even more bluntly: "Gration was the end user from hell for an understaffed IT team in a politically sensitive outpost."
The report also spells out the reasons for the policy: Unauthorized systems increase the risk for hacks and loss of records. It then states that the use of personal emails "must be limited to maintaining communications during emergencies" and recommended the embassy stop using the unofficial email accounts.
It is unclear if top State Department brass slammed Gration for violating the personal email policy, as Paul suggests. We found no on-the-record condemnations from department officials, though Gration said multiple times that Clinton’s chief of staff fired him after reading the report. An audit by an inspector general is different than Clinton directly criticizing Gration for the practice.
Comparison to Clinton
In short, the department’s watchdogs chided Gration for a number of issues, including his personal email use. But how closely did his improper email habits mirror Clinton’s?
Clinton exclusively used a personal email account during her tenure as the country’s top diplomat. At the time, there was no law prohibiting the practice (one was put in place in 2014). There was, however, a long-standing policy against using personal emails, reiterated in a 2011 memo from the State Department under Clinton. Gration, for his part, used both, although he "very infrequently" logged onto his classified account, the report says.
Without more information, it’s hard to compare the security risks of both setups. Gration likely channeled his personal emails through an unsecured Internet connection despite repeated warnings, according to the Washington Post.
As for Clinton, her personal email was relayed through a private server guarded by the Secret Service, Clinton said at a March press conference. We don’t know if the State Department signed off on her private server, but it was aware of the server’s existence. The emails were encrypted after March 2009, according to her security provider, though there’s still debate over the account’s security.
Overall, an expert told us it’s an apples-to-apples comparison, though he cautioned that the inspector general report does not address why Gration was using a personal email. (According to Gration, he couldn’t get news alerts through the official State Department server.)
"The similarities between the two situations are striking, and it is fair to compare them," said Douglas Cox, a law professor at the City University of New York, who studies records preservation. "Both were in senior leadership positions. Both made a regrettable decision to use non-official email, which raised security and record-keeping concerns that should have been obvious. And both refused to accept that their continuous use of non-official email violated State Department rules."
Cox pointed out that the report condemned Gration’s email usage as a failure in leadership that "sapped the morale" of his staff. The same criticism could apply to Clinton, who, as secretary of state, should be held to a higher standard than Gration, Cox argued.
"The buck should have stopped with her, and she should have been leading by example," he said.
Our ruling
Paul said the State Department under Clinton "actually admonished one of her ambassadors for not using the proper server."
The ambassador in question, Scott Gration, was effectively fired from his post in Kenya in 2012 mostly because of his poor management skills but also for his email management. The department’s office of the inspector general, which works independently, called Gration’s use of a personal email account for government business a leadership failure and a security risk.
We rate Paul’s claim True.This week, research firm Packaged Facts released the 9th edition of its Ice Cream and Frozen Desserts in the US report. The report reveals that the ice cream category has experienced stagnant growth in previous years due to a lack of innovation. However, products that bear a “free-from” label (i.e. soy-free, dairy-free, etc.) have greatly contributed to revitalizing ice cream sales, as consumers seek frozen desserts that are in-line with specific dietary preferences. “Despite the maturity of the ice cream market,” Packaged Facts research director David Sprinkle says, “a lot is happening in terms of new product trends and corporate development.” Packaged Facts predicted that the current ice cream industry is valued at about $28 billion and predicted it would grow through 2020. From the corporate perspective, companies such as Ben & Jerry’s have capitalized on the profit potential in this segment of the industry by developing an almond milk-based ice cream line—to which it added two new flavors this week.
Photo coutesy of Sweet RitualTwo young men who allegedly drove around the ByWard Market with a loaded firearm face a slew of gun-related charges.
Ottawa police said 26-year-old Mohamed Najdi and 20-year-old Ali Dia were arrested early Monday morning after reports of gunshots near Clarence and George streets.
Officers pulled over a vehicle at 2:30 a.m. on George Street and found a loaded gun in the car.
Police have charged both Najdi and Dia with careless use, handling and storage of a firearm, possession of a dangerous weapon, possession of a prohibited firearm without a license or registration certificate, possession of a prohibited firearm knowingly not holding a license or registration, occupying of a motor vehicle with a firearm, possession of a loaded regulated firearm, and possession of a firearm obtained by crime.
Najdi alone is charged twice with possession of a firearm while prohibited and failure to comply with an undertaking.
The Ottawa police guns and gangs unit is asking anyone with information about the incident to call them at 613-236-1222 ext. 5050.The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has agreed to make available 2,000 properties for people on social housing lists.
The announcement was made by Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan earlier today.
The housing will be made available for use through leasing arrangements with local authorities and housing associations.
The properties are equivalent to about 20 per cent of Nama's total residential portfolio.
Nama has also agreed to put more properties on the market and to set aside additional funding for uncompleted housing properties.
"The agreement to provide 2,000 units is one of the largest housing allocations made in the history of the State and is a welcome Christmas boost to those most vulnerable in society.‘ said Mr Hogan in a statement.
The Irish Times revealed earlier this year that the Government was considering plans to amend legislation that would oblige Nama to deliver more social housing and public amenities.
The agency has purchased some €31 billion of loans connected to thousands of residential properties – loans valued at over €72 billion at the height the property bubble.
The latest figures show that a record high of 98,000 people are on the social housing list.Coming up today and every Monday at 9:00 am Pacific – 12 Noon Eastern – 16:00 GMT
Richard Gage, AIA – Analyzing the Plasco Building “Collapse” in Tehran, Educating Experts on the Real Science of 9/11, and Much More! Richard Gage, AIA, president and founder of Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth has presented the hard science and forensic evidence, which challenges the official account for 9/11, around the world. He has reached literally tens of millions of people with his work through the years as film director, speaker/lecturer, educator, activist and standing member of the prestigious American Institute of Architecture.
Sites:
www.ae911truth.org
www.rethink911.org
www.911expertsspeakout.org DVD
The Demolition of Truth DVD About the Hosts:
Watch Truth Walk: The Movie at QMA Media David Meiswinkle, JD is a practicing criminal defense attorney, a U.S. Army veteran, and a retired police officer of 23 years. He is a radio show host for Quantum Matrix Radio and co-director for Truth Walk: the Movie. David is on the Board of Directors for the Lawyers Committee For 9/11 Inquiry, was a panelist at the 9/11 Justice in Focus Conference, and is president of New Jersey 9/11 Aware (NJ911Aware.org) He is co-founder of Quantum Matrix Alternative Media, LLC the production company for Truth Walk. David walked over 400 miles in order to raise awareness about the crucial science and evidence which conflicts with the official story on 9/11. He is featured as an, attorney who questions the official government reports on 9/11, in the film Truth Walk. David is co-director and primary consultant of Truth Walk. Pamela Senzee is an artist, author, filmmaker, radio show host/producer, and truth activist. She has trekked across the United States by bicycle for Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth and joined David on his walk encompassing the sites of the crimes of 9/11. Pamela is co-director and editor of the film Truth Walk. She is co-founder of Quantum Matrix Alternative Media, LLC. Pamela is the producer of Quantum Matrix Radio. Her book Quantum Trek is an account of her soul searching bicycle trek across North America, representing thousands of experts who challenge the official report on 9/11. Her book received rave reviews by Dr. Niels Harrit, Richard Gage, AIA, Dr. Graeme MacQueen, and David Meiswinkle, JD. Music for QMR is used with permission by Captain Squeegee This show was broadcast on March 6, 2017. Listen to the Archive Here For downloads and more click here to SUBSCRIBE!I’ve been researching various brands of calving barn cameras in preparation of the upcoming calving season and had an interesting discussion with a local security company, OnSight 24/7, that specializes in agricultural cameras, particularly calving barn cameras to help ranchers during the long and tedious calving season. In our conversation, OnSight 24/7 owner Brian Price shared with me the many other uses for his security cameras, ranging from hunting lodges, to feedlots, to grain elevators, to livestock auction markets.
A story that Price shared with me points out why security cameras could be an important improvement to your ranch security. Cameras installed at a local feedlot and sale barn were able to connect the dots of a cattle theft where the thief walked away with close to $50,000.
It’s hard to believe that a theft on a scale that grand happens in small, rural communities, but it appears cattle rustling is on the rise again on ranches across the U.S. For example, in Oklahoma, an estimated 2,500-3,000 head of cattle were reported stolen in 2014, and in Texas, that number totals to slightly more than 3,900, according to an article by Jon Heskovitz and Heide Brandes for Reuters.
READ: Cattle rustling U.S.A., where ‘Rawhide’ meets ‘Breaking Bad’
According to the article, “The recent rise in rustling is driven by the spread of heroin and methamphetamines to rural areas, an issue that has dogged states across the nation. In Oklahoma and neighboring Texas, lonesome cattle grazing on thousand-acre ranches that can fetch about $1,000 to $3,000 at market are proving to be easy targets for rustlers on the down and out. Among Oklahoma cattle thieves, about 75% are doing so to feed addictions, most often to methamphetamines, says Jerry Flowers, a retired Oklahoma City police detective and the state’s top ‘cattle cop.’”
In an article appearing on smithsonian.com, Larry Gray, executive director of law enforcement and theft prevention for the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, says, “But cattle are at record levels as far as the prices go. That makes it very attractive to a thief to steal a load of cattle.”
READ: The modern cost of cattle rustling
With an increasing number of cattle rustling cases reported in the media, have you thought much about how to better secure your ranch against thieves? What kind of identification system do you use on your cattle? Share your protective measures in the comments section below.
The opinions of Amanda Radke are not necessarily those of beefmagazine.com or Penton Agriculture.
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Photos showcase generations working together on ranchNational security issues have multiplied for President Trump in recent weeks, with complex conflicts and problems abroad competing for his attention.
Trump’s strike against a Syrian airfield prompted questions about his long-term strategy in the region. But those questions were usurped a week later when the military dropped the “mother of all bombs” in Afghanistan, giving new attention to America’s longest war.
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Days later, attention shifted to North Korea, with fears mounting that the country could conduct its sixth nuclear test.
The confluence of hot spots around the globe is testing Trump as he nears the 100-day mark of his presidency.
“The world is a lot more complicated now than it ever has been,” said Alex Ward, a national security expert at the Atlantic Council. “If you’re looking at Syria, North Korea, et cetera, a lot of these are issues that the Obama administration had left — very intractable problems — left to the other administration.
“Trump has promised two things. He’s promised to do the opposite of Obama, and he promised to solve issues quickly. Now he’s trying to solve intractable problems on a very fast timeline.”
Trump took his most significant military action on April 6, when he launched cruise missiles at a Syrian airfield believed to be the launch site of a chemical weapons attack on civilians.
It was the first time the United States directly intervened in the Syrian civil war, and questions about the next steps in the conflict dominated the news for days — until the U.S. dropped a massive bomb in Afghanistan on a network of tunnels used by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
The spectacle of using the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb on Thursday held public attention until the weekend, when North Korea began a celebration that many expected would include a nuclear test. The nuclear test didn’t come, but Pyongyang did conduct a failed missile test.
Each incident prompted questions about Trump’s wider foreign policy strategy.
“It’s hard to figure out exactly what the strategic view of this is,” Jon Alterman, a global security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told The Hill.
“What does he think the uses of American power are? What does he think the limits of American power are? What does he think needs to be prioritized? What is he willing to defer or not do? It’s hard to think of any issue on which you couldn’t make a range of predictions.”
The White House has done little to answer such questions, repeatedly saying Trump will keep the element of surprise.
“He holds his cards close to the vest, and I think you’re not going to see him telegraphing how he’s going to respond to any military or other situation going forward,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer said during a briefing Monday.
Trump’s responses so far have elicited support from defense hawks in Congress. Those same lawmakers have been among Trump’s staunchest critics because of his noninterventionist stance during the campaign. Some Democrats, too, applauded at least the Syria strike.
And Trump’s critics have said they have faith in Defense Secretary James Mattis and national security adviser H.R. McMaster to craft smart strategies to deal with challenges going forward.
James Carafano, vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at the Heritage Foundation and a member of the Trump transition team, said the president’s team has found its footing on a range of issues that have cropped up in recent weeks.
“That’s not too shabby for a novice national security team and a president who has almost no experience in foreign policy, kind of managing all that,” Carafano said. “I haven’t heard anyone say, ‘Oh my god, they screwed all of those things up.’ I think by most accounts people say, ‘Well, they got through those OK.’ ”
But Gordon Adams, who worked in the White House in the Clinton administration, said without deputies underneath Mattis, McMaster and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, broader strategic goals would remain elusive.
That, in turn, could lead to a continued feeling of world events overtaking one another.
“If you want consistent policy in times of crisis, you need to have enough policy makers to take on the load,” said Adams, now a professor at American University.
Alterman at CSIS agreed: “How this administration will react to a crisis when so many second- and third-tier positions are unfilled, when they’re still working out their overarching approach to things, it’s a big question. And the people creating a crisis don’t wait for you to get your act together — they just create a crisis.”Please enable Javascript to watch this video
Indianapolis, Ind (August 20, 2014) - A strange case case involving a suspect wearing a cat costume has resulted in the arrests and convictions of seven people on the east side of Indianapolis.
The case first made headlines in November 2012 when security video of the incident was released to the public. The video showed a male wearing a full body cat costume walking into the Shell gas station in the 2000 block of East Washington Street.
"The incident was relatively minor," said IMPD Detective Brian Lambert. "The guy went into the store, he threw a stuffed teddy bear at the clerk, the clerk got angry and ran after him with a stick."
The bizarre case had many scratching their heads.
But when detectives and patrol officers reviewed the security video, they noticed another man standing outside the store, shooting cell phone video of the incident. Officers recognized the man as Chase Rives, a prior offender who lived across the street from the Shell station.
Rives actually spoke with Fox59 shortly after the cat suit case occured. He claimed to be an innocent witness who just wanted to shoot video of the incident.
"I have no idea, that cat is crazy," he told Fox59.
When police visited Rives at his home, they say he told them to get lost and check out his YouTube channel.
What followed was a year-long investigation into videos posted on social media and stored on Rives' cell phone.
"We started seeing things that they were involved in with guns," Lambert said. "And we knew that some of these people were serious violent felons at the time. So that just started broadening the investigation."
In February 2014, investigators, including SWAT officers, obtained a search warrant for Rives' home they found several items that had been reported stolen in nearby burglaries and thefts.
They also found several videos showing Rives and his group committing various crimes. The videos showed Rives firing shots from his window, striking the same Shell station. They showed a fight outside the Shell station where shots were reported. Other videos showed Rives' toddler son being encouraged to abuse a puppy. Several of the videos depicted members of the group getting high by abusing a cough and cold medicine called Triple-C.
Many of the crimes captured in the videos appeared to be fueled by Triple-C, Lambert said. The cough and cold medicine had been stolen from nearby stores.
Another video showed the group laughing as they watched Fox59 coverage of the original cat suit incident. Detectives also found the video Rives shot of the cat suit incident. It revealed that Rives was not merely a witness to the incident, but he had been part of the planning of it.
"These guys are posting their crimes and their criminal activity on social media," Lambert said. "And, you know, we follow up with those when we can. It's good evidence."
In June 2014, Chase Rives was the last of seven individuals to plead guilty to various charges involved with the crime spree.
He was sentenced to a total 24 years on charges including burglary, theft, possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon, neglect of a dependent, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and animal torture.
Others who pleaded guilty to Theft and Burglary charges were Dustin Rives, Candice Rives, Thomas Cobb, Rebecca York, Christina Simpson and Destiny Miller.
People who live near the 2000 block of East Washington Street tell Fox59 they've noticed a quieter neighborhood since the arrests.
Detective Lambert says the case highlights the diligent work of East District patrol officers who stayed with the case for more than a year.
As for the suspects who chose to record their crimes on video:
"Not the brightest group I've ever run into, by far," Lambert said.Steven Wells (SW): I was scared to death. Your mother had to stay in the hospital for a week and I had to bring you home by myself. I mean, I’m a blue collar kind of guy. I’ve worked in factories and construction; I was a firefighter — and I’ve got a little baby girl in the house! What am I going to do with this? I’m afraid I’m going to break it! She’s so tiny and so helpless! I was 29 years old and acting like I was 19 and all of a sudden I had to grow up.
Jennifer Wells (JW): I’m glad you didn’t grow up too much. I was an only child so, you know, like, you were my playmate.
SW: I tried to be the father to you that my father never was to me. I’ll never forget when I was about 10 years old, I was asking my dad to go out and play baseball with me. And he didn’t want to go out with me and my mother started bugging him, ”Come on, Bill, go out and play with the boy!” And I’ll never forget hearing my dad say, ”Jesus Christ, Kay! I’m the boy’s father. If he wants to play with somebody he can go up the street and play with one of the other kids.” And I just said, ”I’m not going to be that kind of father.” We had my old Air Force duffle bag full of frisbies and soccer balls, baseballs, footballs…
JW: Yes! I loved that bag!
SW: … And we’d drag it down to the park. You were always my buddy. But shortly after you were born, things changed between your mother and me. So, I hung in there as long as I could and when I finally told you that your mother and I were breaking up, we took a talk. And I was in tears trying to tell you that I wasn’t going to be living at home anymore. And you know what you told me?
JW: Un-uh
SW: It was one of the most heartwarming things I had ever heard. You put your arm around me and you said, ”Dad, it’s okay, lots of my friends are divorced, I’ll get through it, I’m worried about you.” You said that to me and I’ve never forgotten that. You know, I loved you more than myself. And you are living proof that it was worth it.
JW: And I love that you stayed so close, too.
SW: You were asking me at lunch if I had any regrets. And I thought about it and, you know, guilt sucks. There are things that I wish had happened differently or things that didn’t happen. But YOU make it all worth while.
JW: [laughs] Thank you.
SW: I am honored to be your father.
JW: I love you.
SW: And I love you…more than you will know.When Jack Sherwood told his friends that he was moving from New Jersey to San Francisco to get a job at a restaurant, their reaction was immediate.
You’re out of your mind.
They knew how expensive it is to live in this city. Surely, the job market would be incredibly competitive, right?
“I found a job in three days,” said Sherwood, 39, who works his preferred schedule — lunches, not dinners, at the Hayes Street Grill. “It was fantastic. There are so many opportunities in the city for people with restaurant experience.”
He’s right. There are so many opportunities that restaurants and other businesses are competing over the ever-shrinking pool of available lower-wage workers. A big reason for this is that housing in San Francisco is hard to find and expensive — and, good luck trying to find something affordable outside the city within a reasonable commuting distance.
“Not only are people unable to live in the city, they aren’t able to live near the city,” said Bill Russell-Shapiro, who runs several local restaurants — Absinthe, Arlequin, Boxing Room and the Comstock Saloon.
Russell-Shapiro has a good sense of just how bad it’s gotten.
“We are really trying to do the right thing for our staff,” he said. “We pay the going rate or more. We provide full health insurance, paid vacations, and we have a 401(k) plan. But I know for a fact that they turn us down because it is just not enough money.”
It’s an odd juxtaposition. On one hand, the cost of living makes staying in the city difficult, yet there are so many jobs that applicants can feel entitled.
Kai Shane manages Alternative Apparel in Hayes Valley, where she says they pay “well above the minimum wage,” which is currently $12.25 an hour and will rise to $15 an hour in 2018.
“Now we are having people schedule job interviews and not show up,” she said. “I’ve been in retail 20 years and that had never happened. In the last year, I’d say 10-25 percent are no-shows.”
Jon Handlery, general manager of the Handlery Union Square Hotel, has been in the hotel business in San Francisco all his life.
“At the start of the year, I was trying to fill a bellman position,” he said. “It’s a great job, steady, cash tips, really good money. It took me like three or four months to fill it. I’ve never had an experience like that.”
Elizabeth Leu owns Fiddlesticks, a boutique that stocks “hip kids apparel” in Hayes Valley. She says she just lost her store manager, after nine months, because she couldn’t afford city prices. She’s posted the job on Craigslist, but the response has been tepid at best.
“Usually when you post on Craigslist, you get an immediate reaction,” Leu said. “Two years ago I would get 100 responses. Now I have three. And I sent each of them an application to submit, and of the three, no one wrote back.”
Leu has been in business in Hayes Valley for 12 years, giving her a front-row seat as living expenses climbed out of reach. She estimates that a typical retail salary in the boutique apparel world ranges from $38,000 to $48,000.
“Twelve years ago I lived on that,” she said. “And I lived fine.”
Now you may have your choice of jobs, but one may not be enough.
Basia Carroll, who is 23, works two jobs to make ends meet when she’s not studying at City College. She spends $500 a month to share a seedy apartment — “the bathroom leaks and we have bedbugs,” she says — in North Beach with an older woman in a rent-controlled unit.
The alternative is to do what some of her co-workers do: commute for an hour and a half or more.
“It’s super-easy to find a job in the city,” said Carroll, a born-and-raised San Franciscan who never thought housing would be so hard to find. “I moved back here from Santa Barbara and in maybe a week I had a job. Then it took me four months to find a place to live.”
Carroll works three days at Hayes Street Grill, four days at Macy’s and goes to school on Thursdays, which she calls “hectic.”
“I work at Hayes in the morning, school in the afternoon and then my other job,” she said.
Where is this all headed? Not to a more reasonable cost of living, Russell-Shapiro predicts.
“We have more restaurants per capita than any city in the United States,” he said. “But last year we had a net increase of 60 restaurants.”
And the job market is about to get even more competitive.
“In a month, it is going to be tough,” Shane said. “We’re going to be competing with everyone else for holiday workers.”
Leu says framing the problem is simple — getting a job in San Francisco is easy; finding a place to live is nearly impossible. Now she’d like answers.
“Everyone talks about the cost of living going up,” she said. “But it is the service industry that is getting hit hard. The bigger conversation is, what is the city doing about this?”
Well?
C.W. Nevius is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. His columns appear Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail: cwnevius@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @cwneviusCardinal Raymond Burke, patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. (The Remnant Newspaper)
On the 44th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion on demand in the United States, Catholic Cardinal Raymond Burke offered a mass in Dallas for "all the great evil done in our country" by abortion, which he called a "crime" and a "great offense to God." In his sermon during the Mass, Burke further described Roe v. Wade as "a rebellion against God and His Law."
On Jan. 22, outside Mary Immaculate Church in Dallas, Texas, Cardinal Burke was asked by Catholic Action's Thomas McKenna, "What does it mean for a country to have abortion now for 44 years?"
Burke, patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta and former bishop of La Crosse Wisc. and St. Louis, Mo., said, “Well, it’s truly a scourge on our country. A country that kills its own babies in the womb is a country without a future, without hope. So today we’re here to ask reparation for the millions of babies that have already been killed in the womb since that decision on January 22, 1973."
"At the same time, we’re praying and working hard so that our country can recover respect for all human life from the very moment of conception to the moment of natural death," said Burke. "And so, our prayer is one of reparation for all the great evil done in our country through the procured abortion of infants in the womb, and at the same time a prayer for the transformation of the culture of death, which has entered so terribly in our country, a transformation of that culture into a culture of life where, once again, there is a future and a hope for every child who is conceived in this country.”
When asked by McKenna to explain what the Mass of Reparation is, Cardinal Burke, a former head of the hughest court at the Vatican, said, “Well, the crime of abortion is a great offense to God, who gives human life. And for us to take the action of destroying a life given by God in its very moments or days or even months, is a grave offense to God."
"So, we offer the Mass asking God to forgive us and at the same time offering our prayers and sacrifices to repair all the harm that has been done, the offense to God, but also all of the harm that has been done to so many through the crime of abortion," said the cardinal.
In his sermon during the Mass, Cardinal Burke said of the Roe v. Wade decision, "We recognize in that decision of the highest court of our nation a rebellion against God and His Law written upon every human heart in its first and most fundamental tenet: to safeguard and to foster human life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death."“In early spring 2015, Kaspersky Lab detected a cyber-intrusion affecting several of its internal systems. Following this finding the company launched an intensive investigation, which led to the discovery of a new malware platform from one of the most skilled threat actors in the APT world: Duqu.
The attack exploited zero-day vulnerabilities and after elevating privileges to domain administrator, the malware was spread in the network through MSI files. The attack didnt leave behind any disk files or change system settings, making detection difficult.
Kaspersky Lab researchers discovered the company wasnt the only target of this threat actor. Other victims have been found in Western countries, as well as in countries in the Middle East and Asia. Most notably, some of the new 2014-2015 infections are linked to the P5+1 events and venues related to the negotiations with Iran about a nuclear deal.
The threat actor behind Duqu appears to have launched attacks at the venues where the high level talks took place. In addition to the P5+1 events, the Duqu 2.0 group launched a similar attack in relation to the 70th anniversary event of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Similar to the P5+1 events, these meetings were attended by many foreign dignitaries and politicians.
Upon discovery, Kaspersky Lab performed an initial security audit and analysis of the attack. The audit included source code verification and checking of the corporate infrastructure. The comprehensive audit is still ongoing and will be completed in a few weeks. Besides intellectual property theft, no additional indicators of malicious activity were detected.
The analysis revealed that the main goal of the attackers was to spy on Kaspersky Lab technologies, ongoing research and internal processes. No interference with processes or systems was detected.
Preliminary conclusions
1. The attack was carefully planned and carried out by the same group that was behind the infamous 2011 Duqu APT attack. Kaspersky Lab believes this is a nation-state sponsored campaign.
2. Kaspersky Lab strongly believes the primary goal of the attack was to acquire information on the companys newest technologies. The attackers were especially interested in the details of product innovations including Kaspersky Labs Secure Operating System, Kaspersky Fraud Prevention, Kaspersky Security Network and Anti-APT solutions and services. Non-R&D departments (sales, marketing, communications, legal) were out of attackers interests.
3. The information accessed by the attackers is in no way critical to the operation of the companys products. Armed with information about this attack Kaspersky Lab will continue to improve the performance of its IT security solutions portfolio.
4. The attackers also showed a high interest in Kaspersky Labs current investigations into advanced targeted attacks; they were likely aware of the companys reputation as one of the most advanced in detecting and fighting complex APT attacks.
5. The attackers seem to have exploited up to three zero-day vulnerabilities. The last remaining zero-day (CVE-2015-2360) has been patched by Microsoft on June 9, 2015 (MS15-061) after Kaspersky Lab experts reported it.
Spying on cybersecurity companies is a very dangerous tendency. Security software is the last frontier of protection for businesses and customers in the modern world, where hardware and network equipment can be compromised. Moreover, sooner or later technologies implemented in similar targeted attacks will be examined and utilized by terrorists and professional cybercriminals. And that is an extremely serious and possible scenario, commented Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of Kaspersky Lab.
The technical paper is available here.”Before the Oculus Rift VR headset ships to its first preorder customers in 12 days, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey invited select press to a major preview event, which I wrote about here. I touched on some nausea issues, mostly in terms of particular examples of comfort and discomfort alike, but I skipped the larger question of the platform's immersive feeling in general.
That's because I spent roughly four hours after the preview event feeling sick. I felt stuck in a dizziness spell the likes of which I'd never experienced in over a year of major, lengthy VR preview events. In the past, I'd used more ineffective VR tracking systems, particularly Google Cardboard, and I'd used earlier Oculus kits with more "screendoor" problems and other visual issues.
What was so bad about this one?
The answer is hard to pinpoint because it didn't have anything to do with the crisp screens or otherwise solid hardware. The problem popped up randomly throughout roughly five hours of Oculus event headset demos (which, as an aside, left a "raccoon eyes" imprint on my face). It took a developer fixing the issue on one demo for me to figure out one possible reason: the headset may have occasionally lost webcam tracking.
Certainly, some tracking disconnect occurred, because that demo's before-and-after comparison helped me realize that in the "before" situation, my tracking was sometimes similar to that of a Samsung GearVR—meaning that relative tracking worked, so long as my head was still, while absolute tracking of my head's spot in space did not work. This limitation was mixed with what felt like a "rounded" tracking effect on occasion, where the tracking moved my head at what felt like a more curved path than my head had actually traveled.
The more dangerous issue was that this tracking mistake mix would not happen consistently. Normally, when a VR game's tracking fails hugely, I can tell immediately and am therefore quick to stop playing, close my eyes, or take my headset off. (I'm relatively sensitive to VR discomfort issues but find myself able to tolerate bad scenes for a review's sake, at any rate.) Conversely, at the Oculus event, I played extended semi-uncomfortable sessions for long enough to really scramble my noodle. If I wound up super-woozy as a result, imagine how VR newbies will feel.
Oculus may very well fix this issue in the next two weeks. In the meantime |
onor."
The view of preaching that denies the "well-meant offer" is the classic Reformed position as described in Heinrich Heppe's authoritative volume on the Reformed tradition, Reformed Dogmatics.10 In Chapter XX, Heppe gives the orthodox, Reformed teaching on "Calling." The saving "calling," writes Heppe, "is imparted only to the elect" (p.512). Heppe stresses the sharp distinction that Reformed theology has made between the call of the elect ("the internal call'') and the call of the reprobate ("the external call"): "So there must be a distinction between the external call and the internal call" (p.513). Reflecting Reformed thought, Heppe then denies that God calls the non-elect with the purpose of saving them: "Moreover outward Church calling is not imparted to the non-elect in such wise that God wished to present them with faith.... Otherwise the possibility would arise of a counsel of God being perhaps rendered futile by man..."(p.513).
This was a prominent view of preaching in the Dutch Reformed tradition that came down from the Secession (Afscheiding) of 1834 in the Netherlands. Professor C. Veenhof has pointed this out in his book, Prediking en uitverkiezing (Preaching and Election). Veenhof acknowledges that a very prominent theology in this tradition, if not the dominant theology, was that which denied the "well-meant offer" and held preaching and sacraments to be grace only for the elect. This was the view held by the best theologian of the Secession, Simon VanVelzen. What makes this admission all the more significant is that Veenhof himself, a theologian of the "Liberated" Churches, does not favor such a doctrine of preaching. He explains its presence in the churches of the Secession as the carry-over of "scholasticism" into these churches.11
However one may explain it, the fact is that the denial of the offer has an honorable pedigree. With good right, it may claim to represent the Reformed tradition. Those who dismiss it out of hand as a novelty only show their own ignorance of the Reformed tradition.
The Creeds--and the "Free Offer"
Far more important for our defense is the appeal to the creeds. The Reformed faith is a confessional religion. The creeds are authoritative.
It is absolutely not to be found in "The Three Forms of Unity" that God sends out the gospel in grace for every human without exception and with the sincere desire to save every child of Adam. But the doctrine that lies on the very face of the Canons of Dordt in particular (and the Canons, we remember, are only an explanation of the doctrine contained in the Catechism and in the Confession) is that God's will unto salvation, and His grace, are for the elect alone (Head I) and that this gracious will is realized by the effectual call of the gospel (Heads III/IV. 10). The entire, massive weight of the Canons comes down on the side of the denial of the offer and against the "well-meant offer" in its essential elements: a grace of God in Jesus towards every human; a will of God to save every human by Jesus; preaching as an offer made in love and with the desire to save to every sinner without exception.
The only possible appeals to the Canons by the defenders of the offer are to the use of the term, "offer," in III/IV, 9 ("Christ offered therein," i.e., in the gospel) and to the statement in the preceding Article that all who are called by the gospel are "unfeignedly," i.e., seriously, called. The use of the term, "offer," proves nothing for the "well-meant offer," since the Latin word, offero, which the fathers of Dordt used, simply meant "set forth" or "present." No one denies that Jesus is presented in the gospel to all who hear the preaching. What must be proved is the new meaning that has been poured into "offer" by advocates of the "well-meant offer," namely, that it expresses love for all and the will to save all. The appeal to the mere use of the word, "offer," in the Canons for this is little short of desperate.
The Serious Call of the Gospel
That God is serious in the external call to all who hear, reprobate as well as elect, does not mean, or even imply, that He wishes all to be saved, but rather means that He commands all to believe on Christ, and that this command is in dead earnest. Coming to God by believing in Jesus is the solemn obligation of every man who hears the gospel. This pleases God. All those called to the marriage in Matthew 22 ought to have come. Those who refuse, bring down on themselves the wrath of God for their refusal. Unbelief displeases God. God can be serious in commanding someone to do his duty. even though God has willed that he not obey the command and even though God uses the command itself to harden him in his disobedience. Think only of Jehovah's dealings with Pharaoh in Exodus 4-14, as explained by Paul in Romans 9:17-23.
The Westminster Confession of Faith is in full agreement with the Canons of Dordt in limiting the gracious call to the elect. Chapter III teaches that God's eternal and free will is that the elect, and the elect only, be effectually called to Christ. Chapter V teaches that God "withholdeth His grace, whereby they might have been enlightened," from the reprobate wicked so that "they harden themselves, even under those means which God useth for the softening of others." Thus, God accomplishes His purpose to "blind and harden" these persons. Chapter X strictly limits God's desire for the salvation of men to "those whom God bath predestinated unto life." To them alone is God gracious "by His Word and Spirit." The "others not elected" are only "called by the ministry of the Word," and "cannot be saved."
In the light of this overwhelming testimony of Westminster to the particularity of the will of God unto salvation and to the particularity of God's grace, precisely in the matter of the preaching of the gospel, for defenders of the "well-meant offer" to appeal to the mere mention of the word, "offer," in Chapter VII, in support of their notion of a universal will of God unto salvation and of universal grace in the preaching, borders on the ludicrous. There is indeed an exhibiting and presenting of Jesus to sinners as the source of life and salvation under the covenant of grace. The blessings of salvation in Christ are proclaimed as free gifts to every one who receives them by believing. This is the meaning of the phrase, "He freely offereth unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ..."; and this is Reformed orthodoxy. That it is a mistake to discover in the phrase the teaching that God desires the salvation of all and extends to all His grace is evident from the words that immediately follow: "...and promising to give unto all those that are ordained unto life His Holy Spirit, to make them willing and able to believe." As God freely offers life and salvation under the covenant of grace, His purpose, will, and desire is to give life and salvation to the elect only. In the gospel, His promise is to the elect only. And by the gospel. which freely offers life to sinners. He gives (not only "presents," but also "conveys") grace to the elect, to make them believe.
It is a curious thing that professing Calvinists, zealous for the "well-meant offer" hold up the phrase in the Westminster Confession, VII, III, "freely" as though it were the very essence of Westminster's doctrine of the calling, indeed the only thing that Westminster has to say on the calling. while ignoring not only all that Westminster teaches elsewhere on the effectual call but also that which Westminster says about the particular promise in this very article.
Scripture's Testimony
If the Reformed tradition is weighty and the Reformed creeds are authoritative, Scripture is decisive in our defense of the denial of the offer. The Bible makes preaching dependent upon predestination; distinguishes between the call of the elect and the call of the others; and describes the preaching of the gospel as the effectual means of grace to the elect alone. This is the doctrine of the Chief Prophet and Great Evangelist Himself in Matthew 22:1-14, which concludes with the words, "For many are called, but few are chosen." There is a difference between the call of the many and the call of the few, a difference that explains why the many do not come to Christ, whereas the few do come. This difference is due to God's election of the few in distinction from the many who do not come.
God indeed calls the many. By His preachers, He says, "All of My salvation is prepared now in the death and resurrection of My Son, Jesus: "Come, by believing on Him." But He does not call them according to election. Therefore, He does not call them out of grace. He does not call them with the will to save them, He does not call them in such a way that He draws them by the Holy Spirit.
The few, on the other hand, He does call out of love, with the will that they be saved, and by teaching them in their hearts concerning their own need and concerning the riches of the marriage-banquet. The reason for this effectual, saving call is election: The few were eternally chosen.
The "Free Offer" is the Arminian view....
It is an aspect of our defense of the denial of the "well-meant offer" that we take the offensive: We charge, in dead earnest, that the offer is the Arminian view of gospel-preaching.
The Arminians of the 17th century set forth their conception of preaching in their "Opinions," delivered to the Synod of Dordt in l618.12 They said this about the preaching of the gospel:
1) In the preaching, God confers, or is ready to confer, grace to every man.
2) God is serious in calling every person who hears the gospel because He calls "with a sincere and completely unhypocritical intention and will to save."
3) God does not "call the reprobate to these ends: that He should the more harden them, or take away excuse... or display their inability." These are not the purposes of God in calling the "reprobate" since for the Arminians God calls all alike to "these ends," namely, "that they should be converted, should believe, and should be saved."
4) In summary, God calls all alike out of grace and with the sincere desire, or will, to save.
This doctrine of preaching was fundamental to the entire Arminian theology. To give the devil his due, the Arminians themselves forthrightly pointed this out in Article 9 of their confession "concerning the grace of God and the conversion of man":
There is not in God a secret will which so contradicts the will of the same revealed in the Word that according to it (that is, the secret will) He does not will the conversion and salvation of the greatest part of those whom He seriously calls and invites by the Word of the Gospel and by His revealed will: and we do not here, as some say, acknowledge in God a holy simulation. or a double person.13
On the Arminian view of preaching, there cannot be a decree of predestination in God excluding any from salvation. And if there is no decree of predestination, as confessed by Reformed orthodoxy, neither is there any of the other of "the five points of Calvinism."
The PRC see the "well-meant offer" of professing Calvinists as identical with the Arminian doctrine of preaching in at least two basic respects: grace for all in the gospel of Christ and a divine will for the salvation of all. It is incontrovertible that the offer teaches - does not imply, but teaches--that God's grace in the preaching is resistible, and resisted, and that God's will for the salvation of sinners is frustrated. Many towards whom grace is directed in the preaching successfully refuse it; and many whom God desires to save perish.
Indeed, we ask the defender of the offer, "On this view why are some saved by the gospel, and others not?" The answer cannot be God's grace and God's will, for His grace and His will to save are the same both to those who are saved and to those who perish. The answer must be the will of the sinner -- free will. The "well-meant offer" is forced to rewrite Matthew 22:14: "For many are called. but few choose."
A "mystery?"
A customary response by Reformed defenders of the offer to this attack on the offer has been the appeal to "mystery" and "paradox." How the offer harmonizes with predestination is a "sacred mystery," unknown and unknowable. Defenders of the offer condemn denial of the offer as unreformed logically, i.e., they criticize the PRC's use of logic in theological thinking.
Defense of the Denial of the "Well-Meant Offer" Against the Charge that It is Unreformed Logically
Presbyterian and Reformed churches that defend the offer necessarily hold that God is, at one and the same time, gracious to all men and gracious only to some men; and that God, at one and the same time, wills that a certain man be saved and wills that that man be damned. Predestination has them teaching the one thing; and the offer has them teaching the other thing. This, they admit, is seeming contradiction - a "paradox." This does not embarrass them, for Reformed, biblical truth (so they argue) is paradoxical, illogical, and "mysterious."
The contention of those who deny the offer is that the God of the Reformed doctrine of predestination cannot be gracious in the gospel to all, and that the God Who has willed the salvation of some and the damnation of others cannot will to save all by the gospel. Particular grace in the gospel is in accord with the particular grace of predestination. The definite will of God for men's salvation in the gospel is in accord with His definite will in predestination (and, for that matter, with His definite will in the limited atonement of our Savior). The truth of the Reformed faith is consistent, harmonious, and logical.
Too Logical?
Upon this aspect of the denial of the offer falls severest condemnation by the broad Reformed community: "scholasticism!" "rationalism!" "too logical!" "hypcr-Calvinism!"
The denial of the "well-meant offer" is unreformed, because it is theologically logical.
We have listened to the charge. We have considered it carefully. And we are constrained by the love of God's own truth to defend the denial of the offer against this charge.
We do not hold the view of the calling that we do because we think it logical, but because we think it biblical and creedal. Nevertheless, we regard the rational, non-contradictory, logical character of the doctrine as evidence of its truthfulness, rather than as proof of its falsity. That the denial of the offer harmonizes not only with such doctrines as predestination, limited atonement, and efficacious grace but also with Scripture's teachings about God's sovereignty, the power of preaching, and the bondage of the natural human will does not render it suspect, but rather commends it.
The truth of the Bible - Christianity is rational, non-contradictory, and logical. The Triune God is rational, non-contradictory, and logical. For this is the nature of His revelation in Scripture; and this revelation makes Him known as He is. Jesus Christ is "the Word," according to John 1:1ff., literally, "the Logos," (whence our "logic," so that even linguistically "logical" does not have to hang its head in shame among Christians) -- "the logical, non-contradictory Word of God." Because Jesus is the logical Word, He can declare God to us humans (v.18). If He were sheer paradox, an utterly illogical Word, a Jesus Whose word to us is "yes and no," we could know nothing of God, salvation, or heavenly reality (which is exactly the condition of much of the nominally Christian church today).
Biblical truth is propositional (to deny this one must repudiate the Bible as such); and this propositional truth is capable of being understood by the mind enlightened by the Holy Spirit, which is to say that it is logical and non-contradictory. Paul argues by reasoning from premises to conclusions, a procedure based on the logical character of divine truth. John instructs by contrasting opposites, a procedure based on the non-contradictory character of divine truth. And every human instrument of the Author of Scripture teaches on the basis of the fact that a thing cannot both be and not be, or be true and false, in one and the same respect.
The truth of the Christian religion, although it exceeds human comprehension, does not mock our minds. Although Christianity is, finally, supra-rational, it is not irrational. Although it ends in our adoration of the God Whose judgments are unsearchable and Whose ways, past finding out, Christianity does not end in our despairing of knowing anything at all about His judgments and ways.
The Weight of Christian Tradition
In our view of the logical nature of truth, we have the whole, great weight of Christian tradition on our side. Read Augustine. Read especially Augustine's close argumentation in his anti-Pelagian writings. Listen to Luther say at Worms, "Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason.... I cannot and will not recant..." Read the church's creeds, not only the Reformed creeds, but also the ecumenical creeds. They are logical (and ominously all are being discredited today as "philosophical" and "scholastic"). Consider the Westminster Confession's view of the nature of biblical truth when it says in Chapter I, VI, "The whole counsel of God... is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from Scripture...." Deduction of the counsel of God by good and necessary consequence is an absolute impossibility unless Scripture is logical.
Jesus is perfectly logical in Matthew 22:14 with regard to the matter at issue: the call of the gospel. First, the very fact that He explains the twofold effect of the call shows Jesus to be a logical thinker (if truth is illogical, explanations are ruled out): "For many are called, but few are chosen." Second, the explanation is the difference in the call itself, corresponding to God's differing purpose with the different objects of the call - a logical explanation: The "few," He calls according to election; whereas the "many" are called only outwardly, without any divine love or will to save.
It is part of our defense of the denial of the offer that we take the offensive against the offer. We charge that the offer involves a Calvinist in sheer contradiction. That God is gracious only to some in predestination, but gracious to all in the gospel, and that God wills only some to be saved in predestination but wills all to be saved by the gospel, is flat, irreconcilable contradiction. It is not paradox, but contradiction. I speak reverently: God Himself cannot reconcile these teachings. Nor is there any similarity between this contradiction and the truth of the Trinity that surpasses our understanding. The truth of the Trinity is not contradictory, for it holds that God is one in being and three in persons, not, therefore, one and three in the very same respects.
There is no relief for the sheer contradiction in which the offer involves a Calvinist in the doctrine of "common grace," as though the grace of predestination were a different kind of grace from that revealed in the gospel. For the offer exactly teaches that the grace of God for all is grace shown in the preaching of the gospel. This grace is not some non-saving favor directed towards a prosperous earthly life, but saving grace, the grace of God in His dear Son, a grace that desires eternal salvation for all who hear the gospel. The offer proposes universal saving grace - precisely that which is denied by predestination.
Nor is there any relief from this absolute, intolerable contradiction in a distinction between God's hidden will and God's revealed will. This is attempted as some kind of explanation and mitigation of the contradiction: The desire to save all (of the offer) is God's revealed will; the will to save only some (of predestination) is His hidden will. But this effort to relieve the tension of the contradiction in which the offer involves Calvinists gets us nowhere. For one thing, the will of God to save only some and not all is not hidden, but revealed. It is found on every page of Scripture. It is Jesus' teaching in Matthew 22:14: God has eternally chosen only some ("few") to be saved, in distinction from the others ("many"). For another thing, the distinction leaves us right where we were before the distinction was invented: God has two, diametrically opposite, conflicting wills. 14
Such teaching is destructive of truth and fatal to knowledge of truth. Such teaching thrusts confusion and strife into the very being of God:
Does God, or does He not, desire every human to be saved? Is God, or is He not, in His own being, gracious in Jesus to every human? I make bold to suggest that the god of the offer had a very peculiar way of displaying his grace to all and of carrying out his will to save all in the time of the old covenant, when he showed his word unto Jacob, but did not deal so with any nation (cf. Psalm 147:19, 20). Is it presumptuous humbly to request of the offer-god worshipped by professing Calvinists that he make up his mind between the alternatives of the offer (the will to save all) and of predestination (the will to damn some)?
Fact is, this contradiction cannot and will not be maintained in Presbyterian and Reformed churches. The one teaching must drive the other out. The doctrine of the "well-meant offer" will drive out the doctrine of predestination. Universal grace is intolerant of particular grace. The Arminians pointed this out at the very beginning of the effort to introduce universal grace into the Reformed church. Affirming in Article 9 of their "Opinions" that God's revealed will is the salvation of all, they denied any hidden will in God that contradicts this revealed will by decreeing the salvation of the elect only.
Evidence abounds in Reformed churches today that predestination and the offer are incompatible and that embrace of the offer results in repudiation of the theology of predestination. Official decisions are made by Reformed churches in the Netherlands rejecting the double predestination of the Canons of Dordt as "scholasticism" and "determinism."
Does God Love All?
Synods of Reformed churches in the United States approve the boldest teaching of universal atonement and the sharpest attack on the doctrine of an eternal decree of sovereign reprobation. The most effective rejection of predestination, however, goes on in the preaching and teaching in the congregations and in the churches' work of evangelism. The prevailing message in Reformed pulpits, catechism classes, seminaries, and mission fields is that of a love of God for all, of a death of Christ for all, and of the ardent desire of God to save all. This explains why Reformed churches can cooperate in evangelism with the most notorious free will preachers and organizations. Of reprobation, nothing is heard. Of an election that constitutes one eternal decree with reprobation, nothing is heard. And this means that nothing is heard of Reformed, biblical election. But if nothing is heard of biblical election, silence falls over the doctrines of grace.
Indeed, it is now the rule that Reformed and Presbyterian theologians defend the universalism of the offer by appeal to those texts of Scripture that Pelagius used against Augustine, that Erasmus used against Luther, that Pighius and Bolsec used against Calvin, and that the Arminians used against the Synod of Dordt: Ezekiel 33:11; John 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:4; II Peter 3 :9b. The point is not so much that the defenders of the offer are found in the company of the conditional universalists of all ages, using select texts against the doctrine of unconditional particularism, as it is that their appeal to these texts, on behalf of the offer and against predestination, necessarily involves them in a thoroughgoing semi-Pelagianism. Their deep attachment to the semi-Pelagian doctrine of universal, conditional grace (despite their avowals of Calvinism) manifests itself in their hostility towards those whose only offense is their faithful confession of the sovereign, particular grace of predestination. They inveigh against these Reformed saints at every opportunity as "harsh hyper-Calvinists."
But denial of the "well-meant offer" destroys good, urgent gospel-preaching. Especially does it make evangelism and missions impossible. Denial of the offer is unreformed practically. This is a third charge of the friends of the offer against the denial of the offer.
Defense against the Charge that Denial of the "Well-meant offer" is Unreformed Practically
The charge is that a Reformed church that denies the offer cannot preach the gospel to all, cannot call all to believe, cannot do missions. Such a church has no compassion for lost sinners. She intends to preach only to the elect, and can only preach to the elect.
This is a damning indictment. Any doctrine that restricts the preaching of the gospel in this way is false doctrine. Any doctrine that requires the preacher to ascertain the election of his audience before preaching to them is false doctrine. Any doctrine that binds the church to disobey the "great commission" (Matt. 28:18-20) and that forbids her to command all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30) is false doctrine. For God commands the church: "Go... into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, call to the marriage" (Matt. 22:9).
But this is not the doctrine of the PRC in our denial of the offer. It is not intended to be our doctrine. It is not the implication of our doctrine. We have considered the charge that the denial of the offer is unreformed practically and testify before God and men that the charge is false.
Our denial of the offer involves no restriction upon the preaching, no rejection of missions, no embarrassment at calling sinners to Jesus Christ. We believe that the gospel is to be preached everywhere, to everyone "promiscuously and without distinction" (Canons of Dordt, II/5); that the ascended Christ sends the New Testament church out to do missions; and that all who hear the preaching are to be called to come to Christ.
The basis for this, however, is not universal grace and a universal will to salvation, as the "well-meant offer" likes to have Calvinists believe. Rather, the basis is predestination. God has chosen certain persons unto salvation. These persons, found among all peoples in all places, must be gathered unto Christ by the gospel. For their sakes is the gospel preached to all. It is also God's will that the gospel come to the reprobate with whom His elect are mixed in natural life. It is not merely the case that the gospel unavoidably comes to them also, because of their proximity to the elect. But this will of God that the gospel come also to the reprobate is not a will, or desire, that they be saved. For God has eternally rejected them, appointing them to stumble at the Word and perish (I Pet. 2:8). But they have an obligation to believe on Jesus Christ (even though they are unable to do so by virtue of their bound wills). And God wills to expose their outrageous wickedness, render them inexcusable, and harden them, as "vessels of wrath fitted to destruction" (Rom. 9:22), for His own glory and to illustrate the sheer graciousness of His effectual call to the elect.
All of this is to say that the necessity, the freedom, the promiscuousness, and the urgency of the preaching of the gospel are not in spite of election, but because of election.
We appeal to the teaching of our Savior in Matthew 22:1-14. Although only few are chosen, many must be called. This condemns all hyper-Calvinistic restriction of preaching to the elect, or to the regenerated, or to the "sensible sinner." Election in no wise hampers the promiscuous preaching or the serious call to all. But neither may the call of the many ignore, or conflict with, or destroy the election of the few. The sole saving purpose of God with the call of the many is the salvation of the few. The preaching of the gospel has its source, basis, and reason in the election of the church.
Having defended the denial of the offer against the unfounded and unjust charge that it restricts preaching, we may be permitted to put the hard question to those who criticize the denial of the offer as making missions impossible: Do they really want to maintain that a faithful carrying out of Christ's command to the church to preach the gospel is impossible apart from universal grace and a universal will to salvation? This is what the defenders of the offer are really arguing here: Good, urgent, promiscuous preaching, especially a serious call to every hearer, is impossible except on the basis of a love of God in Jesus Christ for every human and on the basis of a will of God for the salvation of all men. But this has always been the objection of Rome and of the Arminians to the Reformed doctrine of predestination and sovereign grace: The Reformed doctrine of particular grace, expressed especially in predestination, makes preaching impossible.
The Roman Catholic Church condemned, as a denial of the gospel call, the Reformation teaching that grace is limited to the elect in Canon 17 of the section "On Justification" in its "Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent":
If any one saith that the grace of Justification is only attained to by those who are predestined unto life; but that all others who are called are called indeed, but receive not grace. as being, by the divine power, predestined unto evil: Let him be anathema.15
The Arminians likewise condemned the Reformed doctrine of particular grace as a fatal weakening of the gospel-call in Articles 8-10 of their "Opinions" concerning the conversion of man.16 Article 9 has been quoted above. In Article 8 the Arminians gave their own view of the call of the gospel and rejected the Reformed conception:
Whomever God calls to salvation, he calls seriously, that is, with a sincere and completely unhypocritical intention and will to save; nor do we assent to the opinion of those who hold that God calls certain ones eternally whom He does not will to call internally, that is, as truly converted, even before the grace of calling has been rejected.
In Article 10 the Arminians repudiated the Reformed doctrine that the call of the reprobate, though serious on God's part, is without grace for them (which is, of course, exactly the position of the PRC in their denial of the offer):
Nor do we believe that God calls the reprobate, as they are called, to these ends: that He should the more harden them, or take away excuse, or punish them the more severely, or display their inability; nor, however, that they should be converted, should believe, and should be saved.
Is it indeed true that the doctrines of predestination, limited atonement, and efficacious calling hinder, or even destroy, free preaching, urgent missions, and a serious gospel-call? Is it indeed the case that a Reformed church needs the teachings of universal grace and a universal will to salvation to come to the rescue, so that she is able to preach and to evangelize? Then Rome and the Arminians were right! Let us admit it! Let us renounce Dordt! Let us call a world-wide Reformed synod, preferably at Dordt, in order to rescind the condemnation of Arminianism and in order to make humble confession of our fathers' sins against Arminius, Episcopius, and the others! And let us come, caps in hand, to the head of Rome, acknowledging that at least with regard to its fundamental doctrine of sovereign grace the Reformation was dead wrong!
While we are at it, let us also make the necessary correction in the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 22:1-14. As the explanation of the promiscuous preaching of the gospel and its twofold effect, let us put, "For many are called and many are chosen, but only a few exercise their free will to accept the well-meant offer."
Thus, we will have arrived at the false gospel that Paul damns as "gospel" in Romans 9:16, "It is not of him that willeth... but of God that shows mercy." But we will, at least, be honest and forthright.
We warn the advocates of the offer that, so far is it from being true that the denial of the offer destroys gospel-preaching, the offer-doctrine itself corrupts biblical preaching. The teaching of the "well-meant offer" creates preaching that assures all and sundry of the love of God for them in the cross of Jesus. It creates preaching that then must proclaim faith, not as God's free gift to whomever He wills, but as the condition which the sinner must fulfill, to make God's love effective. It creates preaching that soon adopts the most atrocious free will abominations, on the mission field and in the congregations: the altar-call and all its accessories. It creates preaching that silences basic biblical truths - truths that Jesus Himself loudly preached in His own evangelism: "ye must be born again"; "all that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me"; "no man can come to me, except the Father...draw him"; "I thank Thee, 0 Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight."17 In the end, the offer silences preaching altogether, for more effective methods of winning all to Christ are discovered.
Yet I must end with a warning to ourselves who deny the offer. There has been a cold, callous, careless hyper-Calvinism. There is the danger that we are afraid to preach to all, afraid to call all, afraid to exhort and admonish - afraid, lest we compromise Calvinism, and afraid, lest someone accuse us of compromising Calvinism.
Read Calvin.
Study the Canons of Dordt:
And that men may be brought to believe, God mercifully sends the messengers of these most joyful tidings... by whose ministry men are called to repentance and faith...(l/3).
This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be declared and published to all nations, and to all persons promiscuously and without distinction, to whom God out of His good pleasure sends the gospel (II/5).
Most importantly. hear our Lord: "Go ye... and as many as ye shall find, call... for many are called, but few are chosen."
1. By this time, it is not even a matter of debate, whether the PRC are hyper-Calvinistic. The hyper-Calvinism of the PRC is an established fact. Reformed authorities merely pass the information on to the world in their works. In On Being Reformed (Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Books, 1983), I John Hesselink speaks of "More recent hyper-Calvinists such as Herman Hoeksema (founder of the Protestant Reformed denomination)..." (p.133). Under "Hyper-Calvinism" ("an exaggerated or imbalanced type of Reformed theology"), in the recent, popular New Dictionary of Theology, Peter Toon identifies the latest hyper-Calvinist: "The most prominent recent theologian is the Dutch-American, Herman Hoeksema, in his Reformed Dogmatics (New Dictionary of Theology, edited by Sinclair B. Ferguson. David F. Wright, J.I. Packer, Leicester, England, Intervarsity Press, 1988, pp. 324, 325).
2. Minutes of the Fifteenth General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1948, Appendix, pp. 51-63.
3. M.J. Arntzen, De Crises in de Gereformeerde Kerken (Amsterdam: Buijten & Schipperheijn, 1965). Cf. particularly chapter 3 "De vitverkiezing en de tweeerlei bestemming van de mens."
4. Edinburgh: The Handles Press, 1985.
5. For an appeal to the "well-meant offer" in support of universal atonement, cf. the series of articles by Harold Dekker on God's love for all men in the Dec., 1962, Feb., 1963, March, 1963, Dec., 1963. Jan., 1964, March, 1964, May-June, 1964, and Sept., 1964 issues of The Reformed Journal (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.). Harry R. Boer argues that the "weIl-meant offer" implies the falsity of the creedal doctrine of reprobation in his The Doctrine of Reprobation in the Christian Reformed Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1983). Boer's gravamen to the Synod of the Christian Reformed Church against the doctrine of reprobation as taught in the Canons of Dordt appears in the "1977 Acts of Synod" of the CRC, pp. 665ff
6. Especially Baptists who claim to be Calvinistic because of their adherence to the "doctrines of grace" are holding conferences at which the offer is defended. At such a conference in New Jersey in 1985, a paper was given entitled |
Split points (36 – 15 to Kamui Kobayashi)
Race: Split points (60 – 25 to Kamui Kobayashi)
Caterham: 103 – 50 to Kamui Kobayashi (Total After Round 18)
Caterham: 8-1 to Andre Lotterer (Total After Spa-Round 12)
Total for Caterham: 111 – 51 to Kobayashi/Lotterer
Marussia:
Split points to ensure the drivers are represented fairly on the end of season tables. Marussia, at this point, appear to be doomed, and neither driver looking likely to be on the grid next year. Both Jules and Max took time to chat with our reporters at this year’s Monaco & Belgian Grands Prix, and were nothing but polite, friendly, and gave of their time with a smile.
Hopefully, a last minute deal can be struck, and we will see Max & Jules in the paddock in 2015.
Fastest lap: Split points (10 – 8 to Max Chilton) (after Round 18)
Qualifying: Split points (40.5 – 13.5 to Jules Bianchi) (after Round 18)
Race: Split points (67.5 – 22.5 to Jules Bianchi) (after Round 18)
Marussia: 116 – 46 to Jules Bianchi (Total After Round 18)
Williams:
If you wanted to know where Felipe Massa was at any particular moment during the Brazilian Grand Prix, all you had to do was listen to what parts of the crowd were cheering. The mere sight of his car was enough to get the Massa Mafia (that doesn’t work, does it?) on their feet, and seeing him overtake Nico Hulkenberg to reclaim third on Lap 54 after his pitstop gaffe was enough to send them into paroxysms of ecstasy.
If every race was held at Interlagos, Felipe Massa would win the non-Mercedes championship. The old adage of home support giving you an extra boost seems to apply to Felipe more than others, and he thoroughly put Valtteri Bottas in the shade in Brazil. While Valtteri lost FP1 to Felipe Nasr, he recovered quickly to go faster than Massa in FP2 before Felipe [Massa] retook the initiative in FP3 and held it through qualifying. Bottas never got anywhere near on race day, ending the race 45 seconds behind Felipe after various maladies affected his race. His seatbelt worked themselves loose during the first stint, and this cost him time at his second pitstop. Having lost a grand total of three seconds to Felipe in the opening 25 laps, the delayed stop put him 12 seconds behind, and he fell away afterwards.
He was unlucky to be mugged by Nico Hulkenberg on Lap 42. Both Hulk & Raikkonen running behind Valtteri were on ten laps newer tyres, and when Bottas was caught, Nico threw it up the inside and outbraked himself. Being pushed wide, Valtteri had to fly across the escape road, and this allowed Kimi Raikkonen to outmanoeuvre him into Turn 3. Valtteri pitted immediately afterwards for another set of tyres, and had another slow pitstop with the team holding the car on the jacks for a couple of extra seconds as a crew member removed some debris from the front wing.
The two Williams drivers spent the most amount of time during the race in the pit lane, at 1 minute 20 for Felipe and 1 minute 25 for Valtteri. While Felipe’s didn’t change his final finishing position, Valtteri’s undoubtedly was, as he probably would have been dicing with the Ferraris, Hulkenberg and Magnussen at the end. Instead, he finished behind all of them. Felipe’s stop in the McLaren garage was a simple mistake, with both garages beside each other and similarly coloured pit overalls. Definitely one for the end of season bloopers reel.
Fastest Lap: Felipe Massa (9 – 9 to each) (after Round 18)
Qualifying: Felipe Massa (36 – 18 to Valtteri Bottas) (after Round 18)
Race: Felipe Massa (65-25 to Valtteri Bottas) (after Round 18)
Williams: 110-52 to Valtteri Bottas (Total After Round 18)
Toro Rosso:
Kvyat was another man going into Brazil on the back foot, with the smaller grid preventing him from taking his seven place grid penalty for an engine change in Austin. This meant he would likely start from the back, or very close to it. As a result, he didn’t bother too much with qualifying. He did enough in Q1 to get into Q2 and then sat out the session. This was still better fortune than Jean Eric Vergne endured. The Frenchman qualified in 16th, after missing out on most of Friday running. Max Verstappen drove the car in FP1 and a technical problem at the start of FP2 meant JEV’s first real running on the circuit was on Saturday morning.
It showed too, with JEV visibly struggling out on track, and radioing in to say that he felt the car was virtually undriveable with such little time to find a setup.
In the race, both finished outside the points, but Kyat got the better of Vergne again after starting the race on the medium tyre. Stopping later on the first round of stops brought Daniil back into play, as he led JEV on track after Vergne pitted for a second time on Lap 27. With both running mediums as they came close together on track, Daniil passed Jean-Eric on Lap 44, and never looked back, stopping on Lap 59 to take on the soft tyre and run to the end, pressuring Valtteri Bottas all the way.
Jean-Eric, running the more usual strategy, spent much of the race cooped up behind Sergio Perez, unable to pass thanks to the Mercedes engine’s superiority. No such problems for Daniil, who passed Sergio quickly after passing Jean-Eric, in that great camera move. Kudos to Daniil for passing with a straight line speed advantage that just happened to match the speed of the FOM swivelling camera’s rotation speed!
Fastest Lap: Daniil Kvyat (9 – 9 to each) (after Round 18)
Qualifying: Daniil Kvyat (33 – 21 to Daniil Kyvat) (after Round 18)
Race: Daniil Kvyat (50 – 40 to Daniil Kyvat) (after Round 18)
Toro Rosso: 92-70 to Daniil Kyvat (Total After Round 18)
Sauber:
After seemingly unlocking some pace from the C33 in Austin, it was back to the grindstone in Brazil. Both drivers made it into Q2, with Sutil then going 0.5 seconds slower than Esteban to line up 13th, with Gutierrez taking 11th.
Things went wrong almost immediately on Sunday for Adrian, after a ‘cooling configuration’ problem meant he had to start from the pitlane. Adrian did the same as Nico Hulkenberg and opted to start on the medium tyres. This worked out well in the early.Sp5rl!47rs as he made use of the clear track to jump ahead of Esteban after both had made their first stops. This was despite a problem at at Adrian’s stop. His right rear wheel bolt refused to thread on properly and the resulting correction cost Sutil five seconds.
The two remained nose to tail in 14th and 15th place for the next ten laps until Adrian pitted on Lap 39 to take on soft tyres, and swapped again for mediums on Lap 49. Esteban started on the soft tyre and stopped on Laps 8,27 & 48 to fresh mediums. He wound up 15 seconds ahead of Adrian the chequered flag. Will we be saying goodbye to both men after Abu Dhabi?
Fastest Lap: Adrian Sutil (10-8 to Esteban Gutierrez) (after Round 18)
Qualifying: Esteban Gutierrez (30-24 to Adrian Sutil) (after Round 18)
Race: Esteban Gutierrez (47.5 – 42.5 to Adrian Sutil) (after Round 18)
Sauber: 85.5 – 76.5 to Adrian Sutil (Total After Round 18)
Force India:
Sergio was compromised before he even landed in Brazil, all thanks to his indiscretion on Lap 1 in Austin, but his weekend couldn’t have gone much worse regardless. It’s actually slightly unusual at how rarely we see one off drivers in FP1 cause problems for the usual driver, but Juncadella not only had a bad showing, but ruined any chance Sergio Perez had of a good weekend regardless of his penalty.
With Sergio’s first laps at Interlagos coming on Saturday morning, he was unsurprisingly well off the pace. Bringing up the rear of the field, he was 0.5 seconds slower than next slowest man…Nico Hulkenberg. Force India looked off the pace all weekend, and qualifying did little to assuage doubts over their competitiveness. Sergio ended up qualifying second from last, starting last as a result of his penalty. Hulk wasn’t much further ahead, just 0.2 seconds faster in Q1 got him into the second part of qualifying, where he would up 12th.
An inspired strategy decision then brought Nico into play during the race. Starting on the mediums, Nico’s first pitstop came on Lap 16, about 9 laps after most of the soft tyre runners had stopped. Due to this, Nico was able to run in clear air and at a comfortable pace, even leading the race from Lap 9 until his pitstop.
Nico stayed on mediums through his stops up until his final stop on Lap 60, swapping to softs before proceeding to catch the two Ferraris in 6th and 7th. Such was his pace in the closing laps, the Ferraris lead of 12 seconds over Nico on Lap 62 was less than 0.5 second by the chequered flag, after Nico set the fastest non-Mercedes driver lap of the race. Had Alonso been held up by Raikkonen for even a single lap more, it could have been a Force India ahead of both of them.
Sergio remained mired at the back for most of the race after running a conventional strategy. He finished in 15th, 40 seconds behind Hulkenberg after also picking up a five second penalty for speeding in the pits during his second stop on Lap 25.
Fastest Lap: Nico Hulkenberg (12 – 6 to Nico Hulkenberg) (after Round 18)
Qualifying: Nico Hulkenberg (38 – 18 to Nico Hulkenberg) (after Round 18)
Race: Nico Hulkenberg (55 – 35 to Nico Hulkenberg) (after Round 18)
Force India: 103 – 59 to Nico Hulkenberg (Total After Round 18)
McLaren:
Jenson set the faster race lap by more than 0.5 second, he was the highest qualifier, and he moved forward from his starting position to match his season best result, while Kevin went backwards. Yet it seems that Jenson is the one to be released from the team.
Jenson hung on gamely to the Williams drivers during the opening stint of the race and through the first pitstops. He said afterwards that he destroyed his tyres doing this but was able to compensate by using DRS to stay with Bottas. Knowing that Felipe Massa had to take a five second penalty was the reasoning behind this, but Massa’s pace straight out of the pits put paid to any chance Button had of passing him through the stops.
Jenson was 3.5 seconds behind Felipe heading into those second stops, but Felipe blinking first and stopping on Lap 25 meant he could unleash laps in the 1.14s while Jenson was still lapping in the 1.17s before he pitted himself on Lap 27. With Valtteri falling by the wayside thanks to his faulty seatbelts during those stops, Jenson and Felipe were free to race each other until the end of the race. The Williams proved the faster package, and Felipe ended up finishing 7 seconds ahead by the chequered flag, despite calling into Jenson’s pit crew for service! The only threat to Jenson’s 4th place came when he emerged from his third stop behind the two stopping Kimi Raikkonen. The resulting scrap allowed Sebastian Vettel to climb all over the back of Jenson’s McLaren, but he weathered the storm while passing Kimi, and proceeded to move a further three seconds up the road by the flag.
Magnussen made the most of an uncharacteristic error from Sebastian Vettel at Turn 3 to jump up behind Jenson on the opening lap, but was consistently slower throughout the race. He reported high tyre degradation running the same tyre strategy as Jenson, and was 22 seconds behind by the chequered flag.
Here are FormulaSpy’s Top Ten Jenson McLaren Moments.
Fastest Lap: Jenson Button (9 – 9 to each) (after Round 18)
Qualifying: Jenson Button (30 – 24 to Kevin Magnussen) (after Round 18)
Race: Jenson Button (65-25 to Jenson Button) (after Round 18)
McLaren: 101-61 to Jenson Button (Total After Round 18)
Lotus:
Romain Grosjean, like former team-mate Raikkonen, attempted a two stop strategy at Interlagos. He started from 14th on the medium tyres, and stopped for the first time on Lap 24 for another set of mediums. Realising that a 20+ lap stint on soft tyres at the end wasn’t viable, Romain’s second stint was just 16 laps, with another stop on Lap 59 to swap to the soft tyres.
Pastor started from 16th and was down to last by Lap 4, stopping at the end of that lap to swap to the medium tyres. Romain’s long first stint in clear air allowed him to run at a good pace and he emerged from his first pitstop on Lap 24 12 seconds ahead of Pastor, who had just made his second pitstop. Pastor closed this gap slowly down to around 5 seconds by Lap 59 as Romain pitted for the final time.
Pastor didn’t need to pit again, and even with Romain running around a second a lap faster, Grosjean probably wouldn’t have caught up on Pastor again. It became a moot point with 7 laps to go when Romain’s engine let go for the second year in a row at Interlagos. Pastor gets the race points and is having an arguably stronger end to the year than Romain. His speed has never been in doubt, and now that he seems to have stopped crashing (he hasn’t since Singapore FP2!), he is able to match and beat Romain. Assuming Romain is kept next season, and there’s no reason to think he won’t, a more drivable and stable E23 could restore Pastor’s blemished reputation.
Fastest Lap: Romain Grosjean (9 – 9 to each) (after Round 18)
Qualifying: Romain Grosjean (42 – 12 to Romain Grosjean) (after Round 18)
Race: Pastor Maldonado (50-40 to Romain Grosjean) (after Round 18)
Lotus: 101-61 to Romain Grosjean (Total After Round 18)
Ferrari:
Yes, Fernando qualified in front of Kimi Raikkonen. Yes, Fernando also finished in front of Kimi including an overtake on track to get past, but Raikkonen gets the nod for the race points in Brazil. For probably the first time all year, we finally saw a Raikkonen who actually seemed to be able to place his F14T exactly where he wanted, put the power down as he wanted, and turn in as he wanted. It all came together for once, and with just two weeks remaining in the season, we finally got a glimpse of the duels we could have been having all year had Raikkonen figured out the problem earlier.
After being unable to get his medium compound tyres to last just ten laps last time out in Austin, Raikkonen got them to last a mammoth 36 laps in hotter conditions at Interlagos. Longevity and consistency was key, and he set the slowest fastest lap of the race on Lap 37, a 1.14.9. However, the next 34 laps demonstrated what Raikkonen is capable of when he’s comfortable. Between Laps 38 & 71, Kimi lapped in the 1.15s every single time, apart from one lap battling with Jenson and one lap battling with Fernando.
Had his front jack not failed during his second stop, Kimi would have been an extra five seconds up the road from Button, Vettel & Alonso after they pitted for the final time. While he probably wouldn’t have been able to hold off Jenson and Sebastian, Fernando wouldn’t have gotten past. As it was, he only managed to get past with at the start of Lap 67 and immediately had to back off due to being marginal on fuel. DRS also rather easily ended the great scrap, as Raikkonen was powerless to stop Fernando passing into Turn 1.
It’s too little, too late to save Kimi’s year in terms of reputation, but showing up and actually racing Fernando was a step in the right direction. Quick in Friday practice, Kimi was his usual mediocre self in qualifying, but came to life during the race and returned to his Lotus strategy of making a stop less than everyone else. Going from one extreme in Austin to another in Brazil shows that something has finally clicked, can Raikkonen keep it up in Abu Dhabi?
Fernando had another one of his usual great weekends, starting in 8th and finishing 6th. Just what exactly is going on in the behind the scenes game of poker at Ferrari? Fernando isn’t blinking, and with three drivers under contract for 2015, it’s only a matter of time until Ferrari have to bite the bullet and pay off one of them. The possibility of a sabbatical year as a paid Ferrari driver to sit on the sidelines is starting to look a realistic one, unless either Sebastian or Kimi are tossed aside.
Fastest Lap: Fernando Alonso (13 – 5 to Fernando Alonso) (after Round 18)
Qualifying: Fernando Alonso (48 – 6 to Fernando Alonso) (after Round 18)
Race: Kimi Raikkonen (72.5 – 17.5 to Fernando Alonso) (after Round 18)
Ferrari: 133.5 – 28.5 to Fernando Alonso (Total After Round 18)
Mercedes:
Nico did exactly what he needed to do in order to salvage some credibility should he win the World Championship, and headed the order at the end of every single session. In fact, had he set a fastest lap just 0.064 seconds faster, he would have beaten Lewis at that as well. Both Merc drivers have now won one pointless trophy each, with Lewis picking up the 2014 DHL Fastest Lap Award after setting an insurmountable 7 fastest laps so far this year. Nico is qualifying king, with an also insurmountable 10 pole positions so far this year. So well done to both on those, it’s unlikely either will be consoled by them should they lose the big trophy.
Once again though, there is a caveat to Nico’s victory in Brazil. While he unquestionably handled the pressure from Hamilton in the closing 15 laps remarkably well, why did he allow Lewis to get so close? Even a slight brake lock up would have given Lewis the lead. A lead that Lewis, more than likely, would have snatched himself on Lap 28 when he emerged from his pitstop after setting a scorching 1.14.3 on what was the first lap of ‘Hammertime’, a full second faster than Nico’s lap immediately prior to his stop. With Lewis’s previous lap also marginally faster than what Nico had just done, Hamilton would have and should have emerged from the second stops in the lead, assuming his in-lap wasn’t significantly off the pace.
Instead, Lewis dropped it after the Mercedes strategists got too greedy and kept him out for another lap. Just as he’s threatened to do after numerous practice spins, he lost the rear of the car and that was it. Race handed to Nico.
Despite protestations to the contrary from Rosberg, the gap was too close for it to have been under control. While Nico could afford to drop a little bit of time to Lewis after being handed a 7.5 second lead, letting Lewis get within DRS range in the interest of ‘saving tyres’ is just plain misdirection. Lewis had the superior pace and strategy, he should have won, but he didn’t. Kudos to Nico for not cracking under severe pressure.
Fastest Lap: Lewis Hamilton (11-7 to Lewis Hamilton) (after Round 18)
Qualifying: Nico Rosberg (30-24 to Nico Rosberg) (after Round 18)
Race: Nico Rosberg (57.5 – 32.5 to Lewis Hamilton) (after Round 18)
Mercedes: 92.5 – 69.5 to Lewis Hamilton (Total After Round 18)
Red Bull:
There wasn’t much between the two Red Bull boys, but for once, it all went Sebastian Vettel’s way. Despite Daniel being the faster man in FP1, FP2, FP3 and Q1, Sebastian rose to the occasion in Q2 & then went on to out qualify Daniel, 6th and 9th respectively. Both men held position at the start, but Sebastian made an error at Turn 4, somewhere he said he didn’t have ‘the best memories’ of after spinning there on Lap 1 in 2012 while battling for the title.
The error saw Vettel run a little wide onto the kerb, and the hesitation allowed Kevin Magnussen & Fernando Alonso through, putting Sebastian just ahead of Daniel. Hanging on in that position until his second stop on Lap 24, Sebastian undercut the two men he had allowed through on Lap 1, and started climbing back up the order as the likes of Raikkonen and Hulkenberg pitted in front of him. Overtaking the struggling Toro Rosso of Kvyat allowed Sebastian to close on Jenson Button, and Vettel ended up duelling with Button while the McLaren driver fought with Kimi Raikkonen. Ultimately, Sebastian wasn’t able to climb any higher than 5th, but even without his error, probably wouldn’t have managed a higher position than Button’s eventual 4th.
Ricciardo hung around behind Sebastian for the opening quarter of the race, and had fallen four seconds behind Vettel after a slightly later second stop. His suspension then failed under braking into Turn 1, and that was his day done. Thankfully for Daniel fans, the early season premonition of bad luck that struck Daniel in Malaysia left him alone for the majority of the season, and instead chose to attach itself to Sebastian’s car. Which of the Red Bulls will have the curse in 2015?
Fastest Lap: Sebastian Vettel (9 – 9 to each) (after Round 18)
Qualifying: Sebastian Vettel (30-24 to Daniel Ricciardo) (after Round 18)
Race: Sebastian Vettel (70-20 to Daniel Ricciardo) (after Round 18)
Red Bull: 109-53 to Daniel Ricciardo (Total After Round 18)
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What is decision tree learning?
Decision tree learning is one of the most commonly known machine learning algorithms out there. One of the advantages of decision trees are that there are quite staright forward, easily understandable by humans. Decision trees provide a way to approximate discrete valued functions and are robust to noisy data. Decision trees can be represented using the typical Tree Data Structure.
Decision tree learning uses a decision tree (as a predictive model) to go from observations about an item (represented in the branches) to conclusions about the item’s target value (represented in the leaves). It is one of the predictive modelling approaches used in statistics, data mining and machine learning.
In decision tree learning, a decision tree - now known by the umbrella term CART (Classification and Regression Tree) - can be used to visually and explicitly represent decisions and decision making. Though, it is common to use a tree-like model for decisions, learned trees can also be represented as sets of if-else-then rules.
Though decision trees can be utilized for both classification and regression, it’s primarily used for classification.
Representating a Decision Tree
Decision trees perform classification after sorting the instances in a top-down approach - from the root to the leaf. Each non-leaf node splits the set of instances based on a test of an attribute. Each branch emanting from a node corresponds to one of the possible values of the said attribute in the node. The leaves of the decision tree specifies the label or the class in which a given instance belongs to.
Here’s an example of a classification tree (Titanic Dataset):
Image courtesy: Wikipedia
The above model uses three attributes namely : Gender, age and number of spouses/children. As can be seen from the example, the internal nodes have an attribute test associated with them. This test splits the data set based on the value of the said attribute of the incoming instance. The branches correspond to the values of the attribute in question. At the end, the leaf node represent the class of the instance - in this case the fate of the titanic passengers.
Decision Trees represent a disjunction of conjunctions of constraints on attributes values of instances.
That is, Decision Trees represent a bunch of AND ‘statements’ chained by OR statements. For example, let’s look at the titanic example above. The given tree can be represented by a disjunction of conjuctions as: ( female ) OR ( male AND less than 9.5 years of age AND more than 2.5 siblings)
When should you use a decision tree?
When it is imperative for the humans to understand and communicate the model.
When you’d like to make minimalistic assumptions from the dataset.
When you don’t want to normalize the data.
When the dataset contains ample amount of noise (but not too much).
Presence of Skewed variables in the dataset.
When there are many missing attribute values in the dataset.
When disjunctive descriptions are required
When you need to build and test fast
When the dataset is small in size
How is a decision tree is built?
Before we start classifying, we first need to build the tree from the available dataset.
Most algorithms that have been developed for learning decision trees are variations of the core algorithm that employs a top down, greedy search through the possible space of decision trees.
In this article, I will be focussing on the Iterative Dichotomiser 3, commonly know as the ID3 algorithm. Variants/Extensions of the ID3 algorithm, such as C4.5, are very much in practical use today.
The ID3 algorithm builds the tree top-down, starting from the root by meticulously choosing which attribute that will be tested at each given node. Each attribute is evaluated through statistical means as to see which attribute splits the dataset the best. The best attribute is made the root, with it’s attribute values branching out. The process continues with the rest of the attributes. Once an attribute is selected, it is not possible to backtrack.
Choosing the attribute
Entropy
Entropy is a measure of unpredictability of the state, or equivalently, of its average information content.
Entropy is a statistical metric that measures the impurity. Given a collection of S, which contains two classes: Positive and Negative, of some arbitrary target concept, entropy with respect to this boolean classification is:
Entropy(S) = E(S) = -p positive log 2 p positive - p negative log 2 p negative
Where p positive is the proportion (probability) of positive examples in S and p negative is the proportion of negative examples in S. Entropy is 1 if the collection S contains equal number of examples from both classes, Entropy is 0 if all the examples in S contain the same example.
The entropy values vs the probabilities for a collection S follows a parabolic curve:
Image courtesy: MATLAB data science
One interpretation of entropy is that, entropy specifies the minimum number of bits required to encode the classification of any member of a collection S.
In general terms, when the classes of the target function may not always be boolean, entropy is defined as
Information Gain
Now that we know what entropy is, let’s look at an attribute that is more attached to the building of the decision tree - Information Gain. Information gain is a metric that measures the expected reduction in the impurity of the collection S, caused by splitting the data according to any given attribute.
The information gain IG(S,A) of an attribute A, from the collection S, can be defined as
Image courtesy: Abhyast
where i spans through the entire set of all possible values for attribute A, and S i is the portion of S for which attribute A has the value i. The first term is the entropy of the entire collection S. One way to think about IG is that, the value of IG is the number of bits saved when encoding a target value of an arbitrary member of the collection.
Whilst building the decision tree, the information gain metric is used by the ID3 algorithm to select the best attribute - the attribute the provides the “best split” - at each level.
Complete example of decision tree learning
Let’s take the example of a dataset. This dataset assesses the risk of tumour in a patient. We will be generating a decision tree using the ID3 algorithm.
HEADACHE DIZZYNESS BLOOD PRESSURE RISK YES NO HIGH YES YES YES HIGH YES NO NO NORMAL NO YES YES NORMAL YES YES NO NORMAL NO NO YES NORMAL YES
First, let’s find the entropy of the entire collection:
E(S) = -p yes log 2 p yes - p no log 2 p no
From the dataset: p yes = 4/6 and p no = 2/6
So, E(S) = - { (4/6) log 2 (4/6) } - { (2/6) log 2 (2/6) }
This gives us E(S) = 0.9182
Now, the information gain, let’s consider the attribute HEADACHE. This attribute has two values YES and NO. Now, the proportion of YES in the attribute: 4/6 and the proportion of NO in the attribute: 2/6
Hence, the split:
S YES - [3+, 1-] ( 3 positive and 1 negative classification when HEADACHE has the value YES)
S NO - [0+, 2-] ( 2 negative classifications when HEADACHE has the value NO)
Therefore,
IG(S, HEADACHE) = E(S) - (4/6) * E(S YES ) - (2/6) * E(S NO ).
After Calculation: IG(S, HEADACHE) = 0.37734.
Similarly, IG(S, DIZZYNESS) = 0.4590 and IG(S, BP) = 0.5848
After we have calculated the information for these attributes, we choose the attribute with the highest information gain as the splitting attribute for the node. This process goes on top-down until we are left we just leaves - the classification. From above, it is clear that the attribute BLOOD PRESSURE will be our attribute of choice at the root node.
Splitting at the root node using BLOOD PRESSURE gives us the following tree:
If the value of BLOOD PRESSURE is YES then we directly arrive at the class being YES. If the value is no, we need to split the dataset again and the child node. As said, this is a top-down approach.
Now, let’s move to choosing the next splitting attribute. The process is essentially the same, except we now consider the rows where the value of the BLOOD PRESSURE attribute is NO.
p yes = 2/4 and p no = 2/4
So, E(S) = - { (2/4) log 2 (2/4) } - { (2/4) log 2 (2/4) }
This gives us E(S) = 1.0
After calculations similar as above, we find IG(HEADACHE) = 0 and IG(DIZZYNESS) = 1. We now choose the DIZZYNESS attribute as the splitting attribute. This gives us the final decision tree, using which we can predict the classification. Notice that we don’t have to use the HEADACHE attribute since, from the given data, we can make predictions based upon the other two attributes.
The ID3 algorithm usually prefers shorter, wider trees over the taller ones. The trees which has a high information gain are placed closer to the root.
Still have questions? Find me on Codementor
Overfitting in a decision tree
As the data that is fed becomes larger, the decision tree tends to become longer. In such cases, noise and corrupt/incorrect data can have a detrimental impact on the decision tree. This results in the decision tree overfitting the dataset, that is decision tree performs satisfactory for the training data, but fails to produce an appropriate approximation of the target concept when it encounters actual data. Overfitting can also occur when insufficent data is provided to build the decision tree (like perhaps, our previous with only 6 rows.)
In order overcome the overfitting scenario, one of the following two things must be done. Either the decision tree should stop growing before it overfits the data or an overfitting tree should be pruned to reduce the error.
That’s it for now, if you have any comments, please leave then below.
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According to the rules at the time, the wet bulb globe temperature (which is the combined measurement of temperature, humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation) would have to measure at 89.6° or higher to warrant a water break. If that were the case during the pregame warm-ups, the fourth official was responsible for calling the mandatory break 30 minutes into each half and these would last up to three minutes.
If the temperature would have dropped by at least 10 degrees, to 79.6 degrees Fahrenheit, prior to the 30th and 75th minutes, the officials had the ability to nullify the hydration break. In Orlando's case, mother nature didn't play nice, and the teams ended up having a break during the 30th and 75th minutes of the game after the temperature on the measuring device read 90.9° on the field.
While that's all mostly unchanged going into 2016, MLS announced recently that the mandatory temperature threshold has been lowered almost seven degrees, to 82. This means that there will be a lot of water breaks coming for Orlando City this season, especially during the summer.
This is a double-edged sword, essentially. Getting a three-minute break at your respective benches to have a good talk with the gaffer could allow some strategic changes to take place, especially if the team is under-performing. On the other hand, if Orlando has momentum going forward and looks dangerous, the water break could kill off that momentum and let the opposing team recompose itself in order to figure out a way to get back into the game.
Essentially, it's like a media timeout in basketball. You may or may not want it to happen, but it's happening regardless. This may even be a ploy to get more commercial time into nationally televised games. Honestly, I wouldn't put it past the higher ups in MLS to try and figure something like that out.
How many games will this affect? In 2015, two games were disrupted by water breaks at the old threshold. Had the wet bulb threshold been 82, it would have affected 10 more games -- most of those in the trio of Orlando, Dallas and Houston.
So what do you think of the new water break rule? Is it a distraction? Is the change good for safety or is the league erring too far on the side of caution, given a lack of health issues in years past? Is this just a ploy to get more advertising dollars and add commercial breaks? Let us know what you think in the comments below.Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander publicly scolded the Ontario government today for defying the federal government's decision to reduce the level of health care available to refugee claimants.
Ontario introduced a new program, effective Jan. 1, that will provide refugee claimants with access to primary care and urgent hospital services as well as medication coverage regardless of their refugee status, following cuts to a federal program that administers temporary health-care benefits to refugee claimants.
"I've expressed our government's disappointment with the Ontario government's recent decision to reinstate health-care benefits to all asylum seekers and even rejected refugee claimants," Alexander said.
"Simply arriving on our shores and claiming hardships isn't good enough. This isn't a self-selection bonanza, or a social program buffet."
Alexander was at Pearson International Airport in Toronto on Wednesday where he held a press conference to tout the government's success with its overhaul of Canada's asylum system.
This decision is irresponsible as it makes Canada, and Ontario in particular, a magnet for bogus asylum seekers. —Chris Alexander, minister of citizenship and immigration
The federal government's reforms for the asylum system introduced in December 2012 include, among other things, a list of 37 countries that "do not normally produce refugees, but do respect human rights and offer state protection."
Claimants from this Designated Country of Origin (DCO) list, which includes the U.S. and most countries from the European Union, now have their refugee claims heard faster.
The goal of the policy, the minister said, is to ensure that people who are in real need of asylum get the protection they are seeking fast, while those with unfounded claims are sent home |
trains to a stop, and for the rest of us to take shelter and “duck, cover and hold.”
Japan has already set up an effective warning system that monitors seismic waves, and U.S. researchers hope to do the same with ShakeAlert. The system went into beta testing in California last year, and was extended to Washington and Oregon just this spring.
The research funding is part of a $10.2 million funding package that Congress approved for ShakeAlert earlier this year through the USGS Earthquake Hazards Program, according to a USGS news release. The money should boost efforts to develop better software and thoroughly test the system, the USGS said.
In addition to the $4.9 million in grants, the USGS has purchased about $1 million in new sensor equipment to expand and improve the ShakeAlert system. The rest of the money will help fund internal work on the project at the USGS.
Sen. Maria Cantwell and Rep. Derek Kilmer, both Washington state Democrats, have been among ShakeAlert’s most vocal proponents – in part because seismologists say the Pacific Northwest’s seismic environment has the potential to generate a devastating magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami (nicknamed “the Really Big One”)
In May, the Trump administration’s preliminary budget blueprint called for eliminating USGS funding for ShakeAlert in the coming fiscal year, which sparked an outcry in Congress.
The USGS has estimated that it will cost $38.3 million in capital investment to complete the ShakeAlert system on the West Coast to the point of issuing public alerts, and $16.1 million each year to operate and maintain it.
Not all of that money would have to come from the federal government. The state of California recently committed $10 million to the California Office of Emergency Services to enhance the statewide build-out of the California Earthquake Early Warning system. The state of Oregon also contributed about $1 million in funding to enhance the system in Oregon.Self-styled “great American” Sean Hannity is worried that with the possibility of war on the table, his Tea Party viewers might forget that they need to rally against health insurance for everybody else.
Hannity’s Tea Party pals held a “Defund Obamacare” rally today, designed to urge Congress to hold the federal budget hostage over the issue and they were apparently concerned that it would not get the attention they thought it deserved. So last night, they visited the Hannity show for a little promotion.
Hannity began the segment by saying, “With all the talk of Syria, it’s easy to forget that October the 1st …open enrollment begins for the Obamacare health care exchanges, and some people are not letting themselves get distracted.”
That’s right, better not get distracted from making sure millions more Americans have health insurance! God only knows what would happen to the country if it followed a law based on a program Mitt Romney successfully instituted in Massachusetts several years ago!
“Why is that even controversial?” Hannity asked, about holding the budget hostage in order to defund the Affordable Care Act. “If (Republicans in Congress) can’t take a stand here when it matters, they’ve lost me. …If they won’t fight for this, which is the single biggest entitlement growth in our generation, then they’re basically just a carbon copy of the Democrats.”
Unfortunately for Hannity and his health-insurance-for-others-hating pals, their efforts may be too late. MSNBC reported:
Shortly before the “Exempt America” rally, which was sponsored by a variety of conservative groups, news broke that House Republican leaders were working on legislation to avert a shutdown. Under the new proposal, the Senate would have to vote on defunding the health care law, but the House would still fund the government in the short term even if — as expected — the Senate ultimately kept the law intact. The reported decision came after weeks of dire warnings from moderate Republicans, especially in the Senate, that forcing a shutdown over the Affordable Care Act would backfire politically an achieving its goals.
So what’s Hannity going to do now? Start supporting Democrats? If you think the GOP will lose him, then you probably also believe that he’ll one day undergo waterboarding for charity.The proliferation of fake news online has roiled the American presidential election, politicians around the world and internet companies including Facebook and Google.
So what happens when the fake news juggernaut also sweeps up ordinary citizens?
Cecilia Kang saw the fallout up close when she interviewed James Alefantis, owner of the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington. Mr. Alefantis and his employees have gotten caught up in a storm of fake news recently. A barrage of false articles on social media and fake news sites said their pizzeria was a front for a child-trafficking ring led by Hillary Clinton and her campaign chief, John D. Podesta.
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The stories — collected under the hashtag #pizzagate — have surprised Mr. Alefantis. He was a supporter of Mrs. Clinton’s and has prominent Democratic friends in Washington, but has never met the former Democratic presidential candidate, nor peddled children nor abused them.
The repercussions have been far-reaching. Mr. Alefantis, his friends and employees are now dealing with a flood of nasty comments on social media, threatening phone calls and even visits to their restaurant from people who say they believe the fake news articles. Mr. Alefantis has gotten in touch with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the local police and many social media companies to try to take down the fake items. He has had little success.Olympic teams used to look for marginal gains but now new technology gains appear to be anything but marginal
Update [Aug 13 2016: 21.26GMT] Team GB win gold and set new World Record of 3:50:570, a time that “shocked the world of cycling”
Great Britain’s cyclists are pursuing Olympic gold in Rio this week aided by a revolutionary skin suit and helmet that is said to make them an astonishing seven per cent faster on the track but, unsurprisingly, British Cycling refuse to discuss the science behind the special drag resistant clothing so we’ve taken a look into it for you.
A few weeks ago it was revealed that the British riders from the men’s and women’s team pursuit quartets, as well as the men’s team sprint trio, had set unofficial world records at their training camp in Newport and sources close to the team have since said that the outfits, whose designs first appeared in patents in 2013, made a significant difference, helping to shave more than three seconds off of a 4km race.
The new drag resistant clothing, to be debuted at Rio features ridges and an aerodynamic cycling helmet with an air duct running through it and researchers at UK Sport and the English Institute of Sport (EIS) designed the new helmets and clothing as part of the attempt to use technology to produce “marginal gains” in speed for the British cycling team.
Suit up
Unlike the helmets worn by the British cycling team at the London 2012 Olympic Games, which were a solid tear drop shape, the new helmets have air ducts running through the shell of the helmet that reduces drag and sources claim that by using two intake holes to channel air through the helmet into a large single outlet at the back it can force air flow along the riders back when they are leaning forward and improve how the cyclists cut through the air. The helmets also let the wearer leave their ears exposed so they can hear what’s going on around them, something you can’t do with other aerodynamic helmets.
Fig 1. The new helmet
“The mechanism by which reduced drag is achieved is not fully understood, as the provision of a significant vent at the rear of the hard shell would seem counterintuitive,” said the inventors, “however, it appears that, particularly when a rider’s torso is inclined at about 30 degrees to the horizontal, as is often the case in cycle racing, the flow of air from the rear of the helmet significantly improves the air flow patterns down the back of the rider, thus reducing drag.”
The clothing is also revolutionary and the inventor, Robert Lewis, an engineer with aerodynamics consultancy TotalSim, which works with UK Sport found that disrupting the flow of air around the riders arms and legs with plastic “kicks” shaped like dams or chevrons around 50mm apart on the back of the riders limbs produced the best results.
Fig 2. Drag reducing finlets and ridges
“It has been found that in cycling, air to the rear of an arm or leg flows upwards along the arm or leg and is a significant cause of overall drag on the cyclist. By including an air flow disruption device on the rear of the arm or leg, this flow is broken up, reducing the overall drag,” said Lewis.
“The kicks can be made of any suitable material, but conveniently they are moulded plastic stuck onto a cyclist’s suit. Alternatively they can be made by heat moulding the material of the suit,” he said.
Technology technology everywhere
Of course, while the suits themselves seem poised to give Team GB a significant edge on their rivals at Rio the “Secret Squirrel Club” – Team GB’s team of elite inventors and researchers based out of “Lab X” as they like to call it in Cambridge still have other technological tricks up their sleeves to shave even more time off of the teams laps.
From the aerodynamic paint used to coat the bikes and the new light weight composite materials developed for the team by the UK’s three top Forumla 1 teams, Mercedes, Williams and Red Bull, to the new ceramic chains, carbon fiber 3D printed shoes, the re-designed aerobars, wearables that monitor sweat and vitals and real time analytics technologies noone can say that our team isn’t serious about taking the gold and all of this on a budget of just £30 million.
But, lest we forget the most important piece of machinery in the game – the riders themselves, finely honed, highly dedicated, laser focused athletes pushing out 800 watts of power travelling at speeds of over 70km/h they’ve trained for over 10,000 hours to get to Rio and that is the most impressive feat of of all.
Keep your eyes peeled and let me know if you see all the mods and good luck to Team GB!If I wasn’t in my 70s and blind, I’d have taken a skateboard to Lincoln Square in Carlton every day in recent weeks to take lessons from the young people skating there. Anything to spite the la-di-da Melbourne lord mayor Robert Doyle and the snobbish professor at Melbourne University, who have been conducting a campaign against skateboarders.
They have turned one of the best parks for skating in the country into rubble. Young people there when the jack hammerers turned up were threatened and had their boards ripped from them and thrown away.
They ask me why. Why indeed? Why would a council spend $450,000 destroying such a popular space – full of life, friendship and what would be called “community spirit”?
The answer is that the “community minded” mayor – infamous for sending in cops to brutally drive out protesters occupying City Square in 2012 – and others such as professor Roz Hansen of Melbourne University are determined that only those acceptable to their narrow-minded view should be visible in public spaces.
The park’s destruction is a disgrace, a monumental waste of money that could have been used to renovate the severely degraded children’s play area or for any number of badly needed services.
In 2005, a beautiful park was destroyed and turned into a mausoleum as a memorial to the victims of a terrorist bomb in Bali. It was unbearably hot in summer and cold and bleak in the winter. But then skateboarders discovered that it was an ideal space: on the tram line, mostly deserted and good for many levels of skill.
They have been coming from far and wide. Mostly unemployed youths and students, but champion skaters with their kids and backpackers also come. I met a young woman up from the Latrobe Valley for a medical appointment carrying her skateboard to visit the famous square.
The park’s destruction is a disgrace, a monumental waste of money that could have been used to renovate the severely degraded children’s play area or for any number of badly needed services.
In the name of balance and fairness, I’ll list the arguments of the middle class trash. A council spokeswoman expressed outrage to the Age that up to 50 people sometimes congregate there. We can’t have people in parks – unless of course they’re the kind the middle classes approve of. There’s no campaign against the 50-plus who gather for salsa dancing in the Piazza a block away.
Our illustrious professor – a city resident for 16 years, the Age obligingly informs us, as if this gives her special rights – said: “This is my local park but I can’t go and sit in it because of the overwhelming noise”. Apart from the assumption that it’s her park, who does she think she’s kidding? Go sit in it or on an apartment balcony over the road. It’s Swanston Street, full of cars and rattling trams!
Apparently “skaters used screwdrivers to remove ‘no skating signs’ and metal brackets meant to stop them skating on retaining walls”. The professor calls this vandalism. I call it initiative. As I said in a letter that the skaters told me was read out, to their delight, at a council meeting in 2014, “All hail the disobedience of the youths who defy the signs”.
Residents of Melbourne receive a glossy magazine boasting about the “culture” and “inclusiveness” of the city. What it doesn’t tell you is if you’re not middle class with lots of money involved in what respectable people approve of, or if you want to make your voice heard about inequality and injustice, then you’re excluded.
Our professor finds the skaters “intimidating”. Not believable. I used to take my young grandsons toddling around, playing in the fountains, and we were never intimidated.
I feel massively more unsafe in Lygon Street navigating restaurant tables and chairs, touters trying to get you to sample their overpriced grub, dodging harried staff carrying scalding food and drinks, than I ever have in Lincoln Square. But then that’s profit-generating and respectable. And as for attending a protest these days, you never know when you’ll be pepper sprayed or walked on by a police horse. But then that’s keeping order.
Skating rights might seem a trivial issue when refugees are being tortured in hellish camps, fascists are feeding off Islamophobia, workers’ rights and living standards are under attack. But the right to use public spaces as we see fit, every issue of the rights of those with fewer resources who disrupt middle class respectability, matters.
Because the respectable, the politicians, those who want a “cultured” “community” want it on their terms, their order, riff-raff are marginalised and invisible. That way their sense of entitlement and their status as born to rule are safe; their confidence to squash protests and to enforce draconian laws remains intact.BOSTON (AP) — A former Marine sergeant who underwent a double arm transplant said Wednesday that the best part about having arms again is that he can hold his fiancee’s hand and pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a chef.
Retired Sgt. John Peck, who lost all four limbs as the result of an explosion of a homemade bomb in Afghanistan in May 2010, underwent 14 hours of surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in August. The procedure involved 60 doctors, nurses and other medical personnel.
His arms are scarred and move awkwardly, but every day with the new limbs is better, he said at a news conference at the hospital. He is learning to dress himself, brush his teeth and feed himself all over again.
The first time he held fiancee Jessica Paker’s hand after the surgery, he couldn’t even feel it, but it still meant the world.
“That truly is a special gift,” he said, adding later that he can now feel pressure when she squeezes.
Peck, 31, will probably need nine to 12 months of rehabilitation before the nerves are fully functional again, said Dr. Simon Talbot, the lead surgeon.
Peck, originally from Antioch, Illinois, now lives in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He said he’s wanted to be a chef since he was 12.
“As a result of surgery, I’ll be able to pursue my dreams,” he said. He’s already started cooking but because he doesn’t have full feeling in the new limbs, he has to be careful he doesn’t cut or burn himself. He plans to visit France and Italy to hone his craft, he said.
Peck also thanked the donor, whose family wishes to remain anonymous.
“I will remember his selflessness and gift until the day I die,” he said.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, hand and arm transplants have been performed on more than 85 people around the world. This was the fourth double arm or hand transplant performed at Brigham and Women’s.
(Copyright (c) 2019 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)A single algorithm which placed and then cancelled orders on the Nasdaq accounted for 4% of all quoted traffic in the US with no clear goal. An investor gives FRANCE 24 his insight into the mystery which has concerned market watchers.
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A single mammoth mystery algorithm has set alarm bells ringing for market regulators and players, and underlined the market’s vulnerability to technology and the woeful lack of regulation on algorithms.
A single algorithm last week placed and cancelled orders on the Nasdaq accounting for 4% of all quoted traffic in the US. Not only this, it also accounted for a colossal 10% of the bandwidth that is allowed for trading on any given day.
It placed orders in 25-millisecond bursts, involving approximately 500 stocks, but never actually executed a single trade.
The algorithm’s stopped operating at 10.30am ET on Friday.
Market players are now scratching their heads as the point of this huge market play which did not execute a single trade.
An anonymous French investor who goes by the name of LC and writes the blog Margin Call www.margincall.fr, told FRANCE 24 in a telephone interview, “This system had numerous unusual features: the main one being the sheer number of orders placed.”
One thing is for sure: the operation was not designed to make money. Executing no actual transactions, the programme had no effect on the stocks involved. “Simply flooding the system with orders looks like a way of testing the limits of the algorithm,” LC explained.
Jon Najarian, co-founder of TradeMonster.com, agreed. “My guess is that the algo was testing the market, as high-frequency frequently does”, Najarian told CNBC.
Hungry for high-frequency trading
Another explication could be that the architect behind the operation was seeking to create an imbalance in the market. The orders generated by the algorithm used up 10% of the Nasdaq’s daily quota of bandwidth. “Hogging such a big chunk of available space inevitably slows down the system, giving a lead to trading floor operators, because everybody else receives data with a delay of a few seconds,” LC explained. “It’s a raw deal for the others, but for now, there’s no law against placing orders at such a high frequency.
“This only goes to show just how big a part IT plays in financial activity,” he went on to say. “Through the large number of transactions executed automatically – and bearing in mind that stock market operators receive a commission for each one, financial markets have become hugely dependent on high-frequency trading. It now represents 31% of the New York Stock Exchange’s revenue and 17.1% of Nasdaq’s.”
This dependence could explain why little has been done about these algorithms that can and do create significant market volatility. Profit-hungry stock markets would rather turn a blind eye to anomalies than scare away potential HGT aficionados, LC explains on his blog.
But a laissez-faire attitude to high-frequency trading remains a risky business for traditional stock markets, as demonstrated by the alarming Flash Crash two years ago.
On 6 May 2010, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 9.2% in the space of just ten minutes.
The crash, unprecedented in the history of Wall Street, was caused by a mass of orders placed using software. But even after an investigation by the Security Exchange Commission (SEC), no measures were taken against algorithmic trading.
However, the US regional Federal reserve bank did issue a warning on September 18th aimed at high-frequency trading firms who take shortcuts in their risk controls as they seek out faster ways to trade.I’m sure that just about everyone is familiar with the company iRobot due to the proliferation of their Roomba robotic vacuums. Recently the company filed a patent for a product it calls the “Robotic Fabricator”.
According to the patent documents, the “Robotic Fabricator” is an autonomous part fabrication machine that can handle all aspects of manufacturing a product. This all-in-one package includes: 3D printing, CNC milling, multi-component assembly and finishing.
iRobot describes how their Robotic Fabricator would work in their patent:
“The new systems and methods include a fabrication machine/method that fuses additive and subtractive manufacturing with in-situ component placement to provide completely autonomous all-in-one product manufacturing.
Product fabrication is centered around a six-axis industrial robotic manipulator (primary manipulator) that handles the product from seed component to mature product.”
The description continues, “The system may include one or more sensors that can measure parameters and characteristics of the product being manufactured while the process is taking place. For example, the system can include a precision visual scanning device that will generate precise measurements of the product being fabricated. Information collected by the sensor may be used by the fabrication machine to adjust subsequent steps in the manufacturing process.”
The basic idea behind the printer is the same one that initially touched off the industrial revolution. Human labor costs a ton, and therefore, the price of products could be reduced if a machine could take over the job.
iRobot’s Robotic Fabricator seems to be the next step in the evolution of completely automated product manufacturing. Who knows, maybe one day machines based on this concept will be able to take a designer’s 3d model and turn the initial idea into an even more sophisticated and advanced product.
While that wild future may be a ways off, don’t discount the possibility. I mean a vacuum cleaner company just patented an autonomous robotic fabricator.
Images Courtesy of iRobot via 3dersImage caption There have been demonstrations against the lack of jobs and austerity around Europe
Unemployment in the eurozone hit 11.1% in May while the downturn in its manufacturing sector continued, according to official statistics.
A total of 17.56m people are now out of work marking the highest level since records began in 1995, according to EU statistics body Eurostat.
Meanwhile, the manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), compiled by Markit, was stuck at 45.1 in June.
Any reading below 50 indicates contraction.
The data compounds the gloomy outlook for the eurozone where companies have reduced or frozen spending levels - including labour costs - as fears over the impact of the ongoing debt crisis have reduced confidence in future growth.
Joblessness in the eurozone has risen for the past 14 months.
In Spain, which has the highest unemployment rate in the 17-bloc nation, one in four people is now out of work.
The downturn in employment is reflected in the eurozone's manufacturing sector. The closely-watched manufacturing PMI's unchanged reading of 45.1 in June means it remains at its lowest reading for three years.
The survey's employment index fell to 46.7 in June, its lowest since January 2010, from 47.1 in the previous month, signalling accelerating job cuts.
"Companies are clearly preparing for worse to come, cutting back on both staff numbers and stocks of raw materials at the fastest rates for two-and-a-half years," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at data provider Markit.I-35 reopens following semi crash Copyright by KXAN - All rights reserved Copyright by KXAN - All rights reserved Damage from semi crash on I-35 Wednesday. (Photo Courtesy: Austin Police Department / Twitter) I-35 reopens following semi crash Damage from semi crash on I-35 Wednesday. (Photo Courtesy: Austin Police Department / Twitter) prev next
Austin police reopened southbound Interstate 35 at FM 1327 about 1:45 p.m. The frontage road is also open, police said. However, TxDOT says the westbound SH 45 ramp is still closed.
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The southbound lanes of Interstate 35 at FM 1327 are closed as crews clean up the mess left behind by a semi truck that rolled over. The truck crashed on the FM 1327 overpass over the interstate.
The lanes will be closed while a wrecker turns the truck back over. Police do not know when the road will reopen. The crash happened about 11:15 a.m.on the eastbound side of the overpass. Originally, the collision did not interfere with traffic on I-35.
Copyright by KXAN - All rights reserved A wrecker attempts to turn over a semi truck that rolled over on the FM 1327. The crash closed southbound I-35. (Todd Bynum / KXAN)"Shade balls away!" Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the completion of the "shade ball" project, wherein balls were released into the L.A. Reservoir in an effort to slow evaporation. (The Washington Post)
California is experiencing one of its most severe droughts on record, and its local municipalities have an astounding strategy to save water: turn their reservoirs into massive, floating ball pits.
During the past couple years, cities across the state have dumped millions of “shade balls” — black, plastic balls weighted down with water — into their reservoirs.
The result is a terrifyingly hypnotic scene: a barreling barrage of black balls that just never seems to end.
This is a lot of balls.
The tactic prevents the chlorine in the water (used to disinfect it from pathogens) from reacting with sunlight to become bromate, a suspected carcinogen. It also protects water sources from wildlife and blocks it from the sun to reduce evaporation.
[California’s rural poor hit hardest as massive drought makes remaining water toxic]
Los Angeles officials estimated at a news conference that shade balls will save somewhere around 300 million gallons of water each year. Of course, that’s nothing compared with the 13.6 billion gallons of water consumed by Los Angeles in June of this year alone.
“This is a blend of how engineering really meets common sense,” Marcie Edwards, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said at the news conference Tuesday, according to ABC 7. “We saved a lot of money, we did all the right things.”
Las Virgenes Municipal Water District said they released new shade balls in June "to improve the quality of recycled water stored in the reservoir." (Las Virgenes Municipal Water District)
The Environmental Protection Agency has mandated that all reservoirs be covered, and in Los Angeles, that would have cost an estimated $300 million to cover the 175-acre facility, ABC 7 reported. But thanks to shade balls, the bill was cut down to just $34.5 million.
Aside from Los Angeles, shade balls have also been used in the City of Ivanhoe and the Las Virgenes Water District in Southern California.
They can also be recycled, and are expected to last as long as 10 years.
Way to go, shade balls.
Read more:
California’s burning again as drought’s vicious cycle takes its toll
California’s largest lake is slipping away amid an epic drought
A ‘megadrought’ will grip U.S. in the coming decades, NASA researchers say
Ten things in nature that could vanish before your kids see themPresident Trump’s plans to deport 2 million to 3 million undocumented immigrants won’t come cheap.
The Department of Homeland Security puts deportation costs at $8,661 per immigrant. The Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank, estimates that this figure would grow by almost $1,500 when the government increases efforts to capture more people inside the U.S.
That means taxpayers may have to pony up $22 billion to $25 billion. And about one-tenth of that goes to transportation costs, according to the Center for American Progress.
To transport undocumented workers to Central America and other far off locals in Europe, Asia and Africa, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) charters its own flights, although sometimes ICE buys commercial seats. Those deported to Mexico are flown domestically to U.S. cities near the southern border, such as San Diego and Brownsville, Tex.. From there, they get a bus ride over the border.
As Quartz lays out, ICE Air Operations — or ICE Air — spent $8,419 per flight-hour on charters flying almost 1 million people from detentions centers to nations across the globe from October 2010 to March 2014.
Over that time, ICE Air spent nearly $600 million, which is greater than what was spent on the National Endowment for the Arts over the same period.
ICE Air apparently could learn a thing or two from commercial airlines.
An audit conducted in 2015 by the Office of Inspector General concluded that “although ICE Air met its mission by transporting 930,435 detainees over a 3-1/2-year period, it could have used its resources more effectively.
For instance, in recent years, commercial airlines have used technology to ensure that each flight is filled at or near capacity, which keeps fuel and labor costs down.
Flying at capacity is not something ICE Air does nearly enough, according to the Inspector General’s report.
“ICE Air operated charter flights with empty seats and could have realized cost savings of up to $41.1 million upon determining optimum flight capacity,” the report stated. “This estimate is based on the average of charter costs incurred during the scope period for the missions analyzed.”
On domestic flights alone, ICE Air could have saved nearly $28 million simply by flying at fuller capacity, the audit report found.
The question is, does President Trump plan to use his private-sector skills to make ICE Air more cost effective? Or is it a bigger priority to quickly fulfill his goal of removing 2 million to 3 million undocumented workers with violent criminal records?The New Testament preserves a strange incident which offers a key to understanding the internal radicalism of the Gospel message. Jesus is walking beside the Jordan River with his cousin, the wandering prophet John, and asks to be baptised. Initially John resists this request saying “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matt. 3:13). John seems to know that Jesus is more than a relative making a fleeting visit. Does John sense that Jesus is ‘God in the flesh’? At the very least, he knows Jesus is the Messiah; the one for whom John and Israel have been waiting. Why would God’s anointed need to be purified of sins? The request must have seemed an affront to his deeply ingrained religious attitudes. Wasn’t God always holy? Jesus’ answer is fittingly obscure given this assumption: “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfil all righteousness.” In Judaism, righteousness (tzedek) is related to the notion of remaining faithful to God’s Covenant’. Why then would the Son of God need repentance? The appeal to John only makes sense if God were attempting to repair the Covenant-relationship from the divine perspective. What might this mean?
In previous generations, God (through the Prophets) had condemned Israel for its moral recklessness and religious promiscuity. For these failures they had been enslaved, scattered and exiled. Children were made orphans; fathers and mothers were robbed of their children; foreign armies despoiled the sacred places of their religion. Yet in the sheer rapidity of their misfortune, God’s punishment appeared to descend into a series of meaningless and brutal acts. And yet, despite the vale of tears cast over the people of Israel, God appeared to be unmoved by the suffering of the people. Something of this existential despair can be found in the Book of Job. In this text God is reduced to a pitiless and vindictive trickster, who makes a bet with Satan that Job will not forsake his god, despite being pained, dispossessed and humiliated. After putting Job through a series of gruelling trials, this blameless man finds it within himself to argue with God concerning the injustice of his situation: ‘God may well slay me; I may have no hope/ yet I will argue my case before God’ (Job 13:15: Miles 324). God’s response to Job is both surprising and unnerving: “Have you an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?” (Job 40:9; Miles 313). All God can do to justify these appalling actions is to appeal to great power (the habitual attitude of dictators). Such an answer was probably just as unsatisfactory to ancient Jewish readers as many modern ones.
Why does great power give any the right to inflict suffering on others? Doesn’t God care about other creatures? Or are we just pieces on a cosmic game-board? Given this monstrous lack of empathy, it is easy to see why the modern detractor of religion, Richard Dawkins, calls such a deity ‘jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully’ (Dawkins The God Delusion p. 51). Given what God is meant to be; the author of the whole of time and space, is it really surprising that the Source of all is hardened to the little details of birth, suffering and death? Can such a Personality even begin to understand what we finite creatures experience? Ancient Greek philosophers like the Epicureans doubted it. If the gods existed, they thought, they would remain in a perfect world of their own. Insulated in their own divine bliss, they would show as little interest in the feelings of human beings as we take interest in the feelings of ants.
Should the badly treated insects (as Dawkins implies) go their own way? Is this God really worthy of worship? The answer to these questions can be found in the unfolding story which begins on the banks of the Jordan. The New Testament charts what Jack Miles calls a ‘crisis in the life of God’; the moment when God comes to suspect that the Thou was an abuser; that the Ground of Being might have wronged Job after all. The narratives we have, do not tell us what prompted this rupture in the inner-life of God. Yet, this we can justly say without injury to the integrity of the New Testament’s own theo-logic. God is not some dispassionate Being outside time (like Aristotle’s Prime Mover) but a voice to be argued with, persuaded and convinced. As Moses and Abraham learned, God’s mind can be changed by discursive means. While it’s nearly impossible to fully understand the motives behind such a decision; its consequences are at the core of Christian proclamation. Jesus (whom the Gospel of John calls ‘the Word made flesh’) descends to the level of the human ants, lives like one of them, thinks like one of them, and eventually dies like one of them. He learns the cost of his own wilful blindness concerning the physical and moral limitations of those he commands. God’s resolve to mend his ways is made clear through Jesus’ request for baptism. God holds himself up to his own religious law, tacitly acknowledging that he caused pain and misery to his creatures and more narrowly damaged his Covenant with the people of Israel. God realizes that harsh judgement and moralising have wrecked creation. Now God seeks forgiveness from his people. The divine becoming human is not about God’s glory (seeking more adoring subjects) but about God coming as a supplicant before an angry and jaded community, who do not deserve their suffering. Among other things, this reading reveals a startling truth. For at least two millennia, many in the Church have supposed that a central part of Jesus’ mission was to demonstrate that the Jews had failed in their task as a holy people. Yet, if we stop to think about these matters in the light of Jesus’ enigmatic baptism, the meaning of the incarnation is the exact opposite to the one proposed by Christian supersessionists.The people had in general held their ground in the midst of dispair. God as Jesus had not come to show the Hebrews their spiritual failure. Rather, he had come in order to beg their forgiveness for his own.
In the past, Yahweh had kept a firm hand on the people through the ultimate sanction of death. As God declares in Deuteronomy: ‘This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him’ (NIV 30:19-20). This shadow of death extended over the whole people of Israel; from the defiant child to the little old man who dared to collect wood on the Sabbath. To refuse the Torah was to wish destruction on the whole community. Yet, as a living breathing human being, God seems to share the mortal horror of death. Jesus spends much of his time lifting its effects; allowing everyone he meets to choose life in place of sickness and death. Yet unlike his earlier visitation at Sinai, God does this with joyful irresponsibility; with few rules and requirements; faithfulness appears to be enough in this next phase of Covenantal relationship. Some do not even have to ask to share in this new abundance of life, like Lazarus of Bethany (John 11:1-44). Yet God knows that one cannot hope to repair the consequences of divine wrath unless those who have been lost are restored.
There can be no true healing unless death is done away with; not merely in the life of one or two, but in the life of all. To do this, Yahweh (that sometimes ferocious Personality) takes on the role of the sacrificial victim according the grisly imperatives of an earlier self. On the cross Jesus as God becomes his own sacrifice to quell a sense of sin according to his own rules (Leviticus 4:7). John subliminally recognises this, although it might have horrified him if he had considered the full implications of his designation of Jesus as “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29) Here the Lord of ‘the Angel Armies’ (2 Kings 6:8-23) stands in the place of all those (human and animal) that have died for the Jerusalem religious cult. Yet, this is not a sacrifice of self-glorification. Jesus uses his death as a vehicle for the most radical healing project of all. God makes personal desolation the |
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Furthermore, pesticide regulation is shoddy. And the focus of any investigation is on pesticide sprays and minimal species of bees. Neonicotinoids are systemic chemicals used even on the seeds and are found in the pollen and nectar. The focus leaves out other important species for pollination like other bees, different types of flies and butterflies.
But Belgian Green party EU parliament member Bart Staes said:
The inconclusive outcome keeps hopes alive that the proposed neonicotinoids suspensions can be implemented soon. We call on all reluctant EU governments not to heed the misleading lobbying from the insecticide industry.
And with growing public awareness, outlook is hopeful. Continuing bee deaths means the issue is not going away.A same-sex couple was thrown out of a country bar in Victoria, Texas, for dancing together.
"It's not acceptable for men to dance together in the type of business that we run," Cactus Canyon spokesperson Roger Gearhart told KAVU, after saying that women dancing together is acceptable.
Justin Meyer and James Douglas complained of the club's discriminatory policies after the couple went out for a night of dancing Saturday.
The owner confronted them and told them they couldn't dance together because they were men and for "security reasons."
"He told me they have a policy that states that they don't allow males to dance with males to country songs," Douglas said. "I said just country, and he said yes."
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The couple closed their tab and left the venue. But Meyer wanted to see where the rule was written on the club's policy.
"I said will you please show me your policy but he kept brushing it under the table," Meyer added.
The couple doesn't understand the club's policy of allowing women to dance with each other, but not men. The incident is a clear case of discrimination, they say.
"Why should we feel like we are afraid to go out in public just because of the way we were born?" Douglas said.
Robert Dillender, director of operations for Cactus Canyon, said the couple was being disruptive and confrontational, which is why they were asked to leave.
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"We've never kicked anyone out of the club for dancing," Dillender said.
Dillender said Meyer raised his voice and poked the manager in the chest after he denied showing Meyer the club's policy. Meyer said he did not touch the manager.
"We apologize for the misunderstanding," Dillender said.
Meyer said he has been a Cactus Canyon patron for 12 years, since he was 18.
"I'm just kind of shocked," Meyer said. "They know my face, I've been here hundreds of times, and it was just really hurtful that we couldn't dance together."
Lawyer Geep Hardy said the policy was probably legal, though discriminatory.
"There is very little nondiscrimination law that prevents discrimination against sexual orientation," Hardy said.
Tom Hargis of the Texas ACLU said they would investigate the incident further.
"We encourage all people to stand up for their individual rights," Hargis said.
Meanwhile, another local country bar, the Two-Step Nightclub and Lounge, let Meyer and Douglas know that they are welcome to show off their moves there.
Sources: KAVU, Huffington Post
undefined“To the beat of muffled drums 8,000 negro men, women and children marched down Fifth Avenue yesterday in a parade of ‘silent protest against acts of discrimination and oppression’ inflicted upon them in this country, and in other parts of the world. Without a shout or a cheer they made their cause known through the many banners which they carried, calling attention to Jim Crowism, segregation, disfranchisement, and riots of Waco, Memphis and East St. Louis.” — New York Times
The Silent Parade of July 28, 1917, was unlike anything ever seen in New York City. Today it is considered New York’s (and most likely America’s) first African-American civil rights march.
New York had seen its share of protest parades since the start of World War I, but none had featured so prominently the city’s African-American population, gathering in such impressive numbers along New York’s wealthiest street.
This extraordinary procession was organized by the burgeoning National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), a group of concerned black and white activists and intellectuals which had formed less than a decade earlier in New York.
The march was organized in direct response to a horrible plague of violence against black Americans in the 1910s, culminating in the East St. Louis Riots*, a massacre involving white mobs storming black neighborhoods in sheer racial animus. Two sets of riots in May and July 1917 left almost 200 people dead. Rioters burned black neighborhoods, cutting off water hoses and watched as families fled the burning buildings — to be picked off by gunmen.
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on July 3:
This massacre was but one of several violent incidents aimed at new black laborers, pointed attacks meant to strike fear in the hearts of black Americans.
The circumstances of World War I exacerbated an already volatile crisis. As W.E.B. DuBois would explain it,
“The Negro, attracted by higher wages in the North and repelled by the menace of lynchinig and caste in the South moves in to fill the new labor demand [caused by the war]. The common laborer in the North is caught between the tyranny of exclusive trade unions and the underbidding of blacks. The rest is murder and riot and unrest…. White Northern laborers find killing Negroes a safe, lucrative employment which commends them to the American Federation of Labor.”
In New York, at a meeting of the NAACP in Harlem, president James Weldon Johnson (at the suggestion of New York Evening Post editor Oswald Villard) proposed an unusual but effective form of protest — an army of marchers along Fifth Avenue, drawing attention to the victims of the East St. Louis riot.
And in an unprecedented decision by the organizers, it would consist only of black marchers.
New York newspaper reports of the riot passively mentioned the tragic cost to the black residents of East St. Louis; a dramatic march down the city’s most prosperous street — comprised of those very people most likely to be victimized in such riots — would jar the delicate sensibilities of insulated New Yorkers.
This was a fairly radical idea for its time. Decades after the Civil War, most Americans, even in the most progressive states, still looked skeptically at organized black movements. Part of the NAACP’s early legitimacy for many was that it was formed by a mixture of black and white activists.
In 1915, the NAACP (in a crusade led by newspaper editor William Monroe Trotter) protested the release of the film Birth of a Nation, the trailblazing film that positively depicted the Ku Klux Klan while demonizing African-Americans. The protests failed to stop the film’s release but this organized resistance galvanized the NAACP and the black community for future battles.
While the East St. Louis tragedy was the focus of the mournful July 28th gathering, the march was intended as a larger protest against civil rights abuses in the United States. One of many flyers passed around during the march declared :
“We march because we are thoroughly opposed to Jim Crow cars, segregation, disenfranchisement and the host of evils that are forced upon us. We march in memory of our butchered dead, the massacre of honest toilers who were removing the reproach of laziness and thriftlessness hurled at the entire race. They died to prove our worthiness to live. We live in spite of death shadowing us and ours.”
Below: The organizers marched in front of the women and children. At far right are W.E.B. Du Bois and James Weldon Johnson.
The thousands of people who marched that day came from virtually every African-American church in New York City and the surrounding area. A drum corps and a troupe of black Boy Scouts vibrantly led the parade, with women and children following behind, garbed in white dresses.
The men, some in United States army uniforms, marched last behind a row of flag bearers, holding representative flags from the United States, Great Britain, Liberia and Haiti.
There were no chants or rallying cries. The throng remained silent during the length of the parade, a common practice for peace parades but one pregnant with meaning here. The black communities in East St. Louis and in the South had little opportunity to engage in such protests. New Yorkers, in solidarity, would echo that reverberating silence. (It may also have been prudent for large groups of African-Americans marching along the city’s whitest street to keep themselves calcified.)
The marchers were orderly and stone-faced as they walked down Fifth Avenue — from 57th Street to 24th Street, culminating at Madison Square Park. They were not allowed to gather there; according to the New York Sun, “When the marchers reached Twenty-Fourth Street, they turned west and were dismissed.”
While there were no chants, political intentions were made known via a series of banners interspersed among the marchers:
‘Your Hands Are Full of Blood’
‘Pray for the Lady Macbeths of East St. Louis’**
‘We Are Maligned as Lazy and Murdered When We Work’
‘From Bunker Hill to Carrizal*** We Have Done Our Duty’
One ‘controversial’ sign was thrown out of the march. According to the Times, the sign “displayed a picture of a negro woman kneeling before President Wilson and appealing to him to bring democracy to America before carrying it to Europe.” The police intervened, and the sign was removed.
Below: A newspaper illustration that was most certainly used in the offending sign
No other incidents surrounding the march were reported that day. Thousands of onlookers had lined the parade route that day out of curiosity, amusement, pride, anger and joy. Some were shaken to the core.
“[T]he streets of New York have witnessed many strange sites, but I judge, never one stranger than this; among the watchers were those with tears in their eyes.” — James Weldon Johnson, The Autobiography of James Weldon Johnson, 1937
NOTE: The number of marchers so widely varies from source to source that I can safely say that it was between 5,000 and 15,000 marchers. Not exactly precise! Judging from all reports, I would guess the actual number is closer to 15,000.
*East St. Louis, on the Illinois side, is about 15 miles away from Ferguson, the St. Louis suburb on the Missouri side.
**According to author Nikki Brown, the ‘Lady Macbeth’ sign references “an alleged incident wherein at least two white women pulled black women off a streetcar, tore off one woman’s clothing and ‘then took off her shoes and beat her over the face and head with their shoe heels’.”
***The Battle of Carrizal had been fought in Mexico a year before the march. Unlike the battles in Europe, African-American soldiers served with American units on the front lines of this engagement.A Southwark police officer who single-handedly took on two gangs armed with petrol bombs and knives on the Rockingham Estate has won the Police Federation Police Bravery Award.
(Video reconstruction of the incident produced by The Sun)
PC Graham Hislop was presented with the award by home secretary Theresa May at the Savoy Hotel on Thuesday night. He also received a regional award from ITV Daybreak presenter Christine Bleakley.
PC Hislop responded to a call that a gang of youths on bicycles were causing a disturbance and terrorising residents on the Rockingham Estate.
As he approached, he saw two rival gangs fighting in the street. There were more than 30 youths who were armed with a variety of weapons including sticks, baseball bats, knives and a bayonet.
PC Hislop also saw that one youth had what appeared to be a petrol bomb with the wick alight.
The officer drove into the area where the fighting was taking place in an effort to separate the gangs and prevent serious injures occurring. He got out of the car and placed himself between the two groups.
He arrested one youth for affray and despite being surrounded by threatening youths he calmly held on to his prisoner whilst giving commentary to other officers who were now on their way to the scene.
His information enabled the other officers to make arrests for affray as the gangs fled the scene on hearing approaching sirens.
Seven knives, a bayonet, a hockey stick and three petrol bombs were recovered at the scene.
"PC Hislop's bravery in the face of exceptional danger is inspiring and just one example of our officers being here for London and of the lengths they go to every day to ensure that the streets of London are safe," said Sir Paul Stephenson, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.
"Actions like that taken by PC Hislop represent the qualities that makes the Met a special organisation with officers showing courage, determination and dedication, sometimes at great risk to themselves."
PC Hislop's national award follows a commendation from the Metropolitan Police presented in February.
Southwark's borough commander Wayne Chance added: "I'm delighted that Graham's actions have been recognised with this National Award. It is well deserved and exemplifies the actions that officers take in Southwark every single day."If this album wasn't the inspiration for Spinal Tap's "Stonehenge," I don't know what was. Grasping at straws, Kiss rehired Destroyer producer Bob Ezrin and wanted him to help crank out the hits. Ah, but the band was living in the age of early '80s metal, and the man at the soundboard was not only the same man who produced the most "far out" of the Kiss albums, but whose last project was Pink Floyd's The Wall. Ezrin made the boneheaded suggestion of ditching their new rock tunes and instead recording a concept album about a young hero's quest to slay an elf, or something to that effect.
Of course, the end product is the absolute nadir of Kiss' existance. I know, you all think albums like Anamalyze or Hot In The Shade qualify, but no. Those records were Kiss going with the flow of crap music. With The Elder, they pushed crap in a new and scary direction. Oddly enough, three of the songs were co-written by Lou Reed and they still sound as anonymous as the others. What a horrible, horrible, horrible album.
-Jason JosephesPoliZette Illegals in Charge Breaking the law, helping to run a city
Some illegal immigrants aren’t waiting for amnesty, it seems. Some are coming out of the shadows — and into City Hall, where they are ready to start helping run the place.
A small city outside Los Angeles has become the first in the U.S. to appoint illegal immigrants to government positions. And they’ll be paid with taxpayer money.
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Huntington Park Councilman Jhonny Pineda announced Monday night he was appointing Julian Zatarain, 21, to the Parks and Recreation Commission, and Francisco Medina, 29, to the Health and Education Commission. Both are in the country illegally.
The move, which came at the City Council meeting, was met with anger.
“You are out of order!” one woman in the crowd yelled at the council members, according the local CBS affiliate.
While Pineda, 32, said the two will not be paid, they can each receive a stipend of up to $75 per month. It was unclear if they would also be eligible for any other government benefits.
The two illegal immigrants can each receive a stipend of up to $75 per month. It was unclear if they would also be eligible for any other government benefits.
“Huntington Park is a city of opportunity and a city of hope for all individuals regardless of socioeconomic status, race, creed, or in this case, citizenship,” Pineda said. “We need to make sure we bring everyone together to the table here in Huntington Park so that we can make sure we’re sharing the same vision.”
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The two city residents did not meet the guidelines in President Obama’s executive order that allowed children of illegal immigrants to remain in the country, Pineda said. But a city ordinance allows illegals to hold government posts if they work on a volunteer basis.
“I’m speaking out for people like me,” Zatarain told the Los Angeles Times. “I’m not doing anything wrong.”
Zatarian said he was appointed not because he is an illegal, but because his “background was really good for the position.”
A Mexican, Zatarian arrived in the U.S. in 2007 at age 13 and graduated from Huntington Park High School. He now attends Santa Monica College and hopes to go to law school.
Medina graduated from California State University and has organized free immigration forums.
“Of course, we all pay taxes,” Medina told KTLA after the Monday meeting. “In Huntington Park, there’s a big community of poor undocumented, and the fact that I’m going to be part of it, I think they’re going to be so proud of it as well.”
Zatarian said he was appointed not because he is an illegal, but because his “background was really good for the position.”
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But not everyone was delighted by the appointment of two illegal immigrants to city commissions.
“I don’t think they should be allowed in the country if they’re … if they haven’t been granted asylum by the United States government. Then they’re considered criminals, I would say. Everybody that’s here illegally, right, would be considered a criminal,” Louis Knickerbocker told KTLA.
Meanwhile, Robin Hvidston, executive director of We The People Rising, told the Times, “To appoint commission seats to individuals who are breaking federal laws demonstrates that lack of respect for U.S. law.”
Huntington Park is 97 percent Hispanic or Latino and has incredibly low turnout for elections, often less than 10 percent. The median income is just $28,000 a year and more than a quarter of the city’s 59,000 residents live below the poverty line.
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Huntington Park Mayor Karina Macias said she supports the appointments.
“Our population includes documented and undocumented immigrants, and I wanted to make sure everyone could participate,” Macias told the Times. “If we’re going to talk about transparency, being open and having a community that’s involved, then the conversation also has to include undocumented immigrants. I’m hoping other cities are looking at what we’re doing here.”
[lz_virool paragraph=”3″]The Superior Court of Justice is warning that it “desperately” needs more judges to keep up with an increasingly heavy and complex caseload. The court, which handles all civil and some family matters, as well as the most serious criminal cases such as murder, has requested that federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould immediately add an extra 12 judges to Ontario’s judicial complement.
The office of federal Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said she is considering the Superior Court's request for more judges. ( Adrian Wyld / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO )
Whether that will actually happen anytime soon remains to be seen, although it doesn’t appear that Ontario will get all 12 judges in one round. Wilson-Raybould’s office said she is considering the request, as other provinces also put forward business cases for increases in their number of judges. Courts across the country have been grappling since last year with the effect of a landmark Supreme Court of Canada case known as R v. Jordan, which set strict timelines to bring criminal cases to trial. The Jordan ruling has left understaffed courthouses, including in Ontario, scrambling to redeploy judges to criminal matters at risk of being tossed due to delay, to the detriment of non-urgent civil and family matters.
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“In addition to the court’s criminal workload, an immediate addition to Ontario’s Superior Court judicial complement is desperately needed to deal with families in crisis and urgent child protection cases,” Mohan Sharma, counsel in the office of Ontario Superior Court Chief Justice Heather Smith, told the Star in an emailed statement. Ontario’s population has increased by 3.4 million since 2000, Sharma said, “but over the last 17 years, the Superior Court of Justice has not received a proportionate increase to its judicial complement.” The last time an increase was made to the complement was in 2008, when the court received eight additional judges, Sharma said. There are currently about 330 Superior Court judges allotted to Ontario. The court’s request is supported by leaders from the associations that represent criminal, civil and family lawyers, who point out the addition of judges is just one way to speed up the justice system post-Jordan. “There’s no question that the Toronto courts have been plagued with too many cases and not enough judges for them to be heard,” said Michael Lacy, a vice-president of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association.
“If there’s going to be a meaningful response to Jordan and a meaningful approach to ensuring that people get a trial in a reasonable time, the obvious thing to do is add more judges.” While praising the Superior Court’s request, the chair of the Family Lawyers Association pointed out that the bulk of family matters are heard at the lower level in the Ontario Court of Justice, which also requires more resources.
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“I just don’t want the Ontario Court of Justice to be forgotten, that we need to be aware that that court requires resources,” said Katharina Janczaruk. “I think we need to be particularly concerned because of the population that utilizes the Ontario Court of Justice are, by and large, low-income individuals. They're entitled to have their matters heard on a timely basis.” Sharma, at Superior Court, said the court was “unable” to provide a copy of the business case sent to Wilson-Raybould because communications between the chief justice and minister are treated as confidential. But Sharma said the business case identified the Toronto, Central West and Central East regions, which cover the GTA, as well as the East region, which includes Ottawa and Kingston, “as being in the greatest demand for additional judicial resources.” The court is looking to get its hands on some of the new judicial positions created in this year’s federal budget, which proposed spending $55 million over five years, and $15.6 million per year thereafter, to cover the costs for 28 new judges. The government has already said that 12 would be allotted to Alberta, and one to Yukon, while the remaining 15 would be assigned across the country depending on need. Two have since been allotted to Quebec, which leaves 13 positions in the pool, of which Ontario wants 12. “The appointment of 12 of the 28 new judge positions to Ontario should be viewed nationally as a fair apportionment,” Sharma said. Ontario initially requested six positions last October, but revised that request to 12 following the budget announcement in March. A statement from Wilson-Raybould’s office sent to the Star said Ontario’s “subsequent request for additional judges will be evaluated in a separate round, funding for which may be sought in Budget 2018. “The minister of justice has not yet made appointments in Ontario using the pool positions. We anticipate that such appointments will be made in the coming months, although we cannot confirm in advance exactly how many pool positions will be allotted to Ontario.” The judge shortage also highlights the fact that while criminal matters carry a constitutional right to a trial in a reasonable time, no such right exists in civil and family matters. Civil lawyers, for example, have complained of their cases being pushed even further down the road because the judge hearing the matter has had to be redeployed to a criminal case. “As somebody who represents very seriously injured people, you sort of wonder why a woman whose back is broken by the negligent act of someone else is treated differently than an alleged criminal who needs to have their case tried, even for just a minor criminal offence,” said Ron Bohm, president-elect of the Ontario Trial Lawyers Association, which represents lawyers acting for plaintiffs. In Ontario, all criminal cases begin at the lower level of the court system, in the Ontario Court of Justice. In some cases, criminal matters that then head to Superior Court first go through a preliminary hearing in the Ontario Court of Justice to determine if there’s enough evidence to proceed to trial. Heather Smith, chief justice of the Superior Court, has said that the addition of 13 judges to the Ontario Court of Justice by the provincial government to respond to Jordan has meant that cases are now making their way to her court even faster. But there are simply not enough Superior Court judges to deal with the influx. “The great efforts of our dedicated judges have held the line in criminal cases until now,” Smith said in remarks at the opening of the courts ceremony in Toronto earlier this month. “But, nothing short of a very immediate increase to the judicial complement of the Superior Court will allow this court to maintain control of its very heavy and highly complex criminal caseload.”‘Muse – Live At Rome Olympic Stadium’
‘The first live music film in 4K’, goes the big sell, and the mind boggles. 4K?!? What sort of Terminator–style 28th Century technology is that? Will we be wrestled to the ground at the cinema’s doors and surgically implanted with new hyperlinked electronic eyeballs that allow us to literally climb inside Matt Bellamy’s head during ‘Uprising’, play the ‘Knights Of Cydonia’ riff and experience his real-life sensations of Freddie-aping rock star euphoria? Will we actually be inside the floating lightbulb, falling out in a flurry of ticker-tape as ‘Guiding Light’ reaches its choral peak? Or is ‘4K’ just how much a ticket will cost, given how expensive the whole thing was to produce?
Well no, 4K is simply an Ultra High Definition format featuring four times the number of pixels (8.8 million) of standard cinema, making for the crispest and most crikey-I-can-actually-make-out-the-bouncer’s-nostril-hair footage of a live show ever filmed. ‘Panic Station’s’ cartoon visuals of Cameron, the Pope, Angela Merkel and Putin jiving across a spinning globe backed by a lizard horn section are crystal-vivid. The ‘Isolated System’ short film of computerised sonic static eating up a city is given the widescreen cinematic airing it deserves. And Bellamy, Wolstenholme and Howard are so in-the-room they might as well be serving you overpriced nachos; when Bellamy grabs a hanging camera during ‘Starlight’ and uses it to give us a Matt’s-eye view of the crowd, it’s as close as any of us will get to experiencing a stadium gig from the other side of the photo-pit.
The clarity of the film also brings a certain coldness; the surround-sounded IMAXing suits Muse’s synapse-fusing spectacle, but it negates the hazy, one-cider-too-many dizziness that makes their shows whiz by in a blur and made live films like The Chemical Brothers’ Don’t Think far more reflective of the disorientating thrill of throwing yourself into the melee of a major outdoor gig.
But as a record of Muse’s most theatrical and thematically coherent tour yet – the flame-spewing refinery stage set, petrol-drinking traders and cash-flinging bankers on the verge of a heart attack illustrate the economic, personal and political impact of energy depletion as explored on ‘The 2nd Law’ – it’s essential, even while bafflingly omitting the 20ft toy robot called Charles that came on to sing ‘Unsustainable’. From the orchestral Bond strains of ‘Supremacy’ through chucked-out-early showings for ‘Plug In Baby’ and ‘Knights Of Cydonia’ to the consummate posturing of ‘Uprising’, each band member backed by a screen full of clones, ‘Live At Rome Olympic Stadium’ captures a world-class rock band hitting their stadium stride, while still finding space for intimate moments – Matt teasing out a moving ‘Explorers’ alone at a silver piano on the central satellite stage. Already stunning, just wait until it’s re-released in up-graded 35KXXL.2 format, which will actually let you shag their holograms.
Muse will stage an advance screening of the movie on November 5 and on November 7 the film will be screened in 100 cinemas worldwide. You can find more details here.Garbage warrior Michael Reynolds has built his famous Earthships in many different locations, and his latest landed right at the "end of the world." Located in Ushuaia, Argentina, "Tol-Haru, la Nave Tierra del Fin del Mundo” is a self-sufficient shelter powered by the elements. Made from natural and repurposed materials, it comprises 333 tires, 3,000 aluminum cans, 5,000 plastic bottles and 3,000 glass bottles!
Architect Michael Reynolds’s latest Earthship sits near the center of “the southern city of the world”, just in front of Antarctica. An initiative of Fundación NAT (by actor Mariano Torre and singer Elena Roger), its construction started early this year after they got the municipality’s approval. It was hand built by approximately 60 people, including international students from the Earthship Academy, local workers and the garbage warrior himself.
Related: Self-Sustaining Earthship Home Proposed for New York City’s Lower East Side
Measuring 540 sq-ft, this unique self-sufficient home is wind and sun-powered, and has a system for filtering rainwater. The interiors are kept warm during the winter thanks to the house’s passive orientation, a glass facade that also lets sunshine, in and the adobe wall’s thermal mass properties.
But for the people involved in the project, the recycled Earthship wasn’t simply built by things that people no longer use. For them recycling is a subtle form of homage, a celebration of those things that accompanied us and helped us live.
+ Earthship Biotecture
Via Plataforma Arquitectura and Earthship Biotecture
Photos by Earthship BiotectureDevoid of any fruit (or should i say froot), full of sugar, artificial colours and flavours, Froot Loops was probably not the best choice for children’s, or anyone’s breakfast cereal anyway …but now, independent testing has shown that those ingredients were the least of your worries. It has been found that the Kellogg’s cereal also contains Monsanto’s controversial herbicide Roundup (glyphosate) and 100% genetically modified corn.
We have already reported on the terrible ingredients found in Kelloggs cereal products before, but thought it worth adding another very good article below which links to studies about the dangers of glyphosate. This information can not be repeated often enough and it needs to be passed on so that more parents are made aware…. for the sake of the children.
The Organic Prepper Reports: Independent DNA lab testing has verified that 100% of the corn in Kellogg’s Froot Loops is genetically modified corn, containing DNA sequences known to be present in insecticide producing Bt and Roundup Ready corn. The soy also contained DNA sequences known to be present in Roundup Ready GMO soy. What’s more, tests documented the presence of glyphosate at 0.12 mg/kg, the main chemical ingredient of Monsanto’s best-selling Roundup weedkiller. (source)
Is it any wonder we’re in the midst of a gigantic cancer cluster in this country? No wonder children have behavioral issues like ADHD. No wonder people are fat, exhausted, and sick.
It’s no longer an exaggeration to say this stuff is poison. Now, it’s a proven fact.
For those who think the word “poison” is an exaggeration, let’s be clear on exactly what glyphosate is. It’s weedkiller. You spray it on weeds to kill them. There is irrefutable proof of toxicity and death from glyphosate.
The first study found that glyphosate increases the breast cancer cell proliferation in the parts-per-trillion range.
An alarming new study, accepted for publication in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology last month, indicates that glyphosate, the world’s most widely used herbicide due to its widespread use in genetically engineered agriculture, is capable of driving estrogen receptor mediated breast cancer cell proliferation within the infinitesimal parts per trillion concentration range.
The study, titled, “Glyphosate induces human breast cancer cells growth via estrogen receptors,” compared the effect of glyphosate on hormone-dependent and hormone-independent breast cancer cell lines, finding that glyphosate stimulates hormone-dependent cancer cell lines in what the study authors describe as “low and environmentally relevant concentrations.”
Another study found that consumption of glyphosate causes intestinal and gut damage, which opens the door to numerous human diseases, such as diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, heart disease, obesity, autism, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s
However, another classification of allergy-type food is emerging and getting recognized for adverse effects on the human intestinal tract and gut. Those foods are genetically modified organisms known as GMOs or GEs. There is scientific research indicating intestinal damage from GMO food and the article “Glyphosate’s Suppression of Cytochrome P450 Enzymes and Amino Acid Biosynthesis by the Gut Microbiome: Pathways to Modern Disease” discusses how the inordinate amount of pesticides sprayed on GMOs leaves residues in GMO crops that, in turn, are being traced to modern diseases. (source)
And this is in cereal marketed to children with that big goofy cartoon toucan.ASPEN – Plans to redevelop the U.S. Forest Service property in Aspen’s West End tentatively include the creation of four free-market lots, according to Ranger Scott Snelson.
He confirmed in a meeting with county commissioners on Tuesday that the lots are part of the plans, but no decision has been made about selling them to help finance the construction of new Forest Service facilities at the site.
“Lots have been charted out just to see if we can fit everything on that parcel. We haven’t ruled that out,” Snelson said. “We haven’t made a final decision on whether those should be sold or not.”
Commissioner Rachel Richards asked if the agency had considered the sale of land on the Aspen property, reiterating that the county would rather not see the Forest Service sell land along the Roaring Fork River in El Jebel to finance the project.
After the Forest Service announced its intention to sell its remaining land at the former Mount Sopris Tree Farm in the midvalley to help fund facilities elsewhere, Pitkin and Eagle counties expressed interest in acquiring about 40 acres along the river to protect the riparian area. There are roughly another 28 acres on an upper bench.
County officials, however, have said they’d rather not have to purchase land that is already in public hands in order to protect it.
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The Forest Service, like just about everyone else, has seen a drop in the value of its properties, Snelson said. The agency doesn’t plan to test the market with its El Jebel property until May, he said.
“We haven’t made any hard decision on what we’re going to do with the tree farm,” Snelson added.
Selling part of its Aspen land would not be sufficient to pay for the improvements the Forest Service is planning at the site, Snelson added.
Design work on the redevelopment is 30 percent complete, meaning the exterior of the buildings has taken shape and some of the interior workings have been sketched out, he said.
Several general schemes for the redevelopment were presented to the public in March; Snelson said he does not yet know when the public will get a look at the planning that has been done since then.
The Forest Service intends to replace its visitor center and administrative offices at the corner of Seventh and Hallam streets in Aspen, along with aging housing structures and other buildings at the site. The agency owns the entire block bounded by Hallam, Smuggler, Seventh and Eighth streets, except for a corner piece where a Victorian home that was formerly Poppies Bistro is located.
All three of the proposals presented last March included one two-bedroom residence and three studio/one-bedroom units, plus a bunkhouse that will sleep 16 seasonal employees – housing for about 20 employees in all. That’s roughly what is there now, Forest Service officials said.
janet@aspentimes.comThroughout his campaign, President-elect Donald Trump promised he would keep jobs from leaving America for places like China and Mexico where companies can pay lower wages.
Last week, Trump convinced the air-conditioner manufacturer Carrier to keep its Indiana plant open. The company announced it would keep about 1,000 jobs across two Indiana locations instead of moving them to Mexico.
It's not uncommon for local government officials to try to convince companies to not move their jobs across borders. It is rather uncommon for a president-elect — let alone a president — to spend his time haggling over 1,000 jobs. After all, the US economy creates about 180,000 jobs a month these days.
But Trump says he wants to stick to these unorthodox tactics.
In an interview with Time magazine's Michael Scherer after being named Time's Person of the Year, Trump said he wants to speak with the CEO of any company considering shipping jobs overseas. Trump told Reince Priebus, the next White House chief of staff:
"'Hey, Reince, I want to get a list of companies that have announced they're leaving,' he called out. 'I can call them myself. Five minutes apiece. They won't be leaving. OK?'"
And in a series of tweets on Sunday, Trump issued a warning to CEOs who are thinking about moving jobs out of America.
"The US is going to substantially reduce taxes and regulations on businesses, but any business that leaves our country for another country, fires its employees, builds a new factory or plant in the other country, and then thinks it will sell its product back into the US, without retribution or consequence, is WRONG!" he wrote.
While Trump says this is all part of his plan to "Make America Great Again," skeptics, such as the Nobel-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, think that no matter what Trump does, manufacturing jobs aren't coming back to America, in part because they're not all moving abroad. Most, in fact, are being automated out of existence.
In a tweet in late November, Krugman wrote: "Nothing policy can do will bring back those lost jobs. The service sector is the future of work; but nobody wants to hear it."
That doesn't matter to Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to protect American jobs and who can now tout the Carrier deal as an early victory in that effort.
He is also taking credit for a pledge by Masayoshi Son, the CEO of the Japanese telecom SoftBank, that the company would bring $50 billion in investments and 50,000 jobs to America over the next few years. (SoftBank, which was creating a fund to invest in tech long before the election outcome was determined, was probably always going to do this.)
These are just two situations in a country where businesses are choosing to invest, divest, hire, and fire all the time. It's hard to see how Trump is |
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Since our first campaign in 2015 we've got much better at producing the ultimate colourful sock. We're now able to bring you more designs for a better value at up to 51% off retail prices.
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Bryt means - BOLD
9 designs wasn't enough. With plenty of requests for more we created the ultimate 25 designs.
25 Awesome Designs
We learnt that shipping charges feel bad but are essential to receiving your product. As a compromise we're throwing in an extra pair for International backers and complimentary shipping for all UK pledges.
We have partnered with Playtonic, a fellow British Kickstarter-funded company to dream up the merchandise item you’ve all been waiting for… limited edition Yooka-Laylee socks!
To buy a pair, select a reward tier between 1 - 9 pairs and when our campaign ends you can choose your size and design options in the post campaign backer survey. You’ll want to keep a pair fresh for when Yooka-Laylee arrives.
They're crafted in the same material with the same added features as the rest of our range of 25 designs. Make sure to add a couple of Bryt designs whilst you're here.
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We'll be adding the ankle sock style to our range in 2 designs when we hit our first goal.
They'll be added to our roster of awesome designs and you will be free to choose which you want when the backer survey lands. Remember, for now, choose how many pairs you want.
A lot of preparation goes into creating the Ultimate Colourful Sock and since November we've been working on just that. We learnt our lessons and set realistic production and shipping dates in time for Christmas Delivery. Woop.
We learnt from our mistakes - Realistic production and shipping time frames.
Bryt means - ADVENTURE
Now we need your support. In order to produce the Ultimate Colourful Socks in 25 amazing designs we must place a Minimum Order Quantity with our manufacturer.
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This project is promoted by Jellop, a direct response online advertising agency specialising in Kickstarter campaigns on Facebook Ads and Google AdWords.American Dissident Voices broadcast of January 28, 2017
by Kevin Alfred Strom
THIS WEEK I’ll be bringing you news of a new audio book edition of William Pierce’s The Turner Diaries — read by the author himself. I’m a pretty radical thinker, and I was pretty radical already in my late 20s when I first encountered the book — but even I was shocked by the radicalism, the war scenes, the violent action of this book. It’s not a book that convinces you by philosophical exposition — though there is a bit of that in it. It’s a book that shows you through brutal action and worldwide cataclysm the goals and tactics of those who want to commit genocide against our race, and the radical thinking and absolute commitment that alone can save us. For those who are ready for it — and that’s not everyone — it’s very powerful.
Before I tell you about the new audio CD version, let’s listen to a long-lost 1996 radio interview from the National Alliance archives, in which Dr. Pierce talks about his first novel with radio host Jeffrey Stewart. It is offered here in text form for the first time at https://nationalvanguard.org/
* * *
Jeffrey Stewart: Dr. Pierce, is The Turner Diaries the most dangerous book in America?
William L. Pierce: For some people, it might be. I wrote the book not just as entertainment, not just as an attempt to predict what would happen in America in the next 20 years, but I also had a message. I think that message is a dangerous one for the people who are controlling the American government, and for the people who are setting the propaganda line of the mass media in this country. I think it’s very dangerous for them. I think they should be very concerned because, if that message reaches a large enough number of people in this country and is taken to heart, they will be in a very dangerous situation indeed.
JS: Occasionally in the history of Western civilization, a book has accomplished that — raised the consciousness of individuals and changed the social structure. Why don’t you sum up the central message of the book for us?
WLP: The central message of the book is that every self-respecting adult has to accept his responsibility for what’s going on in the world around him. He has to accept his responsibility as a guardian, as a caretaker, of his people’s heritage. He has to accept his responsibility for what the future will be like, for the type of world that his children and grandchildren will live in. He has to start being a participant instead of an observer. And I think that if a large enough number of people take that message to heart, this whole house of cards that has been misgoverning and misinforming our people for so long can be brought tumbling down.
JS: So that was your intention, I suppose, when you wrote the book 20 years ago.
WLP: It was indeed my intention to inform people as to my vision of what the future would hold for us, and also to motivate them to do something about changing that future.
JS: Dr. Pierce, you said you wrote The Turner Diaries because you had a message — you wanted to wake people up. You wanted to change the System here in America and motivate people to take action. Now one of the issues the press has raised about The Turner Diaries is that they believe that Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, took his action based on one of the scenes in the book, and that the book motivated him to blow up the federal building in Oklahoma City. What’s your reaction to that?
WLP: Well, of course, I have no way of knowing what’s going on, or what went on, in Mr. McVeigh’s mind. I’ve never spoken with him. I think the only person who can answer that question is Timothy McVeigh. Perhaps some of that information will come out in the trial. The book has been represented as some sort of a plan or “blueprint” for overthrowing the government. And because specific actions are described in the plot of the book, people have suggested that the book is intended to incite people to blow up buildings, and assassinate people, and so on. That’s simply not the case. I think it’s really stretching things to imagine that a fictional incident that I concocted in my mind 20 years ago would be used as a detailed plan for an actual terrorist act today.
JS: I watched the 60 Minutes segment that they did on you, and they had Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center make a comment about The Turner Diaries and, of course, he managed to get on tape that as soon as he heard about the Oklahoma City Bombing, he thought about The Turner Diaries. That seemed to me, when I heard it, like a pure setup. They were looking for some way to tie you in with this type of terrorist activity — looking for an excuse to do it, is what I thought.
WLP: Well, that may be so. I’m sure that there are a lot of people on the left, including Morris Dees, who would like to lump together into one monolithic conspiracy all of the people to the right of Jimmy Carter.
But I tried to be realistic when I was writing the book. I tried to put myself into the skin of the protagonist, and have him do things the way that I thought he would do them in the fictional situation described in the book. So, for example, when I would describe a bombing that took place in the course of the guerilla warfare that’s described in the book, I would try to figure out what kind of bombing would make the most sense: How would you go about it? How would you assemble the materials? And so on. So, I thought, if I wanted to blow up the FBI headquarters in Washington, I would use a truck bomb to do it. Partly that is based on my analysis of the situation, and partly it’s based on the fact that a truck bomb is the traditional tool of the terrorist who wants to destroy a large target. So I thought, “How I would make a truck bomb?” I did it in my mind. But I did it in a way that any sensible person who wanted to do that — would probably do something along similar lines. Because there are not too many different ways you can make a truck bomb.
JS: That’s true. In other words, what you’re saying is that you did the job that any good author would do — you researched your subject and wrote it up as realistically as possible.
WLP: That’s right. That’s what I tried to do. And, of course, if you look at our recent history, starting with the bombing of the Marine barracks in Lebanon, then the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York, then the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City, and most recently the bombing of the residential quarters for our military people in Saudi Arabia — truck bombs were used in every case, because that’s the logical choice for a knowledgeable terrorist.
JS: Did the press ever question whether or not the folks who blew up the World Trade Center were motivated by The Turner Diaries?
WLP: No, they never did that. [laughter] I think they probably didn’t want to get into the motivation of the people who blew up the World Trade Center. Those people were obviously acting to send the government a message that they didn’t appreciate our government supporting the government of Israel in the killing of their women and children over there in the Middle East. And I don’t think the press likes to get into those things.
But in the case of the Oklahoma City Bombing, where the principal suspect had some very strong grievances against the government here based on the massacre at Waco, and perhaps other things that we don’t know about yet — I think they are more willing to discuss those things.
JS: Most of the press attention has been focused on the Oklahoma City bombing and their suspicion that Timothy McVeigh may have been motivated by reading The Turner Diaries. But there is a lot more to that book than just one episode of a truck bombing, isn’t there?
WLP: Yes. Since the book was being published in installments, just one chapter a month, I really had to have some big action event in every chapter to maintain interest. And the blowing up of the FBI headquarters in Washington with a truck bomb was just one chapter.
JS: What are some of the other scenes that are in the book that may come to pass in our lives today?
WLP: Well, I don’t know about specific scenes. I was not trying in the details of the plot to predict anything. I wasn’t trying to predict, for example, that the FBI headquarters would be blown up with a truck bomb. What I was predicting was that we would see the commencement of political terrorism in the United States on a significant scale. And that is what is coming to pass. But the details of that terrorism are something that, of course, no one can predict. One can put oneself inside the mind of a potential terrorist and imagine: What targets would he seek out? How would he go after those targets? That is what I did in the book. But that was 20 years ago, and I could not foresee in fine detail the way in which everything would develop over that long a period of time.
What I did see was a growing realization on the part of the average American that the System just wasn’t working — that the future was in very severe jeopardy — that his children would have no place in the sort of world that the New World Order folks were trying to build. I saw that more and more people would become aware of just what “multiculturalism” and “diversity” and all these other buzzwords that they have been hearing would really mean in terms of the destruction of everything that has value to them — the destruction of all their traditions — the destruction of their sense of identity as a people — the perversion of all the institutions of American life. I predicted that more and more people would see this, realize the significance of this, and react in one way or another to this.
And I think we’re seeing that. Part of it is just a generalized alienation; people becoming more individualistic, more egoistic, withdrawing from any sense of responsibility to any larger entity than themselves or their immediate families. We’re seeing that sort of thing, and we’re also seeing more and more people deciding that they have to do something about what’s happening. We’re seeing, for example, the growth of the militia movement.
JS: What would you tell the listeners out there who agree with you? Everybody in this country can see that America is going straight down the tubes and the future for the next generation is very bleak. And you have proven, as the author of The Turner Diaries, to be a very prophetic man, if I can say that, in seeing where all of these trends are going. But what would you tell our listeners? What can our listeners do to help turn this situation around? If they already know that we’re in desperate trouble, what can we do about it?
WLP: I think we need to keep in mind that historical changes are usually made by minorities — sometimes very small minorities. And we may fall into the trap of feeling overwhelmed when we see the government and when we see the media in monolithic opposition to the things that we feel are valuable, the things that we feel are important. But remember that the government and the media — I mean the people who control those institutions — are a very tiny minority of the population themselves. And if we can organize the people who have a sense of responsibility, who have a sense of traditional values, into an effective force for fighting these people who are destroying the country — who are destroying our future — then we can whip them.
So what we’re trying to do in the National Alliance is not only wake people up, not only educate people, but motivate them to begin participating in an organized way in an effort to reclaim our future and rebuild our world.
JS: Dr. Pierce, what you’re describing is a world where there are small groups of people who understand what’s going on, and those small groups are organized in opposition to each other, whereas the great mass of humanity may be drifting along or asleep. There are some people in that small group that you’re describing that want to keep our culture, want to keep our traditions, and not have the American culture destroyed. But they shouldn’t feel that they’re the only ones who think that way. They may be in the minority, but don’t you think that throughout history that that’s been the way it’s worked?
WLP: Yes, it’s always been that way. As I said a minute ago, history is made by minorities. It’s only a minority of people who really understand what’s happening in the world, who really understand the dynamics of what’s going on. And unless one understands what’s happening, one really cannot play a role in the historical process, cannot take a hand in shaping the future. So that is our most important task at this time: to try and help people understand what’s going on — and then organize those people who have come to understand what’s happening into an effective force for making some changes.
JS: And our listeners can start that education by reading The Turner Diaries and other materials available from the National Alliance. Dr. Pierce, thank you for being with me tonight.
WLP: It’s my pleasure.
* * *
You’ve been listening to Dr. William Pierce discussing his groundbreaking book, The Turner Diaries, which is now available as a high-quality newly-remastered audio book, read by Dr. Pierce himself. In the audio version of the broadcast, you can listen to a promotional radio ad and a short sample from this important work.
You can order your very own copy of this newly-remastered mp3-CD of William Pierce’s The Turner Diaries — a complete and unabridged copy of the entire book, over ten hours in length — for only $20 postpaid ($30 outside the US). You can order online at http://natall.com/td or you can send $20 ($30 outside the US) to National Alliance, Box 172, Laurel Bloomery TN 37680 USA.
* * *
You’ve been listening to American Dissident Voices, the radio program of the National Alliance. The National Alliance is working to educate White men and women around the world as to the nature of the reality we must face — and organizing our people to ensure our survival and advancement. We need your help to continue. Please send the largest contribution you can afford to National Alliance, Box 172, Laurel Bloomery, TN 37680 USA. Make your life count. You can also donate by visiting natall.com/donate. Once again, our postal address is Box 172, Laurel Bloomery, TN 37680 USA. Until next week, this is Kevin Alfred Strom reminding you: When you look at the night sky, think of ORION — Our Race Is Our Nation.106 MPH tornado-force wind gust recorded in Sierra Nevada Thursday morning
The wind is howling in the Sierra Nevada.
The National Weather Service recorded a 106 MPH gust atop Slide Mountain at 8:30 a.m. Thursday. The burst of wind hit at 9,650-feet elevation near Mount Rose Ski Tahoe resort between Lake Tahoe and southwest Reno. That gust would have been an F1 tornado had it been cyclonic and sustained.
Almost nearly as strong, a 104 MPH gust swept an area at 7,000-feet elevation just north of Lee Vining and Mono Lake at 4 a.m. Thursday.
In the more populated area of Truckee, the strongest gale recorded Thursday was 48 MPH. At 8,700 feet at Squaw Valley Ski Resort, the winds are sustained at about 25 MPH and the strongest gust to hit was 99 MPH.
RELATED GALLERY: San Franciscans complain about cold weather with hilarious results on Twitter
The view from the web camera at Sugar Bowl on Dec. 15, 2016. The view from the web camera at Sugar Bowl on Dec. 15, 2016. Photo: TahoeTopia.com Photo: TahoeTopia.com Image 1 of / 55 Caption Close 106 MPH tornado-force wind gust recorded in Sierra Nevada Thursday morning 1 / 55 Back to Gallery
A storm that swooped into Northern California and the Sierra Nevada Thursday morning are bringing the windy conditions.
"This is pretty common around here in a big storm," says Tony Fuentes, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Reno. "Basically we have a pretty potent system that's moving in. When we get these strong winds, we have a strong jet stream pushing across the Sierra."
The National Weather Service issued advisories warning the public of 20 to 35 MPH winds with gusts reaching 80 MPH in wind-prone areas of the northern Sierra Nevada.
Fuentes says the winds will diminish late Thursday afternoon into Friday morning.The government should be ashamed of itself.
It’s not often that a self-respecting journalist can write that phrase, not least of which one that considers himself aggressively non-partisan. If we do, we can usually expect a guest role in the next Conservative party fundraising email.
But the government has spent the last several years actively thwarting the democratic will of Parliament by kneecapping a bill that would afford human rights protections to transgender people. And that’s unconscionable.
Even though the Senate committee is studying the bill, it doesn’t look good for C-279.
Bill C-279 is an NDP initiative that, simply put, affords trans people the same rights as other minorities. It would allow them to file complaints to the Human Rights Commission if discriminated against, and it would make committing or advocating violence against trans people, because of their gender, a hate crime.
You know, crazy stuff that would up-end our civilization as we know it, allowing dogs to marry brooms and whatnot.
These are protections every other minority already has. I get fired for gaying it up at work, for example, I could file a complaint against my employer. Or, if I’m attacked by a hate-driven neo-Nazi, the community could rest assured knowing that the law would lock him up and throw away the key.
Adding to the why-haven’t-you-passed-this-yet column is the fact that six of the provinces, including Ontario, have already adopted these provisions on the provincial level.
These simple, but powerful, changes are being opposed by this stubborn government.
Led by their flatfooted captain, a gaggle of bleating goats from Canada’s increasingly-irrelevant cult of social conservatism have dubbed this legislation “the bathroom bill,” arguing that it would allow men to wander into women’s changerooms with impunity. An Ontario man, they squawked gleefully, tried to get entry to a women’s shelter by claiming he was trans and he’s protected by the Ontario law!
Baloney. That man was arrested and sentenced to indefinite detention as a dangerous sex offender after a judge, as well as everyone else, agreed that he was not actually transgender.
The more reasonable Conservatives, however, have argued that the bill is merely unnecessary, as courts and tribunals already read protections for trans people into the existing laws, under the “sex” and “disability” classes.
But aside from the obviously offensive pretext of calling trans people disabled, it’s obvious that writing in these protections would have a huge impact. Indeed, they may have helped in the case of Shelby Tracy Tom, a trans woman who was strangled to death and dumped in an alley by a man who killed her because he saw the scars from her sexual reassignment surgery. He copped to manslaughter, serving just four-and-a-half-years, as there appeared to be no initiative to try that murder as a hate crime, even as the judge admitted that he killed Tom because she was trans.
Most police services don’t even report the number of crimes committed against trans people.
But not all Conservatives who are culpable in this; 18 supported the bill and, with their support, it passed the House of Commons.
Which is where the real offence comes in: the Senate is killing it.
The Senate Liberals, as well as several Conservatives, are trying to get it brought forward again to be voted on, but the government in the Senate is stalling. It’s increasingly likely that C-279 will simply die on the garish carpets of the red chamber, bludgeoned to death by a pig-headed government.
It’s incredibly clear that this is the work of the Prime Minister’s Office — evidenced by the fact MPs were given talking points insisting that “there is no need for a societal debate” on adding these protections for trans people.
The octogenarian bagmen in our broom-closet of so-called ‘sober second thought’ are thwarting a bill passed by our elected Members of Parliament to give people human rights protections, because the Prime Minister is telling them to.
For a government supposedly so endeared to reforming our national democratic hangover, and professedly so excited about their newfound friendship with the LGBTQ community, this is a case of petulant hypocrisy.
Angrily throw something out a window or flip a table, because this isn’t how our democracy is supposed to work.
Justin Ling is a freelance journalist. Twitter.com/Justin_Ling.Amir Khan will fight at middleweight for the first time when he takes on Canelo Alvarez at a catchweight 15lbs
The WBC has defended Canelo Alvarez's catchweight contest with Amir Khan after criticism from Gennady Golovkin's trainer.
Khan made his name at lightweight and is moving into uncharted territory to fight for Alvarez's middleweight belt on May 7, but the WBC has sanctioned a 155lbs limit - five pounds under the statutory maximum.
Unbeaten IBF and WBA champion Golovkin is mandatory challenger for the WBC title, but there have been repeated warnings from his team that he will not surrender a natural size advantage by fighting at a compromise weight.
That point was last week reinforced by trainer Abel Sanchez, who said "'GGG' will not bow to diva demands and will fight at 160."
Johnny Nelson, Adam Smith and Ed Robinson discuss the big news of the week Johnny Nelson, Adam Smith and Ed Robinson discuss the big news of the week
But WBC boss Mauricio Sulaiman says the Canelo-Khan agreement is within the rules and will produce "a sensational fight".
He told World Boxing News: "The fight is for the WBC middleweight championship and if there is any weight agreement, such is a private contract between the fighters.
Gennady Golovkin's trainer has warned he will not drop below 160lbs for Alvarez
"The division limit is 160, so any weight lower than that is considered as official and within the rules.
"Canelo versus Khan is a sensational fight. Amir Khan has tremendous ability, speed, ring generalship and vast experience in major fights, whilst Canelo is coming from his biggest fight in defeating Miguel Cotto last November."At a glance, the criminal experiences of Kenneth “Sonny” Martin and Anthony Michael Dailey appear strikingly similar.
Both are young men who caused car crashes in which people died. Both were charged with vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol. At sentencing hearings in court, both Martin and Dailey faced the same judge.
But the similarities end there. Dailey is serving a 30-year prison sentence, the maximum penalty allowed by law. Martin, on the other hand, avoided serving time in prison altogether.
Their disparate cases show that one-size-fits-all punishments don't apply in alcohol-related vehicular homicide cases, which are often complex and can vary from case to case.
Twenty-five Montanans have been convicted in the last four years of the felony charge of vehicular homicide while under the influence, cases that resulted in 31 deaths, according to records maintained by the Department of Corrections. The defendants have received punishments ranging from 30 years in prison to no time behind bars.
In August 2005, Martin, of Missoula became the first person in Montana to be charged with vehicular homicide while under the influence when he caused the drunken-driving deaths of his two closest friends - Trent Robinson, 22, and Seth Mineo, 21.
The three men had been drinking gin and tonics at several bars when, at around 2 a.m., Martin raced his Subaru down Johnson Street and crashed into a parked pickup truck near the intersection of 13th Street. He continued driving several blocks before stopping the car. When police arrived, he was walking around outside the vehicle, crying and yelling, “I'm guilty, I'm sorry.” Robinson and Mineo were trapped inside the car, and were later pronounced dead at the scene.
Martin was arrested and charged with two felony counts of vehicular homicide, for which he faced a maximum penalty of 60 years in the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. Prior to a statute enacted by the Montana Legislature earlier that year, the charge would have been defined as negligent homicide, which carries a lesser sentence of 20 years.
But six months after his arrest, the family members of both victims met with Martin in a Missoula County prosecutor's office. Together, they worked out a plea agreement that called for a term of 30 years in the Department of Corrections with all but five years suspended, sparing Martin from serving time in the Montana State Prison. Instead, he's serving his sentence in a prerelease center and is permitted to leave for work and school.
“We just wanted to give Sonny a second chance,” said Jan Robinson, Trent's mother. “We just feel as though this was a horrible, tragic incident. We are very thankful that Sonny won't be going to Deer Lodge.”
Although 4th Judicial District Judge Doug Harkin accepted the agreement, he just as easily could have rejected it, noting that “if it had not been acceptable to the family members, I can assure you I would not have followed” the plea bargain.
The plea bargain also prohibits Martin from driving for a period of 30 years and requires him to devote 600 hours of his time speaking to teenagers about the dangers of alcohol.
“Judges look at the criminal histories of the defendants, but they also look at what the family members of the victims want,” said Deputy Missoula County Attorney Jennifer Clark, who has prosecuted several vehicular homicide cases in Missoula. “The more lenient sentences are often in line with what the victims wanted.”
Judges considering sentences in alcohol-related vehicular homicide cases must also weigh factors such as the driver's prior convictions, the recklessness of the crime and whether the defendants show remorse for the crime.
In 12 of the 25 cases, a judge recommended Corrections Department supervision, as opposed to prison time. There are five instances where none of a sentence was suspended. The shortest sentence is six years on probation; the longest is the maximum of 30 years in prison.
The average age at the time of the offenses is just under 33 years.
Read more.
If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. By TRISTAN SCOTT of the MissoulianAt a glance, the criminal experiences of Kenneth “Sonny” Martin and Anthony Michael Dailey appear strikingly similar.Both are young men who caused car crashes in which people died. Both were charged with vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol. At sentencing hearings in court, both Martin and Dailey faced the same judge.But the similarities end there. Dailey is serving a 30-year prison sentence, the maximum penalty allowed by law. Martin, on the other hand, avoided serving time in prison altogether.Their disparate cases show that one-size-fits-all punishments don't apply in alcohol-related vehicular homicide cases, which are often complex and can vary from case to case.Twenty-five Montanans have been convicted in the last four years of the felony charge of vehicular homicide while under the influence, cases that resulted in 31 deaths, according to records maintained by the Department of Corrections. The defendants have received punishments ranging from 30 years in prison to no time behind bars.In August 2005, Martin, of Missoula became the first person in Montana to be charged with vehicular homicide while under the influence when he caused the drunken-driving deaths of his two closest friends - Trent Robinson, 22, and Seth Mineo, 21.The three men had been drinking gin and tonics at several bars when, at around 2 a.m., Martin raced his Subaru down Johnson Street and crashed into a parked pickup truck near the intersection of 13th Street. He continued driving several blocks before stopping the car. When police arrived, he was walking around outside the vehicle, crying and yelling, “I'm guilty, I'm sorry.” Robinson and Mineo were trapped inside the car, and were later pronounced dead at the scene.Martin was arrested and charged with two felony counts of vehicular homicide, for which he faced a maximum penalty of 60 years in the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. Prior to a statute enacted by the Montana Legislature earlier that year, the charge would have been defined as negligent homicide, which carries a lesser sentence of 20 years.But six months after his arrest, the family members of both victims met with Martin in a Missoula County prosecutor's office. Together, they worked out a plea agreement that called for a term of 30 years in the Department of Corrections with all but five years suspended, sparing Martin from serving time in the Montana State Prison. Instead, he's serving his sentence in a prerelease center and is permitted to leave for work and school.“We just wanted to give Sonny a second chance,” said Jan Robinson, Trent's mother. “We just feel as though this was a horrible, tragic incident. We are very thankful that Sonny won't be going to Deer Lodge.”Although 4th Judicial District Judge Doug Harkin accepted the agreement, he just as easily could have rejected it, noting that “if it had not been acceptable to the family members, I can assure you I would not have followed” the plea bargain.The plea bargain also prohibits Martin from driving for a period of 30 years and requires him to devote 600 hours of his time speaking to teenagers about the dangers of alcohol.“Judges look at the criminal histories of the defendants, but they also look at what the family members of the victims want,” said Deputy Missoula County Attorney Jennifer Clark, who has prosecuted several vehicular homicide cases in Missoula. “The more lenient sentences are often in line with what the victims wanted.”Judges considering sentences in alcohol-related vehicular homicide cases must also weigh factors such as the driver's prior convictions, the recklessness of the crime and whether the defendants show remorse for the crime.In 12 of the 25 cases, a judge recommended Corrections Department supervision, as opposed to prison time. There are five instances where none of a sentence was suspended. The shortest sentence is six years on probation; the longest is the maximum of 30 years in prison.The average age at the time of the offenses is just under 33 years.If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source.Blue Bottle Coffee, the specialty roaster that has become a favorite of hipster techies in the San Francisco area, has raised $25.75 million from a range of high-profile Internet players and also Morgan Stanley Investment Management.
The banking giant is not making the investment directly, but “on behalf of certain mutual funds and other investment vehicles for which it acts as Investment Adviser.”
Blue Bottle said it will use the funding to “expand retail operations, improve internal training programs and further develop its quality control department.”
This is Blue Bottle’s second round of funding, having previously raised just under $20 million in late 2012 from a range of high-profile entrepreneurs and VCs. Those include Google Ventures, Index Ventures and True Ventures, as well as Instagram’s Kevin Systrom, Twitter and Medium co-founder Evan Williams, investor Chris Sacca and skateboarding star Tony Hawk.
Why are the digerati so attracted to fancy coffee? Founded in nearby Oakland in 2002 by James Freeman, the micro-roaster brought its focus on Japanese-style siphon coffee preparation to the fast-growing retail genre with great success.
From one store, it now has five cafes in San Francisco and four in the New York City area, which also offer food, as well as a mobile farmer’s cart and a seasonal kiosk. Lines are typically out the door (see photo above).
Blue Bottle said it had signed more leases in Oakland, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Palo Alto and Los Angeles that will open over the next twelve months.
In addition to retail stores, Blue Bottle has a brisk online business. Only about 25 percent of its sales are in the wholesaling of its beans, an arena that it is wading into slowly and carefully.
All this growth largely came after Freeman, who is CEO of the privately-held Blue Bottle, partnered with Bryan Meehan, an Irish entrepreneur with deep ties in the tech community. Meehan is the company’s executive chairman.
In an interview, Freeman talked a lot about his goal to keep delivering high levels of customer service and quality, especially as Blue Bottle grows.
“We want to build our company, but also have the artisanship of it remain intact,” he said. “There is a growing interest and enthusiasm for specialty coffee, so we also want people to feel like it is also accessible.”
In that, Freeman declined to run down mega-coffee chains like Starbucks, despite Blue Bottle’s tonier image. “We all owe them a debt of gratitude, because — were it not for them — the concept of coffee as more than a side thing never would have happened,” he said.
That said, he also noted, keeping up a level of high quality will be key for Blue Bottle going forward. “We want people to taste the investment we are making,” said Freeman.
Blue Bottle did not provide current financials, but Freeman noted that same-store sales — that is, annual changes at stores already operating and a key indicator of success in retail — were robust.
“I can’t believe I’m talking about same-store sales,” he said, laughing. “And I also can’t believe we are here now, after starting out in the back of one store.”
(For more, here is a blog post on the whole shebang by True Ventures’ Tony Conrad — who is, IMHO, the coffee hipster poster boy — in which he notes loftily: “What we saw and why we got involved is that James and his team are part of a handful of people who are founding a movement around coffee … We believe Blue Bottle Coffee is at the forefront of a ‘consumer movement’ or mega-trend in which consumers are moving to higher quality, artisanal micro-roasters of coffee, where quality, attention to detail, beauty and a distinctive experience are being sought over more mainstream alternatives.” Viva la siphon, apparently!)Something serious happened this month to the cultural "drill baby drill" meme. In short, March was the month it became irrelevant. A |
said the planned move, confirmed by three other government officials, was being undertaken “for operational reasons.”
A CIA spokesman declined to comment. Other current and former intelligence officials said the Denver relocation reflects the desire of CIA Director Porter J. Goss to develop new ways to operate under cover, including setting up more front corporations and working closer with established international firms.
—
Update: “I am The Joker”
Via: AP:
Holmes was studying neuroscience in a Ph.D. program at the University of Colorado-Denver, university spokeswoman Jacque Montgomery said. Holmes enrolled a year ago and was in the process of withdrawing at the time of the shootings, Montgomery said.
ABC News reported that Holmes told police “I am the Joker,” according to NYPD police commissioner Ray Kelly. The report also says Holmes had died his hair like The Joker.
—End Update—
Via: CNN:
The man suspected of shooting up an Aurora, Colorado movie theater screening the new Batman film early Friday, killing 12 and wounding 59, also left his apartment rigged with traps, police said.
“It’s booby trapped with various incindiery and chemical devices and trip wires,” Aurora police chief Dan Oates said, adding that it could take days to work through the apartment safely.
Five buildings around suspect James E. Holmes’ Aurora apartment were evacuated, Oates said.
Police say Holmes, 24, dressed head-to-toe in protective tactical gear, set off two devices of some kind before spraying the theater with bullets from an AR-15 rifle, a 12-gauge shotgun and at least one of two.40-caliber handguns police recovered at the scene.
Oates said investigators are confident that Holmes acted alone.
The shooting unfolded inside a darkened theater packed with Batman fans, some in costume for the premiere of the movie “The Dark Knight Rises.” Screaming, panicked moviegoers scrambled to escape from the black-clad gunman, who wore a gas mask and randomly shot as he walked up the theater’s steps, witnesses said.
It was a scene “straight out of a horror film,” said Chris Ramos, who was inside the theater.
“He was just literally shooting everyone, like hunting season,” Ramos said.
Holmes surrendered without resistance within minutes of the first calls from panicked moviegoers reporting a shooting inside the Century 16 theater, Oates said. He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday, court officials said.
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You must be logged in to post a comment.Our last European away game, in Rome, did not go well, but the Blues have bounced back since with a pair of excellent results, and two clean sheets for Courtois to enjoy too.
Speaking on the eve of our next challenge, in the depths of the Olympic Stadium in Baku where we will take on Qarabag, the goalkeeper noted differences for both teams since we met in September, starting with Chelsea following the defeat in Italy.
‘I think the biggest change was maybe like last season against Arsenal when we lost 3-0 as well,’ Courtois said.
‘Maybe we were never fighting inside the game, or our mentality was not on point. We learned again in Rome we have to do it every game and maybe this year not 100 per cent, but 110 or 120 per cent to win those games.
‘Against Manchester United we showed if we have the mentality on point, and we play well, we win, and we win with good football. Against West Brom we had the same focus and will to do those extra metres. We have to continue doing that. I hope Rome was a learning point for everyone, and we continue having this focus throughout the season.’
Courtois then cast his mind back to our 6-0 victory against Qarabag and their subsequent, more impressive results in Europe.
‘The first game was their first in the Champions League. If you go to Chelsea, the champions, and maybe they were a bit [in awe]. We played a very good game as well, but I remember the first half was difficult for us.
‘After that they gave Roma a really tough game here, they drew twice against Atletico, so we know we face a difficult game.
‘They have changed a bit their tactics, they defend better, they have good strikers, and they are fast on the counter. I think they will give us the ball and try to make us make a mistake.
‘We are the favourites to win,' added Courtois. 'Our objective is to qualify tomorrow, so that means we have to win. For us it’s important to start very strong, to try to score early to put the pressure on them, and then hopefully we can have a good game and take the three points back to London.’
The Belgian reported the players are staying on English time here, which is four hours behind local time, and that will serve them well not only tomorrow, but also at the weekend when we travel to Anfield. He added he had a ‘good siesta’ on the long flight over and is feeling fresh, as was everyone at today’s training session at the Bakcell Arena, a smaller venue than the one we will play in tomorrow.0 SHARES Share Tweet
Kanadaya The BEST RAMEN in London?
I am a picky eater when it comes to Ramen. Ramen has often been associated with the most exciting food experiences of my life, as well as some of the most disappointing. The first being in Japan, the second being in London.
Over the years, Ramen restaurants have flourished in London and you will find a lot of restaurants offering what they describe as “Authentic” Ramen. The broth is often fade, the noodles plain, the pork dry and tasteless.
I have often heard and read about Kanadaya. Foodies and bloggers of London have often cited KanadaYa as the best Ramen restaurant in town. As with great reviews come great responsibilities. I have been avoiding KanadaYa too afraid to be disappointed by a London Japanese restaurant once again.
On a rainy Saturday, after some shopping around Chinatown, i was really craving for an authentic Japanese Ramen, so it was time to give KanadaYa a go.
Is KanadaYa really the Best Ramen in London?
KanadaYa: the restaurant
KanadaYa is a famous Ramen Shop located in the heart of London at St Giles High street near Tottenham court Road tube station.
Kanada-Ya originates from the Fukuoka prefecture in Japan. The name of the restaurant derivates from the name of his founder Kanada San. The legend says that Kanada-San was a professional Keirin racer (Cycle racing) who after a shoulder injury decided to become a Ramen master.
After several attempts to master the perfect broth, a visit to a Ramen school and years of practice and devotion Kanada-san opened in 2008 the first KanadaYa restaurant in the city of Yukuhashi.
His Ramen shop quickly became one of the most popular in Japan.
KanadaYa opened his first restaurant in London in September 2014 and has now two locations in the city: The original venue in 64 St Giles High street and, following the success of their first Restaurant another one has opened end of 2015 in Haymarket, 3 Panton Street.
You can read more about the story of Kanadaya on their website.
What you need to know about KanadaYa St Giles High Street (the one i have visited), is that the restaurant does not take reservation and has a small seating capacity (around 20+). People often queue outside of KanadaYa in order to get a seat.
The Menu
The menu at Kanadaya revolves around Ramen. They offer 6 different types of Ramen from traditional Tonkotsu and Chashu-men to more original creations such as the Spicy Yuzu Ramen or Truffle Ramen.
Looking at the Ramen menu, we can notice that they advertise the broth to be, an 18 hours home made bone broth developed by their Ramen Master Mr.Kanada from Fukuoka Japan. We can now understand the importance of Tonkotsu Ramen at KanadaYa as the Tonkotsu Ramen originated from Fukuoka. It is an important distinction to make for Ramen-Addict. As you might know the Tonkotsu ramen’s broth is usually on the Kottori (rich) side of heaviness in opposition to the Assari broth being lighter.
When ordering your Ramen you can choose the hardness of your noodle whether you like them Extra hard, hard, regular or soft (They do recommend you to order them hard). It is a common set up of Japan, and the sign of a good Ramen restaurant.
The price of the Ramen varies from £10.50 to £14.
Topping and extras are also available to order with your Ramen: Kaedama, Hanjuku Egg, Extra seaweed, Karamiso, Ma-yu and Spicy Yuzu paste.
In addition to the Ramen, KanadaYa serves small plates of dishes such as Kaarage (Japanese fried chicken), Edamame or Aburi Chashu (Pork belly). They also sell a plate of white rice with pork (Chashu-Don) and several types of Onigiri (Japanese rice ball).
One thing I like with the menu at KanadaYa is the fact that there are only a few items, which implies that they focus only on what they can do best. You do not have this trend of offering hundreds of items as it is the case in other Ramen shops in London. (The more items i see on a menu, the more careful i am about the quality of the food and the ingredients!).
My review: The Chashu-men
As mentioned above, i have visited KanadaYa on a Saturday afternoon, after a vital urge for authentic Japanese ramen. I went there at 4:45, fifteen minutes before the 5pm reopening and people were already queueing in front of the restaurant. Good sign!
After a look at the menu, i decided that i would try their Chashu-men (one of my favourite type of Ramen) with an additional Hanjuku egg. The service was super quick and my order arrived in 5 minutes with a cheerful smile.
First of all in terms of presentation, when the Chashu-men arrived it was looking like a proper Ramen (Finally!)! A sleek presentation with the right amount of toppings and an attractive creamy broth. I was ready for the tasting!
Let’s focus on the Broth first. It is for me the key element of a Ramen. A good broth can save bad noodles and pork, but a flavourless broth will ruin your Ramen experience no matter what.
In this case, the broth of the Chashu-men has been served at perfect temperature. In terms of thickness and creaminess, the broth was well balanced for a Chashu-men, it was rich but not too fat. Overall, the broth was tasty but lacked a bit of depth for my personal taste.
Regarding the noodles, based on their recommendation, i have ordered the “Hard” option. It was the right thing to do, they were really good. Perfect texture for proper Ramen noodles.
The pork (Chashu). Ok from my point of view the pork is often a hit or miss and is one of the key features of a good Ramen. The part of the pork served with the Chashu-men at KanadaYa is the collar. First thing i have noticed is the ratio Fat/Meat which is pretty honest (1/5). I hate it when Ramen Restaurants serve you slice of meats that are exclusively fat and almost no meat. In terms of texture, at first bite, their pork was dry. I have left the pork simmer for a few minute in the broth and it got a much nicer tender texture, it was ok.
The Hanjuku egg : Once again it is a hit, the egg is well cooked and the yolk is still creamy. The egg is a really good addition to the Chashu-men and it goes well with the broth. It gives a great mix of flavours, textures and a hot&cold combination.
Regarding the Toppings, they serve just the right amount of wood ear fungus, spring onion, and the nori on the side. I like the wood ear fungus who tend to add an additional texture to the dish.
On the side, you also have extra seasoning at disposition such as pickled red ginger (goes well with Tonkatsu). It is missing a few key elements but it is just my personal opinion.
In terms of Size, the portion of the Ramen is correct. It is filling but not too much. I haven’t tried to ask for Kaedama (an extra serving of noodles) to finish my broth. (I even wonder if they do it at KanadaYa?)
Price : At £16.50 for a ramen with an extra egg, KanadaYa is not cheap. It is quite pricey for a bowl of Ramen but it stays within London’ standard. In fact, when i think of the other awful Ramen joint where i could have wasted my money that day, i think i made a pretty good deal.
Overall, the experience at KanadaYa was good. I expected nothing less from the often cited Best Ramen restaurant in London. It did not amaze me, but it certainly did the job. For anyone looking for an authentic Ramen experience in London, Kanadaya is a good place to visit.
Conclusion :
I had really high expectation when i visited KanadaYa for the first time. If KanadaYa won’t remain one of my best Ramen experience. It is certainly a Must-try for anyone hoping to be served authentic Japanese Ramen in London. I will certainly visiting again!
Overall : 4/5
Taste : 4/5
Price for value : 4/5
The Restaurant : 4/5
Information :
Kanada-Ya Covent Garden
64 St Giles High Street, London, WC2H 8LE
tel: 0207 240 0232
http://www.kanada-ya.com/
Opening Hours :
Monday to Saturday : 12:00 – 15:00 / 17:00 – 22:30
Sunday : 12:00 – 20:30
Click Here if you want to read more about RamenJasper Maskelyne, grandson of John Nevil Maskelyne, was an invaluable resource to his native Britain during World War II. Maskelyne became an integral part of a special unit focused on the action along the Suez Canal. With his great knowledge of illusion, Maskelyne was able to devise ingenious- and very large scale- illusion systems that virtually made tanks invisible from the air, hid whole buildings full of ammunition and supplies, and even made an entire city vanish and reappear several miles away. Maskelyne joined the Royal Engineers at the start of the Second World War, thinking that his skills could be used to create camouflage. He convinced skeptical officers by creating the illusion of a German warship on the Thames using only mirrors and a model. The military eventually deployed him to the North African theatre in the Western Desert, although he spent most of his time there entertaining the troops. In January 1941, General Archibald Wavell created "A Force" for subterfuge and counterintelligence. Maskelyne was assigned to it and gathered a group of 14 assistants, including an architect, art restorer, carpenter, chemist, electrical engineer, electrician, painter, and stage-set builder. The group was nicknamed the "Magic Gang". The Magic Gang built a number of remarkably effective illusions. They used painted canvas and plywood to make jeeps look like tanks - with fake tank tracks - and make tanks look like trucks. They created illusions of whole armies and huge battleships. Maskelyne's largest illusion was to conceal Alexandria and the Suez Canal in order to misdirect German bombers. He built a mockup of the night-lights of Alexandria in a bay three miles away with fake buildings, lighthouse, and anti-aircraft batteries. To mask the Suez Canal, he built a revolving cone of mirrors that created a wheel of spinning light nine miles wide, meant to dazzle and disorient enemy pilots so that their bombs would fall off-target. In 1942, Maskelyn worked on Operation Bertram, before the battle of El Alamein. His task was to make German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel think that the attack was coming from the south, when in fact British General Bernard Montgomery planned to attack from the north. In the north, 1,000 tanks were disguised to look like common trucks. In the south, the Magic Gang created 2,000 fake tanks with convincing pyrotechnics. There was a fake railway line, fake radio conversations, and fake sounds of construction. They also built a fake water pipeline, made it look as if it would never be ready before the attack. The Magic Gang disbanded after the battle and, although Winston Churchill praised his efforts, Maskelyne did not receive the appreciation he deserved. He retired to Kenya, and lived his life as a favorite resident, giving driving instructions and magic lessons. Shown here is an example of the camouflage tactics he was able to devise. This is really a dimensional illustration of a tank, boosted with padding underneath. From the air, it was convincingly real to the German pilots. Maskelyne's wartime accomplishments were the subject of a 1983 book by David Fisher titled The War Magician. In early 2003, there was talk of making a feature film starring Tom Cruise, but the movie has yet to be made.Introduction
It's funny, when I did the first 120mm radiator fan roundup two months ago, I wasn't expecting quite the response it got. It was an interesting exercise that seemed worth sharing with the rest of you, and as it turned out, I was mostly right. What I wasn't prepared for was the avalanche of responses from both you and from vendors about the fans that were tested, or more appropriately, the fans that weren't tested. It was obvious there needed to be another run of fans, and that's just what I've done.
Ten new contenders; some pulled from my own stock, one pulled from retail, and some graciously and generously sent by vendors. The results from these fans will be added to what will wind up being absolutely massive comparison charts. There's an entrant from Scythe, Noctua's gold standard NF-F12, the Enermax Magma, and even a couple contenders from Cooler Master and Rosewill. Is there something available that's a better choice for Corsair's H80 120mm radiator, or are the stock fans still the most well-rounded option?
A lot of testing went into this round. Results are still comparable with the older results (and they most definitely will be compared with the older results), but the batch of fans I have available now are an even more eclectic blend. I'll tell you now that there are some results that turned out pretty much as expected, but some surprises and hidden gems here too.
Before we go on it's worth getting a refresher on the previous article. While the next page has the testing methodology again in its entirety, all but the most fundamental information on the original eight fans I tested with will be omitted for the sake of brevity.Last time I uploaded my resume to Monster.com and ran their "Career Advice" application it told me to start drinking and pray for The Rapture to come early.
It's true that as a freelance journalist you work hard and wear a lot of hats just to pay the bills. A lot of my job consists of looking for jobs. Thanks to the internet, this process has become easier and easier. Employers used to check credentials, now I just create a resume of barely verifiable jobs from long dead websites and send it en masse to anyone with an email address.
One job I got this way was writing a column for a small Australian gaming website-let's call it Boxingkangaroos.net. I've changed the address mostly because I don't want this story to get back to them, but also because I like the mental image of a boxing kangaroo. I think I saw it in a documentary, or maybe Looney Toons.
I guess if I had bothered to read the job description I probably wouldn't have bothered applying. They were looking for "A gurrl-gamer to round out their editorial staff." But since I rarely read past the job title I didn't know that until the editor-in-chief hired me a week later.
Marion,
Ted here. It's great to have a real female on the editorial team. I've read some of your writing and think that your unique perspective as a girl who also games is a real ASSet to the team. P.S. We're really interested in getting some headshots of you for your column, any chance you have some lying around?
I sure as hell didn't have any pictures of myself as a young woman. I didn't like the deceit, but money is money, and if they liked my writing, it shouldn't matter that my name is somewhat misleading, right? Well, I decided that I'd better find a way to become an 18 year old female gamer.
The question then was "where do you go when you want to become a hot teenage girl?" The answer, of course, was The Internet. For a small fee, a guy in Turkey would cut the head off any celebrity and fuse it to the naked body of a porn star. While I admired his site filled with a collection of famous lesbians "batting for the other team" he suggested a sort of composite photo. A set of eyes from Reese Witherspoon, Penelope Cruz' nose and a healthy dash of Jennifer Lopez (not that part). The whole affair was a bit macabre - I could imagine that the guy could have a healthy career in another life as either a plastic surgeon or Dr. Frankenstein.
The doctored photo was convincing enough to be worth the 13 dollars. And after Boxingkangaroo received my photo, they were thoroughly ready to give me some work. My first article was about what women really think about female character design in games? Ms. Cox pretty much felt the same way Mr. Cox did: "Who doesn't like boobs?"
The picture, and the article, went over well with my editor. He claimed it was one of the most "surprisingly lucid" things he's ever read by a woman writer. I wasn't sure if I felt insulted or not. What exactly was a surprise? Is lucid even a compliment?
But my second article didn't fare so well. Perhaps I'd gotten a little too into character when I followed up with an article called Girls Kick Ass...assins Creed 2. The article was about the roles of women in the game and how the women in Ezio's life merely amounted to a place to collect money from and drop off trash that was cluttering up your doublet.The whole gang’s here! Lineart was done by Anthony (Fairytalesartist), Coloring was done by Quirky-Middle-Child, and Background and Lighting were done by Sendrax. Thank you guys for such an amazing piece to celebrate this incredible achievement!
Wow.
Just… wow.
We’re here. We made it.
In less than nine months, we’ve managed to reach two million pageviews.
I’m just astounded. I’ve said this over and over every time we reach a new milestone, but believe me, I say it because I mean it each time.
Thank you. Thank you all! None of this would be possible without your continued love and support for this site! I made it on a whim, but it’s grown to be so much more than I could have ever hoped for.
Thank you!
Well, I think this deserves a victory toot-toot. What do you say?
Aw, who am I kidding?
Onwards to Three Million! And until then, remember, as always…
Try Everything!
~Andy LagopusIt is, as I understand it, fairly customary for each new presidential administration to rewrite the Executive Order on classification. George W Bush didn’t do so right away — he finalized his classification EO on March 23, 2003. Obama moved a bit more quickly, superseding the Bush EO with his own classification EO on December 29, 2009.
But even among the flood of Executive Orders that Trump has signed thus far in his term, I don’t believe he has modified the Obama one.
That means a change made in 2003, which was retained in the Obama EO, remains in place: the inclusion of the Vice President among those who is and can name Original Classification Authorities (here’s Bill Clinton’s EO for comparison). Here’s the language that gave Dick Cheney classification authorities:
Classification Authority. (a) The authority to classify information originally may be exercised only by: (1) the President and, in the performance of executive duties, the Vice President;
And here’s how Obama slightly tweaked that language to retain that authority for Joe Biden:
a) The authority to classify information originally may be exercised only by: (1) the President and the Vice President;
Now, Cheney got this authority at an interesting time. That was a key time for Torture cover-up; in fact, sometime in that period, someone in the White House ordered George Tenet to make torture a Special Access Program. He was already pushing back against the CIA whistleblowers who knew the intelligence behind Iraq was crap, an effort that would lead to Scooter Libby sharing Valerie Plame’s identity with Judy Miller on Cheney’s orders (it remains unclear whether Cheney had Bush’s permission to leak this). Yet for some reason, the new classification rules appear most closely connected with Stellar Wind (I believe this had to do with a change in whom Stellar Wind could target).
In any case, from that moment forward, the Vice President has had the authority to classify things. As you can imagine, given Cheney’s role in the Plame outing, there was a heated and still publicly unresolved debate whether the Vice President also got declassification authorities, including of things that the President or Presidential authority had classified.
I raise this issue because more and more people have started raising questions about whether Mike Pence is sabotaging Donald Trump, especially as leaks like this come out of the White House.
President Trump told Russian officials in the Oval Office this month that firing the F.B.I. director, James B. Comey, had relieved “great pressure” on him, according to a document summarizing the meeting. “I just fired the head of the F.B.I. He was crazy, a real nut job,” Mr. Trump said, according to the document, which was read to The New York Times by an American official. “I faced great pressure because of Russia. That’s taken off.” Mr. Trump added, “I’m not under investigation.” The conversation, during a May 10 meeting — the day after he fired Mr. Comey — reinforces the notion that Mr. Trump dismissed him primarily because of the bureau’s investigation into possible collusion between his campaign and Russian operatives. Mr. Trump said as much in one televised interview, but the White House has offered changing justifications for the firing. The White House document that contained Mr. Trump’s comments was based on notes taken from inside the Oval Office and has been circulated as the official account of the meeting. One official read quotations to The Times, and a second official confirmed the broad outlines of the discussion.
If Pence believes — perhaps based on knowledge personally imparted by Cheney allies — that he has the ability to declassify anything that the President can, then he can leak details of White House events with utter impunity. Having him insta-declassify things would be a fairly safe way to feed the never-ending stream of embarrassing information coming out of the White House.
Oh, sure. He’d have utterly venal motive to do so. By feeding the Trump Russian scandal, Pence would make it increasingly likely he’d become President without having to expose his regressive views to the review of voters. But there’s nothing Trump could do about it so long as an EO granting Pence the same authorities that Cheney abused to great effect remains on the book.Two weeks on from the disappointing draw against Torino, Inter reclaimed second spot in the Serie A table by defeating Atalanta 2-0 at San Siro. Matt Clark’s match recap can be found by clicking here, while below you can read our player ratings from another successful night for the Nerazzurri.
Starting XI
Samir Handanovic - 6.5
Thankfully Samir didn’t have to do too much this evening, restricted to ‘normal’ saves on Hateboer in the first half and Petagna in the second. But whenever he’s needed, he’s there. Clean sheet number six of the season for him.
Danilo D’Ambrosio - 7.5
Underneath the mountain of criticism Gian Piero Ventura received last week for not starting Lorenzo Insigne in either of Italy’s playoff matches against Sweden, he did also receive a little criticism for having left D’Ambrosio out of both matchday squads. That is testament to how much more highly he is rated now than he was around 18 months ago, and the change in public opinion is fully justified.
It’s difficult to remember a better performance in an Inter shirt. Quality and quantity in abundance on the right wing, capped off by his magnificent assist for Icardi’s second goal. Always committed to the cause and indefatigable from a physical point of view. Chapeau.
Milan Skriniar - 7
Copy and paste whatever we’ve said about him after any of the other 12 games this season. Again he did everything and again he did everything well; if he wasn’t the signing of the summer in Serie A then I’d like to know who was.
Miranda - 7
One of his best performances all season, if not the best. Ilicic spent the entire match trying to open up space for a shot on his left foot and Miranda on almost all occasions prevented him from doing that; much, much better than in recent weeks. Let’s hope it’s not a flash in the pan.
Having said that there was one mistake Miranda made in this match: he didn’t get himself booked. Now he’ll be walking a very nervy disciplinary tightrope against Chievo next Sunday - pick up a yellow card in that match and he’ll be suspended for the Derby d’Italia the week after...
Davide Santon - 6
The superlative praise Spalletti reserved for him during his press conference gave us a pretty good idea of who’d be starting at left-back on Sunday, and sure enough Santon was awarded his first start of the season. And all things considered, he repaid his coach’s faith in him: nothing flashy but nothing disastrous either. Bentornato Davide.
Matias Vecino - 6
For once he looked like a conventional defensive midfielder, instead of the rampant jack of all trades who constantly rotates between three different positions throughout the match (for a more in-depth look at this aspect of Vecino’s game, look out for the piece we’re publishing on him later in the week). He didn’t catch the eye but he did his bit.
Roberto Gagliardini - 6
Atalanta will never be an opponent like all of the others for him and perhaps it affected him subconsciously. Like in the match against Verona before the international break (and to a lesser extent against Torino) his passing was inaccurate, despite never playing at a particularly high tempo. But even when he’s misplacing passes he helps the team maintain a certain degree of balance. Decent overall.
Antonio Candreva - 6.5
Unlike against Sweden on Monday his crossing was mostly precise and pertinent, culminating in the assist for Icardi’s opening goal. Castagne and Cristante gradually got to grips with him as the game went on but he still contributed more than enough. One of Inter’s most in-form players in this phase of the season.
Borja Valero - 6.5
An unsuccessful first half, in which he failed to influence Inter’s build-up play in the manner he normally does, followed by an impressive second half. Borja will never be left on the bench for as long as he has two fully-functioning legs and tonight was another demonstration of why. Class.
Ivan Perisic - 6
Another game in which Ivan didn’t offer much going forward, at least not until he almost smashed in a third goal in stoppage time. But nowadays he’s helpful even when he’s not tearing defences apart; always diligent in defence. ‘A humble champion’, as he’s been called a lot lately.
Mauro Icardi - 8
Is there anything new we can say tonight? I don’t think so. Inter were struggling to break Atalanta down and so he decided to do it almost on his own, which is what world class players do when their team isn’t firing on all cylinders. Yet another match-winning brace to add to his collection, despite not having fully recovered from the knee injury sustained against Torino. He’s a monster. And not a nasty one.
Substitutes
Marcelo Brozovic - 6
Replaced Candreva for the final quarter-hour and did his bit for the team, without any significant contributions.
Joao Mario - N/A
Came on too late to warrant a grade.
Éder - N/A
Came on too late to warrant a grade.
Manager
Luciano Spalletti - 7
We’re now 13 games into the season and Inter are unbeaten, -2 off the top of the table, +2 on Juventus and +14 on Milan. None of those things would have been imaginable three months ago but all four have come to pass, and it is largely thanks to him.
Inter do not take your breath away like perhaps other teams do, but they’re solid as heck and know how to win difficult matches. After an underwhelming first half they took the game by the scruff of its neck and refused to loosen their grip until the points were in the bag, which is indicative of the work Spalletti has done on these players’ heads. He’s made them feel almost invincible.
#Spalletti: "Naming the same XI for five games in a row was a deliberate ploy to try and make certain players feel irreplaceable and improve their self-esteem. then when you've done that it becomes easier to change one or two players every so often" — Serpents of Madonnina (@SerpentsOfInter) November 19, 2017
Man of the Match - Mauro Icardi
Riccardo Trevisani and Daniele Adani ended their match commentary for Sky Sport tonight with the following exchange:
“I refuse to even ask you who the Man of the Match is tonight, Daniele.”
“And I refuse to even tell you, Riccardo.”
“We’ve had this conversation before, haven’t we?”
Nobody played badly, let’s be clear, but as far as Sunday’s star performer is concerned there is not even the slightest hint of a contest. We have one of the best centre-forwards in the world on our hands.Bethesda has given PC users the tools to unlock The Evil Within's built-in 30fps cap, but we couldn't help but wonder - just how much computational power is required to double the game's frame-rate and produce a sustained, consistent 60fps experience at 1080p? It turns out that our PC test rig - fitted with a Core i7 3770K overclocked to 4.3GHz and matched with 16GB of DDR3 - couldn't handle it, not even when outfitted with the GeForce GTX 980, the fastest single-chip graphics card available on the market today.
What's curious is that despite The Evil Within's apparently mammoth system requirements for the best experience, what looks like a straight, under-optimised PC conversion works fairly well with entry-level enthusiast hardware. As we've seen in the past, a hard 30fps lock can give both CPU and GPU a lot of "wiggle room" - and in the case of The Evil Within, a lowly Core i3 4130 paired with a £100 GTX 750 Ti produces an experience very close indeed to the PS4 version. The problem is scalability - while it's relatively straightforward to maintain 30fps at higher resolutions with a good enthusiast card, locking to 60fps at 1080p just wasn't possible on any of the hardware configurations we tested.
In the video below, you'll find a broad overview of the components we tested and the results gained. In addition to the GTX 750 Ti, 760 and 980, we've also played the game on other enthusiast-level top-line GPUs, including the GTX 780 and the AMD Radeon R9 290X - and unfortunately none of them sustain anything approaching a flawlessly smooth 1080p60 update.
Right now, resolution seems to be the only dimension in scalability available - certainly in terms of quality presets, there's nothing here that significantly moves image quality beyond PlayStation 4 standard. And that's a real shame. There are three anti-aliasing settings - FXAA, MLAA and SMAA - but none of them do a particularly good job in tackling the myriad aliasing issues the game features. Forcing multi-sampling (MSAA) via the GPU control panel also fails to refine image quality to any noticeable extent, while Nvidia's built-in super-sampling technology - DSR - also seems non-functional on this particular title.
The Evil Within tested across multiple CPUs and GPUs reveals a game that can hit PlayStation 4 standards relatively easily, but seems incapable of locking at 1080p60, no matter what hardware we threw at it.
Bethesda has warned of issues in utilising the built-in tools that allow PC users to dabble with the technical set-up of the game, but has made noises about getting the game to run at 60fps. Based on what we've been playing over the last couple of days, that is looking like a gargantuan optimisation effort. In the here and now, The Evil Within joins the ranks of a steadily growing number of disappointing PC conversions, where achieving console-style image quality and performance is relatively straightforward on mid-range gaming PCs, but scaling up beyond the 30fps console standard to a locked 60fps proves inordinately difficult.
In the case of The Evil Within, it's a little strange, bearing in mind that the id Tech 5 engine on which it is based was designed by John Carmack and his colleagues with 60fps gameplay in mind - to the point where Jens Matthies, Creative Director at Machine Games noted that the technology effectively forced them into running Wolfenstein: The New Order at 60fps.
What's clear is that the engine has been dramatically altered for this new game - The Evil Within's lighting system is quite unlike any other id Tech 5 title's - but regardless, the performance bottlenecks we encountered in the PC version are deeply disappointing. Our tests here continue, and we hope to post our full Xbox One/PS4/PC comparison in the next couple of days. |
committee pointed out that while court proceedings are still ongoing the court appointed administrator continues to occupy the PFF offices and to control its accounts.
“Therefore, the committee decided that if the PFF offices and access to the PFF accounts are not returned to the PFF leadership led by Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat by JuIy 31, 2017, it would recommend to the FIFA Council to suspend the PFF for contravening its obligations under articles 14 and 19 of the FIFA Statutes,” the spokesman added.
Due to the conflict between the FIFA-recognised PFF led by Faisal and Arshad Lodhi group, Pakistan has been a non-playing nation for the last 26 months. If Pakistan is suspended it will aggravate the misery of the players and the whole football community.
The conflict emerged after the controversial elections of Punjab Football Association (PFA) in April 2015. When the federal minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Riaz Pirzada was contacted he said the IPC ministry and Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) had distanced themselves from the issue. “You may recall suspension was looming as a result of the conflict between the PSB and Pakistan Olympic Association (POA). We prevented Pakistan from suspension by striking a deal with the world sports governing body. We also pledged that IOC charter would be thoroughly followed and we did that and recognised the POA. We only recognise those federations which are affiliated with their International Federations (IFs),” Pirzada told this correspondent.
“We had also written to FIFA that the sports ministry does not violate its (FIFA) charter. We respect FIFA. Our legal counsel has also told Lahore High Court (LHC) that IPC and PSB have no involvement in the matter. We also said the court should resolve the football issue in the light of international laws,” Pirzada said.
He said that PFF had had issues with the PSB but those had been resolved. “We are totally against FIFA ban. I request FIFA to send its delegation and try to resolve the issue. My humble request to FIFA is that as the matter is in courts, so please respect our courts,” the minister said.
He said that he would tell the PSB Director General to write another letter to FIFA to tell it that Pakistan government had no involvement in the whole episode.
When asked about some influential people in the government who had allegedly played a role in manipulating the extraordinary congress in Islamabad and the occupation of PFF headquarters in Lahore in June 2015, the minister said that Hafiz Salman Butt and a “mafia” were behind that. “They had also done so against former PFF president Mian Azhar. Faisal Saleh Hayat and General Arif Hasan, the POA chief, were brought in by General Musharraf,” Pirzada said.
He said that Faisal had also created problems for himself. “He is stuck because of his own wrongdoings. Some of the federating units rose against him as he failed to run the system in a transparent manner,” Pirzada said.
The PFF case will be heard after summer vacations in September.
On April 6, 2017, the Supreme Court set aside the LHC’s decision of February 2, 2017, and referred the case back to the LHC double bench with the instructions to decide it on merit.
In August 2015, FIFA sent a fact-finding mission to Lahore. Upon its report, the world body gave two years to Faisal’s group to revise the PFF constitution and hold fresh elections of the PFF by September 2017.
However, nothing has been done in that direction. Following the AFC Member Association’s task force recommendation in May this year in Bahrain, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) wrote to FIFA on May 17 for extending the PFF mandate for two years, until 2019.
FIFA recently suspended Sudan’s football body over a similar issue.
A FIFA letter says that the suspension would only be lifted once the decree of the undersecretary of the Ministry of Justice of June 2, 2017, was declared null and void and the Board of Directors of the SFA with its President, Dr Mutasim Gaafar Sir Elkhatim, was reinstated.Welcome to our 3ds Max beginner tutorials. Here you will learn 3D modeling, texturing, animation, UVW unwrapping, Vray and Mental Ray rendering.
Autodesk 3ds Max (Formerly named 3D Studio Max), is a 3D modeling computer graphics and animation software. Good for creating 3D models and applying textures and materials. It is used by game developers, TV and movie animation. 3ds Max is also good for rendering still 3D images.
Download 3ds Max trial here.
Check our awesome affiliates for hundreds of professional videos on 3ds Max and more!
Below is our growing list of 3ds Max modeling tutorials … check them out!
Latest Tutorials :
24 3ds Max Modeling Tutorials Especially for the Beginner Welcome to our 24 tutorials on beginner modeling in 3ds Max round up. These free tutorials were carefully selected for the beginner in mind, but a few of the tutorials will be a challenge even for intermediate and advanced 3ds Max users. Some tutorials are short and to the point, well others...
Welcome to our 24 tutorials on beginner modeling in 3ds Max round up. These free tutorials were carefully selected for the beginner in mind, but a few of the tutorials will be a challenge even for intermediate and advanced 3ds Max users. Some tutorials are short and to the point, well others... 3ds Max Character Clothing Tutorial In this 3ds Max tutorial we will create a simple t-shirt for a character model. We have supplied a “human_figure.obj” file for you to import your model. So all this tutorial is going to focus on is creating a garment (t-shirt) and using modifiers to make it easy to wrap...
In this 3ds Max tutorial we will create a simple t-shirt for a character model. We have supplied a “human_figure.obj” file for you to import your model. So all this tutorial is going to focus on is creating a garment (t-shirt) and using modifiers to make it easy to wrap... FumeFX Explosion in 3ds Max FumeFx is a powerful plug-in for 3ds Max and Maya. You can create very realistic explosions, fire and smoke animations with real-time physics. It supports 3ds Max Particle Flow, and Space Warps and Mental Ray as well. There are so many awesome parameters to experiment with as well as the ability...
FumeFx is a powerful plug-in for 3ds Max and Maya. You can create very realistic explosions, fire and smoke animations with real-time physics. It supports 3ds Max Particle Flow, and Space Warps and Mental Ray as well. There are so many awesome parameters to experiment with as well as the ability... Make Animated Fire in 3ds Max In this 3ds Max fire tutorial, learn how to animate fire effects like a fire pit and flaming torches. This feature is built into 3ds Max, and there is no need for an expensive plug-in. It’s easy to do if you can find “Atmospheric Apparatus” settings. Basically you pick a “Gizmo”...
In this 3ds Max fire tutorial, learn how to animate fire effects like a fire pit and flaming torches. This feature is built into 3ds Max, and there is no need for an expensive plug-in. It’s easy to do if you can find “Atmospheric Apparatus” settings. Basically you pick a “Gizmo”... 3ds Max Cloth Tutorial – Flag Simulation This is a cool tutorial on creating a Flag animation in 3ds Max. We do this by modeling a simple Flag and pole. Then applying the Garment Maker modifier and increasing the density of it (more geometry). We need to do this so the flag has enough geometry to wave...
This is a cool tutorial on creating a Flag animation in 3ds Max. We do this by modeling a simple Flag and pole. Then applying the Garment Maker modifier and increasing the density of it (more geometry). We need to do this so the flag has enough geometry to wave... Make it Rain with 3ds Max Particle Flow Creating this 3ds Max rain tutorial was fairly easy. Basically, I just set up two plane objects, one smaller and above the bottom. Then I open the Particle View in 3ds Max for editing events. I can set the position and speed of the particle flow (rain and rain drops), set...
Creating this 3ds Max rain tutorial was fairly easy. Basically, I just set up two plane objects, one smaller and above the bottom. Then I open the Particle View in 3ds Max for editing events. I can set the position and speed of the particle flow (rain and rain drops), set... Render 3ds Max Materials in Mental Ray This tutorial is continued from Mental Ray Lights and Camera. Check it out for details on lights and camera setup. Scroll to the bottom for the other tutorials in this series. Applying and rendering Mental Ray Materials for 3ds Max is easy once you finish reading this tutorial. You will...
This tutorial is continued from Mental Ray Lights and Camera. Check it out for details on lights and camera setup. Scroll to the bottom for the other tutorials in this series. Applying and rendering Mental Ray Materials for 3ds Max is easy once you finish reading this tutorial. You will... 3ds Max Lighting Tutorial using Mental Ray This tutorial continues from the last one which starts here. And the next tutorial starts here. They are all about car modeling in 3ds Max, and all the different aspects like Mental Ray lighting and camera setup that we will discuss below. Lighting setups in 3ds Max using 3D models in...
This tutorial continues from the last one which starts here. And the next tutorial starts here. They are all about car modeling in 3ds Max, and all the different aspects like Mental Ray lighting and camera setup that we will discuss below. Lighting setups in 3ds Max using 3D models in... 3ds Max Grass, Sky & Sun Environment in Mental Ray A tutorial on how to make a grass and realistic sky environment with Mental Ray in 3ds Max. Cool sun and halo effects. First, you will create a Plane object, and then add a Noise modifier. On top of that apply a Hair and Fur modifier. This will be used to...
A tutorial on how to make a grass and realistic sky environment with Mental Ray in 3ds Max. Cool sun and halo effects. First, you will create a Plane object, and then add a Noise modifier. On top of that apply a Hair and Fur modifier. This will be used to... A Reactor 3ds Max Animation Tutorial 3ds Max Reactor is a toolset that animators use to simulate realistic physics in an animation scene. For this 3ds max animation tutorial, you will learn how to create a realistic fracture and making it real with Materials and Lighting. This animation will be of a steel ball falling on a rock... 1
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If you like this page then share the news with your friends below. Thank you.Denver has the highest ATM surcharges and overdraft fees in the nation, according to new report released Monday by Bankrate.com.
In Denver, the average ATM surcharge (the fee charged by an ATM operator to a non-customer) is $2.80.
That’s in addition to the average fee of $1.88 (fourth-highest in the nation) that Denver banks charge their own customers for leaving the network.
Bankrate.com said that a customer that’s charged both fees would be out $4.68 for each out-of-network withdrawal.
Denver’s average overdraft fee is $33.60.
Following Denver with the highest ATM surcharges are New York metro; Seattle, San Francisco and Houston.
The ATM surcharge fee in New York metro and Seattle with both having a ATM surcharge of $2.70.
Following Denver for the highest average non-sufficient fund fees are Houston at $33.53; Atlanta at $32.70; Miami, $32.63 and Boston, $32.47.
According to Bankrate.com, the average ATM surcharge rose four percent to a new record of $2.50.
This is the eighth straight year that the average ATM surcharge increased.
For the first time, 100 percent of the banks that Bankrate.com surveyed charged non-customers to use their ATMs.
Many banks also charged their own customers for using another company’s ATM. This fee jumped 11 percent to $1.57.
Bankrate.com noted that the percentage of free checking accounts offered by U.S. banks continues to fall as other checking fees continue to rise.
Only 39 percent of non-interest checking accounts surveyed are available to all customers free of charge, down from 45 percent last year and the peak of 76 percent in 2009.
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939, hpankratz@denverpost.com or twitter.com/howardpankratzA few notes from around the boxing world:
Former middleweight world titleholder Andy Lee (34-3-1, 24 KOs) told ESPN.com he hopes to return to the ring this fall. “I haven't anything in the works at the moment but I hope to return in the fall,” he said. “I took a little time off as the last three years have been intense. Now I'm looking forward to returning to the ring refreshed. I've kept ticking over in the gym and when I return I'd like to fight [secondary titleholder] Danny Jacobs or have a rematch with [titleholder Billy Joe] Saunders. My ultimate goal is to regain a title and challenge [Gennady Golovkin].” In December, Lee, of Ireland, got knocked down twice in the third round by Saunders and lost his title by majority decision. In 2014, Lee, 32, was scheduled to challenge Golovkin for his title but when Golovkin’s father died -- just as the deal was being wrapped up -- the fight was canceled while Golovkin returned home to Kazakhstan for his father’s funeral and to be with his family.
The date is set for the fight between cruiserweight world titleholder Krzysztof Glowacki and mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk. There had been two options, but it will take place Sept. 17 at Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland, organizers announced on Wednesday. The sides made a deal two weeks ago to avoid a purse bid for the fight, which shapes up as an action-packed match. The 29-year-old Glowacki (26-0, 16 KOs), of Poland, who won the belt in dramatic comeback fashion by knocking out long-reigning titleholder Marco Huck in the 11th round last August, will be making his second defense. Usyk (9-0, 9 KOs), 29, who won the 2012 Olympic heavyweight gold medal for Ukraine, has moved quickly as a professional but will be taking a big step up in competition against Glowacki.Grammy award nominees Skillet released their tenth album, Unleashed, in 2016, which debuted at #3, making it their third album to debut in the top 5! This Wisconsin quartet has been supporting the album since then, and are now approaching the end of a two week stint supporting Stone Sour and Korn on The Serenity of Summer Tour.
From the moment they hit the stage, Skillet was here to rock. The kicked off the set with their recent top 20 single, Feel Invincible, which you may remember as the theme of WWE’s Battleground Pay Per View in 2016.
During an extended bridge section of “Sick of It,” singer John Cooper talked to the audience about things we’re sick of, like losing our heroes. The morning of the show, news broke about the death of Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington, and John dedicated his performance to his memory. The crowd here tonight was certainly one who had been affected by Linkin Park, and it proved to be an emotional night for all the bands involved.
Guitar player Korey Cooper had a ferocity not often seen in guitar players, drummer Jen Ledger held down the beat, while throwing in some great supporting vocals, meanwhile Seth Morrison played some great guitar leads. I was very impressed by the energy of the show. Not only in the energy of the band, but the level of stage show they had as a supporting act. Their stage production included steam cannons, rising platforms, the whole nine yards.
Before you knew it, the set was ending with their hit single “Monster.” Skillet’s show left me hungry for more, and I will certainly catch them the next time they’re in the area!
Setlist
Feel Invincible
Whispers in the Dark
Sick of It
Back From the Dead
Awake and Alive
Hero
Monster
Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet Skillet SkilletNostalgia is old news when it comes to culture: We are forever recycling the past. What does change from era to era is our attitude toward looking back, and when times get tough, the reminiscing tends to get rosier. In the turbulent ’70s, the ’50s were preserved in kitsch amber through shows like “Happy Days.” In the last decade, in the midst of a global financial meltdown, we retreated into the ’60s of “Mad Men,” craving the stylish haze of Camel smoke and cocktails. Last year, amid the most contentious election of our lifetime, the grainy stock footage and ’80s soundtrack of “Stranger Things” provided a near-safety blanket.
Reverential nostalgia has been bubbling to the surface for the past year or so, to the point where the recollection is so unapologetically affectionate that it borders on replication. It seems we’re now in the business not of pastiche but of faithful re-creation — less drag show, if you will, than tribute band. The scattered bits of macramé in high-end shelter magazines and top restaurants, the Misfits and Leonard Cohen covers on Spotify, the shoulder pads and bodysuits on the fall runways — that, maybe, is par for the postmodern course. But in low moments one begins to wonder if the popularity of adult coloring books speaks to a larger creative crisis — or at least, a crisis of progression.
The chief designer of Vetements, Demna Gvasalia (also creative director of Balenciaga), has made no bones about the direct influence of the designer Martin Margiela. With their recent shows, Vetements — current darlings of the avant-garde — essentially recreated Margiela’s designs of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Last year, the Berlin-based gallery Sprüth Magers opened a space in Los Angeles. One of its first shows was a sometimes-literal nod to the dealer Monika Sprüth’s short-lived ’80s magazine Eau de Cologne, which featured the work of five female artists: Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Louise Lawler, Cindy Sherman and Rosemarie Trockel. The new gallery largely restaged what was in the magazine. Farther up the coast, in San Francisco, the Museum of Modern Art’s In Situ restaurant has started offering what they call “a bracing new concept in fine dining”: a menu of existing dishes from 80 different international chefs — a culinary greatest hits.Uganda's Anti-Gay Bill Threatens Human Rights
by: Care2.com
recipient: Yowen Kaguta Museveni, President of Uganda
There is a dangerous proposal that threatens the human rights of LGBT people in Uganda.
If passed, Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill would start a witch-hunt for homosexuals in the country. Its punishments include:
* A 7 year jail sentence for consenting adults who have LGBT sex
* A life sentence for people in same-sex marriages
* Extradition and prosecution of LGBT Ugandans living abroad
* The death penalty for adults who have LGBT sex with minors or who communicate HIV via LGBT sex, regardless of condom usage
* Jail for anyone who doesn't report suspected LGBT activity within 24 hours
The bill also endangers HIV/AIDS programs, and may be exploited by those wanting to abolish these programs.
This proposed legislation is anti-ethical, anti-equality and anti-human rights. Tell Uganda's President Museveni that this bill is unacceptable, and that people should not be criminalized for sexual orientation or gender identity.
read petition letter ▾
Passing this bill threatens human rights by executing punishments for gay/lesbian activity, including:
* A 7 year jail sentence for consenting adults who have gay/lesbian sex
* A life sentence for people in same-sex marriages
* Extradition and prosecution of gay/lesbian Ugandans living abroad
* The death penalty for adults who have gay/lesbian sex with minors or who communicate HIV via gay/lesbian sex, regardless of condom usage
* Jail for anyone who doesn't report suspected gay/lesbian activity within 24 hours
I believe these measures are unacceptable; people should not be criminalized for sexual orientation or gender identity. I urge you to eradicate this law and to denounce discrimination of Uganda's gay/lesbian community. Although touted as a way to "uphold Uganda's integrity", the Anti-Homosexuality bill is a disturbing legislation that condones discrimination and violence against gay/lesbian citizens.Passing this bill threatens human rights by executing punishments for gay/lesbian activity, including:* A 7 year jail sentence for consenting adults who have gay/lesbian sex* A life sentence for people in same-sex marriages* Extradition and prosecution of gay/lesbian Ugandans living abroad* The death penalty for adults who have gay/lesbian sex with minors or who communicate HIV via gay/lesbian sex, regardless of condom usage* Jail for anyone who doesn't report suspected gay/lesbian activity within 24 hoursI believe these measures are unacceptable; people should not be criminalized for sexual orientation or gender identity. I urge you to eradicate this law and to denounce discrimination of Uganda's gay/lesbian community."This is the third consecutive January where Grand Theft Auto V was a Top 5 title. Astonishingly, the game has moved up in ranking placement from fifth place in January 2014, to third in January 2015 and to the second-best selling game in January 2016."
In January alone, Rockstar's (online-and-off) crime simulator outsold last fall's heavyweights Star Wars Battlefront, Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege and Fallout 4. And it handily beat out Lego Marvel Avengers, which released last month and sits near the bottom of the sales charts.
The only game it couldn't topple was Call of Duty: Black Ops 3. But hell, when publisher Activision reports that after less than two months at retail its futuristic shooter was the top-selling console title (PDF) in 2015 even a juggernaut like GTA is going to have a hard time closing that gap. I'd be remiss to not mention that Minecraft did something similar last August, however, taking silver over GTA 5's fourth place finish. Still, this is incredibly rare.
The NPD Group famously doesn't record digital sales data from the likes of Steam or PlayStation Store, but Rockstar parent company Take Two Interactive recently revealed that to date, GTA V has sold over 60 million copies worldwide across all platforms.
The average is going to be a little off considering the game sold over 11 million copies in its first 24 hours, but it's like Rockstar has moved two million copies per month, every month, since its initial release.
Now, if only we could get some news on that single-player expansion...Tsumugi, more known as "Mugi" is the gentle and sweet keyboardist of the club. Mugi is a wealthy girl who has a sweet and gentle personality. Mugi is considered a piano prodigy since she was four and has experience winning in piano contests. She is the daughter of a company president, and her family has several villas in various places around Japan. She often brings sweets and confectioneries to her friends.The tea set and the tea which they drink often are unusually high in price. Although she is a sweet and gentle girl, she is often weirdly entranced by the sight of two girls interacting closely together, sometimes imagining something more risque in her head. She originally intended to join the choir club, but joins the light music club instead after receiving an invitation and encouragement from both Mio and Ritsu. Mugi displays a rebellious streak occasionally, due to her wanting to deviate from her wealthy nature, and diverts from a well-behaved and mature demeanor to the surprise of others. She also has a habit of getting a little too enthusiastic about experiencing new things that the others take for granted.Despite her being wealthy, she also tries her hand at a part-time job at a fast-food restaurant. While a lot of things do not bother her, she is fairly conscious about her weight, and she gets a bit anxious when her family's staff start spoiling her friends during villa visits.The Environment Protection Agency on Friday released a new analysis that concludes almost 700 chemical additives are used in hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas.
Ninety-eight percent of the fluid injected into wells is water mixed with sand, which is used to keep fractures open so that oil and gas can be removed from shale.
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But the EPA’s analysis released Friday provides a more comprehensive look at the remainder of the fracking chemicals, which the industry says are used to protect equipment, reduce bacteria and keep fluid flowing, among other things.
The EPA’s analysis was based on more than two years of data from FracFocus, an industry-backed website that fracking companies in 20 states must use to publicly disclose the chemicals they inject into wells.
“Collectively, this report and the related products provide a detailed picture of the information available on chemicals and water use amounts, and we feel that this report will be a really important resource for states, industry and communities working to safeguard our drinking water resources,” Tom Burke, a research and development official at the EPA, told reporters Friday.
The EPA’s researchers analyzed more than 30,000 disclosures from fracking operations.
Hydrochloric acid, methanol, and hydrotreated light petroleum distillates were the most common additives the EPA found. They were reported in 65 percent of the disclosures.
The median number of chemical additives per fracking job was 14, EPA said.
The chemicals used in fracking are one of the top concerns for environmentalists, health advocates and others who are opposed to the practice or want it more strictly regulated.
The Friday report was one piece of a wide-ranging assessment the EPA is conducting into fracking. The practice is exempt from many environmental rules under a 2005 law, but the EPA can still conduct research into it.
The analysis does not make any judgments about the chemicals or their safety.
“This report really focuses on the first step, and that is collecting information about what is used and the volumes of what is used,” Burke said when asked about whether the chemicals are dangerous. “As part of our broader assessment, we will definitely be focusing on toxicity, though.”
Researchers also found that fracking can be a water-intensive operation.
The files the EPA analyzed found that each well required between 30,000 and 7.2 million gallons of water.
And, because of the limits of FracFocus, such as the states that do not use it and frackers’ ability to keep certain chemicals confidential, Burke warned that the EPA could be missing a lot.
“We think that the information on chemicals, proppants and cumulative water volumes from FracFocus 1.0 may actually be an underestimate of what’s actually used in the United States during this time period because not all states are actually required to report chemicals,” he said.The FBI is reportedly looking into a group of wire transfers the Russian foreign ministry sent to embassies around the world with a memo line that said "to finance election campaign of 2016."
The FBI is scrutinizing more than 60 wire transfers, BuzzFeed News reported on Tuesday, totaling more than $380,000.
According to BuzzFeed, the money, which moved through Citibank accounts, was received between Aug. 3 and Sept. 20, 2016, to Russian embassies in nearly 60 countries, including Afghanistan and Nigeria.
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Multiple nations other than the U.S. held elections last year.
BuzzFeed cited a specific payment of $30,000 which the Russian foreign ministry sent to its embassy in Washington, D.C.
At the end of September, the FBI learned about the wire transfers and is now looking into how the money was used.
“We had an election and the intelligence community concluded Russia interfered in it,” an FBI agent told BuzzFeed. “How could we not investigate a suspicious financial transaction that contained a memo that said, ‘finance election campaign 2016?’ Given the climate and what was in that memo line it would be very irresponsible for us not to investigate. It’s a good lead.”
There are currently multiple investigations into the Russian's election interference, including a Justice Department special counsel, which late last month announced its first charges and a guilty plea from a former Trump campaign aide who lied to FBI agents.
President Trump has repeatedly denied collusion between his campaign and Russia and has called the investigations a "witch hunt."NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan, 2001–14
The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan, established by the United Nations Security Council in December 2001 by Resolution 1386, as envisaged by the Bonn Agreement.[1][2] Its main purpose was to train the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) and assist Afghanistan in rebuilding key government institutions, but was also engaged in the 2001–present war with the Taliban insurgency.
ISAF was initially charged with securing Kabul and the surrounding areas from the Taliban, al Qaeda and factional warlords, to allow for the establishment of the Afghan Transitional Administration headed by Hamid Karzai.[3] In October 2003, the UN Security Council authorized the expansion of the ISAF mission throughout Afghanistan,[4] and ISAF subsequently expanded the mission in four main stages over the whole of the country.[5] From 2006 to 2011, ISAF had become increasingly involved in more intensive combat operations in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
Troop contributors included the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and other NATO member states as well as a number of other countries. The intensity of the combat faced by contributing nations varied greatly, with the United States sustaining the most casualties overall. In early 2010, there were at least 700 military bases inside Afghanistan. About 400 of these were used by American‑led NATO forces and 300 by ANSF.[6]
ISAF ceased combat operations and was disbanded in December 2014, with some troops remaining behind in an advisory role as part of ISAF's successor organization, the Resolute Support Mission.
Jurisdiction [ edit ]
For almost two years, the ISAF mandate did not go beyond the boundaries of Kabul. According to General Norbert Van Heyst, such a deployment would require at least ten thousand additional soldiers. The responsibility for security throughout the whole of Afghanistan was to be given to the newly reconstituted Afghan National Army. However, on 13 October 2003, the Security Council voted unanimously to expand the ISAF mission beyond Kabul with Resolution 1510. Shortly thereafter, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien said that Canadian soldiers (nearly half of the entire force at that time) would not deploy outside Kabul.
On 24 October 2003, the German Bundestag voted to send German troops to the region of Kunduz. Approximately 230 additional soldiers were deployed to that region, marking the first time that ISAF soldiers operated outside of Kabul. After the 2005 Afghan parliamentary election, the Canadian base Camp Julien in Kabul closed, and the remaining Canadian assets were moved to Kandahar as part of Operation Enduring Freedom in preparation for a significant deployment in January, 2006. On 31 July 2006, the NATO‑led International Security Assistance Force assumed command of the south of the country, ISAF Stage 3, and by 5 October, also of the east of Afghanistan, ISAF Stage 4.
ISAF was mandated by UN Security Council Resolutions 1386, 1413, 1444, 1510, 1563, 1623, 1659, 1707, 1776,[7] and 1917 (2010). The last of these extended the mandate of ISAF to 23 March 2011.
The mandates given by the different governments to their forces varied from country to country.[citation needed] Some governments wished to take a full part in counter-insurgency operations;[citation needed] some were in Afghanistan for NATO alliance reasons;[citation needed] some were in the country partially because they wished to maintain their relationship with the United States,[citation needed] and[original research?] some were there for domestic political reasons.[citation needed] This meant that ISAF suffered from a lack of united aims.[citation needed]
History [ edit ]
Geographic depiction of the four ISAF stages (January 2009).
The initial ISAF headquarters (AISAF) was based on 3rd UK Mechanised Division, led at the time by Major General John McColl. This force arrived in December, 2001. Until ISAF expanded beyond Kabul, the force consisted of a roughly division-level headquarters and one brigade covering the capital, the Kabul Multinational Brigade. The brigade was composed of three battle groups, and was in charge of the tactical command of deployed troops. ISAF headquarters served as the operational control center of the mission.
Eighteen countries were contributors to the force in February, 2002, and it was expected to grow to 5,000 soldiers.[8] Turkey assumed command of ISAF in June, 2002 (Major General Hilmi Akin Zorlu). During this period, the number of Turkish troops increased from about 100 to 1,300. In November, 2002, ISAF consisted of 4,650 troops from over 20 countries. Around 1,200 German troops served in the force alongside 250 Dutch soldiers operating as part of a German-led battalion. Turkey relinquished command in February, 2003, and assumed command for a second time in February, 2005. Turkey's area of operations expanded into the rugged west of Afghanistan. The expansion of its zone of activities saw ISAF troops operating in 50 percent of Afghanistan, double its previous responsibility.[9]
On 10 February 2003, Lieutenant General Norbert van Heyst, on behalf of Germany and the Netherlands, took command of ISAF. His Deputy was Brigadier General Bertholee of the Netherlands. The mission HQ was formed from HQ I. German/Dutch Corps (1GNC), including staff from the UK, Italy, Turkey, Norway, and others. In March, 2003, ISAF was composed of 4,700 troops from 28 countries. Service in ISAF by NATO personnel from 1 June 2003. onward earns the right to wear the NATO Medal if a service-member met a defined set of tour length requirements.
In Kabul on 7 June 2003, a taxi packed with explosives rammed a bus carrying German ISAF personnel, killing four soldiers and wounding 29 others; one Afghan bystander was killed and 10 Afghan bystanders were wounded. The 33 German soldiers, after months on duty in Kabul, were en route to the Kabul International Airport for their flight home to Germany. At the time, Germans soldiers made up more than 40 percent of ISAF troops.
ISAF command originally rotated among different nations every six months. However, there was tremendous difficulty securing new lead nations. To solve the problem, command was turned over indefinitely to NATO on 11 August 2003. This marked NATO's first deployment outside Europe or North America.
In February, 2002, South Korea sent a medical contingent of 99 soldiers.
Between February and July, 2002, Portugal sent a sanitary team and an air team to ISAF.
A study by Care International in the summer of 2003 reported that Kosovo had one peacekeeper to 48 people, East Timor one for every 86, while Afghanistan has just one for every 5,380 people.
Stage 1: to the north – completed October 2004 [ edit ]
On 11 August 2003, NATO took command of ISAF, which consisted of 5,000 troops from more than 30 countries. About 90 percent of the force was contributed by NATO nations. By far the largest single contingent, 1,950 were Canadian. About 2,000 German troops were involved, and Romania had about 400 troops at the time.
The first ISAF rotation under the command of NATO was led by Lieutenant General Goetz Gliemeroth, Germany, with Canadian Army Major General Andrew Leslie as his deputy. Canada originally had been slated to take over command of ISAF on 11 August 2003.
13 October 2003: Resolution 1510 passed by the UN opened the way to a wider role for ISAF to support the government of Afghanistan beyond Kabul.
In December, 2003, the North Atlantic Council authorized the Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, General James Jones, to initiate the expansion of ISAF by taking over command of the German-led PRT in Kunduz. The other eight PRTs operating in Afghanistan in 2003 remained under the command of Operation Enduring Freedom, the continuing U.S.‑led military operation in Afghanistan. On 31 December 2003, the military component of the Kunduz PRT was placed under ISAF command as a pilot project and first step in the expansion of the mission. Six months later, on 28 June 2004, at the Summit meeting of the NATO Heads of State and Government in Istanbul, NATO announced that it would establish four other provincial reconstruction teams in the north of the country: in Mazar-i-Sharif, Meymana, Feyzabad and Baghlan. After the completion of Stage 1 the ISAF's area of operations then covered about 3,600 square kilometers in the north, and the mission was able to influence security in nine Northern provinces of the country. [10]
As late as November, 2003, the entire ISAF force had only three helicopters.
On 9 February 2004, Lieutenant General Rick Hillier of Canada took command, with Major General Werner Korte of Germany as deputy. During this time-frame, Canada was the largest contributor to the ISAF force, providing 2,000 troops.
In May, |
. Circumcision is a choice, and now that we know the serious harm caused by circumcision, there are strong reasons to forgo it,” said Ronald Goldman, Ph.D., Executive Director. Dr. Goldman is the author of Questioning Circumcision: A Jewish Perspective, endorsed by five rabbis.
Dr. Goldman also suggests that Jews think about the ethics of causing significant pain and cutting off a natural, healthy body part that has important functions. “There are psychological effects of circumcision, too. Some Jewish men are very dissatisfied, angry, or distressed about being circumcised,” said Dr. Goldman.
The Center’s primary intended audience is those Jews who generally evaluate an idea not solely based on its conformance with the Torah, but also in light of its agreement with reason and experience. For those Jews who decide against circumcision, there are over a dozen rabbis who will lead an alternative welcoming ceremony for baby boys called a brit shalom.
ICGI notes that this is not the first time the ritual has been questioned. Twice Jewish leadership has considered abandoning the blood rite. The majority of Jews in the United States belong to secular or Reform groups for which circumcision is optional.Russia’s economy is in free fall. Part of that is because dramatically declining oil prices, another part is because of international sanctions against the country.
This cheese story is about the latter part.
Back when the EU, Australia, Norway, Canada and the US put economic sanctions on Russia, Russia responded by banning a bunch of imports from all of them. That ban included a lot of food — meat, dairy, vegetables etc.
Unfortunately, people really like food, especially cheese. So in Russia, they have devised ways to circumvent this inconvenient ban when it comes to the good stuff.
Corner stores have become black market cheese dealers.
“A sort of speakeasy scene for French and Italian cheeses evolved which was akin to buying drugs from 1980s bodegas in Brooklyn,” one Moscow banker told Business Insider.
“First, you walk into the bodega slowly, trying to wipe any suspicious look from your face. Then you pretend to look around the shelves for a while until the clerk recognises you, at which point you and the clerk make eye contact and establish that metaphysical connection that signifies to both of you ‘I’m here to cop an ounce.’
“You wait until there are no customers around, approach the clerk. He takes you to the back room, shows you the goods, you haggle over the price, shove the bag in your pocket, hand over the cash and bounce.
“Except here you’re leaving the store with a ball of fresh Italian mozzarella…”
Or some amazing camembert, or brie… You get the picture.
All this suffering, however, isn’t necessarily making Russians dislike Putin. On the contrary, says our source, they’re buying Putin’s message that this is a part of a plot to hurt Russia.
“If you look at the way the elite that emerged from the 90s made their money, you’ll realise that they essentially capitalised on ignorance by cheaply scooping up newly-privatized equity from an uneducated public,” said the banker.
“Physical certificates of stock were often exchanged on the street for bottles of vodka and that’s not an exaggeration.
“In that sense, Russians are much less inclined to side with financial logic and more inclined to buy Mr Putin’s emotional message.”
As long as that message remains, Russians will stay on Putin’s side.
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Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.Gen. John Kelly is being accused of “racism” against Rep. Frederica Wilson after he derided her for sharing the contents of Trump’s condolence call with a Gold Star family.
WATCH:
Gen. Kelly criticized Rep. Wilson during Thursday’s White House press briefing, stating that he was “brokenhearted” that she tried to politicize Trump’s call with the family. But liberals have pounced on the idea that Gen. Kelly’s criticism is due to Wilson’s race and gender. (FACT CHECK: Is ‘Empty Barrel’ A Racist Term?)
Alencia Johnson, a top Planned Parenthood employee and former employee of Barack Obama, reduced Gen. Kelly’s comments to “attacking Black women.” The official Planned Parenthood Twitter account echoed that sentiment, writing, “This is part of a pattern of Trump admin attacking & undermining Black women.”
MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell, meanwhile, accused Gen. Kelly of “dehumanizing” a black woman and ranted about Gen. Kelly’s alleged “racist” upbringing because he attended a segregated school.
“I understand the disagreement nature and some of it is deeply personal for him as a gold star father,” O’Donnell said. “But I was stunned, stunned when I watched him demonize her and very deliberately continue to dehumanize her and refuse to give her the dignity of a name and call her an empty barrel. He went out of his way to do it.”
“He clearly didn’t want to hear what a black woman said,” an editor for Vulture tweeted about Gen. Kelly.
For her own part, Rep. Wilson said that the “empty barrel” comment is specifically racist, even though she also admitted she had never heard the term before.
WATCH: Frederica Wilson Calls Kelly’s ‘Empty Barrel’ Comments ‘Racist’
You read about the media calling Gen. Kelly ‘RACIST’. NOW WATCH how one Gold Star widow interpreted a Trump call a bit differently.
Follow Amber on TwitterFor two years, the prolific HYSU graffiti crew spray-painted its way around the South Bay, leaving its acronym, which stands for “Have You Seen Us?”
This week, San Jose police emphatically answered that yes, they had.
Employing their own nickname for the five-month operation, “FNF” — for the graffiti penal code 594 — police arrested four tagging suspects. Investigators say the four, including the apparent leader, nicknamed “Romanse,” make up the heart of the brazen taggers’ gang.
Prosecutors are expected to add gang enhancements to the formal charges.
Arrested were John “Duel8” Arquero, 21, Jordan “Saeto” Burgeson, 18, Sesar “Romanse” Diaz, 32, and Manuel “YQUE” Villagran, 18.
Three of the men were arraigned Thursday, and Diaz is expected to be arraigned Friday.
Police may be looking for four other taggers, known as “Horid,” “Insum,” “Grief” and “Dert.”
The arrests were announced in a news conference Thursday at the San Jose Police Department.
“It’s pretty clear that, yes, we have diminished resources and, yes, we’ve had budget cuts, but we will do what it takes to go after people who are creating these quality of life and nuisance issues,” said Assistant Police Chief Rikki Goede. “You see the message being sent to the tagging crews out there that not only will you be investigated, but you will be charged with gang enhancements. We will come after you.”
City Council members Xavier Campos and Rose Herrera stood by in support.
Like many big cities, graffiti has been a persistent problem in San Jose. The city spends tens of thousands of dollars a year to clean up the tags that collect on Highway 280 overpasses and sound walls along Highway 87.
For example, there were 3,294 acts of vandalism reported last year and 2,785 this year so far in the city — a vast majority of them graffiti.
Police have been relatively aggressive here about going after taggers. There is a long-standing two-officer unit that focuses on taggers and robust and growing anti-graffiti efforts by city officials.
But HYSU and other crews have been undeterred. Armed with backpacks filled with spray paint cans, gloves and sketchbooks of their practice drawings, this crew, police said, had spent the last half-year spray-painting graffiti at an alarming rate that added up to more than 60 tags totaling $50,000 in damage.
The graffiti, photos of which were posted on sites such as Flickr, usually consists of the name and small tag that shows the person is affiliated with HYSU.
According to court documents, Diaz, the alleged head of the crew, typically spray-painted a heart with horns.
The crew posted a YouTube video showing one of the taggers spray-painting a wall and later cursing in delight at the sight of a patrolling police car.
Sgt. Kenneth Davis spearheaded the operation, identifying the crew by attaching suspects to specific graffiti tags. The arrests were made after serving search warrants. Davis said that some suspects made admissions.
Police said that if anyone sees any graffiti, they can upload the photos into the department’s website at www.sjpd.org/_forms/graffitifaq.asp.
Contact Sean Webby at 408-920-5003. Follow him at twitter.com/seanwebby.Nvidia’s Upcoming Geforce GTX 580 Graphics card was detailed at the recent PDX LAN event by Nvidia’s Tom Petersen. He detailed the all new vapor chamber cooler which will be introduced in the new card along with the the new Alien vs. Triangles tech demo, Endless City Tech Demo and a little Gameplay of Call Of Duty: Black Ops in High-Def.
The new vapor chamber cooling will cool the GPU effectively by dissipating heat to a Liquid Block which will pass through a condenser and the aluminium block above it from where the heat will be blown out of the GPU. This will also make the GPU Quieter than GTX 480 and even the GTX 285. The card is said to do only 47DbA while gaming.
The card will be the most fastest Direct X11 GPU on the planet when released which means that it will perform much better in titles that support tessellation and that is what the new Alien vs. Triangles tech demo and Endless City Tech Demo is all about. Both the Demo’s are rendered in real time.
A Gameplay video of Call Of Duty Black Ops which was running on the new card was also revealed which showed amazing effect in the game and all at the highest possible settings the card was performing pretty well in the game.
Source1:20 PM: San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was granted visitation rights with his son at a family court hearing this morning.
Mirkarimi is facing allegations of domestic violence against his wife, Eliana Lopez, and has been under a court order to stay away from Lopez and the couple’s 2-year-old son Theo since being arrested and charged on Jan. 13.
But San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ronald Albers today approved an agreement between Mirkarimi and Lopez in which Mirkarimi can see his son for two hours each weekday and up to six hours on a weekend day.
The agreement, which is effective immediately, stipulates that Theo will be taken to and from Mirkarimi by either Patricia or Jeremy Forsyth, a mother and son who are friends of the family.
Near tears while speaking to reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing, Mirkarimi said, “I get to see my son.”
“I can’t tell you how excited and grateful I am,” he said.
Mirkarimi said that since being separated from his son, he has been buying books and toys to give to him upon their reunion, including a small fire truck he pulled out of his pocket to show reporters.
“It’s been so unhealthy for us to be apart,” he said. “My son and I are very close.”
“I’m just so excited to see my son, I’m going to gobble him up.”
Although the order involving Mirkarimi’s son was modified, the order to stay away from Lopez remains in effect.
That order stems from an alleged domestic violence incident on Dec. 31 in which Mirkarimi is accused of grabbing Lopez and bruising her arm.
It will stay in effect until the end of his trial on charges of misdemeanor domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness. The trial is set to begin Feb. 24.
Before the agreement was approved by Albers, the family court had mediators meet with both Mirkarimi and Lopez to discuss what was in the best interest of their son. The couple had to be in separate rooms because of the stay-away order, Lopez’s attorney Paula Canny said.
They returned with an agreement that Albers said “makes absolute sense to me.”
However, part of the agreement apparently didn’t make sense to the couple’s attorneys.
Mirkarimi’s attorneys told reporters they took the weekend hours outlined in the agreement to mean six hours per weekend, while Lopez’s attorneys said that meant up to six hours each weekend day.
Regardless, the agreement means that Mirkarimi will have a chance to see his son this afternoon, the attorneys said.
Lopez briefly spoke to reporters outside of court, saying she is “extremely happy” that Theo is going to see his dad and that “it’s going to be a surprise for him.”
Canny, Lopez’s attorney, took issue with the presence of Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Aguilar-Tarchi, who is prosecuting the case, at today’s family court hearing.
Aguilar-Tarchi tried to speak in front of Albers at the end of the hearing but the judge walked out of the courtroom without addressing her.
“Never before in my career have I seen a deputy district attorney attempt to intervene” in a family court case, Canny said.
She said the prosecutor was “not thinking about what’s in the best interest of Theo, but what’s in the best interest of her case, and that’s just wrong.”
A district attorney’s office spokesperson was not immediately available to say what Aguilar-Tarchi planned to discuss to the judge.
Canny said she is also considering whether to try to modify the order preventing contact between Mirkarimi and Lopez, saying the sheriff “isn’t guilty of the things he’s charged of.”
Barring any further hearings on the stay-away order, Mirkarimi is next scheduled to return to criminal court at the Hall of Justice on Feb. 22 for a pre-trial conference.
If convicted of all charges, he could face up to a year in jail and three years’ probation.
Mirkarimi was sworn in as sheriff on Jan. 8 after serving for seven years on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
11:47 AM: San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi was granted visitation rights with his son at a court hearing this morning.
Mirkarimi is facing allegations of domestic violence against his wife, Eliana Lopez, and has been under a court order to stay away from Lopez and the couple’s 2-year-old son Theo.
San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ronald Albers today approved an agreement between Mirkarimi and Lopez in which Mirkarimi can see his son for two hours each weekday and up to six hours each weekend.
Near tears, Mirkarimi said, “I get to see my son. I can’t tell you how excited and grateful I am.”
“I’m just so excited to see my son, I’m going to gobble him up,” Mirkarimi said, displaying a toy fire truck he’d recently purchased for the child.
A stay-away order preventing Mirkarimi from contacting Lopez is still in effect. The order stems from domestic violence charges related to a Dec. 31 argument in which Mirkarimi is accused of grabbing Lopez and bruising her arm. It will remain in effect until the end of the trial, which is set to start Feb. 24.
Mirkarimi was arrested Jan. 13 and charged with misdemeanor domestic violence battery, child endangerment and dissuading a witness.
He was sworn in as sheriff on Jan. 8 after serving on the Board of Supervisors for seven years.
Eve Batey contributed to this report from Dan McMenamin of Bay City News
Want more news, sent to your inbox every day? Then how about subscribing to our email newsletter? Here’s why we think you should. Come on, give it a try.Bobby pins are like the Swiss army knives of the beauty world. These little tools serve many purposes — and not just for fixing your hair. Here's a list of 30 ways you can put your bobby pins to work! (See also: Great Uses for a Bandana)
1. Nail Holder
Do you always hit your thumb when you're hammering a nail? Well, say goodbye to those old (and painful) experiences when you use bobby pins! Take a bobby pin and clip it onto the nail. As you hammer, you can secure the nail without getting your precious digits too close.
2. Toothpaste Clip
If you're like me, you never get all the toothpaste out of the tube. With a bobby pin, you can keep the empty part empty and slowly move the pin up to get the most toothpaste for your buck!
3. Fish Hook
My dad would love this little bobby pin hack: if you're in a pinch and fishing, bend your bobby pin into a makeshift hook.
4. Pitting Cherries and Olives
This hack is one of my favorites, as I hate to pit olives! Bobby pins are the perfect size to get around the pits in cherries and ripe olives, especially fresh ones. Just push the ends in, making sure that the ends are on either side of the pit. Push until the ends pop out the other side of the cherry or olive. Grab the ends and pull them all the way through, bringing the pit along with it. (See also: Common Kitchen Cast-offs You Can Repurpose)
5. Bodkin
A bobby pin is a great substitute for a bodkin. Slip the closed end of the bobby pin through the slit, and then slide the thread straight into the bobby pin. The bobby pin serves to help hold the slit open.
6. Smoking
If you have one cigarette left and you don't know when you'll get another pack, use a bobby pin to smoke that thing down to the filter. If you're smoker in this economy, you can't afford not to!
7. Tape Roll Marker
I can never quite tell where the roll of clear tape ends, and it takes me a couple minutes to peel the end off of the roll itself. When you're done using your clear tape, pin it so that you won't spend the extra time and frustration searching and peeling every time you use it!
8. Hair Styler
The traditional use for a bobby pin is still a good one! Bobby pins can keep your hair looking magnificent in French twists, bouffants, and more. Keep a couple in case your original pins fall out, and you'll be golden.
9. Nose Plug
This hack won't work for everyone, but for some a bobby pin will be the difference between keeping water (or smells) out of one's precious little nose. One's sense of smell is key, so protecting that nose during a particularly bad trash day or during a swim is super important!
10. Zipper
Zippers are definitely prone to breaking. If that happens on the go, grab a bobby pin and thread it onto the broken part of the zipper.
11. Jewelry
Bobby pins strung on wire or string can be a unique accessory choice — not to mention, a very inexpensive way to show you're fashion forward. Check out some ways of making bobby pin jewelry here! (See also: 10 Places to Find Affordable Accessories)
15. Hem Helper
If a hem starts coming undone while you're out and about, a bobby pin can hold it in place until you can sit down and hem it up properly.
13. Nail Art
Love to get detailed when you're painting your finger or toenails? Let bobby pins help you out! Use the tip of a bobby pin to get those unique nail details when doing patterns like animals, flowers, or stripes. It's like a professional helped you…but way cheaper.
14. Lock Picker
If you're like me, you tend to lock yourself out of your own home. Here's a tutorial.
15. Earring Bling
We've established that bobby pins are great for jewelry, but you can get even more creative when it comes to earrings. Paint your bobby pins, glue charms to them, and then affix them to an earring base for the most unique look ever!
16. Sew Helper
Instead of straight pins, bobby pins will hold two pieces of fabric together while you sew or put a pattern together.
17. Bag Clipper
Instead of buying those giant clips, use bobby pins to keep chips and other baggies closed and their contents fresh.
18. Opening Plastic Seals on Food Jars
I don't have long nails, and I don't like to use knives (dangerous!), so opening plastic seals on things can be tough for me…until now!
19. Screwdriver
If you don't have a screwdriver handy but need to get something unscrewed, a bobby pin will do the job (not quickly, but it'll work.)
20. Resetter
If you need to reset one of your electronics, you'll typically need a small pointy object. A bobby pin will do just fine.
21. Diving Practice
Apparently, divers throw bobby pins into pools and go after them to perfect their dives. If you're training or just looking for a fun pool activity, this hack might be for you!
22. To Short Circuit Electronics
Yes, you can short circuit something using a bobby pin. It's important to be careful and know that you're ruining the pin when you attempt to short out an electronic device or outlet!
23. Crystal Holders
Are you really into crystals and want to wear them around town (or at least, not lose them)? Bending a bobby pin into a crystal holder will help you take your crystal from knick-knack to bona-fide jewelry art. For directions on how to make your own talismans, go here!
24. Thread Spool
Wrap thread around a bobby pin to use as a makeshift spool. This tip is great for travel (as many of these bobby pin tips are), and also great if you're keeping lots of thread together in a sewing basket.
25. Fitting a T-Shirt
If you're stuck with a baggy tee, use a bobby pin to make the shirt more fashionable and fitted. Simply bunch excess fabric and pin it up. Whatever you're wearing, you'll be able to look like a million bucks! (See also: No-Sew Ways to Update Your Wardrobe)
26. Anti-Clogging Device
A bobby pin can easily get inside of a drain if you're trying to dislodge any hair or other debris. It's also cheaper and faster than a plumber.
27. Crevasse-Cleaner
Extra putty in a wall or a painting imperfection? Use a bobby pin to clean crevasses that brushes, fingers, and other tools can't get into.
28. Makeshift Chain
Much like safety pins, bobby pins can make you a pretty strong chain in a pinch. Unlike safety pins, bobby pins you can string together much more quickly for things like necklaces and decorations.
29. Clothespin
For smaller garments, hanging clothes with bobby pins is just as easy as a normal clothespin, but cheaper and more space-efficient. Of course, if you're drying a comforter, bobby pins aren't going to cut it. Socks, washcloths and shirts, however, are the perfect size for the bobby pin clothespin!
30. Toothpick
If you need to sample some food but don't want to touch the samples (or don't want the samples to be touched by you!) a bobby pin will work just like a toothpick, and sometimes better! Use the pin's ends as pincers or just stab that piece of food, and you'll be sampling in style.
What's your favorite clever use for a bobby pin?
Like this article? Pin it!This story was published by The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative news organization in Washington, D.C.
By Michael Beckel
The days of candidates dominating their own political campaigns are over.
In the most competitive U.S. Senate races this year, big-money special interests that proliferated after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision are routinely out-muscling and out-messaging the candidates themselves.
This power shift is most prominent on television, where super PACs and politically active nonprofits—both may accept unlimited contributions—routinely account for nearly one out of every two ads run in a U.S. Senate race. Most of the ads are decidedly negative, and they’ve collectively cost hundreds of millions of dollars with Election Day still 10 days away.
Wealthy liberals and conservatives alike are complicit, pumping money into these groups that, by law, may not operate “in concert or cooperation with” the candidates or parties they seek to boost.
By contrast, in the 2010 midterm election, the GOP embraced super PACs while Democrats shunned them. Now big dollar liberal groups sometimes trump their conservative counterparts as both seek to support candidates who will help their preferred party win control of the U.S. Senate during the final two years of Barack Obama’s presidency.
The Democratic Party is defending more than a half-dozen seats on Republican-friendly turf. The GOP will seize power if it picks up six seats. These stakes have created a financial arms race that almost certainly will make this election historically expensive.
“Everybody wants to have one more nuke than the other guy does,” says Kathy Kiely, managing editor of the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation, which tracks money in politics.
Democratic super PACs on top
When it comes to money, two Democratic super PACs reigned supreme through mid-October, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of filings submitted to the Federal Election Commission on Thursday.
NextGen Climate Action—a super PAC primarily funded by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer that aims to “prevent climate disaster and preserve American prosperity”—has raised more than $76 million since it was launched in 2013. No other super PAC has raised more.
Earning the No. 2 spot was Democratic-aligned Senate Majority PAC, a group run by allies of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). It had raised more than $53 million as of October 15, including $5.5 million from Steyer and his NextGen Climate Action super PAC.
The top three Republican super PACs, meanwhile, raised nearly $68 million combined through mid-October, according to recent FEC reports.
That includes $28 million raised by American Crossroads, a super PAC launched after the Citizens United ruling in 2010 with assistance from GOP strategist Karl Rove.
The Freedom Partners Action Fund, the super PAC backed by conservative billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch and their donor network, raised more than $20 million.
And nearly $19 million was raised by the Ending Spending Action Fund, a group founded by longtime Republican donor Joe Ricketts, the former head of online brokerage firm TD Ameritrade whose family owns the Chicago Cubs baseball team.
Nonprofits—which aren’t required to disclose the same financial details to the FEC and may generally keep their funders’ names secret—also have played a major role in the 2014 battle for the Senate, especially on the conservative side.
Most notably, groups within the Koch brothers’ political network reportedly plan to spend as much as $290 million.
On the television airwaves, though, where voters still consume most of their political information, arms race metaphors are particularly apropos: In the 12 most competitive U.S. Senate races, liberals and conservatives have nearly fought to a draw.
Republicans and their allies were responsible for 50 percent of the roughly 633,000 Senate-focused TV ads that have aired so far in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and South Dakota, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of data provided by Kantar Media/CMAG, an advertising tracking service.
Democrats and their allies were responsible for 48 percent. And independents —namely Greg Orman in Kansas and Larry Pressler in South Dakota—were responsible for the rest.
GOP candidates generally relied more heavily on support from super PACs and nonprofits than Democrats did.
In these 12 U.S. Senate races, about 52 percent of all Republican-aligned TV ads were sponsored by outside groups, according to Kantar Media/CMAG. Only about 37 percent of all Democratic-aligned ads were produced by such groups.
Other ads were aired by candidates, parties, or parties working jointly with candidates.
The official arm of the Democratic Party focused on Senate elections, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, raised nearly $129 million through the end of September, according to federal campaign finance filings.
That was some $30 million more than the $98 million raised by its rival, the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Even as many candidates also raised millions of dollars, if not tens of millions—as many incumbent senators have done—they have, nevertheless, regularly been outspent by super PACs and politically active nonprofits that are unfettered by contribution limits.
A definitive tally of precisely how much has been raised and spent in the key U.S. Senate races this election is difficult because not all groups report numbers the same way or at the same time. Further complicating the issue, as of Friday morning, some Senate candidates’ recent contribution reports were still being processed by the government.
Nevertheless, some races stand out.
Take North Carolina, for instance, where incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan and Republican challenger Thom Tillis have raised a combined $30 million through the end of September.
Non-party, outside groups there have already reported spending about $50 million on political ads to the FEC—and millions more have been spent on issue ads that need not be reported to the nation’s top elections regulator.
Similarly in Colorado, incumbent Sen. Mark Udall, a Democrat, and Republican challenger Cory Gardner, have raised $29 million through mid-October. Super PACs and nonprofits have spent more than $40 million so far.
The new normal
Political observers agree that the outsize role of outside groups like super PACs and politically active nonprofits has become the new normal for hotly contested elections.
“Barring any changes to the current regulations, it’s likely that outside group involvement in competitive contests is here to stay,” says political science professor Erika Franklin Fowler, director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which monitors political advertising.
No U.S. Senate election has seen more ads from groups that are neither candidate committees nor parties than North Carolina.
Of the 90,000-plus Senate-focused TV ads that have aired in the Tar Heel State, these so-called outside groups have aired more than 51,000 TV ads, according to a Center for Public Integrity review of data provided by Kantar Media/CMAG. That’s nearly three of every five.
Meanwhile, super PACs and politically active nonprofits account for more than half of all ads aired in the U.S. Senate races in both Michigan and Arkansas.
That ratio is more than 40 percent in the U.S. Senate races in Colorado, Alaska and Kentucky.
And in New Hampshire, where Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen is facing a stiff challenge from former GOP senator Scott Brown—and a multimillion-dollar assault from conservative groups supported by the billionaire Koch brothers and Republican strategist Rove—outside groups account for more than one of every three ads, according to Kantar Media/CMAG.
In all these races, super PACs and nonprofits also are combining to spend tens of millions of dollars on other kinds of communications, from radio spots and glossy mailers to Facebook ads and sponsored tweets.
David Keating, the president of the Center for Competitive Politics, which favors increased deregulation in elections, sees this as a positive development.
“Whenever there’s more speech, that means there’s more information for voters,” says Keating, adding that such information helps “drive” voters to the polls.
Challengers, in particular, he continued, are generally helped “when there’s more money spent informing people about the incumbent’s record.”
But Michael Malbin, co-founder and executive director of the Campaign Finance Institute, a think tank based in Washington, D.C., doesn’t agree the proliferation of new groups has been a welcome change.
“Non-party groups are unaccountable,” Malbin says. “It’s betters to have a system in which the voters can hold the candidates and their parties accountable for what they do.”
Dave Levinthal contributed to this report.Eddie Redmayne, who just won the Oscar for playing Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything,” may have a few more magic tricks up his sleeve. Sources tell Variety that Redmayne is the favorite to play Newt Scamander in Warner Bros.’ hotly anticipated “Harry Potter” spinoff “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”
J.K. Rowling is making her screenwriting debut on the trilogy.
Redmayne recently wrapped Tom Hooper’s “The Danish Girl” and has yet to receive an official offer. Director David Yates is said to be considering a few other actors for the part but Redmayne, according to sources, is the frontrunner.
WB declined to comment on this story.
Set in New York roughly seven decades before Harry Potter’s saga starts, “Fantastic Beasts” is based on the Hogwarts textbook of the same name and follows the adventures of its author, Newt Scamander. Scamander is described as a “magiczoologist,” which in the “Harry Potter” realm is a person who studies magical creatures. Besides Scamander, there are four other main roles — two American girls and two American boys — that the studio is currently looking to cast.
“Although it will be set in the worldwide community of witches and wizards where I was so happy for 17 years, ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’ is neither a prequel nor a sequel to the ‘Harry Potter’ series but an extension of the wizarding world,” Rowling explained of the trilogy.
Sources tell Variety that the studio has also considered Nicholas Hoult for the part after working with him on the upcoming “Mad Max: Fury Road.”
The first “Fantastic Beasts” movie is scheduled to arrive Nov. 18, 2016.
WB’s “Harry Potter” series — which began in 2001 and concluded in 2011 — grossed more than $7 billion worldwide, making it the highest-grossing film franchise of all time.
The studio has already said “Fantastic Beasts” would be developed across the studio’s digital, consumer-products and gaming units, including links to Pottermore.com, Rowling’s digital online experience built around the Potter books.
Warner Bros. and Redmayne recently worked together on “Jupiter Ascending,” in which he played the villain opposite Channing Tatum. Though that film failed to meet expectations at the box office, the British thesp is still in high demand following his Oscar win and Warners is more than happy to stay in business with him.
Redmayne is repped by CAA and United Agents.Recently I joined a hackerspace in Downtown LA called Null Space Labs. What is a hackerspace you ask? A hackerspace is a communal workshop where folks can work on electronics, programming and basically whatever tech stuff they're interested in. NSL was started by a group of people from the local computer security (hacking) scene earlier this year.
Here is the description from the website:
Null Space Labs, a hackerspace in downtown Los Angeles a place for people who do interesting things with tech. We offer wifi, coworking space, an electronics and hardware lab with soldering stations and rework equipment, a small wet lab, simple wood and metal working tools, public computers, and most of all a creative environment that's open to visitors. Fields of interest of people you might find at the lab include DIY electronics, hardware hacking, lock picking, game development, entrepreneurship, security, graphics programming, AI, photography, privacy and civil rights, etc.... The group that operates Null Space Labs sees itself solely as an infrastructure provider and exerts little influence over projects and events carried out at the lab. We are trying to be financially independent, and finance our operations through membership fees. The space was opened in May 2010.
I joined NSL a few months ago, and this month I took the plunge and became a keyholder, granting me access whenever I feel like working on my projects. The space is great, there are tons of really knowledgeable people who are always more than willing to assist you with pretty much anything related to electronics, microcontrollers, hardware hacking, network security, and more.
The members of NSL are working on a plethora of interesting projects. You can read all about them on the wiki, but here is a selection of some that are particularly interesting:
We have a ton of great equipment for use by members and non-members alike including over a dozen Metcal soldering stations, hot-air and plate rework equipment, oscilloscopes, function generators, a PCB CNC machine, stereo microscopes and much more. We frequently do group buys on parts and PCBs. We also have a large collection of part in house, available for use in your project (donations appreciated).
If you're in the neighborhood, come by and check out our space. If you want to learn about electronics and soldering we have a fun board you can put together in an hour or two if you're new to SMD soldering. You can tell if we're in by looking at this wiki page or by following the NSL Status twitter stream. Here is our address:"The first time I ever fell in love with a movie star," said Reese Witherspoon recently, "it was Goldie Hawn." Anyone familiar with Witherspoon’s early roles — from the easily underestimated and electrifyingly perky Elle Woods in Legally Blonde to the uptight-until-she-isn’t Annette Hargrove of Cruel Intentions — could already sense as much. Like Hawn, Witherspoon made a name for herself playing petite blondes with a gumption for beating the odds. And, like Hawn, Witherspoon switched to and won acclaim for dramatic roles with surprising ease. Again, old news — but it was good to hear Witherspoon come out and say it.
Earlier this month, as Hawn and her long-term partner, Kurt Russell, finally received their long-overdue stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, an excitable, tearful Witherspoon, who marked the occasion by wearing an "I Love Goldie" pin, recalled growing up with movies like Wildcats and Private Benjamin, and TV shows like Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In: early highs in Hawn’s long career. "It’s hard to articulate how important this was for me," said Witherspoon, "a tiny blonde girl, just to see this woman onscreen. And I’d always been described as, you know, bossy, and [told] that I talked a lot. And then I was seeing this person that was just like me." Hawn modeled what felt like a new kind of Hollywood star. "I saw that you could be feminine, and funny, and tough, and warm."
Audiences |
suggested improprieties by the foundation, including using its funds to settle legal disputes involving Trump businesses.
A spokeswoman for the attorney general's office said on Saturday that Trump cannot shutter the foundation while the investigation is ongoing.
15 PHOTOS Donald Trump's 'USA thank you' tour See Gallery Donald Trump's 'USA thank you' tour U.S. President-elect Donald Trump throws a cap to the audience as he speaks during a "Thank You USA" tour rally in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S., December 9, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar Supporters of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attend a USA Thank You Tour event at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., December 1, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar Supporters of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attend a "Thank You USA" tour rally in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S., December 9, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar Supporters of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attend a USA Thank You Tour event at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., December 1, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a rally as part of their "USA Thank You Tour 2016" in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 1, 2016. REUTERS/William Philpott A protester walks out of the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence at a rally as part of their "USA Thank You Tour 2016" in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 1, 2016. REUTERS/William Philpott U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence hold a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 1, 2016 as part of their "USA Thank You Tour 2016". REUTERS/William Philpott U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Cincinnati, Ohio, December 1, 2016 as part of their "USA Thank You Tour 2016". REUTERS/William Philpott Supporters of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump attend a USA Thank You Tour event at U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S., December 1, 2016. REUTERS/Mike Segar CINCINNATI, OH - DECEMBER 01: Guests listen as President-elect Donald Trump speaks at U.S. Bank Arena on December 1, 2016 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Trump took time off from selecting the cabinet for his incoming administration to celebrate his victory in the general election. (Photo by Ty Wright/Getty Images) U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son speak to the press after meeting at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 6, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a USA Thank You Tour event at Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S., December 5, 2016. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton Supporters cheer for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump at a USA Thank You Tour event at Crown Coliseum in Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S., December 6, 2016. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton Republican presidential then nominee Donald Trump and Ben Carson walk to Carson's childhood home in Detroit, Michigan, U.S. September 3, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/ File photo U.S. President-elect Donald Trump greets members of the press at Trump Tower in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., December 6, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE
"The Trump Foundation is still under investigation by this office and cannot legally dissolve until that investigation is complete," spokeswoman Amy Spitalnick said. She would not comment on expected timing for completing the investigation.
Trump said he was "very proud" of the money raised by the foundation and said it had operated at "essentially no cost for decades."
"But because I will be devoting so much time and energy to the Presidency and solving the many problems facing our country and the world," he added in his statement, "I don't want to allow good work to be associated with a possible conflict of interest."
The Trump Foundation, which was established in 1988, runs no programs of its own. Instead, it donates to other nonprofit groups such as the Police Athletic League for youths.
FAMILY FACED CRITICISM
Scrutiny of the Trump family's philanthropic activities heightened in recent weeks following reports of access to the family for potential donors.
Eric Trump faced criticism for an online auction sponsored by his foundation, which raises money to help terminally ill children at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, offering the highest bidder a chance to have coffee with his sister Ivanka.
9 PHOTOS First Family: Getting to know Eric Trump See Gallery First Family: Getting to know Eric Trump Eric Trump is President-elect Donald Trump's third child with his first wife Ivana Trump. Caption: Ivana Trump, Eric Trump, her former husband Donald Trump and her daughter Ivanka Trump in 1998. (Getty) Eric attended The Hill School, a strict boarding school in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Caption: Ivana Trump and Eric Trump in 1996. (Getty) Eric attended Georgetown University in Washington D.C. He is the only one of the adult Trump siblings that did not attend their father's alma mater University of Pennsylvania. Caption: Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump and Tiffany Trump (Reuters) Eric is a reality tv star just like his father. He has made appearances alongside the president-elect on The Apprentice as a boardroom judge from 2010-2015. Caption: Donald Trump (C) and his sons Eric F. Trump (L) and Donald Trump Jr. (R) attend the 'Celebrity Apprentice All Stars' Season 13 Press Conference in 2012. (Getty) Eric Trump married his wife Laura in 2014. She is a producer for CBS' Inside Edition. Instagram caption: "Amazing that our anniversary is also Election Day! Happy anniversary @laraleatrump 🇺🇸🇺🇸" Eric founded the Eric Trump Foundation when he was 23-years-old. The charity aims at raising money for children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The organization's website says they have "donated and pledged nearly $30 million dollars to St. Jude." Instagram caption: "So proud of our @erictrumpfdn Road Scholar truck! It's dedicated to the children of @stjude" Eric runs the Trump Organization's golf courses. Since joining the organization in 2013, Eric increased the number of international golf courses from three to 17. Instagram caption: "Beautiful day to play at Trump National Jupiter @larayunaska" While speaking on the campaign trail in October, Eric Trump mistakenly introduced then-vice presidential candidate Mike Pence as the Governor of Illinois. Pence is the governor of Indiana. The 32-year-old chalked it up to a slip of the tongue. Caption: Vice President-elect, Indiana Governor Mike Pence (C) is greeted by Eric Trump (R), son of President-elect Donald Trump. (Getty) Eric made headlines on Election day after he tweeted a photo of his ballot while voting for his dad. The tweet was quickly deleted, but not before garnering over 3,000 retweets and over 8,000 likes. It is illegal in New York to share a photo of your election ballot. Up Next See Gallery Discover More Like This HIDE CAPTION SHOW CAPTION of SEE ALL BACK TO SLIDE
After the announcement that Eric would not be allowed to raise money for his foundation, Trump tweeted: "He loves these kids, has raised millions of dollars for them, and now must stop. Wrong answer!"
Trump's critics, however, remembered how the president-elect had attacked his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, over their family foundation. In August, Trump urged the Justice Department to investigate the Clinton Foundation, which he called a "pay-to-play" operation that rewarded big donors with favors from the State Department while Clinton was secretary of state.
Eric Trump and his brother Donald Trump Jr. also came under fire this week for their role in a post-inauguration charity event that offered a private reception with their father in exchange for a $1 million donation.
The brothers were listed on a draft invitation as honorary co-chairmen of the fundraiser for conservation charities, dubbed "Opening Day," set to be held in Washington the day after the Jan. 20 inauguration.
On Tuesday, the Trump transition team said Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump were not involved with the fundraiser and a subsequent invitation dropped references to donors meeting with any members of the Trump family.Leftists Hug Murderer's Mom Spokeswoman for group that enjoyed New Israel Fund backing hugs, comforts mother of Hakem Awad, murderer of Fogel family. Gil Ronen,
Flash 90 Fogel Family Funeral Several ultra-leftist groups organized a visit to the Arab village of Awarta on Saturday, April 16, in support of the villagers and against the IDF's activities there in the search for the murderers of Ruth and Rabbi Ehud Fogel and their children Yoav (11), Elad (4) and Hadas (three months). The leftists visited several homes in the Samaria village, including that of the Awad family, which spawned the murderers. The identities of the confessed murderers were released for publication on Sunday, the day after the visit. The murderers were already in IDF custody at the time of the leftists' visit and their arrest - including the fact that they are relatively young - was already widely rumored and hinted at by the press. A photograph from the visit which can be viewed here, posted by one of the activists on her Internet blog, shows Raya Yaron, spokeswoman of Machsom Watch, comforting a woman described as being 37 years old and "in a deep depression." The blogger explained in her post that the woman fainted during the leftist women's visit and was distraught over the arrest of her husband, her two sons and a daughter. The woman is easily recognizable as Nuf Awad, mother of Hakem Awad, whose photograph was featured on the front page of Arab newspaper al-Hayat al-Jadida Monday. "It is impossible that my son did this," she is quoted by the paper as saying. "My son doesn't know how to slaughter a chicken" (the translation is from the Seventh Eye media-watch website). The two murderers confessed, however, to slaughtering five human beings and investigators reported that they expressed no remorse, and even said that had they realized there were two more children sleeping in the house, they would have killed them as well. They saw no problem in slitting baby Hadas's throat, they explained, since she was a Jew. Another leftist visitor, Yaakov Manor of the Alternative Information Center, described the visit thus on the AIC's Hebrew website: "The horror that we witnessed at the home of the family of Muhammad Awad cannot be described as anything but a pogrom - a primitive and brutal act of revenge intended to strike fear and awe into the hearts of the residents..." "The father, Muhammad, 45, the son Majdi, 20, a third year university student, the son Amjad, 19, a freshman university student, and the son Hakem, 17, were arrested." At about the same time that Manor wrote the post, a court lifted a gag order and allowed the press to publish the names and photos of the murder suspects. One of them was 17 year old Hakem Awad. The other was his cousin, Amjad Awad, who is apparently not the same Amjad mentioned above as brother of Hakem. Machsom Watch is a women's group that interferes with soldiers looking for weapons and explosives at checkposts and is a member of the Women's Coalition for Peace. Both are radical groups that espouse a pacifist, anti-religious and anti-Western brand of gender feminism, and both received considerable funding from the New Israel Fund as recently as 2007, according to NGO Monitor. Despite allegations of siding with Israel's enemies, the New Israel Fund is still perceived as a legitimate body by many liberals in Israel and outside it. As reported on Arutz Sheva, Israel Online Ambassadors said Sunday that these leftist groups had crossed a red line. “The time has come to make leftist groups that support murderers illegal. Whoever supports baby killers has no place in a democratic society,” the group said in a statement. Nuf Awad on Al-Hayat al-Jadida: 'he couldn't slaughter a chicken'
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top‘People are waiting for the international community to stop this war.’
GAZI ANTEP, Turkey — On the second day of a UN-backed diplomatic gathering last week to end the war in Syria from offices in Geneva, Syrian civil society activists huddled in a pale hotel in the Turkish town of Gazi Antep to talk about building peace.
Yet outside the workshop the talk focused on the continuing carnage, bloodshed, and starvation of a Syrian war with no end in sight.
“The situation inside Syria is bad and each day it is getting worse,” said Mahmoud, who asked to use a pseudonym given the security situation inside the Aleppo suburbs where he is living with his family. “People are waiting for the international community to stop this war.”
While Western leaders convene in cities across Europe to talk about the bloodshed in Syria, the pace of devastation on the ground has quickened and the places to which Syrians can safely flee the war enveloping their country have been strangled even further.
Tens of thousands of Syrians are now massed on the Turkish border, trying to escape airstrikes and fighting all around them. If the world is not able to end the war, or even to open its borders to Syrian refugees unconditionally, the very least the world can to do now is fight to create a safe zone for mothers and fathers to flee to with their children. So far, the international community’s dueling priorities have prevented a durable ceasefire and those on the ground say Russian air strikes are making aid even harder to secure.
“They were in their houses,” Mahmoud says of eight family members he says were killed by Russian air strikes in December in his hometown west of Aleppo city. Mahmoud, who was in college when the war began, pulled out his smart phone to show video he says he shot as he ran to look for his relatives in the wake of the strike, the sound of his breath heavy and short. When he gets to where his family’s house stood, the video shows only a hole in the earth.
“Just a huge hole,” he says, from his perch in the Antep hotel as he points to the spot in the video where the house should have been.
“It is very strange how the Russians started killing us,” Mahmoud says. “We didn’t kill them and now they are killing us.”
His story is hardly unusual. Russian air strikes are among the first things you hear when spending any time among Syrians constantly monitoring what is happening to family and friends via What’sApp and Facebook. YouTube videos are played and the carnage people are witnessing is discussed.
The Russians have denied their air strikes are causing such devastation. Responding to comments from German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Russian bombs were forcing civilians to flee their homes, a Kremlin spokesman said that “despite a huge number of such statements, no one up to now has presented a single [piece of] credible evidence as proof of these words.”
But back in southern Turkey no one is questioning what they are seeing on the ground each day. Mahmoud, the twenty-something activist whose face looks wiped clean of youthful exuberance, shared his skepticism about the peace process that began that morning, Like many of his fellow democracy organizers, he expresses a wizened and war-weary pessimism born of crushed expectations and the world’s disinterest in his country’s war.
“I don’t think there will be any resolution during Geneva, especially after five years of war, but for civil society and civilians, if they could just stop the shelling and air strikes that would be great for us,” he says.
His skepticism was well placed. That day, UN Special Envoy for Syra Staffan da Mistura stood outside in the sleeting Geneva winter and announced peace talks would be suspended until February 25. The reality was they barely got started while Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime played for time and the opposition insisted on an end to the air strikes and sieges of rebel-held towns. Assad agreed to neither. Still, Mr. da Mistura insisted the diplomatic pause was “not the end” of the talks.
The Americans agreed. A tweet from the U.S Embassy Syria account read: “#SecKerry: SyriaTalks have not failed. They’ve interrupted while modalities of #HumanitarianAccess & potential ceasefire are worked out.”
Come Thursday, Russia, Iran and the U.S. will be among those countries meeting at the annual Munich Security Conference to forge a way forward for humanitarian aid, even as the Syrian government, backed by Russian forces, scores further gains on the ground. All eyes now go to that Germany meeting to see if some of the fighting can be stopped or slowed enough to allow additional humanitarian relief as the number of displaced grows by the tens of thousands.
For the world’s sake, let’s hope Munich offers a breakthrough on the humanitarian front, or at least a chance for Syrians inside their country to see a break in fighting. Without international action, Syrians will continue to be injured and killed and forced into flight. And the world will watch the number of refugees knocking on its doors in search of an escape from the brutality, hunger, and bombing climb even higher — if they survive.Seeking stronger engagement with the Pacific Islands, India on Wednesday announced a 75 million USD line of credit for Fiji for a co-generation power plant and upgrading the sugar industry and also a five million USD fund to develop its villages even as the two countries agreed to expand their Defence and Security cooperation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who made these announcements after talks with his Fijian counterpart Frank Bainimarama shortly after his arrival, also announced a visa on arrival for Fijians and assistance projects that included a parliament library and doubling the scholarships and training slots in India for people from this country. The lines of credit were part of three agreements signed between the two countries in the presence of the two leaders.
Also read: We can help in 'digital Fiji', says Prime Minister Narendra Modi
The tiny remote pacific Island nation rolled out the red carpet for Modi, who was received by Frank Bainimarama, a former military ruler, at the Suva International airport. Bainimarama was sworn in as Prime Minister on September 22 after the first parliamentary elections in the pacific nation since he seized power in a coup in 2006
Modi was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour at the airport after which he attended the traditional ceremony of Welcome at Albert park, close to the Prime Minister's office and Parliament.
Also read: PM Narendra Modi uses Instagram to share Pacific Ocean view
India is prepared to be a partner in Fiji's development journey & finding opportunities for the youth of Fiji. http://t.co/aZcFUXwM1t — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) November 19, 2014
He shook hands with people from the Indian diaspora assembled at the ground as he walked past the enclosures.
"It is a new day and a new beginning in our relations with Fiji," Modi said in remarks to the media at a joint appearance with Bainimarama at the prime Minister's office.
"Fiji could serve as a hub for stronger Indian engagement with Pacific islands. I see this visit as an opportunity to renew an old relationship and lay the foundation for a strong partnership in the future," he added.
Also read: India and Fiji to work together to tackle climate change, says PM Narendra Modi
Modi also addressed Fijian parliament, the first by a foreign leader, after parliamentary elections, during which he said that India was prepared to work with Fiji to build a "Digital Fiji".
The Line of Credit included USD 70 million for a co-generation power plant at Rarav sugar mill and USD five million to strengthen and modernise Fiji's village, small and medium scale industries.
Also read: 'Proud to have India as a partner in Fiji's future', says Fijian PM Josiah Bainimarama
"I regard Fiji as an important partner for India. We have deep and enduring ties of history and culture. Fiji is an influential voice in the Pacific Region and the developing world, and our partner in multilateral institutions," Modi said at his joint press interaction.
Reciprocating Modi's sentiments, Bainimarama said the Indian Prime minister's visit has laid the groundwork for "productive relationship" between the two countries.
Also read: PM Narendra Modi offers co-operation on space, telemedicine help to Pacific Island nations
"We are proud to have India as a partner in Fiji's future," he said, adding that 15 more bilateral agreements are in the works.
Modi touched a chord at all his events starting his speeches with a Fijian greeting "Nissan Vola" and ending them with "Vinaka" (Thank You).
"We will also expand our defence and security cooperation, including assistance in defence training and capacity building. We agreed to identify opportunities to expand our trade and investments and work out a concrete roadmap," Modi said.
He said that India looks forward to closer engagement in areas like information technology and Space applications.
"I want to offer to convey a special word of gratitude from the people of India for hosting Indian scientists for tracking India's Mars Mission earlier this year. Together we made history," the prime minister said.
"We are also prepared to increase cooperation in renewable energy, especially solar and wind energy, and in building capacity to adapt to climate change," he added.
He also suggested Fijian leaders to invite Bollywood to shoot their films in Fiji to attract more Indian tourists.
"Fiji is a leader in the region and a strong voice in the developing world. Together, we can also work for a future in the region, in which there is an equal place for all nations – big and small, developed and developing – and a climate of peace and tranquility," he added.SpaceShipTwo and its carrier, WhiteKnightTwo, shortly before takeoff Friday morning. Twitter/Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo has crashed in the Mojave Desert after suffering what the company called "an in-flight anomaly" during a test flight conducted by Scaled Composites, Virgin Galactic's partner.
Two crew members were onboard. The California Highway Patrol reported 1 dead and 1 injured after the mishap, according to AP, and a spokesman for the Kern County sheriff's office confirmed that the co-pilot was killed.
The spokesman said that said the pilot had ejected from the craft and was found near one of the debris fields. He was taken to Antelope Valley Hospital with moderate to severe injuries.
At a press conference, a shaken Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said, "Our primary thoughts are with the crew and families."
"Space is hard," he added. "Today was a tough day. We're supporting the investigation. We're going to get through it. The future rests on hard days like this."
At the same conference, an emergency response official reported that a helicopter was on standby during the test flight and was able to quickly airlift the injured pilot to the hospital. Officials were unable to comment on the injured pilot's condition.
Executives were unable to provide any additional detail about the cause of the crash, but did confirm that SpaceShipTwo's engines had been tested on the ground.
Roughly two hours after the accident, Richard Branson tweeted:
Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites executives confirmed at the press conference that Branson was on his way to the site and would arrive Saturday morning.
Just after 10 a.m. PDT today, ground controllers at the Mojave Spaceport lost contact with SpaceShipTwo, an experimental space flight vehicle. The incident occurred over the Mojave Desert shortly after the space flight vehicle separated from WhiteKnightTwo, the vehicle that carried it aloft. Two crew members were on board SpaceShipTwo at the time of the incident. WhiteKnightTwo remained airborne after the incident. The FAA is investigating.Thousands of university students have marched through central Mexico City to protest against media coverage they say favours the candidate of the former ruling party in upcoming presidential elections.
"We want schools, not soap operas," the protesters chanted late on Wednesday, referring to PRI presidential candidate Enrique Pena Nieto, the frontrunner whose wife Angelica Rivera is a popular soap opera star known as "Seagull".
The students also protested against the media, specifically Televisa, the largest conglomerate broadcasting in Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries, which they accuse of shilling for Pena Nieto.
The students claim that newspapers and television stations are tilting their coverage towards Pena Nieto, who is leading the polls ahead of the July 1 vote.
Many of the students were from the elite Iberoamerican University, where a May 11 appearance by Pena Nieto set off a rare wave of protests by young people against a return to the presidency of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled Mexico for 70 years before it was voted out in 2000.
The students say Mexico's largest television channel, Televisa, was particularly biased in its coverage of the rally and the campaign in general.
Inside Story: Who will be Mexico's new president?
Many finished the march at Televisa's studios, where Pena Nieto was appearing on a live interview show.
Local media reported smaller, simultaneous marches in at least half-dozen other cities around Mexico.
A Televisa spokesman declined immediate comment, as did Pena Nieto's campaign.
Latest opinion polls put Pena Nieto with 46 per cent of the vote, compared to just 26 per cent for Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution, and 24.6 per cent for Josefina Vázquez Mota of the governing National Action Party.
Pena Neito, a young ex-state governor, has been cast as the new face of the PRI.
But many Mexicans still mistrust the party and worry the PRI's return will hurt their young democracy.
Pena Nieto's supporters have labelled the students as supporters Lopez Obrador, but many at the rally said they supported none of three main presidential candidates.A former Jacksonville policeman faces up to 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to stealing thousands of dollars from a police charity group. But he won't lose his city pension - about $55,000 a year.
Reginald Leon Lott, 45, entered his plea Wednesday to a single count of grand theft, a second-degree felony, before Circuit Judge Thomas Beverly. He had also been charged with organized fraud.
Lott, a 22-year veteran of the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, is accused of stealing between $50,000 and $60,000 from the Brotherhood of Police Officers, a nonprofit group of about 100 minority police and corrections officers who do charity work in the community.
Lott retired from his $89,900-a-year lieutenant's job before the sheriff could fire him.
He will be able to collect his pension because the theft didn't involve city funds, then-Undersheriff Frank Mackesy told the Times-Union after Lott's arrest.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for August. Assistant State Attorney Rich Komando said he plans to ask for prison time.
Lott remains free on $5,000 bail. He and his attorney, Hank Coxe, declined comment Wednesday.
Investigators say Lott stole the money over several months and used it to shop at high-end retail stores and make college tuition payments for a family member.
The missing money came up during an IRS audit when the group changed its nonprofit status.
david.hunt@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4025Director Paul Feig has been slowly teasing his new reboot of the '80s classic Ghostbusters: a proton pack here, the new Ecto-1 there, the triumphant first shot of the four new female leads, in all their ectoplasm-kicking glory... and now it's time for the first trailer. It starts off innocently enough, with a lone piano eerily plinking out the original Ghostbusters theme song, and a series of title cards offering a quick acknowledgement of the original film. Then it's right to the new cast, as Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, and Kate McKinnon sheepishly confront a ghost before all hell breaks loose.
From there it's a mixture of laughs, scares, and callbacks: a legion of ghosts in Times Square, Leslie Jones tracking down the hearse that's going to be the team's new car, and Kate McKinnon as the weirdest, wildest Ghostbuster we've seen yet. But forget about talking about the trailer; have a look for yourself. Paul Feig's Ghostbusters arrives in theaters on July 15th.BY AMIT BARAN ROY | Ubisoft’s is finally set to be released on March 24 for Xbox One, PC and PS4. The game which is the latest installment in the intense and purgative arcade racing franchise, was delayed from its initial release in November 2015. said it "received valuable feedback" from fans, which it takes "very seriously". Therefore, to “enhance the campaign and the game’s interface, get the online infrastructure stable and add in a new user-made map mode”, this extra development time was mandatory. The game in development by will be the first Trackmania game to be released for consoles since 2009’s Trackmania wii. The game will also support virtual reality. We hope that this delay will eventually lead to a more polished and refined version of the game.
Developers Nadeo has also spent this extra time in adding new features to the game. Users can play against friends on "your favorite user-made tracks", and the Trackbuilder mode was made "even more accessible and complete," while the random generator will be "fine-tuned”.Passed in 1970, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) is a federal law designed to combat organized crime in the United States. It allows prosecution and civil penalties for racketeering activity performed as part of an ongoing criminal enterprise. Such activity may include illegal gambling, bribery, kidnapping, murder, money laundering, counterfeiting, embezzlement, drug trafficking, slavery, and a host of other unsavory business practices.
To convict a defendant under RICO, the government must prove that the defendant engaged in two or more instances of racketeering activity and that the defendant directly invested in, maintained an interest in, or participated in a criminal enterprise affecting interstate or foreign commerce. The law has been used to prosecute members of the mafia, the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, and Operation Rescue, an anti-abortion group, among many others.
RICO Act
§ 1961. Definitions
As used in this chapter
(1) racketeering activity means (A) any act or threat involving murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in obscene matter, or dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act), which is chargeable under State law and punishable by imprisonment for more than one year; (B) any act which is indictable under any of the following provisions of title 18, United States Code: Section 201 (relating to bribery), section 224 (relating to sports bribery), sections 471, 472, and 473 (relating to counterfeiting), section 659 (relating to theft from interstate shipment) if the act indictable under section 659 is felonious, section 664 (relating to embezzlement from pension and welfare funds), sections 891894 (relating to extortionate credit transactions), section 1028 (relating to fraud and related activity in connection with identification documents), section 1029 (relating to fraud and related activity in connection with access devices), section 1084 (relating to the transmission of gambling information), section 1341 (relating to mail fraud), section 1343 (relating to wire fraud), section 1344 (relating to financial institution fraud), section 1425 (relating to the procurement of citizenship or nationalization unlawfully), section 1426 (relating to the reproduction of naturalization or citizenship papers), section 1427 (relating to the sale of naturalization or citizenship papers), sections 14611465 (relating to obscene matter), section 1503 (relating to obstruction of justice), section 1510 (relating to obstruction of criminal investigations), section 1511 (relating to the obstruction of State or local law enforcement), section 1512 (relating to tampering with a witness, victim, or an informant), section 1513 (relating to retaliating against a witness, victim, or an informant), section 1542 (relating to false statement in application and use of passport), section 1543 (relating to forgery or false use of passport), section 1544 (relating to misuse of passport), section 1546 (relating to fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents), sections 15811592 (relating to peonage, slavery, and trafficking in persons).,[1] section 1951 (relating to interference with commerce, robbery, or extortion), section 1952 (relating to racketeering), section 1953 (relating to interstate transportation of wagering paraphernalia), section 1954 (relating to unlawful welfare fund payments), section 1955 (relating to the prohibition of illegal gambling businesses), section 1956 (relating to the laundering of monetary instruments), section 1957 (relating to engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from specified unlawful activity), section 1958 (relating to use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire), section 1960 (relating to illegal money transmitters), sections 2251, 2251A, 2252, and 2260 (relating to sexual exploitation of children), sections 2312 and 2313 (relating to interstate transportation of stolen motor vehicles), sections 2314 and 2315 (relating to interstate transportation of stolen property), section 2318 (relating to trafficking in counterfeit labels for phonorecords, computer programs or computer program documentation or packaging and copies of motion pictures or other audiovisual works), section 2319 (relating to criminal infringement of a copyright), section 2319A (relating to unauthorized fixation of and trafficking in sound recordings and music videos of live musical performances), section 2320 (relating to trafficking in goods or services bearing counterfeit marks), section 2321 (relating to trafficking in certain motor vehicles or motor vehicle parts), sections 23412346 (relating to trafficking in contraband cigarettes), sections 242124 (relating to white slave traffic), sections 175178 (relating to biological weapons), sections 229229F (relating to chemical weapons), section 831 (relating to nuclear materials), (C) any act which is indictable under title 29, United States Code, section 186 (dealing with restrictions on payments and loans to labor organizations) or section 501 (c) (relating to embezzlement from union funds), (D) any offense involving fraud connected with a case under title 11 (except a case under section 157 of this title), fraud in the sale of securities, or the felonious manufacture, importation, receiving, concealment, buying, selling, or otherwise dealing in a controlled substance or listed chemical (as defined in section 102 of the Controlled Substances Act), punishable under any law of the United States, (E) any act which is indictable under the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act, (F) any act which is indictable under the Immigration and Nationality Act, section 274 (relating to bringing in and harboring certain aliens), section 277 (relating to aiding or assisting certain aliens to enter the United States), or section 278 (relating to importation of alien for immoral purpose) if the act indictable under such section of such Act was committed for the purpose of financial gain, or (G) any act that is indictable under any provision listed in section 2332b (g)(5)(B);
(2) State means any State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, any territory or possession of the United States, any political subdivision, or any department, agency, or instrumentality thereof;
(3) person includes any individual or entity capable of holding a legal or beneficial interest in property;
(4) enterprise includes any individual, partnership, corporation, association, or other legal entity, and any union or group of individuals associated in fact although not a legal entity;
(5) pattern of racketeering activity requires at least two acts of racketeering activity, one of which occurred after the effective date of this chapter and the last of which occurred within ten years (excluding any period of imprisonment) after the commission of a prior act of racketeering activity;
(6) unlawful debt means a debt
(A) incurred or contracted in gambling activity which was in violation of the law of the United States, a State or political subdivision thereof, or which is unenforceable under State or Federal law in whole or in part as to principal or interest because of the laws relating to usury, and
(B) which was incurred in connection with the business of gambling in violation of the law of the United States, a State or political subdivision thereof, or the business of lending money or a thing of value at a rate usurious under State or Federal law, where the usurious rate is at least twice the enforceable rate;
(7) racketeering investigator means any attorney or investigator so designated by the Attorney General and charged with the duty of enforcing or carrying into effect this chapter;
(8) racketeering investigation means any inquiry conducted by any racketeering investigator for the purpose of ascertaining whether any person has been involved in any violation of this chapter or of any final order, judgment, or decree of any court of the United States, duly entered in any case or proceeding arising under this chapter;
(9) documentary material includes any book, paper, document, record, recording, or other material; and
(10) Attorney General includes the Attorney General of the United States, the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, the Associate Attorney General of the United States, any Assistant Attorney General of the United States, or any employee of the Department of Justice or any employee of any department or agency of the United States so designated by the Attorney General to carry out the powers conferred on the Attorney General by this chapter. Any department or agency so designated may use in investigations authorized by this chapter either the investigative provisions of this chapter or the investigative power of such department or agency otherwise conferred by law.
§ 1962. Prohibited activities
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person who has received any income |
to experience a period of peace and prosperity.
But his Kassite successors were again forced to fight, this time facing the conqueror King Shutruk-Nahunte of Elam. The Elamites finally destroyed the dynasty of the Kassites during these wars.
Time of Assyrian King Ashurbanipal (645-635 B.C.): Gypsum wall panel relief, incomplete. Assyrian soldiers pursuing an Arab force through open country, where Assyrian chariots can operate, besides bowmen and infantry. Arabs normally fought on foot; but here, in flight, they are mounted in pairs on camel back. Some shoot back with bows.
Nebuchadrezzar I
Meanwhile, in a series of heavy wars, about which not much is known, one "Marduk-kabit-ahheshu" (1152-1135 B.C.), established what came to be known as the 2nd dynasty of Isin. However, he and his successors were often forced to continue the fighting against the Elamites. The most famous king of this Isin dynasty was Nebuchadrezzar I (1119-1098 B.C.). He fought mainly against Elam, which had conquered and ravaged a large part of Babylonia. His first major attack against Elam miscarried because of an epidemic among his troops, but in a later campaign, he conquered Susa the capital of Elam. Soon thereafter the king of Elam was assassinated, and his kingdom once again, fell apart into small states. After "Nebuchadrezzar I" died, he was succeeded by his brother Marduk-nadin-ahhe (1093-1076). He was at first successful in wars against Assyria, but he later experienced heavy defeat.
The Aramaeans
Then a famine of catastrophic proportions triggered an attack from Aramaean tribes, (Aramaean is the name given to the confederation of Amorite tribes which had evolved, perhaps as a result of the Hyksos expulsion, to form a country called Aram). His successors made peace with Assyria, but the country suffered more and more from repeated attacks by Aramaeans and semitic nomads. Even though some of these Isin kings still assumed grand titles, they were unable to stem the progressive disintegration of their empire.
Chaldea - The Sealand
It was at this time of chaos and confusion, that the Sumerian Princes in the south re-asserted their independence. There followed the era known as the 2nd dynasty of the Sealand (or Chaldea, 1020–1000 B.C.) The "Sealand" or Chaldea, referrers to the southern coastal area of Sumer.
The Assyrians meanwhile had defeated the kings of Mitanni, first Shattuara I, then Wasashatta. This enabled them for a time to incorporate all Mesopotamia into their empire. Although in later struggles they lost large parts to the Hatti
One of these Assyrian kings "Ashurnasirpal II" (883–859), while continuing the policy of conquest and expansion, left a detailed account of his campaigns, via stella and carved wall relief's, which were impressive in their cruelty.
Defeated enemies were impaled, flayed, or beheaded in great numbers. Mass deportations however, were found to serve the interests of the growing empire better than terror. Through the systematic exchange of native populations, conquered regions were denationalized and new people were brought in.
Assyrian Reliefs
Alammu
Gypsum wall panel relief: showing prisoners from the town of Alammu. In the lower register Assyrian soldiers and auxiliaries bring the heads of slain prisoners to an officer of the king's guard carrying a long staff and large round shield; they are followed by prisoners handcuffed to the belt, one being executed en route, and women with children who, judging from their dress, are of Syrian type. The scene is set between a river plentiful in fish and a row of trees and vines which point to Syria or a western land. The careful distinctions made in the equipment of the soldiery are interesting. The auxiliaries wearing crested helmets carry round shields which seem to be wicker-work, and long pikes; they wear the knee-covering represented by hatching. One type of bowman is bareheaded, with a decorated fillet, and has no corselet, and the one executing a prisoner has crossed straps to hold the short skirt. The prisoners have over their plain shirts a shorter cloak of some other material, apparently woven. In the upper register two scribes are recording, one on a tablet and another on a parchment (?) roll, heads brought by auxiliaries.
Today, many Black men still favor the short hair and beard of the Alammu.
The result was a submissive, mixed population in which the Aramaean element, somehow became the majority. This also provided the labor force for the various public works projects in the metropolitan centers of the Assyrian empire.'School Told My Son He Could Wear a Dress Next Year if He Felt Like It'
The Christian far right in Australia is just as unabashedly anti-gay as it is in America. Next month Australians will vote by mail on whether or not they think same-sex couples should be given the same rights and responsibilities that different-sex couples automatically get simply because they are different sex couples. And the religious right is attacking in full force.
Just last week a vile poster attacking same-sex marriage, same-sex parents, and citing a discredited "study" by an American Catholic priest was found on the streets of Australia, being used by anti-gay activists to fight the country's impending plebiscite on marriage equality. It read: "Stop the F*gs."
Now the Coalition for Marriage has unleashed its first ad (above) attacking same-sex marriage. It's full of baloney.
The message: "You can say 'no.'"
"School told my son he could wear a dress next year if he felt like it," a woman claims as the ad opens. (Her son probably could wear a dress this year if he felt like it too.)
"When same-sex marriage passes as law overseas, these types of programs become widespread and compulsory," the second parent says.
The ad ties the two claims together with text stating: "In countries with gay marriage parents have lost their right to choose."
To choose what? What is "compulsory"? The ad doesn't say, and it means not to: it's Fear Tactics 101: short on facts and substance, long on hate and ignorance.
A third parent says kids are being asked to role-play being in a same-sex relationship.
Even if it were true, so what?
"This ad will play an important role in helping Australians understand that saying 'yes' to gay marriage would mean saying 'yes' to radical gay sex education in schools," the Coalition for Marriage says on its website - where its asking for donations. "It will cost $35,000 a day to ensure that millions of Australians hear the message about the consequences of change," they claim.
Apparently, the anti-gay religious right in Australia has decided to not focus on actual "consequences" of marriage - like love and acceptance, heightened security and health for all family members - but lies and fear about perceived "consequences" for children of orthodox Christian parents who oppose equality.
On their Facebook page, the Coalition for Marriage isn't getting many positive responses to the ad.
"Australian Labor Party and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told Fairfax Media the ad was 'offensive and hurtful to LGBTI Australians and their families,' News.com.au reports.
"This is exactly what was predicted when Malcolm Turnbull decided to waste $122 million on a postal survey. He gave the green light to this rubbish," Mr Shorten said. Equality Campaign executive director Tiernan Brady told news.com.au the "ad is disgraceful in its dishonesty". "The people behind this ad know that the Australian people are for allowing all Australians the right to marry so they want to desperately pretend this simple straightforward question is about something else," Mr Brady said. "As they try to divide Australians will continue to campaign to unite all Australians."
The Coalition for Marriage says it is "comprised of more than 80 groups from across Australia, representing over 3 million people and led by the Australian Christian Lobby, Marriage Alliance, the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney and the Anglican Diocese of Sydney."
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See a mistake? Email corrections to: [email protected]CLOSE Trees are removed in the parking lot of Garret Mountain Plaza in Woodland Park. Gary Miller/NorthJersey.com
Trees that lined parking spaces of a Woodland Park office complex were removed for installation of solar panels.
Nick Sanfilippo of Pro/Stump Tree Service removing a tree in the parking lot of Garret Mountain Plaza. The trees were cut down to make way for a solar installation. (Photo: Bernadette Marciniak/NorthJersey.com) Story Highlights The Garret Mountain Plaza project received the required permit to cut down trees.
The permit includes a $30,000 fee that will be used to plant trees elsewhere in Woodland Park.
The project is expected to power two office buildings and should be completed by late summer.
New Jersey is ranked fourth in the nation in total solar capacity.
A company that manages an office park on Garret Mountain plans to build a large array of solar panel canopies over its parking lots that will generate enough energy to power two buildings on the site.
To make way for the canopies, the company recently cut down more than 100 trees in the grassy medians between rows of parking spaces on the property, near Garret Mountain Reservation in Woodland Park.
Putting a solar array on commercial property is part of a larger trend in New Jersey, one that is greatly encouraged by environmental groups wherever there is room to harness the sun's energy. But the environmental irony in this case is hard to miss.
“It was a trade-off between the trees and the solar installation, unfortunately,” said Michael Donohue, director of operations for the Mountain Development Corp., which operates three office buildings at Garret Mountain Plaza. “We had to give up something to get something.
“Unfortunately, the trees are in the way, and we did have to remove them,” he said. The shade they produced also would have reduced the amount of solar energy captured by the panels.
The office buildings on the site do not have enough rooftop space to make rooftop solar panels worthwhile, Donohue said. “We wanted to do something that was energy-conscious and financially practical,” he said.
The solar canopies will be installed and owned by New York-based Safari Energy, which will claim the solar credits the state provides to generate solar energy, reducing project costs. Safari will sell back the energy to Mountain Development Corp. Donohue declined to reveal the project’s cost.
STADIUMS: No longer green monsters
LANDFILLS: PSE&G plans more solar farms on old dumps
New Jersey has a history of fostering the solar industry and by mid-2016 was ranked fourth in the nation in total solar capacity, with 1,839 megawatts, enough to power 290,000 homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. The state ranks behind California, North Carolina and Arizona.
Environmental groups have pushed for the state to develop more solar installations in parking areas.
“New Jersey is the Saudi Arabia of parking lots, and we should be promoting solar canopy parking lots as a strategy to expand the state’s overall use of solar,” said Doug O’Malley, executive director of Environment New Jersey. “It’s a good sign that New Jersey commercial office parks are realizing that their parking lots are ideal for solar.”
Felled trees at Garret Mountain Plaza. The solar array that will be installed where they stood will power two buildings on the site. (Photo: Carl Su/NorthJersey.com)
On the other hand, cutting down trees for solar projects can cause controversy. In 2015, Jackson Township approved a plan for Six Flags Great Adventure to build a 22-megawatt solar facility on its property in Ocean County, but the project would require cutting down up to 16,000 trees on 66 forested acres amid several state wildlife management areas.
Environment New Jersey, the New Jersey Sierra Club and others filed suit to block the plan, and in the fall Six Flags agreed to hold off on clearing the land until the court case is decided.
“We shouldn’t be giving solar developers a pass from existing environmental regulations because we want to promote solar,” O’Malley said. “Developers should minimize any environmental disturbance and shouldn’t expand their footprint into any abutting forested lands.”
Woodland Park has an ordinance restricting tree removal, and the Garret Mountain Plaza project received the required permit to cut down the trees, said Kevin Galland, Woodland Park’s administrator.
The ordinance requires that a developer replace trees that it cuts down, but in this case, since there isn’t another spot on the property to plant new trees, the permit includes a $30,000 fee that will be used to plant trees elsewhere in the borough, Galland said.
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The canopy solar project should be completed by late summer, Donohue said.
The project will generate up to 2.9 million kilowatt hours of energy a year to power the two office buildings, which have a combined floor space of 300,000 square feet, Donohue said. One of those buildings is a nine-story office tower visible from Route 80. Its tenants include PNC Bank, several law firms, an FBI field office and North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record and NorthJersey.com.
Nick Sanfilippo and Joe Carrano of Pro/Stump Tree Service preparing a tree for removal at Garrett Mountain Plaza. (Photo: Bernadette Marciniak/NorthJersey.com)
Solar's growing presence
Many commercial properties now have solar installations in North Jersey. For instance, Bed Bath & Beyond in Totowa installed a 1,651-kilowatt rooftop system, Ikea in Paramus has a 1,063-kilowatt system, and a Target in Clifton has a 616-kilowatt system.
A 1,350-panel solar ring circles the top of MetLife Stadium in the Meadowlands, generating 25 times the power needed for the LED display lights that change color based on whether the NFL’s Giants (blue) or Jets (green) are playing.
Some former industrial sites and closed landfills are also being reused for solar farms. Last May PSE&G, the state’s largest utility, which has already built eight solar farms on old landfills and contaminated industrial sites, announced a $275 million plan to build 10 more solar farms on similar abandoned sites by 2021. The plan would add 100 megawatts of solar power, enough to serve about 16,000 homes.
In 2012, William Paterson University in Wayne completed a solar project, including some canopies over parking areas, to supply up to 20 percent of the university’s energy needs. And in 2013, Rutgers University completed an 8-megawatt, $40 million solar canopy system over two large parking lots by the Rutgers Athletic Center on its Livingston campus.
Safari, created in 2008, has developed more than 80 solar projects at malls and commercial sites in New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and elsewhere. It has installed a 1,164-kilowatt rooftop solar project at the Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, as well as a 1,033-kilowatt project on the roof of the Paramus Park mall and a 980-kilowatt project at the Bergen Town Center mall, also in Paramus.
Mountain Development manages commercial property in five states, though primarily in New Jersey. It operates office complexes, warehouse distribution facilities and two malls, one in Buffalo and another in Springfield, Mass. It developed two of the buildings in the Garret Mountain complex in the early 1980s and bought the nine-story tower there in 2006.
Read or Share this story: http://northjersy.news/2iV7lyV1300 words
Numerous academics have been looked at as pariahs for uttering this word. This word has a pretty long history offending people. The word I’m talking about is natural. This “N” word—especially today—is extremely divisive in today’s society. If you say that something is ‘natural‘, are you taking away any accomplishments that one has done, all because it’s ‘natural‘?
Take what I’ve been writing about for the past three weeks: athletics. If you say that one is a “natural” at athletic competition, are you taking away the hard work it took for that specific athlete to accomplish his goal? No way. You’re acknowledging that that specific individual has something special that sets him apart from the average person. That’s not to say that hard work, determination, and confidence don’t matter; on the contrary. They DO matter. However, like I said with the Kalenjin Kenyan distance runners (who do have anatomical/physiologic advantages in regards to sprinting): you can take someone with elite genetics who has done elite training and put him up against someone who has subpar genetics (in terms of the athletic event) with elite training—the same training as the athlete with elite genetics—and the athlete with elite genetics/muscle fibers/physiology will constantly blow away the individual who is less genetically gifted.
People readily admit that certain races excel at certain physical activities whereas other races don’t fare as well. As I’ve extensively covered (and provided more than enough evidence/arguments for), the races differ in the number of muscle fibers which cause higher rates of obesity in blacks; this causes strength differences which then correlate with mortality. Finally, somatype is extremely important when speaking about athletics. Blacks have a mesomorphic somatype, which, along with their fiber typing and physiologic differences on average compared to whites, cause blacks to dominate most sporting events. However, when you say that certain races are “naturally more intelligent than others“, people all of a sudden have a bone to pick.
This “N” word when it comes to athletics is perfectly fine to use in our vocabulary, yet when we begin talking about intelligence differences—between races and individuals—all of a sudden we think that everyone is the same and that all brains are made the same. We believe that, although humans evolved genetically isolated for thousands of years and have incurred anatomic/physiologic differences, that one organ—the brain—is somehow exempt from the forces of natural selection. I can think of no traits that WON’T get selected for/against, and so I can think of no reason why the brain wouldn’t be under different selective pressures in Siberia/Northern Europe/the Americas/Africa/PNG/Australia.
However, as far as I can tell, we have not found any alleles that differ between populations. It was proposed in 2005 that the genes ASPM and Microcephalin influenced brain growth (Evans et al, 2005; Mekel-Brobov et al, 2005). However, two years later, Rushton, Vernon and Ann Bons (2007) showed that there was no evidence that Microcephalin and ASPM were associated with general mental ability (GMA), head circumference or altruism. Peter Frost cites Woodley et al, (2014) showing that the correlation between microcephalin and IQ is.79, whereas the correlation with ASPM and IQ was.254. Woodley et al (2014) also show there is a correlation between Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) and Microcephalin. The reasoning is that Microcephalin may improve the body’s immune response to viral infections, enabling humans to live in larger societies and thus get selected for higher IQ. Since the allele seems to give better disease resistance, then, over time, selection for higher intelligence can be selected for since fewer people are dying from disease due to increased resistance.
Nevertheless, the debate is still out on this allele. However, the data does look good in that we may have found certain polymorphisms that differ between populations which may explain some racial differences in intelligence. (For more information on IQ alleles, see Race and IQ: the Case for Genes).
Now, we are beginning to have some good evidence pile up showing that there are population differences in these alleles, and that they do predict intelligence. Racial differences in intelligence aren’t accepted by mainstream science and the public at large (obviously) like physiologic/anatomic differences are between human populations. Populations are split for thousands of years. They evolve different anatomy/physiology based on the environment. So, then, why wouldn’t psychological differences appear between the races of Man, when other, physical changes occurred from the OoA migration? It literally makes no sense.
People readily admit that athleticism is largely “natural“, yet when someone says that differences in intelligence are largely due to genes they get shouted down and called a ‘racist’, as if that adds anything to the dialogue. People readily admit that individuals/races are “naturally” leaner/stronger/faster/have quicker reflexes. But if one just even hints at thinking about “natural” differences between populations when it comes to general mental ability, they will be shouted down and their careers will be ruined.
Why? Why are people so scared of the “N” word? Because people want to believe that what they do or do not accomplish comes down to them as an individual and only them. They don’t want to think about the complex interaction between genes x environment and how that shapes an individual’s life path. They only think about environment, and not any possible genetic factors. Certain people—mostly social science majors—deny that evolution had ANY impact on human behavior. The “N” word, especially in today’s society, is a completely divisive word. State that you hold hereditarian views (in terms of mental ability) in regards to differences between populations and athletic events and no one will bat an eye.
“Didn’t you see Usain Bolt blow away the competition and set a new world record in the 100m dash at 9.58 seconds?!”
“He’s naturally good, he was born a gifted athlete.”
No one will bat an eye if you say this. This is where the tables will be flipped if you say:
“Don’t you know that differences in intelligence are largely genetic in nature and no matter how much you ‘train the brain’ you’ll stay at that intelligence level?”
“Man, that’s racist. That shouldn’t be looked at. We are all the same and equal. Except when it comes to certain athletic events, then we are not equal and some populations have natural predispositions that help them win. Evolution stopped at the neck 100kya; the only parts of the body under selective pressure over the past 100kya is below the neck!”
People who say this need to explain exactly what shields the brain from selection pressures. Man originated in Africa, the descendants of the soon-to-be coalesced races spent tens of thousands of years in differing environments. You need to do different things to survive in different environments. Just as the races differ physically, they differ mentally as well. Evolution did not stop at the neck. Significant changes in the brain have occurred in the past 10,000 years. There was a trade-off with agriculture, in that it was responsible for the population explosion which was responsible for mutations that affect intelligence and thus get selected for.
The “N” word is not a scary word. It is, in fact, it’s just common sense. People need to realize that by accepting genetic explanations for black domination in sports, that they would then, logically, have to accept racial differences in intelligence. It makes no sense to accept evolutionary theories (even if you don’t know it) in regards to athletics and not accept the same evolutionary theories for racial differences in the brain. There are real differences between populations, in both anatomy/physiology and our mental faculties and brain organization. If you accept one, you have to accept the other.
AdvertisementsMonday, we continue our Sundance coverage with Greg Whiteley's new documentary, MITT. Whiteley filmed for six years with unfettered access to the Romney clan, from their 2006 Christmas dinner through the presidential candidate's loss in 2012. The film is less about politics though than a portrait of a family navigating the long hours, stress and disappointments of a campaign. Whiteley joins Doug to talk about the human side of politics and the Mitt Romney voters didn't see.
MITT premiered Friday at the Sundance Film Festival. There are still screenings Monday and Wednesday through Saturday in Park City. For a full schedule, visit the Sundance Film Festival 2014 web site.
MITT will also premiere on Netflix before the end of Sundance. It will be available on Friday, January 24th.Let there be no doubt: Stefan Frei has Jozy Altidore’s number.
Five months after making “The Save” to deny Altidore and help the Seattle Sounders win MLS Cup, Frei again turned away the Toronto FC striker in spectacular fashion over the weekend.
With Toronto leading 1-0 in the 40th minute of Saturday’s match at CenturyLink Field, Altidore rocketed a 20-yard half-volley that looked ticketed for the top-right corner. Frei had other ideas, however, quickly reaching out with the same left hand that stopped Altidore in MLS Cup to tip the blast over the bar.
It wasn’t enough to prevent TFC from beating Seattle 1-0 on the back of Altidore's early penalty, but the denial did net Frei MLS Save of the Week honors for Week 10 of the MLS season.
Frei took home 50 percent of the Save of the Week vote, comfortably beating runner-up Luis Robles, who received 18 percent of the final tally. Philadelphia’s Andre Blake, Real Salt Lake’s Matt Van Oekel and LA’s Brian Rowe rounded out the voting with 15 percent, 12 percent and six percent, respectively.
Frei and Seattle will return to action on Saturday, when they’ll take on Bastian Schweinsteiger, Dax McCarty and the Chicago Fire in a nationally-televised match at Toyota Park (9 pm ET | ESPN2 in the US, MLS LIVE in Canada).
Watch Frei’s excellent stop and the other nominees from Week 10 here.It probably bears worth repeating that if there were much about about Moody's clout in the sovereign debt arena, it should have be erased today: Moody's has no clout.
A downgrade of Ireland early on barely produced a blip on any market anywhere.
That follows a recent spectacularly uneventful downgrade of Portugal.
Every once in a while Moody's lobs a very vague warning about debt and spending in the direction of London and Washington DC, and occasionally the subject of the US losing its AAA rating comes up.
But really, Moody's is NOT going to be ahead of the US downgrade curve. And they certainly don't want to be responsible for it. As Niall Ferguson points out, collapses come suddenly.
If (when?) the collapse happens, it will happen well before Moody's gets around to noticing.The State Department has no idea what happened to $6 billion used to pay its contractors.
In a special “management alert” made public Thursday, the State Department’s Inspector General Steve Linick warned “significant financial risk and a lack of internal control at the department has led to billions of unaccounted dollars over the last six years.
The alert was just the latest example of the federal government’s continued struggle with oversight over its outside contractors.
Related: Government Blatantly Wastes $30 Billion This Year
The lack of oversight “exposes the department to significant financial risk,” the auditor said. “It creates conditions conducive to fraud, as corrupt individuals may attempt to conceal evidence of illicit behavior by omitting key documents from the contract file. It impairs the ability of the Department to take effective and timely action to protect its interests, and, in tum, those of taxpayers.”
In the memo, the IG detailed “repeated examples of poor contract file administration.” For instance, a recent investigation of the closeout process for contracts supporting the mission in Iraq, showed that auditors couldn't find 33 of the 115 contract files totaling about $2.1 billion. Of the remaining 82 files, auditors said 48 contained insufficient documents required by federal law.
In another instance, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement issued a $1 billion contract in Afghanistan that was deemed “incomplete.”
Related: Government Wastes More Money Than You Think
The auditor recommended that the State Department establish a centralized system to track, maintain and retain contract files.
The department responded and said it concurred with the recommendations to address the “vulnerability” in its contracting process.
Before Linick took office last fall, the State Department had been without an inspector general position for five years—the longest IG vacancy in the government’s history, as noted in The Washington Post.
Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:Claim: Humble Oil ran an advertisement back in 1962 boasting how they could melt 7 million tons of glacier every day.
TRUE
Example: [Collected via e-mail, June 2010]
Is this a real ad from a 1962 edition of Life Magazine? Is this a real ad from a 1962 edition of Life Magazine?
Origins: When looking through collections of advertisements from previous eras, one can often find ads that were perfectly innocuous in their day, but which — due to political, social, or technological changes that have taken place in the meanwhile — would now seen ridiculous, offensive, or otherwise unacceptable. The above-displayed 1962 magazine advertisement for Humble Oil & Refining Company and Enco brand gasoline is a prime example of this concept.
Back in the early 1960s ad copy such as the following, which touted an oil company’s size and technical efficiency by boasting that its output could melt several tons of glacier every day, would have raised no eyebrows:
EACH DAY HUMBLE SUPPLIES ENOUGH ENERGY TO MELT 7 MILLION TONS OF GLACIER! EACH DAY HUMBLE SUPPLIES ENOUGH ENERGY TO MELT 7 MILLION TONS OF GLACIER! This giant glacier has remained unmelted for centuries. Yet, the petroleum energy Humble supplies — if converted into heat — could melt it at the rate of 80 tons each second! To meet the nation’s growing needs for energy, Humble has supplied science to nature’s resources to become America’s Leading Energy Company. Working wonders with oil through research, Humble provides energy in many forms — to help heat our homes, power our transportation, and to furnish industry with a great variety of versatile chemicals. Stop at a Humble station for new Enco Extra gasoline, and see why the “Happy Motoring” Sign is the World’s First Choice!
What those copywriters couldn’t have imagined in 1962, of course, was that three or four decades in the future scientists would begin warning about the potential harm of
global warming, a phenomenon attributed in large part to the global use of petroleum products for fuel. Nor could those ad men have anticipated that melting glaciers would become one of the most common symbols used to illustrate the perils the world would have to confront if scientific predictions about global warming proved to be true.
Some viewers have doubted that this purported 1960s advertisement is real, believing it instead to be a modern effort created for satirical or political purposes. But the ad did indeed appear in the 2 February 1962 issue of LIFE magazine (which featured U.S. astronaut John Glenn on the cover).Technically Incorrect offers a slightly twisted take on the tech that's taken over our lives.
BBC/YouTube screenshot by Chris Matyszczyk/CNET
We leave so much unresolved in our past that we often wish we could just go back and fix things. Or, at least, change the way everything turned out.
We want to believe it's possible. We want to believe that science will make it possible. This is partly because we see far too many science fiction movies.
We also want to believe in an afterlife, just in case we need to atone for the things we've left in the past and couldn't get back while we were here.
However, in a BBC documentary that aired this week, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking offered nothing but bad news.
Hawking was speaking with Dara O'Briain, a comedian who also happens to have studied theoretical physics.
O'Briain was keen to know whether time travel was possible, especially the back-to-the-future kind. He mentioned that in 1992 Hawking had offered the "chronology protection conjecture," which insisted that if time travel were possible, it certainly could never be backwards time travel.
O'Briain, therefore, sniffed that Hawking had ruined the Terminator movies.
Hawking wasn't impressed. He wasn't impressed with the idea that we might one day be able to use black holes to travel back in time, either. He said: "If you jump in a black hole, you will meet an unpleasant fate."
Not even messages, said Hawking, could be sent back in time. This led O'Briain to muse, as Hawking was sitting there: "All science fiction is dead. Thank you, Stephen Hawking."
Hawking wasn't any more optimistic about humans reaching distant planets. He said: "The present breed of humans won't reach the stars." The distances are too great. The radiation exposure would be too severe.
The only hope he offered -- one that surely excites many at Google -- is to "genetically engineer humans or send machines."
But then O'Briain reached the subject of God. Hawking explained he wasn't persuaded that the Earth was created by God in seven days. He prefers the scientific explanation of the Big Bang.
Hawking has previously declared that he doesn't believe in God. But what about an afterlife? Couldn't we still believe in that? Couldn't we hope that there might be something beyond this absurd existence?
Hawking sniffed: "I think the afterlife is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark."
Now there's a thought to rock your kids to sleep with.Less than two weeks after a nine-year prison stay ended, O.J. Simpson has done an autograph signing.
It is not known who conducted the signing, but TMZ reported Friday that it took place in Las Vegas, where Simpson has been living since his Oct. 1 release.
Memorabilia signed, namely Simpson's autograph on Buffalo Bills helmets, was sold on a wholesale basis to autograph dealers.
One of those dealers who purchased an allotment was Steiner Sports out of New York, which posted prices on the signed Simpson helmets -- $400 for just the autograph, $450 with a "HOF '85" inscription -- on Thursday.
"Collectors collect, and O.J. Simpson is a part of sports history for his accomplishments on the field," said Steiner Sports CEO Brandon Steiner. "He's a Heisman Trophy winner, 10,000-plus-yard rusher and a Hall of Famer. We are just trying to answer the demand of our customers looking to complete their collections."
Helmets recently autographed by O.J. Simpson are being sold for $400 or more. Steiner Sports
It is not known how well the Simpson items will sell. While Simpson was in jail, prices paid for his signature and game-used memorabilia sold at auction were lackluster.
Any money Simpson earns is supposed to go to the families of Ronald Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson, following a 1997 civil decision. Including the interest that has accrued, Simpson owes the families about $65 million, a Goldman family lawyer told The Associated Press when Simpson was released from prison.
Simpson's NFL pension, which added up to at least $435,000 during his incarceration, is protected from that judgment.From the County News Center:
If you want to vote in the June 7 Presidential Primary Election, you must register by Monday, May 23.
You will need to register if you:
are not currently registered
recently moved
recently changed your name
If you want to vote for president, make sure you can. If you're registered as No Party Preference — or nonpartisan — presidential candidates won't be listed on your ballot. You may request an American Independent, Democratic or Libertarian party ballot at your designated polling place to vote for the presidential candidates in those parties.
If you want to vote for a presidential candidate in the Green, Peace and Freedom or Republican parties, you must re-register with that party by May 23.
If you're not sure about your registration, check it online at Sdvote.com. If you're not registered or need to change your registration, you'll find that form there too. If your signature is confirmed through Department of Motor Vehicles records, it will automatically be sent to the Registrar of Voters office. If the signature is not confirmed, you can print the form, sign it and mail it to the Registrar.
For voters without access to a computer, registration forms are also available at the Registrar's office, U.S. Postal Service offices, public libraries, City Clerk offices and Department of Motor Vehicles offices. For voters who need language assistance, election materials are also available in Spanish, Filipino, Vietnamese and Chinese.
Registration forms must be postmarked or delivered to the Registrar by midnight on May 23. Voters can also register online until midnight.
Early voting is already underway at the Registrar's office in Kearny Mesa located on the County Operations Center campus at 5600 Overland Ave., San Diego, 92123.
Voters can cast their ballots there from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday until Election Day when the voting hours will change to 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. to reflect the hours at the polls, or between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturday June 4 and Sunday June 5 for weekend voting.
There is still time to apply for a mail ballot if that is more convenient. Registered voters can request a mail ballot until May 31.
"When you get your mail ballot, vote it and send it back right away," said Registrar Michael Vu. "We can start processing that ballot so it's ready to count right when the polls close at 8 p.m. on Election Day."
The quick return of mail ballots speeds up the overall counting process because they can be prepared before Election Day saving time and taxpayer dollars.
For additional information on voter registration, polling places or mail ballots, call 858-565-5800 or visit Sdvote.com.
(Image via Shutterstock)The EU General Court has ordered that the Palestinian militant group Hamas be removed from the bloc’s terror |
of thing FM radio has – than ever before."
Unlike traditional radio stations - which pay rates for the right to play music over the air, depending on the net revenue they make from advertising - for the right to play music over the air - websites that allow users to listen to music are subject to higher tariffs based on their gross income.
These payments must be negotiated and paid to those holding the rights, including record labels, music publishers and sometimes the artists themselves. Meanwhile, websites such as YouTube have negotiated flat fees to cover the royalties for any music with a UK copyright that users upload.
Stiksel believes that the increasingly complex rules and mish-mash of collection agencies have become so difficult to navigate that they could stifle innovation, killing new music startups before they have even begun.
"It wouldn't be that easy to start out again," he said. "Expectations are different now, and people want large compensation right from the start.
"To even be allowed to enter the club, you have to pay a fee. The space is radically changing all the time… but I can't see the fog clearing in the short term."
Last year the situation became so treacherous and confusing that US-based music service Pandora decided to stop offering its service to British users.
At the time, Pandora founder Tim Westergren said the rates demanded by record labels and music publishers were "far too high to allow ad-supported radio to operate", and that they were pursuing a course that was "nothing short of disastrous for artists whom they purport to represent."
Calls for a simplified system have gone unheeded by the British government: indeed, the communications minister, Lord Carter, recently announced plans that would further complicate the situation by creating another agency to oversee the enforcement of copyright.
In his Digital Britain report last week, Carter outlined his plan to create a rights agency to seek out and prosecute people who illegally downloaded music and films over the internet.
Despite concerns about the impact of the licensing regime, Stiksel said that growth at Last.fm had not been affected.
The site now boasts more than 25 million monthly users. Stiksel attributes some of this success to the sale to CBS and the subsequent redesign.
He said the website would continue to branch out in its search for new users. In addition to its mobile phone applications, Last.fm was working on building its software into other apps for home use.
The company has deals with sound equipment manufacturers Sonos and Logitech to incorporate Last.fm into their devices and more could be on the way.
"I can't go into details but… we are busily developing a couple of things to bring the Last.fm experience to new platforms," he said. "We want to be everywhere where people want to listen to music."There is a reason why the McCain camp embargoed Sarah Palin for as long as they did. She was talking to Greta on FOX and explained what the McCain administration would do in their first 100 days of taking office. (2:07 mark)
Palin: Ok, we're confident that we're going to win on Tuesday so from there, those first 100 days, how we're going to kick in the plan that will get this economy back on the right track and really shore up the strategies that we need over in Iraq and Iran to win these wars...
Greta then glosses over it, as if Sarah never mentioned that we're at war with Iran and immediately brings up a possible "gaffe" made by Gov. Richardson. Go Greta.
Let's hope the Iranians didn't see this.Some years ago, I talked to Andrew Dilnot, then principal of an Oxford college, now head of the UK Statistics Authority. He picked up a copy of the Guardian front page, jabbed his finger at the figure $25bn, which was highlighted in a panel, and asked: "Is that a big number?" I looked at him blankly. He said newspapers, particularly upmarket ones, were full of numbers but, in many instances, neither journalists nor readers could explain their significance. "Numbers are just a particular class of words. There isn't any other class of words in a paper that we wouldn't ask ourselves what they mean."
We often hear politicians quoting numbers, but what do they mean? In March, a Conservative party press release, faithfully reported in the Sunday Telegraph, claimed "nearly a million people" had come off incapacity benefit rather than face new medical tests for what is now called the employment and support allowance. The press release intended us to think 1m was a big number – "more than a third of the total", it stated – though the true figure was 878,300. To explain the meaning, it quoted the party chairman, Grant Shapps. The figure was a vindication of the government's stricter policies on benefit claimants, he said, and a demonstration of "how the welfare system was broken under Labour". It showed, we were supposed to deduce, the scale of malingering before the coalition put a stop to it.
But the big number was – there is no other word for it – a lie. Dilnot, now responsible for protecting the integrity of official statistics, exposed it as a lie this week, albeit using mild Whitehall language in letters to Shapps and Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary. The 878,300 alleged malingerers had never received incapacity benefit. They were new claimants, aggregated over three-and-a-half years. Many (probably most) withdrew their claim because they recovered from their condition or found a new job. In 2011-12, out of 603,600 established benefit claimants referred for the new medical tests, just 19,700 (3.3%) withdrew before taking them. That figure – which most of us would think small – represented the true scale of people pretending to be sick.
This is not the first time Dilnot has issued reprimands for misuse of numbers or, to put it more bluntly than he would, the quotation of bogus figures. The prime minister himself was rebuked in January for stating that the coalition was "paying down Britain's debts" when the national debt had risen from £811bn to £1.1 trillion. Jeremy Hunt, the health secretary, was told in December to withdraw his claim that NHS spending had risen in real terms "in each of the last two years". Last month Duncan Smith was on the naughty step for claiming that, as a result of the new benefits cap, 8,000 people had moved into jobs. This was "unsupported" by official statistics, Dilnot ruled. Last year Michael Gove, the education secretary, was criticised for claims that, under Labour, tests had shown British children falling steeply in international league tables. UK samples for tests in 2000 and 2003 were inadequate, Dilnot wrote; it was not therefore possible to make "trend comparisons" with later tests in 2006 and 2009.
Politicians – like journalists, campaigners and even academics – habitually quote figures selectively, seizing on those that support their case, ignoring those that don't. That is human nature. We cannot expect ministers to examine all available evidence dispassionately every time they speak or write. No doubt they also make genuine errors, misunderstanding, misreading or failing to check statistics.
But the examples above are surely deliberate attempts to mislead the public. It is not a matter of accurate figures being taken out of context, but of making false statements about what official statistics show. (Labour may have been equally guilty of such behaviour, but it was rarely properly highlighted because the UK Statistics Authority was not established until 2008 and Dilnot did not take charge until last year.) Unfortunately, there is no price to pay. The "nearly a million" figure will stick in the public mind. Dilnot's demolition of the Shapps claim was not widely or prominently reported.
The quotation of statistics is fundamental to modern political debate. Parties compete, not so much on ideology or even policy, as on their competence to manage the nation's affairs. Most voters would struggle to distinguish between a Labour NHS reform and a Tory NHS reform, a Labour academy and a Tory academy, a Labour "crackdown" on benefits and a Tory "crackdown". They look for evidence that things are going well and politicians respond by quoting hospital waiting times, GCSE success rates, numbers coming off benefit, and so on. We know politicians cherry-pick the figures, wrench them out of context, round them up or down, but we should at least have confidence that they aren't making them up.
Perhaps, as is often suggested, better maths and statistics teaching in schools would help us make more sense of the figures. But we cannot all be expected to scrutinise the raw official statistics to verify everything we are told, not least because the Office for National Statistics website is virtually unnavigable. Without some faith in ministers' veracity, public trust in democracy withers still further.
Can anything be done? The public administration select committee has proposed that Dilnot take greater control over the collation and publication of departmental statistics, and over how they are publicised. It has also suggested that ministers should not have automatic access to official figures before they are released, because it allows them to put out their own "spin" in advance. These changes would be an improvement, but ministers will continue to offend until they have reason to fear the consequences of making false statements.
Nearly all ministerial resignations are connected with not telling the truth: submitting false expenses, covering up a speeding points swap, receiving favours from lobbyists. But telling untruths about official figures is somehow regarded less seriously. Dilnot should have the power, in the worst examples, to require a full Commons censure debate on a minister's conduct – with an expectation that, if he or she failed to offer an adequate defence or show contrition, resignation would follow. That would guarantee press attention and ministerial trembling. Big lies about big numbers require big deterrents.One in five mothers feels “namer’s remorse” and would pick another name for their child if they had the choice, according to a survey before this week’s annual announcement on baby names.
Names most frequently regretted were Charlotte, Amelia, Anne, Daniel, Jacob, James and Thomas.
Of the 245 mothers who regretted the names they gave their children, 12% “always knew it was the wrong choice”, 3% knew from the moment the child was born, 8% knew within a couple of days, 32% knew within the first six weeks and 23% began to regret their choice when their children first started nursery or school.
One mother explained that her child’s name “was taken by a terrorist group, soon after she was born”. Another pinpointed the moment she began to regret naming her daughter Elsa as “when Frozen became massively popular”. Another said: “My child hates his name, and makes me feel bad for choosing it.”
Frozen effect: Elsa breaks into top 500 baby names Read more
The main reason for regretting the name was that it was too commonly used (25%). Just over one in five mothers who regretted their choice said it “just doesn’t feel right”. One in five said they had never liked the name but had been pressured into using it.
Just over 10% of mothers said the name did not suit their child. Another 11% said it was not distinctive enough. A further 11% said it caused their child problems with spelling or pronunciation.
Six percent regretted their choice because they disliked the shortened version of the name their child ended up being called. Only 3% pinned their regret on the fact there had been a change in public perception of the name since their child was born. Just 1% regretted their choice because a celebrity had used the name for their child.
Justine Roberts, founder of Mumsnet, which carried out the survey, said: “Choosing your baby’s name is one of the first things new parents do, so in some ways baby name regret is great practice for parenting: you do a lot of hard work and research, try to please several people at once, and end up getting it wrong. The consolation is that most children grow into their names – and those who don’t can always fall back on middle names, nicknames or (in extremis) deed polls.”
Just 6% of mothers, however, have changed any of their children’s names, although one in three has considered it.
In a Mumsnet forum on the issue, one mother said: “My [daughter] is now five, so there is absolutely no way I would change her name or let on to her that I feel like this but ever since we named her I’ve had namer’s remorse. I suffered from horrendous postnatal depression after her birth which … made it very hard to name her … I gave her a very fashionable name which I hear everywhere.”
Another mother said: “I gave my [daughter] a name that is not at all like my other children’s names and it is not a classic or traditional name, which is something I have always valued. I have no idea why I chose such a name.
“I feel less strongly about it [now]. It is something to do with seeing her growing into womanhood … as she grows up, she becomes less and less one of many, and more and more her own unique individual. And the name goes with that individual.”Germany's Federal Constitutional Court on Friday (7 February) for the first time in its history referred a case to the EU's top judges - with the final ruling key to the future stability of the eurozone.
The case concerns the European Central Bank's (ECB's) controversial bond-buying proposal, a not-yet activated scheme announced in September 2012, which is largely considered to be the main reason why the euro-crisis has stabilised.
The German court said that the bank overstepped its mandate when promising to buy as many government bonds as necessary to stabilise the euro, known as Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT).
“Subject to the interpretation by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Federal Constitutional Court considers the OMT Decision incompatible with primary law,” the Karlsruhe-based court said in a statement.
It added, however, that a different ruling could be issued by the ECJ, "if the OMT decision could be interpreted as in conformity with primary law."
The German judges argue that the ECB overstepped its mandate because it promised to engage in what can be considered government financing, even if the bonds would not bought directly from the governments, but from traders.
According to EU law, the ECB is forbidden to directly fund governments.
But, if the OMT scheme was applied "restrictively" with a series of caveats - particularly that bond purchases are "limited" - it could be deemed legal, the German court said.
The case had been brought to the Karlsruhe court by the German Central Bank (Bundesbank), who opposed the scheme from the very beginning.
“The ECB takes note of the announcement made today by the German constitutional court,” the ECB said in a statement.
“The ECB reiterates that the OMT programme falls within its mandate,” it added.
A similar statement was made by the European Commission, where a spokesman on Friday said the EU executive is "confident" that the OMT is legal.
The parts of the constitutional challenge referring to Germany's participation in the eurozone bailout fund (ESM) will be ruled upon on 18 March.
As for the OMT final ruling, Karlsruhe will wait until the ECJ pronounces its verdict - a process which could take up to 16 months.
"It does not happen a lot that the German Constitutional Court passes sensitive decisions on to the European level," ING Bank's chief economist Carsten Brzeski said in an emailed statement.
"Today’s announcement therefore could either be a sign that the Court has reached its legal limits on European issues or that the issue is so tricky and touchy that it is better to pass it on," he added.
While the "fear factor" that Karlsruhe may repel OMT has been "clearly reduced," Brzeski warned that it is "not a given" that the ECJ will rubber-stamp the scheme.
The euro fell slightly on the news against the US dollar, the British pound and the Swiss franc.Can lawyers make transparent chief executives? In the post-World War II era, Americans have elected three lawyers to the Oval Office: Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. Only Clinton’s administration could be characterized as transparent, and then not by design but because of persistent leaks.
North Carolina’s last lawyer-governor was Michael F. Easley, a politician from Nash County who had previously served as the state’s attorney general. To put it mildly, Easley’s administration was not one known for allowing the sun to shine in.
Depositions of Easley officials revealed that the administration had a secret “blackout policy” for the conservative-leaning Carolina Journal newspaper, with word going out to state public information officers that calls from the paper’s reporters were not to be returned. Then there is the fact that Easley used a private email account (with an address of “Nick Danger” spelled backward) to avoid public records scrutiny.
But the worst example is that the governor’s office ran a scheme whereby his lead communications staffers instructed agency PIOs both political appointees and career staff to delete emails to and from Easley’s office each day so that they would not appear in public records searches.
Instructing career staff to break the law for you is never a good idea, and as the word leaked out, the media circled its wagons and sued Easley. Easley was defended in the email scandal by Roy Cooper, a politician from Nash County who was serving as the state’s attorney general.
Cooper attempted to settle the suit for $20,000, then waited out the clock on the Easley administration and tried to claim that the media had no standing to sue because Easley was no longer in office. Neither of those tactics worked.Waking up the echoes
Cooper is now governor, and it is too early to tell whether he will run a transparent administration or not. But the echoes of Easley are unmistakable.
First, there is Cooper’s conduct as attorney general, where he claimed to have sent only 14 emails over 16 years. And state media were not happy with Cooper’s handling of public records requests during the scrutiny over the State Bureau of Investigation’s crime lab, with one reporter claiming Cooper was “dragging his feet” on releasing the records.
In his first two months as chief executive, the signs are not encouraging. Rumors around Raleigh are that Cooper may have his own Easley-style media blacklist. And then there’s multiple reports that Larry Hall, lawyer-governor Cooper’s nominee to head the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, challenged Carolina Journal reporter Dan Way’s right to report on a meeting of the Military Affairs Commission. An eyewitness claims that Hall said the public meeting was not a “media event,” a term that has no meaning in the context of the state’s open meetings law.
Way was at the early February meeting to report on a presentation by physicist John Droz on wind-energy facilities in the state. After Hall’s inappropriate comments, commission chairman Brig. Gen. Mabry “Bud” Martin who had resisted pressure from the governor’s office to take the presentation off the meeting’s agenda entirely was unsure what to do. First he scrubbed Droz’s presentation from the agenda, after which Way left the meeting. But then Martin reversed himself and asked Droz to give the presentation. Jonathan Jones, director of the N.C. Open Government Coalition, called the move “a pretty clear violation” of the law.
Martin is new to state government and can be forgiven for being flustered in the face of pressure from Cooper’s cabinet member. But Larry Hall has no excuse.
Hall has been an elected representative for a decade, first appointed to the General Assembly by lawyer-governor Easley in 2006. Hall knows the ins and outs of state government. Indeed, he was in Democratic leadership for half of his tenure. He knows the state’s public records and open meetings laws, and he is brace yourself a lawyer.
Cooper must set a marker now that his administration will not tolerate the kind of illegal shenanigans Hall encouraged. The governor is certainly aware of the Easley scandals, which show that he won’t get any help from his friends in the legacy media.
On other matters, even scandals, Cooper can expect a level of ideological courtesy from the press corps. But not when it’s about access and public records. Information, after all, is the news media’s stock in trade. They will protect it fiercely.
A firm statement from Cooper, followed by clear shifts away from the last lawyer-governor’s policies, might just begin to drown out the rising echoes of Easley.
Drew Elliot is a member of the North State Journal’s editorial board, separate from the news staff. Unlike other newspapers, the North State Journal does not publish unsigned editorials; the author or authors of every editorial, letter, op-ed, and column is prominently displayed. To submit a letter or op-ed, see our submission guidelines.THESE days, it’s practically unheard-of for those on the left to embrace ideas promoted by the likes of the Koch brothers and the conservative Heritage Foundation. But it would be a shame if partisan distrust kept Democrats from supporting a proposal favored by the right: a measure that would bolster the idea that a criminal conviction should require proof of what lawyers call “mens rea” — literally, a guilty mind. That’s because it can be harnessed to aid some of those who are especially ill treated by the criminal justice system: the poor and racial minorities.
As a legal principle, mens rea means that causing harm should not be enough to constitute a crime; knowingly causing harm should be. Walking away from the baggage carousel with a suitcase you mistook for your own isn’t theft; it’s theft only if you knew you didn’t own it. Ordinary citizens may assume that this common-sense requirement is already the law of the land. And indeed law students are taught that prosecutors must prove not just that a defendant did something bad, but also that his frame of mind made him culpable when he did it.
But over the years, exceptions to the principle have become common because mens rea requirements have not been consistently detailed in laws. In one often-cited case, the president of a company that mistakenly shipped mislabeled drugs was convicted of a crime even though he had no way of knowing that the labels were incorrect. In another, a truck driver crossing the Canadian border into Washington to deliver cases of beer was convicted of drug trafficking even though prosecutors produced no evidence that he knew or should have known that the truck had a secret compartment filled with drugs. In these cases and many more like them, the prosecution secured conviction without showing that the defendant had a guilty mind.
Congress is now considering a measure sponsored by Representative James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, that would require that mens rea be proven in many more cases. For instance, a law making it a crime to mislabel drugs would automatically be interpreted as criminalizing knowing mislabeling. The measure would not affect statutes that make clear that no mental state need be shown for guilt — for example, laws criminalizing sex with minors.PORTLAND, Ore. — People who pedal to work each day have long sought a kind of commuter equality: a federal tax break for biking similar to those given for parking or riding public transit. Last week, after years of rejection, the credit suddenly became law.
Scheduled to take effect in January, the credit was among a range of energy and tax provisions quickly added to the $700 billion financial rescue.
Yet here in the district of the congressman who first pushed for the bicycle bill, Representative Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat who wears a bicycle lapel pin and founded the Congressional Bike Caucus, no party is being planned.
“Who wants to celebrate?” said Jonathan Maus, who edits a blog that promotes cycling here in Portland. “Because I think a lot of people agree with how Blumenauer voted.”
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Even with his cycling tax credit attached to the financial rescue bill, Mr. Blumenauer voted against the measure. After all, thousands of constituents had contacted his office to oppose the $700 billion rescue bill and he was frustrated that it did not do more to help individual homeowners, according to an aide.
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“He was looking at the big picture, the state of the economy,” said Lucia Graves, a spokeswoman for the congressman. “If anything it was a diversion,” she said of the cycling tax credit. “It’s great that it was on there, but it was not the point.”A Real Salt Lake player allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old, according to charging documents filed Thursday.
Ricardo Velazco, 24, was charged with unlawful sexual activity with a minor, a third-degree felony, in 3rd District Court.
He had sex with the teen May 20 in Draper, according to charging documents. Velazco was 23 years old at the time, and the teenager has since turned 16. She is not identified in charging documents.
Draper police issued a warrant for Velazco’s arrest Thursday, with bond set at $15,000. As of Thursday evening, Velazco hadn’t been arrested, said Blake Nakamura, chief deputy of the Salt Lake County district attorney’s office.
The teenager had told friends about the sexual activity, Nakamura said, and the friends reported it to law enforcement. Police don’t have evidence to suggest that the alleged sexual activity was forced.
“With all allegations of a criminal nature, Real Salt Lake policy is to honor the judicial process while cooperating fully with both local authorities as well as the League investigation,” Real Salt Lake said in a news release Thursday evening. “Major League Soccer has now suspended Mr. Velazco from all soccer-related activity; Real Salt Lake will await the outcome of judicial proceedings prior to taking additional action.”
According to a league statement, MLS will conduct its own investigation.
Velazco appeared in nine games for RSL this season before undergoing surgery on his ankle July 13. His recovery was expected to take four months.Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump Mark Lyons/Getty Images President Donald Trump's administration has compiled a list of 50 infrastructure projects, totaling $137.5 billion in investment, that it wants to undertake according to documents obtained by the Kansas City Star and The News Tribune in Tacoma, WA.
A presentation obtained by the Star and Tribune reportedly lays out the impact of the investment.
50% of the projects will be funded by private investment according to the presentation and directly create 193,350 job years according to the presentation.
According to the report, the list was circulated around governors' offices in December, and it was assembled from requests for three to five projects from each state. The presentation and proposals have been passed around for some time, said the Star and Tribune, and it is unclear if the list is finalized or a draft.
According to a letter from the National Governor's Association asking requests for the proposals obtained by the Star and Tribune, a bipartisan panel will approve which projects to go forward with.
The projects have to follow four criteria to be approved, according to the report: address a public safety or national security emergency, have 30% of the design and engineering work complete, create jobs directly, and have the potential to increase US manufacturing.
Included in the list are an improved rail line between Newark, NJ and New York City, improvements to Interstate 95 in North Carolina, electric transmission lines for wind-generated power from Oklahoma to Tennessee, and a commuter rail line between Houston and Dallas, TX.
Trump initially proposed a $1 trillion infrastructure package during the campaign, but later decreased the promised amount to $550 billion following the election.TV Reviews All of our TV reviews in one convenient place.
How would Krypton’s last daughter spend her final hours on Earth? That’s the most interesting question lurking at the heart of this uneven season finale. Kara Zo El’s journey towards becoming Supergirl began the moment her parents forced her into space to survive the destruction of her home world. Tonight Supergirl returns to the cosmos of her own volition, this time to sacrifice her life to save her adoptive home world from similar destruction.
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Naturally, of course, Supergirl doesn’t actually wind up dead (the show bears her name, after all), but she does get a chance to prove her mettle on a global scale. With Superman conveniently incapacitated during Earth’s time of need, it’s up to Kara to save not only National City but the entire human race. When this season began, Kara was struggling to figure out the basics of superheroing. Tonight she proves she’s the hero Earth both needs and deserves.
Given how uneven this first season of Supergirl has been, it only feels appropriate to end with a choppy finale. “Better Angels” has plenty of interesting ideas, strong character work, and genuinely emotional beats, but it weaves them together with an inelegance that’s been a hallmark of this freshmen series. This episode—like most of season—isn’t greater than the sum of its parts. In fact, it feels more like a collection of fascinating, frustrating moments than it does one streamlined story.
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As it’s done a few times before, Supergirl introduces a high-stakes cliffhanger one week only to resolve it as quickly as possible the next. I’m fine with the show engaging in some goofy, sentimental comic book logic now and again, but it needs to at least be internally consistent with how it presents this stuff. Last week, Myriad was an unstoppable mental force that allowed Non to control every person in National City. This week it’s a device that blocks optimism and can be fairly easily overcome with a little discussion of hope.
So that means Alex is freed from Myriad’s spell as soon as she thinks about her father (I guess almost killing Kara wasn’t enough to jar her senses?) and Supergirl’s impassioned televised plea ends Myriad’s hold on the entire city with minimal fuss. It’s not a very satisfying thwarting of Non’s plan, especially because Kara made similar pleas to both Winn and James in person last week. Why was that not enough to snap them out of Myriad but her TV monologue insistently does the trick? In isolation the monologue is a lovely encapsulation of Supergirl’s strong thematic through-line that hope and empathy are more powerful than brute force. In context, however, it leads to some disjointed storytelling.
In trying to both resolve last week’s cliffhanger and tell an even more climatic story this week, Supergirl bites off more than it can chew. And the show has to make several big logic jumps—not to mention some tonal ones—to fit everything into the episode’s run time. That means Hank allows himself to be put back in DEO custody despite the fact that he was just on the run from them. And everyone at the DEO is remarkably calm about the news that Indigo and Uncle Non-Descript are going wipe out humanity in four hours with a revamped version of Myriad. In fact, Lucy and Alex tell Maxwell Lord to handle it while they run off to deal with an issue in the armory. It’s hard to imagine a problem that could be bigger than the complete destruction of all mankind, but you know, you do you, ladies.
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The second Myriad threat adds to the stop-start nature of this episode, which bounces between world-ending threats and CatCo character drama a little too frequently. But the time crunch does force Kara to prioritize how she wants to spend her final few hours on Earth before setting off on what she assumes will be a suicide mission. Having missed the opportunity for proper goodbyes when she left Krypton, Kara makes sure she says what she needs to say this time around. She reaches out to Winn and Cat with genuine appreciation, tries to protect James from the emotional impact of her death by pushing him away (a subtly selfless act on her part), and refuses to even say goodbye to Alex lest she lose her courage. The one person she does speak openly to is Hank, the only other superpowered protector who can understand her burden.
After spending the season learning to embrace his Martian form again, Hank (okay, J’onn J’onzz) winds up serving as Kara’s backup for her final confrontation with Non and Indigo. Like the earlier fight with Alex, there’s a visceral quality to this action sequence that serves the show well. Hank even tears Indigo in half while she shrieks in pain, which is a shockingly dark visual for such a family-friendly show. And Kara defeats Non in an emotional laser eye battle that looks suspiciously like a Harry Potter duel. The whole thing is over a little too quickly and a little too easily considering how much time we’ve spent with these villains (pretty convenient that their army was taking a nap, huh?), but it’s clear the show is saving its budget for its final setpiece.
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The image of Kara flying Fort Rozz into space looks fantastic and is unlike anything the show has done so far. And it carries even more weight than the Non/Indigo battle because it comes on the heels of her emotional goodbye to Alex. The show initially positioned Kara and Alex’s relationship at its heart and while their sisterhood has occasionally taken a backseat to Kara’s relationship with Cat, it feels right to center this climax on their bond. While the shot of Alex piloting Kara’s Kryptonian pod looked a little silly, the episode at least knows to cut away from it pretty quickly and spend more time with the beautiful imagery of Kara floating in space.
For all this season’s flaws—and there are a lot of them—“Better Angels” highlights just how far Supergirl has come over the course of the past 20 episodes. Alex and Kara’s relationship has deepened since they’ve become more honest with one another. Hank and Cat have gone from one-note authority figures to the show’s two most compelling supporting players. And they both get moments to shine here, particularly as Cat gives Kara a rather nebulous promotion and finally gets her name right. Though Melissa Benoist has been a pitch-perfect Supergirl since the beginning, her performance has only improved as she’s settled into the role. And if the show has never quite had a handle on its romantic subplots, I remain impressed by how it transitioned Winn from love interest to friend. Plus there’s a chemistry to James and Kara’s final kiss that has me intrigued to see how their relationship would actually unfold, despite the fact that I was pretty neutral on it beforehand.
The show still has a long way to go before it reaches a comfortable level of consistency, but it’s steadily improved ever since it realized that presenting a complex female superhero is far more impactful than awkwardly inserting feminist talking points. And in terms of feminism, it’s worth pointing out that Supergirl’s first season has consistently put female relationships front and center, more so than Agent Carter or Jessica Jones ever did. Given how often female protagonists exist in a male dominated world (I’m looking at you Star Wars: Rogue One), the extended focus on Kara’s relationships with Alex, Cat, Lucy, Alura, and Astra is a pretty big deal.
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Though the show has struggled—and at times outright failed—to live up to its potential, Supergirl’s first season has been incredibly smart about how it uses themes of optimism, inspiring heroism, and female friendship. And episodes like “Strange Visitor from Another Planet,” “Worlds Finest,” and especially “Human For A Day” and “Falling” prove that when Supergirl gets its act together, it can really soar. Let’s hope it gets a chance to do so again in a second season.
Stray observations
Kara’s “champagne trick” is a nice little nod to Superman II.
I’m 99% sure Kara’s hair shouldn’t be blowing in the breeze in the middle of outer space.
I can’t really explain why, but I immediately burst into tears when Kara told Alex, “I need you to promise me that when you find Jeremiah you’ll tell him that I never stopped wearing the glasses.”
Supergirl’s eyeliner is on point this week.
Cat’s advice to “reject the latte and take the green juice” seems like the opposite of carpe diem to me.
I’m fine with the fact that unlike in most versions of Superman, this show’s Kyrptonians can’t survive in outer space. But if that’s the case, the show probably shouldn’t have used the excuse that Superman was “off world” last week. Does he have his own spaceship he regularly travels in?
The DEO has been on the hunt for a group of Fort Rozz escapees and they never thought they might be, I don’t know, IN FORT ROZZ?!? Maybe General Lane was right to hate them…
I’m looking forward to hearing all your theories on just what is inside that crashed Kryptonian pod. My personal hope is that it’s Perd Hapley. #PerdsInThePod
Thanks for following along this season! I’ve really enjoyed discussing this show in both these reviews and the comments section. If you’d like to discuss more superhero stuff before Supergirl (hopefully!) returns for a second season, you can find me on Twitter.Danaë Ancient Boeotian bell-krater showing Zeus impregnating Danaë in the form of a shower of gold, circa 450-425 BC Personal information Consort Zeus, Polydectes Children Perseus Parents Acrisius and Eurydice
In Greek mythology, Danaë (,[1] as personal name also ; Ancient Greek: Δανάη, Ancient Greek: [daˈna.ɛː], Modern: [ðaˈna.i]) was an Argive princess and mother of the hero Perseus by Zeus. She was credited with founding the city of Ardea in Latium during the Bronze Age.
Family [ edit ]
Danae was the daughter and only child of King Acrisius of Argos by his wife Queen Eurydice[2] or Aganippe[3][4]. In some accounts, she had a sister Evarete, wife of King Oenomaus of Pisa and mother of Hippodamia.[5]
Mythology [ edit ]
Disappointed by his lack of male heirs, King Acrisius asked the oracle of Delphi if this would change. The oracle announced to him that he would never have a son, but his daughter would, and that he would be killed by his daughter's son. At the time, Danae was childless and, meaning to keep her so, King Acrisius shut her up in a bronze chamber to be constructed under the court of his palace (other versions say she was imprisoned in a tall brass tower with a single richly adorned chamber, but with no doors or windows, just a sky-light as the source of light and air). She was buried in this tomb, never to see the light again. However, Zeus, the king of the gods, desired her, and came to her in the form of golden rain which streamed in through the roof of the subterranean chamber and down into her womb. Soon after, their child Perseus was born.
Unwilling to provoke the wrath of the gods or the Furies by killing his |
he's a good person, and that his children may grow up having to hide the fact that they are related to him.
"Twenty years from now my daughter will be out of college and she'll be reading all of this stuff and I don't want her memories of her dad tainting her ability to progress in life," he says. "I know I haven't done anything bad, and have made mistakes, I'm only human... people who are old enough and smart enough to understand that we're only humans and we all make mistakes will understand that. "I didn't kill anybody, I didn't steal from anybody, I just made a game that I wanted to make and I may have not succeeded in reaching other people's expectations but I don't really care, it wasn't about them. It was about me and what I wanted." Part of the reason Smart has earned such an uneven reputation amongst gamers has to do with the long and tortured development process of his first game, the game for which his company is named, Battlecruiser 3000AD. The battle to get it onto store shelves took most of a decade. Smart had signed a succession of publishing deals with a variety of companies, all of which fell through, before landing at Take Two in 1995. The game was released in 1996. It has been alleged that Take Two released the game before it was finished, against Smart's wishes. A lawsuit between the two was settled in 1998, after which Smart regained the rights to publish the game himself, and he did so, updating it using the money from his settlement with Take Two and releasing it for free. Smart says this was his way of apologizing to gamers for the sorry state of the game when it was first released, and taking accountability on himself for their disappointment. "I sued them and they settled," he says. "and I took that money and fixed the game on my own time and I released it for free. I said: 'Look, I'm sorry, here it is.' and went back and started from scratch. That's the kind of guy I am. That doesn't change no matter what anybody says. I didn't take the money and run and say'screw you goodbye.'" "A Derek Smart rant with the team is not the same as what the rest of the world has seen on the internet."
This is the dichotomy of Derek Smart. He may be the most hated man in games, but he is also one of the most honest. It may be that the two are intertwined. He may be hated because he is honest, and honesty doesn't play well on the internet where an opinion is often treated like an insult. Smart believes the true measure of him as a person is not the presence of criticism from gamers on the internet, but rather the absence of any criticism from people who have worked with him. "One thing that some people don't realize is that you never go online and find anything about me from anybody who's ever worked for me," he says. "Most people don't understand why. The reason is I'm a nice guy. I treat my people well. They do work. All this stuff that I've built, I didn't build on my own." After speaking with Smart, I tested his theory and sure enough could not find any direct attacks on him by former employees. Intrigued, I began searching for former members of the 3000AD development team. I found two. "My work with [Derek] was all professional, though 'professional' might be pushed to some extremes," says Fred Rosenbaum, who worked at 3000AD for a little over a year, as a software developer. "But this is his style and it works for him." Rosenbaum says that most of Smart's 3000AD employees worked offsite, in locations scattered around the planet and that most of their interactions with derek were in the form of email and instant message conversations. Some of which, similar to Smart's message board appearances, devolved into rants. Rosenbaum says that even though these conversations were not entirely similar to how Derek communicated publicly, thery nevertheless had a way of making recipients feel like "the lowest form of life on earth." "It should be noted that a Derek Smart rant with the team is not the same as what the rest of the world has seen on the internet and cannot be compared," Rosenbaum says. "He has a specific, well-thought-out vision of what he wants for his games and what he expects from the people he has hired. Derek’s communications where often long and detailed, and... contained everything we needed to know about his vision for the project." â¨â¨Rosenbaum says that even though he considered Derek's communication style to be unprofessional at the time, he has since come to recognize that there was a method to it, and has even begun to emulate it. Especially when, in his words, "surrounded by idiots, often in pointless, time-wasting meetings." "Another positive thing I took away from working with Derek is to know the subject matter inside and out," Rosenbaum says. "An example of this is to keep all communications and use them when someone is wasting your time. I used this to great effect later when an individual on a remote team that made certain design statements later denied this in an email with many others. After attaching all of the emails for the conversations showing otherwise, I no longer had an issue with this person threatening my team and my deadline." Darrin Hurd, another software developer formerly employed by 3000AD spoke even more highly of Derek. "As a boss I found him very dedicated to his vision," Hurd says. "But always open to any new ideas I could throw into the mix. It was never his way or the highway." Hurd says that even though he moved on from 3000AD, he and Smart remain friends. Hurd lives in New Zealand, and he says Smart was one of the first people to check up on him and his family after a recent bout of earthquakes rocked the island nation. "[That] is a great indication as to his character, Hurd says." Smart says that one thing he has learned as a businessman is that treating people well, and with respect, pays back in spades. "As long as you know who you are," he says, "nothing matters."
Message board Derek Message board Derek
Battlecruiser 3000AD screen courtesy MobyGames "I think that people expect to meet'message board Derek' when they come up," says Derek Smart's PR handler, Shannon Drake. He says the biggest part of his job when greeting journalists arriving at Smart's hotel room to preview LOD is talking them out of being terrified to meet Derek Smart. "I had guys who were very concerned about that," he says. "[They] were like 'what's he going to be like, I might have banned him from a forum once?' And I'm like 'I've been in a room with the guy for three days and he's been fine.'" Full disclosure: I know Shannon. I worked with him for close to two years, nearly a half decade ago, before he moved into games PR. The Shannon Drake I know is not one to hold back an opinion. In fact, it often surprises me that he's managed to maintain a career in PR and marketing for as long as he has. People as free with dissenting opinions as Shannon don't tend to last very long in that career path. And yet, here he is. "People think they know you from your internet persona. I think that's [Derek's] biggest issue." It all comes back to "Message Board Derek." There's an urban legend about Derek Smart. Similar to the game children play where they turn off the lights and look into a mirror chanting "Bloody Mary," the legend has it that one need only write Derek Smart's name into an internet comment forum three times and he will be summoned, as if by magic. As with all urban legends, this is only partly true. The whole truth is that it only takes one mention for him to appear. I know. I've seen it happen. "I don't give a shit about people long enough to care what they think."
Derek Smart at GWJ in 2005: "Public opinion is meaningless to me because opinions are things you can't change and wasting your time trying to convince people otherwise is just that. A waste of time. If I wanted to waste my time, I know a lot of more meaningful ways to do it. "Me? I'm just Derek Smart. I hide from no-one. I answer to no-one. I know what my goal in life is and I live it every day. Meanwhile, the f*ckers who figured they could put me under siege, ended up just creating a monster who has simply gotten too frigging big to shove back in the bottle. "Then you have those tits who love nothing better than to flame me at a forum where I can't post; and posting all manner of c*ck sh*t. These are the same ladies who give flaming a bad name or who would just duck around the corner if they ran into me in public. Its one thing when you're dealing with a faceless entity - like all the corwardly wankers online who hide behind their fancy aliases, anonymity and obscurity." The author's response: "Wow. What a dick."
"If you have an ego, it's really hard to suppress that instinct to respond." Smart Banned from GWJ: "I banned Derek Smart. "In the end, nothing good will ever come of his posting. He says something arrogant/insulting, gets a little of the same back and flies off the handle. I'm breaking the cycle and hoping those who insist on responding to loud-mouths with their own pithy comments re-evaluate why they're here and what they are contributing." Several years ago, I belonged to an internet community called Gamers with Jobs, where community members talked about video games and other things. Derek Smart's games were eventually mentioned. Derek Smart was summoned. Derek Smart appeared. His first post, by way of self-introduction, was a 1,300 word diatribe on the subject of flaming internet forums. It was bold, brash and obnoxious. It was simultaneously a justification for all of the behaviors for which he had become famous and a warning that he would unleash those behaviors if provoked. It was an awesome and terrifying spectacle. Not unlike the sight of a silverback gorilla beating his chest, defending his territory against an oncoming locomotive. Here's an excerpt: When I show up and respond, some would liken it to me throwing gasoline on everyone. Thats not the case at all. Gasoline takes too long to burn and would require more than one post to be truly effective. A tactical nuke takes one post. A good TN post means that you don't even have to come back and explain anything nor respond further. Its my version of a drive-by flaming. One in which everyone - I do mean everyone - gets their collective asses singed. I'm an equal opportunity flamer. The end result is that long after your post, there are wankers sitting around wondering wtf just happened. So, like the predictable gits that they are, they keep posting. And posting. And posting. Comfort in the thought that I, like I don't have better things to do with my time, would go back and see the aftermath of my post. Wrong. I don't give a shit about people long enough to care what they think. The Gamers with Jobs community, known for relatively reasonable behavior as far as internet gaming forums go, responded tentatively at first. Some attempted to engage Derek in conversation. Others egged him on. A few took jabs. I was one of the latter.
For my part, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. In part, I was taken aback by Derek's honesty. I had never seen anyone even marginally famous act so openly hostile. Mostly though my ego was getting bruised and I responded without thinking. I called Derek a dick. He responded. The conversation escalated and was almost immediately locked. "It only takes one person to bring out the worst in everyone," wrote Gamers with Jobs co-founder Shawn Andrich, in his announcement post stating that the thread had been closed. "No matter how intelligent, interesting or entertaining someone may be … the most important distinction we can make is that claiming to be a nice guy in person and acting like a loud-mouthed prick who's just 'keeping it real' online doesn't make you a good guy. It's all you whether you're typing a message or shaking someone's hand." Smart was banned from Gamers with Jobs about a month later. It was neither his first forum banning, nor his last. "It only takes one person to bring out the worst in everyone." It's hard to say what little children expect when they try to summon the mythical child-eating witch, Bloody Mary. Probably they don't even know themselves. As for the myth of Derek Smart, the question is far simpler. The difference here is that gamers usually know exactly what they want from Derek Smart: they want someone to fight. And Message Board Derek is usually more than happy to oblige. "It used to bother me, it used to bother me a lot," Derek says now, of his past as an internet forum brawler. "Do you know how hard it is when you work 18-19 hours a day and you go online and there's some guy trashing your work or trashing you personally because it makes them feel better about themselves? It's very very hard, Russ. "It is the hardest thing to turn the other cheek, and guess what? If you have an ego, it's even harder because... it's really hard to suppress that instinct to respond."
Line of defense Line of defense
As Shannon Drake predicted, what I encounter in Derek Smart's San Francisco hotel room is not "Message Board Derek," but rather, something else entirely. Someone more complex. Someone human. "I've learned from everything I've done over the years and I'm still the same person who started out in the 80's," Smart says. "Nothing's changed except that I've gotten older, I've gotten wiser and I've learned to make decisions without letting ego get in the way." Smart's wife is a psychologist. She has been helping him come to terms with the fact that no matter what he does or says, people are going to dump on his work. "One of the things that she says is that 'You need to understand even if you were a different person online, it wouldn't change anything because you really can't hold yourself accountable for what people think or what people say,'" Smart says. "But my counter to that is: It's more about pride than anything else. It's very hard to build something and have somebody tear it down. And when they can't tear it down they try to tear you down." After close to two decades of being torn down, Smart thinks his chances of finally making a perfect game are getting slimmer. He's getting older. The industry is changing. Line of Defense may be one of his last games. I asked Smart if, after all the criticism, he thought gamers would be willing to give LOD a shot. His honest answer surprised me.
"I've thought about that and the answer to that is: probably not. And the second part is: I don't really care. "I really don't. Because I know it's a good game and the worst case scenario is that a lot of people are going to like it because it's different. That's what's always been the allure of my games: They've always been different. Even though this game is huge, it plays differently. It's more simplistic. It's going to be another game based on acquired taste. You either like it or you don't." Smart says that he hopes the game will sell well and that players will find that it is, in fact, easier to play than his previous games. He's looking forward to the upcoming beta, scheduled for May, when players will have a chance to give feedback and help him polish the final product. But he knows from long experience that this close to launch, there's only a short window to make substantial improvement, and after that all bets are off. But for Derek Smart, making games is still the best life he can imagine for himself, and he says he has no regrets. "When I'm gone, my games will be out there," Smart says, looking wistful. "Those who like them will be out there. Those who don't like them will still be out there. But one thing I know is I'm still going to sleep at night because if I lost money, it was my own money. If I earned money, it was my own money. I never took advantage of anyone. I never caused anyone's company to go under. I never put anyone out of work because of mistakes I've made. "Every mistake I've made I've owned and I've always held myself accountable and I'm OK with that."In September 2017, Philipp Schulz requested a refund of more than $24,000 from the team working on Star Citizen. Today, more than 80 days later, he has yet to receive the requested amount in full, or compensation for the legal fees he has incurred since that date, Schulz says.
Over the past few weeks we’ve talked with Schulz about how he came to spend so much money crowdfunding a video game. We’ve also attempted to find out why it has taken so long for him to receive a refund. But, in order to tell the tale we need a quick preamble on why it’s even a story in the first place.
Star Citizen is a collection of spacefaring games by Chris Roberts, the creator of the Wing Commander series, Cloud Imperium Games and Roberts Space Industries. Roberts’ team has become a target of abuse and harassment these past few years because their game projects, of which there are several, are not yet complete. This is in spite of those projects being supported by the single most-funded crowdfunding campaign of any kind, on any platform, for any thing.
Since its initial Kickstarter campaign, Roberts’ companies say they have raised more than $173 million.
In September, Polygon reported on a particularly nasty hoax perpetrated against Roberts and his team. A Redditor claimed to have requested and received a refund in the amount of $45,000. But, as it turned out, that story was an elaborate fabrication. Nevertheless, it revealed an entire community of people online dedicated to extricating their money from the Star Citizen projects.
Schulz said that he isn’t part of that community per se. However, he has been a backer of the project from the very beginning and in the past several years he’s become dissatisfied with the progress.
Now, he wants his money back.
“It started back in 2012,” Schulz said, “when I somehow got a hint that Roberts was starting a new PC game and I went onto Kickstarter. I hadn’t even heard about Kickstarter before that, but when I saw the videos and all the information there I got so amazed that I started backing the game.”
To date, Schulz said that he has spent well in excess of $25,000 purchasing digital goods like spaceships, jet bikes and fish tanks, all in support of Star Citizen’s ongoing development. Some of that money has gone toward subscriptions and in-game currency, and he agrees that he’s not necessarily entitled to receive all of it back.
Instead, he believes that he is entitled to exactly $24,431.83.
We reached out to the team at Cloud Imperium Games and Roberts Space Industries, both companies working on the Star Citizen projects. They refused to confirm the disputed amount, or that a refund had been requested at all.
“It’s company policy to not get into specifics of individual customer service requests,” said a representative. “Refunds are always discretionary and are considered on a case-by-case basis.”
Without their cooperation, Polygon has had to rely on Schulz’s own screenshots of the ongoing dialogue with the Star Citizen team as well as a trail of complaints lodged with a court in the European Union and with a consumer advocacy group here in the United States.
Schulz’s initial request was made on Sept. 19, and according to screenshots an initial response was offered on Sept. 21. A concierge support representative — an upper-tier customer support agent given to the high-rollers within the Star Citizen community — appears to have spent the bulk of their time explaining what Schulz would miss out on if he went through with the refund in the first place.
“We understand that this can be frustrating,” said the representative, who wrote under the online handle Azme, “especially when you are wanting to jump in and play as quickly as possible. But you are part of a rare and unique development process and we want you to know that we appreciate your contribution to our project.... We're happy to provide the refund should you wish, but I wanted to make sure that you are aware of what you will be missing if you decide to continue with your request.”
Schulz reaffirmed his request that same day, but the next substantive response from Azme didn’t arrive until nearly a month later in early October.
Then, on Oct. 26, Schulz gave Azme an ultimatum: Issue a full refund within 14 calendar days, or he would initiate a small claims case in the European Union and hire an attorney. When that deadline passed, Schulz kept his promise.
Adding in court and legal fees, Schulz’s refund request now stands at a total of $25,812.30.
Polygon has seen a record of the small claims case, and is currently working to verify it with the help of the court. We have also reached out to the Better Business Bureau of Los Angeles and Silicon Valley. Reached for comment, Steve McFarland, BBB president and CEO, was able to confirm that a complaint from Schulz was active and under investigation. He also confirmed that the Star Citizen team was responding to it.
Even after his complaints were filed, Schulz continued to press Azme for updates.
“As previously stated,” Azme said on Nov. 9, “your account is very complex and would take time to review. We are a small team here and therefore appreciate patience in these matters. Each person is given the same amount of attention in the order the requests are received. Therefore, while it will be sad to see you leave the project the escalation of your request was not necessary.”
By Nov. 20, Schulz had received only a small portion of what he had requested, including $1,595.01 from a number of smaller purchases. These came courtesy of PayPal, and only after he requested refunds from that service directly. That’s around the time that he reached out to Polygon.
Since our investigation began, Azme has stepped aside entirely. In their place is now Will Leverett, director of player relations at Roberts Space Industries. Only then were significant refunds issued.
As of Dec. 10, Schulz said that he has received approximately $17,200 back. The remainder of the amount is still in dispute. Schulz is doubtful it will be resolved before the holidays, meaning he will likely be trying to get his money back for another month or more.
“I'm still ready to negotiate,” Schulz told Polygon, “but I'm not willing to wait another two, three, four months. I'm sick of waiting, to be honest. I just want them to process this, to get their information from their legal team, from their billing team and then go on with my life.”
More than anything, Schulz said that he is simply disappointed that it came to this, a cold, clinical fight waged across an online message board. He just wants the games he helped pay for. He said that the unfinished projects, in their current state, are not representative of the grand vision that Roberts pitched players on. The improvements over the years, even those coming in near future whenever the 3.0 update goes live, are incremental at best.
“You'll see fewer and fewer players online there because if you play a game for three years with the same features, only slightly different, we don't see any progress anymore,” Schulz said. “So the graphics aren't great. You have a lot of lag. But nothing changes! They have produced less and less content over the years. More concept videos, more presentations with improved graphics, but nothing has changed in the game itself.”
Most damning, Schulz said, is the fact that the project’s single-player game, called Squadron 42, has seemingly drifted from the development team’s mind entirely. No release date for anything related to Squadron 42, which features the acting talents of Gary Oldman, Gillian Anderson and Mark Hamill, has been offered in over a year.
Schulz is not the only one requesting his money back. We’ve reported on individuals before, some who have gone to great lengths, to get their money back. The entire situation raises the question: Exactly how much money in refunds has the team behind Star Citizen given out?
We asked a spokesperson to share those numbers with us. They declined to comment.
Update: A second high-value backer of the Star Citizen projects reached out to Polygon after this story was published. On Sept. 25, 2017 they asked for a refund of $16,700 dating back to pledges made in 2012. They have yet to receive all of the money they were asking for in return.
We’ve confirmed that the case is open with the Better Business Bureau of Los Angeles and Silicon Valley.
“We wrote to Cloud Imperium,” said Steve McFarland, CEO of the BBB. “‘Certainly, you cannot expect consumers to wait indefinitely for a return on their investment.’ We have not received a response.”
The backer said that he intends to file a small claims case.(Beirut) – Houthi forces and southern armed groups have committed serious abuses at a hospital in Yemen’s port city of Aden, forcing its evacuation in late April 2015, Human Rights Watch said today.
Expand Damaged buildings in Yemen's southern port city of Aden, May 8, 2015. © 2015 Reuters
Staff at the al-Jumhouri Hospital told Human Rights Watch that in late March southern fighters summarily executed two Houthi fighters who were patients and used the hospital as a defensive position until driven from the area. The Houthi assault on the area around the hospital resulted in repeated firing on hospital staff and patients, killing at least two civilians and wounding a nurse.
All parties to Yemen’s armed conflict should respect the neutrality of hospitals and other medical facilities and not target them or use them for military operations, Human Rights Watch said. The United Nations Security Council should remind the parties in Yemen that attacks on hospitals violate international humanitarian law, and that those responsible for such attacks are subject to travel bans and asset freezes under Resolution 2140.
“The fighting in Yemen is terrible enough without both sides bringing the battle into hospitals,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Attacks on medical facilities prevent people who are injured from the fighting to get critical, life-saving care.”
On March 4, Houthi fighters stopped three volunteers for Inqath, an aid group that provides medical supplies to hospitals in Aden, as they took boxes of medicine by taxi to al-Jumhouri hospital. The Houthi fighters took the volunteers to a military base in Lahj, 35 kilometres north of Aden, before releasing them on March 10. One volunteer told Human Rights Watch that his captors held him in a room with a dozen other detainees and interrogated him several times, accusing him of assisting extremist groups. Also in March, fighters linked to Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) or Islamic State, also known as ISIS, went to the hospital and tried to force their way into a room where a Houthi commander was being treated for burn wounds. They eventually left without harming the commander.
On April 19, about 300 southern fighters deployed in and around the hospital over the objections of hospital staff. The fighters forced hospital staff to reveal the location of two Houthi fighters who had been brought in that morning, suffering from dehydration. The fighters shot both men dead in the hospital yard and left the bodies there, where people mutilated the corpses before they were buried the next day. Houthi forces in surrounding buildings fired on the hospital numerous times, eventually causing the staff and patients to evacuate on April 29, hospital staff said.
Under the laws of war applicable to the armed conflict in Yemen, hospitals and other medical facilities receive special protection. They may not be targeted, even if they are being used to treat enemy fighters. Medical facilities remain protected unless they are used to commit hostile acts that are outside their humanitarian function. Even then, they are only subject to attack after a warning has been given setting a reasonable time limit, and after the warning has gone unheeded. Armed forces or groups should not occupy medical facilities.
All parties to the conflict should ensure that medical workers are protected from attacks or interference by third parties, and take meaningful steps to prevent the military occupation of hospitals. They should not disrupt the provision of medical services to wounded enemy combatants, and they should allow safe passage of medical supplies and personnel to those in need.
Under international human rights law, attacks on health facilities, workers, or transport vehicles may impede the right of access to health care and the right to the highest attainable standard of health. In December 2014, the United Nations General Assembly passed a landmark resolution that urged member countries to take immediate steps to ensure that health workers everywhere are protected from violence.
The fighting in Aden broke out on March 19, one week before a nine-country coalition led by Saudi Arabia opened an aerial bombing campaign against Houthi forces. Houthi and southern fighters engaged in heavy clashes in Aden’s Khormaksar district between April 19 and 27 with the district’s al-Jumhouri Hospital caught in the middle.
The head of the statistics department at al-Jumhouri told Human Rights Watch that between March 25 and April 24, the hospital received 559 wounded and 165 dead civilians. These included at least three women and two children who had died and five women and two children who were wounded. He said that these numbers included only those brought into the hospital, so the actual number of civilian casualties was probably higher. Injuries to civilians reported by hospital staff included gunshot wounds to the back, chest, shoulder and legs, wounds from blast fragments, and various burns. During the same time, the hospital received the bodies of 22 Houthi and 41 southern fighters.
The United Nations reported that as of June 3, 2,288 people had been killed since the beginning of Yemen’s conflict, including 1,160 civilians, Another 2,800 civilians had been injured. The conflict has displaced over a million people. More than 15 million people are without access to basic health care, up 40 percent since March.
“As fighting rages on in Aden, hospitals need to remain safe havens for those in need of medical care,” Stork said. “Any commander allowing his troops to use hospital premises to carry out attacks should be held accountable.”
Al-Jumhouri Hospital
Salah Qassem Muhammad Abdo, 26, head of the statistics department at al-Jumhouri Hospital, told Human Rights Watch that 11 armed men whom he took from their dress to be members of AQAP or ISIS entered the hospital grounds on March 25. Human Rights Watch interviewed three other people who said that they saw AQAP fighters at the hospital. Abdo said that four of the men, including one the others treated as their commander, entered the hospital and tried to gain access to the room where Maged Ahmed Hussein al-Moa`ead, a Houthi commander, was being treated for burns. Abdo said that he and a colleague managed to dissuade them and that they left the hospital without harming al-Moa`ead.
The same armed men returned during the following two days with two of their own wounded to the hospital’s surgery department and remained while the men received treatment. This caused most of the hospital staff to evacuate the department out of concern that the armed men’s presence might prompt an attack by Houthi forces, Abdo said. He said the armed men then maintained a presence at the hospital until it was totally evacuated in late April.
Sameh Qassem, 32, general manager of the Red Cross staff at al-Jumhouri Hospital, told Human Rights Watch that on April 4, Houthi fighters took up positions in the Russian consulate building, two blocks from the hospital. He saw gunmen using the consulate’s roof and windows to aim at buildings in the area. Two weeks later, southern fighters began using the hospital to attack the Houthi forces. They took up positions on the roof and elsewhere, and fired from the roof on at least one occasion, Qassem said. He told them to leave the hospital but they denied using it as a firing position and refused to leave.
Conditions at the hospital became increasingly dire as fighting in Aden escalated in April. On just one day, April 19, the hospital received over 100 casualties: 11 dead Houthi fighters, 6 dead southern resistance fighters, and 97 wounded. Abdo told Human Rights Watch:
We couldn't control the crowd. The hospital was in complete chaos. There was a shortage of doctors, nurses, and medical supplies… The morgue was full of bodies – we couldn’t fit any more in so we were putting the dead bodies in a small room in the first floor and turned on the air conditioning.
On April 19, southern fighters who had installed themselves at the hospital soon learned that two Houthis had been admitted with dehydration. They forced a hospital security guard to hand over the two men, Abdo Thabet Yehia, 24, and Ali Abdullah Yehia, 50, and executed them in the hospital yard. The southern fighters left the two men’s bodies in the yard along with the bodies of eight other Houthis they had killed in fighting that morning. Abdo, the hospital staff member, said:
People started going crazy at the hospital, they started chanting that these men were apostates and start beating, mutilating, and urinating on the bodies. We tried to fight them off, to preserve the integrity of the bodies. That night one man snuck out with a bucket of urine and threw it on them… It was so barbarian.
On April 19, three bullets fatally struck a hospital maintenance worker, Anwar Muhammad Saeed, in the chest and hands as he crossed the hospital yard to turn on the generator. Abdo said that Houthi forces controlled the area surrounding the hospital and that he had seen Houthi gunmen in neighboring buildings pointing their weapons at the hospital, but he did not know whose forces shot Saeed.
Houthi gunmen were responsible for fatally shooting another civilian, Hafeth Ahmed al-Katubi, 49, on April 24, Abdo said. A Houthi gunman atop a residential building near the hospital shot al-Katubi as he stood next to his parked car by the main entrance in the hospital yard, Abdo said. Al-Katubi had brought his daughter to the hospital because she had been shot.
By April 20, conditions at the hospital had become so dire that a group of local people negotiated an agreement with the Houthis to enable family members and volunteers to bury the mounting number of dead whose bodies had been placed in the yard of the hospital’s Faculty of Medicine.
By then, said Qassem, the Red Cross manager, surgeons were operating on as many as 50 people a day, instead of the usual three before the fighting. There were then 10 doctors and 30 nurses at the hospital who were under great pressure because security conditions prevented a Red Cross medical relief team from reaching the hospital for three days, until April 22. Abdo told Human Rights Watch that by then the local phone network no longer functioned and the hospital had exhausted most of its reserve of medical supplies and was running out of water. He said drivers told him that Houthi fighters had established a checkpoint at Hadid Mountain, a five minute drive from the hospital, and were preventing food and other supplies from passing through.
A hospital staff member told Human Rights Watch that he had seen Houthi gunmen at the windows and on the roofs of nearby buildings pointing their weapons toward the hospital and sometimes firing at staff. Qassem said that they had fired at him five times without hitting him. For instance, on March 29 Houthi fighters in military uniform atop a nearby residential building shot at him and Abdo as they crossed the hospital yard to the emergencies wing. They ducked behind a car until the firing subsided and they could run back inside.
On April 19, a Houthi fighter in a building opposite the hospital shot and wounded a nurse, Ali Zain Ahmed, 47, who was in the hospital’s third floor staff rest area, Qassem said.
Houthi gunmen also fired at the water tank on the hospital roof on April 22, causing water to flood the rooms beneath that contained the remaining medical supplies and food. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated that this caused the hospital to run out of water. Abdo told Human Rights Watch that no one dared repair the leaking tank for fear that they would be shot. It is unclear whether the Houthi fighters were aiming at the tank or whether southern fighters were on the roof. The loss of food from this incident contributed to the decision by the hospital staff to evacuate the hospital on April 27 with the help of patients’ families, volunteers, and local taxis.
OCHA reported that Houthi forces entered the hospital after the evacuation. Human Rights Watch has not been able to determine whether they still occupy the hospital.
Detention of Aid Workers
On March 4 at 4:30 p.m., Omar al-Haddar, 19, a naval engineer by training, and two friends, took a taxi from Aden’s Qalooa district to Khormaksar district to deliver medical supplies to the al-Taawon pharmacy, connected to al-Jumhouri hospital. The three men were volunteers for Inqath, an aid organization that provides medical supplies to hospitals in Aden. Al-Haddar told Human Rights Watch that they were transporting 10 boxes, including eight filled with medicine for diabetes patients. Near the hospital, seven Houthi fighters in military uniforms at a checkpoint stopped the vehicle. After seeing the medicine boxes, the fighters accused the three of trying to deliver the medicine to ISIS-backed groups. They took the men and their driver into custody and took them to a building nearby, where they held them in dark rooms until the evening.
The Houthi fighters then drove them by military bus to Azal Hotel in the Mualla district. The fighters took the men to the third floor, where they saw at least 10 prisoners, blindfolded and their hands tied, in one of the rooms. The next day, at 2 p.m., fighters transported the group along with three bound Somali men to al-Anad Military Base in Lahj. Al-Haddar said that these Somali men were held because they were accused of possessing anti-Shia literature. |
president in 2016 will not honor any treaty signed by President Obama. Yeah, we know the government's word is not good! That's why a slang word for toilet paper is "treaty paper". The ink is not dry on anything the government signs before they're already refusing to honor it. This letter was penned by 47 U.S. Republican senators and was not authorized by the president. But the letter arrived to Iran and Iran just had to wonder, "What the heck is going on over there?!" Yeah, that's what we're thinking, too, about a lot of things our government does.
The Ayatollah had even more to say on the letter, too. “Of course I am worried, because the other side is known for opacity, deceit and backstabbing,” he said. “Every time we reach a stage where the end of the negotiations is in sight, the tone of the other side, specifically the Americans, becomes harsher, coarser and tougher. This is the nature of their tricks and deceptions.” Exactly so. I can't help but agree completely. And the working poor know this about our government, too. Every time they try to "help" us, it always ends up just giving us another swift kick in the keester. That's the nature of their tricks and deceptions. "Vote for me, I'll help the poor!" Uh-huh, sure. Say, what's that knife doing in your hand and why are you trying to get behind me? We can't trust our own government, so why should anyone be shocked that Iran can't trust them, either?
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The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, the Whatsupic.Image copyright EPPO Image caption The invasive pathogen has affected thousands of hectares of olive plantations in Puglia, southern Italy
The European Commission says it will provide seven million euros (£5m) to fund research into a disease that poses a "very serious threat" to olive trees.
The announcement was made at a scientific workshop in Brussels that focused on the most effective ways to tackle Xylella fastidiosa.
First recorded in southern Italy in 2013, the disease has since been detected in southern France.
Experts describe it as one of the "most dangerous plant pathogens worldwide".
The funding, which comes from the EU's Horizon 2020 programme, is part of the effort to tackle the agent before it spreads more widely to other key olive-producing regions within Europe.
Globally, the EU is the largest producer and consumer of olive oil. According to the European Commission, the 28-nation bloc produces 73% and consumes 66% of the the world's olive oil.
Closing the gaps
The workshop, convened by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on behalf of the Commission, was designed to bring together the world's leading experts on the disease in order to help identify where further research was needed.
Image caption Olive production forms an important part of many European regions' economies
"The outcomes from this workshop could help steer where the money should go in terms of the most pressing aspects of the issue," a EFSA spokesman told BBC News.
Speaking after the two-day workshop, one of the scientists - Stephen Parnell from the University of Salford, UK - said that there had been a particular focus on surveillance and improving ways to detect new outbreaks.
"This is a key area for researchers; how do we monitor the epidemic?" he told BBC News.
"What research do we need for more advanced methods of detection and how do we improve our ability to detect the pathogen, because it is very good at hiding from us so we need very good detection methods.
"We also discussed how we targeted our inspections on a larger scale so we are looking in the right place."
Since it was first detected in olive trees in Puglia, in southern Italy, in October 2013, it has since been recorded in a number of other locations, including southern France. To date, it has yet to be recorded in Spain, the world's largest olive oil producer.
Experts warn that should the disease, which has numerous hosts and vectors, spread more widely then it has the potential to devastate the EU olive harvest.
Citrus experience
The EFSA Panel on Plant Health produced a report in January warning that the disease was known to affect other commercially important crops, including citrus, grapevine and stone-fruit.
The Xylella fastidiosa bacterium invades a plant's vessels that it uses to transport water and nutrients, causing the infected plant to display symptoms such as scorching and wilting of its foliage, eventually followed by the death of the plant.
Dr Parnell, who was a member of a working group that contributed to the EFSA report, said the disease posed a threat to the whole EU.
But he added: "The good thing about this workshop was that it was bringing in experts from places such as Brazil and the US who have a lot of experience of working with the pathogen.
"Getting them onboard means that we can learn what worked for them and how we can apply it in our own context."
The disease has plagued citrus farmers in North and South America for decades. It remained confined on these continents until the mid-1990s when it was recorded on pear trees in Taiwan.
According to the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation (EPPO), the pathogen had been detected by member nations on imported coffee plants from South America. However, these plants were controlled and the bacterium did not make it into the wider environment.President Trump (The Post)
Opinion writer
At the core of President Trump’s unfitness and his malfeasance in office is his interaction with the Justice Department and the courts. This goes from the merely verbal denigration of the courts — “a joke,” “a laughingstock,” “so-called judges” — to actual actions such as firing the FBI director, reportedly imploring the FBI director to lay off of former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn, trying to meddle in the prosecution of Joe Arpaio (whom he subsequently pardoned for criminal contempt of court) and, now, directly encouraging the Justice Department to go after a political opponent for spurious, long-ago debunked claims.
In a series of tweets, he called on the Justice Department to go after the Democrats: “Everybody is asking why the Justice Department (and FBI) isn’t looking into all of the dishonesty going on with Crooked Hillary & the Dems … People are angry. At some point the Justice Department, and the FBI, must do what is right and proper. The American public deserves it!” In remarks to reporters, he continued on in this vein. “I’m really not involved with the Justice Department. I’d like to let it run itself, but honestly, they should be looking at the Democrats. They should be looking at [John] Podesta and all of that dishonesty. They should be looking at a lot of things. And a lot of people are disappointed in the Justice Department, including me.”
There is no president in modern memory who has repeatedly and directly called on the Justice Department to investigate a political opponent in such a manner. A politician, one could imagine, upon new and actual evidence of wrongdoing, might say something like, “The appropriate authorities should look into this.” That’s not what Trump is doing here. He is both assuming guilt and applying pressure to go after an opponent based on scurrilous propaganda that he and his followers have generated. This is the conduct of a Third World dictator, and by any stretch of the imagination, an abuse of presidential power.
Trump’s latest call — following “lock her up” chants at rallies that continued after his election — is not an isolated event, but, as noted before, part of an ongoing pattern of trying to lean on the Justice Department either to pursue or not to pursue criminal proceedings against specific individuals. This certainly clears the bar of abuse of power established in the impeachment of Richard Nixon (who “merely” countenanced using the CIA to shut down the FBI’s investigation of the Watergate break-in) and goes well beyond the discrete action of Bill Clinton in lying under oath in the Paula Jones matter and to the grand jury. Trump’s conduct is pervasive, and if allowed to go unpunished will permanently distort our constitutional system. We simply cannot tolerate presidential meddling in our criminal-justice system to protect friends and persecute enemies.
“There is no bigger abuse of power than the president ordering his Justice Department to investigate his political enemies or back off his political allies, and Trump has done both,” says former Justice Department communications director Matthew Miller. “If he did it in secret, it would be treated as an enormous scandal, but because he does it in public, we have all gotten used to it. But it’s still the worst possible abuse of power, and the kind of thing everyone in Congress should demand end immediately — with the most serious consequences if he doesn’t.”
Republican leadership, however, has entirely abandoned its constitutional obligations and makes no effort to halt such conduct. The leaders are not acting in good faith to uphold their oaths of office — namely to defend the Constitution.
What should a conscientious member of Congress be doing? First, he or she should be condemning the president’s conduct and demanding that it stop. Second, he or she should consider whether the conduct above, if confirmed (e.g. did Trump ask former FBI director James B. Comey to drop the case against Flynn?), would rise to the level of impeachable conduct. In doing so, a member of Congress would want to consider whether, if the conduct were condoned, our system of justice would be damaged henceforth. I would suggest that this is an easy call.
Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III may come to see the president’s behavior to have been in violation of criminal statutes — witness intimidation, obstruction of justice, etc. He may seek indictments against others who he thinks conspired with Trump, for example, in the firing of Comey. It remains to be seen whether Mueller thinks a sitting president can be indicted (the current Justice Department position is that a sitting president cannot), whether he manages to get Trump named (as Leon Jaworski did with Nixon) as an “unindicted co-conspirator,” or whether he makes (again, as Jaworski did) a non-public referral to Congress (e.g. not publicly exposing grand jury testimony but including it for use by Congress for impeachment).
Whatever Mueller decides to do, however, members of Congress cannot — consistent with their oaths — remain silent. In doing so, they demonstrate their unfitness to serve and provide ample reason to replace them with representatives and senators who will defend the Constitution.Yes, it's that time of year again when we're reaching into the back of our closets for all that glorious maroon and baby blue supporter gear that marks one of the ultimate sporting events of the annual calendar – the State of Origin!
This year's series coincides with a new iPhone screen resolution, so in keeping with tradition I have put together the following lock and home screen sets of State of Origin iPhone 6, 7, 8 and X wallpapers for you all.
All you need to do to get your hands on the sets you want is click on the download links below. Get behind the mighty maroons, jump on the blue bandwagon or mix and match your lock and home screen selections – the choice is yours.
See also:
🏉 Queensland Maroons
🏉 New South Wales Blues
🏉 State of Origin
And that's it guys! All that's left now is to start showing off your true allegiances to all your friends via your bright, colourful, retina screens! And please, be sure to share this page with all your fellow supporters and State of Origin fans right across your social networks!
And finally, as always let me just say...
QUEENSLANDER!!!!!!!!!
Wallpaper artwork // Rob Masefield
All team logos and branding marks are the property of their respective teams.
Queensland Maroons // qrl.com.au
New South Wales Blues // nswrl.com.au
Shout me a coffeeGraduates in High Demand by Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Companies
PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science will launch a new bachelor’s degree program in computational biology next fall, complementing the Computational Biology Department’s existing Ph.D. and master’s degree programs.
The undergraduate degree program at one of the world’s leading computer science schools will prepare students for positions now in high demand in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, as well as for medical school and graduate studies across the spectrum of computation and biology.
The program emphasizes those aspects of computer science most relevant to biology and provides a firm foundation in the natural sciences. Computational biology enables users to leverage computational approaches to science discovery that could not be made with traditional means.
“Computer science increasingly is driving the research agendas in any number of disciplines, including biomedical research,” said Andrew Moore, dean of the School of Computer Science. “That’s why it’s especially important for a degree program in computational biology to be within our school, providing students with the rigorous computational perspective for which we are famous.”
Though the School of Computer Science offers numerous master’s and Ph.D. programs in a variety of general and specialized computer science areas, the new bachelor’s degree in computational biology will be just the second undergraduate program within the school, joining the Computer Science Department’s bachelor’s degree program that began in 1989. Admitted students in computer science also will have the option to add computational biology as a minor or second major.
The curriculum for the new program emphasizes those aspects of computer science that are most relevant for computational biology, and provides firm foundations in natural sciences. It builds upon a pioneering computational biology program launched in 1987 and previously administered by the Mellon College of Science.
“With this program, we are providing a curriculum designed to train students to tackle the biomedical problems of the next century through rigorous training in both computer science and biology. The program provides a path for students interested in biology to pursue it within one of the leading Computer Science institutions in the world,” said Robert F. Murphy, head of the Computational Biology Department. “An important goal in designing the curriculum was to retain the outstanding grounding in computer science associated with the CS major while making room for additional coursework.”
Students will learn from faculty members who are internationally recognized leaders in computational biology. Phillip Compeau, an assistant teaching professor who co-created the online introductory learning materials for computational biology known as Rosalind, will serve as Program Director for new computational biology majors.
Information about the new program is available online.Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States. According to the National Institute of Health, around 1,658,370 new cases will be diagnosed and 589,430 people will die from cancer in 2015. While most conventional cancer treatments revolve around a mix of surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, some people question their efficacy — particularly chemotherapy. In these videos two naturopathic doctors make the argument that in many cases, chemo does more harm than good.
In the first video, Peter Glidden, BS, ND, brings up the relationship between cancer and monetary profit. Glidden, author of The MD Emperor Has No Clothes, cites a study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, which found that over a 12-year period, chemotherapy did not cure adult cancer 97 percent of the time. “Why is it still used? There’s one reason, and one reason only,” Glidden says in the video. “Money.”
He points out that while doctors don’t get direct kickbacks for prescribing most medications, chemo drugs are unique in that the doctors purchase them from the pharmaceutical company and then sell them to patients at a profit.
“Chemotherapeutic drugs are the only classification of drugs that the prescribing doctor gets a direct cut of,” Glidden says. “The only reason chemotherapy is used is because doctors make money from it — period. It doesn’t work 97 percent of the time. If Ford Motor Company made an automobile that exploded 97 percent of the time, would they still be in business?” he asks. “No.”
An Australian study looking at the contribution of cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival rates in adults with malignancies found that the “overall contribution of curative and adjuvant cytotoxic chemotherapy to 5-year survival in adults was estimated to be 2.3% in Australia and 2.1% in the USA.” In their conclusion, the researchers stated: “it is clear that cytotoxic chemotherapy only makes a minor contribution to cancer survival.”
He cites this issue as just one example of a so-called healthcare system that prioritizes profits over human wellness.
“This is the tip of the iceberg of the control that the pharmaceutical industry has on us,” says Glidden. “Medicine in the United States is a for-profit industry. Most people are unaware of this, and most people bow down to the altar of MD-directed high-tech medicine.”
In the second video, naturopathic doctor Leonard Coldwell shares a similar perspective, calling chemotherapy “the Agent Orange of the medical profession.”
“If you have a garden with flowers and bushes and trees and grass, and some weeds, you come with Agent Orange and kill it all off, and now it’s all dead, and you hope only the good stuff is coming back,” Coldwell says. “They bombard the entire system and then they say the cancer is in remission.”
He notes that statistics on the effectiveness of cancer cures refer to survival rates after five years. “You killed basically every bioelectrical and biochemical function in the body,” he says. “Since nothing works anymore, for three years, you have no cancer, you’re cured. You’re just dead in five years.”
Coldwell claims that radiation can cause similar harm. “It’s an assault with a deadly weapon,” he says. “When you radiate someone, it’s causing scars. A scar can never turn back into healthy tissue.”
The problem, he says, is the way doctors are trained. “No medical doctor ever learns about curing anything,” says Coldwell. “They learn about chemical intervention or surgery to suppress symptoms. They don’t go for the root cause.”
He points out that doctors have high rates of suicide as well as alcohol and drug abuse. “These poor guys figure out over time that they have no tools and that they are murdering, and [have] murdered, their patients,” Coldwell says. “You go into the medical profession, the first year, the first two years, you’re really excited, you’re really in it, you’re giving your all, until you find out no matter what you do the patient gets worse, or they cure themselves.”
“These poor doctors figure out they cannot help,” he says. “The medical profession is a religion.”A US Air Force student flew 100 miles and landed his F-16C fighter after half a wing was chopped off in a mid-air collision.
A US Air Force student flew 100 miles and landed his F-16C fighter after half a wing was chopped off in a mid-air collision.
The collision occurred when the student and his instructor were simulating combat manoeuvres over Kansas last October, according to a US Air Force accident report released last Friday.
It resulted in the student's plane having a five-foot section of its right wing shorn off, and the instructor ditching his F-16 into a field outside Moline (he ejected to safety, with minor injuries).
After the incident, the surviving plane was flown 100 miles south to Tulsa Air National Guard Base in Oklahoma, where it landed safely despite the extraordinary damage.
A US Air Force F-16C, crash landed after a mid-air collision between pilots on a training exercise in October, 2014. Its pilot ejected to safety before the crash. Photo: US Air Force
The instructor's F-16. Its pilot ejected to safety.
The planes, both assigned to the125th Fighter Squadron,138th Fighter Wing at the Tulsa base, collided during "an air combat maneuvers training mission", the report states.
During the collision, the right wingtip missile and wing of one F-16 "sliced through" the right wing root of the other, destroying its flaperon, severing the fuel manifold, and shattering "the entire right horizontal tail," the report states.
The instructor had over 2,400 hours of flight time in the F-16.
The student had just 106 hours.
A US Air Force F-16C, flown by its pilot for 100 miles after losing part of its wing in October, 2014. Photo: US Air Force
The student pilot's F-16, back at base in Tulsa.
Following its investigation, the US Air Force's Accident Investigation Board found the accident to be the fault of the student pilot's "failure to fulfill his primary responsibilities of maintaining visual and flight path de-confliction" with the instructor.
He escaped unharmed after flying the damaged craft home.
"The total loss to government property was $22,490,842," it said.
Read the full accident report here.
Read more:
Craziest take-off ever? Footage shows cargo plane showing off with 'wing-wave' Boeing 757 makes emergency landing after cabin panels crack
Online EditorsFormer Nugget and current Blazer Jusuf Nurkic smacked around his former team with 33 points and 16 rebounds last night. It was a career night for the 22-year-old big man, and one that all but assured his team will be going to the playoffs while the Nuggets sit at home and smart. But to say Nurkic killed the Nuggets’ playoff hopes last night doesn’t really cover it, because he’s been boning them for over a month now.
The Nuggets’ decision to trade Nurkic last month was not an inherently stupid one. He had been playing like ass all year, was getting fed up with his lack of playing time, and simply wasn’t a fit with Nikola Jokic, the doughy passing savant whom the Nuggets have wisely chosen to build a team around. Nurkic needed to go in order for Jokic to thrive, and that’s exactly what happened. Since the trade, Jokic has continued to establish himself as one of the best young stars in the league, and the franchise’s future is generally looking brighter every day.
The problem is that Nurkic has also been kicking all sorts of ass since he was traded. The other problem is that he’s been doing that ass-kicking for a team the Nuggets have been fighting off all year in their quest for the eight seed in the west.
On the day Nurkic was traded, the Nuggets were 24-30 and sitting in the eighth spot. The Blazers were right behind them, at 23-31. The Nuggets have gone 11-9 since, while the Blazers have gone 13-6 since Nurkic got into the lineup, and it’s not much of an exaggeration to say that he’s been leading Portland’s charge. He’s averaging 15 points, 10 rebounds, and almost two blocks per game as a Blazer, and the beating he put on the Nuggets last night will serve as a neat encapsulation of what he’s given Portland during this stretch run.
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All of this is, my friends, is to say that the Denver Nuggets cooked up a nice hot plate of shit for themselves. Set aside the fact that Denver also sent a first-round pick along with Nurkic in exchange for Mason Plumlee, who spent last night chucking the ball at every surface on the court that was not the rim, and just consider how they’d very likely be headed for the playoffs right now if they had instead traded Nurkic to literally any other team in the league. Also consider that they’d very likely be headed for the playoffs right now if they had simply done nothing, and either continued to get so-so production off the bench from Nurkic, or just Jahlil Okafor’d him for the rest of the season.
The Nuggets wanted and probably needed to get rid of Jusuf Nurkic, and there were dozens of low-risk ways in which they could have gone about accomplishing that task. Instead, they decided to trade him to the one team that was in the best position to punish them for that choice, and punished they have been.If you're as obsessed with Lana Del Rey as I am, you've already heard the Kaskade and Cedric Gervais remixes. And you will definitely appreciate the work that went into pulling together this essential list of “other” LDR remixes. Whether you like trap, dubstep, instrumental chill, there is something here for everyone. My personal favorites are the No Pets Allowed dubstep remix and Gemini's Born to Die.
1) Lana Del Rey – Ride (Active Child Remix)
2) Lana Del Rey – Young and Beautiful (No Pets Allowed Dubstep Remix)
3) Lana Del Rey – Born To Die (Gemini Remix)
4) Lana Del Rey – Video Games (Joris Voorn Edit)
5) Lana Del Rey – Ride (Photek Remix)
6) Lana Del Rey – Video Games (Solarstone Subterranean Mix)
7) Lana Del Rey – Video Games (Sound Remedy Remix)
8) Lana Del Rey – Blue Jeans (Alpines Remix)
9) Lana Del Rey – Diet Mountain Dew (Tommy Noble Remix)
10) Summertime Sadness (Cedric Gervais RMX) {ETC!ETC! Trapped it! Remix}
And the usuals..
Lana Del Rey – Young And Beautiful (Kaskade Mix)
Lana Del Rey vs Cedric Gervais – Summertime Sadness (Remix)Health
India's infant mortality rate has come down to 41 - and Kerala has surpassed every state to achieve a single digit IMR of 6.
After leading in female literacy for decades, the state of Kerala is now a pioneer in India for having the lowest infant mortality rate (IMR). Bringing down the number of children who die under the age of 1 per 1000 live births, Kerala has achieved a single digit IMR of 6, compared to 15 in 2005-06.
Kerala’s IMR is now as good as America’s, reports Rema Nagarajan for Times of India.
The numbers were published in the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS), which was recently released, 10 years after the last such survey was done.
According to NFHS 2015-16, the national IMR is at 41, from 57 in 2005-06. Kerala is primarily responsible for the drop, and the state closest to it is Tamil Nadu with an IMR of 21.
The state has also improved indicators of under-5 child mortality, which stands at 7 compared to 16 in the last survey.
And while the child sex ratio (number of girls under the age of five per thousand boys) for India stands at 919, just a little better than the 2011 census figure of 914, Kerala has outdone India in this aspect as well.
The CSR for the state now stands at 1047 - much higher than 925 reported in the last NFHS. This means that compared to the rest of India, Kerala is perhaps implementing the ban on sex selection much better.F. William Engdahl of WilliamEngdahl.com joins us today to give his perspective on the Paris attacks. We discuss the historical background to what is taking place now in Syria, how it plays into the current geopolitical agenda of the US/NATO military powers, and what it means for France, Syria and the world moving forward.
TRANSCRIPT:
William Engdahl (WE)—“It’s madness. I think there are some mad people in this world who want to stir-up Muslims to create terror and use that as an excuse to extend their military power. I just think that is not a very healthy way for mankind to go forward in the 21st Century.”
James Corbett (JC): Welcome friends. James Corbett here, Corbettreport.com. Today is the 17th of November 2015 and I am honored to be joined on the line once again by a man who will need no introduction to my regular listeners and core audience, namely F. William Engdahl of WilliamEngdahl.com, a prolific author and commentator on world events, geopolitics, oil and all of the things that are making the world turn one way or another. He is, of course, the author of a Century of War, Full Spectrum Dominance, The Gods of Money, Target China, Seeds of Destruction, Myths Lies and Oil Wars and many other articles and pieces of information. F. William Engdahl it is always a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you for joining us today.
WE: Good to be with you, James.
JC: Of course the news that is on everyone’s mind at the moment is the recent events in Paris and how that ties into what is currently taking place in Syria—a topic that I know you’ve been covering in a great degree of detail for a number of years now. And how this tends to tie into a number of subjects you cover in your, including of course, the Oil Wars with the disruption of the proposed Iran/Iraq/Syria gas/oil pipeline. Let’s talk about the real roots of what is happening in Syria and where this is likely to go, given the events that are now taking place in Paris and elsewhere.
WE: I think the best way to look at what’s going on today in Syria is to go back to early years of George W. Bush, Dick Chaney, Donald Rumsfeld and company, Paul Wolfowitz (the author of the Wolfowitz Doctrine in 1992). There they laid out a plan called the Greater Middle East Project of 2003. It was presented to the G-7 member countries and there were huge protests from Saudi Arabia and other Arab Gulf countries when the details of this began to leak out. Because it was calling for a reorganization of the political map of the Middle East–something that hadn’t been done since WWI when the so-called allied victors carved up the Middle East at their will and divided it among the French and among the British and so forth.
The Project called for regime change in 7 countries. This had been made public sometime ago by General Wesley Clark. Those plans were in the Pentagon War Room desk back in 2001 after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. So, this goes back quite a way and it’s tied into the so-called Neo Conservatives, the NeoCons because they are con people. The strategy ties into the U.S. military industrial complex. It ties into the American oligarchs, as I call them, the Rockefellers, the George Sorrels and whatnot. It’s a strategy to control Europe and China, ultimately. Indirectly, at that point, to control Russia which was then just struggling to stay alive after the debacle of the Yeltsin decade. And the idea was to break up the monarchies, the established monarchies, that they had created in WWI or after WWI with?? and other things—to break that up and to replace it, essentially, with their own trained brotherhood networks. The Muslim Brotherhood, we should take just a second on that because it will be detailed in my newest book which comes out toward the end of the year—The Lost Hegemon Whom the Gods Would Destroy—the hegemon is, of course, the United States using radicalized Arab terrorists, or terrorists who call themselves…or Islamic I should say, not Arab.
The Muslim Brotherhood was created in 1926 in Egypt as a death cult. It wasn’t created as some holy off-shoot interpretation of the Koran. It was created by Hassan al-Banna, a school teacher, a modest school teacher, from the remote parts of Egypt as a death cult. And, literally, it had assassin squads and so forth. It tried to assassinate Gamal Abdel Nassar in the 50’s and was banned. Well, they then were brought by the CIA in the 1950’s into Saudi Arabia where the monarch there was convinced by Miles Copeland, the station chief in Cairo, that the Muslim Brotherhood would be a very, very good addition to the ultra-conservative Wahhabite that dominated the Saudi mosque. So, the fusion of political Islam with ultra-conservative ideology that women should not be allowed to drive cars; that they have to wear burkas all the time; that they should always be accompanied by a male relative when they go out in public and so forth; and that there should be no idols to blasphemy Allah. Well, that was combined with an aggressive radical political agenda to take power, to create a sultanate, if you will, that would have the political state run by this ultra-conservative Islam. So that was the state of affairs. The Saudis had the money through the oil. So they were financing the Muslim Brotherhood to set up madrasas in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan. This was in the 50’s and in the 60’s and so forth. And the CIA was always in the background watching this and thinking of ways they could use it against the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
Well, in 1979 Zbigniew Brzezinski and the CIA get together and come up with a plan called mujaheddin. First, they provoked a Russian invasion, a Red Army Soviet invasion—not invasion—they were brought on invitation of the pro-Moscow government because mujaheddin had starting creating terror acts and various other things were going on that the US was fostering behind the scenes. So, they brought the Soviets into a bear trap called Afghanistan. They trained the mujaheddin in Pakistan through the Pakistan intelligence (ISI) and they brought a Saudi, a rather wealthy Saudi, from a family well tied to the Bush family and well tied to the Saudi monarchy and Saudi intelligence head called Osama bin Laden. He was responsible for recruiting Jihadists, in other words terrorists, from all over the world and bringing them to Afghanistan—actually they brought them to Pakistan and then trained them and sent them over the border—and that was the mujaheddin. It was a project of the CIA’s and Osama bin Laden’s network. Well, after ten years and ultimately the Red Army left Afghanistan. That was a huge defeat and the Vietnam of the Soviet Union. They were exhausted financially and militarily.
The CIA then said, OK. Soviet Union, a couple of years later collapsed. That was in 1989. So ‘90-’91 Yeltsin becomes President of the Russian Federation (the CIA project BTW was Yeltsin) and the CIA air freights the leading Muja Hadine and others into Chechnya where a Soviet-era pipeline went from Baku, Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea with oil of Baku up through Russia and from there it could go on to Western Europe and the world markets as Russian oil. Well, Washington wanted a different pipeline. They wanted British Petroleum, Atlantic Richfield—the American and British oil companies to control the oil of Baku. They made a coup in Azerbaijan so that a pro-American puppet, the Aliyev Family, (the father and then later the son), they would route the oil through a Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline (into Ceyhan in Turkey on the Turkish coast) and from there onto the world market. So they would rob the Russian Federation of the control over that pipeline. That was called the Chechen Wars of the early 90’s. At that point, Russia was in no shape to do much about it; it was a debacle. That was the CIA’s Muslin Brotherhood project in Chechnya.
At the same time in the 90’s they brought them into Bosnia to make Jihad against the Serbs in the Yugoslav civil war that the United States orchestrated from behind the scenes—another one of these lead from behind debacles. You could just trace the thing right on down to the creation in Iraq by General David Petraeus, a very nasty fellow, of the terror squads that became Al Qaeda in Iraq and later morphed into something called, conveniently, ISIS at first. This is an interesting thing: It was called the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Then a couple of Israel journalists pointed out on a television interview that the abbreviation for the Israeli Mossad used in communications with Western intelligence was precisely the Israeli secret intelligence service, ISIS. So suddenly without warning the name got shortened to IS, the Islamic State.
JC: To be fair it’s been known by dozen of Arabic names which of course have their own Arabic alliterations, not the abbreviations are used in English. But that is kind of funny, if not a particularly significant piece of information. But, just to back up the historical parallels that you are drawing there for example with the Muslim Brotherhood from whose ranks sprang Ayman Al-Zawahiri, rounded up after the Sadat assassination who ended up becoming Osama bin Laden’s right hand man currently heading Al Qaeda which fostered Al Qaeda in Iraq, which became ISIS. The parallels are many. Of course Western intelligence is in every single one of those stages of development of this, the rise of these radical terror groups.
I guess this brings us to the question specifically in Syria. What if this is a sort of terrorist proxy army used to Western intelligence. What is it being used for specifically in Syria?
WE: Well, in Syria you have a number of complicated factors. One is, traditionally, the Arab Middle East was run by three groups. Egypt Mubarak, Syria the Assad Family and Saudi Arabia. Well, Mubarak was gone in a US color revolution called the Arab Spring. Then they put a Muslim Brotherhood puppet in there called Amit Morsi. He didn’t last so long, but that was the US strategy. They were quite upset when the Elysee Coup took place a couple of years ago. Syria has this leading, stabilizing role in the Middle East historically. You have Alawite Islam living side by side with Sunni Islam with Shia Islam and with Christians in Syria for centuries. So you have this multi-cultural, multi-religious State.
The other complicating factor is its geopolitical geography—where it is. It lies on a route, one of its neighbors is Iraq, of course, and Iraq’s neighbor is Iran. So Iran having part of the largest gas field in the world, larger than even anything in Siberia, called the North Pars Field. Iran was in negotiation with Iraq and with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad in 2009-2010 to build, as you reference, the Iran/Iraq/Syria gas pipeline that would bring Iranian gas into the European market ultimately, through Lebanon or through Syrian ports. Well, before that happened in 2009 the Emir of Qatar came to Damascus to talk with Bashar al-Assad and proposed an alternative gas pipeline because the other half of that Persian Gulf gas field happens to be in the territorial waters of, none other than Qatar where Doha, the US military base for the region are also conveniently located. And the Qataries wanted to get a gas pipeline going from Saudi Arabia up into Syria and from there onto the European markets. Bashar al-Assad said, “No, I respect the relationship between Syria and Russia and we have our negotiations with Gaszprom on any having to do with gas and we do not want to get involved.”
After that, all hell broke loose in Syria. Saudi money, Qatari money, Gulf Arab |
3 System Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista SP2, Win 7 SP1, Win 8.1 (64-bit operating system)
Windows Vista SP2, Win 7 SP1, Win 8.1 (64-bit operating system) CPU: Intel Core i5-2300 2.8GHz 2.93GHz or AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz
Intel Core i5-2300 2.8GHz 2.93GHz or AMD Phenom II X6 1055T 2.8GHz RAM: 6GB
6GB GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 (2GB) or AMD Radeon HD 7870 (2GB)
Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 (2GB) or AMD Radeon HD 7870 (2GB) DX: DirectX 11
DirectX 11 HDD: 45GB
Recommended Just Cause 3 System Requirements:
OS: Windows Vista SP2, Win 7 SP1, Win 8.1 (64-bit operating system)
Windows Vista SP2, Win 7 SP1, Win 8.1 (64-bit operating system) CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4 GHz or AMD FX-8350 4.0 GHz
Intel Core i7-3770 3.4 GHz or AMD FX-8350 4.0 GHz RAM: 8GB
8GB GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 (3GB) or AMD Radeon R9 280X (3GB)
Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 (3GB) or AMD Radeon R9 280X (3GB) DX: DirectX 11
DirectX 11 HDD: 45GB
These are some very reasonable system requirements, especially since the game features a huge open world and some pretty complex, albeit exaggerated, physics. The back cover also includes the NVIDIA GameWorks logo, though it is unclear at this point how it will be used in Just Cause 3 – when we reported the graphics settings from Paris Games Week, there was no mention of either HBAO+ or TXAA.
Just Cause 3 is set to debut on December 1st for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, unleashing RIco on the fictional island of Medici (inspired by Mediterranean islands) with the mission to overthrow yet another dictator. The game will run at 1080P on PlayStation 4 and 900P on Xbox One, though the frame rate for the console versions is still unconfirmed (but likely to be 30FPS); on the other hand, here’s a look at Just Cause 3 PC rendered at 4K. Just remember that it will take you a lot of power to play it smoothly in that resolution!
Finally, here’s the latest dev diary which focuses on the Avalanche Engine that powers the game.US Defense Secretary James Mattis warned Department of Defence (DoD) personnel against violations of social media ethics on Friday (10 March), saying misconduct will not be tolerated. He was referring to the nude photo scandal involving many active-duty US marines.
In a statement, Mattis said that the US military was taking "all appropriate action to investigate potential misconduct and to maintain good order and discipline throughout our armed forces".
The US Marine Corps has launched an investigation into allegations that a Facebook group of more than 30,000 US Marines, called Marines United, posted nude pictures of female colleagues on the social media site.
The images were also allegedly posted with harassing comments.
However, around 3,000 members of the group were reported to have moved to a new Facebook group called Marines United 2, where they are continuing to post similar images and comments. They have also allegedly begun sharing nude videos of female colleagues on porn websites such as PornHub.
Slamming the alleged actions of the Marines, the defence secretary said: "Lack of respect for the dignity and humanity of fellow members of the Department of Defense is unacceptable and harmful to the unit cohesion necessary to battlefield victory.
"We will not excuse or tolerate such behaviour if we are to uphold our values and maintain our ability to defeat the enemy on the battlefield," he noted.
Defence press operations director Navy Capt Jeff Davis later told reporters that Mattis will meet with uniformed and civilian leaders of the DoD in the coming days to ensure that appropriate steps are taken to maintain good order and discipline in the force.
"The Naval Criminal Investigative Service is investigating… websites and other services are looking into the matter, as well," Davis said.
He noted that victims who might feel uncomfortable reporting the social media misconduct to their chain of command can approach family support services, equal opportunity offices, the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, the inspector general and law enforcement.
Some victims have reportedly come forward to speak against the online misconduct after the US Marines commandant, General Robert B Neller, urged all victims to report their cases.With the release of the latest issues of the comic, I think it's time to put up the portraits of two other members of Twilight's family. I admit to being curious to Cadance's history... I understand one of the tie-in books to the show revealed that she was originally a pegasus who "ascended" or whatever to alicorn and princess status much like Twilight did (albeit not through completing a spell). But where did she come from? Was she always in Canterlot and just unmentioned? It's surely not a coincidence that her cutie mark is the crystal heart, and that she has the same sheen to her hair as the crystal ponies do, despite not sharing their general "crystalliness". But how does she tie in to an Empire that had vanished 1000 years ago?Image copyright PA
Lord Ashcroft has missed the UK launch party of the controversial book he co-authored about David Cameron, after suffering liver and kidney failure.
The Conservative peer became ill last month and spent 18 days in intensive care, he confirmed on Twitter.
A spokeswoman said Lord Ashcroft was now recovering in the US and was "out of danger".
The book, Call Me Dave, contains a series of allegations about the prime minister's student days.
It includes claims of drug-taking and a club initiation ceremony, involving a dead pig, that Mr Cameron is said to have taken part in, but the book has been heavily criticised by allies of the prime minister.
'Bit of a stir'
Sources have said Mr Cameron was never a member of the club in question, the Piers Gaveston Society, during his time at Oxford University.
Lord Ashcroft suffered septic shock leading to renal and liver failure and heart damage, a report from Channel 5 TV in Belize reported.
The report, which was played to guests at the launch event in London, said he had become unwell in Turkey on 22 September - where he had been visiting war graves to mark the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign - the day after the Daily Mail started serialising the book.
Image copyright Getty Images
He later flew to Turks and Caicos but his condition deteriorated and on his arrival he was admitted to hospital before being rushed by air ambulance to the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
Lord Ashcroft, who grew up in Belize, is said to be recovering in hospital in America.
At the London book launch, a speech was read out on his behalf by publisher Iain Dale.
"As you will have just seen, I have been a little preoccupied for the last four weeks," he said.
"I haven't of course set foot in the UK since my illness but I am reliably informed that my book has caused a bit of a stir."
'Personal beef'
The former Conservative Party chairman and donor has previously admitted to having personal "beef" with Mr Cameron after not being offered a major job in the coalition government.
In the book, he says Mr Cameron had been aware of his non-domiciled tax status, which was heavily criticised by Labour, in 2009.
But co-author Isabel Oakeshott has insisted the book was not motivated by revenge.MINNEAPOLIS – With less than two weeks until the 2014-15 season begins, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference revealed its Preseason All-Conference Team Wednesday, one day in advance of the NCHC’s Media Day. The conference’s inaugural Preseason All-Conference Team (a team was not selected last season) was voted on by local media members from each school, along with select national media members.
Five NCHC teams are represented on the six-man NCHC Preseason All-Conference Team, led by two from Miami in senior forward Austin Czarnik and junior forward Riley Barber. The lone unanimous selection on the team is North Dakota junior goaltender Zane McIntyre, who was listed on all 25 ballots. Rounding out the group of forwards is St. Cloud State junior forward Jonny Brodzinski, while the defensive pair of Denver senior Joey LaLeggia and Colorado College sophomore Jaccob Slavin complete the team.
Czarnik, who received 23 votes, was a NCHC First-Team All-Conference selection last year after leading the NCHC with both 34 assists and 47 points in 37 games a season ago. Brodzinski, who compiled 19 votes, was named NCHC Honorable Mention in 2013-14 while finishing fourth in the conference with 41 points, including 21 goals. Barber (12 votes) was a NCHC Second-Team All-Conference pick last season while finishing second in the overall scoring race behind his teammate Czarnik with 44 points, including 19 goals.
Anchoring the blue line is LaLeggia (19 votes), who is the lone other returning First-Team All-NCHC selection along with Czarnik. LaLeggia, the reigning NCHC Defenseman of the Year, tied for the NCHC lead among defensemen in 2013-14 with 25 points and had a NCHC-best 12 goals among blueliners on the season. Slavin (13 votes), who was the inaugural NCHC Rookie of the Year, shared the defenseman scoring lead with LaLeggia by also tallying 25 points, including 20 assists – tops among NCHC defensemen.
Completing the Preseason All-NCHC Team is McIntyre, who garnered NCHC Honorable Mention as a sophomore. McIntyre compiled a conference-best 1.99 goals-against average a season ago, while posting a.926 save percentage and went 20-10-3 between the pipes with the 20 wins tying for the league lead.
The NCHC Preseason Poll will be released Thursday in advance of Media Day.
The NCHC’s second season begins with four exhibition games Saturday, Oct. 4 while regular-season play begins Friday, Oct. 10 with seven of the eight teams in action. Conference play opens the following Friday, Oct. 17 as Omaha travels to Western Michigan and North Dakota heads to Colorado College. Watch over 100 games live throughout the season on NCHC.tv.
NCHC Preseason All-Conference Team
F - Austin Czarnik, Miami, Sr. – 23 votes
F – Jonny Brodzinski, St. Cloud State, Jr. – 19 votes
F – Riley Barber, Miami, Jr. – 12 votes
D – Joey LaLeggia, Denver, Sr. – 19 votes
D – Jaccob Slavin, Colorado College, So. – 13 votes
G – Zane McIntyre, North Dakota, Jr. – 25 votes (unanimous)
--NCHCHockey.com--In Brixton, famous for the riots in 1981, around 100 people have celebrated Lady Thatcher's death. Police said there was "low level disorder". Two people were arrested on suspicion of burglary. Six officers were hurt in Bristol after a street party.
As Britain received the news that Baroness Thatcher had died, not everyone was in mourning. In Brixton, south London - the scene of fierce rioting in the 1980s, blamed on deep social divisions as well as racial tensions - a hastily convened party was gathering pace.
People celebrate the death of Baroness Thatcher in Brixton, south London. Credit: PA
"Thatcher herself, she represents so much of what people hate about what has happened to Britain in the last 20, 30 years," said 40-year-old graphic designer Ben Windsor.
Some people shouted: "Maggie, Maggie, Maggie, dead, dead, dead." Credit: PA
One woman, who gave her name as Claire, said: "That woman made my youth a misery. I think that she was to blame for most of the ills of society. And most of the things that poor people and ill people are now being blamed for were her fault."
As police watched on, people arrived clutching cans of lager and bottles of wine and shouting "she's dead!" Credit: PANational Interest’s executive editor Harry Kazianis joins Scott to discuss his article for The American Conservative, “A War of Choice With North Korea is an Immensely Dumb Idea.” Kazianis discusses the horrors that would follow from a war with North Korea, the difficulty of educating the broader public on the possible consequences, and why, even if Donald Trump is bluffing, pushing Kim Jung-Il into a corner is a terrible idea. Kazianis then discusses his previous work projecting what war with North Korea could look like and what he believes to be the status of North Korean chemical and biological weapons. Finally, he explains what he thinks the key is to diplomacy with North Korea and why he holds out some hope that Trump has some realist foreign policy views.
Harry Kazianis is director of defense studies at the Center for the National Interest and executive editor The National Interest. He previously served as editor of The Diplomat, a fellow at CSIS, and on the 2016 Ted Cruz foreign policy team. Follow him on Twitter @GrecianFormula.
Discussed on the show:
Today’s show is sponsored by: The War State, by Mike Swanson; WallStreetWindow.com; Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Inc.; LibertyStickers.com; TheBumperSticker.com; and ExpandDesigns.com/Scott.
Check out Scott’s Patreon page.'She's Not Up to the Job': Huckabee Says Hillary Would Be a 'Disaster'
Judicial Watch Pres on New Findings From the FBI's Clinton Email Report
Herridge: Hillary 'Couldn't Recall' Training About Handling Classified Info
Judge Andrew Napolitano says that the defense Hillary Clinton used in her interview with the FBI may have helped her legally, but it could be "catastrophic politically."
On "Fox and Friends" this morning, Judge Napolitano explained that Clinton told FBI investigators - who were looking into her mishandling of state secrets - that she was unaware what it meant if documents were marked "classified," "secret" or "top secret."
"That sort of obliviousness lessens the criminality in the mind of the FBI, but that sort of obliviousness, is that what you want in the mind of a secretary of state or of a president of the United States?" Judge Napolitano said.
He noted that Clinton also told investigators that she did not recall all the briefings she received on handling sensitive information due to a concussion she suffered in 2012.
"If she's going to say, 'Because of my health problems, I don't remember what the law is. I don't know what is secret, top secret and confidential,' how can she be the president of the United States?" Judge Napolitano said.
"She's going to have to answer that."
Watch the "Fox and Friends" segment above, and share your reaction to the judge's thoughts in the comments.
Another US Athlete Joins Kaepernick in Anthem Protest
Jackson Rips 'Petulant Child' Kaepernick for National Anthem Protest
Disgraced Mizzou Professor Lands New JobGoogle's parent company Alphabet and pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced on Monday they would join forces to champion a new medical field.
They will forge a company called Galvani Bioelectronics, which develops tiny implants that wrap around nerves to modify their electrical signals.
The hope is that, in doing so, the novel devices could fight chronic diseases such as diabetes, arthritis or asthma.
Kris Famm, GSK's head of bioelectronics research, said they had already seen "promising results" in animal tests and were now focusing on "bringing that work into the clinic."
"Our goal is to have our first medicines ready for regulatory approval in seven years," he told news agency Reuters.
While he predicted first-generation implants to be as small as a medical pill, the aim was to shrink them to the size of a grain of rice.
Investment amid Brexit worries
Alphabet's business unit Verily Life Sciences (VLS) and Britain's biggest drugmaker together pledged 640 million euros ($715 million) towards the joint venture over the next seven years.
GSK will hold 55 percent and VLS the remaining 45 percent of the new company, which will be based in Stevenage north of London. A second research hub will be in San Franciso.
Only last week, GSK had announced they would open three new drug factories on home soil.
Amid economic concerns in the wake of the Brexit vote, the United Kingdom's Business Minister Greg Clark called the investment "a clear vote of confidence in Britain."
mrk/hg (Reuters, AFP)ANTONIO CONTE starts work at Chelsea on Wednesday — with his new team ready for the hardest pre-season of their careers.
The former Italy boss has already warned his Stamford Bridge stars to be ready for an intense fitness programme before the new season.
Getty Images 3 Antonio Conte is well known for running tough training sessions in pre-season
AP:Associated Press 3 Antonio Conte is expected to take his first training session with Chelsea today
Jose Mourinho's training style paid much more emphasise on ball work while Guus Hiddink often left most of the coaching to assistant Steve Holland which was more laid back.
But Conte, according to The Times, is much more hand on with his players with fitness the main feature of his training camps.
The sessions will include running multiple distances which the players will be made to cover repeatedly with the eagle eyed boss making sure they are giving 100 per cent.
Getty Images 3 Antonio Conte saw his Italy side knocked out of Euro 2016 by Germany
Then a ball will be introduced into training when the players are fatigued — as that is when he believes players improve their skills best.
In the afternoon the former Juventus boss is expected to run through multiple tactical sessions with players.
These type of training will happen twice a day through to the start of the Premier League next month with players told to expect little time off.Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Aug. 20, 2015, 5:30 PM GMT / Updated Aug. 20, 2015, 6:49 PM GMT By Tracy Connor and Sean Federico-O'Murchu
Subway has turned its back on former pitchman Jared Fogle, who is headed to jail for sex with an underage girl — and now his high school has, too.
North Central High School in Indianapolis used to have the sandwich pitchman's photo on its alumni Hall of Fame. But on Thursday, there was a big hole in the display.
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan School District of Washington Township confirmed that Fogle's photo was removed after the announcement that he plans to plead guilty to federal charges and had agreed to serve at least five years behind bars.
"It was just taken down," the spokeswoman said when asked if there had been a demand to remove Fogle's image.This year’s Manhattan Regional could turn out to be the toughest in the country, highlighted by a possible matchup of the No. 2 offense in the country, Kansas State, against the nation’s best pitching staff, in Arkansas. The seeds:
#14 Kansas State (41-17, 16-8); Big 12 Regular Season Champs #17 Arkansas (37-20, 18-11); 2nd in SEC West #30 Bryant (44-16-1, 27-5); NEC Regular Season and Tournament Champs NR Wichita State (39-26, 15-6); Missouri Valley Conference Tournament Champs
No. 1 Kansas State
Pretty much nothing happened the way it was expected to this season in the Big 12. With the exception of Oklahoma winning the Big 12 Tournament, the pre-season selections to finish 2nd and 3rd (TCU and Texas, respectively) finished the season in 7th and last place, respectively. The pre-season selection to finish in seventh place, Kansas State, on the other hand, dominated conference play to the tune of a 16-8 record and finish with their first outright Big 12 title in school history. It is because of this that the Wildcats will be hosting their first ever regional in Manhattan this weekend.
K-State (41-17, 16-8), who finished the year with a #14 ranking in the NCBWA poll, was an offensive juggernaut this season. Their.323 batting average as a team was 38 points higher than second place Oklahoma State (.285), and the second highest in the country. The Wildcats led the Big 12 in runs scored, hits, OBP, SLG, and triples. The ‘Cats are led offensively by Big 12 Player of the Year Ross Kivett. The junior second baseman hit a team-best.356 with 13 doubles, 4 triples and 47 runs scored, in addition to swiping 26 stolen bases on the season. Kansas State had seven first-team All-Big 12 selections, the most of any team this season, as well as snagging the Freshman of the Year award (reliever Jake Matthys) and Coach of the Year award for Brad Hill. If Kansas State has had a weakness this year, it would be due to inconsistency from their starting pitching. The Wildcats have used six different weekend starters and a different starting rotation in almost every conference series over the final two months of the season. This came back to hurt the Wildcats in the Big 12 tournament when no Wildcat starter went longer than 5.1 innings and the ‘Cats were eliminated in pool play.
Players to Watch:
2B Ross Kivett,.356, 47 R, 13 2B, 4 3B, 26 SB
CF Jared King,.337, 14 2B, 6 HR, 48 RBI
1B Shane Conlon,.345, 53 R, 12 2B, 3 3B, 7 HR, 28 RBI
SS Austin Fisher,.356, 18 2B, 3 3B, 2 HR, 34 RBI
RHP Jake Matthys, 8-1, 7 SV, 2.13 ERA, 50.2 IP, 8 BB, 35 K
No. 2 Arkansas
Unfortunately for K-State, the No. 2 seed in this regional is their polar opposite in every way. #17 Arkansas (37-20, 18-11) finished the year with the lowest team ERA in the country (by a significant margin) as the Razorback hurlers combined for an incomprehensible 1.87 ERA as a team. The pitcher with the highest ERA on the Razorbacks’ staff is freshman Trey Killian, who sports a relatively abysmal 3.19 ERA. (To put things in perspective this would be the lowest ERA for any starter on Kansas State). The starting rotation of juniors Ryne Stanek and Barrett Astin and senior Randall Fant have combined for an ERA of just 1.73 on the season. Of course, all things being equal, the Razorbacks have struggled at the plate, managing just a.260 batting average. The Hogs are led by sophomore third baseman Brian Anderson who is hitting.338 with 12 doubles, 5 triples, four homeruns and 33 RBI. However Anderson is the only hitter batting above.300 and the Razorbacks ranked fourth to last in hitting in the SEC. In a tournament format, a deep pitching staff can take a team a long way. This theory will definitely be tested should both Arkansas and K-State make it through their first round games, setting up a match-up of the second best hitting team in the country with the best pitching team in all of college baseball.
Players to Watch:
3B Brian Anderson,.338, 12 2B, 5 3B, 4 HR, 33 RBI
RHP Ryne Stanek, 9-1, 1.40 ERA, 90 IP, 35 BB, 76 K
LHP Randall Fant, 5-1, 1.92 ERA, 61 IP, 17 BB, 49 K
RHP Barrett Astin, 4-4, 1.94 ERA, 83.2 IP, 20 BB, 67 K
LHP Michael Gunn, 1-0, 0.67 ERA, 27 IP, 6 BB, 33 K,.126 OBA
No. 3 Bryant
The Razorbacks will have the task of playing the NEC champs, #30 Bryant University. The Bulldogs (44-16-1, 27-5), blew through their Northeast Conference opponents, leading their conference in hitting (.289), pitching (2.63 ERA) and fielding (.975). On the mound, BU is anchored by junior right-hander Peter Kelich (7-4, 2.53 ERA, 92.2 IP, 18 BB, 83 K) and junior righty Craig Schlitter who led all NEC pitchers with a 10-3 record, and went 7-0 with a 0.81 ERA in conference games. At the plate, senior third baseman, and NEC Player of the Year, Kevin Brown is third in the NEC with a.368 average, tallying 16 doubles, two triples, six homeruns and 46 runs batted in. While the Bulldogs have dominated their conference, they have struggled against non-conference opponents, going 17-11-1 including a seven game winless streak to start the season. This included a four-game sweep at Oregon State in which Bryant was outscored 26-4. The Bulldog’s strength of schedule was 262 (out of 298) and the NEC RPI as a conference was 26th out of 32, according to Boyd’s. While some may see Bryant as this year’s Stony Brook, that prediction may soon go out the window as soon as the Bulldogs step on the field against Arkansas on Friday evening.
Players to Watch:
CF Carl Anderson,.340, 9 2B, 2 HR, 47 RBI, 19 SB
3B Kevin Brown,.368, 16 2B, 2 3B, 6 HR, 46 RBI, 47 R
RHP Craig Schlitter, 10-3, 2.53 ERA, 78.1 IP, 16 BB, 74 K
RHP Peter Kelich, 7-4, 2.53 ERA, 92.2 IP, 18 BB, 83 K
No. 4 Wichita State
The Wildcats will face in-state rival Wichita State (39-26, 15-6) Friday at 2pm CST. The Champions of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament sealed their first trip to the regionals in four years by besting regular season champs Illinois State 5-2 on Saturday. The Shockers led the Valley in hitting with a.294 team batting average and were second in the conference in pitching with a 3.31 ERA. The Shox are led offensively by junior Garrett Bayliff, who hit.389 during the regular season, and sophomore first baseman Casey Gillaspie who led the MVC with 10 homeruns. WSU got off to a slow start this season, getting swept by Pittsburgh and Long Beach State and losing three of four at Hawaii before catching their stride during conference play. The Shockers have played Kansas State twice this year, losing both contests. The Wildcats came back from down 6-1 in the eighth at home against on April 9th in Manhattan, and scored on a walk-off passed ball to beat WSU 7-6. The following week the two teams played in Wichita, with KSU taking that game by a score of 4-1. Of course, those games being mid-week games, K-State had the good fortune of not facing the Shockers’ Friday night starter Cale Elam (7-4, 2.60 ERA) who has been the one constant for the Shox on the mound this season. That being said, the Shockers received excellent pitching during the MVC tournament from starters Garrett Brummet and Kris Gardner (combined 14.0 shutout innings) that could allow them to be perhaps the most dangerous No. 4 seed in the entire tournament.
Players to Watch:
RF Garrett Bayliff,.389, 41 R, 9 2B, 39 RBI, 11 SB
C Tyler Baker,.331, 13 2B, 3 3B, 4 HR, 46 RBI
1B Casey Gillaspie,.300, 15 2B, 10 HR, 42 RBI
RHP Cale Elam, 7-4, 2.60 ERA, 93.1 IP 29 BB, 74 K
RHP Brandon Peterson, 10 SV, 3-1, 1.15 ERA, 39.0 IP, 15 BB, 40 K
Big Takeaway
Kansas State has been able to succeed this season based on the strength of its hitting in a conference that has experienced a talent vacuum on the mound over the past few seasons. Unfortunately, in a tournament format, teams want to be deep on the mound and we saw this come back to bite the Wildcats in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. Similarly, K-State’s lack of any ace on the mound makes for a poor match-up against a team like Wichita State who could be able to land a big upset in their first game, especially considering that the two games these teams played earlier in the year were so close. Arkansas on the other hand appears primed for a run to Omaha, even if that means they have to win every game by a score of 1-0. Expect Bryant to struggle against top-flight opponents from the SEC, Big 12, and MVC.
Projected Finish:New Jersey festivals and events – Forgot about what to do in New Jersey?? The complete list of New Jersey festivals! The Top New Jersey festivals and events for 2018 – Complete list of all the top events in the Garden State. Opportunities for vendors and advertising slots for festival organizers still available.
New Jersey festivals Top New Jersey festivals and events rated by desirability and interest in multiple areas. NJ event review Written by: festivals4fun.com Highest rated available for the 2018 events and festivals in New Jersey. Great job in this great state. 9.5 / 10 stars
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July New Jersey Festivals
Top July New Jersey festivals and events to check out this summer.
July 4, 2018
Edison 4th of July Celebration in Edison, NJ is a unforgettable fair you don’t want to miss today.
July 4, 2018
Elizabeth 4th of July Fireworks in Elizabeth, NJ is a amazing festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 4, 2018
Jersey City Freedom and Fireworks Festival in Jersey City, NJ is a great fest you don’t want to miss today.
July 8, 2018
Jersey City Pacific Flea in Jersey City, NJ is a unbelievable festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 8, 2018
Newark Riverfront Hip-Hop Festival in Newark, NJ is a amazing food festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 10, 2018
Jersey City Bluegrass Jam in Hoboken, NJ is a unforgettable music festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 12, 2018
Freedom Fest State Fair in Allentown, NJ is a unbelievable fest you don’t want to miss today.
July 12, 2018
Jersey City Groove on Grove in Jersey City, NJ is a great art festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 12, 2018
Middlesex County Plays-in-the-Park in Edison, NJ is a unbelievable festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 12, 2018
Newark Black Film Festival in Newark, NJ is a great celebration you don’t want to miss today.
July 13, 2018
Black Potatoe Music Festival in Clinton, NJ is a amazing food festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 13, 2018
Levitt AMP Music Series in Trenton, NJ is a great culture festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 13, 2018
Newark Gay Pride in Newark, NJ is a unforgettable fest you don’t want to miss today.
July 14, 2018
Artworks Ink and Drink in Trenton, NJ is a great festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 14, 2018
Atlantic City Caribbean Carnival Weekend in Pleasantville, NJ is a amazing art festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 14, 2018
Gratitude Migration in Keansburg, NJ is a unforgettable food festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 15, 2018
Hawk Haven Saturdays on the Crushpad in Rio Grande, NJ is a unforgettable culture festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 15, 2018
Newark Afro Beat Fest in Newark, NJ is a great celebration you don’t want to miss today.
July 15, 2018
Trenton Euro-American Auto and Motorcycle Show in Trenton, NJ is a unforgettable culture festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 15, 2018
Warped Tour in Holmdel, NJ is a amazing music festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 16, 2018
Hawk Haven Sangria Sundays in Rio Grande, NJ is a unforgettable celebration you don’t want to miss today.
July 28, 2018
Camden Waterfront 4th of July Freedom Festival in Camden, NJ is a unforgettable fair you don’t want to miss today.
July 28, 2018
Club Colombia Festival De Independencia in Dover, NJ is a unforgettable food festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 28, 2018
Elizabeth 5th Ward Cookout and Health Fair in Elizabeth, NJ is a amazing celebration you don’t want to miss today.
July 28, 2018
Elizabeth Peruvian Parade in Elizabeth, NJ is a amazing festival you don’t want to miss today.
July 28, 2018
JCFamilies Funtastic Friday in Jersey City, NJ is a great fair you don’t want to miss today.
July 28, 2018
WellCare Health Fair in Elizabeth, NJ is a amazing fest you don’t want to miss today.
July 7, 2018
Beach Road Trip Weekend in Atlantic City, NJ is a amazing fair you don’t want to miss today.
August New Jersey Festivals
Top July New Jersey festivals and events to check out this summer.
September New Jersey Festivals
Scanfest
The Scanfest is held in Budd Lake, New Jersey from September 03 to September 03
Asbury Park Oysterfest
The Asbury Park Oysterfest is held in Asbury Park, New Jersey from September 07 to September 09
Craft Boutique
The Craft Boutique is held in Manasquan, New Jersey from September 01 to September 30
Winefest
The Winefest is held in Shamong, New Jersey from September 16 to September 17
Mercer County Italian American Festival
The Mercer County Italian American Festival is held in West Windsor, New Jersey from September 22 to September 24
Bbq And Craft Beer Fest
The Bbq And Craft Beer Fest is held in Ocenport, New Jersey from September 01 to September 03
Camp Jam In The Pines
The Camp Jam In The Pines is held in Hammonton, New Jersey from September 14 to September 17
Saint Bartholomew The Apostle Italian Festival
The Saint Bartholomew The Apostle Italian Festival is held in Scotch Plains, New Jersey from September 01 to September 04
Good Ole Days Festival
The Good Ole Days Festival is held in Somers Point, New Jersey from September 09 to September 09
Art In The Park Highland Park
The Art In The Park Highland Park is held in Highland Park, New Jersey from September 24 to September 24
Art In The Park
The Art In The Park is held in Mays Landing, New Jersey from September 16 to September 16
Sea Isle City Food Truck Festival
The Sea Isle City Food Truck Festival is held in Sea Isle City, New Jersey from September 07 to September 09
Canterbury Art Show
The Canterbury Art Show is held in Rumson, New Jersey from September 01 to September 04
Atlantic City Seafood Festival
The Atlantic City Seafood Festival is held in Atlantic City, New Jersey from September 09 to September 10
Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival
The Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival is held in Pilesgrove, New Jersey from September 01 to September 03
Riverdale Street Fair
The Riverdale Street Fair is held in Riverdale, New Jersey from September 03 to September 03
Nutley Street Fair And Craft Show
The Nutley Street Fair And Craft Show is held in Nutley, New Jersey from September 02 to September 02
Hoboken Italian Festival
The Hoboken Italian Festival is held in Hoboken, New Jersey from September 06 to September 09
Street Fair
The Street Fair is held in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey from September 16 to September 16
Rutherford Labor Day Street Fair
The Rutherford Labor Day Street Fair is held in Rutherford, New Jersey from September 04 to September 04
Craft Boutique – September – Held in Manasquan, New Jersey from September 1 to September 30
Hoboken Italian Festival – Held in Hoboken, New Jersey from September 6 to September 9
Flemington OPA Festival – Held in Flemington, New Jersey from September 7 to September 9
Mercer County Italian American Festival – Held in Columbus, New Jersey from September 7 to September 9
Asbury Park Oysterfest – Held in Asbury Park, New Jersey from September 7 to September 9
Sea Isle City Food Truck Festival – Held in Sea Isle City, New Jersey |
, a receiver must clearly become a runner. He does that by gaining control of the ball, touching both feet down and then, after the second foot is down, having the ball long enough to clearly become a runner, which is defined as the ability to ward off or protect himself from impending contact. If, before becoming a runner, a receiver falls to the ground in an attempt to make a catch, he must maintain control of the ball after contacting the ground. If he loses control of the ball after contacting the ground and the ball touches the ground before he regains control, the pass is incomplete. Reaching the ball out before becoming a runner will not trump the requirement to hold onto the ball when you land. When you are attempting to complete a catch, you must put the ball away or protect the ball so it does not come loose.
The issue had come to a head after Dez Bryant’s overturned catch in the Cowboys’ NFC divisional round loss to the Packers at the end of the 2014 season. Running a fade down the left sideline, Bryant leaped high over cornerback Sam Shields for the ball. The Cowboys wideout came down with the ball, planted both feet and appeared to take a third step as he dived at the 1-yard line and reached out with the ball for more yards. As his arm hit the ground, the ball came loose and appeared to touch the ground and pop back up, whereupon Bryant gathered it back in. The official closest to the play ruled it a completion, but under challenge from Packers coach Mike McCarthy, the call was overturned because it was ruled Bryant hadn’t maintained possession throughout the process of the catch.
Dez Bryant's controversial incomplete catch. AP Photo/G. Newman Lowrance
At the time, the rule required that a receiver maintain possession long enough to “make a football move.” In the eyes of many, it ought to have been a completion. “It’s tough to say that Dez didn’t have complete control of the ball before he reached out for more yards,” says Giants running back Shane Vereen, a frequent pass-catcher out of the backfield.
“Dez Bryant made a football play,” says Allen Robinson, the Jaguars’ Pro Bowler wideout. “If a football play is made after the catch has been possessed, then I don’t think the refs should take that away.”
But the rule wasn’t so clear-cut.
It also required that a receiver “maintain control of the ball throughout the process of contacting the ground”—a clarifying tweak added before the 2011 season in direct response to Calvin Johnson’s controversial incompletion in the end zone the previous year. To some, it’s an arbitrary line tantamount to splitting hairs. “All of us know the Calvin Johnson rule,” Baldwin says. “There is a certain amount of time you need to hold on to the ball, but the NFL rules are a little drastic. Calvin caught the ball and he got up and he celebrated … it should have been a catch.”
Going into the 2015 season, the NFL had it all sorted out—or so it thought.
Where the standard had once been a “football move” recognized as “any act common to the game,” a pass was now deemed complete when a receiver had “the ball long enough to clearly become a runner,” with the same proviso that the ball must be firmly secured after making any contact with the ground. Still, the catch/no-catch debates continued to rage. The 139 coaches’ challenges over pass completions amounted to the most among all categories—which has been the case every year since the league started tracking that data in 2008.
The new gray area: Just how does a receiver become a runner? Shoulders turned upfield? A certain number of steps? The ball tucked away, high and tight? Having the ability to ward off or protect himself from impending contact, as the rule book suggests in black and white print that doesn’t always account for the sweeping speed of real time or the glacial pace of replay?
“From my standpoint, there is no real definition,” Hawkins says. “Most of the guys that I play with or have been around all feel the same way.”
Consider the following case studies from last season:
Week 3 | Sept. 27, 2015
Cincinnati at Baltimore
NFL GamePass
Tyler Eifert’s overturned touchdown against the Ravens called to mind Dez Bryant’s postseason no-catch. On fourth-and-goal from the Ravens’ 2, the Bengals’ tight end caught a pass from Andy Dalton with his back to the goal line. He turned to the end zone and stretched his arms across the goal line. After breaking the plane—which, if he were a runner, would have ended the play with a score—Eifert fell onto a Ravens defender. Officials signaled a touchdown, but the call was overturned because Eifert had not maintained possession through the process of the catch. Though Eifert seemingly turned upfield in the manner of a runner, his dive was ultimately determined to be a continuation of the catching process, meaning he had to maintain possession through the ground. Had he remained on his feet but been knocked backward after breaking the plane, it would have been a touchdown.
Week 5 | Oct. 11, 2015
Washington at Atlanta
Falcons running back Devonta Freeman caught a 12-yard pass, planted both feet and dove for the end zone with arms outstretched. Though he stretched the ball across the goal line, the ball eventually popped out of his hands after his back hit the ground while being tackled in the end zone. Ruled a touchdown on the field, the call was overturned on review. In both Eifert’s and Freeman’s case, the ruling was consistent.
The moment Freeman loses control of the ball. NFL GamePass
Breaking the plane of the end zone does not guarantee a touchdown and end a passing play the way it does a running play. If anything happens to the ball before the catch is completed, it trumps the act of crossing the goal line. (In Freeman’s case, however, there’s more nuance to explore. If he had become a runner—which he had by virtue of being contacted by a defender without penalty and warding off enough contact to cross the goal line—why is it possible for the ground to ostensibly cause a “fumble” that jarred the ball loose?)
Week 6 | Oct. 18, 2015
Detroit at Chicago
via GIPHY
Lions receiver Golden Tate caught a second-quarter pass in the end zone, took one step (maybe) and was hit by Bears cornerback Kyle Fuller, who pried the ball from Tate’s grasp as he tackled him to the ground. Linebacker Jonathan Anderson snagged the ball before it hit the ground. Touchdown? Interception? Officials ruled it a pick before the play automatically went to review.
On the FOX broadcast, former head of NFL officials and rules analyst Mike Pereira didn’t think the interception ruling should be overturned. “Did he clearly become a runner?” Pereira asked. “Because breaking the plane does not apply until you become a runner. In slow motion it looks like it might be, but the ball gets stripped very quickly. So, to me, he does not become the runner, he’s not able to ward off contact. It’s ruled not a catch at that point so it becomes an interception.”
NFL Vice President of Officiating explains the ruling behind the Golden Tate touchdown.#CHIvsDET http://t.co/PNDqj4Cbdv — NFL (@NFL) October 18, 2015
The ruling on the field was reversed. Touchdown. Officials determined that Tate had controlled the pass at the goal line because he had both feet down and enough time to become a runner before the ball was stripped.
“I think the rule might need some more clarification,” FOX announcer Chris Myers said.
“Maybe I need more clarification!” Pereira replied.
Week 10 | Nov. 15, 2015
New England at New York Giants
Al Bello/Getty Images
His Giants trailing the Patriots, 26-24, Odell Beckham Jr. caught a five-yard touchdown pass for the apparent go-ahead score on New York’s final drive. Beckham appeared to have both feet down in the end zone just before Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler swiped the ball out of his hands. The catch was originally ruled a touchdown, but reversed because Beckham had not maintained control long enough to become a runner. “Obviously, as a Giant, I think it was a touchdown,” Vereen says. “He had control, he was in the end zone, but then shortly after that the ball was clearly knocked out of his hands, so then you go back to the question: How long does someone have to hold on to the ball for it to be called a completed catch?”
This was reminiscent of Golden Tate’s play, but with the opposite initial ruling and outcome. Both Beckham and Tate caught a pass in the end zone and were stripped of the ball soon after. Watching the two plays side-by-side, it’s hard to isolate the difference in possession time—both appear to lose the ball at the same time their second foot plants. Which, according to the letter of the rule, would mean an incompletion for both situations.
“It’s so varied from crew to crew in the officiating,” Chiefs receiver Jason Avant says. “That’s why everybody is saying we don’t know, because different guys see the game a different way.”
Divisional Round | Jan. 18, 2016
Green Bay at Arizona
In the third quarter, Cardinals wideout Larry Fitzgerald caught a 22-yard pass near the sideline. He took a few steps before falling to the ground and bobbling the ball as he landed on the ground—not unlike Devonta Freeman hitting the ground and losing the ball in the end zone for an incompletion.
The ruling here was a completed catch, but Packers coach Mike McCarthy threw the challenge flag, arguing that Fitzgerald didn’t complete the process of making a catch—the same point of contention he’d made that overruled Dez Bryant’s catch the previous postseason. This time McCarthy lost the challenge. Dean Blandino, the NFL’s vice president of officiating, explained on Twitter: “Ruling on field was that he was a runner before ball hit the ground. Not enough to change.”
“I don't know what the hell a catch is anymore,” an exasperated McCarthy said to reporters at the post-game press conference. “It’s ridiculous.”
Super Bowl | Feb. 7, 2016
Carolina vs. Denver
That's a Catch by Cotchery https://t.co/zK8TFjqjF9 — Football Life (@FB1SLIFE) February 8, 2016
Trailing 3-0 midway through the first quarter, the Panthers had a first-and-10 at their own 15-yard line. Cam Newton dropped back and threw a 20-yard strike to Jerricho Cotchery, who made a bobbling catch while being wrapped up and taken down by Broncos safety Darian Stewart. As Cotchery’s right elbow hit the field, the ball shifted position and possibly touched the turf. Cotchery appeared to maintain control, pinning the ball to his body as he rolled over. Officials ruled the catch incomplete, and Carolina coach Ron Rivera quickly challenged the play. He lost because, as Blandino explained on Twitter, “The ball touched the ground and slid up his body. Not enough evidence to change the call on the field.”
AP Photo/Matt York
For a call to be overturned on review, there must be indisputable visual evidence that the ruling on the field was incorrect. Showtime’s Inside the NFL caught a mic’d up conversation between Rivera and referee Clete Blakeman, who told Rivera that had Cotchery’s catch initially been ruled complete, it wouldn’t have been overturned because there wasn’t strong enough evidence to suggest either a completion or incompletion.
“A big percentage of catches that the officials go either way on—whether it is a fumble or a drop—it’s just about interpretation and what the first call was,” says Allen Robinson, the Jacksonville wideout.
Dez Bryant weighed in on Twitter as the moment unfolded:
Come on REFS!! Clear catch! — Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) February 8, 2016
“I still don’t understand how that wasn’t a catch,” says Hawkins, the Browns wideout. “I don’t understand the review process. How are we still messing up, with as many camera angles as we have?”
* * *
Receivers have adapted strategies to avoid making mistakes in the gray areas of the current rule.
“My focus when I catch the ball is making sure it doesn’t move an inch,” Jets receiver Brandon Marshall says. “I think it’s ridiculous, but that’s the rules.”
Jason Avant, the Chiefs wideout, says he makes sure to not let the ball move or touch the ground. “Sometimes you can make a great play and during that moment of athleticism, when you are in the air and diving, you can let your guard down,” he says. “You have to be overly careful or conscious of completing the process of the catch.”
“I think catch and tuck,” Shane Vereen says. “If I can tuck it into my arm, then I can start running faster. It’s the best way to complete a catch because it shows that you are already starting to run and you are already making a football-like move.”
Allen Robinson tries to avoid moments like these, waiting for a ruling after making a catch against Tennessee. AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack
Allen Robinson repeats a two-word mantra in his head to make sure his catches are irrefutable. “Stand up,” Robinson says. “I think about standing up with the football. If you’re going to the ground and you maintain possession from the catch to standing up with the ball, it’s ensures there are no ifs or ands.”
Some players feel that if a gray-area reception/incompletion goes under review, the result is as good as a coin flip. “The biggest discrepancy is that all the officials don’t always get the same memo,” Avant says. “One year something is a catch, the next year it’s not.”
“I don’t think the officials have a clear understanding of what a catch is,” Doug Baldwin says. “It changes from week to week.”
The perceived lack of consistency in the rule’s application appears to be the main problem. That’s why the catch rule committee—comprised of Bill Polian (former NFL executive), Ken Whisenhunt(coach/offensive coordinator), Jim Schwartz (coach/defensive coordinator), Joe Philbin (coach/offensive coordinator), James Thrash (former receiver), and Tom Finken (former side judge)—has been primarily charged with increasing awareness about the intricacies of the rule to help minimize controversy. In a February NFL Network interview, Blandino said he doesn’t anticipate the catch rule committee making any major proposals to the competition committee. “We feel the rule is in a really good place right now,” he said. “I really feel it’s just communicating the rule and educating and showing video examples of what is and what isn’t a catch.”
NFL Video Rulebook used Beckham's reversed touchdown as an example of an incomplete pass. NFL Video Rulebook
That educational campaign kicked off this month with a video narrated by Blandino, who distills the process of completing a catch into three steps:
• Secures control of the ball in his hands or arms prior to the ball touching the ground; and
• Touches the ground inbounds with both feet or with any part of his body other than his hands; and
• Maintains control of the ball after (a) and (b) have been fulfilled, until he has clearly become a runner
If a receiver fails to complete all three elements, the pass is incomplete. The explanation sounds simple enough, except the process of describing a process is often a complicated undertaking.
Mark Richard is a professor of philosophy at Harvard whose passions include watching the Patriots and analyzing the way language works. “A catch is like pornography,” he says. “We recognize it when we see it.”
Some catches are unmistakable, and perhaps none more pure than Joe Montana’s finding Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone for “The Catch” in the 1981 NFC title game. But even when catches defy convention—Lynn Swann’s juggling act in Super Bowl X or David Tyree’s helmet grab in Super Bowl XLII—they still fit into the paradigm outlined by Blandino. The confusion exists in the gray area where issues over possession and player safety are seemingly at odds, and rulings are subject to interpretations over a player’s momentum or intent.
“The definition of a process like catching is usually something that has to be applied in practice, and applying something in practice can be messy and difficult,” says Richard, whose books include Meaning and When Truth Gives Out. “With a process like catching, it may be practically impossible to come up with a way to make the sort of judgments fans and players and coaches demand.”
Richard says the catch rule is a mess because it is “disjunctive.” It covers two different conditions that could result in a catch. Picture it like a flow chart. At the top is securing possession with either two feet or another body part down. From there, the chart branches off in two directions:
1) Does the player remain upright? If yes, he must establish himself as a runner.
2) Is the player going to the ground? If yes, he must maintain control of the ball after contacting the ground.
But what of those situations where a receiver catches the ball, seemingly establishes himself as a runner, then goes to the ground?
Players can get downright philosophical themselves when asked to define a catch. The foundation of the catch rule, they say, is maintaining control of the ball after two feet or another body part other than a hand make contact with the ground. But how long is long enough to establish that control?
Doug Baldwin demonstrates a, "clear maintaining of control of the football." AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
“I don’t think you can put a specific time on a catch,” Baldwin says. “A clear maintaining of control of the football, whether that takes a second or two seconds, having complete control of the ball. It’s clear to any receiver who is watching the game.”
“If the ball is in your hands for more than one second, it should be a catch,” says Vikings receiver Stefon Diggs.
“If the receiver possesses the ball with two feet down in the end zone or breaks the plane of the end zone, I think that should be a catch,” Avant says. “I don’t believe a guy should have to complete the process of a catch through the ground when it comes to the end zone. A lot of guys, if they are running with the ball, they reach out for the pylon and the ball pops up. What’s the difference between that and catching the ball in the end zone?”
“A catch is such a flexible idea,” Vereen says. “There are a lot of moving parts with it, and every situation is different than the next.”
When asked how he would rewrite the rulebook, Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald proposed something less complicated: If a receiver catches the ball with two feet on the ground and turns to run with it, that should be a catch. If he gets the ball stripped, that should be a fumble.
“There are too many rules, too much gray area, too many judgments the refs have to make. It needs to be simpler,” Fitzgerald says. “The Dez Bryant catch against Green Bay should have been a catch. He had the ball and was turning upfield to try to advance the ball. That's a catch.”
Fitzgerald’s proposal calls to mind the 1982 edition of the catch rule:
[A receiver] must control the ball throughout the act of clearly touching both feet, or any other part of his body other than his hand(s), to the ground inbounds. If the player is hit causing the ball to come loose simultaneously while clearly touching inbounds both feet, or any other part of the body except the hand(s), there is no possession. If, when the ball comes loose, there is any question whether the above acts are simultaneous, the ruling shall be no possession.
The NFL of the 1980s, of course, was a headhunter’s paradise when receivers went over the middle. If not in perfect lockstep, the catch rule has evolved alongside a mandate to protect defenseless players. To turn back the clock and simplify the definition of a catch would likely invite dangerous contact on vulnerable receivers, who in theory wouldn’t be given the luxury to start the process of a catch.
Fitzgerald, however, isn’t moved.
“Guys have been trying to kill me for years,” he says. “It’s a violent game. That’s just part of the game.”
Vereen agrees that the league’s clarifications have only overcomplicated the rule. “We are trying to make a perfect game, but it’s not going to ever be that way. I don’t think there is one rule that is going to take away the confusion. I say, just catch the ball!”
• Question or comment? Email us at talkback@themmqb.com.National Iranian men's and women's badminton teams have decided not to attend the İBB Turkey International Series 2016 due to the high number of injured players as well as the unfavorable situation of Iranian athletes at the camp.
“Given the national teams’ situation in the Turkish camp and injury of some of our players, the decision was made not to participate in Turkey international games,” President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Badminton Federation, Bahador Zakizadeh, said on Sunday.
The Iranian federation had named Soraya Aghaei, Sara Delavari, Yasra Beigi, Pegah Kamrani, Safoura Zamanlou, Soroush Eskandari, Farzin Khanjani, Mehran Shahbazi, Masoud Pirouzi and Masoud Jabbari as members of the Iranian delegation to the sports event.
The İBB Turkey International Series 2016 will kick off on December 19, and will wrap up on December 22.
The international series tournament is scheduled to be staged at Istanbul’s Fatih Sports Complex.
The contests will be held in men’s singles, women's singles, men’s doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles events, and the winner will receive $6,000 in cash prize.While the ability for me to be able to write articles is a dream come true, I, however, have also been given a chance to share information with many who may not know otherwise. Most of the information has been finance-based, continuing to expand my knowledge of how to make a military paycheck stretch to the max. But one thing I am genuinely passionate about is the beautiful action of charity. And when welfare can be given back to the military family, I am so thankful for the outcome. As the Christmas holiday approaches, many Marines, soldiers and airmen will have separation from their families -- miles away, fighting for our safety while we celebrate and enjoy the freedoms of the holiday. If you want a way to remember, to say thank you or to directly pay it forward, here are a few of my favorite ideas.
Toys for Tots (toysfortots.org). The U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program collects new, unwrapped toys during October, November and December each year, and distributes those toys as Christmas gifts to less fortunate children in the community where the campaign is located. The program is for all children, including military kids. Bases usually have a robust military drive, where service members and the public can donate toys. Family members can become elves as well as recipients, helping kids in the area become excited about the present underneath the tree on Christmas morning.
Red Cross. The Red Cross provides many military family services including but not limited to financial assistance and deployment services. The Red Cross is a Christian-based organization which assists in times of complete need. From natural disasters to extreme situations, the Red Cross is there with real people on the ground, financial assistance and often support of faith and hope.
Soldiers' Angels (soldiersangels.org). Soldiers' Angels have many excellent programs to support our military families, deployed service members, wounded service members and veterans. Plans are divided into categories based on the population they serve. Most of our programs could not be possible without the support of the beautiful Angels who dedicate their time, money and talents to the organization.
Other organizations include the United Service Organization (USO), a staple during the holiday, serving meals, visiting with troops around the world, and being a safe place in airports and bus stations as military members and families travel over the holiday. Operation Christmas Spirit and Operation Homefront are two organizations which are always looking for volunteers and donations to support military families. These two movements help fill in "Santa's Wishlist" for military families and assist with needs for military members who have been wounded during a time of service and currently as well. There are many avenues where one can contribute donations to or even adopt a family to give a more direct gift during the holiday season.
Giving to the those who serve is a fantastic service no matter what time of the year. The holidays introduce lots of emotions, and many military families put on a brave face to get through the daily to do's. Taking a little time to say "thank you, we appreciate you and yours" is something military families will excitedly unwrap. From my military family to yours, Merry Christmas.Heel character gets “fan mail” from Alex Jones, Glenn Beck & Rush Limbaugh
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com
February 19, 2013
World Wrestling Entertainment has jumped on the bandwagon of demonizing Tea Party Americans as racists by creating a xenophobic character who espouses anti-immigrant rhetoric, as WWE commentators quip that he receives “fan mail” from Alex Jones, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.
Jack Swagger and his manager Zeb Colter appeared on Monday Night Raw last night and were booed by the audience as they talked about the constitution, the bill of rights and illegal immigration while standing in front of a ‘don’t tread on me’ flag.
The WWE is playing the race card for the purpose of a gimmick as Swagger prepares to fight Mexican wrestler Alberto Del Rio for the world heavyweight title at Wrestlemania.
During Swagger’s match, commentators Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler joked that Swagger and Colter had received “fan mail” from conservative radio talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Alex Jones.
Twitter users reacted with outrage, slamming the WWE for “crapping all over the Tea Party” by “promoting a Racist, immigrant hating Tea Party character vs a Mexican wrestler.”
“What the fuck are you doing with this Zeb Colter guy? A heel with a Tea Party stereotype angle? Do you still want my money?” asked Mark Scudder.
This is part of the divide and conquer tactic of cultural subversion to manufacture racial division and to characterize the Tea Party, conservatives, libertarians, opponents of uncontrolled illegal immigration and constitutionalists as racist, extremist radicals who should be pushed to the fringes of the political discourse.
Now the demonization runs so deep that it’s even being bolstered by WWE wrestling.
The fact that WWE is owned by Vince and Linda McMahon, who are part of the Republican establishment, also tells us a lot about how grass roots conservatives and libertarians are viewed by those near the top of the power structure.
Why are we getting so wound up about a wrestling gimmick? WWE programming reaches 14 million Americans every week – and millions more worldwide. To put it in context – that’s more than 10 times the amount of viewers who watch America’s top rated news show, The O’Reilly Factor.
This follows the relentless campaign on behalf of the federal government, via the MIAC report, via the Department of Homeland Security and others to portray Americans who oppose big government as domestic extremists and even terrorists.
*********************
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.After months of detailing store changes and features coming to its new self-publishing platform, Valve has announced that today is the last day for its soon-to-be-replaced service, Steam Greenlight.
As of today, Valve is not allowing submissions to the Greenlight program and has shuttered user voting on existing projects as well. Meanwhile, its replacement, Steam Direct, will go live on June 13 with a $100 submission fee, the same amount developers paid to submit a game to Greenlight before.
But if you’re a developer with a game still in the Steam Greenlight pipeline, here’s what you need to know. Valve is in the week-long process of reviewing the catalog of Greenlight submissions yet awaiting a response, but it notes that catalog is currently made up of over 3,400 titles.
Valve’s plan is to directly greenlight as many of those games as they “have confidence in” but notes that some options will be denied based either on insufficient voter data or player reports. However, denial during this final week does not disqualify developers from submitting their projects to Steam Direct when it launches next week.
More information on the shutdown, as well as details on both Steam Direct and statistics from Greenlight’s five-year reign, can be found on the Steam Blog.Expenses body to cost six times more than MPs' payback
Sir Ian Kennedy will be paid at a rate of £700 a day The parliamentary body for policing expenses will cost about six times as much to set up as MPs have been ordered to repay. Figures show the start-up cost for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority will be £6.6m. Last week, MPs were told to pay back £1.12m of their second home expenses after an audit of their claims dating back to 2004 by Sir Thomas Legg. Meanwhile, three MPs and a peer are facing charges over their expenses. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has replaced the Commons Fees Office, and most of its budget is expected to go on recruiting about 80 staff. 'One-off costs' Chairman Sir Ian Kennedy will be paid £700 a day, He is expected to work a maximum of three days a week while the body is being established, and less time once it is up and running. BBC political correspondent Norman Smith said the IPSA costs would come on top of the £1.1m spent on Sir Thomas Legg's audit and the inquiry by the standards watchdog Sir Christopher Kelly which cost £400,000. An IPSA spokeswoman said: "The estimated cost of setting up IPSA in 2009/10 is £6.6m." She added that this "reflects one-off costs of establishing a new, independent public body of this sort, such as the acquisition of accommodation and IT systems". She also said: "Early estimates suggest that in direct staff costs, the team working directly on the expenses system within IPSA will cost less than the existing House of Commons arrangements." Appeals There have been several inquiries related to MPs' expenses. HAVE YOUR SAY What a complete waste of public money Joe, Stoke Watchdogs: How much do they cost? The independent Committee on Standards in Public Life - chaired by Sir Christopher Kelly - set out recommendations on how the system should change in the future. The proposals included banning MPs for claiming towards mortgage payments on second homes and from employing relatives. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, set up in the wake of the MP expenses revelations last year, is currently consulting on those proposed changes with Sir Ian saying he hopes to get a new system in place by the start of the next Parliament. The three Labour MPs facing criminal charges in relation to their expenses are Elliot Morley, Jim Devine and David Chaytor. Tory Peer Lord Hanningfield will also be charged under the Theft Act. All four have said they denied any charges.
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The sophisticated missile was test-fired at about 12.40 pm from a truck-mounted canister launcher from launch complex-1 at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur near Balasore, official sources said.
It was a developmental trial of the state-of-the-art missile, which engaged an aerial target successfully, they said.
They added that the QR-SAM was developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation and other establishments.
The missile, which has a strike range of 20 to 30 km, is capable of engaging multiple targets. Designed to be a quick reaction missile, it is an all-weather weapon system capable of tracking and firing, the sources said.
Some more trial rounds of the weapon system are expected to be conducted in the near future from the same test range.
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.After the election the Villagers all declared that the Republicans now have to "prove they can govern," apparently meaning they would have to moderate their views, hold hands with moderate Democrats and basically be the moderate centrists all politicians surely yearn to be. There is reason to be skeptical of this scenario for a couple of reasons.
The first is that Republicans just won a large number of seats in both Houses after they pushed far right policies and engaged in unprecedented obstructionism. Perhaps they have searched their hearts and decided that no matter how much their voters approved of their behavior and rewarded them with a congressional majority, it was the wrong thing to do. But it's doubtful.
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The second reason this is unlikely is that the base of the Republican Party votes and the base of the Republican Party is extremely conservative. The Republican activists, of which their are legions, are even more conservative. It's always possible that politicians will abandon their political foot soldiers and voters to serve what the political establishment sees as the nation's interest but let's just say there's little precedent in the modern Republican Party for such self-sacrifice. Not to mention that many of these politicians agree with the base of the Republican Party about most things and those who don't are unlikely to say so. When even staunch conservatives like Bob Bennet of Utah and Richard Lugar of Indiana are unceremoniously booted out of office by challengers from their right, the message is pretty clear: stray from right-wing orthodoxy at your peril.
However, that has not stopped the D.C. pundits from insisting their fantasy is coming true. And in one particular respect, you can't blame them since the GOP is actually feeding juicy little tidbits like this story about the Heritage Foundation's activist arm, Heritage Action for America, allegedly moderating to the gullible Beltway media and they're eating it up:
While the conservative group makes no apologies for its fights with party leaders, it is embracing ideas from the party's intellectual wing—ranging from Rep. Paul Ryan to New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. In an article published in the winter issue of National Affairs,Heritage Action for America CEO Mike Needham approvingly cites Douthat's and Reihan Salam's recent book Grand New Party for acknowledging that modern-day conservatism struggles to offer policies that would benefit noncollege-educated, blue-collar, "Sam's Club" voters. And he credits Ryan with building a GOP consensus on controversial issues such as Medicare premium support. Needham's article also singles out Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Mike Lee of Utah for praise, calling them among the "most innovative policy entrepreneurs among congressional Republicans."
First, let's dispense with the ludicrous idea that Paul Ryan represents the "intellectual wing" of the Republican Party. He represents the flim-flam wing of the Republican Party, which is admittedly a very large faction, but it can hardly be defined as "intellectual." Ross Douthat and Reihan Salam are actual intellectuals. (And at this point they are practically the only ones.) But it doesn't take an intellectual to see that policies benefiting the non-college-educated, blue-collar, "Sam's Club" voter would be useful to a party that must win the vast majority of white votes in order to even have a dim chance at obtaining the presidency. This is the stuff of Fox News analysis, not intellectual inquiry. Obviously, Marco Rubio is no intellectual and Mike Lee is a policy entrepreneur in the sense that he is an extremely conservative civil liberties advocate, which has just enough currency in the GOP to attract four young nerds and a few of Ron Paul's old fishing buddies.
The article also points out that Heritage Action has recently been ostracized in Washington for taking on the political establishment. They were even barred from attending the meetings of the Republican Study group, which is the D.C. Republican equivalent of being shunned by the Mean Girls table in the cafeteria -- a kind of social death. The article characterizes this as an ideological battle between the center and the right, but it's really a little family spat among conservatives. There is no center. And the idea that they've suddenly noticed that voters expect a policy agenda "even though Heritage Action's favored prescriptions are more conservative than what many party officials support" is basically saying that the 2016 presidential candidates need something to run on besides hating Barack Obama. Heritage is hoping to get a little piece of that action.
But you have to give them credit for sheer audacity. The party that elevates the health of business above every other concern, that worships "market solutions" to every problem, that calls the nearly 50 percent of Americans who make too little money to owe federal income taxes "moochers" and "parasites" is now saying, "What a lot of Americans are looking for is a genuine agenda that speaks to the anxieties they have, and that's a tough thing for Washington to deliver because it's not what K Street's asking for."
That's the party that initiated a program called "The K-Street Project":
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The K Street Project is an effort by the Republican Party (GOP) to pressure Washington lobbying firms to hire Republicans in top positions, and to reward loyal GOP lobbyists with access to influential officials, an arrangement known as crony capitalism. It was launched in 1995 by Republican strategist Grover Norquist and then-House majority whip Tom DeLay. It has been criticized as being part of a "coziness" between the GOP and large corporations which has allegedly allowed business to rewrite government regulations affecting their own industries in some cases.
How likely is it that this "cozy" relationship is no longer desirable by the Republican Party?
But that doesn't mean there isn't a "rebranding" going on at the Heritage Foundation. Under the mature and reasonable leadership of Jim DeMint, the Christian right ex-senator who said Obamacare would be the president's "Waterloo," the foundation is undergoing a bit of a face-lift. They are touting the sexy new Beltway brand called the "Reform Conservative Movement" (which strikes me as something of an oxymoron. Why would conservatism want reform?). DeMint characterizes this revolutionary change as showing Americans "how our ideas and policies will make their life better and country stronger," which does seem like a challenge.
The article quotes anonymous strategists explaining that what this means is adopting Paul Ryan |
new cyber world. We need to weed out the fearmongers so that there can be straight, clear thinking on how shipping handles cyber matters going forward.
In the coming months Splash readers will note plenty of changes coming to the site, which we are very excited about. Nevertheless, our commitment to deliver exclusive, hard-hitting news from around the world’s seven seas remains our top priority.
With that, I will pass this column over to our resident cartoonist, The Freaky Wave, who deliberates below on what 2017 has meant for shipping and how our industry celebrates the festive season.
Wishing you all glad tidings, especially for the men and women out at sea, far away from their loved ones.By Jerry DeMarco
Cliffview Pilot
RIDGEWOOD, N.J. — Michael Feeney, a popular Ridgewood Police “Chief for the Day” who became an honorary chief for life, lost his battle with cancer Friday. He was 10 years old.
A full police funeral is scheduled for Tuesday morning in Ridgewood. School district officials have also made arrangements for attendance by students and staff at the wake and funeral.
Michael Feeney, 10, during his 'Chief for a Day' experience. Feeney, who later became an honorary chief for life, passed away Friday after a long battle with cancer. (Photo courtesy Ridgewood PD)
Ridgewood Police Chief John Ward, in conjunction with Schools Superintendent Dr. Daniel Fishbein, told CLIFFVIEW PILOT today that the village’s first-ever Community Policing Youth Ambassador Program will be named for Michael.
Being promoted to honorary chief meant the world to Michael, according to his family.
Ward had given the fun-loving fifth-grader his own badge for the special “Chief for a Day” event sponsored by Bergen County Sheriff Michaul Saudino in June.
But Michael gave it back, telling the chief in serious tones that he needed it.
Full Story: Police funeral for Ridgewood honorary chief Michael Feeney, 10Get the biggest politics 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
A Tory grandee is facing fury after telling sacked steelworkers it was a “good time” to be made redundant.
Former Deputy PM Lord Heseltine, who advises George Osborne on business policy, said the jobs situation in Britain is “exciting”.
More than 5,000 steelworkers have been axed in the past month as the Tory Government allows the once-proud steel industry to collapse.
“If you are going to lose your job, this is probably as good a time,” millionaire Lord Heseltine told Sky News.
“The number of new jobs in the economy today is one of the most exciting features of this economy.”
(Image: Getty)
Sacked SSI steelworkers in Redcar erupted with fury at the heartless comments.
Dougie Arbon, 64, an inspector at SSI, added: “I don’t know where Heseltine gets that idea from - this area is devastated. He needs a boot up his backside.”
Mike Gilbert, who worked at the plant for 31 years and is now being forced to sell his house, said: “I think the remarks made by Mr Heseltine are disgraceful, but they do not really surprise me.”
“The Tories’ reaction has been a joke.”
Carl Harris, who also lost his job at SSI, warned an entire community is suffering.
(Image: Mirrorpix)
“I spoke with my window cleaner, and he told me ten people had cancelled on his round,” said Carl, 40.
“It hits everyone, all the people in the supply chain, and beyond.
“For Lord Heseltine to say that just shows out of touch the Tories are with real people.”
Labour yesterday called for parts of the British steel industry to be nationalised as further job losses loom.
Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said the UK Government should follow Italy’s lead and take temporary control of major steel plants which face closure.
“There are areas in which governments need to intervene,” Mr McDonnell said.
Steelworks across Europe are in crisis due to an influx of cheap Chinese steel which has caused prices to halve.
While the Tory Government allowed the SSI plant in Redcar to close, the centre-Left Italian Government stepped in to temporarily nationalise the Ilva steel plant in Taranto last December when 14,000 jobs were at risk.
(Image: Ian Forsyth)
Speaking on the BBC’s Marr Show yesterday, Mr McDonnell said the move should be followed by political leaders in Britain.
“In Italy, the Government intervened – they took over, they actually invested, and they’ve turned the situation around,” the Shadow Chancellor said.
“They didn’t wait for Europe to tell them whether they could or not; they actually did it and then actually it proved to be a success.”
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At the weekend hundreds of protesters marched through the night in Redcar in a torch-lit vigil for the thousands of workers left high and dry by the Tory Government.
Organiser Craig Hornby said: “It’s for all those who have lost their jobs and to say though the light has gone out at the furnace, the lights haven’t gone out across the community.”
Tom Blenkinsop, Labour MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, added: “It’s another way of allowing people to grieve.
(Image: Evening Gazette)
“Losing the steel industry in the area is like a death in a family.”
This week steel industry bosses will hold crisis talks with Mr Osborne as pressure mounts on the chancellor to act.
Terry Scuoler, the boss of manufacturers’ organisation EEF, will meet the Chancellor to demand more Government support.
Steel Petition
Dear David Cameron
We want urgent action to save the steel industry and prevent the loss of thousands of jobs.
It is time to cut business rates and energy bills for steel plants, block cheap Chinese exports and get UK firms to buy British-made steel.
Sign up here: www.mirror.co.uk/steelpetitionThe man who shot Ronald Reagan was released from a Washington psychiatric facility for good on Saturday, more than 35 years after the shooting.
John Hinckley, who tried to kill Reagan, to be released from psychiatric care Read more
A federal judge ruled in late July that the 61-year-old John Hinckley Jr is not a danger to himself or the public and can live full-time at his mother’s home in Williamsburg, Virginia.
A spokeswoman for the District of Columbia department of mental health said early on Saturday that all patients scheduled to leave St Elizabeths Hospital had been discharged. Hinckley was among those scheduled for discharge.
An Associated Press reporter saw a hired car pull into the driveway of the Hinckley home at around 2.30pm. Officers from the Kingsmill police department chased reporters away.
Hinckley had already been visiting Williamsburg for long stretches and preparing for the full-time transition. He will have to follow an extensive set of rules while in Williamsburg, but his longtime lawyer, Barry Levine, said Hinckley would be a “citizen about whom we can all be proud”.
Hinckley will have to work or volunteer at least three days a week. He has not yet done paid work in Williamsburg, but he has volunteered at a church and a psychiatric hospital, where he has worked in the library and in food service.
Hinckley will start off living with his elderly mother in her home in the gated community of Kingsmill, on the 13th hole of a golf course. According to court documents, Hinckley’s room has a king-size bed and TV and is decorated with paintings he has done of houses and cats. In the past, he has done chores such as cleaning, dishwashing, laundry and leaf-raking. After a year, he may live alone or with room-mates.
He will continue to go to therapy while in Williamsburg, seeing a psychiatrist twice a month for at least the first six months and attending weekly group therapy sessions. He will return to Washington once a month, to St Elizabeths’ outpatient department, to discuss his mental health and compliance with the conditions of his leave.
Hinckley will be able to travel – he got a driver’s license in 2011 and the court order in his case lets him drive within 30 miles of Williamsburg by himself. He can go up to 50 miles from the city if accompanied by his mother, sibling or a therapist or social worker. He can also drive to and from Washington once a month for his outpatient meetings.
Jerry Parr, secret service agent who saved Ronald Reagan, dies at 85 Read more
Hinckley has long considered himself a musician and an artist. He paints and plays the guitar and has been involved in both as part of his therapy. He will continue to see a music therapist once a month while in Williamsburg. At court hearings in the case in late 2011 and early 2012, lawyers discussed the fact that Hinckley had recently developed an interest in photography.
There are limits to how Hinckley can spend his leisure time. He cannot drink or use illegal drugs, while he can surf the web but is not allowed to search for information about his crimes or victims, among other things. He cannot have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube or LinkedIn without permission.
Once Hinckley lives in Virginia, he will be able to register to vote there. He has expressed an interest in voting in the past and tried unsuccessfully to get a ballot in the 1980s and 1990s. Levine told a newspaper in early August that he suspected his client would register to vote. Virginia’s deadline to register for the November presidential election is 17 October.
Finally, Hinckley is barred from talking to the press.TripAdvisor will place warning badges on the pages of businesses where safety issues, including violent incidents like assault and rape, have been reported. The travel review and booking site was criticized earlier this month for removing a 2010 review of Iberosar Paraiso Maya in which the writer, Kristie Love, described being raped by a security guard at the Mexican resort.
TripAdvisor issued a public apology and restored the review, saying it had been deleted under an older policy that allowed only “family-friendly language” on the site, but the controversy raised questions about how TripAdvisor moderates negative posts about businesses it makes money from, particularly if there are safety issues involved.
Underscoring the issue is the increasing focus on the prevalence of sexual assault, especially after more than 50 women came forward with allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein, and the culture of silence that enables offenders to repeatedly abuse women.
In a statement, a TripAdvisor spokesperson told TechCrunch that the company will make the decision to display badges on pages “any time we believe there is a current health, safety or discrimination issue relevant to travellers as reported on by either our traveller community or by news media. As always, we encourage consumers to do additional research outside of TripAdvisor. We remain as committed as ever to providing travellers everywhere with useful and accurate information and absolutely agree that TripAdvisor should be a platform for other travellers to be made aware of incidents like this.”
The Iberostar Paraiso Maya is one of the first three businesses to have the badges placed on their TripAdvisor pages (the other two are the Grand Velas Riviera Maya and the Iberostar Paraiso Lindo, also resorts in Mexico).
As shown below, the badge, highlighted in red, appears on top of pages and says “TripAdvisor has been made aware of recent media reports or events concerning this property which may not be reflected in reviews found on this listing. Accordingly, you may wish to perform additional research for information about this property when making your travel plans.”
TripAdvisor restored Love’s review after the Journal Sentinel of Milwaukee published an investigative report earlier this month that said the site had removed warnings about assaults and rapes posted by her and other users on business pages.
In its response, the company said that when Love’s review was posted in 2010, the site had a policy that all reviews needed to be written in “family-friendly language.” It was later changed in order to allow reviews that contain first-hand descriptions of incidents including rape and assault. Love’s review was republished because it doesn’t violate TripAdvisor’s current policy, the company said.
Despite the restoring of Love’s review and its new badge program, TripAdvisor continues to face scrutiny over how it handles user reviews. The Journal Sentinel of Milwaukee reported today that U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin has called on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate the company.
Baldwin wrote in a letter to FTC acting chairman Maureen Ohlhausen that TripAdvisor “may be prioritizing profits over providing an open, honest forum for traveler reviews” and that “limiting or removing reviews that detail unsafe conditions could put future travelers, who look to TripAdvisor for accurate information, at risk.”Actor Rodney Hicks Opens Up About Come From Away Departure
The actor went public with news of his exit from the Broadway production in a recent Facebook post.
Come From Away cast member Rodney Hicks, who has been part of the Tony-nominated ensemble musical since its 2015 world premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse, has departed the Broadway production after being diagnosed with the neurological disorder Spasmodic Dysphonia.
The disorder affects the vocal cords, and as a result, Hicks says he is no longer able to sing.
READ: Behind the Onstage Transformations of Come From Away’s Cast of Characters
Hicks, who has appeared on Broadway in Rent, Jesus Christ Supserstar and The Scottsboro Boys, went public with the news in an August 1 Facebook post.
Hicks wrote, “I have a neurological disorder called Spasmodic Dysphonia. It is in the dystonia family and [a]ffects the voice. Due to this condition I can no longer sing. I can act, write, teach and more. But my time as a professional singer for the stage has completed its run. I am overjoyed by all that has been learned and accomplished in these 24 years in musical theatre. Our Extraordinary producers and Everyone at Come From Away have been there for me every step of the way. It's all been absolutely beautiful. I couldn't have asked for more.”
ENTER FOR THE CHANCE TO WIN TICKETS TO COME FROM AWAY BY JOINING THE PLAYBILL CLUB HERE!
In mid-July Hicks told fans via his official Facebook page that he was leaving Come From Away, but did not disclose the reason for his departure. He also stated that actor De’Lon Grant would replace him in the role of Bob. Grant, who will make his Broadway debut with Come From Away, joins the production August 4. Understudy Josh Breckenridge has been playing the role since Hicks’ departure on June 14.
Hicks made his Broadway debut in the original cast of Rent, and he appears as Benny in the live Broadway film of the musical. As playwright and director, he has been developing his new play NC-17 with readings in New York City, Portland Center Stage, and Seattle Repertory Theatre.The Department of Foreign Affairs is concerned about the “significant and increasingly sophisticated” threat of passport fraud.
In briefing notes, the Minister is warned of the need for urgent changes in the passport application system.
The department says the current paper-based system is inadequate and fails to deal with increased demand.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan is urged to invest in the latest anti-fraud technology and techniques to protect the “integrity and international standing of the Irish passport”.
A fraud section has been established and a series of investigations are under way into “fraudulently obtained genuine passports”.
Gardaí have also initiated an initiative called Operation Refresh, dedicated to these cases.
Blacked out
The notes are blacked out in the notes published online late last week, but The Irish Times has seen an unredacted version. The department says the Irish passport has become a “preferred device for money-laundering and other criminal activities”.
The number of passports issued has risen from 388,000 in 2000 to 670,000 in 2015, and it is projected that in excess of 730,000 passports will be produced this year.
The notes say the demand is currently running approximately 15 per cent ahead of the same period last year. This is the largest increase in 10 years, with the exception of 2011.
Feedback
The department says their feedback suggests Irish voices are welcome and could be influential in what will be a close campaign.
According to the notes there are 601,917 people born on the island of Ireland resident in Britain, while the British embassy has estimated that approximately 120,000 British citizens living in Ireland will be eligible to vote.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny is to travel to the United Kingdom this month to encourage voters to avoid a Brexit.
The notes say the Department of Foreign Affairs believes the UK’s membership of the EU is in our best interests, as well as in the best interests of the EU as a whole. It says there would be an adverse impact on both the British economy and the Irish economy if the UK leaves the EU.The use of drones for personal use has increased exponentially in recent years. While this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, the Federal Aviation Administration imposes no guidelines on these individuals and there have been many mishaps. Drones crashing into buildings or nosediving onto sidewalks are some things that have not only happened, but are also incredibly dangerous.
There are also serious privacy concerns surrounding these unmanned aircraft. Because many drones are equipped with cameras and video-recorders, it’s not uncommon for pilots to record their flights along with anything else they want. If somebody wanted to fly a drone in front of your house and record you, it’s entirely possible. And the worst part about this is that it’s completely legal.
If you’ve ever wanted to do something about drones flying in your vicinity, then you may be able to really soon. APlus Mobile, a company that develops and manufactures computer hardware, has recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for their new endeavor: Domestic Drone Countermeasures. If enough backers pledge the modest $8,500 goal, the company will start producing its Personal Drone Detection System that will alert you whenever someone is flying a drone near you.
“The intent of [our] Personal Drone Detection System is not to counter military drones. They fly too high and are too sophisticated. Our intent is to keep your privacy safe from your neighbors and people you may not know who are flying small drones near your home or office. The Personal Drone Detection Systems are intended to counter small, personal drones with cameras and other sensors that are not being regulated.” – Domestic Drone Countermeasures
Consisting of three units (a primary command box, a control module, and two detection sensor nodes), the Personal Drone Detection System creates a mesh grid network that can triangulate moving transmitters. Everything is connected to your personal Wi-Fi network and you’ll get notifications sent to the primary command box or your smartphone, tablet, or computer, whenever a drone is detected overhead.
Domestic Drone Countermeasures claims a wireless mesh network is optimal for drone detection for a couple of reasons:
1. Detection Grids are “self configuring;” [sic] the network automatically incorporates a new node into the existing structure without needing any adjustments by a network administrator. 2. Detection Grids are “self healing,” [sic] since the network automatically finds the fastest and most reliable paths to send data, even if nodes are blocked or lose their signal.
The Personal Drone Detection System is expandable, which means you’ll be able to purchase additional detection sensor nodes to create a large coverage area. Depending on how much you want to monitor, you could potentially create a “no-fly zone” around your home. While the system won’t prevent drones from flying, it will alert you of intruders so you can take action. What you do after being notified is up to you, and that’s where legal issues come into play.
If you think you can shoot drones out of the sky because they are flying over your property, think again. According to US federal law: “whoever willfully sets fire to, damages, destroys, disables, or wrecks any civil aircraft, shall be fined or imprisoned not more than twenty years or both.” It’s this legal loophole that keeps drone pilots happy and flying, and civilians frustrated and confused.
Still, the Personal Drone Detection System is the first step in securing people’s privacy once again. By fighting technology with technology (instead of weapons), there are many potential upgrades that could possibly disable unmanned aircraft and create a “no-fly zone” in the future. Until then, you’ll just have to go inside the house whenever you hear the drone alarm.
What would you do if you knew a drone was flying over your house?Mother, 35, almost dies after brain fluid pours from her nose for four MONTHS... as doctors insisted it was 'allergies'
Aundrea Aragon was sent home with nasal sprays in Tucson, Arizona
The mother-of-three had cracks in sphenoid sinus and could have died
A mother-of-three is lucky to be alive after doctors failed to diagnose that the clear liquid streaming from her nose was a brain fluid leak.
Aundrea Aragon, 35, made several trips to her doctor over a four-month period but was sent home with nasal sprays after being told it was simply allergies.
Mrs Aragon finally discovered something was seriously wrong last month after being forced to go to the emergency room with liquid pouring from her nose. She was diagnosed with a cerebrospinal fluid leak from two cracks in the back of her sphenoid sinus, a potentially fatal condition.
Rare condition: Aundrea Aragon, 35, almost died after having brain fluid leak from her nose for four months
Support network: Mrs Aragon, pictured with her husband Anthony and three children Art, 16, Marc, 10, and nine-year-old Reina is expected to recover fully from her surgery
She had surgery at the University of Arizona Medical Center in Tucson to correct the condition which is extremely rare - affecting only one in 100,000 people.
The condition can be fatal due to the high risk of infections like meningitis rather than from the loss of brain fluid which the body constantly produces.
Mrs Aragon told ABC :'If I looked down or bent over, it would literally pour out of the left side of my nose. I had no control at all.'
The 35-year-old said that she was forced to walk around with paper towels shoved up her nose to stop the stream of liquid. She said that she would wake up at night choking on fluid.
However she did not question the doctor's diagnosis because she also suffers from fibromyalgia and was too busy caring for her three children.
Mrs Aragon has two sons Art, 16, ten-year-old Marc and a daughter Reina, nine, who has autism.
Support: Mrs Aragon, pictured with her husband, is lucky to be alive after undergoing a new procedure to stop her leaking brain fluid
Life-saving: The 35-year-old mother of three underwent surgery at the University of Arizona Medical Center to correct the cracks in her sinus
When the nasal spray did not work on Mrs Aragon, she went to the emergency room last month. She said doctors were shocked by the volume of liquid that was coming out of her nose.
SILENT KILLER OR THE WINTER SNIFFLES? WARNING SIGNS OF A CEREBROSPINAL FLUID LEAK
A spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leak syndrome causes the colorless and odorless substance to stream from the nose for no apparent reason. It is caused by a hole in the dura mater (pictured below) - tissue surrounding the brain and spinal cord.
Symptoms can include, headaches and blurry vision, feeling dizzy, nausea, extreme tiredness and a metallic taste in the mouth. Tinnitus, tingling in arms and legs and weakness of facial muscles are other signs.
The condition is rare - affecting one in every 100,000 people. It is most common around the age of 42 and women are twice as susceptible.
She was referred to an ear, nose and throat specialist who diagnosed the condition.
A cerebrospinal fluid leak is more common in overweight patients with high cranial pressure or those who have suffered head trauma from an accident.
The surgeons at Arizona Medical Center have developed a new procedure to repair cracks which cause the brain leak by going up the patient's nose instead of opening their skull, which is highly risky.
Firstly, dye is injected into the patient which shows up where exactly the cracks are by turning the colorless brain fluid green.
A team of surgeons use an endoscopic method to reach the sinus via the nostril and graft skin, taken from belly fat, over the cracks.
The two-hour surgery has a 95-99 per cent success rate and should protect Mrs Aragon for the rest of her life.
However she will be tested several times a year to make sure she does not have another leak.
Mrs Aragon said she was grateful to the surgeons and that the procedure did not interfere with her religion as a Jehovah's Witness as no blood products were used.ESPN has a problem. It’s shedding subscribers fast. The ongoing trend soured an otherwise positive first quarter for parent Disney, whose theme parks and movie division performed exceedingly well. Of course, this is hardly news. The network’s problems have been making headlines for months, highlighted by a recent round of layoffs, which included many prominent journalists and longtime on-air personalities.
The cuts re-ignited a debate about who and what is to blame for ESPN’s struggles, with some faulting its purported increasingly liberal bent in recent years. However, that argument is unconvincing. As The Atlantic points out, it’s hard to believe many conservative hardliners have canceled their cable subscriptions to protest the network’s supposed leftward lurch because that would mean they’d lose access to Fox News as well.
This is mostly about one thing: cord cutting. New technologies and ballooning cable bills have led to a rapid decline in the number of households that pay hundreds of dollars for TV each month, with ESPN having lost 11 million subscribers since 2011.
That’s a significant hit considering much of its revenue is generated by carriage fees, which at more than $7 per month are the highest in the industry. While carriage fees are rising, fewer subscribers are a mounting problem given the deals ESPN has made to secure the rights to broadcast live events, which just for Monday Night Football, the NBA and the College Football Playoff add up to more than $34 billion.
That’s why the recent cost-cutting moves were hardly a surprise, and why Disney CEO Robert Iger confirmed during the company’s first-quarter earnings announcement that ESPN will introduce a stand-alone streaming service at some point this year, a recognition both of the scale of cord cutting’s impact and that digital content is cheaper to produce, since it doesn’t require huge investments in on-air talent. For the network’s finances, these are positive steps, despite the pain and heartbreak for those who were laid off.
One other thing, however, would jolt its business even further: legalized sports gambling. This is hardly a pipe dream, despite what many may think. In fact, there is currently more momentum behind expanding full-scale sports wagering beyond Nevada than at any time in modern history. Consider the following:
A U.S. House committee just released draft legislation that would repeal the federal ban on sports betting, leaving the issue for states to decide.
New Jersey has been engaged in a multi-year effort to allow sports betting, and a handful of other states, including Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia are expected to consider bills this year that would eventually make it legal in those states as well, according to ESPN.com. (That’s in addition to Delaware, which already permits parlay bets on NFL games through its state lottery).
NBA commissioner Adam Silver supports legalized and regulated sports betting, while Rob Manfred, Major League Baseball’s commissioner, has said his league is reconsidering its opposition.
The NHL will have a team in Las Vegas beginning next season, and the NFL will arrive by no later than 2020, when the Oakland Raiders move there.
President Trump is a former casino owner who has been known to be sympathetic to the cause.
Meanwhile, few should doubt that gambling leads to higher levels of engagement and increases the popularity of individual games that otherwise have very little attraction for a broader audience. For years, Las Vegas has been among the top-rated sports viewing markets in the country, even though next year will be its first as a ‘pro sports city.’
Gambling is undoubtedly the reason why. Fantasy football and daily fantasy sports sites such as Fan Duel and Draftkings, which continue to chug along despite facing legal pressures in multiple states, are a further testament to the powerful pull of having money on the outcome of a game.
The NBA and MLB know this and are willing to say it publicly. The NFL knows it too, but it isn’t, maintaining its long-held stance that legalized wagering could threaten the integrity of the league’s games – a disingenuous position given that it facilitates fantasy football leagues on its own website. (Also, don’t forget that Las Vegas bookmakers have always been the first line of defense against point-shaving, bringing unusual betting patterns to the attention of the proper authorities, making the reasoning behind the NFL’s opposition even more ridiculous).
Greater interest and more viewers equal more advertising dollars, and, naturally, that would be good news for ESPN. But the network needs to be more than just a passive observer, content to ride legalization’s coat tails. Indeed, it should partner with a major gaming company that has operations in multiple states to create a framework for integrating mobile betting into its app, making placing a wager as easy as accessing a news story, video content, scores or other statistics.
MGM or Caesars, given the scale of their operations, would be a perfect match for this type of project. If ESPN fails to move, a countless number of tech firms and various startups will fill the vacuum and create, facilitate and profit from betting exchanges, including companies like Activision or Amazon, which have a history of getting ahead of big trends.
Again, none of this is pie in the sky. Legalized sports gambling is coming – probably not this year and maybe not next. But it will be a reality eventually, and as a rights holder of much-coveted live sports content, ESPN will be a beneficiary. However, to take full advantage, the company, as perhaps the most recognized sports brand in the country, needs to aggressively drive the trend versus merely sitting back and reaping the benefits of it.
Ross Gerber is CEO and president of Santa Monica, Calif-based Gerber Kawasaki, an investment advisory with approximately $600 million in assets under management. Clients and employees of Gerber Kawasaki own positions in Disney, MGM, Activision and Amazon.Wolves' captain Danny Batth is half-Indian and would love to play for India - but find out why the country's rules bans him from doing so. Wolves' captain Danny Batth is half-Indian and would love to play for India - but find out why the country's rules bans him from doing so.
Wolves captain Danny Batth has told Sky Sports News HQ he is desperate to play international football for the Indian national team.
Batth, whose father hails from the north Indian state of Punjab, is one of just a handful of British players of South Asian descent playing professionally in England.
At the @YuwaFootball Academy, unbelievable setup for vulnerable girls in Ranchi, Jharkhand to share the story @EntreprnHer 🇮🇳🙌🏽 pic.twitter.com/IUA7BNx4Oz — Danny Batth 'Bart' (@Danny_Batth) May 24, 2017
On an end-of-season visit to India in aid of children's charity YUWA, Batth met with Englishman Stephen Constantine who is currently in his second spell as India's manager.
That fuelled speculation Batth could represent India in the future but the 26-year-old says he has so far been left frustrated in his quest to play international football.
He told Sky Sports News HQ: "My dad was born in India and came to England when he was 12 years old. As a product of that, I am half-Indian, so obviously it opens up the opportunity to seek an opportunity to play for the national team.
India coach Stephen Constantine has coached at Millwall and Bournemouth
"It's something I would like to have the option of doing. I think it's the only country in the world where they don't like players from different countries coming back to play and represent them.
"I think it is [a shame] because obviously it's a great nation. There is a lot of representation [people of Indian origin] in England as well, and I'm sure they would love nothing more than seeing someone born in England playing for the national team."
Productive time spent with @StephenConstan & the @IndianFootball staff today before speaking to U22 Trialists about @Wolves in Mumbai 🇮🇳⚽️ pic.twitter.com/bX2egBHCQ6 — Danny Batth 'Bart' (@Danny_Batth) May 17, 2017
Ex-Newcastle forward Michael Chopra, whose father is also Indian, told Sky Sports in 2014 he was prepared to give up British citizenship to try and play for India.
But Batth knows his predicament is slightly different to that of the former Sunderland and Cardiff striker.
"I've had to do a fair bit of digging because I wasn't too sure what the situation was and also why there were no Indian players playing in Europe," he said.
Michael Chopra has played in two of the last three editions of the Indian Super League
"But it turns out you have to be a resident in India for two years to play for the national team, which obviously would make it very difficult in my circumstances.
"And to register for a passport, you have to be living in the country for a couple of years, that's a brick wall straight away. Then obviously - having an Indian passport and trying to play for a club in England - as I am currently at Wolves, that wouldn't work either because of the FIFA ranking rules and stuff like that."
Batth has received support in his quest to play for India from former ex-Fulham and QPR defender and former England youth international Zesh Rehman.
Zesh Rehman is the first British Asian to play in England's top four divisions
In 2004, Rehman - who now plays in Hong Kong - was one of the first British Asians to play in the Premier League and later went on to play for and captain the Pakistan national side.
"I think it would be good for Danny on a personal level [to go and play for India]," Rehman told Sky Sports.
Rehman has enjoyed a trophy-laden six-year spell in Asia
"It would give him greater insight into his roots, his parents and where they come from and how he is where he is.
"It would be great for the national team because they get someone who has had the exposure of playing 200+ Championship games. It will only make them better.
"I went out and did it when I went out to play for Pakistan and it was amazing."With Donald Trump now apparently spending every waking hour justifying longstanding complaints about his unfitness for office, Republicans are beginning to wake up to the nightmare they have created for themselves with their willingness to back Trump. To be fair, there are two types of Republicans now living through the Trumpian Inferno: those who stayed silent during the primaries, thereby handing the primaries to Trump, and those who opposed Trump. But it won’t matter much in the end: they’ll all ride the slow boat to electoral hell with him.
Today saw a bevy of Republican leaders struggle with their decision to back Trump, come hell or high water. They could have held out; they could have said that Trump would have to prove to them that he was conservative, that he wasn’t a nutcase, that he could in fact fulfill his promises to be presidential. They didn’t. Now they’re passengers on the Trump Train, and it’s headed for Eastwood Ravine.
Top Republicans now have the look of existential angst that once graced the countenances of Chris Christie and Ben Carson. Christie, for one, has learned to live with his new status as Trump flunkey: as Renfield to Trump’s Dracula, he’ll keep serving the master so long as Trump feeds him spiders to replenish his life force. So today, Christie pulled a Lady Gaga and celebrated Donald Trump’s right to express himself: “Those are Donald’s opinions. And he has a right to express them, the same way anybody else has the right to express their views regarding how they’re treated in the civil or criminal courts in this country. That’s part of what free speech is about.” He then called Trump “refreshing” and added, “I think you all are paying much too much attention on this.”
Newt Gingrich, yet another Trump Igor, is learning to love his new overlord, too. After hearing about Trump’s Curiel comments, Gingrich called them “inexcusable.” Trump then fired back by calling Gingrich’s comments “inappropriate.” Gingrich promptly bent over and screamed, “THANK YOU SIR! MAY I HAVE ANOTHER?” (His actual comment: “Trump is going to be fine as a candidate. He is learning very rapidly….Trump’s complaints about the judge and the law firm in the Trump University case are valid and reflect a growing pattern of politicized ‘justice.’”)
Then there are the mixed multitude: Republicans who support Trump but have to convince themselves of that fact every morning. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, who declared his support for Trump late last week, said, “Claiming a person can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It’s absolutely unacceptable.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, too, came out against Trump’s comments but refused to call them racist. He added, “I think the bad news is that he needs to have a full understanding of what he can and can’t do. We don’t have dictators in this country.” He said of Trump’s attacks on Curiel, “We don’t do that sort of thing in America.”
All of that earned Ryan and McConnell the scorn of one Jeffrey Lord, Official Trump Avatar. Lord said, “Speaker Ryan is wrong and Speaker Ryan has apparently switched position and is now supporting identity politics, which is racist…The Republican establishment is playing this.” He then impugned McConnell, too.
That isn’t stopping the rhetorical exodus away from Trump’s campaign. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), who just last week came out and said he’d speak for Trump at the Republican National Convention, has now backed off: “I’ve never said I would stand and speak on behalf of someone else’s agenda. I would speak about the things I believe in, not somebody else’s platform or on behalf of anyone else for that matter.” Senator Bob Corker (R-TN), who has been widely discussed as a possible Trump VP pick, said that he didn’t condone Trump’s comments and that Trump would have to change: “To say |
gestire il suono che mi serve, ho bisogno di usarlo. Puoi cambiare un sacco di sonorità dalla mera pressione di un tasto che hai programmato in precedenza. E questo migliora anche la mia esecuzione.
This is a little part of the interview. I picked Q&As which focused on the writing and the equipments. I apologize for my poor translation in advance.
Which songs on the new album you wrote and brought the first idea of the songs?
The songs I wrote and brought the first idea of the songs are… ‘Goodbye Angels’, ‘The Longest Wave’ and ‘Detroit’. And ‘The Getaway’, ‘Dark Necessities’, ‘We Turn Red’ and ‘Feasting On The Flowers’ were the songs I wrote with Brian (aka Danger Mouse) in the studio.
The Intro of ‘The Longest Wave’ is very impressive. Did you start to write the song with that intro part?
No, there ‘s verse and chorus at the beginning. And I wrote the intro later. I remember when I got the idea of the intro. I was at Santiago in Chile, sitting on the bed in the hotel room and watching the movie ‘NYMPHMANIAC’.(laugh) It’s a long movie with 4 hours. When I was watching it, I came to the idea and paused the movie and played a guitar. Then it became to a song. Sometimes I write songs in such a situation, and running around to find my mobile phone to record it. I forget things easily recently. (laugh) Sometimes I have already forgotten when I started to record something…
Do you sort songs you wrote for Chili Peppers or Dot Hacker?
Yes. At the early stage of writing, I know which bands the song work with. The criteria is if I want to sing on it or not. I want to sing on this song or Anthony sings better than me, like that. There is a song I write for the Peppers from the beginning. Anyway I am aware where I should use my ideas.
Your play style is not a kind of guitar hero type of playing but very stick in the ear. Do you aware of it?
I know what you mean. I didn’t start my music carrier as a guitar player. I was a drummer. I learned guitar by myself and never thought that I became a member of the Peppers. So I didn’t have a guitar hero mind. I’ve been always thinking about being a part of a song and a band. In fact, this album didn’t become a guitar-centric album.
I wanted to make the Getaway more guitar-centric album personally. In my opinion, the last album ‘I’m With You’ was less guitar album, so I was thinking to make the next album more guitar-centric. But I couldn’t. (laugh) Thing didn’t work for it.
The Getaway is of-course a great album, but I personally wanted to hear the album that you focused on the guitar!
Well, I would like to do it next.
But there are songs which your guitar lead the song, such as ‘Detroit’.
Uh yes. It’s the guitar rock song. I wrote it when I played with Metallica at the music festival (Orion Music + More 2013).
How many guitars did you bring with you to Japan?
Maybe 8. 4 of these are Stratocasters. And Gretsch ‘White Penguin’. I usually use the Gretsch model called ‘White Chicken’, a combination of White Falcon and Telecaster Thinline. It’s now somewhere in US.
You change the guitars a lot during the show. Do you use all guitars you have on the stage?
I play guitars hardly during the show, and it could easily out of tuning. So I change a lot. But I want not to change it as possible.
Do you decide which guitar you use on each song prier to the show?
Yes. Firstly Anthony makes a set list. Then I discuss with my guitar tech which guitar I use along to the set list. There is a song that I use the same guitar every time, but anyway I think about which one I should use. I try to manage not to change it as possible.
You have a lot of effectors under your feet.
Yes. But it’s less than before. I’m trying to put the small boards as possible.
What kind of pedals do you have for tonight’s show?
This time, I brought all pedals I used for the new album. A few distortions, a pitch shifter and thedelays. There are some kinds of delays, such as ‘Memory Man(Electro Harmonix)’ or ‘DD-3 Digital Delay(Boss)’. I use DD-3 when I want the machinegun sounds like ta-la-la-la (seems a part of ‘Dark Necessities’) and it’s my favorite. There is a short delay and the one with warp mode. And Wah. The board might look big but not so many pedals on it actually.
Do you control all these pedals by yourself or the guitar tech helps you? I think it’s very difficult to control all pedals on such many kinds of songs of the Peppers.
Actually, I started to use the switcher of Voodoo lab. I haven’t used this kind of equipment before, but in order to control all sounds I need by myself, I needed to use it. You can switch different kinds of sounds with one button if you program on it in advance. It improved my playing.
Source: Young Guitar Magazine, October 2016 Issue.
Photo by qetic.SCOTLAND could be the first part of the British Isles to run a universal basic income pilot after the scheme won huge support from participants in an anti-poverty initiative in a local council area.
Work to develop a trial in Fife is to be discussed this Friday at a meeting between councillors, Scottish Government civil servants and members of the Scottish Basic Income Network which campaigns for the introduction of the system.
Under UBI, or citizen’s income, welfare benefits such as child and tax credits and state pensions are replaced with an unconditional flat-rate payment regardless of whether the recipient is in work or not.
Any money a person earns above the payment is taxed with either a single flat rate or a number of progressive taxation rates.
A pilot is currently running in Holland, while Finland is to launch one next year.
Jamie Cooke, head of the Royal Society of Arts Scotland, which has carried out research on the scheme, said there had been a number of discussions between the Scottish Basic Income Network and Fife Council.
He will be among those attending the meeting with Fife Council, which he envisaged would lead to a pilot scheme in some towns and villages in the area.
“This is an exciting opportunity for Scotland to look at something quite radical and put the country at the forefront of work in a policy which is getting growing levels of support across Europe,” he said.
“People working in the field in Finland and Holland are now looking at Scotland as a place where this can be developed.”
Cooke said he hoped the UK Government, which runs the welfare benefit system, would co-operate with a Scottish pilot. Paul Vaughan, head of community and corporate development at Fife Council, said having a universal basic income was a recommendation made in a report from the Fairer Fife Commission, a partnership initiative between public sector organisations in the area to combat poverty.
“We want to draw up a plan we can give to councillors about how we see the pilot going and why we want to do it in Fife,” he said.
“We will use Friday’s meeting as a stepping stone to discuss seeking co-operation with the UK and Scottish Governments and the various departments that would need to be involved.
“The view of the Scottish Government is that they have some of the authority, but not all of it, to push the pilot forward.”
Supporters of the universal basic income says it has the potential to create a fairer and less complex welfare system as well as build a more family-friendly society, giving a safety net to people out of work, allowing people to have an income while caring for relatives or while retraining for a new career.
They also believe it would save on administration costs involved in running a highly complex welfare system and prevent benefit fraud.
Figures proposed by the Royal College of Arts in its research on the policy suggest, on the basis of 2012-13 prices, most adults would receive £3,692 a year, while the over 65s would get £7,420. Payments to parents for children would be between £2,925 and £4,290, depending on the child’s age and if there is more than one child in a family.
Inverclyde SNP MP Ronnie Cowan, who has called for the UK Government to consider the policy, backed the work being done.
He said: “If we genuinely want to create a more effective system of state support, we need to be prepared to address the difficult questions.
“It is argued that the benefits of introducing a basic income include – reducing poverty and boosting employment, as well as providing a safety net from which no citizen will be excluded.
“As someone that believes in an independent Scotland I want the people of Scotland to define and design what that country should be. I believe a universal basic income is a logical policy to pursue and that it’s time may well have come.”
A conference to launch the Citizen’s Basic Income Network is to be held this Saturday at the Pearce Institute in Glasgow.
Cowan, Cooke and Professor Guy Standing, who has helped to develop pilots in other parts of the world, will be among the speakers.I have been sitting here with two Stegosaurus models for 20 minutes now, and I just can’t figure it out. How did these dinosaurs—bristling with spikes and plates—go about making more dinosaurs without skewering each other?
Stegosaurus has become an icon of the mystery surrounding dinosaur sex. Dinosaurs must have mated, but just how they did so has puzzled paleontologists for more than 100 years. Lacking much hard evidence, scientists have come up with all kinds of speculations: In his 1906 paper describing Tyrannosaurus rex, for instance, paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn proposed that male tyrant dinosaurs used their minuscule arms for “grasping during copulation.” Others forwarded similar notions about the function of the thumb-spikes on Iguanodon hands. These ideas eventually fell out of favor—perhaps due to embarrassment as much as anything else—but the question remained. How can we study the sex lives of animals that have been dead for millions upon millions of years?
Soft-tissue preservation is very rare, and no one has yet discovered an exquisitely preserved dinosaur with its reproductive organs intact. In terms of basic mechanics, the best way to study dinosaur sex is to look at the animals’ closest living relatives. Dinosaurs shared a common ancestor with alligators and crocodiles more than 250 million years ago, and modern birds are the living descendants of dinosaurs akin to Velociraptor. Therefore we can surmise that anatomical structures present in both birds and crocodylians were present in dinosaurs, too. The reproductive organs of both groups are generally similar. Males and females have a single opening—called the cloaca—that is a dual-use organ for sex and excretion. Male birds and crocodylians have a penis that emerges from the cloaca to deliver sperm. Dinosaur sex must have followed the “Insert Tab A into Slot B” game plan carried on by their modern-day descendants and cousins.
Beyond the likely basic anatomy, things get a bit tricky. As Robert Bakker observed in his 1986 book The Dinosaur Heresies, “sexual practices embrace not only the physical act of copulation, but all the pre-mating ritual, strutting, dancing, brawling, and the rest of it.” Hundreds of dinosaur species have been discovered (and many more have yet to be found); they lived, loved, and lost over the course of more than 150 million years. There may have been as many courtship rituals as there were species of dinosaur. In recent years, paleontologists moved out of the realm of pure speculation and begun to piece together the rich reproductive lives of some of these animals.
The first priority in studying dinosaur mating is determining which sex is which. Paleontologists have tried several approaches to this problem, searching for sex differences in size or ornamentation. Frustratingly, though, few species are represented by enough fossils to allow for this sort of study, and no instance of obvious difference between the sexes in the gross anatomy of the skeleton has gone undisputed.
A breakthrough came about six years ago, when paleontologist Mary Schweitzer discovered that the secret to the dinosaur sexes has been locked in bone all along. Just prior to laying eggs, female dinosaurs—like female birds—drew on their own bones for calcium to build eggshells. The source was a temporary type of tissue called medullary bone lining the inside of their leg bone cavities. When such tissue was discovered in the femur of a Tyrannosaurus, paleontologists knew they had a female dinosaur.
Once they knew what they were looking for, paleontologists searched for medullary bone in other species. In 2008, paleontologists Andrew Lee and Sarah Werning reported that they had found medullary bone inside the limbs of the predatory dinosaur Allosaurus and an evolutionary cousin of Iguanodon called Tenontosaurus. More females, all primed to lay eggs.
Scientists can estimate the ages of these dinosaurs by examining their bone microstructure for growth rings. The findings showed that dinosaurs began reproducing early. Some females had not yet reached fully mature body size when they started laying eggs. Other fossils showed that it was only after females began reproducing that their growth began to slow. These dinosaurs grew fast and became teen moms.
Based on what is known about dinosaur lives, this strategy made evolutionary sense. Dinosaurs grew fast—another study by Lee and a different set of colleagues found that prey species such as the hadrosaur Hypacrosaurus may have grown faster than predatory species as a kind of defense. And dinosaurs, whether prey or predator, often died young, so any dinosaur that was going to pass on its genes had to get an early start.
Teen dinosaur dating did not involve drive-in movies and nights out dancing. What they actually did has been largely the subject of inference. In his 1977 tale of a female “brontosaur” (now known as Apatosaurus), paleontologist Edwin Colbert imagined what happened when the males of the sauropod herds began to feel the itch. “Frequently two males would face each other, to nod their heads up and down or weave them back and forth through the considerable arcs,” he imagined, speculating that, “at times they would entwine their necks as they pushed against each other.” Thirty years later, paleontologist Phil Senter offered a scientific variation of this idea, suggesting that the long necks of dinosaurs like Diplodocus and Mamenchisaurus evolved as a result of the competition for mates, an example of sexual selection. Females may have preferred males with extra long necks or males may have used their necks in direct competition, although neither possibility has been directly supported. Such prominent structures could well have been used in mating displays, though. What better way for a sauropod to advertise itself to members of the opposite sex than by sticking its neck out and strutting a bit?
Damaged bones allow paleontologists to approach dinosaur mating habits—and their consequences—a little more closely. Painful-looking punctures on the skulls of large theropod dinosaurs such as Gorgosaurus, Sinraptor and others indicate these dinosaurs bit each other on the face during combat, according to Darren Tanke and Philip Curie. These fights were likely over mates or the territory through which prospective mates might pass. Tanke, Andrew Farke and Ewan Wolff also detected patterns of bone damage on the skulls of the horned dinosaurs Triceratops and Centrosaurus. The wounds on Triceratops, in particular, matched what Farke had predicted with models of the famous horned dinosaurs: They literally locked horns. The confrontations that left these wounds could have happened anytime, but during the mating season is the likeliest bet. Ceratopsian dinosaurs have a wide array of horn arrangements and frill shapes, and some scientists suspect these ornaments are attributable to sexual selection.
These notions are difficult to test—how can we tell whether female Styracosaurus preferred males with extra-gaudy racks of horns, or whether male Giganotosaurus duked it out with each other over mating opportunities? But an unexpected discovery gives us a rare window into how some dinosaurs courted. For decades, conventional wisdom held that we would never know what color dinosaurs were. This is no longer true. Paleontologists have found more than 20 species of dinosaurs that clearly sported feathers, and these feathers hold the secrets of dinosaur color.
Dinosaur feathers contained tiny structures called melanosomes, some of which have been preserved in microscopic detail in fossils. These structures are also seen in the plumage of living birds, and they are responsible for colors ranging from black to gray to brown to red. As long as a dinosaur specimen has well-preserved feathers, we can compare its arrangements of melanosomes with those of living birds to determine the feather’s palette, and one study last year did this for the small, feathered dinosaur Anchiornis. It looked like a modern-day woodpecker, the analysis showed: mostly black with fringes of white along the wings and a splash of red on the head.
So far only one specimen of Anchiornis has been restored in full color, but so many additional specimens have been found that paleontologists will be able to determine the variation in color within the species, specifically looking for whether there was a difference between males and females or whether the flashy red color might be mating plumage. Through the discovery of dinosaur color, we may be able to understand what was sexy to an Anchiornis.
So where does all this leave the mystery of Stegosaurus mating? With all that elaborate and pointy ornamentation, we can imagine male Stegosaurus lowering their heads and waggling their spiked tails in the air to try to intimidate each other, with the victor controlling territory and showing off his prowess. Not all females will be impressed—female choice determines ornamentation as much as competition between males does—but those that are will mate with the dominant male. All the bellowing, swaying, and posturing allows females to weed out the most fit males from the sick, weak or undesirable, and after all this romantic theater there comes the act itself.
Figuring out how Stegosaurus even could have mated is a prickly subject. Females were just as well-armored as males, and it is unlikely that males mounted the females from the back. A different technique was necessary. Perhaps they angled so that they faced belly to belly, some have guessed, or maybe, as suggested by Timothy Isles in a recent paper, males faced away from standing females and backed up (a rather tricky maneuver!). The simplest technique yet proposed is that the female lay down on her side and the male approached standing up, thereby avoiding all those plates and spikes. However the Stegosaurus pair accomplished the feat, though, it was most likely brief—only as long as was needed for the exchange of genetic material. All that energy and effort, from growing ornaments to impressing a prospective mate, just for a few fleeting moments to continue the life of the species.
Brian Switek blogs at Dinosaur Tracking and is the author of Written in Stone: Evolution, the Fossil Record, and Our Place in Nature.The Democratic base is so roiled and enraged after only two weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency that a take-no-prisoners posture toward the White House is emerging as the price of entry for the 2020 primary.
An election that could have focused on economic inequality and the excesses of Wall Street — the issues that animate the left’s leading tribunes, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — is already shaping up as a contest about the intensity of the resistance to Trump.
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“In almost 20 years of doing this, I’ve never felt like we’re in a moment like we are now,” said Anne Caprara, a senior adviser for the Priorities USA Action super PAC and a veteran Democratic campaign operative. “This is the moment in history. People will look back and ask what you did, and there’s a real palpable recognition of that among elected officials.”
The urgency of the moment is not lost on the party’s leading 2020 hopefuls. Many of them — including Warren and fellow Sens. Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand and Kamala Harris — abandoned their schedules two weekends ago to appear at protests in their home states or in Washington, grasping the imperative to be both public and distinctive in their opposition to Trump’s executive order on refugee travel. Then Warren, Sanders, Gillibrand and Booker voted against approving Elaine Chao for secretary of transportation, one of Trump’s least controversial picks and an unmistakable thumb in the eye of Chao’s husband, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
“People will say, ‘Where were you when he appointed Jeff Sessions? Where were you when he picked a Supreme Court justice?’ That will be a real question in primaries, and I wouldn’t want to be the candidate on the wrong side of that,” said longtime strategist Bob Shrum, warning of the importance of public resistance in a week when Democratic senators began boycotting votes on Trump picks altogether.
Leading Democratic strategists warn that the first signs will appear in midterm elections, in which the primary electorate will demand more than just marching outside the White House or grabbing a bullhorn at an arrivals lounge. They’ll be expecting something close to 100 percent rejection of Trump’s agenda — making the coming years complicated for members of Congress, who have to vote on it, rather than the governors and mayors who get to assume a more offensive posture.
Base voters are likely to want their politicians to press on specific issues against Trump, not just on his generally objectionable behavior, say operatives who are weighing how to counsel ambitious lawmakers. If each candidate is anti-Trump, the thinking goes, the best way to distinguish oneself is to distill an original anti-Trump message focused on a concrete policy point.
“I don’t really have any doubt that, setting party or ideology aside, all of us as Americans are going to be talking to our kids and grandkids about this time in American history and what we were doing,” said former Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, who narrowly lost that state’s U.S. Senate race in 2016. “And that means we all have to maximize the platform that we have.”
Democratic pols at every level have instinctively reacted to the idea that party voters are demanding a response commensurate with the scale of the perceived threat. After many of them caught grief for missing the women’s marches to appear at a donor conference the previous weekend, for example, three of the candidates for Democratic National Committee chair rushed to George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston to protest publicly after their candidate forum on Jan. 28.
Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks during the Women's March on Washington on Jan. 21. | AP Photo
It's not just traditional progressive leaders who are leading the charge to respond to the base. Among the most prominent faces of the anti-Trump airport protests were a pair of moderate governors who have previously clashed with liberals, but who nevertheless manned the front lines in the wake of Trump’s immigration order. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe rushed to Dulles International Airport, while New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered public transit to John F. Kennedy International Airport reopened so more of his constituents could demonstrate.
In Virginia, the site of one of the Trump era’s first primaries in 2017, the president’s presence is already inescapable in the governor’s race.
“I’ve always tried to respond and speak up for the values and principles that I believe in, and I’ll continue to do that,” said Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam, a candidate for the seat. “It’s just that he’s put them front and center in the first few days he’s been president, so he’s stirred up a hornet’s nest.”
“Sadly, I think Donald Trump’s actions leave us in a place where the question is no longer how to engage with the Trump administration, but how do we engage Republicans in Congress to oppose these actions that are a threat?” added former Rep. Tom Perriello, Northam’s primary opponent, who appeared at Dulles two weekends ago. “There’s an awareness that this is not some latest turnover of partisan power. This is a much deeper threat to our democratic institutions. I think the question is whether some of the Republican electeds who feel the tingle in their spine — if they can find their spines — can form a bipartisan resistance.”
Gone are the concerns about appearing overly obstructionist — an accusation frequently tossed at McConnell during Barack Obama’s presidency. Officeholders are now chasing a base that will not tolerate any sign of accommodation.
“Everyone is getting to the same point,” said Democratic pollster Margie Omero. “This is not like after George W. Bush won, where people had different kinds of strategies.”
Sen. Cory Booker, center, speaks with other members of Congress as demonstrators protest against President Donald Trump's travel ban during a rally outside the US Supreme Court on Jan. 30. | Getty
Protesters gathered outside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s Brooklyn apartment last week to demand he take a harder line on Trump, in a demonstration marketed as, “What the f*ck, Chuck?!"
Warren, the progressive icon, was forced to defend her vote to approve Ben Carson’s nomination for Housing and Urban Development secretary, taking to Facebook to explain a move that had party members accusing her of "selling us out" at the DNC meeting in Houston last weekend. Still facing heat, Warren expanded on her apology in a speech to the Congressional Progressive Caucus in Baltimore on Saturday.
“Like a lot of you, I’m still finding my way, finding my footing, day by day, step by step,” she said. “We make mistakes. But with each passing day, we learn.”
Liberal Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse got an even rougher ride: He was shouted down by protesters yelling “Obstruct!” last week in Providence after he voted for Trump’s CIA director pick, former Rep. Mike Pompeo. The point was made: Asked on MSNBC several days later whether he would support secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson, Whitehouse was unequivocal: “I checked with the parliamentarian, and they don’t allow ‘hell no,’ so I’ll be voting ‘no.’”
“Whether the leaders of the Democratic Party will catch up to their base remains to be seen,” said Mark Longabaugh, a longtime campaign operative and a senior strategist for Sanders’ 2016 presidential bid.
Some of the party’s larger outside groups are fueling the drive to push officials toward loud, hard-line resistance. MoveOn.org last week published an open letter instructing senators that “Showing up at protests must be just the beginning. … We’re doing our job. Senate Democrats must do theirs — by using every procedural tool available to stop Trump.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to a crowd gathered at Logan Airport in Boston on Jan. 28. | AP Photo
Our Revolution, the group built out of the Sanders campaign, is pushing backers to demand that their senators use the full 30 hours of debate on each Trump nominee, effectively grinding the Senate to a procedural halt. Even Priorities, which supported Hillary Clinton in 2016 and became the party’s largest super PAC ever, has stepped up the pressure on lawmakers now that Trump has nominated appellate Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court: The group is mobilizing its supporters to urge their senators to force a 60-vote threshold for him.
To professional Democrats who’ve been working for candidates for decades, the current wave of activity is beginning to look more like a broad-based movement.
“This is a grass-roots reaction at a level of intensity that I haven’t seen in the Democratic Party since Vietnam,” said Shrum. “It even exceeds the reaction to Iraq, which was more a slow simmer than this kind of explosive reaction.”
Added Bill Richardson, a former New Mexico governor and onetime presidential hopeful: “Anyone who is hoping for a reconciliation or bipartisanship is smoking weed right now.”There’s no denying that a bright and shinning smile can instantly pep up the dullest moment.But, if your gums bleed when you brush your teeth, you are probably suffering from a slightly mild case of gingivitis. Gum bleeding is very common and many people suffer from it. The best advice always is to see your dentist who will diagnose your gums problem correctly and advise the best step to take. Thankfully there are certain home remedies that can prevent the bleeding and inflammation of gums and can work effectively.Considered to be one of the best home remedies, clove oil helps to reduce the inflammation of gums and stops the gums from bleeding to a larger extent. Take a little clove oil and rub it on your gums or chew one or two cloves. You may feel a slight burning sensation, but it will reduce the inflammation to a greater extent.Aloevera has many medicinal properties and one of the properties is to reduce gum inflammation, making bleeding less likely. Take a small amount of aloevera pulp and massage it on your gums, Let the pulp settle on your gums before rinsing your mouth. Mild gum diseases can be taken care by consuming liquids that have natural aloevera in it.Prevention has always been better than cure. So if you don’t want to wait till the time you get a gum inflammation to take care of your gums start brushing twice daily along with flossing. Not only will it enable you to get a pearly white smile it will also help you to keep several gum and teeth related problems at bay.Fresh and raw vegetable and fruits not only are good for overall health they are also equally important for healthy gums as well. Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals and low in calories. Chewing raw vegetables help to improve blood circulation in gums, thus helping to reduce the bleeding of gums.One of the most easiest and simplest home remedies is to gargle with salt water. Take some lukewarm water and add a bit of salt and gargle with it thrice a day. Make sure the water is not hot as it may lead to scalding.A married couple from Mississauga, Ont., have been charged with public mischief, after police say they falsely claimed that Christmas gifts fell out of their vehicle and were subsequently stolen during a bizarre incident that never occurred.
Peel Regional Police say that a man and woman showed up at a collision reporting centre on Monday, claiming that their vehicle had been damaged when ice fell off a transport truck on the weekend.
The couple told police that the ice struck and broke their rear window which caused the vehicle to lose control near Hurontario Road and Ray Lawson Boulevard in Brampton.
Police were also told that a bag of Christmas gifts fell from the vehicle, which the couple claimed was then stolen by "unknown parties."
But after police began probing the alleged damage and thefts, the man admitted to having "fabricated" the theft and the story of what happened to the vehicle.
Const. George Tudos told CBC News that in terms of the damaged vehicle, police are confident that the man’s story "“didn't add up."
The accused — a 37-year-old man and 47-year-old woman — are due to appear in a Brampton court in January.
Police are looking to hear from anyone who might have information that could assist them with this case. Investigators can be reached at 905-453-2121, ext. 2233, though tips can also be passed on anonymously through Peel Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Tudos said that when the media initially reported on the story the couple had put forward, there was a great outpouring of support from community members who wanted to help out that family.
When CBC News talked to people on the street about the story of the gifts that weren’t actually stolen, several people said they found the whole situation "sad."
Tudos said police don’t want to discourage the public from donating to charities, though anyone reaching into their pocket should carefully consider who they are supporting.When Heather Bishop looks at the long row of solar panels installed in the yard of her rural southern Manitoba home, she sees not only an impressive setup, but an investment in the future.
"Every time I drive into the yard, it catches me again, and it's like, 'Wow! That's impressive,'" Bishop said.
The 64 solar panels are about 34 metres long and four metres high. On a really sunny day, they make a light buzzing sound and you can feel their vibrations if you put your hand on them, she said.
Walking through the melting snow on her property, the folk singer and artist said when a Manitoba Hydro program made solar panels affordable, she knew she wanted to jump on it right away.
"It's a renewable energy source — no harm to the environment while it's producing it — and if I can be part of that, I want to be part of it," Bishop said.
Power Smart
Last April, Manitoba Hydro launched the Power Smart Solar Energy Program to help Manitobans harness the power of the sun.
It offers incentives and financial support for people to adopt solar power to generate their own electricity and sell the excess energy back to Manitoba Hydro. The program provides solar photovoltaic installations at $1 per watt installed, which covers about 25 per cent of the costs of a new installation.
Hydro spokesperson Bruce Owen confirmed 38 of 180 applications to the program have been approved so far. Most have been from residential customers, with an even split coming from urban and rural property owners.
The 64 solar panels span 34 metres long by four metres high. (Samantha Samson/CBC)
"Approximately half of the customers who've applied are also applying for financing of their system through Manitoba Hydro's convenient residential earth power loan program, which provides up to $30,000 for solar photovoltaic panels," Owen said in a statement, adding financing is calculated based on $3,000 per kilowatt of panels installed.
The average seven-kilowatt systems being installed contain 28 solar panels, take up more than 400 square feet of roof space and generate roughly 75 per cent of a home's annual electricity, Owen added.
Forward-looking
When Bishop built her house more than 40 years ago, she had alternative energy in the plans. It operated on passive solar energy, which means the way the house is built actually helps heat the home.
"At that time, I could heat my house with the sun, but I'm still using electricity from Manitoba Hydro," she said.
"I'm watching for the cost of panels and inverters to come down and then a year ago, Manitoba Hydro came up with this program where they would pay for basically almost a third of the cost of the install. As soon as I saw that, I contacted them right away."
The whole setup cost about $58,000, which meant Bishop's part of the bill was about $40,000, she said. She figures her annual hydro cost was $2,000, so it will be paid back in 20 years, but "as soon as hydro goes up, that figure drops and drops."
Heather Bishop says this meter shows she has produced more electricity than she used. That means all she has to pay Manitoba Hydro is some taxes. (Samantha Samson/CBC)
The solar panels were ready to go in January and, even though it was winter, Bishop said she produced more electricity than she needed.
"I just got my last Hydro bill for January and it was $1.83. The only reason I had to pay anything was because I have to pay the taxes on what I use but I don't get paid taxes on what I sent them," she said.
"So I actually sent them more power than I used, but I got dinged for taxes, so I owed them $1.83 and I can live with that."
Bishop understands it's a big investment for people in Manitoba, but when they look at their own energy bills and the cost to the planet, it's worth it, she said.
"I'm hugely connected to the earth and I feel a great responsibility to take care of her as much as I'm able," she said.Ricciardo was forced to retire from the Abu Dhabi finale with a hydraulic failure on his Red Bull, having run ahead of Raikkonen, whose fourth place at the finish meant he beat Ricciardo by five points.
When asked how disappointed he was to lose fourth in the point standings, he told NBC: "If I'm brutally honest, with that car he should have been a long way in front in the championship.
"So, yeah, I don't think it's a big deal."
Ricciardo said his fifth retirement of the season due to mechanical failure was only more painful due to the time gap before the 2018 season opener in Australia.
"This one hurts actually, probably more than the others," he said. "Obviously I was gutted in Austin, but we had another chance in a week's time, but I don't have another chance until March now.
"It's just reliability, nothing I could have done to prevent it. Pretty bitter way to end the season to be honest. Sure, we had some highs but we finished in a bit of a trench."GAZA (Reuters) - Hundreds of Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli jails said on Friday they would shun vitamin supplements and prison clinics in an escalation of their mass protest against detention conditions.
Palestinians hold portraits of their relatives held in Israeli jails during a protest in solidarity with prisoners on hunger strike, outside the European Union Representative Office in East Jerusalem May 10, 2012. REUTERS/Ammar Awad
“We swear we will not retreat. We are potential martyrs. Either we live in dignity or die,” prisoner organizers said in a letter announcing the move and which was read out by Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Islamist Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, during a demonstration.
An estimated 1,600 inmates out of 4,800 launched the hunger strike on April 17 to demand improved conditions in Israeli custody, such as an end to solitary confinement and more family visits. They have also challenged Israel’s policy of indefinite detention without charge of suspected Palestinian militants.
The fate of the hunger strikers has touched a raw nerve among Palestinians, with daily support rallies in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, and political leaders warning that Israel could face new violence should any prisoner die.
Dozens of Palestinians, including militants and politicians who had served terms in Israeli jails in the past, have gone on hunger strikes in tents put up in solidarity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which witnessed daily heavy attendance by residents and visitors from Arab and foreign countries.
The prisoners include Islamists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which reject peace with the Jewish state, as well as members of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s secular and Western-backed Fatah movement.
Israel says all prisoners receive adequate medical attention, including in civilian hospitals if required.
A Prisons Service spokeswoman said there was no immediate sign of the hunger strike being stepped up.
“As |
good time to make a cup of tea. You’re also able to make a virtual SD card at this time, and after this you’ll be asked to reboot. Do so, and remember to take out the USB drive when the machine powers off.
5. Android!
Now you should be able to boot into Android. Choose the first entry in the boot menu, and your netbook will start to run Android. There’ll be some exciting white text on a black background, followed by the glowing Android logo, and then finally the OS itself and its ‘Welcome’ screen. You’ll be asked to connect to a wireless network and sign into your Google account, as well as a few other basic questions about the current time and so forth. With these completed, you’ll finally be onto the Android desktop!
In our next article, we’ll have a look around our new Android x86 installation, and show off a few of the unique apps that come with it, so stay tuned for that.
As always, feel free to ask questions or leave comments in the section below. You can also contact us on Twitter or Facebook.
Edit: I’ve written up a FAQ (frequently asked questions) article. Read it here.
It’s also worth noting that we’re not responsible for any damages or disasters that occur through following these directions – things can always go wrong, so back up your files before installing Android 4.0.Mario's Picross[a] is a 1995 puzzle video game for the Game Boy. Developed by Jupiter and Ape and published by Nintendo, it is a compilation of nonogram logic puzzles. The game stars Mario who chisels away at puzzle grids to form pictures. The game initially received mixed reviews, with reviewers citing its length and addictive nature as a positive, but its grid sizes and absence of typical Mario elements as a negative.
Although the game sold well in Japan, the game flopped in English-speaking regions. As a result of this, the game was followed by two sequels, Mario's Super Picross and Picross 2, released only in Japan. The next Picross game published by Nintendo to be released in English-speaking regions would be Picross DS in 2007, twelve years later. Due to its limited sales, the game is somewhat of a cult classic. The game is also available on the Nintendo 3DS through its Virtual Console service.
Gameplay [ edit ]
An example of a 15 by 15 Kinoko puzzle. The fifth row down is completed as it has a sequence of two, four, one and two chiseled spaces in it, all with a number of blank spaces in between them, as the numbers beside the row state.
In Mario's Picross, the player is presented with a puzzle grid (either 5 by 5, 10 by 10 or 15 by 15 spaces in size, depending on the difficulty chosen) that they must chisel at in accordance with the numerical hints provided on the upper and left-hand edges of the grid in order to reveal a picture.[2] In addition to the ability to chisel spaces, the player is also able to mark spaces with a cross to signify that the space is not meant to be chiseled.[3] The numbers present outside the grid tell the player how many spaces should be chiseled within the row or column it is next to; if a single number is present on the row or column, there is that number of required chiseled spaces within said row or column, while if more than one number is present on the row or column, there are those numbers of required chiseled spaces, but separated by an undetermined amount of blank spaces.[4] The player must use these numerical hints to fill in the grid both vertically and horizontally.[3] Similar to a crossword, when a row or column is filled in, it is able to give hints as to the nature of the rows or columns it intercepts.[3]
The player is given thirty minutes to complete each puzzle.[5] If the player incorrectly chisels a space, some of the remaining time is deducted; upon the player's first error, two minutes are deducted; upon the second, four minutes; upon the third, eight minutes. Mistakes succeeding the third continue deducting eight minutes.[5] If the player runs out of time, Mario falls over, and the game is over. If the player finishes the puzzle, Mario makes a thumbs-up motion, and the final picture is shown, with a subtitle detailing what it is.[6] Additionally, a "With Hint" option is available at the beginning of the puzzle. Choosing this will start a roulette with the numbers labelling the columns and rows.[7] The player is able to semi-actively choose a row and a column to be pre-filled in. After a puzzle is complete, its time of completion is shown on the menu, as well as whether the player used the With Hint option.[5]
Mario's Picross features a total of 256 puzzles, separated into four modes — "Easy Picross", "Kinoko", "Star" and "Time Trial" — with 64 in each.[5] The Easy Picross, Kinoko and Star modes all follow the gameplay pattern aforementioned (increasing in difficulty), while Time Trial mode is untimed and does not show the player where they have made mistakes. If the player scores high enough, they will be able to insert their score by using their initials, much like an arcade game. Whilst the Easy Picross, Kinoko and Star modes are playable prior to beating the game, Time Trial mode is only playable when the other three modes have all been completed.[7] The game also allows the player to select from a number of tracks to listen to while completing puzzles.[5]
Development and release [ edit ]
Mario's Picross was developed by Jupiter and Ape and was published worldwide by Nintendo. The game was created in an effort to capitalize on the popularity of puzzle games in Japan.[8] Jupiter would go on to become the developer for the majority of the picross games present on Nintendo systems.[6] The game was released for the Game Boy in 1995.[1] It was also re-released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console in 2011 on 14 July in Europe, on 4 August in North America and on 22 August in Japan.[5]
Upon the game's release, despite Nintendo's marketing through television commercials and Nintendo Power magazine,[3][9] the game did not meet the market trends of English-speaking regions and failed there.[10] The game, however, proved to be popular in Japan.[10] Due to the failure of this game in English-speaking regions, future nonogram logic puzzles from Nintendo were not released in those regions until Picross DS in 2007.[10][11] The success of Picross DS resulted in worldwide Picross releases, as well as a re-release of the game on the Nintendo 3DS online store's Virtual Console.[6] The game also became a reward for the Club Nintendo loyalty program.[12]
Reception [ edit ]
Mario's Picross received mixed reviews upon its release. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly criticized the game's focus on logic and reasoning instead of rapid button presses, saying it makes the game boring to play after the first few puzzles.[14] GamePro gave it a more mixed review. They criticized the repetitive music and the fact that Mario does not appear in the main graphics, but acknowledged that the game is "undeniably addicting, especially if you love numbers".[16] Marcel van Duyn of Nintendo Life cited the game's addictive nature, volume of puzzles and soundtrack in his review.[5]
The reception of the Mario's Picross Virtual Console re-release, however, was more positive. Lucas M. Thomas for IGN looked on the game positively, specifically referencing its amount of puzzles as a strength.[6] Mike Rose of Pocket Gamer stated that although the game has sometimes unintuitive controls and always has the Hint system default to 'yes', the game represents the Mario series well and is a workout for the brain.[7] Andrew Brown of Nintendo World Report criticized the localization of the game and the game's attempt to fit on the small screen of the Game Boy, reasoning that Mario's Super Picross or Picross DS would be a better choice for first-time Picross players.[17] Chris Scullion of Official Nintendo Magazine praised the game's use of characters from the Super Mario series, although he felt that Mario's Picross would feel like a "slight step backwards" to those who had already played other Picross games.[15] A reviewer with Jeuxvideo.com stated that the game is a "blend of logic, drawing and Nintendo", rating the game well.[18]
Despite a large advertising campaign by Nintendo the game failed to sell well in America and Europe, leading the game's sequels to be confined to Japan. As a result, the game is seen as something of a cult classic in English-speaking regions.[8] The main criticisms aimed at the game was the size of the grids; due to the small size of the Game Boy screen, the game's puzzle grids are restricted to being just 15 by 15, when puzzles four times that size were common in other media.[8] Game Informer ranked it as their 91st favorite game ever and their fifth favorite Game Boy game.[19][20] Complex ranked the game as the 24th best Game Boy game in their list of the best Game Boy games, citing how it is a rewarding experience for those with inqusitive minds.[1]
Legacy [ edit ]
Whilst the game's sales were lacklustre in English-speaking regions, the game succeeded enough in Japan to spawn two Japan-exclusive sequels, Mario's Super Picross for the Super Famicom and Picross 2, a direct sequel to Mario's Picross, on the Game Boy. The continued success of these games in the Japan region saw Nintendo create the Picross NP series in 1999, a Japan-exclusive series of games meant to promote other, larger games or series. These games were meant for use with the Japan-only Nintendo Power peripheral for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. There were eight instalments of this series, each one having a different theme; Pokémon[21], Yoshi's Story[22], Kirby[23], Star Fox 64[24], The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time[25], Super Mario 64[26], Wario Land II[27] and Donkey Kong Country,[28] respectively. The series ran from 1999 to 2000.
The series had a hiatus until 2007, when Picross DS for the Nintendo DS was released worldwide. Picross DS was quite well-received in comparison to Mario's Picross upon its release.[29] This success led to Nintendo Picross games becoming a worldwide series, with games appearing on future iterations of Nintendo handhelds, including Picross 3D, a 3D re-imagining of traditional Picross, the Picross e series, on Nintendo 3DS, and Picross S, on Nintendo Switch.[11][30][31] Mario's Picross was re-released on the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console on July 14, 2011.[32] Being the original iteration of the series, other Mario video games have referenced Picross. Picross DS features downloadable puzzles taken from Mario's Picross.[33] The explorer attire Mario wears both in-game and in promotional material makes a cameo appearance in Super Mario Odyssey as an unlockable costume Mario is able to wear.[34]
Notes [ edit ]
^ マリオのピクロス ( Mario no Pikurosu )The Trump campaign blasted the Democratic National Committee and its presidential nominee for failing to condemn the torching of Israeli and American flags outside the party’s ongoing national convention in Philadelphia.
Responding to the fire incident, reported by The Algemeiner and perpetrated by pro-Bernie Sanders activists shouting “Long live the intifada” and “Black lives matter,” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s chief legal officer and Israel adviser Jason Greenblatt issued a statement calling on the DNC and Hillary Clinton to “speak out against this shameful desecration promptly and unequivocally.”
Greenblatt wrote:
As former President Bill Clinton addressed the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, activists gathered outside the convention hall to set fire to the American and Israeli flags while chanting “Long live the intifada!” Disturbing as that was, it was hardly the convention’s only flag flap. When the Democrats opened their convention on Monday to a conspicuous absence of American flags, an onslaught of criticism led them to rethink their set design. By the next day, the Stars and Stripes ringed the convention stage. Meanwhile, in lieu of Old Glory adorning the convention hall on Monday, the Palestinian flag was unfurled. After photos went viral on social media, it too was gone by day two.
“So clearly,” he concluded, “the Democrats are attuned to the potent symbolism of flags. Why, then, have the Democratic National Committee and its presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, failed to condemn the desecration of the American and Israeli flags and the glorification of the Palestinian intifada mere feet away from their convention hall?”
“Their silence is deafening,” he said.Thank you for supporting the journalism that our community needs!
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Just how close did the team become to being named the Polar Bears? What famous rock star might have announced the NHL’s return? And what the heck is Winnipeg Jets toast?
The following is an excerpt from The First Season, which details the second coming of the NHL and the massive undertaking by True North Sports and Entertainment brass, from co-owner Mark Chipman on down, of relocating the Atlanta Thrashers to the Canadian prairies, designing a new logo, hiring front office personnel and icing a team within a span of just 131 days.
The NHL players might be locked out and the Winnipeg Jets in a holding pattern, so perhaps there’s no better time to fill the labour strife-induced void with a behind-the-scenes look at the magical 2011-2012 season of the Jets historic return.
Hey there, time traveller! This article was published 18/9/2012 (2353 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/9/2012 (2353 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The NHL players might be locked out and the Winnipeg Jets in a holding pattern, so perhaps there’s no better time to fill the labour strife-induced void with a behind-the-scenes look at the magical 2011-2012 season of the Jets historic return.
The following is an excerpt from The First Season, which details the second coming of the NHL and the massive undertaking by True North Sports and Entertainment brass, from co-owner Mark Chipman on down, of relocating the Atlanta Thrashers to the Canadian prairies, designing a new logo, hiring front office personnel and icing a team within a span of just 131 days.
Just how close did the team become to being named the Polar Bears? What famous rock star might have announced the NHL’s return? And what the heck is Winnipeg Jets toast?
Read on...
They sat among a throng of 50,000 U2 fans sharing a bombshell secret that would have made Bono and the boys an afterthought.
The brain trust of True North Entertainment — owner Mark Chipman, president Jim Ludlow and senior vice-president of sales and marketing Norva Riddell — were sitting abreast with their significant others at Canad Inns Stadium on an unseasonably cool evening for May 29.
Looking around the screaming, joyous crowd, the trio knew one truth: A Beautiful Day awaited. And not just on U2’s set list that night, either.
"You’re thinking: ‘I’ve got something exciting to tell you,’" Riddell recalled.
It was a Sunday, and Chipman and Co. held the knowledge that as early as the next morning, the long-awaited deal to bring the Atlanta Thrashers and the NHL back to Winnipeg would be finalized, unleashing a spontaneous celebration what would make even a sold-out U2 concert seem like a garage-band practice.
In fact, here’s a juicy it-almost-happened nugget: Mark Chipman toyed with the idea of having Bono himself announce the Jets’ return during the May 29 concert.
Talk about finding what you’re looking for, right?
"We kicked that around, that we might announce (the Jets return) at the U2 concert," Chipman told the Free Press. "Wouldn’t that be cool? It was not lost on us at all. I had some unique emotions that night."
One of those emotions, undoubtedly, was also trepidation. After all, it was late May, and Chipman and the inner-circle of True North hierarchy had been secretively planning for the arrival of an NHL franchise in earnest for more than a year — yet they only had about four months to execute the herculean task of acquiring a team, selling millions in tickets and sponsorships, raising even more millions in revenue, naming the team, creating the logo and making the MTS Centre NHL-ready.
To be precise, they had 131 days.
So they sat there, drinking in an atmosphere, keeping their little secret to themselves.
Bono had no idea what was coming after the encore that night.
You, too.
video player to use on WFP
By now, the announcement of the Jets return on May 31 is both ingrained in the consciousness of jubilant hockey fans and, conversely, understandably blurry.
Chipman, for one, hardly remembers anything from the moment the Thrashers purchase agreement was completed in the wee hours of that Tuesday morning, and NHL brass, including commissioner Gary Bettman — who had not set foot in the city since the Jets’ sombre departure 16 years before — were en route to Winnipeg.
But while that press conference might have been finalized at the last minute, little did Winnipeggers realize how much effort True North officials had invested behind the scenes — up until late into the evening of May 30 — to ensure that the return of the NHL’s seventh Canadian franchise went off without a glitch.
Remember, this was arguably one of the most watched press conference relating to the NHL and Canada since the tearful Wayne Gretzky was dealt to Bruce McNall’s Los Angeles Kings on Aug. 9, 1988 — ironically, a seismic geographical shift that would a few years later become a factor in the demise of the Jets.
The hockey world would be paying attention, once again, to a small-market Canadian prairie city, and there was no room for error.
"We were working on the fact that all of this city, all of the province would watch... and a lot of people across North America," noted True North director of communications Scott Brown.
"This was a monumental event, and it was a team coming back to a market no one thought it would come back to. I said out loud, ‘This is going to be the first impression of True North Entertainment.’ We were going to be judged on that first impression."
Crucial to the announcement was the presentation of True North president Jim Ludlow, who unveiled the team’s Drive For 13,000 season ticket initiative, which involved asking both fans and sponsors for multi-year commitments — a first for an NHL team.
Again, however, what appeared to be a fast-track sale and relocation of the Thrashers — which is true — was also showcasing the True North organization that had been preparing to adopt an NHL team for at least 12 months.
In late May of 2010, in fact, True North had made preparations to hold a press conference announcing the acquisition of the Phoenix Coyotes, only to be scuttled by another cash infusion by Glendale councillors into the money-losing franchise.
True North management had spent the subsequent year constantly tweaking their presentation, price points and refining their website design.
"We couldn’t have been more ready," Ludlow said, of May 31. "In fact, if we had carried it (a delay in acquiring the Thrashers) on any further into the year, we might have lost our edge."
Ludlow practised his presentation over and over, well into the night of May 30. The production was even filmed by a camera crew that had been required to sign non-disclosure documents.
"I’ll never forget," Ludlow recalled. "We were going all night long."
There was only one problem: The agreement to purchase the Thrashers had yet to be finalized. Even as late as 4 a.m., there were still documents that needed signatures from the banks. Chipman and Ludlow agonized over whether to announce a major press conference at 11 a.m. or, if the deal hit a snag, simply update the status of negotiations.
About 6 a.m., Ludlow told Chipman, "Go with it. We’ll get those signatures."
So they went with it, at about 9:30 a.m.
True North had just bought themselves a hockey team. All they had to do now was sell the thing to Winnipeggers.
Of course, everyone knows how that story ended: The newly minted Jets sold out their ticket inventory in less time than it would take to serve a minor penalty, with three-to-five year commitments. In addition, 54 of 55 suites were purchased before they were even renovated.
For the first time, True North officials let out a collective sigh of relief.
"That was such a humongous project," Riddell said. "That it worked and the community sent such a strong message... because there’s always this little thing in the pit of your stomach that says, ‘Please!’"
"We couldn’t afford to fail," Ludlow added. "It was the most critical element to say to the NHL and the other 29 teams, that Winnipeg is a market and a force to be reckoned with."
Again, what might have seemed like an overnight success was the result of months of calculated strategizing behind closed doors. True North had spent months studying the ticket and sponsorship pricing in similar-sized Canadian-based markets such as Edmonton and Ottawa. Further, from the moment Ludlow stepped to the stage at the May 31 announcement, and spent the next several minutes unveiling the season-ticket outline on national television, the Drive for 13,000 rollout had begun.
Within minutes, Moose season ticket holders were notified by email of their options. The website was up and running, providing walk-through information on ticket purchasing to the general public.
"Those time sales were scripted to the minute," Ludlow noted. "It was bang, bang, bang."
At its headquarters in New York, the NHL heard: Cha-ching, cha-ching, cha-ching.
On June 21, 2011, the NHL board of governors unanimously approved the sale of the Atlanta Thrashers to True North Sports and Entertainment.
* * *
The birth of a franchise logo can be at least as critical as the name itself.
In the beginning, True North had neither.
The seeds of what would become the logo of the Winnipeg Jets — a fighter jet layered over a red Maple Leaf, centred inside a RCAF trademark roundel, with Polar Midnight blue as the predominant colour and Air Force wings as shoulder patches — first began in January 2010, when Mark Chipman approached longtime True North employee Dorian Morphy with a top secret mission: We need to start designing an NHL logo.
Morphy, True North senior director of marketing and brand management, was understandably giddy, not just at the prospect of the NHL’s return to his hometown, but being on the ground floor of a brand manager’s dream: developing a logo for a major professional sports team from scratch.
"I had to pinch myself," Morphy said. "To be able to be involved in creating a logo that could last 50 years, it’s a true honour."
Morphy started with the basics, first identifying the most popular colour schemes of professional teams (red and blue, 80 per cent), dissecting the number of teams that incorporated the city name into their logo, how many nicknames included animals. The options were endless.
How many names and logos involved industry (Edmonton Oilers, Milwaukee Brewers, Pittsburgh Steelers), how many were geographical in nature (Colorado Avalanche, Miami Heat), how many were cultural (St. Louis Blues, San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys), how many were nationalistic (Ottawa Senators, Washington Capitals, New England Patriots)?
Even after homing in on the Jets concept, it was agreed that the logo would be a complete departure from the original Jets design or it’s later incarnations. For True North, bent on establishing their own identity, it was a compromise to themselves: Keep the name but create an entirely distinct brand.
"We were fully aware what the Jets meant to the community," Morphy explained. "But we wanted to be thorough. Jets 2.0 is what we called it."
So despite the fact that Morphy had a one-year head start, at the time of the announced return of the NHL, True North was still wrestling over both the name and logo design. Enter Reebok, the globe athletic apparel company that is the NHL’s official outfitter. So crunched was True North for time — the NHL usually requires 18 months to develop a jersey and logo scheme — that Reebok’s entire NHL design team was thrown onto the project.
Said Chipman: "Every square inch (of Reebok’s New York studio) was covered in some sort of air force imagery."
Indeed, the ultimate design didn’t evolve so much from concrete designs as images and ideas. True North had long been associated with Winnipeg’s 17 Wing during the life span of the Manitoba Moose. There were annual Military Nights. On several occasions, the Moose wore specially designed uniforms, such as traditional camouflage and arctic black and white camo.
In 2008, the Moose military tribute jerseys were based on the 1948 RCAF Flyers uniforms, which were baby blue with a bright red roundel as a logo. That was the bestseller of all tribute Moose jerseys.
That RCAF design eventually emerged as the genesis for the existing Jets logo. But it wasn’t easy. The Reebok team pitched six versions of a new logo, but nothing stuck.
"It was like shooting in the dark," Chipman noted. "It didn’t connect."
But once the designers at Reebok, under the guidance of Morphy and Co. at True North, married the RCAF concept with silhouettes of CF-18 and F-35 fighter jets, a new logo was born.
There were some trademark issues. First, the Toronto Maple Leafs had to sign off on use of the red Maple Leaf, for obvious reasons. Next, True North had to secure approval from the Department of Defence for use of the RCAF’s patented roundel symbol.
"Once we got permission from the DND," Chipman noted, "we were off to the races."
True North president CEO Jim Ludlow described the fusion of the old and new as "a flash of brilliance. That’s absolutely historic. That drew instant pedigree to our logo."
The final leg of the process took three weeks, before three sets of home and away jerseys were sent to the True North offices, where they remained locked in Morphy’s desk drawer.
"Very few people even saw them," he said.
The same level of stealth, however, didn’t secure the premature leak of the logo design.
Chipman was originally set to unveil the logo at a press conference on July 25. But in the late afternoon of Friday, July 22, photos of what appeared to be the Jets new logo on T-shirts began to surface on the Internet.
Turns out, when the boxes of original merchandise, T-shirts and hats, not jerseys, were shipped to the Jets offices, staff noticed that the boxes had been opened. Said Morphy: "We were, like, ‘Oh-oh.’"
Morphy speculated that the delivery truck driver had taken the photos, which were being tweeted with abandon. "My text was going off like a Christmas tree."
The logo was out of the bag. Within an hour, True North scrambled together perhaps the first-ever press conference held at 5 p.m. on a Friday in July at the MTS IcePlex.
"That," Chipman remembered, "was the antithesis of May 31 in terms of preparation. We did it very quickly... and it probably came off that way."
Regardless, the Winnipeg Jets had a name and an image. And so Jets 2.0 was born.
* * *
Perhaps Winnipeg Jets president and CEO Jim Ludlow summed up Year One the best.
"The whole damn thing," he said, "was a blur."
Celebrations in the streets. The rapture of opening night. Teemu’s homecoming. That February night in Minnesota, when 4,000 Jets fans flooded into the Xcel Energy Center, leaving members of the team gawking into the crowd, as the Jets won 4-3 in a shootout, with Evander Kane scoring the winner.
Or that game in Calgary, when it appeared half the crowd was decked out in Jets jerseys, screaming for the visitors.
Not to mention the herculean task of fielding not one, but two, professional hockey teams half a continent apart in the unprecedented span of 131 days. After all, not only did True North have to transition the Atlanta Thrashers franchise from Georgia, the organization simultaneously had to relocate the American Hockey League’s Manitoba Moose from Winnipeg to St. John’s, where the club was renamed the IceCaps.
Memories? For Brown, the True North communications director, it was a trip to New York in September, prior to the season, for a media day with Jets captain Andrew Ladd. Sports Illustrated and ESPN were there. So was Pittsburgh Penguins Sidney Crosby, casually asking the boys from Winnipeg about the mood back home.
"This was a whole new world," Brown recalled. "I remember thinking, ‘We’re not in Kansas anymore.’"
For Chipman, it was the NHL’s Face Off celebration, held in Winnipeg during the few days before opening night against the Canadiens on Oct. 9, when the co-owner waded through the crowd of 30,000 gathered at The Forks for an outdoor concert, headlined by Randy Bachman and Fred Turner.
"If you want to talk about bombarding your senses... I thought the city looked so great," Chipman said. "It felt so good. That was a very proud moment."
For Ludlow, it was the phenomenon of fans shouting out "True North!" in unison, for games home and away, during the playing of O Canada.
"That sends shivers down your spine," Ludlow said. "That’s pride in community, pride in your city, pride in your sport. And then to see them do that whether you’re in Florida or New York, that’s pretty special."
In fact, it’s hard to believe, sometimes, that for all the history that unfolded after May 31, 2011, the Winnipeg Jets 2.0 are still just in their infancy. If they were a baby, they’d just be beginning to take their first steps.
"At times it seems like yesterday," Brown noted, when reflecting on the season, "at times it seems like the longest year of my life."
After all, regardless of what transpired on the ice at the MTS Centre, what occurred behind the scenes during the 131 days leading up to the inaugural Jets season and beyond was not just without precedent in modern-day, major-league professional sports, it arguably couldn’t have been accomplished without the infrastructure and foresight born from the True North’s Manitoba Moose organization.
Consider the logistical and structural challenges: Everything from installing a new ice plant to expanding the press box, renovating and rescaling corporate suites to scraping the Moose logos off soap dispensers in the washrooms, choreographing and executing the Drive for 13,000, selling out within minutes, then negotiating major sponsorship deals from arena naming and broadcast rights to rink board advertising.
Little wonder it was a damn blur.
"I would describe it as intense," Chipman reasoned. "But it wasn’t out of control by any stretch. It was demanding but measured, for the most part."
Remember, on May 31, the True North organization had 125 employees, more, in fact, that the Atlanta Thrashers.
"And a small group of them had a year to write a playbook," Chipman noted. "And it wasn’t like we were venturing off into a new business. It was the same business with larger numbers attached to it."
Still, with more than 300 items on the to-do list for the arena alone, there were some unusual days, to say the least.
Chipman jokes about sharing an office with head coach Claude Noel that summer, as renovations continued all around them. One man was trying to start up a brand new NHL franchise. Another was trying to put together the hockey team.
Some days the phones worked, some days they didn’t.
"We were like gypsies," Chipman said with a chuckle. "It was not uncommon to look over at each other and see our heads in our hands. I have fond memories of that."
These days, however, the impact of the Jets’ return never escapes the attention of the man who made it happen. It’s those Jets air fresheners he sees at the local gas station. Or the kid in the Jets T-shirt. The stacks of family photos in his desk drawer.
"What I never imagined was the breadth and depth of how this has affected our community," Chipman said. "Not only do you have to be a good hockey team, you don’t want to let people down."
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Perhaps that’s why Chipman echoes the overriding sentiment at True North, from ownership to management to players, that, well, the time for sentiment is over. Hey, it was nice while it lasted, but...
"What I’m most proud of now is I feel we belong in this league," Chipman concluded. "When our folks go to their respective (NHL) meetings I know they’re not out of place. We’re into a sense of normalcy. We’re just now coming out of the aftermath. We’re not running on pure adrenaline and instinct."
Time to make new memories. Time to turn another page.
"I think the story starts now," Chipman concluded. "I’m really excited about the next chapter."
randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca
The First Season will be available at the Free Press office at 1355 Mountain Ave., online at winnipegfreepress.com, the Jets Team Gear stores in St. Vital Centre and the MTS Centre on Portage Avenue downtown, the MTS Iceplex on Portage Avenue near Assiniboia Downs and McNally Robinson at the Grant Park Shopping Centre. The book sells for $19.99 and a dollar from every book sold goes to the Winnipeg Jets True North Foundation.Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani on Wednesday said that Jio has broken the myth that India is not ready to adopt advanced technology. Ambani said it in a letter addressed to the employees of Reliance Jio which completed one year in telecom industry on September 5.
RIL Chief expressed his satisfaction on the performance of Jio and said: "In this past one year, we have broken several records, both in India and globally. But what gives me the biggest personal satisfaction is to have broken the myth that India is not ready to adopt advanced technology."
Last year in September, Mukesh Ambani disrupted the telecom industry with the launch of Reliance Jio. After a year of service, Ambani said that the challenge was not only to launch a new technology and operationalise it in real time, but to make the offering simple, convenient and compelling that every Indian in every city, town and village benefit from it. Reliance Jio crossed 130 million customers mark in one year of its operations
Reliance Jio launched the aggressive pricing for data service that resulted in higher internet consumption. Venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins had put out a report saying India consumed more data than any other country in the world - monthly wireless data usage there grew 550 per cent between June 2016 and March 2017.
Ambani talked about the higher data consumption and said: "This is also reflected in the gigantic spurt in data consumption and customer numbers on our network, and the way our technology, network and the entire infrastructure has held up to it."
He also congratulated Jio employees for their contribution and said: "Your efforts will make Digital India a reality, and its positive impact on India's economic growth is the next logical development that we are beginning to witness." As on June, Reliance Jio had 123.36 million customer base.
RIL group firm Reliance Retail has recently unveiled first feature phone -JioPhone- which the company will provide effectively for free against refundable deposit of Rs 1,500 a unit. In |
frontier post at Tal Abyad, south of the Turkish town of Sanliurfa, according to the semiofficial Anatolian News Agency. Television images appeared to show members of the insurgent Free Syrian Army standing on the roof of the border post and hauling down the Syrian flag at Tal Abyad, which is less than a mile from Turkey’s Akcakale crossing.
A private Turkish television channel said Syrian tanks were headed for the border post. The attack came two days after Lebanese officials said that Syrian warplanes and helicopters, pursuing opposition fighters, had fired on a Lebanese town near the two countries’ shared border.
News of the rebel advance came as opposition fighters were forced to withdraw from several neighborhoods in the Damascus suburbs, ceding territory to the army after two weeks of fighting that had forced most residents to flee. Activists said the fighters, shelled for days and out of ammunition, withdrew from the neighborhoods of al-Hajjar al-Aswad and Qadam.
Photo
Elsewhere around Damascus, activists circulated images of what they said was evidence of summary executions by the government in the Jobar neighborhood. In what has become a familiar scene, the video showed at least eight men, all apparently shot in the head, lying in a basement. Another video showed five other dead men with similar head wounds lying in an apartment. The authenticity of the videos could not be independently confirmed.
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Human rights groups have asserted that civilians are being increasingly caught in combat. Amnesty International said Wednesday that Syrian government forces had carried out indiscriminate air attacks and artillery strikes, apparently intended to punish civilians perceived as sympathetic to the rebels.The ppprog package is a simple package for typesetting pseudocode in LaTeX. It is oriented towards math-heavy code in particular and it is supposed to be compact. I wrote it because I had an article to write but none of the packages I looked through ( algorithmx, algorithm2e, program, lstlisting, etc.) worked quite the way I would have liked them to and they were cumbersome on top of everything.
The basic principles that ppprog aims to achieve are:
ease of use – there is no reason to make typesetting algorithms difficult,
– there is no reason to make typesetting algorithms difficult, simplicity – make the commands behave in simple and predictable ways without adding scores of options and conditions (basically, if the way it works bothers you, though—you will probably have to redefine some commands),
– make the commands behave in simple and predictable ways without adding scores of options and conditions (basically, if the way it works bothers you, though—you will probably have to redefine some commands), compactness – the resulting pseudocode has to be as compact as possible.
Example¶ Here’s a short and basic example showing how the environment looks compiler and how it works: PDF document
Source
Getting it¶ The source code is available at github. Include ppprog.sty with your LaTeX document or import it into your package directory. Then include it in your document: \usepackage { ppprog }
The ppprog environment¶ You can then typeset using the ppprog environment, for instance: \begin { ppprog } [ \NewProgram ] { insert-unique } \Proc { insert }{ e, \mathbb { S }} \If { e \in \mathbb { S }} \pp \Return { \mathbb { S }} \Else \pp \Return { \mathbb { S } \cup e } \Fi \EndProc \end { ppprog } The environment has one mandatory and one optional parameter. You have to provide a name of the algorithm as the mandatory argument. This will be used to create labels automatically at certain points in the program (see: Procedures and functions). Here, the name of the program is insert-unique. Only use characters here that can be used in labels (so no spaces or underscores, for instance). The optional argument is used to decide from what number to start counting lines in the program. This argument can be set to \NewProgram (like in the example above) which will start counting the lines from 1. If you omit the argument altogether, ppprog will also start numbering lines from 1. \begin { ppprog }{ some-program }... \end { ppprog } You can also set it to start on whatever line number the last program ended on using \ContinueProgram —this is helpful if you want to split your program into smaller chunks but want it to still appear as if it were a continuous thing. \begin { ppprog } [ \NewProgram ] { some-program-part-1 }... \end { ppprog } \begin { ppprog } [ \ContinueProgram ] { some-program-part-2 }... \end { ppprog } You can also specify any starting line number you want using \ProgramStartsAtLine{n} where n would be the actual line number. This can be use for explicit exerpts. \begin { ppprog } [ \ProgramStartsAtLine { 15 } ] { exerpt-of-program-from-line-15 }... \end { ppprog } Once inside the ppprog environment you are basically in LaTeX math mode, so you can use any mathematical symbols you want. You also don’t have to worry about indentation or whitespaces in general. The ppprog environment can be embedded into a figure environment, a minipage, etc. or just placed alongside your run-of-the-mill text.
The basics¶ To start a new line in the ppprog environment you will (with some exceptions I will describe later) have to use \pp. This creates a new numbered line that you can fill up any way you like. The line is in math mode by default. \begin { ppprog }{ alg } \pp \text { Hello world! } \pp x = 2 ^ n \end { ppprog } If you need to break the line for any reason it is best to use \ppempty or its alias \ppmt. This will create a new line with a continuation symbol instead of a line number. \begin { ppprog }{ alg } \pp x = 2 ^ n + a _ x, y = 2 ^ m + a _ y, \text { and } \ppmt z = 2 ^ k + a _ z \end { ppprog } You can change the line continuation symbol by reloading the \ppemptylinesymbol command. For example: \def\ppemptylinesymbol { \Bat } If you really need to (although I would not recommend it) you can also use some raw low-level commands. \\ will break the line, & will mark the point where line numbering ends and the contents begin, \ppin will bring the indentation of the current line to the level in the preceeding line, and \ppdectabdepth and \ppinctabdepth will respectivelly decrease and increase the depth of the indentation. Do not use these unless you really must. \begin { ppprog }{ alg } \pp x _ 0 = 2 ^ n \\ \ldots & \ppin x _ i = 2 ^{ n + i } \end { ppprog }
Procedures and functions¶ Typically your algorithm will consist of one or more function or procedure. Commands \Proc and \Func are your friends there. They each take two parameters: the first is the name of the procedure and the second is the list of the procedure’s or function’s parameters. The commands typeset the relevant keyword, the name, and the parameter list in parentheses and the symbol \(\triangleeq\). It also sets the next line to be indented. Commands \Proc and \Func will use the name to create a label at the line where they are placed. So you can then refer to them by name and the name of the algorithms they are in with the command \pplineref. Details on that are in the Cross-referencing section. When are finished with your procedure or function insert \EndProc or \EndFunc respectively. This mainly removes the indentation that was present inside the procedure body it also adds spacing between functions. You can add additional space by using \ppbreak after \EndProc or EndFunc —this won’t create a new line but spread the functions out a little bit. If you want to spread the functions out more (or less) then use \ppbreak with a parameter wherein you define the length of the gap. \begin { ppprog }{ procsandfuncs } \Proc { dostuff }{ a, b }... \EndProc \Proc { dootherstuff }{}... \EndProc \ppbreak { 1cm } \Func { countstuff }{ x, y, z }... \EndFunc \end { ppprog } Since I am interested in distributed algorithms ppprog also has a little variation on the procedures and functions that allows to prepend some sort of site or location information to the procedure. This can also be used to prepend anything else to the procedures and functions however. The variants are \DistProc and \DistFunc and they work just like ordinary \Proc and \Func but have an extra (2nd) argument. \begin { ppprog }{ procsandfuncs } \DistProc { dodistributedstuff }{ @s _ 1 }{ a, b }... \EndProc \DistFunc { countdistributedstuff }{ @s _ 2 }{ x, y, z }... \EndFunc \end { ppprog } There is no special way to refer to functions or procedures after they were defined, but I recommend you use the command \ppfunction for that purpose. It will change the font of the word to normal text. \begin { ppprog }{ procreferenced } \Proc { recproc }{ x } \pp \ppkeyword { recproc } (x + 1) \EndProc \end { ppprog }
Flow control statements¶ Control flow in the form of loops and if-statements and such like is another big part of every algorithm. So there are structures for that sort of thing in ppprog. Conditional statements¶ If you want to make an if-block there are four commands to do that for you: \If, \Else, \Elif, and \Fi. Use the one-parameter command \If to start out the if-block. The parameter is used to describe the condition of the if-statement. \Elif is used in the exact same way to have an if-block with additional conditions. \Else takes no arguments and typesets the else keyword, manipulating the indentation. When the if-block is finished use \Fi, this will come back to the indentation from before the block began. \begin { ppprog }{ cases } \If { x > 5 }... \Elif { x > 3 }... \Else... \Fi \end { ppprog } Note that \If etc. should not use a \pp in front of them, However, when working within the if statement, set lines with \pp as normal. \begin { ppprog }{ nonsensereally } \If { x \in S } \pp S' = S \setminus \{ x \} \pp S' \cap S \Else \pp S \cap \varnothing \Fi \end { ppprog } Loop statements¶ If you want to typeset a loop block there are a number of statements you can do that with, depending on the type of loop you want: \For, \Foreach, or \While. Each of these commands sets a keyword (for, for each, or while) followed by a condition and the keyword do. The condition is given as the argument of each of the commands. Every loop is finished by the command \Done which returns to the indentation from before the loop. \begin { ppprog }{ loops } \For { \forall x \in X }... \Done \Foreach { x \in X }... \Done \While { x < 10 }... \Done \end { ppprog } Note that loops do not use a \pp in front of them, but lines within loop bodies normally do. \begin { ppprog }{ loops } \Foreach { x \in X } \pp S \leftarrow S \cup \{ x \} \Done \end { ppprog }
Font styles and various keywords¶ Algorithm descriptions often make use of fonts to distinguish certain words from others. There are some common predefined font styles in ppprog that may be handy for that. There is also a (limited) number of useful keywords that are already defined. Font styles¶ There are 5 basic font styles offered for basic use-cases. They can be used by invoking the following commands with whatever text the style is supposed to be applied to passed as an argument: ppkeyword – bold font that signifies a keyword (like if or return ),
– bold font that signifies a keyword (like or ), ppfunction – ordinary font that is meant to be used for function and procedure names,
– ordinary font that is meant to be used for function and procedure names, ppliteral – monospace font for literals (like true ),
– monospace font for literals (like ), pptype – sans-serif font to mark up types,
– sans-serif font to mark up types, ppvariable – sans-serif font to distinguish variables. Note that if you need to type ordinary text at any time you can use the \text command from amsmath. \begin { ppproc }{ fonts } \Proc { something }{ \ppvariable { x } \in \pptype { Integer }} \pp \ppfunction { sleep } 5 \If { x \ppkeyword { mod } 2 = 0 } \pp \ppvariable { y } \leftarrow \ppliteral { "even" } \Else \pp \ppvariable { y } \leftarrow \ppliteral { "odd" } \Fi \EndProc \end { ppproc } Pre-defined literals and keywords¶ Some popular keywords are pre-defined for your convenience: \Null – a lowercase null literal,
– a lowercase null literal, \True and \False – boolean literals, both lowercase,
and – boolean literals, both lowercase, \Return – the return keyword (for returning values from functions etc.), it takes one argument,
– the return keyword (for returning values from functions etc.), it takes one argument, \Lock and \Unlock – the lock and release operations for locks,
and – the lock and release operations for locks, \Wait and \Notify – the wait and notify operation keyword for monitors. \begin { ppproc }{ atomic } \Proc { next }{ s } \pp \Lock { s } \pp s \leftarrow s + 1 \pp r \leftarrow s \pp \Unlock { s } \pp \Return { r } \EndProc \end { ppproc } Define your own¶ Since the list of pre-defined commands is so limited you will probably need to define your own font styles and keywords. This is a short primer to get you going in a very rough-and-ready fashion. When defining font styles you only need to remember that you are in math mode initially. But if you use commands like \bf (bold), \rm (roman), \tt (typewriter), \sf (sans serif), \it (italics), etc. and remember to insert the text into a new block, the definition is trivial. For instance, use the command \def to define the command
ewstyle. The command will have one parameter #1. \def
ewstyle #1 {{ \bf #1 }} Place the new definition in the document header. Defining keywords, literal, or anything similar is just as simple. Typically you will use one of the existing styles and just type in whatever word you need. \def
ewkeyword { \ppkeyword { new~keyword }} \def
ewliteral { \ppliteral { new~literal }} If you want the command to also take a, so that you can define a fixed space or surround something with parentheses, this is also quite simple. Typically you will want your parameter to be used outside the style used for the actual keyword or literal. \def
ewkeyword #1 { \ppkeyword { new~keyword } (#1) }It has been decided idol group Morning Musume ’16 will perform at Asia Music Network Big Concert in Seoul hosted by MBC on October 6.
In 2015, MBC and LIAK launched ASIA MUSIC NETWORK, a professional gathering of Asia’s top and most influential leaders in music, entertainment, business, and networking.
This event has since taken place annually in the Digital Media City- a state of the art digital media entertainment cluster in Sangam, Seoul. ASIA MUSIC NETWORK integrates showcases, conferences, business meetings, and networking parties to focus on bringing Asia together.
The ASIA MUSIC NETWORK fosters a new landscape in the music industry by becoming a place for businesses worldwide to generate success with Asian artists and develop new talent for a sustainable future.
This year’s event will be hosted by South Korean radio host and former singer Bae Chulsoo.
K-pop girl groups Sistar, Red Velvet, CLC, Stellar, Wassup, Hello Venus, LaBoum and April will perform in the music fair’s signature concert. Also on the lineup are K-pop boy groups such as U-Kiss, Snuper, KNK, MAP6 and Boys Republic, as well as K-pop solo acts Eric Nam and Lim Seulong of boy band 2AM.
Of the 71 participating teams, 57 teams are Korean bands with 11 international groups and three joint collaborations involving artists from multiple countries. The international teams include Italian producer-songwriter Giorgio Moroder, British musician Stuart Gender, Japanese girl group Morning Musume ’16, Taiwanese singer Dino Lee and Thai band Room 39.
(Via Morning Musume ’16s official site)Doggie Brew Bites Combine Craft Beer, Organic Dog Treats
Used Grains Used to Make Healthy Incentive for Dogs
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When you walk into a local brewery to get a pint of locally made beer you’re probably not thinking about if your dog will like it.
Two bartenders did and now they’ve got an addictive treat that is human approved.
When your best friend has four legs the definition of treat isn’t exactly a beer after work.
“They want to give their dog something that’s equally pleasing to the dog as the craft beer is for themselves,” said baker and operations officer of Doggy Brew Bites, Mike McLean.
The craft beer-pouring, dog-owning duo has combined their two favorite things in life to create Doggie Brew Bites.
“If you love beer and dogs this is a fun product,” said founding partner, Matthew Barthelemy.
The main ingredient in the treats happens to be the same as craft brews.
“Barley malt from breweries we re-purpose, wheat flour, peanut butter, and eggs,” listed Barthelemy.
Mash is created after brewers wet down the barley and grains to extract the sugar.
What’s left is all natural and organic grains filled with carbohydrates and proteins.
Every day the brew bite guys pick up the mash from local brewers, bring it to the kitchen, mix it, roll it, hand cut, and bake them in their own kitchen.
Each batch is puppy approved by the doggie brew bite residents, Barley and Millie.
“When your moms baking cookies back in the day, your favorite part is licking that battered spoon and it’s the same scenario with them,” said McLean.
What these pups don’t know is that these treats are local, organic and recycled.
That’s a reward in its self.
“You could go out and buy a pint of your cheap domestic beer for $2.50 or you can spend a little bit more but get something way better in return,” said McLean, comparing his product to beer.
The treats sell for $12 a bag.
You can find Doggie Brew Bites in brewery tap rooms across the Northland.
For more information or to order the treats online, click here.The provincial government’s top priority in this session will be creating jobs and turning around the economy, Lt. Gov. Jocelyne Roy-Vienneau said in Wednesday’s throne speech.
The throne speech focused heavily on economic development and job creation, but it did not specifically mention the contentious topics of shale gas or hydraulic fracturing.
The speech painted a dreary picture of the province's economy.
Premier Brian Gallant promised a bill on his promised shale gas moratorium on Tuesday, but that commitment was not mentioned in the throne speech. (CBC) “New Brunswickers might be disappointed by the state of our economy, they might be discouraged by woeful unemployment statistics and they might be frustrated by the difficulties they face in building a life for themselves and their families within our province,” the throne speech said.
“In the months and years ahead, your government will work tirelessly to move New Brunswick forward.”
The throne speech, which summed up the majority of the Liberal party’s campaign commitments, highlighted the New Brunswick Jobs Board, which will give oversight in job creation, and Opportunities New Brunswick, which will be established to create jobs.
Opportunities New Brunswick will be a new Crown corporation and its job creation approach will be different from its predecessors, such as Invest NB, by “adopting a client-focused approach, by actively seeking to eliminate silos, and by being nimble, accountable and data-driven.”
The former Progressive Conservative government of David Alward created Invest NB after the 2010 election campaign.
The speech also criticizes former governments for politicizing job creation initiatives in the past.
"If we are going to create more jobs, we need to change our traditional approach to economic development. For too long, our province has allowed politics and parochial interests to dictate our job creation efforts. Instead, we need to be guided by evidence and expertise," Roy-Vienneau said in the throne speech.
The throne speech broadly sets out the provincial government's agenda for the upcoming session. This is the first time the legislature has sat since the Sept. 22 election that saw Gallant's Liberals form a majority government.
Specific details about new policies will be released in bills before the legislature rises later in December. There will also be a capital budget in December.
Silence on shale gas
The throne speech also highlighted energy as crucial sector in helping turn around the province's sluggish economy.
Lt. Gov. Jocelyne Roy-Vienneau said in Wednesday's throne speech that job creation will be the Gallant government's top priority. (CBC) “The global and North American energy landscapes are rapidly shifting. Your government is not satisfied by simply putting all our eggs in a single basket,” Roy-Vienneau said in the throne speech.
“A more diverse crop of energy and natural resource opportunities must be diligently pursued. This is why your government supports the responsible development of our energy and natural resource opportunities.”
The Liberals had criticized the Alward government during the election campaign as being too focused on developing the shale gas industry.
The throne speech doesn’t mention shale gas or hydro-fracking, but Gallant has promised to introduce a bill that would establish his government’s moratorium on shale gas exploration before the legislature breaks in December.
But Gallant left no doubt after the speech that the Liberals will be introducing a bill to establish the moratorium before Christmas
"I think it's pretty clear that this throne speech is very much geared towards our platform," he said. "We're going to be a government that fulfills its promises and that includes having a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing."
Opposition Leader Bruce Fitch said the Liberals are contradicting themselves by stating their focus is on jobs while pressing ahead with the shale gas moratorium.
"One of the biggest contradictions is when they stress `We're all for jobs and the economy,' yet they are saying no to potentially the biggest opportunity New Brunswick has had in a generation," said Fitch.
The throne speech outlines the Gallant government’s support for other energy projects, such as TransCanada Corp.’s Energy East pipeline, an oil export terminal in Saint John, and the proposed Sisson tungsten mine project.
Gallant has already met with the premiers of Alberta, Ontario and Quebec to show his support for the Energy East pipeline project.
"They were very, very light on a lot of the details," said Fitch.
"They put it in a new wrapper, put it in a new ribbon," he said. "But a lot of the things they are moving forward with for job creation are ones that we were working on."
The Liberals are also pledging to follow through with campaign commitments to review the Alward government’s Crown forestry policy and the provincial drug plan.
The Department of Health will review the requirement for uninsured New Brunswickers to pay premiums for the coverage starting in April.
"Small businesses and average New Brunswickers will suddenly face hefty premiums in exchange for coverage. Your government will explore other, more equitable ways of delivering this service,” the throne speech said.
The Department of Natural Resources will also be releasing documents that guided the development of the Crown forest strategy.
The provincial government is promising to review the plan “to ensure that it is as sustainable and as fair as possible given the constraints that have been inherited by [the Liberal] government,” Roy-Vienneau said in the throne speech.
Green Party Leader David Coon found the throne speech lacking in many areas, including health care, environmental sustainability, addressing climate change and improving relations with First Nations in New Brunswick.
"It feels a little bit like there were sections that just didn't quite make it into the speech," said Coon.
"it needed to be a little more fulsome. We really shouldn't have to read between the lines on what the plans are for in the area of social development, health care, transparency, justice, reconciliation with First Nations and environmental sustainability."The coffee roaster's latest location opened Monday morning in Old Irving Park. View Full Caption Provided
OLD IRVING PARK — The wait is over for Bow Truss coffee in Old Irving Park.
The newest location of the rapidly expanding coffee roaster started serving cappuccinos, macchiatos and espressos at 6 a.m. Monday, 3982 N. Avondale Ave.
The cafe has seating for 25. Hours are 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends.
Bow Truss joins Potbelly's and a Lou Malnati's carryout as tenants in the mixed-use Irving-Avondale-Keeler development.
The Old Irving shop, situated near the Irving Park Metra and CTA stations, marks the tenth Bow Truss in Chicago. The company is the biggest independent coffee chain in the city, with plans to double in size by the end of 2017, according to founder and CEO Phil Tadros.
"I love opening shops, I just love it," Tadros told DNAinfo when he announced the Old Irving location in 2015. "If someone let me open 100, I would."
RELATED: Bow Truss Is The Biggest Indie Coffee Chain In Chicago: Now What?
The cafe has seating for 25. Hours are 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends. [Provided]
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:1 of 1 2 of 1
“Renters of Vancouver” takes an intimate look at how the city's millennials are dealing with the housing crisis.
"A property company has bought up pretty much our whole block, and they’re planning to renovate our building. In the meantime, they’ve made people agree to new fixed-term leases in order to get them out of their homes without paying any money. It’s a new kind of renoviction.
When the company took over our building in the West End, we were told our old agreements didn’t count anymore. The company rep told me I could sign a lease for three, six, or twelve months, and that the business would renew it at the end—but literally as he said it, he ticked the box that meant it would be a fixed-term arrangement, which would end after the time had elapsed. The company wouldn’t be legally obliged to renew it, and it definitely wouldn’t be in their interest to.
My apartment is 275 square feet. I was sitting there alone at my desk, with these two large men in suits standing over me, waiting for me to sign that lease. I can totally understand why a lot of people would be so overwhelmed they would just sign it, or not read it properly under the pressure. I was happy with my old agreement, and I had a hunch that it was still valid, so I refused the new contract.
But a lot of people in my building did sign, which means they’re out of the building after six months or a year—however long they agreed to. And while the rest of us have been offered a relocation plan when the renovations start (even though it’s unclear whether it’s even legal or legitimate), the people who have signed new leases—some of which have lived in the building for over 20 years—aren’t even eligible for that anymore. Because when their lease is up, they’re done with the company.
The business owns the houses on both sides of us and the building just across, so it looks like the plan is to tear everything down and build a tower. Which is fine—they’ve bought the properties so it’s up to them what they do with it—but in the meantime, they've not gone through the steps of evicting us legally.
They’ve posted notices on our walls saying that they’ve hired a private investigator to see who’s smoking on the steps, and that if you throw away your garbage improperly, you’ll be fined. They then told us that our rent could only be paid by taking our cheques to the company offices, and that we had to pay it by the first of the month. We were only informed of this on the Friday of the long weekend, and the first was a holiday. It seemed as if they made it as inconvenient as possible so they would be able to kick anyone out who failed to comply. Several people got eviction notices over it.
The thing that brought this all to a head was when they tried to evict the old man who lives downstairs, called Ron. He’s 69, and he’s super sweet. He knows everybody in the building, and he’s lived there for a long time. He used to rent my apartment actually, but moved downstairs because it’s a bit cheaper. He pays about $620 a month, and his suite is tiny. It has about a six-and-a-half-foot ceiling and hardly any floor space.
The company decided to throw him out when they took over the building. They didn’t fill out a real eviction notice, but just taped a typed note on their letterhead to his door. It said that his apartment was ‘illegal, and unfit for habitation.’ True—it’s a really weird downstairs suite, and it’s probably unauthorized. But it’s been there for 21 years where city inspectors have come and gone, and nobody’s cared before. Even so, I understood why they might have grounds to kick him out—until we found the apartment listed on Craigslist.
It’s being rented out as a ‘Junior One Bedroom’ for $1500, starting October 1. Ron’s supposed to move out by September 30. When I called the property company pretending that I wanted to look round the suite, they told me that they weren’t going to be showing it until 5pm on September 30. That’s the actual minute that Ron has to be out of the apartment.
He went to the Residential Tenancy Branch yesterday to challenge the eviction. It doesn’t seem right to us that he can be thrown out because the company has deemed his suite to be unfit for habitation, but they’re renting it out immediately for more than double the price. He’s safe in his apartment for a couple months now at least, until the RTB schedules his hearing. The problem is that Ron has already signed a piece of paper saying that he’ll leave the apartment. Although that was only based on the letter from the property company saying that the suite was uninhabitable, the RTB might still rule against him.
We’ve talked to our MLA about what to do about the renovictions, and what to do to help Ron. He told us that we can drag things out for the next two or three years if we wanted to stay in our suites, but only by continually putting challenges in to the Residential Tenancy Branch. The property company will get the permits eventually for the renovations, and then they can evict us legally.
It’s tough for me to decide whether to fight this, or just to go somewhere else before I’m forced out."
Got a story to share? Tweet Kate Wilson here.Spencer Platt / Getty Images
Last year, Prevention Point Philadelphia handed out more than 2.8 million syringes to people who inject drugs—and it's made a huge difference. In 1992, when PPP opened its doors, nearly half of all HIV infections in Philadelphia were among people who shared used syringes.
"If you fast-forward to the latest data available, which is 2016, that went from 47 percent to five percent," says Jose Benitez, the program's executive director.
But the Pennsylvania city's only authorized needle exchange—one of the largest in the country—still isn't protected under state law. It's only via an ex-mayor's executive order that PPP are allowed to offer clean injection supplies. Elsewhere in the state, syringes are considered drug paraphernalia. Step outside of Philadelphia or Allegheny County and suddenly you're a criminal.
For years, comprehensive research from the American Medical Association, the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization, and others has pointed to one thing: Syringe services programs (SSPs) reduce the spread of blood-borne diseases, encourage drug users to find treatment and do not increase substance abuse. Such institutions are an essential tool in fighting the opioid epidemic.
Yet, across the country places like Prevention Point struggle for legal status while rural areas—those hardest hit by the opioid epidemic—have little to no access to clean needles. There are 200 syringe access programs across the US, but a recent CDC study estimated 2200 additional SSPs are needed to stave the rapid nationwide rise of hepatitis C and HIV infections.
At least thirteen states have implemented limited syringe exchange laws since 2015—but many of these states are still struggling heavily with overdose deaths and blood-borne diseases.
In West Virginia, the state reeling hardest from the opioid epidemic, nearly 84 percent of people with hepatitis C live more than ten miles from a needle exchange. Florida, which leads the country for new HIV infections, opened one SSP last year in Miami, but offers no state funding for it and, for a while, cops were still harassing participants.
More From Tonic:
When Mike Pence was governor of Indiana, the state's rural communities saw skyrocketing HIV infections. Pence initially opposed introducing syringe programs, but had a change of heart. Yet today, some facilities face closure while the state attorney general has been clashing with the CDC.
In 2009, the Obama administration removed federal restrictions for funding needle exchanges. However, a Republican Congress reinstated the ban in 2011. In late 2015, a measure was snuck into spending package again removing the ban—but it allowed funding for everything except the syringes themselves.
Nonetheless, because of Pennsylvania's convoluted syringe laws, its syringe exchange programs haven't seen a dime of that funding. Pennsylvania ranks 4th highest for heroin mortality and 7th highest for opioid mortality in general. It also has a higher than average rate for hepatitis C and syphilis.
If they're proven to be so effective, why is it such a challenge to fund and spread SSPs?
"People have stigmatized these kinds of programs and so what most lawmakers may think is that they're indulging or enabling people to use drugs," Benitez explains. "There's a whole litany of stigma that comes around this issue with how people think about it. Then you get the data and the data tells you something different and people have a hard time reconciling those two differences."
Pennsylvania House Rep. Ed Gainey has been working to undo that bias against SSPs by introducing HB 196, which removes syringes from the definition of drug paraphernalia. That's it—it doesn't provide funding for needle exchanges or anything else, but it would allow volunteers to pass out safe injection equipment without fear of arrest.
This is the third time Gainey has introduced this type of legislation. In the past, his bills haven't gotten off the ground—and HB 196 is expected to suffer a similar fate.
Rep. Matt Baker, who is chair of the House Health Committee, is the one who needs to bring HB 196 to the floor for a vote. Baker is allegedly opposed to SSPs, but has proposed legislation that would force overdose victims into treatment. Baker's office did not respond to a request for comment.
"A lot of people are scared, saying if we do things like that it's like we're giving them the freedom to get high," Gainey says. "Well, if you can go to the corner and get a bag of dope quicker than you can go to the supermarket and get a bag of chips, how much more freedom do they need? The freedom is there—the problem is it's not regulated."
Rep. Gainey's struggle is illustrative of the broader push for syringe access and how even in the face of overwhelming evidence, many are still reluctant to tolerate these programs. Even if Gainey loses this battle again, he says he will continue to fight.
"You have to create policies that are going to help people, but also you have to transform the mind, and that only comes through education," Gainey says. "A lot of times people think it's a promoting of drugs, but really what we're talking about is saving of lives."
Read This Next: This Is Exactly How I Became Addicted to HeroinA California preschool teacher is facing felony charges after she allegedly drugged toddlers with a sleep aid.
KTVU reports 59-year-old Deborah Gratz was arrested on child endangerment charges after she was fired from her job at the Kiddie Academy preschool in Morgan Hill.
A witness told authorities they observed Gratz putting an unknown substance into the drinking cups of the children in her classroom, who range in ages 1 to 2.
Police say when administrators confronted Gratz, she admitted putting an over-the-counter sleeping aid "Sominex" into the kids' drinks. None of the children drank from the cups the day the incident was reported.
Officials say Gratz had worked at the childcare center for the past five years.
Click for more from KTVU.
The Associated Press contributed to this reportEmbed is unavailable.
It's the fifth of November, and Alan Moore, the mad genius behind Watchmen and V for Vendetta, is showing his support for the Occupy Wall Street movement and the hacktivist group Anonymous. He has recorded a benefit song for Occupy called "The Decline of English Murder" about the greed of |
gluten-free products already on the market, and the majority contained well under 20 ppm of gluten. For maximum safety, it’s best to stick to established free-from manufacturers, or look for credible gluten-free certification programs (such as GFCP).
If you think a company is inappropriately displaying a gluten-free claim, contact them to ensure the product is meant to be gluten-free. You can also contact your local FDA Consumer Complaint Coordinator (see here).
See also:
FDA Finalizes Gluten-Free Standard
FDA’s Gluten-Free Rule: Issues in the Fine Print
How to Read a Label if You Have Celiac Disease
How to Read a Label if You Have Celiac Disease (Canadian version)Will we see Paul Rudd in another solo big-screen Marvel adventure? That’s the question raised by the $58 million Ant-Man earned over the weekend, a figure that fell short of the respective amounts grossed by Captain America: The First Avenger and Thor — the two films most comparable to Scott Lang’s cinematic debut — but was still enough to secure pole position at the box office.
When EW spoke with Ant-Man director Peyton Reed on the day of the film’s release, July 17, he admitted he was unsure as to whether there would be a sequel (“It still remains to be seen”) but was hopeful Marvel Studios would add Ant-Man 2 to the lengthy roster of upcoming projects the company announced last October.
“You know, Marvel laid out their plans at the end of last year that take them in to the Year 2083,” laughed the filmmaker. “So I don’t know where we would work into that. [But] there’s a parallel with directing. If you’re a smart director, you have a plan, but you’re also smart enough to know that if there’s a better idea to be had, you can deviate from the plan. I like to think that maybe Marvel thinks that way in terms of their larger universe.”
Reed also confirmed that he would be more than happy to return to the franchise. “I’d love the chance to do a second movie and further the voyage of these characters and do another Ant-Man adventure where it’s not an origins story and we’re free to just take those characters and go wherever we want to go,” said the director whose previous credits include Bring It On and The Break-Up. “I mean, there’s clearly some stuff that’s set up at the end of our movie, there’s some questions asked of these characters that hopefully we could provide the answers to. I feel there’s so much story yet to be told wth this character.”
As to when work might begin on a sequel, Reed claimed he “would be nuts right now to hazard a guess.” But…?
“In the best case scenario, if we’re lucky enough to actually have serious conversations about it, I think everybody would be inclined to make it happen as soon as possible,” he said.Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) is urging the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee to subpoena Donald 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 Jr. to testify publicly before the panel.
The Democratic senator, a member of the committee, sent a letter to Sen. Chuck Grassley Charles (Chuck) Ernest GrassleyOvernight Health Care: Drug execs set for grilling | Washington state to sue over Trump rule targeting Planned Parenthood | Wyoming moves closer to Medicaid work requirements Senate reignites blue slip war over Trump court picks Lower refunds amplify calls to restore key tax deduction MORE (R-Iowa) on Tuesday asking him to “immediately issue a subpoena for public testimony and documents from Donald Trump, Jr.”
“Recent revelations have shown beyond question that the American people can only feel certain that Mr. Trump, Jr. has been fully forthcoming if he is subject to a subpoena,” Blumenthal wrote.
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He added that the Senate Judiciary Committee should “issue a subpoena to compel him to fully account for his actions in front of the American people and to provide this committee with the documents we need to fulfill our important oversight responsibilities.”
Under Judiciary Committee rules, the panel can only issue a subpoena with the support of a majority of the committee’s members or when Grassley and 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.), the ranking member, are in agreement.
Trump Jr. is expected to appear before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, and has agreed to sit down with staff from the Senate Intelligence Committee. Both panels are investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.
Trump Jr. confirmed last month that he exchanged messages on Twitter with WikiLeaks during his father’s campaign. The website published troves of leaked Democratic emails believed to have been stolen by Russian-backed hackers.
Blumenthal pointed to the revelation as one of a “number of cascading disclosures that suggest collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.”
“Mr. Trump, Jr.’s refusal to testify before the Committee means that key questions have been left unanswered,” he said.
The Judiciary Committee — which is conducting its own investigation into the 2016 election and FBI Director James Comey’s firing — initially issued a subpoena earlier this year, but then backed off saying Trump Jr.'s attorneys had agreed to cooperate.
Trump Jr. met with Judiciary Committee staff in September and discussed a July 2016 meeting, which he took part in, involving a Russian lawyer promising dirt on 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.
But Democrats on the committee have been clamoring for him to testify publicly, and Grassley defended the closed-door meeting by saying that Trump Jr. would also testify publicly.NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Analysts at Goldman Sachs on Friday predicted that the Standard & Poor's 500 SPX, -0.08% will hit the 1,500 level by the end of 2011. Such a move would represent a 21% total return for investors this year, including a 2% dividend yield, said the Goldman analysts. The analysts posited a three-month target of 1,325 and a six-month target of 1,400. They based their predictions on an expected 5% growth of the U.S economy in 2011 and 8% sales growth. They noted that, while the economy was 16% larger at the end of 2010 than at the end of 2005, the S&P 500 was just 1% above the level of year-end 2005.
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The decision came after officers said they were not well enough equipped to deal with any attacker wielding a rifle with high capacity magazines and wearing body armour, as has been the case in several recent US school shootings.
Using semi-automatic weapons would allow them to penetrate body armour and to be more accurate than when firing with handguns, police said.
Compton, a suburb of 100,000 people in southern Los Angeles, has long been associated with gang and gun culture, although the murder rate has dropped dramatically in recent years.
The local school board, which oversees 26,000 pupils, decided to allow specially selected officers to carry the AR-15s in the back of their cars after having training.
William Wu, the Compton police chief, told the school board: “This is our objective. Save lives. [With] handguns you’d be lucky to hit accurately at 25 yards. With a rifle in the hands of a trained person, you can be go 50, 100 yards accurately.”
Some students and parents, who have previously accused school police in Compton of racial profiling, expressed concern. Francisco Orozco, a recent high school graduate, told KPCC radio: “The school police have been notorious in the community and in reality have never had to shoot anyone before. So this escalation of weapons we feel is very unnecessary.”
According to Mr. Wu, other U.S. school districts in California, Florida, Utah and Kansas already had police armed with semi-automatic weapons. He said: “These rifles give us greater flexibility in dealing with a person with bad intent who comes on to any of our campuses.”
Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said the development was “deeply disturbing,” telling Fox News: “No other free nation in the world would even consider this.”
The Daily TelegraphKansas City, Mo. — Invicta Fighting Championships today announced the signing of two fighters to its roster.
Joining the featherweight division will be undefeated Amy Coleman (2-0) of Knoxville, Tenn. The 30-year-old, known as “Donkey Kong,” fights out of Shields Systems MMA. She was most recently in action in May, earning a decision win over Annie DeCrescente.
The other new face is flyweight Brieta Carpenter (0-0). “Tank Girl” fights out of Sacramento, Calif. Six of her eight wins as an amateur came before the final bell, including a 10-second knockout in her most recent outing. The 22-year-old’s professional debut will take place inside the Invicta cage.
Bouts for the new roster additions have not been finalized at this time. Check InvictaFC.com for future updates on both fighters.
About Invicta FC:
Invicta Fighting Championships is a world championship, all-pro mixed martial arts (MMA) fight series dedicated to providing female athletes with a major platform to hone their skills on a consistent basis. Founded in 2012 by longtime MMA executive Shannon Knapp, Invicta is committed to pioneering the future growth of women’s MMA by promoting the best possible match-ups between female competitors and identifying and developing future superstars of the sport. Follow Invicta on Twitter (@InvictaFights), Facebook (Facebook.com/InvictaFights) and Instagram (@InvictaFC) for all the latest details on the promotion.In a report published this month, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigated the shooting death of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agent Jaime Zapata by drug cartel members. The report revealed that Zapata’s death may have been prevented if arms trafficking arrests had been made before the Feb. 15, 2011, attack.
The report’s executive summary states:
Overall we found numerous problems with ATF’s assimilation of information concerning the Osorio brothers and Morrison and the timeliness of ATF’s response to mounting evidence that they were committing firearms offenses. We determined that ATF’s Dallas Field Division had collected sufficient facts prior to Otilio Osorio’s purchase of the Osorio Firearm to justify questioning Ranferi Osorio and Morrison or taking other investigative steps within a reasonable time about their firearms purchases. We do not believe that it is possible to identify what investigative steps should have been taken at the time, or precisely when arrests should have occurred, and that to attempt to do so now would be speculative. We do, however, believe that there clearly was probable cause to arrest both Osorio brothers and Morrison after ATF witnessed the Osorios complete a transfer of 40 firearms on November 9, 2010. Yet, ATF’s first contact with the Osorios and Morrison did not occur until late February 2011. We did not agree with explanations that ATF offered for this delay.
The executive summary explains the circumstances on the day that members of the Los Zetas drug cartel opened fire on the vehicle carrying Zapata and ICE agent Victor Avila, who was seriously injured in the attack. The killers had been trafficking in arms and their activities were known by federal law enforcement, but they were only arrested after Zapata’s death.
On February 15, 2011, ICE Agents Victor Avila and Jaime Zapata were driving on a highway near the town of Santa Maria del Rio, approximately 200 miles north of Mexico City, when members of the Los Zetas (Zetas) drug trafficking organization opened fire on their vehicle. Agent Zapata died from his injuries and Agent Avila was seriously wounded. On February 23, 2011, the Mexican military arrested several Zeta members and associates in in connection with the Zapata/Avila shooting and seized six firearms. Traces of these firearms showed that Otilio Osorio had purchased one of the firearms (Osorio Firearm) on October 10, 2010 at the Dallas-Fort Worth Gun Show, and that Robert Riendfliesh had purchased another of the firearms (Riendfliesh Firearm), on August 20, 2010 at a pawn shop in Beaumont, Texas. ATF’s comparison of cartridge casings and the statements of Zeta members linked both weapons to the Zapata/Avila shooting scene. Osorio and Riendfliesh were arrested along with Osorio’s brother, Ranferi, and a neighbor, Kelvin Morrison, shortly after ATF completed traces of the firearms on February 25, 2011.
The 118-page report provides detailed evidence of the OIG’s investigation and draws conclusions but relies on earlier reports to provide recommendations on how the DOJ can improve their operations.
The report conclusion states:Around the same time Prime Minister Trudeau enjoyed lunch with French President François Hollande, police tear gassed climate activists who broke a prohibition against street protests the Sunday afternoon before the United Nations COP21 climate summit.
Many threw objects at police near Place de la Republique in central Paris. Some 200 people were arrested and some journalists were sprayed in the face.
"I was on the street to fight against global warming," Parisian Arthur Levivier told the National Observer. "We've had a few attacks of terrorist attacks, and the French government used this as an opportunity to fight against activism. Now they are calling green activism terrorism."
The French government banned public protests, saying they represent security risks in the wake of recent terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in restaurants, cafes and a national stadium soccer match. Paris is hosting the arrival of 147 world leaders on Monday, including President Obama.
Paris police tear gas climate protesters before COP21. Photo by World Council of Churches' Sean Hawkey
Many citizens here applaud the security precautions.
And Canadian premiers Christy Clark, Rachel Notley, Brad Wall and Kathleen Wynne laid a wreath in memory of the lives lost. Prime Minister Trudeau said Canada would do its part to support the people of France in its time of mourning.
“Our hearts and prayers go out to our French cousins during this dark and terrible time. The recent terrorist attacks in Paris are not only an attack on the people of France – they are also an attack on our shared ideals. These crimes are an affront to our way of life and the fundamental values we share with our closest allies," the PMO said in a statement.
But some aren't taking the restrictions against their freedoms lightly.
"They are using it to allow verification on everything about us. There've been a lot of arrests in Paris and everywhere in France, and they say it's because we're in a state of emergency — but it's a bit crazy to arrest a seller of vegetables, just because they are protesting climate change," said Levivier.
Machine gun armed solider patrolling the Eiffel Tour before the COP21 climate summit on Saturday. Photo by Mychaylo Prystupa.
Some 200 people were arrested, according to news reports. Many were identified as "anti capitalists."
Levier said some in the protests crowds were just trouble makers —ruining the climate justice message that others wanted to spread.
"Some protesters are not really here to fight climate change, they just fight cops."
"So people on the TV say 'look at those violent activists' - but that is not us. Those stupid guys are not us."
"We are fighting for a better world."It’s finally back! After a long wait, TMNT is finally back with new episodes, and this first episode really feels like a return to form. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the galactic adventures of the last volume, and it’s been fun seeing the Turtles and company save the world in various ways. To me, however, the Turtles have always been at their best when the fight is personal, and located in New York City. That the episode is entitled “City at War”, itself a major arc in Turtles lore, seems to be the writers signaling to fans that this volume will be going back to the roots of the series. And you can count me as excited.
“City at War” definitely acted as a introduction to the new status quo of Season 4. Taking the time to do some world building and character development, as we step away from the turtles in space scene, was a good decision. When last we left off, the Turtles, April, Casey and their younger selves were able to defeat the Triceratons and Shredder, and save Splinter and the world. While their younger selves set off for their own space adventure, the now current Turtles and friends went home.
We pick up a few weeks later, with Leo narrating, informing the audience that without the Triceratons, Kraang, and Shredder, things have calmed down in the NYC. So much so, that Splinter decides to initiate April formally into Clan Hamato, and make her a kunoichi. I love that their bringing the series back into a martial arts perspective, and doing so through the lens of April is a cool idea. More over, seeing April struggle with her new title, and the skills of new character Shinigami, was welcome. Last volume, April felt like a walking deus ex machina, her powerful psychic abilities acting as a get out of trouble free card. April’s character will really benefit from a more grounded arc.
Shinigami is looking like a great addition so far too. Using the mystical side of the TMNT universe gave us some great visuals in the episode and I’m sure will continue to entertain. Revealing that Shinigami was not, in fact, a new henchman for the Shredder, but rather a partner for Karai, was a nice, if brief, twist early in the episode. I’m happy they got to the point where Karai is taking the initiative to bring honor back to the Foot Clan. This is an important motivation in all interpretations of the character and I’m interested to see how the youngest version will bear this burden, as well as deal with her snake transformation.
Who knows what different “gangsters and super villains” will appear to fill the power vacuum Shredder left? Maybe we’ll have the return of the Purple Dragons? Whoever it is, they didn’t wait long to show that Shredder is still a player. I didn’t realize how beat up Shredder was. I had to go back and watch the fight with Splinter from last episode. Splinter certainly did a number on him, hitting him in various pressure points to disable him, but the reveal at the end of “City at War” really made it look like he got caught in another fire or something. We know that Splinter has mystical powers in this iteration of the TMNT, and it did look like Shredder had bruise and burn marks where Splinter attacked his vitals. It seems we haven’t seen the full strength of Master Splinter, a possibility that is very intriguing.
Watching Stockman pump Shredder full of mutagen was a chilling site. Who knows what he’s going to look like when he’s fully healed? Will we get this iteration’s version of Super Shredder? Or will it be a completely new transformation? I’m definitely looking forward to that reveal.
“City at War” was a great welcome back to Nick’s TMNT. It set up new conflicts, introduced a new character, and began new character arcs for April and Karai. It acts as a symbol that the show is returning to the roots of what make the TMNT great: family, honor, and the defense of one’s home. With the new status quo set, and a firm focus on the martial and mystical arts, “City at War” starts off the second half of Season 4 on strong footing. I for one am very excited to see it hit stride.Jason Holtman, once high up business guy at Valve, has left Microsoft. There, he was in charge of PC gaming.
Neowin spotted an update on Holtman's LinkedIn page which shows he left Microsoft in January this year, just six months after he joined the company. There he was in charge of Microsoft's PC gaming and entertainment strategy.
When he joined Microsoft he told GamesIndustry International: "Yes, I have joined Microsoft where I will be focusing on making Windows a great platform for gaming and interactive entertainment.
"I think there is a lot of opportunity for Microsoft to deliver the games and entertainment customers want and to work with developers to make that happen, so I'm excited to be here."
In a statement Microsoft confirmed the shock departure. "We can confirm that Jason has left Microsoft and we're grateful for his time at the company. We wish him the best in his future endeavours." Holtman has yet to reveal the reason for his exit.
What now for Microsoft and PC gaming? With Games for Windows Live set to be discontinued this summer, the future is unclear.
In a recent interview with Rock, Paper Shotgun Microsoft Studios creative chief Ken Lobb said: "We're getting very strong support internally. So we're really going after PC."The mathematician’s question
Analyzing Space and Time as personal philosophies turned up common threads of meaning in the jumbles of seemingly random symbolism, and in general made things damn interesting. Doing the same with other pairs of aspects is both more and less difficult – less because many of them are better documented by other theorists, and more because identifying real philosophers for some of them is a giant pain in the ass.
Light and Void stand out as the best starting point. We know from Calliope that they’re related somehow, we have a more in-depth canon description of Void than of any other aspect, and we’ve seen examples of Light powers from three very different classes. The variety of meanings confuses the hell out of people but that’s no big deal for us because we’re attacking the root of the problem, the fundamental difference in perspective that makes Light and Void especially alien to one another.
So let’s dive right in and shed some Light on the subject.
Write down what you were thinking when you clicked this link. Make a note of the time to the exact second; the first object you see when you turn to your right; the thing you’re touching with your left hand; the total number of shoes with laces in the same room as you; and the predominant ingredient in what you ate for breakfast (such as bread).
I picked these things at random, but they’re important anyway because they happened in the first place. They have meaning and significance. In a different reality you would have done things differently, or you might not exist at all. Somewhere, somehow, there is a reason it happened this way.
Light players are up to their eyeballs in reasons. Their world is a drama and they’re searching for their role. Knowledge is power – knowledge of any kind, about anything. Even lies are important, because the reasoning behind the lie can say as much as the truth ever did. Every action taken by another person, every random accident, is a hint at the profound secret of the universe.
Rose is frustrated by her mom because she overanalyzes her actions, unable to accept that they might be random nonsense. Her attempts to explain everything ever are a mixed blessing to her friends. Of course, we already knew this about Rose because Doc Scratch explained it in detail:
Ordinarily, Light players have no oracle but reality itself to which they can pose “the right questions.” They can only wonder, wait for a sign, and hope they’re bright enough to understand it once it appears. In their eyes, whether they get it or not hinges on whether they are important enough to deserve it.
Luck is how they rationalize and quantify this feature of reality. A Seer of Light with “all the luck” would serendipitously know whatever she needs to answer any question posed to her, and a Prince of Light would find events conspiring to help him destroy. A sociopathic Thief of Light desires attention almost to the exclusion of other concerns, so powers like Vriska’s guarantee her objective importance while causing otherwise unpredictable events.
Each aspect has a different relationship with luck, in keeping with its view of the world. For example, Breath players might say that luck is always good, and Blood players that it’s always bad. Mind players like Terezi recognize that corrupt people can be important, and evil deeds can steer history. Luck “doesn’t matter” because being important has nothing to do with being right.
Void players take it a step further. To them, luck doesn’t even exist.
Turn the concept of meaning on its head. Look under a microscope: All atoms of hydrogen are exactly the same, made of interchangeable parts. The whole world is made of these objects with no individual distinctions, bouncing off each other, none of them having goals or decisions to make.
Realities themselves are likewise interchangeable. Our universe could be replaced with a different one and we’d be none the wiser. Take another look at the notes you made. Instead of English words and Roman letters, imagine some other script, for a language you learned in an alternate reality. That would be as readable there as this text is here. The message is immaterial to the form.
Sartre’s existentialist writings model consciousness as the process of imagining importance. Because meaning exists inside our heads and not as a physical object, the absence of matter has the same power as its presence. Darkness does not exist in the same way as light, nor caves and silence in the same way as rock and sound. Such distinctions are human inventions, meaning that we created from nothingness.
Heroes of Void dwell on the concept of absence because they feel it eroded within them. They see their own existences not just as weak, but undefined. Invisible, ineffectual, they could drop dead and the world would continue uninterrupted. If you asked them who they “really” are, they could not begin to answer the question.
For a spy or a thief – or a Knight striking from the shadows – this inner anonymity is an awesome power. For others, it is terrifying. They cling to outside meaning indiscriminately, appealing to religion or society to fill up the void and grant them a purpose. They dwell in absurdities, their lives consumed by nonsense. They uphold even the faultiest of moral codes to keep from looking inward and seeing what isn’t there.
To master Void is to rebuild yourself from the inside out, accepting that you are nothing and then becoming the darkness that others run from. The unknown frightens us because literally any threat could be lurking within it. A Void player can be none of those threats, or all of them. He can even make the unknown unknown, becoming the invisibe man he imagined, moving amongst others as if he truly did not exist.
Rose came into Sburb with no concept of a lack of meaning. She thought of the darkness as concealing deeper secrets, alien to other mortals simply because they were too dumb to unravel the greater mystery. She had the ambition to seek that power, and the intelligence to understand its arcane teachings. Finding the outer gods within her grasp in a realm of miracles and monsters, she quietly labeled herself the chosen one. She was going to do things nobody else ever could.
John’s death changed that. Trapped in a doomed timeline, mourning the friends she never met, she faced pure futility for the first time in her life. The seeds of doubt followed her dreamself back to the alpha timeline and sprouted with the revelation that the whole session was doomed. Within minutes she was clawing to win back her place in the cosmic spotlight. She met the call of the horrorterrors with enthusiasm. If she and her friends could no longer win, she’d bring the world down around them. If the devil himself dared obstruct her, she’d kick his teeth out. Better to die screaming and become a legend than escape into obscurity with her meaningless life.
So thinking, she talked to Scratch.
We’ll never know exactly what damage she sustained from their earlier conversations, but her final moments of clarity amount to a crash course in existentialism. Doc Scratch spends the entire pesterlog breaking down her Light player mindset, assaulting inconsistencies in her valuation of intrinsic meaning. She learns bit by bit to see the world from a Void-like perspective, with disastrous consequences.
Let’s take it from the top:
Literally the first thing he does is remind us he’s a world-class douchebag. Rose has been going mad with anticipation, wondering what it could possibly mean that he’s forcing her to wait, and he straight up tells her it meant nothing. This would be one thing coming from a mortal, but when an omniscient truth-teller says something was meaningless, it has to be objectively meaningless. Rose can’t waste any time interpreting this as a sign from the horrorterrors. He’d have told her if it was any such thing.
Rose might overanalyze but she’s not superstitious. She knows that if the world is full of signs and meanings, they have to come from somewhere. Logically, that source ought to be intelligent, and it has to be capable of dictating its meaning to paradox space. This is Rose’s understanding of a god, and now that the horrorterrors are disqualified she thinks maybe she’s been talking to the wrong gods the entire time.
She keeps her mouth shut about this for a few minutes because she doesn’t think blurting things out is dignified, but soon finds an elegant way to bring it up:
If Scratch is not a god, he’s just some guy. If “some guy” is way stronger and smarter than the gods, what the hell is the point of having them?
Her battleship isn’t sunk just yet. She’s been toying with another idea since she made those wands in act 4. It’s hard for her to believe because she thinks it’s really stupid, but she wonders about it regardless and even brings it up in conversation with humans and trolls alike. We could picture it as a forcefield permeating the multiverse, pure meaning as a power in its own right, omnipotent but lacking in conscious will.
Rose calls this power magic.
We call it “plot.”
There’s a very good reason for “objective” importance in the context of a work of fiction. A Prince of Light doesn’t simply destroy what he wants; he destroys what the plot needs destroyed. A Sylph heals plot holes and gaps in exposition. A Seer glimpses plot points and navigates by them. Vriska steals the spotlight by upstaging other characters, and the plot is forced to revolve around her. Serving the Light aspect means making the story more interesting, so that the eyeballs of the audience itself remain fixed to the screen.
The Void aspect is thus the admission that we could stop reading Homestuck and our lives would go on without it. Somewhere there is a Void player who can take advantage of this. She could get up and walk out of the comic, taking her friends with her. Other characters would be oblivious to their absence. The villains could go on doing battle with transparent cutouts in the shape of the people they think they’re fighting. Our heroes would be out of Lord English’s reach not because they’ve defeated him, but because they’ve escaped to a totally different website.
That sounds far-fetched though. Let’s get back to Rose.
Scratch can’t come right out and say “magic isn’t real,” but that’s not his game anyway. What he wants is for Rose to treat ideas coming from within her as unilaterally more meaningful than the ones that come from reality. To this end, he starts asking questions. He signals to her that his objective knowledge is less valuable than the perspective of an individual; that nobody can tell her what something means, not even a god or someone smarter than a god. Which, by the way, she could become if she so chose.
This stuff is poison for Rose. She’s about to crack. The rest of her life could go great and she’d still be tormented by doubt, because she no longer sees any particular reason to be Rose Lalonde.
With the news of her mother’s death, she shatters. Everything she has ever done in her life was a waste of time. She already has nothing left to contribute to her friends’ survival, and even if they escape she feels they can go on without her. Her will to live is finished. A sneeze could bowl her over. What she gets is a hurricane.
Let’s say you were asked to estimate the amount of evil in the furthest ring. If you responded with nonsense like “probably not,” a Void player would laugh it off, but a Light player would slap you in the face. You’d have to remind them that not only does “evil” need a more precise definition, but concepts like “now” and “everything” are useless out there, and their implicit inclusion makes the question unanswerable. You were asked a bullshit question and you could only give a bullshit answer. The symbols had lost their meaning.
Void players work well with computers because they can think like computers. A word processor won’t see the difference in meaning between “God is dead” and “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.” A paint program can’t tell you what colors look like. Machines just manipulate these interchangeable symbols according to rules with no inherent meaning. It’s our job as human beings to look at the monitor, put the colored dots back together, and invent the picture of a cat inside our minds.
Rose’s head didn’t work that way, not on LOHAC and not once she’d ascended to god tier. She can see symbols in terms of other symbols so long as the meaning makes sense, but if they’re broken down into something “irreducible” like the taste of apples, she’s lost. Her powers work the same way. If you define what it means to succeed, she can tell you how to pursue that success.
The magic cue ball doesn’t appear to share her limitations. It tells the truth objectively and without hesitation. It cannot ask you to clarify a question to which the only answer is nonsense. An inability to handle the whole truth is a human failing for which it lacks compassion, so the onus is on the asker to engage it only with a meaningful question.
A part of Rose must have realized this was a bad idea, but the rest of her didn’t think it mattered. Asking such a question could make her head explode for all she cared.
To her credit, this isn’t quite what happened. She looked into an infinite well of utter nonsense, and her mind found a way to handle it. She’d been trained for it unwittingly by Scratch. The training worked.
The horrorterrors had no hand in what she became. She did it to herself.Name: Timothy Liljegren Current team: Rögle BK (SHL) and Timrå IK (on loan) Height: 6’0” Weight: 192 lbs Birthday: April 30, 1999 (18) Position: D Shoots: Right
Timothy Liljegren has a hill to climb before he gets to the draft. He was selected to play for Team Sweden at the U18 World Championship in Slovakia, and the tournament gave him a stage to show off his skills ahead of the draft. But an underwhelming performance last season spawned reports that he was sliding in rankings — will his credible showing in Slovakia manage to stop the slide?
In seven games played in the tournament, Liljegren had two assists and four PIM, about what you'd expect for a young defenseman. But he also had 28 shots on goal (second-most for Team Sweden's defensemen, the first being Erik Brannstrom at 37), which averages to four per game, showing that he is definitely an offensive-minded defenseman.
Liljegren, once ranked by TSN at second overall, spent last season plagued by health issues. He contracted mononucleosis, came back to play "too quickly" (in his words), and had to take another month off before he could play again. Even with his struggles, he had five points in 19 games in the SHL. Among players under 18 in the SHL, that put him 4th in points, but first in points per game. Only the aforementioned Erik Brannstrom was ahead of him in points for U18 defensemen.
To give his performance perspective, in Victor Hedman’s U18 season in the SHL, he had four points in 39 games. Due to Hedman’s December birthday, compared to Liljegren’s April birthday, Hedman did have another season in the SHL before being drafted, and put up 21 points in 43 games. Erik Karlsson has a similar birthday as Liljegren. When Karlsson was a U18 player, he only played in thirteen SHL games between the regular season and playoffs, and only had one point.
When Liljegren returned, he wasn't given much ice time, so he was loaned to Timrå of the Allsvenskan league for five games. Allsvenskan is Sweden’s second tier professional league below the Swedish Hockey League. He finished out the year by playing in the playoffs for Rogle BK’s U20 team, as well as one playoff game for the U18 team. For the U20 team in the playoffs, he contributed five points and a goal in three games.
In an interview with Aftonbladet, Liljegren also said going through this adversity was good for him, and he became mentally tougher because of it. Because Liljegren was returned to Timrå, THW dings him as having "yet to prove his worth in a senior league." Fair enough. But on the other hand, THW points out that "not even this season seems to have ruined his reputation."
Currently ranked seventh overall by Future Considerations, Liljegren is their second-highest ranked defenseman in the draft. He is also that rare bird, the right-shot D. He is a medium-sized prospect at 6'0 and 192 lbs, but at age 18, is likely to put on bulk for an NHL career. He is also likely to be snapped up by the teams picking before 14th overall, but just in case he drops, the Lightning should definitely keep an eye on him.
Scouting Liljegren, Jeff Mare |
off to different people, in different bits of the office) was chasing me to find out when I could have the art briefs ready for a bunch of products. I supplied all of the briefs and then I said “This is good to go, but I don’t have all the products in yet; I don’t have the script for Red Marked or the manuscript for Pharos. Here’s the brief for the artwork but I’m still working with the authors to deliver the actual content.”
Then it got to deadline time on Pharos… I said…
“Okay, here’s the book. I gave you the internal illustration guidelines for these scenes, could you show me the artwork so I know where to put it?”
“No. We haven’t done the artwork because the book isn’t finished.”
“Right. Hang on a minute, the book goes to print on Friday this week, and you haven’t commissioned the artwork for it yet? The artwork that can take up to six weeks to produce?”
“We haven’t commissioned the artwork because the book isn’t finished.”
“The book GOES TO PRINT ON FRIDAY and you haven’t commissioned the artwork even though I gave you the briefs months ago? Right, okay. I need to speak to your manager because this process isn’t going to work anymore.”
We looked for a solution and I gave them a whole list of options – we could reuse artwork, we could fast-track it… we just had to get somebody working on it there and then if it was going to happen. Two days later I got an email back to say the book was ready to go to print, so I asked what we did about the artwork.
“We didn’t put any artwork in, it’s going to print without internal illustrations.”
“Hang on, hang on… We’re charging a premium price on this product on the basis that it has an afterword and four pieces of internal artwork! Can we not even find reused artwork?”
“We don’t have time, it needs to go to print.”
So the day the book was supposed to go to print I was running up and down the stairs to Forge World looking for appropriate images from their portfolios to insert into that book. Just so it would have decent artwork that had not been printed by Black Library before, you understand. It was only due to the fact that I personally had maintained such close links with Alan Bligh and Paul Rudge down in their Studio and worked with them on a weekly basis. I had to call that in as a favour, and even then it caused a lot of problems because it upset the Publications workflow as well as theirs. I was literally downloading raw image files from their server, full and uncompressed, so that I could give them to our production guys in order for them to be put into the book. The page layout then had to be redone to insert blank pages for the artwork, which basically caused the book to go to print late.
With Red Marked it had to go to print very quickly after being recorded because it was being put out as an MP3 first. Nobody had got a cover from Neil [Roberts] for it yet, so they just said “Oh we’ll use a symbol or something, or we’ll re-use a piece of artwork.” We had never, ever re-used a piece of artwork on the cover of a main range Horus Heresy product. Reissues, fine… anthologies and omnibuses, a different matter potentially across different ranges. The Horus Heresy though… you HAVE to have an original cover for every product. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, there.
No, you know what – that’s not fair of me. What works really well in the Studio is the way they can react to the problems that pop up in new and creative ways. But when you’ve got a series of fiction that’s been going for (at that point) more than thirty novels and however-many audio dramas, collections and art books, you can’t just change the format because somebody didn’t commission artwork in time! It was always one of those things like “I thought we gave this stuff to other people on other teams to deal with so that there wouldn’t be these problems, and yet it’s not been done!”
When Games Workshop had been making its sales figures public for that time to their investors and putting it out in the financial sector with its annual reports, it was quite obvious that the HUGELY profitable Black Library division had dropped down to almost nothing. It was because of the direction that we’d been given, and all of our authors were being asked to work on tie-in products for Studio stuff in order to basically provide marketing material for the games or for new miniatures.
But we do great original fiction! Not everything we do should be a scene by scene tie-in to a board game! The Betrayal at Calth stuff was my little rebellion, like “I’m not going to settle for putting out a book that’s just this game retold as a story. It needs to be something new and original.” As it was, having two narratives intertwined across two books… Publications loved that, because they got to sell two books! They did a limited edition out of it…readers loved it, and it got a lot of new gamers into the fiction as well. That’s a win whichever way you slice it!
At that point I think Games Workshop management was changing its attitude considerably. The new CEO was looking at how things could be done better and more efficiently, like for example the community aspect, and licensing. There was the joke online that licensing were giving licenses to anybody who just asked nicely, but Games Workshop’s licensing procedure is very, very strict! It’s one of those things where someone suddenly thought “What if all other parts of the company were run like this?” and it’s been a HUGE turnaround for GW. An awesome course correction, especially for those of us who saw it happen from within the company.
And suddenly the attitude was ‘Why is Black Library part of Publications? It really shouldn’t be, so let’s pull it out again’. Just as we had kind of managed to get things vaguely working, they dragged us out by the bootstraps and said “Right, it’s you guys now! You’re in a new office, half of the team are going to stay in Publications, you guys go make books… and make it all cool and awesome again!”
It was absolutely terrifying at first. We had no schedule, no idea what we were supposed to be doing, not really any idea what our remit was… but then they brought in some of the managers who had overseen the more successful and more profitable long-term aspects of Games Workshop. The guys who understood what the opportunities were for marketing and remembered what Black Library had been like before it joined the Studio, and who had expertise from areas like White Dwarf or the video team. Suddenly with these really experienced and really talented managers who totally GET Black Library… it’s now careering forwards again.
It’s almost, for me, heartbreaking to have stepped away at the moment when it seems to be returning to exactly the same philosophy as when I first joined the company, but with a much greater profile being built and so many more resources to call on! It’s simultaneously the worst and the best thing for me. I always thought I’d see the Horus Heresy through to the final page, but at least I’ve planned out the series with the authors now. I know how it ends, I know who’s working on what books all the way to the last one, it’s just going to be now that the plan’s going to get executed by whoever is there on the Editorial team after me, and I’m sure they’ll bring in loads of cool stuff as well. I don’t feel like I’ve abandoned it but I do feel like I’ve stepped away at the moment where things would have started to make up for all that we had to put up with when there was that conflict between the two departments.
That was the saga of Publications and Black Library. It just didn’t work as a combined entity!
***
Well. I think you’ll agree with me when I say that things make a bit more sense after hearing that! It’s fascinating to get a glimpse behind the curtain, so to speak, and to see what was happening within Black Library over these last few years. Like I said earlier on, it looks like the difficulties that Black Library has had to work through have actually helped in the long run. Recent releases, not to mention Games Workshop’s current approach to social media and building its community, are all pointing in one direction…let’s hope things continue that way!
I’d like to thank Laurie for taking the time to talk to me for this interview, and for being so open and honest! I hope you’ve enjoyed reading the interview; next, check out the second part…there’s a little treat at the end that Horus Heresy fans might not want to miss!
Has this prompted any questions or comments? Feel free to let me know – you can leave a comment below, or drop me a line on Facebook or Twitter.
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FacebookAs a hack auteur, prolific writer, director and producer, Luc Besson is a seeming contradiction. He’s spent his career churning out grubby, insanely commercial genre movies, such as his Taken trilogy. But within those categories, Besson manages to invest an awful lot of personality and eccentricity. Besson may specialize in trash, but at his best, he makes trash with heart and soul.
Luc Besson on turning Rihanna into a 28th-century Cleopatra and being stood up by Prince Read more
When Besson is working on a big canvas, as with 1997’s The Fifth Element, a film with the straight-faced audacity to posit that love truly is the fifth element, it becomes impossible to deny his auteur status. Two decades after The Fifth Element was a worldwide box-office success and attained instant cult classic status, Besson has made another magnum opus, another labor of love, another movie that is so personal that it’s essentially Luc Besson in cinematic form, in Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
Only this time, the critics have their knives out and audiences are staying away (the film has scraped a 51% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has only made back a fifth of its $177m budget worldwide). This is particularly bad news for Besson, who invested his own money into the movie along with his heart and soul, making this the most expensive independent film of all time and not one that looks likely to ever turn a profit.
It’s easy to see why Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is bombing hard. For starters, it’s called Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, a name that means nothing to American audiences. Like other high-profile, auteurist, director-driven science fiction flops such as Sucker Punch, Chappie, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Jupiter Ascending, Valerian is audacious, original and ambitious to a fault. Like those oddball flops, it’s clearly the work of an auteur willing to pursue his creative vision even if makes him seem ridiculous and laughable.
From a commercial standpoint, Valerian shares a problem with the aforementioned films that, creatively, at least, should be a virtue: it’s too original. In a world of cookie-cutter entertainment, it makes the mistake of straying from formula, and paid a steep price for its deviation.
These oddball science fiction flops are original in sometimes perversely derivative ways. Chappie, for example, is morbidly fascinating in part because it doesn’t borrow so much as it steals shamelessly from the earlier blockbusters Short Circuit and Robocop as well as the mythology and stage personas of the highly theatrical South African rap duo Die Antwoord, who unwisely star as fictionalized version of themselves. But amid this flagrant thievery, the writer-director Neill Blomkamp, who had slightly more success with District 9, has created something utterly distinctive and unique. It’s unlike any movie ever made, even the movies it rips off. The audacity of Blomkamp’s vision is a wonder to behold.
Chappie: five surprises in Neill Blomkamp’s AI movie Read more
Just as Chappie’s DNA comes from Robocop and Short Circuit and the theatricality of South African hip-hop, Jupiter Ascending bears such a strong resemblance to the Matrix trilogy that its writer-directors, the Wachowski sisters, might have been tempted to sue for plagiarism if they hadn’t written and directed those movies as well.
Only instead of Keanu Reeves as Neo, Jupiter Ascending has Mila Kunis as a toilet-scrubber on Earth with a secret destiny as a space queen and Channing Tatum, in the role no one will remember him for, as a heroic outer space dog-man with magic flying boots. Needless to say, this resulted in a much crazier, much less commercial and infinitely less successful exercise in world-building than The Matrix but also one with a whole lot of demented charm and personality. Like Chappie, Jupiter Ascending is deeply personal in a way that makes its surreal awfulness oddly charming. The Wachowskis began their career with great films like Bound and The Matrix. These days, they have to settle for “so bad it’s good”.
In between making billion-dollar superhero movies nobody likes, and also movies about the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, the DC Cinematic Universe maestro Zack Snyder decided to make an overly personal, audacious, convention-defying oddball science fiction cult item of his own with 2011’s Sucker Punch. The movie has a curiously bifurcated reputation.
On the surface, Snyder’s film looks like an unselfconscious, over-the-top exercise in comic-book sexism, voyeurism and misogyny featuring scantily clad nymphets bumping and grinding when not marauding their way through violent fantasy scenarios involving robots and tanks and steampunk and plenty of other nonsense that gives fanboys hard-ons. Yet Snyder has insisted that his film is actually a meta exploration and condemnation of fanboy sexism and voyeurism cunningly masquerading as the ultimate in pandering.
Sucker Punch is a curious beast. It’s all about spectacle and visuals, yet it’s only interesting as a film of ideas, and those ideas are incredibly muddled and self-contradicting. Snyder might have thought that he Trojan-horsed a scathing condemnation of misogyny and de-humanization inside a movie designed to appeal almost exclusively to the sexist nerds it was in fact condemning, but the result feels awfully misogynistic all the same.
With their extensive use of CGI and green screen, movies like Valerian and Sucker Punch are following in the footsteps of Kerry Conran’s ill-fated 2004 science fiction fantasy Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, which used green screen not just for specific effects but to create an entire world.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets review – Luc Besson's space oddity | Peter Bradshaw's film of the week Read more
The world Conran and his collaborators created out of old Superman cartoons, adventure serials, the original King Kong and a whole lot of newfangled technology is visually dazzling but occupied by characters it’s impossible to care about. As with all of the other audacious sci-fi flops I’ve written about here, there’s a profound disconnect between the film’s visual mastery and its relative indifference to everything else.
That’s true of Valerian as well. Valerian has the courage of its fearsome convictions, and if you’re willing to overlook things like acting, plot, characterization, dialogue, character arcs, pacing, structure and leads, as many science fiction die-hards are willing to do, then Valerian is a nifty spectacle that excels as eye-candy even if it comes up short in every other respect. When the eye candy is as impressive as a dazzling set-piece where Rihanna, playing a character who is essentially both a commentary on the singer-actress’s public persona and a shape-shifting alien, morphs from one sexy, surreal getup to another, seemingly changing the very fabric of reality with her sensuality, the trade-off of everything for breathtaking visuals seems worth it.
The nice thing about science fiction movies as loopy and ingratiatingly heartfelt as Valerian, Sucker Punch, Jupiter Ascending, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and Chappie is that they don’t necessarily have to be good to find cult followings and attain cult classic status. I would have a hard time characterizing any of these movies as good, but that sure hasn’t kept them from becoming cult films, and Valerian is on its way to cult status as well.
When it comes to crazy science fiction movies and cult followings, in many ways it’s better to be audaciously bad than good, and Valerian, like the earlier movies I’ve written about here, is noteworthy both for its audacity and for its badness.
I’m glad these crazy, audacious, personal projects exist because they make the often boring and predictable world of popcorn entertainment crazier and more interesting.
Yet I also very much intend to never see any of these movies ever again. Sober, at least.Tom Yates (Photo: Special to the Press-Citizen)
Tom Yates has resigned effective immediately as a member of the Iowa City Community School Board, according to the Iowa City Community School District.
"Yates has been a strong supporter of the district’s work and a staunch advocate for our students over the last seven months," Kristin Pedersen, the district's coordinator of community affairs, said in a news release Friday. "The district wishes him the best in his future endeavors; however, his service to the district and board will be missed."
Yates did not immediately respond to phone and email messages.
School Board President Chris Lynch said the district's attorney, Joe Holland, is reviewing Iowa Code regarding the process for filling a vacant board seat.
Because there are more than 180 days until the next school board election, state law gives the school board 30 days to decide whether to replace Yates through appointment or a special election, said Carrie Nierling, elections deputy for the Johnson County Auditor’s Office.
If the board chooses to wait and allow a special election to take place, the winner would serve until September 2019, the remainder of Yates’ term.
If the board chooses to appoint a replacement, that person would serve until the next districtwide election, currently scheduled for September 2017.
The resignation comes as the board is embroiled in a controversial discussion of school boundaries and ahead of a general obligation bond scheduled for 2017 to provide funding for facilities projects in the district.
Yates cast the deciding vote in several 4-3 decisions concerning boundaries Tuesday night, voting with the majority on all four issues.
Lynch said the board is juggling several key issues and that could play into the decision about filling the seat.
RELATED: School boundary talks not over, board members say
"That might be one good reason to go to election versus appointment.... There's a lot going on, so we will need to get that seat filled as quick as we can," he said.
Lynch said he learned Yates would resign Friday morning, and he said he is thankful for Yates' service on the board.
"Obviously, being on the board of directors in the Iowa City Community School District is a difficult role, and I think the community needs to start to probably think more about that," he said.
The most recent vacancy on the board came last summer, when Tuyet Baruah announced her resignation weeks before the Sept. 8 school board election. Because of the timing of that vacancy, the remaining two years of Baruah's term were automatically added to the ballot during that election. Voters elected Chris Liebig to fill the vacant seat.
In 2014, however, the board voted to appoint Orville Townsend to fill a vacant seat after former board president Sally Hoelscher resigned.
Yates is a former City High English teacher and has 31 years of teaching experience. He is also a former Iowa City Education Association president.
Reporter Jeff Charis-Carlson contributed to this report.
Reach Holly Hines at hhines2@press-citizen.com or at 319-887-5414 and follow her on Twitter at @HollyJHines.
Read or Share this story: http://icp-c.com/27kP3M5The elephantnose fish has the highest brain-to-body oxygen consumption ratio of all known vertebrates The bony-eared assfish has the smallest brain-to-body weight ratio of all known vertebrates
Fish intelligence is "...the resultant of the process of acquiring, storing in memory, retrieving, combining, comparing, and using in new contexts information and conceptual skills"[1] as it applies to fish.
According to Culum Brown from Macquarie University, "Fish are more intelligent than they appear. In many areas, such as memory, their cognitive powers match or exceed those of ‘higher’ vertebrates including non-human primates."[2]
Fish hold records for the relative brain weights of vertebrates. Most vertebrate species have similar brain-to-body mass ratios. The deep sea bathypelagic bony-eared assfish,[3] has the smallest ratio of all known vertebrates.[4] At the other extreme, the electrogenic elephantnose fish, an African freshwater fish, has one of the largest brain-to-body weight ratios of all known vertebrates (slightly higher than humans) and the highest brain-to-body oxygen consumption ratio of all known vertebrates (three times that for humans).[5]
Brain [ edit ]
Cross-section of the brain of a porbeagle shark, with the cerebellum highlighted The brain of a cod
Fish typically have quite small brains relative to body size compared with other vertebrates, typically one-fifteenth the brain mass of a similarly sized bird or mammal.[6] However, some fish have relatively large brains, most notably mormyrids and sharks, which have brains about as massive relative to body weight as birds and marsupials.[7]
The cerebellum of cartilaginous and bony fishes is large and complex. In at least one important respect, it differs in internal structure from the mammalian cerebellum: The fish cerebellum does not contain discrete deep cerebellar nuclei. Instead, the primary targets of Purkinje cells are a distinct type of cell distributed across the cerebellar cortex, a type not seen in mammals. The circuits in the cerebellum are similar across all classes of vertebrates, including fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals.[8] There is also an analogous brain structure in cephalopods with well-developed brains, such as octopuses.[9] This has been taken as evidence that the cerebellum performs functions important to all animal species with a brain.
In mormyrid fish (a family of weakly electrosensitive freshwater fish), the cerebellum is considerably larger than the rest of the brain put together. The largest part of it is a special structure called the valvula, which has an unusually regular architecture and receives much of its input from the electrosensory system.[10]
Memory [ edit ]
Individual carp captured by anglers have been shown to become less catchable thereafter.[11][12] This suggests that fish use their memory of negative experiences to associate capture with stress and therefore become less easy to catch.[13] This type of associative learning has also been shown in paradise fish (Macropodus opercularis) which avoid places where they have experienced a single attack by a predator and continue to avoid for many months.[14]
Red Sea clownfish can recognize their mate after 30 days separation.
A number of studies have shown that fish can retain information for months or years. Anecdotally, channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) can remember the human voice call announcing food five years after last hearing that call.[15] Goldfish remember the colour of a tube dispensing food one year after the last tube presentation.[15] Sockeye salmon still react to a light signal that precedes food arrival up to eight months since the last reinforcement.[16] Some common rudd and European chub could remember the person who trained them to feed from the hand, even after a 6-month break.[17] Crimson-spotted rainbowfish can learn how to escape from a trawl by swimming through a small hole in the center and they remember this technique 11 months later.[18] Rainbow trout can be trained to press a bar to get food, and they remember this three months after last seeing the bar.[19] Red Sea clownfish can recognize their mate 30 days after it was experimentally removed from the home anemone.[20]
Several fish species are capable of learning complex spatial relationships and forming cognitive maps.[21] They can orient themselves using multiple landmarks or symbols[22][23] and they are able to integrate experiences which enable them to generate appropriate avoidance responses.[24][25]
Tool use [ edit ]
Video of an archerfish shooting at prey
Tool use is sometimes considered as an indication of intelligence in animals. There are few examples of tool use in fishes, perhaps because they have only their mouth in which to hold objects.[26]
Several species of wrasse hold bivalves (scallops, clams and urchins) in their mouth and smash them against the surface of a rock (an "anvil") to break them up.[27][28] This behaviour in an orange-dotted tuskfish (Choerodon anchorago) has been filmed;[29] the fish fans sand to unearth the bivalve, takes it into its mouth, swims several metres to a rock which it uses as an anvil by smashing the mollusc apart with sideward thrashes of the head.
Archerfish (family Toxotidae) squirt jets of water at insects on plants above the surface to knock them into the water; they can adjust the size of the squirts to the size of the insect prey and learn to shoot at moving targets.[30][31][32]
Whitetail damselfish clean the rock face where they intend to lay eggs by sucking up and blowing sand grains onto the surface.[33] Triggerfish blow water at sea urchins to turn them over, thereby exposing their more vulnerable underside.[34] River stingrays create water currents with their fins to suck food out of a PVC pipe.[35] Banded acaras (Bujurquina vittata) lay their eggs on a loose leaf and carry the leaf away when a predator approaches.[36]
In one laboratory study, Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) given access to an operant feeding machine learned to pull a string to get food. The researchers had also tagged the fish by threading a bead in front of their dorsal fin. Some fish snagged the string with their bead, resulting in food delivery. These fish eventually learned to swim in a particular way to repeatedly make the bead snag the string and get food. Because the fish used an object external to their body in a goal-oriented way, this satisfies some definitions of tool use.[37]
Construction [ edit ]
As for tool use, construction behaviour may be mostly innate. Yet it can be sophisticated, and the fact that fish can make judicious repairs to their creation suggests intelligence. Construction methods in fishes can be divided into three categories: excavations, pile-ups, and gluing.[38]
Excavations may be simple depressions dug up in the substrate, such as the nests of bowfin, smallmouth bass, and Pacific salmon,[38] but it can also consist of fairly large burrows used for shelter and for nesting. Burrowing species include the mudskippers, the red band-fish Cepola rubescens (burrows up to 1 m deep, often with a side branch),[39] the yellowhead jawfish Opistognathus aurifrons (chambers up to 22 cm deep, lined with coral fragments to solidify it),[40] the convict blenny Pholidichthys leucotaenia whose burrow is a maze of tunnels and chambers thought to be as much as 6 m long,[41][42] and the Nicaragua cichlid, Hypsophrys nicaraguensis, who drills a tunnel by spinning inside of it.[38] In the case of the mudskippers, the burrows are shaped like a J and can be as much as 2 m deep. Two species, the giant mudskipper Periophthalmodon schlosseri and the walking goby Scartelaos histophorus, build a special chamber at the bottom of their burrows into which they carry mouthfuls of air. Once released the air accumulates at the top of the chamber and forms a reserve from which the fish can breathe – like all amphibious fishes, mudskippers are good air breathers. If researchers experimentally extract air from the special chambers, the fish diligently replenish it. The significance of this behaviour stems from the facts that at high tide, when water covers the mudflats, the fish stay in their burrow to avoid predators, and water inside the confined burrow is often poorly oxygenated. At such times these air-breathing fishes can tap into the air reserve of their special chambers.[43][44]
Mounds are easy to build, but can be quite extensive. In North American streams, the male cutlip minnow Exoglossum maxillingua, 90–115 mm (3.5–4.5 in) long, assembles mounds that are 75–150 mm (3.0–5.9 in) high, 30–45 cm (12–18 in) in diameter, made up of more than 300 pebbles 13–19 mm in diameter (a quarter to half an inch). The fish carry these pebbles one by one in their mouths, sometimes stealing some from the mounds of other males. The females deposit their eggs on the upstream slope of the mounds, and the males cover these eggs with more pebbles. Males of the hornyhead chub Nocomis biguttatus, 90 mm (3.5 in) long, and of the river chub Nocomis micropogon, 100 mm (3.9 in) long, also build mounds during the reproductive season. They start by clearing a slight depression in the substrate, which they overfill with up to 10,000 pebbles until the mounds are 60–90 cm (2.0–3.0 ft) long (in the direction of the water current), 30–90 cm (0.98–2.95 ft) wide, and 5–15 cm (2.0–5.9 in) high. Females lay their eggs among those pebbles. The stone accumulation is free of sand and it exposes the eggs to a good water current that supplies oxygen.[38] Males of many mouthbrooding cichld species in Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika build sand cones that are flattened or crater-shaped at the top. Some of these mounds can be 3 m in diameter and 40 cm high. The mounds serve to impress females or to allow species recognition during courtship.[38]
Male pufferfish, Torquigener sp., also build sand mounds to attract females. The mounds, up to 2 m in diameter, are intricate with radiating ridges and valleys.[45]
Several species build up mounds of coral pieces either to protect the entrance to their burrows, as in tilefishes[46][47] and gobies of the genus Valenciennea,[48][49] or to protect the patch of sand in which they will bury themselves for the night, as in the Jordan's tuskfish Choerodon jordani [50] and the rockmover wrasse Novaculichthys taeniourus.[51]
Male sticklebacks are well known for their habit of building an enclosed nest made of pieces of vegetation glued together with secretions from their kidneys. Some of them adorn the entrance of the nest with unusually colored algae or even shiny tinfoil experimentally introduced in the environment.[52]
Foam nests, made up of air bubbles glued together with mucus from the mouth, are also well known in gouramis and armoured catfish.
Social intelligence [ edit ]
Fish can remember the attributes of other individuals, such as their competitive ability or past behavior, and modify their own behavior accordingly. For example, they can remember the identity of individuals to whom they have lost in a fight, and avoid these individuals in the future; or they can recognize territorial neighbors and show less aggression towards them as compared to strangers.[53] They can recognize individuals in whose company they obtained less food in the past and preferentially associate with new partners in the future.[53]
Fish can seem mindful of which individuals have watched them in the past. In an experiment with Siamese fighting fish, two males were made to fight each other while being watched by a female, whom the males could also see. The winner and the loser of the fight were then, separately, given a choice between spending time next to the watching female or to a new female. The winner courted both females equally, but the loser spent more time next to the new female, avoiding the watcher female.[54] In this species, females prefer males they have seen win a fight over males they have seen losing,[55] and it therefore makes sense for a male to prefer a female that has never seen him as opposed to a female that has seen him lose.
Knowing that if A>B and B>C, then A>C, is another type of evidence for intelligence, and it can be applied in the context of dominance hierarchies. In a study with the cichlid Astatotilapia burtoni, eight observer fish could watch individual A beat individual B, then B over C, C over D, and D over E. The observer fish were then given a choice of associating with either B or D (both of which they had seen win once and lose once). All eight observer fish spent more time next to D. Fish in this species prefer to associate with more subordinate individuals, so the preference for D showed that the observers had worked out that B was superior to C, and C to D, and therefore D was subordinate to B.[56]
Deception [ edit ]
There are several examples of fish being deceptive, suggesting to some researchers that they may possess a theory of mind. However, most of the observations of deception can be understood as instinctive patterns of behavior that are triggered by specific environmental events, and they do not require a fish to understand of the point of view of other individuals.
Distraction display [ edit ]
Adult male bowfins distract potential predators away from their fry by thrashing as if injured.
In the threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), males sometimes see their nest full of eggs fall prey to groups of marauding females; some males, when they see a group of females approaching, swim away from their nest and start poking their snout into the substrate, as would a female raiding a nest.[57][58][59] This distraction display commonly fools the females into behaving as if a nest has been discovered there and they rush to that site, leaving the male's real nest alone. Bowfin (Amia calva) males caring for their free-swimming fry exhibit a related distraction display when a potential fry-predator approaches; they move away and thrash about as if injured, drawing the predator's attention toward himself.[60]
False courtship behaviour [ edit ]
In the Malili Lakes of Sulawesi, Indonesia, one species of sailfin silverside (Telmatherina sarasinorum) is an egg predator. They often follow courting pairs of the closely related species T. antoniae. When those pairs lay eggs, T. sarasinorum darts in and eats the eggs. On four different occasions in the field (out of 136 observation bouts in total), a male T. sarasinorum who was following a pair of courting T. antoniae eventually chased off the male T. antoniae and took his place, courting the heterospecific female. That female released eggs, at which point the male darted to the eggs and ate them.[61]
Death feigning [ edit ]
Death feigning as a way to attract prey is another form of deception.[62] In Lake Malawi, the predatory cichlid Nimbochromis livingstonii have been seen first remaining stationary with their abdomen on or near sand and that then dropping onto their sides. In a variant behaviour, some N. livingstonii fell through the water column and landed onto their side. The fish then remained immobile for several minutes. Their colour pattern was blotchy and suggested a rotting carcass. Small inquisitive cichlids of other species often came near and they were suddenly attacked by the predator. About a third of the death-feigning performances led to an attack, and about one-sixth of the attacks were successful.[63] Another African cichlid, Lamprologus lemairii, from Lake Tanganyika, has been reported to do the same thing.[64] A South American cichlid, the yellowjacket cichlid Parachromis friedrichsthalii, also uses death feigning. They turn over onto their sides at the bottom of the sinkholes they inhabit and remain immobile for as long as 15 minutes, during which they attack the small mollies that come too close to them.[65] The comb grouper Mycteroperca acutirostris may also be an actor, though in this case the behaviour should be called dying or illness feigning, rather than death feigning, because while lying on its side the fish occasionally undulates its body. In 1999, off the coast of southeastern Brazil, one juvenile comb grouper was observed using this tactic to catch five small prey in 15 minutes.[66]
Cooperation [ edit ]
Cooperative foraging reflects some mental flexibility and planning, and could therefore be interpreted as intelligence. There are a few examples in fishes.[67]
Yellowtail amberjack can form packs of 7-15 individuals that maneuver in U-shaped formations to cut away the tail end of prey shoals (jack mackerels or Cortez grunts) and herd the downsized shoal next to seawalls where they proceed to capture the prey.[68]
In the coral reefs of the Red Sea, roving coralgrouper that have spotted a small prey fish hiding in a crevice sometimes visit the sleeping hole of a giant moray and shake their head at the moray, and this seems to be an invitation to group hunting as the moray often swims away with the grouper, is led to the crevice where the prey hides, and proceeds to probe that crevice (which is too small to let the grouper in), either catching the prey by itself or flushing it into the open where the grouper grabs it.[69] The closely related coral trout also enrolls the help of moray eels in this way, and they only do so when the prey they seek is hidden in crevices, where only the eel can flush them |
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Licensed to and published by Aksys Games with permission from ARC SYSTEM WORKS.BlazBlue: Central Fiction is the newest installment in the storied BlazBlue franchise and stands alone as the pinnacle of next gen 2D fighters! Like a well-timed 2D punch, BlazBlue: Central Fiction bashes massive amounts of content and innovation into one slick title that hits hard and keeps the pummeling steady!Rich’s sh (POSIX shell) tricks
This page is meant as a repository for useful tricks I’ve found (and some I’ve perhaps invented) for scripting the POSIX shell (with some attention to portability to non-conformant shells as well, scattered here and there). I am a strong believer that Bourne-derived languages are extremely bad, on the same order of badness as Perl, for programming, and consider programming sh for any purpose other than as a super-portable, lowest-common-denominator platform for build or bootstrap scripts and the like, as an extremely misguided endeavor. As such you won’t see me spending many words on extensions particular to ksh, Bash, or whatever other shells may be popular.
Printing the value of a variable
printf %s\
"$var"
The “\
” may be omitted if a following newline is not desired. The quotation marks are essential. The following is NOT a valid substitute:
echo "$var"
NEVER use echo like this. According to POSIX, echo has unspecified behavior if any of its arguments contain “\” or if its first argument is “-n”. Unix™ standards fill in this unspecified area for XSI-conformant implementations, by specifying nasty undesirable behavior that no one wants (“\” is interpreted as a C-string-literal style escape), and other popular implementations such as Bash interpret argument values other than “-n” as special options even when in “POSIX compatibility” mode, rendering then nonconformant. The jist of this is:
Output Command POSIX Unix Bash echo "-e" “-e
” “-e
” “
” echo "\
" unspecified “
” “
” echo -n hello unspecified “hello” “hello” echo -ne hello “-ne hello
” “-ne hello
” “hello”
These issues mean echo "$var" can sting you whenever you do not have strict guarantees about the contents of var (for example that it contains a nonnegative integer). Even if you’re a GNU/Linux-centric jerk who thinks all the world is a Bash and you don’t care about portability, you’ll run into trouble someday when you happen to read a “-n” or “-e” or “-neEenenEene” into var and suddenly your script breaks.
If you’re really attached to the name “echo” and want to use it in your scripts, try this function which ‘repairs’ echo to behave in a reasonable way (pretty much like the Bash echo command, but with the added stipulation that the last argument will never be interpreted as an option, so that echo "$var" is safe even when var ’s contents look like an option):
echo () ( fmt=%s end=\
IFS=" " while [ $# -gt 1 ] ; do case "$1" in [!-]*|-*[!ne]*) break ;; *ne*|*en*) fmt=%b end= ;; *n*) end= ;; *e*) fmt=%b ;; esac shift done printf "$fmt$end" "$*" )
Dropping this code in at the top of your script will likely fix all the subtle bugs due to the utter brain damage of the standard echo command. Or, if you think the whole idea of echo having options is preposterous, try this simpler version (use of “$*” instead of “$@” is very intentional here):
echo () { printf %s\
"$*" ; }
You never imagined printing the value of a variable could be so difficult, eh? Now you see why I say Bourne-derivative languages should never be used for serious programming...
Reading input line-by-line
IFS= read -r var
This command reads a line of input, terminated by a newline or end of file or error condition, from stdin and stores the result in var. Exit status will be 0 (success) if a newline is reached, and nonzero (failure) if a read error or end of file terminates the line. Robust scripts may wish to distinguish between these cases. According to my reading of POSIX, the contents of var should be filled with the data read even if an error or premature end of file terminates the read, but I am uncertain whether all implementations behave as such and whether it is strictly required. Comments from experts are welcome.
One common pitfall is trying to read output piped from commands, such as:
foo | IFS= read var
POSIX allows any or all commands in a pipeline to be run in subshells, and which command (if any) runs in the main shell varies greatly between implementations — in particular Bash and ksh differ here. The standard idiom for overcoming this problem is to use a here document:
IFS= read var << EOF $(foo) EOF
Reading input byte-by-byte
read dummy oct << EOF $(dd bs=1 count=1|od -b) EOF
This command leaves the octal value of a byte of input in the variable oct. Note that dd is the only standard command which can safely read exactly one byte of input with a guarantee that no additional bytes will be buffered and lost. Aside from failing to be portable, head -c 1 may be implemented using C stdio functions with buffering.
Conversion to some escaped format (in this case octal) is necessary because the read command deals with text files. It cannot handle arbitrary bytes; in particular there is no way to store a NUL byte in a shell variable. Other issues with non-ASCII bytes may exist as well depending on your implementation and your locale. It’s possible to modify this code to read several bytes at a time, but take care to account for all the various bad behavior of the od program such as condensing long runs of zeros.
Conversion of the octal back to binary data can be accomplished via the next sh trick.
Writing bytes to stdout by numeric value
writebytes () { printf %b `printf \\\\%03o "$@"` ; } writebytes 65 66 67 10
This function allows specification of byte values in base 8, 10, or 16. Octal and hex values must be prefixed with 0 or 0x, respectively. If you want the arguments to always be treated as octal, for example when processing values read by the previous trick for reading binary data, try this version:
writeoct () { printf %b `printf \\\\%s "$@"` ; }
Be aware that it will break if your octal values are larger than 3 digits, so don’t prepend a leading 0. The following version is much slower but avoids that problem:
writeoct2 () { printf %b $(printf \\%03o $(printf 0%s\ "$@")) ; }
Using find with xargs
GNU fans are accustomed to using the -print0 and -0 options to find and xargs, respectively, for robust and efficient application of a command to all results of the find command. Without GNU extensions, the output of find is newline-delimited, meaning there is no way to recover the actual pathnames found if some of the pathnames contain embedded newlines.
If you don’t mind having your script break when pathnames contain newlines, at least make sure that the misprocessing that will result cannot lead to a compromise of privilege, and then try the following:
find... | sed's/./\\&/g' | xargs command
The sed command here is mandatory. Contrary to popular belief (well, it was popular enough that I mistakenly believed it for a long time), xargs does NOT accept newline-delimited lists. Rather it accepts shell-quoted lists, i.e. the input list is separated by whitespace and all internal whitespace must be quoted. The above command simply quotes all characters with backslashes to satisfy this requirement, protecting embedded whitespace in filenames.
Using find with +
Of course the much smarter way to use find to efficiently apply commands to files is with -exec and a “+” replacing the “;”:
find path -exec command '{}' +
This causes find to place as many filenames as will fit on the command line in place of the “{}”, each as its own argument. There is no issue with embedded newlines being misinterpreted. Sadly, despite its presence in POSIX for a long time, the popular GNU implementation of find did not support “+” for the longest time, and so its use is rather unportable in practice. A reasonable workaround would be to write a test for support of “+”, and use “;” in place of “+” (with the naturally severe loss in efficiency) on broken systems where find is nonconformant.
Here is a command which must succeed on any POSIX conformant system but which will fail if find lacks support for “+” due to a missing “;” argument:
find /dev/null -exec true '{}' +
This takes advantage of the fact that “/dev/null” is one of the only three non-directory absolute pathnames guaranteed by POSIX to exist.
Portable version of find -print0
find path -exec printf %s\\0 '{}' +
Portability is subject to the above notes on GNU find’s lack of support for “+” until recent versions, so it’s probably a good idea to fallback to using “;” instead of “+” if necessary.
Note that this trick is probably useless, since the output is not a text file. Nothing but GNU xargs should be expected to parse it.
Using the output of find -print robustly
Despite the embedded-newline field-separator-emulation issue of find, it is possible to parse the output robustly. Just remember, “slash dot saves the day.” For each absolute path being searched, prefix the initial “/” with “/.”, and likewise prefix each relative path to be searched with “././” — the string “/./” then becomes a magic synchronization marker for determining if a newline was produced as a field separator or due to embedded newlines in a pathname.
Processing the output is left as an exercise for the reader.
Getting non-clobbered output from command substitution
The following is not safe:
var=$(dirname "$f")
Due to most commands writing a newline at the end of their output, Bourne-style command substitution was designed to strip training newlines from the output. But it doesn’t just strip one trailing newline; it strips them all. In the above command, if f contains any trailing newlines in the last directory component, they will be stripped, yielding a different directory name. While no one sane would put newlines in directory names, such corruption of the results could lead to exploitable vulnerabilities in scripts.
The solution to this problem is very simple: add a safety character after the last newline, then use the shell’s parameter substitution to remove the safety character:
var=$(command ; echo x) ; var=${var%?}
In the case of the dirname command, one also wants to remove the single final newline added by dirname, i.e.
var=$(dirname "$f" ; echo x) ; var=${var%??}
Of course there is an easier way to get the directory part of a pathname, provided you don’t care about some of the odd corner-case semantics of the dirname command:
var=${f%/*}
This will fail for files in the root directory, among other corner cases, so a good approach would be to write a shell function to consider such special cases. Note, however, that such a function must somehow store its results in a variable. If it printed them to stdout, as is common practice when writing shell functions to process strings, we would run into the issue of “$(...)” stripping trailing newlines once again and be back where we started...
Returning strings from a shell function
As can be seen from the above pitfall of command substitution, stdout is not a good avenue for shell functions to return strings to their caller, unless the output is in a format where trailing newlines are insignificant. Certainly such practice is not acceptable for functions meant to deal with arbitrary strings. So, what can be done?
Try this:
func () { body here eval "$1=\${foo}" }
Of course ${foo} could be replaced by any sort of substitution. The key trick here is the eval line and the use of escaping. The “$1” is expanded when the argument to eval is constructed by the main command parser. But the “${foo}” is not expanded at this stage, because the “$” has been quoted. Instead, it’s expanded when eval evaluates its argument. If it’s not clear why this is important, consider how the following would be bad:
foo='hello ; rm -rf /' dest=bar eval "$dest=$foo"
But of course the following version is perfectly safe:
foo='hello ; rm -rf /' dest=bar eval "$dest=\$foo"
Note that in the original example, “$1” was used to allow the caller to pass the destination variable name as an argument the function. If your function needs to use the shift command, for instance to handle the remaining arguments as “$@”, then it may be useful to save the value of “$1” in a temporary variable at the beginning of the function.
Shell-quoting arbitrary strings
Sometimes it’s necessary to put a string in a shell-quoted form, for instance if it needs to be expanded into a command that will be evaluated with eval, written into a generated script, or similar. There are several methods, but many of them fail if the string contains newlines. Here is a version that works:
quote () { printf %s\
"$1" | sed "s/'/'\\\\''/g;1s/^/'/;\$s/\$/'/" ; }
This function simply replaces every instance of «'» (single quote) within the string with «'\''» (single quote, backslash, single quote, single quote), then puts single quotes at the beginning and end of the string. Since the only character whose meaning is special within single quotes is the single quote character itself, this is totally safe. Trailing newlines are handled correctly, and the single quote at the end doubles as a safety character to prevent command substitution from clobbering the trailing newlines, should one want to do something like:
quoted=$(quote "$var")
Working with arrays
Unlike “enhanced” Bourne shells such as Bash, the POSIX shell does not have array types. However, with a bit of inefficiency, you can get array-like semantics in a pinch using pure POSIX sh. The trick is that you do have one (and only one) array — the positional parameters “$1”, “$2”, etc. — and you can swap things in and out of this array.
Replacing the contents of the “$@” array is easy:
set -- foo bar baz boo
Or, perhaps more usefully:
set -- *
What’s not clear is how to save the current contents of “$@” so you can get it back after replacing it, and how to programmatically generate these ‘arrays’. Try this function based on the previous trick with quoting:
save () { for i do printf %s\
"$i" | sed "s/'/'\\\\''/g;1s/^/'/;\$s/\$/' \\\\/" ; done echo " " }
Usage is something like:
myarray=$(save "$@") set -- foo bar baz boo eval "set -- $myarray"
Here, the quoting has prepared “$array” for use with the eval command, to restore the positional parameters. Other possibilities such as myarray=$(save *) are also possible, as well as programmatic generation of values for the ‘array’ variable.
One could also generate an ‘array’ variable from the output of the find command, either using a cleverly constructed command with the -exec option or ignoring the possibility of newlines in pathnames and using the sed command for prepping find’s results for xargs.
findarray () { find "$@" -exec sh -c "for i do printf %s\\\
\"\$i\" \\ | sed \"s/'/'\\\\\\\\''/g;1s/^/'/;\\\$s/\\\$/' \\\\\\\\/\" done" dummy '{}' + }
Such a script allows things like:
old=$(save "$@") eval "set -- $(findarray path)" for i do command "$i" ; done eval "set -- $old"
Note that this duplicates the intended functionality of the horribly-incorrect but often-cited “ for i in `find...` ; do... ” construct.
Does a given string match a given filename (glob) pattern?
fnmatch () { case "$2" in $1) return 0 ;; *) return 1 ;; esac ; }
Now you can do things like:
if fnmatch 'a??*' "$var" ; then... ; fi
So much for needing Bash’s “[[” command...
Counting occurrences of a character
tr -dc 'a' | wc -c
tr -dc
Instead, try the following:
tr a\
\
a | wc -l
The wc -l command counts the number of newline characters seen, so using tr to swap occurrences of “a” with newlines allows tr to count “a”s instead.
Overriding locale categories
The following does not necessarily work as intended:
LC_COLLATE=C ls
This is because LC_ALL may be present in the environment, overriding any of the category-specific variables. Unsetting LC_ALL also provides incorrect behavior, in that it possibly changes all of the categories. Instead try:
eval export `locale` ; unset LC_ALL
This command explicitly sets all category-specific locale variables according to the implicit values they receive, whether from LANG, the category variable itself, or LC_ALL. Your script may subsequently override individual categories using commands like the one at the top of this section.
Keep in mind that the only values a portable script can set the locale variables to is “C” (or its alias “POSIX”), and that this locale does not necessarily have all the properties with which the GNU implementation instills it. Things you can assume in the “C” locale (with the relevant category in parentheses):
Ranges like [a-z] work in glob patterns and regular expressions, and are based on ASCII codepoint ordering, not natural-language collation nor bogus ASCII-incompatible character sets’ (e.g. EBCDIC) ordering. This also applies to character ranges for the tr command. (LC_COLLATE)
command. (LC_COLLATE) The sort command sorts based on ASCII codepoint order (LC_COLLATE).
command sorts based on ASCII codepoint order (LC_COLLATE). Case mapping for “I”/“i” is sane, no Turkish mess (LC_CTYPE).
Dates are printed in the standard traditional Unix ways. (LC_TIME)
And things which you cannot assume or which may be “more broken” in the “C” locale than whatever the existing locale was:
Bytes outside the “portable character set” (ASCII) are not necessarily characters. Depending on the implementation they may be noncharacter bytes, treated as ISO Latin-1 characters, treated as some sort of abstract characters without properties, or even treated as constituent bytes of UTF-8 characters. This affects whether (and if so, how) they can be matched in globs and regular expressions. (LC_CTYPE)
If LC_CTYPE is changed, other locale categories whose data depends on the character encoding (for instance, LC_TIME month names, LC_MESSAGES strings, LC_COLLATE collation elements, etc.) have undefined behavior. (LC_CTYPE)
It is unclear whether POSIX specifies this or not, but the GNU C library’s regular expression engine historically crashes if LC_COLLATE is set to “C” and non-ASCII characters appear in a range expression.
As such, it’s sometimes safe to replace individual categories such as LC_COLLATE or LC_TIME with “C” to obtain predictable output, but replacing LC_CTYPE is not safe unless you replace LC_ALL. Replacing LC_CTYPE may on rare occasion be desired to inhibit odd and dangerous case mappings, but in a worst case scenario it could entirely prevent access to all files whose names contain non-ASCII characters. This is one area where there is no easy solution.
Removing all exports
unexport_all () { eval set -- `export -p` for i do case "$i" in *=*) unset ${i%%=*} ; eval "${i%%=*}=\${i#*=}" ;; esac ; done }
Using globs to match dotfiles
.[!.]*..?*
The first of these two globs matches all filenames beginning with a dot, followed by any character other than a dot. The second matches all filenames beginning with two dots and at least one other character. Between the two of them, they match all filenames beginning with dot except for “.” and “..” which have their obvious special meanings.
Keep in mind that if a glob does not match any filenames, it will remain as a single unexpanded word rather than disappearing entirely from the command. You may need to account for this by testing for existence of matches or ignoring/hiding errors.
Determining if a directory is empty
is_empty () ( cd "$1" set --.[!.]* ; test -f "$1" && return 1 set --..?* ; test -f "$1" && return 1 set -- * ; test -f "$1" && return 1 return 0 )
This code uses the magic 3 globs which are needed to match all possible names except “.” and “..”, and also handles the cases where the glob matches a literal name identical to the glob string.
If you don’t care about preserving permissions, a simpler implementation is:
is_empty () { rmdir "$1" && mkdir "$1" ; }
Naturally both of the approaches have race conditions if the directory is writable by other users or if other processes may be modifying it. Thus, an approach like the latter but with a properly restrictive umask in effect may actually be preferable, as its result has the correct atomicity properties:
is_empty_2 () ( umask 077 ; rmdir "$1" && mkdir "$1" )
Querying a given user's home directory
This does not work:
foo=~$user
Instead, try:
eval "foo=~$user"
Be sure the contents of the variable user are safe; otherwise very bad things could happen. It’s possible to make this into a function:
her_homedir () { eval "$1=~$2" ; } her_homedir foo alice
The variable foo will then contain the results of tilde-expanding ~alice.
Recursive directory processing without find
Since find is difficult or impossible to use robustly, why not write the recursion in shell script instead? Unfortunately I have not worked out a way to do this that does not require one level of subshell nesting per directory tree level, but here’s a shot at it with subshells:
myfind () ( cd -P -- "$1" [ $# -lt 3 ] || [ "$PWD" = "$3" ] || exit 1 for i in..?*.[!.]* * ; do [ -e "$i" ] && eval "$2 \"\$i\"" [ -d "$i" ] && myfind "$i" "$2" "${PWD%/}/$i" done )
Usage is then something like:
handler () { case "$1" in *~) [ -f "$1" ] && rm -f "$1" ;; esac ; } myfind /tmp handler # Remove all backup files found in /tmp
For each file in the recursive traversal of “$1”, a function or command “$2” will be evaluated with the directory containing the file as the present working directory and with the filename appended to the end of the command line. The third positional parameter “$3” is used internally in the recursion to protect against symlink traversal; it contains the expected physical pathname PWD should contain after the cd -P "$1" command completes provided “$1” is not a symbolic link.
Seconds since the epoch
Sadly, the GNU %s format for date is not portable. So instead of:
secs=`date +%s`
Try the following:
secs=$((`TZ=GMT0 date \ +"((%Y-1600)*365+(%Y-1600)/4-(%Y-1600)/100+(%Y-1600)/400+1%j-1000-135140)\ *86400+(1%H-100)*3600+(1%M-100)*60+(1%S-100)"`))
The only magic number in here is 135140, the number of days between 1600-01-01 and 1970-01-01 treating both as Gregorian dates. 1600 is used as the multiple-of-400 epoch here instead of 2000 since C-style division behaves badly with negative dividends.
Final remarks
Expect this page of tricks to grow over time as I think of more things to add. It is my hope that these tricks serve to show that is IS possible to write correct, robust programs using the plain POSIX shell, despite common pitfalls, but also that the lengths needed to do so are often extremely perverse and inefficient. If seeing the above hacks has inspired anyone to write a program in a real language rather than sh/Bash/whatever, or to fix corner case bugs arising from the badness of the shell language, I will be happy. Please direct comments, flames, suggestions for more tricks to include, and so forth to “dalias” on Freenode IRC.NEW DELHI: A fresh statement issued through the official media of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, the Kashmir-based Al Qaida affiliate led by former Hizbul Mujahideen leader Zakir Musa, has warned that it will not rest until it "liberates occupied Hindustan".The release, while citing the 8th century example of Muhammad bin Qasim who allegedly killed the then Hindu king of Sindh and established the rule of Shariah there, appealed to all Muslims to sacrifice their comforts and join the battle to re-establish the Islamic Caliphate."Al-Sindh' is the region in the Indian Sub-continent (in present day Pakistan) which was once ruled with Islamic Sharia by Muhammad bin Qasim who was the Army General of Umayyad caliphate. Al-Sindh is the first part of land in the sub-continent to implement Shariah. The caravan started from Al-Sindh 1400 years (ago). It will not stop until it liberates occupied Hindustan & joins the Army of Eesa(AS) in Shaam," said the statement put out on Ghazwat ul Hind's official Telegram channel Al Hurr on Thursday night.Incidentally, intelligence sources said that while the statement was indeed issued via Al Hurr media, the official media network of Ghazwat ul Hind, its source could not be verified.The media statement, while recounting the alleged history behind Muhammad bin Qasim's conquest of Sindh, claimed he was sent to Sindh by the governor of Umayyad caliphate to avenge an alleged attack by its Hindu king Raja Dahir on a ship ferrying Muslim pilgrims from Sri Lanka to Makkah in 710 CE. "...on the way via the Arabic Sea, the Navy of the Hindu king (Rāja Dāhir) of his Sindh kingdom attacked this pilgrim ship and made Muslim women as his concubines (sex slaves). An Arabic...Muslim woman smuggled a letter out to the Governor (Hajjāj bin Yusuf) of the caliphate for help. Infuriated by this news, he sent the caliphate army to attack and kill the Sindh Hindu king. As Muhammad bin Qasim was the Army General for the caliphate, (he) was sent by his paternal uncle (the Governor himself)," it said.Claiming that Qasim invaded the land in 711 CE, the statement said the Hindu king was killed and Muslims taken prisoner by him were freed. "Qasim...took the king's two daughters as his slave and another sent as a gift for the Governor," it claimed adding that unlike "the glorious histories of Islamic Caliphates, the Muslim rulers (in the present era) have become the boot-lickers of the tyrants."Telling Muslims that jannat (heaven) was not to be earned from "cozy beds and comfort cushions", Ghazwat statement asked them to enter the battlefield and make just their intentions to establish a Caliphate/Sharia.(CNN) The late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia was known for dissenting opinions on social issues like abortion rights and gay marriage, remarking that he liked "to tell the majority to take a walk."
But a dispute argued last week at the Supreme Court involving a criminal case Scalia wrote in 2015 offers a reminder of a counterintuitive part of Scalia's legacy that favored defendants on trial.
It also points up the possibility that, depending on President-elect Donald Trump's choice, Scalia's successor could move the court further to the right on some criminal justice issues.
In a series of cases over his 30-year tenure, Scalia forged an unlikely coalition with liberal justices to demand more clarity in sentencing statutes and rein in the power of prosecutors and judges.
Such decisions arose from Scalia's brand of "originalism" that looked to what the Constitution's framers envisioned, for example, in the right to jury trial and a defendant's opportunity to confront witnesses against him.
The 2015 Scalia decision at the center of the new case declared unconstitutional a vaguely worded provision of the Armed Career Criminal Act that boosted a repeat offender's prison time by a minimum of 15 years.
The law's loose definition of prior felonies that would prompt an enhanced sentence, Scalia said, denied defendants' fair notice and invited arbitrary enforcement, leading judges to rely on "guesswork and intuition."
The high court is considering how that ruling in Johnson v. United States applies to certain cases under a similarly worded federal sentencing provision. During oral arguments last week, a Department of Justice lawyer said the decision could affect thousands of federal prisoners.
Scalia's regard for defendants' rights did not extend across the board. He vigorously endorsed the death penalty and restrictions on prisoner appeals through a writ of habeas corpus.
Trump looking for justice in mold of Scalia
Trump has not revealed leading contenders for the open Scalia seat, but he told Fox News on Thursday that his list is "down to probably three or four" candidates. During the presidential campaign, Trump offered the names of 21 possible candidates.
The judges on the list are traditional conservatives with varying interest in the Scalia originalist method; while it is difficult to assess such tendencies in lower court judges, a few of Trump's possibilities could be inclined toward Scalia's approach on criminal cases, including Michigan Supreme Court Justice Joan Larsen, who was a law clerk to Scalia in the 1994-95 session.
Trump has said he wants a new justice in the mold of Scalia, highlighting positions that drew headlines, such as Scalia's support for individual gun rights and opposition to abortion.
Leadership on defendants' rights
Scalia, a 1986 appointee of Ronald Reagan, liked to tout his leadership on defendants' rights at trial and in sentencing.
"When people ask me what opinions I'm most proud of," Scalia once told me in an interview related to such criminal cases, "I say, well, opinions that count the most are majority opinions." He singled out groundbreaking opinions that enhanced the ability of criminal defendants to challenge witnesses face-to-face in court.
Scalia also took the lead to require any element of a crime that increased a sentence, for example, that a weapon was used, be proved to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt and not simply determined by a judge.
As with the 2015 decision on the Armed Career Criminal Act, his rulings for the majority in those areas came only with the votes of liberal justices and after several years in dissent laying groundwork for his arguments.
The Johnson v. United States case was argued twice in the 2014-15 term, which turned out to be Scalia's last full session. Initially, the justices focused on the individual claim of a Minnesota man who had pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. He said a prior conviction for possession of a short-barreled shotgun should not rank as a "violent felony" under the Armed Career Criminal Act's sentence-enhancement mandate.
The justices then ordered a second set of oral arguments to address longstanding Scalia concerns over the "violent felony" definition tied to "conduct that presents a serious potential risk of physical injury to another."
In the end, six of the nine justices found it unconstitutionally vague. Scalia noted in court's opinion that the justices had repeatedly tried to interpret the phrase, with seemingly conflicting results.
"It has been said that the life of the law is experience," he wrote. "Nine years' experience trying to derive meaning from the... clause convinces us that we have embarked upon a failed enterprise.... Invoking so shapeless a provision to condemn someone to prison for 15 years to life does not comport with the Constitution's guarantee of due process."
Three of Scalia's conservative brethren declined to sign the opinion. Justices Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas concurred only in the judgment favoring Johnson, not Scalia's rationale about the statute's vagueness. Justice Samuel Alito fully dissented.
During arguments in the new case, Beckles v. United States, it was not clear where a majority stood on the reach of Johnson v. United States and whether it should apply retroactively certain to prisoners' sentences.
But the new dynamic in the courtroom without Scalia was obvious. During the 2015 arguments over the constitutionality of sentencing law, he jumped into the give-and-take nearly 50 times in the hour-long session.
He had questions, to be sure, but much of the time Scalia was making his case.AQUAMAN WEEK continues here at Once Upon a Geek!
Aquaman takes a lot of heat from comic book fans and comedians alike. With his particular powers and the general public’s awareness of him, he makes an easy target. However, he really deserves more respect than he gets.
Aquaman achievements…
Many people don’t realize this, but Aquaman is one of the few superheroes that continued to be published in the late-1940s/early-1950s (the era between the Golden Age and the Silver Age) while most other superhero characters disappeared into obscurity. In the mid- to late-1940s, superhero comic books were losing popularity while the comic industry as a whole was expanding. Comic book publishers were dropping superhero books faster than you could imagine. These comic books were replaced with more popular tales such as westerns, romances, crime dramas, war stories, horror, science fiction, humor, and the like. Only a small handful of superhero comics continued to be published during this era. Those from DC include Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman; with back-up features starring Aquaman, Green Arrow, Johnny Quick, and Robotman. With the multitude of characters created in the early-1940s, obviously Aquaman had a strong appeal with the readers to make it through those lean years. It’s really surprising to think he outlived characters such as Green Lantern and Flash.
Another little known fact is that Aquaman was the second DC character to be animated way back in 1967. Lots of people know he had a cartoon, but many don’t realize that he beat Batman to animation by a year. Aquaman started off as one-half of The Superman-Aquaman Hour, but his segments were spun off into their own show the next year. Not to shabby for a guy who can talk to fish.
Show some respect and laugh a little…
Here are a few Aquaman-related bits that I enjoy. The first was put together by an Aquaman fan as a response to all the flak he takes.
This has been making its way around the internet for a couple years, but first appeared at “McSweeney’s Internet Tendency“.
AQUAMAN,
KING OF THE SEVEN SEAS,
HAS FUCKING HAD IT
WITH YOU, MAN.
BY GLEN WELDON - – – - First off, I don’t talk to them. OK? That’s, like, the first thing. Let’s start there. It’s not like I’m all, Hey, Peter Pufferfish, what’s up? and he’s all, Yo, nothing much, brah. It doesn’t work like that, all right? I mean, most of them don’t even have brains, for one thing. They have maybe a bump at one end of their spinal cord, a pimply little swelling of ganglia, if they’re lucky. Language is not a looming issue, is what I’m saying. No, how it works is: I command them. Period, the end. Command, as in bend them to, you know, my will and whatnot. Fuckin’ A. Even the ones with actual for-real brains, the cetaceans. If I want, you know, a pod of Burmeister’s porpoise to ram the hell out of Black Manta’s Manta Sub, that shit gets done. If I totally want, like, a southern minke whale to go hump a giant squid (its most hated enemy, by the way), I just go doodoodoodoodoodoo and it’s like Show World down there. Not that I would, because, you know, gross, but I’m just saying: I don’t ask. I’m not going to be all, If you wouldn’t mind terribly much, please, Mr. Southern Minke Whale, go get your nasty freak on with that giant squid. Just, you know, FYI. And it’s not training. I read that on some blog: “He just trains them to do all that.” Dude, I can get 6 million krill to gunk up the engine of a getaway ship by having them hurl themselves up the intake jets. Mass sea-monkey suicide. OK? Try that shit with operant conditioning, with some big-titted blondie waggling a smelt, see what you get. Think they’re meting out kick-ass sea justice over at Epcot? Shyeah. But everyone takes their shot. |
a few feet of aluminum foil and roll it into a coil to insert into any sturdy vessel (a cast iron pan, casserole dish, or deep roasting pan all work). The coil keeps the bird up and out of the drippings.
Pizza Stone
As much as I love rolling dough and trying to become a pizzaiolo in my Brooklyn apartment, I’m not getting a pizza stone any time soon. Cooking in cast-iron or sheet pans offer more versatility and bang for my buck than a stone. Already have one? Just use it for more than a fancy paperweight.1. The New Threat 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
The New Threat Season 1, Episode 1 TV-PG HD SD Goku’s quiet life with his family and friends is about to be interrupted. A new threat – a powerful and sinister alien – is on its way to Earth.
2. Reunions 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Reunions Season 1, Episode 2 TV-PG HD SD Goku and Gohan attend a reunion on Master Roshi’s island, where Goku introduces his son to all of his old friends. The smiles quickly fade, however, as an unexpected visitor – Raditz – lands on the island.
3. Unlikely Alliance 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Unlikely Alliance Season 1, Episode 3 TV-PG HD SD Raditz has kidnapped Gohan, and unless Goku agrees to join the sinister Saiyan, he may never see his son again! All hope is not lost, however, as a second visitor arrives, and Goku forges an unlikely alliance!
4. Piccolo’s Plan 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Piccolo’s Plan Season 1, Episode 4 TV-PG HD SD Piccolo may have a way to stop Raditz – the Special Beam Cannon! There’s only one problem. He needs time to gather energy for the blast, which means Goku must fight Raditz alone!
5. Gohan’s Rage 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Gohan’s Rage Season 1, Episode 5 TV-PG HD SD Gohan unleashes a mighty attack that not even Radtiz can resist! But as quickly as his power appears, it vanishes. When Raditz prepares to strike back, Goku must make the ultimate sacrifice to save his son!
6. No Time like the Present 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
No Time like the Present Season 1, Episode 6 TV-PG HD SD Piccolo takes Gohan into the wild for a harsh training program. Meanwhile, Goku embarks on a new adventure in the next world, as he travels the endless Snake Way to reach the legendary King Kai!
7. Day 1 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Day 1 Season 1, Episode 7 TV-PG HD SD Gohan begins his first day of Piccolo’s training. Alone in the wilderness, he must quickly learn to take care of himself. But that isn’t easy when he’s tired, hungry – and being chased by bloodthirsty dinosaurs!
8. Gohan Goes Bananas! 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Gohan Goes Bananas! Season 1, Episode 8 TV-PG HD SD Korin wants Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chiaotzu to report for special training! Meanwhile, Gohan’s grueling training causes him to undergo a shocking transformation!
9. The Strangest Robot 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
The Strangest Robot Season 1, Episode 9 TV-PG HD SD To escape a pack of wild animals, Gohan ventures into an ancient cave, where he meets an old Capsule Corp robot. The robot has lived alone in the cave for over 30 years, and he’s not happy to have visitors!
10. A New Friend 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
A New Friend Season 1, Episode 10 TV-PG HD SD Gohan’s wilderness adventure continues, as he makes a new dinosaur friend! He’s happy to finally have some company until he’s harshly reminded that not all dinosaurs are friendly!
11. Terror on Arlia 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Terror on Arlia Season 1, Episode 11 TV-PG HD SD On planet Arlia, Vegeta and Nappa become prisoners of the tyrant king who rules the planet. After a brief scuffle with the monster Yeddy, the Arlians realize that the two Saiyans are more than they can handle.
12. Global Training 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Global Training Season 1, Episode 12 TV-PG HD SD Gohan spends his day tormenting a T-Rex. Across the planet, Tien and Chiaotzu find their training interrupted by Launch. Meanwhile, Goku tries to find King Kai on Snake Way.
13. Goz and Mez 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Goz and Mez Season 1, Episode 13 TV-PG HD SD Goku encounters two giant ogres who want nothing more than to use the hero as a play toy! If he can defeat their challenges, the ogres vow to show him the way back to Snake Way.
14. Princess Snake 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Princess Snake Season 1, Episode 14 TV-PG HD SD Back on Snake Way, Goku comes across a house he believes might belong to King Kai! Unfortunately, the dwelling is inhabited by Princess Snake, and she’ll do anything to keep Goku as her prisoner forever!
15. Dueling Piccolos 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Dueling Piccolos Season 1, Episode 15 TV-PG HD SD Piccolo flies off the handle during his fight with Raditz and splits in two! Meanwhile, Gohan decides to take a raft across the sea to visit his mother, gets caught in a storm, and suddenly remembers that he can’t swim!
16. Plight of the Children 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Plight of the Children Season 1, Episode 16 TV-PG HD SD Gohan finds shelter with a gang of orphans living on the run from meddling adults. The group’s leader hatches a plan to take the kids to a safer hiding place, but when the police show up everything goes wrong!
17. Pendulum Room Peril 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Pendulum Room Peril Season 1, Episode 17 TV-PG HD SD Earth’s top warriors visit Kami’s Pendulum Room where the past, present, and future co-exist. After a trip back in time, they realize they’ll need to train harder to stand a chance against the approaching Saiyans.
18. The End of Snake Way 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
The End of Snake Way Season 1, Episode 18 TV-PG HD SD Gohan continues training, but a full moon causes the young Saiyan to rampage out of control! Meanwhile, Goku makes it to the end of Snake Way only to mistake a friendly ape named Bubbles for King Kai!
19. Defying Gravity 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Defying Gravity Season 1, Episode 19 TV-PG HD SD The intense gravity of King Kai’s planet makes Goku’s training difficult, but when he learns that the Saiyans are used to extreme fighting conditions, Goku is inspired to give it his all. Will it be enough?
20. Goku’s Ancestors 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Goku’s Ancestors Season 1, Episode 20 TV-PG HD SD After Goku struggles to bash Gregory with a hammer, King Kai inspires him with the story of the Saiyan race – and offers to train him personally! Will it be enough to stop the looming Saiyan invasion?
21. Counting Down 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Counting Down Season 1, Episode 21 TV-PG HD SD Goku’s training is complete, so the gang summons the Eternal Dragon to wish him back to life. There’s only one day left before the Saiyans arrive. Unfortunately, it will take Goku two days to return!
22. The Darkest Day 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
The Darkest Day Season 1, Episode 22 TV-PG HD SD Vegeta and Nappa mark their arrival with the destruction of an entire city! When the Z-Fighters confront them, the heroes must face an onslaught of Saibamen under the command of the Saiyans.
23. Saibamen Attack! 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Saibamen Attack! Season 1, Episode 23 TV-PG HD SD Krillin, Piccolo, and Gohan stand face to face with the sinister Saiyans and their diabolical henchmen. The villains have already proven terrifyingly powerful. Can Earth’s heroes hold out until Goku arrives?
24. The Power of Nappa 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
The Power of Nappa Season 1, Episode 24 TV-PG HD SD Enraged over the loss of Yamcha, Krillin unleashes a powerful attack that destroys the maniacal Saibamen once and for all. Now Earth’s defenders must battle the Saiyans themselves – starting with Nappa.
25. Sacrifice 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Sacrifice Season 1, Episode 25 TV-PG HD SD Chiaotzu sacrifices himself to save his friends from Nappa, but when the smoke clears, the villain still stands! Luckily, Tien has one trick left that could forever silence the Saiyan warrior!
26. Nappa’s Rampage 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Nappa’s Rampage Season 1, Episode 26 TV-PG HD SD Vegeta has called a halt to the fighting, and Nappa uses the time to go on a rampage! Meanwhile, Goku reaches the end of Snake Way and races to rejoin his friends – but is he already too late?
27. Nimbus Speed 25 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Nimbus Speed Season 1, Episode 27 TV-PG HD SD Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin do their best to stop the Saiyans from finding the Dragon Balls. Meanwhile, Goku rushes back to Earth on the Flying Nimbus, armed with more power than ever before!
28. Goku’s Arrival 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Goku’s Arrival Season 1, Episode 28 TV-PG HD SD Piccolo makes the ultimate sacrifice to save Gohan from the rampaging Saiyans. Just when all seems lost, Goku returns to Earth with an incredible new level of power and confronts the invaders.
29. Lesson Number One 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Lesson Number One Season 1, Episode 29 TV-PG HD SD Locked in battle with the Saiyans, Goku gives Nappa a brutal demonstration of the training he received from King Kai. Broken and defeated, Nappa must now face the ferocious wrath of Vegeta!
30. Goku vs. Vegeta 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Goku vs. Vegeta Season 1, Episode 30 TV-PG HD SD Goku decides to take on mighty Vegeta all by himself! The two appear evenly matched, but both are hiding their true strength. The epic battle is underway – which mighty warrior will claim victory?
31. Saiyan Sized Secret 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Saiyan Sized Secret Season 1, Episode 31 TV-PG HD SD Vegeta and Goku continue trading brutal blows, but the action intensifies when Vegeta reveals the secret power of the Saiyans: the ability to transform into a giant, planet-destroying ape!
32. Spirit Bomb Away! 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Spirit Bomb Away! Season 1, Episode 32 TV-PG HD SD Goku feels the brunt of Vegeta’s fully-realized Saiyan power! Earth’s greatest hero is left with no choice except to use the Spirit Bomb. If his attack fails, he may find himself completely doomed!
33. Hero in the Shadows 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Hero in the Shadows Season 1, Episode 33 TV-PG HD SD With Goku caught in the clutches of the giant ape Vegeta, Krillin attacks with his Destructo Disk! When his effort falls short, an unlikely hero steps out of the shadows!
34. Krillin’s Offensive 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Krillin’s Offensive Season 1, Episode 34 TV-PG HD SD Goku passes the power of the Spirit Bomb to Krillin, who – with King Kai’s guidance – launches the bomb at Vegeta. The Saiyan is sent flying into the sky, but is the evil warrior really gone for good?
35. Mercy 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Mercy Season 1, Episode 35 TV-PG HD SD Vegeta is crushed beneath the full weight of Gohan’s giant ape form! With the Saiyan battered and defeated, Krillin moves to finish the Saiyan with a final blow – but Goku has other plans.
36. Picking Up the Pieces 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Picking Up the Pieces Season 1, Episode 36 TV-PG HD SD The gang mourns the loss of Yamcha, Tien, Chiaotzu, and Piccolo. With Kami gone, Earth’s Dragon Balls have disappeared. Will the surviving heroes find a way to wish their fallen friends back to life?
37. Plans for Departure 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Plans for Departure Season 1, Episode 37 TV-PG HD SD Bulma accidentally destroys the Saiyan spaceship! Luckily, Mr. Popo reveals the existence of another ship that may be able to reach Namek. Can they find it in time, and will the old ship still work if they do?
38. Nursing Wounds 24 min $1.99 $0.99 Watch
Nursing Wounds Season 1, Episode 38 TV-PG HD SD Goku, Krillin, and Gohan prepare for the return of the Saiyans. Meanwhile, Bulma and Mr. Popo search for a second spaceship capable of transporting her to Planet Namek.
39. Friends or Foes? 24 min $1.99 $0.99 WatchFor centuries, the Dutch have fought against the sea - and won. True to its name, the Netherlands is located in an extremely flat and low-lying region, with about a quarter of the country below sea level, and about half just 1 meter above.
But as the realities of global warming and predicted sea level rise become more apparent around the world, the Netherlands has earned itself a reputation as a leader in adapting to climate change.
The port city of Rotterdam in particular has garnered international attention recently with its ambitious adaptation strategy, which aims to climate-proof the region by 2025.
Rotterdam is already famous for its mammoth Maeslant storm surge barrier - the largest of its kind in the world. Built in the 1990s, it has the capacity to protect the city from a 10,000-year storm.
Now the city is turning from fighting the water to working with it. Among urban developments planned: A floating neighborhood, already in the works; and a floating dairy farm, expected to be completed by the end of 2017.
The Netherlands isn't the only country having to come up with solutions to rising sea levels and storm surges.
The massive Maeslant barrier near Rotterdam is intended to hold back storm surges
Sharing knowledge to build resilient cities
Many delta cities around the world are already seriously planning ahead and developing their own "action plans" for the worst-case scenario.
Maarten van Schie, a researcher for spatial analysis and modeling with the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, told DW that the Netherlands is working to export its knowledge to other regions facing similar risks associated with climate change, so they can put their own adaptation strategies in place.
"Cities are becoming increasingly prominent on the international agenda, and more people will live in cities," he said. The Netherlands has special expertise when it comes to water problems in deltas, he pointed out.
Van Schie pointed to a major disaster in the 1950s, when a large portion of the Netherlands flooded. "We said, 'we're never gonna do that again' … so we made a very strong run to develop the kind of knowledge needed to deal with living in these kinds of risk-prone Netherlands areas." He said exporting Dutch expertise in this field has definitely been successful.
And the Dutch are not the only ones offering solutions on urban innovation responding to sea level rise. International collaboration between cities facing similar climate change-related risks is becoming increasingly common - notably, the partnership between Copenhagen and New York, where resilience against rising sea levels and cloudbursts is shared at an official level.
The storm surge from Hurricane Sandy flooded New York City's subways - total damage ran into the billions of dollars
Developing regions at greatest risk
However, not all coastal cities have the resources to adapt to the effects of climate change - nor can they all afford to a build a Maeslant-scale infrastructure project to hold back the rising sea.
In many Western delta cities, climate change adaptation tends to work from the top down. In other regions - particularly in developing countries - it is common for politics, bureaucracy or corruption to get in the way of action.
One solution to this problem is the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities Network (Epic-N), an initiative based in the United States that works to connect university students with cities and communities in need of adaptation solutions.
Sean O'Donoghue is manager of the climate protection branch in the environment department in Durban, South Africa. He has partnered with Epic-N in order to tackle climate change in the eThekwini Municipality.
Socioeconomic conditions make the problem of rising sea levels and storm surges difficult to address in Durban
Durban has low levels of development, historical inequality, high levels of poverty, and high levels of vulnerability where people have moved into informal settlements, he explained. "You've got to overlay all these existing problems with what climate change is going to bring."
Durban has benefited from a community-based educational approach, which has worked to inform government officials about the realities of future threats such as sea level rise.
"We want to develop an academic basis for an African development of the landscape, which we hope can be used elsewhere," said O'Donoghue.
"We use [climate change] as a ticket to improve the lives of our communities."VIDEO-Edward Snowden should have right to legal defence in US, says Hillary Clinton | World | The Guardian
Fri, 04 Jul 2014 22:29
Link to video: Hillary Clinton: NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has right to legal defence in USThe former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has said Edward Snowden should have the right to launch a legal and public defence of his decision to leak top-secret documents if he returns to the United States.
"If he wishes to return knowing he would be held accountable and also able to present a defence, that is his decision to make," Clinton said in a video interview with the Guardian on Friday.
Snowden, who is currently in Russia where he has been afforded temporary asylum, has been charged with three separate violations of the US Espionage Act. These charges include stealing government property and sharing classified documents with the Guardian and the Washington Post.
The broadly worded law makes no distinction between a spy and a whistleblower and affords Snowden almost no recourse to a defence.
The former NSA employee is likely to face a number of additional charges should he return to the US.
When Clinton was asked if she believed the Espionage Act '' passed in 1917 '' should be reformed in order to allow Snowden a defence, she claimed not to know what the whistleblower had been charged with as they were "sealed indictments".
"In any case that I'm aware of as a former lawyer, he has a right to mount a defence," she said. "And he certainly has a right to launch both a legal defence and a public defence, which can of course affect the legal defence.
"Whether he chooses to return or not is up to him. He certainly can stay in Russia, apparently under Putin's protection, for the rest of his life if that's what he chooses. But if he is serious about engaging in the debate then he could take the opportunity to come back and have that debate. But that's his decision."
Amid the ongoing and substantial aftershocks following the Snowden revelations, Keir Starmer, Britain's former director of public prosecutions, has drafted new legal guidelines seeking to protect journalists in the UK who break the law in pursuit of investigations that have genuine public interest.
"Defining of the public interest is always very, very difficult. We did go through a consultation exercise on that and I think we've got it about right," he told the Guardian in October.
Snowden's legal team have stated that lack of recourse to a public interest defence is a key obstacle to the whistleblower returning to the US.
Ben Wizner, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union, said: "The laws would not provide him any opportunity to say that the information never should have been withheld from the public in the first place.
"And the fact that the disclosures have led to the highest journalism rewards, have led to historic reforms in the US and around the world '' all of that would be irrelevant in a prosecution under the espionage laws in the United States."
In an exclusive streamed video interview with the Guardian, Clinton also expressed regret that a proposal two years ago by General Sir David Richards '' then the most senior British military officer '' to train 100,000 moderate rebels to fight the Assad regime in Syria was rejected by David Cameron, who deemed it too risky. The proposal was similar to one that Clinton, as secretary of state, proposed to US president Barack Obama, which was also rejected.
"I'm not aware of the specifics about any proposal to the British government but like our government I knew there was debate because I was advocating for trying to vet, train and arm Syrian moderates," Clinton said.
"In the debate you couldn't say conclusively if you do this you'll get that result, but I thought it was a good bet. Now what we see is our government and others beginning to train moderates to try to stem the tide of the extremism, because it's not just Isis it's a whole range of these al-Qaida wannabe offshoots that we have to worry about."
Clinton, who is on a two-day tour of the UK promoting her new memoir Hard Choices '' an account of her four years as secretary of state '' said she had not yet decided whether or not she intends to run for president in 2016.* Arab world to face severe water scarcity by 2015
* Population to hit 600 million by 2050 from 360 million
* Groundwater over-exploited, cheap pricing leads to waste
By Alistair Lyon, Special Correspondent
BEIRUT, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The Arab world, one of the driest regions on the planet, will tip into severe water scarcity as early as 2015, a report issued on Thursday predicts.
By then, Arabs will have to survive on less than 500 cubic metres of water a year each, or below a tenth of the world average of more than 6,000 cubic metres per capita, said the report by the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED).
“The Arab world is already living a water crisis that will only get worse with inaction,” the report says, adding per capita supply has plunged to only a quarter of its 1960 level.
Rapid population growth will further stress water resources. According to U.N. projections, the Arabs, who now number almost 360 million, will multiply to nearly 600 million by 2050.
Climate change will aggravate matters. By the end of this century, Arab countries may experience a 25 percent drop in precipitation and a 25 percent increase in evaporation rates, according to climate change models cited in the report.
“As a result, rain-fed agriculture will be threatened, with average yields estimated to decline by 20 percent,” it says.
Thirteen Arab countries are among the world’s 19 most water-scarce nations. People in eight Arab countries already have to make do with less than 200 cubic metres a year each.
“Without fundamental changes in policies and practices, the situation will get worse, with drastic social, political and economic ramifications,” the AFED report says.
Conditions vary across the region, but within five years only Iraq and Sudan will pass the water scarcity test, defined as over 1,000 cubic metres a year per capita, assuming supplies from Turkey and Ethiopia still flow at current levels.
Agriculture consumes 85 percent of Arab water use, compared with a world average of 70 percent. Irrigation efficiency is only 30 percent, against a world average of 45 percent.
Groundwater is over-exploited, leading to significant declines in water tables, pollution of aquifers and seawater intrusion in coastal areas, AFED says. More than 43 percent of wastewater is discharged raw, while only 20 percent is reused.
The Arab world has 5 percent of the world’s population but only 1 percent of its renewable fresh water, so several Gulf Arab countries rely heavily on desalinated sea water — accounting for more than half the world’s desalination capacity.
GOLF COURSES IN THE DESERT
Some of the expensive desalinated water is used to irrigate low-value crops or even golf courses, the AFED report says.
Discharge from the desalination plants, which use imported, polluting technologies, makes sea water warmer and more saline.
Despite its scarcity, water is often squandered in the Arab world thanks to low prices and subsidies that disguise its cost.
“Free water is wasted water,” the report says, noting average prices charged in the region cover 35 percent of water production costs and only 10 percent for desalinated water.
Governments, which often focus on seeking new supplies of water, should instead concentrate on improving water management, rationalising consumption, encouraging reuse and protecting water supplies from overuse and pollution, AFED urges.
Better water management presents huge challenges in Arab countries where most public organisations serving irrigation and urban water needs “do not function properly”.
Water pricing schemes are needed to attract new investment in the sector, but that will not be enough, the report says.
“No technological or engineering solutions will be effective without the necessary policy, institutional and legal reforms.” (Editing by Janet Lawrence) (For full report see www.afedonline.org/Report/2010/main.asp)Researchers from the University of Georgia and the Mayo Clinic in Arizona have developed a vaccine that dramatically reduces tumors in a mouse model that mimics 90 percent of human breast and pancreatic cancer cases—including those resistant to common treatments.
The vaccine, described this week in the early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals a promising new strategy for treating cancers that share the same distinct carbohydrate signature, including ovarian and colorectal cancers.
“This vaccine elicits a very strong immune response,” said study co-senior author Geert-Jan Boons, Franklin Professor of Chemistry and a researcher in the UGA Cancer Center and its Complex Carbohydrate Research Center. “It activates all three components of the immune system to reduce tumor size by an average of 80 percent.”
When cells become cancerous, the sugars on their surface proteins undergo distinct changes that set them apart from healthy cells. For decades, scientists have tried to enable the immune system to recognize those differences to destroy cancer cells rather than normal cells. But since cancer cells originate within the body, the immune system generally doesn’t recognize them as foreign and therefore doesn’t mount an attack.
The researchers used unique mice developed by Sandra Gendler, Grohne Professor of Therapeutics for Cancer Research at the Mayo Clinic and co-senior author on the study. Like humans, the mice develop tumors that overexpress a protein known as MUC1 on the surface of their cells. The tumor-associated MUC1 protein is adorned with a distinctive, shorter set of carbohydrates that set it apart from healthy cells.
“This is the first time that a vaccine has been developed that trains the immune system to distinguish and kill cancer cells based on their different sugar structures on proteins such as MUC1,” Gendler said. “We are especially excited about the fact that MUC1 was recently recognized by the National Cancer Institute as one of the three most important tumor proteins for vaccine development.”
Gendler pointed out that MUC1 is found on more than 70 percent of all cancers that kill. Many cancers, such as breast, pancreatic, ovarian and multiple myeloma, express MUC1 with the shorter carbohydrate in more than 90 percent of cases.
She explained that when cancer occurs, the architecture of the cell changes and MUC1 is produced at high levels, promoting tumor formation. A vaccine directed against MUC1 has tremendous potential, Gendler said, as a preventative for recurrence or as a prophylactic in patients at high risk for particular cancers. A vaccine also can be used together with standard therapy such as chemotherapy in cancers that cannot be cured by surgery, such as pancreatic cancer.
Boons noted that MUC1 also is overexpressed in 90 percent of the subset of patients who are not responsive to hormonal therapy, such as Tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors, or the drug Herceptin. These so-called “triple-negative” tumors are extremely aggressive and difficult to treat, Boons said, and a new treatment option is urgently needed.
“In the U.S. alone, there are 35,000 patients diagnosed every year whose tumors are triple-negative,” Boons said. “So we might have a therapy for a large group of patients for which there is currently no drug therapy aside from chemotherapy.”
Therapeutic vaccines received renewed attention last year when the Food and Drug Administration approved the first cancer treatment vaccine, a drug known as Provenge that is used to treat metastatic prostate cancer. Treatment with Provenge, which is manufactured in Georgia, requires clinicians to isolate immune cells from the patient and then to send the cells to a lab, where they are linked to a protein that stimulates the immune system. The cells are returned to the patient’s treating physician, who then infuses the drug over three treatments, usually two weeks apart.
Boons’ vaccine, on the other hand, is much simpler. It is fully synthetic, meaning that its components can be manufactured in a lab with assembly-line precision. The vaccine consists of three components—an immune system booster known as an adjuvant, a component that triggers the production of the immune system’s T-helper cells, and a carbohydrate-linked peptide molecule that directs the immune response to cells bearing MUC1 proteins with truncated carbohydrates.
Biotechnology is a key industry in Georgia, and this year Boons founded Athens-based company Viamune to help develop and commercialize the vaccine and the technologies used to create it. The company is one of nearly 30 that are affiliated with the University’s BioBusiness Center, which is an incubator for life sciences start-up companies associated with UGA.
“Companies like these have the potential to create stable, high-paying jobs that have a significant social and economic impact,” said Stefan Schulze, associate director of the Georgia BioBusiness Center. He noted that Viamune was a one four finalists selected from 40 companies at an investor’s forum hosted this year by the non-profit organization Southeast BIO.
Boons, Gendler and their colleagues are currently testing the vaccine’s effectiveness against human cancer cells in culture and are planning to assess its toxicity. If all goes well, they anticipate that phase I clinical trials to test the safety of the vaccine could begin by late 2013.
The vaccine represents nearly a decade of work on the part of Boons and his team. A 2007 study demonstrated the vaccine’s effectiveness in another mouse model, and Boons is cautiously optimistic about his most recent results. Although promising results in mice often don’t translate to humans, Boons said he is confident that vaccines that target the specific carbohydrate signatures of cancer cells will ultimately play an important role in the treatment of the disease.
“We are beginning to have therapies that can teach our immune system to fight what is uniquely found in cancer cells,” Boons said. “When combined with early diagnosis, the hope is that one day cancer will become a manageable disease.”
In addition to co-senior authors Boons and Gendler, the co-first authors on the paper are Vani Lakshminarayanan at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and Pamela Thompson at UGA. Additional authors include Margreet Wolfert and Therese Buskas at UGA and Judy Bradley, Latha Pathangey, Cathy Madsen and Peter Cohen, M.D. at the Mayo Clinic.
The National Cancer Institute, the Mayo Breast Specialized Program of Research Excellence Grant and the Mayo Pancreas SPORE Grant funded the research.hidden
Scientists, including those of Indian-origin, have developed a new sonar technology that allows you to interact with mobile devices by writing or gesturing on a tabletop, a sheet of paper or even in mid-air.
An app, FingerIO tracks fine-grained finger movements by turning a smartphone or smartwatch into an active sonar system using the device's own microphones and speakers. Since sound waves travel through fabric and do not require a line of sight, users can even interact with a phone inside a front pocket or a smartwatch hidden under a sweater sleeve.
Researchers at University of Washington (UW) showed that FingerIO could accurately track two-dimensional finger movements to within 8mm, which is sufficiently accurate to interact with today's mobile devices.
"You can't type very easily onto a smartwatch display, so we wanted to transform a desk or any area around a device into an input surface," said lead author Rajalakshmi Nandakumar, doctoral student at UW. "I don't need to instrument my fingers with any other sensors - I just use my finger to write something on a desk or any other surface and the device can track it with high resolution," Nandakumar said.
Using FingerIO, one could use the flick of a finger to turn up the volume, press a button, or scroll through menus on a smartphone without touching it, or even write a search command or text in the air rather than typing on a tiny screen.
FingerIO turns a smartwatch or smartphone into a sonar system using the device's own speaker to emit an inaudible sound wave. That signal bounces off the finger, and those "echoes" are recorded by the device's microphones and used to calculate the finger's location in space.
Using sound waves to track finger motion offers several advantages over cameras and other technologies like radar that require both custom sensor hardware and greater computing power, said assistant professor Shyam Gollakota.
"Acoustic signals are great - because sound waves travel much slower than the radio waves used in radar, you don't need as much processing and width so everything is simpler," said Gollakota.
The researchers created a FingerIO prototype app for smartphone and a smartwatch customised with two microphones, which are needed to track finger motion in two dimensions.
The researchers asked testers to draw shapes such as stars, squiggles or figure 8s on a touchpad next to a smartphone or smartwatch running FingerIO.
Then they compared the touchpad tracings to the shapes created by FingerIO's tracking. The average ifference between the drawings and the FingerIO tracings was 0.8 centimetres for the smartphone and 1.2 centimetres for the smartwatch. "Given that your finger is already a centimetre thick, that's sufficient to accurately interact with the devices," said graduate student Vikram Iyer.
PTI
Tech2 is now on WhatsApp. For all the buzz on the latest tech and science, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Tech2.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.Jake Westbrook was pulled from the Cardinals’ rotation down the stretch and had his $9.75 million option for 2014 declined, and now the 36-year-old right-hander is retiring after 13 seasons in the majors.
Westbrook broke the news to local reporter Rob Rains, saying: “The interest that I was getting wasn’t significant enough for me to go through the grind of another year and be away from my family.”
Westbrook walked more batters (50) than he struck out (44) in 117 innings last season and hasn’t posted a better than average ERA since 2007, but he also never had a truly terrible season during that time and was generally a decent innings-eater.
He finishes with a 105-103 record and 4.32 ERA in 1,748 innings for the Indians, Cardinals, and Yankees, including four 200-inning campaigns and one trip to the All-Star game in 2004. Oh, and more than $70 million in career earnings.
Follow @AaronGleemanBy Torben Lonne
Almost as interesting as scuba diving itself are the people who enthusiastically engage in the sport. Over the past 20 years, dive enthusiasts have done a truly incredible job of bringing worldwide attention to the importance of our planet’s oceans, and of how modern-day living and industrialization are negatively impacting them. This is especially true in regards to pollution and garbage that finds its way onto fragile reef systems. Previously we looked at how divers can affect the environment on every dive.
Apply Now: Heroes Needed
How to tackle the mountains of garbage in our seas has been a uniting force among the scuba diving community worldwide. Our oceans have always been a dumping ground for humankind, but with the advent of plastic and the exploding human population, the time to deal with the problem is now. Raising awareness will require lots of effort, money and most importantly, people to take an active role in helping to clean up our oceans. What kind of people? Heroes, people motivated by a deep desire to protect all forms of marine life, who will take active measures to clean garbage from the oceans and promote greater public awareness about the ultimate effects to the oceans’ of both personal litter and industrialized pollution.
Origins of Ocean Garbage
Preventing garbage from entering the oceans should be the main goal of any ocean hero, but the reality is painful. The practice of dumping garbage in the oceans, sea, lakes and rivers isn’t going to end anytime soon despite recent laws in a number of countries to limit the amount. And even if industrialized countries stop dumping their garbage in the oceans today, who will step forward to clean up the garbage that’s already there |
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